14 words for 14 months

Nathan is 14 months today. I swore I wasn't going to be one of Those Moms who counted in months (because really, who can count in months, besides moms.... and who can count in weeks, besides pregnant women?), but here I am and I'm doing it anyway. When I speak to other moms, I say "14 months." When I speak to the general public (or dads), I say "he just turned one last summer" which I think is clearer for those in non-mommying circles.

Life with Nathan is LOUD these days. Between the two of us, no one else in our family gets to say anything. In between shrieking (have I thanked Ashley enough for that? If not, thanks... again... really) and speed-crawling (seriously he goes so fast I'm pretty sure there are times when all four limbs are up off the floor), here are the 14 words that are used over and over again, all day, every day... and therefore comprise about 80% of any conversation I have.

1.) Daddy
2.) Mommy
3.) book
4.) truck (tuck or duck)
5.) what's that? (wassat?)
6.) puppy
7.) no
8.) hey
9.) baby
10.) uh-oh
11.) bite
12.) boat
13.) bubble
14.) happy

We can hardly get him to say go anymore, now that he knows what a book is really called... clearly he has no concept of what 'go' actually means (is he really a Goettsch?)... and he's just about figured out that he can say his own name (if we say Nathan, he replies Nay-nee), he says something that sounds a lot like juice, especially when he wants his cup, but we can't figure out where he picked that up, since we don't really give him much juice. Maybe at church in his MMO class or something. Or, it could mean something totally different; the jury's still out. Same with bow-dee which is what he repeats if we ask him to say Bowden... but he also says it if we call him Buddy (as Mark does frequently).

Which is all very impressive for a 14-month old (or so say the people I run into in public who feel the need to comment on how verbal he is)... but can I tell you how exhausting it is to answer the question "what's that?" once every other minute? Or how exhausting it is to agree with Nathan as he sqeals "truck" for every vehicle we see on the road? Honestly, he must have said it a hundred times between home and church the other day. I'm told this is better than the "why?" phase, though, so I should count my blessings. And there is part of me that knows I should get it on tape, since I will find it much cuter in ten years than I do now. Well, it's pretty cute now too. :) Exhausting, but cute.

In other toddler news, Nathan is once again off-the-charts tall for his age, at almost 33 inches. And he's still gaining weight - just shy of 21 pounds now. Yesterday he started consistently pulling to his feet, more easily than in the past anyway, and we found him in his crib this morning, standing, which means he is definitely legitimately pulling up with no human assistance (most of his progress on this front came with my sister when we were in New York... I can only assume she shrieked to him in encouragement). A pulling up baby means chaos is sure to ensue. It also means we had to move the baby mobile out from over his crib. Now even his room looks less babyish!

My new toddler resolution is to take more pictures. With newborns who sleep all the time, it's easy to snap a bunch of pictures. With mobile babies, it's hard to remember to keep the camera nearby, and even harder to take pictures when they're doing something cute (also because that cute thing is likely about to injure them). But we're going to do better, and not rely on pictures taken by grandparents (like this one) all the time!

And speaking of grandparents and pictures, we have gotten a glimpse of Nathan's time with Mark's parents during part of the week we were in NYC. Apparently his own little vacation included lots of yummy food (and nothing he didn't want to eat, of course), his first ride on a John Deere (and you thought my family was redneckity!), and a slew of new (rather large) toys. To get this glimpse yourself, click on Nathan and Opa, below.


by mgoetts

Playtime with Nathan

When I posted the other day about the mess Nathan made now that he's crawling all over the place, I didn't mean to imply that a mobile toddler is all headache and no fun. In fact, it's the opposite... I think Nathan is more fun the older he gets.

Yes, he's more to chase after. Yes, he makes big messes. Yes, it's annoying that our house is so baby-proofed that I need a magnetic key to open the cabinet housing my trash can. But also, he's so interactive... he understands what I say and can sometimes answer me back. He can obey simple commands. He can (in theory anyway) entertain himself while I work. All of these things actually make toddlerhood easier than infanthood. (Ask me again when we get to the terrible-two stage though; I might be singing a different tune.)

Anyway, here's a short video of Nathan's speedy crawl, and the absolute joy that shines on his face when he has found his beloved spanish-speaking maracas (thanks again, Ashley)... yes, these are the same maracas that cheered for him when he first learned to crawl. I also like how bored Simon looks with Nathan crawling like a maniac around him. :) I'm telling you, that dog is so laid back it's (almost) impossible to remember the days when my mom thought he was the most rambunctious puppy she had ever met (and she would know). Also, I love Nathan's mad dancing skillz. Enjoy!

A Cousin for Nathan! (Plus More Baby Bonuses!)

We've had a few weeks of of baby news around here!

On August 29, while Joe, Brittany, Mark, me, and then-unborn Baby Law were staring silently while Clemson got trounced by Alabama in Atlanta (ok, Mark was anything but silent, but that's besides the point), it turns out Mark's college roommate Jeff was cheering his wife Crystal as she birthed their third son, Lucas Ray Jones. Seriously, three sons. I can only stand in awe. Baby Luke is by all counts perfectly precious (although I only have Mark's word, since he and Justin forgot their cameras when they went to visit last weekend). Hello, cameraphone. I'm getting over it since I will meet him soon, I hope.

