Today Show

Well... if it's not raining in the morning (since I know we'll be up early enough) Atticus and I are going to stroll over to the Today Show to see if we can get on tv. :-) I'll update this post tomorrow with more info after the show.

OK - Well, we did walk over, but .... but the time Atti was fed and I was awake, showered and fed and we walked over - they were done with all the outside segments. Bummer. We'll try again, never fear.

Since we were already up and about - we walked back to Times Square. We went to the the M&M store, Toys-R-Us, and we talked to the mounted Police and Atticus got to pet the horse (his name was Roy)!!! I think Atticus was a little nervous. I had him in the Ergo and he didn't really want to reach out towards the horse. He just stared at him for a while while I attempted to move his little hands out to pet Roy on the nose. Next time, perhaps I'll bring an apple or sugar cube (not that I think the Police will let us feed the horse... but you never know).

I opted not to go to a museum yesterday since next Wednesday we'll be up by the Museum of Natural History. Atticus has a follow-up appointment for his ears at the local pediatrician next Wednesday - so we'll hit the museum after that appointment. We did however enjoy a nice afternoon nap after our walk to the bank and the dry cleaners! Ahhhhh.... I wish I could have nap time everyday! They soooo have the right idea in Spain.

Greg had a busy couple of days as well. Tuesday night his group had dinner and drinks at one of the partner's homes in Tribeca. Last night - Greg went sailing with the Cravath team. Actually, it was a sailing race. I don't know the details - but it sounds like a blast. (And, in case you were wondering... Greg managed the entire night without getting sea sick!) I admit, I was a little nervous about him going out on a boat with big wigs and then yakking over the side of the boat, but he survived!

All White Dinner?

It dawned on me the reason dinner wasn't such a huge hit tonight. It was all white. Cereal puffs as the appetizer (the norm) -- those went over fairly well. But the rest of dinner was pretty much a bust. There was white cheddar cheese and tofu cubes - neither seemed to hold the attention for very long. Ah... I thought, I'll add in a fruit. That always works. Since we'd already had kiwi and strawberries earlier in the day, I grabbed pears. Hmmmm... more white food. We needed a few more calories - so I added some oatmeal into the pears. Ha. Still white.

Eh... maybe it will hold him over. I doubt it, but we can hope.

Naptime

Just had to share....

When I left Atticus after lunch today, he was going down for his nap. I was gathering my things and I looked over to see him in his crib, on his belly, clutching the wooby with one of the older kids... a little boy about 8 or 9 years old rocking his crib. It was just so darn cute.

We do seem to be moving into a one nap strategy pattern. Wake up anywhere between 6 and 7 am (oy vey) and then nap immediately after lunch, and bed around 7:30. Now if only we could get the little man to sleep straight through from 7 to 7....

Sunny and 78 Degrees

I never thought I'd say this... but I miss the 7 am wake up calls. Why you ask? Well, because for the past few days, Atticus has decided to wake up at 6 am. Fun stuff.

Alas... Saturday was absolutely beautiful. Greg, Atticus and I took a stroll over to Maison for brunch. We then continued on our way to the Museum of Modern Art. It's so awesome to be living so close to all these fantastic things. We saw some incredible exhibits of architecture, design, paintings, the sculpture garden.... (we also had one of the worst lemon cupcakes EVER - but thankfully it was on the house). We didn't even make it to all the floors - we'll have to go back. One of the surprises of the day was seeing Van Gogh's Starry Night. I would have sworn that I'd seen that painting at another museum, but that's impossible. Hmmmm. Anywho, I enjoyed seeing the Picassos, the Dali, the Seurats, etc. There was also one exhibit that celebrated good design - everything from chairs, to sewing machines, to an old Jeep! There was a fantastic chandelier that I just fell in love with -- which is so totally random, but I just loved it. The designer is Ingo Maurer. It's on the hanging lamps page under products. I really don't know why it struck me so, but it just does... EDITED TO ADD - It's the lamp with the broken china pieces. Duh... helps if I tell you!!

