grateful

I look at this photo and I can't find the words.  It's not a particular fascinating or overly cute photo, just one of me and my baby boy on the day we celebrated Thanksgiving.  He looks so big and non baby like.    He is drawing letters that actually sort of, kind of look like letters.  He amazes me.  And I get to be his mommy.  I'm still in awe that I am someone's mother and that I get to spend my days with this crazy haired, abc singing, waffle and almond butter loving, boy.  I am blessed.    




thanksgiving 2010

a fall walk

We went for a walk the other day.  It was a nice long walk although kind of a quiet one.  I watched my boy walk around, stomp on leaves, grant me 1 or 2 looks towards my camera, pick up rocks, and lead me to a new path back to our house.

This past week.

I've been trying to focus on where my time goes.  I am terrible at time management and I'm sure a lot of people can say the same... but really I should say that I AM THE WORST with time management.  I want to take care of my baby, teach him, and play with him.  I want to have time to make good meals for him, take long walks (because that is what he loves), and also make sure that he is rested.  I sometimes think I want to do the laundry but I really don't- I just know that my clean underwear will eventually run out.  Sometimes I also think that the dishes have to be done right now or else they will never get done.  Add in also wanting to be a good daughter and friend and trying to keep in touch with those I love.

On top of that I want to book more portrait sessions, work on said portrait sessions, blog about them, blog about anything else, and make up routines for a Zumba class that I someday want to teach.  Then, kind of out the blue, I found a love for food shopping and coming up with meals that I feel my family will enjoy.  I have always been a fan of eating but cooking or baking the food has never really been my strong point- I am hoping to change that a bit.

I know that there is only so much time in each day so I'm starting to focus on certain things on certain days/weeks- with taking care of my son being something that always take precedence, obviously.


I love The Little Red House and have enjoyed a couple of recipes from Sheena's blog.  I made this acorn squash recently and Jbear loved it.  This week I drooled over her chicken soup recipe and the accompanying photos.  Mine looks more like pea soup but the chicken is just hidden.  I used mustard greens instead of collard and regular white beans instead of butter beans.  It was SO delicious... so much in fact that I couldn't wait for a reasonable soup eating hour and just had leftovers for breakfast.  



J loves letters and numbers like crazy!!  My sister in law suggested that I embark on an alphabet project where I teach each letter (phonetically) for a whole week.  We talked about Captial A and lower case a using the chalk board, a huge piece of construction paper and crayon, a paper cut out of an A, and play-dough.  He was excited to go onto B then C but we kept going with A a few days this week.


Now when he sees the play-dough he screams, "AAAAAAAAAA".


Tumbling class.


Bubbles!!!

So I'm aware that this post is random and all over the place but this was our week in review, kind of.  I don't feel that I need to be everything, or do everything I just want to try.  However, knowing myself I have to set some limits or else I'll just get overwhelmed and do nothing.  The way I see it is like this- I'll always be me, a wife, and mother.  Some weeks though I'll be a photographer, an aspiring Zumba intructor, a homemaker and a really great friend who calls you back within a few 24 hours.  Somewhere in between the laundry will hopefully be done.  

balm for a mom's (of a toddler) soul

Did you want to get bombarded with photos of my kid?  Because that is exactly what this post is.  My once incredibly chill kid has suddenly realized he has wants and needs RIGHT THIS SECOND!!!  Sometimes he can sit in his room and go through books for, what seems like, hours and then he's demanding I give him another banana or else my poor ears are going to pay for it.  All that time spent, when he was a newborn, reading up on how to take care of an infant when I really should have been studying how to handle a toddler.  I nannied for so many years, for many different families, that I thought I had toddlerhood in the bag.  Not so.... not so.

These photos help remind me that having a toddler is a pretty fun adventure (some of the time- I'll write most of the time when my ears stop ringing).  


















I don't know what he is doing with his lips but it kills me anyway!

Come back later this afternoon for something super fun.  Alright, I'll just tell you... it's a giveaway and you're going to love it!!!  

the most random post that ever lived.

I've been prone to googling, "how to cut my kid's hair and have him not look like a nerd" or "is it possible to trim my son's bangs and not have him look like a nerd?"

I've been thinking about trimming Jbear's bangs but was afraid to screw it up.  I also didn't want to bring him to a kiddie salon because I was afraid they would just keep cutting and cutting.  I love my son's curls but the front hairs are so straight.  And I can't have my baby looking like an emo kid.



So I trimmed the teeniest bit of hair even though I gasped when I cut into his baby locks.



Now it just curls up and is out of his face.  You can't even tell that he even got a little trim, it just looks like the curls started to bounce up a bit more.



So here we are at Trader Joe's and my kid is freaking out because the banana we gave him to eat is all gone and he wants more.  It's impossible to pass by the bananas without having him see and scream, "BADA BADA BADA" so I usually cave and give him one while I peruse the trail mix section.



My kid has also become obsessed with apple sauce.  I don't know how we made it out of the store without 5 packs of apple sauce.



These photos were taken the day before we were supposed to evacuate in anticipation of Hurricane Irene.  I was feeling rather anxious and needed a distraction so we stopped and took some photos.  Totally normal right?  I have been meaning to go take pictures in this one location so with the light being so pretty it seemed like a good time.

These photos also showcase what I've been wearing the better part of the summer.  In the morning I don't even think twice- cut off shorts and a t-shirt.  I do love my skirts and dresses but I'm kind of obsessed with my cut offs this summer.  I got these men's gap jeans at a goodwill for 8 dollars and kept cutting til I found the length I liked!!  

