2 bedrooms
a dishwasher
a washer
a dryer
a small patch of grass to play on
walking distance to a grocery store
no pests
$1500-ish a month in rent
You will literally get laughed right out of your broker's office if these are your criteria for an apartment in NYC. You can have one of these. Maybe.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
to leash or not to leash
It seems in the last few weeks, Blake has decided he hates his stroller. And forcing him into it usually makes me regret deciding to take him somewhere. So I've been contemplating getting him one of those "this looks like a monkey backpack but it's really a way for me to keep you from running out in front of a car" leashes.
But then I saw this:
And I laughed as I realized Blake would be exactly like the kid on the ground. As soon as I tried to pull him in the right direction on a walk around the nabe, he'd collapse to the ground and I'd be stuck either dragging him along or hoisting him over my shoulder and carrying him home (both resulting in judgmental looks from passersby).
Personally I think the little backpack leashes look silly. And before I had a kid I never thought I'd consider getting one. But I totally understand why parents use them. Especially if you are going somewhere by yourself and need to be able to keep track of multiple children.
I don't look down on parents who use them. If they work for your kid, great! If they don't (see picture above) then good luck finding something that does. I'm currently searching for a solution myself.
But then I saw this:
And I laughed as I realized Blake would be exactly like the kid on the ground. As soon as I tried to pull him in the right direction on a walk around the nabe, he'd collapse to the ground and I'd be stuck either dragging him along or hoisting him over my shoulder and carrying him home (both resulting in judgmental looks from passersby).
Personally I think the little backpack leashes look silly. And before I had a kid I never thought I'd consider getting one. But I totally understand why parents use them. Especially if you are going somewhere by yourself and need to be able to keep track of multiple children.
I don't look down on parents who use them. If they work for your kid, great! If they don't (see picture above) then good luck finding something that does. I'm currently searching for a solution myself.
Friday, November 25, 2011
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
this is what I get...
for trying to take my son on a walk:
starts off pretty good
sunny, but cold
return home because Blake insists on walking into oncoming traffic
horizontal tantrum
Hey! An acorn!
Another one!
Hmmm, I wonder...
Yep. I can step on them.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Saturday, November 19, 2011
new 'do
And you thought you'd have to wait until Monday!
I'm having fun playing with it! Although with a toddler running around there isn't much time to play with it. But I really like it!
Friday, November 18, 2011
chopped
I'm getting my hair cut tonight. I'm going pretty drastic and chopping most of it off. Hopefully the end result will be something like this:
Now, I know I'm not Mandy Moore. I don't expect to turn into her when I get this hair cut. But, I do think I'll like the end result.
When I told my mother I was getting my hair cut short, she so graciously sent me this blast from the past:
I'll be praying to the gods of hair that I won't have a repeat of what my family so lovingly calls "the mushroom".
(And while I have this uber embarrassing picture of myself posted on my blog, can I just say I really have never looked in the mirror and seen this person. How did this photographer manage to capture a side of myself that I've never seen? Ugh, I can't even bare to look at this picture for too long. (And if anyone says this looks exactly like me, I'm going to scream.))
Now, I know I'm not Mandy Moore. I don't expect to turn into her when I get this hair cut. But, I do think I'll like the end result.
When I told my mother I was getting my hair cut short, she so graciously sent me this blast from the past:
I'll be praying to the gods of hair that I won't have a repeat of what my family so lovingly calls "the mushroom".
(And while I have this uber embarrassing picture of myself posted on my blog, can I just say I really have never looked in the mirror and seen this person. How did this photographer manage to capture a side of myself that I've never seen? Ugh, I can't even bare to look at this picture for too long. (And if anyone says this looks exactly like me, I'm going to scream.))
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Monday, November 14, 2011
sign
You know, gabage. (rhymes with cabbage)
Kind of like Pip at 8:20.
"What do we look like? Garbage?"
Thanks for the laughs, Brooklyn.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
sick
I'm on my second bag of M&M's today. I bought both of them knowing I was going to eat them as soon as I got home. It's been that kind of morning.
To be honest, it all started around 8pm last night. I was reading Blake his bedtime stories when I noticed he kept sticking his tongue out like he had a hair in his mouth. I didn't think much of it and tried to fish around in his mouth to see if there was anything in there that shouldn't be. No luck. Before I laid him down I took him into the kitchen for a drink of water to clear out whatever was in his mouth that had become so bothersome. And then he puked.
All of his dinner. Refunded. (Note to Blake: Let's try chewing your food from now on, k?)
I yelled to Evan for backup as Blake stood and pointed to the contents of his stomach now occupying the kitchen floor saying, "ewwww!". We got that mess cleaned up and swapped the barfy pajamas for some clean ones. Blake didn't seem to think he was sick as he ran around and played like normal. Freak barfing? We at the Jordan household are veterans when it comes to barfing so we took his temperature, gave him some water and decided he was probably ok since he was acting like he felt fine. Into bed he went.
30 minutes later: vomit.
