not a blogger anymore...

The Power of THREE!

2009-06-24T07:44:00.004-04:00

Today my baby girl turns 3! Last night she sent 2 out with a bang - a major melt down throw yourself to the ground tantrum. Good times.
It seems so unreal to me that she is already 3. If the last 3 years went so quickly how fast are the next 3 going to go? Am I just going to wake up one day to find her graduating from Smith College (you know, ALL girls) at the top of her class?!?! So crazy.
Recently we have talked to Rachel a bit about how she came to us so early and how she lived in the hospital for 2 weeks. Her version of the story includes how much she liked it there :) I am sure she did, but we didn't!!! Ryan remembers it - he tells her she was too sick for him to see her (not true - he was too young to see her, but they did hold her up the glass window 2 days before she came home for him to see) and how the nurses gave him graham crackers and toys (they did).
What does the next year hold for this little girl? We are taking quite a leap of faith and sending her to the FULL. DAY. PRESCHOOL!!!! She'll ride a bus, wear a uniform, and spend all day submerged in all kinds of Montessori goodness. I am nervous for her. She is shy, painfully shy. She also gets overwhelmed and over stimulated very easily. I have lost a ton of sleep over this issue but I think, in the long run, she'll be fine. She also starts gymnastics this summer and Sunday school at church. She wears mermaid "unnerwears" and mostly keeps them clean :)
She is 3. In full force!

Rachel at a week and at 3!

behind again!

2009-06-02T09:24:00.001-04:00

I have a few recipes in the wings but I made nothing new last week. I honestly don't even remember what I made last week except for the package gnocchi from Wegmans that was a HUGE hit! Ryan took the leftovers to school the next day
Coming up:
truffles - yum!
grilled ribs (for Father's day)

I think that is all actually!

Host.ess Cupcakes

2009-05-20T08:12:00.003-04:00

A few months back I got a cupcake decorating kit from Wil.ton. It came with a Bismark tip for filling cupcakes and I immediately thought of Host.ess cupcakes! YUMMMM
It turns out there are a ton of receipes on-line for these. I used this one from Food and Wine:chocolate cupcakes with cream filling
What I did differently: I used a box cake mix since I was low on time and I keep a couple on hand (Duncan Hines Devil's Food Cake mix is milk-free!)
What I learned:
Do NOT fill the cupcakes until they are cooled. I had to fill them twice since the warm cupcakes liquified the filling the first time!
In order to make the squiggles on the top you need to refridgerate the filling for about 1/2 hour before piping with it.
Remember - I mess up do you don't have to!

Salsa pork chops

2009-05-20T08:04:00.003-04:00

I'll start right out with the rating: 10++++
These were DELICIOUS! WOW!
Ingredients
boneless pork chops
1 Tblsp chili powder
1 tsp Cumin
1 tbls brown sugar
1/2 tbls onion powder
1/2 tbls garlic powder
2-3 tbls olive oil
Mix the dry ingredients together and put in a large ziploc bag. Add oil and pork chops and shake up to coat the chops. Refridgerate for 30 minutes.
We then grilled them and served them with New.man's Own Peach Salsa on top. HUGE HIT!
I also made:
Spanish Rice

1 1/2 cups rice
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup plain tomato sauce*
3 cloves finely chopped garlic *
1/4 of a medium onion*
2 tablespoons oil
4 heaping tablespoons of finely chopped parsley (optional)
Preparation:In a medium sauce pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add in the fresh garlic and onion. Saute for 1-2 minutes until softened. Add in dry rice. Stir for about 5 minutes until rice becomes a golden brown color.
Add in broth and tomato sauce (Slowly into rice, not directly onto hot pan!) Add in the parsley if you're using it. Stir it up and bring to a boil. Once it starts boiling, turn the heat to low and cover. Let it simmer for 20 minutes and fluff with a fork.
*I used crushed tomatoes instead of tomato sauce.
Rating: another 10! I wanted Spanish Rice to go with this meal and the ones I saw in the store all had added dairy in them so I made it myself and it was really no harder than using a mix (except the dicing onions)

Not really a new recipe but...

2009-04-30T08:17:00.002-04:00

Calzones
We've had these before but last night I decided to let the kids help out.
We used:
premade pizza dough from Wegmans (I know most pizzarias sell their dough as well, or my friend Ellen makes a yummy one in her bread machine!)
Sauce
can of diced tomatoes
pepperoni
shredded mozzarella
parmesean cheese
mushrooms
artichoke hearts (because I had them and I love them)

I cut the ball of dough into 5 pieces, rolled each one out and then each person took turns filling it with their toppings. The kids LOVED doing this! Even Rachel who usually is only interested in helping by licking the spoon when I am baking something!
After folding each one up, I brushed some olive oil on them and sprinkled some Parmesan cheese and Italian Seasoning on the top. Each kid got a different colored toothpick so we could keep track. Oh and cut a vent in the top of the dough or else you'll have messy, leaky calzones. 20-25 minutes at 375
And as usual, Joey's was without any cheese (the dough was free of dairy as well).
Rating: 10, fun to make, quick, and easy to eat.
Still looking for grilling recipes. I am thinking of grilling shrimp kabobs this weekend. Maybe marinade them in Greek dressing. OOOH, I wonder if I can find that yummy orzo salad recipe from Rachael Ray....

Back to our regular scheduled programming...

2009-04-23T07:55:00.002-04:00

RECIPES!
So it turns out that once a week just wasn't working for me. For one, Rob's schedule is crazy and there are weeks that he isn't home for dinner at all. I don't want to try new things on just the kids (although they are the best critics sometimes!). But I have been making an effort to make one or 2 new things on the weeks Rob is around. So far there have been 17 weeks in the year right? I have made 11 new things. Hmmmm, I am 6 recipes behind - oops! I'd better catch up!
Any recipes? Send them my way!
For this week we had:
Grilled Salmon with Cucumber Dill Sauce

1 cup cubed seeded peeled cucumber
1 1/2 cups fat-free sour cream
2 tablespoons chopped green onions
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon prepared horseradish
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1 (3-pound) salmon fillet (about 3/4 inch thick)
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Cooking spray
Dill sprigs (optional)
Preparation
1. Combine first 6 ingredients in a medium bowl. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt; stir well. Cover and chill 30 minutes.
2. Prepare grill.
3. Sprinkle fish with remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper. Place fish, skin side up, on grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 3 minutes. Rotate fish one quarter-turn (45 degrees) for diamond-shaped crosshatches. Grill 3 minutes. Turn fish over; grill 4 minutes or until desired degree of doneness. Serve with sauce and dill sprigs, if desired.

Rating: 10! DELICIOUS! Ryan ate his salmon without the sauce and used ketchup (GAG!), Rachel tasted the sauce, declared it yucky and ate nothing - have I mentioned that she is almost 3? Yeah, fun! Joey couldn't eat the sauce but devoured the salmon. I used the sauce as a salad dressing later in the week.
When I make it again I may substitute the horseradish for garlic. I love horseradish but I LOVE LOVE garlic!
We also had Grilled Pork Sandwiches

Ingredients
1/4 cup hot jalapeño jelly
1 teaspoon water
1 tablespoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 (1-pound) pork tenderloins, trimmed
Cooking spray
1/4 cup light ranch dressing
1/4 cup sweet hickory smoke tomato-based barbecue sauce (such as Bull's-Eye) *I totally used Dinosaur sauce!!!*
8 (1 1/2-ounce) hamburger buns or Kaiser rolls
Preparation
Prepare grill to medium-high heat.
Combine jelly and water; set aside.
Combine paprika and next 6 ingredients (through pepper); rub evenly over pork. Place pork on grill rack coated with cooking spray; cover and grill 15 minutes, turning pork occasionally. Brush pork with jelly mixture. Grill an additional 5 minutes or until thermometer registers 155° (slightly pink).
Place pork on a cutting surface. Lightly cover with foil; let stand 10 minutes. Thinly slice pork. Combine ranch dressing and barbecue sauce. Serve pork and ranch mixture with buns.
Rating: 10+ OH MY GOD! These were FANTASTIC!!! Everyone loved them! Joey had his with plain BBQ sauce and was cool with it.
I got both these recipes from Linda over at Indigo Girl, who I believe got them from Cooking Light. I may just have to start getting Cooking Light because these have been fantastic!!!

Week #8 - Creamy potato soup

2009-03-06T08:58:00.002-05:00

There is a week 7 - Chicken Florentine but I really need to look the recipe up again and post it. At any rate it was a hit all around!
Week #8 - Creamy Potato Soup
I am not certain where I got this recipe from - a blog but I don't know whose since I copied the recipe and not the source. If this is your soup PLEASE claim the bragging rights in the comments!
3 1/2 cups peeled, cubed, raw potato (about 4 med potatoes)
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup frozen niblet corn
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup grated carrot
2 Tblsp (low sodium) chicken oxo powder (or a boullion cube or two)
1 tsp dried parsley flakes
3 cups water
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups (skim) milk
1 cup diced ham
1/4 cup margarine or butter
1/4 cup flour
In a large saucepan combine potato, onion, corn, carrot, oxo powder, parsely flakes, water, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and cook until veggies are tender. Meanwhile in a small saucepan melt butter on med/low heat and add flour, cook for one minute and then whisk in milk until smooth. Use a potato masher to lightly mash the potatoes and veggies in the saucepan, then stir the milk and flour mixture into the soup. Serve immediately.
What I did differently:
a lot actually!

For starters I was out of onion but I would definitely use it the next time I make this.
I used a chicken boullion cube (reduced sodium) and added 5 cups of water (which is what it took to cover the veggies in the pot and then some.
I used 5 potatoes and chopped carrots. I forgot the celery but that was just an oversight

Since I wanted Joey to be able to enjoy this I didn't use any milk in it. Instead (and I will give credit where it is due - my friend Karen suggested this) I pureed some of the cooked potatoes and added just enough chicken broth the make them a milk like consistency and used this in place of the milk. When I served it I stirred a little milk into each bowl (except Joey's of course!). Now I will point out that this has butter (well I used Coun.try Cro.ck) so it isn't totally milk free but as of right now Joey seems okay with that. To make it totally dairy-free you would have to use a butter substitute.

Review:

8 - I LOVED it! Joey LOVED it (ate 2 bowls), Rachel ate a piece of carrot. Ryan ate a piece of ham. Rob hasn't had it yet! So I guess the verdict is still out.

Next time I want to serve it in bread bowls with shredded cheddar on top!

Week #6 - Taco Soup

2009-02-24T10:46:00.002-05:00

Another one from my favorite message board - thanks, Val!!!

2 lbs. ground beef or turkey 1/2 lg. onion, chopped 2 15 oz. cans black beans, pinto beans, or 1 of each 3 packs taco seasoning 1 pack ranch mix (not low fat) 1 4 oz. can green chiles 2 8 oz. cans tomato sauce 8 C. water 2 C. frozen corn Chili Cheese Fritos Shredded Cheese Sour Cream Brown meat and onion and drain grease. Add beans, and mix in seasonings. Add all remaining ingredients and simmer - the longer the better. It is also excellent to make in a crock pot. To serve put a small handful of Fritos in a bowl, and spoon soup over them. Put a dollop of sour cream on top, and then sprinkle some cheese over that.

What I did different:
I used black beans only, 1 pack of seasoning and the ranch mix, and I threw in a can of diced tomatoes. I would have used fresh if such a thing existed around here this time of year! I also used tortilla chips instead of fritos because I had them on hand.
Rating:
10. Everyone loved it except our friend's 4 year old who was joining us for dinner (but then gain last night he wouldn't touch my meatloaf - I think we are going to have to stop inviting him for dinner)

Week #5 - 2 recipes!!!

2009-02-05T11:25:00.006-05:00

Alright, this buys me a cheat week along the way :)
First:
Chicken and linguine in a creamy red sauce
(from the brand name cookbook I love so!)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch strips
1 jar (1 pound 10 ounces) smooth tomato sauce
2 cups water
8 ounces uncooked linguine or spaghetti
1/2 cup whipping or heavy cream
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil leaves or 1/2 teaspoon dried basil leaves, crushed

1. In 12-inch skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat and brown chicken. Remove chicken and set aside.
2. In same skillet, stir in Pasta Sauce and water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Stir in uncooked linguine and return to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer covered, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes or until linguine is tender.
3. Stir in cream and basil. Return chicken to skillet and cook 5 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked.

What I did differently:
I added a clove of crushed garlic to the oil before sauteing the chicken and put the chicken back in before the cream so that I could take some out for Joey (our milk-free wonder). I also added a few generous sprinkles of Parmesan cheese!
Rating: 9 It was so weird to cook the linguine in the sauce but I think the starch helped thicken it up. I think you could use light cream or less cream (I used just less than 1/2 a cup). Enjoyed by everyone and easy to cut out the cream for dairy-free people!

Pork chops and white beans
I got this one off my favorite message board's Dinner Rut thread! Thanks Julie!
(http://www.pbs.org/everydayfood/recipes/pork_chops.html)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
1 red bell pepper, ribs and seeds removed, chopped
¼ teaspoon dried rosemary crumbled
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 can (14.5 ounces) reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 can (15.5 ounces) cannelloni beans, drained and rinsed
4 well-trimmed bone-in pork rib chops (about 2 pounds; each 1 inch thick)

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add onion, bell pepper, and rosemary; season generously with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until onion is golden brown, 6 to 8 minutes.
In a small bowl, whisk together broth and tomato paste. Pour mixture into skillet; stir in beans. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until beans are coated evenly and sauce is thickened, 10 to 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, generously season both sides of pork chops with salt and pepper. Heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook pork (in two batches, if necessary) until just cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Serve on top of bean mixture.
What I did differently: Not much actually! I added diced carrots to the peppers and onions because I had them! Oh, and I used boneless pork chops
rating: 7 Everyone ate the pork but the kids weren't big fans of the bean mixture. I take that back - Ryan ate his 4 NTYB (No Thank You Bites) of beans and Rachel munched on a piece of carrot before spitting it in my hand! Joey, again, ate it all. Rob and I decided that the beans would be a tasy side dish to grilled pork so we will probably do it that way next time. We had a packaged rice side dish with it

Joey's check up

2009-01-30T09:49:00.005-05:00

Joey went to the doctor for a well baby visit and left with 3 prescriptions and a referral for blood work! Poor baby!

The stats

19 pounds even and 28 inches. A peanut even compared to his siblings (who were: Ryan - 20lbs 12 oz and 28 1/2 inches, Rachel - well I can't find her stats, but at 15 months she was 20lbs 9oz and 29 inches so her and Joey are on par with each other I guess!)

Anyway, he had an ear infection (prescription #1), she was concerned about his eczema and called it "severe"(prescription #2 and #3). She was also concerned to hear about his runny stinky diapers (2-3 times a day) and agreed that it sounded food related (blood work order). S0 she said take him off dairy and switch to soy and we'll see what happens when the blood comes back.

That night 1/14 we switched him to soy, used the steroid cream on his eczema and hoped for the best! By Saturday 1/17 he was no longer pooping so often, eczema was clear and he was SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!! And then the blood work came back negative for food allergies! HUH?!?!

Anyway we still haven't switched him back to dairy and we are going to the doctor this afternoon because I don't think the ear infection is gone yet (boo!)

We shall see what she has to say!

Overall though he is healthy, happy, and a genius (which we all knew already!)

Week #4 - Tuscan chicken and white bean stew

2009-01-30T09:42:00.003-05:00

I got this recipe from a cookbook I own that was clearly manufactured by one of the major food companies since all the recipes call for some brand or another. There are a lot of yummy Italian recipes so don't be surprised when this books shows itself again on my blog!
Ingredients:
1 large fennel bulb (about 3/4 pound)
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
1 can (14-1/2 ounces) no-salt-added stewed tomatoes
1 can (about 14 ounces) fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 can (15 ounces) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
Hot pepper sauce (optional)
Preparation:
1. Cut off and reserve 1/4 cup chopped feathery fennel tops. Chop bulb into 1/2-inch pieces. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add chopped fennel bulb; cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Sprinkle rosemary and pepper over chicken; add to saucepan. Cook and stir 2 minutes. Add tomatoes with juice and broth; bring to a boil. Cover; simmer 10 minutes. Stir in beans; simmer, uncovered, 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and sauce thickens. Season to taste with hot pepper sauce. Ladle into 4 shallow bowls; top with reserved fennel tops.
variations: I added carrots and celery since I wasn't sure who would like the fennel (turns out just me and Joey), I used diced tomatoes and northern beans (? Great Northern? or am I confusing beans and a pizza place?). I also used chicken breast because that is what we buy usually and added a splash of red wine since we had one open.
I did not garnish it with the fennel but rather served it over hot diatalini.
I'd give it a 6. Well, personally I'd give it an 8 but it wasn't a huge family hit. Again, Joey ate it but he is the human disposal so that is probably why

Mom's birthday cake

2009-01-20T13:56:00.004-05:00

For my mother's birthday I made a chocolate mocha cake.
I used the chocolate cake recipe that Joey gave me for Joey's (HA!) birthday cake. I'm not going to re-publish the recipe since it isn't mine to give (but rather Joey's grandma's!) but it was a simple chocolate cake. I added a TBL of coffee to the cake.
I then cut the 2 8 inch cakes in 1/2 to make a 4 layer torte.
The frosting I made myself!
mocha frosting
1/2 cup softened butter
4 cups confectioner sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup of melted chocolate (i used chocolate chips)
4-5 TBL coffee

It was delicious! Not very pretty since the layers were kind of lopsided, but tasty none the less!

week #3 - meatloaf muffins with Sweet Potato frosting

2009-01-20T13:45:00.004-05:00

Meatloaf. It's one of those things that every family makes differently. I love the recipe I use but I know others who don't. So here is the recipe for the way I make it. the only thing I did differently this time was the presentation.
Meatloaf
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
1 slightly beaten egg *
1/2 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs
1/3 cup milk *
1/4 cup Heinz 57 Sauce
3/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
Mix well together.
Then I sprayed a muffin tin with cooking spray and put the meatloaf in there (it made 9 muffins). Baked at 350 for 30 minutes.
*since I am taking part in a 6 week boot camp challenege I used skim milk and egg substitute

I topped each "muffin" with mashed sweet potatoes. Served with brocoli
Ryan declared this the best dinner ever and ate 2 servings!

Edited to add a picture:

Joey is one finger old!

2009-01-12T15:40:00.007-05:00

That is how Ryan counts ages!

On 6:24am yesterday Joey officially entered the world of toddler-hood. Of course he has been walking since November but we are talking semantics here!

Joey on January 11, 2008:

Joey on January 11, 2009:

He is a total "blankie" baby and has a crocheted bunny/blanket that he sleeps with (and occasionally leaves at church!). In Homage to bunny I made him a bunny shaped cake:

Joey with Bunny and the cake

I made cut outs and spelled out "Happy Birthday Joey" with them as well as some carrot shaped ones with the remaining dough. Everyone seemed to like it!

Week #2 reults

2009-01-12T09:03:00.003-05:00

10 out of 10!!! Everyone ate it and loved it!
I used a 1/2 a box of these thin Hungarian noodles that my MIL gave us. They were a nice touch
We ate it for dinner Friday, lunch Saturday, and I have a meal worth in the freezer.

