Friends, Fun, & Lizards

Wowa! Sorry It has taken awhile since my last post... I though about writing a couple of times, but haven't had too much interesting things to say. Everything is about the same around here. It's getting to be more like regular life, and not a vacation. Boo!

But we did meet some sweet friends at a mommy and me workout; Song and her 8 month old Mika! They are so sweet and we've enjoyed spending time with them. I'm sure you have seen their cutie pics on Facebook!

In addition to the mommy & me workout, (the workout was hard for mommy, because my "weight" was 19lbs...) we decided to go back to Kindermusik! It's a little closer this time, but still in Jacksonville. Song & Mika signed up too, so we can carpool. Ollie loves the class so much! =) We also have had a couple of playdates. The babies play on the mat. They're so cute starring at each other, and grabbing each others faces. haha. Ollie loves watching her crawl, so maybe he'll get the idea ;) Song and I both love cooking so we've done a little of that =) trying out recipes on each other. It's been fun! I'm glad we found some friends with so much in common.

Now to the lizard! There are a million lizards here, to be expected. Mark's in heaven, apparently they are ::dork voice:: "green anoles". I wasn't expecting one to be IN THE HOUSE! I was taking Ollie into his room to get dressed, and I stopped in my tracks. OMG there's a lizard in his room! Ahhh. I had to get it because I had this horrible image of a lizard crawling on my babies face while he was sleeping. I put Ollie down on the floor, and grabbed a box from his closet. I tried throwing it onto of the lizard. This didn't work and surprisingly didn't scare him too far. So I went to the bathroom and got the soap dish. I had to get closer than I wanted, but I knew I had to do it! Phew it worked! I considered leaving it for Mark to get home, but the thought of a dead lizard bothered me more. Soooo I got my flimsy cutting board and slid it under him. Uhhhh it was so gross taking him downstairs and out the door... Any way we all survived to tell the story!

Since the last time I blogged Ollie has tried carrots, apples, asparagus, prunes, and even turkey! He also got to try a real strawberry. There's a little mesh pouch you put it in and it lets them eat the fruit through the holes. He LOVES it and makes loud sucking noises till it's all gone! He's also starting to practice with a sippy cup of water! I can't believe he's becoming such a little human!! He gets to sleep with a lovie now. It's a little blankey/ stuffed animal. He loves to snuggle it, and it's been helping him self sooth. We miss you all! Till next time!  

half way between 0 & 1!

This weekend we had a lot of fun family time! With Mark's work schedule the weekend lasted from Friday-Monday! Yahoo! On Friday we decided to try a new park and take a picnic lunch. About 10 minutes away there is a state park, it didn't seem like much, but when we got to the beach it was beautiful! I called it the "elephant graveyard" because it looked like the scene from Lion King. It was basically tons of beautiful trees, turned into driftwood. So cool! Ollie had a fun time spending most of his time singing in his stroller. I wanted to get some pictures of him by himself, found a safe place, and gave it a try. He ended up doing great and we got a few laughs in the process. I posted a lot of pictures on Facebook. So as not to repeat and bore everyone here is a picture of scenery. 

Saturday we decided to explore some more of Jacksonville. We went to the historic San Marco Square. It was a cute area with shops and restaurants. We ate lunch, walked around, and had fro-yo! =) We also went to part of Jacksonville's downtown. It was an "artsy" district. We went to a park, on the water, where we sat in the sunshine on a huge open lawn and watched the people. Ollie got to sit in the grass. He was very interested in every blade. 

Sunday, was somewhat a lazy day. We tried out a new church, watched a lot of TV, and Facetimed with our bff couple Amanda & Andrew Griffy. =( Mies you guys. Technology is great, but every time I 'see' someone instead of just 'hear' them, it makes me sad! 

Today: Monday February 13, 2012 OLIVER FINN FOSTER is 1/2!!!! I really can't believe how fast this monkey is growing. He is too cute in every way! He has been been so interested in the world around him, taking it all in. He is also fascinated with his feet! He can be very serious and very silly. His second tooth is making an appearance, so he's been a little fussy and drooly lately. He grabs anything in his reach, so you have to be extra careful. He is also a roly poly, shape and mobility wise. =)) From the time he wakes up (7:30) to the time he goes down (6:30) he's a complete joy. I know he has a lot of reasons to be so smiley, but I'm giving credit to his nap schedule. Which he is falling into quite nicely! Since I last posted he has tried pears, and avocado. <3 <3 <3  TTFN! 

Birthday Weekend!

I'm the only one in the family "fortunate" enough to get to spend my birthday in Florida. Better me than Ollie! But thanks to my sweet boys I had a wonderful weekend! When Mark got home from work Thursday night he brought me sunflowers and lilies! The lilies are just now blooming and the smell is to die for! Friday I got to have some mommy time by getting a massage and mani pedi! It was so relaxing and wonderful! Saturday the boys and I went to the zoo! We got a zoo membership and can't wait to go back. Ollie didn't notice every animal, but when he did he was fixated! The 1st animal he actually saw was the warthogs. haha. And probably his favorite were the giraffes. They were so close to us, and there was even a baby! <3

Finally Sunday, my actual Birthday, was filled with lots of yummy food and I didn't cook any of it! Mark made me banana pancakes in the morning, with homemade blueberry and strawberry syrup (maybe I made that;)). At lunch time we went for a stroll in historic downtown. We ate wood fired pizza and my personal fav fro-yo! And then to top off a wonderful day of eating Mark made me Ina's crab cakes! But we weren't the only ones enjoying food. Mr. O got to try roasted bananas! It was love at first bite! Since then I have mixed in spinach and he likes that too. He has also tried yellow squash, which he's not too fond of unless it comes with a side of sweet potatoes! 

