not so hungry

About two months ago we began trying to give Gus solid food.  The first day we gave him rice cereal and he was pretty good about it.  

We took pictures and all had a grand ol' time.

Of course, Jimmy wanted to help.

He did better than I remember Jimmy ever doing so I perhaps got overly excited.  Ever since then it has all been down hill.  He has so little interest in anything soft.   He makes this grossed out face when I give him apple sauce and then continues to make gagging noises and often times throw up whatever actually made it down.  I am jealous of those people who say once they give there kids food that they will start sleeping better because this guy still loves waking up a lot.  I have a feeling he is actually hungry, but he just doesn't like this puree business for some reason.  I got him some little puffy snacks that dissolve easily, but those only seem to serve as entertainment when he is in his high chair and not really a belly filler.  Jimmy was never that interested in the soft stuff either and it does make a mess, but now I just need to figure out what Gus can handle without choking.  Mostly, he likes to eat little bits of things he finds on the ground.

ranch market

This is a huge supermarket in Phoenix that carries all sorts of Mexican specialties. We took Aunt Angie there because they have a counter where you can order pretty much whatever Mexican dish your heart desires.  I didn't take a lot of pictures, but it is a pretty fun place.

They have tons of cakes and pastries.  Some look delicious and some look crazy. I took a picture of this one because I thought it was hilarious.

 Erin loves the Aguas Frescas which are fresh squeezed juices. She and Jimmy are all about the watermelon juice (the thought of it actually makes my throat feel swollen and scratchy, but that is just me).  Jimmy thought it was such a cool place and he kept telling us how beautiful it was. He loved all the colored banners and the streamer hanging from the fans.  

I guess, it seems like a pretty impressive place to a three year old.

downtown phoenix day

We had a little morning adventure in Downtown Phoenix a few weeks back with Aunt Angie and Aunt Erin.  We wanted to check out a new shopping and eating area called City Scape, but it was rather a disappointment at 9 am on a Tuesday when everything is closed.  The fountain that seemed like it would be fun to play in is lame and only comes on for a few seconds every minute or so.  Jimmy liked it, but only for about 5 minutes.  I am all for the idea of drawing more social life downtown and I am happy our mayor is working on it, but it just isn't a kid thing (at least not yet, it isn't actually finished yet).  I am sure it is more fun at night.  However, Jimmy did love the fountain that ran down the stairs because he could throw thing in the top and watch them come down the waterfall at the bottom.   I am not encouraging putting dirty things in our city's fountains, but it made him happy and that is the kind of mom I am.

 Gus was pretty happy just to get pushed around in his stroller.

 I took pictures of some of my favorite buildings downtown just for fun.

 This is the old courthouse:

The Luhrs Tower 

(which my camera could not fully capture)

 

And my favorite, the supposedly haunted, Hotel San Carlos.

(It is the only one I have been inside of, but that is a long story for another time)

 We went for a walk through the park.

 Jimmy thinks this sculpture looks like a spider web, but I think it looks like a tornado, so we have dubbed it the "Spiderweb-Tornado." 

 Then we headed to the Phoenix Public Market.

Jimmy made some pretend phone calls to Nano.

(Nano, I have film footage of this to show you eventually, but Blogger doesn't like to let me upload videos more than about 10 seconds.)

 Gus was loving that Aunt Erin was giving him lots of cold water.

 ...and throwing him up in the air, which her arms and shoulders are now thoroughly paying for.

 And while it was not our last adventure of this certain day, I will sum things up with our visit to the downtown library.

 Jimmy still loves the baby section here so it is a good thing we have a baby to bring along as an excuse.

 We think he is pretty cute, too.

And the librarian will be happy to know that I finally let Jimmy check out books at the library!!

windsor and churn

We were lucky enough to have two aunties come to town on the same day recently, so we took the occasion as a chance to try out a new restaurant nearby called The Windsor, and then hit up it's neighboring ice cream shop called Churn.  It is a cute little spot and it makes me so happy when I see people renovate run-down old store fronts instead of just tearing them down.  These two spots are owned by the same people who own Postino (where Zach used to work) so we know they do good work.  We are happy they have created another fun neighborhood hangout on our side of town.

