3-Days of Hot Fun

Hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! We had a great one, despite the heat. Last week our air conditioner went out at the worst possible time. All weekend, highs were in the 90's, 90's! It was a scorcher and our house turned into a little brick oven, ouch! The only way to describe it is hot hot hot. But we didn't let that get us down, actually it forced us outside which was fantastic. We went to a friends house on Saturday for a pool party which was nice and refreshing.

We spent the night there which got us away from our house for a little while which was nice reprieve. When we got home on Sunday we played outside in the sprinkler and in a giant bowl of water because we don't have a baby pool just yet. We've come to the conclusion that Alex just likes being outside in general, doesn't matter what he's doing as long as he's outside.

Nighttime was not fun in the Schmelzer household. With the A/C not working and the whole day being in the 90's our house struggled to cool off. It dropped to about 79 by morning but was extremely stuffy. Alex's room is the only room upstairs and it had to be 88 at least so we had to make special arrangements. So the solution was to put Alex in our room in his pack and play and Kris and I slept on our Aerobed in the living room. We tried to remain as cool as possible with ceiling fans, tower fans and crossed fingers for a breeze that might come through our windows. I am grateful we live in an old house that has ginormous windows :) I look back on it as a memory, while now we may be griping and moaning, one day we will talk about that one time when we didn't have air conditioning and camped out in the living room. Someday, this won't seem so miserable, good Lord, I don't know how they did in the "old days."

Last week, we became members of the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium. Yay! I love the zoo and am sad to say it had been at least 5 years since I've been but somehow I convince Kris to get a membership this year and we immediately took advantage of it. Most thought we were crazy for going to the zoo on a 93 degree day but we figured with the A/C out at home we weren't going to be any cooler there so why not do something fun?! The Columbus Zoo is a little more than an hour away but we enjoyed the air conditioner in the car so it seemed like a quick ride. This was Alex's first trip to see any animals other than a dog or a cat so we weren't sure what he would think, not even sure if he would notice the animals. He had a great time and really seemed to see the animals and recognize they weren't like Charlie. I think his favorite part though, may have been the misters they had set up throughout, they were a nice break from the heat. We did however almost have a Monkey casualty, not a real Monkey of course. Alex's lovey we call Monkey, we noticed about 5 minutes into the Zoo that we didn't have him anymore. Don't worry though, Daddy came to the rescue. He walked back through our steps looking for him and found in the Lost and Found office, whew that was a close one! We had a great time and managed to get some pretty great pics for the memory book.

I finally got to see the Polar Bears, they were beautiful and incredibly playful. Alex was pretty interested in them too, watching them through the glass, that of course was until he got bored and decided it was time to run away. Boy is getting fast!

My favorite picture from the day

Kris took Alex for his first Carousel ride where we learned that he just was not ready for it. As soon as it started moving, Kris said he dug his nails into Kris's arms. Maybe next time. 

When we got home, of course the house was a whopping 86 degrees inside so we packed up swimsuits and went to my father in laws. We cooled off in their beautiful in-ground pool and Alex got to play with his grandma and grandpa. It was so nice to relax in the cool the house but it was short lived. Alex's bedtime was approaching so we had to go home to the sweat box. But the great news is we made it through the weekend like champs. Heat, schmeet!

Playing at Grandma and Grandpa's

Like said, despite the heat we had a great and very very busy weekend, lots of swimming and exploring. What did everyone else do with their 3-day weekend???

How Do We Protect Our Children?

I grew up in a beautiful house on the outskirts of town. Not quite in the country but awful close on a hilly road with a 45mph speed limit. We had a decently long gravel driveway that was difficult to ride a bike on play basketball but we had a lot of yard and the most amazing sledding hill in the back that would bring kids from school over every snowfall with sleds in tow. I loved living here, this was home but there was something missing. Living on a hill with a road that people tended to turn into speed racer on didn't make hopping on my bike and going for a ride a possibility so if my sister and I wanted to ride bikes, we had to have dad throw them in the back of his pickup truck and drive us to the catholic church at the end of our road that had a large parking lot, there we would ride our bikes in circles, big parking lot circles. Don't get me wrong, we had fun and it's yet another wonderful memory I have from my childhood but I was a little jealous of my friends that lived in culd-e-sacs and housing developments that could just go out on their bikes and head over to the school with the awesome playground all on their own. My husband grew up in town where there are parks and schools everywhere. He's talked about spending whole days out with his friends, riding his bike, roller blading, playing basketball and messing around on the playgrounds. All of this without his mom on his heels.





