All My Ducks in a Row

Storm Preparation

2011-08-26T12:24:00.002-04:00

I hope everyone who is in Irene's path has gotten ready! I have done my best. All our flashlights are accounted for, extra batteries lined up, candles out of the storage closet, matches ready to go. Cans of tuna, loaves of bread, jars of peanut butter, 2 bottles of Cabernet, the mini-grill, snacks, boxed juices and milk all accounted for. I didn't have to do much to prepare...I think my new stocking up at BJs has paid off.

Stay safe, friends!

Can't seem to get to the blog!

2011-08-18T09:03:00.003-04:00

Hey all! This summer has been so pleasantly busy, that I just can't seem to get around to posting. Sorry. And now it's starting to come to an end. I cannot believe it!

Here is a break down of just a couple of things we've done this summer:

Our dear friend, Alex, came from Hungary to visit. He's currently in Medical school, and will be coming home for good (we hope...he does love Hungary) in about a year.

We went with my family to Long Beach Island for about 5 days. Alexander had the greatest time picking up shells from the beach.

Then our boy turned 3. Unbelievable.

It took a lot of convincing, but we finally got Alexander to shave off his vacation facial hair. No beard yet, he's only 3...

July it is.

2011-07-02T16:58:00.003-04:00

Alexander is now in love with my iPod Touch. I exchanged points from my credit card for some iTunes gift cards and bought a number of toddler games and puzzles. I'm not big on letting little kids use a lot of technology, but I also think that technology is moving so fast that some exposure is necessary. I know that he is playing games that are age appropriate, and he has a screen time limit, which he hates, but rules are rules.

I've also been reading about the 17 Day Diet...I'm not totally convinced, but what I'm reading is reminding me of Weight Watcher old "Core" program with some extra rules and regulations. I'm going to read more before I completely dive in. I am starting to watch my carbs though, because I definitely have a huge "white death" problem. I love those sugary, white carbs. Yum!

Hello Summer!

2011-06-23T17:26:00.002-04:00

I feel terrible. I haven't been here in such a long time, despite my intentions to write more often, take better photographs, and focus on writing well. It just never happened. However, tomorrow is my last day of school for 10 whole weeks (minus a day or tow here and there for special projects that my school is willing to pay me for).

Let me get you up to speed with my life:

Alexander will be 3 in August. 3 years old. 3. Can you believe it? I. Can. Not.
I have not lost any weight since my 6 week check up after Alexander's birth. Well, that's almost a lie. I've battled with the same 5 pounds since Alexander was born. Did I mention that he was born nearly 3 years ago? Yeah, that's sad on many accounts.
I joined a gym this winter and started doing Zumba. Yay! I love it! Has that helped me lose any weight? Nope. I think I eat more on Zumba days and it kind of cancels it all out. I do plan on going to the gym more often now that I will be on vacation. That'll be lovely. The times where weight loss has been easiest for me is when I've worked with weights.
I've been knitting and knitting and knitting like a fiend. I can *almost* knit without looking. My grandmother would be proud.

I'm sure there is more, but I have been glamoured by my upcoming vacation. Yay! I'll be back soon. I promise.

Another Very Late Manic Monday

2011-01-27T10:30:00.004-05:00

It seems to me that my whole life has become manic since Alexander has progressed into the beginning of being a little boy and not a baby...he is so much fun, and we are doing lots of things, but taking pictures is not always easy! Then there are the times I do get the pictures taken, but there is so much to do to get ready for the next day, I don't have time to post them. Argh! And we're thinking another one is a good idea...Oi, we must be crazy!

Since it's gotten so cold out, Alexander winds up in our bed at about 3am. He's a fine bedfellow.

This wasn't even the coldest part of my commute to work; the thermometer read -4 at one point, but I was driving and not in a position to snap a picture with my phone.

My mom and Alexander assisting with baking cupcakes.

S'mores cupcakes! Yum!

A big thanks to Sarah for hosting:

Trying New Stuff or Making a Bigger Effort

2010-12-31T11:29:00.001-05:00

In an effort to try to post more often, and to make more of an effort to stay in touch with friends overall, I am trying out new apps to make things easier. This is a free blogging app on my iPod...so we're going to see how it goes...

Most Mondays are Manic!

2010-12-28T10:32:00.006-05:00

Or at least it seems to be so recently. I'm on vacation this week, so I have a few minutes to post, provided Alexander lets me!

So, we got a little snow...

Xander is a really big helper.

Inside for (decaf) tea and homemade chocolate chip cookies

Playing with new Thomas toys

Cleaning up with the new baby vacuum

And doing some daring acts involving falling off the sit and spin....wheeeeee!

A big thanks to Sarah at Mommy Elephants Everyday Adventures for hosting:

Manic Monday, November 22

2010-11-22T20:01:00.003-05:00

Woo-hoo! It's another Manic Monday...thanks to Sarah over at Mommy Elephant's Everyday Adventures for the ever brilliant:

Watching the Street sippin' on Trader Joe's Vanilla yogurt with mango baby food mixed in. Yummers!

Wearing new shoes to work! Chris bought them for me yesterday...I love the stripes.

Finally home from work, snuggling on the couch, listening to The Wiggles.

Apparently, Alexander was cooking chicken nuggets and green beans...I just don't see it!

His face is out of focus, because he was trying to left up his foot to show off his awesome new sneakers. Vans for toddlers...who knew?

Manic Monday, November 15th

2010-11-16T20:15:00.003-05:00

Before I post my Manic Monday pictures, I have to give a big thanks to Sarah over at Mommy Elephant's Everyday Adventure for hosting

All right then, now to the pictures!

Alexander has figured out that he can move the folded step ladder over to the counter by himself. He can almost set the thing up, too. It makes it easy to have him wash his hands, but forget about getting anything else done in there.

I added a but of puffy paint to the bottom of Alexander's hand knit socks. I feel as if I ruined them somehow (I spent a lot of hours knitting those bad boys). I know that the puffy paint will make them less slippery.

Mmmmm...fake chicken pot pie for dinner!

Blocks, blocks, blocks.

Laundry done!

Not bad considering that all this is after I get home from work!

Manic Monday and MIA

2010-11-08T20:31:00.004-05:00

I'm baaah-aaack...I've had a rough couple of weeks, but I'll get to that later, after my Manic Monday update...

Early AM Alexander...little guys just do not understand the benefit of the end of daylight savings time, so he was up at 6:30! He's got breakfast in that Take and Toss cuppy...Trader Joe's yogurt. So much easier and cleaner than using a spoon!

My favorite pair of hand knit socks on a cold, dark and rainy day.

Wilson Just Word training, all day today...and all day tomorrow. Aren't I lucky?

Thanks to Sarah for the fabulous:

The next part might be a tad graphic, so if you're not into TMI kinds of situation, I would skip the rest of this entry.

Okay, now for the "MIA" and the "rough couple of weeks"...Wednesday, October 20th, Chris, Ian (my youngest brother), and I went to NYC to meet our friend Keisuke and his friend Ginjiro who both flew in from Japan to attend an internet conference. We had a fabulous night. We had an incredible steak dinner at a 5 star restaurant, we had a couple of beers at Keisuke's favorite bar-McSorely's (also one of NYC's oldest bars...it's fabulous!), we made the train we wanted home because we all had to work the next morning, and Keisuke and Ginjiro were flying back to Japan the next morning. It was truly a perfect evening. Fun, friends, food..incredible. Chris and I got home and we were floating on air and went to sleep.

Some time later, about 4am, I felt sick...really sick. I ran to the bathroom wondering why I felt so sick...I really hadn't had much to drink, but here I was, running to the bathroom, not sure what was going to happen, but something bad was going to have to come out from somewhere. There was no vomit to be had, and what I did see when I stood up was something out of a horror movie to say the least. I was a little freaked, but I, being that I was exhausted didn't think that much of it, until an hour later when it happened again, and then it happened again an hour after that. Then my guts started hurting, so I called into subfinder to take the day off. Being the mommy, I helped Chris get Alexander ready for daycare because I was planning to make a doctor's appointment. After Chris left, I just kept feeling more and more pain, so I called my doc's off hours service. I was told to go to the emergency room immediately. So, I drove myself (I live about 4 minutes from the nearest hospital)

I was in the emergency room hallway fore more than 5 hours. These hours included intravenous fluids, a heavy duty painkiller, a urine sample, blood work, an x-day, a CT scan, and an internal ultra sound, plus more slasher film bathroom visits. My large intestines were completely swollen...diagnosis colitis, which is just a fancy way of saying that my intestines are swollen and they don't know why. No one wanted to give me any more info than to eat bland foods until I can see a gastroenterologist, and to stay home from work for a few days. I was sent home with 2 antibiotics and Vicodin. Good times. I was so sick and in pain all weekend that I thought I was going to wind up back in the hospital.

The gastro the ER doc recommended could not (would not?) give me an appointment until the middle of December. Huh? I called my parent's gastro, and she could see me the next Monday. Awesome. All week leading up to the appointment I'm basically eating nothing but rice, plain pasta, and mashed potatoes. I'm totally scared to eat anything else as my WebMD research has totally freaked me out. What if I have Ulcerative Colitis? Or Crohns? What if I have a horror show bathroom adventure again? Ugh.

I was in and out of the doctor's office in less than 20 minutes, and mostly because she was super friendly and chatty. I had E.Coli. She looked at all my "films" and told me they should have put me in a room overnight because my intestines were completely swollen and I could have used the extra fluids. Fortunately, despite sharing steaks for 2 and 3, no one else got sick. The doctor told me that I just got the magic, lucky piece where someone with unclean hand touched the meat that I ate...or a tiny piece hit a dirty piece of counter. Aren't I the luckiest? I did find out that my digestive system has a really strong immune response...all the blood work came back with normal white cell counts, which means that I had dispelled all the evil in a very short time. Pretty cool, I just wish there had been another way to find out that bit of information.

Manic Monday-Second week in a Row!

2010-10-18T21:52:00.003-04:00

Welcome to another Manic Monday! I don't know if I've ever mentioned it, but my Manic Mondays start around 3:30pm when I get home from work....so here we are:

Time for some outside fun...with blue puppy, of course.

Last of the tomatoes from the garden.

Hiding from Mommy

My happy boy!

Playing with Daddy...they were crawling all around the house making "Grrrrrr" noises, but Alexander would stop every time I put the camera up to my face. Bah!

A big thank you, as always, to wonderful Sarah for hosting:

Another Manic Monday

2010-10-12T20:43:00.003-04:00

Mondays have been so extra manic since school started, I don't even seem to have time to post my pictures half the time...sheesh!

First a little am puzzle challenge. Very fun, and excellent to work on in your superhero pajamas.

Did a little shopping at the mall. It was a family trip. Chris wanted to go to EMS. I scored some skin stuff at Sephora and samples from Bare Essentials (or however you spell that place..)

Fun time with Uncle Ian!

Score! Chris bought Alexander his first Hot Wheels.

We love bath time!

Thanks as always to Sarah for hosting the ever fabulous

Manic Monday - Yay!

2010-09-13T21:13:00.004-04:00

It's time for yet another Manic Monday!

I went to Kohl's last night to do a little bit of shopping for work. I forgot how unforgiving those florescent lights can be. I went to WEight Watchers during lunch today, and joined up post haste.

