friends

crafts, drafts, + food trucks //

May 25, 2016 by Rachel 11 Comments

I have about a gazillion things on my blog to-do list right now. But I would be remiss not to mention this past weekend — regardless of the crazy to-do list!

On Wednesday of last week I sent out an S.O.S. to my mama. It has been a few weeks since I’ve seen her, which is enough of a hardship on it’s own. But I had a helluva week with Remy Bea last week. Without getting into too much (yet), we entered the dreaded 4-month sleep regression, PLUS we had the mega teething issues going on. I cried. I cried a LOT last week, friends.

And Mama (aka, Mimi) saved the day! She, without question, just drove up from Kentucky on Friday afternoon, arriving at our house Friday night. Sure, Remy Bea was asleep; but Ari was awake and ready to snuggle! It was the perfect way to end a crazy week.

Saturday morning we woke up and we hung out. We just… chilled. We were supposed to go up to Cleveland, but the weather was just ridiculous. Not just rainy. It was a freaking downpour! And chilly. So we hung out at home for the morning. And by noon we decided to hit up Crafty Mart‘s Crafts & Drafts event at Thirsty Dog Brewing Company.

When we pulled into the parking lot we immediately saw (and parked next to) another babywearing family. Be still, my babywearing heart! ♥

When we walked in, we were in the bar area of the brewery and there were seriously THREE other babywearing mama’s ordering a beer at the bar. THESE ARE MY PEOPLE!! However, it seemed that my people were being a tad bit ignored for service. Bummer, dudes. Like, we waited 20 minutes to be served whilst others were served who just walked up. Major bummer, dudes.

However, the crafts part of crafts and drafts were the b-o-m-b. We meandered around the brewery and browsed, but I didn’t actually buy a darn thing.

Post-Crafty Mart we headed back home where I promptly took a nap with Remy. Because, Crazy Baby. And I ended up having to go work at the YMCA for a while that evening. So I left Miss Bea with Chad and Mimi for a while. Aaaaand she refused a bottle — again. Super. But I was home in time to feed that fussy butt before she passed back out.

Sunday morning we all slept in. It was GLORIOUS! I mean, I still didn’t sleep very well; but not setting an alarm was wonderful all on it’s own.

We decided to hit up the Tallmadge Food Truck Festival. 25 food trucks, a live band, and games for kids.

When we got there, parking was an organized disaster. I wasn’t really surprised, considering 2k+ people had RSVP’d ‘Yes’ to the FB event online. I ended up babywearing Remy once again, while Chad pushed Ari in the umbrella stroller. PS. An umbrella stroller is a MUST-have for toddlers. They are small, compact, and super easy to navigate in crowded spaces.

Okay. How did I just go off on a tangent about strollers?? #MomLife, friends. #MomLife.

Anyways. When we got there I had my eye on the prize — Barrio Tacos. I love Barrio in Tremont, but I rarely get to eat there (no lunch hours = bummer for mamas who wanna be home before dinner). My mom ended up getting this killer burger from a food truck I cannot remember the name of.

And we ended up finding a shaded spot under a tree to have a little picnic! It was super fun! And after our picnic Ari ran around and played for, like, 30 minutes straight. We also ran into some friends we haven’t seen in a very long time. It was, overall, an awesome day and a super cool event!

Unfortunately, Mimi had to go home Sunday afternoon. Blah! We hate when she leaves to go back to Kentucky! But it was lovely having her visit!

It was a fantastic weekend. I loved everything about it. Every second of sunshine; every moment of family time; and every single baby smile.

Red + White // Wrap Up

February 3, 2016 by Rachel 1 Comment

The Arthritis Foundation of Northeast Ohio‘s annual fundraiser in Akron, Red & White on Thursday Night, is easily my favorite event of the entire year! Heck, even having just given birth, I desperately wanted to still attend. So last Thursday, at just 5 days old, Remy, Chad and I ventured to Quaker Station at Quaker Square for just a short time!

Luckily, we are very close to where the event is located; so with a babysitter for Ari [thanks, Grammy!], we bundled Miss Remy Bea up, and arrived shortly before 6pm. This was the 19th annual event for the Arthritis Foundation, and I believe it was also our 4th or 5th time attending [mommy brain is real, yo].

The entrance to the event was located at a different part of the building this year, and some new computer software they were using for auction-bidding slowed down the entrance process to a practical halt. My single critique of the event is that they should have set up the credit card/auto-bid process for the auction when people were purchasing tickets presale. Because it wasn’t set up that way, everyone who had a ticket in their hands, still had to wait in a half hour line. And for those of us with willcall tickets, we had to wait in line for a half hour as well. It was crazypants. And people were super upset. I was just super uncomfortable because I was babywearing Remy Bea.

