Author: nainadg

Blogging...Mommy Style
Capture the Everyday

{Capture the Everyday} Something I can’t Live Without

nainadg

This is my first Blog Meme- I’m so excited and also a little nervous that I might mess up the code for the button or mess up the link up. But here goes. I found this meme on Adventuroo, a blog of a NC mama that I found and started following on twitter. I decided to start a meme so that it would force me to have assignments and stay accountable to my blog. This week’s assignment was to take a picture of something we couldn’t do without.

Capture the Everyday from Adventuroo

Before J and I became full fledged grown ups we lived in a series of apartments that did not have a dishwasher. At first, it didn’t really bother us that much because we were so poor we used one pan to make mac and cheese or Ramen Noodles. Slowly though we started cooking big elaborate meals and the dishes would pile up in the sink and it was probably one of the biggest triggers for fights in our marriage. When we made our last move into this house, we knew we absolutely needed a dishwasher. And now I use that dishwasher almost everyday filling it with sippy cups and snack bowls and brightly colored plastic spoons. And J and I still fight, but never about dishes.

 

Capture the Everyday Something I can't live without

 

Food and Drinks, Life, Toddler

Dinner Fail

nainadg

7:30 AM in our kitchen as I warm up some milk for the Bun and J packs his lunch

J: Hey, I have to ask you for a favor

N: What?

J: Can we not have noodles for dinner tonight? I have now had dinner for 5 meals straight

Yikes!!!! I didn’t even realize that. We had my version of Dan Dan noodles on Sun night, Chicken and Pasta on Monday night and last night we had spaghetti and meatballs. Also J took leftovers for lunch. I didn’t plan it this way, clearly if I was planning out my meals I wouldn’t have made noodles three nights in a row. J, Bun and I try to eat dinner around the same time and noodles is something that Bun eats used to eat and I guess I focussed so much on toddler food that I forgot about adult taste buds. Somebody help me break out of my noodle rut by giving me some easy dinner ideas that are toddler friendly. I guess it doesn’t even have to be toddler friendly, since Bun has decided to go on the cheerios and grapes diet. It just needs to be easy, quick and noodle free. Help!

Bun365, Food and Drinks, Love, Mommyhood, Toddler

Parks and Recreation

nainadg

Is one of my favorite comedy Sitcoms on TV right now.

And also the only title I could come up with for this entry. I ‘m terrible at titles. We have had fabulous weather in these parts (Up until today of course, its now cold and cloudy as I write this) and we had the added bonus of J not having to put in any work hours this weekend. Family time ensued. We grilled, went to the park twice, checked out Kidzu on Franklin Street. It was mellow, relaxing and lovely.

We kicked off the weekend on Friday afternoon with a play date at one of my favorite parks in Durham. Morreene Road park is a small park and most of the park is taken up by the large sprawling play structure and there are foam mats underneath. There are also large ramps that are wide and low to the ground- perfect for toddlers to run on. Also there is one big slide and 3 or 4 small ones, again perfect for toddlers. The swing set too is very baby friendly. As an added bonus, there is a tennis court right next door and Bun just loves to run over and watch the balls flying the air. The fence is pretty high so I don’t really worry about the balls hitting him.

—-

This is pretty much what we played with the entire time on Friday afternoon. The boy loves wheels.

He was finally persuaded to swing a little bit right before we left the park.

—–

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday for dinner we had awesome grilled chicken kebabs in a greek marinade thanks to my very talented grill master – J and his trusty assistant. Bun even agreed to eat two whole chunks. I’m amazed every time he eats chicken.

Saturday was a little bit colder but we decided to head back out to Morreene Road park again because J wanted to check it out for himself. This time there were lots of kids running around and Bun just wanted to watch them. When he finally felt like he was ready to play, he went on the big slide with Dada

He also went down the slide on his own for the first time- We taught him to lie down on his back and slide down and of course we were right there to catch him. And of course we had him go down the littlest one.

Hair Static!

Bun wasn’t really as impressed with this concave window thingie as I thought he would be.

And finally, it was time to head home and J was very upset about having to leave the playground.

Finally, On Sunday we went to check out Kidzu the children’s museum in Chapel Hill but I committed a double sin and left my camera and phone at home so we have no pictures. I’ll just have to take Bun back there again and do a blog post then.

 

Baby Boy, Bun365, Life, Mommyhood, Toddler

Just the Backyard

nainadg

It seems like everyone is at the park today. I can’t blame them, its gorgeous, sunny and 75 degrees in February. I, however am not feeling like a social mama, so after seeing that two of our favorite parks are jam packed with kids, especially older ones, I decided just hanging outside our townhouse would be fine. And it was! Bun today has discovered sticks, weeds, flowers and grass.

