Real Men Have Pink Easter Bunnies

Hi everyone! Yesterday was Easter, and even though I am a good Jewish boy, Mommy and Daddy decided to celebrate with bunnies, chocolates, and friends! We all went to visit my girlfriends, Vivi and Rozzy. I missed them lots. Here I am with Vivi:

Rozzy was being goofy, as usual.

Mommy took some video clips too. The second one is pretty funny! (Sorry Vivi!)

I got tired, so I fell asleep on mama... it was cozy in the sling.

I was still sleeping during the easter egg hunt! Oh well, maybe next year.

(Vivi watched from the sidelines)

Oh, and it was also my 5 month birthday! I am soooooo big :)

handmade gifts

When Asher was born, my crafty internet friend Marissa (who I also went to middle and high school with!) made him a pair of Saartje's Bootees, which were way too big when he was newborn. I put them on his shelf in his room, along with stuffed animals and books and baby cowboy boots.

Suddenly, I remembered they were there, and I thought, I should see if those fit him now! And so they do.

That button has a cute little chick etched in it.

He likes to kick them off, however.

Today we also received a nice surprise from our friend Karina, who lives with her beautiful family out in WA state. She had this cute diaper/wipes case made especially for Asher:

I love the sock monkey fabric and the personalized label :)

Thank you to all of our friends for the lovely gifts, whether handmade or store-bought, it's the thought that counts and it's usually something useful!

smiley boo & Dad

random thoughts

A laughing baby is the best. When I picture Asher in my head, like if I'm not with him at that moment, I picture his big smile and cartoony half-moon eyes. The pout can be pretty gosh darn cute as well, but then you have to try not to laugh because he's upset. When he's laughing, you can just laugh with him and bask in the joy.

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Before I quit my job, laundry was the bane of my existence. Really, for as far back as I can remember. But for some reason, now that I am home all the time, laundry has become my chore of choice. I mean, having my own washer and dryer helps, of course. And I have to do the diaper laundry about every other day. But it just doesn't seem like such a big deal to me anymore. It's the chore I do to avoid other chores, like doing the dishes or cleaning any other part of the house!

Being a Mom means...

Being a mom means letting poop dry on your arm so you can clean up the baby before you go wash it off of yourself.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, etc.

How about I write this post backwards in time?

Today there was a brief bout of fussiness, and I said to Asher, "Are you hungry? Are you tired? Are you misanthropic?" I don't even know why I said that, it just came out, LOL :)

Yesterday was St. Patty's Day, but we didn't do anything special. I dressed Asher in a shirt that Nana Carolyn bought for him that for some reason has shamrocks on it.

Sunday was a good day. First, I got to go to yoga because Brent didn't go to church in the morning. I haven't been going to the Saturday class because it's too early. The Sunday class is at 10 AM, which is much more managable, but I can only go if Brent is home. Then we took a family trip to the Raynham flea market. It was fun, and I spent $15 total on the following:

$2 for admission for Brent and me

$1 for two homemade cookies (one peanutbutter, one chocolate chocolate chip)

$7 for a little sterling and opal Jewish star pendant

$3 for a black leather belt

$2 for two dremel polishing bits

The cookies were yummy. I really like the star of David pendant because it's tiny and opal is Asher's birthstone. The dealer wasn't sure if the opal was real or not, but it looks firey blue. It didn't have a chain, so I put it on a black satin cord and I'm wearing it as a choker.

The belt is for the jeans I bought a couple of weeks ago, it has 2 spokes (?) and 2 rows of eyelet holes all the way around, and it turns out that the spokes scratched the wood of the top drawer on the changing table/dresser in Asher's room because that's where my waist hits when I change his diaper. That kind of sucks, but oh well. Things can't stay perfect forever when you have kids anyway!

Asher also enjoyed his new Switch-a-Roos toys. See:

Babies R Us is evil

Yes, I already knew this, but I get reminded when I go there to spend $12.99 and end up spending $50.

When I was pregnant, I wasn't going to register at BRU because they are like "The Man" in new-parents-land. But alas, they were the only store to carry the stroller travel system we wanted. Thus began the registry there... which of course snowballed when I got their catalog with the thousand-and-one things you "need" for a new baby. So I went online and got registry happy. Look, it's a national chain, so anyone can order from them, they do have everything you need, and it just became convenient. Coupons and sales help too.

Last weekend, we were out and about in the rain (without the car), so I had to rig a receiving blanket over the canopy of the stroller so Asher didn't get wet. It worked OK (if you call a soaking wet receiving blanket OK), but I decided I definitely need a stroller rain cover. Notice how that link is for the "deluxe" version and costs $12.99. You might think they have the same stuff in the store. Well, not always. They had different brands, so the "deluxe" model I wanted was $17.99 (Graco brand). They had one for $12.99, but I decided to spend the extra $5 because it looked like the cheaper one had snaps instead of a zipper and this one has reflective binding (!) that I decided would be good to have in the traffic-laden city.

Then, what do they have right next to the rain covers? They have the Evenflo Switch-a-Roos! So we just had to get little Asher-boo some new toys for his exersaucer! We got crinkle bee and chewy fish. Brent wanted to get more, but I said Whoa now! We can always get more next month!

Then we are cruising around, let's take a peek at the clothes on clearance. Brent likes the super-preppy stuff. Like an argyle pattern sweater-vest. [insert putrid face here.] I maintain my stand that little girl clothes are cuter than little boy clothes. Maybe that's just me. Anyway, Brent then discovered baby poloshirt style onesies, striped just like the kind Daddy wears! So, had to get one. Also got one that was just a shirt (not onesie), and of course had to get the matching carpenter khaki pants! Stay tuned for Mini-Brent! I will have to knit a miniature cell phone to go in the side pocket, hahaha.