When we finally got in, we went straight for the VIP room to meet up Crystal from EatDrinkCLE. Both Crystal and I weren’t feeling 100% well, but we managed to make sure we didn’t miss the event — even if that meant having to leave a bit early! After saying our hellos, I went straight for the wine and food [recognizing I’m a nursing mother, and I was wearing a sleeping baby, I recognized my ‘window of opportunity’ to taste a couple of sips of wine had to happen at the very beginning of the evening].

The VIP wine selection was beautiful. I wish I could say that I took a ton of pictures, but I didn’t. Because, babywearing an infant [duh]. But, thanks to the VIP section, I did have the opportunity to taste two fantastic wines — a Malbec and a Cab. And that was, sadly, all the wine I had that night. Because, nursing.

[borrowed this photo from Jen at Why? CLE]One of the awesome changes the organization did make this year was the introduction of a VIP Chef in the VIP lounge! Chef Dante Boccuzzi, of local Akron restaurant, dba, as well as Dante in Tremont, and Ginko in Tremont [as well as several other restaurants], was serving up tasty sushi!

We ate so much of this sushi. Seriously. I mean, I hadn’t really and truly had sushi in about 9 months, so I was pumped to not only have sushi, but really, really, great sushi!

After checking out the complimentary chair massages, courtesy of Massage Envy, and pastry and coffee bar, courtesy of Panera, we headed out to the general admission area. I’m not going to lie, I was super nervous to join the masses. I was afraid of judgment from other attendees for babywearing an infant at a 21 and over event!

To my surprise, people were just super excited to see a newborn baby! No judgment whatsoever. So we made the rounds! I knew I had a very strict food limit. Being postpartum and being sick means my appetite is close to nothing. So instead of hitting up every single place, I carefully planned my ‘attack.’ Ha!

Two places that were ‘musts’ were Nuevo Mod Mex [pictured above] and Melt Bar + Grilled. Nuevo had an awesome taco, but Melt disappointed me a bit. They had dessert cookie sandwiches. Bummer, cause I was totally looking forward to a tasty grilled cheese sample! Also, the cheesecake shooters [also pictured above] from West Side Bakery was awesome!

Chad hit up a few more restaurants while I chatted with Jen from Why? CLE and her husband, Matthew, as well as my longtime friends Cristin and Chris. [above picture also borrowed from Jen! Again, I didn’t have much access to my phone throughout the event.]

We ended up leaving around 7:30pm. I was just… tired. And I wanted to get Remy Bea home so I could feed her before bed. All in all, it was a great first night out and a great event, yet again!

Disclosure: I was asked by the Arthritis Foundation of Northeast Ohio to help promote Red & White on Thursday Night and run a ticket giveaway. In exchange, I received 2 complimentary VIP tickets. As always, all opinions are my own.

farewell 2015

December 31, 2015 by Rachel Leave a Comment

Looking back on my photos from 2015 (because, let’s face it — that’s the easiest + quickest way to glance back), it’s clear that my year was comprised of the following:

Moosh playing. At parks, at Cafe O’Play, at home, etc. We definitely had no shortage of playing in 2015!
Cooking. Me cooking, specifically. Which had previously been unheard of! So no wonder I documented it. Oh, much, much more cooking to come in 2016!
Spending time with family. Moosh, Chad, my parents, my sister, Chad’s family, my aunts… It’s been a wild ride, surrounded by those I love! ♥

And so I’ll leave you with this:

[youtube=https://youtu.be/AcjpT80clYc]Happy New Year, friends. Let’s send 2015 out with a bang — or in our case, bed at 10PM and PJs before 5PM! Ha! xo

Christmas 2015 // that’s a wrap!

December 30, 2015 by Rachel Leave a Comment

Guys – my holiday hangover is still in full-force. … and I didn’t even partake in any ‘party’ festivities, so to speak! Ha! But seriously, something about celebrating Christmas leaves everyone in a post-Christmas lull. For me, it’s a mix between that and pregnancy exhaustion. But I’ll blame it on the holidays. 😉

Christmas Eve-Eve //

Well thanks to my ‘schedule clearing up,’ we were able to attend Chad’s families Christmas Eve-Eve party! Unfortunately, Chad was still working, so Ari and I went at it alone. And let me tell you… any shyness that Moosh use to have? it’s GONE. Big time. GONE. He was the life of the party… and he knew it. And he loved it! And for once, I didn’t have to chase him around, because he was a “big boy” enough to play semi-independently with the other kiddo!

