Can you tell how to get to...

I'm not one of those people who really mind winter. I like the snow, the cold isn't that bad, and in general I like the change in seasons. What I don't like about winter though, is the fact that it gets dark here at 4:30. Recently I've been noticing that it seems like everyone has a GPS unit in their car. The pic above was actually taken while we were at a stop light, and I just had to get a shot so everyone knew what I was talking about.

I'm dumbfounded by the amount of people who have GPS systems in their car. Driving around at night it seems like literally everyone has one. All the time. I mean, who are all these people that don't know where they are going? Have we all just entirely forgotten where things are and we'd be absolutely paralyzed without our GPS systems?

Thanksgiving part - III

Shake, rattle and roll! Annie loves to dance. Black Friday. Karen and I both had to work, but were able to get out early and meet up for lunch. We all had a great late lunch at the Union Oyster House. The weather outside was pretty dismal - cold and rainy. So after a short walk we ended up at this other place for a drink before we headed back. Since we had Annie, we wanted a place that was somewhat dead so that she could tear around and not bother anyone. We found the perfect place with a sweet corner booth, and an area behind it that Annie could play in.

The waitstaff was super accomodating, and it helped that Annie made friends with all of them!

Thanksgiving part - II

Thanksgiving day! You couldn't ask for a better day. The sun was shining and the air was brisk. After a breakfast of toast, poached eggs, coffee and tea, we all headed out for a walk. We walked from our apt to the Charlestown Monument. Which felt like it was totally uphill from us... but great exercise in preparation of the massive amounts of food that would be consumed in a few short hours.

Once we made it to the Monument, we let Annie out of her stroller and she took off! She ran from one place to the next, chased after people with dogs, and wandered up next to every kid she saw. She is very social, I don't know where she gets it from. Karen and I often joke how unfriendly we are... and we're not doing it on purpose, but I think living in a city hardens you a bit. You don't talk to strangers, most times you don't even make eye contact with them. We don't know our neighbors, and we've lived in our condo for the past 5 yrs... I know, pathetic. But another fringe benefit of having kids is that they don't care who someone is.

One of Annie's favorite things to do is say hi to strangers, and if they are not paying attention to her, watch out, because she will not stop until they acknowledge her. Much to her parents chagrin. During Annie's exercise, there was an incident. As she was running down the sidewalk chasing a little boy, she took a tumble and scratched her face. When I picked her up there was blood running down the tip of her nose. A superficial scratch, but traumatic none the least. Was it bad that (after I saw she was alright of course), the first thing that ran through my mind was from the Brady Bunch. It was the episode when Greg hit Marcia in the nose with a football and she was all, "Now I'll never be a teen model." I know parents aren't supposed to laugh at times like this, but sometimes you can't help it!

Finally, it was time for the ma marsin event. We headed up to the Kattmans in Marblehead. We were so excited not to be travelling for once! We had a great time, and Addie - freshman at Alabama, made a surprise appearance! We had no idea the feast that was in store for us... Karen and Joan made two sides to take, roasted corn with mint and the classic, mashed potatoes. The Kattmans had the turkey, natch, sweet potatoes w/ marshmallows, cornbread stuffing w/ sausage, green bean casserole, two kinds of cranberry sauce... the list goes on and on! Everything was awesome... awesome. My mouth is watering again just writing about this.

And then, if all of that food wasn't enough, we had apple pie a la mode and key lime cheesecake. Wowser. So good. After that meal we came home, but Annie to bed, and then followed her shortly.

A Drummy Thanksgiving - part I

Thanksgiving was great! Since I haven't updated in a while and I have a bunch of photos I'm breaking this into a few posts. Although there are no photos for this post...


Grandma and Grandpa Drummy came into town the day before Thanksgiving. That evening we went to our new favorite restaurant, the Highland Kitchen in Somerville.


http://www.highlandkitchen.com/
I love the atmosphere there. When you walk in, the bar is always crowded with people, the lights are low and intimate, and the music is slightly loud causing everyone to speak louder than normal. This place just has great energy, and awesome specials. The first time we went there, the special was venison stroganoff. It was awesome. And, on Monday nights they serve homemade fried chicken, with mashed potatoes, greens and a biscuit. Are you kidding? Luckily I have class Monday nights so we've only been once, but if I didn't I'm sure we'd be there almost every single Monday... and weigh alot.