Week #2 - beef veggie soup

2009-01-09T09:32:00.005-05:00

I'll have to post the results of this later but I threw this together last night
1 lb ground beef cooked
1/2 onion
1 clove of garlic
1 box of beef broth
1 & 1/2 cup water
1/2 red wine
1 can petite diced tomatoes
carrots
celery
soup pasta

I cooked the beef with the onion and garlic and added it to the
broth, water, wine, tomatoes, carrots, and celery. Also, I use organic carrots. Normally I don't buy organic produce because I just can't afford it but for some reason the carrots are just better. And really not that much more expensive.
Tonight I plan on simmering it and adding the pasta. We will have some bread with it to - YUM!
The kids love soup and actually eat the veggies in them usually.
Result to follow.....

Week #1 recipe - Coconut Chicken fingers

2009-01-05T08:16:00.004-05:00

I originally saw this recipe in Parents or Parenting magazine but I couldn't find the magazine when I wanted it (most likely it was sacrificed to one of Ryan's many art projects). I used this one from
Allrecipes:

INGREDIENTS
1 cup BAKER'S ANGEL FLAKE Coconut
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast halves , cut into 1-inch strips
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted

1 cup apricot preserves (optional)
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard (optional)

DIRECTIONS
Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
Mix coconut, flour, salt, pepper and garlic powder in medium bowl. Dip chicken strips into egg, then coat with coconut mixture. Place in a shallow baking pan. Drizzle with melted butter.
Bake 25 minutes or until chicken is browned and cooked through, turning once. Serve with Apricot Dipping Sauce, if desired.
Apricot Dipping Sauce: Mix 1 cup apricot preserves and 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard until well blended.

So here is what I did differently:
I didn't use garlic powder because I didn't have any
I used spray butter instead of melted butter to cut some fat and calories
I put them under the broiler for, well, too long actually, in an effort to make them crispy!
My review:
They were okay if I had:
1. Used enough butter to totally coat the chicken fingers
2. Not burned them under the broiler - 5 minutes on high was too long! Maybe 2 minutes next time.
They were easy to make, and tasty - I didn't make the sauce, we just used BBQ sauce (and the kids used ketchup). Joey ate them (but he eats everything), Ryan ate them (YAY), and Rachel picked the coconut off and ate the chicken! I served them with tater tots and butternut squash (since it is the only veggie all 3 kids universally will eat!)
Will I make them again? Probably, but I'll use more butter and try not to singe them this time!!!
So on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 = the dog won't even touch it and 10 = everyone had seconds!) I'd give them a 6

2008 in pictures

2008-12-31T09:46:00.013-05:00

A photo review of the last 12 months....

January

Joseph Robert was born at 6:24am on January 11th. After only 2 hours of labor (woohoo!)

February

It was cold. We had a new baby. We didn't leave the house much... Oh and Rachel took her first steps!

March

Easter - it was so cold that day

April

Joey was baptized!

May

Warm weather!

June

Rhode Island for Rob's GREAT-Grandma's 100th birthday celebration!

July

Ryan went to Vacation Bible School for the first year

August

Joey and I went to Denver for a wedding!

September

Ryan started school

October

Halloween!

November

We are so thankful for our family

December

No words necessary!

It was hard to pick just one picture from each month since many months contained multiple exciting events! At any rate, it was interesting to watch the kids get bigger as the post got longer and longer! Happy new year to everyone!

YEAR in review and new blog content!

2008-12-30T13:00:00.003-05:00

So I haven't posted since July!!! Sorry! We've been busy, but here is the Cliff Note version of the second half of 2008
August: lots of fun summer activities!
September: Ryan started school, we went to Myrtle Beach, and our nanny quit!
October: Ryan turned 4, Rachel no longer qualified for speech, Joey was 9 months old!, our new nanny started
November: Rachel finished music class (which she loved), we had a lovely Thanksgiving
December: Ryan's first holiday concert, first snow day and the biggest Christmas to date!
I'll post a photo review of 2008 later, but I am changing my blog!!!
I have decided that in 2009 I am not making resolutions, just goals (yes I know, semantics!). Anyway, I will be using my log to track my goals for the year so here they are....
1. Try a new (hopefully family friendly) recipe each week
I will post the recipe, source (where possible) and review on the blog each week. This ensures at least 52 entries right?
2. The standard weight loss
Honestly I don't want to whine about it but I will keep my weight loss ticker on here for my own records
3. Organize my house
Top to bottom, every room.... This comes from the fact that we had a fleeting chance to buy a new house but, in addition to the market sucking for us to sell ours, we couldn't even fathom cleaning it all out! I'll be starting with the attic this weekend and need to have the attic and basement done by the next weepeats sale (which I think is April)

So those are the 3 biggies that I will be blogging about. Except gratuitous kid pictures as well (they are so darn cute!). I guess that is about it for now!!!

Week in review

2008-07-31T07:42:00.003-04:00

It has been one of those insanely, crazy busy weeks! I am so glad I have nothing planned for the weekend!
Monday
Monday morning Nanny K started. She was on time, eager and excited to start working for us! Rachel, however, was less than enthused about her presence. She cried a bit when I left but I thought it was because I had Ryan with me and she was jealous that she had to stay home (it wasn't since she cried Tuesday as well).
Ryan started Vacation Bible School on Monday. We chose to send him to my in laws church because it is a great program and my MIL was dying to have him go (and offered to help get him there and back, etc). I opted to take him on his first day:

First day!
So we drive the 15-20 minutes out there without incident (or a ton of traffic) and we are stopped waiting to make a left into the parking lot and the guy behind us apaprently didn't see us and plowed right into the back of the van! Thankfully we were all okay (as was the other driver). Ryan was funny - when he asked what happened and I told him her shouted "maniac!" about the other driver! He says that my Uncle (who takes the kids out frequently) calls other drivers that :)
So after all the insurance exchange, etc. it turns out the other driver does not have a valid license! Oops for him! Thankfully the car was insured and we have taken care of filing the claim, etc.
I spent a better part of the morning trying to find an ambulance or fire station that had a car seat tech working to check out the seats, but I was unsuccessful in such a venture. Since the seats did not meet the criteria for needing to be replaced after an accident, and they need to be taken out anyway when we get the rental, I just checked them out myself (tightened some straps but otherwise they are fine).
Also on Monday I decided that I should really see a doctor for my ankle. You see, 2 weeks ago I slipped outside Rob's restuarant (it was rainign really hard!) and fell. Thought my ankle was broken but I was able to walk on it so I assumed it wasn't and just hobbled around for 2 weeks....
yeah, so it is broken! Thankfully it is not a displaced fractured and they gave me a brace which really helps it feel better. I am supposed to wear that for 2 weeks and then go back.
After Monday the rest of the week was uneventful! Ryan stayed with my in laws Monday night so they could take him to VBS Tuesday. he stayed with my sister Tuesday night so she could take him Wednesday. We took the opprotunity to go out with just the 2 littlest kids and had ice cream!

The rest of the week with the nanny was successful! She seems to enjoy her job, the kids like her. They play outside, she makes them nice meals, they nap and only watch a few minutes of tv (sadly much less than when I am home!). she is on vacation next week but Rob is all closes so we are okay in the childcare area.
Tonight is Ryan's VBS concert! I am so excited to see my little guy in action. He has informed me that he is going to sing "Scooby Doo" instead of whatever his class is performing! Well there has to be that kid huh?

just adding....

2008-07-23T12:02:00.004-04:00

for my records since I already posted about Joey's visit to the pediatrician
Rachel went for an (uneventful) 2 year visit!
she is 33 inches and 22.4 pounds (25th for height and 10th for weight). No physical concerns and.... NO DEVELOPMENTAL CONCERNS!!!!! This is the very first well child visit she has had that hasn't ended with a specialist or a visit from Early Intervention - HOORAY!!!

A year ago, a year from now....

2008-07-22T08:47:00.005-04:00

Got this from Giselle...
One year ago... I had an almost 3 year old who had just potty trained and thrown up for the very first time (in my car, spaghetti-os - a scene I'll not soon forget!).
I also had a just one year old! She was getting physical therapy once a week and had just learned to sit! Funny how her unborn brother has mastered that skill almost exactly one year later!
I was14 weeks pregnant with the baby "we didn't know we wanted but can't imagine life without". Still thought he was going to be our second daughter, our Reese Marie! I was just starting to show

Rob was getting ready to open the restuarant and was very excited about the possibility of advancement there (HA!)

One year from now...
Ryan will be preparing for Kindergarden!!! This should be no big deal since he is going to full day pre-K on a bus this year, but it is in my mind!
Rachel will be 3!!! She will have no therapy as she is almost done with her speech ad her other issues seem to have resolved themselves enough that we seem to be escapting any OT. She will hopefully be potty trained! Maybe have enough hair for a real pony tail?

Joey will be 18 months! A real walking, talking toddler! Now the real fun begins!
Rob will probably still be at the same job and hopefully happier. I'll be at the same job but hopefully only working 4 days! Same house, same cars. We are boring people!

Joseph

2008-07-16T14:49:00.004-04:00

What an amazing little guy he is!!
Last Friday was his half birthday! 6 whole months old (which also means that 2008 is half over already!)
As of Monday he weighed 15 pounds even. He is somewhere between 23 3/4 inches and 25 inches (the nurse got 24 1/2, the doc got 25 and I got 23 1/4 this morning!). Picture of health but a lousy sleeper! He still wakes to eat 2 times a night. UGH! The pediatrician says he is probably just too distracted to eat more during the day and he gets the calories he needs at night (he must since he is almost 3 pounds bigger than he was 2 months ago).
He is a developmental wonderkid! He can conbat crawl, rock on his hands and knees, and as of Monday evening sit himself up!
He loves to laugh - mostly at his big siblings who just crack him up!
He loves to eat - we have yet to find something he didn't like
and he loves to snuggle with mommy!

10 quirky things about me....

2008-07-10T08:52:00.001-04:00

in response to Kara's post:
1. I get the willies from styrofoam. If something is packed in styrofoam I wanted to cringe when I have to open it!
2. I hate to look at unpainted or chipped toe nails! Seriously, I feel like if you don't have a good polish job please cover them up! They look naked to me
3. I can't combine food. I eat all of one thing at a time on my plate. I even rotate my plate as I am eating
4. I used to suck my hair when I was a kid. It is so disgusting to think about now but I did it.
5. I can't use tampons. They skeeve me out big time!
6. I can't sleep touching or facing anyone. I literally cling to the edge of the bed
7. I count stairs as I am going up or down them (in my head only!)
8. I can not sit still and talk on the phone. I need to be walking around - my ex bought me a thingy that could turn your cordless phone into a headset. It was dorky but I loved it
9. I never thought this was weird but my sister says it is - I wash my hair last in the shower
10. Not sure if this is quirky or just my wacky sense of humor but I LOVE to introduce my husband as "my first husband, Rob". He is my first and my only :)

Early Evening Gown GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!

2008-07-10T08:41:00.001-04:00

Early Evening Gown GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!
ahhhh, like a fairy princess....

Ice Cream Social Frock Giveaway!!!!

2008-07-09T11:56:00.001-04:00

Check this out: Ice Cream Social Frock Giveaway!!!!
I sooo want this!!!

Rachelisms

2008-07-08T09:00:00.000-04:00

I feel like I do a lot of talking about her these days but she is just so darn funny!!!
This morning she was hanging out with me while I put my makeup on and then she disappeared. I didn't think anything of it until I went downstairs and she was standing in front of Joey in his excersaucer putting purple eye shadow all over his face! He was laughing of course! Oh, she also made up herself and would not let me wash it off! "MY make-up" she said. Whatever, angel....
In addition to today's make up she has colored Joey with a blue crayon and when I asked her if she did it she said "yep" and when I asked her with what she got me the crayon! She has also attempted to make him look like a member of KISS by drawing what appeared to be a star around his eye with a marker! (My husband will be sad to hear that I can not recall who it is with the star around his eye - Paul Stanley perhaps?)
Ryan was taunting her at the table Saturday night by calling her a baby and apparently she had enough! She stood up in her booster seat (why oh why does she do that???) and yelled at him "I not baby!". You go girl....
Her current phrases - phrases, yes! At 18 months she said 4 words, at 2 she is using sentences:
"what doing?"
"Who here" said in response to the dog barking
"No Nico MINE!" said anytime the dog looks in her general direction
"Why _____ (insert Ya-yan, Doey, etc) fryin'(crying)?"
She sings "Scooby Doo" and "Where is My Hairbrush" all the time. Such a sweet voice!

It's the little things....

2008-07-07T09:09:00.003-04:00

Over the weekend I had the kids at the playground. Rachel was going down the little slide that she loves so much and then tentatively tried the big twirly slide. I let her being that incredibly brave soul that I am and she did it! For over an hour - up the steps and down the slide, up and down. Another mother asked me how old she was and when I said 2 she replied "Oh, she's very advanced!"
ADVANCED! Rachel! After 14 months of PT, being labeled as "severely delayed" in her motor skill development, heck at one point there was even talk of her having cerebral palsy!!! And now? Someone thinks she is advanced! Just to have her be normal made me teary!!!

So many new and exciting things...

2008-07-02T14:47:00.002-04:00

Recently we decided to make a change in our daycare situation. As much as we loved our current DCP there were a couple of things that were less than fantastic about the situation. Coupled with the ungodly amount of time I spent getting everyone ready each morning and out the door and then back home again AND the fact that Ryan will be in Pre-K this fall (and that is a post for another time!) we decided to hire a nanny!
I had thought a lot about this but I never thought Rob would agree to it but he did!
I ran an ad on Craigslist and got 10 responses! 8 were legit, 5 worth meeting and 2 that I really liked. We chose to go with the younger, less experienced girl because she was very enthusiastic and the kids seemed to like her.
Now, with only 2 weeks left until she starts, I am very nervous! What if it doesn't work? What if she can't handle the kids (hell, there are days I can barely handle them!!!). UGh, it's just worry worry worry with me I guess....

You would think in my boredom....

2008-06-27T10:06:00.001-04:00

I would be able to post more!!!
I have a lot to say but I guess I am too bored to even write it out!!!
So for now I present a video in honor of my little girl's 2nd birthday:

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Rachel

2008-04-17T07:28:00.005-04:00

Rachel. My daughter. My "easy" kid.

Rachel was my girl baby. The smallest of my kids at 5lbs 3 oz (4 lbs 12 oz at 2 days old). She was 6 weeks early and her courageous battle in the NICU taught me how strong I was (and what a kick ass little girl I had!). She spent 2 weeks struggling to learn how to breathe but once she figured it out that was it. She has continued to learn like that. She starts everything off slowly but once she decides to do it she just does. Like walking. After 9 months of seemingly unproductive physical therapy she just walked one day (at 20 months old). After being silent for her first 18 months of life, one morning she just began talking. 2 days later she was putting words together. I think Rachel senses when we are getting concerned about her not doing something and just begins to do it!

Likes

Stinky & binky (her blanket and pacifier!). Stinky is a light green fleece blanket that we got when she was born from the hospital. She was wrapped up in it for days because she couldn't regulate her body temps very well. After she came home we continued to wrap her in it because it smelled like the NICU and it comforted her. Somewhere around her first birthday I realized that she loves this blanket and sleeps with it every night! Stinky never left her crib until a few months ago when Rachel decided that she needs both the blanket and the pacifier all the time. I still try to limit her use of them, but come on! The girl started walking, talking AND got a new sibling all at the same time???? Heck, I could use a comfort object and I am 31 years older than her :) Oh the blanket gets it name from well, the stench of it! Rachel hates having it washed and sniffs it to clam herself down (can we all say ewwww together?)

She also likes: the Very Hungry Caterpillar book. It is handed to me every single night. She will tolerate another story if you read that one first!, playing with her brother's toys - most noteably the sit and spin - she loves that!
Dislikes

Her older brother most days! Being disciplined, peas, and messes. Rachel loves to clean up and put things away! I need to write that down so when her room is a disaster when she's a teenager I can remind her of how she used to be!!! She also seems to dislike barrettes since she takes them out all the time!

Will grow up to be:

An Engineer! Rachel loves to examine everything! She is quiet and methodical. She enjoys fitting things together (puzzles, etc) and analyzes all situations before reacting. Maybe she'll be an astronaut!!!

When her new brother came home Rachel immediately developed a "maternal instinct". She is always patting his head, giving him pacifiers, blankets, and doll bottles. If he cries she makes sure every knows it!

She is sweet and kind. Always been an "easy" kid - sleeps well, eats well, plays well. Of course she has also had 11 months of physical therapy and is on month 3 of her speech therapy which would make her seem like a high needs child but she really isn't.

Oh, and I am glad I have a daughter :)

Mothering the Woody doll

With Stink & Bink on Easter

Ryan

2008-04-11T10:12:00.005-04:00

In an effort to post more regularly I thought I'd start with a post about each of my babies, starting with the oldest

RYAN

Born - 10/8/2004 after 36 hours of labor and 3 hours of pushing!

My biggest baby at 8lbs 3oz

Likes: Veggie Tales - more specifically, Silly Songs With Larry which we listen to almost continously in the van, Spongebob, watching hockey with Daddy, pizza with Mushrooms, the color red. Also likes to bargain and argue with me

Dislikes: sleep! Naps! Sleeping in his own bed! Being told no! That's pretty much it

Will grow up to be: A lawyer! Most likely a litigator given his propensity for arguing and his sense of fairness - I can not tell you how many times a day I hear "That's not Faiiiiiirrrr"

Ryan was my fist born. The one who showed me that my heart could break wide open with love. He is also my mini-me! He not only looks so much like me that upon finding a picture of a 3 year old me said "I don't remember having long hair and wearing a dress", he has my personality which is stubborn and agrumentative. We get into dead locked arguements sometimes and I frequently hear myself in him. It is funny (sometimes).

He is also the sweetest love bug EVER! He constantly hugs and kisses all of us and tells us he loves us (ignore the hugely pregnant lady in the picture)

When I was pregnant with Joey Ryan also had a baby in his tummy. HIs baby was named Jack and liked grapes! Ryan also reprimanded the fetal Joey for kicking me complete with a threat for a time out!

He adores his brother. Wants to hold him, kiss him, and (yikes!) carry him all the time!!! I am so grateful for the love he shows for them. As for his sister? Well, he likes her but doesn't like when she plays with his toys (which is all the time - her toys are no good aparently!) or when I direct my attention to her!

Ryan is 3 and half. He'll be going to VBS this summer and then preschool in the fall - how did that happen???

STILL ALIVE!!!!

