Almost a Year in PIctures

 

My computer has swallowed up our four month picture, so here is an adorable picture of Adam enjoying Napa.
 

 

 
 
 
 
Every month that passes I love seeing the amazing, smart, loving little boy Adam is becoming yet every month that passes I miss the months that are gone.  I knew that time would pass quickly but what I didn’t realize was how quickly Adam would change.  Every month Adam learns new tricks and becomes a little older but it’s always a little bittersweet because he’ll never be as little as he was that month.  
 
I miss the snuggly teeny baby that would sleep on my chest, the chubby cheeked little thing that was just learning how to eat sweet potatos, the stubborn little boy that runs away from us on the bed giggling when we try to put his pajamas on- oh wait that boy is still here 🙂
 
As hard as it is to say goodbye to Adam’s babyhood I know that every day to come will bring new laughs, new smiles, new surprises and amazing days that I can’t even imagine.  I can’t wait.
 
Tomorrow Adam will be a whole year old (tear)!  12 month pictures are being saved for tomorrow 🙂
 
 
 
 


Ornamental Tree

Just when you thought things couldn’t get anymore exciting over here, here is all you ever wanted to know about our ornaments!

One of the many reasons I love Christmas is because I get to take out all our ornaments and reminisce about the many wonderful trips and memories that come together to create out Christmas tree.  With each ornament Randy and I talk about where we were when we bought it and what was going on in our lives at that time.  It makes our tree so special and I can’t wait until Adam starts having his favorite ornaments and wants to put up all of his favorite ornaments.

Here is a small sample of some of our favorite ornaments and the stories behind them.

This was an early purchase and one of my favorite.  Santa Claw was purchased on one of our first vacations as a couple to Boston.  We went up for a friend’s wedding and took a long walk around Boston seeing all the sights until we stopped in Union House and found this wonderful ornament.  It reminds me of that trip to Boston, where we saw our friends Matt and Joni get married in Salem and staying up super late with our friends Katya and Laith having drinks outside the hotel and one of our first long drives together from New York to Boston.

 
 
This ornament we found on a cold November weekend trip to Venice.  We had both been to Venice in the past but this was our first trip to Venice together and we walked around for hours showing each other sights we remembered we had seen on our past trips.  It was so fun to be in Venice off season and the cold dark November nights seemed to suit Venice and it’s canals.  This ornament reminds me  of our first gondola ride together and Randy showing me the infamous spot where he fell into the canal 8 years ago and our extra night at the Holiday Inn by the airport when our flight got cancelled because of fog. 

 

This elephant we got on our trip to Thailand.  We stopped in the Jim Thompson store to look at some ties and scarves and found this little elephant. This elephant reminds me of our first trip to Asia and how new and exciting everything was, even the smells.  It reminds me of our first elephant ride,  the little boat we took to our hut on the beach and going calamari fishing and catching nothing but having fun anyway.

This blue ball and little dog on a boat we bought in California on our first trip there.  We went to San Francisco (before all our friends moved there) and then drove down Route 1 to Los Angeles to go out with the boys, as we call Puraj, Zeb and Brooke, followed by a weekend in Santa Barbara to see our friends Katya and Laith get married.  These ornaments remind me our bike ride over the Golden Gate bridge, our drive down Route 1 where Randy got car sick and I had to take over and drive REALLY slow because I was so nervous of the cliffs.  They remind me of having breakfast with our friends in Santa Barbara and dancing at Katya and Laith’s wedding. It reminds me of getting hot dogs with the boys and having breakfast in LA with Mike Tyson.

 
 
This ornament was a present from my sister and MJ the year we got married and I love it! It makes me smile every time I see it and can’t wait to unwrap it 50 years from now and remember how excited I was to celebrate our first Christmas as a married couple.  I think it’s even funnier that Randy and I took a cab home the night we got married after our ride didn’t show up. But this ended up being the best ending because instead of leaving at 2am when the car was scheduled to come pick us up we ended up leaving at 5am!
 
 
This boomerang was picked up on our trip to Australia.  This was our last trip we took before Adam was around, either in my belly or out.  It reminds me of sharing wonderful glasses of wine with Randy on the beach in  Noosa, going to get ice cream with unlimited sprinkles,  swimming in a lake made of rain on Fraser Island- an island made entirely of sand and the last moments where it was just Randy and I before we became a family of three.

