Post-Vacation Blues

We've got it worse than normal this time:

It's rainy
It's hot
Gwen won't sleep through the night
Regan found a bunch of ticks on his body
I have about as many cold sores
There are no cousins here
Gwen does crazy cry-screaming through her baths now
I don't know what to do for cub scouts tomorrow
No one makes us dinner and then runs to our cabin to tell us it's ready
Life is rough

Virginia, take us back

Two for Me

Speaking of time flying, today marks 2 years in New York for us. What?!

Here are some things I'm doing right:
no eye contact (even when very strange things are happening)
brisk walking
giving directions to other people with confidence
having a working buzzer/intercom in our apt.
walking everywhere
being obsessed with people's apartments/rent/space/arrangements/etc
being obsessed with how people ended up living here and when/if they are going to leave

Here are some things I need to work on:
an accent (or at least finding some friends with accents)
pizza snobbery (I know good pizza but I'm still way too accepting of Little Caesar's)
wearing expensive shoes
getting more grocery/laundry/dinner delivery
being friends with my neighbors
having an edgy/effortless haircut
spending time in the actual city
saying the word 'schlep' more often

One

Well, it happened. Gwen's a toddling one-year-old now. I don't have anything to say that I haven't been saying all along. It is overwhelming to think about how much I love her and how much lots of people all over the place have loved her since before she was even born. So much love and I swear she can feel it. She is a confident one. I think one of my favorite things about being a parent so far is creating the world that Gwen knows. I didn't expect to think about this so much but it's on my mind a lot. I love knowing that I get to make a safe and fun and warm and happy and loving place for her to know about and live in. It's easy to create a nurturing, protected environment for her so far and not have her be exposed to negative things (except all the public transit, sorry about that Gwen). It's just pretty easy to keep her happy so far and it feels good to be able to do that for her. (I'm not trying to take all the credit for her natural demeanor but you know what I mean.) And not only environment but with our relationship too. A whole year with not a single ill thought/feeling between us. (At least on my end, I shouldn't speak for her.) I know I will slowly lose control of this as she grows so I'm trying to enjoy it while it lasts. I think my excitement for the future might slowly be edging out my sadness for the time that's gone. Especially since parties are now involved.

On the car ride over to the park. Only 5/12 balloons made it to the start of the party. It was a windy day.

Most charming backdrop aroundYep, I'm a mom

Feeding other people is hilarious

She likes him

Souvenirs

She wore her hat for a second (as soon as no one was looking)We sang to her Lots of cake pictures

We ate these

While she kept working on the cake

Skyline, river, ferry, pigeon, bridge, carousel

I guess we know where she gets her surprised face. These girls are so good to her.So is Ender

All tuckered out and dreaming of the pizza she will awake to.

Happy Birthday Gwen!

Hey look, I'm blogging

This morning I asked Regan what I should blog about today and he said "If I had a blog, I would blog about: how grateful I am to know people who know Brooks, that I am obsessed with Bibio again/still, that I wouldn't mind living in a house like this, then bring it back around to Brooks again." He's a natural.

I share his sentiments and add a few boring (mom) things I've been thinking about.
- I'm not going to feel bad for embarrassing my kids later in life because I feel like Gwen makes a fool of me about 100 times a day. It's usually a less public showing but she makes up for that in quantity and gusto.

- I can't help but get nostalgic about the fact that Gwen's going to be 1 year old in a week. Time has never felt trickier. It definitely feels like she's been here that long but I can also remember walking out of the hospital with her like it was yesterday. It makes me sad to know I can never hold tiny Gwen again. I know there will be other babies I can hold but not a Gwen one. Anyway, same old story.

- I got an email from our energy company today telling me that "New York City has only seen extended week-long heat waves like that seven times since tracking started in 1896." Lucky us. So help me if we get another one.

- What can we do for our family talent show? So far our brainstorming sessions have landed us with re-enacting scenes from various television shows. I'm pretty sure this is a bad idea, please help.

And now some pictures that simply couldn't go unposted.

  

I was tempted to photoshop our grody walls/floor but this is reality, guys. 100 years of poorly painted reality. Left to drip dry. I try not to think about it.