Something Viral?

Seeing your child sick...sucks. Just plain old sucks. Its a vicious process. For starters you can often see it coming and rarely can prevent it. Monday night I knew it was going down. For starters my husband and I had planned a day date for Tuesday since it was a day off and our son's Daycare was staying open. That was clue number one that something like a flu was gonna pop up on us cuz, come on - why would we get a date day? Anyway, sure enough the prince skipped dinner and if something is standing between that belly and a meal, something is off. 

Anyway he went off to bed at his usual bedtime. Flash forward a few hours, and we've got 5 couples over for a "serious" poker night (read: kick the wives out of the game), when I hear a sad little cry coming from his room. He was BURNING UP (read: he had a fever of some sort, which to me is cause for alarm). Well, emergency, clearly! So, obvi, sent my husband out to the pharmacy (on foot, because parking is that bad in our neighborhood), along with four of his poker buddies for a midnight pickup of some children's tylenol and Ibuprophein (new apartment, medicine cabs are still bare). Its funny, because I can remember a few short years ago when midnight runs were for something entirely different...but I digress. Anyway, despite the "poker timer" (what is that anyway? Like, really?), the mission was accomplished and fueled with a little meds, the fever reduced and he went back to bed. 

Sadly enough, he did wake up the next day "sicky" as we call it, so date day was squashed. He started to get a bad cough and the nose was not a pretty sight so today, after hours lying in front of the TV watching Dora and refusing food I took him to the doctor. 

Now, I procrastinated because it went down exactly as I expected. We sat in the Dr's office for a good hour and half. In that time he shifted between coughing everywhere, crying (I wouldn't let him play with the babies) and falling asleep on my arm in a weird position for the duration of our wait. I kept thinking to myself, as I listened to the chorus of sick children with hacking coughs and sneezes flying, if a kid wasn't sick when he walked in there, he was guaranteed something when he walked out. 

When we did get to see the Dr, he ran the usual tests and came up with "its not Strep or ear infections, so its something viral". What's the treatment, doc? You guessed it...Tylenol and Motrin! and 4 minutes later we are out the door, with a quick stop for stickers at the Nurse's desk and to shell out some cash for the visit. 

Its hard to feel helpless, when you're the one in charge. But, its part of the gig. We just do the best with what we have. After day 3 of sicky (and here's hoping its also the final day of sicky), I've compiled a little survival kit for getting through "something viral":

1. Good ol' Tylenol. I don't give medicine a lot but when I know my child is in pain, running a fever and its making him feel awful, its simply a necessity.

2. Saline is awesome. Two spritz's in each nostril, and all the gross stuff comes dripping right out. It is, however, battle-inducing in my home. Sadly, it requires two of us, one for distraction and one for the stealth move (a.k.a. The Spritzer). Nonetheless, its a must for a child with a cold. Its also something I travel with, because when I clear out my son's nasal passages on flights, he doesn't cry from ear pain during take-off and landing. 

3. Boogie Wipes are great for when you lose the saline battle. These super-soft wet wipes contain saline, so they clean out the, um, boogies well. 

4. Copious amounts of your child's favorite cartoons - in our case its the purple dude and the bi-lingual adventuress. Usually, I am all about turning the TV off but when toddlers run a fever, much like us, their energy is zapped. Sometimes, a kid just needs to veg. And if you are an Amazon Prime member than you may not realize you have access to a ton of great TV shows and videos free! Amazon Instant Video has got entire seasons of shows like Dora the Explorer and Barney and Friends, free to watch for Prime members.

5. Fluids! Its okay if your child goes through a couple days of a poor appetite but they must get in those fluids or  more problems will occur. So keep the cup/bottle filled and right by their side, maybe propped up next to the blanky and pillow in the comfy spot on the couch ;)

I'd love to know - what tops off your list?

