Jody had a massive strop this afternoon for no apparent reason. I was bundling her up to go into the running buggy and she just decided to start screaming and not stop. She wasn't in pain or hungry or anything else discernable. She was just in a massive rage with me and was going to indulge that rage regardless of the attempts I made to assuage it. I ended up shelving the run (sigh) and taking her to the supermarket in the Baby Bjorn which finally stopped her screaming, but she turned loundly talkative instead. Which turned about as many heads.

My theory is that she's teething. I've been bandying this theory around for a while now, but she seems to be chomping down on just about anything right now. Including me. Plus she's had 3 full days of utter overstimulation so the girl probably just wants to kick back and relax. Though all advice is that you don't let them sleep after 4pm, I have now indulged her doziness in preference to the screaming fit that might've reappeared if I didn't. Lets hope it doesn't mean she's wide awake and kicking at 4 o'clock in the morning.

The dentist was creepy this morning, as usual. Why have I found the most slimy dentist in the whole of NY to see? Technically he's obviously quite good, but it really does give me the creeps to have him broddle around in my mouth. Maybe it's the dyed black hair? The constant sneer? The terrible suggestive humour (but only when both his hands seem to be choking me). The worst of it is that I have to return in a couple of days when today should have been my final appointment. The best of it is that seemingly Roj can claim on somethingorother insurance for the price of the crown.

The conference call was good and bad. It was extremely difficult this time round to keep Jody happy for the duration. Hence I spoke ten to the dozen to get through the presentation and spent the last 20 minutes doing awful dance routines in front of the bouncy chair while attempting not to sound out of breath. Eventually Jody gave in to the early signs of her later tantrum and I had to duck out. Unfortunately the client is one of those "I can do better" people who is outwardly impressed but inwardly plotting to take over the whole project. Or at least lengthen it exponentially. We'll see what happens I guess.

New (very small) project starting tomorrow (with any luck). Contact from prior independent freelance project. I know I said I wouldn't do any more, but I can't stand the thought of getting any of my 'list of things' done. Which is now over three pages long and counting. Procrastination is the mother of invention ... or something!

Ooops. Letting things slide a bit ...

Rather uneventful end of last week. Walked down to 18th on Thursday for an appointment at St. Vincent's women's health centre (postnatal follow up with previously Elizabeth Seton midwife). Managed to fit in trips to Buy Buy Baby (buying warm footmuff thingy for our buggy) and Paragon Sports (disappointing lack of overly expensive Arc'Teryx jackets), amongst other places. Was out of the house from 1 til 6, which is no mean feat with a 4.5-month-old in 5 degrees. Successful though.

Friday Jody was very tetchy all day and prevented me from doing much of anything at all, despite the intention to finish my powerpoint presentation for the meeting tomorrow.

Saturday Roj and I took Jody for a run round the Park in the buggy in the morning. Managed it in under an hour at last, but only because Roj was pushing the buggy! Legs ached for the remainder of the day while we covered seemingly the whole of Manhattan on a shopping trip. 23rd and 7th to exchange aforementioned footmuff at Buy Buy Baby, Paragon (17th & Broadway) to check out more expensive outdoor gear, Toys R Us in Times Square for foam play mat tiles, then up to Tiffany's on 57th & 5th where Jody had an enormous hunger tantrum, and Niketown next door where she fed in the disabled restroom. We finished the trip off with dinner (more tantrums - tired ones this time) at Route 66 on 55th & 9th ... so quite a little circle by the time we got back at 8:30pm (Jody needed calming with badly-sung lullabys before she succumbed to the sleep monster and stopped crying). Encountered a very unfriendly woman in Route 66 who was waiting impatiently for me to exit the restroom (banging on the door etc.) and gave me the stoniest look ever when I came out (after stopping mid-feed) with a baby, but the rest of the time was overwhelmed with the amount of people commenting on how cute and beautiful Jody was. Obviously Roj and I, like all biased parents, are smitten with her, but it's lovely to get so many comments from the objective masses.

Sunday I had a small daylight savings oblivion issue which worked in my favour as it allowed me to eat breakfast in time to get to the NY Road Runner's 5 Mile Marathon Kick-Off race in the Park. Was absolutely apalled that I only managed a just-sub-9-minute pace (which is what I'm hoping to achieve for twenty six miles next April), but very pleased with myself for doing it in the first place. With aching legs and everything.

Then I came home and worked forever.

Today was nice. I demonstrated what an apalling mum I am by taking Jody out to yoga without socks or an umbrella in the rain. Was I imagining it or were daggers flying from the eyes of all those disapproving grandmas? Had a nice coffee with Jennifer and Ethan and then came back home to change briefly before heading off to Buy Buy Baby (again!) via the umbrella shop (our stock residing permanently at the Ernst & Young office building on Times Square) to meet Colette and Jo with their little boys. Swift but yummy bagel and extensive shopping spree (although I didn't buy more than one teeny tiny insignificant item in Baby Gap), and all very very enjoyable.

