Little Boy London

Focus On Fish

2009-09-05T07:45:00.000-04:00

Here are a few highlights from our fun family outing to the Aquarium in St. Pete. It was a fun little day out, and London got to see all kinds of fish and other underwater creatures!

Good thing you can run through the entire aquarium with taking maybe 10 very large steps, perfect for a 1 year old with a very short attention span! We had lots of fun and took a bunch of silly pics as you can clearly see!

The Birthday Boy!

2009-08-20T18:44:00.000-04:00

What a great time at London's Bday bash. The best part of all is London eating his cake, and we got it all on video! He was very cautious at first, but he had not problem making a nice little mess. The video comes to a climactic end when daddy places the entire cake directly into London's mouth, which he gladly accepts. So you must watch to the very end! Check it out here.

London was definitely a spoiled boy on his special day, and of course he got some early gifts. Here he is sitting in his Sesame Street chair, right before heading over to the pool. It also opens like a little futon, complete with a built in sleeping bag! What a spoiled boy! Look at those cute little bottom teeth too, and we just discovered 2 new ones coming in on top too!

Here are a few colorful highlights of London's very special 1st birthday bash.....

He loves his Elmo phone. Now maybe daddy can have his back.

Just ripping right into those presents. He seemed to like the paper just a bit more though.

So many gifts, so much time to play!

Let him eat cake................

As you can see, London didn't quite know what to think. It was like having a band of paparazzi sitting at the dining room table, making him wear a funny hat, while coaxing him to eat sickly sweet cake for the first time in his life.

Don't think he cared much for the hat. It stayed on his head for about an 1/8 of a second.

And then, colorful end to a fun and colorful day!

Good Morning Sunshine!

2009-08-07T18:14:00.000-04:00

Here's the cutie boy just as he woke up yesterday morning. He's been sleeping in these days. Lately, he's been waking up happy and chipper at about 9am.

It was the perfect morning to get out with London on a nice beach walk. This is something that we do from time to time, but this summer has been pretty brutal. I don't remember the summer this humid since I first moved to Florida 5 years ago.

Considering it was Friday, I was feeling kind of carefree this, so I took my camera along for our "power" stroll. Usually I walk like a mad woman, working up a crazy sweat. Midway, I like to add in some tricep dips on a nearby bench and add in a few walking lunges for good measure. Here's London watching me get in a few dips.

Our walk was a little different and kind of ironic too. Since moving to Florida, I haven't really found anything to be particularly that interesting, especially the landscape. I mean, how many palm trees can you look at? Our walk today was reminiscent of my time living Paris when my trusty manual reflex 35mm camera came with me everywhere, always equipped with high-contrast black and white film. I remember being fascinated by everything, and noticing beauty in even the most mundane things. (OK, I know it was Paris, so that was pretty easy to do!) I couldn't wait to get back to the black room to develop my film. Now, I can't wait upload! Anyway, ironically our walk was kind of like that too. Go figure.

Check out our little "pictorial journey," to see what we saw out on our walk, but somehow have never witnessed quite in this way.

Picture of the Day

2009-06-19T18:10:00.000-04:00

Pardon me mom, but can I have your attention? I've been a very good boy today, and I would like a puffy please.

Picture of The Day

2009-06-18T20:31:00.000-04:00

Some daily London.......

Miz Karen

2009-06-17T20:07:00.000-04:00

Karen came for a visit a few weeks ago. Here are some pictures from our wonderful day!

It was so cute to watch Karen doing yoga poses with London looking on inquisitively, while Karen sang little colorful songs that only Karen could conjure up.

Here's London's attempt at opening up Karen's gift-

Assessing the situation....

Getting ready to open it up...

He didn't exactly use his hands, but this method was still very effective......

Picture of the Day

2009-06-17T19:53:00.000-04:00

As London was sitting and playing this morning after our morning beach walk, we had a fun little photo shoot. Out of the several shots taken, this one stands out as the "picture of the day." I hope for this to be the first in the series to keep you all "in the loop" as London grows. He has 2 new bottom teeth that are absolutely precious. I'll get a picture of those yet. For now, here's our little sweetie boy striking a pose........

At The Beach

2009-05-24T08:47:00.000-04:00

Sharing some beauties from our very special day.............

Guess Who Started Crawling?

2009-04-06T18:38:00.000-04:00

You guessed it, London! Yes, the little monster has finally started to crawl! It's time to start the child proofing process! Instead of embedding the video here, since it doesn't always seem to work, you can watch it here. As I was making this video, I had no idea he was going to do this, and I was lucky enough to catch him crawling for the very first time!

