Yet another snowfall on Wednesday here in New England. The storm combined with a nasty bug that's going around, rendered all four of us at home for the day. What to do?
Alexa spent the majority of the day recovering by sleeping. Jim spent the day working from home, while Nicholas and I tried to make the most from the day by doing a paint project and baking muffins.
With intentions of making a holiday project I purchased some acrylic paints in early December. Now seemed like a great time to break them out. Nicholas is a painting pro from school and knew exactly how to mix all the paints (i.e. all at once). He also has quiet an eye for color, demanding specific tones (read "all available paints") be at his disposal. Apparently he created a dinosaur. It was a good one too.
Later in the day we made banana muffins. Nicholas loved mixing all the ingredients together and especially stealing tastes of the uncooked batter. It was yummy, who could blame him.
We thought about going outside for a walk and make a small snowman but when the timing seemed right, the weather was not. The snow had sadly turned to rain. We now have an ice rink where our driveway used to be and I do not jest as I skated across it a few times before promptly falling on my bumm. I love teh snow but right now I'm hoping for a few days of warm weather to get rid of this ice.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Seven for 7
While we were away Alexa turned 7 months! I can't think of 7 but here are a few tidbits about Alexa to commemorate the milestone.
- Alexa hit a huge milestone this week...she slept through the night! On Wednesday night Alexa surprised us by sleeping from 7 pm through to 7:15 am! Woohoo! We were worried that we were going to have to Ferberize her (let her cry-it-out) and had planned on giving Alexa until Friday night in her own bed before starting. She must have known what was coming because she beat it to us and I'm so happy for that.
- When Alexa was born she got a gift of a small Ty teddy bear. She's in love. Just giving it to her calms her cries and she instantly goes to sleep.
- Alexa loves to laugh particularly at her brother. He makes a face, she laughs. He throws his sippy, she laughs. It's the 'bowl full of jelly' laugh that makes her whole body shake.
- Alexa is working on mastering her pincer grip. She's trying very hard to pick up those teeny and slippery bits of banana and sweet potato on her dinner tray.
- The baby gates are coming out again. Alexa has been slow to sit and roll but she's in full swing now.
I know I should have more here but I'm at a blank and I need to go workout before Alexa wakes up.
- Alexa hit a huge milestone this week...she slept through the night! On Wednesday night Alexa surprised us by sleeping from 7 pm through to 7:15 am! Woohoo! We were worried that we were going to have to Ferberize her (let her cry-it-out) and had planned on giving Alexa until Friday night in her own bed before starting. She must have known what was coming because she beat it to us and I'm so happy for that.
- When Alexa was born she got a gift of a small Ty teddy bear. She's in love. Just giving it to her calms her cries and she instantly goes to sleep.
- Alexa loves to laugh particularly at her brother. He makes a face, she laughs. He throws his sippy, she laughs. It's the 'bowl full of jelly' laugh that makes her whole body shake.
- Alexa is working on mastering her pincer grip. She's trying very hard to pick up those teeny and slippery bits of banana and sweet potato on her dinner tray.
- The baby gates are coming out again. Alexa has been slow to sit and roll but she's in full swing now.
I know I should have more here but I'm at a blank and I need to go workout before Alexa wakes up.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Don't hate us because we're tan... Part II
So... the flight to Aruba was uneventful and I couldn't have hoped the kids would be any better. Nicholas stayed in his carseat the entire time and never once asked to get out. Well in the rush to get to the gate and on the plane with our sanity intact I forgot to change Nicholas' diaper before the flight. I had changed him when we got up at 4:15 am and didn't thing he'd quite be ready for a change at 6 am. Can you see where I'm going with this? I was a little reluctant to take him out of his carseat on the plane for fear that once out he wouldn't want to get back in. Well, when we got to Aruba and took him out of his seat he was S-O-A-K-E-D and his pants were all wet. Poor guy! I felt awful but I did have a change of clothes in my carry on so while Jim grabbed the luggage we did a quick change.