That's the world we used to live in, or at least the world that I grew up in. As children, we could go out and play, we could ride our bikes, walk to the park and we could do it all with out the constant supervision of out parents. I'm not saying the threat of danger wasn't there, it's always been there but wasn't as prevalent as it is these days. I can't turn on the news without hearing about at least 2 of these 3 things, a shooting/stabbing has occurred, another drug bust has happened, or a crime against a child has happened. It's sad, really sad. What is happening to the world around us, by world I mean people?

I am sad that I am being forced to be "that mom," the mom that always tells my son "no" when he wants to go somewhere on his own. The mom that will hear the words "I hate you" or "you suck" because my son isn't going to be aloud to meet his friends at the park or mall or wherever it is he wants to go without me right there with him, supervising him because it isn't safe. I'm worried that Alex isn't going to get to experience childhood they he was meant to because in all honesty, society is just not set up for that to happen anymore. As a child myself safety tips seemed to be pretty easy. We all know the coined phrase "stranger danger", we knew that if we were threatened, scared, or worried, we could always approach a uniformed officer for help. These days, things aren't as simple. With the recent rash of stolen uniforms and the availability of uniform wannabes on the Internet, its hard enough for us to tell a fake when we see it let alone a child. Recently, in my hometown a homeless man was arrested for impersonating a park ranger at a local park. He was approaching children and telling them they were pretty and asked for a hug and a kiss, he told them he wanted to see them again sometime. Making their mama's proud, they ran home and told their parents everything that happened and the real authorities were called. This man was in a uniform that should say to children that he is safe. Once arrested, it turns out this isn't the first incident with this man, he's been in and out of jail since he was 18 with similar crimes against children. He's only 21 so how much time has he really served for these terrible crimes he's doing, has he only received a slap on the wrist and send back out in the world to keep on doing what he does? This hit too close to home. My husband and I  have been to that park, we've ridden our bikes along the bike path straight through it.

So, what do we do about it? We need to teach ourselves the safety and prevention tips so that we can teach our children. Alex is still young (almost 14 months) so I have plenty of time to get him "stranger danger" ready. My goal is to have my son "stranger danger" ready by the time he is 4, I will burn every safety tip I can think of/find into his brain! But I can't help but worry about it never being enough. My world is my son and I will do everything and anything possible to protect him from the darkness that seems to be taking over too many in our society.

I came across this website, Savvy Parents, Savvy Kids. It's really a great website and I recommend you check it out. It offers many many resources including safety and prevention lists and a wonderful list of books to ready, broken down into age groups. Here is a safety list from the website about prevention , very very insightful:

Get the ball rolling on your safety plan with these easy prevention tips!

• Let your child know if they ever get lost a SAFE  grown up will not take them anywhere, but will STAY PUT with the child and find them help.
• Grown ups: DO NOT TRANSPORT a lost child anywhere! Stay with the child and enlist the help of another adult.
• Remind Kids:  Adults don’t ask kids for help. Adults get help from other adults.
• Kids should stay away from anyone asking them to approach their car (especially if they don’t know them).
• Watch and listen.  If your child is avoiding being around a particular person, such as a babysitter, peer, relative, or family friend, don’t force them.  Kids pick up “ red flags” before adults sometimes!
• Test your kids safety knowledge by checking their skills with  “What if?” scenarios
• Give your child power over their own body Do not force kids to hug or kiss another person. Kids should decide for themselves how they want to express affection.
• Always trust your “gut” and let your child know its ok for them to trust theirs.
• Talk openly and often about your safety expectations and rules.
• Keep your safety conversations brief, to the point and don’t use scare tactics (they don’t work).
• Have safety books available in your home for your kids to read.
• Model safe behavior in front of your children.
• Talk with other adults and report suspicious behavior. (Did ya know..The average pedophile will commit 200 sex crimes before being caught. !!. Whoa.)

I'm sad that we don't live in the same world our grandparents did. I'm sad that our children will not get to experience childhood like they were meant to.

Do you any tips you would add? I really would like to know what steps you are/plan on taking to keep your kids safe and instill "stranger danger" in them.

Thanks in advance for all your feedback! Have a super great day :)

Wordless-ish Wednesday ~ Summer Bucket List

This summer, I want to. . . . . .



