My husband is no longer an intern and I am no longer an intern's wife. Praise the Lord! I am not one who likes to wish my life away, but that was a tough year. I am looking forward to seeing much more of my husband's handsome face. True to form, he worked up until almost 11:00pm on the last day of intern year (which happened to be a Saturday), after leaving that morning in the 5 o'clock hour. That is what you call going out with a bang, not a whimper. The end matched the feel of the whole year.
And now I am praying that the start of residency is indicative of how our upcoming year will go. We had five free days to dispose of how we like, otherwise known as vacation. Woo hoo! Adam was supposed to start back on Friday, July 1, but the physician he is with said "Why don't we plan to meet 8:00am on Tuesday?" To which Adam replied "hell yeah!" (in his heart, of course). An extra day off, plus the weekend, plus a holiday, throw in a reasonable start time...I think this the beginning of something beautiful. And on top of all that, my man got home by dinner time on his first day. Hallelujaher (as Madea would say)!
So what did we do with our time off you may be wondering? We left the country and went to the big city...two of them. Well, actually..... first we made another stop in the country to visit our friends, the Mirandas, in Southern New Hampshire. We chatted with our friends, saw some baby farm animals, and ate way too much bacon. Then we headed to the big city, where we saw our New England family- the BosNalls. I indulged in several overpriced, caffeinated beverages from the Bucks, because they don't exist anywhere near our town. Several of our favorite Boston activities were squeezed into our three day stay with the Nalls: brunch, shopping, drinking coffee, walking, being lazy, napping in the Commons, checking out the gardens, doing photo shoots in the gardens, laughing until we cry...the list goes on. We also experienced the World's End (not as scary as it sounds). After being turned over for the UN headquarters and a nuclear power plant sight, the area remains a public park with a picturesque view of Boston from across the water.
Adam also squeezed in his favorite past time - taking in the sights on a couch in Urban Outfitters. And after months and months of looking, I finally bought a BOB stroller! I am so excited. Thank you Boston craigslist! If you have ever run with a crappy running stroller and then tried a BOB, you will see why people go bananas over them. That is why you will see the old ones posted online for ridiculous prices. I have been running with my neighbor's double BOB recently, occupied by Liam and his BFF, Mattie. I am already up to an impressive 2 1/2 miles. Half marathon, here I come! Or maybe I will just start with a 5K...baby steps.
Next was New York City. We traveled there late in the evening and we still got stuck in traffic! Adam was madder than a wet hen. We made it to Brooklyn sometime after midnight, where we crashed a bachelor pad with our baby. We stayed with our friend Mike, who so graciously took us to get a very late supper, warm sandwiches from a jiffy. They were actually pretty good. And at daybreak the next day he accompanied us to a very touristy event - the Today Show!
We stood outside for hours and drank coffee, while trying to sweet talk the camera men. Eventually our patience paid off. Our little bear got in some camera shots (I think my mom taped it, we haven't checked the play back yet) and then he met some of the stars. Al Roker shook Liam's hand and then Ann Curry lost her sh*t over our little man! "Whose baby is this? Did everybody see this cute baby?! Where's the mother?" She continued to fuss for a few minutes and then told Adam and I we need to make more babies because they are so cute. I was walking tall after our encounter. I am still waiting for baby GAP to call though.
We met up with the newest city slickers, the McKinney's, and bumped into an old roomie, Bethany Schert. It was so fun getting to see old friends. Then we did many of the same events you do in the big city when you our vacationing on a dime. We walked, we tried to spot famous people, we window shopped, and we hit up a few ice cream trucks (including the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck:). We walked a few famous streets and wandered around some notable landmarks, Macy's, Time's Square, the High Line and Chelsea market. We had our fill of coffee, cupcakes, and ethnic food.
One thing I haven't figured out yet is what the heck city mama's do when they need to change a diaper. It's hard enough to find a place for an adult to use the bathroom in the city, but I did not once come across a baby changing station in any of the dives we entered. I had to change Liam's diaper in the middle of an Indian restaurant in which you could not turn around or even stand fully erect, due to the abundance of Christmas lights overhead. While the Bollywood music blared, Adam and I successfully changed Li's diaper and not so successfully tried to put him to bed (yes, in the most stimulating place our baby has ever been). He made it through dinner, but then our little man lost it like he never has before in his life. We pushed him to his limit. I stood out on the street with my demon-possessed baby while Adam waited for the check with our friends, and I think a few less people made bad decisions that night thanks to Liam.
Unfortunately our camera died early in our NYC trip, but we still captured several great moments on our iPhone, like our encounter with Ann Curry and this sweet moment of me breastfeeding on a couch with two pre-teen boys who joined me before they realized what was going on under my cape. After it dawned on them, they started awkwardly grinning and their body language became stiff and robot-like. Adam found this hilarious and stole a few undercover pictures with his iPhone. Then the father of the boys snapped a few pictures, but assured me I was not in them - right! We wrapped up our trip with a 2 1/2 hour drive through Manhattan. Blurg! And met up with the closest Cassidy's to us, my dad's cousins Arthur and Patty. I was introduced to all their friends as "my cousin, Vinny's daughter." We crashed their daughter Allison's graduation party. There were several teenage girls and they turned all their attention on Liam. It was like having ten baby sitters at once. This freed Adam and I up to enjoy the pool, hot tub, and putting green in the Cassidy's back yard (the other end of the spectrum from our friend's studio apartments in Brooklyn). Arthur makes his living on dealing with the furry residents of NYC i.e pest control. I think the rats on the subway platform knew my family roots and that is why one charged me and Li when we got off one of the trains. Don't worry, I protected my baby.
