jamie and amanda tallerico

harvest fest

2011-11-15T20:57:00.002-05:00

a few weeks ago our neighborhood had their annual harvest fest. there's crafts for kids, music, lots of animals, and this year, jamie organized a skate fest. oliver had a lot of fun! unfortunately, jamie had to stick around the skate park, so i was on solo-ollie duty, which made it a little difficult to take him near the animals or anything, but he LOVED the sidewalk chalk. i'm not sure if i've mentioned it before, but he is already totally into skateboarding! he loves standing on jamie's skateboard, and the kid has balance! he can stand all by himself without hold on to anything. i'm in for trouble, aren't i? anyway, he was perfectly happy watching the skateboarders, as long as someone loaned him a board.

ollie turns 1!!!

2011-09-25T21:43:00.003-04:00

i FINALLY have some pictures to post from oliver's first birthday party! i had soooo many, that it took forever to edit, and figure out which ones to post, etc. here is a sampling and i also have a slideshow to post in a day or 2. the party was a success! we had a good time, and ollie seemed to have a great time, so that's what really mattered. we decided to go with a 70's surf theme, meaning muted neon colors, etc. jamie designed the invites and they turned out awesome! oliver is lucky to have such a talented dad, and i'm lucky to have a husband/designer on staff :) we decided to do a brunch with the hope that early morning wouldn't be as hot. we served bagels, cream cheese, yogurt/fruit/granola parfaits, doughnuts, and bloody marys (which were soooo good!). there were a few hitches: i ordered these amazing, giant balloons (which were pricey) and i bought a helium tank and it didn't really work. i was bummed about that, but what can you do? also, we dragged oliver's highchair all the way up to the park so he could eat his cake in it, but forgot the tray! so we just set him on the ground, which was totally fine.

i'm so thankful to everyone who came to help us celebrate! this was by far, the best year of my life. oliver has changed me for the better and i love every second of being his mom! in a lot of ways this year has flown by, and i can't believe that he went from a helpless newborn (although, never tiny!) to this little boy in a years' time!
i love you oliver james, happy birthday sweet boy.

first birthday present

2011-09-21T14:12:00.006-04:00

a few days before ollie's first birthday, he got his first present in the mail! it was from emme and gramps, and they said it was ok if oliver opened it early. he was very excited!

of course half the fun was just opening the box!

playing in the wrapping

tada! the present.

oh my gosh...

it's a bike!!!

jamie and i put it together that night and it was ready to go in the morning.

he figured out how to "ding" the bell within minutes!

4th of july

2011-09-13T13:58:00.006-04:00

since we don't have any family nearby, our friends mike and maureen were kind enough to invite us to maureen's parents' for a swim party the saturday before the 4th. her parents live in long island, and it was awesome! their house, pool, neighborhood, EVERYTHING, was beautiful! we had a great time. ollie and their son, pj, are great friends and had so much fun together (they didn't even nap it was so fun!) the only bad thing was that the weather was (for once) not that hot, so swimming was a little chilly. it didn't stop us though :)

is this not the cutest dog? his name is oliver, so the whole day everyone was yelling "ollie no!"

this was our delicious dessert

the rest of the weekend we didn't do too much, we got lunch with uncle joe. and on the 4th, after putting ollie to bed, jamie and i ventured up onto our roof to see fireworks. we were a little scared going up there because it's not made for that but it was gorgeous once we got there. we couldn't really see any fireworks though, unfortunately.

ollie in his 4th of july pj's from granna

rooftop

gorgeous sunset

hope you had a great 4th!

11 months

2011-09-04T23:05:00.004-04:00

ollie is 11 months! he will be 1 year in a month. it's insane. in some ways it seems like he was just born. he is moving SO much now, that it is harder and harder to photograph him. these pictures aren't that great, but they show his personality, and how he is growing, and that's the real point anyway :)

father's day 2011

2011-09-04T22:30:00.005-04:00

for father's day, jamie said he wanted to ride his bike from our house (in brooklyn) over to manhattan and all the way up and around it, then home. that is 32 miles!!! he is insane. since the high line just opened, i thought it would be fun to meet jamie there and have lunch, then he could ride home and ollie and i could take the train.
we met up at the chelsea market to get some food, and when jamie arrived, he was BEAT! not that i blame him, it was really hot, and he had already ridden more than half-way. he was too tired and hungry to take the food to the high line, so we just ate in the market then walked around the high line a little. it was VERY crowded since it had just opened, but really cool. it's such an awesome idea. if you don't know about it, you should check out the website.
i wasn't sure if jamie would still be able to ride home, but he did! i think (and hope) he had a good father's day. he deserved it. he is a great father. we love you jamie!

p.s. for his gift, we got him tickets to the US Open. we go this thursday, so i'll let you know how it is!

10 months

2011-08-14T21:19:00.003-04:00

while we were in charleston, ollie turned 10 months. i decided to go ahead and take his 10 month pictures at the beach (because what's better than being at the beach on your birthday???). so these aren't the same style as the others, but here they are:

family vacation

2011-08-12T21:52:00.004-04:00

at the end of may we took our first family vacation! our good friends, david and julie were getting married in athens, georgia, so we decided to drive to that, then drive to charleston, south carolina for a few days. jamie and i went to charleston a few years ago and really liked it. we didn't bring sophia that time, but we wished we had because it's really dog friendly. so this year, she had to come!
we had such a great time at the wedding and got to see a lot of our old friends from columbus, including our dear dear friends cass and maggie. the entire trip went really well, except for all the driving. oliver was NOT a fan of the car. he also cut 2 molars on the first leg of the trip. we were hoping that was a lot of the problem, but it didn't seem to be the case. poor ollie.

oklahoma - part 2

2011-07-14T14:12:00.007-04:00

while we had all the babies together we wanted to get some pictures. this is easier said than done. it is sooo hard to get 3 babies on the same schedule! not to mention all smiling. oliver decided not to nap the day we did it, so he was fairly grumpy. i think one of the girls was sleeping when we got there. but, it all worked out and we got a few decent shots. it's amazing how much they have changed since the last time they were together!

i even managed to get a shot of everybody using the timer on my camera! (just pretend the babies are looking)

oklahoma - part 1

2011-06-19T21:24:00.005-04:00

my brother got married last september. it was a private ceremony in lake tahoe (where they live) so they decided to throw a reception/party in oklahoma so we could all help them celebrate! it was in may, and it was pretty special because it was the first time matt and andrea got to meet oliver and my nieces, and also for my grandparents to meet them. matt has never really talked about wanting kids, so it was a big surprise to see how awesome he was with them! seriously, he's a natural! if only he lived closer, he'd be a great babysitter ;)
oliver and i came a week before the reception, so we got a couple days with just my mom, matt and andrea. it was really nice. matt and andrea even took oliver to the zoo for the very first time! (i got to come too) it was a lot of fun, there was even a baby elephant.

when the girls got there oliver had a good time with them too. i think he's already a bit of a lady's man!

aren't they so cute? they are so dainty compared to oliver!

9 months

2011-06-07T13:08:00.003-04:00

O bear is 9 months old!!! i can't believe he is getting so close to a year. each month is more fun than the last. sometimes i do miss my cuddly newborn though : )

he just learned to fake smile. i don't know where he learned it but it's funny.

easter!

2011-05-23T20:46:00.005-04:00

easter was a little different this year, since we were dependent on oliver's nap schedule. we had a leisurely morning as a family and gave oliver his first easter basket. he seemed to enjoy it! then, after his nap we went to our friends' house for brunch. it was really nice, but the best part was that the sun came out! we all went to the park after eating and it was wonderful!

here he is with his easter basket. i think he's the first boy to get a rat in his easter basket!

besides the rat, we put several of these large plastic eggs in the basket.

they were filled with treats!

he didn't want to share with the rat : )

8 months

2011-05-22T22:20:00.003-04:00

this year is flying by! it feels like oliver should be maybe 5 months old, not 8!
here are a few photos of his 8 month birthday, and also some from the past few months to remind you of how much he's changed!

look how much he's thinned out! he barely has any rolls anymore : (

trip to baltimore

2011-04-14T20:46:00.003-04:00

last month oliver and i went to baltimore for a weekend to attend my good friend heather's baby shower. heather was one of my bridesmaids. we have been friends since our freshman year of college. i'm so excited that we are now starting our families together! the only bad thing is that we don't live anywhere near each other! (she's in detroit now)
it was such an easy trip because we were able to take the train. oliver LOVES traveling via train! it's so nice to have all that room, the stroller right there, and most of all to not need a car seat!
anyway, we had a nice trip and heather and randal got to meet ollie (finally!!!) and i got to meet the baby bump. can't wait to meet the baby!

on the train

sitting in the sun after brunch

hanging with randal

ollie, randal, heather, baby brown

during the shower oliver and i slipped outside and enjoyed the baby swing. here's a little video.

7 months

2011-04-06T22:56:00.003-04:00

oliver just keeps getting older! he refuses to listen to me when i tell him to stay the same for just a little bit longer. fortunately, i'm loving each stage more than the last, but it does make me sad that it's going so quickly.

valentine's day

2011-03-31T21:24:00.005-04:00

my friends and i wanted to get the boys together for valentine's day. we decided to meet for lunch at a cafe that is super kid-friendly. infact, on tuesdays and thursdays oliver and i sometimes go to sing-alongs there.
i wanted to make ollie a shirt to wear for valentine's but i didn't want it to be too cheesy, or girly. i decided to screen print a shirt that says "i am loved" in french (or at least i think it does, i never took french!) anyway, i made one for all of his friends as valentines from ollie (and if you're reading this, i made you one too anderson! i just never saw you to give it to you.) all the boys except one wore them to lunch and i really wanted to get a picture of them all together, but they each had their own melt down, and we never got a picture. oh well!

this is the front of the valentines oliver made (and i swear his feet grew an inch right after we made these!)

and the back

this is the shirt (with a drool bib i also made)

i just think this picture is so funny i had to post it!

oliver and kingston being big boys in highchairs

ollie lounging

my sweet little valentine!

i'll probably try to sell these shirts in my etsy store next year, i just didn't get my act together in time this year.

6 months!

2011-03-31T20:38:00.003-04:00

oliver james turned 6 months old on february 1st! he is growing so quickly and changes everyday. here are a few pictures from his 1/2 birthday:

my birthday

2011-03-31T20:09:00.004-04:00

so once again, i apologize for being so far behind! here is a little update on my birthday weekend. it was the end of january, and anyone who knows me knows i hate my birthday. not the celebrating of my birthday, but my actual birth DATE. winter is the worst, and having your birthday during it is just depressing. it doesn't help that it's fairly close to christmas, and jamie will be quick to point out that it's only a couple weeks before valentine's day. he gets really overwhelmed with all these gift-giving holidays so close together! on top of that, the past 2 years my birthday was during a blizzard. not cool. needless to say, we never do much to celebrate. this year jamie was determined to make up for that! and make up he did!!! my actual birthday was on a friday. when i woke up i found a delicious carrot cake cupcake on the table from sophia and oliver! then i received a delivery of flowers, a balloon, and chocolates! i had planned to meet some of my girl friends (and their babies) for brunch, and we had a really good time. then that evening jamie, oliver and i tried to get an early dinner (and it was successful for the most part). and jamie brought home a strawberry shortcake, yummm! he gave me my card and inside was a description of a spa day jamie planned for me for the next day! it was at the peninsula hotel. i was scheduled for a massage and facial, but i also had access to the whole spa: the sauna, steam room, pool, classes, etc. i really wanted to take a pilates class, but the only one that wasn't during my pre-booked services was at 9am, that meant i had to leave at 7:30! (that was the only downside.) i had a great time. it was so relaxing. unfortunately the pool was a bit cold, but i got to eat my lunch by it and the view was amazing. then, that night jamie threw me a surprise party at our favorite sushi restaurant! (he accidentally ruined the surprise a couple of days before by posting something about it on facebook, but i didn't tell him i saw it.) it was a wonderful birthday and jamie is the best husband! thank you thank you thank you jamie! xoxoxo

me and oliver and our friends at brunch

the view from the pool

my delicious lunch!

