She Says… Sand and Sun

A little sand and sun were just what the doctor ordered.

Owen hadn’t been back in the water since last summer, and although I knew how much he loved swimming back then, I was expecting to have to do at least a little bit of reacclimating once he saw the pool/ocean.

WRONG. He couldn’t have been more excited to get in the water. I think the kid is part fish. He jumped off the edge of the pool without a care in the world, and tried over and over again to convince us to let go of him because he can swim on his own. We dunked our heads underwater and splashed and kicked. Watch out, Michael Phelps… Owen just may be headed for an Olympic gold someday.

I also thought the vastness of the ocean would deter him from being so fearless. Not so. The child barreled towards the ocean and didn’t want to stop, even when the water was well over his head.

We fully enjoyed Florida’s steamy temps and even the unborn got in on the action.

To my surprise, I didn’t swell up in the heat (like last time I was pregnant in the summer, UGH SO GROSS) and my burgeoning belly didn’t hinder any of our fun in the sun. Perhaps more importantly, as someone who can pretty much get a blistering sunburn from walking around the block, I’m impressed that I came home pretty much the same pale color that I was when I left.

Owen loved doting on his playmate (our friends’ one year old daughter) and it made my heart swell to think about him playing with a sibling someday pretty soon.

He even surprised me with how well he slept — it was our first trip using a big boy bed outside of our house. I was half-expecting midnight visits from him and was constantly worried that he was going to leave his room and open up the front door to the condo (which had a handle, not a knob, and was not able to be deadbolted), but he did great and stayed in his bed when he was supposed to. Aside from a few little attitude-y outbursts (hey, he is 3 after all), Owen was a joy.

And now, back to reality… a billion emails in my inbox and more work than I can possibly finish in a 3 day work week. Sigh.

She Says… The Last Vacay

Well, the last vacay before the little guy arrives. Hopefully not our last one ever!

We headed for the airport Friday morning to enjoy a long weekend with friends and their one year old in a condo in Florida. For the first time, I wasn’t even nervous about traveling with Owen.

 

We planned our flights around naptimes so that we weren’t expecting him to nap on the plane (aka expecting the impossible), which proved to be an excellent strategy. He’s to the age now where he is easily entertained by TALKING no matter where he is, so even though he needs to run around, I knew we could keep him occupied in the “waiting” times pretty easily.

 

He’s also old enough to walk everywhere and get himself in and out of seats and security lines, so there was very little need to carry him, which was an added bonus.

The best part of all? We flew JetBlue, so he had unlimited access to a tv during the flight. I threw my normal screen-time limits out the window and everyone was happy

Since then we’ve spent our days away from computers and phones and enjoying time in the pool and the ocean.

Man, vacay feels good. Pics to come.

She Says… Balls on the Floor

On Wednesday I read a blog post that literally took the words right out of my mouth. Kelle Hampton wrote about enjoying those crazy weeks/months/years when you can’t keep all of your balls in the air. (Yes. I fully realize how inappropriate that sounds.).

I’m in the midst of one of those weeks where there are too many balls in the air and not enough hands to juggle them. But you know what? We’re getting through. And, hopefully, enjoying it. And, if I do say so myself, the important ones are staying up.

Blogging? Not so much. Eh.

I’m in New York for work. While this means I’m away from my guys and behind on my emails and feeling a little overwhelmed by what I have to accomplish while I’m here, it also means I had a lovely (quiet!) train ride here where no one asked me to do anything for them, and I actually spent a few minutes just staring out the window. I’m eating really good food that I don’t have to cook. I slept 9 hours in my hotel room last night (and only woke ONCE to a phantom baby crying… usually that happens several more times). Everything is humming along smoothly at home without me.

Find the places to enjoy, friends. They are there. Even when things are crazy.

So… excuse the blogging hiatus. It is, unfortunately, one of the balls getting dropped this week. In the grand scheme of things, I think that means we’re still doing ok.

 

 

She Says… Wintry Weekend

Benjamin had a job this past weekend in New Hampshire, not far from where his parents have a house in the white mountains (right near Mount Washington). We decided to make a little weekend getaway out of it.