After the museum, we wandered up to FAO Schwartz and picked up a small gift for Atticus's first birthday. I'd put in a link to what we got, but it appears that FAO has changed their website and removed all of their online shopping. How totally weird. I'm a little bummer about that -- there were some things online that I just don't see in the store. :-( Alas. We also went in to the Apple flagship store since it's next door to FAO. My desktop at home is nearing the end of it's life and eventually will be replaced by a Mac laptop. (Shhhh, don't tell the Dell, I don't want it to die any sooner than necessary!!) Since the day was so stinking beautiful, we kept on walking around midtown. We went to Rockefeller Plaza and into the Nintendo World store. Fun. I tried out some boxing game on the Wii. I was awful. I need to stick to my Wii Fit and the fishing games!! If the weather holds out mid-week, I think Atticus and I will walk over to the Today show on Wednesday. I'll keep you in the loop if you need to set the Tivo.

Today, I met one of Greg's coworkers for a book club discussion in Central Park. It was a lovely 3 hours out of the house, surrounded by sunshine and adult conversations. It was marvelous. The book for the month was Lolita. I've never actually read the book, but I knew the premise and after our discussion today, I actually picked up the book at Barnes and Noble. Other books in my to-read stack for the summer... (in case you were wondering) The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch and The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs. I also have every "how to get your child to sleep" book, but I won't bore you with those!

Since the afternoon was still lovely, after I returned home and hung out with the family a bit, we packed up again and went for a stroll. We were a little late for the 40th Annual Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade down 5th Avenue. I'm actually a little bummed. I think it would have been a fantastic event to see -- and funny enough, I think Atticus would have loved the colors, sparkles, floats, costumes, etc!

Anywho. It's now 10:30pm and I need to upload all the photos, attempt to do a little work and head to bed. It was another fantastic weekend! Next weekend is the 4th of July -- which should bring more exciting posts!!

Ear Infection

Well, it was bound to happen. Atticus got his first ear infection. We got the call Friday morning from day care that he was running a low fever, and could we pick him up.

I was lucky that our neighbor is home with her son on Fridays. I walked next door and got the name of her pediatrician. (After our last trip to the hospital recommended doc... I wanted to see someone different!!) The new office was great - a true doctor's office - and they were able to get us in just before lunch. The doctor we saw said that we were a little ahead of the curve... that Atti didn't technically have a full blown ear infection yet - but there were already blisters forming on his ear drum and that there was fluid present, and that most likely within the next 12 hours, it would have been a full blown ear infection. So, we got the meds and Atticus is already doing better. We've got a follow-up appointment in a couple weeks, but so far so good.

Chance of Rain

Good grief. Enough already. It's rained off and on since we arrived here 5 weeks ago. Seriously. Almost everyday there's been at least a sprinkle or two. Sheesh.

Rain rain go away -- go down to Texas where everyone is melting and lawns are burning up!

The Circle of Life

First I heard that my friend Kristy lost her Grandpa late last night. Then, this morning, it was reported the Farrah Fawcet passed away after a battle with cancer. And just before dinner, the shocking news that Michael Jackson passed away from cardiac arrest.

The bright spot of the day, my dear friend Jeanne Wallace and her husband welcomed their third child, Joseph Bradley, into the world late last night. Everyone is doing well.

Atticus is entering the Mom Mom Mom stage. Everything is all about the Mama. If he can't see me, poor guy is not a happy camper. I think stranger anxiety would be easier to deal with rather than the Mama separation anxiety! It also breaks my heart when I have to leave him at daycare and he just starts wailing. I know he has fun at daycare, but it's still hard. I have gotten to see the fruits of his labor. I hope they let us keep some of the artwork! I took a picture of his "feet fish" with the iPhone. I'll try to upload it to the June folder perhaps over the weekend. Atticus is also getting really good at standing. He'll use a box, your leg, the coffee table, anything to pull/push up to a standing position and then let go. This evening he stood unassisted for quite a while, even waving his arms around and turning his body to look at both Greg and I. Walking is not too far off...

