When babies blog

18 Months Today and Spring has Sprung

These are the days we’ve been waiting for. After a few weeks of cold weather and colds that seemed to never end, it feels like we finally entered Spring, so we spent it enjoying our city (both on and off Island:)). I’ll tell you, it sure is filled with everything Spring in NY has to offer. Cherry Blossoms, crisp air, energy and reach. I say reach because after a winter that instills hibernation the city suddenly becomes so much smaller when the temperature rises. A trip to Chelsea no longer feels like a trek and the Ferry is suddenly a main mode of transportation. Mostly this weekend brought the smile above out even more so than ever. Maybe it was his first lunch a Katz’s or his first walk on the bridge, whatever it was we can’t get enough. We had hit a few weeks of tantrum fests (where I think we all thought we were gonna lose our minds a little) and while they are not going away anytime soon they’ve subsided (not gone away) for the time being. And you can tell O along with the Cherry blossoms is blossoming into not only a full blown toddler but a full blown person.

We walk down the street and we hear him talking to himself in the stroller (that is when he’s not walking along side of it and pushing it down the street). It’s actually funny what goes on in the stroller. He sees things and people from a different perspective. I can’t tell you how many times we were on the train this weekend and I saw someone smiling or laughing and engaging with O in some way because that’s what he does. He makes eye contact, smiles, laughs and sometimes even makes funny faces at people without thinking twice about it. It’s nice to think that when they get off that train they’ll think of his little face for a few more moments and smile. He brings us so many.

Did we mention we love our city? Happy Spring!

I swear we went to the orchid show.

While we had such a lovely time checking out the Orchid Show at the New York Botanical Gardens with a few of our friends last weekend, it was our little adventure to Arthur Avenue that made us feel like we were suddenly on a little vacation. Maybe it was a combination of the warm sun and the kids all falling sleep at the same time on our walk to Mike’s Deli but once we turned onto Arthur Avenue we were suddenly reenergized. It was probably the gorgeous car in the photo above but it felt as if we had been transported back in time. A good one where you could still imagine kids playing stoop ball and being called in for dinner by their mother. Entering the Arthur Ave market brought a smile onto each of our faces and seeing the sandwiches in the photo above in front of us after a long morning of trains and chasing after the kiddos made us smile that much bigger. It had been years since I had been to the Bronx. Some of my most vivid childhood memories from my childhood are actually from visiting the Botanical Gardens and the Bronx Zoo with my dad before he passed away when I was young. And since having Oliver I couldn’t wait to take him on those same adventures. And here we are starting those memories with him and they’re awesome.

So if you haven’t already checked out the Orchid Show, go this weekend! And you know what to do after.

Check out my instagram @kaityvelez for more photos

Please don’t judge us. We’re very tired.

Once again I’m learning to never say never as a parent. I’m sitting here in the living room typing and hoping that Oliver doesn’t wake up again crying. After a full day of good friends and good food we’re letting O cry it out. We didn’t intend for today to be the day but have definitely discussed the option lately. After Almost 16 months of not sleeping more than 5 hours straight if we’re lucky and after the past month (or two?) of what seems like a never ending sleep regression I believe we’ve tried everything. Co-sleeping doesn’t work because he ends up wanting to nurse all night which then means I don’t sleep. We’ve tried a gentler Ferber-ish method by going in to check on him in 3, 5 and 7 minute intervals when he was around 11 months and it worked. But I always justified that 5:30 would be a reasonable time for me to bring O into bed to nurse if he woke up at that time. But then 5 is so close to 5:30 and well 4:30 is so close to 5 and suddenly we were back to (even more) erratic wake ups. I used to think “he’s such a good baby how can I make him cry? He’ll change. He won’t be as sweet and loving” but I’m tired. We’re all tired. And because he is such a good baby he deserves a solid sleep. Also, now with Oliver being a toddler I know that we’re only going to be facing more challenges when it comes to bedtime so think it’s foolish if we don’t try and fix what’s going on now. So on and off he’s been crying for over an hour. I know people will think I’m cruel but I also know that this house is filled with love and that it would be filled with so much more patience and less frustration each morning if we could solve our sleep issues. I’m ready for sleep not to feel stressful anymore. I used to love sleep. I still love sleep. I just would like to spend more time with it. Like 6 -8 hours a night? Am I dreaming? Hopefully we won’t ruin our child forever with this one? Ugh. Don’t look down on me and wish us luck.

Happy Love Day

As cheesy as Valentine’s can be you can’t deny the wonderful sentiment. I am so grateful for my Scott and Oliver and even though we make sure as a family to tell each other we love one another everyday (Oliver says “A la la”) today makes it that much sweeter.

And really though don’t our streets look that much better when so many hands are filled with flowers?

Happy Valentine’s Day!!

PS the photos above are what happens when I leave my phone unattended. I should leave attended more often :)

It’s not so warm out today…

Which makes me so grateful my mom got me these 7 am enfant warmmuffs. I’ve been using them the past few weeks and not only have they kept my hands warm but they save me from yelling “dang it, I forgot my gloves” half way down the block on a daily basis. Also, I’m clumsy so there’s no dropping them anywhere because they stay right there on the stroller. They have definitely been a conversation starter because people are envious of my warm hands or because they’re probably thinking “can’t she just wear normal gloves?” Which I guess I could but they wouldn’t be as awesomely practical to slip on and off. And they match Oliver’s 212 blanket perfectly. Go treat yourself today. You’ll thank me tomorrow.

