Repetition

Not much time to blog and not much to blog about. My days are mostly repetition of baby stuff, kid stuff, and trying to find time to clean and eat. It's both exhausting and fun.

The weekend was quite lame as it was raining for it's entirety. We went to one mall on Saturday and then another on Sunday. We definitely need to come up with some other activities for the winter time. It's been hard finding things that can entertain Cam that are easy to bring the baby to.

O.G. had his 2 month check up last week which included shots :-( I thought all was fine since he only cried for a bit and then was his usual smiley self. Well, he took a nap in the afternoon and woke up screaming (which isn't the norm). He proceeded to cry for nearly 2 hours until he exhausted himself and finally fell asleep. I hate shots!

He weighed in at 12 pounds, 6 ounces and is 24 inches long. Currently, the cutie pie is napping...while Cam is napping too! Yay!! This is a RARE thing.

In Cam news, this week will start his 4 day/week pre-school schedule. Since the pick up has been so crazy, I've decided to move it down to 4 days/week. It will also give me a chance to do some little lessons with him since other than the socialization aspect, he's not gaining much from his pre-school. It's all that free learning approach which is great but some structured lessons would be nice in the midst of it.

Oh well, I'm off to take advantage of this nap time and clean some dishes (fun!) Today is my VERY long day since Mary teaches her class tonight and won't be home until after 9. Yes, this was the most boring post ever...hopefully I can post some pics' soon :-)

Weekend in Photos

Though I am happy it's Monday, we had a good weekend. On Saturday, we met our friends M & S along with their son J for apple picking.

Mary demonstrated how NOT to use a Maya Wrap...


Cameron was a pickin' mad man and picked lots of unripe apples...



But we all had a fun time...


On Sunday, we went to a playground...


And I watched the Pats' get their butts kicked :-\

More on the Dreaded Pre-School

Cameron takes a gymnastics class once/week which was yesterday afternoon. We invited his friend D from pre-school since we had a "bring a friend" pass. D's mother has 2 other children and after leaving gymnastics was off to Girl Scouts, a PTA meeting, and then the pre-school board meeting. Yikes. I'm not sure I could deal with an all kid schedule.

As it is, I'm still overwhelmed with Cameron's crazy pre-school. Since it's a co-op, there's a board and we're all on it. My job as secretary requires me to take meeting minutes. I guess it isn't so bad since I have to attend anyways. Though I was shocked at the meeting when they were talking about fundraising and needing to raise $2,000. When I got home, Mary was also shocked to hear this. We already have a ridiculous amount of responsibilities for this school, now lets add fundraising.

I also hoped to get an insight of some sort of lesson plan. Aside from socialization, Cameron isn't actually learning anything. Socialization is definitely important but we hoped that he'd be doing alphabet and stuff like that to prep him for kindergarten next year. Well, it looks like we'll just be doing that at home. The school is basically a free for all where kids can climb things, paint, do drawings, etc. There's virtually no structure and well, we're all about structure. We know that "free play" is helpful for learning too but it's ALL FREE PLAY. But Cameron is loving school though so I guess that's all that matters.

Oh well, I'm off to enjoy the day with Baby O.G. or what I have of it before I pick up Cameron and head back home for his nap. The weather is getting cooler which is oh so nice. I love Fall but it never seems to last long. Before you know it, I'll be ranting about another freezing winter. Oh, at least I won't be in northern Maine :-)

The Car Bed

Cameron's car obsession continues with the car bed...



though even I have to admit, it is quite cool. Of course, now he just jumps and jumps and jumps on it. So we'll wait for an injury. We felt bad since we promised him a "big boy bed" (twin bed opposed to the toddler bed he's been sleeping in) once he wasn't wearing diapers over night. Well, that happened before we moved but we have slacked on getting the big boy bed. Now, he has a car bed - I think it makes up for it.

Welcome Dylan Richard

My new nephew was born yesterday - weighing in at a whopping 9 pounds, 9 ounces!!! Yikes!!!