This required the changing of sheets and new pajamas.
More water, mess cleaned up, no sheets-just a towel this time-and he was off to dreamland.
And then he threw up again. At this point there wasn't much left in his little tummy and it was horrible to watch him struggle. We decided to get him some pedialite and keep him up for a while to see if he'd keep it down. We finally wised up and followed him around with a little bucket to catch any upchuck that might decide to spew from his little body. Sure enough, he threw up a few more times before conking out.
Evan and I hopped into to bed and I said a quick prayer for Blake to be able to sleep through the night.
At 1 a.m. I awoke to the sounds of, well, you know. I called a 24 hour nurse hot line to get some advice on what to do. I really didn't want to take Blake to the ER, but he could not keep anything in his stomach and he was so exhausted that I was getting nervous that he'd need medical attention immediately. The decision was made to wait a while longer to see if he'd go back to sleep, but he threw up again for the seventh time. I tried to call the on-call pediatrician, but didn't get a return call until 2 hours later. By that time Blake was asleep and it was 5:30 in the morning. He had been asleep for 2 hours so I thought it was ok to wait and take him to the doctor when they opened.
Blake woke up around 7 and ate a light breakfast before we headed to the doctor.
Diagnosis: chest congestion brought on by seasonal allergies and drainage of mucus into the stomach causing nausea.
Treatment: nebulizer treatments 3 times a day for a week, antibiotic once a day for 5 days, prescription cough medicine 2 times a day for 5 days, and allergy medicine once a day until the end of November.
The nebulizer treatment is enough to make me want to assume the fetal position and hum to myself.
Thus, 2 bags of M&M's consumed within minutes of each other.
To be honest, it all started around 8pm last night. I was reading Blake his bedtime stories when I noticed he kept sticking his tongue out like he had a hair in his mouth. I didn't think much of it and tried to fish around in his mouth to see if there was anything in there that shouldn't be. No luck. Before I laid him down I took him into the kitchen for a drink of water to clear out whatever was in his mouth that had become so bothersome. And then he puked.
All of his dinner. Refunded. (Note to Blake: Let's try chewing your food from now on, k?)
I yelled to Evan for backup as Blake stood and pointed to the contents of his stomach now occupying the kitchen floor saying, "ewwww!". We got that mess cleaned up and swapped the barfy pajamas for some clean ones. Blake didn't seem to think he was sick as he ran around and played like normal. Freak barfing? We at the Jordan household are veterans when it comes to barfing so we took his temperature, gave him some water and decided he was probably ok since he was acting like he felt fine. Into bed he went.
30 minutes later: vomit.
This required the changing of sheets and new pajamas.
More water, mess cleaned up, no sheets-just a towel this time-and he was off to dreamland.
And then he threw up again. At this point there wasn't much left in his little tummy and it was horrible to watch him struggle. We decided to get him some pedialite and keep him up for a while to see if he'd keep it down. We finally wised up and followed him around with a little bucket to catch any upchuck that might decide to spew from his little body. Sure enough, he threw up a few more times before conking out.
Evan and I hopped into to bed and I said a quick prayer for Blake to be able to sleep through the night.
At 1 a.m. I awoke to the sounds of, well, you know. I called a 24 hour nurse hot line to get some advice on what to do. I really didn't want to take Blake to the ER, but he could not keep anything in his stomach and he was so exhausted that I was getting nervous that he'd need medical attention immediately. The decision was made to wait a while longer to see if he'd go back to sleep, but he threw up again for the seventh time. I tried to call the on-call pediatrician, but didn't get a return call until 2 hours later. By that time Blake was asleep and it was 5:30 in the morning. He had been asleep for 2 hours so I thought it was ok to wait and take him to the doctor when they opened.
Blake woke up around 7 and ate a light breakfast before we headed to the doctor.
Diagnosis: chest congestion brought on by seasonal allergies and drainage of mucus into the stomach causing nausea.
Treatment: nebulizer treatments 3 times a day for a week, antibiotic once a day for 5 days, prescription cough medicine 2 times a day for 5 days, and allergy medicine once a day until the end of November.
The nebulizer treatment is enough to make me want to assume the fetal position and hum to myself.
bad mom
Movies. TV. Impatience.
I've been a bad mom lately. As Blake gets older I'm finding it more difficult to keep him entertained. Guess what he's doing right now? Sitting quietly on the floor watching Toy Story 3. Guess what he was doing 5 minutes before that? Destroying our DVD player.
I hate using the television to distract him, but sometimes that's the only way I know how to keep him busy while I clean or make dinner. And as a 19 month old, his attention span with most other activities is only a few minutes. But when he watches TV or a movie I know I can get a pretty good chunk of time to do something. I see activities to do with toddlers and think, "Maybe I'll try that!" But as I read the details I think, "Well, Blake will just end up eating that." or "I'm going to take a few hours preparing an activity for him to be done with it in 5 minutes. And then what do I do?"
