AUTUMN AT BEAR MOUNTAIN

Autumn is certainly in the air.  On Sunday we opted for a picnic out of the city.  We drove an hour North to Bear Mountain to take in some crisp air and fall foliage.  The leaves are just starting to change.  Everywhere you looked there were splashes of orange, red, and yellow amongst the green forests.  Our picnic did not really last too long.  Seconds after this pic was taken, Annabelle fromage'd all over Nathan.  Too much airplane I guess.  Not 5 minutes later she had a major blowout on mom.  Oh well!  For the short time we were there we enjoyed the lake views and autumn in New York.  We journeyed home slightly smellier than when we left - such is life with a baby.

PORTRAIT

Strolling through Soho on Saturday afternoon we stumbled upon an artist painting portraits for donation at the Housing Works Thrift Shop.  We couldn't resist. 

FOR THE BIRDS

So going cold turkey is for the birds.  We did okay last night with our attempt at skipping the feed, though not great.  I am too much of a softie to truly let Annabelle cry it out.  She woke up at 5:00 and we gave her the paci.  She dozed off until 5:20 when she woke again.  I gave her the paci for a second time and she slept until 5:40 when she woke up again, this time hungry.  She began to cry and it was killing me.  Bruce and Walter went into the room and began pacing in front of the crib.  Her crying was clearly concerning them too.  After 5 minutes I picked her up and fed the poor child.  We didn't quite make it until 6:00, but then again Annabelle doesn't know how to tell time.  All she knows is she is hungry and I, as her mother, want to provide.  So much for tough love.  My new strategy is we will ease into it and try to get her to go a little later each night.  On a happy note, she seemed to not mind ditching the swaddle.  She fell asleep no problem.  I am finding sleep is a tricky thing and everyone has their own opinion on what's best.  You don't know until you try and we will continue on searching for the strategy that works best for Annabelle.  It is not worth breaking both our hearts and I have no doubt she will get there eventually. 

COLD TURKEY

Today was Annabelle's 4 month doctor's appointment.  She is a healthy baby girl weighing in at 12lbs. 13oz. and is 25.3 inches tall.  She is in the 30% percentile for weight and 82% for height, so she remains on the tall side.  In the words of Aunt Ade, "no front row for her!" 

The pediatrician kicked off the visit by asking us Annabelle was sleeping through the night.  Though she has always been a good sleeper, she recently has been waking up at 4:15 every morning like clock work for a feeding. The doc asked if I ever attempted to NOT feed her at 4:15 and let her try to go back to sleep herself.  "Ummm, no."  To this day we have not let her "cry it out".  The doctor felt though, it is time to try to work through the 4:15 feeding.  She insisted that Annabelle is old enough and weighs enough to make it a full night and recommended that tonight we give it a try and not feed her until 6:00 am.  She also recommended that we don't sleep in the same room as Annabelle for a few days since she can smell us and sense that we are there.  Lastly, she confirmed what I read in an article: that we should no longer be swaddling her.  Supposedly we are inhibiting her from utilizing her muscles and her ability to self-soothe.  So tonight we go cold turkey - no swaddle, no 4:15 feed.  It will be tough, but I am willing to give it a shot.  The idea of not feeding and then pumping in the wee hours of the morning sounds like a dream come true!  Since Nate and I will be having a sleep over in the living room, I am thinking we will make a night of it.  Pull out the sleeping bags, pop some popcorn, and put on a movie.  I'll let you know how it goes.   Keeping our fingers crossed that Annie E pulls through with flying colors.

WHOoo WHOOOO?

Don't you just love flea markets?  Vendor after vendor selling previously owned items that they feel someone else might find value in.  I love how amongst what appears as junk, a certain item will call out to you.  A true treasure.  The perfect something to fit your eclectic taste.  I found this treasure at the Petaluma flea market when we were visiting Diane and Michael.  Carved from solid wood this owl now chills in our living room.  Whoooooo'd of thought?

SKYPE, FINALLY!