Check back for this weekends activities! It's gonna be a good one! xoxo 

"terrible horrible no good very bad day"

Driving to Jacksonville for a 30 minute Kindermusik class, in a ladies house, with 2 other babies was not what I signed up for! Where should I begin?! Such a long story... but don't stop reading you'll get a laugh! I guess last you heard we loved Kindermusik and met new friends! This was on the "demo day" a free day to PREVIEW what you would be paying for! It was at a dance studio with about 8 other babies. The teacher was funny and quirky, what you would expect from a babies music teacher! She loved Ollie, saying he was "JUST AS CUTE AS HIS NAME" and "he reminds me of my son". I signed up right away and payed in full!

I got a call from the teacher the day of the 1st class and she told me she would have to push it back a week. I was disappointed, but though whatever.

Next week, I get an e-mail late at night (the night before) saying we would have class but it would need to be relocated to her home. When I looked on the map it was as far south as you could get making my commute 10-15 minutes longer!! From the way the e-mail read I thought it was just for this week, and didn't mind. We were the 1st ones to arrive and soon to follow were two cute ladies with equally as cute babies! I had to go to the bathroom so bad from my hour commute and asked if she minded. She lead me back to her bathroom and on the way I encountered the cutest dog! I said hi to him, and the teacher says, "guess what his name is?", "what?", "OLLIE! Isn't that funny?", "Oh ha small world!". So I'm thinking to myself why didn't she tell me this before?! I come back and join everyone in the dining room and she is telling the other girls how her last dog got ran over on Christmas. I felt so bad for her and could tell how much she was hurting from her loss. She said "that's why this NEW dog is barking, we haven't spent much time with him, we only got him 4 days ago!" I say "4 DAYS AGO?"!!! Omg this woman has named her dog after my baby! I'm dying! hahahahaha... Class continues and all is well, Ollie even has some laughs so naturally we have to go back! She says the class will be at her home until maybe mid February when she might relocate to the mall area! Hallelujah! That's what this mama is talkin about!

Now for the bad day...

I woke up looking forward to this pitiful excuse for a class because I have nothing else! So depressing. I tried to send a text message to Kira when I realized my phone wasn't working. It will only let me call at&t and my "house phone" won't let me call long distance. I'm still on my family plan so obviously my dad's phone wont work either. So even if I could figure it out how do I get in touch with him to fix it!? I e-mailed Mark, hoping he would answer my plea. Nothing. I got on Facebook to see if any of my friends were online. Nothing. I got on Skype to try and make a phone call, apparently you can't do that without Skype points... Then I realize I have neighbors! I will do this the old fashioned way. But they don't answer. So I look around for anyone... Ta-da! A pool man! I called my mom from his phone and asked her to figure it out. haha. Thanks pool man & mom!

I was still conflicted on what to do about Kindermusik because I found out there was a "Kinderstudio" close to us, only 10 minutes away! I didn't know if I could get a refund and was going this week to see how it was and talk to the teacher. I'm almost there when she calls to say... "There's no class!" She was very apologetic and offered me a full refund. I figured it was for the best: OBVIOUSLY! I was angry that I had went all the way there for nothing and recalculated the GPS to take us back. And what does that stupid thing do?! Take me to a dang Ferry out in the middle of no where!!!! Are you kidding me?! 2 hours later we get back to our island. Ollie has gotten a good nap out of this goose chase, so I figure there's no reason to go home! I take him to our favorite park and let him swing until his giggle box is worn out!

Additional horribleness. BABY TREND- NEVER BUY! Designs their strollers to fall apart at 6 months- after the warranty expires! So I am stuck without a stroller for the time being! A must have for all fun activities including- beach, mall, walking trails, zoo, etc... even the engineer can't fix it! UUUURGHHHH!

To wrap things up- The Kindermusik close to us doesn't have a class for babies right now. So we are without a class. But I have done some more research and found a mom & me group we're going to try out Thursday! I'll let you know how that goes! Sorry for the novel! Next time I'll post more on what the monkey is doing- besides eating that is! I'm sure the posts will be much more positive, considering I have Birthday weekend to look forward to ;) Love you all!

Eating for Sport

As you might know already from facebook, little monkey is a eater!! He even takes the unnecessary step of  chewing his food! Too cute! Thank God he likes it because I have been looking forward to the day he would eat for like a year now! I am making all his baby food from organic fruits and veggys! I hope to introduce him to all sorts of goodies so he will have an extensive palate. But this is where we have started: Steamed sweet potato puree, roasted blueberry oatmeal, and steamed green bean puree. It's so fun to see his reaction to a new food! He is absolutely precious! He also loved it when I mixed his blueberries and sweet potatoes! Once I introduce him to single purees I will be able to mix more often!  Stayed tuned to see what O eats next! <3

Sweet Potatoes- all gone!! 

Oatmeal with roasted blueberries! -yum!

Blueberries are sour by themselves! ha!

I ate all my green beans!!