Happy Birthday to Kai

One year ago today this little man made me an aunt, a title I have always wanted!

He also made Jim an uncle and T a cousin, titles they had never had either.

We love him and we are so grateful he joined our family.

Happy birthday Cousin Kai!

**We're still going private. If you haven't already, please leave your email address in the comment section. We are safely in Cali and have lots of fun adventures to share soon.**

We're going...

we're going

to Cali

TODAY

and

we're going

PRIVATE

soon.

very soon.

please leave your email address in the comments sections

or email me at wigginton dot heather at gmail dot com

so you can keep reading our blogs updates.

everyone's welcome!

seriously.

and ps...please send me your email cuz i definitely want everyone to see our new baby boy, coming soon to a hospital near you.

Statue of Liberty

On Saturday we went to the Statue of Liberty, a place Jim has wanted to visit since the second we landed at JFK. The weather was a little dreary, but our trip was anything but. We ate some lunch by Lady Liberty, and enjoyed her goodness!

It was a day full of awesome chance meetings. We were in line for the ferry when Jim saw an old friend from the MTC. In talking to him (and his fiance...they got engaged YESTERDAY!), it turns out that he served his mission with one of our closest friends here in NYC, Jon. AND, it just so happened that Jon and Diana (and baby Dabid) and her sister, husband and kiddies were at Liberty Island also enjoying a much needed relief from law school. We all met up and had a blast spending time together. Diana's niece, Livy, is such a doll and played so well with T. By the end of the trip he was calling Lady Liberty the Statue of Livy!

Jim sang these words ALL morning "people all around the world, we're going to America!"

Ellis Island was remarkable, but unfortunately we were a little bit tired (and T was a little cranky after not having a nap two days in a row) so we just did a quick walk-through and then headed out. Someday we'll go back there and really soak in all the coolness ;)

Coney Island

We spent Friday checking out Coney Island and boy, oh boy, did we have a BLAST!

We started out at the original Nathan's hot dogs and T downed my whole corndog. It was good, but it didn't live up to the California State Fair (not even close!)

We played on the beach and Talmage LOVED feeling the sand between his toes. But, the water was freezing so we decided taking a dip was probably best left for another day.

A funnel cake was a great dessert as we cruised the Coney Island boardwalk.

And then we went to the New York Aquarium which is just down the boardwalk from Coney Island. On Friday's you can go inside by paying a donation (instead of the HUGE normal entry fee) after 3 pm, so we decided to go see the sea!

The aquarium was AMAZING. Talmage loves fisheys and super enjoyed seeing so many of them. His favorite area was the sharks...he is still talking about them. He's also been showing me his shark teeth. Well, he's also still talking about the walrus (which scared him out of his pants when he started barking!) And then there are the sea lions, which he's always obsessed with. OK, he liked them all.

The sea lion show was incredible. It was a full 30 minutes and those sea lions were super impressive. Talmage especially liked to hear them "talk" and see them jump.

I really liked the turtles. They were ginormous. Seriously, the biggest turtles I've ever seen. T saw them from a distance in the tank and said, "Hi turtle," and then when it came closer he gave a little gasp and said, "Hi big turtle!"

I am so glad we got to spend such a fun day at Coney Island. I've wanted to take T for some time, and I thought it would probably be much easier before the new baby comes. We all came home exhausted, and we all came home smiling. What a perfect day!

DONE day ONE: "Special" Park

James is officially DONE with his first year of law school. He finished on Thursday and I have had every second since then (2:30 pm, on the dot) planned to a t. You really can't understand how excited I am to have my husband again, even if it is just for a week before his big summer job starts! This year has been crazy busy, busier than I can even say, so a vacation in our hometown was definitely a must! We have been playing, playing, playing everyday and I have lots to report.

T and I were waiting outside Daddy's classroom and greeted him when he finished his test. We headed out for Central Park, which T calls Special Park, and enjoyed a picnic (and ice cream).

Talmage was in 7th heaven having his Daddy around. They were pretty much inseparable. Here they are watching the sailboats at the Special Park pond.

After watching the toy sailboats in action, we decided to take a boat out on a spin ourselves. Daddy rowed us around the lake, and T and I sang row, row, row your boat, a sailor went to sea and some Little Mermaid ballads! It was so peaceful, and definitely didn't feel like you were smack in the middle of the city (well, except for the crazy skyline).

