Angry Rocco

This is the look I get when I don't let Rocco do something he wants to do like clean out the fridge, play with the computer wires, crawl around the garage, or play with my camera when I'm trying to take a picture of him. He's got a very good accusatory look going, don't you think?

Baking

Mmmmm....Black and White cookies. Ever had them? I had never heard of them until I moved to New York, and didn't start craving them until after living in South Florida. There are a lot of awful B&W's out there, but if you get a good one, it is hard to stop yourself from going back and taking another nibble time and again. A few weeks ago I decided to bake them myself since I no longer had easy access to that S. Florida bakery. They were very good and I just have to post a pic for Aunt Lisa, Muggs, and Grandma.

My recent baking project was a 50th Wedding Anniversary cake. It was for a great couple here in Jacksonville that are grandparents of the kids I used to nanny in Fort Lauderdale.

I made a white cake with a vanilla swiss buttercream and a ganache filling. I put a cursive Z on top (their initial) because I couldn't find a topper I liked. Why are toppers so cheesy?

The cake was served after a service at the synagogue and so it had to be kosher. This meant that I had to make it in the synagogue's dairy kitchen. They don't have much there as far as making cakes. They only had one 4 quart mixer from the 60's while I have two 6 quart Professionals (thank you Joansies) at home. It is quite a feat to make a cake, ganache, and buttercream for 100 people with one little mixer. I didn't even have a hand mixer for back up. There was a lot of mixing, transferring, cleaning and mixing again. I also didn't have access to my regular line up of cake tools because they were not kosher, so I had to really simplify the whole process as much as possible.

This picture doesn't capture how truly sad this little mixer was.

Is that my child sucking on a 22 lb bag of chocolate? Why yes it is, I guess some things are genetic! Several times a day, until I smartened up and moved the bag, Rocco would crawl over to this bag of chocolate, suck on the outside and cry.

Rocco's Room

Our new house is painted a neutral beige throughout minus one gold and one turquoise bathroom and a turquoise front door. I painted the door first and wish I had a before picture to post. My next project was Rocco's room. This is our first time not renting, and our first opportunity to personalize with paint colors. For those of you not on Facebook, here are some pictures of my project.

Here is a picture of Rocco in his crib with beige walls in the back. They were fine, but I wanted a more nursery look.

I think the green walls look bright and cheery.

RIP Nick's Smoker

When we moved to our new house, Nick gussied up his meat smoker by purchasing a plant stand to set it on instead of a pile of bricks that had been dug up from the backyard. It did look less WT, unfortunately the visual improvement might have been the death of the smoker. We had a crazy summer storm with hail and intense winds that blew over the heavy pots set high on the thin metal legs and Nick's beloved was no more. RIP Nick's smoker.

Help Around The House

Rocco is not so interested in toys these days. He is much more interested in helping me do my household chores.

He helps me clean out the fridge.

He helps with the laundry. For awhile he was satisfied with the dryer, but now he also wants to be lifted up to see what's in the washer too.

He runs the bath for me.

He unloads the dishwasher.

He even works under the sink!

Listen To This!

Practicing for Carlsbad

The other day Nick and I took Rocco to Jacksonville Beach to enjoy the sand and surf, okay, maybe just the sand.  It was a little breezy, but a beautiful day.  Rocco really enjoyed the sand in Ca, but I thought he might need some more sand exposure before the annual Lake family beach vacation in Carlsbad, Ca. later this summer.   Apparently some babies squeal with delight in the sand, while others scream with irritation.  Rocco loves the sand and had a great time practicing for Carlsbad!

Spring Break

This April Rocco and I left Nick in Florida and took a Spring Break from unpacking the new house to go and visit my family in Camarillo. 

We bought strawberries straight from the fields, ate great mexican food, 

visited our favorite beach (Leo Carillo), 

played Guitar Hero, and enjoyed visiting our family. 

Rocco was entranced by all the people running around and also by his own image in the large mirror in our room.

