The Cheese Party

He Shoots and Scores!

2012-01-30T09:40:00.003-05:00

On Saturday Sam had a hockey game at the Rostraver Ice Gardens. This is the ice rink where my parents met, my grandmother and mother worked, and half of my extended family, myself included, learned to skate. It would have been so perfect for him to score his first goal on that ice. His play has really improved in the past few weeks, and he's been getting lots of shots on goal, but none have made it past the goalie. I was up in the bleachers, on my feet every time he had a shift.

He had plenty of chances, but sadly, none went in. Afterwards, the two of us had lunch with my Uncle Rick and cousin Max and then skated together during the public session.

That's him in the red jacket. Notice how I only see the back of him! When I think back to last year, I can't believe how far he's come. I honestly couldn't keep up with him most of the time. I have a feeling that, as he gets older, I'm going to be seeing more and more of the back of him. I hope he remembers to turn around and smile for his mommy every now and then.

On Sunday he had another game. This time dad took him and I stayed home with the little guys, since game time coincided with nap time. Guess what he came home with?

His first goal!

Compare and Contrast

2012-01-27T14:23:00.001-05:00

Sam, February 10, 2007

Fred, January 27, 2012

Twenty Years Gone

2012-01-26T12:39:00.003-05:00

In twenty years time, my children will be grown, some may be married and I may even be a grandmother. Every year, this day makes my heart ache for my friend Rena, but this year, I can't stop thinking about her mother. A mother who never got to see her child grow into a woman. I can't imagine the pain she must suffer every single day. Even though I sit here with tears in my eyes, I can look across the room at my baby boy. I can hold him and feel comfort. My sadness has a cure. I will never, ever take that for granted. Because of her.

Twenty years ago, today, and twenty years from now, I hold you in my heart.

Hockey Mom to the EXTREME!

2012-01-25T13:13:00.004-05:00

As I've mention before, hockey consumes a large portion of our lives. I knew this was going to happen when I signed the kids up, so I'm not particularly perturbed about it. Do I like having to lug all four kids (half of whom are sick) to the rink right after school for Sam's game? No, thank you very much, but it's not the end of the world. And since he has hockey four days a week, if he misses one here and there I don't lose any sleep over it.

What makes it bearable is how much they seem to love it. Sam is a madman out there, and while Lucy has been slower to come around, she's been having a much better time lately. She's made a big jump in her skating ability recently, and she can probably skate backwards better than Sam can. Not falling down so often makes her much happier out on the ice.

But I think the biggest reason she's liking hockey more and more these days is because of this one coach out there. Oh, and did I mention that this coach also happens to be her mother? As in ME? Yes, according to Lucy I am the best mom hockey coach ever! Never mind the fact that I'm really just an on ice volunteer mostly tasked with pleasant job of herding the kids and administering sips of water and/or hugs when someone is crying.

(Funny side note: somehow in the above sentence I accidentally typed 'hits' instead of 'hugs' which, while appropriate for hockey in general is not so appropriate for hockey with four and five year old kids!)

Now, with everything else going on in my life, you'd think that maybe I'd pass on being a hockey 'coach', but let me let you in on a little secret. I love it! I love being on the ice. I love helping the kids learn to hold their hockey stick. I love that some of the kids (besides Lucy) really seem to like me, too! At the end of each practice we play a little game of tag, and one kid makes it his goal in life to freeze me. A little boy who just started after the new year came up to me on Monday night to show me how he wasn't crying, because last week I had to sit with him on the bench for ten minutes while he wept. There are more than a few little girls out there, too, and they are awesome. When we're running drills, two girls are always my go-to kids to demonstrate because they've already mastered them.

So even though I probably look half a fool out there in my dad's too big helmet, I'm going to keep on 'coaching' Lucy's mini-mite team. We're both having a blast, and at the very least, I stay a lot warmer skating around then I do parking my butt in the bleachers!

She loves it when we're on the same team!

Ice Ice Baby

2012-01-23T13:46:00.002-05:00

On Saturday there was an ice storm. Today it's 63 degrees. At least the ice rink won't be so cold tonight!

Lovely Ladies

2012-01-20T14:41:00.001-05:00

Freddie's Oral Fixation

2012-01-19T09:26:00.000-05:00

A Stitch In Time

2012-01-17T12:27:00.005-05:00

For as long as I can remember, we've always had a blanket that was crocheted by my grandmother. We had one in our house when I was little that had green, yellow, orange and brown zig zags. When I went to college she made me one in my school colors. She even made SOB one in his school colors, even though we were only dating at the time and he went to Penn State, a school which my Pittsburgh family despised. She made them for my babies, and she even made some for my nephews! In our house we have the two large college ones, and then a bevy of smaller baby ones. We have blue, green, pink, white, purple, yellow and a blue-green mix. Here are most of them:

She's now hard at work on ones for two of my cousins, who are graduating high school this year. But as she gets older, it takes her a little longer each time to finish them. Plus she's been sick a lot the past two years, and so she has to spend time at the doctor's instead of making blankets. As sad as it is to think about, just like everyone else she's going to die someday, and because of her health issues it might be sooner than later.

In the past few months, without any prompting or organization, some of my relatives began taking on the task of learning some of her more notable family contributions. My dad has become the family pirogi man, my uncle Tom makes cabbage rolls and my husband, of all people, has started making her nut roll. He took pictures of her recipe cards when we were at their house over the holidays and made sixteen of them!

One night, half drunk on nut roll, I had a dream about the baby blankets. I knew as soon as I woke up that I was going to learn how to make them. So last week I marched myself off to Michael's and bought a 'I Taught Myself to Crochet!' kit that was totally geared towards pre-teens, and two balls of yarn. I watched this YouTube video and I was off!

After making no less than four triangles (I kept missing the extra stitch at the end of each row) I finally made a square of crocheted yarn. And then a rectangle! And then, well, it's not quite wide enough to be a scarf, so let's just call it a bath robe belt, shall we? Lucy loves it and wears it around the house all night, but I won't let her wear it outside for fear she might accidentally hang herself. But I'm already hard at work on my next project, which is an actual scarf of proper dimensions.

Hopefully by the time someone in my family is having a baby, I'll be up to the task of making an entire blanket!

Peek-A-Boo World Champion

2012-01-16T14:06:00.000-05:00

The Itch

2012-01-13T13:19:00.004-05:00

Little Freddie is ten months old and already acting more like a kid than a babe. For example, he ate quarter of a grilled cheese sandwich yesterday. He dwarfs his little cousins, and after I cradle those tiny boys in my arms he seems a giant in comparison.

I mean, look at these two little chalupas!

Also, I'm still leading the local breastfeeding support group, so I get frequent exposure to babies of various ages and mamas-to-be.

All of these things has set my womb to craving an occupant.

(DISCLAIMER! I am not planning on having any more babies. And unlike in the past, when we were not 'not trying' to get pregnant, we are actively NOT trying to get pregnant. That sentence is like a riddle! To clarify: the goalie has been put back in the net, so to speak.)

I know it's all just hormones, but right now I'm kind of understanding how my grandmother ended up with eight kids, and my great-grandmother with eleven. I feel a desperate, primal urge to reproduce on a daily basis. It seems like as soon as my youngest becomes the weensiest bit independent, I want to replace them with a helpless, floppy newborn.

I will say that, in the past, these feelings were much more intense. When we decided to add a third kid to the family, thoughts of babies filled my every waking thought, and even some of my nighttime ones as well. Also, the thought of making Fred a middle child of sorts is unbearable. His overall perfectness has really cemented my decision to have him be my last. I want to relish in his every moment, and I really feel that no other baby would have the same effect.

But even though my head knows these things, the womb doesn't quite. All it knows is that it doesn't like being empty for long. Perhaps I could start stashing my spare change in there.

Freddie: Month Ten

2012-01-11T12:57:00.003-05:00

Dear Freddie -

Oh, what a sweet month it has been. You just grow cuter and cuter by the day. You've also begun developing new skills in earnest. Behold!

Pushing around a cart like you were born to do it! You also motor around on your knees faster than ever, will cruise on anything you can hold onto, and walk holding only one of my hands. If you're not walking independently by the end of the month I'll eat my hat.

Another new thing you've been experiment with is grinding your teeth. You only have four, two on top and two on the bottom, but somehow you manage to grind them together. The resulting sound could curdle milk. The only thing I can do to get you to stop is to feed you, which is why you've had about eleventy billion graham crackers in the past few days.

Your first Christmas was fun, although the idea of it being your 'first' caught me off guard. I kind of feel like you've been here forever, and I mean that in a good way. Thinking about how you weren't here last year makes me sad. I want all Freddie, all the time, now and forever!

Initially the whole concept of 'presents' eluded you, which is fitting for your age. However you were quite smitten with the discarded wrapping paper. See how you clutch it in your tiny fists while the new bright, shiny toy lies lonely on the floor? Luckily, you didn't ingest too much of that colorful wrapping, and once we cleaned it up, you realized that the toys were there, too!

I think you might have said your first word this month. Even though you love me more than anyone, obviously, you also adore your big brother. Recently I've noticed that when he comes into the room, you often shout 'BRUH-BRAAAAAA!' Now, you love to shout. You love to shout a lot. And you have lots of interesting things you like to shout. BA! GA! NA!NA! BRRRRRP! GRRRRRT! EEKKKKK! DOI! AH-BLAB! But more and more I'm thinking that you are calling Sam BRUH-BRAAAAAA because he's often referred to as brother around here. Maggie started it, and it seems to have stuck. Sam seems entirely convinced and very proud, so I'm going to go with it!

Other ways in which you are amazing? You wave, clap, shake your head yes and no, eat cut up fruits and veggies, laugh uncontrollably when I pretend to eat your feet, and smile pretty much non-stop. I could have never in my life wished for a more perfect baby, Fred. Let's keep it going as we approach toddler-hood, ok? In exchange, I promise you'll always be my favorite.

Love,

Mama

1, 2, 3, 4

2012-01-07T17:37:00.001-05:00

Pictures hanging on my wall

This One...

2012-01-05T13:44:00.000-05:00

I can't even explain how she gets to me.

Twelve Years Ago...

2011-12-31T19:32:00.005-05:00

This was us, December 31, 1999...

This is us, April 30, 2011.

(Please note the: film canister, scrunchy, phone with antenna, in the foreground of the first picture. These are the things that prove we are old.)

This coming year, 2012, will mark our 10th anniversary as a wedded couple. I love you more than I ever have. Every time I look at the faces of our children, I love you more than I did a second ago. Thank you for asking me to marry you, all those years ago.

You're the best...AROUND! And no one's ever gonna bring you down!

Freddie Fridays: 2011 Wrap Up

2011-12-30T08:50:00.003-05:00

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Looking forward to 2012

This has been a lovely, busy holiday season. We still have unopened presents, uneaten cookies, unfolded laundry and unrested children. But we're happy. I wouldn't have changed a thing. A lot like 2011. Little Fred up there has made this one of the best years in history. I know that his smiling face, along with those other three kids I love more than my luggage, will make 2012 just as great, if not better.

Happy New Year!

Christmas Carols, Kid Style

2011-12-23T21:16:00.000-05:00

This pretty much sums up what being a kid at christmas is all about.

Drum Roll, Please

2011-12-20T13:25:00.003-05:00

Our party on Friday night was, by all accounts, a huge success. Everyone had fun, but no one had too much fun. Everyone stayed late, but no one stayed too late. No one drunkenly made out in one of our bedrooms. No one puked in a corner. Someone did pee off of my deck, but only after getting the ok from me.

During the days leading up to the party, several people asked SOB for directions to our house. After giving them the rights and lefts, he simply said, 'Just look for the house with the crazy christmas lights. That's ours.'

Now, there are many others out there who have seriously insane christmas lights. We're not quite there...yet. However, compared to our neighbors, our display is pretty wild. For some background, let me give you a little tour of our cul-de-sac.

Here is one of our neighborhood houses. Lovely, tasteful, but still festive.

Here is another. Again, simple, elegant. Although it's hard to tell from the photo, these folks have jazzed things up a bit with some color changing fiber optic lights. Very cool.

