What I learned from a weekend in NYC...with the family

Since we had not had a family vacation yet this year, we decided to get away for a few days and go visit my BIL in New York. Many of you already know the joys and perils of vacationing with small beings, but I thought I'd impart to you the things I gleaned from this little adventure.

1. When you take a road trip with 2 wee ones, no one thing will keep them both happy. While the DVD player acts like kryptonite to Nate's crazy, it does nothing for Arielle. Fortunately (unfortunately??) food works for her. I'm pretty sure she ate 11 boxes of raisins on our 4.5 hour journey.

2. When in the passenger seat, keep your FREAKING feet off of the window. The chance that traffic will come to an unexpected halt, causing your wife to slam on the brakes, is pretty high at some point in 4.5 hours. If said passenger has their foot on the window, and tenses up when said wife slams on the brakes, this can happen.....

3. If the family members you are visiting live in a studio apartment, odds are you will have to find somewhere else to stay. You could pay over $300 a night for a hotel in the city (NYC rates obviously)or you can be smart and check out VacationRentals.com. Hands down the best idea ever! I found this site a few years ago when we went to San Francisco for my other BIL's wedding. I, for one, have no desire to share one room with my kids. What am I supposed to do when they go to sleep at 7:30, just sit in the dark? The first time we used this site, we rented a house for 6 of us to share and this time we rented a 2 bedroom apartment in Brooklyn that had a full kitchen and separate living room. We stayed 3 nights in NY and the grand total was $405 bucks! You can't beat that!

4. No matter where you go on vacation, parks will always be an acceptable activity...even if it is a substitute for going to the zoo. With temps in the high 90s and humidity right up there too, I was not going to a stinky zoo with a million other tourists. The kids got to run around to expend some energy and apparently my 28 pound daughter can hold her chubby little self up on the rings. Who knew?

5. If your child is not sleeping well at home, she will not sleep well on vacation. This should have been a no-brainer but hey, a girl can hope. Also, a 4 yo sleeping in a new place will probably get scared and wake up in the night too and then all 4 of you will end up sleeping (being a relative term) in the same bed. A queen size bed.

6. I will always be included in exactly 1 picture. I will always have to ask someone to take this lone picture.

7. The stroller pictured above has been one of my best baby/toddler item purchased to date! I wanted a Phil and Ted's stroller when Arielle was born, but my husband vetoed it because it was so expensive. I fought the good fight for how much I NEEDED it, but in the end I lost. I was going to borrow my friend's stroller to go to NY and, for some random reason I decided to look on Craig's List and found one for $75!!! I snatched it up so fast and it is as awesome as I'd imagined. I now know why I saw so many women with these in NY. They are a must have if you have to do that much pushing a kid (or two) around.

8. The drawback of the stroller in NY??? Not every subway station has an elevator and we ended up having to carry the stroller up and down the stairs. While this was great for exercise sake, it would suck if you were by yourself.

9. Kids on a subway. Not fun. Do I even need to elaborate??

10. Another awesome discovery I made on this trip was Yelp! I downloaded the app to my phone and then was able to search for restaurants and things to do. Everything was rated and people gave detailed reviews. It was so helpful. We found the BEST tapas restaurant in Brooklyn by using it (El Mio Cid if you care). You can search for things surrounding your current location so it was so easy to find good stuff nearby.

11. Your husband may balk at your instructions to stop the car (so you can take a picture) when you see one of the Real Housewives of NY walking down the street with her family. No matter how loudly you yell. Or how much you pout.

12. The Ferris wheel inside the Toys'R Us in Times Square is not as  fun to ride as it looks. Trust. Just ooohh and aww about it and save the $4.50 per person it costs to ride the dang thing. If you ignore my advice and chose to ride anyway, pay attention to the fact that kids 2 and under are free and don't buy a non-refundable ticket for your 20 mo old. You're welcome.

13. When you haven't been out for adult time (read alcoholic beverages) with other adults in a long time. You may be willing to pay a large sum of money for a nanny to babysit your kids for the evening. It will be worth every penny!

14. If you drive in NY, and you are not from there, you will probably get pulled over. Just sayin. The cop may have pity on you and let you go....if you look lost enough.

15. This is what Natey does if you tell him to "look excited".

16. You can survive a road trip with small children if you have enough snacks, books, toys, DVDs, crayons, coloring books, drink filled sippy cups, and advil.