The flowers were in full bloom around the park and were gorgeous! And PS--JIM'S DONE WITH SCHOOL! Woo-hoo!

We hit up the carousel so T and Daddy could take a spin with the horseys. Talmage loved all the horses in central park--real and plastic!

Our last stop was a playground in the park where T and Daddy went down slides, ran around the jungle gym and played in the sand. They found a Lightning McQueen car and had so much fun burying it and digging it out again.

McQueen Markers

Talmage had the stomach flu this last week, and it was not pretty. It was coming out all ends and he was miserable. For some reason it was the worst at night and T would end up throwing up all over himself, his bed, the couch, the floor, his blankets and me all night long. This happened three nights in a row and needless to say I was running my washing machine on an hourly basis (which was huge for me since I have a strict Monday-only laundry policy).

I was SO relieved that T didn't get sick the 4th night, but the little buggar decided that if there wasn't barf on the bed he would make a different kind of mess...a mess involving his McQueen markers! He colored all over that darn bed and when I caught him red-handed, he said so matter-of-factly, "Mom, I color on bed. Ok." Oh the attitude of a 2-year-old! Is it totally mean that I'm making him sleep on the scribbles until laundry day? ;)

Band-Aid Buddies

T and I had blood drawn on the same day this week and neither of us were all that happy about it. We both are scared of needles, we both don't like to watch them enter our skin, and we both shed at least one tear in the process. It's lame, except for the band-aid part, cuz everyone knows that band-aids (especially camo band-aids) are cool!

Double Whammy

How fun is it to have a birthday and mother's day in the same weekend? Hecka darn fun, let me tell you! On my birthday night, Jim and I got a sitter for T and went to a restaurant called Jackson Hole. My favorite shuttle driver, Nick, told me this was his favorite place for good, and BIG, burgers and has been urging me to give it a shot.

Nick was right on both accounts--they were good and definitely big. I ate all of 3 bites before feeling super full. But of course I kept on eating, it was my birthday for heaven sake!

Jim provided the dinner entertainment since our normal jester (Talmage) wasn't there. We're so mature, huh? Those onion rings were DElish. I think I ate all of them. Woops!

As if we weren't totally full enough, we decided to head over to Serendipity for a little frozen hot chocolate action.

We were actually totally considering ordering the Golden Opulence Sundae, but unfortunately the $1,000 was in my other purse. Uh...anyone else really want to know what one of those bad boys must look like? Yeah, me too.

We split a frozen hot chocolate and it was absolutely perfect in every way. Rich and chocolatey with the right amount of freeze and floating flakes of chocolate for texture. Yum.

The whole restaurant is charming. The lighting, the art work, the teddy bear shrubs lit with twinkle lights in the windows--it was all amazing. The perfect way to finish off my birthday!

Mother's Day was Sunday and I uncharacteristically took ZERO pictures. Ah man. But I did take this picture a few days ago...what a stud. He can now "peddle, peddle" all by himself and can even steer the trike. It's so darn cute to watch him go! This kid tests my patience everyday, but I feel so blessed to be his Mommy. It was a great Sunday and a terrific Mother's Day.

Happy Birthday and Mother's Day, HQW!!!

Dear Heather,

Right now you are sleeping on the couch and have NO IDEA that I am posting on the blog for the very first time! I want you to know that I love you so much, and am grateful that we can be together forever in our family. I can't wait to spend many more birthdays and Mother's Days with you, the woman of my dreams and the mother of our kid(s)!

With love always,

Jim

Bye-Bye Binkie

This was NOT an easy process. Nor was it a pretty one. Actually, the last four days in the Wiggy home have been a little bit (read: totally) crazy. But it is done. Binkies are gone. Now let me explain...

It's been a long time since binkies were used during the day in our household. T would get binkies at naptime and bedtime with very few exceptions. I would tell him it was time for a nap and he'd say, "Binkie. Blankie." and then he'd literally put himself to bed. He would never get out of bed on his own, and he would seldom make a peep after I left the room. It was awesome.

But the last few weeks have welcomed even more will (if you can imagine) and some awful temper tantrums. While before T would bring me his binkie when naptime was over (he'd say, "Here. Put in pocket." it was so sweet!) he was starting to scream, hit and throw things when it was time to give me the binkie. And then after I would put it away, I could count on at least an hour of tantrums and screams for his binkie. I finally realized that the added contention to our home was not acceptable, and that the binkie would have to say farewell.

