My Little Drummer Boy & Passport Trouble

And Happy Earth Day too! Mary must have told Cam in the morning because when I got up, he said, "Happy Earth Day, Mommy!". He also said it at random times today. Umm, you're not getting any gifts for it. Ha!

Anywho, Mr. O.G. turned 9 months yesterday. I can't believe my little baby is going to be ONE in 3 months. When did this happen?!? Sure, he thinks he's ALREADY a big boy but he's not (shhhh, don't tell him). He loves attempting to climb the cat tower, trying to jump out of his jumperoo, walking around the couch, laughing at the doggies, and playing with anything that's NOT a baby toy. He also doesn't go for any fake things...he wants REAL keys and REAL remotes, not toy ones.

He can now open the toy cabinet that has mostly Cam's toys in it. Cam isn't too thrilled about this but I told him that O.G. is getting bigger and learning more things. Cam let me know that O.G.'s hands are getting bigger too.

We also take a drumming class once/week. This class was supposed to be for Cam but O.G. participates WAY more. He's now at the point where you can do a few beats and he'll repeat them. He LOVES drumming on anything and everything. Sometimes we ghetto drum...



And with his 9th month, I'll take any excuse to make cupcakes...





So, what does one do once they're 9 months? Well, they go get their passport. But seriously, we're going to Barcelona next month. Mary's going to have some meetings and she's trying to convince me to live there from 2010-2011. She's applying for a Fulbright and wants to do her sabbatical there.

Anywho, with O.G. getting a passport, I figured it was time for me to change my surname on mine to my married name. Aside from having my maiden last name on my passport (which I now have zero identification with), the picture was 8 years old and well, A LOT has changed.

I had heard rumors that it was difficult for people in a same-sex marriage to get a passport with their married name. But social security changed my name so why not passport? Apparently, the passport agency takes DOMA very seriously and won't give you a passport with your married name. At first the window clerk was going to go ahead and do it so she voided my current passport. Then some b'arch supervisor came over and started giving me the DOMA b.s. and I began ranting about being a second class citizen and that I didn't understand why social security will change the name and passport won't. I was pissed and upset. Apparently, a higher up manager over heard and came to my rescue. ***note, he was probably gay but whatever who's going to protect you if not your own*** First he told me that they could make a note of an alias on my passport. My alias being my actual name. In the end, he decided just to give me the name change and sign off on it himself. He also gave me it free of charge due to the inconvenience. Score one for the gays!

And how cute is O.G.'s passport?


On a side note, Cam will not be going on this trip. We decided that with the traveling and TIME CHANGE, it wouldn't be so great for him. Instead, he'll be spending the week in Ohio where he can play with my nephew, swim in Nana Patty's pool, and probably eat lots of junk food. Coincidentally, my dad had planned on being in Ohio during the time of our Barcelona trip so Cam will be traveling with him.

Who knows if they would've issued him a passport in his current name? After all, we did go through the roundabout with his social security card which was the easy thing for me to change. This included a copy of his old birth certificate, a copy of his new birth certificate (when you adopt, you basically get a birth certificate that says you birthed the child), a copy of the adoption certificate, and after waiting for 2 hours in the social security office to submit this paperwork, they also wanted his medical record. What is wrong with this country? I'm not sure what makes it The UNITED States of America when the federal government doesn't want to recognize state laws. But without a problem, they'll take our money.

Babies, Playgrounds & Ponds

As far as who will carry the next baby, Mary wants that duty. And I'm fine with handing it off :-) I think it will be a little weird to not be the pregnant one since I'm more of the femme one but before we started our family, we said we each wanted to carry a baby and adopt one and we're on our way to fulfilling that. With Mary carrying the baby, we get into a little bit more complication because of her work schedule and when the best time for her to birth a child is. She wants to start trying soon but I'm trying to hold her off until O.G. turns 1 which was our original plan. That's still pretty soon considering he'll be 9 months this week. But still, I just want the majority of the Summer to be without craziness. Last Summer was so hectic (adoption, move, new baby). I want this Summer to be relaxed and not revolving around Mary being or becoming pregnant which can be stressful. Plus, I feel like 2 years apart would be ideal so if we start trying after O.G. turns 1, that will probably be the age difference.