2008-04-10T12:45:00.010-04:00

WOW - what a long time it has been since I posted on the old blog. I feel bad because I really like to use this as a record of all the cute things the kids say and do!
So, let's play catch up shall we?
Otober - December:
Uneventful 3rd trimester marred only by a panic trip to L&D for what I thought were ruptured membranes but turned out to be very weak bladder control (I am still SOOOO embarassed by that!) and the fact that I had biophysical profile ultrasounds every week because, yet again, the level of amniotic fluid was low. Low enough to warrant concern but not another preemie - YAY!
Also in December - Christmas day to be exact, Rachel learned to stand unsupported at exactly 18 months & 1 day! I was so proud of her!!! Her physical therapist was as well but was also very concerned by how she pronates her feet (a bilateral pronation to be exact!) and we were off to the orthotist for ankle foot orthotics (AFOs - sounds like a cheesy band from the 90s doesn't it?).
January - what an eventful month!!!
1/7 - Rob's grandma passed away. Christmas morning she had blacked out in her bathroom and once she got to the hospital they discovered some issue with her bowels. I believe that they were dying off. She had surgery and was doing better. My MIL left Detroit and came home on the 6th. She dies the next morning.
Funeral was scheduled for the 10th and I really wanted Rob to go BUT I was 38 weeks pregnant! The day before the funeral I had an U/S and midwife appointment so he tagged along. The deal was if I wasn't dilated at all and the fluid was okay (meaning no induction) Rob was going to go.
1/9 Well, I had my first internal of this pregnancy and I was..... 3cm, 90% effaced, and the midwife could feel Joey's head! So yeah, Rob wasn't going anywhere :) She stripped my membranes and sent me home to have the baby!!! Honestly I was suprised I was dilated - I had been having inconsistent contractions for a week (I had some the weekend before that had us packing our bags!) but I was suprised I was that far along! Left the office and went back to work! Started getting regular contractions (every 7-8 minutes) towards the end of the day so I headed home. Of course they promptly died after I got home
1/10 I chose not to go to work because I was honestly afraid my water would break there. of course, I had zero contractions that day
1/11 4am - I woke up to STRONG contractions - REALLY strong and REALLY close!!! I woke Rob, called my mom to come watch the kids, called the midwives, and waited. Most of this morning is a blur but I do remember throwing the address book at Rob and telling him to call our neighbors and that I would be in the car waiting. I felt like I couldn't wait for my mom any longer. I was sweating and naseuous with each contraction and in some serious pain! I remember telling Rob when he woke up that we were going to meet our little guy before lunch, when I was in the car waiting for him I realized it would be before breakfast!
Rob get sin the car and we got the first red light on our way. He must have known I was not kidding about needing to get to the hospital when I told him to just run it! I also felt the need to throw up and told him NOT to pull over! I puked in one of his dirty chef coats that was in the car (I guess I owe OG a new chef coat now!).
Rob says that he didn't realize how serious I was until we got to the hospital and I asked for the wheelchair (I had gracefully walked to L&D each time before!)!!!
So we get to triage and I get hooked up. About 3 minutes later there was a whirlwind of activity. The nurse was paging for someone, anyone, to come check me (she tells me later because the contractions were right on top of each other - duh! I could have told her that!). A staff midwife came to check me at 5:55am and informed that I was right, I would not be getting an epidural as I was 9 cm and ready to "go"!!!
6:00 we get to a LDRP room and in the process of transferring me from gurney to bed - POP! my water broke. Of course, G3 had decided to poop before birth so they called the NICU team (incluing one of our faves from Rachel's stay!). My midwife showed up and had no sooner finished washing her hands when I gave a mighty push and this is what we got:

Allow me to introduce....
Joseph Robert G, born at 6:24 am (after 2 hours of labor!)on January 11, 2008
He was 7 lbs 2 oz and 19.5 inches. It took me 3 tried but I finally got my medium sized, on time baby with a natural delivery (that I seriosuly didn't want at that point - the delivery not the baby!!!!)
Crazy? Yes, but life has been insane every since!
In the 3 months since Joey's birth the following has happened:
- Rachel got her AFOs and started cruising
- my grandmother passed away (1/20)
- Ryan started music appreciation classes and Loves them!
- Rachel started walking (about the last week of February). She was 20 months old at the time!
- Joey is a great baby :) He had a little bit of a slow start on breastfeeding but is quite the champ now! He is snuggly and smiley and we can't imagine ourlives without him!
I want to get back into blogging so I'll save the details on all the kids until later. Now I'll leave you with some pictures:

Ryan meets Joey

Contrary to the look Rachel is giving she really does seem to love her "baaabee"
Ryan incorporates Joey into arts and crafts time!

Rachel FINALLY has enoug hair for pigtails!!!

Joey at 10 weeks - what a little clown!

G3

2007-10-24T13:33:00.000-04:00

My beautiful youngest child....

And he is still a HE!!!

He is already a chunker - weighing 2lbs 14 oz at 27 weeks! He could be a 9 pounder when all is said and done.
Everything else is excellent! Placenta has moved to a safe place, my BP was 100/60 and I passed the 1 hour glucose with a 113 - YAY me!!!

I can't even post once a month!!!

2007-10-11T14:34:00.000-04:00

So it has been 6 weeks since I last wrote! Sorry!
Here is our life in bullets....

Rob is insanely busy at the new restaurant. Never home but the business is good. It has slowed down some this past week and I am no longer feeling like a single parent

We bought this

We really had no choice with 3 in car seats. As much as I said I would never own a mini-van I actually enjoy it. It is pretty tripped out - power doors, XM radio, and all the jazz. *sigh* I am a mini-van mom now....

Ryan attempted soccer classes. He is just not ready for them I guess since he spent the entire 45 minutes making trips to the bathroom and back to me for water. We tried twice and then decided we won't try again until next year. He seemed so excited though....

Rachel did this:

So we really have no idea how but she ended up with a buckle fracture of her left leg (tibia? fibia? I don't really remember what they said). I picked her up on a Thursday from the sitter and she was crying and miserable. She had done this a few nights before so I thought she was maybe teething (although she had never been cranky about it before). She spent all night like that until she fell asleep on my lap. I went to play with her adorable toes and she started screaming again. It was then that I realized that her leg was a little swollen looking. Friday at 10 we went to the pediatrician and after that, Xrays, and an ortho visit she was sporting her cool purple cast. 2 weeks later and she is as good as new! There was no defining injury (although she did take a tumble at my mom's the night before the pain seemed to start) and she had napped in a pack n play (ruling out her leg getting caught in the crib bars). Unsolved mystery of toddlerhood I guess! Oh yeah, the line of questioning about it at the ortho's office was kind of insulting to us!

Ryan had a birthday!

3 years!!!! I can't believe it has been 3 years already! He is an amazing child. So fated to become an attorney with his amazing arguing and bargaining skills. Got a clean bill of health and development at his well child exam this week. And a flu shot which he wasn't 2 happy about but the stickers seemed to make it better.

Speaking of development: Rachel is doing wonderfully in her physical therapy! of course there are now concerns about her communication and self help/adaptive skills being delayed. We are scheduled for another EI evaluation in a month to see where she is at. I don't think she'll qualify for services yet, but she is probably pretty close to needing them. She wasn't even that early a preemie, but she is definitly working very hard at keeping up with her peers right now!

I'm currently 26 weeks pregnant!!! No complications from the previa to date (knock wood) but I did take a nasty fall Sunday that sent us into a panicked tizzy! No need to see the midwife as I had no conractions, no bleeding, and good kick counts from G3. Another 2 weeks and we will see if the placenta is cooperating and double check the gender since the pictures and videos we have seem to resemble Rachel's U/S more than Ryan's.... Hey, they have been wrong before!

What will you be doing in 20 weeks???

2007-08-31T12:56:00.000-04:00

I'll either be:
Giving birth;
nursing a baby; or
miserably, hugely pregnant!!!
I can't believe we have made it to the halfway point already - woohoo!
Wednesday was our BIG ultrasound. Everything is great! WE found out that Rachel will be retaining her princess status! Yup, another boy will be joining our clan!!!
He was a very active, silly little man through the entire ultrasound - repeatedly standing on his head or spreading his legs for us. But he measured right on target and looks good.
The placenta doesn't look so good. Let's take a journey through my palcental history shall we?
2004 - low lying placenta diagnosed at 20 weeks. By 30 it was migrated to a good spot for a normal labor and delivery
2006 - marginal placenta previa. Not on my cervix but too close for comfort. Moved by 35 weeks (which is when the other issues were diagnosed). Pathologoy reports that it is smaller than it should be but older looking than it should have been. One possible cause was that Rachel literally laid on it for 35 weeks. We will never know...
2007 - "partial placenta previa" not covering entirely but covering a portion of my cervix none the less. I am given some moderate restrictions - no heavy lifting, no strenous exercise, and no sex. We go back in 6 weeks for another check.
So there are a few things in life I can't ever get right - placentas and instant rice being on the top of that list!!!
No other news. I'll try to get pictures up this weekend. The kids are devine as usual :)

baby wiggles, puke free (knock wood)

2007-08-10T11:38:00.000-04:00

17 weeks today!

This past week has brought on the very first baby wiggles in my belly! They are still inconsistent and occur mostly at night when I am settling down but I'll take them where I can get them!!! I also only puked once this week!!!

Of course the puking has been replaced by the afternoon headaches. Sigh. I had these with Ryan but not Rachel - hmmm, another boy perhaps? I guess we will know on 8/29!

IN non-pregnancy news:

Ryan is getting his big boy twin bed this weekend - YAY! Maybe he will actually sleep in it instead of my bed. Really we are starting to run out of room in there. I got him an adorable blue plaid quilt at T*arget and am planning on getting him the Little E*instein sheets from there as well. I have found some adorable blue rocket crib bedding in case G3 is a boy - they will look so cute together! Ryan is still convinced G3 is a girl but now we are naming her Elephant - nice huh? He talks to her(?) every morning and night through my belly now

The bad Ryan - well he is acting 3. Everything is his way or a tantrum - I am tired of them already and I know it is just the beginning. I swear last night someone in the store parking lot probably called CPS on me with the screams of "you're hurting me! I don't like you" that were coming from our car as I tried to strap a bucking 30 pounder into his car seat.

Rachel is, well, Rachel. She is such a princess and we adore that about her! She loves shoes as long as they are not on her feet and her daddy's ties. She sits in the bathroom every morning and brushes her teeth or her hair (with the correct brushes) while I am getting ready for work. Her physical therapy is coming along wonderfully and yesterday she managed to pull herself to a full stand all alone! We are so proud of her and all her hard work! I think she may be walking by Halloween at this rate!!!

In other family news, Rob's grandpa passed away a couple of weeks ago. We went to RI for the memorial service and are planning to make the trip to Arlington in October for his interment. My BIL skipped the service saying he was too busy working. After a week of vacation. Oh and we had almost 2 weeks notice on the memorial service. Oh well - no loss there!

To end some pictures:

baby girl eats her corn like a big shot

catching bubbles

yes, I know she has a power cord. Yes, I know it looks like Ryan is strangling her. I wasn't home and it is the only picture I got this month of the 2 of them together!

One trimester done, 2 to go....

2007-07-20T09:32:00.000-04:00

Can you belive that I am 14 weeks already? Time has flown for sure! Onyl 5 more weeks until we find out which way the gender scale will be tipping in our house!!!

Had an appointment with my midwife this week. All is well, labs were good, HB was great, only thing was their scale showed me gaining 4 freaking pounds!!! There is no way - I weigh myself at home and I have gained MAYBE a half a pound. I am really trying to not use pregnancy as a license to eat since I am still trying to get rid fo the extra weight from Ryan and Rachel!!!

I am still puking my brains out every morning but it is getting better (minus the lovely stomach bug I got from Ryan earlier this week - I truly thought I was dying from it!). Mostly in maternity pants or regular pants and my bella bands (well generic ones from Ebay!). I ahve even been using those suckers to hold up my maternity pants that are a little too big on me!

I guess that's it for now. I'll leave with the closest thing I have to a belly shot - a picture of me and Rachel on the carousel!

If you look closely at my midsection you can see the bump! Of course, I am still getting those - is she pregnant or has she just not lost the gut from the last one looks!

A game...

2007-07-11T10:48:00.000-04:00

Got this off of Michelle's blog and thought it looked fun! So here goes:
The game is SCATTERGORIES. Its harder than it looks! Here are the rules: Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following. They MUST be real places, names, things. NOTHING can be made up! If you can’t think of anything, skip it. Try to use different answers if the person before you had the same 1st initial. You can’t use your name for the boy/girl name question.
Your Name: Andrea
1. Famous Singer/Band: ABBA
2. Four letter word: Arse (if we were in England of course!)
3. Street: Arbordale (about half a mile from my house)
4. Color: Aubergine
5. Vehicle: Audi
6. Things in a Souvenir Shop: A t shirt (so cheating on that one!)
7. Boy Name: Aidan
8. Girl Name: Adrienne
9. Movie Title: All that Jazz?
10. Drink: appletini
11. Occupation: architect
12. Celebrity: Alex Trebek
13. Magazine: American Baby
14. U.S. City: Atlanta
15. Pro Sports Teams: Arizona Diamondbacks
16. Reason for Being Late for Work: Accident
17. Something You Throw Away: apple core
18. Things You Shout: ARGH!
19. Cartoon Character: Alice in Wonderland

2007-07-10T08:54:00.000-04:00

So after 33 months of being vomit free Ryan decided last night was the night. Could he do it at home? NOOOOO! Could he do it somewhere easy to clean up? NOOOO! How about the car? YES! After a lunch of Spaghetti-os? YES! UGH! I now feel like my car smells like carpet cleaner and puke but I could be imagining it (or it could be the pregnant women super power sense of smell)
The thing about this is Ryan ate spaghetti-os that I just bought a few weeks ago and when I checked the can last night they had expired in February 2006!!!!
My poor baby!

Don't want to jinx myself, but....

2007-07-05T11:32:00.000-04:00

it appears that at 33 months my genius boy may be potty trained!
We have been taking a very casual approach with it - I didn't want to push him if he wasn't ready, but then we went 3 dry days - with me constantly prompting him to go. Then there were 2 poops in the potty. Then another 4 dry days where Ryan actually told us he had to go. Really he told us he was going but he meant that he had to :)
And then today he went by himself and then told us he had gone!!!
I am so happy that he is doing so well with this! He is such a big BIG boy now!

One year ago yesterday...

2007-07-05T11:29:00.000-04:00

Rachel came home from the NICU!!!

She was 4 pounds 13 ounces and I've got to say she looks about as freightened in that picture as we actually were to have her home! She did great though! Slept well, ate well and grew into an 18 pound 10 ounce TODDLER!!! How, exactly, did that happen????

11 weeks down, 29 more to go

2007-06-29T09:56:00.000-04:00

I did a dissmal job of journaling my last 2 pregnancies. I am taking this suprise third one as an opprotunity to write things down (and maybe take some pictures!). I love LOVE being pregnant and want to remember it forever.
So, here I am 11 weeks today and at this point? Not so enjoying it :( The morning sickness held off long enough that I though perhaps I would escape it this time. It appeared around 9 weeks - what the heck??? It has peeked this week. Yesterday was by far the worst day ever! Today, not so bad - no puking but then maybe I would feel better if I did (that didn't work yesterday but worked up until then). What settles my stomach seems to change daily. Some days salty snacks and other days sweet snacks. It is hit or miss and breakfast is always an interesting time for me. I generally bring 3 or 4 different things to work and try them all until something works. I hope that I am almost out of the woods on this. It went away around 14 weeks with Ryan and 18 weeks with Rachel.
I can feel my uterus now - above my pelvic bone but below my belly button. It feels about the size of a large softball which I think is about right for now. Some days I need maternity pants but I think that is more bloating than anything else.
I have some weird insomnia that I remember getting with Ryan. I can fall asleep fine but then I wake up around 4 and have the worst time sleeping after that. This means that I am ready to crawl under my desk by 2 most afternoons :)
Onions. Did you know that they are the weed of the devil? Seriously they are fatal to me right now! Even one little piece and I will have horrendous heart burn for hours. I just have to avoid them for the time being (which isn't hard since I don't really love them anyway). Oh and hot food is kind of grossing me out. All I want to eat are sandwiches and fruit. Too bad the deli meat is off limits for now :(
No belly pictures for now because you really don't need to see my left over pooch from kid A and kid B :)

Ryan, the hot dog snob

2007-06-26T09:15:00.000-04:00

We live in Rochester, NY. The city is known for Kodak mostly, but also for some serious hot dogs.
Zweigles to be more specific. Now, I am not a huge fan of hot dogs at all, but I will get one of these at the ballpark every summer because, after all, what's a ball game without a hot dog?
ANYWAY, when we got out to eat locally (and we go out a lot sadly) Ryan almost always gets a hot dog. They are almost always Zweigles.
For Rachel's party we bought a huge pack of hot dogs at B.J.s - since we had 50 people coming over. Last night I told Ryan we were having hot dogs (and all the other party leftovers) for dinner. He told me that he didn't want the "yucky" ones from Rachel's party! When I asked why they were yucky he said they just were and they were to tiny. I think he meant skinny!
My boy child - a true Rochestarian* :)

* He can also identify a Wegmans truck on the road as well as requesting Abbotts for ice cream :)

One finger old!

2007-06-25T10:06:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was Rachel's BIG day and what a great day she had!!!

The weather couldn't have been better - 80's and sunny with just a little breeze - which is great considering that we had almost 50 people coming to our house! There was plenty of food and drinks (and cake, of course!). And no lack of presents for the princess. We had a pinata (or a pana as Ryan called it) for all the kids that were in attendance and I realized that the birthday Princess was the only girl at her party! She had a harem of boys ranging from 2 to 6 years old! Lucky girl :)

She got GREAT gifts - too many clothes, but I kind of expected that! From Mommy and Daddy she got a newborn Cabb*age P*atch, from Aunt Renee a sheep rocker, Aunt Kara bought her books and a footprint charm for her bracelet (since she will, God willing, start walking this year!).

Ryan made out well too! Rachel gave him a D*ora lego set, he got some clothes and the coolest Auntie ever gave him a S*piderman slip & slide. Rob just called me to tell me that Ryan was bugging him about playing with it and then went upstairs for a little bit. He came back down in his bathing suit! How cute is that????

In honor of becoming a big girl, Rachel decided that she could, in fact, sit herself up! After practicing all day Saturday, she is now a pro at it! Go, Baby Girl, Go!!!

Rachel's big birthday post!!!

2007-06-22T09:07:00.000-04:00

Hard to believe that a year ago today I was meeting with neonatologists to discuss what the situation may be after I give birth and this morning I was lugging cupcakes to the sitter's to celebrate that birth!
It's been a hell of a year - the whole preemie thing still gets me and I find myself saying "well, she was a preemie" at least once or twice a week! I hate that! She is a beautiful baby girl regardless of what she can (or can't) do!
That reminds me - I never did write about her EI evaluation. Basically what is boiled down to was that she was on target for her adjusted age in every area EXCEPT her gross motor skills. She was on par with 6 month olds (she was 9 almost 10 months adjusted). The therapist said her joints are hypotonic (which means she is a loosey goosey to the hilt!). Fortunately they don't seem to think that it is a sign of anything more serious, most likely it is caused by a combination of developing w/out amniotic fluid for a while and genetics (I am freakishly flexible and was a late walker as well). So she qualifies for an hour a week of physical therapy.
In the 3 weeks she has been receiving the therapy she has started scootching! YAY for scootching! She has also gotten herself to a seated position twice but no one saw her do it! She was laying down and then she was sitting. It's like the proverbial tree falling in the woods!!!
So, in a nut shell here is Rachel at 1:
Rachel has been overly healthy! She has had one cold all year! That is it! Did the Synagis help? Maybe, but then Ryan is a pretty healthy kiddo as well. I just grow em that way I guess!
* FOOD! Loves anything and everything! Her favorites are strawberries, hamburgers, ice cream, watermelon, basically anything sweet. She was fully weaned at 11 months, had about 3 weeks of formula and then went to whole milk. She is indifferent to it really. If it's in the right cup she will suck it down, otherwise she could care less about it.
* about weaning: it was a slow process honestly. Around 9 months I cut out on of my 2 daily pumping sessions but still nursed her in the am and before bed. At 10 months I cut out the second one and at 11 months she was no longer showing an interest in nursing at all. I feel like we did a combo mommy/baby led weaning thing and it worked for us. She never acted like she needed it (but she's not an overly cuddly baby to begin with so I think she always viewed it as nutritional more than comforting). I am hapy with the whole thing. I never thought I'd nurse even close to that long anyway!
*SLEEP! Rachel is an angel sleeper! 2 naps, and down for the night at 7:30 - sleeps until 6:30. I can't complain. If only she could teach her brother how to do that!!!
Things she can do:
Sit unsupported (if you put her there)
clap
wave
bang things together (LOUDLY)
feed herself - she will occasionally entertain the thought of a spoon but fingers are faster and this girl loves her food!
SCREECH if she doesn't get her way :)
THings she can say:
Mommy
Ha (this means hat and is said as she is putting her bowl (usually full of food) on her head
No
Yayan - we are pretty sure this is Ryan as it is said when he is not around OR when he is annoying her!
So, all in all, pretty damn good for a 35 weeker who couldn't quite figure out the whole breathing thing a year ago, huh?

Rachel at 4 days old - off CPAP but still needing some O2

Rachel at 2 months still wearing preemie clothes

4 months on Halloween

Chubby at 6 months

A 9 month old Rachel Bunny!

A bathing beauty at almost 11 months

the most beautiful birthday girl in the WORLD!!!

So much happening....

2007-06-21T08:52:00.000-04:00

Alright - I still haven't made a final decision but for weeks I have been thinking about closing the blog. I never write anymore, I never have anything exciting to say, and well, I am boring.
I like blogging - I love reading blogs even more! If I could just sit down for 10 minutes every day and write I think I would be less overwhelmed by writing an entry.
The kids are doing so many amazing things that I really want to remeber that perhaps I should contine writing!
What the heck???
Now for our REALLY big news.....
I am, most unexpectantly and shockingly, PREGNANT!!! YUP! After finally deciding that our family of 4 was perfect, fate decided we should be a party of 5!!!
I'm due around mid-January (I will be 10 weeks tommorrow).
So I didn't write about this before because honestly, I wasn't very excited about it until recently. I was actually more upset and scared than anything. Now our families know and seem excited and I guess it has worn off on us, because we are pretty happy!
This changes everything - I need a bigger car (I am pretty sure 3 car seats won't fit in an Elantra!), if it is another girl the kids will have to swap rooms since Ryan's is much bigger and could accomodate 2 kids. All logistical I know. The one thing that we know we have enough of is love.
I am still freaked out though - Ryan will be just over 3 and Rachel will be 18 months when this one comes! YIKES! My new theory is to raise them like a liter of puppies! At least there will always be someone to play with, right?
So, those of you with 3 - what's it REALLY like?????

Mexican Fest, allergies, laziness and the weekend to come

2007-05-04T14:00:00.000-04:00

We had a Cuatro De Mayo party here at work for lunch today. It was fun - the food was good and it was a nice distraction. I have, however, noticed increased raffic flow to the rest rooms!!!
The beautiful day of gardening I had on WEdnesday has officially kicked off allergy season for me! Saved by Benadr*l but I seriously can only take that while lying down in bed and with nothing ahead for 6-8 hours!
I have been so tired lately - like bone tired. Wednesday I fell asleep in Ryan's bed with him and woke up at 10 and went to my own bed! At any time of day I could probably close my eyes and LAY DOWN! So exhausted!
This weekend - WALKAMERICA!!! The weather is supposed to be GREAT! Rachel's Proud NICU Graduate shirt is in and is adorable! I can't decide if she should wear the pink or the green capri pants with it though :) It amazes me how much she has grown since she was born. I remember looking at her and thinking how impossible it seemed that she would actually ever be as cubbilicious as Ryan was in infanthood and now she is even more delicious than I ever could have dreamed!
Tuesday is her Early Intervention evaluation. I am kind of excited for it. I am interested in seeing where she falls over all for babies her age. Oh and Tuesday my dad is being honored at a luncheon so Rob and I will be going to that as well. We are also going to the circus next week - how fun does that sound????
And to end - a picture!
This is Rachel last month (so almost 10 months). If you look hard you can see the 2 bottom teeth!

I match!

2007-05-03T09:00:00.000-04:00

It appears that my pants match my blog today! It is supposed to be in the upper 60's so capri pants it is! I am so glad the weather is finally decent around here - the lack of sun was really starting to get to me. I was only half joking when I told Rob I thought I was suffering from seasonal affect disorder!
Yesterday was the United Way Day of Caring. My team from work spent the day gardening and washing windows at the Sisters of St. Joseph Motherhouse. This is pretty much where old nuns go (and some priests). There is skilled nursing, assisted living, and a memory care unit. So it was pretty fun - the nuns were very interested in us and the Bishop was there celebrating mass which we were invited to join in for. I am going to count it as my church obligation for the week since Sunday is the March of Dimes Walk America! We are walking in honor of Rachel and raising money as thanks for all the resaerch and support MOD has done to help preemies like Rachel.

Look at me!!!

2007-05-01T14:44:00.000-04:00

Just some spring cleaning of the old (tired and seldom updated blog!) Also a more recent picture of me and the kids. By recent I mean Thanksgiving of 2006! Rachel is much bigger now and Ryan, well, he is still Ryan!

10 & 31

2007-05-01T08:56:00.000-04:00

I have been a terrible blogger! So terrible, but I want to change! Isn't that half the battle, really?

So starting today I am going to post every day (except maybe the weekends because blogger and my home computer are not very friendly!)

I'll start with the kiddie update:

Rachel

10 months old! Rachel had her 9 month well baby visit 2 weeks ago. She was 27 and a half inches and 17 pounds 4 oz - not to bad for a preemie, huh? Everything else checked out fine but we are getting an evaluation by Early Intervention for her gross motor skills. She is not moving. Plain and simple. She can roll, but doesn't. She can sit, but only if you put her there. Part of it, I think, is contentment. She is just very easy going and will sit if you sit her, lay down if you put her on her back and not complain at all about either. However, it appears that the muscle tone in her legs is very weak so off to therapy we go! I did read something about preemies and mucle tone development. Apparently the time spent developing outside the womb can hinder their development. Given that she only spent 5 weeks outside it seems that this could be a reasonable reason for her mild delay.

Other than that she is an absolute ANGEL! She is off baby food entirely and eats what we are eating every meal! She feeds her self, thank you very much! And does a pretty good (albeit messy) job of it!

She hasn't said any new words since last month I don't think although she does now say "mo" when she is done with what you have given her to eat and wants more. I am calling it a word! Rob agrees :)

2 teeth - bottom ones (first one came in 3/18). Occasional bouts of late night teething but it appears that Hylands Teething Tablets are the BOMB! Pop a couple in her mouth and she is good for the rest of the night!

I have stopped pumping at work so Rachel gets 2 4 oz bottles of formula a day. She doesn't seem to mind and will actually take a bottle from me. Sometime this month I plan to transition the second bottle to a sippy cup since she seems to need a snack around then as well.

Out of her infant carrier and in her big girl car seat. She seems happier now and loves to play in the car and stare at Ryan while I am driving. her favorite game is to remove her hat and wave it aruond victoriously until I call her out on it and then she stops and looks like "how does she know what I am doing???" - I have a mirror!

still loves riding around in the sling. I use it whenever we go somewhere with a single kid cart or if I just don't want to deal with the double stroller.

Ryan

What can I say that hasn't been said before? Ryan is still cracking me up all the time, but he is also challengin me at every turn! Rob says it is because he is just like me an when he gets an idea in his head there is no changing his mind. He is probably right :)

Also, can anyone tell me why he feels the need to SQUEEZE his sister???? OH and knock her down all the time? It is driving me crazy!!!

9 & 30

2007-04-05T10:25:00.000-04:00

So I am a little late in posting Rachel's 9 month post and a little early in Ryan's 30 month post - it balances out!
Rachel
9 months! How did that happen? She is such a sweet little girl and so darn cute as you can well see!
This past month brought Rachel's first illness - not sure what it was, but she was sick for a good 2 weeks and so was I! Fun times I tell you. She had a cold and then her eyes were all goopy, and then the cough, and fatigue - she slept 20 hours on Rob's birthday! Being cautious about her preemie-ness I had her at the doctor 3 times. So after 3 visits, one chest x-ray, and a round of antibiotics (for the alleged early stages of an ear infection - I am a bad mommy, I didn't give her the full dose) it was determined that we probably had the flu. We are recovered and Rachel received her very last EVER Synagis injection 2 weeks ago. She was 17 pounds even. She sees the pediatrician next week for her well baby visit.
Food
Rachel easts like a champ! She still nurses 4 times a day (or takes a bottle) but the good news is that she will now take a little formula with her BM! YAY! I only have to pump once a day now! She eats what we are eating for the msot part. If we are having something heavy or spicy she has macaroni. Her pincher grasp rocks now and she focuses so intently on her food that meal time with her is very enjoyable.
Last week my FIL watched the kids and gave her: 1/2 a pice of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, corn, watermelon, and then a jar of baby food! That was the night that I was christened in puke by one of my kids! Fun times all around. Of course Rob was working and she did it 3 times and then had 2 nasty diapers. She was fine after that though.
development
Rachel sits like a champ. She also rolls when she wants to and reaches for everything she can get her chubby little hands on. Still does not want to use her legs at all and would rather lay than sit. She gets her developmental eval this month as well.
She is right on target socially! She played peek a boo last weekend for the first time (well the first time that she initiated the game, she will kiss you bakc but only if you make a bog MWAH! when you kiss her. She says Dada to Rob occasionally and MaMa when she is tired, hungry, or upset (aren't I lucky?). She laughs and loves to be tickled and played with. She hates baths passionatly and is very leery of Ryan still. He can play with her but only when she deems it to be okay. Yes, she is a princess!

Ryan
2 and a half! WOW! That sounds so much closer to 3 than I ever imagined he'd be! He is quite a personality. 85% of the time I want to kiss him and 15% I want to strangle him! I am guessing it is typical 2.5 behavior!
Still talking up a storm and still challenging me at every turn
Since I am just finishing this up a month later I can't remember which Ryanisms are from March and which are from April so I will just post them in the next post I am doing (later this morning!)

8 & 29

2007-02-22T09:27:00.000-05:00

This kids are 8 months and almost 29 months! How crazy! I have started telling people that Ryan is 2 and a half already (he will be in a month!). And Rachel - 8 months! How crazy is that?!!?!
So here they are:
Rachel at 8 months
It seems that the best way to get Rachel to start doing a new skill is to complain about it on the blog! Right after I posted last month she started rolling! And rolling, rolling, rolling! She manages to get stuck behind her bedroom door and she tries to get under her crib all the time - silly girl! Earlier this week I left her in the middle of her room and took a shower. I got out and she was cooing away but sounded really close. I thought she had just rolled to the heat vent (which is connected to the one in the bathroom) and that was why she sounded so close. NOPE! She was right outside the door! Time to gate the stairs again...
Rachel attempts to sit and as of last night she is able to spend a few seconds unassisted and then she topples over. I think another week or so.

*scratch that* I wrote this on 2/23 and by 2.26 she was able to sit all be herself! Of course, Ryan now likes to play "baby bowling" and see how easily he can knock her down

She is following Ryan's patterns of development (a few months behind, but the time between new skills is eerily similar). She is really vocal but no distingishable sound yet. She needs to get her hearing checked next month because of the horrible antibiotics she received in the NICU, but I think she is alright, just a slow talker (which is fine given that Ryan never shuts up!). Dadada was her string of choice but now she is on to bababa. And still with the Ah-ooOO when she wants attention (and the slamming her legs onto the floor, crib mattress, whatever surface she happens to be laying on).
Food
Rachel eats a full jar of baby food 3 times a day. I feel kind of bad - I made most of Ryan's baby food, but I can't seem to find the time to do the same for Rachel. Second child syndrome I guess!
She seems to like everything we give her but sweet potatoes are the favorite by far! I was giving her fruit puffs and she got the concept of hand to mouth but has a really hard time actually getting one in! I opened the sweet potato ones and then she figured it out! She noshes on those and cheerios while we are eating dinner. She gets a sippy of water but isn't really very interested in it yet. I have also started giving her pieces of what we are eating and she really chews them! It's very cute to see this little toothless angel chewing away on pasta, bread, veggies, fruit.

She is still nursing, but again showing little interest in it (except first thing in the morning - she is like a boob junkie when she wakes up). I am still pumping twice a day and plan on doing so for another month and then dropping one session. I seem to be getting less and less milk, but then I noticed that when I send her to the sitter with two 6 ounce bottles, 2-3 ounces come back home. So I have just been sending her what I have pumped and that seems to be working okay. She no longer wants to nurse when I get home from work (which is nice because I can eat dinner in peace) but she is insistent on a bedtime nursing whereas before she was willing to skip that one. I don't mind, I am letting her lead the way... I think she will be self-weaned by her birthday or soon after though.
She's a cutie for sure, but so BALD! By 8 months Ryan had 2 real haircuts! Doesn't that just figure - the boy has a full head of hair and eyelashes I covet! Rachel's eyes have turned decidely green - just like her mommy! She still looks a lot like Rob though! Actually she looks like his sister in her baby pictures! Too funny!

Ryan

Ryan is 29 months old. Another month and I can start calling him two and a half! He is, in short, a genius! His verbal skills are superior, his motor skills rock, and most importantly he is a very creative thinker. He is a story teller through and through (occasionally I'll have to check with the sitter to see if it is a story or the truth) and has very specific ideas about how things should be. He is getting somewhat easier to discipline as he is able to understand the consequences to his actions (sometimes) and last weekend was told that he needed to nap in order to go to Papas. When he not only didn't nap but trashed his room instead, we called papa and cancelled our visit. Ryan sobbed for almost an hour afterwards. Broke my heart but it had to be done!

Mostly for this month I want to remember Ryan's words:

"bunglebees" - Bumblebees

"pot-tohns" popcorn

"locodile" - crocodile

"lavaololis" - ravioli

"puddun" pudding (with "team" - whipped cream)

He calls Rachel "achel", "baby duhl" "guhl"

"wafwafs" - waffles

"slevin" - seven

I am sure there are more but these are the funniest ones

When I tell him Daddy is at work he just sighs and says "making the meatball sauce".

We are going to Rhode Island for my FIL retirement in May and Ryan loves to talk about our upcoming trip:

"going to see Papa on the big boat, going in a simmin pool, gonna see mickey mouse, and donald mouse..." Not sure if he thinks we are going to Orlando after R.I. but won't he be sad to learn we are not. I did also tell him we are going to the aquarium and that they have fish so he has added "gonna see dolphins and sharks!" Hmmm, maybe I had better check it all out and let him know exactly what we will see!

Size wise Ryan is a peanut! Maybe a little taller, still around 25 pounds (he was 26 with his snow boots on). Wearing all 2T tops and 18-24 month pants. He is doing good on the potty so he is wearing pull ups now. He likes to pee standing up, but doesn't understand the difference between peeing and pooping and gets them confused all the time (and yes he has pooped on the floor because of this!)

Month 7

2007-01-26T09:36:00.000-05:00

It is so hard to believe that the Rachel Girl is 7 months old already!!!
It has been an uneventful month for her (which in my opinion is a good thing). At her last Synagis injection she was 15 lbs 2 oz (I am guessing about 26 inches). It was funny - she was happy and laughing until the nurse walked in the house and she saw her. Took one look and started to cry! Poor Baby KNEW what she was in for. She had her normal 3 days of a runny nose after the shot (how weird is that).
Rachel is still not rolling over. She can go tummy to back but only once (and she was really angry) has she gone back to tummy. I like to think it is laziness, but I am beginning to wonder if it is something more. If she hasn't mastered it in a month I think we will go see the doctor again. Other things she doesn't do - bear weight on her legs. Again something I hope she masters this month. I think her efforts have been so focused on growing for the last 7 months that her development has taken a back seat. Perhaps that will change soon!
Ryan is the most hysterical 2 year old I have ever known! He uses complete sentences on a pretty regular basis and I think we can understand what he is saying 95% of the time. He understands so much more than I thought he could at this age, but I am so glad for it. He loves doing "projects" with his baby sitter and coloring pictures for everyone (although paint is his preferred medium!). We took him to see D*sney on Ice last week and he had such a great time! Totally worth the $8 popcorn, right? Most recent cute Ryanism: Last night I was feeding Rachel some sweet potatoes and Ryan was whining for some pudding. I told him he had to wait and asked him to tell his sister a story while he waited. He thought for a minute and then said "Once upon a time there was a big, Big BIG monster. He ate all the pudding. The end!" I laughed so hard I got tears in my eyes! Ooh and he told me when I was home sick with a wicked sinus infection Monday that I was "pretty like a princess". Just one more way my boy is being groomed to be the perfect husband :)

Happy Friday!

Check out the legs!!!

2007-01-08T08:44:00.000-05:00

I love baby rolls!!!

Happy 2007!!!

2006-12-29T16:08:00.000-05:00

We were unable to get our act together enough to send out Christmas cards so I am sending New Year's cards. Also, I have never sent a letter with our cards, but what the heck? We had an AMAZING year :) Here is the letter we are sending:
Happy 2007! We hope everyone had a happy and healthy holiday season and that you all enjoyed yourselves as much as we did. We’ve never really written a “Christmas” letter in the past but we feel that with all the excitement we have had this year it was warranted.
2006 started out with Ryan in full blown toddler mode – he was so much fun – most of the time! We already knew that we would be adding to our family and in February we found out a daughter would be rounding out our clan!

Rachel Louise entered our lives at 12:05am on Saturday, June 24th. She was born 5 weeks to soon and weighed 5 pounds 3 ounces and was 19 inches long (yes, that is as skinny as it sounds). It seemed that Miss. Rachel’s lungs were not quite ready for the outside world and she spent some time in the Special Care Nursery at Rochester General Hospital. She spent several days on oxygen and antibiotics and then a few days just resting and eating. The nurses who cared for her were amazing and made us feel so much more comfortable leaving every evening without our baby girl. Thanks to the incredible medical staff at RGH we were able to bring home with us on the 4th of July (10 days after her birth).

Ryan was beside himself to have a companion in the car on the ride home from the hospital (he was to young to visit) and continues to be enamored with his “baby girl” six months later! Rachel was such a sweet and peaceful newborn that our transition from a family of three to a family of four went very smoothly (not counting the two kid time warp we get into every time we try to leave the house!).

We spent the summer just getting to know our little beauty and watching Ryan grow. We also visited with family in Michigan towards the end of the summer and both kids had a wonderful time getting to know their extended family. October brought about Rachel’s baptism (her God Parents are her Uncle Mike (Rob’s brother) and Kara (Andrea’s best friend) and Ryan’s second birthday! Is it possible that he is already two???

At two, Ryan is sleeping in a real bed and beginning to potty train (wish us luck!). He loves Sponge Bob, Little Einsteins (or any other Playhouse Disney show), Hockey (watching it on t.v. and playing air hockey at Papa Tony’s), books, singing, and various assorted mischief and mayhem!

In the six months since her birth, Rachel has morphed into a 14 pound 6 ounce beauty! She has a smile that can light up a room. She currently loves laughing, stealing toys from the dog, rolling onto her back, and eating sweet potatoes (hey, what else do you do at 6 months! I was tempted to lie and add quantum physics to her list of favorites, but who would believe that???) She has been such a joy to us and truly is our little miracle girl!

Rob and Andrea have done nothing extraordinary this year, other than parent these two wonderful children. Rob is still the Culinary Manager at the Olive Garden and Andrea returned back to her work as a Paralegal after a short (12 week) maternity leave. We both feel incredibly blessed to be the parents of Ryan and Rachel!

So, we hope to see each and everyone of you in 2007, but if we don’t we hope your year is filled with joy and happiness!

Maybe she can just drool her autograph

2006-12-22T09:01:00.000-05:00

Rachel is going to be famous!!! Okay, not famous, but she is going to appear in our local paper next Friday!!!
They are always looking for local pictures to put in their on-line edition and I sent this one:

because it's funny! They liked it and are going to put it in the print edition! YAY!

More Rachelisms
Rachel will be 6 months old on Sunday!!! How is that possible? SERIOUSLY????
She got weighed yesterday during her Synagis vaccine and was 14 pounds 6 ounces! Amazing to me seeing as how she was less than 5 pounds when she came home from the hospital! She is enjoying her new bumbo seat (and early Christmas present) and actually got angry at Ryan this morning for taking her toy! Good for her! She is doing very well (we think) and I can't wait to see what the pediatrician and the neoatalogist have to say on January 3rd when she has her well baby/NICU follow up appointment!
It amazes me that she went from this:

to this in 6 months!!!

She is truly a gift to us!

Ryan, the man
Oh lordy! 2 years old is fun, right? RIGHT?!?!?!? Okay so 75% of the time Ryan is great! A true joy and a little smarty pants. The other 25% you ask? HA! He is a non-sleeping, food throwing, disagreeable little punk! So he's 2 okay?
He cracks us up pretty much every day! Just yesterday he was playing with my MIL's little nativity set and dropped Baby Jesus and broke him! I promtply sent him to time out explaining that he broke Nana's Baby Jesus and he had to say he was sorry which he did. Then this morning he burst into the bathroom while I was getting ready for work and promptly exclaimed "I'm Baby Jesus!!!" Rob's response from the other room was "good. Baby Jesus can make his own breakfast!!" So funny :)
Ryan is LOVING Christmas and digging Santa provided he is bringing an Elmo guitar (he is) and paint (check). Those and cereal are all he has asked SAnta for this year!
Anyway, I'll post more after the holidays! So enjoy!!!

My absence and some pictures

2006-12-14T09:11:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to post quickly about where the heck I've been for the last month. I am here. We are all fine - better than fine - GREAT! I just didn't post for a while because someone from work was fired and word on the street was that it was for blogging at work. Of course, I never talk about work on here so I guess I am okay but I thought it wise to play it cool for a while.
Anyway...
PICTURES!!!

An attempt at a family photo on Thanksgiving. Ys, my husband ALWAYS looks like he has no idea who the rest of us are in pictues!

2 kids on Santa's lap and no one is crying??? A Christmas miracle!

I am STILL trying for the perfect Christmas card pictures. I like this one but my kids are way cuter than this!

Rachel really likes to sit. Sadly, she can't do it alone. Santa is bringing her a bumbo seat!

So she hates the hat. I LIKE and I'm the mommy!!!

Meet my children - day & night

2006-11-09T08:51:00.000-05:00

It's 10pm in our house and time for one last check on the kiddos before bed (and after LOST, but don't get me started on how boring I now find that show to be!). This is what I find:
Ryan - jumps to a sitting position the minute I open his door. Flings himself back down very dramtically and kicks all the covers to the floor. His hair is a mess, his jammies are all askew and there are 44 billion toys and books in his bed (I guess he was waiting for me to come read "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" - I feel bad I didn't, BUT we had already read 3 books!!)!
Rachel: out cold. On her back. Legs crossed at her ankles, arms up by her head. SNORING away.....
Jump ahead to 6:00 am.
Ryan is up and begging for cerealmilk and JoJo
I had to wake Rachel up to feed her an hour later. She went to bed at 8:00 and stayed there - asleep - until 7:00
So, I guess one good sleeper is better than none, huh?
It just kills me that people always assume (and rightfully so) that our infant is the cause of our sleepless nights!

Ryanisms

2006-11-03T14:05:00.000-05:00

Okay, there is so much to say about Ryan I have no idea where to begin...
How about the top 5 Ryanisms of the past few months:
1. Just this morning Ryan was "helping" me dress Rachel (becacuse I apparently have no idea that her socks go on her feet!) and he pointed out "Mommy, 'achel has buttons!" He was in fact referring to her little nipples. He says he doesn't have them but I think he may be wrong!

2. Ryan can tell a joke! Well not really but he was knocking on the table one night and saying "knock knock"
Me: "who's there"
R: "applejuice"
Me: "apple juice who?"
R: "I don't know"
Of course we laughed and now that is his joke!

3. Pirates, how Ryan loves pirates! I taught him that they say "argh, me matey" and he now calls them "mateys". He got the FP little people pirate ship for his birthday and now he is always looking for his "mateys". He needs to have at least 1 in bed with him :)

4. Somewhere along the way he developed an obsession with Sponge Bob (who I, personally, despise). He seems to know him well enough to call him "Bob". After story time one lovely day while I was playign SAHM (also known as my maternity leave), Ryan was sporting a Sponge Bob sticker while we were at B.J.'s. The lovely old cashier aske dhim if it was Sponge Bob on his arm and he looked at her like she had sprouted a third eye and said "no, it's BOB!!!" Excuse me!
Along those lines he corrected my co-worker on Halloween when he told him he was a very nice looking dragon. Ryan insisted he was a "sinosaur". He really was a dragon!

5. just some funny words...
octopus - "ockeypuck"
Turkey - 'turty, dobble dobble, dobble"
pillow - "peeyow"
Rachel - "achel" OR Baby Duhl (girl)

he also sings and dances - his favorite songs to get his groove on to are the Mickey Mouse club( the old one), JoJo's Circus theme, and "my humps" - so well rounded!

CONGRATS!

2006-11-03T14:03:00.000-05:00

To Rachel's Aunt Kara - she just got herself a brand spankin' new niece!
Ella Sophia was born yesterday afternoon and is 6 pounds 4 (or 14 I couldn't hear very well) ounces and 19 inches. Everyone is doing well!

The Run Around (also known as how to waste half your life trying to get a question answered from an insurance company)

2006-11-02T16:10:00.000-05:00

So, Rachel is going to be receiving Synagis once a month.
About a month ago I got the precert letter from the insurance company - YAY!
A week before her 4 month well baby visit I called the pediatricians office to let them know so they could be ready for it. Nope! Turns out it needs to be administered by a visiting nurse at home. They should contact me - no problem. Riiiiiiight
Then the pharmacy calls last night to tell me they are having it delivered to us today! I call the peds again - they refer me to my insurance company. Thus begins the tale:
I called Anthem. I couldn't figure out who I needed to speak to so I chose pre-certification since Rachel was "pre-certified" for the vaccine. They show no record of it which is odd considering that I have received a letter from them as has the doctor AND the pharmacy that delivers the vaccine (which is being delivered today). The first person I spoke to put me on hold and the next thing I knew I was on the line with the pharmacy who knows nothing about administering it.
Now they are saying that our doctor needs to administer it (which we were told they do not administer it in office at in the Rochester area - either at home or in the pulmonology department of Strong). I was put through to Customer Service to get a phone number for IRIS (or is it Iris' phone number?), they give me the number but guess what? Disconnected number!!!
I call the insurance company back and get the right number only to find out that you need to know the exact person you are calling or else it disconnects you! GREAT!
I call the pediatrician one more time who gives me the visiting nurse number. Okay, but they can't find Rachel in their records. Oh that is because they have her as Baby Girl nolastname! Once we get her name thing squared away they tell me they need a Synagis form from the doctor. Another call to the doctor who has no idea what they are talking about! Call the nursing service back, and the women has the nerve to be annoyed with me about but faxes the form to the doctor! UGH! WHY??? Why all this hassle for someone to stab my poor baby girl in the meaty little thigh????

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

2006-10-31T07:58:00.000-05:00

I will try again to post some pictures!!!

This is Rachel at 4 days old. She had just been taken off the CPAP and put on the nasal canulas. The CPAP squished her head and I thought she looked like a Klingon! Thankfully that went away :)

Here is Rachel at a month old. She looks like an actual newborn now!!!

Rachel at 2 months! Thanks to Walmart she had quite the preemie wardrobe

Rachel at 3 months - getting bigger every day!!

Rachel last week!!! Isn't she a precious flower?!?!?

The first picture of the kids! Ryan didn't get to see Rachel in the hospital so their first introduction was in the car on the way home!! Good thing we live close to the hospital - he was so excited that there was a baby next to him that he talked about it all the way home! He loves her so much. She is the last person he "tisses" before he goes to bed and the first person he looks for in the morning. I am hopeful that stays that way, but I am sure the love will be lost when she steals a toy from him!!!

Yes, we are all still alive....

2006-10-27T15:04:00.000-04:00

I guess my lack of posting boils down to this: I can not finish writing about Rachel's NICU stay. She spent 10 days there. I KNOW there are people who spend months there and I truly feel for them. What a terrible, terrible place to be for so long. We were fortunate. I will never forget that. However, I would like to temporarily forget the whole ordeal. 'kay?
Anyway, in an effort to attempt to bring you all current in our lives I will be doing a list:

Rachel is doing very well! She is 4 months old and at her last visit she was 12 pounds 4 ounces and 23 inches (up from 4 pounds 12 ounces and 19 inches on her NICU discharge. She received 4 vaccines on Wednesday and was kind of uncomfortable but manageable afterwards.
Working backwards here -- Rachel is totally breastfed. Well, I pump and she receives bottles twice a day 5 days a week as I am now back to work (9/11 was my first day back). It is really surprising to me that I have been able to make this work. She got a super slow start. Nothing for 3 days and then bottles exclusively as she had a "weight gain" protocol to meet. So every feeding after she came home we would try to nurse for a few minutes and then she would take the bottle. Slowly she began nursing more and take less from the bottle and by her due date she was breast feeding exclusively. Right now my goal is to get her to 9 months on BM - through the cold and flu season. If we make it that long than maybe to her birthday but I am not making any promises!!!
Rachel will be receiving Synagis - the RSV vaccine. We are incredibly grateful that our insurance saw fit to give it to her and pay for it ($500 a month). I hope we can keep her healthy this year!
Ryan is 2!!! How in the hell did that happen??!? He is a typical 2 year old, but still speaking like a much older child. I will post the latest Ryanisms soon - there are too many cute ones and they deserve their own post!!!
October 1 - we baptized Rachel! She was so beautiful but so incredibly unhappy about the whole ordeal! Her Aunt Kara (my best friend) did a wonderful job with her though
Developmentally I was really concerned about Rachel for a while. She seemed to be more than a month behind (where she should have been) but in typical preemie fashion she suddenly caught up! She is doing everything she should for her adjusted age and some of the stuff for her actual age!
Rob and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary! Has it really only been a year? It has been a hell of a year....

I guess those are the keys for now. And what you have all been waiting for....

PICTURES!

yea, I can't seem to get the pictures to load! GRRRR! I promise once I figure out what the heck is wrong I will get them up! They are worth it! Rachel is babylicious!

Stop this crazy ride - I want off!!!!

2006-08-07T20:00:00.000-04:00

I realize that it has been a full two months since my last post. I apologize for that. The first half of my absence was due to nothing new to write about. The second half? Well, it has been crazy.
Here is the cliff note version: routine doctor appointment, hospital stay, premature birth, NICU stay, crazy toddler.
Want the rest? Well, sit back and relax - here it is (at least part of it - I am, it seems, very lazy while on matenrity leave and can't bring msyelf to finish this post, but I will later AND I ahve added a picture for extra cuteness!!!)....
May 1- June 21
I honestly had nothing to write about. Ryan was being the picture perfect toddler. He was sick over Memorial Day weekend and then I was sick after that, but nothing earth shattering. Just a cold (and an ear infection in the little one). Father's Day weekend I really started to complain about being pregnant! Everything was so different! The good thing? I was carrying much smaller than I did with Ryan so I remained comforatble. The bad? WEll, every time the baby moved it HURT! Really hurt to the point of bringing me to tears at times. She had also slowed down considerably but was still moving enough to satisfy me. Plus I had an appointment on the 22nd. I intended to mention all this to the midwife then.
June 21
Woke up feeling miserable. Tired and sore, but strangely energetic (like I wanted to clean the whole house). The phone rang shortly before 7:30 and Rob had to go to work so I decided to stay home with Ryan. I cleaned the enitre house before my 3:00 midwife appointment and ultrasound.
The ultrasound was first. It was to check the location of the placenta since it had been too low for a vaginal birth at 30 weeks. So at 35 weeks and 1 day it had moved! YAY! However, the tech was considered about the fluid level being really low. She left me to get dressed (yup, it was a dildo cam one) and Rob asked what that meant. I was so nonchalant about it. I said I was probably going to have to drink more water, and stay home until my due date!
We went upstairs and I should have known there was something wrong when I saw my midwife, the ultrasound tech, and two doctors conferring.
Routine stuff. Blood pressure was great and I had lost 2 pounds. Caroline (midwife) came in and told me that the fluid level was very low and they were admitting me to the hospital to be rehydrated (who even knew it was possible). She said it usually works and that I should be able to go home the next day and that I would be on bedrest, etc. So we were a little nervous, but not scared yet. Honestly, getting Ryan taken care of was my main concern.
So we got the hospital. A non-stress test showed Little Miss boggying away and as happy as a clam. I was hooked up to an IV and force fed 24 ounces of water every 3 hours all night long. As fun as it sounds! Oh the midwife performed my group B strep test "just in case".
June 22
Discharged at 9am. Ultrasound at the midwife office at 9:15. Readmitted at 9:30. So the rehydrating didn't work and I was going to be induced! At 35 weeks and 2 days - YIKES!
I met the OB who would be taking care of me now and was told that 98% of 35 week babies do just fine and go home in a few days. An ultrasound showed LM to be around 5 pounds which is a nice healthy weight for her gestational age.
Spent all day being monitored and waiting. It wasn't until 7:00 that night that someone FINALLY got things started. A staff midwife inserted the cervadil and a very nice nurse (who we would get to know very well) finally gave me a real room! WEll, sort of a real room. I needed to deliver in the high risk unit - steps away from the OR and the NICU.
June 23 - The Birth Story
The Cervadil didn't do a thing - no surprise considering that I went 10 days past term with Ryan. The mnonitors showed such a healthy baby that another ultrasound was ordered. ITv was performed by a resident who decided that there was plenty of fluid and told me I could probably go home! YAY! I called Rob who had gone home to shower and take care of the dog. WEll then my doctor came in and showed the resident how to check if the pockets are fluid or cord and guess what? Yup, they were all cord! At this point I was told that there were 2-4 cm of fluid when there should be around20-25cm. YIKES!
They broke my water (strange I know, but they were trying to start labor naturally) and 2 hours later started the Pitocin.
The rest of the afternoon passed uneventfully and around 7 my contractions started to feel real and painful.
At 9pm the doctor came to talk to me about pain control. I was confident that I was at LEAST 6 cm, but a quick check showed me at 2. Barely. DARN IT!
I was so afraid to get an epidural as the last time around it didn't take, so they started with the Nubain. I spent the next hour like a drunk girl at a frat party. I kept passing out after each contraction and was answering questions no one asked!
Around then I sent my mom and Kara home since it looked like a long night ahead. My sister stayed though.
At 10:45 or so another exam showed that I was only at 4 cm. Fearing a long night ahead and a long pushing time I asked to see the anesthesologist. HE was wonderful! He looked at my crooked back and where my last epidural had been and decided it was up to high and that is why I never got relief from it.
So he got started. It was in place and working by 11 which is good since my contractions were literally non-stop at that point. The baby's heart rate beagn to drop while Rob was out getting my sister (they only allowed one person in the room during the epidural) so the nurse decided to "tickle" the baby's scalp. You can imagine how that is done! So there we are - the nurse with her hand in a very intimate spot when she gets this really panicky look on her face. She calmly reaches for the phone and pages my doctor. Apparently I was 8 centimeters!
My sister quickly called my parents (who thankfully live about 10 minutes away) and the nurse informed us that the doctor was finishing up a c section and would be right in.
When they checked me again 10 minutes later, the nurse had Rob hand her the phone and she called the doctor again to let her know that she was actually holding the baby's head in her hand! 4 quick pushes later and at 12:05am Rachel Louise was here!!!
She was screaming loudly right away and got a 7 and 8 on her Apagars. She weighed 5 lbs 13 oz and was 19 inches long. I was allowed to hold her briefly but she was grunting and they wanted to get her to the NICU for monitoring.
So, I was cleaned up and stitched (I tore slightly where I had been cut the last time) and taken to a real room - with a window. Here I'll say this: this was definitely an easier delivery than Ryan's. With him I pushed for 4 hours and then was sewen back together for another 2 hours. This peanut just popped out! 3 pounds really makes a difference!
We went and saw Rachel and she looked great! Her nurse said she was doing really well and that they would give her a bath when she warmed up a little and that she most likely would go home in 3 days.
Since it was now 3am, I went to sleep and Rob went home.
A few hours later I decided to go check on my little princess.
June 24
What a difference a few hours makes. When I got down to the NICU, Rachel was in a bubble. Really no other way to describe it. It was a plastic thing over her head that delivered oxygen to her in a mist form. Apparently it is the lowest form of oxygen they give. She was also on an IV for anitbiotics since the cause of the low fluid was unknown and infection hadn't been ruled out, as well as for fluids. We had missed rounds that day so I got all my info second hand from the nurses. They still thought Rachel was doing well enough to go home in a few days, but I thought she looked smaller and weaker than she had a few hours earlier.
Later that day I began my relationship with the breast pump. I was on the fence over breast feeding. I wanted to try, but Ryan did so well on formula that I wasn't planning on trying to hard. When it became clear that we were going to have a preemie I decided I needed to give her breast milk. That was an easy decision.
June 25
In the early morning hours there was a knock on my door and it was the NICU resident. Being hormonal, I started to cry before she even said anything! Turns out Rachel had gone into severe respitory distress while they had her off the oxygen and were taking chest x rays. They ended up putting her on CPAP. She looked so uncomfortable (just a note: we have no pictures of her on the CPAP - it is something we decided we never wanted to see again).
Later that morning we met with the neonatologist who showed us the xrays and explained why he was so concerned about Rachel. It seems that she had not yet begun to produce surfactant which is neccesary to breath. There was talk of transferring her to another hospital and giving her the surfactant. She would need more monitoring than our hospital could handle and the risks were very high. WE were waiting on her blood work before he decided what to do.
Fortunately they decided to wait it out and by that night she was doing much better.
June 26 - June 28
Rachel remained on the CPAP and received nothing but IV nutrients. They attempted to wean her off it a few times, but were not successful.
I left the hospital on the 25th. I missed Ryan and figured that since there was nothing I could do for Rachel - I couldn't even hold her - I should try to get home and finish getting ready for her. We went to the hospital 4-5 times a day, but it was hard. I felt guilty when I wasn't there, but when I was all I could do was stare at her.

Weekend Update

2006-05-01T09:43:00.000-04:00

What a great, but tiring, weekend we had!!!
Friday after work Ryan and I went shopping to spend the $20 his Aunt Renee gave him for Easter. We gought all kinds of cool toys for outside including golf clubs! I would love to show you a picture of Ryan "golfing" but I have no idea where the camera is and I keep forgetting to ask Rob where it is!
After Ryan was in bed I went and did some shopping. I got some great deals on summer clothes for Ryan at Kohl's. I also bought him his summer sandals, but they are still too big!! I am torn - should I buy the smaller size and hope his feet don't grow at all this summer? Or should I stick with the bigger ones and let him trip around in them for a few months and hope he grows into them? The difficulties of a slow growing child :)
Saturday morning we went to the zoo with my friend Pam and her 8 month old son, Tyler! Everyone had lots of fun! Ryan showed off all his animal names and noises and just had a great time over all! I walked myself into some serious back pain though!!!!
Saturday night we celebrated my father-in-laws birthday. It was a typical family gathering and I could write an entire post about it, but really what's the point? No amount of complaining will ever make any of them change and I am tired of trying. For the most part I try to let grandparents be grandparents, but my 2 biggest pet peeves came into play Saturday.
1. Ryan suddenly has very little interest in sitting at the table and enjoying a meal with his family. This makes me very sad as I used to lvoe our meal times together, but as soon as he starts to misbehave we clean him up and let him down. He is slowly learning that it is no fun to be away from the table while everyone else is eating! There is no one to play with! Unless we are at my in-laws. Then my FIL jumps right up and starts playing with him! UGH! No wonder my nephew was 5 before he was able to sit through a meal!
2. Ryan loves to ask for snacks! I know I have mentioned this before. So there we are just about ready to leave. Ryan is all ready for bed and has already brushed his teeth and he asks for raisins. My MIL then asks if he can have them, to which I said no. Come on! Not only does he NOT need the snack, but he doesn't need something sticky after he has brushed his teeth! He will fall asleep on the way home and then sleep with sticky sweet raisins on his teeth! Her response to Ryan? "your mommy said 'no'. Grandma would let you have them!" UGH!
I can't win....
Sunday was boring. Grocery store, naps (yes I took one too!), and the playground....
I really need to post some pictures soon, but again, that would require me finding the camera!!!

Long over due update....

2006-04-28T10:13:00.000-04:00

Ryan
Ryan had his 18 month well baby visit on Monday. He is 32 inches tall and 22.3 pounds. According to the NP this is the 60th percentile for height and 10th for weight. Now honestly, Ryan is much, MUCH shorter than most children his age (not just 40% of them) and he is even shorter than most babies 6 months younger than him. This leads me to believe that the ever so accurate method of measuring a wiggling child is not so accurate!
Nothing else to report from the visit. He is healthy, happy, and smart. We had no issues for them and they saw nothing out of the ordinary. 2 shots and we are done until he is 4 - YAY!
Last night we went shopping and I actually bought Ryan clothes this time. Of course, I bought him 2 pairs of 18 month shorts from Children's Place and brought them home for him to try on. Yeah, they are capri pants on him! And way to big in the waist! I guess I should have gotten the 12 months! I also got him 2 onesie t shirts for $2.49 each!!!! And I had a 15% off coupon! YAY ME!
Little Miss
L.M. is not so little anymore! This child has apparently grown massively in the last week because I went from looking a little pregnant at Easter to "OH MY GOD YOU'RE HUGE" pregnant this week!!! Her tiny fluttery movements have become more along the lines of Kung Fu movements and are now visible from the outside.
Up until this week I was eating terribly. Well, I was eating well. Too well actually! And too much! Now my appetite has gone down a little and I am starting to crave healthier foods! Ryan and I went grocery shopping Sunday and I think we spent $50 on fresh produce! YUM! We bought grapes, apples, strawberries, avocados, black berries, canteloupe....
No news is good news I am guessing! I have not heard from the midwives regarding my 1 hour glucose test so I assume I passed it! YAY! I did take it pretty early (24 weeks) since I had failed with Ryan, so there is a chance that I may have to take it again (like if I ever spill sugar into my urine). Next appointment is May 8th and comes with an ultrasound! L.M.'s Fairy Godmother, Kara, will be joining us to get a sneek peek at her soon to be Goddaughter! I am very excited, but (and this is warning, Kara) SHE HAD BETTER NOT CRY OR I WILL CRY AND ROB WILL DIE OF EMBARASSMENT!!!
Misc.
The construction on L.M.'s room is completed! One set of blinds are hung. The other needs to be cut since the window is not straight and the blind doesn't fit on the inside by less than 1/8 of an inch! Seriously! The mattress arrived yesterday and the rest of the furniture should be in this weekend. I can't wait to start putting the room together!
Left to do:
Get a rug
paint the strawberries and butterflies on the walls
get rocking chair (this will my Mother's day gift from my mom)
find a mobile (Ryan is not willing to part with his aquarium yet)
Paint the heart table to look like a strawberry
get lamps
I think that is it.....
Just as the room was being finished we developed a leak in our small downstairs bathroom. It leaked all over the place and under the linoleum and made a major mess. We are in the process of getting that fixed. The sink & toilet are in the basement right now. The floor has been removed, and new TILE has been purchased. The contractor was supposed to do it this week, but we have not seen him yet (this is what happens when friends hire friends. You don't pay much, but we are bathroomless for almost 2 weeks now!)
I am getting the bug to do some landscaping and I have a friend of my sister's coming tomorrow to give me an estimate.....
YIKES this is really long!
I should get back to work now!

I'm becoming a widow...

2006-04-19T10:47:00.000-04:00

A hockey widow...
The Buffalo Sabres have made the play offs - whoppee! Can you sense my excitement??!
My huband actually moved our "date night" this weekend to accomodate the play off schedule! The first evening out we have been able to have alone and he moves it so he can watch hockey?!?! UGH!
Have I ever mentioned how much Ryan LOVES to watch "OCKEY!!!"? It's almost obsessive - and I was actually wondering where it came from! HA!

HOLY CRAP!!!

2006-04-17T13:03:00.000-04:00

I only have 99 days until my due date!
YIKES!

45 down and 35 to go, 18 months, 25 weeks

2006-04-12T15:37:00.000-04:00

So what is the proper ettiquette on wedding thank yous? A year right? Oh wait that is for giving a gift. Apparently I should have had the thank you card written by Christmas. Well, I have had a stack of them written and sitting on my desk at work since November, but I decided this week that I REALLY need to finish writing them! So I am back to writing 10 a day! I will have them done by Monday and in the mail! YAY for me! I have written 45, well really Rob wrote like 5 of them, and have 35 left to write. I feel like such a slacker and they are hard to write now. What do I say?
"Thanks for the money - we have already spent it like 2 drunken sailors on leave" That just doesn't sound right! And in our defense, yes, most of it is gone, but we got a new furnace, central air, a new couch, and the remodeling of Little Miss' room.
18 months
Ryan turned a year and a half this past Saturday!! We celebrated the date by going to an Easter Egg hunt at a local library. He had such a great time! We got to decorate a foam egg, color, hear stories (which Ryan bypassed and chose to keep coloring), and then hunt for eggs. Each kid could take 2 eggs. After showing Ryan what he was looking for, he managed to find 5 eggs!!! What a smarty!
He is getting very bossy with other kids and the dog and actually received a time out for making a baby cry this weekend. His favorite activities are going outside, climbing on anything he can find, going outside and climbing, riding in his wagon outside, trying to put the dog in the wagon - this does not go over well, and spending time with mommy!
Verbally he is well into 2 word sentances and some would be 3 if he only remembered the please at the end of it! He makes decisions - milk or juice (which, by the way is water, but he thinks he is drinking juice!), what to wear - I let him pick out his jammies every night, which stories to hear before bed, etc. The funniest thing this month is his use of "um"!
Typical conversation:
Me: "Ryan, what do you want to drink"
Him: "ummm, milk. No No No Juice!"
It is so cute, but it really makes me notice how often Rob and I say um and it is much higher than I ever thought. I, of course, blame my use of it on pregnancy brain - I can never remember what I was about to say!
25 weeks
Or as my midwife pointed out to me on Monday, Little Miss could be here in as little as 12 weeks! YIKES!
My most recent appointment went well. I am measuring on target, have gained 12 pounds - which they don't think is a lot, but seems a little high to me. That would put me at less than where I was with Ryan at this point though!
Next appointment - May 8th with an ultrasound to check the placental location and then we are going to do every 3 weeks instead of every 2 unless there seems to be a problem of some sort (lets hope there isn't).
I really need to sign up for the breastfeeding class soon - I think there is one in May I should go to since June will be so busy with my mom's surgery and rehab.
That is another story for another day....
Oh, we found a new babysitter - Ryan starts May 1st with her. It was hard to do since we are so happy with our current sitter, but her new house is just to far from us and from my office to make sense for us to stay with her....

Blog filler...

2006-03-27T10:51:00.000-05:00

Because I would rather NOT be working this beautiful Monday morning....
Five Movies You Can Watch Over and Over:
1. A League of Their Own
2. Mermaids
3. My Cousin Vinnie
4. Donnie Brasco
5. Bring It On

Five embarrassing Songs that You Know All the Words To:
1. Copa - Barry Manilow
2. Dancing Queen - ABBA
3. I've Got Friends In Low Places - Garth
4. La-La-La- La - Bert & Ernie
5. Mnay stupid holiday songs from Elementary school that my sister and I sing evrey year to annoy my mom (especially on Thanksgiving)

Five Memorable Halloween Costumes:
1. A bunch of grapes (6th grade)
2. Dorothy - My mom made this costume for me when I was 23 and I wore it for 5 years! I was a cute Dorothy, but I left red glitter everywhere I went!
3. "A homicidal maniac, they look just like everyone else" See movie quotes below - to explain my lack of costume
4. A Queen Bee (and I dressed my then BF's dog as a bee to go with it!)
5. Ryan's mommy - I've worn this one 2 years in a row now!

Five Celebrities You Believe May Secretly be Alien:
1. The Olsen twins
2. Michael Jackson
3. Tom Cruise
4. Liza Minelli
5. Leonardo Di Caprio

Five Occupations that You Know You Could Never Do:
1. An accountant - I can't even balance my own checkbook
2. Dental Hygenist
3. Military - I could never be that active that early in the day
4. Nurse - God bless them all!!! I know I lack what it takes
5. Nail Tech - I think feet are gross! I don't know how my sister does it - she has even gotten ringworm from a client!!!

Five Books You’ve Recently Read Outside of Schoolwork:
1. The Going to Bed Book
2. Moo, Baa, Lalala
3. Fallen Leaves
4. Memoirs of a Geisha (again)
5. Your Pregnancy Week by Week

Five Ways to Perfectly Spend an Afternoon:
1. The zoo, ice cream and a long nap
2. A productive shopping trip
3. Napping while watching Lifetime movies
4. a clean, quiet house, a good book, and a blanket
5. Not at work!

Five Lines You Blatantly Stole From a Movie, TV, a Commercial, or Song:
1. "I'm a homicidal maniac, they look just like everyone else" Addam's Family
2. "There's no crying in baseball" A League of Their Own
3. "It looks like 2 pigs fighting under a blanket" to describe too tight pants - Steel Magnolisa
4. "I AM your mother" said in my best Darth Vader voice
5. "Did you ever know that you're my hero" but meant very sarcastically! Usually to my sister! Oh, from "Wind Beneath My Wings"

Not Your 5 Favorite Foods, But the 5 You’re Most Likely Eating:
1. uh, anything that is not moving???
2. Peanut Butter sandwich
3. Grapefruit soda
4. apples - like 3 a day!
5. Robin eggs - I LOVE Easter candy and the fact that it has been available for a month now!

Five People Who Must Immediately Respond:
Anyone who wants to! let me know so I can check your answers out!

To work or not to work....

2006-03-23T16:00:00.000-05:00

That's not really the question though....
I had always thought that I wouldn't return to work after my children were born. Then Ryan came, before the wedding, and the expenses were massive and, sadly, my salary was needed. After going back I realized that, as much as I love being home with my child, I always like being in the workforce. ***I should note here that I am not one to criticize ANYONE's decision. I know SAHM who love it and I know working moms who wouldn't have it any other way! This is just me trying to figure out what I should do and where I belong!
Okay, back on track...
After the wedding I decided that I wanted to work a shortened week - 32 hours (Monday - Thursday) and spend Fridays at home. Really how much money could I lose by cutting 8 hours out of my week? Sadly, more than I thought! Like $300 a month after taxes! Anyway, I back burnered the whole issue and continued to come to work every day and pretend I wanted to be here.
I can't do this any longer. My new plan? To cut my hours to 32 a week until the end of the year. Then cut to 24 hours a week in January. I need to stay at at least 32 hours to keep our health insurance until the next open enrollment in the fall where we can switch to Rob's company plan.
ANyway, this is the plan, but I am not sure I can do it for a few reasons:
1. Do we need my full time salary
2. with all the changes going on around work, will they even let me????
I'll probably blog about this more in the future, but I am just getting ideas off my chest right now....

I just saved a bunch of money....

2006-03-22T08:28:00.000-05:00

By doing our own meter reads and not relying on the gas companies "estimate". I saved almost $150!!! WOO HOO!!!

Has it really been 2 weeks???

2006-03-21T08:55:00.000-05:00

2 weeks since I last posted????
Sorry about that - march is a crazy busy month for us! We have so many birthdays to celebrate - Rob's, my sister, my sister's dog ( yes, she throws him a party every year - don't ask!). Plus construction has begun on Little Miss's room leaving my enitre upstairs and attic in a disaster state!
Pregnancy
I am 22 weeks as of today and FINALLY not throwing up anymore - YAY!!! I have been vomit free for 2 whole weeks, with the exception of this morning, but I think that was just from swigging OJ out of the carton after brushing my teeth - yuck!
Things are going well. I had a midwife appointment last week. I ended up having to bring Ryan with me and can I just say that is NEVER going to happen again!!! What a terror! He was fine in the waiting room where there were people and toys but the 15 minutes we were stuck in an exam room alone where pure torture!
Anyway, baby is doing well and I am measuring exactly on target for my due date. We reviewed the ultrasound report and other than the low laying palcenta everything looks perfect. The doctor who reviewed the report was even able to tell us that Little Miss has exactly 10 fingers and toes - cool, huh? I need to take my glucose test in 2 weeks since I barely passed the hour one with Ryan. I have gained 9-10 pounds so far which surprises me given how sick I was for so long, but I guess my new eating habits are to blame. Last night I couldn't decide if I wanted cake or ice cream, so I had cake. Little Miss had ice cream :)
As of the ultrasound she was still laying in the breech position. I can now report that she has flipped and her rear end is right at the top of my uterus. Her favorite movement is to slowly rub her feet along me. It is a very weird feeling for me because I don't think Ryan ever did that!
Rob has yet to feel her wiggle, but I can feel her from the outside now.
I think it was about 24 weeks that he was able to feel Ryan.
RYAN
Ryan is, well, a toddler! A text book toddler. Why is it that no one ever informs you that toddlers are all bipolar??? Seriously! One minute he is the sweetest thing - giving random hugs and kisses, gently petting the dog, and the next? Let's just say I have thought about calling the church and seeing about an exorcism! He is doing great though! Constantly getting into mischief, but usually telling himself no while he does it. Some of his current favorite activities include: brushing my hair, pretending to put my make up on (yes, he watches me get dressed every day), coloring, playing with his fridge phonics - a savior while I am making dinner!, and picking up picture frames from around the house and showing us who is in them! he also does this with our wedding album. He will sit on the floor and look at it for a good 10 minutes at a time!
That is enough for one post, but I have more to come! A preview: Our babysitter is moving - let the saga begin! My mom's upcoming knee surgery (and my subsequent trip to the loony bin)! More details on Little Miss's room and pictures as it is finishing up!

Happy Birthdays!

2006-03-08T09:12:00.000-05:00

Happy birthday to my wonderful husband!!
And Happy 17 months to my wonderful son!
Ryan at 17 months
There is some truth to the terrible twos starting early. I can think of a few other blogging Mommies who would agree that 17 months is pretty hellish in toddler world!
For the most part, Ryan is a happy, easy going little guy, but the slightest things can and do set him off! Fortunately, his tantrums are short - as soon as he realizes he isn't getting any attention from it he usually stops. Of course, he throws them in the worst possible places - Barnes and Noble and our driveway being his 2 favorites (how does ashphalt taste little man?).
The most common sources for tantrums are:
- being told NO to another snack. Seriosuly, now that he acn open the cabinet where the food is (and not just at our house, but at his grandparents as well) he thinks it's all snacks all the time!
- not being allowed to run free in the driveway and being forced to hold mommy's hand. I know, I must have girl cooties now !
- being told that Elmo is just not on right now. Either because he isn't or because mommy can't handle another round of songs to the tune of Jingle Bells. I did, however, impress my in laws by knowing the jumping song in it's entirety. No one ever said they were brilliant!
Other than the tantrums, it has been a good month.
Oh, and the new idea that all green vegetables must die. That is not fun either! Actually, in the last 2 weeks it has become any tyoe of veggie, regardless of color. We don't discriminate in our house!
I am only slightly concerned about his reluctance to eat veggies. He eats plenty of fruit and gets tomatoes in the form of sauce at least twice a week. I am getting frustrated with throwing out veggies every night. I guess we will just keep offering them and hope he starts eating them again!
He also will only eat ground beef. Doesn't matter how it is cooked - meatballs, meatloaf, burgers - he eats them all. No chicken, fish, or pork though....
Developmentally he is doing GREAT! Another language explosion this month has him learning 2-3 new words a day! I love it! This week's big words have been:
Apple - which he says perfectly
Snow (shnow)
Hot Dog (hot dod)
Hide
Mushroom (mushim - which he loves oddly enough)
and most exciting - he has begun to put 2 words together! It is not a consistent behavior, but we are getting there! He is such a little chatter box!
Sleep is good. Ryan now sleeps well at nap time and at night - thank the Lord, I have no idea how I would handle a newborn and a poor sleeping toddler!
Ryan still enjoys playing with all his Little People, but now he actually makes them do things and doesn't just walk around with them. He also enjoys coloring - for about 2 minutes at a time! He is pretty content to sit in the corner and "read" his books for a solid 15 minutes some days. He is a very independant player, which surprises me since he has a steady supply of playmates at the sitter's.
What else?
Oh we have moved the potty seat into the bathroom. Not in an attempt to begin training him, but because I want him to get used to it AND because he has started to tell us when he has gone, or occasionally right before he goes. Ryan loves to sit on it fully clothed, but not naked yet :)
He did figure out this morning that he can make it play the royal fanfare by sticking his foot in the bowl! Not gross yet, since he hasn't used it yet, but that could get pretty yucky!
So all in all, 17 months is fun! Tantrums and all! Ohm and he has been (knock on wood) VERY healthy! One little cold so far since Christmas - I really can't complain!

36, 20, 17...

2006-03-06T15:23:00.000-05:00

No these are not some magic cursed numbers a la LOST! They are:
36: how old Rob will be on Wednesday. Getting older doesn't bother him, but I still love to tease him for it. Since we both have to work the day of his birthday, we will be going out to dinner - his choice- after work. He decided he wants to spend the evening with Ryan and me. I'll get a yummy dessert for us to share at home later if I decide not to make the restaurant sing to him.
Oh, he has chosen Red Lobster for his birthday dinner!!! In his defense it IS lobster fest and we do get a discount there (thanks to OG being owned by the same company).
We will be celebrating with the families on Sunday. I am cooking. No idea what yet as he has not decided. You know, Rob lucks out on my birthday. Since it is the middle of the summer I always want something grilled, salt potaoes, and corn on the cob! Easy-peasy! For his birthday? I am always stuck slaving away inside....
He is worth it though!
I bought him a SONY camcorder for his birthday! It's the most expensive thing I have ever purchased as a gift! Again, he is worth it, and we need one!
20: the number of weeks pregnant I am tomorrow! I can't believe I am at the half way point already! It is a bitter sweet time for me! One the one hand I am excited that I will get to meet our little girl (I am still not used to that!) in 5 months or so. But I am also sad that this experience is almost half over. This is most likely my last pregnancy and I want to relish every minute of it.
I feel like I am finally showing enough to post a belly picture, but I need to have it taken first! It is a very different belly than the last time. I was a total basketball with Ryan and this time I look more like I swallowed a watermelon! Little Miss seems to be nestled much deeper down than her big brother was at this point. I am curious to see how huge I end up!
I have gained almost 10 pounds already!!! I guess this is okay as my total weight gain was around 30 with Ryan. I am still on track for that again.
17: the number of months Ryan has been alive as of Wednesday! His current behavior is a post all it's own right now! I will fill you in on his monthly update later this week!

Oh, to answer Rachael's question about a name for Little Miss: We had settled on a girl name before we knew what we were having. Thankfully she is a girl because we couldn't find a boy name that we liked. Anyway, her name will be Rachel Louise G (ironic that you asked, Rachael!!!). I thik I got Rachel from some fellow bloggers and message boarders and it just kind of started to stand out in my mind. It is an easily recognized name, not overly popular right now, and it sounds very nice with Ryan. Louise was my grandma's name. It is also Rob's mom's middle name, and his grandpa is Louis. So everyone is happy with the middle name choice. So far no one has had anything negative to say about the first name either.
We will continue to call her Little Miss until birth as I am to superstitious to use her name before she is in my arms!

It's a.....

2006-02-28T08:06:00.000-05:00

GIRL!!!
I tried to scan the pictures when I got to work but can't figure out our new printer / scanner!
The tech said she is 98% certain of the gender which is good enough for me!
More importantly, she is perfect! Everything measured right on target and is working perfectly which is really all I care about!
We will get to see her again in 2 months when they check the placenta location again. It was sitting pretty low, but that must just be where palcentas attach on me since it seems to be in the exact same spot as it was with Ryan. It moved that time so I am optimistic that it will move this time as well!
The pictures aren't very good since Little Miss was clearly done being photographed by the time the tech got to our pictures. The midwife is getting some great ones though :) WE also didn't get a very good gender shot as she kept crossing her legs at the end. The tech said something along the lines of her not being a very good girl for us and my dear husband jumps in with "I think she is being a VERY good girl keeping those legs crossed!"
I think I freaked Rob out last night when I told him we better start saving for a wedding now!!!

FEED ME!!!

2006-02-21T15:21:00.000-05:00

It appears that my appetite is back in full force!
All I have done today is eat!
Here is the breakdown:
8am - a slice of cold pizza, a baggie of Kix cereal, and a cut out cookie
9:30 - another cookie
12:00 - a turkey and cheese sandwich, a side of pasta, a cookie, and an apple
3:00 - a tangerine and a pumperknickel bagel

All that I have moved from my desk maybe 5 times....
I need to slow down!

Old Wives Tales

2006-02-20T10:24:00.000-05:00

Since our big gender revealing ultrasound is a week from today, I have decided to play into the old wives tales for a little fun!
Here goes... I will highlight boy/girl with blue/pink font!

Morning Sickness? Heck Yea!!! But I also had it with Ryan, just not as bad
Extra Weight In your belly
Carrying Low
Cravings Sweets, juice and fruit (I am averaging 3-4 tangerines a day!!!)
Belly Shape Basketball
You look Worse than normal (my skin is all broken out and I have terrible bags under my eyes)
Hair on your legs Grows slower or same as normal
Dad-to-be
Doesn't gain weight with you (note: SO FAR!)
You hang a wedding ring over your belly It moves in circles
Your urine color is - ewwww, I have no idea, but I was told that I am well hydrated at my last appointment!
Your pillow faces North or South - ummm, West?
So that is 6 for girl, and 3 for boy. 2 for a puppy I guess!!!
Oh and the fetal heartbeat is in the 160s which I guess is girl. However, Ryan was always high too.
Honestly, gender makes no difference to us, but we really want to know so we can stop referring to the creature as an it!
I was asked in a comment if I was planning a homebirth. I am not. While I can see the appeal of it, it is just not for me. I am being cared for by a small group of Certified Nurse Midwives with a back up OB/Gyn practice. I met the one midwife while I was in labor with Ryan and found her presence in the room to be a calming one and she was more attentive than my own OB at the time. Since I had an uncomplicated pregnancy and birth (give or take) I figured this was the rout for me this time.
The midwives remain with mom throughout labor (once you are admitted) and then stay for a while after and help establish the first latch. They also make house calls for nursing / post partum issues (and only charge a co-pay!). I feel that my labor was rushed (and sped up unneccessarily) so that the doctor could take care of his other patients and go home. I have been assured that pitocin will only be used when absolutely neccessary and that while pain relivers are available, the midwife likes to exhaust her bag of tricks before giving them. This sounds good to me! Now it sounds good to me -- ask me at 6 centimeters when I am begging for drugs!
I also found out during my initial consultation with the chiropractor that I should NEVER have an epidural given the nature and placement of the curve in my spine. I was treated for Scoliosis in junior high, but it never completely corrected itself. This would explain why my entire epidural ended up on one side of my body and why my toes on that foot were numb for almost a year after I had it!!!

17 weeks

2006-02-15T14:16:00.000-05:00

I had a midwife appointment on Monday. I got to meet my midwife's partner. She is very nice and I am comfortable with either of them at this point so I guess that is a good thing. I finally gained a little weight - so my total weight gain so far is a half a pound. She did say she would like to see me gain a few pounds by my next appoitnment - I don't think that will be a problem :)
Everything else was good. We had a difficult time finding the heartbeat again - they think the placenta is partially in the front of my uterus, but probably wrapping around the side since I am feeling significant baby movements on one side and nothing on the other!
I declined all genetic testing. Our reasoning is that there is no history of genetic disorders in either family and I am only 31 so I guess my odds are about 1 in 500. If someone told me I had a 1 in 500 chance of winning a drawing I would assume that I wouldn't win. That being said we have scheduled a level II ultrasound for February 27th! I can't wait to see the little one!!!
Only other thing from the appointment is that she would like me to start seeing a chiropractor since I am having quite a bit of siatic back pain. I got a referral and just need to call and set up an appointment!

16 months (and 16 weeks)

2006-02-08T10:09:00.000-05:00

Today Ryan turns 16 months old and I hit the 16th week of pregnancy. What a neat coincidence, huh?
So, Ryan is 16 months going on 3 years old! He looks like a 12 month old though! As of less than a month ago he was 21 pounds 7 ounces (10th percentile) and 31 inches (40th percentile). He's just a little kid, but what do you expect from a 4'11 mommy and a 5'5 daddy?
Being as milestone obessive as I am, I check every month to see where he is at, and I am very proud to report that he has surpassed all the 18 month milestones and a few of the 24 month ones! My little genius!
Verbal
I have stopped counting how many words the kid knows, but at last count it was over 2 dozen! In the past week he seems to learn and retain a new word (or 2) every day! Yesterday's words were bear (Breakfast with Bear was on) and grapes (when I asked him if he wanted an orange or grapes for snack). He is pretty good about communicating his needs and the whining has subsided drastically (thankfully). We are still working on a consistent "please" and "thank you" but I would say that he says them unprompted about 30% of the time and 100% when he wants something he can't have!
Body
As of last Friday, Ryan can identify his head, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hands, belly, feet, and toes. I think this is in part due to some games we play at swim lessons, and the fact that we review body parts while getting dressed and undressed (that makes me sound like a pushy mom doesn't it?!?! Really we have fun with it!!).
Ryan will also tell us now when he has a poopy diaper and needs to be changed. At the sitter's he actually will hand her a new diaper - he can't reach them at home. He has, however, developed a fear of wipes. I am beginning to wonder if a wipe warmer is not such a bad idea?
I recently switched from my beloved Pampers to White Cloud diapers and they are not bad, but I think he knows more now when he is wet than with the Pampers. We are not even thinking about potty training, but he seems receptive to getting changed now and that is a good thing!
Motor skills
The kid used a fork at 11 months and suddenly stopped around 14 months. I am proud to report that he again will use a fork (sometimes) and equally well with both hands! We have also started coloring and playing with Play-Do which he really likes. Ryan can stack up to 6 blocks and, again, uses both hands for it. Walking and running are down pat. Climbing is fun apparently as is wedging himself in spaces way to small for him and hiding in corners. He can take his clothes off, but can't put them back on yet. This is not a problem for him though as he thoroughly enjoys being naked!

All in all the last month has been so enjoyable!!! The tantrums have returned, but they are easy enough to handle by ignoring them. I have relaxed on the television viewing. Ryan watches maybe 3 hours a week now. Sesame Street, Bear in the Big Blue House, Wiggles, and Little Einsteins are about all I will allow, although he seems to dig the Doodlebops!
He is sleeping fairly well, and goes down with a kiss and 2 stories each night.
His favorite toys are books, and the Little People horses - they are never far from him. Oh he also loves his stuffed kitty that lives in Mommy's car. We dance in the kitchen while I am making dinner and he helps me clean up after by putting things in the dishwasher! I am preparing him to be the perfect husband -- any takers?!?!

Oh what a night....

2006-02-02T10:57:00.000-05:00

I have been MIA from everything in life lately and not just this blog. I feel bad about it. My head is full of good intentions, but my body says "NO!!! Lay on the couch and eat kettle chips. That's what we need!". Sadly, the body wins out every time....
Ryan has been battling a slight cold for the last few days - nothing major, just enough to make him cranky. Lst night his little cold hit me HARD! HARD as in the way only a pregnant women can gte sick. I feel like death, but yet I am at work as I only get 5 sick days a year...
This morning I think Ryan felt as lousy as I did, and decided that 3:30 was time to be awake. He would NOT go back to sleep. He would sit quietly on my lap, but would he lay in bed with me? NOOOOO. Would he lay in his own bed? NOOOOO. Finally after Rob left for work at the ungodly hour of 4:45am I just let Ryan play. I shut all the doors except his and mine, and gated the stairs and let him go to town. After about an hour he climbed into bed with me and finally passed out in the pile of toys he brought to me. I attempted to take a picture, but couldn't find the camera and when I went back upstairs he was wandering around in a sleepy haze.
God I love toasty, sleepy babies in jammies. I could cuddle them all day.....
In other news this week, I am officially in maternity wear full time now! Scary, huh? Most of my shirts are to big, but my regular shirts are much to short. I am more confortable and definitely starting to look more pregnant! I love watching people at work check me out with the "is she or isn't she" looks! My friends and immediate co-workers know already but I am still getting some strange looks.
Oh, and I FINALLY downloaded pictures!
So, without further ado.....
PICTURES!

This is where I found Ryan after my shower one morning

Ryan with his Christmas loot!

Ryan always lays down and pretends to sleep when Baby Tad says "it's one minute to night-night"

The big boy hair cut!

An post about nothing...

2006-01-24T08:37:00.000-05:00

I realized that I have not posted pictures in quite some time. Would you like to know why? Because I have not downloaded any off our camera since before Christmas. December 8th was the last time I downloaded pictures! What a slacker I have become!
Expect picture heavy posts later this week as my goal tonight is to get them all downloaded!
Bon Jovi
The concert was great! Our seats were great! So worth the $80 a piece we paid (hey it was our wedding present, sort of, well, we used wedding money for them). Those guys amaze me -- they are all over 40 and they can rock for over 2 straight hours and then turn around and do it again the next night! I, personally, would be dead after one show!
Anyway, Jon is still as good looking as ever, and they sounded great. My only disappointment was their weak encore. I like a strong, old style rock out encore and their's was more new music and slow, ut still great!
The rest of the weekend
Rob and I were Ryan free until 5:00pm Saturday. Unfortunately, I spent most of this time in bed trying not to throw up (again). I felt so terrible all day Saturday and then again on Sunday that I was beginning to wonder if I was getting sick or if it was just the morning sickness still.
Ryan's world
The boy wonder is still trying to figure out which nap he would like to keep and which he is done with. I wish he would hurry up and decide since it seems we are never home when he wants to sleep and he never wants to sleep when I try to put him down! It looks like he is leaning towards after lunch and that is great! I just wish he would get there soon!
He has also been waking up before 7:00 most days. I wonder if this is in direct relation to the nap schedule change? We have tried later bedtimes, but he gets up earlier, earlier bedtimes, gets up at the same time.....
Any ideas?
Yesterday marked the first time Ryan has ever asked for a snack! He usually gets one when he get home from work to tide him over until dinner, but I forgot yesterday. He went to the drawer full of plastics, grabbed a small dish (that we use for snacks), held it out to me and said "nack". I was shocked! I asked him what he wanted and he went to the pantry, got some pretzels and handed those to me! It's crazy how big he is getting! He even sat on a chair at the dining room table and ate his snack while I finished dinner!
This afternoon is his 15 month well baby check up and the first time he will receive the MMR and Chicken Pox vaccination! My poor baby! I hope he handles them okay....

CURSED!

2006-01-18T13:11:00.000-05:00

So I never should have bragged about not being sick in a whole week.
This morning - BAM! Could be that I thought I was in the clear enough to forgo the Unisom, but I guess that was foolish. I am going to keep taking for at least a week, and try and stop at 14 weeks. I just hate medicating for anything, but I also hate loosing my whole morning over the toilet (or into the river - more on that below)
My new strange puke place
This morning, while walking to a meeting the wind whipped my (way too long) hair into my mouth and caused an instant wave of nasuea. Followed immediately by the need to hurl. The only thing I could think to do was to lean over the bridge and hurl into the mighty Genessee. If you've ever seen this river before (or smelled) you can imagine I am not the first person to do so! I just hope there was nobody below.....
Bizzare pregnancy dreams
In the entire 41 weeks I was pregnant with Ryan I never once had a vivid sex dream. Not so much the case this time around! Last night was full of them! Normally I would enjoy this, but I feel so guilty. Not a single one was about my husband! NOPE, they were all about this guy!
Now it could be because we are going to see him LIVE this Friday night and I am very excited about it, but honestly? I was more than a little embarrassed to face Rob this morning.
Oh, and in my dream he drove a tan Ford Escort! Such a rock star car, huh?

Houston, we have a heartbeat!

2006-01-17T08:57:00.000-05:00

A nice strong one! YAY!
However, it took what felt like an hour (but I am sure was only a minute) to find it! The little bugger is hiding waaaaay over on the right side of my uterus and behind the placenta - or so we think since it was so difficult to find.
I was pretty nervous to begin with - you know, it is so reassuring to know that there is actually a baby in there, but the longer it took the more upset I got and by the time she actually found the heartbeat I was in total tears!
Everything else seems good. I have lost a total of 3 pounds, but I am pretty sure that will be re-gained quickly enough now that I have my appetite back. Actually I feel like I have the appetite of a sumo wrestler right now!
And, not to curse myself, I have not thrown up in a whole week!!! I am still not feeling 100%, but no actually puking - WOOHOO! And yesterday, a holiday for our company, I did not nap with Ryan! Honestly! I cleaned and showered instead! It was my personal victory for the day!

Ryan v. Sleep

2006-01-12T15:52:00.000-05:00

There is no clear winner here! Rob has been off the last 2 days so Ryan has been home with him and has decided that naps are optional. Hmmmm, not really, little one. Of course, Rob doesn't really plan his days around the naps and called me from the car wash at 2:00 when Ryan should have been sleeping. It will probably take me all weekend to get him back on schedule - lucky me!
Anyway, Ryan got a big boy hair cut yesterday. It looks cute, but I hate it! He looks so.....
grown up I guess :( I guess I miss his little baby fringe in his eyes, but seriously he was starting to look like he belonged in a Beatles cover band! I tried to get a pictrue last night to share, but he was a little tornado of action and wanted nothing to do with pictures. I will try again tonight!

Nothing to say, other than the weeks is half over!

2006-01-11T14:58:00.000-05:00

YAY! Wednesday means I am closer to 13 weeks and that, hopefully, I will not be sick much longer! WOOHOO!
Monday we will get to hear our littlest one and I can't wait! I think that is the second exciting part of pregnancy (after seeing the double line of course, and before seeing the bean on ultrasound).
I am pretty sure I have not gained any weight yet as my belly is bigger but I am still wearing all my normal clothes. Last time I checked I had lost 4 pounds, but I don't know how accurate my dad's scale is. I guess we will find out Monday.
I am listening to XM Radio on line right now and it is the song from the movie Single White Female. I loved that movie! Shortly after it came out I started college and, I swear, the first person I became friends with at school had the same short cool hair cut as Bridget Fonda. Sadly, she was almost as wacky as the other girl -- who was that??? Jennifer Jason Leigh? Yup - I just checked it out. Oh well, I met a lot of very cool people through her. Actually I am only still in touch with is Kara. Anyway.
I have absolutely no direction in this post - sorry!
Tonight Ryan goes swimming again and I am going to hit the treadmill for the 45 minutes he is in class (Rob will take him). I need some form of excercise as I am a total slug these days.
After swimming is LOST! I can't wait - it has been entirely to long since we have seen a new episode!!!!
Okay, back to work now!
HEY -- as I gather from everyone else's blog it is De-Lurk week! So come out come out where ever you are! If you read and I don't know you, introduce yourself! I won't bite! I promise!
Also, a few people have signed the guest book on Ryan's babiesonline site. If you found it from here let me know! I am just nosy!

Baby dreams

2006-01-10T08:15:00.000-05:00

I have had a few dreams during this pregnancy about the new baby. Most I can't remember after I wake up and one was so terrible I wish I could forget it. Last night I had the most vivid dream to date.
I dreamt I was giving myself an ultrasound - it seems a friend's aunt had an ultrasound machine at her house that we were using - don't ask. And there HE was - the most perfect little baby boy ever (outside of Ryan of course), just swimming and kicking and blinking his little alien eyes. And he was a boy. Which is interesting considering my gut has been saying girl since I knew I was pregnant and I generally put a lot of stock in that since I KNEW Ryan was a boy and I believe I even said "I told you so" to Rob during the ultrasound.
This is going to make the next 6 weeks so hard! This little bugger had better cooperate and let us see what he or she is!!!
Did anyone else know before your ultrasound or birth what you were having?

15 months

2006-01-06T09:13:00.000-05:00

Ryan will be 15 months on Sunday! Ask him and he thinks he is 2 going on 3! Really he is such a bog kid in a little body, but he has always been like this!
His new thing is to try and go down the stairs the correct way. Hey, he even tries to hold on to the railing. Alas, mean mommy still makes him go down backwards as it is the safest way to get down for him.
What else is new in Ryan's life?
He started swim lessons on Wednesday and the little dolphin LOVES them! I'll have to get some pictures! He splashes, kicks, laughs and claps. He also has no fear about jumping off the edge and into the water. I think my heart skipped a beat but he LOVED it! The class he is in is for 6 months to 3 years, but I can see him getting bored so we are probably just going to take advantage of open swim after this session and then sign him up for class again next winter. By then the new one can join in!
He is such an easy going kid these days! He still fights some naps, but sometimes he even requests them by going up stairs and trying to climb into his crib! What more could we ask for?
Still on a 2 nap a day schedule. One is usually an hour and one closer to 2. If he misses one of these look out! He becomes trouble central! Mostly splashing in Nico's water and throwing dog food around the kitchen.
Ryan has a 6th sense for when dinner is almost ready and will try to climb into his high chair about 10 minutes before we sit down! Last night he had a mini-meltdown and sat under the chair and cried until we gave in a fed him! Hey I am not about to starve the boy!
Reading
Finally, Ryan will let us read to him again! YAY!!! Actually he will now bring me a book, and plop down on my lap and let me read the whole thing. Sometimes twice! Because of this, and his instantance at bringing the same books over and over, I can now proudly say I can read 3 Sandra Boynton books from memory!
FOOD
Back to eating almost anything! We had pasta primavera Wednesday night and Ryan spit out his zuchinni. I reminded him that he ate it all summer long and he handed it to me and said "no no no, Mommy". I guess he told me! Carrots are a staple veggie, and Ryan will now try to pick out his own snacks from the cupboard. Since I try to keep junk food out of the house, or at least out of his reach, I will generally let him have whatever he picks. Except for the day he tried to get me to let him have dog treats for a snack. I draw the line there!
Words
It seems that every day is a language explosion in our house! We are now trying to get Ryan to say please when he demands something "this!" or "up!". So far the only use of please is when he wants a snack and we have said no. he will then hang off the cabinet and whine PEAS over and over. Last week I gave him a bag of frozen peas. He asked for it! That really angered the munchkin!
He doesn't combine 2 words yet and he still insists on calling Nico DOGGIE and not by his name. No matter how hard we try! Funny, if you ask Ryan to say Nico he will say doggie every time. He is right, Nico is a dog (don't tell him that!), but he also has a name and I hope Ryan will some day use it!
I could go on all day about my sweet, genius child, but I really need to get some work done now!!!

A posting about Puke

2006-01-05T10:06:00.000-05:00

In the past 24 hours I have thrown up 5 times. Three of those have been at work - oh the joy of that, one at home in the guest bathroom (much cleaner than the main bathroom), and once in the shower.
I have thrown up crackers (triscuits - really bad!), lunch (again with the poppy seed dressing, that did me in while I was pregnant with Ryan too!), and a nice warm mug of lemon tea -- surprisingly tasty the second time around!!!
I am tired of being sick.
I am tired of being tired.
I am tired of whining about both....
I want a nap, a calm stomach, and a clean house.....

A funny Rob story....

2006-01-04T10:16:00.000-05:00

So I took yesterday off to finally take down all our Christmas decorations. We got the tree undecorated (which I find so sad) and then Rob proceeds to yank the tree through the living room doorway the wrong way. You know what I mean, the way that makes the horribly dry needles ping all over the house? YUP!
I will most likely be sweeping needles up for the next 3 months.
I love him, but he does everything the hard way!

11 weeks

2006-01-04T09:16:00.000-05:00

Here is my pregnancy update:
As my first trimester approaches a close I am anxiously awaiting the end of the horrible morning sickness! When I was pregnant with Ryan it wasn't gone until closer to 16 weeks so I am being optimistic that it will disappear faster this time (think positive thoughts with me here!).
I have tried the Unisom with a B6 vitamin and it works - sometimes. It is hit or miss. I have been trying to figure out what I am doing differently on the days when I don't wake up throwing up and I have come up with nothing. I have not lost or gained any weight since my initial 2 pound loss so that is good, but I am really worried that G2 is not getting enough vitamins from me. I am unable to take my prenatals. The children's vitamins the midwife told me to take are not sitting so well most days so I skip them. This amkes me feel so bad! I never would ahve considered skipping a vitamin when I was pregnant with Ryan, what makes it different this time around? My diet is atrocious! I am making a more concious effort to eat better since I feel like this little one deserves the same healthy foods I fed the fetus Ryan.
I think this week may be the last week I can wear my regular pants! I can't wear my normal jeans any more, but my cotton work pants have still been fitting. I have noticed they are getting a little snug and I usually end up with them unbuttoned by the end of the day. My shirts are all short now because of my chest being a FULL CUP larger than normal!!! That I am not going to complain about!
I have noticed a marked increase in exhaustion in the last week. Shouldn't that be lessening around now? Could it be because of my terrible diet/ inability to keep many foods down?
My next midwife appointment is in just less than 2 weeks and hopefully we will hear a little heart chugging away! I can't wait! Ryan will be coming with me to that appointment since it is a holiday and I will not be working so he won't be at the sitter's. I know he won't understand it at all, but I am excited to have him there!

New Year Goals

2006-01-04T09:10:00.000-05:00

I have decided to ditch the resolutions this year! I never stick to them with the exception of the resolution I made 2 years ago to TRY and like the guys my friends were in love with. It actually worked! Of course, Dana and Jim broke up (thankfully, I really disliked him) and Kara's now husband Dave turned out to be an okay guy (we just got off on the wrong foot) and is now Rob's movie buddy!
Anyway, here are my GOALS:
□ Clean out Kitchen
- put away any small appliances rarely used on shelves in basement
- clean out pantry and throw away / donate (to church) anything not used

□ Clean out attic
Sort by garbage, store, sell
Put hinges on storage space and utlize it.
Make Rob go through boxes to identify keepers v. garbage

□ Arrange attic into 2 or 3 parts
Storage
Office/guest room
Play area?

□ Arrange garage sale / Ebay items.
- begin listing on Ebay anything that will sell

□ Organize closets (ours, Ryan’s & guest room)
Use the closet organizer from basement in our room?
Get under the bed storage for our sheets

□ Move guest room furniture to attic

□ Make donation of sheets, towels to animal shelter

□ Weed through Ryan’s books
Make collection for new baby
Donate any duplicates

In addition to these "projects" I plan to go to church more and I have embarked on a monthly meal calendar inspired by Linda! I have made January's calendar and so far (4 days into it) we are on track! This way I know exactly what I need to buy at the store and we all know what we are having for dinner. Avoiding the hour long conversation that ends with fast food which none of us need right now!
So this is probably a pretty boring post - sorry!
It is more for my records than anything. I will post again today and I promise to make it more interesting :)

Ryan's second Christmas and a pregnancy update

2005-12-29T13:29:00.000-05:00

We all survived Ryan's first "real" Christmas (cause, come on, he really was just a blob last year!).
Christmas Eve
We tried to keep the day as normal as possible to avoid a melt down later. See, I am a firm believer that regularly scheduled naps and meals make a happier baby! We went to a 4:30 church service at Rob's family church. I am not a huge fan of their services, I guess because I was raised in a very traditional Catholic church that never allowed for Christmas trees or any other secular holiday items. During the service we went to, they sang a very secular holiday song about wrapping presents and decorating trees. It was weird!
Ryan spent the hour in the nursery. Turns out that the grand-daughter of one of Rob's co-workers was also there. Ryan and N. have met before and apparently are a little in love! It seems they spent the entire hour holding hands and kissing each other!!! She actually cried when we tried to take Ryan home! It is cute and touching but scary at the same time!!!
After church we got back in the car and I was hit by a horrible, overwhelming odor that caused me to open the door, puke in the church parking lot, and begin cursing Rob out for leaving food in his car!!! Nope, turns out something is leaking in his car AGAIN and making the rugs all moldy. The fun!!! They can't even look at it until next Monday!!!!
Anyway, we spent the evening at my Dad's. Ryan got this play kitchen that I am pretty sure is bigger than my own kitchen! I honestly don't know where we are going to put it! I am considering taking it back and getting a smaller one. We have a fairly large house, but no room dedictated to toys. This would have to be an outside toy and then he would only get to play with it for like 3 months out of the year! What would you do?
Christmas Day
Honestly, we had to wake Ryan up on Christmas morning!!! We needed to be to my mom's at 9:30 for breakfast and presents and by 7:00 he still wasn't up so I had to get him!
He had a blast! I can't wait to download all our pictures! Some if the toys Santa brought him included: Fridge Phonics, a tricycle, a sit and spin (Daddy bought that one!), many books, a new CD, some bath toys..... I am sure there are more, but I am slightly brain dead from it all!
We headed over to my mom's where he obtained a radio flyer wagon from his Aunt Renee, and countless toys from Grandma. Grandma also had a wooden toy box made for him - very nice, and bought us one of those storage racks with all the different bins. Also nice, but really big! We are in the process of re-arranging our family room since we are getting rid of our HUGE space killing heater that we no longer need now that our furnace is new and the ducts are actually connected! Hopefully we will be able to accomodate the new toy chest/storage thing.
So after breakfast and present, I put Ryan down for a nap in the pack and play at my mom's. What does she do? She proceeds to BITCH the entire time he is napping about how nice it was for us to come over and then put him to sleep!!! Is she serious?!?! Does she not understand that my child NEEDS sleep? NO, she really doesn't. She is always pestering me to take him places during naps or bedtime and when I cave (she is really persistent) he is miserable for DAYS!
I have decided that NO MORE! From now on, family events are planned around Ryan's sleep schedule and if she has a problem with it, tough!
After his nap we headed over to Rob's parent's house for more gifts and dinner (can I tell you how stuffed we were by the end of the day?!?!). Ryan got 84,000 more toys he doesn't need and that I don't have room for.
This year we decided to do a name draw amongst the siblings. It just got so expensive. We all picked names and everything was good. Everyone seemed to stay in the $50 limit although my gift was a $25 gift certificate, a mug and some tea so probably less than $50 but who cares? At least it was less junk to take home.
The day after Christmas Ryan and I napped for a total of 4 delicious hours! Oh, and my mom bitched again because Ryan and I left my gradparents after a half hour because it was nap time.
Since this post is long, I will save the pregnancy update for tomorrow....

A Christmas List

2005-12-23T08:09:00.000-05:00

1. Eggnog or hot chocolate?
Hot Chocolate - with TONS of mini-marshmallows! Honestly, I think Egg Nog is vile. Even the name makes me CRINGE!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Wrap, unless they are too big to wrap. This years Ryan's Sit and Spin and Tricycle will remain unwrapped. Actually, Elmo will be riding the tricycle!

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
Colored on the tree and white icicles on the house. I would love to someday do a second, smaller, tree with white lights, gold garland, and my collection of Hummel ornaments. Every ormanement made from 1974 to 2000 when they stopped making the series.
4. Do you hang mistletoe?
Nope, but I should we need more kisses in our house!

5. When do you put your decorations up?
The day after Thanksgiving (well the couple days after). The tree goes up about 2 and a half weeks before Christmas since we get a real one every year.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
This is so sad, but my favorite holiday dish are little smokies in BBQ sauce. For some reason we only have them at Christmas time. Actually, I am serving them tonight at a party we are having!

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child?
Going downtown to see Santa. Of course, when we were little downtown was still a busy place and safe to travel to. They had Santa on a HUGE mountain and there was a monorail to ride. It was so much fun. Now I work downtown and all that remains is the sad looking monorail and there is a seat for Santa, but I have never seen him sit in it....

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I was much older than I would like to admit! I was probably 9 and my best friend told me. I was so devastated. I remember asking my mom who told me the truth but also told me that Santa will always be real if you believe in the Christmas spirit. That, my friends, was the deepest thing my mother has ever said!

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
We always opened a gift from our parents on Christmas Eve and it was always PJs. We will be doing that with Ryan this year as well.

10. What kind of cookies does Santa get set out for him?
We haven't done this yet. But growing up I remember how interesting it was that my dad and Santa liked all the same cookies!
11. Snow! Love it or dread it?
DREAD! I do, however, like a pretty white Christmas but I hate travelling in it.

12. Can you ice skate?
HA! I took lesson at 7 and broke my nose learning, or trying to lear, how to skate backwards!

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
It was Tina ballerina! I have tried in vain to find a picture of he ron the internet, but I have had no success! Those of you over 30 may remember her. She had a plastic tiara attached to her head and you could spin her around by it. Creepy, but all I wanted Christmas 1977....
14. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you?
Spending time with family and friends and earing cookies!
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?
One year my MIL bought an ice cream roll from Friendlys. I LOVE peppermint ice cream!
16. What tops your tree?
For the 3rd year running our tree is topped by a star that looks like it is a gingerbread cookie. It was the only topper Rob and I could agree on the first Christmas we decorated a tree!
17. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving?
Giving, but only if I am sure I hit upon the perfect gift, otherwise I get anxious!
18. What is your favorite Christmas Carol?
I love Carol of the Bells, but don't ever ask me to sing it -- you will be sorry!
19. Candy canes?
The most perfect confection EVER! My mom got these chocolate peppermint ones form Hershey this year. Most perfect candy. EVER!

Merry Christmas from Ryan Elf

2005-12-22T11:13:00.000-05:00

Long time, no update.....

2005-12-20T09:11:00.000-05:00

So in addition to being struck by massive waves of exhaustion and naseua, I am also struck with the fact that Chirstmas is in 5 days!!!
5 DAYS PEOPLE!!!
I have mostly finished shopping (I just need to get a gift certificate to Home Depot for Rob), but have I wrapped anything? NOOOO!
I have baked my annual holiday cut outs, but have I frosted them? NOOOO!
I have purchased the rest of the ingredients for the rest of my holiday baking, but have I made them? NOOO (and, honestly, I probably won't)/
UGH!
Yesterday was my first midwife appointment - nothing terribly exciting to report from it. I didn't even have to get a full pelvic exam since I just had my annual exam in October. She does have me on a B6 vitamin and a half a unisom tablet at night to combat the morning sickness. I took this last night at so far have not thrown up today so maybe it is working? I hope so!
Funny Ryan sotry for the day - I got out of the shower this morning and Ryan had on one slipper, no PJ bottoms and was sitting in his toy box. I have no idea how he got in the toy box and I am not sure I want to know! Of course, I had to go get the camera....
Picture to follow when I can post it!

Sick, sleep, scissors, santa....

2005-12-01T11:29:00.000-05:00

Today's post is brought to you by the letter "S"
SICK:
Apparently Ryan's ear infection never quiet went away. 3 weeks later and the doctor said they are still pretty pussy (yum, right before lunch). He is now on Augmentin which I hate. I am not a fan of antibiotics in general, but then I am also not a fan of sick babies so we are giving it to him, twice a day....
Oh, also under SICK, morning sickness has reared it's ugly head already! Again following the same path as when I was pregnant with Ryan -- from 4am to 11am, and then again around dinner time and until I pass out for the night. This morning marks the first time I puked this pregnancy - the joys!
SLEEP
I am assuming the poor ass sleep is coming from the ears and the fact that Ryan is growing 84000 teeth right now! I cna sympathize, but PLEASE sleep! Mommy is not feeling well and Daddy is working super early hours this week. WE NEED SLEEP! Ryan's poor sleep is effecting everyone including the dog, who was reduced to SLEEPING ON THE FLOOR!!!! I assume he will soon figure out how to dial the phone so he can call animal protectives....
SCISSORS
You should never run with them! Seriously though, Ryan and I both got haircuts yesterday. I was the only one who enjoyed it! She only took a half inch off and then FINALLY put some layers in! WE let them grow out to make my wedding do easier and I finally got around to getting a haircut.
Ryan, who has already had 8 or so cuts, was a terror yesterday. Crying, pushing, squirming.....
Final result is great, but getting there was not so easy! I can't believe she still won't charge us for his haircut! He give her $15 any way, but I have to slip it in her purse since she won't take money from me :)
SANTA
Ryan met the man with the beard. He did initially cry, but got over it and sat on his lap for one deer in the headlight picture which I need to scan!
That pretty much sums up the last 24 hours in my life....

Wedding pictures!

2005-11-29T11:23:00.000-05:00

We got our pictures last week - 19 CDs worth of them! I have FINALLY gone through half of them and pulled out the best of the pictures.
I will share a handful of them here with you! They are all on OFOTO if you would like to see them all, email me and I'll send the link!

The rest of the posed pictures, pictures from before the wedding, ceremony, and the second part of the reception are at home right now and I am at work. I need to get working on these soon since I am making wedding albums for our families for Christmas!

If you're happy and you know it....

2005-11-21T11:27:00.000-05:00

Ryan has recently begun singing "If You're happy and You Know It" thanks to Elmo.
You see, we have this Elmo puppet/book thing and Ryan REQUIRES at least thrice daily readings of it. Last night at dinner (which BTW Ryan ate CHILI and quite a bit of it!) he started singing and then clapping, and singing and clapping. After a few minutes Rob recognized the cadence as that of the book! HURRAY for my genius baby!
He has also discovered that everyone has a belly and he like to point them out by pulling up your shirt, blowing raspberries on your belly and exclaiming "BEEBEE".
He also walks around all day with his shirt pulled up so that his Buddha belly hangs out. Just another example of him looking just like my Grandpa D.
THE BULLY
Ryan met his first real bully this weekend! Friday afternoon I decided that Rob and I have now been married a month and maybe I should actually change my name now! It took 2 minutes, but over an hour wait in the Social Security office (now there is a fun place to spend the afternoon - I think I disinfected both our hands about 80 times before we left and then SCRUBBED them before we had lunch!). During our wait we took 84,000 walks, tried to shut the door 90,000 times, picked up 76,000 nasty things off the floor and got smacked across the face by a 16 month old brat named Liam. OOOOOOOOH was I angry! Fortunately the kid's sister who was watching him (she was 16) actually disciplined him, but that didn't stop him from trying again. Eventually the armed security guard got up, went to the window, and arranged to have their number called next (why couldn't it have been me next?!?!).
What an experience. Poor Ryan didn't know what to do!