Tag Archives: video

Serving it Up Family Style at Maggiano’s

Posted on June 28, 2012 by Jess • 2 Comments

The first time I went to Maggiano’s was in Minneapolis, Eric and I had been dating for a few months and this was the first time I met his family. He was getting ready to run the Twin Cities marathon and I was getting ready for the long painful process of cheering him on and eating brunch.

We took part in that age-old ritual of pre-race carbo loading and off to Maggiano’s we went.

Picture 0781 993x1024 Serving it Up Family Style at Maggianos

I feel like all Maggiano’s pics should be retro-fied because they have such a great old-school feel.

Don’t we look young and in love?

It was a great dinner, filled with lots of carb-y goodness for my runner. Thanks to those great memories I was more than happy to come back to Maggiano’s in Boston. And I wasn’t at all surprised to hear that the night before the Boston Marathon is one of their busiest nights of the year.

Some other lovely bloggers and I sampled lots of tasty treats. Having come for the carbs before, I hadn’t realized that Maggiano’s had such a great menu. They were really sensitive to our crew, including being aware of allergies and even providing vegan options. All you have to do is ask. For example, while most of us gobbled up our old school Caprese salad:

2012 06 12 11 52 37 379 Serving it Up Family Style at Maggianos

They also brought out an on-the-fly vegan version just for our bunch.

2012 06 12 11 54 29 410 Serving it Up Family Style at Maggianos

All us non-vegans saw it and said, “Um, I will have that, too, please!” Usually at restaurants I never think to order off the menu, so it’s great to see Maggiano’s so happy to accommodate.

I had Tesser and Grammer along so I was a bit busy. At one point I sat down and began to load up my plate.

Me: I’ll have some of that chicken parmesan, please.

Others: Oh, that’s actually fried mozzarella.

Me: Well in that case I will have ALL OF IT, please.

They also took great care of our little chefs, giving them a make-your-own pizza lesson.

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I wondered if maybe Graham was too young so I started out helping him. Turns out, this kid is a natural.

He’s been curious about pizza for a while, but has only eaten it a couple times. This was a great success, although in typical kid fashion, he picked off the pepperonis to eat them first. Since then he’s eaten it at home a few times and despite inexplicable tantrums while I prep it (I make him pizzas on pita bread) he happily eats it up when it’s done. And it means pepperoni is now on the list of meats he will eat. (It’s a short list.)

Maggiano’s is the kind of place you can go for a big celebration or a casual dinner. They have a bunch of banquet rooms. You can do family style or a la carte. They’re more than just that classic pasta. They’re now open for lunch, with a sandwich menu in addition to their classic pastas.

Plus they now do some delivery (limited area, of course) and do take-out. Maggiano’s Boston is downtown, they provide all the dishes and silverware, so you can have the best picnic on the Common EVER. Doesn’t that sound delightful?

Oh, and I didn’t get a chance to snap a pic, but their sangria was dee-lish.

Eric and I love to sit down for a nice dinner together, but we also love wearing jeans. (Notice he has a sweatshirt rather than a suit jacket in the picture.) We like the option of bringing Graham and knowing there are things on the menu he’ll eat. (I’m even happier now knowing I can ask them to throw something together to fit whatever preferences he has that day. Right now it would be pasta with butter and some raw veggies or steamed green beans.)

I doubt we’ll have much difficulty bringing Graham back. Here’s his very first restaurant review.

Thanks to Maggiano’s Boston for a delightful lunch. Food was free of charge and I received a cd from their Make a Wish fundraiser. Also, thanks for the adorable kid-size chef hat.

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Green Eyes

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Jess • 2 Comments

Right now, Tesser has green eyes.

I say “right now” because I don’t know if they’ll stay that way for long. She was born with the classic baby-blue eyes, but from the very beginning they looked a little different to me. When I was pregnant I said Tessa would look more like Eric, with dark hair and dark eyes. She still hasn’t moved beyond her baby hair, but her eyes have already started to change.

Her green eyes are sometimes brownish and sometimes goldish and sometimes greyish. There’s hazel eyes on both sides of the family and brown eyes on Eric’s side so we’re not sure where she’ll end up.

We seemed to have turned a corner in the last week or so.

All of a sudden Tesser grew out of her 3 month clothes. Everyone says this happens overnight. Everyone is telling the truth. One day they were too small and I suddenly had to work with only our small collection of 6 month clothes.

When people saw her, they’d say she was bigger and I couldn’t disagree. She’s finally showing her pudge and is starting to look chunky even with clothes on.

