I was waiting for the R train at the Canal Street station last week on the way to go visit my friend in Soho.  Theo was with me (of course… my sidekick) and I was holding him on me in the carrier.  I leaned forward to peek if the train was coming and… ‘oh shit’… my iPhone, literally jumped out of my pocket into the tracks below.  Now this was a major bummer for several reasons.   First of all, it’s my iPhone and it’s expensive and I really didn’t want to have to replace it.  I just got this one a little over a year ago when I dropped my old phone in the toilet accidentally.  Oops.  Second of all, I was on my way to my friend’s apartment and of course all the important information – like her address and her cell phone number – was stored exclusively in my phone, now laying sadly out of reach.  An older Chinese woman saw it happen.  She didn’t speak English but we had a conversation with our eyes and I could feel her empathy.  Another gentleman saw it happen too.  He offered to go up to the street level to get some sticks to try to retrieve it.  Kind of him – yes, but sticks? I couldn’t see that working.  So I took a deep breath and accepted the situation.  I’d go talk to the MTA worker on duty – though they’re never very helpful – and worse case scenario, I’d have to suck it up and get a replacement phone.  Arg.

Then a young guy came over and saw me looking down at the tracks.  ”Is that  your phone?”, he asked?  ”Yup.  Bummer right?”, I lamented.  And then this angel art student at FIT offered to jump down into the tracks and get it for me.

“NO WAY!!”  I had just read the sign on the subway wall the other day that said that 53 people died this year alone from getting hit by trains in the tracks.  My phone was not important enough for this young promising art student to risk his life saving it.  But he assured me he’d done this tons of times and we could both see the train was nowhere near coming.  So fine!!  I accepted.  And he jumped right down, grabbed my phone and hoisted himself right back up again.  And that was that.  I gushed – and talked to him about karma and how this was such a good deed and I hoped something good would happen for him in return.  I also told him I’d link to his art tumblr page in my blog.  His name is Adam Tarakhan.

Here’s some of his work:

“Kahn-quor”

Spring 2012: A relief painting that incorporates wax, junk metal, old radio part, bike gears, ceramic tiles and oil paint – by Adam Tarakhan

Untitled

Oil Painting on Wood – 2012 by Adam Tarakhan

“Exceptional”

3ft x 4ft Oil paint 2012 by Adam Tarakhan

Pretty dark stuff for such a nice guy!  But meanwhile, if anyone out there wants to make some artist’s dreams come true – feel free to do something nice for this guy.  The universe owes him a favor.

Wow right?  It simultaneously feels both like yesterday and forever ago that he joined us (very punctually) on his due date – Saturday, March 17th, 2012 at 1:15 am.  What a trip the last year has been.

I do feel as though my world has been turned upside down – in both amazing and frustrating ways.  In many ways, I don’t feel like the same person I was.  I long for some parts of myself that seem to have gone missing, or are just temporarily buried under a pile of poopy diapers.  I long for my free-time, for lazy weekend days cuddling with Adam until noon, for solitary afternoons spent wandering around New York with my camera, for spontaneity, for matinees, for reading The Week and New York Magazine cover to cover each week, for endless hours spent editing photos in Lightroom, for nights out eating, drinking and being merry without the next morning’s 5:30am wakeup looming over me.

I started to come up with a list of things I’ve learned during the past year as a new parent – #1 being:

Parenting is hard!  

Then my friend Yvonne (check out her awesome new blog) sent me this article last night and I think it sums it all up quite nicely.  I laughed out loud reading it:

How To Be a Perfect Parent in 5 Easy Steps… Or Probably Never by Una Lamarche of The Sassy Curmudgeon

Well said Miss Curmudgeon!

I’d add to that that I’ve learned:

To let myself off the hook: for lots of things… for everything.  For responding to emails a week later, for wearing the same three pairs of maternity leggings everyday for a year and a half straight, for sleeping in said maternity leggings and then wearing them again the next day, for forgetting peoples’ birthdays, for showering a lot less, for leaving the house without brushing my hair, for taking months to send out thank you notes, for knowing literally NOTHING about current events, for making Theo oatmeal and peas for dinner because it’s the only thing I had in the house that was makeable in the five minutes before meltdown occurs… you get the picture.

also…

That my family is by far the most important thing to me in the entire world – no question.  Nothing else matters as much.  That’s a good thing to be clear on.  It takes the pressure off regarding other areas of my life I feel foggy about (career confusion anyone?)  - Whatevs… I’ll deal with that later.  I’ve got this family thing down AOK.  Goal achieved.  I win.

In my last post I talked a bit about how boring and repetitive the day-to-day of motherhood can be…

But then there’s Theo (the reward!).  And oh my god I love him so freaking much.  And now I just want to do everything in the world for him.

Adam put a little video together of Theo’s first year… as you can see, despite all the lack of sleep, confusion, stress, pain, fear and feelings of total failure at times, this year has been oh so sweet.

I can now see how fast it’s all going to go.

Happy birthday my little man!