5 months

2011-02-15T17:40:00.010-05:00

AHHHH!!! it's getting so hard to find time to post on the blog! i feel like when i have a free second i'm trying to frantically clean, or check emails, or read my book for book club, or EAT! i'm very sorry. anyway, let's get back to playing catch up.
while i was home in oklahoma, we did a photo shoot with my wonderfully talented friend neely. we did it the day after christmas at the skirvin hotel (which is so beautiful!) it was really fun, and of course, she did an awesome job. here are a few of my favorites:

then, on new years day my little man turned 5 months! this year is going WAY too fast!

christmas part 2

2011-01-26T21:57:00.006-05:00

i know, i know, it's been FOREVER since i posted anything and by now nobody cares about our christmas, but i'm going to post this part 2 anyway, then onto more current events!

as i mentioned before, we spent christmas eve at my mom's house (along with my sister, brother-in-law, and the girls). so christmas morning (with 3 babies) we were up by 7 or so.

the christmas tree looked so pretty with all the toys under it.

here's the girls' toys

and oliver's (aren't those blocks adorable?!? my sister made them, i LOVE them!)

it was a bit hectic and time consuming opening presents with so many people, and the babies one by one had enough! it was fun though, and next year it will be even more fun.

my mom made these amazing fabric books for each of the kids. they are so cute and clever!

it was the year for books! ollie got all of these from uncle matt and aunt andrea. we love books!

we also love kissable cheeks!

after a delicious breakfast of monkey bread, jamie, oliver and i packed up and headed to jamie's parents for round 2. when we got there oliver was ready for a nap, so we didn't open presents right away. we had lunch and then opened presents, and there were a LOT! oliver has no idea how much he lucked out this year! i just hope our little apartment with no storage can hold it all!

hanging with gramps and ollie's favorite dog, zoey!

emme and gramps also got oliver this awesome bouncer. he LOVED it! it was so fun to watch him in it.

we had a great christmas, we are very lucky to have such great families.

christmas part 1

2011-01-09T20:57:00.010-05:00

sadly, since we had to fly to oklahoma for christmas, we weren't able to bring sophia with us. we had to board her, but found a great place. before we took her in, we celebrated an early christmas with her. we filled her stocking and i think she loved her gifts! oliver and i each got to open a gift too (sent from gramps and emme. don't feel too bad for jamie, he opened ALL his gifts from them as they came!) it was a good time, but i'm still sad she couldn't come with us : (

we flew into OKC on christmas eve, and went to my mom's house for a little gathering. my sister and brother-in-law were there with the girls, and his parents and jamie's parents. it was the first time for us to meet the twins, and for them to meet oliver. he seemed to really like his cousins. he's not normally around baby girls, so he was very intrigued!

oliver was also thrilled to see his gramps (as you can tell from the pictures!)

it's a tradition in our family to open 1 gift on christmas eve, and it's always pajamas, or something related to sleep. so we opened our 1 gift and went to bed. we were VERY tired, having woken up at 4:30 to catch our flight!

santaland

2010-12-23T20:13:00.005-05:00

i had really wanted to take ollie to see santa while my mom was here. not just santa -- THE santa, at macy's on 34th street. however, we ran out of time. i wanted to go on a weekday to try to avoid the crowds, so i finally took him on a monday. jamie works near there, so i was able to call him when we were getting close and he met us there. the line wasn't too bad, 45 minutes i think. and ollie did great! however, since we were trying to wait for jamie, i had to keep letting people cut us in line and so it started taking longer and longer. when jamie got there oliver was still in good spirits, but soon started getting fussy. he decided he was hungry. i had brought a bottle, but he doesn't get given bottles much, so he wouldn't take it. he then decided he was STARVING!!! so i had to figure out a way to nurse him. now, let me explain the situation: it's freezing out, so i've got 2 shirts on, oliver in the carrier, a coat, a carrier cover, a diaper bag strapped across my chest, and another bag i'm carrying. we are literally a couple feet from santa, and i have to find an opening through all of this to feed oliver, while standing in line with 100s of people. and i did it! i am super mom! i was so proud of myself. although, we could only keep letting people pass us for so long, we had to go to santa and oliver wasn't done eating, hence the crying baby with santa picture. oh well. maybe next year! the good news is we got to do a family picture before we got to santa while ollie was still happy. it turned out pretty good. we had fun and now we can tell oliver he went to macy's santaland and met santa.

did i mention how disappointed i was in santa? his beard didn't even look a little real. and he had on a ton of make up, and he wasn't fat! what's the deal???

cereal

2010-12-07T14:03:00.005-05:00

we've been noticing a lot lately that oliver is VERY interested in food - our food! he watches very carefully every bite we take. that, in combination with him suddenly not sleeping through the night anymore, lead us to deciding it was time to start him on cereal. we gave him his first bite on emme's birthday! he didn't miss a drop. from the very first bite he knew just what to do, he even got mad when we weren't fast enough! jamie is starting to worry he's a little TOO obsessed with food!

this is him on thanksgiving day watching very carefully while jamie ate his pie:

i have been trying for WEEKS now to put the video of him eating cereal for the first time on here, and it won't let me. i guess i will just have to put these pictures:

he is no longer using the bouncy seat to eat. we thought it might be easier for him starting out, but no no! he is a pro! the next day he was sitting in his high chair eating like a big kid.

i know this is blurry but it shows how happy he was with himself when he finished.

thanksgiving week

2010-12-05T16:40:00.006-05:00

my mom was able to come to our house for thanksgiving! we were so happy to have her, for many reasons, a few being that without her we would have been all alone, and another MIGHT be that the week before she came, oliver decided he doesn't like to sleep anymore! she flew in the monday before thanksgiving and was supposed to get in at 11pm. However, every time she comes here something seems to go wrong with the flight, so unfortunately my poor mom didn't get to our house until almost 2am!!! shortly after she got here and settled in bed, oliver woke up. so she got very little sleep that night (most nights actually!) but that didn't stop her from being granna! she has more energy than anyone i know. i honestly don't know how she does it!

here she is, playing with oliver before she even had a chance to get out of bed!

my mom has always wanted to go to the macy's thanksgiving day parade, but i HATE crowds, and the thought of dealing with those crowds with a baby, that early in the morning, in bad weather, just didn't sound doable, so instead we decided to go see the balloons being blown up the night before. i figured it would be crowded, but i thought surely less crowded than the parade. i'm not so sure it was! it was soooo crowded! you basically go around the block of the natural history museum in this "line" of people (it's a mob!) and then you file back out. i especially felt sorry for the little kids who's parents brought them in strollers because they are down on the ground, with people all around them, and they can't see a thing! it would be really scary to me to just be surrounded by legs. they were crying and screaming and i honestly didn't blame them a bit. i think we are glad we did it though, it was definitely a once in a lifetime experience.

oliver was not amused.

once we got to the front of the museum, we went up the steps and into a roped off area and we could see everything! it was so nice up there (and not crowded!)

that night, again we got very little sleep, so we got a late start on the meal. jamie and my mom had bought a turkey breast to share but it ended up taking FOREVER to cook, so we ate the meal without it. i don't think they even missed it. it was a delicious meal and of course we made WAY too much food!

oliver was helping with the rice!

in honor of her uncle clay, sophia got her "ear-do"

this sweet boy was so excited for a holiday that focuses on food!

it was a really nice day and everything was delicious!

baby O is 4 months old!

2010-12-05T16:16:00.005-05:00

sorry it has been forever since i've posted anything. i have a lot to share, but not much time to do it! we had a wonderful thanksgiving and are so thankful to have oliver to share it with! my mom was in town and we had so much fun with her. i will try to post some pictures from her visit this week, but for today pictures of ollie turning 4 months! i really like these pictures because they truly show where he's at these days: chewing his fists, putting things in his mouth, clasping his hands, etc. he has changed SO much! i feel like this month i see the difference more than ever.

we put our tree up the day after thanksgiving and he LOVES the lights!

here is the the 1-4 month comparison (notice how much bigger his tummy gets each month!):

oliver sees NY

2010-11-11T22:42:00.005-05:00

our dear friends, steve and marynan, came to NY for their anniversary this past week. we were lucky enough to get to meet them for brunch when they first got here, and then oliver and i got to spend the day with them on wednesday seeing NY! we took one of those bus tours with them and it was a lot of fun. i wouldn't necessarily recommend doing it with a baby (or child for that matter) but oliver was awesome! it was a 5.5 hour trip and there were a few times we got off the bus, but they were very brief and you were moving even then, which made it hard to find times to change and feed him. he didn't fuss really at all though, thank god! part of the tour even included a ferry ride out to the statue of liberty! we didn't get out but it took us right up to it and paused for a bit before taking us back. so oliver has now been on every mode of transportation possible i think: train, plane, automobile, and boat! and he's only 3 months! what will i do to impress him the rest of his life???

oliver chillaxin' with the maberrys!

they are both listening very intently to the tour guide talk about strawberry fields

oliver wasn't so sure about the boat, but he cheered up quickly.

standing on the bow (i think that's the right term!)

and here she is, lady liberty

we had such a good time, thanks again aunt marynan and uncle steve! hope you enjoyed your visit! xoxo

oliver's first halloween!

2010-11-02T18:50:00.005-04:00

sunday was oliver's first halloween. i thought about his costume for weeks! i originally wanted him to be a bear (because i call him ollie-bear), but i had a really hard time finding one. so then i decided, this might be the only time i get to pick his costume, i'm going to pick something i love. giraffe it is! he looked so cute! it was a really hot costume, so i was really glad it was cold out. he had a little party at his kindermusik class on saturday, then on sunday we met up with one of my mom's groups, then went to a friend's house. apparently halloween is a HUGE deal in our neighborhood. they have this big parade, and all the stores give out candy, and the houses decorate, some even open up with a haunted house, etc. so it was a mad house! we didn't even watch the parade because it was so crowded and cold. but we had a good time!

then, yesterday, oliver turned 3 months old!!! i can't believe it. lately we've been hanging out with some younger babies and it's crazy seeing how much they really do change by 3 months. and oliver (always the overachiever) cut his first 2 teeth last night! hopefully i can get some pictures of them soon!

here's the comparison from 1-3 months:

jamie's birthday!

