Parks and Recreation..

And a new look - for the blog. I just happened upon this and thought I could use a little make over around here. Never mind the squished heads over there on the side, I will fix that!

We had the most awesome weather EVER this weekend and spent Wednesday, Thursday Friday, Saturday and Sunday outside in various parks and walking all over. It was kind of a tour of NYC parks actually!

Wednesday I met some baby group friends at the East River PArk in Williamsburg/Greenpoint. It was so gorgeous being right on the water and not crowded since it was a weekday. Then DH met us and we walked to our 6 month dr appointment. Everything looks great. Smoosh though everything was hysterically funny - getting weighed, measured, poked, his ears checked, his tongue checked - all SO funny! I am somewhat relieved that he is now down to the 75th % in height and weight. The 97th was a little scary! I have to heave him up 3 flight of stairs for who knows how long and he is already 20 pounds!

Thursday I met more friends at McCarren park -gorgeous and so fun.

Friday we went to Clinton Hill to shoot our friends and their 2 month old. Now I know why no one does 2 month portraits. It's a pretty awkward age - lots of flailing and tongue thrusting. :{ I still got some good shots I think.. We went over to Fort Greene park which was just gorgeous with the huge old growth trees..

Saturday we went back to McCarren park for weekend meet up with the baby group + dads. We brought wine in Clean Kanteen bottles and lounged on blankets while the babes played and slept. DH brought his guitar and entertained the adoring fans - so cute!!

Sunday I decided to FINALLY take Smooshie on the subway into the city by myself, motivated by my 30% off Gap coupon. I didn't want to deal with stroller + stairs so I went with the Ergo. It was OK, but a bit exhausting. The F train wasn't running so I had to walk miles underground and up a million stairs. Smoosh didn't want to be in there anymore and was trying to escape - screeching and pushing away from me. We went to 34th street to the H&M with the kids department and got some cute things. Then DH called and was on his way to Central Park with his band, so he picked us up and we lounged at Central Park for a few hours while DH and his band filmed their new music video. :) Now the whole reason I went into the city was that GAP coupon, so I then made DH drive me around until we found one (Google maps is very unreliable) and I ran in and got some 6-12 month things which we desperately needed. All his PJs and onesies are stretching off his neck. I think he is kind of long waisted maybe?

Ahh now today we are off to Hope Depot and Lowes to get paint for Smoosh's nursery and doors for the new wall!

my shoot :)



my guys :)

Yes, another diaper bag..

Is on it's way. Can I just say how I love diapers.com and their next day shipping? It is dangerous though, so easy to add expensive goodies to the diaper order and have almost-instant gratification!

Sometime today, my 3rd diaper bag will be here. It is the new Dwell Sullivan, and I have high hopes. So far the Dwell tote and the Skip Hop Duo have struck out. I want simple, chic, not too big... An over the shoulder strap for when I have baby in a carrier.. Not such bulky material and I don't need THAT many pockets. Will let you know how it goes...



Little darling only woke up once last night, my sweet babe. :) Another glorious day today so off to a meeting and the park again I think..

6 months today!!

It's Smooshie's HALF-birthday! Woohoo!

Since I see how differently the babes in our playgroup are developing, I am not huge on the milestone touting thing.. BUT since I have failed to fill out the baby book, I guess this is the baby book.. SO here is what Smoosh is doing..

-Rolling both ways
-Sitting totally unassisted
-Rocking on hands and knees
-Scooting around, backward crawling, and somehow getting where he wants to go!
-Feeding himself veggies with his little spoon (very messy, but he gets it in there!)
-Picking up toys he wants, upset when I take something away
-Talking up a very LOUD storm! (Mamama Dadada Shriek!!)
-LOVES bathtime. We bathe together so he can go crazy with the kicking and splashing
-CRACKS himself up. This isn't really a milestone, but he is SO funny. He is super ticklish and we just all laugh so hard, he is such a little ham.
-Standing, he has been "standing" for quite awhile, now we only need to hold 1 of his hands, or he can hold on to something to stand by himself.
-Sleeping is better. He has slept through the night quite a few times, but still prefers to nurse once or twice. Not a big deal, but that will hopefully change when his own room is built. :)
-Eating is good, he loves EVERYTHING he has tried. Happily, he seems to like greens the most. Maybe he will have a sophisticated palette like his mommy. :)

I have to say, there was a bit of a rough patch there around 4-5 months but things are so amazing these days and we are just having such a great time treasuring every moment with our little Smoosh.

