You can't make this stuff up...

Jed can hold $1.50 in quarters with his toes.

Thumbo

I secretly LOVE that Zooey sucks her thumb and here's why. Well, it's not so much of a secret.

Jed uses a pacifier. This has good and bad points but all in all it's a pain in the ass when you left it in the car and your baby is screaming in the grocery store. You can't leave a thumb in the car.

When Jed was learning how to self soothe at night, the Nuk was a big help except when it was an inch away from his head and he couldn't get it back in his mouth. Good thing your thumb is attached to your arm!

There's nothing cuter than a tiny baby sucking her thumb. It's just so freakin' cute.

You can't drop your thumb on the ground and get all dog-hairy.

A little bully can't come over and steal your thumb outta your mouth.

You can't lose your thumb between the couch cushions or car seats.

Your dog can't run off with your thumb.

Your parents get to call you names like "Thumbo".

You know you have a 2-year-old boy when...

You go pee in the middle of the night and wake up the neighborhood cursing because you stepped on a Matchbox MOTORCYCLE!! Man, those hurt the worst!

You have scribble from marker or crayon on everything you own. The side of the computer, the kitchen table, the vacuum, the walls, the recliner chair, the TV screen, the fridge, your purse, the laundry basket, your leg, the stove, etc...

When you clean under the furniture its like Christmas to your kid! Toys we haven't seen in forever!

When a train goes by and blows it's horn, every adult in the house says "Train." to themselves.

Every Tuesday and Friday morning you have to be at the window or outside to see the garbage truck.

You have to 'kissy boo-boo' multiple times a day.

When your alone in the car you still announce every bus and truck you see as well as what TYPE of bus and truck they are.

There is always, always, always sand on the changing table.

You have seen Cars 17,841 times. (In the past month)

You do the laundry and there are more 2T t-shirts and shorts than anything else. You also spend half the day doing stain control.

You realize that it is totally fine that your kid walks around with stains on their clothes.

You play with trains every day of your life.

Walking to the train station to watch trains is a great past time. So is standing on the side of the highway watching trucks.

You race to get shoes on so the two of you can run outside to see the helicopter.

You watch YouTube videos of trains, garbage trucks, fireworks, fire trucks, airplanes, helicopters, and you have subscriptions to these type channels.

You write blog posts that mention 'trains' way too many times.

Naptime.

Naptime is one of those things that you don't really understand how important it is for you and your child until it's gone. Since Jed moved to his "big boy bed", as he calls it, he has pretty much boycotted napping in there. I don't know if it is because it's to bright and open to rest in the middle of the day, but they are pretty much gone.

Now, this can be a benefit in some ways. If we get out of the house late in the morning, I don't have to worry about rushing back by 12 to put him down. He does well staying up through out the day and we can make more of the afternoon. When he was a bit younger we would have to rush home as fast as we can to get him to his nap on time. Considering being 32 weeks pregnant, getting out in this heat is much harder anyway so we really haven't been able to take much advantage of this benefit unless Dad's off and is our helping hands.

On the other hand, not napping just flat out sucks. Being 2 is border line 'big boy', border line 'baby' so his make-up still warrants an afternoon rest. He gets overtired some afternoons and refuses to lie down but kind of just walks around demanding his Nuk and Guy whining his little head off about everything. There is no negotiation and much melt-down. Poor guy just likes to fight it.

Then, there are days like today where I can get him to nap or at least 'take a rest' in his crib. It's set up on the other side of the room in anticipation for Deuce, but whatever works for now, Right? I do think that it is working a bit backwards but if I have to cage the beast to get some relax time of my own then shall be it. I guess he feels less vulnerable or less distracted in there so sometimes he will calm himself and take a breather. Phew.

Jed has spoiled me for the past almost 2 years. 2-3 SOLID hours EVERY DAY. I had Me time. I could veg, clean, get projects done or just flat out waste time. I could go food shopping in peace if someone was hear to listen for him. I pray that when this baby comes it may be inspiration for him to take a nap of his own again. Yeah, it could be a shot in the dark but I am not ready for my first baby to be a big boy. I need naptime back damnit!

Maybe he just wants more time with Mommy. Yeah, that's it. I'm gonna miss the "Two of Us".

Jed's Magical Penny

Is it good fortune if your son shits money? Because this was in Jed's poop today. Don't worry, I cleaned it.



This 1997 penny looks like it's been through a lot! Wait, it has, hasn't it. Oh the stories it could tell! Is this bad? Should I call his doctor, or should I just be happy that it found it's way out?
hmmm...Maybe this is why he has barely eaten for 2 days...

Be careful! Your face might get stuck like that!