I mean – don’t get me wrong, I love staying home with Theo.  I feel grateful to be able to do it.  I am getting to know him so well – what makes him laugh, what makes him cranky, signs that he’s tired, hungry, excited, curious, bored or about to poop.  I get to witness everything. We’re building a strong bond – the two of us.  And I wouldn’t trade that for anything.  But truth be told… sometimes I’m bored as hell.

We have a room full of toys – but we play with them every day!  There are the nesting cardboard boxes, the nesting cups, the ball activity table (love this toy), the puzzles, the shape sorters, the car, train, truck, school bus (love this toy).  At least once a day we pull all the stuffed animals off the chair and put them back on and then pull them off again.  We play with the sock monkey jack-in-the-box for a good five minutes.  We look out the window, we read two crates full of books – our favorites a few times in a row.  We sing songs.  We play peekaboo.  I throw him (gently – don’t worry) on the bed and tickle him and roll him around a bit and he giggles like crazy.  We go up the stairs and down the stairs, and up the stairs and down the stairs.

We throw books off the bookshelf.  We put an assortment of things on our heads.  We go through all the farm animal sounds.  We play with the lights… “Lights ON!  Lights OFF!  Lights ON!  Lights OFF!”  We practice waving, clapping, patting, snapping, drumming, blowing kisses.  We sing lullabies and he take naps (if I’m lucky).  We eat lunch, a snack and dinner (daddy does breakfast while I snooze).  We wash up. We do bath time.  Then it’s time for bed.  Theo goes to sleep and I scurry around re-nesting the boxes and the cups, placing the stuffed animals back on the chair, returning the books to the bookshelf and putting everything else back in it’s place.   Then the next day we do it all over again.  Like I said… Groundhog day.

I mean – most weeks I try to keep myself busy with other plans as well.  I have playdates with friends and take him on walks – to the market, to Target, to different sections of Brooklyn.  We go to the playground when it’s not super freezing.  This is newly fun because he’s actually able to explore the jungle gym now (with me following right behind him of course).

Occasionally we visit daddy at work in Manhattan.  We actually eat lunch out quite often in Brooklyn (my favorite activity – obviously).  And last week I took him to the Brooklyn Children’s Museum – which was a fun change of pace.

But there are some days when I have no plans, I communicate with no other adults all day and I am just bored out of my head… and kind of grumpy.  And I’ll put the TV on while I’m nursing Theo and when he’s done, I’ll turn the TV towards the shag rug where we play and I’ll watch Love it or List it or The Millionaire Matchmaker or Everyday Italian with Giada while I half-heartedly play our usual games.  And then I feel guilty.  Am I negatively affecting his brain by exposing him to crappy reality television?   I’m sure I should be coming up with more creative and stimulating things for us to do.  What do other people do with their little ones all day?

I begin to understand why parents buy their children like a gazillion toys!  I feel like every time I buy Theo a new toy or new book it’s partially for me – so I get some variety in my play day to day too!  You know?  Is this silly?  If I’m bored, does that mean Theo’s bored too?  Or am I projecting?  He’s an infant… is he still so fascinated with the world in general right now that he can play with the same things every day and be totally content?

Parenting is a difficult job.  Like my jobs of the past – there are good days and bad.  Some days I feel stimulated and challenged – full of joy and pride.  Some days I’m miserable and counting the minutes until I can put him to bed and my day as parent can finally be over!   Some days I give the job my all.  Some days I just don’t have my all to give – so I give what I can and that has to be enough.  But for me at least, what keeps me sane (eye on the prize)… is that with this job, I care about the outcome so much more.  I’m putting in my hours and my energy – my heart and soul and sweat and tears and sacrificing all the other things I could be doing.  And instead of getting my satisfaction from a job well done, a paycheck and recognition from my boss and my peers – I have to find my satisfaction in the fact that I’m creating Theo’s world day to day.  I’m building his foundation.  It is a major long-term project – and a serious grind at times.  But I’m so much more invested in the final product, so I don’t resent the sacrifice.  You know?

Thank you dear husband for this gem.  And no… we did not get him stoned.  He was just high on life.

Minus a few not so happy car rides (he’s a city baby), Theo proved to be an excellent traveler!  It bodes well for me and my travel-lusting tendencies.  So life isn’t over once you become a parent?  Score.

Oh – and here’s a little goodie taken by my friend Amie.  It’s Theo & Rain… two little beach babes in paradise – could they be any cuter?

So where have I been you may ask?  Well – sometimes when I take time off of blogging I find it hard to return.  I get out of the groove and then I have too much to update you on so I get paralyzed.  Theo’s inconsistent mini naps haven’t been helping.  I’ll come to a conclusion about what I want to write.   Then I’ll start to dive in and … “waaah, waaah”.

Shit.  He’s up.  I’ll blog later.

And so it goes.  When I return, I no longer feel like dishing about what I felt like dishing about three days prior and I’m back to square one.   Before I know it, two months have gone by and nothing.  And I feel yuck.  Because honestly, I miss talking to you.  I miss sharing.  Blogging does good things for my spirit.  It makes me feel productive and connected.  And I get such warm and positive feedback from you.  You all invest in me.  You spend time reading what flows out of my head!  And that’s so cool!  That makes me feel like I’m doing something right… something I shouldn’t stop doing.

