There was some groundbreaking stuff going on here until he decided that crayons taste good.

He easily recognized “our” puppy drawing and started barking at it.  He loves seeing his artwork on the fridge every time he sits in his high chair.  He claps for himself every time he makes a scribble on the paper.

He’s walking “independently” with the help of a lion on wheels.  He sleeps from 7:30 pm to 7:30 am.  He picks our cat Shakira up by the tail…and she loves it.  He gives me fiercely tight hugs.  He wears shoes almost every time we go out in public.

I can’t believe in just one week, he will be one year old.

Thanks for all of the wonderful birthday messages.  They’re making the scrapbook really special.

The TOURDROBE is now available for purchase!  All designs are available as onesies or toddler tees and are for sale as pre-orders.  Shipping will begin in mid-September.

Shop here!

I’m so lucky that another one of my dreams has come true and these designs will grace the chubby tummies of tots everywhere.  We’ve been talking to a few retail stores about carrying the clothes as well!  Stay tuned for that, and for now…shop with us!

If you don’t have kids in your life, but want to support the blog, clothing line, and the fabulous Artie’s Mum Mum snack addiction…you can make a donation.

Thanks for your support!!  And please share the store with friends!

I’m not crafty.  At least, not in the literal sense.  So I was super overwhelmed by the scrap booking aisles when I went to pick up supplies to make Artie’s birthday present…a book of his first year of adventures.  I never expected to be so reeled into the whole spectrum of supplies.  I had a mental image of it being a cheesy hobby for some reason, but I must admit…I’m sold.  Now let’s see if I can put the enthusiasm for picking pretty things off a shelf into the actual art of assembling it…

I picked up some pretty pieces of paper and little embellishments.  The plan is to of course add pictures and I’ll probably print out a bunch of Tour Tot posts to include, as well as our tour schedules and tokens from travels.  But I’m nervous to dive into it, because this really isn’t my thing.  Any tips from pro scrap bookers out there?

Here are the supplies I picked up so far (along with some cardstock that I just realized doesn’t fit in the pages, bummer):

Since so many of you have been following TourTot as Artie has grown up into the magnificent little monster he is today, I was hoping to include some birthday messages from readers.  Please leave a message in the comments (along with the state you’re from if you don’t mind).  You can also email me if you’d rather do that.  I’ll post pictures of the end result soon…that is, if I’m successful with the project.

Also, what do you think of the new header?  The birds and banner were drawn by the wonderful Lexi, who is helping me with the soon to be launched Tour Tot baby clothing line.  You might have met her at the merch tent on Warped Tour.  She’s an amazing artist (and also Jose’s girlfriend).  We have a lot of exciting things in the works!

And President Arthur IV was added by Ace.  Along with all of the editing.  This is why I love him.  Well, one reason at least.

Ok…please leave a message for the (almost) birthday boy!

Our street has been under major construction for months.  Obviously new water and sewer lines are even more complicated than they sound.  Sometimes, I can’t get out of the driveway without any notice.  Always, the loud trucks interfere with nap time and wake the boy up even earlier than he gets up on his own.  There’s dirt everywhere.  We can’t even play outside.  Artie likes looking at the trucks, but they’re so close and so intense that he gets a little scared and I’m afraid we could get hurt.  I’m hoping we end up with a nicely paved road and new sidewalks at the end of all of this.  It might make up for the frustration.

Construction is always annoying.  We’ve been going through it for a few years with our business.  Building from the ground up again.  It feels like we’re finally through with all of the mess.  Now we’re ready to open up the road again.

We’ve started a new street team through Fancorps.  We’re keeping up with his Facebook and Twitter.  Ace is even starting his own blog-ish site, which will be launching soon!  We’re also working on a Kickstarter to help fund the new record since we’re releasing it independently again.  I feel like Ace has a new kind of excitement about his music, which is making him want to do new things to get it out there and connect with everyone more.  Of course we’ve been out there touring and working and things have been good, but I think a new phase is beginning.

