Embrace The Camera Thursday 7.25.12…When Good Girls Go Bad…

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Tuesday was a scary day.  I wish I was one of those mommies who only had smiles, laughing, dress up, arts & crafts & baking to blog about…but this blog is about the reality of Mommyhood…and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t shaken to my core that day.  My sweet Miss A turned sour.  She took tantrum to a whole new level…one that I have never seen before…and then there was blood.  I’d been watching her from a safe distance as she raged in her crib for 15 minutes.  I couldn’t get closer as she would grab me and try to hit, bite & scratch me if I did.  I knew she didn’t bang her head.  I never thought she’d draw blood from biting herself and scratching at her face.  I thought wrong.  After another 15 minutes Mrs. M who was with me at home Tuesday, finally got through to her with patience and a few bribes, and she calmed down.  Enough to tell me she wanted to eat & then we headed straight to the pediatrician.

3 guesses what Dr. H told us.  Guess 1:  Ear infection?  WRONG.  Ears, throat, chest…all clear.  Guess 2:  She needs baby valium?  WRONG…or right…depends on who you ask this question to!  Guess 3:  This is normal tantrum behavior.  I do NOT believe it.

Common causes of tantrums in 2 year olds.  Tired, hungry, hot, anxious, angry.  I am pretty sure she was all 5.

1.  Tired:  Miss A wakes up in the middle of the night, I’m pretty sure every night.  I don’t know what is waking her up, but I can’t seem to figure it out or prevent it.  I’m trying to make it easier for her to fall back asleep by putting the aquarium music box back into her crib.  But when I wake up in the middle of the night, and that music is on, I know she’s been up & not sleeping soundly through the night…even if she’s not waking me up complaining.

2.  Hungry:  She is a wonderful eater.  She isn’t very picky and usually will eat what I make her, but there are always days where she just doesn’t want to eat.  Tuesday…she wasn’t really eating.  I’m pretty sure she was hungry.

3.  Hot:  It was about 5000 degrees out that day.  At camp they played with water squirters and they were as cool as possible, but she was definitely hot.

4.  Anxious:  Separation Anxiety was in full force.  She was crying like a lunatic when I dropped her off…but she has the BEST time at camp.  They take candid photos and post them to their website so parents can take a peek into their day…A is always the star of the photos with laughs and big smiles.  I know she’s having fun.  When I pick her up…she starts with a happy Mommy smile…then it turns to crying…Doc says…it’s about…#5

5.  Anger:  She said something that I had never thought of.  I’m dropping her off, even after she’s telling me she doesn’t want to separate from me.  Even though she’s having a great time, when she sees me at the end of the 2.5 hours, she remembers that I left her and is now angry!  This anger thing makes sense more and more because the other tantrums are happening when I’m asking her to do something she doesn’t want to do…but she doesn’t know how to tell me she’s angry.  So she freaks out.

Doctors orders are to hold her so she’s not hitting me, and the only problem with that is…then she tries to bite me!  So I’ve been just staying away from her and speaking calmly to her and letting her know I’m there for her, I love her and it is ok to cry but she can’t hit or bite me…It is the hardest thing ever to do since I have little patience.  But yesterday…it sort of worked!  Granted, it was not a camp day, and today is the real test as she goes back to camp this morning, but I’m going to remember yesterday as a huge success…we had 1 short, slightly violent tantrum and 1 pretty long but non-violent crying tantrum!  That is a big difference from Tuesday!  She’s 2….she’s going to have tantrums, I just have to let her get through it safely!

Has anyone else had tantrums with violence?!?!?!

I hope my baby girl is still here today!  I’ll be sure to take lots more pictures of us while she’s in happy moods like this!

I’m planning to pick up Miss A from camp today with ice cream & cookies & cupcakes & stickers & jewelry & toys and anything else she loves so that she is so happy that she forgets how mad she is at me for leaving her!  I’m sure that’s against all rules in any parenting book, but I don’t care!

Update…this Mommy might jump off a bridge today….we’ll just say that today isn’t going well & it is not even 9am.  No camp today…

Boys Can Have Fun Too…

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I’m not the only one who gets to have lots of fun with my girlfriend!  Mister LK had last weekend to live it up with his boys.  And live it up…he did…after lots of wine…this is how the boys (and HB) played!