Note to self:  Not blogging leads to feelings of ickiness and dissatisfaction.  KEEP BLOGGING!  It is now an important part of your life!  Make time for it!

Realization: I need to get myself a freaking babysitter already!  (I’m working on it.)

Meanwhile, all of Theo’s mini friends are turning one.  He is the youngest tot out of my Brooklyn mommy group so we’ve been hitting up birthday parties left and right.  Now we are just seventeen days away from Theo himself turning one.  I can hardly believe it.  I’m getting a little emosh just thinking about it.  I won’t go into it now… as I feel I need to really reflect and write a separate post about my first year of motherhood.  I’m not quite ready to tackle that at the moment.  But I can say with confidence that this has been the most life-changing year that I can remember.  It’s all been a big wow in so many ways.

Here’s a photo of w/some of the Brooklyn mommy crew – the kiddos are getting big!

Now – for those of you on Facebook who wanted my broccoli and cheese soup recipe – here goes it.  I sort of improvised off a recipe for cauliflower and cheese soup that was lovingly given to me by my doula, Megan.  Yes – the one who brought me cheese.  Love her.

Nell’s Broccoli & Cheese Soup:

Ingredients:

• 1 small onion diced
• 2-3 Tbsp ghee (clarified butter used often in Indian cooking – can use olive oil or butter instead!)
• 3 cloves pressed garlic
• 2 heads of broccoli (cut off florets – I didn’t use stalks but some other recipes include them – I’ll try it next time)
• 3 medium sized carrots (what I had in my fridge… pretty arbitrary) – sliced in roughly 1/4 inch rounds
• 3 cups of low sodium chicken stock (really just adding liquid to cover the veggies… amount might vary)
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup of milk (I used low fat)
• about 10-14 oz. of shredded cheddar cheese (I used Shelburne Farms 2 Year Cheddar from VT)
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Start by sautéing the onion in the ghee on medium heat in a dutch oven or a soup pot – I used my Le Creuset (swoon – love that thing)
2. When the onion is translucent and soft, add the pressed garlic and stir it around for 30 sec to a minute until it starts to smell all garlicky and yum.
3. Add the sliced carrots and mix together w/garlic and onions
4. Add 1 cup of chicken stock (so garlic doesn’t  burn), turn the heat up to high and bring to a boil
5. Then simmer the carrots on medium-low for 5 minutes or so – just to soften them up a bit before adding the broccoli
6. Add the broccoli florets and then enough liquid to cover all the veggies.  I added 1 cup of water plus 2 more cups of chicken broth – again, sort of arbitrary… feel free to experiment.
7. Turn heat back up to high and bring to a boil – then cover the pot, and simmer on medium-low heat for 20-30 minutes until the veggies are soft.
8. At this point, I took the pot off the heat and let the soup cool while we bathed Theo and put him to bed.  Then I went back in with an immersion blender and blended up the soup to a nice smooth consistency.
9. Add 1 cup of milk and turn the burner back on to medium/low heat stirring occasionally
10. As the soup gets hot again, start adding the cheese while stirring so it gets all melty (yum… melty cheese).
11. Final touch – add some salt and pepper until it tastes just right then SERVE!

If you make it – tell me how it comes out!

And here are some recent Theo pics – Just look at his cute little munchkin face!

“Smiley Munchkin Boy” – Photo by Adam

“Theo & Mommy” – Photo by Adam

“First Taste of Chocolate” – Photo by Adam

Theo emphatically arguing his point… “I mean… come on!  Am I right??” – Photo by Amie Ruditz

“Theo & Daddy” – Photo by me

Thanks for reading!  I’ll be back soon!

xo

So how did we get here?

Well, I’m happy to say it involved very little crying and very little stressing!  I don’t know if it was the method itself or if Theo was just ready.

After several of you commented on my recent post about not sleeping, I decided to finally suck it up and order Ferber’s book Solve Your Child’s Sleep Problems.  It’s funny, this is the one sleep book I hadn’t read.  I just felt I knew what it entailed and I didn’t think it was for us.  Ferber suggests you let your child cry in timed intervals during which you check on them to let them know you are there and then leave them to fall asleep on their own.  I never thought this would work with Theo because every time one of us would go to him in the night and it didn’t involve me picking up and nursing him, he would go ballistic and get WAY more upset.  For this reason, I actually thought it would be better for us to just let him cry it out on his own.  I thought overall he’d go to sleep quicker and get less worked up.

However – as I was skimming Ferber’s book, I came across chapter 6: Feedings During the Night: Another Major Cause of Trouble.  Since Theo was born, every time he’d cry out in the night, I would go to him and nurse him.  Yes, I would let him complain a little bit to see if he’d go back to sleep on his own, but he rarely did – his crying would most often escalate and then I’d go nurse him and he’d relax and go right back to sleep.  For the first six months, I was hesitant to stop nursing him because I was a little concerned about his weight and I didn’t want to take these additional feedings away from him.  He was constantly falling under the fifth percentile for weight and he was still eating only breast milk.  I figured he was really hungry and he needed the calories.  Over the last two months, since he started eating solids (man this kid can EAT!!), I stopped worrying about his need for the sustenance and determined he was mostly nursing for comfort.  For this reason, I became more ready and willing to tackle our sleep trouble.

