TRIP POSTPONED!

Daniel has croup! Ryan and I both don't want to take a chance of him getting worse on the flight so we have decided to leave July 4th through July 11th. We hope he will be better by this Saturday!
I also don't want dirty looks from parents at the pool and on the plane. You're welcome moms!

Just another weekend

This weekend flew by very quickly. With a trip to the Dr. on Friday, a birthday party on Saturday and more packing Sunday the time just flew. Daniel is still battling a cold. This morning he woke up with a cough that sounded like croup, which freaked me out. Being the "Psycho Mom" that I'm known to be I ran out and purchased a few things for my baby. Anything to make him more comfortable. Who knows if these things work but he seems to be happier.
Some homeopathic mouth spray (hmmmm...) and the ever popular "Baby Vick's Rub"
Feeling a little better
On our family room floor
Saturday we went to a my friend's 30th birthday party where kids outnumbered adults. Daniel had a great time, we forgot our camera but Ryan captured how Daniel looked at the end of the party. (Notice his glowing bracelet, he he he)
Well, I'll be taking a break for a week but be sure to come back and hear all about our vacation and see photos. Wish us luck!!!

Keeping Cool

The last few days in Chicago can be described as hot as ..., humid like a ....., sweltering, uncomfortable, hot pan hitting your face every time you open the door, you get the picture.
Daniel's baby pool is very lonely in the back yard as the little guy thinks baby pools are for babies and prefers the real deal.

Here are some things we're doing to keep cool

Lots of water
Lots of watermelon while watching videos in the comfort of an air conditioned home. I was born at the right time because I could NEVER live without an air conditioner.

Bare feet (aren't those the cutest feet EVER) he he

P.S. I'm in full overdrive with packing for our vacation that is coming in just a few short days.
A trip to the Dr. with Daniel today revealed no ear infection and clear lungs. We'll see if that lasts! Daniel is known for a full week of a runny nose and then BAM an ear infection.

We have a busy weekend ahead of us, stay tuned for details.

Weekend Happenings!

Where do I start on this update?
Our weekend was pretty busy, starting with another first for Daniel on Friday, A CONCERT!
Not just any concert, Ralph's World concert to be exact. Daniel LOVES Ralph's World DVDs and CDs and of course it doesn't hurt that his great uncle TOM was the bass player, making him very popular in our home.
We headed out to the concert in Glenview at the Kohl's Museum at 4:50 (20 minutes behind schedule which was my fault), all was fine until a dirty phrase came out of my mouth half way there (SOB if you're curious). I realized I forgot the darn stroller. I was so preoccupied with packing for the night (extra outfit, food, snacks, bug spray, etc.) that I forgot the basic #1 thing he would use. I was not going to let this mishap ruin our time, mind you my in-laws were in the car so I had to play cool. Smart as I am, I came up with the best idea, stop at Target and get a cheap umbrella stroller. And so we did just that, well, except for the simple umbrella stroller part, they were all out.
I had to buy a $55 stroller in a box unassembled. All was well until we opened the box and realized we needed some tools to get this puppy together. I shed blood trying to get this stroller together using keys to break things apart. My poor father in law tried to help but I'm sure he was fed up after 5 minutes of helping since he did say "you won't need one" right before I stormed into Target like a bat out of hell. Did I listen to the older wise man? No, of course not, I'm a mom I know what my child needs, right? NOT! We did not need the stroller at all. Why, you ask? We got there right as the sky was getting dark and thunder could be heard. What else could be heard from the parking lot was Ralph, he started his concert EARLY to avoid the rain. We rushed in JUST as the last 4 WORDS were played to the last song. The museum decided to stop the concert due to rain coming any minute. After the stroller fiasco this was the icing on the cake, my poor mother in law looked like she was about to cry.
Since we have connections because of uncle Tom we got to take pics with Ralph and visit. OK, not really, there was a line to see the jolly guy. I could tell Daniel recognized him from the videos because he was staring at him quite a bit, it was that or he wanted to pull his glasses off his face like he does to my mom. Anyway, they ended up moving the concert inside the museum and we enjoyed ourselves. It was so packed a stroller would have been parked the entire time.

