Young Love …

Posted on June 2, 2012 by lksquared

Ahh the early months of a relationship…all the rainbows and sunshine coming out of the ass of the one you love 😉 That sure is a glorious time…I remember it well!

We vacationed with one of our best friends DF & his girlfriend HB. Can we just discuss for a second how stinkin’ adorable they are?

It’s no secret that I’ve been pretty nervous about who DF would bring home to meet his friend family. What if I couldn’t stand her? What if she couldn’t stand us? What if she didn’t mesh with our group? How much further from the truth could those fears be?!?! This girl is amazing. Now not only does HE love her, but so do I…and most importantly…Miss A adores her.

She’s a great girl and we had a great vacation with her! It was so nice to see how happy she makes our friend. It also reminded me of the early days for me and the Mister…before this amazing baby girl came into our lives and threw us into the whirlwind we call parenting!

Another type of young love. Our love for this little sassy pants. 2 has brought on a whole new world of tantrums when she can’t control her emotions, and we’re working on getting that under better control…but wow this young love is way more stressful than the one these 2 lovebirds have goin’ on 😉

Good job Miss HB on 2 weeks smoke free! We are so proud of you!

Life Lessons For My Little Girl…

Posted on May 12, 2012 by lksquared

Lots of people know that being a Mom is one of the hardest jobs in the world. We are making sure our kid’s needs are met, that they are safe, that they are growing into responsible, respectful, productive members of society…this job takes 24/7 work. In these early years…it is easy to get caught up in the day to day of keeping them safe and to lose track and lose focus on the important lessons you want to teach them. I found a great blog post at busykidshappymom.org that I want to share with you. There are 37 lessons that she wrote for her sons and they are amazing. I can only hope to instill these lessons and many more in my daughter.

I have many things I’d like to teach Miss A and I hope that when she reads this in the future she knows more than anything that you are the best thing that has happened to me and I am very proud of you.

Let The Celebration Begin…

Posted on May 4, 2012 by lksquared

Oh birthday…how I love thee 😉

A weekend birthday is great – especially when you have a husband & mother as awesome as mine! We will be spending my birthday in NYC while A hangs out with Grandma! It’ll be like old times since we’ll be without human kid, but with dog kid!

As usual, the birthday celebration started a day early when Grandma, Auntie H, Cousin S & A2 came to spend some time with us! We had the usual birthday dinner at Nagahama & cake back at our house!

Thank you to the best family for making my birthday feel special…even at this age 🙂

And to my little Miss Sassy Pants…I can’t wait to spend the day with you!

Let Them Have Pizza & Cake…

Posted on April 28, 2012 by lksquared

A started asking for cake about 20 minutes into her party. After every bounce, every swing, every game I heard “Mommy I want cake”. I am pretty sure she smelled the pizza when it was delivered! She ran right over to the tables & said she wanted some pizza….so she started the eating part a little bit early…and alone…

Eventually – everyone joined in!

And finally…the highlight…the cake arrived!

A's Great Grandma A! Lookin' good for 94!

Who's satisfied?!?!

If you thought that was the end of it…You thought wrong! We had us an after party! Stay tuned 🙂

Totnastics…Oceanside, NY…Party Time

Posted on April 27, 2012 by lksquared

The first time I knew that Totnastics was the place for A’s 2nd birthday party was at her friend’s party there. A, as outgoing as she is, is normally very tentative and cautious around large groups of people. At all of her classes like Gymboree & dance & music, she has always just sat back and observed a little before getting into the action. When she walked into her friend’s party though, there was no waiting period. There were a lot of kids there and even more adults, I would estimate about 25-30 kids plus their parents. A didn’t even blink. She ran for the trampoline and got right on! Then she headed for the foam block pit and jumped right in! She really had a great time. Then at cousin S’s party, she acted the same way. Mind made up. I’d call & get the date set for her party ASAP.

I called their Bellmore location, put down a deposit & went in to sign the contract. When I called I told them this was for my daughter’s 2nd birthday. When I went in, A was with me and she’s clearly a 2 year old! The place is full service. You sign up, give them the guest list & they take care of everything else. I chose to do my own evites instead of their invitations so I could keep track of RSVPs there. They told me all along that they’d be calling the Monday prior to the party to get head counts & pizza orders. They did call to confirm & then that night I got a few more missed calls from them. After A’s bath the phone rang again and when I answered it was a nice girl from Totnastics. She said there was a mix up & they somehow didn’t note that A was turning 2 and booked her in the “big kid” part of the gym which was not exactly 2 year old friendly. My choices were to A) change the time of the party, or B) change the location to their Oceanside place. I had never been to the Oceanside location but they assured me that it was the same activities. I thought it was better to change venue since everyone coming had already made their plans for their day. They were nice and offered to call everyone for me, but I chose to take care of this and confirm with everyone myself. The owner agreed to compensate us for the mix up by throwing in a few things that usually cost extra, for free. We felt this was fair.

