Mmm...sweet potatoes

Well, the day for Claire has arrived. Solid food here we come. On the recommendation of Claire's pediatrician and lots of research I did on my own, we have waited six months to introduce solid food to Claire. Josh had the honor of feeding her first bites and what was the meal? Roasted sweet potatoes! She seems to have grown to tolerate them though as we've moved onto pears, she's enthusiastically eating them. Its not with some sadness that I've embraced this milestone. I can't believe we're already at the six month mark.

Six Months Old

Claire turned six months old on our New York trip. She also picked up some new habits while she was away, sitting up and eating her toes were just two of them. Claire is weighing in at 16 lbs 8oz and 27 1/4 inches long. Go Girl!




She also found her twin, kewpie doll from Aunt Josie.

New York Day Five...the Final Day

Phew...what a trip. Claire was a great sport as long as we were hunkered down for the evening by 6:30 or 7:00 p.m. I was so surprised at how well she did traveling all over the city by Taxi, subway and train.

We planned to swing by the Early Show and say hi to Matt & Meredith since they film right by our hotel but when Claire started playing with my nose and woke me up at 7:45 a.m. we figured we weren't going to get down to the studio in time. I'm certainly not complaining...I LOVED the sleep.

The Empire State Building

The Flat Iron building...way in the background.
Rockafellar Center and NBC Studios.

We met up with Uncle Peter, not a blood uncle but an Uncle nonetheless. It was great to see him and he took over as tour guide showing us a few more sites in NY before we packed up and headed to the airport.

We managed to make it four days without my mom getting into trouble...then came Uncle Peter. We weren't with him but 15 minutes and my mom got in trouble TWICE. Once for going inside the security booth (see photo) and once for standing on the wrong side of the NBC studio window.



This pretty much sums up how Claire and I spent Wednesday after we got back...

New York Day 4...Ground Zero part A

Life at home with an infant hasn't left me with a whole lot of time to research sites to see in NY. Consequently my must see list was very small and one of the things at the top was Ground Zero. Its now a giant construction site, there is very little that would suggest anything sinister had occurred here and yet even as I stepped off the subway and dodged New Yorkers on their way to work I was surprised by the lump in my throat. This is an event that I will remember as long as I have memories.

If you look closely, in the center background of this photo is the steeple of the church that was very close to the towers and yet undamaged on September 11. Incredible.

New York Day Four...Battery Park, Union Square, Soho, Greenwich Village part B

Three things I learned today:

1. Greenwich village is in New York NOT Connecticut.

2. Soho stands for South of Houston (pronounced House-ton)
3. Martinis are not allowed in playgrounds in New York City

This was our day to visit Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. Lady Liberty and the Island proved to be elusive as the line for the Ferry (even though we had tickets) was an hour and a half wait in the frigid wind. Claire wasn't going to go for that.

So, because of the wait and because of Brieanne's flight that day, we opted for a stroll through Soho and Greenwich village.

There's so much brick in NY, I was surprised by that.


After saying goodbye to Brieanne, we decided to have a little New York adventure of our own. We took the subway to Union Square for a delicious meal at Republic, a noodle house. I highly recommend this place.
We all took a turn at trying to pacify Claire during dinner.

New York Day 3...EASTER

He is risen indeed!

This is the punkinpatch's 100th post....yay for the patch!

We spent Easter morning at mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. I wish somebody would have told me about the Easter parade before I came to New York, Claire and I would have come prepared with our Easter Bonnets.

We had Easter lunch at a darling cafe called Le Pain Quotidien. It is the only place where the bagettes taste just like the ones you can get in France. Delicious. I also recommend their six vegetable quiche...Brieanne ordered it but I wish I had too. YUM!

After lunch we walked over to Central Park for a lovely but chilly stroll.

The talented Brieanne in action.

After warming up with some hot chocolate and seeing Jackie Mason (an old comedian) in Starbucks and mistaking him for a wax figure (honestly, is all that plastic surgery and botox necessary?) We headed to Times Square.

Enroute to Bryant Park, Claire decided enough was enough with the carrier, she wanted to be held instead so we stopped for a mom/daughter photo op.

Bryant Park, this spot made my top five favs of the trip.

Claire had her first carousel ride in Bryant Park...maybe this is why it was one of my favorites.

After a long day on the go, a little playtime and leg stretching helped Claire relax. I'm sure New York has great nightlife. I'll wait to experience that when Claire is a little older.

And to finish off an evening in the city, a warm bath in the soaker tub.

