So Long 2013...

You know it's been a big year when it starts like this...

And ends like this...

Here's 2013 by the numbers:

• We visited 0 foreign countries.

• 1 baby boy was born in February.

  

• 2 new parents are thrilled, thankful, busy, and want more sleep.

  

• Our new ride is a sweet 3-wheeled stroller.

• We took 4 out-of-state trips with our new addition: family weddings in Colorado and Georgia and family vacations in Tennessee and Florida.   

 

• Our growing family moved 5 minutes down the road to a bigger place.
  
  

• We had 6 visits from four loving grandparents.

• Randy and I celebrated our 7th anniversary.  But who's really counting anymore?

• Tiger Cub, who is always growing and changing (too quickly!) right in front of our eyes, hit at least 8 exciting milestones: smiling, rolling, babbling, sitting, crawling, standing, cruising, and ball chasing.  Walking is reserved for 2014!

 

 

• After 9 months of cooking on the inside, we've already celebrated 10 months of Tiger Cub growing on the outside.  Sheesh, where does the time go?!

11 cheers for 12 great months of 2013!  Basically it's been the year of the Tiger Cub, probably not unlike many years to come.

2014 here we come!  And dear time, please slow down.

Santa Time!

Around Thanksgiving it occurred to me that it's the time of year when parents take their kids to see Santa.  My thought process went something like this...

NO WAY am I taking my 9.5 month old to see Santa...what a waste that would be!...although we do live just a subway ride away from the Herald Square Macy's...they have that whole Santaland thing going on...everyone knows that's where the real Santa and his elves hang out...the grandparents will be in town and they might enjoy it too...well MAYBE it could be fun, but ONLY if we go early in the morning on a weekday.

Next thing I know, it's a Tuesday morning and this is happening...

9 AM is right!  We were practically the first ones there which I highly recommend.  No lines!

Tiger Cub got up close and personal with lots of Santaland characters.  Everything is life sized when you're a wee little man!

 

Of course it never occurred to me that I should get Tiger Cub something cute to wear for the (sort of spur of the moment) occasion.  Luckily GiGi came through with Santa Claus pajamas which seemed appropriate enough.

Tiger Cub was underwhelmed by his first meeting with Santa.  Despite the elf waving a rattle, he remained skeptical and unsmiling.  In his defense, Santa wasn't really all that jolly.

Afterward we sat down at a cafe in Macy's.  GiGi's empty coke bottle and pictures of gingerbread men were just as amusing to TC as Santaland.

Santa Baby!

Photo credits:  Tiger Cub's Papa

A Successful New York Thanksgiving

We had visitors this Thanksgiving!  My parents drove north and my brother flew east so we could have a "big" family holiday together.  Outside of T-Day, Randy and I went to work and my family played with our baby.  Good times all around!  We also benefited from their culinary skills and their car.  When you've lived without a vehicle for six years, taking a car to the grocery store becomes the best thing ever.


If you come all the way to NYC for Thanksgiving, it's pretty much a requirement to go to the Macy's Parade.  We came *this close* to not going but made a game-time decision to go the morning of.  We were glad we did!  Besides shivering off holiday calories, we spotted a few famous people on floats.

Well, three of us made it anyway.  Two men and a baby stayed behind to cook a turkey. 

Hardly amateurs, we showed up with hand warmers and hot drinks.

Are these two the parents or the grandparents?  So young and fit looking! 

 Pre-dinner entertainment.  Some families watch football.  We have a wonder wheel.

 Tiger Cub looks up to his Uncle Matt.

And...this is my 100th post to this blog!!!  So I'm averaging 20 posts/year for the past 5 years.  Thanks for reading!