home at huron

Table for Three: No. 7 Sub

2012-01-26T22:50:00.003-05:00

Inspired by Sara and Ron’s great dining/food blog and the fact that we are constantly reading about amazing restaurants opening in Greenpoint and Williamsburg, Erik and I made a resolution to try and eat at a new (to us) restaurant every week and write about it here. I am not a food writer by any means, so these post will mostly rate each place on the food, atmosphere, toddler-friendliness and whether or not we plan to go back. Not every place loves an active two year old, so we plan on trying restaurants for either early brunch or early dinner.

Our ﬁrst restaurant was new to us and very new to Greenpoint: No.7 Sub opened just last week and serves really creative sandwiches. Erik had the BBQ and I had the General Tso Tofu. The ingredients were fresh and the flavors were surprising. There was a lot of space for Ellis to run around and a great booth table near the window for people watching. I forgot to take pictures of our food and the space, so I found a few online. I liked that their menu was on the small side. It was a little strange to have a sandwich for dinner instead of lunch, but they plan to expand their hours soon. I think we’ll go back since it’s only two blocks away and I’m curious about the broccoli sandwich.

Snow!

2012-01-25T21:36:00.002-05:00

The ﬁrst snow of the year came last Saturday. Ellis was so excited to get on all of her gear and make a few snow balls. I hope we’ll have the chance to take her sledding later this winter!

Last week Mike stopped by when he was in NY for work. His visit was super brief (about an hour) and his drive to our place was twice as long, but it was so great to see him and hear all about his new job.

Happy Belated New Year

2012-01-22T00:28:00.004-05:00

I am not even used to writing out 2012 and one month has nearly flown by. I am excited we are that much closer to Spring though. We rang in the New Year with Isabelle and Nick on the 38th floor on 42nd Street, close to Times Square but a world away from the crowds. Ellis and Clara were so sweet...dancing, sharing snacks and falling asleep before midnight together.

For my birthday Edwin treated our family to a photo shoot! This was the first time the ﬁve of us have been captured together. Max and Meisje were not that into sitting still, but Ellis had a ball.

Christmas break

2011-12-30T22:09:00.005-05:00

Our week off of work and 2011 are nearly coming to an end. Both went by much too fast! We had a great time celebrating Christmas with Rein and Christa in New York. Ellis remembered Oma and Opa well and she enjoyed our adventures to the Moma, Upper West Side and Queens.

Puerto Rico birthday getaway

2011-12-14T23:01:00.007-05:00

Erik and I have been wanting to take a beach vacation since Aruba over three years ago. There were great deals between the two holidays, so we escaped cold NY for a few nights and headed down to Puerto Rico. Ellis loved playing in the sand and Erik and I were happy to catch up on some sleep (including a few afternoon naps). We hiked through the Yunque rain forest and up the hills of Old San Juan. Erik even found Wilson (like the movie Castaway) on a nearby beach. All in all it was a wonderful way to celebrate turning 31.

Cattelan at the Guggenheim

2011-11-23T21:24:00.003-05:00

Really enjoyed the Maurizio Cattelan exhibition at the Guggenheim. The best shows I’ve seen there are the years are the ones that really take advantage of that great space and this one did not disappoint.

Uncle Mike

2011-11-20T09:06:00.004-05:00

Mike is visiting from California for a few days before he starts his new job. We’ve had a really great time together. When Mike visited last year Ellis was shy and clingy with me, but this time she ran out the door and shouted “Hi Mike”. The uncle and niece even spent a whole day together around the neighborhood, visiting two playgrounds and logging some miles on the stroller. He’s been amazed at her new vocabulary and we’ve been so happy to see the special bond they are forming.

Early November

2011-11-20T08:32:00.003-05:00

We had a great time cheering on the marathon runners on a crisp and sunny fall Sunday a few weekends ago. We live near the half way point and made a little sign celebrating that. We also ﬁnally got our new bed and mattress after 10 weeks on back order. The Keetsa mattress is a dream and was well worth the wait. Ellis and the cats seem to enjoy napping on it too.

Painting and paintings

2011-11-05T21:59:00.004-04:00

Ellis has really been into painting lately. She wakes up and asks us to paint. Thankfully, she’s pretty careful with a brush so our apartment isn’t completely tagged. Since I couldn’t remember the last time we had visited the Met, we took a trip there today. Ellis enjoyed seeing the big paintings and statues. She especially liked the paintings with babies and babies nursing. The only difficult part was keeping her away from the low hanging paintings and sculptures! We walked through Central Park on our way home admiring the gorgeous fall foliage. It was sad to see the fallen trees from last week’s snowstorm. Ellis amused a few tourists with her special double stroller where she pushes her doll stroller while sitting in her own stroller.

Snowy Halloween

2011-10-30T22:10:00.003-04:00

Snow before Halloween was certainly a ﬁrst. Saturday was a complete slushy mess. Thankfully we unearthed the stroller blanket and packed Ellis into her cocoon so we could get outside for a few minutes. This year Ellis dressed up as a police woman and Erik and I were her convicts.

Ten Years

2011-10-23T21:29:00.003-04:00

Erik and I have been together for ten years! Crazy how time flies. Our early months together in Amsterdam were all pre-digital, but here is the ﬁrst photo I took with my 1.7 megapixel camera almost ten years ago. We were so young!

Wonderful weekend

2011-10-23T20:43:00.005-04:00

I love these fall weekends. Friday we attended the opening of Josephine’s solo exhibition at Sikkema Jenkins. The show looks incredible and we are so proud of how far she has come in her artistic career. On Saturday we took the ferry down to Dumbo for brunch. The East River Ferry has been great. The pier is only two blocks from our house and it’s so much easier to navigate with a stroller than the subway. Today we rented a car and drove out to Long Island for a day of biking and picnics at Caumsett Park with Dave, Simone, and Henry. Ellis is just all smiles and giggles around Sophie.

Ellis draws glasses

2011-10-13T21:06:00.003-04:00

Ellis and Erik draw in her room every morning while I stumble out of bed, shower and make breakfast. Half of the time she calls out requests for things she wants Erik to draw. Usually it’s her closest buddies (Lulu, Annabelle and Max), Mama and Papa, baby with her bottle, cats, trains and shoes. This morning Ellis surprised us by drawing her own glasses over Erik’s drawing of us. She loves glasses...which is great because I have a strong feeling she’s inherited our less than 20/20 vision. Besides glasses, she also likes her friends to have pacifiers. She’s drawing one on herself in the second photo.

Bring to Light

2011-10-13T20:52:00.004-04:00

Earlier this month I went to the Bring to Light Festival in Greenpoint. It’s part of the global Nuit Blanche celebration. I went last year and was amazed to see Ellis’ local playground completely transformed. Loved it again this year. The large scale projections were my favorite.

Bike rides and pumpkins

2011-10-09T21:09:00.003-04:00

Another weekend has flown by. This one was unexpectedly warm...a nice last gasp of summer. I brought the sandals and picnic blanket back out and we enjoyed two nice bike rides. We are starting to get the hang of biking as a family and looking forward to more rides before winter sets in. After two years of traveling with Ellis in the stroller or carrier, biking is a refreshingly different pace. On Saturday there was a Pumpkin Festival in McCarren Park. Ellis enjoyed decorating her ﬁrst pumpkin. We also made it up to Long Island City and saw a neat sky writing piece.
The past few weeks have been great for Ellis. She’s healthy, happy, sleeping well, not terribly tantrum-y, picking up a few new words everyday, and newly obsessed with drawing. I know other weeks will be a lot more challenging (like the potty training ones) so I just want to pause and take note of these weeks while they are here. I am probably feeling so gushy because she just said her ﬁrst “Love you Mama” when I put her to bed tonight.