What else is going on you ask? Hmmmmm..... Bubbe Hadd is coming up to New York for Atti's 1st birthday. I'm not sure really what to do about a birthday party. Something in Dallas on our way back to Austin? Something in Austin once we're home? It's not so much the actual party -- but I want to have some great memories and photos to put in the baby book! Of course we'll do the classic birthday cake in the highchair photos here in NYC, but what about the balloons, presents, friends? I'll keep everyone in the loop once I figure out what we're doing. I can tell you that I ordered a really stinking cute bib for Atti. Look HERE. I got it in blue polka dots/green stripes. And well, since I couldn't resist, I also ordered this onesie. :-)

Well, I'm sure I could babble on here for a while longer - but it's time to fold the laundry and get ready for tomorrow. More updates, photos and stories after the weekend (should be museums, book clubs, and more)!

Busy Little Bees

Wow. We've been pretty busy over the past few days. :-) Greg had quite the adventure on Friday going out to the US Open. Seems you are under no circumstances, do not pass go, do not collect $200, allowed to bring a cell phone to the US Open. You can't even bring it onto the shuttle bus that takes you from the subway to the US Open. For mere mortals this probably wouldn't be THAT big of an issue. For the partner (attorney dude) who's on his way to meet with the general counsel of the USGA (US Golf Assoc) it's a deal breaker. After much discussion and several supervisor's and supervisor's supervisors - Greg and crew were allowed to keep their BlackBerry phones -- but they had to take a cab and not the shuttle bus thing. Sounds good, right? Well.... they arrived at Will Call to pick up their access passes and tickets. The problem is that the only taxi drop off location is next to Will Call #1 and their passes were at Will Call #2. The only way to get to Will Call #2 is to cut through the actual course - which is impossible to do without passes! That is some piss poor planning if you as me. So, by the time Greg and crew convinced all the right people that they were supposed to be meeting Mr. BigWig USGA guy and they made it to the correct Will Call window (after slogging through the muddy golf course) it was close to noon. Yikes. It took them 2 hours from the time they departed the subway to actually meet with the right person.

My Friday was not nearly so eventful. Atticus had an OK day at daycare -- he apparently didn't sleep much and also stood up using one of the walls and then fell to his tush knocking his head against the wall. I didn't see any evidence of the fall however and our evening went pretty smooth.

Saturday morning we went for brunch, and then hung out at home for a bit to wait out the rain. The temperature here in NYC has been great, but I'm so over the rain! It finally cleared up and Greg, Atticus and I hit the streets with no real destination in mind. We hopped the subway heading south and got off in SoHo/Greenwich Village. We wandered past shops galore! We went into the Apple store to take a look around. Not sure that was the best idea considering the fact that the new phone was just released. The store was quite busy! We continued to wander a bit - past some cool galleries, some funky little boutique shops, an awesome old school acapella quartet singing on the corner... We ended up stopping for dinner at a little Italian place on Spring Street. I couldn't even tell you the name of the place, but it was great. We were sitting "outside" under the awning -- despite the sprinkley rain. The staff were great and very accommodating to all three of us. They even brought a small plate of plain spaghetti noodles just for Atticus. This is actually where it gets pretty funny. Atticus has never had just plain noodles. I was tearing the noodles into inch long pieces for him, but he still wasn't quite sure what to make of them. He'd put a few into his mouth, roll them around a bit, look at us kind of puzzled, and then swallow. I hadn't planned on being out for dinner and and hence (bad Mom) hadn't packed any baby food into the diaper bag. Atticus was in a great mood and being all kinds of giggly. And when he laughed... little pieces of noodle came shooting out onto the table which of course made Greg and I laugh, which made Atti laugh even more. The other patrons had to be wondering what in the world we were doing! (Especially the well dressed couple with their granddaughter? daughter?...) This doesn't sound nearly as amusing as I type it up -- but it really was a great time. And -- just to make the night a little more authentic, as we were dining and giggling Mike Meyers walked past our table. Wearing a hoodie and chatting with a friend. Crazy, huh? Mr. Austin Powers, Saturday Night Live, etc etc just strolling by on a Saturday evening.

