90/365: medication

After a vacation, nothing like coming home with conjunctivitis, a non-productive cough and just feeling lousy! I spent today doing laundry from the trip in between doctor's appointments for Luke and I. Luckily, Luke just has a cold and I am the only one that needs intervention. Thank goodness for medication

89/365: the double stroller

It worked out so well that Elizabeth gave us the double stroller to use for this trip....not quite sure how we would have done it without one!?! This was the first time and possible the last, that we were able to transfer both boys from their car seats to the stroller without them waking up! They are probably as exhausted from this trip as we were! Thank goodness for the double stroller

88/365: Romero Britto

It was so exciting to see my favorite pop artist's work all over Miami since that is where it originated. Romero Britto's gallery is on Lincoln Rd and after visiting once before a few years ago, this was quite a change. About 5 years ago, it was just a gallery of his work and now it housed an entire boutique within it! I love all of his work with the vibrant colors and the contemporary bold details. This was a sculptue in front of a shopping center, but we saw bits and pieces of his work all over Miami. If I ever get savvy with Photoshop of other editing software, I could possibly remove the pole that is right in front. This picture was taken through the front windsheild when we were stopped at a red light! Thank goodness for Romero Britto

87/365: Cool Shades

Mimi sent us with cool shades for Luke that Sam wound up wanting and wearing so I pulled out a pair of Max's old sunglasses with a strap to keep on Luke's face, which worked out well. Luke is VERY into Sam and watching his every move, but Sam on the other hand was very concerned that Luke may drool or get too close to him (hence him hugging his knees tightly) Ha! Everyone needs sunglasses in the Sunshine State...thank goodness for cool shades

86/365: Cadillac Hotel

We stayed at the Marriot in Miami Beach which is what used to be the old Cadillac Hotel. The interesting tidbit was that we visited Uncle Larrie today to spend some time with him and it happened to be Aunt Arlene's birthday so in talking to him about how they met, he told us that Aunt Arlene's family and his family had cabanas at the Cadillac Hotel and this is where they met when they were about 16 years old. Thank goodness for the Cadillac Hotel

85/365: Pinky

If I was writing this blog 25 years ago, Pinky would have been a cute gingham doll with a worn out neck and a funky, sleepy smell but in 2011 Pinky is a beautiful cockatoo that we discovered when we visited Jungle Island in Miami. What a fun adventure to see and interact with so many animals. Jungle Island is located right in Miami, right across from where all the cruise ships dock. In all the exotic animals and birds, I think Sam's favorite part was playing on the playground there when I had to give Luke a bottle...go figure! My favorite part was seeing each of these birds, perched in their own little area with their names above them...so cool! Thank goodness for Pinky

84/365: Baby toes

Luke's toes had to make it on the blog because they are just perfect! This was his first time on a beach and sand never touched his toes...he napped on the lounge chair in the shade the entire time but my eyes stayed on these tiny toes! I love them closed up and together and when he takes his bottle, they spread way apart. Sam pretends they are stinky, Luke eats his own feet, but we insist that he share...thank goodness for baby toes

83/365: vacations

We managed to arrive in Florida as a foursome with no major catastrophes, but it is certainly not easy to travel. The security procedures with little kids is hard enough but then when you go to get onto the tram to get the rental car and they tell you that the kids need to get out of the double stroller...no way! With what arms do we manage kids, baggage, carry-ons...oh my! So once we were passing this sign, Luke was fast asleep and I was explaining to Sam how the palm trees can't live in New Jersey because they need warm weather...and in March, so do we! Thank goodness for vacations

82/365: Pedicures

A nice little treat today having Jay watch Luke, Sam at school and I enjoyed a nice pedicure before we leave tomorrow for Florida. These feet are usually always standing in the kitchen making us dinner, running after Sam, going up the stairs to Luke, but for an hour today they were off duty...for me :) Thank goodness for pedicures

81/365: Motivation

I have been floundering in the weight loss department. I have been back at Weight Watchers for 2 months and down just 8 pounds. But I feel like a little something sparked in me to stop wasting time and get diligent with my efforts. I have done it before and I can do it again. Nothing tastes better than how feeling good feels and I need to remind myself of that everyday, specifically right before my spoon goes into the peanut butter jar :) So tonight I made a big salad for dinner with egg whites, a little feta and I love strawberries on a salad. A little EVOO, red wine vinegar and lemon juice and it was very satisfying! Now I just need to up the cardio a bit. Thank goodness for motivation

80/365: Good oral hygiene

All it took was a Toy Story toothbrush and toothpaste to get Sam excited to brush his teeth daily...that or the fact that it is another few minutes that he can delay bedtime. Either way, he gets a turn "brushing" (also known as, sucking the water from the bristles) and then we get in and do them thoroughly. I loved the idea of Sam's reflection in the mirror but with a flash, he was washed out and this one without the flash, has a yellow hue to it. It was hard enough trying to not get my reflection in the picture. I feel like my artistic ideas and creative thoughts are way ahead of my technique and skills, but that is what this blog is all about...learning and growing as I go. Thank goodness for good oral hygiene