Timing a 4 hour drive with a toddler is always tricky, so we opted to pick Owen up early from school, right at naptime, and cross our fingers that if we tucked him into his carseat with his blanket and lovey, he would sleep for a while in the car (thus giving him a nap and us some quiet driving time!). For the first time, uhh, EVER, it worked beautifully. For those of you who have been reading since Owen was a baby, you know he has always HATED riding in the car, and usually our drives are accompanied by a lot of crying and a hefty dose of vomit due to carsickness. So the quiet not-quite-2-hour-nap we got in the car was downright heavenly.

We arrived and set up Owen’s pack n’ play like normal and realized something. Ummm, the child is totally too big for it. I mean, he fits, and he doesn’t yet exceed the weight limit, so technically we were ok, but we realized quickly that this was going to be our last trip with him sleeping in it (he could DEFINITELY climb out, since he can scale just about any wall, but, thankfully, he has never tried). He was old enough to voice things like, “the bottom is not comfy” and “I don’t like the sound it makes when I move around”. I think we’re just about ready for a blow-up mat of some sort. After the first night of Owen being a little less than thrilled with his confined space, we considered offering him a camping mat (he sleeps on a mat at school, so I figured he’d probably do ok), but then I realized the room had heavy furniture that was not bolted to the wall and I wasn’t comfortable with Owen being able to open the door and go downstairs on his own. I don’t think he would, but he could, so we’re going to change things around next time we come. Anyway, we’re going to need that pack n’ play for the new little one come July!

The weekend was filled with snowy adventures hiking and sledding and sitting by the fire and playing with Owen’s Grammy and Grampy. After Benjamin’s job was over, the two of us even had a chance to go cross-country skiing together AND out to dinner while the grandparents babysat. Fun for all! Owen was relatively well-behaved (aside from a few  new molar-induced attitude-y outbursts) and was really quite flexible with all of the changes.

Also? He wore underwear THE WHOLE TIME (when awake), never had an accident, and even pooped in a new potty/place. Huge, huge, huge.

I am shocked to report that the drive home was equally as uneventful as the drive there (no puking! very little crying!). As a result, Benjamin and I are all of a sudden super anxious to pack our calendar with trips back up there before the baby comes, in case this baby hates the carseat just as much as Owen used to.

She Says… The Silver (Sequined) Lining

I’m on another work trip.

I know, I know, I just came back from a work trip. Usually my trips are spaced out throughout the year, but these two weeks are always scheduled back-to-back every year. Last week in Chicago and this week in New York. And it always feels a bit crazy. And as I reported last week, Owen gave Benjamin a bit of a hard time while I was gone last week; thus, leaving again for this trip was even harder than usual.

The great news is that, so far, Owen did fine. I dropped him off at daycare this morning and we talked about my trip, where I was going, who was going to pick him up from school and put him to bed, and blah blah blah. Side note: He asked me if I was “going to sing in New York”. I think he thinks I sing all day at work. If only. The talking and explaining (and explaining again) seems to be really helpful for him so he’s not caught off guard expecting me and instead getting someone else. It seemed to do the trick, today at least, because Benjamin said pickup and bedtime were great, and Owen was super happy to see him. It all depends on the day, I guess!

Since I got into New York City a few hours early today, I decided to give myself a little early Christmas present. My entire life, since I was a little musical theater junky singing into my hairbrush at night and choreographing dances with my little sister on our back porch, I have been dying to see the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular. I would cancan my heart out in front of the tv during every Thanksgiving Day Parade. I was devastated to find out that a 5′ 2″ girl with big hips would never even make it to Rockettes auditions. Sigh.

So tonight, with no other responsibilities and no toddler in tow, I ran up to the ticket window at Radio City Music Hall and bought myself a last minute seat. I literally almost cried when the ticket lady handed me my ticket. Ok, maybe I DID cry a little. Dork.

The show was gorgeous. I think I watched the whole thing with my mouth open. And a tear in my eye. Seriously.

