M. in Autumn

Before the cold really hits, we've been trying to enjoy the outdoors with M.! She loves the sound of the crunchy leaves underfoot, and she is very interested in celestial objects (moon, stars, sun, and even airplanes and helicopters). She doesn't talk much, but one thing she clearly says: "Go, go, go!"

Halloween 2017

I loved the pictures of the kids from last year's Halloween, so I thought I'd better update for 2017! This year, M. was a turtle. She loves the picture of the green sea turtle in Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?, quickly flipping through the preceding pages in order to get to the turtle. Fortunately for us, Grace had a turtle costume ready to be borrowed! She didn't like the hat much, but that's probably to be expected. She joined in the trick or treating with a beautiful butterfly and a cute cow:

She mostly enjoyed swinging her bag and crinkling a potato chip bag in her fist. I'm not a big fan of Halloween, but it was fun to walk around with the kids on such a beautiful afternoon – and to quit before the big kids came out with their scary costumes!

First Mother's Day

Today was my first Mother's Day! Dave and I agreed not to go overboard for each other for Mother's/Father's Day gifts...after all, it's supposed to be up to the children! But I still had a lovely day. We went to church and enjoyed the sunshine afterwards:

I relaxed afterwards by making brunch for 7 — still more fun than waiting to eat overpriced and mediocre brunch out at some restaurant!

My mom demanded pictures with her three grandchildren. I noticed that she didn't request a picture with me.

The present that I wanted from Dave was some family time, just the 3 of us. We very rarely spend time together these days. Whenever one of us is with M., the other is trying to work; and when M. is asleep, that's really the time to be productive! So we did something unusual today to mark Mother's Day: we explored a nearby park together! It has a nice playground, and a pool and different rec courts, and even a nature trail! I'm looking forward to going back to walk the nature trail in the summer. And hopefully once Dave's grant is in, we'll have more opportunities to enjoy time together.

But for all the joy, it is sorrowful, too. We were in Canada last weekend for my grandmother's funeral, and this is our first Mother's Day without her. I would have expected to call her this year, and we'd put each of her great-grandchildren on the phone, and she would love to hear their voices. I already miss her so much.

Lost and Found

For the first time last week, I lost my wallet. Like, completely gone, no clue where it could have gone, vanished. I definitely had it on Thursday evening, when I opened my wallet for the LIRR conductor; I handed him the ticket to click, replaced the ticket, then stowed away(?) my wallet in my purse. Dave picked me up from the station in his car; we drove home and picked up Maddie from Joy (our nanny). Then we went out to dinner, but Dave paid, so I didn't need to look for my wallet. We stopped by Stephen's house after dinner to say hi and pick up some tools, but I think I left my purse in the car. At any rate, when the LIRR conductor came by to click my ticket on Friday morning, there was no wallet in my purse. It wasn't at home, it wasn't in the car, it wasn't at the restaurant, it wasn't at Stephen's, it wasn't at the LIRR Lost and Found yet. I had no idea what had happened to it: had I left it behind on the train? Did it fall out of my purse? Did someone reach into my purse and take it? Did I leave it at the restaurant and someone picked it up? A good Samaritan surely would have emailed me by then—my work email is very easy to find by Googling my name.

Fortunately, I had my work ID and a separate credit card squirreled away elsewhere in my purse. But by the time I got to work on Friday morning, I was in full panic mode. Call the credit card companies! Order a new debit card! Order a new driver's license! And most importantly (I guess?): cancel your New York Public Library card so a thief doesn't check out books under your name and then never return them!!!

By Friday evening, I was resigned to the loss. At least most things were replaceable, and as long as no one stole my identity using the information from my driver's license, I would only be out the cost of the cash ($140), my LIRR tickets ($200), my Metrocard ($50), the cost of the wallet itself, and something of sentimental value: my credit card-sized periodic table that says "Proud to be a Chemist" on the back. Don't ask me why I'm still carrying this card from high school. The answer is: I don't know.

Then, a minor miracle! On Saturday afternoon, we received a mysterious visit from...the mailman! He handed me my wallet, saying "My supervisor told me to give this to you." Everything was still there, minus the cash, and my driver's license. I asked the mailman, "Wow, this is amazing! But do you know what happened to my driver's license?" He called the supervisor, who said that it had fallen out and that she had it, and he went back to the post office, picked it up, and brought it back to me! Apparently someone had just put the wallet in a mailbox, and it was taken to the post office, and the post office returned it to me! I didn't even know they could do that. There are still some mysteries: why didn't they just return the driver's license with the wallet, since they knew they went together? Why was everything in the wallet so...damp? And when truly did I lose the wallet?

I suppose I'll never know. Just count me grateful that someone only wanted the cash and didn't want anything else to do with me. S/he took only the cash, and left me the hundreds in public transportation cards! So the only cost was really $140, a day of stress/anxiety, and the $20 for the new driver's license. I'll take it! And be more careful with my wallet from now on...