And for some more randomness, here is the scrabble game we played when the power went out at my inlaw's house (they still don't have power).  I am SO bad at Scrabble but I do enjoy kind of enjoy playing it

Hey JBear... slow down son!!

Jonah is closer to 2 than he is to 1.  It's such an odd thing to think about (even though I do kind of think of those things for myself... but I'm a weirdo, this we know) but parents are constantly baffled by how fast time goes. And it seems apropos to continue to count the months (since SO MUCH happens each and every month) and to reflect the closer (or farther away) our child is from a particular milestone.

I once had a brand new baby and that's what I spent 9 months preparing myself for.  Now, I have a kid who walks and "talks", knows what he wants, WANTS what he wants, chooses to listen or ignore me, and basically looks like this now:


It would be easier to handle my kid growing up if he didn't look 2x his age.



Exactly one year ago, he looked like this:



I held a 3 month old baby last night and kind of forgot what it was like to have an infant.  I wonder if that happens with a lot of parents.  One of Joel's friends (who has a 2 1/2 year old and a 6 month old) asked if our boy was eating solids yet- he was 13 months at the time, haha.

Oh yeah, I forgot to add that never did I ever imagine there would be a time that I would need to look this up

singing, dancing and glee watching

I have so much to catch up on! When I saw Season 1 of Glee streaming on netflix I immediately put it in my queue. Oh my goodness, I knew I would LOVE the show! Even though it's fun to be able to watch an entire season at my leisure I kind of wish I watched it while it aired. I love every single character but my favorites are Artie and Kurt. I think the actor Chris Colfer who plays Kurt is so amazing, I absolutely love every single scene he is in. I kind of want to talk more about this show so expect lots more Glee chatter.

My new obsession led me to miss Dance Party Monday because every free moment was spent watching a new episode. This week so far has been chock full of dance parties in Jbears room. I don't know what is with this particular week but every song has got my boy dancing. Even if I just sing this song to him he will stop what he is doing and just start moving his feet.

Maybe its all the time I've spent watching Glee this past week because on top of dancing it's like karaoke central over here. There has actually been a lot of The Farmer in the Dell (even though I can't stand that song) going on but also:

Holiday- Weezer, Bad Romance- Lady Gaga, If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out- Cat Stevens. My poor son, I have a terrible voice! However, he does seem to enjoy my hip hopera version of The Itsty Bitsy Spider.

The sun finally decided to show up but it was so gray for so long. We were stuck indoors for way too long. I am still learning about where we live and what's available for toddlers. What do you guys do when it's so wet and gray outside? What do you do to keep yourself from going batty indoors?

new love and sticker hearts

Part 1 of this story

I woke up on the 15th (may 2009) touching my belly feeling overwhelmed (ha, that's part of the song To Zion- "... I touch my belly overwhelmed by what I have been chosen to perform") and so incredibly blessed that this was happening. Although I couldn't walk 2 blocks without seeing a baby and giggling to myself (or to Joel) like a baby crazed woman, we were not trying to get pregnant. But here I was looking down the road ahead of us knowing that it was time, this was our new plan.

I knew I wanted to take a photo that morning. I wanted to stop time and record the swirls of feelings going on in my head.

At that time I had just discovered the blog Color Me Katie and was totally digging her joyful & radiant quirkiness. I think that kind of influenced the purple sticker on my cheek. When I posted that photo on flickr I added the lyric- "I've never been in love like this before", however no one but Kristin and my best friend Kate knew what was going on.

A year later I decided to include the boy (4 months at the time) responsible for all this craziness.

Two years later, the boy is still amusing me with my silly antics.

dorky moms love votes too!

this boy of mine...

brings the biggest smile to my face! And at this time 2 years ago I was oblivious to the fact that he even existed. I really can't wait to share that story but I'm on my way to a bridal shower (a wine tasting bridal shower, how cool!!).

for the love of cute baby teeth vote for us!!

These Days

I have been wanting to post a bunch of these photos. So here they are!

I've been really into eating roasted vegetables lately- butternut squash, tomatoes, some mushrooms and fennel. This bowl was really filling for 2 people.

Tomato & cucumber slices with pepper and sea salt with some slices of Fontinella cheese.

I am SO not a food photographer! Joel made some disgusting comment on what he thinks this looks like but I don't care, it's delicious. I can't explain the way I like my eggs but they are more than over easy but not cooked the entire way through, they are barely runny. Spinach and mushrooms make a yummy side to my lunch.

He seriously loves the lounge chair at nanny & grandpa's.

We headed down to Long Island to visit my parents and went to the BEST BAKERY IN THE WHOLE WORLD! The Levittown Park Bake Shop has the most delicious treats and I was so excited to bring Jonah there. I left with a vanilla frosted french cruller, rainbow sprinkle cookie, cupcake and pineapple danish. I don't know if I should admit that 3 of those things were for me (I can't help it everything is so good).

I even had time to hang out with Kim and Miss Thea at the park.

I love her!!

Back home we've been going to the park a lot. It has taken a long time for the weather to warm up over here and now with a fully walking toddler there is no excuse not to explore. He had more fun playing around the fence then going to the playground at first.

My kid loves the slide. He particularly loves walking up the slide.

The little punk stealing my lens cap...

and then trying to put it back on!

And this is what a particularly awesome nap time looks like for me. Lemon sorbet and Tina Fey's new book.