Year: 2013

We had a wonderful visit this past weekend with Jason’s sister Melissa, her husband Jason, and their son (my godson and nephew and Ashton’s cousin) Owen Anthony! Owen is almost 11 months and totally at that sweet baby stage where he just smiles and makes cute noises and plays nicely with toys. Ahhh those were the days. Anyway, they came up from Long Island to see our new house and let the cousins have some much needed bonding time 🙂

It was a very busy weekend for them. They ate:

They went on the swings:

They went to the farm to see some animals and chickens:

They played:

Well, Ashton did somehow.

And of course, they had a bath.

In between all that, Liz and I managed to get in a (baby-free!) trip to TJ Maxx (angels singing), the husbands cut down some dead branches and cleaned up our backyard, we went to an Easter Saturday party at our old 346 Trapelo Road, the Stones got a date night Friday and the Nills got a date night Saturday and it was generally a wonderful time had by all! Looking forward to the summer, our week together on Block Island in July, and more. Love to the Stone family for making such a big trip up here, we love you and had soooo much fun!! 🙂 xoxo

Also, quick shout out to Debbie Jackson in East Quogue!! Liz told me you love my blog and I’m so happy every time I find out I have fans 🙂 Thanks for reading!!

A slight departure here. Folks, I have no intention of turning this blog into a DIY home improvement forum. I simply don’t have the skills (using a screwdriver and spray paint is as far as I go) plus my sister covers all that. But everyone loves a good before and after and I thought I might pepper in some of those as they become available.

So what did we do? Are you on the edge of your seats?? BEFORE: 

Photo credits to Chera on a few of those 🙂 He remains his usual busy-body self.

On another note, Katie moved to Florida yesterday. She is one of the best friends I’ve ever had and I know she always will be. We’ve shared some pretty high and pretty low moments over the past 6 or 7 years and have never failed to be there for each other. Katie is my #1 supporter, loyal blog reader and just an all around favorite person of mine. But as often happens in life, things change and she’s off to Florida where her family is (lucky Florida! humpf). So, Katie, please consider this a little tribute to how important you are to me – I love you!! Safe travels for you and Norm, ttys obvi. xoxoXO

If you read this blog faithfully, you know that when Ashton Smashton is awake, it’s full speed ahead. He throws things, he climbs things, he’s loud, he’s fast, and he’s curious. This will be me:

So, we went to our friends’ daughter’s one-year-old birthday last Sunday in Rhode Island. Sadly I have no pictures but it was nice to just relax and BE at the party without my phone glued to my hand. We had a great time, Ashton ran his little heart out and, predictably, fell asleep in the car on the way home.

A few weeks ago Ashton decided to turn 18 months old. I don’t know who gave him permission to do this, it was not me.  With this milestone age, my sweet baby toddler has turned into this ferocious little dinosaur who wants to do WHAT HE WANTS TO DO. And RIGHT NOW. It has been a challenging “all about me” age because he’s learning his independence and insists on trying everything for himself. He mimics being on the phone and using keys to open the door, and the best part of his day is getting up on the little stool in the bathroom to “brush” his teeth before bed.

18 months has brought an easily discernible list of likes and dislikes that I thought I’d share with you.

LIKES

1. Sour cream.

To borrow Frank’s tagline, “he puts that sh*t on everything.” I’ve actually seen him make entire meals out of it. And two nights ago as I was making his dinner, I poked my head into the living room to see what he was up to. He had pulled the Desitin out of my diaper bag, squeezed some onto his hand and was licking it. I waited for the moment he realized it wasn’t sour cream, but that never came so I had to yank the tube out of his grubby little fist. Well, he didn’t like that too much, which brings me to the next item on my list.

2. Whining. A favorite pastime. Ashton just looooves to walk around and whine. We never know what it’s about or what he wants but it is brutal. It reminds me of this clip from Dumb and Dumber except the sounds go on for way longer.

3. Snack Art. He’s still very into organizing and grouping things and leaves behind little gems like this.

His “Shoe Surprise” series has been tremendously popular. Most famous works are: “String Cheese in a Stride Rite”, “Teddy Graham in a Loafer” and “Goldfish in a Sneaker” as depicted below.

At first glance, these pieces appear incredibly complex and many have struggled with their interpretations. Alas, they are shockingly simple. The artist hand-placed a single snack tidbit into a shoe and left it there.

4. Compartmentalized food. Most meals consist of little things all separated into their own cups. I have actually read that the best thing you can give a toddler is an ice cube tray with a different snack or piece of food in each hole. I haven’t had to resort to that yet – little cups are satisfactory (for now). Breakfast for one?

5. Footwear. I did a previous post on boots and boy he just can’t get enough. His boots, my boots, anything that can go on his feet really.