Safari - themed 1st Birthday Party

A lot of people have a lot to say about "going overboard" for a birthday party when the child is too young to understand what is going on. To that I respond: he may not get it, but we do. Moments are fleeting. Having lost my mom at 17, I carry with me the constant reminder of how slippery time can be and I choose to cherish the times as they come, not at some distant point in the future. I am not ashamed to admit: I thought about that first birthday party for months before he actually turned one. I just felt so profoundly lucky to have this amazing little treat as my own and I could not wait to do something special for my little boy. I felt like he had already given me so much off the bat - an indescribable taste of parenthood that filled me with a love I had not previously known existed - he deserved a celebration. Heck, I deserved a celebration! That first year had been no cakewalk by any means ( and I challenge any dismissive non-parent who belittles the intensity of parenting a newborn to a few nights of an infant with an ear infection), and I felt like completing that first year was some kid of feat. We had all made it out alive and in tact! Hooray! Now let's party!

I chose to go with an animal/safari theme, because animals are abound in baby's first books and toys.

We made a huge BBQ and found cute plates and napkins adorned with cartoon animals. I used pastel yellows, blues and greens for the tableware.

As a centerpiece I found these long plastic cups at Party City and filled them with solid colored Jelly Belly Beans. Clear Yard Glass

For a fun activity we had a zebra pinata filled with candy and safari animal toys. Pinata

Here everyone is, digging in!

Always my favorite part - here is the delicious safari cake. I added some cake toppers for a 3D effect as well.Jungle Animal Cake Toppers

Cutting the cake! I love that the sides were decorated with trees, to keep with the Jungle effect. 

Basically - in our family, when you put cake in front of us - we don't hold back! 

After all the prizes and treats, I did not need to send the kids home with huge goody bags. Instead I found these adorable safari-print Cupcake boxes and made some home-made frosted cupcakes as take-aways.

Cupcake boxes

All in all it was a sweet day!

Aryeh's 2nd Birthday Party

Our little man turned 2! I was super excited to make the prince a fun bash because...dun, dun, dun... he actually knows what a birthday is by now! He had been singing happy birthday Aryeh to himself for an entire month so I felt psyched that he would "get" the party.

This year I decided on a Crayon theme. I like doing a theme because it helps you hone in on decorations so it doesn't end up too cheeseball (not that there's anything wrong with cheeseball, I have been the recipient of many such parties as a child and they were awesome!). I had a lot of options, because Aryeh is "into" so many things right now but I wanted to steer clear of the cartoon themes as I feel my life is already overloaded with their faces (not to mention Elmo was already going to be making an appearance at the party). Crayons popped into my head because they consume so much of Aryeh's days and they just remind me of the essence of childhood. Bright, colorful and fun.

The crayon idea made decorating easy on me, I just needed to incorporate lots of bright colors. I also searched around Amazon often to find different crayon-themed objects that would work at the party. I started purchasing little decorations for the party about 6 weeks in advance, because the week of the party I knew I'd be shelling out a lot of cash for the entertainer, food, drinks, cake etc.

As city-dwellers, our outdoor space is confined to a little patch of grass outside our apartment (don't be fooled, that patch is the envy of many of my friends!) but naturally, that limits party options for us. We couldn't make it inside our apartment because we simply would not have the room if everyone insisted on moving once inside and we wanted to do something outdoors since it was midsummer. My husband and I found a great park in our neighborhood that often is empty and just decided we'd take over. It turned out to be a great spot with room for all of the kids to run around and lots of nearby benches for guests to sit. 

Here's how we worked the crayons into the party, our decorations and the food.

The cupcake stand is from Wilton ($3.99) and the cupcakes themselves are the two-bite Costco Sprinkle cupcakes. I alternated decorating them with crayon cupcake picks and sugared crayon toppers:
Sugar Crayon Cake Toppers
Crayola Style Cupcake Picks
As centerpieces, I used clear plastic martini glasses which I filled with colorful M&Ms.

The colorful rainbow concoction you see here is Fruity Pebble Treats! Prepared just like Rice Crispies Treats using the sweeter, rainbow version of the popular cereal.

