Nellie is 2!

So Nellie turned two on Friday 24 April. This means that I haven't been to a yoga class for over two years!! Yikes. I was wondering why my pre-natal yoga instructor didn't remember me when I bumped into her in the supermarket.

Let's focus on the fun we had all weekend for Nellie' birthday. On Friday, Nellie opened up all her pressies from the Bradford and Armstrong clans. Lots of beautiful clothes, books, an easel and art supplies. Mummy & Daddy gave her a dolly stroller which was a big hit! Mark and I met for lunch with Nellie and her babysitter, Angela. We played in the playground at Union Square. After work we went back to Angela's place for a small party. Angela and her family had ordered a beautiful cake from Queens that was just delicious. Clara and her girls, Genesis & Leslie were able to make it as well. It was wonderful to see them.

On Saturday, we hit both playgrounds in Ditmas Park and had a fun time watching Nellie get even more braver with the steep ladder and slides. Her new stroller was a hit with the other kids at the playgrounds and there were some discussions about sharing and a few tears shed. Nellie upped her street cred with a face plant on the footpath after a misjudged run and hug to Mark's legs. She has a nice scrape on her left cheek. She forgot about it five minutes after it happened. Mummy & Daddy were a little shaken for a bit longer.

On Sunday, it was very hot in New York City. We spent a lot of the time indoors then in the afternoon, Nellie and I went out for a neighbourhood stroll. The blossoms are all out and it is very pretty. As soon as we got back to the flat, there was a huge car crash outside and lots of police cars so we went down to check out all the excitement. No injuries luckily but it was a "teachable moment" about holding hands when crossing the street. Don't you love a good "teachable moment"?

We lost the cord to upload photos onto the computer so I will have to add them another time.

Nellie checking herself in the mirror - Christmas Day 2008

Nellie loving her Christmas reflection!

My Mamma Said

My fabulous mum, Sandra has handknitted some beautiful infant and toddler items for us to sell. I have created a page on Etsy.com. The money will be going towards our trip home to Australia. Go shopping people. It is really beautiful stuff. My mum is a genius with a pair of knitting needles. I will post some of the items here as well.

To Oz, To Oz

I am off to London for work next week where I will be catching up with my brother Rob, then Nellie and I are visiting Las Vegas to meet Uncle Nathan and David.

We are all coming to Australia for Christmas but are struggling to afford the airfare. It is going to run approx $9K for our airfares and accommodation. "Luckily" the dollar is pretty weak so we will catch a small break there. We are asking our friends and family to pitch in $10 to help us out. Payments can be made directly into PayPal through my account nicollelbradford@hotmail.com. For those in Australia, money can go straight into my St George account. I will give you the details privately. It pains us to ask for help but I haven't been home for four years and my Dad still hasn't met Nellie!

We have a group started on Facebook to keep people updated about that. It is also called To Oz, To Oz.

It's been so long

Major apologies about the neglect of the blog. Here are the bullet points on what has happened since our last post many months ago.

- We moved from Flatbush to Ditmas Park. We are back in a large apartment building similar to our place on Butler Place. Our flat is large and sturdy and still filled with unpacked boxes. I hope this gets remedied this weekend.

- Nellie has 12 teeth now. She has four gaps where her canine teeth should be.

- Dashiell and Dylan are friends again after some pretty violent months where they had to be kept separated. We let Dylan have first run of the new flat and that seems to have returned a balance.

- The Production Company's next production opens tonight which puts an end to almost three months of rehearsals for Mark. He directed a play at Stella Adler Studios and then went straight into The Most Damaging Wound.


Obviously we have taken plenty of photos and videos recently and I will try to get them up as well.

Buffalo adventure!

This weekend we all went to Buffalo, NY for Tiffnay and Jake's wedding.We had a pretty smooth trip up and the wedding was a blast. Tiff and Jake put together a great day and Nellie danced the night away.

Today is Father's Day and we spent the day at Niagara Falls in both USA and Canada. It was so beautiful and fun. We rode on The Maid of the Mist which goes right up to the falls where you get completely soaked. We made sure that our passports got stamped but to my disappointment, they no longer have the words Niagara Falls on the stamp like they did when I was last here in 1999.

Right now I am typing this on my work Blackberry at Buffalo airport. Our flight was due to take off at 6:05pm and get us in at 8:05pm. It is currently 8:29pm! Our flight may now leave at 10:45pm! Gotta love that JetBlue.

Tiffany is also still here. Her flight was due to fly earlier than ours. She is flying out again in the morning to begin her honeymoon. Fingers crossed that she makes it!

After some overheating and teething issues, Nellie has crashed out in her stroller. I am getting a little jealous of her horizontalness.

Nellie had her second last class on Saturday. She is wearing one of her new birthday outfits (yellow - my favourite). There is no class over the summer so we will have to find a new engaging activity to spur us out of bed on Saturday mornings!

Nellie and Brooklyn Public Library

We have started going to the newly renovated Brooklyn Public Library this past fortnight after class on Saturdays. If you haven't been there before, it is a beautiful building next to Prospect Park opposite Grand Army Plaza.

As book junkies, Mark and I are delighted we reignited our passion for the library.

This photo is from the Children's area of the library. Nellie wouldn't let Mark hold the book for her. As you can see, she has a pretty good handle on the whole reading thing!