I am all set up finally and ready to chat thanks to my dear friend, Kelly, who purchased us a skype camera as a welcome gift for Annabelle.  My skype name is cathiellis (real original, I know).  Add me to your contacts and let's set a date.  Can't wait to see your faces!  Morning coffee, anyone?

HELLO OCTOBER

 Another weekend has flown by and we have officially entered October.  To kick things off for the month, I headed uptown to have lunch with my boss.  We put the luncheon on our calendars a few weeks ago so we could discuss my return to work.  I dropped Annabelle off in Times Square with Nathan, thew on a pair of heels and cut across Bryant Park and up 5th Avenue to my office for the first time in months.  For a minute I was the old Cathi, minus the Baby Bjorn sticking out of my purse.  My feet and heart instantly began to ache - my feet from the heels and my heart from knowing that I have less than two months left at home with our little girl.  I plan to enjoy every minute of that time, because when I return at the end of November I will have my work cut out for me.  The company is restructuring the Marketing Department and rather than return to my old position as Marketing Director of Styling they have offered me the Director of Haircare position.  I will have a new team as well as a much larger budget and product portfolio to manage. Such begins my role as a working mother, forever searching for that perfect work/life balance.  In the spirit of taking care of business, later that evening we solidified a nanny for Annabelle.  She came to us through a referral and has a reputation for being incredibly loving, responsible and awesome with children.  I feel good about our choice and am also relieved to have found her so early on.  Such a major check on the check off list.

Saturday was one of those beautiful, sunny fall afternoons.  The sky was a magnificent blue with a crisp breeze blowing white clouds across the sky.  The Village was bustling and everyone was out and about getting their fix of outdoors before the weather turns frosty.  The three of us headed to the Charles Street Pier on the Hudson for a picnic and game of smash ball.  One thing I love about New York how much the locals utilize public spaces.  On the same short pier there were kids and adults alike practicing yoga, playing tag, football, soccer, whiffle ball, and doing calisthenics -- a whole lot going on.  After hitting our 2010 summer record of 86 smashball hits, we headed indoors for a ratatouille dinner inspired by the lovely meal Diane cooked for us in Petaluma last week.   Here's the prep. Delicious.

Sunday we hopped the subway to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens.  One of the exhibits featured stick structures that look like something from Where the Wild Things Are.  These monumental huts were created by the artist Patrick Dougherty.  They were supposed to only be in the Gardens through August, so we were pleasantly surprised to find they were still there.

Dougherty crafts large-scale sculptures from saplings: weaving, snagging, and flexing sticks into playful, nestlike architectural forms that evoke themes of shelter, habitat, and sustainability. Created of organic matter, his works have a natural life cycle, changing over time as the sticks settle and decay, eventually returning to the earth they grew from.

Here are some other shots from our visit.  Hoping you had a lovely weekend, too!

FOR TEGAN

 Dear Tegan,
Thank you so much for allowing me to share in the celebration of your marriage to Ben this past weekend.  You were absolutely glowing, head-to-toe, with your infectious laugh and beautiful smile.  The evening was truly enchanting.  If nymphs and fairies exist, I am sure they were in attendance as you exchanged vows under the canopy of pine trees with a warm breeze blowing.  Loved, loved, loved all of the wonderful details you put together - vintage mugs for each guest, the polaroid station with wooden frames hanging from the trees, white lights and tiki torches lighting up the night, the tree house honeymoon suite, vintage church pews for ceremony seating, a glowing teepee for the kiddos to play in, a rope swing, homemade guacamole sampling to compliment the taco truck feast, homemade snowball cookies and candy apples set on sticks, beautiful wild flowers everywhere, and the bomb dance mix to get your guests moving.  Wow!   You could tell that so much love and creativity was poored into every detail.  It was truly one of the most magical events I have ever attended. 

