Oh Evie (one big Holla Hump Day to my DH)

I learned a lot about my littlest girl today. Truthfully, I learned a lot in general today...

1) Public offices are small versions of hell.

2) Evie really and truly hates the Ergo now. It's not the Ergo's fault. She also hates the car seat, shopping carts, and the stroller. This would be sort of manageable if it wasn't for that scream...

3) Lila is ready to go to the beach RIGHT NOW. She cried and screamed about the fact that we weren't going today for over an hour.

4) Evie has the potential to be an Olympian.

I made a terribly awful, no good, very bad choice today. I chose to physically go to the vital records office to get certified copies of my girls birth certificates instead of mailing in for them. It's pretty close to my house. I ignorantly thought I would swing by and pick them up. Let's just say that place is my own private hell. I walked around wearing the Ergo without actually wearing the baby. I sweat through my clothes in a matter of seconds. I fed my kids more in one hour than they eat in an entire day. I mouthed off to a "security guard" who then ended up helping me. Epic fail. Oh and the scream. God gave her that scream solely to teach me what it really means to be patient.

After this failure of an event we got in the car with everyone in tears. That's when it became clear that Lila was very confused. It seems she thought we were going from this hell to the beach. We have been talking about the beach for a week. I'm not sure why she thought today was the day. Nothing I said helped. I told her we could make a chart of the "sleeps" we have left until we go. I told her if we went today Daddy, Grammy, and Levi could't go because they are working. I told her we still had to pack or we would be swimming in our sweaty clothes. It didn't matter. She had reached the land of no return after holding it in during vital records hell.

Fast forward to dinner time. I am spent. The kids are finally back to normal. Seth gets home and we are eating. He suggests we go hike Stone Mountain. I love this man. Like, I really love him. It's almost 7pm (bedtime ish), we have been to hell and back, and this is the first time I have felt normal all day. He is the only person that can survey this and suggest something CRAZY like hiking Stone Mountain. He gets away with it because when he does things like that they typically turn out pretty fantastic.

Of we go. He grabs the Ergo and I chuckle. That's right honey. I chuckled. You were so cute with your optimism and good intentions.

Lila is ecstatic. This has seemingly distracted her from needing to be at the beach NOW. Evie quickly shows Seth what she's made of. Within ten minutes she's walking the mountain with us.

No really. Evie hiked half of half of the mountain. I'm not sure how else to describe it.  That may not sound like a lot, but she's 14 months old for God's sake! That same fierceness and intensity she carries with her during tough moments comes out just as much during the good times too. I knew that already, but this was the first time I've seen it in this way. She didn't want me to hold her hand or hold her at all. She got red in the face and sweaty but smiled as people giggled at her when they hiked by her. At some point Seth went ahead with Lila. I almost got the sense that Evie was trying so hard to catch up.

As I watched her determination the rest of the day melted away. It's funny how much of an emotional roller coaster this parenting gig can be.

THANK YOU Seth for dragging us to the mountain ;-)

A hard day...

...in the best way possible.

Last night my cousins Olivia and Audrey came over to spend the night. Olivia is about to be a sophomore in high school and Audrey is in middle school. They came to hang out with my girls while I get some stuff done before we leave for the beach on Saturday (eeeeekkkkk!!!!).

Lila LOVES having visitors. She wants them to play with her and talk to her the entire time they are here. She doesn't ever want them to leave, and she wants me out of the picture.

This has happened in the past where if a babysitter is coming or she is going to Grammy's she wants to make sure I won't be there. I get it. I'm the main disciplinarian and she thinks I will ruin her fun. Point taken. But, typically she still creeps back to my lap pretty quickly if I do stick around. And, more often than not she still wants me there after ten to fifteen minutes.

That was not really the case today.

When she woke up this morning it was like Christmas. Olivia and Audrey were still trying to sleep and Lila was really good about letting them for as long as she could take it. Audrey woke up first and played with the girls until I finished cleaning up breakfast. Olivia then woke up and I pretty much didn't see Lila the rest of the day. When I would ask her for a hug or (gasp) a kiss she would act as though I had just asked her the most embarrassing question ever. Is this for real? Does this really happen at age THREE??? I mean, I know Olivia and Audrey are way cooler than me, but come on. We should have YEARS before she doesn't want mommy to love on her in public right?

Ugh.

There came a point where she got really tired. She was coloring for the eightieth time with Olivia and Olivia said she just started quietly crying. She brought her to me and she sat in my lap for about five minutes. She just sat there. Maybe she knew I needed her to show me some love. Maybe she knew she had gone a little too long without it. Or maybe she was just tired. Regardless, I needed it.

