Love Makes a Family

new blog

2010-05-19T12:26:00.000-07:00

check it out if you'd like, I'll try to update on the regular, probably not every day but maybe once a week???

Pieces of My Family

My Little Drummer Boy & Passport Trouble

2009-04-22T14:39:00.001-07:00

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

2009-04-19T16:38:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-13T11:34:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-03-17T07:22:00.000-07:00

Maine and My Monkey

2009-03-12T12:28:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-10T16:47:00.001-07:00

But for now, cuteness and my new favorite website

www.magmypic.com

SPENT (rant to follow)

2009-03-02T08:46:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-28T08:28:00.001-08:00

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

2009-02-24T09:18:00.001-08:00

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

2009-02-22T08:59:00.001-08:00

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

2009-01-26T08:28:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-22T09:13:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-01-21T07:49:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-18T17:07:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-13T08:55:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-09T07:07:00.000-08:00

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.

Animal Kingdom

2009-01-02T17:28:00.000-08:00

Today we ventured over to Animal Kingdom. It was fun but it was crazy. The place was just so packed. The big draw is the safari ride. We waited for 1.5 hours. Did I mention it took us an hour just to get into the park? I don't know how Cam made it through it but he did. It was mostly worth it as we saw some amazing animals. Cam was more into riding in the truck thing. You would've thought the kid was on a roller coaster.

Giraffes are my favorite :-)

There's a Bug's Life (I'd say Cam's fave movie) thing, it's a movie called It's Tough Being a Bug. Well, it's 3D and was kind of scary. Cam was petrofied but O.G. thought it was a riot. He kept laughing every time the bugs would yell and throw things at us.

Mary cracked me up in the 3D glasses. She totally reminded me of the bug husband on Miss Spider's Sunny Patch (a kid's cartoon). I'll have to find a pic for comparison.

It was a neat place but I'm so not into crowds or waiting hours in line. There was a line for EVERY THING even a big highlight, seeing Mickey.

Now we are back and O.G. is finally sleeping. The poor guy probably slept for about 5 minutes at Animal Kingdom. He just wanted to see everything. He is so funny.

Celebrating in Celebration.

2009-01-01T18:09:00.000-08:00

Last night we went to dinner nearby in Celebration. I love Celebration. Disney created the town and it's similar to a New England style but WARM :-) Anywho, the houses are adorable and it has a great downtown. Mary's mom met us and we had a fancy New Year's Eve dinner. Of course, it was early since we have the kids. We walked around and took a little train ride thing. And Cam played in the fake snow - it snows every hour, the snow is soap or something like that.

(it cracked me up since someone made a snowman out of the fake snow)

We went back here to "party" though we didn't make it up until midnight. I heard fireworks going off at midnight but just couldn't get myself out of bed to go look at them.

Today didn't feel like New Year's day as we were running around most of it. First we saw Mary's aunt and uncle and cousins. Then we went over to see our new niece Gracie Rose and meet our 1-year old niece Lily. Then it was over to her mom's for dinner. Tomorrow is hopefully just our family as we're going to Animal Kingdom.

We Made It! (and a random post)

2008-12-29T18:44:00.000-08:00

So we had an awesome time in D.C. We were only there for one day but we did quite a bit. In the morning, we met up with Reinventing Motherhood. We did a museum and then lunch.

We had the same due date though the babies are 2 weeks apart (Lexi was a week early, O.G. was a week late). Lexi is adorable! And their son Tyler is another cutie pie. After Cam got over his shyness, he was thrilled to hang out with big boys (Ty and his friend). Even Mary who was very hesitant about meeting "e friends" had a good time.

Later, we attempted to go to the Botanical Gardens which lasted all of 10 minutes, the place was unbelievably crowded. So we walked around a bit until we met up with one of Mary's friends at another museum (museums are free in D.C. which is an added bonus). Cam was way more into it as it was all animals and dinosaurs. Mary wanted us all to go to dinner but I convinced her that she and her friend should go alone. That worked out as I took the kids back to the hotel and we ordered room service. Mary took advantage and stayed out until almost midnight. Hey, you're still a mama with a bedtime. Hahahaha.

D.C. was great. We definitely think we'll have to take a longer trip at some point since it's a great place to take the kids and not super far from Boston.

Yesterday we left D.C. and yet again hit traffic everywhere we could and everywhere we couldn't. Needless to say, we made it to Savannah where we planned to stay the night.

This morning, my plan was to wait in line at the Lady & Sons (Paula Deen from the Food Network's restaurant) to get a lunch reservation. They start taking names at 9:30 a.m. It was a few blocks away and I planned to leave the hotel at 9. I looked out the window of the hotel at 8:45 and saw a line wrapping around a building and knew it must be the restaurant.

Before leaving, I learned that the power was out in the hotel. Little did I know, it was out in most of Savannah. Needless to say, I did get a reservation but the restaurant wasn't able to open due to the power outage. We finally found a place that had power so we could eat breakfast (at close to 11:00) and then headed out to Orlando.

We arrived here around 6:00. The ride felt like a breeze since it was only about 5 hours and with little (though of course some) traffic. We are staying at a resort in Orlando that is AWESOME. It's basically like an apartment, it's fairly new and we have a great master suite with a hot tub and Cam has his own room and most importantly t.v. LOL. The kid has done nothing but watch t.v. this trip but whatever, it's vacation. I just saw the Disney fireworks from our balcony. Tomorrow we'll head down to see Mary's family and meet our new niece (or rather 2 since we have never met Lily who turns 1 tomorrow) Gracie Rose who was born a few days ago.

Found it!

2008-12-27T06:17:00.001-08:00

My sis doesn't take very good pics' and what is Cam doing?

Jane, tell us the way...and why didn't we invest in the traffic receiver?

angry that I made him use the headphones

our driver

This cracked me up. I had to bribe Cam with 4 orange tic tacs to lend O.G. his DVD but it was worth it :-) O.G. + Baby Einstein = Heart

O.G.'s first hotel stay

Hanging in D.C.

2008-12-27T06:07:00.000-08:00

We arrived in D.C. at about 8:30 last night - it was a LONG day. The kids did amazingly well especially O.G. who I was very worried about. He generally hates the car so taking such a long drive was risky. But he did great. Aside from whining quite a bit, Cam did great too.

Of course, all was not great. What was to be an 8 hour trip (we figured 9 with stops) turned into 12. The traffic was insane getting through NY and on the Jersey turnpike. Then when we thought we were finally in D.C., we hit more traffic. Needless to say, we made it. We stayed the night and will stay tonight with some sightseeing today. We are going to be meeting up with Reinventing Motherhood (see sidebar) so we can arrange Lexi and O.G.'s marriage ;-)

Well, I was just going to upload some pics' but I don't have my USB cord. I'll definitely have to invest in another memory card.

Happy Christmas!

2008-12-25T14:30:00.000-08:00

Cam probably enjoyed it the most. For me, I'm just happy it's over :-) I do enjoy Christmas with the trees and lights and songs but this year just seemed extra stressful. With trying not to raise 2 spoiled brats, I also hate the materialism of the holiday. But it was fun and now it's over :-)

Last night we had a lot of fun going to church and to a party at my aunt's. O.G. also had his acting debut in the part of baby Jesus at our church. He did GREAT. He's a good baby in general but I was worried with the late start time (7:00) and sometimes lately he does get freaked out by strangers. But he laid in the manger and let the Rev carry him around. It was SO cute. Mary also got to act as Mary. They wanted us both involved but somebody needed to watch Cam and I'm so not into being in front of so many people. It will definitely be a lasting memory and something cool to tell him about when he's older.

Tomorrow we're off on the road trip from hell, I mean a fun family vacation ;-) We'll be away for about 2 weeks and we're driving (I know, we're crazy) to Florida with stops in D.C. and Savannah. Once in Florida we're staying at a resort townhouse but will meet up with Mary's fam throughout the trip. We're staying close to them but not too close which is key to my sanity.

I hope everyone had a happy Christmas!

Bits and Pieces

2008-12-21T18:23:00.000-08:00

I've been a bad blogger. There's just not enough hours in the day, I feel like I'm constantly rushing. Here's my week in review and some more random bits...

Monday: The chimney sweep man cleaned our chimneys so "Santa wouldn't get dirty"

Tuesday: Cam was home after not behaving at school on Monday in our attempts to get him to behave at school and in general

Wednesday: Cam's school had an odd potluck. I brought a fruit bowl and cookies.

Thursday: Mary went to D.C. on a train for business stuff

Friday: School was cancelled even though the snow didn't start until 1:30. I brought both kids to the mall, everyone home from school was there.
We lost a member of our pet family: Superman, Cam's fish. BoBo (the cat) ate him. Yes, he ate him, all I found was part of his tail. Poor guy. He was such a cool fish.

Saturday: Cam turned 4

In other news, O.G.'s 2 bottom teeth came in (last weekend), now we wait for them to grow. At least the screaming in pain part seems to be over. He turned 5 months (today). He sits in a high chair (an early Christmas gift from my dad). He's SO cute. On Wednesday night (Christmas Eve) he has the starring role at our church, he will play baby Jesus.

And some random pics :-)

This was from his cousin (my nephew) Seamus Jr. When he opened it, he screamed, "I always wanted one of these!". Kids are so funny.

Friday Fun

2008-12-12T07:39:00.000-08:00

Cam loves this video and we have to watch it at least once/day so I figured I'd post. He's usually very cute when he tries to get the baby to smile which was why I decided to record it though this time he took a different approach...

Cam is home since he went in on Wednesday (his normal day off) for a field trip. The weather was also brutal this morning which ice and rain so I didn't want the kids in the car. The rain seems to finally be clearing up now after days of nasty rain and ice. I hope it is a good weekend!

Holiday Card Dilemma

2008-12-09T11:14:00.001-08:00

So we have been trying to put together holiday cards and I just can't decide. Here's some possibilities...

Our original idea was to do a "Super Holiday" one but the Superman pics' just didn't come out very good. It is SO hard to get them both smiling and looking at the camera. Oh well...any votes? We'll probably end up trying to do some more pics' tonight but I need to order ASAP.

