v.2

I am addicted to google reader. If you are not familiar with Google reader, it helps you keep up to date with blogs that you read and you can see if your favorite blog has a new entry. There are several blogs that I read on a regular basis and then a few that I check when I remember or am bored. I finally signed up with Google reader (since I already had an account vs. making a whole other account with bloglines.) and now I find myself checking it constantly throughout the day. It’s just one homepage to go to to see if there are any new posts. It recommended some blogs to me based on the blogs I already had on there and that’s how I found the Belle Epoque blog and her Pay It Forward entry ( I can’t seem to link to the actual entry but it’s August 30th’s entry). I love the idea of it and was thinking of doing something similiar on my blog since I am always making things or see something cool to make but don’t because I don’t really need it. So of course when I saw this entry, I signed up right away! So now it is my turn!

“Pay it Forward” Exchange:
Here are the rules: I agree to send something fun, cute, and nice to the first 3 blog owners who post a comment on this entry. In turn, those three will post this information and pick 3 people they want to send something to and so on. Unfortunately, due to postage costs, I can only pay it forward within the United States. If you are interested in participating, be one of the first 3 blog owners to leave a comment!

You have to promise that you will then post about this on your blog, link to me, and then send something to the first three people who comment on your blog so that this continues. When I have the first three to comment I will email you a request for your shipping address and I will send out something that I hope will make you smile!”

So there it is! She included the blog link of where she discovered it and I inadvertantly commented on that blog and made it under the 3 and received something from Ali too! I got beautiful earrings from Ali and a cool wrist pin cushion from Nancy (of Belle Epoque). SO for me, instead of the first 3 bloggers, I will take the first 6 bloggers and send them something cool! I decided to make it Fall related as I made this set of Fall coasters for a swap on swap-bot but since my partner dislikes the color orange (!) and brown, I made a different set for her (which I’ll post about another time) And since it’s close to Halloween, I crocheted a skull ornament and a buttonhole spider. I have a few more things in the works but these are what I can show right now! So comment and you can get one of these!!

The eyes glow in the dark and you can actually attach this guy to one of your buttons.

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I am sick. blah. I felt something coming on Sunday and 2 reasons I seriously wanted to nip it in the bud! 1. I didn’t want Sienna to get sick 2. Davíd‘s last Monday night Living Room show was the next night! So I took a nyquil and actually didn’t feel bad on Monday. Then Sienna sneezed. And sneezed some more. And her nose was running. Groan. She’s sick! So I gave her tylenol before her nap. Her nose was still stuffy and runny when I was leaving and it was so hard to leave her. She kept calling for me. But I knew she was going to be ok with yves. So off to see Davíd! I got there a little before 8 and I’m glad I did! He started early! So I got about a full hour of him! I really enjoyed the show (the place was packed!) but honestly, I liked last week’s set better as they were mostly his songs. This time he played a lot of covers (Dreaming by Blondie and Burning Down the House by TH) and they were great but I really wanted to hear his stuff. Well, he promised to be back again. I did bring my camera but since I was sitting near the back, I knew it would be a waste to take any photos especially after he told them to dim the lights. I know other people took photos and did a google search but only found one here. I was sitting right behind this person! While searching with google, I found this cool blog post about davíd that gives some background in case you are interested here.

After the show I headed over to meet Nuno, Brenda, Alison and Josh for the delayed September mixer at Stanton Public. It was good to have Josh back! He shaved his beard! And it was a nice time and Brenda baked brownies (not from a mix!).

Anyway, I am feeling a bit better today and the worst of it was yesterday where I kept sneezing and blowing my nose. The doctor gave me some antibiotics for my throat so I don’t pass it on to Sienna. Of course, she is all better now. She seems to get over sickness pretty quickly. Thank goodness! Now I just wish someone can take care of me all day! Now I have to wait to pick up my parents from the airport after 11 (a 2 hour delay!) Groan!

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Saturday we checked out the newly opened Brooklyn Children’s Museum in Crown Heights. Last weekend was the grand opening and they were still having a special where families arriving before 11 get in for free. No problem there! Not that I wouldn’t mind paying but the time works well for us and we were there waiting to get in at 10 am when the doors open. Such a very cool place! There’s a section called Totally Tots (for the under 5 crowd) and there was a slide, an art area, water area, sand, ‘theatre’, book nook, dolls and a noise making area. So cool!! It got quite crowded in there by 11 with mostly parents hovering over their kids. It got to be a little much for Sienna so we went to check out the other areas. They had a mini Brooklyn neighborhood with a bus and a bunch of stores (grocery, chinese store, caribbean store and L&B Spumoni gardens where you can make your own ‘pizza’). There was a bunch of different nature areas and we also checked out the cafe (not much of an eatery.) Membership is really cheap too but the times don’t work out for us. They close Mondays and Tuesdays, open from 1-6 the rest of the week and only Saturday and Sunday are they open 10-6. I’m hoping since it’s because they just re-opened that they just have short hours. Hopefully they will add more hours as they work out the kinks because this is a perfect place to take Sienna during the winter on a weekday!

