Well, once again, it's been a while. So, let's see...what's been going on in the life of the mundane? Well,  you know, same ole, same ole. Trips to Home Depot and Bed Bath and Beyond. You know, getting crazy here in D.C.

Okay really, not too much going on here. I have decided that I am off facebook. If not forever, I am for sure taking a major hiatus. I can't say I was a major contributor to my facebook page as it was. I mainly would post pictures of the kids here and there but other than that I'm not a real status updater. I can't imagine anyone would really want to know that I'm at Costco, then Babies R Us and then the grocery store in a single day. I know, I know, everyone's dream outing but I can't make everyone jealous all in one fell swoop...

So anyway, I am more of a facebook grazer. I look at other people's posts. I comment, I "like" here and there. Well, after the Obama healthcare decision was announced the amount of ignorant comments put out there just threw me right over the edge. I prefer not to discuss my political views one way or the other and I am smart enough to know that it's just not appropriate to talk about with anyone, anywhere - even if you share the same views because people can get very passionate about it and I just don't care enough to get into one of those conversations. So, I found myself reading status updates that were so unbelievably ignorant, misinformed and just plain foolish. I felt myself starting to get worked up and annoyed and then I said to myself, "ummm...really? Am I going to let these dumb dumb's make me crazy or spend one iota of my time thinking about them and their opinions?" The answer was NO. So, no more facebook for me. Ahhh, I feel freer already!

Anyway, other than that, life is good. Heading to the beach with my family this weekend and can't wait to hit the sand, sun and surf with my boys! I'll be checking on all my favorite bloggers now...

Today was our Lucy's 5th Birthday. My, where does the time go? My baby's growing up! I feel like it was just yesterday that we travelled all the way to Southern Maryland to pick this little bitch out of the litter. Well, she picked us really. From the moment we met her and all her siblings she was the one that attached herself to us. She made it pretty clear that she was coming home with us. If I could have, I would have taken them all home...if they all would have stayed the size they were when they were 8 weeks old that is!





She stole our heart from the minute we met her. I love her through all the great shoes she ate of mine, through all the stuffed toys she destroyed and made a huge mess in my house with, the string of lights she ate, the accidents when she was learning to be house trained, the puke on the rug she welcomed me home with when I was about 3 months pregnant and ready to lose my own cookies and everything in between. She is the best friend we all need. She is the best listener and she asks for nothing in return. She's welcomed our first baby into the family. She's comforted me through a miscarriage. She's welcomed baby number two to the gang. She protects us and loves us unconditionally.





In return she gets a healthy walk every day. She has the run of the house. She has a bed in almost every room. She can jump on all of our furniture. She has a backyard to run, play and poop in. She is part of our family and we love her more every day. HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUCY!!!

Oh happy day, it's time to potty train my toddler! I'm not quite sure what the hell I'm doing but I do know one thing, I am not against bribery. Cars, toys, candy, that's right, it's all up on a shelf above the toilet as special prizes for going in the toilet. Unfortunately my kid's no dummy and he can make himself pee like a champ. I have a feeling this process is going to cost me more than I had first anticipated...

Oddly, and I know I'm jinxing myself here, but it's going really well. And thank goodness because training a child to go to the bathroom is not for the lazy sportsman, which I will admit to being. It's constant asking and then going to sit in the bathroom. What a pain in the ass...no pun intended. And then, you realize that once you get over the hump and your brilliant kid can wear big boy underwear and crap on the toilet all by himself that TA DA! You have to wipe his ass!! It's not like changing a diaper. I get that, I'm okay with it. NO! I guess I was under some weird illusion that once the diapers were gone we were free. NOT TRUE! Holy lord, I'm going to be wiping people's asses for the rest of my life. What did I get myself into? What was I thinking? Can we go back to diapers?

Hello...? Anybody Out There?

Okay, it's been over a year and I've been meaning to update for some time but as everyone knows, life sometimes gets in the way...I also struggle with the fact that my life seems so unbelievably boring in comparison to others that I just don't want to bore the pants off of everyone...

So, after being checked on recently by the lovely, sweet, talented and beautiful OGO, Sassy and DanjerusKurves I decided an updates is in order. And then I will try, try, try to keep it up...we'll see how it goes.

Okay, so in the last year, and I'll try to stay chronological but we'll see how that goes. Anyway, I was blessed enough to become pregnant again late in 2010. It was scary and difficult as (and I'm sorry for any male readers here) I bled very heavily throughout almost my entire pregnancy. There is nothing more terrifying as any woman knows. In the midst of this crazy roller coaster ride of taking care of my beautiful boy and being uncomfortably pregnant we finally got all of the financing and other details worked out for our home renovation. Looking back I should have been blogging the entire time. It may have been beneficial to my sanity to have an outlet and some of you to release my angst on to...

Where was I? Okay, so in April of 2011 we packed up our entire house, the boy and the pooch and we moved out. We rented a townhouse from a family member in a town about 40 miles from our home. It was the only place that would allow an 80+ pound dog, a temporary lease and was within our budget. It was small, actually smaller than our existing house, but it was clean and comfortable and the development had a community pool that we could use. We made do. It was a very hot summer and we made good use of the pool!!

I grew bigger and bigger every day. We were far from home and family and friends. When I say that the place we were living was close to absolutely nothing I mean it. There were a lot of miles put on the car and lots of money spent on gas while we were there. But we stayed positive and relished in the progress we saw being made on our future home.

