Bode's First Haircut

On Saturday we took Bode to get his first "real" haircut. Here are the pictures.

(he looks so big!)

 Here's the before:

He was apprehensive about the "chairs" in the beginning...I thought he'd leap into them. But when I asked him if he wanted the airplane or taxi cab, he just said "NO." But he's easy to win over...all it took was a sucker and he was going to do whatever the lady with the scissors wanted to do.

For weeks before the haircut I kept debating if he needed one. I was AMAZED at all the hair that came off of this guy! And when it got all short and spikey (like daddy) well, I melted. What a little BOY he is!

*****

Mean Mom

We are finally getting SNOW in Colorado!

It's been a very very dry winter. 

Let's just say that Bode got new snow boots and gloves for Christmas and the only day he's worn them was...on Christmas.

I bought the kids sleds at Target a few weeks ago. They were $2. Apparently even Target had given up on the white stuff coming down in our great state.

But last week and today it's coming down!!!! I thought that Bode would LOVE playing in the snow. Last week I bundled everyone up and did my duties as "awesome mom" and suggested we go play outside. Last time we tried this, it did not go well. I was hoping that it'd be different this go around. No dice.

After 10 minutes of bundling, we got outside and Bode fell, hands first in the snow. Then he couldn't get up because he was lacking mobility due to all the layers (think little brother in "A Christmas Story"). He hated his boots because they made him walk like Frankenstein. He hated his gloves because they kept him from picking up his golf club. It was comical. (but not in that moment).

Then Mimi started crying. For no apparent reason. So our sweet, retired, always home (and sometimes spying) neighbors got to hear me yell, "WHHAATT'S WROOONG?!" and also "THEN GO INSIDE!!!!" to my crying children as I frantically tried to get one row of shoveling our driveway in. It was as fun as it sounds.

We were back in the house and our snow fun was over before it even began.

I actually took a video of my children standing in the front room, crying, because I had to find some way to think it was funny. I sent it to Ben and my mom...

I probably won't post it on here because it feels cruel. Who takes videos of their crying children to laugh at later? I'll spare your hearts.

Here's pictures chronicling our adventures:

Before you report me, that boy DID have gloves on...he just pulled them off. Then fell in the snow. Then got miserably cold.

This is probably where I put the camera down. I couldn't yell at my kids, shovel AND take pictures at the same time.

****

Low and behold, then next morning, at the crack of 6:00 am, Bode was adamantly insisting that he go out in the backyard. Even though we reminded him of his incriminating video from the day before, he couldn't be swayed. So we put a hats and boots and coat over his P.J.s and let him go outside. In the 10 degree weather. We thought he'd realize that it was too cold and that we were right and beg to come back in, much like when we let Henry the cat outside and he run back in and we feel smug.  

Nope.

He loved it.

Of course.

(now who's smug?)

The picture I didn't get was Ben going out in his P.J.s and barefoot to gather our boy (after much pleading from the window for him to come back in before the neighbors judged).

Adventures in Parenting, chapter 22.

*****

This Little Boy

...is still obsessed with golf

...is in love with his new Nike shoes (and won't wear anything else)

...runs the minute he sees a diaper in my hand (and thinks it's a funny game)

...is saying everything and anything (every time he says a new word it surprises me! He said "thank you" the other day without being told to)

And while I was praying out loud while I was getting him dressed the other day (it's really the only thing I can do in those stressful times) I finished and he said "AMEN!"

Just Adorableness

Mimi made that for Bode yesterday in her room during her rest.

I don't think that I could love it any more.

***

These two have been so so sweet to each other recently. I'm blogging about it and marking these days to be remembered for always, because that is not the norm. They ARE siblings, of course. The usual had been Bode biting or hitting Mimi, and Mimi shoving him and being so frustrated with him (understandably).

But lately, Bode is just worshiping the ground his sister walks on. He started saying "Mimi" right before I left, and while I was gone it was apparently all he really said. It sounds so sweet coming from his lips. 

And Mimi has returned his love with love and it's just a cycle of sweetness (again, FOR RIGHT NOW ;) When Bode needed help to get on his chair but was stuck, Mimi rushed over and said "I've got it!" before I could even make a move. And today when Bode was fussing at the table and I was grabbing something in the other room Mimi said, "I'll get him water mom. He told me that he needed water." And she proceeded to get him a cup, lid and straw. 

Of course they're human and I know that there'll be many fights and struggles of the constant nature for years and years to come, but I will relish in this phase where Mimi utters out without warning: "I LOVE HAVING A BABY BROTHER!!!" xoxoxo

 sharing a cup of water :)

NYC!!!

I'm back from NYC!