**This post was in no way sponsored by any of the sites or bands I mentioned. These are all of my own opinions***

Arielle at 20 months

Happy 20 months baby girl!

I should probably say little girl not baby, but since you still call yourself that, I'm going with it for a little longer.

I would say what have you been up to this month, but it is more like what have you NOT been up to!!!

  

You are still gross and eating things you find anywhere and everywhere and when I ask you what's in your mouth you will reply, "Nuttin" or "Idunno". You are too young to be using the I don't know excuse!

Everything is, "MINE" right now, no matter if it belongs to you or not.

Your hair is finally long enough for piggy tails. Too bad you leave them in for all of 10 minutes before you say, "Hurts" and try to rip them out. We need to toughen up your head! I think you went so long with no hair that you aren't used to accessories.

In the car you yell at Natey to hold his hand and then when he lets you you say, "Meet you, meet yooou". We assume this is nice to meet you, but have no idea where you picked it up.

I love to give you hugs and ask, "Who loves you?". You always reply, "Mommy!!"

You are a climber.  I have mentioned this before, but now you have done the ultimate no-no and are climbing out of your crib. Luckily someone is giving us a crib tent because, while you are all "Mission Impossible" and stealthily climb out, I don't want you getting hurt. Also, I am so not ready to be putting you back in bed every 5 seconds, so no real bed in your immediate future.

You are sort of getting back to normal on the sleeping problem. While you don't sleep through the night every night, you are getting better and I will keep trying until you are back to your self.

 

 

Patience is not a virtue you possess quite yet. If you want something, you want it now and no amount of trying to explain that I'm working on your request helps.

Every morning when I get you out of your crib you snuggle up to me and we rock for a couple of minutes in your room. I love these precious moments I have with you.

 

 

You love the bath and get mad if it's not a bath night. Any time we walk in the bathroom you yell "bath" or "teeth". I'm glad you are so concerned with proper hygiene.

Some of the funny things you are saying right now are, "Leg-go" when I try to hold you down to change your diaper and  "Oh God", which might be is totally my fault.

You aren't really interested in TV, which is fine with me. You will sit still for a few minutes for "Barneesh" (Barney) or Elmo, but you quickly lose interest and start looking for things to climb.

You can say Arielle but when I ask you your name you say "Baby". This is fine with me!

You are obsessed with putting things in the trash. You will pick things up and say, "Gahbich" and throw them away. I have only caught you putting one thing that wasn't trash in there, so that's good.

Until next month my sweet girl!!

Wordless Wednesday- Sneak peek!

 ...a tiny taste of the awesomeness that was our family photo session with Lisa! I can't wait to get my hands on some more!

What do you do with a climber?

Two and a half years. That was how long Natey slept in his crib until he got kicked out for his sister to move into it. He would have gladly stayed longer. He loved his "cribby". As crazy as my son was, not once did he ever climb out of it.

Arielle is a climber. I constantly find her scaling furniture and attempting to run along the TOP of my couch. I literally can't take my eyes off of her. These Evil Knievel-esk antics have not been without consequence. She has had 2 large goose eggs on her forehead from climbing and falling off of something. Still, she doesn't learn.

The other night, I was baking some delicious chocolate chip zucchini muffins, and playing a game of chicken with my I-don't-want-to-go-to-bed-so-I-will-scream-until-I-get-my-way toddler. I kept going in to check on her. I would lay her down and she would be quiet for 1 second before she realized that I wasn't going to pick her up. I would leave, she would start screaming again. This awesome fun went on for almost an hour. Finally the screaming stopped. I turned in the direction of her room to make sure I couldn't hear anything and there she was with her squinty red eyes and tear-stained face, standing in my kitchen. So there you have it folks. My 19 month old can climb out if her crib. She's done it 2 more times since last week. I don't want her getting hurt so I am forced to take some action.

I don't know what to do with such a young one in a bed, but I don't want to waste money on a crib tent if it is just going to tick her off even more and end in more screaming. What do I do? Bed or crib tent? Help me!

Arielle at 19 months

My sweet, beautiful, funny and LOUD girl; oh how I love you. You are growing up before my very eyes!!

Speaking of eyes, you have the most sparkly blue eyes. I could get lost in them when I look at you. It amazes me just how much you look like your grandma. I wish she would have had the chance to meet you.

