My babies today

All three of my chickens now sleep in the same roost. That's right, because what the boys' tiny, little, itty, bitty room needed more than anything was another piece of furniture! So Quinn is now sleeping in a crib and the boys in their bunk beds and they love being squished into that room together more than you can even imagine. Luckily the boys aren't bothered by an occasional cry and Quinn's not bothered by an occasional giggle and so heck, so far so good. Who knew 5 people in 480 square feet could be so comfortable!

Things are changing so quickly around here, mostly in the Quinn department. Not only is she sleeping in her own bed in the big kids room, but other than an 11 pm dream feed she is sleeping through the night like a champ. When and how that happened I have no idea, but hallelujah!!! And her personality has done a complete 180. Just two weeks ago I would have described Quinn as, well, sensitive and particular and just a lot a bit hard. But now? She sleeps and smiles and loves to lie on a blanket watching her brothers play superheroes and watching me pop in and out of the room while doing chores. She only cries for a reason and she's finding fewer and fewer reasons to mourn which means her gummy grin is now becoming the norm. Gosh Quinn, you are just so delightful!

Anyway, all these changes have made me itchy to put the brakes on time because even though they're all good changes, I just can't stand to think about all of my chickens getting so big, so fast. Just ask Everett, he's "fwee and a half" and Quinn is going on four months, and my oldest baby is going to be six in like point two seconds. AHHH!!! So today I pulled out the real camera and took some pictures of my babies. It's January 7, 2015, and these are my little loves:

 Ever Knight, with his post-lunch peanut butter chin and cowlicks covering that sweet noggin.

 

 Quinny-Girl, who smiles with a mouthful of tongue and thinks her Mama is the funniest person on the planet.

And Mr. T; I think this kid looks 16 in this picture and he had to tell himself joke after joke in order to give me a normal smile!

Read More

Ice Skating @ Bryant Park

The whole way to Bryant Park Everett was on repeat with his whines, "I don't want to go skating. I'm not going skating. You won't put skates on my feet. I want to go home." It didn't matter how many times I told him that he was more than welcome to sit on the sidelines with Quinn and me, he wanted all of New York City to know that he was NOT happy with any of this skating business. But I bet you can guess what happened, right? The second we shell over the cash for T's skates Ever starts whining, "Why didn't you get me skates? I want skates! Why did you get him skates and not me skates? I want to skate!" Three-year-olds, they sure make life interesting! This little firecracker is so much sass and so much sweet, sometimes in the very same moment. But despite his best efforts, he had a blast skating and can't wait to go back again!

Bless Daddy's heart, he pretty much dragged Ever Knight around the rink because he refused to skate by himself but wanted so badly to skate. You see that picture on the right? That's what the two of them looked like lap after lap after lap. James won a sore back and a gold medal.

Quinny and I were happy to sit on the sidelines, watching our boys and practicing selfies. 

Per usual, Talmage needed not one ounce of help from his parents and was loving the adventure of skating, and falling! He marched around the rink the first few times, but before we knew it he was gliding around the ice...and fast! I told him that we have some talented hockey players in our family tree and this made him oh, so excited. Who knows, T might be our little athlete after all!

Me and my three babies. I love these kids so much! {Poor Quinn getting smashed, life of a 3rd!}

And here is James, AKA Super-Dad, carrying and pushing some very tired boys home from our adventure.

Read More

Burritos, Babysitters and 2015

 

On New Year's Day I walked past Harry's Burritos on 71st and gasped when I saw the big white sign in the window declaring it was going out of business. And when I say gasp, I truly mean a breathy, loud, Talmage started yelling "Mommy, are you all right?" type of gasp.  I couldn't believe my eyes and started looking up and down Columbus, sure I was on the wrong block or I was being filmed for some television "I pranked you so bad" special (clearly paranoid after re-watching the Truman Show). But no, turns out I really was on 71st and all I saw around me were other people equally curious at the vacancy. 

To be honest, Harry's cuisine was mediocre at best, a mouthful of grease disguised as Tex-Mex, but to me it was a symbol of so much more. You see, there was once a 19-year-old Heather who ate an overpriced burrito outside of Harry's on a warm summer night and dreamed about raising a family in New York City, specifically the area right around Harry's. "This is it," my young self thought. "If all my dreams come true, I'll be having my babies and owning city life, all from the Upper West Side." It was a dream that I never really thought would come true. In fact, as my yellow cab headed to JFK at the end of my internship, I watched the city fade into the distance and sobbed, sure I would never see my beloved city again. Gosh, am I still this dramatic? Yes! Because here I am, nearly crying over a restaurant closing! But guys, when I came to look for our new home in NYC I saw 16 places in two days and most of the places were expensive, dirty walk-ups that smelled like pee. No joke. But then I saw a random listing for a little place on 70th street and as I walked by Harry's Burritos and down our tree-lined street I thought, "This is it!" And it was.

