Father's Day Fun

We started Father's Day off right with breakfast and dessert.  Tiger Cub didn't help cook but he did play happily on his play mat and seemed to voice his approval at times.

We had an ambitious day planned and it only made sense to fuel up on sugar.  If you know me, you won't be surprised that the only icing I had on hand was sparkly pink.

A cookie at 9 am makes sense to me!

After church we had a family date at one of dad's very favorite spots:  Starbucks.

Dad and son are both looking slick in new outfits.

After Tiger Cub's third nap of the day, we went to the playground and tried out the swing.  It went something like this:

 

Followed by advanced jungle gym moves...

Makin' it look easy!

Happy Father's Day Dad!  I love you as much as my favorite toys!

Love, Tiger Cub

New Crib

We're not talking about just Tiger Cub getting a new crib - we ALL got a new crib.  A spacious 2-bedroom crib, Woohoooo!  We continue to be the most inefficient movers ever, although it went about 10 times better than this terrible moving experience.

My mom and brother Matt visited the same week we moved.  It wasn't planned; they were just lucky enough to arrive in time to provide lots of help with heavy lifting and baby watching.  Thanks a milllion guys!

Grandma time!  And this stove will change...

To show our gratitude, we let them stay with us in our new not-yet-airconditioned apartment during the hottest week so far of 2013.  It was so hot that Tiger Cub had to go shirtless.

 Uncle Matt Time

Moving is tiring stuff folks...

We did break from the moving duties long enough to make a very fun excursion to Bryant Park and meet my Aunt Jane for lunch. 

Meeting Aunt Jane was so exciting that Tiger Cub passed out exhausted.  But he woke up for ice cream...

At 3 months old, Tiger Cub decided he was too cool to keep rooming with his parents and scored his own bedroom.  It's complete with a full bed for grandparents or whoever else wants to come visit and be his roommate.

Posing post-nap in his new digs.

We have a nice (albeit small - yes, we're still in NYC so there are limitations) kitchen and got a few new appliances for good measure.

Inaugural batch of cookies using our new stove. 

Checking out the sixth floor view...

This is the highest we've ever lived!

The daunting tasks of unpacking, installing ACs, hanging blinds, etc, etc, etc. continue.  But otherwise we're loving the new place!  Especially the extra space.

Ya'll come visit now, ya hear!

Highlights of a Tennessee Vacation

This May we vacationed in the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee with the rest of the R family. We had fun times and did lots of things we almost never get to do, like...

Fly in an Airplane

Taking our 11-week old on a plane wasn't really fantastic for anyone but could have been so much worse.  There was a little fussing and a lot of sleeping, which is better than a lot of fussing and a little sleeping.

"Don't look too happy, you're about to be changing my diaper on the tray table."

Ride in a Car

Tiger Cub spent some time in a car for the first time since the day we brought him home.  And he really loved his cousin's fun toy that stretched across the car seat - so much so that they gave it to us!

So this is how the rest of America travels?  That is sooooo weird!

Hang Out in the Woods

We stayed in a real life log cabin with some amazing views.  Our escape from the concrete jungle found fresh air, trees as far as the eye could see, skies with stars, and only 10 other people in a 5 mile radius (not counting the massive R family).  It had all the amenities that a New Yorker could never take for granted, like decks,  a dining room table, and a grill.  A grill!

Ahh, everything is so green!

Papa and his littlest Yellow Jacket.

Relax and Socialize with Family

Snuggles with GiGi.

Tiger Cub met his older cousin (Tigerette if you will) for the first time.  They did fun things like look at each other through the window.

Nature Walks

Lots of hills, no cars, and a neighborhood peacock made for good walking material.

Eat Barbecue

Real BBQ folks.  Southern BBQ.  Not northern BBQ that pretends to be Southern BBQ.

And with this, our trip was complete!

Have Passport, Will Travel

The Tiger Cub's passport arrived...

                                                                           ...and it couldn't be cuter!

The only thing he's missing is an international destination.

That's not to say he doesn't have eventful summer ahead.  We have trips planned to Tennessee, Georgia, Colorado, and Florida.  All involve air travel and none require a passport.  But you just never know when you might need one.  And don't think we won't be bringing it along just for fun!

We should sign this little jet-setter up for sky miles, no?

