wino baby

This weekend we headed down to Rancho Mirage (Palm Springs) for a mini getaway with my parents and another couple. Patrick left for Alaska today so this was a great weekend to relax before he headed up to King Salmon (for 17 days! Ok ok- he is coming home for a week to visit us but he is still gone for a total of s-e-v-e-n-t-e-e-n days!)

My new obsession is pinot grigio wine mixed with ginger ale (thanks MIL! She is always looking out for me.) I poured myself a glass and before I knew it I had a wino baby on the rim of my wine glass. Will could not get enough- well at least we know he doesn't take after me in that department. Hopefully it was just the glass and not the pinot ale mmmixture.

When wino baby attacks..


no baby tub, no problem. He doesn't know the difference, right?


and where we relaxed

speaking of children...

We're expecting! Yes you read right. We are going to be parents again! We are so excited and cannot wait for the little one(s) to arrive. Scroll down for more info...






























JUST KIDDING! Haha ~ did your eyes bug out of your head? I didn't say what kind of babies now did I? We have a new bird nest under our patio cover. Momma bird just build her nest and she hangs in there all day. I managed to snap a pic while she was gone but I'd really like to get a picture of inside the nest but the angle is kind of tough. I'll know the eggs have hatched once I hear those little birdies chirping away.

our 1st children

I was just thinking the other day how Duke & Daisy hadn't made their grand apperance onto the blog as of yet. D&D were our 1st babies we got right after we got married. They will be 2 in August and September. They are the best of friends and great dogs (when they aren't barking at all the people walking by!)



Daisy being so gracious and sharing a corner of her bed with Duke.

if you napped

more than hour out of the entire day- you'd be able to enjoy your dinner instead of falling asleep during your favorite time of the day.

Seventh Generation

While I was reading this blog called Cool Mom Picks I came across a post about eco-friendly dishwashing soap for babies. It got me thinking. I use BPA-free bottles to protect my little one from BPA and then I wash those BPA-free bottles in just regular ole dishwashing soap. While I'm sure he will survive, I know there are safer, less toxic, biodegradable products out there. 

I always have to use a good amount of soap and I really have to scrub hard to get the bottles sparkly clean, especially if they've been sitting for a while. The dishwasher always does the trick but I won't run the dishwasher unless I have a full load of dishes to clean. So I am always hand washing bottles.

I was comparing all the eco-friendly baby products at Babies-R-Us yesterday and decided to give Seventh Generation a try. It's safe on our hands, for my baby and on the earth. With the liquid dish soap in hand I started to walk off and thought to myself, "what if I put the bottles in the dishwasher? I need soap for that too." Lucky for me they had dishwashing gel to go along with my liquid soap. 

I've only tried the liquid soap so far and it's amazing! You only need a small amount and it really goes a long way. It gets Will's bottles super clean (no residue) and I know that I'm doing something good for him as well. I'm now eager to give the dishwashing gel a try. 

Seventh Generation's features & benefits:

Non-toxic
No chlorine bleach or phosphates
No dyes
No NTA or EDTA
Safe for septic & greywater systems
Not tested on animals
Kosher-certified

*If every household in the U.S. replaced just ONE bottle of 25 oz petroleum based dishwashing liquid with SG 25 oz vegetable based product, we could save 81,000 barrels of oil! That's enough to cool AND heat 4,000 U.S. homes a year! 

Hey, I replaced my ONE- now it's your turn!

Click here for SG coupons.

that stupid singing balloon

So it's still floating around our house because it still has tons of helium inside (and it better for that price!)

If you don't recall the infamous balloon, see father's day: part II

Well I had it in my bathroom yesterday and Will was playing with it while I was getting ready. I looked down and the price tag caught my eye again. I literally did a triple take. What I thought was a $4.99 balloon was really $14.99! How could I miss that number 1? I might have to go get a partial refund from my laser eye surgery doctor.

Yes, $14.99. Are you sh*tting me? For a balloon- that sings? Do you think I can take it back today for a refund? "Excuse me store manager, for $14.99 it should have made my husband breakfast in bed."

watch out Tickle Me Elmo

The other day I went with my future sister in law to do some girl stuff so Will was under daddy's watchful eye, or should I say chin, while I was gone. When I got home Patrick said he had to show me what they did while I was gone. I'll share with you what Patrick was so eager to show me (make sure your volume is up.)


This child is SO ticklish- he definitely gets that from his daddy.

movin' on up in the world

Today Will moved on up to Level 2 at Gymboree! Yippie! For those of you that don't know what Gymboree is- it's a play and music class for kids 1 month- 5 years old. It's broken down into 7 different levels of age groups. Level 1 is 0-6 months and Level 2 is 6-10 months. So while Will was the big man on campus in Level 1, he started to show little interest in the class. Today we tested out Level 2 and he loved it!

