And let the dinner party invites commence...

I admit it. One of the main reasons I wanted to have a child was so he could intentionally smear food on his face, I could say "show Mommy how the piggies eat!" and then laugh uncontrollably.

In the video below you'll notice that my dream has come true.

The bad news is that I had washed Little A's high chair just before this classic display of Martha Stewart-approved table manners. Time not so much well spent. The good news is that the hilarious little giggle you heard? Pretty much sums up his personality all day, every day.

I mean, what's there to be upset about when you have endless amounts of "GOGURT!" and Cheerios to smear on your face.

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And the award for rosiest cheeks in a short film goes to...

Please click below to view a documentary featuring Little A modeling his dad's super sweet triathlon swim cap.

Bonus features include him making a frog sound and doing a little jig. We thought of holding onto this for a major Sundance release but decided to distribute it to the public free of charge instead.

You're welcome.

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Little A's Birthday Balloon Invitations

Back in December, the glorious birth month of Little A, we had a small family party to celebrate. But because of the size of the Valdez clan, our family parties are never small. We all squeezed together and had a great time although I did realize one of the downsides to having a birthday party in the middle of winter (and especially when your house is the size of a shoebox) is that there is nowhere to have it.

Anything outdoors is obviously out and since Little A was turning one, things like bowling or bouncing or skating were out for now. So we had a little party at our small restaurant. It was fun and we were very thankful for those who were able to celebrate with us.

Because we couldn't decide where to have this grand event, the invites were kind of a last-minute deal and went out mostly to just his youngest guests.

I liked the idea of using a balloon in/as the invitation, so after rounding up some blue balloons and left over heavy stock metallic paper, I (with the help of a lovely assistant) made some.

Step 1. Find a lovely assistant (preferably one who is full of hot air: see above.). After realizing that the recipients of this balloon invitation will likely blow up the balloon themselves, use the air filling tube to a seldom/never-used yoga fitness ball so that said lovely assistant's mouth is not directly in contact with the balloon itself.

Step 2. Once the balloon is filled with air, use a (red!) Sharpie to write the party details - what, where & when - on the balloon.

Step 3. Deflate the balloon. Once a bazillion balloons have been inscribed with the grand event's details start sticking them (printed side back, so that it's kind of a 'surprise' when they're blown up) using Zots onto card stock on which a little poem you've created has been printed and then cut to size of a pretty (red!) envelope.

Step 4. Mail them out to adorable little family members. Let the celebrating commence!



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The Great Family Photo Shoot of 2009 (AKA Unless You Are One of Our Grandparents This Features Entirely Too Many Photos of Us)

A few months ago when Little A was a wee little six month old (On Saturday he will be eight months! It's also my dad's birthday...) I asked family photographer extraordinaire Kirstin Roper to do a wee little photo shoot of us at Liberty Park.

[Note: You may recall that Kirstin is the fabulous photographer who took the lovely pictures of my beautiful sis.]

The park is one of our favorite spots, since it is all of about a two-minute walk from our house, and I adore the old-school carnival ride area almost as much as I love its snow cone booth (But not quite. When we're talking about Tiger's Blood there is no comparison. No matter how cute the tiny little airplanes are painted.).

So, I raced home from work, convinced Z to put on a shirt that has real buttons and no pizza stains and then we loaded up the A Train, after combing his flowing locks of hair, of course.

Kirstin went waaaaayyyyyy above and beyond, trekking over hills, through puddles and across grass to get some great shots. Mostly, though, she had to work with my husband and his um, unique sense of humor. I hope she'll remember to charge us double next time for the wrangling fee.

We had a fun time taking pictures and the carnival ride operators at the park were so great about letting us climb all over the rides.

It's strange to see Little A so grown up in these pictures since I still think of him as a tiny newborn baby. But I know that soon we'll look back at these and won't believe he was ever this small. It is right about here that I was wishing I could freeze time...

...Or maybe it was here.

... Or right about here.

But since time-freezing is not an option, I'm glad we have these photos.

Thanks, Kirstin.

(She also took some photos of just Little A and me since Z had to leave early to run to a meeting. I'll post these later since if you're still reading this and haven't fallen off your chair from Family Photo Overload already, you will.)

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Home cookin'

Somebody really really likes cereal. I'm not saying who. Hint: It's written, er, smeared all over his face.

