Another Month Goes By In a New York Minute

The past month has been full of excitement both professionally, personally, and gastronomically. At work, things have really picked up as I'm covering the 2nd Committee, which deals with macroeconomic and sustainable development issues. I've also been tasked with working on the negotiations of several resolutions and while I know I am always representing the United States in my work, I'll admit that it's fun to do it formally. Some of my work also involves some interaction with the Tajik Mission to the UN, which I thoroughly enjoy since we can chat about life in Tajikistan (and I get to practice my Russian). The diplomats from Tajikistan are great to work with and I even got to go to lunch with them to a Tajik restaurant in Brooklyn last week - complete with sambusas, mantu, shashlik, and plov. It really brought back memories.

In the (seemlingly few) hours that I spend outside of work, Stephanie, Aiden and I continue to make the most of New York City. For our anniversary, we decided to have a few of our favorite things at home. Those things included a nice selection of cheeses from the cheese shop, strawberries. olives, red wine, scallops wrapped in bacon, an artichoke, and steamed shrimp.

For dessert, we had a selection of delicious cupcakes from Crumbs:

Having Aiden with us made it extra special. We've also been out and about, going to a Renaissance Fair at Fort Tryon Park...


Times Square at night where we also had Junior's Cheesecake...

Stephanie took Aiden to the Columbus Day Parade. (I had to work because it isn't a UN holiday)...

We also went with some of Stephanie's family to see the World Trade Center Memorial. It was really nicely done, a very peaceful place that didn't feel too sad. I haven't seen it during the day, but some people have said it's best at night, and I can see why.

Last weekend, we took a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge with great views of the skyline...

And on the other side we had some great ice cream from the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory.

As Fall comes to New York, the weather is crisp and clear and the fall foliage was on display as we walked along the lower west side this weekend...

Aiden continues to enjoy himself and is growing a lot. We've already had to boost his exersaucer to the second level and he's working on sitting up. We've also started introducing solid food, but he still seems unsure of what to do with it. He's tried apples, pears, peaches, sweet potatoes, avocados, and peas, but nothing has really clicked yet. Lentils and carrots are up next. He also seems to really love his excursions. Sometimes in the morning he gets fussy and only calms down if we let him look out the window or take him out in the stroller. As much as we enjoy being out and about with him, we hope he doesn't demand long walks in December!

Aiden has also gotten to meet more playmates of his own age as we've been able to get together with good friends up here who have young children. He seems to be very interested in other babies and has a lot of fun when they are here.

Overdue

Well, I've clearly underestimated how difficult it would be to keep up with the blog and work full time and be a good father and husband. But since being a good father and husband is my top priority, and working is necessarily my second, the blog must come further down the list. Nonetheless, I'm going to try to keep up with it albeit less frequently.

I got back from Tajikistan on Friday afternoon, which gave us exactly a week to take care of our many doctors appointments and gather our belongings for the move to New York. Aiden grew so much in the few weeks that I was in Dushanbe, I felt like I had to get to know him all over again. Now he's laughing and babbling and playing all the time. I don't think he forgot me because he smiled when he saw me.

Another milestone was giving him his first non-formula meal. We got some baby cereal, mixed it with his formula, and went to town. It wasn't a total failure because I'm sure he actually ate some, but a lot came out his nose or got sneezed all over me and Stephanie. Nonetheless, we had fun. Before we left for New York, Aiden got to meet his new 2nd cousin, Olivia. She's only a few months younger than him, so it will be nice that he has someone his age in the family.

For my assignment in New York, no funding was provided for Stephanie and Aiden's travel, or to move our belongings. So we decided to rent a van. Getting all of Aiden's things plus everything Stephanie and I need for four months into one van was no small task, but the months we spent moving around every couple of weeks gave me some formidable packing skills and I made it happen. I could even see out of the side view mirrors.

Our trip up was blessedly uneventful - no traffic at all until we hit the Lincoln Tunnel. And then, there we were, back in Manhattan! It was a wonderful feeling. Our apartment is a rather spacious one bedroom with an embarrassment of closet space by New York standards. We have a very nice view of the Queensborough Bridge, which allows us to appreciate both sunrises and moonrises.

The location in mid-town couldn't be better. There's a grocery store a couple of blocks away, and a cheese store with every type of cheese you can imagine just around the corner from us. There's no shortage of restaurants either, so we have plenty to keep us busy - there's even a Japanese restaurant across the street that does all-you-can-eat sushi for $25! Oh how we've missed New York. Aiden loves the city and enjoys going for walks in his stroller. He gets lots of attention when we go out - people literally stop and ooh and ahh over him - and that's really unusual in New York. (Not that we're surprised).

Aiden gets a lot of attention in restaurants too - we've had at least two experiences where waiters wanted to take Aiden back to the kitchen. Once, a guy actually took him from Stephanie to play with him - that was a little unnerving, but the guy meant well. Aiden got to go on his first subway ride when we went down to the San Genaro festival in Little Italy - he seemed to enjoy it.

While we were downtown, we had donuts from the Doughnut Plant - which were amazing. I could write an entire other blog about the things we eat, but I'll move on.

My office is almost directly across the street from the UN, and only about a 10 minute walk from home, so that's been nice. I couldn't ask for a better commute. Aiden and Stephanie even walk me to work sometimes.

The work is challenging and the hours can be long, but I enjoy it. Part of my job was to report on the speeches given as part of the general debate in the General Assembly (every country and some observers give a speech - almost 200 in total). Luckily I didn't have to cover them all, but it was interesting to hear what countries from all over the world have to say. The speeches are a matter of public record, but I won't comment on them too much. But there were some interesting times when the U.S. was getting bashed pretty harshly and it was odd sitting at the United States' table during those.

We had a nice surprise at work shortly after we arrived. Secretary Clinton and President Obama came to the building for a 'meet n greet' where they each gave speeches about the importance of the work we do. It was a really neat experience. Even better, I was able to get Stephanie and Aiden in too. At the end, President Obama was shaking hands with the children but we weren't that close to the front. Just as he turned away, I held Aiden out and said "Sir, how about a footshake?" That seemed to get his attention because he smiled, reached out, grabbed Aiden's foot, and gave it a little shake. It was a great moment. Unfortunately, Stephanie wasn't in a good spot to take a picture, but it will be a fun story to share with Aiden when he gets older.

That's it for now - more has actually happened, but I don't have the pictures ready to go along with the story, so it will have to wait.