They have a cool installation of old cassette tapes.

However, I have to say one of my favorite parts was the bathrooms.

Is it weird that I took pictures in there?

 This was the awesome wall paper:

 Oh yeah, and the food was really good, too.

The definite highlight was the Mac and Cheese.  

 And then we went for the ice cream.  

Jimmy chose chocolate, but I got a Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwich with Coffee Ice Cream inside. Yum.

 Oh yeah, and my Dad has really embraced his inner scary old man.

Thanks. We loved being there.

don't look away

Now that Gus is crawling I really can't look away for a minute.  He manages to find anything that has been left behind on the floor, from an old piece of food to one of those little plastic price tag holders that you have to pull off of new clothes.  I actually had to pull a Lego out of his mouth a few days ago.  I was sitting right next to him while he was playing on the floor with a huge pile of age appropriate toys, but he manages to put his hand under the couch and pull out the tiniest thing he can find.  And Jimmy had been so good about picking all of them up when I asked him, because, as he likes to tell me quite frequently, "Gus might choke."  Still, we can't control him.  Gus also loves cords, and I have to figure out a way to block off  every possible cord in my house because he will find a way to reach it and have fun wrapping it around his neck.  I can't even put him in his swing because even strapped in he manages to throw at least half of his body out of it.

On that note, I am reminded of an incident from a few months ago when I left the table for a few minutes at lunch time, only to come back to find Jimmy like this:

Now this is not the first time that this has happened, but usually it was caused by the lack of a nap or some sort of sleep deprivation.  On this day I was surprised because it was such a normal routine day.  I particularly like that his nose is sitting right in his tuna sandwich.  So I set Gus in his swing and in my hurry didn't strap him in.  I carried Jimmy to his bed, and when I came back to Gus, he was like this:

My first instinct was to grab him, but then I stopped myself because I was so impressed that he was holding himself there and wanted to see how long he could do it.  He was just gently rocking himself back and forth and did so for a few minutes.  So, of course, I had time to grab my camera... I always do.  

master builder

Jimmy quote of the day (via three days ago):

"Mom, you are the best mom ever because you are so good at making stuff."

Never-mind, the fact that after that after I thanked him, he qualified it by saying, "...But you are not as good as Dad."  I knew this statement was only induced by our recent furniture purchases from Ikea that I had not been partaking in the building of, so I managed to clear things up and we came to an agreement that Dad is the best at building Legos and furniture (I will give him that), but that Mom is the best at everything else.  Sorry, Zach, but this is, in fact, a competition.  So I am glad my graduate degree is being useful these days and making me cool in the eyes of my son.  So yeah, I rock.

P.S.- I am officially teaching a Prop Design Class next fall! Whoohoo!

band names

I guess, I unconsciously named my children after bands I like.

Jimmy Eat CD.

Gus Eat Everything.

So, I am thinking, boy or girl, the next kid is Weezer.  

What do you think?

penelope

We are just so excited about our newest cousin that we wanted to show her off.  Penelope Giovanna Trueheart was born on June 7, 2011 at 1:43 AM, weighing 7 lbs. 6 oz. and measuring 20.5 in.  

Congrats to the proud parents, Ben and Michelle.  We can't wait to meet her!

little cardboard town

Here is a fun little cardboard town Jimmy and I made together.  

It started as in inside project, but then we brought it out in the shade and added some "trees" which made it so much cooler. 

(Yes, it does appear the Army is attacking the Fire Department)

 Jimmy loved helping build it and play with it, but...

 It was hard to share.

(Yep, that is a hit caught on camera... well, maybe more of "love tap")
I guess, there are some games the little brother isn't quite ready for yet.

 So, then we just decided to turn it into a game of Godzilla Baby.

The only problem was that this has gotten me on a huge cardboard kick so I cannot stop at just this.  Lots of cardboard boxes are accumulating on my porch.  We have already made more buildings and I have big plans to make this town into a city.