i love when everyone puts up old photos on instagram on thursdays with the #tbt hashtag. i haven’t played along before, but today when i was organizing photos on my phone, i about died. i mean, can you even tell which baby is eleanor and which baby is samson in these photos above? josh was maybe stumped for a little bit.
————
^^^watching a helicopter up in the sky! i gotta tell ya, having a toddler in tow really helps you take note of things you’d probably miss otherwise. it’s been fun to slow down and take the time to notice things like cracks in the sidewalk and clouds in the sky! we also tend to fill our pockets with every rock we come across these days. that part we are trying to work on a little bit, because heavy rocks in their pockets? it’s hard enough carrying just the child. ;)^^^
^^^we met up with friends who were visiting nyc on saturday for some shake shack in madison square park. shake shack has teamed up with no kid hungry for the month of may… so for every $2 you donate this month towards the cause when you order your food, you receive a card for a free shake of your choice on your next visit! totally awesome. learn more about the cause HERE.^^^
^^^fwend!^^^
^^^the new art installation in madison square park has over 1.4 million feet of painted nautical rope from artist orly genger! it’s so colorful and fun, you kind of feel like you’re in candy land, or a dr. seuss book! the installation will be up through september so go check it out!^^^
other exciting things not photographed here:
samson has started standing on his own for a few seconds at a time! the look on his face when he realizes he’s actually standing and not holding onto anything, oh goodness! it’s pure magic. i cannot get enough of that baby of mine.
speaking of babies, the other night as i was sitting down all comfortable and relaxed on our sofa, when eleanor came up, poked my belly and said, baby in tummy? nope. there’s no baby in there right now, but shoot! my toddler has picked up on how mama’s tummy is kind of not ready for swimsuit season. that was embarrassing. truly, so embarrassing.
i tried all weekend to put together a mother’s day gift guide for this blog of mine, but to be honest, at two and a half years into being a mom around this holiday, when i really think about what i’d want come mother’s day gifts, i think of things like sleeping in. or a loooong afternoon nap in a very quiet and still apartment. perhaps that is just me (and a kind nudge to myself to give sleep training another proper go), but i don’t think i’m too off base when i think gifts like these are kind of the best gifts for any mama. if you’re trying to find a gift for a mother in your life, maybe give her a second set of hands for an afternoon so she can go do something *anything* she’d like– from grocery shopping on her own (oh it’s such a luxury!) to going to a matinee movie to taking a nap…. i think she’d appreciate it. and if you live close to your own mama, maybe give her some face time. what i wouldn’t do to be able to take my own sweet mama and mother-in-law out to lunch this weekend. living far away is such a bother sometimes. and don’t forget about all of the women in your life who aren’t mamas just yet but are mothers in so many other ways. so very thankful to be surrounded by inspiring women on a daily basis here in the city, mothers or not. i love them so much. anyway, just a few thoughts.
happy wednesday!
with mother’s day approaching this sunday, we have teamed up with our sponsor rebecca minkoff to giveaway a $500 store credit to one lucky reader to go shop away at rebeccaminkoff.com!
while i think it’s safe to say most mama’s are happy with getting to sleep in come sunday (i mean!), who doesn’t love getting to pick out a little something for themselves, too? in order to enter, please visit rebecca minkoff’s mother’s day shop, then come back to the blog and comment below telling us what you’d use your $500 store credit towards! the winner will be drawn this coming friday! good luck!
ps. HERE’s a little feature on the rebecca minkoff site about me being a mama and my mother’s day plans if you’d like to read. thanks for having me!
i feel honored to be included in the may issue of pregnancy and newborn magazine! they did a story on “5 fascinating moms” and i had extra fun putting this collage of the pages together because i got to paste my photo next to an olympic gold medalist (who was pregnant when she won her gold medal?!) kind of surreal to be included among mamas like that because pretty sure i was eating every potato chip in sight and complaining about fatigue during my first trimesters. ;)
you can read the article online, HERE.
yesterday was one of those days where i kept telling josh at the end of it, “today was so good!” i think the weather had a bit to do with this. and a picnic in central park. and kids that are just happy and content when they are outside and free. and spending time with good friends (we got to see meg yesterday.) also, comfortable shoes (i managed to walk six miles around the city, it was so beautiful out.) we stayed outside all day.
we played in a few different parts of central park. the kids took turns napping in the stroller. we found an ice cream stand. and a wafels and dinges truck. we ended up at josh’s office at the end of the day and walked all the way home together as a family. when we got into the apartment, we carried the kids straight to the bathroom and plopped them right into the bathtub. when you’re scrubbing multiple layers of dirt off your toddler, i think it’s safe to say the kids had a good day, too.
^^^eleanor’s new bag which pretty much consists of a few coins and a few rocks. i have a feeling that bag is gonna go everywhere with us this summer.^^^
^^^”hmmmm. which ice cream cone do i want?”^^^^^
^^^”this one!” (which was nice cause it was also the cheapest one!)^^^
^^^before it dripped all over all of us and all of central park. we were sticky for most of the day.^^^
^^^eleanor, you’re the best.^^^
^^^and these are sort of the greatest.^^^
^^^and meg, you are the prettiest.^^^
^^^a trail of drool everywhere we go. meet samson.^^^
^^^these umbrellas. such a sweet site.^^^
^^^can you see those two top teeth in samson’s mouth? and can you believe in less than a month we are celebrating this boy’s first birthday? how scary that is!^^^
have a great weekend!
JOSH
JOSH