Nights...

Right now I am curled up in our NEW luscious QUEEN sized bed...

(Yes, we have been sleeping on a full for the past 9 months. No problem for all you cuddlers out there, but Nate and I are not cuddlers at night. We both despise sleeping hot, and touching someone only makes you hotter)

... getting ready to pick up where I left off in my book. The window next to me is open letting in a chilly breeze. It's cozy. It reminds me of sleeping in a tent, where it's cold all around you and it sounds like night time. Nate's at the desk next to me studying. I like this night.

Many talents

Tonight, I walked into our room to this sight...

Nate apparently craved a challenge, so he turned to Asher's new magnadoodle learn to draw book.

His masterpiece...

Nicely done honey, nicely done.

Memorial Day

We had a lovely Memorial Day yesterday. 

First off...

Picnic in Central Park with friends. West side of the Great Lawn, in a nice wooded area with dirt and picnic tables. It reminded me of Santa Cruz, where ALL of my family was yesterday and last week. Sad. But fun that we could have our own "nature"/"camping" experience in the middle of NYC. 

Asher playin' a little soccer

This boy loves the dirt. 

Poop party. Thank heaven for $10 fold up potties. Genius!!

A little after noon, we decided to head home for naps. Well, the boys ended up falling asleep in the stroller and woke up shortly after arriving home. So... we headed back out.

We went to borders to use our 40% coupon, and totally scored in the bargain books section (buy 2, get 1 free!) and Nate got me "Boys Adrift" by Leonard Sax for my mother's day present. I just started it last night, but am loving it so far. I'll let you know more when I am finished. But so far, it seems like a must read for any parent of boys.

After Borders, Nate went to the apple store while I headed to the HUGE playground on the south end of Central Park. I'm sure it has a name, but I can't think of it. It was packed, and the kids had a blast. Watching my boys at the park makes me happy. They are both so independent and creative, and are in love with the outdoors. Nate and I were saying that we should do a little experiment, where we take Asher to the park in the morning, and just let him play and play and play until he asks us to leave. I bet you we would be there all day... like until dinner. I love that they are that way. Just give them a car and some sand and some water, and they are off in their own little imaginations. 

On our way home, we stopped at Gray's Papaya for hot dogs and coconut juice

We ate it on a bench outside the subway station. 

This kid also loves food. 

The clean up.

Hope you all had a nice Memorial Day with perfect weather as well!

Glee

I just watched this pilot on the Fox website, and it is so great. This is a clip from the end of the episode, and I tell ya, I was smiling from ear to ear. I don't know why things like this make me so happy... they just do! This is definitely going on my running playlist!

**After some research, I found out that the guy who plays the teacher was Link Larkin in the original broadway recording of Hairspray, which is one of my faves. He also just finished South Pacific at Lincoln Center. The girl who plays Rachel has been on broadway for years and just finished Spring Awakenings on broadway.

Cheese ball lovers

Nate got a package of bacon cheese balls in a birthday package from his sister Analee in Australia. They pretty much just tasted like regular cheese balls, but probably much more fattening. Turns out that the boys are huge fans. It made me think of my dad, because he LOVES cheese balls/cheese puffs. My grandma (his mom) has a pantry in her house that she keeps stocked with lots of food and candy and treats, and she always has a HUGE vat 'o cheese puffs. My dad will usually take a nice baggie full home. I think he might also have a vat of his own that he keeps in his office at work. So awesome. Anyway, here are some cute pics and video footage of them enjoying the cheesy goodness. The video is my favorite. I think Sayer looks so cute sitting in the little chair, and then the best part is Asher's donald duck bum... so cute!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Children's Museum

Last Saturday, Debbie and Clare, my neighbors and great friends, and I decided to take our kids to the Children's Museum of Manhattan. It was a little wet and rainy, so doing something outside didn't seem very fun. It was a toddlers only outing, so the dads stayed home with the younger and older kids, and the three of them had an absolute blast! We didn't bring any strollers, which is a first for me, but I think they felt like such big kids to be able to walk and run down the sidewalks together.

First stop, Naussbaum Cafe for bagels and orange juice...

Top: Debbie, Peter, Addi, Clare, Asher

Next stop, the subway...

Addi, Asher, Peter.  I thought these pictures were so cute with their little bums.  They were all recently potty trained, and they look like such big kids with their diaper-less bums!

And finally, the Museum...

Top: Addi and Asher in the fire truck.  Asher took it very seriously!

They all loved it there and had such a fun time. On the way home we got a cab, which was seriously a luxury to me. Loved it! 

Nate's Birthday

Nate's birthday was last week. He turned 34!! He's old! ;) For his birthday I made his favorite dinner of asparagus and scallops in white wine sauce for dinner, and a chocolate cake with whipped chocolate ganache filling and frosting, with a fresh raspberry sauce. It was yummy. Nate's a chocolate lover, so I figured I couldn't go wrong with all chocolate. 

Asher enjoyed the making of the cake!

Cutting the cake

Happy Birthday babe! Love you!

Let's try this again

Well, the fam and I didn't get into the St. George Marathon, which is a big bummer. Especially since this year, we would have added Ben and Alexis to the race, and THAT would have been AWESOME! Oh well.

The good news is, that means that I would be able to do the NYC Marathon, which I didn't get into last year, but would still LOVE to do.  Just registered last night.  Fingers crossed!

