takeaways

At the beginning of this year, in an effort to support my resolve to blog more, I started something new: monthly takeaways. Call it a recap, a reflection or a review. The monthly takeaways are one part blog therapy and two parts a measure of the growth and progress I’ve made in my life (or not). After all, a month left behind means my son is one month older, I am one month older and therefore, hopefully, one month wiser.

My hope is that these takeaways will be fun and interactive and that you will join me by posting about your takeaways from this past month in the comments, below.

So, here goes…

My May Takeaways

1. One of my favorite things about the month of May is running the Visiting Nurse Service & Hospice of Suffolk’s 5K. It’s a family-friendly race which takes place on the first Saturday of the month in my hometown in Northport, NY. I didn’t set a personal record, but my time was better this year at 26:27 than last year when I was seven months pregnant and crossed the finish line belly first at 31:57. I learned that my new pace (which is certainly not my fastest) had me finishing in line with men in their 60’s or young boys who are in grade school. Which made me realize… my son Mylo is going to be one of those grade school boys who’s beating me to the finish line before I know it!

Great cause, great course and great times.

2. I learned that no matter how old I get, I will always love being the annoying younger sister.

I couldn't have timed it better.

3. I’ve always been a fan of flying red eyes, not because I’m a night owl, no. But it’s one of the few times I’m able to fall asleep on planes.

I was secretly a bit nervous, though, to take a red eye back to New York with a nine month old. And as each hour ticked away on our last day of vacation in Las Vegas, it became clear that my husband Jason was, too. So much so that we began butting heads when it came to deciding on just how many and for how long, our son’s naps should be.

Well wouldn’t you know that Mylo went to sleep in his crib in our room at Planet Hollywood Westgate and woke up in Jason’s arms 10 minutes before our plane touched down in JFK. He slept through being transported from the hotel to the car, the car to the airport, through security, during boarding and throughout the ENTIRE four plus hours it took to fly home. Oh red eyes how you’ve never failed me yet.

Snoozing at the Jet Blue gate in Vegas.

4. I learned that when cutting my son’s toenails I should wear goggles or at least eye glasses. Just the other day I was bent over closely so as to avert Mylo’s interest in the clippers and his toenail, 3/4 mm long, shot right into my eye.

3/4 mm long. I dug this sucker out of my right eye.

5. I’m considering buying no more new toys. For now.

7:30am goes the tupperware cabinet. Next up, the key jar. After that, the shoe rack. Box of toys? Zero interest.

6. I learned that the inexplicable hankering that I had for an entire bag of Cheetos during my second trimester was clearly satiating a certain somebody ELSE’S craving.

Good thing the dog wasn't home or it would have been game on.

7. Chances I will see Men in Black III? Slim to none. Chances I will be impressed when they line my street with authentic period cars in order to get a three second shot? Pretty damn high!

Men In Black III takes over Court St. in Brooklyn.

8. Some day, we’ll have to fess up to these two about all the trouble their momma’s got into together. Or not.

"And tomorrow we chomp, chomp?!"

At the beginning of this year, in an effort to support my resolve to blog more, I started something new: monthly takeaways. Call it a recap, a reflection or a review. The monthly takeaways are one part blog therapy and two parts a measure of the growth and progress I’ve made in my life (or not). After all, a month left behind means my son is one month older, I am one month older and therefore, hopefully, one month wiser.

My hope is that these takeaways will be fun and interactive and that you will join me by posting about your takeaways from this past month, in the comments below.

For one reason or another, there weren’t many things I learned last month. Either because I just plain didn’t have the time to jot stuff down and snap photos, let alone reflect on life. Alas, here’s what does stick out…

My April Takeaways

1. I am officially fertile again. No, I am not pregnant! In fact, the total opposite happened… I got my period for the first time in 17 months.

2. My husband Jason gave me his cold this past month and I passed it on to our son Mylo. Fluids and snuggles eventually did our bodies good. Coddling the baby to bed did our sleepless nights bad.

3. This takeaway deserves a post all its own, but I’ve yet to write it. After getting over our two-week colds, we decided to sleep train Mylo again. Only this time it required moving our bed into the living room. While sleeping on a mattress as if we’re back in college is not ideal, the sleep training has been a success.

Oh two bedroom, where art thou?

4. Mylo truly has a zest for anything physical. Toss him onto a bed of pillows and he bellows with laughter. Drag him around by his feet so his shirt “swifts” our hardwood floors clean and he snorts and giggles the entire time. He’ll cut a rug to Adele and Fuse until he sweats and he just ADORES being thrown in the air.

He’s an active one I tell ya.

5. Despite making no money this past year, Uncle Sam surprised us with an unexpected bounty. That or having a kid really does bode well with the taxman.

6. We moved our car out of the expensive covered parking garage we’ve parked in for four years to contend with the rat race of alternate side of the street parking. Not only is it one less bill per month, but it also ended a complicated situation we had gotten into by letting a homeless man and his dog sleep in our car at night.

7. Mylo went to his friend Gratia’s 1st birthday party in the park on a particularly blustery April afternoon. Mylo had his first taste of a cupcake and learned how to play bang on musical instruments. I learned to keep my mouth shut when it comes to the contentious topic of schooling your children. When I told a couple who is moving to an area of Brooklyn Heights that would have them zoned for the most desirable public school in the borough, they informed me that they’re actually “hoping to get into” Saint Ann’s where tuition ranges between 23 and 30 thousand dollars. Well didn’t I feel like a loser?!

Mylo taking in the festivities while watching the birthday girl celebrate.

