4 Years Down - Forever to go!

It's been four years since Mike and I said "I DO!"....and I can't even believe how quickly time has flown.  Our marriage has evolved quite a bit since our 3 year anniversary in all the most wonderful ways possible.  Since we've celebrated 3 years, we went on three fantastic vacations to Turks & Caicos, Greece and the UK, we bought a house/moved out of the city, and we found out we were FINALLY expecting!!!!  Such a huge year for us to grow together as a family and take on new challenges and life changes. This year also saw the fundamental shift from us enjoying the city life relatively care-free, to being a bit more fiscally responsible as we think about and plan for our future.  So I guess you can say, that we transitioned to being grown ups!!!

Since this is an even numbered anniversary, that means it was my turn to plan the anniversary dinner.  Perfect - have a 7.5 month pregnant lady, who can't drink or travel or do anything too physical, plan the biggest date night of the year!  The traditional gift of 4 years is fruit and flowers.  This one was hard....WHAT IN GOD'S NAME can you do with fruit and flowers.  I was NOT about to send my husband an edible arrangement.  And even though wine tasting or vineyard getaways are a great option for 4 year celebrations - that just wouldn't be entertaining for a lady who is exercising sobriety (for just 9.5 more weeks....and then I'm having an old fashioned).

So, I had to really rack my brain here.  And I came up with a very Mobley (and festive) solution.  First comes presents.  I'm not sure my husband would appreciate me sending him flowers to work, nor does he particularly crave fruit.  BUT...if there is one thing that he DOES appreciate, it's festive attire - which usually involves flowers and fruit!!!  I shopped at all of Mike's favorite retail stores for "costumes" including Tommy Bahama, TABS (because Bermuda shorts are a party on the inside!), Vineyard Vines and Island Spirits (yes, that's a real company) to come up with the complete head-to-toe outfit.  Everything was adorned with either fruit or flowers.  But the piece de resistance....my friends...was the Yoda Hawaiian print Vans I found on Amazon.  If there is an article of clothing to sum up my husband, it would be these shoes.

Second  comes the event.  Last time I was in charge, I obviously was not pregnant and I was a bit more adventurous. But this big belly didn't preclude me from wanting to still plan something thoughtful!   I (along with my team at work) racked my brain to find restaurants that were named after fruit of flowers - whether it was in English or not, didn't matter.  On one of our drives home from the city (yes, we drove in a few times last week), we passed the Cloisters, and it occurred to me that in 5 years of living in New York City, we had never made it out to the Cloisters.  Upon doing some further digging, I discovered that there was, in fact, a BRAND NEW restaurant that opened up at the Cloisters, right in the middle of all the beautiful gardens and lush landscape.....and it was aptly named NEW LEAF!  

The restaurant (albeit new, and still working out some logistic kinks) was so sweet and was very nicely done.  After it's been running for a little longer, I'd highly recommend it to my friends (they need some more time to beef up their dessert options).  What is more impressive though was the setting.  Overlooking the Hudson, during a gorgeous sunset, on a perfect spring evening - just magical.

The past four years have been the best of my life, and this year was just the icing on the top of our delicious cake of life - and it will only get better as we grow our little family.  This was the last year of babysitter-free anniversary celebrating, and the last year as the two of us - so it was flawless. When shopping for a card for Mike, I found one that simply said "I love our love".  It couldn't have been more perfect.  We're silly and we parade around in costumes.  We embrace every opportunity to live life and see the world.  We work as a team to achieve our goals together.  And we strive to seek out the "happy" in every situation, even when life throws us unexpected curve balls.  So yes, I love our love - every single second!  I can't wait to celebrate 5 years with little America in the picture next year - but 5 years is on you Mike - TAG, YOU'RE IT!

7 Month Update!

I can't believe it's finally my 3rd trimester.  It feels like just yesterday I was sneaking around and having fake cocktails so that I could keep my little miracle a secret until it was safe!  But here we are at 28 weeks and we just have 3 months left to go until baby America makes her debut!  Here is a little update of how we're feeling these days:


Size of baby: the size of an eggplant

How is Mommy doing?  (I have a few contributions for how mommy is doing)

The Good!  I successfully navigated the moving process like a champ.  Outside of the extra lbs and the enormous belly, you wouldn't have even known I was pregnant.  I was packing & unpacking, making trips inside and out, upstairs and down, painting rooms, doing laundry - you name it!  My days started at 7:30a and didn't end until close to 9p, when I felt like I was slightly starting to lose just a tiny bit of steam.  I wasn't plagued by any baby pain or fatigue at any point while I finished up the 2nd trimester. 