Right before we left Daniel decided to give mommy a surprise, a diaper full of poop. Ayyyy caramba!
Saturday, Ryan and I enjoyed a date night by going to dinner and a movie. (Note to self, don't order a combo appetizer for two, it takes the kitchen over 30 minutes to make).
We saw The Hangover and we highly recommend it. Hilarious!
Sunday, was a full day of visiting the DADs in our lives. We had plans to go to Kiddie Land today but all was changed when Daniel got a runny nose and was not acting himself. If anyone is keeping track I have a week left before our family vacation. This child cannot get sick!
Some pics with Ralph, of course not one decent one to choose.
Enjoy a little snippet from the concert.

Ralph's World Concert

Let the count down begin

We have less than two weeks before we leave for our first family vacation to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
For the next few days my closets, drawers will be turned inside out to find the appropriate pool, breakfast, lunch, dinner, beach, just in case outfits for all three Marrons.
I have started a to-do/buy list that is getting out of control.
The biggest struggle I have had since I started shopping for clothes for this trip is Ryan trying on anything that I buy for him. I hear "it'll fit" for every piece of clothing I pull out of a bag. I finally had to beg for him to give me 20 minutes of his time to try things on. I got my satisfaction when I got to say "I told you to try it on 3 weeks ago when I bought it" when 2 out of the 3 swimming trunks I bought did not fit. Now I can officially do my "Told you so, told you so, to-to-to-told you so" dance.
Here is what the men in my life do as I run around wild.
Here is what my basement looks like as I start piling up our goodies
I think we may need more of these for our pasty skin. Daniel broke out in a rash from the famous pink Coppertone lotion. I guess the little girl with her bare bottom and dog pulling on her undies was no match for my sensitive little guy. We'll be testing Aveeno before the trip. He enjoyed being delirious from Benadryl yesterday though, I'm sure Grandma enjoyed the extra hour long nap after a dose as well. We have found that California Baby products work the best. My friend Laura recommended it and although on the more expensive side Daniel has never broken out. I have recommended their product line to all new moms. Of course I was trying to be cheap when I bought the Coppertone lotion and it backfired.
I think the best investment thus far is in this bottle. We never leave home without it

Weekend FUN!

We had a lot of fun with Daniel this weekend.
Saturday was our first day of tot class. Daniel did pretty well considering I was ready for some major drama like we experienced in Gymboree back when he was 9 months old. He was still the youngest in the class but kept up with the big kids fairly well.
He starts tot rock with grandma in a week, I hope he does well for her.
The class started with playing and socializing, he wasn't much into that but neither were too many other kids.
Some shape sorting
A crafty project that mommy did with Daniel (by force, it's hard to keep his hands down)
TADA!!
and we finished it with some free playtime. We were too busy keeping on eye on him to get a picture.

Sunday morning we went to the park to keep Daniel's daily routine and of course to have FUN. He loves the park. I practiced my rookie photography skills and I was happy with the results.

Daniel trying to run a little too fast
Next race car driver. Not if I can help it.
Lost a shoe or more like daddy could not get him into the swing. :)
Huge fan of the slide. He went down the slide by himself for the first time
Proud Mama
Friday morning I found a great deal at a garage sale, well, actually Ryan did. He was pulling out of the driveway in the morning and spotted a garage sale at the neighbors filled with toys. He alerted me right away and at 7:30am I was out with Daniel to get the best deal.
A house for Daniel!!! I was really excited because these things retail for $500 and I spent $90! After a lot of elbow grease on Friday and Saturday, some swearing (from mommy and daddy trying to put it together), and RAID to keep the bugs out we got it up and Daniel loves it.

Welcome to my crib
Learning how to cook and wash dishes
That smile worth every penny and broken nail
Thanks DAD! Ummm excuse me?! He's still a mama's boy
Here is a recap in motion if you have time: Grandma and Grandpa click on the picture to see video:

Park FUN and First House

1 going on 70

Typically our morning routine with Daniel consists of:

*bringing him to bed with us to hopefully catch 20 more minutes of sleep as he watches a video (yes, I know videos are not babysitters)

*feeding him some milk

*getting him dressed for the day

and then the bathroom routine consists of:

* brushing his teeth
* washing his face and hands
* putting some water in his hair to calm it down before combing it

All these steps sometimes are a struggle as we try to hold him back from turning the faucet on and off 50 times.

This morning daddy took over the bathroom routine and well...he turned my 1 year old baby into a 70 year old with a comb over!