It was a great trip :) Great weather, we saw all the great things we could squeeze into that time (which was surprisingly A LOT!), ate great food and our husbands won "dads of the year" awards at home. What more could you ask for?!?!

(let's hope it was mutual for Julie...She did bear the brunt of navigating the subway system via her iphone app while I couldn't tell you what was east or west, and she had to put up with my primal need for coffee upon waking up. And I've now become "special dietary needs girl"...the best kind of travel partner). 

But I think it was a great trip!!!!!!!

It was exciting packing a suitcase for just me and getting dropped off at the airport (through some tears...Mimi and I ;)

I made sure to take a screenshot of where our hotel was, because I was most nervous about getting into a cab in NYC with my luggage BY MYSELF. I wanted to be prepared.

(which proved to be no big deal at all)

The first "Dunkies" I saw. To which Ben responded via text "You're in God's country."

From my cab ride...right before my phone died.

 The cab took me to the hotel and I dropped my bags, saw Julie and her brother Brian (who works at the hotel!) and we were off to get dinner!

the cool Andaz lobby

 We were staying in the Financial district...at the bottom of Manhattan (is that right? I'll ask Julie ;) The Andaz hotel is the only hotel in that area. It was really cool staying in that part of the city, away from the touristy stuff. We walked to the subway with the flow of people working on Wall Street in their wool coats and briefcases...very New York.

This is a statue of George Washington and is where he was sworn in as president. It's on a cobblestone street.

New York Stock Exchange 

Facts about this trip:

I took as many picture of dogs in NYC as I did of famous landmarks.

(I also took as many picture of myself in mirrors, windows and elevator glass as I did of Julie and I.)

Here's the first dog picture. I just couldn't help thinking of Mimi! There were A LOT of dogs in NYC. It just felt so unexpected!

Julie and Brian!

Brian was a phenomenal tour guide and was the way our trip went from good to great. He was the one who told us to get an unlimited Metro card and had THE BEST, most timely restaurant requests every night after he was done working. 

 The first place we went was Grand Central Station. 

So so breathtaking. Amazing.

Brian took us to the Grand Central Oyster Bar, on the bottom of the station...just perfect.

 Then we went to the Mac Store. It's IN Grand Central, just incorporated into the existing structure of the station...very cool.

****

end day one. Traveling is tiring, with or without kids. The hype of days of getting ready, airport navigating, flight, cab ride, subways...I was pooped (and a little carsick!) In the words of Julie's hubby Mando when we said we were going to bed, he said, "In a city that doesn't sleep, you're in bed." Yep.

But hopefully to get back in the saddle the next day.

Day 2

Valentine's Day

view from our hotel room

FaceTiming the kiddos

(yes, I look that good in the morning)

Here come the elevator pictures...

Me in NYC :)

For the first part of the trip I felt more like Mr. Bean than like Carrie. 

I'm not going to lie, there was a lot of anxiety about how to fit in in NYC for me. The last time I was in New York, I had a backpack and running shoes, and I've never felt so frumpy in my life. Now I like clothes a lot more and have things that I can't just always wear around Longmont to go pick up Mimi from preschool. I was excited to be in a fashionable city and love clothes. Plus, I'd been brainwashed by a steady stream of fashion bloggers and tweets from NYC fashion week, which had been going on the week prior to our trip.

Talk about intimidating. It makes you think that there are models on every corner!

Anyways, no one wants to walk around with a big sign saying "tourist" above their head. So from the minute I landed, I wanted just to blend in. (Which it turns out in a city of gazillions, that's really not that hard to do).

 But the harder I tried to "play it cool" the more dufus-y I'm sure I looked. 

Try these:

-on my way back to the room to get my jacket (that I boldly thought I could do without..so Colorado of me), I could not open our hotel room door. It was a "key fob" -ish type of key. No swiping. So I was waving it around like a monkey, hoping no one saw my lack of hotel savvy. Then on the way back down I got in the elevator, took some pictures of myself for the folks back home (naturally) and then popped out confidently. On the eighth floor. Mistaking it for the lobby. Of course I needed to pretend that I did it on purpose, so I walked briskly around the corner and hid until everyone was gone. Then tried it again.

-at the cute paper store, I casually looked at stationary, then proceeded to knock a few down. As I bent down to pick up the fallen ones, a whole row tumbled down on my head. Very Mr. Bean.

 coffee on the subway. Very New York.

Taking pictures of it, very not.

Julie really was our navigator extraordinaire.

I blindly followed her as she figured out which train to get on where and when. Riding the subway really enhanced this whole experience. It's the reason that we got to see and do so much. By the end we were pros (aside from the whole posing for pictures with us, a policeman, having conversation with other riders and smiling. Something tells me that's not how locals act).

Julie and I ate breakfast at Balthazar in SoHo. Yes. It was as awesome as that name and location implies.