Pre-kids I had invisioned these PERFECT holiday cards. I didn't factor in trying to get kids to smile and look at the camera and not drool all over themselves :-)

BUSY Weekend

2008-12-09T09:24:00.000-08:00

The weekend was a whirlwind. Friday night we went to Mary's work party. With the economy the way it is, they decided to not do a nice shin dig and instead had a potluck at the office. One word: LAME! I was actually looking forward to a nice holiday party that I could get dressed up for and have a night without the kids.
Anywho, it was odd and really only Mary should have gone but she begged me to go with the kids. Cam was ridiclously shy until he started acting like a maniac towards the end. The baby was fussy since he didn't nap all day. So it was odd to say the least. One of Mary's students was drunk and seemed to be hitting on her and kept scaring both Cam and O.G. That made things even more awkward.

I survived and then had more FUN things on Saturday. *sad sarcastically* Cam's pre-school was involved with a craft fair so I helped at the table. It was a waste of 3 hours but luckily went by pretty quickly. There was an entire $11 in sales when I was there. Afterwards, I headed home and we headed out to pick up our tree. It is now up and I would say by far the worst tree we've ever picked out. I'm not sure what we were thinking but it has so many gaps. We picked it out in about 5 minutes so that was probably our problem. The room it's in is also very hot and dry.

Saturday also involved me watching the kids while Mary watched the SEC Championship game (college football). That was a little bit crazy as all Cam wanted to do was decorate and wouldn't stop touching all the ornaments and glass things. He was VERY excited since I gave him one of those little fake trees to decorate on his own. It looks totally insane but it's all his work and he loves it.

Sunday was another busy day that started with church. We some how agreed to let O.G. act as baby Jesus in their nativity scene on Christmas Eve. This will make us very late for my aunt's annual party but how I could pass up the chance for our donor baby with 2 mommies to be baby Jesus. ha! The only cooler thing would be if he was a girl baby :-)

We then headed to an open house. We're not exactly looking to buy but occasionally check out houses. There's also rumor that the feds are going to drop rates to 4-5% which would make buying a house a great deal with the already lower prices. The house was very similar to our house in Maine and brand new which was nice. However, it was kind of small and with not much of a yard. After that, we rushed home as Cam had a birthday party to attend.

That was at his gymnastics place so he had to change out of church clothes. He was SO funny and thrilled that all his friends were at gymnastics. I kept explaining to him what it was, he kept thinking it was his regular class. When we pulled up, some of his friends were arriving and he kept yelling "Look, There's E!...Look, there's D!". Apparently, me telling him that all his pre-school friends were going to be there didn't set in until he actually saw them. Needless to say, he had a blast.

Afterwards, I got home in time to watch the Pats' game. Mary took Cam to Target to pick up a gift for a gift drive. This year, we're donating to the Home for Little Wanderers (see side bar). The Home is great because they're involved with 2 causes very dear to us - foster children and GLBT youth. They actually have a home for GLBT foster kids which I think is great. So we got 2 gift certificates for general donation and then are filling one of the GLBT wish lists. We purchased a digital camera (with all the accesorries: memory card, case, etc) for one of the GLBT kids. It was nice to be able to do since we are doing well financially.

So that was the weekend - now the week is flying by too. I still have much to do to prepare for Christmas and Cam's birthday (on the 20th).

O.G. in da crib

2008-12-04T08:41:00.000-08:00

We also put O.G. in his crib. Initially I planned on having him in our room (in his bassinet) for a few weeks. Then I had a baby and that all changed. I like having him near and since I have to get up so often in the night, it's just easier having him right there. Well, I wouldn't say I was exactly ready to put him in his own room in his crib but kind of. Mostly, I was sick of Mary b*tching about him being in our room.

Well, the first night went fine except for the fact that I decided to sleep on a blow up mattress in his room. His room also seems to be freezing. I'm not sure if it's his humidifier or what. He has wearable blanket things but he never seems warm enough. I also wish the bumpers weren't a potential SIDS risk. His new favorite thing is to put his pacifier through the slots of the crib. First, he finds this quite funny and laughs about it. Then the reality sets in that his pacifier is on the floor and he can't get it so he cries about it. He also likes to put his hands and feet through the openings which seems dangerous to me. Needless to say, I was up at 11:30 p.m., 1:30 p.m., and then at 5 a.m. I just put him in the bed with us. Interrupted sleep just doesn't work for me and seems to be a form of torture.

Mary is also VERY busy at work which just sucks for me. She's exhausted when she gets home and I need a second pair of hands. She wants to be done with work when she gets home but guess what? It's time to be a mom. I feel like at times we're finding some sort of balance and then it goes out the window. This week it seems to have gone out the window.

In other non-ranting news, O.G. continues to try food. Of course I initially thought I'd make my own baby food but where would I find the time for that. Instead, I try to buy organic stuff and make sure the ingredients are pure and not preservative crap. Last night he tried peas. He made funny faces at first so I didn't think he liked it. Then he screamed when the spoon wasn't in his mouth - meaning: he likes them. He also likes rice cereal (or rather loves it) and sweet potatoes. He's not a fan of the bananas which surprised me. Mr. Food (CAM) eats anything that's left over. LOL. I even picked him up his own baby food bananas at the store today, I had promised since he liked them so much.

Turkey and SUGAR

2008-11-28T09:42:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-26T18:23:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-22T13:28:00.001-08:00

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.!

2008-11-21T14:49:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-17T12:06:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-13T14:06:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-06T13:45:00.000-08:00

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...

2008-11-04T13:53:00.000-08:00

G. ;-)

With his future Economic Advisor...

But for this year...

Life With Georgia

2008-11-03T11:23:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-02T14:47:00.000-08:00

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????

No Time but Some Cuteness

2008-10-27T16:40:00.000-07:00

My mom left early yesterday after a week visit. There is lots to post but as usual NO time. And I'm enjoying this moment when O.G. is enjoying his play mat and Mary is bathing Cam.

Anywho, I'll leave you with some cuteness. My friend and O.G.'s godmother M sent him this adorable pajama which I put on him almost immediately. Too cute!

Parents

2008-10-19T16:23:00.000-07:00

On Friday, me and the boys along with my dad went up to New Hampshire. We mostly go to graves of old old relatives but it was also a nice foliage drive. It was short lived since I had a doctor's appointment in the afternoon. Though with 2 young children, most outings have to be pretty short anyways. Cam did well but O.G. was pretty unhappy most of the time. O.G. is fussy fusserton since he is teething. Geesh, I didn't think he would get teeth so soon.

Anywho, a few pics' from the adventure...

note me in short sleeves - ever since I had a baby, my body temp seems to have increased quite a bit. I am ALWAYS HOT!!!

And on a side note. Since O.G. was fussy, I immediately had to go in the back seat so my dad ended up driving my car. OY! My dad is CRAZY when he drives. Seriously, he turns into this psycho road rage man where he is the best driver and everyone else is doing something wrong. I had to say "language!" about a million times. Luckily, Cam has not repeated any of the words though I had to laugh since at one point he said, "Papa Bill is crazy". LOL. Needless to say, the drive was not as relaxing as I had planned since my dad raised my blood pressure and I was trying to sooth a teething baby 1/2 the time.

And on Saturday relief ARRIVED in the form of my mama. Though with her arrival, Cam is being a little brat. He was angry at her this morning since his "pize of the day" was only a coloring book. I hate when he acts like a spoiled brat. But hopefully I'll have a bit of relief this week. Of course, Mary will be away for most of the week though I'm actually looking forward to that since she's been in a bad mood for the past few days.

Columbus Day Weekend

2008-10-14T17:15:00.000-07:00

I had a perfectly good post until I some how managed to delete it. So here's the abbreviated version.

It was a long weekend but good especially the weather which was absolutely beautiful. Mary took Friday off in exchange for working yesterday (the holiday). Cam was at school so we went into the city with O.G.

On Saturday, we ventured down to Plymouth.

Mary had never been so she got to see "Plymouth Rock" (supposively where the Pilgrims landed)

Sunday, we went to Castle Island. I haven't been there since I was a little Candice (my dad used to take us a lot) and it's definitely a place we'll be going to more often on nice days.

O.G. enjoyed the sunshine. I'm always trying to capture his smile but the camera shocks him. Here's half of it along with his usual fist in the air.

Yesterday, Mary worked but Cam was home since school was closed for the holiday. My friend M called, she was headed to the city with her son J. We tagged along and well, it was insane! No, we had fun but with all 3 kids, it was a bit crazy. There was also a 10K race going on so the city was madness. We also walked poor Cam's legs off. As the "big boy", he was the only one not in a stroller. I definitely need to invest in one of those things that allow the older child to stand on the back of the stroller.

Well, I survived another long Tuesday and hopefully Mary will be home soon. Though then again, hopefully she won't since I'm watching the Real Housewives of Atlanta. This is a riot and so much better than watching the Sox get their a**es kicked.

Rant du Jour

2008-10-07T09:44:00.000-07:00

Hey, it's been a while since I've b*tched. Exhaustion. That is the name of the game right now. I let Mary sleep in this morning since she was gone on a research trip all day yesterday - she had to wake up at 4 a.m. to head up to Maine. Though I negated my good deed when I got got pissed that she had made lunch plans with a co-worker. I thought that after she slept in, we'd actually get to spend a few minutes together. And suddenly I hit a wall when I realized this was my long night (Mary doesn't get home until after 9 p.m.) and that Cam will be home tomorrow. Not to mention it's my dad's birthday and he's supposed to come over tomorrow and I haven't gotten a gift or anything to make a cake.

Anywho, I've been having a problem of ZERO relief. Every time I leave the baby with Mary, she tells me how he cries the entire time. This of course makes me feel bad (for both parties). Mary thinks the baby doesn't like her and well, I don't want him crying. Of course, whenever I give her advice on certain ways to do things, she gets angry that I'm micro managing or demeaning her mothering. But I'm basically with the kid 24 hours/day so I know how he likes certain things.

Needless to say, after her long day out and my long day balancing both children, I got to say hello, hand off Cam and the baby and head to a pre-school board meeting. Lovely. Some how I feel like I've stepped back into high school except this time I'm not cool. Seriously, I don't connect with any of the other parents. Everyone is way older than me and I feel like everyone clicked at the potluck that we didn't attend (since my friend's wedding was that day). At one point, I was actually sandwiched in between 2 parents conversation. Ummm, awkward. In retrospect I should've just asked one of them to switch seats but I was caught up in being uncomfortable. One of them I've grown to dislike and as I was taking notes (as I'm the secretary), she started telling me things to add. Ah!

