AN APPLE A DAY KEEPS THE WHINING AWAY

In the past we have tried giving Luke apple... I've tried cutting up apples into slices for him to eat, but usually he just takes a few bites and then spits the chewed bits onto the floor. 
On most mornings, Jake will grab an apple on his way out the door to work, so he can eat it in the car. Luke likes to have a bite of his apple before he leaves. Lately though, Luke has been getting pretty upset when his daddy leaves for work in the mornings, so the other morning to keep him happy, Jake gave him his own apple. He presumed that it would entertain Luke just long enough for him to leave, and then it would probably end up on the floor and go to waste. Boy, were we both surprised. Luke held onto that apple ALL day. He slowly made his way through it bite by bite. This is quite the feat considering he still only has 6 teeth...2 bottom and 4 top... not a whole lot to bite and chew an apple with. LOL

Later in the morning, Luke walked up to me...the apple was missing, and he has gone to fetch his pacifier and snuggle monkey.. this is when I realized it was probably nap time. I put him down for his nap, and then I decided to try to locate the remains of the missing apple. I found that he had put it into his 'high chair' seat... I just laughed and then decided that it was probably left there so he could have it for lunch when he woke up, so I dared not throw the brown, gross looking piece of fruit away... so there is lay... for 2 hours. LOL
When nap time was over, just as I had thought, Luke went straight to his chair, and found his apple where he had left it and resumed his apple eating tactics. LOL

Now don't think that this came totally mess free... I had to deal with the sticky hands, touching everything I own, the apple being left on the couch or coffee table when Luke for a brief moment wants to do something else, and of course the occasional splatter that occurs when Luke trips and falls and the apple goes hurtling across my living room floor. LOL.. BUT, this sticky mess was all worth it, because I barely got a single whining peep out of him the entire day. He was too busy getting through that apple to have time to whine about anything. Surely you cannot be bored while tackling such a massive task as eating a LARGE apple at 16 months old with only 6 teeth. LOL
By the end of the day, the apple had finally been eaten... all that remained was the core. I was so impressed. It took him about 9 hours to get to that point, but it was done with determination and gusto. LOL...


In other events.
Luke has had this annoying but funny 'quirk' lately. We have these pink plastic sunglasses, that only had arms for a few days before Luke broke them off... however, we somehow still ended up keeping the lens part, for who knows what reason. For the last few days, Luke has been insisted that I wear these pink glasses... not the easiest task when you have to balance them on the bridge of your nose to keep them on. He brings me the glasses and kinda shoves them at me... like 'Take them, put them on'... so I put them on for a minute, then when he turns away, I take them off again, only for him to almost immediately notice, then walk back to me, again hand me the glasses and make me put them on again... On some days, he will keep at this for over an hour...
I decided to add a picture of Luke wearing the glasses, not me. LOL


Luke still likes to go for rides in his Tonka Truck... he is now able to climb into the back by himself, which he does when he wants you to push him around in it.


We're still trying to convince 'daddy' that we need to get a dog. Luke loves dogs sooo much. He likes animals in general, but doesn't get even remotely as excited about another animal as he does when he sees a dog. I've taken him to the pet shop a few times to see the animals, though they don't have dogs... I thought he'd be interested in the cats that they have, but NOPE... I guess he thinks they are about as useless and annoying as I do. LOL

Here he is playing with our neighbours dog, Roxy!


Luke LOVES balls, and balloons... I think perhaps he thinks they are the same thing... I'm not sure!
Anyway, last night we went to Target to grab a few things, and as we walked in, Luke does his 'excited' screech... he usually makes this sorta 'pterodactyl' sounding high pitched screech that often makes other people look and see what's wrong. LOL... he mostly does it when we are shopping and he spots either a ball or balloon.
Anyway, last nights screech was because he spotted a stray balloon that I suppose to other kid lost, and was now floating high up about the check out counters...
We quickly went and grabbed our few purchases, and then of course had to go and stand in the LONGEST line at the check out, just so that we would be able to get the balloon floating there... Jake lifted Luke high up by jut his legs...this kid has the strongest back... and he was able to grab the balloon.
The rest of the evening was complete joy for Luke as he played with his new balloon before bed.

