I'm officially a Mom

Last night I stayed up past midnight working on a Halloween costume.

Torn between the ideal of making him a homemade costume and the reality of having no time whatsoever to do that, Nathan will be wearing a store bought costume with some homemade revisions. He already wore it today to a Halloween playdate we hosted, although he managed to rip it off within 5 minutes. Looks like I'll be up again tonight making some more "secure" alterations.

We're taking him downtown tomorrow where all the local businesses will hand out candy and again on Monday when our apartment complex hosts a Halloween parade. And who knows, maybe I'll have him wear it to family dinner on Sunday so all his aunts and uncles can see him dressed up too. He's not going to be very happy with me, I'm sure once he managed to get out of it today he thought he was done with it. Silly Nathan, don't you know Halloween is when parents torture their kids by stuffing them into adorable, but usually uncomfortable, costumes??

Weekend recap

Our weekend was full of a few of my favorite things:

Road trip
Old friends
Sleeping in
Chai tea lattes
Thin crust pizza
Pumpkin beer
Soup dumplings
Madison square park
Fall foliage
Babies
Mommy friends
Hell's Kitchen
Pregnant friends
College friends
Old roommates
Walking 80 blocks
Magnolia cupcakes
Sushi
A trip to Target

High school friends

Nathan laughing
Soho
UWS
Pinot grigio
9th avenue

Fall fun

The weather is cool and the leaves are crunchy...it's my favorite time of year, Fall! We kicked off the season with a Pumpkin festival on Saturday and apple picking on Sunday. We had so much fun with friends and family and are looking forward to more fun in the next few weeks with Halloween and Thanksgiving on the way!

Mr Potato Head

We got Nathan a Mr. Potato Head recently and he loves him!!

He loves his teeth.

He loves his mustache.

And he even loves his tongue.

Lessons learned

As a mother, I have learned a lot of wonderful lessons from my child. I have learned that a heart can double in size.  I have learned how to find joy in simple things. I have learned to slow down and enjoy the moment.

But I have also learned a few not so wonderful things....

• What it feels like to be truly sleep deprived. Nothing can ever prepare someone for having a baby who wants to nurse every 2 hours, around the clock, 24 hours a day, for 6 months!!

• That I will never ever be on time again. (And this is a hard pill for me to swallow since I HATE being late for things) Getting out the door in the morning typically consists of the following routine: 

Get myself dressed.
Change Nathan's diaper and get him dressed.
Try to put his shoes on... beg him to let me put his shoes on... let him try to put them on himself then plop him down into my lap and put them on as fast as I can before he protests.
Feed Nathan breakfast.
Try to eat a few bites myself.
Change Nathan's diaper again.
Brush my teeth.
Brush Nathan's teeth.
Glance in the mirror and quickly attempt to do something with my hair and put on a little makeup so I don't look so exhausted.
Make sure the diaper back is packed with diapers and wipes.
Pack a snack and sippy cup for Nathan
Look for keys that Nathan was playing with 5 minutes ago.
Make sure I have a sweatshirt for Nathan in case it's cold out.
Pry my cell phone out of his hands and hope he didn't prank call anyone.
Gather purse, diaper bag, stroller, and Nathan and head for the door.
Turn back because Nathan needs his diaper changed again!

• I like things to be clean and organized, and in their place. I HATE CLUTTER. Since having a child I have unfortunately learned that more often than not, each and every day, my home will look like a tornado just blew through.

• I have learned that if a child can reach it, a child can break it. All of our pretty little chachkies (souvenirs from Africa, framed photos, vases, etc) have either been moved to the highest shelf of the bookcases or packed away.

• That every single electronic device (cell phone, remote control, computer, etc) will become a toy. And that we will hide these things from our children and then not be able to remember where we hid them.

• I have learned that children's shoes, which are worn for 2-3 months on average before they are outgrown are ridiculously expensive.....but they are SO CUTE!!!!

The biggest lesson Nathan has taught me though is that even if he has been cranky all day or screaming just for fun or refusing to eat the grapes I just cut in half for him or spitting out the dinner I just cooked for him.... he can melt my heart into a pile of mush with as little as a laugh or smile and all is immediately forgiven. And even though my house is messy and I have bags under my eyes and I never have any time to myself, I wouldn't give up this crazy chaos for a million billion dollars!!!

Mixed Messages

Everyday we, as parents, try to teach our children valuable life lessons.

Eat your vegetables.
It's not ok to hit.
Brush your teeth.

Right now in our home, the lesson we're focusing on is sharing. Nathan has suddenly become very territorial which has lead to many awkward encounters with other kids at the playground, at the library, or on a playdate. God forbid another child comes within a 6 inch radius of a toy he's playing with and all hell breaks loose! Will and I have been telling him over and over "You need to share with your friends.", "Let someone else have a turn", "Why don't you play with that together?", etc.

Recently while playing with one of his best friends here in Boston, her mother and I noticed the kids kept offering one another their sippy cups. Our initial reaction was to be proud of them but instead of encouraging them and telling them how good they were sharing, we immediately started telling them "No, that's not yours."

I guess the real lesson we should be teaching them is You can share toys but you can't share cups."

Man, it must be confusing to be a toddler.

No, we weren't robbed. Nathan just went through his daily ritual of emptying our computer desk drawers. I wish he could find what he's looking for so we could be done with this!

Monkey see, monkey do

One of Nathan's favorite toys right now is my hair dryer. He walks around with it, holding it to his head, moving it back and forth.

He watches me put my makeup on in the morning and sometimes I catch him "applying" lipstick with a crayon.

And the other day, I found him doing this.

Are we spending too much time together???