Project 52: Week 32 and 33

Yeah, so there was vacation you know and life and stuff.  So here are the last few weeks of August all at once.

Week 32:  (Aug 4-10)  Only 3 pictures this week, boo!  And all of Gage! We had a mini golf play date and a lunch date with Daddy.  We did meet up with friends at a pretty cool park with a carousel and train, but no pics of that.



Horrible picture quality-damn iPhone

I have no idea what this face is even about.

 

Too bad he's not wearing Old Navy clothes, right?

 Week 33:  (Aug 11-17)  Only 3 again, I guess that's my average.  I mean I have more than 3 pictures a week, just not on 3 different days...blah.  Gage ended up being sick this week so we were sequestered to the house for 3 days before our beach trip.  Guess nothing exciting to take pics of.

 

My boys



My am snuggle buddies

Swingin'

 

Solid Foods!

The time has finally come when we dug out the old dusty high chair and cleaned it off in anticipation to feed our 2nd born solid foods!  I remember how excited I was to start foods with Gage and it was definitely the highlight of our night.  We started right around 4 months with rice cereal and Gage was an expert from the beginning.  He hated green beans and peas, much like he does now, but would cry between bites when I wasn't shoveling it in fast enough.  We didn't start right away with Ezra because of the alleged allergy and then I had to remember how to start, how much, when, etc.  Then I had to find the time.  Because when you have two, it's not quite as convenient as it was the first time around.  I know, the poor 2nd child- always getting the shaft. 

I almost even considered letting day care do it since I would prefer him to drink less at school and it was one less thing I had to worry about.  Then I decided that was silly and how I couldn't let this baby milestone be something that I didn't share with my child on purpose.  Then I started to get excited- excited about Ezra too, meeting this milestone and eating cereal and  moving on to veggies and fruit.  So here we are- just a few days short of 5 months starting with oatmeal this time instead of rice cereal.  Unfortunately I had to mix it with formula and not breast milk though because I'm just not producing enough and I can't bear to potentially waste it if he doesn't eat it.  Plus I don't want him to have a bottle of formula if I can help it.  He wasn't nearly the fan that Gage was and the 1st night he barely ate any at all. He got better the 2nd and 3rd nights and finished the whole T. the 3rd night.  He still made a face like it was the most disgusting thing ever, but nevertheless he's learning to eat.  He doesn't seem to swallow as well as Gage and a lot came back up, but I'm sure he'll get the hang of it soon enough.  We'll see how the rest of the week goes and with any luck we'll start veggies this weekend.  Here's a few pictures of my little E in his high chair and eating his 1st bites.  I can't believe he's growing up so fast!

1st time in the high chair- he looks so much bigger than Gage did.

Would you look at this face?

Clearly not so sure

Guest Blogger: Great Expectations!

I am so thrilled to have been asked by Kyna over at Great Expectations if I would guest blog for her today.  On Mondays she does a quick and easy recipe meme and she contacted me a few weeks back to submit a recipe and I was beyond excited!  I have never done a recipe post b/c I never have time to take pictures of my food as I'm making it or even think I have enough good recipes to share.  On 2nd thought, I do have a few, but again, no pics and everyone knows you can't do a recipe post without pictures.  So in any case, here's my 1st one!  Head on over to Kyna's blog to see one of my very favorite desserts that's pretty quick and easy.  And always a winner with my husband, who got this as his birthday cake last week!

Easter Egg Hunt 2012

**This post is now over a week old b/c my computer SUCKS, as usual.  So really the Easter Egg Hunt was 2 weeks ago at this point, now let's hope I can get through the downloading of pictures before the computer has a fit again. This is the 3rd attempt since the above statement**

This past Saturday our neighborhood held an Easter Egg Hunt for all the kids.  It was a cute idea and they'd done it the last few, but we had never participated because I felt Gage was too young.  I was excited to see what was in store; however, the Winter Wonderland that they put on this past Christmas was totally unorganized and almost pure chaos, so I was skeptical. 