"YAY" Part 2

So a little while ago, I created a post about Lukes 'first word'... he says, "YAY"...
When I was in New York, my friend Crystal, who looked after Luke while Jake was at work, managed to get some cute video footage of Luke saying 'YAY'! He still pronounces it 'aye', but it's really cute to see him trying!
Thanks Crystal for catching a 'big moment' for us!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

ALL BOY, FUN AND GAMES!!!

Now that the humidity is easing up as summer slowly starts coming to an end, I am trying to do more outdoor things with Luke, seeing as we spent a large part of the summer indoors, enjoying the air conditioning, and trying to escape the darn gnats (miggies) that swarm you by the hundred when you are outside for longer than 3 minutes.

Last week, we had a fun day swimming with some of the Crayola Moms. The pool we went to was 2 minutes from Jakes work, so he stopped by for a few minutes to say hi!

LUKE SCROUNGING AROUND ON THE FLOOR FOR FALLEN CRACKERS. LOL... YES, I DO FEED MY CHILD! :)

This afternoon, I made some chocolate brownies, to take to a BBQ we went to, and I decided to give the spatula to Luke to lick off... He LOVED it. LOL... rich chocolately brownie batter! (What a healthy day we had... I gave him a McDonalds Happy Meal for lunch, brownie batter after his nap, and hotdog for dinner at the BBQ... lol...it was just one of those days)



Tonight we went to a BBQ to 'celebrate' the Labor Day holiday today! Lukes little buddy Brent was there, and they had a great time playing with a little red wagon. Brent pulled, and Luke pushed. Those two boys get on so well... well it's more of a "Luke makes a mess, and Brent shouts NO, then cleans it up" kind of friendship. LOL... but they are super cute together!



Checking for a flat?


THIS PICTURE MAKES ME SMILE... He just goes head on, shoulders broad, full power as he pushes the wagon! LOL

We have no doubt that Luke is all boy... he is rough, and tough and nothing gets him down!
His little legs right now, are just covered in battle scars from the recent days of fun, play and mosquitos!

And so we have finished another week, keeping our monkey entertained, and enjoying his sense of humour, stubbornness, and determination! We love him so much!

FAMILY DAY!

I never tire of watching Luke learn and grown, and accomplish new things, and slowly turn into this sweet little boy! He is still as active as ever, and more mischievous than before, but he makes us laugh and smile all the time... I know he gets away with much more than he probably should, simply because of how cute he is, and Jake and I 'fall' for his cuteness and cheeky smiles every time. LOL

This weekend has been a long weekend, because of the Labor Day holiday we had today. I love long weekends... more time to spend as a family. We decided to take advantage of it, and head out to Raleigh on Saturday to do something fun. We started out at Pullen Park which a friend recommended, but it turned out to be under renovation, and closed until next summer, so we decided just to have a little lunch picnic at the park before finding something else fun to do. Little did we know that while we were feasting on our Little Ceasars Cheese Pizza, the mosquito's were heading right our way... 10 minutes later I was so itchy, I thought I was going to die a slow, torturous death... I have never itched that fast from mozzie bites ever. All of use got chowed by those demonic, pesty, blood suckers, so we packed up our lunch and headed on our way VERY quickly.

We headed to the Kids Marble Museum... I posted a few pictures a while ago when I went with some friends, but Luke had his little 'accident' and ended not having much fun, and Jake wanted to go too, so we decided to take him back for another try. The boys (Jake and Luke) both had a great time. Jake was a sweaty mess after running around like an overgrown kid with Luke, and Luke was knackered, and totally ready to pass out for a nap. They play so well together.. I'm not sure which of the 2 of them had more fun!
The museum has every kind of play imaginable. Balls, Water, Music, Blocks, A slide, dress up etc etc etc... So much to do there with kids! We had a great family day out!

WATER PLAY!


BUILDING BLOCKS WITH DADDY!


BALLS... you put the balls in, roll the wheel to send them up the track, and they fill a giant pig that then empties it's 'ball belly' into a ball pit!


JUMPING ON THE LIGHT UP MONEY WITH DADDY!



SLIDING WITH MOMMY!


MY MONKEYS CLIMBING UP TO THE SLIDE


MUSIC TIME... OUR LITTLE CHEER LEADER!