My sistah told me about a method where you cut off the tip of the binkie and then offer it to the child. I read all about it online as well. The point is that the child doesn't like the binkie because there is no suction, and will not take it. We decided to go with this method, and although it was anything but easy, I actually think there were a lot of positive aspects to it.

Night One:

AWFUL! We snipped the binkie and gave it to him. He immediately knew something was wrong and at first he thought it was funny. He'd put the binkie in his mouth and then take it out and just stare at it. The humor quickly faded and he became enraged. The good part of this method of binkie-removal is that he was furious at the binkie, but not at me. He threw the binkie against the wall, he yelled at it, and then he just cried. He also destroyed his room--he even ripped books apart. It was a rough night. It took him 3 1/2 hours to finally get to sleep, and when he finally crashed it was on the floor. Then he was up constantly throughout the night, mourning the loss of his binkie. It was so sad and so hard. I am a hormonal mess anyway so let's just say I was crying just as much as he was, and regretting the decision. We were all exhausted and the next day was heck. Seriously. When T is tired he gets mean, and boy did we see that side of him. Oh the tears, by both of us!

Night Two:

It took him 2 hours to get to sleep, but only about 45 minutes of that was crying and the rest was just trying to soothe himself. The great thing and problem about a binkie is that it soothes the baby, but unfortunately they don't know how to do it themselves. When he was finally quiet I went to check on him and found that he had made his own bed on the floor. I didn't dare move him, he slept there all night. But after not sleeping the night before, and not napping that afternoon, he was too tired to care.


Night Three:

Yeah...he's sleeping like that. Really child? Is that better than your bed? It was actually a pretty good night. He didn't even cry when I left the room and although it took him a while to get to sleep, he totally soothed himself. Awesome! I ended up moving him to his bed though, 'cause that looked like a serious neck cramp waiting to happen!


Night Four:

Tonight was the fourth night and he actually fell asleep in his bed. WOO-HOO!!! We are still working on naptime, I have to lay down with him for a while to help him calm down or else he can't sleep...but night time is looking a lot better.

Although the process was ugly, I actually think there are a few positives to this method:

• T's anger is toward the broken binkie, not toward me. Maybe for some people this isn't as important, but with a child like Talmage this is way important. He is super smart and understands everything, but refuses to reason or negotiate. He wants it his way or no way. He also never forgets and I would be the bad guy for a long time.


• It's not just that he doesn't need a binkie anymore, he doesn't want one. There are still binkies around the house but because he's mad at them he hasn't asked. I can even talk about them around him and he doesn't care.


• It didn't take that long. I actually think had he been younger it would have taken even less time.

Well, there you go. More than anybody ever wanted to know about T's binkie addiction and my form of baby-binkie-rehab!

Tribeca Family Festival

Yesterday T and I went with our friends Diana and baby David to the Tribeca Family Festival and had a BLAST! Seriously, the funnest day ever and quite honestly the live version of T's dream world! Sometimes things are promoted as "family friendly" but they fall way below the mark in my book (like, when the event is really for adults but they give the kids a sucker). This street festival, however, far exceeded my expectations and was completely free. We loved every second of it.

Here are some of the things that T did:

*colored with chalk on the cardboard castle, ran through its tunnels, and posed with Mommy

*watched an incredible sand-carver work on Shrek and his castle

*witnessed the largest game of chess EVER and gave a horsie some loves

*played with the biggest bubble wands in the world (at least that we have ever seen)

*created a butterfly masterpiece at the craft station

*danced and parachuted to a live kiddie band, and then got up close and personal with the star band member!

*received an awesome green balloon dinosaur

(um...side note: is that little baby Dabid (as T calls him) so cute or what?)

*refused to wear the fireman hat but LOVED hanging out in a real fire truck

*hung out with his buddy in matching Maclarens

*met a few mascots (and professional athletes) and hugged them

*ran into good friends and jumped with them in the bounce house

Overall, it was a great family event. I felt like such a fun Mom as we walked away with balloon animals, fire hats and treats (until T started running away and I had to go back into strict-Mommy mode that is). I found out that this is an annual event and all I've got to say is I already have my calendar marked for 2012!