Fall!

Fall has definitely arrived in the south (despite the nearly 80 degree weather). The trees are just gorgeous here right now. We're lucky to have three red beauties in our yard.

We're headed to Arkansas tomorrow evening to spend Thanksgiving with my parents in their new house! We'll drive part way and then make the rest of the drive in on Thanksgiving morning. Here's hoping that Carter likes road trips...

Mommy Day Care

Our nanny was out sick today, and neither Thomas nor I could really take the day off, so I multi-tasked and did childcare while I worked. It isn't at all difficult to take care of a toddler while attempting to participate in conference calls and work with large data files...

Recent Photos

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, I got home from NYC on Thursday night and then promptly caught Carter's stomach bug. We all seem to be recovered now. Here are a few recent pics.

Dinner-time antics
Lately, Carter has taken to balancing food on his head while he eats (and he's really good at it). We know that he will never stop doing it if we keep laughing hysterically, but it's just so funny!

First Popsicle
As I eased back into solid food after my bug, we also introduced Carter to popsicles. He only licked it a few times but he said "Mmmmm" incessantly.

Snack time in the rocking chair
When my parents were here last weekend they brought this little rocker that was mine when I was a kid. Carter loves sitting in it.

Train

Metro-North is the best train in the country. Well, that's not quite true... The Acela Express is the best train in the country, but that's not really a daily commuter train, so, I'll revise to say: Metro-North is the best commuter train in the country. It is clean, on time, well lit, nice conductors - plus, I get a seat almost every time. Plus, you get to go through Grand Central, which is gorgeous (way better than Penn Station). Of course, it's kind of expensive $15 (for round trip peak ticket) + $2 (coffee for the morning ride) + $9 (two splits of wine for the ride home). The morning coffee vendor remembers my order even though I only see him a couple days a month and its pretty much impossible to be running too late to get a drink for the ride home. The vendors are on the tracks! They give you a cup and a straw for any beverage (which was definitely wierder for coffee than wine, but you get used to it - and appreciate that you haven't spilled on your suit!). It's a really great train. Better than the subway or NJ transit -- and definitely better than the MARTA in Atlanta (though I'll leave Thomas to rant about that another day).

You may have guessed that I'm in nyc again this week. I am staying with Patrick and Kirstin and am working looong hours. I'm headed home tomorrow night and can't wait to see my boys!

Zoo

We went to the Atlanta Zoo yesterday, where Carter got to see a real life Giant Panda (Theodore, the stuffed animal he sleeps with is a panda).

Atlanta Zoo has one of the country's only baby Pandas, but she was sleeping, so we only saw her back. This one was much more fun to watch.

You'll notice that I pretty much only have pics of Carter if he's running straight for me or if he is caught unaware (I wrote in yesterday's post about his new found love of taking pictures). Doesn't he look like such a little boy??

Culture Shock: Poultry

While this was apparently a pretty common sight in my brother's old neighborhood in NYC, I didn't ever just happen upon poultry until I moved south...

Visit

My parents made a very short visit this weekend, mostly to bring a trailer full of my things that they wanted to get rid of. We look forward to spending more quality time with them at thanksgiving (because this visit was less than 36 hours long), but it was great to see them!

Carter and his namesakes, Grandads Phil and Carter.

Carter apparently want to go for a bike ride. He climbed into his bike seat twice while we were unpacking things in the garage...
If you've noticed that we haven't posted many pics of Carter lately, its because he's become obsessed with taking pictures himself. If he sees the camera, he wants to be behind it (taking after his uncles, perhaps?). This is a pic that he and I took of Mama Helen.

Excuses, Excuses

If you've been wondering why I've been so out of touch lately, its partially because we're still unpacking, but mostly because I've been insanely busy at work. The insanity has been, in part, due to a re-launch of www.SchoolMatters.com. We launched the site on Friday, so check it out.

Bluegrass Weekend

On Friday night we went to a BBQ and Bluegrass young adult gathering for the church (thanks to Park and Ashley for the babysitting services). It was definitely the first church function I've ever attended where everyone was required to bring either a six-pack or a bottle of wine. Then yesterday we went to a Chili Cookoff in a neighborhood called Cabbagetown - complete with bluegrass music, a cabbage shredding competition and lots and lots of chili.

This is our 6th weekend in Atlanta, and we've been to 4 festivals - Arts&Music, Halloween, NASCAR (we happened upon that one while shopping) and Chili. During these last 6 weeks we've also missed at least three festivals in our own neighborhood.

I'm not sure if this is just festival season because the fall weather is so lovely or if there is just always a reason to celebrate in Atlanta.

Halloween!

It was a successful Halloween evening (even though Thomas thinks that everyone thought Carter was a girl).

It took a few houses, but Carter more or less got the hang of trick or treating. At first he was taking candy out of the house bowl, waving it about, putting it back in the house bowl and saying bye-bye.

We did trick-or-treating in Carter and Donna's neighborhood, which is very nice - and very hilly. Below, Carter's thinking, "I have to climb up that hill -- for candy? I'm not even allowed to eat candy!"

But he did climb the hill.


He didn't mind because he got a sweet taxi ride from house to house...