Fun in the snow - last post of 2009!

Our last snow day was a blizzard and then we got swept up by the holidays, so Wesley didn't get a real good chance to play in the snow. Well, that and he didn't have a pair of boots. Today we got some unexpected snow, so we ran to the mall, picked up some boots and mittens (which he took off as soon as we got outside) and then spent some quality time in the snow.

He was very interested in the snow and of course, Wesley had to try a little nibble of the cold stuff. We ran around and enjoyed the outdoors - even playing in his little house a bit. I think you can tell by the look on his face that he had a great time!

A very merry Christmas!

It was a happy happy day at our house! Wesley must have been a very good boy this year, because he made out like a bandit! Santa brought him a pony, Grandma and Opa brought him a train table and Grandma and Pop Pop gave him a huge fire house. Mommy and Daddy got him the required socks and underwear - which will be put to good use as Wesley has been working on potty training.

What made this holiday extra special was being able to share the day with both sets of Wesley's grandparents! We have to share them with other special family members and I know it won't be possible to have everyone under one roof for Christmas Day every year. But we'll enjoy it while it lasts!

Christmas Card

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Just sharing a few images from our Christmas card this year. I was really pleased with how they turned out.

Hanging out at Ikea

Wesley and I had to make and Ikea run. I swear it is one of the most family friendly stores on the planet! After loading up the stroller with various items, we stopped in the cafe for some lunch. In the center of the cafe is a rectangular play area surrounded by 1/2 walls to contain little ones and allow them to play while parents eat their lunch. There was a TV playing the Disney movie Wall-E and three little girls pulled some rocking horses right on up to the TV. Wesley wanted to be part of the group, so he saddled up right next to them. They enjoyed the movie while the girls' parents and I enjoyed a few moments to eat some lunch. They looked so cute sitting all together. It didn't last long though - the littlest girl decided she didn't like Wesley sitting so close and she gave him a little shove. And the moment of peace all the parents were enjoying came to an end. Being the gentleman he is, Wesley didn't strike back. What a good little guy! Our Ikea outing came to an end, but we still had a fun time!

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

Still waiting on the final total (it is still snowing as I type this!) but we got A LOT of snow today. Looks like we're going to have a white Christmas! It was still blizzarding so I didn't get hardly any pics because I didn't want my camera to get wet - hopefully we get some more tomorrow!

This is how I roll...

Thank you Aunt Rachel & Uncle Michael and Merry Christmas!!!

I love his little arm swing!

My Child - food for thought...

My Child

If I had my child to raise all over again,
I'd finger paint more and point the finger less.
I'd do less correcting and more connecting.
I'd take my eyes off my watch and watch more with my eyes.
I would care to know less and know to care more.
I'd take more hikes and fly more kites.
I'd stop playing serious and seriously play.
I'd run through more fields and gaze at more stars.
I'd do more hugging and less tugging.
I would be firm less often and affirm much more.
I'd build self-esteem first and the house later.
I'd teach less about the love of power and more about the power of love.

Anonymous

A big brother in the making!

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Nolan recently became a big brother. He and his baby brother ARcher came over for a visit. Wesley wanted so badly to help with the baby, trying to help hold the bottle and such. He was so proud when we helped him hold the baby. I wish I had gotten some pics! Later on when it was Nolan's time for a bottle, Wesley was more than happy to help out! Maybe he is trying to tell us something!?!

Horsin' around

While Daddy was at the Raven's game, we went to Costco with our neighbor Kira. We had no idea we were going horseback riding!

The tiger is out of the cage!

Wesley finally climbed out of his crib! Actually he did it for the first time on Monday and, geesh, things have been a little nutty around our house.

It started on Monday, as I said. We went to playgroup - we attend a FREE play group offered by Baltimore County Infants and Toddlers at the Arbutus Library on Mondays at 10:15. It is WONDERFUL!

It starts out with free play, then we dance to songs, shake "shakers", do some finger play songs, sing 'Wheels On The Bus' and read a book. We then have "center" time where different toys are placed in different areas - a building area with blocks and toddler power tools, a home center with kitchen stuff and food and baby dolls - and a little people/car/animal center. Wesley usually plays with the blocks and power tools, but I encourage him to give bottles to the baby dolls and he is so SWEET with them!