I had to snag a photo with the birthday boy before the guests arrived, while I still had a chance at his attention! Underneath the table you can see the goody bags. I used multi colored paper tote bags and filled them with crayons, notepads, colorful toys and some sweets.

Unfortunately, I didn't snap a better picture of the drink table after I rearranged the bottles in a better way (I asked a disinterested family member to set up the drink table ;) - but I had a great cutlery holder that I made the night before. I took one of the rainbow cups and glued crayons all around, then filled the cup with the plastic cutlery and gigantic rainbow lollypops as decoration. You can see my son's little hand reaching for one here! The lollipops were a great decoration because by the end of the party it served as an extra take-home treat for some lucky guests!

I also found these great inflatable crayons online. We blew them up and then spread them out around the party area. The kids had a blast with these as well!
Inflatable Crayons

We had a clown come and do "magic" and balloon animals for the kiddies. Then best of all... after a quick costume change...

Elmo's joined the party!

And of course the piece de resistance: THE CAKE! I took a Costco cake ($17.99 and it feeds a crowd!), with one of their featured decorations in rainbow colors, added some of the sugared crayons, and topped it with a candle of Elmo holding crayons!
Elmo Crayons Candle

I had so much fun planning this party, and an even better time watching it unfold!
There is something spectacular about watching children have a good time... they do it in the most natural, uninhibited manner and it is a joy create that!
What kind of special moments have you created for your child?

Tiny Space, BIG Personality

So I live in a 2 bedroom apartment and its a pretty nice size for NYC. But as Aryeh is getting bigger and busier I am starting to wonder how anyone manages to contain a toddler in an apartment AND all their "stuff". The funny thing is my neighbor who lives directly under has 4 kids...but maybe she doesn't let them own anything? I know she doesn't allow shoes in the house so who knows what else...
I am always looking for ideas but currently this is how we make it work.
Aryeh doesn't have the largest room and in it I had to fit crib, dresser, High-Riser (hello, grandparents), hamper and a toy chest. Everything is along the walls so the space in the middle I use for his fun stuff. I took the attachments off the play gym from when he was a baby and use it as a mat for the toys to go on top of. I keep mostly smaller size toys there and things that go missing easily (balls, blocks, puzzle pieces) since it is a small space and I have better chances of finding them. I find that as long as I get all the toys on the mat at the end of the day and the books in the bin the room looks tidy and its done pretty quickly.
In my room I have a mini-trampoline (our big ticket Hanukkah gift to him this year, the kid loves jumping.) This is  actually fold-able, but I knew that would never happen. I use the space underneath to store a couple other toys, like floor mat puzzle pieces and his toy guitar & piano. The nice thing about having this little "play station" in my room is that since he comes into our room when he wakes up it gives us a little time to stall in bed before starting the day - neither Eli nor I am a morning person :(
I have a large Ikea book shelf/ storage system/thingamajig in my foyer (funny story how I got this, when we moved into our first apartment a friend of Eli's happened to be moving out. He didn't feel like schlepping the bookcase so he decided that it would be our wedding gift.) I keep random books of Aryeh's in there to distract him from pulling out things we might not want ripped up. Bonus its right between desk and kitchen so he can read while I'm working in either place.
Then I've got the large toys in the living room/dining room. I've stuck them into open spaces along the parameter of the room. I have a smallish wicker basket that I use for all the toys that can fit in there. I also have his highchair in there. It folds flat to take up almost no space which I am obsessed with, so when having dinner guests we get that out of the way. Now I am thinking about buying a small table and chairs for Aryeh because I love those. It will give him a place to color and be useful for play dates. I'd also love to get a mini basketball hoop set. Winter is long and I have a feeling these additions will keep him busy and stimulated. The question is of course...where will these pieces go? I am always at a loss what to do with older toys to make room for new ones. I don't want to have to repurchase all these awesome toys when another little one come along but I honestly don't have the room for EVERYTHING!
Here are some photos that inspired me today while I scoured the web for solutions to my conundrums.