We exit the airport and are looking for our car rental guy. Tropic Car Rental has a guy waiting for you and you are supposed to hand over paperwork they email you and they hand you the keys. Well, lets just say Jim was not specific when he asked me to print out the forms because what I printed were instructions and not the actual forms. The guy was so nice and understanding. Basically they let us take the car no paperwork at all and they sent over a guy to our hotel/timeshare and we filled it out there. Crazy but it worked. I'm just so glad all our luggage fit in the teeny Toyota Yaris.
So alls well, the suite is ready (1 BR, 2 BA, full kitchen, private jacuzzi, what else could you want?), I unpack and Jim goes grocery shopping and the rest of the afternoon is spent by the pool. The weather was beautiful; sunny barely a cloud with a good breeeze and it was like that every day.
The remainder of the week was pretty standard; breakfast, beach, lunch, Nicholas and Alexa nap while Jim or I escape for an hour of alone time, pool, dinner, and bed. Although there was a day or two where the winds were too strong to bring Alexa to the beach and we stayed by the pool all day. It could have been worse I'm sure.
While at the beach Nicholas and I enjoyed building "sand castles" which consisted of Nicholas immediately knocking down anything I errected within seconds. He loved to play at the waters edge but the waves were a bit much most mornings becasue of the high winds. Too bad becasue the water was fabulously warm. My favorite stories from the beach; Nicholas did a couple face plants. Face completely covered. I tried to get a photo but was laughing too hard to get a good shot. Nicholas also decided to hit the beach ball out of Jim's hands on a particularly windy day. Jim had to run nearly 50 yards to catch that thing. I was in tears laughing so hard. It was right out of a cartoon.
Restaurants we ate at... (in order) Smokey Joes (great ribs, inexpensive fun location and some of the best beans and rice I've ever had), Mulligans (mixed fare, we had ok pizza but awesome drinks, decent view), Driftwood (fabulous fresh and local caught seafood, yum!), Tango (Argentine steakhouse, tastiest meat we've ever had but the flies outside were so bad we had to move inside), some Italian place at the California lighthouse (fantastic views but food was mixed. horrible app but great meals. Very romantic spot if you don't have two young kids with you.), and Pinchos (on a pier between the airport and port, fantastic sunset view, limited menu but by far the best meal we ate. We'll be trying to recreate the food we ate there.)
Overall a great trip. I just wish the kids slept better and there wasn't as much construction or traffic noise. I think I'm more exhausted now than I was when we got to Aruba.
I've got a ton of pictures but sine we didn't do too much in way of activities the content is limited primarily to the kids. Of course you can never have too many pictures of your kids right?
Check them out here.
We exit the airport and are looking for our car rental guy. Tropic Car Rental has a guy waiting for you and you are supposed to hand over paperwork they email you and they hand you the keys. Well, lets just say Jim was not specific when he asked me to print out the forms because what I printed were instructions and not the actual forms. The guy was so nice and understanding. Basically they let us take the car no paperwork at all and they sent over a guy to our hotel/timeshare and we filled it out there. Crazy but it worked. I'm just so glad all our luggage fit in the teeny Toyota Yaris.
So alls well, the suite is ready (1 BR, 2 BA, full kitchen, private jacuzzi, what else could you want?), I unpack and Jim goes grocery shopping and the rest of the afternoon is spent by the pool. The weather was beautiful; sunny barely a cloud with a good breeeze and it was like that every day.
The remainder of the week was pretty standard; breakfast, beach, lunch, Nicholas and Alexa nap while Jim or I escape for an hour of alone time, pool, dinner, and bed. Although there was a day or two where the winds were too strong to bring Alexa to the beach and we stayed by the pool all day. It could have been worse I'm sure.
While at the beach Nicholas and I enjoyed building "sand castles" which consisted of Nicholas immediately knocking down anything I errected within seconds. He loved to play at the waters edge but the waves were a bit much most mornings becasue of the high winds. Too bad becasue the water was fabulously warm. My favorite stories from the beach; Nicholas did a couple face plants. Face completely covered. I tried to get a photo but was laughing too hard to get a good shot. Nicholas also decided to hit the beach ball out of Jim's hands on a particularly windy day. Jim had to run nearly 50 yards to catch that thing. I was in tears laughing so hard. It was right out of a cartoon.