In the end of the day, only 1 family went to Bellmore, and they said their GPS sent them there even though they plugged in the new address! Silly GPS. At the end of the day, I think the Oceanside location was really a better fit for us since it is a bit smaller and we didn’t have a very large group of kids…so it was a lot more manageable. A had a blast. Her friends, & family … everyone was there to celebrate A & it was so adorable to watch them bounce. Even more fun was when the girls and I were able to bounce without the kids!

Lots of photos…

We got there a little early & Grandma jumped up on the trampoline with A!

Our friends got in on the bouncing too!

A's best friend is usually the shy one...she didn't stop going for a second! Plus she looked adorable 🙂

A is always so happy to see Cousin S!

It's her party and she'll cry if she wants to!

Uncle C getting in a little bike ride!

DF's perfect landing from the high bar....

They couldn't get A to let go of the rings!! They resorted to tickling her!

little girls & Grandma

Big girls turn!

A's favorite part of her party (Aside from the cake - which she started asking for about 20 minutes into the playing part of the party!) She got to FLY!

Thanks everyone for playing, bouncing, jumping, swinging & all the other fun stuff we did with Miss A for her birthday! Tomorrow I’ll show pictures of the eating…that was A’s other favorite part!

Embrace the Camera Thursday 4.26.12

Posted on April 26, 2012 by lksquared

I can’t even believe how many photos I have to go through of A’s party, and how little time I have to do that since my 2 year old is running non-stop!

I plan to have most of the photos up within the week, but here is Mommy & A during the circle time portion of her party! We had the most fun & can’t thank everyone enough for coming to celebrate our baby turning 2!

Yesterday A had no nap…so we put her into bed at 6:15pm. That is WAY early for her since normal bedtime these days is between 7:30 and 8pm…that is however, when she gets at least a 2 hour nap during the day! I’m hoping she sleeps until her normal 8 or 8:30am, but I doubt that! We hope everyone has a great Thursday & hops in front of that camera!

How A Spent Her 2nd Birthday…

Posted on April 24, 2012 by lksquared

Since A’s party was being held on Sunday, and her birthday fell on Saturday, we had the whole day to play and enjoy her birthday alone with her. It was a Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, & A day. Very similar to the day she was born! Similar except for the fact that 2 years ago we were in a hospital and I was screaming….this year we were in a mall & A was screaming!

Mommy & Daddy went into A’s room once we heard she was awake & sang her first Happy Birthday of the day! She thought we were really funny!

Then she gave Mommy a fantastic gift! She laid on her changing table & let me….CHANGE HER DIAPER!!!! This is important…and was a big deal…since she NEVER lets me change her without throwing a giant tantrum.

We then sent Daddy out to the yard to trim hedges, clean up the gardening & patio & do some work around the house. Grandma & Mommy headed out with A to the mall for some shopping! We got A her birthday present, some clothes, & some stuff for Mommy too! Success!!! Then we I realized that A had a dirty diaper & I am an irresponsible Mommy who forgot to reload her diaper bag. Long. Ride. Home.

We got home, she napped like a good girl while Grandma & Mommy ran some errands & then we had dinner & cake. Her favorite part of the day for sure!

The first strawberry shortcake of the weekend…but definitely not the last!!!!

2 Is The New 22…

Posted on April 21, 2012 by lksquared

Lets discuss…

I have a 2 year old. I have a 2 year old who thinks she’s 22. I would say 12 or 20, but she likes wine too much so she’s certainly over 21!

Dear A,

It is surreal that my tiny little baby is 2 years old. You are not a baby anymore and there’s no denying that. You choose your own clothes, sleep until 9am, love all sweets and vegetables equally, love wine like an Italian, will do anything to make me laugh, have done lots of things that made me cry…you are simply the best thing that could have happened to your Daddy and me. The light that you bring into our lives is so bright I can barely sleep at night. You are so smart, everything you say amazes me. Some of it shocks me to my core. The way you love your friends and family is inspiring. You are creative and colorful and a leader of all the family girls. That is Mommy’s nice way of saying you are a teeny tiny dictator! You tell me what to do all day … and most of the time I do it too! You love to watch movies and talk on the phone. You love to read books and color and paint. You absolutely love gardening. You are very attached to your blankie, bobo, bunny & Ritz bear. As long as you have those things with you, you sleep like a champion! You need your naps and are a really happy girl when you get a good sleep! When you don’t, you are still a great girl, but you sure show your crankiness! You love Disney princesses, Curious George, the Backyardigans & Strawberry Shortcake. You have a dream about some of them every single night. The one thing that stands out the most to me about you as you turn 2 is your love of music and dancing. You dance all-day-long. You love the music on the tv & will dance in circles as the world moves around you…and boy do you think the world revolves around you!!!! Miss A…my world DOES revolve around you. I love you.