2010-10-24T16:34:00.004-04:00

this past thursday was jamie's 33rd birthday! i had been asking him for months what he wanted to do for it and he never had an answer for me. finally he said "just go out to eat i guess". i asked if he wanted to invite friends, he said sure. i asked where he wanted to eat, he didn't know. this went on and on until the weekend before his birthday when he finally decided on bark, a hot dog place he loves. he still wouldn't give me any definitive answers though. he hadn't asked anyone yet, etc. finally the day before his birthday he decided he wanted to go with some friends to eat at this food truck on the lower east side. (i know that doesn't sound exciting but apparently the guys that own this food truck won some contest on the food network and now they travel around.) so we decided to go to bark on sunday. he was still going to be coming home between work and dinner though, so we could have a mini celebration then, which is a good thing since i had already ordered the cookie cake!
anyway, it was a pretty low-key birthday and i decided to get him a bike lock (my mom got him lights for his bike), but i wanted to do something to make it special. i decided to write up 33 reasons why i love him. i made them on little note cards and i had planned to hang them around the house for him to see when he got up the morning of his birthday, but i ended up just setting them up on the table. please don't judge me, they are not cute or perfect by ANY means, i had only 1 nap to make them in, but they got the job done and jamie was really surprised.

i got oliver a special shirt for daddy's birthday. i don't know if you can read it, but it says "my dad is outta this world".

jamie's first card from oliver

the delicious cookie cake. i wish this was a scratch a sniff picture because it smelled soooo good! something made me think of cookie cakes a few weeks ago, i was thinking how they were all the rage for a while and now you never hear about them. i asked jamie if he liked them and he said yes. i decided to try to get one for his birthday. it just so happens there is a TCBY/mrs. field's in the target shopping center near our house. however, that does not make this an easy process! let's not forget this is new york! i had to walk there (it's a mile away) with a baby, and then carry said baby AND this 16inch heavy cake home! it was quite a feat and i was very proud of myself to get it home without smudging the icing, or dropping the baby or the cake!

i had been telling oliver how delicious cookie cakes are, and letting him smell it so he was excited!

happy birthday jamie! hope you had a good one. xoxo

apple picking

2010-10-11T14:32:00.008-04:00

for the past 3 years we've gone apple picking each fall. i love it. i love fall and i love fallish food and the colors and everything. so this year, i was determined to take oliver apple picking. it turns out there are several places to go around here (and when i say around i mean an hour or so drive). we decided on a place called sun high orchards. i read about it online and saw that in addition to apples and pumpkins they have a market and a petting zoo! it's in new jersey and it's supposed to only be about 40 minutes away. we got there in pretty good time and really enjoyed ourselves, however, the trip home basically canceled out the joy. it took us over 4 hours to get back into the city! this was the second time we've gone to jersey and both times it has taken this long to get back. so we've decided we are not going to new jersey ever again. sorry jersey.

here are some photos of the good times:

notice the pig's name is oliver!

oliver meet oliver

i know this isn't a very good picture, but it's the only one we have of all of us

oliver was not amused!

i was really wanting a picture of him in the pumpkin patch, he hated every minute!

2 months!!!

2010-10-01T18:32:00.005-04:00

today baby O is 2 months old! i can't believe it. he is so big and has changed so much this month. he smiles and kicks, and loves to be talked and sung to, and look at his toys.
it's been raining most of the week and today we had to run some errands (including going to his doctor's appointment). so i felt like a real new yorker having oliver in the carrier and walking around in the rain. thankfully it wasn't raining too hard and i have some new rain boots!
the doctor said he is the best looking, smartest baby she's ever seen (i know she says that to all her patients, but this time she was telling the truth, right?) he is now 13.3lbs and 24.5 inches long, in the 90th percentile. he was all smiles for her, and then came the shots. poor ollie-bear. he did not like them, but he quieted down quickly and has been sleeping ever since (which is why i'm able to post this!) hopefully he won't have any side effects and will be a happy guy tomorrow.

as you can tell, i had a harder time with the sign this time because he loves to kick, kick, kick those legs!

look how much he's changed since last month!

first trip to oklahoma!

2010-09-24T15:24:00.007-04:00

wow! i can't believe it's been so long since i was able to post anything. it's hard to find time when i have 2 hands free, but i've enjoyed every minute of it.
anyway, we spent last week in oklahoma! jamie was able to fly there with us (i was nervous to fly alone with oliver the very first time), but sadly had to leave just a day later. originally oliver and i were only going to spend a long weekend in OK, but then my mom had a brilliant idea for us to stay a little longer and we would drive with her to my sister's house in arkansas, then fly out of little rock. my sister was due any minute with the twins, so we were hoping that we might be able to meet the girls too. however, she went into labor the night we got to oklahoma, so my mom had to leave the very next morning. everything went smoothly and the babies were big and healthy! my mom came back sunday night and planned to spend a couple days with us then we would still head to AR as planned, but as the days went by we decided 3 babies might be a bit much, so oliver and i again changed our flight and we just flew out of oklahoma instead. my mom went on to arkansas without us, but we got to spend lots of time with the tallerico grandparents, which was really nice.

here are a few pictures from our trip:

oliver spent lots of time in his car seat, which he's never really done before. he was such a trooper!

danny's birthday was on tuesday, but we celebrated a little early while jamie was still in town.

the tallerico men

oliver finally got to meet his aunt elisa (and estella too, but i didn't get a picture)

then on danny's actual birthday we surprised him at work and went to lunch. (notice oliver's onesie. it says "i ♥ grandpa".)

granna squeezing as much oliver time in as she could before she had to leave.

finally home with dad!

by the way, oliver did AWESOME on all the flights. he is such a good boy.

oliver's a month old!

2010-09-01T19:07:00.003-04:00

i can't believe it's been a month since ollie was born. it feels like a lifetime ago that we were in the hospital, but it doesn't seem like he should be a month old yet. in celebration of the day he and i went to a mom's group for babies born in august. there were only 2 other women at this gathering (and one was still pregnant), but it was fun and nice to be out of the house and talking to adults. we will be going once a week now, it will be nice to have something to look forward to.

(i took this photos this morning before the fussing began! these cards were a gift from my good friend christy. i'm so excited to use them each month!)

oliver has been such a perfect baby that i should have known it was too good to last. this week he has decided to be fussy. both monday and tuesday he was cranky and screaming ALL DAY LONG!!! and it was even worse in the afternoons. nothing seemed to really help. sweet jamie even brought me home beautiful flowers since i had such a stressful day. then today oliver was so good while we were at the mom's group, so i thought he was back to normal. unfortunately as soon as we got home he was angry and fussy again. i've decided he hates afternoons/evenings. i've never been so happy to see jamie! he has him right now which is why i'm able to post this. i'm just hoping he'll get back to normal because we are flying to oklahoma a week from tomorrow and everyone (including myself) is going to hate us if he's screaming on the plane!

there are really not any pictures of me with oliver so jamie took this last week.

we blend into the neighborhood

2010-08-27T17:27:00.003-04:00

so i've been feeling a lot better and oliver, sophia and i usually take a quick walk in the evenings. however, i have not been brave enough to try to get the stroller out all by myself (it involves lugging oliver in his car seat down the stairs to the entryway, with sophia in tow. then getting the stroller base down the stoop and opened up. then getting the car seat attached to it, all while holding on to sophia's leash!) but yesterday i did it! we took a nice walk and oliver didn't cry (he's not a big fan of the car seat), and sophia didn't misbehave, and i blended in with everyone else in the neighborhood with my stroller, baby, and dog! it was really nice using the stroller, but it was a lot of work getting it down, and then back up. some days i really miss the suburbs.

growing growing growing

2010-08-24T21:21:00.004-04:00

well, as you guessed, little ollie is getting bigger and bigger. i guess i can't really call him "little" ollie anymore! we took him to the doctor today (to have a clogged tear duct looked at) and he now weighs 11.2!

he no longer fits in this: (the sling part)

or the bassinet attachment on the pack-n-play:
last night he was promoted to the regular mattress (raised of course). he seemed to like it.

at this rate, by next week we will probably be buying him a king sized bed! we are having such a good time with him though. i'm kind of sad that he's growing so fast because i'm really enjoying the way things are right now. i know that i'll love each stage (at least parts of them!) but i just wish he would stay a little baby a little longer.

chubby monkey

2010-08-16T20:49:00.003-04:00

i took oliver in to the doctor today to check his weight and to ask about his stomach problems. as i predicted, they said it's normal and there is nothing they can do to help. the big surprise was his weight. he now weighs 10.7lbs!!! i don't know why or how he is getting so big, but he is growing like CRAZY! the doctor said they are supposed to gain 1 ounce a day, and oliver gained 26 ounces in 10 days!!! he is a chubby monkey. he is so sweet and cuddly though. it makes me said that by next week i probably won't be able to lift him anymore though. j/k

today was a busy day for us. we had the doctor's appointment at 1, and my good friend lauren is in town visiting family and she came by to help me get there. then we went to lunch with her. 2 outings in 1 day! oliver was so good through it all. and then, right when i sat down to eat dinner, he got fussy. oh well, i guess you can't be perfect all day, right? i just hope we get more sleep tonight than last night.

it's a boy!!!

2010-08-15T21:39:00.004-04:00

sorry i've been absent for so long! things have been hectic here, but for good reason: oliver james was born on august 1! it's already been 2 weeks, i can't believe it. he is such a good baby, we are really lucky. the only bad thing is he gets terrible stomach aches that i think hurt me more than him. i feel so awful not being able to help him. hopefully we will get that worked out soon.

anyway, i thought i'd share a little bit of the birth story with you guys. i started having contractions at 5am and they were coming strong and close together. we went to the hospital about 7:30. i was vomiting and shaking terribly the whole morning. once we were admitted my water broke (while vomiting). i was far enough along, and miserable enough that they went ahead and gave me an epidural. however, it didn't seem to be working. i could still feel everything and it wasn't just pressure, it was cramping. i also wasn't dilating as quickly as they wanted so they started pitocin. around 5:20pm i started pushing. it was extremely painful and i asked the doctor (who by the way wasn't my doctor, he was out of town) about the pain and she said "well... i turned your epidural off. i didn't want to tell you because i didn't want you to freak out." WHAT??? it turns out they were concerned about me not pushing correctly and the baby's heart rate being too high, so they turned it off. i ended up pushing for almost 3 hours (which is the limit before they do a c-section). i thought i was going to die! it was soooo painful and exhausting. i felt so bad because i was so tired and hurting that i wasn't even very emotional when the sweet little boy came out! i was just spent. he look HUGE but we wouldn't know what he weighed for several hours (they weigh them in the nursery). jamie and my mom were both in the room during the delivery and jamie's parents got there right after oliver was born. it was pretty good timing. and jamie's dad says it was a good thing he wasn't there during the delivery because he would have been raising hell! my eyes were swollen shut from the pushing and my right leg was completely numb from the epidural. it was from this moment on that the quality of care at the hospital (new york methodist) went drastically down hill! the orderly came in to take me to my room with a wheel chair and told me to get in it. i told her i couldn't walk, my leg was numb. she was dumbfounded. she didn't seem to understand this. so jamie and his dad had to help me into the chair while she just stood there, not even putting the foot rests down for me! we went upstairs to the rooms and no one checked me in or checked on me. they didn't bring the baby to us until 1am (and he weighed 9.3lbs!!!) and no one checked on me the rest of the night. the rest of the stay went like this. the nurses were kind and i loved the doctors, but i hardly ever saw any of them. it was always these nurses assistants who were extremely lazy and rude. i was in so much pain and unable to get out of bed and one of the assistants came in once and asked me if i took what i needed for when i got home (pads and such). i said no (did i mention this was at 5:30am and i had been sleeping???) she said "well get up then and come with me!" i was so confused "get up?" "get up and come with me! there's a cart in the hall and you can take what you need. come on!" i got jamie up and he got what he could. later the lady came back and asked if i got everything. i said "i didn't see any of the underwear, can i get some of those?" "they were on the bottom of the cart." i said "oh. we didn't see them." "did you look?" "we tried to." she says "but you didn't." i got mad "no, we DID!" this was all on the last day there and i also never received my breakfast. we were supposed to check out at 11, but they didn't get our paperwork ready until 2:30. still no breakfast. when we were finally discharged i asked for a wheel chair (can you believe i had to ask?) and the nurse said "why do you need a wheel chair, what did you do?" i said "i had a 9.3lb baby! and i can't walk that far." she was like "oh. well, if you want a wheel chair you're going to have to wait." and i did. then an orderly came with it and again, no assistance getting into it. thank god for my perfect, beautiful baby boy, but i will NEVER set foot in that hospital again if i can help it!