Apartment #2

2011-10-01T23:25:00.004-04:00

We’ve now lived here for over a month and are feeling very settled in. Only a few times have I almost walked up to the third ﬂoor. I hardly miss our old space although I am very curious to see how the new tenants have transformed it. For friends and family who haven’t been able to visit in person, I wanted to share a few photos. One is a pre-cleaning, post-hurricane Ellis photo and another is of our new dining room chairs.

Lovely weekend

2011-09-25T21:39:00.003-04:00

It’s Sunday night again and we are relaxing after a great weekend spent around the neighborhood. On Saturday we had a few friends over to celebrate Ellis’ birthday and today we went for a bike ride and stopped by another birthday party. Ellis looks so much older in these photos. She’s really becoming a little girl.

Happy 2nd Birthday Ellis!

2011-09-20T21:35:00.005-04:00

Can’t believe Ellis is now 2! Erik and I took off of work today to celebrate with her. We spent the morning at the adorable art/cafe/playspace Moomah in Tribeca. Ellis painted a little canvas and had a blast in their “funky forest” room. Mostly she was in complete awe of two four year old girls and tried to copy everything they were doing. So sweet to see her try and jump (or “shump” as Ellis says). She’s still working on the mechanics for shumping!

She is saying so much these days; a lot of two and three word sentences and some intense babble conversations. I love the surprise of not knowing which words she will pick up next. Really looking forward to seeing what great changes her third year will bring. I know there will be tantrums, but as long as Erik and I can keep from throwing tantrums ourselves, we should all be ﬁne.

Molly’s wedding

2011-09-11T18:31:00.004-04:00

We traveled to Illinois over the long Labor Day weekend to celebrate Molly and Josh’s wedding and to visit with all of the Carrow family. We had a great time and were happy to sneak in one last free ﬂight with Ellis before her second birthday. Mike flew in from SF and Ellis greeted him by calling him by his name.“Mike” is easy for her to say. She really enjoyed spending time outside, in the pool and was in complete awe of her older cousins. We’ve had a busy few months of traveling combined with the move. Looking forward to a few weekends at home to fully settle into our new apartment and to go through the few leftover boxes I've shoved in a corner!

Quite a week

2011-08-28T21:58:00.003-04:00

A move, an earthquake and a hurricane! This has been a crazy week. Thankfully, the two natural disasters were more bark than bite and thankfully we are almost fully settled into our new home, just one floor below our old one. We love it here. The deck we had was wonderful, but giving Ellis her own room is even better. She's adjusted really well. There's more space for her to play and two mirrored closets she's obsessed with. She could dance, make faces, and blow kisses at herself all day. More pictures of the new place soon.

Hidden Harbor Boat Tour

2011-08-18T22:49:00.003-04:00

Erik and I continued our anniversary boat ride tradition a few weeks late this year. It was well worth the wait though! The Hidden Harbor Tour was one of our favorites. I had no idea what an exciting world existed between the boroughs with traffic rivaling the BQE and customs rivaling JFK! The best part was that the forecast had called for lightning and rain, but it ended up being a clear, warm night with a spectacular ”sailor's delight” sunset. I can hardly believe we’ve been married for seven years and I really can’t believe we’ll be celebrating ten years as a couple in October.

Also this month...

2011-08-18T22:44:00.001-04:00

We enjoyed dinner on the deck, a visit to the newly opened section of the High Line and Ellis and Erik took their first Brooklyn bike ride.

Camping weekend

2011-08-18T22:31:00.003-04:00

We managed to join Rein and Christa for 2 nights of their three week camping adventure. We drove up to Rocky Neck State Park in CT. We had a great spot, great weather (for the ﬁrst 36 hours) and a large beach for Ellis to blissfully dig in the sand. We celebrated Erik’s 33rd birthday and are looking forward to going camping again soon.

More Europe and a move

2011-08-13T19:29:00.003-04:00

We’ve been home from Holland exactly a month, but I didn’t want to forget to post these great photos from our trip. It was wonderful to get both of our families together. Shortly after arriving home, our downstairs neighbor popped by to let us know they were moving our west. We’ve been hoping to move down since I was pregnant and can’t wait for Ellis to have her own room. We start moving in less than a week!

Bubbles

2011-07-25T21:47:00.002-04:00

Caught this sweet moment of Ellis and Cedric blowing a few bubbles.

Meeting Mauro

2011-07-25T21:43:00.002-04:00

Ellis and I were so excited to meet our newest family member: Mauro. What a cutie! Erik already had the pleasure of meeting Mauro in the Spring, but he couldn’t get over how much he has grown.

Deventer

2011-07-25T21:24:00.004-04:00

After London we flew over to Holland. What an easy ﬂight and how nice it was to arrive at Schiphol awake and not jet-lagged. We spent two days in Deventer; enjoying time with Oma and Opa, riding bikes, playing in the garden and taking a trip into the center of town. Ellis loved riding on the bike. After our delicious lunch at the pancake house, we had the great surprise that the toy museum had roped off a large area in the town square for children to enjoy their toy collection. It was the perfect time to recharge our batteries, wash a few clothes and gear up for the exciting family weekend ahead.

London

2011-07-18T21:46:00.007-04:00

London was great. It felt like New York’s older, more sophisticated and better smelling cousin. We covered a lot of ground during our few days there, mostly by foot but also on the underground and buses. While it was great to see the major attractions (Tate Modern, London Eye, V&A Museum, etc), my favorite moments were spent in the parks, watching Ellis run around, feeding the ducks and enjoying an ice cream. We were very fortunate to overlap with Josephine while in England and met up for the afternoon. The weather was perfect: 72 and sunny with a nice breeze, which made coming back to 95 degree heat in NYC quite a shock! There is still so much of London we hope to see, but we are saving it for another trip.

Oh, the places you’ll nap

2011-07-16T23:55:00.004-04:00

We are freshly back from our two week trip to Europe but a little too jetlagged to put together a decent blog post about all of the wonderful places and people we saw! In honor of my tired state, here are a few photos of Ellis napping across London and Holland. Don’t think that she slept through all of the highlights. These are merely one (or two if we are very lucky) hour breaks in our twelve hour non-stop days. More awake photos to come this week.

Father’s Day Weekend

2011-06-23T21:12:00.006-04:00

We had two fun-ﬁlled adventurous days last weekend. On Saturday, we took the new East River Ferry from Greenpoint (yes, Greenpoint ﬁnally has a pier) to Manhattan and the walked down to Madison Square Park for a visit to the playground and Shake Shack, further down to Union Square for errands and then back uptown to Central Park for a picnic/playdate with David, Simone, Sophie and Roman. On our way down we passed NYU Hospital where Ellis was born. I made Erik take a photo since we hadn’t been back there since her birth. I remembered how we had taken pictures on that same bench before we headed home with our new baby. It was Ellis’s ﬁrst time outside and her ﬁrst breaths of outside air. Ellis was so tiny and I was so puffy...look at my feet! Isabelle and Nick where also there on that day with a 3 month baby Clara embryo.

After our epic Manhattan day, I headed home and Erik headed to LaGuardia to pick up a rental car for our Father’s Day trip up to Rhinebeck, NY. We were going to visit Isabelle and her family and to see the great sculpture show Eva and Andy curated at Wilderstein. The drive was scenic, the weather was lovely and the fresh air was much needed. Clara has grown so much since our last visit.

