road trippin

starving, getting stuff organized, picking up around the house in order to clean and then pack tonight, tomorrow for our big road trip. driving to maine. leaving friday am (7!) and have purchased an array of goodies to entertain lars. lets hope. who knows. lars is taking a special long nap this morning. its the rain! whenever its dark and rainy lars naps longer. even with black out blinds, he 'knows' its esp dark this morning.

first we stop in new hampshire on friday night. then we drive on to maine. staying in a big old house with my parents. big house bob dean style.

best be off to make some breakfast for the kid and me. and me and me. when people write AND I it really drives me wild.

weekend.....

it was suppose to thunderstorm/rain be generally gross today. so we opted out of the ZOO. um....both boys are napping and im very sleepy. i will avoid preparing for our trip next week and maybe catch some Zzzzz's too.

DSC03583

DSC03583
Originally uploaded by juliadeanguenther

julie lars.....may 2010

julie lars.....may 2010
Originally uploaded by juliadeanguenther

happy father's day, and some other stuff

bur! its been rather hot all week. ive got the AC pumping, so in our bedroom im chilly, but the kid is cool. thats all that matters!

we've had some wacky days over the last few weeks. lars has pretty much all of his baby teeth!!!! i really need to get him to the dentist. we have a friend in the city, so im thinking of making an appt, but lugging him to the upper east side in 98 degree heat...welll....sounds....not fun.

music class is over, and its been HOT. we have been chilling at target, the bookstore, the cafe, the supermarket, and ...the park (when i dont feel like im going to combust), and some friends' houses. today lars and i had a nice little lunch at panera bread, i got my favorite salad and he ate bread. i really dont care if he didnt want anything else to eat and stared at the little girl in the bright orange printed dress the whole time. he was quiet and i got to eat the entire salad! yea baby!

other than a few BBQs and some quality family time, we dont have a lot planned this summer.

a long road trip in july, some family visits and then... august is WIDE OPEN. im looking forward to a big bag of nothing. maybe some swimming and maybe some new parks. but seriously, lars is like me, and doesnt like the heat. or at least i keep telling doug that so we dont have to melt.

we finally got a babysitter - and i went to hoboken on my own yesterday. i felt like i was walking around without my left arm, but...ill get use to it. someday.

here's a little short film i made for doug for his SECOND FATHER'S DAY!

excited

hi....well....today was a whole new...experience.

off to music class, after a lovely nap. everything is going swimmingly - a snack in the park, some milk and we get to class just in time. lars finally decided he likes the class, and walks all over the place.

today - he was waving red drumsticks all around the room. walking over to the wee babies and waving the stick near their heads. mothers looking at me with terror in their eyes. the room is chaotic, music, babies, toddlers, moms, aunts, grandparents. its hard to think, let alone make sure the kid is not poking someone's eye out (um, or their own). i took off his slipper shoe thingers, and we go barefoot once more. he's better at walking but still insists on carrying objects across the room, toward the other easy-going babies who are simply playing, examining the musical insturments. ooooooh. today was a doozy.

after the class, he settled down enough for me to change his diaper (not easy in a public restroom at this age) and got into the stroller no problem! wow! okay, maybe things were looking up.

we had more snacks and planned to get some lunch - um....we made it to meet our friends and lars just busted out with massive tears, snot, and general freaking outness. so we did a little walk about, this didnt help. it was my fault. for sure, this part of the day anyway. this was nap-time and i should have known better!

we made it to the park. i shoved food into his mouth and he calmed down. the tears subsided. he looked exhasted. i got him in the stroller and thought 'oooo weee' lars is going to nap and i can get some lunch and sit outside! nope. no nap. yappiety yap yap yap all the way to the car.

im not complaining. this kid is cool. he's napping now...a late one for sure, but i dont care.... i should be napping too.

the toddler and me

as soon as lars started walking (may 27th, at 11.45am, if you are wondering), he's sort of 'woken up'. no longer clutching me when in public, lars wants to walk. and walk he will. i even got him some shoes, finally. so...okay, sometimes he grabs on to my neck like he's pulling apart taffy, but that is only when maybe there is an unusual dog nearby, or a total stranger. he's comfortable in music class (finally, in time for it to be over) and he's happy to walk about a friend's house with a smile on his face, not constantly checking if im still there.