Banana mini-muffins for Alexander.

Homemade roast garlic hummus....Yummmmm.

And finally a little bit of drum practice...apparently the drums needed tuning.

A big thanks needs to be put out there for Sarah for giving us Manic Mondays!

Manic Monday 9/6/2010

2010-09-06T21:15:00.005-04:00

I am back for another Manic Monday! Thanks to Sarah for her brilliant

Getting ready to do some toy organization!

I don't need it, but I had to have this elephant lunch bag...on clearance at Target!

Alexander is obsessed with starfish, so when I saw this toy on sale at Target, it had to come home with us.

Drum practice on Daddy's real drum pad.

A quick visit to my parent's house. Alexander threw up for no apparent reason about 3 minutes after this picture was taken, rendering our visit short.

Post barf bath time. Note the new starfish toy above his head.

Roast garlic pizza for dinner...Yum!

Homemade peanut butter cookies for dessert.

Roasted garlic and chick peas soaking in olive oil to make hummus with in a day or two.

Thanks for stopping by!

Another Late Manic Monday

2010-08-24T09:19:00.003-04:00

With the school year looming large, I feel like I can barely get Alexander and myself moving in the mornings, no less take pictures of the day! I snapped a few, and I'm sharing them late...

Banana Nut Cheerios along with Quacky, who was Chris' puppet when he was a kid. Quacky lived at his grandparents' house for much of his childhood.

Tryin' on the new socks that I made for Alexander. Yay!

Trains, trains, trains; it's all about the trains these days.

Tubby time!

Thanks to Sarah for the ever brilliant

Manic Monday!

2010-08-09T22:13:00.006-04:00

I am back again to share a Monday with ya'll, thanks to Sarah and her

Thanks Sarah!

Good Morning!

A monkey with hair

Practicing A for Alexander- Up, down, across!

Checkin' out half done knitting projects- I want to finish them up by the end of the month

My washer and dryer are finally up and running! I've been waiting a long, long time for this...

A little drum practice...

Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera when we went to the pool this afternoon...perhaps next Monday..

Manic Monday, except now it's Tuesday

2010-07-27T09:04:00.004-04:00

I was trying to post this morning, but my desk top got all bitchy on me. Ugh! Cupcake clean-up. No pics of the Smore's cupcakes...sorry, Chris had to bring them to work.
Shopping at Trader Joe's all the way in Danbury, CT.

New to us wagon that my mom got at a tag sale for 10 smackeroos.

Squash bloom in my garden. I kick myself everday for getting a late start.

Mowin' the lawn.

At the park with Daddy.

Tuckered out Alexander. We had a bit of a disagreement, he and I. He thought I should sit in his room and hang out until he fell asleep. I did not think that was a good idea. So, he decided to camp out in front of his bedroom gate instead.

And a big thanks to Sarah who hosts the fabulous Manic Monday from her blog. If you care to join us next week, take a peek here!

By Golly, I"m Back

2010-07-24T20:47:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the tremendously long break folks. Here is the run down of what's been going on:

We had a death in the family that I don't care to share at this point. I will let it be known that Chris, Alexander and I are doing well, and we are all healthy, happy, and chugging along.
I am on vacation form school and I am loving every minute of it. Alexander does go to day care for two mornings a week so he won't forget Lina, his sitter. I wish I didn't have to send him, but I don't want to be anxious in September when he has to go back. Plus, he gets to play with his little friends when he's there.
I am 1/3 finished with my last graduate course for the summer. This will make 24 credits (8 classes) since February. I'm hoping they all get final approval from the lady in Human Resources so I can move from the +60 pay column to the +90 pay column.
I bought a fancy new MacBook Pro, which I am on right now. I love it, but I'm finding a little bit intimidating as I've been using PCs for years. So far, I love it, but I haven't had a lot of opportunity to use it other than typing things up for graduate classes, and frankly Microsoft Word is Microsoft word for the most part no matter what type of machine you happen to be using.
I want to start doing the Manic Mondays again, and I'm hoping to do so this Monday. The following Monday might be a challenge because we'll be on vacation. I'll see what I can do.
Alexander is turning 2 in less than 2 weeks. Can you frickin' believe it? I certainly cannot. He is giving me issues about taking a nap these days. He won't stay in his bed, he climbs out of the pack and play. I can rock him until he's drowsy and then put him down, or drive him around in the car. If I wait too long to put him down, he gets wound up and totally nutso, which is funny until he starts putting his feet in my shirt whenever I pick him up and then he's stuck. He thinks it's hilarious, I find it frustrating. I think he gets it from Chris, who gets really dumb and silly when he is lacking sleep.

Well, there you go. My drive-by update!

Manic Monday

2010-06-14T21:05:00.003-04:00

Here we are in another Manic Monday!

Rise and shine!

Looking under rocks.

Checkin' out the grass.

Running really, really fast!

Raspberries soon!

Pushing the little tykes car.

Pansy!

Thank you Sarah, for hosting another Manic Monday. If you'd like to see what Manic Mondays are all about, and perhaps even join, please visit Sarah's blog!

Mom Talk #4

2010-06-02T21:11:00.003-04:00

This week's Mom talk is about our favorite picture of our little ones. This is my current favorite, maybe because it's getting me geared up for summer vacation! If you were to ask me tomorrow, I might have a different fav...

Thanks to Lacey for startin' this up!

Manic Monday

2010-05-31T21:14:00.001-04:00

Here we are for another fun-filled Manic Monday, brought to us by lovely Sarah

Alexander's been having some tummy troubles, and barely any appetite...but he seems to be into eating bread. I figure it's got 7g of protein, and it's whole wheat- it's better than nothing!

Working out the kitchenaid mixer.

Made s'mores cupcakes.

Finished the socks I was knitting.

BBQ at the pool...but for Alexander, it was all about the pool.

Manic Monday

2010-05-31T21:14:00.000-04:00

Here we are for another fun-filled Manic Monday, brought to us by lovely Sarah

Alexander's been having some tummy troubles, and barely any appetite...but he seems to be into eating bread. I figure it's got 7g of protein, and it's whole wheat- it's better than nothing!

Working out the kitchenaid mixer.

Made s'mores cupcakes.

Finished the socks I was knitting.

BBQ at the pool...but for Alexander, it was all about the pool.

A Very Late Manic Monday

2010-05-25T21:32:00.000-04:00

In a lot of ways, my Monday was actually manic...including my camera bettery dying in the late afternoon. So, I'm posting late.

Work, work work.

I bought myself a prize....a discounted Vera Bradley wallet.

Alexander and I checking out the new duck enclosure at Muscoot Farm.

Oooh...yellow and black ducklings!

Iced Berryblossom tea...yum!

The Pediatrician Poop

2010-05-19T14:14:00.009-04:00

Lacey asked 2 questions of blogging mom's this week:

How many pediatricians have you been through?
Do you like your current pediatrician? Why or why not?

Dr. A is my first pediatrician. I interviewed him while I was pregnant with Alexander. Firstly, I decided to interview him because he was the pediatrician to all my younger brothers when he was first starting his career...he took over MY pediatrician's practice when she retired. Dr. P, my pedi, told my mother he was odd but was an incredible diagnostician. I thought I'd give him a shot...he always took good care of my brothers, odd or not.

I made an appointment to see him. He is odd. He's not funny looking, or mean, he's just geeky and a little socially awkward. What's endearing about him is that he really tries to not be odd, which makes him odder still, but I digress. I asked him standard questions about what specialties he had with his licensing, and general baby questions. He even gave me a run down of how Alexander would be cared for in the hospital by the neonatal specialist, and when to make my first appointment with him and all that.

What really got me about Dr. A is that I came out of the blue asking him questions about bi-lateral renal dilation. This is a condition in which the baby, in utero, has enlarged kidney pelvises. The ultra sound tech had freaked me out; she couldn't explain what it was. My ob was fairly concerned about it, but couldn't really tell me what it would mean if he still had it at birth. The internet was no help at all and just scared me tons. Dr. A basically told me that 1)Most babies who have it in utero grow out of it before birth, 2)If the baby was born with the dilation, 93% of them grow out of it before they are 2, and 3) If the baby never grew out of it, it would mean whenever the baby was sick with a high fever and no other symptoms they would test for a urinary tract infection as all it means is that it would have a slightly higher risk of getting UTIs. All that stress thinking that my child was going to be born with some horrible issue went out the window. Dr. A not only knew his stuff, but he could talk about something like bi-lateral renal dilation off the cuff was amazing.

And as it turns out, my ob's son's are his patients. The nurse at my school uses him for her daughters.

And the big bonus? He never double books. He has a tiny practice, with walk-in morning hours, and will stay no matter how late in the afternoon to take care of a sick child. I've called him on the weekends and he gets back to me post-haste. He is amazing.

New Look

2010-05-18T20:03:00.005-04:00

Hey, look 2 posts in as many days! Yay for me!

Let me know what you think of the new look I've got going on here. I decided that I needed a new look and a new name. I didn't want to start a whole new blog because a lot of my history is on here, but things have changed. I haven't done a triathlon in more than 3 years, and all my priorities have shifted since then.

Today is a chilly, rainy day in New York and I found that I had 3 over-ripe bananas in the freezer- that can only mean one thing! Pecan Banana Bread. The recipe is not mine, it's Fanny Farmer's, and due to copyright infringement, I can only say this...I don't use the walnuts her recipe calls for, I use pecans.

Alexander got to wear his new apron while helping me smash the bananas.

Pecan banana bread for Chris.

Pecan-free banana muffins for Alexander. I made a total of 6. Half of one is simmering in Alexander's belly, and the other three are resting comfortably in my freezer.

Obviously Alexander approves.

Manic Monday- maybe not so manic...

2010-05-17T20:43:00.005-04:00

Not the most interesting of days, for sure, but it was a good day.

Alexander woke up at 6:45 or so and was in a great mood.

Work was under-whelming, but productive.

Yes, Alexander fell asleep on a pile of shoes. 9 pairs, if you need to know the details. If you want a closer look, here ya go:

Yes, I removed all the shoes after I took the picture.

And as always, thank you to Sarah for the Manic Monday inspiration!

Manic Monday!

2010-05-10T21:40:00.004-04:00

Scholastic Book Fair Week!

Our Favorite Book door decorating contest.

Knitting socks for Alexander while I man the check out counter.

Alexander explores his new "big boy bed"

Knocked out in the "big boy bed"

Homework...blah.

I would like to thank Sarah for making Manic Mondays possible. She is completely awesome.

Also, please click on the email option on my comments page if you ask me a question, so I can answer you and feel like you saw it. Thanks in advance!

2010-05-03T20:40:00.003-04:00

Wakin' up!

Plants procured at the conference I attended today.
All the proceeds go to the greenhouse program at this particular
school for the emotionally disturbed.

The plant I took with me after my afternoon session entitled

"Horticulture Therapy" I learned how to make a temporary,

biodegradable planter out of newspaper...well that and the

benefits of gardening for autistic and other at-risk youth.

The men fixin' the closet.

Tuckered out.

And a big thank you to Sarah who makes Manic Mondays possible!

Happy May!

2010-05-01T20:57:00.004-04:00

I didn't have time to do Manic Monday this past week as I was too busy to even think straight. I will, however, share some random pictures with ya'll for funsies.

