tv talk

Just watched this week's episode of Parenthood on Hulu while the pups were both napping.  (yes! success!)  Parenthood is my show these days -- meaning that's the show I watch without Ben.  Which is probably for the best because I cry pretty much every time.  Sometimes, like today, I cry through just about the whole thing.  Alone, I can just let my mom-otions (that's a word I just made up that refers to those uncontrollable emotions you're sure to suffer without warning beginning the instant you give birth) run free.  It's cleansing I think.

Together, Ben and I watch the sitcoms.  Best lines from last week's episodes...

"It isn't my favorite shirt, but it is my least favorite shirt."  --Donna on Parks and Rec

"There are no bad ideas, just great ideas that go horribly wrong."  --Jack Donaghy on 30 Rock

And the bits of "Phil's-osophy" on Modern Family?  Classic...

"always look people in the eye. even if they're blind.  just say, 'i'm looking you in the eye.'  or, if you get pulled over, just say your spouse has diarrhea."

"the most amazing things that can happen to a human being will happen to you if you just lower your expectations."

"dance until you feet hurt, sing until your lungs hurt, act until you're william hurt."

"marry someone who looks sexy while disappointed."

"when life gives you lemonade, make lemons.  life will be all like, what!?"

Bob and Owen do their own fair share of tv watching too.  Owen's a regular little tv addict.  As soon as he sees a screen turn on he's enraptured.  He'll watch just about anything.  I'm not quite proud of it, but tis just the facts of life these days.

Bob's top picks lately are Fireman Sam, Bob the Builder, Blue's Clues, and Leapfrog Phonics Farm, and at Gram's yesterday he discovered a show called Max and Ruby that he can't stop talking about.  At home we do Netflix and DVD only.  No cable because to me the worst thing about tv for kids (and myself) is the commercials.  My guidelines for what I want the kiddos watching: shows should be educational and the characters in them should be kind and hopefully not too annoying.  Fireman Sam is a bit of an exception maybe since Norman Price is such a little menace, but it's been pup's favorite from the first time he saw it, and it inspires him to rescue all day every day, so it's fine with me.

movie night while we were painting our bedroom and camping out in the living room

yes, owie took the photos.  just kidding.

So, any favorites of yours that I'm missing?

Dear Owen: 9 months

Dear Owen,

You are nine months old.  I really intended to get this whole letter done on the date of your actual nine month mark, but no, I couldn't pull off being on time for once.  But it's mostly your own fault for wanting me all the time!  So, take what you get and know that I love you like crazy.  And, start sleeping for longer stretches and I'll write more often.  Deal?

Your personality is really starting to burst out of you!  The other day I finally realized suddenly that you are understanding a lot of what we say; you're able to show it!  I was telling Bobby to find different foods in his bowl and he wanted me to do it for you so I said, "Can you find a green pea on your tray, Owie?" and you looked down excitedly to search for one.  I say, "Can you clap?" and you do it so happily! (quickly after my last letter you found the joy of clapping.)

a little video (try to ignore my crazy-in-love-with-her-baby mom voice)...



Also the day after I last wrote, you made it abundantly clear that you had been saying 'dada' and meaning dada.  Just tonight (ok, last night now), driving in the car, you kept calling dad from the backseat until he answered you.  As for other words, I think you're working on a few, like 'duck' for example, but it's hard to tell for sure just yet.  I can't wait to hear what you have to say!

Your first favorite hilarious joke: putting things in mom and dad's mouths, e.g. your suckie.

Speaking of which, you have no interest in using that sucker yourself these days.  No interest in a blankie either.  Seems that I serve as both.  Hmm...

I'll tell you: it's amazing how much love can grow in nine short months.  First it grows from a tiny seed to a blossoming tree while you form inside me and finally I meet you, and then it bursts forth with a beautiful harvest of ginormous apples as I memorize your face and learn your little voice and watch you become YOU.  And I'm gobbling those apples up, baby.  Because they are delicious.

