I haven't been feeling so tip top since Saturday. Shane is working in Colorado and,well being a single parent with a fever isn't that much fun. Here's a good shot of me trying to take my temperature. I couldn't find our thermometer so I settled for Mahalia's pacifier thermometer. I couldn't get the thing to work properly. Go figure.

Mahalia has a peninsula of hair on top of her head that grows straight up!

She seems to have inherited her father's special cowlicks which cause the hair at the hairline, when having grown too long, to stick straight out, resulting in a peculiar "shrimp feeler" style.

Today, Mahalia's head is reminiscent of an aloe plant.

Last week, I invested (i use this word because this particular little device cost a whopping $8) in a sparkly, pink barette that has renewed my belief in the POWER OF ACCESORIZING!

You can't believe how different the boombalatti looks with her tentacles neatly clipped to the side of her head. I tried to capture it in a photo but wasn't wholly successful.

We have discovered that the enticing pink beauty is highly coveted by other babies. Her friend Nona tried to rip it out of her hair making it difficult for wearing at playdates. Perhaps Shane and I will save our pennies and purchase a couple of dull barettes.

Gung Hay Fat Choy! Happy Year of the Pig!

With our special visitors, big cousin Lily and sister Lica, we trained to Chinatown to experience Chinese New Year. Despite frigid temperatures in the teens, we managed to have a great time. After it was all said and done Lily, who at first was scared half to death of the dancing lions, confetti bazookas and general hysteria of Chinatown was begging to see more lions. We also managed to eat doughnuts bigger than our heads at the Doughnut Plant (if you've every enjoyed a doughnut you really must check out this joint), buy a new fancy, metallic leather bag and eat warm pureed vegetables at Ghenet, an Ethiopian eatery.

Shane returned from a 10 day trip to Portugal. We talked on the phone just as the temperature here in New York City began dipping. He was on Madeira Island

From the looks of it, it's as exotic as it sounds.

It seems that it's difficult to track all the changes Malo is going thru these days. She is very excited that she can put food into her mouth all by herself and can spend nearly 30 minutes in her highchair trying to eat cheerios.


Sleeping habits seem to be changing as well. I blame it on teeth. It's probably really due to my complete lack of ability to keep any sort of regular schedule. She's a trooper though and always seems to perservere when necessary. Here's a photo of Malo after a dinner party. She fell asleep in the car on the way home and we put her in bed dressed in her Valentine's Day dress.

The little lady is quite a talker. We have decided perhaps the time has come to cease all cursing within earshot. I'll tell you one story...Fearing that I might leave her with the light specialist at IKEA, Mahalia reached out for me from the cart and muttered, "MAMA." My God.

My heart melted. No big deal.

Aaarrrggh! It's so lame that I'm just now posting these Christmas photos. If only we could always lie around in our sock monkey PJ's. Denver seems like ages ago–a warm memory full of all things we love including favorite foods, friends, gifts, sleep. We barely took any pictures but here are a few.
















Mahalia, check out your new toys!!


Meet the Shaklees, two of the nicest people you'll ever have the pleasure to know.























How 'bout some chocolate? Feel the sugar crash.
Mahalia with Heather O. Mahalia, these are the mountains.


Cuddles galore with Grandma and Grandpa.
Like father, like son.


Mahalia, looking cute as a button in one of Grandma's new outfits–perfect for pool and nachos at the Wynkoop Brewery.





Mahalia, meet Darren. Darren, this is Mahalia

Georgetown–the CUTEST mountain town ever!

Our complete lack of schedule allowed us to drive around and look at Georgetown, this teeny little canyon town. Shane fondly recalls childhood visits on the 4th of July to this town with his beloved friends, Bob and Barb Shaklee.

Thursday nights are the hardest of all weekday nights. Mahalia is asleep and I pass the time looking up strange things on the internet. I look at the clock and realize that I've spent over one hour checking out ticket prices to far flung locales--Palermo, the Amalfi Coast, Greece. Did you know that you can fly from Munich to Athens for $77?

I spend some time staring at villas for rent on Patmos, the Greek Isle where I spent 5 weeks. I sigh. It is cold and wet here in New York City.

Returning to work was like jumping into a cold pool. It's been a bit of a shock returning to reality after days of leisure in snowy Denver. We're slowly readjusting and even more slowly returning to blog posts. I still haven't downloaded our photos and am ever so lazy! I did get some photos from Heather O. out in Colorado with whom we spent New Year's Eve. Her parents very kindly allowed us to stay at their beautiful condo in the mountains and we celebrated the New Year playing cards and eating triple cream cheese. It was calm and mellow excepting Shane's wild ride on a mini bison. I've spent a few minutes and have worked up a frustration sweat trying to get the mini bison ride photo to rotate. I think you'll get the idea even if you have to crank your head to see it. Before the weekend is through, I'll add more details and photos of Mahalia's first Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..............................

