Adventures in Suburbia

13 Weeks

2012-02-16T15:56:00.001-05:00

Second Trimester!

…And I finally took belly pics!

And just for fun, here’s me pre-pregnancy… running the Baltimore Marathon…

How far along? 13 weeks – baby is the size of a shrimp (7cm to be exact)
Total weight gain: +6
Maternity clothes? Maternity leggings. Stretchy things.
Stretch marks? No
Sleep: I love sleeping right now. I don’t love getting up 5 times a night to pee.
Best moment this week: Ultrasound! And getting a HINT of the gender :o
Miss Anything? Being the most productive person ever. That is no longer me.
Movement: No but I can’t wait. I hope to start feeling something verrrrry soon.
Food cravings: Sushi. Weird. I never eat sushi. Twice this week: Avocado, Cucumber and Cream Cheese Roll – best thing ever.
Food aversions: Garlic. Gross.
Gender: 5 weeks and counting!
Labor Signs: N/A
Symptoms: Ugh. Puking again. Less energy spurts than last week. Less appetite than last week. More food aversions. And I’m pretty sure people think I’m getting fat. OH – and heartburn. So much heartburn.
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Looking forward to: Starting the nursery, and moving Luke’s room to the “big” room – if I ever get the energy.
Milestone: NT scan – everything looks great!

This week’s theme is: I will never stop barfing. Actually, I’m much more functional than usual, but still hugging the bowl on a daily basis. I have even been showering EVERY DAY and even making grocery lists. And sometimes even buying the groceries on the list! I am finding myself incredibly tired – I took a nap yesterday, and mark my words, I am not a napper. But… it was glorious.

Got the NT scan yesterday and things look great. HR 163, 7cm long, measuring one day ahead. It seriously took 25 minutes because the baby was so uncooperative with giving us a profile shot, but we got it done (granted, we completely pissed the baby off with all the poking around.) Luckily, the little bugger gave us a clear between-the-legs shot, and I forced the tech to look verrrrry closely and tell me what she sees…

Of course she said it’s totally unreliable at 13 weeks – BUT she said wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out to be a little bitty GIRL. Could it be true??? Are there headbands and tutus and pink in my future?!?! THE SUSPENSE IS KILLING ME!

12 Weeks

2012-02-09T20:35:00.001-05:00

How far along? 12 weeks – baby is the size of a lemon
Total weight gain: +6
Maternity clothes? Yes! Maternity leggings – they rock
Stretch marks? No
Sleep: Having a harder time falling asleep, and waking earlier in the morning – signs that 2^nd tri is imminent. Still getting up several times a night to pee.
Best moment this week: The past THREE DAYS of not puking. Wooooot!
Miss Anything? Wine – could really use a glass of shiraz.
Movement: No – hoping in the next couple weeks – can’t wait!
Food cravings: Nothing in particular, although I’m partial to sweets as always.
Food aversions: Still hating on garlic and greasy stuff. I have to be in the right mood to eat something; otherwise I’m having significantly less aversions.
Gender: 6 weeks to go! Eeeeek!
Labor Signs: N/A
Symptoms: Nausea the first half of the week – now it seems to be conspicuously absent. Energy spurts especially in the morning. Moderate appetite. Some food aversions. Rounding belly! Heartburn the WHOLE second half of the day now.
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Looking forward to: Ultrasound on Valentine’s Day!
Milestone: AGAIN: NO PUKING FOR THREE DAYS. BEST THING EVER!

This week’s theme is: In like a lion, out like a non-puking lion. After my post last week, I got SUPER sick for the whole weekend, couldn’t keep down a meal – it was miserable. I was starting to think I would be sick the whole pregnancy. Then, Tuesday came around and magically I stopped barfing, and haven’t gotten sick in several days now. Weird! I hope it never comes back.

On Tuesday, Valentine’s Day, we have the NT scan, so I get another peek at my tiny bundle. Last time around the scan was on St. Patrick’s Day and Luke was in there having a par-tay. We’ll see what this little lemon is up to shortly – can’t wait!

Feb 1: 65 degrees

2012-02-02T17:57:00.001-05:00

I should mention for history’s sake that this winter has been incredibly mild. Maryland isn’t exactly frozen tundra, but we usually rake in at least a couple decent snowstorms and hubby gets off from school a few days here and there. Instead, we have been trapped in sort of a grayish coldish purgatory that is usually reserved for sometime around mid March. I’m Florida-born and couldn’t care less if it snows or not, but I think for Luke’s sake it should hurry up and happen already.

Anyway – it was 65 at 11 am yesterday. I think we got pretty close to 70 in my backyard, which is juuuuuuust fine with me. I let Luke ride his bike around, then we set up camp in the mini-park across the street with some granola bars and juice. It was standard boy-outside fare: he found sticks, he played with sticks, he found rocks, he threw rocks. I’ll take a few more of these pleasant days, please!

PS: He loooooves that helmet and would totally wear it all the time if I let him.

11 Weeks

2012-02-02T15:16:00.001-05:00

How far along? 11 weeks – baby is the size of a fig (I have no idea how big a fig is)
Total weight gain: +5
Maternity clothes? Not yet
Stretch marks? No
Sleep: Sleep is becoming more restful, I’m waking less, but still up at least 5 times a night.
Best moment this week: Eh. This wasn’t a great week.
Miss Anything? I’m just really missing cooking and eating real (and healthy) meals.
Movement: Not yet
Food cravings: Nothing really
Food aversions: Too many to list
Gender: 7 weeks to go!
Labor Signs: N/A
Symptoms: Nausea and heartburn from about 1pm to bedtime. Vomiting 1-3 times a day. Fatigued very early in the evening (or afternoon). Low appetite. Food aversions. Bloated & backed up in the bowel department.
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Looking forward to: I feel like 2^nd tri is sooooo close… at this point I’m just kind of in grin-and-bear-it mode until I get there.
Milestone: I WENT AN ENTIRE DAY WITHOUT THROWING UP! Yesterday, 2/1 – no vom. Swearsies. (I’d been throwing up daily since 12/27)

This week’s theme is: THE STOMACH FLU IS WORSE THAN MORNING SICKNESS. (Yeah, I know there is technically no such thing as influenza in the stomach, but we all call it this, no?) So here’s what happened. Luke got it first – two days later, Pete and I were attacked and ravaged by this thing for about 10 hours straight (at the same time, so Luke has been adequately scarred by the whole experience, especially since Pete is apparently the loudest vomiter EVER). It got a little scary at one point and if it went much longer I probably would have gone to urgent care or the ER. But, it stopped as quickly as it started and recovery was super fast.

The lesson here is that morning sickness sucks, but the stomach flu sucks A LOT MORE. So I guess that is nature’s way of telling me to cool it with the complaining about morning sickness.

I’m reallllllly loving my morning energy and I’m getting lots done – even almost totally caught up on laundry! Luke gets to go to all his morning activities again, and our house is more or less back to normal during the first part of the day. I’m hoping and praying that afternoons are to follow!

Hot off the press

2012-01-29T19:46:00.001-05:00

Luke. All grown up.

26.2 Happiness

2012-01-29T19:35:00.001-05:00

I finally got around to uploading my (very few) marathon pictures (part of the camera slacking thing I have going on I guess).

Want to see a picture of a really, truly, happy me? Here it is…

That was taken after the race, once I was able to proudly sport my marathon shirt and medal. This was one of the proudest moments of my life and I’m so glad we snapped a picture of it. If you’re interested, I spoke more extensively about my marathon experience here.

Another shining moment of the day was when Luke crossed the finish line at his very first race ever! He did the Kid’s Fun Run, which I missed because I was running. Luckily there were pictures and video for me to see, and I am just so proud of him. He was one of the smallest on-foot kids there (the smaller ones were in strollers) and he tried to hard to keep up with the big kids. My heart just swells watching him give it his best shot! Here is he crossing the finish line, which is the same finish line I crossed a few hours later…

He is TOTALLY going to beat that chick in the stroller.

I have a few more pictures that I purchased from the pro photo company. Dare I share them? They aren’t my most photogenic moments ever, but then again I’m running 26.2 miles so I guess I shouldn’t care.

BTW, I can’t believe I did this a couple months ago and can barely get out of bed now. Tear.

The Finish Line!

10 Weeks

2012-01-26T16:49:00.001-05:00

How far along? 10 weeks, when the rate of miscarriage drops to 3% and the tadpole becomes a fetus. Booya!
Total weight gain: +4 overall… that’s better than +6, eh?
Maternity clothes? No. But I’m sticking strictly to leggings and yoga pants and have shelved the jeans indefinitely.
Stretch marks? No.
Sleep: The usual nighttime vom/pee/hot flash festival is in full swing. Come on down!
Best moment this week: I went to the gym! Once.
Miss Anything? Instead of going on about how much I miss my old productive good mommy self, I’ll just say I miss the ability to wash my sorrows away with wine.
Movement: No
Food cravings: I crave the ability to not need food to survive. But I also kind of want cake. (Update: my husband is bringing me cake AS WE SPEAK.)
Food aversions: My biggest aversion is (of course as a vegetarian) meat, followed closely by oily/greasy foods. And I am really against garlic right now. God. Is there anything worse than garlic?!
Gender: 8 weeks to go!
Labor Signs: No
Symptoms: Yes. All of them.
Belly Button in or out? In.
Wedding rings on or off? On.
Looking forward to: Catching up on laundry someday.

This week’s theme is: Rollercoaster of Misery! I’m getting stretches of complete normalcy now – we are talking 3, 4, sometimes 5 (5!) hours from wake-up (as long as I eat something STAT) until about noon. The downside is that when I crash, I CRASH. I’m laid up on the sofa, sticking Luke in front of the tube, thinking about cooking a real dinner, vomiting from thinking about dinner, subsequently not cooking dinner, and choking back the chunks while I prepare yet another sandwich and fruit plate for my soon to be malnourished child as I waste away on nibbles of toast and sips of water.

In other words, my “morning” sickness has condensed itself to half the day AND intensified. What the hell?! The other day, my throws over the bowl were so violent that I actually pulled a back muscle. Yeah. Pulled a muscle. In my back. From the vom.

In better news, my insane body oiliness seems to be chilling out a little, so my hair and skin are appearing SLIGHTLY cleaner and I’m not breaking out like a teenager a la two weeks ago. My gasbaby belly also seems to be a little less like a hot air balloon and a little more like a normal person belly – although I have no idea why because what goes in is NOT coming out. Ay caramba. Onward.

The story of the boy who didn’t want to talk.

2012-01-21T14:05:00.001-05:00

Prepare yourself for the most wonderful sentence I’ve ever heard: “I did a poo-poo.”

Okay, first some much needed background: Luke started talking relatively early, and was pretty good at repeating words, and had several he would use regularly. They were baby words, not clear like adults words, but he was doing great for his age.

I will never forget the day I was putting him in his car seat and I pointed at a squirrel. Like dozens of times before this, I said, “Look Luke, a squirrel! Can you say squirrel?”

Any other time, Luke would have smiled and said “KWIRL!” … But not this time. This time, he looked me square in the eye and said: No.

And that was the beginning of the end. For many, many months I heard nothing but no. He went from a mild, relaxed baby to a wild, rambunctious toddler. He refused to speak and threw tantrums to convey his needs. He was hitting other kids at the gym daycare and hitting me regularly. I began to shy away from play dates, from Target trips, from the park, from kiddie classes… it was really rough on us both and I don’t think anyone fully understood what I was going through. It was hard to see my sweet boy having so much difficulty. I even quit my successful Crush Luxe venture to focus on him, but nothing seemed to give.

At Luke’s 2 year check-up, he was a monster. He screamed, thrashed, hit me, kicked me… it was really embarrassing. The pediatrician basically told me – this is learned behavior and it’s time to unlearn it. In the nicest possible way, she conveyed the message that he had no discipline in his life, no sense of boundaries, and it was, simply put, making him confused, scared and somewhat nuts.

That day was a big turning point for me. That was the day that I said – I’m done. Luke can’t handle it and neither can I. I immediately began 30 second time-outs for major infractions: hitting, throwing, any sort of violence. The first two days? He went to time out, I kid you not – 40-50 times. He HATED it. He hated me. I hated it. It was the longest. two. days. ever.

Then… it stopped. It was just like that. It just STOPPED. He still went to time out just a few times a day for another week or so, then nothing. At some point, I realized he hadn’t been to time out in weeks. He was sharing with other kids, he was loving and affectionate, he was so HAPPY. I had my sweet boy back! And he was never really gone, was he? He was just a little lost.

But, there was still the another issue: he wouldn’t talk. He would not call me mama, or say dada. He had no names for the dogs, no inclination to speak at all really. We were worried. The pediatrician said – give him 3 more months. Work with him, be patient. If it doesn’t work, we’ll get him outside help.

I did tons of research, read about special needs preschools – it was all very alarming. So I said okay kiddo, we’ve got 3 months. Let’s make it count. I began working with him constantly; I spoke clearly and slowly in short sentences, I pointed things out, I kept it all very simple. I nixed almost all television, worked on books with him, incorporated tons of creative and learning activities. I wanted to get the wheels in his head turning, to stimulate and challenge him and make him WANT to talk.

Then something happened. Luke and I fed the dogs together (one of his special duties), and he looked at Aspen and said “Go eat!”. I was like – whaaaa?!?! I made a big deal out of it, as we danced around the kitchen, laughing and yelling together: Go eat! Go eat! Go eat!

Slowly but surely, words came. He began to say “bye-bye car” and other simple two word combos on a regular basis. Then he was calling me Mama. Mama Mama! All day long – it was unbelievable to hear him finally announce to the world that I AM IN FACT his mother! And then Dada! Dada! Then his vocabulary was up to about 30 words, he was adding one new word a week. That’s not quite enough to stay out of speech therapy, but we had hope.

This brings us up to this week. This week, at 28 months old, where suddenly, my formerly obstinate, mum little boy, began talking. And talking and talking and talking. Something clicked and he began to repeat me. I didn’t believe it at first… yesterday I was putting him down for his nap, and in a 5 minute time span, he said 6 new words. I say something, and he simply repeats it. It is so shocking to hear his little voice respond to mine!

I don’t want to jump the gun and declare him out of the woods, but the past two days have been incredible, joyous, and what I’ve been patiently waiting for since I got my plus sign almost 3 years ago to the day – to really hear my child talk.

It all became real when I was changing an ordinary, run-of-the-mill dirty diaper as he smiled, looked at me and said his very first 4-word sentence ever: “I did a poo-poo. Mama, I poo-poo!”

And that is music to my ears.

9 Weeks

2012-01-20T15:11:00.001-05:00

How far along? 9 weeks – baby is the size of a grape
Total weight gain: Ay caramba! +6. Shoot me. This is what happens when you don’t go to the gym for a month.
Maternity clothes? I think based on the above, what I need is fat clothes.
Stretch marks? I think based on the above, they are coming.
Sleep: Gotta pee, hot flash, cold flash, gotta pee, turn on the fan, turn off the fan, gotta pee, this side is comfortable, no that side is more comfortable… you get the idea.
Best moment this week: First ultrasound! Yayyyy!
Miss Anything? Still: NOT FEELING NAUSEOUS EVERY MINUTE OF THE DAY. Being hungry. Being satisfied after a meal. Having enough energy to take care of the house and Luke.
Movement: Not there yet.
Food cravings: Nothing. I really dislike food right now.
Food aversions: If it is a food, I am averse.
Gender: Fast heartbeat, super sick… girl?!?! We shall see!
Labor Signs: Heavens no.
Symptoms: Pretty much running the gamut right now, but the major ones are still nausea and fatigue. The fatigue is letting up a teeny tiny touch. I’m still taking Zofran for the nausea, and have thrown in occasional Zantac. Today I started Miralax to get things moving along a little better.
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Looking forward to: Still really wanting to get back to my normal routine, and be an awesome mom for Luke again!
Milestone: First ultrasound this week: we saw a perfect lil mini bebe with a heartbeat of 173 bpm. Everything looked great! Measured exactly 9 weeks and received my official due date of 8/23/12.

The theme for this week is “not as bad as last week”. All the sucky parts are still there, but instead of 100% intensity, we are at about a 90%. Win! Also, new this week: bursts of energy! Or, I should say, bursts of Not Dying. Maybe bursts of normalcy? Regardless, this means that sometimes I get things done. One day, I brushed the dogs AND vacuumed. True story.

8 Weeks

2012-01-20T14:57:00.001-05:00

{Note: I wrote this on January 12, 2012. And I’ll start taking weekly belly pics around 12 weeks – I’m too bloated and nasty to photograph and publish it to the web forever and ever and ever.}

How far along? 8 weeks – baby is the size of a gummy bear
Total weight gain: I am staying far, far away from the scale right now.
Maternity clothes? No, but the looser and baggier the better. I. Am. So. Bloated.
Stretch marks? None!
Sleep: Not great. Getting real nauseous at night, then waking up 3-5 times a night to pee. Very tired in the morning.
Best moment this week: Refilling my Zofran prescription.
Miss Anything? NOT FEELING NAUSEOUS EVERY MINUTE OF THE DAY. Being hungry. Being satisfied after a meal. Having enough energy to take care of the house and Luke.
Movement: Not there yet. (Unless this is referring to bowel movement? In that case, we aren’t there yet either.) ;)
Food cravings: On several occasions I wanted a hot fudge sundae this week, but I’m already over it.
Food aversions: Everything. I’m already a vegetarian, but now the sheer sight of meat on a commercial makes me throw up. I also threw up at the smell of pizza. Food disgusts me.
Gender: TBD
Labor Signs: NA
Symptoms: Nausea, nausea, nausea, extreme fatigue, heartburn, bloating, and I am alllll sorts of “backed up”. Oily hair, oily face, breakouts. Not glowing. Kind of shining though, from all the oil.
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Looking forward to: Not throwing up all the time and getting my life back. Also – ultrasound and first doc appointment next week!

Whoa. First trimester this time around? No bueno. I have been vomiting daily for 3 weeks and it is taking a LOT out of me. I’m absolutely exhausted, I can’t walk or talk without intense nausea, I’m seriously oily and breaking out – I am really quite nasty. Sorry for over-sharing, but Future Me needs to know and REMEMBER THIS in case she gets any bright ideas about reproducing again.

Beans = spilt.

2012-01-20T14:50:00.001-05:00

First of all I would like to send a big ole THANKS A LOT to (my favorite site ever), Pinterest. I created a baby board over there to secretly bookmark some baby related items. I did not realize that Pinterest would automatically add all of my followers to that board at a later date – so it became fairly obvious to others that I was keeping a tiny lil secret.