Manic Monday

2010-04-19T21:01:00.003-04:00

And a big thank you to Sarah!

Just Another Manic Monday

2010-04-12T21:15:00.003-04:00

Manic Monday!

2010-04-05T19:48:00.003-04:00

Manic Monday Failure and other stuff

2010-03-31T12:42:00.002-04:00

I fully intended to start doing the Manic Monday photag posting starting with this last Monday because I'm on vacation, and there was a lot to be done: I had a doc appointment, went to the tearoom with my mom and my brother. It would have been awesome, but I forgot to take pictures. I had my good camera with me and everything. Bah. Maybe I can get it done this Monday. I'm at work, so it's not going to be terribly exciting...but there is always the afterschool hours, right?

Alexander is getting bigger and bigger. I'm sad to say that he's definitely a toddler now, complete with "no more!" and "go!" Very fun to play with, but where is my little baby? Ah, life, it's a kick in the pants.

March, already?

2010-03-01T12:21:00.002-05:00

Thanks to those of you who came by and read...and double thanks to those who commented. That last post was a smaller pity party, but it was a bit of a pity party all the same. Thanks for bearing with me.

As many of us did, we got a huge snow at the end of last week. The snow was too tall for Alexander to make fresh footprints in, which is his new favorite thing to do, but he did discover that puddles are a great time.

On an exercise note, I think now that the weather is getting warmer (ha, right!) I have to dig out some things to go running in. That'll be a huge help in reaching my current goal: Losing 5 pounds before my annual check up with the obgyn. I still won't be at my pre-pregnancy weight, but at least I'll be 5 pounds closer than I am now. My appointment is at the end of this month, so I've got time and I am feeling more motivated than I have in a long time.

Crickets

2010-02-24T10:58:00.002-05:00

Just a few randowm things to share today:

I'm guess that no one really comes around anymore...and that's okay. My last post was a sad sack pity party, but I needed to get it out.

I've decided that for the next 6 months or so, I am going to work diligently on getting 22 more graduate credits so my pay will get bumped up to the highest step on our pay scale. There are rumors of the credit related steps being removed from our contract during our next contractual negotiations which begin in 18 months. I'm taking a mixture of online classes and double weekend classes so that I can get it all done quickly.

I haven't actively tried to lose weight in quite some time, but now that spring is right around the corner (yeah, right, it's snowing here as I type this) and Alexander is all about being outside and walking around and around the perimeter of the house in his special skull and crossbones boots, I think it's time to approach the subject again and perhaps getting out some of my running gear? Shocking, I know!

Sad

2010-02-17T16:03:00.000-05:00

Sept 1, 1999- January 25, 2010

Sorry I haven't been here lately. We had a devestating event here in the Amazon home. Poor, sweet Reuben passed on January 25th. He had a huge mass in his abdomen, and our options were surgery, let it go, or put him down. The surgery would have cost upwards of 5K and recovery would have been long and painful and it only would have extended his life for about 6 months. Letting it go would have meant watching him every second of the day for the mass to rupture resulting in massive internal bleeding and he would die a painful death. We decided that it would be most human to let him go while he was still feeling pretty good. We miss our boy.

No Resolutions Here

2010-01-11T20:02:00.000-05:00

Sorry, folks. I didn't mean for so much time to go by without posting, but sometimes life gets in the way. Eh, it happens.

I decided that this year there would be no resolutions with the new year. Instead, I decided to make habits. I'm figuring if i can start and maintain a new habit every 2 or 3 weeks my health will improve and I'll probably loose weight without tryting really hard. Right now, I'm working on drinking a lot of water. Pretty easy to do at work. Not so easy on the weekends, but I'm really working on it, and it's getting easier.

My next habit will be to plan out dinners for the week; healthy dinners, that it. This habit will help me to be sure to get in more veggies at dinner, and it will help me budget food money better and will help to use leftovers more effectively. Roast chicken yesterday? Okay, faux chicken pot pie today.

On another note, things at work are getting weird. The weirdo that I had such issues with a few years ago is pregnant again. I'm very happy for her. She and I had to have a meeting recently and we were talking about our sons. (She has twin boys about a month older than Xander). The baby she is carrying is a girl, so we were talking about baby names. I told her that if Chris and I were blessed with a girl the next time around we'd have trouble naming her because I love really ethnic Irish names and he doesn't. To this, she replied, " I really don't think you're ever going to have a baby girl." Wah? Who says that kind of thing? Especially to someone you're not friends with? I dunno. She's just a tad strange.

And just for fun, a picture of the baby for no reason.

Monkey

2009-12-17T20:08:00.000-05:00

Uh, yeah, so Alexander can now climb almost anything. I say "almost" because he hasn't tried to climb out of his crib yet (he likes it in there, believe it or not) and he really hasn't put a lot of effort into seriously trying to climb over the baby gates. It's only time...

He's also starting to throw mini-tantrums. I feel so bad for him, but seriously, I cannot condone climbing the swivel chair that's in front of the computer. It's just not safe and he's far too young to understand that. Oh well.

Too big for his britches

2009-12-06T20:32:00.000-05:00

Alexander has gotten so big in such a short period of time. It's unbelieveable. He is now on the cusp of being a little boy. It's amazing.

It snowed here yestereday, so I took him out for a little bit and he really loved it. He usually wants to touch all the trees, bushes, flowers, and cars when we're outside...except in the snow, all he wanted to do was catch the snowflakes. Very cool. Plus, he loves his new skull and crossbones boots that my mother bought him.

He is also desperately trying to figure out how to undress himself. This is how I found him recently after an afternoon nap. I guess he was trying to devise a way to get the shirt off and gave up and went to sleep. Note the unhappy face. He also has figure out how to get around the child safety thing on our entertainment cabinet. Unbelieveable. and this isn't all, folks. He's discoverd that he can pull himself up onto our dining room chairs and has figured out how to turn aroud and sit on it like a big kid.

He has also learned the joys of drawing. God bless the Crayola people and their ingenious marketing ways. I love the first crayons that I got him. Granted it says 18+ months on the package, but he's 16 months and I don't leave him unattended with the crayons. I think my mom probably had me using regular jumbo crayons at 16 months, and I turned out fine. No wax issues what-so-ever.

Life has been just a litte crazy...

2009-11-07T19:49:00.000-05:00

Well, my title might be a tad mis leading...not so much crazy as just busy, busy, busy now that Alexander is hell bent on running. He is trying to be as active as possible, which is fine by me because he sleeps like a champ. Hardly a peep out of him once I put him in his crib (after milk, brushing teeth, at least 2 books, and some rocking and singing) and show him who's waiting for him (one of the puppy brothers, a stuffed bear, and a blankie). In fact, he's in there now listening to his fisherprice musicbox/aquarium thing.

If you look at the water in the bath shot, you can see it's moving quite a bit. He's active in the tub, too, trying to splash and kick as much as he can. It's pretty dang entertaining.

As for me, things are a-okay. Even though we have tons of leftover Halloween candy, and I've been helping myself to some everyday, I'm still slowly, ever so slowly, losing weight. And that's fine. Since I stopped WW, I've actually been thinking less about food, and I think as a result, less goes into my mouth. I'm eating things that I would "indulge" in when I was on plan, and I would go overboard, but now I just have a little..I suppose because it's really not "bad" anymore. It's just food. Eh, who knows. I'm just going to try to be aware, in a general kind of way, of what I'm eating and how often. We'll see where is leads me.

And while I'm here, maybe someone could tell me where the spellcheck button went? It's making me just a little bit insane.

What?

2009-10-21T22:23:00.001-04:00

Okay, what happened to the blogger I was familiar with? I feel like I using a spell-check-free doppelganger. Weird.

Overdue update here

2009-10-21T22:20:00.002-04:00

Things around here have been a tad hectic. Alexander had a terrible couple of weeks. First he had a virus that gave him 5 days of horrible diarrhea, followed by about 3 days of being well, only to get another stomach virus that was all about barfing. This one only lasted 3 days, but he cut his last front tooth and 4 molars during those 3 days. It was heinus. Mark my words. Heinus. He's fine now, thank God.

Aside from the teeth, Alexander has been learning to do some really cool things. He can stack 3 and 4 blocks. He can say "Touch", "touch that", "again", "dog", "cat", "uh-oh", "this", "that", "dada". He can also sign for "more" and "please" Of course, he doesn't say "moma". Boo! It'll come in time.

Other than that, we are rocking and rolling around here. I'm trying to get ahead on bills, like paying off my car a little early, and clearing up the house renovation stuff on my credit card (at 1.9% interest). I think that I'm going to have to cut 2 things out of my life that I haven't been committed to: Curves and Weight Watchers. I haven't had the time to go to Curves since the summer. That's $49 bucks a month. As for WW, I haven't been working the program, I haven't been attending meetings. My head just isn't in it. Strangely, I've been losing a bit of weight on my own, so I think I'm going to quit that at least for a little while. That's $39.95 a month. So, that's 88.95 I could be putting towards the principal on my car.

October 1st Update

2009-10-01T12:01:00.004-04:00

Ah, back to the blog. It's so comfy and nice here. I'm on break at work, so I'm allowed to be doing this, but I don't have much time so I'm going bullet style:

I decided not to be upset by the "when are you due" question. I review what I was wearing and to be honest I was wearing a frumpy sweater that is starting to lose it's shape around the middle. I did wear it while I was pregnant with Alexander, so the stomach is a tad stretched out.
Alexander, although is fine now, had a stomach virus for a week. That's lots of diarrhea, folks. The poor little guy. We were in and out of the doctor's office. He's as good as new now.
Alexander has a newish game he likes to play. We call it doggie diving. Chris and I discourage it. I do have it on video and will have to post it later on when I have more time and I have my at home computer to post it with. It's basically played by Alexander walking (waddling?) up to a relaxed Reuben, crawls up one side of Reuben's back and rolls down the other. It's pretty funny, and Reuben doesn't seem to mind, but it's not fair tot he dog to let the little guy do it, so we're trying to get Alexander to use pillows and large stuffed animals instead.
I've been knitting and knitting and knitting. I've become addicted to knitting socks. I love it! And then I have socks to wear when I'm done. Greatest hobby ever...except for my old sock monkey obsession...which reminds me, I have to set up my sewing machine...

That's it for now! I'm off to read blogs while I still have a little lunch time left.

Yeah, so....

2009-09-30T14:11:00.001-04:00

Um, so I got my first 5 pound star at WW this weekend, and then someone at work asked me when I was due. What a let down.

Eh, I'm fine. I'll be back soon!

New school, new faces

2009-09-16T16:14:00.003-04:00

I'm digging being back at my old campus. It's a little bit closer to home. It's a little bit closer to Alexander's sitter's house. I have other reading people as neighbors, which is nice. My office is in the school library, which is ever so conveinient.

The downside of being on the main campus is that there is the lunchroom. It's catered by the student chefs, and right now the food is okay, but in another month when they learn how to make chicken cordon bleu and it's delicious and it's super cheap it's hard to stick to a diet. I think I will have to look over the menu and choose one lunch a week to buy in there because otherwise I am dead.

In other news, look what I did to poor Alexander's hair. (The pic is from my phone, so excuse the poor quality)

The kid looks shocked, right? Stunned, even. When I was doing the deed, he started to wriggle and I panicked and made the cut above the fingers holding the hair instead of below. I don't think I will be making that mistake again. Yikes!

