Trying to keep up!

Hi readers! If you're still out there. I have no excuses for my lack of posting this month! Each day that goes by that I don't write something, the task gets more and more daunting. We have been all over the place. Actually, it's more like Ashton has and I just follow him trying to mitigate any damage (to our house or to his person). He's definitely leading the charge; terrorizing Tate's water bowl and scooping the dirt out of our plants has been just the beginning of his adventures.

So we have a couple of big things going on. First birthday is in one week. As in, seven days. This milestone is not enough in and of itself though: it marks the beginning of the end of my time at home with my sweet baby boy. I am officially looking for a job. We have outgrown our condo (and the third floor and busy road!) and my gainful employment will help facilitate getting a (certainly little considering the prices around here) house. This is a topic that will arise in future posts as the process unfolds but, there you have it. If I think too much about it I get really sad so without further ado here are the latest pics, in Ashton's own words.

Sometimes I like to make myself a coffee table sandwich.

God if I could just find something to eat around here. I mean, note that I appear to be holding up the pantry drawer with my head. Yes, cute girl babies everywhere, I am that strong. This one's for you. 

Tate, are you home? You can't hide from ME. I have eyes on the back of my...um...well...

Mmm, I love a good clean sock. Fresh out of the dryer.

Another demonstration of my brute strength. It's not easy to balance like this you know.

My love for the kitchen stools is a close second to the coffee table. 

Also, in looking at the above photo, I'd like to make a statement. Tate thinks that I drag his food dish around the kitchen, but he's got it all wrong. I'm telling you, that bowl follows me. 

Whatever this is, it's cold. The freezer is decidedly not my favorite thing to stick my hand into.

I command thee beach rock, DON'T MOVE!

I'm far too busy to be held and to pose for a picture. Put me down. And by the way Mom, you look tired. How come?

This is what I think of your meatballs.

Read the onesie.

Explains it all.

New trick

This is a cheap blog post but in addition to Ashton learning how to high five, he also has started to mimic what I do. Today in his highchair I was opening and closing my mouth to imitate him chewing. This was his response...

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Official Post: Summer Vacation

How do I even begin to sum up June 29th - July 8th?? We spent our summer vacation down in Hampton Bays, NY with Jason's family and it was perfect. Just the right amount of beach time, pool time, down time and cocktail time :) Looking through my pictures, 90% of them are Ashton playing in the water or in the sand and the only thing that makes them different is the bathing suit he's in. Sigh. I'll do my best to create an interesting post out of said pictures.

First, a quick guide to Summer Vacation 2012.

Main cast of characters: Grandma, Grandpa, Jason's brother Chris and his sister Melissa (Liz) and her husband (also Jason but called Stone due to last name) and their 2 month old Owen. (Fun fact: We are not only Owen's aunt and uncle but officially his godparents as well!) Dog Tate and Dog Saki (Liz and Stone's Yorkie)

On location at: Tiana Beach (on the ocean), Meschutt Beach (on the bay - more kid friendly as there were no waves), the backyard pool and the deck (site of many dinners and even more cocktails)

Celebratory occasions: 4th of July, Jason's 35th birthday (July 6th)

Off we go, in no particular order with the exception of the first photo.

On the ferry! Strong, spicy Bloody Mary for me and very non-alcoholic cheese puffs for Ashton

Although I worried that the Bloody Mary might have looked good to him because he ended up trying to eat the lime out of Jason's margarita...

 And his Corona bottle.

Luckily, he soon gave up drinking for more physical pursuits. 

Like bocce.

And trying to ride the Pooh car. (Or Pooh bus? Pooh truck? Oh who knows with these baby toys.)

And plotting his escape from the beach playpen.

Now, no beach trip is complete without a hole. I don't know about you, but we used to aim for China and came close once or twice. What is it with boys and their buckets and shovels? Berg came to visit the last couple days and honestly, these three spent at least 45 minutes down by the water digging around. 

What's funny is they worked so hard on Ashton's first hole, and then I kindly pointed out that it was too far from the waves and would never fill up with water. Poor baby was just sitting there waiting in a hot sandy pit. Um, fail. So they ended up digging a proper one, which is pictured above.

I also got to spend a lot of time with our new nephew (and godson) Owen!