And during the meeting, the teacher pointed out how Cam gets along with one of the rather agressive children. Oy vey. We've actually told him not to play with this boy. He's always hitting Cam and well, it pisses us off. So at the end, his mom asked me if I want to do a play date in the future. So that was yet another awkward moment in the scheme of the pre-school from hell.

To back track a bit, we had a pretty good weekend. Saturday we went to the zoo and took Cam's friend D along. You'd think things would be more difficult with a 3rd child but just the opposite. D is such a nice boy and since he's not our kid, he listens to us and Cam would just do what he did so it worked out great. That's the one positive thing so far about Cam's school being a co-op is you get to know the other kids.

Sunday we went to some community day which was pretty fun. Cam painted a pumpkin and decorated a cookie. O.G. slept most of the time which was great since the day before at the zoo, he was wide awake and rather pissed off about being in the stroller.

Oh well, I'll leave you with some cute pics' of O.G. who went on his first slide over the weekend.

Repetition

2008-09-30T11:16:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-22T07:45:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-19T08:29:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-16T15:59:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-15T16:55:00.001-07:00

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!

2008-09-15T15:59:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-11T13:01:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-09-09T13:10:00.001-07:00

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...

2008-09-09T06:33:00.000-07:00

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! :-)

2008-09-08T08:33:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-07T18:39:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-07T11:57:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-02T08:37:00.000-07:00

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.

A Day with Wifey and O.G.

2008-08-29T13:27:00.000-07:00

Mary and I had a nice day with baby O.G. We ended up going to a mall and having lunch. The baby comes with a lot more stuff but definitely way easier to take him around at this age. He slept through most of it except to wake up, smile, and eat :-)

Of course my intention was to shop for myself but I ended up just getting things for the kids. I can't resist baby clothes and Cam needs some new things for the Fall after a major growth spurt. Plus, I was just done after trying on some jeans. I can't complain TOO much since I have lost all but about 5 pounds of the weight I gained during my pregnancy but this pouch that used to be a toned stomach has got to go. I planned on getting back into power yoga but this tailbone thing has me in major pain just after walking.

Anywho, we paid extra for Cameron to do a full day of camp - he normally does a 1/2 day. Since it was his last day, he was thrilled. And I got a running hug as he yelled "mommy!" when I picked him up. Unbelievable! I was so impressed, he got a milk shake.

That concludes my spastic pick ups at gymnastics camp. Did I mention one of the days, when I got home, I realized I had been leaking and had breast milk all over the left side of my shirt...and I was wearing a white t-shirt. That's hot. Oy. I'm sure I'm known as the crazy lesbian mom there.

And on a side note - McCain = SMART. Damn.

Pick Up Time

2008-08-28T16:47:00.000-07:00

I resumed my duties of picking up Cameron this week....by default since Mary was teaching a class and had some sort of orientation. The Cam pick up has gone well for the most part. Monday was the best since when I went to sign him out, the boy that works there offered to go get him from the gym. It was the only time I can recall where I wanted to kiss a teenage boy. LOL.

Today as I was begging Cameron to leave and some little punk boy says, "he just wants to go on the trampoline". Umm, he's gone on 8 different things since I've been here, it's time to leave. He's also the one that always wants to touch O.G. Today he decided to press all the buttons on his car seat even when I told him to stop. I don't like other people's kids. Then he grabbed O.G.'s pacifier (a/k/a MY LIFESAVER) by the part that he sucks. Aaaaaaaaaah!!! Then he told me that he has a baby brother. His poor mother. Cam barely acknowledges the baby which is nice.

So gymnastics camp ends tomorrow. I am sad even though I think he's just learned how to be more obnoxious rather than much about gymnastics. Next week is nothing and the following week starts pre-school.

On a side note, I think that Cameron and Owen have gotten together to make sure I'm the most sleep deprived as possible. Owen goes out like a light (usually) when I go to get Cam up until the time that Cam goes in for his nap. On Monday, he was up from about 4 a.m. until about 12 p.m. So I thought he would sleep during some of Cam's nap (which starts at about 1). Nope, literally, as soon as I put Cam down - Owen was up. It is evil.

In other news, Mary is taking the day off tomorrow. Can you believe it? I can't. I wonder if there's a way for me to shut the computer down so she really can't work :-)

My Baby is Getting Huge ;-)

2008-08-27T07:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Mr. Owen George had his 1 month check up (a little bit late since we switched his and Cameron's physical apptmt). I definitely thought O.G. had gained a decent amount of weight but I didn't think he was 10 pounds, 8 ounces! Yikes. This was quite a bit considering he was born at 7, 10.5 and was down to 7 pounds at one point (it's pretty common for babies to lose weight in their first few days especially when breast fed). He's also 23 inches now which means he grew 2.5 inches from birth. I want him to stay little!

He seems to change every day. The bonus of him getting bigger is that he's starting to do the cutest things. He smiles a lot more especially in the mornings when he's the most happy. I think he's excited he can be awake without me trying to get him to sleep. He's also starting to coo a bit which is way too cute. It also looks like his eyes are going to be green :-) Of course, their also changing every day. I've heard you can't tell the actual (or final) eye color until 6 months and recently read it can even be a year. But my fingers are crossed for green like me :-)

We also got our announcements in last week - here's the crappy scanned version.

Oh Randomness

2008-08-25T07:14:00.000-07:00

When you have a baby, time flies. I always plan on doing so much during the day and then boom, the day is over and I've done little to nothing. Now I can relate to everyone's blog's fading out once they give birth.

Anywho, it was a pretty random week and I'll spare you most of the details...though mostly because I don't remember them. Can I remember anything other than feeding times???

Yesterday we went into the city for brunch and to walk around. Though brunch was more like breakfast since we went in early to avoid the actual Sunday brunch crowds. Magically, Owen stayed sleeping while I ate *a rarity*. Of course, we have to visit the ducks. Cameron's had a cold so he freaked out when we thought he kept saying he has to see "the dots". It took Mary and I about 10 minutes to figure out it was the ducks which we were heading to anyways.

Then he had a bit of a flip out because I told him not to yell. Luckily, he settled down where we were able to go to the Prudential shops and hang out at the pretty courtyard.

I also learned that my key to success is the blended lemonade from Starbucks. Cameron's in that stage where he NEVER shuts up. I thought it might be less annoying when he actually started calling us "mom" and "mommy" since he never stops repeating our names but it's still annoying. Anywho, the blended lemonade gave me some good 5 minute spurts of golden silence :-) Plus, he wasn't mad that he didn't get a drink from Starbucks.

In diapering news, O.G. has finally sported his gdiapers. He has been much to small to wear them up until now. I still have to get used to using them because I'm always fumbling with the liners. It's also a process since my son seems to like to pee in one diaper and then immediately poo in another diaper. He also likes to poo and pee on his mommy so you must be quick with changing. I will say the diapers are super cute but maybe it's just the baby in them ;-)

No Sleep but at least there's a Smiley Baby

2008-08-20T11:45:00.000-07:00

At least after he only allows me to sleep about 3 hours, he's super cute in the mornings. Some how he's well rested and smiley :-)

pardon the quality - cell phone pic

Whiney Wednesday

2008-08-20T11:15:00.000-07:00

I'm having one of those weeks where nothing seems to go right. For example, every time I go to blog, my Internet shuts down or my computer crashes. Anywho...

My saving grace came this week when Cameron started gymnastics camp. It's only 3 hours/day but it's glorious. I can have time to enjoy the baby and Camer can get some of his energy out and interact with other kids. It does come with a down side as he's never willing to leave somewhere fun. He had an all out screaming fit when I picked him up on Monday which was reminiscence to his former pre-school days.
It was never fun not to mention quite embarassing but now that I have Owen in tow it's not exactly easy dragging screaming and crying Cameron out while carrying Owen in his car seat. Lovely. So for the past 2 days, I've picked Mary up on my way so she can go in and get him. This is absolutely ridiculous but hopefully she's setting some ground so I can resume getting him next week.

He still seems to have plenty of energy when he gets home but at least I'm not feeling bad about not playing with him enough. So with Cameron out for a few hours, I'm trying to get into some sort of groove of balancing housework and the baby. We flaked on getting a monitor which makes this even more difficult. When O.G. actually falls asleep and I can do some things, I have to carry him to each room in his car seat.

As for his car seat, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to do this but I don't think this blog is big enough for me to get sued by Chicco or something. Anywho, anyone in the market for a car seat, don't get the Chicco. We go the car seat/stroller combo and I LOVE the stroller. It's great. The car seat on the otherhand, in a nutshell, sucks! It's big and it's heavy. It's so big someone can barely sit in the seat in front of it. I did it on Saturday with my knees in the dashboard. I want to weigh it because I know it's seriously heavy which makes me worry when Owen actually gains a few pounds.

We also seem to be going down hill in the sleep department. It seems O.G. wants to eat and eat and eat which makes for difficult sleep. As I guess is normal for most infants, we go through a vicious cycle of eating. He gets fussy because he's hungry. I feed him with either the simplicity of a bottle or the difficulty of the breast. Then he's satisfied but his belly hurts. Once he clears up the belly issues, he's hungry again. It's evil. Needless to say, we were doing great with his sleeping but now that he wants to eat every 2 hours - even at night.

Mary was angry that I suggested that she sleep in the guest room last night. Yes, I still want to sleep with my wife but at least one of us needs to actually sleep. She also gets very angry about being woken up in the night even if she's not the one that has to do the work. So, last night, I get an angry Mary saying, "couldn't you have done that before we went to bed?!?" Well, I just randomly decided to feed and change the baby at 1 a.m. Ummm, hello, I'm not awake every few hours by choice. At least she realized that she was irrational and apologized in the morning and has agreed to sleep in the guest room for at least a little bit.

Staycation

2008-08-18T13:38:00.000-07:00

Pardon the no blogging but I’ve been on “Staycation”. Since we have a new baby, instead of taking an actual vacation – we took a staycation. And what does that mean? We soaked in all the great things to do in the beautiful Boston area without the hassle of long drives, costly hotels, and luggage for 4.

We did local activities from Wed – Sat...Boston Commons, Aquarium, and Fanuel Hall. Baby O.G. was a joy the entire time even at his first sit down restaurant. Of course, I was a little bit stressed about bringing him to so many public places when he’s so young but otherwise it was enjoyable.

O.G. in his little penguin at The Aquarium

Cameron at the frog pond - we should buy stock in sun block

O.G.'s first restaurant (And on a side note, I thought I'd be thrilled to have cleavage but not so much...maybe because I thought if I ever had cleavage, it would be saline and not milk - ha!)

