Vacation All I Ever Wanted

Our much delayed, incredibly needed vacation is finally happening!

Tomorrow Bri and I are loading the kids in the car and driving, yes, DRIVING to Florida. It's either the best or the worst idea we've ever had. Watch out for angry 3am text messages to our friends. But once there we will relax with family, enjoy our anniversary, swim in the pool, and hopefully let go of all the stress we've been carrying for the last several months. Heck yeah vacation. Bring it.

P.S. Rob the BeiderNanny is crashing at our place while we're gone, so don't worry, Mom. I didn't just tell the internet to come rob me.

Rob the BeiderNanny

Gabe's 6 Month Stats

Oy vey, I make tiny babies. Gabe had his 6 month check-up today. And yep, he's still teeny tiny. Perfectly healthy, just pocket-sized.

He's now 24.1 inches, and 13.5 pounds. Both those numbers are -1% on the growth chart, which means that out of 100 baby boys, 101 will be bigger than him. They better not be bullies!

Amusingly, he's half a pound lighter but a hair taller than Ellie was at 6 months. It's obviously the pompadour that gave him the extra .1 inch.

He also drools like a sonofabitch.

Hurricane Irene

Hurricane Irene was pretty much a bust in Brooklyn, and I spent Sunday morning complaining about all the meaningless preparation and days spent in anxious anticipation. We even had Aunt Barbara crash at our apartment Saturday night just in case. With all our backyard furniture and plants taking up the bedroom, that meant 3 adults, 2 kids, and 1 cat in 1 room. Yeah. We're all going to need a little time to recover.

But my glib attitude came crashing down when I started seeing Facebook pictures of my hometown drowning under a river of water. Our sweet little Deerfield River, where I waded as a kid in my jelly shoes, became a massive force - overflowing the downtown bridge and wreaking havoc throughout Wilmington and the neighboring Vermont towns.

One young woman lost her life when she was swept into the waters - thankfully she appears to be the only casualty. It could have been so much worse.

Now I find myself compulsively checking Facebook for more pictures of the damage. It's disaster porn on a truly personal level, and it makes me sick to see the stores where my brother and I worked as kids completely washed out. Change in your hometown is always hard to see, as the real world interferes with our childhood memories. Don't get me started on the Mobil station where the Cree-Mee stand used to be, or the bizarre pergola erected downtown in the void left after fire gutted an old bank building. Now to see so much damage, and knowing the losses suffered by so many home and business owners, it's just heartbreaking.

Many will rebuild, of course, and may even be stronger for it, but it will be a long, painful process. Damn you, Irene.

Why Whether the Weather

Just to be clear, in the last year? Tornado - check. Blizzard - check. Earthquake - check. Now a freaking hurricane? No wonder I'm starting to have a completely irrational fear of thunderstorms.

He Sits!

It's not a great picture (I only got two snaps off before my camera battery died - oof!), but still...Look! He's sitting like a pro.

Table Manners

Why, yes. That IS my daughter eating her peas off the table like a dog. Why do you ask?

A New Sleep Trend?

For three days in a row the baby has slept from 7pm to 5am. Please, oh please, let this be the start of something beautiful.

Exersaucer Time!

I can't believe Gabe is almost 6 months old...He can sit up for a few moments at a time, and has even rolled over occasionally. Fun stages - here we come!

A Cause For Celebration

After 6 weeks on a respirator, 3 more weeks in the ICU, and 2 weeks of intensive rehab, my father is being released from the hospital today. Hot damn.

Summer Wednesdays

Wednesday. Hump Day. Not Quite Thirsty Thursday.

Generally my opinion of Wednesdays has been pretty unremarkable. Better than Tuesday. Not as great as Thursday. Getting over the hump is great and all, but nothing to cheer about.

That is, until I discovered Summer Wednesday Music Nights just down the street from us - a free kids' show from 6-7pm on Wednesday nights in July and August. A band called Rolie Polie Guacamole (I'm hungry just thinking about it) sets up their amps and rocks out on the street corner singing about the joys of being upside-down, dragon hunting, hopping like a kangaroo, and, of course, eating guacamole.

