Welcome to our Blog

Welcome to our Blog!
We plan to use this Blog to update our friends and families of our new adventures in the Big Apple and New Jersey.

Friday, March 29, 2013

Brady's Baptism Weekend - March 10th

The weekend of March 10th was Brady's baptism weekend in Cincinnati and we had lots of stuff planned while in Cincinnati.  

We drove down to Cincinnati on Thursday after Charlie got home from work, so we ended up arriving to Cincy around 1am, which was sort of rough for the two of us but Brady seemed just fine with it.  He slept the whole way and then of course when we got there he was wide awake and didn't want to go back to sleep.

Friday during the day Charlie worked remotely and Katie and Brady just relaxed and hung out with Grandma Leslie.  Friday evening, Leslie arranged for us to have a night out and reserved a table for us at her women's club where they were putting on an "Irish Night" with dinner and music.  She even secured 3 doctors-in-training to babysit Brady (and Griffey)....other wise known as Charlie's sister (Abby) and her 2 friends from medical college.  The 3 girls seemed to enjoy the night with Brady and Griffey and from what he heard both kids were on their best behavior.

Leslie is the president of the Cincinnati Women's Club so her and Tom had to sit at the head table and Charlie and I sat at a table with Grumpa (that's what we call Charlie's Grandfather).  The dinner was very good and they even served green beer.  Afterwords they had a men's glee club called The Friendly Sons of St Patrick perform in their big auditorium.  We enjoyed it very much and in fact it made us want to visit Ireland.

Saturday morning, Abby and Charlie woke up early to run a local 5K race that Wyoming was putting on.  Leslie and I were hoping that they would run by the house, but luckily it was only a block away.  So Leslie, Tom, Griffey, Brady and I walked over to cheer them on.  Afterwords the two runners were starving so we all went for a big breakfast at the yummy Half Day Cafe right next to Charlie's parents house.   



After the big breakfast, Katie had plans to meet 2 of her college roommates, Ali and Lisa, for lunch and pedicures.  She really enjoyed the girl time.  Meanwhile, Charlie had plans to meet up with several of his old college friends.  I'm (Katie is writing this) not quite sure what all trouble they were getting into during the day but Katie went to pick up Charlie later in the evening at a "corn-hole" tournament....which was quite the scene.  I think Charlie and his friends had high hopes of winning a couple rounds but this tournament was not for the weak.  It was technically located right on the dividing border of east/west cincinnati but since legend has it that "corn-hole" originated on the West side of Cincinnati, those west-siders take it very seriously and from what I saw, Charlie and his friends didn't stand a chance.  It seemed like they had a lot of fun anyways though.  And Brady and Griffey had plans to hang out with Grandma Leslie, Grandpa Tom and Aunt Abby. 



And then finally it was Sunday, the whole reason we came to Cincinnati.  We were quite nervous about how Brady was going to act during the baptism ceremony but he could not have been more perfect.  We got there a little early to meet with the Pastor and Brady fell asleep in Daddy's arms, which was right on cue for his morning nap anyways.  He slept thru the beginning of the church service until the first hymn when the choir members big voices woke him up.  Right after the first hymn, we were called up to the front for the baptism ceremony and he was awake the whole time and just took it all in.  The Pastor even carried him up and down the aisle to introduce him to his church family and he seemed to love smiling and greeting all the people.  After the baptism ceremony, we sat back down for the remainder of the church service and Brady got mentioned in the sermon and even babbled out right on que as if to say "amen".   This weekend reminded us of how truly blessed and thankful we are for such a healthy and happy baby and it seems with each day our love for him grows even stronger.  











Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Rachel's Party - Saturday February 16th

Trying to catch up with our posts to get to a really special weekend in March for Brady's baptism.  But as always, we are a little behind and have some really good picture to post with this one.  On Saturday February 16th, our good friends Rachel and Pete had a party at their downtown condo.  We were really excited for it so we scheduled one of our babysitters and planned to have a little night out.  However, a few days before the party our babysitter cancelled and we couldn't find a replacement so Brady got to go to the party and see his buddy Eli.  Unfortunately for the babies, since the party was in the evening, they were both going to bed at different times and didn't really even get to hang out.  We were smart enough to not put both babies in the same room so they wouldn't wake each other up, so Brady slept in Rach and Pete's master bedroom in a pack-n-play and Eli was in his room.  Rach and Pete even had a dual camera monitor that we could watch both babies.  It was a lot of fun hanging out with Rach and Pete and meeting some of their friends.  

Here is a picture of Brady all dressed up for the party (he was probably only awake for a total of 20 minutes before he got changed into his pajamas).


 Love him so much in this outfit, he looks like such a little man.  


Monday, March 11, 2013

Play-dates and Waiting for Spring

It is amazing how time is flying by while I have been out of work.  Being a temporary stay-at-home mom has definitely been fun and a lot busier that I thought it would be.  The weather hasn't been too bad this winter for our first one in Chicago, but I am definitely ready for Spring so that I can get the stroller back out and go on walks with Brady and Griffey.  Poor Griffey is not a fan of the cold weather and snow and has even put on an extra pound because he hasn't gotten much exercise this winter.  However, until the snow melts and the weather gets warmer, we have been finding plenty of things to do indoors.

In January, I tried a Mommy and Baby yoga class which was sort of fun.  It wasn't quite what I expected though because I thought they would teach us yoga moves to do with the babies but the babies just laid on the floor in front of us while the instructor guided us through yoga with babies crying and rolling all over the place and mom's chasing after them...not exactly relaxing.  Brady thought it was fun to scream excitedly all through the class at the baby next to us, so we havn't been back and now that he has started rolling all over...I think I can forget about mommy and baby yoga.   

Chicago also has all sorts of great indoor place spaces for babies/kids, which will be even better once Brady starts walking.  One of the places that I found that I like the best is called "The Little Beans Cafe" which is kind of like a Panera Bread with a large living room area filled with toys for babies and toddlers.  

And we are signed up to start Mommy and Baby swim class this month with my friend Rachel and her baby Eli.   

Another thing that has been fun this winter, has been planning play dates with several of our friends who have babies close to Brady's age.  Brady is already becoming a social butterfly and seems to love seeing and interacting with other babies, which is so much fun to watch.  

Here are some pictures from our play dates and just having fun this winter.
(All bundled up for our lunch date with Rachel's baby Eli)





(Brady and Bobby Gottfred, one of Charlie's fraternity brothers and old college roommate's baby who was born just 2 month after Brady) 





And just hanging out with Mommy and Daddy.