79/365: Purim fun

Sam took on the role of King Sam seamlessly since he certainly likes what he wants and his way :) Today concluded the Purim festivities and what a fun, busy weekend. Friday was the school Purim parade and carnival and today was the games and prizes at the synogogue Purim event followed by the Purim show at the JCC, which told the story of Purim with Mickey Mouse, Hello Kitty, Captain America, Clifford...so cute! And gosh is it easy to take a great picture outside when the weather is beautiful and you have a cute subject! Thank goodness for Purim fun

78/365: A super moon & a super Mimi

For the first time in 20 years, a super-moon was visible tonight. According to the US Naval Observatory, the moon must be full and passing through its closest approach to earth, known as the perigee, in its month-long, elliptical orbit for this to be seen. So I played around with some settings, increased the ISO to let the most light into the lens and changed my metering to "spot" so the camera would pick up on the one specific piece of light. I did my best and I am pretty happy it didn't turn out like just a white dot...happy to see the tree branches in front and it really looks like a moon! But today was also Mimi's birthday celebration and the kids had a blast at the Discovery Museum and a special birthday lunch to celebrate! Thank goodness for the super moon, but a BIG thank goodness for Super Mimi

77/365: New photo opportunities

Today the weather hit a record high of 71 degrees! Spring is just around the corner! After I picked Sam up from school, we made a stop at the playground to soak in the beautiful weather since we will be back in the 50's for a few more weeks ahead. Instead of going to the same parks we usually do, we stopped by the Longport playground which has the beach dunes as a beautiful backdrop. Sam was a trooper as I made him walked back and forth a million times so I could play with settings and try to take some pictures. I still want to try to figure out how to make my images a bit crisper and lighten up certain areas like around Sam's eyes without cheating with a Photoshop-type program. And not sure why it looks so cloudy? I am thinking another camera class will be in my future, but this time focusing more on technique as opposed to just camera settings. Thank goodness for exploring new photo opportunities

76/365: library DVDs

We made a stop at the library on our way home from school today. Sam loves picking out new books to read at bedtime, but he especially loves borrowing movies. It is a great way to watch new things without having to purchase them especially since by the time the week is up for them to go back, Sam is over them! He inspects it all before making a choice...reads the spine, looks for "cool bonus features" and looks to see how many option are on one disc. We really like the scholastic DVDs where we can either get then movie and then find the book or vice versa...Harry the Dirty Dog, Old Woman That Swallowed a Fly, The Napping House are all favorites. But tonight we found a Sesame Street DVD about Purim....perfect timing! Thank goodness for library DVDs

75/365: Finding our feet

There is nothing quite like watching your little one hit each little milestone and it isn't any less exciting the second time around! We have been nibbling them for months, but Luke has finally discovered his feet! He grabs them while on his changing table and entertains himself. Just wait until they make their way into his mouth......so fun! It is so cute seeing him curled up reaching for them.....I could take pictures of this ALL day! Thank goodness for finding our feet

74/365: Handmade cards

Mimi's birthday is coming up so Sam made her a special card, complete with stamps, stickers and this portrait of her on the back! He wrote "Dear Mimi" by himself and signed "Sam & Luke" all by himself, even though his "S" looks like a "Z" and his "K" is sort of an "R." He put so much love into it and with each stamp, sticker and scribble, he kept saying "this is the last thing..." Thank goodness for handmade cards

73/365: Milk mustaches

Sam doesn't do anything slow...he moves fast, talks fast, eats fast and drinks fast! So when he gulped his milk at dinner, he had the cutest milk mustache and when he leaned in to the camera for a picture, I got some pretty funny shots that looked like when you see someone through a peep hole. They were all keepers but this one was my favorite. Thank goodness for milk mustaches

72/365: The Perfect Grandmother

My Mom-Mom Leah passed away January 2009 and the unveiling to reveal her grave marker was this afternoon. Ironically, Sam was gathering stones and pebbles on the playground so I saved them for him to give out at the cemetary for each family member to place on the stone. This is a picture of Mom-Mom and me, probably somewhere around 1983. I loved putting little knick knacks in her empty sucrets container. My Mom-Mom was the subject of many papers and assignments at school, the reason I minored in gerontology in college and overall, a huge part of every aspect of my life. There is now a little piece of her in Luke, as he was named in memory of her. My Mom-Mom Leah will always hold a special place in my heart. I thank my lucky stars for the years I did have with her and the memories I have forever as a result. Thank goodness for my most perfect and special grandmother

71/365: Hamantashan

The first time I ever made hamantashan myself from scratch a few years ago, I substituted ingredients to make them healthier...quite a flop! This time around, I decided it may be fun for Sam to help me get in the spirit of Purim and help make them the old fashioned, fattening way :) Sam wanted no parts of the process except the last step, eating them! He loves the cherry, I love the poppy and EVERYONE loves hamantashan! Thank goodness for hamantashan

