Five on Friday!

Happy Friday!! I hope you all had a great week and have a relaxing weekend ahead. 

1. First race

My team has their first race this weekend! I am so excited for them; they have worked so hard and are a great group of boys. Coaching freshman boys has been such a different experience than I thought it would be. They are funny, kind, and hardworking. I am excited to see how they'll do against some prep schools! 

2. Vegetable garden 

We have raised planting boxes and had a fairly successful vegetable garden 2 years ago. Last year I didn't get it going but this year, we are itching to get our hands dirty! I think it will be especially fun to do with Gabriella because she loves most vegetables and I think she'll love finding and picking them. Fingers crossed for another successful season!

3. Call the Midwife 

My mom and sister-in-law both told me about this show last year but it was just this season that I really started watching. It is so good. There are only a few TV shows that are must-sees in our house and this has made the list. It takes place in the 1950s/60s and touches on so many social issues.  It is heartbreaking, beautiful, sweet and overall just a really well written show. It's on PBS on Sunday evenings but past seasons are on Netflix!! 

4. What made her happy

Earlier this week I wrote about the things that made Gabriella mad this week. The things that made her happy this week include eating lunch outside, wearing flowers in her hair, dumping puffs on the kitchen floor and then stomping in them, discovering a magnetic light table at the library, picking dandelions, and eating full strands of spaghetti. Whatever works, right? :)

5. Diaper cream

I am not sure if this is a new product, or if I just never noticed it before, but we recently bought the Burts bees diaper cream for Gabriella and it is amazing! Well as amazing as diaper cream can be :) It smells good and cleared up her rash really really quickly. Highly recommended from us! 

Have a great weekend!!

xo,

Mary 

Necklaces!

This is just a quick post to shamelessly promote my Etsy shop :) So many friends asked about the fabric covered necklace I made for Gabriella so I finally finished several for the shop! Gabriella loves wearing hers (and chews on it!) and because they are fabric covered, you can toss it in the washing machine. 

As always, thanks for your support! 

xo,

Mary

Why my toddler cried this week

This post could alternatively be titled "Toddlers are weird". I'm not sure if I have a complete drama queen on my hands or if this is just typical, but here are a few reasons why my toddler cried this week. Happy Monday:)

-I cut her muffin in 4 pieces instead of giving her a whole one. When I caved and gave her a whole one, she threw it on the floor. 

-She colored on her hand with marker and then lost her mind because there was ink on her hand. Lost. Her. Mind. 

-I wouldn't let her see my belly button in CVS. 

-She couldn't touch a chipmunk in our yard. 

-I wouldn't let her steal another girl's hair bow at the library. 

xo,

Mary 

18 months!

On Saturday Gabriella turned 18 months old. She's closer to 2 than newborn. It truly is crazy how fast time goes by with a child. 

She is doing better than we ever could have imagined. She's walking, talking, trying new foods, getting into mischief, making us laugh, and everything else that comes with toddlerhood. This stage is my favorite so far! 

Our tiny little tot weighs 21 pounds but is 32 1/2 inches tall. She is in the 75th-90th percentile for height and the 5th for weight. Developmentally she is right on track for her actual age of 18 months and is not showing any signs of autism (which they begin testing for at 18 months). She's still not a meat eater but loves fish , beans, and everything else under the sun! 

She loves music and dancing, baby dolls, coloring, animals, and bubbles. She loves being outside and exploring. She mimics every word we say (scary haha!) and has started to think it's funny to make others laugh. 

Her vocabulary has exploded and it's so funny to see what she understands. She gives the best hugs and melts my heart when she hugs my neck and says "mama". With all this growth has also come a toddler attitude and we've had a few meltdowns/tantrums and she wags her little finger at me and says "no no no" at least once a day. But such is life with a toddler:) 

Watching her grow is so much fun! 

xoxo,

Mary 

Five on Friday!

Cheers to Friday! After what seemed like an incredibly long and depressing first week of April due to freezing temperatures, snow, sleet, and pouring rain, Gabriella decided to take off walking and nothing else mattered!!

1. Off she goes

Gabriella has been thisclose to walking for months now. She has taken several little steps between furniture and people but never more than 5 and she would usually lunge and collapse into her target. And then yesterday she just got it. It all clicked and now she's off!

2. Homemade play dough

Earlier in the day, before all the excitement of walking started, I decided to make homemade play dough. Nearly every recipe I found was identical, maybe the amounts of each ingredient varying a little. 

2 cups flour

2 Tbsp oil (any oil at all, as long as it's non-toxic! I used vegetable oil) 

1/2 cup of salt

2 Tbsp cream of tartar 

1 1/2 cups boiling water 

Food dye 

Combine all ingredients except for the food dye. Once the dough has cooled, separate and add food dye. That's it! I used gel food dye because that's what we happened to have on hand. The red did dye my hands a bit but once it was fully blended into the dough, it didn't come off onto Gabriella's hands. 

At just under 18 months, play dough is definitely a supervised activity but she loved squishing it and poking holes in it. 

3. 21 day fix

One of my New Year's goals was to do another fitness challenge. Before Christmas I completed the Concept 2 Holiday erg challenge, rowing 100,000 meters between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. I had the 21 day fix workout videos from last year and decided to do it again. The goal of this workout is to do one of the workouts every day for 21 days to kickstart your workout regimen. It's been just over a week and so far, so good! Some days I have to get up at 5 to get it in but I don't mind the early mornings. The workouts are only 30 minutes long so it's easy to schedule in. While rock hard abs would be amazing, but let's be honest, that will never happen, my goal is to feel healthy, and now that I'll be chasing around a toddler this summer, I want to feel confident running after her! 

 4. Coaching

The spring season of crew has started and it has been cold. I have complained about the weather in every single blog post over the past few weeks but I do not like being cold. And being out on the water in freezing temperatures while it is raining is not making me happy! Love coaching but my goodness I am ready for it to warm up. Any of my fellow rowers know that this time of year is the worst!! I coach high school freshman and they have their first race in a couple of weeks so I am really excited to see how they do!

 

5. New highchair search

I am on the search for a new chair for Gabriella. I think that she is ready to start being at the table instead of in her high chair but definitely needs to be strapped in still. If you know of any good (or bad!!) ones, let me know!

Have a great weekend!!

xo,

Mary

 

Spring snow and silly faces

Hello, April. And hello freezing cold temperatures, sleet, snow, and everything that January wasn't and April isn't supposed to be! Our hyacinths bloomed right around Easter and now sadly, they are frozen solid under a few inches of snow. 70 degree days in January and 20 degree days in April- typical New England I suppose!

 

Gabriella was so intrigued by the snow falling and the snow covering the ground this time around! She wants to constantly look out the window and yells "snow!" every few seconds. It's pretty cute until I pick her up to do something else and "snow" becomes "no". Or when I try to explain to a 1 year old that you sadly can't ride your bike in the snow.  Please spring, come back soon!

I was at the grocery store and it was hailing in half the parking lot!

While toddlerhood certainly has it's challenges, so far this age is my favorite. She loves to be silly and loves to explore. She likes to make silly faces and noises and if she can make you laugh, she is just as pleased as can be. When we say to her now, "show me  your teeth", or "can I see your silly face?" she gives the cheesiest grin.

"show me your teeth"

"Silly face"

Gabriella is also in love with her slide and has recently started sliding down alone. We still have to watch her climbing up because she gets a little unsteady at the top, but she loves sliding down alone. It will eventually go outside but for these long, cold days, it has been a great indoor toy!

 

Have a happy Wednesday! 

xo,

Mary