Recently, a few people have nominated us for Ellen Gives Back so that we can get a motorhome or bus to be able to continue touring as a family.  We’ve been trying to get one, but it’s ending up to be harder financially than we thought.  I know that there are so many people in need out there and because we’re just so happy and thankful for what we do and how we do it…sometimes I don’t realize that we could actually be candidates for this. Because we get by (even if it’s by a thread). We’ve made a lot of sacrifices and taken out loans (that I can’t really legally tell you about) in order to keep making music and touring. What we do is totally our choice, but it’s also sort of a responsibility in a way. Because Ace doesn’t make music to live a life of partying and make millions of dollars.  We do it as a family for the fans who say that he’s touched their lives in some way.  So I guess we could be eligible to get some help from Ellen.  If you want to write in, I say go for it.  And thanks!

Ok, boys and girls.  Breastfeeding is the name of the game here on TourTot today.  Nothing too intense and no pictures of my boobs or anything…but just warning you that we’re going to a different place than usual here.

thanks to Keep A Breast for the shirt they gave us!

Last week, at exactly 11 1/2 months old, Artie and I naturally and simultaneously decided that milky would be drank from a sippy cup, eaten off a spoon, or slurped out of a big boy glass from then on…anything other than the boob.  I had been stressing out about weaning for a while.  What if I was ready and he wasn’t?  Or the other way around?  But, we must be so in tune with each other that we both just knew it was time to move on.  I’ve heard some weaning horror stories, so I must say I’m very thankful for how this process played out for us.

A year ago, I couldn’t imagine nursing longer than six months.  Even that seemed like a long time.  It was my plan to breastfeed as long as possible, but I never knew anyone who went longer than a couple of months and most people in my family didn’t do it at all.  It was a foreign concept for a lot of people around me (including my family doctor who encouraged me to wean at 9 months so Artie wouldn’t lift my shirt up in the grocery store…some doctor), but I knew it was the right thing for us.  My midwife encouraged me, as well as the example set by some awesome moms I’ve come to know and respect out here on the interweb.  We’re lucky that it worked out so well for us from the start, as I know a lot of moms struggle.  And for the record, I have no judgement or problem with the need to give formula.

I have so many fond memories of awkwardly cradling my baby boy in bathroom stalls of venues and gas stations around the country and huddling over with a blanket in the back seat of the van.  Choosing wardrobe options that gave “easy access” wasn’t always fun, but I enjoy a challenge.  The button downs and strapless dresses chosen specifically for nursing will always make me smile when I pass by them in my closet.

I never had any fancy equipment…no “hooter hiders” or electric pumps, which I think made it easier and more natural in a way.  It seems that when someone gets all of the breastfeeding bells and whistles at a baby shower, they have some challenges with making it work out.  Maybe it’s my own superstition, but I feel that it’s “cursing nursing” by adding so much pressure when you have all of that stuff surrounding you.  A boppy pillow and maybe some Lanolin are all you need to get started.

Artie drank about ten bottles of pumped milk in his whole life because pumping and washing bottles just wasn’t as convenient as going straight to the source while traveling.  He’s only had one sick visit to the doctor since he was born, and it was just a couple months ago for something really minor.  I believe that the breast milk played a huge part in that, considering how many germs he was exposed to on tour.

It’s true that breast feeding helped me lose a lot of the baby weight, but it also made me hang on to a few extra pounds of maternal fat stores that I was dying to be rid of from time to time.  Ok, almost every day.  But it was worth it to me.  You have to take in about 300 extra calories a day (like during pregnancy) when you’re nursing, so dieting is out of the question if you want to keep producing the milk.  Even running fifteen miles a week couldn’t get me back into my old jeans.  I’m still nursing if he wakes up at 5 am…because it’s the easiest way to get him back to sleep and at that time of the morning I’d rather deal with his eight nibbling teeth for five or ten minutes than wake up for the day.  But very soon, that will come to an end.  And I’ll be tired and cranky and possibly disappear to wallow in sleep deprived misery for about a week.

