two dogs and a baby

runaway child

2011-10-27T17:58:00.000-07:00

summer splash pad. oh yes. and the day i almost lost my son. we went to a farm playland place, totally inclosed. this particular day happened to be empty so we pretty much had the place to ourselves. i sat on a bench while grayon played on the playground. then we went and hung out at the splash pad. we were getting ready to go and i walked over to the stroller two feet away and had my back turned to him for a moment. a single moment! when i turned back he was't on the splashpad anymore. for those two seconds i couldn't find him i was in dire panic. might puke, going to cry, panic. then i see him running (!!!) away down the path. how in the world had he gotten so far so fast!? my back was turned for a moment. apparently that's all it took. so grateful that it was empty that day and no one else was there. i am pretty sure i am going to be one of those mothers who puts a leash on their kid in the future!

did she just say leash!?

summer days

2011-10-27T17:53:00.000-07:00

This post is simply a display of how adorable my grayson is. We took him to a festival in sea isle and someone had a bubble machine. It lights up, sings music and blows a constant stream of bubbles. How could he not be attracted to it!? Because i love to spoil my child i had to buy it for him. Best $5 purchase ever. We use it all the time. It's so much fun, he loves it and we laugh at him trying to catch the bubbles.

Don't you love how pancake is patiently waiting and checking out the good scene!

He's getting so big! He's such an independent little person. He wants to do everything himself and damn you for trying to help him. It's a fun age. Every age seems to have its challenges and it's advantages. The older he gets though the more I enjoy our time together.

jet ski!

2011-10-27T17:51:00.000-07:00

Can you do us a favor and give us a vote? Not only did we fall of the blogging page but we also fell off the top baby blogs! Oops.

Back to Grayson...

This child loves adventure.

Thrives on it. Needs it! Who in their right mind though would allow a one year old to go jetskiing? Oh that would be us. Poor grayson sits on the jetski all the time playing with the handlebars making vroom noises. How could you not let him go for a ride? Take note this "ride" was simply a putzing with zero acceleration infront of the house. We will save the wave jumping for next year! I present to you- grayson's first jetski ride.

let's go back in time

2011-10-27T17:45:00.000-07:00

We are taking a step way back in time here. I have a ton of stuff from over the summer that i never posted that i don't want to forget about. Therefore we are going backwards for the next 10 posts or so. Try not to get confused!

June was an awesome month. It was just starting to get warm enough for some real beach time. I was so excited with summer ahead. Nothing makes me happier then when it starts to get warm enough to wear shorts and sit in the sun. It brings me back to every single summer as a kid. The whole day was spent outside. The sun stayed out late. The biggest worry was whose house to sleepover that night. Summers don't mean quite the same thing now that i am older but they still hold that promise for excitement. This year that excitement was grayson- sharing all of those things with him. We rounded up his friends and spent a few leisurely weekdays down in wildwood.

It was an awesome time. The kids love being around one another. I personally love having other adults to talk to and keep company. We ate junk, smuggled beer onto the beach, chased around our little monsters. We walked around the boardwalk for hours. This age is nice because they are young enough to enjoy all the lights and toys but not be screaming that they want to play every game and ride every attraction.

However i did learn that life on the beach with many children is a bit challenging. Thank goodness it was smack in the middle of the week off season and not many people were around because we were quite the spectacle. We have a million things in tow (seriously- these small people require so much stuff) and a ton of wild children. At one point the umbrella took wind and ran down the beach, eventually taking out a family. Then, without any warning at all, after hours of fun and happiness, one child started to cry, then another and another. For no reason at all! Literally every child but grasyon was balling. I have never seen so much stuff packed up so fast in my life! It was a bunch of chickens running around with their heads cut off trying to clean off sand toys and change small children. Amusing for everyone else. Chaos for us!

Despite the challenges it was still a good trip. Exhausting. But good.

goof

2011-09-01T10:32:00.000-07:00

these are totally blurry photos, i couldn't get the setting right, but i love them because they are so grayson. i just couldn't delete.

This child is into everything these days. i love how grown up he is getting. he communicates more (even if it's through a tantrum). He understands so much. It amazes me how much he "gets". I am a bit bias here but I think he is a brilliantly smart child.

Boy, through and through. Wild. Never stops moving. Spins himself round and round until he falls, then laughs about it. He is SO my son. He thinks he is the funniest person alive (I personally only ever laugh at my own jokes!).

I look at pictures (I have thousands of them) from just a few months ago and he is a completely different person. I can't really call him my baby anymore, he is a big boy. Not to mention the absolute joy in my day.

These pictures represent his current state very well.

Butter Lane Cupcakes

2011-08-17T08:27:00.000-07:00

a while ago my sister and i bought cupcake classes from butter lane cupcakes. a few weeks ago i was up in nyc visiting her and we decided to cash in. the class itself was super elementary but it ended up being fun anyway. the cupcakes were super sweet but that of course didn't stop us from indulging.

butter lane is located in east village. i love that part of town. i had never been there before but after walking around a while i was pretty much in love. it's so quirky and posh. do those two words even go together? i loved it though, i thought it was great, and this shop fit in perfect. a little hole in the wall with amazing old new york store front doors and large planking wood floors. very charming.

you could make vanilla, chocolate or banana cupcakes. we went for the banana. the banana cupcakes were actually amazing, the icing was just a bit too sweet for my liking. and the fact that there were bananas in it made me feel a little bit better about eating them.

they taught us how to ice cupcakes, which was actually really helpful for me because i am the worst at that. believe it or not i even got a prize for "best iced cupcakes', which tells you a lot about all the other people's icing jobs (although i thought my sister should have won over me).

the class wasn't exactly what i thought it would be but i walked away knowing how to better ice a cupcake and with 24 of them! yum. mark, leon and grayson appriciated it.

a lost hobby

2011-08-15T18:39:00.000-07:00

so many baby books are bursting with information in the beginning. then slowly they get thinner and thinner. i suppose an electronic baby book is no different. i was so good for a year and then in the last month and a half i have fizzled out. thinking about the blog often but never motivated to get to it. i don't want to give up on it though because i love having a place where i can share all the wonderful parts of grayson growing up.

it truly amazes me at the person he has become. he is not a baby but a person with a huge personality. he makes me happier then anything in the world, while driving me totally insane.