Playing with the blue sand with daddy.

Playing with the sand next to other kids

Of course the slide is one of the first things she goes to!

Imitating the python?

Pointing out the parakeet

She’s always on the move!

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Davíd at Mercury Lounge August 2004

It’s funny how things happen! An old friend, René, started a new venture out in Los Angeles called Gourmet on Wheels. He kindly put me on the top of his links page and I reciprocated by putting him in my blog links and my website links. While doing so I decided to update the links, get rid of some and make sure the ones there are working. So when I clicked on Davíd‘s link, I was surprised and delighted to find that he’s doing a Monday night stint in September at the Living Room! (I was also perturbed that I only found out this way!) I finally made it over there last night after a free seminar at Noble Desktop. I’m so glad I went! Now I only wish I went the first 2 Mondays as well! It felt so good to see one of my favorite singers in an intimate setting like the Living Room. Felt just like old times! He played lots of old songs like Core, Isis And Osiris, Why Spy?, Soul Custody and a few others. He started at 8:20 because the band before him started late. Unfortunately, he only could play until 9 so I was bummed. Next Monday is his last show there and he promises it will be crazy. I’ll be there for sure!!

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We finally headed over to Brooklyn Bridge Park so I can check out the waterfalls art exhibit. There has been some controversy surrounding it. It seems the salt water splashing up from the ocean is killing all the greenery and turning it brown. I still wanted to check it out before they shut it down. What can I say, I have a thing for waterfalls. Well, it wasn’t on! I was a little bummed as I just wanted to see it even though Yves thinks it’s a farce. Oh well. We headed over to the playground! We don’t come down this way too often as it is a little bit of a trek but I do love this area. The Brooklyn Bridge is my favorite bridge so any shot with it in the background, I love! Like this one!

And to be fair, here’s a shot with the Manhattan Bridge in the background. I think Sienna liked the sounds of the train as she kept looking up and pointing to it whenever the trains came by and saying some semblance of the word ‘train’.

We decided to go to Bubby’s for lunch. The good thing about having lunch at around 11ish, there isn’t a wait! By the time we came out, there was a little bit of a wait for a table. I give it a A+ for the super kid friendly atmosphere (they even gave Sienna water in a plastic cup with a lid and a straw! This was given with our water for the table!) and the fact that the men’s room also had a diaper changing station! And they get another A+ for great food! I got a turkey blt and Yves got a grilled ham and cheese. My turkey blt was awesome! Yves’ was good but a little bit on the salty side (from the mustard and the pickles, not from the ham!) But the fries were fabulous! Needs no ketchup fabulous! And for Sienna we got a side of french toast and apple cider. She ate more than I thought she would!

I also want to document something that happened last Friday, the 12th.  Something I call the ‘poop incident.’  Normally Yves does the bathing duties during the week but he was working late that night (as well as Wednesday and on Saturday!) So I’m bathing Sienna, everything is going as it usually does when I smell a foul odor. Sienna farts. No biggie, not the first time. I joked with her that I didn’t see any bubbles! Then next thing I know, I hear a plop. Then another plop and Sienna is standing there looking back toward her butt. She’s taking a poop in the bath!! I was so dumbfounded I just did not know what to do! This has never happened before nor have I even read about something like this in all the motherhood stuff that I read! I was frozen in shock. I didn’t know whether to laugh or freak out (I did both!) I went with my first instinct and got some toilet tissue and scooped it up. Yes, I know, not a very smart move as the tissue fell apart once it hit the water. Oh well. I just proceeded to pick it all up with the tissue anyway and threw it in the toilet. Thankfully it wasn’t a mushy poop! I drained all the water out and basically re-bathed her. What a memory!

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Last Sunday, the 7th, we went to Coney Island. Not because it was Astroland’s official last day forever but because that was where the electronics recycling was being held. We had an old pc and a couple of printers to get rid of. We decided to take a walk along the boardwalk anyway since it was so nice out and I remembered today being the demise of Astroland. (Now there are talks about the city keeping it open, I’m not sure!) There was a few news crews there but we were gone before the crowd came and Astroland opened for the day.

I tried to get a group shot of us with the Cyclone in the back but she was getting cranky by that time. She’s still adjusting to the midday nap. This is the best one I got.

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I realize that I don’t post much about the animals and since Sienna was born, less attention has been paid to them. Well,, Neo doesn’t care. He wants to be left alone but now that Skippy has been living with him for about 3 years, he’s not so scared of Neo and sometimes even tries to be playful with him. Much to Neo’s chagrin. Anyway, here are some recent pictures of them. I try to get a nice group shot of Sienna with them but it doesn’t seem to work so well. I’ll keep trying!

Neo on my craft table (Yves was probably vacuuming) sitting next to one of Sienna’s favorite animals, Gorilla.

Sienna and Neo

The closest thing to a group shot!

Sienna helping me bath Skippy

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I don’t want to forgot about writing about the lunch me and Sienna had with Joy a few Fridays ago (the 22nd actually). After me and Sienna were at the playground, we met Joy at Lioni’s Italian Heroes. She has heard that their sandwiches were awesome and had told me about the place at the beginning of summer.