We also made a trip to IKEA which is my new favorite store. IKEA is total chaos but why is it my new favorite store? Because you can leave your kid at an awesome play area and go shopping. It’s great. Of course, security may need to be called when your kid won’t leave the awesome play area but it’s still the best thing EVER – good for the kid and good for the mommies :-) As for baby, he slept in the sling the entire time.

Since we were in the South Shore, we decided to pay a visit to my dad (a/k/a “Papa Bill”) who recently moved back to my home town. It was totally random and we brought Cameron to the local playground. I can’t believe I grew up in that town. A little team called the New England Patriots does play there but otherwise there is absolutely nothing.

Pre-School from Hell

2008-08-14T08:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I brought Cameron to a "play date". Some moms and kids from his pre-school were going to be at a local park. Since Cameron is very shy, I thought it would be nice for him to meet some of his classmates before school starts. He's also been in desperate need of kids to play with. However, it was quite awkward. First, it was hard to find who was actually from his pre-school and there were some kids that had gone to the school but were now going on to kindergarten. It was a bit confusing and weird to say the lest. Cameron also kicked what I think was one of his future classmates. Yay.

We're also already overwhelmed with the pre-school and it hasn't even started. It's a co-op which we weren't really into but beggars can't be choosers - basically, it was the only place that seemed kosher to a 2 mom family and had availability. So with the co-op, one of us has to work there twice/month. Basically, we act as the second teacher on those days. Also, on those days we have to send in snack for all the kids.

So whatever, we justified this as it being nice to be involved with Cameron's school. Afterall, though we weren't obligated, we liked getting involved with his previous school.

Then we signed up and were sent a packet with a list of jobs. Jobs you say? Oh yes, apparently I am secretary and have to take notes at the MONTHLY board meetings and send them out to everyone. Then we got notification that we have to participate in the school clean up the weekend before school begins. If this wasn't enough, they also notified us that we'd have to solely clean the school on certain weekends (apparently, this alternates between all the families). Since Mary has agreed to do the teaching duties (since I have the baby at home), she thinks I should be the cleaner. Umm, I already have to keep our rather large house clean so I'm not super into sacrficing weekends to clean my kid's school.

If this all wasn't enough, they like to take "field trips" once/month and want parents to be available to drive groups of children to them. I just hope that the school is not going to be as much work as it seems.

Solo

2008-08-11T17:43:00.000-07:00

The weekend was pretty lame. We spent most of it cleaning and organizing. On Sunday morning, I took Cameron to a playground. Note to self: when you have tailbone issues, don't attempt to go down a large plastic slide...even if your kid think it's quite funny. Second note to self: don't do it again even when your kid says, "do it again!". *ouch* We did have plans to ALL leave the house on Sunday afternoon but the rain cancelled that out. It is rainy so much lately and randomly. Anywho, I wasn't too bummed since I'm not super into taking O.G. to public places (since he's so young and without much of an immune system).

Today was my first day flying solo. Mary decided to let Cameron have an entire donut before leaving. Aside from health reasons, we limit sugar since he has quite enough energy on his own. So he was pretty much bouncing off the walls. He also managed to spill his full cup of milk at lunch. Speaking of lunch, I think I'm going to start making it the night before. Making his lunch while balancing the baby was not an easy task and I guess it will give me practice since I'll have to do that when he starts pre-school.

With all my focus on managing both kids, I forgot about the Chloe factor. As if Cameron and O.G. weren't enough, throw in a bit of a comic element of me letting Chloe out - her running to bark at people walking by and then me chasing BoBo who escapes from the house. (All the cats are indoor) So it was a spastic day to say the least but I did manage to at least start some laundry though after cleaning all weekend, the house already looks like a bomb blew up.

On a positive note, thank goodness Cameron takes a nap and for the baby sling though of course he managed to pee all over it. What's with babies pee'ing *and poo'ing* outside the diaper?

Pain and Exhaustion

2008-08-09T09:26:00.000-07:00

My recovery continues. My lower back/tailbone has still been causing me quite a bit of pain so I mentioned it when I went in this week for a 2 week follow up. So along with two 3rd degree tears, apparently the baby also bruised my tailbone. Mary told me that her mom had bruised her tailbone and that it took her a year to recover. The midwife said it should be about 4-6 months. Yay. I definitely didn't expect this pain level so many weeks later...and now to hear that it will continue for months is disheartening to say the least.

In other events, Mary is home and Nana Patty (a/k/a my mom) is home in Ohio. She was flying out early this morning from Providence, RI. The flights were ridiculously cheaper out of Providence (compared to Boston) so that's why she flew out of there. I had the privilege of waking up at 3:30 this morning to drive her there. Of course, I didn't mind doing this since she's provided a lot of help over the past month but I am totally exhausted. I thought I would get to sleep when I got home since I planned on Mary taking over Owen's feedings. Then I realized we were out of formula so Mary could not feed the baby. Just another saga in breastfeeding. Obviously, if he was exclusively formula fed, we wouldn't run out without me realizing it.

Anywho, I'm definitely bummed that my mom has gone home but I think we'll be able to get into some sort of routine here or at least be able to organize things better. I have my fingers crossed that this happens sooner than later.

O.G. meets the Fam

2008-08-06T16:47:00.001-07:00

We made a trip to my aunt's house so O.G. could meet the fam. We haven't ventured out many places so it was a bit overwhelming. It was also my first real sleepless night. He seemed to have a belly ache most of the night so even when he was sleeping, he kept moaning. I debated cancelling with my aunt but we made plans to go there in the morning and many people were going to be there. Luckily, O.G. was a joy of a baby and awake almost the entire time. I figured after not sleeping much or well the night before, he'd make a liar out of me since I'm always raving about how alert and good he is.

Big brother Cameron was also very good. Aside from his usual of not wanting to go in the house and then not wanting to leave (this is typical Cameron fashion), he just played with my younger cousin most of the time. Though of course everyone had baby gifts but only one person remembered a "big brother" gift so I made sure Cameron was in the play room when I opened the gifts. You definitely have to walk a fine line with the older sibling as to not create jealousy or bitterness.

Anywho, there was also the interesting thing of having a new baby and then going to a family gathering. You pretty much forfit your rights to your baby and watch him get handed around...even to children. It was kind of scary and luckily my 12 year old cousin is remarkably good at holding a baby since I thought I was going to freak out as my aunt handed O.G. to him. Of course, some how every time the baby needed his diaper changed, he was given to me. Go figure!

In other news, wifey is coming home early. Instead of Friday night, she'll be home tomorrow night. Yay! I don't like when she leaves on business regardless never mind when we just had our first bambino.

Latch Without a Flash

2008-08-04T13:14:00.000-07:00

Cameron is still napping and Baby OG is with his Nana. It's quiet and there's a breeze. :-)

Anywho, this was going to be a boob post. Breastfeeding is going well for the most part. Though I have started to supplement with formula on a regular basis because I just wasn't meeting Owen's demands and I just can't deal with a hungry baby or one that is attached to my nipple 24/7.

I have also been pumping quite a bit. As much as I dislike the pump because it's way more painful than a direct feeding, it's given other people the opportunity to feed him and I can know the actual quantity that he's getting. I also don't do public breast feedings so it's been nice to make a bottle of boob milk. I know, it's breast feeding and not a dirty thing but I just can't be incognito about getting him on the boob. Yes, once he's on, you can barely tell I'm feeding him but getting him to latch without a flash - it's just not going to happen.

It also seems that my right boob works a lot better. What's up with that? It's clearly bigger and when I pump, I get way more quantity than the left. Is this normal? Very strange.

I must say the one thing about breastfeeding that I dislike the most is - I WANT MY BODY BACK. I love my baby but he was living inside me for 41 weeks. There was also more 2 week waits than I want to remember where I had to live as if I was pregnant. Well, girl just wants some spicy Mexican food and a Margarita. I also planned on living on Red Bull once I delivered. LOL. Mary thinks I'll discontinue the BF'ing until OG gets a tooth. I think at that point I'll just pump and bottle feed more. We'll see...I can't believe I'm analyzing my boobage.

To the Zoo

2008-08-03T19:28:00.000-07:00

Mary was home for less than 48 hours and is now back up in Maine :-\ She won't be home until Friday night. It definitely sucks to have wifey away on business when OG is only 2 weeks old. I just hope the weather holds up since she's supposed to be out on boats all week.

The weekend was pretty good though I feel I'm overwhelmed in general. We did venture out to the zoo on Saturday. This was pretty much Owen's first outing and he did good. Mary did have a little reality check of us not being able to leave the house 20 minutes after I wake up. Umm, there's a lot that needs to be done to take baby out. He pretty much slept through the entire thing accept for waking up to eat. Pretty much if you keep the boy fed and changed, he's content.

Baby stuff is easy but doing baby stuff and Cameron stuff simultaneously - not so easy. Cameron has just been chaos which I keep having to remind myself is typical 3 year old boy behavior. But it's just way more relevant now that there's a quiet little baby in the house. On a positive note, Camer doesn't seem jealous of the baby nor is he really phased by him. He does usually refer to him as "that baby" which I'd like to change but I'm just happy that he doesn't seem jealous.

Luckily, OG continues to be an easy going baby and is still sleeping good. Though we've had a few nights where he wakes up every 3 hours, he usually sleeps about 5-6 hours straight. Sometimes I will wake him up after 4 hours to feed. One since I worry about him getting enough food and two because I'd rather wake him up than him wake me up. I'm definitely jolted into a panic when he wakes me up crying so luckily we haven't had too many of those.

Thursday Thoughts

2008-07-31T15:55:00.000-07:00

Things with baby OG continue to go well. For the most part, he's not very fussy and he usually only wakes up once during the night. Though I still continue to check him quite a bit. Hey, it's my first baby and all the stuff about SIDS is just too scary.

Breastfeeding has been going well for the most part aside from his constantly wanting the boob. We've given him formula a few times but he tends to spit up every time he has it opposed to the one time he's spit up breast milk. It's also very messy. We did buy a pump so that Mary could do feedings and so the baby wouldn't always have to be attached to my boobage. I definitely don't like the pump as it's kind of painful but I guess just something that I need to get used to.

Mary left early this morning to go to Maine. She won't be home until late tomorrow night. And she'll be away all of next week; she leaves Sunday and gets back Friday night. At least she was able to consolidate her research trip into one week instead of the two it was supposed to be. She'll just go up for random days later on.