We all had great dinners... Joan had quail, awesome. Larry had a steak, awesome. I had chicken, awesome. And I just forgot what Karen had, but I'm sure it too was awesome. Annie is another story... She's getting to that age where she's becoming less and less fun to take out. There, I said it! Now we love taking her out, and we'll continue to do so, but she's quite the little character. She also loves attention. I mentioned how a couple of weeks ago at breakfast she kept throwing things at this guy in the next table, well this night she kept shouting until these people at the next table would pay attention to her. Then she would laugh and smile, and throw stuff. Then they would try and get back to their dinner, and she would get their attention again. And then laugh and smile... Man, she is trouble...

After dinner we headed back to the apt and put Bananas to bed. The rest of us headed to bed shortly thereafter so we could rest up for the big day ahead...

Of diapers and wipes...

At my house, diapers can be a hot topic. Sounds exciting doesn't it? The talk usually boils down to two sides, 1) preference for one brand and 2) preference for something decent, but mainly preference for the price. I'm sure you can figure out who comes down on what side of this debate... What has recently entered into the discussion is also trying to be more conscious of the products we're using, and their effects on everything else. Add to this Karen and Annie being gone for the weekend a few weeks ago, and with way too much time on my hands... I set about trying to find some good deals that would not only satisfy me from a price consideration, Karen from a brand perspective and everyone from a 'are we doing what we can' perspective. Enter Amazon.

Oh Amazon... how I've loved you for finding me books to read, and introducing me to so many things that I didn't know existed until you suggested it. But Amazon also sells diapers and wipes, and anything else you can imagine. A friend of mine before had told me about buying diapers there, and so I figured I should give it a try. Most of the 'grocery' items Amazon sells you have to buy in bulk, which is fine because if there's something you don't want to run out of, it's diapers and wipes.

Normally we buy a value box of diapers from Costco for about $44. At Amazon, you can get the same box for about the same price, and they throw in free two-day shipping. But where you really save some cash, is if you 'subscribe' to the item, and have it delivered on a regular basis. If you do that, they will shave 15% off the price. Not too bad. With these cost savings, we were able to spring for the 7th Generation diapers and wipes. What's great about the 7th Gen diapers, is that they do not use chlorine to dye the wood pulp white during the making of their diapers. This is good because using chlorine releases chlorinated toxins during the pulp production process.

Costco doesn't sell 7th Generation diapers, so if we were to buy them somewhere else, they would cost about $52 for the same amount. With the 15% discount, we only paid $37, not too bad. And onto the wipes, we were even happier, because it's pretty hard to find wipes that do not contain alcohol. And when Annie has diaper rash, the alcohol in the wipes is brutal. But guess what wipes don't contain alcohol? That's right, 7th Generation. Picked those up from Amazon too, and same deal. Subscribe to the item and in addition to the free shipping you get 15% off, not too bad.

Now the wipes were pretty expensive relative to what we had been buying. Costco sells wipes under their brand name, and I'd say you get between 8 - 10 packages of 80 wipes/package, for about $20. That's cheap. Even with the discounts the 7th Generation wipes were still about $34 for 12 packs of 70 wipes. So, we saved some money and spent some more somewhere else... Sometimes a wash is the best you can do...

Karen and Annie take D.C.

Last weekend I was in class, so Karen and Annie set out to DC to visit her friend Stephanie. So since I wasn't there, and I'm writing this and not my "co-blogger," you'll just have to take my word for the way things went down.

Karen and Annie got there Friday night. Annie had somewhat of a meltdown in the terminal waiting for the flight, causing Karen to quickly pick her up off the floor and find the most remote part of the airport... Then after a banana Annie was all better and they had a nice flight to DC. Saturday they went out to breakfast, the first place they went was packed so they ended up at this French-organic place. Where everyone was super-snobby (and probably wearing berets, but I wasn't there). Then the three of them headed out to see the sights! Annie had a great walk along the reflecting pool. I've heard that Annie walked the whole way, but I don't know if I believe that. It is 2,029 feet long... Then they saw the Lincoln Memorial, and lots of other memorials.