Love the baskets and the shelf idea seems awesome for a living room because everything fits either under or over. Oh and hooks. Need more hooks!

This "library" was made out of a vinyl rain gutter from a hardware store. Genius!

Should I stay or should I go now?

Sometime in December I began a long interviewing process for a prospective job in my field - marketing and PR. I went through several rounds of interviews, sample projects and DNA tests (kidding) before getting the offer. Finally the call came in and I thought to do what should have been done way before... ask about logistics. Salary? Oh we'll be giving you ____ as per your salary requirements (actually did not give them requirements, rather when pushed against the wall to state the absolute lowest salary I could work for spat out a number. Guess what I was offered?) Hours? 9-6 (With my one hour commute each way I'd call that 8-7). Still I was thrilled. For a day. And then I was overcome with a sense of dread. I literally could not sleep (and if you met my active toddler you would be surprised to hear sleep could allude anyone whose spent a day chasing him) and when I did I had strange dreams that left an awful feeling in my stomach (my son climbing out of his crib, walking  to me and tugging on my shirt "mommy! mommy!"). The main advice I received from everyone was that I needed excellent childcare. The problem was I consider Mommy excellent childcare and everything else in comparison just fell short. I explored the idea of a nanny share, and quickly saw it was not for me. Daycare seemed a better option, but it just felt cruel to pluck my child into a 10+ hour day after months of comfort with me. Everyone insisted that Aryeh would be just fine, would not know the difference. Honestly, I don't know about that because I seem to have a conversation with my son daily in which he goes "whee (where's) daddy?!"  and I have to explain to him all over again that he is at work and will come home later. Then he cries. Then I distract him. But I digress... At the end of the day what it came down to was what I felt comfortable with and what I feel rings true with my personal parenting. With Hub's support I declined the offer. Honestly, I felt relieved -  if the idea of being gone that much left such a resounding feeling of doom with me than clearly this was not right (or not right timing, as often is the case in life). And after the decision I tried not to question myself, because life happens as its meant to and my own happiness lies in remembering that. What is not fun is trying to explain decisions like this to people who go another route...lucky for me I minored in avoidance ;)

Here Comes the airplane!

Started him on rice cereal as per doctor's reccomendation. A few days later, while browsing some parent sites, I got a little nervous. Apparently, there has been a new campaign to get rid of rice cereal as a starter food for babies because its just plain white processed grains, totally unhealthy, they're calling it a "white-out". I went to look at the ingredients on his rice cereal and was relieved that the brand i purchased, Earth's Best was definitely OK. In addition to be 100% organic it is made from whole grain BROWN rice and is not as junky as the others. I like that the only ingredients on the package are the brown rice and added iron - that's it! The less ingredients the better, especially when it comes to tiny tummies.

Still, I don't know that these cereals are as crucial to babies as the veggies are so I got him started on all the veggies right away. Every 3 days we introduced a different veg (all from Earth's Best because they use only organic and have nothing added in). So far we've done squash (LIKE), peas (DISLIKE!!), sweet potatos (LOVE!!), carrots (LIKE). I haven't started fruit yet, I like that he's enjoying the veggies so I'm holding off introduction of the sweet stuff. Fruits: the gateway drug to candy!! kidding :)

Sitting High

So, my baby got the go ahead for solids and lucky for us we just bought a highchair! We weren't actually planning on buying a highchair that day, but we were in Babies R Us buying a crib mattress and found a great steal in the clearance section. Its a joovy nook, in white leatherette, and since its an online-only purchase that someone returned to the actual store we got it for 1/2 off! The highchair is great - very sleek looking, with modern stainless steal legs and and a leather seat. The tray swings out which is nice because you can do that with one hand and put baby in with the other - us moms love anything you can do with just one hand! Best part though has got to be the fold - completely flat so that it gets put away nicely and doesn't overcrowd my already shrinking apartment space!

Here is the nook in White leatherette which is what I have.

And that's the fold! tiny and light! Wouldn't necessarily bring it on the beach but its nice that the company would like to illustrate your many options here ;)