We got our tree a few weeks ago while we were on Long Island. They sell trees in the city but the prices are ridiculous. We paid $30 for our tree at Home Depot. The same street on the street of NYC would be about $65-$75. It's insane.

Nate helped me put on the lights. He's working on making a nice big knot for me.


Nate isn't really that interested in the tree. He takes a few ornaments off....the couple that we put on the bottom of the tree, but mostly just ignores it, which is fine with me. He does like all the lights though.

Putting on the finishing touch with Dad.


The tree. We had to move a couple of things into our bedroom...which between the Christmas presents and all the stuff we moved is getting very crowded. But the tree looks nice and smells great!


We only brought one box of Christmas decorations to New York with us so the decorations are quite sparse. I bought this Santa at the Dollar Store the other day. Nate loves it and says "Bye Bye Nanta" whenever we leave the apartment.


The stockings.


Rumor has it that Santa's going to come to visit Nate early this year because he doesn't want to drag all the presents up to Albany and then again back down. So if Nate's been a good boy he might see some presents under the tree on Sunday morning!

Nate never looks more peaceful than when he's sleeping.


...which really is such a rarity I had to capture it on camera. He LOVES stuffed animals. Currently he sleeps with 6 of them. I have on good authority that he will be getting a few more from his Grandparents for Christmas and I'm wondering if there will be room enough in his crib for him and all his friends.


Counterclockwise from top left is: Dino, Glo-worm, GoGo, Lion, Pooh and Orange Monster.

I would say at this point Pooh is his favorite, but GoGo runs a close second.

It's amazing one active little toddler can look so peaceful.

Guess who picked out his outfit today? Nate decided he wanted to wear his three favorite colors....or the only colors he knows how to say, "geen", "bue" and "yoyo".


This is the first time he's ever worn his rain boots. I've tried to put them on him pretty much every time it rains, but he always screams and refuses to wear them. Today, when it's 20 degrees and sunny, without a cloud in the sky, he was asking for his boots.



It's been pretty hilarious to see learn how to walk with the boots on. He's only fallen about two dozen times this morning.



We've got a little model in the making!

We headed up to the Train Show at the New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx. We had heard good things about it but didn't know what to expect.

We were a bit confused at first....and thought it was a little lame...but once we realized that all of the buildings were made out of natural materials (leaves, twigs, berries, fruits, nuts, etc), we thought it was really cool.


All of the buildings were different buildings in Manhattan and the surrounding areas, some still standing and some that have been demolished. Check out the roof on this one, all different colored leaves:


Yankee Stadium


Brooklyn Bridge


There were different trains passing by all of the buildings. This one was Nate's favorite, it was the fastest and brightest one.


Nate waiting for the orange train to come back.


Glenn and Nate at the gardens...notice that Nate is wearing his hat and mittens...it took multiple battles but he now wears them (mostly) without complaining. Score one for Mom!

I got Nate a Winne the Pooh Christmas Sticker book the other day. It has 319 stickers in it.




....After two days there are approximately 23 stickers left in the book.

Union Square is just a few blocks away. Nate and I walk thru there at least 3 times a week. There are shops and restaurants bordering it and there's a farmer's market there 4 times a week. Nate likes to watch the shoppers and look at the flowers, fruits and vegetables.

This time of year they also have a great holiday market, with people selling tons of stuff, from spices to sweaters to chinese lamps. It's really neat.

There is a VERY small playground there, just 3 swings and a climb-dome, totally lame. They've been doing construction on a new playground since we moved here. It was supposed to be done in October. It wasn't. Nate and I look thru the fence everytime we go by to see if they're done yet.

And this morning it was open!


It really was like Christmas Morning for all the kids that arrived (and their moms to be perfectly honest).


Nate was pulling at his stroller buckle as soon as we got thru the gate and started running from structure to structure.


The playground really is beautiful. There are tons of benches.


This one structure had tons of wheels so Nate was in heaven...and even more so when he found out they actually turned!


The sand is SO clean! And YES, that is a MARBLE frog, turtle and water structure.


Nate was loving the bridge.


My favorite was the telescope, so cool!


There were a bunch of tall slides, and one that is even formed into a bunch of rocks. Also bigger kid structures with ropes, etc.


At one end (the big globe), they have a bunch of different water items which will be nice in the summer.


We can't wait to go back!

1 minute video of Nate playing soccer this morning.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We headed up to the parade this morning. We knew that we wouldn't be able to wait outside with Nate for the 3+ hours that you need to get a front row seat so we just decided to head up closer to the parade time and see what we could see.

The weather was pretty much perfect for parade watching....50's and sunny. We walked thru Central Park and thought we'd be able to get to the sidewalk and watch the parade from there but we weren't actually able to get OUT of Central Park. So we (and a couple of hundred other people) found a good hill to stand on. We were able to see all the balloons and some of the taller floats. We couldn't see any of the "handlers" or bands, but we could still hear them when they were playing.

