A Bunch of Turkey's

Turkey Day was fun this year.  We missed it last year because Love Bug was only a few weeks old and we weren't feeling up to travelling.  We headed up to Grandma and Grandpa's on Turkey morning and had an enjoyable day.  It was pretty hectic watching the little guys all day but it was great catching up with family.

Grandma made a great meal and all the sides were wonderful too.  After dinner we celebrated Love Bug's birthday with the family.  The cake I made was Love Bug friendly and waist friendly too.  It was ok, the applesauce just doesn't cook right in cake format but is awesome in cupcake format.

The boys had a lot of fun seeing their family and we had a great day celebrating.

When You're 3, The Zoo is Boring

I have been really excited to take Roo to the zoo for a couple of months now.  I wanted to wait until we got past the heat of the summer and go this fall.  But on all the weekends I wanted to take him it either rained or they were sick.  So finally, last weekend the weather was nice and sunny and we ventured up to DC to the National Zoo.  I was so excited, Roo not so much.  I made a lunch box of food for both of us so we could picnic too.  We parked in the area that is right next to Asia land.  We wandered around Asia land a bit but couldn't see where the pandas were, not too exciting.  We headed over a huge bridge and went to the bird area.  Roo loved the pink flamingos.  He thought they were pretty funny.  After that we tried to see the elephants but the area was under construction until 2011.  You could see 1 elephant way off in the distance, but not the ideal situation.  So then we wandered a bit more and some how I got a bit turned around and he was saying that he was all done.  We saw cheetahs and zebras and since I figured we were only there for an hour and he was indicating he was done, that I should cut my losses and go.

So we left and all he really wanted to do was go home and play out front with his trucks, tractors and tricycle.  But no way, I drove all the way up there and had promised some W&M friends I'd meet up with them.  I talked to Cloud and she found a park for us to meet up at in Adams Morgan.  Roo spent the rest of the day having a blast at the park.  He loved going down the slides and making cakes out of leaves for all of us to eat.  His favorite was probably the airplane bouncy flying thing.  He enjoyed playing on that for a long time and it was a pretty cool toy.  Will, Neela and Nancy met up with Cloud and us at the park too.  A bit later we went for ice cream.  He was very helpful when we were all done and threw away everyone's trash.  

We got in the car to go home and he was out cold within 5 minutes and slept all the way to the bridge.  We had a great day and it was a lot of fun catching up with some close college friends.  We'll have to visit some other museums in DC this winter and meet up again!

Confessions From Grandma

I was talking to my mom earlier this week after Love Bug's well baby appointment.  I was talking about how he can be pretty sneaky and said that once he starts walking we really need to watch out.  She then said that she remembered the time when she was watching Roo and that she was in the bathroom and the next thing she heard was Roo shutting the sliding door to go out back and play with Baxter.  It's good to learn about these things long after the fact ;)

Uncle Matt's Big Move

Roo and I went to MD to help Uncle Matt move from grandma and grandpa's house to his new apartment.  Roo was so excited to give Uncle Matt all the gifts we picked out for him for his new place.  We first got to grandma and grandpa's and picked up a few things to have for lunch.  Then we headed over to Uncle Matt's and Roo showed him everything we got him.  Not only that, Roo unpacked almost everything, did his best to put it away, set up the trash can, and put all the trash in the trash can.  Whew, it was like watching dada!  As we helped Uncle Matt unpack, Roo made himself at home and had fun playing with the toys he brought and hiding in Uncle Matt's bookcase.  Roo really didn't want to leave but it was time to head back and I promised to show him airplanes and helicopters at National.  As we were driving down the parkway we saw one helicopter.  That must have been enough because he zonked out just before the airport and slept for about a half hour.  We arrived at Cold Stone and picked up some ice cream.  Instead of cups of ice cream to eat in the store, we discovered ice cream cup cakes.  What could be more exciting than that!  So we got home and enjoyed them, daddy thought they were the greatest thing ever!  Happy Birthday Grandma!