Once again, I've been a little lax in getting new photos published, but here are a few of the latest and greatest-

Fun in The Pool

2009-03-20T08:06:00.000-04:00

I'm trying really hard to keep up with posting new pics as I take them. Problem is-- I take more pictures then I can keep up with! I'm so proud of myself, because I finally removed the 400 plus photos that were sitting on the computer. I did it just in time, because I totally ran out of disk space!

Here's a cutie of London and daddy in the pool last week. I realize there aren't too many with mommy, but I promise some of those soon!

Today, we're planning on heading to the beach. Hopefully we'll make that happen. Living on the beach is nice, but what an challenge it is with the baby! We figured out that the best way to do this is- put London in the carrier, and drag the stroller behind us on the sand. This should be interesting. I'll let you know how it all works out later....

Yesterday, I was hoping to do a repost from our Day at MFA because I hit publish before the post was done. Oops! So check it out again, because there are some adorable shots of London. Check it out here.

Oh my gosh, look at that belly! Everyone seems to think London is a big boy for his age, but he's right on target. I think that's the perception because he's got that cute chubby belly, and his head is a little bigger then most babies his age. Personally, I think that's his best feature! He's our little "biggins" as Jay loves to call him.

More later on the trip to the beach....

London & Mommy's Day at MFA

2009-03-18T21:37:00.000-04:00

What a great day we had at the Museum of Fine Arts, here in St. Pete. I made the decision that we had to get out of the house and do something cultural.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that there was an Albrecht Durer exhibition at the museum. As we wandered through the gallery, I was reminded of my junior year at Parsons, when I took an engraving class one semester. When I think of my silly little engraving, I was in awe at the detail of Durer's engravings. Some, the size of quarter. Absolutely amazing! In addition to the engravings were many of his woodcuts as well. The exhibition was small, yet impressive. Not exactly the Met, but there's always something spiritual and sacred about being in a place filled with art.

After London proceeded to "voice" his opinions of the exhibition, we headed over to this little interactive studio to make our very own woodcutting. London wanted to write his name....

And make some funny elephants too...

Then, we headed over to Hooker Tea across the street for my favorite Iced Sri Lankan Chai, and saw some funny fake ducks....

Then, before I knew it, the little bugger fell asleep. London napped on the way home, and then of course when we got home, his schedule got thrown off completely! I got an earful from Jayzee about that one! It was worth it though, because London was mesmerized by his visual experience. He was looking at everything with wonder in his eyes. I can't wait until he starts asking questions.....or do I?

No photo opps yesterday, the only looks I got of the little monster, were some blank stares as I was sipping my tea, alerting me to the fact that it was time to get home for a nap. So, to make up for it, here are some real cuties I shot today....

London Works With Mommy

2009-02-27T16:02:00.000-05:00

Here's the boy today in mommy's office playing for a few minutes in his Exersaucer. He likes to play,and look out the window at the birdies.

London at the Park

2009-02-27T15:55:00.001-05:00

London and mommy had a fun day today at the park. He's still not sure if he likes the swing, and he's still a bit too little for it. If he doesn't hold on, he sinks right down, which is what happens in this video. It's short but sweet, so check it out....

Fun, Friends & The Beach

2009-02-26T15:12:00.000-05:00

Yes, I know it's been over a week since my last post! Finally.....here are more pictures of the London monster, and some great pics from our long-awaited visit with Pam, Ed and Benjamin!

Here are the boys just getting to know each other. London loves Ben's jumper! I think a trip to Babies R' Us is in order this Weekend!

We had some fun at the beach too! It was Ben's first trip to see the Gulf. He was all smiles!

Not So Crazy About Cereal

2009-02-18T05:21:00.001-05:00

London was fascinated by his first feeding, but now he seems to want nothing to do with it. Obviously, he will get to the point where he loves to eat regular food, but for now he still loves the baba. He wants to play with his food more then anything else.

Every Sunday, we head out for an awesome breakfast at Rollin' Oats, our favorite Heath Food store/cafe, then we head out on a little outing somewhere in St. Pete. Last Sunday, we took a nice stroll in Vinoy Park. Here's London enjoying the day:

Here he is just yesterday sitting out on the porch enjoying the lovely weather while mommy was knitting nearby. What a sweetie boy!

And here he is getting ready to crawl.....any minute now!

And a few more with mommy "computering," chillin' with daddy, and look- London can hold his bottle....well, sometimes.

London's First Bowl of Cereal!

2009-02-14T07:29:00.001-05:00

Here's a 2 minute video of London eating his first bowl of rice cereal....

And here is our little jumping bean boy, minutes after eating his cereal.....

