A Long Weekend in New York

(Just a little note - I'm on a Mac.  I am not feeling the love.  I tried editing these pics in my usual photoeditor and for the life of me I cannot find the pathway to the files to upload them so I can only upload the un-edited versions.  Forgive the less than amazing pics that follow but if I keep trying I'm going to end up beating my head against a wall in frustration.)

Chloe and I are chilling out in Nova Scotia at the moment but we had a lot of fun in New York after I got over my moment of insanity.  As I suspected, a jet-lagged baby is not all that fun to be around, especially at 3am when she's decided that it's time to get up for the day and no amount of reasoning would change her mind about that fact.  I was very, very tired for a few days and going to bed at 8:30pm was a far cry from the nights of slinging back cocktails into the early hours as Kate and I had done on previous visits.  That's not to say that we didn't knock back a few cocktails, we just had to start earlier.

After a minimal amount of sleep I slung Chloe on my back and headed out for a wander while Kate went off to work.  She pointed me in the direction of Abraco, a hole-in-the-wall espresso bar on 7th.  Best iced coffee ever.  

Then we did a little errand at the Post Office, bought some baby food at Gracefully and popped back to the apartment for lunch.  Said baby food turned out to be totally disgusting - tasteless with a weird gelatinized texture.  Do babies really eat that shit??  Mine won't.  Feeding Chloe was becoming a bit troublesome as she didn't really want to eat and preferred to just spread it around as much as possible.  I was being a typical stressy mother and getting paranoid that she wasn't eating or drinking enough and I'm sure that wasn't helping matters.  I was also getting a little irate trying to feed a mobile, hands-on baby without a high-chair, whilst also trying not to cover Kate's apartment in food.  So when Kate got home form work we headed out for the evening in search of somewhere with a highchair for Chloe and some alcohol for us.  We landed at Schiller's where Chloe dug into some Mac & Cheese and the grown-ups started in on the Pimm's Cups, as they call it over there.  Kate's friends Andi and Ashley wandered past so Kate corralled them into the bar and more Pimm's Cups were ordered.  Chloe instantly fell in love with Andi, procured a spot in his lap and contentedly stayed there for most of the evening.  I had a great time, and if the amount of mess left behind by a baby is anything to go by, Chloe had a blast too.

The next day we headed over to Brooklyn to go to the Brooklyn Flea Market and have a nosey in Daniel's apartment.  

The Flea was ridiculously hot.  In the glaring midday sun with no shade in sight, heat emanating from the blacktop like an oven.  We stayed long enough to get some amazing pizza, a fruit lolly and some iced tea and then we were outta there.  We met up with Daniel and Pippa, stuffed our faces and then took a stroll through Fort Green.  

Cold Brewing Coffee

It's a lovely area with beautiful Brownstones, leafy streets and there was a farmer's market that had literally the best peach I have ever eaten (thanks Daniel).  Chloe was on my back and we both turned into a hot sweaty mess and who can blame a baby for getting cranky about that?  We headed to Roman's for refreshment and a break from the heat.  Chloe wasn't quite sure of Daniel (maybe it's the beard, maybe it was the gun-show, who knows?) but she eventually came round to him, which is kind of a miracle considering her opinion of his dog Theo - apparently the most terrifying beast in the land.  I was not expecting a hysterical fear of dogs, but there you go.

On Sunday morning Kate and Chloe and I popped out for iced coffee and little tasty treats from Abraco then met Daniel and Theo at the park.  Apparently dogs are only terrifying when indoors *shrug*.  Chloe and I had a few hours to ourselves so we went to the playpark to splash about in the sprinklers followed by Chloe's first time on a swing.  Very fun!  A bit of an evening wander, hanging out in a little Greek cafe, scoring some really cool shades from Auntie Kate and the day came to a  close. 

We had a great time in New York and I'm looking forward to our return visit at the end of the holiday.  I've been to New York enough times to not feel like I have to do the sightseeing stuff and honestly, I prefer just taking it slow and hanging out in the local neighbourhoods.  Luckily that fits in pretty well with traveling with a baby.  I'm also pleased to report that our exit from NY was rather less eventful than our entrance - in a good way!

 

Inauspicious Beginnings

The Egg hits Manhattan!  We landed on Thursday after a fairly decent flight.  It started out looking a bit dismal - the plane was small, the seats were narrow, I was stuck next to a Texan lady with typical American proportions who in all fairness really needed a seat and a half to herself.  Luckily the woman in the window seat offered to move to an empty seat further up the plane for the Texan scooted over and we had a bit more room.  It wasn't a bad flight and we only had a few short bursts of screaming, it was just hard work keeping an active 11month old entertained in a confined space for 7.5hrs all on my own. 

