Friday, February 27, 2009

TGIF

Swim class, near 60 degree weather, and a new toy...what could be better?

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Caught Red Handed

Yesterday I posted this photo of Luke, reaching for his friend's Samuel's pacifier.


Today , as the photos from other cameras made the rounds, I discovered this one of Luke, caught in the act:

Germ exposure's a good thing, right?

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Mardi Gras

Luke and I celebrated Mardi Gras with the play group today. The babes (and some moms) dressed in purple, green, and yellow; beads were worn by all moms, and many many calories were consumed on this Fat Tuesday.

Chillin' on the communal quilt with Samuel, Mia, and Ezra:


Getting ready for a group shot. Luke actually took Samuel's pacifier out of his mouth and attempted to put it in his own. Luke is shaping up to be the aggressor of the group, as he enjoyed licking heads, pulling hair, and poking eyes. I'm going to have my hands full with him!


Group shot (from left: Lucy, Rose, Nolan, Ezra, Luke, Samuel, Mia) Next time we'll try a photo when the babies aren't so cranky. It didn't go over too well.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Luke the Duke of Boston

...is the nickname given by Luke's Uncle Tim. Here are some photos from his recent visit:

Hangin' at the Exersaucer:


Enjoying the piano toy, a Christmas gift from Uncle Tim

Friday, February 20, 2009

Ezra

Another word I'm convinced I hear is "Ezra," Luke's buddy from swimming and moms group. Here are some photos of them playing:

At MomSwim:


These photos really don't capture how much the boys were wrestling, especially Ezra. But as Ezra's mom Courtney suggested, Ezra doesn't want to do anything that might taint his future political career.


Thursday, February 19, 2009

Family Swim

We headed on over to the Arlington Boys and Girls Club last night for Family Swim. Jamie got to see what a fish Luke is!






Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Da da

Yup, he said it.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Sophie's Christening

This weekend we headed to Niskayuna for Sophie Grace's Christening.



Sophie is the latest in a long line of babies to wear my family's 120 year old Christening gown. In this picture, the following people have worn the gown: (clockwise, from left) Michael, me, Aunt Mary, my mom, Kerry, Sophie, and Anna. Luke also wore it, but Jamie was driving him around the block when this picture was taken.


Luke crashed hard and slept through the entire party:


Luckily, Aunty Kerry is usually up for an after-party:


Anna and Sophie, enjoying the view from her new Bumbo seat:

Friday, February 13, 2009

Luke and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamjumper

My talented friend (and neighbor) Melissa knitted Luke this snazzy outfit.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

More than just a furniture store

Thanks for the input on the baby food post, guys. It's always exciting to spark a little discussion...you bloggers know what I mean when I say 6 Comments!

So, it's been a tough winter. Lots of snow, lots of illness...and how many ways can you entertain a six month old within the walls of your modest sized Cape? I've been spending a lot of time hanging out at malls, and although this brings me back to my Jersey roots, it's getting a bit stale.

Last week I got a little creative and invited some of the moms I hang out with to join me and Luke at Jordan's Furniture in Reading. A furniture store? Yes, but it's more than a furniture store...they have a "restaurant," ice cream shop, and a "liquid fireworks display" choreographed to music. Actually, I think Luke was a little freaked out by the whole experience. And I'm going to out the rest of the moms in this picture and admit that yes, we did slow dance to the music with our babies.

From Left: Chrissie and Nolan, Courtney and Ezra, Me and Luke, Charlotte and Lucy

Monday, February 9, 2009

Homemade Baby Food


I decided to be domestic and make baby food. Luke likes sweet potatoes, so I started with that. Now, I know that making homemade baby food has its advantages: you know what's going into it, it's cheaper, better for the environment...But after trying it myself, I'm not sure it's worth it.

It can be pretty time consuming. I boiled the sweet potatoes in water and let simmer for twenty minutes. Then I let cool for another twenty minutes and plopped in the blender. I pureed, but that didn't really work too well, so I ended up just taking them out and trying my best to puree them in a bowl with a spoon. Then I used an ice cream scoop to transfer to storage trays. It wasn't hard, but it left a mess that took another ten minutes or so to clean up. So all in all, about an hour of work for 20 servings of sweet potatoes.



In a nutshell, homemade baby food: $5 for 5 organic sweet potatoes equals 20 servings, one hour of work, and carbon footprint? Hard to say how much water used in cleaning up.

Store bought baby food? $10 for 20 servings, one minute of work, 20 plastic containers to recycle.

Luke didn't seem to prefer one over the other.

I suppose it's kind of like cooking...there is something satisfying in creating something from scratch. It's likely I'll make Luke his food when the mood strikes. But when time is short, and energy is low, I'll stick to the old stand-by:

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Tuesday, February 3, 2009