And here is our house:

TAAAA! DAAAA!

Oh, wait. Let me pan out a bit...

That's better! Let's see, we have about 100 lighted candy canes, two trees wrapped entirely in colorful lights, one tree that is full of the hodgepodge lights we only have one strand of, two lighted deer (one of which is snacking on a candy cane light) a moose with a mechanical head, an igloo and polar bear, also with mechanical head, a snowman and about a gillion tiny, twinkling lights blanketing everything in the yard that can't get up and walk away.

It took SOB several days to get this all up and working, and we can't turn our dining room lights on while these suckers are glowing. And my windows are covered with face and hand prints at about Sam, Lucy and Maggie height. But it's so worth it to hear Maggie run gleefully through the house telling everyone, 'THE DECORATION LIGHTS ARE BACK ON AGAIN!' night after night.

Plus, everyone was able to find the place the night of the party.

The Winter of My Discontent

2011-12-13T14:19:00.004-05:00

Oh, the things. Not awful, life changing things, but insanely annoying things.

Like, say, PINK EYE. Yeah. That was a fun week., during which Maggie and Freddie also had fevers.

Also during that week we discovered that we had a huge leak in our water main that was dumping literally hundreds of gallons of water into our storm drain EVERY HOUR. After investigating we found out that we had gone through 55,000 gallons of water in ten days. That's like filling five swimming pools and then dumping them into the street. By the grace of something good, the leak wasn't located under our concrete driveway but in a soft garden area, so repairing it was easier and (much) less expensive than it could have been.

Which makes it almost laughable that the very next day our washing machine broke. It was supposed to be getting fixed today. BUT! Despite telling the service scheduler exactly what was very obviously wrong and having her say, 'Oh yeah, that's the drum gasket. Happens all the time. Try not to put clothing with zippers in the wash.' (sidebar: WTF?!?!!??!?), when she sent the message to the repair man, all that she noted was that the washing machine wasn't working. Therefore, he never ordered said drum gasket. And he won't get it until Friday at the earliest. So I may have to leave the house hot pink velour pants one day this week. You have been warned.

Oh, and you know what else is going on on Friday? We're having a party for 65 of SOB's co-workers. Of which I know approximately 2. And I need to bake about 300 dozen cookies before then, but while I bake I can't get my clothes dirty because I can't wash them.

UNCLE!

Freddie: Month Nine

2011-12-12T14:02:00.003-05:00

Dear Freddie-Fred -

Oh, my sweet, sweet baby. This is going to be short and words and heavy on photos because you have become the latest (and hopefully last) member of our family afflicted with the fever virus. So let's get down to it, shall we?

You've been getting to spend more quality time with the Yan lately, and that is a good thing. You kinda like her.

You also like this lady. A lot.

And this brother. In fact, he was among the first people to receive a sweet, slobbery kiss from you.

For the record, I will take one million of those kisses, please, all wrapped up under the christmas tree.

Besides kisses, you want everything else in your mouth, please. It's pretty cute, really.

This is the obligatory 'you know you're a fourth kid' photo, because there is no way in H-E-double-hockey-sticks I would have ever let Sam gnaw on a hairbrush. Also, what in H-E-double-hockey-sticks is a hairbrush doing in my foyer?

Know what you don't like? Besides fevers? Being kept out of somewhere. Anywhere, really. Baby gates are your enemy. Sadly for you, they are going to be a pretty permanent fixture in your life for a while.

Aside from the current weepy/snugly thing you've got going on, you are still, by FAR, the most pleasant kid I've ever had the pleasure of birthing. Or knowing, for that matter.

I tell you this at least a dozen times a day, but you are my most favorite person in the whole wide world. You make every day more fun that it ever could have been without you. Every time I hold you in my arms, I feel at peace. So if you could just hang out there for another fifty or sixty years, that would be great, ok?

Love, Mama

Happy Birthday Pappy-O!

2011-12-07T03:05:00.000-05:00

I Heart Faces: On Your Feet

2011-12-05T18:41:00.003-05:00

This photo was entered into the I Heart Faces photo challenge – www.iheartfaces.com

The Secret to Santa

2011-12-05T11:15:00.002-05:00

Late yesterday morning we went to see Santa at the local mall. We went to the same place last year as well, and just like last year we had absolutely no trouble seeing the big man. There was no line, and in fact he was waiting for us, as we had come in two cars and didn't arrive at the same time. After our visit to Santa's village and a ride on the train, we headed out to get our tree. As we were leaving, there were droves of families coming in, presumably to see the jolly old elf himself. And they were all dressed nicely, as though there were coming from somewhere. That's when I had my light bulb moment. We've never had any delays when we make our annual visit to Santa because everyone else in the greater Mo-town area is at church! Being a non-believer in the bible belt has more than its fair share of challenges, so it's nice to get an occasional WIN!

The Net Minder

2011-12-01T14:50:00.003-05:00

A few weeks ago, early in the morning...

Sam had a hockey game, BIG SURPRISE. But we got up and headed over to the rink with smiles on our faces. I think we were smiling, anyway. Like I said, it was reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeealy early.

In the past few games and practices, Sam has shown a lot of interest in playing goalie. Now, I have nothing against goalies in general, but I'd rather not stick him in the net just yet. First of all, he needs to learn to skate better, and being in the net the whole game isn't going to help that. Second off, goalie pads are crazy expensive. Especially for a lefty. So, yeah, we aren't super enthusiastic. But Sam is, and if we want to be good parents we should at least let him try, right? Plus, at the age and skill level where he's playing, none of the kids wear goalie pads, so we don't have to worry about that one yet.

So early in the morning, my son got himself a big stick and headed to the net. And guess what? He was actually kind of good at it.

Good enough that other parents from the team commented about his skills. Good enough that he ended up playing goalie several times since then. Part of the reason he likes it, according to him, is that he gets to be on the ice the whole game instead of playing shifts. And he also likes that he gets to grab the puck with his hands and the other players don't. I'm not entirely sure those are good enough reasons to be the net minder, but since he still gets to rotate through the other positions, we'll let him try it out for a while.

But he looks so cute as a little winger!

The Christmas Conundrum

2011-11-30T14:16:00.005-05:00

I love the holidays. I even have a tag specifically for christmas-themed posts. It's called Holly Jolly. This year we're off to a late start with the decorating (clarification: SOB is off to a late start. The inside of the house is all a-twinkle!) but otherwise the christmas season is in full swing around here.

But here's the thing: last year Sam started to ask questions about Christmas-with-a-capital-C, and this year his inquiries have only gotten more intense. Other times of the year we'll talk about religion and stuff when it comes up, but that's not too often. During the holidays? We probably hear more about Jesus listening to holiday music on the trip to school than we do the rest of the year combined. And that's got him pondering things again. But this year, there's a twist.

In the past year we've covered a lot of ground, religiously speaking. We've talked about the major different world religions, and talked a lot about how it's possible for different people to have different beliefs. We've talked about facts versus faiths, and how just because someone believes something that doesn't make it undeniably true. We've talked about respecting other peoples beliefs, even if they don't jive with our own.

What's getting to Sam this christmas time is the idea that I used to go to church with Nunnie and Pappy and I believed the same things that they did, but now I don't. He wants to know how and when all that happened. I've been pretty frank with him about my beliefs, or lack thereof. He's also been to church enough times with my parents to know that they are pretty serious about theirs. So how do I even begin to explain to a little boy the lengthy, introspective process by which I came to my un-beliefs? And how do I help keep the magic of the holiday season alive and well in our house while also answering his questions honestly?

Perhaps, if I were a different person, this is when I'd start praying.

My Boys, Part 2

2011-11-29T20:28:00.001-05:00

I have a real post, or three thousand, locked up inside my head. I hope that tomorrow I actually have six or eight or thirty-seven minutes to write them all down. Fingers crossed!

Yesterday I Envied the Turkey

2011-11-25T11:43:00.002-05:00

Wednesday night, at about 10:30pm Lucy started crying. Since she usually sleeps like a rock I ran up to check on her. She was thrashing about and crying about her feet hurting, so we changed her out of footy pajamas into regular ones. While I was changing her I realized that she felt warm, and a quick temp check confirmed that she had a fever. I gave her some motrin, and she fell back to sleep in less than two minutes.

Yesterday morning she was feverish again. She's not prone to sickness, and she doesn't usually get a fever when she is sick, so I was a little perturbed. Her temp was around 102 degrees, so I administered more motrin and we settled in for a movie morning. A few hours later, though, she started shaking all over, and her temp was still rising. We got her to take some tylenol, but she was like a little tinder box. I re-checked her temp around 11:30 and it was 104.4 degrees.

That number freaked me out. None of my kids have ever been so warm. A call to the doctor later and we were on our way to the emergency department.

Nothing in particular seemed to be bothering her. No runny nose, no ear pain, no sore throat, no tummy troubles, nothing. We convinced her to give a urine sample and found out that she once again has a UTI. Previously she had pain and irritation when she peed, but she never said a thing about any pain or burning, so we had no idea.

This morning she's feeling a little better. I kind of didn't want to get out of bed, though.

Turkey and Stuffing, 2011

2011-11-24T20:30:00.002-05:00

For a day that began with a trip to the emergency room, I'd say it ended pretty well.

(Here's 2010 and 2009, in case you missed them!)

If I Were a Pumpkin...

2011-11-23T13:49:00.003-05:00

My little Lucy has a thing for pumpkins. A serious thing. Every time we're out and she sees some, she wants them for her own. If she spies them at another person's house, she asks if she can have them. If we're at the farmer's market, she wants to buy them. And when I say no, she often finds a way to charm the person selling them into giving her one. Which is how we ended up with SIX pumpkins in our house.

According to her, I am the big orange one, the big green one is daddy, the medium one in the middle is Sam, she is the other medium one, and the two littlest ones are Maggs and Freddie, sized accordingly.

I don't know what we're going to do when they start to rot.

In other news, we went to a hockey game on Monday night. It was no big deal...

Except that it TOTALLY WAS. It was supposed to be me and SOB, my mom and dad, but as soon as we heard that Sidney Crosby was going to be making his season debut, SOB threw out the idea that Sam should go in his place. We forced him to take a nap on Monday afternoon, and he complied, so we piled into my dad's car and headed to Pittsburgh! He had an amazing time, and his excitement was so darling I nearly cried. Plus it was my parents' first time in the new arena, so they were pretty jazzed, too. In fact, my mom did cry!

Our Thanksgiving vacation has been pretty bomb ass so far, and we haven't even gotten to the main event yet. How is it going out there for you, internet friends?

And now I'm off to make some cranberry sauce!

A Whole Host of Randomness

2011-11-21T14:41:00.003-05:00

Life has been so wonderfully insane lately, I can't even explain it. So instead, here are some pictures. Feel free to make up your own commentary in the comments!

And finally, the big thing that happened today:

Maggie's Misfortune

2011-11-17T14:05:00.005-05:00

About a month ago I posted a tale of sickness. It all started with Sam, and ended with Maggie. Or so we thought. Because for her, it never really ended. Since then we've had some really, truly awful experience both with vomiting and with the contents of her diapers. And that's all the more detailed I really want to get about that, YOU'RE WELCOME.

Last week I took her to the doctor to get some tests done in hopes of figuring out if she had some rare Balkan parasite or something. These tests involved needles, getting a non-potty trained child to pee in a collection basin, and a pleasant afternoon of driving around with a cup of turds in my cup holder. And all for naught, because all the results came back negative. Don't get me wrong now, I'm relieved that there is nothing majorly wrong with her, but did you read the part up there about the turds? In my car? Yeah.

She seemed to be getting better though, so I breathed a sigh of relief, hoping that it had just been a nasty virus and that she was finally over it. Until Tuesday night, when the diapers from hell began again. Seriously, the fumes almost melted my eyelashes off.

After she was in bed, crying about the horrible rash that developed on her tiny hiney within minutes, I sat down to think about what she had to eat that day. Working backwards, she had grilled cheese for dinner, PB&J for lunch and a banana and soy yogurt for breakfast.

LIGHT BULB.