I only had my phone with me so the pics are less than good, but it tells the story

Now that Bun is a pro at walking on grass, he is willing to go exploring anywhere, as long as I’m close enough to hold his hand of course

I debated long and hard about whether to teach Bun that these little white flowers were weeds or not. I decided to focus on teaching him “flowers” because it seems like a sweeter word to learn. He looked at these for a long time and even picked a few and handed them to me. He also tried to eat some.

Next he found some twigs and carried them around proudly. He started out with the smaller ones at first but eventually decided that he was confident enough to play with this big one.

And then in usual boy fashion, he went on a destroying rampage. He broke up all the little twigs into itty bitty little pieces.

He played happily with twigs and grass for at least 45 minutes and then we took our little walk around the yard and went home.

Baby, Mommyhood, Toddler

14 Months

nainadg

Apart from yesterday being Valentine’s Day, it was also bun’s 14th month birthday. I can’t believe its been more than a year since this sweet little boy became a part of our lives.

At 14 months He  loves to wave bye bye and say “Hai” and give hugs and head butt people if he is feeling extra cuddly

Bun loves to babble. He is constantly chattering, some are real words or “bun words” as we call them and others are completely indecipherable to us.  I want to do a whole post devoted to his words so I’ll save details for that one.

He now sleeps from 7:30ish pm to 7am. He has Scout in his crib and I think Scout is quickly becoming his lovie.

Dadubhai (My dad) and Layla are his best friends, although he and Layla frequently don’t get along

His favorite toys are his Farm Animals book, truck book, Goodnight moon, Mega bloks and anything with wheels (cars, trucks, duck on wheels)

His favorite foods lately have been grapes, bananas, any sort of cookie, and yogurt. He is not the biggest fan of chicken and I have to mask it up with strained or pureed veggies.

Baby Boy, Bun365, Life, Toddler

Sweet Little Boys

nainadg

Saturday afternoon Bun and I were hanging out in the front of our townhouse, getting into our usual trouble when a little boy maybe seven or eight walked by us walking his chihuahua. Bun was naturally thrilled and raced over towards the “doh” as he calls it. The little boy stopped and helped Bun pet the dog and told me the dog’s name and and spent some time playing . And finally it was time to say “buh buh” and “taaaaaaaaaa- ta” Just as the little boy and his dog was walking away he turned around came back to me and said this

There’s a car headed this way, you might want to be careful with him (points to Bun). I can’t see the color because the sun is in my eye, but I thought you should know.”

All I managed to say in return was “Thank You for giving me a heads up” How sweet for a little 7 year old to look out for some neighbors he has never met before. I hope Bun grows up to be this little boy.

 

Baby, Bun365, Mommyhood, Toddler

Uncooperative

nainadg

There are days where I am so proud of an outfit that I pick for the Bun and those are the days where he won’t let me take a good straight on shot. For Superbowl this year, I had him wear the cutest little Carters twofer that said “Touchdown” , but did I get a good picture? Nope. Not even close. This is the best I got.

————

There are plenty of ways the Bun is uncooperative these days. His favorites-

-Running away from him when I try to put any article of clothing on him- Diapers, pants, onesies included

– Refusing to walk  at the most random times. These random times also happen to be when my hands are full and him walking 5 steps would really help me out

– Refusing to eat stuff that I thought were his favorite like Cheese, peas, naan bread, chicken, etc etc.  And only insisting on eating fruit and dessert for lunches.

– Battling nap time every single day. He rubs and rubs and rubs his eyes but its a full on meltdown for me to get him into his crib around 12:30

– Turning off our desktop, right when I’m in the middle of uploading photos. Happened earlier today

This is just the naughtiness where he doesn’t cooperate, I’ll have to do another whole post for the activities that he loves that I do no approve of at all. Having a toddler is exhausting but its always interesting and very very endearing. This burgeoning rebellion that I’m sure will continue for the rest of his life just makes me adore him more

Baby, Baby Boy, Bun365, Family, Life

Family Day at Nasher Museum

nainadg

One of the nice things of living in a college town is that we have access to a lot of cool museums. Now, I wish we also had access to a closer zoo and an aquarium but hey, with a toddler to entertain, I’m going to take what I can get.

Last Sunday J and I headed out to the Nasher Musuem of Modern Art because it was family day and admission was free and we really wanted to check out their exhibit on Vinyl Records. Also it was a gorgeous day and seemed like a great family outing. We checked out their permanent collection, the Vinyl exhibit and then we let Avi play in the bright sunny lobby and also on the museum grounds. I think playing in the lobby was Avi’s favorite part.

 

Bun checking out the modern section of the permanent collection. He didn’t really seem to care so much about the art, not even the big head on the wall. He was too busy checking out all the kids running around.

————————————

His favorite part of the outing- playing in the lobby, climbing the stairs and pushing his stroller around.

———–

—————–

————-

————–

He was too cool to be in the pic with his mom- Also he found his shadow.