TAT: Favorite Firsts

Here is another post for Toddle Along Tuesday hosted by Growing Up Geeky. This week we were asked what our favorite milestones are. How do you narrow down the milestones, all the first in your child's life to a small list of favorites? I've enjoyed watching my son grow and learn, and experience new things. Every milestone has been just that a milestone, a wonderful, amazing and memorable milestone. I have done my best to narrow down my favorite milestones in my son's 13 months of life to avoid this blog post becoming some sort of novel.

Number 1 : The day Alex was born, April 4, 2011 at 4:43pm. This was the day that we went from Kris and Ashley to Kris, Ashley AND Alex. This was the day we became "The Schmelzer's"

Number 2: Early Smiles. Very early on, he started making silly faces and most of them were smiles. This is one of my favorites :) 

2 Weeks Old

6 Weeks Old

Number 3: Laughter. I loved it when Alex started laughing! Who doesn't love a baby laugh?

Number 4: Sitting Up. Once Alex started sitting up, he seemed to be more content. For him it was almost a new form of freedom. Sadly, this sense of contentment didn't last long, once he figured out there was something he couldn't reach but really wanted, he started flopping over on his face when he would try to stretch, but for a short while, he was just so happy.

Sometime around 5 months old.



6 months old.



Number 5: Eating Solids. This was a great milestone. It was even better when he started eating finger foods, it made it possible for us to really eat dinner together as a family without one of us needing to reheat our food because we were spoon feeding Alex.

 

Number 6: Mobility. Rolling over, crawling, and walking all were great milestones. I loved seeing the satisfaction Alex had when he got to something he wanted. He's come so far in his little life and as his mother, I could not be any prouder. He is one smart little man and every day he is learning something new and very very exciting!



I did it! I rolled over!



Couldn't resist posting this picture, I just loved all those outfits
with the little animal faces on the tooshies :)





Crawling, determined to get that ball!



This picture is from the early walking days, he was just starting
to take off, now he never stops moving.



A man on the move.



Sum-Sum-SummaTime

It's not officially summer yet but you sure couldn't tell by the beautiful (and hot!) weather we had this past weekend. It was gorgeous and I am so grateful to have had a free weekend and wonderful friends to enjoy it. Friday night, we packed up Alex and the dog and headed away for a weekend of sun, fun, friends and golf (<---that part was for the boys)

The weather was amazingly hot but we came prepared. We brought along Alex's itsy bitsy baby pool so that we could introduce him to it, he was too small to really enjoy it last year. On Saturday Alex's "Aunt' Audrey blew up his pool and we filled it up and real quick before we headed over the country club to see the boys after their scramble we put Alex in the pool just to see his reaction. A little unsure about the result but he didn't not like it. He walked around and splashed his hands in it a little before we pulled him out to get him dressed and go see daddy.

At the golf course, Alex played with "Aunt" Audrey a little, he loved wearing her sunglasses, this tells me I should probably get him his own pair. He didn't last too long inside when they were giving out awards and raffles, he wanted to explore and there were just too many people there so Alex and I headed outside to see what we could get ourselves into. We looked at the course for a little bit but that didn't interest Alex for long so we went to the playground set up near the pool. It was a great little play set, Little Tykes so it was a little smaller scale which was perfect for a 13 near 14 month old. He loved climbing and sliding and laughing. He was his adorable self, of course :)

 Sunday, the temps hit near 90 which for May in Ohio that's on the toasty side. We spent a lot of the day outside, once Alex was up from his nap and had lunch we went straight to the pool. I must say, that kid of mine is pretty darn cute, he just may be the cutest baby on earth ;) (I'm his mom, I'm aloud to say things like that) I lathered him up with sunscreen and put on his swim trunks, swim shirt and little "surf" hat and to the pool we went. He played in the water a lot this time, splashing around, moving his fingers through it, and trying to get handfuls of water up to his mouth to drink. He spent a lot of time out of the water too. He walked all the way around our friend's deck, around the pool and trying to stick his head through the slats in the railing. He really was having a great time and I was having a good time watching my husband and Alex together. I sat back and watched them and came to the realization that life is pretty darn good. I have a beautiful family, wonderful husband, adorable son, fabulous lifelong friends, and the ability to make memories that will last as long as I do. God is good.

This beautiful weekend made me really excited for the summer and all the fun it has in store. What about the summer are you looking forward to?

Sorry for the photo blast, we just had a really great weekend and I tend to go a little snap happy when that happens. Either way, I hope you've enjoyed them!

Happy (be-lated) Mother's Day!