farmstand dinner

2010-07-26T18:34:00.004-04:00

so... now my mom is here, and baby t still isn't. we are patiently waiting (maybe not totally patiently, i was bouncing on the exercise ball last night trying to bounce the baby out!) i had another doctor's appointment today and there has been no change since last week. not what i was hoping to hear. he offered to induce me the end of the week but i opted to wait. there is a full moon tonight and i'm hoping it might help move things along. also, i figured if the baby is ok, and i'm not dying, then i might as well wait as long as i can. i will be having another sonogram on thursday though, and he had me schedule 2 for next week also. my doctor will be on vacation next week, but if i haven't had the baby by the time he gets back he will induce me on sunday night, august 8th. that sounds soooo far away! surely baby t will find the way out before then!

on another note, what do you do while waiting for a baby to arrive? EAT! on sundays in our neighborhood there is a really nice farmers market. we don't buy things there too often, but we always want to. we took my mom there this weekend and decided to have a farmstand dinner. we got fresh green beans, baby potatoes, green tomatoes, red tomatoes, and corn. i was so excited!

i decided to share my recipe for fried green tomatoes, since it's really different than most people's. we call it italian style fried green tomatoes, or tallerico fried green tomatoes, but it was inspired by some we had at our dear friend's cass and maggie's rehearsal dinner. it's pretty easy.

ingredients:
•green tomatoes (however many you think you can eat) sliced vertically (so the core is the center)
•salt and pepper
•1 egg
•italian bread crumbs (i don't have an exact measurement for this, i just pour some and add more as needed)
•olive oil
•bruschetta (recipe below)

to make:
•slice the tomatoes and lay out on a cookie sheet.

•season with salt and pepper on both sides (you can then refrigerate if you aren't quite ready to make)

•heat olive oil in a large frying pan

•whisk egg in a bowl
•add bread crumbs to another bowl (you are setting up an assembly line)

•once the oil is hot (try flicking some water in it to see if it sizzles) take one tomato and dip it in the egg (coat it well), then in the bread crumbs (give it a nice coating), then add it to the frying pan. keep going until your pan is full, then keep an eye on it looking for crispy edges. when you see these, flip the tomatoes. it doesn't take very long, a few minutes on each side.

•after both sides are fried remove tomatoes from the pan and set them on a paper towel lined plate. keep going until all tomatoes are fried!

bruschetta:
you can either buy bruschetta or make it. we make it and here's how:
•chop up 1 red tomato, 2 cloves of garlic, and about a 1/4 of red onion.
•mix all these ingredients up in a small bowl. add salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil to taste.
•lastly add fresh chopped basil. it's best if you make this a little ahead of time because the longer it sits, the better it tastes!

then just top each green tomato with a little bruschetta, eat and enjoy!

maternity pictures

2010-07-21T16:57:00.005-04:00

things have been kind of crazy here since the weekend. if you remember, jamie was sick the week of the 4th, well, i got what he had this past week. everyday it got worse! by saturday i had a fever and was achy and miserable. we were supposed to have maternity pictures taken saturday afternoon by one of our good friends. thankfully we were able to reschedule for sunday and i got some antibiotics. i did nothing all day. it was really boring but needed to happen. by sunday i felt sooo much better! still congested, but not achy or feverish. and we were able to do our photo shoot! it went really well and was a lot of fun. steve is awesome! here are a few of my favorites:

we started out at his apartment with this super professional back drop (don't we look like we are in a jcrew catalog???)

then we went to a little park in dumbo. it was beautiful. unfortunately the lighting wasn't cooperating enough for you to see the amazing background.

we had so much fun and after the pictures we went to eat at lombardi's, which i supposedly the first pizzeria in america! it was delicious! thanks so much steve!!!

and here's a quick baby update: i had a doctor's appointment today and am 1cm dilated! but i guess that doesn't really mean much in terms of time. it's still up in there air when baby t will join us. i have another appointment on monday if nothing happens before then. oh! and some of you may not know my mom is coming today!!! i'm really excited. it feels less stressful having her here than trying to hold off the baby's arrival until she gets here. it's also jamie and my 5th anniversary today! what a busy wednesday!

baby t's new shoes!

2010-07-16T17:02:00.003-04:00

i ordered baby t some shoes a while ago and have been wanting to do a photo shoot with them. however, i think i mentioned before that darling jamie got rid of my tripod. so... it didn't go as smoothly as i had hoped, but i got a few good shots i think.

aren't they cute? we love vans. i used to have some just like this, now i need to order some more so we can match!

jamie's work baby shower

2010-07-15T21:05:00.004-04:00

yesterday, jamie's coworkers were sweet enough to throw him a surprise baby shower! it happened during the day, at work, so i wasn't there (and of course, don't have many details because boys don't give details), but one of his coworkers emailed a couple of pictures. it looks like it was really nice and very unexpected and thoughtful. also, that evening they had planned a dinner (which i was invited to) and that was fun also! we ate at a semi fancy restaurant, there were probably 20 or so of us, and in the middle of this restaurant they had us play the diaper game! you know the one? where there are melted candy bars in diapers and they pass them around and you guess what kind of candy bar it was? well, it didn't go over so well, and one of jamie's friends was particularly disgusted! it was fun though.

yummy food and drinks!

they surprised me with this desert, which happens to be one of my all time favorites: warm cookies and ice cream. yummmm it was sooo good!

the biggest news though is that today we had our final ultra sound! my last one was at 20 weeks, so it's been a while. and i had forgotten, but after the last one when my doctor got the info, he was like "did they change your due date?" i said "not that i know of." "well, it says on here july 21, but it was july 31, right?" me, "yeah." so he said that the measurements looked fine and we would leave it as the 31st. well, today when i went for the ultra sound they technician said "your due date is the 21st?" i said "no, the 31st." she was very confused and said they had no record of that and that the measurements from the previous scan were exactly where they should be if my due date was the 21st. so.... she measured again today and said it definitely should be the 21st. which is next week, did you realize that??? (on a side note, it's kind of cool that the due date is july 21st b/c that is jamie and i's 5 year anniversary!) also, she estimated the baby's weight at 7.14!!! that's a lot bigger than i expected. hopefully baby t comes soon so he/she doesn't get too much bigger! but i also want baby t to wait a bit b/c my mom doesn't get here until the 27th! dilemmas dilemmas.

baby t's first blog photo!

we aren't lucky enough to get one of the fancy 4d scans, but this one is pretty good.

nada

2010-07-13T21:40:00.002-04:00

this week has been especially uneventful. sorry i haven't been posting. tomorrow i have a doctor's appointment (maybe he'll give us some kind of idea of when we'll be meeting baby t!) and then on thursday we have an ultra sound to check on the size. cross your fingers we get a good picture (since we haven't ever!) but that we don't accidentally see something we don't want to!

here is a collage of baby bump photos to remind you how far we've come!

hope you have a good wednesday! xoxoxo

the nursery

2010-07-09T17:47:00.004-04:00

sorry i haven't been posting very much. the pregnancy has finally gotton to me, and it's won the past couple of weeks. tomorrow is the first day of our 38th week, so really baby t could come at any moment. i have been having a really difficult time sleeping (and most of you know i'm not a great sleeper under normal circumstances) and during the day i just feel so run down and achy. this is infuriating to me because there is still a lot i need/want to do, not to mention our house is a disaster! but i've decided to listen to my body and just take it easy (as often as i can).
a lot of you have asked me to post pictures of the nursery, so today i took a few. i need to do a video probably to give you a feel for the layout, but this will work for now. it's not finished, but it's in working order. plus, we plan to have the baby sleep in the pack-n-play for the first few months in our room anyway. when you look at these keep in mind i still want to make curtains, pillows, and hang pictures on the walls. we have the pictures, i'm just waiting for my mom to get here for some guidance. oh! i also plan to get a rug or 2.

here is the window seat, which you've seen before.

changing table/dresser and diaper station

this is a print that jamie did for our friends' letter press company, sycamore street press. i love it. the other things we have to hang up are other prints. i can't wait to get them on the walls!

okay, i had this vision in my head when we first saw this place to make this nook a closet of sorts. we finally got some "racks" to hang up. so far we don't really have many clothes, so no need to hang any, but hopefully it will look cute with little baby clothes there. if not i may create a curtain to hang in front.

and the crib. sorry i couldn't get a good angle of it, but it's got a bunch of stuff in it right now, so maybe that's a good thing you can't see it : )

the mobile, which you've also seen before. and that adorable little elephant back there is a music box of sorts. you pull down on it's tail and it plays.

so in addition to being run down, i've been craving fruit. lots and lots of fruit. this weekend i somehow managed to buy just about every kind of fruit there was. i didn't even do it with the thought of a fruit salad, but when i got home that was all i could think about! so i made a great big one (and ate it all) and made another one (and have almost ate it all too). at least i actually ate all the fruit instead of some of it going bad like usual! and isn't it so pretty?