Then this past Monday, Joe became the last of Mark's roomies to join the parenting world, and it's a GIRL (!!) named Vivian Cathleen Law. She's tiny (I could have told you that based on Brittany's belly just a few weeks ago) but very healthy. And we are so glad to have her! We (well, *I* anyway) have been waiting for a girl in this crowd... Jeff, Justin and Mark have all had boys, so Vivi has a slew of guys to keep her company over the coming years. First the Jeff's sons Matthew (2005) and James (2006), then Justin's son Lucas (2007), then Nathan (2007) and baby Luke last month. So she's very much outnumbered, but will be very loved.

And it's weird that Nathan is no longer the baby of the crowd.

But perhaps most exciting of all is the news that Nathan will have a cousin in the spring! Mark's stepsister Emily and her husband Trey just found out they're expecting, and I am far more excited than I thought I would be, had you asked me to anticipate my feelings on this day a year ago. Emily is hilarious and approaches life with such a sense of humor, and I think her brand of motherhood will be so healthy for their little family. We always have fun when we visit with them, and I'm excited for Nathan to have a little cousin!!

Emily and Trey, at Nick's wedding last spring

When Cindy (Nathan's "Oma") told us the news, I couldn't help but laugh because she's just a good ol' gal from Chester County SC, and I'm sure Emily never pictured her kids calling her mom Oma... but because Cindy married a Dutch dude (that would be Mark's dad, for those of you keeping score at home) whose kid had a baby first, she became "Oma" anyway. I wonder if it'll stick with Emily's kids, too. I'm inclined to say yes, since Nathan tends to be the loudmouth out of any crowd of babies we're in, and it's the loudmouth's terminology that tends to stick. Although if there's anyone's kid with a potential to be a loudmouth besides mine (and Ashley's, that should go without saying, though, right?), it would be Emily's!

Also, I think Cindy and Guy have done such an excellent job at treating all of their kids and grandkids as one family. They've both experienced all sorts of family drama.... from the high of fostering and adopting children to the low of losing communication with siblings... and Cindy walked away from it with the kindest, healthiest attitude about family I can imagine. She couldn't love Nathan any more if Emily had birthed him herself. And I know Guy will be the same with Emily's children. It's one of my favorite things about this family... it's not blood that makes us a family, it's love. I know everyone says that but it's really, really true in this case. And anyway that's just a really long tangent so I can say how excited I am about Nathan having a cousin this May.

And that's about all the baby news I can handle in one month anyway. :)

Mobility = Mess

Just thought I should share an image of what can happen if you leave your almost-tollder for two and a half minutes to pee, and forget to close his bedroom door.

Seriously. Two and a half minutes.

Pier to No Pier

This past weekend, I went on a road trip with some friends from church -- Mary (who helped me take care of Nathan this summer) and her mom, Lois (who I met at bell choir when we first joined wmpc). We were headed to Wrightsville Beach to meet my mom for a mother-daughter double-date weekend of swimming, shopping, and eating. (With Nathan as the fifth wheel, of course. Our cock in a basket or whatever it is they say about one guy with a bunch of gals.) There is an ocean swim race there that's 1.7 miles between 2 piers. (They call it Pier-2-Pier but I really cringe to type that, and I know some of my faithful readers will cringe to read it too... so I promise not to write it again.) Since Mary, mom and I all fancy ourselves swimmers, we used the event as an excuse for a (healthy) beachy weekend. But of course, if you want to hear God laugh, tell him your weekend plans... right?

Here's how our weekend of fun turned into the Weekend o' Erin's Failures:

1.) Mary got sick a few days before the trip, and although she decided at the last minute she was at least able to join us, she went into it knowing that she wouldn't be able to do the swim. Which is a bummer since this would have been her first open-water swim. And it's just a bummer to be sick anyway, I mean really. Yes, I know I cannot control her health, but I know part of the reason she almost didn't come was worrying about contaminating Nathan (don't worry, she didn't). So I feel partially responsible for her almost missing the trip. Please don't tell me I'm being dumb; I can see it now even as I write this.

2.) I had a massive hive breakout late Friday night into early Saturday morning. Including (and this is new!) angioedema. If you don't know what that is, it's when your face swells up like the "before" version of the Nutty Professor. Fun times. Fortunately it didn't cross the line to life-threatening... no throat constriction or anything, thank goodness... but mom thought I should sit out the swim. She ended up doing the event, but only after she had called in some strong meds for me, supervised a bunch of OTC meds as well, taken a close look at my throat, and reassured herself that since there was another adult on hand, Nathan and I would be just fine at the hotel. But it was still frustrating to have organized the whole weekend, looked forward to getting outside and doing a swim in the sunshine on a gorgeous day and then have to sit in a hotel and stare at my weird puffy skin and the untouched swim bag on the floor. Especially since the main reason Lois and Mary were even there (Mary being sick and all) was just to support me. Nothing like a let-down, right?

3.) So once I was all hopped up on drugs and Nathan was napping peacefully (well, as peacefully as anyone can while hotel cleaning people holler at each other in the hallway), Mary offered to keep an eye on him while Lois and I went to meet mom at the finish and congratulate her. Because if being sick is a bummer, and missing an event you wanted to do is a bummer, then working really hard to swim in the ocean for almost two miles and finishing with no one there to hug you is really a bummer. So we drove to the staging area for the event, to try and find out whether the swim was from the north pier to the south pier, or vice versa (it varies from year to year based on currents). Yeah no one was there. No one who had a clue what we were talking about anyway. So we decided to just pick a pier and go there... if it was the wrong one, we'd just go to the other. They're less than 2 miles apart, after all, which might sound far for swimming, but not when you have a car. Off to the north pier. Nope, wrong one, they started here. Ok, super. Off to the south pier. Somehow we drove past it and had to double back. We were just finding a parking spot when my phone rings. And it's mom's ring. Which means not only has she finished the event, she has dried off, gotten dressed, found the shuttle back to the staging area, and is in her car with cell phone in hand. [sigh.] Failure number three. She even beat us back to the hotel.