We had the most jolly and relaxing of holidays. We spent much of the time nearly comatose out in snowy Coloradoland and were fortunate to have made all of our flights without a hitch-- it seems that many travelling to Denver were not as fortunate. Our dear friend, Anna, had to drive out to the Rockies from LaGuardia. We took many photos of Mahalia's first christmas and as I'm busy organizing these photos have none to share with you now.

We are all well, back at home and Shane went right back to work. Mahalia and I are holding down the fort, patiently waiting for his return from a short little tour in Pennsylvania.

Here I am chillin with my dental dam, soaking up some rays? No big deal.

I will sum up this experience with one word--ouch.

While in the waiting room I read an article about the family in Oregon who survived in the wild for a week, keeping warm by burning their car tires. I was sad about it before but then I saw that the man who died was a young, handsome asian man. Oh, man. Many of you know that I have a soft spot in my heart for Asian men and well, it just made me sadder.

One more dentist visit to go.

I don't know how you're feeling but here, it just doesn't feel like Christmas. Despite the fact that we're flying to Denver on Friday and that the calendar says December 16, it doesn't feel all that Christmassy.

Perhaps it's the barrage of familial losgistical phone conversations. Each one I have with Shane feels like a huddle at a football game (Mahalia being the football.) Maybe it's the undending visits to the dentist, 2 more this week bringing the total to 7 since October. Then again, it could be the mystery of figuring out Mahalia's sleep situation--should we let her cry or what?

We did have a little sunny spot this week when we received a Christmas package from Ohio. We couldn't help ourselves and ripped into the package. Here are some photos of our favorite presents.


A Yogurt Maker. Delicious!

A tool to help correct Shane's merging tingers





























Mahalia received her first doll. She held it, smiled and shoved it in her mouth to learn more.

The dreaded 1st session of my ENDODONTIC THERAPY has come and gone. I was scared out of my mind for this procedure. It was slightly uncomfortable but really not that bad. I got to wear a dental dam and some fun eye protectors. I didn't have the nerve to ask the Dr. to photograph me with my root canal costume on. I've made a promise to myself to ask for it next week. It's the week before Christmas after all and it tends to make people a little more goofy than usual.

I noticed a foul smell and the Dr. let me know that the pungent odor was caused by the removal of my NECROTIC TISSUE. ick. I was astounded to learn that there are dentists that only perform root canals the whole day long. I took some photos of some neat dentist items.




In other news, Mahalia really,really loves to swing. Global warming has provided us with another stretch of 55-degree days and we've been heading to the park every day for some swinging time.


Her unstoppable sitting technique means that she likes to sit totally upright in her stroller as well, even while sleeping. I'm sure people think that I'm neglecting her but pushing her back into what I'd consider a comfortable position leads to nothing but trouble.


And lastly, I save the story of Mahalia's first boyfriend. This is Benjamin. He's exactly two months older that Malo and appears to be head over heels for the little lady. Her father and I approve whole heartedly. I mean, can you blame the guy?

I have a bad tooth but a really cool dentist. Dr. Oliphant (Dr. Elephant for you childish readers out there) is also an amateur musician and likes to listen to jazz while drilling holes into my teeth. During the great freeze-out I mentioned in the last entry, I was also nursing a bad tooth. It turns out that I'm in need of emergency ENDONTIC THERAPY. That's a root canal to you and me. In just a couple of days I'll have $1200 less dollars and one less absess to obsess about.

Dr. Oliphant likes to take fun, close-up photos of your bad teeth. I tried to take some photos to share with you but wasn't able to recreate the magic of Oliphant. This is what I came up with:

When it rains it *!@!s



After a record-breaking couple of 70-degree days last week, it finally got cold here in NYC. Mahalia wore her teddy bear bunting en route to Auntie Michele's house for Shabat dinner.




For those of you who don't know, Michele was at Mahalia's birth. She is a stupendous person and talked me through the hardest part of my delivery. She is also a stupendous cook and we enjoy eating her food as much as possible. Tonight's meal was served on her new wedding china.


My buddy, Heather O'Connor, is in from Denver. She came to dinner too. She spent the day with Mahalia and they seemed to thoroughly enjoy each other's company.

I'll interrupt the narrative to show you an irresistably cute photo of Mahalia.
My friend calls this an execusaucer.


While at dinner my landlord, Tom, called to let me know that on this, the coldest day yet this winter, there will be no heat in the house and he would like to know if we need any extra blanket to get thru the night. I say no thank you. Here are some pics of what happened when we got home.


Our brains got a little chilled and we went bonkers temporarily. Heather and I took many photos with Mahalia's sunglasses on.