THE CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS

So my 5 day trip to New York City has come and gone...
For those of you who had no idea I was even going, my friend Leanne (South African friend living in London), decided that we needed to go to New York and have a girls week, so she flew me there, booked us into a hotel and we had 5 fantastically fun days filled with hysterical laughter, too little sleep, too many calories, lots of sightseeing, fun filled activities and of course SHOPPING. Lol (though the shopping was more Leanne, than me. lol)
Yes, I am EXCEPTIONALLY spoiled by my awesome friend. :)

Our trip started last Thursday. We both arrived at JFK Int'l Airport, got our luggage and started our trip across New York to our hotel in Brooklyn. AirTrain, Subway, walking... hauling our nearly overweight suitcases, filled with what I thought was much too much clothing for 5 days, but turned out to be barely enough... My suitcase weighed 46lbs, and then I had a laptop bag and  a SLR camera bag too (though I put my laptop bag in Leannes suitcase.. hehehe)

We didn't see any of New York, until we left the subway station at our stop in Brooklyn. LOL... needless to say, we didn't expect what we saw...the area of Brooklyn that we stayed in was less than choice. Good thing Leanne and I had our 'South African Bred street smarts' on. It was late, dark and the neighbourhood was filled with slightly dodgy characters... though as the days passed, we became more and more 'comfortable' with the area and it's interesting occupants. LOL... Once at the hotel, showered and in our pj's, we had a late night of girly catch up, giggles and laughter and Leanne looking decidedly drugged on the mild 3mg Melatonin I gave her to help her sleep with her jetlag. LOL... She's a definite weakling in the drug department (and melatonin isn't even a real 'medication'...it's sorta natural actually. LOL... I on the other hand can handle my drugs like a true junkie. LOL
Late nights became the norm for all 5 days... we never made it to bed before 1am, and some nights were closer to 2am... I guess we acclimated to New Yorks 'no sleep policy' with ease. :)

Friday, Leanne dragged my lazy, sleepy butt out of bed (which turned out to be the case on the other 4 mornings too. LOL)
We headed to Battery Park to catch the ferry to Liberty Island. To our complete luck, we scored free tickets and saved ourselves $12 each on the cost of the tickets. A couple had just bought their tickets and then saw the line they'd have to wait in to board the ferry (we stood there for over an hour), so they gave us their tickets... with free tickets, and being able to miss the ticket purchase line, we were willing to wait the hour or so to board the ferry. It was mostly shady, and it's not like we had anywhere else we needed to be.

So, we finally boarded the ferry, and headed to the island.  Got some fun pictures of Manhattan and of Lady Liberty from the ferry. On Liberty Island, we had a great lunch... it was GINORMOUS, as is typical for any American meal. lol. We both order the kiddies chicken tenders and chips meal, and neither of us could finish it. This country knows how to eat.

After heading back to the mainland, we made our way to Times Square to stand in line for discount tickets to a Broadway Show. Another long queue... We got all our waiting in line activities done on the first day! We were able to get tickets to see 'West Side Story"... I was pretty stinking excited to be going to a REAL Broadway Show... as in the 'actually on Broadway' kind. LOL
By this point in the day, we both smelled a 'pretty' scent of Africa... that pungent onion, mix dirt, mix perspiration variety... LOL... time to head back to the hotel to shower and get ready for dinner and the show.
We met up with Leanne's NY friend, Jordan (Who turned out to be a great tour guide during our time there...we got to see some little NY 'secrets' that on our own we never would have found)... had dinner at an Italian restaurant, and then headed to the show. It was great fun... though I didn't educate myself on the story line before hand, and had no idea it was such a sad show... but the performances were great, and it was just so thrilling to be at the real deal. LOL.
After the show, Times Square/Broadway area was still buzzing with thousands of people... New York literally is the city that never sleeps... only in New York can you get on a subway train after midnight, and still not be able to find a seat. We of course had to adopt the city ways (When in Rome... ) so we decided not to call it a night, and instead headed to a little restaurant that sells the BEST cheesecake on the planet... No Jokes... it was so ridiculous divine, I could barely contain myself. lol.

