5 On Friday - The Getting Back On Track Edition

1). It's been a long, busy week and it's looking to be an even longer weekend filled with LOTS of rain! Do you know what it's like to have to keep a VERY active 2 year old cooped up indoors all weekend because it's raining outside? Especially an active 2 year old that doesn't nap anymore!!! Any idea as to how much of a challenge that is?!?! We do plan on visiting our beloved Stepping Stones at least one of the 2 days, but that'll only kill about 3 hours - if we're lucky!! I'd love your suggestions, thoughts, ideas on other things we could do this weekend that keep us from playing in the rain and that don't break the bank! What do you have for me?!?!

2). I'm sad to admit I haven't picked up the camera in well over a week now. :-( I've been in a photography slump and I'm not entirely sure why. I do plan to remedy that situation while we're cooped up inside this weekend. I have plans to re-read Understanding Exposure (great book and I highly reccomend it to anyone wanting to know the basics of photography) and practice, practice, practice on my favorite subject - Shane!!! Hopefully I'll have some shots to show off next week that are better than what I've shared lately. Though I prefer natural light, refuse to use the onboard flash, and don't currently own a speedlight . . . so I'm not sure how awesome these indoor pictures on a gloomy, rainy weekend will be!

3). The Wiggles have ALWAYS held a special place in Shane's heart, but lately he's been REALLY enjoying them! This morning, as I sat on the couch drinking my coffee and admiring my 2 year old, Shane was busy dancing along with the Wiggles and mimicking their "dance moves"!! It was seriously the cutest, funniest thing I've ever seen!!! It also makes the $150 we dropped 2 weeks ago, to go see the Wiggles live on stage in November, burn a little bit less! Just a little bit though!

4). Shane's doing better in his big boy bed! We're still working through some kinks, but we've managed to keep him out of our bed the majority of this last week, which is a HUGE accomplishment for us! Now we just have to work on Shane not waking up at all in the middle of the night and looking for us (okay, me) and on getting him to go down at night without us (okay, me) sitting in the room with him waiting (and waiting, and waiting) for him to fall asleep! Other than those few issues though, he's really doing great. He's not in and out of his bed all the time like we thought he would've been - so that alone is HUGE!! We'll be putting the final touches on his room this weekend and I'll be sure to take pictures and share them with all of you next week!

5). Have I ever mentioned how much this kid LOVES to play with my hair?!?!

5 On Friday

1) The BIG news in our house is that our little boy spent his first night in his big boy bed on Sunday!!! We've had a few struggles here and there and we're still working out some of the kinks, but the transition is going much smoother than we expected it to and Shane is doing great! Here's a quick shot that I took with my cellphone on Sunday - I have much better (and cuter!) images that I'll process this weekend and share the early part of next week. As you can see, we left his crib in his room in case the bed didn't work, but Shane has wanted nothing to do with his crib since his twin mattress hit the floor on Sunday! This weekend we'll be taking down the crib and actually putting up his bed. I'll be sure to take pictures of the room as we make the transition and then once it's completed! Makes me SO sad to see the crib go! Hopefully we'll be blessed enough to have the opportunity to use it again!

2) Trains and trucks still rule our house! He can't go anywhere without one of them and neither is ever very far! He goes to bed each night with one train book and one truck book! The lucky book changes night to night, but it's always one of each! I love that he knows what he wants!

3) Speaking of knowing what he wants . . . last night we went to Wal-Mart (I HATE Wal-Mart, more like despise, but knew it was the best place to go for this specific purchase) so that Shane could pick out a set of sheets for his new big boy bed. I've already purchased 2 sets that actually MATCH his new bedding, but I thought it would be fun for him to have something he loves to sleep on at night! Despite my hatred for character based kid rooms, sheets can be easily hidden by making the bed, so I knew this was the way to go!! Wal-Mart didn't have much to choose from for boys (Cars, Spiderman, Transformers . . .) but the second Shane saw the pretty, bold, Cinderella sheets - he knew they were the ones for him! And I really can't blame him!! They were quite lovely! Very colorful, very vibrant and they definitely looked like they'd be fun to sleep on! I knew Shane's Daddy wouldn't be thrilled with his son sleeping on Cinderella sheets, so much to Shane's dismay they stayed at the store! We did buy the Cars sheet set though, and Shane *almost* loved them as much as he loved Cinderella!!