Now we are home again and Myra is here! Liam is loving his Grandmommy time. Adam and I plan on taking full advantage of our free time, by trying to pack up our entire house...and maybe try to squeeze in a date night or two. Those have been a little lacking since the Li came along. I think I am going to make Adam take me to see Bridesmaids;)
Important update: Liam thinks everything his dad does is hilarious. And...our boy is on the verge of crawling. For the past month or so he has been laying on his tummy and swimming like a little frog (not moving at all) and then pushing up on his hands, but today he pushed up into a plank and then pushed up on his hands and knees. I am really about to have a movie-moverton on my hands. Now we are about to head out to a play group. This is the one that has a lot of older women at it (2-3 years old) and they love to plant kisses all over Liam. He is too young to let it go to his head yet.
Can't you see what Liam is going to look like as a little boy here?! So cute! And I will leave you of this shot of Liam and a baby bunny:)
And now I am praying that the start of residency is indicative of how our upcoming year will go. We had five free days to dispose of how we like, otherwise known as vacation. Woo hoo! Adam was supposed to start back on Friday, July 1, but the physician he is with said "Why don't we plan to meet 8:00am on Tuesday?" To which Adam replied "hell yeah!" (in his heart, of course). An extra day off, plus the weekend, plus a holiday, throw in a reasonable start time...I think this the beginning of something beautiful. And on top of all that, my man got home by dinner time on his first day. Hallelujaher (as Madea would say)!
So what did we do with our time off you may be wondering? We left the country and went to the big city...two of them. Well, actually..... first we made another stop in the country to visit our friends, the Mirandas, in Southern New Hampshire. We chatted with our friends, saw some baby farm animals, and ate way too much bacon. Then we headed to the big city, where we saw our New England family- the BosNalls. I indulged in several overpriced, caffeinated beverages from the Bucks, because they don't exist anywhere near our town. Several of our favorite Boston activities were squeezed into our three day stay with the Nalls: brunch, shopping, drinking coffee, walking, being lazy, napping in the Commons, checking out the gardens, doing photo shoots in the gardens, laughing until we cry...the list goes on. We also experienced the World's End (not as scary as it sounds). After being turned over for the UN headquarters and a nuclear power plant sight, the area remains a public park with a picturesque view of Boston from across the water.
Adam also squeezed in his favorite past time - taking in the sights on a couch in Urban Outfitters. And after months and months of looking, I finally bought a BOB stroller! I am so excited. Thank you Boston craigslist! If you have ever run with a crappy running stroller and then tried a BOB, you will see why people go bananas over them. That is why you will see the old ones posted online for ridiculous prices. I have been running with my neighbor's double BOB recently, occupied by Liam and his BFF, Mattie. I am already up to an impressive 2 1/2 miles. Half marathon, here I come! Or maybe I will just start with a 5K...baby steps.
Next was New York City. We traveled there late in the evening and we still got stuck in traffic! Adam was madder than a wet hen. We made it to Brooklyn sometime after midnight, where we crashed a bachelor pad with our baby. We stayed with our friend Mike, who so graciously took us to get a very late supper, warm sandwiches from a jiffy. They were actually pretty good. And at daybreak the next day he accompanied us to a very touristy event - the Today Show!
We stood outside for hours and drank coffee, while trying to sweet talk the camera men. Eventually our patience paid off. Our little bear got in some camera shots (I think my mom taped it, we haven't checked the play back yet) and then he met some of the stars. Al Roker shook Liam's hand and then Ann Curry lost her sh*t over our little man! "Whose baby is this? Did everybody see this cute baby?! Where's the mother?" She continued to fuss for a few minutes and then told Adam and I we need to make more babies because they are so cute. I was walking tall after our encounter. I am still waiting for baby GAP to call though.
We met up with the newest city slickers, the McKinney's, and bumped into an old roomie, Bethany Schert. It was so fun getting to see old friends. Then we did many of the same events you do in the big city when you our vacationing on a dime. We walked, we tried to spot famous people, we window shopped, and we hit up a few ice cream trucks (including the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck:). We walked a few famous streets and wandered around some notable landmarks, Macy's, Time's Square, the High Line and Chelsea market. We had our fill of coffee, cupcakes, and ethnic food.
One thing I haven't figured out yet is what the heck city mama's do when they need to change a diaper. It's hard enough to find a place for an adult to use the bathroom in the city, but I did not once come across a baby changing station in any of the dives we entered. I had to change Liam's diaper in the middle of an Indian restaurant in which you could not turn around or even stand fully erect, due to the abundance of Christmas lights overhead. While the Bollywood music blared, Adam and I successfully changed Li's diaper and not so successfully tried to put him to bed (yes, in the most stimulating place our baby has ever been). He made it through dinner, but then our little man lost it like he never has before in his life. We pushed him to his limit. I stood out on the street with my demon-possessed baby while Adam waited for the check with our friends, and I think a few less people made bad decisions that night thanks to Liam.
Now we are home again and Myra is here! Liam is loving his Grandmommy time. Adam and I plan on taking full advantage of our free time, by trying to pack up our entire house...and maybe try to squeeze in a date night or two. Those have been a little lacking since the Li came along. I think I am going to make Adam take me to see Bridesmaids;)
Important update: Liam thinks everything his dad does is hilarious. And...our boy is on the verge of crawling. For the past month or so he has been laying on his tummy and swimming like a little frog (not moving at all) and then pushing up on his hands, but today he pushed up into a plank and then pushed up on his hands and knees. I am really about to have a movie-moverton on my hands. Now we are about to head out to a play group. This is the one that has a lot of older women at it (2-3 years old) and they love to plant kisses all over Liam. He is too young to let it go to his head yet.
Can't you see what Liam is going to look like as a little boy here?! So cute! And I will leave you of this shot of Liam and a baby bunny:)