And that secret is…

You got it. I’m PREGNANT AND GLOWING! Minus the glowing. So, here we go again. I’m currently 9 weeks along and suuuuuuper eager to get the heck out of first tri.

Oh look! Here’s the little bugger chilling out in my uterus…

Due August 23, 2012. Boom!

Reflections: My First Marathon

2011-10-16T12:03:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, on October 15, 2011, I ran my very first marathon! This has been a dream of mine for many years. I wanted to run to test myself, push my body to the limit, and do something impressive. What I didn't know is that it would be so much more than that.

I trained for about 7 months. In the beginning, I wasn't running at all and had taken over a year off. I knew I wanted to reconnect with running and began training for the Baltimore 10 Miler,then moved straight into marathon training once that was finished.

The biggest surprise was that the training experience turned out to be amazing for me. It taught me that a systematic, progressive, calculated approach to an enormous task can make it perfectly achievable. Seeing the increase in my fitness from week to week and watching my body chisel down to runner's silhouette was so rewarding. My long Sunday runs became an anticipated, treasured time for me – a time to reflect and be alone and when, for a few hours, everything in the world would seem just right.

As I crossed major checkpoints in the process, my self-confidence began to grow. I can’t say enough how much this process was about the evolution of my spirit! I remember the day I ran my first 12 mile run– in 90 degree heat. THAT was the day I realized I could do this and as long as I live, I’ll never forget it. I’d been stalled out at the 10 mile mark for over a month, and when I pushed those last two miles, soaked in sweat, it occurred to me that I can actually do anything I want to do.

After that, the long runs went up, up, up. 15 miles, then 17, then 19, another 15 or two, then finally a grueling 20. Each of those accomplishments were special in their own way, and each of them left me with a feeling that I started to become addicted to – a feeling that I had found my determination, uncovered a lost willpower and after many years of perceived failures, really started to believe in myself and be happy with who I have become. I ran 500 miles, and every mile healed my soul a little more than the last.

The three weeks prior to the marathon were tough. First, I was sick for a week, which stressed me out because it was supposed to be my last bit of training. The next week I skipped some runs due to a car accident (we're fine) and other pressing issues. By the third week (the week before the marathon) I was jumping out of my skin and ready to run. I had a few easy runs, then 3 days before the race I began to load up on 650g of carbs per day and drink lots of water. Carbs are great,but carbs without fat? Not so much!

Race morning was chilly and windy. It took a few miles for my muscles to loosen up, but before long I was cruising. Iran the first half in 1:58, and then began to panic. I didn’t have a pace watch and was very concerned that I wasn’t saving enough gas for the last 6 miles, which were completely uncharted territory, like a big black void waiting to suck me in and spit me out on the sidelines.

I began to pull back heavily and slow to a comfortable pace. At 20 miles I ate a banana for fuel and took my last GU gel. At 24miles, I hit “the wall”. My feet began to feel like anchors and my legs didn’t want to move. I was SO CLOSE to the finish that there was no turning back. “Just get 'er done” I thought to myself. I dug deep, pressed hard and found myself running the last couple miles with a giant smile on my face – after so many years, today was the day I was going to become a Marathoner!

My feet hit the finish line at 4:18. The feeling after that was a rush of excitement, pain, and an overwhelming feeling of "what now???" I would have liked to finish under 4:00, but at the end of the day I really don’t care about those 18 minutes. It was 26.2 miles and I ran it with heart. I saw it through, beginning to end,and I know that I am at the highest level of personal fitness that I could possibly be right now. I tend to be painfully hard on myself, but today, I can say without a doubt: I am proud of what I did.

Room for improvement? Absolutely. I’m 29 and healthy, so there is always room for improvement. I think that improving my time will only better my determination and confidence, so I will aim to do that, and soon! I am eyeing up the NCR Trail marathon in late November.

My final thoughts on the marathon are pretty conventional – it's everything I expected it to be and more. I knew that covering 26.2 miles would be a major accomplishment, but I was not expecting that I would actually begin to love and become addicted to running. I need to run. It makes me feel whole and centered and at peace. My next marathon won’t be about proving anything, it won’t be about accolades, it won’t be about a bucket list. It will be because, somewhere along the way, I became a runner.

After the Marathon

"There will be days you don't think you can run a marathon.

There will be a lifetime of knowing you have."

-Unknown

Whole Foods Couponing 101

2011-09-30T13:23:00.001-04:00

Yes, I saw Extreme Couponing. Yes, I got excited and thought I could get everything for free. And yes, I came to the conclusion that I was not willing to eat all that crap just because it was free.

So, HOORAY for healthy solutions! Now I save money at Whole Foods, where I already shopped. I'll post my coupon matchups as I do them (this means a coupon matches up to a sale for super savings). First, here is a walk-through of how I save money at Whole Foods. If you focus on the items you regularly purchase, the savings can snowball over time.

Whole Foods Couponing 101

First way to save: Whole Foods puts out The Whole Deal every two months. This is a booklet of coupons that is free to you. You can pick it up in-store, or print the coupons right from your computer -- here is the link. You can print as many as you want -- Whole Foods encourages you to use them. I LOVE this about WF, because shopping there can definitely get pricey.

Second way to save: Whole Foods has tons of sales. They last for two weeks at a time, and the sale time period is listed right on the little sale tag on the shelf. The new sale starts as soon as the old sale ends. Buying the sale items regularly can save you lots of cash. These little orange tickets are your new BFF.

Third way to save: Guess what? Whole Foods gives you 10% off if you buy a case of a product! How many are in a case? It's listed right on the tag on the shelf.

Now, the (not-so) tricky part...

Combine them for huge savings. You can see (and this is a real example) that the $3.99 Imagine Vegetable Broth is on sale for $2.99. Then you see that there is a coupon for $1 off 1 Imagine Soup, Broth or Gravy, which brings the price down to $1.99. Since vegetable broth keeps in the pantry, if you use a lot of it (like me), then go ahead and buy a case, which will knock an additional $0.20 off each item (yes, you'll use 12 coupons). Now, we got our broth for $1.79 each instead of $3.99. Hooray!

This is the method I follow for matchups:

Since the coupons only change every 2 months, you'll get to know them pretty quickly. Print a list of the current coupons and bring it with you when you do your regular grocery shopping.
If a couponed item is on sale, make a note of it for next time (assuming we are at the beginning of the sale period). That way, you can budget or meal plan around it. There is no need to get wack and buy it all up that day if you still have time in the sale.
If you want it in bulk, make a note of how many you need to buy (and therefore how many coupons to bring with you next time).
Print your coupons at home.
Bring them with you the next time you go grocery shopping, buy your sale/couponed items and roll around in the cold hard cash you saved.

That's it! There are usually only 2 or 3 matchups each sale period, so it's not particularly time consuming. If you buy it in bulk, this can translate to a savings of $20-$40 biweekly, which is money I think most people can use. Happy shopping!

Share your healthy living coupon tips in the comment section -- I'm always looking for more ways to save.

Yeah, it's been a while.

2011-09-30T11:57:00.003-04:00

Yeah, I keep saying that.

The simple fact is that I keep taking on a lot and not having time to blog about it. What I really need to do is get back to basics and remember why I started blogging – to share and remember my life. So, let’s start with that.

I have been a busy little bee since my last post. After the Baltimore 10 Miler (finished right on my goal of 1:30, wooot!) I decided it was time to cross the biggest, baddest dragon off my bucket list: The Marathon.

The plan went into effect immediately after the 10 Miler. I went right into marathon training, so it’s been about 7 months of running A LOT. I honestly can’t believe I wasn’t running at all earlier this year, and now I can put in a 15-20 mile run at once. It is AMAZING what the body can do when you push it! Now, we are 2 weeks away from the big day. Freaking out? Yes. A lot.

Somewhere in there I also managed to get my Personal Trainer Certification. I figured, why not? I love fitness, I already know a lot, so maybe it’s time to round it out and get certified. That took a few months and a huge commitment of studying during nap times, but I passed the test, I’m insured, and I will actually be training online in coming months (get excited!)

Most of my time is, of course, dedicated to little Luke. He is extremely energetic and wild, even for a toddler boy. He is smart as a whip, but doesn’t talk much. This surprises me, because he had so many words at a young age. One day, he learned “No” and that is most of what I’ve heard since. He understands everything you tell him, loves playing with other kids, has an awesome memory, and is extremely athletic – but if you ask him to repeat a word, he simply smiles and runs away. Lovely.

He’s also still a big boy – leaner but still very tall at 36 inches at his 2 year checkup. Healthy as a horse and doesn’t get sick much, has all his teeth and a gorgeous head of hair. Cute as a button, if you ask me!

That’s the short update on life – I’ve got lots more to post about, so stick around. Here is a video of Luke dancing his face off in the mean time…

Baltimore 10 Miler Plan

2011-03-07T16:30:00.001-05:00

I have registered for the Baltimore 10 Miler and I am SO pumped. I haven’t found the ~~time~~ motivation to race since I ran last year’s Blue Jay 5k at Hopkins and I think this is the perfect challenge to get me back in the game.

(Ugh, I just went back and read that post – note to self – eat a box of Claritin before running. Also, we didn’t run that 6k I mentioned – though I can’t recall why – it was probably because those allergies knocked me out of training for a week and I bailed out of self pity.)

Over time I have run – eh – maybe fifty 5k’s, give or take a couple. I have never raced a longer distance, and I’m a little antsy about that, so I am tackling this with my usual stifling-organizational-Excel-fueled-prowess.

SO. Here it is – my training plan for the Baltimore 10 Miler!

My Goal Pace is 9:30.

I can’t really take credit; I based this chart on --

Project: Luke’s Room

2011-03-04T19:25:00.001-05:00

A peek from the hall

Call this one a project within a project. Kind of like the Inception of projects, but thanks to Ana White, far easier to understand.

Luke’s room had a great base – a gorgeous Benjamin Moore Pottery Barn Collection color, soft beige curtains and white furniture. We swapped out the crib for a big boy bed and did a little rearranging to maximize his floor space. I’ve been working on it bit by bit for months and am so happy to be done with it and love it!

From the get-go, his room was an understated nautical theme, which I think is perfect for either a baby or a toddler. We live in Maryland, home to the sailing capital of the world – plus, boys love boats! Couldn’t be more perfect for him.

As a secondary project I made the Vintage Crate Cart that you can find here. It was EASY. You can totally make one yourself – it took me about an hour and a half, and the look on Luke’s face and “Wowwwww” made it totally worth every second. We are now keeping all of his Thomas stuff in there for easy access, since he has been playing with his trains nonstop recently (maybe I should have done a train room then? Ha!)

Here is a tour of Luke’s completed big boy room…

Ana White’s Vintage Crate Cart – made by me!

Big Boy Bed

Changing table & shelf

Close-up of shelf

I painted this sailboat! Acrylic on canvas

Took a picture of blocks & had it blown up to poster size

Vintage Crate, made by me

Closet Side

The whole thing!

Just a note, he doesn’t actually sleep with blankets or pillows!

Want this nautical / sailboat inspired toddler room idea for yourself? Feel free to copy me!

Paint: Benjamin Moore Pottery Barn Collection 2009 – Harbor Fog
Bed: Babies R Us – Bergamo Colonnade

Curtains: Ikea (blackout curtains)

Dresser: Babies R Us – Southampton Collection

Nightstand: Ikea (it’s a toy box)

Picture Frames: Ikea
Pillows: Ikea
Sheets: Target – Luxe Blue
Blanket: Pottery Barn (Gift)
Shelf: Ikea
LUKE letters: Michael’s Arts & Crafts
LUKE Blocks (in poster): Walmart
Crate: Ana White (made by me)

A gorgeous day!

2011-02-20T10:10:00.001-05:00

The last time it was nice outside, Luke was barely walking, so it is like a whole new world to him when the temperature his 75 and we get to play outside. This actually happened two days ago, on Feb 18th. A 76 degree day in February! It was great.

We celebrated the great weather but heading to the local park and playground. Luke got do some climbing and go down the slide a whole bunch of times. He really loves the slide – I wish I had taken pictures of it.

Then we came back home and walked around the neighborhood for a little bit, making sure to check out the creek and get our hands on some rocks and sticks. The gorgeous weather got me really excited for spring and taking Luke on all sorts of adventures.

Luke’s First Snow Play

2011-02-20T10:01:00.001-05:00

We have only had one play-able snow here in Baltimore this year (VERY different from the nonstop blizzards of last winter!)

Luke absolutely loves to look at the snow falling – he stands at the window and says “Wow. Wow. Wow!” over and over again.

Going outside and actually playing in it was another story. He was intrigued, but not thrilled. And his little hands got so cold! We let him touch the snow, walk around in it and then Daddy pushed him around the neighborhood in a sled.

These are from January 26, 2011.

Snowsuit on and staring out at the snow.

The first up close look!

Wow… this stuff is colder than it looks!

Making a run for it!

Daddy taking him on a sledding adventure.

Get on the Potty Train

2011-02-14T15:17:00.001-05:00

Here is a list of things I like to do, in no particular order: play with Luke, play with my dogs, read, blog.

Now here is a list of things that I do not like to do: chew on a piece of glass, get a root canal, pick up dog poo, change Luke’s diaper.

Changing Luke’s diaper is by far the worst thing I have to do all day, and I have to do it over and over again, day in and day out. It actually wouldn’t be that big of a deal if he weren’t a RAGING PSYCHOPATH on the changing table.

I don’t mind the wet diapers so much – we pretty much skip the changing table altogether to avoid The Insanity. He will even go get his new diaper and lay it out on the floor, then try to help me put it on. But dirty diapers are another animal.

Allow me to paint a portrait for you. We walk into the room, Luke smiling, me giving kisses. I lay him down gently on the changing table. He instantly turns bright red and begins kicking his legs as fast as possible, aiming for my face, reaching his little claws out for anything to grab on to, like my hair, and screaming nonstop. It’s kind of like a cat in a burlap sack, minus the sack, add poop.

So, yeah, I don’t like it. Is that a reason to start Potty Training at 18 months? No, not really, unfortunately.

But my friends, luck is on my side! We bought Luke a potty many months ago so he could befriend it and get to know it. Over the course of that time, he has picked up on EXACTLY what the potty is for. Now, at 17.5 months, he goes and sits on his potty almost every time he has to poop (with his diaper on). If you even ask him if he has to poop, he will sprint over to the potty, sit, and start grunting away. I never did anything except tell him to try pooping on the potty – I didn’t push it never made a formal thing of it. It has all been very casual and expectation-free.

So what does this mean? This means that the second that kid turns 18 months, we are going to attempt daytime potty training, because the signals are there that he can at least try it out. Will it work? Maybe. Maybe not. But considering he lets me know when his diaper is dirty and sits on a potty for #2, I think we ought to give it a shot. Right?

What about you? Will you, or did you potty train at this age? Or are you planning to wait a little longer?

A {somewhat long} and very overdue general life update

2011-02-13T14:56:00.000-05:00

I would like to say that we are busy, but that word doesn’t seem have the right amount of “umph” to it. Maybe if I put it in all caps? We are BUSY. Real busy.

Pete is (still) working tirelessly. He teaches at the school during the day, then after school he goes and works the equivalent of another full work day, either teaching private lessons or doing the ORCHKids Program downtown (which was featured on 60 Minutes not too long ago, good for them).

Luke is the sweetest little monster God ever created. He is a really affectionate little boy and loves to give hugs and kisses to me, Daddy and the dogs. He is a little wild – not a lot – just enough to be really fun and totally engaging. For the most part, he is very charming and will sweetly wave at ladies in the grocery store or clap his hands and smile for no apparent reason (I assume he is giving himself a round of applause, considering he is a toddler and believes the entire universe revolves around him)

Luke is my little athlete – he has been able to kick a ball for several months and can now “dribble” around the house. He can throw quite far and quite hard, both over- and under-hand. He can climb just about anything, as well as walk and/or crawl up stairs, and he can walk down an entire flight of stairs with ease and nothing but a wall to touch for balance. He is also getting seriously tall – he definitely just had a growth spurt, it seems like he picked up a few inches as the blink of an eye. He can reach everything now and loves to be mischievous and take things off the counters and kitchen table.

Vocally he can do some things that surprise me, but he is not a big talker at all. He used to identify many things but now he gets incredibly shy when you ask him. It was like the minute he realized he had free will, he didn’t want to talk when prompted any more. He also loves to tell you no – he will even say no to cookies, no matter how badly he wants them! But then, sometimes he will blurt something out that astonishes me, like “What is it?” or “No dogs, stop” and then I’m like – wow – you can speak! But then, I can’t get him to say “More” (like he used to) if he wants more milk or food. It’s like a battle of the wills! He also tries to sing (he does a GREAT Taylor Swift impersonation, haha) and can make the sounds of many animals, like a chicken, horse, bear, lion, dolphin, mouse and more.

Luke still very much loves his books and will sit through several of them. He pretend-reads them on his own and loves to look at the pictures and talk in his little German-sounding language. He understands SO MUCH of what I say that it’s almost a little freaky. He still has tantrums, although much less than a few months ago since I pretty much ignore them.

As far as I go, I have been exhaustingly busy with Luke, my other blog and starting a business with my brother. I generally maintain my other blog during Luke’s naps and work on my business at night after he goes to bed. I’ll get more into what my other business is in due time – we aren’t set to launch for a while so there will be time to explain all that later. In between workish-type things, my time is spent with Luke, taking care of the house, the dogs, the groceries and laundry and cleaning etc etc etc. There really are NOT enough hours in the day. By the time 11pm comes around, I am so tired but always have more to do. Where do people fit it all in? My day is gone before I know it, and I never feel like I got enough done.

By the way, did I ever mention that we adopted Frosty? We did, and every day I am so thankful for that little dog! He is the sweetest animal I have ever met, and his personality reminds me very much of my childhood dog, Misty. Frosty is a very special little dog and is the perfect fit for our family. Aspen and Juno are still wonderful. Sweet little Aspen turns 9 this year, but she is still her normal puppy-like adorable self. Juno is 3 now and is a really chill dog, unless company is over, in which case she tries to be as nutso and annoying as possible (but we love her of course!)

So, there it is – we have three dogs, many jobs to do, a toddler to take care of and a house to maintain. I am up to my eyeballs in To-Do lists and calendars and emails, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Genevieve Loves: Spring 2011

2011-02-09T17:25:00.001-05:00

Cross Post from Crush Luxe

There is so much to love about Spring 2011 that I am dedicating an entire post to it. I really enjoy seeing new trends emerge, entire decades revisited and reinvented, and fabulous new ways to get ourselves feeling fresh and glamorous.