So I have to be away on a business trip two weeks in a row, which sucks. But the silver (sequined! sparkly! spectacular!) lining is that I got to fulfill a lifelong dream.

It was magical. Even alone.

She Says… Getaway

You know in the movies when a man whisks a woman off to a fancy schmancy date and gets her a new dress to wear for it, so it can be a surprise? I always roll my eyes when that happens, because how in the world does he know if the dress will fit? Or if she’ll like it? Or what shoes would do with it? Or which bra, for that matter? But still, the sentiment is very sweet and it would be very exciting to be whisked off for a surprise date like that.

That isn’t exactly how our little getaway went down, but it started by Benjamin saying, “Get yourself a new dress. I’m getting an overnight babysitter and we’re going to go for a little mini vacation — a weekend getaway”. With all of the traveling that he’s been doing, it was the perfect time for a little one-on-one trip, sans toddler.

So on Saturday we embarked on our second-ever overnight away from Owen (we’ve both traveled quite a bit individually for work, but we’ve only done one other night “away” with us together since Owen was born).

A few days prior, we started prepping Owen for what was going to happen. “Your new friends G and A are going to come over and they’ll put you down for a nap and wake you up, and you can go to the playground, and they will make you dinner and even give you a bath and put you to bed! Mommy and Daddy are going to go sleep in a hotel, but we’ll be back by lunchtime on Sunday”. He actually understood everything about the plan, and kept asking me what kinds of fun things he would do with his babysitters and seemed happy that they would be putting him to bed. I told him it would be “an adventure” and he was really looking forward to it.

Just like the last time we went away, the cold/bug Owen has been fighting all week came to a climax and threatened to jeopardize the the carefully planned trip. We spent Saturday morning at the doctor’s office diagnosing a double ear infection (which he hasn’t had in several months, a record for us!) and came home with antibiotics and directions to start up his breathing treatments again. Another thing to add to the babysitters’ to do list, but not a dealbreaker.

Owen was happy as a little clam when the babysitters arrived, and didn’t really bat an eyelash when Benjamin and I said goodbye. He was too busy showing off for his new girlfriends. We slipped out the door around 1pm and started our date. (Ahem, after a quick stop at the mall to get said dress — I know, I know, NOT Benjamin’s favorite way to start a date, but I hadn’t had time to get one yet).

We drove about 1.5 hours to Foxwoods casino in Connecticut. Like a little mini-Vegas without the flight! Even the car ride there felt a little bit like a date without a chatty toddler in the back seat.

It immediately felt like we were “away”.

We started the night off with a little champagne while we got ready. It felt like college again. We had so much fun!

We gambled. We switched off playing Blackjack and even enjoyed just walking around the casinos.

We ate. And drank. And ate some more. We had made a reservation at one of the celebrity restaurants there and splurged on a fabulous meal.

(Benjamin is making that weird face because apparently his chair was one of the most uncomfortable chairs he had ever sat in.)

They give everyone cotton candy with the check. So fun!

Throughout the afternoon the babysitters sent us pictures of what Owen was doing and we had an even better time knowing that Owen was having SO much fun at home.

The next morning we lingered in the hotel room and even went out to breakfast (which, I might add, is an entirely different experience than dining with a toddler!). It was lovely.

The drive home was quick and painless, and we were home by lunchtime on Sunday. Not exactly a full weekend away, but that 24 hours felt so different from our normal life that it was the perfect little getaway.

Owen was out in the backyard blowing bubbles and singing songs when we arrived — couldn’t have been happier. He ate well, slept well, took his medicine happily and acted like a total angel while we were gone.

Total. Getaway. Success.

She Says… Little Adventures

Phew! Yesterday I got my husband back after being gone for 10 DAYS. 10 days, my friends, is a long time to be the only adult in the house. I didn’t write about it before because, well, I don’t like the idea of practically inviting crazy people to come break into my house when I’m home alone. I’m nervous enough about home alone as it is. Not that you’re ALL crazy, but one never knows.