PS, This photo was taken on a much warmer day. Check us out on instagram to see how bundled we actually were today.

Happy New Year?

I can’t tell you how many times in the past few weeks I’ve said “I need to write a holiday post” until I realized I didn’t NEED to write a holiday post. I started feeling a timeline pressure no one but myself has given me. I mean it’s just a blog, right? But I have to say this blog has been an amazing outlet for me during my first year as a mom. A gift I guess I gave myself by simply buying a URL and starting another Tumblr account. It has kept me disciplined in documenting Oliver’s moments in a way that I knew a scrapbook may not and has allowed me to share a few things that I have found helpful along the way with other new parents as well. And I am so grateful for the friends and family that have been so encouraging along the way. This isn’t a break up blog post although there have been times I’ve thought of ending it. Not because of lack of content :) (believe me there are hundreds of photos in my phone no social network has ever seen). But having a toddler that is more aware, active and amazing in addition to trying to launch a new site (THAT I CANNOT WAIT TO SHARE WITH EVERYONE) has made it more challenging to sit down for a moment to post and then time goes by and I start thinking “have too many weeks gone by?” And then I remember “who’s counting?” This is my own little space. I just hope whoever is still reading continues to do so and takes away a little something from it each time.

So Happy New Year and thanks for reading.

PS, I was going to make a holiday collage but this photo my niece took just really makes me the happiest.

A Quiet Morning

Today I woke up to Olivers tears. He/we slept poorly last night/this morning and understandably he/we woke up a little cranky. After a few minutes of consoling him I finally got him to laugh by gently smushing his little cheeks with my hands. This prompted the morning kisses he has made a ritual of each morning (it varies as to who gets the kiss first). It is the best wake up ritual any parent or person for that matter could ask for. Once the ritual was complete and O decided that he was ready for the morning, he climbed down from our bed to play with his toys. While watching him I began thinking about the poor parents in Connecticut who woke up to a much quieter home this morning, probably wishing they could go back to even a tear-filled morning with their little ones. I thought about all the mornings ahead of them that they’ll wake up wondering if it was all a bad dream. I wish it were for them, for their children and for everyone else affected. At this point who wasn’t? So this evening before thanking everything that is out there for our beautiful family and gift of life, I think about those less fortunate than us and hope that they can regain strength within, regain faith in humanity, regain purpose in life and know that there has to be light somewhere ahead after all the darkness that yesterday brought in.

I PROBABLY SAY POUCH ONE TOO MANY TIMES IN THIS POST

If you told me 6 months ago that I’d be laughing at Oliver with a food pouch hanging out of his mouth I’d say “ew, no way, I hate those things.” Except I should know by this point that I should never say “ew” and judge another person’s parenting moves because chances are I’ll be biting my tongue later (hello sleep training). Also because instead of getting easier it has only become harder to make all of Oliver’s food and snacks over the past month or two. Between him moving non-stop around the apartment, me working on different projects more often, colds, holidays, birthdays… you get the idea, we’re busy just like everyone else and I don’t know about you but it’s hard managing time, so I’d rather give him (organic) store bought baby food once in awhile than trade in my sanity. Also, since he’s been eating so many more “adult foods” it’s been hard gauging whether that little tummy is getting the vegetable intake he needs. Fruit is never a problem, proteins on the other hand? I’m still have had a hard time factoring those in (especially since we haven’t given him meat until this point). It was easy enough to know “OK, he consumed 6 ounces” when he was eating mostly purees but this bridge into toddler food has me understanding why moms are so obsessed with their kids meals. One day it seems like he might explode because he eats so much and others I’m worried he’ll wake up hungry. Now I know some people would say we should be done with purees at this point but I find them to be the perfect snack on-the-go at this age. And the perfect way for me to know he’s getting in his veggies if he decided to spit out his carrots at lunch (although the boy can down an alarming number of grape tomatoes in one sitting). My usual cheerio or banana snack on-the-go can only take us so far. My baby food brand of choice for him? Sprout. They are all organic, have no added sugars and make pouches that consist of just vegetables and grains with no fruit to mask the pure flavors which is really important to me. And absolutely no preservatives. Of course they make fruit pouches as well. They also make an advanced line that I’m fond of that has more textures and protein choices. Happy Family baby and tot food is a close second as well. So shame on me for ever judging baby’s and toddler’s with pouches. These photos alone are reason enough to hand over to him.

*I was in no way compensated for this post. Just a new fan spreading the love.

Not so stupid anymore, eh?

This is one of those products we received as a baby shower gift way back when that had me thinking “What a waste. How stupid could people be?” Yet here we are almost 13 months after Oliver’s arrival and once again I’m thanking these little wipes for Oliver’s chafe-free nose after his most recent cold. I personally like the unscented but you have your choice of grape or fresh scent as well. They’re such a simple solution, a saline wipe with no extra fuss but really, who’s making their own saline wipes? They are a little over priced but wiping a baby’s nose induces enough tears without a raw nose. So, Boogie Wipes thank you for turning out to be a touch of genius.

More, More, More. Because you only turn once right?

And because I still love the animal sound signs I made by cutting up old cardboard boxes and painted with leftover chalkboard paint. And because the clear balloons look better against the DIY poster board and streamer backdrop than that giant “1” balloon that flew away right before the party started ever would have. And because I think the party hats have inspired me to make santa santa hats for our new TOOB animals Oliver is loving so much. OK, no more first birthday talk, he’s almost 13 months already! Where did November go??? BYE.