I love zappos
New York City
Last week I came back from the New York trip and I'm FINALLY getting around to blogging about it. It was so much fun. Tiring, anxiety-inducing at times, and very trying for Sam, but totally worth it. Amanda arranged a fabulous package of the city for the students and us chaperones, and I my parents were wonderful in accommodating and assisting with my eight month old. Sam was a trooper, really. Considering how strange and off-routine we were, he was generally happy.
The best way to share is with pictures! I decided to break tradition. Instead of sharing chronological photos, I'm grouping them by type. All my photos are in this flickr set. You can click on any below to see the bigger version.
Sam's first flight
Dad holding Sam up to things
First, the departure sign, then the welcome lady at the hotel, then an Egyptian sculpture:
Kids being forced to pose as a group
Their enthusiasm waxes and wanes.
Times Square
Central Park
Battery Park
Rockefeller Center
The Rad Hotel Atrium and Elevators
Your ears pop as it zooms up.
Chaperones trailing the kids
Various Tours
The Met, brief tour given by Mom
St. Patrick's by Amanda
Radio City Music Hall - This was awesome, I recommend it!
Extra cool because they were setting up for the Tony Awards!
Our guide, showing us the "Men Without Women" mural. My favorite part was seeing the bathrooms, hilarious as that is.
The Lincoln center tour, here in the lobby of the Opera house. Sadly, we couldn't take photos in some of the best parts. But I got to see a ballet rehearsal on stage and the symphony tech rehearsal.
Grand Central Station (briefly) by Amanda
Getting Around the City
Lunches and Dinners
Hearty Italian at Tony DiNapoli
Food Trucks outside the Met
Turkish Restaurant (not sure the name)
Pizza after seeing A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder (which rightly won Best Musical! Yay!)
Lunch at Union Square Farmer's Market
Dinner at Ben's Kosher Deli
Snacks, Snacks, Snacks
Featuring Sam: the Bottomless Pit
Pinkberry's and bagels
Falafel and cupcakes
Black and white cookie and rugalach
The Genie from Aladdin (who won his Tony and deserved it!)
From across the street, the green jacket is James Franco and his mob of fans.
Chris O'Dowd seemed friendly. Dad wanted a picture for his father, who is a fan. Which makes this even funnier.
Star of Gentleman's Guide
Me and my baby
Yay! Asleep (in a stroller!) in Central Park
On the roof garden of the Met
In Rockefellar Center
In Union Square
We had to come home a day early, so I didn't get to do Dim Sum or Blue Man Group, but that's ok. I think Sam was done done done. It was a super fun trip.
Memorial Day walk
Birthday Videos
A couple videos, courtesy of Ben. First, Jack opening his big present from us: his own Nintendo DS (with a Pokemon game, opened later).
This is apparently what happens when you are the son of a gamer who shares all his stuff with you. In his defense, he was super excited about the game when he opened it. Neither gift was asked for or expected by him. So I think his response was caused by bafflement. We had a good laugh though.
Here is the new (old) wagon being put to work immediately.
Jack's Birthday
Oh, what a day it was! We had donuts and presents for breakfast, a party at lunch, and pizza and movie for dinner. There were a few meltdowns, as expected, but I think he couldn't have asked for anything more. Well, more presents. He can't get enough. But besides that.
Tons of photos on my flickr page, but here are some favorites.
Presents in pajamas. That's Ben's old wagon that his folks restored for Jack. I had one just like it! 
At the party, Pin the Spider on the Web
Oh no! There's a robber!
Got him with our spiderwebs!
Undead Robber!
Got him good.
Every last drop of silly string was used. 
Thanks to Amanda for these great shots.
Sam was thoroughly confused when he woke from his nap. Poor guy kind of got the short shrift during the party. Luckily I had lots of helpers to hold him. Ben protecting his lawn.
Sam and Henry playing "together" as 8 months olds do.
As requested, a chocolate cake with cherry ice cream inside.
Patience was running low by 1 1/2 hours, but they stuck it out through the present opening.
It was a really fun party. I enjoyed having so many of MY friends there too. Almost none of the moms or dads knew each other. For the record, Jack's friends at the party were Nora, Parker, Ellis, Adam, Ella, Hazel, and Olin.
After a short quiet time, we relaxed in the cool and empty backyard.
