A New York Frame of Mind

This weekend Sto, Pippa, and I had a rare chance to go out of town. So we packed up and headed to NYC to see my cousins. Emily and Jamie have a new house a little north of the city so we went there first. We spent the afternoon admiring their adorable abode and walking down to the nearby lake. Pippa got to ride in a toddler swing (because, as Laura informed me, she is now considered a toddler...but I don't think I'm ready for that!) with a huge grin on her face the whole time. She loves the swing.

Then we headed to Jersey City to put the Pippster to bed at my

in-laws condo and set off to dinner with Emily and Jamie at Craft. Craft is Tom Colicchio's, of Top Chef fame, restaurant. And, as I've already mentioned, I'm a huge Top Chef fan. This time, however, I was not disappointed with my dinner. It was awesome! Not to sound like a complete food dork, but all the flavored were really complex and everything was perfectly cooked. Well, Sto will say that the porterhouse was a bit undercooked but I don't eat cows so who cares. After dinner we stopped in a bar caller Rye for a couple drinks and the conversation led us to hop in a cab to the East Village to a place called Banjo Jim's for some live bluegrass music. It was awesome! We were way overdressed for that type of place and got a few looks, but soon the music started up and everyone was having a good time. At the end of the night I was asking myself why we didn't do this sort of thing more often when we lived in the city? No matter. We still live close enough to have a great night out with great people like Jamie and Emily whenever we want.

The next morning, after a little Starbucks, we took the Path into Manhattan again, this time with Pippa in tow.

We met our other cousin, Lindsay, in Greenwich for brunch. Over Huveos Rancheros we realized we must be close to the High Line Park and decided to wander around until we found it. The High Line is a walking park built on old, elevated train tracks. Its beautiful! We walked up and down it while Pippa napped in her stroller.

What a great way to spend a day in Manhattan!

We packed a lot into a short amount of time and we all crashed when we got home. But it was a great weekend and I'm looking forward to the next one just like it!

10 Arts

Food club again this week! I was super excited about our restaurant choice this time around. We had a reservation at 10 Arts in the Ritz Carlton, which is Philadelphia's Eric Ripert restaurant with Jennifer Carroll as Chef de Cuisine. If you're a Top Chef watcher you'll remember her from last season. Top Chef is one of my top shows so I was really looking forward to it. I dug out a dress I haven't worn since I became pregnant. There was absolutely no way I could have nursed in it so it was a real treat! I felt cute as I walked out the door and thankfully even realized I had forgotten to zip it up all the way before I walked into the restaurant. I was only mildly embarrassed to ask a stranger on the street to help me out.

I met Laura at the hotel bar and we sat down to dinner with a champagne cocktail and dug into some great conversation. I should have known something was amiss when I took note of how salty the butter for the bread was. We started out with an order of grilled octopus and corn chowder. The octopus was very good, though a little salty for my taste, and turned out to be the best dish of the night in my opinion. The chowder was OK but didn't impress me much. For entrees Laura ordered the lobster and shrimp ravioli (good but salty) and I ordered the salmon. The waitress threw me for a loop when she asked me how I wanted it done. I wasn't sure how to respond since I've never been asked this for salmon before and felt kind of like an idiot. Thanks to my friend Mary, next time I will just respond 'Chef's choice.' I found the salmon to be just 'eh' surrounded by a broth that was, you guessed it, too salty. We also ordered a side of mash potatoes (obviously) that turned out to be way too salty! I should have sent them back, but I didn't have the nerve.

Nothing on the dessert menu caught our eye so we decided to head out to Max Brenner's a few blocks over. I had never been there and was met by a delightful chocolate aroma upon entering. As we sat down Laura said there are so many yummy deserts that it's overwhelming. True that! It was hard to pick but we settled on a play on smores and some coffee. A choice we did not regret.

So overall dinner was a disappointment, but the night finished on a high note. However, I consider any night out with such a good friend as true success!

ZZZzzzz

Ok, lets talk sleep. More specifically, lets talk lack of sleep. I preface this by saying that I realize I have a good sleeper, even when she's out of whack, when compared to some other babies. I attribute half of that to nature and the other half to nurture. We've worked hard to be a good sleeper! But even Pippa can't withstand the dreaded 8 month sleep regression. For those of you who don't know or don't remember, babies go through a series of predictable developmental stages that often mess with their sleep. Our first major one was at 4 months. That was the point at which Pippa learned to roll over one direction, but could not roll back in order to get comfy for sleeping. That period (which lasted about a month!) caused much weeping and gnashing of teeth. This one is equally as frustrating.