After center time, we play with a parachute and that is easily Wesley's favorite activity at play group! We have a lot of fun, it is educational, and it's FREE! It's our Monday morning Mommy/Wesley date!

OK, back to Monday... we went to play group - had lunch with our friends Jodi and her daughter Zoe, who both attend play group with us, and then we did a little shopping. Wesley and I returned home and got ready for nap time. I put him in his crib and came downstairs. A few minutes went by and then I heard a soft *thud* and the unmistakable sound of pitter patter of little feet. I instantly knew Wesley was no longer in his crib. I was hoping it was a fluke, so I put him back to bed and came downstairs again. Almost as soon and I sat down I heard him again.

Third time is a charm, right? Yeah... not so much... So, I put him to bed for... the third time... and this time I stayed in his room. I thought maybe if I stayed in his room with him he would lay down and go to bed. No dice. He stayed in his crib a few minutes and played with some stuffed animals. And then he climbed out again!

Needless to say, it turned into a no nap day. A very long, rather challenging no nap day. We went to Target and bought a gate and put the crib mattress on the floor. He has done fairly well sleeping on his mattress on the floor. Strangely enough, I ordered the toddler rail for his crib 2 weeks ago - so we're just waiting for that to come in... hopefully soon! It looks rather sad to see him sleeping on the floor - even if he is happier there than in his crib.

As if that wasn't enough excitement, we've had to switch schools for Wesley. We had several issues with his "old" school and things were not getting better fast enough and then we had other more important safety issues come up, so I pulled Wesley out of his old school on Tuesday. We went to a new school that same day and are SO HAPPY! The new teachers are so kind and sweet and Greg and I are just so confident we have made the best decision for Wesley. And Wesley warmed right up to the place. I actually got to school to pick him up today, he greeted me, and then went back to playing! THAT never happened at our old school! There is a lot more to the story, but this is a public blog and I don't want to outright trash any business on here. Email me if you want more details.

I hope that will suffice as a good update for the meantime. More to come, I promise!

Enjoying a mixed drink...

We took Wesley to Friendly's and he was rather insistent on having "soda." Instead of letting him have my Diet Coke, we let him enjoy a Shirley Temple. He LOVED it! And then dropped it on the floor. The waitress was kind enough to make him a new one. He treated the second one with a little more care.

Roar!

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The little artist

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As I said in my previous post, I've been very busy with photography work these days. Just because life is busy, we still found some time to get Wesley in the studio for a birthday shoot. It isn't a cake smash like I usually do with 1 year olds, but still was a messy expression of fun and childhood. My plan is to for a big print of this one to hang in our house.

Wesley love to paint! It was so funny, at first he dipped his toes in the little dollops and then smeared them around. He wasn't that big into finger painting, which is what I thought he would do. Mostly smeared around with his feet until I gave him a paint brush. You can be sure he went straight into the tub after this session!

Under construction! but been very busy!

Hi readers,
my beloved readers,
my family and friends and some random strangers who find my world fascinating... or at lease semi entertaining,

Please accept my humble apologies for being a blog slacker. We went to Disney for a week, then were home for two weeks and I was WAYYY busy with work - yea my photography business is doing well!!! - and then we went to Rochester for a very long weekend and I returned to two photography sessions on the same day. I am VERY behind on my own personal photos and since the weather in Baltimore is pretty yucky right now, I'm going to try to catch up a bit. So, please bear with me as I update posts. I am starting off by adding lots of videos and then will fill in the posts with additional photos and supplemental anecdotal stories and text. And hey, at least you know I haven't left you!

This calls for a celebration!

Wesley and I picked up a few balloons for his birthday celebration. Poor kid had a blast being crowded in the back with all those balloons!

Twice as nice!

For Wesley, turning two meant two birthday parties this year. One in Rochester earlier in the week and one in Baltimore. Both parties were small and family only, but fun none the less! His Baltimore party was very small, just Grandma and Grandpop and Mom and Dad. We still had a yummy cake from Sugarbakers and took lots of pictures! It was quite festive!