So, the night after we got home from our Thanksgiving holiday, we started following the advice in chapter 6 of Ferber’s book.  I felt good about it – instead of just cutting Theo’s nighttime nursings out cold turkey, this was a method of slowly weaning him off of them.  It was a more gentle approach that seemed tailored to our needs.  And ten nights later, we have success!

Here’s what we did:

First, we were to identify the average window of time between Theo’s typical night nursings.  If there is a range (there always was with us… he was never totally consistent), we were to go with the shortest span.  For us, he would often wake up around nine, when I put him to bed at six-thirty.  So two and a half hours was what I started with. The first night, we upped that span by thirty minutes and determined that Theo was only allowed to nurse every three hours that first night.  When he woke up before three hours, we were to do the timed check-ins, letting him cry until the three hours were up.  At that point, I could nurse him.  He surprised us that first night, sleeping seven hours in a row for his first stretch.  But after his first nursing, he woke up again after less than two hours.  We let him cry for three minutes, then Adam went to check on him.  When he didn’t get picked up, he was PISSED and screamed louder.  Adam then left and came back to bed and we prepared to wait out another five minutes of crying.  He stopped after two and went back to sleep for another two hours.  We were shocked.

The next night our three-hour span increased by thirty minutes to three and a half hours.  It was another smoother-than-expected night.  He only woke up twice.  Every subsequent night, we increased the window of time between nursings by thirty minutes.  There were only a handful of times that Theo woke up before it was time – therefore, there was very little crying.  The times he did wake up earlier, his crying never lasted more than five minutes!  Amazing.

Last night, we were prepared to go seven and a half hours.  I put him to bed at six-thirty.  We went to bed at ten-thirty.  Low and behold, we wake up at three a.m. and not a peep.  After a little chit chatting with Adam and about a half hour of me silently worrying something was terribly wrong, I fell back to sleep and woke up to his crying at five-thirty this morning.  ELEVEN HOURS!  Unbelievable.

So there you have it.  Of course, this is just one night and with babies you can’t get too comfortable before everything changes.  And he doesn’t even have any teeth yet and I’ve heard that can throw everything off and we’re going on vacation on Saturday and I’ve heard that can throw everything off… but man.  I am STOKED!  I feel VICTORIOUS!  And the timing couldn’t be better.  On Saturday, we are leaving for St. John, were we will be spending six nights and seven days in paradise.  And If Theo is sleeping through the night, I might just die of bliss.

So thank you everyone – for your advice and support.  And if any of you mommies out there are having similar trouble, I highly recommend trying this approach and I’d be happy to talk to you more about it.

Now I’m signing off and I will not be writing next week because I will be soaking up every ounce of paradise possible and I will not be bringing my computer.  Though I do plan on taking lots of photos – which I will definitely share with you when we return.

Oh… and the next project is getting him to sleep later than five-thirty a.m.  Am I being greedy?  Baby steps.

xoxo

Here is our Thanksgiving family photo:

And here’s a couple photos of  a hilarious encounter between Theo and his new friend Jake.  Jake is my friend Faye’s little dude.  Faye is one of my oldest and dearest friends.  It was so cool/weird/awesome seeing our little mini me’s playing together.

Theo & Jake Meet – Theo is unsure what to make of things:

Jake bear hugs Theo.  Theo is a bit overwhelmed/scared/intrigued:

Jake wrestles Theo to the ground.  Theo is learning how to man up:

Theo has had enough and scoots away for safety:

Good times had by all!

Meanwhile, my motherhood conundrum of the week…  GERMS.  I don’t know how to handle the germiness involved in raising an infant who puts everything into his mouth.  The thing is, I am a stay at home mom and our classes, playgroups and weekly baby beer garden excursions (gotta love Brooklyn) are – truth be told – more for me and my sanity than they are for Theo.  I love getting together with the other moms and babies.  It’s important for me to get out of the house and converse with other adults.  I enjoy blabbing with the other parents and hearing about their latest sleeping, eating and pooping dramas.  It makes me feel a sense of solidarity.  I’m not alone in this crazy, amazing, roller-coaster of an adventure.

And honestly, I have never been a germaphobe whatsoever.  I drink from public water fountains. I hold onto the pole when I’m on the subway.  I’ve even sat on public toilets if they look really clean and I’m too lazy to squat!!  (I probably shouldn’t have admitted that one).  But since I’ve had Theo, I have a new relationship with germs.  I watch him at playgroups as he puts other babies’ toys in his mouth.  I watch other babies put his toys in their mouths.  I watch him lick the floor.  There is just so much drool.

It is what it is… he’s a baby – it’s what they do!  I started out being all… “it’s ok… germs are good, he’ll build up a resistance”.  But now we’re three colds in and it’s only the start of winter.  And colds are one thing.  It’s the other viruses I’m afraid of.

