Turkey and SUGAR

Note to self: never attempt to brine a turkey. Other than that, everything went well and the turkey did turn out very good. It was my first turkey making experience so I was very nervous. And woh, making a Thanksgiving meal is a lot of work. Of course, it was the one day that Cam slept in (only 'til 8 but still, he's usually up at about 6) but I had planned on putting the turkey in at 6:30 a.m.

Once my dad arrived, I handed off the carving and I also wanted to enjoy my "Thanksgiving Mimosa" - champagne and apple cider. Yum. Mary was weary of the combo but is now obsessed. We ate early around 12:30 and then my dad and older brother stuck around for a while. Mary got to nap and I made the mistake of skipping Cam's nap. I felt bad since I know he loves seeing my fam.

Later, we went to my aunt's for dessert. It was also my cousin's birthday so we celebrated that and hung out with a bunch of extended family. The plan was to go to Lasallette. However, O.G. had plans of screaming bloody murder so we decided to head home. Cam had a minor flip out and then passed out. We put him to bed when we got home since it was already passed his bed time. He woke up screaming about 5 times. The first time he needed water and then it was basically just to drive us crazy.

I believe this was all because of the ridiculous amount of sweets he had. His method was basically to get different things from different people and once you go around extended family, it's all over because you're terrible parents if you don't let the kid eat whatever he wants. Needless to say, he won't be have sweets for quite some time.

Speaking of, I'm off to enjoy some pecan pie :-)



this is what happens when I have my dad take pics


Cam wouldn't participate


Cam and my lil' cousin Griffin

Turkey Bites

This week has gone by way too fast. I'm so not ready for it to be Thanksgiving tomorrow. My dad and older brother are coming over. I'm cooking a turkey for the first time and well, I'm scared. I decided to brine it and well, I was freaked out. Note that I was vegetarian for 12 years and only gave it up during my pregnancy. Anywho, I was screaming because I was freaked out that I was touching this poor dead turkey. Cameron came up to me later and said, "did that turkey bite you?". LOL.

Well, I'm off to peel potatoes. Have a happy and safe one :-)



(On Monday, he weighed in at 14 pounds, 12 ounces and is 26 inches long)

Retail Therapy

Today we went to my new favorite store - Hanna Andersson We received a gift for O.G. of clothes from their that were way too big. However, I should never be allowed in the store again. I'm still dreaming about things I could've and should've bought. I'm terribly addicted to kid's clothes.

When we got home I did a photo shoot with his new stuff...





What he loves best? Being naked!



I know, I'm becoming one of those bloggers that only posts pics' of their kids but come on, they're wicked cute ;-)

Happy 1/3 O.G.!

O.G. is 4 months today, I can't believe it.



Here he is very proud of his new skill of pulling his socks off. Apparently it's a lot of fun to pull them off and put them in your mouth. In other development, he's been rolling over for a few weeks or so. I try not to be so crazy about developmental stuff so I rarely know exact dates of things. He is STILL teething and we patiently (or not so patiently) wait for his tooth (or teeth) to arrive. He LOVES Cam and think he's the funniest person on the planet. He hates sleep and still refuses to take a regular nap. So I've turned to my friend - T.V. ;-) He LOVES Baby Einstein videos, we got a complete set as a gift so it gives Mommy a few minutes to actually eat and clean.

His 4 month appointment is on Monday. I'm very interested to know how much he weighs...any guesses? We always try to guess and last night at gymnastics had a few of the parents putting guesses in too.

Cars, Carbon Monoxide, & Jesus

On Friday, we bought a sweet new car - Mazda CX9...



Of course, my photog isn't this professional so obviously one I got online...in fact, my actual car is a reddish/maroon color but you get the jist *isn't it sweet?*

It has a 3rd row and a lot of room. We felt bad buying a gas guzzler but the amount we drive now is slim to none and the 3rd row was key. We've had a very hard time squeezing a 3rd child into our cars and just couldn't go the way of a minivan. So now we have room for Cam to bring a friend (or 3) but can still maintain our cool mom status ;-) And it has leather, a sunroof and Bose sound system :-)

Saturday, we had intentions of going to a Prop 8 rally in Boston but the weather didn't cooperate. I was pretty bummed since I was looking forward to our first family protest but dragging 2 little ones out in the rain would have made us look like bad mothers opposed to good gay mothers ;-) Cam was bummed since he said that he loves a protest. LOL. He's all about loving everything lately.

Saturday night, we had a scare and yet another interruption of my sleep when our carbon monoxide alarm went off. It started at about 12:30 a.m. and after the fire department came, it was finally resolved at about 2 a.m. Turns out the alarm was faulty but you never know with these things. It's not like a fire alarm going off and clearly not seeing fire. In between, I was all freaked out since the baby was soundly sleeping which is pretty rare lately. We were also nervous that the fire men were going to wake up the children, O.G. decided to hold off until they left and Cam *thank god* didn't wake up at all. Though he was bummed the next morning that he didn't see the fire fighters as he's obsessed ever since going on a field trip to the fire station.

And yesterday, we found a church - FINALLY! We've on the church search so we were happy to finally attend a service that fit us. It's a United Church of Christ (UCC) which we were leaning towards. However, in our church search we did try a Unitarian Universalist(UU). As much as the UU people were friendly, we just didn't find the experience to be churchy enough for us. This service was great and there are tons of kids and many with same sex parents. Yay! People were very friendly and we hit it off with another of the two moms that has a 3 year old son. Yay!!! I really want Cam to be around other kids that have same sex parents.

My Lil' Piggies

The week is flying by, it seems like it was just the weekend. In O.G. news, we gave him some rice cereal which he LOVES. The boy is such a little piggy like his big bro. I'm not sure how we're going to afford food for them when they hit the teens.