Annie has two questions, 1) Can Sasha, Malia or Bo come out and play? And 2) Keep up the good work on health care! Ok, so really 1 question and 1 statement.

This is Annie out at (insert meal here). Actually looking very calm. I'm guessing either they just got there or the camera took about 50 pictures in a row and this was the one second where she wasn't doing anything. Annie has become quite the little handful when dining out. Two weekends ago we were out for breakfast, and there was this guy sitting at the table next to us, about two feet away. The entire meal Annie kept throwing things at this guy, who luckily had a great sense of humor and didn't mind the non-stop interruptions. Towards the end of the meal Karen and I are both getting embarrased, because everytime we look away she's tossing her toy, book, food, sippy cup... literally anything not bolted down was tossed at this guy and landed at his feet. And everytime he would nicely pick it up, say something funny to her, and then return to his meal.

Karen and Annie had a great trip, and I sure was glad when they came home!

Halloween photos

As promised, here are our Halloween photos! We had so much fun at the Korns... and as I mentioed earlier, Annie loved seeing all the other kids and their costumes. Annie is supposed to be a monkey, but I'm thinking in these photos she actually looks more like a bear. I'm not feeling very creative and don't really have too much else to share... so sorry for the lame post.

Quick weekend recap

We had a great weekend, and Annie had lots of fun on Halloween! We
were originally supposed to go to BF for Halloween, but our plans
changed, so instead we went to Hingham. Our friends Scott and Jen
live there and it was a lot of fun to see them and help hand out
candy. Especially since we don't get any trick or treaters at our
house. Surprisingly enough we also forgot our camera, but Scott took
some good shots I'll post when I get them.

This video should help tide you over in the mean time... And Annie
isn't wearing a shirt because right now it's very warm in our apt
because Karen is in the process of cooking a turkey with all the
fixings!

Annie likes hanging out on the floor... and the 'spite poop'

A few weeks ago we noticed Annie would all of a sudden just lay down on a rug, or the floor. We thought this was kind of weird. Then we learned that at daycare Annie had graduated from sleeping in a crib to sleeping on a mat (I'm not 100% on how going from a nice mattress to a mat on the floor is an upgrade, but I digress). Also, a few times at bed time when we go into Annie's room, she will walk right in, go to her crib, and then lay down on this shag rug that is in front of her crib with Elmo and get ready for bed! We then tell her that she doesn't have to sleep on the floor at home!

Now, you're probably wondering, what's the spite poop? The spite poop is a phrase that Karen and I have coined to describe what Annie frequently does when we put her down for a nap. We get everything ready, change her diaper, give her her pacifier, Elmo, the works - then put her down. Then about 10 - 15 minutes later we'll hear her either: a) playing in her crib, laughing and running around, or b) crying. And sure enough, 9 times out of 10, she has pooped. And when her diaper's dirty, she can't sleep, natch. So we call it the spite poop, because she has a real habit of doing this in the morning and afternoon before her naps. And this is regardless of whether she has already had a BM recently, I swear she can poop on demand. This morning she did the trifecta. She threw her pacifier and Elmo out of the crib, and she had a spite poop.

This is Annie's new trick. She can now pull herself up on the coffee table, and then stands! Karen sent me these pics while I was in class. That Annie, she sure is always into something! And she is also very fast at getting herself on top of the table... we're going to have to make sure everything is tied down now that we've got a climber on our hands! D'oh!

Annie's first photo shoot

This past weekend was Annie's fist photo shoot! I didn't want to look like I was trying to cannibalize on the photographer's action, so I only took one photo with my phone. Although, after I saw the pricing sheet I wished I would have taken many more... Anyways, Annie was great throughout the whole thing. She was very playful and didn't cry the entire time. Although most of the time she didn't smile either, but it's the small victories you have to take comfort in! The photographer was great with her, and I think out of all the photos she took we're going to have some really good ones. Annie had her picture taken on Sunday, and it was pouring the whole time, and we got snow! Unbelievable.

Saturday was beautiful. Karen was at a friend's baby shower, so Annie and I took our show on the road. We went downtown to meet our cousin for lunch, and had a great time! Annie was a champ the whole time. She got a little squirrely before we sat down, and right before we left, but other than that no major issues. And it was great to catch up with Holly!

