Sixmonths None the Richer

Six months ago I met my son...

 ...And today he is six months old: Happy Half Birthday, Benjamin!

Youth fades; love droops; the leaves of friendship fall; A mother's secret hope outlives them all.

Rice Rice Baby

I am happy to report that Captain Blueberry Pants is now among the food eaters of this world.  He skillfully mastered eating rice cereal and has thus moved on to homemade pears.*  This weekend we are going to try some sweet potatoes.  HE LIKES IT!

So, baby product that I love: the Beaba Multiportion Freezer Tray – basically a glorified ice cube tray – but it allows you to freeze food in the perfect portion and then pop them out when needed.

*Recipe for Homemade Pears (Bake in Oven):  Buy two Bartlett pears and cut them in half.  Remove seeds and put face down in a baking dish with about one inch of water.  Bake for 30 minutes (or until soft) at 400 degrees.  Once out of the oven, remove the skins and blend with a hand mixer until a puree consistency.  I use breast milk to thin, but formula will also do. 

Seriously?

I am thinking of changing the focus of this blog to be “all things mommy, baby, brooklyn and weather!”.  Pictures from my commute from Carroll Gardens to Downtown Manhattan.  *Sigh*

Snow Birds

While it was no Day-After-Christmas-Blizzard, Brooklyn got around 8.5 inches of snow. This time around Our Next President Mayor Mike showed New Yorkers that he means business by leaving no street unplowed, which enabled two snow birds to venture out and enjoy the day.  Hope you did too!

Umbrella You Crazy, Man

Really?   Is it *really* raining that hard that you cant pick up your eyes from the road for one second to avoid impaling me with your umbrella?  Is it *really* snowing that hard you need to bundle yourself in SO MANY LAYERS that they actually prevent you from watching your umbrella bayonet my cornea? I am now blind.

Yes, I get that we live in New York and its cold and it rains and it snows.  But somehow I missed the memo that said it's socially acceptable for New Yorkers to use umbrellas as a medieval torture devices.  I find myself getting frightened when it rains because it brings out the worst in people and they are able to hide their shamefulness behind, umm yes, their umbrellas. 

And, it really blows my mind that it has been raining and snowing since biblical times, yet I am pretty sure we have the same idiotic contraption that Noah used to shield his Arc.  We can clone sheep, pause live TV, impregnate a man, but we can’t come up with a better way of keeping us dry?  This is a universal problem people - I am pretty sure everyone at some point in their lives had to use an umbrella…

...Which is why I am in the market of selling umbrella hats.  Laugh now, but all I need is for Sarah Jessica Parker to wear one of these babies and they'll be selling like hot cakes.  Hands-free, sleek, sexy and there is no chance of me forgetting mine in the back seat of a taxi cab.

Oats and Beans and Barley Grow

Since becoming a momma five and half months ago, I find myself very nostalgic.  Nostalgic for the old songs and movies and books and toys that made my childhood rich.   I am in constant pursuit of my adolescent obsessions, which in turn has inadvertently closed the door on the new songs and movies and books and toys that have been developed since I was a wee thing.   And while I agree it is a parent’s due diligence to guide their fledglings based on their experiences, I do think one must be open minded to what's new for their own growth. If I continue down this path of everything nostalgic, poor Benji will show up to his first day of Kindergarten looking like its 1983.  And we dont want that (ok, maybe I sorta do...)

In any event, this is why I am so grateful for Raffi Radio via Pandora Radio – a sweet collection of everything old and new. I am able to listen to all the old favorites, but am also exposed to new talents such as Elizabeth Mitchell and Laurie Berkner:

Four and Twenty Black Birds Fall from the Sky?

Ok, so strangely enough, on my way home yesterday the Beatles’ Blackbird was the last song I listened to on my ipod, which is odd because… 

…hundreds of blackbirds magically tragically fell from the sky onto an Arkansas highway on New Year’s Eve.  And, according to reports “the birds were likely spooked by fireworks, lightning or some other loud event and then ran into each other and other objects as they fled at night while roosting”.  Ummm, what? Say that again? 

Apparently there have been 16 incidents in the last 30 years where more than 1,000 blackbirds have died all at once. And, to make matters more terrifying, reports are now saying 500 *additional* blackbirds fell RIGHT OUT OF THE SKY in Louisiana.  How can that firework / lightening logic work in this case?  Is Alfred Hitchcock behind this?

I wonder what was so traumatic for them to perform this mass exodus?   Do they know something we do not know yet…. 

Let me be the first to say, RIP red-tailed blackbird. I hope your life was filled with love, purpose and good fortune.

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to be free
Blackbird fly, blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night
Blackbird fly, blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
You were only waiting for this moment to arise

One Person’s Misery is Another Person's Opportunity

Ok, so last week I was enraged mad at Brooklyn.  Like, really mad.  We often get into fights like this, but it's usually over lack of parking or obnoxious drunkards outside Bar Great Harry’s.  But after Sunday night’s blizzard, there was a dirty little rumor circulating that 700 sanitation workers deliberately called out in an effort to stick-it-to-Bloomberg for recent layoffs, which created a *major* debacle in my favorite borough.  Now, I have lived through several other Brooklyn blizzards, a hail storm and a tornado, and yet, nothing compares to the utter craziness of last week.  But one of my New Year resolutions is to drastically limit my complaining (unless I offer constructive solutions to support that complaint) so I end here.


On the brighter side, at least one person benefited from our lack of street plowing and garbage pickup:  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40887628/ns/us_news-life/

The Hundred Acre Woods

“Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”