Bronx Zoo

We went to the Bronx zoo a little while ago with some friends from our building, and I just haven't gotten around to posting the pictures, so I thought I would do so now. We didn't have as much time as we wanted, but it was still a good time. Asher especially loved it, and it made me happy to see him enjoying the animals and knowing what they were. His favorites were the monkeys and the lions. The lions just had a cub, so the mom, dad and cub were all sitting together really close... it was cool!

The entrance

Asher and Inaya at the tiger swim hole

After lunch waiting...

Peekaboo!!

CHEESE!!

In front of the grizzly bears.  Don't mind my hair... Asher likes to play with it and pull it out of the ponytail.  It does not feel good.

I guess I didn't get any pictures of the lions... darn.

Apologize

This last semester, for one of Nate's classes, they were split up into ensembles and given various assignments to complete throughout the term. One of the assignments was to make their own arrangement of a cover song. Nate's group did Apologize from One Republic. Last week they had a concert with all of the groups and they performed Apologize. I was really bummed that my camera was almost full, so I wasn't able to get the whole song, but you will get the idea. They did such a great job, I think I like their version better! ;)

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Stars down the street

Yesterday morning I went to the grocery store, and on the corner of my street I noticed that they were filming something in this cute little cafe, called Cafe Fresh. It's always exciting to see that. Later on in the day, I was on my way home from physical therapy, coming from the other direction, and had to pass by the cafe, but they were stopping us for a few minutes as they were in the middle of a take. I took the opportunity to ask what they were filming and take a peek in the window. The guy said it is a new HBO pilate called Wonderful Maladies starring Sarah Michelle Geller. Cool. As I passed by, I looked again and saw her through the window. When I crossed the street there were tons of paparazzi with telescoping lenses trying to get pictures of her. I will have to watch the pilate so I can see our cute neighborhood cafe on tv and say: I totally saw them filming that! :)

Undies...

I finally bit the bullet and potty trained Asher. Thank you Summer for your 3 Day Potty Training recommendation. I got the e-book a few weeks ago, and have been reading it and re-reading it, and pumping myself up. I had to wait until I had stocked up on undies and had a 3 day block where we didn't have to go anywhere, and last Wednesday was my day of choice. Luckily, the weather was pretty rotten last week, so we didn't miss out on much. 

Asher did amazingly well. I was prepared for 3 days of pee and poo everywhere, but he was essentially potty trained after about 3 or 4 accidents. He decided he didn't like having wet undies, so he would tell me when he needed to go. Sometimes it was when he had already gone a little or when it was all about to let loose. But he just got better and better over the 3 days, and now he is a champion. It took a couple days more to conquer the whole #2 business... you know, with less chances to practice and all. But I think he is finally feeling comfortable telling me, and is getting his business done in the toilet.

I was a little nervous to venture out into the city with a newly potty trained kid, but he is so good at telling me. Even when he is in the stroller he tells me, and luckily, the neighborhood coffee shop owner is a very nice man to let non-customers use his potty. Even at the park and at church he told me (and the nursery leaders), and used the big toilet, which he hadn't even done at home yet. I think the big toilet is his favorite now. He has been experimenting getting on and off the toilet by himself, and trying to find the best way to sit on it... backwards vs forwards, stuff like that. He seems to be pretty proud of himself.

He hasn't had a single accident while we've been out and about, not even at the zoo. He has had a couple at home, but only when he can't make it to the potty in time. He has even been doing pretty well at night. The first few nights he woke up dry, but I think I have been a little over confident in the amount of milk I could give him at night, and he has woken up at 6:30 am or so, as he is peeing. But I am confident he will be back on track soon. I will say though, that after 3 days of being right there next to Asher ALL THE TIME, I was so tired and "done", and to be honest, really sick of Asher.  Summer said in her post that she cried on day one and two, but it was day three that I wanted to cry, because I just couldn't take it anymore.  It wasn't easy, but it was DEFINITELY worth it, and I am so proud of Asher for all of his hard work!

Haircut

I attempted my first haircut on Asher the other day. It turned out ok, nothing amazing, but better than it was before. I think he looks handsome...

Before

After

Goggles...

About Asher

Yesterday, we had some friends over for a little play date, and one of the moms started singing "going on a bear hunt". It all started out well with the kids happy and singing along, but then when it got to the dark dark cave, and the cold, wet nose, Asher's face turned very concerned and scared looking. He is now very scared of the "dark, black bear", and is a little scared to go to bed now. As sad as it makes me for him, there is a perk to him being scared. He doesn't move or make a sound after I put him in his bed. I ended up getting a crib tent awhile ago, so that he wouldn't climb into Sayer's crib at night. Sayer has been sleeping in our room for various reasons, so Asher likes to sleep in the crib. It has been nice for this bear thing, because I can tell him that he is zipped up safe and sound in his tent, and that no one will get him in there, and it works very well. He is such a sweet little boy. 

I can't believe how quickly he is growing up. He talks so well now and has a great vocabulary. I love hearing him talk about things and asking questions and working things out in his mind. He is so curious and loves to read and learn. I love being able to talk to him about things and see how much he actually understands.  We are really good friends with our neighbors directly beneath us, and Asher LOVES their mom.  He asks me to call her and will seriously carry on a conversation for 5-10 minutes with her.  Debbie is so great to humor him and ask him questions.  He calls her "Devi".  It's pretty cute.

Isn't that picture of him the sweetest?!