Yes, Mary and I totally wore our event shirts even though my mom is the only one who ended up doing it! Don't judge.

4.) After a pleasant afternoon, we arrived back in Raleigh, exhausted. Nathan fussed for at least the last thirty minutes. Now Lois and Mary are two very patient people (especially when it comes to Nathan, whom they have sort of adopted as a surrogate Chamblee), but that's enough to shoot anyone's nerves. Mine, anyway, especially since I hadn't slept much the night before and I was still (yes, still) itchy. But even after all that, they offered to stay with Nathan at the house while I drove across down to get Bowden and Simon from You Lucky Dog. They didn't want me to have to take the time to re-load his car seat into my car, and then risk him falling asleep on that trip, only to stay up even later. A really thoughtful offer. So I took them up on it, and headed across town, to find that I had missed pickup time by about twenty minutes. After a quick round of tears, a few bad words, and a phone call pleading with their answering machine that if anyone was inside, I really needed to hug my doggies, I tucked my tail in between my legs (pun intended) and went back home. So once again Lois and Mary had gone out of their way for me, for no reason. You can see why all this was making me feel like a pretty big failure.

But I need to be optimistic, since being down isn't really my thing. So here are the things that were super about this weekend:

1.) I realized once again how much I love Mary and Lois. Their whole family is wonderful to me, and to Mark and to Nathan (and even the pups!)... especially since I became a mom, Lois has been an invaluable support for me, constantly reminding me to trust my own instincts and that different things work for different families, and it's ok if I make decisions that are different from what she would make, or my own mom, or my friends. And Mary is so comfortable with Nathan, and is such a kind person... she's exactly how I want every youth to be.

2.) I found a great CD of epic movie theme songs (better when Nathan's in the car than whatever's on the radio, I assure you) at a fun and unexpected store called Redix, which has everything from kitschy souvenirs to beach supplies to designer clothes. Seriously.

3.) I had some awesome food. Friday night we went to Mama Fu's, which is apparently a chain but they don't have any around here. (If there's one near you, go directly to Mama Fu's. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.) It's like Pei Wei (which is the diner version of PF Chang's, owned by the same people and everything) but even better. They have a really laid-back atmosphere (at lunch you even order at the counter) but still have a wine list. They have really good, really flavorful food, but it's cheap. And they also had good ol' plain steamed veggies with no seasoning, which for my mom usually happens only in her dreams. I had some spicy crispy shrimp and they were amazing. Nathan liked them too! And speaking of shrimp, I had my first shrimpburger on Saturday, at a restaurant called Dockside. It was really relaxed, right on the water, outdoors with plastic patio furniture and absolutely no pretentiousness. And the shrimpburger was crispy and saucy and refreshing and the sweet potato fries were great too. You know I love food.

4.) I realized again how proud I am of my mom. She just did this swim without even thinking about it, and was chattering and prancing around the hotel afterwards. Y'all, she is recovering from a fracture in her femur, remember? And just a few short years ago, she wouldn't have had the mental or emotional or physical strength to do something like this. Yes, I know it pales in comparison to the ironman on the horizon (or just to her normal workout schedule, to be honest). But let the record show that I am impressed anyway.

Maybe next year (when I'm hive-free! haha yeah right) we'll actually do the swim!

Growing Up Too Fast

So, I hate to be predictable... but can I just say that Nathan is growing up way too fast? We were only gone for a little over a week, but he seems like such a big boy all of a sudden!

His speech is so much clearer... before we left, Mark and I knew that sssat meant "what's that?" But now everyone can tell that's what he means, since he's pretty much saying wassat? He's also saying goggle (no clue what that means), boat (apparently that means "car"), oma, and buhbuhbuh (which might or might not mean "bug," for my sister Ashley).

He has mastered the art of NO. As in, I can say the word no, and I can shake my head no, and I can push away whatever you want to feed me that I don't want to eat. At my grandparents' houses, I don't have to eat anything I don't want to. So... NO.

He has mostly forgotten about nursing. He's only asked a few times since we've been back... the first time, I sent him in another direction and he was fine. The other two times were when he didn't want to eat the food I was giving him, so I let him nurse, and then he ate normal food just fine. So I figure we'll keep doing this rarely-and-only-on-demand thing instead of pretending to keep any regular schedule with it, and when the milk is gone, it's gone. Once every couple of days is fine with me if it means a gradual baby-led taper (which I believe in anyway).

He's now riding forward in his car seat. He had outgrown the rear-facing seat quote a while ago, height-wise... and now he's about at the weight limit, too. I can't tell if he looks little in that huge toddler seat, or if he looks like a big boy since he's riding in a toddler seat. Does that even make sense?

He's in the young toddler class at the mother's morning out class at church. I ask you, how did that happen??? He's technically not a toddler, since he's still not walking (which is supposed to be a requirement for that class), but since he's in the right age group -- barely -- and he seems to thrive around those truly-toddling kids, they're fine with him in there. But there is something about walking into that building and dropping him in the room with the slides (as opposed to the room with the swings) that just makes him seem very... old.

In some ways it feels like I came home to a different baby. I guess it will just take some time for the two of us to re-establish our mommy-baby (excuse me, mommy-toddler) dynamic. A little part of me almost still misses Nathan, even though I am back with him, because it seems like the end of his infancy just snuck up on me all of a sudden. Only a little part, though.

