Very Sneaky

This is a little off topic, but at one of our weekly playgroups I learned about an awesome product and just had to share with all of the moms out there. Owen is a picky eater (unless of course you offer him cookies or any type of bread or turkey hot dogs) so getting him to eat fruits, veggies or anything healthy for that matter is a straggle lately. So when I heard about this very cool pasta, I knew it might just work for us!

Barilla Pasta has come out with a new line of box pasta and it is awesome! It falls in their Piccolini line which is made for kids because it is mini pasta (perfect for finger eaters) but the pasta is made with veggies. Yes, you read that right, one serving of this pasta is equivalent to one full serving of veggies. SCORE! That is awesome news to me, and hey if you are going to eat pasta, you might as well get some additional nutrition out of it right -- so in my mind it is great for adults too.

It comes in 3 different flavors:

Piccolini Mini Pipe with Carrots and Squash 

Piccolini Mini Wheels with Zucchini and Spinach 

Piccolini Mini Farfalle with Tomatoes and Carrots 

We tried the Tomato and Carrot version tonight and it was delicious. As soon as it started to boil you could smell the carrots but once it was done and mixed with sauce you really couldn't taste a difference ... which meant my little picky eater also liked it -- WIN!

See, I wasn't lying ... he actually ate it :) 

So hopefully this little secret find will also help you :). I certainly think its very cool and will be our pasta of choice moving forward!

Sunny Days

Last week we were blessed with uncharacteristic summer like weather and loved every second of it. We spent as much time as we could outside. It's so hard to explain how much Owen loves being outside, but I am sure from the pictures below you will get a glimpse of how happy he is!

Happy to be outside 

 Cheese face

 He was obsessed watching this crane ... he kept trying to leave the park to go and see it

 Running 

 Saying hi threw his little window on top of his stroller 

 Come and get me!

 Ahh she is coming to get me :)

 Loving the sun

 My favorite new picture of both my kids 

 Lexi love 

 Playing ball together 

 Watching Lexi fetch the ball

 Ready Lex?

 Haha I think I'll just keep the ball instead

 I win 

I even captured a video of Owen and Lexi playing ball together which Owen finds hilarious. We are lucky that Lexi is so patient with Owen -- who constantly steals her ball back and cries when Lexi takes it away -- she is such a good girl! We are missing the warm weather already!

The day we went to the park barefoot

Yesterday was one of those days that no one got a gold star for. It is one of those days that was horrible to live through but will make for a good story down the road. All week Owen has been battling a nasty cold full of a constant runny nose, a horrible wet cough, I suspect a sore throat and is still working on getting his four molars in all at once (talk about bad luck). I have basically been giving him constant doses of ibuprofen to help get him through this bout of the sickies ... however it looks like I dropped the ball yesterday afternoon and Owen won't ever let me forget it.

Owen had a tough time falling asleep for his nap yesterday, which is really nothing new but with his cold I really wanted to make sure he got some rest. So after a good hour in his crib he finally gave into the nap fairies and fell asleep. Forty-five minutes into his nap he woke up crying. I left him in his crib and after a couple of minutes he fell back asleep. About an hour later he woke up again but this time he was screaming. I went into get him and for the next 45 minutes he screamed and cried and just couldn't be consoled. I would pick him up and he would try to get down. I would put him down and he would just melt into a crying puddle. I was at a loss and didn't know what to do. I tried his binki, mickey, bottle, sippy cup of water, snacks, veggies ... NOTHING worked. Finally my head felt like it was about to fall off and I needed to regroup in order to be the best mom I could. I put Owen back in his crib, where we all know he feels safe and loves very much, so I could reassess the situation and come up with a new game plan. 5 long minutes later there was silence from his crib ... he wasn't sleeping, but after almost a full hour of screaming he had calmed down. I gave him 20 minutes of quiet time in his crib and when he started to get up and climb around, I decided to go and get him again. He was happy to see me, but that was very short lived. As soon as we left his room the screaming started again.

