The Boston Children's Museum

Thursday we went with H., C., C's mom, and Gram to the Boston Children's Museum.  It was a tri-generational adventure!  We had a blast and the kids loved it even though they were a little young for most of the exhibits.

We left for nap time, the kids slept on the way and we spent the afternoon there and loved it so much we stayed until it closed!

We started at, revisited and ended at MiniM.E.'s favorite room, the bubble room.

Trying to make a bubble around us.  Fail.

At first MiniM.E. was just fascinated.

Until...

She realized she could POP the bubbles.

Mouth popping!

Head popping

"Taking shower!"

 MiniM.E. is still talking about the bubbles.  "Making bubbles museum!" "Pop bubbles head!" "Pop bubbles mouth!" "Pop bubbles ear!" "Taking shower!" (because the bubbles popped and got her all wet) "Bubbles one more time!"

MiniM.E.'s second favorite thing at the museum was the turtle exhibit that you could lie down under!  Both the kids loved seeing the turtles swim over them.  MiniM.E. kept asking to see the turtles "one more time" the whole time we were at the museum.

There was a ball room where you could roll golf balls down all sorts of ramps.

The best place for our 1 1/2 year olds was the 0-3 room.  There were books, puzzles, games, and mini furniture.

A small play area (MiniM.E. loved the steering wheel).

A teeter totter,

fun with two

and fun with one, too.

 A tiny car that H. wanted to drive all day

H. driving with his girl

Trying to sneak a kiss!

Then we played in the big kid exhibits.  When we weren't trying to pull our kids away from trampling big kids, they had lots of fun.

Dancing on the dance floor

 MiniM.E. wanted to spend the rest of the day at Peep's Water World, but she was a little too short to actually play in the water...

We pulled ourselves up in a pulley chair...

And had fun in the Blue Man Group exhibit.

The visit to the museum went much better than we all expected.  The kids were really well behaved and had a blast (every time we get in the car MiniM.E. asks if we're going to the museum).  We thought we wore them out, but both kids must have been too excited to sleep because they were both up late!

Can't wait to bring Daddy and some of our other friends back to the museum soon!

We All Scream for Ice Cream!

Or at least we scream in the car on the way there because Gram isn't in the car with us...

MiniM.E. is very attached to her Gram.  When she visits now (or when we visit her) MiniM.E. could care less about me.  She always wants "Gram do it".  Which is nice... I'm glad MiniM.E. loves my mom and I can't say I'm sad to have a little bit of a break.

BUT, it is a little frustrating when we do something without Gram and MiniM.E. has a cow.

At least ice cream is a good distraction and Friendly's was only five minutes from home.

yummy cone head sundae!

H. LOVES ice cream.  MiniM.E. would rather have a crayon.

 MiniM.E. was all about the ice cream for about 5 minutes. Then she was ready to go.  C. and I had a good time chatting anyway, and H. loved it!

First Kiss

We made it to NH Monday evening and it was nice to be in a germ-free house and just relax.  We were visiting my mom and my sister (my dad was on a business trip) and also my friend from high school, C. and her son, H.  We hadn't seen them since Christmas, and even then we only saw them for a few minutes, so we were all really looking forward to spending some time together.

Our week started out with sledding on Tuesday.  Except that it was warm out and the snow was really heavy so it was less sledding and more sticking, which MiniM.E. was NOT a fan of.  It might not have helped that she didn't have a nap.  No problem though because we chose to sled at a school playground, so there were other things for the kids to do.  Like swing.

Then we went home for a snack.

Things didn't seem to be going so well for the kids,

but they soon got over the sharing issue and made up with some hugs.

And then THIS happened!!!

first kiss!

Which is totally cute now, but will not be cute when they're twelve.

We might have encouraged it a little... because how cute is this?

oops! missed a little!

After H. went home MiniM.E. had a blast in the bath with some new bath toys.

tee-hee! baby bum!

love this smile...

and this face... 

The Evil Norovirus

Let me begin this post with an apology.

I am truly sorry that I haven't posted in weeks.  I hope you're all still out there and are anxiously awaiting my next post.  I'm also a little sad because this blog is a way for me to keep tabs on what happened in MiniM.E.'s life too.  I guess its like a journal or a diary.  Sort of.  Except that I'm putting it out there for everyone to read.  AND it's hardly about me at all.  I digress...

