Almost famous

After 31 years in this city, I finally made it into the New York Times (see slideshow).  Brian was interviewed last week by a reporter doing a story on our neighborhood and how LIC has changed, and then asked if he could send a photographer to take a pic of us to go with the story! We picked up the house continuously, nervously for a couple of hours before she arrived and we didn't  let Maya touch anything!  We took several pics on the couch and got Bailey in there too (his 15 minutes of fame!), but they ended up choosing a picture of us standing near the kitchen counter. I really would have loved for my dog to appear in the paper with his name under the pic! But Maya has a goofy grin on her face in the picture they chose. The article is great for the neighborhood.

Please contact our press secretary for any autograph requests.. haha.

Vegas, baby - literally

We thought it was time Maya went to Vegas and hang with some high rollers. In truth, Vegas was a fun place to go with a kid. There is a lot to do during the day. The hotels are amazing (Paris, Venetian and Mandalay Bay  - they built a beach including waves in the pool! -  were some of our  favorites).

We went to see the dolphins at the Mirage, the very cool shark reef aquarium at Mandalay, lionesses and their cubs at the MGM Grand, and some animated creatures at the Rain Forest cafe were a hit as well - so there were plenty of animals to keep her entertained.


We kept her up one night to see the dancing fountains in front of the Bellagio set to music which she loved. She was rather freaked by the wax figures at Madam Toussaud's - I can only imagine what she was thinking (but we did take a picture with the President!).

It was in the 80's but felt much hotter in the dry desert air and we spent some time poolside as well. Overall a great trip.

Go Bunnies

Spring 2010 is making Spring 2009 look even worse that it was when we had 21 days of rain in June and practically no sun or warm weather before that. The weather these past two weeks, albeit punctuated with a few consecutive days of heavy rain and floods all up the east coast, has been stunning. Lots of sun and weather consistently in the high 60's and 70's. 

The weather this past weekend for Easter was no different when we headed to Wellesley and got a bonus visit from Lauren and Nathan, who just celebrated his second Bday. Maya and her cousin Nathan played well together and we had a really nice weekend - enjoyed time in playgrounds, walks with the 4 adult dogs, played with the six 10-day old puppies and enjoyed Easter festivities on Saturday including baby animal petting zoo and an Easter egg hunt and baskets for the kids. Mmmmmm... chocolate for breakfast. I mean how can you say no. 

Maya loved the puppies, after asking to see pictures of them all week long on my phone, the real thing was pretty thrilling for her. We played with possible naming options for the little things, all still with eyes closed and weighing just shy of a pound, with a few of us agreeing that Greek Gods and Goddesses would be a fun way to go (I mean Apollo,  Hercules, Hera, Aphrodite - how cute is that?!). Maya was darling in her pink and green Easter dress and the weekend felt like a real break. Some highlights in pictures...

What do urban babies do?

Urban babies go to art class.

Urban babies walk their dogs.

Urban babies go to the gym.

Urban babies check out the sights.

Urban babies go shopping.

Urban babies play on swings.

Urban babies stand in their strollers to eat at the counter at Dean and Deluca.

Urban babies go to story time.

Urban babies hang with their friends at the playground.

Urban babies practice the piano.

Urban babies go for strolls in the park.

Urban babies just try to keep it cool.

For Kahlua

Yesterday afternoon we said goodbye to our sweet old boy, gave him a kiss and let him go. He had been in kidney failure for several months, and on lots of pills and getting subcutaneous fluids at least twice a week to help flush out his system and do the job that his kidneys could not. We were lucky that the vet in our area in LIC agreed to let me bring him twice a week after work to have his fluids done because it was not going well at home - he fought like a doberman!! Feisty little doxie, body of a shrimp, heart of a lion. But the fluids did make him feel better so we kept it up. The last few weeks he deteriorated rapidly and stopped eating and we knew it was time. It was only fair. Prolonging it further would risk him having a seizure or a stroke and he was feeling lousy. I think he was tired. We said our goodbye Tuesday morning and I took him to the vet Tuesday afternoon and he agreed. His passing was peaceful, he was snoring in true Kahlua fashion in my arms and he passed very quickly. Never easy, but it was the right thing to do to help him along the path he was already on.

As many of you know Kahlua was my first dog. I adopted him in the early summer of 2004 in Massachusetts before heading off to grad school at Duke. I knew I would be living alone and really wanted to find a canine roommate. I found him on Petfinder, small adult dog about 7 or 8, with an even temperament. Perfect. I met him and knew that was it, he was mine. He was so excited to see us when we came to pick him up for good two weeks later, and get him out of the apartment he was sharing with way too many dogs for the space - a big hearted rescuer took him in when his family surrendered him and did the best she could for the dogs under her care. He kept running back and forth to the door and back to us, as if saying 'let's go! let's go!', little legs doing double time as I was trying to sign the adoption contract in the kitchen. Kahlua was ready for his next adventure in life.