Today was Father's Day. Fearing crazy crowds for breakfast, Atticus and I took a stroll to Dunkin Donuts. :-) We came home with some sandwiches, munchkins and two large coffees. Yum. Then, once again - we waited for the rain to abate. A stroll around the theater district, a few errands, and then home to watch the Formula 1 race. Now... one would think that by 3pm EST my darling son would by itching to take a nap since he woke up at 7am. Not so much. This little guy actually went 12 hours straight today with NO nap. Not even 30 minutes. I'm not sure what to do. We try to keep to the schedule as much as humanly possible every day of the week... He got up on time, we played, we walked, we snacked, we tried to lay down, we got back up, we lunched, we played, we walked tried to lay down again... Our only mishap of the day happened early this morning. Our neighbors are loaning us a play table for the remainder of our time here. It's a cool table with levers and knobs and bright buttons that play music. Atti was standing up playing and whacking away and I stepped into the bathroom to grab a tissue. Then I heard a terrible scream - any mother's worst nightmare!! Atticus had pulled the table over on top of himself. I think he bonked himself across the bridge of the nose. :-( Throughout the day a little bruise started appearing over his nose. Add that to the self inflicted scratch across the nose and the additional scratch above his eye... my poor little guy looks like he's had a rough weekend!

Sigh. After dinner tonight and a quick bath, Atticus passed out cold about 45 minutes early. Phew. Tomorrow - we start all over again.

NYC Adventures Continue

Yesterday we did a lot of walking. The weather was a bit cool - (which I still find surprising since I know it's 100+ in Austin) - so after Atticus and I enjoyed a 2 hour mid morning nap (soooo nice) we took to the streets. We wandered across town to 5th Avenue and then up towards Central Park. The end goal was FAO Schwartz. I need to google to see if the store has moved since its launch here in NYC. The store was awesome, don't get me wrong... but it wasn't what I remembered from the movie BIG. Could be that I haven't seen the movie in 15+ years... but I remember it being more impressive. Ha. As if 3 stories of toys isn't impressive!

But alas... even a great nap, a ton of walking and a toy store can't stop the teething pain. Poor little man had a rough night. I can feel his top right tooth bulging under the gum. I think it's really getting to him now. The drool factor is at a 10X normal, the crankiness is at about 10X normal and now his nose is running which is making it hard to breathe when he's laying down. :-( He was pretty inconsolable for several hours last night. No Mama, no paci, no crib, no nothing was helping... Right now, I've got 3 pacis in the the freezer for when he wakes up in the middle of the night. We did give him a half dose of Tylenol before bed. Figured maybe it would take the edge off enough for him to get some sleep.

In other adventure news... Greg is heading to the US Open tomorrow. Must be nice. He's also going to Belmont Park next week. I think he's rather enjoying his summer internship! The work and the perks of work are quite nice. Of course, they're still trying to "woo" him at the moment and there will be long hours involved in some high stake deals in the future, but for now, it's a lot of sunshine and roses!!

A friend of mine from Club Med is performing over the next couple of months in production of Shakespeare In The Park. This isn't the official Public Theater version of Shakespeare in the Park, but any literary classic that involves the park sounds fabulous to me! So perhaps that will be one of our outings over the weekend if the rain stays away. I can see why Central Park is so popular with locals and tourists alike! Other potential weekend plans include Prospect Park Zoo and perhaps a nice Father's Day brunch!

New Foods

Atticus has been quite adventurous lately in the food department. He's tried hard boiled egg -- that went over surprisingly well. Yay. A good source of protein. He's tried watermelon. I was totally shocked that he didn't love it. I mean, the kid seems to love all fruit (go figure) but this one is just OK. He's recently tried little bites of bread and a NY pretzel. And... while we were at the BBQ, we let him have a taste of our Cookies-n-Cream ice cream. Yum.

I wanted to pick up some string cheese at the grocery store the other night, but I didn't see any at the small market across the street. I'll have to hit another store to see if I can fine it. We are going to try some cheesy bunnies today at lunch. Essentially, they're goldfish crackers, just a different brand.

We're having a good time introducing him to all these new foods. I think he'll enjoy being a toddler in NYC. So many choices!!

Central Park

Today started out a bit rough... Atticus decided he was WIDE awake at 6:15 am. Ouch. I tried in vain to get him to go back to sleep until about 6:45 when I caved and just crawled out of bed and took him to the other room to play. We let Greg sleep until about 9 am when I thought I was going to pass out from exhaustion. I traded with Greg and passed off Atticus. I was able to eek out another hour and a 15 minutes of sleep - ahhhhhh. The rest of the morning was pretty uneventful - just playing with the little man and goofing off at home. Everyone napped after lunch and then we hit the streets.