The bigger part of me is actually really enjoying every new ounce of personality that shines through. He gets more fun as the time passes. Man do I love that kid.

Post-Vacation Observations

After being back home in the south for a few days, I have had time to mull over the whole NYC experience, and I have some observations to share:

1.) Although New Yorkers seem to pride themselves on taking in stride what others would be overly excited about (any kind of food, 2/7! brilliant theater! people of all cultures! etc.), I noticed that even people who live in the city get excited about celebrity sightings. When we were shopping at Macy's, all the buzz in the store was that Christina Aguilera would be stopping by that afternoon to promote her new fragrance. I had assumed that people would just breeze by the promotional materials if they were busy, as if to say "oh well, we'll catch her another time." But they were excited to line up and pay lots of money for an advance place near her table.
And then on the way home from dinner on Saturday night, we had trouble getting to our hotel entrance, since Daniel Radcliffe was just exiting the theater where he's currently starring in Equus. Seriously, it was such an ordeal that they had to wall off part of the sidewalk to make him a path from the stage door to his car, and they wouldn't let anyone into the street to get around the madness (lest we swarm his vehicle or something), so we were just... trapped. On the sidewalk. Surrounded by shrieking New Yorkers (they were New Yorkers, I promise). And we didn't even get a picture of him. Although the picture below does show how insane the crowd was.

2.) New Yorkers keep their kids up late. Seems like everywhere we went at night, there were kids and toddlers out and about. At first I was concerned for the kids.... don't they need sleep? They're going to be exhausted!.... but then I started to wonder... where are these people taking their 2-year-olds at midnight that's socially acceptable? How is it making these kids so happy? And how do I get in on that action?

3.) The subway system is not as complicated as everyone makes it sound. Sure, the stops could use better names, they could use some more east-west lines, and the lines that share tracks could be re-mapped in different colors to make things a little simpler. But really, it's not that bad. I have no idea what the big deal is. We were expecting some nightmare based on what other people had told us, and it just wasn't an issue. It's good that we found it problem-free, since we never did get into a taxi (the ride we hired to JFK in a towncar doesn't count).

4.) New Yorkers really are nice. This held true throughout the whole week, it wasn't just a first-day thing. If I make fun of the loud, rude people around here, I promise to point the finger at some other city besides New York from now on. Maybe Long Island. Or Boston. But not Manhattan, that's for sure.

Vacation, Day Eleven: HOME!

We woke up painfully early (after yesterday anyway) this morning in order to have the car packed and ready to go when Nathan got up (mom said he had been sleeping until at least 8, and we needed to be on the road by 9 at the latest). We had to leave a lot of his stuff at her house, actually, since it had taken two other trips to get it down to Huntersville in the first place! (My grandpa's birthday and when Mark's mom came to visit a few weeks ago.) Man, babies have a lot of stuff. And we're light packers compared to some parents, I promise!

It was so wonderful to see Nathan again. He seems so much bigger, just in a little over a week. He was happy (in a wide-eyed and overwhelmed way, not a giddy way) to see us, and it felt so good to have him in my arms and smell him (yes, even the early-morning stinky-diaper smell) and hear his little voice saying Mommy? and kiss his little head. I got my canine fix when I was reunited with Bowden and Simon last night, but I didn't get the human fix until this morning. It was great to pile all our babies (and their stuff) in the car and hit the road for home.

We didn't make it in time for me to be working at noon, in case you were curious. But that's partly because we stopped at my company's Raleigh office on the way home to collect my files from the colleague who was covering for me last week, and to let Nathan stretch out a little. So that's kind of work, right? The good thing is I don't think anyone really cared.

We have another hectic week coming up, with work to catch up on, and Nathan moving to the "young toddler" class at his mother's morning out program tomorrow (how is that possible??), and 8 meetings, a gymboree music session, 2 rehearsals (one for mark and one for me), 2 disciple classes, and a morning (outside of normal office hours) conference call to attend, all before hitting the road again on Friday afternoon for a mom-daughter weekend (with my mom and two friends) to do a 1.7 mile swim between two piers in Wrightsville Beach. But I can't even think about how I am going to manage all that right now, because I am just very happy to be home.

Vacation, Day Ten: More US Open Action

An optimization question:

If two southerners have tickets for a plane departing from JFK at 7:40pm, flying south, and also have tickets for a tennis match commencing approximately 4pm (give or take some margin of error -- exact percentage is unknown -- based on a football game halfway between the location and the destination of said southerners, but sharing the same television network for broadcasting purposes), which will take anywhere from one to three hours to complete, which of the following scenarios will maximize their vacation/sports/entertainment time, while minimize the stress of making a mad dash to catch a flight at one of the biggest airports in the world? Please remember to take into account the Mets fans who will be taking up extra space in cabs and subways between 4:30 and 5:30pm, directly adjacent to tennis complex. Bonus points for spending as little money as possible while sacrificing a little convenience as possible:

a.) check out of hotel, take airtrain/subway directly to JFK, check in for evening flight and pay to check bags ($50) to avoid hauling them all over New York City, take airtrain/subway to Queens for tennis, leave by 4:30 to take airtrain/subway back to JFK for flight home (airtrain/subway all day... $30 for both).

b.) above scenario, but leave tennis by 5:15 with taxi back to JFK... add $20.

c.) check out of hotel, print boarding passes at internet cafe ($1), take subway to tennis ($4), leave luggage at baggage hold near stadium ($9), leave tennis by 4:45 to take airtrain/subway to airport ($14).

d.) above scenario, but leave tennis by 5:15 with taxi back to JFK... add $30.