He dove right into the presents! It is absolutely true what they say about the wrapping being the best part for little ones. He soon realized the good stuff was on the inside!

Grandma Great sent him a birthday bear. He LOVES it and plays the song often. His latest thing to say is "Hap Boo" aka "Happy Birthday." We're working on the full phrase...

And this just boggled our minds! Two days prior we learned that when asked, Wesley knew how old he was! We haven't really been stressing it with him, so it just took us by surprise that he responds appropriately when asked "how old are you?" Too cute!!!

Dancin' Dancin'

Wesley's birthday fell on a Friday this year. Even though Daddy was at work, the birthday celebration started early in the day with haircuts for Wesley and his buddy Nolan at our favorite kids' salon Pigtails and Crewcuts. Then we took the kids to Chuck E Cheese, where they danced their little hearts out, ate pizza and played some games. We had such fun! Thank you Sam and Nolan - for treating to lunch for Wesley's birthday!

Cell phone pics from the farm...

My "good" camera battery died, but these two were too cute to miss out on pics - thank goodness for cell phones!

Turning two - and blowing out the candle!

While we were in Rochester, we had a party to celebrate Wesley's birthday. I still can't believe he blew out the candle!

The other side of the lens

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One of my best friends, Erin, is also a budding photographer (her studio name is Charms of Life Photography). As a birthday present, she offered her services to help capture some images of myself and Wesley. So often I am the one behind the camera, today was my turn to be on the other side of the lens. A very special blog reader wrote me and told me about this sunflower field and suggested I check it out. It was a bit of a drive to Jarretsville, and I always get lost on Dulaney Valley Road, but we made it and oh, it was worth every effort!

Miss Erin was kind enough to leave a few of the files with me as we finished our session, but I do not have the full set. Now I know what my clients feel like, waiting in anticipation to see my full gallery... hurry up Erin! I can't wait to see more!

Birthday Magic

Excuse the videography skills here! I was doing my best to take it all in, with my eyes, with my camera and on film. If you can't tell, I was taking pictures while operating the video camera. Apologies aside, we had dinner at The Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh and friends. Pooh came by as soon as we sat down and then we ate our dinner. We were just about done when Eyeore, Tigger and Piglet came by. And then we got a second round of Pooh. I don't know how the characters timing got bunched up like that, but it worked out nicely that Wesley got to see Pooh twice. I love how, in the video of him with Eyeore, Wesley leans back and tries to get Eyeore to pick him up. And then in the second Pooh video he just plops himself down in Pooh's lap. I guess they are old friends by now! The food at The Crystal Palace was actually pretty good for a mass buffet. We especially enjoyed the mussels and the meatballs. There were plenty of children friendly options for Wesley and the characters made the evening extra special!

Wesley meets Mickey Mouse

It was beyond cute! What you missed in the first 15 seconds of their meeting that we didn't get on video - Wesley pointed to Mickey's eats, then his own Mickey Mouse hat "ears" and then back to Mickey's ears. It was so adorable!

When they let us in to see the big cheese, we were first in our little group. You might hear a little girl in the background exclaim "That's Wesley, Mommy!" I guess Mommy and Daddy and Grandma and Opa (and Mickey and Minnie) were making such a fuss over Wesley, the little girl got a little confused about who she had been waiting in line to see - lol! But we all know the truth - we were there to see Wesley!

Whispering Canyon Cafe, Spectromagic and other fun...

We had dinner at The Whispering Canyon Cafe. The name sounds all calm and serene, but the cafe is anything but! It is the restaurant's ketch that it is loud and boisterous. Known for great food with generous helpings and sassy servers. Our server's name was Lazy Susan - ha! God help you if you ask for ketchup! You get all the bottles in the place and if another table needs ketchup, you get to deliver all the bottles to those in need. Fortunately, no one at our table needed ketchup, or at least they weren't willing to ask for any! Wesley had his first corn ON the cob experience and I'm pretty sure he enjoyed it! About halfway through our meal, all the little buckaroos were invited to grab a pony and take a trail ride around the restaurant. I think Wesley thought it was cool and we certainly enjoyed watching him horsing around!