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Monday Lovely: Porch Pals

And in matching outfits, no less. That sound? It's my heart melting. (Just in case you were wondering.)


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Anthony's Plain Plane (Ha!) Nursery Mobile

Throughout my pregnancy I entertained myself by planning the nursery decor. Not actually decorating it, mind you, since the nursery nook's construction wasn't even completed by the time we were high-tailin' it to the hospital to welcome our little bambino. But picking out fictional nursery items and doing nothing with these ideas was something that I did really well.

I had a general idea of the colors (lots of 'em), theme (none! thankyouverymuch) and style (cozy modern) but not a clue of what kind of mobile to put up above the crib. So I waited. And found some I liked on Etsy. But didn't buy any since I didn't see any I couldn't live without. So I waited some more. And then I found one when we were in Rome but Zach was being grumpy after a too-long day of walking and so he said he didn't like it (even though I think he really did). So we didn't buy that one either. So we waited some more. Then I went with Teri to a craft store for inspiration and to buy items to make one. But I didn't find anything there so still no mobile. And we waited some more.

Now, Anthony is almost six months old and as of last week he was still mobile-less. I decided that last weekend was it. We would find ourselves a mobile. I had some criteria: Definitely nothing with characters licensed by a giant movie studio. Preferably no sports-related items. [Editor's note: I have nothing against sports-related items. But let's be honest. Little A has as much chance of inheriting my severe lack of coordination as he does getting his dad's athletic genes.] Animals and airplanes are desired. Vintage-looking items preferred. Oh, and what I find must be affordable, ideally under $10. Good luck, right?

I loaded Little A into his stroller and trekked up to our favorite store, walking up and down the toy aisle. I was hoping I would find what I was looking for and stopped in the classic toy section. I was able to scoop up these little beauties.



I originally had planned to paint every airplane a different color, each in a shade that we've used in the nursery nook (currently orange, brown, red and green). But after I put them together I decided their retro detail was just too cute to cover up.

Thinking of things from Anthony's crib-level perspective (I'm thoughtful like that), I realized that staring at natural-colored wood against a white background isn't as exciting as it sounds. Actually, it would be exactly as exciting as it sounds.

So we broke out the red paint. And I slapped on some detail (using a kid's watercolor paintbrush, the only one I could round up on the spot) to the underside of the planes, making them stand out for his little baby eyes a bit better.




Mid-way through the project, I included a very important step: Impromptu nacho eating. This makes the project much easier to complete and must not be skipped.


After using some of my college-level physics to figure out how to hang them without making them tip weirdly, I strung them with fishing line. Anthony's nursery nook is super tiny (it will likely be transformed into a walk-in closet on the tragic day we must sell our beloved teeny little home) so I didn't want to hang anything from the ceiling that took up too much space, out of fear of making the room look too cluttered. Fishing line seemed perfect since it's darn near invisible.



I hung them from eye hooks and I must say they are a big hit with our little guy. He loves staring, reaching and kicking up toward the airplanes and because they are actually light-weight gliders, they flutter and move around when the air conditioning turns on. Perfect! No batteries necessary.

The whole thing cost about seven bucks. And the cool shadows they make on the wall? Those were a freebie.





key words: affordable mobile, modern baby mobiles, baby mobiles, vintage baby mobile

For days he went around telling all the other babies, "You're Fired!"

A couple days after we had Anthony, the hospital staff came around to do the infamous newborn hospital baby photo. I have to admit, I'm not a huge fan of these pictures since the poor little babies are still trying to figure out what in the world is going on, like why am I wearing clothes? and what happened to my nice, cozy 24-hour swimming extravaganza? and who are all these goofy people staring at me and making exaggerated facial gestures? So to make them lie still keep their eyes open while they stare at a flashing object seems a little cruel.

Plus, in my experience, the babies change so much in that first week that the pictures don't even look like them (then again, I guess all the more reason to do the photos in the first place...). But, I think these photos will be great to look back on when Anthony is all grown up.

So the hospital photographer came into our room to do the photo. I was having some complications and was being attended to by some fabulous nurses so little A, Zach and my mom had to go into the empty room next store for the photoshoot.

After the photos were taken they wheeled Anthony back to the nursery. When they brought him back to me a little later the nurses with him couldn't stop laughing and neither could Zach.

