Chuck E Cheese

So, the one place I was hoping never to venture was Chuck E Cheese. Not this early at least. I mean, I figured that one day I was going to have to "sacrifice" and deal with all the running children, but I was thinking not until our little man was like 5. But, at the end of January we were invited to a little friend's birthday party. And, I just have to say that our little man had the greatest time ever!

A huge hit was the photobooth. I sort of encouraged this (because I LOVE all photo booths and have been known to pay upwards of five dollars for a stupid picture from them which is very unlike me to want to spend money like that) since this photobooth was only 1 token and the tokens were part of the party! What more can ya ask for? So, here are some results:

The little man with his BFF. The birthday party was for this little guy's older sister. Our little man is just 11 days older than this little guy. Can we just say trouble!?!?!

Okay, there is a story here. This new little one in the middle is another good friend. We had to get a picture with all three! The little one is only like seven weeks old here! The big boys couldn't figure out what we were doing. So cute! (And, yes, he looks like he is picking his nose, but he was really sucking his finger. Gotta love teething. I just figure it's blackmail later on.)

And, it's just tradition that you have to suffer through a picture with your mother! Looks super happy doesn't he?

The next huge hit of the night was this little car that moved. Like just front to back and only six or so inches. Nothing big. But, he loved climbing into it and buckling the seatbelt all by himself. I would then hand the token to him and he would put it in. (This child is a little too coordinated sometimes.) The best part for me was that every ride gave you a picture. So, I have 15 that look pretty close to this:

I don't think he cared much about the ride, it was just something he could do all by himself.

And, we did get this one. A small smile and at least looking at the camera.

I have 16 pictures in all and I don't know how many we forgot to pick up before we realized it gave a picture everytime! Oh well, he had a blast!

Now, do we dare repeat this and take him for his birthday? Oy Vey! How can I even think of doing that? I must really love him!

Blast from the Past: Daddy's 30th Birthday

Yeah, we are boring for birthdays. We don't ever really do too much. And, like I mentioned before, October had a lot going on what with moving, packing, unpacking, cancelling services here, starting services there, etc. Needless to say, it was overwhelming. Then there was the whole, "hey, he's having a really big birthday, let's do something for it," thing. So, we kept it basic. Really basic. Dinner and apple picking.

Here's our little man on the Christmas Tree side of the farm. He loved finding something smaller than him.

Can we just tell you that running up and down aisles and aisles of apple trees is just the coolest thing?


Getting to pick his very own apple.

My favorite people. And, I love that the little man's tongue was hanging out in every pic.

It was a really fun, family day. Josh seemed to enjoy it. Maybe I should plan something bigger next year. Food for thought. Happy Belated Birthday to the best hubby ever! Love you!

Through the Eyes of a 23 Month-Old

Okay, I'm not gonna lie, it's been a little while since I have even downloaded the pictures off my camera and when I did tonight, I received a little surprise. Apparently, I have had a little helper. I started browsing through the pictures I found, and after going through 115 all just like this, these were the best:

This is our living room/dining room. And the vacuum. Which he pulled out of the closet.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. His favorite show.

My feet in the kitchen.

His foot on the couch.

My bedroom carpet.

Daddy's feet in our bedroom.

Okay, there is a story. I have been watching my friend's new little one and she was picking him up during this picture. Apparently I am slightly dramatic when I talk to people. No comment. Don't mind the PJ's. I don't dress up to watch kids.

Daddy folding clothes and the lamp.

The bedroom and closet doors.

But, in all of that, there was a keeper. This is the little man that I watch a couple times a week now. It was actually a cute little picture.

So, now you know what it's like to see things from our little guy's point-of-view. Pretty darn interesting if you ask me. :)

Blast from the Past: The Splash Park.

Okay, there is a little background on this video. This is from the splash park that we went to in Utah. It is really fun and great for little ones. But, our little man had been watching the bigger kids put their hands over the fountains to stop the water. This was the result.