When Benjamin told me he had to go away for 10 days for work, I reluctantly gave him my blessing. Hey, he owns his own business, so when the jobs are good, you don’t say no. It was the longest amount of time he’s been away since Owen was born (and probably since we got married). I dreaded the many nights of being stuck in the house with no one to talk to after Owen went to bed. I was exhausted already thinking about how to entertain us both for two 3-day weekends and how to get Owen to and from daycare while still putting in my time at work. I cringed thinking of trying to cook dinner with Owen whining for me to play with him.

But you know what? I was totally wrong. It was actually really, really fun.

Don’t get me wrong, I missed Benjamin. I missed him A LOT. I missed talking and laughing with him at night while cleaning up the kitchen and packing Owen’s lunch for the next day and snuggling down in front of the tv. I missed brushing our teeth together and hopping into bed knowing that he was right there next to me. I missed strolling to get coffee on the weekends and having him hold the dog leash while I pushed the stroller. I missed having him do the dishes (all day! every day!) and share the daycare pickups and dropoffs.

But “taking care” of Owen has slowly but surely shifted to “hanging out” with Owen. Our days are no longer entirely one-sided (with me doing all of the talking, planning, doing, walking, entertaining, playing, etc.). He is helpful and hilarious. He can make decisions about what he wants to do and when he wants to do it. He understands compromise and makes up games to play and actually entertains himself for short periods. Compared to when Owen was younger, this 10-day stretch was an absolute breeze.

The thing that pushed our time together from tolerable to thoroughly enjoyable? Little adventures.

Everything is an adventure to a 2 year old. And when it was just me and Owen, and I really didn’t plan anything to do other than to be with him? I was able to fully engage in the adventures too. We went to the local farmer’s market and instead of rushing through and grabbing something in particular and going home because we had other plans, we lingered. He danced to the old dudes playing trumpets. He patted everyone’s dogs. He wandered through the stalls and tasted green beans and fresh mozzarella and we talked about fruits and picked out a selection for the week. We held hands and walked places rather than taking the stroller. I got a coffee at a little bakery and he drank his sippy cup and we sat at a table together, just shooting the breeze.

The first weekend went by without tantrums or stress or rushing anywhere. The week was relatively smooth, though I found myself staying up late to clean the kitchen and pack his food and didn’t really get that “down time in front of the tv” that usually helps me wind down. I had to shuffle some work things and cancel some workouts in order to get him to and from school each day while I went to work, but we made it work.

The second weekend I decided it was time for a real adventure and we got last minute tickets to Baltimore (where my dad lives). Owen and I have flown several times; usually with Benjamin, but at least one other time with just me, when he was an infant. This time was a little trickier because we had his carseat, our umbrella stroller, a suitcase and a diaper bag of toys and snacks to keep him entertained. That’s a lot for one Mama to carry! And, most importantly, he now has the ability to run away from me at any second if he’s not strapped into his seat.

But! The trip was SO smooth. Owen was awesome and the excitement of traveling and being in a new place and seeing new people kept us both occupied. For those traveling with 2 year olds, here are the top 5 things that made this adventure awesome, rather than awful.

1. This music player. I know, I’ve written about it before. But music player + kid headphones = bliss. For both of us. I literally even got to read my Kindle for about 1 minute before he wanted to talk to me again. Bliss, I tell you!
2. A new book of stickers. I thought this activity book would be above his skill level and expected him just to stick the stickers wherever, but he actually totally understood that there were shadow shapes that corresponded to each sticker and it kept him occupied for a long, long time.
3. Magnet board with trucks. Self-explanatory. Super fun. Good for the plane because the pieces stick!
4. SNACKS. The kid will eat anything while traveling. He thinks it’s SO fun. Green beans, cherry tomatoes cut in half and airplane peanuts were the biggest hit this time around.
5. My iPhone. He was SO EXCITED that he was allowed to play the games on my phone (that normally are off-limits) and I literally could have just brought my phone and nothing else and he would have been happy. Except during takeoff and landing.

Easy peasy. Loved this special little Mommy and Owen adventure. And now we are SO happy to have Daddy home again!