Right now, I'm on a somewhat strict diet in efforts to lose the last of the baby weight and to TONE. Toning is way more important as my actual weight is close to my goal but my body just doesn't look the way it once did. So no eating after 7:00 p.m., less carbs, and more exercise is the name of the game :-) Now that it's nicer, I've made a pact with myself that I'll walk to Cam's school to get him in the afternoon as long as the weather is cooperative. That way, I know I'll get a bit of exercise each day especially since I can power walk there while pushing O.G. in the stroller.

Anywho, Cam gets whiny about walking home but he's fine if we stop at the playground that's a good 1/2 way point. It's nice that O.G. can enjoy some of it too and of course I get some cute photos.





Today, we were at church. We love our church and have met some cool people. Since we chat with some people, it makes the post service coffee hour more enjoyable since we can actually socialize a bit. After church, we took a drive and ended up having a picnic at Walden Pond (Thoreau's inspiration). It's a beautiful area and this is a nice time to go when the weather's decent but it's not insanely packed. Again, there were a few good photo ops...




On a random side note, I'm catching the end of "The Pregnant Man" on Discovery Health. I'm not sure what to think about this entire situation. To each their own I suppose. I only think it's weird that they welcomed so much media attention and that he decided to get pregnant again so soon. I guess the media doesn't care so much the second time around since I haven't heard much about the second pregnancy. Anywho, the baby is super cute. Oh, and how did he end up having a girl???? Geesh! My feminine a** produces a boy and his masculine a** produces a girl. What?!?! ;-) Anywho, they seem like nice people.

Updates

It's been a while so I'll try to blog while O.G.'s being entertained by the dogs. Cam is in a much needed nap after a breakdown leaving school.

O.G. update: he is CRAZY. He just constantly walks around the couch and tries to climb everything. He LOVES his jumperoo that I scored for an awesome deal on craigslist.

He also does pretty good with his new walker/car. Unfortunately for him though it's best on the carpet which we don't have much of. So as soon as he hits the hardwoods from the rug, he usually falls forward. Needless to say, he has to be safely supervised when he uses it.

Cam update: he's also CRAZY in a different way. He's a good boy but he has his moments. Sometimes he's a little angel and then he's a little devil. Lately, he's just obsessed with my Wii. He constantly asks to play video games or rather "bideo games". It's fun to be able to play with him but I don't want him on the Wii for long periods of time. And of course he flips out when I make him stop playing.

Another baby is on the horizon. Well, maybe not the horizon but some sperm has been ordered. We were happy to find that O.G.'s donor was in fact available even though the online catalog said he wasn't. Unfortunately, someone had a baby that has spina bifida through the donor. So we had to sign off on some genetic stuff. But we feel pretty confident that spinabifida is a folic acid/random issue and not a direct donor issue. Anywho, we ordered some vials for storage so at least we know when we do try that we'll be able to use the same donor.

Anywho, I'll leave you with some pics...

Happy St. Patty's!

Maine and My Monkey

I finally have some time to blog since O.G. is actually napping. The nap is taking place on me but whatever, he's asleep and it's kind of quiet except for Cam who is also napping or rather singing in his room. Whatever, at least he's in his room.

O.G. is CRAZY lately. I swear the kid is going to end up with brain damage. Just this week, I've debated taking him to the hospital three times because he pulls up on things, attempts to climb and then he falls. I try to stop him but he is on a mission. I didn't think a 7 month old would be doing the things he does. I'm also worried he's going to manage to jump out of his crib. We recently put it on the lowest setting since he was getting close to getting out. I swear, the child is part monkey.

Anywho, we were away this past weekend. We left Thursday for mid-coast Maine. This is probably my favorite area of Maine. Mary keeps trying to convince me that if we move back, we could live there. Anywho, I'm fine with visiting :-)

Mary does research involving the fishing industry so we went up for The Fisherman's Forum. Cam and I tagged along last year so I knew it was kid friendly and the resort is super nice. So we got to enjoy the resort's amenities and there was actually nice weather on Saturday. Mary skipped the conference part and we spent the day tooling around Belfast, Camden, and other cute little seaside towns.



and the monkey in action (he's getting too big)




This week we're just trying to make it through New England's schizophrenic weather. When we got home on Sunday, it was 60 degrees and we all took a walk to the grocery store. I was hot. Monday it was snowing. It's so crazy. I need Spring and I need it now!