Christmas Eve //

Chad worked Christmas Eve until about 3:30PM or so, so Ari and I met up with my friend Kristi and her kids at Chick-Fil-A for lunch.

It was amazing to see Ari ‘ooh‘ and ‘ahh‘ over Kristi’s baby girl. He’s been around her since she was born, but he has never ever taken interest in any babies. Well, perhaps it’s because he’s finally come to terms with the fact that Baby Girl will be here before he knows it!

After that little playdate we honestly did nada! We had zero plans, so PJs at 5pm was absolutely in order. In fact, Ari and I may have actually been in PJs before Chad got home! Ha!

And we finally had our first experience with the “Santa is coming!” jitters! I know this is the first of many years to come, but it was so funny trying to get him to relax and go to bed knowing Santa was ‘looming’ around the corner! Eventually, we all fell asleep. [thank goodness!]

Christmas Day //

We woke up at about 7:30-8ish. I was exhausted, but totally excited to see the look on Ari’s face! He came downstairs slowly and exclaimed “Santa came!”

It took a while to open presents because he would rip the paper off the present and then he would beg us to open it and to start playing with it right away! Ha! So it was a process of “open this,” “no, we’ll play with that when we get through all the presents,” to “OK Ari next present.” Tear it open and repeat!

After assessing the Santa/presents situation, we tried to take a nap — Ha! That was a short-lived dream. 🙂 We ‘awoke’ to my father-in-laws visit with us to celebrate Christmas! We relaxed until it was time to go to dinner. See? We were doing a mega-ultra-relaxed Christmas celebration.

And a sorry to my Jewish friends, but we totally had plans to steal your Christmas and go to our favorite local Chinese restaurant. In our defense, though, I’m fairly certain that NONE of the people that were eating at this restaurant were Jewish; but the restaurant was very busy. We ate and ate and ate. Went home and played some more. A pretty perfect Christmas day!

December 26th //

We. slept. in! Thank goodness. We all needed it. And after breakfast, we took Moosh to Cafe O’Play for their 1-Year Anniversary celebration!

Chad, my father-in-law, Moosh, and I met up with Ari’s girlfriend, Veronique, and her mommy for a fun playdate! And they totally soaked up every second together!

And before we knew it, it was time to go home and all take a big family nap! We seriously did SO much of this over the holiday break. Naps, naps, naps. You would think we would all be extremely well-rested, but that’s definitely not the case!

Key to the Cure // Wrap Up

November 6, 2015 by Rachel Leave a Comment

Before I get into this wrap up I wanted to very quickly give a shout out to one of my favorite local charities, Shoes and Clothes for Kids (SC4k). The mission of SC4K is to provide disadvantaged kids in Greater Cleveland with brand new shoes and clothing. What might surprise you is that two of their most requested items are socks and underwear. It’s so easy to take simple things like these for granted, but many kids in our community are wearing hand-me-downs, giveaways, throwaways – and some just go without.

To get people to think about this topic, they created a catchy video. Take a quick minute and check it out:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdgGqUKW9nA#t]

Right now they are running a crowdfunding campaign to help increase sock and underwear donations! Even better? They’ve received a challenge grant of up to $15k! That means your donation will be MATCHED!

If you are able, please consider donating to the campaign here.

Alright, so, a few weeks ago I had the privilege of attending another charity event, the Key To The Cure event at Saks Fifth Avenue at Beachwood Place! My girlfriend, Carli, and I decided to say buh-bye to our boys for the evening and head out for a night of fun.

Saks Fifth Avenue of Beachwood Place teams up with the Cleveland Clinic each year to host a shopping extravaganza! It’s a chance to give shoppers the opportunity to support women’s reproductive and breast research by offering a percentage of their sales go to the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center from October 15th to October 18th.

Guests were encouraged to purchase presale tickets to the event kickoff, which was the event we attended on October 15th, for $75 per person. Included in the event ticket was a $50 tax deductible write-off, a $25 Saks gift card, live entertainment, and food and drinks supplied by the amazing local talents from the Taste of Cleveland restaurants!

Carli and I arrived and were a tad bit overwhelmed at first. There was a LOT of food. Like, a lot. And, even though I knew I would be sick later, I wanted to eat all of it. We did a quick circle through Saks to check out all of the food offerings (duh. I’m pregnant), before diving in.

The food was amazing. Many of the offerings were from restaurants I have already been to; others I was experiencing for the first time (though we had meant to try them… that whole toddler thing keeps us home a lot as of late). Society Lounge provided cocktails for the evening (and I may have sipped on the most delicious Moscow Mule I’ve ever had), and wine was also provided for guests. I honestly can’t even remember who had the best food (but it was probably Lago).