Last week while we were home for Thanksgiving I was checking out my emails from the local mommy list serves.   Uhoh… three of the babies we have sign-language class with on Mondays came down with Coxsackie virus on Saturday.  It is a virus that involves blisters on your hands, feet and in your mouth!  Joy.  Then I see a few other babies have it too… but it looks like they all got it together at the beer garden on Thursday.  Luckily, I missed the beer garden on Thursday.  Phew.  Crisis averted. Then I got another email about another little baby friend of ours.   His cold got into his lungs and he spent all Thanksgiving week throwing up like crazy.  Poor little guy.  (Poor little mom.) A stomach virus perhaps?  He was just over our house to play on Wednesday, and we were at his house for a weekly meet up on Friday!  Oye Vey.

I started watching Theo for symptoms … mysterious blisters, a fever, a rash, lung congestion?  Man this stuff stresses me out!  What makes it all that much more urgent is we are going away on our first big vacation to St. John next week.  I’m talking air travel and all.  I SO need this vacation.  I am DYING for this vacation.  And if Theo gets some weird virus before we go, I will be SO PISSED!  So, for now, the plan is to be completely neurotic and to lay low and keep Theo from touching other babies and their drool-covered belongings for the next week and a half.

But after that – we’ve still got an entire winter to go.  What is the responsible thing to do?  I mean – a mom stuck indoors alone with a baby all day every day does NOT make for a happy mom (or happy baby).  But it does seem like every time we do the baby play dates, the babies get sick!  I’ve started doing lunches in restaurants, where the babies can stay confined to their own high chairs and I can still get a little socializing time – but lunches out get expensive.  I can’t do that every day!  Plus – I’m a social person… I love our weekly play date gatherings!  It’s a highlight of my week!  But there seems to be no way to control the exchange of drool – and the colds just keep on coming.   I miss playtime outside in the park – in the fresh air.  And it’s not even December yet.  Hmmph.

Anyway – that is my motherhood challenge du’jour.

Oh – and the other night, I fed Theo some homemade beef stew for dinner and he HOUSED it… and then slept for seven hours straight without a peep.  Is it wrong to feed your baby beef stew every night for the rest of his infancy?  Just wondering.

The other night he woke up at ten-thirty (right as we were going to bed).  So I got up and nursed him.  Fine.  When he was good and boob-drunk, I went to put him back down to sleep and he started crying the second he hit the crib.  So I picked him back up and nursed him a bit more.  He was practically asleep.  Then I put him back down and crept away and when I was just getting under the covers, he started crying again.  This is when the resentment creeps in.  He was fed, dry, tired and it was late.  He needed to sleep.  We needed to sleep. So we decided to let him cry.  And he cried.  And he cried.  And not just a whimpery wussy cry… we’re talking full-scale power cry.  That is how he rolls.  I made Adam go to him twice and try to calm him down.  It did not work.  It just exacerbated things.  All he wanted was me… or really – my boob.  It felt unfair.  I already nursed him twice in a row.  I hit the point people have been telling me about, where you just feel ready to say no.  So I did not go to him.  I said no.  After about thirty-five minutes, he just stopped crying and went to sleep.  I was worried.  I wanted to go check on him.  I felt uneasy, guilty, sad.  But I went to sleep, hoping maybe he’d sleep better for the rest of the night.  He woke up three hours later and I nursed him.  Then he woke up at five am.  But since that night, things have improved.  His naps have gotten longer, he has woken up with less frequency (two times last night, which I hear is somewhat common for a breast-feeding baby his age).

I think this is going to the be one of the most challenging parts of parenthood.  There are going to be so many questions about how to handle things.  How to discipline, how to vaccinate, how to start solids, when to let him watch TV, how much to expose him to other babies and their germs, when to stop breast-feeding, etc.  There are no “right” answers.  There are very strong and differing opinions on everything.  And you just have to take it all in and do the best you can do.  And the stakes are high!  You are creating a person.  It’s a little daunting.

Meanwhile, I can be having the crappiest week ever and then a moment like this rolls around.  I have a crystal hanging in our window and the other morning the sun was coming through and it made little rainbows all over the apartment.  I started spinning it around and the rainbows were whirling around like we had a disco ball.  Theo was in awe.  He just smiled and stared and looked around and around in complete wonder.  And all the exhaustion and confusion melted away and all I felt was joy and love and excitement for all the wonderful things I’ll be able to expose him to in his lifetime.

I don’t usually get very political on this blog, but as it’s election day, I figured I’d throw my two cents in there and do my part to inspire whoever I can before everyone heads off for the polls.  Now – I must admit, I’ve spent the last year and a half being pregnant and being a new mother so I have not been paying as much attention to the world and whats going on in it as I usually do.  I’ve been slacking with my weekly reading of The Week Magazine.  I catch up on Bill Maher while I’m nursing Theo.  I occasionally have political conversations with my friends who are very informed, when my sleep-deprived, baby-centered brain can muster the energy to focus.

