Swinging at Eden Park

Today, thanks to Kate Cheeseman, us ladies took a trip to Eden Park. It is gorgeous! We enjoyed the conservatory and had a blast at the playground. The park is full of winding paths and flowering trees and beautiful views of Kentucky. By the playground is a shallow duck pond that you can walk around and have ducks beg (rather persistently) for food. Addison loved watching them waddle around and dive into the water, don't worry I didn't let her pet them.

Really, however, the highlight of the day was Addison's first time on a swing...we would've tried the slide too, but I am not sure she could have handled that much excitement in one day.

Gramma Kathy comes to town

Gramma has arrived.


Addison and I drove to Columbus to pick my mom up on Monday, after a few wrong turns we finally made it to the airport. Yesterday was a quiet day at home...quiet if you count a blood curdling screaming child who did not want to nap. After finally getting her asleep Mom and I whipped up a few batches of baby food and enjoyed the silence.

Later in the day we drove around Oakley and Hyde Park and then stopped off at Arthur's for burgers and fried provolone (YUM!). At least that's what Mom and I had...Addie had carrots, can you tell?

She still has not started cruising, but she is for sure doing "some" crawling. She seems to be particularly inspired to crawl to get to Michelob or a pair of socks. She is also pulling her self up on everything, which often results in falling over. Between the falling over while pulling herself up and pushing her self up off the ground to crawl by smashing her face into the floor she has a kind of semi-permanent red nose and red mark on her forehead...makes her look oh so tough!

Visitors make us happy

We had a wonderful weekend.

Friday afternoon Christie and Karen drove in from Chicago to entertain us. We sat on the back porch and had a champagne toast to celebrate Christie's new job with Duke Hospital. (Yes, that Duke. No, she can't guarantee Duke/UNC tickets). Andy came home and grilled up some fabulous burgers, and we soaked up the beautiful weather and laughed all night long.

Saturday Andy slept in and hung out with Addison while we ladies went to First Watch for breakfast; to Joseph Beth's for book browsing; to Adveda for a manicure; and to Skyline to introduce Karen to coneys and three-ways. After a few games of Rummikube, some quality playing and reading time with Addison, we all headed out for the night of grownup adventures.

Today we gorged ourselves on Andy's breakfast pizza, lounged around and then wrapped up the weekend. The girls left shortly before I headed out to drop Andy off at airport for his trip to Chi-town.

Addison and I (and Andy) loved seeing Chicago faces and our apartment felt just like "home", full of familiar laughter and silliness. Karen says the drive isn't bad....she'll gladly chauffer you down to visit.

Tomorrow Addison and I are headed north up 71 to Columbus to pick up Gramma Kathy for her visit ~ we are so popular these days!

This has nothing to do with Addison

Christie & Karen are visiting this weekend....Grandma & Grandpa Neyer babysat Addie tonight while we all went out for a night of fun (or, in reality, a lot of FISH). After our delish dinner we went to RP McMurphey's where we had to pay a COVER!! We paid our $3, had a drink and moved on (the band was not so good). Andy brought us to the Edge Inn where we played Photo Hunt and dominated...thus the picture.

We love you Tool...but we still dominate in touch screen!

Would you like mustard with that?

Oh camera battery why oh why did I forget to charge you? Damn me, damn!
Addison just had her first serving of broccoli. Yum, I love broccoli. I love it steamed, I love it in stirfry, I love it roasted, I love smothered in cheese in a baked potato...I love broccoli.
I think Addison may be taking after her daddy in the broccoli department. He hates broccoli, calls it "trees".
While she did finish the serving that I gave her, after every bite she made a face with a snort, reminiscent of Sean Phelan after a shot of Malort.

I didn't think it was appropriate to offer a mustard chaser. Maybe next time.

It's not that I don't want Addison to crawl. Really I do...it's that I don't want to childproof the apartment. The electrical sockets, the cabinets, the sets of stairs, so much work! I also know that once she gets moving there is going to be no stopping her. It's kind of like once she starts talking I have a feeling there will never be a silent moment again in my life ~ for heaven's sake I hear DaDaDaDa about 42 million times a day already.


I thought that she was going to be crawling by the end of March. When we were at Granpa & Grandma Johnson's for St. Patty's day it looked like she was taking off. When we were in Pittsfield for a week in March all she did was tease Gramma Kathy with potentially crawling. But no, she continued to roll around to where ever she wanted to be.


