Toys

Someone please tell me why we buy toys for our children?  Why do we think that manufactured pieces of plastic will be more interesting than a wooden spoon?  Or am electrical cord?  Or better yet, how about a sleeper?

Yup, that's my baby playing peek-a-boo with his sleeper.  I actually took this off of him on his changing table; Evan grabbed it and brought it out with him to his play area.  Then he started to play peek-a-boo and I sat back and watched (or more accurately, sat back and took pictures).

If the first picture was the "peek-a..." then this picture is the "...-boo." 

Look at all of those toys around him and it's his sleeper that he finds most interesting. 

On a completely unrelated note, see that cute one-piece outfit he is wearing?  Before we left Austin, someone gave us a gigantic bag of boys clothing.  This is one of the pieces from that bag.  And yes, it has a monkey on it.  It's like kismet.

Now, back to the sleeper.  I don't think he has any issues that one of his favorite toys is an article of clothing.  What do you think?

Happy Mother's Day (but I still think I'm the luckiest mother... well maybe I'm tied with my mom, because you know, she has me and all)!

Evan's New Favorite Thing

Usually Evan doesn't play favorites.  He doesn't have a favorite blanket, pacifier, stuffed animal, toy or anything (or if he does I never noticed it so I never accommodated it).  He is pretty easy going that way.
But recently, all of this has changed.  When we were in New Jersey, someone gave Evan this book:

What you can't tell by the picture is that the monkey faces are actually raised and each page counts down from 8 monkeys to 1 monkey.  Evan LOVES this book and looks for it almost as soon as I put him down on the ground to play.

Don't believe me?  Well, the proof is in the pudding (whatever that means):

The Babysitter

So, in order for Brian and me to go to the Metropolitan Food Show on Sunday we needed a baby sitter.  I'm sure Evan would have been fine if all we did was look at the exhibits, but not even the most perfect 8 month old in the world could not have sat through 1 hour of a cooking demonstration.

Originally, since this Sunday was really about me (Mario is my man, not Brian's), Brian was going to get the baby sitter.  But I think a combination of work and procrastination got the better of him and last Thursday we didn't have anyone. 

So, I did what I always do in these situations and went to the Internet (what did introverts like me do before the Internet?).  I found this awesome site, Sitter City, where you can look for local baby sitters, pet sitters, and adult sitters.  You pay a fee to join and then a monthly fee thereafter (for as long as you are a member).  You post a job and whoever replies, you can have a background check done on them, interview them, read ratings from other people who have used them, and ask for references. 

So far the Internet has given me Brian and my cat Lucy so I thought why not.  And it was definitely a smart thing to do.  I had 8 people respond to my job post before I closed it and after some interviews and reference checks, we went with a 26-year old kindergarten teacher.

I was nervous to leave Evan and, to be honest, a part of me was concerned he wouldn't miss me.  Well, with a cute blonde 26-year old to play with, my baby didn't miss me at all.  Thankfully he did smile when I walked in the door or I probably would have broken down in tears. 

She liked working for us (the babysitters get to rate the family after they babysit for them and I got to rate her - she gave us a good rate... we gave her a big tip - and of course Evan is a joy and all he did was smile for 4 hours straight) and I'm ecstatic that we have someone to use. I'm already planning Brian's birthday dinner, a movie night, and some other things.  Of course I need to be mindful of the cost, but sometimes splurging for my sanity is worth it!

PS - I talked myself out of the nannycam so I can only take her word for what happened.

PPS - I don't have a picture of her because I thought that was kind of creepy for our first meeting.  This is one of the cons of being a blogger about a person, you have to take pictures of people and that can be seen as weird.  Like when you're in the grocery store people wonder why you are taking pictures, or in a parking lot, etc.  Sometimes I wish I was a food bloggr, food never gets camera shy.

Short Post

Here is what I've learned about babies.  One day they will cry, scream, and refuse to sleep to the point where you want to put them on your front doorstep with a "free" sign on them.  Then you remember they are crying and screaming and not sleeping because of teething and you feel guilty.

Then, the next day, they rub their eyes because they are tired (you know, no sleep the day before can make you pretty tired), you pick them up, they put their little heads in the crook of your neck and promptly fall asleep before you even get them to the crib.  Then you stand there holding them and you can't even imagine that this precious little baby has ever cried before.  And that is when God gets you and you think about having a second and boom you're pregnant (not me, remember my first conception post and all the ones following, I need more than "boom" to get pregnant).

And now that he is sleeping I need to do all the things I had to do yesterday but couldn't. 

But first, remember this...

Can you believe this is the same baby?

My Own Personal Food Mentor

(Okay, baby is teething badly this week which makes it difficult for me to get much of anything done so the posts this week will probably be shorter than usual).

So, what did you do this weekend? Me... oh I went to a little food show called the Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining Show. And I went there with only one purpose, to see the man I call my own personal food mentor... Mario Batali. Seriously, the man in the orange crocs has no idea I even exist but his philosophy of food has seriously impacted my philosophy... it's all about simplicity, fresh food, and flavor. Oh yeah, and he is really funny too.

While we were there, Brian used my phone to take some photos (so not the best quality, but not bad).

One of the surprises of the afternoon was that we got to see a demonstration from Chef Kevin Gillespie. In case you don't know who he is, he was a finalist on Top Chef last season AND he is on the premiere chefs in Atlanta. I love that man and am looking forward to a meal at his restaurant - Woodfire Grill.

Here is a picture of Mario with cavolo nero (aka kale in English). He was so convincingly singing the praises of kale that I may have to see if I can find it at the farmer's market (although I think it's a winter vegetable... but there might still be some around).

He cooked for us a super easy and yummy looking kale dish, pizza, and pasta all'amatriciana. We also got a signed copy of his newest cookbook so I'm sure there will be some recipes from there being made in the Castrucci household.

In the meantime, it's Monday, it's raining in Atlanta, and I'm stuck in the house with a teething baby. A cute teething baby... but still teething. I've already stopped talking to him twice today. This can't be good. And, oh yeah, if OnDemand doesn’t put up a new episode of “Yo Gabba Gabb” soon, I might stab a fork in my eye.