We decided on scenario D. We got to the US Open when (we thought) the gates opened for the afternoon session, but it turns out we could have gone in earlier and seen some women's matches... there was no longer any rhyme or reason (except ushers on power trips) to where people could sit to watch the matches, since nothing was going down as originally scheduled. We saw Nadal and Murray duke it out for a little less than a full set (Murray won two yesterday, and today started with Nadal up 3-2 in the third, which he ended up winning). Besides the aforementioned usher on a power trip, it was a very pleasant afternoon, and we once again scored great seats (much better than we had paid for) due to the change in scheduling. Which means we had a close up of Rafael Nadal's man-capris. (Apparently called rafa-capris in the tennis world.) Seriously, why does he wear those? Does anyone know? Anyone? And apparently what he wore in this tournament was a toned-down version of the look. Yikes.

Today they also inducted Pete Sampras into the US Open Court of Champions, and did a nice tribute before the match, which was really neat. We've always liked him. If only every professional athlete were so classy. Or even half that classy, really.

We also got to see them present the awards for the juniors titles. I don't remember who any of them were, but maybe when they're big and famous and awesome in four years, their names will ring bells. (Murray apparently won the juniors title there in 2004, and look where he played today.)

So in case you were curious, Scenario D wasn't actually the right answer. I mean, our choice was probably ok, but the solution wasn't exactly what we had anticipated. The correct answer is (brace yourself, run-on haters):

e.) not really any of the above, but instead... get approved for late checkout at hotel, go to internet cafe for online flight check-in and b oarding pass printing ($1), eat lunch in Seinfeld-esque diner, return to hotel to find that room keys stopped working at noon (despite late checkout approval), wait for security to let us into room to get luggage (good thing we had already packed), take subway to US Open ($4), put one backpack in a locker ($3) and two suitcases in a tent ($6) under the supervision of borderline-incompetent people at baggage hold near stadium, watch one great hour of tennis, wait for said borderline-incompetent people to find and retrieve baggage (simultaneously giving thanks that their slowness is not compounded by the thousands of other fans who are still watching the match inside), battle Mets fans for taxi, argue with husband about finding taxi driver who will quote less to JFK than he would charge to Manhattan, let husband win argument due to time constraints and as a result pay too much for taxi ($45), at JFK for security line, give thanks we noticed online that our flight is at Terminal 2 -- even though check-in for coach passengers is at Terminal 1, where there is a mob scene in line -- and that we already have our boarding passes in hand, get to gate in time to see Murray beat Nadal in a huge upset, wait in three long and frustrating food lines before getting something to eat, wait on a series of delays before flight eventually takes off just after 8:30, pout since we probably would have had time to see the whole match and still make the flight, land safely in Charlotte, narrowly miss the shuttle to the correct parking lot (where we left our car last Saturday before hopping the city bus to downtown to catch the Greyhound, remember?), drive home, visit with mom and sister for a few minutes before crashing with puppies in bed (that will happen in a few minutes).

Whew.

I am supposed to be at my desk working in twelve hours in Raleigh. We'll see if that actually happens.

For more pictures of us at the US Open, click here.

Vacation, Day Nine: Queens

In case anyone was wondering, Hanna is here full-force. I mean, not hurricane-force or anything. But rainy- and floody- and tropical stormy-force. It's a great weather combination for Sporting Even #3: the men's semifinal of the US Open. Um... not.

We woke up this morning assuming that the rain would have started, as predicted, and the matches would be delayed. But when we looked outside, things were still dry. (Well, as dry as anything in muggy new york gets when there are heavy storm clouds on the horizon.

So, filled with optimism, we packed up our sunglasses and the sunscreen (hahaha) and the rain jackets (there's the not-so-optimistic part) and headed out to Flushing, in Queens. Mark was stoked to find out that the first match would be Federer and Djokovitch, not Murray and Nadal as we had assumed (Nadal, being the number one seed, would normally get to play first so he wouldn't have to wait around all day for his match to begin). And even more stoked that the rain was holding off. The rain actually held off until about half an hour after they were done. So we saw Federer play a whole match, and it was a great match, and Mark was happy. All his US Open dreams have come true.

Or so I thought.

It turns out that due to the impending bad weather, they decided to play the Nadal match on a neighboring court, about 20 minutes after the Federer match had started. So although everyone there had paid for tickets to see two semifinal matches, we were going to have to choose which one we watched. We chose Federer, of course (that's the dream, after all), assuming that if the other match wasn't over when they finished, we could catch the last portion of it (barring a stampede to get to that court, which was likely). The positive side to this was that when all the people who wanted to see Nadal "evacuated" from our stadium, we got to move from our seats in the top row down to just above the court, which was awesome.

But then when the Federer match was over, they announced that we were welcome to stay in our seats in the big stadium and watch the other match on the big screen (I don't know or care what the proper name for the big screen is), since there were no more seats available in the other stadium. But here's the thing about making a statement like that: you should make sure you aren't showing shots of said neighboring stadium on the aforementioned big screen, so that the spectators can see all the empty seats you just told us were unavailable. Or that said neighboring stadium is not right next to the one we're in, so we can hike up to the top row and see into it, gazing at all the empty seats you just told us were unavailable.

People watching the other match from the top row of our stadium.

Look at all those empty seats!

Y'all, I'm surprised there wasn't a riot. These are tennis fans, so they're (somewhat) classy. Were this a football game in the south, a mob would have torn the gates down.