I was tired and a bit strung out when we landed at Newark and Chloe was a bit discombobulated as well.  I had two suitcases I was pulling along behind me along with a carseat, my hand luggage and a baby in a Ring Sling.  I was a packhorse.  And, yes I guess it was my own fault but I refused out of principle to pay $5 for the use of a luggage trolley but I wasn't going far, all I had to do was walk through customs and to the Passenger Pick-up Point where a car was waiting for me.  Hindsight is a wonderful thing.  The car company that was supposed to pick us up was nowhere to be seen, my mobile SIM card apparently doesn't work abroad (who knew?) and the Courtesy Phone I was told to use to call the car company wasn't connecting through to them.  I was getting a bit stressed.  I got $200 out of the cash machine, changed a $1 bill into quarters and found a payphone to call Kate.  After it had eaten my first lot of quarters, after I had slammed the handset down and stomped back to the exchange booth a tearful mess, got new quarters and trudged back to the bank of payphones I wasn't exactly in the best frame of mind.  I threw my bags on the floor, my wallet on the shelf under the payphone and finally got through to Kate.  She was in the process of giving the car company an earful and said she'd send them back to the Passenger Pick-up Point and I should go back out and wait there.  Fine.  I grabbed my bags and went and stood back out in the heat.  The car finally arrived, the guy spoke hardly any English, there was much confusion over the payment method...it wasn't getting any less stressful.  Chloe was kept occupied in the car by the monumental task of eating what was for her a very big apple, as she was being driven into The Big Apple.  The driver dropped me off at Kate's work so I could pick up her keys.  Chloe was happy to see Auntie Kate and Kate was pleased there were no more spontaneous bursts into tears at the sight of her like last time.  Chloe was much admired in the offices of Calvin Klein.  We said goodbye and got back into the car to be dropped off at Kate's apartment.  When we were pulling into her street I started looking for my wallet to pay the guy.  unfortunately my wallet was still sitting on the shelf under the payphone at the airport where I had left it.  Actually, I'm sure it was long gone by then.  There was much swearing.  We stopped at the door, the driver asked for payment, I told him I had left my wallet at the airport, he asked for a credit card.  I repeated again that I had lost my wallet and therefore didn't have a credit card.  He asked if I was paying with cash instead then.  Umm, no, I just told you I lost my wallet, I don't have any cash or credit cards.  He wasn't getting it.  I was getting more and more worked up.  I asked to borrow his phone so we could call Kate and she could pay with her credit card over the phone.  No-go, apparently they don't accept payment over the phone because they need to physically make a carbon copy of the card, company policy.  The solution?  Drive all the way back to Kate's work so she could give him her card to take payment.  This is when I kind of lost it.  In my defense, let's just re-cap:  

-I was very tired after a sleepless night, a 6am wake-up call and a long, solo pane ride with a baby

-I had waited for and been messed around with for an hour and a half once I had landed by this car company

-I just discovered I lost my wallet containing my credit & debit cards, Driving license, pictures of me and Kate that I love and a freshly withdrawn $200

-I had a cranky baby who was tired, hungry and getting more and more aggravated at being confined to a plane, a sling and then a carseat for most of the previous 12 hours.  

All I wanted to do was to get her up into the apartment, get her some food, let her scamper around, have a shower and chill out.  Now he wanted to keep us in the car and do another 1hr round trip back to Kate's office.  I totally freaked out at him.  I know he was a powerless pawn who was tied to his shitty company's stupid policy but the fact that he seemed to have no empathy for my situation kinda drove me over the edge.  I think it was possibly the first time I have actually screamed at someone, though Kate says she's sure it's not the first time he's been screamed at.  Needless to say I could have handled the situation better.  After some negotiations we managed to extricate ourselves from the vehicle, leaving one of my suitcases hostage.  A rather inauspicious arrival.

Luckily it has been all uphill since then.  

The Changing of the Colours

There are so many things that Chloe's done so far in her 11 months of life that it took me decades to fit in.  Seeing The Queen in the flesh is the latest one.  Okay, so she saw her from a fair distance away, and we can't be sure that she actually looked directly at Her Majesty but it still counts!

We spent a sunny afternoon in Holyrood Park where the Royal Regiment of Scotland was being presented with new Colours.  I took the opportunity to practice some photography and get out my zoom lens.  A good exercise in composition as well as reactive reportage photography.  I really enjoyed myself!  A day filled with marching bands, a Shetland Pony, Bearskins, Kilts and Royalty.

That stomach-sinking feeling.

Alex and Chloe and I popped over to Holyrood Park yesterday afternoon for a bit of a change of scenery from the flat.  Chloe has just started taking some steps on her own which is quite exciting.  I think three is the most she's managed so far.  Getting there one step at a time!  So I wrapped her and we walked over to the park then let her down to wander about.  Alex was encouraging her and I was following them around, snapping away with the camera.