Personally, I love the fact that he gives up on the smaller fountain after it attacks him and returns to the bigger and much safer fountain! Oh, and that he's always trying to drink the water for some reason. You would think I never give him drinks.

Mascara.

I am pretty sure that you can figure out the story for this one. I was cleaning my bedroom and had the bathroom door open since I was putting a few things away in there. Always a dangerous idea! The little guy was simply pushing my laundry baskets around while I was doing this. However, he has recently discovered that he can use those baskets to climb on to get things he wants. I left him in my room to take some things to the kitchen and his room. Total time gone: 5 minutes! When I came back I found him standing on the laundry basket applying mascara. It was actually kind of cute, but I totally scared him in my shock and he got down and ran so I missed that picture. But I did get these:

His hands and face were all covered.

He was trying to say "cheese" but he knew he was in trouble, so it was a little half-hearted.

I also wasn't able to get all the mascara off at first and didn't want to scrub his little eyes out, so he looked like he had a black eye for almost two days. It was pretty funny!

Back again.

So, I know that I haven't posted in what, six months or so, but I will try to be better now. The last six months have been filled with all sorts of excitement. Let's do a quick re-cap.

August:

Let's see...August was filled with so many fun things (except missing Daddy). We went to the splash park with cousins, played lots and lots with cousins, visited with family, saw some dearly missed friends, went to the zoo and just enjoyed what Utah had to offer us.

A huge favorite was the splash park, as you can see.

Fast forward to the end of August, we returned home from visiting in Utah for seven weeks. We quickly began looking for a new apartment. It was time to get out of downtown and with our lease coming to an end, we thought we would get a jump on things.

September:

The big event of September was Grandma coming to visit. We had a great time with her and really enjoyed getting to show her around at a bit of a slower pace this time. We took things easy and tried to make each place memorable.

This picture is from Watch Hill, RI. They have the best beaches and ocean views there.

Oh yeah, I forgot one major event of September. The little man had another seizure. Not nearly as bad as the first one, but it did call for another ER visit. We didn't use the ambulance this time (the last bill was over $500 for a 2 mile drive.) I had asked the doctor about needing an ambulance again after the first one and he said we could just drive him to the hospital if we were comfortable with it. After the follow-up visit from the second one, our doctor also said we don't have to take him to the ER or call 911 anymore if we feel like we can handle a seizure now. Our little man does always have to have a follow-up with our doctor until they figure out the problem though. He has no major testing done until he has four seizures and I hope we never get there! He has been sick three times since with fairly high fevers and we haven't had any problems. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Big sidenote: this seizure followed getting shots again. As of right now he is fully immunized and requires no further shots until he is four or five (our doc is willing to wait until just before kindergarten if we want to, and we do.) The longer we wait, the better his chances are of having outgrown the febrile seizure problem. I will still only be allowing 1 shot at a time from now on for him.

October:

Well, for what I remember of October, it seemed okay. Busy, busy, busy, but okay. We celebrated Josh's big 3-0, but not in any style unfortunately. We just picked apples and went to dinner. I know, I know, a little boring, but with everything else that was going on, I think we did amazingly well.

Don't worry, we poked holes in the box before we shut him in! :)

The biggest event of October, was MOVING! It was such a pain, but so nice now. I love the new apartment. It's in a much quieter neighborhood! It has two bedrooms and two bathrooms. And, my personal favorites: a garage with a private entry into my apartment. Much more storage than the old place. And, the best part is that the little man actually gets a room and not a storage room. Happy day the toys are in his room!

November:

Ah, November. So crazy and yet so relaxing. I just have one word for it: unpacking. Oh man, was there a lot to unpack. We got rid of so many things before we moved, and I still had so much left. Sorry, I have no picture for this, but believe me, you didn't miss much.

December:

We actually were not in the new apartment for long before we headed off to Utah once again. This time a three week trip to visit family. I have pictures, but I will be putting them in a separate post.