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For someone who ostensibly does not make a big deal about birthdays, I had quite the extended birthday celebration this year! On my actual birthday, Dave made me a delicious paella (his specialty), and I got to blow out a candle on a little cake.

We took a little family portrait afterwards:

A few days later, we were in NJ to celebrate a very special occasion: Julie and Shoobo's engagement and Shoobo's birthday!! The party was swank, the guests feeling festive, and the food was amazing! And much to my surprise, Julie and Shoobo made my birthday part of their celebration! I had my own ice cream cake (mmm, crunchies), complete with handmade sign and my own photo banner! Such sweet and thoughtful friends—on a day that was about celebrating them, they shared the spotlight with me. I was so surprised, I truly could not figure out what was going on. Hahaha!

Dave says M. looks like a miner with a headlight on here. 

My big birthday experience was today. Dave took me to a concert to hear the Eroica Trio at the Tilles Center out here in Long Island. It was a lovely concert, spanning Renaissance to contemporary music, played with flair and fun. It was a little disconcerting to look at the audience; in all of my classical music experiences, I had never been around such a uniformly geriatric crowd. Yikes, classical music, don't go the way of classics!

It was our first real date out since Maddie was born. We even got to go out to dinner – I ordered a whole grilled fish, to remind myself of my days in Greece. Can't wait til Maddie is old enough to enjoy these things with us!

It's almost hard to remember what our lives were like when I turned 33. Maddie was still just "Lumpy" to us; we were anticipating so much change, but unsure of what it would actually look like. This year, I'm so thankful for our happy, healthy, and splendid baby, for Dave, for our families, and for every precious day we have together!

Halloween 2016

Maddie is a bit young to enjoy Halloween, but that didn't stop us from suiting her up and taking her out for her first trick or treating! We went up and down the block near Stephen and Grace's house, along with a pretty cute Elephant and Thomas the Train:

Here we are before setting out:

I love this photo! Little baby was getting quite sleepy already, and A. was so delighted to be in a matching Elephant costume, and M. was happy to be his beloved Thomas.

Baby fell asleep shortly into our jaunt:

We came home with a small haul, just as the bigger kids began to swamp the neighborhood. Why do people like such scary costumes?? Shudder.

And here is baby in her secondary costume, as a soft little sheep:

Thanks to Auntie Jessica for the handknit hat! Til next year...

The belle of the ball

We've been spending a lot of time with family the past few weeks! Last weekend, Dave's parents threw a special family party for Madeleine to celebrate her arrival. She went to NJ for the first time and met a number of new relatives, including some special relatives visiting from Taiwan.

One of Dave's uncles, who spent a lot of time showing us around Taiwan last year

Relaxed with cousin Amie

 

And I love how comfortable she looks with Uncle Mike!

With her Amah and Agong:

I love this picture of us, but most importantly, the cake from my mom was delicious.

This weekend, Dave's family came to visit us in Long Island. We took them to Old Westbury Gardens, a classic Gold Coast/North Shore mansion with beautiful grounds. It was a gorgeous day, and I'm glad we got these pictures to commemorate the occasion:

With Dave's father

With Dave's cousin, Sandy

 

Our blossom in the arbor

Port Jefferson, Then and Now

After Dave accepted his job offer at Stony Brook, we went for a visit out to that area – this was back in July 2014. Here we are, so young and smiley and well-slept:

At the time, I was still living with Stephen and Grace and the kids, and we were looking forward to Dave's move from Michigan to Long Island. We enjoyed strolling by the Sound and looking at the boats, eating ice cream, and imagining the various possibilities ahead.

We returned to Port Jeff for a day trip a few weeks ago, and my how things have changed:

Lolllll. It was M.'s first trip to Suffolk County. Dave had a gig with his band in that area in the evening, and we came along for an afternoon out. I called it my "summer vacation," since the town has a laidback, beachy feel. We still enjoyed strolling around town, checking out the shops, and, of course, eating ice cream.

And yet, some things don't change. Why take our "summer vacation" just the three of us, when we can make it a crowd? Hahaha.

$$$Taxpayer Dollars$$$

This week, I finally walked over with Maddie to our local public library and signed up for an account. As I opened my wallet, I realized that the card slots were mostly full, and I'd have to move one card to the reserve/little-used interior pocket in order to make room for my new library card. With a pang, I demoted my New York Public Library card – a symbol of my urban intellectual life, the place where I conduct research – in favor of my Mineola card. Sigh. (Though I should note that this goes to show that I haven't used my NYPL card in months anyway...)

