Sharing...

Unfortunately, AJ had roseola last week and since I didn't know, we still went out and about and he "shared" it with a bunch of his friends. Sorry to all who were infected! Since the symptoms are similar to teething and the rash looks a lot like prickly heat, I might have missed it entirely. I only ended up bringing him into the Dr. due to the fact that there were no new teeth in sight and the lymph nodes behind his ears were swollen. No wonder he was so crabby/needy last week!!

Thank goodness AJ is all better now and back to his generally happy and funny self. Here's a blurry pic of him taken while he was sick and out drinking (Just kidding! He was at Cate's birthday party, posted about below). Doesn't he almost have bags under his eyes? I'm sure I do from his waking up at 4:30 for 3 days in a row! Now he's making up for it and today slept in until about 7, and is now taking a marathon morning nap. He went down at 10, and is still asleep now at 12:10! (nowadays if he takes an am nap, it's only about 1 hr) I might have to wake him up...

New Gear

Recently, both of my guys got some new gear...this leaves me wondering what will I be getting to keep up? Looks like it will be something nice (maybe some panniers for my bike?!)

Andy's new item is a bat, which I thought looked like it had a plastic wrapper shrunk around it, but that is actually the bat's surface. This apparently shows my bat-ignorance even more than my query as to why he didn't get a wooden one (for any of you that are sports-handicapped like me, the reason is obvious: wooden bats are for baseball and he is playing softball. We'll get into the major difference between those two sports another time, like maybe when AJ is 6)


AJ's new piece of equipment is his new carseat. He is finally sitting forward-facing, and seems to like it. He watches the cars and action through the windshield now, or through his eyelids as he demonstrates in this picture. It has a cupholder (that today he used to stash his apple) and spaces under each armrest to store his necessities and toys (sometimes one and the same). The seat was easy to install and Andy took care of it this past Saturday. Since it transitions through the next 3 stages (forward-facing with harness, high-backed booster, and plain booster) and fits kids up to 100 lbs, it is supposed to be the last one we'll need to buy (for AJ, anyway).

Goodbye Longs

Our neighbors and very good friends, the Longs, left Monday (Memorial Day) for their new home in Singapore. They moved there for Eric's job and plan to be there for 2 - 4 years. Oh, how we'll miss them!!! I just realized as I'm typing now on Tuesday, that they are still in the air for their 18hr flight! Hope they all were able to get some sleep, as traveling any length of time in a contained space can be a challenge for a 2.5 yr old and a 6 mo old. Here is one of my most recent pic of their whole family as Eric was setting up their new double stroller for the trip.
This shot is of AJ and Kaya in the local smoothie shop. AJ is looking up at the fan,

one of his favorite things to spot in a room, and Kaya is saying hi and smiling for the camera. Since they ride side-by-side so often, they think it's pretty fun when they get to be turned to see on another in their stroller. Doc's is the smoothie shop, and AJ is a BIG fan. It's where he learned to drink through a straw when we went there for the first time with our friends Emily, Sarah and Erin and all their kids.
Before Emily left, we got to have one more "Moms' Night Out" with her at the Charleston. This shot from left to right is me, Erin, Emily and Sam. It was really fun and we had a few

beers and listened to Sam's friend play. (She was really talented!) I know the rest of us mamma's will continue to go out together, but we will all miss Emily sooo much. I'll have to post in the future about how I end up spending the last hour or 2 of the day before Andy gets home, because up till now, we pretty much got together with the Long's around 4 or 5 almost EVERY DAY!! Like I said, they will be missed.
(To see what they are up to, you can check out their blog at the link to the right.)

Memorial Day Fun

This Memorial Day weekend, we were BUSY. With my moving out of my jewelry studio, family in from out of town, a birthday party, bike rides, brunches and a "Long" goodbye, we had the 3 days pretty packed. I think AJ saw a huge number of friends and relatives this weekend: My parents came in on Sat to help us with my studio move, and then we drove out to Roselle to unload a good portion of my equipment and materials into their crawl space. Andy's sister Melissa is visiting from NY, and she and her friend Paul came in to hang out on Sat night and then, along with (Andy's mom) Cheri, came over for dinner on Sunday night. While they were here, Cheri and AJ were trying out my new sunglasses. (I think AJ looks very Jackie O...right Mom?!)
Sunday afternoon, Andy, AJ and I biked over to Piece for our friends' daughter's (Cate's) 1st Birthday Party. It was fun. We corralled the little ones and AJ was into Cate's toy cell phone. Never mind that it was shimmery pink! AJ and Cate shared a table for the lunchtime party, and I think they were having a contest to see who could get more pizza ingredients on the floor.
(At least we were not the ones who had to wash the floor this time!)




When Cate blew out her candles and ate her cake, AJ wanted in on the action, so we gave him a cupcake and let him go to town. A very pink face shortly followed!
CUPCAKES, CUPCAKES, YUM!! That is a real treat for AJ since I'm such a strict mom and never share with him all of the baked goods I'm always eating myself. Soon he's going to catch on though, right? hmmm...

Cleaning Up!