Anyway the Nadal match got rained out after all, so we might get to watch the rest of it tomorrow, depending on what we can work out with our flight and luggage and those logistics (which I am too tired and wet to think about right now).

We've spent the evening with some alone time for each of us... Mark grabbing a nap (read: watching ESPN Gameday) at the hotel, and I wandering the streets around our hotel hoping for cheap theater tickets for tonight (no dice; it's Saturday and raining). We'll grab a late-night deli and cheesecake dinner in a little while.

Wow, was this a post almost all about sports? What's my deal anyway?

Vacation, Day Eight: Brooklyn and Coney Island

For the first time since our arrival last Sunday (when we saw a game at Yankee Stadium, in the Bronx), Mark and I ventured outside of Manhattan. And we did it in a big way... by foot. Which is no small feat, considering Manhattan is an island.

Ok, not really. There's this bridge you might have heard of. It's kind of famous or something. And annoying tourists are always walking all over it and taking pictures and gawking at the beams and cables. We were said tourists.

Yes, we walked the Brooklyn Bridge. And it's not as far as everyone makes it out to be. I think it took about 45 minutes (really I have no sense of the time, I'm kind of just making that up), including the stops to take pictures and read the plaques and also including the forever-long sidewalk you're forced onto, with no way out, as you walk into "downtown" Brooklyn.

We didn't spend a whole lot of time there, though... but we did have lunch at a little Chinese place called the Lichee Nut, below street level, which was the best value meal we have had all week. Most food for the buck anyway, especially considering it came with a table in an air-conditioned room. And our eggrolls were huge. Anyway if you're in Brooklyn Heights (and why wouldn't you be?), check it out. They don't have a website or anything (I just looked) but it's on Montague Street, near the intersection of Clinton Street.

Then, we were off to Coney Island! Can I just tell you that Brooklyn is huge? We had an express train and it still took almost an hour to get to the other end of the borough by subway. (Mark fell asleep, of course.) No, of course we did not take a taxi; don't you know us by now?

The Coney Island amusement area was sort of sad, if I'm being honest. You it used to be really special, but it's sort of run-down now. Mark and were reminded of the Pavilion at Myrtle Beach, which was tacky and busy and run-down, but everyone knew it was tacky and run-down, and celebrated that fact (which is why it was busy). The Astroland amusement park at Coney Island... not so much. It was sort of sleepy (even with some Google event going on), definitely shabby, and I kind of felt bad for the place. But we rode the Cyclone like we were supposed to, and wandered the park a little bit, and we enjoyed ourselves. We found out after we left that Astroland is actually closing down on Sunday for the last time... apparently the owner wasn't able to get the lease renewed there, so it's going away. I wonder what they'll put in its place... I don't even know if they can tear down the Cyclone; I think it's a historic landmark (I'm not making a joke, I really remember seeing a sign saying something like that). Sad that another little piece of American history (like Yankee Stadium) is going away. I'm really glad I got to see it before that happened though.

Brighton Beach was lovely though... it's hard to believe something so peaceful and open and breezy exists so close to the big city. I can see why it's popular for people who live here. And they even have playsets built right into the sand! What a good idea! Why haven't southerners figured that one out yet?

We wrapped up our visit with a stop at world-famous Nathan's, to eat hot dogs in honor of our Nathan (and in honor of those crazies who show up every summer to east 60 in a row). I mean, it was good. And it has a good name. But it wasn't as good as the best hot dogs ever, which (believe it or not) are located in Millers Creek, NC, at a place called the Igloo. You don't have to believe me, but I assure you it's true.

After we came back to Manhattan, we had an excellent dinner at one of Bobby Flay's steakhouses, called Bar Americain (if it's American, why not spell it in English? Bobby Flay didn't clear this with me before opening his restaurant). We enjoyed steak (me) and lamb chops (Mark) and amazing oniony corn muffins. And the best blackberry souffle ever for dessert. We had good conversation, including some amount of pondering about how Hanna will affect the plans for the rest of our weekend, including Sporting Event #3... and our flight home.

For more pictures of our day in Brooklyn, including Coney Island, click on the bridge below.


by mgoetts

Vacation, Day Seven: Chinatown and the Village

Mark and I decided we really needed an easy day! We have been traipsing all over Manhattan and we're sort of exhausted. One of the reasons we were excited about this trip is to relax and enjoy some quiet grownup time.

So today, we slept in. That's right, we're smack dab in the middle of what many people bill as the most exciting city on the planet, and we slept in. And it felt durned good.

When we were finally up and about, we headed down to Greenwich Village, and explored the Washington Square Park area. Our original plan was to eat a picnic of sorts there. But it was, um... a little... unsavory. It was neat to see the Memorial Arch in the park, though (even with that section totally under construction... it's our pattern, after all) ... brought back visions of When Harry Met Sally.

That's one of the really neat things about NYC, actually. Everything I see is so familiar somehow, even though the last time I was here I was a child. I know my memories aren't real, they're just from television and movies. I have spent the last few days trying to guess where the Friends people were supposed to have lived (Greenwich Village, apparently... though that doesn't make sense if their coffee house was right near the park), or trying to remember whether Charlotte was an upper west side or upper east side girl (Park Ave is upper east, right? I still don't have my maps down pat). Still, I like that the city has become so iconic on tv and in film... I think it makes it more relateable... it feels more American, more ours, than I would have suspected. Well, for this southerner anyway.