Night time is 'annoying', I'll say. She's gone from sleeping from 6pm till 5-6am (let me stop you right there, before you say 'Wow! You're spoiled!' (because I'm really getting tired of people saying that) and refer you back to my opening statement) to now waking up at 11-12 and 3-4 and then again around 6:30. Often she wakes up more often than that, I just don't go in right away and she falls back asleep for an hour or so. I haven't gotten a full, uninterrupted night sleep in over a year! (The 3rd trimester seriously messes with you sleep!) But that isn't the worst part. Its the naps. She's driving me crazy with the naps. She can be snuggling and sucking her thumb on my shoulder but the second I put her down she will start to play... and play... and play. Yesterday she played for, no lie, 2 hours before finally knocking off! And she has completely skipped an afternoon nap for the last 3 days.

'Well, maybe she just is starting to need less naps,' you say. Nay! says I. She is a grumpy, needy girl which is totally out of character for her. Its starting to stress me out. I want my happy baby back...and some sleep would be nice too.

The Poop Incident

Yesterday Pippa and I were out to lunch with our friends Mary and Elizabeth. Everyone had a great time. The mom's ate bruschetta and panini while the babies feasted on banana puffs. Pippa was happy to show off her two new teeth and Ellie demonstrated her superior solid food eating ability. As we were preparing to leave I pulled Pippa out of the highchair just to discover an explosion of poop from the front of her diaper! Now, I can count on one hand the number of times this has happened and almost never outside the house. So we paid the check and stood up to leave. Wouldn't you know it, clumps of poop actually fell onto the floor! Thank goodness no one else in the restaurant noticed! I just scooped it up and headed for the door. Once at the car I started to change her diaper and found that there was huge clumps of poop caked in her t-shirt too! It was never ending! I used almost every wipe I had to clean her up as she squirmed, butt naked, in the back of the car for all the passersby to see. Glad I still carry and extra outfit in the diaper bag. I had been considering stopping that practice since I never needed it. Lesson: Always be prepared!

Funny Girl

There are a bunch of funny things that Pippa has been doing lately. She's getting over a cold right now and is a real ba-ba-ba-booger face ba-ba-booger face. She has discovered that if she sucks on her top lip she can taste the snot running from her nose. Apparently its delicious. Not one of her more precious quirks.

She's becoming a real jokester too, which I'm sure she gets from her father. And she's taken to testing her limits, at a far earlier age than I care for, by the way. But lately (and not to share too much personal information) she likes to 'study' me while nursing and thinks it's hilarious to pinch my nipple! You should see the smirky grin she gives me just before she does it. I try hard not to react (and laugh) except to say, 'No, Pippa. Don't pinch. That hurts mama.' Hmph. And so it starts.

She crawling up a storm, too. On all fours. And she's becoming quite good at climbing! Hmph, again. She can get up the two stairs between our kitchen and family room with no problem. Getting down is an entirely different story, though, as she hasn't grasped the concept of height and gravity. And she just figured out how to climb up on the little chair in her room to get to the blinds. She's pretty adventurous and I wouldn't be surprised if she's one of those kids who climbs everything. Here we go with round two of baby proofing. I think its time to get one of those climbing toys for the yard.

Oh boy, I think I'm in for it!

Ode To The Baby Monitor

Dear Baby Monitor,

I want you to know that I love you. I am sorry I have been taking you for granted and I recognize the error of my ways. I promise I will always appreciate you and take good care of you from now on. I will stop clipping you to my shirt so that you fall to the ground whenever I bend over. And I promise I will not leave you or any of your parts at my mother's house ever again. I just miss you so much! I count the hours until your return. Please hurry home.

Yours Truly,

Heather

Jet Setting

I took Pippa on her first plane ride this weekend. It definitely had potential to be a disaster since each flight was during nap time and she has been teething. In fact, she cut her second tooth the day before we left. I am thankful, however, that she cut it the day before and not the day of.

We were flying out of Newark airport so we had about an hour drive to get there. The first challenge came when I had to find the correct lot to park in. I ended up in the 'short term' parking garage and knew it would cost me an arm and a leg, but thought it would be worth it to be under a roof and so close to the gate. (Especially fortuitous since it was pouring rain when I got home today.) Then I slung Pippa in the sling, grabbed the diaper bag, a rolling suitcase, and the car seat. It was the car seat that made it tough to do alone! Luckily there was an abandoned cart in the parking lot that I confiscated.

Check in and security went smoothly and before we knew it we were ready to board. I always thought that passengers with small children got to board first, but that didn't happen. I think I was robbed. But soon we were sitting in our window seat surrounded by freshly sanitized chair arms, window, and tray table. I was grateful when a woman sat down next to us (since I knew I would need to nurse during take off and landing). The look on her face, however, was anything but happy to see a baby. Not that I can blame her. I always felt the same way. Little did she know Pippa is usually an angel and this trip was no different. I nursed during take off and she fell asleep, staying blissfully silent until we started our descent. The trip home was basically the same. I didn't even need to pull out the secret weapon: banana puffs. I don't expect every trip to go so well, but I am very thankful since this was our first time and I was all alone. One thing is for sure, Pippa likes a good adventure!