4) I've got a few ideas for some neat craft things to make for Shane's new room; I want to make some pegs to hang some photos off of, I'd like to create some sort of magnet board, or magnetic chalk board, something he can use to create different scenes, etc. Now all I need is a free weekend! I'll have to try to squeeze one in between Halloween and Thanksgiving!

5) Off to upstate New York tomorrow for a birthday party! Shane's looking forward to playing with all of his cousins! Pictures to come, you can be sure!

5 On Friday

1). I've been offered another FREE 16x20 Canvas from a company that does INCREDIBLE work! The only problem . . . I have NO clue which photo to choose!?!? Any suggestions? Leave us a comment and let us know which photo on the blog is your favorite! Help us choose which shot to turn into an incredible canvas!!!

2). Last Saturday Grandma came with us to Stepping Stones Children Museum while Daddy had to go to work! We had a FANTASTIC time - again! Shane loved showing Grandma all his favorite things to do at the museum! By the time we left we were all so beat that we all ended up napping once we got home! I have a few cute shots from the museum that I'll be posting the early part of next week - so stay tuned!

3). One of Shane's FAVORITE things to do is to play outside. He goes nuts out in the backyard. He's all over the swings and the slide, he's in and out of his many cars, he's chasing the dogs around the yard with sand from the sandbox and he's always busy splashing in his water table. We're going to be in a TON of trouble once the weather changes and we're stuck inside a lot more! Here are a few snapshots from this past weekend of Shane doing what he loves to do!



He's getting SO big :-(


4). With Chris working 12 hour days this week, Shane hasn't seen too much of his Daddy lately - and he's missing him BIG time! Last night Grandma and I were sitting on the couch in the playroom coloring with Shane when Daddy got home from work. He ran over to his Daddy and a few minutes later Shane had grabbed hold of one of Chris's fingers and was leading him into the playroom. He walked Chris right on over to the couch, stopped and stood there for a few seconds, and then grabbed hold of Grandma's finger . . . so that he could PULL HER UP FROM THE COUCH!!!!!!! All so his Daddy could have a place to sit and play with him! Poor Grandma! It's a good thing she found it cute and not rude!!!! Poor little guy! He LOVES having his Grandma around, so that just shows how much he's been missing Chris!!


5). Long, holiday weekend ahead of us and we're looking forward to it! GramZ and Grandpa are coming up for the weekend and we're going to have ourselves a little BBQ out in the backyard tomorrow. Weather is supposed to be fantastic and we couldn't be more thrilled!

5 On Friday

1). Shane had his 2nd haircut EVER last Saturday! It went as "well" as the first one did. He sat on Chris's lap and basically had to be restrained by Chris and by me. The poor hairdresser just kept moving around trying to get to the areas that she hadn't gotten to yet! It was quite the sight! She actually even told us, numerous times, that she's seen MUCH worse! I have no idea how that's even possible! Aside from the fact that he now looks older (which I hate!!) I think we're all pretty happy with the cut! At least his hair is manageable now! Here's a few shots of Shane coloring and sporting his new 'do!

2). Thanks to his love for Elmo, Shane says "Cheese" now when he sees the camera!!! One of the Elmo's World episodes is about cameras and taking pictures. By the time the episode was over Shane walked out of our room saying "Cheese!!" "Cheese!!" How cute is that?! Thanks, Elmo!!!

3). We're thinking that come holiday time we're going to make the transition from crib to big boy bed! This makes his Mama incredibly sad!!! We've decided to go with a "surf/Hawaiian" theme for his big boy room and while I already have the bedding, I'm lacking on the accessories. Anyone have any suggestions on where I can get some cute/childish surf accessories? While I avoided the whole truck/plane themes on purpose, I do want this to feel like a little boys room! So anything cute and fun is what I'm after!

4). We went over to the Milford Oyster Festival for an hour last weekend and I'm not sure we'll be going back anytime soon! We went last year as well, but it was definitely far more crowded this year and not very pleasant because of that. At least Shane got to ride some rides with Aunt Kate and then Daddy took him on the train!

5). Little bugger LOVES to read in his crib! We had to replace our old baby monitor and we ended up upgrading to a video monitor and it's so friggin cute to sit there and watch him "read" in his crib! He just sits there turning the pages and when he gets to a picture or part of a story that he recognizes he gets all excited and starts "reading" out loud! Very cute! The other benefit here is that his new-found love for books keeps him busy until he's tired enough to go to sleep!