I know what it feels like to worship your mama. I know that intense feeling to the core of my being. And I know that Lila feels it too. But I also know that she feels a strong connection with the other women in her life that love her so much. How lucky are we both that those women (or soon to be women) are here and present in so many ways?

Thank you girls for loving my girls. Thank you Uncle Brant and Aunt Elizabeth for raising such good examples. And thank you for giving me a day to be on top of things for once. Even if it meant realizing that I am not the end all and be all for my first baby every second of every day. It's a scary place to be but a good one.

Oh, and Aunt Elizabeth I am REALLY sorry that I took zero pictures. I'm kicking myself about it as we speak.

Blowin up the Song(s) of the week tab

Check it out!!! Have a great weekend folks.

Holla Hump Day

This week's shout outs go to...

...Lila. She wins the big sister award this week. She's always been really sweet to Evie, but recently she is going out of her way to make Evie feel better if she's upset. I had a dinner disaster (not uncommon) the other night and Evie was READY TO EAT and giving her a snack wasn't helping. Lila sang to her for probably ten to fifteen minutes, and Evie sat mesmerized. Someone once asked me if I would suggest having kids close together (two years or less apart). I now believe the answer is a resounding yes, yes, and yes again.  When they start fighting over baby dolls and then clothes steer me to this post and this day please.

...those five of you who emailed me. I knew there were at least five!

...Pinterest. It provides me with a creative outlet and great, easy to find recipes every day.

...my sister for providing me with a good hard laugh this weekend ;-).

...my Seth...for understanding that someday I will be as good at celebrating his birthday as he is at celebrating mine.

Happy Hump Day!!!

This is a test

If you read this blog on the regular (or as regular as you can since I am somewhat inconsistent) could I trouble you to shoot me an email? You don't have to talk to me about anything. You could even just put "I read it" in the subject line and nothing else. Thanks so much.

janabateman@gmail.com

To show my appreciation for you doing this here are two videos that are sure to make you smile. They may even make you laugh out loud. In fact, if Evie dropping it like it's hot doesn't make you laugh something's wrong with you.

The life and times...

...of a fake vegetarian.

That's right folks. I have a confession to make. I have been pretending to be a vegetarian for two months now. Let me explain.

This has been a slow progression for me. I made the choice to learn a few things about the factory farming industry. With this knowledge came less and less of a desire to eat meat. It just kind of started to gross me out when I would eat it. This is a big deal people. Like a REALLY big deal. Never in my life has it been easy for me to voluntarily turn away any kind of food. That's pretty much how I knew I should probably just give it a go. So give it a go I have.

I also feel the need to discuss another aspect about eating that is and isn't related to the not eating meat. With this progression of fake vegetarianism into my life came more and more of a desire to break the cycle. I grew up Southern. Fried, fried, and fried when it came to many meats and vegetables at times too. Southern food is comfort food. That's just what it is. And by God there is a time and place for all that goodness and comfort. Unfortunately, I inherited the Bateman way of eating. This means there was no form of moderation for me when it came to food. Batemans know how to cook up a storm. In fact, I'm convinced my dad and my uncle missed their calling when they went into the jewelry business. I bet if the Food Network had been even a blip on their radar back when they were looking for a way to make a living they would have been up there with the likes of the Iron Chefs. No lie. I'm not calling anyone out here, but there's no denying that cooking amazing food goes hand in hand with eating it. And eat it we do.

As I started feeling less fond of meat I also got the notion that I needed some big changes. I grew up playing sports, but the notion of exercise just for the healthy sake of exercising wasn't really a part of my life. Back then, the sports made up for that. Then I became an adult and organized sports got shoved out by jobs and then babies.

Being a parent opens your eyes really wide to the example you are every. second. of. every. single. day. I do not strive to be perfect, but I feel like maybe if I start now my kids will grow up loving being active. Don't get me wrong. I want them to love to eat too! But, I want the choices of what they eat to matter much more than they mattered to me growing up.