This spring it’s all about turning over a new leaf – styles are bursting with color, energy and femininity. Spring starts NEXT MONTH, so let’s take a look at my biggest crushes…

Pretty Pink Polish & OPI Axxium Gel

I am swooning over candy-colored pink nail polish, like the shade Glamour picked for February’s color of the month. I’m talking about the kind of nail polish that you kind of want to eat because it looks so delicious. Better yet, get it done in OPI Axxium Gel – this stuff is flipping amazing (pictured above in Flamenco Pink) and can be done at your salon. It is NOT acrylic or tips – it is a miracle polish that lasts TWO WEEKS, dries instantly, looks amazing and protects your nails from breaking. You absolutely must ask your salon about it! Healthy, gorgeous nails are always in style and this is the ultimate way to get them.

Pale Lips & Bright Eyes

I’m all about a pale pink gloss right now, like my personal favorite Dior Addict #257 Pearl. I will even go out on a limb and say that I would rock nude-colored lipstick if the mood struck. Just match it with a gorgeous, bright or glittery eye shadow and add a little bronzer to the cheek – like the superior Jane Iredale Moonbeam Bronzer – and voila! you are fresh and lovely.

80’s-Inspired Hair (Yes, I’m serious)

Laugh if you want, but messy bangs and waves are white-hot in my book. Don’t believe me? Check out the massive billboard-size Summer 2011 ad (pictured above) being featured in H&M stores as we speak. If you are lucky enough to have wavy hair – shelf the straightener and let it those pretty locks shine!

Tassels and Fringe

Don’t you just love little details like these? A fringe clutch, (that’s a super amazing Goldenbleu clutch pictured above) can totally make an outfit. Or, little tassel-like bells on a gorgeous skirt gives the impression that the piece is the product of a little extra effort and thought.

Motochic

More specifically, zippers and leather. Or zippers AND leather! I’m not saying I will be dressing up like a biker Halloween-style. But I love tough-girl elements; a fabulous zipper jacket, with either multiple zippers or a highlighted asymmetrical zipper (the jacket above is by Guess). Then, there is the Botkier Howard Street satchel – a bag that I not only own, but am so obsessed with that I wouldn’t mind building a life-size version of and living in it (heck, it’s so big, you practically could live in it; to all the moms out there, this is your dream bag).

Its Reputation Precedes Itself: The Wide Leg Pant

It’s coming! It’s coming! The world is taken by storm by the already infamous wide leg pant, the flare, the bell bottoms – get them now or DIE! Well, not really, but isn’t that kind of how it feels at this point? The bottom line is this: they look amazing, they are totally different from what we have embraced the past few years, and my goodness are they COMFY! Go ahead and hop on board. because each time this trend emerges, it lasts about TEN YEARS. I personally love the J Brand Hawkeyes (pictured above) – and I suggest making this one an investment piece (like, not from Target) because you are probably going to wear them quite a bit.

Earrings Speak Volumes

Big bold pieces have been in style for several years, but what I love more than anything right now is the statement earring. A nice, big voluminous earring to balance out the wide leg pants we just gushed over ten seconds ago. Big hoops? Yes. Big floral pieces? Yes. Big dangly craziness? More yes. Take a $20 bill, go to H&M and spend it on earrings – a cheap and easy way to update your style.

Bold, Beautiful Prints

More than ever I am swooning over beautiful prints. So fresh and feminine, you can’t help but feel amazing when you wear them. The best thing about prints is that the rest of the outfit is a piece of cake, because your focal piece is clear and you simply base everything else around that. Look for lovely florals, gorgeous colors or big patterns. Go nuts!

Girly Tops

The opposite of Motochic: feminine tops that are all about being a girly girl: either with a pretty bow, lovely lace, cute eyelet detailing, a flowy silhouette or an empire waistline. You can balance them with a fabulous pair of slacks or leggings. This is such a great, simple way to look amazing and break out of the t-shirt-and-jeans-on-the-weekend routine (NOT that you do that ::wink::)

Hot Prep

I always love preppy clothes in some form – this year I am a big fan of matching a button-dowm with some rolled-cuff skinny jeans and a pair of heels or sandals. Or, stripes! Stripes are always in style – pair them with a nautical blue, or any color that makes them pop. I also continue to love pleats and pleated skirts in particular.

Show-Stopping Trenches

I am, and always have been, kind of jacket-obsessed. Over the past decade I have built an arsenal of beautiful, timeless coats. If there is anything I have learned, it’s that every woman absolutely must own a gorgeous black trench – this is non-negotiable! And nothing beats a fun, trendy trench in either a bold color or a great print. Leopard is hot right now, but never goes away – it’s been around for so long that Diane von Furstenberg even calls it a neutral (which is awesome).

And finally, my top pick: Stunning Skirts

Recently, a miraculous thing happened – I tried on one of these gorgeous skirts, and WOW – I was on board in a big way. It’s so feminine and breezy – how rare that you put on something that instantly transforms how you feel. I especially love these skirts in bold colors or patterns; it really highlights the movement of the skirt as you sashay into the room (and oh, you WILL sashay!)

I hope you enjoyed this look at a few of my favorite things! Now go be your fabulous, fashionable self and remember to discover and embrace YOUR personal style.

Genevieve

I’m back with a VENGEANCE!

2011-02-09T17:23:00.001-05:00

WHOA. Maybe not with a vengeance per se. But I have just been awful at keeping up with this blog, and I really don’t mean to be. Sometimes its hard to come back to it, and I’m all, what do I say? How do I come back? Will it be awkward? What if no one even noticed I was gone?

Well, enough of that nonsense. I’m starting off with a clean slate. I have so much that I want to talk about, almost TOO much, so I need to gather my thoughts and get them down in a coherent way rather than brain dump all over this shriveled up little piece of cyberspace.

By the way – thanks for not unfollowing! I don’t think anyone has unfollowed me in my absence, and that makes me feel warm and fuzzy, like I just drank a bottle of scotch.

I’m about to cross-post something I wrote for my other blog, because I want to share it with the entire universe. See you soon. VERY soon!

Big Boy Bed.

2011-01-06T16:52:00.001-05:00

Hi! I’m insane. Know why? Because we converted our 16-month-old’s crib to a toddler bed.

For real.

This was a little bit of a frenzied decision, admittedly. It all started Tuesday morning, when I heard Luke wake up. He usually likes to ease into wakefulness and gets a little irritable if you rush him, so I usually rustle around, make my bed, brush my teeth etc. to let him know I am up and on my way in, at which point he is usually bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and somewhat happy to see me.

But not on Tuesday.

I was just wrapping up the bed-making portion of my routine when I heard a loud THWACK followed by a loud AHHHH!!!!!!!!!! followed by crying followed by my lightning-fast sprinting / hurdling of the baby gate followed by my discovering little Luke lying on his floor in hysterics.

As in, not in his crib.

On the floor.

Not in crib.

He was in the crib, but now he is not.

See the problem here?

I paused to make sure he was okay to be moved – honestly, my first thought was the fear that he had broken something terrible that I shall not speak of because it freaks me out so badly. He seemed okay (though as a non-doctor I really wouldn’t know otherwise), so I scooped him up and let him cry it out on my shoulder. Needless to say, he was not enthused about the outcome of his airborne activities, and neither was I.

Now, Luke is a strong-willed, persistent little thing. If he wants to do something, he WILL do it, and you probably can’t stop him. This specifically applies to newfound talents, including but not limited to bodily propulsion from higher ground, such as coffee tables, sofas and cribs. And a repeat performance is a sure thing EVEN if (especially if) the acrobatics (fun, but terribly brief) culminate in an unpleasant belly-flop on the floor.

We had to do something.

I hit the world wide web and consulted friends and family to find out what my options were. It was a rollercoaster of emotions:

Hey, a crib tent, it cages the little sucker right in there, perfect! Oh wait, there was a crib tent recall a few months ago, that can’t be good*. Hey, the crib tents have been re-worked to be safer and non-strangulatory! Oh wait, I have a convertible crib and it doesn’t fit those types of cribs. Hey, they make crib tents for convertible cribs! Oh wait, it’s only available on Amazon and will be here in 1-2 weeks.

Sigh.

I almost went to Ikea, bought a new crib and bought a regular crib tent for it. I was that desperate. I knew that it was only a matter of hours before I had to put Luke in his crib unattended for naptime, and he would immediately try to get out again. What do you do, line the floor with pillows, pat him on the back, strap a helmet on him and wish him good luck?

In the end, my husband came home from work for an hour to convert the crib to a toddler bed. We super-proofed the room, nailed things to walls, locked the closet doors, secured the baby gate at this door and called it a day.

And braced ourselves. For the hell that would follow. For the screaming, the insanity, the horror. For the sleepless nights, the once-sweet child that would be turned into a terrible monster from lack of sleep and boundaries.

And we got this:

That would be my scrumptious little angel, bum in the air, fast asleep in his big boy bed.

HAZZAH!!!

Turns out, Luke flipping LOVES his big boy bed. Like, with passion. He jumps on it, hugs it, climbs in and out of it, snuggles it, and so on, until you are like dude… it’s a bed. Okay? Be cool.

I should mention that the first two days, he took his nap in the doorway, probably just because the option was there for him. I mean, wouldn’t you? It’s such a cozy nook and all.

Nighttime, on the other hand, has been a breeze. He goes to sleep without complaint and sleeps all night long, then wakes a bit in the morning but doesn’t want to get up, just like always. At 8am sharp, he whips open his door and shrieks for me (this kid is like clockwork, seriously, I could set my watch to him).

So maybe I’m not insane after all. My fingers are super tightly crossed that all this keeps up. (On the other hand, know definitely IS insane? Luke’s sleeping position circa two months ago. Seriously, who DOES this?)

Paranormal Activity Style

*A tent on the crib! This could not possibly end badly! My clever and willful and desperate-to-escape-said-crib child will definitely not get tangled in such a device!

Fifteen Months!

2010-12-05T15:15:00.000-05:00

Ohhhh my goodness, what a slacker Mommy I am! Letting almost ~~two~~ three weeks go by before posting this… yikes. Actually, I started writing this post on time, but my little foray into designer clothing has kept me insanely busy.

Big this month: climbing, still. Crazy climber. Loves to hang out ON the coffee table. Loves to try and try and try to exit the crib (failing, but trying). Crazier dancer than ever and is obsessed with music and has several “favorite” songs that he attempts to sing to and dances like crazy for.

Oh: tantrums.

We had the apocalyptic trifecta of molars breaking the gums, a fracking horrible virus and just being “that age”. So, we spent the bulk of the past month on the verge of a nervous breakdown and coping with a child who could not be appeased or cured or exorcised.

But none of that matters now. The molars broke, the virus passed and we have our precious boy back! Onward…

Here are the details of Luke at 15 months.

15 MONTHS

Stats/Appointment notes:

Luke was sick on and off for the majority of the past month, including a virus with a 103 degree fever that came and went over several days. He had multiple rashes, lots of snot and congestion and was all around not feeling well at all. Poor thing! We just had his 15 months appointment and he is: 26 lbs 2 oz (80%) and 32.5 inches (90%). He slowly getting longer and leaner, just like Mommy and Daddy!

Clothing Size: 2T

Milestones:

· Walks well

· Points to body parts (he can identify most of them now)

· Drinks from an open cup

· Scribbles

· Points to desired objects (and then to himself to indicate want)

· Uses a spoon or fork (boycotts it often but is perfectly able to)

· Builds a towers (he can build towers of 5 regular blocks and 20+ megabloks)

· Pretend-feeds a doll (and real-feeds the dogs)

· Imitates activities

· Runs

· Kicks a ball forward

· Brushes teeth with help

· Helps around the house; wipes up messes, puts toys away

· Puts fingers to mouth and says “shh”

· “No” is favorite word (actually, NO NO NO)

· Can identify the color yellow

· Likes riding toys and can ride them by himself

· Sits on potty to poop (with diaper on) without prompting

· Strings two words together (“Hi Dad”; “No Dog”)

Language: Luke is a little chatterbox but we can’t understand much of what he says. When he spoke one word at a time, it was easy to pick it out. Now he chatters away in his own little language mixed with actual English. He has just started stringing two words together, ie: Good Dog and Hi Daddy. When he wants something, he will point to it and then point to himself to show you that he wants it. He can also answer some questions, like “What do you want for lunch?” –Banana. “Do you want a cracker?” –No. He will NOT speak when prompted, like the old days. If you ask him to say a word, 99% of the time, his answer is simply: No.

Teeth: Four upper incisors and four lower incisors, 2 molars.

Feeding schedule & amounts: He gets 4-6 oz of 1% milk 3-4 times a day, plus 3 meals and 2 snacks. He also gets diluted vegetable juice and water.

Sleeping schedule & naps: He sleeps from 8:30pm to 7:30am and typically naps from 2:00 to 4:30 in the afternoon.

Illness in the past month: Was sick on and off the whole month!

Likes/Dislikes: Likes: getting into EVERYTHING. Listening to music. Interactive play. Dislikes: getting his diaper changed. Having his teeth brushed. Being told not to do something.

Favorite Toys: He loves his ride on toy right now and his blocks.

Books: He now gets to pick his own bedtime book and very much understand that the book he picks is the one that is read to him. His favorite at the moment is “The Sock Fairy”. He even raises his hand at the part that says, “if you believe, raise your hand”!!!!

Songs: His favorite song is still “Love like Woe” by Ready Set – he “sings” the chorus after hear hearing only the first few notes of the song! He definitely prefers dance music and a good beat.

Movies: He loves iCarly (the tv show) and Astro Boy. Oh and Bolt. Bolt looks like Frosty and Aspen!

Favorite Activities: Anything involving other kids, especially older ones (ages 3-4 are his favorites). Anything involving exploring or discovery.

*Mom*

What I’m looking forward to: A real Christmas complete with Luke opening presents!

What I’m reading: This month I read Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult and have just started A Widow for One Year.

What I’m watching: iCarly. Unfortunately.

What I’m listening to: I’m a little out of the music loop this month!

Major current events: We adopted our foster dog. Whoops!

Holiday cards sans construction paper and embossing powder

2010-12-04T22:48:00.001-05:00

One of the benefits of becoming a Mommy is that you don’t have to send out cards of you and your dog anymore. Not that you ever did that.

Ahem.

I love Shutterfly for my holiday cards. We used them last year and were super happy with the end result, so needless to say I was really excited to see all the fabulous new designs they had in store for 2010.

Here is our Shutterfly card from 2009, which is pretty much the cutest thing ever, no? Look at that pouty face in the middle, JUST LOOK AT IT!

So this year, the preparations were a bit different from “slap him in a santa hat and take a picture while he’s not crying”. First of all Luke had to get a haircut – ANOTHER haircut– because he was getting a bit unkempt and I can’t have Pete’s boss thinking our child is anything less than meticulously groomed. Certainly wasn’t an issue last year as I think Luke was balding around this time. I’m thinking that at this rate, next year he will be in college or something, or at least trying to decide between Yale or Harvard, Yale or Harvard, how will he ever pick?

So the haircut was scheduled, after many days of meaning to do so and then remembering only around midnight, at which time most kid’s salons aren’t open to the public and possibly hosting some sort of very non-child-friendly-bordello-themed party or something.

Where were we?

Oh yes. Got the hair cut. Adorable kiddie outfit? Check. Second backup adorable kiddie outfit? Check. Santa-ish-but-not-overly-so-hat? Big check. Props? Heck yes. Away we go!

Snappity snap snap. Luke how about you sit on the chair! Don’t you want to get on the chair, it will be so fun! Lick the lollipop! LICK NOT BITE! Wait don’t throw – dogs stop eating that! Stop it! Hey Luke don’t you like this song, dance! dance! dance! (snap snap snap). Wait come back… okay yes we can do it over here, sure! Okay now everyone on the sofa and no Aspen you get up top, Frosty you stay put, Juno look at the camera, Luke let’s do big smiles: WHO WANTS A TREAT?! SNAAAAP!

Fortunately for me, and mothers pretty much everywhere else in the world, the chaos stops right about there. Now we can casually glide into our computer chair, tea in hand, babies/dogs/husbands fast asleep or at least pretending to be, and do nothing more than breeze through some of the cutest layouts ever; select your favorite, add your ever-so-easily-acquired pictures of your shockingly photogenic and definitely not photoshopped little family (our little secret mmkay?) and click! ordered.

When friends and family and people you work with who would be disgruntled if you didn’t include them get the cards in the mail, all they will be thinking is, my GOD she has it all together doesn’t she? Look at that sweet CHILD! He must NEVER EVER EVER throw a tantrum or smash lollipops. And those dogs are TO DIE FOR, aren’t they honey? Just LOOK at them, I am totally sure the black and white one did NOT destroy a toy lion yesterday, not that beautiful dog, God bless her.

In pursuit of that very reaction I promptly narrowed it down to a few cards before making my final selection. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who will actually be receiving these cards (I will post my card AFTER I mail them out this year) but here are my top three favorites from Shutterfly. And I promise, I didn’t deck it out with Aspen’s face.

Well maybe a little.

Many Memories Snowflake Christmas Card

Merry Moments Christmas Card

Bright and Merry Christmas Card

(Disclaimer: Shutterfly, in all their awesomeness, is giving 50 complimentary cards for blogging about this)

Dear Santa, 2010 edition

2010-11-28T16:01:00.001-05:00

Oh it’s that time of year again! I’m SO excited for Christmas – the decorations went up today and next weekend we will put up our tree. This year, the tree has to go in the foyer, just past the baby gate away from little toddler hands. But it WILL go up and I can’t wait.

On Wednesday Luke is getting a haircut, and then we take his Christmas card pictures. He is going to wear a white button-down, a little red sweater vest and corduroy pants… looooove it.

I’ve picked out some great gifts for Luke this year. We aren’t going to give him a bunch of little things like last year because he has a lot of toys already. And as a result of his birthday, he has more clothes than the average shopoholic.

So, don’t tell Luke, but this is what he is getting for Christmas…

A semester membership at a local kid’s gym. This is his big gift and I am really looking forward to it! Luke is a crazy climber and it’s just too cold for the playground, so this will give him the opportunity to put his skills to work once a week and socialize with other kids, which is pretty much his favorite thing to do. Plus the membership will take us right up to the spring when we can hit the playground again. Yay!

Plan Toys Push-Along Duck. I have checked this product out in the past and been counting down the days to when I can get it for him. The price tag is $35 which is kind of a lot for one toy, but I swear this is RIGHT up Luke’s alley: he loves things that are shaped like a stick, he loves things with eyes on them, he loves ducks and he loves the color yellow. So… yeah. This is the perfect gift for him. (And we all know I am kind of obsessed with wooden toys anyway.)