Each participant had to drop off a dozen eggs the week before the hunt to make sure there would be enough and then you recieved a ticket.  This was a good system because I was afraid that like anything else there'd be some who didn't contribute, but wanted to recieve.  They also had seperate time frames for the kids 2 and under, the preschool age kids, etc.  This was also good, because again I was afraid that although they said this in the email, the big kids would be running all over little kids to get the eggs.  Thankfully I was pleasantly surprised and the hunt went just as it should have.  The super cool thing was that not only did they have different time frames for different ages, they also had different levels of difficulty for the different ages.  For the 2 and under crowd, they just had eggs laid out on the tennis court for the kids to pick up and put in their basket. Gage was in heaven!  He just kept running saying 'more eggs, more eggs'.   He must have picked up over 30 or so, but being the fair player than I am, I would just drop a few off behind me- to make sure all kids had enough.  I tried to keep a variety so he could check out all the cool ones people brought and I also thought that a variety of eggs meant a variety of different candies!  Some of the eggs I was pretty impressed with.  I bought mine for a buck at Target and they were plain Jane, but there were fuzzy eggs and eggs with birds on them and eggs in different shapes, like ladybugs, etc.  I was totally excited...ha, you can tell how long it's been since I've bought Easter eggs.  Gage also got to meet his neighborhood/daycare friend, Katie at the hunt, so that was fun for them as well.

Although it was a rainy Saturday morning (but thankfully didn't rain until the small kids were done), Gage had a blast at the hunt and that's all that matters.  They also had a ton of good food/snacks inside the clubhouse, gave out cute little chocolate bunnies and the real Easter Bunny was there, although Gage wasn't about to sit on the lap of that scary bunny.  (See yesterday's post.)  All in all we had a good time and it was a good way to spend a dreary Saturday morning. We will definitely participate next year!  I'm going to try once more, but I'm pretty disappointed, because I doubt I'll get Gage on the Easter Bunny's lap this Easter....ah well! 

Checking out his goods.

Proud of his collection

Working hard

*Other pictures were to be included in this post, but I gave up.

A First...

Since I already have birthday posts scheduled for the next 2 days and we all know what a pathetic blogger I have been lately, I figure while the  mood strikes me, I better write.  So I'm foregoing Wordless Wednesday this week to tell you about our past weekend.

Last year for President's Day, we took Gage to the beach for the long weekend.  We went to the aquarium and spent time with Nana and Grandiddy as well as probably getting to go on a little overdue date night.  This year, we considered doing the same thing, since we hadn't been to the beach in *gasp* 6 months!  I couldn't take it any longer and whether it was Februrary or not, I was for sure going to go.  Then Luke and I got a wild hair that maybe we would see if Nana and Grandiddy would want to watch Gage for the weekend  (their house is right on the way) while we went to the beach....alone.  We had hoped that maybe this would happen this summer while we celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary, but wanted a little test drive.  We weren't sure how they'd feel about it.  So we told them they could either come with us, so they could spend a little time with Gage and we could go out, or we could drop Gage off there.  We were pleased/nervous/shocked, etc. when they said we could drop him off.  What would we do w/o this little part of us that we have never been away from for over 2 years??  Well, Luke has been on business, etc, but not this Momma!  Anyway, we got super excited and bought Gage a little suitcase and everything for his 1st trip to Nana's house.  We talked about getting to eat out, sleep as much as we wanted, go to the movies, shopping, etc.  We were so thankful to have this chance, not to be away from Gage of course, but to get to do those kind of things for the weekend.

I was nervous about how I'd feel, but tried not to think too much of it.  We just piled in the car Friday afternoon and took off. We had planned to stay at my parents that night, because it would be late anyway before we would venture to the beach for the next 2 days.  Gage usually has a hard time the 1st night so we though it would make it easier on all of us.  So Saturday morning, Daddy and I kissed Gage good bye and headed off.

AND, it was exactly what we needed.  We ate out 3 times, went outlet shopping, took naps, watched a ton of TV and slept in!  It was definitely well deserved and needed.  Although the weather was pretty bad, we didn't complain.  We called Gage a few times and he and Nana were almost too busy to talk to us!  Gage had a blast and got to visit family, do fun crafts, go to a farm, an indoor playground, make brownies and probably got to eat all his favorites!  I think Nana had a fun time too, although she might be worn out this week!  Overall, we were a little nervous at 1st to leave our baby for the weekend, but it was definitely the right time to do so and everyone had a great time!  Maybe we'll do it all again in a few months or so!  A big thank you to Nana and Grandiddy who gave up their 3 day weekend so that we could have some Mommy/Daddy time and they could spoil their grandbaby! 

