Category: The Kids

  • Memorial Day 2016!

    Memorial Day 2016!

    We spent the weekend in Middletown, MD with the Phillips-James-Barba clan! Always great to get everyone together for a little family time. The cousins (Charlotte, 4 1/2 and Everett, 15 mos) seemed to enjoy running in a pack. Andrew was especially enthralled with Charlotte and thought she was the funniest person on the planet. He did all he could to keep pace with his older cousin! The days were spent playing in the pool (a HUGE favorite), visit to the Middletown Memorial Day town picnic, playing on the playground, BBQ with the James gang and riding an old steam engine train in Walkersville. Andrew is so taken by trains (and all things with wheels) and this was right up his alley!

    The temperatures were pushing 90 degrees and even daddy got in on the pool action!

    Planning his next jump. ANYTIME Andrew was outside last weekend he bee-lined it for the pool and rolled head first into the water- including at 7am! So many wardrobe changes….


    Uncle Gabe introduced Andrew to the movie Cars. He was clearly a fan.

    Thanks for a great weekend Grandma and Grandpa!

  • 18 Hours in Baltimore

    18 Hours in Baltimore

    Before we could officially bail out for the long weekend, Andy needed to do a meeting in Baltimore on Friday morning. Since we plan to spend the weekend in Middletown, MD, we thought it was a great excust to head down early. We drove to Baltimore Thursday night, had dinner with the Harrell’s and checked into our hotel. This morning I took Andrew to the Baltimore National Aquarium while Andy worked. The morning was filled with a lot of ‘oh wow’ from the little guy. While I think he was a little scared of the big fish his favorites of the experience were the bubbles, other kids, the pigeon who flew inside the building and the escalators.

    To summarize: 
    ticket cost = $38.95; value Andrew got of the experience = $0 ; time with your son = priceless ?

  • 18 Months!

    18 Months!

    On May 17th Andrew officially celebrated his half birthday…again! Our little man is growing, changing and communicating more and more each day. He’s really becoming his own person and it’s just an amazing blessing to have a front row seat for.

    So here’s the run down on our Andrew William at 18 months; he wears size 2T clothes and weighs 26.4 lbs thus in the 80% for weight. He’s also 34 1/2 inches long and in the 98% percentile! Andy is so proud. Apparently we’re growing ’em big in New Jersey! Andrew is still an angel sleeper. He goes to bed around 7:30 pm with zero fuss- I mean ZERO fuss- and sleeps through the night until about 6:30 am. He takes one 2-2.5 hour nap each afternoon. It’s fantastic!

    Andrew is a bit more picky about his food these days. Much to my dismay he pretty much refuses fruits and vegetables as is. Instead I blend all his veggies into juice just so he can get them down- yup he’s that kid who drinks kale-spinach juice. He loves frozen broccoli bites, chicken nuggets, applesauce and fishies. He’s obsessed with Cheerios and cookies. I’ve also learned he loves french fries and ice cream as well as really every carb. I’m pretty sure he’d be happy living on bread and cheerios if I let him.

    He still LOVES cars and trucks. You can usually find him roaming the house, with a car in-hand running it along the ground. He’s also a big fan of books and reading. His favorite right now is ‘Goodnight Digger’ followed by it’s friends ‘Goodnight Tractor’ and ‘Goodnight Pirate.’ However, Andrew’s latest love is Mickey Mouse. He locks in- and by that I mean doesn’t blink- anytime Mickey is on. I’ve had to limit his ‘screen time’ otherwise he’d just sit there and watch TV and eat Cheerios ALL DAY LONG. Andrew also loves being outside, particularly the swings and pushing his lawnmower around the driveway. Finally, he’s still obsessed with the Roomba or as he says ‘Oomba.’ Each morning he pushes directly past Andy and I to play with the Roomba. It’s basically Andrew’s version of a pet…which is totally fine since you don’t need to feed it or take it out!

    The biggest change in the little guy is his speech and communication! He consistently uses sign language to express ‘more’ and ‘done’ when eating. He says mama, dada, Roomba (oomba), car, bus (buh), ‘oh wow’, ugh oh, juice (ju), bath (ba), bubble, Abby, and more. He can tell you that a cow goes ‘moo’, monkey goes ‘he he’ and jaguar goes roar! It’s awesome to see how much he’s learning and understanding. My favorite though is when he blows kisses, ‘muh!’

    You can see by my lengthy post that there is just so much for us to say and share about Andrew! He’s a lovable, happy and insanely cute little man! #incrediblyproudparents

  • Parent Breakfast

    Parent Breakfast

    Andrew’s homemade placemat from his parent breakfast ?

  • Sunday Funday

    Sunday Funday

    Quick trip to the beach- mostly because the water was 3 degrees above freezing- and visit with friends Pam and Mike to check out their new house. Andrew was especially fond of their dog, Grady! And no, we are NOT getting a dog.


  • Beach Season Opener 2016!

    Beach Season Opener 2016!

    We officially kicked off the beach season this weekend on LBI! It was great to get down to the beach despite the fact that everything about the weather felt like winter; not late spring. Regardless of the cold and rain, Andrew seemed to really love exploring the beach and bay. Can’t wait until we can go back and actually spend more time outside!

    Friday was the only nice day- too bad most of us spent it inside and working. We did manage to sneak away to the bay and playground. Andrew really like the ‘giant sandbox’ that is the bay!

    On Saturday the weather turned dreary and cold. We did manage to sneak a trip to the playground in before the rain started. Andrew’s best buddy Austin (and his whole family!) also joined us. Per usual Andrew was like a moth to a flame with the swings. He also loved riding the- exceptionally tall- slide with mommy and grandpa. And to top off this fun morning we stopped at the local ice cream parlor for lunch. Yes, I fed my kid ice cream for lunch. A++ parenting!

  • Death Grip

    Death Grip

    New toy for the beach and wouldn’t let it go! Held it the whole walk home. 

  • Watering the Plants

    What watering the plants now looks like on a warm afternoon….[youtube]https://youtu.be/i__14lm6hQg[/youtube][youtube]https://youtu.be/gGfy425lIwI[/youtube]