And though I was surprised by the name, I was actually impressed. Though I'm not a fan of the name Dylan, my mom has been obsessed with it. I talked to Seamus last week and when he mentioned that mom didn't like any of the names they had in mind, I reminded him that mom only wants Dylan or Connor for names. Supposively, she likes Owen but I think it's just because we told everyone we were naming the baby Huckleberry. LOL.

Anywho, Richard is after our stillborn brother so that is a nice touch too. Even though he can act like a selfish a**hole when my mom does so much for him, he can have a heart too.

Mazel Tov!

We had our first official night out since having the baby. We attended my friend A's big Jewish wedding last night :-) Though I was quite nervous leaving O.G., we had a good time.

And Mary thanked me this morning for having us leave a bit early even though she insisted we stay until the end. We only left about 45 minutes before it ended but Mary wanted to continue drinking. I had already stopped drinking hours before and just wanted to get home to my baby. I also ended up getting some stomach bug Thursday night and was still feeling uneasy on Sunday. One of the downsides of being a stay at home mom is there's no calling in sick and barely any time to rest.

But A looked beautiful and I was very happy for her. We've known each other for about 15 years and for a while it seemed like she was never going to get married. It's her husband's second marriage. You could definitely tell he wasn't in to having ANOTHER big wedding but he went with what A wanted.

On a side note, the Jewish ceremony was so beautiful. Though I'm not one for long ceremonies, the tradition aspect of it was very cool.

Pats' Place

Mary offered to pick up Cam and work from home during his nap since I've been wanting to check out the new Patriot Place. My sister and I along with O.G. headed down and I invited my dad along as well.



I wasn’t aware that my sister has decided she doesn’t like my dad. My dad is definitely one of the strangest people I know and I generally try to avoid him around election time (he gets way too fired up about politics). However, I actually don't mind hanging out with him and I'm not going to go to the town he lives in without letting him know. My sister kept telling me ways we could ditch him. Ummm, I actually want to see him and I know he likes seeing the baby. So despite my sister still being annoying, I had a good time. I got the boys some Pats' gear and we had lunch and then went by my dad's for a bit so I could feed and change Mr. O.G.



And O.G. looked SO big today. I think it was the sneakers...



I am amazed at how quickly babies go. I'm already looking at pictures of him when he was a week old and remembering how tiny he was.

The babe...

So my "wittle man" is 7 weeks old as of yesterday. Crazy! I've definitely been blessed with a good baby but it fits my theory of "good things come to those who wait". Some random tidbits on Owen George's latest is he smiles A LOT and is coo'ing A LOT. Cam definitely gets a kick out of the smiles and loves to tell everyone that his baby brother is happy.



He doesn't mind "tummy time" especially since it gives him easy access to putting his fist in his mouth. He can hold his head up quite a bit, he's had a strong neck since birth. He's quite strong all around and still likes to kick and punch all day just like in mommy's belly.



I still haven't purchased a monitor. I've actually been delaying it because Mary wants him to sleep in his crib and since we don't have a monitor, it's not possible :-) I like him in the bedroom because he still gets up and it allows me to check him easily too. You know, the neurotic first mother's breathing check.

As far as a schedule, we have a "loose" one but that's something I'd definitely like to get more of. I should be more proactive with that but I still feel like I just go with what he's wanting though I do try to get him to nap more since the only time he gets really fussy is when he's over tired. But like the typical child, he doesn't want to sleep.

Currently, he's in his crib which he loves. Not for sleep, of course, but to look at his mobile and at the boats on the bumper. Of course, he starts to get angry when the mobile turns off. They should definitely make those things to play more than 5 minutes. He's funny because he won't start crying but actually yells at it.

