Archive for April, 2009

Family Fun Day

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

Most weekends we usually sit around asking “what do you want to do?” until it’s mealtime, or nap time, or bed time and we almost always do nothing.  A few weeks ago we actually got out of the house and went somewhere different!  We took a trip to the Museum of Science and Discovery in Fort Lauderdale.  We had a great time and loved watching Noah explore.

They have tanks and open exhibits of all kinds of animals.  Some of these fish were bigger than Noah!

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And they also have people walking around with some of the creatures for a more up close and personal experience.  Noah would not touch this baby alligator – no way, no how – but I did!

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They have a toddler play area where Noah could have spent the whole afternoon.  Tons to explore, climb on, try out… here he’s taking Kate for a drive.  It’s looks like she’s concerned about the odometer!

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In the play area they had a bubble station.  I’m not sure who enjoyed this more, ok, we all know who did but it was for the kids – right?

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This climbing structure was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen!  I wish I could have tried it!

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On the right is the perpetual motion clock (or something like that) – it’s very cool to watch!

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After checking everything out we stumbled into a behind the scenes tour of the facility.  We got to see some crazy stuff but unfortunately we also had to listen to Noah whining “I want to go home!”.  So after checking out what the animals ate, climbing behind all of the tanks and over scaffolding we ducked out of the tour halfway through.  We had a good day and everyone enjoyed a great nap afterwards.  Where do you like to adventure to?  We could use some new ideas!

Last But Not Least…

Sunday, April 26th, 2009

And here’s the third attempt at Kate’s 6 month photos -

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Can you say heiney?

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I love her back wrinkles!

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Porcelain doll anyone?  The hair accessories are again courtesy of Dainty Diva Designs.  These photos are for their portfolio as well as our blog.

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 Looking over the hundreds of photos again makes me realize that we got more good ones than I realized which means there was some unnecessary torture.  Oh well, I’m certain it won’t be the last time we overdo it with the pictures!

And because we always try to sneak in a photo or two of Noah, here’s what we bribed him into -

First, his beloved monkey had to have a photo shoot.  We’re seriously considering framing this and putting it in his room.  Poor monkey is looking ROUGH but is no less loved.

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Here’s Noah in need of a haircut…

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I would love to tell you that this next photo was completely unstaged, unbribed… but I know you’re smarter than that.

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Take Two!

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

Feeling like we didn’t get enough photos of Kate looking like her usual, happy self I took her outside one morning to torture her some more.  These were slightly more successful but doing the photos at feeding time was risky.  Doing them after would have shown you more than you wanted to see of what was in her bottle so it’s a double edged sword.  Any way, here’s Kate in the backyard striking a pose -

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Kate can flip from her back to her belly so fast that it was hard to keep her still.  She’s still perfecting her sitting technique though but she’s getting good!

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Kate was so interested in the grass.  She tried so hard to scoot over to it but eventually decided it would be easier just to pull the blanket toward her.  Once she finally got hold of it she totally freaked out.  I guess it’s not the texture she was expecting.

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This is one of my favorites!

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This is how Kate looks 99% of the time.  She is the happiest baby I know!

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And in case you’re wondering why I shot her on a drab gray blanket it is for comparison.  Here is Noah at his six month shot.  What do you think?  I get so many different opinions about how much or little they look like each other.

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That was so much fun, I can’t help myself… here are a few more.  They grow up so fast!

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And no, it doesn’t matter how much they resemble each other or how quickly they hit their milestones in comparison to each other.  It’s just fun watching them both grow and seeing them become little people.  They are so different from each other and so perfect.

Kate at 6 Months – Take One!

Monday, April 20th, 2009

When Noah was young we had his milestones chronicled and closely followed by our friend and amazing photographer, Amy Hill.  Times are a little tougher though and we’re pretty handy with the camera so we planned on trying to do Kate’s ourselves.  After all, we take photos of other people’s children and families, we do maternity and newborn shoots, and we get paid for them.  Well, it appears that we can photograph any child but our own.  For some reason it was so difficult trying to do Kate’s six month shots.  We have attempted them THREE times so we have a few great ones with very different feels and backgrounds but nothing consistent.  Here was our first go….

