A City Life For Me

On Wednesday night we got another 12-15 inches of snow.  Ben came home from work today and said, “Do you want to go sledding?”  So we popped into the hardware store and bought a new sled, then headed for the park.  Owl’s Head Park is about 9 blocks away from us, and it is very hilly.  Elaine has recently become fascinated with the snow.  She loves to crunch it under her feet, so we don’t get very far on walks.  This was her first time sledding, and we weren’t the only ones with the idea!   The main sledding hill What we walked/pushed/slid/slopped through to get there Elaine upon arrival (we skipped nap time for this outing) Daddy and Elaine at the top of the hill…still konked out!     Elaine was a bit dazed when we woke her up and she was surrounded by people.  She loved the sled, especially when she got to ride on her tummy. At the bottom of the hill after the first run. “Daddy, I wanna do it agai...

Here's another link to my new favorite blog… IHeart Organizing !  January’s project was the Paper Challenge.  I didn’t do all of the different projects along with Jen, but here is what I accomplished! One of my best finds in Virginia Beach was this old wooden file cabinet. We need all of the creative space we can find now that we are in New York City.  This piece doubles as our end table next to the couch.  Ben has done some tweaking so the drawers slide better, and my most recent project was redoing the files.     I now have a box of paper to take to the shredder, and I recycled a trash bag full of non-important documents.  I removed all of last year’s bank statements, paystubs, etc. to the file box in the top closet so they are out of the way.  I made my labels on the computer this time (inspired by IHeart Organizing !).  I put the main category tabs on the left, and the subcategories are in manila folders on the right.  It’s soooo mu...

Yesterday I discovered that Elaine can climb up on the chair that sits next to the kitchen counter.  How did I come to this realization?  I found several of my freshly baked cookies, set on the counter to cool, with little nibbles in the side.  So I follow Elaine.  This is what she did…

Elaine has turned into a bookworm.  Instead of carrying around a toy or baby doll, she always has a book.  If you pause or sit for more than a second, she will be in your lap with a story to be read.  You might get halfway through the book before she decides she wants a different book.  Her favorite books right now are Green Eggs and Ham and The Tooth Book by Dr. Seuss. We have been to the library before, but Elaine did not understand the concept yet.  Our library (conveniently located two blocks away…I love NYC!) has a reading room for kids five years old and under.  There is a big rug in the floor, and all of the books are board books, shelved in no particular order.  We walked in and Elaine was in heaven! With so many books to choose from, she flitted from one shelf to another, leaving a trail of books behind her.  We did manage to read a few pages, and pick a few to bring home.  There is a weekly storytime for kids 18 months and ...

Tonight something “clicked” with Elaine and the phone.  She will hold it up to her ear (well, it really ends up under her chin) and have pretend conversations all the time.  But if someone on the other end talks to her she gets too shy.  Tonight I went into the other room and used my phone to call Elaine on Ben’s cell phone.  And tonight she talked back to me…a lot!  She just blabbered on and on and on. “Well this is fun,”   we thought.  “But maybe it was a fluke.”   So we tried again.  We called Grandpa Godby.  Elaine loved it.  She talked to him…just like she had talked to me!  She had the phone upside down, but there was no question as to whether or not she could be heard.  She was using her “grandpa lungs.” (My dad is a very loud person, so we tease that Elaine gets her lungs from him).  When he laughed, she laughed back.  Then she did her happy dance.  I finally had to tell Dad that he could hang up w...

It is 12 degrees outside.  If you factor in the wind chill it is only 2 degrees. At least the sun is shining.  On this freezing cold day I had to drag myself out of bed bright and early to get into a cold car headed for the OB office.  (My windshield washer fluid is frozen, and I can’t get the trip meter to reset.  That’s how cold it is.)  And since the office doesn’t have a parking lot, I had to search all over for a parking space.  I found one two blocks away.  Then I had to drag Elaine and the stroller down icy and unshoveled sidewalks.  Why is it that people in Bay Ridge are good about clearing the snow, but in Boro Park no one seems to care?  Elaine finally learned the benefits of mittens.  She has despised them and refused to keep them on her hands…until today.  Today she put them on herself! Today I had the genetic screening blood test – for spinal bifeda, down syndrome, etc.  Everything is fine, baby-wise.  Th...

I mentioned recently that I have a new favorite blog, IHeart Organizing .  She labels everything, and I was inspired!  I used her tutorial here , then designed my own labels for various parts of my house.  Today I had then laminated. Now I am addicted!  I am desperately looking around to determine if anything else *needs* a label!  Here’s what I did…   Labels for the office drawers near the computer… Labels for my bins in the living room…   Labels on my scrapbooking supplies – so fun! My favorite – labels on Elaine’s “dresser” drawers.  They have a picture and words, so she can learn where things belong before she can read.  She is already attempting to dress herself, so when I saw this idea at IHeart Organizing, I had to incorporate it!   I used a Beatrix Potter background to match the Peter Rabbit theme in the “nursery.”  This will help Daddy too…