In early August, 3 weeks before my due date, our newest little man was determined to make his appearance. We had to do some scrambling and find child and pooch care for the existing brood. Once we got to the hospital we learned that I was 8 centimeters dilated and the little bugger was breach with no plans of moving. So, I was rushed into the operating room where Finley was very gingerly ripped from my abdomen. Ahhh, the dreaded C-section. Why some women prefer this method of child birth I will never know. Maybe it's to keep their hoo ha in tact, maybe they're gluttons for punishment. Regardless, cesarian birth is not that fun. Well, I should rephrase that, the recovery is not a walk in the park. The pain pills however, now that's some good shite. But alas, you can't really go through life drugged up when you have an infant to attend to so you do have to actually stop taking those things, "man" up and deal with the pain and the recovery. The brain and the body sure do work in mysterious ways because looking back I KNOW it sucked. I was there. But I feel like, hmmm, I got through it. Maybe it wasn't that bad...? Whoa!

We had a healthy little baby boy. All was good, other than the fact that we were not home. But it was okay. We were together and a new family of 4 (well 5, we can't forget our Lucy!). In October of 2011, exactly 6 months from when we moved out of our home, we moved back in to our brand new house! We've been here for 4 months. We still have lots of work to do and yes, much to my mother and mother-in-law's dismay, unpacking to get done. Not everything is where it belongs and I have yet to get any family photos on the wall. I like to think that stuff comes with time and you know, when I have some free time to do...anything! All in all, we area all extremely excited to be home. We love our new house. We feel so incredibly blessed to be a family and to be together where we belong. It's been a long time coming but we finally accomplished a goal and a dream we've had for some time. Now it's time to enjoy it.

So there you have it. The abridged and trying not to bore everyone to tears version of what has been going on around here in the last year. I am going to do my damndest to try and update more often with more of my very tame life, lucky you. I guess things do change, huh? Seems like just yesterday I was a single gal starting a blog in 2005!! Now, I hope to get back to reading more of all of you and find out what more exciting people are doing in their lives...

Wow...really trying to get used to this whole living with a full fledged toddler! As rewarding as every day is, especially when this kid says something new or learns a new trick, this is hard work!

Recently the boy was sick, I mean really sick, for the first time. I guess there are some good things to not having your child in day care, although if he was, he probably would have been sick a few more times and this one wouldn't have been so dramatic. Oh my god, this kid was a mess. I literally had to hold him for 2 days straight. By the end of that second day I was ready to throw in the towel. I did not know how I was going to make it another day. Thankfully the kid decided to get a little better after that! Maybe he sensed that his Mother was getting ready to take off...

We were invited to a neighborhood play group a couple of weeks ago. Boy was that fun. We'll never go back. I'm just waiting to get the email asking why I haven't been responding to the latest invitations...This is what I've discovered by attending a play group with people I don't know. A) I don't like your kids, B) I don't like you, C) Now I know why I have my own friends, and D) Thank god I never have to hang out with you again, I hope!

I'll try to keep this brief but in a nut shell, the "host" of our play group proceeded to hound me about getting my kid into pre-school (he's 19 months old) because all of the deadlines are just about over. I need to hurry up and get him into a good place for 2 year old's, especially if I plan on having any more kids. Apparently, according to mom of the year, you can't have two kids in the house at once. Would love to get her and my Grandmother, mother of 11 children, in a conversation together. AND, her bratty, red headed, bully kid - why are they always red head's? - decided to pound on my kid the whole time. Ever toy he touched was snatched away, he was pushed to the ground when he wasn't looking and then you know what? I had enough. I was this close to punting the kid across the room but decided that probably wasn't setting a very good example so instead I decided we'd just never hang out with these weirdo's again.

Otherwise, being a mom is great. Just wish I had a little bit more "me" time. Guess I'll have that when my boy goes off to college. Then I'll be sad and want my baby back. You just can't win!

Why, thank you Costco!

So, the boy and I ventured out to our local Costco the other day for an industrial package of butter and a few other essentials. It was a quick trip and as we were checking out, the boy in the cart to the left behind the cashier, me, on the right in front of the cashier in order to pay, a very nice gentleman asks me if I'd like a box. Well, of course I would. Box my stuff up my man and make my life a heck of a lot easier. So, the kind man does. And as I swipe my card, sign, retrieve my receipt and start to walk away I finally notice the box that the very kind boxer gave me...




Oh, ummm...thanks? Holy lord. I had to hold back from laughing. Immature? Perhaps. But all I could think was, "wow, my trash men are gonna get a kick out of this one!" I mean, SERIOUSLY? Was this a joke? I briefly considered switching boxes. I think I even spied a couple of people looking out of the corner of their eye and giggling as we left, but I decided to say, oh...who the heck cares? Yes, I bought condoms. 6,000 of them. What's it to you?

Please, practice safe sex girls and boys!

SERVICE!

There are a couple of places that I just dread going. One is the cellular phone store. Have you ever noticed how the people that work there are like used car salesmen? They are so slimy and swarthy. I can't take it. And they're always trying to sucker you for more money, the more expensive phone, etc. Just give me what I came for and don't try to swindle me, Thanks!

Another place I can NOT stand going is the car dealership. And I'm not even talking about the sales department, which is, you know...car salesmen. I'm talking about the service department where you take your car to get the oil changed and if you're really lucky, to get some other "service" done where they basically ass rape you and make you wait a few hours while they do it...

