Meet Baby Jones

Last Sunday, our family headed out to Blue Bell, PA for an impromptu brunch at Normandy Farm (Thanks for the tip, Shakira!). We were all so pleasantly surprised at how elegant the place and how delicious the food were. I don’t know, but for some reason I was left with the impression that the place was casual after Shakira told me about it so the clan (Melvin, my mom, Aves and me) went grossly underdressed. Well, it wasn’t “Jacket Required”, but far from jeans and flip flops either.

I just love taking Avery places these days. He gets so excited being in new surroundings and seeing new people. He still gets pretty freaked out especially when total strangers approach him and get all in his personal space, but for the most part, he likes being around people. I’ve also noticed recently that he prefers children a whole lot more than adults so he really gets going when he’s around them.

He can feed himself pretty well now, too. We put him in his highchair, cut up pieces of food for him and just let him go to town. He seems the most content when he’s given some independence. Still not using utensils and drinking by himself from a cup though, but believe you me, he eats sufficiently

Our house’s new floorplan is kinda strange to me. The living room area is one really long room with a fireplace at either end. On one side of the living room area is our couch, but for weeks we couldn’t decide what to make of the other half of the room.

Well, since we want Avery to only associate his nursery with sleeping, we didn’t want to incorporate his play area in there. Our basement is perpetually wet and just generally creepy so that’s off limits to Avery. So, we got it! We’d make the other half of our living area Avery’s playroom!



We just decided to really create a playroom for Avery just the other day, so this area is truly still a work in progress. I have tons of ideas but not a lot of money so it may take me a few months to get this area the way I envision it.

Here are a few photos of Avery enjoying his new toys:

Avery started playing in my trash pile while I swept the porch.

I’m still trying to teach him that dirt isn’t best for eating.

Avery got into his Lola’s plants. Again.

My cousin James and his wife Chiku were in town to meet up with some friends of theirs and they were nice enough to invite our family to join them. We all met up at the Maggiano’s in King of Prussia for dinner.

James and Chiku’s friends brought along their almost 3-year-old son (whose name I can’t remember) and their 17-month-old daughter, Shamara. You know, before dinner, all 3 kids were really shy, sorta like trying to feel one another out. After dinner though, it was a totally different story.

We let Avery out of the highchair because he started to get antsy. Then follows Shamara who walks up towards Avery. First, it was all so cutesy - Avery’s checking her out and Shamara’s checking him out, too. He starts trying to get close to her, even trying to give her a kiss (he has started to do that now and it is sooo precious. I’d have more kids just for that, I swear!). Shamara appears to be ok with all that, then all of a sudden, she starts like getting all in Avery’s face. I mean, she was like really aggressive and stuff, and I mean in a cute, lil’ kid kind of way. And she wasn’t trying to kiss him - it appeared to me like she was trying to exert her power over him (she’s taller than Aves).

So when Avery gets backed into a corner with nowhere to escape, he starts pushing her! It was sooo much fun to watch! And he wasn’t like trying to hurt her or anything (gee, I hope not), he was either just trying to escape, or wanting to play. Oh yeah, that’s like how he shows he likes someone - by engaging them in his own kind of play, most times in the form of pushing.

And Aves did very well with “the strangers”, thank you very much. He seemed to especially like Chiku - he even offered her some of his broccoli! The only time he cried was when she tried to hold him at the end of the night which I think was more because he was tired and was ready to go, not because he was afraid of her.

The only thing that was disappointing was the plan changing so James and Chiku didn’t get to spend the night in our new crib Oh well, there’s next time I guess.

Putang Ina, George! *LOL*

To celebrate Melvin’s 32nd birthday along with our 7th Wedding Anniversary, Father’s Day and my 36th birthday (which all occurs in an 8-week period), we decided to do 1 big thing instead of 4 little ones so Melvin booked the Tower Suite at The Inn at Bowman’s Hill Bed and Breakfast in New Hope, PA. We stayed there from last Friday night to Sunday morning.

My mom expressed reservations about staying in our new house with just Avery and our cats when I first told her about our weekend getaway, so I was pleasantly surprised to come home to not only a very clean house, but also a very happy woman. Seems she got along just fine without us. She was understandably very exhausted at the end of her extended shift, but said she would baby/housesit for the entire weekend again if we asked her to. Don’t tempt us, momma!

Ok so anyway, we get to the B & B around 7p. We get buzzed in through the iron gates by the innkeeper, Tim, who was pleasant but quite reserved. As we drove up to the circular driveway into our parking space, I was impressed by how absolutely gorgeous the house was, large without being ostentatious. It looked like an old English cottage with a lot of history, so imagine our surprise when Tim tells us the house was only 30 years old.

Egad!