 
This ornament we got in St. Michaels.  This was our first trip with Adam.  We drove to St Michaels and spent the weekend in a cozy b&b on the water.  It was still March and cold but we bundled up and walked around and enjoyed traveling with Adam.  It reminds me of starting our many, many travels with Adam, playing gin rummy with Randy in the hotel room while Adam slept, ordering a table full of crabs and Adam falling asleep right as they arrived leaving us free to eat our crabs and get our hands dirty. 
 
It reminds me also to appreciate every second with Adam.  While we were sitting in a coffee shop taking a million pictures of Adam, Randy suddenly asked me to stop taking pictures and later told me an older couple two tables down were watching us and the woman began to cry while her husband comforted her.  I don’t know if they had recently suffered a loss or were remembering a loss but every time i think of that story it makes me want to hug Adam extra tight.

 
This trumpet we bought on our trip to Ohio when we went to see our nephew Roman three weeks after he was born.  It reminds me of holding Roman when he was a teeny tiny baby, feeding him a bottle, seeing Randy love him so much and watching new parents Sandra and Shawn look like naturals! It also reminds me of having the best steak ever at The Precinct, cooking Moussaka and sitting on the back deck talking about everything.   It reminds me how quickly time goes by since it seems like yesterday Roman was this little baby and now he’s already three and a half years old and a big brother and a big cousin! 

 

 
This alligator is from our trip to New Orleans that we just took. It was our first trip without Adam and even though Randy got sick and was in bed the whole weekend, it reminds me that we have wonderful grandmas who take care of Adam so Randy and I can have time away.   It also reminds me to get antibiotics right away when one of us gets sick on vacation! It also makes me think of how much fun I had with my sister, Michael, Erika and Henry.  We’ll just have to plan another trip where Randy doesn’t get sick.
 
 
 
When I was younger each of my siblings and I had ornaments that we got to hang because they were ours 🙂 I can’t wait for Adam to get to hang his ornaments.  I love the idea of collecting an ornament or two every year and when Adam is old enough to have his own tree I can give him these ornaments to start his own collection with his family.
 
Grandma Gertch bought him this boat with his name on it when we were in Cape May this summer with her friends.  It was so nice to get to spend a couple days on the beach with my mom.  She got to take Adam swimming in the pool and feed him some of his earliest solids.  She even convinced me to give Adam his favorite food…bread for the first time!  Seeing this boat I can almost imagine sitting on the deck watching the sun set over the ocean.  
 
 
Here is Adam’s hand print from when he was a couple months old.  I can’t wait until he’s a teenager and it seems unbelievable that this little hand was once his.

I love this ornament that my mom got Adam. It says We are waiting for you, love Grandma 2011.  I love this picture, because a year later he’s here and exploring the lights!

 

Christmas Past and Present

Just in case there are any doubts that I love Christmas and everything about it, this week will be dedicated to Christmas.  Well, it is Adam’s first birthday so Christmas and Adam, my two favorite things 🙂

First up, wait for it…a look at our trees from years past.  Trust me, this is going to be the most exciting post you’re ever read!  I vividly remember all of trees and always thought they were amazing.  As the pictures will show I am delusional about Christmas and we’ve apparently had mostly Charlie Brown trees, but we’ve loved every one.

First up, our little Christmas tree in 2006.  This was our first Christmas tree! It was right after we moved to London and we had no ornaments.  We bought a couple to decorate our tree, but it became clear that we needed to start collecting.  It was right after this tree on our first trip to Paris that we decided to buy ornaments from everywhere we visited.  And by we I mean that I somehow managed to convince Randy this would mean less vacation shopping and less clutter around our house 11 months out of the year.

 
Next up our tree from 2007.  We actually had some ornaments this year, but since we lived in a little apartment in Marylebone we could only fit a little tree.  We got off an overnight flight after two weeks in Thailand and decided what better to do with horrible jet lag than get our Christmas tree! Added bonus, you can see Randy’s vacation beard in action. 
 
This was the year that Youssey, Sandra and Shawn were all in London to celebrate the holidays with us. We got to open presents together and spent New Years together in Paris!
 
 
 

 
 
2008 we decided to go all out.
 
 
 
 
Just kidding 🙂 I just spent an hour scouring my pictures for our tree from 2008, before asking Randy.  We were in Dubai over Christmas and I apparently agreed to no tree! This of course doesn’t sound like me but the photos tend to agree with Randy.  We did have an amazing Christmas meal and an amazing two week trip to Oman and Dubai, so I guess I can let that one go. 