he runs from place to place bouncing off furniture and laughing and screaming the whole time. he wants to touch everything and learn how it all works. he doesn't act like a one year old. he talks back constantly. always wants to have the last word. has a temper like a mad hornet and knows how to manipulate you to get what he wants. he is not afraid to let you know how he feels.

his favorite thing in the world is getting reactions. he is horrible to my poor mother because he loves getting a rise out of her. i swear he is a mini clone of my brother and dad. not that they are horrible to my mom or anyone else but they love to get a rise out of people. the boy looks right into your eyes and does something he is not supposed to do all the while waiting to see what you are going to do about it. he is usually meanest to the people who care for him and nicest to the people who play wild with him. absolutely hands down prefers men over women. the only people who can get kisses every time they ask are my dad and my brother. i have to beg for weeks and maybe if i am lucky i will get a once a month kiss.

his favorite new word is "stop". he puts his little hand out in front and yells it all day long. don't clean up his toys, don't kiss him, don't take something away. it all ends in "stop". his second favorite word is "hi" this is a new one. we walk in the door to great him and he says, "hi, hi, hi, hi". he also picks up phones and says hi.

i have never seen a child climb as much as he does. he will learn how to climb up anything. and he thinks it is the greatest thing in the world. one hundred percent boy. and beyond his years. he is so mischievous but i love it. he tests boundaries like no one else i have ever met. grayson just loves to learn how things work. and he picks up on them so fast. show him once or twice and he's got it.

he use to fight me like crazy to clean his ears but i showed him the q-tip one time and said "ew" and ever since he sits there still and lets me clean them, just as long as i show him after. it is the strangest thing in the world. today we said to him "clean your ears" and he put the q-tip up to his ear. maybe he has heard that expression 10 times. i was blown away. he is so much smarter then we realize. pays attention to everything.

the child who could out eat his adult parents and ate anything has become a very selective eater. some days he eats and other days he prefers not to. his favorite foods are carbs. pizza, pasta, tomatoes, goldfish, pancakes. the child could live off that menu.

i love it. all of it. it's exhausting and tough but so wonderful. that smile gets me every time. so with all of that random information shared, i need to get back to my little hobby of sharing all his photos and telling the stories of his crazy days. if i stop i will regret it so i will try and find the motivation among the housework and side businesses. and i will write. for grayson.

one of his new things, he holds his hand out in the air very concerned. it's his "huh" pose.

hello- anyone home?

2011-07-28T08:52:00.000-07:00

wow. i cannot believe i have gotten so far behind. we've had such a busy month and so much has happened yet i haven't posted about any of it!

i've been busy throwing parties, going to the beach and launching new businesses. i fully intend on writing one monster of a post encompassing all of our july activities (including a post on grayson's first place win in the 4th of july parade!).

until then please accept this apology gift.

a letter to grayson on his first birthday

2011-07-11T20:05:00.000-07:00

wow. i cannot believe you are a year old. i am no longer a mother of an infant but rather a 1 year old. when people ask how old you are i will no longer answer them in months, now i will be answering in years. it happens so very fast. happy birthday my baby boy.

one thing i want you to always remember, every day, is how very loved you are. it amazes me how much love i have for you, a kind of love i really didn't know until you came along. it amazes me even more how many other people love you just as much. please always remember, no matter what, that your family is always here for you. they should always be on the very top of your priority list. i know along the way you will probably forget this, especially when you are a teenager, but please always come back to it. so many people will come in and out of your lives. it may feel like they are the most important and that they are above your family but time will go by and they will be gone but we will still be here. still love you. still support you. there is a connection in this family which you will find no where else. remember that.

also remember that you are amazing. every mother must tell their children that but you are different. don't get so caught up in what others think or say, it's hard not to, and it takes many years to learn to push it aside but you will be happier when you can forget about their opinions and remember how incredible you are. there is something so special about you. a spark and joy that i don't see in other children, such drive. and you are smart, so stinkin smart. i see it every day. hold on to that even when you feel dull and ordinary, because you are not.

remember to be kind. it's something we all forget. it's very easy to get caught up in yourself, your wants, your needs. try to stop though and place yourself in other people's situation, see what they see, feel what they feel. you can have all the things in the world but if you're not kind and compassionate they won't matter. how you treat people will.

being with you every day brings me such incredible joy. you have taught me so much this year. when i first met you i wasn't quite sure how to feel, and i was scared for a while. as time went on though that fear turned into confidence and then happiness. being a mother is very tough. it's changed me. some days it's much harder then others but it's also wonderful. just seeing you clap your little hands together, or bounce up and down to a tune, for no reason at all, brings such warmth to my heart, and tears to my eyes. having you in my life has made me more compassionate, more understanding, and so much happier. you are my number one and i love you so very much.

happy first birthday grayson. xo

mom

Still here...

2011-06-27T19:56:00.001-07:00

We're still here. Even though we have been missing for quite some time. We are currently knee deep in birthday party preparation, freelance jobs and family functions! We will be back soon though. Promise.

Bib’expresso by Béaba- Product Review

2011-06-16T21:04:00.000-07:00

I was given the opportunity to review the Bib’expresso machine by Béaba, it's a new product to the US originally launched in France last year. I have many of their children's products, including the baby food processor, so I jumped at the chance. I was pretty excited to receive the machine because it does so many things. It heats and steralizes bottles, which at this point I am past the need for, but it also heats babyfood which is something I do have a current use for.

After using the Bib’expresso and thoroughly checking out all of it's features I would have to give it a 'B'. The product is most useful if you are a caregiver for a formula feeding child. Upon first opening the box the machine can be a bit intimidating, it certainly takes a lot of direction reading and playing around in order to properly understand how to use it. It does have a lot of features and you really have to read through the manual (sometimes twice) to know how to use all of them.

I found the bottle preparation mode the most impressive. It really does a great job of warming the water quickly. You simply poor the measured amount into the top green portion, push the button then press down on the orange lever to fill the bottle. It's quick and easy. My only critique is that I thought the water was slightly warmer then what I would give a newborn. It certainly was not hot, but it was plenty above room temperature.