I am currently sitting in the service department waiting area at my car dealership as I type this. Oh lovely day. Thankfully my issue is under warranty so really the car dealership is just ass raping it's self this time, hooray for me! Oh thank heaven for technology because now they have free wifi here. So, not only am I bored to tears (figures today I have almost no work to do), I can write about it!

I want to know why no one has written the television show that takes place in the car dealership service department. I am writing it now as I sit here. I think I'll call it something really clever like, "Service" or "At Your Service". Here are the characters... You've got my service advisor, he looks and moves like a turtle. His name is Larry. He sits in a high cube right by the door and although he is the most socially awkward person on earth and obviously can't be bothered with mundane questions like, "Can I get my oil changed today?", he sits right inside the doors where every person comes in and has to speak to him. Call me crazy but shouldn't the receptionist be there? Or at the least, someone with an ounce of social graces able to say hello with a smile on their faces? OY.

Then you've got the middle aged, family man who loves to talk to everyone about anything. And his side kick, the 20-something young lady who likes to talk to middle aged guy and flirt, bat her eye lashes, etc all day long...GAG! There's the receptionist who is SO loud. I now know that she came back to work after her 3rd child, she lost some weight but has a lot left to lose and likes cranberries...hooray!

Okay, maybe this is just entertaining because I'm sitting here right now and it's the only thing keeping me sane. Scratch that idea. I guess this screen play/show idea won't go very far!

Hope everyone else is having a more interesting day than I am!

Before becoming a parent there were obviously lots of things that mattered almost not at all in my carefree, casual lifestyle. One of those things that I am thinking about tonight especially, that I am just realizing really pisses me off, is Daylight Savings Time. What a bunch of bull this is! I mean, back in the day, I don't care if I change the clocks, I just go to bed an hour early or later and then same thing in the morning. With a child, it doesn't work that way!

I am praying that this kid does not wake me up at 6am tomorrow. How do you have a logical conversation with a 1 year old about the importance of Mommy and Daddy's sleep and explain that he is going to have to adjust his internal clock so that he doesn't eff up the routine?

Once we get him back on track it will be right in time to "Spring Forward". Yipeee!

I have a love/hate relationship with this time of year around here. I love that everywhere you drive right now the leaves are turning a brilliant rainbow of fall colors. I mean, the reds and yellows, oranges and greens are so beautiful right now. One of my neighbors has a tree that is literally changing every color right now, it's so pretty!




What I hate are the local political ads that are airing right now! Ugghh I think I've said this before but really, these ad's are so pathetic. I will admit that I'm not completely up on my local political candidates and their platforms. I know a little about a little but I am a bad local citizen, I know. With that said, do these candidates think that bad mouthing and trash talking the other candidates will make people vote for them, or not vote for their opponents? It's almost comical but really, it's just sad. They call each other crooks, call each other out on so many shady dealings they've been involved with and then say, "vote for me!" or "I approve this ad". Seriously? They are all a bunch of crooks!

And here's the kicker, and the one that really threw me over the edge...there is a "woman" in DC that I am ashamed to say is currently running a 30 second ad that shows an image of (Parental advisory - the next sentence is not suitable for children) a bloodied late-term fetus, followed by a picture of two more fetuses, blackened and scarred by a saline abortion. Another ad begins with the stuff of "miracle of life" public-TV documentaries - before resolving into a photo of President Obama followed by a pair of dismembered fetal limbs, set next to a dime to highlight their proportions. This is where I draw the line! I don't care what your political, religious, spiritual, whatever, views are, this is completely unacceptable, uncalled for and horrific! And apparently this poor excuse for a human being agrees! She herself says that these ad's are "vile", yet she thinks they're effective and so will continue to use them. At first I was angry at the networks that would even allow this type of crap to air, but guess what? There is a very convenient loop hole! Apparently federal law states that holders of broadcast licenses are required to air federal candidates' advertisements unedited in whatever time slots they can afford. And this whack job found this out and according to her, is the only one that ran with it.

I hope this woman, and all these other politicians that claim to have our best interests at heart, rot in hell, all together, in one, miserable, political party. I will be voting tomorrow. I will be voting because it's my right. I'll be voting because a lot of women gave their lives to make sure that in 2010 I could vote with no question. I'll be voting because, tragically, someone will vote for that woman and people like her, and I'll be voting because I don't want whack a do's like that nut job representing me, EVER! Happy Election Day all. It's sad that a day that should make me feel patriotic really just makes me kind of sick...

Well, it's been a long time. Life has been up and down around here. I started working a contract job, which has been great and keeping me very busy, but also allowing me to be home and stay connected with my little man. It's also nice to be making some money. That part can never hurt!

We're in what I like to call a stand off with the bank for our construction loan. Our builder was ready to start our project months ago...just waiting on the bank. I am so frustrated I can't even see straight. We have also been paying for a rental house that we don't live in yet for the last 3 months and that feels GREAT!

My boy is growing like a weed. He is so smart and adorable...of course, right? And he is just the apple of my eye. And...now for the bad news. So, we were very excited to be adding to our family. Our little boy was going to be a big brother and then, just when we thought we were about over the hump, I was three months pregnant, and I lost the baby. I am still trying to come to terms with the fact that I am no longer pregnant. It's a very odd thing. We are sad and I'll be honest, this sucks. But, I know this happens to many women, all the time. It's crazy how common this type of thing is, and you just don't realize it until you're going through it yourself. I am very lucky to have lots of support from my wonderful husband, friends and family. And just looking at my little boy reminds me every day how absolutely blessed I am already. Things will be okay and hopefully in the future we can add to our family again. Only time will tell.

