Excuses??

Yeah, maybe. But stinking legitimate ones. About a month ago, I went to school with GK so I could use a computer in the computer lab on campus. I was finishing up our taxes and our computer wouldn't let me do what I needed to do.

Well, after completing the necessary dirty work, I decided to check in on my favorite blogs and find out what was going on in everyone's lives. It took me 15 minutes! 15 minutes to read all the blogs it usually takes me two hours to check. For the past few months GK has exhibited a severe lack of patience when trying to do anything on our home computer. I would just laugh at him and tell him, "It always works for me." Well now I understand why he's frustrated! I selectively schedule blog checking/updating time because it's a real time commitment... and now that it's sunny outside, when I try to do it on our stinky slow computer I feel like I'm wasting my life (especially after experiencing the lightning speed of normal, non-stinky slow computers)!

So, if you ever wonder why Susanna and GK only post once a year, it's because it's really beautiful this time of year in Brooklyn and we're outside. So just to fill you in on what's been happening in our lives, here's a little update...

-GK's friend Derek came to see us and stayed for a few days in connection with a trip to check out his new Grad School program in Annapolis, MD. We're excited for him to be close in the fall!

-Our friends Wade and Misty came to visit us from Denver and made us homesick for our Denver Days. They were only here for 24 hours and we spent 3.5 of them sleeping, but our visit was unbelievable and we have been in mourning since they left.

-As I type, GK is sitting in class turning in his final paper for this semester. He's almost done... until summer term, but his load will be lighter and he'll be working more. He's officially making the transition from full-time student to full-time career man, part-time student.

-A week from tomorrow we leave for a long-awaited two week visit to Utah to see our families and enjoy being away from the city.

-I have officially entered the 3rd trimester and on Wednesday will get the Rhogam shot made necessary by my AB negative blood. One of the many reasons I'm glad I live in the 21st century and have access to smart doctors and lots of needles.

-On our "to do" list is figure out what the dickens to do about our stinky slow computer, so when we do, expect updates more frequently. Until then, re-read the old posts if you must. We haven't changed much (aside from the size of my belly).

If you're wondering how Brooklyn can really be beautiful enough to make us lose contact with all our favorite blog people... come see us! We'll prove it!

"Big Movie Star Now"

For weeks now I have been trying to post about something that I feel is one of the brightest highlights of our adventure in New York so far. I left school late one night and took the train back to Brooklyn, dropped my bags off at home, and went to pick Susanna up from her job. Our friend Joe was shooting his first feature length film after years of being an editor in the city and he hired my lovely and talented wife for a few scenes. Filming in the back half of a genuine Greek Diner in our neighborhood, directly across the street from the hospital our little man will be born in this summer, Susanna played an obsessive homeless woman with a slight case of hypochondria and a penchant for banana splits. Her rants about the uselessness of some of humanity act as the catalyst to a dialogue heavy scene in which the main character and his girlfriend are having a conversation over a late-night dinner. The film is legit, and Joe hopes to get it into as many festivals next year as possible. He used the script to get into Columbia grad school this year. So maybe next year, if we are all lucky, you can see my crazy little lover, 5 months pregnant, on the silver screens at Sundance.

Action Shot

We had a lot of fun that night. Joe's cute wife Natalie was scurrying around taking behind the scenes photos with her newborn baby girl Mabel sleeping in a sling wrapped over her Mamma's shoulder. My college roomate Magnus, who is a cinematographer, flew in from Norway for the job. Our friend Chris played the part of the Diner's waiter, and his wife Scarlet and I racked up a gyro tab on the production's budget while everyone else worked into the early morning hours.

magnus, chris, and joe talking

nathan (joe's brother), natalie and scarlett

You would be shocked at how many people frequent a Greek Diner in Park Slope, Brooklyn when it's open all night. One woman, in particular, was Susanna's character incrnate. But my favorites were the three guys with heavy Brooklyn accents who wouldn't stop saying, "Oh, big movie stars now, huh?" It was a phrase I'd heard before in movies and was delighted to see in real life. Brooklyn is it's own caricature.

We saw a similar pair of guys at the Mets game we went to last week. They sat up on the very last row, with their butts on the backs of their chairs, holding two beers each. Big guys, over 200 pounds a piece, barking insults at the group of very slight accountants (looked like em anyway, either that or they were programmers or a Dungeons and Dragons club) sitting a few rows in front of them, one of whom committed the sin of wearing a Brewer's cap, and all of them committing the greater sin of trying to fit in with the blue collar crowd.

