our walking essentials

If you're like me, you make a batch of brownies and eat two after every meal for three straight days, then decide you need to walk it off.  Not just any old walk, but a brutal, one hour, uphill, circling walk.  Must also add 50 pounds of stroller + baby + bag.

My baby and I have been real good about walking uptown about three times a week.  It's been the perfect buffer for the couple hours between his afternoon nap and dinner.  That is typically crazy time.  Not anymore!  Patrick hardly makes a peep on these walks.  Not only does he love the breeze on his face and the fact that we're constantly moving, he loves watching the cars and trucks go by, as well as the doggies in the yards.

Seeing as we do this very often, I've got the packing down to a tee.  It takes us five minutes and we're out the door.

Here are our walking essentials:

• All the normal diaper bag stuff.  (change of clothes, diapers)

• Sunscreen.  Even with the sun shade down on the stroller, arms and legs still seem to get that sunshine.  I use Water Babies.

• Sippy cup.  Just as any adult gets thirsty, so do babies (obvs).  I fill Patrick's with half water and half Juicy Juice.  Sometimes I'll throw an ice cube in to ensure it's good and cold.

• Water for Mama.  I found this cup at Starbucks on clearance and bought it, even though I didn't know what to use it for.  I try not to give Starbucks my business because there's nothing worse than a company that spouts going green and bla bla nature bla bla, and then charges $4.75 for a drink.  Ridic.  But this cup is awesome - it's double paned so condensation doesn't build up on it, and it stays cold forever, like my ice cubes from home still aren't melted after our walks.

• Snacks.  Something easy for Patrick to grab in his stroller, like Cheerios or Puffs.

And there you have it.  It doesn't sound like much, but just a few simple things can make life a heck of a lot easier!

BAM!, BBQ, and MAIL

BAM!

Now this is an acceptable scene to walk in on...

I was so ticked when the SMALL (Sandusky Mall) took out Borders book store and replaced it with BAM!  Borders was awesome, and BAM! sucks.  They do, however, have a great children's book section.  Patrick is in desperate need of more books; he has quite a few, but Mama has memorized all the words in them and that gets old.  I picked up these two new ones from BAM! this morning. 

They are super and I can't wait to read them to him tonight before bed.


BBQ

We had some family and friends over last night for a small BBQ.  On the menu:  beef kabobs, rice pilaf, and sweetcorn on the grill.  It was delicious!  I found the recipe for the beef kabobs here.  That's the link to a blog called Many Makings that's done by two women with kids and they have fabulous recipes.  I've made at least a dozen of them!

teryaki ginger beef kabobs.

lilly & pat - bff's

Isn't that so annoying when parents label their child and someone else's child like "boyfriend and girlfriend" or say they're going to get married someday?  It's like what are the chances?  One in 3 billion?  Well, I'm going to be just a little less annoying and label them BFF's. 

Lilly and Patrick are a mere five weeks apart!  It seems like Amanda and I were just bantering about whose belly was bigger last summer, and now we're planning first birthday parties.  Craaazy!


Speaking of first birthday parties, I have been busy ordering from Etsy for Patrick's party like it's going out of style.  I recently became an Etsy shopper (after finding my way through Pinterest) and I am just LOVING it.  There is nothing more special than a.)  giving small businesses your money and 2.)  receiving a handmade, high-quality purchase in the mail.  The people who have these shops are just incredible.  So far for the party, I've ordered some garland from Hobblecreek Designs and custom invitations from LittleDarlingsUK. 

This is how my invitations came wrapped.  I mean, could it be any more lovely? 

baby shoes rock.

Back when I didn't even like kids, I liked kid shoes.  I loved kid shoes.  I would walk past those little things and just swoooooooon.  Now that Patrick is taking some steps (!!!), it's time to get down to some serious shoe business.

I didn't start putting "real" shoes on Patrick until he was about 6 months old.  Before that, it was wintertime so we always covered his little socks with slippers.  I can't say enough about these that I got from Target - they were the perfect extra weight for (the few) outings we took.  And since it was such a mild winter, I only busted out the baby snowsuit once. 

circo baby slippers.

At the beginning of summer, I knew he needed a little something on his feet when we went out, even though he was just crawling. 



These were great for pool days.

Now as far as baby/kid shoes go, you could call me obsessed with Stride Rite.  My mom got that brand for us as kids, so I always knew I would try them out for my kids when I had them.  There is a store at Great Northern Mall, and I don't mind a 45-minute drive at all, so it will be my shoe shopping destination for all my children.

The thing I love about Stride Rite (for babies anyway) is that they have different stages of shoes.  They've got prewalkers, early walkers, and off & running.


This is the pair that Patrick has been wearing all summer.  They have been awesome for crawling as well as learning to walk behind the walker.  They are a size 3.5, and all of the sudden they were too small.

Today I went up to Stride Rite to look for a.) another pair of sandals to finish out the summer and b.) a pair of tennies for fall.


These are the sandals I ended up finding on clearance and they actually had them in his new size, a 4.  Stride Rite has a Sesame Street line that is precious, and Patrick got Grover on his new kicks.  On the website, it says that Grover is excitable, caring, and compuslsive.  Um, my child in three words?

We went outside to break them in.

boo boo on the nose.  fyi: not on my watch. 

Yep, you're thinking why is Patrick wearing socks?  The sales lady told me to put socks with the sandals the first couple weeks to soften the leather.  I can take advice.  Sometimes.

Here are Patrick's fall tennies.  They're still part of the 'early walker' stage; I don't see him being 'off & running' until at least spring...at least I hope!

They were running a special today...buy one, get one half off.  However, it didn't apply to clearance items, and the sandals were clearanced at $39.95, originally $46.00 (gee thanks for the discount).  The new shoes were cheaper, at $39.90.  Didn't make sense to me either...but the clerk ended up doing the BOGO so I was like now that's customer service.

As well as Stride Rite, I love the original Salt Water sandals.  These are my fave for when Pat gets a little older, maybe a couple summers into the future.