But now that we have brought a baby into this world, I feel, more than ever, that we have to focus and commit to improving things and making our country, the world and our planet a better, friendlier, safer place.  I know Obama has disappointed a lot of people over the last four years, but, let’s be honest,  it has been a horribly difficult and crappy time to be President of the United States.  Right?  And despite the hellish conditions he inherited, he managed to get some pretty important things done.  Here is a list of Obama’s accomplishments thus far in office that was forwarded to me this morning.  I have not fact checked… but I found it compelling and wanted to share:

• The first bill President Obama signed was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, to help women fight back when they don’t get equal pay for equal work.
• His Recovery Act supported millions of jobs and helped to stave off a second Great Depression.
• He pushed for and won middle-class tax cuts that benefitted every American worker, and saved the typical family $3,600 in taxes over the last four years.
• President Obama rescued the auto industry, and now GM and Chrysler are healthier than they’ve ever been. The American auto industry has added nearly a quarter of a million jobs since June 2009 — and they most likely wouldn’t exist right now without President Obama’s leadership.
• He doubled funding for Pell Grants, helping to make college more affordable for nearly 10 million families.
• His student loan reform ended billions in subsidies to banks serving as middlemen and reinvested those savings directly into students.
• The President established the American Opportunity Tax Credit, worth up to $10,000 over four years of college.
• His Race to the Top Initiative helped spur nearly every state to raise academic standards.
• His tax cuts, social-welfare programs, and economic policies lifted nearly 7 million Americans above the federal poverty line in 2010.
• President Obama has signed 18 tax cuts for small businesses since taking office.
• We’ve seen 5.2 million new private-sector jobs over the last 31 months.
• The unemployment rate is at the lowest level since President Obama took office.
• Health care reform — passed after decades of failed attempts by every previous President — provides affordable health coverage to every American and will lower premiums by an average of $2,000 per family by 2019.
• Obamacare expanded access to lifesaving preventive care such as cancer screenings and immunizations with no out-of-pocket costs for 54 million Americans.
• Obamacare ends insurance discrimination against the 129 million Americans with pre-existing conditions.
• Because of Obamacare, over 3 million more young adults have health insurance today than would if the new law hadn’t passed.
• The parents of over 17 million children with pre-existing conditions no longer have to worry that their children will be denied coverage.
• President Obama has ordered the overhaul of federal government regulations to make them smarter, practical, and more efficient. Just a fraction of these commonsense initiatives will help save businesses $10 billion in the next five years alone.
• His historic investments in clean energy have helped more than double the amount of electricity we obtain from wind and solar sources and helped increase biofuel production to its highest level in history.
• President Obama is doubling fuel efficiency standards, which will save drivers more than $8,000 at the gas pump, not to mention lessen the impact of automobiles on our environment.
• President Obama has taken unprecedented action to address climate change, reaching historic international agreements to curb carbon emissions, and taking action here at home to reduce carbon pollution from our vehicles and promote clean energy production.
• He has taken historic action to protect our environment — signing one of the largest expansions of protected wilderness in a generation and putting in place standards to reduce toxic air pollution that will save thousands of lives.
• President Obama fought for and won landmark Wall Street reform that reins in the abuses that led to the financial crisis and ends the era of taxpayer bailouts and “too big to fail.”
• Wall Street reform created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the nation’s first federal agency focused solely on consumer financial protection — and the Bureau is already protecting families from unfair and abusive financial practices from Wall Street banks and shadowy corners of the financial industry.
• As part of President Obama’s commitment to transparency, the White House has posted its visitor records online for the first time ever.
• President Obama’s all-of-the-above approach to energy has helped cut the United States’ dependence on foreign oil to its lowest level in 20 years.
• President Obama responsibly ended the war in Iraq.
• He announced a plan to end the war in Afghanistan and transition security responsibility to the Afghan people.
• President Obama sent the largest security assistance package to Israel in history and funded the Iron Dome system, which is protecting Israeli homes and schools from rocket attacks.
• President Obama rallied the international community to implement the toughest sanctions on Iran in history.
• Through the President’s historic increases in Veterans Affairs funding, he has expanded and improved healthcare and job training access for our returning veterans.
• President Obama negotiated the New START Treaty with Russia to reduce the number of nuclear weapons in both countries. At the same time, he also secured commitments from dozens of other countries to lock down nuclear materials.
• His administration naturalized 11,146 military service members as U.S. citizens in 2010; more than in any year since 1955.
• President Obama set a bold new plan for the future of NASA space exploration, using the skill and ability of the private sector for short trips to the International Space Station, while building a new vehicle for exploration of distant space, and doing everything in his power to support the economy on Florida’s Space Coast.
• President Obama recognizes that tourism is one of America’s largest economic engines; he’s worked to encourage international visitors to come here, maintaining our security while keeping millions of Americans in good, paying jobs.
• He has affirmed his personal support of marriage equality, directed the Justice Department to stop defending DOMA in federal courts, and took the practical and compassionate step of extending hospital visitation rights to same-sex partners.
• He fought for and won the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, allowing gay and lesbian members of the military to serve openly for the first time in history.
• When Congress failed to fix our broken immigration system, his administration did everything in its power to improve it, streamlining the legal immigration process and announcing a policy that lifts the shadow of deportation from hard working young immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.
• He gave the order to send troops in after Osama Bin Laden — and has decimated al-Qaeda’s senior leadership.