 
2009, back in business. We decided since we couldn’t get a very tall tree, we would compensate by getting a very fat tree. This tree was a bit of a fail.  I can’t remember the details, but we got this tree home and realized that we needed to remove the wooden base to put the tree in the tree stand with water….
 
 
 
Randy then spent the next two hours trying to cut the bottom of the point down with a dull knife.  Then we spent an hour trying to find a saw in the center of London (note to any shoppers looking, Debenhams, Selfridges, Next and any store near Bond Street do not sell saws).  We finally just bought another tree stand that would accomodate our half sawed, half pointy bottomed tree.
 
 
 

After this, I knew for sure Randy was the person for me to marry. Anyone as committed to tree day as me and willing to go through all that for a Christmas tree I needed to marry!  Here is our first tree as a married couple in 2010.
 

 
2011, we decided to move back to the US and we had room for a real tree! I do still miss our little London apartment, but I love having real Christmas trees! (the Phillippines has Christmas trees….right??)
 

 
Oh, we also decided we had enough room for a baby.
 
 
 
And now folks, what you have been waiting for.  Are you still there after this long post about…trees?? I hope so.  Because our tree this year is by far the best tree we’ve ever had, probably because we had the best decorator out there!
 

 
Adam miraculously took a third nap (unheard of) and we were able to put the tree up and the lights up before he woke up.  We waited for him to wake up to help us put the ornaments on. 

Admiring his work

Adam’s favorite thing to do is grab this sock monkey off the tree and then try to put it back on.  It’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen!

Finished 🙂 Randy and I amazingly concluded after this was the easiest tree thus far to decorate, which is odd considering we had a one year old helping us.

 
 
 
 
 


Baja, I love you!

Before we had Adam, Randy and I always talked about how when we were lucky enough to have kids we wanted to try to take a vacation every year if we could just us.  Until we had Adam, I didn’t realize how hard this would be or how necessary this would be. 

We decided to go to Baja California, alone.  We would spend two days alone, four days with our friends and then two more days along.  This would mean 9 whole days without seeing this face.

My mom came Thursday and it made it easier to leave knowing Adam would be in such good hands.  My mom watched Adam the first half of the week and Randy’s mom watched Adam the second week.  We are so lucky to have such amazing grandmas who took off work and came down and took such good care of our little pumpkin. 

I think it was hardest right before I left.  Adam was being very clingy and only wanted me, I swear he knew we were leaving! But, once we said goodbye and got on the road I felt better.  I missed him of course but I really tried to stay focused on the time I would have with Randy alone and then with our friends.  I thought about how it was nice for Adam to have time alone with his Grandmas and to get to know them better.  Once I left Adam luckily quickly adapted and had a great time with his grandmas.

We landed in Baja and drove out to Todos Santos.  Randy described this as a dusty little Mexican town.  This made me a little nervous but he was exactly right in the best way.  It was a dusty little Mexican town with all the charm and culture that one could hope for.  The food was amazing and the people were all welcoming and friendly. 

 Baja wine = delicious

 
Taco stands = delicious!
 

 

 
We went to this amazing restaurant called Michaels.  Michael cooked our meal himself and came by afterwards to chat as he did with all the tables in this adorable courtyard behind his art gallery.  When we asked where he learned to cook, he replied he just liked it.  A man after my own heart!
I wanted to go back to Michaels on our last night and Randy warned me it wouldn’t be as good.  Why oh why is Randy always right.  It was good but not as good as the first time.  I learned my lesson, no repeat restaurants on vacation!
 
After two amazing days in Todos Santos we headed to Cabo Azul in San Jose del Cabo for four days with our friends.  It was so nice to hang out with Miguel, Jenn, Katya and Laith.  We talked, lay by the pool, went to amazing meals.  The four days went by way too fast! We had a beautiful meal at this restaurant called Floras. The restaurant is located on a farm and was exactly what I would have made my own restaurant like- pizza, pasta, delicious drinks, amazing outside seating. 
 
 
 
 
After our friends left we headed back to Todos Santos and stayed at this amazing little hotel on the beach, Rancho Pescadero.  If I wasn’t dying to get back to my little munchkin it would have been very hard to leave this place!
 
 

 
Mexico, I will miss your beautiful sunsets, perfect weather and delicious food!
 



 

Mendel's visit

We’ve had a busy couple of weeks over here.  I’m going to try to catch you all up!  A couple of weeks ago we were lucky enough to have Gabby, Lev and most importantly Mendel come to town.  Adam was ENTHRALLED with Mendel and who wouldn’t be.  Those chubby cheeks, those brown eyes!