I was reading some of Noni's writing a few days ago about how she thinks that the New Year holiday is a good indication of how the rest of your year will be. I tried to brush that off when our babysitter flaked last minute leaving us home on NYE instead of at the fancy party hosted by our dear friends, but when I saw that Harry's Burritos was closing...well let's just say I'm worried!

The ball dropped a little early in the Wiggy abode, thanks to Daylight Savings and Youtube. We made a whole lotta noise as we entered 2015 at, ehem, 7:15 pm! The boys were pleased because they "stayed up so late" and I was pleased that the house was quiet by 7:30. From there it was lots of treats and lots of movies until we actually sealed in the New Year with a kiss, followed closely by a snore!

Read More

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

Talmage participated in a Christmas pageant at the Church of Heavenly Rest on the Upper East Side on Christmas Eve. I proposed the idea to T around Thanksgiving after emailing the church and learning that you didn't have to be a member of their congregation to participate and he immediately wanted to do it. We attended last year and he remembered all of the live animals, the dancers, and the children singing their praises to Jesus! He was cast as a page to one of the wisemen, and he took his role very seriously. They practiced A. LOT. during December so that they would be prepared for the show, and I'm very proud of our little 5-year-old and all of those kids for doing such a great job! There were two performances on Christmas Eve and after the first one T was tired and really wanted to go home, but then we talked and he later told his Dad, "I remembered that there were people in the audience who wanted to feel the Christmas spirit and I had to do my job." I'm so glad that we were part of such a terrific pageant and spent all of Christmas Eve focusing on the true meaning of this season.

Christmas day was extremely low-key. We opened presents, ate good food, and spent the day lounging around the house enjoying new toys and each other.

Christmas cookies and milk for Santa on the left. And on the right, a picture I snuck Christmas morning before the kids woke up!

How cute is this kid in his new Batman costume?

Santa brought her a Sophie giraffe and her smile says it all!

I don't think I've ever seen T laugh harder than when James read him "The Book with No Pictures." Let's be honest, anytime someone says "butt" it's just about the funniest thing ever!

Merry Christmas 2014!!!

Read More

Some City Sights

This post is a little obnoxious, but mostly I want to remember all of the fun things we did and saw this holiday season. And look, James just took Quinn on a walk and my writing time is limited. So I'm going to photo-dump now so maybe I can write something intelligent later. Maybe.

Christmas stars at the Time Warner Building and hot chocolate with my man, Ever Knight.

"He is the Gift" billboard in Times Square for Monday family night.

A Friday night walk around the city to see all of the department stores holiday displays. Our favorite? Macy's. Hands down.

Rockefeller Tree. And 10 trillion other people who wanted to see it!

NYPL Lion and the star at Tiffany's.

By the end of this night I was wearing Jim's gloves, T and Ev's scarves, and Quinn in the pack. Either I look really cold, or like a pack mule.

A morning date with my littlest two to see the angel tree at the MET.

Quite possibly my favorite tree of the season--Ever's artwork from preschool!

The origami tree at the Museum of Natural History.

 The Bryant Park Christmas tree on a Saturday morning.

 A long line of nutcrackers and Mr. T, pretending to be one!

Another view of that pretty Radio City and some HUGE Christmas lights across the street, because why not!

Read More

2014 NYC Santa Crawl

I make it a point to see as many city Santas as possible each holiday season. They all have their own personalities and the stores are all decorated so beautifully and I tell ya, I just can't help myself. Believe it or not, we saw five Santas this year and that wasn't even all of the ones I was hoping to catch. But it was a good group (including my two absolute favorite, never miss men in red!)

1. Gracious Home

This was part of Winter's Eve, a huge block party on the Upper West Side near our home. It was raining cats and dogs, James was held up at work and Quinny was hungry (or otherwise dissatisfied)...but we got our first picture with Santa of the season! And they even printed you pictures and emailed you the picture FOR FREE. Merry Christmas to all, right?

2. ABC Carpet and Home

If you are spending Christmas in NYC, this is a don't-miss man! He is one of my favorites, dressed in fancy St. Nick grab and sat in the most fantastic winter wonderland background. You can take all the personal pictures you want of your kids on his lap and this year he gave each child a toy reindeer, hand-crafted in Germany. Yes, this is the fancy Santa and I just adore him.

3. Church Party Santa

You know, because he was giving out free candy canes. But no way were they going to sit on his lap!

4. Macy's

We usually love Santaland at Macy's, but this year our experience was a little less jolly. Turns out our Santa was having a rough day and definitely didn't take well to Quinn trying to tear off his beard or screaming in his ear. T was unimpressed and Ever was being a goofball, so yeah. But at least we didn't have to wait in line this year because I wised up and got us a fastpass. Is it weird though that I kind of missed waiting in line?

5. The Plaza

This is another one of my city favorites--a definite must-see. We squeezed in a visit on Christmas Eve before running to T's pageant and as always, this holly, jolly, rosy, smiley Santa did not disappoint. I love that he takes so much time talking to each child and making them feel important, plus that NYC background is dreamy.

 See you next year Santa(s)!

Read More