Not bad right?

Oh – and add to that his no nonsense handling of the Hurricane Sandy aftermath.  People on both sides couldn’t help but be impressed by that.

Above all, I believe that Obama is a good, true man, with a good family and with good intentions.  I believe his heart is in the right place and that he is genuinely committed to making life better for all Americans. And for that reason, I feel it is of the utmost importance to give him another four years to carry out his work as President of the United States.  Four years is not a lot of time to make significant changes on this large of a scale.  Let’s let him finish the job he’s started.  Then in 2016, we can assess if we are in better shape then we were in 2008.

That’s all for today.  Theo has a cold (boo) and has just woken up from his forty-minute nap (arg).  I will be taking him to the polls today – his first election!  Very exciting.  Good luck everyone and may the best man win.  :)

Here is our little “Kermit Theo Frog” on his first Halloween:

Wow… what a week it’s been.  We had storminess up in the Reid household this past week even before Sandy showed up.  As for the hurricane, thankfully, we live on a hill and besides some crazy wind, rain and green lightning (from explosions at the Con Ed plant), things were A.O.K for us during the storm.  We didn’t even lose power.  As a matter of fact, we got all cozy, cooked up some dynamite turkey and three-bean chili, popped open some bottles of red wine and had a dandy old time.  I feel a bit guilty now for enjoying myself so much.  The devastation in Manhattan and other parts of NY and NJ is absolutely horrific.  I feel terrible for those who had homes, cars and businesses damaged or destroyed and for those who are displaced from their homes or have no power for weeks.  We actually live around the block from Brooklyn Tech high school, which has been designated an evacuation shelter.  I just dropped off a bunch of magazines as they are looking for reading material to help people pass the time.  For once it seems all the hype was completely justified.

Meanwhile, before hurricane Sandy came along, we had our own bit of drama last week.  Theo woke up last Saturday with a high fever (over 102) and was sick for a couple days.  This was his first time being officially sick.  He’s had a cold before, but even with a cold, he is usually his normal happy, funny self – just with boogers all over his face and some fussiness at bedtime.  This time, he was not happy.  He was obviously uncomfortable and was super cranky.  We could barely put him down for a second without him getting upset.  He also woke up to nurse every two hours for three nights straight.   It was exhausting.

Then on Thursday, after he was all better, I was changing Theo on the changing table and literally looked away for a SECOND to dispose of his diaper when I hear THUMP.  WAIL!  I whipped around and to my horror, Theo was now on the floor (thank goodness for our thick shag rug), screaming.  He had rolled (dove?) right off the changing table.  I’d say it’s about a four foot drop.  I felt instantly sick.  I picked him up and held him close and kept saying, “you’re ok baby… you’re ok”.  My heart was beating like mad.  Did I break him?  Is he broken? I dialed my doctor and heard his normal “if this is an emergency, please call xxx-xxxx”.  It was not an emergency yet.  I had to assess the situation first before totally freaking out.  I decided to try to nurse him, as my magic boobs always seems to bring him the most comfort.  And… it worked.  He calmed down, nursed normal, and within minutes was smiling at me and giggling as if nothing had happened.  Then I called Adam and confessed.  He was wonderful and understanding.  I’m not sure I would have been as good if our situations had been reversed (I’m sorry babe… it’s true.  I’m glad it was me and not you!).  Then I called my mommy and burst into tears.  She made me feel better by telling me that I had both fallen off the changing table as well as down an entire flight of wooden stairs as a baby.  My sister had fallen off the changing table.  Her friend Elaine’s (who she was lunching with) son had fallen off the changing table.  Apparently it is a right of passage.  I remained a bit shaky for the rest of the day and was a bit afraid to let him take a nap for fear of a concussion – but all is well and he is fine and I’m glad to see how resilient the little dude is.  I also fear for the future and for all the bumps, bruises, broken bones and hurts our little man is going to have to endure.  It’s terrible to see your child experience pain or discomfort but I suppose it all goes along with territory of parenthood.

Meanwhile, by Friday at 7pm when Adam got home I was completely emotionally and physically spent.  I’d say it was my toughest week since the early days.  So – selfishly, I loved every minute of Adam being home on Monday and Tuesday because of Sandy.  It was just the recuperation time and family time I needed to feel strong and capable again.

Here is a picture of us during the hurricane.  We were standing inside our big iron gate – protected from the wind by our garage.  Theo’s first big storm!

(Note… all my little baby hairs growing back in thanks to months of hair loss due to having a baby.  Ahhh… motherhood is so glamorous).

OK – cutting this post now because Theo just woke up from his nap (after 35 minutes… not cool).  Thanks to everyone for reaching out and being concerned for us.  As you can see we are just fine but NYC has taken quite a beating and it’s going to be a while before things get back to normal again.  My thoughts are with my friends and their families who were affected by the disaster.

