Zoo

The heat wave finally ended, so yesterday my husband and I thought it would be fun to take Ethan to the zoo for the first time.  We went in the late afternoon, post-nap, and since we only planned to be there an hour or two, we decided to use our Kelty hiking backpack.  Well, my husband decided to, since he would be wearing it.  I wasn't sure how Ethan would do in the pack; he's a very busy boy and so I thought he might get a little antsy, but actually, he did great!  The pack gave him a great vantage point to see all the sights the zoo has to offer. He liked the "baboos" (baboons) and really enjoyed seeing the male orangutan swing from the ropes and play with the big ball in his cage.  The Seneca Park Zoo is a great little zoo, so I will definitely plan on taking Ethan there by myself again this summer to get a better look at some of the other animals we missed.

Fun in the Sun

Holy hotness!!!  Today was day four of scorching hot 90 degree weather so instead of heading to the zoo as planned with some girlfriends, I hosted a play date for the kiddos to splash around in water at my house.  I broke out the baby pool, sprinkler, and assembled a makeshift water slide. The kids had a blast splashing around and it was nice to chat with my friends.  We made sure to be sun smart - hats, SPF shirts, gobs of sunscreen - and you know we were chasing our little ones around with sippy cups to keep them hydrated. I'm also so glad I bought a canopy for my shadeless yard - it made being outside bearable in the heat.

I took some time to peruse Pinterest ahead of time to find some fun ideas for outdoor water play. I Anything that involved too much planning on my part was out because most of the time I had available to plan for this playdate involved cleaning (is it just me or does your house only get cleaned when people come over?).  I decided to freeze some bath toys in giant ice blocks and make some homemade popsicles. The kids enjoyed figuring out how to get the toys out of the ice.  I only wish I made the ice blocks last night, because 5 hours of freezing wasn't enough, and it was only a matter of minutes before the kids got the toys out.  As for the popsicles, I pretty much winged it.  I threw a handful each of frozen organic strawberries, peaches, and mangoes with about a cup of organic apple juice in the blender, poured the mixture in my $3 Ikea popsicle molds, and popped those babies in the freezer. After an hour or so playing in the sun the popsicles were a nice refreshing treat for all of us.

Overall, it was a nice little playdate.  I only wish I remembered to take some pictures.  Our water babies were so cute!

Weekend Getaway

My husband and I celebrated our five year wedding anniversary this past weekend, so we decided to go away together for a few days...without our little guy.  It was the first time my husband and I had both been away from him for more than 24 hours.  To be honest, leaving him was a lot easier than I thought it would be!  Ethan was going to have a blast getting spoiled by his grandparents, and I was really looking forward to having a few days to relax without thinking about naps, snacks, diaper changes, etc. Although now that I think about it, I definitely thought about naps and snacks while we were gone - for ourselves!

We went to Lake George and had a nice time.  On the first day, we took a hike to see Shelving Rock Falls and Log Bay and capped our day off with some yummy margaritas. On the second day, after a delicious breakfast at Caffe Vero, we got a little adventurous and went white water rafting. There were both exciting moments (navigating the last stretch of class 3 rapids), and relaxing moments (floating down the Sacandaga River, basking in the sun), which made it a great experience for a first time rafter like myself, but Ben may have been bored because he's rafted the Gully(?), whatever that is. I still think we had a good time. We also found some time to read in Shepard's Park, go outlet shopping, and enjoy some pizza. Even though we had a great time to ourselves, we were eager to get back to our little man.

Abraham Lincoln Park

This morning, Ethan and I had a playdate with a friend and her daughter.  We went to a great little park in Penfield, Abraham Lincoln Park.  Ethan and his new friend played for almost two hours, climbing the playground, digging in the mulch, hiking the nature paths, and exploring all the cool log climby things.  Yes, that's a real term.  This is a section of the park where a lumberjack cut down a bunch of trees and arranged the logs for kids to climb all over them.  There's also a log staircase, playhouse, bench, and steps.  It was so much fun!

P.S.  Did you notice Ethan's new sandals and hat?  My Kid to Kid finds!

Consignment Shopping for the Kiddos

I mentioned in a previous post the I LOVE to visit consignment stores to find little treasures for my little guy.  This love of mine developed in the first few months of Ethan's life when I realized Ethan was majorly lacking in the clothes department due to a problem I was unaware of in my pre-baby life - the blowout.  Between blowouts, spit-ups, leaks, and drool, Ethan was wearing at least 2 - 3 outfits a day, and since I hate to do laundry ever more than once a week, I needed more clothes for him, cheap (remember, I'm not working at this point). So on a pretty regular basis, I began to visit some local consignment stores, and found some great deals on clothes for Ethan.

