Last Days in New York

There was a bridge, near our place, that was destroyed in a recent flood. No, it wasn't the flood that complicated our lives back in 2011 during Hurricane Irene, but rather a different, earlier flood.

Ever since we moved in people have been unable to find our place with a GPS because, for some reason, it tells people to go over this bridge that hasn't existed even though that would actually make you drive past our place and have to circle back.


Now, for the last two weeks we live in our current place, the bridge is back! That means if you're trying to find us by GPS in our last weeks here you are in luck!

Rejoice!


I had Thursday off of work which means I took the guys around town on many walks. Martin and I played for a while in the grass where he took a particular interest in the car of the guy across the street. The only man more interested in that car is its owner, a man who spends 50% of every snow storm out there brushing his car off as the snow falls.

Today he caught me outside and told me that he was impressed with Jen's demeanor and that she is always so pleasant as she leaves for work in the morning. He also warned me of the rot on the tree in our front yard, all while bearing a striking resemblance to Jen's grandfather.

He is one of the nicest men I've ever had the pleasure of talking to but probably still only about 40% as nice as Jen's grandfather who may be the nicest man alive today.



Before Jen got home from dinner we enjoyed one of our last swings at the park before our move.

I spent most of the week recovering from a respiratory infection and, after seeing the most comical New York doctor you can imagine, I was recovering and on antibiotics. The doctor was very impressed with my "nice, chesty cough" and informed me that I should take the antibiotics in the morning with a coffee and a buttered roll.


On Saturday we hired a babysitter and went out to dinner with our good friends, Mel and Jule. We'd been discussing going to Frankie & Johnnie's steak house for about five years and our departure from the Empire State was the final shove we all needed to finally get it done. The last time Jen and I went to a steak house together I think it was 2004 or 2005 so it was nice to notch off another decade with a steakhouse visit. It was delicious but not half as delicious as the company of some dear friends who will be greatly missed.

Like with everyone we have extended the offer to them to come and stay with us in Chicago in the posh guest room of the house we have yet to purchase.


After returning home the guys slept for a tiny bit but woke up around midnight and would not sleep for the rest of the night. They were both quite irritable and had fevers. This proceeded for two nights and left Jen and I in a zombie-like state. It also meant that we fell asleep in weird spots of the apartment and that Martin and Elliott sometimes fell asleep lying on the floor or whatever else it took to finally get them to shut their eyes.


Martin has been making a new face, a face that I didn't quite capture in this photo. He makes a face that seems to be a mixture of horror and annoyance. The best part is that he doesn't really make it at appropriate times. Sometimes he makes the face because you have told him not to do something. Other times he makes it simply when you say his name.

The ladies at daycare were the first to really identify this face and I'm afraid he will move past this phase before we get a really good picture. Until then enjoy this partial photo of him looking disgusted, possibly because I told him I was going to get him his sippy cup.


On Sunday we started off the day with a nice breakfast before heading out to the farmer's market.



Martin took a particular interest in the samples of waffles being offered by Pika's Farm Table so I purchased a waffle for him. Then I discovered that what Martin had discovered was the world's most delicious waffle.

This is good because we've gotten to eat them two weeks in a row. It is bad because we know that we only have two weeks left in the near future with access to these tasty waffles. I actually thought about sneaking behind their booth and trying to see if I could find the recipe so I could steal it.

I didn't think about this like some sort of fantasy, I actually, truly thought about doing it.


It is convenient, with all these sugary waffles, that I have successfully tricked Martin into brushing his teeth nightly by purchasing these new toothbrushes. The old ones would just make him squirm and fuss. He loves the new brushes so much that he will actually brush his own teeth at night.

Elliott, unfortunately, has not been fooled by my tricks.


On Sunday Jen made a quiche out of the broccoli and other assorted items from the farm share. She and the Wombats enjoyed it for dinner and I got to have some leftovers the following day.



Jen, unfortunately, has had the unenviable task of picking up the babies from day care and picking up the farm share for the past two weeks due to my work and travel schedule. She has done an admirable job and has even made the time to take pictures of the recent hauls.


The latest game to keep the babies occupied has been to just set them loose on the dishwasher. They love it. While they are very good in emptying the dishwasher they are not necessarily as good at putting the items where they belong. I'm thinking of just keeping all our clean plates and utensils on the floor moving forward as that would save us a tremendous amount of time and these guys would do a great job of taking care of this chore for the future.

Quick note: I recommend taking all the knives and forks out of the dishwasher before allowing babies to play in it. I'm not going to tell you how I learned this safety tip, I'm just going to tell you that you should consider it if you have babies you'd like to have play in your dishwasher.


Last night I made this pumpkin tortelloni with rendered bacon, onion, butternut squash, cream, salt, pepper, and grated Parrano cheese, and fried sage leaves. It worked out well but it also just happened to be what I had lying around in the fridge and freezer. The Wombats even had some though they only had a few saving room for their favorite food of all time: peaches!