Back to the work week it is and a huge miracle, I even produced a post.  Today is already Wednesday, thank goodness.  Yesterday wasn't uneventul of course...I got a phone call at 10am that Gage had fallen on the playground and bloodied his nose and got a fat lip!  Yay!  Twice in 8 days.  Is that what being a toddler is all about?  Geesh.  Have a great Wednesday.  See you this weekend when maybe I'll get motiviated to write again.  For now, Happy Birthday to my friends, Heather and Sherri!

A few things...

I want to remember.  This past Thursday, Jan 5th (2 years and 1 month), Gage peed on the potty for the 1st time!  Don't get me wrong, I don't think potty training is right around the corner or anything, but just wanted to document it for memory purposes.

Also, a kind of funny situation from daycare on Friday morning.  Somehow I managed to get Gage to school with only half of his breakfast and didn't realize it until I was all the way there.  Daycare is just 8 mins. from my house so it's not too big of a deal, but usually if I forget something I notice before we get all the way there.  In any case, I just brought him oranges and left his waffle at home.  I knew he didn't like what they were having for lunch that day so I figured I should probably run home and get it, although I had a 730am meeting.  I sat him down at his table as usual with his friends and breakfast and told him I'd be back in about 20 mins. 

When I got in the car to race home, I couldn't help but think that by the time I got back Gage would be up and playing with the other kids and could careless about the waffle I sped home to get.  I figured it wouldn't even get eaten anyway.  When I got back (about 19 mins. later) I walked in to find all the kids in Gage's class playing and Gage still sitting at the table, already done with his oranges.  I gave a questioning look to the teacher and she said, 'I told him to go play and that he could sit back down when you got back and he told me, 'Mommy coming back, she bring me waffle'. and he wouldn't budge.  My heart melted a little.....what a sweet boy!

Finally this weekend was Gage's 1st experience with toddler teeball!  As you all have heard me talk about, Gage's coordination is AWFUL and I figured the only way it's going to get better is by putting him in activities that promote coordination.  The SoccerTots program is very popular in our area and I'm guessing because it's the easiest sport for a kid, alot of people enroll their kids in it early on.  Neither Luke nor I are very interested in soccer, so I wanted to try the Lil Sluggers program instead.  As we suspected, Gage is a little young and a little uncoordinated, but I think we're going to stick with it anyway.  There was only 1 other kid in the class and he got alot of attention, so we'll see how it goes.  Maybe he'll at least learn to catch a ball.  Here are a few pictures, not very good, but at least something to document his 1st lesson.

Can you believe the size of those bats?

A first...

While we were visiting my parents, we also discovered that Gage had not ever engaged in something that most kids his age probably have.  Or rather most kids his age that live in 'tree-ful' neighborhoods.  One of my favorite things about the neighborhood that I grew up in when I was a kid was the size of our lots and the amount of trees we had.  If you ask my husband, I still to this day have an affection for houses that have big lots and tons of trees, they just feel homey to me.  I suppose it's what I grew up knowing.  In any case, my sweet little Gage didn't know what he was missing.  He had never before November 12th, played in a pile of leaves!  What a great childhood memory and something all kids shoud get to do!  He thought it was the cat's meow!  I took so many pictures because it was so much fun to watch him play and do something new.  I also wanted to make sure I got some cool 'action' shots.  Enjoy!

Throwing leaves is AWESOME

My favorite action shot

Not sure why he felt the need to eat the leaves

Loving every minute

Trying to make a new pile

Leaf Angel

So cute, if not for the zipper pull!

Saturday Playdate

Please join me over at The Life of Rylie...and Bryce, Too! Gage and I took a quick trip to FL for the day!

My 1st Book Review...

Earlier this summer I was emailed and asked to review an historical narrative by Bring It On Communications!  I have always wanted to do a book review, but I have to say I'm a little intimidated by this book, being that it's not a novel, it's historical (something that I hate, ha) and it's a Chrisitian narrative.  However, I agreed to take on the challenge, only after my Praxis test was over and read and review the book.  I am starting it today.  I am a slow reader and find it hard to read things that don't hold my attention.  Let's hope this one does and that I can get through it in a timely fashion.  I have to say that after studying most of the summer for my  Praxis that I'd like to read a thoughtless novel at this point, but nevertheless I agreed to this so I will read it!  Wish me luck.  The book is called The Forgotten Awakening.  I'll keep you posted!