4th of july

2010-07-07T20:25:00.005-04:00

so, the weekend of the 4th jamie was sick. which was especially disappointing since he had friday AND monday off! needless to say we didn't do much. however, on the 4th he did some research and we decided to go to a beach in long island. he found a place called "crab meadow" and saw that they were going to be setting off fireworks nearby so we would probably be able to see them from the beach. we didn't get this plan until fairly late in the day and there was some traffic, so we didn't get to the beach until 5pm. it was still really hot and sunny out though. this beach is in the sound, and it wasn't very crowded, so that was nice. but it was more like a lake than the ocean. it was completely flat and the beach and the ground in the water were COVERED with pebbles! that doesn't sound bad, but they HURT!!! it was the first time in my life i actually wished i had water shoes! as it started getting dark, more and more people came, so we figured we must be in a good spot. and sure enough, it was a great spot! we could see about 5 different firework displays! some were pretty far away, but you could still see them. it turned out to be a really nice 4th. the only bad thing was that we couldn't bring sophia with us, so she was left alone for a LONG time (with the traffic we got home pretty late). poor girl.

holiday weekend

2010-07-06T18:23:00.005-04:00

i don't remember if i mentioned my battle with UPS. the friday that jamie was gone i got a notice that UPS had come by, but i swear i didn't leave the house and the bell never rang! the notice said they would try again on monday and 2-5pm was marked AS WELL as after 5pm. so i sat here from 2:00 on. our friend levi was in town and came over to go to dinner with us around 8. we didn't leave the house until after 8:30. the UPS guy still hadn't come, but i figured he wasn't going to come any later than that. of course when we got back there was another notice. crazy! this one said tuesday after 5. well, i assumed it would be super late again, however, the only thing i had to do that day was have lunch with marilyn, so i figured i'd be there. when i got back from lunch (around 1:30) there was another notice!!! the final notice, so the item was being sent back. boooo! i was so mad. i called in and they said i could come pick it up. i had to wait until friday so jamie could drive me. it was less than 5 miles away and took us 2 hours! anyway, the good news is i got my item! a new camera i had ordered.

source

i'm really excited about it. i wanted to get a nice camera to take pictures of baby T, and this one does video too. my very good friend marie has the same one, so i knew it would be a good one. we tried to play with it a lot this weekend. unfortunately my only model really was sophia, but she's a good one!

here's an action shot of her with one of her favorite toys (thanks stacey!)

i have some specific ideas of pictures i wanted jamie to take, i wish i could do it myself but did i mention jamie sold nearly everything we own while i was sick the first trimester??? that included my tripod! (needless to say, this isn't exactly what i was going for, but we'll get there!)

we also had our first child birth class last week. it went really well (although the other couples weren't nearly as out going and open as i had hoped they'd be). we have 3 more classes, so maybe they will loosen up. i can't believe it's almost time for baby T to be here!

btw, we had a really good 4th of july! i'll post pictures from that tomorrow.

picnic and passion pit in the park

2010-06-30T12:26:00.004-04:00

yesterday was a good day! one of my favorite people, marilyn, is in town for a few days and i was able to have lunch with her and her son. it was a lot of fun and so nice to be with people during the day! i'm hoping to see her again before she leaves.

then, yesterday evening we went to the park for a concert. throughout the summer our park (prospect park) is having concerts at the bandshell. last night it was passion pit. jamie and i really like passion pit, but we weren't willing to pay $35/person for it (and it was sold out!) we decided to just go sit outside the stage area and listen. often when i go to concerts i can see anything anyway, so what does it matter? it was actually really fun. we packed a picnic and took sophia. there were a lot of people with our same idea, and a few of jamie's coworkers joined us later on. if you are in the area, check out the website for the calendar of events. i think the next one we are interested in is july 30, so we'll see if we are able to go that close to baby t's arrival!

our picnic (summer salad and croissants)

this doesn't do it justice, but by the time the show started there were a LOT of people in our area.

behind the green fence is where the "real" show took place, but we could hear perfectly.

and this weeks belly shot. again, i don't know if you can tell by this picture, but i honestly think i doubled in size last week!

window seat

2010-06-24T22:39:00.003-04:00

so... once again i had to get up early because the plumber was supposed to be here between 9 and 10 to grout the tile and then be done. (i don't know if i've mentioned this before, but throughout my pregnancy i haven't slept well. i actually often don't even fall asleep until around 6am or so, so i get my best sleep in the morning.) well, 10:00 came and went, as did 11:00! then the lady downstairs called and said he was supposed to be here in 15 minutes. he finally came around noon. however, he came (to grout the tile remember) and forgot the grout!!! can you believe this guy? so he left and then came back around 1ish. he did the grouting and left around 2:45. after he left i felt so liberated and free! i could pee if i needed to, i could lay down, i could let sophia roam freely. i felt like i had been a prisoner in my own home all week, and now i was free! i laid on the couch and read for a bit, then i got tired and i actually decided to take a nap (which i NEVER do!) right as i fell asleep someone rang my buzzer. i was furious. i can't get a moments peace! it was my landlord AND the plumber. the plumber wanted to show my landlord what he had done. needless to say, after they left i didn't fall back asleep.

there is still lots to do to prepare for baby t's arrival. as i've mentioned before i haven't posted pictures of the nursery because we still need to do some cosmetic things and organize organize organize! one thing i've been needing to do though is make a cover for a cushion to go on the toy chest/window seat. last night i finally did it. i had no idea what i was doing, but it turned out pretty well. and i made it envelope style so it can be removed for washing. here are some pics. and hopefully once jamie gets home we can get everything else taking care of and post some pictures!

sorry!

2010-06-24T00:00:00.002-04:00

sorry i've been MIA this week. it's not that i'm so busy that i haven't had time, (although i have been keeping busy!) it's more that i'm so boring i don't have much to share. i have spent this entire week waiting on the plumber. it's been an ongoing nightmare for a few months now. apparently for over a year our shower has been leaking into the apartment below us. for some reason they never decided to get this fixed until after we moved in (lucky us!) so literally for months now i've spent many, many days waiting on a plumber, who may or may not show up. and the plumber that we've been using (in my opinion) is an idiot. so... on sunday they found a new plumber and he at least had the brains to decide he needed to knock into the wall to see what was causing the leak. the bad news in this is that there was going to be a hole in my shower and one in the lady's below us ceiling! so yesterday he first came at 9am. then for some reason he had to leave and talk to the landlord then come back, so basically the ENTIRE day i waited on him. he didn't leave until 6:30. and did i mention the water was off??? so i held my pee for hours (which is asking a LOT of a pregnant girl!) i held it so long i couldn't bare it any more and i had to pee in a cup (3 actually). it was miserable. so today he was supposed to come at noon. he didn't. then he was supposed to come between 3 and 4. he didn't. he finally came around 5:30. which put him here through dinner time. it just so annoying and inconvenient. so now i have my hole filled in with tiles, but he has to come back tomorrow to grout them. he supposed to be here by 9. this better be over tomorrow is all i have to say!

jamie's gone

2010-06-21T22:58:00.005-04:00

well, i guess the reality of father's day made jamie run for the hills. he skipped the country today. just kidding. i mean, he really did leave the county, he'll be gone for a whole week! he had to go for work. i don't mind, except for the fact that we are now only 5 weeks away from our due date and who knows what could happen!

i really wanted him to have a special father's day weekend. on saturday i asked him what he wanted to do, and he said "go to the beach!" so we packed up and headed out. it normally takes about 45 minutes to get to jones beach from our place, saturday it took 2 hours! that was the start of the kind of day we had... we actually planned to go to this beach we found just north of jones called cedar beach. we thought it was a free, public beach. when we finally got there we find out it cost $25!!! i don't know about you, but i find this ludicrous! so we made a u-turn (thank goodness they are legal here) and went back to jones beach where it cost $10. however, you can't just pay at the entrance, you have to get a car pass. we did not know this, so we had to make another u-turn to go get one. crazy! we finally got there and it was PACKED! i had a feeling it would be like this, and have actually seen worse, but i guess jamie was unprepared. he was really bummed out by the whole ordeal. and did i mention how cold the water was??? it was FREEZING! it wasn't that cold in cape cod! THEN, when we headed home traffic was even worse and it took 3 hours to get home! poor jamie. he said saturday was one of those days he hates living in ny. and here i was trying to give him a good weekend!

thankfully sunday was better, but we didn't leave our neighborhood either. it was HOT out. really really hot. we got breakfast and took sophia to the dog run (she didn't last long). then we just relaxed at the house until we got hungry again and we took sophia to eat mexican food on the patio of a restaurant. it was really good. and it cooled off slightly while we were there. that evening we also went to get ice cream. we joked that it was more sophia's day then father's day because we only went places she could go too. every day is sophia's day!

sophia giving jamie his father's day gift

i know you can't see the card, but it has a water color of brooklyn on it. and said something like "happy father's day from brooklyn" it wasn't that cute, but i thought it was fitting.

father's day kisses

i got jamie a tiny little grill that we can hopefully use on the fire escape. i don't know why the box says silver, it's green. everything i buy is green : )

and here is the current belly bump.

jamie's first 5k

2010-06-18T14:58:00.004-04:00

last night jamie had his first 5k run. it was through his work, it was something like the jp morgan corporate challenge (???) when he signed up for it (back in february), his whole team (minus 1) signed up, and they had big plans of training and preparing for it. i don't know what the rest of them have been doing, but jamie's idea of "training" apparently involves eating lots of hamburgers, hotdogs, and pizza. oh! and not running.

anyway, i met him up at his work and went with everyone over to central park for the run. i think only 2 other people from his team ended up running (slackers!) but my jamie is truly a champion! he ran it even though he hasn't run since december. when he gives his word, he means it! the event itself was insane! there were so many businesses involved. apparently they had to break it into 3 days. yesterday was the 2nd day of it, and there were TONS of people! they had divided the park into different areas (assigning each business to an area) and i think there were at least 3 of those, and ours was packed. i don't think i got very good pictures to give you an idea, but it was crazy. the bad part was that i couldn't see the actual race. i just stayed with everyone's bags. maybe next year baby t and i will wander down the the race (if i could even find it!)

this is jamie pre-race

everyone on team AE gearing up!

and after the race. his classic pose.

this was the beautiful sunset we saw on the way home.

sock monkeys!!!

2010-06-16T18:13:00.003-04:00

yesterday we received an awesome package from our good friends levi and linda! it was full of lots of surprises. one of which, was a sock monkey! it's really cute. then today, we received a package from future aunt erin and uncle clay. and inside it was an adorable sock monkey onesie! they go together perfectly, and now i'm wishing i had done the nursery in sock monkeys! i guess i still kind of can since i haven't made the curtains or hung anything on the walls still. (i have 5 weeks, plenty of time!) anyway, thanks you guys! we really appreciate the goodies!

oh! and i forgot to mention that erin and clay also included some goodies for sophia, before i even opened the package she was OBSESSED with it! and then when i put the treats away and was taking the onesie into the baby's room, she would not leave the onesie alone. i guess it smells like delicious dog biscuits!

busy weekend!

2010-06-14T21:20:00.005-04:00

i got home from sunset beach friday evening and i feel like i haven't sat down since! i guess i am in heavy duty "nesting" mode. i feel like i have been throughout the pregnancy, but now that we have just 6 weeks to go, i'm getting even more so. and i'm hoping it will rub off on jamie! saturday we went out to long island and bought our car seat and stroller. then, on sunday jamie put it together. however, they sold us the wrong car seat adapter, so we couldn't attach it and now we have to go back next weekend. it's so annoying when stuff like that happens. but at least we have the car seat, so now if baby t decides to come early, we're prepared!

oh! and i forgot to mention, when i got home on friday there were several boxes of baby gifts waiting. i thought this one was so pretty, even after being stuffed in a box!

here is our new stroller (without the seat)

the whole family was working hard to get things ready, even big sister!

i also talked jamie into putting up a new ceiling light in the baby's room. the one that was in there just didn't seem like a bed room light. so we bought a new one at ikea. i guess it was a pain to install, but it looks awesome.

see? this is the old light. not really a bedroom light, right?

and the new one! it doesn't look that impressive here, but soon i hope to post pics of the finished room and it looks really great with the furniture.

here are some more beach pics:

me and my momma (she'll kill me for posting this!)

a rather large crab we saw

big belly!

delicious!

