Crystal Madrilejos

Q is finally at that age (18-months) where he’s conscious and aware of the things he is doing and the things around him. It’s been fun watching him partake in summer and really enjoy himself. I know a lot of parents find it difficult to gauge whether certain activities are suitable for kids his age. Sometimes it can be a crap shoot with the results being either fun or meltdown-inducing. Here are a few things we did this summer and how they rated on the fun/meltdown scale:

The County Fair
Meltdown factor: 2 of 5

The animals and the food are really the only reasons we go. We don’t do games and we don’t do rides. I’m sure as he gets older, he will want to do those other things but as of now he’s content with petting horses and drinking 4H milkshakes.

Listening to Music While Eating Bananas
Meltdown factor: 0 of 5

Best for those unbearably hot days when going outside is completely out of the question.

The Zoo
Meltdown Factor: 3 of 5

Baby boy loves animals. Period. He seemed a bit unsure on the Merry-Go-Round, but he didn’t cry or freak out. I think he was just perplexed. He did get restless about being in his stroller, but luckily the zoo we visited is small so we were only there for about 2 hours. He was able to walk around somewhat, but sometimes he just likes to take off running for no apparent reason other than to just run.

Swimming (naked, or course!)
Meltdown factor: 0 of 5

This is one of Q’s all time favorite summer activities. Going down a plastic slide bare bottom is quite the thrill apparently. He shoots down that thing like lightening!

NYC
Meltdown factor: 5 of 5

Ok, so overall, our trip was successful. I gave it a 5 of 5 in my Meltdown rating just because it had the most potential for meltdown inducing factors – lots of car time (drive to NYC from Ohio), lots of time in the stroller while walking around, lots of time sitting in restaurants, etc. I think Q did pretty well adapting, but there were definitely moments when I was thinking “Beam us to the apartment, NOW!” If you are interested in learning more about traveling with a young one, check out A Cup of Jo’s – Tips for traveling with a baby One thing I was thankful we remembered – Q listens to the same CD every night before going to bed, so we brought it along and when he was fussing on the ride home we popped it in and he was out like a light! Yay for smart thinking!

What have you guys been up to this summer?

-c.

Ever since we cleaned off our porch, baby boy has been hanging out there a lot. It’s baby/toddler proofed enough that he can be out there by himself and we don’t have to worry about him getting into trouble (other than eating the occasional ant, yuck!) Most of the time he just sits out there and watches cars pass while singing to himself. It’s quite sweet!

But anyway, lately he’s been coming inside and shutting the door behind him. Not completely shut, but enough that it’s hard for him to re-open without something to grasp. So instead of him having to come get us to re-open the door every time, we put a little drawer pull on the door within his reach so he can open it himself! So far, it’s been a success.

However, he can’t open the door if it’s locked or closed completely. So, he can only get out there if we open the door for him initially. Don’t worry. Q won’t be terrorizing the neighborhood. Plus, it’s a screened in porch with a locked screen door. Just to be safe ;)

Our baby boy is growing so independent! Yikes.

-c.

We recently cleaned off our side porch (finally!) because it was starting to look like Sanford & Son out there. During the cold season it sort of becomes a catch all for anything we can’t figure out what to do with. Recycling getting out of control? Throw it on the porch! Old busted laptop taking up space? Throw it on the porch! And it doesn’t help that you can see all this junk from the street! Ugh, what must the neighbors think? I’m sure they could care less, actually.

Baby boy is an outdoor baby and being outside soothes him. We decided to make a little haven for him to play and hang out. We swept and sprayed and scrubbed then put down an outdoor rug to cozy it up a bit. He loves it! Now we just need to get some compact space saving furniture (it’s only about 6 feet wide) and we can hang out there all summer long. I went looking for porch inspiration and found some real winners. Seriously. Our porch is not nearly as big and spacious as any of these, but a girl can dream right?

Porch images via Remodalista, Coastal Living, & Pintrest 

How awesome is that porch swing/bed thing? I would love that, but I would be scared of spiders spinning webs under the pillows and blankets and such.  And I just imagine it would feel… damp, no? Spiders in your damp porch bed = when reality meets fantasy.

-c.

It takes the earth approximately 365 days to travel around the sun. And it takes approximately 365 days for a baby boy to go from this to this:

Whaaaaat??! When did this happen? What happened to that baby boy? He’s getting so big. As A Cup of Jo would say: It makes my heart hurt! The days are just flying by… *sigh*.