6. Baths. Fastest way to turn off the aforementioned whining and clean off the aforementioned sour cream.

That thing between his feet is not a poop. It’s a shark.

7. Waving and saying “Buh bye” even when no one is going anywhere. It’s like “Sorry to disappoint you Ashton, but…”

Other likes: trying to stick his fingers in places they don’t belong (like electrical outlets), pressing buttons (literal and figurative ones), and climbing on anything that gets him at least two inches off the ground. Oh, and mirrors and/or looking at pictures of himself. This does not come from me.

I am not going to spend too much time on Ashton’s dislikes actually because I prefer not to re-live diaper changes or haircuts. He screams and writhes during both and it’s just a horrible time had by all.

Basic 18 month old stats:

Teeth: still holding steady at 10
Height: 34 inches (95th percentile)
Weight: 28 lbs 5 oz (95th)
Head: 19 inches (somewhere in the 70’s)
Feet: 6.5W but wearing 7’s
Naps: 1 in the afternoon
Meals: 3, plus snacks, and getting very, okay, PRETTY good at using a spoon and a fork
Words: Ba-ba (bottle), da-da, ball, car, and when you ask what sound a cow makes, “mmmmm” and a duck “cack cack cack!” His receptive language is much better and he understands most everything I say.
Diapers: size 5’s, 6 overnights
Clothes: 2T
Toys: I need to get him some new toys He’s outgrown pretty much everything and I know he would love a play kitchen and a little barn with animals in it. And more puzzles. For now the Home Depot Work Bench from Grandma has been a total favorite!

It’s been almost six months since I started at Bentley and we said goodbye to Tate. One month already in our new house. Time marches on…

The Nills have left their condo behind! As many of you know because I have bored you silly talking about it, the road to selling 346 Trapelo Road was a long and difficult one. But it’s over and we are beyond in love with our new little 129 Edenfield Avenue. It has been our home for about 3 weeks now and the settling in process has been going slower than a snail caught in a river of molasses not been as quick or efficient as I would prefer. Don’t get me wrong, Jason has taken care of some “immediately necessary” projects, but I’m coming to realize just how much time and money it’s going to take to get it perfect. But we are really, really happy. We had been feeling shorter and shorter on space and I distinctly remember sitting on the deck together right after saying goodbye to Tate last September. We were both so sad and quietly agreed, “Time to go. For real.”

So we finally moved on January 30th. Jason had lived in our condo for 10 years, and me for 5.

Despite all our memories, I didn’t cry at all. I fully expected Jason and I to have some kind of emotional “moment” saying goodbye to our first home, but after my mom snapped that picture we were back to business, finishing packing and getting the hell out of there. Ashton helped at first:

But by the end, not so much.

You know what I found out? Moving is awful. Like, THE worst. And I actually didn’t even move anything, haha. Jason did it all, with Berg’s help. We had some movers come for the big stuff in the afternoon, but they were so slow, in fact, that I called to complain and got some money back the next day. Other than that, everything went smoothly thanks to very dedicated friends (Chera and Berg) and family (GG and Grandpa Pat) and here are Jason and Berg enjoying some well deserved beer and dinner at the end of a long day in our new living room.

The first week was tough because the electrician was working off and on- the floor was covered in construction paper, his tools were everywhere, and we slept on a mattress on the floor because our box spring hadn’t fit up the stairs. I honestly felt like we were camping or something. Living out of boxes is no fun and even as I write this, only about half of them have been unpacked. Once our new furniture arrives, we’ve painted, fixed up the exterior and siding, and things are all done I will post some official pictures (so look for those like never haha). For now, this is our home sweet home 🙂

We totally love it, flaws and all (built in 1927 = small closets, lots of quirks 😉 ) and can’t wait for visitors!

I’ve never seen so much love in my life. (It’s a read-between-the-lines thing, but it’s there.) Happy Valentines Day! ❤

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

No big deal. Just twenty five inches. Mother Nature let us settle into our house for a few days and then dumped it all right on us.

These kinds of winter storms used to be exciting for me. Oh, how I loved hearing the words “snow day” and imagining a cozy day replete with yummy snacks, hot chocolate, wine, too much TV, pajamas, maybe a fire. But last week, when rumors of a snow day started to swirl, panic set in. Who was in charge of this idea? Did THEY have an 18 month old? Would they like one for the next couple of days? DO THEY KNOW that “housebound” and “toddler” should never be used in the same sentence?!?

Sure enough, the message arrived in my inbox: “Closed on Friday.” A pretty straight forward way to announce that a few inches of snow was more important than my sanity. I filed the email under “Could be fatal” and started to make arrangements. Keeping Ashton busy for a few days was going to require all my resources.

