That is my “cathedral” closet system! Pretty huh. The one that is open houses my purses & the man’s shorts and who knows what else.
And today…our cat. M…if you weren’t 18lbs I’m not sure I would have seen you!
This post has no pictures because I live to far away to take any right now.
Without more than a cellphone photo by txt message, I can tell that CJ is the most beautiful baby! She is so tiny. Half of what A was born at…that is crazy! I can’t wait to meet her & snuggle with her & give her all the love that an Auntie should give a niece!
My best friend S2 is the most amazing and strong girl ever! She told me last night, “I don’t care what anyone is saying…this kid is coming” and she was right!
I haven’t spoken to her yet since then, but I’ve heard she’s relaxing…exactly what she should be doing.
The LKs are sending the whole family love, kisses, hugs, and lots of sleep! We love you more than you know miss CJ & welcome you into the world!!!
and to Auntie S2…words can’t describe how much we love you. You’re a fantastic Auntie and this little girl is so incredibly lucky to have you as her mommy.
Now rest. and call me. really I’m going through withdrawal!
Its been HOT here in NY. Really hot. I know I live less than 1/2 a mile to the beach, but with A’s naps & lunchtime & attention span, I think I’m going to try to stick around the yard…now that I have a yard (or 2)!
We got A this sand & water table the other day…she loves it! She made herself all sandy…and my driveway…and me…and T. She played in the water table with the boats & swam in her baby pool. She even got T to come for a swim too!
Not gonna lie…I’m a bragger…my kids are the cutest. Hands down.
T loves the sun. He’s mexican through and through. Now that its hot as hades outside, he can’t get enough of it & tries to get out every chance he gets. In the winter, I’m lucky if he gets out of bed on his own!
Apparently…A loves the heat too! Playing outside is doing this girl some good…we’ll be living outside all summer. You can find me in the baby pool!
A has had a great time since she’s home from vacation! Summer is really here – it’s very hot – and A is loving it! She is a very good girl when we’re out and about & she’s been staying up way past her bedtime! Thankfully she sleeps in!
The most amazing thing that has happened lately is that she is understanding everything I’m saying to her! It was like magic…one day I was talking & watching my words go in one ear & out the other…the next day, I spoke…and I actually saw it register with her! She did what I asked! (please pick up the baby and bring it to Mommy). This also works the other way, she hears the word “No” and realizes now that she isn’t going to get her way…she freaks out!
I’m reading a lot about temper tantrums and how to handle them. I’m not sure I have any choice but to ignore them, which is just frustrating, but seems to be the most effective. It’s also a little embarrassing in public, but either the people who are staring have kids and are empathizing, or don’t have kids but one day will….and they’ll think back and say…”wow…I get it”.
The one thing I’m having the most trouble with is aggression & hitting. I am also going with the remove her from the situation & ignore it method, but it’s not really working as well. She’s been hitting me or her Daddy, Gramma, Aunties etc. Not other kids. Yet. I can tell she’s frustrated sometimes, but other times I think she’s just figuring out what she can do with her hands because she laughs. I don’t.
Any ideas?!
I hope everyone has a great ETC day!
A loves to kiss. Mostly, she loves to kiss her baby dolls, her stuffed animals, all real babies, and all real animals. Not so much me…but I ask all the time!
She doesn’t care so much what the animal is…I’m just hoping that this doesn’t extend to bugs too because I will freak out. Really.
We went on UB’s boat this weekend & did a little fishing! As we found out in the Keys, A loves boats! She was sooooo good. Daddy was catching lots of baby fluke….and all A wanted to do was to kiss it!
(that is her going in for a kiss…but we didn’t let her get too close otherwise she really would have had fish lips!)
(*** I don’t know why this didn’t post this morning!!!***)
We want to wish a very happy birthday to 2 awesome people! Our friend E & Uncle B!
Uncle B,
We love you a lot & wish you the happiest birthday ever! Thanks for taking care of Auntie S2 & making sure she’s happy! We can’t wait to see you soon!
Love,
Baby A
Dear E,
We wish you the happiest birthday ever! You’re the best! You let me play with all of PD’s things, you carry me around when I get jealous that you’re holding PD, you feed me very yummy food, you let me play with that singing bunny my mom thinks is creepy…and so much more! Thanks for always having patience with me even when my mommy doesn’t! I think I should thank you for walking with mommy and me on the boardwalk, but the part of me that hates that stroller and hates being strapped in wants you to never walk with her again! I wish I could make you a pretty cake like you made me for my birthday…maybe I’ll try!
I hope you have a great year & I can’t wait to spend the summer playing with you and PD!
Love,
Baby A
…is the beach. True its not exactly in my backyard…I have trees in the actual yard, trees with bugs in them. I grew up in Long Beach & Friday night was the definition of why I wanted to bring A back there to grow up. Friday night, the girls were bored, and we went to the beach! There was a cool breeze, some sun, lots of sand and A & her BFF PD! It was PD’s first time on the sand & the girls loved it!