On a random note, I had this realization last week when he turned 6 weeks. That is generally the time that infants can start daycare. I hate daycare. I definitely understand that some people need to do it because of financial reasons but I'm totally against it until a child is at least 6 months (and even then, I'm not a fan). So I'm grateful our financial sitaution is such that I can stay home with O.G. and that Cam doesn't need to be in a full day thing. I won’t sugar coat, the stay at home mom thing does have its disadvantages like never being “off” duty but the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.

Oh, Co-Ops Can be Funny...

My wife who has a PhD in Economics and who did her post doc at Harvard is currently teaching pre-school. LMAO!!! What makes me laugh even more is that she is the "assistant teacher" :-)

Yay for Pre-School! :-)

Cam started pre-school today. I'm not sure who was more excited - me or him - but either way we were BOTH excited. My mom used to sing this evil song "Schooool days" that drove me and my siblings crazy and I found myself singing it this morning. Cam of course reminded me that it was "PRE-SCHOOL DAYS!".

The drop off went well. Normally Mary will drop him off no her way to work but today we all went since it's his first day. He did pretty good on the drop off, much better than I expected since he only hid behind me once when the parent teacher went to say hello to him. Note to everyone - don't approach him, let him approach you. They'll quickly learn.

The teacher talked about getting him into a routine to make a easier transition during drop off. I hope that Mary keeps it short and sweet because that's how I want it when I drop him off since Mary's on business so often. She'll alread be away on Wed and Thurs of this week. And I am laughing because Mary has to do the parent teacher day tomorrow. I cannot imagine Mary being stuck at a pre-school from 8:30-1, she's totally going to go nuts.

My Crazy Camer

Cameron generally drives me crazy lately. I love him but his energy seems to have increased 10 fold since the baby was born. I remind myself every day that he's 3 and pray that most of his actions are a phase. I've also been going crazy trying to balance him and the baby while in all honesty, just wanting to enjoy my first baby. Most people that have a 3 year old, have gone through the entire infant thing.

Anywho, he's also in that stage where he repeats a lot of what people say, even if he has no idea what it means. Sometimes, I HATE this. Like when he picks up "bad words" from older boys at gymnastics camp. Oy. But then there's those moments when he just cracks me up, repeating stuff that his mommies say...

The other day, Mom *Mary* finished putting together a bathroom cabinet and showed it to us, Cam's response:

"Wow, Mom, that's awesome! I'm so proud of you!"

And the other night, I put clean sheets on his bed (I used to do this weekly but it's been a while to say the least) - apparently, it was exciting for him since his response was

"Thanks Mommy! You're the best! You're my mommy in the world wide!"

Yes, he doesn't always remember how the words are supposed to go which makes it even funnier.

And today, he told me I looked handsome - I said thanks but normally it's handsome for boys and pretty for girls so he told me I was girl handsome. LOL. The kid is a nut.

Week in Review

The week has been a blur. Tuesday started with Mary's long day of work 9 a.m. - 9 p.m. since she's teaching a class at night. Supposively in the future she'll go in later on Tuesdays because of this but since my sister was here, she thought she'd help me out. She helped a bit by taking Cameron out for an hour during the day but other than that was not much help. And since then hasn't done much except for providing a few minutes of relief here and there.

Mostly, "Auntie Polly" has just annoyed me. We're on 2 totally different spectrums on everything. She was also mad at me because I wouldn't let her take my car to the casinos in Connecticut. She's basically a compulsive gambler so I told her before she came out that she could use my car within Mass to see her friends or what not but not to go to the casinos. She said that she wouldn't and would take a bus but of course was all pissed when I said she couldn't use it to go to the casino on Friday. Needless to say she ended up taking a bus after pouting around. It's hard to believe with her level of responsibility that she's nearly 10 years older than me.

Yesterday I began my co-op duties at the pre-school. All the parents had to do cleaning shifts to prepare the school for Monday. I was a bit bitter since I barely have time to clean the house but I ended up chatting with one of the parents most of the time. She was probably 15-20 years older than me, her child starting pre-school is her youngest but it was nice to make a connection and maybe if Cam gets along with her son we could have some play dates or what not.