The feature I was most disappointed with was the food and bottle warming mode. I found it to be very slow and inefficient in successfully warming the entire bottle/jar of food. I tired it several times, playing around with the machine, thinking maybe I was doing it incorrectly. The feature just seemed to be the weakest. Which is why my recommendation for this product would really only go to mother's who formula (powder) feed. For hygienic reasons Béaba does not suggest using breast-milk in the bottle preparation mode. If there was a way that you could flow breast-milk through that cycle this machine would receive an A, regardless of my opinion of the food warming feature.

The last thing this machine does is sterilize bottles. The plastic piece on the back comes off and can store the bottles and sterilize them in the microwave. This is a really great feature, however it only works if your bottles happen to be the same size/shape of the ones they sell. Unfortunately neither of the brands I use worked with this.

To sum it up I would say, yes this is a good product. I really like the design, it's sleek and clean and I don't mind having it sit on my counter. For babies who receive powder formula bottles this is a wonderful product. It gets an evenly heated bottle to them very fast, which is important. The other features could use some improvement but I would say it is worth a purchase if it fits your needs.

Thank you to Béaba for providing me with a Bib’expresso to review free of charge.

Want to buy it? The Bib’expresso retails for $129.95 and you can find it at Amazon.com, PamperedTot.com, and at BeabaUSA.com. More info, images, and web tutorial videos can be found on the Beaba site.

While Béaba provided me with a Bib'expresso to review, the opinions I've expressed here are solely my own and represent my honest viewpoint. Béaba,Clever Girls Collective and I promote Blog With Integrity.

life with an 11 month old

2011-06-07T07:59:00.000-07:00

yes, i said it. 11 months old! that's only one month from him being a one year old. how did this happen so fast!? i look at him and really cannot believe who he has become, or that such a small person can have such a large distinct personality.

i have to be on my toes at all times, he is into eeeeeverything.

in a matter of two weeks he went from sorta walking to practically running. he is all over the place like a little drunk man, and so very proud of himself. it is amazing how smart this child is. he watches you do something a few times and boom, he's doing it to. this weekend he walked over to the back door, opened it, and let himself out into the backyard. i just sort of stood there stunned at the fact that a child who is not even one years old figured out how to escape like that!

he has a temper like a mad hornet. he knows what he wants and he wants it when he wants it and how he wants it. if he doesn't get his way (which i don't always let him) he lets you know he is pissed. he knows right from wrong and that "no" means he better not. he will test you and wait for your reaction every time though. he's not allowed to play with certain things and he will go up to it, very slowly move his hand towards it, all the while watching you. he waits for a reaction and laughs. so bad.

.

pinching is his new favorite thing. he doesn't do it to hurt, he just thinks it's funny. he attacked poor mark the other day, he has the bruises to show it. this child is rough and wild, a total boy. i joke that i am going to be the mother always getting the phone calls "excuse me mrs. constantine, we had a bit of an incident with grayson today", but it just might be the truth. he has an endless amount of energy.

he is also the sweetest little boy though. he adores animals. no one gets kissed as much as the dogs do. cherrio runs like a madman to avoid him but pancake (who up until recently was not at all a fan) will lay there and let him pull on her legs and "pet" her belly.

he eats like a teenager. full adult size meals- all day long. baby food is a fight, he wants solid food that he can feed himself. he doesn't know how just yet to get the food onto the fork and into his mouth but he tries and one day in the not so far future he will get it. almost all of my meals are shared these days. sometimes i don't even get a meal because he eats all of it! poor boy also ended up with his mama's sweet-tooth.

when he is tired he tucks him arms into you and rolls his body onto yours so that his face is burrowed into your chest. it's one of my favorite things. we finally seem to have a bit of a napping schedule. he is up by 6am most days but will sometimes lay in bed with me till 7. around 10 he will take a nap for me. a crib nap (as opposed to having to hold him like i did before)! i never know how long it will last so during that time i am like a woman on speed. i try and get as many things done as fast as i can because once he is up he probably won't nap again, unless it's a late afternoon car nap.

i must say though, i kind of love who is turning into. he keeps me very busy and i cannot look away for even a moment (the other day i walked into the kitchen for a split second and when i came back he had climbed onto a pillow, onto the couch, onto the end table!) but most days that's okay. i enjoy watching him learn and discover things. it's so much more fun now that he is walking. everything is so much more fun for him now.

beer, burgers & babies

2011-06-06T21:41:00.000-07:00

for the last year mark has been pursuing his masters degree. he loaded up semesters and took classes non stop till he graduated. to celebrate we invited all of our favorite people over for a barbeque.

when you have a baby your life changes drastically. priorities shift, free-time activities change (lets be serious- free-time disappears), and life is just never what it was before. i actually asked mark the other day what it was we did with all our time before grayson. i truly cannot remember. for some maybe they miss their pre-baby lives. for me i wouldn't got back to it for anything in the world.

we may be getting less sleep and making less money. we don't always get to do the things we use to but we get so much more. kisses and laughs and smiles and pure joy (cheesy? absolutely. but it's also the total truth). it can be hard at times, no doubt about that, but at the end of the day when i go in and look over g's crib before i go to bed i cannot remember any of that. i just feel love, and lots of it.

even more, we are so lucky to have such wonderful friends. we are the first in the group to have a child. no one can possibly know how different things are now then before but somehow they get it. they accommodate. they understand. they still make us part of their lives. best of all, they love grayson, and for that i love them all even more.

i think grayson is the best thing in the whole world but it warms my heart so much to see how much he is loved by others as well. i think it's impossible not to love him.

but back to the barbeque.

grayson's new bib, meant for catching food, has proven to be the best waterice cup holder ever

a few new friends were made. although i am not sure they were wanted in some cases.

i love these people

as for my dogs- lazy and enjoying all the extra food hanging around. not to mention the belly rubs. i love them too.

grayson helped himself to the plate of brownies in-front of him. somehow when is auntie is around he gets very spoiled.

thank you to all of our friends who came. lots of them somehow dodged the camera but we love them just the same. and please come back soon because we still have a fridge full of beer that needs drinking!

oh! and let's not forget the most important part of the evening. chris got a lesson in poop checking. a necessary life skill.

beach buddies

2011-06-06T18:23:00.000-07:00

hanging out at the beach with grayson is lots of fun, but hanging out at the beach with grayson and his best buddy is even more fun! it took an army to get all of the stuff these two small people needed to the beach but it kept us prepared for an entire day at the beach without any meltdowns.

these two had an absolute ball and i loved the company.