Now, I'm going to hug my boy, my husband and my pooch and try to catch up on any of you that are still out there!

So we had the big storm that knocked power out for 4 days. We recovered. We moved on.

Last Wednesday a man comes to my door and I open it - I never do that. He's selling meat. I know, sounds odd, it's a suburban thing, believe me, my friends that live in the city had never heard of such a thing.

Anyway, so he has a refrigerated truck and I examine the goods and end up buying close to $400 worth of meat and seafood. Everything looked phenomenal and the timing couldn't be more perfect after the last storm.

The next morning the baby wakes up around 7am and I notice how unbelievably dark it seems for being so late. Okay, must be a little rainy out...go to the living room and see that it's thundering, lightening and raining pretty hard. Well, that was just the beginning. I swear I thought I was Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz...It was such a violent storm that at one point the rain and wind were so conflicted that you couldn't see ANYTHING. It was like looking outside into a gray mass. The dog was scared to death. The baby was growling back at the thunder (my how the behaviors have switched). And all I could think was "PLEASE, DEAR LORD, DON'T LET THE POWER GO OUT!!!"

The power flickered a few times. No big deal. Then...BOOM! Gone, out, darkness...The power went out again. This time it went out for only 2 days but somehow I think it's all my fault. I jinxed it by restocking our freezer. So, once we were able to venture out and assess the damage we could see that the damage was extensive! There were numerous trees down on my street alone. With those trees came the power lines. When we were finally able to venture out of our hood in the car it was frightening. It looked like a war zone out there. I am assuming it was another tornado because there were actual areas where a whole cluster of large trees was just cut off as if they were chopped in half. Leveled. It was strange. We went to my in-law's for one night and one day. No matter how "lovely" it is to visit people. It's never like being at home. I just wanted to be HOME!

Lights were out for days and days. Traffic was a mess. It is amazing and scary how dependent we are on electricity, but more so, the power company! Yeah, power's great but you kind of need the power company to come out and restore and maintain it...

I contacted the meat guy to ask him to come back and pick up our lot but he gave me a lesson in dry ice! Did you know that they sell dry ice at Safeway grocery stores? I didn't but I sure do now! He also taught me how to use it in a fridge and freezer. I was thankful for that because it saved us lots and lots of money and headache! Anyway, power is back and we're back to normal, until the next time. Really considering investing in a generator...

This is what our lives have become:

Yes, our bath faucet is now covered by a bathing Elmo. Why? Because our child now rules our lives. And we're okay with that. Although I have to admit, it's been a little frightening pulling back the curtain to take a shower and seeing him just sitting there. Oh, it's only the beginning. I can't wait to see what's to come!

Holy Hiatus! Okay, I know, I've been gone a long time. What have I been doing? Well, let's see. About a week and a half ago I decided to offer my laptop a little bit of white wine without asking it first. Whoops! My bad. Had I asked I might have found out the easy way that my computer does not in fact like white wine. Who knew? I mean, I thought for sure that everyone liked a nice, cool, crisp glass of white wine on a steamy summer evening...

Well, after much worry and crying and praying that my hard drive was still in tact, borrowing tools from a neighbor, taking my laptop apart to try and salvage it, I finally took it to the computer doctor where I was told that it would cost a cool $1200 to send my machine back to Apple for repair. Now if I were drinking coffee at the time I was told that I would have spit it all over the very helpful young man that relayed the message. Thankfully for him, I wasn't.

* Okay, side note - WTF is up with the Apple store? I tried to go there first to take care of my laptop but I couldn't even get in. What is wrong with people? Why do they "hang out" at the apple store? I mean, I understand if you want to go try out a new product or have something to buy, or, as I was, there to assess some damage and get some advice, but I literally had to walk out because I couldn't make my way to the back of the store to talk to the appropriate person for my needs. Go home people! Or go to Starbuck's and play with your laptop there with the other douchies that hang out there all day. At least that's more "acceptable" these days...that's also a whole other post for another day*

Okay, sorry for that...long story short, I had to buy a new computer. It was the only economical solution. The old machine was basically fried. Thankfully my hard drive was still in tact and I was able to migrate the old info to the new machine. I am still beating myself up for my stupidity and am trying to put my new machine in a bubble so that nothing can get into it. I've also decided that no food or drink will get near this thing...Let's see how long that lasts.

So, in the midst of this debacle, we get a really big, but really fast moving thunderstorm. We were actually in the car during the storm and I was admittedly scared. If I was driving we would have pulled over for sure. The wind kicked up. The sky was an eerie shade of dark. It was raining in such huge, forceful sheets that you could not see anything in any direction. It looked like a white out when it snows but, umm, it wasn't snowing. Anyway, in the 15 minutes we were in the car, the storm had already passed, BUT we were dodging huge downed trees, branches, etc the whole way home. It was strange really that such a quick storm could cause such damage.