Enter fake vegetarianism! And the long term goal of doing a sprint triathlon. What's the point of being a vegetarian if you are a fake one you ask? Well, I went the first month only eating meat once. It wasn't hard at all. However, there are situations that make it tough. Or, there are just times when I do feel the urge to eat a piece of steak or have my favorite soup that happens to have chicken in it. I know myself well enough to know that if I go all or nothing I fail. I told myself going into this that if I really wanted meat at some point I would just have it. As long as I keep myself on track as much as possible I'm okay with that. This has been really successful for me. Lila already refuses most proteins unless I sneak them in, and Evie eats EVERYTHING. Seth has been more than supportive while also letting me know he is not a fan of tofu. I appreciate his perspective and his honesty. As far as the triathlon goes I have been talking about doing it for forever now. It's probably about time I just start training already.

There you have it. It's highly possible I will go back to eating meat. Or I may never go back. I'm not roping myself into a commitment. I am making the choice to be much healthier. Between NGD and the fruits and vegetables I need to eat before they go bad I am never at a loss for something to eat! I also have a new love for things like beans, quinoa, and lentils.

Every day something about being a parent makes me a better person. I want to be the kind of example they can be proud of and learn good habits from. Here's to making strides in that direction. Happy Monday ya'll!

I am Evie. Hear me scream!

My beautiful, sweet little Evie is the subject of this post. She's a firecracker that one. If she's not laughing hysterically at you she's waking the neighbors with that scream of hers. Watch out world. She means to be heard.

Let's be honest. I do not have quiet children. I'm ok with this. They express themselves whole heartedly.

Evie's horror movie scream is a little different. It simply is who she is. Her scream, even as a newborn, has made my ear drums hurt at their core. When she really gets going I will admit I sometimes close my eyes. For some reason that helps.

I'd like to think I've gotten used to it. And maybe at home I have. However, recently being in public with Evie and her scream has been interesting.

Situation number 1:
THE LIBRARY
I try to take the girls to the library once a week or once every other week. For a very long time I would take Evie in on my back in the Ergo. She was content with that. Lila would return/pick out books and we would be on our way. If Evie got restless I would hand her a book and she would look at it in the Ergo and be thrilled. Recently, as with everything else, she wants to do more and more of what Lila is doing. When I say she wants to do these things I mean she wants to do them EXACTLY like Lila. When it comes to teeth brushing this is beyond helpful. When it comes to pulling every. single. book. off the shelf not so much. But, this is still manageable and can be really fun. Evie loves books just as much as Lila. She will sit at the little tables and flip through books I bring her as long as I keep them coming.

The interesting part is that Evie's scream has become a happy one too. It hasn't happened often, but when it does I am totally at a loss. Usually when the scream occurs I brace myself to soothe her and hope for the best. She can be very hard to soothe. But when it's a blood curdling happy scream in the library WHAT DO YOU DO? She's one for God's sake. I can't discuss it with her. I don't want to pacify her happiness away. So I just smiled and ignored the stares from the moms trying to read to their kids. Why did she scream? Because they have enormous stuffed animals (tigers, lions, bears, oh my!). I have already shared her love affair with Albie (our abnormally large bear). You can imagine her little mind as she saw there were MORE huge stuffed animals. At first I just laughed and some others did too. But she just kept letting out a scream that I'm sure the adult section of the library could not place to save their lives.

Situation number 2:
THE GROCERY STORE
I made a MASSIVE mommy mistake with Evie. This is a big one. I beg of you. DO NOT LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU. Evie has never enjoyed shopping of any kind. The minute she was even thinking about being mobile she wanted nothing to do with shopping carts. Before most of my groceries were delivered to me I would give Evie a snack while grocery shopping. I would typically go when Lila was at school and it was the only way I could get Evie to cooperate for an entire shopping trip. Now, she expects it every time. This isn't that awful except for when I forget a snack. Still not awful being that we are at the grocery store.

So the other day I gave them both a snack before we went and then forgot to pack one. We got to the store and Evie was about to climb into my purse to find it. I grabbed a thing of puffs and asked Lila to hold it so they could eat some while we shopped. I really only needed five things. I was just having a hard time finding those five things. By the time we got to the check out line Evie was halfway through the container of puffs and I was frantic to get us out of the door and actually get dinner made. Nevermind that she actually ate HALF A CONTAINER OF PUFFS. I hastily took hold of the puffs so I could actually pay for them and you can imagine how that went over. I'm pretty sure every single check out line stopped and stared at us. Evie got so bent out of shape and so loud that I took her out of the cart immediately. This was a gut reaction, but then she got more mad. This is another thing about Evie. When she's mad she does not want you to coddle her. She just wants to be really, really mad. I paid as quickly as I could and bolted!

Seth's mom tells me that he screamed about everything (happy or sad) as a little kid too. I think from here on when one of them gets going in public I'm just going to call him and yell into the phone that he needs to come get his children :-)

Holla Hump Day + an update

This week's shout outs go to...

