Our New Place!

110 Maple Ave, Troy NY 12180. Find us there starting September 13th!

Juni

Here are some pictures from Juni's 2nd birthday party taken by her photographer Mom. They live in our neighborhood and we are excited to have them over for dinner tonight! Andrew can be a bit of a nut, but Juni takes it all in stride. In the top photo, she was showing him how to push the baby stroller. The bottom pic is the bunch who went to the party - the moms are all friends, the kids are of various ages, 6 months to 6 years.

Here we are

Thanks to Alix for the beautiful pictures! Andrew's future wife appears in the first shot :)

Apple Picking

We spent a lovely Monday morning at Bowman Orchards. Not only do they have apple picking, but also berry picking, a general store, a bakery, and a playground. The older he gets, the more fun there is to be had around here!

Happy Birthday to Mama!

 Andrew helped me blow the candles out.

 He seemed pretty pleased with the job he did, and even sang to me.

He obviously enjoyed the cake!

It was a fun birthday....well birthday evening, that is. The day didn't start out too well. Andrew woke me at 5:30am, then I had an allergy attack, and then I spent most of the day taking care of things related to the sale of our house. BUT! That night Shawn threw me a surprise party - my favorite kind - a sushi making feast!

A Week at Seneca Lake

Finally, a vacation post! It was a fun week. I didn't realize what a "nature" guy Andrew was until our trip. Mostly he asked to walk along the paths in the woods, collect rocks at the shore, trudge uphill to the vineyards to pick grapes. He loved the water-  wading and boating. It was really sweet, the simpleness of it all. I think we'll make an effort to do more nature-based activities here like hiking and berry picking. As always he enjoyed Nana and Pop Pop's company. Hope you like these photo highlights!

Crazy Busy

I've been crazy busy since our return from vacation, so I apologize for the lack of updates. This house-selling thing is all-consuming. Plus I was on an overnight business research trip in the middle of the madness. I need to rest. So hopefully this cute video from vacation will hold you over until my next post!

We're back!

We're back from our Seneca Lake vacation. It was great. I have TONS of pix to share but no time right now. This one is of Andrew wading and collecting rocks at our dock, something he enjoyed doing daily. I will post in more detail about our trip, but today is so busy. Our house is under contract and now we're looking for a rental in the meantime. We have 5 appts today, plus I have a little work to do in preparation for a 2 day business trip tomorrow. Exciting of course but this comes at a hard time. Shawn's semester starts up again next week, and we have a few more repairs at the house we've agreed to make for the buyers. When it rains, it pours!

Off we go!

Today we are driving out to the Finger Lakes, where we will enjoy a week with Nana and Pop Pop. Our cabin is on the lake, with a boat dock (yes we have a toddler life jacket so he can go out on the water with us!) AND is on the property of a vineyard. I suspect we shall be drinking lots of wine after Andrew goes to bed :) We shall have a lovely time with many wonderful photos to follow upon our return.

As if that isn't good enough news to start your day, we also signed a sales contract on our house last night. Once we return from vacation we are going to be in a bit of a frenzy around here. Closing is in mid September (assuming the inspection and appraisal go well of course.) We decided to rent  - seems like too much stress to sell and buy at the same time.

Have a great week!

Christopher

Christopher (14 months) and Andrew are pooped out after a hard day of playing.

Oops

Oops! A whole week has gone by without a blog post! Andrew, if you are ever reading this blog some day in the future, please know that I am just so busy taking good care of you this week that I wasn't able to post as often as I usually do (xoxo jjjm!) In reality, future Andrew, you have kept me on my toes this past week- the terrible twos are back in full force and its taking every ounce of me to get through the day without pulling my hair out. But of course it was not all doom and gloom - we had a big surprise party for Shawn. Andrew sang the birthday song and was very excited to help blow out the candles.

First Baseball Game

Troy has a minor league team  - bet most of you didn't know that! The Tri-City Valleycats. It is absurdly cheap to attend and there are lots of kid-friendly activities in the stadium in addition to watching the game. We spent a lovely evening over at Bruno Stadium, one of many I hope. The Gordons (except me, I guess) are die-hard baseball fans, so I know Andrew will be treated to all sorts of major league games when he's a little older.

