Weekend Outings

We've started the summer of 2010 on a super fun note! We've visited the Buffalo Zoo and the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester!! Bodhi was absolutely enthralled with the elephants, giraffes, and all the other cool animals at the zoo. He even made sure to do his best impressions of them at every stop. Here we are doing the elephant together:


And riding the carousel for the first time ever!!


The Strong Museum of Play was spectacular and we can't wait to go back. There was so much to see and do for all of us!

Here is Bodhi with his cousin Xander on the steps of Sesame Street!!

And checking out Mommy's groceries at Wegmans....he even gave me a discount on my baguette!

The day was long and Mr. Bodhi was tuckered right out.....many more adventures to come :)

Holy Cow?! Have you Herd the news? Mr. Bodhi is one year old!!

I never posted photos from Bodhi's birthday or wrote about his big special day so, here it is!! I decided to go with a cowboy theme for my little man cause, well, it seemed fun. We started the celebration on a Friday night with the making of the cakes!! Auntie Morgan make a very awesome cow cake, a crazy jelly bean barn, and lots & lots of "cow pies." I got to test my cake decorating skills with the mud pies....how fun! They tasted AMAZING, too. We had coffee, peanut butter, and raspberry vanilla cream varieties. I think I ate about a pound of sugar over that weekend.
The day itself could not have been more special. We started by a lunch at the Kopper Keg diner, where Bodhi is quite famous. We came back to find that Gracie, our Jack Russell, had eaten a good portion of the birthday cakes!! We all laughed and ate what we could! Opening birthday presents was so much fun. Our little man is spoiled and very loved, that's for sure!! I will always remember that first birthday with so much joy. Here are some of the highlights:

The Cakes!

Wow! An Ugly doll!! Thanks Aunt Kari!

Bodhi's New Ride!!


Bodhi with all his loot....looking a little overwhelmed! And, as my sister pointed out...looks like Elmo is about to become road kill!!

Where has the Year Gone?!

Wow, so much has happened in the past two months. Bodhi celebrated his first Christmas, New Years, and turned ONE YEAR OLD today!!! My man Bodhi has been such a wonderful light in my life this past year. I never truly realized how powerful and life changing motherhood could be.
Two of the most memorable moments of this year:

January 19th 2009 - Bodhi's Birth!!
I will always look back fondly at my birth experience (although I would have loved to experience a home birth, Daddy was NOT having that and I was ok with that as long as I could be with my midwife). I started labor on January 17th but then it stopped. On the 19th I called Susan because, at this point, I was 9 days overdue. We went in and induction began. It didn't take long for the contractions to start. I was in labor for 12 hours before Mr. Bodhi arrived. The delivery was peaceful and joyful. The first thing I remember about Bodhi are his floppy ears and how tiny he was....6lbs. 13oz. He smelled so sweet as a newborn and I loved his little cries that sounded like he was saying "ah-huh, ah-huh." What an incredible day!

Bodhi's Blessing
I firmly believe that my pregnancy was a gift from the universe (and thanks to Acupuncture). We tried for so long and when I finally went to meet Aiya, who has recently become my Guru, I was pregnant a week later. Explain that?! After Bodhi was born we took him to meet The Mother and to have him blessed by Aiya. It was a spectacular day and I will take to heart the advice that Aiya gave us for Bodhi: He told to teach Bodhi that there are many paths to God...not just one. He told us to take him to Church if we want, take him to a Temple, teach him to meditate, pray, be in nature, etc. I loved this advice because we are not ones to feel that God only exists in this faith or that....God is in everything and that is proven every time I stare at my son.

Gobble Gobble Gobble!!

Hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving! We celebrated at our place and had a wonderful feast of both traditional and vegetarian fare. Bodhi wore his sweet little bib and onesie that he got from Sitty (so cute - has a Jack Russell in a Pilgrim suit:). Bodhi enjoyed garden vegetables, pumpkin pie, and some bites of roll. He is eating SO MUCH lately!
We enjoyed hanging out with cousins Kaylie, Noah, and Xander, as well as Aunt Kari & Uncle Justin. It was great having the family all together at my place for a change.
We have started a new Thanksgiving tradition and it is one I hope will teach Bodhi about compassion and loving our animal friends. We sponsored a turkey (Rhonda is her name) from the Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glenn, NY. Our sponsorship will help feed Rhonda and provide her with vet care. We got a little card in the mail with her photo, her interests, and her favorite foods. I will save this for Bodhi and we will do this every year now. I think it'll be awesome to visit the sanctuary when he is old enough to understand - he can see all the turkeys that he is helping to save.
Other events of the Thanksgiving week included a trip to the temple in Rochester. It was a very big day for John and I. We love to have Bodhi exposed to all the wonderful energy at the temple. Bodhi seems to really love the music and even made friends with two of the children there.
Soon I will have a month off to spend with Mr. B. We will have lots of time to cuddle, sing, dance, wrap gifts, play with new toys, and love on Gracie. We put our Christmas tree up the other day and Bodhi is mesmerized with the lights. I love watching him experience all these new things. Motherhood is truly amazing.

My Little Worm

For those who did not get to see the little worm on Halloween, here he is.....

We Have A Comedian In the House!

Bodhi is a funny, funny man. He is cracking this Momma up more and more each day. As of late, his newest comedy show involves growling. Yes, growling. I'm not quite sure where he picked this up. Perhaps it's the pirate on Sprout that he sees. Maybe it's my rendition of "Where the Wild Things Are" or it could be that he doesn't know yet that he is a human baby and not a baby monster. Either way, it is really really cute. I didn't think it could get any cuter than the "ooooh" face that he enjoys making at anyone that will look his way. Alas, Bodhi never ceases to surprise his momma.

Bodhi "foodie" Farris

Bodhi is becoming quite the foodie and developing a sophisticated palate with tastes for things like lentils & carrots and those fun little puffy things that melt in his mouth :) It has finally dawned on me that I can be as creative with Bodhi's food as I am with my own. So, this weekend Mr. B is in for a treat (hopefully he will feel that way!). I'm going to make him a frozen banana, blueberry, coconut water, yogurt, & flax oil smoothie. Mmmmm. I'm also going to give lentils & brown rice a try, along with avocado & banana. The first time I ever made him something homemade (carrots w/ cinnamon), he made funny faces at me and refused to eat it. That was at 4 months old. Then at 6 months I tried mashed potatoes. He threw up. I thought they tasted good. Go figure. Now at 9 months he is gobbling up the lentils, carrots, & cinnamon that I made for him. Must be the Lebanese in him coming through!
I've purchased a few neat things to help me along my babyfood making journey. Jillians Drawers is a store in Ithaca that sells all kinds of cool baby gear and it is all eco-friendly. I bought the baby cubes to use as storage containers and they are the perfect size. If you want to check them out, here they are:
http://www.jilliansdrawers.com/products/forbaby/feeding/foodprepandstorage/babycubes
So it should be a fun-filled food weekend for us all. Eat up Mr. B!