I know I'm a little late to the game but life intervened in a crazy way the past week, but I still want to put out a Happy Mother's Day to all my fellow moggers and moms! Yes, yes I know the official Mother's Day was a whopping 4 days ago but I like to think I live in a land where Mother's Day is EVERY DAY! After all, I'm not only a mom one day a year, am I right? Sure the special recognition is nice but how awesome would it be to be pampered everyday with breakfast in bed, massages, and solo naps?? OK I realize that is a major fantasy stretch but I just thought I'd throw it out there ;)

My Mother's Day wardrobe, Old Navy hooked me up this year :) 

Snapping back to reality now, I hope that everyone had a fantastic day. All the Hallmark cards say "it's your day to enjoy" and let's be honest, is Hallmark ever wrong? I had a pretty good Mother's Day. My Saturday was great, I went out to eat with my mom and sister and the boys (Alex and my nephew Logan) and did a little clothes shopping and then on to flower and veggie plant shopping (I can't wait to get my garden started!) Kris was golfing but expected to be back early in the evening so we could have dinner with his mom (this was in part so that I could have a little mommy time of my own on Mother's Day) In an event that included golf, jägerbombs and clients, we didn't make it to my mother in-laws house on Saturday because Kris didn't get home until late. This story is much longer and made me incredibly mad but I won't dig into that one to much. No need to hash up my anger and frustration.This messed up a little (by a little I mean a lot) of my Mother's Day plans but oh well, there's always next year (and the pampering my husband owes me for being a jerk)

Mother's Day 2011
Alex is 5 Weeks  4 Days Old

Mother's Day 2012
Alex is 13 Months  8 Days Old

 Mother's day wasn't a complete bust,  Kris let me sleep in, even-though he was suffering from the worst hangover of his life, and got Alex up and fed. When I came out of the bedroom I was greeted by a little naked (he had a diaper on) baby with a card and arms raised high for his mommy to pick him up. He gave me a hug and his ornery little smile like he knew it was Mother's Day. I met with a fellow mommy friend for breakfast sans-kid and had a delicious spinach, bacon, and broccoli quiche. We met up with my parents, both sets of grandparents and my sister and brother-in-law and little Logan for a wonderful Mother's Day Brunch (1:30pm so it was more like a late lunch.) We had a fantastic meal and then went back to my parents house to have a little "mingle" time and then we went over to my mother-in-law's house for the evening. While it was great spending time with family, it was after 9 when we finally got back to the house and it was past Alex's bedtime and getting dangerously close to mine. So I didn't get mommy time on Mother's Day, I didn't really want much, just a few hours to myself to read (Fifty Shades of Gray, eek) and maybe take a nap (uninterrupted) or sew something for myself. But like I said, there is always next year :)

Happy Mother's Day! Even Charlie tried to get in on the picture. Too bad she
was cropped out, would have been a great family picture. 

WW ~ A Flower for You

Mommy Don't Play That

Alex seems to be a little sponge these days. I see this as both good and bad. It's good in that he's picking up on lots of great new things such as putting together his blocks and learning how to use his shape sorting toys. He's really getting into playing with cars and trucks and pushing them along the floor. He's even figured out how the ZhuZhu panda we have works by pushing on it's back to make it go which really is quite impressive considering there isn't a distinct button for him it see. These are all things I know he is learning by exploring and observing the other kids at Nanny's house. He is babbling all the time and I catch him really trying to form words with his mouth. He's started saying bye bye and Dad and the other night I'm pretty sure he said "hot dog" when asked him if he was ready for dinner. This has definitely made us come to terms with how much we need to focus on what we are saying around him. It's only a matter of time before he's repeating everything we say.

The bad in this little sponge behavior is the little dude is starting to become all about the attitude. Some days I feel like all we do is say "Alex NO" and it never seems to fail that he will shoot us an evil look and grunt back at us. The full blown tantrums haven't started yet but it's coming soon, I can feel it. He's already starting to get mad when he doesn't get his way and if we take something away from him all h-e-double hockey sticks breaks loose. BUT what the real problem we have right now is the hitting. From someone somewhere, Alex has learned to hit. He will get really close to your face and smile and take his little hands and gently feel your face. He feels your nose and runs his fingers over your mouth and he will point to your eyes and then WHACK! He slaps right across the face! What the heck dude! Who taught you that?! MOMMY DON'T PLAY THAT!

The hitting thing is a phase, right? I mean he isn't hitting out of malice. He really seems to do it when he's excited. Maybe he hasn't really gained control of his limbs yet so he just starts swinging without knowing where it will end up. Oy, I think I am trying to convince myself that my little monkey isn't turning into a devil child.......so somebody please tell me they all go through this phase.