2010-06-10T22:42:00.003-04:00

i have a new love in my life. it's the calabash creamery! (sorry braums! you still have the best frozen yogurt.) EVERYONE who knows me knows i'm obsessed with ice cream. i come by it legitimately, ice cream lovers are on both sides of my family! anyway, this new place, the calabash creamery, is all homemade (in the back of the store) and the flavors are both traditional, and exciting! my favorite so far is the birthday cake. it is sooooo good. i like most "cake" flavored ice cream, but have found that most are a little too rich (like coldstone's cake batter), but this one is perfect! it's literally like you are having yellow cake and ice cream, stirred together. there is even some icing (the kind they put on ice cream cakes that tastes similar to cool whip). anyway, it's heaven.

here are some pics of the place, but they are pretty bad. i had to take them with my phone and it was nighttime.

not only is the ice cream good, but the store is cute too, and you can eat it out on the porch in a rocking chair.

these are just statues but they are pretty much life size. i think they had been name "scoop" and "dip" or something. i love cows.

so tomorrow i go back to new york. i'm actually excited to get back. i really miss jamie and sophia. i will miss the beach and this gorgeous weather of course, but i think i miss them even more! i'm also ready to get home and really crack down and get ready for baby t. we only have 6 weeks and a couple days to go!

sunset beach

2010-06-09T20:28:00.005-04:00

sunset beach is a little island between north and south carolina. my family has been spending summers here since my mom was a child. it's very small and is all residential. they don't allow any restaurants or hotels (there is just one motel which has been there since before they started coming here), so that makes it kind of cool. it's very quaint and quiet.

once, when i was a teenager (actually my last time to be here), my family was leaving to come here in a week and i told a boy i knew and he said "where in north carolina?" i said "you've never heard of it, it's just this tiny island, sunset beach." he said "i'm going there next week!" it was REALLY weird. maybe it's hard to comprehend the craziness of this situation, but growing up in oklahoma, most people referred to the "beach" as a lake. NOBODY i knew went to the ocean, and i still to this day haven't met anyone else who's ever been to or heard of sunset beach! so anyway, i got to hang out with my friend while i was there, which was way cool for a 15 year old girl who would otherwise have been stuck playing cards with her family (how embarrassing!)

anyway, this year at the beach house we are renting, there is a dove nest over the screen door. there is a mom, dad and 2 babies. the parents take turns sitting on the nest. it's really interesting to watch (probably especially since i'm pregnant) but i am amazed that they can just sit there all day and not go crazy! and i'm also amazed, and impressed by the teamwork of the parents. i LOVE that the dad is equally responsible for the babies! i hope jamie and i are like that, are you reading this jamie??? ; )

there are so many beautiful flowers here!

this is our walkway to the beach, isn't it lovely?

and here is our house

this is one of the doves. they have been nicknamed "lovey" and "dovey"

i forgot...

2010-06-08T22:34:00.003-04:00

i forgot to mention yesterday that i was going out of town, again! i left this morning to join my mom's family at sunset beach, nc. i'm just staying for a couple of days. i really needed some beach time and this will be my last trip ever before being a mom! so i got here late morning and after getting to the house my mom and i headed straight for the beach! it was a beautiful day and the water is warm. there isn't a lot to do here, so i will be forced to relax (poor me!) i'm really excited about it.

my mom actually took these pictures of me. if you know my mom, you know to be impressed!

this is the beach i grew up coming to for the summers. i haven't been back here though since my sophomore year of high school i think. it's kind of weird to be back, but it's also changed a lot so it almost doesn't feel the same.

anyway, i just wanted to give you a heads up incase i don't post much. xoxoxo

we're back!

2010-06-07T14:24:00.010-04:00

we got back from the cape yesterday evening. it was a great weekend! not what we had planned, but still great. the reason it wasn't what we had planned was because we only really had saturday there, and we had planned to spend it relaxing on the beach. unfortunately we woke up to thunderstorms and even though the rain eventually let up, it never cleared up completely, or warmed up much. we drove to a nearby town and went in some shops, then drove around. we actually did a lot of driving. we didn't realize how big cape cod is, but we probably saw a good amount of it. it is really a beautiful place! everything is so green and picturesque. i told jamie i didn't know if we could live there because we don't know very much about landscaping. the old manse inn was really beautiful too, and the owners were so friendly. they have a portuguese water dog named maggie. she was so cute and sweet, she really made us miss sophia.

this was at the entrance to cape cod. i couldn't get a very good picture of it.

this is where we stayed!

this little sun room was where they served breakfast each day. they also told us that this was originally the minister's house and they had church in this room. they later built a new church, and eventually an new manse (which is the house the minister lives in) so this became "the old manse".

this is maggie!

i believe this was the new church they built.

this was another beautiful old church which had an old cemetery behind it.

i don't know if you can see it, but some of these graves were dated 1811!

we thought this was a cool design. it looks a lot like alkaline trio's symbol!

this was our first time to the new england coast and it really is so different from any of the other beaches we've been to. everything about it looks different, but the beach itself was especially unique. when we got there on friday we went straight to the beach and walked in the surf. it was perfect. the water wasn't even as cold as i thought it would be, and it was surprisingly clear. it was high tide when we did this.

the beach the day we got there. gorgeous!

see how clear the water is?

jamie taking a picture of me...

while i take one of him.

i doubt i need to mention we ate a lot of seafood while we were there!

the next day, when the rain let up, we tried again and it was low tide. it was a completely different beach! we had heard the tide goes way out, but you literally couldn't see the ocean! it was just random little tide pools kind of, and even some grass. it was like nothing i'd ever seen before. boats that had been anchored in the shallow water were now just sitting on the sand. crazy!

this is the same beach the earlier pictures were of! can you believe that?

saturday night (our anniversary) we went to dinner at the bramble inn. it was really good and a cute setting.

when we came home we had some of our wedding cake top (saved for a year). it had been through SO much! including a move and being unfrozen and refrozen numerous times! but surprisingly, it wasn't too bad. (even though it looked so sad.)

and for those of you who were worried, even sophia had a great weekend. she stayed with friends and i think they REALLY wore her out! when we picked her up sunday evening she looked like she might pass out. she was soooo tired all night. even today she has been contentedly napping!

we've been married 1 year!

2010-06-03T18:36:00.006-04:00

saturday (june 5th) is our 1 year anniversary! it seems crazy in some ways, but in others, this has been such an eventful year, that it seems like forever ago that we got married. even though it's been a crazy and stressful year, i am thankful everyday for my wonderful husband. i'm so glad he chose me to spend his life with.

on wednesday night he brought me home some peonies. it was very sweet of him, even though they were practically dead. i had white ones just like these in my bouquet!

to celebrate, we are going to cape cod for the weekend! neither of us have ever been there. i'm really excited! we are going to be staying at the old manse inn. it looks really nice on the website. i hope the weather is nice. i also hope that sophia has a good weekend. she will be staying with some friends.

in honor of our anniversary here are some of my favorite pictures from the wedding.

hope you have a great weekend too!

astoria queens

2010-06-03T18:18:00.005-04:00

so, as i mentioned yesterday, we spent monday in astoria. we had heard that is the place to go in queens, and that there's lots of good food. so we loaded up and drove there, with no real plan in mind. unfortunately, due to this lack of plan, we didn't know where to eat. we drove around looking for something and ended up parking in a neighborhood that looked promising and walking around. we found nothing. i ended up getting a sandwich at a corner deli and jamie didn't even get anything! then we drove towards the water and came across a sculpture park. eva had heard of it and it was free, so we went in. it was nothing that we thought it would be. pretty strange actually. it almost seemed more of a dog park, everyone there had a dog off leash. after we left there we got some ice cream from mr. softy, then headed back home. it wasn't very exciting, i'm hoping we won't go back actually. however, i know that if jamie hears of a specific restaurant that sounds appealing to him, we'll be back!

this was a sign above the entrance. i'm not sure why (it not being a sculpture). it was my favorite thing about it though.

the view

can you see that little light house? i love light houses.

kirk and eva

jamie convincing eva to be a dork with him.

the bump 31-32 weeks!

long weekend

2010-06-02T21:40:00.006-04:00

sorry i haven't been posting very reguarly, it's been a busy weekend/week! memorial day weekend was a lot of fun, even though we didn't do any of the traditional "memorial day" activities. saturday we took sophia to the park and walked through the farmer's market, then jamie actually helped me clean the house! and we got our grocery shopping out of the way!!! sunday we were FINALLY able to meet up with our old friends kirk and eva. you may remember them from our life in ohio. they lived a couple blocks from us and we had standing thursday night dinners. they also have an amazing letter press company, sycamore street press, and did our wedding invitations. so.... (after that long explanation), that is why they are in town, for some craft fairs and such. they are actually in nyc for a whole month, but it took 3 WEEKS for us to get together! we planned to go to ellis island on sunday, but when we got there the line was insane!!! so we decided to head to central park and we rented a row boat. it was a lot of fun, even though it was hot. we also met up with them again on monday and we did a little exploring of astoria queens. i wasn't too impressed, but maybe if we had gone with someone who knew where to go it would have been more fun. i had a couple orders to catch up on on tuesday, and today i had a doctors appointment and a hair appointment (which combined took my entire day!). so now you're all caught up. oh! and the best part of memorial day weekend is that from now until labor day jamie has 1/2 day fridays!

this was a tribute to john lennon in central park at the strawberry fields. it was strange, but beautiful.

eva looking out at the water

the boat house

jamie's island. kirk actually got us right up to this and jamie was able to jump out of the boat and stand on it.

kissing turtles. we saw lots of turtles actually, even a whole family of them. unfortunately we scared them off when we got close to try to take a picture.

baby t's shower

2010-05-28T21:04:00.007-04:00

sorry i've been absent so long! i was in oklahoma, and then yesterday (my first day back) i was super busy! but today i have pictures of the baby shower to post. thank you so much to everyone who came! i had a great time and we got lots of awesome gifts!!! here are a few pictures:

beautiful day!