Turns out, I was right to worry. Survival wasn’t easy and I didn’t make it. My ghost is typing this…hahaha lol. Jussssst kidding. Honestly, Ashton and I didn’t leave the house (aside from snow adventures in the neighborhood) for almost 3 days and it was mostly fine. When he wasn’t working, Jason did a LOT of shoveling. We went out a few times to check on things and “help”:

You’ll notice the tremendous amount of snow on Ashton’s shovel. He actually cleared that whole street all by himself- true story.

But by far the best part of watching him run around was his snowsuit and how it made the “whish” sound with every little step. *whish*whish*whish*whish*whish*. I was dying laughing. He was also dressed in a ton of layers which restricted his movement quite a bit. He fell over a lot.

We took a tour of our new neighborhood

(These darn iPhone videos always come out terribly!)

And snapped a few cute pictures that look like this.

All in all, a long few days but we had a good time 🙂 Thank god. We are loving our new house so far but have tons to do in order to feel truly settled. More updates on that shortly! Right now I have to draft a memo to whoever decided on the snow day last week. It is entitled “You’re lucky!”

If you’re one of my few beloved fans you’ll notice that my posting frequency has slowed significantly. It has been a very busy month and now that it’s official, I can tell you it’s mainly because we are moving! It has been an extremely long process (2.5 years, off and on) to sell our 3rd floor, 2 bed/1 bath condo in Belmont. But we accepted an offer in November, everything went through and we are finally closing on the sale next Wednesday. In a twist of amazing fate, after being worried we would have to put stuff in storage and get a temporary apartment, we found a house that is simply perfect for us, 1.2 miles away in Watertown. I get to stay close to my wonderful friend Chera (who watches Ashton), my wonderful job at Bentley, and the wonderful community I am used to living in. We close on the house on Monday so we will have 2 days of overlap to move, get the painter in, the electrician in, get appliances delivered, etc. It’s been a crazy time for us and the next week will only get crazier. Plus, Ashton is sick, our extended family welcomed a new baby (this morning! more on that later), tons of visitors in town, and we are trying to finalize summer vacation plans…THEN, a little thing called my JOB on top of all that. Phew.

But the good news is: Ashton got new boots for Christmas from Uncle Chris and they seem to be the key to his happiness. Even if he is running around after breakfast in his pajamas, and there are no plans to go outside, he will bring you a boot and look at you earnestly to put it on. See the joy?

We do sometimes use them to go outside. Last weekend was nice enough for a walk to the park so we put Ashton in a head-to-toe fleece romper and then of course, HIS BOOTS. More joy.

The romper he was less thrilled with. Admittedly it was a bit tight in the crotch and the leg barely reached to the top of his boot. Plus it had ears.

But we went out and had a really nice afternoon. He ran around like those boots had rockets in them.

But this is my favorite picture (and one of my best ones of him in a long time). I snapped it after we came back in. He was just so cute, all sniffly from the cold and messed up hair from his hat, but energized from being outside…

Ah. My little boy.

Ashton has his own little library going, and one of the things that Jason and I love to joke about is the ridiculousness of some of the books. For instance, the beloved Spot series is about a small dog that hops around looking for things that are hidden behind flaps. Spot’s best friend is a blue        ?         named Helen. Helen walks on her hind legs and appears to be, what, a hippo? Here they are searching for secret eggs in the nail-biter “Spot’s First Easter”:

I mean, what is that? Something that ate Veruca Salt? Luckily, Helen is very adept at finding eggs and the story ends happily: there is a full basket. Can’t miss the symbolism.

I have lots of other examples, but the point is, children’s books are full of things you would never see it real life: caroling alligators, emotional whales, bunnies that wear suits, etc. I have no problem with this, honestly. Imagination plays a very big role in childrens’ lives and it is a fun part of playing and learning.

What I DO have a problem with is a particular story that looks like this:

Any reactions? Here are mine. First of all, Pooh looks dead on the cover and there is a huge ominous cloud in the distance. On the first page, the chair is burning. Then, Owl snaps at Pooh with contempt (you stupid, ignorant bear!), a fatalistic Eeyore is transcribing his will, and Rabbit is trying to stay ahead of an agricultural catastrophe while calling our attention to Pooh’s perspiration problem. Amazingly, the repeated insults don’t faze Pooh in the least and he finds solace in a nice float under a mocking sun. The End.

What’s the lesson here? Heat makes everyone cranky, we know that. But in this story, it’s every man for himself. I’m surprised Pooh isn’t dragged through the streets. The apocalypse is here, stand and be judged! The title should be “THE END OF DAYS”. I mean, it’s just hot out. Don’t you think the words are a bit extreme here? This is a children’s book! The funny part is, the other three seasons are nice and friendly to read. It’s like the author got to Summer and said, “I’ll show these kids what the world is REALLY like! HAHAHAHA!”

Discuss.