Now during my down time I figured out that Owen's last dose of ibuprofen had worn off and I needed to figure out how to give him more. He was inconsolable, so trying to get him to just take it on his own was out of the question. I ended up putting him in his highchair -- which only escalated the screaming but at least held him down so I could have both of my hands free -- and when he would open his mouth I would squirt small amounts of medicine in his mouth until I got the whole dose in his mouth. The screaming didn't stop once I lifted him out of his highchair and out of pure desperation I went down our stairs to get some fresh air hoping this would calm Owen down. As soon as we stepped outside he stopped crying. We stood in the yard for a few minutes and he seemed to be ok. I tried to go back upstairs to grab our shoes but no dice... Owen started to scream again and now everyone enjoying the beautiful weather on our street started to stare. So what did I do? I walked over to the park with Owen on my hip and barefoot. Luckily Lexi was already at the park with Eric, otherwise I am not sure what I would have done. As we walked over I could feel Owen start to relax. Thankfully the park is only 2 streets away. We sat in the grass and all of the doggies started to show up and I tell you ... about 15 minutes into our little adventure and my little Owen was back to himself. Yes we were both barefoot and very disheveled, but hey, we were both okay. Owen was watching the doggies play and started running along with them barefoot and all.

Looking back at it now, I could have done many things differently but the whole story does make me giggle just a little... the things we do when we are pushed to our limits... Happy Friday

Moo, Baaa, Oink!

This morning we went to a playgroup at a local farm and had a blast. We got to see crazy baby piglets, sweet baby lambs, clucking chickens, gobbling turkeys, lazy pigs the size of me and cows from afar. Owen had so much fun running around with the other babies his age and talking to all of the animals. It is safe to say he wasn't afraid of any of the animals and very intrigued into finding out how he could be their friend. In fact, unlike the other babies, Owen was trying to find ways to get into the animal pens to go and play with them. He loved romping around in the dirt, traveling on the unbeaten path and getting dirty! What a true little boy he is.

Watching the piglets 

 Momma pig (she was seriously the length of me) 

 Baby pig!! They were so cute running around with so much spunk. They kept running over to their mom trying to get her to play but she wouldn't move one bit ... they were so cute

 Momma with her baby lambs 

 Oh my goodness mom, look at all of these chickens! 

 Lazy pigs sunbathing in their pen -- which smelt awful!

 Watching the piggies eat 

 So many places to explore

 Looking at the cows 

 Walking with one of his friends 

 Hi cows, can you come and play?

 Sweet moment 

 That is a huge tree trunk ... but so much fun! 

 Gobble Gobble -- and yes these turkeys were very talkative and gobbled at us the whole time

 Mom, I am going back to see the pigs and chickens, see you later 

 An escapee! 

 Sitting on his first tracker 

 My little farmer boy 

We had so much fun and I am sure we will be back soon.

Luck of the Irish

I know this post is a few days late ... we have been hit with some BEAUTIFUL warm summer like weather and have been taking advantage of it as much as we can.

This weekend we celebrated St. Patrick's Day in style. We rocked our green, played outside, drank some beer and feasted on some delicious corn beef and cabbage. Best of all, Eric's parents and sister Lizzie came to play with us for the whole weekend. It doesn't get much better then that!

On Friday we kicked off their visit with dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Not Your Average Joe's. Owen was a rockstar and behaved the whole time. I am sure it didn't hurt that they placed us at a table facing the street so it kept our little man pretty occupied :). It was great to catch up and spend some time out of the apartment.

Ready to head out to dinner with Auntie Lizzie

 Bread might be one of Owen's favorite foods ... 

On Saturday, all of the boys stayed home and played outside and took naps while the girls shopped until we dropped at the Wrentham Outlets. These outlets are my favorite to visit. They have a great selection of stores, all grouped together in rows and very rarely do they disappoint with their great deals. Lizzie was also a great help since I am usually so indecisive -- she is a great shopping buddy! After we exhausted our shopping feet and picked out a few cute things we headed back to meet our well rested boys who were ready to party. So they headed over to one of our local Irish bars (where I work) and grabbed a few Irish beers, enjoyed the traditional Irish music and got a taste of the Irish community here in Boston. Once they had enough they came home for some delicious corn beef and cabbage ... yummy!

My little Irish boy! 

 Hanging out with Auntie Lizzie 

 Posing with Mom

 Family picture 

 Even Lexi had her green on 

 Mr. Cool

 Playing

 Who knew paper bags could be so much fun, right papa?

 Sibling love out at Donahue's 

 Celebrating St. Patrick's Day (don't worry he didn't actually get to drink anything)

On Sunday we were sad to have to say goodbye because their visit seemed too short (as it always does ;)) but we are already looking forward to the next time we get to see Grams, Papa and Auntie Lizzie.

He is such a funny kid 

 Time to say goodbye 

 Playtime at the park

 Hanging with the doggies 

 Me and the kids