Well, now she has her knees up under her and she rocks back and forth on them as though she is seriously contemplating the repercussions of crawling. I tried to coax her along today, bribing her with her pacifier, but she didn't quite make it to her dismay (maybe not to mine).


Ahhhhh, one more sweet day without a mobile child.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!

Happy Birthday Grandma Neyer!! I stopped by to see you this evening, but you had already gone downtown to see The Color Purple (mom is so jealous!). I really wanted to pose with Daddy and take a cute "Happy Birthday picture"...but it was just too hard!

So, I hope you had a FABULOUS birthday! I love you tons and can't wait to hang out with you on Saturday night...

No Fool

I tried to feed Addison green beans again today. This time they were mixed with carrots and apples. She was on to my trickery pretty fast and would not finish her meal (first time ever!!). Man, she's smart!

New Trick

It's been relatively quiet around here since our weekend adventure. Yesterday Andy was working from home and saw a glimpse into my hard life...I mean that sarcastically, as my life is rarely hard. But yesterday it was particularly easy. Addison decided to nap from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and then again from 2:15 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. RIDICULOUS! I might have taken a nap or two in there as well...but, he had his lunch made for him and did not have to do any baby duties, so his life was pretty good too. At least until he went to our 3 1/2 hour long house inspection only to find out that the roof is in bad shape...we don't know what that means yet, but we are preparing ourselves for the fact that 5808 Ravens Ridge may not be our new home. Boofreakinghoo.

Addison did learn a new trick yesterday. Not to show up Evan (although she is competitive, no idea where she got that trait) but when I put Addison down for her nap she was on her back. When I got her after her nap she was sitting straight up...and again today. Next thing I know she'll be trying to escape!

Our Weekend

Friday afternoon I packed up the trunk and Addison and headed downtown to get Andy. We headed outta town to Charleston WV. Charleston is only about 3.5 hours away, which is great being that I have two sets of aunts and uncles there that I rarely get to see...obviously that is about to change.

We drove the AA highway through Kentucky. It's a pretty drive, but you can get stuck behind quite a few pick up trucks, which of course we did. It's also a prettier drive when your nine month old decides to sleep, which of course she didn't. We got to my Aunt Carol and Uncle Denny's around 8:30, put Addie down to sleep and settled in to some wine, sandwiches and good conversation on their back deck.

Saturday morning Addison and I got up around 7 and headed upstairs to hang out. Hanging out quickly turned into being spoiled with coffee, muffins and gifts. I got a wonderful new crockpot cookbook and some Yankee Candles, and Addie got a great set of learning books and box of wooden blocks that quickly became her focal point.

After a homecooked breakfast of omelets, cinnamon toast, fruit, coffee and juice, Andy & I repacked the car and headed west to Cross Lanes WV, where the TriState Dog Track and Gaming center is. There we met Nikki, Brian, Kelly, Rick, Kim & Rylan. We snagged a table in their terraced restaurant over looking the pup track and waited for the guest of honor to arrive, Grandma Neyer.

Grandpa Neyer had arranged a surprise birthday outing for Patty....her kids and grandkids and some fast running doggies. Needless to say we had a great time, Grandma was super surprised and Addison quickly learned the thrill of gambling. We didn't have too many big wins, but I did win $50 on the pups and $25 bucks in the slots, so who can complain? We also bet our community money on the last race we were there for on a puppy named Xavier, in honor of Grandma & Grandpa's beloved Musketeers...and he won, making the pot $110 richer.

Grandma's Babies, Addie & Rylan

The three of us headed back to rainy Cincinnati around 9:30 this morning so that Addison could start to get back on schedule and Andy could get work done before heading into the office tomorrow.
It was a wonderful adventure away from home...a great excuse to visit my family (or what I call Spa Flaherty) and celebrate Grandma's youth...And, oh yeah, Addison also figured out how to use a straw this weekend, exciting stuff!

There are a gazillion things about Addison that amuse me...but here are just two from the past 24 hours.

1. We went for a 2 1/2 hour walk. I pushed the stroller all around town, up and down hills, in the sun and the shade...shouldn't I be the one who is exhausted?

2. While I attempted to tidy up the house today she played in her room , don't worry, Good Mom's of America, I checked on her about every 45 seconds. What I found was that sometimes, toys attack babies. Really, you've got to be careful, you never know when they are going to turn.