Around the same time she started napping better. And she became interested in THINGS. Until now she’s only cared to look at faces, but now she likes looking at things. Anything really. She has fallen asleep in her napper staring at her hanging toys or at a zebra-striped blanket I drape over her. It doesn’t happen often, but it happens. And with our stubborn girl, it’s a blessing.

2012 05 14 09 14 18 482 Green Eyes

Oh, and do you see those GIANT baby feet? They really are that huge. On my 6 month clothes shopping expedition I took her up from 0-3 month socks to 6-12 month socks. They barely fit. So that means next up is the 12-24 month socks. Which Graham has just stopped wearing, and still occasionally get mixed into his sock pile.

As if that wasn’t enough change, I decided it was finally time to start setting her in the bassinet to sleep at night. I’ve now gone two nights in a row with her spending only a little while each night sleeping next to me. It’s a nice change. I think I’m getting better sleep since I’m not constantly aware of her little body. Although I did wake up once frantic saying, “WHERE’S THE BABY??!!” only to realize she was asleep in the bassinet on the floor.

She outgrew her swaddlers so we had to go up to the big-baby swaddlers. She still must be swaddled to sleep more than a little while. I remember when Graham was little, he was often swaddled but only in his receiving blankets. I thought the special baby strait-jackets were silly and a waste of money. Until Tesser, our little Houdini, showed up. She is a master escape artist. If I don’t swaddle her just right, even in the really good swaddlers, she will pop out her arms in a jiffy.

But this is all a good sign that we’re pretty much ready to set up the crib. Which will involve reorganizing everything. So it probably won’t get done for months. But we’re ready.

Most of the time Tee has her squished up chubby baby face. But more and more we’re starting to get glimpses of what I call her “little girl face.” The one where her eyes aren’t mushed under baby cheeks and you can see her facial features starting to come out. It tends to show up in the evenings and I can’t explain why or how it happens but it completely changes her whole face. I love seeing it.

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Our Tesser is not much of a talker. It’s not that she’s quiet, she can shriek and snort with the best of them. She just doesn’t seem to “talk” much. But every now and then she gets in a little bit of a talking mood. And since I am one of those parents, I must take an entire minute of video where she does virtually nothing.

Because Tee is our second child it is hard for me not to compare her to Grammer. She naps more, he talked more, she is happier, he was smaller, etc. When I look at Tessa’s green eyes, I inevitably remember Graham’s blue ones, which were a solid steely blue all through his first year, though they’ve now mellowed a bit with shades of grey, green and gold just like mine.

But still, I’ve never seen any eyes like Tessa’s. And I don’t know how they will look in a month or in a year. It’s nice to remember that she’s changing and growing and that she’s always uniquely herself.

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Making Together Better

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Jess • 1 Comment

bricalogo Making Together Better

This post is being submitted to Brica as an entry in their contest to win a sponsorship to the Type A Parent Conference. Their motto is “Making Together Better” and it’s a lovely thought. They make products to help make parents’ lives easier. You can find them on Twitter or Facebook.

Of all the things I expected to happen with two kids, I certainly didn’t expect that it would make me a better parent.

I honestly thought I’d be worse. Maybe there’d be a learning curve where I’d eventually be a master at balancing and juggling and doing all kinds of things simultaneously. But I didn’t think being a good multitasker was the same thing as being a good parent.

I thought a good parent wouldn’t have to tell their child to wait while they burped the baby. And a good parent wouldn’t have to set a screaming baby down to fix a child’s lunch. It’s not bad parenting, but it didn’t seem like perfect parenting either.

Tessa has invaded many of my rituals with Graham and destroyed others. I have given up on bathing either of them on my own, and when Eric works late this can mean we lose bath time a lot. And, of course, there’s the sacred bedtime ritual where we read Graham’s favorite book and then I sing him a lullaby. Now that book is sometimes read while I bounce a shrieking Tesser on my knee. And that song is sometimes sung while I stand up holding Tessa instead of sitting on the bed stroking Graham’s hair.

But the funny thing is that I actually feel like I am a better parent. It’s just that being a good parent means something different than I thought it did.

I spend more time enjoying my children now that there are two of them. Tessa’s happy moods are spent on my lap where we smile and coo at each other. Graham’s requests to cuddle aren’t always granted, but I enjoy them a lot when they are.

Even though I can’t give either of them my undivided attention, when I pay attention to them I can give them the attention they deserve.

I’ve learned to stop seeing parenting as a big juggling act. My success isn’t judged on how often I get to take my son to the park or how many naps I can get my daughter to take. Quality over quantity is my new motto.