Seriously, none of us can imagine our lives without you.  You add SO much joy to our family.  Bobby calls you his best friend; he's quite a bit obsessed with you, actually.  As soon as he hears one peep in your crib he says, "Did you hear that 'eh' sound?  I think it was Oboe.  I better go check on him!"  And he runs in and hops into your bed and tackles you with hugs and smothers you with kisses.  You are his favorite, and he's yours too.  Your relationship is special already, and that makes a mama's heart swell.

I'll say it again because I can't say it enough: I love you my little schmoopy!

xoxo, Mom

stuff bob needs/wants for his birthday

I've had several inquiries from the family about what Bob would like for his birthday and Christmas, so for everyone's gift shopping convenience I'm posting a little list here.  If you're not planning on purchasing Bob a present anytime soon, you can stop reading.  Or maybe you need ideas for the 3 year old boy in your own life, in which case -- read on!

Clothing... He's finally outgrowing his 2T shirts and could use a supply of 3T (don't buy a size up because he won't wear them for a year, he's a shrimp!).  He also needs some 3T jammies... but not the fleece one piece footie jammies because he still fits in his, and he won't wear them these days anyway.  I think he's pretty much all set as far as pants go.

Helmets.  The boy is obsessed with helmets.  We have four fireman helmets, two batting helmets, and one bicycle helmet... so anything other than those would be awesome.

A dinosaur book.  Ideally it would say "Dinosaur Book" right on the cover, and have pictures of dino skeletons inside.

Other books.  We could always use a few fresh picks.  Right now his favorites are spooky -- Scooby Doo Adventures is his current #1.

Random one: a toy microphone.

Building blocks.  I'd love a nice set.  (And I think Bob would enjoy them too.)  Something with no choking hazard sized pieces would be great.

We've hit a bit of a plateau with our Spanish learning.  I've heard good things about Little Pim so maybe that would be helpful.  Or, just simple children's books in Spanish are good.

Toy cars/trucks.  He likes these, but in order for them to interest him for more than a minute they should have doors that open and close and a guy that sits in the seat without falling over.  He can open and close doors and put guys in and out forever.

Last year Aunt Carol got him a Bruder fire engine and I'd call it Bob's most-played-with toy of all time. At first I thought, this is one expensive truck!, but the Bruder brand is great because the toys are so realistic they keep little pup occupied for hours on end.  He'd love an ambulance but I don't know if they make one...

KidKraft Everyday Heroes Police & Fire Set -- saw it on Zulily but it's sold out there.  Also found it here.  Bob would die for this thing -- a motorcycle, fire truck, helicopter, guys, a dog, a fireman pole!  I can just see him; the pretend play would never end.  He saw me looking at it the other day, and when I asked him a little while ago what he wanted for his birthday he said, "That fire set!  With the policeman and the super police motorcycle that he can ride around and just zoom into that spot he saw!"  All that from a glance at this tiny picture.

Hope the list helps a little.

And I hope Bob gets some great toys for his birthday to take his mind off the fact that suckie is going away forever.  (Plan is to fly the pacifier away with balloons, then float a cake down from the sky.  Yeah, I'm still working on logistics.  Bob has so far been on board, but then a little while ago he said, "But suckie's gonna eat cake too."  Hmmm...)

Love you all.

naptime photo shoot

because they're both so delicious I just couldn't help myself.

a perfectly executed naptime today.  owie held out all morning.  bob went down first.  owie went down quickly.  now i should be working but first i had to do a quick bloggy blog for you.

being a mom is exhausting, but so very rewarding in so many ways.  watching the pups sleep and kissing their smushy little cheeks is always a good reminder of that.

Friendship beginnings

Bob has his first friend.  (First friend that he's not related to, anyway.)