Just Squeezing Something In

2009-01-30T11:21:00.000-05:00

Ok, gotta work fast! London is taking his late morning nap, which gives me just a little time to upload some pictures I took just moments ago on this overcast morning. There's something so calming about the weather today. It's a little chilly and dark, but far from dreary in my opinion.

Here's the boy on his belly. It seems that almost overnight he went from hating it on his belly to loving it! He now has the upper back and neck strength to really look up and see the world!

The "master" calls.....

5 1/2 Months of Total Cuteness!

2009-01-30T01:08:00.000-05:00

You're probably wondering why you received an email about London's blog. Well, since I will no longer keep the Shutterfly site active, I figured I would send you updates each time I add to the blog in instead. That is, unless you mind. Just let me know if you would rather not receive updates, and I can take your name off the list.

I just thought you might like to see London's cute little face. So here's the first one for starters. London loves his little duckie!

Here he is with mommy- this was our day out last weekend for breakfast at Rollin' Oats, then a nice walk at Crescent Lake. No ice storms here in Florida as you all can see up north. Ha ha.

Look at these cute dudes wearing their shades! London and daddy took a walk to the beach to catch the sunset a few weeks ago. It was the first time London got to see the sunset.

London says: "Hey watch my video in the last post. I'm quite a funny little fella."

London Loves The Camera (or Mommy Loves to Talk)

2009-01-29T21:32:00.000-05:00

Here's London in his latest video, hot off the presses this morning!

Recovering From California

2009-01-23T08:51:00.000-05:00

We're finally back from our trip to San Diego. We had lots of fun, but it was definitely tiring. London was so great on the plane, we actually received compliments. He only fussed when he was hungry or tired. The rest of the time he spent interacting with the other passengers.

Even though I was in San Diego for business, it was really nice to have Jay and London there too! When I was busy at the convention center, they were taking in the sites. We totally packed wrong- the weather was warmer there then in FL. Go figure. The morning we left, it was about 38 degrees, only to arrive to a balmy 78 degrees in San Diego.

We managed to take only a few pics. I left the camera with Jay, but I failed to tell him that the camera was in the stroller! We're both so bad about taking photos. For what it's worth, here's what we got:

I shot picture of these mountains outside our room at the Hyatt. I don't even know the name- yes, I know, lame!

Anyway, we had lots of fun, but it's nice to be home too!

Rambunctious Boy!

2009-01-08T00:44:00.000-05:00

London must be going through a spurt or something. He has tons of energy, and makes "monkey" noises as Jay and I fondly call them. As I write this, London just turned in for the night, at 12, 45 A.M. (I mean morning) He showed sleepy signs for awhile, but then he kept crying and fidgeting, then he got more and more angry until finally we decided that we would just try to feed him. At this point, we knew that once we fed him, he would fall asleep pretty fast, which is exactly what he did.

For the most part, he's such a predictable baby. I'm so proud that I keep myself so patient during his "moments." I always know they're temporary, and in some small way, he's always teaching me something new that I need to know about him, or to just SLOW down! I will admit, I felt myself feeling slightly impatient, but I brought myself back by reminding myself: "This too shall pass."

Other exciting news...London rolled over from the tummy position onto his back today! I just couldn't get the camera fast enough. I should wear that darn thing around my neck!

Knowledge is Power

2009-01-05T10:37:00.000-05:00

Look who has discovered himself! London really studies himself now in his little mirror more intently then he ever has before. He's so cute when he becomes mesmerized by his little face.

Here's another new thing he's doing now- when London sees his bottle, all he wants to do is grab it, and he does so with so much excitement and urgency. It's just too cute for words!

Having kept track of London's naps & meals has been so helpful over the past week. It's really given me the "power to plan." Even though my day is dictated by London, at least now I really know that. I got so caught up with just going with the flow. Not because I wanted to, but because I just hadn't take the time to really examine what was going on.

I still don't really understand the concept of a "schedule." I believe that it's best to follow London's rhythm, and let him dictate what he needs. Then I can simply be prepared, which in turn gives me confidence about the day ahead.

London is really the best teacher I've ever had- he shows me how to live in the moment each and every day! At first, I fought this reality, Thinking- "he's on my schedule...."how will I ever get work done each day if he needs my TOTAL attention. I was getting frustrated! It took some time for me to actually accept and EMBRACE this new way of thinking about our day. The biggest challenge for me is to get out of the 9-5 mentality. My brain is programmed to think that if I'm not productive during those times, everything will come crashing down. When I actually write this out, it seems so silly and absurd, doesn't it?