Restaurants we ate at... (in order) Smokey Joes (great ribs, inexpensive fun location and some of the best beans and rice I've ever had), Mulligans (mixed fare, we had ok pizza but awesome drinks, decent view), Driftwood (fabulous fresh and local caught seafood, yum!), Tango (Argentine steakhouse, tastiest meat we've ever had but the flies outside were so bad we had to move inside), some Italian place at the California lighthouse (fantastic views but food was mixed. horrible app but great meals. Very romantic spot if you don't have two young kids with you.), and Pinchos (on a pier between the airport and port, fantastic sunset view, limited menu but by far the best meal we ate. We'll be trying to recreate the food we ate there.)
Overall a great trip. I just wish the kids slept better and there wasn't as much construction or traffic noise. I think I'm more exhausted now than I was when we got to Aruba.
I've got a ton of pictures but sine we didn't do too much in way of activities the content is limited primarily to the kids. Of course you can never have too many pictures of your kids right?
Check them out here.
Don't hate us because we're tan... Part I
We're baaaaaack. And apparently it was a fabulous week to be away. While we enjoyed warm breezes and temperatures in the upper 80's in Aurba, the weather in Massachusetts was bitterly cold with temperatures at or below zero.
Despite the fact that most of our days consisted of the same ole-same ole 'eat, sleep, go to the beach', we do have some pretty funny stories (some even making me wish I had stayed home)and hopefully some good photos.
The days leading up to our departure were, of course, busy. Among the last minute shopping and packing (thank God I started packing in November!), wrapping up multiple study reports at work, and my favorite children's consignment store's bi-annual clearance sale (I won't miss that for anything!), I had some personal maintenance to take care of. I like to start my vacations off right with a mani/pedi the night before departure. It had been a L-O-N-G time since shaving my legs and didn't get to fit it in the night before. When my pedicurist (of Asian decent and did not speak much English) started to rub lotion on my legs she actually motioned that she was petting my legs! Gah! I made a mental note to shave my legs as soon as I got home. Unfortunately I fotgot about my mental note and scarmbled to shave them at 4:00 am Saturday morning and only 45 minutes before our departure.
Luckily being as neurotic and obessive compulsive as I am, I planned everything to a 'T' and we left the house nearly on time (only 15 minutes late) but arrived at the airport on time (5:30 am). Jim dropped Nicholas, Alexa, myself and the majority of the luggage at the terminal before heading off to park the car. I had planned to sit tight by the door until Jim arrived before going to check in. Of course the line was enormous and I decided to try my best to get into line with a stroller, a carseat, Nicholas' backpack, my large LLBean tote bag, my purse, two small rolling bags, and two kids. The people in front and behind me took pity on me and helped me navigate the four turns in line. One family (grandparents, parents, and only one child) whom we met later at the resort mentioned to me that they thought they were having a bad time of it until they saw me. (I'm glad to have made their day.) I would have taken a picture except I didn't have an extra hand. As for that long line, wouldn't you know that by the time I got to the front, Jim arrived instantly and there were only 5 people behind us versus the 70+ when I got into line. I nearly started banging my head against the counter.
More to come. Unfortunately, must run due to screaming child!
Despite the fact that most of our days consisted of the same ole-same ole 'eat, sleep, go to the beach', we do have some pretty funny stories (some even making me wish I had stayed home)and hopefully some good photos.
The days leading up to our departure were, of course, busy. Among the last minute shopping and packing (thank God I started packing in November!), wrapping up multiple study reports at work, and my favorite children's consignment store's bi-annual clearance sale (I won't miss that for anything!), I had some personal maintenance to take care of. I like to start my vacations off right with a mani/pedi the night before departure. It had been a L-O-N-G time since shaving my legs and didn't get to fit it in the night before. When my pedicurist (of Asian decent and did not speak much English) started to rub lotion on my legs she actually motioned that she was petting my legs! Gah! I made a mental note to shave my legs as soon as I got home. Unfortunately I fotgot about my mental note and scarmbled to shave them at 4:00 am Saturday morning and only 45 minutes before our departure.