On Wednesday we fly off to Europe for two whole weeks! This will be our longest trip in years. Really looking forward to ﬁnally meeting Mauro, seeing family and friends, exploring London, and watching Ellis play with her cousins. Now, if only the magical packing fairy would show up!

bronx zoo and ﬁrst pigtails

2011-06-01T22:00:00.004-04:00

On the deck

2011-05-28T22:34:00.002-04:00

The ﬁrst half day Friday and 80+ degree temperatures, summer is here in NYC. We enjoyed a great afternoon on the deck. To cool down, we ﬁlled a few tubs with water for Ellis to play in and then we let her go wild with some paints on her mini picnic table. Looking forward to beating the heat this way again soon!

Time travel

2011-05-21T22:16:00.003-04:00

I was ﬂipping through my childhood photo albums and could not believe my eyes. Ellis time traveled back to 1982! Not really, but there is no denying we are related.

20 months

2011-05-21T21:00:00.006-04:00

Ellis turned 20 months on the 20th of May. Just as the jump to the double digit 10 months felt like a big milestone, passing the teen months and adding that 2 in front just makes her feel so much closer to actually being two. Two! I can’t believe it. She is really bursting with personality. Her favorite things this week were jumping in the rain puddles, reading Kikker with Erik, and taking all of her stuffed animals down the makeshift slide we built from a fedex box. She’ll say “step, step, step, ssslllide, weeeee!” as she guides each toy down. I love to catch her playing, dancing and singing when she’s alone. When she’s around friends, things are even better. Today she was surprised with a handmade tutu from Annabelle’s Mom! Ellis and Annabelle (along with about 5 other adorable toddlers) spend their days together and even take a dance class on Mondays. It’s so sweet to see them interact and call each other by name. Now that the weather is warm, but not unbearably so, we spend most of our weekends outdoors, going from park to playground to brunch and ﬁnally crashing at home. At that point, we take Ellis’s wise advice and “seat down”.

Mothers Day Weekend

2011-05-08T21:51:00.003-04:00

The weather this weekend was perfect. I wish I could bottle it up to enjoy when I need a break from those freezing stretches in February or those sticky humid weeks in August. On Saturday we visited Jersey City for Rubi’s second birthday. Olga and Goran have a lovely home there in an incredible building with a 5th floor lawn and pool. We’ve heard so much about this area. It was great to ﬁnally see it for ourselves. Jersey City is a lot like Greenpoint and Long Island City with the opposite view of Manhattan.

For Mothers Day, our little family enjoyed a delicious brunch at DuMont, a long walk in the neighborhood, napping in the park for Ellis, Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory cones and a trip to the playground where Ellis could not stop staring at the girl with the new American Doll. I was waiting for her to try and steal it.

More Louisville Fun

2011-05-08T21:33:00.005-04:00

Before another week goes by, here are more photos from our trip to Louisville. We had a great time with family and friends. Swimming in the pool and visiting the greenhouses were highlights for Ellis. She especially enjoyed her ﬁrst ride in a red wagon.

Four generations

2011-05-01T23:23:00.003-04:00

Despite the sad start to our vacation, we made the most of our time in Kentucky and had a wonderful week with family. This was the ﬁrst time the four generations of Tuttle, Carrow and now Vrielink women have been together. I was almost tempted to visit Sears for a formal studio portrait. We didn’t make it to the mall, but I am very happy with the moments Erik managed to capture on “film”.

Easter Tornado

2011-04-25T21:35:00.007-04:00

Our plan to visit family in Alton was ruined when a tornado hit the St.Louis Airport Friday night. We were really looking forward to seeing everyone and meeting my cousins’ toddler sons Max and Will. Since we couldn’t get a clear answer as to when the airport might reopen, we decided to reschedule. Traveling with Ellis and all of her stuff makes delayed ﬂights and rebooking all the more complicated.

We tried to make the best of our unexpected Easter in NYC with a visit to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden on Sunday. The forecast called for rain all day, but we saw there was a dry window before noon. We dressed up, packed the rain gear and headed out. Boy were the weathermen wrong on this one! It turned out to be a gorgeous summer like day. The sun felt great. It was even so sunny that we ended up using our umbrella for shade and buying Ellis a hat at the gift shop.

Early Easter

2011-04-17T21:06:00.004-04:00

Ellis participated in her ﬁrst Easter Egg Hunt this morning. She did a great job spotting the eggs and putting them into her basket. She loves to share though so her eggs quickly made their way into friends’ baskets. I will tell her this story when she is a candy obsessed ﬁve year old and she won’t believe me! Here are a few other pictures from our indoor adventures as well.

Little Pink Coat

2011-04-16T00:27:00.002-04:00

We found the little pink coat Ellis has worn almost everyday for the last ﬁve months at Clementine Consignment. It is so soft and light and the zipper is very gentle on little hands and skin. When we were at the Central Park Zoo last month, a mother came up to me asking if we had bought her coat at Clementine. She went on to tell us, in her lovely Italian accent, that it was from Italy and her daughter loved wearing it and would be selling another larger coat soon. What are the chances of such a sighting in a city of 8 million? The coat is made by iani mini.

Spring adventures

2011-04-15T23:06:00.004-04:00

It’s been a busy few weeks here on Huron Street, mostly with work and freelance. Ellis has been busy as well, making us laugh, testing her boundaries and running around everywhere in her favorite “sshooz” (usually her pink snow boots). The past few weekends were spent strolling around the neighborhood, playing in parks, visiting the flowers we planted last fall, and enjoying our ﬁrst outdoor brunch of the season. We especially enjoyed the newly opened Williamsburg waterfront pier next to the Brooklyn Flea. I thought Ellis might be ready for a little potty training since she was announcing her need to poop with a trip to the bathroom. Of course, as you can see, after attempts at demonstration, she has no idea what to do with her little seat. We’ll take a break for a while and revisit with a mini potty instead.

The ﬁrst photos are from the garden of Ellis’s home daycare. Before heading home yesterday, she couldn’t resist a little time on the couch with her friends Max and Lulu. I love that she has so much space to run around in the garden and the playroom and it’s nice to have a more positive feeling about the building that took away our Empire State view! I only wish I could take a dip in their pool. It’s hard to walk past it everyday and not want to grab my swimsuit.

1.5

2011-03-26T22:36:00.004-04:00

The ﬁrst day of Spring was also Ellis’s one and a half birthday. The last six months have brought so many wonderful changes, most notably walking and talking. Erik and I have been making a list of her new words:

abierto (open) • Annabelle • apple • aqua • Astrid • Avery • baby • bag • ball • banana • bath • book • boot • bounce • bubble • bye bye • cheese • cookie • cracker • dog • down • ducky • eyes • go • Harper • hat • hello • Lulu • mama • Max • Meisje • more • nee • no • nose • papa • pee • poopoo • seat • shoes • socks • step • teeth • toes • uh oh • up • walk • water • wow • yes

The names of her friends, the cats and the Spanish words have been some of the nicest surprises. Instead of open, Ellis kept saying “abie”. Google translate helped us realize what she was actually saying. I am constantly having to remind myself that she understands more than she can say. When we were getting ready to leave in the morning, instead of grabbing her coat, shoes and bag, I asked her to bring them over. She collected everything with ease. Of course she wanted to wear her new rain boots from Oma and Opa when it was more of a sneakers kind of day. Erik is reading her many Nijntje books and speaking Dutch with Ellis as much as possible. Looking forward to hearing her ﬁrst rolling R and guttural G. Her favorite toys are still dolls and stuffed animals. She just loves to carry them around, attempt to dress them, feed them, and give them water (like the monkey in the photo).

This morning Ellis had her 18 month check up. She’s still topping the growth charts at 29 lbs and 33.5 inches. I can’t believe she is over half my height!

