Our New Little Family

A little Christmas Survey

2008-12-10T21:48:00.003-05:00

Since I have been so nonexistant lately, when I saw this on Melanie's blog, I figured this was an easy enough thing for me to post!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper...I could spend hours wrapping presents!
2. Real tree or Artificial? At the moment artificial. I love real trees though!
3. When do you put up the tree? Umm...usually the weekend after Thanksgiving. I'm sad to say I haven't had time to put mine up yet!!! :0(
4. When do you take the tree down? Usually right after New Year's
5. Do you like eggnog? Not fond of egg nog
6. Favorite gift received as a child? Nothing really stands out. I think I also have a lot of memories that I look back on!
7. Hardest person to buy for? Moms
8. Easiest person to buy for? Little Man
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail them...after I finish making them!
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I don't know if it was the worst, but it was funny. My parents had stuff set aside they were going to sell for in a garage sale. My dad went out in the garage, picked out a few things, and wrapped them up to give to me for Christmas. We still laugh about it now!
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Not really movie....but Rudolph, Frosty and such. We made it tradition to watch these every year growing up!
13 When do you start shopping for Christmas? This year I think we started in late September...and I've even picked up a few things for next year!
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yes I have...I'm terrible!
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Well...when my grandma was here, I loved her dinner on Christmas Eve. What I wouldn't give for her homemade pierogies!!!
16. Lights on the tree? Much to my hubbies dismay, we have white lights on our Christmas tree.
17. Favorite Christmas song? Silent Night...no specific artist. And any fun, upbeat music I can sing to.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Since most of our family is locak, stay home.
19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen, but do you recall the most famous reindeer of all....Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer....
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Actually, neither....but closer to a star
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? We always opened one present each on Christmas Eve and the rest were done in the morning
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Getting away from the true meaning of Christmas and feeling the need to spend soooo much money
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Since we started dating my hubby has bought me an Eeyore ornament from The Disney Store. This year, for the first time, they didn't make one. I don't know what I'm going to do!!!
24. Favorite thing for Christmas dinner? We always have ham and the trimmings.
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? My family to be healthy and happy
26. Who is most likely to respond to this? Hmmmm....
27. Who is least likely to respond: Hmmmm....

Hope you enjoy...and have a Merry Christmas!

I think it's time to get back into this again...

2008-12-07T22:04:00.004-05:00

I know, it has been far too long since I posted here. Well, I'm going to try again! I'm going to start off small.

Maybe I'm starting him a little young?!?! I only spent $10 on this little vacuum, but it's great that little man actually uses it! Now if only I could get him to do the dishes!

Yes...I'm a slacker!

2008-10-08T18:29:00.003-04:00

It has been well over a month since I've posted. I'm not going to make any excuses...it's just life! We're currently getting over a second bout of "the plague" in my house. The first time we were all hit, the second time only my hubby and me! I'm hoping little man doesn't decide to get sick this weekend!
Just wanted to let you know I'm still here...and I'll hopefully be back with some new posts shortly!

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

2008-08-24T21:57:00.005-04:00

On Saturday we took a road trip. We went to see a house being built by Extreme Makeover Home Edition. We had heard they were going to be in the town because my hubby's cousin lives on the same street they were building it. We figured we would take a ride because when would we ever have the chance to see this again.

I had been following the story on the Internet. They actually tore the house down on Wednesday and by the time we got there on Saturday, they were finishing the siding, gutters, landscaping, etc. I'm not sure how far they were on the interior, but they had put out a call for anyone who knew how to drywall and install hardwood floors. Darn it, I don't know how to do either.

There were a lot of people there...between volunteers and spectators there were hundreds. There were some kids selling water and hot dogs. There were tables of t-shirts that were being bought up. What an amazing thing to watch though. I wish we had gone on Sunday. That's when you would really get the opportunity to see everyone from the show. We did get to see Ed Sanders (he's in the pinkish-red colored shirt in a couple pictures). I'm not sure when the episode aired, but he is the one that cut his hand when he was working on a project for the show. He was in the front yard and turned to get the crowd to cheer on all those working. It was truly amazing to see how much all these people got done in a few short days!

Little man did pretty well all day. Right before we left, he started to have a meltdown. He had only napped in the car for less than an hour. We were really hoping he would take a little nap in his stroller, but he wanted no part of it. Five minutes after we got in the car, he was out...of course! Since we drive right past her house, we were going to stop and see my sister on the way home. Unfortunately we got detoured due to a parade and were past her house by the time we got back on our original route.

All in all it was a good trip. We're actually hoping to take another trip next weekend. We'll see though!

New things to play in

2008-08-24T13:18:00.005-04:00

It's been a while. Summer has flown by and Fall is almost here. Fall is actually my favorite season, so I'm ok with that!

A couple weeks ago little man found something new to play with...er in. I have actually commented to some people about how good little man is about closing door, drawers, cupboards, etc. Well...I spoke too soon.

These pictures...notice the wet hair? I would love to say he got in the sink, tub, etc. No...my son stuck his hands in the toilet and "washed" his hair. Two minutes with my back turned was all it took! He immediately had a bath run and he was "disinfected" from that nasty water.

I think now we are going to have to keep the bathroom door shut for fear of what can come next!

Shhhhh........

2008-08-12T13:32:00.003-04:00

Shhhhh....quiet....do you hear that? No? Just listen for a couple more seconds! Still nothing? That's because it's quiet. I actually have the day off without little man or hubby! It's very strange though because I'm constantly listening for little man to start crying to say he is awake from his nap. Is that strange? My mind has become so tuned in to him, even when he's not home I'm listening for him!

I've been keeping busy today. I'm cleaning a little. I haven't been doing it continuously, and I'm taking breaks because I want to. I actually made myself breakfast and lunch and didn't have anyone else standing there asking for some even though they already ate there own. I'm picking up rooms and they are staying clean for longer than ten minutes. Was this what it was like before little man came along?

Before little man was born, I probably would have taken a day off and just layed on the couch watching tv and doing nothing. Today I'm just savoring the quiet.

In all honesty though, I can't wait for him to get home. My hubby works tonight, so I'm hoping to take a walk to the park with little man. Before he left to go to day care, he was sitting on the couch being all cuddly...I love these cuddling sessions because they are not coming as often any more! Is there any way I can stop him from growing up?

Well...3 hours left in my day off...what else can I do today?

(On a side note....Operation no binky is going o.k. I relented the other night after a half hour of screaming...I know...I'm bad. Yesterday he didn't have the pacifier all day, and he even slept without is last night. I hate to do this to him, but after we visited the dentist a few months ago, I knew I would have to face this sooner than later! We'll see what tonight brings!)

