Memorial Day in the Park

We stayed in town for Memorial day this year which was the first time in a long time. The weather was perfect, McCarren Park was lively and Scott's best buddy Adam arrived from LA just in time to enjoy his new neighborhood with Louise and her rents.

African Bazaar

Having stayed in the city this weekend, Louise and the other Brooklyn Stedmans went to the African Bazaar street festival in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. There were African textiles and jerk chicken vendors as far as the eye could see. Louise showed her excitement by kicking her legs to the beat of Rasta jams.

New York, New York

Any New Yorker can tell you that beautiful weather hits this city like a tidal wave of euphoria. People shake off their foul moods and anxieties to line up at the nearest ice cream truck, children toss off their book bags to dance in the fountains and all the adorable babies do baby things to the delight of people citywide.

Louise and I seized the day by walking over the Williamsburg Bridge into Manhattan to visit the New Museum then hit Washington Square Park which was resplendent with flowers and sunbathers and that perennial culture of bums, vagrants and minstrels who seem very happy to have their park back after its long renovation.

Toes!

Is it too early to start describing Louise as "gifted"? Is that possibly the most obnoxious thing first time parents can do? Probably so, but this kid is already grabbing at her tiny toes!

When she grabs them she looks up at us with a kind of "Can you believe it? These little long wiggly things can connect to these little short wiggly things" look. And of course we hover over her cooing and praising her and saying "W-O-W" in an annoying sing-songy way, so rather than a little genius we're probably raising a tiny showboating ego maniac. Is it too early for those Little Miss talented kid pageants?

Just kidding.

On Saturday we had brunch with Simon and Sam who are expecting a baby boy in the fall. You can see that they already treat their cat Carlos like a child. Bad news for Carlos, that kid's going to steal your cat toys and grab your tail and get to wear mini Red Sox ball caps...

Afterwards we took Lou to Trader Joe's for a little shopping and a lot of crying. You can see that the candies at the checkout did nothing to change the mood.

12 WEEKS OLD

My how time flies!! Our little dumpling is rolling around, kicking her legs in the air, laughing, playing and giving us even more joy than we ever thought possible.

We had a lovely Mother's day weekend in Boston and spent time with all the Stedmans and with my mom, sister and Lila. Somehow I don't have a pic of me and my girl but I can assure you she gave me a wonderful first Mother's day complete with chocolates, hugs and lovely smiles.

Also, Louise is shown here wearing one of Scott's first baby outfits! So cute.

First Reflection

Baby sees self in mirror and her perceptions about life are irrevocably challenged.

May Day

Our camera's cup runeth over... In the last week Louise has visited the Brooklyn Botanic Garden with mom, spent a lovely weekend in Great Barrington with her pal Maggie Abely and has learned a thing or two about rolling from tummy to back. Also little Lou has made great strides toward thumb sucking- pacifier be damned.