We don't exactly have much of a social network around here.  I had to sort of intentionally find someone that we could hang out with now and again.  For a while Bob didn't really care about his new "friend" Shane, he just wanted to play with Shane's toys.  But over the past six months it's slowly grown to be something more.

When he has an extra of something, a helmet for example, he'll say, "This one's for me, this one's for Oboe, and this one's for Shane!"  Or, one day last week he said, "Mommy, I just wish I had Shane here.  It's really sad."

Of course, ask them who their best friend is and Bob and Shane would both say OWIE!

For the most part in his life Bobby has liked to just do his own thing and keep his distance from other little people, which is totally fine by me.  But still, it's good to see him learning a little bit about friendship.

Linking up this week with the iheartfaces "friendship" photo challenge.

Harvest Fest at Berkshire Botanical Gardens

We went to Harvest Fest at Berkshire Botanical Gardens this weekend.  It was awesome!  Food, music, lots of activities for kids, beautiful gardens, a craft fair and tag sale...  Bobby loved the mini golf, the monster photo booth, the hay maze, the obstacle course, the petting zoo, and the horseback riding helmet (he chickened out on the actual horseback riding).  Plus he scored a few great items at the tag sale (and so did I).  Poor Owie just got carted around in the Ergo and the stroller most of the day -- but we did take a nice break listening to a band while Bob golfed.  Owie loves music and just claps away when he hears it.

I meant to post this last night -- just a few hours worth of photos, can't be that many, I can handle it.  Or so I thought.  Whoopsie, here come a lot of pictures.  More than necessary.

Bubbs may not seem excited in the picture above; that's because I was forcing him to have his photo taken.  He's a little obsessed with sculls and skeletons and ghosts and monsters (seriously I don't know where this comes from -- I really don't think it's a reflection on our parenting) so all day he wanted to keep coming back to the monster photo booth.

Pup gets very into mini golf.  I made the mistake of telling him ahead of time that there would be golfing, and that was all he could focus on until he had his fix.  He used to be quite the little athlete when he was younger... then he developed this independent self who absolutely must do everything his own way... even if his own was is far less effective.  Case in point: Pup's putting style.

While Dad and Bob golfed, Owie and I enjoyed this little bluegrass duo.  And I fell madly in love with this awesome little boy who danced and played his guitar to the music the entire time.  Only once did he break from his accompaniment; he ran to his dad, put down his guitar, danced like crazy in a way he couldn't while holding his instrument, then picked it back up and resumed his strumming.  Plus his outfit?  Too stinkin cute.

Meditative music was playing inside this little swing house...

A mini photo shoot for Owie...

And, okay, I know this is ridiculous, but I had to post the whole series... we had been waiting in line for a horseback ride, Owie stuck in the Ergo, Bob trying to be patient.  He spotted the cow but didn't want to ride it without a helmet, so like a mature little child he went and asked the lady at the table, "Can I please wear one of your helmets?"  I let Owie crawl free for a bit -- a kindly stranger held our place in line -- and he was SO happy to pet the cow.

Obstacle course...

Hay maze...

And petting zoo...

It was a really fun day of getting excited about fall.  I sorta feel like I'm already looking forward to next year.

my favorite thing i ate this summer

saw it {here}

made it at least ten times.  or at least i wish i did.

but it's not too late.  for me, or you.

because it's still corn season.

so... here you have it.

Corn, Avocado & Black Bean Salsa

Ingredients

3 ears fresh corn, cooked and cooled and kernels sliced off
1 can black beans, drained
3 avocados, peeled, pitted, and chopped
1 small red onion, finely chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced (I never once included this and didn't miss it)
2 cloves of garlic, minced (I always use pre-minced in the jar)
1/4 cup olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Directions

In a large bowl mix together the corn, black beans, onion and jalapeno.  Add olive oil, lemon juice, cider vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper and toss together.  Refrigerate for 2 hours (not necessary in my opinion) then add the avocado chunks and serve with chips.  And eat all in one sitting because it's that crazy good.