Back again with my little overstimulated baby who could just about do with the quiet home-day we have planned for tomorrow. Apart from the 8am dentist's appointment (agh) and a conference call at 1, plus the (obligatory) Park loop.

More work planned for Wednesday (new project), very exciting coffee/lunch/something planned with Greg and Sally - who are over from Aus to visit her family - on Thursday and then off to Vegas baby on Friday. No bulkhead seats unfortunately, but looking forward to it all the same.

Busy busy busy. With all this stuff planned our remaining 8 weeks in NYC is gonna FLY.

Goodness. Lots to report. Firstly a lovely Wednesday spent mostly at Colette's place in Brooklyn. Went out for lunch to meet her little 5-week old Thomas and took along some Pret a Manger sandwiches (my absolute favourite now we're in the land of sandwich meat Babel towers). Like me in the first six weeks Colette was exhausted and finding things difficult from time to time (added to which Thomas is a bit of a picky eater), but she looked fab and seemed to be doing really well. Their apartment is stunning. They knocked a 3-bed into a 2-bed (the second is now the nursery), and decorated the whole thing themselves with excellent furniture and photos on the wall and just general objets. Made it look like a real home and gave me a pang about living in somewhere more permanent (rather than a temporary place that feels like a hotel room. But more of that later). Jo (also from school) is coming out to visit Colette next week with her 2-year-old so I'm aiming to go out there again next Monday to meet up. Colette and I did comment on the unlikelihood of predicting when we were both at school the chance that we'd be sitting together in an apartment in Brooklyn breastfeeding our first borns 12 years later. Not at all likely, was the consensus!

Then Friday (happy 1st birthday to Rosie Mason) Roj and I flew out from Newark to Boston to make things easier getting to Maine. Jody was a little star again, as she was all weekend, although a big rush to get to the airport in time meant that we forgot her travel bed which necessitated her sleeping in our bed which meant that I got virtually no sleep at all. Zombie Lara is quite a familiar state now though, so I don't think anyone was surprised. The barn in Maine was lovely (and bug-free!), and we had an extremely relaxing time with Yi Shun and Jim. Saturday afternoon we took Jim to the airport in Portland and had a look around the town which was very pretty with lots of interesting little shops. We ate in a good ol' Irish pub where Jody was yelling to be fed and had to be retired briefly to the bathroom for the purpose (she was too distracted in the pub itself). Sunday we just lounged around until leaving time (and I meandered around with my camera for a lamentably short period of time, partly due to the hail) and drove back via a fish n chip shack where we ate some small goujons of breaded white fish and some french fries with our oil. The flight back wasn't quite as successful Jody-wise since she immediately needed sleeping, eating and changing as soon as the cabin door shut. Still, we can brazen anything out in a 35 minute flight and I didn't care in the slightest for all those first-classers humphing at me using their bathroom to change her. If Continental can't provide proper changing facilities, and if they insist on blocking the cabin aisle with their drinks cart for the duration, what else can they expect?

All in all it was a very inactive and lovely weekend. Maine was flatter than we'd imagined, and wasn't quite in the throes of full fall, but very pretty all the same. And it was great to see Yi Shun and Jim, both of whom we can safely confirm are quite mad.

Yesterday I finally made it to Baby OM again, and enjoyed it thoroughly apart from Jody needing to feed for the last 20 minutes of the class. It's so good to spend time with other women with babies where needs for changing and feeding and crying go utterly unnoticed. It's also good to stretch out my hamstrings which are notoriously useless. Had a great coffee break with Jennifer and Ethan afterwards comparing notes about demanding babies, as the subjects of conversation casually slept in our arms. Very much enjoying catching up with someone at the same stage as myself, and guarantee our conversation isn't all about tots!

So that's me caught up. Today is going to be all about work work work. I've been spending an awful lot of time thinking around my solution, but definitely not enough time documenting it. Time at the drawing board definitely needed.

In rather larger news, Roj and I have decided to return to the UK at the end of this year. The decision has been a very difficult one and there are a million different factors involved, but the end of our third year seems like a good time to make the move. We're both a little gutted that we'll be leaving this wonderful city, but are lightening the depression somewhat by planning a 4-week break in Australia and New Zealand during the transition. By mid-February then, we hope to be installed in our flat in London and coping with whatever changes that brings. Very much looking forward to the opportunity to catch up with all my London friends which I have done not nearly enough of in the last 3 years. Plenty of other stuff to look forward to as well, but right now can't get past the sadness at leaving the Big Apple. I suppose it's good that we never got fed up with being here, but part of me wishes that we'd had the chance.

