Rolling With His Homey

I put Bleeker in the wagon the other day to see if he would stay in long enough for Baker to push him around and believe it or not, he stayed! I think he was so nervous that he was too scared to get out so he stuck it out for the ride. Baker, of course, loved it and took Bleeker for one bumpy ride! There is a short video at the bottom showing the fun!

Bleeker was such a good sport!

The other day, Baker did something, not sure what it was now, but I asked him if needed to go to Time Out. What did he do? He walked over to the chair that we use for TO and sat in it! Little stinker.

Walking Stick and Big Boy Stool

Walking home from lunch last weekend - Baker usually finds at least one stick when we're out that he'll carry around with him but this time, he was using it like he was blind and it was walking stick. Too cute!

There can never be a rush when Baker is walking with you. He will stop to play in the leaves, in the dirt, play with the flowers, you name it. It's never a quick trip but why rush if you don't have to? You're only a kid once and exploration is part of the fun!

This beautiful church is near our house. I can only imagine how pretty it will be when it's covered in snow!

Giving Bleeker some love but Bleeker isn't loving it too much. :)

We bought Baker a new stool so that he can reach the sink a little bit better to wash his hands. It's still a bit of a stretch but he'll get there. Don't you love his little tippy toes? It doesn't stop him from playing in the water, that's for sure...he turns the knob off and on constantly. We have to work with him and teach him that it's not for playing in because it usually results in a fit when he has to stop, which is always fun.

A Day at GW's

Last Saturday, the weather was so wonderful and Brad and I wanted to do something outside so we spent the afternoon at Mount Vernon. Lucky for us, they were having an 18th Century Craft Fair so the timing worked out perfect! The event was all about showcasing the arts and crafts of the 18th century and tents were set up for vendors to sell their reproductions. Mount Vernon really knows how to do it right and had dozens of people dressed in 18th century gear walking around doing life as it would have been done and entertainment that would have been typical back then. It was the perfect outing for a toddler because he could virtually run free the entire since it's mostly open fields so Baker loved that but he especially loved the farm animals! What fun we had! I took tons of pics but here are a few...a few by my standards that is!

Standing in front of the estate

Soldiers getting ready to fire -At one point, we were standing at the front of the house and they were working their way closer to us, stopping to "fire" off every few paces. It was really loud and at first, Baker was okay with it and would walk around saying "boom" but as it got closer he freaked out. He was pitiful so we thought we'd go somewhere else. Funny enough, after this, he was nervous of anyone wearing a soldier outfit! Ha! And bless him, he hides behind the computer when I play the video. I guess he is so traumatized by it that he can't even stand to watch it on the computer.

In the gardens

Daddy and Baker hold hands

This guy was demonstrating how they make lace and let me tell you, it was complicated! Thank God for machinery that does that kind of stuff for us nowadays!

Having a little jello for dessert after lunch!

One of the entertainment tents

Brad has a conversation with an 18th century alchemist.

Love his face here! He walked around with this bit of reed for a while, chewing on it like he was from the woods or something!

Some of the tents that were set up for the artisans.

George Washington lectures us.

Baker takes the stroller for a stroll and Brad assists to keep him from

knocking down a few tents!

The gross rat keeper. That poor rat was literally clinging to the side of the cage. Having lived in a lot of big cities, I don't have much sympathy for rats, but bless him.

Yes, our child touched it...disgusting!

Watching the chickens

Loving him some sheep

I hate that this sheep was looking at me like "get me out of here!"

With the cows

He has such a love for animals...not a bit of fear!

He tried his hardest to climb this fence!

Video: Soldiers firing off. It's A LOT louder in person that the video shows and will literally knock the socks off your feet! Pardon the camera b/c it got a bit shaky when they fired. I couldn't keep a still hand

TGIF

Baker came down with a runny nose on Thursday but since it was clear, I wasn't too worried about it. I associated it with teething but when it was much worse on Friday when he woke up and a little colored, I called the doctor to talk to the nurse on-call. I probably call way more than needed for things like this but you just never know. Had I not called the doctor last winter when he had a cough and runny nose, I would have never known he had RSV, was wheezing and needed an inhaler! So, you can never be too safe in my opinion. The nurse I spoke to said that she wanted me to bring him in to make sure it wasn't his sinuses. So, I did and the doctor said he just had a common cold but was contagious the first 2-3 days. Welcome to cold season...ugh! As much as I love this time of year, I hate colds and with a little one, it never ends. So, instead of hanging out with any friends, Baker and I just wandered around our old hood, Old Town, and went to see the boats at the harbour and had a bit of lunch. It was a nice little outing alone but we're always up for seeing friends!

He loved just staring out at the boats and watching the planes that fly overhead.

I reached over the banister to take this picture. Thank God I didn't drop my camera in the Potomac!

Baker pushed the stroller all over the place and insisted that I didn't help him! Of course, I had no choice when he was going straight for the water.

Bird Lady - We walked up on this woman surrounded by birds and feeding them crackers...some of them ate right out of her hand. Ugh! Baker was in awe and just stared at her. Here is practically begging her with his eyes to let him try and she did! He was so happy, only he really wanted to eat the crackers himself! :)

Holding on to his cracker for dear life! He loved being surrounded by all of them and could have stayed there all day. He was so mad at me when I made him leave...I almost never got him back into the stroller!

