a preview of things to come

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!

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...

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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!