 

 

She Says… Cousin Craziness

We’re home. The laundry is done. The ‘fridge is filled. I’m wrangling my overflowing inbox and Benjamin is catching up on projects that fell by the wayside while we were away. We’re on the downswing from last week’s vacation, but it was all SO worth it.

As I mentioned, we opted to take the train instead of flying. Survey says? This was an awesome plan.

First of all, Owen is currently obsessed with trains, so he was thrilled just to be there and watch the trains and saying hi to the conductor nearly caused his jaw to hit the floor. It was so sweet. Granted, that sweet amazement wore off after the first hour and we still had 5 more to go… so it was still a long trip. BUT, not having to strap him into a seat with a seatbelt was amazing and being able to move around was key to his happiness for the whole trip. If nothing else, I find the train incredibly stress-free. As soon as you get on, you are MOVING. TOWARDS YOUR DESTINATION. Unlike a plane ride, where you are stuck waiting a lot of the time. My two year old doesn’t do well with waiting. And, let’s be honest, neither do I when he is around.

Second of all? Despite the fact that I brought a ton of toys and activities to entertain him along the way, Owen only wanted one thing: my iPhone. While originally I told myself I would limit his screen time like a normal day, I quickly threw that stupid rule out the window and handed it over. To anyone looking to occupy a toddler with a phone, get any and all apps made by Duck Duck Moose. They are magical.

Once I got over my screen aversion, it was pretty much smooth sailing. Oh, and the constant supply of snacks didn’t hurt either. When in doubt… feed him. And, FORTUNATELY, Owen’s car sickness was nowhere in sight (we made sure to pick seats that faced forwards for him, in case that was the problem).

To all of those parents who I judged for putting their kids in front of a screen when traveling, I am sorry. I was wrong. You were right.

Once we arrived Owen was bombarded by grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins. Oh, the cousins. The way they played together melted my heart. They made me want to have a million children so I could witness the interactions forever. Bestill my ovaries. (Maybe those Duggars are on to something…).

The “it takes a village” philosophy is never truer to me than when I hang out with my siblings. Your kid is my kid is whoever’s kid. We all know what the others are and aren’t allowed to eat and drink, who’s allergic to what, and what they call their loveys. Though we don’t spend that much time together throughout the year, the closeness never seems to fade.

Owen is so lucky.

The week was filled with playing outside…

(Doesn’t that little toddler hug make you swoon?)

And playing in the pool…

And playing with stickers…

And more princesses and pink than Owen had ever experienced before.

My 5 year old niece asked him several times, “Who is your favorite princess?”. I’m not sure he knew what to make of that question. Believe me, we do lots of playing outside of traditional gender roles (playing makeup and dress-up), but I can’t say he has been too interested in princesses quite yet. Ha! I, on the other hand, thoroughly enjoyed the pretty pretty princess games that, as a boy mom and only a boy mom so far, I don’t usually get to take part in. I LOVE being an aunt to girls.

I almost completely “unplugged” for the week as well, except for that one blog post and a few tweets to share some great pictures. Can’t even tell you how recharged I feel, despite the early morning wakeups to Owen wailing, “WHERE MY COUSINS?!” from his pack n’ play (which was set up in the playroom… can you blame him for wanting to get up early and play?).

Now, back to life, back to reality.

She Says… Amusement Parks… Amusing or Awful?

I’m not huge on amusement parks. I like some rides, but given that I’m generally a weenie, and, especially as I’ve gotten older, most of them make me feel like I’m going to puke. I don’t love waiting in line and I definitely don’t love getting overly hot, tired and dehydrated walking around in the sun all day with crowds of people all up in my bizniss.

Despite that, we took our first family amusement park trip the other day as part of our vacation week. Storyland is only about a 5 minute drive from Benjamin’s parent’s house in New Hampshire where we stayed for the last few days. Normally I wouldn’t imagine dragging a two year old to an all-day amusement park outing — skipping naptime and forcing that much sensory overload is a recipe for disaster and meltdowns, in my opinion. But since it was designed specifically for wee ones and was close enough to go home in time for Owen’s afternoon nap, we decided to give it a shot.

The short answer is that WE LOVED IT. We had such an awesome time.