PS.  My friend still hasn't had her baby.  Still waiting...fingers crossed for tonight!

He Kissed A Girl....

Happy Memorial Day Friday!

Our computer is still down so no pics from the beach last weekend, although I am dying to post them.  Some are so stinkin' cute.  For now, only a quick story about Gage's 1st kiss.  Yesterday at school the kids were playing Ring Around the Rosie and they were trying to get Gage and a little girl named Katie to hold hands for the game.  As they were positioning them, Katie leaned forward and gave Gage a little peck.  Gage was taken aback at first and wasn't sure how to respond.  But w/o further ado, he took her little face in hands and planted a big wet one on her!  And in true girl fashion, she pushed him down!  haha....the teachers said it was hysterical and that he wouldn't take no for an answer.  He proceeded to follow her around and try to hold her hand the rest of the day.....ha.  That's my boy!  Somehow it won't be as funny in a few years, but nevertheless.  Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and don't get stuck in too much traffic.  Hopefully we'll get some pictures up and running sometime this weekend and I can update you on my Couch 2 5K.

Tired...

I really want to post about my wonderful Mother's Day weekend- like you all have and let you know that my husband, too, is fabulous, but I am just so tired right now.  However, I do have to celebrate a small milestone with you all tonight.

At 17 mos., 3 weeks and 2 days, my little boy, said 'I love you' tonight!  My heart is melting...

What I've Been Up To...

I'm not very motivated to write- not sure I have any news to share, but since I haven't blogged in a while, I'll let you guys all know what I've been up to the last few days.

This week at school, really all month at school, is always crazy.  With SOL's (state tests, for those of you not in VA) looming, the pressure is on.  Working in a high school, kids' graduation depends on these very tests and being a math teacher make it even worse.  Typically, Geometry is the lowest score each year and can prevent our school from getting state recognized.  In addition to that, as you know I'm a special education teacher, so that in itself presents its own challenges.  So needless to say, I am drained at the end of every day and counting down the days 'til testing is over (1st week of June) when I can hopefully bask in my success!  I've been staying late at work so Gage and I usually only have about an hour of play time by the time I get home before dinnner.  It sucks, but it will be over soon and I know he loves his daycare so it makes me feel a little better.

In other news, this morning, Gage had his 1st experience with a babysitter!  Since Gage didn't know Shari, we decided that the 1st few times they hung out we'd be around just to make sure he was comfortable.  Gage doesn't usually have stranger anxiety but every now and then it happens and I'd hate to think I'd just leave him with someone he doesn't know and walk away.  But as soon as Shari got the wagon out, he was all hers.  Luke's and my project of the day was to clean out our garage.  You know, all of the boxes that we put there 3 years ago when we moved in and said we'd get to later.....well, now is later.  Anyway, we obviously couldn't do it with Gage running around so we figured it would be a good opportunity to get Shari on over so they could get comfortable with one another.  Mission accomplished:  You should see the pile of trash in our garage, in fact, I might take a picture of it before the night's over.  Funny thing is, today was our community yard sale and we clearly didn't get our garage cleaned out in time to sell anything, but there were TONS of cars driving by really slow watching our garage cleaning attempt and searching for our trash pile.  Anyway. Shari and Gage had fun, and Gage loved that she played outside with him for a whole 2.5 hours! 

After our cleaning fit was over, Luke took me to Bed Bath and Beyond to buy me a Keurig I have been eyeing!  I'm pretty excited about my Mother's Day gift, although I asked for something else;)  (More on that later.)

Finally, I'd like to wish my my Mom a very Happy Mother's Day tomorrow!  I think she's probably at the beach house enjoying the beautiful weather, so I'm sure she's not complaining.  Anyway, thanks for everything,, I love you and I'll talk to you tomorrow!

NEWS FLASH

My son ate 2 chicken strips for lunch on Monday and an entire hamburger today!  This is the kid who eats NO meat aside from turkey- sometimes!

Big Step....