To my surprise, I worked from 10 P.M. last night, until 3 A.M. this morning on my pattern collection. I was so incredibly focused, and got a tremendous amount of work done. Luckily London consistently lays his little head down for the night at around 10 P.M., so this is the most reliable time to take advantage of, and happily I spend London's waking hours tending mainly to him. I just do things differently now, and isn't it about time?

Speaking of the little devil- he's just waking from his first morning nappy!

Keeping Logs

2009-01-03T11:08:00.000-05:00

I think I'm nearing the end of keeping London's nappy and foodie log. They have been pretty helpful over the past few days. His morning routine and the time he turns into bed each night are fairly consistent, but during the afternoon, he's a bit unpredictable. I was hoping to see a better pattern so I could structure our day a little better. It is what it is, and I'm glad that at least I know that during the afternoon hours, London runs the show, and I have to found a NEW way to get the other stuff done. If anything gets done during the day, it's a bonus! Working into the evening hours has been working just fine. Jay really steps up to the plate each night to feed and play with the London while mommy writes her new knitting patterns. TNNA is right around the corner, yikes!

Bye Bye Binkie

2009-01-01T18:52:00.000-05:00

I'm having a grand old time working on London's new blog. When he was first born, I started writing about his milestones and daily activities on my knitbits blog, but I really wanted to be able to dedicate an entire blog entirely to my boy! I wanted to create a place that I could talk about the little things he does each day, his naps, his baths, and other little things that only a mom would care to write or read about! I was finally motivated to get moving on this blog a few days ago when we decided that it was time to get rid of the binkie. You can read about it here. Also, I wanted to try and reassess London's schedule to better help me organize my day.

My good friend Pam first mentioned that we should consider phasing London out of the binkie. Jay and I really didn't put much thought into it at first. As far as I was concerned, the binkie was our saving grace. When we started discussing this, we realized that it would be best to deal with the minor inconvenience now rather then pain of tantrums later! To our surprise, the transition was easier then expected. London had a tough time before his first nap after the binkie "removal," but then it was smooth sailing, and I am proud to announce that he's totally forgotten about it. I feel like a success for having hung in there and not giving in!

No more removing lint and sterilizing that darn binkie. Or, always asking each other: "where's the binkie....do you have the binkie....what the &@*&^$*@&#!%&*^$ happened to the binkie!

London sure looked cute with the binkie in his mouth, but it just had to go, and we will always remember........

but, bye bye binkie!!

Grandpa & London

2009-01-01T16:50:00.000-05:00

Instead of black mailing grandpa with the Christmas Eve photo of him holding London wearing his Red Sox onesie, I opted for this much cuter-"Yankees version" instead!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T11:44:00.000-05:00

When London woke up this morning, once again he was just cooing and playing for about a 1/2 hour in his crib. He's such a happy baby boy, and he just loves to play in his crib on his own.

I've been trying to really keep track of London's naps and feedings- something I lost track of for awhile. I decided it would be a good idea to start tracking again, now that London's eating and sleeping habits have changed a bit. Doing this will also help me schedule my work day a little better too. London is the boss, so if he let's me work, then that's icing on the cake!

Binkie Elimination Success!

2008-12-31T19:50:00.000-05:00

Looks like we made it!

Day 2 without binkie, and I think we're on our way to the final elimination phase. Yesterday morning was the worst part of it, and of course Jay has had a much easier time getting him to sleep without the assistance of the binkie. I guess he's just a daddy's boy!

More good news- London rolled over today for the first time! He's been trying with all of his might for weeks. Especially while my parents were in town last week for Christmas. We were all hoping it would happen then, but just as Murphy's Law goes- it happened just days after they left!

I just created the cutest postcard for my new igottknits pattern line with London modeling my A Star is Born onsie. (above) What a cutie boy!

What's London Eating Today?

2008-12-30T10:54:00.000-05:00

The big boy eats around 7-8 ounces of formula per feeding these days. We're not introducing solids until he's closer to 6 months because he seems so satisfied with the formula, and since a baby's digestive system is so sensitive, we decided why not wait? He's happy, he's healthy, and he's a little chubby cherub!

