Here is a link to the photos of Alice on her first encounter with the Man with Bag.

http://kristinburnsbabyphoto.zenfolio.com/sunnysideparksanta/h407ccb5#h407ccb5

http://kristinburnsbabyphoto.zenfolio.com/sunnysideparksanta/h407ccb5#hbf085b4

http://kristinburnsbabyphoto.zenfolio.com/sunnysideparksanta/h407ccb5#h1eaca269

Doesn’t she look so cute in her snowsuit?  It was very cold yesterday.  Hope you’re enjoying the holiday season!

She seems to like most foods so far. And she likes to feed herself most of the time, you know, shove the spoon into her mouth. It is so funny.  And she can be a little aggressive at times with the spoon, which is so strange for our sweet little baby!  She is usually such a lady, but take away her baby spoon and watch out!

on the plane, alice taking a picture of us

working it out on the quilt, old school style

uncle chris begins his positive influence

proud grandpa

great-grandma ruth

four generations of beautiful ladies

grammy giving ali a snack

Yes, it was Alice’s first time in an airplane and she did really well! She is an awesome baby.

Hello All–  Sorry we have been MIA lately.  Things have been busy and other issues have come up that put the blogging a little lower on the priority list. We’ve been trying to work out whether or not I was going to go back to work.  This has been a VERY difficult decision for me, and unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a solution that fits quite the way I want it to.  I wish the library was a little more flexible with the part-time thing, because that would have been ideal, but unfortunately the hours would not have worked.  I might as well have gone back full-time. You will all be happy that I have decided to stay at home at least for another year with Alice.  This decision makes all the grandmas and great grandmas happy.  And I understand that. Most of them have been able to stay home with their kids. It would be awesome if every mom in this world could have the opportunity to stay at home with their babies, because who can deny that Mom knows their child’s needs the best and knows how best to respond to them.  And I have always imagined myself staying at home with my baby.  But I also liked my job, at least most of the time when crazy women weren’t screaming at me to give them a pair of scissors or a drunk men weren’t arguing that they returned their books on time.  And I also worry that our family will be able to swing it with the, you know, money situation.  But I am going to look for a part-time job in another library. I guess we will learn how to get by on less. In fact, I realized just yesterday that we are in the middle of dollar store heaven.  I think there are at least five to ten 99 cent stores in our queens neighborhood and then there is the wholesale liquidator store!  So I am trying to stay positive and become the bargain huntress that I have always been aspiring to.  Do you have any bargain hunting tips that you want to share?

I read this article in a magazine the other day, and it got me thinking about how I feel in this decision. The article was about how be happy, and it talked about maximizers and satifizers.  I have realized through this decision-making process that I am a maximizer, someone who is always trying to get the most that she can, instead of a satisifizer, someone who is satisfied with what they get.

I have been a maximizer since I was a little girl.  I remember when my Grandma and Grandpa Miller took me to the big Toys R Us and told me I could pick out one thing.  I spent over an hour (at least it seemed like that) trying to figure out what I wanted, and then, when pressured to make a decision, broke down in tears in the toy store because I couldn’t decide what to get.  My family jokes about this now and we even have a name for it, Toy Overload.  I wanted to make the most of the opportunity and didn’t want to make a mistake. So much so in fact, that I couldn’t enjoy the gift that I was being given. I am realizing now that there is something to be said for being content with the decisions that you make.  I am working on it.   Which one are you?

Sydney and Pluffy, Alice's best buds

]]> http://alicedaisyvalente.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/a-maximizer-trying-to-reform/feed/ 0 emmojo IMG_0976 IMG_0972 http://alicedaisyvalente.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/fall-in-sunnyside/ http://alicedaisyvalente.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/fall-in-sunnyside/#comments Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:41:01 +0000 emmojo http://alicedaisyvalente.wordpress.com/?p=312 ]]>  

Hello!  We are back from our travels to Chicago!  I’ll post on that soon.  For today though, I had to post some pictures from the Oktober Fest we went to with friends Lori and Josh at the park across the street from our house on Saturday a few weeks ago.

We strolled around the craft booths and ate bratwurst, beer (soda for me) and German potato salad.  Then we went into the pumpkin patch they had there!  We declined to get a pumpkin but totally took some photos WITH the pumpkins.  I think they turned out really cute.

Lori and Josh

I have to believe that people outside of NYC are not as bold with their comments and thoughts on my baby.  You would not believe some of the things people have said to me.  While at a yard sale a few weeks ago in my neighborhood, a stranger was commenting on Alice’s pretty, unique eyes.  I enjoyed the compliment until that MAN then said, “She has some sexy eyes.”  WHAT?!!?  She is 4 months old…..no baby has sexy anything. I quickly scooted my stroller ass out of there and away from the weird man.

