Splish Splash

Since writing the title of this post, this song has been in my head so I thought I would share the wealth and put it into your head too.  You're welcome! :)

Since James is approaching 6 months, he is no longer taking baths on the kitchen counter in his Fisher-Price Rainforest bathtub.  He has graduated to the big boy tub upstairs, and with the help of Daddy, he gets cleaned every night as part of our bed time ritual.  

So a typical weeknight goes something like this:

5:30 pm:   Pick up the big guy from daycare

6:00 pm:   Dinner of oatmeal, a veggie (peas, carrots or sweet potatoes) and fruit for dessert

6:30 pm:   Playtime with Mommy and Daddy on his play mat or in his Jumperoo or ExerSaucer

7:00 pm:   Rubbing of the eyes cues that it is time for a bath!!

We try to sneak a grown up dinner in there somewhere, but once those eyes are rubbed, we know we really only have 20 - 30 minutes before we lose him so we start our night time ritual with a bath.  James plays hard at daycare so we think it is important to clean off all the germs each night.  We set up the tub with the necessities - Moby spout cover, turtle thermometer, bucket of toys, Aveeno wash and natural sponge and the ever important hoodie towel.  His current favs - his elephant towel with his name on the back (thank you Aunt Marissa!) and his froggie towel.

So James and Ed (who is in a bathing suit) hop in the tub and begin Operation: Clean the Bubby.  We clean the belly and the toes and the hands and the tooshie.  The face and neck are next with a separate washcloth and then it's time for the hair.  This kid has a lot of hair these days and it typically has lots of oatmeal in it so Ed goes to town.  James is not a big fan of this part, but he deals.

In between all of this, he splashes.  And splashes and splashes and splashes!!  Ed taught him how to splash and now he LOVES to splash from the moment he gets in the tub to the moment we take him out.  When Ed stops the splashing to wash his face or hair, he actually gets upsets and starts crying.  Such a diva!

Once the bath is over, Mommy takes over. We go into the nursery where we have his favorite tunes playing (Jewel, Lisa Loeb and Jack Johnson are current favs on the playlist) and the lighting is dimmed.    We dry off, diaper up and get a rub down with some lotion.  After dressing in his footie jammies and combing the hair into a proper quaff, it is time to head to the glider for the last bottle of the night, a story from one of his many books and a good night kiss from Mom.  

By 8 pm this kid is in his crib, zipped in his sleep sack and ready for bed.  I don't want to jinx anything by typing this out loud, but he typically falls asleep within minutes without any fussing.  I think he is so stimulated at daycare that he is totally beat and ready for bed.  And again, I hope I don't jinx us by typing this, but we are getting between 9 and 11 straight hours of sleep out of him.  A big change from the 2 to 3 hours for those first few months.  :)

So there you have it.  We anticipate that bath time will soon change again once he learns how to sit up on his own, but until then, bath time serves not only as a nightly ritual, but as bonding time for all of us.  

Happy Anniversary Lucy!

Three years ago today we changed our lives forever - in the BEST way possible!!!  It's been 3 years since we brought our adorable little Lucy home and we have loved every minute of it.  Well, almost every minute - those first months were tough! :)  But we made it through and we love her more for it.




Lucy has taught us so much over these 3 years.  Heck - she trained us on what life would be like with a newborn and for that, we will forever be in her debt.  We've watched her grow into the sweet girl that she is today...but don't be fooled by that cute mug.  She has sass coming out of her...well you know.  :)

She has been a trooper through all of life's changes including meeting her 2 kitty cat brothers, enduring the 5+ hour car rides with Daddy from NY to VA when we were in the process of moving, living at Grandma and Grandpa Q's house for a few months, moving into a new house and getting a little brother!  Through it all, she has stayed as sweet as the day we met her.

Lucy's life has been quite eventful from the day she joined our family.  She has been in a cone twice and handled it like a champ...

... she put up with Mommy's antics of dressing her up...