Annie goes to the park and then terrorizes Whole Foods

Last weekend, which will probably be remembered as the last nice weekend, we took a nice long walk along the Charles, then went to Whole Foods. Although after looking at the photos, I'm thinking they were from different days since Annie is in different clothes... This is what happens when you wait too long to post!

Anyways, the weather was cool, but sunny. And since Annie loves going to the park, the slides and swings, we thought we'd venture out farther and go to a new park along the river. She loved it! Especially the covered slide, where a certain someone may have almost knocked Annie onto the ground when she came down the slide... But I won't name names...

At the grocery store (whenever that was...), Annie took her spiked hair on the road and terrorized the place! It's amazing the things you know, but forget to apply under new circumstances. For instance, I know Annie loves to grab things off from tables, and pull anything down that she can get her hands on. But when we're at the store and she's in the cart, I completely forget about the fact that if she is too close to the aisles... Those little hands just start compulsively grabbing whatever is closest! So that always makes things very interesting...

I'm not condoning this, but it's hilarious...

Magga and Poppa visit (weeks ago... and Jordan)

A few weeks ago Magga and Poppa came to visit. The boys (me, Poppa, and Jordan) went to the BC / Wake Forest game, where the photo above is from. The ladies went downtown, out to lunch (I think?) and did some shopping. Annie has needed some new shoes for a while, so Karen and Magga found some and she got two new pairs! And if you hear this story from Karen, she'll tell you that I made her buy 'boy' shoes.

They are not 'boy' shoes. All I said, was if we were going to buy two pairs, let's make one neutral-ish, so in case our next child is a boy, we can re-use some of this stuff. And not everything, but more expensive items (shoes, jackets, etc.) once in-a-while could be neutral and not always pink. Besides, why should we continue to pass on society's gender stereotypes? And then Karen says, well in that case if our next kid is a boy then you shouldn't mind if he's wearing pink shoes! Snap.

Really?

I'm so glad that all of Massachusetts' problems have been solved so that the legislature can now tackle really important issues.

From today's Boston Globe:
Lawmakers’ nod could sweeten the day for Fluffernutter fans

The Fluffernutter, once defamed by a state legislator, could soon become the official sandwich of Massachusetts.
“Well, it’s very flattering,’’ said Don Durkee, co-owner of the company in Lynn that makes Marshmallow Fluff. “I can’t think of any other sandwich that has the equivalent association with Massachusetts.’’
The sandwich is one of three foods that a legislative committee will consider for official state status tomorrow. The others are Necco Wafers, for official state candy, and Charleston Chew, for candy bar.
“A lot of these bills are filed by school groups,’’ said Lainey Titus, chief of staff for Representative Steven M. Walsh of Lynn, cochairman of the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight, which is holding the hearing. “In general, a couple of these sometimes go through every year.’’
The committee will also hear requests to designate the elephant as the official state mammal, “Fever Pitch’’ as the official state movie, and 6 as the official state number.
Representative William Brownsberger of Cambridge, who sponsored the “Fever Pitch’’ bill at the request of some Cambridge eighth-graders, said most such efforts do not pass.
Each bill needs to pass in the House and Senate to become official. “Moby-Dick’’ almost became the state’s official novel last session, but the measure died in the Senate.
“The Legislature is sometimes respectful, but it doesn’t want to get too distracted,’’ said Brownsberger, who has not seen the Red Sox-themed movie he is backing.
Massachusetts already has five official state foods, among the most in the country: the baked navy bean, corn muffin, chocolate chip cookie, Boston cream pie, and Boston cream doughnut.
Children pushing the legislation often appear to testify, lawmakers said.
“Lots of students came and testified over the years,’’ said Representative Antonio Cabral of New Bedford, a former cochairman of the oversight committee. “It can be a great educational tool.’’
Representative Mark Falzone of Saugus, who sponsored the Charleston Chew bill, said a group of Wakefield Girl Scouts appeared at a mock hearing in April to support the nougat treat.
“They testified not only on the tastiness of the candy bar, but they also danced the Charleston,’’ he said.
One student will speak at tomorrow’s hearing in support of the elephant. The origin of the choice was unclear yesterday, and the species is not known to flourish in the wilds of the Commonwealth.
The students “felt there should be a state mammal, I guess,’’ said Representative James Miceli of Wilmington, who sponsored the bill. “I know very little. We signed on, and it’s their bill.’’
Another student sent a personal letter to state Senator Stephen Brewer of Barre, advocating for the number 6.
“The number six is involved in much of our state’s history, and is part of many interesting state facts,’’ wrote Tyler Gibbs, 14, of Rutland, whose love of history, not the allure of school credit, drove him to write. “After I started my research, I learned that we have a state polka song, so why not a state number?’’
Massachusetts was the sixth state in the union and is the sixth-smallest state in the region, Gibbs wrote.
The three foods up for official status have Bay State ties.
Marshmallow Fluff was invented in Somerville and has been produced in Lynn for 80 years. Necco Wafers were formerly made in Cambridge and now are created in Revere. And Nat Sloane, the man who made Charleston Chews famous, was born in Belmont. The candy bars were also produced in Everett.
In 2006, a state senator, Jarrett Barrios, attracted national attention when he sought to limit the serving of Fluffernutters in school lunch programs statewide.
This year, Representative Kathi-Anne Reinstein of Revere filed legislation to honor the Fluffernutter, the second attempt by a lawmaker.
“I associate the Fluffernutter with a really good childhood sandwich,’’ she said.
If the peanut-butter-and-fluff concoction gets a positive reaction from the committee today, it may mark one of the sandwich’s best weeks ever. The fourth annual Fluff Festival is scheduled for Saturday in Somerville.