I'm saying goodbye to New York in many ways. One way is in trying to tick off as many beers and breweries off my list as I can that are not available in the Chicagoland area. Last night was Captain Lawrence's Brown Bird Ale, a beer brewed not even twenty minutes from our house that we have shamefully still not been to visit.


I picked up several different local beers that I won't be seeing in the midwest and will be making my way through them over the coming weeks. While it's nowhere near as sad as not being able to see our good friends and family as much, it's a way of saying goodbye and opening myself up to a great number of beers in Chicago that we don't get out here.

I hope our friends and family come and visit often. Our room rates are quite competitive and I'll offer one extra night for anyone who brings me beer I can't get in Illinois.

Stupid Dad Recap!

Time marches on. The Wombats get more mobile. They also have become much more fussy and difficult to put to bed.


Jen flew home from Salt Lake City late Friday night.


We kept in touch via FaceTime. Martin took to going to sleep very early so Elliott was normally flying solo.


Jen spent all day with the guys on Saturday and I returned home from work to find them all playing in the yard, a nice distraction for babies who were slowly losing their minds indoors.



On Sunday we took a monstrous walk all over town. We took a pause at the park where we met another baby born just five days after the Wombats. He was running around like a wild man. The fact that he could walk was good because it made it harder for Elliott to smack him on the head, his favorite activity when meeting another baby.


The boys have taken to sleeping with their Sleep Sheep which they haven't had in their cribs since they were five or six years old. We broke them out as we were trying any trick possible to get them to bed. Most nights when Jen was away, and after she got back, have ended with long walks around the neighborhood to get them to settle down. This has generally been unsuccessful.



They're getting better at sippy cups.


They are fascinated with the dishwasher.


They've had deceptive early evening naps after day care, only to end in a huge fight before bed.


They've discovered the joys of watching cars out the window, a great way to entertain them while I get their bath ready.


We took them to the doctor this morning for their annual shots which they could not get a few weeks ago thanks to having croup.


This was the worst round of shots yet.


Smartly I had made up some bottles before the appointment to distract them after getting their shots.


I thought it was all over but I had to take them to the lab for blood work after their shots. Martin was extremely brave and let out only a little whimper as the needle went in. After that he sat very patiently until it was all over.


Elliott took it a little worse but was still did very well.


Both of them made friends with the three nurses there. Martin was particularly fond of his new friend at the doctor's office.


They got a squeaky duck and frog as gifts from the nurses which, despite their expressions in this photo, they really loved. They didn't stop squeaking them the whole trip to day care.


The nurses who drew the blood also gave them stickers for a movie that they haven't seen yet but I imagine one day will dominate our living room morning, noon, and night.


On Monday we got carrots, Walla Walla onions, summer savory, oriental eggplant, genovese basil, tomatoes, sun gold cherry tomatoes, white Russian kale, and boothby blonde cucumbers.



We had some nice beers this week.


I grilled up a bunch of the eggplant we had from the farm along with some of the roma tomatoes, potato, and spinach for this tian.


I made a nice heirloom tomato salad with red onion, avocado, mozzarella, and summer savory.


Last night, we had some bacon sandwiches on sourdough with farm tomatoes, avocado, and the garlic chive chevre from the farm. They were outrageously good.

I leave for Chicago this weekend for work, then back to work for a day, then off to Rhode Island for the family wedding of the decade!

I don't actually have any work to do in Chicago I just figured Jen owes me for all the single-parent time I've had recently. The sad truth is that everyone treats me like I'm some sort of superhero for having done. What I did was take care of my own children. Jen will get no such admiration as she is expected to do this sort of thing as a mother. I'm just a dad.

A stupid, stupid dad.

The Croup Group

As the weekend wore on Martin continued to be grumpy and feverish.


His normally sweaty head (received from a bizarre recessive gene in his mother's family) was even more sweaty from fever and the fiery grump that boiled in his belly.

We got very little sleep Friday night and woke up Saturday morning in a pickle. The apartment was a complete disaster. Our apartment is normally a disaster but the lack of sleep and the sick Martin had thrown it into a state so bad that it made our skin crawl to spend any time at all there. Knowing we had a lot of work to do to get our living quarters in order we did what any sensible parents would do . . .


. . . we took the Wombats to Storm King Art Center!


We knew this was a terrible idea but it was great getting out of our disgusting house.


It was even great while I was pushing nearly 100 pounds of Bubs, stroller, and accessories uphill.


Elliott took pity on poor Martin and tried to cheer him up by smacking him on the head with all of his might. It just so happens that this is exactly what Elliott does when Martin is feeling fine as well.


Overall it went well until the end of the tram ride where Martin erupted into a volcano of vomit. He spent the rest of the tram ride sitting in a pool of his own sick.


Martin felt fantastic after the incident. After I recovered emotionally we stripped him down, cleaned him off, and packed everyone up for the journey back home.



Once home we immediately broke out the drinks. Jen had this Cotes du Rhone Rose and I had a Slumbrew Lobstah Killah, another souvenir from our recent Rhode Island trip.

We ordered Italian from the restaurant down the street and ate it irresponsibly in the filth of our own living room.

Why is it that being irresponsible feel so wrong and so right at the same time?


