James Goes to Work 2014

On Wednesday, Kevin had a department meeting on a day he doesn't ordinarily work so after some negotiating we decided on an unofficial "take your son to work day." I thought it would be good for him to see where Dada works because he's been fairly confident for most of his young life that when Dada leaves for work he's just nearby on the other side of the front door. Opening the door and going outside doesn't persuade him otherwise.

The "visiting professor" in Kevin's office

Checking out the fountains at Stony Brook

At home, James loves helping out where he can. He brings Miranda toys, and brings me her burp cloth, and shows an interest in helping with diapering or bathtime.

The boys missed Miranda while they were at work

At dinnertime he brings a stool over to watch me cook and I let him help by picking herbs or adding salt and pepper to dishes. On this particular day he helped me make stuffed peppers for dinner.

 

Adding cheese to the top of the peppers

Great job!

He's such a little man already!

Meeting Aria 2014

So we made it into Manhattan to meet Aria, and so Hudson and James could play, but between the disaster that is Miranda's schedule, and the Brooklyn Bridge being closed, we arrived just in time for Hudson's nap. But no worries, because we entertained ourselves at the super awesome park near their apartment, the Imagination Playgound. And after nap-time we were still able to go visit.

James and Hudson haven't exactly bonded yet, but they should because they both recently had the same traumatic experience. These babies, out of nowhere, just suddenly move into their homes! Here we are holding the little intruders.

Christina snuggling Miranda and my first meeting with Aria!

Hudson and James! 

Grandma McLeod was here too. And Miranda loves her!

Imagination Playground!

Wait for it...

Splash!

Oh hi.

• Last time we saw Christina and Dan in May 2014
• Last playdate with Hudson in October 2013
• Last visit to Imagination Playground in October 2012

Miranda is 4 Months 2014

This month we figured out that we might have been over-estimating Miranda's periods of wakefulness. We realized she need to eat and be put down for a nap every 1.5-2 hours. This was hard to figure out because she fights the naps SO HARD. When she's awake though she's slightly more interested in grabbing at toys and trying to get some in her mouth. She likes the jumperoo for about 5 minutes at a time and can jump in it. She continues to smile and make cute little noises at us, but she mostly meows like a cat. She has never met a cat.

4 months!

Food: Kevin got her to take 3 ounces here and there from a bottle, but Nana finally got her to take substantial amounts when we went out to Jackie and Rob's wedding. So, Miranda will now sort of take a bottle after much protest, but mostly I'm still her hostage. She nurses about every 1.5-2 hours. (I'm used to it now.)

Craving Cuban food!

Sleep: She goes to bed a little earlier now between 7:30-9 p.m. depending on her well her naps go that day. But she always wakes up every 3 hours to eat which is worse than before when she'd give me at least one little chunk of 5-6 hours without eating. When she wakes up at night, I feed her and put her back in her co-sleeper crib (with the exception of a few nights when she REFUSED to go back to the crib). Then she'd wake up again at 4:30ish, and after feeding, she moves to our bed. More feeding at 7:30-8, and often she'll get up then for a day of rabble-rousing.

Naps ... sigh. We have to FORCE her to take a nap every 1.5-2 hours. She does best if I nurse her down and then take a nap with her. Ain't nobody got time for that.

Napping with Dada

Another common nap location.

Happy as a (spoiled) clam.


Because she thinks she's too good for a BABY swing, that's why.

Growth: She's in size 3-6 months. At her very late 3 month appointment she was about 14 pounds. Now she's about 15 pounds.

Had to raise the side of the co-sleeper crib because, this.

Skills: She giggled for the first time this month! Grandma tickled her and then it was just giggles all the times after that. She loves grabbing her feet. She grabs our hands to chew on because she's teething. She also swats me away when I'm bugging her. She loves that other baby in the mirror. She's still not really interested in toys beyond a passing interest in her rattle (mostly because she can chew it) and the toys attached to the jumperoo.

Grabbing

The baby in the mirror is awesome.


More grabbing.

Personality: Miranda smiles at us a lot and seems to have quite the little sense of humor already. She's in LOVE with Dada and she's mildly interested in James. We don't have to walk her around now that we force her to take regular naps.

Hanging out with James in the baby gym

James "reading" to Miranda, a book about James and Miranda!

Me: I am a SAHM two days a week and it's brutal. I don't know how people do it 5 days a week. That's insane! I'm WAHM/SAHM the other 5 days a week. Kevin and I pretty much split child care except only I can nurse, and that happens about every 2 hours or more.

I lost 25-25.5. I still have about 4.5-5 pounds to pre-Miranda and 10.5 to pre-James.

Kevin: Miranda is more smiley.

Sometimes, yes.

James: James is gentle around Miranda and calls her turkey or turkey sauce. He loves "his baby" as he describes her to other people. He has grown ever more helpful and hands me things when I have her, most often her burp cloth.

James's drawing of Miranda.


Can I eat this delicious thumb, please?

• Miranda at 3 months, July 2014
• Miranda at 2 months, June 2014 
• Miranda at 1 month, May 2014
• James at 4 months, August 2011

Jackie and Rob's Wedding 2014

Our friends Jackie and Rob got married in Manhattan! It was super fancy! The bride was my sometimes-partner-in-crime at law school. Now she fights injustice by day and runs marathons on the weekends. Yes, that's the description of a modern-day super hero.