One of my favorite trees is the Japanese Rain Tree because when it blooms it’s magnificent.  It’s the closest thing we have to a cherry blossom in South Florida.  We took the kids to one in the neighborhood but they weren’t very excited about the process.  This was what most of the photos looked like -

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But we did manage to get a few keepers -

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Kate has recently found her feet and she even sucks on her toes (ewww!).  Apparently she doesn’t “perform” though because we can never get her to do it when the camera is out.  This is as good as gets!

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Our dear friend Rachel has recently started creating and selling a line of children’s hair accessories called Dainty Diva Designs.  It’s hard work but someone has to model them…

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Poor Noah even got sucked into the shoot.  As always, lollipops were harmed in the making of his photos!

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And for those keeping track, Kate is continuing to thrive!  At her six month visit she weighed in at 17.12 pounds (which is the 75th percentile among her peers), and measured 27.5 inches (the 95th percentile).  Her head circumference was in the 90th percentile so we’re hoping Kate will be tall and brilliant!

Cute Story…

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

I know in comparison to last week I’m downright quiet.  We’ve been busy, we’ve been sick, and we’re super behind on photo editing!  So sorry!

A cute story to hold you over though -

Noah was in the bathroom and found my lotion.  The boy loves lotion!  He liberally applied it to his hands and came out to show me -

Noah:  Mommy, wook – I have wotion!
Me:  That’s just great.
Noah:  What it smell like?
Me:  It’s called French Vanilla

…. Noah runs to Walter…

Noah:  Daddy, I have wotion.
Walter:  Grrreeeaaattt.
Noah:  I smell like banilla… and French fries!

That kid.  You just have to hug him!  Here’s a recent pic of our kids in hysterics.  I promise more photos soon!

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Happy Easter!

Sunday, April 12th, 2009

Happy Easter everyone!  I swore I would take the weekend off of blogging after this blog crazy week (like I’d ever run out of anything to say) but I had to come on and wish you all a great holiday!  We plan to spend the day with my family and I’m really hoping for nice weather.  Tonight we dyed Easter eggs (which needs and deserves its own post!) and set up the kids’ baskets and hid eggs.  I hope Noah has as much fun tomorrow as I did when I was little!

What are you doing for Easter this year?  And for all of our Jewish friends, Happy Passover!

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Happy Birthday Ayla!

Friday, April 10th, 2009

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Today is Ayla’s 3rd birthday!  Ayla is a super sweet, super animated little girl that won our hearts over years ago.  We “knew” her before she even got here, we met Rachel and Robby in birthing class when we were still pregnant.  But we met her when she was only a few days old.  Super impatient, she arrived several weeks early and our class went up to see her on a field trip!  She was so tiny, so sweet… so quiet.  Today she is vivacious, hysterical, chatty, and very opinionated.  She’s had a crush on Noah for as long as I can remember but he’s always played very hard to get.  Today we will celebrate Ayla’s birthday with her and as always we wish her nothing but the best.  However, next year we also wish her a birthday that doesn’t land during Passover so we  don’t have to eat birthday cake made out of matzo! 

Happy Birthday sweet girl!

Love, us.

And for prosperity’s sake…

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Her first Yap shoot

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Her first birthday

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Her second birthday

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And here is the story of the heart break…

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The players

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The hug… denied

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Can you hear her heart breaking?  You should have heard what was coming out of those lungs!

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But we all love her!  Noah does too, he just thinks girls have cooties!

 

Miscellaneous March

Wednesday, April 8th, 2009

So I’m trying super hard to come up with a different post each day this week.  I may not keep up my steam but my mom loves reading the blog at her shitty job and if putting up a few photos is all it takes to brighten her day than I’m happy to oblige.  I would like to point out that my mom told me I wasn’t a good writer in high school, that my sister Lindy was so much better, but who are you begging for words from now – huh!?  Just kidding!

Here are a few photos from a few different things floating around in my-point-and-shoot from March -

A get together at Lauren’s house, or as we lovingly refer to it, the Savino Family Daycare.