After a while I happened to look down at myself and it took a good few seconds to register what I was seeing.  The chain I wear my wedding and engagement rings on around my neck was hanging on the outside of my shirt, but it wasn't a chain I was looking at.  All I could see were two dangling ends and no rings in sight.  Cue massive  internal panic attack.  I may have looked fairly calm but I was shitting myself inside.  Alex looked over at me.

"What's wrong?"

"My chain."

"What about it?"

"Look, it's broken." *rising panic in my voice*

"Okaaaay." *clearly not grasping the significance*

"My rings were on it.  They've fallen off.  Somewhere."

Alex surveyed the wide, open park, a look of resignation on his face.  That's when I had a thought and, not daring to hope, looked down my top.  Nestled in my bra were the two beauties.  Cue massive sigh of relief.   Horseshoe up my ass or what?

The Isle of Mull

Following on from our jaunt down South, Alex's parents arrived from Vienna and we met them over on the Isle of Mull for a week.

The journey over was fairly uneventful though we did have our first Panic Nappy-Change.  Well, I was panicking at least.  We were in the car in the queue to board the ferry, tickets were still being collected and we were stationary when Chloe did a massive poo.  Fine, not the end of the world, we could wait 5 mins to get onto the ferry to change her there.  Then I noticed the stain developing on her leggings....LEAKAGE!  Cue desperate scrabbling for the change mat, nappies, nappy sacks, spare clothes and wipes before the cars in the line ahead of us start moving onto the boat.  I got out of the car, put the changing mat on the front seat, peeled off her clothes and nappy, used half a packet of baby wipes, retrieved her from the car foot-well when she slipped down there, started stress-giggling at the predicament we were in, used the other half of the packet of baby wipes then strapped a fresh nappy on and hopped back into the car just as the line of cars started moving off.  And miraculously, neither we nor the car were covered in shit.  Apart from that, it was a breeze!

Mull is a beautiful island with really diverse scenery.  Pastoral farmland, white sandy beaches, rocky inlets, forests and mountains.

Glengorm

On the way to Calgary bay

Calgary Bay

On the Way up Ben More

And on the way down.

Chloe had fun in the sand, another first.  Fun to play in, not so fun to eat.  Trying to extract sand from your mouth with a sandy hand doesn't work too well either.  

Plenty of snuggles with me as well as once again, no pushchair in sight.  

We did get stuck in the rain on the odd occasion and we lacked some British spirit when we decided to abandon a hike up Ben More in a total downpour, but we had a lovely day out regardless.

Chloe may have forgotten to buy Alex a card for Father's Day but Margaret made sure the fathers didn't feel too forgotten.

Altogether it was a wonderful holiday and we can't wait to take Chloe back when she's old enough to really enjoy all the things the island has to offer.  I'll just have to overcome my seasickness for the 3hr long boat trip to see the Puffins next time!

I don't think I could have made it look more difficult if I'd have tried....

A little while ago Chloe and I hopped on a plane down to London to visit Granny & The Dude.  While there we went for a stroll through the beautiful rolling countryside of the North Downs Way and Newland's Corner.  A 5 mile walk with a 10 month old?  No problem, I said smugly, I'm a Babywearer!  

We arrived at the starting point with a few of Mom's walking buddies and I got out my wrap, tossed Chloe onto my back and started wrapping.  Everyone was looking suitably impressed, Chloe was happy enough and all was going well.  It was suggested that I might want to get one of those framed backpack carriers for her when she gets heavier.  "Oh no", said I, "those things are terribly heavy and not actually very comfortable for parent or child compared to using a wrap."  Me and my big mouth.  I think over the next few hours I proceeded to make wrapping look very difficult, very time consuming and possibly faffed more than I ever have in my life.  For some reason it was just one of those days.  You know, the kind where something you do perfectly well all the time just goes wrong for no apparent reason and then you get yourself all worked up trying to fix it, doing things you would never normally do to try to right it, making even more of a mess of things and then just end up throwing your hands up in a huff of failure?  Well, it was like that.  I was not a good advert for Babywearing.  Still, we got there in the end. 

Really, I should know better by now.

When Chloe crawls out of the room and I don't hear any sounds for a few minutes it does not mean that she is just quietly occupying herself.  Well, actually it does, but it means that she is quietly occupying herself with making a mess, Destructo-Baby style.  

Such as when I found her in the front hall closet...

or in the kitchen...

or in the bedroom...

or in the bathroom...

or in the office. 

These pictures were taken in the space of about 2 days, though most of it happens on a daily basis.  But it's impossible to be annoyed when she looks like this:

Alex has taken some precautions to limit her destuctiveness - witness the taping of the lights that she so adored ripping out.  Destruction foiled!  Parents 1 - Chloe ~100