Thanksgiving Pie

So the new neighbors brought over an apple pie the night before Thanksgiving as a kind gesture for the holidays. Since my grandfather is diabetic and will raid the fridge for sweets any chance he can get, the pie went upstairs. I should have just stuck it to my ass to save me the trouble because that's where it's going to end up in the long run.

Anyway, keeping the pie away from Poppy was our main concern, not thinking that there would be a threat coming from the Mini-Human department.

I was using the potty Thanksgiving morning and heard a slight rustle of tin foil from the kitchen. I knew exactly what this was because I had moved the pie from Jed's reach when he tried to pull it off the table, or so I thought.

The dynamic duo was at it again. Jed and Lily, Project: Apple Pie.

Now, the whole point was to upload a video of me catching them in the act, but that wouldn't work. So here is is on FB:

Time to Catch Up?

It's been a REALLY long time since I blogged, since June to be exact. As usual, I told myself to keep up with something and I didn't. big shocker. So maybe I can try again? We'll see.

Jed's almost 15 months old now and seems to be growing like a weed! Walking is perfected, he says a few words like "good girl", "Dada", Pop Pop(Poppy), and this morning he said "Mama" to me. I would really like to believe that but he could have said "Mum Mum" which since he was about 4 months old means: I'm hungry. We'll see if he says it again soon for sure.

Now that the cooler weather is here, we can get out more. I feel like we spent majority of the summer inside because it was SO hot! Jed doesn't enjoy heat what-so-ever, so A/C it was. We are looking forward to farm visits, apple picking, pumpkin picking/carving, Halloween, and of course Jed's first "real" Christmas!

So stay tuned, hopefully more to come!

Catching Up

I can't believe I slacked off on this for almost a MONTH!! AHH! I really don't want this to turn into something that I do every now and then, because then I won't do it! I like writing about little things in my life. It's relaxing. But, no guilt. We have been REALLY BUSY.

The start of June, we went to see Dave Matthews Band in Hartford, CT. I can't believe that was almost a month ago. It felt like forever to happen because I was so excited. For any of you that know me at all, knows that I am border-line obsessed. They are such an amazing band. Anyway, the concerts were great.

Jed stayed with his grandparents for 11 days because after we went to CT, we drove my brother Ian's car to him in Arizona! Well, we tried to at least. The transmission quit 60 mi outside Amarillo, TX, the home of the Free* 72 oz. steak! (* Free if you finish the entire thing PLUS all the sides) It is also the Quarter Horse Capitol of the US. We didn't really plan on learning all this info, but the car was left at a great mechanic and we rented a tiny little Hyundi and we were on our way. The beer made it from VT but the car did not. Ian had to fly to TX a week later and pick it up.

After coming home from Arizona paradise, we got back in the groove and then our little boy TURNED 1!! June 20th, Jed Maxwell was no longer 0. We had a great party at a park in Rye that we split with my two cousins Graduation Party. It was a great time and Jed had a blast. Even though he napped for the first 2 hours or so.

So we are pretty much caught up. Jed starts his baby swim class next week (eek!!) which I am really excited for. More interesting posts to come!

Leavin' on a Road Trip...for 11 days.

Next Friday, Matt and I are going up to Hartford for two Dave Matthews Band concerts and then we are going for a road trip out to Arizona the day after we get back. My brother recently moved out there and needs his car so Matt and I offered to drive it out to him and fly back.

At first the plan was to take the Jedo. We thought it would be fun. We knew it would take a little longer and be a little more challenging but we were up to it. Just wondering, I asked my Ma if she would be interested in having him for the whole week. She is already watching him for the weekend so I thought it would work out for him to stay with her. Matt and I are desperate for some "us" time. All you parents out there know how hard it is to get even a measly day for just the two of you, let alone a week! So Super Grammy said yes, it actually worked out really well, and all the plans were set. We're going on a roadtrip!

This does mean one thing though. Mama is going to be away from her baby for about 11 days. This is unheard of in the New Mother Handbook. I am a little nervous about how I am going to react to this. I want to say that I am going to miss him a normal amount, like a Mama should, but I am also scared that I am going to REALLY miss him a crazy amount. I am scared he might take his first steps away from me. I am scared he might have a big change and I will miss it. I am scared he'll forget about me even though that's nuts! I know all of this is very unlikely, but as it gets close it gets more real.

I am going to be away from my baby boy for 11 days. 11 DAYS! AH!!

Mama and Jed's Trip to Union City

So it's 8:15pm on Monday evening and I get a phone call from a city number. I anxiously think to myself: "Could it be her? Could ot be Alexandria from Prestige?" I wasn't in an acceptable position to answer the phone(in the bathroom) so I let it go to voice mail. And I was right. It was Alexandria.

