Orchids, chocolate bunnies & 3rd trimester

Spring is taking it's sweet old time in NY to really get going, leading us to continue to look for indoor activities believe it or not. We're all a little sick of it and really ready to shed our winter coats (especially if you have no waist to speak of and there isn't a chance in hell you will get anything closed around you to shield you from the wind).

Ahem, yes we're ready for warmer weather.

So we headed to the NY Botanical Garden for their annual Orchid Show. The theme was 'orchids on broadway' and the entire exhibit weaves you through a massive interconnected greenhouse/conservatory passing by several temperate zones. We really enjoyed it. The rest of the garden was still very dormant, barely a touch of green on some trees.

To fully embrace the Easter spirit (well.. the mainstream commercial one involving chocolate eggs and bunnies), we hosted an easter egg decorating play date for several neighbors. Never really know what a group of 2 and 3 year olds will do when presented with paints, markers, colored eggs, lots of sugar and free reign... but the kids did very well. Sort of a prelude to the Easter festivities we are looking forward to in Wellesley next weekend when we go to visit Grandma and Grandpa Hen.

And finally ... I bid farewell to the second trimester and bonjour to the third this coming week. Certainly feeling a little more tired this time around, but I blame most of that on Maya. Overall feeling really good, and making lots of time for yoga.

Birthday Surprise!

Happy Birthday Brian!!

Thanks to everyone who joined us for lunch and for surprising Brian with a belated 35th birthday celebration!

Disney World!

Our trip to Disney World is perhaps best told in pictures. Overall it was a fun and action packed trip and Maya did really well - it is a lot for a 2.5 year old to take in. We met all the princesses, had dinner with several of them one night at the Akershus Banquet hall in Norway at Epcot, stayed up late to see the light parade in the Magic Kingdom one night, went on all the key rides that we had our eyes on (immediately discounting all roller coasters not suitable for little her and pregnant me) including an animal Safari and saw shows and even made time for the hotel pool and man-made white sand beach.


We stayed at the Polynesian which is conveniently located across the lake from the Magic Kingdom giving us easy access to the monorail and ferries. Maya even made it through the Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted House! It was a really fun time with beautiful weather. Made it back Thursday night so we have the weekend to rest up and get ready to hit the routine again next week.

Round 2 ~ bring on the pink!

Here we go!! Down that parenthood path yet again, this time expecting another baby girl! Baby 2 is expected to arrive sometime in late July, so we'll have some summer months to enjoy together before heading back into hibernation. Very much looking forward to doing it all again, even though it feels like we just did it and were just getting out of the weeds! Brian's excited at the prospect of not having any excuse to buy anything girly - I really did keep everything of Maya's when she was a baby, not just all the gear but every article of clothing to the point that I ended up giving a bunch of stuff to the Salvation Army. But it does make us feel like we have some idea what to expect with another girl - although we're most likely kidding ourselves!! Who KNOWS what she will be like.

Little Ms. Maya has some idea of what is to come, she saw the baby on an earlier ultrasound and occasionally gives the belly a pat pat or a hug. Must be all incredibly confusing to her but so far she's taking it in stride. Of course, we will see what she actually does when presented with an infant to compete for attention with. At least she'll be in school a few days a week this summer so she'll have her own thing going on. We've bought some big sister books to try to lessen the blow but still, who knows how that will go. We do have a special trip planned just for her - we leave Sunday for Disney World (right after Brian's Birthday) for 5 days. Did I mention it is 80 degrees in Florida now? Princess mania here we come!!

Taking name suggestion on this one - feel free to throw in yours in the hat!

New Year, New Projects

The year kicked off with a bang for all three of us. After hosting 10 toddlers for a Christmas cookie party, a special surprise building visit from Santa, a week off for the holidays spent in East Hampton and at home, and a quiet New Year's eve spent mostly cooking in preparation for a fun New Year's day brunch we hosted for friends, things actually got busy (ha!) with work, school and activities.

Maya started attending nursery school 3 days a week (instead of the 2 she did in the fall) - in large part because she loves it and the weather has been so miserably cold and wintery that she was far more engaged with her friends, music and yoga class (that's right folks - 2 year olds do yoga, her downward dog is actually really good) and art projects than she was at home cycling through Disney movies that it felt like the right thing to do. Plus it gives me a day alone to run errands :) Never a bad thing.

She also started ballet for 2's at the Long Island City School of Ballet - which is just adorable. Two of our neighbors also attend and the girls get to play with lots of props - wands to put magic on their feet (so that they'll do magic ballet steps) and get to strut their stuff around the room.

She was a disaster the first class (lots of lying on the floor with her eyes closed), much better the second time although a little shy during her solos and apparently very cooperative and motivated for her third class (today, dad went, mom had to work). It definitely requires that they perk up their listening skills to follow all the directions given - no small feat, and a great confidence builder when they realize they can do it. It's been fun to watch her progression in just a few weeks.  

We've contemplating doing and easy ski trip with her to a local mountain, but realized it would be a challenge when we trekked her through the snow to do some sledding at the Gantry state park near our apartment and she wasn't too thrilled - until she figured out the sledding part, that was fun! Might need to wait till next year, although Brian is itching to take her.

Brian's been busy at work but pleased with his year's performance and looking forward to projects on the horizon.  I continue to work part-time and from home which has been a great arrangement. We're gearing up to go to Disney World for 5 days in March which we are really looking forward to.  Maya will surely be on princess heaven - overload and it should be a lot of fun. My parents in true retired fashion are spending 2 months in Uruguay, the warmest months of the year there and rounding off their travels with a trip to Carnival in Rio de Janeiro.

 Now if we could only get NY to thaw - but by the looks of it another Northeaster is just around the corner. Stay warm folks!

December 2010 Update

The fall continues to fly by! We made it to Chicago for Halloween to visit with the Breits. Maya had a ball with her cousins as usual - she loves the attention, and really loved her cousin Anna's stash of princess costumes. We couldn't get them off of her, at least it was Halloween so heading to downtown Chicago with a Cinderella dress pulled over her jeans was not all that uncalled for. We made it back to trick or treat with our neighbors in our building Sunday - craziness as usual but a lot of fun. Maya ate the chocolate as it was given to her at each door: "moooore choche?" became the phrase of the night. The girl is obsessed!!!!!

We made it to Wellesley for Thanksgiving  - just us and Brian's parents, and oh yeah - 6 dachshunds all demanding to be let in and out of the backdoor at different times. Burger had a blast romping and rolling with his littermate Duke, and was disciplined more than once by mama Gina. It was freezing in true New England fashion.

Sadly on Friday evening, Brian's Grandma Charlotte passed at the golden age of 94. The family is headed to Chicago this weekend for the service and funeral.

Pumpkintown

Love, love, love the Hamptons in the fall. The farms are all bursting with produce. We made our third annual pilgrimage to Hank's Pumpkintown last weekend outside of Bridgehampton, and bought enough pumpkins, apples and indian corn to sink a ship. The apples went to school with Maya (it was our turn to provide the snacks) the pumpkins were carved, some will be roasted and the rest are decorating our front door and dining room table. We've certainly gotten into the spirit of the season.  There were tractor rides, and hay rides, a corn maze (which is fun for about 45 seconds and then you just really want to get out and can't figure out how), mountains of pumpkins and play equipment for the kids. The trip made for some fun pictures, especially when you compare how small Maya was last year in relation to the pumpkins.. hee hee.

Two weeks earlier we flew to Rochester to visit Roshni and her family. Maya and Liam did well playing

together and being roomates for the weekend.