Maggie is the only one of my children I have ever given soy yogurt. She's my pickiest eater, and I try to vary the protein she consumes. However, she also my only child who has more consistent diaper rash and she DEFINITELY pukes more than the other three. None of my kids have ever had a food sensitivity/allergy, so it never even occurred to me that something she was eating might have been making her ill. Since cutting out the soy yogurt she's been seeming well. I'm going to wait a few weeks, try and let her have a little and see what happens. I'm hoping it won't be too tough to avoid if she does appear to be sensitive to it.

Naturally, just last week I bought two big bags of edamame to introduce to the kids. I guess she'll have to stick to peas.

Freddie, Month Eight

2011-11-14T12:16:00.004-05:00

Dear Fred-Fred,

I'm sorry for the delay, my sweet boy. You see, there are these two new boys in the family, plus mommy's got a new business going on, and well, time got away from me. I won't let it happen again! I swear! Let's get on with it then, shall we?

You've got this skill all locked up now. Ah, the allure of toys. You are only eight months old! You have no business pulling yourself up! You can barely even sit, so how is it you can now stand?

Alright, I lied. You can sit. The thing is, you rarely do. Since you've been crawling for, um, FOREVER, you are acutely aware that sitting still is much less fun than moving about. Two seconds after I sit you down, you flop onto your side, then belly and then you're off. If I lay down on the floor with you, though, you'll sit and try to eat my hair for as long as I can stand it.

Speaking of eating, all of this increase in activity has given you the appetite of a kid twice your age. You gobble up everything in site. Besides the baby food, which you thoroughly enjoy, you will eat an endless supply of puffs, cheerios and yogurt melts. You've also learned that Maggie doesn't pay much attention to her food. One day she was walking by your high chair with a bowl full of french toast, and she didn't give you a wide enough berth. In no time flat you reached out and swiped her bowl and buried your face in its contents. I've also caught you with PB&J, ritz crackers and some pretzels, all snatched from your sister, no doubt.

You still nurse like a champ, as well, which pleases me to no end. You do this a-dorable thing when you want some milks, as the kids are calling it these days. As soon as you see me, you start suckling on your own tongue, which makes a sweet little clicking sound. Even though it's a soft sound, I can hear it from just about anywhere, and when I scoop you into my arms, you grab me and frantically try to get to the goods as soon as possible. The way you relax and look up at me once the milk is flowing makes me happy beyond words.

It's a little tough to tell, but there are two tiny teeth there on the bottom there that have been threatening to come out for ages now. Part of me wonders if they'll ever erupt. But despite the infinite teething, you are still as pleasant as ever. When we're out I never have a shortage of people telling me that you smile more than any baby they've ever seen, and I don't doubt it. You are, plain and simple, the happiest person I know.

Love, Mama

Ah, Nephews!

2011-11-13T12:21:00.000-05:00

Freddie Friday: 11-11-11

2011-11-11T10:05:00.000-05:00

He's coming to get you! Maybe he'll drool some good luck on ya!

So Then This Happened

2011-11-10T17:06:00.002-05:00

Amy B Photography is up and running! Between this and hockey, I may never have the chance to blog again.

I Know How Sarah Palin Ended Up Crazy

2011-11-07T13:02:00.004-05:00

One word: HOCKEY

Last year we signed Sam up with the local ice hockey team. He was a mini-mite and basically it was a year-long learn to skate/play hockey instructional thing, with no real competition. There was practice on Mondays and home "games" every other Saturday. It was a manageable schedule for us, he had a lot of fun and learned some basic skills.

This year at sign ups we kept him at the same level and added Lucy to the roster. Sam had made big improvments from the beginning of last year, but we didn't think he was quite ready for the mites, who play real games against other teams and such. Also, since he hadn't been on the ice since March, we thought his skills may have slipped over the summer.

After only a few short weeks, though, we realized we were wrong.

Plus, many of the kids his age had decided to move up, leaving him a towering giant over the three and four year old mini-mites. He would fall over his own feet and take half a dozen of them down with him. We decided to let him try a practice with the mites, and of course he loved it. So we decided to move him up.

And then we got the schedule. (Cue terrifying music!)

Instead of one night a week, Sam now has practice two nights a week. And one weekend morning a week. And instead of having scrimmages at our home ice every other weekend, he has real games against other teams at rinks far, far away. Every weekend. Oh, and Lucy is still playing on the mini-mites, so she's at the rink one night a week, and every other weekend. Plus we are already scheduled for two tournaments, one Thanksgiving weekend and one between Christmas and New Years.

In case you lost count, we're at an ice rink somewhere in the tri-state area four or five times per week. Even though I kinda knew what we were getting ourselves into, it may make me crazy.

Not crazy enough to shoot animals from a helicopter, but almost.

The first game of the season!

Excuses Times Two

2011-11-04T12:02:00.003-05:00

Sorry for my absence these past few days. I have a good excuse, though. Actually, I have two good excuses: my new nephews!

How cute are they??? Here is little twin A:

And here is lovely twin B:

They were born on Tuesday 11/1/11, which is an awesome birthday, no? My sister-in-law carried these boys for 39 weeks, and when they were born they were both over seven and a half pounds! They weighed more than Lucy did when she was born! Nearly sixteen pounds of babies! How amazing is that? Besides being lovely, they are healthy as can be, and should be heading home today.

You can be you're probably going to be seeing lots of photos of these young lads in the coming days, weeks, months and years!

Who You Gonna Call?

2011-10-31T11:50:00.003-05:00

I thought this might be the year that my kids finally exerted their own independence when it came to choosing Halloween costumes. Last year was really only the first year we did coordinated costumes (unless you count the grouchy ladybug and friendly ladybug costumes) but it was a triumph. It was going to be a tough act to follow.

Ever since some time in September Lucy has been going on and on about being a ghost this Halloween. I kept waiting for her to change her mind, but sometime last week I realized that wasn't going to happen. Sam, on the other hand, changed his mind about forty three times. A knight, an angry bird (but it had to be the bomb one, you know, the one that was sold out everywhere) some Jedi, some other random thing with a sword. As long as a weapon was involved he was in. I tried to convince them to dress as the charters of The Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan and Alice In Wonderland to no avail. Lucy was going to be a ghost and Sam was going to have a weapon, PERIOD.

So I was online looking for Lulu's ghost costume, and when I typed 'ghost' into the search field, it also suggested searching for 'ghostbusters'. LIGHT BULB! After a few more clicks, our ensemble was complete!

Everybody wins! Sam gets a proton blaster, Lucy gets to be a ghost, Maggie gets to be the cutest damn marshmallow villain in history, and Fred, with the assistance of a little neon green fabric paint, gets to be Slimer. And since he is teething, he's pretty authentic.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Freddie Friday: Radiant

2011-10-28T11:15:00.001-05:00

Will you look at those eyes? I did absolutely nothing to them post-processing. When the light is just right, they positively radiate. He radiates. Gah, I love this babe.

Let Them Be Little

2011-10-25T18:49:00.002-05:00

All throughout my childhood I remember drinking from hoses, pumps and springs. This photo of Sam from our family reunion is one I've loved since taking it, and it takes me right back to being a kid. When I saw that the I Heart Faces folks were hosting a 'Let Them Be Little' theme, I just had to enter it!

Click on over to see all of the other submissions!

Life Occurring On A Whim

2011-10-25T11:57:00.003-05:00

Life has been doling out big heaping doses of good stuff lately, with a small side helping of not-as-good-but-not-terrible stuff to go with. Here's a summary...

A few months ago I started thinking about going pro as a photographer. (side note/promotion: check out my Facebook page and tell me what you think!) That ball has been rolling and bouncing quite nicely. I've had a few shoots with families, and this weekend I'm shooting a charity race. It's an exciting process because I'll be getting lots of exposure, and I even have a logo on the racers t-shirts! This all makes me feel very, very grown up and professional-like. On the flip not-as-good-but-not-terrible side, a bunch of my super-fun college friends from Philly are coming this weekend and I'm going to have to abandon them during the race time. Also, I will not be able to get rip roaring drunk on wine when they get here on Friday night, but that's probably a good thing!

Around the same time as the photography stuff started to get serious, I also became more involved with a breastfeeding support group here in Mo-town. That's going really well, too! We had a booth at a baby fair this past weekend and we had lots of mommies and mommies-to-be stop at our area. Also, experiencing some of the WV crazies that came out for free stuff was enough entertainment for at least a month, and is worthy of a post of its own. On the not-as-good-but-not-terrible side, we were situated right outside of the (very loud) Halloween store, and since I was already but not really semi-recovering from a cold, I got crazy laryngitis. I still sound all sick and squeaky, and not at in that sexy sick way.

Speaking of mommies-to-be, THE TWINS ARE COMING IN ONE WEEK! I had a family shoot scheduled for Sunday, but the daddy fell head, face and arms first into a pile of poison ivy, so I went and took some pics of my lovely sister-in-law instead! I cannot cannot cannot wait to meet those boys!

Halloween looms, and just wait until you see what we've got planned for this year! We may even top last year!

All of a sudden, Lucy is my good child again! She still screams and cries at any perceived offence, but her behaviour is much, much improved from summertime. She's digging hockey and tap class, and she recently discovered the simple joy of climbing trees.

Fred never ceases to amaze me. Watch him pick up food and eat it as though he's been doing it forever, and not for less than a minute!

I'm going to go ahead and end this post now, because there is no way I can possibly top that cuteness!

Four Kids Friday

2011-10-21T10:50:00.000-05:00

Halloween jammies for everyone!

Chestnut Ridge Park

2011-10-20T11:59:00.001-05:00

Vanity Sizing for Babies and the Crazy Mothers Who Love Them

2011-10-18T13:02:00.005-05:00

As a somewhat unusual girl, I've often been a little off the beaten path when it comes to milestones in my children's lives. For example, when the kids get too big for the baby nail clippers and I have to use regular ones, I tend to get a little misty. I'm weird like that.

One thing that has always been a tear jerker for me is when my kids grow out of the swaddler sized diapers. We have always used pampers, and when Sam, Lulu and Maggie were little they only made the swaddler diapers up to size two. Once they were too big to squeeze into the size two swaddler diapers, then we had to get into the size three cruiser diapers. It's not a huge deal, but they look different, and for some reason (like I'm a little crazy) it would make me emotional.

Now Fred is growing like a robust little boy should. That is to say, he's not a teeny little thing like he once was. He's been wearing the size two swaddler diapers for a while now, and they were starting to get a little snug. Plus his tiny butt crack would sometimes stick out of the back, and that is not good at all. I was starting to mentally prepare myself for the inevitable graduation to the size three pampers cruisers, which wasn't going too well, when I discovered that they are now making pampers swaddlers in a size three!

A part of me is relieved. I can still put a soft little white diaper on his tiny bum and pretend like he was just born last week. But another part of me is conflicted. I mean, he's crawling properly now, so shouldn't I get him the cruisers out of principle? Am I being emotionally manipulated by P&G somehow? Is it because babies are being born at record sizes and companies want to get in on that market?

The thing is, all of my other kids wore cruisers at size three, and I like consistency for my nonsensical made-up emotional milestone bullshit things, so cruisers it is!

Paint and Prejudice

2011-10-17T04:00:00.000-05:00

Back in the early part of summer we got some of our deck replaced. Because the deck had been painted in the past, we were going to have to paint the new boards to match. SOB had planned to do the painting himself, but every time he had a few days off to complete the project, it would rain like a mother. After several weekends and even an entire vacation week rained out, we called a painter. A guy and his crew came over and painted like crazy for two days, and now we have a painted deck.

While they were here, we got to thinking. A large majority of the wall space in our house is painted ~~yellow~~ gold. I'm sure I mentioned this before, but some previous owner of this house was a MEGA WVU fan. Most of the upstairs is WVU ~~yellow~~ gold and the carpet, which we had ripped up right before Fred was born, was blue. There were blue ceiling fans, even. Now the ~~yellow~~ gold isn't objectively horrifying, but it's not great. Also, as a photographer, it really sucks. In my kitchen, everyone looks like they have cirrhosis of the liver. Even babies:

A grey card helps, but not entirely.