Game Night

Met's fans are intense. I have never seen a louder group of people who honestly believe that the direction they yell from 500 feet up actually controls the game below. Shae Stadium is an enormous bowl, and after the game a mob pours out of its gates and into the subway outside to head back home. Because only one line goes to the stadium, and because that train stop is between the field and the parking lot, almost no one drives. The energy of the crowd and their numbers on the trains actually extend the excitement of the game, creating a buildup as more and more fans in blue and orange get on at every stop, and as people yell "Yankees Suck!" and ask you for the final score while packing in for the ride home. It's like going to the game with 30,000 of your closest friends (except for those computer dorks).

Above: Exodus

Below: GK, Suzi, Valerie and James
We went with our friends James and Valerie. He is a poet who teaches at NYU while doing some graduate work there and Valerie works for a publisher and has done some acting in the city as well. Valerie had already spent the afternoon with us at the two-story Costco in Brooklyn where we all had churros and she and Susanna tested the mattresses.
Suzi and Val

I can't adequately explain how much I am touched when I think about what a fun time it is for us to be surrounded by so many wonderful people who share our interests and passions and lack of money, and who are living their own adventures. For now, even though we get sick for home, we love New York, and especially Brooklyn. We love the people it's given to us, the adventures, and even the struggles, which I'll honestly admit are many. We love the work and the park and how everyone in town has to say something about our 3 pound dog. It's a foriegn place to us, and a foriegn culture, and I'll honestly admit that it is full of almost constant struggles of some sort or another. But that is exactly what makes it a wonderful time in our lives. And I am certain that it will shape us forever and be a few short years that we will never forget. I hope that as much of the good stuff rubs off on us as possible, and that whatever of the bad that sticks can be removed with a simple disinfectant, and not an amputation.

GK's turn

GK thinks this picture is gay, but I like it.

So for the past few days GK keeps telling me that he has a blog entry he wants to post. This of course makes me pretty excited for several reasons. One, he's a great writer and a wonderful story teller. Two, nothing terribly out of the ordinary or exciting has occurred aside from Conference, a stomach virus, being hooked up to an IV for a quick rehydration... which really left me a little warn out and not feeling very articulate or clever. However, since his blog post has yet to appear, I thought I'd write a little for him.


He recently got a job with a literary agent here. He had been curious about the role of agents in the industry and thought the best way to figure it out was to work with one. He's an assistant to the head agent and one of the younger agents. (I'd tell you who, but he had to sign his soul away in a confidentiality agreement. Yikes!) He gets to read and edit manuscripts, screen proposals and they have a little seminar meeting once a week to go over things like contract negotiations and things like that. Over all it's been an incredible opportunity in just the first month of the job. Most of all because I think he's found his niche. He said being an agent is kind of like being an editor, a lawyer and a real estate agent all at once. (for those of you who know GK, he needs variety) He has discovered that he has a good eye for good writing, for okay writing that has potential, and most importantly exactly what changes would make certain writing good.


On top of that, he found out this week that he will be finished with his program in December, about six months earlier than we thought. And now our minds are spinning with thoughts of what comes next, as well as really trying to enjoy every bit of New York in the spring.

Here we are. My belly and me.

If anyone had told me that I'd be publishing pictures on the internet of my expanding belly I would tell them they're crazy. But I've had requests and so here it is. I've now officially reached the point, I think, where my belly looks like a baby container and not a beer gut. So that's a nice change. And thanks to lovely, generous friends like Jenny (previous wearer of above dress, new mama of Maeve) and Natalie (new mama of Mabel), I think I've got enough clothes to adjust to my growing little rider.

I'm now well into my 23rd week and things are going smoothly. Our little surfer seems to be getting early practice on currents of amniotic fluid... regularly. Other than needing more pillows than I can count in order to accomodate my various sleeping positions, I'm happy that our little guy seems to be pretty low maintenance these days. After feeling pretty grody for a couple of months running, I am feeling good and am thrilled to be feeling that nesting urge coming on again. And I'm sure GK is relieved that I have begun cooking again. I think he had started to think that nothing would get done if he didn't do it. I'm sure he'll get his turn to take care of us all again, but for now I'm doing great.

We are not even thinking about names as much as we probably should considering that I'm only two weeks away from the third (and final :) trimester. But he'll get named, I'm not that worried about it. We are still accepting bribes though, so if you'd like your name considered please let us know and include your proposed bribe amount and the currency you'll be paying in.

The only thing better than spring... Spring Break!

I kind of think that Spring Break should be universally adopted regardless of vocation. (I may change my tune when I'm rangling fourteen kids and counting the minutes til when their break is over). The gift of higher education is definitely not limited to the windows it opens, it prolongs the enjoyment of a break right when you need it most.