You challenge me every single day, to be the best mother to you…but no matter how crazy you try to make me, I love you more than all the stars in the sky. I love you more than all the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the world 😉 Thank you for being the best daughter in the universe!

I hope all of your wishes come true today and everyday. I hope you dream big. I hope you always love the way you do today. I hope you always know how much your Mommy and Daddy love you. You have changed our lives in the best way possible…

Love,

Mommy & Daddy

Still can't get over how swollen I was...ew. Family shot April 21, 2011

Family Shot April 21, 2011

Family shot April 20, 2012

Off to spend the day getting ready for A’s party & After party! Can’t wait to see her face when she sees all the hard work we’ve put into this one!

I just spoke to my mother…who made me laugh on A’s 2nd birthday the way only a mom can do…apparently, in a conversation with Auntie H, it was discovered that even though Auntie H has never experienced a single labor pain yet, and is expecting her 3rd baby, she will NOT be trying to deliver naturally for this 3rd kid, even though her Dr. said it is a possibility. The reason is, that Auntie H was in the room with me while I was in labor. Apparently I scared the labor out of her! “That was not a joke” Lucky B*tch.

Quotable Moments

Posted on April 18, 2012 by lksquared

If you know Miss A personally, than you already know she’s a really really great talker. If you don’t know her or haven’t seen her in a while, you’d be pretty surprised how clear she speaks and even more shocked at what she says! This girl is really funny! Most of the time I have to hide my laughter because I don’t want her repeating some of the things she comes up with in public!

I think it is going to be fun to look back at this post with her when she’s older and see some of my favorite quotable moments from my 23 month old!

The day before seder #1 Passover 2012, April 5th, I was busy cooking in the kitchen and my hands were covered in food. A asked me to put on Tangled in the living room, so I did. She kept coming into the kitchen asking me for more and more things. I was frustrated…this conversation ensued…

M: “A, GO SIT ON THE COUCH AND WATCH YOUR MOVIE!”

A: “Mommy….Don’t freak out!”

M: “Excuse me, what did you say?”

A: “No freak ouuuuutttttt Mommy!”

The G family sent over a bounce house for A’s birthday gift. A hasn’t really stopped bouncing since it arrived! The morning of April 13th I helped her into the bounce house early in the morning, and went to my room to throw on some clean sweatpants…I was on the phone with Grandma and we hear….

A: “Mommy HELP YOUUUUUUUU”

M: ” how can I help you A?”

A: “Mommy take picture Dumbo, Pooh and A…NOW puhlease”

A’s Auntie S, Auntie H, and our friend ED are all pregnant…everyone keeps talking about the “baby in the belly”…proof that toddlers listen to everything you say and think everything is about them! We were in the car on the way to play with PD on April 15th, we were listening to the radio and A interrupts me to say…

A: “Mommy…I surprise Daddy”

M: “Oh really A, what’s your surprise for Daddy?”

A: “A baby in my belly!!!”

Oh yes A! That would be a serious surprise for Daddy! I will definitely stop watching 16 & Pregnant near A … immediately!

A in her crib morning of 4/17

“I want to PARTY!”

These are just a few examples of the funny things Miss A says daily…I think I will start to keep better track of some of them so I don’t forget. These days are amazing….frustrating sometimes, but mostly, simply incredible!

Fort Construction 101…

Posted on April 13, 2012 by lksquared

Last week, we got the chance to visit with Auntie S2 & baby Cousin CJ! We don’t see them nearly enough, so when they came to Long Island to visit family, we made sure that we got to see them at least for a quick morning visit. We didn’t get to see too much of Baby CJ since she was napping most of the morning (like a good baby!) but Miss A had a BLAST with her Auntie S2! They got lots of fun packed into such a quick visit!

A showed Auntie S2 some of her favorite movies and introduced her to the Backyardigans. Auntie S2 showed Miss A how to build a pillow fort and how to hide & check out her surroundings in her new hiding spot! A thought this was very very cool…

Then Baby CJ woke up and I got to see how big she’s gotten since last time we saw her! It is amazing how much she’s grown since Thanksgiving. She is beautiful & I miss her tons already!