Pier Village

On Sunday, August 1st, we took a ride to Long Branch and walked the boardwalk area in Pier Village, an upscale shopping/restaurant area which also has condos. My mom, Aunt Denise and Uncle Rich stayed over after the big party on Saturday, and since the weather was overcast, we decided to take a ride along the shore, since my uncle had not seen this part of "down the shore" in about 10 years, since he lives in California. We only window shopped, and had a late lunch - so late that I think we were the last people seated for lunch as you can see some of the chairs stacked up behind Tommy in the first photo!

Tommy enjoying a yogurt snack while we waited for our lunch.

Tommy checking out Uncle Rich's sunglasses...or his nose holes...not really sure...

Tommy with what we think is his choice of a "lovey." Except we don't know his name. He is a Dr. Seuss character, and Oma Cathy sent him from Illinois...and it's not Lorax...if anyone knows his name, please let us know! He came with The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss. For now, we call him "the orange guy." I have looked on tons of Dr. Seuss websites, and no luck with the name. But he has a very different look from Lorax.


Uncle Rich and Tommy

Aunt Denise and Tommy

Tommy excited about something - he's very big on pointing at things now!

Our little boy will be 11 months old on Tuesday. Where has the time gone? I am planning for his 1st birthday party - we are NOT doing a huge blow out with 150 people, hall rental/backyard tent. Just planning on immediate family and some close friends, hopefully on our deck/in the backyard if it's nice. We are going with a Monkey theme (seriously, are you surprised?). I am thinking about making him a monkey cake myself but I'm not sure if that's a good idea or not. Not only am I not a cook, I'm not a baker. To make cookies, I buy the stuff you just put on a cookie sheet and put in the oven. And I only do that when my niece Alexis is over, otherwise, Chips Ahoy it is. I am thinking I might have to do a test make of a cake, but that would mean I have to make 2 of them, one as a test, and one for the actual birthday...can I handle that? I'm not so sure. Not making excuses, but I feel like I am scrambling to get Tommy's food together every night for the next day, let alone find time to test out a cake? And it is now officialy my BUSY season at work. Rutgers Football home opener is less than a month away, and there is so much to be done. This time last year I was much more ahead of the game since I was organizing things for other folks to work on while I was going to be out on maternity leave. We have a lot of changes going on with things too, so that of course makes things a bit crazier. Somehow it all gets done, right? Just have to remind myself I can't be super-mom/wife/worker everyday. While I am looking foward to Tommy hitting his one year birthday in many ways, it's very bittersweet, as I'm sure many, if not all moms, feel.