My Baby is Two

My little guy is two. I can't believe it. I love this little boy we call Owen. I don't know if most of you know, but William is actually his first name. William is the name of both of his great-grandpas, and is Marc's middle name so we definitely thought it should be used. Owen is his middle name- and the name he goes by. It is not that I do not like the name William- it is just that my little baby boy looked like an Owen in every way when he was born. Owen will probably only hear the William part of his name when he goes to school the first day or when he puts my cell phone in the toilet again- but I think it has a nice sound to it- William Owen.

Owen is always on the move. Always. In the world of Owen there is always something to chase, kick and bounce. He has a fascination with anything with wheels. If you have read the book Owen by Kevin Henkes, then you know Owen. He loves his blue blanket. Loves it. He would walk around with it all day long if I let him (and sometimes I do:).

Owen loves music. Cutting edge stuff like ABC's, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. His all time favorite song is from the movie Dumbo (this was Eva's favorite too). Baby of Mine (the song Dumbo's mom sings him when she is locked up) is my secret weapon to get him to calm down. He calls it "Owen of Mine" because I substitute his name for "baby" in the lyrics.

Owen's favorite foods are: yogurt, cheddar shell pasta, bananas, and chocolate milk. Typical 2-year-old fare. These days he is getting his own breakfast. The other morning I woke up to him nibbling on a chicken nugget at my bedside. Unfortunately, I had served chicken nuggets for lunch the DAY BEFORE, and my little scavenger had retrieved this from the garbage. Apparently the dino nugget had enough preservatives to keep it edible for a few days... he did not suffer any ill-effects from his trash adventure. Gross. I left my bed that morning to find 3 banana peels on the kitchen floor, one open chocolate milk container sitting next to a wide open fridge. He is quite a resourceful little boy- we are keeping our matches well hidden.

We had a few celebrations for Owen this year. One occurred while his friend Ella was in town visiting. Ella's b-day is only a few days away from Owen's, so it was fun to celebrate their special days together with a little pizza and cupcakes. It was priceless to watch Ella say, "These cupcakes are SOOOOO good! With her chocolatey face.

Our second family celebration occurred on his actual birthday. I made him a "circle cake." The girls came up with the idea of baking him a cake from a brownie mix, in our circle cake pans. Then we frosted the "cake" with Nutella (an Owen favorite) and added marshmallows in the shape of a smiley face. He is fascinated with smiley faces- whenever he sees one, he says "happy!" so I knew he would get a kick out of it. I hesitated to eat a piece of his cake after watching him blow out his candles. Owen has still not mastered the art of keeping all of his saliva in his mouth while blowing (or talking for that matter!:).

Calling all Runners......

After taking a 3 month hiatus from exercising (I blame this on a bunch of stuff, but really I have just been lazy), I went for a run tonight and it was BEAUTIFUL. Gorgeous weather.

Running along the shoreline of RI is awesome because you get to be inspired by the majesty of Manhattan throughout the entirety of your workout. And the weather right now is amazing. I love NYC in the fall. LOVE it.

However, I do realize that it will be only a few short months before I will be running like a hamster on the treadmill indoors again....and I need some tunes to inspire me.

I went to itunes last night to download some music and I had no idea where to begin. I have not listened to the radio in more than a year now. Seriously. For me no car= no radio.
I know that a bunch of you who read this are runners, so give me some music suggestions! I would love it! It doesn't have to be recent stuff either- just whatever. My only requirement would be that the music needs to have clean lyrics- my kids listen to my i-pod probably more than I do.

Rachael Ray

I had to think of a way to bribe Rachel Theurer into making a trip out here to NYC before Ella turned two (and became a full-price airline ticket). Luckily, I managed to get my hands on some tickets to a Rachael Ray Show taping here in NYC- and that proved to be incentive enough.

The girls were absolutely ecstatic to have Rachel and Ella in town. We were all a little bummed when we found out that their trip would only be a few short days. Thanks to Hurricane Ike, and the fact that the Theurers now live in Houston, we got to see them for much longer than originally planned because the airport ended up being closed for their return flight. Poor Matt had to brave the hurricane solo in Houston with no power, no running water, and no Ella and Rachel.

The Rachael Ray show itself was kind of lame. Well, it is always very fun to attend a taping of anything- so it was still fun. You get to see everything that goes on to make a production like this. You are reminded of many people are involved. What looks like just a simple conversation on a couch is actually the work of a make-up artist, hairstylist, camera crew, sound crew, set designer, director, producer, etc.... Watching it all play out ended up being much more interesting than the actual subject matter of the show.

Rachael interviewed Eva Mendes. I found myself totally zoning out of their interview......right after they started a lengthy discussion on their dogs and how they have their friends talk to their dogs on the phone.......weird. They also talked about how strange it was that Eva's Calvin Klein underwear commercial was banned in the US due to its explicit content. Rachael Ray made the comment, "Come on, I do not see what the big deal is, I mean we have violence on TV, I don't see why they make such a big deal about stuff like this." These are obviously the words of a woman who has phone-talking dogs and not young impressionable children.