The consignment store I shop at most frequently for kid stuff is Once Upon a Child.  It's not the closest children's consignment store to my house, but it's the closest good one where I know I will find a lot of awesome deals on clothes and toys.  They have great sales, which seems almost too good to be true, especially when a onesie is regularly priced at $1.50 - $1.99.  I've been lucky enough to just randomly stop in on days where they had their 10 onesies for $10 sale, which was great, because pretty much the only thing Ethan wore for the first year were onesies.  I've gotten so many good deals on clothes here - Carters onesies with the tags still on them, Janie and Jack and the Children's Place button downs for $3, Gap cargo shorts for $4.  My best deal, however, was a brand new with tags, Osh Kosh hoodie (retail price - $35) for wait for it.....$6.50.  Best. Deal. Ever. Ethan LIVED in that hoodie last fall. I was just visiting OUAC's website and am super-excited to find out that a new location in Victor will be opening soon!!!!!

It's been awhile since I've consignment shopped for Ethan because I was fortunate enough to receive some hand-me-downs for him recently.  I've learned though, that to be a savvy shopper for children and get great deals, you have to think ahead and therefore, buy ahead.  I'm starting to think about fall clothes for Ethan, so now's the perfect time to start shopping. It was super hot this afternoon, one of those days where you just want to be in air conditioning, so I strapped Ethan into his carseat and we took a drive to Greece to visit Kid to Kid.  OMG.  To quote Rachel Zoe, "I died. I lit-rally, died." First of all, Kid to Kid is a great looking store.  I have found that consignment stores tend to get packed and cluttered with stuff to the point where I start to feel claustrophobic while shopping.  In Kid to Kid, there's plenty of space to move around and not feel like you're blocking another shopper.  Their selection is pretty huge, too, so the spaciousness is not due to lack of inventory. Everything is nicely labeled, and well organized. I especially liked the special rack dedicated to Bills and Sabres clothing. I was really pleased with what was available in Ethan's size.  I've found, typically, that for boys, the best selection of clothes are in sizes newborn - 12 months.  I think this is because people love to buy clothes for little babies, so there's more clothes for a mom to consign in these size ranges.  Since Ethan grew into 18 month sized clothes, it's been hit or miss for me to find what I need for him.  Not today, though. I walked away with 10 items and spent a total of $37.30.  Pretty good, huh?  I got him a pair of Old Navy Jeans, two pairs of athletic pants, cargo pants, a long sleeved t-shirt from the Children's Place, an Old Navy Fleece, a Carter's hoodie, a brand new pair of Circo sandals, and an orange Gap baseball cap that Ethan looks oh so cute in.  It was a great haul!

First Playgroup

Because Ethan has been in daycare for the last 10 months and is used to being around other kids, it's important to me that he continues being around other kids during the summer.  I don't want Ethan to miss out on playtime with other children just because he's home with me all day. Fortunately, I have a few friends with toddlers to set up playdates with. I also went outside my comfort zone and joined two different local playgroups. I don't know any of the other moms in the group, but I thought I'd give it a try anyway because it's a good way for me and Ethan to meet other moms and kids in our town. Ethan picked up a little bug so I didn't bring him to any playgroup functions last week, but now that he's feeling better (and isn't contagious) I took him to his first playgroup yesterday. It was fun for him - lots of kids to play with and a bunch of new toys. It was also pretty cool to step back and see how Ethan interacts with other children. After he warms to the situation, he's certainly not a shy kid. He was going right up to other kids and their moms, handing them toys, taking away toys, and just getting right into the middle of things. He also didn't mind helping himself to any snacks or sippy cups that happened to be laying around. Oh dear. One thing I noticed, and was sort of surprised by, was that kids his age seem not so much to play together but just play near each other.  Did you ever notice this, moms?

I'm glad Ethan had a chance to be around other kids, but this playdate threw our day completely off track. Naps were skipped and then taken late, there was some unexpected crankiness (from both Ethan and myself), and bedtime slipped into the 8 o'clock hour. Needless to say, by the end of the day, I was a little frazzled. Thankfully, my hubby didn't mind that I left the house for a few hours to have some time to myself for a little bit. It's amazing what a freshly groomed set of eyebrows and a little retail therapy can do for a girl's mood!