notice how it's the dads are hanging out with the babies? that's because the moms were sitting and relaxing in the sun for once! how nice.

they love each other, but sometimes sharing can be an issue. notice the face grayson gives her when she tried to take his shovel. they will learn.

i love all these photos! next time though i will bring the good camera, there is only so much you can do with a cell phone. we are hoping for lots more days like this. i have learned that a wagon and beach umbrella are a girls' best friend at the beach. (and that babies can eat a ridiculous amount of sand)

art

2011-06-05T17:51:00.000-07:00

i say it's never too early to start with some sidewalk art. i was worried he would spend the whole time eating the chalk but he actually kept it out of his mouth! way to go baby g.

sunset walks along the beach

2011-06-02T15:20:00.000-07:00

before g the dogs got lots of trips to the beach. they love it. it's the one place they can run wild and be totally free. we usually take them a couple times in the spring but there just hasn't been the opportunity yet. monday night though we figured most of the beachgoers would be long gone and it would be the perfect time to take them for a nice long run before heading home.

it's good to be back.

hey mind giving us a vote? we sure would love that.

grandpa's boat

2011-06-01T07:13:00.000-07:00

i've been riding on boats since...forever. last year grayson was way too tiny to take a ride but this year is a totally different story. i couldn't wait to get him out there and see what he thought of it. taking a nice cruise along the water has to be on my top 10 list of favorite things in the world. the winds, the rocking, what's not to love?

the boat he thought was fantastic. he was fairly certain he was the captain. my dad showed him the wheel and in no time he thought it was king of the sea. making vroom vroom noises and all. i don't think he could be any more boyish if he tried.

his life jacket, well that was another story. like any kid, he hated it. i don't blame him, they are so horribly uncomfortable. obviously though there is no way i am letting him take a ride without one though. he got over it.

the noise of the boat and the motion of the waves made him sleepy every time. i am 100% okay with that. it's one of the few times i ever get snuggles anymore.

he loved the water. all he wanted was to be dropped in. he splashed his legs and screamed with excitement every time. more more more he says.

sunbathing in the "lake"

the smooth rocking of the boat was too much for them. they headed below and took a nap. bums.

a preview of things to come

2011-05-31T09:04:00.000-07:00

we spent the long weekend baking in the sun and swimming in the ocean down the shore. it was pretty much perfect. the weather could not have been better and the company was just as great.

i took a million pictures, lounged around, and got a glorious tan. i think this was a little preview of the summer to come.

grayson met the ocean

and loved it!

seriously. i do not think there is another child out there who loves the water more. it's all he wanted. more more more. waves would take him down and he would pop right back up and demand another round. i think in his eyes it was the best day of his life!

that is his best bud Landyn. they are exactly a week apart and total opposites. i think his energy exhausts her but they totally enjoy each others company.

they had a fabulous day at the beach. i am quite certain their diapers will be loaded with sand for the next week though. more went into their mouths then into their buckets.

the weekend was truly one of the best. i enjoy watching grayson have so much fun exploring the world. the beach was always one of my favorite places growing up, the memories i have there are endless. i can't wait to share all of that with him as the summers go on.

me. stone harbor, nj. circa 1986?

to the zoo!

2011-05-23T19:42:00.000-07:00

grayson took his second trip to the zoo. he was still pretty small on his first trip and he actually slept most of of. this time though he was awake and fully alert of everything going on around him.

he is super lucky that his aunt is a zookeeper at the cape may zoo (an excellent- and free -zoo if you are ever in the area). she took us back to see the giraffes.

pretty awesome right!?

they are really friendly, but they were even more so when we brought out the treats. grayson was pretty unsure about the whole thing. when they first came over he looked at it and refused to look at it again. maybe he thought if he ignored them they would go away.

he even got slimed in the head. the giraffe came over and licked his hair. eventually though he sort of warmed up to them. when the treats ran out and they walked away all the sudden he wanted them to come back. the second round of treats went better. he was feeling more comfortable about the encounter.

the unk and gradmom & gpa were there for the fun too. it's a darn good day when you get to pet the animals in the zoo.

in with the giraffes live the ostriches. they are a bit less friendly. looking through the fence at them is fine, but they will bite. of course grayson didn't find them in the least bit threatening. they were behind the fence so they didn't make him nervous.

but back to the giraffes.

check out that tongue!

this was the first stop on our trip. it probably should have been the last though because grayson felt he was entitled to get in with all the animals after that. he threw a fit that he couldn't get into the flamingo pen.

he absolutley loved looking at all the animals. we weren't sure if he would enjoy it or not but he definitely did. i was really impressed with how he was able to spot the animals in the exhibits. i didn't think he would know to look for them.

it was a fun day and fortunately we spend lots of time down the shore in the summer so i am sure we will make lots of trips to see the animals. especially since they have awesome playgrounds there too. thanks again to grayson's aunt kim for taking us back to see the giraffes! it was the best.

the most disgusting part of motherhood (or maybe my life!) yet...

2011-05-22T18:49:00.000-07:00

Here is something i never thought would happen to me. I had a mouth full of puke the other night that was NOT my own. Disgusting, but sort of hysterical at the same time.

After dinner friday night we were all up in grayson's room hanging out. I was on the floor and lifted him in the air above me (see where this is going...). I was laughing hysterical and my mouth was wide open. Boom! Chicken and rice puke in. my. mouth.

I'm pretty sure i was in shock. It was in my mouth, up my nose, running down my face and in my ear and hair. I had a disgusted look on my face, grayson was confused and i started laughing. Something about me, whether it was the puke or the face i was making, sent grayson into panic mode. He was crying so hard mark had to come take him away from me. He was terrified.

Needless to say, I needed a shower and my teeth brushed! Disgusting.

bubble gum

2011-05-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

I've been quiet, my apologies. I've been so wrapped up in all my side projects i've got going on. I have been a terrible blogger.