Naptime!

Considering the rocky start we had with infant Andrew's complete disinterest in napping for more than a half hour, I have to say that toddler Andrew has been a rockstar. Whereas lots of his friends are giving up their naps, I can still count on 1 1/2- 3 1/2 hour stretches in the afternoon. We have a nice routine where we go upstairs together, brush teeth, then I climb in bed with him and we read a few books. I tuck him in, close the blinds and give him "kiss attacks" - at his request. Today I get my much needed afternoon break before a fun afternoon of baking and art projects.

Dylan

Once again we had the pleasure of spending a day with Dylan and Amy. The orange juice popsicles were a big hit!

Trampoline

Andrew seems bored of all his toys, except the train set of course. Lately his passion resides in bounce houses. You know, the kind they set up at festivals to let kids jump out all their energy. There was no way were we purchasing an inflatable to reside in our backyard, so we decided to get him a mini trampoline. As you can see, I think we'll get our money's worth out of it. Especially come winter when we can't take him to the playground daily. Add this to the gymnastics class he takes and he gets a pretty decent workout!

Chef Andrew

This kid loves to cook. He gets me my morning tea, with a plateful of grapes, a bottle of ketchup and a hot dog. We'll have to work on the menu, but the service is quite nice.

Roll Call

Handsome A poses for his loyal blog readers.Who still follows the blog these days? Anything you want to read more or less about?

Day Out with Thomas

After we finished up at Sesame Place, we went to the Delaware River Railroad who was hosting Day Out with Thomas. Andrew got to ride in a passenger car pulled by none other than his favorite, Thomas the Tank Engine.

Sesame Place

We had a fun time at Sesame Place this past weekend. I was hoping to recognize a few of the attractions, but I guess the place has changed a bit in the past 25 years. Andrew had a blast - the place is designed for small kids so he was able to go on just about everything. We attended a few shows where characters sang and danced, went on a few water rides to keep cool. His favorite by far were the nets and the blue mountain, both pictured above.

Iris

Baby Iris came by for a visit last night! Andrew was a good sport; since she's not yet mobile he made himself useful by trying to teach her how to crawl. It was pretty funny, and very cute.

Isabella

Isabella is becoming a regular in Andrew's playdate rotation. She's the only girl of the bunch, and gives him a run for his money. She can be just as loud and crazy, which is what we love about her. Last night we had a bbq at our place with her parents while the kids entertained each other. Perfect! Its super cute how Andrew says her name - EEEsaBELLa. Sound very Italian :)

Stats

2 year stats

33 3/4" tall (40th percentile)
28 lbs (50th percentile)

2 1/2 year stats

35 3/4" tall (45th percentile)
29 lbs (45th percentile)

Looks like we finally have a reliable trend! He's an average sized kiddo :) Suits me fine. And I was right to think that he looked taller. 2 inches in 6 months!

Big Boy Body

In the past month Andrew has gone through what is one of the most obvious growth spurts I've witnessed to date. Check out how tall and thin he's getting!

Playtime

Andrew seems to have gotten tired of his toys, so now we are expanding into imaginative play. Above you'll see that Andrew prepared a lovely meal for his matchbox cars: Waffles with ice cream, muffins, and cups of milk. Below, we've drawn him all sorts of train accessories like tickets and cargo to go along with his set.

Splash Pool

The city of Troy knows how to keep cool in the summer! Many of the public parks around here have splash pools, I've discovered. Once we found out that Andrew likes splash pools, we decided it would be fun to take him to Sesame Place this summer. Maybe next month.

RPI Picnic

Once in a while, a group of RPI staff/faculty/students/spouses get together for a lunchtime picnic. We happened upon the prettiest day of June and gathered to share a meal. Andrew and Isabella, both 2 now, got along swimmingly while the adults had time to catch up with each other. Hopefully we can do this again soon!

Flashcards

Here we are, looking through a set of flashcards designed to prompt toddlers to talk about what they see.