Real Post Coming Soon

But for now, cuteness and my new favorite website



www.magmypic.com

SPENT (rant to follow)

If I scream REALLY loud at Georgia (the lil' dog) I can get her to stop barking. Who knew? Seriously, why do these dogs have to bark at everyone? I don't care if someone is shoveling their driveway across the street. It's going to be a long day, it already is.

O.G. decided not to sleep this weekend. I had my Nyquil Friday night which was glorious but I'm STILL sick. Of course, my occasional yelling doesn't help my raspy voice. And Cam asking me questions every single second or mostly begging to play the Wii or for food. Seriously, this child is going to have a major eating problem when he gets older. He just can't stop eating.

The universe just doesn't want me to sleep. I pray that O.G.'s teeth are FINALLY coming through. His 2 bottom teeth came in just shy of 5 months. Now, he's over 7 months. Why is this such a process? I hate teeth.

He also stands in his crib. He's been doing this since around 6 months. I should be proud that he's developing normally and even slightly advanced. But no, because now he tries to climb the crib. With him being awake so much, we put him in his pack-n-play in our room the past few nights. He couldn't stand in there since it's higher and there's not much to pull up on. But guess who was standing up and yelling at me this morning? Oh yes, Mr. O.G. in his pack-n-play. Oh he's cute but he's a little monster.

Just to add to my exhaustion, Cam was also up in the night. He has an awful cough. O.K. he ALWAYS has an awful cough but usually we can deal with it with his nebulizer. This time, no. So he was coughing so bad, he started crying uncontrollably. I finally managed to get him settled after forcing him to sit up, drink lots of water, and with V.icks vapor rub. I was debating on whether I would send him to school or not today but the snow fall made that decision for me. School is cancelled.

I'm just so tired. And yes, I'm happy to be a stay at home mom and that my wife makes a decent living. But she works ALL the time. At home, at work, she's working, working, working. Her university is closed today but yes, she's there and I'm here with 2 high energy kids sucking the last ounce of energy out of me.

Stuffy Face

Oy, this was a long week. It was nice to get back into a routine but I just had zero energy this week. Now I realize it's probably because I was getting sick. It started with a sore throat that got worse and worse and now it's a full fledged cold and laryngitis. Ugh. There's no rest for the weary in this house and of course when you're a stay at home mom, there's no calling in sick. So I've tried to keep on trucking. Mary did wake up with O.G. last night so that helped. After some Nyquil I was out like a light. Though of course, I was woken up bright and early at 6:30 a.m. to take over the kid duty. At that time I realized my nose was still blocked and I could barely speak. But Nyquil, how good is that stuff? Geesh, I slept like a rock.

On a positive note, we've finally had some nice weather with decent temperatures. This winter has been draaaaging so it's nice to see some sun and know that Spring is really on it's way. Today seems even better than yesterday. There doesn't seem to be a cloud in the sky. We are heading into the city to tool around and get some lunch. Since I feel like my head is ready to implode, I hope that everyone in the Boston area doesn't have the same idea.

Another Year

I'm getting back into some sort of routine. I finally started laundry yesterday and unpacked.

Poor O.G. has his 1st cold. He is all stuffy and I think he has an ear ache as he keeps grabbing one of his ears. He was also screaming bloody murder at 4 a.m. even though I was up to feed him at 3 a.m. I've found that massaging his feet helps almost anything. So weird, he loves Reflexology.

Anywho, my birthday was this past weekend and Mary got me a Wii. I am officially addicted! :-) We also picked up the Wii Fit and Guitar Hero. It was funny because Mary really didn't want to get the Guitar Hero but I insisted and now she's obsessed. I like it but I'm into the other games more especially Mario Kart :-) My Wii fit age started at 41. What?!? I'm definitely out of shape but come on, 41?!? Yesterday I was down to 28. Nice.