Play Tent and Tunnel. Luke is like, REALLY into forts, and at $60 this is a reasonably priced set that I think he will go crazy over. Right now, the only thing he can make into a fort is our coffee table and kitchen table, so his is going to jump out of his socks when he sees this. I love that it can be collapsed and set up really quickly too. I was teetering on the edge between getting him this, or a little kid’s slide/playhouse type thing, and went for this so he can use it right away (the playhouse is an outdoor toy).

Toddler Toboggan. I think we have pretty much established that I am building a dog sled team, so this is a natural progression of events for us.

Hess Truck. As a child Pete got one of these every year for Christmas and is very excited to continue the tradition. And there’s a jet on top. I mean, that’s pretty awesome.

Khombu Boots. I used my Nordstrom Rack Groupon to snag these boots for $4! Woohoo!

So, what are you getting for your little ones for the holidays? I would love to hear!

Halloween 2010

2010-11-11T19:44:00.001-05:00

Finally! Halloween Pictures!

We had a great Halloween, complete with cider, donuts and candy. Luke had a blast trick-or-treating and even had his first Reese’s cup – he was in heaven! I absolutely loved his little cow outfit and wish he could wear it all the time.

14 Months!

2010-11-05T17:59:00.000-04:00

Here we are again! The months are flying by aren’t they?

Luke has totally shifted gears on saying new words – his vocab didn’t grow by much this month, but he has completely changed the type of words he does say. He is really big on non-nouns this month – things like saying Hi and Bye, handing me something and saying Here, pointing and saying That, asking for More after dinner or telling me that he is All Done, answering simple questions with Yeah or No, telling the dogs NO! when they are barking, saying Get Down! when he is climbing on something, and so on.

Big this month: building things, climbing, and opening and closing doors. He is really into his Mega Bloks and builds me little block presents all the time, which I love love love. He can put together a tower that is literally as high as his face when he is sitting! He has been able to do the door open/close thing for a while now, but recently he is really obsessed with it and loves to lock the dogs in the laundry room. And the climbing thing – I caught him the other day lying on the coffee table. Umm. Please don’t do that.

That said, it’s time to get this kiddo a gym membership. We are going to do the Winter semester at a local kiddie gym (actually, I probably wouldn’t bother if it weren’t going to be too cold for the playground). I am pretty excited about that, plus we are going to start swim lessons in about six weeks, which means he will have plenty to keep him entertained during the cold months.

He is also really into cleaning/wiping things down. I’ll give him a paper towel and he will go to town on the floors and tables! Even the dogs get a Luke-cleaning now and then. And on the cleaning note, he is getting REALLY good at putting his things away. Which obviously, I love. He picks up his toys before nap/bedtime and is very particular about not putting the blocks in the toy box and vice versa. He knows exactly where the books go and will even help me put his laundry in the basket. Mommy’s little helper! I love it!

Here are the details…

14 MONTHS

Stats/Appointment notes:

HOLY MACREL we had an incident this month. Ten days after his 12 month shots (which he got at almost 13 mos) he had a reaction that gave him – literally – 3 inch diameter hives over his whole body. He had to take a combo of Benadryl and Zyrtec for a few days and they went away quick, but let’s just say Mommy had a wee heart attack over it.

Clothing Size: 2T

New Milestones:

Says 24+ words
Toddles well
Can walk backwards
“Cleans” things with a paper towel
Starting to climb
Can identify over a dozen animals by pointing
Can make the correct animal sounds for 5 animals
Can build Mega Bloks structures consisting of 10-20 blocks
Stacks 5 regular blocks / stacking toy
Identifies many body parts accurately
Identifies body parts on dogs/animals/Mommy/Daddy correctly
Climbs stairs well (on all fours)
Attempting to walk up/down stairs
Can walk up and over a small step
Answers basic questions with yes or no, more or all done
Attempts to use fork and spoon, with limited success
Responds to commands and comes when called (at home, nowhere else!)
Follows two-part instructions
Recognizes songs / has favorite songs / dances to them / sings/hums to them
Throws tantrums more frequently

Language (new words in bold): He can say the F sound now but does not attach it to words. The letter N sounds much more like an N than a D now – especially when he says No!

Dog
Dada
Mama
Ball
Uh-Oh
No
Flower
Yes/Yeah
Rock
Squirrel
Car
All Done
Up
Dance
Hi
Boat
Water
Eyes
Foot
Book
Owl
Bye
Here
That
More
Get Down

Teeth: Four upper incisors and four lower incisors.

Feeding schedule & amounts: He gets 4-6 oz of 1% milk 3-4 times a day, plus 3 meals and 2 snacks. He also gets diluted vegetable juice and water. He loves ginger cookies!

Sleeping schedule & naps: He sleeps from 8:30pm to 7:30am and typically naps from 2:00 to 3:30 or 4:00 in the afternoon. The nap is shrinking every week… yikes.

Illness in the past month: The hive situation plus a runny nose that lasted a week or two.

Likes/Dislikes: Likes: exploring, climbing, opening and closing doors, emptying the kitchen drawers, playing tug of war or fetch with the dogs, being chased around the kitchen by Mommy, being read to, having things “named” for him, going outside, going to the creek, playing with rocks, sticks and leaves, going to gym childcare, playing with other kids, listening to music, dancing, brushing his teeth, being tickled, hugs, kisses and attention. Dislikes: diaper changes, having his teeth brushed for him, car rides that take too long, being in the house for too long a stretch.

Favorite Toys: Still loves his cars and Mega Blocks. He loves his Yokidoo tower and his wooden cowboy pull toy. He is also perfectly happy with a paper towel or empty box or ESPECIALLY a USPS envelope!

Books: His favorite books are still: Say Hello to the Snowy Animals (a GREAT book) and Just Like Daddy. He now wants to hear 3 or 4 books before bed and he is very pushy about it! I am so happy he likes to be read to because I love reading to him.

Songs: His favorite song right now is “Love like Woe” by Ready Set – he “sings” the chorus after hear hearing only the first few notes of the song! He definitely prefers dance music and a good beat.

Movies: He gets a little TV before bed he has time to snuggle with us, although his reading time is getting longer and TV time is about 10 minutes. He loves Beverly Hills Chihuahua and Hotel for Dogs, and of course Night at the Museum 2!

Favorite Activities: Anything social or outdoors. Anything involving other kids, especially older ones (ages 3-4 are his favorites). Anything involving exploring or discovery.

*Mom*

What I’m looking forward to: Thanksgiving! Turkey! Pie! Cookies! Hooray for the holidays!

What I’m reading: In the past month I finished David Foster Wallace’s The Broom of the System. After that I read a truly wonderful book – the best I have read in a long time – called The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. I also read Chelsea Handler’s My Horizontal Life (a super quick read) and Salem Falls by Jodi Picoult.

What I’m watching: Dexter and there is – still – literally no time for anything else.

What I’m listening to: BoB “Airplanes”, Eminem’s new stuff and here is a news flash: I flipping LOVE Flo Rida “The Club Can’t Handle Me.” Also love me some Taio Cruz. Good stuff for the gym.

Major current events: Midterm elections – O’Malley beat Ehrlich (again) and the Republicans gained control of the house. On the homefront, we got a foster doggy. Yay!

Meet Frosty!

2010-11-03T17:55:00.000-04:00

I love dogs. Anyone who knows me personally will attest to the fact that I have loved dogs ever since I got my first dog, the beloved Misty (RIP, tear), at nine months old.

For a long time I have wanted to foster or adopt a rescue dog. We finally decided to take the plunge and got ourselves approved by an Eskie rescue group a few weeks ago. This past weekend, a frightened little dog named Frosty made a very long trip up from Tennessee (where he spent the past year of his life outside while his owner was dying of cancer -- before going to a kill shelter) to the director's house in Baltimore. Luke and I went to meet him a few days ago, and after talking it over with Pete we decided to bring little Frosty into our home as his foster family.

He came to us last night and it was all a little scary for him. He was wide awake, I think for a good part of the night. I slept on the sofa with him and Aspen, but every time I looked at him he was sitting there watching me to make sure I wouldn't leave him.

So far Frosty has been an amazing dog and I am really enjoying his company. It makes me sick to my stomach that his short life could have been terminated. He is so incredibly sweet and affectionate. And so mellow! Aspen and Juno are lazy dogs and it looks like Frosty is too -- you would think it would be chaotic here, but it's surprisingly quiet. Just a house with a few very happy dogs hanging out.

Starting today, this beautiful little dog has a new lease on life. Welcome, Frosty!

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The cutest thing ever

2010-11-01T13:22:00.006-04:00

Check out this video of Luke, taken right after trick-or-treating. Warning: dripping with adorableness!

Halloween pics are coming -- need to find time to edit them!

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Be careful what you wish for...

2010-10-29T16:51:00.001-04:00

You might just find yourself busy as all get-out from sun-up to midnight. I have been working around the clock to balance caring for Luke and getting things up and running with Crush. It won't always be this busy (or will it?) but I had a lot of kinks to work out this week and a whole lot of logistical things to learn.

So far, I am really happy with how things are turning out. The only thing that surprised me was that there were a lot of people that "Liked" on Facebook but didn't enter the contest (they could get an entry for Liking). But I am 5 days in and I have 50 Facebook fans, 29 blog followers, around 2,800 hits and I have sold 14+ items -- which admittedly is way more than I thought I would sell this week. So I am chalking my first week up as a success.

Today I bought my first big-ticket items and I was totally freaked out about it. And also I kind of want to keep them. But I won't! I can't. Badgley Mischka and Kate Spade not in my foreseeable future. So those are listed and my knuckles are turning white hoping they sell. Partially because I worry that one might happen to go with an outfit I'm wearing and poof! I rip off the tags and make it mine... but mainly because I need to get back in the black.

Regardless, the experience so far has been 100% positive. I am so lucky to have friends and family who encourage and support me. Every time I started to question myself I would suddenly get a nice email or comment and it has really given me the motivation work towards my goals.

Tomorrow I have a 5K and it has sort of crept up on me. There is even an itty bitty part of me that wants to just sleep in and forget about it (should I?!) but I think I'm going to stick with it.

I will be around more next week, with more Luke pictures and updates. Until then, thanks for your your support and have a wonderful weekend!

Exciting news!

2010-10-24T20:37:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone! I am in a GREAT mood tonight. Know why?

Tonight, I launched a blog called Crush. Here's the story.

I love, I mean LOVE, to find deals on designer clothes. And if I may say so, I am pretty good at it. The process of finding those special gems is not entirely glamorous, but when I come across something that is a total steal, it's really exciting. The thing is, I don't buy this stuff anymore. We have a baby, a mortgage... shopping for myself is a thing of the past, it seems.

So, I decided to quench my thirst for fashion by finding the deals for other people. I think this is a win-win situation, no? My plan is to pick up some of the best finds I come across each week and post them over at Crush.

If you are a total fashionista, you will love the deals you get on your favorite designers. And if you don't know jack about fashion, don't worry! Leave the finds to me. I won't post terrible things, I promise.

Please follow me on that blog! I want to share all of my wonderfully fabulous items with you all, but I won't be posting them here, because this blog is pretty much reserved for Luke and family things.

Oh, and I should mention -- I'm giving away a brand new pair of authentic $165 Kate Spade Sunglasses to celebrate! For realz. What are you waiting for? Go check it out!

xoxo
Gen

I'm giving these away!

Redesigned!

2010-10-22T09:11:00.000-04:00

The time has come to redecorate around here. What do you think of the new header and theme?

Chef Mommy

2010-10-19T09:48:00.006-04:00

In the near future, people will have iPhone-powered robot humanoids to prepare their meals, but until that technology is perfected, I am in charge of funneling nutritive substances into the eager mouths of my perpetually hungry husband and child.

The preference is to eat both delicious things and nutritious things, which this Mommy previously thought could not be married into one easy, low-cost meal but has recently, and not without childlike wonderment, discovered that this enchanted possibility indeed exists.

I just updated the Food! section of this tiny blog with our meals from the past two weeks, which can only be described as Really Friggin' Good. Even Pete, who generally suctions sustenance into his skull and pauses only for the occasional breath of air, stopped momentarily to commend the recent uptick in quality dinners.

A special shout-out goes to Skillet Gnocchi with Chard and White Beans, which, at 30 minutes active-prep-time clocks in at one of the longer meals in that section, is also the meal that I made again this week because it is just so damn good. I had never tried chard in my life, and I'm hooked. It's comparable to spinach, but better and cheaper, which is precisely how I like my roughage.

So mosey on over and take a look at the new additions, which I will continue to update regularly (at least until the robots take over).

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Bend it like Beckham

2010-10-18T11:00:00.011-04:00

A few weeks ago Pete was showing a captivated Luke how to kick a ball while I sat in the background, side-eyeing the whole ridiculous thing and murmuring something about Luke being too young for that.

Whoops. I was wrong. Luke started making ball kicking attempts this past week and had it down to a science by the weekend. He will kick a ball back and forth with you for as long as you want -- how cool is that?! I swear, I will never stop getting excited about new milestones.

Naturally, I have concluded that Luke will be the next Pele. Seems like a logical progression of events.

Of course, here is a short yet super scrumptious video, beginning with some overzealous dog petting and ending with an overzealous high-five. There are a few ball kicks in there too.

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Sinless Pumpkin Brownies with Cream Cheese Frosting!

2010-10-17T21:13:00.002-04:00

Please excuse the crappy phone picture but these were so good that there was no time for all that fancy DSLR business.

YUM.

We all know I have been a very good girl in the eating department lately, and by that I mean I have more or less eliminated my three favorite foods: butter, ice cream and fruit snacks. Yes, butter IS a food. Fruit snacks, however, are probably not, because I looked at the ingredients and holy crap, what is that stuff?

Nevertheless, the holiday season is upon us, and I want some sweets in a bad way. On the flip side, I am at my goal weight and would prefer to keep it that way. So every time I think about what it would be like to live in a house made of solid chocolate, and would I eat the furniture or not, I stuff a few grapes in my face and sulk off into the darkness. A few thousand grapes later, I finally set out to create a satisfying treat that will fill me with happiness and rainbows instead of calories and bitter remorse.

It took a few tries and adjustments for me to nail it, but boy oh boy am I glad I did. If you decide to make this, please come back and let me know how it turned out, unless you didn't like it in which case just keep that nugget to yourself, and you probably did it wrong anyway.

Please note that I use TruWhip, NOT CoolWhip. CoolWhip is a terrifying product with terrifying ingredients. Use it at your own risk.

And now... I give you the (somewhat) healthy Pumpkin Brownies with Cream Cheese Frosting! (Remember that eating the whole pan in one sitting is not a great idea.)

Pumpkin Brownies

1 box of No Pudge Brownie Mix (available at Whole Foods)
1/2 can of 100% pumpkin (not pie filling)
1 egg white

Combine all ingredients and cook according to package directions. Mine took 35 minutes.
Allow to cool completely (a freezer can speed this up).
Top with cream cheese frosting, recipe below.
Enjoy!

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons Light Agave Nectar (or, to taste)
4 oz. fat free cream cheese or Neufchatel cheese, softened
1/2 tub TruWhip (available at Whole Foods, Safeway and other stores)

Combine vanilla, agave nectar and cream cheese in a bowl. Hand mix until smooth and blended.
Add the TruWhip and mix well.

UPDATE #1: Next time I'll be cutting the cream cheese frosting recipe in half. It's a little TOO good and the deliciousness is causing me to go over the 1 brownie at a time limit, so I may as well cut some calories by using less frosting!

UPDATE #2: I finally broke down and did the math and the finally tally is: 165 calories and 2 grams of fat per serving (this recipe makes 12 servings). If you cut the topping in half, you are looking at only 134 calories and 1 gram of fat per serving. Hazzah! By the way, these can be frozen and eaten later.

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Halloween part 1 of 2

2010-10-12T15:38:00.001-04:00

I'm going to get a little presumptuous here and assume there will be a part two of this post because Halloween hasn't actually happened yet. See, last year, we flew out of the house on the 31st (how's that for procrastination) to get all of our activities in. And we decorated like, that afternoon. Hey, that's what it's like when you have a 6 week old.

This year I was a little more on top of things. The decor went up last weekend and we hit the pumpkin farm on Sunday, which was, to say the least, A MILLION TIMES BETTER than last year.

Specifically, it wasn't freezing cold and kind of rainy -- it was actually a gorgeous 77 degree clear blue sky kind of day. And also, Luke was awake for it. And not to mention, there were tons of things to do and the place was mobbed and there was a live band and a petting zoo and a hay ride and all the farmy type things a little boy could ask for.

We started off by eating lunch, where Luke consumed a white-bread, non-organic, totally high fructose PBJ sandwich which, to be honest, he regarded as mediocre. Then I decided that if we are going to load him up, let's just go for it, so he washed it down with fresh cider and a few bites of the most amazing homemade sugar donut EVER. As a side note, Luke has never drank through a straw, because our pediatrician stressed the importance of learning the head-tilt type of drinking, blah blah blah, anyway he nailed it on the first try like he has been drinking from straws his whole life, which I of course thought was adorable and immediately took a picture of.

After the sugar binge, which may or may not have completely destroyed his afternoon nap, because he was flipping wired, we walked through the "Boo Barn" (picture me pretending to be excited about that) and then we went on a mini hayride. Luke pretty much sat there like it was the weirdest thing that had ever happened to him, on both accounts. Then we set him loose in the hay maze, which was positioned on sort of a slopey hill and threw him for a loop, because he is not so good at walking on hills yet. But he liked it. He liked all the kids flying around and jumping near him, which also happened to be my least favorite part. We strolled over to see the petting zoo, but the goats looked just a little too lively so we kept our distance.

Later, we let Luke pick out his very own mini pumpkin, which he was prepared to trade for a rock if we let him. The pumpkin, which he promptly proclaimed was a ball and threw down on the ground right there in the middle of the place, now resides in our living room, surprisingly undamaged. Before leaving we also took a picture of Luke at a highly unscientific and slightly inaccurate height-measuring-thingy, which I plan to do every year until he begs us to stop.

Stay tuned for Halloween Part Two, which will be filled with twice the high fructose corn syrup, even more donuts and cider (the latter possibly spiked with something along the lines of rum) and a 14 month old dressed as a cow, who has also learned to say "boo". Even though what I was trying to teach was "moo". I feel it's still appropriate.