And to all my mommy friends… let our changing table trauma be a warning to you!  Don’t take your eyes off these little buggers for an instant!  Oye vey.

xo

PS – here’s that recipe for the chili - thanks Cooks Illustrated & Cookography!  Only I improvised a bit.  I used turkey instead of beef – and I only had one pound (recipe calls for two).  So instead, I used the one pound of turkey and added an extra can of beans.  I only had one can of red kidney beans so I used that as well as a can of pinto beans and a can of black beans.  I also didn’t have limes or a red pepper so I just skipped those.  Everything else was to the recipe.  Enjoy!

Why this book?  Well… a professional eater?  I mean – isn’t it obvious?  Yes, I pretty much want to be Gail Simmons (career-wise at least).  She is a judge on Top Chef (one of my favorite shows).  She is also a food writer and the Special Projects Director for Food & Wine Magazine.  With a career like that, I just had to read how she made it all happen.  I’m only halfway through the book right now, but I am loving every minute of it and getting more inspired with each page.

First of all, when she graduated college she was unsure of what she wanted to do with her life.  All of her friends went off to pursue professional careers (doctors/lawyers/etc.)  She wasn’t interested.  A family friend advised her to make a list of what she likes to do and use that as a guide to find her passion.  Her list… “Eat. Write. Travel. Cook.”  (Sounds pretty good to me).  She decided to she had to go to the food capital of the world (NYC) and attend culinary school – with the goal of becoming a food writer.  And off she went.

That is where it all started for her – and with her passion and dedication, she continued on that path through apprenticeships in the kitchens at Vong (a Jean-Georges restaurant… now closed) and Le Cirque, two years in a grueling Assistant position for Vogue’s food critic Jeffrey Steingarten, three years managing special events and projects for Daniel Boulud’s multiple restaurants (Daniel, Cafe Boulud and DB Bistro Moderne), eventually landing at Food & Wine, where she’s been since 2004.  She ”directs special projects for the magazine, acting as liaison between the marketing and editorial teams on magazine events and chef-related initiatives, working closely with the country’s top culinary talent.” (Amazing… now THAT sounds like my dream job). She also oversees the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen.

So, I’m reading Talking With My Mouth Full on my iPhone on the subway.  I’m at the part where Gail and her family take a trip to Paris and on Jeffrey Steingarten’s urging, they lunch at Pierre Gagnaire – a famous three Michelen star restaurant.  Here is a little snippet that I especially enjoyed:

“I had venison for my main course.  Pierre Gagnaire’s signature style is that every course has many accompaniments, plated individually.  With my venison, there were four or five different plates, each with another bite or taste that played off the meat.  It had a deep fuchsia-colored, savory sauce made of wine and chocolate.  Rich, earthy, divine.  

Then came the dessert.  I did not hesitate to order the famous Grande Dessert Pierre Gagnaire, still a staple at his restaurants.  It included a dozen or so different plates, each more exquisite than the last.  When it came to our table, I inspected it thoroughly, then I looked up at my father and burst into tears.  

Well, it was more of a half giggle, half cry.  My father could not help but laugh along with me.  My senses were so overwhelmed that tears rolled freely down my face as I sat there.  It was all so painstakingly beautiful.  Someone had thought up all of these combinations, then carefully, meticulously brought them to life.  The artistry of our meal had far surpassed satisfying our expectations and our stomachs – it had struck a deep emotional chord. “

This description of Gail’s food epiphany also struck an emotional chord in me.  I sat there on the subway with my eyes moist with tears. I could totally imagine myself being overwhelmed in that same way… literally brought to tears by a once in a lifetime food experience.   Experiencing a master’s take on something you are totally passionate about… it doesn’t get much better than that.

So I’ve been thinking… you know I’ve always wanted to go to culinary school – but not to become a chef.  I know I don’t want to be a chef (just like Gail).  But I do want to be a trained, badass cook.  And potentially a food writer of some sort.  A food blogger?  (I do that already – but professionally)? A restaurant critic?  An editor at a foodie magazine?  A food photographer? A consultant/marketing guru for small foodie businesses?  I don’t know – all the possibilities seem thrilling.

I guess the only thing I worry about is that now I have a family.  I know it’s all still possible, but man… if I could go back to the age of twenty-two and start a career path from scratch I would so take this road.  When you’re in your twenties, you are willing to work like a dog – crazy hours, crappy pay – all for the experience and the cred.  Will I be willing to do that now that I’ll be sacrificing time with my family?

I don’t really know.  But I do know, that culinary school (if I go) will not happen for a few years at the earliest.  In the meantime, I’m going to read all the foodie books I can get my hands on, study up on the world’s great chefs and restaurants, continue to teach myself how to cook recipe by recipe (and also without recipes!), talk to the vendors at the farmer’s market every week and taste as many varieties of fruits and veggies as I can (recently been taste testing squashes!)  And I will definitely keep writing about food right here on nellsdish.  Next on the reading list, The Man Who Ate Everything – And Other Gastronomic Feats, Disputes, and Pleasurable Pursuits  by Jeffrey Steingarten.  It is the book that changed Gail Simmons’s life.  I’ll keep you posted.

xo