So I’m on day four of my “get my old body back” mission aka a really strict diet and fierce workout sessions.  Apparently I carry weight really well (I can’t decide if that’s a good or bad thing) because everyone tells me I look exactly the same as always.  Or they’re just being really nice.  But the truth is, I have about fifteen pounds to lose to get back to my normal size.  There were two times in my life when I lost twenty pounds, once when my heart was terribly broken and once by doing this diet a couple years ago.  I’m not in the market for a broken heart, so I’ll ditch the dessert for a while.  High protein, super low carb and no processed foods and cutting overall calories.  I’m not going overboard or crazy about my body, but I want to feel like my old self again.  Surprisingly I don’t miss pasta or bread at all…it’s the chocolate, cheese and wine that taunt me.

But the hardest part is refusing potato chips from my four year old niece.  ”You don’t like them, Aunt Jenn?”  Oh potato chips, please forgive me for saying that I don’t like you.  After accidentally inviting Chloe with us to Disneyland without asking her mom first and almost telling her about my newest invention called the butt puppet…I’m learning to be more careful about what I say around her.  At least I won’t be the cause of a poor body image for the girl.

Potato chips aside, so far I feel great in every way possible.  It’s strange to suddenly let go of something that was such a huge part of our life together for the past year, but I’m happy to move on to the next phase of the mother/son relationship as my boy turns one.  I’ll miss the faces he made when his belly was full of milk and the excuse to eat ice cream to get those extra calories, but there will be many new and different memories to be made.  Even though it was as easy and natural as it could be to nurse my baby, it’s not always ideal to live as a food source for a year.  Let’s just say, when this diet is done and wine is finally really back in my life after nine months of pregnancy and almost twelve months of breast feeding…we’ll be going out to celebrate!

I’ve been away from the blog a bit longer than usual, but for all good reasons.  We’ve been “busy” settling back into the house as a family since Ace flew home last Tuesday.  Motorhome shopping and home improvement planning have also consumed a lot of time.  Next week, we’ll most likely be purchasing an awesome Winnebago so that we can live the way we need to and not be plagued by shady bus companies on tour.  We’re so, so, so excited about this.  The motorhome is totally decked out and even has an outdoor entertainment center with a tv and everything.

So we’re also fixing up the house a bunch so that it’s all updated, safe and clean for Artie…or the next family who moves in since we just might be selling it.  We never seem to know exactly what we’re doing, but I’m ok with that.  It just means that there’s potential for exciting adventures.

We’ve also been planning for the next tour and Ace’s newest release.  By the middle of October we’ll be full steam ahead into the next phase…driving west to start six weeks of shows and promoting a really amazing project.  We didn’t know what Warped Tour would bring for us when we signed on last winter.  Although the tour has changed a lot since the “good old days,” we were excited to be a part of it since we grew up with it and it’s always held a place in our hearts.  Warped was Ace’s first real tour back in 2002.  I came along and sold merch for the first time right after we got married in 2006.  And then there are all the years we went as fans between 97 and 01.

Warped Tour 2010 was a totally different experience from 2002, but the differences weren’t in the least bit bad.  The crowds were receptive and energetic.  It was the friendliest tour we’ve ever been on.  So many bands and nice people from production helped us out in ways that I never would’ve imagined.  Ace rode along with Never Shout Never (who we’re so excited to be out on tour with this fall, dates below!) when our bus disappeared on us in Wyoming.  They’re some of the nicest people ever and I’m so thankful for how they took care of my husband.  On this tour, we made a lot of good friends and learned so much about where we’re from and where we’re heading.

There were times when we weren’t sure how Ace would fit in on a tour like this, when it seemed like the hardest tour possible to do with a baby, and when we didn’t know if it would pay the bills.  We didn’t know exactly what we were doing or what we were in for, so we just took the chance.  It really was an exciting adventure, and it’s leading us onto our next one.

I don’t know if it was Artie’s excitement over seagulls or if she was just reflecting on her childhood as her 50th birthday (today!) approached, but a few weeks ago my mom suddenly remembered a book she read almost every day on the beach one summer when she was a young teenager.  Since she almost never mentions anything she wants, I seized the opportunity and for once was able to buy her a meaningful gift.

