You know your a mom when...

...you accidentally brush your teeth with diaper rash cream instead of toothpaste. 

Yes. You read that correctly...please don't judge me. 

As you can see from the picture, there is not much difference between a diaper rash cream tube and a toothpaste tube when you have them laying face down. This combined with the lack of sleep a new mother experiences equals disaster when diaper cream is left on the bathroom counter. 

So my advice to all you new mothers out there: Don't leave diaper cream in the bathroom. 

It's Christmas time in the city....

I love this time of year, especially in NYC. I am sad because I haven't been able to enjoy the weather and the Christmas festivities as much as I would like to, since little Hunter occupies much of my time and doesn't let me get out much.

I am hoping once Pat gets time off of work that we will be able to explore the city more as a family and we will be able to enjoy the magical feeling the Christmas brings to this wonderful city that we live in.

Of course one of the downsides to a Christmas in New York City is the size of the tree and having to be creative on where to put it! Every year I am convinced that we won't be able to put up our tiny tree because we have no room. However, without fail Pat always finds a way. This year he found the perfect spot on top of our small bookshelf!

Every year I look forward to putting up the ornaments on the tree. It is always fun to reminisce on years past. I can't believe how quickly time flies and this is the fifth Christmas Pat and I have spent together. 

This year, I had some "new" Christmas ornaments to add to the tree that I am especially fond of. When my mom came in October she brought a handful of ornaments that belonged to my grandparents. They are so charming and take me back to my childhood of Christmas Eve's spent at my grandparents home set in the Oakland Hills. 

 

One ornament in particular brought back a flood of memories -- the knitted Reindeer heads. When my mom brought them I got excited because I remember always going up to my grandparents tree and checking to see if there was a special treat inside these reindeers. If I got to them before anyone else, I would find a hershey kiss waiting for me. The funny thing about this, is my mom had no memory of the purpose of these reindeer so when I popped open the mouth of the two reindeer ornaments she brought me, guess what I found!!! Two hershey kisses! The funny thing is from my calculations the hershey kisses were probably over 12 years old!

Christmas is a time for family and traditions. I am excited start my family and to continue old traditions and start new traditions of our own!

My Husband's Secret FB Life {Part III}

I feel old. When I go on Facebook I am confused and uninterested. I feel up to date on my technologies of the time, but I am totally lacking in the social media phenomenon. Perhaps it is because I don't have a I-phone, but regardless, what I do find interesting is stalking my husband via FB. 

Here are some of his Facebook posts as of late:

Just another day in the office w/ Klane Harding

west coast is the best coast — with Lindsay Storm Koelling. 

New Yorks crazy taxi ride.

Pat and Sean (bro-in-law) went on Las Vegas' New York, New York Rollercoaster. Right after this picture was taken. They stopped the ride and took away Sean's phone.

Introducing the Klane and Pat lunch break. It's a blast. All it takes is an hour in midtown, a severed squirrel head and The American Girl doll store. Fun.

Pat got this mounted squirrel head as a gift for his friend who got married. During his lunch break, while he was getting the married man's last name engraved on a gold plaque to put on the mount, they stopped by the American Girl Store to see if they needed to get some accessories. 

Now the cleaning lady will never mistake it for trash again! 

So there is a story to go along with this Crystal Pepsi can. When Pat applied to the BYU advertising program he had a segment that required a can of Crystal Pepsi. He actually found one and bought it off of Ebay and treasured the can for years and kept it on his desk at his work. Suddenly, one day the can was gone. It turns out the cleaning lady mistook it for trash and threw it away!!! How could she!?!? Pat was devastated. So of course he had to buy another one on Ebay and display is in a glass dome. 

Manhattanage

This is how we are spending our Friday night!

Sleepy Weekend

Unlike last weekend, this past weekend was more relaxed. I took some pictures and realized the only pictures I took were of Montee and/or Pat sleeping. I just found these moments precious and wanted to remember them.

The boys taking a Sunday nap

Everyday when I come home from work this is what I find:
Montee sleeping like a person in our bed.

In not so good news, Montee had another seizure yesterday while we were at work. We knew because we found vomit and urine in the right proximity to each other. The test results came back from the last time and we still don't know what is wrong. Hopefully we will find out soon.