We inquired about the cost of painting over all of the ~~yellow~~ gold and found that it wasn't nearly as expensive as we expected. But. BUT! There is always a 'but', isn't there? They wanted to do the job ASAP, so we had to pick out paint colors right quick.

Now, we had our bedroom painted not long after we moved in, and I'll just say that there are still some very raw, unsettled feelings about those colors. In summary, I don't like the colors SOB picked and SOB blames me for giving him the go-ahead on those colors, and we can't talk about this without things ending badly, so we just don't. ever. talk. about. it. Needless to say, I wasn't optimistic about our ability to select paint colors for 50% of our house without it coming to blows in the aisles of Lowe's. However, colors needed to be agreed upon. Luckily, we have a lovely and intelligent babysitter who suggested that we paint some patches of the wall to see how different colors might look. With that in mind, we set off to Lowe's with a spring in our steps.

We came home with four rather beige paint samples, which worked out perfectly. You see, in our kitchen we have four large framed portraits of the kids, all hanging on the same wall. I took down the pictures and painted four beige squares, two of my choosing and two chosen by SOB.

Mine are on the right, and SOB's are on the left. He argued that mine were too pink, and I countered that his were too grey. Things were off to a rocky beginning. However, two days later we were back at Lowe's to give it another try.

This mish-mash of colors had some we liked and some we hated. BUT! We were making headway on coming to a consensus. It was really eye opening to see how different the colors looked in the light of our actual home. On the cards, colors that looked almost identical were wildly different in tone. After one final trip to Lowe's, here are the four colors we ended up with:

The two mid-tone colors are going to cover the bulk of the walls, and the lightest and darkest will be accent colors. All told, we went through thirteen paint samples to end up with these. And the best part? The fucking names of these thirteen nearly identical shades of beige:

Hopsack

Moose Mousse

Desert Fortress

Woodrow Wilson Putty

Mesa Tumbleweed

Holmes Cream

Balance

Oatbran

Lovely Bluff

Cream In My Coffee

Cliveden Leather

Lyndhurst Gallery Beige

Sand Storm

(A major award will be given to the person that correctly identifies the four shades we selected.)

The painters came on Friday to mask and tape, and the real painting begins first thing this morning. Keep your fingers crossed that we make it through this with our marriage intact!

Freddie Fridays

2011-10-14T16:10:00.003-05:00

We're in phase two of the puking/pooping sickness, and this face is the only thing keeping me from running off to Mexico right now.

Freddie: Month Seven

2011-10-12T12:46:00.003-05:00

Darling Boy Freddie -

First, let me apologize for the delay. It may have had something to do with all of the puke. Secondly, let me apologize for the lack of pictures I took of you this month! Between school starting, hockey starting and dance class starting I barely took out my camera at all this month, so don't take it personally, ok? Besides, when I did manage to get the camera out of the bag, most of the photos of you ended up looking like this:

You are a boy on the move. The army crawl/head pivoting thing you do is still in full force, but slowly you are realizing that there may be a better way to get from point A to point B. So now you get up on your hands and knees, bounce around, move one limb and then flop onto your belly. BUT! In the act of flopping you usually move several inches forward, so you repeat the process until you get what it is you want. Usually it's Maggie's hair.

Fortunately, you need to rest sometimes, so that's when mama gets clicking!

You had your first swing this month. It was no big whoop. Maggie was the same way with swinging when she was little, and now it's the first thing she asks to do when she wakes up in the morning. First thing in the morning with you is all boobs! boobs! boobs! But in addition to boobs you now eat carrots, sweet potatoes, peas, green beans, squash, mangoes, peaches, blueberries, bananas, apples, avocado and pears. Plus oatmeal. I'm going to cook you up some chicken soon, because you're still/again waking up every morning at about 5am starving. I'm thinking some protein may be what you're craving! Dear god, let it be protein!

You love your daddy. Who doesn't love your daddy, though? I know I sure do. That's why I have four ~~crazy~~ lovely children crawling all over me day and night.

I have to say, you are the most pleasant child in the world, it's like laser beams of happiness are shooting from your eyes. Being with you is such an amazing joy.

Can you wake up form your nap now, please?

Love, Mama

Learning to Keep My Mouth Shut

2011-10-10T11:31:00.004-05:00

(WARNING: this post is about vomit and poop. Don't read if you have a weak stomach or are eating something. I won't be offended. Seriously.)

Yesterday morning I posted this little bon mot on facebook:

Here's a parenting milestone you won't find in any of those 'What To Expect' books: the first time your kid actually recognizes the urge to vomit, makes it to the toilet and pukes unassisted.

The reason I posted this was because Sam informed me, around 7:45am, that he had thrown up after midnight. I commended him for his ability to handle the situation on his own, and hoped it was an isolated event.

The universe, she has a sick sense of humor.

Fifteen minutes later, as he was sitting on the floor (the wood floor, thank god) eating some toast, he had a little gas that was accompanied with more than a little poo. After a clean-up and some new clothes, we discussed that perhaps if he felt like he was going to fart, he should go to the toilet just in case. Turned out to be sage advice. There were many, many more 'sharting' incidents during the morning. But during the latter part of the day he seemed fine. Which is why I didn't think twice about giving him pizza and strawberries for dinner.

We found out at 1:15am what a terrible mistake that was. He said he felt like he had to burp, but then he puked. Only this time, he didn't make it to the toilet. And when he started down the stairs to inform us of the puke all over his bed and floor, he started puking some more, all over the rug, stairs, wall and hand rail. And himself, naturally.

We got him and his room cleaned up, but about three hours later he had another 'sharting' incident. After another change of clothes, I fell into bed for three or four minutes before Fred woke up for a random boob snack request. WTF, little guy?

Since I knew Sam wasn't going to school today I let him sleep while I got the girls breakfast. As soon as I got them situated at the table, I heard the cat retching in the living room. Needless to say, I was PISSED. So as I was sopping a huge puddle of cat vomit out of my living room rug, Maggie started to cry. I couldn't see her from where I was, so I had no idea that she had just upchucked all over herself, the kitchen table and the floor. It was at that point that I began weeping.

Lucy, somehow, seemed unaffected, so I took her to school. As soon as we got home Maggie filled her diaper with some sort of rotting toxic sludge. And when Freddie woke up from his nap he was covered in regurgitated blueberry applesauce. I've locked the cat outside for the time being, and I'm just waiting for the phone to ring with the call to pick up Lucy. SOB and I are fine at the moment, but I'm not very optimisit about our outlook.

On the bright side, this might help jump start that weight loss plan I've been working on.

Kids Say the Most God D@mned Mother F*cking Things

2011-10-07T17:32:00.002-05:00

On Wednesday we took the kids out to eat at a local restaurant. Since Maggie doesn't drink anything but water, and she had a sippy cup with her, we didn't order her a drink. But when she saw that her brother and sissy got special kids cups with smiley faces on them, she insisted on her own. She stood up at the table and loudly demanded that we get her 'Maggie's cup! Maggie's BEER!' over and over.

Lucy has been telling me all about her friend at school. Thursday she said to me, 'I love C,E and M. They are my best friends!' So I asked her what she liked about them. Her response? 'They are the smallest ones so they always do what I want!'

Last night Sam and I sat down to watch the Flyers game. I knew there would be some pre-game stuff, so we tuned in a little later than the scheduled broadcast time, but since the Bruins won the Stanley Cup last year, there was an extended pre-game show. After watching all of the retied Bruins come out to raise the banner, there was some sort of presentation of a jacket. I dunno, I stopped paying attention at some point. Sam was sitting on the step eating some crackers, and was losing patience. Under his breath he muttered, 'Just start the fucking game already!'

Puzzle Solvers

2011-10-06T19:08:00.001-05:00

He's 86 and can't hear worth a damn. She's four and never stops talking. They are the perfect puzzle partners.

School's Out For The...Fall?

2011-10-04T13:35:00.004-05:00

My kids have had a few days off of school, so we've been busy doing lots of nothing. Making cookies, putting up Halloween decorations, scouring the internets for Angry Birds costumes, canning the last of the salsa, shampooing rugs, watching movies, etc. One of the best thing I did? Well, let me start at the the beginning.

If you've never had a kid in diapers then this might be news to you, but the concept is probably familiar. On every package of pampers, there is a code composed of fifteen letters and numbers. If you enter this code on their website, you accrue points that you can redeem for books, coupons, photos, magazines, toys, you name it. Since Sam's birth I've been intermittently entering these codes and usually getting free photo prints in exchange.

Since Freddie has been born, however, I've let my code entering lag. I haven't had as much time, go effing figure. But since I've used the program with some success before, I can't let myself throw away the bags. I just keep stuffing the empty bags together and stashing them in the pantry. About two weeks ago I actually sat down to enter them into the site, but something else caught my attention and I ended up stuffing them into my camera bag when the baby got a hold of them.

Since I have two kids in diapers currently, the amount of empty diaper bags in my possession was about to score me a starring role in my very own hoarders episode, so today I sat down for half an hour and entered code after code after code into the pampers website. When it was all said and done, I totalled over 1,500 points, enough for 200 photo prints and a free photobook, the two main items I usually select. I know I'm not actually getting something for nothing, but it makes me feel a little bit better about all of the butt wiping I've done over the last six months!

Freddie Fridays: Fred Moves!

2011-09-30T13:10:00.001-05:00

I wouldn't call this crawling, exactly, but it gets him where he wants to go!

Maggie Magoo, Now You Are TWO!

2011-09-29T05:10:00.000-05:00

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

Miss Lucela Jones

2011-09-28T15:39:00.003-05:00

Lucy, you may remember, can be somewhat of a difficult child. But lately she's been a real sweetie! Going back to school has done her a world of good. We had a fun summer, but it was not without its challenges. Now that she's back into a regular schedule, we're getting along much better. I don't know if it's time spent away from me, or if it's just that she needed more intellectual stimulation that I could give her at home, but she's not only flourishing at school, but also at home.

Last week when she was with the baby sitter, she made me this lovely bouquet of flowers.

I've been prominently displaying them ever since. Not only was it a darling thing for her to do, but they never need watering and they won't die! The perfect combination.

On Saturday night, as we snuggled on the couch, she looked up at me and said, 'Mama, I would make it rain outside if you were thirsty.' I just about melted. I posted it on facebook, without attribution, and texted it to some of my family. Every single person thought that it was Sam who told me this, but no, it was my girl. That's what inspired me to write this post. I feel like I only write about her when she's giving me a tough time, and I never mention the nice parts of my Lulu.

In closing, here's a fun little video of my girl. I'll take wagers in the comments on whether or not she puked.

Tappa Tappa Tappa

2011-09-27T12:18:00.003-05:00

Last week the kids started tap dancing classes. Let me share a few highlights with you from our first fifty minute class:

1. HOLY HELL is it loud. Eight kids running around in previously forbidden tap shoes makes for a lot of noise. My kids weren't allowed to wear their shoes before the first class because our hardwood floors should actually be called soft wood floors. And also because we used them as incentive for good behavior at school. Parenting WIN! Based on how nuts all of the kids went once they got into the studio, it seemed as though we weren't the only parents who forbade the tap shoes before class.

2. After the initial 'let's make as much noise as possible' stage of class, my kids actually paid attention and listened! This was a big shocker to me, because last year in the general dance and movement intro class, my two were the ones who easily lost focus and ended up in trouble. I'm hoping that this continues once the novelty wears off!

3. There is another boy! Taking dance classes! In our same tap class! Sam has a dance class boyfriend!

P.S. How adorable is Lucy down there at the end?

They can't wait to go back tonight, and if I'm feeling kind (or cruel, depending on your annoyance threshold) maybe I'll try and get some video to post.

The Ice Queen

2011-09-26T13:30:00.005-05:00

As a child, my brother and I always had chores. On Saturday mornings he would vacuum the house while I dusted and wiped down the bathroom. When the dishwasher was full of clean dishes, it was his job to empty the bottom rack and I had to empty the top rack. We were responsible for keeping our own rooms clean and our cloths put away, and he took out the trash. I took care of the cats, he took care of the dog. Pretty normal stuff.

