This year, Halloween fell on a Monday. After school, Gigi came home and put on her Bluey costume — I put on my Chili/Mum shirt; Dave’s Bandit/Dad costume STILL hadn’t arrived — and we went trick or treating in the neighborhood. We stopped by the local storefronts and restaurants, and met Gigi’s friend, Edie, who, coincidentally, had also chosen to dress as Bluey this year! After, we went back to our building where the girls went floor by floor trick or treating.
This year, Halloween and the parade fell on separate days, so there was less rushing and more enjoying. It was a gorgeous, gorgeous day — hot in the sun! — and we joined Gigi’s friend, Edie, and her dad, and stepped into the parade behind the recently rebranded Queer Big Apple Corps Marching Band. We walked the parade route from my office at North Moore and Greenwich to Washington Market Park, bumping into neighbors and friends the whole way.
In the park, the kids grabbed a treat and we all gathered around the band to enjoy the performance. They played one of Gigi’s current favorites, Levitating!
After, we continued our second annual post-parade tradition of having an early dinner at The Odeon. Gigi drew Bluey!
I turned 41 today! Gigi and Dave went so far out of their way to make my day special. They decorated the apartment, got and made me special gifts, and took me to some fun places!
Dave had a work event so, after Gigi finished school, she surprised me with a trip to Billy’s Bakery. Dave had given her money and she handled the entire transaction on her own. She got a banana cupcake with cream cheese frosting and I had a piece of carrot cake. After a few minutes, Gigi decided she needed some water, and went back inside to handle that all by herself, too. Such a big girl!
After our treats, Gigi and I went to Eberjey to pick out some cozy pajamas for my birthday. While there, Gigi told the clerk it was my birthday, and she gave us 20% off our entire purchase! Even better, Dave met us there, so when it came time to pay, he picked up the bill 🙂
Then, ok we went to Soho House for dinner and it couldn’t have felt more special. I had a really yummy butternut squash soup and a few bites of salad because there wasn’t much room left following my pre-dinner carrot cake! When we got home, we opened birthday gifts and blew out candles on my birthday cake, but didn’t eat the cake because Gigi wasn’t feeling well… (we later learned she had strep throat and our baby girl got to take her first antibiotics, ever! Thankfully, she was feeling much better after just two days.)
I hope Dave uploads some pics. It was a really great day and I feel like I did a terrible job capturing it!
Gigi is just loving her new ballet school! She’s learning so much and is enjoying her rehearsals for The Nutcracker. This week, her ballet teacher invited students to come to class dressed up for Halloween. Gigi, naturally and appropriately, went with Clara/Marie from The Nutcracker. I made this costume for her when she was TWO years old! I cannot believe it still fits and she is still so excited to wear it. She often dresses up in the “nightingown” at home. I should probably get her a new one!
She took twelve selfies just like this at 730am today. Such a sweet, happy little girl. I was thrilled to see my surprise when I opened my phone and noticed what she’d left behind.
We’re making as many memories as we can before our mother-daughter duo becomes a trio. On Friday after school, we stopped by Target to get Halloween-themed arts and crafts supplies and sundae ingredients. When we got there, there was a line around the block, with twenty-something women waiting to meet Taylor Swift (??? — only in Tribeca). We walked right in, got our things, and got a super quick glance at Taylor before heading home.
At home, we made pizzas and watched Sing 2 (Gigi’s idea — she was so excited to watch it!). She was super proud of her pizza and asked me to take a pic before cutting it.
We saved Halloween sundaes for Saturday night.
We’re getting close to go time, so Dave, Gigi, and I have been busy checking things off our “to-do” list. For me, one of those things was to put sonogram pics on the blog. (I wish I had done this with Gigi — sorry G!)
April 20 – I am 10 weeks, 3 days pregnant: she’s about 1.25 inches or roughly the size of a prune.
May 4 – I am 12 weeks, 3 days pregnant: she’s as big as a lime (about two inches)!
June 30 – I am 20 weeks, 4 days pregnant: she’s the size of a sweet potato (6.5 inches, 10 ounces).
September 22 – I am 32 weeks, 4 days pregnant: she’s as big as a bunch of celery (16-17 inches, 3.5-4 pounds). That’s the average, anyway. This month’s scan appointment indicated she’s in the 70th percentile!