You are getting crazier by the day. You are loud and run around upending anything you can get your hands on. I am about to move the desk downstairs until you are old enough to stop opening the drawers and pulling EVERYTHING out!

Potty training is going well. I am still not sure if we should move to undies during the day or not. 9 times out of 10 you will tell me when you have to "poopy" (which still means either number 1 or 2), but there is that 1 time you won't and I don't have it in me to clean it up yet. I suppose I shouldn't worry considering you aren't even 2 yet!

You are getting so much hair now! It is nice to be able to put little piggy tails in your curls. Too bad you yank them out almost as fast as I can get them in.

Your sleeping is not as good as it used to be. You have been either waking up in the middle of the night and demanding, "song" or waking up at 5am. If I bring you in bed with us you will go right back to sleep but you need me to be practically spooning you! Please go back to normal soon. Mommy thought we were done with the newborn phase.

You are so stubborn. Did I mention that you are stubborn?? MAN ARE YOU STUBBORN! Once you get something in your mind, you dig your heels in and will scream, screech or cry until you have it. We are in deep doo doo come the teenage years.

You had your first real experience at the beach this year. When I took you near the water you protested and then proceed to shriek when I put your feet in the water. The second time we managed to get you in up to your knees. I'm sure it will grow on you, but I doubt you'll be charging head first into waves, like your brother does, any time soon!

You are learning words at lightning speed and have started using 2 to 3 word sentences. Your favorite one right now is, "Trina, she seepin". When you see the cat curled up all around the house.

You are a climber. I can't turn my back on you for a second. If i do, you will be standing ON the kitchen table. You have quite an assortment of bumps and bruises from all of your climbing escapades already.

Until next month baby girl!

Natey at 4 years old

Natey you are 4!

 You never miss a chance to tell people that too.

It is almost a part of your name now, "I'm Nathan. I'm 4 years old".

It is the cutest thing.

At your 4 year check-up you were 45 pounds and 42.5 inches tall! That puts you in the 95th and 92nd percentiles. You gained 5 pounds and 1.5 in 3 months! I knew you were going through a growth spurt when you kept telling me you were starving right after you ate!

You have come leaps and bounds in the last few months with your, ahem, cooperative spirit. I have seen such a change in your willingness to listen and help out. I am starting to give you more "responsibilities" and you are rising to the challenge.

You can get dressed almost all by yourself now. Socks are still a mommy job and you can get your pants on if they aren't too snug and a regular button is not involved. Shoes are hit or miss. I know you know how to put them on and you will do it sometimes, but often you give up and ask for help.

You are still an amazing eater. You are actually a better eater than I was at 25 years old! You eat a wide variety of foods and have an awesome attitude when it comes to trying new things. We have a motto and repeat it every time you are unsure. I say, "If you try it..." and you reply, "I might LIKE it!" and will always take at least a bite.

You are still a mini-me but are starting to look a lot more like daddy. You have now developed a dislike for eggs and regular milk. I swear I have NEVER told you I didn't like either of those. It seems I passed it directly through my DNA to you. ;)

You are inquisitive and ask so many questions. You always want to know about things, but your latest obsession is asking about what will happen when you are 100 years old. It shows me you still don't get the concept of time completely!

You are still  a great sleeper. After going through a battle with early waking we bought you a clock that turns green when it is ok for you to get up and you rarely exit your room before that time! Best. Idea. Ever!

You would never wear clothes if we didn't make you. Any chance to strip down, you will take it. We went to our friend's property and, on our walk, came upon a perfect, serene lake. It was a matter of seconds before you ran in with no clothes. I will only let you get away with this until you're 5, so you'd better enjoy it now!

You also have no sense of when it might be an inappropriate time and/or place to pee. Just so you know, on the patio at our friend's cookout, in front of EVERYONE is not one of those times. They make toilets for a reason. Just because you CAN pee anywhere, doesn't mean you should! (SOOOOO embarrassing for me)

You are a sweet, sweet boy! You are also a little charmer and have been telling me (about every pretty girl you meet) that you are going to, "Marry her". You bat your long lashes and smile your one-dimpled smile and they just melt. All of the women love it and I'm sure the girls your age don't get it, so we're good. You never miss an opportunity to compliment someone. You told Auntie that she looked pretty in her dress. I could just smoosh you!