I wanted you to know that when the guests were urged to get up and say a few words to the bride and groom, I was really tempted, though my own fears and self-consciousness kept me in my seat.  Not one for public speeches, I thought of all the things I wished to say.  Rather give a public declaration there, I hope you will accept this semi-public declaration on my blog (which I know you read) instead :)   I know we have not kept in the best touch over the past 15 years, but I am thankful for the fact we have been able to hold a friendship from a distance.  Whether through our blogs, facebook, updates from Ade, or the occasional times we have seen each other in person, I love seeing the beautiful person you have become: a runner, an amazing mother, a teacher, a master sewer, an adventurer, and now a wife.

If I had had the guts to stand in front of the microphone on Saturday I would have shared some of my favorite memories from our first year together at UCSB.  Often I hear people tell horror stories of their first year of college in the dorms.  I feel so lucky that I had such an opposite experience.  Thankfully you requested of Coach Pete to "live with a runner" before roommates were randomly assigned.  I remember the day Adrienne called and asked if I wanted to live with a girl named Tegan.  "She is trying out for UCSB cross-country, too, and I know you will like her."  Well, she was right.  When I arrived to San Nick with my family on move in day and saw the tiny blond-haired girl from Nor Cal there with her mom, I knew we would be friends.  Needless to say, I did not make the cross country team, and instead decided to join a sorority.  Despite the difference of our extra circular activities, we bonded as I curled my hair for sorority rush and you packed your bag for practice.  As I reflect back I think of all of our hilarious moments of that first year.  Both of us were on the 2-meal-a-day plan at the dining commons which was not enough for our voracious appetites.  We would sneak out rice and garbanzo beans, or makings for smoothies in our "tups" so we would be sure to have snacks back at the dorms.  That was after, of course, we blew through the packs of Pop Tarts and Power Bars my mom had packed for us at the beginning of the year.  I have fond memories of dancing to "Mikey's Mix Tapes" and acting out every karate chop of "Kung Fu Fighting".  You introduced me to a new range of music, and to this day I can't get enough of Joni Mitchell's Blue album.  Brandy, you ARE a fine girl, what a good wife you will be.  I recall a chocolate cake fight where your B-Day celebration resulted in yummy frosting in our hair, on our walls and all over our clothes.  Those clothes that were mostly our everyday uniform of Levi cords, vintage T's, and V-neck wool sweaters that we would borrow from each other doubling our wardrobes. There was the night we decided it was a good idea to take every freshman's right of passage and leap from the Goleta Pier into the dark ocean water below with the boys from the Santa Cruz dorms.  Yikes, you cracked your sternum, perhaps not our best judgment call.  When winter arrived we made a snow storm of construction paper flakes that adorned our closet walls until late spring, and who could forget dressing in hoodies to go spying on the boys we had crushes on.  Do you remember, embarrassingly enough, coloring ourselves with yellow highlighter so we would glow with the black light?   Oh, and dance parties at Eliza and Ade's.  I am sure I am forgetting so many of the things that kept us up talking late into the night, and laughing throughout the days.  I am so glad to have shared those moments with you.  So many firsts as we tread on our independence of moving away from home for the first time.  I hold those moments dearly as a huge part of my college experience that helped shape who I am today.

I just want to say thank you for your friendship and for the good memories.   May there be many more to come.  Also, a huge congratulations to you and Ben.  He seems to be your perfect soul mate - both gentle and kind - and clearly loves you and Loma very much.  Wishing you much love, laughter and happiness in all the years to come.

xo,
Cathi

p.s. I borrowed the image from your facebook :)