We spent a lovely two years at Duke.  I have fond memories of coming home to him sleeping on the couch, getting up and stretching when he heard the door before coming to greet me. He flew home with me for breaks, went to the beach in East Hampton, spent Christmas in Wellesley, even came to work with me when I interned at NOW. He was such a pal, and always happy to be included. My second year we began going to doxie Meetups  in Durham where I met a woman who was very involved in dachshund rescue through DRNA, and I adopted Bailey. And the dynamic duo Bailey-Kahlua mudslide was born! I was hooked. Loved the breed, and wanted to be more involved in rescue.  I have Kahlua to thank for that. He had a wonderful little personality and has been an anchor for Bailey who has a more anxious disposition. They've been roommates and bedmates ever since Bailey joined us at 6 months in November of 2005. Bailey loved Kahlua, would always engage him to play as Kahlua tolerated his puppiness. I moved back to New York and to our apartment in Murray Hill and they were the self-proclaimed kings of the block, keeping each other company while we were at work, barking at all the other dogs in our building and the neighborhood, big or small.  People would laugh to see such peep-squeeks bark and lunge with all their might. All bark and no bite. Two years later came Maya to add to the circus and the five of us moved together to LIC, our pups taking all the change in stride.

For the moment, we are all sad that he cannot be with us, and trying to adjust to life and our routine without him.  He required a lot of attention, so the absence is definitely felt. We are also so grateful for having had him in our life. He was a wonderful little dog.  Personally, I have him to thank for showing me the ropes and making me a life long dog owner. If Kahlua taught us anything it was the tremendous potential of rescue dogs who truly need a second chance to love and be loved in return. My life is so much richer for it. Please leave your comments and any memories or stories that you have of him. We would love to read them and reminisce.

 Enjoy bossing all the big dogs around in doggy heaven Kahlua. Demand treats and belly rubs, and enjoy your naps in the sun. You were very loved and will be greatly missed.  Lots of love and face licks.

Spread a little love...

Welcome February! The weird 28-day month where we celebrate Black history, women's heart health awareness month, Valentine's Day and as a finale, my birthday. Maya will be 18 months old, except she was robbed of her 'official' 18 month old benchmark because her birthday falls on the 30th, so she's a little jipped of this ever so important marker of her toddlerhood and will just have to share mommy's birthday on the 28th.


With all the Sturm und Drang (go Tim Gunn) in the news these days, the unemployment rate, Haiti, economic woes and Toyotas not being safe (sheesh) it's nice to have places to turn to that focus on the positive. It is after all a 'love month'.  I came across Optimist World, a website that reports on positive news, charities, tales of triumph and all around 'fuzzy feeling' inducing stories. The Saints winning yesterday ain't bad either. And this Sarah Palin oops is just plain funny, unless you're a Republican which I doubt many of you (you being my loyal and dedicated readers) are. So enjoy.


Another fun project of late has been a little knitting enterprise I started up with a friend of mine. We call this little project of ours that keeps us up knitting at night Urban Baby Knits, and for those of you who are aware of Etsy, truly a little gem of a website, we opened up a shop there to sell well, you guessed it - knits for babies. We don't have much up yet but we're hoping to keep it going (so please check back! We'd love your feedback), and we sure are having a lot of fun designing items for it. I find it to be a rather satisfying hobby, with a concrete finished product at the end.

So there it is - we knit, watch football, celebrate birthdays, take naps, host friends, bundle up and make plans for dinner to make it through this ever so coldest of months. And if you're particularly tired and down about the weather and need a laugh - there's always Cake Wrecks.

Brain growth

Lately, our little blabber mouth has put several new words under her belt in a short amount of time. These last two weeks we've been rather taken aback by her development, as she seems to be learning a new word almost everyday. Its as if she was on the verge of a developmental explosion, observing the world around her and then finally hit the brink.  She's also become quiet interested in her own body parts and will point to her head, nose ears, mouth on cue - and today belly button, which she can't say but has become totally fascinated by. Now Maya of course many of you know has quiet the belly. So getting around it to actually see her belly button requires some maneuvering.  She'll take both hands and push her belly in while leaning over to view her 'bee bo'. She'll admire the button on her middle for quiet a while, before coming over to try and see yours (and stick her finger in it! it's maddening). It's pretty funny to watch.

We have her signed up to start at a nursery school across the street in the fall right after she turns 2. That's right, you heard correctly folks, she will be two this coming August. And although that is still a ways off somehow we now have this little person living with us. I'm rather excited for her to start school, she'll only be going two days a week from 9-2pm and there are several children in our building that go to nursery school there and everyone loves it. The space is very cool - a large loft space divided up with short book cases to create smaller spaces, reading areas, science area, drawing, eating area, a little gym and music room. I wonder what she'll wear on the first day of school.... hmmmm