While Erik was away,

2011-03-18T21:54:00.004-04:00

I tried out life as a single mom. It was slightly exhausting. I have complete respect for any parent raising children on their own, especially my Mom with two under two. Ellis and I stayed busy enjoying visits from Josephine and Edwin and a play date with Matisse and her adorable son Benicio. Ellis was asking for her Papa at night, which was very sweet. I impressed myself by carrying Ellis, her stroller and our bags down three ﬂights of stairs in one go. Going upstairs was a different story! As conﬁdent as Ellis is walking and nearly running, she still has a ways to go before climbing our tall apartment steps without going down on all fours. We were both delighted to see Erik after a few days and excited to hear all about Mauro.

Hallo Maruo

2011-03-18T20:53:00.004-04:00

At the beginning of the month I flew to Holland to meet Mauro, Marijke and Adriano’s ﬁrst child! It was weird to travel by myself but it was very special to see Mauro as a newborn. Marijke and Adriano are already such natural parents. It was also great to see my parents again in Deventer, where we had a nice dinner near the main town square (the Brink). I even got to ride a bike again! The last night I stayed over with Amke and Niels and had fun playing with Cedric and Julian. Then it was already time to fly back to New York. A nice, sweet visit. Looking forward to going back in July already.

Slaap Kindje

2011-02-27T19:55:00.006-05:00

Untitled from Jenny Carrow on Vimeo.

I had posted a while ago about Ellis and her baby doll. I ﬁnally caught her in action with the camera. Today, she tried to give her baby a bottle with some water. Of course this made her baby all wet, so Ellis then requested a diaper for her doll. She can’t say diaper yet, but said “baby pee pee” and then pointed to the drawer with diapers. She then wanted to put her down for a nap in her crib and attempted what I can only call the world’s worst swaddle.

Aside from babysitting, Ellis enjoyed some nice long walks around the neighborhood this weekend. Yesterday, we strolled around Williamsburg, dined on delicious Vietnamese sandwiches, and played in McCarren Park. Ellis was completely fascinated with the dog run, which makes me look forward to a trip to the zoo. Today, we huffed it over to Long Island City. I just love the piers, waterfront and playground there. We had a lovely lunch with Henry at Cafe Henri (how appropriate) and thankfully Ellis went to bed early so I could enjoy the Red Carpet preshow for the Oscars.

Erik is flying to Holland on Wednesday to meet little Mauro. I am excited he’s making this special trip and am so happy for Marijke and Adriano.

Welcome Mauro!

2011-02-21T20:15:00.004-05:00

Today was spent excitedly waiting for updates from Marijke and Adriano on the birth of their son. Just after midnight in Holland, Mauro was born! We can’t wait to see pictures, hear more details and meet our newest nephew!

Friday’s weather was a wonderful Spring preview. Erik and I took Ellis over to the Union Square Playground for a little fresh air. The entire city was out and smiling. A few people even pulled out the shorts and sandals, but it really wasn't that warm! After Friday, the weather remembered what month it was and turned crappy again. Saturday was the worst. We attempted to take one of casual weekend strolls around the neighborhood, but the wind nearly blew the stroller over. We’ve been taking it easy for the rest of the weekend and were planning a little day trip out to Jersey City for our Monday off. Sadly, Ellis came down with a fever last night, so we decided to keep her in for the day. I think this might be her 5th cold/virus of the season. Sigh. Another reason to look forward to spring.

Here are a few new photos, mostly around the house. Ellis enjoyed making milk art on the kitchen floor, petting the kitties and interning for Studio Vrielink. She was not so happy about the diaper rash she developed after wearing a different diaper from daycare. Thankfully it cleared up in a few days. Damn you Pampers Dry Max!

Ellis and her baby

2011-02-06T21:36:00.002-05:00

My baby has a baby! Well, not really, but I caught Ellis doing the most adorable thing with her baby doll. She was rocking her in her arms, burping her and “sssshhhhing” her to sleep. What a big girl. She must be excited about the coming arrival of her cousin in Holland! Her play and language have developed so much in the past month. She sort of calls the cats by name “Ma” (Max) and “My” (Meisje), says No and Nee, along with a handful of other words. My favorites are “cheese” and “shoes”. I can’t wait to see and hear what she’ll do next.

Sweet, sweet sleep

2011-02-02T19:49:00.006-05:00

I am incredibly happy to report that (after ten very long months) Ellis is sleeping through the night again! When she was 2 months old, she would sleep twelve solid hours at night. We didn’t do anything special. We were just lucky, very, very lucky. But over the last year, friends comments had gone from “I can’t believe she’s sleeping through the night!” to “She’s still not sleeping through the night?”. Where did we go wrong? Around 6 months Ellis went through some big developmental leaps, combined with her ﬁrst cold and some teething. She started waking up during the night and I did what was easiest to get us all back to sleep: nurse. And I nursed and nursed and nursed at every waking. When it was once or twice during the night, I loved the extra time I was able to snuggle with her. When it was three, four or ﬁve times a night, I was just a total zombie the next day. I kept thinking that she would go back to sleeping through the night again, as she had done it before, but things were actually getting worse. And it always seemed like travel, colds and teething (she has 12 now!) kept us from making any real plans to help her. Friends had let their babies cry-it-out with great success but we were convinced Ellis would cry for hours, probably vomit or fall asleep while standing in her crib. It just sounded so cruel.

After a few rough weeks and a break in travel, we consulted this great book (thanks Simone!) learned all about positive and negative sleep associations and decided to start sleep training Ellis last Friday. We did a loving bedtime routine: bath, brush teeth, pajamas, nursing, books and songs, then put her in her crib for the night. Erik and I poured ourselves a drink and prepared for a rough time. He was checking on her every few minutes to comfort her, but we knew she had to fall asleep on her own in her crib if we wanted a change. To our surprise, after twenty minutes she was asleep! I was giddy with relief. She has cried longer in the car or when she’s having a little tantrum at home. Since that night, she’s been sleeping much longer stretches and when she does wake up and cry, she’ll almost always settle herself back to sleep in a few minutes. Tonight, I put her in her crib and she was asleep after less than two minutes of crying. Erik and I are shocked and we are all, ﬁnally, getting some decent rest. I really thought I would feel guilty for letting her cry, but I actually feel a guilty that we didn’t help her go to sleep on her own earlier.

Phew . . . more than I had planned to write. I guess the extra sleep has given me a little more energy to blog!

We are having a proper winter here in NY. Ellis has enjoyed her short walks to daycare in the snow. And her hair is almost long enough for a mini ponytail!

Oma and Opa in NYC

2011-01-13T21:38:00.005-05:00

We’ve had a great visit with Rein and Christa. Last weekend we took a trip to one of my favorite spots, the Transit Museum. Ellis loved walking around the old subway cars and “driving” the bus. I am constantly surprised with how different the city and the places we visit feel with her walking everywhere. I can’t wait for warmer temperatures and weekend adventures in the spring.

Rein and Christa were so kind to babysit last night so Erik and I could enjoy a movie out on the town. I knew it had been too long when I exclaimed “what...tickets are $13?” at the ticket counter. We saw and loved The King’s Speech.

Erik has been busy designing new projects under Studio Vrielink and Ellis is doing great adjusting to her new daycare. It was really sad to say goodbye to Kara, Michele and the Blue Room. We realized that it was exactly a year (Jan. 4th to Jan. 4th) that she was under their care. While I used to enjoy the extra snuggling with Ellis during our morning and evening commutes, I was pretty excited to read a book and listen to my ipod on the subway again.