Anyway, not a fan of that interview.

The highlight of the show was taping of the cooking segment, which was fun to see. I am a fan of Rachael Ray's cooking. I like the energy she has on film, and I like the fun ingredients she uses. Of course, I also like that most of her meals are quick and easy. She may have convinced me to cook with anchovies for the first time.

The show aired last Friday. Yes, you could see us for about 3 seconds. I think our heads were the size of pennies on the screen though:).

A New York Anniversary

We really enjoyed having my parents in town in August for their anniversary. I have already posted about their trip out here, but I found a few more pictures that I wanted to add to the bunch.My parents took us out to Del Frisco's in Midtown. If you live in NYC and you have not been to Del Frisco's- you should. They have a great "theater special" if you order before 6 (I think it is 6) you can order a prix fixe meal that includes salad, steak, potatoes, bread and dessert all for less than $40 per person. A total steal considering what this would run you if you ordered a la carte. It was good food, and fun to hang out with mom and dad.

After our meal we headed out to show Mom and Dad Times Square. Arguably my least favorite part of NYC, but still worth a visit if you have never been to NY like my mom. It was busy as usual, and VERY rainy. Torrential. We ended up purchasing umbrellas at a local pharmacy, and then 2 minutes later the rain stopped. Of course:)
Then we walked Mom and Dad to their Broadway Show. They had tickets for Wicked- a definite must see- which they thoroughly enjoyed.

Hanging out with Grandpa

Owen loved having "Gama and Gama" in town. He especially loved that he was able to get out of his stroller so often and sit on their lap in the subway. They have been gone for more than a week now and he still talks about them almost every day.

Wall Street

My parents came into town two weeks ago to celebrate their 37th year of marriage. We were honored that they would choose our stomping grounds to celebrate here in NYC. One of the highlights of their trip out here (for me at least) was getting to tour the New York Stock Exchange. Previously, my impressions of what this building must look like have only been formed from Bloomberg TV and CNNfn. It was great to get a view of the floor and to get an idea of what a typical trading day looks like.

Here we are, all decked out in our official badges and trading jackets while we wait for the opening bell to ring.

The opening bell was rung by the lead in the Broadway Musical "Legally Blonde." I have not seen it- and do not know who she is- but still managed to be excited. One interesting tidbit: the bell is rung by pressing a button, which then rings the bell. If you look to the right of the girl, you will see a box. Inside the box is the bell. So, in this picture she is pressing the button. After the bell rang we headed down to the trading floor. It was not as chaotic as I had envisioned it to be, but was assured by our guide that this was due to the fact that most transactions are now done electronically, and that the amount of people who actually work on the floor has been decreased from 5000 to about 1500 in the last 8 years. Unfortunately (but understandably) I couldn't take any pictures from the floor.

We also headed over the the charging bull for an anniversary photo op. Another tidbit of info: did you know that this bull statue was installed without permission in front of the NY stock exchange in 1989? The sculptor paid (of his own money) $360,000 to craft this piece. I think NYC must have liked it. It now hangs out a few blocks over near Bowling Green park.

Statue of Liberty

We have lived in NYC for more than a year now, and up until 2 weeks ago we have never ventured out to Liberty Island to see the Statue of Liberty up close. Yes, we have taken the Staten Island Ferry, and the Circle Line Ferry ride- both of which have provided us with some pretty spectacular views of Lady Liberty. But, can you call yourself a true New Yorker if you haven't actually paid your dues in line for most of the day, so you can walk through the base of this monument? I think not.

My parents were in town two weeks ago and we made a day of it. Know, that if you plan on seeing the Statue of Liberty, you have to make a DAY of it. All day. Prepare to be wanded, air-puffed, metal detected and to have all of your belongings x-rayed. Twice.

The kids loved the ferry ride over. We rode on the top level out to the island, and it was absolutely perfect weather to be out and about in a boat.


Any of you who may be on the fence trying to decide if you should bring your toddler to the statue with you or not......
This is Owen, taking out his line-frustration on the nearby gate. With every hour that passed, he became progressively stronger- after 3 hours his strength reached hulk-status. These metal bars were no match for him.
Sooo happy. This is Owen after we pried him off the bars. Had to include this one because it shows his curls. He just had a dad-mandated hair cut last week. Prompted by one too many public "she is a cutie" compliments in Marc's presence. Curls are gone. Sniff.

Hooray!! Line is over, Lady liberty here we come!!


Inside we found the original torch.

And a replica of the face of Lady Liberty.

We rode the glass elevator to the top of the base for some amazing views.

If you don't ever want to forget your own personal trip to Lady Liberty, make sure you bring a 23 month-old-along. That will sear it in your memory forever.