Today in New York

Today, Theo woke up at 5:15 and went back to sleep about 10 minutes later but I, I could not fall asleep again. It's 10am and it's already been a long day. Today, the weather is crappy - sticky, humid, threatening to rain, not very almost-October. Today, Barak Obama is speaking in Washington Square Park, 2 blocks away from my apartment. I am going to try to take Theo but it's going to be a mob scene. It's right in the middle of campus for goodness sake. Even if only 10% of the student population of NYU turns up, the park will be packed.

New York City mornings

I have the luck to not have to deal with the morning commute. However, I still have to wake up at 6am to start my job as Mom. I was recently inspired by my friend Cynthia to take better advantage of the mornings. She mentioned that she often takes her daughter for a morning walk, grabs a coffee or a bagel, enjoying the cooler weather. Last week Cynthia and I took our kids out for a 7:30am breakfast date and for the past few mornings I have continued the morning outing routine. Sunday and Monday I actually got my act together and took Theo for a run along the Hudson River and today we just went for a walk to get some coffee. Mornings in New York are so much more pleasant. There isn't a lot of traffic yet, many people are surprisingly friendly (I guess because they haven't had a chance to get pissed off at the world yet) and there are lots of dogs being walked and who can't smile at a dog? Even though it's hard for me to fathom getting out of my bed when I am summoned by my son and it's still dark outside, once I'm up and moving it's pretty darn pleasant. Hopefully I can stick with this new routine although it might be destroyed once the temperatures start to drop.

Hard weekend

Theo has had a bit of a cold the last few days and while I think the worst of it has passed, it has been challenging. He hardly napped at all over the weekend which was tough since that's when Rich and I get some time to ourselves to either hang out together or to get some stuff done. We were really dragging today despite having a relatively decent night's sleep for the first time in days. However, we powered through it and I just hope we return to some semblance of normalcy this week.

I don't have anything terribly exciting to blog about tonight but in an effort to write more, here I am anyway. I should actually be reading a book I have to finish soon because I might be teaching it sometime soon. It's not that I don't like it, I just know that if I start reading I will fall asleep making the whole exercise seem futile. What the hell. Time for bed anyway.

Fall-ing

Ah, Autumn in New York. The weather has been glorious and that makes all the beautiful things about this city sparkle and shine. I feel like we are finally recovering from our crazy summer travels and settling back into a nice routine. We are also nesting a little bit in preparation for colder weather. I got our desk organized and cleaned up (you can take a free shuttle to the IKEA in Elizabeth, NJ. It was so damn easy and I didn't have to think beyond my little shopping list) and the armoire we ordered for our television arrived in many boxes today so soon we will have a baby-proof TV zone. It was a good weekend - cleaning, organizing, going to the playground, getting bagels early on Sunday morning, Rich and Theo went to Central Park Saturday afternoon and the Red Sox at least won one of the three games against the Yankees.

I feel like as Theo approaches the one year mark Rich and I are finally finding our footing as parents. I am going to start teaching a little bit and Theo will be getting adjusted to an additional caretaker. That alone opens up so much more possibility - work, stroller-free errands and yes, even a date night with my husband. I'm heading into Fall with a clearer mind and slightly better focus so I'm eager to see what that opens up for me.