Cancellation Vacation

2011-01-02T21:15:00.006-05:00

We were scheduled to fly back home Tuesday evening. Mike was flying back that afternoon, so we rode to Tampa together. While many flights had been cancelled the two days after the blizzard, we were hopeful that our “on time” ﬂight would get to NY that night or at least the next morning. We sadly found out JetBlue cancelled our ﬂight right before we made it to the airport. At the check-in counter, we laughed in shock when the agent said the earliest ﬂight he could book us on was for January 1st . . four days later! We booked a nearby hotel for the night and considered our options. Instead of ﬁghting our way back home waiting in stand by lines, we decided to turn our family visit into a little beach vacation. Off to Clearwater Beach for three days. Erik found the same hotel we had stayed at eight years ago: The Beachview Inn. It’s a wonderfully shabby little place, with amazing views and kitchenette rooms. We rented a car, bought some swimsuits and did our best to change gears and embrace a little extra time off.

Christmas in Florida

2011-01-02T20:29:00.005-05:00

We ﬂew down very early Christmas morning to celebrate the holiday with Mommoms, her sisters and Mike (in from California). Our ﬂight was on time and we witnessed the most beautiful sunrise at JFK from the sleek new JetBlue terminal. The weather was unseasonably chilly in Florida, or so everyone told us. Compared to New York temperatures, 50 degrees felt pretty balmy. We had a great visit, mostly relaxed and ate and then talked about what we were going to eat for the next meal. Now that Ellis is a lot more mobile, she did not like being held down in the plane or strapped into a car seat. Erik and I pulled out every possible distraction to keep her in one place while traveling. Once on land, Ellis had a great time playing the piano and harmonica with Mommoms and snuggling with uncle Mike.

30, more walking and a new studio

2010-12-11T20:17:00.005-05:00

There are big changes brewing here on Huron Street. I almost don’t know where to start. Last Thursday I turned thirty. Sara took me out for a lovely lunch and then Erik and I went out for a real dinner date in the evening. Ellis’ teacher at daycare came over to babysit. This was the ﬁrst time anyone else has put Ellis down for the night. Since Kara has helped her with hundreds of naps, we felt completely comfortable and conﬁdent that things would go well at bedtime. They did go well and we can’t wait for more date nights in the future!

In big work news, Erik has started freelancing from home and is working on building up his new studio. We are excited to see where things go and have decided to switch Ellis to part-time daycare in the new year to save money while Studio Vrielink is getting its start. We have signed her up at a great home daycare right down the street (almost closer than the daycare was to our ofﬁces!) founded by a former nanny who is also a mother. We will miss the friends we have made at daycare, but are excited to meet some new ones who might also live in our neighborhood. Erik and Ellis will be spending most afternoons together. I think this will be a wonderful bonding time for them and a great chance for Ellis to pick up more Dutch.

Since our little video of Ellis taking some of her ﬁrst steps just over a month ago, she has come great strides and is walking almost everywhere. I had no idea what a big change this would be. She was mobile with her crawling, but we couldn’t really put her down anywhere other than our apartment, daycare, or the grass in the park (back when it was warm enough to do so). This morning we went to Target and it was adorable to see her navigate the aisles and comb through the clothing racks all by herself.

San Francisco Turkey

2010-11-30T21:18:00.005-05:00

We are just home from our second big trip in November. Our little family flew to San Francisco to join Mike in his new hometown for Thanksgiving. What a gorgeous city! I could certainly live with 60 degree weather everyday. Mike showed us all around the Bay area and we even took a little day trip to visit Josephine who was in the town of Sebastopol painting for a month. Ellis loved being around her uncle and she especially enjoyed walking all around his carpeted apartment. So much softer than our old wood floors!

Flying with Ellis was manageable but tiring. I was so envious of the guy sitting next to us who slept for almost ﬁve hours. The days of watching movies and sleeping on the plane have been replaced with games/distractions/snacks to keep Ellis entertained and somewhat quiet. Dancing in the bathroom mirror and pulling out paper towels was a big hit.

For my coming 30th birthday, we did a little black Saturday shopping at Fry’s and I picked up a new point and shoot digital camera. It takes amazing pictures in low-light and captures colors brilliantly. My Canon Elph was over four years old (antique by tech standards) so I am very excited about the upgrade.

Nijntje Books

2010-11-19T21:27:00.003-05:00

While in Deventer we stumbled upon the vintage Nijntje books enjoyed by Amke, Erik and Marijke many years ago. Erik loves reading these books to Ellis and we were amazed to see how little they have changed in nearly three decades. The childhood signatures of Amke and Erik were so sweet. We hope to make a new tradition of buying Ellis a Nijntje book every time we are in Holland. Each book has the same spot for her name. I am looking forward to the day she can write e-l-l-i-s all by herself.

Marijke’s Wedding

2010-11-19T18:41:00.005-05:00

We are back from Holland and had such a wonderful time at Marijke and Adriano’s wedding. The ceremony and dinner were beautiful and intimate. I can hardly believe their “I do’s” (or “Ja’s” actually) were said in a room built in the 1600s. For an American from a town where the oldest building was from the 1800s, this is pretty incredible. Ellis did well on the ﬂight while Erik and I were busy feeding and distracting her with new toys and books to keep it that way. She loved seeing her Dutch family and playing with Cedric and Julian. The jetlag helped us in some ways. Ellis stayed up past 10pm and slept in until 9am, something she has not done for many months. Our visit was short and flew by quickly, but we left with many special memories we’ll carry for years. Marijke and Adriano are also expecting a son mid-February, so double congratulations!!

Little steps

2010-11-07T21:21:00.003-05:00

It’s 9:30 but feels like midnight. The daylight savings time change always throws me off and the added early wake up from Ellis makes for some very heavy eyelids. We took it easy this weekend, packing for Holland and organizing the apartment. Today we caught the tail end of the NYC Marathon as we walked from Brooklyn to Queens. I always love to watch and cheer on the amazing athletes. We managed to capture a little video of Ellis taking some of her ﬁrst steps. Ignore my silly high voice in the background.

Halloween Weekend

2010-11-04T21:42:00.005-04:00

Ellis had a great second Halloween. She rode in the daycare parade last Friday with all of the other babies, teachers and parents from her school. There were so many adorable costumes, especially from the older kids. Ellis was a butterfly this year. She was originally going to be a lady bug, but we couldn’t fit the bulky costume over her head. A visit to our favorite second hand store Clementine saved the day.

On Saturday we drove down to Baltimore to visit Isabelle, Nick and Clara who were in town for the week from Seattle. Clara has grown so much. She is such a sweet baby. We had a great time catching up, enjoying some nice fall weather and playing with our two little insects.

Next week we are flying to Holland for Marijke and Adriano’s wedding! We’re really looking forward to seeing everyone and celebrating their special day.

Oh, and Ellis also surprised us by walking a few feet by herself this week!

Overdue

2010-10-27T22:40:00.006-04:00

I’ve been meaning to update the blog for over two weeks. Our days are flying by and there never seems to be enough time in the evenings to do everything that I want to do. Fall is ofﬁcially here and we have enjoyed some wonderful outings to celebrate the change of seasons. The other weekend, we had the pleasure of joining Sara for a New Jersey day trip to meet baby Théo, visit Rachel and Fabien, and celebrate Sara’s 30th Birthday with her family in Long Valley. We even ﬁt in a little apple picking! We couldn’t have asked for better weather. Théo is adorable and growing so fast. I always love seeing the weekly updates on their blog, but meeting him in person was even better.

It’s a funny thing that I am learning about being a parent, you always look at the older children and think “I can’t wait for Ellis to...talk, sing, ride a bike, etc.” but then you see a younger baby and suddenly think “That was such a sweet time, when she was content to only be in my arms and didn’t get into everything around the house.” Every stage is special and memorable for different reasons. Instead of thinking too much about what’s ahead or behind us, I should really just savor the phase that Ellis is in right now, because it can really change from day to day. This week she is in the string of babbling, conﬁdently cruising, testing her boundaries with mini-tantrums, and learning to feed herself with a fork phase.