Instead of being placed in the nursery window looking like this, alongside the other newborn babies...


Visitors to the hospital nursery saw this, lined up amidst the other precious little infants:



The night I went into labor, in our rush to get out the door to head to the hospital, you may recall that we didn't even have clothes ready to take for our poor child because they were packed away in boxes while we finished our bedroom and nursery remodel.

However, Anthony's dad DID grab what he saw as the most important thing--the baby toupee (Anthony is modeling "The Donald" in case you were wondering).

PS: And yes, I grabbed these photos off the hospital Web site. A picture of a toupee-clad baby boy is what visitors to the hospital site see when they click on our child. His father is very proud.


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Monday Lovely: Baby Talk

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Monday Lovely: Baby Mine-Classic Songs for Bedtime CD

I may not be great at singing or staying in-tune or remembering the right words to songs (Hold me closer, Tony Danza) but I do know with absolute certainty that this is one of the best CDs ever recorded.

It's a collection of music that is perfect for lullaby-ing wee little babes to sleep without causing the parents to suffer from Elmo-Induced Psychosis. All of the songs are incredibly beautiful and Anthony loves it. I played it for him often while he was taking up residence in my abdomen and I really do believe that he still recognizes the songs even now. During one of our first nights in the hospital right after he made his grand arrival, he was fussy and nothing seemed to calm him down.

I turned to my beloved iBook (may it rest in peace) and clicked on the BabyMine CD in my iTunes. Instantly he relaxed. It's baby magic. Plus, it features the vocal stylings of one of my all-time favorite local celebrities.


You can preview the album (and then buy it instantly because you seriously won't be able to wait even one more second) on iTunes.

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Flying by

Before we had Anthony, Zach and I were always told by friends and family members that we had no idea how fast time can go by until we had a child. They were so right. The last four months have flown by and undoubtedly been the best of our lives. Having a baby is a lot of work. A LOT of work. But I'm enjoying it more than I ever could have imagined, and I know Zach would say the same thing.

Anthony is generally a very happy baby, a good sleeper (knock on wood) and is showing more personality every day. Z & I spend most of our free time watching Anthony giggle, figure out how to wildly move his arms, kick his chubby little legs and try to talk. We're both fully convinced that he is clearly a genius by the way he shakes his rattle and reaches for his toys.

Einstein, move over (but don't worry... you have no competition in the hair department--yet).

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From Baths to Babes

Abby pointed out to me that I've been slacking on posting pictures of a very cute baby who happens to live in my house.

But it's for good reason! We've been busy. On top of restaurant-induced craziness (I've decided that about 90% of the craziness in my life is attributed to that. Good thing I really love cheese.), I was fortunate enough to get a horrible illness last week and so my parents came up from Price to get the little prince and myself since I couldn't take care of either one of us and Zach was swamped with work.

I'm feeling much better now and actually went back to work yesterday; I'm going into the office two days a week. Zach had his first full-day of being a part-time stay-at-home-dad (whew, that was a lot of hyphens). He and the baby had a great day of hanging out together. And the dishwasher had even been emptied when I got home, which was a plus.

A few updates:

My mom introduced Anthony to the fun of a bubble bath. He hadn't really loved them before this point, now they're his favorite. Since this picture was taken he's outgrown the kitchen sink, though.

He loves going to Price and getting to spend time with members of his crazy family who treat him like royalty.

Back at home, we have decided that the cold weather is an excellent excuse for him to sport varieties of fashionable headwear.

Last week, Anthony went on his first date with Joelle's little beauty, Natalie. Don't worry, their moms chaperoned. We all met at the coffee shop and let the kids be wild and crazy (see below) while Joelle and I enjoyed our half-caff lattes.

Isn't Natalie adorable? Joelle pointed out that Natalie is a cougar since she's about three weeks older than Anthony. Which is great for him because he loves older women. I think he was trying to play hard-to-get, though, because he slept during their entire date. His strategy is to make Natalie think he is a man of mystery. I think it's working.

And maybe the best part of their relationship, as Joelle pointed out on her post about this outing, is that thanks to Natalie's grandmother's home town, Natalie is part Price-onian, just like Anthony. A match made in heaven, er, Carbon County. Same thing, right?


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