Easter in CA

Rocco and I spent this Easter in Camarillo with Grandma Laura, Grandpa Kim, and my sister Amy's family. He enjoyed pulling out all the grass from the yard and slobbering on plastic eggs while his cousins had an egg hunt in the backyard.

I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home

Occasionally Nick will come home early enough and Rocco will stay up late enough where they can meet in the middle and spend a little time together. When this happens Nick will play some guitar for Rocco before bedtime and Rocco really loves it.

Hey Squirmy Baby!

The other night I was up late watching David Letterman. When he asked his guest, Michael J Fox, what it was like having a small child, the reply was "It's a bit like being on suicide watch."

About two nights ago, Rocco mastered a rhythmic worm squirm, pushing up on his toes, forward with his arms, and rolling on his stomach. With this little combination he has figured out how to get where he wants. These are the things he is most interested in crawling to: electrical wiring, electrical outlets, anything made of thin crinkly plastic he can put in his mouth or over his head, items he can tip over and have fall on him, longs ribbons or cords of any kind that could get wrapped around his neck, and door stoppers that he can take the small hard rubber tops off of, that are the perfect size for lodging in his throat. The other day he squirmed over to the sliding glass door and repeatedly thrust himself forward, bumping his head on the glass. I guess he thought he was going out for a walk!

The scary part is, he is only moving slowly now. What will happen when this squirm turns into an accomplished crawl?

Here is Rocco trying to escape his Soothing Massage Baby Seat. He is strapped in, otherwise he would be all the way out. Who wants to get a baby massage when you can squirm towards dangerous things?

Rocco had a good time squirming into the underbelly of his Exersaucer, but didn't like it when he got stuck!

Yoga Baby

Lately Rocco has really begun to move. I've noticed lately that he has actually been doing a few yoga poses. He enjoys Cobra, Child's Pose (for sleeping), and Dog\Cat, but his favorite is Downward Facing Dog. He's discovered that his changing table is the perfect place to roll over in the middle of a diaper change and practice his Downward Facing Dog.

Death defying meditation moves by Rocco, yes his little bottom is hanging over the edge of the suspended changing table.

Lest you think I am a bad mother, here's proof I had Nick spot Rocco's gymnastics while I took the pictures.

The other day I put together Rocco's new crib\cage and put him in for a test drive before putting the sheets on the mattress. He took the opportunity to do some yoga on the nonskid surface.

Rocco's New Tricks

Rocco has all of a sudden learned to sit up. He is definitely not completely stable and often tips over, but he can sit by himself if put in position. I had been practicing for a little while with him, but he wasn't really getting the hang of it. Then when Joan came to help us move, she set him down and to my surprise he sat up by himself! Grandma Joansies is The Baby Whisperer.

He looks a little surprised himself!

He has finally learned to roll over from his stomach to his back and become more comfortable being on his stomach altogether. He really protested being on his stomach for quite awhile. The other day I looked over from one of my tasks and saw him doing this:

Good work Rocco! Also notice that he is engaged in a mild scream. (see Screamapillar entry)

Now that he is a stronger sitter, I got him a seat for the kitchen table and I think he is really enjoying eating his meals there.

I know he looks really unimpressed (kids these days.......sigh), but I swear he likes it.

Old House, New House

Old House, New House
Red House, Beige House
One Rat or Two Rats, Now We Have NO Rats!

Our First Home.....we love it!

About a week and a half ago we moved into our new house. Yeah! We feel very blessed to have found this house so quickly after our other contract fell apart. We have really been enjoying every detail of our new place and our new neighborhood. It is also fun to look forward to making small changes over time to make it our own, like painting the walls or planting a garden. It's a good feeling to know we can invest money on improving our place instead of living with things as they are in a rental. Don't get me wrong, the last house we lived in we had an extraordinary landlord who kept a very nice property and was very generous to us, but there are some differences I appreciate in our new house. Here they are:

Our new house is about 70 years newer than our old place. This means a loss in some character, no beautiful molding around the windows or funny nooks to put things. This also means closet space!