Crying due to Operation No Binky

2008-08-10T20:36:00.003-04:00

I'm sitting at my computer listening to little man scream and cry. I feel horrible because I can't go in and give him what he wants...the binky!!! This is about the millionth time I have attempted this. It always seems to get sabotaged.

I started again on Friday. Saturday morning my hubby got little man up and brought him out with a binky in his mouth. I was devastated. I thought my one day of hard work was gone. Then I had to go to work. My hubby was home with little man all day...even nap time. He relented and gave little man the pacifier for nap time.

Then I put little man to bed without the pacifier, and he slept through the night. Yay!!! He didn't have it for his afternoon nap! Yay again!!!

Now it's bed time and he's probably been crying for about 10 minutes now!!! I figure if we can get through a couple more nights, we should be good. Now if everyone gets on the same page as me, it'll be perfect!!!

Trying to Post

2008-08-05T22:34:00.002-04:00

I've started a couple posts in the past couple weeks, and I just didn't feel like finishing them. Why? I don't know. I'm tired. Little man is getting to be a pro at the tantrum throwing. My hubby has been working two jobs, so that leaves me home alone alot. That should give me plenty of time to do this...but when I have this time, I often don't feel like doing anything. How sad.

Last week we finally got our washer and dryer hooked up. Actually, it just started with the water lines and drain being put in my mother's kitchen. Then we had electric run and the vent put on the enclosed back porch for the dryer. When we moved, we put them both down in the basement because that was where the hookups were. Unfortunately, it wasn't ready for us to put everything in, so we waited...a little too long in my opinion...but it's done now so I can't complain. So we had hubby's two brothers come over on Sunday and help get them up from the basement...what fun!

No more trips to the laundromat!!! Yay!!! I've been doing laundry every night since it got hooked up. How great is that? I know, it's really sad that I'm getting excited about doing laundry?!?!

Not too much is going on. Little man is still sleeping through the night off and on. Last night being one of the off nights, I wound up sleeping with him on this floor so he would go to sleep. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he sleeps through the whole night tonight! I guess we've been pretty lucky though with his sleep patterns!

I went for a walk tonight. I really need to start exercising because I need to get rid of this baby weight...19 months later!!!!!! I hate how I look, how I feel. I think I'm going to start with a 5 pound goal and work from there. I actually would love to get down 30...but that seems so unattainable right now! So, I guess I'll start with little baby steps!!! Maybe if I start blogging about that, it will help keep me accountable!!!

Well, I'm off to get another load out of the dryer...don't be jealous!

Laundry Day

2008-07-20T16:16:00.002-04:00

Sunday is always laundry day in our house. This is the day we go to the laundromat. While I don't mind going (because we are all done in 2 hours!), I can't wait to have our washer and dryer hooked up. We have been in our house almost a year...I think it's long overdue! We have hookups in the basement, but the drain from the laundry tub to the ground wasn't connected. I don't know how anyone ever did laundry down there...if they ever did! We got an estimate to put the washer in the kitchen downstairs and the dryer on the back porch. So my hubby is going to call this week to see when the plumber can come do it. This solution will work as long as my mom is renting downstairs...after that...we'll have to figure something else out. I just can't wait to throw a load of laundry in whenever I want to!!! How silly is that???

Early Morning Quiet and a Busy Day

2008-07-19T07:35:00.005-04:00

I'm up bright and early. I usually am on the weekends. There is something about sitting in the quiet house before anyone else is up. I know the rest of the day is going to be spent taking care of little man. So I enjoy this hour or so of time to myself. My hubby is still sleeping too. We have a busy day ahead of us. I want to head to the local farmer's market, my mother wants to go to a dollar store, and we have a party to go to later this afternoon. Fun! I guess that's what summer is all about though!
Speaking of summer, just this past week I finally got little man's pool out so he could play in it! He's been using the one at the babysitter's house but not at home. He really enjoyed it. Toward the end though, he liked throwing the water onto the lawn more than anything else...at least the lawn got watered a bit! Enjoy the pictures!

The other day I brought out a movie for the first time to see if little man would watch it. I put in Elmo in Grouchland, and he actually would watch it off and on. Well last night he was really cute. He loves to go over to our dvd's and pulls them off the shelf. He always manages to have a huge pile on the floor before I can get to him. Yesterday he kept walking over to the shelves, and I kept steering him away. Finally last night he got over there before I could get him. He pulled some dvds off the shelf and then started walking over to me. Wouldn't you know he had the Elmo in Grouchland dvd. So cute. I didn't think he would know what one it was...but he loves Elmo. So I put it in and we snuggled together and watched it. How I savor days like that because I know the time is going to come that he won't want that!

Visiting Baby Girl

2008-07-18T10:23:00.006-04:00

Last Saturday after little man got his haircut, we took a little day trip to visit my sister, her husband, and baby girl. We had just seen them a few weeks before when they moved, but we didn't get to visit amongst all the chaos. It's amazing how big baby girl is getting.

I still get nervous when little man gets around baby girl. The picture looks all sweet...but about two seconds after I took this picture, he tried to hit her! UGH! We're trying really hard to teach him about "nice touches!" Hopefully he'll get it soon!

Baby girl wasn't sure what to think in her exersaucer. I just kept taking pictures though hoping that I would get a good one...she is so cute!

In a few weeks we're going to go visit again...hopefully I'll get more pictures then!

Operation No Binky

2008-07-16T16:18:00.002-04:00

I started "Operation No Binky" almost a month ago. The first two weeks went really well with the only time little man got his pacifier was when he found one that I hadn't. Then we got hit with a really bad week. It was the week my brother and his family came to visit and I was off from work. Little man's schedule was totally off with him getting to bed some nights around 11 pm - his typical bedtime is somewhere between 8-9 pm. That made for some very cranky nights...and days!!! So to survive them, I pulled out the reinforcements...the hidden binkys!!! I didn't think I would have to since we had been without it so long, but I did. So today...I'm starting all over again!!! My fingers (toes, arms, legs, etc.) are crossed that we are more successful this time around. We have already made it through nap time without the binky...the next challenge will be bed time!!! We'll see what happens!

The video

2008-07-13T13:00:00.002-04:00

Here the short video of little man's haircut...enjoy!

Yet another first

2008-07-13T12:06:00.006-04:00

Yesterday we went through another first with little man...His first haircut. His hair wasn't incredible long (as you'll see in the first three pictures), but it was just getting to an unmanageable stage. He has some curls in his hair, so once he slept on it, forget about it. I had been putting it off for a few weeks now, but finally decided it was time to take the plunge!

Just a few pictures to show what his hair looked like before -

He got to sit in an airplane while she cut his hair...he loved it!