...my family at the lake last weekend. First and foremost to Laura and her family for hosting us in their lake house. We had the best time! To everyone else, thank you for not making me feel like a chicken with it's head cut off. I know that's how I looked and I appreciate you just going with it.

...the lady at Trader Joe's who tried to help me find some obscure items while both of my girls did everything they could to distract her. Okay, so maybe they were only distracting me. Regardless, she stood strong and got me what I needed.

...my friends for overlooking my inability to interact with adults sometimes. I feel like I stand in a stupor when I'm around adults without my children. It's like I forget how to just talk instead of trying to manage someone while talking. Must work on this!

Update on the Burrow Girls:

Lila
Lila LOVES the movie Tangled. Seth's mom went on the hunt for all possible Disney princess movies for Lila's birthday. Unfortunately, some are very hard to come by. Tangled was really the only princess movie that we have found and Lila can pretty much recite whole sections of the movie. It's especially funny to hear her talk like Mother Gothel. She will randomly say, "you are never leaving this tower! EVER!". Quite dramatic.
She also recently loves when Evie follows her around. Before she just kind of tolerated it. Now I think she has realized that Evie is obsessed with her. She talks to Evie like I talk to Evie. She calls her baby and tells her it's going to be okay if Evie gets upset. LOVE THIS.
Today I officially moved almost all of Lila's clothes to areas within her reach. She has always been very picky about what she wears and has always pretty much picked for herself with my help. For a long time I tried to be a little too controlling of this. Today I decided I need to let go a little. I put outfits that go together in one drawer, shirts/shorts in another, and all of her dresses are still hanging in the closet (for lack of anywhere else to put them). We discussed it and then she chose what to wear. Her choice included shorts with flowers and butterflies and a shirt with butterflies. Completely mismatched but in her mind they matched because of the butterflies. She tells me at least once a day that she loves butterflies. LOVE THIS.
Lastly, I'm so enjoying this age because she is so enthralled with so many things. She doesn't do something for just a few minutes anymore. She really immerses herself in what she's doing and takes her time. I love to eavesdrop on her while she is taking her dolls to the park (or the den). I love to hear what she's saying to Evie when she thinks I'm not listening. I love how she will spend an hour doing one big puzzle and the determination she shows.

Evie
Evie has a lot of new words. Well, chances are she has had some of these words for a little while and I haven't made note of them. So here's the comprehensive list...

Ma eee - Molly (she's says it so similarly to the way Lila used to say it)
go - also directed at Molly or at me when she wants me to push her in the wagon, run after her, or move in general
some/too - Both used to either get food or do the same thing Lila is doing.
toe - She LOVES her feet
shoe - She LOVES shoes. About eighty times a day she brings me shoes to put on her. I say, "sit down" and she plops down with a foot in the air. LOVE THIS. It's especially fun when the shoe is not her's and obviously does not fit. She gets very mad when they don't stay on!
cup - She says this over and over until someone gets her something to drink.
K - This is a new one that means milk. She just says the K part if she wants milk instead of saying cup.
mommy, daddy, ya ya - She yells mommy when she wants to get out of the bed or is mad, she says daddy when he gets home, and she says ya ya all the time because she's obsessed with her.
side - This is for outside which she simply cannot get enough of.
ook - Book. Sometimes she just says the K part again.
ball - She loves to throw a ball and then chase it! I feel bad, but playing fetch with her is so much fun.
poop - She says it so softly and in sort of a sneaky way that makes me laugh.
Hi - She literally says hi to everyone!
tank too - Thank you :-)

Other than words, Evie has all the blessings of being the second child. If it were up to her she would probably start using the potty soon. She "brushes" her teeth and washes her hands with Lila which is too stinking cute. Overall, if Lila's doing it Evie wants to be right there with her.

Evie also loves to be chased. In fact, if I say no to something she is doing she will do it again or run off just so you will come get her to make her stop. She just laughs and laughs as you run after her. This is probably not the best thing because I find it to be beyond adorable so I give in and chase her. She then giggles like crazy and I forget that I was trying to stop her from doing something.

Alright, I'm off to bed! Thanks to those who found yesterday's post humorous. I appreciate that I can provide some comic relief now and then ;-)

Solo road trip round two

A few months ago just the girls and I went to my grandma's house for the weekend. I believe it was the first time I went further than an hour away with both girls by myself since Lila has been potty trained. This was a big deal because it meant going into a public bathroom with both of them so that Lila and I could use the bathroom. To say that I was unprepared for this is an understatement. I'm still slightly traumatized by that trip and the choices I had to make. Let's relive it shall we?