Well, except for the first 10 minutes or so. Apparently Owen needed a little time to… acclimate. He really didn’t know what to expect at an “amusement park” and I think he was expecting a playground. When we arrived all he wanted to do was find a slide to play on. There was one, as part of a talking magical tree, but he didn’t understand why there were so many other kids there and why he had to wait so long to have a turn on the slide. Slowly, though, he got the hang of getting off rides once they were over and finding something NEW and EVEN BETTER to play on next. He wanted to ride every ride (even the roller coasters and others that were way too big for him). He walked around wide-eyed and amazed by all of the talking and singing characters and scenes.

The biggest hit? The choo choo train that traveled around the park. He could have ridden that all day. Makes me excited for our train ride to Delaware in a few weeks!

And his favorite ride? Most definitely the teacups.

I know, I know. Letting a kid who gets carsick get on the teacups was a real gamble. But he insisted, and we were as prepared as possible. And we really didn’t know if it would have the same effect. As it turns out, it didn’t. He LOVED being thrown around and twisted and turned and shouted “AGAIN!” as soon as it was over. Benjamin and I were good with just one ride, though.

After nearly 4 hours of amusement park fun, we were all more than ready to head home for lunch and naps. And I do mean all of us.

Another great vacay day!

She Says… Vacay

First things first, thank you to those who were equally as excited as I was about switching Owen’s carseat around.

Our drive by the numbers:
45 = the number of minutes Owen actually slept (even though we left during naptime and expected 2+ hours)
15 = the number of minutes he was cranky on THE ENTIRE RIDE. Totally uprecedented.
2 = number of times we had to stop to get gas/coffee/go to the bathroom
0 = the number of times Owen got out of the car
4.5 = the number of hours we spent in the car total
1,000,000 (at least) = the number of times I said “I can’t believe how happy he is in the car” during the drive

Personal music player + forward facing carseat = magic.

That’s the good news. The bad news, however, is that our vacation so far has not been puke-free. A rough combination of a little fever/bug, too much dinner one night and perhaps a little too much jostling around resulted in a few rounds of puking on Sunday. To be honest, though, I was so happy it wasn’t car-related that it wasn’t even a big deal. Par for the course with this glass-stomached child.

Other than the minor puking incidents, our vacation has been LOVELY so far. On Saturday Benjamin’s parents watched Owen in the afternoon so we could go on a date. And not just any date. We decided to take a 3+ hour zip line tour over the White Mountains.

Let me rephrase that. Benjamin heard of the tour and had to convince me to do it with him. And so, despite my fears, we harnessed up and headed up the ski mountain at Bretton Woods to begin our descent via zip line.

Smiling through the jitters.

At the top of the mountain (after taking the chair lift up), ready to start training and zipping!

In “zip line school” close to the ground before we really get flying high.

And then the real fun started!

The course was a series of zip lines to scaaaaaaaaaaary rope bridges that swayed in the wind to platforms that were 70 feet off the ground, connected by short hikes through the woods.

For some reason, rapelling off of the platforms was WAY scarier to me than zipping. That’s me rapelling from a platform that was 70 feet off the ground to one that was 30 feet off the ground. The good news? The only way down was to conquer my fear and just GO.

The most intense zipline went from about 90 feet off the ground to 170 feet as it went over a deep valley.

Oh how I wished I could have stopped to take a picture from the middle. It was breathtaking. Mount Washington on one side and treetops as far as the eye could see. And there you are… just… hanging out. On two little tiny wires. Exhilarating, to say the least. That zip line (around 800 feet long, I think?) was actually long enough for me to 1) start off screaming with my eyes screwed shut, 2) to relax, look around and actually take in the beauty around me, and 3) get into position to brake and dismount on the platform on the other side with time to spare.

It was AWESOME.

When our feet were back on safe ground (after being caught in a surprise thunderstorm that we had to wait out under a tarp a little more than halfway down the mountain), I could fully appreciate all that we had just done. AMAZING. I’m REALLY proud of myself for rallying and giving up fear to just… do it.

What an incredible date.