 

Why I Love Vacation…

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Because it is amazing!  It is 9am and I woke up to silence!  I get to be on vacation with one of my best friends & stay up late drinking and talking.  There’s nothing better….**Except you Mister LK…vacationing with you is just as good…in Bali…(haha)** Thank you AG for making my girls weekend the best!

Thank you to my dad for letting us stay is his beautiful apartment.  Without a 2 year old it is so easy to keep clean and not worry anything will be broken!  Thanks for all the travel recommendations here & we will be going to the beach today!

I want to wish a happy anniversary from afar to our friends the PH’s….I had so much fun taking these pictures & I hope you guys had as much fun being in them!

 

 

 

Embrace the Camera Thursday 7.19.12

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I’ve had time without Miss A over the last 2+ years.  I can’t deny that.  It has been lovely….but we’ve always been doing “something”, like going to a wedding, or meeting people, or getting ready for something.  Last year Grandma took Miss A to Florida and left me home for a week.  That was heavenly!  This year…the mommy who has saved me from self destruction more times than I can count, the mommy who has been my support since the day I gave birth to this little maniac, my amazing friend AG and I are going on a girls only, kids free weekend in my second home of this year…FLORIDA!!!  I think that I should get some type of award for flying the same route on JetBlue 3 times in as many months!  I can’t wait for this trip….like….really really really can’t wait!  We’re going to lay by the pool and read big girl books without being splashed and pulled and whined at….WITH ALCOHOL!  The only juice we’ll be drinking will be in our cocktails!  We’ll sleep in late & go out to dinner where we’ll take 3 hours to eat if we want to!

In appreciation of all things kid-free this weekend, I’m embracing the camera with my favorite Mister LK & some of my friends from our excursion this past weekend!

While on this fun engagement party trip to the Long Island wineries I got to shoot the 2 handsome grooms for their Save The Date cards.  I want to extend a big THANK YOU to my fabulous friend HB for being a really amazing assistant & helping me get lots of really fun, funny, sweet & pretty perfect pictures!

She was instrumental in getting some shots like this…

Hehehe….Once the boys pick their favorite photo for the Save The Date…I’ll be able to post the rest of the pics from this shoot….I can’t wait to share!  They’re a great couple & I’m honored they let me photograph them for such a special announcement!

Asleep at 6:30pm….What Does A Mommy Do????

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So today was a camp day!  I love camp days…even if I get beat up getting her sunblocked & dressed & into the car by 9am.  See, Miss A’s “witching hours” are in the morning…unlike most children who have their bad time around 5pm.  She is whiny and demanding and ripe for tantrums from breakfast time through nap time.  So camp days, it is someone else’s problem!  Although they tell me that she’s really very good and only cries for a minute when I drop her off!  When I asked her what she did at camp last Thursday she told me “I clean toilets Mommy”.  I don’t know WHY I haven’t thought of having her do that here!!!!  She said it was fun!  If she was behaving the same for them that she is for me…well I understand the punishment of making her clean toilets!

This morning she was so incredibly loud and un-soothable that I would have sworn she was sick!  So with her runny nose I made a Dr. appointment and had her ears checked out.  All good.  No infections anywhere.  FUDGE!!!!  amoxicillin is a much easier prescription to fill than Mommy patience!  Fine…I’ll try to be a good mother for the rest of the day.

At that point (2pm) she had napped for a total of 10 minutes.  We had lunch and swam in the new pool for about 2 hours and came inside to snuggle!  Then the most unexpected thing happened…she fell asleep at 6pm!  What am I going to do with all this time on my hands!  I had already made dinner, and straightened up the house….I guess I’ll edit pictures of our fun excursion to the Hamptons from this past weekend!  I think I’m getting spoiled with all of this kid-free time!

 

Coming up…more photos of some awesome couples & a really fun shoot with the couple of honor!

 

Bris Baby…

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My nephew Baby H is going to love me…he is going to adore me…he is going to think I am the coolest Auntie ever…until he finds this post 😉  He’s gonna really want to kill me that day!  Good thing once that passes, he’ll love me again!