The little bird boy

Having a snack at his little desk that Mamaw bought him.

Later that night, after daddy got home, we walked to our favorite little Mexican place but stopped for a play at the park first! Baker doesn't usually like riding this horse but looks like times are a-changin'!

Playing peek-a-boo with daddy

It's the Small Things That Make Us Smile

This was Baker's first time wearing this shirt and for some reason, he was obsessed with making it a one shoulder top. Ha! I love his face here!

He loves to climb into the chair, sit at the desk, and dig in his favorite drawer. It's not my favorite thing for him to do because it usually creates such a mess but it's one of the few safe drawers, so I let him have fun with it!

I'm pretty sure this doesn't meet the helmet saftey recommendations.

Wearing my shoes, or shoe rather. There is a short video below of it.

Mr. Potato Head

I found this Mr. Potato Head at a consignment sale two weeks ago and Baker seems to like it pretty good. I thought it would be a great way to teach him more about body parts and stuff, even though he knows where most of his are, but instead, he just puts things anywhere. I should have known that's what would happen. I'm not so sure that Mr. Potato Head is supposed to have a nose on the top of head of his head or two ears on one side though. :) This is just one of his many concoctions!

Once Upon a Time...

In a land far far away, where sleep was abundant and the pitter patter of little feet were never heard, there was a boy and a girl who lived in the city...New York City.

Okay, so you probably get where I'm going with this. For a while now, I've been wanting to take a bunch of photos from our past, before we ever moved to London (the reason this whole blog exists), and upload them to the blog so that whoever reads this can see a bit of our life pre-London and pre-Baker. Now, we only got our first digital camera in 2004 (I think) so this is only going to go back that far. I've managed to edit it down A LOT considering how many I've taken. But maybe it will just give a tiny glimpse of our life before we were completely exhausted. :)

For me, going back to look at these pictures were bitter sweet. I saw fewer wrinkles and peppy spirits and the ability to do whatever and whenever we wanted. But I also saw the missing to piece to our little puzzle...Baker. Are our lives crazy and often hectic? Oh yes! But is it worth every second because we have the best kid in the world? Absolutely! So enjoy looking at the pictures of our tiny box (all 500 square feet of it) that we once called home and all the rest! If I can find more, I'll post them at some point.

Our old building...251 West 72nd Street - Welcome to our 5th floor walk-up! Imagine walking those stairs at least 6 times a day when we were potty training Bleeker...not fun!

The view from our living room.

The yellow room was our entryway.

Our little bedroom overlooked the living room, divided by French doors.

Our teeny tiny kitchen

The front end of it...that's pretty much it!

Yes, that is our dining table sitting behind the sofa.

Brad and at the time, a sick Bleeker, sit in the living room.

This was Bleeker's favorite spot to sit so he could look out the window.

Brad's parents came for a visit. The exhibit, The Gates, was taking place in Central Park while they were here. These orange gates were all over the park! It may not look like much in the pics but it was pretty amazing to see thousands of them constructed as far as your eyes could see.

Andy, Brad and Nicole pose for photographer Patty! :)

Time for a kiss under the gates!

Patty used to love to see the snow when they would visit! It made her very happy to see mounds of it everywhere.



You gotta have a pickle when you eat at a Jewish deli. Here we are at Archies with Jeff and Anna - during Andy and Patty's visit.

Bleeker playing dress-up with his raincoat and booties. Since it snows a lot in NYC, we had to buy snow boots to protect Bleeker's little paws from the salt and snow. He hated them!

Fresh after a grooming at Peach's salon. This place was too cute!

On a walk with Jeff and Anna through Central Park after one of our big snowfalls. Bethesda Fountain is in the background but it was more like an ice rink at this point. This is one of my favorite places in Central Park.

How beautiful is Poet's Walk in the winter?

Sheeps Meadow, also Central Park.

Anna and I make snow angels!

This walk was so cold! It took a while for my feet to thaw out afterwards!

That summer, Darryl and Stacey (formerly Baker) Nipps got married and had their reception on a boat that cruised around the Hudson and East River. What an amazing time we all had!

Brad and I - looking rather young here. Sigh.

New Year's Eve 2005 -

(Jeff, Anna, Esther, Jake, Sarah, Eloah, Agnishka (sp??), Darryl and Stacey)

Darryl and Stacey had a big party at their house in Midtown to bring in the new year. They had a fabulous apartment on East 58th Street with rooftop access so we could watch the fireworks from their place. It was so close to Times Square that confetti was even flying over to where we were! That was about as close as I'll ever get to Dick Clark's Rockin' New Years!

Who knew that this very year we would be moving to London!

March 2005 - Brad and I celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary in Stowe, Vermont.

Brad in front of an old church on Main Street

No trip to Stowe is complete without making a stop at the Ben and Jerry's factory!

In front of one of the many covered bridges there. The white house in the background is where we stayed, The Stowe Inn.

June 2005 - Saint John's

We took a cruise with Brad's family. It was on this trip that we realized we were likely moving to London in August.

Saint Maarten