Here is what Gymboree says about Level 2:
During this time, babies learn about cause and effect and how they can make things happen. They understand that they can show what they want by making special noises or using gestures and facial expressions. For example, they know that when they smile, mommy usually smiles back. They respond to people who talk or play with them by making sounds, faces, and gestures such as reaching out. They use all the skills they're developing to make an impact on and learn about the world. At seven months, children might shake a toy to make it rattle. At nine months, they might reach out their arms to show that they want you to pick them up. (Will is already doing this- I've got an einstein on my hands!)

Your child's understanding of cause and effect and his or her ability to make things happen is critical for developing an understanding of how the world works, an ability to communicate and connect with others, and a sense of competence and self-confidence.

I'm just excited to be seeing our old Level 1 "friends" again tomorrow in our new class. See what a new mom looks forward to each week now? Quite exciting.

tummy time

"hey mom, stop trying to keep me on my back!"

"ha! Want to try to roll me back again?"

"good- you finally gave up."


watch how "interested" Will is...

bust-a-sweat

Yesterday we went with our friend's Matt & Amanda to the shooting range..errr target range? I don't know what to call it. It was my first and possibly last time. Let me elaborate.

First off- it was 104 degrees. At least I knew going into this we'd be shooting inside. Since it was so hot I wanted to wear my new Gypsy dress and flip flops. I thought it was nice, light and airy and it would be perfect for the 104 sun. Patrick thought I was crazy for wearing such an outfit to the shooting range but hey, what does he know? We dropped Will off at my parents so at least one member in our family would still have their hearing after this event.

We got the range ran inside into the nice air conditioning and proceeded to get our sexy eye wear and ear protection. Then we proceeded into the actual shooting and target area with our designer clear sunglasses and jumbo earmuffs.. (lol "earmuffs!" what movie?) So when I thought I was going to be chillin' in the cool AC- boy was I wrong, it was 96 inside there! Yes, I repeat it was INSIDE! My thighs were sweating.. in my nice, cool, airy dress and Nike running shoes that I had to borrow from my friend. They forgot to tell us we couldn't wear open toe shoes. Isn't that a cute fashion statement image in your head right now? Now I understand when your armpits sweat and maybe sometimes your chest when you work out but your thighs? You know you are overheating when your thighs are sweating.

Long story short (is that possible at this point) I shot one bullet. Yep, you read right- 1, one, uno bullet. The guns just freaked me out. I was scared knowing there were other amateurs with loaded guns in the same room as me. To top it off a flying shell landed on my chest and burnt me! After that I couldn't take my eyes off those flying things. So I decided that I had had enough of that 96 degree, bullet filled, shell flying sauna and patiently waited in the lobby with my best friend of the day- the AC.

My one bullet shot wasn't caught on camera but here are some pictures of the non-pansy professionals of the day.

ETA: good thing there wasn't a pic taken of me today- thanks for recognizing how awful that pic would have been Mandi!

my "little" boy

Is almost 6 months! I can't believe it. Where does the time go? If only my pregnancy would have gone that fast I might actually want to do it again- sooner...but hey, we are getting off topic.

When I reply to stranger's question about Will's age they immediately say, "Wow, he's a big boy!" Always happens, never fails. Yes, I know he is a big boy. My "little" chunky monster weighed in at 17.5 pounds today! And I thought his birth weight of 8lbs 10oz was a lot. Try carrying him around IN his car seat. No wonder my dad commented on my buff arms. It's like carrying around 20 pound dumbbells all day.

He is not even 6 months yet and he is wearing 9-12 month clothes. Tonight I had Patrick put on new cute airplane PJs I just bought 2 days ago and they don't even fit. By the way, they are a size 12mo. I might just have to post a baby picture of myself for you all to see where my "little" boy gets his chunkiness from. Yep, that's right I was a pretty chunky baby myself. Trust me- I'd much rather have a "little", rather big, Gerber baby than a little doll that I'm afraid to break. I love my chunky monkey.

Aquarium of the Pacific

Today Ashley and I took the kids to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. The Aquarium of the Pacific is a world-class aquarium, exploring the waters of Southern California and Baja, the Northern Pacific, and the Tropical Pacific.

It's nice that Ashley is off of work until September so we get to hang out and do fun things together this summer. I'm going to be bummed once September comes around. We have lots of fun upcoming activities planned.

Back to the aquarium- when we arrived there were kids everywhere and I mean everywhere... like little ants on a piece of candy. Ashley says, "Ohhhh I forgot it was summer. Probably a lot of summer camps here." Ya think! As I stood in line with Will, Mrs. VIP Ashley went to her VIP door and walked right in to nice air conditioned aquarium. She was using my aunt's aquarium membership. While she was inside (in the AC) and me outside- she realized it was a family membership so she came out handed it off to me and I walked my little stroller in that VIP door too. It was getting mighty hot standing there in the 99 degree sun.