The first few cuts...I didn't know how he would react, but he did really well. I think it helped that she had Elmo playing on the counter in front of him.

And the end result. I was so afraid he was going to look like such a big boy. He does...a little bit!! I really like his new haircut, and I'm glad we did it. I hope next time goes as well as this one!

Happy Birthday to me!

2008-07-06T20:52:00.003-04:00

glitter-graphics.com
Yesterday I turned 34. 34 years old...where have all the years gone?

When I was a kid, I couldn't wait to grow up. How exciting grown up life seemed. I wouldn't have to live with my parents, I would have my own place, I would have a job, etc. How many adults looked at me and said to enjoy my childhood, it would be gone before I knew it? And it was.

I don't know if I would want to go back and relive everything. What I want more than anything is the naivete (however you spell it). I want to have carefree days of spending time with friends. I want my most tiring job to be babysitting the kids up the street. I want to take bike rides with my brother. I want to play Barbies with my sister. We used to have so much fun. We created so many activities...not even using any the toys my parents had bought us. Our imaginations led us.

I guess I can't really say my adult life isn't great. I'm reliving all those innocent days of my childhood through my son. On the 4th little man watched his first fireworks display. He sat so still in my lap taking it all in. At the conclusion, he clapped. Did he really understand why? Probably not, but I absolutely loved sharing that first with him.

No Sleep

2008-07-06T09:01:00.002-04:00

I don't know where my good sleeper has gone. Every other night for probably the past two to three weeks, little man has been up and down all night. I don't know what to do, especially since I have to go back to work this week. Thank goodness tonight is the night he should sleep...hopefully. Now that I've written about it, i have a feeling it's going to go the opposite.
We're also dealing with a lot of whining. As I type this, he is sitting on the floor beside me reaching up for me to pick him up. Don't get me wrong, I love that he wants/needs me, but can't a girl spend some time doing something else? I know...what else did I expect when I had little man? :0) Thing is 99% of the time when I pick him up, he just wants to get back down! What's up with that?
Well, I better go tend to his needs!

Happy 4th of July

2008-07-05T00:00:00.003-04:00

Graphics and Myspace Layouts at pYzam.com

It is officially 12:00, but I hope everyone had a happy 4th! Tonight we spent at my brother-in-law's house. It was alot of family and friends, eating and having a good time. At 9:30 we watched the fireworks on their front lawn from a nearby park. It was little man's first time to see fireworks (it's sad, I can't even remember what we did last year!). I have no idea why, but it made me kind of sappy and emotional. All these firsts we go through with our kids that we'll never have back. He actually really enjoyed the fireworks. He even clapped after the "big finale." You never know what type of reaction you are going to get from them!

Other than that, my brother and his family drove to the city the airport is as they are leaving to fly home at 6:15 tomorrow morning. It was nice to visit with them, and I hope they can come visit again soon. I actually think it would be great to go visit them since we haven't been out there in three years. I just don't know how little man would handle a plane ride! We'll see though.

Visiting with family has been fun. My vacation ends Sunday, and it's back to work on Monday. Sometimes I really wish I didn't have to work. Maybe someday!

A Family Visit

2008-07-01T16:33:00.002-04:00

This week I'm off from work. It's a long-needed break. Hubby is working though, but little man is home with me. My brother and his family are visiting from the west coast until Friday night. It's been almost 9 months since my brother was here, his wife was here for my dad's funeral in 2006, and my niece hasn't been here since my sister's wedding in 2004. I think this visit was very welcome to be able to see everyone. It seems in our hectic lives, that we don't get to visit with family as much as we used to. Just this past weekend, my sister moved an hour away from our hometime, so I'm hoping that we'll get to see her and her family more often! Everyone is going in different directions that we rarely have an opportunity to all meet up and spend time together. Tonight we are all going out to dinner to celebrate my brother and sister-in-laws third anniversary. It's going to be great to have all the generations together, all as a family.

Operation No Binky, day 2

2008-06-21T12:18:00.002-04:00

Well, last night went well. Little man made it through the whole night!! Yay!!! When he got up this morning, he came in the living room and found a binky on the floor. He only kept it for a couple minutes and went on playing. He's now down for his first nap without the binky. Keeping my fingers crossed that this transition turns out to be easier than I thought it would be. Hopefully I'm not jinxing myself by writing about it here! I'm off to search the house for the remaining binkies!

Bye Bye Binky!

2008-06-20T21:46:00.002-04:00

Tonight I'm trying something new. I have a feeling I might regret it but right now everything seems fine. When I put little man to bed tonight, I didn't have a pacifier with me. I said to myself "do I, or don't I?" One part of me thinks this is crazy, why do I want to take away little man's "security blanket"? The other part of me says why not? We had to take little man to the dentist a couple months ago because he fell and chipped his front tooth. On the way over there I forewarned hubby that the dentist was not going to be happy to see little man with a pacifier at 15 months...and I was right. The dentist went on to tell us that kids should be done with them by the time they are 18 months, preferably sooner. I wonder if he ever had to live through a child screaming for a binky when you tried to put them down to sleep? At this moment little man is quiet, but I know that could change at any moment. I just know that the sooner we try to wean him off the binky, the easier it will be for him (and us!!!). Besides...who wants to see a five year old walk into kindergarten with his binky still in his mouth. :0)

My blooms and a sunset

2008-06-18T21:52:00.005-04:00

Just a few pictures that I took last week. The flowers are growing in the front flower bed at my house. Being our first spring/summer here, it's been interesting to see what comes up! We still have a few months of this too. Then we have the beautiful sunset we had the other day. Hubby and I took a walk just so I could take these pictures. Then, of course, I added a picture of little man. Unfortunately, that's how most of his pictures turn out these days. Little man + the camera flash = squinty eyed pictures. Anyone know how I can stop this??

Complaining

2008-06-18T21:40:00.005-04:00

Last Friday I went to my company picnic. While we were there they gave us these bracelets:

If you click on the picture, you can hopefully see that the bracelet says "A Complaint Free World.Org" You can go here to see what it's all about. Basically they told us that people are wearing these bracelets to become more aware of how much they complain or gossip...about anything! You start off with the bracelet on one of your wrists. If throughout the day you find yourself complaining or gossiping, you switch it to the other wrist and start all over. The goal of this is to try to go 21 days without complaining or gossiping. Why 21 days you ask? Well, they say that is how long it takes the average person to break a habit. 21 days...piece of cake! Yeah...I tried...it didn't last two long. Whether you have the bracelet or not, try it. See how many days in a row you can go without complaining or gossiping...it's not as easy as it seems!