8. My brother-in-law Damien flew in (like the wind) from California last week. He adores his nephew and has even offered to watch him while we step out for a couple of hours but is adamant about not changing diapers. Somehow I managed to get him to put a onesie on the baby, though. I told him, “It opens in the crotch, figure it out.” It took him seven minutes and a ton of negotiating to get the boy to sit still, but he did it. I feel a diaper change coming on in his near future!

A wise guy to my left and to my right.

9. I could care less about the royal wedding. Will and Kate are a charming couple but I was really disappointed to see my country’s extensive media coverage pre and post-nuptials. Especially when hundreds of people died following the tornadoes down south, just two days before the big day.

10. If there is anyone who cared less than me about the royal wedding it was my husband. So much so that when I told Jason we were invited to a royal wedding party a day AFTER the royal wedding on our friends’ roof deck down the block, he asked, “Can I sit this one out?” Uh, NO!! And yet look who had a ball parading around like the queen?

Queen for the day.

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So, what are some of your takeaways from this past month? Please share them with me in the comments, I’d love to hear!

At the beginning of this year, in an effort to support my resolve to blog more, I started something new: monthly takeaways. Call it a recap, a reflection or a review. The monthly takeaways are one part blog therapy and two parts a measure of the growth and progress I’ve made in my life (or not). After all, a month left behind means my son is one month older, I am one month older and therefore, hopefully, one month wiser.

My hope is that these takeaways will be fun and interactive and that you will join me by posting about your takeaways from this past month, in the comments below.

So, here goes…

My March Takeaways

1. A Cotes Du Rhone in a plastic bottle. Yes, you heard me, wine from the Rhone valley in France in a plastic bottle. Even my French mother-in-law was horrified.

Yep. A French man holding French wine in a plastic bottle.

2. We are STILL failed gDiapers users.

3. The boy discovered the book shelf. I hope this means he’ll be an avid reader.

And there go the books...

4. Contrary to what my husband Jason says, taking a chunk out of Zinn’s A People’s History does NOT mean our son Mylo can’t wait to read it.

5. The iPhone 4= Happy Husband. Used Blackberry Tour= Happy Baby.

6. Meeting for beers with our babies is increasingly more difficult now that the babes’ have become mobile.

Some of the moms at a beers & babies meet-up.

7. Saying good-bye to a family member, even if it’s just an old cat, is never easy.

8. A year and a half out of casts and our dog Ella climbed the ledge to look out at Brooklyn and Manhattan and bathe in the sun, for the very first time.

"What goes up must come down" doesn't apply to this dog.

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So, what are some of your takeaways from this past month? Please share them with me in the comments, I’d love to hear!

At the beginning of this year, in an effort to support my resolve to blog more, I started something new: monthly takeaways. Call it a recap, a reflection or a review. The monthly takeaways are one part blog therapy and two parts a measure of the growth and progress I’ve made in my life (or not). After all, a month left behind means my son is one month older, I am one month older and therefore, hopefully, one month wiser.

My hope is that these takeaways will be fun and interactive and that you will join me by posting about your takeaways from this past month, in the comments below.

So, here goes…

My February Takeaways

1.Your pets’ food and water bowl is best not left on the ground when you have a baby who is on the move.

He's dumped the dog's water bowl on more than one occasion.

2. The world cares more about the salaciousness of Charlie Sheen then they do the atrociousness of Muammar Gaddafi.

3. Turning 33 does not mean I can no longer slurp my spaghetti.

4. I weird people out when I tell them of our plans to birth our future babies at home.

5. With the sad realization that my mom friends are no longer on maternity leave, comes the awareness of new moms pushing their strollers around town together. They are a familiar flock of seagulls who squawk about spit-up, poop and sleep deprivation. The beat goes on, I suppose.

Just a few of mine and Mylo's friends.

6. If your pup has blood in her urine, don’t delay. Take her to the vet. ($319 later)

Last month it was blood in her poop. This month it's blood in her urine :(

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So, what are some of your takeaways from this past month? Please share them with me in the comments, I’d love to hear!

I’ve had this blog for almost three years but always kept it to myself. No more. This year, I made ‘building a blog community’ one of my New Year’s resolutions, and well, to do that I need to blog more for starters. Becoming a more active participant in blogs I like would help, too.

Writing down my monthly takeaways will help me see how therapeutic this blog can be and how much growth and progress I have made in my life (or not). After all, a month left behind means my son is one month older, I am one month older and therefore, hopefully, one month wiser.

My hope is that these takeaways will be fun and interactive and that you will join me by posting about your takeaways from this past month in the comments, below.

So, here goes…

My January Takeaways

1. Breastfeeding a baby who has teeth is not that painful after all.

2. Running with the baby jogger kicks my butt.

3. Collecting unemployment insurance benefits does not mean I am a stay-at-home-mom.

4. I am torn about going back to work as an analyst at a financial company. (Writing more on that depends on whether or not I land the job).

5. Homeless people have a story. My new friends’ story in particular, is a compelling one.

6. The ASPCA has a program called “Operation Pit” in which even the most unfortunate pitbull gets spayed/neutered, vaccinated and microchipped, FOR FREE.

Nirvana doning her free K9 camo gear after her surgery.

6. It’s worth waiting until after the holidays to get your fix of much-needed retail therapy.

My $475 Michael Kors boots that I paid $100 for.

7. I am in awe of how social media has sped up the process of protest in Egypt.

8. I should have opened a consignment shop in Brooklyn when I still had a sizable nest egg.

9. If your pup has blood in her poop, don’t delay. Take her to the vet. ($165 later)

Ella was poopin' blood on and off the whole month.

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So, what are some of your takeaways from this past month? Please share them with me in the comments, I’d love to hear!