I wasn't sure if Will was old enough to really be interested in anything at the aquarium but I was definitely wrong. He loved the exhibits inside with all the sharks, fish and jelly fish.

Here's a peek at our day at the Aquarium of the Pacific.





now this is the lobster I want to order in a restaurant

Will staring at the seals

check out the baby sharks that are going to be born in August, September & October

We're Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

Will FINALLY rolled from his belly to his back at Gymboree today. I mean finally because we have been working on it and I've been trying to show him how it's done. He loves to roll from his back to his belly and doesn't mind being on his belly for a short period of time- but once he wants to lay on his back again he doesn't know what do and gets frustrated. He's napping right now but once he wakes up I'll try to get a quick video. This would be great for those nights when he wakes himself (and me) up because he is stuck on his belly.

father's day: part II

The morning of father's day WIll and I got up a little early, went down to the store to get french vanilla coffee creamer (hey, I can't have a cup o' coffee without it!) and a balloon for Patrick. We got our two items, headed out of the store when I almost pulled a Britney, giving Will whiplash (I was just lacking a bodyguard to save him. I should get myself one of them.) I hadn't noticed, until Will smacked it, that I purchased a singing balloon. NOW, I have seen those singing cards- but a balloon? This was news to me, obviously since I almost dropped my kid because of it. No wonder the balloon was five freaking bucks! That's a precious gallon of gas nowadays. Anywho- we made Patrick stay in his room until we were all set up, coffee with creamer and all. Here is a little video of Patrick's father's day morning grand entrance. Don't mind my scratchy morning voice and how I stupidly turned the camera sideways (or daddy's white boy dancing!)

one.game.at.a.time

that's all I ask of the Lakers! Back to Boston we go. It's going to be a hard 2 games...we just need to take it one game at a time and hope that our MVP shows up!

happy father's day

Wishing all the great dads a wonderful father's day! Today was Patrick's very 1st father's day and I hope Will and I didn't let him down. He is an awesome dad. Will and I both are very lucky to have him in our lives. Video and pics coming tomorrow.

GREEN OUR VACCINES

  On June 4, 2008 the Green our Vaccines March & Rally occurred in Washington DC with hosts Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey. Rally speakers included: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Dr. Jay Gordon, Dr. Jerry Kartzinel, Dr. Boyd Hayley and the hosts Jim & Jenny.

More than 40 autism and environmental organizations supported these efforts and an estimated over 8,500 individuals participated. Every state was represented including friends from Mexico, Canada and the Philippines.

McCarthy, author of the best-selling book Louder Than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism, and Carrey have joined forces with national advocacy organizations in the battle to eliminate toxins from children's vaccines and to encourage national health agencies to reassess mandatory vaccine schedules. While they do support immunization, like many parents and experts in the medical community, McCarthy, Carrey and their many allies feel that children are receiving too many vaccines, too soon, many of which are toxic. Their goal is to demand a safer vaccine supply and schedule for children.

"This day will go down in history as a time when parents' voices and their message to change the vaccine program was finally heard and acted upon," said Jenny McCarthy.

Families from across the U.S. are already committed to marching for safe vaccines and the numbers are growing. "Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey are heroes to hundreds of thousands of families who love a person with autism and for all families who want safe vaccines that are toxin free. Their desire to help and be a vocal instrument of change are warranted and greatly appreciated," said Lisa Ackerman, TACA Executive Director.

Green Our Vaccines rally shirts are still available for purchase here  (yes, I bought one!)

no words

On Thursday we went to the Lakers vs. Celtics Game 4 of the Finals. Lakers HAD to win to tie up the series.. we were on our home court, 24 point lead at the half, had to win, had to win, had to win... we lost. There are no words so here are some photographs (lots).






tip off

pomme bébé

See the difference? Pomme bébé is a company that provides fresh organic baby food that you and your baby can sample and buy. They peel, steam and purée by hand every wholesome meal in their on-site kitchen. Today I met my mom's group at pomme bébé and Will got to test out some of their creations. He tried peas, carrots, apples and pears. They had a ton of variety but I didn't want him to try anything new just yet in case of an allergic reaction. You can order from pomme bébé's website here : http://www.pommebebe.com/



tons of variety

meet baby DJ

This is Amaiya's little bro. He is 3 weeks old. I can't wait for the days when Will and DJ can play together. It's going to be great for both of them to have a bud so close in age. I was trying to snap some pictures for Ashley to use as DJ's birth announcement. Here's the little guy..