Their menu of sandwiches is four pages long!! They are all named after Italians and Italian Americans. I finally decided on #65 the Danny Aiello (grilled chicken, broccoli rabe, fresh mozzarella, olive oil, salt & pepper) and Joy got #122 the Frank Capra (prosciutto di Parma, fresh ricotta, fresh mozzarella and sauteed peppers.) The heroes were huge and I only ate half of it. The condiment whore in me would have liked more olive oil or some mayonnaise (I put some mayo on when I ate the other half of the sandwich the next day-YUM!) It was pretty good! The broccoli rabe was nice and garlicy and the mozz was amazing! Sienna’s favorite part was the bread (of course) but she also liked the cheese.

Danny Aiello

Frank Capra

I also don’t want to forget about writing about the old man we encountered that day. When I told Joy and Pete this story at Five Guys, there was constant teasing and joking about it for the rest of the evening (and I’m sure in the future as well!)

Me and Sienna were walking Joy to the nail salon that I had told her about. On the way over, there was this old Italian man waving to us from his balcony on the 2nd floor.  How cute. The neighborhood old Italian guy. At the time, Joy was holding Sienna and was showing her how to throw kisses to the old man. Actually, she was making her throw kisses to the old man. Harmless fun. After leaving Joy at the nail salon, me and Sienna walked down the same block. This time the old man was on the street and stopped and said hello. He had a really thick Italian accent, he was very tan and was wearing a wife-beater. At first I couldn’t understand what he was asking but figured out that he was asking if my husband works and if I work. I told him, yes, he does and that I stay home and watch the baby. He asked if I lived around there. I said no, Sheepshead Bay. Bay Ridge? he says. Yeah, yeah I say. I didn’t feel like correcting him. Then he asked if he could have my phone number!!! HA! I didn’t expect that! Of course I said No and he was like Ok and put his hands on my face as he went in to give me a kiss on the cheek. I didn’t mind that, a harmless old man, I’d let him kiss me on the cheek. But then as he was sliding his hand away, it started going across my chest and seemed to be getting a little too low. So I lifted my hand to guide his hand up and away from my chest area! Unbelievable!! I can’t believe I got hit on by an old man AND he tried to cop a feel! Joy couldn’t believe that I didn’t call her right away to tell her this story. I told her it was all her fault as the guy probably got us confused since she was holding Sienna and making her blow kisses to him! HA!

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So, ever since vacation at the shore, we’ve been trying to figure out Sienna’s nap schedule. For the past 2 weeks, I’ve been trying to do away with her morning nap. I’ve been trying all these different times for the afternoon nap and this week have decided to try to get her down by 12:45 with limited success.  Actually on Monday, she was the one that wanted to go down at 12:45 by being a super cranky miss but at least she slept a good 2.5 hours. I tried to follow suit the rest of the week. We would do our errands or go to the park in the morning, get home and have a bottle and lunch and then I would put her down.  Most times she would fall asleep on the way back home, anyway between 11:15 and noon. Once she wakes up from this, she seems full of energy again as if 15 minutes was all she needed. I was thinking of pushing up her nap to between 11 and 11:30 (another mom also suggested this) but I don’t know if that schedule would work for us. Would I give her lunch before? Or lunch after? Sigh…I was wondering if I was overthinking this so today decided to go with the flow. She seemed tired this morning so I put her down a little before 9. I had a doctor’s appt. at 9:30 so when I left, I told my parents if she’s still awake by 9:40, take her out and go to the park or something. (The last few times I relented and put her down for a morning nap, she didn’t want to take an afternoon nap-I know that makes it 1 nap a day but I rather her sleep in the afternoon!) Well it turns out she did not stay down this morning. When I came back, we had lunch and so far, she is quiet in her room and I’m assuming she is sleeping at 1pm. Cross fingers!

On another note, here is a cute video I took of Sienna eating a nectarine. She’s really digging in! (I usually cut up the fruit into bite sized pieces for her)

Eating a nectarine from Lisa on Vimeo.

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Saturday we took Sienna to the New York Aquarium. This was her first visit so we weren’t sure what her reaction would be. We were hoping she would get excited and amazed seeing all the fish and underwater life. She was more like ‘yeah, that’s cool. What’s next?’ or ‘I wanna run around!’ I guess she won’t be a marine biologist! HA! But she is still young. I can’t remember the last time I was there or if I ever even went there but it was relatively small. I actually got excited by the fish and seals and walrus sightings. I could have stayed a little longer than the hour and 20 minutes but I’m sure we’ll go back once Sienna is a little older. We wanted to get tacos for lunch but the taco stand I had in mind didn’t open for another 30 minutes when we got there. Sienna had fallen asleep so we didn’t really want to wait around. Instead we headed over to Golden Krust bakery for patties. She woke up when we got on the subway and tried hard dough bread for the first time. I’m not surprised that she liked it!

Sienna touching a big hermit crab!

We got Sienna a super soft stuffed turtle

Asleep at Golden Krust!

Enjoying Hard Dough bread

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