We have 2 bathrooms now. Hooray! I even have a big soaking tub in the master. Nick is elated about having his own sink because apparently I splash around a lot of water. Rocco gets his own bathroom so I don't have to keep transferring the baby tub in and out.

Our kitchen is open to the family room. It is much easier to watch Rocco and cook dinner. Now I don't have to drag the baby swing into the kitchen.

We get to park our cars in a finished two car garage instead of parking one in a semi scary detached garage and the other under a tree that dropped a lot of gunk of the car.

In the last house, I was like Cinderella. I had little rat friends to help me do laundry in the above mentioned semi scary detached garage. I refused to do laundry at night and was always banging around so the rats would hide before I went in during daylight. Now with an indoor laundry room, there are no rats to help and I can do laundry at all hours! (This sounds like we lived in a terrible place, but I swear we didn't, and our landlord was always sending out exterminators. There were just a lot of neighborhood rats that liked to come hang out because the garage wasn't completely sealed. They didn't have a nest in the garage or anything.)

The old house had creaky wood floors that Rocco was sensitive to while trying to nap. It also had doors that didn't always shut properly or quietly because old houses settle and change the angle of door frames. Now we have very quiet floors and doors.

The old house was very close to Nick's work, only a 5 minute drive. Unfortunately, it was equally close to a high crime rate area and a connecting street between two busy streets. It was not ideal for taking Rocco on walks. Our new neighborhood is gorgeous and clean. It is it's own little oasis with plenty of walkways and an awesome amenities center an easy stroll from our house. I can't wait to take Rocco to the baby pool this summer!

Did I mention that I have lots of closet space?

On our old street, there weren't other neighbors that were in our same life stage, but here I've already noticed four other couples in our cul-de-sac that look to be our age and have babies. I'm looking forward to making new friends!

Can you tell we love our new house? Some of these things seem small and most people probably take them for granted, but after living in an older house for awhile, they are quite luxurious to have and I am grateful.

Our neighborhood has a beautiful entrance complete with waterfalls and a bridge to drive over. Before you get to any homes, there is a pleasant and groomed drive separating the neighborhood from the main street.

We have a great clubhouse in the center of our neighborhood, only a 5 minute walk from our house. There is a gym, tennis courts, racquetball courts, 3 pools, a playground and volleyball courts. There are also large rooms that can be rented for parties or get-togethers.

Here is the main pool with a big slide! There is also a baby pool separated by a gate so Rocco and I won't get run over by the older kids this summer.

And here is the lap pool for swim team captain Nick. Our neighborhood has a kid's competitive swim team called the Barracudas that Rocco might be a part of if we live here long enough!

A Trip Down South

Near the end of February Rocco and I took a little road trip the the southern gulf tip of Florida to see my sister Lisa and her family. They rented a house on Marco Island and it was really beautiful there. Nick and I had visited this region of Florida twice before and we really love the clear calm waters of the Gulf.

It was great to see Lisa, Grant, and their two little ones Allie and Brooke. The last time I had seen them was when I was 6 months pregnant with Rocco and Brooke was a newborn. Now Brooke is one year old and Rocco is of course no longer living in my womb! I also got to visit with Grant's parents. They even babysat for me and let Lisa and I go out to dinner free of children. That was quite the treat and a great time to catch up with my big sis.

Sisters and cousins. Here we are with Lisa and her two cuties, Allie and Brooke.

Brooke and Rocco enjoyed a walk home from the beach. It was funny to see them talking and laughing together in baby language.

I spent about a day and a half with them and then let them enjoy their vacation. On the way home I took a different route home and visited my favorite Fort Lauderdale kids Alex, Sami, and Ryan. I love when I get to see them in my old home town or when they come to visit in Jacksonville. We had a fun time just hanging out and catching up.

Rocco with his Fort Lauderdale Family! The kids were all so nice to Rocco. Melinda is so good with Rocco, I'm thinking of asking her to be my nanny!