And next week will be my mom's last week here. She's definitely looking forward to going home as Cameron has run her ragged and Chloe (the dog) drives her crazy. She has been a major help with Cameron so it will be interesting to see how he does when she's gone. Or rather how I do, balancing a high energy aggressive 3 year old and my first baby. Mary will also be back at work full time and pre-school doesn't start until September. Though I think Cameron will settle down a bit as my mom lets him get away with murder. She thinks we're too strict which we probably are but I think there's a medium between us and her zero discipline.

My Lil' Glow Worm

2008-07-29T08:27:00.000-07:00

Tell me he doesn't look like a glow warm? Since I mentioned his ability to get his arms out of any swaddle, I just had to post these pics.

One Week with Baby OG

2008-07-28T19:27:00.000-07:00

One week with baby Owen or "baby OG" as we call him. I just can't even believe it! Seriously, I just look at the baby and am amazed...and I usually cry. LOL. You just think the baby is never really going to be here and boom, here he is. And he's such a little muffin with his funny faces and silly things he does.

He LOVES having his hands by his face. In every ultrasound pic, his hand would be on his face. And the kid will get his hands and arms out of any swaddle. We got these pre-swaddle things and Mary was all, "this is great because the velcro will keep him nice and secure". Well, within about 30 seconds, the kid had his hand out and touching his face. It cracks me up.

And as far as having a newborn: not so hard. Maybe we're in the honeymoon period or something but Owen's not very fussy. The only time he seems to cry is when he's hungry or when he's messing with Mama Mary ;-) Amazingly, he sleeps for pretty long stretches in the night. The other night I finally woke him up to eat because he had been sleeping for almost 6 hours. Of course, I'm not getting much sleep because I'm neurotic and check to make sure he's alive like every hour. And we had him sleeping in the bed initially so I was worried that I'd roll over on him.

Mary and were commenting that maybe we're accustomed to a lack of sleep and that we've had way worse than a newborn. After all, having 8 hours notice to have 2 foster kids (with night terrors) in the house, now that's difficult. And having a 3 year old and a baby, that's hard. Cameron is in high demand of attention. Most would say it's because we've had a baby but he's been like this for a few months. We are praying it's a phase and are hoping that we can get him being a bit more independent. He just seems to have so much energy lately, it's a bit overwhelming to say the least.

Family

2008-07-28T06:06:00.000-07:00

My brother Seamus is gone. Thank god. I guess it was nice of him to visit but it seemed more like him taking a vacation from his wife than wanting to see the baby. Most of the time, he was dragging my mom around to different places he likes to go in the area. I mentioned this to my mom who said, "oh, well he thought you'd be able to go out with him". I just had a baby 3 days ago.

Of course, one of his first comments was "it looks like you still have a baby in your belly". Then of course he talked about how his wife was up and about right after she had their son. Ummm, I'm a totally different person that had a totally different labor.

I didn't really factor in my recovery but I did try to sway him from visiting so early since when he booked the flight, I wasn't even sure we'd have a baby by the time he got here. I also thought Mary would say "no" and she was all, "oh, whatever, people want to see the baby." Where is my wife and what did you do with her? She usually ends up arguing with my brother who like my dad, thinks he's in expert on everything. Oh well, he's impulsive and is definitely the "baby" of the family. Sometimes I wonder how my siblings and I are even related.

He also commented on how Owen wasn't an Irish name. I'm like, that's not what we were really going for. On a side note, Owen's name was a mutual agreement. As "Rachel" noted it goes well with Cameron which I thought was a factor in picking out a name. Even though we didn't choose Cameron, it's still one of our sons names so I couldn't be like "these are my kids, Cameron and Zed" (one of the names that Mary wanted). George is after Mary's dad. She really wanted George in the name and Owen really flowed with that. Mary, of coure, now says I named Owen since I pushed for it since it was pretty much the only name we both liked. Anywho, I love my baby and his name :-)

Random Thoughts

2008-07-25T17:15:00.000-07:00

We had our welcome home "party" for Baby OG. This was supposed to happen when we came home on Wednesday but I wasn't feeling up to it. Of course, I still wasn't but Cameron asks everyday about the ice cream cake.

So far recovery sucks! There is just not enough time in the day to eat and sleep. There's also the issue of my being anal and wanting things done my way. I was looking at myself in the mirror today and I seriously look like I'm on drugs. My pupils are huge. Aside from the occasional percocet at night, there's no drugs but I definitely feel high. It must be some weird thing that kicks in when you have a baby.

Breastfeeding also sucks! Not because I've had any trouble with my milk coming in or Owen latching on but because everyone is driving me crazy. Mary feels she doesn't get enough time with him because she can't feed him. This was something that we discussed before he was born and before I started BF'ing. Of course, she thought BF'ing was the best thing for him and wanted me to do it. She also enjoys that my boobs have turned into massive milk jugs but then drives me crazy when I try to take the baby from her to feed him. And my mom is worried he's not getting enough food and is a big formula advocate anyways. On a positive note, it's easy to blog while BF'ing. LOL.

As far as Cameron, he's been up and down about the whole baby brother thing. He likes being a "big brother", he just doesn't want a baby in the house. LOL. I think it's mostly typical 3 year old stuff. He did ask for baby brother to go back in my belly. Oh lordie. But luckily my mom's been here so she's been able to provide him a lot of attention. Unfortunately, he completely takes advantage of the fact that she is well, very relaxed compared to us. So he ran her ragged while we
were in the hospital and we've had to catch up with his schedule since he pretty much refused to sleep.

My brother Seamus also got into town last night and will be here until Sunday. I tried to tell him before he booked his ticket to come out later but he was excited about the baby. Unfortunately, though, I'm hobbling around (along with a baby, I also got quite a few stitches) and am not very good company.

Oh well, I can't complain much, at least I have a beautiful and healthy baby.

Owen's Birth

2008-07-24T21:45:00.002-07:00

On Sunday, July 20, I went in for another non-stress test. Mary was chomping at the bit and wanted to move my induction up a day. I was exhausted, after being up all night with bad lower back pain and cramps. I was also having a decent number of contractions until the time of my non-stress test (go figure). Anywho, Mary asked them if we could start the induction that day since they weren’t very busy and we were told to call later. I thought I was going to punch Mary as we left as I had prepared myself for an induction on Monday night and now it was possibly going to happen that night. It also wasn’t set in stone so I spent the rest of the day anxiously waiting to call at 3:00. I called at 3:00 and was told “no” and to call the following day about hopefully getting in for my scheduled induction.

I was emotionally and physically exhausted so I went to my room to cry. Mary came up a while later and I started having what I thought were some serious lower back spasms. The back spasms continued and Mary realized they were happening every 15 minutes so we came to the conclusion that they were actually contractions. I tried to relax myself with some hypnobirthing methods and eventually took a bath to try to relieve the back pain and clean up for the birth of my son.

The contractions had started around 4:00 p.m. and by 9:30 they were about 6-7 minutes apart and excruciating. It was all back labor and I dreaded the approach of each contraction. We weren’t supposed to call until they were 5 minutes apart but I wasn’t sure how much more I could take. I had also started vomiting. So we called and were told to come in for a check. When we got there at about 10:15, I was 2-3 centimeters. They gave me something for the nausea and then I was free to use the jacuzzi tub and what not (I also tried the birthing ball).

At 1:30 a.m. I was in so much pain and so exhausted. I was checked again and was still 2-3 centimeters so I decided to get an epidural at 2:00 a.m. and it was the best decision I made in the entire process. I was able to relax and rest (and Mary could actually sleep). Within 4 hours, I was 7 centimeters and at about 8:00 a.m. I was fully dilated and was going to start pushing within the hour. We were just waiting for the baby to drop some. We called my mom who was a nervous wreck after not hearing from us since we left the house the evening before. We told her we’d have the baby in a couple of hours.

Well, things did not go so smoothly. After 3 hours of pushing and getting into an array of positions, I was told that the baby’s position was not optimal for pushing him out. The baby was getting tired and so was I so the plan was to bring in a doctor for a vacuum delivery. If that didn’t work, it would be on to a c-section. Suddenly, “a team” was brought in. Some how, it was all women so there was about 10 women in the room for Owen’s birth. With the vacuum I thought I would no longer have to push but no, it was on me to make sure he got the most assistance possible while the vacuum turned him and pulled him.

At 12:39 p.m., July 21, he made his first cry – the pediatrician (a member of the team) gave the go ahead for him to go directly to me. The pain and exhaustion was wiped out. It was the most amazing thing ever. There is nothing to describe the feeling of having your wet and messy baby right on your chest immediately after birth. Though the labor was less than desirable, it was more than worth it and I’d do it all over again to have my baby boy.

He's Finally Here!

2008-07-23T17:01:00.001-07:00

Owen George was born on Monday, July 21 at 12:39 p.m. He weighed 7 pounds, 10.5 ounces and is 20.5 inches long.

Not much time to post now...just trying to eat something while the baby boy isn’t on the boobie. :-) I’ll post more later about his birth and all the crazy things that come along with having a baby. I’m sure everyone can feel the happy love coming from two mommies in the Boston area. Mary and I could not be happier with our little Owen.

Not Much to Report

2008-07-19T08:46:00.001-07:00

Oh yes, I'm still pregnant. No amount of Evening Primrose, Sage Oil, or walking can do the trick. I've held off on the Castor Oil for fear it will just give me the runs and in this ridiculous heat, I'd rather not risk dehydration.

I'm off for another stress test sometime tomorrow. Apparently, I'm supposed to call in the a.m. and see when they can take me. Then hopefully I'll start the induction process on Monday night and hopefully have a baby on Tuesday. I was hoping for the lil' guy to come naturally but it was drugs that got him in there so it looks like it will be drugs that get him out.

In the meantime, I'll continue to be driven crazy by both Mary and my mom :-\

Stubborn Baby

2008-07-17T10:59:00.000-07:00

I went for a biophysical profile today, basically an ultrasound to measure everything and make sure baby is still cush in the womb. My amniotic fluid was on the lower end and he wouldn't move much for the ultrasound tech so I went for another stress test. Of course, we got a little overly excited since they said, "go for the stress test and we'll see if we should get him out." Well, he's still in. They should not f*ck with my emotions like that! LOL.

Here he is...stubborn baby still in the womb.