Except for the Ice.

Yes, Ice with a capital I, because it was that important. For those of you who don't remember, freezers did not always come equip with built in ice makers. Back in the old days (like 1990) if you wanted ice cubes, you had to fill a plastic tray with water and wait for HOURS until the water froze. Then you had to bust the frozen blocks out of their plastic tray and voila! Ice cubes!

In my house, ice cubes were as precious as gold. My mother had a pretty serious iron deficiency, so she had an intense craving to chew on ice cubes. Not just regular old ice cubes, but special cubes made in an ice cube tray that you couldn't buy at the store. It came with some other old freezer from our past, and the cubes were smaller and rounder, more easily chewable, than the traditional ice cube. They looked kind of like an igloo. As soon as those cubes were solidified the tray needed to be emptied into the bin and re-filled. Every day of my life from about age nine until eighteen.

Not long after I moved out of the house my parents bought a new one, and their new freezer had an ice maker. And most of my apartments and homes have had them as well, so I thought the ice tyranny had reached its conclusion.

And then we moved to West Virginia.

The people who built this house twenty-some years ago had a professional chef in the family, so all of our kitchen appliances are commercial. The stove and oven and flat top are amazing, and the refrigerator and freezer are awesome as well. Except for one thing: the freezer lacks an ice maker. Which means I am back to my old tricks. Those ice cube trays from the old house are long gone, but luckily there are many good alternatives now that didn't exist back then. Luckily, my mother doesn't live here (yet) so I don't have to make ice on the daily, but as soon as they get here on the weekend the first thing my dad does is check to see if Ice needs made.

And so it goes. In exchange, my mom empties the dishwasher for me.

Freddie Fridays

2011-09-23T11:38:00.002-05:00

How you doin'?

Oh, teh DRAMZ!

2011-09-22T13:02:00.003-05:00

Alternate titles:

Palace Life Ain't All It's Cracked Up To Be

Big Princessin'

Seriously, Mother

Life is Hard for a Barely-Two-Year Old Without A Care in the World

And the Dish Ran Away with My Son

2011-09-22T12:31:00.003-05:00

I bought some new dishes today.

When SOB and I first moved in together his mother gave us a set of plain white dishes that she had in her basement. They were actually very high quality, but since we were living in a rather generic apartment, with a plain white kitchen, the plain white dishes got to me after a while. I always felt like I was eating in a cafeteria. So we passed them onto his sister and went shopping. We got our current/old ones at Ikea about twelve years ago, and we loved them so, so much. We had never before made a big-ish collaborative home purchase, and the addition of those twelve matching plates and bowls and mugs, for me, meant we were grown-ups making a home together. There was some serious commitment involved, and no one had to buy jewelery!

They have served us very well. Sadly, time marches on, and some have gotten chipped. Some others have gotten down right busted and thrown in the trash. Ever since we moved here I've been on the lookout for a new set, and today I found what I was looking for (on the clearance rack, no less!) and now we have a whole set of un-chipped, pristine dishes.

So what to do with the old ones? We still have at least 80% of them. The dinner plates, which saw the most use, have had the highest casualty rate, but there are still nine of them. We barely ever used the cups and saucers.

I was thinking I could re-use the packages from the new dishes and we could store them in the basement. Then maybe one day Sam could take that box when he gets his first apartment, girlfriend or not. Imagining him eating home made mac and cheese (because he will learn how to make it before he's permitted to set out on his own) out of that bowl with the chipped rim makes me smile. Maybe one night he'll sort through them so he can use the nicer ones for a dinner party. And then when he's ready to go out and buy his own, he can pass them along to Lucy.

Who am I kidding? Lucy won't accept hand-me-downs. She's the one who will demand her very own brand new set of stone wear for her first dorm room!

Princess Tea Party Extravaganza!

2011-09-19T13:27:00.007-05:00

Lucy recently turned four, and Maggie is about to turn two. (Did I just type that? GAH!) Since school was just getting started around Lucy's birthday, we decided that this year we would have a small, combined party for the girls. That was back in June, and until about mid-August I totally forgot to, you know, plan anything. Luckily my mother happened to discover a little tea shop (it might actually be a shoppe) near her house that dabbles in princess themed tea parties! Cue the sparkle!

We got together with a small group of family this weekend to celebrate, and the girls couldn't have been more excited. They got all dressed up for the occasion! We had a bit of trouble finding a Rapunzel dress that would fit Maggie, because she's apparently quite small, even for a two year old. Luckily I've been watching Project Runway for about a dozen years now (at least it seems that way) and so, with the help of a seam ripper and some hot glue, I was able to make some minor adjustment to keep her dress from falling off of her. A few tiaras later and we were ready to go!

The girls gasped when they saw their table!

They each had their own tea pot with ~~strawberry lemonade~~ pink tea, real glass tea cups, and a craft. Then they were joined by two of their cousins.

Princess represent! They ate heart shaped grilled cheese sandwiches, strawberries and marshmallows. Then they had rainbow ice cream for dessert. Maggie LOVED blowing out the candles, so much so that we let her do it several additional times. It was too effing cute.

Despite it being a small affair, the girls were showered with tons of lovely gifts. It looks like the princess section of the disney store exploded in their room, which of course is about the best thing that could ever happen to a couple of little girls. I hardly ever see them, and Lucy didn't even want to go to school this morning beacuse then she wouldn't get to play with all of her stuff!

Oh, and the grown ups had a lovely lunch as well, with tea and home made scones, salad and delicious sandwiches, cheesecake and ice cream. I highly reccomend it, if you're in the area!

How Sam Came to Be

2011-09-15T12:09:00.002-05:00

My husband has been travelling a lot lately. He has a side gig where he goes to big city-type places with fancy restaurants and gets car services and first class upgrades and hotel suites. It all sounds very glam, until you realize that he had to drive from WV to Pittsburgh, fly to Miami via Charlotte, then get up at 5am to fly to Newark before lunch, then head to Manhattan for dinner, then back to the airport so he can fly back into Pittsburgh around midnight, drive home to WV and get up at 6am for work tomorrow. That's five airports in about 36 hours. Typing it all out like that makes me feel slightly less jealous that he's having dinner at Bar Boulud tonight and I'm having left over spaghetti and meatballs for the second day in a row.

ANYWAY, all of the travel reminded me of how and when Sam was conceived. (Side note: this isn't going to get all graphic or anything, so don't worry. Intimate details will most certainly not be provided!)

When SOB was about to start his final year of residency I had been working at my current post for about three and a half years. I had moved up from when I began, but I knew it wasn't for me, long term. We had talked about having a baby, and decided that if we started trying now the timing would hopefully work out well, since we were already planning to move for his fellowship. I stopped taking my birth control pills in April, and that first month we just kind of winged it. When we went on vacation in May, I was in that horrible 'it's too early to know if I'm pregnant, but I might be so no booze' stage and I lamented our decision to start trying before our trip. I also lamented the amount of money I was spending on pregnancy tests, but that was to be expected, right?

The next week I got my period, and because I am an absolute control freak I immediately went online and ordered some ovulation prediction kits. I wasn't going to let this whole process develop naturally. I was a scientist, damn it, and I knew all about the processes going on inside my body. I also knew there were ways of monitoring them, so a few days later the kits arrived.

After reading all of the instructions (twice), I marked off the days on the calendar when I would start testing. SOB had a conference scheduled for that month, but it was towards the end of what I predicted would be my most fertile period. I started the ovulation tests, and day after day I would get a negative. I started to think that I was doing something wrong. After re-re-reading the instructions and realizing that I was doing everything right, I started to worry. His trip was looming, his destination all the way on the other side of the country. He was only scheduled to be gone for three days, but in ovulation speak that was long enough to miss our window.

He flew out on Wednesday. He was scheduled to return first thing Sunday morning via red eye.

On Thursday afternoon my ovulation test was positive.

I was disappointed that we would be waiting another month to try for our baby, but held onto a tiny shred of hope that if he wasn't too tired on Sunday morning maybe we still had a shot. I gave him a call, and before I could even say a word he starting telling me about how boring his conference was and how he wished he was coming home earlier. Maybe he was blowing smoke up my ass, but I saw my opportunity and wasn't about it let it go! I immediately told him about the test and then commenced a campaign of convincing him to come home a day early. If he got on the red eye Friday night, I argued, we'd get at least two chances for our future child.

He said he'd look into it. The next day he was on a plane headed back to me and his pro-creation duties.

Two weeks later, I got my first positive pregnancy test. What was truly fitting about it was that it was the day before Father's Day.

To this day SOB likes to tell people that I forced him to fly back from California to have sex with me, and while that may be a teeny tiny bit true, when I look at Sammy, I think to myself, thank god I was so damned persuasive!

On Weddings, Children, and Tic Tacs

2011-09-13T12:32:00.003-05:00

On Saturday my son Sammy was the ring bearer at my cousin's wedding. Now all of my children except for Freddie have been a member of a bridal party this year! (Here are the girls in my other cousin's wedding, in case you need a dose of the cuteness.)

While the girls were adorable, their appearance in the wedding didn't have as strong as an effect on me. They wore lovely little flowered dresses and looked positively the picture of little girl sweetness and light.

Sam, on the other hand, wore a tuxedo that was a miniature replica of the groom's outfit. Seeing him all decked out like a big, grown up man made my eyes well and my chest swell all at the same time. My mind was running wild. "Is this what he'll look like in another twenty years or so, when he's waiting down front for his bride??? That bitch better be good to my baby!" Needless to say, I was emotional. Luckily there wasn't much time for me to ponder these things before the wedding started.

He took his duties very seriously, and with good reason. When it was time to walk down the aisle he actually carried the for real rings on his little pillow. My cousin's brother (who is also my cousin, but I don't want to confuse anyone with my damn hell ass huge family) kept the rings until right before Sam's big moment, and then he tied them to the pillow, so he only had to not lose them for about 45 seconds, but man was I nervous.

So was he. I took about a dozen shots of him walking down the aisle with his junior bridesmaid, and there was only one where he wasn't staring intently down at the rings. Afterwards I asked him about it, and he said he just wanted to keep looking at them to make sure they were still there.

Once the part he was responsible for was over, he was rewarded with an entire box of orange tic tacs, which he consumed during the ceremony.

It's tough out there for a kid.

Freddie, Month Six

2011-09-12T11:46:00.003-05:00

Dear Freddie Buddy -

My sweet, sweet boy. Remember how, at some point during your early days, I promised to kiss you one million times before you turned one? I'm pretty certain I've already achieved that goal. I guess I'll have to try for two million, then. It's just that your face is irresistible to me. And your toes. And tummy. And hands. And elbows.

I should stop now.

With daddy at Nikee and Vinnie's wedding!

Here you are dancin' with Grandma and Nunnie at your Aunt Yan's wedding. In your short six months on this earth you have been to four weddings already! It's been a busy year in our families! Luckily you are a totally party animal, and ultimate babe magnet. If you didn't poop in your pants, you would make an awesome wing man.

I think you may end up crawling soon, which I am so not ok with. First of all, none of your siblings crawled until they were almost one, so I am not physically prepared for independent locomotion. Emotionally? I still support your neck and head like a newborn when I lay you down, despite the fact that your neck muscles are so well developed that your daddy sometimes tosses you up in the air. If you start crawling I may have to curl into the fetal position and sniff some of your sleepers until I calm down.

This is the new game at our house: Is it food? No! That's ok I'll chew on it anyway! As for the real food, you are totally digging it. We've given you squash and peas, and you LOVE them! Tonight you'll get some sweet potato for the first time, and my prediction is: LOVE! When you're not eating, you are generally trying with all of your tiny will to get onto my breasts. When I pick you up, your mouth starts moving and you begin suckling even though you have nothing in your mouth. It's hilarious, really. Maybe you'll take after your big brother Sam and eat as often as you draw a breath.

Guess who's taken a liking to you? The larger, girl version of you named Lucy. I've only recently realized how much you two look alike, but now I can't get it out of my head. It's funny how Sam and Maggie look more alike and now you are looking more like Lucy every day. Genetics are weird!