New York Day 2...planes, trains & automobiles

Day 2 in New York brought rain rain rain. On the recommendation of doorman at the hotel we grabbed a bite to eat at Longwood, a cafe/market/convenience store around the corner. Apparently this cafe/market/convenience store is a common thing in New York. Brieanne described it as a liquor store salad bar phenomenon.

Saturday was the trip to Briarcliff Manor, about an hour outside the city where Aunt Josie lives. Claire was helping Auntie B figure out that map.

Claire has decided to be our NY tour guide.

Claire LOVED Aunt Josie and was enamored with the sound of her voice. It was so darling.

Thanks to Brieanne for some of the photos in this post.

Aunt Josie is my grandpa's cousin's wife. At 94 she is something else. Hilarious as ever, she motored around the kitchen making delicious lasagna and meatballs. She is amazing.

The Hudson river on a cloudy day.Grand Central Station. I felt like I was inside the movie the Untouchables until Josh reminded me that Untouchables was about Al Capone and took place in Chicago...whooops.

New York Day 1

3:45 a.m. and the alarm went off for my shower before we got on the road to the airport. I didn't really need an alarm, I'd been awake on and off since 1:15 a.m. with anxiety about the trip ahead. Five plus hours is a long time to be on a plane with a squirmy baby and I had no idea how Claire would fare during the trip.

Josh got Claire up and spent a few minutes of precious daddy/daugther time before loading her into the car. Poor baby, she looked so confused and dazed about why we had her up when it was still way dark outside. She sang to us the whole car ride to the airport, surprising us both that she didn't go back to sleep.

Our flight was on time. Preboarding is really overrrated. We got to get on the plane first but it wasn't but two minutes or so before they called everybody else to board.

Claire enjoyed playing with her toys.
She enjoyed playing with the cord to my headset even more. We met up with Auntie B at the hotel.

Essentials for Traveling with a baby

Claire and I just returned from a girls trip (mom, grandma & sister) to New York City. Traveling takes on a whole new side when you are taking an infant along. For the last couple weeks I've been doing my online homework about what to take/have when traveling with a baby. Aside from the essentials that one needs to have when staying somewhere other than home, the following is a list of necessities I found useful when on plane with a baby for five plus hours.

* ziploc bags (for dirty clothes, diapers, etc)
* antibacterial wipes (to wipe down anything the baby might touch)
* toys
* baby medicine (we had tylenol, mylicon drops & teething tablets)
* baby wipes (plenty of them)
* diapers (way more than you think you'd need)
* three or so changes of clothes (you might not think you need that many but after Claire blew out two of her outfits in one plane trip I was grateful to have the third set of clothes)
**a note about the clothes, I clothes that are super comfy for baby and easy for diaper changes
* changing pad - I'm sure the people in our row were thrilled (note sarcasm) that I was changing Claire's diaper on my lap but the bathroom was not big enough to accomodate a rolling baby.
* Carseat (even though we didn't purchase a seat for Claire, we were fortunate that our flight was not completely full and we were able to use her carseat on board the plane. She didn't spend a ton of time in it but it was nice to have)
* birth certificate (they never asked to see it but I had it just in case)
* food
* something for baby to suck on for takeoff and landing (landing seemed to be more of an issue than takeoff).
* blankets to keep baby warm if temperature is cool onboard the plane.

Claire

Goooooooooo GIANTS!

***DISCLAIMER*** this post in no way reflects the opinions or preferences of the Smith household as a whole.

Claire on opening day of Giant's baseball season!

Claire is much more interested in the fringe on the blanket than the camera.

Long Overdue Family hike

One of my new year's resolutions was to take a family hike once a month. We were successful in January by scheduling the hike for new year's day. Unfortunately February and March flew by and all of a sudden it was April and we hadn't been hiking in two months.

Our hike today took us to Clayton and Black Diamond Mines. We didn't go all the way to the mines or the ghosttown but we did get a nice little hike in.

Claire smiling in between serenading us on our hike.

Lola on high alert after seeing a ground squirrel.Claire enjoying the scenery and fresh air.

Lola is clearly tired and not wanting to go any farther.

Claire in the beco, she got so comfortable she ended up falling asleep.

All for a good day on the slopes

Friday Josh and Brandon went skiing. Thanks to a very generous man I know through my work, the guys were able to ski Northstar for free. It was a beautiful, sunny and chilly day.

Oh what one will do for a day on the slopes.

April is in the air

Claire has taken an interest in cleaning, she decided to help Josh sweep the floor.

Deep in concentration during tummy time.

ahh...the sweet relief of a teether.

A little cat nap in between teething crying spells and bedtime.