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Kate and Adrianna chillin’ out on the playmat.  Something tells me they are going to be sharing clothes for a very long time.  Hairbows too maybe.

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Think Alex and Noah are starting to hang out a little too much?  I kid, we love having Lauren as a part of the stay-at-home-mom-posse!  I just hope Noah starts mocking Alex’s awesome potty training habits!

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Vanessa’s gorgeous daughter and Spencer just did their own thing.  They’re the babies of the bunch!

And then we decided that it would be a good day for Kate to try something truly solid.  I had a box of Arrowroot cookies with me and she seriously dug it!

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Taste it, smell it…

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But then she dropped it.  This photo is Lauren trying to cram it back into her hand, not take it away.  Maybe she’s just mad that a) it’s not one of those Krispy Kreme donuts, b) mom let her leave the house with her hair looking like that or c) that I swear the dress she has on is 18-24 months!

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Here’s the daycare gang!

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And here is Lauren with her cousin and sister and their children.  They were all pregnant together, can you say HORMONES?

Then a few days later we went to Noah’s newest favorite toy store, Genius Jones.  It just opened up in Mizner Park in Boca and they have the coolest toys.  If anyone’s interested, he would love an Automoblox for his birthday.  We went there to get a birthday present for Helena.  I’m ashamed to tell you that we didn’t get a single photo from the party!  None of that is all that interesting.  The reason I bring it up is because I actually caught Noah smiling at the camera!  I’m sure it was a total accident!  Kate on the other hand never stops!

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Kate also had her first bagel in March.  Our favorite waitress at Westside Bagel II, Lynn, was anxious to give her one and who are we to deny Kate free food?

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They aren’t very attractive photos but it’s what I have.  She LOVED it!

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The “after” bagel is to the left of the knife.  May it rest in peace.

And later that week we went to the mall with Beth and Aaron.  It’s been a long time since we’ve seen them because of one illness or another.  Ear infections, colds, fevers… it’s been awhile!  I hope this summer brings us healthier playdates!

Anyone that knows either boy knows that a stop at the fountain is an absolute must!  Thank God Beth had pennies to spare!

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Remember what I said about accidentally smiling at the camera?  That’s my boy!

Oh Noah!

Wednesday, April 8th, 2009
“The Little Things”
The little things… they are easily forgotten.

but the little things are too important to forget

the little things that make us smile or laugh

the little things that we think we won’t forget

but we will unless we write them down.

