Dearest Neighbor,

Over the past month I've gone from feeling bad for having such a loud child, to hating you, to reading about how I'm supposed to love you and then trying to love you, back to hating you, then to thinking you are just plain ridiculous.

I know you think I'm one of those mothers who lets her child run amok all day long with very few restrictions. But I promise you, I am not.

Despite what you think (and what you accused me of tonight in our somewhat heated conversation), I do not "entice him to run around". I absolutely never chase him. EVER. When you hear me calling his name, it's usually to either to get him to stop running or to be quiet. I spend most of my days now pleading with him to be quiet. And sometimes that pleading turns into yelling. And time out. All because you say we are too loud.

And despite what you also accused me of, we do have a rug. And we have a play mat for him to play on.

Yes, he does run around most days. He also loves to dance when he hears music. I usually let him do it for about 1 minute and then force him to stop, which results in tantrums, which result in more noise.

Yes, he does drop and throw his toys sometimes. And I try to teach him not to do that. But he's 22 months old. That basically describes a 22 month old: really loud and not very good at listening, probably because they are so loud.

source

I was happy to hear that you got a set of ear plugs. It shows me that you are at least trying to do something to solve the problem and not just putting it all on me. But like I said a million times tonight, there's not much I can do. It's not my fault that you work at home. It's not my fault that our apartment isn't properly insulated.

Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to focus on my family. I'm going to focus on what is best for my child. I told you I'd try even harder to reduce the noise and I will. I warned you that there will still be noise. But your ridiculous claims and requests tonight have taught me 2 things:

I'm not a confrontational person, but I won't let you (or anyone else) walk all over me. (Thank you, NY for bringing that out in me.) And I made that clear tonight.

I'm going to make sure Blake knows he is loved. It never really occurred to me that other people might not be too fond of Blake. He's cute and sweet, and gives great hugs. And he deserves to be a 2 year old and do things a 2 year old likes to do. Whether you like it or not.

 Sincerely,
Your upstairs neighbor

P.S. I'm terribly sorry that we were sick last week. All of the coughing you said you heard must have been so annoying.

Seeing New York- Transit Museum

Last week our friend Lindsay invited Blake and me on a little excursion to the New York Transit Museum. So we hopped on a train...to go look at more trains!

There was an electricity exhibit that the boys had fun tinkering with.

And they even let us drive a subway train! Turns out it's totally doable while you hold a small child!

Ok not really.

I forgot to clear off my camera card, so I only got 2 pictures. The rest of the museum has a buses that you can "drive" or be a passenger on. Blake loved being behind the steering wheel of an MTA bus. And Garrett (one of Lindsays' boys) was gracious enough to pick us up and drive us all the way to New York City!

We even went down to a subway platform and toured some of the old trains they used to use. It was neat to see what the old trains look like and how different some of them are from the trains we ride.

It was nice to get out and explore the city a little more.

Thanks, Lindsay!

Concerto No. 5

New Year

Remember my new year's resolution post last year? Of course you don't because I don't remember what you posted a year ago either.

Like every year, I forgot about my resolutions by March. But when I looked back at that post and reflected on the past year, I realized that I did some of the things I resolved to do:

I have tried to eat healthier. I now consume considerably less sugar than I used to. (Well, not counting the past week...)

I exercise more regularly and plan to continue to do that. (Thank you, Shape Up NYC for your free zumba class 2 times a week.)

My calling has allowed me to serve people.

I don't always have a book I'm reading, but I am reading more than I used to. I love curling up with a book while Blake naps. When I start a book I usually don't get anything else done until I finish it.

I'd say it's been a pretty good year for me! This year as far as resolutions go, I'm going to focus more on my family. This year our family will:

pray together each night
have family home evening each week
laugh more together

That's it. Sounds simple, but I know it will be a challenge because it's been a challenge this year. And even though I'll forget come March, hopefully by next December I'll be happy with how much our family has grown together.

Happy New Year!

unfortunate change

A few weeks ago I was finally able to comfortably wear a pair of jeans I could wear before I was pregnant. I've been going to zumba classes a few times a week and trying to cut down on the amount of sugar I eat.

I'm not really a diet person. I don't like having to measure out my food, count calories, or put certain foods off limits. If I tell myself I can't eat something, then that's all I want to eat. I figure if I stay active and eat healthy foods then I'll be ok.

What I haven't really thought about is how my body has changed since having a baby. I kept blaming it on just being overweight before I was pregnant, being pregnant, and then not losing the weight after I had Blake.

But now that I've lost a few pounds, I've realized my body has changed. Unfortunately. So now I get to play "This fits me here, but not here. Oh and let's not bring attention there. Or there."

I already hate shopping so this "new" body I've discovered is not really helping. At all.

I'm totally in favor of this (7:57-8:30...or the whole thing if you need a good laugh):

I think I could rock a one piece silver suit with the V stripe and boots...

evolution of dance

Yes. He dropped it like it was hot.

Seeing New York-Transit Museum Train Show

It's nice having friends who know the not-so-well-known fun things to do in the city. On Saturday we headed to Grand Central Station to visit the Transit Museum Annex to see their train display.

The ceiling at Grand Central is really neat!

After wandering around for a few minutes, we asked for directions. And if we ever go again I'll probably have to ask for directions again. I was thinking it was going to be museum-esque, so that's what I was looking for. Instead, it was more museum gift shop-esque. But in the end, it didn't matter what it looked like, their train display was pretty cool! And free!

Blake had a great time watching the trains. And if we had let him, he would have climbed right in and destroyed the whole thing!

Even though their train display was fun to see, Blake found something he was more interested in.

 Possible Christmas gift?