Another update

Remember that silly picture of Addison sleeping with her leg outside her crib? It's happened several times since then, but this afternoon was a whole new story. We got back from our walk, she was passed out so I eased her out of the stroller and upstairs into bed. I enjoyed a bit more afternoon sun with a crossword puzzle and then jumped in the shower. When I got out of the shower I heard the most pitiful crying coming from Addie's room.

I found her on her tummy with both legs caught between the rungs of the crib. I quickly got one leg out, but the other was stuck. When I say stuck I mean it...for a minute I thought I was going to have to go find some olive oil and grease down her leg to free it. I finally got it loose and picked up my poor babe for some snuggles...but her poor little thigh was bright red for a good 45 more minutes.

Needless to say I installed a our crib tent today...well, kinda. The tent part wouldn't fit over our crib, so I cut it off and now all sides are protected with mesh to prevent legs, arms, toys and pacifiers from escaping. It's a little ghetto with the tent part cut off, but it'll do for now and when we move into our new house I'll install new mesh bumper.

Our what? Yep, our new house!!

Plenty of room for visitors.... after May 27th.

Mr. Squirrel will be staying behind at Floral Avenue.

"Jeslouessus, Lady! Enough with the pictures already!!", she says with a snarl.

Ha ha, kiddo! I have outsmarted you! I have finally figured out how to make movie mixes from our Flip Video Camera. I have a feeling I am going to become quite obsessed with this, so my apologies in advance. Here is the first mix I made, it is a bit long and unless you are a grandparent or one of my more crazy friends, you probably won't find it entertaining....

Notice that toys are everywhere ... she pulls them all out herself everyday. The toy she plays with every morning without fail is the crib bumper you see her attacking...thanks Uncle Mikey for giving that to her forever ago, it sure is a hit!

Okay, she is waking up from her nap...time for some mangoes and Cheerios, then we are off for a long walk in this gorgeous weather...don't worry, as a member of the ASBL* I will be sure to apply a fair layer of SPF 50 on my baby's sweet little skin.

*ASBL: Anti-Sunburn League. Founder, president, treasurer, secretary and PR manager, Renata Brooks.

Mangoes....Good or Bad?

You decide...

Andy's concern is that if we just keep offering her food she'll just keep eating and then explode, like the goldfish he had for one day in 1st grade....

Squirrel Update

Mike from Critt'r Catch'r pounded on my front door today (we have a sign that says "Please knock loud, bell doesn't work", so it's okay that he pounded) to let me know that he was going to be checking out the apartment's exterior to make sure no squirrels had come back.

I told him about my best bud, Mr. Squirrel, and he said he'd look into it.

Turns out a family of birds and a squirrel were taking refuge under the air conditioner, but had not gotten into the wall, although there were places where Mr. Squirrel had been gnawing, obviously trying to gain entry to our comfy home.

Mike removed the birds nest. I felt bad about that until he told me the nest belonged to English Starlings, which apparently are not very nice birdies. He then told me he put down sticky board to deter the squirrel from returning. His description of the sticky board sounded essentially like a large glue trap. Glue traps, due to an unfortunate incident in college with a glue trap and a baby mouse, totally freak me out. However, Mike assured me that if a full grown squirrel got on the sticky board it would, with some effort, be able to free itself and would be scared away from returning. If a bird lands on it, it's a whole other story...

So, sorry my little Cincinnati wildlife friends, you are no longer welcome at 4101 Floral Avenue. On the bright side, all I am dealing with is a squirrel and some pesky birds....not a cougar.

I have no idea how sleeping like this could possibly be comfortable...but who am I to interfere in a nap?

Not desperate...

...but definitely a housewife. Ok, an apartment wife. It is 1 p.m. EST and here is what I have done with my day so far:

>Woke up at 7:00 a.m., mixed up a fabulous bottle of soy milk, changed a diaper and fed a baby breakfast.

>Hung out in bed with baby watching the Today Show until about 8:15.

>Called Renata and begged her voicemail for forgiveness for forgetting to call on her 30th birthday yesterday:(

>Gave baby new "toys" of measuring spoons and tupperware bowl to occupy her while I did the dishes from last night.

>Vacuumed everything but stairs and our room.

>Brewed coffee and went to baby's room to play with above mentioned toys, as well as all the other toys she pulled out of her toy bin.

