according to – kim

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we bundled up and left the house sunday morning with two objectives: find a christmas tree and attempt to shoot our little elf for our holiday card. we accomplished both, although it wasn’t easy (wink). this babe is none stop and asking her to sit still is nearly impossible. regardless, we had a wonderful wintery adventure amongst a sea of trees. i’ve said it once and i’ll say it again, this really is the most wonderful time of year and logan adds a whole new level of magic to our days.

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^ if only our ceilings were that much taller ^

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^ enamored by the concept of the snow-globe ^

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^ my north pole ^

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^ we played tug-of-war and had a meltdown over putting this broom back in the general store. grandmom to the rescue. ^

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^ wreaths for days ^

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^ documenting this wild child has become a blur ^

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^ if i had the room i would have taken them all home ^

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^ we sealed our date with a cider doughnut of course ^

monthly mini – logan

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52 project – a portrait of logan, once a week, every week, in 2013

not much to report on this nineteen month old baby, turned toddler. while i’ve heard rumors of the independent monsters eighteen month olds transform into, i can say more often than not logan’s still her sweet and chubby short-haired self. however that’s not to say this girl isn’t sassy and hasn’t taken a major precedence over our clan of three these days. she knows what she wants and does a good job expressing it. sense my sarcasim?! the scary part is reminding her who’s in charge around these parts. the hard part is not letting her get away with murder. it’s hard not to cave on every request this adorable little human demands. with ease and patience we’re trying to set boundaries while teaching lo there’s other ways to get her point across aside from full blown melt downs. it’s turning out to be a learning experience for us all.

according to – kim

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our halloween was catastic! we had the genius idea of prepping lo plenty in advance by casually laying the furry suite around the house and playing with it all october long. needless to say, us big kids ended up with that hood on our heads more than the kid herself. the same shenanigans began halloween night and I figured we’d chalk this year up as a lost cause. that was until a spooky cloak clad neighbor stopped lo dead in her tracks, long enough to swipe her kitty hood on and snap a few pics. scared shitless, i took advantage of what I could get and we moved on with our night uninterrupted.

thank you scary boy for saving this cats halloween!

monthly mini – logan

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52 project – a portrait of logan, once a week, every week, in 2013

this parenting gig keeps getting better and better. i’ve always loved kids and envisioned having a whole slew of my own, but then the whole baby thing intimidated the crap out of me and scared me off. don’t get me wrong, i cherished every moment of babyhood, but a year and a half is definitely where its at. we’ve got ourselves a mini play pal and life currently couldn’t be any sweeter. so with that, eighteen months of logan, calls for eighteen facts about this little spit fire.

  1. lo loves shoes and will specifically point them out and won’t stop until you recognize their beauty.
  2. if you ask lo how old she is she’ll shoot you a smile, hold up her index finger and say ‘two’.
  3. lo now collects my fallen postpartum hairs and delivers them back to me saying ‘hair mama’.
  4. always been a book monster. lo can sit and turn pages for a long toddler while and most recently likes to run her fingers over the words and recite the ‘abc’s’.
  5. lo has started feeding all of her animals + babies. she takes food to their mouth, makes eating noises and then says ‘mmmmmmm’. cutest thing ever!
  6. kid loves cake. so much so that I can’t display my prettiness on the counter anymore. otherwise cake for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
  7. if you sneeze, lo will ‘bless you’. and if she sneezes and you’re slacking off, lo will bless herself.
  8. lo can’t get her teeth clean enough…constantly asking to ‘brushy teeth’. I’d say she’s obsessed.
  9. lo’s eyes are as black as night and sometimes they seriously stare so deep into you it’s spooky.
  10. my favorite is to tickle her thighs or chomp on her neck and be consumed by her adorable giggles.
  11. lo asks to be held and rest her head on your shoulder when she’s sleepy now. best part is when she requests you to ‘pat’ her back.
  12. sharing is most definitely not lo’s favorite. we’re working on it.
  13. my heart skipped a beat this month when lo asked for a ‘hair bow’.
  14. lo is a hoarder. we’ll give it some time before we intervene.
  15. maybe we should have held off on introducing tv a bit longer, cause lo is always requesting a ‘show’ these days.
  16. lo is serious about arts + crafts. a girl after my own heart.
  17. daddy is still lo’s favorite. can’t blame her, as he’s my favorite too.
  18. dinner time is still the death of us.