My Daddy

2008-06-13T17:55:00.005-04:00

It's been just over a year and a half since I lost my dad. With Fathers Day coming up, it just reminds me of him even more. I was going to look for cards for my hubby from me and little man, and my first thought was of what type of card I would get for my dad, only he's not here. Then I was walking through the store, and I saw many different presents I would have bought for him, only he's not here. He is never far from my thoughts. He was a great dad, the kind every kid wishes he had. Yes, he could be strict, but looking back he had reason. He could be embarrassing, but what teenager didn't feel this way at some point? He could be funny, and he made us all laugh. My dad loved to be on the go. He was our transportation for many years. When friend's parents didn't feel like driving us somewhere, we knew all we had to do is ask my dad and he would say yes. If we were a little low on money, and one of his kids wanted something, he would sacrifice so we could get it. He was a very unselfish man. He never wanted for much. He was a very simple man. Most days he would be wearing his cuffed jeans, a t-shirt and his sneakers. But when he dressed up, you never saw a more handsome man. One of my memories that I have as a little girl is the smell of my dad's cologne. It was never the expensive stuff for my dad...it was all about the Old Spice. And to this day when I smell it, I automatically think of him! Now that I have little man, I think of how much he would have loved to spend time with him. He actually joked with me over the years that if I ever had children, he would have to take them from me to take care of and I could come visit them on weekends! I alway knew he thought I would be more than capable of taking care of them, he was just excited by the prospect of grandchildren! And looking at little man, sometimes I think he looks alot like my dad...and that's good! I never knew how much I would miss him...but I miss him so much. So for everyone who has their daddy to celebrate this holiday with, go see your dad, call him, whatever, just tell him you love him and you're glad he is your dad!! I think, even though he's no longer here, my dad always knew how much he meant to me!

An Award

2008-06-12T22:15:00.004-04:00

I got my first award from Melanie at Livin' with Me. It was created by Crystal at Memoirs of a Mommy Blog to honor the donor that saved her son Noah's life:

“The rules of this award are: SHARE THE LOVE!!! Share this award with all those blogs out there that you love. All the people who make you smile. All those that make you laugh. All those that make your day. All those that leave uplifting comments on your blog. **All I ask, is that you include a link to this post with the award and ask your recipient to do the same**
As you may have recently seen on my side bar, I have finally created a custom blog award!! I have wanted to do this for a long time but never came up with something that “fit”. I didn’t want just anything. It had to be something that meant something to me. And what could mean more than Sharing the Love by giving you pieces of my heart??
So I created this award in Honor Of The Donor That Saved Noah’s Life. I share this award with those of you whose love and friendship have enriched my life and made my world a better place.
I hope by passing this award around the blogging world we can all help raise awareness of the need for Organ Donation.”

Melanie is an old friend, and I'm honored that she thought of me for this award. As a mom of a child with CHD who has had open-heart surgery, I can't imagine what it would be like for him to have to go through a heart transplant also. What a brave mom Crystal is, and a beautiful little boy Noah is. Thanks Melanie!

Hard Work

2008-05-26T22:28:00.004-04:00

I am oh so very exhausted tonight. It's late, I should be in bed...but I'm posting on my blog. Makes a ton of sense, doesn't it? Hubby and I spent all day working in the yard and doing little projects. Fun!!! A little while ago, hubby cleared the flower bed on the side of the house. It was overgrown with all sorts of trees, flowers, etc. I had no idea what I wanted to do with it. Well, we took a trip to Home Depot and I picked out a couple of shrubs and a spruce tree to plant there. What a project that turned out to be. We ended up taking another trip a little later to pick up a few more things. A friend had given me one hanging basket for the porch...so for balance, I had to buy another. I also planted flowers in the window boxes and in the flower bed with the holly bush. It was tough work, and I'm sure I'll feel it all day tomorrow at work!! There is still alot to do...what fun it is to own our own house!!! I'll update with more pictures once everything starts to grow!!!

I'm a bad blogger

2008-05-21T22:11:00.002-04:00

I don't even know when the last time was I posted? Things have been really busy around here. I try to find a little time here and there to get on, but I'm not finding a big enough span to get anything substantial on here. Maybe sometime soon....I have some new pictures to post of little man, baby girl, and so on. Spring is...springing...and we're hoping to start making some summer plans!!! Hope all is well with everyone!

A trip to the zoo

2008-04-21T21:51:00.003-04:00

This past Saturday we decided to take little man for his first trip to the zoo. We have a zoo locally, but I hadn't been in probably ten years. So like the good, researching mother I am, I went online and looked to see what they had there. It didn't seem too bad, and they it looked like they had a lot of animals to look at. Little man gets in for free until he's three, and we had a coupon for buy one, get one free admission for mommy and daddy. We only had to spend $6 for all three of us to go to the zoo...not bad. Well.....our zoo is not very exciting....and left me a little disappointed. What did we get to see? Well, 2 buffalo, 2 goat (who were quarantined), 2 reindeer, two animals I can't remember what they were, a handful of some monkey-type of animal and 2 sloths, 2 tigers, 1 leopard, an otter, 2 or 3 penguins, a wolf habitat...but didn't see one wolf, a variety of different birds, and the last animal was inside its "house" so we didn't get to see it. Now I know we're not from a huge city, but....I think we could do a little better. It only took us about an hour to get through the zoo...with the first half of that being spent walking up the hill to look at all the displays and the second half just basically walking back down the hill to the exit - no displays. It was a beautiful day though, and little man enjoyed being in his little buggy and watching everything and everybody. His favorite animal was the monkey things - they made him laugh when they jumped toward the window. I told my hubby we should plan on going to a bigger zoo next time, so maybe little man can see some of the bigger animals!

Just starting out...

Little man's favorite....kind of blurry through the glass

What's over there?

The beautiful, bald eagle

The leopard...trying to stay cool

Little man and hubby...on the way back down!!

Even though we were a little disappointed with the zoo, it was great to spend some time as a family!!! Who could ask for more than that?

To my child

2008-04-21T21:43:00.007-04:00

I saw this posted on another web site, and it just really hit home with me. As we go through our daily lives, we sometimes worry about everything that needs to get done. What we really need to do is sit back and realize our kids are only young once and to appreciate them...I really needed to read this tonight!

Just for this day.

Just for this morning, I am going to smile whenever I see your face and laugh when I feel like crying.

Just for this morning, I will let you wake up softly, all rumpled in your flannel and I will hold you until you are ready.

Just for this morning, I will let you choose what you want to wear, and smile and say you're beautiful.

Just for this morning, I am going to step over the laundry, and pick you up and take you to the park to play.