I apologize for the neglect with a promise that I will work hard this weekend on giving my little blog a bit of TLC. In the meantime enjoy this... (certainly not the most attractive video of me, but funny non-the-less)

walking

2011-05-10T18:03:00.000-07:00

grayson took his first unassisted official steps a few months ago. he didn't even realize he did it. when he did it again he took notice and was pretty persistent in learning. he got up to about 3 or 4 steps at a time before he would get so excited it would throw him off balance. then he just kind of stopped trying, for whatever reason. he's not even interested in using his walker anymore. i figure once he is ready again he will probably just take off running. i'm not worried about it and i'm certainly not pushing either. every once and a while though he decides to give it a go. this time i was lucky enough to catch the excitement.

i absolutely adore these photos.

mother's day

2011-05-09T19:56:00.000-07:00

our mother's day was nothing extraordinary. we kept it pretty low key. grayson actually had a sleepover at his grandmom's house saturday night so sunday morning we got up early and joined everyone at my parents. not before a stop to the grocery store though to load up on cinnamon buns and fresh raison bread and eggs for a delicious breakfast.

we spent the day enjoying the warm weather, barbecuing and soaking in the sun all afternoon.

grayson got his first sandbox (how does it work out that this kid is always getting presents). it was a hit. he laid and rolled in the sand. picked it up and studied it as it ran out of his hand. each time it ran through it confused him as to what happened to all that wonderful squishiness that was in his hands just moments before. you could see the wheels turning, it was all over his face.

it was a good day.

captain.

mmm. sand is good!

happy mother's day!

designing galore!

2011-04-29T09:07:00.000-07:00

among the millions of projects i have going on for other people i have been trying very hard to work on a project for myself! my etsy shop. i have a portfolio (its on the righthand side under shameless plug) but that's not really a place i can promote the stationary jobs i do. most of my work has been favors for friends, friends of friends. word of mouth stuff.

why did i not think of etsy earlier!?

so here is my link. click it, share it, enjoy it! the shop is still pretty tiny. i am working on getting more designs up there so check back often! i also do totally custom designs based around your theme & look. just ask!

off track

2011-04-29T08:49:00.000-07:00

I've been pretty terrible about updating recently. Grayson is getting into everything, one second I am cleaning up a mess he just made and two seconds later he is already into something else. He is all over the place, he fell and hit his head twice last week- both falls were under my watch! I am pretty sure I cried about it way more then he did.

I feel like I need two days squished into one. I cannot get a single thing done when he is around, we literally just sit on the floor and play all day. Errands have become almost impossible, he won't sit nicely anymore. Don't get me wrong, I love spending my days with him. I am just so spent and he keeps getting up 10 minutes earlier each day. So my days have been starting super early, and with a child who does not take naps that makes for one seriously sleep deprived mother.

I put him to bed at 8, then I spend the next two hours making/having dinner, cleaning up, getting ready for the next day. THEN my day can start. I have a million projects going on right now and it's all kind of starting to take a toll. I am exhausted, sobbingly cannot control myself, exhausted.

This week we decided to join my parents down the shore for a couple days, kind of a break. I realized how stressful this summer is going to be though. I need to be by his side at all times in that house, there are way too many stairs (that cannot be blocked off), and pointy things, and glass things, and rocks. There is not one safe spot in that house where i can just plop him. Regardless of the constant hawk eye i had to keep on him it was nice to be there. I didn't have all my housework looming over me, I had some help during the day with Grayson. I felt like I was able to catch my breath for a moment.

The weather was nice enough for a late afternoon trip to the beach. We took Grayson to the beach once last summer but he was too little to really get what was going on. This time though he got it. And loved it! The child who at home looses his cool if he is more then a foot away from me took off down the beach and didn't look back. He picked up every shell along the way and inspected it. He also ate lots and lots of sand, despite my efforts to keep it out of his mouth.

Of course I did not bring either of my good cameras but I did have my phone! They are not the prettiest photos but they capture how much he loved it, and that's pretty much all that matters anyway.

It's going to be a good summer.

park kind of day

2011-04-16T20:48:00.000-07:00

i am loving grayson being so active. it's exhausting and very frustrating at time, but other times it's just so much fun. newborns are nice to cuddle with, they are snuggly. but my little boy is moving out of that baby category and into the toddler one. how amazing it all is!

the weather here in south jersey is starting to warm up. we are getting less and less of the cold days and more of the warm ones. i love it. we're taking walks, gardening outside, and going to parks!

we took grayson for his first trip to the playground. we have so many wonderful parks in pretty much every direction of us. we weren't sure how much he would really enjoy it because he is so little but we were wrong. he loved it! every second.

being around all the other kids just lights him up. and it warms my heart so much when they play nice with him. one little boy, probably around three, had him laughing hysterically. they played in the tunnels (grayson's absolute favorite) running back and forth and just hanging out.

i love it!

okay one more simply because i just love this boy so much!

nap time & separation anxiety

2011-04-14T08:47:00.000-07:00

if you are a mother, please, fill this post with comments! this post takes on two pretty big subjects, but i could really use advise on both. pass it on to other moms, i can use all the advice i can get.

grayson is not a napper. ever since he started sleeping though the night, which is about 10-11 hours, he stopped taking naps during the day. i thought maybe that was normal but other kids sleep through the night and still nap. if i'm lucky he will take a little nap during the day but only if i am holding him, and never more then 45 minutes. 15 minutes is the norm.

moms, do your kids nap on their own or are you making them take a nap?

sometimes if he is really tired i will put him in his crib but he just cries and cries. he will eventually fall asleep but i am lucky if i get a half hour out of that nap.

is this normal? should i force him to nap? maybe he doesn't need them- or is that ridiculous? i honestly don't know. i DO know that most other kids seem to be napping, and they have a schedule. please tell me what works for you, how do you do it?

if i had a child who napped it would make life a bit more glorious. i love spending my days with grayson but it would be nice to be able to pee on my own without having a little person in there pulling at me. i would love to be able to get dressed without having him on my hip. or to be able to walk more then two feet away from him without a full on panic attack.

i know this is normal for children but when do they outgrow the anxiety? i have memories of my sister, where she was at least six, running down the street hysterical after my mom when she left to go out one night. she was screaming and crying and totally out of control. this apparently happened on a daily basis when my mom took her to school as well. please tell me this doesn't last that long!

grayson is a very well socialized baby. he spends lots of time with other people, i don't shy away from handing him into other people's arms. why does he panic now though when i am not at an arms length from him? when we play on the floor he will be in his own world, facing away from me, but every minute or so reach behind and touch me just to make sure i am still there.

is there anything i can do to help him get over this panic? the last couple night's he has woken up screaming so hard that i literally run into the room expecting him to be in some sort of horrible pain. as soon as he sees me though he's okay.

