My How You've Grown

Today is Norah's 4-month birthday. To celebrate, we want to present some pictures that match some of her first posts (here and here). We'll also add a few more pictures that kind of show what's going on these days. On to the footage:

Yes, footage. Plumping right up.

I remember taking a picture of her like this trying to capture her blue eyes. If I was a betting man, I'd say her blue eyes will stick.

Norah with her friends. I think she got the idea of curling the feet in from her monster. I'm waiting for her to follow suit by growing antennae.

Note her chunky legs and football belly. What is it about baby proportions that is so cute? She now has the habit of putting her hands to her mouth. See below as well.

Something tells me this is just the beginning of all things going to her mouth. It's somewhat like my favorite fortune cookie fortune ever: "Everything will soon come your way." Kind of frightening.

You know, maybe the cuteness of baby proportions is best realized when clothed in one color, one long zipper, pockets, and socks that are too big. And a hood.

Happy 1/3 birthday cutehead!

Hot Fuzz

Check out this photo by clicking on it. You'll notice that Norah has legitimate fuzz:

Will she be a blondie?

Playgroup through the Park

Once a week our ward typically does 'Playgroup,' which is an informal hang-out time for anyone who is around during the day. It offers a nice chance to get out of the apartment and socialize, particularly for stay-at-home parents who sometimes feel cooped up. (You can tell I'm new to this because I've taken the time to describe it).


So this last Friday was a special day for us - Sarah Jane took the day off and we went as a family. Side note: this is where SJ and I got engaged. Now we have a kid. That kid is in that stroller. And today I'm Captain Obvious.


Here's everyone at the meeting spot for Playgroup. The activity? Walking through Central Park and getting food at the new Shake Shack on the Upper West Side. 8 moms, 8 kids, and 1 dad. Notice that little Curtis is wondering who the oddball dude is.

The mommy brigade commences!

We walked by playgrounds...


We walked under huge trees...


We walked by people, ponds, and leaves...


Curtis kept checking me out...

...and I took pictures. In case anyone is wondering, I didn't change the saturation on this photo. The colors were gorgeous.

For some reason this picture reminds me of Better Off Dead and 'I want my two dollars!' Only instead of the paperboy on wheels you've... well, you get the point. Unless you haven't seen Better Off Dead. Never mind. Ooh, look at this next picture!

The entourage on Central Park West.

Finally we arrived at the Shake Shack, and promptly got told by some curmudgeon that we were taking up the sidewalk and should move. It's true; we were in the way.

Mmm. Shack burgers. What a sight. Who gets to do their lunch outings right in front of the Natural Museum of History? We do. I want to point out to my nieces and nephews that, since it was daytime, we didn't see any dinosaurs, cavemen, or monkeys out and about.

Great food, great company, plus Central Park at its peak in Fall. The only thing that could have topped the outing was if we could have spotted Meg Ryan with either Billy Crystal or Tom Hanks. Or a caveman.

Norah's 3-month birthday (starring Jenna, Cory, Calvin, Norah, and her parents)

We are a little late in posting this (Norah is now almost 4 months old), but we wanted to commemorate her 3-month birthday, especially since the day included hanging out with good friends visiting from Arizona. As you can see from this photo, Norah still has little say in how she rolls. Thankfully, as long as she has her paci, she seems okay with it.

It was a gorgeous fall day, so we decided to take advantage and walk around the UES with the ultimate destination being lunch, of course.


We made a stop at the farmer's market. Apparently there were some really interesting apples in our bag.


Lunch at The Vinegar Factory. Mmmmmm. We may have consumed our collective weight in fresh churned butter and raspberry jam. Calvin included.

Leaving The V.F. (paparazzi shot)

Such a fun day. Thanks again Broadbents for coming to visit.

A success all the way around. The little girl tuckered right out.

Love Thy Neighbor

I have to say that in the five years that I have lived in New York City I have had pretty good neighbors. And by that I mean they have been for the most part clean, respectful, and either very nice and friendly, or at least they weren't jerks. When we first moved into our current apartment we were excited to find that our across the hall neighbors were really great. Very nice, they had a young son (so I felt like they would be understanding of our crying baby), it was a great situation. Then sadly they moved last month. We were hoping to get some friends of ours in that apartment, but unfortunately another couple beat them to it. These new neighbors have been very nice, introduced themselves, have helped me with Norah's stroller... but they are smokers. Not to be prejudiced against smokers, but when you don't smoke, and have a baby you'd prefer not to be exposed to second-hand smoke, it kind of sucks to share a narrow hallway with someone who does. Suddenly our whole floor smells like cigarette smoke. I decided to take some subtle action. I obviously can't ask them not to smoke in their own apartment, but I figured I could at least do something to combat the issue in our shared space. So last night I put Norah in her stroller and walked 15 blocks to Bath & Body Works to buy an air-freshener plug-in for the hallway. I was feeling really good about my hopefully non-offensive way to make our building a little more nostril friendly, only to have another one of our neighbors STEAL the air freshener out of the hallway later in the evening. This after an umbrella I left in Norah's stroller downstairs was stolen earlier in the week. Both jobs were obviously done by someone in the building, so I guess we have neighbors who are just cool with petty theft. We also have ANOTHER set of neighbors who frequently forget their keys and have on several occasions woken us up (we're talking 3 a.m.) by buzzing our apartment to be let in the building. Who are these people we are living with? Last night after the air-freshener theft I was complaining to Nathan and realized that for the first time I am truly struggling to follow the commandment to 'Love Thy Neighbor.' This weekend I'm going to make a better attempt on my part to reach out to our neighbors. Maybe make some cookies and take them around to the other tenants. But so help me if I smell pumpkin air-freshener in any of their apartments!

While Daddy is away...

Nathan was out of town this weekend so it was just me and the kiddo for 3 days. Turns out things take a lot longer to get done when you're down a pair of hands. We had a fun girl's weekend though—staying in our pajamas until noon (not always by choice), taking some long walks, going to the Farmer's Market, having some good tummy time, and watching reruns of The West Wing. Thank you again to the friends who took us in, or came by to visit. We loved the company. I'm also grateful for Norah's new best friends (see below), the animals dangling from her playtime mat (thanks again Becca!). They kept her well entertained allowing me to do such things as take a shower. She is LOVING these friends right now.

It was a fun time but we are both glad to have Daddy back.