Belmar in April

So what do you do when it is ninety degrees on an April day? You go to the beach, that's what you do.

We started off with a nice walk up and down the boardwalk. Trenton said, "Good morning" to everyone he could and was quite upset when people did not respond (dang earphones). Ollie slept a bit and then we played.

For all of those moms who say "I can't take my two kids to the beach!", I say, try the parks at Belmar. They're right in the sand, just below the boardwalk. Enclosed with fencing. See the last pic for my set-up. I put Ollie in the sling and T walked while I pushed the Wonder Wheeler.

Many more pictures from many more days like this to come soon, I promise :)

Naptime at Our House

Naptime routine goes like this: (because I know you really don't care, but someday I'll want to look back and read this post and long for the good 'ol days)
1- Eat lunch.
2- Read 2-3 books together on the couch.
3- Put Ollie in swing, with paci. Take T upstairs. Do business after arguing over whether or not he needs to do business in the potty.
4- Return to room sans pants (who needs 'em?) Wrap kid in blankie... bounce continuously on big exercise ball saying, "Close your eyes!" until he relaxes, lets go, and falls asleep.
5- Mommy gets about an hour to blog or sleep or whatever.
6- Ollie awakens and wants to nurse. Ollie then continues nap on Mommy's lap (as in picture above) while Mommy works on computer OR both crash on bed until T wakes up.

T asleep. Still won't stay with his head on the pillow for too long.
Ollie asleep. Without the swaddle, he likes his arms up over his head or sticking straight out. Still swaddling at night, but night is a different story...
Oh, and excuse the unsnapped Onesie... it was hot that day.

Can we say "BedHead"?

T is usually a bit grouchy when he wakes up. But if he has his brother nearby, he livens up and smiles more quickly.
:)

Nerd

Sometimes Jim and I kid ourselves about how dorky we are. We wonder if the kids will grow up thinking it is normal, or if some day they'll truly see us for what we are-- a bunch of silly willies. Anywho, it is fun to break out into song, do funky jigs, and generally do stuff within our own home that we'd never do outside of it. Can any of you relate?

This past week was long and a blur... spent it doing stuff. Playdates. Hosting lunch for an old friend. Family visits. Not as much laundry as I should have been doing. Jim is on his way home from the Philadelphia Airport now, after attending the SBM conference in Montreal and taking a brief excursion to Kansas to run a marathon (Kansas you say? Well, yes... he is still on that mission to knock out all 50 states, remember). I spent Thursday to Friday with my folks and Friday to Saturday with my in-laws. It was very restful to have someone else around to keep up with the boys. I love watching them interact, too-- so interesting how Trenton knows that playing with grandparents is very rewarding.

On the way home from our trip, I spotted a sign that said "New Jersey State History Fair" and I almost squealed out loud with joy. The signs were all over Rt. 29, the road that leads up to Trenton and each time I passed one, I read another line on it. Turns out it is next Saturday from 11-5 and takes place at Washington Crossing State Park. I've always wanted to go there-- one year, we'll go on Christmas Day for the reenactment. But there is access to the footpath nearby, right on the Delaware... if the weather is as nice as it is today, you can bet we'll check that out. Before naptime, of course.

They'll have American History Theater (!) presenting/portraying Harriet Tubman and Thomas Edison, a quilting bee, 19th and early 20th century children's games for the kids, and an antique car show. So as long as the weather holds out (you can bet I won't be taking kids out if it is rainy or below 50 degrees), I'm soooo looking forward to attending this nerdy-history day. ;)

Other random rants:
1- I am sick of the carpenter bees. I know they are marking their territory this week, but they have got to stop it. This morning we went to the reservoir (nice and cool at 7:30 AM) and they were all near the visitors center... making us duck and swerve to avoid their path... more in the back of our house and the front of the neighbor's house, too. Any ideas, other than swatting them with the Wiffle bat? At least they hover and make for an easy target...
2- Kinda figuring out why Ollie has had a hard time sleeping. The poor kid has been backed up. I knew something wasn't right down there since we started really feeing him solids 3x a day... not enough, er, coming out... But he more than made up for it over the past three days. Trying to shove more prunes and less rice cereal in him now. Last night he slept from 8 to 1AM, then wanted to eat at 3:30, so I gave him a bottle of water. Should help with the constipation. He didn't eat again until 5. So that's good. Twice a night instead of 3 or 4 times!
3- I took the pics for this post outside the house today. In the 90 degree weather. It's APRIL, PEOPLE! My plan was to walk them to church in the stroller, and after lubing everyone up with sunscreen and making sure they were shaded in my new-fang-dangled sun shade for the stroller (I'm using a white fitted sheet), we got about three blocks and I decided it was just too darned hot. I knew if we walked there we'd have to walk back at 12:30 and it would just be hotter. And everyone would be crankier.
So in these photos, I'm trying to get T to hide the bagel-with-cream-cheese he scarfed from the hospitality table. He's showing off his tulip. He's SOOO happy that it has finally decided to open up. Been green and closed for some time now... He likes to delicately touch it and cradle it in his hands. Had to snap a few pics before the thing dies (like the daffodills in the background have started to do!)
Pic of Jim taken at race... muuudddyyy!

Feedback Makes Changes Happen

Anyone else thinking that as you went to vote for the school board and budget this week? I sure did.