For my birthday day, we just hung out except for going to the store to pick up the Wii accessories. Then we got cupcakes from Kicka** Cupcakes - so yummy. I had a champagne one. It's a yellow cupcake with a champagne soaked strawberry in the middle and champagne icing. I love cupcakes.



Later my sister watched the kids so we could go out. We went for sushi. There was a long wait and in the mean time I drank 2 sakitinis. I was buzzed by the time we were seated but just had to try another one. When we got home, we played Guitar Hero.



The next day, I had a Strawberry Shortcake party. Ha! My dad and older brother came up. We ate pizza and ice cream cake.



This birthday was funny because it could've been a bday for a 15 year old *or 7 year old* - video games, cupcakes, ice cream cake. Hey, I can be a "hip" mom.

It's Been a While

There just never seems to be enough time or good enough internet connection for blogging. Since you last "saw" me...

Mary had a birthday (Jan 29)

We celebrated an anniversary (Feb 12)

And I had a birthday (yest Feb 21)
...no pics yet :-)
O.G. also turned 7 months yesterday...can you believe it???


Last week I was in Ohio visiting fam. I (all by myself) drove me and the kids there. Can you believe it? It was a bit crazy the first day. I planned to do 6 hours of the 13 hour drive but only managed about 4. O.G. was just pissed to be in the car and Cam wasn't helping matters. The next day was completely different and both boys cooperated especially Cam who everything I asked said, "yup, sure". Who is this child and can I keep him??? :-)

Anywho, we had a fun time visiting my brother's family, my mom, and sister. Cam had a blast playing with Seamus Jr. They are so similar it was funny to watch them. O.G. and Dylan are 2 months apart but SO different. O.G. is just so much more active and just silly. Dyl on the otherhand is more of a serious baby and not so active. Plus, he's huge. I think it's because he's over fed but maybe he's just big.

We were there from Friday to Friday. It was only me and the boys since Cam's school was closed and Mary had to work. I figured it would be easier for everyone since I know Mary gets irritated if we mess with her work schedule. My sister ended up driving back with me which was great since we busted out the drive in an entire day and I was able to be in the back seat with the boys most of the time.

More Pets for the Crazy House

Keep in mind we have 3 cats and 2 dogs. We also had a fish (r.i.p. Superman) that BoBo the cat ate last month.

Mary's birthday is next week and I had a thought of getting her a bunny. She's wanted a bunny for as long as I've known her and there's a rescue farm nearby that has quite a few. Anywho, the more I thought about it, the more I thought it was a bad idea. As much as Mary's wanted a bunny, we don't need another pet. Then Friday night she comes home with 2 hamsters. Oy. They are quite cute but I don't think the lil' guys will last long in our crazy animal house. Of course, she says it's my fault since I didn't want to go out to dinner so instead she brought Cam to the pet store. Ummm, you were bringing him to get food, litter, etc. for the 5 pets that we have. I didn't feel good so didn't feel like going out for Chinese food. Not a reason to get TWO HAMSTERS. I seriously thought she was joking when she came home with a box and said, "surprise!". Oh lordie, my wife is CRAZY!

Needless to say, the 2 new additions to our menagerie...

Lucy Spiderman and Ethel Batman



It was a pretty boring and seriously cold weekend. Saturday we stayed in most of the day except for going out for pizza. This ended up being expensive since we had to park in Harvard Square and then deal with gourmet pizza prices. We were also a bit disappointed as we used to always get this pizza when Mary lived in J.P. (lesboville of Boston). Anywho, it was so yummy but the new location seems to have changed the recipe and it's not so yummy anymore.

Sunday we went to church. It was well annoying. We felt bad that we hadn't been in a month (since XMas eve). However, Cam still wouldn't go to Sunday school so we spent most of the time telling him to be quiet and to sit still. I also was (somewhat) joking that I didn't want to go for the rest of the winter since it was annoying to find parking, jump over snowbanks and then deal with our mass of winter products (coats, gloves, hats, etc). O.G. also thought it would be funny to throw all 3 pacifiers I had brought on the floor. Needless to say, I didn't feel uplifted by the entire experience.

