Happy Friday Everyone!

Michael and I have just been VERY busy lately and it's turned us into bad bloggers. Today makes a week without anything new (our longest stretch since starting!) and for that we're very sorry. Sierra's birthday is this weekend and Lauren and I have been swamped with cleaning our apartment, buying supplies, making cupcakes and all that other fun parenting stuff so it's been hard to find the time to get on here and write anything. I can hardly believe she's turning two! I will write a nice big post on that after the party which I'm sure will reduce me to tears (she's SO big now!!). The party is this Sunday and if you haven't seen my first post on it check here: http://goo.gl/xHeZm. So enough with the excuses and let me share some photos with you to hold you over until I can put some time together this weekend to write a real post!


A poster I made using my new favorite font. TGIF:

Some instagrams of our apartment:

Sierra and hendrix are destined to be married I swear (photo on the left by Just By Living!)

OK real post coming soon promise <3 -Craig

WHAT'S NEW FRIDAY: Summer, Summer, Summer Time...

I just dropped Sierra off at daycare and am now sitting in my favorite coffee shop at 8:00 AM. They are playing Radiohead on the radio, the A/C is bumping and I am sipping on the largest iced coffee known to man, this is a good moment...


I wrote that a week or two ago with the intention of writing this long, thoughtfully written blog post about life... well, life is... BUSY! Hence only getting the first two sentences of that post finished, sorry about that! Although I am not in a coffee shop, I am finally sitting down for a few minutes to 'pen' some of whats been going on over here at Hipster Dad headquarters. I think I'll be doing these "What's New" posts every Friday from now on so let's get started:


WHAT'S NEW WITH US: So like I said, Sierra has left daycare for the summer and Lauren is temporarily a stay-at-home mom. I am still working my full time job and doing (almost) too much freelance to handle. It's finally warm here in Boston and we couldn't be happier. We have been hitting beaches, playgrounds, and cookouts like nobodies business. All three of us (and all of our friends) seem in general just happier which is nice. The New England sucks the happy right out of you in the winter! Here we are last Sunday in our "back yard".

We call this "Lazy Man's Cornhole" featuring the best bean bag return system ever! I swear she had a blast doing it, it wasn't forced or even requested! (Photo Stolen From Mom, Sorry!)

WHAT'S NEW WITH SIERRA: Over the past few months Sierra has transformed from my sweet little baby who's only two words were "mama" and "daddy" to an adventurous, giggly and talkative toddler. I wrote a post about this a few weeks back but I just wanted to write a little postscript if you will. Most changes in your child for the first two years are rather gradual, their size, their personality and taste in food. Other things are so fast it blows your mind, I often find myself saying "Where did you learn that?!" or "Did she just say Google!?". The games we play are getting more advanced, she's understanding everything we say and do and she's saying and repeating EVERYTHING. She wants to walk more than she wants to be held and she's taking bigger risks (running faster, bigger slides, stairs, etc). Yesterday on our walk home from the bus Sierra was in an amazing mood and just wanted to run and play even though it was nearing her bed time. I shot this little video along our walk and although only 10 or 15 seconds long I feel it really captures who she is as a little person. Her facial expressions, the way she runs, I don't know something about it is just perfect to me:





WHAT'S NEW WITH THE BLOG: The blog is doing well! We have reached 150+ followers on Google Connect in our first 3 months of blogging and look forward to seeing that number grow! We will be launching a brand new design with SPONSORS in the next month or two so keep an eye out for that! We hosted our first giveway last week and our next one should be live on Tuesday! Here's a hint to what it is:

WHAT'S NEW (and cool) ON THE INTERNET:

• Intel's "Museum of Me" - http://www.intel.com/museumofme/r/index.htm
• Google+ - I signed up have you?
• Michael's Promo company "NextHYPE" is throwing a 4th of July Pool Party!
• I started a blog to help people find jobs in Boston! - Boston Jobz

OK everyone I am all blogged out, so like I said I am going to make a habit of these "WHAT'S NEW FRIDAY"'s and try to get Michael to some too! Feel free to give us a follow on the right, leave a comment with WHATS NEW with you and as always take two seconds to give us a vote on TBB, Thank you and I hope everyone has a safe and fun filled 4th! xo -C

PHOTOS: Weekends

Friday's for most people mean checking their watch every few minutes waiting until it's 5:00 so they can scream TGIF and rush out the door to head to the bar with their buddies. For me it means screaming WE SO EXCITED and rushing home to my lady and my baby for a weekend of adventures, playgrounds and naps. Here are a few photos of what we did this weekend:

Here we are in Brighton Center playing 'airplane' (one of Sierra's favorite games as you can see. 

Sierra created a game called "pick up all the pinecones from this random church's "front yard" and throw them all onto the sidewalk. It was basically the best game ever. (p.s. that coffee is from CafeNation if you haven't been, you're missing out)

Sierra found the only patch of sun and was just soaking it all in.

Later that night we went to go see the New England Revolution vs Real Salt Lake at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA. Our family is pretty into "The Revs" and we have been season ticket holders for years. Before the game we did some tailgating which is always a lot of fun, who doesn't love a grilled tofu dog? Mmmmm....

Here's a view of the stadium from the ramp when you walk in.

On Sunday we decided to head to New Bedford to visit the grandparents and some friends (and maybe get some free laundry services - Thanks Mom & Dad!). Our lovely friend "Uncle Matt" bought Sierra this awesome turquoise wagon which we used to pull her to this little playground near my parents house.

My Dad may be 55 but he doesn't let it show, this is him doing back flips on the monkey-bars.

My Dad rules.

This is Sierra and I playing one of her other favorite games "peek-a-boo" through these little windows. I was trying to get a kiss but she wasn't having it.

My Dad basically stole Sierra the whole time which is fine with me because I love watching them play with one another, he is a very proud grampa.

This is Sierra's very cool p-leather jacket which she insists on wearing quite regularly now, as well as her sweet Timberland boots which are much too big for her right now but she loves them so we let her wear them anyway.

A rare photo of Sierra standing still long enough to snap a decent photograph!

Meet "Baby" Sierra's AmericanGirl Bitty Baby doll we got her for Christmas, although still nameless we're a big fan of her and she comes with us all the time. Now accepting name suggestions by the way.

Here we are wagon-ing back to my parents house after the playground.

My beautiful girlfriend & our beautiful baby striking a pose.

FAMILY (from left to right): Uncle Will, Lauren, Sierra, Aunty Jill, Uncle Matt, Grandpa and Gramma.

Later that night we went to visit my sister who has two little girl twins, names Autumn and Ashley. They go to bed a bit (lot) earlier than Sierra so they were less than enthused with our play date but we managed to snap a few decent photos in between crying :) - Here is Autumn being adorable.

Ashley and Sierra just lounging around. Well hope you enjoyed the photos, It's only Tuesday and I already am looking at my watch to see if it's Friday! - Craig

p.s. SEE MORE of our weekend @ http://www.beforeiwasamom.com