Christmas in the City

We were able to celebrate Christmas Eve with Matt's parents who are visiting from Seattle. They were so kind as to bring a Christmas tree and decorations with them! We feasted on Riesen Greena Grit (sweet rice pudding), Norwegian fish pudding to honor Matt's mother's family, smoked ham, spinach, and tamales to honor Teri's family tradition!
We even got to share the meal with our good friends Mike and Misha.
Teri and Misha are old friends and are due within two weeks of each other.





On Christmas Day, Matt's parents made roast beef, green beans and roasted potatoes.

And then... Santa brought a blizzard! The city was covered in almost 20 inches of snow in 24 hours!
We're glad Teri didn't go into labor the night of the blizzard.

This is the fountain in front of our apartment building.

Getting There

This weekend we busied ourselves with getting the apartment ready for Christmas and for baby. With less than two weeks to go, we're almost ready! Teri just has to pack her bag for the hospital.

Pregnancy Thoughts

As we approach the big day, here are some of Teri's thoughts:

Things I'll miss about being pregnant:
People offering me their seats on the subway or bus
People holding doors for me
An excuse to wear waist-less jeans
Not feeling guilty about eating ice cream (or cookies, or pizza, or anything!)
Hearing, "When's the bless-ed event?" from complete strangers with great New York accents

Things I'm looking forward to after being pregnant:
No more swollen ankles, hands or face
Being able to bend down
Not having to get up to go to the bathroom several times a night
Being able to roll over in bed with relative ease
Beer, wine and sushi!
Keeping up with Matt as we walk down the street

Not much time left to "enjoy" being pregnant, so I'll try my best! We'll get to meet this little one soon.

NYC Marathon

Here are some pics from the NYC Marathon in November. We only live one block from the action so it was nice to walk outside and support these amazing athletes... even if it meant that 1st Ave was closed most of the day and we were trapped on the UES!


In homage to our favorite slogan of the 2010 NYS election!

Showered with Love

A few days after getting back from Spain, we welcomed this little guy to our growing family of friends...


And then Teri flew back to Bakersfield to meet this little one...


And be a part of this wedding...

And, finally, have this baby shower...



It was a quick, busy trip, but nice to see the Bakersfield family before our little one arrives.


Back in NYC, Teri had another baby shower and celebrated with friends old and new. Even had a chance to catch up with this bunch of girls from Bakersfield!


Baby Gaines and Baby Cohen--already best of friends!

Espana part II: Barcelona

From Madrid's Atocha train station, we took the high speed train (velocidad 293km/h) to Barcelona.

Barcelona lived up to its reputation of being very artsy....Gaudi's architecture inspired and amused...





Especially the Sagrada Familia...Gaudi's famous church which is still a work in progress. To us, it was a fresh, creative expression of faith.
Many fascinating Gaudian details. And then there was the ham....

More Gaudi playfulness at Parc Gruell...with the Med in the distance behind La Sagrada Familia. We took a late season dip in the sea which was lovely despite a flotilla of jelly fish, with which Matt had a nasty encounter last year.

The Picasso museum was amazing. One of our favorite Picasso pieces was his study on Vasquez' Las Madrinas, which included the Infanta Margarita. Henceforth, we have nick named our little girl to be "Infanta". Being in Spain, and saturated with a particular Limon or Orange soft drink...we conveniently shortened this to "Fanta". (Don't ya wanta Fanta!?)


The inner court yard at Catedral Barcelona...