GK got a week off and even though we had talked ourselves out of it initially, we decided to head down to Virginia to spend some time with good friends. And this time we took advantage of being so close to DC. We had a few significant experiences including Chuck E Cheese with some of the most genuinely enthusiastic and good-natured children I've seen.

But one of the highlights was going to the National Zoo and seeing the Pandas. I have been moderately in love with Pandas my entire life. I did my first report on them in the second grade and have received a Panda Calendar almost every year of my life from my mom for Christmas. My room was decorated in various Panda paraphernalia. Although the majority of my wall decor changed, my favorite animal didn't (I have the most recent Panda poster hanging in my kitchen right now). In spite of my... obsession?... I didn't see one in real life until my freshman year in College. In fact it was one of the pandas that is still there. But now, it has a mate and through the miracle of IVF, it has a 3 year old. Female Pandas are only able to conceive during two short days each year, and so they nearly never conceive in captivity.

Anyway...

They were beautiful. I loved seeing them wander around (and sleep). This is a picture I got during the 3 year old's nap time.
The other memorable moment was watching a few peaceful demonstrators get arrested in front of the White House. They were part of a motley crew speaking out against the war in Iraq. It was fascinating to watch. And then there was this guy, not part of the other protest, but getting a lot of tourist attention. Hmmm. Interesting.

Spring is here! It is so wonderful to walk through our beautiful park and see the grass becoming so green and the animals out and flowers starting to peek out of the earth.

I don't know what I love best about spring. I love longer days (tonight the sun didn't set until close to 7:30), I love daffodils, I love leaving the house with a light sweater, I love budding trees, I love the relief that the dark cold winter is over. I don't think I've ever greeted a spring with more excitement than this one.

We took Reggie walking in the park the other day. His favorite thing is to chase the birds and watch them scatter. We worried a little about letting him chase the geese because they can be down right nasty, but these ones were still green enough that our little monster scared them away. He was thrilled at the effect.

GK has loved having our new little camera. It's so handy we can take it everywhere... and he does. He takes pictures of everything. Some time soon I'll make him do a post showing you all the pictures he took at the Met. Every time he saw something he really liked, he would stop and takeabout fifteen pictures of it. We didn't get through

very much of the museum, but we had a very good time! Anyway, he seems to like to take a lot of pictures of me, which I'm sure I'll appreciate some day... or at least my kids will. He took this one at the park and when I saw it I said, "Oh my goodness, I look pregnant!" Until this week, it was pretty much my little secret, but it's out and here's proof for those of you asking.

The placement of Easter in the Spring couldn't be more perfect in my opinion. What better way to help us understand the importance of the restoration of life than to see it all around us? I'm grateful all of the forms of new life that are surrounding us at this time of year. For the earth's renewal, for this increasingly active little man in my belly, for a promise that all of these things are types to remind us of a perfect plan.

We're back in the game

If I ever had regular readers to my silly blog, I'm sure they've all given up on me by now. But I can't really apologize for my lack of writing because GK and I took a long needed and much enjoyed trip to see his family in California.


We left on the morning of February 22 when New York got several inches of snow. It was an adventure. We took a car to the subway to the Long Island Railroad to MacArthur airport on Long Island (because we flew SWA). Once on the plane we stopped in Chicago, Las Vegas and FINALLY landed in Los Angeles. Whew! (And Reggie made the whole trip in his little bag, coming out only to go through security. What a champ!)

But once there, our trip was relaxed and wonderful. We just got to relax and enjoy 80 degree weather, and go to the beach and enjoy family. At the end of the week we went to our friend Jackie's wedding and reception... a truly wonderful occasion.



Then we were able to spend a couple of days at the Beach with my two brothers and their wonderful families. This is a picture of GK and my bro Nathan (and scantily clad Little Paul) burrying Maren... no, that's not just a pink hat in the sand, that is what is left of Maren.


All in all it was a wonderful trip and we were a little sorry to see it end. But once on the ground here and in our city we were happy to see that the weather was warm, the sun was out and the days seemed to have gotten a little longer. We felt refreshed and happy to face real life.


And I guess it helped that the morning after we got back, we had an appointment for our ultrasound... what they call here the "anatomy scan". I should let GK write about it, he describes it as sort of like winning a video game... you watch the screen, the nurse clicks and then the screen lights up with MALE! That's right... it's a boy, and we are absolutely thrilled.


That very basically brings us up to date. But we're back in reality... and got a beautiful new little camera (thanks Cherrie!) so we'll try to make our posts a little more colorful.