Update on Me!

2009-09-06T20:46:00.004-04:00

I know I put in the title that this is an update about me, but I couldn't resist putting a picture of Alexander walking. You see, I am having a bit of a problem separating my identity from my son's. I'm not sure if this is a new mom thing, because he's been so dependant on me until recently, or if I'm just in need of mental help, but I digress.

Work has started up once again, and as some of you remember, I had to pack up my office of 3 years and move to another campus. I spent the 2 conference days unpacking whenever I had a free moment. I'm not quite done yet, as I need a working filing cabinet. I was left with one that is in terrible condition. When you open the drawers, you hear tinkling metal, as if there are small metal mice scampering into little metal nests in the back of the cabinet. I've put in a request, and we'll see if it gets met. Otherwise, my files are staying inside the boxes I packed them in.

This school year also promises to be an interesting one. The place I work for had major budget cuts, as did our component districts, resulting in everyone getting shaken up and switching programs. We have teachers who have worked with emotionally disturbed kids for 8 years who will now be working with the multiply handicapped kids or autistic kids. Granted, they are trained and certified to work with those populations, it's just a major mental adjustment. All these changes are indirectly affecting me. I'm still teaching and consulting in the field of reading, but the people I thought I would be working with are in different departments. So even the "worst case scenario" I had in my head is out the window. The person I get to work with is more heinous than my worst case fears. I'm a professional, I'll get over it. Plus, I get to work on a special project with a woman who hates me more than any other person in the world, including her pervy brother-in-law. I'm that special. Like, I said, it's going to be an interesting year...on the upside, I am employed full time, in a job that doesn't make me want to harf on most days. And historically, most days are good days.

I also have to toot my horn a little bit and let ya'll know that I hit by first 5 pound star. Yeah, it only took a year...my theory is that because I was constantly hungry from nursing and pumping; I ate too much. Now that I'm not doing those things, I'm not so hungry and I'm losing weight slowly. So, if you want to get technical, I lost 5 pounds last month. Go me!

A day of food in pictures

2009-08-29T14:24:00.003-04:00

I have been slacking in the Amy's Weightloss Challenge for about 3 weeks, so I decided that I had to participate this week no matter what. Well, Friday rolled around and I still hadn't posted my food for a day. Friday *had* to be the day, despite the fact that it wasn't going to be a great day for diety kinds of food...but hey, at least I got 'er done.

Breakfast: 1 cup of Banana Nut Cheerios

Lunch: Silver Tips Tea room- My mom, Alexander and I had Afternoon Tea for 2: 2 sandwiches (Mediterranean and Balzac) and 2 scones with creme fresche and jam.
And we split samosas. Yum!

Can't forget the iced chai tea.

Alexander looks at the menu, but always orders the same thing...pieces of my sandwich and scone.

Snack: Banana

Friday night is take out night in my house...we don't usually get Greek, but Chris really wanted it, so I opted for mushroom barley soup and stuffed grape leaves. So yummy!

Alexander is One!

2009-08-24T21:10:00.003-04:00

I'm sorry that it has taken me so long to get another post out here in blogland. I was incredibly busy with Alexander's birthday party and then the aftermath of gift opening and thank you cards. It takes time. Plus, with the 12 month mark comes new fun things, like really taking an interest in walking and eating things you find on the ground. Things that an adult would never notice in a million years.

Here is my big boy. I cannot believe that it's been a year since he was born. Amazing how time flies!

I'll be back to post about other things like work coming up, and other amazing Alexander stunts. See you then!

Almost a Year

2009-08-01T16:54:00.002-04:00

Can you believe that Alexander will be a year old on Tuesday? I sure as hell can't. Holy smoke!
He's huge! And funny! And beautiful!

Reuben even has a new appreciation for Alexander, as Alexander now feeds Reuben from his highchair whenever possible (usually behind our backs). Reuben is so gentle and sweet when removing tiny bits of food from Alexander's hand, which makes him giggle in the cutest way.

As for me, I'm fine. We're not nursing at all any more (I'm not sure if I mentioned that in an earlier post) which makes me a little sad, but he's a big guy now and will be starting on cow's milk in a few days. I'm doing okay on Amy's challenge...I'm losing weight, albeit slowly, but that's fine.

Week Five challenge!

2009-08-01T16:38:00.003-04:00

Hey all-

I'm still hanging in there with Amy's 15 week challenge. It's fin to have a little something to focus on for myself during those few odd fleeting moments I have to myself during the day.

Anywho...this week's main challenge was to create a dish using a whole grain. I immediately thought "Quinoa!" which is a grain that goes all the way back to the Incas. How cool is that? I made Quinoa, Black Bean, and Mango salad.

1 cup quinoa, 2 cups water- simmer until all the water is gone (or follow the direction on your quinoa package!)

1 can black beans, drained

2 mango, diced

3 chopped green onions (or 1/4th-1/2 red onion)

1 diced pepper (color of your choice)

juice of 1 lime

salt to taste.

This dish is incredibly easy to make, after the quinoa is done you just combine all the ingredients. I love this dish, it's easy, it's loved by my vegetarian and meat eating friends alike, and it's fairly balanced as quinoa has a lot of protein!

Jeez Louise!

2009-07-25T17:14:00.002-04:00

I cannot believe that so much time has passed since my last post. Unbelievable. I'm sure if I think about it, I probably have a lot to say, but I'm only here for a brief visit. I'm here to post my long and short term goals for weight loss a la Amy.

Long Term Goals

For long term goals, I would like to be down to about 160 before next summer. Ultimately, I would like to weigh about 140, but 160 before I start trying for baby number 2 would be lovely. I would also, after baby number 2, to get myself involved in triathlon training and racing once again. I used to have a great time racing, even though I was always in the back of the pack.

Long Term Goal Rewards

Always with long term weight loss goals comes a new, fabulous wardrobe. I think a triathlon bike would be a fabulous reward as well.

Short Term Goals

Short term goals, I find, are the hardest to set. I tend to put time lines on mine and then if I don't achieve it, I get pissy. Eh, I'm honest, right? I think I would like to think of my weight loss in chunks of 10. Fairly manageable. And being a Weight Watchers girl, I would very much like to motivate myself somehow into tracking again.

Short Term Rewards

I have put a moratorium on buying any more sock yarn. I have a ton, and I'm working diligently on a couple of project and I have spend too much on sock yarn this summer, and in no way will I be able to use it all up by Christmas...however, I think I will reward myself with a trip to a local yarn star each time I lose 10 pounds. I will, of course, set a budget which I will try very hard to stick to. As for tracking, perhaps for 2 week period that I track a minimum of 5 days I treat myself to a pedicure. Sounds good to me!

Amy's Outdoor Strength Challenge

2009-07-11T11:41:00.002-04:00

As part of Amy's 15 week Challenge, we could earn extra points by taking our strength routines outside. Being that I am home alone all day with the baby and the dog with very little "me" time, I had to think of some way to keep the baby entertained, the dog happy, and not drive myself crazy. I came up with the following (pictures, I hope, to come soon):

Aquatic Baby Strength Training! A series of strength training moves in the pool using my 25 pound son as a weight. This workout included: baby squats, baby lunges, baby over the head presses, and baby jumping jacks. It was a workout that left me drained, but best of all....Alexander loved.

2009-07-06T20:27:00.003-04:00

As per usual, this will be a very random, rambling post. But hey, it's my blog and that's just the way my blogging brain works...

I have found something new to love. And do I love it. Let me present you with:

Yes, Nestle now makes a mini drumstick. Being the ice cream idiot that I am, I am so glad that I found and ice cream product that is pre-portioned and not huge. Each lil' cone has 140 calories and 7 grams of fat. Granted, I could find something that is frozen yogurt or reduced fat ice cream, but they just aren't the same.

Alexander has become attached to a toy these days. Although he is too young to sleep over night with his little toy, he does like to take it to bed with him and I later remove it once he's asleep. Let me introduce you to Blue Puppy:

There are actually 3 different Blue Puppies. Once I discovered that he preferred this little blue stuffed animal I bought 2 more so that I could wash one and still have another available...and if one gets lost, there are 2 more. Only 2 are in rotation right now. He really does love his Blue Puppy.

I think that's all for now, but I'm hoping to blog again very soon. It shouldn't be so hard because I'm on summer vacation! Woo-hoo!

Challenge Week One- Recipe Make-Over

2009-07-03T21:38:00.002-04:00

There is nothing I like better than spicy food. I love it, love it, love it! Amy challenged us to revamp a recipe to make it healthier and of course I want to do something yummy and spicy...chili! I've taken out a lot of fat by using ground turkey instead of beef, added extra vitamins and fiber by adding carrot. And I've added extra dimension to the flavor of the chili by adding cocoa powder.

Turkey Chili

1 Tbsp EV Olive Oil
1 lb lean ground turkey
1 clove garlic- minced (I use 2 or 3 because I looooove garlic)
1 medium red onion
1 can of red kidney beans
1 can of corn
1 medium to large carrot- shredded
1 jar salsa
1Tbsp chili powder
1Tbsp Cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper powder
1 Tbsp cocoa powder

In a large non-stick skillet heat up the extra virgin olive oil using medium heat. Once heated, add garlic and onion to the pan. Once the onion starts to become translucent, add the turkey. Let the turkey brown slowly, as it browns sprinkle the chili , cumin, and cayenne powders over it. Once the turkey is cooked through add the cans of corn and kidney beans, liquid and all. Add the shredded carrot. Let the pan simmer for about 5-10 minutes until it starts to thicken. Add the jar of salsa. Allow the pan to simmer for another 5-10 minutes. Stir in the cocoa powder. Allow to simmer until it has thickened to your liking. Serve over brown rice or whole wheat pasta. For an extra kick sprinkle with fresh cilantro and 2% shredded cheese.

I will be making this tomorrow and I cannot wait!

Vacation!

2009-06-26T14:03:00.002-04:00

15 packed boxes later, I am totally on vacation. I had to pack my office this last week so the O&M crew can move my belongings into my new office for September. I cannot believe that I have 15 boxes worth of stuff. Well, I am a literacy specialist, so many of those boxes do contain books. I know I have 2 boxes dedicated to the Wilson Program...but that is another story for another day; perhaps one in which I am feeling particularly geeky.

Today is my first day of vacation. I had lunch with Darth Bruce, my BFF, at the Silver Tips Tea Room which is still my favorite place to go. They even have a blog now. Awesome! The owner has not only made the best tea room in my part of NY, but it's 100% green powered. And better yet, they are expanding to the shop next door because they are doing so well and that says a lot in today's economy.

I'm figuring that I'm going to lounge about as much as possible today and tomorrow. Well, as much as Alexander lets me and then Sunday I have to get to work on finally losing the baby weight. Alexander is down to 2-3 nursings a day and he'll be a year in August and will probably be weaned by then, so there will be no more excises. Chris and I agreed that we both need to start running again. It'll be good for us, good for Reu who will probably do a couple of laps around the neighborhood with me as I warm up, and good for Alexander to grow up in a house where exercise is a priority.

I also joined a challenge at Amy's Quest for Skinny. It has come at the perfect time for me.

Okay, now is the time for gratuitous Alexander pics....Chris doesn't want him to be a drummer or anything...

And three weeks later....