Just for this morning, I am going to eat a huge breakfast, with bacon eggs, toast and waffles, and you don't have to eat any.

Just for this morning, I will leave the dishes in the sink, and let you teach me how to put that 100 piece puzzle together.

Just for this afternoon, I will unplug the telephone and keep the computer off, and sit with you in the garden blowing bubbles.

Just for this afternoon, I will not yell once, not even a tiny grumble when you scream and whine for the ice cream truck, and I will buy you one if he comes by.

Just for this afternoon, I won't worry about what you are going to be when you grow up or who you might have been before your diagnosis.

Just for this afternoon, I will let you help me bake cookies, and I won't stand over you trying to 'fix' things.

Just for this afternoon, I will let you put all kinds of barettes in myhair, and put lipstick on my face, and I will tell you how pretty you have made me look.

Just for this afternoon I will take you to McDonalds and buy us both a Happy Meal so you can have both toys.

Just for this evening, I will hold you in my arms and tell you a story about how you were born, and how much we love you.

Just for this evening, I will let you splash in the bathtub and not get angry when you throw water over your sister's head.

Just for this evening, I will let you stay up late while we sit on the porch swing and count all the stars.

Just for this evening, I will bring you glasses of water, and snuggle beside you for three hours and miss my favorite show on t.v.

Just for this evening, When I kneel down to pray, I will simply be grateful for all that I have and not ask for anything, except just one more day.

No portion of this poem may be reproduced without permission of the author. c. 1999 Sally Meyer

Momma Meme

2008-04-21T14:23:00.004-04:00

My friend Melanie had this on her blog, so I thought it would be fun to play along.....

Momma Meme #1
Baby’s Name? Little man...hee hee hee
Male/Female? Male
Birthday? January 6th
Where was he/she born? Crouse Hospital
What time was he/she born? 8:14 am
Weight/length at birth? 7 lb. 11 oz., 19 in.
Age as you’re typing this survey: 33
Are you a paranoid mom…? Sometimes
Do you sterilize everything (like boil nipples or wash every toy)? I sterilized bottles, nipples, and pacifiers the first time I used them, but not after that.
Do you buy “sensitive skin” wipes because they’re “better” for baby’s skin? Actually, I buy them because I don't like really strong smells, and these are basically unscented
Do you worry that your baby will stop breathing in his/her sleep? I used to check him all the time when he was a newborn, not as much anymore
Do you freak out if they happen to doze off during tummy time? (SIDS!!) Little man was too busy screaming during tummy time to fall asleep.
Do you wash your baby’s clothing in Dreft or other baby detergent? I did for probably the first 6 months, then changed to a free & clear detergent and use it on all of our clothes
Do you refuse to dress baby in anything with buttons (choking hazard)? I've never thought about that...but not a lot of baby/kid clothes come with buttons
Do you watch (and critique) when someone else changes baby’s diaper? No, but when I change him after someone else has I kind of chuckle at how it is put on
Did you buy all of their furniture (crib, changing table, stroller) NEW? Yes, but we hadn't planned on it. Lost our crib in a flood. We ended up getting as gifts our crib, changing table, and stroller
Do you have to wash a pacifier that fell on the floor before giving to baby?In the beginning I did, now I can just wipe it off and it's fine
Do you worry about anyone else holding your baby? Sometimes certain people
When you leave baby with a sitter, is all you do worry about baby? I trust anyone who has watched him 100%...no need to worry
Do you jump out of bed the second baby starts fussing during the night? No, I wait a couple minutes to see if he can settle himself. If not, then I go see what's the matter.
Do you worry about making baby bleed when clipping his/her fingernails?Yes, the first time I tried to do it, I made his finger bleed....so now that's Dad's job!!!
Do you call your pediatrician at least once a week? No, since little man spent the first 3 weeks of his life in the hospital dealing with doctors, nurses, etc., I only call(ed) when I absolutely had to!
Do you cancel playdates because your baby has a runny nose and coughed once? How sad, we've never had a play date...but I have sent him to the babysitter with a runny nose.
Do you refuse to go shopping without a shopping cart cover?I have put him in the cart a couple times without the cover....but the majority of time I insist we use it!!!
If you have a cat, do you worry about toxoplasmosis? I don't worry....I have three cats.
Is your baby allowed anywhere near your pets?Yes, little man loves the cats....and will pretty much do anything to lay on top of them!!
Do you only feed your baby organic baby foods out of fear of preservatives?Um...yeah....sure.
Do you think you are or ever have been a paranoid new mom? Upon occasion
If you want to play along, feel free- just let me know so I can check out your answers.

Time for an update

2008-04-12T13:23:00.008-04:00

It has been too long since I last updated...almost 2 weeks? We took a trip to meet baby girl last weekend. The car ride wasn't too bad. It's only 3 hours from our house to my sisters, but this is the first time we have travelled with little man since we went to visit her last May. Little man was only 4 months old then, so he slept most of the time. I wasn't sure how it was going to be this time around, so I packed many snacks, drinks, toys, and books to make sure little man was entertained. Little man did not sleep, one bit!!! He made it through the first 2 hours and 15 minutes...the next 45 minutes were not very pretty. He just wanted out of his car seat so bad. We didn't stop to let him get out, since we feared he would not get back in. We made it to my sister's in one piece and finally got to meet baby girl.

We even got our first picture of the two cousins together.

She is a tiny, little thing. Looking at baby girl, it's hard to believe little man was once that little. There may have been a slight twinge of wanting another one, but....not yet!!! I have to do a little more convincing with hubby!!!

We took a walk to the playground while we were there, and little man got to ride on the swings and go down the slide for the first time this year.

On Sunday, we left early since we didn't know what to expect from little man on our return trip. Within a few minutes he went from this...

to this.....

The ride home wasn't as hard. Little man slept for a little over an hour, and only started to have his meltdown about 15 minutes from home. He was so glad when we pulled in front of our house and got out of that car seat. I know how hard it is for me, as an adult, to sit for that long. I can't imagine what it must be like for little man. So we had a good trip, but I don't know when we are going to be travelling with him again....maybe when he's 10!!!!

Let's see what else I can get into

2008-03-28T13:14:00.012-04:00

Oh...my little man. He's growing up so fast. It seems like just yesterday that he would quietly lay on the floor and entertain himself with his toys.

Or he would sit in his swing until it put him to sleep.

Oh...those were the days. The days when I could get at least a few things done before daddy came home from work.

Now...not so much. Little man is all over the place. Just a few minutes ago, this is where I found him.

And usually, my house looks a little (ok, a lot) like this...

If I didn't know there was a toddler living here...I would probably call the police and report that someone broke in.

On days like this, little man sometimes ends up in jail...