"How can I go outside looking like this daddy?" (It looked worse in real life because you can't see how daddy took hair from the back and combed it towards the front)

"Thanks mom for making me look one again"

"Tastes good"
"Are you talkin to me?"

Walking for Leo

Many of you know the story of baby Leo, my cousin's sweet baby boy.

This Sunday we walked the Running for Hope 5k walk/run with my cousins, their spouses, kids and others at the Children's Hope Hospital. It was very important for us to try to support, in any way, my cousin Liz and her husband Ted.

Thank you to those of you that contributed to my fund for the walk. I was so touched by your generosity.

We headed out for the 8am walk at 6:45am with Daniel. After a stop at McDonald's (another way to support the Ronald McDonald house) for some breakfast we were ready to burn off some calories. The weather was perfect for a brisk walk.

It was a great turn out, it was nice to walk in a residential area where home owners came out to offer water, play inspiring music and speak encouraging words.

We walked for about an hour and 20 minutes. 10 minutes before the finish line it started to drizzle but that didn't stop us. We had a great time walking for a cause. Daniel got a little antsy in the stroller but finally passed out. We would have loved to stay longer but I had a wedding shower to go to so we had to rush back so I could get ready.

Ryan and I were so touched to see that there are so many nice people in this world. It is hard to remember that as you live your daily life and forget to stop and think how much goodness there is around you.

Ready for our walk. Daniel was stuffing his face with pancakes :)

Strolling through the streets of Oak Lawn and checking out the ladies.

Daniel enjoying his stroll not burning ANY calories.

Finally to exhausted to even look around. Thank you Kristianna for the jacket to protect me from the rain.
Inspiring walkers.

Walking for Leo FINISH line
We Love You Leo!Ryan and Daniel at the Ronald McDonald houe with Ronald himself
In front of the Ronald McDonald house

Competition!

For the past several weeks Ryan has been very interested in the weather, particularly channel 5 weather early in the morning. Why you ask? Well, a certain new weather girl has joined NBC and is causing quite the frenzy among boys, I mean men.

Ginger Zee (no, not kidding) is her name and she has gotten my two boys watching her like puppy dogs.

Traitors in action:

Ryan is now officially "friends" with Ginger on facebook along with 5000 other drooling fools.

I do have to admit she's very cute and I love her fashion style. Not surprising she was given the anchor spot on the weekend news as well, that about made the day for Ryan. Weekend early mornings are no longer so bad for him. He posted on her FB wall congratulating her, poor guy doesn't realize the other 4999 posts along with his will be lost in the shuffle.

I picture Ginger sharing a glass of wine with her "real" boyfriend as they crack up over the comments.

Jealous? NEVER! I will not let some fancy, cute meteorologist with a name like Ginger get me down. I may have to step it up a notch and put away my old sweat pants, over sized-Daniel spit up on me t-shirts and hair clips to win this war.

Actually, we laugh over it quite a bit. I need to find me a cute news guy.

Any ideas ladies from Chicago? I may have lost the battle but I will win the war.

Tuesdays

As a working mom Tuesday mornings are very difficult for me because after 4 days of being home it's hard to leave D behind.

I'm thankful that I work from home Mondays and Fridays, that way I get 4 straight days without having to come to the office.
Today I wanted to give you a glimpse to my home away from home three days a week.

I have made great friends at work and have been with the company for 7 years! I can't believe I was in college when I started this job. Crazy!

I have an awesome boss who is very flexible and for that I'm so grateful but I still miss being with D full time at home. The weekends are only a glimpse of what I could do with him the other 5 days.

To start the introduction to my home away from home, I have an awesome desk in a prime location...right next to the window baby!

I'm not a desk neat freak at all so don't judge. I get my work done! (Notice the Dunder Mifflin Cap and the World's Best Boss Mug? (no I did not get that from my "workers"). Both are courtesy of my best bud Denise at work, we're obsessed with THE OFFICE(NBC on Thursdays))

I often stare at my Daniel shrine at my desk and imagine what he is up to at that moment. Most of the time I'm sure he is getting into trouble.

And sometimes I stare out the window wishing I was home with him or at the park getting to see all the new things he's doing.
Balancing home life and work is not easy but I get to come home to this sweet face! He runs to me every time I come home and shrieks with delight (ok, not every time). After a hard day at the office it's the best reward.

Can you tell he's teething?!

Now that you're home, let's play peek a boo