according to – kim

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52 project – a portrait of logan, once a week, every week, in 2013

52 project – a portrait of logan, once a week, every week, in 2013 – See more at: http://berlsandco.com/category/52-project#sthash.M1GskyW3.dpuf

as i previously mentioned, without a doubt, i can count on two hands the number of times my guy and i have ventured out completely alone since baby. who is really now a toddler. sad i know. i blame it on several things. first, there’s the guilt associated with leaving logan behind after a week already spent away at work. second, is our own insecurities about hiring an actual babysitter because we often feel like deadbeat parents constantly asking grandparents for help, despite their persistence that they enjoy every chance they get and wouldn’t mind if we packed up and skipped town (for like ever). and i especially cringe when calling my mom, as she’s already spent the majority of her week caring for lo daily during our nine to five. lastly, when the opportunity does arise, it’s super hard to pass on catching up with friends and/or tackling some project that’s way easier to accomplish on our own. and then there’s always the dream of spending what time you’ve got, completely alone and quiet. man, this parenting act requires a lot of juggling!

recently we’ve been running on auto pilot. completely focused on making our threesome flow and completely neglecting our party of two. not good. before things got away from us, we enlisted said grandparents and mandated a formal date, alone. and let me tell you, it was exactly what the doctor ordered! while the undivided attention made us miss our endless days together filled with adult conversation and little to no responsibility, it made us realize just how important it is that we play for the same team and stay connected. and we’ve had a ton of fun. after all, he is my best guy, the ying to my yang. so here’s to setting the best example for logan, ensuring that she views us not only as parents but as one another’s best friend.

as silly as it sounds, we’re committed to this dating game, bi-weekly. and with two already under our belt, i’ve already realized just how much i’ve missed my guy and how a simple night out brings back yet another long lost element of our previous life. at this rate there’s hope that this new version of myself will someday resemble the girl i once knew!

disclaimer: obviously these pictures have nothing to do with the content of this post, as there is no photographic evidence of said date(s). let’s be realistic, that’d be way out of character.

monthly mini – logan

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52 project – a portrait of logan, once a week, every week, in 2013

looking back at my last monthly update, i realize how much this kid has grown. and if i’ve said it once, i’ll say it again…i love this stage in which lo is oozing personality and independence. we sit back + watch her unwind and still look at one another in shock that she belongs to us. she owns our hearts + fortunately for us, we own hers (for now anyway).

says: the list has become too long to type and just this past week lo’s begun to attempt repeating most everything we say. and when she’s not speaking english, this girl is ‘talking’ up a storm. to whom we’re not so sure of, but her attitude, inflection + hand gestures have us in hysterics. we’re enjoying our little conversations + watching her little mind work so hard. a few cute favorites: no, please, thank you, sorry, dirty, outside, slide, shovel, bubble, and some adorable animal noises on command.

signs: although she can say everything she signs, it’s still adorable to see her put the two together. and she often surprises us with new signs we worked on months ago and have since forgotten about.

chomper count: we’re looking at a full mouth of 16 teeth these days, including the pointy vampire ones that are just poking through.

eats: while lo will eat almost anything, meal time has become interesting in our home. it’s best that i ignore + leave the scene. otherwise i’m left with food in my hair + floors to scrub. i will say that meals are a lot less stressful now that lo can eat just about anything and on-the-go. goldfish have saved our lives on many accounts!

obsessed with: the ‘moon’. day + night this kid asks for the moon and if it’s not full she asks for ‘more’.