I hope this doesn't give him a complex later in life!!!
Ahhhhhh....motherhood.....who could ask for anything more?

My bad mood

2008-03-26T16:26:00.004-04:00

How do you deal with anger? I'm not usually an angry person, but this week that emotion has brewing right under the surface quite a bit. I don't know what to do about it. There are some people I usually talk to about my problems, but I feel like they are getting tired about hearing the same old, same old from me. Almost a feeling from them like "if you aren't going to do anything about it, then stop talking about it." The problem is that I'm not a confrontational person. Especially when it comes to people I am close to. How do I tell them what they are doing is really bothering me without totally hurting their feelings? To me it's sometimes better to just let it go because you know anything you say is just going make them angry. But how is that helpful to me? Why do I have to keep my emotions in check? Why can't I tell them what's on my mind? This week I start to feel these emotions coming to the surface to only have to push them back down again. I get really quiet, and so people get offended by that. How do I tell them the real reason? "Sorry, I can't talk right now because I just might start yelling at you and never stop!" UGH. I need to stop keeping this bottled up inside. The really sad thing is that as I'm typing this, I could just burst into tears and have a good cry. I won't let myself though. I think I'm just going to go home and sit and play with little man for a while and realize what a blessing he is to me....sometimes the one bright spot in my day.

Easter

2008-03-24T21:32:00.008-04:00

My post earlier covered the birth of baby girl, so I didn't get to talk about Easter. With little man being so young, we didn't do too much for him. My hubby and I went to Target on Saturday, and we were really amazed to see what other people had in their carts....Guitar Hero, big toys, video games. When did Easter become as big as Christmas for presents? When I was I kid, I remember getting a basket fiilled with candy. And if were really lucky, we might get a cassette tape. I never had expectations of anything more than that. I think we may have spent $10 to get Easter Bunny things for little man...he has so many toys already!!!

The last picture is of little man trying to get open the box Mr. Potato Head came in....not to play with the toy....he just loves boxes. Typical kid!!!!

Dinner was supposed to be easy, but it didn't turn out that way. We were going to do scalloped potatoes and ham in the crock pot, but I couldn't find a recipe I liked. I ended up making a white sauce....the whole nine yards. Hubby really helped out a ton while I was putting together dinner. He always says he wants to learn how to cook, so I took him up on it!!!

This is before cooking

Just out of the oven....

I know, they don't look much different...but it tasted good.

The complete dinner. We went the easy route this year. I can remember growing up and spending hours in the kitchen cooking with my mom and sister for many holidays. I'm all about easy and simple now...well, kind of!!!

Finally here's little man enjoying his Easter dinner....mainly the rolls!!!

Hope everyone had a happy holiday!

Happy Birthday

2008-03-24T13:26:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was an interesting day. Besides being Easter, my sister called me and wanted to know what it felt like when started getting contractions. Seeing as I was induced, I couldn't really tell her what she was feeling wasn't the start of labor. I did tell her that it could be the start, but they should wait before rushing to the hospital as they may just get sent home. The contractions went on all day at varying times. I finally got the call (from my sister) around midnight that they were leaving to go to the hospital as the contractions were 4 minutes apart. Needless to say, I didn't sleep very well last night waiting for the call. We finally got the much awaited call around 8:50 this morning that baby girl entered the world at 8:12 am weighing 7lb 10oz. Mommy and Daddly are doing ok....very tired from the long, hard night. Here is the first picture. It's from a camera phone, so I apologize for the fuzziness!! Welcome to the world baby girl....and congrats Mommy and Daddy...the best is yet to come!!!

Happy Easter

2008-03-23T09:52:00.006-04:00

Here's the picture from the Easter Bunny yesterday, and last year too!

What a difference from last year!!! His reaction to the Easter Bunny was a lot better than Santa....thank goodness!!!

Hope everyone has a Happy Easter!

glitter-graphics.com

I thought it was spring?

2008-03-22T23:56:00.002-04:00

I'm sitting at my computer, not tired. Maybe it is because I am so cold. Outside the temperature is 23...but on weather.com it says it feels like 15. Yippee. Spring officially started on Thursday. I'm longing for warmer spring days, when you can go outside without your bulky, winter coat on. I want sunshine, flowers, and birds chirping. But where I live, you don't always get those things. It seems like winter has been 100 years long this year. Maybe it it because we are in a new house, and I want to start doing things outside. Maybe it's because little man is old enough to go out and play. I don't know?!?! I lived in Virginia for a year, and the weather always seemed to be beautiful. We went to Virginia Beach around Christmas....in shorts!!! So when my hubby says he wishes all days could be sunny and warm, I always tell him we could move south. Who knows if it would ever happen, but it is always nice to dream!!!

Busy Saturday

2008-03-22T08:29:00.002-04:00

It's only 8:30, but my boys are still sleeping. My hubby will be getting up in a few minutes, as he has to take the car to get inspected. Always such fun. Little man is still sleeping. After the craziness of yesterday, who could blame him? I've already been in to check on him. He's sleeping on his belly with his little tush up in the air. How I absolutely love seeing him sleep like that! Altough I don't really understand how that can be a comfortable position!! After my hubby gets home, we have some running around to do. I really want to take little man to see the Easter Bunny. We already had his picture taken with real bunnies, but I want to do this too. I'm also interested to see how he reacts. Last year with the Easter Bunny, he was fine....but he was only 3 months old. Sants Claus.....now that's another story. He cried and cried. He did stop long enough (like two seconds) for them to get an ok picture. If we get a decent picture, I'll have to post it here! Other than that, there is a ton of laundry to do, some grocery shopping to be done, and maybe a little Easter Bunny shopping along the way too!!! I know...such a procrastinator!!! Well, my hubby's alarm just went off...I best go make sure he gets up and out of here on time.