The Luke Dance

2010-10-10T00:22:00.000-04:00

I hope you are enjoying the Luke video mini-series! If you aren't, rest assured that it is almost over, and very soon we will break anyway because we have to discuss the Pumpkin of Terror.

*********************

I love it when Luke slow dances. He has several different dancing styles, some involve bouncing, some clapping. He likes a little variety. The dance in this video, however, is the token Luke Dance. He does it all. the. time. Enjoy, and feel free to break it out next time you are at the club.

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Put the kid to work

2010-10-09T14:22:00.001-04:00

Luke has been Mommy's Little Helper lately. He likes to hold onto a few pairs of socks (again with the socks) while I match them up to each other, and put the matched socks into the laundry basket for safekeeping. He also walks along behind me as I vacuum, holding onto the cord, traveling with me throughout the house. (Have I ever mentioned that Juno has a saddle to carry the cleaning supplies? I'll give you a minute to digest that.)

I put his blocks away like five times a day so I guess he finally got the hint that it's time to pitch in. I can't wait until he cleans up all of his toys, by himself, in exchange for a sticker, because a sticker is totally worth it. I mean, a sticker.

Here is Luke helping with the blocks.

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Big Boy Crayons

2010-10-08T08:55:00.000-04:00

Luke has decided that he likes regular crayons MUCH better than the baby ones, which are awful clunky. Plus, crayons are shaped like sticks, and he likes anything that looks like a stick, especially if the stick-like object can leave a mark on a piece of paper.

And for the record, real men drink out of pink sippy cups.

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Learning body parts!

2010-10-07T17:04:00.000-04:00

Luke woke up with the sniffles and a hoarse voice this morning so we decided to stay inside for the day. Needless to say, we both had cabin fever by 10am! Luke hates to be cooped up in the house, and I don't like it much either. I think back to when he was a newborn and I was inside almost around the clock and I cringe. We need fresh air these days.

Anyway, I decided to take some videos which I will share here. In this one, Luke points out a few of the body parts he has learned. I should have had him show you all the parts of the dog -- he knows them!

13 Months

2010-10-05T19:33:00.000-04:00

Oh my gosh. Luke has changed so much in the past few weeks that I hardly recognize him. The child is a flipping sponge – he has a memory like I can’t believe. The other day I changed just one of seven wall pictures in the family room during his nap, and when he came downstairs he immediately grabbed me and pointed at the new picture over and over again, jabbering and laughing and screaming at it. He notices everything.

He says hi to everyone he sees -- the dogs, strangers. He is obsessed with eyes and points them out on all of the stuffed animals and the pictures in his books (and can say “eyes” as well). He loves, I mean loves cars. He has stopped crawling and only walks, and does it very well, moving at almost a running pace at times.

He infinitely more strategic than I ever thought a 13 month old could be. He tries to play games with me constantly. He loves will initiate “Chase” where he will try to “escape” and will hide, change directions, do anything to evade capture while I stomp around behind him saying “You better run!” He thinks things through in a way that astounds me. For example, when he wanted to get to the stove top he pulled out the drawer under the oven and used the edge of it as a stool. (Needless to say, that drawer is now locked.)

He is undergoing a language explosion. Most of this month’s new words are from the second half of the month. He communicates everything he wants with greater ease every day. He made up his own sign for “music” and will bring me the television remote, give it to me, make the sign and say “dance”. He learns things that I did not teach him and this is one of many.

His memory makes him impossible to trick. If he sees something he wants, he remembers it and cannot be distracted, sometimes finding a way to get back to it hours or a day later. He is curious to no end. Everything must be investigated, taken apart, touched, poked and prodded.

He can point out his foot, tummy, eyes, ears, hair and hands. He loves socks. He will carry socks around with him all day if I let him. He absolutely loves to be taught something new and is incredibly patient when being shown how something is put together or how to sound out a word.

I am trying to keep up with him. I am trying to keep him occupied and happy and fulfill what seems like an insatiable appetite for new words and scenery and experiences. It is proving to be rather exhausting! But I will continue to do my best because that is really all I can do.

13 MONTHS

Stats/Appointment notes: Got the remaining two vaccinations leftover from the 12 month visit (since he had a bug at the time)

Clothing Size: 2T

Milestones:

Says 19+ words
Says “hi” to people
First haircut
Walks well
No bottles at all
Can identify (pointing) 10+ different animals in his books
“Reads” books on his own (talking and turning pages)
Puts together and takes apart Mega Bloks
Stacks 4 blocks or stacking toys
Initiates games
Combs hair and brushes teeth
Extends correct limbs when getting dressed
Puts objects into containers
Identifies six body parts accurately
Climbs stairs well (on all fours)
Shakes head and says “no”
Drinks from an open cup independently without spills
Attempts to use fork and spoon, with limited success
Responds to commands and comes when called (at home)
Follows two-part instructions
Defeats shape sorter (circle, triangle, square)
Scribbles with crayons on paper
Recognizes songs / has favorite songs / dances to them
Throws tantrums on occasion

Language (new words in bold): He has a very difficult time with the letter F. Often he drops it altogether but he does try to say it when prompted. Also the letter N usually comes out nasally and almost resembles a D.

Dog
Dada
Mama
Ball
Uh-Oh
No
Flower
Yes/Yeah
Rock
Squirrel
Car
All Done
Up
Dance
Hi
Boat
Water
Eyes
Foot

Teeth: Four upper incisors, two lower central incisors and the first of the two lower lateral incisors just poked through yesterday. Molars are next on the schedule. Yikes!

Feeding schedule & amounts: He gets 4-6 oz of 1% milk 3-4 times a day, plus 3 meals and 2 snacks. He also gets diluted vegetable juice and water. A change this past month is that he now gets a bowl of cereal and milk topped with fruit for breakfast, just like a big boy! His favorite foods are: O’s, Chex, Corn Flakes, Kiwi, Banana, Oranges, Cream Cheese Toast, Peas, Carrots, PBJ, and he will literally eat anything for dinner.

Sleeping schedule & naps: He sleeps from 8:30pm to 7:30am and naps from 2:00 to 4:30pm.

Illness in the past month: He had a runny nose for a few weeks this month, but no other symptoms so the jury is out as to whether it was allergies or a bug.

Likes/Dislikes: Likes: exploring, going to story time, the dogs, being chased, being read to, having things “named” for him, going outside, going to the creek, playing with rocks, sticks and leaves, going to gym childcare, playing with other kids, listening to music, bath time, brushing his teeth, being tickled, hugs, kisses and attention. Dislikes: getting dressed (although quickly getting better), having to leave the gym, having to leave the creek, not getting his meal on time, mommy cooking, being alone.

Favorite Toys: Loves to play with cars, Mega Bloks and balls. Or anything shaped like a stick.

Books: He has grown tired of board books (though he pretend-reads them on his own) and likes longer books now. He even sits through 30 minute story times twice a week at the book store! His favorite books are: Say Hello to the Snowy Animals (a GREAT book) and Just Like Daddy.

Songs: He seriously loves Taylor Swift. Not kidding.

Movies: He gets a little TV before bed now (since we quit the bottle) so he has time to snuggle with us. He LOVES Night at the Museum 2. He could literally sit through the whole thing if I let him, which I don’t, so he settles for about 20 minutes of it at a time.

Favorite Activities: Anything social or outdoors. Anything involving other kids, especially older ones (ages 3-4 are his favorites).

*Mom*

What I’m looking forward to: Halloween for sure! I broke out the decorations over the weekend and even got Luke his costume. He is going to be a little COW! It’s adorable. I’m also looking forward to a few trips to the pumpkin patch, the first of them being tomorrow!

What I’m reading: This past month I read Little Bee and now I am reading (and almost finished) David Foster Wallace’s The Broom of the System.

What I’m watching: Dexter and the Ravens and there is literally no time for anything else.

What I’m listening to: Loooove Far East Movement “Like a G6”, Nelly “Just a Dream” and Eminem/Rihanna “Love the Way You Lie”.

Major current events: It rained 10 inches the other day. That was a lot of rain.

Simplicity

2010-10-02T17:04:00.000-04:00

I have an Android phone. Droid Incredible, to be exact. I have been wanting to write a post for some time now about how much this phone has simplified my life and now is the time.

I have been a smartphone owner for many years. I loved my Blackberry, coveted the iPhone and eventually made the switch to Droid. If you have an old-school phone or a Blackberry, keep reading. If you have an iPhone, you already have all of these things (except probably hotspot), but you do not have Verizon, so you might want to keep reading as well, although I suspect you will grind your teeth, clench your fist and murmur things like "why would you want a copy when you have the original" and so on, to which I say, it doesn't matter who did it first, only who does it best and by the way I haven't had a dropped call in about three years.

The device itself is nice, but what really makes the phone are the apps and they are seriously a busy mom's best friend. The Droid has an expanded home screen which is actually 5 pages, all primed and ready for apps, widgets and customizing. I have about three of them filled up and adding more as I see fit. So, here is a list of the apps that I use the most, for anyone who is curious about what a Droid does or is looking for more apps for their Android phone.

Gmail. Of course. I love my gmail.

Google. Duh. This is not an app -- it's just a link on my home screen to the Google homepage because I go there every day. I keep this one front and center. I also have a widget where I have all of my favorite web pages bookmarked and can go there with one press of the finger.

Facebook. Typical. We all have this now, I think. Droids are heavily linked with Facebook, if you choose. It will add a person's profile information to their listing in your phone book and shoot up their profile picture when they call you. The phone book and Facebook listings are practically on in the same. It also syncs with your Google contacts so emails are in there too.

Google Talk. I talk to my girlfriends pretty much around the clock, and this app keeps the conversation going. It it also synced with Google Talk on my computer, so I never miss what someone says.

Google Voice Search. Holy macrel this one is a driving person's dream. "Send text to Pete: What time are you home tonight?" I say it. The phone does it. "Navigate to Target." Done and done. "Call Dad." Dad called. "Go to www.target.com" or "Google search: dog food" and the phone obeys my command. Oh yes it does.

Google Calendar. I make my calendar in Google/Gmail. I have it connected with Pete's calendar so we can both see what the other has going on. The shared calendar sits on my phone as a widget so I can always see what is happening that day. Sooooo easy for busy couples! You can edit the calendar either on the computer or on the phone and it will sync up. OH, and it pulled all of my fb friends birthdays and added them to the calendar too. Really convenient.

The Weather Channel. I use the widget for this one too, which means it's "live" on my screen. Current temps and forecast, constantly updated. My phone chirps and alerts me when there is a severe weather bulletin issued, which for this tornado veteran is a HUGE bonus.

OI Shopping List. I am a listmaker. I love lists. This is the most simple one I could find. It lets me have several running lists, ie, "To Do" or "Stuff we are out of" or "Luke's Party". Plus, it keeps check-marked things on the list until you clear them, which is great if you are like me and want to see what you have accomplished. Oh, and you can email the list to anyone and it sends it in a nice pretty list form with little check boxes. Lovely.

Seedonk. This is a program that lets me look at my little sleeping Lukie pants from anywhere in the world. I have a Bambino baby monitor (basically a webcam) focused on his crib, which wirelessly sends an image to my computer, which in turn sends the image to my phone. It is awesome and way cheaper than regular video monitors.

Google Navigation. I use this every. single. day. It has shown me every shortcut known to man, and I even use it when I already know the route because - yup - if there is traffic or an accident, it will tell me to take another route because it has real-time traffic information. I never get on the beltway without running it through the nav first. Oh, and this is free, people. FREE.

Bank of America. Mobile banking and all that jazz. I can check balances and make transfers, but the real show will begin shortly when BOA releases mobile check capture, which allows you to deposit a check into your account with your phone. Like, you take a picture of the check, and then the money is magically yours. Amazing.

Flashlight. Actually, I use two of them. One is an actual flashlight that uses the flash bulb for the camera, which my goodness is quite bright, and can be shone on three different levels of brightness. The other is a flashlight using only the screen, and dragging your finger on the screen increases or decreases the light. I use this one if I need to sneak into a sleeping Luke's room, because the light is much softer. The latter functions as a booklight or as, well, a flashlight.

Amazon MP3. Yes you can put your already purchased iTunes on your Droid phone. But no, you cannot download from iTunes on the phone. You use Amazon MP3 instead.

Android Market. This is where you download apps. Quick and easy and there are tons of them. Most iPhone apps, the good ones at least, are made for Droid as well or have a comparable Droid counterpart.

ShopSavvy. Scan a barcode. The phone tells you the cheapest places to buy the product near your location, which of course it automatically detects, or tells you the lowest prices online. Simple.

3G Mobile or PDAnet. The first comes with the phone and turns your phone into a mobile hotspot, which means you can get online from any computer anywhere, wirelessly, regardless of whether or not the computer has it's own connection as long as you have your phone with you. The second allows you to plus your phone into your computer, using your power charger which doubles as a USB cable, and get online that way. The first might cost money, not sure because I haven't tried it, but the second is free and I have used it many times.

Latitude. Shows you where you are, shows you where your friends or family are (if you are
"connected" to them), shows you where the nearest of something you need is, ie ATMs and gas stations.

Instant Heart Rate. I use it at the gym. Hold your finger over the camera and it gives you your heart rate with surprising accuracy.

Goggles. Take a picture of something and the phone will literally find it on the internet and tell you everything about. Price, Wikipedia, reviews and so on.

Compass. I don't really use this but it is still neat. It's a compass. Sure enough.

T-Counter. This is a tally counter and you can use it at the grocery store to add up your groceries as you put them in the cart. Is it $3? Click 3 times. Nice and easy and a great tool for budgeting.

Baby ESP. I only used the free trial of this one -- it is the only app on this list that costs money (a few bucks I think), but if I had a newborn I would totally do it. It's really easy to use and you just input the feedings and diaper changes and naps. It links up with your spouse or babysitter so it is always complete and you know when the last feeding or changing was when caregivers change over or your brain is too tired to recall.

Kindle. I have this, but have never used it. I feel like my screen is too small. But, if I had a Droid X or something bigger, I would be all over this one. The Kindle app is free, btw, but the books obviously are not.

::Looks up::

2010-09-30T18:42:00.001-04:00

Notice something?

You will now find that I have two static pages; links above. One is more or less an About Me type thing, which you may find either wonderfully fascinating or painfully boring, and the other, which I am very excited about, is a collection of recipes that I have found to be cheap, easy, healthy(ish) and appropriate for the whole family, including toddlers.

I might add that I have been pulling from that recipe list for the past two weeks and I have dropped 6 pounds like that (imagine me snapping my fingers of course). I am not dieting. If you know me than you know I am not a fan of diets, nor can I stick to them, nor do I have the patience for them, nor do I succeed at them. Rather, this is an attempt to make a lifestyle change and overhaul our eating habits, cooking lighter and healthier while staying full and satisfied.

Some of the major changes I have made are: cook with olive oil cooking spray instead of oil, use whole grain alternatives whenever possible, seriously limit salt, substitute yogurt for mayo in recipes, use low fat dairy products, eat more fruits and vegetables, eat less red meat, cut out carbonated beverages and eat sorbet instead of ice cream (I have an ice cream problem, admittedly).

My budget allows me to spend no more than $1.50 per person per meal. And I shop organic. And I shop at Whole Foods. Now can you see why I have to make a serious plan for each week?! In the past few weeks though, I have found that it can be done -- you can feed your family healthy, delicious food without a lot of cash to spend.

Check back each week as I add more meals and by all means, send your suggestions to adventuressuburbia@gmail.com.

First Haircut!

2010-09-29T20:51:00.001-04:00

Fate, or better yet ticklish ears, forced me to get Luke's locks lobbed off a little sooner than anticipated. In the past few weeks he has been bothered something fierce by the curls around his ears, and after going through all of the stages of grief it was finally agreed upon that it was time for them to go. Nothing major, we discussed, no buzz cuts or shaved heads: just a quick shaping and enough removed to make him comfortable again.

I briefly considered doing the honors myself. I cut my own hair for many years, and it didn't come out too horrible (I think). But the thing is, my precious little boy has a near spasm these days, imagine "cat in a burlap sack" for a visual, when my sinister fingers come near his face, particularly when armed with a sort of tool, more specifically when such tool is The Toothbrush of Death or The Tissue from Hell, and most definitely I presume when the tool is pointy and shiny and terrifyingly close to his eyeballs. So I decided that with the sharpness of scissors and the fragile-ness of little boy faces that an operation of this sort was best left to a professional.

I took him to a salon just for kids, complete with bright colors, toys, a personal mini TV with of course his choice of DVD, and a stylist, Miss Allison, who also happens to be an expert in being nice to children, who greeted him with a smile, showed him the big boy chair and up he went, strapped in, plastic-clothed and sprayed with a water bottle, gazing into the mirror and brave as can be.

And this is when Luke found his calling. His calling, it seems, is to be fawned over and pampered and photographed, of which I have made a mental note. From spray bottle forward it was nothing but business for Master Luke. He became deadly serious -- this was his hair after all -- and spent the next ten minutes sitting like a tiny statue while his precious head was made even more beautiful than it already was, tiny clippings here and there until he was carved into a real boy, bits of babyhood drifting to the floor.

The stylist, who in all likelihood had probably taken one look at the not-yet-thirteen-month-old and thought oh GOD this one is going to FIDGET and YELP and TWIST until there's BLOOD and STITCHES and LAWSUITS, did not attempt to hide her utter disbelief at how well-behaved Luke was during the whole affair. Apart from curtly responding to her reference to the toys with a pointed finger and a crystal-clear "car" (because obviously the nice lady does not know the proper word for the thing) he did not elicit a single peep, wiggle or spastic conniption. She generously knocked 30% off the already cheap price because he was "so angelic", to which I say it is about time Luke started earning his keep, thank you very much.

Here are a few shots of Luke and his new haircut. What do you think?? Cute as a button or what?

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This is normal, right?

2010-09-28T16:21:00.000-04:00

Hats are open to interpretation.

Luke has been all about putting hats on his head lately, probably because it makes this mommy screech and clap her hands in glee. So, when he saw this contraption, it seems his little brain went hat! rather than boat! and he spent a good ten minutes putting it on, taking it off and generally wearing it.

That's my little boy!

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Bed Head

2010-09-27T14:11:00.002-04:00

Comb please.

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Baltimore Aquarium

2010-09-23T15:52:00.001-04:00

Luke and I tagged along with my friend Elizabeth, who was kind enough to let us use her guest pass, and her perfectly scrumptious baby Claire to see the undersea creatures at the Baltimore Aquarium.