Vacation part II

Here are some more pics from our time in Michigan a few weeks ago... While we were in GP we made it the park a few times where Annie loved the splash pad and kiddie pool, and also had a play date!

Day trip - Rockport, MA

It was such a beautiful weekend here! Both Saturday and Sunday were sunny and cool. On Saturday we decided to take Annie on the road and headed up to Rockport, MA. It's about 45 min north of Boston, and I lived in Rockport for a year during my under grad days. Rockport is awesome. It's this great coastal small town, with lots of fun shops, art galleries and restaurants. You knew there had to be food involved if we were going!

Most of the pictures are taken on Bearskin Neck, which is like this little peninsula that juts out into the ocean. It's lined with tons and tons of fun shops and tons and tons of galleries. It was a bit cliche that 2 out 3 art galleries featured nothing but ocean-related works... but they were cool none the less. And I think you can tell from the pics of Annie and Karen that it was a bit windy on the end of the neck!

Annie had a lot of fun, although every time we would take her out of her stroller to walk around, she would take off. She's not very good at holding your hand and walking nicely beside you, so I guess we'll keep working on that! Anyone have any advice or guidance as to when I can expect her to follow on command?

What else did we do? Well, after we got back on Saturday and we put Annie down for a nap, I had to watch "An Inconvenient Truth" for my Monday class. What it should have been called was "An Inconvenient Long Lecture from Al Gore for 90 minutes and oh yeah, still bitter I lost the election." Seriously. I consider myself myself a bit progressive, and I definitely try and do my part to reduce, reuse, and recycle - so I thought I would actually like the movie.

Not so much. In the first 10 minutes he referenced losing the election at least twice, pretty much implied GWB was at fault for most of the environmental problems, and was a big gass-bag. I'm also not the biggest GWB fan, but come on, the guy was only in charge for 8 years, hardly enough time to be guilty of the stuff that Gore tries to link him to. And I can't say this enough, the whole movie was about Gore! He did this, he has been working since 19XX, no one would listen to him, he tried to this... And it went on and on and on and on... I can't remember the last vanity project like this I've seen, unbelievable.

Annie loves the park!

There's this school playground about a 5 minute walk from us, and yesterday after work we took Annie by. She loves being in the swings, but now that she's gotten more mobile she loves slides! Everytime one of us would put her on top of the slide it'd be a race to get to the end of the slide as she immediately starts inching forward to go down the slide. It's pretty funny to watch, not to mention she gets a very serious look on her face!