Scary Morning

2008-03-21T13:47:00.002-04:00

Well, as I was typing my post earlier, little man was still asleep. I didn't think that was unusual because he was up until after 10:00 last night. I had checked on him earlier, and he was sleeping away in his crib. I covered him back up, and slowly walked out of his room. Around 10:00 I finally heard him cry. I went in and he was standing in his crib with his arms up. He still seemed a little sleepy, so I brought him out in the living room with me and we cuddled on the couch. He will usually only do this for a couple minutes because he is CONSTANTLY on the go. Well, he just laid there...not trying to get up, not trying to play with the cat when she jumped up, nothing. I finally decided to try to put him down to see if he wanted to play. Nothing. He actually started to cry and wanted to come back and lay down. I changed his diaper and he just laid there. Being the first-timemother that I am, I started to get a little worried. Since he hadn't eaten yet, I put him in his high chair and went to make him breakfast. He started to cry. His hands seemed like they were shaking and seemed a little blue. Being a heart baby, it made me more than a little nervous. I called my hubby and asked him to come home. I called my mother (who lives downstairs) and asked her to come up. He just wasn't acting like himself. On top of the shakiness and blue-looking hands, he seemed very lethargic. I decided to call the pediatrician and see what they suggested....bring him in there or go to the ER. The last appointment of the morning was at 11:20 - it was 11:10. She wanted to know if I could make it in for that or we could come in at 1:20. There was no way I could wait that long....so I rushed and got dressed and we were out the door. Luckily the office is just up the street from us. We got there and got in pretty quickly. When the nurse practitioner saw him....you wouldn't know it was the same boy we had at home. He was smiling, laughing, playing, everything!!!! Why does that always happen? It makes me feel like an overreacting, first-time mother!!! She was very nice though and looked over little man very thoroughly. She said his heart sounded fine, his lungs were clear and his coloring was fine. She actually said she was glad we were cautious and came in. It definitely made us feel 100% better!!! It was one of the scariest moment I have had since I became a mother!!! He is usually so full of energy...even when he's sick!!!! As I type this, he is happily playing in the living room....it's music to my ears!!!

It's hard to be a single parent

2008-03-21T08:22:00.003-04:00

This was a hard week. My hubby has been looking for a new job for a few months now. He currently has a job, but he would like to find something where he has an opportunity to move up (and a little extra money always helps!). Where he is now, there is not really much room for that. Unfortunately we have put a ton of resumes out there....and no one has called. So we sat down a couple weeks ago to decide what we should do. It's not an option for me to look for something new because we have our health insurance through me....and there are some benefits that I don't think I would get anywhere else. After much consideration we decided that one of us would get a part-time job. Since I don't drive (long post for another day), my hubby said he would do it. He started the part-time job this week. Well....it has definitely been a hard week. When you are so used to having someone help you with taking care of your child, it is definitely an adjustment when you start doing it on your own. Our after work, making dinner, feeding the child, playing with the child, bathing the child, dressing the child, feeding the child a bedtime bottle, and finally rocking and putting the child to sleep routine has been hard!!!! I have never been so busy the whole time since little man was born. Having two hands to take care of all of this stuff is so wonderful. Single parents are awesome!!!! How they do everything in their day is baffling to me. Do they even have a minute to do something for themselves? If so, I don't know how they do it. My three-hour routine has left me exhausted!!! As soon as I put little man down to sleep, I sit on the couch to wind down myself! I would look over at the computer and attempt to come over to put up a new post, but I was stuck!!! I didn't want to move!!! My hubby is a great husband....this week has really shown me how much he does and how much I appreciate everything he does for me and little man. So...thank you hubby for allllll you do for us!!! I don't know what we would do without you here!!!

On a side note....my hubby got called for an interview for one of the jobs he applied for. He goes for his interview on Tuesday....keep your fingers crossed that he gets this job!!! He said, after he got off the phone to schedule it,"It figures. The week I go get a part-time job, is the week that someone calls me for an interview for a full-time job!!" Isn't that always the way???

New Pictures

2008-03-13T22:21:00.006-04:00

(Suck a simple pose, background, etc....I fell in love with it!!!)

Along with my little seeing the cardiologist yesterday, we also had his Easter pictures taken. In the past we have gone to Walmart, but we decided to try another studio. My hubby's work had given us a booklet of coupons before little man was born, so we figured is was about time we used them!!!! Nothing like waiting a whole year and a half!!! : ) We even went out last minute and bought him a new outfit. I figured it would get dual purpose....new outfit for pictures and he can also wear it for Easter. Hubby kind of bought my reasoning. It was originally $29.99, but with 50% off and an extra 10% from a coupon, we only paid $13.49. A heck of a deal for a 3-piece outfit!!! Anyway....I got off topic. The place we got little man's picture taken is the same place we had our engagement pictures taken....plus my family has used them quite a bit over the years. They give you a ton of poses and a variety of packages to choose from. I always have such a hard time deciding what pictures I want to order......how could I possibly live with pictures using just one pose when he took sooooooo many cute pictures? Little man did really well. They even included a real, live bunny in some of the picturss. He did really well with that....but he has had a lot of practice with his three kitties at home!!! Sitting at the computer and sorting through all the pictures was soooo hard. I don't even know how many pictures they took, but I loved them all. I was good though. I made a list of the pictures I really liked. then went through each pose to find which one I liked best, and then chose from there. We actually got three poses....and a free CD with all the pictures they took. It's a low-resolution CD, so when you pull up the pictures one by one they are really kind of fuzzy. BUT....today when I put in the CD, I figured out they had done a slide show with all the pictures, full size, great resolution, set to music. Now I can't print these pictures or anything, but it's a great memory to be able to pull up and look at. As I watched the slide show a couple times today, I realized there are a couple poses that I really want to go back and order. The nice thing is that they keep them on file for a year...so any time I think I want to order something, I can. We'll see though.....I need to consider how much we paid for these and go from there. Well, I think I've babbled enough. I'll close with some of little's man poses. Enjoy and leave some comments if you'd like!

It's always a scary day.

2008-03-12T22:14:00.007-04:00

(Little Man - the day he was born, in the NICU)