Admittedly I have lived in Maryland for over 20 years and never once been to the Aquarium, so it was a first for both me and Luke. He was quiet and stoic as he absorbed his surroundings, nestled in the baby wrap and probably trying to understand what the fish in the glass box has to do with his fish toy at home and why Mommy keeps whispering fish fish fish in his ear.

The highlight of the adventure was the Dolphin Show, which Luke watched intently as he nibbled on a Wasa cracker, clapping at both appropriate and inappropriate times. The dolphins flipped through the air, splashed the crowd, tossed balls around and did all the standard dolphin-y things. God I wish I had my own dolphin.

Unfortunately I didn't take out the camera most of the time -- Luke was wrapped in the Moby and I had a diaper bag and it was just too much to worry about. And, of course, none of the three pictures I took of him actually came out. But instead, here are a few dolphins, which I am 99% sure Luke refers to as dogs. Same difference, really.

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Space Bags:

2010-09-21T14:40:00.000-04:00

What are they?
Where do they come from?
Can you really travel to space in them?*

These are just some of the mundane questions that never even remotely entered the whirring cogs of my mind until I went to aisle sixteen at the local Target. I was looking for an airtight container for Luke’s baby clothes – the clothes that I had lazily stuffed on the top shelf of his closet for the past year until it teetered ominously on collapse – and growing increasingly irritated at the extra-large-box prices, when I spotted what can only be referred to as infomercial royalty: Space Bags.

I knew at once that this was the solution. I grabbed a Jumbo Bag ($10) and fled (paying first, naturally). At home I carefully sorted Luke’s pants, shirts, shorts and pajamas and squished them neatly into the bag. It was massive. Luke sat in his crib and watched with amazement, but the show had only just begun.

In case you don’t know, the next step is to close the bag, a la Ziploc, and vacuum out the oft overrated molecules of air from the imprisoned garments, sealing out every known terror** to baby clothes, including but absolutely not limited to: water, mold, mildew, mice, roaches, moths, spiders, disease, famine, plague and for crying out loud, RABIES. This leaves you with a flat, vacuum-packed bag of airless garb awaiting its sentence to the darkest corner of the basement, for an indeterminate amount of time and concluded only upon the arrival of another male spawn.

Genius. So mind-numbingly simple, yet overlooked for centuries, like roller blades and time travel. In the future I wonder how we will discern the future from the present, because if the present is as futuristic as Space Bags, then you may very well already be in the future.

From now on I will be packing up Luke’s clothes by size as he grows out of them, each lot in a small space bag then stored in the basement. I wish I had done that from the beginning but really, how was I to know that they would even be invented.

In the meantime, I will troll the house looking for other unsuspecting space-baggable items, vacuum cleaner in hand and tail-tucked dogs making themselves scarce.

Unparalleled Brilliance.

*Not yet.
**Except probably not fire.

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Undead Pumpkin

2010-09-19T20:38:00.000-04:00

I have a riddle.

What happens when you put a pumpkin outside for Halloween, and then it gets partially eaten by slugs, and then you don't want to touch it, and you have an 8 week old baby anyway and who really wants to hold a baby and a sluggy pumpkin at the same time, and you can't really leave him alone while you dispose of the heap, and when he naps you would rather do things inside the house, and the snow will come soon and cover it up anyway, and God do I really have to touch that thing?

The answer is this:

Hello Minions

Free pumpkin patch! Or, creepy scary Pet Sematary pumpkin risen from the dead and back to take revenge on me for the slow death I inflicted upon it last year -- depending on how you look at it.

At any rate, little pumpkin seeds REALLY DO turn into actual pumpkins, which might make me think twice before I eat another pumpkin seed, because can a pumpkin really grow in your stomach? Yes, if you swallow soil and sunshine and raindrops and a little bee to pollinate the male flowers to the female flowers, a pumpkin sure as hell can grow in your stomach.

Alright so let's stay on pumpkin watch. Not just for fun, but to make sure that helldemon doesn't grow a freakin jack-o-lantern face and cannibalize the nice pumpkin I intend to carve with Luke. Or worse. Did I mention it's in my front yard? Like in an obvious, everyone-can-tell, why on earth did those people put a pumpkin patch there kind of way? And the lone green pumpkin that inhabits the patch is growing FAST. One day there was not a pumpkin, the next day there was. Horror movie style. I think that thing is going to swallow a human on Halloween night.

Oh and speaking of cultivating edible delights, remember the vegetable garden? That was actually a moderate success -- sorry for holding out on you despite my very clearly stated and capital lettered promise at the end to keep you updated. Long story short: I ate tomatoes every day for a month. I lived like a tomato king! I harvested to my heart's content! I have already made my plan for next year and barring any unforeseen incidents with aforementioned pumpkin I think we are going to have a great garden.

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Squirrel Huntin'

2010-09-17T15:50:00.002-04:00

Let's just get this out there: Luke loves squirrels. LOVES them. He calls them Quirrel because the S is seemingly unnecessary. I also think that he might think there is just one squirrel, who happens to be everywhere, since he has yet to see a whole flock of them. And so our daily walk has turned into the daily Squirrel Hunt: if you have never squirrel hunted... well, then you have never lived, my friend.

Our drive dead ends into a lovely little stream with a bench and a small park-like space. Every day we go to the bench and sit and look for the squirrels on the other side of the stream. Sometimes -- on the luckiest of days -- a bold little squirrel ventures to OUR side of the stream and it goes something like this: "Quirrel!!!!" Points. Screeches. Claps. Squirrel looks at Luke. Squirrel runs up a tree. Luke points to tree bearing a look of undeniable hurt and anguish as he realizes the squirrel -- his fluffy-tailed, soft-looking, delicate little friend -- rejected him.

Other days the squirrel is conspicuously absent. We get out of the car and I watch Luke as he looks eagerly at the street and up at the trees. "Quirrel," he says, quietly, deflated, acutely aware that the squirrel did not see fit to welcome him home. The squirrel had to go to Target, honey, he needed new socks. He furrows his brow the way he does when he is thinking something over. Luke knows Target, and he knows socks, so hopefully he puts it together.

Last night we watched a little Night at the Museum 2 before bed. Luke likes to sit on the sofa with his two dogs -- it must be both dogs, not one, not the other -- and I will let you imagine his little face when he saw THIS:

Trained squirrel to carry me on his back

Now THAT is what I'm talking about.

Here are a few Squirrel Hunting pictures... no creatures visited us that day, but the thrill is really in the hunt, no?

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A boy walks into a restaurant...

2010-09-14T18:52:00.000-04:00

Hilarity ensues.

Happiness is...

2010-09-13T16:18:00.000-04:00

Your son's first drawing. Sigh.

Inspection.

Execution.

Perfection.

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Shoes.

2010-09-13T15:48:00.000-04:00

First of all, I tried to think of a witty name for this post (Shoe me the money? Shoetastic? Yes? No? Is this thing on?) Maybe I'm off my game. Maybe I'm tired. Maybe it's the rum sauce from that bread pudding I just ate. Mmmmm, bread pudding. At any rate, I got nothin'. The post is aptly titled: Shoes.

Preface: Luke is walking. Sort of. He can walk in a stiff-slow-creepy-zombie-risen-from-the-dead kind of way and has been able to do so for some time now. Gosh, he can walk across the whole room when he sees fit. There hasn't been a big celebratory HE'S WALKING!!!! post (a la crawling) since he just sort of does it when he feels like it. Very anticlimactic, if you will. Some kids take one step and never look back. Other kids (I'm looking at you, Luke) take many steps, then crawl, then spider-walk, then take a few more steps, plop down on the ground and bite the dog in the face. Every kid is different.

The Pseudo Walking is why I recently got him this adorable pair of Converse shoes, yielding an almost unbearable amount of oohs and ahhs from strangers/adorers. But Luke hates to walk in them and after close inspection of the shoes, I was bothered. I wasn't sure what it was, but they just didn't seem to be the right shoes for him. They seemed stiff, flat and thin. And they sure as heck made him unsteady.

I finally decided to do what I should have done already and research shoes for walking toddlers. (You will not catch me sleeping at the wheel often, and I almost ALWAYS research before I buy, but this time I failed, FAILED!) Ahem. What I learned was that Converse, although super duper incredibly adorable, just aren't good shoes for frequent use. The biggie is that there is not enough arch support -- but also they have laces (which are just downright annoying) and the overall shoe leaves a lot to be desired by way of support. They are fine for wearing on a quick trip, but not for hitting up the playground or having a dance party with the kids at the gym and especially not for extended play. And did I mention the laces? Let's just say he does NOT like to sit still to watch the bunny go around the tree and jump into its hole. Frankly, I don't know what the bunny was doing, running around in broad daylight with all those foxes nearby. Seems a little reckless to me.

Ok, so what to put those fat little feet in that will not make him a flat-footed freak of nature or make the neighbors thinks I'm torturing him while I stuff the sausages into their Converse casings? I learned after extensive and slightly obsessive Googling that there are three brands that the majority of pediatricians and podiatrists can agree on: Stride Rite, Pediped and See Kai Run. I could get into all of the reasons why, but it's all sciency and boring and let's just say they are all good for tender little feetsies that need protecting from all the big bad things in the world.

I scooted on over to Nordstrom with the brilliant plan (really, it was) of getting him fitted in Nordstrom and then (muahahaha) heading downstairs to the Rack to get an actual pair of shoes. It just so happened that upstairs they were actually having a big ole shoe sale and a pair that fit him perfectly (6W is his size, according to the fitter extraordinaire) were available AND -- joyous day -- on sale for 40% off. He got a balloon ("BALL!"), he littered the Nordstrom floor with bits of cracker, he sat and smiled like an angel while the nice lady strapped up the velcro and voila... new shoes. Then he got up, walked over to a shoe display, pointed at a pair of Mary Janes and looked at me expectantly. Yikes.

I have to mention that in these shoes, he loves to walk. He is not quite prancing, but oh, we will get there. They seem very natural to wear. He walked all over the shoe department and walked (painfully slowly) all over the grass when we got home. The fit is perfect, they are really bendy and have good tread. And his balance is about a hundred time better in these than his other shoes.

Next time around, he will be a little older and we will probably head to the Stride Rite outlet which is about 45 minutes away. I'm not entirely thrilled at spending 30 sacred dollars on a pair of shoes, but I guess I would rather have one good pair of shoes every season than several pairs of crappy ones. Lesson learned. Quality over quantity. Check.

This is the pair I got him. Stride Rite shoes are also available at Zappos, which I love love love!

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Zoo!

2010-09-11T13:09:00.000-04:00

Pete was off work on Thursday so we took the day to do a family trip to the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. The weather was gorgeous and the zoo was packed. We made it through the whole thing! I brought along a cheese stick and some Wasa crackers for baby-fuel and Luke was a real champ as we spent more than 2 hours seeing the sights.

Luke loved seeing the animals and was especially fond of the giraffes and polar bear, who we deemed "Big Aspen". Oh, and we must mention the petting zoo, where Luke aggressively "loved" the goats and Pete was head butted by one of them which actually sent him to his ass. That was funny.

Pictures from the day...

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One Year Old!

2010-09-09T18:45:00.000-04:00

God, I love being a mom. It’s been a whole year. It’s been almost two years since I got pregnant, and I would not trade any of it for anything. With Luke turning one, it’s been on my mind a lot lately. I am a stay at home mom and I will say loud and clear that I am damn good at my job. My son makes it easy – he isn’t exactly difficult to be around all day – but I love my job and I do it with pride. I take the idea of being responsible for another human life very seriously, and I really hope I can always be the mom he deserves. Luke is such an amazing little creature.

My goal is to take all of the hope, the fear, the uncertainty and the love that goes into motherhood and channel it into becoming a strong, fair and loving teacher, mother, friend and confidant to my son. I hope that he can learn from me and I can help guide him towards a life enriched with education, positivity, morality, happiness, friendship and a strong family bond that he will pass on to his own children. You have no idea how much I hope I can do all of these things! I don’t want to just be a mom, I want to be a great mom. And I am starting to think that I can really be that for him.

Luke, you are one year old, and far too young to know this yet, but I love you more than life itself and I will continue to do so until my last day in this world. Thank you for everything, my sweet boy.

ONE YEAR

Stats/Appointment notes:

24 lbs 15 oz (80th percentile) and 31 inches long (90th percentile)
Got the all-clear for the remaining blacklisted foods (citrus, nuts, milk, whole eggs)
Our pediatrician noted that he is extremely social for his age
Right on target for walking
Advanced for language development and communication
He received one planned shot plus the flu shot; the two remaining vaccinations will be done in a few weeks (since he has a little bug right now)

Clothing Size: 2T

Milestones:

Says 9+ words and is averaging 1 new word every few days
Can walk 5-10 steps without assistance
Expert cruiser
Indicates wants and needs with gestures
Nods and says “yes” and “no”
Can comb hair and brush teeth (I do a follow-up brushing)
Can summon the dogs by calling and gesturing
Opens doors with handles
Attempts shape sorter and puzzles with occasional success
Recognizes songs (and still dances on command)
Drinks out of an open cup and sets it down without spilling
Follows increasingly complex instructions

Luke is not ALL fun and games – he does throw the occasional tantrum but I am told that is pretty common for a one year old. He is also a bit of a biter – I am trying so hard to curb this behavior because it HURTS! He tends to use the chompers on me when he’s tired or bored though, so I just try to keep those things from happening to save me from getting little vampire nips on my leg (his favorite snipping locale) and when I get them, I give a firm “no” and distract him with something else. In general though, he is a very sweet and affectionate little boy. He is in a good mood far more often than not and is for the most part a pretty happy kid and can be taken almost anywhere.

Language: (In addition to last month’s Dog, Ball, Mama and Dada)

Doggy
Uh-Oh (when dropping something)
No
Flower
Yes/Yeah
Rock

He also tries very hard to say “creek” and “tree” on his walks with Daddy but we can’t put those on the board just yet. He has started to prefer saying “doggy” instead of “dog.” On a few occasions he has pointed and said “dat” which I think means “that”. He has said “bye-bye” only once when waving goodbye (which quite frankly shocked me) and also "hi" a few times. He will also make the “P” sound for “up”. In general, he is moving forward with his language skills but seems to be half-way saying a lot of words now instead of fully saying a few. He definitely understands that there is a word for everything and seems to be interested in learning those words. He is better than ever at mimicry and will usually attempt to say a word that interests him, and always points to hear the name of things. I sound out words for him all the time, and say, “Can you say it?” to which he will either try, or give me a huge smile and bury his face in my shoulder. Because apparently it’s embarrassing.

Teeth: Four tops and two bottoms – I think that’s all. I get my finger bitten fiercely when I check.

Feeding schedule & amounts: 4-6 oz of 1% milk 3-4 times a day, plus 3 meals and 2 snacks (and water -- no fruit juice yet). We still try to feed pesticide-free / organic food and keep it healthy. I give Wasa crackers instead of graham crackers (which are crap if you've ever read the label) and organic colby cheese sticks instead of string cheese. I also do whole wheat breads and pastas instead of the white stuff. And he gets "Whole-O's" instead of cheerios, which are made with rice, sweetened with agave nectar and actually quite good. And we stay far, far away from salt and sugar.

Sleeping schedule & naps: He sleeps from 8:30pm to 7:00am(ish) and typically from 2 to 4pm, but sometimes likes to go back to a 12:00 nap.

Illness in the past month: A touch of poison ivy. Not fun—mommy got it too. Right now he has a wee respiratory bug that would go entirely unnoticed had we not had his 12-month check-up.

Likes/Dislikes: All of this holds true from last month: Likes any sort of interactive play, being around other kids, any and all animals, being outside, riding in the car, going to Target and riding in the shopping cart, hunting for power cords, trying to eat sticks and grass, having his hair brushed, nails clipped and ears swabbed (lol). Dislikes the process of getting dressed or having to play by himself for too long. I will add this month: he loves to be in public – LOVES it. He loves to watch other people and to get people clapping by starting a round of applause. He is a very social little creature, but very quiet when he is around people he doesn’t know well. He loves “new” experiences and will stare at things that interest him in complete silence, eyes wide, taking it all in.

Favorite Toys/Books: Right now his favorite book is this one we have about Halloween and it makes sounds when you turn the pages. Personally I think it is a bit creepy but he loves it and will shove it at you to read it to him several times a day. As far as toys go, as odd as it sounds, he loves this little plastic drumstick from a baby drum he got for his birthday. He carries it all over the house and “drums” on just about everything. Right now he is very much into exploring and toys have taken a backseat to the wonders of the kitchen cabinets, vents and dust particles on the floor.

Favorite Activity: He still loves to cuddle but is more “independent” (provided you are in the same room) than ever. Luckily, he still enjoys his 30 minute cuddle time right before bed, which is a favorite time of day for Mom and Dad as well. He gives hugs constantly, likes to be read to and likes all sorts of attention.

*Mom*

What I’m looking forward to: The Fall! I never used to be a fan of this time of year, but it is fast becoming a favorite. Something about the cool weather, the leaves turning, roasting pumpkin seeds, getting fresh cider… it gives me such a warm fuzzy feeling! Gosh I’m such a sap! Maybe that’s part of being a mom? Plus I get to pick out a Halloween costume and take Luke for a hay ride at the pumpkin patch. It’s going to be a great season!

What I’m reading: Guess what? I knocked out the entire Dragon Tattoo trilogy this past month! That is quite a feat for me, since I have a little boy that does not allow reading (unless it’s to him and the book has pictures, of course). And I find it very hard to read during his naps – there always seems to be something more pressing ie laundry and chores. So I have started bringing a book with me to the gym and reading while I work out and I’ve tried to nix TV before bed and pick up a book instead. I have just started a new book called Little Bee which my bff Andrea in Denver just sent me and I am very much looking forward to.

What I’m watching: Shall I admit I’m watching Bachelor Pad? Yep. I am. It’s the one night a week I watch TV instead of read so I may as well make it as unintelligent as possible.

What I’m listening to: Pretty much nothing now that I don’t listen to music at the gym anymore. And the Kidz Choice channel doesn’t count.

Major current events: Hurricane Earl which was nice and hyped up but kind of fizzled out at the end. Also, my dad got married and I have a new step-family, does that count? I think so!

Here are some recent pictures... he wasn't in a very smiley mood, but we love him anyway!

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Two firsts

2010-09-03T19:34:00.000-04:00

His first suit and his first pair of Chuck Taylors! Excuse the pictures, they are from the cell phone...

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Luke's 1st Birthday Party!

2010-09-03T19:31:00.000-04:00

On Saturday we celebrated Luke's first year with a cookout for friends and family. In the days leading up to the big day, I worked tirelessly on DIY decorating projects to make the event extra special. (Plus, I tend to look for ANY reason to get crafty, so I was loving the opportunity.)