These videos might be kinda boring, but to me they are cherished memories and in some ways a statement about our vacation. We were at Disney World, but the truth is the trip was all about Wesley's reaction to being in Walt Disney World. We would ride rides and watch his expressions, meet characters and see how he reacted, and this night, we parked the stroller and watched the beautiful Spectromagic Parade. Well, we watched Wesley watch the beautiful Spectromagic Parade.

It was a late evening for sweet little Wesley, the parade didn't start until 8pm and the fireworks were at 9. Then we still had a very full busride home to the Animal Kingdom Villas. Wesley was a trooper through it all and fell fast asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow. I wish I knew what he though of all the evening's events!

Magical Memories

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It was our second park day, and we opted to spend the morning at Animal Kingdom. We analyzed the park maps of all four parks and we decided that Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom had the most to offer a toddler.
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Our first ride at Animal Kingdom was Triceratop Spin, which is very similar to Dumbo. It wasn't crowded at all and we walked right on the ride. The operator even let us stay on and ride again - a few times in a row! It was a real treat, but when we were done, we were done!

As we were getting ready to go to lunch, we passed the trail where Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger were greeting all the guests. We took a peek and there was no line, so we decided to take a chance and see how Wesley would react to them. As you can see, Wesley was a little shy at first. He warmed up to Pooh and then we met up with Eeyore. By the time he saw Tigger, he was IN LOVE! He didn't want to leave them. But in the end we headed off to lunch with very little protest. It was so heartwarming to watch him interact with them and was one of the highlights of our trip.

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We took the train ride over to Rafiki's Planet Watch, where we went to a petting zoo. But the real fun was playing peek-a-boo with Jimminy Cricket. Those characters! They are so great with the kids!

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Before heading to lunch, we hung out at the Dinoland Boneyard, a toddler play area where they can run around and be kids. Wesley was digging the slides! Then we had lunch at The Rainforest Cafe and then went back to our resort for nap time.

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He slept like a rock after all that activity! We spent the afternoon relaxing at the pool and later had dinner at the Mara food court. It was another great day! But we were really looking forward to having some company the next day...

The happiest place on Earth

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We made it to the Magic Kingdom and it was amazing! As we strolled down Main Street, a small show was going on and the horse drawn trolley passed us by. Wesley clapped and you could just see the look of happiness on his face. I took one look at him and thought to myself, 'this is what it is all about.' You work hard, sacrifice and do your best to give your child all the love you can. We all know Disney World is one of my favorite places and to see the sheer joy on Wesley's face, I got choked up. And we were just walking down Main Street! Oh Wesley, you don't even know how much fun lies ahead!

Well, before we made our way down Main Street, we stopped at the hat shop to get mouse ears for Wesley. Since we were the first customers of the day, they gave us the hat and embroidery for free. Ahh... one more reason to love Disney World!

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The Dumbo ride is an American Icon and we just had to make Dumbo Wesley's first ride. We arrived shortly after the park opened, but still had to wait in line for 30 minutes. We decided to do the baby swap, first I rode with Wesley while Daddy took pictures, then Daddy rode with Wesley while Mommy took pictures. It worked out beautifully! Wesley wasn't ready for the ride to be over after his first flight with Mommy, so it was a real treat to be able to ride the second time without having to wait on line again.

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After Dumbo, we went on a few other Fantasyland rides, like It's A Small World, Winnie The Pooh, and Peter Pan. Lunch time came and we ate at the Pinocchio Village Haus. Since we were some of the first diners of the day, we had our choice of tables. (What can I say - he is a toddler and eats early!) A few of them overlooked the boat launch for Small World, so we sat there and Wesley would watch the boats leave and he would wave to the passengers and many of them would wave back. I know he thought that was very cool!

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After lunch and a few more rides, we headed over to Pooh's Thoughtful Spot, a play area for toddlers. They had a little tree house to explore and some fountains with a variable spray. It caught Wesley by surprise more than once! After a bit of a cool off, it was time to head back to our resort for nap time.

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After nap time (and a snack), we went to our resort pool, which was PERFECT for Wesley! Daddy said he couldn't have designed a better pool for Wesley! It had a toddler splash park in addition to the zero entry pool. Wesley had a ball!

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