Laura can crawl!

Things have been busy here - but I wanted to post a little video of Laura Jane's latest trick.

Thanks Dad

My dad just sent me this link http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1523419289

I couldn't stop laughing - this is definitely the only time I will get to see Isaac do the macarena in this life.

Family photo in our crowded apartment

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Originally uploaded by diblasic

Kind of rare to have all three of us together! Thanksgiving was fun, and I can't wait to see everyone again now.

The Rom Com

It's true, I really enjoy a good romantic comedy. Mostly though, I enjoy watching them with Isaac. I thank God every day that I have a husband who is able to appreciate the finer points of movies such as Just Like Heaven, Bridget Jones' Diary (only the first one), and of course, the mother of all - Pride and Prejudice.

Unfortunately, there aren't that many good ones made in a given year, and definitely not enough to supply the rate at which we've been watching movies. So as I mentioned, we ended up watching Must Love Dogs, which was pretty much godawful. John Cusack, Diane Lane, what happened? Zero chemistry between the two of them, a somehow terrible script, oh no.

But seriously, I did a search on imdb for movies which are both comedy and romance (because who wants to watch a depressing romantic movie? not me.) and once you weed out the anime, and the sci-fi anime, and the unsatisfying French movies (just can't get into Audrey Tautou) we've seen almost EVERYTHING. It's quite sad. Okay, we didn't see Dr. T and the Women, because Stacy said it was something like a fork to the eye, but just about everything else. Also, I have a question - is imdb like wikipedia because I'm not sure why Team America World police is labeled a romance. Forget i asked.

So anyway, looking at the imdb list, we are down to Agent Cody Banks and Dirty Love and ooh Brown Sugar, which I will totally check out from the library, just for Queen Latifah. But I have a question of my readers (basically my sisters, hi Beth and Katie) - can you think of a movie that we might not have seen yet? I'm thinking about offering a cash reward. When we saw a movie for our anniversary, it cost $24. Not including the babysitter. Movie prices went up while we were living with an infant. We saw Dan in Real Life (which was cute, and we're giving it four out of five stars - I couldn't bear to give it anything less for $24).

Okay, good night, and think of good movies for me!

Isaac ran the New York Marathon!

He totally did.



It was awesome, and Laura and I went out to cheer him on. This entailed us taking the subway for the first time since she left the womb. Thank goodness the train was full of sweet Midwestern out-of-towners who immediately forced me to sit down so I didn't fall with the baby. Then we waited for Isaac to appear, standing next to a group of rowdy Swiss ladies. We arranged to meet up at 110th and 1st ave (hence the subway ride) because it was supposed to be less crowded up there - Laura doesn't like crowds and loud noises... But she did pretty well even with the cowbell and crazy Swiss cheers (they were saying something that sounded like "Hop Suite! Hop Suite! Hop Suite!") Then we walked over to 5th avenue to see Isaac about 4 miles later and a lot more tired. Though he doesn't look any different to me in the pictures!

Not as tired:


More tired:



Too bad i didn't get any action shots of the guy actually running. Next time!

In other marathon news, I didn't see Katie Holmes or Lance Armstrong, but I did see Melissa Summers of Suburban Bliss (a blog-celebrity sighting!) and then right after that I saw Michael J. Fox and his wife. They were kinda easy to spot because of the "Team Fox" hats. Well, she wasn't wearing a hat, but Michael J. was. I never spot celebrities and Isaac always does (he saw Ricky Gervais in the park a couple of weeks ago) but it would help me a lot if they would wear name tags like this...

Okay, I'm wasting precious time when I should be sleeping - I'm starting to get a sleep debt, and I learned how that can make your iq drop like 50 points or something. Now that I'm back at work, my NPR listening has gone up approx 1000%. I should clarify that my sleep debt is really not the baby's fault, it's my own stupid fault for doing stupid things. Like last night Isaac and I watched Must Love Dogs (why oh why Stacy didn't I read your one star Netflix review sooner) until 12:30! Of course I had to be up at 6:30.

I have lots more to say on the topic of romantic comedies, but maybe I will pace myself and just try to blog more this month, since it's one of those Blog More months or whatever.

PS Laura Jane learned how to roll over from her back to her front! Here she is in progress:

Happy Halloween!

We had fun walking up and down 2nd Avenue and seeing all the other kids in their costumes. Things are busy these days with work and baby! Isaac and I had our fourth wedding anniversary yesterday and tonight we are going out for dinner and a movie. We don't know which movie or restaurant yet. Kind of planning impaired these days! Especially since Isaac is running the marathon on Sunday! So we are thinking maybe an Italian place for carbo-loading purposes...

