Newark Moms Playdate

I've recently been spending a little time skimming through the Delaware Online Moms-Like-Me web page. At first, I really couldn't find anything that really interested me about it. I mean I've lurked on my share of chat boards, but personally just never was committed enough to keep up with one.

Then, I saw a feature where you could connect with other mothers in your zip code and thought it was great. I joined the group and introduced myself as a mother with a 9 month old. I really want Jude to spend time with some kids his age (it's not sooo important now, but as he gets older, I feel it will be more and more important), so I asked if there were any mothers with kids int he same age range who wanted to get together. I want him to learn to share, to get the social interaction, not be too shy, etc.

Well, after like a week I had no responses and thought it was a dud of an idea. Then one day, I get a auto-generated e-mail saying there was activity on one of my posts and I got a little excited. Around that time, two mothers with kids close in age said they too were looking for a playgroup, so the wheels were set in motion.

When it was just the two mother and me, we decided to meet for a mall walk with the kids. Really this particular meeting sounded like it was more about the moms than the kids, but I went with it. Before we had a chance to actually set anything up, the group of interested persons grew to about 6 or 7 and that just seemed to be a little too big to go walking through the mall. I asked if anyone else was interested in meeting at the library and got a few interested persons. The library was free, they have a sitting area, toys, etc, so it seemed perfect. We set it up for 10:30 this morning.

I'm not sure when it happened, but at some point in Ryan and I's relationship, I became this socially awkward mess (he has really rubbed off on me). I avoid people I knew from high school at the mall b/c I hate awkward conversation and so meeting these new women was kind of a big deal. I would really be putting myself out there in the world of small talk.

I woke up this morning slightly nervous. I mean I'd be making conversation with women I didn't know.. and based off of the information I had gotten from them, I'd be one of the youngest mothers. But I got Jude ready, grabbed the books we needed to return anyway and headed to the library.

There was already a little boy there who was probably 2 1/2 when I got there. He was with his grandmother and older than any of the kids the women I talked to said they'd be bringing. Right when I showed up, another 2 year old showed up with his grandmother as well... and then a little girl who was probably 4-5 or older... and some more 2ish year olds... but none of the 7-9 month old babies. Bummer.

It wasn't THAT big of a deal. I mean I needed to go to the library to return books anyway, and I ended up talking to a nice Indian woman and her son who was just under 2 years... but all of the other 6+ women never showed up.

So, instead of having other babies Jude's age, there were once again, a bunch of children older than him, with mothers saying "be careful for the baby! share with the baby! don't step on the baby!" instead of people Jude could really interact with. He loves to look at other kids and seems interested in playing with them, so I feel bad for the poor little guy sometimes when they're all putting this protective bubble around him.

As I said, there was one woman who's son loved "the baby". He held Jude's hand and played with him and shared his toys with him. Jude was standing up against one toy and the kid thought it was so neat. They laughed with each other and it was oh-so-cute. All of this made it not be a huge waste of a trip.

Maybe it was just a bad time for the others... maybe a bad location... who knows. I figured I'd give it one more go before giving up on it 100%.

What Building has the most Stories??

The Library!!! (get it?)

Friday we began our 'celebration' of V-Day. I was sitting down for story time with Jude and came across a book he had gotten for Christmas. It's a series of Peanut's stories with different holiday themes - one of which is Valentine's day. It was a longer story than Jude is accustomed to, so I let him crawl around the room while I read aloud. He could care less. (but I'm still convinced it's doing him some good...)

Then, Saturday, we had some errands to run - one of which was the post office right outside the Newark Library. I decided to swing in and check the place out. I honestly hadn't been since they remodeled a couple of years ago and kept telling myself I would take Jude. Honestly, it's a great place for these cold, yucky days we've been having.

I'm pretty sure this was Jude's second trip to the library. I think Ryan had taken him once while I was at work - but more for the adult section, not the children's reading area. We got there at a perfect time, because their children's bilingual story-time was just beginning. The theme: Valentine's day!

I had taken Jude to story time a few times at Potterybarn Kids before they closed and he was always well behaved, so we decided to sit in for this. It was very sweet. A group of teenagers ran it. They would read a few lines from a story and then read it again in Spanish.

Afterwards, they sang a song and passed out supplies to make a special someone a Valentine. We (Jude and I) made one from Jude to Ryan. I did most of the work and Jude nearly threw a fit because I wouldn't let him eat the crayons. But I'm sure it's pretty special.

Afterwards we wandered around the children's section. I really need to go one day and just absorb the whole area. There were sooo many books, I didn't even know where to begin! I was looking for some classic books, but a lot of them looked pretty lame, I think browsing through I'll eventually start to filter out the bulk. In addition, they had a couple of small toys in the middle for kids to play with and a kind of half-circle sitting area. I let Jude crawl around while I browsed the books near by. There happened to be a couple of other kids there (much older than Jude) who he just laughed at and admired from afar. I ended up picking up a few that I thought Ryan might like to read to him.

I hope to make more frequent trips in the near future!

Later that night, Ryan and I had a much needed night out together. It had been awhile since we really had some adult time, so dinner and a movie was just what we needed. Ryan took me to see "Valentine's Day", which I'm pretty sure he hated.

Because I love sharing pictures...

The weekend storm...

An after-lunch rinse:

Daily story time...

snow... snow... snow...

preparing for our snow ball fight...

Bryan took care of business. We set up four walls, one for each person to stand behind, in the middle of our yard. We put a "flag" in the middle. We threw snowballs at each other from behind the walls and if you could dive out from behind your wall and touch the flag before you got hit, you got a point. Jude was only so interested in the snow, so I only enjoyed the first half, but it was oh-so-fun.

