The Big Apple

This weekend, we headed to NYC to meet up with Nana and Niti (Brian's mom and sister) for some fun! We arrived early afternoon on Saturday to gorgeous weather!  After checking into our hotel and getting our bearings, we headed to Central Park for the afternoon. E was so excited to be in the big apple, he kept shouting enthusiastically at all of the hustle and bustle." Look Daddy, HUGE buildings!" "Look Mama, Taxi Cabs!" He loved every minute of walking the city streets. We watched a few innings of some baseball in the park, climbed some rocks, played at the playground, and even spied some wildlife. As the sun was setting on our first day, we headed to grab some dinner and go back to the hotel and wait for Nana and Niti. When they arrived, Nana and E immediately began to have some serious fun with a pillow fight and chasing each other around. Niti then gave E a bath, and came equipped with a wonderful new story book for E. We all went to bed and even slept in the morning! Sunday the weather was awful, but we didn't let it stop us! It was Niti's birthday! We went to mass at St. Patricks Cathedral, then headed over to Rockefeller Center to shop around and eat lunch, and then we made our way back to the hotel for a nap. We all knocked right out. We then woke up and played in the hotel for a while and sang Happy Birthday to Niti and ate some delish cupcakes. We decided on some Italian for dinner and found a place not far from the hotel. We ate fabulous Italian, had the best waiter, and E loved eating olives, saffron risotto, and salmon. We then made a jaunt around Times Square...which E thought was the coolest thing ever. Made it back to the hotel and started to put E to bed. Nana and E enjoyed yet another pillow fight and Niti gave him his bath and read his story. E then proceeded to talk to his favorite lovey, Monkey, for a good hour about all the things he saw that day. It was the cutest! Monday was our last day in NYC, and we took our time getting up, packing up, and spent a lot of time playing and talking. After we checked our baggage, we headed to 5th Avenue to visit FAO Schwartz, of course. We had a blast! We then walked Nana and Niti to the hotel to get our baggage and send them to the airport. It was such a great trip, we were so sad to see them go. We then headed out to grab some lunch at the yummy Shake Shack before heading home to Baltimore. It was an amazing weekend with perfect memories! Enjoy some pics! XOXO

pondering the beauty of Central Park

Happy Boy!

goofing around :)

love him!

We caught a racoon people watching in a tree!

Nana and E reading

Nana and Brian

Niti and E reading

Pictures at Rockefeller Center

FAO Schwartz

Daddy and E having a blast on the Piano

Who is this masked man?

Climbing in Central Park

Throwing coins in fountains

Mass at St. Patricks

Where did the week go?!

Man, this week has gone by fast. I feel like it was just last weekend. I have been checking things off the spring cleaning checklist like no ones business, when E is napping. Which lately has been monster naps, 3-4 hours long. The boy is growing, again. Eating and sleeping like a madman. I have no idea how I am going to survive the teenage years, if at his 2 year old growth spurts I have to shop big. I might have to build a special pantry for it. The teenage pantry. That's an idea! With this added growth comes added energy, it seems. So yesterday, we spent the morning and ate lunch with BB. She has an enormous yard (much bigger than our pretty city postage stamp) that E loves running around in. I came prepared with a bag of goodies for him to play with, including a tee and baseball set that his Grandpa Steve sent him for his birthday. He had a great time playing slugger E. Not to mention blowing dandelions, which he learned. We even watered some of the seeds we planted last weekend in BB's yard. He ran around like crazy. Heck, BB even made us a delicious lunch AND some fantastic brownies. On the way home, we were in mid conversation when he fell asleep, for a wonderful 4 hour nap! What is not to love about going to BB's house! Enjoy the pictures! xoxo

Slugger!

What are these things?!

Big boy

So happy!

Is anything coming out?!

Careful attention to his seeds :)

Transportation Day

Well, today was a super huge day for E. It was transportation day at school! They bring in buses, police vehicles, boom trucks, cement trucks, and bulldozers. It is a little boy's dream come true. We got to school and immediately E was shouting, "LOOK!". We carefully crossed the street and went into the parking lot, where he threw his hands in the air and let out a cheer. The rest was a mad dash to and from trucks, buses, and cars. His favorite activity by far was "driving" the school bus. He even learned how to turn on the flashing lights and stop sign. The bus driver knew us on a first name basis we were there so much! After an hour and a half of running around looking at everything, we worked us quite the appetite and met Auntie Christy for lunch. It was a fabulous day! Enjoy the pictures!xoxox

Going up on the boom truck...I was not so sure about this!

