Surprise Visit to CA

I get last minute flight deals on my email all the time. I finally saw SFO on a weekend that made sense. Shawn has been so busy with work, that Nolan and I decided to head home for a weekend to surprise my friend Tracy at her engagement party. I ended up surprising her on Thursday and was able to spend that whole afternoon and night with her and a bunch of my other girlfriends at cooking club. Alix and Mike hosted an amazing engagement party for the lucky soon to be husband and wife!

I also got to meet sweet little Heather's new addition, sweet little two week old Paisley. Heather met Nolan when he was just two weeks old, and it was such a treat to get to meet her baby girl at the same age. It was also such a treat to watch the Giant's clinch the National League Championship in the Bay. I was sad to leave a day before the start of the World Series, but I had to get back for work and more importantly for Shawn to have Nolan and me back in NYC!

Nolan had so much fun with his Papa and can now pick him out of a picture on our fridge! So cute. My dad already has a set of little kid golf clubs for Nolan. Can you tell by the picture that he's a natural! :)

We went with the Maddox's to a Halloween party for the kids. Nolan didn't have his costume but borrowed Roman's from last year! It was so cute and hilarious to see the 1 year olds slowly approach him to see if he was a live stuffed animal!

7 months

I seriously feel like every time I log onto the blog it's time for NB's monthly update.

It is getting cold and some times rainy here in NYC, but it has given me a reason to dress Nolan up extra cute in his fall gear. I am so thankful for everyone who has bought him clothes and even more for the fabulous hand-me-downs that we've been given.

We went to a fall party in the West Village with Nolan's best bud James. We got some great pictures, and the boys loved playing with the pumpkins and watching the big kids run around!

Now for a run down of new and exciting things:

• Sitting up so straight for long periods of time. I still have to put the boppy behind him if I leave him on his own, but he has come a long way in a month.
• Finally doesn't mind being on his stomach. He is attempting to crawl and actually likes reaching for his toys that are a little far away.
• Scarfing his 4 oz of food twice a day. He has not rejected a single food I've given him. He's even been trying to take the spoon and feed himself!
• He makes the cutest noises when he's excited, which is about every two minutes. He pants and kicks when we leave the house, come home, get to the park, he sees his dad or any of his tiny little friends, goes into the bathroom, or when we're about to get on the swings. He even gets super excited when I take him out of the swings!
• He has the best personality, and I always get stopped by strangers who tell me how cute and funny he is. He also loves to flirt with the ladies!
• He loves to sit in his bumbo chair and watch me cook dinner, do the dishes or get ready for the day in the bathroom.
• He seems to like Sesame St. for about two minutes.
• Two days in a row he took two hour naps, which is a big deal at the Bennett house. I can only hope that this continues (finger's crossed!)
• Yesterday he decided that his new thing would be clapping. It's so cute, and he just does it when he wants to. It is not really associated with anything now, but I'm sure as the weeks pass by he'll clap in context!

There are still days that I can't believe this sweet, funny, super cute and well adjusted baby is mine. He is such a little love bug, and even though days can be long and hard, seeing him smile at me or laugh when I laugh makes all the hard parts slip away!

Paris

After a couple of days in Milan, I was much less jet lagged. We flew with Shawn and the rest of the NBA folks to Paris. We were staying right next to the Arena where the Knicks played the Timberwolves.

I was so excited to get to Paris. It was my first time there, and I had so much I wanted to see and do. Besides seeing the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame, number one on my list was a fancy French Dinner. Thanks to one of Shawn's coworkers, we were able to enjoy a quiet 6 course meal at Augusto in Paris. We had a great bottle of white Burgundy to go with our meal. I had a feeling that one of the courses would be a little to refined for my taste, and boy was I right. After three amazing courses that Shawn and I basically liked up out came the pigeon! AHHHH, living in NYC, I could not get the vision of dirty city flying rats out of my head. I did my best to eat as much as I could, but after about three bites I was done! Good thing that course was followed by yummy cheese and a heavenly dessert duo of chocolate souffle and maple ice cream!

The next day Shawn was busy with work, so Nolan and I headed into the city center to meet our friend Emily. We had lunch then walked over to the Louvre, then headed to the Latin Quarter, then after walking aimlessly for hours we headed back to the hotel for a much needed glass of French Wine! When Shawn was done with work, he met us at the Westin and we went over to Pont Nuf to catch a nighttime boat ride down the Seine River. It was a great way to see the city. I have to say the Eiffel Tower lit up was a beautiful sight!

The next day was game day, so Nolan and I were on our own again. We went to the Arch De Triumph and the Eiffel Tower in the rain. Thankfully my sister let me borrow her rain jacket as it was a necessity in Paris! We made it back to our hotel in time to get changed and head over to the game. We only stayed for the first half, but I was glad we were able to see the NBA in Europe!

Milano!

Shawn had games in Milan and Paris, so Nolan and I decided to tag along. After a long overnight flight from NYC, we landed in Milan. I was very city savvy and took the train from the airport and the metro from the city center to meet Shawn at the beautiful Duomo.

I was beyond tired, but I pushed through the day. We saw some sights, and of course had espresso and gelato! YUM!

This is one of Nolan's many girlfriends! The KCD and Knicks players had a few appearances in Milan that we attended.

When Shawn was working, Nolan and I went sight seeing. We went to the Castello Sforzesco and saw some amazing art, including Davinci's Madonna and Son.

We spent a lot of time in the cute neighborhood of Brera. It was filled with restaurants, shops and of course Gelato!! I ate at least one meal per day in this neighborhood!

We also went to the Knicks vs. Armani Jeans, yes you read that right. The game sold out in 6 minutes, so we were lucky to be in the building. The Knicks won the game and were received with great cheer. I found that over all the Italian's were very friendly and LOVE babies. All of the kept wanting to touch and kiss Nolan. Normally that would freak me out a little, but when in Milan!

Here's Nolan in his sweet Adidas Knicks gear.