Sweet Pea

Turkey & Target

On Wednesday night at the Macy's Balloon Inflation baby Sophie made her first of many appearances on TV, the nightly local news to be exact. Our little star had two viewings, once on NBC Channel 4 News (where I hoisted her high into the air in order to get her on) and then again on FOX 5 News (standing next to 2 young interviewees). The latter was only her lower half of the torso though. Still, she's slowly making her way onto the big screen!

Thanksgiving was very nice. We didn't have to cook (even better) and everyone got quality time with Sophie, and I got some much needed rest. We shopped our asses off on Friday at Target, Costco, Buy Buy Baby and of course had some White Castle in between to regain our strength. Mmmmm, suburbs. We also had some quality time with my cousins/aunt & uncle and Sophie was thoroughly entertained by her 4 year old 2nd cousin Sophia.

The thought of thinking up gifts and then shopping for them is weighing on my mind. Everyone might just get a whole lotta Starbucks giftcards if we don't find the time to do much more. Mmmmm, peppermint mocha.

And this weekend I learned the following:

Pomegranates have about 600 seeds. And they are awesome, especially now that I know how to harvest them.

I have finally beat Freya on hard in GH2. No thanks to Celvyn though, I did it on my own. It said I rock.

You don't have to really resemble the photo of the person who's Costco card you are holding.

If I lived in the 'burbs I would spend every waking hour shopping, and would weigh about 300 lbs.

Macy's Thanksgiving Parade Balloon Inflation

General Slocum

There's a saying "you learn something new everyday" and it got me thinking, and I believe it to be true. I'd like to write down what my new thing is each day. Of course this is easier said than done, but I will give it a try. Or maybe I'll add a sidebar to notate it. Who knows.

Today I learned of The General Slocum Disaster while reading a news story on South Brother Island, which was just repurchased by the city for $2 million dollars. What a terrible tragedy, the worst martime disaster in New York's history. 1,021 people, mainly women and children, were killed by a horrible fire on this ship some 103 years ago. A fire that could have been stopped and many lives saved if it weren't for the slow reaction of the crew and faulty saftey equipment.

Anyone who now travels by boat should give thanks to those who lost their lives, as their deaths subsequently created safety measures that have saved countless others as a result.

I will try and remember them next time I am aboard.

LI Weekend

Friday we went out to LI for Sophie's Baby Naming ceremony at our Temple. Basically it's a regular Friday night service, but at the end the Rabbi announces to everyone Sophie's Hebrew name that we have chosen for her. Since she was born in the Springtime and it's a time of rebirth and renewal, we decided to name her Aviva! It just seemed appropriate and pretty at the same time. The service didn't start until 8pm which is usually her bedtime, so I was worried that she would be tired and cranky. But luckily she napped on the way to the Temple so she was ready to go once we arrived. She stayed up until 11pm partying with everyone! No matter who held her she smiled and played and had a good ol' time. My Mom was even able to fly up for the ceremony which was very nice. After services Indian food was served and everyone loved it!

Sophie also had her first play date this weekend. My Sister's friend brought over a friend's baby Emma who is 10 months. They both played together so nicely! At first they both just looked at each other in amazement that someone else was as small as they are. But they soon played with toys together (or take toys from one another). It was so cute!

Been playing Guitar Hero 3 when I can, which isn't often as we don't allow Sophie to watch TV, so I have to wait until she naps or goes to bed to play. This is probably a good thing as my wrists are so freakin sore from playing too much. So far we love the Co-op mode where Dave and I play songs together. We also like the duel mode where one can play lead, the other bass. Pretty cool.

Sophie turned 7 months last week. Where does the time go? We are starting with a new nanny this week as we have decided to go with someone more affordable for us. Good thing too, as my boss told me last week that I will most likely have no more work from home days starting next year. Of course I was NOT happy to hear this news and I'm sure it's going to be difficult working full time away from Sophie. But I am glad for the time I had home with her and can't really complain as many people have to go back a lot sooner than I did. Still, I'm gonna miss my pumpkin : (

Pattycake

Here's a video of David playing pattycake with Sophie. Only he sings some creepy version that goes like this:
"My mother punched your mother right in the eye. What color was her blood? RED!"

Wrapped Around Your Finger

Happy November

Happy November! I can't believe this year is already on it's way to a close. Where does the time go? Now that I'm working again it really flies by so quickly.

We saw two concerts in October. First was Bruce Springsteen at MSG. Our first time seeing him. I'd always heard he puts on quite a show so I figured it was time to see for ourselves. Wow does that man own the stage. Actually he owned the whole Garden for the 2 1/2 hours he and his E Street band played. So much passion and emotion! Out of all the music they played I only recognized 3 or 4 songs but it didn't matter. He was a joy to watch. The fans were very psyched to say the least. Throughout the perfomance (and before and after) they screamed "Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuce" which kinda sounded like "boooooooooooo". Pretty funny.

Halloween night we saw The Police, also at MSG. They were not so good. Not sure if it's because they're too old, too tired, or just don't enjoy playing together but they just had no energy. They were all in costume which was kinda nice, but I wish they changed halfway through as it was just kind of odd watching Sting sing in a black and yellow jester outfit, or Andy Summers jam dressed as Charlie Chaplin. The highlight of the night for us was watching the master Stewart Copeland play drums. The man is a genius. I've never seen someone play with such skill and confidence. He really owned the stage, or, the back of it at least. We sat behind the stage which I really didn't mind this time as the show was pretty dull, but seeing the behind the scenes action and Stewart made it all worthwhile.

Because of the concert we didn't dress up Sophie for Halloween. I know, I know-but it just didn't make any sense to buy a costume and dress her up when she doesn't eat candy or participate in trick-or-treating. Next year for sure, even if we don't do anything.

Sophie is crawling EVERYWHERE and spends most of her time standing up and holding on to furniture while she tries to cruise around. Very cute. I feel like this kid is going to be walking a lot earlier than most. She is so determined to keep moving. And at only 6 1/2 months!

She loves all her baby food (except bananas) and sleeps 10 hours through the night. But getting up at 6am is no fun. Especially now that the time is changing tonight.