Summer's over, d'uh! Vacation round-up, part 1

After a very nice and relaxing August... it seems like I should get back to work! July and August were a bit of a blur. From the last week in June until the first week of August I was in class two nights a week, and all day during the last week of July. The good news is that this is over, and starting tonight, I only have two classes left until I complete my MBA! Boo-yah!

Our summer was pretty busy with friends visiting and travelling to weddings. Most of which I've already covered. The week before Labor Day we headed to Michigan for a week of some much needed r&r, and backup! We spent the first half of the week in GP, taking Annie to the park, and on long walks. The top picture is from the boat, Annie in her very own life preserver! Which went over so-so. To be fair, it was the most easy thing to maneuver in, and whenever she fell, it was sort of curved-outwards in the front so if she landed on her belly her face would roll forward and meet the ground. After a few falls she got much better navigating around in her PFD and was much happier.

The other photos above are taken from Karen's primary school, and Annie is running down the "Nun's Walk." Annie has become a really good walker, and loves to run. She also has the funniest laugh, it goes from a 4 to a 10 in one second. So funny.

Annie and Bea playing

In this photo the girls are just getting warmed up for their photo shoot by Uncle Larry. Here they are both in good spirits and having a great time!

Annie is starting to get a little bored, and she's becoming a little dramatic. Side note, Annie's new favorite way to show her displeasure with mom and dad is to plop down on the floor, begin to wail, and then throw her face and hands to the floor. It's so dramatic and hilarious. I can't believe little tantrums are already showing up.

Ladies who lunch. Annie took Bea out to lunch at the Warren Tavern. They both loved sitting next to eachother, although they got a little sick of the paparazzi action so Bea told Annie to get that camera so they could eat in peace.

One photo too many... enough said.

Annie and Bea had a great time playing during the Drummys' visit. For the most part Annie was on her best behaviour, sharing and showing Bea how to do stuff.

Larry, Alex & Bea visit Smackdown!

Since I was a bit delinquent on my blog postings, here are some pics from when Larry, Alex and Bea came to visit a few weeks ago. They came in Wednesday night, and the fun began! Thursday and Friday Annie got to stay home from daycare and play with everyone! They went on lots of field trips and lunches. Annie loves to lunch! I apologize that I'm a little scarce on the details, but I was at work/class most of the time so I missed all the fun! Also, rumour has it the in the upcoming weeks my reclusive co-blogger will be back on the scene with some more recipes and food-goodness! So if you happen to talk to her, put the pressure on!

Wedding weekend

On Friday my cousin Chad got married in Syracuse, and it was also Annie and daddy's first solo road trip! I was a little nervous, due to work commitments Karen couldn't attend, so that meant Annie and I were headed to the wedding by ourselves. Boy was I nervous. Syracuse is a six hour drive from Boston, and worst case scenarios kept popping into my head. What if she had a meltdown in the car? What if I had to go to the bathroom? So many variables to plan for. But Thursday night Karen said something to me that made everything much more palatable, if you have to go to the bathroom, just put her in the stroller. Duh, just put her in the stroller! Suddenly the world seemed at our fingertips!

We headed out Friday morning at 6:30, and the enjoyment began. She soon fell asleep, and about a half hour before we arrived at my sister's house, she woke up. Not bad. Next to me in the passenger seat I had snacks, sippy cups with juice and water, and some of her favorite toys that I planned on judiciously parcelling out. It worked!

We stopped at Leslie's house so we could all ride together. Annie had a great time playing in the car with her cousins, and when we got to the wedding the rest of my family was there for backup, hooray! The wedding ceremony was great, expedient yet thoughtful. The reception was a lot of fun, and Annie was such a trooper through the whole thing. On the way home from the reception to Leslie's, she slept the whole time, and then when right down when we got back. However, the next morning around 5:30 I woke up, feeling someone looking at me and when I sat up, there Annie was, standing in her pack n play staring at me, waiting for me to get her. She played the rest of the morning until it was time for her nap, and then we hit the road. It's about 3.5 hrs from Leslie's to our house, and again, Annie slept the whole time. You could not have asked for better behaviour from our little Annie Bananas.

I also brought my camera and managed to take some photos! Oh, and because everyone loves a good conga line, here's some video from the reception! Unfortunately I missed capturing when Rebecca started a repeat performance of her table cloth cape dance from Jona's wedding, but I'll get it next time Rebecca!