Then we got home. And the power was out. And we hung in there. Then it started getting dark and we started thinking of the baby. SO, we went to stay at my parent's house. This was Sunday. On Monday there was still no power. On Tuesday there was still no power. On Wednesday evening the power came back on. I know, doesn't sound too bad but staying at someone else's house, no matter who they are, with a baby and a dog is never easy or comfortable. But we were grateful we had somewhere to go because it was stifling in our house. No air moving is not a good feeling. It's like your suffocating. Anyway, we finally got back into our house just in time to throw away two refrigerator and freezers worth of food away. It wasn't fun, nor can we afford it, but there was no other alternative. We did salvage some things earlier in the week with coolers, but really, how much food can you lug around with you?

Anyway, we're finally back home and back into the swing of things. The summer is going swell. We've been beaching and having play dates. Mommy (that's me) is going away with the ladies this weekend and would you believe, more than anything else, I'm looking forward to sleeping uninterrupted? HA! What a lame-o I've become.

Anyway, coming to check up on all of you. Hope Everyone is well!

Cupcakes...

Okay, am I the only one over the whole cupcake craze? I think I am. And maybe it's because it's the one thing I can not do myself so I'm done with it. Plus, aren't we a little inundated with them at this point? I mean, they're everywhere. I don't think there are as many cake shops or bakeries in DC right now as there are cupcake shops...Don't get me wrong, I like looking at all the fancy cupcakes that people make/decorate and how creative people get with them. My MIL got me a cupcake cookbook for Mother's Day for God's sake (I did not ask for it! It was completely unsolicited). Anyway, you should see some of these things. Sharks and kittens and anything else you can imagine! But really? I'm over it. I'd rather hit my neighborhood bakery any day. Just the thought of looking through the glass cases filled with donuts, napoleons, chocolate eclares, cakes, cookies, breads, danishes...oh you get the picture, makes my mouth water. And the smell makes my heart swell. Nothing like the smell of fresh baked goods.

So, yesterday was Independence Day, and I decided that I'd be clever and bring cupcakes. So, I did my research, I scoured the books and the web to find a cute cupcake to make that would show off my spirit and pride! Well, there are tons of web sites now that are dedicated to cupcakes. This one in particular is so freakin cute and might I add that the author of the site is one talented mama, it's called Cookies and Cups, check it out. You'll be impressed and hungry by the time you're done looking at the site. The one problem that I have is that she makes everything look so easy. You look at the pictures, salivate, then say, Oh yeah! I can do that. Well, guess what? You can't do that. You can try and try and you can't do it. Maybe if you practice on a few hundred dozen cupcakes, but really, no, you can't do it!

Here was my dilemma. So I see these "swirled" cupcakes that she makes.

Easy peasy right? I mean, according to her, you just add two colors to your piping bag and ta da! It just comes right out so nice and even and swirled and you look like a rock star cup cake decorator!

Well, of course. I whipped up some red, white and blue icing. I dumped about half of each color into my piping bag, because really, if you can do two colors, you can of course do three, right? Yeah, remember that time in preschool when they taught us that red and yellow make orange and blue and yellow makes green, and oh yeah, red and blue makes purple? Well, I must have been absent that day. And I also must have been crazy when I thought I could do this piping technique on my cakes. And I probably used the wrong kind of icing, but that's besides the point...



Yeah, I know, once I saw that the colors were coming out mixed as opposed to "swirled" I could have given up, but I couldn't justify wasting all of that icing, especially because most of the people eating these cupcakes would be under the age of seven and really, do they care what they look like? I think I saw 3 kids at the cookout licking the "purple" frosting off and tossing the cake anyway so I guess it was a success.

Once the muddled mess continued to come out of the piping bag I just gave up and started scooping the icing out of the bag and spreading it with a knife.



Thankfully I had a little of each color left to cover the second batch in individual colors. Those looked a ton better and I wanted to kick myself for even trying the fancy one's. Here is the second batch and what I should have done from the get go:



And when I was done with this whole debacle, it was midnight, my feet hurt and I was exhausted. Cursing cupcakes and promising myself I'd never do this again. So thus completes my foray into the world of cupcake decorating. I can assure you that the Cake Boss will not be calling me any time soon and if my child ever asks me for cupcakes for his birthday or a school event he better be happy with blueberry muffins because that's about all he's getting out of me, and they don't have to be iced!!

Okay, who knew taking care of a child all day meant less time for blogging and reading other people's posts? Obviously not I!

We have been busy little bees, taking advantage of our summer so far and enjoying every minute of every day together. We went to Florida in the beginning of May with my parents and then Daddy came and joined us later in the week (someone has to work in this family!). A few weeks ago we went to visit my best friend in Virginia Beach for a few days. We've been to the zoo with friends and our little man has celebrated a 1st Birthday!! I for one, can not believe it. Where has the time gone? It seems like yesterday this little monster came into our lives. A little helpless baby. Now he's a toddler and full of energy and personality. He's an amazing little guy and he makes me laugh constantly.

Anyway, I am, understandably, not missing work. As busy as we are and as hard as it is to take care of a child every hour of every day it's a million times better than sitting in as office and missing all of the milestones. We're enjoying every minute of it!

Our home renovation is almost a joke at this point. We're in the process of firing our current builder and interviewing new one's in the hopes of one day getting this damn project off the ground. We'll see what happens. My hair might be gray by the time this whole process is over but whatever...

And now, I'm going to neglect my child to go read some of your blogs. Hopefully the dog can watch him for a little while. They get along well so I should be good for a little while.

So, a "progress report" on being home for a couple of weeks now...

Well, it's wonderful! It also helps that the weather is getting so nice and that makes it easier to get out and do things. Although this picture doesn't really do it justice, it's really nice to be driving down the road against traffic in the morning screaming, "haha suckers!"