>9:30 Got baby and self* dressed, went to Kroger to stock up on grocery's for the next few days.

>Rushed to Blue Manatee for baby sing-a-long only to realize it's next Monday (I sure do miss their fine print a lot!).

>Went to King Arthur's Toys and bought baby a maraca and two shake eggs...both were her favorite toys at Goo Gah Baby Bubbles back in Chicago.

>Went back to Kroger to get gas ~ I get 10 cents off a gallon if I spend $100 in a month at Kroger and then use my Kroger card when filling up. Bonus.

>11:10 get home, feed baby yummy pears and oatmeal...down for her nap.

>Unload the groceries. Make Mexicali Round Steak in crockpot for dinner tonight and then start whipping up baby food.

>Mmmm, apple, greenbean, carrot medley. Mmm, carrots. Mmm, broccoli. Mmm, apple and peach puree. Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm!

>Clean up from cooking, sweep and mop kitchen and bathroom floors. Sit down to blog....waaaah, waaaah, waaaah...

>Someone is up from her nap. Time to read books,play with maraca, teaspoons, shake eggs and figure out what the next half of the day will bring.

*Notice I said I got dressed. Not showered. Nope, that won't happen until nap #2.

Steak Hoagie=Bad, Zoo=Good

Andy and I have been laying on the couch for the past 24+ hours holding our bellies and groaning. We are not quite sure what is wrong, but are working on the assumption that we have food poisoning from sharing a delish steak hoagie at LaRosa's Thursday night. If we were Berto and still at LU we'd be claiming food poisoning for the next week, but I think we are approaching the end of it (thank god!). Addison did not have any steak hoagie so she feels great and has been very patient as we recover.

Elise checking out the proud peacock

Before the unfortunate LaRosa's incident Addison & I joined Genna & Elise at the zoo. Addison slept through much of our first visit. She missed the peacock shaking his tail feather, the reptile house and our coffee break. She did, however, thoroughly enjoy her ride on the red choo choo around the zoo, she let out several shrieks and giggles as we zoomed past the exhibits. We are now zoo members...come and visit and we'll take you to ride the choo choo too!

Today we are going house hunting...we promised ourselves that we wouldn't look at houses until at least June, but one amazing house came to our attention that we are in love with so now we have to go comparison shopping before we willynilly make an offer on a house. Are we even grown up enough to have four bedrooms and swing set??

Literacy Lessons

Addison does not like being told what she can or can't do. Especially since she thinks she's advanced. Learning she couldn't read was a real blow to her ego.

Maybe not such a big girl afterall

Our own, unstolen, internet is here and man-oh-man is it fast....It's the small things in life that excite me these days...fast internet, buying wine and fresh basil, a clean smelling baby. I could go on and on, but we'll save that for another day.

Sunday Addison rode in her big girl car seat for the first time...Monday she fell asleep in it for the first time ~ she looks like a beheaded baby and it is so sad to see in the rear view mirror. Her neck must ache!

Tonight she ate her sweet potatoes and bananas (yes they were freshly pureed this weekend by moi) in her big girl highchair for the first time.

She kind of looks like a little girl in these big girl contraptions, doesn't she?

Nothing Exciting

It's overcast today and a little cooler (by a little cooler I mean 59 degrees, I'm still in flip flops). Addison and I dropped Andy off at work, hit Target for some essentials and then meandered over to Oakley for storytime at the Blue Manatee. We were a bit early so I stopped in Fresh Market to check it out. Cute, a little pricey, like a scaled down version of Whole Foods. I think I'll just stick to my friendly neighborhood Kroger (back in the '80s apparently there was a commercial that called grocery shopping at Kroger "krogering". That's what I say now. Because now I am Kroger girl. Buh-bye Dominick's, buh-bye Jewel).

Anyway, storytime was cute, although after getting there I read the fine print that stated it was for kids 3+ years old. Luckily we weren't the only ones that missed the fine print - there were a couple other babes there as well. I will definitely put Blue Manatee on the "a place to go for daytime distraction" list, but I don't think I'll go back for story hour. Turns out kids who are mobile and have words like to move and talk...a lot and loudly. Maybe we'll check out Baby Sing-a-long next week instead. Blue Manatee does have kicking good sugarfree hazelnut latte though...sign me up for one of those each time we go.

