No sleep 'til Brooklyn

I'm beginning to think that I may need to change the name of my blog to "Have Baby, Will Travel."  This weekend found Sammy and me in northern New Jersey hanging out with my father-in-law, Cosmo, and Sammy's great-grandparents.  Cosmo took the train down on Thursday so he could assist me with the drive up on Friday; that night we had dinner over at Sammy's great-grandparents where he was smothered with love, affection, and Italian soap operas.

On Saturday, Cosmo, Sammy and I headed over to Captain Husband's cousin Matt's new house outside of Boonton; he and his fiancee', Helen, had a lot of work on their hands when they bought the place and have done an amazing job.  They've ripped out walls and rebuilt rooms as well as replaced rotten joists and refinished the floors.  I know they still have a lot that they want to do to the place, but it's amazing what they've already managed to accomplish.  Sammy and Helen had a lengthy conversation about the aesthetics of the new paint color in the living room.

Since Sammy has completely outgrown the bjorn at this point, Cosmo offered to get me a new baby carrier as a Christmas gift; the hard part was deciding on which one.  Some internet sleuthing revealed a store in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn called Boing Boing that specializes in baby carriers, so we decided to be wild and crazy and drive into the city on Sunday to check it out.  The drive went pretty smoothly with only a few minor hiccups thanks to various construction detours, but we managed to find a place to park within walking distance of the shop.  Although I didn't find a carrier that I was heads over heels about at the store, Cosmo did pick up a few gifts for Sammy, like some mittens, baby feeding accessories, and a new stroller bundler (which will come in handy as the zipper just broke on the hand-me-down one I had been using).  We then ate lunch at a place called Peperoncino; the food was really good and the atmosphere was warm and cozy, not to mention baby-friendly--if you ever happen to find yourself in that part of the world, I highly suggest eating there.  Sammy was bummed that he didn't get to have any of our omelets.  Here he is giving Grandpa Cosmo his best sad puppy-dog eyes, to no avail.

We walked around the neighborhood for a bit and checked out a few of the shops and grabbed some hot chocolate at the Chocolate Room.  ZOMG.  Best. Hot. Chocolate. Ever.  Seriously, it was toe-curling good.  At this point, Sammy was completely zoned out in his stroller, so I snapped a few photos to commemorate his first trip into New York and then we were on the road again.

Speaking of being on the road, Cosmo, Sammy and I are making our way back to Virginia today.  My fingers are crossed that the drive home will be as smooth and trouble free as the drive up to New Jersey was.  Wish us luck!