loves: the stuffed cheetah we bought her at the philly zoo. he’s been named ‘chee’ and we find him by lo’s side more often than not. – chalk + drawing outside. which obviously i’m all for. you can even skip bedtime in our house if you want to draw. – stacking blocks, sorting laundry, arranging toys. you see a pattern here? a girl after my own heart! – gym + art class where the mascot is a ‘puppy’ and you come home with a puppy stamp to show off all day. – the number ‘two’. – ‘george’, the curious kind. – and cats, cause duh!

according to – kim

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52 project – a portrait of logan, once a week, every week, in 2013

i’m fortunate enough to play the role of mama full-time come friday, declaring it our day to take on whatever it is we please. realizing this babe isn’t growing any slower, i’ve made a conscious effort to push aside all those insignificant distractions and get down and dirty. and boy has this summer been good to us!  we’ve given it our all the past couple of months, filling our days with adventures both near and far from home. and most importantly, we’ve learned to chill out and march to the beat of our own drum.

to go out with a bang, we spent this past friday exploring the philadelphia zoo and were lucky enough to have paulie join in the fun. it’s been years since i’ve been, and it proved to be the perfect playground for an energized toddler who refused the stroller and repeatedly asked to touch everything that moved. you’re pretty cute kid! so much so that i think we’ll stick to spending our friday’s packed with spontaneity, as there’s always later to catch up with reality. and to all you stay at home mama’s out there, my hat’s off to you, cause lets not kid ourselves, not every friday is as magical as this past one (wink).

summer lovin’

summer lovin

we’ve been home from vacation for two weeks now and we’re still having a hard time facing reality. there’s something magical about long summer days that seem to slow down the clock and reinforce the desire for relaxation. we were lucky enough to spend an entire week on hilton head island doing absolutely nothing. it was refreshing to put all our other responsibilities aside and totally tune into this baby of ours. oh my how things have changed since last year. to watch her explore and take everything in is something else. i hope she remembers these traditions we’re starting and looks back on them with sweet memories as i do today myself.

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‘ a portrait of logan, once a week, every week, in 2013 ‘

expecting a one year old to sit, stay and smile is without a doubt unattainable. i’m forced to ditch our monthly posed portrait, however i’ve found that this mini human of mine is changing at rapid speed and i’m yearning to document it all. shocking, right!? what better place than this here blog. so here goes 14 months of lo…

says: she’s graduated from dada + mama to daddy + mommy and has added hi, bye, baby, cat, shoe, calie, chris and drue to her repertoire. and battery. and yes, you read that correct.

signs: more + please. we’re working on thank you.

gestures: waves with a hello + goodbye and blows kisses to absolutely everyone in site. deliberately nods her head yes to most every question. puts her index finger to her mouth and says ‘shhh’ when we tell her baby drue is sleeping. and dances to my command of ‘wiggle it’!

chomper count: 7 plus 4 wicked molars that have just begun to show their faces.

eats: she’ll chow just about anything but devourers pickles, mushrooms and beans.

loves: anything to do with kitty cats! mothering her baby dolls all day long. balls, trucks + dinosaurs and pbs kids, particularly curious george and dinosaur train.

loathes: a diaper change. to the point of a full blown tantrum that ends with a bare bum roaming the house and eventually a puddle of pee. i give up!

sleeping: 12 hour nights, following an hour long solo singing performance in her crib accompanied by an epic afternoon nap.

vices: bottle, nay. paci, yay.

52 a portrait a week

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logan is 1

we recently hosted a mini celebration in honor of our one year old gal with the help of all our closest friends and family. the plan was to keep it sweet and simple. pizza and goldfish were at the top of the menu, while garlands, balloons and party hats set the scene. logan adored all the attention, approved of all her gifts and delicately dug into her cake. it was magically perfect. i made it a point to step back and take it all in…my favorite people overflowing the rooms of our quaint home filled with loud chatter and little girl shrills. i’ll remember one forever.