Visit with Gaga

My mom was in town for the LGs birthday and we had lots of fun around the city. Chris loves to line up our shoes. My mom caught this family shot of our shoes.

We got lots of swinging time in with Gaga.

We went to the Crocs store in Soho. It was two stories of shoes and Chris was very excited to pick out his own shoes. He was even more excited about the massive shoe at the front (bigger than Dad's!)

After that we went to the Children's Museum of Art. Chris had so much fun painting, playing with play dough, and coloring.

At the end they had a ball pit! It was hard to talk him into getting out of there. So fun!

Afterwards, we went over to Rice to Riches. They serve every flavor of rice pudding you can imagine. Chris loved it, and we may or may not have counted it as lunch : ).

Next up was Conan's birthday. Here's Chris feeding Conan some red velvet cake.

For my birthday we went to Clinton Street Baking Company. They won a throwdown with Bobby Flay for their blueberry pancakes.

I can tell why. Chris was a happy camper. They were amazing. Mmm. Makes me hungry just talking about them!

Cupcakes that night!

Christopher's 2nd Birthday Party

I wanted to catch up and post a few pics from Christopher's birthday party. It was fishing themed, and Chris had a great time celebrating with his friends.

Singing Happy Birthday to Christopher...

Chris, Mom, and the turtle cake.

The food.

Mom, Chris, Dad, and Gaga.

Ty, Lauren, Chevy, and Tom came!!

Group shots.

It looks a little chaotic, doesn't it : )?

Chris with his best bud, Madelyn.

Hope you had a great time at your party, Mr. 2 year old!!

You know you're raising a New Yorker when...

10. His favorite food is sushi.

9. He finds sirens in the middle of the night soothing.

8. Instead of reading books during church last Sunday, he studied a map of Manhattan for a good half hour (whatever works, right?)

7. He knows subway and bus routes better than I do.

6. Anytime we walk by the stairs to a subway he cries if we don't go down.

5. He thinks the pizzeria we meet Conan at on Friday nights is where Dad works all day.

4. I can count the number of times he's ridden in a car this year on my hands.

3. His room is also our living room.

2. He hails cabs for us.

1. He freaks out when he sees Spiderman at Toys R Us, but gives the random Elvis walking in Times Square a high five.

2nd Birthday!

It's been a couple of months since his birthday, but here are the pics from our fun day.

June 16, 2010!

We went to the Toys R Us in Times Square. It was awesome!

They gave him a birthday balloon and a crown!

He was a little too short for the ferris wheel, but definitely soon.

Here's Chris is in front of it.

He's free! He was really excited to roam the store and play with the toys.

They had a great train table.

Lots of Elmo!

Back at home with bubbles.

And it's food time...

Dad met us for lunch at home for some McDonald's (I'm afraid that might be a birthday tradition now).

Sushi for dinner! I think he liked the soup.

Cupcakes!

And presents! Such a fun day! We love you LG!

Yay Chris!!

So probably too much information for most of you, but I don't have any where else to write dates like this down, and this is pretty important...

Chris went pee pee in the potty yesterday!

Let the potty training begin! Any tips from seasoned Mamas would be greatly appreciated : ).

(No pictures on this post for obvious reasons.)

Happy Second Birthday Christopher!

Wow Christopher! What a year. If we thought your first year went fast, we had no idea what would happen in your second. I feel like we had your first birthday party, blinked, and now you're two.

This year has been so much fun. Words can not describe how lucky we feel to get to be your parents. We constantly look at each other and say, "he's such a good boy". (Not that you don't have your moments, but it's your birthday, so we're not going to go there today : ).

You are able to communicate so well with us now. Even if it's just two or three words put together, it is so much fun to know what's going on in that little head! Your favorite phrases? Wa wa, brr (the water in the pool was so cold, but please take me back); Daddy F wa wa, Elmo bar (Daddy fished in the water at the pond and I ate an Elmo bar); Daddy umb, Blackrock (Daddy took his umbrella to work at Blackrock). You always cheer Yay when we finish something, our water, a meal, loading the dishwasher. We hear Yay, Daddy, juice just about every morning.

You're starting to really play with other kids now. At the park yesterday, your friend Ava would give you hugs and you guys would both fall over laughing. It's so much fun to see you learn to play with your friends (and hopefully start sharing soon!).

We call you a little cheeser. When you want someone to smile, you get right in their face, tilt your head, and grin. Works every time. It's so hard to resist the Christopher charm. You love to dance. Anytime you hear any type of beat you start your moves. We've even watched you dance to the beat of the refrigerator running- of course Elvis is still your favorite! Jumping is your show off move. If you want anyone to be impressed you do your biggest one, and now you even do multiple jumps in a row.

You're starting to eat with a fork, and you love to make a mess at every meal. You would be happy as a vegetarian, but we're still trying to get you to eat meat. You do like hot dogs, in fact you ask for it at every meal. When we ask you what your name is, you reply "Hooot dooog". I never knew a two year old could have such a sense of humor, but boy are you funny.

You love to play. Everything can be turned into a game with you. You love taking baths and splashing all of the water out of the tub. You love to swing. You love to build the tallest towers you can. You love to read books (Dr. Seuss' ABC over and over and over). You love to go in the sprinklers. You love to ride the subway. You love to be tickled. You love to try to eat people's noses (don't ask me how that started!). You love to run to the opposite side of the hall when we get home so we have to chase you into the house. You love life. Never grow out of the way you live in the moment.

Now, bring on the 2's!! How much fun are we going to have this year? We love you so much. Happy Second Birthday LG!

Hugs and kisses,

Mom and Dad

Weekend in the Bronx (kind of)

Sorry for all of the posts at one time! After this I'm all caught up on pictures. I'm lucky Chris is taking a super long nap today.

A friend of ours had a run in her hometown a couple of weekends ago. It was a short train ride away, so we decided to go. Chris loves taking the train!

While it doesn't look like it here, he seemed to enjoy our walk (no way were we running with a stroller up those hills!). The town was just passed the Bronx and adorable. It had a cute town square and everything.

After the walk we found the nearby lake so Conan could go fish (we think legally :-) ). Christopher found the ducks. He loved looking at them in the water.

Then, the geese came out to see him. He was so excited to see the babies, until they came a little too close. I was surprised, but they came right up beside him. (No pictures of that, I had to rescue him!). He still asks about them, "Mommy, Daddy, baby ducks?".

The LG napped in the stroller while I walked him around the town and then we hopped on the train to go home. Until, the train stopped at the Botanical Gardens and we abruptly decided we needed to get off.

They had an adorable children's garden there. There were lots of cool plant structures like this one.

But Christopher was the most excited about the letters and blocks everywhere.

Chris just wasn't sure why he couldn't take the letters.

Success! He got out a little t. I'm not sure if you can see his face from behind the plant, but there was a major meltdown when Dad said no stealing letters from the Botanical Garden.

The nice ladies there talked me into getting a season pass there, and I talked my sweet husband into it, so you should be seeing lots of Botanical Gardens pictures from us this year.