If you are a breastfeeding mother, you owe it to all future breastfeeding mothers to check this out. Seems as though the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services wants to know what we know about the successes and failures and ways to promote nursing in our country. So take a second to put in a response in one of the fields. I wrote in section one regarding the differences in hospital care at Carle Hospital (where T was born) and Jersey Shore (where Ollie was born). Like night and day, really. How I loved the breastfeeding clinic at Carle and all it had to offer. So cool to be able to weigh Trenton, then nurse him on the glider in the private room, then weigh him again to see how much he ate! (Highly sensitive scale)

I'm a day away from handing in the BIG 'OL PAPER for class. Hoping to get some constructive comments on it. Not sure how, as I'm submitting it electronically... but we'll see. Once this is done, I can go back to exercising during naptime! Ah, who am I kidding... Napping during naptime! ;)

Take Us Out to the Ballgame

First time using the timer to get a pic of the three of us. Can you tell? Picture below shows one of the first attempts...

Lucky us! The tickets we had for last weekend's game were good to be redeemed for any other game in April. Turns out there was a day game today! So I called up Laura and her little guys, Harrison and Jonathan, and we were off to First Energy Park to see some Blueclaws action.
It rained like crazy the day before and the morning of, so the play area was closed. But the boys still had fun. It was Senior Citizens day, and there was a massive number of middle-schoolers there on a trip (how the heck do you justify that link to curricula?) ... we were probably the only ones there with little guys.
Also note, the Blueclaws are a Phillies affiliate team. So you KNOW I had to deck out everyone in Mets gear...

Each child eats free this season and gets a voucher at the gate. Sweet deal!
Below, Trenton shows off his free poster. We also bought him a Blueclaws hat (which he refused to wear...) and he had his glove on for some of the game.

The boys did NOT like the loud speakers. Here, they applaud for the singing of the National Anthem. T also got a kick out of singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the 7th inning stretch. We left soon after. Still no score (not many hits at all--they ended up losing 2-0).

Now this is funny. Here, the mascot Buster takes Trenton "under his wing". Luckily T didn't get scared, but he sure as hell didn't know what was going on. "Mom, why did he put me under his shirt?"

We had great seats! The boys kept themselves entertained with some cars, popcorn, and cookies.

This was Jon and Ollie's first game. Not bad!

Below, The Eyeballs race. A local ophthalmologist sponsors it. Figures.

Highlight of the game? Ollie and I got a foul ball! We played it perfectly off of the roof (okay, I had to huff it down the aisle a bit and up one row, but there was no way I was letting one of those Senior Citizens get it!) It's cool: dirty, authentic... Everyone clapped when they realized that I had Ollie as well as the ball. Ha!

Potato Heads

Oh how I miss having my husband home in the evenings. Spring semester is always the hardest, as Jim advises lots of students and needs to meet with each one to prepare schedules for the upcoming year. Between classes, grading, projects at work, exercising, conferences (two this spring), and running races, Jim is a busy man.
When he is home, though, I can do all sorts of things (Read the Sunday paper on Sunday! Sort laundry! Haul crap into the attic! Use the bathroom without a baby on my lap!) I really like this time.

We took it easy on Sunday as we tried to catch up on sleep and sleep off the after-affects of the party.

This week Jim leaves for a conference and a race in Kansas. We miss him/he misses us, for sure. Who will he play Potato Head with while he's gone?

Avocados!

Needless to say, he likes avocados. A lot.
This nutty treat is actually a fruit. Did you know that?
Also tastes good mixed with a bit of formula...
Very, very messy in the bag. But washable.

Earth Week

I see the media is billing it as Earth Week. Nice to focus on our planet for more than just a day. We were totally busy this weekend and didn't get to do any cool Earth Day things, other than enjoy the warm weather outside in our backyard and put the gazebo up (thanks Mom!)
Now Ollie can sit outside and not be directly in the sun.

Random stuff:
1) T got an activity book in a goody bag this weekend. One tongue twister says "DICKY LICKED SIXTY STICKY STICKERS". Instructions say "Repeat 5 times without getting mixed-up". Go for it ;)

2) Awesome artist Chris Jordan illustrates a wave of garbage. To think that someday our oceans will be churning up all of that barge-trash... Here's hoping alternative forms of trash-disposable become available before that happens.

3) If you haven't read up on this, take a look. I think it is a very innovative idea that I hope can work and the arguments made in this editorial in the Star Ledger lead one to believe that investing billions in our mass-transit system may actually get us somewhere.

4) A new book out by Dr. Laura praises Stay-at-Home-Moms (a term I find a bit inaccurate) for doing what they do. I'd like to get a copy and read what she has to say. I'm sure it is going to be a controversial one, and although I like to keep an open mind about these life-decisions that other people make, I know it was the right thing for our family to do. I saw her speak about it on the Today Show last week.

If I wasn't an at-home-mom, how else would I get a chance to take casual, random pictures such as these? Or bog at 8 in the morning? Or rock my baby to sleep anytime he chooses to take a nap? Or schlep my kids to storytime, craft time, playdates, or Target? I know I'll look back on these years with a warm smile, remembering the routine and ordinary-ness that goes with them. But you can never go back, right? As much as I miss teaching, there will be plenty of classes to educate in the years ahead when I return to the profession. For now, I'll work on enjoying this "job" while it lasts.