I did enjoy the rest of the day as I made some bread and Mary took Cam to see Bolt. And amazingly O.G. agreed to nap with me. Naps are good :-)

In other news, O.G. is officially in his new car seat. He definitely likes it better. The carrier/bucket seat was convenient. He had his first experience of riding in the grocery cart today too which was pretty amusing. Here it is when we were testing it out in the house. Cam has been obsessed with the box it came in and plays with it more than any of his actual toys. He cracked me up because when it arrived, he helped me open the box. I told him it was O.G.'s new bigger seat and he said, "and this trash can be my new seat". LOL.




Oh well, I'm off to attend to fussy fusserton who'd rather play with computer cords than his toys.

1/2 Party

So we had a cute lil' 1/2 Bday party with homemade calzones and store bought cupcakes :-)

After I picked Cam up from pre-school, I brought him to the mall to pick out a gift for O.G. I've learned that a way of deterring jealousy is to have him pick out things for the baby and then "teach" O.G. how to use it. Cam was so funny because he kept trying to along with the toy pick out clothes and blankets for O.G. I'd say, "we're just getting this one thing, we don't want him to be spoiled." And Cam would say, "but it's just so cute Mommy". LOL. He is my son.

Then I got each of them a balloon. I learned that O.G. shares Cam's love of balloons. And once we were home we decorated party hats. It was cute, cheap, & not stressful - much different than his 1st bday will be.

loving his balloon...

not so sure about this...

now what are they doing?...

loves a good cupcake...

Happy 1/2 Year Mr. Owen George!

Amazing things - An African American is President. And Mary woke up with O.G. for 2 nights in a row. I forgot how amazing an entire night's sleep is. She even slept on the blow up mattress in his room that we've set up for operation crib. And she did 1/2 of last night. Amazing stuff.

In other events, O.G. is 6 months today. I just can't believe how time is flying by. He tried some cheerios yesterday and seemed to like them. In general he's not super into food except some rice cereal and sweet potatoes. I think I may start the baby LED weaning as it seems easier and a better way to get him to eat food. I hear it's messy but like this pureed crap isn't.

In developmental stuff, he can mostly sit up but weebles wobble and they DO fall down. The poor guy is constantly hitting his head. He can get into the crawling position but doesn't crawl. He does do a mean inch worm and some how manages to get to dog toys. Not cool since he puts EVERYTHING in his mouth. So far, still only the 2bottom teeth but he's teething like crazy so I'm hoping some more break through soon. He also gets seriously pissed when you take something away from him - i.e. a dog toy. And he still hates his car seat but we recently got a new one which I think he'll like much better than the carrier one since he can sit up in it.

So what does O.G. think about being a 1/2 year? (I can't figure out how to rotate these camera videos)

Teething and Tubing

O.G. has been in full fledged teething so there has been no rest for the weary. He's been up screaming in the night. Apparently, True Hollywood Story and Conan O'Brien help. I bring him downstairs and t.v. seems to calm him until he falls asleep. The teething tablets help but don't cure all. So it's lots and lots of drooling, chewing on everything in site and sometimes screaming bloody murder.

In other news, yesterday we went snow tubing which was super fun. My friend M was nice enough to watch O.G. so we dropped him off on our way. I thought Cam would be psyched to do something that you have to be 4 to do but per usual he was whiney. We got there, did 2 runs, and he was complaining about eating. Cam does prefer eating to pretty much anything. So we went inside to get him a grilled cheese and he was happy normal Cam, at least for a little bit :-) He did enjoy the tubing and I was surprised that he wasn't scared. Even I was and I know Mary was because she screamed bloody murder the entire way down. It was definitely a lot of fun though.




Today we planned to go to church but woke up to snow pouring from the sky. Literally, it was just pouring snow and totally unexpected. The weather report said possible flurries, not 5-6 inches of snow. So we spent the day inside by the fire. I miss the gas fireplace we had in Maine. It was easy to light, you just pressed a button the remote and it didn't smell. The smell of the fire now is disturbing and makes me nauseous.

Anywho, tomorrow Mary isn't working. Her new years resolution is to work regular hours - 9 to 5 and take holidays and weekends off. I wonder how long this will last but I'll enjoy it while it's happening. We have plans to go to the city. Hopefully the weather will cooperate.

