Next to giving birth myself, being in the room when a new baby emerges into the world is the closest I’ll ever get to heaven. And being with this little boy, born in the heart of New York City in a room full of love was no exception.
The name that Eli and Julie chose for this baby was a lovely surprise. Almost 55 years ago to the day this baby’s great grandfather, Dean Eyre passed away at the age of 39 with colon cancer. He was beloved by all who knew him and and that love has passed down through the family all those years to us who never knew him! He was a noble man who adored his darling Ruthie whom he had to leave to raise their five children ages 15-3 on her own. Grandpa Dean, though dead is a living legend in our family. As you might have guessed this sweet boy’s name is Dean Eyre. His middle name is Haslam (Julie’s maiden name) and everyone is thrilled to have Baby Dean Haslam Eyre to remind us of the outstanding attributes of this great man and the stellar Haslam family.
If you get a chance, go to Eli’s blog post here with these beautiful pictures, copied from his post and the full story of Dean’s dramatic entry into the world. Can you tell these pictures are a titch more professional than my regular iPhone renditions? Is this a gorgeous child or what?
The morning after the birth I got Zara ready to meet her new brother, grabbed a cab in front of their apartment building and soaked in every moment of that grand first meeting! Zara was pretty delighted to see who came out of that bump on her mommy’s tummy. As you can see, it was Love at First Sight!
Here we have the first of many pokes in the eye that Zara administered and continued to bestow upon unsuspecting Baby Dean.
Richard and the Shumways had driven down from Boston, which was a scheduled trip that just happened to be perfect timing! We all adored that little boy!
You can almost tell by the expression on Baby Dean’s face that he knows he is going to have” Big Sister Manhandling” to deal with! This picture: priceless!
Eli’s and Julie’s neighbors down a couple of floors in their building just happen to have their own baby the day before Dean arrived and the mom just happened to reside two doors down on the same floor of the Mount Sinai Roosevelt Hospital.
Julie had intended to give birth in the Birthing Center at the hospital but since it was such a panic to get there, her room wasn’t ready and she ended up in the mainstream with the challenges of a roommate and no place for Eli to stay overnight. Just a small glitch that they worked through like champs!
So after staying 48 hours instead of the 12 hours they expected, home they went!
And Zara began pouring out her abundant love for Baby Dean, covering him like hot lava out of a volcano….exploring her new brother with abandon!
Anybody who has had a two year old and a newborn will probably identify with the following little series of pictures (you can think of your own captions). Daddy ready to protect:
For a good reason….
I can’t tell you how much we enjoyed these legos as a distraction from mauling the baby! Hooray for legos. The familiar crashing sound of her pouring out her huge stockpile every morning was the sign that she was ready to play!
Having said that, Eli and I did our best to keep Zara “on the streets” and “at the playgrounds” and Dean out of danger while Julie and Dean slept .Our walks were a kick! Zara scooted along on her little scooter happy to stop at the interesting sights on the streets of Manhattan on the way:
We stopped to enjoy the wonders of the tulip festival a few blocks from their apartment on the way to the playground:
This ride is even better than the scooter! She was a pleased as punch to be headed for the playground at Central Park. We saw lots of playgrounds and observed many mothers, which were outnumbered by nannies, watching over the kids while they played!
I have to say that I could live in NYC! I don’t know about the five story walk-up except I wouldn’t have to worry about getting on that elliptical every day because this would do it for my exercise by the time I went up and down four lights of these babies two or three times a day (note the strollers in the back there).
How these guy will be able to get up and down these stairs with a two year old and a baby (their next door neighbors have a 4 year old, a 2 1/2 year old and a 5 month old) is beyond me!
BUT it is a delightful neighborhood! Everything you could need is within easy walking distance and even better….delivery service! They can shop at Trader Joe’s (about six blocks away) and have their groceries delivered to their door for six dollars! They send their laundry out and it is returned in neatly wrapped packages on the same day. They can shop at Costco online and have it delivered for a small fee within hours. Amazon also has a new service where you can shop for anything they need and have it delivered to your door within two hours. As I said, I could live here!
The best delivery service of all….Warm cookies until 3 a.m. (the shop just happened to be less than a block away!) There’s nothing like a warm cookie delivered to your door while you’re nursing a baby at 2 a.m. 
Several mornings I took a little run (a block and a half away) to one of the greatest gourmet shops in the world. It’s big mish mash of everything you could possibly want in the line of fabulous (though expensive) food!
Then I stopped at the fruit market just outside their door where fruit was fresh and beautiful and cheaper than I could possibly get in the a grocery story at home! It was run by a great guy from Istanbul who always threw in a few extra free grapes just to be nice!
From there I jogged back home and Eli helped me prepare some fun breakfasts that we enjoyed together.
On Saturday night Jeff and Saydi (who had come for a concert for Jeff’s sister-in-law who is an opera star) joined us for a fabulous Japanese Noodle dinner at a restaurant about 50 steps from Eli and Julie’s front door (not counting the stairs). Eli used to have to take a subway ride to enjoy this place since he got addicted to Japanese noodles while on his mission in Japan. Just a few weeks before, they had opened a new one practically next door!
On my last day, after Eli had already taken a three mile run through the park, we walked over a mile each way to the incredible Central Park Zoo.
Just in time to see the feeding of the sea lions! What a fabulous 1st class small zoo right in the middle of the park…and the city!
With….among other animals, white pandas and bears!
After the zoo and since it was my last day, Eli gave me with one last birthday surprise…a lovely lunch at the top of a beautiful building overlooking Columbus Circle, Broadway and Central Park. It was amazing to see the park we had been walking around in all week from the top with its canopy of green trees.
Eli somehow finagled a table right by the window even though the hostess had said that it usually requires a reservation four months in advance! It was a spectacular view, food to die for and a engaging conversation with our stellar youngest son. Thanks Eli! That’s a lunch I’ll never forget!
This was my lunch….
And this was Eli’s….PLUS the literal icing on the cake!
It’s a week I’ll never forget. A joyful beginning of a new era! And Thanks to Eli’s incredible eye for photography, he caught a few priceless pictures just before I walked out the door to grab a cab to head for home.
What a fabulous memory and an exciting new life!
For Eli’s well-written details of the birth and terrific photography click here.
2 comments:
Wow! You guys really packed in some fun stuff! I loved seeing it all, and being a part of a little bit of it.
Love you mom, and that sweet dean and his family.
What an awesome post honey bun!
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