I think we’re all set with sonogram photos! The next ones will be taken from the outside! We can’t wait!
I got to join Gigi and her class for a field trip to Brooklyn Grange! Her class is learning all about rural and urban farms, and today we got to experience one of the urban variety. We saw plants, worms, compost, and even a chicken coop — all on a city rooftop! One of the chickens was named Georgia… the kids loved it! But the true highlight of the experience was the bus ride. Almost none of the children had ever been on a school bus before. I contributed to expanding their cultural horizons by sharing my childhood experience of referring to a school bus as a “cheese wagon.” I’m sure their parents are appreciative.
It always feels like a burden getting out the door (for Gigi and me both) but we always have so much fun once we get there.
It always feels like a burden getting out the door (for Gigi and me both) but we always have so much fun once we get there.
We had a blast at Gigi’s fall festival at school! She made arts and crafts, got custom ink, got a balloon kitty, and made some sand art.
She struck this pose while waiting on the elevator for ballet class. Just before that, she told me she just buttoned the top button on her cardigan because she “wanted to look like a real ballerina.” When I reminded her that she was a real ballerina, she beamed… and then nodded in agreement. So proud of our talented little dancer. She loves it so much!
Dave, Gigi, and I are so excited for the fall season — pumpkins, apples, Halloween, sweater weather, football, hot drinks, fall foliage, and, most importantly, a new family member on the way! So, we decided to make a day of it and celebrate. We went to Harvest Moon Farm and Orchard in Croton Hills, just over an hour outside of the city. The morning of, Dave was sick with a cold, but he soldiered through and joined us. Selfishly, Georgia Grace and I were so glad he did. It was a memorable, joyful day that I have a feeling we will never forget.
We pulled into the parking lot, just a handful of meters from an apple canon, in which folks were lined up paying $10 to launch ten apples into the air towards a target about a football field away. We didn’t participate, but it was certainly a sign for things to come. As the saying goes, anything that starts with an apple canon is going to be fun… today was no exception.
We walked along the path and made our way up to the orchard. To kick off the fun, we enjoyed a family hayride which Gigi LOVED! She babbled and squealed the entire ride, and was just mesmerized by the view.
After the hayride, we set out to fill our bags with apples. We walked the rows and rows of apple orchards, sampling and picking apples (my love of golden delicious apples was rekindled — it had been a while!), with Gigi in constant search of “The Perfect Apple.”
With some encouragement, Gigi climbed a few trees. Her daddy was kind to show her the ropes!
After we’d gotten our fill of apples, we paused to take some family pictures and G and I went to the highest point of the orchard to take in the view and see the sunflower patch. Dave rested.
Then, it was time to party! Gigi had her first port-o-potty experience (I’ve definitely seen worse), and we went to enjoy lunch and live music. We grabbed a seat at a picnic table in front of the band, which was playing mostly bluegrass music, with a bunch of fun country covers mixed in.
G had a cheese pizza and Dave and I had pulled pork sandwiches. For dessert, Gigi had vanilla ice cream, and Dave and I had hot apple cider. I also enjoyed a piping hot apple cider donut, and, several hours later, I am still in complete disbelief that neither Dave nor Gigi wanted one. It was a-mazing!
After dessert, we danced our faces off! I’m so proud of my girl and her love of dance… when the music hits her, she will move her body however she wants, and doesn’t give one thought to the people around her (and today, there were a lot!).
The last item on the agenda was to pick the perfect pumpkin. I’m always so struck by how decisive our girl is — when she sees what she wants: a pumpkin, a treat, a toy, etc., she knows it. She got her pumpkin, and we were on our way.
On the drive home, both Dave and G fell asleep, and I finished my hot apple cider and enjoyed the pretty ride back to the city. (I also nearly ran out of gas and was 34 minutes late returning the car, but all’s well that ends well, right?).
Gigi has been begging to bake Halloween cookies since early September. Today was the day! She had so much fun eating the dough and licking the spoon (both of those usually a no-no since, when we bake cakes, they have raw eggs — mean mama!). I had a blast watching her.
By the end, there was chocolate EVERYWHERE! She went straight into the bath!
Gigi and I woke up early on Saturday excited for the day and unable to sleep. So we got ready and went out for a little coffee and pastry breakfast while daddy slept.
Gigi Makes Three 