With the weather getting colder, I know our trips to the playground are numbered. Pretty soon it's going to be too cold to walk 10 blocks to the nicer playground and play for an hour. And after checking our expenses over the last few months, any fun outings we may go on this winter to relieve cabin fever need to be free. Better yet, we need to get paid to go do fun things.
I'm not the type of mom that will never allow her children to watch any TV (obviously). But I can't seem to find a balance between a little bit of TV a few times a week and fun, engaging, educational activities that Blake can have fun with. It's kind of turning into this vicious cycle I can't seem to break.
Tell myself no TV today.
Breakfast.
Playtime.
Eats crayons.
Crayons taken away.
Tantrum.
Redirection.
Playtime.
Tries to destroy our DVDs.
DVDs taken away.
Tantrum.
Snack time.
Reading.
Throws books.
Book hits Mom.
Patience is gone.
Tantrum.
Movie.
And it's not even noon yet.
I'm not complaining about how difficult motherhood is. I just hate feeling like a bad mom because of my lack of patience and willingness to plop my kid in front of the television for a few minutes of peace. Inevitably those few minutes turn into 90 minutes. I just feel kind of stuck in these bad habits I'm creating.
I've been a bad mom lately. As Blake gets older I'm finding it more difficult to keep him entertained. Guess what he's doing right now? Sitting quietly on the floor watching Toy Story 3. Guess what he was doing 5 minutes before that? Destroying our DVD player.
I hate using the television to distract him, but sometimes that's the only way I know how to keep him busy while I clean or make dinner. And as a 19 month old, his attention span with most other activities is only a few minutes. But when he watches TV or a movie I know I can get a pretty good chunk of time to do something. I see activities to do with toddlers and think, "Maybe I'll try that!" But as I read the details I think, "Well, Blake will just end up eating that." or "I'm going to take a few hours preparing an activity for him to be done with it in 5 minutes. And then what do I do?"
With the weather getting colder, I know our trips to the playground are numbered. Pretty soon it's going to be too cold to walk 10 blocks to the nicer playground and play for an hour. And after checking our expenses over the last few months, any fun outings we may go on this winter to relieve cabin fever need to be free. Better yet, we need to get paid to go do fun things.
I'm not the type of mom that will never allow her children to watch any TV (obviously). But I can't seem to find a balance between a little bit of TV a few times a week and fun, engaging, educational activities that Blake can have fun with. It's kind of turning into this vicious cycle I can't seem to break.
Tell myself no TV today.
Breakfast.
Playtime.
Eats crayons.
Crayons taken away.
Tantrum.
Redirection.
Playtime.
Tries to destroy our DVDs.
DVDs taken away.
Tantrum.
Snack time.
Reading.
Throws books.
Book hits Mom.
Patience is gone.
Tantrum.
Movie.
And it's not even noon yet.
I'm not complaining about how difficult motherhood is. I just hate feeling like a bad mom because of my lack of patience and willingness to plop my kid in front of the television for a few minutes of peace. Inevitably those few minutes turn into 90 minutes. I just feel kind of stuck in these bad habits I'm creating.
Monday, November 7, 2011
fruit loops
I've started a running list of things I can't feed Blake.
#1: Hot chocolate
#2: Fruit loops
Both of these items cause Blake to ask for them incessantly. How does a 19 month old ask for hot chocolate or fruit loops incessantly, you ask? He walks around saying, "juice!" and refuses anything in his sippy cup that isn't hot chocolate or every 30 minutes he asks for 'froral' (his term for cereal). I'm not opposed to Blake having either one of these items, but when that's all he wants to eat it becomes a problem.
You can imagine his dismay when I told him the 'froral' was all gone.
#1: Hot chocolate
#2: Fruit loops
Both of these items cause Blake to ask for them incessantly. How does a 19 month old ask for hot chocolate or fruit loops incessantly, you ask? He walks around saying, "juice!" and refuses anything in his sippy cup that isn't hot chocolate or every 30 minutes he asks for 'froral' (his term for cereal). I'm not opposed to Blake having either one of these items, but when that's all he wants to eat it becomes a problem.
You can imagine his dismay when I told him the 'froral' was all gone.
Me: Hey Blake! Are you enjoying your cereal?
Blake: Can I have more froral? It's over there, in the pantry.
Me: I think you've had enough.
Blake: That's preposterous!
Blake: Hahaha I know, I have had a lot!
Blake: But seriously, can I have some more?
Me: It's all gone!
Blake: (stunned silence)
Friday, November 4, 2011
Seeing New York- Brooklyn Bridge Park (Pier 6)
During a burst of motivation, I decided it would be fun to visit the playground at Pier 6 at Brooklyn Bridge Park. Even better, we had some friends come along to join in the fun. AND even better than that, we ate lunch at Chipotle. Our children made a huge mess, but the food was too good for us to be worried about that!
Don't be fooled. Blake still hates swings.
This is his, "I'm going really fast!" face. Love that kid!
I'm not sure how often we'll visit the Pier 6 playground because it's not super close, but we did have a great time!
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
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