Then a friend of Mary's came over later in the day. When Mary told me what time she was coming, I mentioned she should have her come a bit earlier, during some of Cameron's nap. Or later so we could have Cameron ready for bed. Mary was annoyed that I suggested this because she wanted him around. Well, he's not generally jealous around the baby but I do notice that when people fuss over the baby, he starts to show off. I think this is typical behavior but to distract it, I usually have people come during some of his sleep. But of course, I was stuck running after him and trying to sooth a fussy O.G. while Mary got into social mode. I don't have Mary's magic ability to tune out the children. I also decided it's difficult to have people that don't have children over because they are totally clueless to kid stuff. Or maybe it's Mary that's clueless since Mary and her sat around drinking beer until after 9. Keep in mind, "B" came over at 4. In the midst of this, I had to balance the baby and getting Cameron into bed who was angry with me since I didn't do his bath. Like all children, he hates going to bed but skipping parts of his routine just makes him even more angry about the entire thing. Finally, her and Mary left to go to a bar.
I never thought I'd be so thrilled to have Mary tell me she was going to a bar. But it left me with peace and quiet and not having to try to be social. :-)

This morning, I took my sister out to breakfast since I haven't actually done anything with her. She mostly just annoyed me as she just insults random strangers appearances and what not. She's also completely racist which drives me CRAZY. When I picked her up from the airport, I had to remind her not to use certain words around Cam. Though maybe it's just me, I feel so annoyed with everyone lately. I wonder if it's some post partum thing or just the lack of sleep. Like, when I was going to bed, I let my sister know who started to rant about some trip to Wal-Mart. It took everything in me to not scream, "I don't care about your trip to Wal-Mart". Aaaaah!!!

Well, this has been a complete random rant. I'll be back to my Pats' game that's currently on half-time.

LONG Weekend

The weekend had some fun parts but it definitely felt like a LONG weekend. I feel like I have a certain way I do things during the week and it gets messed up over the weekend. Mary and I are both overwhelmed so it usually results in what I call "parenting conflicts". I want to do things one way, she wants to do things another way. So Saturday was pretty much ruined with this, I'll spare the details since the weekend did improve.

We went to some town event at a local park/playground on Sunday. Cam made a cookie that he topped with all sorts of crazy sugary things and refused to go in the bouncy thing (moon walk or whatever). Some of the pre-schoolers were going to be there: we ran into 1 or rather 1 came up to us. We're easy to spot as the 2 mom family.

We also had a visit from my friend C along with her husband S and baby B (who just turned 1). They moved to New Jersey shortly before we moved back to Mass. so that is a bummer. But it was definitely fun to see them and of course crazy with all the little ones of different ages.

Cameron also kind of freaks out with children that age...ones that walk but don't talk or understand when he tells them not to touch his toys. So it was interesting. He totally loved S though which sort of re-reminds us that he definitely needs more of a male influence. I think we're perfectly capable being 2 moms but I still think he needs a male influence.

Anywho, my sister arrived yesterday and is in town for 2 weeks so it should be interesting. We don't really get along and she complains about EVERYTHING. I am hoping she will help out with Cam though. But of course things get even more complicated when there's a non-parent around that Cameron thinks he can break all the rules around. I tried to bite my tongue when my mom was here but during her stay he smashed the ceiling light in his room when he broke the no throwing rule and then nearly killed his fish when he put the baby's bottle brush in the tank. Lets hope Auntie Polly is at least a little more into enforcing some of the rules.

I did have to laugh at Mary. When I was going to get my sister from the airport yesterday, Mary was all, "stay out, go to lunch, I'll be fine with the kids". Well, about 5 minutes after I got my sister, Mary was calling to see when I'd be home. LOL. At least it gave her a reality check of the fact that I am WORKING during the day. It's not all fun and games when the baby's fussing, the dog is barking, and Cam is bouncing off a wall.