Way up high!

Driving the police car

E and Caro in the back of the police car

in the firetruck

Facinated by Buster the bus

Bus driver E

Mailman E

boys playing in the tractor

Dump truck!

Snuggler

Last night at around 2:45am, E woke up SCREAMING. I obviously woke up and waited to see if he was just going to put himself back to sleep, which is the norm. After about 10 minutes of E switching between screaming and sobbing I couldn't take it - I went running down stairs to his room. I opened the door and he was begging me to pick him up. I swept him up in my arms and we headed to the rocker. He was no longer crying, he was trying to catch his breath, and his heart was racing. I asked him if he was OK, he told me yes. Then he said," I wanna sleep with daddy and mommy." First thought that ran through my head was, "yes, let's have a slumber party in the master bedroom!" You see, E is a snuggler. He has been since birth. I have savored ever second of it. I love having him snuggled up to me, smelling his hair and all the sweetness that comes with him. The reality is that those moments are few and far between these days, with him being a toddler. I get plenty of hugs and kisses. Don't get me wrong, they are a fabulous bonus to being a mom. I just miss the days where you could sit and snuggle for a good half hour. Brian and I both miss the days of snuggling with the peanut on the sofa. The closest we can get is reading on the sofa or rocker, which E will do for an hour sometimes, but its different. So as much as I selfishly wanted that slumber party last night to get those snuggles, I also did not want E to be making a slumber party a regular occurrence. So we had a little talk about getting scared, how its alright to call for mommy and daddy, but big boys sleep in their beds - not with mommy and daddy. He muttered an OK, then tucked himself back in the snuggle position. I sat and rocked him and sang him the same lullaby I have sung him since he was born. When I was finished, I relished in the snuggles I was getting for a good 10 minutes. Then, I told him it was time to go to sleep in his bed. He said OK, and gave me a kiss. I set him down, and he went right to sleep. I love my peanut, and I especially love some snuggles. xoxox

Hoppy Easter-eve!

Today was a fun filled day with all kinds of Easter plans. We started out the day at an Easter egg hunt/play date with 7 kiddos. It was pretty hilarious to watch them run around collecting eggs, throwing them, and if you are E just run around like crazy. It was a lot of fun, so much so E took a monster 4 hour nap. When he woke up, it was just in time to dye some Easter eggs to make cascarones. E's godmother, BB came over to help out. E has been reading "Happy Easter, Curious George" for about a month and dying eggs is a large part of the book. When he saw the dye, eggs, and spoons - he was pumped! Much to our surprise, he kept calling the egg handler, "the octagon"! When checking it out...he was right! We dyed the eggs, filled them with confetti, and sealed them up. E LOVED every minute of it! Enjoy the pics! xoxo

Egg hunting!

All the kiddos and mamas

Eggs!

BB giving the tutorial

Orange!

Daddy and E putting in confetti

Picking stickers for the eggs, very precise job :)

Daddy is silly!

Cascarones all done!

goober :)

Bunny Bonanzoo

Today we survived the masses and headed to the zoo for the annual Bunny Bonanzoo. It took some serious strategy to get us in the park in a timely manner, but we did it...thank goodness. The kids with Easter baskets in tow, set forth on an egg hunt! It was so fun to watch them run around collecting eggs. E and Nate maybe decided that it was great to wrestle in the eggs, A of course put them in their place. After collecting our eggs, we went to the polar bears to watch them swim and even saw Tails the penguin. We opted for an early lunch and train ride. What a fantastic day with fantastic friends! Tonight, we are going to dye some eggs - wish us luck! xoxox



"whoa, that is a ton of eggs!"

Coming up with a strategy!

A's cousin C...isn't she adorable! Does this girl know how to rock a purse?!

Wrestling in the eggs is hilarious! Boys will be boys!

What is inside these?!

Checking out the carousel

Riding the Jones Falls Zephyr

What?! Its over already?