But to end on a good note, last night I saw the Broadway show "Once." It is up for 11 Tony's so I knew I had to see it before the tickets were sold out for years and the price sky rocketed. It was such a unique experience and one that I loved and to follow in my love for seeing movies alone I took it one more step and saw this Broadway show alone after work. I just found out about the play on Sunday so I went online on Monday and bought myself a ticket. Pat's not one for musicals so there was no sense in wasting the money on him, and I didn't want to feel bad about inviting someone to spend so much money to see it with me and then for it not to be that good. By going alone, I didn't have to worry about anyone else, all I had to do was enjoy the show!

I knew I would love the show even before it started. As you arrived the bar was right on stage, so you could go up and get a drink while standing right next to the 13 actors who were in the performance. The show was more play like than an elaborate Broadway musical production. The stage never changed but rather the viewer used their imagination as they went through the story line. But most of all, the music was incredible. It was totally up my alley in the type of music I like: Folk/soft rock/dance around the apartment fun.

Gotye and Parenthood

My friend Joanna sent this to me and I fell in love with it. I have been totally obsessed with this song ever since I heard the remake of it on American Idol a few weeks ago and can't get enough of it, and now I can't get enough of these kids singing it!

Being a "realist" who is pregnant I tend to gets moments of fear and anxiety for the change in my life that is about to take place. I envision sleepless nights, a crying baby, me struggling to get a carry a stroller up subway stairs, financial stresses, a totally stressed out mom, and more, more and more. However, being a "realist" doesn't mean that I should only focus on all the difficult times ahead, it means I must be realistic about all the happiness and fun Pat and I are going to have raising our kids. This video really made me get excited for those awesome times when kids just make you laugh. I can only hope our kids are this cool!

Spoiled Kitty

I haven't mentioned much about Montee lately, but he is still up to his quirky antics and had his one year birthday in March. His new thing lately is constantly wanting to take a bath. When he was a kitten he LOVED playing in the bath tub, however, in his teenage years he was being rebellious and didn't want anything to do with water. However, I am so glad that he has gotten back to his roots and now enjoys his bath at least a few times a week.


Almost everyday we hear him meowing in the bathroom (he hardly ever meows). When we go in to check on him he is sitting in the tub begging us to turn on the water. When we do fill up the tub for him, he just enjoys walking around and sitting in the warm water for a half an hour or so. 

This past week, Pat made up a bubble bath for Montee. What a spoiled kitty.

"Portrait for a free $0"

Remember when my best friend, Meghan, and her husband, Matt, came to visit us in December? Well, one evening while were were walking along 5th Avenue, enjoying the Christmas windows, we have a very funny experience. We all walked by an young Asian man squatting behind a small card table that had a very poorly written sign that said "Portrait for a free $0."

As typical New Yorkers, we just walked by because of the constant bombardment of beggars and solicitors encountered on a daily basis, but there seemed to be something different with this guy. We had to go back and see what it was all about.

I approached the man, who was squatting on the sidewalk, and told him I would be interested in a free portrait. He was a very jolly and happy fellow, but didn't speak much English. Although, he didn't speak our language, I quickly found out he was extremely fluent in body language! As he started my portrait he crouched down, squinted his eyes, swayed side to side in a jolted rhythm, and moved his arms with extreme motion. We all couldn't help but laugh, especially as a crowd started to form as passerby's saw the artistic performance.

Now, I can't say that this is the best depiction of Patrick and I, but I think it definitely resembles us and you gotta give credit where credit is due because he did do each under a minute and with such emotion!

Matt

(Mr. Ma-to, how your flesh outlines your body is beautiful, Let's meet again. love your neck! 2011.12.21, Taisuke Yatabe)

Meghan

( "Meigen, Thank you, I could boldly draw you, your smile is too wonderful, please let me draw you again, 2011.12.21, Taisuke Yatabe." )

Lindsay

Translation by my Japanese friend, Sayuri Katayama Lege: The message he wrote on yours says "Linzu-(his way of saying your name) 2011.12.21, Taisuke Yatabe(his name), First time to draw an Ultra beautiful girl, See you! Please let me draw you again." 