I’m learning a lot of patience, too. And so are my kids, whether they like it or not. One of the reasons I was so set on giving Graham a sibling is that I knew this was a child who needed to understand in a very big way that he wasn’t the only person around. To my surprise he’s adapted quickly and amazingly to his little sister. He lets me have time to feed her or burp her or bounce her when I need to, even if it means he waits for his lunch. It’s an awful lot of kindness towards a baby who can’t really interact much yet.

But we are starting to see the first signs of sibling togetherness.

Now that Tessa has taken an interest in the little hanging toys above her napper, Graham will happily play with her.

Making together better for us is about learning to give to each other, to wait for each other and to enjoy each other. And I’m feeling pretty good about it.

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The Post-Baby Exercise Regimen

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Jess • 5 Comments

When you’ve got a baby it’s hard to exercise. Especially in the early weeks when the baby WILL NOT LET YOU PUT IT DOWN. It must be held all the time, so what’s a parent to do?

The answer is you incorporate the baby into your exercise. Because despite what everyone says, we don’t all breastfeed and those of us who do don’t all magically lose weight because of it.

Here’s my daily exercise routine. I do about 1000 reps of each about a million times a day.

The Hip Sway

A useful one for those times when baby will not rest until you aren’t resting.

While standing and holding baby, move your hips from side to side, like so:

hip sway The Post Baby Exercise Regimen

A bounce must be included if the baby is at all particular. Which, let’s face it, they always are.

Plus the bounce is great for your quads.

The Three-Step

You can’t always get outside for a walk with the baby in the stroller or a carrier. So when you’re stuck inside and need a little walk, the three-step is always a good idea.

three step The Post Baby Exercise Regimen

You can do it with just one bounce, as written, or you can bounce each step. Because fussy babies demand it.

The Seated Bounce

When you’re tired of standing, you can still get some exercise while seated. Just put baby on your lap and pull up the coffee table or an ottoman.

seated bounce The Post Baby Exercise Regimen

While the illustration shows a bounce, you can also sway your legs back and forth to replicate a swing. Having a pacifier on hand may help.

The major problem with the Seated Bounce is that as baby gets older, their legs get in prime position to kick you in the boobs. Ow.

Baby Curls

Can’t ignore your biceps, right? Here’s a video illustration of baby curls. These are best when baby is in a good mood and has a little more neck control.

 

And last but not least:

The Nap

Put baby down for a nap. Pick up baby 2 minutes later when baby screams. Repeat all day long.

 

Have any of your own baby exercises? Share!

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Some Heavenly Peace

Posted on December 27, 2011 by Jess • 4 Comments

It was a very calm Christmas at our house. One might even venture to call it peaceful.

Eric doesn’t get this week off, so we didn’t travel. We celebrated at home by ourselves.

We didn’t have a tree. We didn’t sing carols. We didn’t have lights. But I think it was one of the best I’ve had.

On Christmas Eve I made pancakes, a rare occurrence these days. Bug and I napped in the afternoon. And I made a last little shopping trip after a spur-of-the-moment decision to do an appetizer evening for the two of us. After the Bug went to bed, we ate to our heart’s content, drank egg nog and cider, wrapped the Bug’s presents, watched Black Christmas while commenting on how dumb everyone was and how much I dislike Olivia Hussey, and played a new game we were gifted. (Thanks Andrea and Spence!)

It was a nice, calm day. And Christmas was no different. We brought the Bug downstairs and tried to interest him in his 4 wrapped presents. (He’d received others but we figured unwrapping 4 was more than enough for one day.) Once we got him interested enough to open one, he was so excited to play with it that he’d forget about the others. It took most of the morning but by the end he seemed to have the hang of it.

I chose wrapping paper with snowmen because I know he likes them. And “snowman” became his word for present. After his nap he asked for “more snowman” so I’m pretty sure he has a handle on the whole present thing now. He played with all his presents and went through every single color of Play-Doh one at a time.

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Eric and the Bug were kind enough to let me watch White Christmas. Though I think the Bug enjoyed it. Perhaps he has a thing for Bing? (Don’t we all?)

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He was in a great mood all weekend. Something about both Eric and I being around does that to him. Though I’ve seen an all-over turnaround lately in his moods. He’s so much more likely to laugh and play and crawl into your lap. He’s more interactive all the time.

It all got me thinking about how big the Bug is now, how much more he is like a boy than a baby. Which got me nostalgic. And led to Eric and I watching baby Bug videos after he’d gone to bed.

This was his very first Christmas. He looks so different, all big cheeks and big eyes. Then we had to trace the change of when he’d gone from his chubby baby face to his own little Grammer boy face. (End verdict: around 15 months or so, though there are glimpses before.)