Baby boy, your face is my favorite thing to look at in the whole entire world.

Love, Mama

Embracing

2011-09-09T14:37:00.004-05:00

In the past few months I've been presented with opportunities to make several of my favorite hobbies into something a little more substantial. In the next month or two I'll (hopefully) be turning my photography habit into an actual business. (Not at all unrelated: if anyone out there wants to help me with a website, drop me a line!) Additionally, I recently became a group leader for the local breast feeding support group.

Before Sam was born I didn't really think too much about breastfeeding, except for the fact that I'd give it a try. I also didn't think I'd last too long nursing my boy. I never actually purchased any formula, but I thought about it. My attitude was, at best, indifferent.

That all changed the moment my boy latched on for the first time. I stared at his tiny face, watched his little jaw working the meager portions of milk from my body that very first time, and a light went on inside my body. A hormone-fueled light for sure, but it burned so intensely it was like nothing I had ever felt before. This feeling, I though, had to be the driving force behind millions of years of human reproduction.

Even through a terribly painful case of thrush I continued to nurse. The pain was so intense that I wept, but the payoff was so amazing that I would bite down on a washcloth to keep from crying out. Finally, after a few weeks, we were back to our new normal, and I never looked back.

The first time we tried to give Sam a bottle of pumped milk I almost threw up, I was so upset. Since then I've gotten a little less crazy about the kids getting a bottle of mother's milk, but recently when our sitter informed me that Freddie learned how to hold his own bottle, I was a bit traumatized. I'm already feeling a bit anxious about a trip we're planning for June of 2012, because I have zero intention of weaning him before his second birthday. I honestly think, five and a half years after that initial latch, that I am addicted to whatever hormone cascade occurs during nursing.

So to help focus all of this crazy nurturing energy I have, I volunteered to help lead the Morgantown Breastfeeding Support Group. Previously a friend of mine was the leader, and it was a La Leche League sanctioned group, but she recently moved away and she needed a replacement. We had our first meeting yesterday, and it went really well. We had a nice turnout, and I got to meet some new people and their lovely little babies. I'm hoping that, beyond socializing, that we'll be able to promote and assist breastfeeding mommies. But socializing is fun, too! Also, since it's 99.98% certain that I won't be having any more babies, I'll be able to get a pretty good dose of baby fix at the meetings. Everybody wins!

I don't have all of the answers, but luckily my co-leader is a nurse and lactation consultant, so we've got our bases pretty well covered. I'm really excited about this new endeavor, and hope that if any of you out there are in the Morgantown area you'll spread the word about our growing group!

Works of Art and Nature

2011-09-06T14:01:00.003-05:00

I remember when I realized that a house could be something more than four walls and a roof, and that was the first time I saw Fallingwater. I was barely a teenager, and I was awestruck. I'm older now, but the jaw-dropping beauty of this exquisite structure made me feel as small and meek as a child.

TRIUMPH OVER KINDERGARTEN TRIBULATIONS!

2011-09-03T12:06:00.001-05:00

He did it!

Kindergarten Tribulations

2011-09-02T11:46:00.000-05:00

Sam is now on day eight of kindergarten, and he is still enjoying it.

Mostly.

Last Friday the teachers introduced the classroom disciplinary system, and since then we've been having some issues. Basically, every morning each student starts out with three popsicle sticks by their name in a little envelope on the bulletin board. Any time a student does something not in line with the rules, they have to remove a stick from their envelope. If they have to pull all three sticks in one day, the teacher calls their parents. If they keep all three sticks all day, they get one 'splash cash' which they can save and redeem for gifts.

My darling Sammy is quite chatty, loquacious, talkative, friendly, enthusiastic, and occasionally he WON'T SHUT THE HELL UP. If you've met him you know exactly what I'm talking about. His excitement levels are generally at a nine or ten. Out of five. He can't wait to tell you all about the show he watched on tv last night/the jedi lego book he saw in the library/the plum he had for lunch/the dog he saw in our yard to infinity.

This doesn't exactly jive with the traditional school rules, such as being quiet when the teacher is talking and being quiet in the library and being quiet in the hall and being quiet in the restroom and being quiet all the damn time.

As you can imagine, he's had to pull one or two sticks every day since the stick policy was instituted. Luckily, we haven't had a 'three sticks pulled' day. Yet. I'm not entirely sure how super-serious his infractions are because I'm hearing about them from a five and a half year old. I've casually talked with his teacher about this, and she doesn't seem majorly concerned, but Sam is. He cries almost every day on the way home. He told me yesterday that kindergarten is the only school where he feels bad, and that it's the hardest school he's even been to, and that he's frustrated.

At that very moment my heart almost broke into a million little pieces.

I snuggled with him and explained that growing up is sometime hard, and that I know inside he is not a bad boy, he just needs some time to get all of the rules straight. We laid in his bed and I scratched his back until he calmed down.

This morning I sent him off to school with a little cut out heart in his pocket. I told him that I really hoped he could make it through the day without pulling any sticks, but that I would love him even if he had to. I told him that if he was feeling frustrated or sad that he could pull out the heart to remind him that his mommy loves him. And maybe he could think about making good decisions when he sees the heart.

If he has a 'no sticks pulled' day, he gets to go to burger king for dinner. And I'll make sure he gets a crown. He'll deserve it.

Lucy's First Day

2011-08-31T11:14:00.002-05:00

Yesterday Lucy started pre-kindergarten. Last week her teacher came over for a visit, and during that time they told me that I had to come in with her on the first day. She said most parents stay until lunch, and that if she was having a rough time I could take her home then. Well, we weren't even there for five minutes when I was dismissed by my four year old daughter. I told her I wasn't leaving yet, and she didn't look too pleased with me. Half an hour later she told me, in no uncertain terms, that it was time to go. "Grown ups don't count here, mom," she said to me. I collocated myself, and a hug and a kiss, and slowly backed away from the table.

At the end of the day, she walked hand-in-hand with Sammy to the car. She loved it, naturally. It was awesome, and she couldn't wait to go back!

Freddie Fridays

2011-08-26T11:22:00.001-05:00

When blue-eyed babies look up at the sky, amazing things happen!

First Day Jitters

2011-08-24T17:15:00.003-05:00

Today was the day. Sam's first day of real school. Public, federally mandated, all day kindergarten.

Despite the photo, he didn't actually take the bus, because, well, I'm just not there yet. The drivers here seem a bit wild and they have to drive on the interstate, so I think I'll be driving them for at least this next few years.

We got to his classroom, and he kind of clammed up. We met his teacher last week, and he recognized her, but the other kids in the room were all strangers to him. He asked me to stay a while, and since we were early-ish, I obliged. It was totally because he asked, and not because I was weepy and sentimental to a point.

He settled down with some blocks, and soon enough another little boy came over to join him. At first Sam was reluctant to converse with him, but as soon as Star Wars came up, it was like they were long lost brothers. Mere moments later, I was sent away with a quick hug and barely another glance.

And I totally didn't cry the whole way home. Only half the way home.

While I waited to pick him up at 3:15, I was a nervous wreck. What if he hated it? What if someone made fun of his lisp? What if he pooped and needed help wiping his butt? What if to INFINITY?

So as soon as he was buckled in the car, I asked, "So Sammy, how was kindergarten?"

"Mom," he said, "It was so awesome! It was more than awesome. It was...Spectacular!"

And then I cried the entire way home.

Change of Season

2011-08-23T07:17:00.003-05:00

Today it is downright cool outside, and even though it's supposed to be 88 degrees tomorrow, it's hard to ignore the coming signs of fall. Tomorrow is Sam's first day of kindergarten, and on he'll be joined by Lucy on Monday when she beings her all day pre-kindergarten. One of our maple trees is already blushing red, and a few discarded leaves dot the lawn. The stores are overflowing with freshmen, and the roads are flooded with sophomores high on their new driving privileges. We got back-to-school haircuts yesterday, and stuffed back packs are at the ready on their hooks in the hall. Tonight I'll pack a lunchbox for my big boy, and I'll make sure to write him a note so he knows how much I'll be missing him tomorrow.

But for one more day it's summer. I'll let the kids stay in their jammies until late morning. We'll eat lunch outside and drink lemonade and I'll swing them until their tummies tickle. We'll blow bubbles, ride bikes and draw with chalk.

Hopefully tomorrow we'll still be able to smell the summer on our shoulders.

Somehow, Lucy is Four

2011-08-22T11:41:00.002-05:00

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
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Her personality is fierce, which can be both amazingly wonderful and amazingly awful. She is a vision. I love her with all of my heart. My first girl, my Lulu. Happy birthday.

Worshington County Fair, 2011

2011-08-19T08:00:00.002-05:00

Last night we went to the county fair, just like last year.

We ate...

And went on rides...

And ate...

And pet a zebra...

And ate...

And people watched...

And ate...

And played the knife ring toss game as a family...

And ate...

By the end of the night, we all looked like my sister-in-law. The one who is pregnant with twins.

I think that means it was a success.

Back to School, Back to Reality

2011-08-18T12:04:00.002-05:00

In the next ten days my two older kids will go back to school. And then hockey season starts. And then dance classes begin. And then (maybe) piano lessons will get scheduled. And Lucy will turn four. And Maggie will turn two. And Freddie will start crawling, most likely.

I'm figuring that by Halloween I'll have put at least another 20,000 miles on my minivan and maybe another decade on my face.

Sky Eyes

2011-08-15T07:44:00.002-05:00

I have this picture of Lucy from two years ago, and I still think of it as one of my favorites. Therefore, I'm re-posting it for I Heart Faces 'Beautiful Eyes' week.

Guess Who Got Her Ears Pierced?

2011-08-15T04:22:00.001-05:00

Since we moved to West Virginia, the subject of Lucy's ears has been a hot topic. My cousin has a daughter who is not much older than Lu, and she has her ears pierced. Other girls her age have their ears pierced. While Lucy has expressed a great deal of interest in earrings, all attempts to get her her own have been thwarted by the girl herself.

Until Saturday.

When my mom and I decided to go and do some school shopping with Lucy, for some reason I thought, "I should put my camera in the car.' But I didn't. And the entire time we were shopping Lucy kept saying, 'I want to get my ears pierced today!' And I said to myself, 'There's no way she is actually going to go through with this today, when I don't have my camera, right Self?'

WRONG!

Guess who is now the proud owner of not one, but TWO pairs of earrings? One of which is actually embedded in her ears! There was much, much loud screaming, and there were tears, and Nunni might have had a wee bit of a racing pulse, but...

My girl is growing up.

Freddie, Month Five

2011-08-11T07:38:00.005-05:00

Dear Happy Boy -

What a month, what a month, what a month! You gather no moss these days, Frederick! All you do is scooch and roll. Which is cute, for the most part. Even though you were able to roll from belly to back before you could roll from back to belly, you seem to have forgotten how to do that first trick. So when you are on your belly for too long you call out for assistance getting back to the back. Which is fine at 2pm. Not so fine at 2am. After last week's growth spurt and now this week's rolling issues, mom's feeling a little, um. TIRED. But I love you, so it's ok. For now.

Speaking of growth spurts. Once you started waking up two or three times a night all of a sudden, I decided to start giving you some cereal before bed. It didn't make you sleep any better, but you did find it quite nummy!

In fact, the nom-nom-noming on everything has reached epic proportions! Toys, hair, hands, boobs, more hair, it all goes into your mouth. Your big brother was totally freaked out the other day when he offered you his finger and you gummed it all up. Or, as Sam put it, you baby slimed him. Nice! On the plus side, when it's bedtime and I lay you down, you've started self soothing by sucking on your wrist/forearm area. It's not a typical place to suckle, but you seem to enjoy it. It's funny to watch your little face go from pissed (that your not sucking a boob anymore) to content to asleep as soon as you find that fleshy part of your arm.

Even though you still love the gymni, the exersaucer has been a cool place to hang out, too. I can even put put it on the porch so that you can watch your brother and sister have a water balloon fight. You're still not super keen on the great outdoors, but in the shade in the exersaucer you will tolerate it.