what can i do? please tell me everything that works for you. any advice would be so appreciated.

entering the state of todlerism

2011-04-08T08:37:00.000-07:00

a few cell phone shots of the mischief grayson has been getting into lately. he's learning how to terrorize the house all on his own.

he learned how to climb onto his toy, and onto the couch, in order to get to the computer that was playing his baby einstein video. he didn't think i was watching him.

he also discovered cabinets, and that pulling everything out of them is so much fun.

i can see my house looking like this on a regular basis from now on.

nine months of updates

2011-04-07T19:37:00.000-07:00

i haven't been posting in a while. life has been busy. there are lots of updates though! grayson is growing and changing like crazy. its amazing.

last week he took his first official steps! he's gotten really great at standing unassisted on his own and last thursday he attempted to walk. he got two steps and then fell. it's a start! since then we've given him a walker and it is really helping him get his confidence up.

today he had his nine month appointment. he is 19 pounds and 29 inches tall. the percentage of his height went up this visit. last time he was hitting in the 25th percentile on everything but this time his height jumped up to the 45th, everything else stayed the same. (despite his short parents maybe there is hope for him afterall- those huge feet certainly give us hope)

i cannot believe he is officially nine months tomorrow. he is doing so much now. it seems like he discovers something one day and has mastered it by the next. it's incredible the rate in which he is learning. and he finds the whole thing to be just as exciting as i do. it's so cute to see how proud he gets of himself.

he's becoming quite the handful. his moto is GO GO GO.

trapped!

2011-04-04T19:44:00.000-07:00

this is the part where i beg you to ignore my dirty glass

2011-03-29T18:37:00.000-07:00

i wasn't going to post these because i was so embarrassed at how the camera caught how very disgusting my back door is.

i swear i just windexed it this weekend but between two dogs and a small child it doesn't stay clean long. these pictures were just too cute not to share though. grayson is pretty obsessed with himself and could see his reflection in the door. whenever he sees himself he feels the need to kiss himself. over and over and over. he loves looking out the back door when the dogs are out there. he thinks its so much fun to watch them. so please just try and ignore the filth and focus on the cute!

don't forget to give us a vote. thanks!

dirty dishes

2011-03-27T20:53:00.000-07:00

grayson is growing out of his whale tub and our bathtub is currently not fit for him to bathe in so we got creative! fortunately our sink is nice and deep so we filled it up and grayson got to splash around in there. he loved it, and i loved not having to hunch over a tub. bathtime has always been one of his favorite things. something tells me he is going to love the pool this summer.

wrinkled toes. clearly that's a sign of a good bath.

grayson vs the bear

2011-03-26T21:03:00.000-07:00

when grayson was born as a gift my company sent a giant bear. it's just sort of sat in a corner of grayson's room since then. until today.

what a cute bear. i think i like him.

had you fooled bear- attack! attack!

pancake witnesses the whole thing and decided hiding under the crib was the safest place.

totally defeated. sorry bear

exploring

2011-03-25T15:52:00.000-07:00

apparently while at his grandmother's house today grayson discovered stairs! not only did he discover them but he also climbed them. i am pretty sure now that he knows they exist he will head straight for ours. we've been lucky enough that he's never noticed them before. time to gate off the house some more!

back when we were just three

2011-03-24T20:17:00.000-07:00

yum yum!

2011-03-24T18:33:00.000-07:00

grayson finally learned how to feed himself! he usually just opens his mouth for the puff treats and always refused to eat them himself. he just smashed them in his hands. today though i placed the on the ottoman and walked away. when i looked over he was feeding them to himself! i started clapping and he was so proud.

oh! and another update, i've discovered a firth tooth! top left. he has such sharp little choppers.

want to give us a vote? we would love that!

i guess he was tired

2011-03-24T17:15:00.000-07:00

he went from this..

to this...

in a matter of two minutes. we were playing on the floor when all the sudden he laid down and went to sleep.

auntie's have the best toys!

2011-03-22T20:05:00.000-07:00

fishs eddy

2011-03-22T19:51:00.000-07:00

if you don't know this store, you should check it out. so many wonderful goodies! a few cravings...

to market we go

2011-03-21T19:30:00.000-07:00

one of the best things about the warmer weather is being able to browse around the outside markets.

this past weekend we were up in new york city, saturday was beautiful and we walked around the union square market. i picked up some nice fresh herb plants to add to my garden, some amazing wine and a few cute mini cacti to add to my terrarium.

i would say thats a successful trip!

tv time with the unk

2011-03-15T11:45:00.000-07:00

whoa this is interesting

like, really interesting

seriously. you should watch this mom.

spring is coming

2011-03-14T19:16:00.000-07:00

its that time of year. the time when you still need a jacket but you can enjoy the day outside without running for cover. the time of year when i break out my flip flops because i am so desperate for it to be flip flop season and that slightest bit of warmth is enough to make me pull them out of my closet.

grayson and i took advantage of the warmth that has been trying so hard to break through by going for a nice long walk in the park. there are no leaves on the trees and a thin layer of ice still on the lake but the sun is warm. it's coming. spring!

we strolled around for a very long time enjoying the air. it made for a nice relaxing nap, for some of us anyway.

vote for us?

eye candy

2011-03-14T15:51:00.000-07:00

i love this packaging. i was tempted to buy it simply because i wanted this bottle sitting on my counter.

well done.

share the love

2011-03-13T17:39:00.000-07:00

I was recently admiring the art i made for grayson's room when i remembered that i still had the files on my computer somewhere. I figured why keep them all to myself when they are so darn cute. So let's give some away! The winner will get to choose two 8x10 prints.

To enter leave a comment letting me know which two prints you would like.

Bonus entires- becoming a follower on blogger, twitter or fb.
Another Bonus entry- mention the giveaway on twitter or your site.

Winner will be selected using random.org and announced on Friday, March 18. Please check back to see if you won, or leave your email address with comment.

the mexican train

2011-03-13T16:15:00.000-07:00

pasta!