The Bad. At the end of these crazy days, it was evident that my feet totally started to swell.  Which I'm sure is a function of the pregnancy, but also probably the 15,000 steps I was doing as part of the move!  I've also started the "silly crying" episodes.  I think my husband would argue with this point, but I've been relatively stable with my emotions, until now.  And now I cry.  In fact, I had my first "silly cry" when we were in Bermuda.  I was so emotional about the fact that I couldn't partake in the Rum Swizzle party that Mike was having and I felt terrible that he had to finish a pitcher all alone.  It was the saddest.  I wasn't crying because I couldn't partake, I was crying because I felt like Mike was being festive alone....and the tears just wouldn't stop.  Big ol' pea sized tears that just kept coming, all throughout our lunch! 

The Ugly....OMG, the baby brain! I've somehow managed to turn into a complete fumbling, mumbling crazy lady.  To the point where I actually don't even know the words that are coming out of my mouth - I'm incapable of forming a thoughtful sentence!  I can't form complete thoughts, I forget what I was going to say, I look at people and it's like I black out.  I can see that they are speaking to me, but I can't process their words quick enough. Luckily everyone in my life has been completely understanding and almost amused by these fumbles - but I feel like I'm losing control of my brain!

How's baby doing?  Remember when I was around 20 weeks and I was concerned that I hadn't felt the baby kick yet?  Well she moves...and she moves all day every day.  Anything could trigger it.  She loves when I eat, she loves when I'm in a big presentation, she loves when I'm relaxing, she loves when I'm sitting, she loves spicy food, she loves ice cream, she loves when we play her Van Halen, and she loves when we read her Dr. Seuss books.  We can SEE the bumps and kicks now too!  And she's still a big girl so far!  At our 26 week appointment, she was still measuring about a week ahead of her weight.  So if she takes after her momma, we might have a butterball on our hands folks!

What I'm craving:  Strawberries dipped in Nutella.  De-lish!  And ice cream.  I end every evening of my life with a little bowl (yes, little, I'm cognizant of over-eating!) of vanilla bean ice cream with a few Reeces Pieces for toppings.  

What I'm missing:  It's starting to turn to spring, which means that I finally get to go without tights!  A moment I've been waiting for pretty much since I found out I was pregnant.  And New York City goes absolutely nuts when the weather is nice and warm - one of my favorite things about the East Coast.  But I'm going to miss my spring clothes this year.  And I'm going to miss the ease of the simple act of shaving my legs :-/.  But at least I can finally shed some of these layers and free my poor swollen feet from the constraints of BOOTS!  I might not be able to squish these feet into some of my favorite pumps, but I'll be damned if I don't try!  

What I'm fearful of: I really just want to know HOW I'm going to be having this baby.  I want to know if I should be prepared for an invasive surgery or if I can plan on this little baby girl to let me know when she's ready to come meet the world who loves her.  I'm scared of the unknown, and I wish I had a crystal ball to show me what my birth story will be like.  Once our doctor's appointments move to every 2 weeks, I'll hopefully find out more every appointment, but for now, it's scaring me not knowing what's going to happen.  I'm not scared of birth itself (but Mike and I haven't been to birthing class yet, so that will soon be terrifying to both of us), just scared that I don't have control of how my child will be born.

What I'm looking forward to: SUMMER!  Oh my goodness, I'm so looking forward to a delicious summer wardrobe for my little princess, and taking her for walks in the sunshine & letting her fall asleep in the shade.  My maternity leave will essentially be over the entire summer, and I can't wait to soak it all up with my little bug.  Plus, come on....how cute are tiny summer baby outfits? 

Now that we're into the 3rd trimester, the weeks seem to be flying by quickly, and we're just waiting for our tiny one to bake just a bit longer before coming out to show the world her precious face.  We're having so much fun decorating her nursery and now that we actually have a car seat, it's setting in that these super qualified doctors are going to let us crazies actually leave the hospital with a baby!  I've heard that the last trimester will get more uncomfortable for me, which I'm sure I'll be reflecting on during my 8 month post!  But for now....12 more weeks until America time! 

The Joys of being a Homeowner!

My GOODNESS moving is a lot of work.  Mike and I thought it would be a good idea to have the movers take only the heavy stuff & furniture, and we could easily move everything else in the Jeep between Manhattan and Bronxville.  Oh, AND, I would be close to 7 months pregnant....awesome idea right?  Not really...