Man oh man has it been a while since I've posted. Sorry about that. July has been very hectic, I was taking two summer classes, a few trips here and there, and have been pretty busy at work. My classes are finally over and I can relax! Boo-yah! Also, for those of you keeping track of my progress, I have two classes left to take in the fall, and then in December, I'm done with my MBA! Cannot wait...

I don't even know if I've posted that AB is full-on walking! Ever since her birthday she has been steadily getting better and better and now she's a crazy lady! Most of the time her walk is more of a run with her arms outstretched leaning forward. I finally got some good video last night, good thing because no sooner had I stopped recording then Annie took a digger on landed face first on some not too soft tile. But after a little TLC from mommy and an ice pop, she felt much better.

Tomorrow Annie and I are headed to Syracuse for my cousin Chad's wedding. Can't wait to have my first road trip with Bananas! The centerpiece of my plan is not to consume any liquids after 9pm tonight, so I can avoid the awkward bathroom with a toddler scenario... We'll meet up with my sister in Broadalbin, so after we make it there I'll have some backup, of course, we'll also be outnumbered between two adults and four kids! Let the good times roll -

Annie loves Mac n Cheese

We have been trying to make much more of an effort to let Annie feed herself lately. Which is not very easy, considering: a) she's very messy, b) she frequently spits out her food, c) she frequently throws her food, and d) I'm a bit anal retentive, so having food thrown all over kind of makes my skin crawl. But we're working on that.

The pics of Annie eating were taken on last Thursday, I had stayed home with her because she had an ear infection and some other stuff, so we'd thought we'd relax for the day. At lunch time I made her a box of Annie's Mac n Cheese - nice organic, whole wheat pasta. And boy is it good. So while we were eating, she was in her high chair and I was sitting next to her, I was starving, and these shells and cheese were pretty tiny, so as I got to the end of my bowl, I may have just stuck the whole bowl up to my mouth to shovel in the remaining shells like a pig. Well guess who was watching, because no sooner did I lower the bowl from my mouth when I see Bananas' bowl heading straight towards her face with shells streaming everywhere! I've just learned a very good lesson about little eyes watching and repeating what they see! And for the rest of the meal, that's how she ate her mac n cheese. I guess it could have been worse.

The top pic, you can kind of make out Annie and mommy getting close to some birds in Davis Square. The last time I mentioned Davis I talked about all the hipsters around. This time, the picture is so far away because immediately to Annie and Karen's right were these amazon hippie leftovers in full on parkas (it was 70 and sunny that day...), with an entire loaf of bread feeding the pigeons. It's always something...

Playdate in GP

I've been patiently waiting for my co-blogger to update some of these posts... but it's been a week! So I'm going to make up what happened.

When we were in Michigan, Annie got to meet Mommy's friend's niece, Lydia. Annie and Lydia played, chatted, and had a great time. In the second pic from top you can see Lydia slapping Annie on the back, Annie just told a really funny joke. And in the bottom photo Annie is asking Lydia where she got her earrings.

Annie + water = loads of fun!

We were in Detroit last weekend for the wedding of our good friends Carmie and Steve. The wedding was great, and the reception was at the Detroit Athletic Club, where you probably remember is where Karen and I had our reception. I have some video to post later, so I'll cover that in another post.

Annie had such a great time with Grandpa and Grandma Drummy! She is such a champ, she loves everyone, and Grandma Drummy even got her to nap for almost 5 hrs one day, soundly defeating my previous record! Karen and Annie flew out Thursday morning, and I joined them Friday evening. The weather was beautiful, and Annie got this new bathing suit!

On Saturday before the wedding we took her to the park, where they have this great children's splash area. There's a small wading pool, and then all these sprinklers and other fun things that spray water out! I'm happy to report that Annie loves the water. I can't tell you how many times she got sprayed in the face, and she just laughed it off! At one point Annie and I were under this sprinkler just getting drenched and she's laughing the whole time. I think showers might be in her future soon! And she even put her head under water... Which, wasn't exactly her doing... She was sitting on my lap in the wading pool and I looked away for a second and next thing I know her head is under water! I quickly pulled her back up, and there was a smile on her face! That's one easy going kid!