First up:  Family vacation in Tennessee starting tomorrow.  Here's to hoping for good behavior and a face that looks like this:

Please don't roll your eyes Mr. Businessman!

The world is your oyster, kiddo.

Fun with Grandpa

Last week our little guy was lucky enough to get a visit from Grandpa.  Randy and I worked much of the week, but as you can see, they had a really big time without us.  

It's hard to beat a mirror for entertainment.

Grandpa and Tiger Cub spent lots of quality time together taking long walks around the neighborhood and picking out treats at every local bakery.

To show you what a difference 9 weeks can make in a baby's life, check out these pics...

February 23 vs. April 30

Since no visit is complete without a field trip to Manhattan...

We ate lunch at a tiny cramped Upper West Side establishment with steps at the entrance and no room for a stroller (yep, that's most restaurants in NYC).  Tiger Cub got passed around while we took turns eating.

Lesson of the day:  Weekday lunchtime is the best time to take a baby to a restaurant.  Far less people to annoy at this time of the day.

Second sit-down restaurant experience (and the first where he reached for the ketchup).

We just knew that Tiger Cub would love and appreciate Central Park (more than last time at least when it was 40 degrees and windy).  And I'm sure he would have enjoyed it if he had bothered to open his eyes even once the entire time.  At least us adults got to enjoy the perfect spring day.

Yes, I was trying to match the trees with my shirt!

And lastly, Tiger Cub says:

Congrats Grandma on winning the Frist Humanitarian Award!  You're the best nurse I know! Can't wait 'til you visit at the end of this month.

It's National Infertility Awareness Week

Before this little mister was born in 2013...

...We started trying to have a baby in 2011.

As the months dragged on we eventually had to see a fertility specialist and learned that I have hypothalamic amenorrhea.  This is the hard-to-pronounce way of saying the brain doesn't send the right signals to the ovaries to produce follicles, an egg never ovulates, and there is never a chance to become pregnant.  Or something like that.

The common causes for this are overexercising and/or undereating.  But it seems that for some of us just being "on the thin side" can be enough to keep things from working properly.  As soon as I found out there is an exercise/body fat connection though, I quit running and gained 13 pounds.  Anything for the cause!

I am very lucky for two reasons.  First, this is a very treatable form of infertility.  Second, I responded beautifully to medications when I did start taking them.  We never had to pull out the "big guns" like hormone injections or IVF.  Oral medications were enough to coax my sorry reproductive system into actually doing something.  And it only took three months to get pregnant once I started taking the meds.  In the world of infertility, this is really awesome.

Unfortunately 1 out of 8 couples is diagnosed with infertility.  So chances are you know one.  And if you know you know one, you should give them a hug.

I know many others will not get results as quickly as we did.  But on this week of infertility awareness, here's to wishing everyone their much-deserved happy ending.

Down with Toys

I've had a feeling that toys are overrated.

Consider that Fisher Price didn't exist when Albert Einstein and Marie Curie were born.  How did they ever become famous physicists without loud plastic light-up battery-sucking toys?!

 Too many toys at my place?  Never!

So this article Why Fewer Toys Will Actually Benefit Your Kids really appealed to my simple, frugal, urban-living-in-a-tight-space side.  It says that fewer toys make kids more creative, resourceful, and appreciative of the finer points in life.  And as an added bonus they get to live in a less cluttered home.  Okay, that last one is for me.  But still.

Babies seem to be quite entertained by non-toys anyway.  You want to know what my 7-week-old's favorite "toys" are?  These picture frames.

Pretty exciting, huh?

No really, he loves them.   Check this out.

Tiger Cub can thoroughly amuse himself for up to 30 minutes at a time with these things.  I can get dressed and eat breakfast while he's still pumping his little legs and chatting it up with the picture frames.  We assume it's either the light/dark contrast that gets him going or he really wants to go to Africa.

Either way, it's a cheap space-saving form of entertainment.

On a related note, thanks to Facebook, I now know that for Easter you're supposed to give your child a basket full of candy and soccer balls.  Even if the child is only three days old.

Sorry Tiger Cub, Mommy wasn't in the loop on that one.  Maybe next year.  Big emphasis on maybe.

Tiger Cub did get all Baby Gapified for Easter courtesy of Grandma Gigi.

This is him wearing his first outfit - khaki pants and a sweater - that doesn't fall into the "pajama" category.  Super stylish.