We walked north up 7th Avenue into Central Park. There must have been some sort of Puerto Rico Parade or something because we saw a ton of folks with flags, playing music, etc. (Queue the music from West Side Story.... it kept running through my head!!) We had no specific plan - we just wandered the park for a while. We ended up at the Central Park Carousel. Atticus and I took a spin on the horses, it was great. Atti wasn't so sure at first what was going on -- but I think he had fun. (I know he liked the big leather belt strap I used as his "seat belt".) I've pretty much given up on trying to keep things out of his mouth. It's hopeless. There have got to be some teeth coming in soon, but then again... I've been saying that for months.

Jen and Atti at the carousel. First I sat in the "buggy" and then I got brave and took Atticus on the horse for the actual ride!

Looking out from the park towards our "house"

The weather is supposed to be bad again all week. Blech. Thankfully, it's been nice on the weekends so we can get out a bit. More adventures soon!

Quasi Celebrity Sighting

How could I forget...

We saw Billy Mays today at the Big Apple BBQ. Who? You ask. Trust me. You know him. He's the guy who's forever "yelling" during infomercials selling you all kinds of *stuff. He's known mostly for OxyClean I think, but he aslo does garden tools and the bonding stuff that you roll between your fingers and then use to reattach stuff. Whatever it's called.

It was funny to see him in the park.

Big Apple BBQ

Today's adventure was for some good ole BBQ. Kinda funny if you ask me. The three of us packed up this morning and headed down to Madison Square Park for the Big Apple BBQ. The funny part of all this... one of the biggest draws of the event is The Salt Lick from Driftwood, TX. The line was ridiculously long - so we actually didn't eat there today, figure we can eat plenty of Salt Lick once we're back home!! There was also another place from Dallas called Baker's Ribs - but I have to say, I've lived in Dallas most of my life and I've never even heard of the place! Not sure what that means however.

It was nice. There was a light rain by the time we headed home - but a great day to wander and take in some yummy ribs, brisket, pulled pork and good music.

And then... get this: Atticus took an hour and a half nap (with me -- but I wasn't complaining) AND we put him to bed awake and he fell asleep on his own in less than 2 minutes! Woo hoo. Granted, this is only the second night in a row we've put him down awake - but so far so good.

The Rest of the Week

Pretty uneventful thus far. Still got the rash. Still raining off and on in the city. Still forecasting a nice weekend.

Perhaps we'll try for another NYC adventure if the weather and Atti's health hold up.

Until Saturday... I've got work to do. :-)

Roseola

Well... we've figured it out. Mama bear did a Google diagnosis today. And then I talked to our regular nurse back in Austin and pretty much confirmed what I thought.

Roseola.

The question now is, why didn't any of the ER docs or the pediatrician we saw on Monday suggest this as a possibility? Is it because the rash hadn't appeared yet? From all I've read - I know, I know, don't believe everything you read on the Internet - this is so common in Atti's age group.

Sigh. Well, let's just hope the daycare lets him stay tomorrow. He's not contagious. He might have been yesterday while he was there... or last week before the fever started, but he shouldn't be contagious now.

Life with kids is one new adventure after another...

Coney Island Pictures

When you first exit the subway and head towards the boardwalk, this is one of the first things you see. Hmmm... who knew hot dog eating was such a big deal?

Jen in line to get some of the "world famous" hot dogs and fries.

In the very last car with his hand up in the air.... that's Greg just before he heads over the first big hill.

Below: Atticus and I in front of a big walrus statue at the New York Aquarium

Coney Island and the rest of the weekend

Most of you know how our weekend ended... so let me start with the beginning.