Nice lunch today with Rosie and her sister Lucy who I haven't met before. Actually the lunch was a rather disappointing Ollie's takeout, but the time was very enjoyable. Rosie looks lovely and is happily about to move in with her devoted boyfriend. She caught me up with all the 260 news and gave me a cute portable Noah's Ark toy for Jody. What a sweetie.

The paediatrician's appointment went OK. Didn't particularly like the nurse practitioner this time since she was casting mild aspersions on my scheduling. Seems she believes that all babies need 16 hours of sleep per day and is unwilling to accept that this might actually be an average rather than a figure written in stone. Also asked me several times whether I let Jody cry herself back to sleep at night rather than jumping up to feed her. Well no, because if I did that I wouldn't get any sleep anyway, besides which Jody is very much a sleep-until-too-hungry-to-do-so baby. Something about the minimal sleep she gets during the day seems to make her very sleep-needy at night so I don't have to contest with a baby expecting entertaining. Like me, she just wants to get on with it and get back to sleep. This I know, will continue until she just doesn't wake up for a longer period. I know this because that's the way it's happened so far (and this approach was totally confirmed by the last nurse practitioner I saw, who, needless to say, I did like). Also was skeptical of advice to feed Jody a vitamin containing A, C & D. Well fair enough, and I'm sure it wouldn't do any harm, but why haven't the other nurse practitioners and the paediatrician himself mentioned it beforehand?

Enough of the rant. Jody weighed in today at 16lbs and measured 26 ¾ inches. Plotting this on the chart later, I found that this puts her in the 90th percentile for weight (as compared to the 94th she was in at 2 months), and way way off the chart for height (compared to 88% at 2 months). In fact the nurse who measured her did a double take at the tape measure and measured her again to make sure she hadn't made a mistake. Clearly three inches in two months is a bit of a leap!

She also received boosters for the 4 immunization shots she received at 2 months. This time I refused the Baby Tylenol and after screaming bloody murder for a couple of minutes she calmed down OK. In fact during the rest of the day she was in fine spirits entertaining the Keefer sisters and generally cooing and chirping at every occasion. The only symptom of her difficult morning was the fact that she fell asleep at 6:30pm. Lets hope this doesn't mean she wakes at 4.

Off to visit Colette and Thomas tomorrow. Didn't run today, so hope to fit in a short one in the morning (or when I get back if I have the energy). Suffering a little from sleep deprivation though at the moment, so am going to bed after Scrubs.

It's Columbus Day isn't it. Which, I should have worked out, means there is no Baby Yoga today. I'm quite disappointed actually. Having missed the last two from being in the UK I was quite looking forward to some stretching and a coffee with Jennifer (if she was there). Silly me.

The weekend was nice, but not nearly as active or as dedicated work-wise as I had hoped. Friday it didn't start off all that well when my temporary crown came off during dinner. "Don't eat anything sticky on that side," had been my dentist's advice, but I don't really count omelette as sticky. It made my skin crawl to feel the whittled-down tooth with my tongue. Reminded me of the lizard man and other odd individuals (there's a cat man in the US) who file their teeth down into points. I could go in this week to get another one put on, but since the real crown might be available by Thursday, there hardly seems any point.

This week is gonna be busy. I have a ton of work to do (and no motivation to do it) and a couple of social thingumys. Tomorrow Rosie (of 260 fame) is coming over for lunch. On Wednesday I'm going out to Brooklyn to see Colette and her 6-week-old Thomas at lunchtime, then maybe popping in to the NYARA social in the evening. I also have Jody's 4-month paediatrician appointment tomorrow morning which will probably involve a bit of screaming as it includes 4 immunization boosters. And I'm also intending to do at least 3 more runs this week in an attempt to get the 6 mile loop under an hour. This lunchtime I made it in 10:40 pace which is a definite improvement on 11, but there is still some way to go. Having decided to enter the London Marathon next April (or another around the same time if I don't get a place), I badly need to work on speed if I hope to achieve that sub-4 hour goal of mine.

And am definitely looking forward to go up to Maine with Yi Shun (and Jim, briefly) this weekend. Am hoping Roj can bunk off work for a couple of hours on Friday so we get there this side of midnight. It's a lot of driving but it should be well worth it - Maine will be beautiful.

Meanwhile Roj is in Salt Lake City for a couple of days so I'm reverting to single parent status.

$518. That's what I paid yesterday for a crown on my dodgy root-canal. $518. And here's me thinking that dental work in the US is cheaper because of the insurance coverage. Should have had my UK dentist do it after all. Sigh. On the bright side at least I stopped him doing the bottom root canal as well. Firstly this would have meant a 2-hour appointment, rather than a 1-hour one. And secondly it would have cost me $1,036. Which is more than my little bank balance can stretch to, I tell ya.