Still Pregnant

2008-07-15T16:41:00.000-07:00

I had a stress test today that showed the baby was doing well with a normal heart rate. It also detected a contraction which was kind of neat since I thought I was having one but I'm never sure since well, I've never had a baby. Of course, it's not labor but it was still nice to see something happening. The test was reassuring and afterwards we went to a cafe that Mary's become obsessed with. It's pretty traditional European and has great coffee and croissants. It's been SO nice having my mom around since she's been able to easily watch Cameron while we go to our appointments.

We also ended up both getting our "new mom gifts" today from each other. I got an awesome video camera...at least I think it's awesome, I still have to figure out how to use it. So maybe I will get the boy's birth on tape. Though I'm not sure I want all the gory bits on tape, maybe from my view or from the side.

And after much searching, Mary got a hammock. She's been obsessed with getting one forever and kept mentioning one as a "new mom" gift. Kind of random but whatever, she wanted one and I finally found one. Of course, my plan was to set it up for her but at my huge pregnant state and needing someone at the store just to get the box in the car, she had to set it up herself.

There was also a stop at Whole Foods (natural grocery store) for what I call the past due date prego women's shopping:

Clary Sage Oil
Castor Oil
Ice Cream

:-)

LOL - I'm not so sure about the Castor Oil but I will be doing a bit of the Clary Sage to hopefully help things along. I'd still like to go naturally and this week so I figured it's worth a shot.

The Dreaded Due Date

2008-07-14T12:40:00.000-07:00

So the due date has arrived. I was hoping he'd be here by now so that I wouldn't deal with the increase of anxiety and of course everyone asking when I'm having the baby.

I had an appointment today and an extremely painful internal exam. Of course, pretty much nothing is happening with my cervix. I definitely wish I didn't go with midwives at a hospital and this particular small hospital. It seems I'm only getting the disadvantages of having midwives and the disadvantages of being at a hospital (opposed to a birthing center). I wait a long time for my appointments, they spend little time with me but then they want to wait for things to naturally happen. It's quite annoying.

Needless to say, after begging to get something closer to 41 weeks (opposed to the 42 they want you to wait), the plan right now is to start induction next Monday night. That's when they'll apply Cervadil to "ripen" my cervix and then I'll start Pitocin on Tuesday morning. However, the appointment is tentative that they have room at the hospital and don't have anyone that is higher need (has complications or whatever). So I'll call Monday afternoon to see if I can go in. Oh, I'm not sure my nerves can handle this process.

I did convince them to do stress testing this week so I'll go in for that tomorrow morning. I'll also have an ultrasound on Thursday for some "biophysical" profile. So at least I'm getting baby checked which will be reassuring. Otherwise, they're plan was just to wait and go for an appointment in a week like I have been. Then of course I have my mother here who is making me mental. She had a stillborn that went late so she gets all freaked out about anyone going even a day late.

She's passed her fears on to my brother who's wife was able to get an induction on her due date. So he was all freaked out that they were going to let me go so late and told me I shouldn't be seeing "witch doctors". Oh boy. Of course, I keep trying to tell everyone that it's pretty common for first pregnancies to go late. However, I am NOT willing to go to 42 weeks. It's just way too long and I'm way too uncomfortable.

Mary's also going to be away for the first 2 weeks of August so I was hoping she'd have some more bonding time with the baby. It's a frustrating process. Of course, it makes me think back to the actual getting pregnant part and wishing my body would just do what it needs to do without all the medical intervention. But I think that's just wishful thinking. In the meantime, maybe I'll go check into a hotel by MYSELF and turn my phone off :-)

The Visits Continue

2008-07-12T17:18:00.000-07:00

Today was my mom's friends Annie and Kathy; they're sisters. Annie is my godmother. They came by early and my mom and I headed out to breakfast with them. I opted for Mary and Cameron to stay behind. That was best since the old ladies can TALK.

We came back here for a while and then my mom went out shopping with them. They kidnapped my mom and were gone for hours. I actually called at one point and was all, "when are you going to be home?". LOL.

They came back with many prizes for Cameron. He's definitely spoiled with Nana Patty around who has a prize for him every day. My mom and I are at opposite ends of the spectrum as far as discipline but I've tried to hold her off on some of her prizes to be used as rewards for him which is how we usually do things.

Anywho, he was thrilled to be showered with gifts from Nana Patty and her friend "Annie and Kaffy" but he had a really GOOD day. It was amazing, he was like ridiculously well behaved today. And so nice since yesterday was so crazy. So it worked out that he ended up with a bunch of random gifts.

I also discovered that Kathy is a belly person which kind of shocked me. She so doesn't seem like a belly person. Belly people are people that love to rub the pregnant belly and usually without warning or asking. I actually don't mind and I do have a pretty entertaining belly since my baby seems to be in training for extreme fighting. But of course the entire thing is funny to me.

Oh well, it's 8:15 and I'm heading to bed. Mary has sucked my mom into watching an action packed movie with her. LOL. I am hoping for some sleep tonight after being up at 4 a.m. - what's up with being pregnant and not sleeping? It's annoying. I also seem to be at an extremely high temperature especially at night despite having an a/c in our room and a fan pointed directly at me. Fingers crossed that I won't be prego for much longer.

Family Day

2008-07-11T16:39:00.000-07:00

Aside from Cameron and Chloe, we had a nice visit with my aunts Katie & Maureen and cousins. Aunt Maureen is the random younger one so her kids are all much younger (8, 12, 15). I did feel bad for her youngest Griffin who was all excited to play with Cameron and Chloe, neither who wanted anything to do with him.

Cameron woke up at 5 a.m. so he was done when everyone got here. I hate when that happens. Aside from it being embarrassing, he was very excited for the visit but couldn’t keep it together. There is no cure for tiredness other than sleep. So within an hour of their arrival and after throwing a poo shoe (yes, a shoe covered in dog poo) at Mary, he was in his room for a time out which turned into a 4 hour nap. And Chloe who’s normally a little shy was freaking out at the number of people and Griffin’s general obsession with her. Overall, we all had a nice time and I know my mom enjoyed seeing her sisters.

This afternoon, I updated my Ipod with a “birthing mix”. I enjoyed my hypnobirthing class and though it was mostly perfect for me. However, the class comes with this “Rainbow Relaxation” CD which just drives me crazy. I don’t know if it’s the woman’s voice or what but it does NOT relax me. Mary’s also become addicted it and we have to listen to it EVERY night...sometimes twice if she doesn’t fall asleep the first time around. Oy vey.

Anywho, I have what I think will really relax me during my labor - a combo of Enya, various CDs I use for massage and some chanting artists (i.e. Wah!, Krishna Das).

The crew...

My Cervix and Many Visitors

2008-07-10T18:46:00.000-07:00

Another appointment today where I had an actual examination. Though I was not supposed to have one until my actual due date, the midwife was worried he was breach. But he is not. I'm really not sure how they tell. He's definitely been making some crazy movements and when she suggested that he might be breached, I thought for sure he was. She also said that absolutely nothing is happening with my cervix which was disappointing. So I continue to be pregnant and uncomfortable. The fact that it's super hot and humid here does not help. I don't know how women have babies in August and September.

Since my mom is here, after the appointment Mary and I were able to head into Boston. We walked around and went through Faneuil Hall and then had lunch by the water. Though I have felt bad having my mom do much. I was also angry since I hadn't slept much in the night, I went back to bed in the morning since I thought Mary was taking care of Cameron. Well, I wake up to see that Mary had just been in the office the entire morning. I really don't like taking advantage of my mom in general, never mind when she has cancer. She is also the type of person that will never complain about anything but I can tell she's generally tired so even though she's a busy body, I've been trying to have her do minimal stuff around the house.

It's definitely been nice having my mom around. The only thing I can complain about is the rush of people to see her. I was overwhelmed yesterday since my dad called to let me know that him and my older brother were on their way for a visit. I was on my way to bring Mary to the subway station and then suddenly had to coordinate lunch for everyone. Then my aunt calls tonight saying she'll be coming over for a visit tomorrow. Well, Mary has been doing most of the cleaning in the house which of course has been helpful and I super appreciate. But my love bugs grew up with a maid so her cleaning skills aren't exactly stellar. I'm a bit of a perfectionist and my aunt is a TOTAL perfectionist so I am nervous about her visit. She's also allergic to cats and we're in a major shedding time around here. Oh well, hopefully it will go well and fingers crossed that I'll sleep the entire night and wake up with energy to do a major scrub down of the house. And of course I can't complain too much about visitors since we had nobody in Maine. I just wish people would hold off until the baby is born.

He's a big boy now!

2008-07-08T11:29:00.000-07:00

We received Cameron's birth certificate in the mail. It has his new name and lists us as the parents. We were pleasantly surprised since we were told it would take many months. And since the way everything went with the adoption process, we figured we would have to track it down at some point.

Mary was annoyed to be listed as the second mother (where basically they white out father and put mother). I told her it is because I have a maiden name. I thought it was exciting that we are both on the birth certificate to begin with. When we started fostering in Maine, gays were not allowed to adopt together but the law recently changed.

Anywho, it made me think of when my little muffin first came to us. I'm happy that he has over come evelopmental issues but I definitely miss my smiley mute non-confrontational boy. It is kind of funny because when we read books about adoption (where all the adopted kids come to live with their parents as babies), he thinks he was a baby since he slept in a crib and didn't talk.

maybe One Week to Go

2008-07-07T16:32:00.001-07:00

Oh yes, my ticker. One week until my due date!!! Aaaaaaaaaah!!! As suggested in Hypnobirthing, I'm trying not to put too much focus on my due date. Though it's probably more the fact that my new practice doesn't induce until 42 WEEKS. Are you serious? WTF?!? I didn't think anybody let you go that far these days.

Of course, every day I think labor is coming. Yesterday I was feeling so sick that I thought it was a labor sign. In retrospect I think it was just the baby making me nauseous as sometimes his movements do and now that he's a big boy, his movements have more of an effect. Hopefully he'll be moving those legs and arms outside of the belly soon. He's definitely quite an active baby.

My mom comes in tomorrow afternoon so that will be a huge relief. We've had a few people on emergency standy by but I'll definitely feel better knowing that someone will be here to be with Cameron. There's been a few INSANE people that have suggested that we could just bring him to the birth. Ummm, he's 3 so I think it would be inappropriate to have him at a birth to begin with. He's also in a stage where I can barely take him to Target without having a breakdown. Then there's the entire I've never birthed so I don't know how I'll be. I hurt my leg the other day and let out a scream and well, Cameron's face dropped and he nearly started to cry. So yeah, I don't think having the little guy at the birth would be the best idea. He's had enough trauma in his life.