Lately, Gage has had a language explosion. There's almost nothing he can't say....I think, this is in part due to being in the toddler room at daycare with almost 2 year olds who all talk very well. While we were on our trip last week, Gage started to repeat phrases we would say like "big step" or "Daddy's hat". Repeating is one thing, I understand, but when later on he says these phrases again, I consider him knowing what they mean or at least putting them into a context. He also says "Mommy's clock", "see ya" and "uh-oh Elmo" or "uh-oh Nuk" or whatever he has thrown over the side of his crib, down our stairs, or his new favorite thing, into our trashcan. It is definitely amazing to hear what he comes up with and to hear him call the teachers and other kids in his class by name. He can repeat ANYTHING we say, but most often if it's too many words, he'll just repeat the last two. Although he's still clumsy and falls alot, at least he has something going for him....it's definitely true what they say- they are either walkers or talkers.

Unrelated to language, I think it's so cool to watch kids this age become really interested in a particular thing, character, etc.  For instance, Gage can spot El-bo from a MILE away and is really pretty obssessed.  We have one or 2 Elmo books, and I just bought him some Elmo sippys.  I'm sure this is a foreshadowing of things yet to come, but I'm ok with that.  I love Elmo too, although I wish he'd speak a little more grammatcially correct ;).  My kid does need an Elmo shirt, though, anyone know where I can get one?  FYI, can you believe there are NO Elmo shower curtains?

Another thing that Gage is obssessed with is flags.  It started months ago, but now he has a word for them 'guys' (don't ask me why?)  And my boy can spot an American flag in a Where's Waldo? picture.  No matter what we are trying to get him to look at, all he cares about is the flags and if it's red, white and blue, all the better.

Three things.....

1.  My sweet little "baby" slept on this at day care on Thursday. He's officially a big boy now.  *tear*

2.  Gage's new Power Wheels Daddy bought him

3.  Unfortunately how Gage has been feeling all weekend.  A leftover cold, cough, fever PLUS a stomach flu of sorts AND new teeth!

A Week of Firsts...

This first week of March has been a long one, but a productive one.  Gage has hit a few 'milestones' this week and it's just amazing to me, as I always say, how much he is learning every day.  On Tuesday, Gage had his first REAL haircut, not just Mommy and Daddy chopping off long strands in the bathtub.  He did awesome and looks so handsome!  He doesn't have much hair, but it sure looks better now that it's even and not in his face.

We also had a much needed playdate this week, not a 1st, but definitely still fun!  I'm sure you remember Sawyer from last summer.  Sawyer 10 mos., Gage 16 mos.





As of this week, Gage is officially walking.  He walks all the way across the room and is walking to get  to places now, not just b/w couches, tables, to toys, etc.  Gage is transitioning into the toddler room the week after next in daycare and has to be able to walk in order to do this....we were worried he would be delayed.  We are feeling less nervous now and his new teachers have even been in the baby classroom to spend time with him this week.

Although vocabulary is nothing new for Gage, he has made quite a few strides this week.  I stopped posting how many words he has b/c it was getting out of hand and I couldn't keep up, but some of his new ones this week are 'really?', 'stop', 'clock' and my personal favorite, after getting his hair cut and having someone hold the door open for us....'thank you'.  As.plain.as.day.  I have to say I was pretty shocked.  Another vocab first and probably more exciting than thank you, Gage said 'Bobby' today when I came home!  Nothing like a day w/ your Daddy to miss your 'Bobby';)  (As you all know, Gage hasn't said Mommy yet to me and also can't say a 'b' sound.  But hearing Bobby today was pretty exciting since it was a first!)

Gage seems to also be understanding alot more as of late.  He obviously has good expressive language skills and uses his words in context, however, I was a little worried about his receptive language.  He wasn't able to point at things in books when I asked him or didn't seem to understand when I said 'bring me this or that'.  He always pointed and named things, but wouldn't do it if I said 'point to the star....'.  This week he has started to do it, it takes him a few seconds to process what I ask, but he is damn accurate when he does respond.  Yesterday I asked him to point to Mommy and after a few seconds, he turned around, pointed right at me and said 'Bobby!'

Finally, probably not a 'milestone', but we still think it's pretty darn cute, Gage can now tell you what a duck, cow, pig, cat, sheep, elephant and snake say.  The snake and elephant are my personal favorites.  I'm hoping to get it on video soon.  Have a wonderful weekend.