The call back to her was quick and easy. She told me that Hasbro wanted Jed for a casting the next day, anywhere from 10:30 am to 3:30pm. I planned it to go to Jed's gym class first then go to NJ except Jed was NOT feeling very well in the morning so I didn't want to expose him to my gym class. I guess it wasn't very smart to expose him to the babies at the shoot either but oh well. They were competition anyway. : )

We treked it to NJ the next morning with ease. I only took the wrong way once, but we got there in one piece. It was nice to take my old route, remembering back to the days of working in Edgewater, I got a little nostalgic thinking of all my good times working in the store there.

We found the place with ease, in a nice quiet neighborhood in Union City, NJ. The studio was friendly and bright. All I had to do was fill out a paper and then they measured his weight and hight. I then had to strip him to his diaper for the photos and we waitied to get his picture taken. A little girl named Olivia had her eye on him, she kept crawling over to him. It was so adorable.



When it was Jed's turn for pictures, he couldn't have been more a ham. When Mama wants to take pictures at home he ignores here and makes weird faces, but these strangers got all the attention! He smiled and looked up like a true model like he had done this his whole 11 month life. He actually gave me a hard time when it was over and I had to take him away from the camera. I knew this would be a great baby career for him!

So it was time to get dressed and Olivia was back. Jed and Oliva crawled around together, held hands, looked out the window and then parted ways. I saw a tear in her eye as I took away her first love. May she never forget...



This pic is the chair that I strapped Jed in at the rest stop. What a GREAT invention!

Danica Day

Today Danica came over! She is our good friend Sandy's kid who is 2.5 and her and Jed are good friends! She hung out for an hour so her Mommy could go to an interview. We had so much fun!
First we tried to play inside but Danica got a small case of shyness so we moved it outside. Matt said "Danica, do you want to go outside and run around?" Danica: "Yes!". Matt: "Let's go!" Mind you, that every answer about what she wanted to do before this was "No."

So we went out to the yard and Matt and Danica threw a ball around while I tried to prevent Jed from eating every little stick and leaf around. It was a beautiful morning and Danica forgot all about being shy and had a great time! Then Sandy came back and we took a nice stroll into town for lunch. What a beautiful day!

Tree Cheeze!!

Jed wondering who is the better catcher or thrower....

Jedo!

Danica using her best moves!

Cheeze!

Group shot!!

Nice catch!

Tuesdays

Every Tuesday morning, Jed and I attend the Baby and Me Gym Class at the Rye YMCA. It is such a great experience for this little guy. He gets to meet and play with other babies his age and he gets to crawl around like a crazy boy on soft mats and gymnastic equipment. There are balls and stuffed animals and lots and lots of drool.

Of course Jed wants everything he can't have! The woman who runs it, Ellen Watermelon, plays this terribly out of tuned autoharp.
For those who don't know what an autoharp is:


Anyway, the little booger always wants everything that he can't have. Ellen is very good with distracting the kids though, she has a bubble machine and a parachute that they all love. It's a blast.

This Tuesday, we were walking home and we bumped into cousin Molly and two of the kids she watches and they were going to the play ground, so Jed and I joined them. Unfortunately this play ground had wood chips instead of rubber as a base so Jed couldn't really crawl around much because the wood hurt his knees. Being his first experience at the play ground, he didn't really know what to do, or was too little, so he sat there and played with the muddy wood chips. Tip to other Mamas: Keep the pacifier in his mouth if things like dirt and wood chips are around. It definitely helped him NOT shove the wood chips in his mouth like he wanted to as soon as he spit the thing out.

Mama vs. Jed Challenge: DOG FOOD

Mama: 1, Jed: 0. This was a close one, folks. This kid will do just about anything to get Lily's kibble bowl. He reminds me of a squirrel doing what ever he can to get that bird feeder. I am convinced it is ONLY because he knows he can't have it.

So this morning when I put Wild Thing on the floor to crawl, around I did my rounds. Gate at the stairs latched, check. Bathroom door closed, check. Dog food and water lifted, check. I thought I was safe. Boy, was I wrong. (Please note that as I type this, I turn around and the boy has every tissue pulled out of a tissue box)
I was in our bedroom using the computer and Jed wandered into the kitchen. All of a sudden I hear little things hit the floor. I thought it was my necklace/teether that he plays with so I really thought nothing of it because as previously said, I covered my bases(hold on, he just crawled into the door). Anyway, I didn't hear much after so I went to check it out.

Jed had reached up to the kitchen table, around the pushed in chair, perfectly tipped Lily's bowl on it's side and knocked some kibble onto the floor. How he managed this, I don't know. When he noticed my presence, his face turned to excitement and fear all at once as he shoved kibble into his mouth. "YUK!!", I said, "NO!!". I had to fish the piece out of his mouth as he kicked and yelled at me.

This was not the first Dog Food Challenge and I am sure this isn't the last. For now the big girl wins.