2011-03-12T19:43:00.000-08:00

i took a fresh pasta making class at sur la table. it was wonderful. i really loved it. i want to take more classes!

i love cooking and have always wanted to try taking some sort of class and this was a pretty cool one because it didn't just teach how to make a simple meal but rather a skill. i didn't lug my camera to the class but i did take some photos with my phone. apparently it really upset an older gentlemen in the class because he would not stop commenting on it. "there she goes with those pictures again". whatever dude.

to top it all off we made three delicious sauces! a pesto, ragu and sun dried prosciutto cream sauce.

mmmmmmmm!

afternoon naps

2011-03-07T18:34:00.000-08:00

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weekend discoveries

2011-03-07T18:33:00.000-08:00

grayson got to discover the car wash for the first time this weekend. i love that the simplest things are so fascinating to him. it must be so cool to discover something so new everyday.

is this normal?

2011-03-04T18:05:00.000-08:00

does anyone else's child insist on sleeping with their butt in the air?

he was giving us a hard time going to bed tonight. he just sat up in bed chewing on his dog blanket staring at the door. when i checked back in on him he was still in the same spot, sitting up, with his head down. ASLEEP. i tried to get a picture of it but the noise of me going up and down the stairs to get the camera disturbed him before i could get the shot. it was ridiculous.

wanna give us a vote? awesome. thanks! click below.

oops

2011-03-03T20:29:00.000-08:00

i know im not supposed to do this anymore but i just couldn't resist tonight. i let grayson fall asleep on me. it was his bedtime and rather then take him up i just snuggled him. we were out running around all day and i work tomorrow so i felt like i needed some me and g time.

i miss this snuggly little boy. he never lets anyone hold him tight anymore.

baby obsessions

2011-03-03T17:31:00.000-08:00

we got a sampler dvd sent to us in the mail with baby einstein video clips.

grayson is hooked! he actually cries when the video is over.

its only about 10 minutes long but for those minutes he is totally consumed. he loves it! and i will admit, the other day while i was desperately trying to get some housework done, i loved it too!

i am not crazy about grayson sitting infront of a screen watching videos but the barnyard dvd clip is really great. he loves animals and teaching him the names and sounds they make are something we work on a lot so it's perfect for that.

wanna give us a vote? we would love that.

puppy dog love

2011-03-02T18:04:00.000-08:00

every night when grayson goes to sleep he gets to hang out with his dog blanket. my heart literally melts when i peak in on him and see him snuggling with it. melts.

tell me that is not the most adorable thing ever!?

bad parenting

2011-03-02T09:34:00.000-08:00

we took our son to a bar.

i really felt like everyone there must have thought we were the worst parents in the world. it was an honest mistake though.

i'm sure you are confused by that statement but let me explain. i got a call from a friend of ours asking if we wanted to check out a restaurant with them that they had seen on the food network. according to the show this place had the best wings in the country. mark is a huge wings fan so we decided to check it out.

the place is called the jug handle inn, nothing about that name made me think it was a bar.

the first clue should have been when we walked up and there was a bouncer at the door. he asked for all out our IDs. we brought my brother along because like mark, he loves wings. i explained to the guy that we had a minor with us and that we had just come for dinner. after talking to the manager he told us we could come in but that no one could drink (this should have been my second clue). we enter the "restaurant", baby in tow. there was a giant bar in the center of the room and a few bar rounds surrounding it. i walked around looking for the restaurant portion of the bar. turns out it was JUST the bar.

we ended up having to move some tables around but with some help we finally found a place to sit down. we where honestly just there for the wings. i was so embarrassed though that we were in a straight up bar with an eight month old.

he didn't seem to mind though. i don't eat wings, but according to everyone else, they were totally worth it. so if you ever find yourself near cinaminson i would suggest checking the place out. but leave the baby at home!

mark's babysitting skills

2011-03-01T21:30:00.000-08:00

mark is awesome and often on the weekends he takes grayson downstairs and they hang out while the dogs and i hang in bed. the other morning i couldn't help but laugh hysterically at this scene as i came downstairs.

mark is playing video games and grayson is passed out on the floor.

*this may look bad (you might even be wondering if there was more then just milk in g's morning bottle) but i assure you mark is really great at taking care of grayson. his explanation for this amusing scene was that grayson fell asleep on his lap and he didn't want to just lay him on the floor so he put him on the pillow. it's actually rather sweet.

they're back!

2011-03-01T21:20:00.000-08:00

last febuary as i walked around the philadelphia flower show i noticed my finger turning slightly purple. i was only about four months pregnant but my rings were at the point where they needed to come off (i had serious swelling issues with my pregnancy). almost exactly a year later they are finally back on my finger! unfortunately i did have to resize them. i didn't even go up a full ring size so they probably would have fit again eventually but i missed them. i love having them back, i had forgotten how pretty they are.

tiny tuxedos

2011-03-01T21:12:00.000-08:00

grayson got some super exciting news the other day- he gets to be the ring bearer in his auntie's wedding! he is so excited. and we are all very happy for erica and leon.

he hired a photographer to spy on them as he proposed. here are a couple of those photos.
well done leon.

grayson's future dentist is going to love us...

2011-02-23T20:10:00.000-08:00

it would appear grayson has a sweet tooth! it's becoming a regular habit for him to spit his meats and veggies at me. he prefers fruit, which he gets for breakfast.

the only way i can get him to eat anything other then fruit without spitting it at me is to give him a couple spoonfuls of the yummies then to sneak some of the other stuff in there. sometimes it works, sometimes it results in gaging and funny faces.

lets hope his sweet tooth sticks with craving fruits rather then candy in the future!

ps. i know i've been lazy about blogging lately. i promise i have some really good things coming though- so stay tuned!

under the sea

2011-02-23T20:01:00.000-08:00

we try and get out of the house as much as we can with grayson so we all took a trip to the aquarium! we actually ended up buying a year pass because if we go even just twice it will have paid for itself. so here is to lots of future trips to see the fishies.

i wasn't sure if he would be too young to enjoy it or not. he definitely was not. he loved looking at the fish. it was pretty awesome.

these were all taken from my cell phone because my camera battery was dead. oops

he loved it! they just added lots of really awesome touch tanks to our aquarium, hopefully by the end of the year he will be able to enjoy those more.

it was a good day.

want to help us out? click below and give us a vote. thanks!

antsy

2011-02-17T20:41:00.000-08:00

our dining room has been a work in progress for the last three years. we've recently replaced most of the items and i'm starting to think it's time to swap out the color as well. i go back and forth about ten times a day. i think the biggest problem is that i am undecided about what color to change it to.

after taping up a ridiculous amount of paint samples i came to the conclusion a beige is really the only color that worked. if you know me though beige is not a color i do. all the rooms in my house a vibrant shades of blue, yellow, purple, chocolate brown...no beige. it's so not me. but i sort of like the way it looks in this room. i'm on the fence.

the green is what it is right now.

thoughts....? keep the green, go with the beige OR do i go totally nuts and do something like this..

probably not, but i do love that color.

i'm starting to think i have too much time on my hands.