This past weekend I volunteered to do a little clean-up and bulb planting in our neighborhood park. I was excited to get my hands in the dirt again. When Erik brought Ellis to the park, he also got inspired to do a little gardening and went ‘all Dutch’ on the flower beds. We are already looking forward to seeing our handy work in the Spring.

There is a lot to celebrate this month. Ellen gave birth to a beautiful daughter Minna earlier this month in Paris. Congratulations! Roman also turned one this week. I can’t believe a year has already gone by. Ellis went on a little stroller date with him to watch the floating pumpkins in Central Park.

Red Bulls, dressing up and more dexterity

2010-10-11T20:29:00.006-04:00

Last weekend, Ellis and I made Erik very happy by coming along to a New York Red Bulls game. The match against Real Salt Lake ended in a draw, but we still had a great time. Ellis loved clapping along with the supporters and banging her hands on the chairs.

I've been so amazed lately at how differently Ellis is playing. She loves to open my closet drawers, pull out clothes and attempt to try them on. She managed to get my bikini over her head tonight and looked so proud. She is having fun drawing with crayons and painting with a brush (with just a little paint in her mouth). She has rediscovered spoon feeding and her bumbo chair, only now she wants to hold the spoon herself and climb into her chair. She also figured out her wooden stacking rings this week. After months of throwing the rings around and putting them into her mouth, she carefully placed them onto the stick in a moment of intense concentration followed by a very big smile. Such exciting changes!

Steps...not the walking kind

2010-10-02T20:39:00.005-04:00

Ellis’ latest, greatest joy in life is crawling over to the porch door in the kitchen, climbing the two little steps, turning herself around, and kicking her legs in delight. She loves to feel the outdoor breeze, lean her back on the screen door and take in the view of the kitchen from a slightly higher elevation. She also seems to love her new shoes. We went over to Ibiza Kidz after work this week and found Ellis this adorable pair of Robeez Mini Shoez (not sure what’s with all of the Zs instead of Ss...poor kids are going to be so confused!) The sales lady helped us ﬁnd the right pair and explained what kind of fit and material we should look for in a toddler shoe. Ellis doesn’t try to pull them off of her feet and seems to enjoy the sound of the soft rubber sole as she cruises along. I took them off when we got home this evening and she even tried to put them back on!

One and a week

2010-10-01T22:18:00.003-04:00

This week was relatively quiet. Ellis had a rough night or two when her sixth tooth popped through, but is already feeling better. I think there is a direct correlation between the number of night wakings and the number of cups of coffee Erik and I drink the next day.

Since Ellis is drinking more and more cow’s milk and since she is now one, I decided it was a good time to stop nursing her at daycare. For eight months I was making two daily trips to visit and feed her and then for the last month we were down to one pre-nap feeding around noon. Being able to visit her during the day has been so special. I have really gotten to know her two teachers and have enjoyed watching the other babies in her class grow from small infants to babbling toddlers. I never really missed her, since I was so busy working and then running over to feed her and then working and running over to feed her. Nearly all of my lunches were at my desk and I was often scrambling if I needed to run any daytime errands.

This was our ﬁrst full week without nursing visits. Ellis did great, maybe even napped a little longer, and I felt more productive at work and was able to enjoy a few lunches with friends I haven’t seen in a while and even a lunch date with Erik. We are still enjoying the ease and bond of night and morning nursing at home and I hope to continue though the winter cold/flu season for a little extra immunity.

As we offer her more and more solid foods, I realized it was unfair to not let her try certain healthy foods just because I didn’t like them. Case in point: cottage cheese. I bit the bullet, bought some and she loves it. I even gave it another try and was surprised to realize it wasn’t so bad. Some other foods I should let her try (and I should give another try): olives, pickles, and blue cheese.

Birthday for all of the babies

2010-09-26T21:57:00.004-04:00

Today we joined over twenty families from our neighborhood to celebrate our babies’ ﬁrst birthdays with a group party at Play. It was great to catch up with some familiar mothers and babies and to see Ellis playing happily with the other toddlers. I made the hanging banner with all of the photos for a little added decoration.

Some exciting news from the weekend: our repaired camera is back! (So glad we purchased that warranty). And Ellis is standing by herself for a few seconds! A lot of the other babies her age are already walking, but we are still very excited for each new step whenever she feels ready to take it.

Happy First Birthday Ellis!

2010-09-21T21:02:00.006-04:00

We can’t believe the big day ﬁnally arrived. Ellis turned one on Monday! I was surprisingly emotional all day, gazing at Ellis for long stretches, running through everything that has happened in the last twelve months—so many wonderful moments and so much learning about what it means to be a parent. Last September was a haze of swaddles, diapers, nursing marathons, and napping when we had the chance. This September, Ellis is bursting with personality. She is imitating our actions (trying to put our shoes on her feet, holding the remote control up to her ear and babbling into it like a phone), sipping from a straw and a cup, feeding herself and giving us bites. She studies objects and pictures that have always been around with a completely new focus. She’s a lightning fast crawler and is gaining interest (and balance) with walking. She is obsessed with buttons and the kitties, of course.

We celebrated a little at home with singing and opening presents. On Sunday, we were invited to Dave and Simone’s annual fall dinner with friends. We brought along a strawberry shortcake with some lovely frosting typography and helped Ellis blow out her single candle. On Saturday, we celebrated Graeme’s ﬁrst birthday in Prospect Park. He is one of the babies Ellis has known since her ﬁrst weeks at daycare. It was great to talk with his parents outside of school and to watch Ellis and Graeme play so comfortably with one another. They do, after all, spend about 40 hours a week together!

This evening we came home to a package from Oma and Opa. Ellis enjoyed ripping off the paper and playing with her ﬁrst puzzle, a book from our favorite bunny Nijntje and some adorable clothing from the Hema.

More parks and a little taste of Sweden

2010-09-12T10:00:00.005-04:00

The long labor day weekend was lovely. Great weather and lots of adventures around the city to various parks. On Sunday we made it down to Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 6. The new park is beautiful and fun for older kids, but could use a little shade. I think Ellis will really enjoy going there once she is walking and interested in sand (instead of being freaked out by it). After that we rode the bus to IKEA. I admit that when their catalog came in the mail earlier in the week, a seed was planted and I had to plan a visit. Ellis tried her ﬁrst Swedish meatballs, mac and cheese, and some veggies. Of course what she really wanted was my french fries, like mother like daughter I suppose. I love their cafeteria and am always amazed how delicious and affordable it is. We managed not to do too much ﬁnancial damage in the actual store; just picked up a new duvet cover and some plastic bowls and cups for Ellis (great for eating and stacking). Since the ofﬁce was closed on Monday, we were able to meet up with Simone, David, Sophie and Roman for a little Central Park picnic. The weather was perfect and I loved seeing how fascinated Ellis was with Sophie. We visited the Conservatory Garden after lunch and I can’t believe I had never been to (or really heard of) this beautiful part of Central Park. What a gem!

Last half day Friday

2010-09-03T19:57:00.004-04:00

What a bittersweet afternoon. Very excited about the three day weekend ahead and sad to say goodbye to half day Fridays. They have been great. Some were spent traveling, others meeting up with friends and running errands, and a few were spent working in a wonderfully quiet ofﬁce all by myself. Today, Erik and I tried to make the most of our last afternoon. We had a picnic lunch from Pret A Manger in Union Square with Ellis, then headed up to the Met to see the Big Bambu installation on the rooftop. Ellis particularly enjoyed pointing at the Greek and Roman statues. I haven’t been to the Upper East Side in a while and it was nice to stroll around the pretty streets, wander through the museum and end up in Central Park for a little time on the grass. We found a nice patch close to the museum. After Ellis refused to touch the sharp grass in Woodstock, I was delighted to see her crawling all around the soft central park lawn.