But it's a good thing we skipped our picnic, since we came across a great little creperie in the East Village, so Mark's crepe dreams could come true after all. Our lunch was delicious -- Mark had a ham and Jarlsberg cheese crepe, and I had one with chicken, tomatoes and Jarlsberg. The ones we had in Angers were probably better, since that restaurant baked theirs off in a little dish covered in melted cheese (a small step that makes a world of difference), but it was still a great lunch. Especially the strawberry and nutella crepe we had for dessert. Mmmm. Mark was so happy he even let me take his picture outside the restaurant, and was a really good sport about it.

Probably what made him happiest was that it saved him from lunch in Chinatown. Seeing as we ate Korean food last night, he wasn't up for another Asian meal so soon afterwards. (I could eat it everyday... well, at least once a week.)

So Chinatown was hectic. I'll be honest and admit that Chinatown New York overwhelmed me significantly more than actual China. There were people everywhere, the streets are bendy and winding and very un-manhattan-like, and even the sweetest of elderly men were trying to sell us fake Rolexes and Gucci bags. The only thing we bought was a pair of knockoff sunglasses (for Mark), but it was fun to explore the neighborhood and window-shop a little bit.

We spent our evening in Greece, by way of Broadway. We saw Mamma Mia, which was just as silly and fun and mindless and plot-holey as we had hoped. I can't wait to see the movie now.

To see pictures of our (somewhat) relaxing day, click here.

Vacation, Day Six: Lower Manhattan

We spent today doing the quintessential NYC tourist thing: seeing the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. No foam crowns were purchased for today's sightseeing (although there was a rubber Liberty mask involved -- even one wearing a Clemson cap -- which you can see by clicking on the link at the bottom of this post), so maybe we weren't quite the typical tourists... but it still felt pretty touristy!

One thing I had forgotten since last time I took a trip like this, is how stellar the National Park rangers are at their jobs. At most historic sites (including Ellis and Liberty Islands, today), they give free talks and tours, and they're really good. Those people know stuff that no guidebook will tell you, like...

1.) The only reason people ever used to be able to go up into the statue is that the industrious Americans just had to turn it into a lighthouse around the turn of the century. A beautiful piece of art turned into a lighthouse, folks. In the middle of the harbor. (Which makes no sense whatsoever.) And the results of multiple efforts to make the lamp into a functioning spotlight screwed the thing up so much that it had to be replaced. Anyway, that staircase was designed for one lighthouse keeper, not throngs of tourists. The statue is meant to be enjoyed from the outside. So stop calling the parks service wussy for keeping it closed, politicians.

2.) If you hang-glide to the island and land on the statue, you will be arrested. Even if you get caught up in the crown and dangle for half an hour while your life is in peril, awaiting rescue... they will rescue you, and then they will arrest you.

3.) the statue, being made of copper, of course, used to be the color of a bright penny before oxidation turned it green. Can you imagine the whole statue this color? It must have been amazing, and must have looked so different from the familiar icon now. No color pictures exist from the time period before it turned green, although there are some painted portraits.

4.) If you are nice to the park rangers and listen to the entire tour/talk, they might surprise you with passes to go into the museum at the base of the monument, even if you didn't get up early enough to get a timed-entry ticket that day.

Ellis Island was really neat, too, and made me think a lot about immigration. It used to be so glamorous and appreciated... the country only denied about 1% of applicants through Ellis Island, including the ones who were sick enough to be hospitalized on the spot. America, at the time, thought it was worth the investment to get people healthy enough to let them add value to our diverse nation. Something to think about. Unless you're a native American, we're all immigrants, really.

We spent the early evening exploring the financial district and Wall Street. We went by the stock exchange... not only can no one go inside anymore, you can't even go near the building. They have a fence up around the whole block keeping people at least 10 feet from the building. I don't think they got the memo that the stuff traded in there is only theoretical, and while a bomb or something would be tragic and would kill innocent people, it wouldn't explode the companies and commodities themselves. Right? I don't understand why that building's security is so much insanely more intense than any other building in Manhattan. Especially the Federal Reserve, which houses some ginormous percentage of the world's gold. That's right - actual gold. Not just the theoretical gold, traded by certificates over at the Stock Exchange. Clearly they didn't ask me when they designed this system.

Seeing Ground Zero (which is now officially called the World Trade Center Site, btw) was strange. There's this... hole in the middle of Manhattan, where it's clear buildings should be. The whole block is just... rubble. Still. Although apparently they hung the first steel beam yesterday in what will be the new Freedom Tower. (My guidebook said it was originally scheduled to be completed this summer, ha.) I don't think you can be there and not relive the where and how you found out about the attacks in 2001. It was the first day of classes my junior year at Furman. I spent the day in the English department suite, watching the TV in horror, and worrying for the multitude of friends who were abroad at the time (several FU teams took off that day, and were stranded at various airports around the world). Being there and seeing it and remembering was sort of sobering, which is appropriate I guess. We lightened our hearts by giving thanks that so many actually did survive, that we live in a great country with excellent first responders, and selfless ones at that, and by hoping that America will come out stronger in the aftermath.

We ventured down to Koreatown for dinner, since I really wanted to have my first Korean barbecue, and my friend Neal (a former Manhattanite) had recommended a place called Kum Gang San. We ordered the Korean barbecue of chicken and short ribs, and they brought plates and plates and plates of different kinds of food to our table. We sort of stared at it for a few minutes since we didn't know what it was or how to eat it (and Mark of course didn't want to ask). But I had no qualms about asking, and our server was happy (well, happy enough) to explain to us how to do everything, and she even came back and gave Mark some lavish praise when he managed to wrap the right combination of meat and veggies and sauce into the lettuce (once I knew what everything was, I just mixed it all up however I wanted... I was not praised, needless to say). But this was one of the things I really wanted to do in New York (there's no Korean barbecue here in North Carolina), and it was a definite success.