After another brunch at Nook (this time Greg and I split an awesome fruit bowl with mango sauce and then I had the apple pancakes - yum), we packed up the stroller and the Badens headed for Coney Island. It's about an hour subway ride from our place. Not close, but not too bad. It was a beautiful day to be outside. I'm not sure really what we were expecting, but Coney Island has a definite nostalgic feel. You can imagine the way it looked in the "hey-day". Now however, it's a little confused. It's not sure if it's target audience is the young twenty-something (beach bars and plenty of offers of free refills on margaritas/daiquiris), a place for young kids (carnival rides, cotton candy and of course a Ferris wheel), a place for the weird (Circus type side shows - think two headed animals and sword swallowing), a big giant flea market (that could have been a special thing last weekend) -- but you get the picture. It's an ODD assortment of restaurants, amusement rides, beach goers... but we really had a great time. Coney Island is also where the national hot dog eating championship is held. There's actually a huge sign with a digital countdown until the contest - hosted of course by Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs. We strolled the boardwalk, ate some hot dogs, Greg rode the Cyclone and then we headed to the New York Aquarium. By this point, Atti was a little fussy, but we just attributed it to being in the stroller when he really wanted to be held. The aquarium was nice... not sure it was worth $17 apiece, but it was neat. Atti was still a little too young to appreciate all its wonder, but he did have fun trying to grab the jellyfish and other fish in the windows. The funny thing about the location - the outside sections are huge and spacious and all of the interior displays were crowded as can be... not the best design, but eh, what can you do?

Once we boarded the train for the ride back to the city, we got Atti out of the stroller again. I nursed him a bit on the subway ride back - and we decided that he was definitely hot and not quite acting himself. He was just too quiet. Once we made it home, Greg and I took his temperature. The first reading under the arm said something like 103 and I about had a heart attack. I am always convinced that Atticus is running a fever and I'm one of those paranoid Mom's who takes his temperature practically every day. It's always normal, so 103 freaked me out. We decided to do it the proper way for little people and take the temp in the tush. The first reading was 104 something. The second reading was just over 105. Greg and I were scared. I tried getting ahold of my friend Angie who's a nurse at our pediatrician's office. By the time she was able to call us back, we had already tracked down the closest ER and we were off. It was a confusing system to "check in" -- actually there didn't appear to be a system at all -- (they're in dire need of a consulting firm to improve the system). Once we were finally seen by the triage nurse, we were given a pass to go to the "main" part of the hospital where we were given a room. Actually, it was quite a nice room, private bath, door, etc. You can tell it's a training hospital (ala Grey's Anatomy, but not) because there seemed to be doctors with interns trailing them everywhere. But any who... little man was given a big dose of both Tylenol and Motrin. Within an hour, his temp had dropped to a mere 101 point something. Atti hadn't had much to eat or drink for the majority of the day - so I kept trying to nurse him, but he just didn't feel well. The doctor was really great, Whit Fisher - he was such a character that I recall his name perfectly. Dr. Fisher checked his ears, his throat, checked for meningitis, checked for who knows what else... all came back clear. They tried to get some urine for an analysis - but that didn't' happen while we were there. So... the fever goes down some and we head home. Little man didn't do much other than sleep for the next 16 hours or so. But midday on Sunday, after we had been napping, I woke to find Atticus drenched in sweat again. Poor guy was back up at 105. Dr. Fisher actually called us to check in, said it was OK to double dose him again with both the Tylenol and Motrin and if it wasn't working to head to St. Lukes on the upper west side since they actually have a peds unit. Well, an hour and half or so after both meds, the temperature was still well over 103. We packed up again and hopped a cab to the other ER. At this point, it's really scary. Atti was so lethargic - he was like a wet noodle. The only thing he wanted was to be held. We were trying desperately to get him to eat or drink. Thankfully - he was still nursing a bit, so we knew he was getting some food and drink at the same time. I don't think I've ever been more thankful for nursing... But on to the next ER. This one was also in need of a better check in system - a little too closely related to the first hospital... but at least the triage nurse saw us fairly quickly. We were given a pass to peds and shown to a bed. No private room this time, just a bed with one of those curtain thingies. No one seemed too concerned that Atti's fever was still over 103 after the meds. The doctor we saw was also very nice - and agreed to do the urine test to make sure there wasn't a urinary tract infection. The catch -- little man had to have a catheter to collect the sample. If we ever thought he couldn't feel pain, this let us know for sure that he most definitely can. He's a tough tough little man - but there's no way this was a pleasant experience. The test that night came back as negative, but I have to call again tomorrow now that the culture has had 48 hours to rest. We were told once again to just alternate the Tylenol and the Motrin and to call if anything got worse. What can be worse than a lethargic 10 month old with a fever of close to 105 -- I don't know...