Oh and I made sure to eat as many delicious donuts as my belly would hold, thanks to Peace, Love and Little Donuts. 🙂

At the end of the night, we waddled our way upstairs to the childrens department (because let’s be real — when a mom is given $25 bucks to spend, she chooses to spend it on her kids, not herself). I bought baby girl an adorable sleeper (that I would have normally never spent $25 on… let’s be real). So thank you, Key to the Cure, for the “free” $25!

Overall, it was an awesome night. I would love to experience the evening again, but this time not pregnant (Umm, HELLO Moscow Mules and see ya next year!)! If you missed it this year, keep an eye out for it October 2016! And see ya there!

weekend wrap up //

November 4, 2015 by Rachel 2 Comments

Hey look at me! I’m doing a wrap up of festivities that occurred just ONE week ago, instead of THREE weeks ago! Ha! #success

Thursday //

Technically, our ‘weekend’ started on Thursday with Trick or treat at the art museum. Or as Moosh calls it, the Art ‘Seum. Moosh loves the art museum! And he loves Halloween. So TWO of his fave things at the same time?? Genius!

<This year was a bit more chaotic than the previous year. There were more activities for kids and, what seemed like, a lot more kids in general. We bounced from activity to activity. But probably my favorite part was the sensory play that Moosh was totally NOT into. They had cooked spaghetti, but it was all different colors. And it had a little bit of water mixed in with it, so it was slimy like worms.

I tried to get Moosh to grab it, by reaching my own hands in. He visibly shuttered… and I died laughing. I couldn’t help it. It was such an ‘adult’ reaction.

Friday //

Besides dragging Ari to the hospital with me for my glucose test + rhogam shot, we did nothing. And we had a super chill Friday night, once Chad came home from a long week of work. He was on-call all week (and had been called out several times in the middle of the night), so spending a nice evening at home was just what we needed.

Saturday //

I woke up bright and early to get a jump on our day. Chad’s sister, who also happens to be my high school friend, had come into town from Denver (yes, all three of his sisters live in Denver!) to visit for the weekend. So I let the boys sleep in while I packed up the car.

Sidenote: Does anyone else feel like they pack up EVERYTHING they could POSSIBLY need in their car for the kids??!! This includes, but is not limited to, a change of clothes (complete outfit with underwear and socks), ‘busy’ activities, snacks, drinks, etc. Ha! Life of a parent!

I love the fact that all I had to do was wake the boys up and get Ari dressed while Chad got himself ready. Easy-peasy. Load everyone in the car and drive the hour+ for our visit!

Ari talked about “playing with his friends” the whole ride there. He’s been saying that about every kid his age lately. It’s the cutest. ♥

When we arrived Ari practically RAN into my friend Nikki’s house to play with his two cousins and Nikki’s two boys. What is it about another kids toys that is just way more fun than playing with ones own toys?? Ha.

The kids played while the parents caught up. After an hour or so we loaded up the cars and headed out for lunch. That’s right. Five kids, 3 of which are 3 and under. 4 Frazzled parents. Two grandparents. In a restaurant. Complete. CHAOS.

Lunch went as would be expected. The kids grew restless; the parents shoveled food in their mouths as quickly as possible. But we ate. And we survived.

Post-lunch we took the kids over to a local park to burn off all the energy they were holding in during lunch. And they played hard.

But, as per usual, Moosh refused to nap on the hour+ drive home. Sigh, kid, sigh… He just stared out the window like a zombie. Dead tired, refusing to nap.

Which, of course, made trick or treating Saturday night just super fun. I mean, he was SO looking forward to it. But we made it one block — ONE BLOCK — before calling it quits and heading home. Our Ninja Turtle was definitely exhausted.

But the houses we did hit up, he did great. He walked up, by himself, and said “Trick or Treat!” followed up by, “Ghee boo!” which is how he pronounces “Thank you.” Super proud Mama moment.

Aaaand then we went home to wrestle him to sleep. Fun times.

And then I forced Chad to watch a spooky movie with me. 🙂

Sunday //

I’m just gonna say it. I LOVE THE TIME CHANGE! I know, I know. Other parents hate it. But I actually slept til 8 (which is really 9) and went to Target by myself — because Chad and Ari were still sound asleep. !!!!!!! Yep. Love it.

Chad and I had a (mostly) chill day of just cleaning and grocery shopping. I napped with Ari (YEP. My kid even NAPPED during daylight savings. Hate me all you want.). We ate. We relaxed. Perfection.

Now, if only I could bottle up that extra sleep and extend it throughout this week! Ha!