1/3/09:
7:30- 7 ounces

1/2/08
7:30- 6 1/2 ounces
11:00- 6 ounces
1:30- 4 ounces
5:00- 7 1/2 ounces
9:00- 7 ounces
Total: 31 ounces today

1/1/08 Happy New Year!
8:30 A.M. - 7 1/2 ounces
12:00 P.M.- 7 ounces
2:45 P.M.- 7 ounces
6:30 P.M.- 6 1/2 ounces
8:30 P.M. - 6 1/2 ounces
Total: 34 1/2 ounces today

12/31/08
6:30 A.M. - 7 ounces
9:30 A.M. - 6 ounces
1:15 P.M. - 6 ounces
3:30 P.M. - 6 ounces
6:30 P.M. - 6 ounces
8:30 P.M. - 4 ounces
10:00 P.M. - 4 ounces
11:00 P.M. - 4 ounces
Total: 43 ounces today

12/30/08
8:oo A.M. - 8 ounces
12:30 P.M. - 8 1/2 ounces
3:30 P.M. - 7 ounces
7:30 P.M. - 7 ounces
9:30 P. M. - 3 ounces
Total: 33 1/2 ounces today

Nappy Log

2008-12-30T10:46:00.000-05:00

1/3/09
Woke at 7am- I think he's pretty consistent on the time he gets up. I just love how he plays by himself for about a half hour before he's ready to eat. He's such an independent baby, we're so lucky!

1/2/09
London woke this morning at 7 am, happy as a clam! 7 1/2 hours!
1:45- 4:30: One big nap today! Hope this doesn't mean he's up all night.

1/1/09 Happy New Year!
Woke at: 7:30 A.M.

Nappies-
9:30- 10:30: nice little nappy for London! Mommy and daddy got to enjoy a very nice New Year's morning breakfast before the little bugger woke up.

12:30- 1:45- he was a little grumpy and still very tired after his nap. He managed to play for just a while on his Baby Einstein Exersaucer before he became disinterested and ready for another feeding. Here's a little moment I captured with him and daddy right before he ate.

3:00-5:45- right after daddy fed him at 2:45, sure enough he took another nap. I guess the New Year's festivities last night really wiped him out. He was quite a rambunctious boy last night!

11:30 P.M.- down for the night, but it took some time. Once again, he had lots of energy this evening, and would not settle down around his usual time of 9:30.

12/31/08
Woke at: 6:30 A.M.

Nappies-
7:00- 8:00- 1 hour for the morning nap.
10:00- 10:45- another little short nap.
1:30- 1:45- He's a sleepy little boy today!
5:00- 6:30- and another....

Nighty Night-
11:30 P.M.-7:30 A.M.- Now I can see why he was up for such a long stretch between 6:30 pm and 11:30 pm! He was a rambunctious boy!

12/30/08
Woke up today at: 7:00am

Nappies Today-
10 A.M. - 11:15 A.M. - He went to sleep without the binkie for the fisrt time. Hooray!
1:00 - 1:30 P.M.- short little nap in the car on the way to Publix.
5:30 - 7:30 P.M. - London loves those late day naps!

Nighty Night Time-
10:30 P.M. - 6:30 A.M. - down for the night. 8 hours, yippie!

Binkie Blues

2008-12-30T10:11:00.000-05:00

Many months ago, I thought it would be a great idea to start tracking London's milestones, not only for our benefit, but maybe for someone else out there dealing with the same issues or concerns.

Today I decided it was high time to get writing, because now that London is over 4 months old, Jay and I are quite concerned that not only has the binkie become a crutch for us, but it also has for London. We decided that we need to deal with a few days of pain now, rather then the tantrums later.

London was merrily playing in his crib from about 6:30- 7:00 A.M. this morning after he awoke. I just love hearing how content and happy he is playing by himself. I finally decided to go get him so Jay and I could play with him before Jay leaves for work.

When I looked down at London, he looked pleasantly surprised, and gave me the biggest and sweetest smile ever. What a wonderful start to the day, and I thought- today might be the perfect day to try to start the "binkie elimination."

London's first morning nap is roughly around 9-9:30am, right after his first morning feeding. We played for awhile, and now his new thing is- he loves to sit at the computer and bang on the keyboard occasionally without notice, then thrashes his arms and legs around in excitement.

After a little more play time, I put him in his swing to help settle him down for a nap. As I noticed the sleepy signs start, so did th little whinny sounds. Our usual procedure is to immediately find the binkie, and proceed to place it in his mouth, but this time I didn't do it. My first thought was- "he will cry all day, this just won't work!" I told myself that he will not cry forever and he will eventually drift off to sleep as he usually does.

As the minutes wore on, his whimpers got louder until the tears came. I tried to soothe him by caressing his head with my hand. This helped a little, but once the tears came, I knew other tactics were necessary. I then picked him up, and gently rocked and kissed his forehead. I brought him to his room, drew the blinds and rocked him until he quited down. Eventually, he drifted off. I laid him in his crib, but immediately the wailing cries returned. I picked him up only twice more like this, until finally at 10 A.M., the third time was a charm!