Shutter Release Error

2010-08-31T20:28:00.003-04:00

“Shutter Release Error” is the warning our beloved Nikon SLR kept giving us when we tried to capture a few moments of Ellis’s 11th month last week. We’ve had the camera for three years and thankfully purchased a ﬁve year warranty from B&H Photo at the same time. So while our Nikon is in NJ getting inspected, I am making due with my trusty ‘vintage’ Canon Powershot. Here is Ellis enjoying her favorite new hobby: standing on the bed and gazing/grabbing the poster on the wall. Her top three or four teeth are popping through. Some nights have been sleepless and some days have been fussy, but I can’t wait to see how her adorable smile changes with the new additions. I really hope our camera makes it back before September 20th.

Infant test subject: Ellis V.

2010-08-24T22:23:00.008-04:00

One of the forms I had signed in the blurry days after Ellis’s birth at NYU was a volunteer form for their Infant Action Lab in the physchology department. Last week they called and asked if we were interested in having Ellis come in to do a crawling obstacle course of sorts. They explained that she would be crawling over a series of bridges of varying widths and they would observe her perception of space and balance. It sounded interesting enough and I was curious to see what else they might say about infant development. The graduate student spotted Ellis the entire time, so I felt very safe that she was never in any danger of falling. Erik and I called to her from the other side and caught her attention with a lot of interesting toys and cheerios. She crawled at lightning speed across the wider bridges and became more and more tentative with the increasingly narrower ones. When they put on a ridicuously narrow two inch bridge, she looked at us like we were crazy and decided to practice standing and cruising instead. Ellis didn’t fuss at all and they said we would be on their call list for more studies in the future. I am curious about their language studies once Ellis begins to really talk.

Typical evening

2010-08-15T22:36:00.005-04:00

Ellis loves avocado and tonight she also loved how it felt between her ﬁngers, behind her ears and all over the table. Erik and I love watching her discover new textures and tastes. She only wants to feed herself these days. This means no more purees. Over the weekend she tried french toast and veggie burger. Her reaction was mixed, so I went back to some of her favorites for dinner: avocado, blueberries and watermelon. At almost 11 months, there are very few foods still off limits. It’s up to us to keep introducing them.

After dinner, Ellis went straight into the bath. She only wanted to stand up in the tub, which made scrubbing her down surprisingly easy.

Woodstock week

2010-08-12T22:05:00.005-04:00

Can hardly believe we’ve already been back from vacation nearly as long as we were gone. Our week up in Woodstock and the surrounding Catskills with Rein and Christa really flew by. It was incredibly relaxing and a great retreat from the city. We spent our days hiking, swimming in the pool, enjoying dinners outside, reading, and playing with Ellis. We made day trips to visit Mommom’s sisters in Stamford, Storm King Sculpture Park and the Woodstock Animal Farm Sanctuary. We also had a nice visit from Josephine on her drive back to the city. The cottage was much fancier than our apartment and we were spoiled by the large living room, washer/dryer and dishwasher. The pool wasn’t bad either. Ellis really liked splashing in the water, but was less enthusiastic about the sharp grass. Such a city girl! We even hiked up Overlook Mountain for a gorgeous view of the entire area. We celebrated Erik’s 32nd birthday on Saturday and found out the amazing news that Marijke and Adriano are expecting their ﬁrst child in February!

Mary Liz’s NYC visit

2010-07-22T21:08:00.005-04:00

Last weekend my cousin Mary Liz visited NYC from Austin. It was her second time in the city but the ﬁrst trip all by herself. We had so much fun and nearly walked holes into our shoes! We went to the Highline, Governor’s Island, Times Square, Chinatown, SoHo and, of course, Greenpoint. She met Ellis and I got to know my wonderful cousin better before she heads off to college. We made it up to Top of the Rock on a very clear night and took these lovely photos.

Saturday was also our sixth wedding anniversary! We like to celebrate our anniversary with a boat ride every year. This year it was the ferry to Governor’s Island. Here we are pictured along the water in front of Ellis Island.

Ellis is doing some serious teething and hasn’t been her usually happy self. We were so distracted trying to make her feel better, that we complete forgot she turned 10 months on Tuesday. Congrats big baby! You are getting so close to one year!

Hip Florida

2010-07-09T21:48:00.004-04:00

Last week we traveled down to Florida to be with Mommoms while she recovered from hip replacement surgery. The surgery took place on Wednesday and we made it to the hospital by Thursday afternoon. Our ﬂight and drive were, thankfully, incredibly easy. Ellis slept for a good part of the ﬂight and navigating from Tampa to Inverness from the back seat was no problem. While this wasn’t a typical Florida vacation, it was relaxing to stay in a hotel with a pool for a few nights. When we weren’t checking in on Mommoms, we enjoyed lots of jumping on the king sized bed, crawling on the carpet and watching the World Cup quarter ﬁnals. Ellis discovered her new favorite game: empty the contents of Mama’s wallet and chew on plastic cards. Erik wore his orange jersey with great pride when they beat Brazil last Friday. Mommoms is recovering well and it was so encouraging to see her smiling, laughing and enjoying her Great Granddaughter. While waiting for our return ﬂight, I let Ellis crawl around to burn off a little energy. As she moved between the rows of chairs, I was delighted to ﬁnd this amazing padded and fun children’s play space right next to our gate.

Our July 4th was rather uneventful. We stopped by a local park, but the rain and Ellis’ early bedtime had us inside before dark. Someone else we know had a very exciting 4th of July though. Congratulations to Rachel and Fabien on the birth of their adorable son Théo! Looking forward to following their adventures in new parenthood. Théo’s weeks in the womb were aligned with Ellis’ weeks outside of the womb, so I guess this means she’s officially been out longer than she was in!

Underwater Swimming

2010-06-27T23:13:00.003-04:00

We had our fourth swimming class with Ellis today. She did so well! The big challenge was for her to ”swim“ underwater from the instructor to Erik. Erik was already under so he could see her coming. Judging by her happy kicking legs when she came up, I think she enjoyed herself.

The lovely Clara

2010-06-27T22:21:00.004-04:00

Isabelle and Nick made their ﬁrst trip to the East coast with their 10 week old daughter Clara last week. It was so exciting to meet her and to see our good friends as new parents. They are doing great and Clara is so precious. I tried to get a good picture of Ellis and Clara together, but it proved to be a little difficult since Ellis is in the grab everyone and everything stage. Seeing Isabelle and Nick with Clara brought me right back to last fall when Ellis was that young, easy to carry, and we counted her time outside of the belly in weeks. What a special time and how quickly it goes!

9 Months!

2010-06-22T06:31:00.006-04:00

Or 3/4 of a year! Ellis now has two cute little stubby bottom teeth and is crawling up a storm. She’s been commando crawling for quite sometime, but is now up on those hands and knees shuffling around. We've done some minor babyprooﬁng at home, but even with that I am amazed at what tiny things she can find on the floor and get into her mouth. Her mobility has forced us to vacuum and mop more, which isn’t such a bad thing. I don’t know when babies generally say their first words, but I think I hear ‘ja’ (or yeah), cat, and dada from her all day long.