Disclaimer: I often approach parenting with reckless abandon. I blame this on the past year of having a crazy toddler and a cranky baby. If I wanted to do something I had to just throw caution to the wind or I never would have left the house. I have obviously curbed my enthusiasm and become a much better planner/parent over the course of the year. I still try to do everything I want to do without getting too concerned about the technicalities of how crazy things could get. But, I just plan it to death to hopefully come out somewhere in the middle. That trip to grandma's in April is the perfect example of what I'm talking about.

Okay, so I went to Americus, GA in April without Seth. I packed really well. I had snacks, books, activities, etc. and felt confident I had my act together. For some reason, I was more concerned with keeping everyone happy than I was with everyday things like using the bathroom. Lila had just gotten really good at telling me when we were in the car if she had to potty. When she told me she had to go I exited, got out of the car, and then stood there stunned. I almost said out loud to no one, "what do I do with Evie???". Toddlers and public bathrooms are hard work people. I realized I forgot the one key ingredient that royally screwed my situation. My Ergo (baby carrier). I had to figure out how to not let Lila touch anything, not let Evie touch anything, AND get the pee in the toilet at the same time. I'm good, but let's be honest. If I was that kind of a miracle worker I wouldn't be cleaning toilets similar to the one I was just about to navigate.

Anyway, I had to think fast as Lila did the pee pee dance and prematurely lost her mind about the hand dryer because she's deathly afraid of them. This is when having a large mommy purse comes in handy. I spread the purse as wide as it would go on the floor of the handicapped stall, sat Evie on it, and put my foot gently on her lap so she couldn't move. I covered every inch of the toilet with toilet paper and sat Lila on it as Evie went from normal to horror movie scream in two seconds flat. She's so good at that. Honestly, if you're in the business of making movies and you need a baby to stand in scream for your really great actress that is no good at the scary screaming part give me a shout.

Lila finished up, I grabbed Evie and my purse, and we began to exit the stall just in time for someone to restart the hand dryer. Lila might as well have jumped in the toilet because she pretty much touched everything in an effort to get out of the bathroom anyway. I thought about trying to explain how counterproductive that was to my previous efforts but decided to save that little lecture for another time. There was no hand washing.  Instead I bathed everyone in hand sanitizer in the car. Again, counterproductive to some degree. I believe in picking your battles and re-entering the bathroom while the hand dryer was going didn't make the cut.

I got back in the car and vowed never to breathe a word of this debacle. And then I told some ladies at girls dinner a few months ago. And then I went on another solo trip this past weekend back to Americus...

I brought the Ergo this time. And I made my mom follow me. There was a little bit of a split up initially and I successfully navigated a Chick-fil-A bathroom by myself! The weekend was a blast. As I got in the car to head home I was exhausted but glad things had gone smoothly.

As we got going Lila passed out within seconds. Thank God once she's out she's out for a while. Evie was reading away and talking to herself when out of the corner of my eye I saw an ant on my leg. Then I began to see more and more ants around the driver side of the car. Evie does not sleep well in the car, but I knew she would be falling asleep soon. I called mom and asked if we could stop to get gas before Evie fell asleep and check out the bug situation I was in.

When I got out it became clear that this was no small problem. I remembered there were many ant piles in the driveway at the lake house. Apparently my less than clean car had just enough random cheerios to entice them in. We covered the ants we could see with Raid, rolled down the windows, and headed home. Again, within minutes Evie was asleep. In a normal world (not mine) both of my kids asleep on a road trip would be best case scenario. However, as we got going the ants that didn't drown in Raid slowly started to find ways to get away from the it.  Those ways involved crawling ON ME. Driving with ants crawling on you so that your children can sleep after an exhausting weekend is what I like to call "THIS IS HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU". Did I mention there was some crazy hit and run accident on 75 that required sitting in traffic and an eventual rerouting to get home? Good times.

Solo road trip round two made me think of solo road trip round one and how my friends said I should blog about that silly little story. So there you have it. Solo road trip round three will occur when all of my children are at least in elementary school.

Holla Hump Day

This week's shout outs go to...

...my dad for sharing his hotel points last weekend. THANK YOU a zillion times. I can't even begin to express how helpful and amazing it was!