Ellie is a little shy about getting up to dance and generally prefers to stick close to me while eating goldfish. But I adore it. I am a complete sucker for community activities and have been known to spontaneously burst into tears at parades, ballgames - pretty much anywhere people come together for a common purpose. This little weekly corner music party hits me in the exact same sweet spot. I see all the families, and all the kids dancing, and I well up with this slightly bittersweet happiness. Soaking in all the joy, but also knowing just how fleeting it all is. The best part is that most Wednesdays Brian can come straight from work and is able to meet us there. Then, it's perfect.

The shows go until the end of August, and I plan to be at every one.

Ellie, showing off the finer points of being upside-down.

A Change of Scenery

We went up to visit my dad in the hospital again this weekend, but had a welcome change of scenery. He's been transferred to a rehab facility in West Roxbury, Mass, so we found ourselves bound for Boston. I haven't been to Boston since some high school friends and I drove down, hopped on the T, got some Dunkin' Donuts, and headed home. Something that could only make sense to the teenage mind. Good times.

This trip was short and sweet, and was highlighted by a lunch with some of Brian's oldest family friends. Ruth C. was one of Brian's mom's dearest friends, and Bri grew up playing with her daughters, Tracy and Stephanie. Unfortunately, Ruth was under the weather but we still got to have lunch with Larry, Tracy, and her two kids, Grace and Alex. Grace was amazing with Ellie, and happily escorted her around a playground post-lunch. Meanwhile Tracy awed us with stories about kids who are old enough to make themselves breakfast and let their parents sleep in. The only thing more fantastical is if we can teach Ellie and Gabe to bring mommy a mimosa in bed on Sundays. Now that's worth waiting for.

Sleep Well, Topaz

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Tonight we did the hardest thing, and finally put Topaz to sleep. He was 15 years old, and had been diagnosed with cancer last October. The old man was getting more and more tired, until we finally knew it was time to let him go. Thanks, Topaz, for sharing our life. In cat heaven you can chase Jezebel to your heart's content, and the bathtub is always left dripping like a water fountain. Between that and the unlimited supply of tuna-juice you should be all set. We'll miss you.

Knowing when to finally let go and let a pet rest is one of the hardest "adult" parts of being a grown-up. And truthfully, I'm not a fan. If anyone's looking for me I'll be in the kiddie-pool.

Splish Splash

Ellie is such a water baby! We spent the afternoon at the Kempe's pool celebrating little Jeremy's 3rd birthday, and Ellie had the time of her life. Lucky for her we're heading to Florida for vacation soon and she'll get to spend all day-every day practicing her doggy paddle. God, I can't wait.

Daily Life Shot

Yep, this is what it looks like when I go grocery shopping...

5 Months

Little Baby Gabe has grown some chunky thighs, an awesome fauxhawk, and a sweetly goofy smile. It was a rough couple of months with all the worry about my dad, but watching Gabe come into his own has consistently been a bright spot.

Play Ball!

Well Hello August

Well hot damn. Another month's gone by. We still spent a lot of time in Vermont visiting my dad, but we've also been able to have some Brooklyn-based fun. Of course, then we got a computer virus, so I wasn't able to post about any of it. But now the computer's all better, and my dad is SO MUCH BETTER too. After six weeks on a ventilator and a few more weeks in the ICU, he's being transferred today to a rehab hospital outside of Boston. Frankly, it's incredible. Absolutely thrilling. My favorite moment of the last two months may have been my dad and Ellie working together on a coloring book in the hospital's visiting lounge. I couldn't have asked for anything better.

Some quick photos from the last couple of weeks...and I promise we'll be updating more regularly now that life is getting more, well, regular.

I took Ellie and Gabe to the Prospect Park Zoo. The sea lions were Ellie's absolute favorite. I'm considering getting us a membership to the Wildlife Conservancy which gets us into the Brooklyn Zoo, the Bronx Zoo, the Central Park Zoo and Children's Zoo, and the Aquarium. We actually went to the Aquarium today with Pauly, Sara, Andre and Uncle Todd. It was awesome. Ellie was a little intimidated by the walrus...can't say I blame her.

Ellie is cheating on both Paul and David with Little Dylan. Enough said.

Look who's big enough to be in an exersaucer! Of course, moments after this photo was taken he burst into tears when Pauly kept hitting one of the toys. What a baby.