The good news is that my local library is pretty cool! Look at all the swag they've already given me:

I'm pretty sure M. doesn't need so much external encouragement regarding early literacy (lol, I'M HER MOM), but it's still nice to receive the support. After all, the property taxes in our county are OUTRAGEOUS, so I feel like I should use the library resources as much as possible.

To that end, M. and I attended our first "lapsit" class today. It's geared for 4-month-olds to 2-year-olds, so M. is totally too young. But I was invited to sign up, and so we went, and M. slept or stared at the ceiling while we sang songs, recited rhymes, and flapped our arms around in unison. Actually, I think she enjoyed hearing the sounds of other babies crying, laughing, and babbling. Plus, it's nice to get out of the house and walk to the park/library. As the months go by, I'm sure I'll find new ways to get my taxpayer dollars back from the library!

Action shot of M. spitting out her pacifier

Growing Things

Our baby is growing and changing every day. What a joy it is to see this little person doing her thing! It's hard to capture the way she looks, since her expressions are always changing, and also, she has no neck. Can't wait for her to start smiling!

While Maddie has been growing inside, I'm supposed to be growing things outside. My mom brought us a planter with herbs and some cherry tomatoes, to supply us with summer foods. Alas, as you probably know, I have a black thumb and have never succeeded with plants. So far (and it's August), the tomato plant has yielded a LONE TOMATO. Here it is:

In this case, the harvest is pitiful, and the workers are...cute (forgive me).

Even worse, as you can see from the picture above, I let it overripen on the vine! Nevertheless, a sweet mouthful to be enjoyed. There are still many green tomatoes on the plant; let's hope they ripen soon, and that I remember to gather them!

Farewell, My Sandblaster

This evening, Dave and I sold my 1999 Toyota Camry, with 185,000 miles on it, to a nice family through Craigslist. I think the Sandblaster is going off to a good home – the car is to be driven by the 16-year-old daughter, who just got her first job and is learning how to manage her money. Her parents were very lovely, and the father used to be a mechanic. They live about a mile away, so we might even see it around town! We got a price that was not all that we had hoped for, but it was fine. It was pretty much the best Craigslist transaction we could have expected, and there was none of the usual sketchiness.

While selling the car was a pleasant experience, I still felt a little wistful about letting it go. Allow me to indulge in some memories related to this vehicle:

(I never dented the car. That dent is from Dave, when he was driving jetlagged the day after our return from Taiwan. I have mostly forgiven him.)

-I drove my date, Nikhil Abraham, and myself to the junior prom in this car! Nikhil only had his mom's minivan to drive, so Dad said that we could use his car, but that Nikhil wasn't allowed to drive. Not sure that Dad should've trusted me with it, either – I believe it was my first time ever driving in high heels. I'm really telling this anecdote because I would like to brag that Nikhil and I won the informal category that evening of "Junior Prom's Scrawniest Couple." Nikhil's not in the picture below, but this was the only digital one I could find from that night:

-Stephen had this car for several years in Boston, but passed it down to me when I headed out to Michigan in 2006. It was in this car, in Michigan, that I learned:

• how to parallel park in a pressured situation (people waiting for you to park successfully before they can drive past)
• how to drive in the snow
• how to drive 9 hours between school and home without making a big deal out of it
• that I need to get a car's oil changed and tires rotated regularly
• what it is like being pulled over for a speeding ticket (only once, ever!)
• how to handle it when your neighbor dents your bumper (and your car is parked, and you're not even there)

 -Dave and I took our first roadtrip in this car! We went from Ann Arbor to Cincinnati to St. Louis to Memphis, where we were attending my good friend's wedding. We had a nice time overall on the trip, but we did learn some new things about each other. For example, I got really annoyed when we missed an important highway exit, because Dave was disoriented looking at the AAA map that had BOTH Kentucky and Tennessee on it. We resolved that since he is the better driver and I am the better navigator, we would default to those roles. This still holds true, but with a happy update: now that we have turn-by-turn GPS on our phones, Dave can drive AND navigate himself...and I can take naps!

Dave took this picture of me as we were heading out of town – so full of optimism

Despite the AAA map snafu, somehow we made it to Tennessee.

-I was glad to have this car when I moved to Long Island in 2013. There's great grocery shopping in our area, and I always felt happy when I could buy whatever heavy and bulky items I wanted at the store, throw it in the trunk, and just drive it home. A HUGE plus over Manhattan/Brooklyn living.

And now it is time to say goodbye! Now that Lumpy is nearly here, we wanted to have a more reliable car with better safety features. So...drum roll, please...our next car will be...a 2005 Toyota Camry!! That's right, we are upgrading from a 17-year-old Camry that used to be my Dad's and then Stephen's to an 11-year-old Camry that used to be my Dad's and then Stephen's! Hahaha. Can't argue with the price, that's for sure. But I don't imagine that I'll be driving this next Camry for a full decade, like I did the Sandblaster. Thanks for everything, Sandblaster!