2010-05-20T18:37:00.003-04:00

today was a gorgeous day! finally!!! i had to run some errands before i leave for my trip, so i did a lot of walking, and it was hot, but wonderful. this morning i finished up some orders, including the toddler t-shirt i was talking about. i think it turned out pretty cute. when i got it it was very boxy, so i changed the sleeves to cap sleeves, which helped a lot, then added a ruffle around the neck and as a finishing touch, a removable fabric corsage.

after all of this i still had time for a quick mani/pedi, and boy did i need it! i still need to pack, but other than that i'm pretty much ready to go. i'm really excited, i do wish jamie and sophia were coming with me though : (

here are some belly pics from this week (sorry they are so late!)

wednesday wednesday

2010-05-19T20:58:00.003-04:00

it was only slightly nicer outside today, which was okay with me (i have a lot of projects i want to get done), but not okay with sophia. poor girl. as some of you know i'm going to oklahoma for a few days (and a baby shower!) this weekend. so, i'm trying to get all my orders completed as well as some projects i've been wanting to do before i leave. today i made a top secret custom order which i can't wait to show you! but you'll have to wait a few weeks until they receive it for me to unveil it. i also am starting some toddler shirts. it's been kind of hard for me to find a good toddler shirt, so i'm trying to make due with what i have.

jamie and i really like giada de laurentiis and since i've been home i've been watching her show "giada at home" every now and then. she's is almost so perfect it's annoying, but i still like her. her home is gorgeous (right on the beach in california) and she is always having these awesome get-togethers. anyway, the other day she made this heirloom tomato and basil tart. she made it as an appetizer, but i thought it could be a nice light meal with a salad. so tonight we gave it a shot (jamie also had some chicken to go with his). it turned out really well, but probably would make a better appetizer. anyway, if you want to try it out here's the recipe.

shelving debacle

2010-05-18T18:45:00.004-04:00

jamie and i had a really good weekend. the weather was nice both saturday and sunday! on saturday we took sophia to the park to swim, then we met some friends (including a friend who was visiting from columbus) for brunch. the rest of the day we just took it easy. then on sunday there was a big street fair on our street. it was pretty intense, but fun! we walked all day and then went grocery shopping. THEN, i talked jamie into helping me hang some things in baby t's room. we had received a mirror as a gift (thanks tara!) and i wanted to put it over the changing table. we already had some wall shelves from west elm and i was planning on hanging 2 of them on the blank wall and putting some framed pictures on them. however, as usual, nothing goes our way and the shelves were IMPOSSIBLE to hang! the first try actually worked, but for some reason it was really crooked. so then we started over (and had to patch the holes because did i mention the wall is cement and we had to drill the holes?). that time was unsuccessful because one hole was off by the tiniest amount. one more try and it was a no go also! poor jamie was so frustrated and annoyed. and on top of that we now have 9 holes in the wall! so now i'm debating about hanging the pictures on the wall collage style, or trying to find a handyman that might have better luck. what do you think?

this is our new mirror! i really like it. i wish it were a little bigger, but i couldn't find one in the style i wanted. hopefully it will do it job and distract the baby at least a little bit.

these are the shelves we have. they look nice right, not like the evil shelves they are in real life???

so this is the blank wall where i was wanting to hang the shelves, and now might do the collage.

these are some of the pictures i'm wanting to display. any thoughts?

i know it's not a great picture but the collage in the background is kind of what i was thinking. (this picture is from designsponge.com)

wicked!

2010-05-13T14:32:00.005-04:00

my brother's girlfriend is in town and we were able to hang out yesterday. it was terribly cold and rainy, so we didn't do a lot, but we did get tickets to go see wicked! neither of us had seen it before, so we weren't sure what to expect. it was sooo good! we really liked it. our seats weren't ideal (4th row on the side) we could only see about 1/2 of the stage, but i really don't feel like i missed much. one strange thing though, was the bathroom attendant. usually they are just in there to keep it clean, or hand you a towel or something, right? well, this lady decided she needed to direct traffic in there. which seems weird to me because we've all been standing in line for the bathroom our whole lives! why do we need someone to tell us who goes next and which stall??? anyway, i went really quickly right before the show started (so there was no one else in there). When you walk in you can go either direction, well i went one direction and the lady yelled at me! she was like "you have to go this way, this way!!!" i was already standing in front of the stall, so i wasn't about to go back and do it again! and she said "yeah you. go on with your pregnant self!" what??? weird.

today i made a new onesie for baby t. it's one i've been wanting to make for a while, since i'm all about nautical things!

tonight we are going to another game night. wish us luck! maybe we'll do a little better than last time.

And here are this weeks belly bump pictures (i've gained 5lbs since last month's doctor's visit!):

things i'm liking

2010-05-11T15:57:00.005-04:00

today is a VERY lazy day! i actually got up early and went to the library before it even opened to try to get the new emily giffin book that came out today. unfortunately they didn't have it. they also didn't have the book jamie wanted. they never have anything. this is one of the things i don't like about the brooklyn library. it's so big too, what do they have in there if not the books i want to read???

i was home by 9:30 and i have been so sleepy ever since. poor sophia has been sleeping all day out of boredom. (did i mention it's cold and gray outside?)

here's sophia pouting on the couch--not just on the couch but with a pillow under her chin!

anyway, since i've been so unmotivated today, i thought i'd just do a post on things i like right now. they are completely random things, so just keep that in mind! here we go:

1. mason jars, especially blue ones! and if you add fresh flowers, i like them even more! this picture is from wemetinabar.com

2. large bags. i love bags, in a variety of sizes, but since we live in ny, i've been really into big ones. and it's not just this bag i love, i'm really into oil cloth fabric. i've been wanting to get some to make several projects, but i haven't gotten to it. this picture is from amybutler.com (i love everything amy butler makes!)

3. bright, cheery fabrics! i love fabric, but i especially like seeing them all together. i'm the same way with flowers. there is just something even better about flowers/fabric when there are several different kinds and colors together. these are from annamaria.com (who i also love!)

4. metal chairs, i love colored metal chairs. i've always dreamed of having a house with a big backyard complete with a great outdoor table and an eclectic mix of colorful chairs like these. i found this picture on designsponge.com

5. ruffles! (as i'm sure you guys noticed) i like them on any and everything! these are from evie-s.com

6. wall decals. i don't have any, but i really like the idea of them. i had planned to use some in baby t's room, but unfortunately it's too small to have any room for them! i think this one is really clever from walldecors on etsy.

7. and finally, old cozy houses. i LOVE this style of houses. i want one so badly. i've come to accept the idea that i will not own a house until i'm 80 years old, and then it will probably just be a condo in florida with elisa. but i still drool over them whenever i can. this one belongs to the author of ohmydeer.

mother's day weekend

2010-05-10T20:25:00.005-04:00

we did end up going to long island this weekend, even though it ended up being really nice (but insanely windy) on saturday. we had planned to run a couple of errands, go to the mall, eat some food, and see iron man 2. however, on the way jamie got a call from a friend asking if we wanted to see it saturday night at the imax. jamie said yes, but then they found out it was sold out and did we want to go sunday night? without the movie, we had some time to kill before dinner (and we had brought sophia and wanted to do something with her) so we drove to the ocean. we drove to jones beach and then kept driving until we didn't see a "no pets" sign. we finally found one! it was a nice beach, but we were the only ones there. and it was SOOOO windy! i really think if i didn't have this belly i might have blown away! we didn't spend a lot of time out there, but it was pretty. we definitely want to go back.

that night we went to a game night at some friends' place. it was a lot of fun. we even had a sorry tournament. i was in the loser's group, but i came in 2nd place! not bad for not having played in probably 20+ years!

sunday was NOT a pretty day. it was cold and gloomy. jamie and sophia got me flowers (not peonies though) and a carvel ice cream cake, and some beach smelling bath stuff from victoria's secret. it smells sooo good! we went to brunch, but then i didn't leave the house again. it was a really nice mother's day weekend, but i do hope next year it's better weather!

i wish this were a gigantic one, but unfortunately our freezer is the size of a shoe box. guess we'll just have to get another when this one is gone!

this is the scent of bath stuff i got. it's a new line i think. the packaging is really pretty and it honestly smells like wax for surfboards mixed with sunscreen. just what i need when i'm missing florida!

btw, we never did make it to iron man 2, maybe we can go this weekend.

the weekend is here!

2010-05-07T18:42:00.002-04:00

today sophia and i got lots of things done. and one of them was making baby t a new onesie! it's a rocket ship design. i've been wanting to make it for a while and finally did it!

today was another nice day (although cooler than the past few), and tomorrow is supposed to be even cooler and rainy i think. so jamie and i might do my suburbs idea tomorrow. a few weeks ago i got the brillant idea to spend the day in the suburbs: going to all the chain stores, the mall, eating at a chain restuarant, and seeing a movie at a mega theater. we want to see iron man 2, hopefully it will work out.

well, i hope everyone has a great weekend and happy mother's day to all the mom's out there!

cupcakes and flowers

2010-05-06T20:01:00.005-04:00

so i have been craving strawberry cupcakes for weeks now! i finally decided to go ahead and make some and went to the store to buy a mix, and they didn't have any! crazy. so then i went to 2 other stores and NONE of them had any! i was so bummed. i have a recipe to make them from scratch, but honestly i like the mix ones better (not to mention they are way easier!) so last night after dinner i started the process. the cupcakes themselves took so long to make that i decided to just go to bed and make the icing today. now, i have never considered myself a baker. in my opinion you are either a cook or a baker, and baking is just not my thing. but the icing for the strawberry cupcakes is what i always have trouble with. i don't know why but it NEVER turns out like it should. it's always kind of runny and grainy. today i even made cream cheese icing and added some pureed strawberry to it, hoping that it would help the consistency. no such luck. i don't get it. AND it doesn't taste that great in my opinion either. however, when combined with the cupcakes it's not too bad. the only thing is, now i have 24 cupcakes on my hands! jamie isn't a big dessert person, so i'll end up eating as much as i can and then throwing out the rest. unless... does anyone want to come over and help me eat???

i had a very pleasant surprise while searching for the cupcake mix yesterday--peonies are in season!!! if you know me you know i LOVE peonies! i saw 2 bushes in people's gardens and lots for sale at the markets. maybe i'll get lucky and jamie will buy me some for mother's day, hint hint!

oh! and one more thing. today while sophia and i were at the dog run, one lady (with 2 dogs) had a frisbee. of course all the dogs were surrounding her and excited about the frisbee. i was on the phone, but watching sophia the whole time. anyway, one of her dogs had a wire muzzle on when we got there. i thought that was odd, but then she took it off and i didn't think any more about. the dog with the muzzle seemed to be doing some agility training, and at one point the lady had it sitting up on a tree stump. all the other dogs were on the ground looking at it and waiting for the frisbee to be thrown. i saw the dog jump down and heard a slight yelp and the next thing i know the lady is examining it's nose. then i see her wrapping it up in a bandanna. now none of the other dogs are excited or fighting, or anything, just standing around. then the lady says "who's chocolate lab is this?" i say "mine." she says "your dog just broke my dog's nose!" i'm like "what???" so i go over there and she tells me again that my dog broke her dog's nose. i said "how?" she never really gave me an answer, just said they were playing or something. i'm like "i just don't see how my dog could have broken your dog's nose." she said "it was an accident, it wasn't her fault. i'm going to have to take her to the emergency room, she'll need surgery! do you have contact information?" i said yeah, but i didn't have anything to write with, so she had me call her cell. i never gave her my name or anything though. i asked her if she needed help and she said no and left. it was so strange. there were lots of people there and no one saw anything happen but everyone thought it was weird. i kind of think the dog had a previous injury since it had that muzzle. i hope it's okay, but i also hope she doesn't contact me, because it clearly was NOT sophia's fault.
so, that was my day. and tomorrow is friday : )

can't sleep

2010-05-05T17:33:00.004-04:00

so i haven't been sleeping much lately (which, if you know me, you know is normal). last night after dinner i decided i wanted to start this sun hat i had been wanting to make for baby t. it went pretty smoothly (even though i was making it up as i went!) so i kept going. and going. and going. i finished it and started getting ready for bed when i realized it was after midnight! and once i laid down i was still wide awake.
anyway, i am really happy with how it turned out, even though it's not the most perfect thing i've ever done. now that i've done it once, and figured out the kinks, it will only get better. i had originally planned to put a button on the top (on both sides) in the opposite fabric, but once i started to add them i decided not to. what do you think? does it need a button?

and here are some more pics of our trip to brighton beach/coney island.

and this week's baby bump. i started the 3rd trimester this week!