A Nice Day Off

Today is Veteran's Day and we had the day off of work.  Daddy had the pleasure of taking Love Bug in to the allergist to get his seasonal flu shot.  He said everything went really well.  The split the dose into 3 and waited 15 minutes in between each injection to make sure he didn't have a bad reaction.  Not an ideal way to spend a day off but they enjoyed some quality time together and daddy said Love Bug hammed it up for all the ladies in the office.

Roo and I spent the day shopping for Uncle Matt's new apartment.  We got him all sorts of great stuff for his kitchen and had a blast shopping.  Roo was great the entire day, he's such good company and can be pretty hilarious at times too.  We went to Pho for lunch, which was perfect for a rainy day.  Roo really enjoyed the soft vegetable rolls with the peanut sauce and said "this tastes good" when he tasted his Pho Ga' (chicken noodle soup).  There was a fish tank in the restaurant and it took a moment to pry him away from it on the way in and out but there's also a fish/pet store just down the way from the Pho restaurant so we went in there after lunch.  Roo was a riot.  He pointed out every fish in every tank to me and was so excited to all the fish and some of the other animals in the store too.  I can't wait to actually take him to the zoo!  He's going to love it.

All in all, today was not the most relaxing day but it was really enjoyable.  Back to work tomorrow :(

Should We Put Out The Tree This Year?

Roo and I were shopping in Target after soccer on Sunday and he saw the trees.  Not only did he see the Christmas trees they had out, he was so excited about them that he told me he wanted to go see the trees.  We walked around the trees and I showed him the one that mommy and daddy have.  He was very excited.

So we continued our shopping and he asked to go see the trees again.  He was so excited I couldn't help but get him a pre-lit 3 ft tree.  The tree is the same size as him.  He picked out some Cars ornaments to go on it.  It's super cute!

So now, we have a 3 ft pre-lit Christmas tree in our living room.  In early November.  

So yes, we'll be putting out the big tree this year.  Can't wait to see his reaction to that, magical I say!

Soccer is Fun?

We signed Roo up to play soccer at 1200 on Sunday's.  We had tried soccer when he was 18 months old and he just didn't dig it so we decided to wait a while before signing him up again.  He's been acting like he's really interested in soccer recently and has been talking about playing soccer, so we signed him up for one of the winter sessions.  He missed last Sunday because of the flu but this week he and I went and he seemed to look forward to it.  The 3 year olds group doesn't require parental assistance, but Roo seemed really shy so I was on the field most of the time.  I love soccer so I didn't mind, but I also wanted to make sure he was comfortable.  I wonder if his shyness was worse because I was there and if I had dropped him off and pretended to leave if it would have been better or if daddy had been there instead of me if it would have been better. He loved running around and kicking the ball but didn't do great following instructions.  Again, not sure if that's part of his stubbornness, as daddy and I can both be very very stubborn.  I didn't force him to play when he indicated he was done.  I want him to enjoy it and not feel forced to play.  When it was done, I told him what a great job he did and how much fun I had playing with him and gave him a lollipop.  He's really into lollipops.  He sounded like he was interested in going again this weekend.  The instructor seemed to think that by the end of the season he'd be just fine.  We'll see, I'm not going to push him too hard because this is supposed to be fun for him.  Hopefully he'll like it better as each week comes along but it's a sunk cost so if he's just not happy, we'll just play in the yard!

Birthday Observed

Since Love Bug was sick on his birthday and feeling much better by Friday, daddy and I decided to spend the day with just him to celebrate his birthday.  We had been wanting to make him a bear at Build-A-Bear since we didn't make him one before he was born.  We had originally planned to do that on Friday without him but it was even more fun with him.  We let him pick out his animal and he chose a very cute brown dog with floppy ears.  He loved the dog and had fun throwing it and having us pick it up over and over again while we were at the mall.

After the mall we went to lunch at the Fred Pub.  It was our first time there and we really enjoyed it.  It reminded me of the pubs in England except it was clean and smelled clean.  The food was really good and Love Bug enjoyed the lunch we brought him along with a little bit of our food.  He especially loved haming it up for everyone around.  He gave great big smiles and waves to anyone who interacted with him.  We're going to have to watch out for him!