Today I completed my first full loop of Central Park with Jody in the buggy. I didn't find it too hard actually, since I ran at a pace I could handle. But it took over an hour to complete (which makes it about an 11 minute mile - eurgh). Still, I'm sure I'll get it under an hour eventually.

In fact she was a sight to behold. Since buying this lovely cream fleecy suit in the UK in August, I've been searching around for one similar for when the weather gets cold. I'm afraid I fell for an entirely pink snowsuit from Babies R Us when I was over last week. In my defence it's a very pale pink, I bought it for practical reasons, and the only alternative was blue. But nevertheless Jody looks rather blancmange-like. A cute blancmange mindyou. :)

I have been trawling through my site recently and realising how out of date it is. It basically needs a big fat overhaul. Unfortunately it's unlikely to get one in the near future, unless I embark on it bit by bit. It's quite embarassing though, to be fair. Apologies all round (it's a good job that no-one looks beyond Blog and Photo of the Day really isn't it!?)

Not an awful lot planned this weekend (Jody is 4 months on Saturday, and already nearly double her birth-weight). Roj is feeling under the weather so I guess he'll be trying to recuperate a bit. I'm gonna go for a couple of runs and I have a helluva lot of work to do, but otherwise it'll be a fairly standard weekend. Just give me a bit of time to play with the 10d and I'll be happy!

p.s. Happy recent birthday to mum-guru Peta.

Came back yesterday after a very enjoyable 10 days in the UK. Jody was absolutely amazing on the flight out. I boarded early to my centre aisle bulkhead seat and waited patiently to see whether there'd be anyone sitting in the middle seat next to me. Luckily no-one arrived so I was able to strap the car seat in next to me. Jody was getting a little grizzly, so I had to feed her before take-off, but she still drifted off on the ascent so I didn't need to worry about the pressure getting to her little ears. Unbelievably she then stayed asleep (in the car seat) for the next 5 or more hours, waking for another feed only as we started our descent into Manchester (I even managed 45 mins shut-eye myself). People were congratulating me as we disembarked about how amazing she'd been, and I had to agree. Perfect.

My parents were there to pick me up from the airport, and we drove over to Wakefield to drop in on my granny on the way over to Richmond. We arrived at Sven's by lunchtime to gorgeous sunny (but coolish) weather, white bread, cheddar and Branston's pickle. Yum!

Fab to see Sven and Charlotte (both in amazing shape - Sven in the best I've ever seen him), and particularly to finally watch Sven complete the 3 Peak's cyclo-cross race which he's raved about for the last several years. First attempt at using my camera, but not many of the shots came out well. The only 3 spectator areas are on the descents from each peak, so the cyclists are travelling at speed. I found out retrospectively that I should really have pre-focused on the ground, or used manual focus because the auto focus points often pointed through the bike frame and focused on the background. Schoolboy error, really, and definitely my own fault for thinking the 'sports mode' would be better than doing it myself.

We returned to Shropshire on Sunday evening, and I had 5 days there being pampered and watching Jody impress her grandparents. It was a very lovely week and I even managed a couple of runs, but I was hoping for even more time to achieve other things - work, playing with my camera etc. - which I didn't, partly because Jody deemed it a good idea to revert to her 3-hourly feeding needs and exhausted me completely in the first half of the week by wriggling so much in her sleep that she kept me awake for half the night.

Lovely to see my parents for such a long period of time though, and to just enjoy spending time with Jody, who mid-week found that clutching onto her feet was a good new sport. She also became much more vociferous and seemingly grew a lot (she almost seems too big for her NY co-sleeper already, and I had to retire several 3-6 month sleepsuits on our return in favour of 6-12 month clothes).

Saturday we went over to Roj's mum's and were reunited with Roj, and then Sunday we went up to Tarporley for Mike's 60th birthday party (he was delighted and genuinely surprised to see us there). Nice lunch and some entertaining moments with some of the guests, but a relatively early night.

The flight back yesterday was almost as good as the way out. We didn't have a spare seat for car seat use, but Jody slept for much of the flight on our laps. I even got to take advantage of one of the in-flight movies, which would have been much more exciting had it not been a choice between Legally Blonde II and Hollywood Homicide.

Nice to be back in New York. The weather in the UK was mostly very good, but New York has that amazing sunny brightness that you don't seem to see elsewhere. Looking forward to taking Jody on some runs around the park during the week, but am already sadly behind on work so am distinctly not looking forward to playing catch-up.

Next trips are a weekend in Maine with Yi Shun and Jim in mid-October, and a long weekend in Vegas and the Grand Canyon later in the month. Lots planned between now and Christmas so time will definitely be flying faster than usual, not least because Jody seems to be growing up so damn quickly. Always nice to see New York in the fall though. Central Park trees have not turned yet, but it's not going to be long, and when it does, it'll be spectacular. Time to get that camera out methinks.