Today my little man had to go to the cardiologist. As I wrote in my very first post, little man was born with a congenital heart defect. Unlike some parents, we actually found out about it when I was 36 weeks along in my pregnancy. It was very beneficial because the doctors could prepare for the care little man would need once he was born. He spent the first 5 days of his life in the NICU in the hospital where he was born and the next 16 days in various areas in the hospital where he had his open heart surgery. It was such a scary time for me and my hubby. While I was optimistic, I often wondered what our life would be like in the future with little man. Flash forward 14 months to basically his one year, post-op cardiology appointment. One of the first questions the cardiologist always ask is "If you didn't know little man had open-heart surgery, would you know there was anything wrong with him?" We always answer no to that question, and today was no different. Little man is your average 14-month old little boy. He plays, he crawls, he chatters quite a bit, he eats...and eats....and eats. You would never know there was anything wrong with him. Even so, I worry whenever I have to go to an appointment. It always starts out with the doctor examining him, checking his heart to see how it sounds, and checking the pulses in his legs. That's a funny thing about little man. O.K., maybe not funny, but definitely interesting. When they fixed his heart, they had to use the arteries in his arms to fix it. Now the interesting thing about that is he no longer has very good pulses and they wouldn't be able to obtain a good blood pressure using his arms. Whenever we go see someone new, we have to tell them to obtain proper readings by using his legs. This will be a vital piece of information we need to tell little man when he is old enough. Therefore when someone new goes to check these things, he will be able to tell them how to do it properly. O.K., I've kind of ventured off the topic. Anyway....everything with the doctor's initial exam was excellent. Another thing he checks in the appointment is to give little man an EKG to see if there have been any changes since the last one....and again, he is doing excellent. The nurse was a little worried as little man is getting a little older, and he has a tendency to move around....ALOT. He actually was very good and sat in my lap, very still, until the EKG was done. It is actually a very quick test....so we lucked out!! The last thing that needs to be done is the echocardiogram. Now if anyone has ever had one of these, they take a little bit of time. Now making a 14 month old lay down for any extended amount of time (other than bed time) is very difficult. Little man only took a short morning nap, so we were hopeful he would be extra tired and fall asleep during the test. No such luck. He did good for probably the first 15 minutes. We would distract him with different things....a Blue's Clues video, the overhead mobile, and especially daddy's cell phone, which he loves. After 15 minutes he wanted none of it. The nurse decided to give him a break and wait for the doctor to come in and finish the test. It gave us about 10 minutes between my hubby and me to get little man to sleep. When he finally fell asleep, we were able to set him down on the exam table. Just then the doctor came in and finished up. After all the tests, the doctor was very pleased with what he saw. The main concern with little man is if one of his valves becomes blocked. Fortunately right now it looks just as it did when he had it repaired. The doctor always qualifies it with "that could change in a year, ten years, when he's in high school, or it may never change." So I am remaining optimistic at this point that little man is a healthy little boy....and I'm still going to continue to enjoy every waking minute with him!!! He has been my little miracle baby since the first day I found out I was pregnant....and he lives up to that every day. Well, this post has gotten much longer than I intended, but I guess I just needed someplace to talk about all of this.

I need to get this going....

2008-03-11T16:23:00.004-04:00

Well, I really need to get this bloggy thing going. I started it last summer with good intentions of doing it fairly often, but it didn't work out so well. I've written here and there, but I've never really gotten into the groove of things. This is very reminiscent of my journal writing skills when I was younger. I would write in it for a week, then I would forget about it for a month or two. I would find the lost journal when I was finally cleaning my room and would always start off those journal entries the same. "Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since I've written in here. I really have to try to keep this thing more up to date." Then the cycle would start all over again. I really want to use this (as do a lot of parents) to keep family and friends up to date on my little man as he grows and changes. He's now 14 months old, so I have a lot of catching up to do!!!

1 year+

2008-01-19T22:36:00.000-05:00

Matthew is officially one-year-old. Well, to be technical, he is one year and thirteen days old....but who's counting? Here's a picture from his birthday party:

What a cute little birthday boy he made, but I may be a little biased!!! A fun time was had by everyone who attended his party. Next year I think we'll make it a little easier on Mom and Dad....Chuck E. Cheese, here we come!!!

so much to do and so little time to do it

2007-12-19T17:01:00.000-05:00

Fa la la la la, bah humbug, and all that good stuff. Christmas is six days away and I have toooooo much to do. I have almost all of our presents bought. I think the only person left on our list is my mother-in-law. We know what we want to buy her, it's just a matter of getting to the store to do it. Oh....and I should probably finish shopping for my hubby. Next...I have to wrap all the presents. If it was just a couple, it wouldn't be bad...but there's alot. I think I may put my hubby in charge of this. What else? I have to box up some presents to send to my sister-in-law and her family in NH. I have to finish baking my cookies. And in between all this I have to clean my house. UGH!! Then I have to get ready for my little man's first birthday on January 6. We're just going to have a little get together, but I'll probably go overboard like I usually do!! Oh well....they only have this first birthday once!? So if I make it through Christmas and my little man's first birthday without going crazy, it will be a miracle!! Well, it's almost time to leave work for the day, so I better try to get something done. TTFN!

Matthew the Model

2007-11-29T21:58:00.001-05:00

Well, I'm a very bad blogger. I have not posted on here since July 2, but since nobody knows about my blog yet, I think I'm ok!!! Anyway, my little man is almost 11 months old. Where has this year gone? We finally took him to get his pictures taken (for the first time~I'm a terrible parent!!) in October. The results were great. You're never sure how kids are going to react...but my little man couldn't have been better! The first two pictures were taken this time.As you can see from the pictures, he was all smiles the whole time!!! These two have been voted the favorites...what do you think?

We then took him to have his pictures taken AGAIN this month, only this time was for Christmas. Yes, once I start doing something I can be a little, ok a lot, excessive!! As not to spoil the wonderful pictures I'm going to be sending to family and friends, I'm only posting one from that session...the bottom one.. The second time went well, but by the end my little man had had enough and was ready to roll off the "stage" and crawl to his stroller!

My little man's 1st birthday is coming up in a little over a month, and I'm already planning what we can do for those pictures. We won't be going to the same place we had these two sets taken. My hubby's work gave us gift certificates to go to another studio, so we'll see how those turn out when we have them done.

Well, it's getting late, so I'm going to leave for now. I'm going to try to make it to this blog a little more frequently than once every five months. Until...tomor....next time.

Time to Move

2007-07-02T08:54:00.000-04:00

Life is never dull in our household!!! I know everyone has their own trials to go through, but I really feel like we have gotten our fair share in the past year. On Friday our landlord came over and gave us a notice that we have to be out of our apartment by July 31. UGH!!! He sold one of his other properties and needs to move the tenants he had in there into two in my building. So our little family has to find a new place to live. We have been looking to buy our own place, but we have only been at it for a few weeks now. So what is the likelihood that we will find a place to live in the next 29 days, have a closing, pack our apartment up, and move to the new place??? Slim....very slim!!! So it looks like we are going to be putting our stuff in storage...somewhere...and living with family until we can find something suitable. Off to house hunt.....keeping my fingers crossed that we can look at a couple places we found online!!!

My First Post

2007-06-28T08:28:00.000-04:00

I've been reading a few blogs for a while now, so I thought...."why don't I start one?" So here we are. I guess I can start by giving a little information about myself and "my new little family." I have been married to my wonderful husband, Sean, for 3 years....since May 15, 2004. We have been together since November 2000. We just had our first child, Matthew Edward, in January. What was a normal pregnancy for 36 weeks turned into quite an adventure. At that time they found out that Matthew had an Interupted Aortic Arch and a Ventricular Septal Defect. When he was six-days old, he underwent open-heart surgery to repair these problems. He came through the surgery with flying colors, and he has been doing wonderful ever since. Every day I wake up in the morning and realize how blessed I am to have him. He is developing quite a personality....he's my little man!!! He has added so much to my life in his short time in this world!!! I can't wait to see what is to come!!!