70/365: The iPad

I felt like I was a part of history in the making today. I waited in line at Best Buy this afternoon for the iPad2 to be released to the public at 5pm. We wanted to get the first one until we heard a new one was going to be released and then we figured we would wait a little longer. It was sort of fun hearing everyone's stories in the line waiting...a man surprising his 9 month pregnant wife all the while she is angry with him for missing dinner...ha! The tricky part now will be managing Sam's time on it. Thank goodness for the iPad

69/365: Oatmeal smiles

Luke wasn't a big fan of rice cereal so today we moved on to try some oatmeal...everyones favorite! It looks like Mikey likes it! Most of it was on his face, clothes and he even kicked off his sock that wound up in the bowl! Hopefully with some practice, he will get the hang of solids! Thank goodness for oatmeal smiles, especially on a dreary, damp and rainy day

68/365: Precursor handwriting skills

As an Occupational Therapist, you try your best not to analyze your own kids or your friends' kids, but the training is so ingrained and is related to everyday skills, that it is so hard not to find yourself noticing fine motor skills, behaviors, visual perceptual abilities and so on. The craziness of a new baby in the house and an active 3 year old has made me pretty much not aware of anything :) It wasn't until I was coloring with Sam that I couldn't believe his amazing fine motor skills. He has always excelled in puzzles and using his hands, but he has just recently begun really writing his letters. Observing his mature grasp of the crayon, his left "helper" hand engaged and his visual attention made me realize just how ready he is to write! I couldn't take my eyes off his amazing long eyelashes either :) Thank goodness for precursor writing skills

67/365: Old railroad crossing

On the little bike path by our house, there is a little house and an old railroad crossing sign. I have walked, ran and driven past it so many times and it wasn't until recently that I gave it a second look. I love the old sign in our small little town. Today on a walk with Luke, I brought my camera to take a picture. It was a beautiful, sunny day, but I took the picture in black and white to capture the vintage look. Maybe it will pop up later in the blog when I can play with just capturing the sign or trying a more creative shot of this landscape. Thank goodness for old railroad crossings

66/365: Lefty artists

Now that we have two little dudes, it is rare that we can both just sit and play with Sam but tonight we were lucky. A leftover dinner made for an easy clean-up and Luke took his usual early evening catnap so we were able to hang out in Sam's playroom. It is no surprise that hubby has a bit of an artistic flare and does a pretty amazing job copying almost any character and tonight it was Curious George. Sam loved it! After a quick google search, interestingly enough, DaVinci, Michaelangelo and Rembrant were all left-handed...wow!
Thank goodness for lefty artists

65/365: Playdoh

There is nothing like a lazy, rainy Sunday filled with games, puzzles and our all time favorite, playdoh! I am continuing to practice with depth of field and various camera settings that I learned in my introductary SLR class. I love how you see Sam's busy hands in the background. Thank goodness for playdoh

64/365: Curbside parking

Taking Sam for a haircut this afternoon, we came across this interesting park job! One tire on the curb, the other in the air...looks like someone thought they were in Dukes of Hazard! Thank goodness for "curbside" parking

63/365: Vaccines

So today was spent mostly giving TLC to one poor 4 month old :(

Luke had his well visit and even splitting up his vaccinations didn't help his body's reaction to them. He was quite cranky for a good bit of the day except for a brief 40 minute walk outside and any time spent on his changing table. Hopefully some tylenol and he will be back to himself in a day or so. The tears and discomfort are an awful reaction but in the long run.....thank goodness for vaccines

62/365: Target

Oh how I LOVE Target! I can't go there without spending at least $100. I love the frames, clothes, stationary, how the aisles are arranged, the pantry section...you name it, I love it! I am always looking for a reason to go there, but the only trouble is that I am not working while I am home with the baby these next months...this may be my last red bullseye bag in our house for a little while :( In the meantime, I will miss you...Thank goodness for Target

61/365: Spring-like days

Today the sun was shining and even with a chill in the air, you can tell that spring is just around the corner! Between eating and sleeping it was hard to get out with Luke for a walk today so when Sam came home from school at 4:00, he hopped on his bike and practiced riding. We need to work on keeping our eyes forward when pedaling...thank goodness for these spring-like weather days

60/365: Late night library fun

So in honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday, our local library held a party which was a blast for Sam-I-Am! At 6:00 p.m. I told Sam it was time to go and his response, "But it's dark outside!?!" He was so confused why were going out in the evening but boy was he pleasantly surprised! Older children read to younger ones, they danced to music, hopped on bubble wrap (like Hop on Pop) completed a wacky hat craft activity and the best part for the kiddos, enjoying a cupcake and juice after singing happy birthday to Dr. Seuss! Sam loved every minute, especially having older girls read to him. Such a ladies man! I just love his sweet, mischievous smile in this shot even though I was looking to capture more of a candid one. Thank goodness for late night library fun