Weekend Errands

This past Saturday our errands included a trip to The Container Store.  I love The Container Store.  When I walk into it I feel cleansed and I seriously believe that I can organize all the miscellaneous items in my house so that my world looks contained.  Even though I know the store is set up to make me believe that and that when I go home I'll still be living in chaos... I still believe.

The best part about doing errands on the weekends is that one grown-up can entertain Evan while the other one focuses on the task at hand.  For instance, a few weekends ago we went to Dillard's so Brian could buy socks (which turned into we went to Dillards so Brian could spend a couple hours staring at suits, trying them on, and then not buying any of them).  While Brian gabbed with the sales associate I played with Monkey.  He had on his shoes, so I put him down and we were off.  We explored every inch of the men's department at Dillards.  He was so jazzed - running from one table to the next, pulling socks of the display, giggling and laughing - he loved the freedom.  Thankfully it was a slow day at Dillards.

So, for the trip to The Container Store, it was Brian's turn to entertain Monkey.  Following my lead of a few weeks ago, Brian put Monkey down and he was off.  However, The Container Store is a little different from Dillards for two main reasons: 1) It was way more crowded, and 2) everything is at Monkey's level and fits in Monkey's hands.  After about 10 minutes of restocking The Container Store, Brian decided it was time to entertain Monkey some other way and this is what he came up with:

Please excuse the quality... these were taken with my phone.  But I couldn't resist.

Isn't Daddy the coolest?

Birthday Recap... Finally

I know, it's almost been a whole month since Monkey's birthday but better late than never... no?  And, I'll let you in on another secret... I still haven't sent out the thank-you cards yet either (sorry to all the recipients, my goal is to get them out this weekend). 

So, let's recap.  Monkey's birthday was on Thursday, August 26.  This is what he looked like when he woke up:

I know it was only 4 weeks ago, but he doesn't fit into those pajamas anymore... he is growing WAY too fast.

Later that day his grandparents from Florida (Brian's parents) came to be with him.  They brought him yummy yummy Edible Arrangements and he got to enjoy the fruit for most of the weekend.  When Daddy came home from work we all had a birthday dinner for Monkey and then went to Morelli's for some ice cream.

On Friday his birthday continued (because that is our way... birthday should last at least a weekend if not a full week) and Evan, his grandparents and I went down to the park for him to explore.    And look, this time he fits into the swing as compared to this time.

Then we went back to the apartment because his grandparents from New Jersey (my parents) were on their way to the house.  Once they arrived we had lunch and Monkey took his nap.  After his nap everyone played a little bit and I cooked a big pasta dinner with meatballs.  Somehow I sat 6 adults and one baby in an apartment that only has a 2 person eating bar.

Then came Saturday... the actual celebration day for his birthday.  We opened presents (here are just a few photos):

He played with his grandparents.  We went to the park again, with everyone...

...then to the pool, we went out to dinner at The Shed (yummy) and then we went home for the Monkey Cake... literally.

I made Evan a monkey cake.  All went well until I went to pipe on the detail icing.  I got the wrong tips so between me, my mom, and Brian's mom, we found solutions and everything turned out okay:

We all sang happy birthday (as you got to hear in this post) and took our pictures with the Monkey while he ate his cake:

(Mommy, Daddy, and Monkey)

(Papa, Grandma, and Monkey)

(Maga, Grandpa, Grandpa's beard, and Monkey)

On Sunday the NJ grandparents left and the birthday weekend wound down.  Not too bad for the first birthday!

I May Have Been a Bit Presumptious

My last post declared our household free and clear of sickness... well... after another trip to the pediatrician for (you guessed it) diarrhea I'm thinking there was some wishful thinking on my part.  Monkey had another round of diarrhea and his diaper rash turned into a yeast infection. 

But, I do believe that now I can declare us sickness free (I REALLY hope I'm not jinxing his little bum by saying this).  And I thought I would share with you what an illness free Monkey is like.

A little over a month ago, Monkey figured out how to open the drawers of our bedside tables (which are really small little dressers of 4 drawers each).  Brian's drawers are pretty much empty since all of his clothes are in the closet.  Mine, however, has all of my socks, underwear, and bras.  So, after spending a few weeks re-stocking the drawers every night and being leery about putting underwear back in the drawer that Monkey touched (and therefore doing 3-4 loads of underwear laundry every week) I was able to move my underwear... well, almost all of it.

I have 3 pairs of underwear that I bought once "on a whim."  It isn't really underwear I would wear (and no, I'm not going to go into detail about what I do wear - a girl has to have some secrets, even a blogger) so it's always been that underwear that sits there and if.. if I have not done laundry in a LONG time then I have to wear it.  I think that has happened one time in the last four years.  So I decided to leave those pairs in the drawer so he would still have something to play with when he opens the drawer.

And this is how he plays with them:

In this one he is wearing the panty like a necklace and holding another pair in his hand (it's just waiting to become a necklace as well).

Still walking around with the necklace (it's a lot safer than you think - they are big to begin with and he has stretched them out quite a bit).

Now we've moved on to the panty as a mask (do you now understand why I didn't want to wear any panties AFTER he had played with them?).

Still as a mask here but making its way to a hat. 

He also uses then as peek-a-boo devices, teething cloths, and things to flick at the cats.  I was not aware of the many things you could do with a pair of panties.

He makes a mother proud.

Back from the Sick Bay

Yes, we're back. And almost all of us are healthy (Monkey graciously shared his cold with me so I still have some lingering effects from that).

So, what have we been doing? Well, if you remember, for about 2 weeks I was dealing with diarrhea diapers, washing Monkey's behind in the sink (which someday, when he is a teenager, he will LOVE that I shared that with everyone), then Monkey's nose started to run with a little cold and he spiked a fever of 101.6. After Brian and I had our little panic moment (and almost went back to the children's ER) we called Brian's parents (ER nurses), dutifully put Monkey on Tylenol and Motrin and his fever was gone within a couple of hours. However, his cold was not which made it difficult for him to sleep. Then, as Monkey's cold turned into "just" a runny nose (I put that in quotes because remember... baby's can't blow their noses - we've tried a few times - and they don't like their noses cleaned with tissues or sucked out with the snot bulb - apparently also known as a nasal aspirator - so you get snot EVERYWHERE... and I mean everywhere... his hair, my pants, a random blanket...anywhere he puts his hands after he rubs his nose) I started with post-nasal drip. Which turned into a full blown cold (and on Sunday I spent more time in bed than out of bed) and is slowly becoming just a runny nose (for me, since I blow my nose, not such a big deal... just as a FYI).

And that brings us to today. So, I've been a little busy play nursemaid... something that is not really a strength of mine - seriously, ask anyone.

What I really want to share with you is Monkey's first birthday. So, instead of going into massive detail about that in this post… I’ll share with you the video of all of us singing “Happy Birthday” (think Vienna Boys Choir). And I promise that by is second birthday I will figure out how to make the quality of the video better. These things take time.




I'll return with more details this week.

Sick Delay

I know... still no postings, but I have a good excuse.  Since Tuesday Monkey has had diarrhea.  I was in contact with the nurse last week, we went to the ER on Saturday (they diagnosed diarrhea) and we are going back to the doctor's tomorrow.  Besides the diarrhea and the accompanying diaper rash, Monkey is in good spirits.

Once all this clears up (and he is a little less needy) I promise I will write about his birthday weekend.