The first balloon we saw was Abby Cadabby from Sesame Street. We just caught the tail end of their float as well but didn't see Elmo.


Pikachu was Nate's favorite balloon. He kept saying "Meow Meow" as he was passing.


I thought Shrek was one of the most impressive balloons. If you look behind Glenn in this picture you can see people sitting on the wall between the sidewalk and Central Park....good seats for the parade!


Here were the masses we were standing with. It actually worked out great because Nate could run around a bit between getting picked up to check out the big balloons.



Snoopy


Horton Hears a Who


Nate taking a break from balloon watching.


Pillsbury Dough Boy. This is a new balloon this year. There were at least 40 strings coming off this balloon.


We thought this icecream cone was floating away but they just had really tall strings on it and were letting it go slowly. This was another of Nate's favorites.


And of course, Santa. He got the biggest cheer of all the celebrities and performers who came by. It was very exciting when he rode by us and he was quite animated.


Walking back thru Central Park....some people were more prepared then us to watch the parade, ha.


The Bloomingdales windows were up. Their theme was "glitter". The reflection is bad here but they were pretty neat.


Here's the President and Michelle Obama. For some reason they made her look a little pregnant.


It was a fun Thanksgiving morning! Nate enjoyed the balloons a lot more than I thought he was and it wasn't quite as crazy as I was afraid it was going to be. We're off to eat some turkey in a bit!

We ventured up to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Balloon "Inflation" this evening. And when I say "ventured", I mean it. It took us no fewer than 4 different subways...at one time we ended in Harlem because we were on the express, not the local...and way too much close contact to the other subway dwellers. We were traveling during rush hour which I typically try to avoid, especially with a stroller, but we took one for the team and headed to the Upper West Side.

The subway crowds were NOTHING compared to the crowds to see the balloons. I've decided I'm much more of a country girl myself, this many people in one place can drive me crazy.


But the balloons were cool. And much bigger than I realized. They are held down by nets and look a bit like caged animals. Here's Buzz Lightyear.


And Nate and I in front of a smurf. I'm not sure The Smurfs are on tv anymore because it seemed like none of the little kids knew who they were.


And the Pillsbury Dough Boy.


We just managed to walk down one of the streets and saw Mickey Mouse, Snoopy, Dora, Buzz Lightyear, Snoopy, and the Smurf. There was another street to walk down but it was pouring rain and I had my fill of running over people's ankles with the stroller.

We're going to head up to see the parade tomorrow. Wish us luck!

Today I am 22 months old! Hard to believe! I am doing a new survey for the occasion!

Name: Nathaniel William
Age: 22 months
What time did you wake up this morning: 4:00 am
When do you go to sleep at night: 7:00 pm
How many times do you wake up at night: We're not going to discuss this.
Favorite Toy: Winnie the Pooh, puzzles, blocks
Favorite Sleeping Position: On belly with legs flat out behind me hugging Pooh
Favorite TV Show: Bear in the Big Blue House
Favorite Song: "Welcome to the Blue House" from Bear in the Big Blue House
Least favorite thing: Getting Dressed
Time you fuss the most: When I am tired due to lack of sleep
Favorite game: Running away when it's time to get my diaper changed
Best Trick: Climbing on kitchen table
Future Profession: Editor, I love to read.
Favorite Outfit: Anything that doesn't involve going over my head, buttons, zippers or gloves, or really any kind of fabric touching my skin.
Favorite Accessory: None.
Favorite Stuffed Animal: Pooh, with Gorilla running a close second.
Favorite Park Activity: Swings, or slide.
Best Feature: Smile
Words you can say: Duck, Ball, MaMa, DaDa, Ball, Bubbles, Night-Night, Giraffe, Neck, Ears, GoGo (Gorilla), Pooh, Bye, Hi, Blue, Purple, Book, Head, Meow, Dart, No (that's my favorite!), Elmo, Cookie, Bear, Ojo, Block, Ho Ho Ho (for Santa), Luna, Drool

I can do the whole Alphabet Puzzle! "N" is my favorite letter.


Me, at 22 months!


The even lit up the Empire State Building for my 22 month birthday...okay, maybe it is really for Jimmy Johnson's 4th consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup victory...but a guy can pretend, right?


My previous survey is here if you're interested.

8:55 am at the park this morning.


9:15 am. I stopped the swing to ask Nate if he was tired and and he adamantly shook his head.


9:20 am. Going....


9:22 am. Going....


9:24 am. Gone!


9:25 am. Out like a light!

We decided to head up to the Top of the Rock today. I've heard good things about it and have waited for us to have a free day to go for a while.

The Christmas tree was up, but hid by scaffolding. We'll go back and see it lit later in the year.


The contrast between the ease to get to the top of Rockefeller Center and the Empire State Building was astounding. It took us only 5 minutes to get to the Top of the Rock...I have waited anywhere from about 20 minutes to 2 hours to get to the top of the Empire State Building.


The view from the top was great. There are three different viewing levels, and as you can see, you don't have to fight to get a "front row view".