We woke up on July 4th to an overcast morning - Ashton took a late nap so we bagged the Southampton parade and knew we probably wouldn't see the fireworks because they happened after Ashton's bedtime. This is about as patriotic as we got:

Although actually the boys did wear matching outfits :)

What about our four-legged friend Tate? Grandma and Grandpa's backyard is heaven for him: it's fenced, has lots of things to smell and he romps around without a leash. He had a ball. He really did. It was orange.

Ahhh, pool time.

Apparently you can't go to the beach without a pool so Ashton went in one there as well.

Next up, Jason's 35th birthday. Another year, another Fudgy the Whale from Carvel ;)

[Trivia: How many birthdays has Jason spent on the back deck at his parents' house and eaten this very cake?]

There are still about 483 pictures that I haven't posted yet but this post is approaching monster status. A very, very special thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for taking such wonderful care of us during our visit (cooking, cleaning, everything!!). I can't imagine having a more perfect summer vacation, we love you so much.

I think this about sums it up, taken on our car ride home. The End :)

11 Months

We are officially on the home stretch towards the big O.N.E. And all I can say is W.O.W. Besides using anything within reach to pull up on, he crawls at warp speed and is starting to balance on his own two feet for a few seconds at time. The mobility and activity level have really skyrocketed- this little boy is on the move. Cruisin' for a bruisin' is more like it. Literally! He has one on his forehead and one on his cheek in this picture (not to be blamed on Uncle Chris, these were a pre-existing condition):

What makes this can't-take-your-eyes-off-him-for-one-second phase even more relaxing is the fact that his attention span is practically zero. I feel like he is the T-Rex in Jurassic Park, just barreling through everything because he doesn't know what he wants until he stops and roars. Ashton's roar is more like a small squeaking but that makes sense considering the difference in size.

Other Ashton notables this month...when he hears music he will put his arms out and shake them up and down. He is also starting to wave, babble a lot more, and his two top teeth are halfway down...

We were on vacation this past week (to be documented in a separate post) and between the big pool, kiddie pool, beach, sand, ocean...we literally could not wipe the smile off of his face.

Sleepwise, his favorite position is with his arms underneath him and his little behind in the air (mysterious dots in the first photo are pacifiers):

And we are still in a pretty good routine between a 7:15 am wakeup, breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and two 60-80 minute naps a day around 9:30 and 1:30. I still nurse him and pump twice a day so that he has an 8 oz bottle at his 6:30-7 pm bedtime. Between all of that, there are approximately 103 workable minutes each day for other things. 95 if you count diaper and outfit changes. With that precious time, if we are not on our nifty new playmat or in his new baby pool, we...

work on Tate's friendship

swing (I know he's having more fun than he's letting on)

go to the park (the park is a great place for multitasking: Ashton gets a snack, Tate gets to run around (or stalk Ashton's snacks, usually the latter) and we all get to be outside)

And lastly, spend some family time. Dressed down...

And up :)

(Thanks to Campbell Osowa's christening for a reason to put Ashton in his miniature boat shoes!)

Favorite food at the moment is watermelon. I cut it into little cubes and he stuffs them in his mouth so fast it's like Tate is trying to lick them off his highchair tray (oh wait, he IS). Anyway, this new little chipmunk skill he's got going on is pretty funny. A solid 30-45 minutes after a meal he will laugh or sputter and chunks of food will come flying out. My favorite was this past week at Grandma and Grandpa's on Long Island. The kiddie pool had been sitting out all day and the water was warm from the sun. After dinner (mini meatballs, among other things), Ashton was stripped (naked as a jaybird as my dad likes to say) and plunked right in to get the stickiness off. A significant period of time later, Ashton sneezed and all these brown chunks spewed out and into the pool and floated off into the water. I mentioned he was sans diaper so you can imagine how that looked. Nasty. 

I don't have any height/weight stats as there was no check up this month. Stay tuned this week for what will hopefully be several new posts! I am way behind. Oh, here's his official 11 month portrait on his 11 month birthday:

Oops! Wait! Sorry, that's not it. I told Jason that bathing suit was too small.

Here it is:

He happened to have a little cheek rash for the first few days we were on vacation but that has cleared up and he has been peacefully asleep since 6:50 pm. Time to pour myself a glass of wine* and go check in on the Bachelorette. Good night!

*If I'm being honest, my third glass.