I also chose a lot of DIY projects just because of budget constraints. It's AMAZING what you can do with some tissue paper and scrapbook paper! Especially when you his the 5/$1 scrapbook paper sale at Michaels. I made cupcake holders, cupcake toppers, pom poms, and much more with just paper and a glue gun (and a printer). And Target had a big sale on party stuff so I got the plasticware and table covers for almost nothing.

We grilled burgers, which I purchased at a steep discount from grocery store prices, from the local farmer's market (plus it was top-notch beef!) and hot dogs. I made coleslaw from scratch and we served baked beans. I ordered cupcakes and a cake from Sam's Club -- which has awesome baked goods and get this -- I got a 5 inch cake and 40 cupcakes for $18! I decorated the cupcakes myself with the toppers, bees and wrappers. Then I rolled out fondant, dyed it and cut the little flowers and decorated the cake. My fabulous sister, who has worked with fondant before, was there to guide me along the way.

The weather on party day was GORGEOUS! It was about 85 degrees and clear blue skies. We enjoyed the company of our families and friends, some of whom traveled a very long way to join us. I can't say enough how much it meant to me to celebrate with such a fine group of people! We are truly blessed to be surrounded by the wonderful people in our lives. And they came bearing a great assortment of gifts -- Luke got a new wardrobe of to-die-for outfits (4 pairs of jeans!), plenty of new toys and even a Maclaren stroller.

Luke's opinion of the whole thing? Well, he was the center of attention, so he was pretty much happy. He was on best behavior (which he is getting very good at when in public) and he definitely enjoyed the company of his cousin Grace from Albany and his bff Kaden from NYC. He stood up for everyone but of course refused to take one single step. He prefers to keep that skill a secret between him and Mommy and Daddy!

In all, it was a big success. I loved planning the party and loved sharing everything with the wonderful people in our lives. And most of all, I love celebrating my little man! Now, on to the actual birthday -- only 2 days away! Here are some pictures of the big day...

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Delicious Macaroni with Tomato Cream Sauce

2010-08-13T18:47:00.000-04:00

Sounds good, right?

I thought I would share since it was a big hit over here. I made this up on the fly for Luke -- it tasted pretty good but if I were making it for myself I would have thrown in butter and salt and all the bad things. Anyway this is a great toddler dinner that can be prepared quickly if you are doing what I am doing tonight and eating Five Guys for dinner.

Macaroni with Tomato Cream Sauce

Cook a and strain about a cup of macaroni, rinsing with cold water.
Dice a tomato. I used half because it was pretty big.
Simmer the tomato dices with some (like a few tbs) water over med-low heat in a nonstick sauce pan. Add a dollop of cream cheese. Add Italian Seasoning to taste. Simmer until all the cream cheese is melted and the mixture is creamy, then remove from heat.
Toss the macaroni with the tomato cream sauce. I topped with a tiny bit of cheddar cheese. Voila! Quick and easy dinner.

(This obviously makes more than one serving, depending how much your kiddo eats at once)

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All Grown Up

2010-08-10T13:31:00.000-04:00

Well, maybe not quite grown up. But he is barely a baby these days! Sidenote: during the dance part of the video there was music playing, but you can barely hear it over my talking. And he put himself in that spot under the table, silly boy!

I tried to get him to walk a few steps for the camera but I found it hard to catch him (he finishes off the steps with a giant lunge toward me) and record at the same time. So we are going to wait for a time when Daddy is home to capture that excitement.

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11 Months Old

2010-08-09T14:08:00.002-04:00

11 MONTHS OLD

Stats/Appointment notes: No update on stats and no appointments in the past month. He is still growing like a weed but doesn’t feel too much heavier.

Clothing Size: Still rocking 18 month to 2T, but I am fairly confident buying all 2T clothes from this point forward. He wears size 5 (going on size 6) shoes.

Milestones: He is standing totally unassisted and can take TWO STEPS! He love love loves to stand. I don’t even have to encourage him – he will pull up on anything, a toy, a wall, a dog – and let go right away. He can pretty much stand alone indefinitely now and can even drink out of a sippy or play with a toy while standing. Also emerging in the past month is finger pointing, which he will even do if you ask him. He can open a door (yikes), play patty cake, put objects “in” or “out” of a container, stack objects on top of each other (and immediately knock them down), roll a ball back and forth and dance to music. He can also drink out of a totally open cup all by himself, and even sets it down gently so it doesn’t spill. Honestly I am not a fan of sippy cups so we worked really hard on this one. By next month I hope to have transitioned 100% to open cups, except for when I need them for convenience/travel. We have also ditched the bottle. He gets one bottle, at night, which I will continue for probably a few more months. He is getting really good at following simple (and sometimes more complex) instructions, ie, can you go get the block and bring it to me? We also use flash cards every time he is getting a diaper change (because it is the only thing that will keep him still) and he can say “dog” and “ball” at the right pictures, but point to several others when you say the names. And finally, I think I see a climber emerging. He is already trying to get up onto the sofa and use his feet on the sides of the crib. If you lie on the floor with him he WILL climb over you repeatedly. He climbs through the kitchen chairs and tries to climb the table. He even tries to use a step stool to get closer to the window. Good grief, I might be in for it!

Language: There are now 4 solid words in Luke’s vocabulary: DOG, BALL, MAMA and DAD. It is amazing to watch him learn a language and he is such a sponge for information. He will point to a knob on a drawer or a button on your shirt, furrow his brow, look at you and say, “Ball?” Then you correct him and you can see the wheels in his little head turning as he realizes that other things can be round and not be balls. Wow! He is also pretty good at communicating what he wants, for instance – he takes a pillow off the sofa and lies on it when he wants to take a nap. Where did he get this?! I have no idea. Since he is moving so quickly in the language department, we have more or less abolished “baby talk” and I have started really stressing the use of pronouns when I talk to him. Also, to encourage connecting words together, I will repeat the word he says, but put it in a sentence. As far as comprehension goes, though, he understands quite a bit. It really surprises me when I say something and I realize he knows what I’m talking about. And how funny is this – when I ask if he did a poop, he points to his diaper. HA! If you are wondering, we will not be doing any sort of formal baby signs. I think they are a great tool for many families, but it is not for us.

Teeth: Two bottoms and FOUR tops! The most recent ones are the lateral incisors on the top. It is REALLY hard for me to check these days, since he likes to chomp my fingers whenever they get close.

Feeding schedule & amounts: He gets about 20 oz. of formula a day, plus water. We do not give juice. He gets 3 square real-food meals and two snacks in between. We usually give him a fruit and a dairy (or sometimes pancakes or toast) for breakfast, a fruit or veggie (or both) and a grain/pasta for lunch, and a protein (roasted turkey or rotisserie chicken) and steamed veggies for dinner. The daily foods change all the time, but I always try to make sure we hit all the food groups in proper quantities. He now gets food that is rough chopped, shredded or cut into fingers (like toast and sandwiches). He is more frequently eating our dinners, at least when I think they are healthy and not too salty. He will eat just about anything you put in front of him. He does not like to be spoon fed and continues to be a very independent eater.

Sleeping schedule & naps: He sleeps from 8:30pm to 7:00am and naps from noon to 2pm (an hour less than last month). He is very clear about when he wants to go to bed or take his nap and there is absolutely NO fussing or crying before sleep anymore. He does not wake at night (unless he is shifting to a more comfortable position) and while we still have to be quiet during naps, we have resumed a normal noise level at night, as it does not disturb him.

Illness in the past month: Nada.

Likes/Dislikes: Likes any sort of interactive play, being around other kids, any and all animals, being outside, riding in the car, going to Target and riding in the shopping cart, hunting for power cords, trying to eat sticks and grass, having his hair combed, nails clipped and ears swabbed (lol). Dislikes the process of getting dressed or having to play by himself for too long. Passionately hates having his face wiped.

Favorite Toys/Books: He still loves the touchy-feely books. He now has a puzzle which he loves to attempt to solve (or bite) and a bead maze which fascinates him. His toys now are more learning and development oriented. He also loves his mini piano, blocks and most of all, BALLS!

Favorite Activity: Cuddling and being fawned over! Or rolling a ball back and forth with someone.

*Mom*

What I’m looking forward to: Luke’s birthday! I can’t believe it’s already that time!

What I’m reading: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has been staring at me for ~~weeks~~ ~~months~~ I might just wait for the movie. Oh and I’m always reading What to Expect the First Year, following along with whatever month we are on.

What I’m watching: OMG, ALI PICKED ROBERTO! The Bachelorette is over – am I the only one that totally thought Frank was going to show up and they were going to run off together?? We finished all the Weeds seasons, and I have to say I seriously hate the Nancy Botwin character, who gets my vote for Worst Mother Ever. Mad Men is here but I haven’t started watching yet, and Dexter is coming soon. Also we saw Inception on IMAX… ummm awesome!!!

What I’m listening to: Every month this one is the same answer and it’s getting depressing. Seriously, the only thing I listen to is my work-out mix? And I haven’t changed it in months? Bleh.

Major current events: The oil spill appears to be contained and the rest of the usual rubbish is going on in the world. I take the news with a grain of salt these days.

What I have to say about motherhood: Being a stay at home mom is a full time job. Here is an article that can say it far better than I. And, I can't believe this is my last month of having a baby! Toddlerhood draws closer by the day... this is the end of wonderful chapter in my life and the start of a very new one. Good things are ahead.

What is this thing?

I like to put things on tables.

What's that?

Mommy are you watching me?!

Guess what? I'm standing right now!

And real men drink from pink sippy cups.

Exasperation with Mommy.

I will chase this ball everywhere.

Guess what chairs are good for?

Pushing around the kitchen!

And vents are good for biting (which Mommy hates)

Doors are good for opening.

Or to spy on doggies.

Isn't my hair gorgeous?

Razz.

Look at all my teeth!

This is my own personal doggy.

No talking Doggy.

She is pretty much my best friend ever.

I'm about to do something mischievous.

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A foodie in the making

2010-07-29T11:49:00.000-04:00

If you know me then you know -- I can ALWAYS get excited about food. I love to cook, I love to eat, I love to go out to eat (a rarity, to say the least) and I love to share recipes. It seems that I may have a little foodie on my hands as well; Luke has always taken quickly to new foods, tastes and consistencies. He LOVES to self-feed and is becoming altogether annoyed with being spoon fed (though I still spoon feed his oatmeal and yogurt).

Now that he is approaching 11 months old, we have moved him up to cubed/shredded food. Last night I experimented with dinner: shredded roasted turkey (skin removed) and a well-steamed mixture of whole peas, corn and carrot cubes. This morning for breakfast, he had applesauce pancakes (I made regular pancakes, added applesauce and cinnamon, then cut them up) and diced apples.

He has been on "table foods" for a few months now, but I have not been feeding exactly him what we eat, for one simple reason: I just can't eat that healthy. And I eat a lot of cereal. But the good news is that I prepare a Luke-specific meal 3 times a day, which means he has a very healthy diet! I also try to make things that are quick, since he doesn't allow Mommy much cooking time.

So, I pick up rotisserie chicken or roasted turkey (I get pieces, not the whole thing) from the market, which last a few days. I use frozen veggies now (I still buy organic though) which I steam in the microwave and then strain/rinse with cold water to get them ready for little hands. I always have fresh bananas, apples and avocado on hand for cutting up into little pieces. Sometimes I buy pre-cut melon or fruit salad to cut up for him. And I keep single-serve applesauce, pears and fruit containers on hand for when I am really low on time. He still gets yogurt or cottage cheese and oatmeal once a day, too. You would be really surprised at how quickly you can make a healthy meal and how little it costs to buy a few pieces of fruit and chicken each week. A little goes a long way, I have found.

For anyone who is interested in our solid food journey (and for my own records), this is the approximate (and pretty much standard) schedule we have followed:

4 Months: Thin Purees (stage 1 equivalent)
6 Months: Thick Purees (stage 2)
8 Months: Mashed/Minced Table Foods
11 Months: Chopped/Cubed Table Foods

Also, this web site has actual pictures of the different types of baby food stages.

Two great resources for feeding information and kiddie-approved recipes are Wholesome Baby Foods and Wholesome Toddler Foods. Check out the Farmer's Breakfast on the toddler food site -- I plan on making it ASAP. For myself.

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5 weeks later

2010-07-26T13:06:00.000-04:00

Wow. Did you notice a correlation between Luke starting to crawl and my COMPLETE AND UTTER DISAPPEARANCE FROM THIS BLOG?

That's no coincidence. This child keeps me on my toes! He is into everything, he wants everything, he wants to look at everything, and most of all he wants Mommy Mommy Mommy, all. the. time. Not that I can blame him, since we are super tight and all.

I did write his 10 month post at 10 months, but saved it instead of posting since I needed to upload pictures, which I JUST got around to doing. I'm going to backdate it to the 5th only because I'm a little anal. I'm not even sure what it says anymore... SO much has happened since then.

The most exciting development is that he seems to have grasped the concept of communication and now clearly says "Da-da," "dog," and as of yesterday, "ball". He also belts out "MAMA!" but only when he is upset. Weird huh? I try to get him to say it other times and he just smiles and buries his face in me.

He can also pick out the "dog" and "ball" flash cards or point a dog out of a book. He is kind of obsessed with dogs. And he loves his little rubber (glorified dog toy) balls -- he will now INSIST that you play ball with him. He will roll/toss the ball toward you, and as long as you roll it back, he will keep going and going and going. He will also "fetch" the ball, on command from a group of toys. As a matter of fact, he can pick out most of his toys by name now. He can even follow simple instruction, like "Can I have it?" (he politely places the object in your hand) or "Go get ____" to which he scurries over and retrieves the object with all too much glee.

I also want to mention that he is letting go when he stands up now for longer and longer periods of time. The only problem is that he gets soooo happy that he starts to laugh and bounce and then he is down on his bum.

He is also experimenting with stacking... but I guess I will save all this good stuff for the 11 month post which is right around the corner, barring another disappearance of me.

Anyway, I will post the 10 month entry now, complete with a few pictures. And I promise not to leave you all alone EVER EVER AGAIN.

xxoo

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Ten Months Old

2010-07-05T13:10:00.002-04:00

10 MONTHS OLD

Stats/Appointment notes: No update on stats and no appointments in the past month. His legs have definitely gotten longer since I have to buy him new shorts, but onesies and shirts still fit.

Clothing Size: Still rocking 18 month (tops) to 2T (bottoms).

Milestones: Crawling! He is also an expert at pulling up and cruising. He will even let go and slowly sit himself down to the ground, but I can tell it makes him a little nervous. He BARELY holds on when he is standing though… he could totally stand alone if he wanted to! He is also an expert self feeder (with hands) and sippy drinker. I even let him drink his bottle by himself, but only in the PNP (because of the soft bottom) and under close supervision, since the bottle is glass. He loves it though. A hilarious development is that he has figured out that his bib catches all the food, and once he is done eating he will scoop the food out of the bib and eat that too. It’s so funny to watch. He is also waving bye-bye but never does it when I ask him to (of course!). He claps pretty much on command and will even retrieve a toy when asked for it. He will also give hand the toy over to you on command (I say it like he is a dog, but hey – I have two dogs so give me a break okay?)

Language: He still says “dog” all the time and I am starting to accept that he might actually be saying it for real. He says “dog” when we see the dog in the board book, and when the dogs walk into the room, and when we come home from the gym and hear them barking. He also shouts “Dada!” from his crib but bursts out laughing when I BEG him to say “Momma”. How mean is that?! He is a good mimic. If you repeat something enough, he will say it. Yesterday I said “No Bite” (which I have to say ALL THE TIME since he is like a freaking hamster with the biting) and he responded, loud and clear, “BITE!”. Which is adorable and cute, but seriously child stop biting me!

Teeth: Two bottoms and two tops! The tops popped through last week. It was stressful for him and it screwed up his sleep schedule, but they are out and he is happier than ever.

Feeding schedule & amounts: He gets 24 oz. of formula a day, plus water. He gets 3 square meals and two snacks. We usually give him a fruit and a dairy for breakfast, a fruit or veggie (or both) and a grain for lunch, and a protein and vegetable for dinner. He LOVES rotisserie chicken and broccoli. I chop everything up very tiny for him and he eats it like finger food. Of course, things like yogurt and oatmeal are still spoon fed by us.

Sleeping schedule & naps: He sleeps from 8:30pm to 7:00am and naps from 11am to 2pm. This schedule has been very natural for him. Sometimes he wakes up early from his nap (like during teething) and I throw in a catnap. I always shoot for 3 hours of daytime sleeping total. He has suddenly stopped crying before naps (he used to cry for a few minutes before falling asleep) and now he just goes to bed kind of like a normal person.

Illness in the past month: None, with the exception of a wee bit of heat rash on his leg, a result of sleeping curled up in a little ball. So far, he has had two colds and one ear infection.

Likes/Dislikes: I notice that last month I said he dislikes the vacuum. Well, that changed. He is now very intrigued and will stare at it the whole time I vacuum, which I have to do at least once a day now that he is on the floor all the time. He still loves the dogs. Aspen stays up high now that he can hunt her down, but Juno is always nearby and the two of them will lie on the floor like best friends. She even lets him play with her tail, which he has finally (mostly) stopped trying to put in his mouth. Oh, that reminds me, everything else does go in the mouth. I hate it! I feel like he is licking up so many germs… but I guess that’s just what babies do. Ick. He still loves to go outside, ride in the car, go to the gym childcare and play with his toys. We play a game called Roller Coaster which is basically me rolling him up and down in my arms, and he goes crazy for it. He likes Patty Cake, Peekaboo, and funny faces. He is such a little clown and sees humor in everything. It must be wonderful to be a 10 month old!

Favorite Toys/Books: He loves his toy hammer, his car, a rubber ball and this horribly annoying singing-pony-devil-incarnate-thing that I want to throw in a bonfire. He also loves his push walker, but he doesn’t walk with it, just plays with the toys on the front. He likes chewing on his Sophie too, or just dragging her around the room with him. I added the "favorite book" part this month, so I can keep track. His favorites are Make Van Gogh’s Bed (I love this one as well, it’s genius for kids), Touch and Feel Baby Animals and First Words. All of these are touchy-feely books which are by far his favorites at this age.

Favorite Activity: Playing with Mommy and Daddy and snuggling before bed time. He is SUCH a cuddle bug. I LOVE IT! Also: cruising and standing.