Luckily being as neurotic and obessive compulsive as I am, I planned everything to a 'T' and we left the house nearly on time (only 15 minutes late) but arrived at the airport on time (5:30 am). Jim dropped Nicholas, Alexa, myself and the majority of the luggage at the terminal before heading off to park the car. I had planned to sit tight by the door until Jim arrived before going to check in. Of course the line was enormous and I decided to try my best to get into line with a stroller, a carseat, Nicholas' backpack, my large LLBean tote bag, my purse, two small rolling bags, and two kids. The people in front and behind me took pity on me and helped me navigate the four turns in line. One family (grandparents, parents, and only one child) whom we met later at the resort mentioned to me that they thought they were having a bad time of it until they saw me. (I'm glad to have made their day.) I would have taken a picture except I didn't have an extra hand. As for that long line, wouldn't you know that by the time I got to the front, Jim arrived instantly and there were only 5 people behind us versus the 70+ when I got into line. I nearly started banging my head against the counter.
More to come. Unfortunately, must run due to screaming child!
Friday, January 9, 2009
It's potty time!
Nicholas hit a major milestone this week. He peed on the potty!
I've been horrible about encouraging Nicholas to use the potty. I've been taking a laid back approach and expected that as a boy he'll be in diapers til 3 1/2 or so. We have a little one for him to "try out" and get used to but I rarely ask if he wants to sit and use the potty.
I am so thankful for our daycare and the fact that he is only 1 of 2 boys in his classroom (a prev point of disappointment for me) right now. Apparently almost all of the girls are using the potty regularly and so the teachers ask everyone if they want to sit on it /go. Big thumbs up to peer pressure because Nicholas peed on the potty! Twice! I was doing the potty dance a la Nanny 911 all night last night. Granted it might be months before he does it again but I'll enjoy it anyway. Who knew it would feel so good to have your kid pee on the potty.
Other things going on here;
- I am participating in the Adult Ski Racing League at Nashoba Valley Ski area again this winter. I love how it gets me out skiing at least once a week. I might not be pulling times like I used to but you could say at least I'm still getting something out of the thousands of dollars my parents spent on sending me to a ski academy.
- We are heading to Aruba tomorrow! That is if the weather doesn't cancel our flight. We will not have a computer with us so I'll share pictures and details when we return in a week.
Have a wonderful week!
I've been horrible about encouraging Nicholas to use the potty. I've been taking a laid back approach and expected that as a boy he'll be in diapers til 3 1/2 or so. We have a little one for him to "try out" and get used to but I rarely ask if he wants to sit and use the potty.
I am so thankful for our daycare and the fact that he is only 1 of 2 boys in his classroom (a prev point of disappointment for me) right now. Apparently almost all of the girls are using the potty regularly and so the teachers ask everyone if they want to sit on it /go. Big thumbs up to peer pressure because Nicholas peed on the potty! Twice! I was doing the potty dance a la Nanny 911 all night last night. Granted it might be months before he does it again but I'll enjoy it anyway. Who knew it would feel so good to have your kid pee on the potty.
Other things going on here;
- I am participating in the Adult Ski Racing League at Nashoba Valley Ski area again this winter. I love how it gets me out skiing at least once a week. I might not be pulling times like I used to but you could say at least I'm still getting something out of the thousands of dollars my parents spent on sending me to a ski academy.
- We are heading to Aruba tomorrow! That is if the weather doesn't cancel our flight. We will not have a computer with us so I'll share pictures and details when we return in a week.
Have a wonderful week!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Happy New Year!
I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmases and New Years. We did. We were bad and forgot our camera (of course) so we've been planning on doing a mockup for photo ops and still haven't gotten around to it. Oh well. There's always next year right?
Here's to a great 2009 for everyone!
Here's to a great 2009 for everyone!
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