2009-06-07T14:06:00.002-04:00

Ian is now out in San Diego doing his Coast Guard thing. He's quite happy. He has a little seniority over the other guys he's bunking with because of his college degree. He works from 7am until 1pm, with guard duty on some nights. And did I mention he is in San Diego? Where is it gorgeous most of the time? We do miss him quite a bit, though.

Alexander is now 10 months old. We've been putting him to bed awake most nights. Chris and I are unhappy that we didn't start doing that when he was 6 months old, but better late than when he can call us by name. He's gotten pretty good at going to sleep. He'll cry or fuss for a couple of minutes, but then goes right to sleep. When I went in to check on him last night, this is what I found:

Yeah, I think he was a little tired. Don't worry, I moved him so that he was more comfy. Poor little guy.

On the fat front, I am just that. Fat with a capital F. I have to get my eating under control. I'm at the point where I'm only nursing 2-3 times a day, so I don't need as many calories as I did, but I'm so used to having them that I want them. And I crave carbs All. The. Time. Like never before. Plus, things are stressful at work. State testing is coming up for our high school kids. For those of you who didn't grow up in NY or California (for a period of time) and have never experience a Regents exam, particularly the English Regents, you should check it out here. It's a really hard test...especially day two, part B. Yes, it's a 2 day exam. Lucky NYS 11th graders. Plus, I'm trying to pack my cluttered office so it can get moved over the summer. When I say cluttered, I mean it. I have a frightening amount of materials. Sigh.

Hope all of you are fairing well so far this June.

Jeezie Creezie What a Day!

2009-05-13T20:53:00.002-04:00

I have had a crazy 24 hours. It all began this morning with Alexander being awake at 5:45 when I went into his room to rock and nurse him. Usually I wake him a little, nurse and rock him and put him back into his crib where he will sleep until Chris wakes him up around 8:20 to get him dressed for the day.

So Alexander is already awake, I have him in the rocker and he's nursing and I'm rocking and he's not dozing off. Reuben is running in and out of the room being supremely annoying, especially since Alexander really wants to watch the dog. Reuben finally leaves for a few minutes, and I start to relax. That's when Alexander bit me. On my right nipple. Ugh! I suppose there is a first time for everything.

Reuben comes running back into the room and he's frantic. Two feet away from the rocking chair he squats as if to pee on the baby's rug. I stand up, put Alexander back in his crib- he starts crying, I'm trying to explain to him what's going on, Chris gets up to see what the commotion is all about. I take Reuben outside and he urinates for a full 65 seconds. That's a lot of tinkle. I don't think I've ever EVER seen a dog pee so much before in my life. Well, maybe a great dane, but not a weim-sized dog.

Back in the house, Chris is patting Alexander's behind. I pick Alexander back up to nurse him, and he bites me again. Finally it's 6:30 in the morning and if I don't start to get dressed I'm going to be late to work. I give Alexander some stacking cups that he loves to run across the bars of his crib like a hardened criminal. He fusses, but I have to get dressed. He's still awake when I leave.

As I'm driving I realize I'm exhausted. Great. Being exhausted at my job is like having an open wound in shark infested water. My students smell any kind of weakness. I start sharing with people at work that I am being moved to the other campus for next year, and I get a lot of "whys", which I can't answer because I don't actually know why. I know the sugary coating I got to make me feel good about the move, but I really don't know the real reason. Whatever it is, I'm just glad to have a job that I enjoy and being at the other campus won't change that.

My reading appointments go well enough, but A, G, and P smell my fatigue and decide to fight me every step of the way. Students who aren't mine also smell the fatigue and try unsuccessfully to wreak havoc in my classroom and office. Not happening.

Finally, the students go home. I walk out to my car, put my work bag in and take my breast pump out. I walk back to my office, like I do everyday and when I get to my office door the English teacher is there. She's 7 months pregnant and needs her afternoon snack. She grabs her snack, and tells me she's locking my door so I don't have to get up. I proceed to set up and I start to pump. Five minutes in, the dean walks into my room to tell me that if I get to the meeting early, we can start early and leave early. I tell him I'll be there in a few minutes. Not one minute later the male social worker walks in to tell me something. Thank God my office is set up so that my back is to the door. Neither knew what was going on, but it was a tad unsettling.

So, there is my day. Probably the most interesting one I've had in quite a while. I'm hoping for a long series of bland until the school year!

Ian Graduates!

2009-05-07T20:42:00.002-04:00

My baby brother, Ian, graduated from Coast Guard basic training on May 1st!

Ian shaking the hand of his commanding officer.

Ian coming out of Healy Hall with all of his gear, ready to come home for a short leave.

All my little brothers, and Alexander. My brother Brendan is holding Alexander, my brother Ian, obviously, is in the middle, and the suited fellow on the end is my brother Patrick. A good looking crew...but I'm biased.

I've gotta get better at this...

2009-04-27T20:40:00.005-04:00

I have become so awful about blogging, and I feel terrible about it, especially since when my favorite blogs don't post for a while I get a little pissy. Yeah, maybe I shouldn't be tossing stones around in this here glass house.

House update: My dishwasher is now hooked up. No more dishpan hands for me, no sirree! Now if I could us get my washer and drier hooked up we'd be in business.

Work Update: We thought we'd be looking at tons of cutbacks, but our districts keep sending us kids and it seems that they will be with us next year, so our budget gap is slowly closing. There will be layoffs, but our supervisor believes that he will be able to hire everyone back before the summer is over. I have seniority over 4 people, so I'm fairly sure that I will not be affected. The other major work related change is that they are taking the 4 high school programs (emotionally disturbed, psych fragile, aspergers, low IQ) and creating one large program. Over the past few years the lines of the programs have blurred so they decided to merge the programs. Should be interesting.

Alexander Update: Alexander is almost 9 months old and is awesome. His 2 bottom teeth are halfway in, and one of his top teeth is just about to break through. He can crawl, get into a sitting position on his own, and get up on his knees when he's in his crib. He is a fabulous little guy!

Hopefully I will be back soon with another post...I will try to be better!

Eeee Gads!

2009-03-23T17:25:00.003-04:00

I've really got to get better about
updating this blog. I thought that I hadn't written in a few weeks...but I realized it's been a couple of months! Holy frijoles!

Alexander is over twenty pounds and is in the 90th percentile for weight and the 70th for height. He's a big boy. He's now sleeping in his crib in his own room. I don't like it, but it's better for

him this way.

He's fascinated by drums. Whenever Chris uses his practice pads, Alexander will stop everything to watch. Or if Chris wants to watch an instructional drum DVD, Alexander wants to watch. Weird, right?

He also loves books, which I am so glad to report. He likes to lie in his playpen

and look at his cloth books, which is especially nice because then I can take the dog out to pee at the end of our driveway and not worry.

I'm doing well these days, but I'm having trouble even wrapping my head around WW. I'd like to blame all my carb and sugar cravings on nursing, but deep down I think it just might be an excuse.

There is no Alanna, only Zuul!

2009-01-31T08:52:00.003-05:00

I kid, but it's true that I haven't been feeling like myself lately. All I want to do is overload on sugary carbs. Yum and yuck all rolled into one. At least now that I am conscious of it, I can try to manage it. I've got to start tracking, you know, like I should be doing because I'm paying for Weight Watchers. At this rate, I'll never lose the baby fat and I don't even want to think about the fat from before Alexander came. Yowzers!

On the upside of things, I did quit my big money gym and I joined Curves and am now paying less than half what I used to. I also have been going 3 times a week during my lunch break. It's a tight squeeze, but I don't have to do it in the afternoons when I prefer to spend my time with this little guy:

He's covered in green beans and bananas in this picture...but he's cute anyway, so who cares?

I also bought myself a new camera. My old camera was working fine, but the time between pictures was excruciatingly long for using with a baby, so my mom and I went to one of those big box stores...specifically the one that is going out of business and took a look at cameras. A nice man showed me a really cool camera that was on sale, but as it turns out they were out of them. I found the same camera online at Amazon for less. So I bought it and an 8 gig memory stick. I take tons and tons of pictures now. I'm loving it.

In other news, poor Reuben's OCD and separation anxiety was getting worse. When we would leave him alone in his doggy safe area in our new house, he would rub his nose on the door until it bled. When we put up a nice doggy gate, he bit into it and spent the hour trying to (and finally succeeding) jump over it. This is a familiar space to him... we spend time as a family in this space. We tried more exercise and spending more time in the doggy safe area to no avail. His vet decided to change his meds. My poor sweet doggie is now on Prozac. Real, human Prozac. He's been on it for almost 2 weeks and we see subtle differences: He jumps readily into the car, when before we had to cajole him a little bit. His turn and scratch OC behavior on his dog bed has lessened. What's even better is that he's the same silly dog that we all know and love.

This is all I can think of for now. Perhaps I will be back later!

Just for fun!

2009-01-10T14:38:00.002-05:00

Trying to be smarter

2009-01-09T12:41:00.002-05:00

I am trying to be smarter these days about food and money. As I'm sure you all know, both are so hard to be smart about. I am taking good steps forward. Now that we're mostly unpacked, Chris and I have been cooking dinner at home, and bringing lunch most days. We even stopped buying cookies. Instead, if we want cookies we bake them ourselves, but not the whole batch. We freeze at least half the dough so we can't binge eat cookies. So food is getting better in that sense...and so is money as a result.

Money is a touchy subject for me. I feel as if things are out of control...they actually aren't, but with the move, the new house and Christmas gifts just purchased last credit card statement, things can seem overwhelming. I did quite my big fancy $102 a month gym (and that was with a discount) and joined Curves, which is much cheaper and I can go during my lunch...it's that close to work. I'm still doing Starbucks only once per work week...I will occasionally have some on the weekend if I'm meeting a friend for coffee or something, but that's still saving me cash.

I don't think I'm doing the resolution thing this year...I find that I never fulfill them and I find that depressing. I do want to set goals for myself. One goal for 2009 is to cut my non-mortgage debt down by a minimum of 20%. This included student loans, credit cards (with home construction stuff on it), personal loan and car loan. That is a lot of $$ and if I can make some of it disappear, I am going to do it!

Only a few minutes

2008-12-30T10:37:00.003-05:00

I have only a few minutes before Alexander might be waking up from his nap, but I thought I would check in.

I have a ton of things swirling through my mind and the biggest one is that I have to lose about 50 pounds. That is an incredibly daunting thought. I did rejoin WW and that's all well and good, but I actually have to *use* WW to my advantage. I have to work the program instead of waiting for it to work for me. Maybe I need to work out some kind of system of payment. A dollar for every .2 lost? That would be $5 a pound. A total of $250 once I've lost the 50 I'd like to lose...not enough for a whole new wardrobe, but enough for a couple of massages. I should also make a list of things I will do for myself as I lose...maybe when I lose my first 5 pounds, I'll treat myself to a nice pedicure....

I don't know, I'm at a loss. I want to lose this weight because I know that I will feel better about how I look in clothes (I know my other mental demons will be there, no worries) and I know that once Alexander is mobile that being more fit will make it easier on me.

Please, I need some ideas here, so if you can, please reply with some...

Couldn't leave out pics of Xander

2008-12-19T12:01:00.003-05:00

I couldn't leave blogger without posting some pics of Alexander...especially evil monkey wrestling.