The next morning Elliott awoke with the barking croup cough just as I was on my way out to work. Jen didn't hear it so I woke her up, lovingly told her that Elliott now had croup, and ran out the door to work.

It's what any responsible father would do.


Jen was kind enough to allow Elliott to watch Brisco County, Jr. all morning while he wasn't feeling well. I say this as if this wasn't a huge treat for Jen as well.


Jen fed Elliott scrambled eggs while Martin slept in extremely late.


Finally Martin woke up, not necessarily of his own free will, and Jen put him in front of a brunch that he stared past, dazed.


A little later Elliott comforted Martin by smacking him in the head with all of his might.


Jen somehow found time to make her famous freezer pickles, my favorite pickles in the whole world. The last time Jen made these she did it in the course of about an hour. This most recent batch took approximately five days from start to finish being put together during the tiny slivers of time afforded to us by the Wombats.


For dinner I cooked up a nice pork chop which I roasted in the pan. I made smothered cabbage (from the farm) with Andouille sausage, bacon, onion, garlic, olive oil, cider vinegar, salt, and pepper. I served the pork chop standing up because I like the height that it gives the plate.


And it also makes it look exactly like a Jawa sandcrawler.


To accompany this beautiful chop I poured myself a Smoked Maple Lager from Jack's Abby, another Rhode Island trip beer. Of course, like almost all the beers I got in Rhode Island, it's from Massachusetts because Rhode Island has an embarrassingly small number of breweries.


Monday I had to take the day off of work and care for both sick babies: Martin who was getting much better and Elliott who was still fighting off the worst of his croup. Since they were both at peak fussiness and irritability I spent the entire day keeping them out of the house. We went to the park to play and watch two older kids kick around a soccer ball. Whenever their parents clapped the Wombats looked over and started clapping with them.

They're so supportive.


Martin, for some reason, seemed to be nervous about touching the grass.



We went to another, more different park and enjoyed the swings.


And we went to the most differentest synagogue to pick up our weekly farm share. This week we got Red Ace beets, onions, heirloom cucumbers, eggplant, peppers, scallions, tomatoes, basil, parsley, and garlic and chive chevre.


The best I could manage for dinner was to cook up some hot dogs and top them with the remaining smothered cabbage and whole grain mustard. It was pretty tasty but our fridge is beginning to back up a smidge from the collection of vegetables accumulating there.


To accompany this fine meal I had a Pretty Things Once Upon a Time East India Porter, another faithful recreation of a historical beer from 1855.

Tuesday morning Jen took off for Salt Lake City leaving me with the two mostly-recovered babies who I brought to day care before going to work.

I had to leave work around 3:30 PM to pick them up when they told me Martin had a fever again. He was over the croup so either they measured his temperature wrong or he was teething. At any rate I had to pick them both up and would have to return with a note clearing him to return to day care. This was, of course, after his fever had been gone for twenty-four hours meaning that I would need to take the following day off of work as well.

It sure is going to get difficult supporting these babies on no income.


After the most successful dinner in a week and a bath the Wombats played their new favorite game, Door! Door! is a game whereby you must touch the door fro your crib and move it along. The objective is to move the door, squeal, and inflict as much physical harm on your brother as possible for no reason other than your own unbridled zeal.

Elliott won.


After I finally got them to bed I treated myself to this veggie burger for dinner. When Jen is on a work trip I have a pretty strict policy of not buying any groceries and simply working my way through our vast reserves. This worked out pretty well as I happened to have a veggie burger and bun in the freezer as well as some assorted accompaniments.


Jen surprised me by leaving some nice beers in one of the drawers with the Wombats' clothes. I didn't think I'd have time to chill this in time to drink it last night but thanks to the guys being particularly stubborn about going to bed I had plenty of time to get this Nomader Wit from Evil Twin Brewing nice and cold to enjoy with dinner.

Luckily Jen had told me to check the drawer and then reminded me otherwise I would have never found them. My exploration into the drawers of the Wombats' dresser is at a fairly remedial level.

I am not the Lewis and Clark of the Wombats' wardrobe.


Today I stayed home with Martin again even though he was perfectly fine. The doctor was extremely annoyed when I brought him in to tell me what I already knew: that he was completely fine. I got the note I needed to return him to day care tomorrow and we were on our merry way.

Martin spent a lot of our time at home today playing the phone game. This is an odd game where he takes a plastic, purple phone and hands it to me. No matter what I do with the phone he just looks at me with a completely serious, unamused face until I give him the phone back. Then he sighs with disappointment and says, "Dada!" and hands me the phone again.

He will do this for hours even though he seems to derive no joy from it whatsoever.


Tonight, while Martin settled down watching Brisco County, Jr. I had this beer while standing in the kitchen and eating a sandwich. After not hearing Martin fuss for a while I returned to find him asleep in front of his favorite television program. I picked him up, carried him to his crib, then took a deep breath of relief.

Only two more days until the cavalry arrives in the form of Jen. Watching two one-year-olds is laughably easy when you receive any form of help.

Maybe I'll even get a chance to use the bathroom when Jen gets home!