So anywho, I'm excited for mama to be here. She can't help a lot physically since she's recovering from both a masectomy and a second surgery to remove the extender (put in to later rebuild the breast) that her body rejected. But just having her around will be nice and Cameron's totally obsessed with her so he's thrilled.

Happy 4th!

2008-07-05T17:59:00.001-07:00

Our 4th of July was pretty lame. It seemed like any other day for the most part. The weather has been rainy off and on here which was the same for the 4th. We had planned on going into the city to walk around the festivities since Boston does it up for the 4th of July. The weather cancelled that out so instead we opted to shop. LOL. We purchased a rocking chair for the baby's room and a bed for the guest room.

As far as 4th of July festivities, we did grill some food for dinner, I made some red/white/blue pudding parfait (my one "patriotic" thing) and we lit some sparklers. Cameron enjoyed since he got to do lots of his favorite thing - eating.
The child loves to eat! We are happy he's not picky, I'm not sure we will be so lucky with baby boy.

Today, we ended up going to the zoo.

It wasn't the best zoo but it is close by and cheap. They also had lots of kitties *my favorite* :-)

The zoo is one of those great places since Cameron loves animals and so do I. I like when I can really enjoy the kid friendly activities.

I also read that slow long walks can induce labor so I thought the zoo would be a perfect place for that but no labor. I have Mary every 5 minutes telling me she's bored and that I should have the baby. Every time I stand up she asks if I'm in labor. I'm like, don't worry, you'll be the first to know. LOL. Of course, she's all excited since she doesn't have to push out the baby while I'm freaking out at the mere thought of getting this baby out of my belly.

Almost Ready for Baby

2008-07-02T16:04:00.000-07:00

We have most of the nursery complete. Pretty much the only thing we need is a chair...and a baby :-) I love how the room turned out, it's so peaceful when I'm in there and I'm glad we went with the nautical theme, it's been super easy to find decor here in New England.

The bumpers and large bear are in temporarily for decoration

The slumber bear attached to the crib is ridiculously cute & will hopefully be useful (it makes womb noises)

Such a nice place for poopie diapers ;-)

Of course, any child of mine needs something Red Sox

And the switch is just too cute

A Visit and a Living Room

2008-07-02T11:44:00.000-07:00

Today, my friend M and her son J came over for a visit. Cameron LOVES "J" so he was uber excited. On a side note, he also loves J's name and keeps suggesting it for baby brother. His doll baby has already been named J. It's so funny. Anywho, we had a nice visit. M is such a good friend so I'm happy we live close now and can actually hang out on a regular occasion and not once every few months or what not.

We just hung out at the house and then ventured out to lunch which was slight chaos. We walked to our town's center to go to a pizza place. I figured that would be the easiest with the little ones. It's definitely kid friendly but dealing with a not yet 2 year old and my 3 year old gets a little bit crazy. Oh, kids, you've gotta just sit back and laugh at how crazy they are.

We've been having these outrageous thunderstorms and sure enough as soon as we went to leave the pizza place, one started. So we went back inside to wait it out. Cameron had already been asking "to go home" immediately after finishing his pizza so it was lots of fun to wait out a thunderstorm *said sarcastically*. I think we were back here just in time to get Cameron into nap since he was at the verge of a melt down. After getting him into nap time, he was sleeping within 30 seconds. It's amazing what sleep can do.

In other news, here's some pics' of the living room/sitting room. A lot of people have said it's not possible to maintain an "adult" space with 2 young chilren but we do it anyways. I love having a formal space. Cameron has already been "trained" to appreciate what I call "oooh aaahs", these are things you can't touch but you can look at and say "oooh aaah". You'd be amazed at how fun it is for a child to say "oooh aaah". :-)

Mary's childhood piano that hopefully our children will play

Charlie the bunny sits proudly by the fireplace...it was a random wedding gift that we've grown to love

Crazy Camer

2008-07-01T13:20:00.000-07:00

I'm FREE. Well, at least for a few hours *hopefully*. I think the only time I've had any freedom in recent time was going shopping (grocery shopping that is) while Mary watched him during his nap on Saturday. Wow. Anywho, Mary took Camer to get ice cream in Harvard Square. They were going to take the bus. He's been obsessed with the "school bus" so he's been in his glory to see the T bus around here.

I have to laugh at Mary, she embodies the "bumbling professor". When I take Cameron out, I have a bag of Cameron "things" - cars, crayons, extra outfit, snacks, water. O.K., maybe I overdo it but Mary doesn't do a purse so she brings absolutely nothing and of course, her getting to the bus was total chaos. Hopefully she doesn't lose the kid. LOL.

As for Cameron and all our recent changes, he's been up and down. I think all the changes have set in and his mind does not know how to process them. So we have many melt downs and sleepless nights. Even the first few days when our furniture was not here (o.k., most of his stuff was here since we wanted him to be comfy), I thought he'd want to sleep in our room but he was all about his new room and he was miraculously sleeping through the night. Now, in the past week, it's been back to nightmares and just random waking up. The other morning he was up at 4 a.m. and didn't go back to sleep. Then there's just been random screaming for things in the middle of the night like water or about going to the potty (which he knows he doesn't need to ask us to do).

Then we have this neighbor who brings his dog over to play with Chloe. Well, Cameron likes the neighbor. Cameron's a hugger though not usually with random people. He hugs him which I haven't been able to explain that we don't just hug random men (or women for that matter). Why can't he be scared of him like he is of most people? Anywho, the neighbor came by yesterday to bring the dog over. Well, the dog didn't want to stay so it ended up leaving with the man. Cameron had a major melt down over them leaving. I'm usually fairly good in dealing with the abandonment issues but the kid crying over everything is making me crazy. This was also after a night that he woke us up several times so not only is he over tired but I am extremely over tired and hormonal. I hope things calm down in that little head of his.

I'm SO Prego

2008-07-01T05:54:00.000-07:00

Less than 2 weeks until my due date...eeeks!!!

And at 38 weeks...

I'm uncomfortable

I'm hot

I'm EXHAUSTED

My legs hurt super bad

I don't like my new midwife

I cannot stop peeing

I'm packing a hospital bag *which is scary*

On a positive note...

I'm excited to see my baby *soon* :-)

Our home is lovely but my internet connection sucks!

2008-06-30T18:50:00.000-07:00

I'm usually a fairly diligent poster. Lately, however, it seems every time I've sat down to do a post, it ends up not happening. Aside from just being busy lately, we have a total crap internet connection. We decided to go with some "air card" through a cell phone company. It was easy to set up and the concept is neat since you can use it on the laptop essentially anywhere. However, I'm always on the desktop and it just doesn't get a good connection. I feel like I have dial-up.

Anywho, our friends Alison and Scott came over for lunch on Sunday. I made quiche which went over really well. Mary had me all freaked out since even though we love quiche and eat it quite a bit, I had never actually made one on my own.

But lets see, other than quiche, we've exhausted ourselves with finishing most of the house. Alison even commented that they couldn't believe how lived in our house looked like and that they still had boxes in their apartment that they moved into months ago. Of course, there's my high energy wife that won't let things sit and of course we knew there wouldn't be much time to work on the house once the baby arrived.

Here's some pics' of our family room...

where Camer's favorite thing lives - the t.v.!

we have LOTS of built-ins

I'll post pics' of some of the other rooms another time since it takes me forever to upload pictures. Damn this internet connection!

Mess of a Routine

2008-06-25T16:49:00.000-07:00

This week it's operation "Get Cameron BACK on Schedule!" We normally stick to a very regular routine/schedule and it's been totally thrown off with the move. The move and scattered schedule have definitely resulted in us having a very crazy 3 year old on our hands. We also invested in those light blocking drapes for his room since even though he has ended up going to bed much later, he's been up at the crack of dawn. We thought there would be less light in his new room since there's less windows but that doesn't seem to be the case. At least the new drapes seem to do the trick. So we have done pretty good this week with sticking to our normal schedule.

Unfortunately, I made plans to go to my aunt's tomorrow at 12 (since that's what worked for her). Cameron's normal nap time is 1 so this could be dangerous. Another aunt and my god mother are going too so I'm going to try to stay as long as possible. This is the first time they're meeting him so I am praying he is on good behavior and doesn't have any melt downs.

Anywho, this morning we went to see a potential pre-school. Sort of by default, he's going to end up there. Most others don't have availability or they're ridiculously priced. I was really hoping for something cleaner and more organized than his previous one but this is some how even messier and even more unorganized. The woman kept saying they're in "Summer mode" so maybe it's normally a little more organized? I hope. However, the people all seemed super nice and there is currently another 2 mom family. It's a co-op style so one of us (most likely Mary since I'll have the baby) have to do the day there 1-2 times/month. Mary actually thought this was nice since we'll get to know the other kids and parents. I thought it should be a lot cheaper if we have to work there. LOL. It's 8:30-1 and we'll send him 4 days/week. I'm not sure how much he'll learn but I think it will be a nice social outlet for him and a break for me. Of course, he won't start until September. Maybe I'll start counting down the days ;-)

Belly Casting

2008-06-24T08:30:00.000-07:00

So it's a Monday night and there's nothing on t.v., what do you do? Well you cast your belly, but of course! LOL! This was quite the messy adventure but I will commend my wife on her casting abilities.

It's currently drying though unfortunately for Mary she's going to have more work to do since she didn't exactly get the top the way I want it. I also need to add more casting stuff (or whatever it's called) to some of the places that are thin.

Anywho, my original idea was for people to sign it when they visited the baby for the first time but now I'm thinking I may just paint it and put his name and birth date on it. Obviously after he's born since neither one of these things are know. Needless to say, I thought it would be cool to have since this is my first and probably last pregnancy (Mary's supposively carrying the next child).

Our Cameron Michael

2008-06-23T12:00:00.001-07:00

Our adoption announcements came in the other day.

(it's scanned so looks a lil' crappy)

We changed his middle name and obviously his last name. Michael is after Mary's "favorite" brother and coincidentally he ended up with the same initials as me :-) She chose as our compromise of not changing his first name. Even though I fought to NOT change his name, sometimes I think, I can't believe I have a kid named Cameron. It's so not a name I would pick.