Anywho, here's some cute pics...




Cam was very cute feeding him except for the fact that he wouldn't stop. LOL. He said, "it's fun to feed a baby".

He is currently at gymnastics, Mary brought him which was sweet. It was bring a friend week so he was bringing his friend A from pre-school. Oh well, off to clean something while the baby is content. Pats play tonight - I prefer Sunday day games but I'll still be flipping back and forth between Survivor and the game.

Go Pats!

Not Equality for All

Well, it started off as a happy election day. Obama won and I was happy that equality in the U.S. had taken a step forward. But then yesterday, it took two steps back when I learned of all the anti-gay ammendments that passed. California's Prop 8 passed - unbelievable. In addition, Florida and Arizona banned gay marriage even when the same ammendment failed in Arizona only two years ago. Ridiclous.

And in Arkansas, gay people can no longer adopt or even foster. I'm sure everyone that voted for that is going to start taking in foster kids, OLDER ones. Yeah, right...f'ng bastards! Yes, I'm angry and bitter. It was fueled even more when I attended last night's pre-school board meeting consisting of clueless co-op straight parents. They act so open and aware but they are totally not. All isn't well just because Obama was elected.

Aside from being angry about another blow to gay rights, I had a good day. Wednesday is Cam's day off of pre-school which I've come to enjoy.

Mary stayed home for a few hours in the morning which was a big surprise and nice. We had a little Fall photo shoot. Later, when I put the pics' on the computer for me and Cam to look at, he got angry when I said he looked cute. He said he wasn't cute that baby was. Then I said, well, you look handsome. He said I'm not handsome. I said, well, what are you? His response, "I'm AWESOME!". That kid is a nut.

Anywho, the pics are quite cute...





Baby O.G. was more interested in eating leaves.

Vote for O...

G. ;-)


With his future Economic Advisor...


But for this year...

Life With Georgia

Georgia is scared of Cam since he's a little too active for her. I keep telling him that she'll bite him but I think he's just going to have to go through that one to learn. He's used to Chloe who lets him do absolutely anything to her and when she gets fed up, she runs away. He's constantly trying to put clothes on her and wrap her up in blankets, Miss Georgia doesn't go for this kind of attention.

On the othehand, she seems to be in love with the baby. She's always trying to sit next to him. It makes me a little nervous but it is quite cute.



I brought her in the car with me to pick up Cam from pre-school. Well, she decided she would sit in the baby's carseat - WITH the baby! I finally convinced her that it wasn't a good idea.

A Halloween Weekend

The weekend was, well, exhausting!!! Mary's mom got into town on Thursday night. I knew it would be chaos because well, Jayne my MIL is chaos. In the midst of trying to clean the house and prepare for Halloween, I totally forgot about another factor - the Georgia factor. Jayne was bringing back our psycho little dog. So far that is going as well as it could, Chloe (our Aussie) is definitely thrilled to have her little pal back.

Friday went fairly well. We all went to Cam's pre-school in the a.m. All the kids were in costume and it was ridiculously cute. All but 2 girls were some version of a princess - ADORABLE! Though of course it makes me want a daughter even more. After we took a lot of pics' and left Cam there, the rest of us headed to breakfast.
Afterwards, I got to go home with the baby while Mary went shopping with her mom :-) And in the evening on Halloween, we made cookies and went out trick-or-treating.

Pics' of our Halloween Zoo...

Cam as a gorilla - I tried to push him towards the monkey costume but he insisted on the "Goreela"


O.G. as a giraffe


the side profile is priceless...


Our attempt at a family photo...

apparently Cam and O.G. spotted some trick-or-treaters

Cam was thrilled the next morning to find that "The Great Pumpkin" came or as Cam exclaimed early in the morning, "look what my pumpkin left me". "The Great Pumpkin" takes all the candy and leaves prizes...he or rather she left a stuffed animal, a book, and a toothbrush. And this toothbrush is great because it's electric like Mom's and Mommy's toothbrushes.

We were all going to head to Salem (location of the witch trials back in the day) but the baby was fussy. The best decision I made all weekend was to stay home. I napped a bit with the baby and took a walk to get a chai. It was nice. Later in the afternoon, when everyone was home, I went out with Cam in an effort to exhaust him. Jayne also completely tunes out the children and talks and talks and talks. Hello, he's 3, he wants attention from his grandma. He's also used to my mom who gives him all the attention in the world and will color and play cars with him. Jayne, not so much, or rather not at all. Her and Mary were also trying to watch the Florida college football game which was ridiculous since they were ahead by about 35 points. Needless to say, Cam and I had fun running to the playground, running around the playground, and running back. I even went to one that was further from our house. I thought he would be worn out but he was NOT. I think that was the longest Saturday of my life.

So today the plan was to go to brunch. Luckily, Mary agreed with me and we decided not to go since we'd have to wait until 10 and well a restaurant with Mary's mom and our children - not fun. Cam was also up at about 5 a.m. with the stupid time change - I've always hated the time change but it's even worse with small children.

We ended up going into the city with 2 cars. Jayne's friend Jim was meeting her. They are currently at a hotel until Thursday which is great. I do like Mary's mom but I can only handle her in small doses. Anywho, in the city we walked around and eventually Mary and her mom left to pick up Jim. I stayed with the boys. I managed to take Cam to the playground and then we got some hotdogs for a picnic by the ducks. He also had blast feeding them. And aside from me having to tell him things over and over, he was fairly well behaved.

Now Mary's mom is at a hotel. We have plans to meet them for dinner tomorrow but I may not make it. Her friend Jim is even worse as he's never had any children or pets - so weird to live your whole life not taking care of anything or anyone. Though from being around Jayne, you'd never know she has 6 children! Maybe she spent all her kid energy raising them????