Our move wasn't so much in one day per se, it took us the better part of an entire week, not counting the time we spent heading into the house a weekend early to paint a few of the key rooms (yes, the painting was another home expense we saved money on by doing ourselves - that one was actually ok.  I'm a REALLY good painter!).  And by the time we got in, it looked like an absolute war zone.  It was a little deflating to see how much we really have to do....we came to Bronxville with MAYBE a room's worth of furniture...and now we have an entire HOUSE to furnish!  It feels like it could take an eternity to get everything finished the way we want it.  But I welcome the challenge and will embrace the decorating!

Aside from being completely overwhelmed by the physical act of packing, moving, unpacking and organizing - we couldn't be more thrilled about finally being in our home.  We love that we can sleep with the windows open and not hear any sirens or crazy street noise.  We love that we can make breakfast together on the weekend and enjoy it from our kitchen window seat.  We love that we can do our own laundry for the first time in 5 years and don't have to save up our quarters for the machines.  We love having TWO BATHROOMS - the key to any good marriage.  We love that we don't have to put on coats and Winston's leash every time he needs to go to the bathroom.  We love that we have already been able to host our first family visitors when my parents came out to help us during move-in weekend.

We love the sounds of our wood floors settling at night because our house was built in 1923.  We love waiting to see what perennials will bloom in our yard now that we're in the full swing of spring time. We love the small victories and satisfaction at the completion of a project, or when a delivery comes that is just perfect.  We love having a walk-in closet that holds BOTH of our clothes (and I must admit....Mike actually has more than I do), and not having to do the daily wrestle anytime you want to take one thing out of the closet. We love having neighbor friends from the city who have graciously hosted us for dinner at their homes.  And even though we have to get up much earlier to catch the train, we love that we can commute to and from work in the city together every morning and most evenings.

So far it's been an adventure since we've lived here, and we have and endless amount of home improvement and decorating projects in our future.  We've already been to Home Depot more times in one week than we have in our entire lives and I can already make my way to and from Bed, Bath & Beyond without using the GPS.  Winston is having a bit of separation anxiety with so much space, but he adjusted to his backyard rather quickly once he figured out that he can play with his favorite ball out there.  We promise to share pictures of our projects and room completions once we get moving, but for now, we're just settling and trying to take everything one room & one piece at a time,  So far, this is suiting us quite well.  We love our little home in the burbs!

Winston clearly being extremely helpful with the painting of our guest bathroom!

Closing time!!!

It's ironic that I'm writing this entry on the first week of April because this is the time of year that I usually am recognizing our yearly anniversary of falling more in love with New York City.  We moved here on April 1st exactly in 2010.  Since then, I've developed an even stronger admiration for the city that never sleeps...summer smells and winter woes included.  But this year, on the 5th anniversary of our move to New York, we are celebrating something a little different.....

Winston on his first day in
New York 5 years ago

Not the never-ending energy of Manhattan, or the bottomless access to the world's greatest restaurants, or the infinite options of nightlife and amazing Broadway shows.  Not the gorgeous daily walk I make through Madison Square Park or the unique skyline that squeezea my heart every time I'm in a car home from the airport.  And not the apartment that has been the site of our engagement, our marriage, and where we found out we were going to be expanding our family.

Winston on his first day in his
new house!

We're celebrating our first home!  On this week....5 years to the day of us moving to New York, we celebrate our departure from the island of Manhattan as we embark on our next journey to the suburbs.  This week, we're celebrating our new home in Bronxville, New York.

After a 130 day escrow period (yes, we were very generous), we finally closed and signed all the paperwork for our very own home.  A free standing building all to ourselves!  A driveway where we don't have to pay for parking!  A backyard for Winston to roam free at any time!  A place for us to host our family from out of town!  But most importantly....a place to bring home our first little baby girl!

We might not be Manhattanites anymore, but our home purchase in Bronxville keeps the New Yorker in us.  So we celebrated like any normal New Yorker would do in acknowledgement of 5 years with this fabulous city - we saw Billy Joel in concert at MSG!  Last year, we did something super New York-y by heading to a Broadway play - but this one kind of takes the cake.  Billy Joel is Mr. New York himself - and baby Mobs danced the night away in my belly!

So while it is bittersweet to leave our Gramercy Park apartment in our rear view, we're looking forward to building our lives in Bronxville.  What a momentous week this has become for us over the past few years - and April 1st will always bring such sweet significance to the Mobleys.  We can't wait to share our new suburban adventures with you all, and wish us luck on the move & home improvements as we get our home baby & visitor ready.  Feel free to come visit us any time!  Our doors (and guest bedroom) are always open!

First meal in the new digs!