WARNING: the following paragraphs are a bit graphic.  If you're eating a snack right now, you should probably stop.  Or quickly scroll down to the part with the picture.

Two and a half weeks ago the norovirus hit our house.  HARD.  I'd heard stories of vomiting children and children with diarrhea and laughed along as fellow moms told horror stories of the puke they had to clean off the ceiling and the poop that seeped through two pairs of pants and a towel onto the couch, Fortunately (or unfortunately as I wasn't prepared for what happened) for me, MiniM.E. has never been a puker- maybe a couple spit-up episodes here and there.  She's had her share of poop-splosions, but I never expected what I encountered for a week after the virus hit.

MiniM.E. started with the virus by puking up all food and drink consumed over at least a 12 hour period onto my laminate kitchen floor from my arms resulting in an amazing splatter that reached the underside of the kitchen table, the stove, the fridge all cabinets and the better part of a wall.  She didn't keep anything down for 24 hours.  Though a lot of stuff came up.  On the couch, on me, on the crib, on the floor.  It was a little ridiculous.  The vomit was followed by a week of diarrhea to which I will only say that we went through more outfits than we would have in weeks, I did more laundry than I do in a month, there were several  bath-worthy occasions and in an undisclosed parking lot, there may still be a pile of poo.

In the middle of the second half of MiniM.E.'s virus I got it, then Bob got it.  Thankfully my mom came to take care of MiniM.E. while neither of us could get out of bed, but then SHE got it.  Finally we were all better enough to make a trip to NH, though it was a day later than we expected.

SO, that explains the first half of my blogging hiatus.

This is the only picture I have of MiniM.E. for at least a week.  And it's her in a pile of (clean) laundry.  Because that is all I did for what seemed like a week.

RIP Zoe-Kitty

Last week we watched our friends' cat while they were on vacation.  MiniM.E. loved it and every day woke up and asked, "See Zoe-Kitty? Pet-em??"

Unfortunately, Zoe's health has been declining and she got sicker while her family was gone.

They had to put her down yesterday and I just wanted to say we'll miss her.  Especially MiniM.E.

RIP Zoe

Shutterfly Mug Sale

Shutterfly.com is having a mug sale today.  Enter code MUGSALE and get an 11oz white personalized photo mug for 4.99.  Can't beat that!  It's a little early for Father's Day, but I just made this one:

Mug

View the entire collection of cards.

16 Months Old!

... and two stomach bugs!  MiniM.E. really hasn't been a sick baby with the exception of a few colds and an ear infection.  Then last week she got a stomach bug and just as she got over it, she woke up this morning with another one.  Poor MiniM.E. has been throwing up all morning.  Fortunately, she was able to fall asleep for a nap.  I'm hoping she feels better when she wakes up because there's only so much throw up I feel like cleaning up in one day.  I'm already up to one couch, one blanket, one carpet, three loads of laundry, and the entire kitchen floor.

Despite being sick, she's been in pretty good spirits.

Her favorite indoor activity is playing on the stairs.  With the amber necklace she no longer allows us to put on her.  And yes, I do realize that that is potentially dangerous.  But she LOVES it and it's the only activity that keeps her entertained for more than five minutes.

And on the plus side, she's getting really good at going down on her own (she mastered up a long time ago).

We've also been taking a lot of walks and getting outside as much as possible.  Even with a stomach bug!

taking a break

and another...

who wants to ride when you can push?

happy as long as I have my bunnies!

mittens on!

 The best part of our walks (if they're downtown) is always feeding the ducks.

When it's too cold to go out but we want to get out of the house, we usually go play at the mall.  Unfortunately, last weekend the playground was closed.  At least there were balloons...

And RVs.

MiniM.E. has also been pretty good at playing at home.  Probably because we keep so busy that we aren't there much and she doesn't have a lot of time to be bored.

who can be bored when you're not wearing pants?

figuring it out

peek-a-boo!

LOVE this expression

 The best part of the day is always bath time.  MiniM.E. would spend days in the bath if I let her.

It's always nice to have a little extra time when your sick baby takes a long nap.  Hope she feels better when she wakes up!