Pizza, more cake, and "Everything is awesooooome!"
Happy (early) Birthday, Jack!
Journal updating
Some other things I meant to write about and haven't gotten around to:
- For the moment, everyone is healthy. Sure, Sam is teething, and my cough and rib pain are still there. But there are no runny noses and I'm off all drugs.
- Sam finally cut a third tooth. It was the tiny lower left incisor. That means the biggies in the front top are still pushing out. They look so painful.
- Sleep is better, but not great. We are doing the cry-it-out method for night and naps (like right now, when he woke after barely an hour). It sucks. I hate not being able to go fix and soothe him. We also give him benedryl for tooth pain on some nights, and of course he sleeps awesome after that. NYC next week will mess him up again. Maybe in June we can finally settle his sleep issue?
- Ben is totally Hank Hill about our yard. It's beautiful. We planted a tree and some bushes and I transplanted some flowers from my mom's garden. Some of the irises even bloomed!
- Molly's FHS is pretty bad. We've tried all the simple fixes, with the exception of regular play time (I'm too busy, but I'm trying to get Jack on it). The only other thing we can try are serious drugs. Not only do I want to avoid the cost and side effects, but the effectiveness isn't really known. Wish I could do something for her though.
- I'm really excited for NYC next week! I haven't really mentioned it. I'm taking Sam with Amanda, my folks and their friends, to chaperone a group of kids. It should be a blast.
- Amanda and I went to see the musical Once last week. First, it was great fun just to go out with my sister in dressy clothes. Second, it was a great show. Not one I would want to see again. But funny, well done, good music, creative story-telling, etc etc. It was a really nice evening out.
Slice o' life
Here's some videos and photos from the past couple weeks. I figured I'd better post them before the big birthday tomorrow. Did you know tomorrow is Jack's birthday? I've only been reminded seventy gajillion times today. (psst, it's not really his birthday. That's the 28th. But we are having the party on the Saturday before, and I don't want to tax his little brain with the concept of celebrating earlier than the actual day. Kid can't tell a Thursday from a Saturday anyway. So if you wish to call to tell him Happy Birthday, the 24th is it this year.)
You might see glimpses of my beautiful new walls. No poopy brown anymore! I love them! The art is a work in progress still. Bit by bit.
I'm down to the last sleeve on this sweater. Can't wait to block and wear it! Maybe by NYC?
I spied the boys playing while I cleaned the kitchen.
Neighborhood walks and practicing the trike.
Cute outfit on a chilly day. . .
Someone is a camera hog.
Quick (poor) pic of the finished wall. I didn't like the extra yellow accent wall, so I repainted it gray and then hung the hat rack by the door.
Sam likes yogurt apparently.
Another reason for his nightly baths.
Taking the boys out on the "chariot. It's a Joovy Ultralight 1.5x stroller. The front seat is regular, the back has a bench and standing platform for older children. I freaking love it. We went to the grocery store on this trip. We go there a lot.
Drawing pictures for his teachers on the last day of tumbling.
I was not expecting a full report card. He actually did fairly good. Though, they recommend repeating this level before advancing. He's going to be in a summer time preschool-like class next month. I'm not sure if we will do tumbling again. It was fun, but I like giving him lots of different classes. (Clearly, Amanda, you do not give your kids enough stamps on their grades. Jack got FIVE different stamps, and his name written in silver glitter pen.)
He has struggled to hop with both feet together the whole session. A couple weeks ago he finally made it down the trampoline doing bunny hops. You can see him cringing his upper body to keep it together. His teachers were sincerely proud of him, and so was I!
Pre-birthday room cleaning. This is everything I dumped out his bed.
Lunch with Pokemon, the latest obsession. He explained that Ash wears his hat like this in battle, and his pose is what Spider-Man does after he beats a bad guy.
Bathing with Sam has completely turned around Jack on baths. Used to hate them, now loves them.
Grocery trip #6,412 for the week. Or so it seemed.
I came downstairs to this:
And this never ends (again, camera hog had to join in)
Library looks
I tried to get jack to help in the bathroom by throwing out the diaper, all wrapped up in clean papers. "Um, no. Jesus doesn't want me to carry diapers and get my hands dirty."
I think that's a fib. But he came home from Sunbeams where they talked about hearing and he said "Jesus says not to put small toys in my ears." Savior, and safety expert.