5 On Friday

1). No vacation planned for this weekend! While it'll be nice to be around home, it was also nice to get away for the last two weekends. Vacation may be a lot of work (before and after) but it sure is a lot of fun, too!

2). Chris the is proud owner of a brand new cell phone! New phone number, too - so if you're trying to reach him, call the house! His old cell phone ended up playing with trains in the bath tub. Chris swears it wasn't him and, well, Shane isn't talking!!!

3). Our girls (Kylee and Zoe - in case there was any doubt!) are the proud new owners of brand new dog beds!!! Both of their old beds ended up with a chocolate shake spilled all over them! Chris swears this wasn't him either and, well, Shane still isn't talking! Before getting the new beds, the girls didn't know whether they should go to sleep or try to eat their old ones! Thanks for picking them up, Grandma!

4). Shane has been BIG into trains lately! He gets so excited if we go under a train track, or if we happen to see a train (in person or in a book - doesn't matter) and he's REALLY started playing with his little train set a lot, too.

5). As big as the trains have become in our house, in NO way do they overtake his love of all things truck related! Trucks (and buses) are still his first love! I don't know how most toddlers pass the time on long road trips, but on the way up to the Cape, Shane spent most of his time waving and saying "Bye, Gee" or "Bye, bus" to each and every passing truck/bus on the highway! How tired do you think his little arm was by the time we finally sat down for lunch at The Skipper?!

5 On Friday

1). Shane is getting over a pretty nasty virus/ear infection that had him out of commission for day and a half. He spiked a fever on Wednesday morning which had us at the pediatrician's office Wednesday afternoon. By 2:30 we had a prescription for Amoxicillin, along with a diagnosis of an ear infection and a viral sore throat. As we pulled into the parking lot at Target to fill the prescription we had just gotten, the poor little guy threw up all over himself and his car seat! Needless to say we turned around and headed home, where I got to not only give Shane his FIRST bath of the day, but I also got to spend 2 hours taking apart, and cleaning, the car seat! The poor kid crawled up in my lap and fell asleep immediately after his bath and we took it easy the rest of the day. Daddy stayed home with him yesterday and GramZ is coming up to spend the afternoon with him today. His fever finally broke yesterday afternoon and he's back to acting like his old self now, but we opted to keep him home from daycare today for the added reassurance.

2). Yesterday morning when Daddy and Shane were playing out in the backyard, Shane headed over to the swingset so that Daddy could push him on one of the swings. When he got there he noticed that there was a little puddle of water sitting in his swing. The little smarty pants quickly grabbed his Daddy's finger, led him back into the house and into the kitchen. Once in the kitchen he stood in front of the counter and pointed up towards the roll of paper towels that was sitting there! Once Chris grabbed the paper towels, Shane again grabbed Daddy's finger and led him back outside and back over to his swing! Once Daddy wiped off the swing Shane was a happy camper as he swung away sitting on his nice, dry, seat! This little boy seriously amazes us sometimes!!!

3). Speaking of swings, until the party last weekend, Shane wouldn't go near the swings on his playground! The only thing he wanted anything to do with was the slide! How quickly that all changed once he saw all the other kids going on the swings and on the glider! Too bad that hasn't worked for the pool!!

4). I ran across this goofy picture of Chris and I a few days ago while cleaning out some of my online albums. It's one of my "famous" do-it-yourself numbers!! I thought I'd post it to switch things up in here during our 5 On Friday! It's not ALL about the little guy ya know!! (Ok, so maybe it is all about the little guy . . . )

5). And for the exciting news - we're off to Sesame Place this weekend! That's right! We're off for a family fun filled weekend of Elmo, Cookie Monster, Bert & Ernie and the rest of the Sesame Street gang! We're leaving tomorrow afternoon and will spend the night in a hotel about 10 minutes from the park. We'll hit Sesame Place early Sunday morning and hit the road to head back home that night! GramZ and Grandpa are nice enough to stay at the house for us this weekend so that our girls have some company - thanks, guys!! Plan on seeing LOTS of fun pictures next week!!

