Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Weekend Bday Bash, Part 1


Choo Choo, My Baby is 2!!! We had a great time celebrating here in our condo's community room. Here are some of my favorite shots of the decor and preparations!
 
So many friends helped us celebrate! And the little tots were loving the craft table, balloons, train table and all the choo choo toys and puzzles!


Time for cake and treats!

Happy Birthday to my handsome, charming 2 Year Old!

Thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate! And thanks to the following vendors/companies for bringing the ideas to life!
Invites: Sugar B Designs (my friend from Alabama...check her out!)
Cake/cupcakes: Buzz Bakery, Arlington, VA delicious!
Banners, cupcakes toppers, favor tags: Etsy!
Judah's custom outfit: Granma! (sorry, she's taken ;-)

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Potty and Haircut

That's what's new around here, folks. Well, besides the small fact that a certain someone has turned 2 since I last posted!!! Much more on that later (after I get all the pics). This is just an attempt to catch you up.

While we are not officially potty training, we are having a little fun with the potty. When Judah's Granma heard we wanted to introduce a potty, she shipped us one...thanks Granma! When I told one of my friends that a potty was on its way to us via mail delivery, she told me about this book...

The plot?

No joke, Joshua's grandmother sends him a big present. And you'll never guess what's inside ;-)

I promise we did not plan this, but I thought it was perfect! So I ordered the book (obviously) and we read it to Judah before giving him the "big present" from Granma.
excuse the paci, it was late and we were having molar issues.
Wow! My very own, just like Mommy and Daddy's!
Sit Daddy!

Stand Daddy! Don't worry, it can also be used as a stool and of course he figured that out right away!


So far, it's mostly just been an item of interest around here, a new toy if you will. We're not pushing anything or conducting any structured potty activities. Judah did, however, poo poo in the potty last week and we certainly celebrated! But I think it will be a while before that happens again. Judah didn't seem too thrilled. Oh, and we have had a few of these...Many more to come I'm sure!

In other news, a little someone also got a hair cut recently. Wouldn't you agree he needed one?!
I mean, I love his long curls (ahem, 'fro) and all, but it was just getting a little too unruly for this mama to handle! So off to the African barber shop we go, thanks to a suggestion from my online adoption community :-) Let me paint the picture for you....We head to a barber shop with all Ghanian barbers that we hear is very family friendly. Judah falls asleep in the car on the way there. He is immediately seated and the old African grandfatherly-figure gets to work with the clippers. We shove a sucker in Judah's mouth (don't judge) and all is going well....
Until Judah fully wakes up from his little cat nap in the car and realizes that his head is surrounded by scissors and has just been picked out fully (dry!). The screaming commences and that was all she wrote. No pictures or videos after this one...we were too busy comforting our traumatized child. Fortunately, the barber was great and finished up quickly.
We like the length but I promise, his hair has been frizzy ever since. Since complaining about this to all of our friends of color, we have since learned that we should not have taken him to an African barber shop unless we wanted all his hair cut off. "They buzz, not style." Oh well. Apparently, we need to take him to a Dominican barber shop?! Luckily, we live in DC and this is available :-) Oh and anyone reading this, we are currently taking product/styling advice until we can visit the Dominicans. We've used the following products: Curly Q, Mixed Chicks Kids, Carol's Daughter, and Palmer's Olive Oil. A combination of a few of these products are getting us by, but this mama still isn't happy.

Here is his new shorter 'do...and a preview of his fun second birthday bash! Until next time...

Monday, March 12, 2012

Delightful Dixie

Last week, Judah and I visited my sweet home~Alabama. It was a great trip, filled with lots of love and laughter. Mixed with my excitement was a lingering sadness, however. This was the first trip "home" since my grandparents' passing. The last two visits were for their funerals. There were so many moments when I thought of them while there, longing to see them. However, I know they were smiling down on us from heaven.

We don't visit often enough, but as Judah gets older each visit becomes more memorable. We played outside for hours with cousins and friends, saw a real-life "choo choo" (multiple times, actually) from KK's (my mom's) front yard, had a blast with a new Thomas train track from Pop, and went on an adventure to the coolest science center ever! He's been talking about Maggie, Marlee, Uncle Wes, KK and Pop pretty much every day since returning. Since we live so far apart, my camera goes crazy when Judah is together with his cousins :-)


Judah kept saying "cheese" but couldn't take his eyes of Marlee and Maggie to look at the camera.

Judah and his youngest cousin, Maggie, were obsessed with a Toy Story ball. 
There were multiple lessons on sharing :-)


All forgotten when Uncle Wes joins in!

And I'm not sure who had more fun at the McWane Science Center, me or my son! Check this place out if you're ever in the Birmingham area. 

We saw sharks and stingrays. Judah wanted to "get them." Thus, we're going to wait a little longer before he's allowed to pet them :-)

We drove "Dig-digs."

We tumbled.

We played golf. 

We made gigantic bubbles. 

And even dug for dinosaur bones. 

Can you tell someone really enjoyed this?!

Thank you, KK, for a really fun day!
I love Alabama and can't wait to visit again!