And a shout out to Picture Me Perfect that had announcements that actually fit this kind of adoption. Lots of places had adoption announcements but they were definitely for babies or even specifically for international cases.

Make Way for Ducklings

2008-06-23T07:20:00.000-07:00

Our first weekend in the Boston area and it was a good one. Of course, we're in that "vacation" stage of moving where everything is new and exciting but it's definitely nice to have different things to do. In Maine, we were near some beautiful places but most were about an hour drive. Here, we're about a 10 minute drive to downtown Boston which is so convenient.

On Saturday afternoon, we went in to the see "the ducks". I find it amusing that kids are SO entertained by these little statues. It's also even more amusing to watch adult tourists wait for the kids to get off to get a picture of them - ummm, it's not going to happen! For those of you that don't know, they're from the book "Make Way for Ducklings" that's about a group of ducks that live in Boston.

After seeing the ducks, we ventured over to the swan boats.

Then we hit the crazy playground that's on Boston Common. I say crazy because the place is always packed and just insane with kids. Of course, Cameron loved every minute of it. Afterwards, we got a balloon sword. Unfortunately, dealing with weapon toys and scary faces is just something that comes with having boy children. At least he debated for a moment on whether to get a sword or a flower.

That lasted about 5 minutes before he popped it and then asked for another one. Ummm, no, I told you that it would pop if you were rough with it. It was a great afternoon and these types of things will even be more enjoyable when this baby is out of my belly. It's become a bit difficult to walk, my legs hurt and breathing just isn't as easy.

And of course, it wouldn't be complete with the token side profile shirt. Can you tell that I'm having trouble finding shirts that are LONG enough. Oh, being tall and prego is not fashionably easy.

Sunday we went to a nearby beach area for lunch. Most of the beach areas around the city are pretty ghetto but still nice to be able to go to a beach and get some fried fish. No pics' since we didn't actually hang out at the beach very long. There was a major wind storm so we ended up getting food and after sand blowing in our faces, we ended up eating it in the car. So much for that ;-)

Moving and Having a Baby

2008-06-20T16:42:00.000-07:00

It's been a crazy week. We headed down on Sunday with 2 car loads of stuff though 1 car was filled with the kid and the animals. Of course, my lovely wife was in charge of driving that one. LOL. Hey, I'm already uncomfortably pregnant, I don't need a mental breakdown due to a screaming kid, 3 screaming cats, and a neurotic dog. :-)

Mary headed back up to Maine on Monday night to coordinate the movers on Tuesday. Thursday our furniture finally arrived - and not soon enough. The night before was my breaking point for sleeping on a blow up mattress. I'm VERY happy to have our furniture though of course, the house is in much disarray. The kitchen seems to be the most difficult as our cabinet space has been cut down dramatically.

Today, I met my new midwife. The hospital doesn't seem stellar but I think it will do. I had gone back and forth with a birthing center and this particular hospital. I'm just going to pray that I don't go into hard labor during rush hour since it's a pretty crazy location to get to. Afterwards, Mary and I went to Babies R Us. She kept wanting to go this week though I wasn't sure why. We have bought a few things there but we usually just end up browsing or what not. Well, apparently she wanted to do an entire shopping spree and let me get just about everything off my registry. I was excited :-)

We went to town and bought quite a few things so I think we are totally ready for baby. Mary's mom also gifted us the crib and changing table and those are on the way. It's nice feeling more prepared and like we are really having a baby. The reality that I'm REALLY having a baby hit me today. It's been a long wait and I just can't believe I'm having a baby soon. It's crazy and amazing and just mind blowing all at the same time. Words cannot describe it.

Quick Update

2008-06-19T18:29:00.001-07:00

We are officially living in Massachusetts. Our house is sold and our furniture is FINALLY here :-) Now it's time to actually organize all the stuff in boxes...

Hopefully pics and more updates to come once I have a minute and a good internet connection.

Just Send an Email!

2008-06-13T18:30:00.000-07:00

This may be slightly repetitive of my last post but I felt the need to vent...

I feel I'd rather do pretty much all correspondence via email. It's just easier. There's the convenience of emailing whenever and of not needing to write appointments down since they're right there in an email. And when you have a 3 year old at home, it's not exactly easy to be on the telephone. Today, I went back and forth with both a pre-school and my doctor's office.

The most annoying part of the doctor's office was their answering service. Answering services suck! I would prefer to leave a voicemail than play the telephone game with someone who's completely clueless. Needless to say, I thought I had everything settled until another woman in the office left me a message that she needed more information but she was leaving the office that instant and wouldn't be back until Monday. I really wish she had let me know what info she needed so I could have at least left her a message instead of having to reach her on Monday.

Then we had the pre-school dilemma. My correspondence with one pre-school started via email which is easiest to make an inquiry. Of course, I was emailed back that it was filling up quickly and to call to schedule a time to meet and see the place. Of course when I called I got a voicemail and one of those mysterious ones that only recites the number your calling. It was also a scary man's voice so I wasn't sure if I was even calling a pre-school. In my message, I said the earliest I could meet was Thursday afternoon or Friday morning so let me know what worked for those days. I thought when she called back, if she got my v/mail, she could let me know a time and I could confirm. Nope, I just get, I'm leaving the office right now but I'll be in later. What does later mean? Of course, when I called back I got the mysterious v/mail once again though I thought it was pointless to leave a message since I thought I'd sound b*tchy repeating my last message.

Needless to say, it was a frustrating day and Cameron wasn't exactly on stellar behavior. I was hit multiple times and at one point had a stick thrown at me. Lovely. I also expected Mary to be back around 3 and she wasn't back until 6. By this time, Cameron had behaved so badly that he was sent to his room until dinner. I thought I relayed this to Mary then the next minute she's in his room rocking him in his rocking chair. I'm like, "Mary, you just completely undermined me, he's supposed to be in trouble". She's like, "Oh, I didn't know, I thought his time out was over". AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!

Dirty Diapers

2008-06-13T10:08:00.000-07:00

I feel like I'm working in an office today. I have made so many calls. We're trying to figure out things with our insurance company to get an "out of network approval". Apparently, pregnancy qualifies as some sort of emergency medical situation so we may not have to pay anything for going to a provider in Mass. That would be sweet! Anywho, first we were told to have our midwife's office call, they did and were told to have my primary care call.

So now I've been going back and forth with dumb receptionists and even dumber (is that a word?) answering services to get the information to them. I've been to my primary care doctor once so it's annoying to have to deal with them in this. I hope they get it done.

I've also been in the debate of how to diaper the baby. After seeing the amount of diapers that kids go through and for many years, I definitely knew I wanted a more environmentally friendly source for the baby. It's disturbing that my diapers from when I was a baby are still in a landfill. I planned on using GDiapers. They're kind of like a cloth/disposable hybrid. I went ahead and purchased some little G pants and refills at a local store. However, I don't seem to see any stores that sell them where we'll be living. You can order them online but it's pricey and kind of negates some of the environmental benefits. So now I contacted a diaper service to see how that would work and if they service the town I'll be living in. I think I could do cloth if I had a diaper service, I just don't want poop in my washer and it sounds like you have to wash them multiple times to actually clean them (?). I'm a total priss when it comes to dirty things especially poop. Oh well, hopefully I'll find a "green" way to diaper this baby.

I have also been on a crazy search for pre-schools. I had looked into stuff months ago and then sort of put it on the back burner until recently. I think having him attached to my hip for the past few weeks got me in gear. So I've contacted numerous places and everything is already full for September. Oy. I'm even on a wait list for 2 Catholic schools. I find this quite amusing. Needless to say, I hope I find one because I think I'll definitely need some relief from balancing 2 small children and Cameron definitely needs to be around other kids and be learning something.

Baby Check

2008-06-12T10:48:00.001-07:00

We're just back from seeing "baby brother". We had a midwife appointment that included a quick ultrasound to see baby's position. He's head down which was kind of shocking, I would've sworn even last night he was not. He's a mover so I wouldn't have been worried if he was breach right now but it is a relief that he's not. Cameron came along since we don't have anybody to watch him and we thought it would be nice for him to see the baby. I think he was utterly confused by the entire thing but had a big smile on his face the entire time. He loves everyone referring to him as the big brother.

So everything was good with baby though my midwife always seems slightly nervous but maybe I'm just paranoid. She was all, maybe you'll have the baby at 36 weeks. I was like, do you KNOW something??? We're heading down to Massachusetts on either Sunday or Monday and Mary has to come back up to Maine for a couple of day so I'll be solo on Tuesday and Wednesday. Of course, it's early but I still freak out about going into labor on one of those days.

Anywho, this was our last appointment with our midwife. We LOVE her though it turns out she accepted a different position so wouldn't have actually been able to deliver our baby anyways. That made us feel better about transferring to a different practice since I wasn't a big fan of the other midwifes and OB in the practice.

Baby was moving like crazy so the pics are low quality, they're supposed to be his face.

Happy Adoption Day!

2008-06-11T17:20:00.000-07:00

Well, we had a lot of fun but it was a LONG day. It started with us having to be at court at 8. I hoped we wouldn't have to wait long as ummm, we have a 3 year old. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Luckily and unluckily, our caseworker and adoption specialist showed up with gifts for Cameron. In the midst of waiting over an hour, we started talking about potential names for the baby and the adoption specialist suggested HB's name as a name. Ummm, wtf?!? That was just strange (on so many levels). Anywho, we finally got in and the 100 year old judge granted us our adoption. In our wait, we managed to get some cute pics.

Afterwards, we headed to Cameron's favorite restaurant for breakfast. Not my idea of a place to go while dressed nice but it was his day and the restaurant has a train which is key. Then it was time to head home to change our clothes.

We headed to the mall to build a bear...or rather a moose.

Introducing "Mainer", we just couldn't leave Maine without some sort of moose thing. And yes, he does have adorable Sketcher sneakers.

After making the moose, some rides at the mall, and a picnic at a playground we thought Cameron would take a decent nap. Nope. Though Mary and I probably shouldn't have told him that he'd get his gift from us after his nap.

Needless to say, he got his scooter. Later, T, P, and Q came over for pizza and cake (yummy ice cream cake).

To end the day, we read our Happy Adoption Day book which is always weird because it's actually a song but Cameron loves it. Though you can't tell from the pic since by this point, we were a bit grumpy and over tired to say the least.

Now, one very tired little boy is in bed and this "new" Mommy is about to have another slice of ice cream cake :-)