After that we took a quick cruise through the new shoe store.  It's a great shoe store and they gave Love Bug a balloon.  He was very excited about the balloon and enjoyed playing with it.

We knew when we got back in the car to go home that he was going to fall asleep pretty quickly, which he did, so we enjoyed a nice ride around the area on our way to pick up Roo.

All in all we had a great day with the birthday boy and are looking forward to giving them each a day alone with mommy and daddy on their birthday every year.

Grandma and grandpa came the next day and we had fun celebrating even more!

Happy 1st Birthday Love Bug!

Today is Love Bug's 1st Birthday!

Though he may have the flu, he enjoyed a day at home with mommy all to himself.  It's been awhile since Love Bug and I had a day all to ourself.  It was a wonderful day and we had a lot of fun.  He's feeling so much better so we got to play a lot.  

We opened presents from Grammy and Papa and Roo. 

Mommy spent most of the day baking and decorating his dinosaur cake.  I didn't turn out exactly how I pictured but it was still really cute.  It was fun watching Love Bug eat the cake and then discover the icing.  He didn't eat or drink much today so the fact that he had a few bites of cake and licked some of the icing off his fingers was good.

I made the cake pretty healthy.  It still had regular sugar in it, but I substituted apple sauce for the oil and it turned out great.  You couldn't taste the difference and it was still really moist. Best of all, the cake and icing were dairy, nut, egg and all Love Bug allergy free so he could enjoy it.  I love this recipe and have been using it for a long time, it was a hand me down from Grandma, and I was even more excited to make a few of my own changes to it.  The icing was made with dairy free margarine so it didn't hold up as well as regular butter, but I felt better serving margarine icing to the family than Crisco so not holding up great is ok.

We had a fun day and all enjoyed signing happy birthday and celebrating Love Bug's 1st birthday!

And This Little Piggy....

We took Love Bug to the doctor today because he spiked a fever on Monday at Kristin's.  He's been on antibiotic for his ear infection for about a week so it was really odd that he spiked the fever.  What was worse was that he was grabbing his head and his ear and acting like he was in dire pain.  Definitely a 10 on a 10 scale.  

Daddy and I both went, which was really nice, especially since he's been so fussy.  They asked if we wanted to swab his nose for the flu and we reluctantly said yes, because we really thought he had an ear infection in his right ear in addition to the left ear.

Dr. Bradshaw came in the the room and let us know gently that his flu test was very positive.  We were shocked.   She did a very thorough examination of him, asked us a lot of questions and we agreed that though he had an infection in the right ear now as well, that he was in such pain because he probably had a massive headache from the flu.  Poor baby, he was even breaking her heart.

She prescribed Tamiflu and said it should work within 24 hours and really help get that headache better.  She answered all our questions and took her time and showed genuine concern for him.  Daddy commented that he was very glad mommy found a new doctor for the kiddos.

After a nap in the car after the appointment Love Bug has been acting much more like himself.  Hopefully he'll be back to himself for his birthday tomorrow.

We're not sure how he got the flu or how long he's had it for but we're hoping we're on the road to recovery.

Puppy Scarf

Ah, mommy earned a puppy scarf in the middle of the night.  What is a puppy scarf you ask.  Pure love and warmth from Baxter.  He has this way of wrapping his body around your neck and head and keeping you warm.  And they don't come free.

What does one do to earn a puppy scarf?  Love Bug was crying off and on over the course of a few hours last night.  I got daddy up and we went in and gave him some Motrin, gave him some love and put him back to sleep.  It was right around 0300, so it was early.

We got back in bed and I guess Baxter approved of our caring for Love Bug and mommy was rewarded with a puppy scarf.  Unfortunately, I had to move him to a different spot in bed.  When he's wrapped around you that way it makes it hard to hear and I needed to listen for Love Bug.  

Hopefully I'll earn one again sometime this winter.  Until then, we've been enjoying a Baxter free bed for a couple of months now.