You still have some of your long hairs. I don't think I've mentioned this before, but ever since you were born you've had about a dozen or so hairs that are 2-4 inches long. They've always made me smile, but over time some of them have fallen out. This does not make me happy. They are so ephemeral and fine that I can't quite photograph them, but that's ok. I know they're there. When that last one goes away I may cry.

Fred, your sweet face is all I need to get me through the day. I wait on pins and needles when you nap, because holding you is like a drug I can't get enough of. What I'm trying to say is, I love you like a fat kid loves cake.

Mama

Jump Up, Jump Up and Get Down

2011-08-06T01:32:00.000-05:00

Freddie Fridays

2011-08-05T13:30:00.001-05:00

In honor of World Breastfeeding Week.

And just beacuse he's cute.

Sam VS Lucy: Epic Sibling Front Yard Water Balloon Smackdown

2011-08-04T13:12:00.003-05:00

Occasionally I pretend to be a fun mom, and today was one of those days. Why today, you ask? Because my two oldest children were driving me kee-razy. They live to terrorize each other. In doing so, they also terrorize me, but they do they realize that? NO! All day long all they do is fight FIGHT FIGHT! So, in a flash of parenting brilliance, I decided to let them battle it out, literally, on our front lawn. With water balloons.

There was no clear winner, so I had to intervene. That's the purpose of the smaller bowl with only purple and pink balloons: Mom's ammunition. I was able to get out some frustration by throwing things at them and they loved every minute of it! Everyone wins!

Unfortunately, they weren't able to leave it all out on the field, so to speak. The battle raged on even once we came inside, and while there were no bodily casualties, a limited edition re-issue star wars poster sustained some minor injuries. As a result, both parties have been sequestered until ~~mom is done blogging~~ further notice.

Somewhere...

2011-08-02T16:31:00.001-05:00

The 2011 Garden Insanity

2011-08-02T14:03:00.005-05:00

You may well remember that gardening is a pastime I enjoy thoroughly. Last year we were only able to put in some peas at the old house, and we planted some potted tomatoes once we moved in, but it was meager at best. This year, because of all of the horror stories I heard involving deer, we planted one garden in the yard and made an "insurance" garden on the deck. The deck garden consists/consisted of peas, beans, tomatoes and bell peppers. The yard garden has tomatoes, tomatillos, carrots, and six different varieties of the hottest chilies I could find. So far, we've had an abundance of peas, and then once they were finished we replaced them with beans. The beans are just finishing up now. I picked some jalapenos yesterday, which is the first thing I've harvested from the yard garden.

The tomatoes and peppers in our deck garden, which we planted in case the deer decimate everything outside, are doing horribly. The main issues, I believe, is the soil. We bough several large bags of potting soil at Big Blue Home Store, but we received garden soil instead. Neither one of us really thought about when we made the realization, and I went ahead with planting. I also bought those plants at Big Blue Home Store. Those plants haven't really grown much since the day I put them in. There are a few fruits, but most of them are rotting at the blossom ends. The peppers are only now flowering, and are quite small. I don't expect much from them.

The plants in the garden? Now that's another story. Everything out there, save for a few Thai peppers I picked up at the farmer's market, was grown from seed. Three tomato varieties, carrots, chilies and tomatillos all started in my dining room, and some of which I sowed directly as an experiment. We tilled organic soil and compost into the ground, made some raised beds, and planted away. The results?

I have never had plants grow this big in my life. I planted two of my tomato seedlings in a large pot on the front porch, and it keeps tipping over because the plants are so tall. The cages I bought are three feet tall, and most of my plants are more than double that size. There are green tomatoes everywhere, and tomatillo husks are rapidly filling with fruit. It's so dense I can barely see the interior plants.

Luckily, until recently the deer haven't noticed this lush smorgasbord. But last week I discovered this:

They found us. Luckily, it seems like they were in and out pretty quickly. They just ate the tips of a few branches and didn't touch any of the unripe fruits. I've been vigilant about spreading blood meal and spraying this revolting smelling liquid fence since then, and they haven't been back.

Now the only issue I have is that my cat is using one of the beds as a litter box. Any recommendations, other than driving the cat into the middle of nowhere and leaving him to poop in someone else's garden?

Food, Fun, Family and More Cake Pops!

2011-08-01T12:48:00.004-05:00

This past weekend was filled with family fun. On Friday night we celebrated my little brother's 30th birthday, and his recent wedding, with 65 members of our immediate family. In honor of the happy couple, we made some of their favorite foods, like chicken and rice, rice and beans and HAM!

My brother and his first love, ham.

This was also the event for which the oft mentioned cake pop wedding cake was made. I have to say, that overall, I was pleased. There are things I would change if I were to do it again, but the end result was kind of pretty!

There were many more pops to be had, but I didn't consult with an engineering firm before constructing my tower, so it reached its load limit pretty quickly. Luckily it did not topple, and as long as you don't look too closely you can't see the drinking straws my cousin provided to help rig it up.

Luckily, they were plenty yummy, so no one minded that display was sub-par.

The party that night was a lot of fun, and for the first time in a long, long while, all of my cousins from my mother's side of the family were present. So of course we had to grab my grandparents and get a photo!

Saturday was the big family golf tournament, but that is a dude only event. Besides, I was home recovering from staying up until after 2am on Friday and baking dozens of cookies for the next day.

Then on Sunday we attended the big reunion picnic for my father's side of the family. All of my dad's brothers were there.

Seven boys and their dad.

There was drinking from the pump down at the farm...

Sack races...

Pie eating contests...

Tree climbing...

And face painting!

It's kind of like something that you might read about in a book and think, "What year does this take place, 1950? There aren't families like this anymore!" Well guess what? You're dead wrong. We've done this every summer for at least the past 30 years, and one day I'll be taking my grand kids to the farm for the family picnic.

Cake Pop-A-Polooza

2011-07-28T18:11:00.003-05:00

So remember last week when I mentioned making a cake pop wedding cake?

Tomorrow is the big day. So far, no major malfunctions. I have manufactured a tiered cake pop stand as well. If everything goes off without a hitch, I'll post pics on Saturday. If not, I'll probably delete this post! But if you're wondering where I've been the past few days? Well, when you see how many cake pops I made, then you'll understand!

Oh, Philly!

2011-07-26T17:48:00.002-05:00

You make us do such patriotic things!

I miss you already.

Home Again, Home Again

2011-07-22T13:18:00.002-05:00

This morning I was on the phone with my mother. Before we hung up, she said, "Drive safe on your trip home."

We both gasped. You see, this afternoon we'll all be piling into the car and driving to Philly. It's funny how even after living here for over a year, sometimes we all still think of Philly as our home. This trip should be fun, hot and interesting. We haven't been back since the dreary days of winter, and I was still waaaaaaaay pregnant with Freddie.

Summer there is different, though. It smells funny, but there is something a little magical about the funk. We're going to run through sprinklers, have a BBQ with friends, and eat some oysters. I'm going to try not to cry, but if I do, it'll be so hot I might be able to pass it off as sweat.

Happy Cameraversary

2011-07-20T18:06:00.003-05:00

See what I did there? I invented a new word! (Or so I thought. Damn google.)

Five years ago I got my hands on my very first DSLR camera. My Rebel XTi. We had just moved to Atlanta, and in my loneliness I rationalized this expensive thing that we couldn't really afford as a necessity. Something in my life was lacking, and I thought this camera would help fill the void. Little did I know that filling the void with a camera with an interchangeable lens system would lead to more and more voids to fill!

For almost two years I shot in total automatic mode, letting my camera make all the decisions for me. There were plenty of shots that I loved, but for each one I'm sure there were at least ten that I missed. After a while I decided that I needed to learn how to use the damn thing. I bought a new lens and got to work reading my manual.

Once I had dipped my toe into the infinite lake of lenses, there was no going back. I plunged in head first. The 50mm came into my life when I was pregnant with Maggie, and then during Freddie's gestation I got my 7D, which came with an awesome 28-135mm lens. And I just got a lovely 28mm f/1.8 lens that I'm in love with right now.

I'm in the process of setting up my home studio, too. Hopefully by early fall I will become an actual business, with a name and number and website, too!

I've learned so much in five years, and I know that in five years I'll look back and think, 'god, I didn't know anything back then!' I can only hope that future me will be as happy and fulfilled with this hobby-slash-obsession-slash-hopefully-profession as present me is.

I can't think of a better way to end this post than with some photos!

On Cake Pops, My Daughters and My Mother Being On TV

2011-07-18T16:03:00.005-05:00

So I know the whole entire internet has already done this, but I made cake pops. They were fun, and everyone loved them, and I am now in charge of creating some sort of wedding cake-pop-ish thing for my brother and his wife. Should be interesting! I'll be sure to take pics, unless it's a disaster, in which case you'll never hear about it again.

So Lucy came home to her new shared living space with Maggie, and surprisingly she did not blow a gasket. They've shared the room for two nights now, and while there has been some giggling and carousing, they're usually asleep by 9am. Not the best, but totally not the worst. And I've now tempted the fates, so tonight no one will sleep, at all, ever.

So the reason the cake pops were made in the first place (other than the main reason that cake is good, and pops are good, therefore the union of these two things must be heavenly) was for Freddie's ritualized dip in holy water. AKA his baptism.

So a few years ago when Maggie was dipped, the pastor at my parents' church made the announcement that he had been reassigned at the same mass. And then at Freddie's baptism mass the replacement priest announced that he had also been reassigned, and that the two churches in that town were being merged into one parish. I think if we have another kid baptized (not ever going to happen, BTW, because there will be NO MORE KIDS) then it's likely that the church will be struck immediately by lightening. This is what happens when a couple of crazy atheists decide to bring their kids to church, people.

ANYWAY, after everything was over the news interviewed some people about the merger, and my mother was featured! Watch for her around 1:44!

More Parishes Closing & Merging In Mon Valley « CBS Pittsburgh

If you would like her autograph, I may be able to pull a few strings...

Freddie Fridays

2011-07-15T07:45:00.003-05:00

Baby boy! I can't believe this is the same blanket I photographed you on when you weren't even a week old.

I'm predicting that sometime when you're older, and really surly and disgruntled, I'm going to pull this blanket out of a drawer or closet and make you lay/sit on it for a photo shoot. Just because I love you so much.

Sometimes Four Minus Two Equals About Three and Two Fifths

2011-07-13T18:14:00.005-05:00

Sam and Lucy are staying at my parents' house this week. Which you'd think would make my life a whole lot easier. Well, guess again. It makes my life a little quieter, but not necessarily easier. Why? For lots of reasons!

Number one, my 5 1/2-year old and nearly 4-year old are pretty damn useful. For example, if the phone rings while I'm nursing or changing a baby, Sam will either bring me the phone or answer it himself. He even knows how to decipher all of the various sounds my cell phone makes. He'll sometimes drop the phone in my lap and tell me, "Hey mom, it's your turn on Words With Friends" or "Dad sent you a text message!" Nice! The only issue with this is, now that he's reading pretty well I'm going to have to start making my text messages more PG. I rarely censor myself in text format.

Secondly, they're great at taking care of trash for me. Diapers, tissues, wrappers of all varieties. Lucy loves a task, and putting things in the garbage is one of her faves. My house is getting a big, um, trashy, without them.

Third, they entertain Maggie far more that I seem to. We've been doing lots of fun things together, but apparently none of them are as fun as the things she does with Brudder and CeeCee. Every single moment I am not 100% engaged with her, she is following me around squawking. Which wouldn't be an issues if I didn't have a Freddie and home to take care of. I haven't been able to put sweet little Fred to sleep in peace since Sunday. And if I have to, you know, cook something? She wants to sit up on the counter and "help" me. And, if I have to be honest, she is not very helpful.

Thank god she's cute!

Fourth, and most importantly, I miss them. Like, want-to-hold-them-in-my-arms-while-kissing-and-smelling- them sooooo bad missing them. Don't tell anyone, though. I have my ~~street~~ mountain cred to maintain.

The Great Room Swap of '11

2011-07-12T11:22:00.005-05:00

Yesterday I mentioned about moving Maggie out of the nursery so Freddie could take up residence there. Let me elaborate on that a little bit, because, lo we are involved in some major shit over here.