hold on. he still does not want to be in stranger's arms, ok. that's normal.... :)

today, was the first time i remembered everything before getting into the car (blankie, bottle, snacks, water, lunch, spoons, napkins). we headed to target immediately after a nap and a diaper change. lars was smiling at all the target employees and screaming BEEEE BEEEE BEEEE while i did some shopping. i cant believe its taken like a year to do this. knock on wood....he's a mellow baby but needy when it comes to being 'outside his element' the last few months...for sure. oh, and we left a trail of puffs everywhere we went. so if you happen apon the Edgewater Target today, you will know where we were....whopsies.

lars turned one on june 4th. a few pics from his bday!

tunes.

when lars naps, he grows about 83929 inches. seriously, i go to check on him and its like someone switched my baby (gasp, when are they considered toddlers?) with a teenager. i feel like he should be talking and telling what he did in school today. alas, he is 11 months old....and not even walking.

lars has started to 'sway' and 'bop' to music - its so cute! today we went to a 'makeup' music class since lars was sick early april and we missed 2 weeks in a row. during class, which we typically enjoy on thrusdays, lars clings to me like no other kid in the group. he hugs me and stares at the teacher (who playes music with a guitar, a base, etc). lars "sort of" smiles and then puts his head on my lap. all the other babies are crawling around, or sitting with their mommy's or babysitters or nannies and watching the teach with awe. yesterday, he sorta enjoyed it, so i thought we better go back today to make up, as discussed above, since we are running out of time.

well, thankfully we did! today, while he started out with the usual hugging and staring, he progressed to pointing at the mom's toes sitting to our left, and even smiling at the mom to the right. by the end of the class, lars was 'walking' with my help, toward the teacher and actually played on the mats - without me - while i got my crap together for the journey home. phew!

once good thing, there was a 13 month old girl there who apparently is also a little intimidated by the teacher, the noise level in general. the mom said to me 'oh, im so glad that my daughter isnt the only kid who doesnt like this class!' uuuuuh. i guess it made me feel better on some level too?

tgif i guess.

lucky number five.

lars name is expression No: 5

Positive Traits : The number 5 Expression Number endows with the wonderful characteristic of multi-talents and versatility. You can do so many things well. The tone of the number 5 is constructive freedom, and in your drive to attain this freedom, you will likely be the master of adaptability and change. You are good at presenting ideas and knowing how to approach people to get what you want. Naturally, this gives you an edge in any sort of selling game and spells easy success when it comes to working with people in most jobs. Your popularity may lead you toward some form of entertainment or amusement. Whatever you do, you are clever, analytical, and a very quick thinker.

Negative Traits : Your restless and impatient attitude may keep you from staying with any project for too long. Sometimes you can be rather erratic and scatter yourself and your energies. You have a hard time keeping regular office hours and maintaining any sort of a routine. You tend to react strongly if you sense that your freedom of speech or action is being impaired or restricted in any way. As clever as you are, you may have a tendency to make the same mistakes over and over again because much of your response is glib reaction rather that thoughtful application. You are in a continuous state of flux brought by constantly changing interests.

walk this way

well, lars is very close to walking. we havent purchased a 'walker' or a push toy to aid in walking, we just watch him try the old fashioned way. lars took a few steps to me about a month ago - then got very sick and well, all went to hell. but every time i look over he's just standing there, teedering, looking at me slyly, and then finally plops down on his butt. and back up again...and the cycle continues.

we had a busy weekend - my parents were in town. my dad was alone with lars for like 2 whole hours! and they both survived! i told my dad if he just keeps reading lars books, all will be well. after some car issues (my dad's, not mine) my mom and i made it to Bliss spa and we had massages. it was great! i wish there was a way to just nap there for a little while. nothing like putting your clothes on and driving back home to feed your kid peas and wrestle on the changing table. ahhahhahahaha. the life.

doug made a lovely dinner on saturday and i felt like crap all day yesterday. what a blast!

im excited to spend an entire week at my parents - from memorial day to lars' first birthday! at the pool, in the grass, should be fun. wonder if lars will be walking by then!!!!

mama's day!??@

so a lovely relaxing mother's day here in new jersey. nothing special, just family time. its very cold -50s! (and windy) so we've decided to stay in. and do...nothing. im on the computer now, because, lars is sleeping on daddy (who is also sleeping!). and im catching up on a little me time (computer style).

doug made a lovely bfast for me and we even took a family photo.

oh! and doug got me a new wedding band! ive been allergic to my original one (ah, diamonds and white gold). so now i have a lovely platnum band to wear all the time. yeah! good job doug!

i actually got the sewing machine out of the closet - its a start! looking forward to making some fun projects in the coming weeks. stay tuned!