Saturday was AWESOME. We headed back into Manhattan, and went to the Museum of Natural History. Leanne and I aren't huge museum goers, but it's one of the museums you always hear about, so we decided to check it out. It's an interesting museum... but we did our usual speed tour through it... we aren't the 'stop, stare and read every plaque' kind of tourists... we're the 'been there, seen that, got a picture, move on' kind. LOL... it works for us.

After the museum, we met up with 'tour guide' Jordan, and went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch... I'm not a huge mexican food fan, but I'll be honest, and say that my chicken burrito was pretty stinking good... not gonna lie.
And then, for the best part of my entire trip... cycling through central park... YES, I Carla Geddes, self proclaimed couch potato and hater of all forms of exercise, rented a bike and cycled... wait for it... 5, yes FIVE MILES (8km) through central park... Needless to say, I surprised even myself...
By the end of our cycle, my legs were in a rather achy, wobbly state, but I lived to tell the story, and I still managed to get out of bed the next day... Miracles really do happen. LOL

Central Park is this beautiful place, with lakes and trees, and picnic spots in the middle of a crazy, busy city of skyscrapers and dirty subways... Don't get me wrong, Central park was bustling too, but with cyclists, and joggers, and pedicabs (dudes on bicycles pulling 2 passenger carts), and I was just loving the change of scenery and feeling the wind in my hair as we went down hill on our bikes...I was all for the down hills. LOL

Sunday, we tried to do as little that required money as possible. So, we went to church, and then we got the subway down into the Soho/Tribeca/Greenwich area... for those of you that don't know this... SoHo is short for South of Houston street and Tribeca means 'triangle below canal street'... which defines the boundaries of those two neighborhoods. These little neighborhoods are filled with quaint little restaurants, shops and historic buildings etc. We found a cute restaurant called 'The Pink Tea Cup' where we had some lunch. After lunch, we walked around the area a while. We then went to the High Line (I think that's what it's called)... The high line used to be a railway track, that ran on a bridge 'above' manhattan... since they no longer use the tracks, they decided to turn it into pretty walk way, with plants and flowers, and seating areas to relax and enjoy the view of the city. We were there on Sunday during the day, but at night, it's lit up and I guess more romantic looking.

Monday, we set aside for shopping. Even though, no normal person can afford to shop there, you can't go to New York without experience the high end, over priced 5th Avenue.
I was SUPER excited to go the H&M on 5th Avenue... it's about the only affordable store there, and H&M as a general rule sells stylish, well priced clothing. Back in Michigan I used to go to the one in the mall, but it was TINY... the one on 5th Avenue, is a huge 3 story store, and the same store that Jake and I frequently saw when we watched "What Not To Wear"... yes, Jake watched it with me. LOL.. I love that show. So to go to the famous 5th Avenue branch was pretty exciting. Clearly, I'm easy to please. LOL.
I didn't buy much... just a couple plain t-shirts and a long top to wear with my black leggings.
Leanne did enough shopping for both of us. lol.. just kidding! :)


For whatever reason, after our shopping trip, we just stopped taking pics. LOL.. I guess the exhaustion was finally starting to set in.
Tuesday, we hit China Town where we got a few things from the vendors... scarves, jewellery, a t-shirt for Jake etc
We had the most revolting ever lunch in China Town... I love Chinese food, but this was GROSS! I ended up having a can of Sprite for lunch.
And then it was time to head home... the luggage haul back to the airport, fighting the crowds at JFK, and then my bag got left behind... though it really came as no surprise... when I saw the chaos at the airport, I knew my luggage wouldn't get on my flight... and of course this is about the 5th time I have had missing luggage... seems to be the norm for me. Fortunately it was delivered today, still intact with nothing missing.

I bought Luke a NY Taxi Cab toy car.. the kind that you pull back and it winds up and then rides forward when you let it go. It seemed like the perfect gift, as Luke is getting quite into his toy cars at the moment. He LOVED it when I showed him how it worked. He would chase after it, then bring it back for me to wind again. LOL. However, 10 minutes later it was in the toilet. YES, the TOILET... that's how Luke rolls. :)



And so that was our trip... we had a BLAST! I was sad to have to say goodbye to Leanne...especially seeing as we don't know when we will see each other again.
I must however say that as fun as it was in New York, I could never live there... it's just a little too much city for me... I think the longer I am married to Jake, the more small town girl I am becoming.