I had never read Jonathan Livingston Seagull myself until a few days ago.  My mom told me how much it meant to her and how badly she wanted to read it again to discover as an adult the reason she had been somewhat obsessed with it while growing up.  After the hour or so it took me to read the novella, her connection with the fable was totally clear to me.  Actually, a lot about her personality and my own childhood became clear through learning the story.  It may not be an amazing literary work (despite it’s popularity as a best seller in the 70′s), but I discovered more about myself and my mom among those pages than all of the classics I studied in college combined.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull (yes, he’s a seagull) has an innate desire to push himself to learn to fly in a way no other member of his flock cares to master.  His desire for learning, improvement and perfection lead him to be cast out of the flock, who value conformity and nothing beyond basic survival.  Unaffected by their scorn, he continues on his quest for knowledge and masters flight to the point where he is elevated to the next level of existence.  He discovers his true self and continues to learn in a place surrounded by seagulls like him, but ultimately wants to return to his old flock to teach others to do the same.  He eventually succeeds in passing on his knowledge to many members of his old flock.  One young gull follows in his footsteps and becomes a teacher himself.

The message is straight forward and feels familiar and obvious here in 2010.  But in Sea Isle City in 1973, my thirteen year old mother was shaped by these ideas.  I’m so thankful for that, and for her being my own Jonathan Livingston Seagull.  She’s the best teacher I could ever ask for.  With extreme fervor and enthusiasm, she taught me everything from ABC’s and ballet to passion and self confidence.  She sparked a desire in me to learn with voracity and taught me to aspire to be whatever I dreamed and then go really achieve it.

My mom has always motivated me and encouraged me to follow my dreams.  Sometimes, I look out the window of the van as we drive through mountains in the dark after a great show and on the way to the next one despite all of the strange little hiccups along the way and I wonder how we got there and how we keep going.  For me (and in turn, my own little family), it all traces back to Jonathan Livingston Seagull and my amazing mom.

Happy birthday mom!

Quotes from Jonathan Livingston Seagull, by Richard Bach.

“Who is more responsible than a gull who finds and follows meaning, a higher purpose for life? For a thousand years we have scrabbled after fish heads, but now we have a reason to live – to learn, to discover, to be free! “

Jonathan Seagull discovered that boredom and fear and anger are the reasons that gull’s life is so short and with these gone from his thought, he lived a long fine life indeed.

“Why is it,” Jonathan puzzled, “that the hardest thing in the world is to convince a bird that he is free, and that he can prove it for himself if he’d just spend a little time practicing? Why should that be so hard?”

“To fly as fast as thought, to anywhere that is,” he said,”you must begin by knowing that you have already arrived…”

Quote from a pitch I received the other day:  ”Traveling with a baby is a nightmare (although you may be the exception to the rule.)”

True, the jet-setting dreams of neck pillows, magazines, sleep, the perfect ipod playlist and  in-flight beverages (alcoholic or otherwise…the boy enjoys swimming in cups) may have vanished when Artie came along.  But there are so many up sides to traveling with a baby and it’s pretty sad that nobody ever focuses on them.  It might take some time to get used to and maybe it’s not for everyone, but once you get the hang of it I truly believe that a six hour flight or ten hour car ride with a child can actually be super enjoyable.

First, you need the right attitude.  You can’t go into it thinking it will be a nightmare…you just can’t.  It’s not the right attitude to go into anything with, but especially when going into something that can be an awesome bonding and learning experience for you and your child.  Sure, you can be nervous.  But about things that make sense to be nervous about.  The only nightmare involved in flying with my baby is the one I have every night before we leave.  It’s not about tantrums or tears.  It’s about safety.  Bad dreams of dangerous situations plague me every time we’re about to leave for a trip, but that’s just part of being a mom no matter what you do and where you are.  I’m on high alert for any potential danger so much more than a couple years ago before pregnancy and parenthood.