Finally moved!

2008-12-19T11:47:00.003-05:00

Finally, finally, finally we are in the house! If you want to remember what it used to look like, here is my old post.

New living room!

New bedroom!

The best new kitchen ever!

Cloud ceiling detail!

I promise to post more pictures, but I wanted to get some posted so there wasn't a huge gap between posts..you know, like I usually do.

Can't Keep Up!

2008-12-11T08:17:00.003-05:00

Things are out of hand these days! We still are not completely moved into the house; which reminds me that I have to have a post with pictures of "after" and a link to " before". We're still sleeping at the apartment and I am living out of a 56 gallon plastic container. I have Alexanders clothes on the left hand side of the box and mine on the right. As a result, I have been going to work with clothes that are waaaaaaaaaaaay to small. I'm joking, of course, but I have been going to work looking a bit slovenly. Eh, the weather has been pretty bad, and we don't have a dress code here for staff.

Alexander has been doing well. We've been calling him "Xan the Man" or Xander Salamander for kicks. He seems to like his name and all of his nicknames, including "little Schmoo".

Although I have been incredibly lax about Weight Watchers, I am starting all over now that they have the new Momentum program. It looks promising...only time (and my spare tire) will tell.

Too many things at once!

2008-11-26T09:29:00.002-05:00

My head is spinning these days. Alexander is awesome, but is going through some kind of growth spurt and doesn't sleep as well as he usually does...but he still sleeps enough for me to remain sane. Alexander was christened last weekend, and we had a big shindig for him at the yacht club my parents belong to. We have 2 dinners to go to on Thanksgiving. And we are finally moving into the new house this weekend. Plus, I am totally and absolutely broke..mostly due to the party (which was worth every dime). I'm glad we're finally moving because there were a number of double expenses....insurance, rent/mortgage, etc. I will be living paycheck to paycheck until after Christmas, I think...oh well.

Okay...back to work!

Random update

2008-10-30T10:48:00.005-04:00

Things are going well...I have to update in bullets:

Alexander will be 3 months on Tuesday. I cannot believe how big he is getting and how animated he is. He is truly wonderful. He sleeps through the night most nights, doesn't cry when he wakes...he gurgles and coos to himself and wiggles a lot. No one could ask for a better baby.
I took up knitting again. My grandmother taught me about a million years ago, but all I could knit were scarves. So, I took at class on knitting baby sweaters. I'm about a third done with the process, and it's taking me forever because although I want to knit all the time, I'd rather be playing with Alexander.
I'm still trying to get WW under control. It's taking a toll on me, but I'm getting there.
We still haven't moved into the house AND I haven't been there in more than 6 months. I have barely a clue as to what the final product is going to look like. I've seen little bits and pieces, I've pick out colors and flooring, but I don't know how it's all working together. Don't worry...I will take a million pictures!

Shake it, don't break it, took your mama 9 months to make it.

2008-10-09T21:41:00.003-04:00

Jeez, I do love the subject-o-matique on Yahoo! What fun.

No pictures tonight...I have new ones on my camera, but I am too tired to upload them right now...sorry all you Alexander fans. He is doing really well, though. He laughing and smiling like a champ. He's gotten quite good at sleeping solidly most nights, sometimes for up to 7 and a half hours. He takes after his father in that respect...Chris can sleep anywhere at anytime. All he needs to do is stay quiet and motionless for about 5 minutes and he's out like a light.

Weight Watchers didn't go well for me this past week. I didn't even go to my Wednesday night meeting. We had a bit of a family crisis that involved driving back and forth from New York to Connecticut a number of times during this past week. It's all over now, and I am back at the helm, so to speak.

Oooh, and I signed up for a knitting class! It takes place this Sunday at a yarn/knitting store around the corner from Silver Tips tea room (still my favorite place). It's a class about knitting baby sweaters. How cool is that? After the class I am meeting my mom and my brother's girlfriend at the tea room for some yummy lunch. The potential for a fabulous day is incredible.

Everything is fine! I promise!

2008-09-30T17:22:00.003-04:00

Alexander is now 8 weeks old! The doctor measured him at 14 pounds and 25 inches long. This kid is a bruiser and he's only getting bigger!

He's been trying to get his thumb in his mouth with limited success. He gets it in there about once every 25 attempts. I think he'll figure it out. His biggest issue is he doesn't realize that in order to get the thumb in his mouth he has to not enclose it within the rest of his fingers.

Alexander is also smiling now, not just for gassy reasons. It's so much fun trying to get him to smile...sometimes he giggles, too and it's extra fun! I didn't think he cold get any cuter, but it happened.

In Alanna news, Weight Watchers is going okay. Week one went well, week two is not so great. I think I have lost weight, but I haven't been tracking. It's been a bad WW week...I had to go back to work, and my favorite Aunt has been in the hospital in another state and we've been going to visit her, so eating has not been the best, but I've been trying to make the best decisions available.

This is just a picture of Alexander wearing Reuben's ear like a hat. I couldn't help it, I had to do it!

we never once talked about a blow dryer

2008-09-16T12:06:00.005-04:00

I am resorting to using the Subject-o-Matique on yahoo to get blog titles. It works for me, so I'm going with it.

Alexander is now 6 weeks old. I can't believe that 6 weeks has flown by already! And strangely, it seems as if he's always been around. I don't know what I would do if he weren't.

Last night he went to bed at midnight, which is a little late for him, but he was a tad fussy and at this point in his life, I like to go with the flow. This morning I woke up at 6:30 and I freaked. I ran over to his bed and put my hand on his belly...and yes, he was breathing. He has never slept more than 5 hours straight before, and 6 and a half hours is quite a jump!

I had my 6 week post-partum check up yesterday and all is well. My doctor did advise me to stay home from work for another week because of the c-section, so instead of going back to school this Thursday, I go next Thursday. I'm glad that I have plenty of sick days to cover the extra time and still have some left over in case I get sick during the winter.

Tomorrow night is the big WW night. I've decided to go back to the Wednesday night meetings, even though they is a big gap between work and the meeting, but I figure I can pick up the little guy and go grocery shopping during that gap as there is an A&P down the road from the WW center.

an update in bullets

2008-09-10T14:58:00.007-04:00

Things here are going along nicely. Alexander is taking a nap and I'm not sure how much longer I've got, so I'm going to do the bulleted list thing. Here goes:

I'm starting to get itchy when it comes to joining Weight Watchers. I know that this itchiness/motivation will last 3 weeks and then I'll get complacent again. I know this, and I must plan for it. Perhaps I will do points, which I haven't done in years, just to keep myself honest.
My brothers have decided that Alexanders nickname should be officially "Boom Box"
I was told by a 6 year old that Alexander has "perfect rock and roll hair"
Breastfeeding has gotten easier. We're doing about 50% nursing and 50% formula. I nurse first at every feeding and then most of the time he gets formula after...especially at night to help him sleep longer.
Alexander sleeps a good four hours at a time. During our middle of the night feeding, he falls asleep while feeding, so I don't have an issues getting back to bed myself! Yay for me!
We are still not in the new house. My new washer and dryer have been delivered and installed. I can not wait to do my own laundry in my brand new LG machines!
I go back to work Thursday the 18th. Boo! Hiss! Waaaaaaah!!!!

A brief update

2008-09-04T11:42:00.004-04:00

I thought about what Kelly told me in her comment from my last post "Don't push yourself too hard with the weight loss. You did just bring forth a human being, after all..." I decided not to go back to WW just yet; to wait at leasat until I get the thumbs up from my doctor at my 6 week check-up. And even then might be too soon. I'm still not producing a lot of milk, so I've been trying to eat every 3 hours while I'm awake and drink tons and tons and tons of water and skim milk. Once I get my body doing what it needs to do for Alexander and I've got it under control, then I can work on what I need to do for me. I just feel blah when I look down and see my lovely stretch marks and the glorious roll of fat around my waist that is a nice awning to my c-section scar. Strangely, I don't actually feel all that bad about it. Thank God Chris is a super nice guy and has said nothing about any of it. He just smiles a lot and scratches my back in the middle of the night when I get back into bed after feeding the baby. So there is no pressure from him.

Oooh, I also joined Facebook recently. That's a ton of fun. I didn't realize how many people I haven't seen in a thousand years are on there! I have been in contact with old high school friends, old college buddies, my friend Amazon Hillary who now lives in Hawaii. Very cool!

I am still here!

2008-08-30T17:36:00.002-04:00

I am still kickin' it here at the apartment with the little man, the gray man, and the big man.

Of course, we have been reading to Alexander everyday even though he has not one clue what we are talking about at this point, but I figure it can't hurt. If you want a kid who enjoys reading, you gotta make it together time really early. And it's something for me to do rather than explaining each move I'm making all day long...as in "Mommy unsnapping Alexander's pajamas" or "Mommy is petting the big doggie" which I know is good for the little guy but makes me feel

like I have an IQ of 50.

I think it's almost time for me to go to weight watchers. I bought myself a real pair of jeans at Old Navy this week. Size 16, which I am really happy about. What I'm unhappy about is the nice apron of flab I have hanging down at the bottom of my belly. I understand that it'll take time for my skin to unstretch, and I wouldn't trade firm skin for my little cutie, but I think getting back to WW would be helpful. Perhaps that's a little trip Alexander and I will take this week....

Still stuck on the baby!

2008-08-23T19:32:00.003-04:00

Yeah, I am totally stuck on Alexander. It's hard not to talk about him, or post pictures of him. I'm sorry to say that ya'll will have to deal with it for now...sorry.

The little guy is doing well. He's got pretty good sleeping habits, which I'm thankful for although I probably just jinxed myself for tonight, but that's okay. Since the last time I've written, he's had a bath during which he didn't even flinch much less cry, had an ultrasound (a minor kidney thing that in the long run means nothing but they like to monitor it regardless- and by the way, he grew out of it, which is awesome!) which he slept through, he's been to the tea room twice and slept through it. He's awesome.

Reuben seems to be adjusting well. He's interested in Alexander, but not too interested. If Alexander cries at all, no matter how faint, Reuben comes running to assess the situation...and sometimes to lick Alexander's feet...as if that will help things. So far, so good with the baby/dog relationship.

Actually, when we have company over to see the baby, Reuben will sit about 3 feet from the new person holding Alexander and he will stare until he feels that things are A-okay and then he'll go lie on his dog bed...he'll still watch to make sure that the little one is not in danger. It's pretty cool.

And finally, the house is nearly done! We had the last of the contractors in on Friday. I don't know what still needs to be done, and I'm "not allowed" to go and see as Chris wants it to be a surprise since it's been so long since I've gone there. I will be sure to take a gazillion pictures once I do get in there and post them!

Where did that week go?

2008-08-16T19:07:00.005-04:00

Man, days are blending together recently! Could be the middle of the night feedings...I can't complain...so far I've had to wake the little guy up to eat in the middle of the night. Not a big deal. We're struggling with breastfeeding though, as the little guy is a "lazy eater" so he usually doesn't want to put the effort into breastfeeding. I'm seeing a Lactation Consultant tomorrow, and hopefully she can give me some tips.

Anyway, I think in my last post I promised some details about Alexander's delivery....