Maybe I was just hungry, but my egg white omlet with Gruyere and house potatoes was the yummiest I've ever had. Maybe we had more coffee (and mimosas).

Across the street from breakfast was Paper Source, my very favorite paper store. I found one in Boston a long time ago and bought some pretty paper that I carried around and is now framed in Mimi's room. Then I searched one out in Chicago when I tagged along, childless on a business trip for Ben. I purchased Mimi's baby announcements from them and have various paper holiday decor from them as well. It's my paper crush. What a great way to start our first NYC day!

Have you seen this?! It's based on a book of pictures comparing NYC to Paris. 

Another great book.

It was Valentine's Day! Ben and my NINE YEAR wedding anniversary!

He was BEYOND super dad that day. Not only did he have to manage preschool drop off and such...he had to take another kiddo with him (Mimi's friend), bake 20 sugar cookies on popcicle sticks, frost them AND tie red curling ribbon to the sticks.  Give the man a medal.

And in the midst of all of that, had the time to send me these:

I think I'd like to be married to him for another nine. And then some :)

Cute shop, that I couldn't help thinking looked like someone's great NYC apartment.

More dogs for Mimi.

A sunny stroll around Central Park (and near the Met!)

We had GREAT weather. It was sunny and warm and just perfect for walking around.

These are actually my last pictures from my real camera. Taken just before it ran out of its charge. And I didn't bring my charger. 

You'd think me, picture snapper-crazed camera lunatic would be crushed, but I really wasn't. It was sort of a relief. You're moving around so fast-paced and trying to keep track of your purse, your metro card, etc...that it was one less thing. 

But then my phone died too. :( So I spent some days totally camera-less. THAT was rough. Thankfully Julie let me commandeer hers to take shots and text my family. Another reason why I was probably THE BEST travel companion. ;)

Julie and I both enjoyed spying people in their every day life in NYC. 

This is a park where kids were playing. This is THEIR NEIGHBORHOOD PARK. In Central Park, next to the Met. Very different than my kiddos' lives. Do they know how cool it really is?! On this same day I watched a group of moms and preschoolers/kinders walking on the sidewalk with the childrens' Valentine's Day crafts and I had fun imagining their lives...their school, their homes, etc..

on a park bench:

Scarlet, the poodle.

Kind of looks like "Uncle Griffin!"

(can you tell that I had Mimi on my mind?)

There was just beauty like this on every corner...

I became obsessed with the black Escalades that were parked outside fancy places. If Julie would've indulged me, I would've stake out for hours to see who was coming out of that house. 

(The Plaza hotel had dozens of black Escalades. And an overflowing car of men in a crappy, white SUV. I was sure that they were paparazzi).

We spent the afternoon in Mario Batali's Eataly. It's a city block large Italian market with various restaurants and cases of cheese and meats and espresso and gelato. It was great. 

We made our way up to the beer garden up top where they had the roof open and we donned sunglasses through lunch. Not what I was picturing NYC in February to look like!

The Flatiron building outside:

 This was waiting for me when I got back into the hotel...

Very sweet. Just needed the hubs to get props for that (again, imagine him thinking of this, elbow deep in frosting and curling ribbon and kids. Even more sweet).

We got ready and then headed out to see Newsies!!!!

(I thought about you the whole time Ali!)

I had a dance recital when I was little all with music from Newsies...it was hard not to sing.

Julie and I's romantic dinner at Becco...we ate after 10:00 pm. I was so impressed with us :) We closed down the restaurant.

****

Day 3

On Thursday we got up and worked out...

I found new motivation running overlooking the city from the 18th floor. Sure beats my basement closet and concrete wall.

Then Julie and I took the subway to Tribeca to get our hair blown out. Yes. I was trying to pretend that I was a celebrity. And it was great.

Bridesmaids was on, and pink champagne was being served. A fun change from the normal every day for sure.

After that, we wandered a little in Tribeca (definitely my favorite area we were in). The sun was shinning and all was well in the world. We even ate sushi at Nobu. When I pictured being in NYC, our Tribeca day is what I pictured...too many Bravo reality shows I'm sure, but I'm a big enough person to admit that I  LOOOOVED every minute.

I'm sure that we did more things, but this may have been where my phone died and Julie's took over. I think we shopped more in SoHo (went into Top Shop, a place I'd heard about and wanted to go) and Dean and Deluca's as well as the Scholastic store. I think that Bloomingdales was in there too....

Then we found ourselves in FAO Schwartz.

The last time that I was there I was pinning over having a baby. I couldn't wait to have a reason to shop there. 

This time, here I was, a mom of two. It actually just filled Julie and I with a bit of nostalgia and probably sadness at not sharing that all with our kids. But it was fun to shop for them there. 

