A Week & A Half Later...

I have a newfound appreciation for all parents who have ever potty-trained a child.  As if I wasn't exhausted before.  Carrying around at least two types of potty seats, one potty in the car, at least three pairs of tiny underwear, a change of clothes, and more wipes than I had in my bag when MiniM.E. was an infant have tested the limits of the bags I have and the arms to carry them.  We've added in at least another (if not two or three) load(s) of laundry per day.  AND there's the occasional clean up.  Not to mention the mental strain of constantly examining my child's facial expressions and body language to determine whether or not she might be gearing up for something I have to remind her to get to the potty for.

love that she picked Thomas the Train underwear

But honestly, it is STILL 1,000 times better than diapers.  I am more than thrilled and excited and I'm extremely proud.  We've come so far from the first couple days ("Hey! I just peed on the carpet!!") to days with just a couple "oops, we were a couple seconds too late...".  I must admit, the first few days I thought we might never be able to venture out of the house again in fear of having an accident in a public place.  But like all other parent-related tasks that seem daunting at first, after the first time we had a huge accident while we were out and I realized, "hey, that wasn't SO bad..." we went back to our normal routine.

MiniM.E. is doing great, I'm adjusting fairly well, and overall, everyone is much happier than we were two weeks ago when a diaper change resulted in a full-on high-speed chase around the house, four or five failed attempts to get the diaper off, one screaming child needing to be cleaned up, and a repeat of steps one and two to get a clean diaper ON.

And with that, here's what we've been up to now that we're back to enjoying the last weeks of summer.

Playgrounds & Our Yard:

Look at her swing!

The Peerless Pool

Quality Cat Time:

Breakfast at the Track:

Followed by A Morning at Congress Park:

Dancing at a Concert in The Park:

Lake Moreau:

The Sandbox:

An Evening at Polo:

what a cute divot stomper!

And we're off... to a last summer week in New Hampshire.  The plan?  Swimming, swimming, swimming, ice cream, the ocean and a boat on Lake Winnipesaukee. Hope you're all enjoying the last weeks of August.

Summertime Fun!

The end of July was incredibly busy.  We were going places or hosting visitors or I was making birthday cakes (more on that later).  But it looks like we might be in for a lazy August!  Until then:

fun in the backyard turtle pool

swimming at the Peerless Pool

baby-bathingsuit model?

we had it all to ourselves!

best photo of the summer

watching the horses warm up at the track

West-side Rec sprinkler park

throwing rocks in the stream at Congress Park

on the horse on the carousel

and in the sleigh

A Week Ago... (A Recap)

MiniM.E.'s grandparents visited for the day.  In my last post I mentioned that Bob may have lost the camera, but as a typical guy might, he just did a bad job looking for it.  Turns out, it was in his backpack.  Here are the photos...

Thanks for the mini chair!

Snacking at the track breakfast

Practicing standing

Pointing at the horses

Guess the tour of the backstretch wasn't very interesting for MiniM.E.

Swinging with MeeMaw

A Morning at the Track

This morning we woke up early to do something I've wanted to do since we moved here last summer.

Let me first clarify that I did not want to wake up early, though with a nine month old, I rarely sleep past 7.  Today we had to be up to leave by 7.  Usually, that wouldn't be a problem.  But, of course, in typically baby form, come 6:15, MiniM.E. was still fast asleep.  6:30, still out cold.  By 6:40 I had to wake her up.  In the morning anything: a sniffle, a cough, running the water, a bird outside... will wake her up- from a dead sleep to wide-awake-sitting.  This morning it seemed like NOTHING would rouse her.  I felt so bad dragging her out of bed, but it was definitely worth it.

We got in the car (begrudgingly with a look that said "but Mommy, this is my playtime!") and drove to the race track.

Last summer during racing season, which is only 7 weeks long, we made it to the track twice to watch the races.  Unfortunately, the races aren't very exciting unless you're betting hundreds of dollars.  Which we don't have.  So we bet change.  Literal change.  Like $.50.  In all fairness, I was pretty pregnant at the time, but when I think back, I'm still not sure that baking in the August sun while sitting on hard wooden benches atop a sea of scorching blacktop waiting for 30 minutes to see horses run past for all of 5 seconds of a one or two minute race sounds like a good time.

Which is why this morning was so awesome.

We parked NEXT TO THE TRACK.  A big step up from parking across the street down a few blocks (though again, my memory of the distance from the car to the track might be a bit jaded by the fact that I was waddling on ankles the size of grapefruits).  Met up with our friends, walked to the Clubhouse past a bunch of horses and had a BUFFET BREAKFAST (my favorite meal of the day served "all-you-can-eat" style? yes please!) while watching the horses warm up on the track.  It was awesome.  There were horses walking and trotting and all-out-sprinting.  Continuously.

MiniM.E. LOVED it.  Our breakfast was full of pointing and squeals of excitement (apologies to the table next to us).

I also thought it was pretty awesome to eat and watch the horses.  Though between rescuing the silverware and placemats, cutting up fruit, collecting fallen bits of food and making sure MiniM.E. didn't fall through a leg-hole in the high chair as she twisted every which way- all the while trying to shovel food into my mouth, I didn't get to see much of the horses.

Good thing there was a free tour after breakfast featuring lots of up-close-and-personal time with more horses.  (But not TOO close, because apparently those things can kick!)  MiniM.E. and BabyA. took a siesta while we walked through the Backstretch.

I was a little disappointed MiniM.E. didn't get to see more horses close up, but it probably made the tour more enjoyable for everyone else.

Both babies woke up just as we got on the tram back to the front of the track.

We even got our $10 parking fee back for leaving by 10(:25)!  We'll definitely be going to the track for breakfast again!