-c.

Hey! Sorry I’ve been MIA. Been super busy, but will be back soon with updates and some other cool stuff to share. I’ll leave you with this photo series I like to call “Hiding From Papa”:

He’s saying “HIDE!!! He’s coming!!”

-c.

We got really lucky in this department with Q. He started sleeping through the night around three or four months. I have many friends and relatives with kids so I know this is not always the norm and something to be envied. So much so, that people give you the side-eye when you tell them that your baby sleeps through the night. I totally understand.

During those first few weeks I really understood why sleep deprivation is a form of torture. I was dead on my feet much of the time. But after awhile, the human mind and body really shows what it’s made of! By the end of those first four months I was able to sit up in bed at 3am, wide-eyed, and not be tired at all. And not only that, but I could function normally during the day on only four hours of sleep! Take that college days!

Last night, Q had one of his rare bad nights and ended up in our bed around 5 a.m. only to whine, and toss and turn and chew on my shirt, and smear his snot all over my pillow until 7 a.m.! It really made me appreciate that, in general, he is a really good sleeper. However, all those super awake-on-4-hours-of-sleep powers that I gained during those first few months pretty much disappeared after he started to sleep through the night.

So, since we’re on the topic of sleeping, I’m hoping to get better pictures of Q’s crib soon so I can post those. Made with love by his Papa! Here is a sneak peek:

Enticing, isn’t it?
-c.

I totally forgot that I never posted about this! Most likely because it happened during the worst drought of blogging that we’ve had yet. Slowly, things from that period are coming back to me that I wanted to post about but never got to.

Around Thanksgiving of last year my family decided that we wanted to start taking yearly photos of all the Grandkids. We figured Thanksgiving is really the most reliable time to take the portraits since we are all together. My brother, Tom, was the one who had the idea of taking the portraits and how they should be shot (he also handled the color correcting of the pictures.) Between my brother and I we tag teamed taking the photos and making sure the lighting was sufficient. With the help of sisters and husbands and grandparents we were able to wrangle this gang long enough to get decent shots.

I think they turned out really beautiful (though I am bias) and really show the personality of each kid. Falcon with his boyish, yet silly attitude (top row, far right). Arwen with a bruise on her chin (middle row, far left). Q looking like a deer in headlights with a cut on his nose. This year we’ll be adding another portrait of my sister’s new baby, Sofie, who was born in April.

Hooray for growing!

-c.

Ok, this is the last video I’ll post for a little while, I swear! I posted about Q’s First Birthday a little while ago and it’s overall success. The only thing I regret is that I didn’t take more video. This video might be a bit dull to a lot of you since there isn’t too much going on other than mood shots of the decorations and Q eating his cupcake in hyper speed! I had to get all artsy-fartsy with this one because of the lack of footage. Ah well, they can’t all be winners!

Enjoy (hopefully)!

Music: “Dog Days Are Over” by Florence & the Machine

-c

I’m movie making crazy! Just try to stop me. I was feeling inspired and decided to go ahead and make a Q’s Christmas video AND a Q’s First Birthday video. I’m only going to post the Christmas video today since I need something to post about tomorrow (ha!) so I’ll save the Birthday video for then. See how I keep you coming back for more? Bwuahahaha… sorry. I’m tired.

So, in the meantime, enjoy!

Music: “Ghost” by Gregory and the Hawk

-c.

Looking for the perfect gift for the little kids in your life? I think we may have figured it out.

There are lots of nieces and nephews in our family, so this means lots of birthdays and lots of present-giving. Andrew and I try our best to come up with original fun ideas for gifts for the little ones and this idea that Andrew came up with really takes the cake, in my opinion!

Introducing the “Box O’ Hats!” This was inspired by our niece Layla, who loves to play dress up, like most kids her age, and who received the Box O’ Hats for her 2nd birthday. So, you may be asking, where the heck does one buy such a multitude of crazy hats without breaking the bank? Party stores, my friends, party stores! Our local Party Station carried all the hats (pictured above) we could possibly need for a reasonable price. I think we spent about $25 (though you could potentially spend more or less depending on how many hats you choose and what styles). What’s better than pulling hat after hat out of a giant box? Not much!

If anyone goes the Box O’ Hats route, I’d love to hear how the little ones liked it. I’m thinking that the novelty of this gift probably wouldn’t work on kids much older than 6 years old, but I could be wrong? What do you think? Would an older kid like something like this too?

-c.