Then the other day while Alice and I were shopping at the Old Navy down the street, an older woman told me that my baby looked sad in her stroller.  I said, “Well, she did have her vaccinations today, so maybe she is not feeling her best…” but then Alice started smiling at her so I said “See, she’s a happy baby!” Then the lady looked at Alice again and told me “No, look in her eyes. She is crying on the inside” at which point I began ignoring her and returning to my bargain hunting.  Babies are not capable of expressing one emotion on the outside and a completely opposite emotion on the inside.

I  have a other stories like these, you would not believe. Where do these people come from?

Colder weather means dressing Jelly Bean in warmer clothes.  This would be fun ( I love a good fashion show) but Alice does NOT like to be put in jackets or have hats placed over her head! Last Thursday we almost didn’t make it to our veggie pick-up because Alice had a complete meltdown when I was trying to put her in her new pale yellow, French sailing windbreaker that I picked up at a yard sale a few weeks ago. We had to walk five blocks with me holding a craying baby in one arm and pushing the stroller with the other. Well that jacket is going to be now sold to the consignment shop. Sigh. Thankfully, I found a soft, stretchy hooded sweater there that she doesn’t seem to mind too much. And I also picked up a purple-hooded elf jacket.

Hello Cool Breezes!

I Am as Crisp as an Autumn Afternoon

Yawn!

Alice has also started teething!

Don’t know where I would fit these in a blog post so here you go–

At least the teething isn’t upsetting her too much. What a cutie.

Also have to give a shot out to Babylegs, the makers of baby legwarmers, which I thought were ridiculous at first but now I can really appreciate not having to take off a pair of pants to change a diaper.

OMG those are some cute legs!

Bye-bye! Time to play again!

She has been eating and sleeping a lot more lately.  Perhaps it’s a growth spurt?  I don’t know.  All I know is that today I made plans to meet a mommy friend at the library this afternoon and Alice decided to sleep through the date. How rude! Grandma Moellman is going to have to teach her some manners.

I thought I’d make the best of it and I would get some stuff done while she was asleep.  But after having a snack, paying the bills, writing thank you notes, prepping all the veggies for dinner and washing the floors in the kitchen and bathroom( seriously-no one can claim that I am lazy, ungrateful, dirty or have bad eating habits or that I’m bad managing money now)  I finally thought that MAYBE I could squeeze in a short blog post as well.

These some pictures from the last few days.  I love the way Alice puts her little feet together like a baby yogi.  I wanted to make sure I got some shots of that before she grows out of that.  I love her little hands too. The others are pictures from the other day when it was cold and we put Alice in her tracksuit.  And the other one is of her chewing on the nose of her favorite new toy, Sydney the Plush Kangaroo.

Oh no, I think I hear her waking up!  And I still need to water the plants….

No, I am a girl

We went on a road trip to Michigan last week to visit family and go to Shane and Lynn’s wedding.  Yes, we drove from Queens all the way to Detroit. In one day.  Yes, we were a little nuts to do that.

Anyway, after we managed to make it there, we had a wonderful time visiting with everyone.

Great Grandparents

On Saturday night, Grandma Jeanne and Grandpa Tom watched Alice while we went and lived it up at our friends wedding.  They took very good care of her.

Sleepytime for Alice

Alice is such a lucky little baby. The entire time we were there, she was showered with love and attention.  The first picture shows Alice in her Tigers gear, a gift from the Great-Aunties! Now, Alice is set with Detroit sports gear.

Aunt Katie and Alice

Alice sleeping again, this time with Uncle Steve

What's Happening?

So you’re all probably wondering– how are things going?  Where have you been?  And, most importantly, when will I get another set of photos of our sweet little Alice girl?

Well, to be honest,  I have been busy being a mom.  And lately, I’ve been so busy having so much fun with my little one that I just haven’t had the time or desire really, to sit down at the computer and post to this blog.  The weather has finally cooled down a little bit and Alice and I have been getting out more.  We have long walks around the neighborhood and run errands together.  Now when I put Alice in her stroller she gets excited, kicks her legs and smiles (before she would cry). We’ve met a bunch of other moms in Sunnyside with little ones close to Ali’s age.  Alice now has several new little friends.  There’s Leanna, Sonya, Carlos, Liam (don’t you love baby names these days?).  It’s been a lot of fun.

Alice has also become more and more playful and vocal.  She practices cooing and hooting.  It’s hilarious.  Sometimes during the day we have conversations that last 10 or 15 minutes. I swear she is going to laugh any day now. She can sit in her little Bumbo seat ( see above).  She can now grasp a little plastic ring when I put it in her lap.  And the last few mornings we have woken up to find Alice rolled on to her side in her crib.  It is truly amazing all the things babies learn to do.  But, by far, her most impressive skill has been learning how to use the remote:

Channel Surfing Again

]]> http://alicedaisyvalente.wordpress.com/2009/09/06/things/feed/ 0 emmojo What's Happening? IMG_0703 IMG_0709