...Seth for being the kind of husband that sends his wife to New York for her birthday knowing she's already planning a trip with her mom and let's her go both times just to keep the birthday one a surprise. AND, he's never been. I can't wait to go with YOU next time and show you everything I love about the big city.

...the ladies in front of me in line at the grocery store today. Thank you for trying to make my screaming child laugh instead of staring at me like I had three heads (like everyone else was doing). God bless you women who have been there and done that.

...Sonja for playing with Lila endlessly in the pool while also watching your own children. Evie seems to think the outer edge of the pool is way better than being in it.

...Lila for making me a better mother every single day.

...those who have fought and continue to fight for our freedom. We are beyond lucky to have the lives that we have.

Happy 4th!

In another life...

...I was a world traveler. Some people find seeing the world to be a necessary part of their lives. Others don't have that itch. I sometimes wish I didn't have it. Traveling is expensive even when you try to do it on a budget.

When I say world traveler that really just means I went on one gigantic trip after college. I've seen a decent amount of the US, but I'm pretty sure I've been more places in Europe. Anyway, out of everywhere I've been there's one city that keeps drawing me back. It helps a great deal that my sister lives there now as well.

I wouldn't say it is a wise choice to visit New York City during a heat wave, but one can't plan such things. No regrets here. I will say I learned a few things this trip:

1) Many New Yorkers simply do not have AC or if they do it's hard to actually call it air conditioning.

2) Taking a hotel shuttle is never a good idea. This is now bad experience number two with hotel shuttles. Noted.

3) If I were a New Yorker I would take every opportunity to run through the little parks with splash pads that are shockingly EVERYWHERE. Who knew the big city was so family friendly?

Let's back up. I went to New York with my mom to visit my sister. My sister actually lives in Brooklyn and our hotel was in Soho. We opted for the shuttle for money reasons only to quickly regret the choice the minute we got going. To make a long story short, it took us three hours to get to the hotel from landing to setting foot in the lobby. This involved no AC in the shuttle, our stop being the last, an accident with a taxi, an unexpected walk the rest of the way, a dropped bag in the middle of the street (where a girl in a Ferrari stopped to tell us we couldn't keep walking on said street or we would be stopped by the cops), and a pretzel man pointing up at our hotel as we almost started crying because we couldn't find it.

It's a good thing the rest of the weekend didn't follow suit.

Anyway, we had the best weekend. Mom and I have both been to NYC multiple times so we opted to forgo the touristy stuff and just enjoy quality time with each other and Sara. We did throw in a few newish things we hadn't seen like the Highline and the World Trade Center Memorial. Here's a rundown in pictures:

The Highline...have you heard of it? It's pretty amazing.  In case you have no idea what I'm talking about:

The High Line was built in the 1930s, as part of a massive public-private infrastructure project called the West Side Improvement. It lifted freight traffic 30 feet in the air, removing dangerous trains from the streets of Manhattan's largest industrial district. No trains have run on the High Line since 1980. Friends of the High Line, a community-based non-profit group, formed in 1999 when the historic structure was under threat of demolition. Friends of the High Line works in partnership with the City of New York to preserve and maintain the structure as an elevated public park. 

After enduring the heat to get to the Highline and walk down it this was in order. I'm a sucker for a good bloody Mary.

I took the WTC Memorial and new building pictures for Seth. He watched the special on the making of the memorial and has a thing for architecture. 

This is really brilliant. If you haven't been I encourage you to go and see it in person. And it was designed by a Georgia Tech student. Needless to say, it seems to be the perfect memorial for such a great loss.

Laying in the grass soaking it all in.

Day two involved Sara's stomping ground. We did the Brooklyn Flea Market. Maybe not the best choice when it's crazy hot outside, but well worth it. 

AND, I found this gem of a toy. It's better than any New York trinket I could have brought back for the girls. Lila played with it for over an hour yesterday. You are probably thinking "it's just blocks". But it's so much more. There are two layers of blocks and they create a puzzle where every piece is used to fit in the wagon. Oh and this is where we tried to escape the heat. 

This helped too...best Mojito I have ever had! 

One of the most enjoyable parts of going to New York for me is to see how people live their day to day lives. I saw in the winter how life changes for everyone and now I have seen the summer. Of course, I'm intrigued by families and how they get around with small children in the hustle and craziness. There really are SO many small playgrounds and parks. You can't really see them in this picture, but it was so much fun to see the kids in this fountain. Oh, and Sara too!

But really, this is why I love New York.

Some summer in the not to distant future I will take Lila and Sara and I will cart her to every little park with a splash pad we can find ;-)