For a while now, AJ has shown interest in sweeping. I use a dustpan to sweep up under his chair after every meal (and then wipe the floor down with a rag, on my hands and knees! Anyone who knows me knows that washing the floor is not my favorite chore, but I do this small area 3x/day. poor meeee. hahaha). He usually wants to "help", so depending on how relaxed I still am by that time, I sometimes let him wield the brush. We don't want to stifle the little helper instincts! Here are 2 shots of AJ using the actual broom! He thought it was wonderful and pushed it all around. Sometimes I unscrew the top 2 pieces of our Swiffer handle and let him push around the "Mini-Swiffer". This is a little more helpful to me, and just as much fun for him. Who needs push toys when your 13 mo old is up for cleaning??!! Now I know why the Duggars have so many kids! (kidding, obviously...that's a blog topic for another day!)





This week was also exciting in the area of getting clean...in the tub! Andy and I decided AJ had outgrown the infant tub we have been using since his umbilical cord fell off. In fact, He probably outgrew it a while ago, but now that he can try to climb in and out of it while all wet and slippery, we needed a new solution. I bought a textured suction mat to use on the tub floor and thought maybe we'd just see how AJ would do sitting in the tub, but before the next bathnight rolled around, we inherited AJ's cousin Kyra's bath ring, and we're ready to give the tub back to my sister Kim for her new baby due in July.
(For not having spoken to each other in advance, Kyra, AJ and Kim's Baby-to-Be are spaced perfectly apart to share everything. Yay, hand-me-downs!) We tried out the ring, and AJ loved it. He got such a kick out of being in the whole tub with more water, more toys and more bubbles! He also enjoyed the way he could turn around in the ring and even liked spinning the colored beads on the ring itself, which I didn't think he'd even care about. Now AJ loves bathtime so much that he stands and knocks on or hits the bathroom door and works to pull the handle if we even say the word "bath"! As far as I'm concerned, that attitude is here just in time for summer! I think I might return the suction mat...hmmm.

...and the Three Bears

There was an incident at our house recently that resulted in a failed nap...Bear was in the dryer! I had washed him along with AJ's other laundry earlier in the morning, but I forgot to throw it all in the dryer right away. Naptime rolled around and I realized my mistake as AJ did not happily fall asleep with another bear that I tried to substitute. Bummer! So, while he cried in his crib (Bea! Bea! Beeaaaaaah!!!) I searched for Bear online and ordered not one, but 2 backups! Here are the 3 bears, so happy together as a team. Now no matter if one is left at Grandma's house and another is in the laundry, there should always be a spare Bear. Yay!

Slingin'

I finally figured out how to wear AJ on my back in the wrap sling! I have read several different directions, but never really got how to do it, and never made the time to try it with Andy around to spot us. Then somehow I stumbled onto directions on YouTube! They were wonderful! If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth a million. I did it after watching several moms demo their techniques and Andy said he didn't even need to help us. AJ gets a big kick out of it, and when he gets whiny toward dinnertime and wants to be held (right when I'm trying to make dinner, so not really an option), I have tied him on in the sling and he's happy as a clam!

Recently I babysat two children and had to get all of us to the park for AJ's park district class, so this was my impetus to figure out how to wear AJ again. I used to wear him in front, but he is far too heavy for that now. After practicing at home a few times before the babysitting date, AJ and I became pretty good at slinging again and the trip to the park and back went really well. Though I was tired, I feel good that it worked and I know I can do it again! Fun!

Visit to the Clark's (& AJ's first big tumble)

Last week, AJ and I went to IN to visit my good friend Lilah how is home on bedrest with triplets. Yes, triplets. And she already has 2.5yo twin boys named Paul and William! It was great to see her and do a little catching up in between playing referee and trying to keep AJ from getting into trouble. Lunch went well and Paul liked sharing AJ's sandwich, so when his Mac & Cheese was ready, he let AJ have some of his too.

This blog post would not be complete if I left out the bad news of the day...AJ took a spill down the little flight of stairs! Turned out he was fine and had barely a bump, but it all happened so fast, it really made me evaluate my future decision-making process! I think I cried as much as him since both of us were scared (& I was feeling super guilty!!) but Lilah called a friend at the hospital who made us all feel better by letting us know that concussions are very rare in kids under 5 since their brains have a lot of extra cushioning until then. I think God makes them that way on purpose knowing there will be many falls and bumps along the way...

Here is a shot of the twins and AJ with Lilah's mother-in-law who is helping them out. I know it's not great, but you try to get 3 wiggly kids to sit still for a portrait when they all need a nap!

Yummus Hummus!

These are some shots I couldn't resist posting. They are from lunch the other day when AJ continued to ask (sign) for more when the hummus was all gone, so I gave him the container to show him. However, he begged to differ and went on to show me just how much more there still was in that little tub! At one point, his nose and tongue were pushed up against the inside of the plastic, but i didn't get a decent shot so you'll have to laugh at the image in your imagination...

Cosley Zoo

On 4.21, Kim and I took AJ and Kyra to the Cosley Zoo in Wheaton. It was small enough to be manageable and bug enough to be interesting. AJ saw all sorts of animals that we read about including ducks, horses, a donkey, a cow, sheep, llamas, rabbits, etc. There we also some reptiles and interesting birds like owls and hawks. AJ actually got to touch a goat and we watched this baby lamb give his mama a kiss...

After the zoo visit, we picked AJ's cousin Karly up from school and stopped in to see Omi (my mom) at work (since she teaches Art at Karly's school). Then we went back to Kim's house for lunch and played outside in her backyard. The grass was just coming in and AJ enjoyed wobbling around in it barefoot. It was nice to hang out on Kim's patio while the kids played in the contained yard. (but no, we're not moving to the suburbs!) Fun!