For more pictures of us in lower Manhattan, and Liberty and Ellis Islands, click here.

Vacation, Day Five: More Midtown

Another busy day on the road with Mark and Erin. Why can't we actually relax on vacation, anyway?

We started off the morning by moving to our new hotel, which is decidedly less nice than the first. However, it's in a great location (one block from Times Square, and connected to the building where Harry Potter gets naked every night), it's immaculately clean (albeit a little old and slightly shabby), and we actually have some semblance of a view.

View of 8th Avenue from our potty. Seriously.

Mark and I are loving this whole subway thing. I know that some people don't like to give up their cars (and the freedom that comes with them), but when we're in big cities, one of our favorite things is to use the public transportation available. We like the freedom of no car (and no gas or parking woes), using cleaner travel by way of mass transit, not dealing with traffic, the whole package. We even revel in the griminess, in a way. It's one of the things Mark and I have most in common... our love of public transportation.

Anyway we took the subway to Grand Central this morning for lunch, and to explore the station, which is a site in itself. We went to the NY Public Library (of course the facade is being renovated... our luck with renovations on vacation is as bad as our weather streak is good), admired the Empire State building from the ground (and lobby), stopped by Madison Square Garden/Penn Station on our way to shop at Macy's (their baby section is as big a whole Babies R Us in Raleigh... and they have amazing antique wooden escalators!), where I only spent a little money. Whew.

We relaxed at Bryant Square Park, where they were showing some of the early rounds of the US Open on a big screen. We needed it, since our feet were aching.

We had dinner at an Italian restaurant called Trattoria Trecolori, recommended by Merritt (thanks!)... I had one of the specials, a ravioli filled with butternut squash and ricotta cheese, in a tomato-vodka cream sauce. I'll quote my favorite celebrity non-chef and say Yum-O!! They also had a pinotage from South Africa on their wine list, which was super (and relatively hard to find, even in NYC).

To see more pictures of our last couple of days in midtown Manhattan, click on St. Patrick's, below.

by mgoetts

Vacation, Day Four: Midtown Manhattan

Well, it's Labor Day so we weren't sure what kind of options we would have for stuff to do today, since we assumed a lot of things would be closed. Um, we're dumb. This is New York City. They never sleep. And they certainly don't give their laborers the day off on a holiday honoring those who labor. Hello.

So we stared the day at Rockefeller Center, in the NBC Studios. We weren't able to get tickets to any of their shows (it's a "dark week" which means most of the live stuff isn't taping), but we could at least go see the studios where they rehearse and tape. We went into the Nightly News studio (fun fact: Brian Williams really does wear pants), the Late Night studio (fun fact: Conan doesn't really fit behind that desk, he's huge), and the SNL studio (fun fact: the seats are on "temporary loan" from Yankee Stadium, from when the original stadium was overhauled... and now the "silly little show" has outlived the stadium itself!)... all of which were surprisingly cool. I was a little bummed that the set from Friends no longer exists (yes, I know that was filmed in LA anyway), although I recognize I am a huge dork for admitting it.

Afterwards, we went to the top of Rockefeller Center ... we opted for that instead of the Empire State building (we'll go there tomorrow, at least from the ground) to save time (shorter lines), money (half the price), and for views that actually included the Empire State building. And I will say this -- we are very happy with that decision, and as you can see, we had some gorgeous views of the skyline!

Then we had breakfast at Tiffany's (just kidding... it was lunch... and it wasn't so much at Tiffany's as eating a sausage from a street vendor on the sidewalk outside Tiffany's, but whatever), after realizing we didn't want to spend the moolah to eat anything in Trump Tower (though the lobby itself is just as gorgeous in real life as it is on The Apprentice).

We went to St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was neat... but after living in Germany, not as big and spectacular as others. We had hoped to hear an organ recital sometime this week, but it turns out there are none scheduled. What gives? It was lovely to see the sanctuary anyway, though.

Then walked up 5th Avenue (window shopping only, except for short visits inside H&M and FAO Schwartz), and then wandered through Central Park. Holy crap, there are a lot of people in Central Park on a holiday afternoon!

We had dinner in Chelsea (we were going for a crepe restaurant that we had heard about, since Mark has been desperate to recreate the crepe dinner my sister took us to in Angers, France, a few years ago... but it had gone out of business) before seeing a show at the Gotham Comedy club, which we thoroughly enjoyed!

Some things we have observed about NYC so far:

1.) The poeple here are nice. Really. And that's coming from a southerner's perspective. Yes, they talk a little funny, but people have been (almost) universally helpful and polite and welcoming. Here's hoping that trend continues through the week.

2.) I am feeling increasingly free, having abandoned mommying for the week. At first it was really sad and sort of scary and my arms always felt empty. But it's starting to seel sort of good, and Mark and I are really enjoying each other, without other things going on (take that statement for what you will). I think it's healthy.

3.) Mark is increasingly missing Nathan. He's used to being able to leave parenthood for short spurts during the day, so the beginning wasn't as hard for him... but he's also used to seeing Nathan after these short absences, so he didn't really feel the pangs until today. So, Nathan -- if someone is out there reading this to you... we love you and we miss you!

Wow, that was only one observation about NYC, and two about parenting... so much for shedding mommyhood, right?