Before I left Bode specifically asked for a golf club (when I asked him, rhetorically what he wanted from my trip, he answered without hesitating: "gof cub"...not matter how many times I asked him.) So Julie helped me hunt down the one golf set in the building. 

This was where you could make your own Muppet! 

(for $100!)

Outside the Plaza hotel

During this whole trip I never seemed to really recover from all of the moving. So when Brian said the restaurant we were going to was walking distance from the hotel, I was loving it. Just another great recommendation from Brian!

This little alley of restaurants and bars reminded me of the North End in Boston. It was super charming and tucked away. If it wasn't for Brian we would've missed it for sure.

Day 4

Since Julie was an hour behind me in time zones in Seattle, I found myself up an hour earlier than her and needing coffee. I liked getting out to go grab it. Good thing it was close. It was the only thing I knew how to get to on my own :)

I warned you that there were a lot of self-shots. I just liked trying to fake it as a city dweller. You know, besides stopping to take my own picture in reflective surfaces and such.

 The next day, we were lighter on our expectations and destinations...we had already seen and done SO MUCH. Today we were just trying to head to Greenwich Village. 

Most of you know that my dad is from New York. He grew up upstate from the city, but he lived in NYC when he was older and trying to make it as a photographer (he even had a real life art show of his pictures there). AND he was a cab driver. How cool can you get?!?

I wanted to get him something from my trip, but something he'd want or use. He said he'd just want pictures, so I sent a ton his way. He kept recommending where we should go...

His caption for the above photo was: "Nice shot of the city skyline. That bench is just missing a naked person. Man I miss New York."

(I'm not sure how to read that ;) 

The Freedom Tower

 Thanks to our tour guide Brian, that is how Jay Z got his name:

Greenwich Village

I loved how the subway would pop you out in a completely different neighborhood/borough then the one you left. It was fun to look around and get oriented and feel out the characteristics of your new place. 

Greenwich Village was near NYU and felt more like a college could be near by.

Washington Square

We had a glorious lunch at this place after we stumbled into a cute clothes boutique and were held there and pressured into sales for about an hour. 

We needed this meal to recoop.

I took a picture of this because I thought it was funny that the place I liked the best was the one that was most like something I could've found in Boulder.

It turned out that eating gluten-free wasn't as easy in NYC as one would think...this place had a gluten-free bun. All was right in the world.

I took this picture because don't these guys all look like they'd be working at a coffee shop in Greenwich Village?! That or they'd be the cast of Newsies (Or One Direction). It was too perfect. 

As we left this coffee shop though, I did notice something. Everyone in the entire place was wearing black or gray or beige. No bright colors anywhere. But I was carrying my BRIGHT orange purse and had donned my pink patterned skinnies the day before. Maybe I was sticking out like a sore thumb more than I thought. 

I also realized on this trip that Julie and I are extra friendly to strangers (Maybe Julie even more so...she did pose with a picture of a NYC cop on the subway: EXHIBIT A:

Anyways, I think that our unusual friendliness helped us see how friendly New Yorkers really are. If you initiate, they're great. From start to finish, we didn't encounter one rude person (okay, one grumpy nanny, aggressively pushing her $1,000 baby stroller. But that's it.) One man running a dry cleaners even helped Julie clean up her beautiful cream coat that she spilled coffee on (another story :). We thought that New Yorkers were fabulous. 

(or maybe they were just nice to us because of the goofy way we smiled at everyone. They may have thought that we were "touched." ) Either way, we liked them.

More Washington Square

More dogs...

AMAZING Gelato by the fire..

...while Julie cleaned the rest of her coat with club soda...

(it really does work!)

The Flatiron District had GREAT shopping...

30 Rockafeller

The restaurant and ice rink

The library

Right across from where we had dinner our last night, at the Andaz property on Fifth Avenue

It was a great last night in the city.

****

This is me, going home early the next morning to catch a cab, then a flight to see my family :)

This is where I was missing my real camera because the view of the city was fantastic.

I thoroughly enjoyed my last flight without children, as I read trashy magazines and watched TV. 

Landing in Denver:

These kids and daddy were waiting for me just out of security and the way I cried and ran to them, you would've thought I was returning from a much longer trip...it was so great to see them.

We immediately busted out Bode's golf set to keep him from climbing onto the baggage claim carousel.

He changed in four days...he is talking SO much clearer and more now. There's not many words he's not repeating. Crazy. And now when he cries, he cries for daddy. Sweet.

My beautiful girl, cuddling her dog souvenir. Of course.

Thanks for a magical NYC trip Julie. Looking at these pictures makes me nostalgic for champagne at 10:00 and the freedom of the Metro card. Love you friend!

****