First Trip to the Boardwalk!

We had beautiful weather here in New Jersey this weekend. It was actually almost a little too hot - like July weather. But it was nice to break out the shorts finally, even with the pasty white legs!

Tommy and I stayed at Grandma and Pop-Pop's house on Friday night. I had an early haircut/color, and then we were going about an hour north to a communion with my parents. My niece Emily came along too - she is so funny - she calls Tommy "Tom" and always says, "isn't he cute?" He sure is, as you'll see from some of the pictures from the past few days!

My other niece, Alexis, spent the night with us on Saturday as she wanted to help out with Tommy. Tommy and I got home around 10pm and oddly he woke up when we got there. He was a little out of sorts all day, whether from the teething (tons of drool and gnawing on his fingers - nothing to report though) or because he was off schedule with all the running around that day. He was a little "stranger anxious" around my cousins at the communion, which has never happened before, but he did eventually warm up for them. That night, however, he was up every 2 hours after he did finally go to sleep.

Alexis was a HUGE help all day on Sunday, and we went out to lunch and to the boardwalk in Point Pleasant - Tommy's first trip there! Alexis and I went on the bumper cars and the Tilt-A-Whirl, which I don't think i will ever go on again. I have always loved roller coasters, but was never a huge fan of rides that just go in circles - even something as simple as the swings make me queasy. I don't think I could go on Rolling Thunder 10 times in a row like I could when I was a kid, but I definitely can still do roller coasters. Lexi and I sang the ABC's song while on the Tilt-A-Whirl to comfort ourselves - figured it works wonders when we sing it to Tommy when he is upset, so we'd give it a try.

Tommy LOVED the boardwalk and the fresh air. It was a bit cooler near the beach, and he kept kicking his blanket off, wanting the fresh air to have access to every bit of him apparently. While we were on the rides, John said he was laughing and talking a ton. When he started fussing, I took him out and he was laughing and screaming he was so excited! He really enjoyed walking around. My back was killing me from holding him, so I should really think about bringing one of the carriers we have next time.

Niles, one of my parents' cats, making sure Tommy doesn't get into any trouble on Saturday morning!

Tommy had the treat jar so Niles was all over that!

Frasier and Niles think Tommy has the treats. They are very loving and trusting cats! And Tommy was great around them so I'm feeling optimistic for now that the congestion he had been experiencing is not from a cat allergy!

Mommy finally remembered to bring the boppy seat cover! We had lunch on Sunday at The Circus Drive In, which is a fave of my niece Alexis!

Tommy LOVES to people watch, just like his Mommy. He watched everyone walking by and was flirting with the waitresses...seems to be a common theme with this kid!

Tommy at the Point Pleasant boardwalk - he was so excited and could not stop laughing and screaming!

Tommy and Alexis at the boardwalk

This was taken just as I took Tommy out of the car seat in the stroller - you can't tell, but we were all laughing at his reaction to being FREE!

Family picture at the boardwalk...I think Tommy was ready to go with Alexis for some ice cream and...

...A cookie?????

Kidding! But Tommy was grabbing for it and actually did get a hold of it - he is so fast!

It looks warmer than it actually was, but it was a beautiful day!

Lexi's new dog, Toby (short for Toboggan), a chihuahua. Isn't he adorable?

Tommy hanging out on the back deck for the first time ever while we had dinner. We were so proud of him holding his own bottle and letting us all eat our meals!

Tommy actually "dumped" Toby out of the truck - first time he discovered the dump truck too!

Looking cute for school on Monday morning

Sure mom, I'll give you a smile! I know I look pretty handsome whether I'm serious or smiling!

Mommy could not get enough of him!

Getting ready to "honk" Daddy's nose!

Ending the day with Mommy - who, based on what I'm wearing, can you guess that I went to the gym tonight?

Yes, I took my first spinning class since January 2009 on Monday night! I've been spinning for close to 10 years, and took my last class about a week before I found out I was pregnant. I actually had to have a plantar's wart (ew, right?) removed from my foot the day after that last class I took so I was going to be off from spinning for a few weeks anyway. But then I found out I was pregnant (and then freaked about the procedure on my foot that I had, but found out it was completely safe), and then I was sick for several months. By the time I was feeling well enough to start working out again, I was about 5-6 months along, and knowing my workout personality (intense), decided spinning was not the best thing to start up with after that much time off (plus being pregnant!), so I settled for walking and doing a pre-natal DVD workout once in a while. In all honesty though, I was a total slacker with regards to exercising during pregnancy. I was at the gym 3-4 nights a week pre-pregnancy, so I kind of look at it as I was just listening to my body. If I felt like doing something, I would, and if I didn't, I would just chill and do nothing.

I'm hoping to try to go to this class once a week on Mondays and then hopefully some lunchtime classes once they start up again in June. I take all the classes at Rutgers through the recreation program, and while they have a few drop-in classes that you can go to right now through early June, it's only a few random classes since the semester is over, exams start in 2 days, and then all the graduations happen, so I'll just be happy to spin the next few Mondays and hopefully walk a bit at lunch a few days during the week. I was very excited to get on the new spin bikes that they got in December - they track your calories, time on the bike, RPMs and mileage - the old bikes did none of that. I did over 16 miles in a 45 minute class! I wonder how I am going to feel tomorrow??? And funny enough, today a friend of mine asked if I wanted to do a 30 mile tour on June 6th. I told her one thing at a time - no way would I be ready for it, as there are only 2 or 3 more spin classes, and spinning is different than actually road cycling. And I have not pulled out my bike since we moved to this house almost 3 years ago, so maybe I'll consider that for another time. I am also looking to order a few new workout videos but am trying to decide which ones I want to go with. My friend Allison http://ourlilonelove.blogspot.com// (John's sister's best friend in Chicago) has recommended the Zumba DVD set so that is on my list of ones I want to try out, but I have not purchased it yet. She had a baby girl on 8/23 and was out running about 2 weeks later I think! We were actually due 2 days apart (me on 9/20 and she on 9/22), but our little ones had other plans! And for the record, I am not working out to lose weight - I was very fortunate to have lost the baby weight very quickly, thanks to nursing for a few months and a good metabolism I guess. Sure, a few things have shifted, but my main focus is to get myself in good cardio shape and tone up some muscles. Plus, I just feel better when I've been working out. I don't expect to ever be in what I refer to as "soccer shape" like I was back in my teens, but I have to admit I'm a fan of feeling that "good sore" after a good workout!