HOME AGAIN, HOME AGAIN - JIGGITY JIG

Right now I am pondering whether to begin sipping a steaming cup of coffee to start my day, or whether to hold off and see if Annabelle will fall back asleep so I can, too.  Last night was a late one.  Annabelle and I have finally returned from our last trip of the summer and though we had blast, I am glad to sit tight in New York for awhile.  I have just two short months left of maternity leave and I want to maximize quality time with our girl with minimal planes, trains, and automobiles.  Due to some stormy weather in New York, our flight was slightly delayed putting us at JFK at 1:00 am.  Nate picked us up at the airport and by 2:00 we were back in our cozy apartment for a final feeding, a little playtime and eventually bedtime. This final trip of the summer really put our travel skills to the test.  We flew to Las Vegas to spend time with my family who was attending my cousin's wedding at the Mandalay Bay.  Then from Vegas we flew to Northern California to attend the wedding of my roommate from freshman year at UCSB, Tegan.  Between hotel switches, layovers, and rental cars in a 4-day span, Annie E is proving herself to be quite the traveler.  At not even 4 months old she has been on a plane 7 times!  She seems to mostly sleep during travel time, adopting a "wake me when we get there" attitude.

Anyways, now that we are home, I am feeling the urge to blog and give an update on our girl.  She is changing so fast every week and I want to be sure to savor and document the moments of her short life so far.  Annabelle is more lovable than ever with her big cheeks that I just can't stop kissing.  When I kiss her little feet or her cheeks she opens her mouth in a big 'O' of happiness and attempts to get some laughs out that right now sound like "eh, eh, eh."  Speaking of laughs, to date we have had 4 good belly laughs from her.  They are not yet a regular occurrence, but when we are surprised by one, it is the most joyous sound to hear.  She has discovered her feet, as I mentioned in a previous post, and just loves to hold onto them when she is lying on her back, rolling side to side.  She has perfected "happy baby pose" which comes in handy during diaper changes.  Annabelle can now grasp her toys and tries to put everything in her mouth including her hands, which makes for a very drool-y baby.  We often now say to her in our best Julia Childs voice, "Hello, I'm Droolia Childs," which we think is much funnier than she does.  She continues to want to stand like a big girl with our support, strengthening her cute little legs that are getting chubbier by the day.  This is also helping her strengthen her neck muscles for added head support, though she still has a bit of a bobble head.  When standing she always looks side to side, back and forth, just to make sure she is not missing anything going on around her, reminding us of an owl with her big eyes.  Aunt Ade believes she comes from a long line of owl ancestors.  Her hair is a constant source of amusement for us, growing in at strange patterns.  The dark baby hair that never fell out, continues to grow longer competing with the new growth that is coming in lighter (almost blond).  The circular spiral pattern on the top of her head that we refer to as the "eye of the storm" is in full effect, as is the mullet-like long pieces in the back that we call her "mud flap."  Depending on the humidity, her hair can be curly or straight, giving her some versatile styling options.  Annabelle gets more vocal every day.  Her language of "om" is adding new sounds that she is beginning to string together into a babble.  She enjoys reading her books and tries to help turn the pages.  Her favorite books so far include the Baby Einstein Animal Book series, a gift from Barb Letterman, and My Cat Just Sleeps, a gift from the Boosers'.  She has proven that she can roll from her stomach to her back, though she only performs this move at her own will, and extremely sporadically.  Other miles stones: she can now ride in the Baby Bjorn or the Moby wrap facing out rather than in with her head on my chest.  I believe she enjoys this brand new view of the world.  I am loving introducing her to new games and songs and mostly dance around making funny faces and voices trying to get reactions out of her.  Some of her facial expressions remind me so much of Nathan and I see more and more of him in her everyday.  As she grows, so do her list of nick names which now include the following:

Annie E

Annabellita (my favorite)

Annabellewski (Bellewski for short)

Bella-rues (Her Russian Name)

Banana-Bell

Cabana Anna

Molly B (Courtesy of Grandpa Mike)

Pookie Bear (which I don't particularly like, but it keeps coming out of my mouth)

It will be amazing if she ever recognizes her real name since we continually call her by her nick-names!  Here is a recent picture taken the day before we left for our trip.  She is wearing her "Breastmilk - 100% Organic" Nutritional Facts shirt, a gift from Aunt Ade. 

P.S. Annie E is now napping and I just finished that steaming cup of coffee.  No sleep for mama.  Perhaps I will catch up during the afternoon nap.  :)  More on our trip later...