Matt, Maddy and Liz

You may have noticed the thingy on my side bar (over there-->) that links to the Liz Logelin Foundation. You may have also seen my link to Matt Logelin's blog over there as well, and if you've read his blog at all I'm sure you, like me, shed a few tears and fell completely in love with them both. I don't know them in "real life," though I feel as though I do. Madeline was born very tiny and premature in 2008, about a month before my Lucy arrived. Maddy's momma, Liz, died suddenly the next day from a pulmonary embolism. Matt, Maddy's daddy, is now raising Madeline alone and blogging all about it in a brutally honest and poetic way.

I found his blog back in the summer and stayed up for hours catching up on the story. I wept like a child... my heart was just broken for him. But over these past months, it has been really amazing to watch Madeline and Matt grow together. As more and more people discovered his story, his readership has grown enormously. Mostly, I just love looking at the pictures of little Madeline. She reminds me of Lucy with her blondie hairs and big blue eyes. I'm sure they would be great friends.

Fair warning if you plan to visit their site... it's terribly sad at first. Woefully unfair and just damned sad that such a thing had to happen to a man so desperately in love with his wife. But once you get past the initial sadness, Matt and Maddy are a great team who you, too, will most likely want keep an eye on.

Madeline:

The sounds of silence.

In my otherwise silent night-time apartment I have grown accustom to and comforted by the following noises:

the intermittent tick of the thermostat
the click of my dogs toenails on the wooden floors
(and also her snuffly-snore when she is sleeping)
the hum of the refrigerator
the ebb and flow of the traffic on the Brooklyn/Queens Expressway
the whir of my laptop fan

Craving Creature Comforts

The materialistic side of me needs occasional petting. Sometimes a stroll through Target does wonders for this need, other times I need crave creature comforts of a higher degree. Things like...

This Canon Rebel XS SLR digital camera. I want desperately to take my photographs up a level in quality. With this camera, I would be able to do that. Every time I see someone on the street with one, I get a shiver of envy. I can't help it. I just know that as soon as I get my hands on one I'll end up taking it with me all over our fair city. My husband is being a bit of an enabler when it comes to this spendy decision... he keeps telling me what a good photographer I am and that I really should get it so I can document our daughter's life with a quality camera. I may fall victim to his suggestion.

These Frye boots. Or some similar Frye boots. I have coveted a pair like these for about 5 years now, though I have never allowed myself to fork over the cash. They are pricey boots, those Fryes, but worth every damn penny if you ask me. I'd probably wear them in my sleep just to make it really worth it. I used to be a heels kind of girl, but now I fancy myself as a super-cool leather boot kind of girl. Which brings me to my next love...

Beautiful new sundresses from Anthropologie. I have 3 gorgeous sundresses from this smashing shop, but alas none of them fit me anymore. *wipes tears away* See, when Lulu was growing inside my belly, my ribs expanded to accommodate her 8 pound, 9 ounce body and... well... those ribs, they never went back. None of my beloved Anthropologie dresses will zip over my ribs anymore. I have thusly chosen new dresses to take the place of the old dresses.

A washer/dryer combo machine. There is no way that I could ever have this creature comfort in my current living situation. It would take all manner of re-piping the kitchen and I seriously doubt that would happen in a place where my landlords can't even be bothered to do even the smallest of maintenance tasks. But a girl can dream. Yes, a girl can dream about doing laundry. She dreams of doing it in her own house instead of doing it in a laundromat around the corner.

There you have it. The sum total of all of these items is somewhere around $3,000. If I win the lottery anytime soon, I'll be treating myself.

Welcome, President Obama!

Tuesday, January 20th was a fine day. I watched the inauguration of President Obama with Lucy, who did not understand the importance of the moment. She will someday. The excitement of the event was infectious. On the walk to work, I overhead an excited conversation between two boys as they jostled down the sidwalk together after school, each of them holding paper American flags that they had colored with crayons.

Boy 1: Did you know that Barack Obama is already in the White House, right now?!

Boy 2: Yay! I know!

And on their way they went, their moms following not far behind.

Yay, indeed.

I've done it.

Bold what you have done:

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

Stand By Me

I saw this wonderful film maker on PBS the other night. It took years and years of travel all around the world to gather the footage. His message is good, the song is great. Turn the sound on, click here and enjoy.



(Thanks Mom, for reminding me about this.)

I really do ♥ NY

I have found myself feeling down on NYC lately. I have found myself irritated at the fact that my apartment is small, I don't have a dishwasher, I have to schlep laundry down the stairs and around the corner to the laundromat with a 7-month-old strapped to my chest. I have found myself irritated at the grime and the noise, even in our fair Brooklyn. I have found myself fantasizing about living in a big, suburban house which has a driveway and multiple bathrooms. I pretend to love being an urban "baby wearing" momma instead of a stroller-pushing suburban momma, when in truth my shoulders kill me but I wear her anyway, since strollers and subways stairs do not mix. I spend a lot of time thinking about all the things that are wrong with New York City and all the ways it doesn't work for me.

But then, when I got to seriously thinking about how life would be for our family if we lived elsewhere (in some unnamed "regular town",) I realized why it is that we live here instead: the people. It's the way New Yorkers think and act and interact with each other. I could do without the subway, the skyscrapers, the noise, and even the Strand Bookstore... but if I left New York, I would miss the people. I'm not talking about the freaks and crazies (though they do provide some entertainment,) I am talking about the everyday people at the bagel store, the dog park, the Union Square market. There's a forced interaction here that requires you take the time to learn a little bit about everyone you meet - the lack of space demands it. It's not something you find anywhere else in the United States.

(There's also something to be said for the amazing diversity here in the city. Call me crazy, but being surround by all white people who speak only English sounds pretty boring once you've experienced the opposite. I love love LOVE that my daughter is going to grow up in such a multicultural environment - she'll know from the get-go that the world extends far and wide beyond our borders.)

In celebration of my epiphone about my love for our fair and sparkling city, I post this link. Be sure to check out the one about NYC's pregnant women. Yeah. :)

Click: New York Magazine's Reasons to Love NY - 2008