The good news is that by Monday morning, things seemed to be on the mend. I called a pediatrician that was recommended by the hospital and they were able to squeeze us in for an appointment. Ha. Let's just say that the trip to the doctor's office and the office itself were an experience. I decided to take the subway to the office and started walking the wrong way once I got above ground. Not necessarily the wrong way, but the long way. I went up and then over instead of over and then up. By going my way... I ended up having to hike across Morningside Park. And I do mean hike. Oy. With a 24 pound still not feeling well baby strapped to my front side. And then the doctor's office left a lot to be desired. The staff were really nice, but let's just say this isn't a place you'd find in Plano, TX. Not that there's anything wrong with that - I was more put off by the disorganization, the lack of a check in system, the quality of the toys and books that were literally strewn about...

Eventually, we made it into a room where we waited and waited and waited some more. I think the doctor was actually on her way to lunch when she finally made it into our room. Seriously. She wasn't wearing her lab coat and she had her purse slung over her shoulder. She was nice. She answered my questions, but I got the sense that she already had one foot out the door... and after seeing how poorly things were run, I don't blame her. I can't believe how many places are in serious need of a consulting firm to organize their processes. But I digress...

By last night, Atticus was returning to his usual spunky self. We gave him a bath and then he refused to go to sleep. Not sure if he was being stubborn after sleeping the previous two days or what. He stayed fever free - but we did keep him medicated. I didn't want to take the chance of the fever returning and/or spiking again. I was ready however to try alternative methods to get the fever down. My boss sent me this little snippet - has anyone else ever heard or this and/or tried it?

-Beat egg whites in a bowl
-Dip a paper towel in the egg whites
-Wrap paper towel around baby's feet
-Put socks on over the paper towel

Supposedly, the author writes that within 20 minutes, "I got my son's temp down from 104 to 99." The egg whites draw the heat away from the head (where it's dangerous) to the feet. It sounds crazy but works.

So, it didn't come down to egg whites - but let me tell you, if the fever goes up again, I'm going to give it a try.

Sigh...so that brings us to the present. If the weather holds and Atti is feeling up to it -- we may try to get out of the apartment and at least do some walking tomorrow. We may not brave anything large, like Central Park, but at least a walk around the neighborhood.

Free Day!

I had big plans for today. Atticus and I were going to go exploring - perhaps head over to the Museum of Natural History, or just Central Park.

As it turns out, the day was blissfully fabulous - but for other reasons. SLEEP! Atticus took his morning nap a bit late, laying down a couple minutes after 11 am. I decided to nap while he was napping in preparation for the afternoon's activities. A little after noon, he woke up - I nursed him a bit and believe it or not, he fell back asleep! Not one to wake a sleeping baby, I set him down and we both napped for another hour and 45 minutes.

It was fantastic.

So, we didn't make it to the museum - but I feel so refreshed, that I just don't mind one bit. There's always this weekend....

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Greg and I unexpectedly came into some Yankees tickets last night. Greg's boss has season tickets that he wasn't using - so our family met up with Greg's office mate and his wife for the game against the Texas Rangers. Of course, we had to go. :-) It's the Yankees. It's the new stadium. They were playing the Rangers! Game time was 7:05, so we were a little nervous about taking Atticus, but he did great. A little before 7, we hopped on the subway and headed to the Bronx.

Our gate was just outside the subway exit:

Atti was a champ, sitting in our laps and watching the game. The only time he got upset was when a home run was hit and the stadium went wild cheering. That was a bit much for him. I do have to say however that for all the new technology and the fancy screen, yada yada -- the team doesn't do a very good job of showing replays on the big screen, or showing the little graphic that lets you know what bases are occupied, etc. Odd I thought.

Hanging out with Daddy

Towards the bottom of the third inning, top of the fourth - I was bouncing Atticus on my knee and he just crashed out. We laid him across our laps and he slept for the remainder of the game. We left before the end of the game since the Yankees were kicking Texas's tush!! All in all, a great first baseball game for little man. We still have plans to make it to a Mets game too, and I'm sure another Yankees game will be in the cards before the summer is over!

Before he fell asleep, he was chewing on the top of my beer bottle... which, I admit, looks a little funny. :-)