On August 3rd, my water broke at just before 2am, so I put in a phone call to the good doctor. Twenty minutes later contractions started, but no call from the doctor as of yet. I waited until 3am and called again. Still no call back. At about 4am my contractions were one minute long, five minutes apart for one hour so another phone call went in....apparently the phone operator had been paging the wrong person....he thought another doctor was on call. No wonder no one was calling me back. The right doctor did call and sent me to the hospital.

Chris and I got to the hospital around 5am. Shortly after our arrival, my mom showed up. Then a ton of people started trickling in. My father, Darth Bruce, my in-laws, a couple of my brothers (I can not remember what order they came in). They all came and went as they pleased from my labor room. It was fairly entertaining. Little did they know what they were in for....

At 8am, the doctor offered me a little something so I could get some sleep. I was about 4cm dilated and exhausted. They hooked me up to oxytocin to help me dilate and the contractions to regulate, plus a little something so I could take a nap. Whatever they gave me made me tell Chris bizarre things. I vaguely remember asking his questions about things I had been thinking about and of course he had not one clue what I was talking about. Poor guy. Doc came to check me after and I was about 7.5 cm dilated, -1 station.

At about 10 am (this is 8 hours of labor so far, mind you) I was offered the labor pool. Awesome idea. Loved it. Alexander, however, decided to start rolling around during each contraction. Fabulous. After 2 hours of that I had it. Doc came in once again to check me and I was at about 8cm dilated, 0 station. So here I am, 10 hours of contractions, no real progress, and the contractions have become incredibly painful. I decided to ask for an epi...and thank goodness I had, but I'll get to that later. Doc checked me on and off for hours and still no progress. My family was still in and out of my labor room and the waiting room...where my brother Brendan convinced them all to play Uno for money and he was cleaning up.

Hours go by...and I'm still 8cm and 0 dilation. It's now close to midnight, and the good doc comes and talks to me. She has a theory. The theory is this...my body is not going further along, and the baby is rolling during contractions because he's too big and is trying to progress but can't. It's been almost 22 hours since my water broke
and labor started. It's time to have a C-section.
Let me tell you, I am so glad that I got the epi
hours earlier. It made it much easier to focus
on what the doctor was telling me, and it make
it easier to prep for the C because I was all
hooked up already. Plus, I would have been
beside myself if I had suffered for those extra
10 hours just to wind up with the epi anyway....

So a little while later, plus 9lbs 2oz removed all at
once, we have a sweet little baby boy!

Alexander John!

2008-08-08T19:18:00.003-04:00

I only have time for a brief post, but I wanted to let those of you who are kind enough to read this thing that Alexander John "The Ginger" joined us on 8/4/08 weighing 9 pounds, 2 oz with a length of 20 inches.

I will come back another time with more pics and the whole gory story of his birth. Good times!

Another baby related update

2008-07-30T18:58:00.000-04:00

Nope no baby yet. The Schmoo is still chillin' on the inside, but I did have my 39 week appointment yesterday with my wonderful doctor. I'm 80% effaced and 2cm dilated, but the baby hasn't dropped. Apparently, this little one is too enamored with sticking its tush up into my ribs to drop yet. Oh, well, at least he/she is having a good time.

I also had an ultrasound done, which revealed an approximate fetal weight of 8.5 lbs. My doctor wanted to know if I would prefer to wait or "do something". I told her I might as well wait...I'm not uncomfortable other than being hot and tired, so I consider myself lucky, and I'm on vacation for another month or so (not to mention maternity leave after that)...plus, the house is getting closer to finished with each passing day.

Timber!

2008-07-28T17:52:00.005-04:00

This morning, Chris and I heard a man's voice over a PA system saying "Doing that would not be wise, ma'am" and this is what we saw from our second floor porch.

The tree missed Chris' silver car by about an inch...some of the upper most leaves were touching his wheels.

No Baby Yet!

2008-07-27T10:51:00.003-04:00

Yup...I've got 10 days left until my due date. I'm still hanging strong. Just maxing and relaxing because anything else makes me exhausted. Ah, the joys of pregnancy!

My last doc's appointment was on Tuesday and I'm still 50% effaced and no dilation to speak of. I have my next appointment on Tuesday and I get to go for an ultrasound to check the baby's size and weight. I figure it's an extra opportunity to see the little one, so I figure I might as well go for it. I'm hoping they'll print out a new ultrasound picture....I'm having this one done at a different place, so their answer might be "no", however, my insurance is paying for the damn thing, so I don't see why they wouldn't.

Now for some house details. The kitchen is just awaiting the counter top to be installed with our fancy recessed sink...then the last of the cabinets can go in and the kitchen is done! The major home store that we have been dealing with hired yet another crack team for us...this time it was the wood floor guys who thought it would be cool to put down the new wood floors without adhesive and thereby making our warranty void. Very nice. They were forced to rip it out and the whole thing has to be done again. My mother-in-law has been in contact with said home store and we'll see what happens. It would just be nice to have all of this out of the way before the baby comes. We have the apartment until September 1st, so we have a place to live...I just want Chris to be able to enjoy the new baby and not have to worry about what's going on at the house!

After the wood floors comes the carpeting, but that's minor in comparison to the floors, which once they are delivered have to sit for 72 hours in the house to acclimate. And there might still need to be painting done, but that's being done by my father-in-law who is a professional decorative painter, and we trust him implicitly. It doesn't hurt that he's one of the top in his field in our area to boot!

Still Here!

2008-07-17T19:07:00.003-04:00

The Schmoo and I are still occupying the same space, which is cool because I don't have to change diapers and I only have to feed myself. My doctor doesn't think I'm going anywhere this week, so I'm cool with that. I'm not dilated at all, so I'm still floating around the pool, which is my favorite thing to do.

Today is my 35th birthday and my mom took me to one of my favorite places for lunch. Silver Tips Tea Room rocks the house! We had high tea...tea sandwiches, iced chai, a scone, and a slice of cake. Divine!

The house is still under construction and poor Chris is freaking out. He wants the house to be ready to move in to before the baby comes. He doesn't want to be moved in, necessarily before the baby comes, but he doesn't want to worry about the house. He just wants to enjoy the baby. I can't blame him. I don't know how much is left to be done. I get the feeling that his part is nearly done, and that the next few things are really up to contractors...like installing the wood floors and carpeting kinds of things. I just feel terrible for the poor stressed out guy.

July Post...finally

2008-07-08T18:40:00.004-04:00

Yeah, so uh, Brigitte, thanks for bringing it to my attention that I haven't posted anything in just about forever. I have been busy with lazy-ass things like going to the pool and napping. Sure, I've been to Target to buy baby things....which reminds me, I should also post about my surprise baby shower...but I think I'll save that for another time...maybe later tonight.

There are no picture updates of the house to speak of. Chris, his dad and his step dad are up there just about every day getting ready for installation people to come. The masons were there last week, so now we have tile on the kitchen floor and tile in the bathroom. The floor and carpet guys are coming soon. Chris and his step dad will be installing the kitchen soon. The appliances are being delivered Thursday. Things are finally coming together. Maybe the house will be ready before the baby comes...who knows?

Next week I have to start calling around to get estimates for a fence for Reuben. Chris is not sold on the idea yet, but frankly, I'm going to feel comfortable walking Reuben during the day when Chris goes back to work and I'm alone with the baby. I'm thinking being able to let Reu out in the back yard would make life a zillion times easier.

hooded hoods trying to hoodwink car hoods

2008-06-25T12:40:00.003-04:00

Good Lord I love the subject generator on Yahoo Beta Mail. Some of the subjects are awesome!

I can not believe that I haven't been here in 11 days or so. Apparently, I've been crazy busy...or super lazy. Perhaps it's a combination of the two. Anyway, I will catch us all up!

Tomorrow is the last day of school All I have to do is take my 3 posters down off my ways (1 Corpse Bride, and 2 Edward Gorey) and turn in my keys. The rest of the day is a BBQ thrown by admin. I love my job.
Tonight is graduation. I have to talk about my 2 leads that are graduating. I don't want to, but I'll do it. What cheeses me is that the social worker who insisted that lead teachers speak about their students, refuses to say anything at the graduation because it makes her uncomfortable. But somehow she's comfortable with making other people do it regardless of their discomfort. Whatever...I just need to write out a couple of index cards. Humph.
I had another check up yesterday. This time with the senior member of the OBGYN practice. The baby's heart beat sounds good. I'm no dilated at all yet (which means more pool time for me!) She also commented that it feels like I have a "good sized baby in there". Then she read the ultra sound results and commented..."Ooooh, about 5 and a half pounds? That is a good sized baby" I think I really might be giving birth to a gorilla in 6 weeks.
My co-workers threw me a surprise baby shower. They scared the crap out of me, which they thought was hysterically funny. Bastards. Loving, fabulous bastards, but bastards all the same. They all chipped in and got me my infant car seat! Plus, the shower had a full breakfast buffet with eggs, bacon, sausage, french toast, fruit, bagels and coffee. I love these people.
My landlords are pissing me off. You see, all in all, my landlords (a husband and wife team) are very nice people. They are just inconsiderate. Chris and I are not allowed to park in the driveway, but the kid down the street is. We were asked to be very gentle with the doors because her father is sensitive to that sort of noise. But who used to come visit him after 10pm and slam doors? She did...now that he's in a home, she'll come to get some of his clothes and guess what...slam doors. And apparently, construction in the down stairs apartment doesn't warrant any forewarning, even if it's going to be occurring after 9pm. Yes, I get to listen to the husband sawing pipes at night. I think I would be pissed even if I weren't pregnant and it didn't throw Reuben into fits. Reuben seems to think that the noise might be coming to harm me. I wouldn't care so much, I don't think, if I hadn't in the last few months of her father living downstairs, had to let the police in a bunch of times because his emergency alarm went off, pick him up off of the ground when he fell, or change the batteries in his smoke alarm. We were also asked to keep an ear out for him, which I did (which is why I knew when he fell, or if his smoke alarm was going off, etc) and I don't get any courtesy in return. Okay...rant over.
The house is coming along slowly, but surely. Hopefully we'll be able to move in before Schmoo turns 15.

Yikes!

2008-06-14T15:46:00.004-04:00

Here is our newest family photo. My father-in-law took it on Mother's Day and gave it as a part of a photo album to Chris for his birthday at the end of May. It's a cool photo, unfortunately it didn't scan as well as I would have liked. You can totally see my "baby bump" in the photo...I don't know how clear it is in the scanned version. Regardless, I'm here to tell you all about my baby bump.

It has gotten pretty darn big. Like I am starting to have trouble rolling over in bed big. I have to practically roll out of bed to get up in the morning big. I've been taking double takes at small spaces to think about how well I'll fit big. And that's all fine. I can't complain...I don't feel sick, my feet and hands are not swelling up (yet), I can still squat down and get up. If my belly is all I have that is getting unwieldy, then so be it. Although, I'm starting to think it might be the sign of a big-ass baby.

I went for a check up on Wednesday, and as the good doctor felt around my belly she said, " I think you might have a big one in there". I laughed and said. "Only time will tell". Then Friday I went for an ultra-sound and the technician did all the measurements and she tells me that Schmoo is measuring 2-3 weeks ahead in size and that the ultrasound estimates that Schmoo already weighs 5 pounds and 11 oz. I have just under 8 weeks left, people. At a half pound of weight gain expected for little Schmoo (or Big Schmoo?), that could be a 9 pound baby! Dear Lord! Chris thinks it's fascinating and is astounded by that prediction. I told him that it's all his fault because he has gorilla DNA. I have to admit, I think I'd rather have a chunky, big baby than a little Perdue fryer....