Adam’s hello to Mendel was a high pitched screams which Mendel not surprisingly was not enthralled with.  I can’t wait until these boys are older and best friends and Gabby and I can go on and on about how Adam used to make Mendel cry by screaming in his face  🙂

Of course, we took no pictures of all of us and only a handful of the boys.

Here is Adam stalking Mendel.  He did a lot of that!

The next time these two boys see each other, they’ll be playing and so much older.  I can’t wait!

Halloween and the Mets

When I was younger Halloween was never my favorite holiday.  The only redeeming quality Halloween had was that it did signify the start of the winter and meant that my favorite holidays, Christmas and Thanksgiving were right around the corner.

With Adam, Halloween is fun again and now I’ll get to start my favorite holiday season even earlier.

 We got to think of a fun costume and since it’s our last Halloween in the US for a while what better costume than a Mets Player!

Adam loves Halloween! He has been OBSESSED with our pumpkin. I may need to have one in our house year round.

 
The only thing more exciting than a pumpkin is War and Peace.
 
 
Ok, maybe not War and Peace but chewing on the cover of War and Peace.
 
Our friends came over to trick or treat and take some pics.
 

 

Adam was looking at some little girls who were trick or treating so we missed the group shot, but I had to share the octopus, peacock and astronaut who came by!

Happy Halloween!

 

Swinging

Whoever thought eight months ago…
 
 
 
That I would be here today 🙂 Wind in my hair, sun on my back. Life is good.
 

 
 
–Adam
 
 
P.S. Full disclosure requires me to add that I had a bit of a cold today and my parents want me to mention that I was a touch whiny. But all I remember is swinging on a beautiful fall day. 
 
 

 

Back to New York

We headed to New York this weekend to celebrate Aunt Daf’s birthday.  It was a hectic, family filled 48 hours, and a fun one.

It was nice to spend time with all of our family.  As the weeks and months fly by I’m starting to realize how soon we’ll be leaving.  We have less than three months left in the US and any time we can spend with our loved ones is starting to feel like not enough.  I would have loved to have seen our friends as well, but we were pretty booked up with loads of family time.

We drove up on Friday and hung out with Grandma Yuyu.  We had some yummy Staten Island Bagels and played with some of Aunt Sandra’s stuffed animals.

It was so cold on Friday! Winter is definitely coming. Adam went for a walk with Grandma Yuyu and it felt like winter, Adam had to get all bundled up!

Once Adam went to bed, Randy and I decided to take advantage of the free babysitting and went out on a Staten Island date night.  This made me feel like I was fifteen again.  Randy and I used to hang out a lot on Staten Island when we were teenagers and for that alone I will always be nostalgic when I’m there. 

We went to Joe and Pat’s for a quick pizza and then to the movies.  This was the first movie we’ve gone to since the weekend before we had Adam! That’s ten and a half months people!  Argo was significantly better than The Muppets (sorry MJ, it was!)

Saturday, Randy woke up with Adam and I got to sleep late, heaven!  Once everyone woke up, Adam and I went to visit Grandpa Terry.  Aunt Daf and Uncle Meej came over on the ferry to Staten Island to visit with Adam after that.  We went to Lees for more pizza (once we set foot on Staten Island we’re only allowed to eat pizza and bagels).  It’s hard to compare Joe and Pats to Lees, they are by far the two best pizza places I’ve ever eaten at!  This time Lees had the slight edge on Joe and Pats.  Adam is in agreement.

Grandma Gertch and Grandma Yuyu put Adam to bed and Randy and I headed into the city for Aunt Daf’s birthday party! Daphne shares a birthday with her best friend Michelle so all their friends were coming out!  We stopped at the Jordan’s for some burgers and an outfit change and then made our way to Japais.  Japais is a karaoke bar…let me add that I was in charge of driving us back to Staten Island and waking up with Adam in the early am so no sake bombs for me.  I have to give credit to Daphne and MJ and their friends, they REALLY like karaoke and it was hard not to get involved and have fun, even with no sake bombs! By the end of the night, all of us were singing, even Randy.  In fact, Randy even admitted that he enjoyed karaoke!

Sunday, we headed to Grandma Gertch’s for lunch.  Adam ate a bunch of meatballs and spinach pies. Uncle Ari was down from Maine and it was his birthday (Daphne and Ari were born a day apart, well seven years and a day!) We had some Carvel Ice Cream cake and hit the road.

Gabby- this one’s for you!