HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Little Man,

Happy Birthday my love! I can't believe that you turn one today. Where did the year go? I made this collage of some of my favorite pictures of our first year together. As you know, I'm sort of obsessed with taking pictures of you (and Daddy got me a new tricked out camera for Christmas so its only going to get worse!) so it was very hard to narrow it down. I allowed myself only two songs worth- even that is probably a lot!!

You are the light of our lives, the sunshine in our day, the best darn thing that's ever happened to us! We love you lots and lots and can't wait to celebrate with you today!

Love, Mom and Dad

Make sure you view this with the volume turned up!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Our new home!

We finally found a place to live! I think we're equally excited about the place we found and that we don't have to look anymore. It was quite the process. We signed the lease this week and we move in the first week of January. We ended up in a high rise on the same street we lived on before we moved to Tokyo, just two avenues east. We're a little farther east than I would have liked to be, but its definitely much more residential over there and I think its going to be great for Connor. We're super close to a big park and there's a huge playground almost literally in our back yard. The building reminds us a lot of the building we lived in in Tokyo, the apartment itself is just smaller. We're very excited to move in!

Connor and I explored our new hood the other day, and we checked out his new playground. It was really cold outside so we didn't stay long but he had fun while we were there! I had forgotten how unafraid of people the squirrels and pigeons (eww) are in NYC- a squirrel jumped right in my stroller while we were playing on the swings. It was a bit of a scene trying to get him out of there!

C on the jungle gym dressed in his cold weather gear. He looks like a tough guy right?

Loving the swings!

Our little friend that wouldn't get out of my stroller- yuck.

Typical city kid- chasing pigeons!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We're getting blasted with snow at the moment. It's so beautiful! They're calling for 6 inches or so in the city- nothing too major. Looks like a great day to stay inside and play!

Fun Cake

This past Saturday night we had Rob, Shannon, Annie and John over for dinner. Rob and Shann brought an awesome antipasto appetizer and Annie baked a cake that I had to share a picture of. Love it!

First snow in NYC

Connor got to see his first snow in NYC today. The funny thing- yesterday it was in the mid 60's and we played outside in only light jackets. Then today it was snowy and freezing and we had to break out his super warm coat! This weather is crazy!

Homecoming

I am SO excited that my Baby Daddy is coming home tomorrow! He should be boarding a plane momentarily. Connor and I have both missed him so much and we have a really fun weekend planned.

Today was a MUCH better day by the way. To start, it was a beautiful, sunny NYC day so Connor and I spent some time outside. Secondly- we saw a few decent apartments that were actually reasonably priced. I just went into some of the buildings in the neighborhood and asked if they had any 2 bedroom units available and a few of them did. I think this will be the game plan going forward. It will involve more leg work on our end but we can avoid having to work with shady brokers that charge ridiculous fees. Most importantly- Andrew will be arriving just after we wake up tomorrow morning so we have that to look forward to!

AND- Dana and Annie are coming over for dinner tonight!

Bad Day

This post is to be read while listening to the song "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter. Yesterday really sucked. Andrew has been in Tokyo for almost two weeks now. Connor and I got back to NYC on Monday and yesterday we met with a broker to look for apartments for the first time. Now that Connor is walking, its all he wants to do. So needless to say he does not like to be strapped into his stroller for more than 10 minutes at a time. So while looking at apartments, I carried him on the front of me in his bjorn carrier. All 21 pounds of him! It was also majorly freezing raining yesterday, so I carried an umbrella in one hand, my diaper bag in the other and Connor on the front of me. For over 2 hours. Horrible! Please note that Connor had a great time, waving and "talking" to everyone we passed :) We saw at least 10 apartments and none are going to work. It was a real dose of reality (which sadly I knew it would be). We were pretty darn spoiled in our place in Tokyo and even now in our temporary housing here in NYC. Everything we saw was too small and more than we wanted to spend anyway. I only saw one I really liked, and there were two other couples looking at it while I was there. It went on the market yesterday and one of the couples decided to take it then and there. It's such a high pressure situation to look for apartments here in NYC- you literally have to make a decision right then and there if you really want it. I had forgotten how stressful and annoying apartment hunting in NYC can be. I definitely had a "what the heck are we thinking trying to live in NYC" moment. In one of my favorite movies "Keeping the Faith," Ed Norton comments about living in NYC "anyone living anywhere else has got to be in some way kidding themselves." I've always loved that line because I think its so true but I don't know, at the moment I think the joke's on us!

When we finally got home, hungry, SOAKED and sulking, I changed a big time poopy diaper of Connors and ran to the bathroom myself (leaving Connor alone in the living room for all of 45 seconds). In that time he managed to unwrap the diaper and proceeded to finger paint crap all over the white wall of the living room. In that short span of time he got it everywhere- the carpet, the wall, the floors, his clothes, his face, I do mean everywhere. Of course I was on the horn with his pediatrician immediately trying to make sure he was going to be ok in case he got some in his mouth (which I think he did). I was laughing, crying and gagging at the same time cleaning up the literal sh$t show in my living room. No I did NOT get a picture.

Annie stopped over on her way home from work yesterday and commented that I really looked like crap. I said you have no idea!