... she played in the snow, and in the pool...

... and slept in many a locale.

And of course our crazy dog is a couch potato.  She watches TV and when I say watches TV she literally stares at the TV and reacts to what is going on.  As I type this, we are watching the Drew Barrymore movie about the whales and she just made a wimper when she thought the 2 whales were going to die.  No joke.

One of the best things about Lucy is that she loves life and loves to enjoy it.  Playing is her most favorite thing - especially with Daddy.

We love her to death and thank God everyday that she is a party of our family.  We love you Lucy - Happy 3rd Anniversary!!!

So Cool

Since yesterday was a yucky, rainy day and I was laid up nursing my pneumonia (yuk btw!), we thought it might be a good day for James to explore his inner cool guy.  We already know he is a cutie pie and he sometimes displays some attitude, but now we have locked up the cool factor.  How, you ask?  Well, put a Batman onesie and some sunglasses on an adorable face and the cool just BURSTS out! :)

Quality Time

It's not completely unusual for us to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa Quartuccio on at least one day of the weekend.  They live so close and LOVE seeing James so we take advantage of their hospitality whenever we can.  On a recent weekend, we brought over lots of things to keep James entertained and ended up keeping Grandpa entertained as well. :)

While hanging out in the family room, James discovered his reflection in the fireplace door and was completely enamored.  I mean, why wouldn't he be?  He's a LOOKER!!! :)

Since this little man has decided to be adorably hilarious these days, I decided to demonstrate ways to make him giggle.  I have to say, I cringe a little seeing myself in this video, but it is worth it to hear those giggles. :)

We decided to take advantage of the nice weather with a walk around the neighborhood.  Since we had to bag the stroller to fit the ExerSaucer in the car, James got up close and person to Daddy in the Ergo. He's not a huge fan of this thing since he is just a sweatbox, but he managed to catch a few zzz's while we walked.

The day ended with a bottle and some peas and what better way to eat them than in your Bumbo.  Disclaimer:  this Bumbo was used prior to the recently issued recall and the baby was monitored the entire time. No tumbling off the table here!  :)

So that was our day in a nutshell.  We had a blast and I'm sure we'll be back again this weekend!

Out with the Old...

...in with the front loaders!!

Yes ~ we pulled the plug and updated our washer/dryer situation with these beauties.  Our old models were on their way out. The washer was leaving spots on our clothes (kind of the opposite of what it is supposed to do!) and our dryer took at least 4-5 runs to dry a single load of clothes. Talk about anti-energy efficient!  We knew it was time to upgrade so we hit the stores over the weekend to find out what our options were.

We hit the usual suspects - Home Depot and Best Buy - along with newcomer h.h. gregg.  We learned that front loaders are way more efficient then their top loader buddies.  From using less water to less energy, it was a no brainer to go in this direction.  Plus they are pretty. :)  We also decided to go for the steam option on both the washer and dryer.  Apparently, the steam option in the washer combined with the Allergine option kills up to 96% of germs and allergens.  A nice option when you have a baby in the house. :)

After some online research and review-reading, we decided to go down the LG route.  They received 5 stars across the board and the Home Depot guy concurred.  After some negotiating, we decided to make our purchase at h.h. gregg.  Not only did they give us the best price, they also threw in a $200 rebate that is being mailed to us in the form of a Visa gift card.  Now who doesn't love a Visa gift card!

So this morning it was out with the old...

... and in with the new. :)

The inaugural wash just so happened to be a James item.  He chose today to be the day to puke up his entire bottle while strapped into his car seat.  So what better to test out the new washer on than the car seat liner! :)  We then tried out the Allergen setting on James' laundry.  I'm praying all those little cold germs he's been harboring are dead and gone!

It's amazing how as we age, our priorities change.  If you told my 24-year old self that I would be super duper excited about buying a front load washer and dryer, I would slap you silly.  But now, I couldn't be more thrilled!  Dork. I know. But I will be a dork with really sharp looking clothes!