Yesterday we hung out in Hyde Park, the best I can liken it to would be a Southport or Lincoln Square area in Chicago or a Lenox in the Berkshires. Cute, trendy, pretty, overpriced. We wandered the neighborhood and eventually picked up a tomato pesto sandwich from a wine shop (and a bottle of wine for some other time). Addison and I ate on a park bench in the square, she enjoyed her bottle and I enjoyed my fancy sandwich and a can of Limonata.

Here's a few shots of our day yesterday....

Yesterday Addison and I wondered around our local shopping center for hours just enjoying the sunshine (note the sunhat little miss fair skin had to wear. Okay, "had to" is the wrong wording...more like "was forced to wear because Mom found it so cute".)

It is equally as beautiful today, and once her lazy bones gets up we are going to go exploring again, maybe through Hyde Park. We drove through Oakley yesterday and spied a super cute looking children's book store* that has free story time and sing-a-longs each week...we'll check it out tomorrow and let you know.

Last night Andy & I checked out houses online, enjoyed dinner outside in the sunshine and half watched the NCAA championship (really, who cared about this one?). The weather is supposed to turn toward the end of the week, but for now I am enjoying exposing my "fishy belly white" legs to the world and wearing flip flops...

*It has been always been a secret fantasy of mine to own a children's bookstore and host story hours and tell children's stories with felt cut outs on a magnet board. I know that my bookstore would be awesome because I have friends and family who have just about taught every elementary grade and are experts on children's books. My store would be sunny, with big oversized chairs and beanbags and fuzzy area rugs. I could be like Meg Ryan in You've Got Mail...only not as pretty or as perky.

Mommy and Daddy didn't remember....

But Gramma Kathy did.....

Hey guys, I'm NINE months old today! Can you believe it??

Sad Dad

Carolina lost.

Addison and I left Andy at BW3s with his brother before the game started with high hopes. Addison went to bed and I watched in horror as Carolina shat down their legs. Boo.


I did learn, however, that I have several friends who care about my well being, and who apparently think that Andy may cause bodily harm to me when Carolina loses (which, for the record he never has). I know my friends care because I received the following text messages:

* 9:58 p.m. "Grab the baby and seek shelter!" Christie
* 10:01 p.m. "I am drinking a scotch for a comeback." Phelan
* 10:30 p.m. "Did your husband bring oxygen?" Christie
* 10:52 p.m. "Lock the doors and hide." Christie
* 10:59 p.m. "Move to the other apartment now." Phelan
*11:01 p.m. "Our thought are with you. If you need to be rescued we can be there in under 4 hours the way Berto drives." Keelin
*11:03 p.m. "Come to think of it, it might be faster to call a locksmith and have the locks changed." Keelin


Thanks pals! Addison and I are just fine and were feeling pretty darn good at 6:15 this a.m. when she awoke....Andy is looking, however, a little rough around the edges.

***Please note that Karen does not care about our well-being. All she had to say at 11:03 p.m was "Bye Bye UNC!" Meany pants.

And the squirrel went beserk

My whole life I have loved squirrels. When I was little a baby squirrel crawled into my brother's lap and took a nap, boy was I jealous. I have defended them when people have referred to them as rats with fluffy tails. I have never accelerated when I've seen one in the street.

That all is in the past. Now we are in wartime.

My third time scaring the squirrel out of the air conditioner or wall or where ever he is nesting, he had the balls to turn around and look right in the window at me, little f^$#!*. I even walked away and grabbed the camera and still he sat. Oooooh, game on my little friend, game on.

Foot Soldier

Andy & I have been living together for 7 years, and for as long as I can remember he comes home, putts around, eventually lands on the couch and inevitably his socks come off and are deposited on the living room floor. I bet that this happens at least 5 nights a week, which means 5 mornings a week I scoop his socks up off the floor and add them to our (normally gargantuan) laundry pile. This little habit fascinates me. The socks even came off in our condo where the hard wood floors at times felt like an ice rink. They come off even if I am wrapped in two blankets with the cat on my lap trying to stay warm. It's as though his feet are struggling for freedom.

Addison seems to have the same habit, almost. Today by 9:30 a.m. I had put her socks back on her 3 times. Finally after her morning nap I gave up.

There is a war fought daily between she and I regarding her socks ~ and I pretty much always lose. Maybe her feet need freedom too.

**I've tried telling her about always looking up at the camera, but she seems pretty darn proud of her double (ok, sometimes triple) chin.