January:

Actually, January was pretty uneventful. Other than returning from Utah, it was just back to the same old fun and games here. You know, adjusting to east coast time again and the worst part for our little man was not having cousins and grandparents around to spoil him all the time.

That brings us to the here and now. No worries, you didn't miss much. I promise I have more pictures and I will be posting some new ones and try to go back in time a little more soon.

Playing the Piano.

My sister has this keyboard that was left behind at my parents house. Our little man has learned to turn it on and play. This was just after he got out of the bath. He's so cute when he plays for a minute and then claps for himself.

p.s. He had been playing for about 20 minutes when I finally took out the camera. I'm such a slacker!

Holy Hose Batman!

So, what's better to do on a hot summer afternoon than play in the hose? Not gonna lie, this was a first for the little man. He had a blast! As you can see the pants were a little soaked in the end. (No pun intended!)

p.s. The plug in his mouth was to keep him from drinking the water since it's irrigation water and not exactly the best to drink. He just kept taking it out and drinking anyway. That's when the water shut off!

Reading the Paper and Talking on the Phone.

We were trying to keep the little guy entertained in the car. He decided that the newspaper was really cool and so was my dad's cell phone. Love him!

First Popsicle

My friend offered the little man a popsicle (not that he's never been offered one before, but he just never wanted it) and this time he definitely liked it. I think the pictures say it all.

New Hair!

I was ready for some short hair. So, here it is!

Random Park Pictures

Swinging on the swings!

Climbing and running all over the jungle gym!

Crawling through the caterpillar tube!

The little man had a blast!

Fry Dippin' on Fourth of July

So, due to a recent request from a friend (you know who you are!) I am, most pathetically, updating our blog! It's not much, but here's what we've got. I'm not gonna lie, we are the most boring people when it comes to a holiday. For the 4th of July this year, we just went to the aquarium. It's like our home away from home.

I really don't have a lot of pictures to show from our trip this time. We weren't there for very long, but we did manage to catch the sea lion show which our little man actually paid attention to for the first time. He loved every second, and I took a lot of pictures, but they are so dark that it's just not worth posting. And, when we went to the inside tanks the only thing he wanted to do was walk up and down the benches, and one can only take and post so many pictures of a child doing the exact same thing every time we go!

So, here's the new thing from our trip this time. Fry dipping! I know that the little man has seen us dip our fries a million times, but he's never been interested until this time. He had a great time just dippin' away!

Dip...

Lick the ketchup...

Repeat...

So, it's once again confirmed that he is just like his father now that he's in love with ketchup too! Josh is a total fry dipper and we go through ketchup like you wouldn't believe in our house! Looks like I'm going to have to double my storage efforts.

p.s. We truly go through a 40 oz. bottle (the really big bottle) in about three weeks and that's the longest it would last in our house. I have five of those bottles in the cupboard and I feel like I'm running low. So, now that the little man is interested in dipping too, I'm even more concerned. And you thought you ate a lot of ketchup!

Back into trouble. (And I love it!)

I'll take this any day of the week. He climbed into his exersaucer (which he hasn't played in since he was like 10 months old) and played for about 20 minutes today. The only problem was getting both legs in. The right one stayed up on top like this. Oh my sweet little man...

Today.

So, this is what I found today. You know you're feeling better when you want to climb again and play with your toys when you're sitting in the window. Apparently, this is the best place to play in the whole apartment right now. (But, I can't deny it, I do love that he's acting like himself again.)

I just like the picture. He has a couple of plastic eggs from Easter in his toy basket and he was chewing on one this morning. We sure love this little guy and cannot imagine life without him. (He keeps us on our toes, that's for sure!)

p.s. He woke up with no fever and has not had one at all today. The doctor said to watch him pretty closely for the next couple of days to be sure, but hopefully we are out of the woods for a little bit.