Now, we are no strangers to re-arranging in this household. We lived in our last for three years, and everybody got switched around at some point, and Sam even got switched twice! All of these babies complicate things, I tell you! We are now in a similar situation here are we were back when Maggs was born. At this house, the big kids each have their own rooms and Maggie was in the nursery. There are only three bedrooms upstairs, so when Freddie came along, we kept him in our room. Until we moved him into our closet. The closet was easily big enough to accommodate him, his pack-n-play and my rocking chair, so it wasn't a big deal for us to keep him in there, and Maggie in the nursery.

But now he's four months old. And my two biggest kids are away at their Nunnie and Pappy's house for the week, and so my mom suggested that this might be a good time to execute the room swap-age. She is one smart cookie, that mother of mine. So on Sunday night, after Sam and Lucy had been deposited at their grandparents, we put Maggie to bed in Lucy's room.

And she flipping loved it.

We didn't hear a peep from her all night, and in the morning when she woke, she just called out for me as she did when she was in her crib. Then she successfully napped in there yesterday, slept in there last night and is currently napping in there again.

So I moved all of the furniture from Sam's room into there. Sam and Lucy had matching stuff from Ikea, so we thought it would be easier to move all of the matching stuff into one room and just buy him a new bed. Then I got some cute new matchy-matchy bedding from Target (some of it even on clearance!) and Viola! The girls' room is (nearly) complete!

(That tube on the bookshelf is a package of wall decorations that I hope to get up today or tomorrow, to tie the whole room together.)

(Also, the Bert and Ernie rug totes does not match, but it was SOB's when he was little, and we've put it in one of the kids' room ever since we had them.)

So far, so good! Sam's room is practicially empty, and Fred is sleeping on ladybug and flower, sheets, but hopefully by the end of the week the bunk beds, crib bedding and mattresses will arrive. Otherwise my five year old will be sleeping on the couch.

Now we'll just have to see how Lucy reacts when she comes home...Stay tuned!

Freddie, Month Four

2011-07-11T15:12:00.005-05:00

Dear Freddie,

Dear Freddie's feet, actually.

My sweet little (final) suckling, this monthly milestone has your mama in a tizzy. Why? Because you are now old enough to eat rice cereal. If I were so inclined to give it to you. Which I am most certainly not. I plan to put off nourishing you with non-boob milk for as long as possible, and I plan to nurse you until the day you move out.

Just kidding. Sort of!

This has been the month of the happiest babe ever. You are so, so, SO happy. All of the time. Even when you are tired/hungry/poopy. The sweet disposition seems to know no bounds. I often neglect my household duties just to make you giggle!

You love being naked, and you love being tickled when naked. Your armpit areas, your chin, you cheeks. Just the lightest touch and you laugh and squeal with delight. Honestly, the only thing that seems to upset you is the heat. For example:

You are unimpressed with the out of doors so far. I'm guessing that by next summer that will all change, though!

You can officially roll over from belly to back. You did it the first time during the Grover photo shoot, but you only did it once.

Since then, you flip yourself over every time I put you tummy side down. Which is funny because I recently re-committed myself to more tummy time.

You've also become obsessed with my chin. One of your siblings also loved my chin. I think it was Lulu. When I come in to kiss you, you open your mouth as wide as you can, and if I let you you'll gnaw on my chin for the better part of an hour! If you can't get my chin, you'll still happily chew on your own fingers or tongue, though.

We're in the process of finally moving you into the nursery. I don't think I've mentioned this, but you've been sleeping in our closet since you were born. Don't worry, it's a huge, ventilated walk in closet. Up until we actually began the process of getting Maggie out of the nursery so you could move in, I felt like I was looking forward to the move. Our closet (your bedroom) is continuous with our bathroom, so we haven't been about to use our shower or toilet since you were born. But even though Maggie is pretty well situated in Lucy's room now, I can't bring myself to move you up there. I keep saying tomorrow we'll take the rocking chair up. But then I think, maybe we should wait until your bedding arrives so you don't have to sleep in the ladybug room. At this point, you may very well still be sleeping in our closet until you graduate high school. We'll let you paint it whatever color you want, ok?

Love, Mama

Things I've Learned from Organizing my Pantry

2011-07-07T14:08:00.011-05:00

Our house has an amazing pantry. Seriously, it's one of the highlights of the place, and when other people see it they are in awe. It's at least half as big as the kitchen in our old home. When we moved in, however, it became a catch-all for random kitchen (and non-kitchen) items that we didn't quite know where we wanted to put yet. Also, as we unpacked, things that should go into a pantry were placed in there in no particular order.

Soooooooooooo, one year and a few weeks later, I finally got around to cleaning and organizing everything in there. Want to know what I learned? Of course you do!

1. The location of that last damn cadburry creme egg I hid at Easter.

I knew it was in there somewhere! Right with the coffee filters, splenda and an empty flask! Duh!

2. That I should ignore the little voice inside of my head that says, "hey, don't you need more aluminium foil?" every time I hit the bulk-warehouse-type stores.

At least until 2015, when I may possibly run out of heavy duty aluminium foil. Maybe.

3. Ditto for honey.

4. I have more gravy boats than I ever thought possible, including one that is shaped like a turkey!

5. Practically speaking, it makes a lot more sense for things that you use often (peanut butter, jelly, bread, etc.) to be located at eye level and within easy reach. Instead of, you know, that toaster oven you bought at a garage sale, thinking it was way better than the one you already had, only to discover that it wasn't, but you can't bring yourself to give away. Put that shit way up top, where you don't have to see it (and be confronted with your own stupidity) daily.

6. Group items together for ease of locating. Paper towels, tissues, and napkins all together. Pots and pans? Together. Small appliances all up top.

Not pictured: spare toaster oven. I said put that shit up high!

7. The sense of satisfaction you get every time you walk into your newly organized pantry is like crack.

Happy Organizing!

Self Reliance

2011-07-06T16:36:00.002-05:00

So our babysitter is on vacation this week. And I've barely had time to brush my teeth, so the whole blogging thing has fallen by the wayside. I'm hoping that next week, when she is back and the two big kids are off at came with Nunnie and Pappy, I'll have a little more time for this here blog. But until then, just remember dear readers

I Didn't Know You Could Eat Muppet!

2011-07-04T13:43:00.003-05:00

On America's Birthday, I'm grateful that we can eat whatever "meat" we choose, and so is Freddie!

Eatingmuppets

Alan | Myspace Video

Freddie Friday

2011-07-01T13:33:00.000-05:00

Why Jillian Michaels and I Can't Be Friends Anymore

2011-06-28T12:48:00.002-05:00

As you may recall, I've been on a campaign to lose weight. I had my cousin's wedding to get me started, but since then I've been losing momentum instead of pounds. I thought I'd remedy that by buying Jillian Michaels' Ripped in 30 dvd. I started it back in May, knowing full well that I wasn't going to get ripped in 30, but rather maybe ripped in 60. I like to alternate those short but intense workouts with longer cardio workouts.

Jillian's big thing is alternating strength, cardio and abs. To keep things really intense, her workouts include a lot of jumping and similar explosive motions. I didn't exercise at all during our vacation, so when we got back I decided to up the intensity a little by adding some jump rope intervals to my regular cardio. I use an elliptical machine 30 to 40 minutes at a time, so every 10 minutes I would jump off and jump rope for about a minute. And I kept doing the Ripped in 30 video workout every other day.

I made it all the way up until level 3 before I injured myself. I've come down with a nasty case of the Turf Toe. Yes, the injury most often found among professional football players and ballerinas has descended upon a West Virginian house wife just trying to make her ass a bit smaller.

And you know, you don't really realize how often you use the end of your foot/big toe area until you injure it. Simple tasks like kicking around my blankets at night, or leaning over to hoist Maggie out of her crib all aggravate my injury. It's not severe, so the only thing I can do about it is tape it and rest it, but with 4 kids rest isn't really an option.

So I hobble through my day, while still trying to get in my workouts, minus the jumping. Because if I have to choose between a big ass and a sore toe, I'll take the pain over the gain.

Hoop Dreamz

2011-06-27T19:03:00.004-05:00

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Here is my I Heart Faces entry for this week's theme: A Touch of Whimsy. Why? Because the hoop is only five feet off of the ground!

New Discoveries

2011-06-27T16:48:00.002-05:00

Freddie has made some interesting new discoveries lately. First off, he has discovered his hands:

And he has also discovered his tongue:

I swear, this kid is so adorable that I think I may never get anything done ever again!

It Was Bound to Happen Eventually

2011-06-23T06:58:00.007-05:00

I am a lucky woman. Even though I have four children, none of them have ever expressed any real affinity towards a particular security item, be it blankie, or lovey, or stuffed animal. Sam has a large number of stuffed animals that he rotates through his bed: a cat in the hat, a curious george, a duck that I won in a crane game (seriously, I'm awesome at those things), a pillow pet, etc. Lucy has a lamb blanket/toy thing that my friend Susan (who is moving! Buy her stuff!) bought for her when she was born, a little red beanie teddy bear that SOB bought for her in a airport, and a pillow pet (yeah, I'm that mom) in her bed, but if any one of them disappeared, she wouldn't care. And until recently, Maggie never slept with anything in her crib.

And then? She discovered BABY DOLLS!

Now, we've always had a bunch of dolls and doll paraphernalia around because of Lucy. But Miss Lu would rather build puzzles or play with scarves than play with dollies. Last year my parents bought her the whole set with a doll sized high chair, pack and play, and stroller, and it's been largely unused until last week, when Maggie claimed it as her own. She picked through the dozen or so dolls we had lying around, and selected her favorite. Then she proceeded to carry, or stroll, that doll everywhere for the next four days. Because the concept of naming is still beyond her years, she just calls her BeeBee. And she has to have BeeBee in her crib, high chair, everywhere. Mama has to kiss BeeBee before bedtime. BeeBee has to play in the gymni with Freddie during the day. You get the point.

Until last night, when BeeBee went missing. And lo, there was screaming. I tried substituting just about every other doll we had upstairs, but she would just throw them out of the crib. I then enlisted the help of Sam and Lucy in looking for BeeBee, but we remained unsuccessful. Sam did find another doll in the downstairs toy box, and since she had stopped wailing, I snuck in, laid it in the crib with her and then bolted.

Silence.

Victory, or so I though. Because today? She now wants BeeBee and BeeBee Two (or Blue, I can't tell) with her everywhere instead of just BeeBee. And the most beat up copy of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom in existence.

Crying because there is no room on her tray for FOOD!

Tuesday Tedium

2011-06-21T13:07:00.007-05:00

It seems that lately I have much, much less time for blogging. So many things have been going on that I've wanted to write about, but there aren't enough hours in the damn day. So here is a quick recap of the main highlights:

1. This blog had it six year anniversary last week. Six years ago I still had a full time job, I was just barely pregnant with Sam, I had never touched a SLR camera and I was a blogging infant. Now, 1600 post later, I'm a blogging kindergartner.

2. My sister-in-law is pregnant with TWIN BOYS. If I could even beging to explain how this happy this makes me, I would, but it just kind of comes out like DASKFJLSHRIEKJAUSNFBVIOEWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!11!! The day before her ultrasound I cracked an egg and it had two yolks, so how do you like that? Maybe I should start wearing a babushka, since I'm turning into an old wife.

3. The garden is in!

After we got home from vacation the peas were ready for picking, so we had ten days of deliciousness. During that time we worked on getting these boxes installed in the yard. There are a few more hot pepper plants to go in around the edges (as a deer deterrent) but otherwise it's all done. Tomatoes, tomatillos, and hot peppers in there. Tomatoes, beans, and mild peppers on the porch as insurance. In case the deer decide they like spicy thai chiles.

4. Father's day was fun. Sam drew this lovely card for SOB, with pictures of all of the things he thinks SOB loves.

In no particular oder, the items are Sam, a trophy (plaque, actually) a hockey stick, bacon, a chocolate covered pretzle, beer, a screwdriver, medicine to make people go to sleep, Harry Potter, Wii and a lightbulb. Leave a comment with your best guesses as to what each item is!