Okay, I don't really do that, but I do get a very warm, fuzzy feeling looking at all these cars in grid lock, waiting to get to the office when we're on our way to Grandma's to hang out and do fun things!

Now, with that said, it's also extremely hard! It's hard to be with an infant going on toddler all day long. I know this sounds really lame and ridiculous, but I get less done now that I'm home than I did when I worked. Everything is done on the baby's schedule, whether I like it or not. Believe me, this kid is a joy and I love spending my time with him, but as any mother can attest, it is difficult! Trying to keep the house clean alone is a monumental pain in the arse. You have to learn to do some things that you would never have dreamed of with a kid in your hands and other times you have to learn to just let the sucker cry for a few minutes while you do what you need to do, but that's a whole other topic...

We're going to Florida on Monday with Grandma and Grandpa. Our first attempt to take advantage of Mommy being off work! And we're really looking forward to it. I think this is going to be the best summer ever!

Now, on the travel note...I have been thinking about a Kindle. I am personally really against them. I don't know what it is, I just love the feel, smell, turning pages, of a real book. I love to sit down with a real, life book and just dive in. BUT, we're getting ready to go on a trip and I am thinking of all the books I'd like to take. Obviously that's just not ideal. I can't justify bringing all the books that I "might" want to read when I need to actually bring clothes and things for a baby...Oh well. Maybe when I hit the lottery I can buy a Kindle just for travel purposes. I guess I should start playing the lottery...

Hope all the Mom's have a fabulous Mother's Day!

Well, my last day of work went off without a hitch! Yippeee, I'm FREE! My wonderful husband, of course, sent me a beautiful bouquet of the most amazing multi colored roses to the office. It was a nice way to go out. In a touch of class, and a bit of mimicry, my ex-boss ended up sending me a bouquet of tulips to the house the next day. It was a nice gesture, too bad my husband had to show him how it's done...he he

We haven't had a day at home yet, which is probably good. We've been running around, getting all of Mommy's errands done. I am looking forward to a day at home one of these days soon. There are also some realities that hit you pretty quickly. One of them being, this is no vacation. There's a reason people make a point to emphasize that being a stay at home mom is a full time job. It's funny, I started a small, 165 page, book the other day thinking, "Wow! I'll finish this book in a day or two". Yeah, I failed to realize that I actually have a child and family to take care of all the time. No real down time to just hang around and read books unless they feature the characters from Sesame Street! Reality check #1, I'm sure there will be plenty more. But I don't mind. It's nothing but wonderful not having to go to work in the morning and spending this time with my boy.

Now I'm going to play on the computer for a little bit while the boy plays with his toys and watches the Wiggles...Life as I know it now.

Well, Thursday is my last day of work for the summer and I can't wait! I have so many plans for the summer but I'm hoping that we can also just relax and enjoy it a little bit too. I don't want to be too rushed around the whole time then say, where on earth did the summer go, which I am almost certain I will anyway!

Not much else going on around here. Mostly trying to get our home renovation in order, which is becoming less fun every day! The thought that this might actually happen seems like a dream so it's hard to get excited about it.

The weather here has been nothing short of amazing lately. Crisp in the mornings and reaching a high in the 70's every day. Sunny and warm! My kind of weather. The only horrible thing is the pollen. It is really effecting me and the baby this year. We are both miserable and I've been praying for some serious rain! Anything to wash away the yellow tint to our lives.

Other than that, life is good. I have no complaints. I just count my blessings every day. And I'm really looking forward to finishing some books now that stupid work won't be in the way. Happy Monday Everyone!


BEST BUDDIES:

I have a very short fuse when it comes to stupidity, stupid people, ignorance, what have you. I just can't take stupid people. I know, it's not a positive trait to have. We are taught to love all people, to have patience and I'm sorry, sometimes I just don't, and it gets the better of me.

In the days surrounding this health care reform bill passing, as you all may be aware, living in the Washington, DC area makes these things some how "touch" us more. We feel the effects, good or bad, of these things that have to do with government. People feel entitled to comment and protest and act on behalf of our government here. Like we own a part of this because, well, it's all happening in our back yards. And I understand. People all across our country and the world are very passionate when it comes to politics, what "side" we're on and how we feel about certain political stands.

Unfortunately, there are also A LOT of very stupid, uninformed people around here. And the funny thing is, most of them love to post their stupidity on Facebook for all the world to see. There are some people that LOVE to call the Prez a socialist. I would LOVE to ask those people if they know what that word means. Some people, and this is really funny to me, say that our President has ruined our economy...HA. Remember the state of the economy when the president took office? Oh, and this is one of my favorites, "Can you believe the president is going to fine us if we don't have health insurance? What a socialist! What country is this?" - Oh right, because it's safe to walk around without health insurance! Would you really want to not have it? God, people are insane.

I would love to ask these idiots if they could state 10 facts about the health care bill. Not crap they've heard on Fox News, or that they are repeating because some other idiot said it in front of them. Really, 10 facts, good or bad, about this health care bill. I bet not one of them could do it. Hell, I don't think I could do it myself. I will admit that I don't know all there is to know about this health care bill, but I don't pretend that I do. Nor do I bad mouth either side of the political spectrum because of it. I just keep my mouth shut.