While we checked in at the United ticketing counter in Philly a few weeks ago, an alarm started blaring and a voice repeated commands to leave the building immediately.  While all of the workers, business travelers and families around me went on their merry way…my face went white and my stomach turned as I scooped Artie from his stroller and prepared to sprint across the river back to New Jersey if that’s what I had to do for him to be safe.  In a panic I asked everyone what was going on…why aren’t they leaving…why are people acting like nothing is happening?!!!  The man at the counter barely answered me.  Brushed me off like I wasn’t even there while he continued printing boarding passes.  He just held a tight-lipped smile and shook his head.  Made me feel absolutely insane for actually paying attention to a freaking alarm telling me there’s a safety and security emergency in the airport.

Of course, they all said it happens all the time.  It’s a big joke to them.  But to me?  Not so much.  I fly very frequently and never heard an alarm like that…so forgive me if it actually meant something to me.  I don’t care what everyone else is doing when an alarm goes off…boarding elevators, printing boarding passes, shrugging it off like it’s an annoying joke…I’m paying attention to it.  Even if I look crazy to everyone else.

So like I was saying, other than safety concerns traveling with a baby is totally not a nightmare.

If you have the right stroller:

I always thought I’d wear Artie in an infant carrier like an Ergo or Baby Bjorn more often than push him in a stroller.  And I totally would’ve…if I didn’t have the most perfect travel stroller ever, the Inglesina Zippy.  He’s so happy to sit and eat his snacks or play with his toys; interacting with strangers in the terminal independently and lounging back and taking a nap when necessary.  I don’t know if you all remember, but this stroller was run over by our 15 passenger van back in March and besides a couple small scratches and a wheel that isn’t perfectly perfect…it’s still amazing.  I can open and close it with one hand while balancing Artie on my opposite hip and carrying a heavy diaper bag.  Everyone around always looks shocked when they see my moves and I’ve written down the name of our beloved chariot for moms in airports countless times.  It’s just perfect.

The right toys:

This is the Airplay by Star Kids.  I can’t tell you how much Artie and I both adore this amazing little invention.  It slips right onto the tray table and secures with velcro.  Both sides have clever toys and activities that keep Artie busy in the air for hours.  The key here is that all of these toys keep his attention without making any noise or singing any songs that will annoy your fellow passengers.  Plus it has the added bonus of folding up into a bag with a handle.  I just stick everything I need to have handy during the flight into the AirPlay (snacks, books, even diapers and wipes!) and put the big diaper bag in the overhead because when you have a baby on your lap you need all the space you can get!  Airplay, four thumbs up!

The right snacks:

Cheerios, yogurt melts, puffs, bananas, crunchies…and maybe even a cookie or two.  My boy is a big eater, and when we travel it gets even more extreme.  A variety of healthy snacks from home is definitely right up there with your ID on the list of travel priorities when you have a tot in tow.

And a little bit of the right luck:

This sweet dream could’ve easily been a nightmare.  After a two hour flight delay (half of which was spent on board the plane, the other half without my beloved Zippy in the terminal) I could’ve been weary and moody.  But we made the best of it and had a good time together.  Then we were greeted by two empty seats on either side of us when we re-boarded.  The other passengers had found different flights.  Artie and I were both so calm and in tune with each other from the good day we had so far that he passed out before take off and slept for two and a half hours.  I can’t stress how important it is to not stress…vibes transfer to little ones faster than germs.

So, if you’re traveling with a baby don’t be alarmed.  Unless, of course there is an alarm going off.  Then…you have my permission to freak out.

Let’s see who our dancey dance friend is today…

It’s Artie IV and he wants to teach you a dancey dance!  Here’s how you do the “scummy stage scoot”…

Now you try the scummy stage scoot!  No?  You don’t want to crawl around on a dirty stage where dudes spit?  But, it’s dancey dance time!  Well, you’re just no fun.

Trust me, I gave the boy a deep cleaning directly after this.

Thanks to Lili Cohen for these fabulous photos!!