Last weekend we had the pleasure of going upstate for visit Josephine and Peter. It was a very relaxing weekend with lots of delicious food and time in the hammock looking up at the trees. We rented a zipcar to drive there and were so impressed; Their cars, locations, and reservation system are so much easier to use than the standard car rental companies.

clap your hands say waahhh

2010-06-06T21:21:00.004-04:00

Another sticky summer weekend has flown by and we had a lot of fun hanging around the neighborhood, seeing friends and consuming lots of ice tea, ice coffee and ice cream. Ellis had her 8 month check-up on Saturday. Her head and feet were hanging off of the scale, but I think she came in around 23 pounds and nearly 30 inches! I am only 66 inches. It’s crazy to think she is nearly half my height. Thankfully, she is less than 20% of my weight! It is just incredible how much more adventurous she is lately. I ﬁnd that we are having to say “No” and “Nee” suddenly around the house as Ellis lunges towards some power cords, a twig on the ground, dirty shoes, etc, etc.

We managed to capture a little of her clapping this morning.

Commando kissy face

2010-05-30T23:10:00.003-04:00

Captured a few moments of commando crawling/dragging this morning and some swinging in the afternoon. She’s one chatty lady!

Lincoln Center

2010-05-30T20:40:00.005-04:00

Summer is here! We tried to spend as much of this weekend outdoors. Ellis caught up with her favorite baby boy friends, Roman and Henry, while we enjoyed some nice time with their parents. While walking back from Central Park this afternoon, we found ourselves at Lincoln Center. The architecture is so iconic, it inspired us to do a little photo shoot.

We’ve had a big week here on Huron Street with quite a few wakeful nights. Ellis is cutting her ﬁrst bottom tooth and working on ﬁguring out how to crawl. She can drag herself around commando style and is pulling herself up on her knees. It’s fascinating to see what she tries to get into around the apartment: electrical cords, cat food cans, and our old shoes. It’s a good slow motion preview of the chaos that will come when she is more mobile!

8 months

2010-05-23T21:33:00.005-04:00

I am sure I will say this every month, but I can’t believe another one has passed. Ellis is now 8 months and it is amazing to see how much she changes every week. She is really loving food now, especially vegetables and avocados. I borrowed a Baby Cook from a very generous neighborhood Mom friend and I’ve gone puree mad. This morning Ellis had mixed berries with oatmeal. It was all over her face and she’s figured out how to use her tongue to lick it off her chin if I am not fast enough with the spoon. This month, I hope to introduce more solid and finger foods, as well as some dairy and possibly meat.

Ellis has realized that she can peak into our bedroom if she pulls down on her crib bumper. Erik is greeted with this adorable sight every morning.

I took Ellis into the pool for swimming class today. It was some serious exercise!

May weekend with Mike

2010-05-16T22:14:00.004-04:00

My brother Mike is in town for the ICFF. We’ve enjoyed a great weekend with perfect weather. He’s been amazed at how different Ellis is since he visited over Christmas. During a little picnic today, Ellis even held onto her stroller while standing. We propped her up, but it was the ﬁrst time she was vertical and hands free.

Swim Class

2010-05-16T20:52:00.003-04:00

This morning Ellis had her ﬁrst infant swim class in the neighborhood at a great place called Aquanilo. It’s a small, heated, above ground salt water pool inside a loft, but the atmosphere is great and Ellis and Erik had a blast. Mike and I watched from the side, documenting every exciting moment. The instructor showed us that if you blow in your baby’s face their natural reflex is to hold their breath. Erik blew and dunked Ellis. She came up a little stunned, but not the least bit upset. Looking forward to getting into the pool again next week.

Rubber Ducky, you’re the one

2010-05-16T00:02:00.003-04:00

You make bathtime lots of fun!

First Mother’s Day

2010-05-09T22:04:00.004-04:00

Happy Mother’s Day to all of the wonderful mothers and future mothers out there! I woke up this morning at a leisurely 9 o’clock and enjoyed a nice big breakfast from Erik. After gift opening and two very short naps from Ellis, we headed into the city for errands and a delicious lunch at one of my favorite restaurants, Crema. While Erik and I enjoyed Mexican dishes with names we completely butchered, Ellis enjoyed some homemade spinach puree and the green goatee it left behind.

Last Friday, Ellis’s daycare had “Mufﬁns with Mom”. Her teachers put together a nice package with photos and artwork, including her very ﬁrst painting! I love this photo of Ellis with her partners in crime. The three babies are less than ten days apart and it’s been such a delight to see them grow and evolve over the last ﬁve months.

Gentle

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Ellis loves Max and Meisje. She squeals with delight when we arrive home every evening. She often ends up with a ﬁst full of fur, while the cats end up slightly traumatized from her “petting”. We’ve been trying to show Ellis how to be gentle with the kitties. She did a surprisingly good job in this video and Max looks like he was enjoying himself too.

Ellis and her friends

2010-05-08T22:00:00.007-04:00

Can’t believe it is already May! I’ve been meaning to post all week. We’ve been busy at work and busy trying to take advantage of the beautiful spring weather. Last weekend, Ellis had a chance to meet up with her two favorite boys: Roman and Henry. And she ate the ﬁrst of many, many puffs. Ellis is also becoming quite the commuter. She even knows about holding onto the pole while the train is in motion. Of course, she also likes to hold onto the purses, headphones, newspapers and buttons of fellow commuters.

Ba-ba-ba ball

2010-04-24T23:28:00.002-04:00

Precious Cargo

2010-04-24T22:54:00.004-04:00

Visited Josephine’s studio in Dumbo today for the Marie Walsh Sharpe Open Studios. Such an amazing space! Ellis was even nicely coordinated with one of her new paintings.

Picnic time

2010-04-24T22:11:00.003-04:00

Looking forward to seeing how many parks we can visit this spring and summer with Ellis, our blanket, a few snacks and lots and lots of sunscreen!

A little sick

2010-04-18T21:09:00.003-04:00

Poor Ellis was sick all morning. After twelve hours of sleep last night, she woke up very hungry and I was feeling just as eager to feed her. After some frantic nursing, she threw everything up. This was a ﬁrst and I chalked it up to her feeding too quickly. Sadly, she got sick four more times this morning. Not sure if it was the lentils she ate last night or phlegm left over from her cold.

I guess we were spoiled for the ﬁrst six months with Ellis because she was never sick. No fevers or colds, no vomiting or upset stomach. It seems that in the past few weeks the passive immunity she received from me via pregnancy and nursing has worn off. She’s now working on building up her own immune system.

I like to call mornings like these the “other ﬁrsts”. They are not as celebrated as the ﬁrst time she rolled over or sat up, but they are still important milestones both for Ellis’s increasing immunity and our growth as parents. Thankfully, after an early afternoon nap, Ellis seemed more like her old self and we were able to leave the house and enjoy a delicious brunch with Sara and Ron in Greenpoint. I was very happy to catch up with them and even happier that we made it through brunch with Ellis in the same outﬁt!

Welcome to the world Clara!

2010-04-17T19:26:00.004-04:00

Just a short week ago, Isabelle and Nick welcomed their beautiful daughter Clara Belle Robertson to the world. We are so happy for them and can’t wait to meet her in person. I showed Ellis some photos of Clara online and she also seemed pretty excited. While their 6.5 month age difference seems huge now, the two girls will be babbling, laughing and playing together in no time.

Aside from the exciting news of Clara’s arrival, our week was pretty low key. I enjoyed a delicious dinner out with Josephine and Peter at Anella and Erik and I met Sara for a picnic lunch in Union Square on a warm Spring afternoon. We even took Ellis out of daycare for the hour to join us. This is something we hope to do at least once a week now that the weather is a little nicer. Anything to make the week days feel a little more like the weekend.

Here are a few new pictures of Ellis and her developing personality. That pose on the couch cracked us up!

A few more Holland pics

2010-04-15T21:30:00.004-04:00

Cedric, Ellis and Julian

2010-04-06T20:37:00.003-04:00

For a brief moment we managed to get all three kids on the couch in Almere. Julian and Cedric are bundles of energy. Ellis seemed really fascinated with her older cousins.