Slow down, were moving too fast..

We've got to let this feeling last.. lalala feeling groovy!! Or something like that. I cannot believe the big HALF year is coming up in a few days. I am so excited for the next stages, but I also want to slow down and enjoy every minute of Smoosh's squishy cuddly little self. He is up on all fours bouncing all the time and I know crawling is right around the corner. Terrifying!
Some wonderful news, we have gotten bids from a few contractors to build Smoosh his own real bedroom and they prices are under what I was afraid of. Now we just have to convince Grampski to fund this little project, and see if we can make it happen while we are in LA at the end of the month. Right now we have an atrocious maze of crappy Ikea bookcases making a treacherous kind of wall/room. It looks like crap and isn't sound proof at all. If it works out he will have a real room that I could actually paint and put little baby things on the wall! I think he will sleep much better too, although, last night he did STTN - 7:30 to 6AM or so - not bad! Tonight we are going out of the town and have a sitter so I hope he does a repeat performance. :)

We have had some awesome spring weather this week, so we were out in the park quite a bit with our friends. I am sooo looking forward more of that! Here is the little man lounging in the park on Monday..

new toy, new tricks!

So, IKEA is the most amazing place ever. Especially the new shiny one in Red Hook, BK. Tons of parking, panoramic views of the statue of Liberty and the skyline. Fun playrooms, $1.99 for a plate of Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes, loganberry sauce and cornbread?!! YUM!! And the cutest little wooden toys! We got Smoosh a wooden bead toy ($7), a little wooden push cart ($25) and some adorable bowls .. and a $1 cinnammin bun on the way out. :)

Of course, like everything else, this has to go into the mouth..



Speaking of into the mouth, we have been having so much fun making him little purees of whatever we are eating. He LOVES food - bug surprise. SO far we have done avocado, carrot/banana, zucchini/pear, cauliflour/cucumber..Beastie loves them all.

And last night, Smoosh was hanging out naked on a towel in the bathroom and got so excited about his bath that he got up on all fours and did a little crawl! Eek!

Goodbyes..

It has been awhile, things got sort of turned upside down the last 2 weeks.. We had a wonderful time on St.Thomas. We celebrated Mema's 102 birthday on Wednesday night. The next morning she and Smoosh watched cartoons while I packed for the airport. I put Smoosh down for his nap and went to do some laundry and heard what sounded like Mema choking. I called 911, called my parents to come home.. within 15 minutes she had passed on, in my arms.. We all laughed at her birthday wish to "not live another year".. She made it clear that she though it was "disgusting" to have lived for so long, but it was still so unexpected. She was sweet, gracious, and quipping funny remarks up to end. Needless to say, I extended my trip a few more days. I still can't believe it, but I am so happy that we got to spend more time with her and that I was with her in the end..

I got back to NY on Sunday night (NIGHTMARE flight because of the blizzard over the weekend, stuck on the runway for hours, NO upgrade, Smoosh screaming..) Worked Monday. Got sick on Tuesday, in bed with fever for 2 days.. Feeling better now.

On to the good news.. Putting Smooshie in his own room worked wonders, he slept through the night the 2nd night and EVERY night we were there! It was amazing. I would go get him in the AM and he would be playing and smiling and so happy all day. Now we are desperately trying to make another real room for him here ASAP. SO far, it is a catastrophe of Ikea Billy bookcases. Better, but not soundproof and no door. Contractor coming to Tuesday to do an estimate.

It is beautiful today. Sunny and warm-ish (40s). I cannot WAIT for summer. I have been daydreaming about heirloom tomatoes and watermelon already!

More good news.. I somehow lost 8 pounds. Weird, maybe I should have held off on buying the fat jeans! ;)