Grayson says pretty please

2011-02-14T12:54:00.000-08:00

We entered Grayson in Parent's Magazine Toy Model Photo Contest and we just got an email saying his is a finalist. Please help us out and vote as many times as you can until 2/20 by going here

http://photos.parents.com/parents-toys-model-search/07/2011?esrc=nwphotofaves8

You don't have to sign up for anything, just click VOTE! We would really appreciate it! And pass it on please!

He is currently in first place- thank you for all your votes, keep them coming!

airplanes

2011-02-12T06:34:00.000-08:00

I brought my camera to chicago but was really lazy and did not take a single picture. I did however snap a bunch from my cellphone on the plane.

We left early Saturday morning. Fortunatly we flew southwest so we were able to check our ridiculously packed bags, plus grayson's carseat. I used the moby to carry him around the airport, he is simply way too heavy to carry in the carseat now.

* snowy chicago

Even though we did not beep security pulled us aside, put us in a glass box and patted BOTH of us down, because a mother and infant are so scary looking that they warrant such a search. His diaper bag was full of baby food and bottles filled with water. They went through and tested each one which took some time but was no big deal.

Security on the way home though was horrible. They made me take off the moby and pull grayson out so we could both again be put in a glass box and patted down. I explained that i would need someone to hold him while i took it off and put it back on- apparently they are not allowed to hold children. Yet they insisted that i had to take off the moby, i kept explaining that i would need help. It was such an issue and ridiculously obnoxious. Finally someone held grayson while i unwrapped, then rewrapped the moby. They proceeded to tell me they could get fired for holding him -well then don't make me take the moby off! It really annoyed me. I understand being safe but common!

Grayson was so good while we waiting for the plane to board. He played with his toys on my lap. I did think it was crap that we were almost the last ones to board the plane. They seat all the priority people first (which apparently was 90% of the plane), then families with small children, then the rest of the plane. We were lucky enough to get the first row though which is nice because it has so much more leg room.

*it was really awesome seeing the ice over lake michigan.

I was told i should give him a bottle on takeoff and landing to help with any pressure problems. He didn't seem at all bothered by the plane at all. I was hoping he would sleep but he just kind of hung out, played with his toys and looked out the window.

He did however fall asleep just before we landed, both trips. I loved having the moby with me because even though he was not strapped into a seat he was strapped to me so i knew he was secure if we hit any bumps.

*We did have a little incident where we needed an outfit change. Poop up the back! Yuck.

Fortunately there was no one in the seat next to us.

Security was nuts and slightly out of hand but overall traveling with a baby was not so bad (especially for someone who needed a sedative to just step on the plane- i don't fly well). I was able to bring everything we needed in my diaper bag with no problems and even with the fight being two hours grayson kept himself entertained and was good.

Chicago was fun! Grayson is a jet-setter now! Sorry i didn't take more pictures while we were there.

Oh PS. do you think you could click the link below for us? We would love that- thanks!

a little help

2011-02-11T19:22:00.000-08:00

I just realized they reset the counter for top baby blogs. We fell off the map! Please help put us back on there by clicking below. We really appreciate it. Thanks!!!

Ps. You can vote once a day.

thanks!

time to lower the crib

2011-02-11T07:54:00.000-08:00

Yesterday i put grayson down to take a nap. I sat on the floor next to his crib because he kept sitting up and i didn't want him to see me while i waited for him to fall asleep. Stinker found me...

He thought we were playing some kind of game.

Clearly him hanging over the crib was a sign that we needed to lower it.

leavin on a jetplane

2011-02-04T06:37:00.000-08:00

we will be quiet the next few days. grayson and i leave for chicago in the morning. we are super excited. i'm a little nervous about traveling alone with an infant though. i am sure it will be fine (and if not i have some relaxers to make it fine- did i mention i have a fear of flying!?)

we will take lots of pictures and be back next week.

happy weekend!

another great deal

2011-02-02T12:13:00.000-08:00

i know this is the third post in a row here about money saving but i like to share..

now that i am no longer breastfeeding grayson is going through formula like crazy! it can get expensive so i like to keep an eye out for deals. here is a great one. last time this was around we got around 50 bottles!

on the move!

2011-02-01T17:50:00.000-08:00

since the beginning of january grayson has been getting around really well. he mostly army crawls and moves around but he can get up on all fours and rock himself. the last week or so though he's getting really good at actually crawling. tonight he went a few feet. he can also go from lying down to sitting up all on his own. i discovered this was a problem tonight when i put him to bed and he sat up and tried to stand up by grabbing onto the side of the crib and pulling himself!

looks like we will be lowering the crib tomorrow.

the benefits of coupon clipping!

2011-01-31T17:47:00.000-08:00

i mostly make my own baby food but sometimes jarred is more convenient. i keep my eye out for sales. thanks to one frugal chick i saved some serious money and scored big on this earth's best baby food.

over 60 jars for just $20. that's a really good deal!

we also stocked up on earth's best disposable diapers. normally $14 with the combination of sales and coupons we got them for $3.50. (if you followed my other blog you might remember when we seriously stocked up around this time last year when the sale was down to $1.50) grayson wears cloth diapers but when we are out or someone is watching him it's easier to go disposable so it's nice.

we've been so lucky to come across some really great finds on baby stuff. in december we got similac formula for only 86cents a bottle. we bought around 50 bottles. they are normally around $6 so that was a huge savings.

it's amazing how being aware of sales and coupons (and how to combine them!) can really save you money. not just with baby stuff but with all your purchases. if you have never visited one frugal chick's website, or others like it, i highly recommend it. i have tons of magazine subscriptions i got for free. samples are constantly coming to the house. i've gotten multiple bags of dog food for free. it's a beautiful thing and those savings really add up!

sometimes you just want to be naked!

2011-01-31T17:46:00.000-08:00

grayson's poor little butt is very prone to rashes so we try and air it out a bit each day. who doesn't love a little naked time!?