Okay, better get to work...

Two Quick Things

Just a couple of blog notes before our babysitter arrives (yes, we got a babysitter and she's terrific!)

1. I totally knew it, for once: Dumbledore is gay! I didn't see that part coming about him having fallen in love with Grindelwald, but I remember figuring out the gay thing after Book 6. Isaac and I were totally googling "is dumbledore gay?" but couldn't find other people out there to back us up.

2. Also, we watched 28 weeks later last night and I discovered a side benefit to having a baby. Isaac can't pretend to be a scary zombie anymore and scare me in bed. Don't want to wake the baby - excellent zombie protection! Go Laura Jane! Reason 1,324,678 to have a sweet baby.

Speaking of Laura, she's waking up, and I should try to get her to sleep some more...happy baby...

someone figured out how to smile for the camera...

My parents and my brother came up on Saturday for a nice day visit! Laura mostly behaved herself...although she required carrying when we went out for our little walk up to Central Park. At least someone else was there to push the stroller, not like some days when I have to carry her AND push the stroller.

I have taken a lot of nice walks along this route, walking west up to Central Park, and through the park a little going south, and then back home again. Often I go past the Frick, and read their sign...no admittance for children under the age of 10... Boy is this a case of the grass being greener. I've been to the Frick exactly once before, and never experienced any burning desire to go there again. I mean, I really enjoyed it, but it was also great to go during the time that you could pay what you wanted. But now every time I walk past there with the baby, I'm just dying to go in. I fantasize about the guard making an exception for me and my sweet and angelic infant, so well contained in the Baby Bjorn. A chamber music friend of Isaac's crashed at our place last night, and going to the Frick was pretty much the only thing I could think to suggest for him to do. Oh well...I'll either go by myself sometime, or wait ten years.

Okay, time for bed, Laura's been asleep for hours, and hopefully will stay that way when we tiptoe to the bed.

LJ update

Well, things are great here at Chez Laura Jane...the apartment is a mess, and I guess I'm a little bit of a mess, but we are very happy in our messiness.

Some stuff about life with the baby...

1. Laura loves to sleep. Thank you GOD. I can honestly say I have not really felt that crazy sleep deprivation that I was expecting. Yes, there have been some bad nights, but I'm not sure that there were ever two in a row. I'm so lucky.

2. Getting out of the apartment is important for both of us - it's good to get her some daylight to keep her circadian clock set, and it's good for my mental health.

3. The New Yorkers who love babies the most are the grandma-types who I see on street corners and at the supermarket. Every time we are waiting to cross the street, some nice older lady is telling me what a sweet baby I have.

(By the way, what is the appropriate response to such a statement? I sometimes say thank you, and then feel weird, because it's not any accomplishment of mine to have a cute baby. I mean, I suppose she would be less cute if I didn't bathe her, but probably not by much. Most of the time I either say "mmm hmm," laugh nervously, or adjust the baby's clothes or blanket while making some silly baby talk. Let me know if you have any other ideas for what to do...)

4. Pubs are actually very baby friendly restaurants. Also, deserted Asian restaurants during the weekend brunch hour.

5. Drinking alcohol again is awesome!

6. I have gotten obsessed with Tim Gunn since I have more time to watch TV right now. I want him to throw away everything in my closet, and get Carmen Marc Valvo to give me a dress.

7. I have to go back to work soon...

SO, here are some pictures of our sweet girl - she started smiling a long time ago...and she's almost laughing. I keep hearing one little "ha" but she hasn't quite made it to "ha ha" yet.





We went to Maryland at the end of August, and Laura Jane got to meet cousin Lucy. Lucy loves to tickle...





Also, we managed to take a picture of LJ crying with pretty much every member of the family. She really was quite happy on this trip, but you wouldn't know it from the pictures.

One month later....

Well I haven't set some kind of world record for pregnancy - I did indeed have a baby! Laura Jane was born on July 18 at 3:00pm. We brought her home and she's sleeping in the other room right now. What a good girl to give mommy a blog break. What can you say about having a newborn at home that hasn't already been said. It's terrific, it's frustrating, it's wonderful and awesome in all modern and arcane senses of those words....And I almost dare not say this, because it is probably inviting the wrath of our benevolent baby God, but I'm feeling pretty good, and not actually even all that sleep-deprived...please don't smite me baby God!

And now for the pictures....