But yeah, all that little stuff adds up. BRU-is-eeeevil!

4 years of love

Yesterday was Brent's and my four year wedding anniversary. I got a new outfit for the occasion, and I think it was the first time I put on make-up in close to a year!

I let Brent plan dinner at a nice restaurant in the North End, Boston's "little Italy" area. We went to Prezza and it was lovely. We shared 2 appetizers: crab cakes and crispy shrimp. Let me tell you these were the biggest shrimp I've ever seen in my life!! Had to be at least 8" long, and they had little legs or something by the tail that creeped Brent out. For dinner, Brent had the swordfish and I had the gnocchi bolognese (it was SUPER yum!). I couldn't finish it, so I have leftovers, yay! Then for dessert, I had delicious coconut profiteroles with chocolate sauce, they were soooo good. Brent had blood orange sorbet, of which I also had a few spoonfuls. Oh, and I had a glass of white zinfandel, which was the first glass of alcohol I've had since... I guess since before I was pregnant!! It was sweet and didn't affect me at all.

Asher stayed home while our friend Denise babysat. Having friends who are happy just to hang out with Asher is very cool and saves us lots of money on childcare. Of course, I did compensate Denise with homemade lasagna to take with her. We got a good report on Asher, as usual. He was being pretty cute before we went out, as you can see here.

sleepy boo

Sling alterations

Last night I tried the New Native baby sling a couple times with Asher, but it was late, he was tired, and he of course spit up on the sling and me. I wanted to wash the sling anyway, since the people who sold it to me have a dog, even though she told me she washed it already. It also came with an instructional DVD. This was pretty funny. The girl in the video was really weird, Brent and I kept making fun of her. The babies were cute though.

This morning (or was it early afternoon? who knows anymore!), I schlepped Asher to and fro, in and out of the sling to test it out. I decided it was, in fact, too big for me. I probably needed the size S. But the website gives instructions on shortening the length to make is smaller! Not that I couldn't have figured out how to do this on my own, but it's good to know that this is an approved method for using their product. So I pinned the sling at the shoulder and it fit so much better! For the hip carry, Asher was actually on my hip like when I hold him in my arms. I'm still working on the other positions, as I don't quite have the hang of it yet.

Last summer I bought a Singer sewing machine. I took a beginning sewing class at Spark Craft Studio, where I was supposed to make a tote bag... but I was having problems with the bobbin thread getting all crazy, so by the time I resolved this issue, I didn't have enough time to finish my bag, so I took everything home with me and then never finished the project because I really didn't like the fabric I picked out at the class anyway...

I busted out the sewing machine, practiced some on a scrap cloth to see if I could sew in a straight line, haha. Then I sewed the sling. I measured 2" from the shoulder fold, so that means it was taken up a total of 4". I drew a line, but I don't know that my stitching was exactly straight the whole time. But really, it doesn't matter. I tested it out after doing the one seam and decided it was OK where it was. I then went over the seam again to reinforce it (and they tell you to do that in the alteration instructions). I was debating on whether to then stitch down the flap that was created, because that seam would show on the outside of the carrier. I tested it out some more, and decided it would be best to have that flap stitched down. That seam really is not straight! But again, it doesn't really matter. The sling is now functional! Asher looks so cute sitting in it. I will get Brent to take a picture of us wearing it later :)

Baby Sling

I got a baby sling yesterday, used from craigslist for less than half the retail price. It's the New Native organic cotton sling in khaki. It's kind of like a pouch for the baby, it's all one piece of cotton fabric, no buckles or ties. It's a size M, which may be a little big on me (it is sized since it doesn't adjust), but I need to practice more with Asher in it to see if I might need to sew a new seam at the shoulder to make it shorter for me.

Brent likes the Bjorn carrier, but when I tried it on yesterday with Asher facing out, it didn't feel comfortable on me. I don't know if I just couldn't get it adjusted properly because it had been set for Brent or what. So then I used the Moby wrap, also facing Asher out, and we took a walk like that. He seemed to like it, and the Moby can cover his legs and I can tuck his arms in so he stays warm and cozy. The Moby is very comfortable, but it's a whole production to put it on (and take it off) because it's a wrap of one huge long piece of fabric. I think I will let the Bjorn be for Brent, and I will stick with the Moby and the New Native.

One of the main reasons I wanted the sling carrier is because I wanted something simple that I could throw on when taking Asher downstairs before getting him in the stroller. Now that I'm not always using the car seat in the stroller system, it's very cumbersome and awkward to hold Asher (and his blankets) in one arm and have to lug the stroller down the front porch steps with the other hand. I am hoping that this sling will provide good hands-free support for this purpose, and the other great part is that it is small enough to just fold up flat into the diaper bag!

4 1/2 months!

I just weighed myself (sans clothing) before my shower and I am 119.5 lb!! The goal I set in my head was 120, since I was about 117 pre-pregnancy. Although, can I really call it a "goal" if I didn't actively do anything to achieve it? Either way, I am happy and feel good. I still have a little tummy, so had to buy one size up in Old Navy jeans, but it's just nice to wear jeans again!
All in all, mother nature has been good to me :)

bathtime fun

Asher seemed intent on eating the soapy bathwater, or the soap on my hand, or the washcloth full of soap... Oh, but how cute he is!!

Hello West Coast!

Hi to all my family and friends out in Washington state!! Today Mommy dressed me in my Seattle Mariners onesie that Aunt Chelle got me. Here I am: