Super Fine 2009 Top 9!

So here it is, my annual report of the year 2009. It seemed to have less quantity than years past, maybe it had more quality. Not much unique to write about but it was still one for the record books.

#9 - My haircut. At least I waited until after Ashley was born. Did anyone see Rosemary's Baby? Remember when Mia Farrow shed her long locks? **shudders** And now I look over 30 but good.

#8 - Our Northern LP Michigan summer adventure to Mackinac Island & Avalanche Bay - Ashley's numerous poonami's had us rethinking our diaper choice after this trip. A great trip though and something different for the Papesh family to do besides sporting events or WDW.

#7 - Baby Showers - I was surprised, not one, not twice, but thrice! How blessed are we? People were so excited for this newest addition to our family. I think we got more with this baby than we did when having Tommy. Of course the people in our lives have changed as have we. How much better off are we in our 30's than we were in our 20's?

#6 - My Mac Conversion - La la la love it! It's just so easy to do seemingly hard things with IMovie. My 8th grade graduation special was the best ever.

#5 - The IPhone! - La la la love it! I've had the same phone number since August 1998 and had never lost a phone or even needed one replaced but I get my beloved IPhone only to have it stolen 3 weeks later. CRAPOLA! Thankfully it was covered by insurance but I think if I lose this one, I'm done. This is the year of the smart phone.

#4 - Tommy's Sports - One hockey tournament victory with another great year with the Bay County Blizzard. I just love this hockey family. He also had a great baseball season playing Little League and on two tournament teams. He didn't do so great in the higher age division so he'll just play with his age group from now on. It was a good life lesson for him to ride the pine pony and it didn't seem to really bother him at all. Finally, the basketball debut. It was an exciting two weeks of games. He doesn't have height on his side but he definitely has the drive and a competitive edge. It was fun to watch something new.

#3 - Austin's baseball. I don't think I've ever been a more proud Mom. Watching him work through his physical struggles never ceases to amaze me (and sometimes sadly frustrates me). He can now put on his coat which has been a therapy goal for well over a year but sometimes it takes so long it's just easier to do things myself. His t-ball experience was so wonderful. He loved it. Being he was 5 and we've played in the yard for a long time he actually did awesome compared to some kids who'd never swung a bat before. He can keep that eye on the ball. I remember the opening day ceremonies and they called his name and he come running out as fast as he could in his crazy gallop, he fell hard but got up before a coach could run out to help him. Everyone was worried but he got up and continued on. He got the most amazing applause that day. And then the first big hit! I can't tell you how nervous I was to see him in that batters box. But he hit the ball and again had the most exciting applause from both sets of fans. He always did so well, he never had to use the tee. I'm tearing up reliving it. He has one more year of t-ball and than sadly it may be the end of his ball career. Everyone else will improve astronomically, he will still struggle. Outs will count, the kids will hit harder, and throw harder. I guess we'll wait and see.

#2 - Sacraments - Ashley's Baptism at the school mass was such a memorable day in my St. Elizabeth life. Sharing her special day with all the students and staff who are such a big part of my daily life as well as my closest friends and family made it a day worth remembering. Tommy's 1st Communion & Confirmation was also high on life list of great days. The kid loves his faith and was so excited for this day. He read the 2nd reading very well and just looked proud as a peacock on that day. We had a nice party at our house squeezing in almost 70 people on a horrible weather day.

#1 - Ashley's Birth! Was there any doubt? Any birth of any child should be a top-ranking life event, forget just a year. And it seemed like we waited forever for our beautiful baby to arrive and how thrilled were we to be blessed with a perfectly healthy and beautiful baby girl. It has been such a fun and exciting 9+ months of having her here. I think she has made our family complete.

Honorable Mention goes to

Coed Softball
Chicks with Sticks
Disney Vacation
JoDa's 12th anniversary
Tommy started altar serving
Halloween fun
SE golf outing
The Indiana Adventure
The grill fire
The basement flooding
The Christmas play - Red Angel Tommy & Green Angel Austin
New March Mommy online friends

Season's Greetings

And I thought photographing two kids was hard, three is nearly impossible. So without further ado, the Papesh family junk Christmas photos.







And as always, the snail mail cards will be sent out as close to Christmas as possible.

Big Bear Champs

Tommy's team just won his tournament. I was thinking he wouldn't get a tournament win in 2009 but in his last skating weekend he come through. I haven't seen him win one since that first house tourney back in January 2008. I missed the May 2008 win because I was with my class in DC and obviously I missed this one due to illness. The team won 2-1. This was Tommy's first tournament win with the Bay County Blizzard.

Want to hear some irony? The team they beat was the same team that knocked them out last March on that last game to get to play at the Joe Louis Arena for states. You might remember Tommy had been very ill that whole week and we debated letting him play last year. Thankfully that's where the irony stopped and we were victorious. Joe already sent me some pictures from his phone, they're not the clearest but here you go anyways. Way to go Blizzard!!!

December Disruption

Well the stomach flu hit our house and gave us 4 young ones a good thrashing. It hit Ashley around 3 am Wednesday morning and Joe was certain it was the jumbalaya rice that Amy had given her at lunch the day before. She was immediately vindicated when myself and the boys became dreadfully ill on Thursday. Joe in his old age has luckily been spared.

One positive of this is that it's an excellent way to lose weight. 9 months to put on, 9 to come off they say. Ashley is going to be 9 months old tomorrow and according to my impressive 3 day weight loss of 5 pounds I have seen the "2" on the scale for the first time in forever. Alleluia!

So Tommy & Joe went down to Trenton for a hockey tourney last night. Tommy didn't play in the game yesterday because he was too weak but he is playing as I type this. Me and the little ones stayed home, Austin seemed to recover the fastest but then was hit with another round of nausea last night in my bed of course. ;) Lucky me.

Another positive is that it's given me lots of rest time. I've caught up on my People Magazines from November and am cruising through Eclipse. Good times.

And shall I say that I haven't gotten nary any Christmas shopping done? At least I have 6 days off of work before Christmas. Yay for Friday Christmas. No need to panic yet. It might be a good idea to get a list going though don't you think?

No more sickies!

I'm still here...

I've just been crazy busy as I'm sure everyone is this time of year.

My house is suffering but for the most part we're all holding up pretty well.

I am enjoying December. It truly is my favorite time of the year though as Joe would say I love all the seasons when they are just beginning. I guess it's a good thing I live here in Michigan. But December is more than the beginning of winter to us obviously. I love the excitement the kids have, I love working on the school Christmas program, the senior holiday luncheon, the parties, the decorations, church services, seeing the family(s) (yup all of them) ;) and of course all the FOOD!! Plus, Tommy still has hockey games which I think is my favorite thing to do on the weekends. Minus the long drives. Could life get any better?

So yeah, the house is a disaster but honestly I don't really care (too much). About the only thing getting me quasi-down these days is Ashley and her sleep etiquette. But like the seasons, I know her sleep craziness will not last forever.

Consumer safety is going to bankrupt us!

Our Maclaren strollers were recalled a few weeks ago. Thankfully, we just needed parts and that crisis was averted and no digits were amputated.

Our grill that blew up in July...well we waited until mid-October to throw it out and replace. Only to have it recalled for guess what? You got it, starting on fire!! Stupid dumb luck!

And now, drop side cribs!!!! Granted we don't have a StorkCraft but nevertheless we have a drop side. So do we run the risk of the side collapsing and the unthinkable happening; or go out and buy a new crib that she'll probably be scaling within a year anyways? We're going to turn the crib around and hoping that ends that worry since she only stands up on the one side begging for us to come rescue her.

We've had so many toys recalled which were too cheap to deal with bothering a recall so they just get pitched.

I swear consumer groups do this on purpose. Get things to fail so you have to buy new ones. We had to get all new car seats when Austin was born because 3-point harnesses were no longer safe for carriers, and the shield type seats for toddlers are a no-no too. It looks like Ashley is going to be able to use Austin's old one's though, that is until the next best thing comes out of course. Arg!

Dang it!! Is it asking too much to actually buy something and have it last maybe more than a couple years without running the risk of it injuring me or possibly killing me?!?! Gimme a financial break!

Me Thinks...

When he finally learns how to really shoot, he'll be a really good basketball player. It was a fun season. 6 games and the team was 2-4 but they lost two games by only 2 points. Next year those games will be wins. Tommy had a hot night on Wednesday when the team won 21-7 and he scored 12 points. It was fun. Today he was back to his evil tricks and had lots of chances but the ball just wouldn't fall. The school bought a new video camera so I taped the game. I just did a small movie of the big guy making some wild misses and finally hitting one in the end. Enjoy. And don't throw darts at me when you hear someone say "can't shoot" after yet another miss. tee hee. Back to hockey tomorrow. Yay!



And you should just double click and watch it on the youtube page because it's chopped off on my page. DOH. Will try and fix it later, gotta get to church now. Tommy gets to altar serve again. Another big Saturday.

Yet another new adventure.

Tommy made his altar serving debut tonight. He's been looking forward to this for a long time and the day was finally here.

We got him there nice and early and get him in his robe and I can tell by his demeanor that he's getting a major case of the nerves. I'm trying to keep things light when he gives me that look and says teary eyed, "I don't feel good." Best remedy for this when Tommy gets nerves is get him outside into some air before he pukes. And as if God was watching we head outside and up strolls my Dad and brother. Grandpa is Tommy's idol, a sports junkie, and supreme goofball. Tommy had a hockey game and two basketball games earlier in the day. Grandpa was quickly able to divert Tommy from the upcoming task to sports. After telling of the days games soon he was calm again and at least not feeling like he was going to puke. We get him back inside and Fr. Bill was just as wonderful and supportive as Dad was and kept Tommy calm. And I was quasi-thankful for the nerves because then I was nervous and didn't end up tearing up like I thought I would as I usually do when he hits another big life moment.

First big battle is holding the book for Fr. Bill and Joe and I could both see him wobbling up there and I could just see him going timber or worse puking. Thankfully he survived and the rest of the mass he didn't seem too bad.

Ashley went bugs right before communion so we were waiting for him out in the gathering space when he got done. He comes in and in typical arrogant Tommy fashion exclaims, "is there an easy button in here because... THAT WAS EASY!" Dork. He said he had a very good time and can't wait to serve again. We made it! Thank God!

A new sporting adventure

Well Tommy has now reached the age of school sponsored athletics. He had his first basketball game ever tonight. And boy was it, fun, wild, and chaotic.

Their poor coach is a teacher over at the middle school and had parent-teacher conferences tonight. Well game time arrives and they have no coach there. Yikes! Me being the closest thing to authority tried my best to help coach. I asked who usually plays where and they all stared at me with that deer in the headlights look and I was then thinking this is going to be great!! They didn't know what a guard, forward, or center was and busy-body Tommy was trying to tell me something about numbers. Later I find out they play positions 1-5 not the actual names, very smart actually for learning.

Moving on, we do our "hands-in Eagle cheer" I tell them, get the ball, dribble, put it in the basket, don't let the other team score, and they're off. Our poor center got hurt during the tip off when the ball bounced off his nose, everyone then stared at him and didn't get the ball. More deer in headlight looks from the players. Would this game ever start? It did, and before I know it we're down 6-0. What part of "don't let the other team score" aren't they getting? Oh yeah, maybe it was the fact that the other team had a player that was taller than probably 1/2 of my students who are 7/8 graders. Yeah, test that player for roids. I was able to put in a set of subs which was a small miracle because when I told them to go kneel by the scorers table they looked at me like I was speaking Yiddish or something. It was a little crazy but at least we had a game going sans head coach.

She got there with a little left in the 1st quarter and our team did MUCH better after that. We only lost 12-6 and we could have won if our shots would have fallen. Tommy played very well defensively and got quite a few chances offensively. He'd be dribbling down the court for what would look like an easy lay-up chance and he would shoot the ball up at the glass so hard that it would often fly way back past the free throw line. Note to self - Tommy needs to work on his shooting in the off season. So many times we'd get excited watching him shoot, and BOOM another huge miss. The kid has no finesse and was a real backboard abuser. Maybe Saturday he won't shoot the ball so hard since he'll have tired himself out at his earlier hockey game.

The funniest part of my coaching experience was when Tommy was going back on defense he comes running over yelling, "I'm tired, I'm tired, I'm tired." I guess he was hoping he could just change on the fly like in hockey. Hilarious! I just told him stay out there he gave me a panicked look and kept moving. He survived.

So the family has been all abuzz about Tommy's big debut. It's a short season, we'll see if Tommy can knock one down on Saturday. Tonight he couldn't buy a bucket but I'm all proud just the same. I'm loving this new adventure already.

Halloween After the Fact

Hey, I got this post out there sooner than last years ok? It was another fun year, though we were so busy I never got the Halloween decor out and we never carved pumpkins. We'll try to do better next year.

Tinkerbell, Michael, and Luigi

Thing 1 & Freddy Krueger - You all know I hate horror and everytime I'd look at him I'd get dizzy.

My cutie Luigi at school.

Thing 3 and Tinkerbell

Thing 3, Thing 2, Thing 1 ~ With apologies to Dr. Seuss for adding a 3rd Thing.

Crazy Austin

The picture of a picture really doesn't do it justice. Everyone in real life that I show his picture to just busts up laughing. The poor photographer told me she took three and that was the best one. It was a real struggle to get a good picture. I kind of wish she had picked the worst one. It might have gotten even more laughs.



You can't ignore that squeaky wheel, and poor Tommy took a beautiful picture but you don't see me up here flaunting his. Nope, gotta make fun of my nutty professor.

Prayer today

Thanks, Please, Oops, & Wow! Fr. Bill mentioned these four words he'd read somewhere which are your modern way of thinking about the traditional adoration, thanksgiving, repentance, and supplication that us Catholics learned about growing up.

Today, All Saints Day is a special Holy Day along with All Souls Day tomorrow. Each year on this weekend in church we will light a candle in memory of those people in our parish who have died in the past year. Tommy was playing hockey out of town last year so I didn't get to go to good ole St. Elizabeth's but I did go to St. Francis Parish in Ann Arbor and I thought it was so neat how their remembrance ritual was they sang the Litany of the Saints but put the deceased persons name in. It was beautiful and would be nearly impossible in our parish as we only lost about a dozen people that parish had lost about 50, it was a huge church. But I digress...

I will always tear up during this particular mass as I'm sure many others do too. This year was a no candle for me year and I'm so thankful. Every year I will think, "please Lord don't ever make me witness the lighting of a candle for one or more of my dear children," I also think "someday Lord I will be lighting a candle for my dear Dad." "Who gets the first candle, Joe or myself?" Sounds agonizing doesn't it?

What an amazing gift life is, the human capacity for love is nothing short of amazing. It can almost take my breath away when I stop for a moment and just think about the love I feel for my family, most notably my husband and children. Each day is a gift in this journey we call life and thankfully we don't have to journey alone. Not every day is easy in fact some are devastatingly difficult. Today at mass was generally easy for me, the church member who had two candles of remembrance lit today for her husband and her Dad I'm sure had a much sadder experience. Cherish the days you have together.

In closing, I'll just say:
Please Lord, don't let there be a candle for a loved one next year.
Thank you Lord, for not having a candle for a loved one this year.
Oops Lord, I still falter daily; I'm sorry.
Wow Lord, what an amazing family I have been blessed with.
Thanks again.

Happy 6th Birthday Aus Boss!

My baby boy is 6 already!!! Where oh where did the time go? He's seriously half-way to 12 and half-way to being a student in my room. Oh yikes! Wonder how well (or not well) that will go. ;)

We decided early on that our kids prime birthday's would be 1, 5, 10, and 16 where we would have an all out bash. Well somehow now we've missed the five year party twice and had the big party at 6 for both boys. It's worked out. I wonder if Ashley will follow the pattern. And for the record we just barely had this party. Every weekend we are busy with hockey and Austin couldn't decide what he wanted to do when last Sunday he saw a Chuck E Cheese commercial and wanted to do that. So we decided to go for the gusto and had a party there tonight hoping that people wouldn't mind coming on a Monday. It was a wonderful time with him and his classmates. Austin was certainly awestruck. The family was there also. Austin really shined tonight. He just had such an excitement radiating out about him. Chuck E Cheese really does a great job making the party kid feel super special. Not to mention they really do have some great pizza.

Austin does his best to tire out the grandparents (and Joe and I too) with his numerous questions, goofy insults, and all out crazy behavior. I imagine it has to be hard for him at times being the middle child. He's definitely in Tommy's shadow often and of course Ashley is a big draw of people too. Tonight is was nice to have him be the golden boy. My Dad commented a few times how nice it was for Austin and the kids and Dad hates to go anywhere.

We're home now and he finished his homework, watched his new Thomas video, and loved up to his new stuffies. He loves animals. He's running out of bed space...again! What a great day for my big 6 year old!

This is why some older folks in my family still call Austin "Baby Blue Eyes." Too bad they aren't blue anymore.

Austin using righty during casting 3 years ago.

The Birthday Star

What's a guy gotta do to get some sleep around here?!?!

That is a quote from Tommy at 4:00 in the morning howling at the bottom of the stairs. Between Austin and Ashley's biz the sleep scene has hit an all time low.

I'm starting to look forward to my overnight conference Thursday night just for one peaceful night's sleep. My roomies better not snore or I will be cracking heads. ;)

That is all...carry on. :)

Shameless Bragging

I know it's not polite but I just gotta say this ladies hockey thing is going so well right now! The Saginaw Spirit had their annual "Pink Out" game on Saturday where the guys wear pink and part of the ticket sales benefit breast cancer research. They also honor survivors and remember those that have died of this deadly disease. Before the Spirit played, they had us gals and our teams play. It was a blast! I had 2o personal fans there as well as many of Tommy's hockey families were there as they are big Spirit supporters. Our teams skated to a 2-2 tie and I scored a goal!!! It was my first goal since having Ashley and only my 2nd goal ever. And I would be lying if I didn't say I felt awesome hearing them announce over the PA system, "goal scored by #22 Dawn Papesh unassisted." I told you I was shameless. It wasn't even that sweet of a goal as it bounced off another player's skate but it was a goal and I was stoked!! And the boys were so excited.

Here I am going in! Great camera work I must say. ;)

Tonight I headed out to Bay City thinking I was having a practice and we ended up having a game. 5 of our girls didn't show up so we only had two full lines. 60 minutes of hockey! Tiresome! But holy cow, I scored another goal tonight, then another, and another. I am now the proud owner of a hat trick! It was sweet. The girls kept getting the puck to me and somehow it found the back of the net. We held on to win 6-5! Yee Haw! I'm loving it!

And that my friends will be enough of my brazen boldness.

Tis the season to be scary.

Her shirt says so cute it's scary.

Who loves Halloween? I personally love fall and do enjoy the holiday for the kids. Dressing up and going out trick or treating is something every child should look forward to yearly. I don't like the uber scary and gross you out nastiness but for the most part Halloween with it's ghosts and goblins is all in good fun.

Talk at the lunch club this week has been all about the Tortured Souls Warehouse, Woods of Terror, Village of the Living Dead, Spook Train, St. Lucifer's Haunted Asylum, etc. These are just a sampling of the local haunts that you can visit in our area. Most of them lay out the preemptive "may not be suitable for children under 12." And this chicken here will not set foot within 50 feet of one. I don't like being scared! I don't like watching scary movies, heck I shield my eyes during scary commercials. I don't do horror!

Jill and her family went to a haunted house last weekend and had a blast. Well Amy's 9 year old Emily wants to visit a haunted house. So all week it's been the talk about heading to the Woods of Terror tomorrow night. Well guess who's not going? ME!! And woe is me to be left behind. But I think I'll save my sanity. Heck, a commercial I saw on Fox News as a scare tactic for Aids in Germany freaked me out for about a week after I saw it last month. I think I'm making the right decision as I think back to watching Nightmare on Elm Street in the 5th grade and not sleeping in my own room for almost 2 years. I also did a Haunted House as a teen and I still get chilled thinking about, however the story is kind of funny too. ;) So for me and needing to get my yearly Halloween thrills, I will just anxiously await the showing of the Simpson's Treehouse of Horror whatever number it's on now.

This blog sucks.

Seriously, I've started 4 posts now over the past week and just think "boring" so I delete.

My themes were.

Ashley's sleep battles ~ Every Mommy blog has this and I've already been around that blogging block. Who wants to hear every single detail.

The Detroit Tigers ~ It's just a game. 3 years ago I cried when they blew the division victory to the Twins on the last day of the season. At least then they had the wild card berth and were in the playoffs. Today I apathetically watch the Tiger's tied 4-4 in the 9th. I don't think I'll cry but I think the Tiger's won't hold on. The Red Wings broke my heart in June, I guess I expect it today during the division playoff.

Blogging causes narcissism ~ This was actually coming along pretty good but it was a middle of the night post and I was feeling uber-negative. No reason to throw darts at others. ;)

Well what do you know, the Tiger's are threatening in the 9th. 1st & 3rd and no out. I'm not hitting post until they a. score or b. fail to score and are out of the inning.

Well you may as well listen to some more rantings. How about about a blog posting called stupid millionaire men? Yup, I'm talking about David Letterman, Miguel Cabrera, and Jon Gosselin. Jackasses!

Good lord, this is the longest game I've ever witnessed. I'm so thankful that it started at 5:07 and not the traditional 8 pm it normally would be in Minnesota. One out, no run yet.

DOH, double play. I really don't want to watch Minnesota celebrate a walk-off victory. Maybe I should go watch Hell's Kitchen. This blog isn't the only entity that sucks, I believe the Detroit Tiger's might fit that bill also.

What's Cooking?

But I'm allergic to pepper!

Time for some Ashley soup!

An old pic of Austin. Sorry Tommy we didn't have that big pot when you were a baby.

All is well

I'm feeling like the blog has been neglected so I'm forcing myself to post. All is well, absolutely great actually. I just haven't felt like posting and haven't had any good fodder I guess. How about a family update?

Tommy - Got accustomed to 3rd grade very easily. Of course he has no trouble with school in any subjects so I need never worry about him academically. He's loving hockey and is excited to get into some games. Next Sunday is his first one. He also got trained to be an altar server at mass and he is very anxious for that. His weekend debut is November 14th. So long away. Maybe he'll be chosen for a school mass.

Austin - I worry more about him but he's done very well. Bless his teacher's heart she's just wonderful with him. The funniest thing with Austin she's trying to get him to use more than 2 crayons on a coloring page. He came home on the 2nd day of school with a beautifully colored picture of a man on a farm with only green and orange. Green face, orange hair, orange barn, at least the tree was green (including the trunk). I guess he gets so focused on coloring in the lines he forgets to change colors. Or maybe he is just ahem...lazy. ;) He's very conscientious about his work and is adamant about getting his homework done right away but the coloring, not so much. He's started having his therapies again and except for always having his hands in his mouth (nervous twitch I guess) he's doing ok physically. His OT has mentioned trying gum to compensate. Acceptable habit for not so acceptable habit. Hopefully it'll work.

Ashley is doing well. She had a rough week last week sick with something viral. She had 3 days of fever and just wasn't her happy self. I'm so glad to have my happy girl back. She had her 6 month check up and is 26" long and weighs 16lb8oz which is exactly double her birth weight. We got her pictures taken today. I can't wait to see how they turn out. She is now crawling everywhere and will stand up to our step in the living room. She is just growing up so fast.

Joe's good, he spent last week in Maine so that sucked being single Mommy last week.

I'm good, so happy that my TV shows are back on. I'm such a tater. My fall hockey season started up and I'm loving it. Fall softball is also happening. Fun times. My class is great, love them all and the days just fly by. And my beloved Detroit Tigers are still in 1st place hanging by a thread. Oh I hope they can hold on! Only about a week left of the regular season. My Dad is in Cleveland watching them live tonight. Lucky him!

So all is well here, hope all is well for you too.

Ashley is 6 month's old

And my did that time fly by! She just seems to be growing up so fast and we are still thrilled at just having her around.

Lately she has been hitting milestones like crazy. I am loving watching her grow and figure out how to do new things. She has been at daycare for 2 weeks and is doing great. Jill found her first tooth and last week she started sitting up on her own there. Little stinker, always showing off for others. You can watch her mastering her new skill by going to the Little Bloomers blog, which is her daycare. And can I just reiterate how LUCKY I am that she is in the same building as me. 6 months ago, childcare was a big concern of mine but not anymore! And she is so spoiled!

She got her 2nd tooth yesterday but at least Joe discovered that! With her now getting teeth I have the worry of getting bit but thankfully that hasn't happened yet. A nipple amputation does not sound appealing. Both the boys were weaned before they had any teeth, 6 & 8 months respectively. I'm still hoping to make it a year with Ashley but if biting occurs or other circumstances come up I might change my mind. So far nursing and working is going okay.

Around our house she can get anywhere she wants to and very quickly at that. Our sunken living room does keep her contained but I know it won't be long and she'll be conquering that. She's got a love for paper and any cables she can get to. Why do babies get bored with toys so quickly but love to tear a magazine to shreds forever?

I had all intentions of posting some pictures or video tonight but the Princess went to bed early. So here's a sleepy one.

She ate some real sweet potatoes this afternoon and loved them. She's becoming a little food pig and seems to enjoy veggies more than fruit. I imagine soon it'll be on to finger food. She had her first popsicle at Disney and liked it, but was more enchanted with the wrapper. Silly girl.

Another big feat is she is now taking a bath up in the big tub. She was making too much of a splashy mess in her little tub in the sink. She loves her bath.

She truly is the most pleasant baby. She's starting to find her voice and so we've been banished to the cry room at church. She doesn't cry, but she blabs so loud. It'll probably be another 3 years now before we make it a whole mass without the cry room. Joe and I will have the weekly fight over starting in the cry room or out with everyone. ;) Oh fun.

About the only thing I can complain about with her is that my previously fabulous sleeper has decided to not sleep through the night anymore for the last couple months. I'm hoping once the teething is over that it will happen again. For now, I just try to enjoy my night times with her and try to get to bed at a decent hour. We're living and living well I should add.

And how about this outfit pic? The pretty purple sleeper I picked out to bring her home from the hospital in is totally dwarfed by the sleeper she wears now. She still has room to grow in the green one but it won't be long and she'll be dwarfing that outfit. *sniff sniff* 6 month check up is Friday, along with pictures before that. My baby is just so sweet. Gotta capture all these moments.

Disney

Our 2009 Disney trip won't be one we will soon forget. My Mom and Justin were able to come with us. Justin did great on his first trip flying and Mom did well too after not having flown for 20 or so years. Myself, I'd call a fair weather flyer. I don't necessarily enjoy it, but it's definitely the way to go when you're a long way from home. The ride home was a bit rough but we made it. Ashley was wonderful on both flights only getting ticked once we landed home after midnight and she woke up a crank. She was a really good girl at Disney and just kind of went with the flow, she loved swimming, and is always happy in her stroller. She did get wound up on the bus a couple times and didn't sleep too well in her Pack-N-Play. She ended up in bed with Tommy and I most of the trip but was overall a very good baby. Good thing to because we like to go!

Ashley was a hit. She got all kinds of looks and is quite a conversation piece. She's taken to sticking her tongue out at people while smiling. It cracks me up! She is growing up so fast! She got her first tooth last week and is getting very close to being able to get up and sit on her own. She also did great at her first week of daycare. Such a happy girl. It was so great being at our favorite vacation spot with our sweet little girl! I know Joe loved having a whole week off of work to be with the family. I personally am lucky I get so much time off.

Here are some vacation pics. We had over 200 taken so I tried to whittle it down a bit. Great time!

Severed Communication

Even on our honeymoon Joe had a laptop and I remember checking email midweek which I thought was ridiculous on a vacation. He wasn't quite in the cell phone biz yet (we got our first cellular phone with my current number in August of 98) but he did wear a pager and had to be accessible at all times. I think Joe would curl up in the fetal position and go bugs if he lost "power" and was in the communication dark for a week. I however, fully embraced my chance at truly "being away."

For one week after my phone was lost, I pretty much lived as I would have in 1996. I didn't read any blogs, no twitter or texting, I talked to my Dad in MI once and no one else, the TV was pretty much on resort tv or Sportscenter. I did hear that Ted Kennedy had passed away but only because it was on the USA Today headlines all week when I'd walk by the newspaper stand every morning on our way to the bus. It was the family and I, and no worries. I will say I am thankful that Disney still has ample pay phones around as I might not have been able to find the family if I hadn't been able to make that collect call to him, sending him dashing back to the Baby Care Center that Ashley and I were utilizing while the rest of the crew figured out where to go next. Being out of touch was initially scary, but only for that one minute of "how do I get a hold of him?" I thought about asking some poor soul if I could use their phone but went the pay phone route. I had no money or credit card, but thankfully remembered how to make a collect call.

Technology is wonderful! I love being able to text message and send email much more so than talking on the phone. I've met wonderful ladies on the Internet and formed some lasting friendships and feel a connection with people I may never have a chance to meet in real life. I love how I can find out what something is in no time by a simple google search. I love having any music I want with an Itunes purchase giving immediate results. I love the security of having a phone with me in bad weather or on long trips.

I love how the internet has connected those of us far away, but hate how it has kept us secluded from those who are right here among us. I am on this computer way too much. I'm always enthralled in some drama on BBC. I check the MLB box scores and standings frequently. I am a nut for news, especially for current events both political and social, home and abroad. I love the speed of receiving information. Email is constant now that I have the IPhone. The blogs can keep me busy for hours (though I'm currently still behind from vacation). Joe and I have been known to text or IM each other in the house instead of walking up or down the stairs to talk. Disturbing right?

There is something very liberating about being detached from the phone & computer. I remember when we bought the cell phone, it was intended for emergency use only. Now, if someone calls my house and doesn't get me, they simply dial my cell. And it's never for anything urgent, just a "hey what's up" usually. It's made us an impatient people. We can't simply wait for that call back later, gotta connect now! I love my IPhone but it has definitely stolen away my valuable time. I think it might not be a bad idea to every once in a while for everyone to turn off the phone, close the computer, and just disconnect themselves from the techno convos and reconnect personally. I know my house would be much cleaner and more organized if I was on the computer a little less. But that doesn't mean I want it to go away completely. And more likely than not, I'll be back to my wicked and wile Internet obsessive ways before too long. So the question remains, did anyone really even miss me during my "outage?" Wait don't answer that. ;)

IPHONY BALOGNA

Hi all - So many of you know I "lost" my IPhone on Monday night here at Disney World. Well after many go rounds with lost and found Joe decided to reactivate my phone tonight and call it, well lo and behold some person answered it. Joe heard a bunch of foreign mumbo jumbo, so the phone has gone from lost to stolen.

Joe sent a text message to them saying turn it in to Disney lost and found and we'll forget about it. I hope they listen. I'm not holding my breath though.

Interesting trip eh?

Diaper Disasters & other Travel Tales

This weekend me, Austin, and Ashley braved a 4 hour drive down to Indiana to visit Angie & her family. I hadn't seen her since her wedding last August which is totally unacceptable because her family lives a whole 25 minutes from me. ;) But, I digress I was hoping that Deb would have made it also but she has been swamped at work so we missed out on the Illinois brood this time.

Traveling with Ashley was quite interesting. We decided to stop at McDonald's mainly for a potty break for Austin but also to get him some food to eat while I fed Ashley in the car. We hit the bathroom and are ready to order when I look down at Ashley and notice a toy between her legs and oh God, it's covered in doody. Yup, a major poonami as Daiva calls them had arrived. I didn't even bring the diaper bag in with me! UGH!! So back out to the car both kids in tow, get the diaper bag, and head back in to McDonald's. Ashley seems fine in her nasty state so I go get Austin his food first as he's suddenly deciding he's dying of thirst. Meanwhile Joe calls so I'm giving him the poo lo down and all of a sudden I hear some old dude yelling at Austin, "DON'T EAT THAT, PUT THAT DOWN!" Austin had dropped a fry and was picking it up, I don't know if he was going to eat it or not but the guy got him upset and he totally cowered, wouldn't eat and was pretty inconsolable until I got him to the bathroom. I just shrugged the guy off, said my kid was sensitive and would be fine, packed up his food and retreated to the bathroom to deal with the poonami. Ugh! Poo out the front, poo out the back, it was everywhere. The carseat looked like a mustard massacre. We cleaned it up as best as we could and headed out to the van. She then ate and by the transitive property from the carseat, to Ashley's new outfit, to me, I myself looked like I'd been in a poonami. Oh well, on the road again.

An hour later she is screaming with boredom. So we hit Wendy's for a frosty and to get her out of the carseat. We again hit the bathroom. The handicapped stall which would have fit all of us was unbelievably nasty. TMI coming...Ladies please, flush the damn toilet and make sure your leavings make it down. I thankfully got us out of there before Austin could see the damages and being he freaks with a little bloody fingernail, seeing this toilet would have severely traumatized him for life and everyone we'd see in the next two weeks would have heard about the massacre in the Wendy's truck stop bathroom. Please people, it's not that hard to flush. The other stalls were tiny and I made Austin wait outside, I barely made it in with the carseat too. I know I would have totally knocked Austin into the toilet if I had him in there too. Alas, we all do our business and are on the road again. Not five minutes later Ashley is screaming again!! Onward we go! She's fed, she's dry, she's just bored. I don't know if that counts as CIO or not but off and on for the last hour she would just let me know she was back there voicing her distaste for the pooey carseat that she thought maybe she'd been destined to spend the rest of her life in. Alas we arrive two hours later than we'd hoped, safe, sound, and everyone is happy again.

We didn't do anything too exciting. We just visited, the kids played, you know the whole newborn pattern of eat, sleep, play. All of us partook. It was a nice trip, too short but nice. The boys are all animals. I wasn't able to get a nice picture of any of them really, too busy making silly faces. Oh well, I think they all had a good time. Ashley gifted us all with another diaper disaster, this time Angie got to wash her bouncy chair. It might be time to look into different diapers.

The trip home wasn't nearly as eventful. We only had to make one stop, again we pressed our luck at McDonald's. We parked way far away so I could feed Ashley fairly privately and then made the long walk in after to use the potty and get Austin an ice cream. Joe calls and I'm trying to get Ashley out of her carseat without dropping the beloved IPhone, I pick her up and Kaboom, the carseat back flips off the table. A nice little 7 year old girl came over and picked up all her toys. What a sweetie. No bathroom drama this time thankfully. We go to leave and it's raining lightly, but remember I parked way out in BFE and by the time we get to the van it's pouring and my keyfab isn't working. So I stumble with the keys, get the kids in and on the road we go again. Albeit a soaked ride home. But a little rain is a bit comical and we only had a little over an hour to go! Yes! We made it home safe and sound. All happy again.

With all the driving craziness I'm so thankful that next week the family flies to Florida. Should be smooth and easy traveling with Joe, Tommy, my Mom, and lil' Justin along to help and 2 1/2 hours on a plane beats 22 hours in the van. Heck with Ashley it would probably be 44 hours in the van. I don't know if we'll ever drive to Florida again. ;)

Overall it was a very good weekend and I would make the trip again. I definitely could have used Tommy but it was good for Austin to be the big man too. And I'm very gracious to Angie, Tim, Max, and Alex for letting us come stay with them. Fun times, fun times. :)

The thing is the poo disasters were really not shocking. Both the boys have done this to us in the past. In fact Tommy got a complete bath at the Bavarian Inn Restaurant bathroom sink once. Austin at the Animal Kingdom sink, a custodian just kept handing me paper towels. Baby poo is much easier to handle than toddler poo, so for that small gift of knowledge I have been given I am thankful as I know it will only get worse. And I will be here with the MacBook to divulge all the gruesome details to you wonderful readers.

Brace Yourself!

Here are Austin's new goods. He is graduating his left foot to a much smaller brace which is good news. His feet have grown so much but they always make the AFO's so big so he doesn't need to get them redone but maybe once a year. His new Nike's are super cool looking albeit a bit "clown-feet-ish" as they are so big. He's complained a bit about the new left one feeling painful on his heel. I'm hoping after a few days he gets more comfortable. And so far, knock on wood he hasn't dirfed in the dirt tripping over them because they are oversized. He was running tonight and was thankfully able to catch his balance when he did trip up a bit the one time I saw. He's had a great summer regarding balance. He can run in Crocs now and I don't worry as much about him falling. He's also made a lot of progress on his trike. I will have to take some video. He still can't turn at all but he can pedal down the sidewalk quite far. Summer is always a great progression time, this one was no different. Yay Austie!





Monkey Face


P.S. The boys had a field trip today with the school and Jill posted a video of Austin casting on her blog. It's awesome, you have to check it out!

In the Mall - Showing financial restraint

So today we went to Ann Arbor because Austin had an appointment for orthotics. Afterwards we trekked to the mall. A very nice and fancy mall. They had your typical stores that every mall has anchor their building like Sears/Penney's/Macy's but also had your high end stores like Coach, Godiva Chocolate, and an APPLE STORE! I love to go mall walking and just looking at all the stores and was good only buying Austin a pair of shoes at Von Maur. Another high end store, they pay a lady to play a grand piano instead of blasting us with elevator music through a sound system. But even this posh mall has it's ghetto alley. You know the wing in the mall that has all the little islands like the hand cream person, the 5 minute chair massage, the sunglass hut, the inadequate cell service square, the come sit in my jacuzzi tub, the let me sell you a new roofing job, you catch my drift right? I loathe going down these wings where the salespeople are like vultures. I walk as fast as I can, thinking "don't make eye contact, don't make eye contact"...before they can get you with the "is your hair naturally straight, do your nails flake off, can I just have 5 minutes of your time, MOVE MOVE MOVE before they get me. Because lets face it, I'm a sucker and I am easily pushed into high pressure sales.

In the 6th grade a vacuum salesmen came to the house and my Dad must have told him no on this $1600 Kirby vacuum about 10 times. The guy wouldn't leave, brought the price down to $800, was practically crying that he wouldn't be getting his monthly bonus if he didn't sell this one last vacuum and who knows what other junk he told us but I probably figured he had starving children at home or something. I begged Dad to buy this vacuum because the guy seemed so desperate...And he did buy it. And I know now that my Dad couldn't afford an $800 vacuum, I remember him having to borrow money from my Grandparents to buy a furnace. Sad thing is we really weren't quite the housekeeping family and I don't know how many times that vacuum was actually used. Dad does have a cleaning lady these days.

So when it comes to high pressure sales I know I might as well just buy it off the get go. I have extreme difficulty saying no. Stanley Steamer comes to clean our carpets every year and Joe tells me...DON'T BUY ANY OTHER SERVICE. Well they'll do a patch on the sofa and it comes back dirty black...SOLD! The kids must spill a lot on the carpet, it needs a protectant sealer...SOLD! I think one year my $100 coupon special ballooned to a $250 deluxe cleaning. I caught heck for that one. It's why I hate salespeople. The darn Scott's Lawn Service people get me every time too. Grubs, winter mold, and the latest mud worms. What the heck are mud worms??? And how devastating can they be to our lawn?

I really do feel for these people just trying to make a living, I know they probably despise their jobs and us cruddy customers. I hate being openly rude to these salespeople so I've learned the art of being evasive, look away as if the salespeople were medusa, screen my phone calls, don't answer the door when Scott's comes, they can't add a service if I don't approve it, hide, hide, hide!!!

On a nicer note, I never turn down local charities, or kids doing fundraisers. Or should I say I don't hide from them. I'll always happily buy a raffle ticket, or a pizza kit, or cookie dough, or donate my pop bottles, or whatever else they are trying to fund. Because just like I can't say no, I hate being told no when I'm trying to fundraise for my kids. Dealing with rejection is a whole nother post. ;)

Now if I could just work on the art of saying No Thank You without the guilt.

JoDa - XII

Today is our 12th wedding anniversary. I can honestly say I'm happier now than I was 12 years ago. You all know it hasn't been a whole 12 years of a perfect dream marriage but we've been solid and I'm thankful for my wonderful hubby.

Half of 12 is 6 and on our wedding day Fr. Jim told us there are 6 little words that can help us get far in our marriage.

I AM SORRY - I FORGIVE YOU

Over the last 12 years I've probably uttered the "I am sorry" part more than Joe has and thankfully he will always say, albeit cheeky sometimes, "I forgive you." It definitely works on healing during those times where gosh darn one of us just screws up.

For me, I think every married couple should go to a wedding every year if possible. For real, who can't imagine themselves on their own wedding day when they are sharing in another couples happiness? And it's fun to think back to your own wedding and say "good gravy the styles have changed!"

To Josephus, thanks for being a wonderful life partner, and thanks for being such a great Dad to the kids too. I hope we last another MXII years. ;)

Here is an adorable picture that Tommy just took of us. Can you figure out what we two geeks are doing? A gold cyber-star for the person who guesses correctly.

Golf Tales

The 8th annual St. Elizabeth School golf outing was this weekend. It's always an interesting deal. Joe and I have either golfed or helped at most of the outings. And once again we came home with lotso toilet paper.

We added Doug and Lisa to our trio this year hoping to up our game and improve on our ladies 36 over par from last year. It was also going to be less tiresome because we wouldn't have to take turns double hitting a ball because we were short a player and it was a scramble. Lisa is also a great softball player/natural athlete so we thought we were in! Our hopes were dashed when she arrives with 2 clubs, her 9 year old sons U of M half size driver and a putter.

None of us had golfed since the last outing but we had high hopes. All of our first hits were pretty much crap and I even lost that first ball I hit but that my friends would be the only ball I would lose. Maybe we would only be in the 20's over par as Amy blasted a beautiful hit right on the green hoping to save par but all of us couldn't putt to save our life and we were 4 over par on our first hole. Hmm...4 x 18 would equal a whopping 72 over par. We were not off to a good start. Thankfully we did do better. Amy could drive that ball so well and the rest of us had a few good shots as well. However, our golf savior was also sporting a broken foot and started fizzling out towards the end. We ended up about 34 over par...we think. We didn't golf the last three holes because Jill was sick, Amy's foot was killing her, and Lisa & I were bushed shooting double all the time. Wimps. We easily won the last place toilet paper. The guys also repeated as last place champs with 17 over par. They declined heavily since last year, at least us girls seemed to maintain our chumpness.

The Pranks - You know it would not be an outing without trying to pull off a few pranks. I needed an ally this year so I couldn't be ganged up on 3-1 so I let Amy in on a few ideas. We got a few exploding balls which backfired on us as Jill & Lisa confiscated one and got Amy to hit one. Too bad she initially whiffed and only had a little white powder streak. She did hit it again and we got the full baby powder poof effect. We also played the game of "unhooking" the golf clubs and watching them fall off the cart a few times. The best was when we were on the break time at the clubhouse for a hot dog and when we took on the carts and off Jill's clubs go flying. Glorious as there was quite the audience.

Probably the best golf investment I've ever made had to be the purchase of an $11 air horn. We first get Lisa on the Mulligan/Vegas hole. (Yay for more audience) Lisa gets in her back swing and "HONK" slice goes her ball about 20 feet. Yup, 20 whopping feet. It was great! We later got Jill on the air horn and they attempted to get me. Julie came and confiscated it and tried to get the guys but it didn't phase Dennis who couldn't golf for sh!t that day according to Joe. Later in the afternoon we see a couple on the tee next to us and we teach their kids so Jill gets the air horn, and times it perfectly sending Jeff's ball sailing. It was quite comical. They played mixed and ended up winning the couples division by 2 shots with no help from us. I guess that was the only hole they bogey'd all day. Hilarious!

The bad thing about pulling all this off is you know they will try and get you back. Let's see while trying to shoot, I get a club up my skorts by Jill, Lisa uses a club as a samurai sword to stop me in my swing, and at one point they start pelting me with golf balls. By the 5th hole I was feeling pretty paranoid. ;)

The Bet - Teeing off on a hole with a hill, Jill & Lisa had already had a couple brews and I dared Jill that she wouldn't roll down the hill. You know how one beer can just totally make you lose your inhibitions well lo and behold she did. Unfortunately, immediately afterward she ended up massively sick. By the 14th hole she was done, totally baked. I think she missed most of the back 9. Here it is for your viewing pleasure. Don't mind my squeaky voice.



Overall it was a great day and we raised about $5000 for our school. The weather was gorgeous and it's always fun to get out with great friends for some fun and exercise. The kids got to go to their old babysitter's and had a good time so it was a great day for all! I like our once a year golfing, I think we'd be banned from the course if we were league golfers.

Professor Austin

I know that no one will believe me but the kid has been the devil the last couple days. The glasses are only going to make things worse as I think they've multiplied his cute factor by 1000x. He really will be able to get away with murder.

Some videos

For your viewing pleasure.

First up, Austin loses his first tooth.


And Ashley getting around. It's time to clean up the living room as no cables, books, or anything else that might be laying around is safe. At least we have a sunken living room so she'll be contained for a few more months.


These videos brought to you by the IPhone 3Gs

The finesse of being dumb.

Beware...insomniac drivel ahead. Proceed with caution.

There is a method to my madness at times and playing the incompetence card has gotten me quite far in life. The art of it is riding that fine line between coming off as a bit confused to looking like a stupid dumb ass. Or as the POTUS says, a stupidly dumb ass.

I blame my father...he is the super heavy weight champion of the world in the game of incompetence. It's much easier for my Dad to screw something up just once and then have Joe or some other unlucky sap have to deliver him from here on out. Of course he has found the trump card in getting Joe over to do his dirty work, i.e. fix his treadmill, figure out the cable box, look at his car...he simply has to call and say why don't you guys come over and I'll buy food, food, food!! He knows that we'll never say no to the Colonel's mashed potatoes and gravy and like crazy suckers off we trek and while the boys and I eat, Joe gets stuck fixing something that Dad probably should have done himself and usually the potatoes are gone by the time Joe gets to sit down to eat. Poor Joe. My Dad is a flipping genius!

Key points in my game of incompetence include but are not limited to the following.

1 - Ask tons of questions. After a while the person answering will usually say "how about I help you do that" and usually that translates into "let me do this for you before you majorly screw it up!"

2. Ask one "key" question. "Honey, where do you keep a hammer?" I know darn well where Joe keeps his hammer. Asking for a hammer then opens up the dialog of "why do you need a hammer?" "I just want to hammer some large screws in our walls and hang pictures." "There are picture hanging kits for that." "What are picture hanging kits." "Don't worry I'll do it." Bada boom bada bing ching.

3. Screw something major up just once. I am no longer in charge of balancing the checkbook because I did something bad years ago that I can't remember. Worked though.

4. Cry - works every time.

5. Feign major worry about doing a good job. If others see you are making yourself ill over doing something they will usually step up and do it for you or at least help you out. At the very worst, if you do indeed screw it up, it'll be more forgivable.

6. Live by the mantra of under promise and over deliver. You will shock people this way. Sometimes this ruins your cover though. My cooking is a good example of this. If people expect nasty crap than they'll be pleasantly surprised to find something quasi-edible waiting for them.

Okay, so I'm not the smartest cookie to crumble. So what of it? I do wish I was less naive and gullible. I will believe about anything you tell me. I'm also crazy forgetful. It's a horrible trait but like the incompetence my friends know how to get by this character flaw. They will use an intermediary to get things done. After telling me did you ever do "such and such" and me proclaiming "no, but I will"(many times over)... friends know to ask Joe "did your wife ever do such and such" and that usually lights a fire under me. For this week, yes I finally turned in that receipt that's been in my wallet for over a month. Yes, I got the salt shaker cap out of my purse. Yes, I sent Tommy's hockey camp registration in. Yes, I turned in our golf registration.

I guess I'm lucky that I have a husband who puts up with my crazap and doesn't put me down too much for it. And I'm thankful my friends haven't bailed on me yet either. And FTR - if anyone ever wanted to get Joe a t-shirt that says "I'm with Stupidly" I'd completely understand.

Our Crazy Week ~ Happy & Crappy Style

Happy - Ashley has been sleeping well again and so have I.

Crappy - Our basement flooded due to a sump pump switch failure and monsoon rains. We are still drying out.

Happy - Austin lost his first tooth! He was so brave letting Ms.Jill yank it for him.

Happy - Tommy lost his 7th tooth!

Crappy - I flunked my EKG at my doc's office.

Happy - A visit to the cardiologist and running on the hamster wheel gave me the all clear.

Crappy - Little Stellan the Internet celebrity is doing poorly again with his SVT. So many people are praying for him to recover. I know many of you readers are following him too. It just breaks my heart.

Happy - Our ball team is doing well. We won our first game yesterday and got rained out the 2nd game. We'll try to finish out the tourney next Sunday.

Crappy/Happy - It pretty much rained all last week but we did need it so it's all good.

Happy - We had two awesome parties at the Bojo's. One with the school staff, one with the ball team.

Crappy - My Mom's van broke down when we were at Sam's Club. What a day...

Happy - Cleaning the basement I've found more memento boxes. Who can say that they still have the shirt they were wearing when they shared a first kiss with their future wife? Joe also has his Chuck E Cheese uniforms, his Super Science Team shirts, and other crazy shirts. Our kids are going to be spitting someday cleaning out all our crap. I can just see the garbage pile that day.

Happy - I'm looking forward to the St. Elizabeth golf outing this weekend with the Bojo, Muylle, and Wark families. FORE!

Happy - I learned how to play "Spoons." I don't know how I managed to live 31 years without being schooled in this.

Crappy - Due to the sump pump crisis I had to sacrifice the big sale at JCPenney's and the closeout at Education Express! DOH! I was looking forward to the Penney's sale. :( I'm sure I'll live.

Crappy - My house looks like a hurricane hit.

Crappy - My van looks like a hurricane hit.

Happy - I found the rest of the baby toys we'd packed away in the basement.

Happy - I have no appointments the rest of the week!

Happy - Ashley's a healthy little critter. 25 inches, 14.4 lbs at 4 months. She handled her shots like a champ.

Happy - We are going to Disney World in 27 days!!

I guess life is still good with the Happy's winning over the Crappy's. But I tell you what after the prime of my life post things kind of went south and I feared I had jinxed myself. Sleep - bad, Heart - Broken, Basement - Flooded, Flower Garden - Weedy, Diapers - failing. Hahaha, no life is still good. Be thankful for everyday.

Keep praying for Stellan, I know things for his family are definitely not good right now.

6:20 ADD CRAPPY - Our grill just burned up but thankfully our dinner hadn't been thrown on yet! Like major flamage and smokage, Joe putting it out with the garden hose kind of fire! Our neighbor came out and says "I guess you'll be eating your steaks well done." Isn't he witty. ;) Hardy har har! His grill is open right now maybe we'll be heading over there. My mercy it's been a rough week! Joe was calm, I was less than calm. I kept waiting for the propane tank to blow! What on earth will happen next?

Happy - Oh yeah, and Happy Belated 2nd Birthday to my blog. :)

I am royally screwed

Because I can't blank-ety blank sleep!!!!!!!!! I've gone to bed many times and just cannot drift off. My brain is moving 100 miles a minute! Don't know what's happening. I've checked on Ashley and the boys many times tonight. I can hear Ashley's ticker going, she has barely moved a muscle and sleeping so peacefully. Maybe tonight she will sleep again. She has woken up every night between 1:30 & 2:30 so I figure I have about 22 minutes and I will be in the clear. Yeah right! She'll be up...as sure as the Pope is Catholic, Ashley will be up. And I will be a mess tomorrow. When I get overtired I get grouchy. Then I will laugh until I cry. Then I get feeling sick. Wash, rinse, repeat. This insomnia is a recipe for disaster. I could blow a "major-hindy" to quote a friend.

On a nicer note. I must give a Happy Birthday shout-out to Julie. My dear friend who has been my sanity saver many, many times! I don't know what I'd do without her to sound off to. Probably blow more major-hindy's. ;)

4 month sleep regression

Okay, so this waking up every 2-3 hours in the middle of the night now is for the birds but apparently it's fairly common. It all started Wednesday and we're in night four of this bullarky! I started googling 4 month old and got a bunch of hits on sleep regression. Scary comments - some kids didn't get better. Crap!!! My good sleeper from day 1 is now kicking my butt at 4 months. All I can say is thank goodness I don't have to work.

Tommy has an 8:00 baseball game in Millington so it's almost time to get up anyways.

Prime of my life...Prime of my life...Prime of my life...

The Best Medicine for letting your older kids go...

A new baby of course.

Last summer I had the helicopter Mommy post about how I was so leery about letting the boys have much freedom. Well with Ashley I've had to let my guard down a bit. I'm not just being neglectful but I have let Austin run amok at the ice arena when I've had to nurse Ashley or something. Today Austin had an eye appt. and I had to dash to the "contacts room" to feed her and Austin stayed with the doctor all on his own. He has to get glasses by the way but that's another post.

And the last couple days I've let Tommy hang out with the neighborhood kids until dusk. Last night it was just next door and I finally had to call to get him to come home. Tonight it was the neighbor a little ways down. I look out my front door and they are about a football field and a half away on the side street in our little circle. Every so often I would look and I could see his red baseball cap in the back yard but for the last 20 minutes or so when he was gone I kept looking out for him. Pretty soon I saw him trudging down their driveway, into the road and walking home. I was just watching him from the front porch and he had his shoes and socks in his hands (they'd gotten muddy) and the closer he gets I realize he is in his own little world singing something. Tommy LOVES singing by the way, I swear he is always singing something. He's embarrassed me a few times with his singing in fact because it's always something odd, sometimes inappropriate (Clarence Carter Strokin as a two year old on the way to Disney World with Grandma in the car comes to mind.) ;) Pretty soon the neighbor dog starts barking and he starts sprinting towards the house. It was quite comical, I start laughing and he finally realizes I've been watching him.

I guess in posting this, lately I've realized that Joe and I are in the prime of our lives. The boys are so much fun. Ashley is a doll. The boys are still young enough to love on and snuggle. Tommy especially is super affectionate, Austin not so much but you might get some sappy love from him if you catch him at the right moment. He just shows his love in strange ways, i.e. blocking doors so you can't leave, or hanging on your leg. Julie found this out Saturday. With Ashley I feel like the luckiest person in the world getting to experience all the joys, the wonder and awe of raising a perfectly healthy baby without taking it for granted like I maybe did with Tommy after all the trials and tribulations we went through with Austin and later Autumn Rose. We are all healthy generally speaking. Our parents are still doing well enough that they can enjoy their grand kids. Life is good. We're established and secure, much different from those volatile 20's where I think we still had a ton of growing up to do although we thought we were true adults. I've got to remember where I came from in the future when my kids are driving me crazy as teens/young adults. They'll turn out okay. (I hope) But for now, I'm thankful for where my life is. I'm thankful for everyday, but just wish they wouldn't pass by so quickly. I blinked and Tommy was 8. Even with a new baby, I'm not ready to let him go too far...just a quick run down the road is far enough for me.

The Haircut

So as Joe says I live a "transparent" lifestyle and yesterday was the "the haircut day" and I've been talking up this haircut for over a month now. The long hair was getting to be too much to handle every day with blow drying and straightening forever so it had to go. I always do this after having kids. I went very short a year after Austin was born and decided to grow it out one more time before getting old and needing to keep it short. i.e. 31. ;) I don't know why I thought 30 was old but now that I'm 31 I was clearly wrong. Maybe 40 is the "new old." Make it 60 actually. My beautician did a beautiful job cutting it, it looks exactly as I pictured it. But I know it's the wrong style for my face shape. But then again, my poor hairdresser has the worst job in the world because I'm never happy with how my hair looks.

Before



And now I present to you SpongeBob Squareface. My 8th grade haircut minus the poof bangs.

Oh what a beautiful morning...

I went to bed around 11:00 by midnight she was up and no mild soothing was going to work. She wanted to eat. In the middle of that I heard Austin howling about something. Thinking this was going to be the beginning of a nightmarish evening I walk to our bedroom with baby attached, flip on the lights and make Joe go up and deal with Austin. He was trying to get into his bed which if you saw via twitter he found every stuffed animal we had and put it on his bed. So Joe dealt with that. I put Ashley back to bed and go back to sleep. I think I only woke up once and looked at our monitor, saw it tick and drifted back to sleep. Finally around 6:30 she started yelling for me, I go up and am greeted by a great big smile. We survived.


...Everything's going my way!