5 On Friday

1). Peasssssssssssss??? (aka Please) Our new favorite word! Which I'm thrilled with, really! Except for when: he hands me the bottle of gas drops - "Peasssss"?; he hands me the bottle of infant tylenol; "Peassssssss, Meeeeeee, Peasssssssssssssss"?; he hands me the tube of toddler toothpaste while the tootbrush is still hanging out of his mouth- "Peasssssssssssss, More?" I think it's time to hide EVERYTHING from this kid! I couldn't be happier that he's learning to be polite, but when did he start thinking that saying "Please" would get him anything he wanted???

2). Uncle Rich and Aunt Lauren are flying in today from Florida!!! They'll be up here with us for a little more than week and we couldn't be happier! Let the good times roll!

3). After spending a few weeks with Aunt Trae, GramZ flies back home from Florida tomorrow and Shane has a big ol' hug waiting for her when he sees her next week!!!!!

4). Cute story. Last weekend Shane was playing with his matchbox cars and he was lining them all up along the top of the sofa in the playroom. The sofa sits up against a wall, under the row of windows in that room. One by one he knocked each car/truck off the edge so that it fell behind the sofa. And to each one that he knocked off, he said "Bye, Gee!" Seriously - how cute is that?!?!

5). I PROMISE to take pictures of the new floors this weekend and post them on Monday. It's just been that kind of a week!

5 On Friday

1). At 8pm on Wednesday night I put Shane to bed in a 2-piece, shorts, pj set. Around 10pm he was STILL awake and quietly talking to himself. Over the monitor, I hear him saying "on, on" - which he often says when he wants us to play one of his DVD's for him. I thought to myself, "he's nuts if he thinks I'm going to put Elmo on right now". I gave it a few more minutes and he's still looking for whatever it is to be put "on". So I go into his room. And I find Shane standing in his crib, with his face smushed up against the netting of his crib tent. I can see he's holding something in his hands. As I get closer, I notice that he's standing there in just his pj top and his diaper. All this time he's been quietly asking me to put his pj bottoms back "on" - which is what he is sweetly holding in his cute little hands. I about melted right then and there. So I pull him out of the crib, trying SO hard not to smile so he wouldn't get all wound up, and I put his shorts back on. So sweet and so cute - at first. He did the same thing to me two more times in the next 20 minutes. Needless to say, last night he went to bed in a one piece pj outfit!

2). Our new kitchen floor is being installed on Monday and we couldn't be any happier or any more excited. Our existing floor is REALLY, REALLY bad! The flip side to this is that Chris and I get to spend tomorrow pulling up the old kitchen floor - that, we're not so excited about. At least Shane gets to go to breakfast with Grandma and Aunt Kate in the morning! And I'm writing this here so that there's record of it - but my bet is that this will be the last time Shane goes out to breakfast with Grandma and Aunt Kate!!

3). Shane discovered Melissa's ball pit at the 4th of July picnic we were at last weekend and we've since gotten him one of his own. We're having a hard time getting him OUT of the thing at the end of the day - he LOVES it that much! He starts from across the room, runs towards the ball pit and DIVES into it! Yes, DIVES!!! He then spends several minutes rolling around in all the balls, kicking and giggling and just having the best time! Thanks, Melissa!!!

4). Shane has been eating less and less yogurt over the last week or so!! Instead of 4/day, he's down to about 2/day - on a good day! Could it be he's FINALLY getting tired of Yo-Baby?! That would be an extra $20 saved at the grocery store!

5). We hope Aunt Tracie is feeling okay and that she has a quick and speedy recovery! We love you, Aunt Trae!!!

5 On Friday (On Thursday)

1) Uncle Jay signed all of the papers and as of July 1 he owns his very own, very first, home - in Milford, CT!!!!! Pictures to come next week. Way to go, Uncle Jay!!!

2) Aunt Kate signed the papers, too! As of July 1, she has her very first OFFICIAL job as a first grade teacher for the town of Bridgeport!! Way to go, Aunt Kate!!!

3) Shane has decided that he LOVES the closets at Uncle Jay's new house! The very same closets that Uncle Jay hates and plans on taking out! We went to see the house on Tuesday night after dinner and Shane spent most of his time putting me inside of the closet and closing the bi-fold door on me! And when he wasn't doing that, he was busy looking out the windows in the house that happen to be just about toddler viewing height! Did I mention that Uncle Jay plans on replacing those windows, too?! Poor Shane!!