And that got us looking at videos like this one. We have already started to forget where Graham was a year ago. Where he was 9 months ago. Where he was 6 months ago. We are so used to his progress that we forget how amazing it is. Like this video, from shortly after his diagnosis when he still didn’t have any real words and our astonishment over his ability to say this one thing was huge. (He lost the word just a couple days later.) I remember how excited I was about this one little thing. When I look at it now, I see how he doesn’t look at me, how he’s stimming in a way he never does anymore. It’s strange.

Shortly after taking that video, I wrote:

This video has a weird effect on me. It’s the most language-related progress we’ve seen out of the Bug in months. But less than an hour after I recorded it he wouldn’t say it anymore. He hasn’t said it since.

It’s kind of like the time he clapped for me a few times… then never did again.

That was a rough period. Knowing his diagnosis, not having started therapy yet, waiting to see if our Bug would ever be verbal, if he’d ever progress at all. Now it’s hard for me to realize that was still in the past year. It was 2011. And look at things now.

I think that Christmas evening, sitting with Eric and talking about our year and the lows we’ve faced and how happy and confident we now feel about the future, I think it was just about perfect.

Money is tight lately, so we weren’t able to give all the gifts we would’ve liked to family and friends. (New Years cards are forthcoming, though!) We also didn’t get each other gifts. We are really grateful for everything we’ve received. I have some Amazon gift cards I’m excited to use, if I can ever figure out what to get! A new cookbook. And a membership to my favorite museum once they reopen in a few weeks.

But having those hours together to talk and enjoy each other was priceless. I know it sounds cheesy, but it’s true. We don’t get a lot of quiet and peaceful time alone where we’re not exhausted or rundown or in a bad mood. Sure, I still want a DSLR camera and I have no idea when we’ll be able to afford the one I want. When I went online and saw people talking about the amazing gifts they gave and received I felt kind of like we were having our own separate holiday all by ourselves that nobody else knows about.

And I liked it.

I expect that as years pass and kids get older our Christmas will inevitably become busier and louder and filled with more presents and toys. But is it bad that I’d kind of like it to stay just like this forever?

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New Version of Bug

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Jess • 5 Comments

I’ve been talking about all the changes in the Bug. How he’s more talkative, more interactive, more happy, and how our lives are all so much more enjoyable because of it.

I’ve also been trying to figure out just what is so different and why it’s helped so much.

So far my best guess is this: he’s learned how to enjoy things.

Maybe that sounds crazy to you. All kids enjoy things, right? Babies enjoy things. But I don’t know that Graham ever did in the way most of us do. He would be entranced by things. He would laugh (by screaming) sometimes. But he didn’t seem to take pleasure or joy in things.

Now, he does. Or at least, he’s figured out how to express it.

There is so much more “Yes” in our house. Along with a lot of “Yay!” complete with hand-clapping. Lately he’s also thrown in a regular “Oh, yeah!” Not sure where that came from, but it’s funny.

There’s still plenty of “No” but it’s rarely accompanied by immediate anger or frustration. He doesn’t seem to get so bogged down by it anymore, whether he’s telling us “No” or we’re telling him.

He doesn’t just like to have all his stuffed animals around, now he likes to give them kisses and have them play with his toys. He often asks to bring an animal instead of a truck with him when we go in the car.

We had a bit of a bumpy ride with bedtime last month. He would go up just fine but would climb out of bed immediately. Since then I sit with him for a few minutes after we turn out the lights and turn on his white noise. I ask him if he wants me to sit and he says, “Yeah.” Then I ask him if he wants me to rub his back and he says, “Yeah.”

This kid doesn’t say “Yeah” if he doesn’t mean it. And it makes me so happy knowing that he wants me to sit there with him, that he’d like me to stay and he’s sad when I finally get up and leave.

That never happened before. Graham was often ambivalent about me being present or absent for the most part. Except to drag me here and drag me there. I knew he wanted to show me things, but he wouldn’t care about my responses.

This morning while we waited for the sitter, I agreed to let Graham watch a show. He chose, to my surprise, Ponyo. (He’s still mostly asking for trains and trucks, but yesterday he asked for Blue’s Clues by name. Whaddya know?) I asked if he wanted to sit with me on the couch, and he did. I held him in my lap and we cuddled for a good 10 minutes or so.

In still adorable but not quite as mushy Bug developments, he’s also much faster at picking up words. His current favorite, and ours, are animal sounds. I captured a decent, though not stellar performance recently. Our favorites are the elephant and the lion. Obviously.

 

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