Buddy was LOVING the snow! LOVING it! I would throw snowballs on the ground around him and he was running after them like they were balls. At one point he was digging into the snow to try and "find" the snow balls.

I'm BACK!... ?

So I TOTALLY feel like I've been absent from the blogging world... or at least spending very little time there. I'll say that Jude moving around has opened a whole new exciting world for me. I love just following him around, redirecting his crawl and just watching him be so totally adorable.

But the truth of it is that his moving around is NOT why I've been absent. Quite frankly, he seems to enjoy his crawling more when I'm not hovering over him. He plays with Buddy (well, his collar), inspects his toys, tries to find any cord he can and chases after anything that looks like I might snatch it away from him immediately (remotes, shoes, purse, crafty stuff, etc).

Really though, the reason I've been sans internet is because I've been reading. Yes. It's so lame. I feel like a total dork, but I honestly have not been able to put the books down (twilight series for those who don't know). I bought the first three last Friday and started them Friday or Saturday and I had to go back for the fourth because I was reading them so quickly that I didn't want to finish the first three without the fourth close by. LAME! I KNOW! WHAT HAPPENED TO ME??

So, this morning I finished "Eclipse" which is #3 in the series and have "Breaking Dawn" in the living room waiting for me.

I have dishes piled up in the kitchen, clothes to put away and a small get together to prepare for this afternoon and all I keep thinking is how much more convenient it would be if I could just finish reading the book first!

But I tore myself away... and I'm going to do the dishes. I'm going to throw a load of wash in... and I'm going to run to the grocery store.

My trip to the grocery store will be my first time out of the house (aside from work) since Tuesday... I would say I was only staying indoors for Jude's sake (he has a small cold)... but we all know the truth...

But here's my vow that I will be back... so... stay tuned.

Black Friday

In the past I pretty much remember always going out on Black Friday. Usually I didn't have much money to spend, but I was eager just to get in the crowd.

This year, with a baby in tow, I had no interest. My family was all waking up bright and early to hit the ground running, but I decided to skip it all. They did the 4 AM Walmart, 5AM Best Buy and much more, while I was still in the comfort of my bed.

When I did wake up, Ryan and I made a little breakfast and I took my time getting dressed before deciding to meet up with them at the mall. When I did get to them, half of them looked like zombies. Exhausted from no sleep and tired of fighting the lines. I on the other hand felt quite refreshed!

It didn't take me long before I was done without spending much at all. As always, the mall was a huge disappointment when it came to Black Friday sales. Specialty stores, like most of the ones that I shop at just never have the same magnitude of sales like Walmart, Macy's, Best Buy, etc. The idea of a great sale at Gap or Pottery Barn is 10% off... and frankly I do better than that on their clearance items.

One thing I did decide to buy was something Ryan has given me a lot of grief about. Are you all ready for this??? The Twilight Series. Yes. The Books. I was shopping around the Barnes and Noble and came across them and decided to indulge. I'm more than half way through the first book in only a matter of days and for the most part it's pretty in line with the movie. I'm half tempted just to skip to the third book since I know what's going on with the first two... but then I'll never go back to read the others. The only of the four I didn't get was the 4th (breaking dawn) specifically because it was only in hardback... I'll wait to get it when I'm done with the others.

So... I've become one of those 'series obsessed freaks...

... and they all lived happily ever after.

Last night I finished the last of my 6 books in 6 months.

Again, I started this month reading a Jody Picoult book and just couldn't get through it. Every book has pretty much the same thing going on. By the last page things are wrapped up and then BAM there's a twist of some sort that you didn't see coming. I just needed more of a break.

Instead I read 'Pieces' which is a collection of short stories. Some of them were a little strange, but for the most part it was pretty decent.

It's part of the MTV books (I've read others in their collection such as "such a pretty girl" and "the perks of being a wallflower") so I assumed it would at least be tolerable and I was correct.

SO! Read 6 books in 6 months - DONE!

Another One Down

I just finished "The Time Traveler's Wife"! My August book. One month to go!

As a special treat I plan to see the movie tonight! Yippee!

Just in Time

Once I returned to work things obviously got much busier around the Kennedy household. I didn’t have nearly as much free time to lounge around and read a book. As a result, there was a change in plans about which book I read for my July (number 4 out of 6) book. I had started “Vanishing Acts” and promised myself I’d be finishing it on time, but I didn’t.

Two days ago I started to freak out a little (not really freaking out, but got disappointed that I’d have to start again) because I wasn’t any where near done. So, I switched gears a little and hit a new book that could be considered a “light” read. Jenny McCartney’s “Baby Laughs”. I had read “Belly Laughs” (both on loan from Barbie) while pregnant, so knew if it was anything like it, it’d be easy to get through and semi-funny. I was right!

I started it Tuesday night I believe, and finished it last night!

I plan to get through the rest of Vanishing Acts first and start a whole new book for August (so that I’m not cheating and only reading ¾ of a book). Ryan and I hit Border’s last night and I got “The Time Traveler’s Wife”; a collection short stories; and I still have “Keeping Faith” (also by Jodi Picoult). So I have a few options to finish my 6 month goal!

July Book:

Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult

June Book

I will be reading "Love Will Tear Us Apart" for June! After this month's book I will be 1/2 way done this task!

Also, I'm about a week away from finishing my no fast food!

Progress!!!

Another 101 in Progress

Another item on my list: read 6 books in 6 months.

April: "My Sister's Keeper"

May: " Love the One You're With"

I plan to go out this week and pick up a June book.

By September I hope to cross this off my list also.

Really though I enjoy reading a lot and hope this keeps me reading more often as I frequently go through little spurts of reading and then even longer spurts of not reading.

(still no fast food as of today, the 17th!)