What I do know is that this health care bill is supposed to help people. People that don't have health care and that need it. This is a horrible hypothetical, but think about it this way, what if your child was diagnosed with a disease and when you went to your health care provider about it they said that it was preexisting condition and that they were dropping you. And then, you had to do everything you could to make sure your child got medical treatment, so you went bankrupt getting your child the medical attention that they needed. So now, you're on the brink of being homeless and not being able to feed your family and you're still not even sure your child has had all of the treatment that they need but you can't afford to pay any more doctors, so your child is going to have to go untreated. This bill is going to prevent crap like that from happening. It's funny how if you put yourself in the shoes of the people that this might help, it somehow doesn't sound like such a bad thing...

I will admit that I don't understand all there is to know about this bill and I probably never will. I'm not a highly political person, nor do I understand or really care for the politics in this country. But what I do know is that I'm not dumb enough to open my mouth when all I have to say are stupid things that I know nothing, or next to nothing about!

Wheew, rant over. Good day!

Well....the deal is done! I am officially laid off...again! And I'm not sad about it. I'm actually very, very happy! This is a blessing in disguise, or maybe just a flat out blessing. I can't wait until my last day, my short severance, and most importantly, the summer home with my boy!!!

I am going to have the best summer ever. My son will be walking and talking this summer and I'm going to get to experience it, not just hear about it from someone else! We're going to go to the beach and the pool. We're going to take lots of walks with the pooch and just seriously have an amazing summer!

I am lucky enough to have a husband that is okay with this. He is truly the best man in the world. I know things will be a little bit tighter when it comes to money but we can do it. I know we can make this work and I have all the faith in the world that this is the best choice for all of us. Life is good, and it's only getting better.

Here's to no more bosses, no more work, no more employee's dirty looks! HA. Bye Bye jerks...

Yayy! I hope everyone else is doing well. I'm coming to check on you all...more often now for sure!

I know, I know. I'm a big loser and where on earth have I been. Well, I don't freakin know. One day it's February and all of the sudden it's March 16th! Hmmm, where should I begin...

Well, the baby is awesome. He is getting lots of teeth, which is not awesome, but he's a tough little guy so he's been a real trooper with it. He is sitting and crawling like a maniac and standing, which worries me because that means that walking is next and that is so scary. We started swimming classes at the YMCA and he loves it. He splashes around and blows bubbles. He's gonna be my little water baby!

Work is weird. I have a weird feeling that I might be getting laid off, which also might be a little bit of wishful thinking, but I know that's probably not a thing to wish for right now. We shall see.

Once again our renovation looks like it might be happening soon but every time I think that we get knocked down and peg and have to start from square one. We are starting to move our things out of the house and getting the final paperwork finished with the bank so we can get that dough. We're hoping our appraisal will be higher resulting in more cash but not betting on it. There is a chance we'll be living in a house with no appliances or furniture, but hey, at least we'll have a roof!

This past weekend my amazing husband sent me on a spa weekend with two of my best girlfriends. We went here:

http://chesapeakebay.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp

He has a friend there who gave us a hook up and upgraded us to a suite. The suite was bigger than my house! It had a dining room, foyer, two bathrooms, a bar, living room, a gas fire place in the bedroom and the living room...Ummm, it was AMAZING. And on top of that, we had the most amazing spa treatments!! I had a facial, a head/foot/hand massage, a full body massage and a mani/pedi! I was in heaven. Seriously, I know I've said it before and you all may want to gag but I have the best husband in the world. He is truly the best human being on earth. And he thought of all of it himself, he arranged it all himself and he did it because, as he says, "I am a great Mom and wife and he loves me". WOW...

Otherwise, not too much going on. Same old crap. Life I suppose. I hope everyone is doing well. Here are a couple of shots of the boy since it's been so long and he's growing like a weed:

Have a good one Everyone. Hopefully I won't be gone for so long this time...

I am seriously going to be 300 pounds by the time winter ends around here...Eating, drinking, sitting in the house and absolutely no physical activity, unless you count falling down the steps in order to make more drinks, is going to really take it's toll. I guess I won't plan to wear a bathing suit this summer!

So all told we got anywhere from 24 - 30 inches of snow in places over the weekend. Now is the big dig out. It's been slow going because the snow is so heavy!! And when the plow did go by all it did was make a huge wall around all the cars. My husband has 36 inch tires on his Jeep and the snow wall was taller than that!! BUT, The hubby has been working non-stop to get us all cleaned up for....MORE SNOW!

Yes, it is supposed to snow again this afternoon and they're predicting, wait for it.....anywhere from 5 - 20 more inches of snow. HA! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! It's comical at this point. Everyone I talk to is tired of being in their homes and going stir crazy. I honestly don't mind it so much. The more it snows the longer I get to stay home with my two favorite boys and my pooch. No work, no obligations, no where that I have to be except right here in my nice, warm home! We have food, we have alcohol, we have formula and diapers. There's not much more we need! But at this point winter may never end. Damn Groundhog!

The only thing that worries me is that we seem to have a bit of a situation on our back porch. And no, I don't mean a fast talking, Italian guy with ab's. There is water dripping through the roof and along the window seams...The hubby is going to get up there and get some of the snow off so that the roof doesn't fall through but that doesn't make me feel any better either. I'm scared for him.

Here is a time lapse video that someone in my neighborhood shot while it snowed last Friday into Saturday. It's super cool, check it out:






AND - you're all going to love this. I don't know what the hell is wrong with me but, I fell down again this morning!!! This time I stepped on to the front porch WITH THE BABY IN MY ARMS and that water that I thought was on the porch was, in actuality, a sheet of ICE!!! I really am truly an idiot.

