The Little Girl in Me

The little girl in me loves romantic Jane Austin novels and anything that seemed remotely related to my name, for example Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice and Beth in Little Women. My friend Jessica had this link on her blog and I thought it was a fun little quiz. I could watch Sense and Sensibility every other day I think! It's good to be a hopeless romantic now and then.

Take the Quiz here!

Buy me some peanuts and peas & chicken dinnner!?!

This past Monday our ward went to Shea Stadium for our Stake's annual Baseball Family Home Evening. So our little family boarded the 7 train and headed to Flatbush. We made it to the stadium at the bottom of the first inning and made it to our seats about the top of the third--you see there was some traffic ascending the stadium and we had to stop at base camp while our Sherpa asked for directions and rested the yaks, oh and, it took our lungs an inning to acclimate to the high altitude. I didn't think LaGuardia would let planes fly that close to the stadium but I did see that a particular Delta pilot thought the Mets were number one.

Anyway, I digress, we arrived to our seats, tipped our Sherpa, fed the yaks a hot dog and settled in for the game. I've observed over the last 8 months of parenthood that the first thing that HAS to be done upon reaching any new environment is change Morgan's diaper... for example, Morgan wakes up and I fetch him from his crib--that constitutes a change in environment and Morgan must be changed. I've observed this but it hasn't really affected any change in my behavior. After we got settled Beth asked--just like she always does--"Did you change his diaper." "No," I said. "But i have determined the quickest way to the concession stand from here and no less than three emergency routes to the restrooms. Doesn't that count for something?"--just like I always do. "Besides, don't you have to pee?" I'm pretty sure that Beth is the "Jesse James" of the diaper--quicker on the draw than anyone I've ever even heard of! She can dispense diapers and wipes like Gandhi dispenses pacifist quips. But I think even the Ol' Mahatma would have been impressed with my quick location of the nearest Cracker Jacks.

Another 8-month observation is that "Progress waits for no man... ly activity." Specifically, Morgan's progress and more specifically, anything I may be remotely interested in. The game was just another venue for us to do all the normal stuff we do to Morgan just with smaller, more uncomfortable seats, and less attention from dad. I was concerned with hits and errors on the field and Beth was interested in me hitting Morgan on the head every time something happened and my errors putting on his pajamas--incidentally forcing a head through an arm hole is tougher than getting a force at home plate.

So the game wore on and the Met's season continued to dissolve like a Popsicle in New York's August heat. The only thing that made the game exciting was the boundless energy displayed by Morgan as he "Dadaa, dadaa-ed" the Mets to victory. Around the 5th inning we decided to play pin the Peas & Chicken Dinner on Moran. It's a fun game, quickly becoming my favorite. The goal of the game is to get as much of the non-discript food blend on Morgan's bib without letting too much be ingested for nutritional value. For fun--try cheering for your local sports club, interacting with friendly ward members and balancing a baby on your lap. It didn't take long to finish the bottle and the nourishment was spread out for about three seats in every direction--its a team sport!

About time for the seventh inning stretch Moran was starting to show the same control as the Met's middle reliever so we decided to pull him and head for home. We packed up our little portable, take-your-child everywhere kit and began the long descent to the street--we left the Sherpa and yak's (one of them was singing "Take me out to the ball game")--and made our way to the subway.

When we arrived home--and since then--I have had the chance to reflect. One, it was great to take Morgan to his first sporting event (I hope there are lots more). Two, now that we are parents, we are parents wherever we go--there isn't an off season and just like football, its a contact sport. And finally, three, of all the emergency routes to the bathroom--take the one with the fewest yaks--they take forever.

Traveling Adams

So we are finally back from our many travels and are settleing back into our normal routines here in NYC. We were so excited to see everyone and to visit the wide open spaces of Southern Utah. First we stopped in LA for Cody to do some work for Maidenform, one of his PR clients. He had to set up a swag lounge for an Emmys party in the Hollywood Hills. Very swanky. Here is a picture of the hotel M Booth set us up in on Rodeo Drive. Yep that's right, I felt like a bit of a poser but we had fun window shopping and ordering room service.
















Here is the rental car we had to cruise around in. It may have looked cool but a pain to park in crowded LA but luckily the hotel had valet parking.















We decided to join the ranks of artistic people and take some naked baby shots of Morgan since he has such a cute tushy. We thought the results were pretty priceless.

After LA we flew to Las Vegas to visit Cody's parents in Virgin, Utah, which is right outside Zions National Park. We never made it to the park but we did have a blast relaxing in the pool and letting the grandparents do a little babysitting to so we could celebrate our 3 year anniverssary on Sept. 18th. We can't wait to go back and visit again!