Pat

Translation by my Japanese friend, Sayuri Katayama Lege: On Pat, he wrote "Patto(his way of saying the name), your lips are my Ultra favorite, Please let me draw you again! 2011.12.21, Taisuke Yatabe(his name)" New York looks so fun!!

Next time you see a Japanese man squatting on the ground with a sign that reads "Portraits for a free" you gotta stop. Trust me, you will not regret it!

My Semi-Annual: My Husband's Secret FB Life

As I have mentioned before, I probably only engage in the phenomenon of Facebook for about 10 minutes a week, only for the simple fact I get bored. That is probably because I don't have much to share, unlike Pat, whose Facebook page managed to keep me totally entertained during my 10 minutes of Facebook stalking for this week.

Look at what I found:

I am dumbfounded when Pat says he doesn't like his work, 
when I find pictures of him wearing a horse head.

FB Title: "My favorite part of the day." 
I will ignore the fact that it was posted by a female co-worker. :)

FB title: "The obscure awardosaurus"
When I see pics like this I just can't help to wonder how the heck this photo came about.

FB Title: "Kids playing."
Next time Pat comes home so tired from work, I will know why. 

Pat in the yellow mask...

Can you believe Pat get's paid to do this all day? 

Oh...the life of a Creative. 

Growing Old With Pat

i-phones can do anything! With this i-phone app, we just took a picture and within seconds Pat and I aged a good 50 years. You would think I wouldn't like the outcome, but I actually think I look really cute!

This just confirms my suspicions that Pat and I will be the cutest old couple, EVER.

Nutty Montee

Montee is nuts. This video just gives you a glimpse into what I mean.

Welcome to Canada

(Video courtesy of the best video blog out there: Shouldisendit2nate)

I know I have a weird sense of humor, since videos like the magic show kids make me practically pee my pants, but this video made me REALLY question my sense of humor. I mean, why did this make me laugh uncontrollably at work to a point where I had tears streaming down my face?

P.S. Ever since watching Beavers: IMAX (instant play on netflix) I have had a huge respect for this animal. Probably up there on my top 10 list of coolest animals.

P.P.S. And since I am on the topic of being really geeky and revealing my obsession with animals, we recently watched a really cool documentary on dogs, called Dogs Decoded (instant play on netflix). Definitely a good watch...if you're into that kind of thing.

Doug and Mariah visit NYC {Year Two}

Our good good friends, Doug and Mariah, came and visited us again this year. This is becoming a kind of tradition as this is the second year they came on the same weekend as last year. Doug has a Christmas party for his work in NYC around the second weekend of December. I am so glad that Doug and Mariah use this as an excuse to come visit us!

Mariah had just two things she wanted to do while she was in New York City.

1. Eat at Lombardis, the first pizzeria in the U.S.
2. Go to FAO Shwarz
3. Take pictures with Montee

I am happy to say we were able to do all of them!

I was lucky that I still had one vacation day while they were here, so I was able to take a day off and spend it with Mariah. 

First, we had lunch at a local crepe joint. Then we went to South Sea Port and got some discounted Broadway tickets at TKTS.  Then we walked on the Brooklyn bridge. Then we got cupcakes at Sprinkles. Then we went to FAO Shwarz and watch a "BIG PIANO" performance and got the chills. Then later that night we at the famous Halal Street food with the husbands, went to Rockefeller Center and saw the Christmas window displays. Yes, you can say it was a great day. 

The rest of the weekend was a blast, but unfortunately, unlike last year, Doug had to work a lot more. Bummer. But he still managed to meet up with us during the nights and even during the day to see the critically acclaimed Broadway show "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" which was great. 

I forgot to mention that Doug missed his flight coming to NYC due to work. And unfortunately, BOTH Doug and Mariah missed their flights leaving NYC due to Doughnut Plant. For some reason, I got it in my head that I really wanted to go to this famous Doughnut shop. I told Doug and Mariah about it and got it in their heads too. The whole weekend we tried to make it to the shop before it closed, but could never get around to it. So finally, the last day they were here, we knew we had to go. However, this unfounded little obsession of mine, along with us not being able to catch a cab, caused the Brewster's to miss their flight! Needless to say, I felt awful and the doughnuts weren't even good, but we did have an little adventure that we other wise wouldn't of had...fishing for ray bans in the subway. See video below.