4) "Ba, 'rage!!!" (Translation: "Goodbye, garage!!!") Shane's new favorite thing to say. Nuff said.

5) Speaking of garage (it's literally all we hear about at our house!!) no one but Shane is allowed to open or close the garage door. We have to hand him the remote to open the door once we get home and we have to hand it back to him to close the door once we pull into the garage. In between, there's a lot of screaming and squealing going on. Fun times!

Hope everyone enjoys the holiday weekend! Check back on Monday for lots of new pictures and stories!!!

5 On Friday

1). TODAY is Chris's birthday! FINALLY!!! Once today is over he'll start the countdown for next year for a day or two and then we won't have to hear anything about his birthday for another 3 months or so!!! Yippee!! See above for his dedicated "birthday post"!

2). We're finally going to get the floors in our kitchen and computer room replaced!! Thank God! Our current floors are being held together (and held down) with masking tape - they're THAT bad. And our poor little boy has tripped over this horrible flooring, not once - but twice. For sure it had to go. We've chosen a new vinyl floor that has the look of tile. With the unlevel surface we have in our kitchen, vinyl is pretty much our only option right now. Well, that or carpeting! We hope to have the new floors installed within the next 2 weeks, just in time for our Florida house guests and annual summer BBQ!

3). We're off to Belmont tomorrow! For those not in the know (which would pretty much be anyone not currently living, or having ever lived, in NY, Belmont is a (very nice) horse track in Long Island. We're meeting up with some family and friends and will spend the afternoon, out back behind the grandstand , on the lovely grounds of Belmont park! There will be lots of other kids there Shane's age to play with, so everyone should have a great time! We've very much been looking forward to it!

4). Shane LOVES to throw out garbage. If you have something that has to go into the garbage can, Shane will be more than happy to help you out and do it for you! He runs into the kitchen and opens up the lid to the garbage can VERY carefully! He then, very gently, places his garbage inside of the garbage can, closes the lid, and turns and runs out of the kitchen with a huge smile on his face! He runs right over to us and gives us each a "high five" for a job well done! SOOOOO cute!!!

5). New flooring means new photographs to print BIG and hang, right?!?! Shhh, don't tell Chris! ***Wonder which images I'll choose!***

5 On Friday

A lot of really great blogs that I visit do something similar to what I'm calling "5 On Friday".

Essentially, it's 5 little "tidbits" from our week. Things that happened, things that were said, memories we want to keep.

I'll be posting "5 On Friday" every Friday from here on out. Hope you enjoy!

1). Shane's favorite new word is still "garage" (only he pronounces it without the "ga"). Every day after daycare when I reach up to hit the button on the garage door opener a little tantrum erupts from behind me. I turn around and Shane is reaching for the button to. Yelling "door" "rage" the entire time. Apparently he wants to press the button, the magical button, that opens the garage door. Once I pull the car into the garage and we're all safely inside (can't you just imagine Shane closing the door ON the car??) I hand him the remote. He gets a huge smile on his face and proceeds to hit the button that closes the garage door. He continue to yell "rage" until I get him out of the car and into the house. Good times!

2). Chris has started the annual countdown to his birthday. Ok, so really he started it about 3 months ago, but now that he's down to one week it's become serious business. Chris's birthday takes top priority in our house! Every year! The celebration lasts at least a month!

3). Shane loves running around in his diaper (funny, because his father loves to do the same thing!) He gets out of bed in the morning and if he slept with some kind of shorts/pants on, they're off. Immediately. Usually before he even eats breakfast. And when we get home from daycare in the afternoon, not long after he's eaten his dinner, they come off again. School ought to be a real hoot with this kid!

4). Shane wants to go "bye bye" all the time. He sees a door and he wants to exit it. He loves to stand at the door that goes out into the "rage" and tug on the door knob. He also loves to do this first thing in the morning. How exactly do you explain to a 2 year old that Mommy and Daddy need to have their morning coffee before they're even capable of walking out that door? Also, how do explain that everyone needs to keep their pants on once we actually do walk through it?

5). I think my son has a foot fettish. Honestly. He has this thing about taking off my shoes, getting down on the ground and SMELLING my feet! And trust me when I say that I don't have very nice smelling feet. He'll do this 2 or 3 times in a row and each time he "comes up for air" he has this look about him as if he'd just seen Santa Claus. It truly is the funniest thing.