Morgan couldn't quite decide if he liked his Grandpa Adams but by the end of our trip he learned to let Grandpa hold him for a bit. My guess is he wasn't used to glasses and mustaches but I'm sure he'll learn to love them on his Grandpa.

He did however take instantly to Gradma Adams and they became fast friends. She bought him this very appropriate bib, "Eat, Poop, Sleep...Repeat" to wear proudly.

Grandpa Adams got us all tickets to the Dixie Roundup which was Morgan's official first rodeo. He was pretty tired but did manage to see some bareback riding and calf roping. Beth wasn't sure about the whole thing but we all had a great time.

Morgan loved the pool, especially the hot tub and splashed around happily. He did get some rosey cheeks though despite our best efforts.

Our good friends Chamaine, Kurt and Mesha came to visit us in Virgin. We had a lot of fun playing in the pool, putting a puzzle together and eating sweet potato fries at Oscar's Cafe near Zions. Here's a little video of us all playing in the pool.

Cody went on a tour his father does for tourists to Gooseberry Mesa. He came back pretty dusty and windblown but with some beautiful Virgin, Utah scenery shots. Here is a favorite of ours. And people say we're running out of space in this world!

Boy meets Ball and Girl

Here's a little video of Morgan playing with his new favorite toy, a ball Cody brought home from work. I also think Morgan looks super cute in this little outfit. Morgan is really doing great sitting up by himself and grabbing for his toys. His favorite thing in life is to knock over his toy basket and one by one take all of the toys out. After he's done with that he likes to start complaining that he has no toys, so I put them all back and we start over again. It's the little joys in life!

The past few days I've been trying to get out each day and take Morgan to the park. On Thursday our friends Tamara and Tedrah met us and hung out with us for awhile. Tedrah was so cute I couldn't help but take a picture to share with everyone. I look forward to watching these two little cuties grow up together. Morgan has so many little boy friends that it's nice to see some pink around here!

Labor Day BBQ

This is the lawn of the projects across the street from us where Cody and the other cookers went to grill up some meat. The rest of the ladies stayed inside with the two sleeping babies and relaxed in front of the air conditioner while waiting to be fed. We all had a great time and look forward to more BBQs next summer. We are very grateful for good friends, good weather and smokey meat!
Here are the men in all their manly glory surrounding the pit of meat and having deep philosophical discussions like "No this fork works best!"

Unfortunately the neighbors must have really enjoyed the smell because while we all sat inside and ate some friendly person cleaned up our mess for us, including storing the grill at their place. Yep the grill has dissappeared but at least this way it won't take up space in our closet this winter! So later that night we took the bbq box out to the same corner and left it in case they also needed that. We hope they enjoy it as much as we did!

Daddy I told you so...

So the other night Cody, Morgan and I were enjoying a quiet evening at home. I had just fed Morgan a hefty supper of rice cereal, apples & apricots and a vegetable turkey dinner. I ask Cody to take Morgan and entertain him while I cleaned up and got us ready to go for a walk. Cody decides the most fun idea would be to start throwing Morgan in the air above his head and jumping him up and down on his lap. I say, in the sweetest most supportive voice possible, "Honey, I don't think that's the best idea since he just ate." Cody continues. I've been trying to not micromanage Cody and Morgan's time together so I decide to back off and let them be. Cody decides one more flight up in the air... Morgan's stomach had other plans!

In the end I guess no one was truly hurt and since it didn't actually make it into Cody's mouth I supposse he'll still want to play with his son. I must admit I had a hard time controlling the "I told you so" voice over playing in my head but with Morgan's big grin it was just hard not to laugh at poor Cody.

End of Summer in Central Park

Here's a little video of Cody pushing Morgan on the swings in Central Park a few weeks ago. I know the video is not the best but we're just starting out so I swear we'll try harder next time. Morgan loves the swings and being outside in general.

We took Morgan to the Central Park pool next to the Harlem Meer on Saturday afternoon. This is the final weekend it will be open, so we got there just in time. The water was freezing and the staff there are the pool nazis but besides that we had a lot of fun despite having to hide our stroller in the bushes and getting yelled at for trying to take pictures near the pool.

Adams Family in all our glory!

Morgan and Eliot warming up after the frigid pool.

Morgan with his travelling companion.

Ashley trying to get the perfect shot.

We went with our friends Ashley and Brian and their little boy Eliot. After ten minutes both boys were turning purple and shivering uncontrollably so we decided to call it a day. Next summer the boys will be old enough for mother/baby lessons so we're looking forward to that. For Labor Day we're having a BBQ at our place with some friends so we'll post pictures of that later. Have a great day off everyone!