Bored and Dirty

I miss being on vacation. I am focusing on our next vacation since we're going to try to go to Family Week in PTown this summer. The process of finding a house/condo to rent is proving more difficult than expected. It will be nice to get Cam around some families like his. There's one lesbian couple at church that have a son around his age. However, he's convinced that one of the moms is actually a dad. Go figure. I haven't been able to convince him otherwise. She's not total butch but I can see him thinking she's a "daddy".

Anywho, I've been very busy today doing nothing and being dirty. LOL. The management company is supposed to send a plumber. All the water is working in the house except our bath/shower. So weird. O.G. and Cam were able to take their bath last night but ever since I turned it off, it won't turn back on. So weird. I didn't have time to shower yesterday so I'm feeling pretty grubby. Plus, as a Pisces I'm convinced I need water to get through the day so I'm feeling unmotivated.

I'm also probably tired since Mr. Owen George was not into sleeping last night. Since we got back from vacation, we're reviving operation crib. He's not coming into our bed. However, this means hours in his room with a little baby that doesn't want to sleep but instead wants to play. I also ended up putting the bumpers on his crib. He kept smashing his head into the sides, putting his pacifier through the slots, and getting limbs caught in them. So despite the potential SIDS risk, I think he's safer with them on.

He's also teething yet again. Once his bottom teeth came in, I thought I'd have a teething break. But no such luck. He seemed fussy from it this morning so I spent most of it walking him around. I started using the Hyland's natural teething tablets over the weekend. Has anyone else in blog land tried these? Mary's cousin's wife recommended them when we were in Florida. I had seen them a few times at Whole Foods but was hesitant until I talked to someone that actually used them. They seem to work but he usually falls alseep right after eating them. They do say that children may fall asleep since they're more comfortable. Still, it scares my neurotic mother self.

Oh well, it's time to motivate since I'll have to leave in a bit to pick up Cam.

I'm Baaaaaack

We arrived home last night just after 7:00 p.m. It was a long day of driving. We had over 10 hours from Richmond, VA. At least this time, we navigated around NYC and it wasn't a high travel time so we didn't hit much traffic.

Mary's off to get a massage (even though I told her I'd just give her one) and get her hair done and Cam is back at school. My sister is here since she had stayed at the house to watch the dogs but of course she's off to the casinos in Connecticut. So it's just me and O.G which is nice.

Anywho, the rest of our vacation was great. After our time in Orlando, we stayed one night with Mary's mom. Mary's family lives about a 1/2 hour from Orlando. That actually worked out good since it was only one night :-) We were also able to meet her dad and some other family member for brunch at "the club" (her dad's country club) during the day.





and later, O.G. was able to meet his great grandfather too

(he was fussy at the end of the visit when we finally thought we should get a pic of him with his grandpas hence the weird location of O.G.)

The next day we headed up the Florida coast to St. Augustine. It's a beautiful Spanish style historic beach town...if that makes any sense. We checked out the sights, had dinner and stayed the night.

we stopped at a beach that you could drive your car on...so not environmentally responsbile but awesome nonetheless



At a fort in St. Augustine...




O.G. loved his first beach experience...especially trying to eat the sand :-)





We then headed up to Savannah, Georgia in hopes there would be no power outages this time. Again, we didn't have much driving so we spent the morning in St. Augustine and took our time heading up to Savannah. We even stopped for boiled peanuts. Yes, boiled peanuts. Mary has been raving about boiled peanuts ever since I've met her but every time we're in the south, we never get any. So we did and well, I thought they were kind of gross. LOL. Mary was in her glory and that's all she ate as her lunch.

Savannah was short and sweet...we walked down beautiful River Street and then had dinner at the Pirate's house. Cam is super into pirates so he loved it. It's also the oldest wooden house in the U.S. so that was cool and the food was yummy.




The next morning I was up and out to wait in line at Paula Deen's restaurant The Lady & Sons. I was the FIRST one in line :-) Needless to say, I had no problem getting a lunch reservation.



fried green tomatoes - SO yummy



Then vacation was over, we got our full bellies into the car and drove the rest of the day to Richmond, stayed the night and headed out the next morning. We drove all day. The time in the car definitely wasn't fun but we did it and both Cam & O.G. did way better than expected.