With the return of summer weather came the return of beach days. This is basically EVERY picture I take of you at the beach. You have zero desire to come out of the water. We literally have to drag you out and you think it is funny to turn around and sprint back to the water once we've got you back at the blanket. You want to learn to boogie board and then surf. I think we should start at square one and get you some real swimming lessons first.

Your language development continues to amaze me and everyone else. Lately everything is "Extremely" (good, bad, long, etc.). You like teaching your sister new words and then clapping for her when she gets them. The funniest thing You have tried to get her to say had been, "Ultimate Alien". I have no idea what that is or where you heard it, but it is hilarious.

You continue to be obsessed with all things super hero and when we play you like to tell daddy and I that we are whatever hero you are at the moment's brother and sister and we have to "Get the evildoers!"

 You graduated from Pre-school and are starting Pre-K in the fall. You know how to write all of your letters and can count to 59 with no prompting. If I help you a little, you can get to 100. You still seem to have no interest in coloring or drawing pictures, but we will continue to work on that.

Your imagination is very active and you like to blame things on "Casper" when I asked you if you did something bad.

I think you are having bad dreams because of your crazy imagination so every night I have to make sure your closet door is closed and I do a "spell" to keep monsters away from you in the night.

Since we cut the cable we have been watching only Netflix. You have been loving some old school shows like He-man and Inspector Gadget. It is pretty funny. You are also watching Power Rangers and Barney with your sister (kill me now). My favorite thing is the lack of commercials and no more, "Can I have THAT for my birthday?".

I love to watch you grow. Thanks for being my sweet boy.

Wordless Wednesday: What's more fun?

    Brother's new toys...........................or the bag they came in??

You decide!

(The last pic would have been so awesome but it was blurry. Darn toddlers moving at light speed!)

Monster Party!!

My boy turned 4 yesterday. {Insert sniffles here} After much debate we settled on Monsters as the theme for his birthday party. Being the over achiever that I am, I set out to make a ton of stuff for the party. We had 25 adults,18 kids and 2 babies at the party. Too bad we also had RAIN! I had grand plans of a beautiful tablescape set up under our tent outside, children running their energy out in the yard or jumping in the bouncy house, and 2 organized games being played by all but 5 minutes after guests started arriving it began to pour and everything had to be moved inside. So much for grand plans. The kids still had a blast destroying playing in Nate's room and the family room so that's all that matters, right?? Without further ado, pics from the party...

Natey's party shirt that I made (and Liz helped me finish. THANKS!!)

Meet  melon monster. Don't get too close...you might lose a digit!

Juice box wrappers, candy dipped pretzels & wooden spoons and blueberry ice cream all made my me. Vanilla ice cream and rain soaked mini beach balls, not.

Kiddos decorated their own monster masks as they arrived.

Favor cones!

Monster hand puppets on parade!

Yes, I made them. Yes, I'm crazy. There, I saved you from asking.

The two games that didn't officially get played because of the lack of space in the house. Grrrr. At least the kids played the beanbag toss a little bit.

All in all, everyone had a great time. I got a little ambitious on my projects so I didn't finish a couple of things that I really wanted to do. I did love how everything came out though. Happiest 4th Birthday my big boy! I hope you enjoyed it 'cause next year this tired mama is having your party at Germy Chuck E. Cheese!

Since I always want to know where stuff came from, I will break it down for ya!

Invitation: Made and designed by me, Picture edited for maximum awesomeness by Lisa (Salt and Light Studio)

Nate's shirt: Made by me with simple felt which was sewn onto the shirt

Monster melon: Me, with inspiration from HERE

Juicebox wrappers, Pin the eye on the monster game made by me with monster images (also used on the invite) from: Babystar Design

Monster Puppets and favor cones: Made by me with the help of my hubby! Now's that's teamwork!

Cupcakes: Me. Sprinkles and candy eyes were from Michael's Craft store

Little paper cups and wooden spoons for ice cream and cupcake wrappers: Shop Sweet Lulu and inspiration for them: One Charming Party

Monster Beanbag toss game: Amazon.com

Masks, beach balls and monster suckers: Oriental Trading Company

Super cool monster stickers: Fishcakes by Voz Perkins

Inspiration for monster party ideas: J. at your service and Kara's Party Ideas