catch up

2010-05-04T11:04:00.008-04:00

sorry i've been MIA the past few days. i've been pretty busy, i will try to get you all caught up. this weekend was GORGEOUS! on saturday jamie had a friend doing a painting in the park, so we took sophia and headed up the slope. we found an area of the pond where dogs are allowed to swim (lucky for sophia!) it's a big pond, but the area for dogs was pretty small, that didn't bother her though. as i've mentioned before, the rules at the park are that dogs can only be off leash before 9am or after 9pm. we weren't sure if this applied to the water or not. when we first got there, there was only one other dog in the water, and he was off leash. of course we immediately let sophia in (off her's). instantly about 10 other dogs appeared (i think people just watch for someone else to do it, and when they see that they jump on the band wagon). anyway, all the dogs were having a great time, and then 2 cops come over and tell us they need to be on their leashes. everyone except one lady with 2 dogs left. we put leashes on the dogs but let them stay in the water. then some kids from a little league baseball team came over to see the dogs swim. one little boy was so sweet and i let him throw the ball for sophie. they instantly fell in love! he threw the ball for her for like 45 minutes, and only stopped because i could tell she was tired so i made her get out. then we went over to watch the painting. it was such a hot day. i had put sunscreen on (jamie did not) and when we left he was bright red. i also got burned on my shoulders (i guess i missed a few areas).

there was also a craft/food fair going on in our neighborhood this weekend, so we took sophia home and then went to check that out. and THEN we went to a birthday party that night. so it was a long day, and LOTS of walking.

on sunday we decided to go to brighton beach/coney island. we got a late start, so we didn't get there until like 2:00 or so. it was fun, but would be more enjoyable if we got there earlier and brought our own food. that way we could have relaxed on the sand. instead we spent most of the time walking and walking and walking trying to find some food.

as you can see it was a very busy but fun weekend! and the weather is hot, which is how i like it. now if only we can get our apartment cooled down without paying a fortune on our electric bill!

it's almost may!!!

2010-04-28T21:51:00.003-04:00

sorry i didn't get a chance to post anything yesterday. you didn't miss much though : ) today was cool and super windy, so i didn't really leave the house. i did work on lots of projects though. i made several fabric rosettes, they can be used as hair clips, or broaches, or anything really. for more information check out the Ladybird Designs blog or order here.

on monday my good friend stacey was in town and we got to have dinner with her. it was really great to see her, it had been way too long! sophia loves stacey as well, and just to make sophia love her even more, she brought her a present! it's a tug of war toy, shaped like a "z" and it's made of that incredibly durable rubber. sophia, however, thinks it's a great toy for fetching. she's so crazy.

anyway, we are looking forward to warmer weather. i think the rest of the week is supposed to be nicer. cross your fingers!

soho weekend

2010-04-26T23:35:00.003-04:00

saturday was actually a really pretty day. it was a bit chilly, but nice in the sun. a fabric store i like was having a grand opening party in soho, and since there are plenty of expensive clothing stores there, jamie decided to come! we spent basically the whole day there. i got some really awesome fat quarters at the fabric store, which i'm not sure what i want to do with yet, but i love them. we went in several other stores too, then met some of jamie's coworkers for a late lunch. it was a really nice day. sunday, on the other hand, was the exact opposite. don't get me wrong, it was a good day, but it was cold and rainy all day. we didn't even leave the house! jamie and i both did some work and sophia was miserable (as always).

these are my fabrics, aren't they cute?

today i started a new project for ladybird designs, women's t's. the first one is a ruffle t. i was inspired by all the texture t's at jcrew right now. i really love them but they are so expensive, so i made my own version. i think it turned out pretty cute. for more info or to order one, visit my etsy store.

and here is a current belly shot. it's coming along!

Friday

2010-04-23T23:43:00.005-04:00

i finished the tray today! it turned out better than i thought. as it dried the air bubbles went away. there are a couple creases, but i don't know how i could have avoided that. anyway, it looks much better than what was in it's place!

finished tray

my husband is a lot of things: sweet, kind, creative, considerate, but one thing he is not is neat or organized. here is his side of the bed.

it's just so random and cluttered.

so i did this. looks much better, right? when he got home he didn't even notice!

i also have been wanting to organize my craft room/jamie's office. i have a lot of crafting stuff, but it's all just in plastic boxes with no organization whatsoever, and not in convenient spots. so today i began that task. i created ribbon storage, and just organized some of the boxes. i want to buy some cubbies to really organize it, but this is a start.

today is the final day of Hair Accessory Week for Ladybird Designs. the accessory today is another felt flower, but this one is on an elastic headband. for more information or to order, please visit my etsy store.

thursday!

2010-04-22T19:59:00.005-04:00

it's almost the weekend! horray! today has been busy. i started a project i have been putting off for a couple of weeks, decorating a wooden tray. i was first inspired by my good friend marie when she posted pictures of her tray on her blog. Unfortunately, i'm not as good as marie and mine doesn't look very professional. it has a lot of air bumps in it : ( I actually purchased 2 trays, hoping to put one on the back of the toilet, but it is too big for that spot. so, the one i started today is for our bed room, and maybe the other one will go in the nursery??? we'll see...

first, jamie spray painted it with heirloom white spray paint.

then i picked out a piece of scrapbook paper to line the bottom with (this one is from amy butler, b/c i love her.)

then i just used mod podge to glue it into place and added more on top to make it durable/water proof. see the air bubbles??? tomorrow i will post finished pics.

i also made baby t a new onesie today. it will go up in the etsy shop probably next week, but i thought i'd share it with you guys today.

this is the "initial onesie"

AND, the hair accessory for day 4 is up at ladybirddsgns.blogspot.com it's another hair clip, but this one has a felt flower. it's pretty cute if i do say so myself.

the quilt is finished!!!

2010-04-21T21:01:00.002-04:00

this morning i finished baby t's quilt! it looks pretty good if i do say so myself. now i can focus on one of my 100 other projects! after completing the quilt i cleaned the entire house. it feels good to accomplish that, even though literally in 5 minutes it looks like a disaster again! this afternoon i rewarded all my hard work with a mani/pedi. it was so nice to relax for a few minutes and now not to be embarrassed of my toes!

i also created the hair accessory for today and put it up on etsy. you can check it out/order here.

now, after a long day and having eaten dinner i am very tired and ready to go to bed. too bad it's only 9:00! have a great night!

binding

2010-04-20T20:49:00.004-04:00

today has been a busy day. however, i feel like i haven't accomplished a whole lot. i DID clean the kitchen (i did the bathroom yesterday), however i had planned to do the kitchen AND the dinning room. oh well, just more work for tomorrow. i also made the binding for the quilt and got started on attaching it. i quickly attached it to the front and thought i would be finishing the quilt tonight! then i realized you have to hand stitch the backside : ( it will be a while for that to get finished. once again, i am in awe of people who make full sized quilts!

here is the finished binding on the front

and the beginning of the hand stitching. i worked on this for at least an hour and didn't even finish 1 side!

i also made a new hair accessory for ladybird designs. it's a fabric flower headband. it's hair accessory week at LBD, so there will be a new one each day (hopefully!) for more information check out the blog: ladybirddsgns.blogspot.com or order directly from the etsy store.

no baby, so i put it on the bunny.

the weekend

2010-04-19T22:15:00.004-04:00

so our date night was a success! although, i have to say, i've always had kind of bad luck, and since jamie and i have been together, it seems to have magnified! the date started off right with jamie bringing home the most beautiful flowers! i was very surprised. the weather was nasty, so we went to a sushi restaurant right by our house. the timing wasn't really right for the movie, we finished dinner over an hour before the next showing, but since we didn't want to disturb miss sophia, we decided to head on over. of course it started pouring! we took the car b/c the theater is pretty far, however, we still had to park a ways away and we both got SOAKED! the tickets cost us $24, which i think is crazy, but to be expected. and the theater was a crap-hole. it was old and gross. our movie was playing on the top floor (which was reached by climbing rickety stairs) and it was a loooong way up! i thought i might go into labor getting there. when we got inside it was tiny and filthy. at least 1/2 of the few seats were broken, so when we finally found some i sat down in relief, only to find myself stuck in a hole. i mean i couldn't even see, it was a hole! jamie switched me seats, but had to pull me out. the movie was really good though. we saw "date night". and the rest of the night went without a hitch. on saturday we spent the day running some arrands in long island. i enjoyed myself b/c i got to go to joann's, michaels, and target. i think jamie could have done without. it took literally the entire day, and on the way home i was looking through my purchases. i noticed that joann's didn't give me the fabric i had paid for! we had to turn around and go all the way back! we had made plans that night to go to dinner with a friend of jamie's. we went to pacifico in carroll gardens. it was really good. we left around 11:30 or so and had to take 2 trains to get home, well, the second train we took the wrong direction (i'm not going to blame anyone for this mistake, but it was not MY fault!) so we got off went to the other side and found it was closed! no trains in that direction. so we had to get back on the other train, go 1 more stop out of our way, then turn around. sounds easy enough, well it wasn't. when we got they the train didn't come, didn't come, didn't come. there were a ton of people waiting and it didn't come! FINALLY it came and as we got on the conductor made an announcement that it wouldn't be making any of the usual stops. we would have to go past ours, then get on another train to go back!!!! crazy. we finally made it home at 1:45am. see what i mean about luck?
anyway, today i worked on baby t's quilt. i decided to rip all the seams out and start over. i got the quilting done, and it's not perfect, but better. tomorrow i will try for the binding. i also made a hair clip for my etsy store. it turned out really cute. everyone should buy one. j/k!

these are the beautiful flowers from my sweet jamie. isn't the vase cute too? it was a gift from my wonderful mother-in-law!

oh! i forgot to mention i cut jamie's hair on sunday. i don't think he likes it (he thinks he looks like he should be on "jersey shore") but i do.

here's the side (jamie hates his profile)

finished front of the quilt

finished back

new hair clip

quilt update

2010-04-16T19:16:00.000-04:00

so i have spent the entire day (more or less) trying to finish the quilt. sophia was NOT amused. when i was about 1/4 of the way done i remembered i wanted to embroider something in the middle. so i stopped and added an elephant, also my initials in the bottom corner with the year. then i started again. the hardest part is dealing with all the fabric, i am amazed by people who make anything larger than a crib sized quilt on a sewing machine (or at all for that matter!) after i finished all the vertical seams i spread the quilt out to see how it looked, unfortunately the bottom had moved around a bit and there were several wrinkles : ( so now my options are to either take all the seams out on one side of the quilt, or just leave it. i'm not sure what i want to do yet. i guess i can think about it over the weekend. i really wanted it to look perfect, but it is the underside, and not SUPER obvious, and it's my first quilt ever, so.... we'll see.

here is how i started: laid the bottom of the quilt right side down, then the batting, then the top, right side up. then i pinned and pinned and pinned.

here is the embroidered elephant. can you see him?

see how crowded the sewing machine gets? it's crazy.

and here are the wrinkles.

this is how sophia looked all day. she was so depressed.

oh! and jamie and i did watch the "happiest baby on the block" dvd last night. it was really good. i mean, there were plenty of opportunities for us to make fun of it and laugh, but the information was really good. we are looking forward to trying the techniques on a real baby, so far jamie has just been testing them on sophia. poor sophia (just kidding, she loves any attention she can get!)

tonight we are having a date night. we are supposed to go to dinner and a movie, but we haven't decided where to eat yet, and we don't know where the theater is! we'll figure it out.
well, enjoy your weekend!