The event was black tie optional, so Kevin and I were feeling pretty cute when we walked into a welcome area hour with wine and champagne. So we were off to a great start already! Eventually we were ushered into the ceremony. Jackie converted to Judaism so the ceremony was Jewish. I've been to a few Jewish weddings and I never get tired of the little touches that make it awesome, such as both parents walking the bride and groom down the aisle and the glass smashing. I particularly enjoyed the excitement with which Jackie enunciated the word "husband" in "I take you to be my husband."

The new Mr. and Mrs.!

The first ceremony was pretty brief and then we moved into the most serious cocktail hour I've ever attended. I couldn't try all the appetizers because there were too many but each one I tried was a delicious culinary adventure. And also, I was the first one to find the sushi bar... I tried to save some sushi for the other guests. I did my best, you guys.

The reception was officially opened by Jackie's dad's speech. He is the cutest funniest person. He poked fun at Jackie during his speech and you could tell how much he loves her. Rob and Jackie changed into some beautiful traditional Korean clothing for the cocktail hour. This was also a good heads up that the cocktail hour would be followed by a traditional Korean ceremony.

This might be one of my favorite pictures at a wedding ever (Cocktail hour)

The Korean ceremony is called a Paebaek ceremony, and traditionally it involved the bride being presented to the groom's family but in modern-day celebrations the groom is also presented to the brides family. Obviously this involved another fabulous change of outfit. Everybody bowed to one another, Rob and Jackie shared some wine, some "elders" gave some astonishing words of wisdom. One particularly amusing part of the ceremony was that Rob's parents had to throw dates and chestnuts and Rob and Jackie were supposed to catch them on a long piece of fabric. They caught 24 in total, after which we were told this indicated the number of children they would have. I hope, for their sake, that 24 is actually the number of children and grandchildren they will have.

Rob and Jackie during the Paebaek ceremony

Catching a lot of kids!

Thanking Rob's parents for the 24 children (cute!)

I missed getting a picture of the Western ceremony kiss but this one is better!

The Paebaek ceremony ends with the groom carrying the bride out on piggy back!

Then they changed back to their black tie outfits from the Western wedding ceremony for their first dance. We dined, we danced like crazy, and then we jumped around in slow motion for Rob and Jackie's video pleasure.  The band was amazing, and at one point Kevin and I actually looked up to see if Nicki Minaj had taken a hold of the microphone. The woman singing was decidedly not Nicki Minaj but could have fooled a radio listener. Everybody was dancing! We had the possibly the biggest group dancing the Hora in all of New York. (Well, perhaps on that evening.)

First dance

Lifting Jackie and Rob up during the Hora. (This is the best view we got.)

Okay, so they had a video area set up, where anything you did in 24-second increments was made to look awesome when it was converted to slow motion. However, no one warned us that there would also be still photos of the insanity.

The law school group and spouses

Rob and Jackie kept the party going all night long and went to sing Karaoke after the reception was over, but Kevin and I had to head home because Miranda was not doing great on her first night away from me. But we had a wonderful magical night, Miranda forgives me, and I can't wait to see Jackie and Rob again and hear about how amazing it was for them. You can see how happy they are together when you're with them. And if marriage is a marathon and not a sprint, well, Jackie is supremely well-prepared! Congratulations!

Nana is a Hero- August 2014

In anticipation of Jackie and Rob's wedding, we put Miranda through bottle boot camp, which is a cutesie term for forcing a baby to take a bottle. According to popular wisdom, this should be the father's job because a baby is less likely to accept a bottle from her mother. Kevin was able to get Miranda to take 3 ounces at a time on any given day that he tried. This involved a lot of tears, screaming, and redness on Miranda's part.

James and Nana shielding themselves from Miranda

We told my mom the situation and she STILL agreed to watch the kids so we could go to Jackie and Rob's wedding. James was an angel but Miranda screamed and cried the whole time we were gone. My mother persevered though and pretty soon my mother had her taking 8 ounces from a bottle! Thank you, Nana, for a very long evening!

Baby Bettina 2014!

Kevin's friend from high school Neil and his wife Anna had a beautiful baby girl named Bettina! I had to limit myself to three pictures because there was so much cuteness to pick from so here they are.

Bettina is born!

Neil snuggling his new daughter

Mom and baby are home and greeting the fur baby.

FPPL "Bob Dylan" Concert 2014

Kevin and I took the kids to sit outside a local concert. The Hambones played on the front lawn of the library and perform a tribute concert of Bob Dylan's classic album, Blood On The Tracks. Welcome to serious music kids! Obviously we couldn't stay for the whole thing because Miranda doesn't like anything for very long, but James had a good time dancing around and making friends. And I felt like I got out and did something!

Sitting outside- Do you see Waldo? I mean James?

Aw, good times.

Miranda is ready to fight though.

#selfie

#failedselfie

Visit from Trey and Sunny 2014

Sunny, Trey, Cort, and Max came to visit us which was so fun because Cort is close to James's age and and Max is close to Miri's age. Not that Max and Miri are so social right now, but still, it's cool. We hung out and took the kids to the park. Simple, relaxing fun.

At the park!

One of the cutest things was that James and Cort had a sleepover in James's room and in the morning when they woke up, Sunny heard them chatting on the baby monitor. James told Cort that they had to wait for the bunny to get up before they left their beds (referring to a special alarm clock we gave him to keep him in bed later).  Cort told James that he was going to see trains today. How cute!

James and Cort climbing everything

Cute.

And they're off!

This was our first time meeting Max and he's the coolest little guy. He hangs out and smiles and charms like crazy. He loved our jumperoo and it was so fun to watch him have a good time.

Miranda fell asleep with Dada

Max is the cutest sweetest kid. I love him.

Day 2 at the park- stroller train!

• Our last visit to Sunny and Trey in 2012