They definitely ate a ton of sand….but they had a great time! So did their Mommies. We’ll see how they like it Monday – Friday in the heat of the daytime! Something tells me we’ll be there at night too! Next time I’m bringing T…
So LK got a new job. Not me…the other one. So far, so AWESOME. They are responsible for our amazing Memorial Day weekend – and I couldn’t be more grateful. I have to admit I was a little nervous to see what a “company trip” was going to be, and in my mind there was going to be a ton of business related things, and me being left to tend to little A while the husband talked work & “shmoozed”. Luckily, to my surprise, this wasn’t what happened at all! As you saw – we went to Disney and had a great family day there. Sunday was for relaxing by the pool! I was determined to hang by the pool all day and not get stuck in our room with A…so we did it! Even better, A cooperated!!!!!
First. I can’t speak highly enough about California Baby Sunscreen. It has kept little A protected from sunburn many times since she was an infant. She has very sensitive skin and is allergic to Johnson & Johnson and Aveeno products….she has had no adverse reactions to the California Baby stuff. We had no umbrella at the pool for shade, she just wore her hat most of the day. She swam a lot & took 2 good naps in her stroller. (ahh that Disney Magic Air)
I got to have a great massage & the husband got to go to a golf clinic. By the end of the day we were relaxed & ready to party! I didn’t snap any pictures of the company BBQ that night, but it was great! A was dancing & playing with all the kids and we even got a fantastic fireworks show!
Thanks to everyone for treating us “new guys” like family & for the opportunity to have such an incredible family vacation!
Here are some pictures from our trip! We really are so lucky to have been treated to such an amazing trip!
I did some research into what the best things to do with a 1 year old are in the Magic Kingdom & I think the most important thing was to be flexible. The day was a great success, due mostly to the fact that us LK’s gave up on us enjoying the normal Disney stuff and instead followed A’s lead…it also helped that we got there at 8am. If you make it there early, especially on a holiday weekend, you get at least 2 hours with no lines!
First we came up to Main Street and A was entertained by some singing passerby’s while Daddy snapped a pic!
Then we headed over to the castle because everything we needed was through there! We got a photo pass but only got 1 snapshot of us which I don’t really want to pay $15 for! I think it’s a great way to get lots of awesome photos of you and your whole family and not have to carry around your camera, but I had mine, and we were tired of taking A in and out of the stroller!
The first ride we saw was the Mary Poppins Carousel. I know A loves to ride the horses so we had to stop there! We got to ride twice since there was no one on line. She got to ride the little horse and she LOVED it!
Next we went to “Its a Small World” Our daughter is really social. We sometimes call her the Mayor. She needs to check everyone out, say hi, make sure everyone is entertained…and she felt it was her duty to make sure to greet all of the puppets in all of the small world! She was blowing kisses, and getting very excited! It was pretty dark in there but I got a little video of Miss Mayor…
Right after that, we went straight across to the Peter Pan ride. She liked it, but it wasn’t as great of a reaction as the last one, and it was too dark to get any pics!
By then, she was exhausted…she was off schedule and we knew it was naptime. We strapped her in the stroller and took a walk while she napped. It took all of Disney’s Magic to get her to nap in that stroller, and she did it!!!! We were proud 🙂
After her nap, we went to lunch. Not much opened in terms of food until 11, but we managed to get an 11:15 reservation & got to catch the Mickey & friends show at the Castle.
After lunch we headed over to the other LK’s favorite ride in Disney. Most men would be psyched to get to ride Space Mountain, or Splash Mountain or some other thrilling roller coaster ride…not my LK. He loves the teacups. The pink one to be precise. I have a photo of us in the pink teacup circa 1999 that will not be shown on this blog 😉 or it might. I haven’t unpacked it yet!
After this, we waited on line for the Winnie the Pooh ride for 30 minutes…at which point A was cranky, we were sweaty, and we decided to go back to the hotel for naptime! This worked like a charm. A was able to get in some good sleep, we rested up & got ready for dinner in Japan at Epcot!

It might look like LK peed in his pants...don't fret...he just spilled an entire bowl of Miso soup on his lap!
We did a little shopping after dinner & A got to pick out her favorite Micky or Minnie doll…she had many to choose from!
She chose the Minnie from Paris! (Auntie H…that’s in France, not London!)
Then we watched the fireworks show & headed to the Monorail.
(A fell asleep on our wait to the monorail & we went for some dessert back at the Magic Kingdom while she napped! While we were there, I made LK buy an extra special light up balloon for A to wake up to! It was $15, but what is our daughter’s smile worth really?!?!
In many ways, taking a 1 year old to Disney is silly…but it was great for us. She wasn’t scared of anything, but she never really is…and the Disney magic made my sassy girl into an angel. Mickey & Minnie…move over…A is movin’ in!
We’re back from Disney! Our Memorial Day weekend was amazing. Our trip was full of fun people, fun with our family, and lots of sun. It was Florida in the end of May. HOT.
A loved Disney. I know that she won’t remember any of it and that she probably doesn’t remember any of it already, but I got to see my baby girl blow kisses to every little puppet in Its A Small World. That is priceless!
There aren’t too many photos of me and the munchkin or even us as a whole family because we didn’t have anyone to take the pics for us, but here’s one the other LK snapped while we waited on line for the Peter Pan ride!
Look at that relaxed girl!!! WHO IS SHE??????
No worries – she’s back to her normal self…all nutty and “spirited” 😉 I’m happy she’s spirited…its better than the alternative of her being a dud! She’s giving me a run for my money, and I am ready to play lady!
Sending well wishes to Emily & hoping she is feeling better!
Embrace!