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Today, you are a spitfire!  You are an incredible mix of stubborn (for which my parents think I deserve), sensitive, sweet, and a little crazy – umm, active. 
You are a peanut.  You do have big feet though so we’re hopeful you’ll sprout some day.
You’re a climber!  You could climb before you could wave but these days you can scale anything!
You love your daddy!  Daddy has always been your favorite.  At night when he’s laying down with you, talking about the day, you always remind him that “Daddy loves Noah and Mommy loves Kate”.  That’s true, but I love you too! 
You and I butt heads – bad!  We were cut from the same cloth.  One day you’ll realize that I’ve been stubborn a lot longer and I’m much better at it.
You love doorbells!  You want to ring everyone’s, it doesn’t matter if you know who is on the other side.
You love fire!  You’ve been blowing out candles (or wanting to) for as long as I can remember.  They recently had a fire drill at school and you became even more obsessed – pointing out every fire sprinkler, alarm, hydrant, everything fire related.  This must be why the night before last you woke Dad and I up by turning on our bedroom light at 3:30am asking, in a very loud voice, if it was fire drill time.  No, dear, it wasn’t!
When people color with you, you always ask for a house.  The house you ask for always has to have a door, a doorbell, a keypad (our door lock), a garage and a remote (garage door opener).  This baffles so many people but it makes your father ridiculously proud.
You have no intention of ever being potty trained.  A lot of things you do that we don’t appreciate or don’t do are often “because I want to”.  We’re hoping you don’t wear diapers to high school!
You have a great sense of humor!
You are painfully shy.  You decided when and who to talk to.  At home you don’t stop talking but there are a lot of people who think you don’t know how to speak!  Your gymnastics teacher didn’t think you spoke English!
Lately you end up in our bed at some point in the middle of the night.  We have no idea why, you’ve never slept there before, but you’re a horrible bed buddy and always end up back in your room.  Why in the world must you be touching everyone in the bed to rest comfortably?  And why do you need such an entourage – monkey, blankets, your shining stars…??
You love the color orange.  When we give you a choice of what to wear you always ask for orange.
You love monkey.  You probably always will.  He’s getting a little worn out but it doesn’t phase you one bit.  Your heart will be broken if he ever wears out.  You can’t sleep without him.
You always want to know “why?”.  Always.
You have a great sense of direction.  You know where everything is, where everyone lives and which way is right and left.
You love movies.  Every day you grab a different one off the shelf and tell us it’s your favorite.
You have to figure everything out!  You want to know how everything works, even if you have to break it first.
You call bananas banas.  You say yorgurt for yogurt.  Yellow is still yewow.
You always correct me when I show you a plane.  You tell me it’s a jet.
You know your alphabet and numbers.  You’re working on reading.  You can use a laptop by yourself.
You’ve recently stopped napping.  I’m not incredibly excited about this idea but I know you don’t always need one anymore.  I can’t believe you’re almost three!
You love being outside.  You always have. 
You know your full name, and unfortunately ours as well.  You often call me Dawn and dad Walter, even though you know it drives us nuts, maybe because it drives us nuts. 
You are a button pusher!  Literally and figuratively.  You love riding elevators and always have to push the button.  If someone pushes it before you, you’ll wait for the next one, when you’re done throwing a huge fit!
YOU ARE AMAZING
AWESOME
ADORABLE
ABSOLUTLY HILARIOUS
AND PERFECTLY YOU!
We love you – Noah Schmoah!
I borrowed this idea from a blog I follow religiously - “4 little men and girly twins

Slip ‘N Slide!

Tuesday, April 7th, 2009

Remember the old Slip ‘N Slide?  Did you know they still make them?  We picked one up so Noah can have water fun in our backyard.  He loves swimming and water parks but I suspect they will be a little more challenging with Kate this summer.  So we invited our friends Max and Alex over to play.  Unfortunately it was very anti climatic!

The boys stood around and whined about getting wet and not wanting to use the slip ‘n slide or blow up pool.  So Lauren and I sent the babies down.  Of course we splurged and got the racing slip ‘n slide (because I thought Noah and Walter would love a good challenge) so we shoved Kate and Max down on the dish soap laden plastic roll.

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They seemed to enjoy it as much as a pair of infants could.  Kate eventually realized she was getting wet and broke down.  Max gave her tears of sympathy and the little ones were out.  Then we forced the big guys down.  Noah didn’t “get” it and kept flopping on top of the raft.  I don’t remember this cute little blow up raft from when we were little.  I think we just used to slam our bodies onto the “slide”, coasting over whatever sprinklers may be underneath.

We had to shove the boys just like we did Kate and Max.

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After their one run they were whining again and begging to go inside so we finally gave in and let them.  Wusses!  Noah stopped for a quick drink and then ran inside!  At least the slide is good for something! 

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And yes, that was the bathing suit from his 12 month photo shoot – the exact.same.suit.  The boy is almost 3!

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Our next crazy idea was to let the boys make cookies.  Disaster #2, but at least this time they enjoyed themselves.  The dough was too sticky, they were too rough, and they insisted on using every cookie cutter – Christmas, Halloween, Easter, everything…

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And LOADING them up with sprinkles.

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Can you make out the spider in the middle?

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I didn’t get a photo of the baked cookies because, well, it was just sad.  We didn’t have time to make the right dough for this project so the cookies just looked like big, puffy versions of what the boys intended.  It didn’t seem to change the taste any, they were almost gone by the time the play date was done.

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And then Max and I hung out on the couch.

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Isn’t he the cutest kid ever?  Lauren looked JUST like him as a baby which could only mean he’ll be a gorgeous young man!

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His big brother Alex is very protective and although he hates having his picture taken he loves being with his brother!

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