And that it was built to serve as a gynecologist’s office.

Yikes!

Part of the attraction Melvin and I have for B & Bs is the history. When we go away, we really like to get away, transporting ourselves to a time gone by. We love to hear stories about the person or the family who built the home and the interesting things in which they participated. We also love to surround ourselves with the antiques that have been collected through many years. Our B & B selection process is usually very strict, so I don’t know how this one got through. Oh I know - it’s ’cause Melvin picked it!

Anyway, here’s the rundown of our weekend activities:

Friday night - Dinner at Havana right on Main Street. Disappointing as the fare offered bore no semblance to anything Cuban at all. I guess it was my fault for assuming that their name had anything to do with the food they served. Live music was good though, and the drinks were so so.

Saturday day - Woke up to a fantastic English feast courtesy of Tim (so he says), and then did the requisite New Hope trip thing and stopped at Peddler’s Village. Too touristy for Melvin and the stores where we stopped sold only kitschy items according to him, so we only walked around for a little bit before he was ready to be outta there. Stopped to eat at The Cock and Bull Restaurant - your regular, run-of-the-mill franchise joint. Nothing too exquisite but definitely served its purpose.

We then headed off to New Hope and Ivyland Railroad to get on a real live steam train. The idea sounded great, romantic even. But the reality sucked! It was expensive ($14.50/person) for such a short ride (<45 mins), uncomfortable (hot, hot, hot!), unsafe (windows held in place by pieces of wood), and it did not go to or through any place of importance or interest. What a ripoff!

Saturday night - Melvin and I were arguing even before we got on the train, so after the ride, we decided to head back to the B & B and call it a night. We ended up just talking and ordering some takeout from Bowman’s Tavern and then just going to sleep.

Sunday day - Another English feast that was simply superb, this time served in our suite.



We were going to go straight home after breakfast, but since Melvin and I were actually getting along at that point, we decided to stay longer and venture out to New Hope’s adjoining town, Lambertville, NJ. There we visited a few art galleries and antique stores. We even picked up an Eskimo doll in furry garb for Avery because it reminded me so much of my little man, especially in this photo.

We concluded the day with a late lunch at Lilly’s on the Canal in Lambertville. Wow, loved it, loved it, loved it. I loved everything about it - the ambiance, the food, even the bathroom! The only thing I would recommend is to bring your own bottle of wine because they only serve by the bottle. Definitely a must visit again!

“Any fool can have a child. That doesn’t make you a father. It’s the courage to raise a child that makes you a father.” - Sen. Barack Obama

Happy Father’s Day to all the wonderful dads out there! We hope your day is relaxing, spent with loved ones.

A special shout out goes out to Avery’s lolo and Pop Pop - we’re sorry we couldn’t spend the day with either one of you, but you were in our thoughts today.

Finally, big thanks to all those who called or sent text messages to Melvin. We greatly appreciate the warm greetings

Real severe thunderstorms rolled through our area last night. They were in fact so severe that when we woke up in the morning, we had huge tree branches all over our yard. Fallen trees also lined our streets that many of them had to be blocked, forcing us to take several detours on our way to the diner this morning. Oh, and the storms knocked out our power - we had no electricity from 7p last night to 7p tonight.

Anyway, the lightning last night was the worst I’d seen in a while. One actually hit a pine tree that’s right in front of our yard and it sent pieces of wood as far as at least 100 feet. A horse from a neighboring farm was also sadly hit and died :(. I’m wondering why it was even out in a storm like that.

So, when all the lightning was going on, I locked myself in the spare bedroom with all the blinds down and a comforter over my head. Melvin and Avery were out on the porch playing.

I KNOW!

I was sooooo freaking out because it was really bad out there, and I kept yelling for Melvin to bring Avery inside. Of course, he just kept telling me that they were fine and that Avery was having fun. Yes, he was having a lot of fun. But would he let Avery play in the middle of a highway just because he’s having fun? How about a loaded gun? Would he let Avery play with that too just because he’s having fun?

Yes, I KNOW!

I really, really wanted to go out there and just snatch Avery and bring him inside. But aside from my stupid phobia, I also didn’t want to undermine Melvin.

Well, this morning as I told this story to our neighbor, Deb, she was just like, “Whaaat?” And Deb is not one to be rattled by mother nature’s fury easily. She’s been through some pretty rough weather and even she could not believe that Melvin was out there with Avery in the middle of the storm.

Now, to Melvin’s credit, I don’t think he had any idea just how severe the weather was. And really when they were out on the porch, the storm had just started so the lightning wasn’t too, too bad. I know he wouldn’t put Avery in harm’s way and after realizing that his action was probably not the safest thing he could’ve done, he felt really terrible and has promised to not allow Avery outside again during a thunderstorm.