Empire State Building


The view to the the north, of Central Park and the George Washington Bridge, was fantastic. I can only imagine how it looks in the fall.


I highly recommend a trip to the Top of the Rock!


We walked over to Times Square afterwards. For some reason I thought Toys R Us wouldn't be THAT crowded....ha. We walked in and walked out...and that alone took us 5 minutes. It was a bit overwhelming how many people were there. We headed to the m&m store then. I thought Nate would like all the colors there.


Afterwards we headed home. It's fun to see the different holiday decorations going up all over the city. Nate and I are definitely going to have fun hitting up all the decorated windows and holiday markets in the next few weeks!

These are MY kind of golden rings!

At one of the playgrounds nearby people have dropped off old toys from their apartments that I assume their kids have outgrown but are still "usable". Nate (and all the other kids) find these toys exciting, I guess because they're different from what they have at home. Consequently, the kids fight over the toys and these toys end up being continuously for about 6-8 hours a day, day after day.

So, it's really no wonder that these toys ended up "wearing out" long before similar ones might at home. So the playground becomes The Land of Misfit Toys after a while.

A small sampling from the park today.


This is one of those Little People Garages. Only there's no cars and half is missing. So basically the kids just drag it behind them around the park....like Nate is demonstrating here.


We used to have one of these tables so Nate is immediately drawn to these. He doesn't understand why none of the music works and the handles and slides are all stuck though.


This is Nate's favorite toy. It's the old standby, the Corn Popper. Only the balls don't pop anymore....and it wouldn't really matter if they did because the bubble is filthy so you can't see into the globe anyways. You should see the kids fight over this toy though. Nate put one of these on his Christmas List. He's going to be shocked to see there are little balls inside that globe!


Typical riding toy. This ones in pretty good shape....

...until you see the seat is missing....comfortable!


Oh, how Nate loved the Mickey Mouse popups. Granted Mickey and Minnie never "popped" up, but he did enjoy pushing this around....until it lost a wheel. Now whenever he tries he falls sideways.


Ah, the creme de la creme! This tricycle is only about a month old or so. It is still in really great shape. When it first arrived it had one of those bars that allowed the parents to push it from behind but that broke off within a day. But boy does Nate love this tricycle...he's a bit too small to reach the pedals but he's getting close. I'm hoping that in another month or so when he's a little taller, the pedals will still be attached for him to reach.

Nate does love to play in the Land of Misfit Toys!

On a completely unrelated note....I was in the grocery store today and was shocked at the price of icecream. I rarely buy half gallons so I'm not sure if the price of icecream has gone up or if this is NYC prices out of control.

This isn't even a half gallon of icecream, it's 0.375 gallons for $11!!!! I checked the other brands to see if there was something "special" about this brand but they were all this price (except for the generic store brand). I am in shock. And will never buy a half gallon of icecream in New York!

Nate is getting a little bored with the playgrounds (eek!)...and wanted to leave early this afternoon so we came home and decided to bake some cookies. Nate was a BIG help.

Stirring the batter


Cutting out the cookies...ignore his eyes here.


His favorite part...sprinkles!


He was REALLY into the green frosting....


...can you tell?


It was a fun (and tasty) afternoon!

Dr. Batman taking Winnie the Pooh's temperature

Here are some recent pictures of the Empire State Building colored in the evening.


The occasions are (clockwise from top left):
American Academy of the Dramatic Arts
Halloween
Afterschool Alliance
New York City Marathon
Alzheimer's Association
Big Apple Circus

The ESB was colored Blue-White-Blue for a lot of nights recently for the Yankees but they came out all blurry on my camera.

We walked the Brooklyn Bridge yesterday morning.


Our plan was to take some pictures of Nate for the Christmas Card shot this year.


Nate slept until 7am though! So by the time we got there it was a bit crowded. We didn't get any good pictures but still had a nice walk.


Nate is getting much better at holding hands while he walks. He doesn't do it all the time but getting much better.


Not a bad way to spend a November morning.

Nate and I met up with Gwen on Friday. She and her boyfriend are visiting from England. We went to lunch and walked around the Union Square Green Market.


While we were there we saw Mayor Bloomberg giving a press conference. While he is not as high as say MATT DAMON on my "Famous Person Meter", I thought he was worth getting a shot of.

I'm still looking for you Matt!

Saturday we went Upstate for Halloween. Nate was supposed to be a really cute Garden Gnome. But after throwing a fit when Glenn put on his button down shirt (not to mention the suspenders, hat or beard), he decided that being a skelton was much more up his alley.


Daddy and Nate (pre-haircut)


We took Nate to get a haircut and he was so bad they had to buzz it all off just to get us out of there. It looks cute but I like his hair a bit longer I think.




Sunday was Ms. Lucy's Baptism. She looked so cute.


Glenn and I had the honor of being her Godparents.


She was so good and didn't even make a peep when the priest poured the water on her head.


Family Shot


It was a fun weekend!

Coming Attractions: Baby X!
Due Date: June 14, 2010