*Mom*

What I’m looking forward to: My best friends are coming into town this month and I am SO SO SO SO EXCITED. I get to meet two new babies and I just can’t wait. Also, I have been planning Luke’s party like crazy and I am getting super excited for that. We are also talking about going to see USA v Brazil (soccer) next month, which would be awesome. And finally, Third Eye Blind is headlining the HFStival which is being resurrected (something I used to go to in high school) in a few months and I think I’m going to hit that up.

What I’m reading: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has been staring at me for ~~weeks~~ months. I need to get on that.

What I’m watching: The news and my guilty pleasure, The Bachelorette. We started watching Weeds on On Demand, which seems like a good enough show. Otherwise I have some shows backed up on DVR but never seem to get around to watching them. I need the Dexter and Mad Men seasons to hurry up and get here.

What I’m listening to: Umm did you know you can sync your iTunes to your Droid Incredible?! You can. And it’s awesome. Anyway I am still listening to the same workout playlist as before, so lots of Black Eyed Peas etc etc.

Major current events: The oil spill is STILL happening. The US soccer team made it to the Round of 16 in the World Cup. The third Twilight movie came out (is that considered a major current event?)

What I have to say about motherhood: Babies bite mommies.

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It has happened.

2010-06-18T12:56:00.002-04:00

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Hmm what's new

2010-06-16T20:09:00.000-04:00

Hi there. Yeah I've been a bad blogger and an even worse commenter. Sorry about that.

So what's new? Well first and foremost, Luke crawled today. I know, I know, it's a miracle. He saw something he wanted and crawled about 8 feet. Like it was nothing and he had done it a million times. I was like, umm, Luke did you know you just crawled? And he was like, yeah, I am so happy that I got this piece of Tupperware. And that was pretty much it. I'll try to catch it on video for ya. But yeah, kind of exciting.

Next up is my ridiculous affliction called Trigger Finger. You can Google it if you want, but it is not a very exciting problem to have. No where near as exciting as the name, at least. I saw an orthopedist because for the past two weeks my thumb was clicking and popping and almost locking and -- hooray -- now I have to wear a splint for two weeks. Annoyingly enough it's my right thumb that's effed up which makes typing and writing and texting much more difficult for me. Hence my keeping this short.

Pete's birthday is tomorrow. I got him some pretty awesome gifts. Unfortunately I can't post about them here because he might stop in and we don't need to spoil the presents. But maybe I will come back and tell you tomorrow, and post a video of my crawling boy.

That's all I have. My thumb hurts. Goodnight.

9 Months Old

2010-06-09T16:51:00.000-04:00

Alright let’s cut to the chase. Which is Hollywood speak for, get to the exciting part. (I know all of the secret lingo, because of my old job and all.) ::wink::

From now on, I am going to be doing a questionnaire for Luke’s monthly updates. I have been meaning to do this for a loooong time but I am just now getting around to it. Also, at the end of the questionnaire, you will find some tidbits that are more about mom. This is really for Luke, and for me, in the future to look back on. But you may as well enjoy it too!

Onward…

9 MONTHS OLD

Stats/Appointment notes: Just had the 9 month check-up. 22 lbs 4 oz (80^th percentile), 30.5 inches (90^th percentile). As you can see, a big dip in the weight percentile department! He has only gained 1.5 lbs in the past 3 months, but grew (I think) 3.5 inches. Basically he is stretching out and losing the roly-poly-ness we love so much. We got the green light on meats and table food – if you can squish it between your fingers, he can eat it – with the usual no-no’s of citrus, strawberries, nuts, seafood, honey and straight cow’s milk. We can give food with egg content, and then in a few months give him actual scrambled eggs. We also got the thumbs-up on the one-nap situation, since he sleeps 14-15 hours a day which is apparently the perfect amount. He got one shot, which he handled like a champ. We also got the suggestion to move from a sippy cup to a “drippy” cup which will further his development toward drinking out of a real cup (which he can do, but it’s super messy).

Clothing Size: 18 months to 2T, depending on the brand. The sizes vary so much from label to label! Right now I love Old Navy clothes for him, they are really cute and really CHEAP. Especially their boot cut jeans, sooo adorable. I generally love Ralph Lauren too, but it’s a little too pricey for us. I like a steal and Old Navy always delivers.

Milestones: Pulling up, sitting up, up up up! He is not crawling, but gets around quite a bit, between rolling, scooting and leaping. He is very interested in cruising and seems to be working on that right now. Also, he has mastered his pincer and feeds himself lunch and dinner. And shall we mention, the biggest milestone of all? NO MORE REFLUX!

Language: He still loves to shriek and rawr. It’s so cute! He also “talks” quite a bit and is practicing inflection right now, which I LOVE because he sounds like a little human having a conversation. He is still saying “dog” all the time, but not really at the dogs, so I’m still waiting for the first TRUE word, or for evidence that he is saying dog on purpose.

Teeth: Two bottoms. Tops do not appear to be anywhere in sight.

Feeding schedule & amounts: He gets 24 oz. of formula a day, plus water. He gets 3 square meals and a snack or two. We are transitioning to table food, so something like the picture (at the end of this post) is what you will see on his plate right now: avocado with banana, shredded cheese and cream cheese toast. He also loves mac and cheese! He even feeds these meals to himself (with his hands) and is very good at it. We will be cutting up whatever we have for dinner and giving it to him, starting next week. Oh, and he is obsessed with Cheerios and Puffs – no nutritional content but basically baby crack!

Sleeping schedule & naps: He sleeps from 7:30pm to 7:30am, with a 20 minute wake-up at 5am for a feeding with Daddy. He naps from about 12pm to 3pm.

Illness in the past month: He had a fever and a fleeting sickness a few weeks ago. He does not get sick very often, especially for a baby who goes to daycare for an hour each day and is constantly out and about. So far, he has had two colds and one ear infection.

Likes/Dislikes: He LOVES being outside (I think most babies do) and riding in the car. He loves to cuddle, to be kissed and to see funny faces. He loves attention in general! He prefers to have someone to play with him, but will play alone if you give him something interesting to investigate. He likes to stand up – it makes him very proud of himself. He is obsessed, still, with the dogs. He gets a little anxious when they go to the back room for meals and looks around for them, then gets very excited when they return, clapping his hands and shrieking. Oh, and he loves to give hugs and kisses – my favorite! As far as dislikes, he is not a huge fan of the vacuum but is coming around. And I think that’s it – he is really a very easy baby. Oh, and he dislikes being ignored. Quite a bit.

Favorite Toys: Hmm. Aspen Puppet is always a fan favorite. And he loves his stuffed Blue Crab. He likes these new plastic stacking things we got him, not that he stacks them yet. And anything that is not officially a toy – Tupperware, empty boxes, measuring cups, pots and pans. And he is dying to get his little hands on the remote control, but after slobbering on/frying one last week, he won’t be getting it anytime soon.

Favorite Activity: Anything involving Mommy or Daddy! Seriously, as long as we are hanging out with him, he is good to go. But he especially loves going outside, and will do anything as long as it involves the great outdoors. He also loves going to the gym. He is very spoiled there and it has become like his second family. There are quite a few Luke fans at that place! He claps when we arrive; it is the cutest thing ever.

*Mom*

What I’m looking forward to: His birthday party, but I need to hop back on the planning bandwagon. I have been so busy! Also, a wedding this weekend, even though Luke won’t be going with us. It will be nice to get away for a night. And most of all, I am looking forward to an entire summer with Luke at the pool. It is going to be so much fun! I'm also hoping we can get down to the beach for a day or two next month.

What I’m reading: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has been staring at me for weeks. I need to get on that.

What I’m watching: The news, as always. I’m also loving my guilty pleasures, Real Housewives of New Jersey and The Bachelorette. I think it balances out the news, which always seems to be bleak. I don’t get to watch much TV these days anyway, may as well make it enjoyable!

What I’m listening to: I’m never quite on the cutting edge of music anymore, but right now my iPod is playing a lot of Muse, Vampire Weekend, Black Eyed Peas and (at the gym) Lady Gaga. She is great to work out to, okay!

Major current events: Oil spill. Hate it.

What I have to say about motherhood: Love every minute of it. I like my life.

Baby Mac

Shredded Cheese, Avocado w/ Banana, Cream Cheese Toast

@ the pool club

Cutie pie

Food please!

Swing time in Annapolis

Someone loves the swing!

Eh?

9 Month picture fail

Covered in food

Sweet boy

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Lying down to sleep is so overrated

2010-06-06T21:03:00.000-04:00

Luke turned 9 months yesterday. (I am holding off on the 9 Month post because he has a checkup on Tuesday and I want to include the outcome of that visit.)

Like a good little boy, he decided to hit a milestone on the big day. His big feat? Sitting up on his own. True, he has not been able to do this as of yet. Luke doesn't really care about mobility-related milestones, as I have mentioned before.

In the same day he also decided to take it to the next level and go from lying down to standing in a matter of seconds. Unfortunately, that left him in a baby-standing-purgatory, because what the heck are you supposed to do once you get to the standing position? And how do I get DOWN from here?!

Last night, he started crying in the middle of the night (Pete came home after bedtime and Luke must have heard daddy and wanted to say hi). I went in to check on him and, hello! he is standing in the crib yelling at me. That was... surprising.

I put him down.

More crying.

Check on him.

Standing again.

Put him down.

Repeat.

After doing this several times, I finally told Pete -- that kid is going to have to learn to sit down on his own! So let's see if he can do it.

A few minutes went by, then silence. (Did he fly out of the crib?!)

I returned to his room to see that Luke had successfully sat down -- but didn't make it any further than that.

He was sitting up, head leaning against the rail and sound asleep. I quickly rearranged him to a slightly more traditional sleeping position before scooting out unnoticed.

So, that's our big news of the weekend. Let's hope Luke gets the standing-to-lying down thing soon. Today, I found him napping, seated, with his head between his legs... now that can't be comfortable.

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Finally!

2010-06-03T14:22:00.001-04:00

Why hello, blog.

It's been a week since I posted and a week since the gym. Wow. Sorry about that, to both you and my withering muscle tone. So what have I been up to? Exciting things, I tell you, exciting things! I mean, not as exciting as last year's putting Aspen in the Bjorn, but still...

The pool opened on Saturday which was great. I love our pool! I love all pools in general, really! I mean, I don't really go IN them, per se, but they are awfully nice to be near. Oh and I have friends that go to the same pool, so Saturday was super fun and I even met some very nice people.

Sunday was a loooong day but well spent at a great family get-together. In the morning we traveled 3.5 hours for a day trip up to North Jersey to celebrate the holiday weekend (I was totally hoping to run into Danielle Staub, but I did not, but seriously WOW @ her craziness).

There was delicious food and great conversation -- and really, what more can you ask for? Not to mention, Luke was an Angel Baby (as always) sitting outside on a blanket, eating his cheerios and smiling at his adorers for a good 5 hours straight. I love that child.

The Fam

On Monday (Memorial Day) we went back to the pool, which was packed with winter-crazed suburbanites desperate to see and be near other suburbanites in order to sit in the heat and discuss said heat. Luckily, we found a nice grassy spot in the shade where we spread out a sheet and had a picnic lunch. Luke had his first dip in the pool -- he was a leeeetle unsure about the whole thing. Plus it didn't help that there were seriously no less than ONE MILLION off-leash kids in the baby pool splashing and screaming and screeching and jumping, so he pretty much clung for life to Pete with an extremely concerned look on his face. We didn't push it.

Luke was super fussy that evening and we decided to check his temperature. 101.4. Fantastic! I called the doctor to get advice on whether or not to dose him with Tylenol, since to me this was borderline (I try not to over- or under-medicate... it is a fine line, I tell you). The doctor said to go ahead and give him the (generic) Tylenol since he was fussing and probably uncomfortable.

By Tuesday morning he was blowing huge gobs of snot but (thank the heavens) not feverish, although now I was starting to feel a little crappy.

On Wednesday morning, Luke was totally better but of course I woke up with a sore throat and my own personal snot globs. Fantastic! (Sidenote: I read last's year post, which says I got sick right after Memorial Day Weekend as well. I guess it's not my time of year, eh?)

So, we laid low for the day and Luke was totally okay with that. There were lots of snuggles involved and we caught up on The Bachelorette (Luke told me that he thinks The Weatherman is a little bit serial-killer-y, and I have to agree). And for a quick braggy brag, I still made dinner, made baby food and cleaned the house. Sadly the world does not stop when I am sick, although I am not sure why??

It's now Thursday and we are both back to 100% and headed to the pool when Luke gets up from his nap, successfully accomplishing a week of eating ice cream every day and avoiding one single work-out. Funny how that coincides with the pool opening, no? Do I think bathing suit season ended or something?

Before I go, can we please address the fact that Luke is going to be NINE MONTHS in two days?! What the heck? I admit I am rather excited for this landmark month, mainly because we are switching to table food and I am super psyched to introduce new delicacies to my tiny taste-tester.

Luke, however, has no idea that he is turning nine months and apparently did not get the memo that crawling was an eight month milestone. He will gladly get on all fours and even take a step or two in order to get a toy. Any further than that and he's all, BRING IT TO ME, SERVANT! And of course I do. Which probably is not helping the situation at all, but whatever.

At any rate, I have given up on "teaching" him how to crawl because he prefers to stand and I'm not going to be like, get on the floor and crawl dammit! while he is attempting to cruise the furniture. I mean, that's just mean.

On the other hand, I am becoming increasingly more convinced that he is saying the word "dog". Pete and I were both a little suspicious about it until Monday, when Luke looked directly at Juno and said "dog" clear as day. But I definitely do not want to be the crazy mom who claims that every sound out of her child's mouth is a word, so I am going to reserve the "first word" post until I am completely convinced and have it on tape for others to verify that I am not insane.

That's all for now. I have some laundry to do (as always) before we head out. Fingers crossed for no thunderstorms!

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Apple Baby

2010-05-27T22:28:00.000-04:00

This edit took me longer than I would prefer to admit. I would tell you all of my steps but it's quite sad really.

Before / SOOC

After / CS5

A few other people via the interwebz were kind enough to assist me and give me ideas and I am very happy with the outcome (and grateful for the pointers). There are more things that could be done, of course, but it's not bad right?

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Dear Reflux,

2010-05-26T15:49:00.000-04:00

You have made the past 8 months an extreme displeasure for both me and my little boy. I hated you, I complained about you, I blogged about you, I dreamed of your demise.

Funny thing is, I haven't seen you around in a while. In fact, I don't even burp with a burp cloth anymore. And Luke's clothes are shiny and new at the end of the day. And my shoulder is clean and spit-up free.

Just like I always dreamed.

I am so happy to finally know the length of your stay, Reflux: September 2009 - May 2010.

You will not be missed.

With the utmost loathing,
A Relieved Mommy

PS: I see you took the burp cloths with you; I cannot find them anywhere. That was a bit rude.

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Nap Update

2010-05-25T20:29:00.000-04:00

Last night I mulled over the one-nap thing that I talked about yesterday. Wondered if it would be the day from hell, wondered if it was worth the trouble, wondered if I was crazy for thinking about it in the first place.

I thought about what lady gray said: lil Luke seems MAYBE young for this to happen, but really only he can tell you when he is ready, you know?

I thought that over. And then I realized he WAS letting me know, and has been for the past week. He hates the two naps! How could I even question it? He has made it blatantly obvious that he can take one nap. Why wasn't I listening to him??

I decided I had better give it a shot, even if the experiment ended in disaster. But I had a feeling it wouldn't.

After our morning trip to the gym, instead of putting him in his crib for a nap, I let him hang out with me and decided to put him down when he showed signs of sleepiness.

He hung out (with several pieces of tupperware/unicorns) in the bathroom while I showered. He sat in the hallway and chewed on a water bottle while I did my post-shower things. He played in the office while I rummaged through the closet. He came downstairs and we spent some special time together, cuddling and playing with the dogs.

At 11:30, he ate a plate of cheerios, then I fed him his lunch and followed with a bottle. At 11:45 he rubbed his eyes and we went upstairs to get ready for the nap.

He went to sleep without a peep.

***

1:05. The power goes out. All the power, in the whole area. But first, to make sure we were fully inconvenienced, it flashed on and off -- sending his sound machine into a screechy haywire mess and startling him awake. I quickly soothed him with some hugs and kisses and put him back down.

He passed out for a little while longer, then was up for good at 2:00. He had a snack, we went to the store (where there was power), came home (where there was also power), ate, played, made dinner, checked the garden, had a bath, had a bottle and it was lights out at 7:45.

He gave me a huge smile and was asleep before I left the room.

The shocking part in all this? It was the best day we've had together in recent memory. He was in great spirits. He laughed, he squealed, he was just so happy. I mean, he is normally a happy baby, but there was a tangible feeling of joy there today. And I was just so proud of him for being such a big boy!

So, that'll teach me. Luke has always been great at getting his point across -- I just have to listen to him.

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Know what I might do...

2010-05-24T20:36:00.000-04:00

Switch to one nap a day. If you know my parenting style then you know that I love a routine but I prefer that the routine be based off of Luke's preferences. It's worked out great for us and when he was ready to switch to 2 naps, he made it abundantly clear, we made the switch and voila -- happy baby.

It's been a few months and the 2 nap schedule has been great. Until recently. I swear he is trying to drop the afternoon nap. He will lay up there, I kid you not, for an hour. Not crying, but chatting with his lovey, chewing on the crib, making raptor-ish noises, etc. This is how it's been for a week now. I thought it might be a phase but he really seems to have no interest in that nap.

Today I let him stay up later (mistake) then put him upstairs, hoping he would go straight to sleep since I pushed the nap back. No dice. He hung out in his crib for a half hour before going to sleep, which would have cut his nap REALLY short except I let him sleep past his 4pm meal. I thought this was a good idea until he woke up screaming bloody murder for his food.

Hmm. So I'm not quite sure what to do. He's alright with the morning nap and he hates the afternoon nap but there is no way he can stay up from noon to 7pm. So I think what I'm going to do is push his morning nap back tomorrow and put him down after (eek) lunch. I wonder if that is too much too soon?

Gah! If you are reading this blog and you know anything about 1 nap schedules then please share your thoughts.

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Fixed

2010-05-21T22:10:00.000-04:00

The more I thought about that black and white photo from the other day, the more I hated it.

I worked and worked to fix it, consulted some people with far more knowledge than I, did a lot of research and practiced my bw conversions as much as you possibly can during that precious time of the evening between sleeping baby and sleeping mommy.

Here are a few bw's that I've done in the last day or two. I am really not good at bw photos but I think these are wayyyy better than what I posted before. I hope you can see the progress too :-/

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