The bris was beautiful…Grandma R & Grandpa M made a lovely brunch.  If anyone is wondering how we kept Miss A quiet and out of the mohel’s way….well it’s pretty simple with this girl…

Give the girl her games and movies on the IPad and she’s usually an angel!  Even if we had to listen to Beauty & The Beast in the background!

I can’t wait to see this little man next weekend!

Embrace the Camera Thursday 7.12.12

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I miss this little man!!!!!

It has been a very busy Thursday around here…and there have been no shortage of tantrums, but there was camp & playdate & nap so all in all, I’m not complaining!

Hopefully we’re getting out to the boardwalk tonight and Miss A will cooperate & not embarass me!  Cross your fingers for me!

 

The Jersey Shore Can’t Handle This Girl!

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More fun pics from our trip to NJ this weekend.  We didn’t get pictures of our all day playdate with Mister J since it was so freaking hot outside Saturday that I was in the pool from 10am until about 5pm.  I think next year I’m going to save up for a waterproof camera because these kids are really adorable in the pool & I’d love to capture that!

Once we got out of the pool though, Miss A decided it was time for a jumping dance party on Grandpa’s outside sofas!

What you can’t tell in these photos (hopefully!) is that she is not wearing pants….or a diaper…fun times dancing 1/2 naked!

This is what T thought of the party!  He was in heaven with all this heat!

Sunday we had “project” day thanks to Auntie H.  We made paintings & did tye dye!

Grampa H took us out for a ride on the boat too…I know A loves boats…and Cousins A & S seemed to love it too!  Cousin A is a no fear kind of kid.  The fasted and more dangerous the better!

And again…This was T’s day….

It is really nice to be able to take A to the pool in the backyard, but my favorite part is having a fenced in yard where T can enjoy his days outside in the sun…he is a really good boy and he deserves to enjoy his summers since we make him deal with NY winters!

Long Beach Is > Than NJ…But NJ Has Some Good Things…

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Like my nieces….I mean come on….check these girls out and tell me they’re not enough to get you to NJ for a weekend?!

Cousins!

Cousin S has gotten so big…and all of a sudden she thinks she’s a Victoria Secret Swimsuit model….every time I took out the camera…I got this…

I finally had to tell her to just smile 😉

And Cousin A2 was giving S some competition with the posing…

The next picture has me freaking out…which I tend to do when one of the kids looks IDENTICAL to their mom…but this time, A2 is a spitting image of Grandma…if any family who knew Grandma when she was little is reading this (or anyone who has seen the painted portrait of my mom as a little girl that used to live in Grandma A’s dining room)…you can feel free to tell me if you think I’m wrong…but I don’t think I am!

Those EYES!!!!

And just for fun…here’s Auntie H…looking radiant in her 8th month!  

All Star Camper!

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Yesterday was Miss A’s first day at camp!  She’s in a wonderful program at Twin Oaks Day Camp.  Each 2 year old camper has their own 1 on 1 counselor to stick with them and them only!  That 1 on 1 attention is something that definitely helped Miss A transition from Mommy all day to Camper 1/2 day with ease.  She had a fantastic 1st day…and since she’s my daughter, I really had no doubt that she’d love camp!  Just wait until she is about 7….she’s headed straight to sleep-away!  (yes Mr LK…sleep-away…ASAP….)

How adorable is Miss A’s counselor?!  She’s itty bitty & A loves her!  I hope her soft spoken, sweet, kind personality rubs off on Miss A a little bit this summer!

While the girls were at camp, E & I took some time to go play with someone WAY less fussy than our 2 year olds!!!!

The baby…the puppy…and the mommy who I didn’t get a picture of all made our little afternoon off the perfect morning!  Thanks to the H’s for having us over!  And to MH for letting me hold this adorable, sweet baby girl for 2 hours straight….I love her!!!!!!

When we picked the girls up, Miss A was SLEEPING!!!!  She had so much fun that she wore herself out before the day was even over!  According to the counselors, she was a little fish in the swimming pool & went nuts in the water!  She bounced in the bounce house, ate cookies and crackers and fell asleep in music!  Can’t wait for Tuesdays & Thursdays all summer long!