Commericals I love

2008-06-10T19:35:00.004-04:00

There are certain commercials that I could watch a thousand times. This is my current fav:

Another oldie but goodie:

Hot! Hot! Hot!

2008-06-08T13:13:00.002-04:00

It's our first actual hot weekend in this part of New York state. I spent a good part of the day at the pool yesterday and not packing like I should have. It was 94 degrees out, for crying out loud! Today there is no pool in my future as I'm working at the library...and I'm actually at the library now. I think all of my town is either swimming or running through sprinklers. I'm jealous.

And speaking of swimming...apparently in a few weeks I will not be allowed in the pool. Dilation = no chlorine. Drat! The pool was going to be my saving grace in July! Next time, I'm shooting for a late May, early June baby.

House news: I'm still packing, packing, packing. Chris is still stressing, stressing, stressing. The window guys put our windows in wrong, so now they have to be redone. Good times. Aside from this set back, things are coming together...although you'd never know it from all the bumps we've had. Once the house is done, poor Chris can relax. He hasn't had a day off to hang out and play video games/drums/computer games in weeks. Poor guy.

Pictures from the past

2008-06-06T17:53:00.005-04:00

As requested by my buddy Happy Cathy on her private blog, I am here to post a pic of myself from my childhood. Fun stuff!

My mom likes to scan old photos and email them to me...when she emails me some more, I'm going to post more kiddo pictures of myself. It's super fun!

And just for kicks, I'm posting my favorite old picture of all times. My paternal grandparents wedding photo. I love, love, love this picture!

Could my grandfather look anymore Irish for cryin' out loud?

I'm a dork

2008-06-03T20:01:00.002-04:00

Yeah, I'm a dork. I started a new blog. It's to help me keep track of the books I've been reading. Here's it is: Books I Have Loved

Please feel free to give me book recommendations! I think that I'm going to be spending a lot of time reading in the upcoming weeks....

Tore Up from the Floor Up

2008-05-28T20:33:00.006-04:00

I was finally "allowed" back into the new house. Yay for me! We brought Reuben with us, too. We figure that if we bring him from time to time, the move will be less stressful for him in the long run. A happy dog is a good dog.

Demolished kitchen. Soon to be awesome kitchen with a dishwasher (YES) and an awesome refrigerator that has a freezer on the bottom and french doors on top. I might be in appliance choosing heaven!

Ripped up living room. Chris' dad, who is a professional decorative painter who mostly works in million dollar condos in Manhattan, is going to smooth out the giant fireplace and use a product on it that will make it look like Venetian Plaster. Awesome!

Master bedroom. Someday soon, this room will have windows...and no fake wood on the walls.

This will be the baby's room. It's the larger of the two other bedrooms. It too will have brand spankin' new windows very soon!

Yet another late update

2008-05-22T19:30:00.002-04:00

Man, I do not know where time is escaping to! I feel as if time is standing still...I know it's not because my belly is slowly expanding. the house seems to be standing still, mainly because of one of large conglomerate contractor stores giving us the run around. The contractor who arranges for windows to put in tells us that there will be no problems with the type of window we need, that they do it all the time and that if the window guys damage the surrounding concrete it will be fixed. Meanwhile, the guy who actually mans the installation crew and comes to check out the site tells us that our needs are only 1% of what they do, and they have no masons to fix the concrete if it gets damaged. We're a tad peeved, but my mother-in-law (who is a pit bull when it comes to stuff like that) is all over it for us. What really bugs me is that I'm starting to worry that the house won't be done before the baby gets here and I really want to be at least partially settled (read our bedroom is set and ready to go with a bassinet) before the critter comes.

I'm now 29 weeks. I'm back to being really tired at night. Last night I was in bed by 9, lights out by 10:30. I used have lights out at 11:30. Mind you this 10:30 lights out is in addition to a 30 minute nap in the afternoon...I never had to do that to have lights out at 11:30. Sad, but then again, it takes a lot of energy growing a whole new person...or at least that is what I'm telling myself.

I had a check up this week and the baby's heartbeat is very strong. I did not get a "gaining too much weight" lecture this time. And I passed my Gestational Diabetes screening on the first go 'round, so I'm looking forward to more ice cream as the weather gets nicer! Woo-hoo!

Some random things

2008-05-12T19:29:00.003-04:00

I don't have much energy at the moment, but I need to update the blog! So I'm going to do yet another list for all of you who are interested.

1) I finally finished registering for baby things. I never realized how tiring that can be. Thank goodness I have people who gave me good advice as to what to get. I don't know who the heck is going to buy me all the stuff I registered for...I don't even think I know that many women!

2) Work is going okay. My new lead student is still having trouble adjusting, but she and I are certainly seeing eye to eye more often now. She understands me for the most part and that's a big step.

3) I have an odd hobby to share. It makes me think of my friend Cathy from work, because she will probably find this to be funny. One of my favorite thing to do is to appear in stranger's pictures. If someone is taking a picture and if I'm even remotely in the background, I will turn to the camera and smile like I'm supposed to be in the picture. There have been occasions at shows, or at the zoo when people take a huge group photo with a singer or in front of an animal cage, and I've found my way in to the picture. Don't worry, I don't stand in for every shot. And I don't do family shots...that's just wrong. I have to admit, it makes me chuckle to think that someone, somewhere got pictures developed and they point to my smiling face and ask "Who is this?" Good times.

4) I'm now in my third trimester. I waddle, I get really tired at night, and I have trouble bending at the waist. I think about chicken pot pies all the time.

Quilt show

2008-05-12T19:17:00.005-04:00

My friend, CA, and I went to a quilt show on Saturday May 3rd and I can't believe it's take me this long to post pictures from it. Sheesh!

Things I've noticed

2008-05-01T19:34:00.002-04:00

1. My nose is working overtime. While at school, I can actually smell hormones off of the kids. At the library, sometimes I have to hold my breath while helping patrons because of their scent. It's not that they smell bad, their scent might just be too intense for me.

2. Doug Wilson from TLC's Moving Up is wearing way too much make-up this season. He looks like a dolled up cadaver.

3. My newest lead student at work hates me....but I'm sure that will pass. You see, she's fairly new to my school. She's been sent to my school because she liked to cut class at her old high school. What I don't think she realizes is 1)We only have 50 kids at my school, so slipping between the attendance cracks rarely happens 2)When I say I am going to do something, I'm going to do it. I had a long conversation with her yesterday about cutting and getting to class on time. I told her that if she can't get that done, I would have to escort her to class the following day. Well, she cut math yesterday...only about an hour after our conversation...so what happened today? I waited for her outside of each class, and followed her to her next class. At one point she started yelling at me to leave her alone. I basically told her this: We talked about what would happen if you couldn't make it to class on time. You knew what would happen if you cut class, so accept the consequence. I will not be following you tomorrow if you are where you are supposed to be today. She didn't say anything about it for the rest of the day. I'll have to see how tomorrow goes. I'm hearing ugly things about her behavior in class....I might have to let her know that I can arrange my schedule so that I can sit with her and help her in class if she wants. This time, I'm sure she'll understand that I am dead serious.

4. The weather is finally getting nice.

5. There is a serious lack of skorts in the maternity department. This makes me sad. Designers...get on it!

6. The baby keeps a very tight schedule. It's active from 9am-10:30am, 12pm-1pm, 3pm-5pm and then 8pm-10pm. Not bad. I'm sure it's moving around at night, but that I'm asleep and don't notice at this point. I'm sure once the baby is bigger, I'll get some righteous kicks at night time.

7. I have less than 100 days until my due date. Eeep!

Tea!

2008-04-25T17:28:00.002-04:00

Just a brief post to tell you all how happy I am that I got to go have tea with my friend Christina at Silver Tips Tea room in a town very close to mine! I love visiting with my friend, Christina, whom I haven't been able to sit down and chat with for a very long time...and I love the fun of sitting in a tea room, sipping iced chai and eating fancy sandwiches and scones. Yummers! The Schmoo really enjoyed the yummy food to because it was doing a nice little Schmoo dance afterward!

Dreams

2008-04-22T15:49:00.003-04:00

Just checkin' in...doctor's appointment went well yesterday...baby's heartbeat sounds good...good growth and the like. I like good news.

Here's what I really want to tell you. Last night I had a dream that Chris and I had a baby boy and when we brought him home all Reuben wanted to do was lick the baby's feet. I hope Reuben's real life adjustment is just that easy.

And the pic? Reuben sleeping under the covers. Too cute.

Reuben's Babies

2008-04-19T19:09:00.005-04:00

I haven't had much going on these days...just working, eating and sleeping for the most part. The baby has been having little dance parties a few times a day, which is a nice reminder that all is well.

Since I've got nothing really interesting happening as of late, but wanted to share something with ya'll I thought I'd share some pictures of Reuben and one of his "babies". Reuben has 3 stuffed animals, that are left overs from my childhood) that he likes to groom and sleep with occasionally.

I don't usually have an opportunity to take pics like this because if I leave the room, Reuben will get up and follow me...and his baby is forgotten.

So, I guess there is hope for Reu when the real baby comes. I just hope he doesn't try to groom the baby. He's tried to do it to me, and it feels like he's trying to eat corn on the cob...I've seen dogs do this to their young, I suppose it pulls junk out of their fur. Doesn't feel too great when you don't have fur...take my word for it!

Hopefully I'll be back soon with more exciting/interesting news than my dog and his pretend offspring. Check ya later!

Mudders and Grunters

2008-04-12T19:40:00.001-04:00

I finally posted Amazon Hill's pics over at Amazon Strength, if anyone is interested in seeing the blog we post on only about 5 times a year...

Is fate trying to hint at something?

2008-04-10T20:25:00.004-04:00

Chris and I decided not to find out the gender of our baby. We figure it's one of the last big mysteries that people can still have in an age where you can Google yourself to remember all the wonderful and stupid things you've done. I think fate is messing with me. Before I told anyone about my pregnancy, aside from Chris, two different friends from work on two different occasions had dreams that I was pregnant with a little boy. These women claim to have predicted the gender nieces and nephews perfectly over the years.

Today I'm working at the library. Last week, I put some dog books on hold for one of my brothers who is thinking of getting a dog. Those books came in today. This is what I found under the pile of dog books, with a slip a paper with my name on it:

I think someone or something out there is trying to tell me something.

My new favorite thing

2008-04-09T20:24:00.003-04:00

Can I tell ya'll how much I love lemonade and limeade since I've gotten pregnant? I looove it. I love that it's sweet and tart all at the same time. And today I discovered my favorite so far. Target was having a sale on Simply Limeade and man is it awesome!

In other ridiculous food related news, I had the worst food day ever. All I wanted to eat was junk. I actually went to McDonald's lunch. For dinner I had instant Hamburger Helper. I have never, ever had any Hamburger Helper ever before in my life. Not once. I just couldn't say no to it when I saw it at the store. I think the baby must have like it because now it's turning somersaults in my belly...either that or it invited a lot of friends over or something. There is some serious business going on in there. Yikes.

On the other hand, I did make sure that I got in 5 fruits and veggie today so all is not lost.