Sitting on a throne of lies

There's a raspberry sized baby inside of Cristina and it's insane how fast the baby is growing. Week 8 starts tomorrow. We  are both so excited. The most difficult thing is NOT TELLING ANYONE WE ARE PREGNANT. Lying is hard! Especially to close friends. We decided not to tell anyone until we reached the 12 week mark and get the results of genetic testing. It's amazing there's a new test simply the blood of the mother will tell if there are chromosomal abnormalities in the child and as a bonus we'll know the sex of the child. So until then we are sort of omitting the biggest thing happening in our lives right now. We feel like it would be too difficult to share our joyous news and then to have something go wrong and have to explain that painful sadness to anyone. 

Miscarriage happens and every week that passes we feel so increbily lucky that our baby is sticking around and growing. The fact is -- so many women go through losing a baby that it's more common than anyone realizes... And so tremdously heartbreaking. 

I also have started to understand the idea of the miracle of life... It's beyond that religious notion and the scientific explanation of how we multiply. The whole conception/gestation is mind blowing. Humans are fascinating. Cells building us to make all of our parts functional plus the spirit and soul of the people we are... Keeps making us wonder who our kid will be? What will they like? What will be important to them and how will they think? Then there's the vain stuff... But this kid has a gorgeous mom, so no doubt it's gonna be cute.

For now we have to pretend we are double agents.... I don't like keeping this secret. And I think some people know because we are so outwardly happy.  Friends keep on asking because they read this blog or know we have started trying to get pregnant. 

The secrets we keep... Part 2

Written September 17, 2014

Tiny fluttering heartbeat ... one of the most miraculous sights I've ever seen. Watching the flickering light inside my uterus on the ultrasound screen brought tears to Liz's eyes and overwhelmed me with gratitude. Today marked 6 weeks and 2 days, and our baby is 4.2 mm in size, complete with neural tube, heart, and cells that are quickly forming all of the organs.  The miracle of intelligent design and the biology behind how these cells just inherently know how to form a human being is so incredible, it almost feels like science fiction.

After our first pregnancy ultrasound, we found ourselves ecstatically hugging and clinging to each other in Whole Foods at Columbus Circle. The excitement of seeing our little nugget for the first time made it all real, and we can't wait for the adventure that lies ahead!

End of Summer Happy House Hunting

Oh, what a beautiful last weekend of summer we had!  In our seemingly never-ending search for a house in the Hudson Valley, we spent both Saturday and Sunday looking at homes. Our Saturday visits were on the west side of the Hudson, with one in Ulster Park and the other in Port Ewen... both locations we know nothing about.  The first house was an old renovated barn with vaulted ceilings and a quirky layout. The exposed wood beams and unique nature of the house lured us in briefly, but then we saw the kitchen. Small kitchen tucked away from the rest of the house and unable to open into a dining or living space. So, this wasn't quite the one. Then, we visited a home in Port Ewen that was adorable but was located on a double yellow road, which is a deal breaker for us. 

So, we finished the day and headed to our friend Joey's house to stay for the night. He graciously let's us stay there even when he is not, so we got the key and entered the house to find a power outage. We lit candles, and when Liz called the power company it turns out that a car ran into a telephone pole and knocked out the transformer only minutes earlier on the same road we just drove. We heard sirens as we entered the house, and while having no power for a bit was a bit of an inconvenience, we were incredibly grateful to have missed that accident. But within a few hours the power was on, and we had a great fire going in the wood burning stove to keep us warm. 

On Sunday, we returned to Athens (the site of the accepted offer debacle) to see a beautiful Victorian home in the village. While it's significantly above our original price range, we both really like it and felt like it has everything we've been looking for. After this successful visit, we went to see another house that was quite the opposite. It's located in a more "country" setting with a beautiful yard, trees all around, and no house across the street or right next door. With 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, it's a great size, and the layout is open and clean, which feels like a perfect country home. It's walkng distance from a swimming lake and a short drive to Taghanic State Park with lots of hiking and beauty. It's also not too far from Red Hook, Tivoli, and Hudson (about 25 minutes). 

We couldn't believe our luck!  Two houses in one day that make us both equally excited. That never happens!  So, moving forward, our hope is that one of these two places becomes our first home together (weekend home), and that you can come visit next summer.  Fingers crossed😊 

Back yard shot of Athens house

Back deck shot of country house

Neighbors to the north

Montreal Street art by Parisian artist Kashink.

September already!!?? Oh where does the time go? 

We drove up to Montreal over Labor Day to spend the weekend with our friend Eric and explore the city. Eric rented an apartment for the month of August in Montreal's gay village to work on his second novel. (His writing is great btw. He  also has a column on the Wall Street Journal online called crtl alt.) 

It was Cristina's first time to Canada. I think overall a great introduction. Mainly we traversed the city by bixi - the Canadian version of our bike sharing program citibike. A fun and easy way to get around. Much safer than biking in NYC.

We went to the fantastic food market Jean Talon, the botanical gardens and insectarium, thrift store shopping, a street fair on Mont Royal, a fancy cocktail bar called the Lab (bartenders did fire shows), walked over 17 miles in a day, climbed up Mount Royal to see the view at sunset and got a little lost on our way down in the dark, ate; poutine, bagels, fromage, ground cherries, and KOUIGN AMANN (as many pieces as we could handle eating).

It was a good getaway for us.

A perfect place to have a seat... At the Montreal botanical garden. I look legless!

Eric shows off his new El Suave sperm underpants. Yes these were for sale at the street fair.

Our new obsession Kouign Amann - Basically a French (Briton) butter and sugar pastry, way better than a Croissant.

POUTINE!

at the Jean Talon Market. C'est magnifique

Montreal Bagels! Yes there is a large Jewish community here and their bagels are a lighter version on NY style.

In the lobby of Pierre Du Calvet, a quirky hotel dating back to 1725

There are many talking parrots in the lobby of the hotel.

These babies were at the insectarium. Ask me about my experience with a Rhinoceros beetle sometime, if you want to see me relive a tramatic memory.

50 cakes for your love by Kashink