I was never quite good at the splits when I was in gymnastics as a youth but let me tell you, I did a pretty good splits today! And guess what...that shit hurts! I now have a very bruised and bloody ankle, a very sore groin and a very bruised inner thigh. But, I held onto the baby. Don't ask me how. I guess it's a Mom thing.

I am now on house probation. I am not allowed out unless someone else is holding the baby and I am accompanied by a stable adult. I think I'm fine with that...

Well, once again the weather-peeps were spot on! It snowed from approximately 10am on Friday until about 5pm today (Saturday). And we have about 22 - 28 inches of snow! It's NUTS! And I am so completely grateful that we didn't lose power because apparently half our neighborhood has no power. My parents lost power but were prepared with a generator and have since regained power, and my in-law's are without now as well!

My boy has now seen more snow in his little life than I think I have in mine! Here we are playing in the snow today:

The hubster and I took turns, okay, I only had one turn, but we went out multiple times to shovel and dig out a little, oh and for the pooches to play so I will for sure be sore as hell tomorrow. The snow is SO heavy it had to be shoveled in layers (hence the major power outages). Beyond that, we've been prepared. We have food and lots of alcohol and, you know, all the non-essentials to make our lives happy. I decided to make the baby some food tonight so I got out the chicken and veggies and fruits and got to work. The baby was asleep and it was also time to get to drinking. We decided, hey, we have a world of slush outside, let's use the snow to make some creative drinks.

I blended up some gorgeous strawberries and combined them with margarita mix, some triple sec and some tequila. I decided, hey, let me run out back and get some snow in our glasses and then I'll fill them up with the strawberry margarita concoction like a margarita slushy. I start heading down the steps in my flip flops (ding! ding! ding! Brilliant!) and then, in slow motion, feel my legs coming out from under me. I screamed my husband's name as I flew through the air landing violently with the concrete steps in my back, my ass, my arm...I don't even know! I think I was in shock! The only thing going through my head was, "PLEASE don't let me be hurt so badly that I need an ambulance because that is going to be impossible!!!"

"Say what?"

My husband and dog were outside within seconds, god bless them, and I was flailing around on the ground trying to figure out what hurts and what the hell just happened. I basically crawled back in the house and got in the shower immediately. My arm was turning black and blue already and I had a big red mark across my back and my ass that felt like it was on fire. I think I was a little in shock - for reals. Currently I am on 3 Advil, a strawberry margarita and a vodka, berry punch because if I don't drink heavily I am very scared of how I will feel.

I can already feel my back and my side tightening up and I fear for tomorrow! I am so thankful that this didn't end up worse, I know, I'm an idiot. I should have just gone walking down a steep flight of snow packed, concrete steps with banana peels on my feet! I'm just happy it wasn't worse and that I'm alive. If I can get some good pic's of my already forming bruises I'll post them. We'll see how thankful I am tomorrow. As for now...liquor + ibuprofin = all gooooood!

Success! and Here we go again...

Well, the trip to Florida was a success. Our little angel did so well on the plane ride there and back. When we landed back in DC on Tuesday and Kai woke up from sleeping the whole trip, he stood up and the woman behind us said, "wow, I didn't even know you had a baby up there, he didn't make a peep!" and I said, "I know, he's such a good baby!". I was a very proud mama.

The baby LOVED the ocean, as I suspected he would! The swimming lessons are going to happen in the next month because this kid is the kind that will walk right into a swimming pool because he likes the water. I plan to make sure he knows what to do once he's in!

When we got home on Tuesday evening, I dropped the boy and the hubby off at home and headed to the store to get the "essentials" since they were calling for snow. As I walked out of the store I noticed that it had begun to snow and the parking lot was a shit show of people trying to get in. I was glad I got in and out when I did. It was tough going from this in the morning:

To this by the following morning:

What a rude, cold, awakening!

So, now it's Thursday and they are calling for a major storm here starting tomorrow morning. "Blizzard like conditions with accumulations ranging from 16 - 24 inches"...My trust of the weathermen, as you know, is not 100% so I'm still a little skeptical, however, I know I'm in the minority when I say, BRING IT ON!

I hope it snows so much that we don't have to go to work on Monday. My office already closed for tomorrow since it's supposed to start snowing in the late morning and they pretty much don't want to add to the mayhem of everyone in the city driving home at the same time causing a total grid lock, and I am very happy about it! I think it's smart and hey, who wouldn't? I get to stay home with my two favorite men, and pooch!

I'll let you know what happens here and our total accumulations once it's all over. How nice it would be to still be sitting on a beach in Florida, but I'm not, so I've decided to embrace winter. I don't really have a choice!!

Oh my god, I know, I know! I've been completely M.I.A.! I'm so sorry. Hmmm...what's been going on?

Well, we had a sick baby for the first time. Not fun, not fun at all!! It was an experience but at least we got through it and know how to deal with it for next time! There is nothing more pathetic and sad than a sick baby. Trying to guess what they're feeling and what they need is almost impossible and all you want is for them to feel better. Then, after the babe got sick, I got it, then the hubby got it. It was no fun in our house!

I have started making the baby's food. I never thought I would but I started reading things and even though I've been feeding him organic baby food I just feel like I can do a better job feeding my kid than anyone else. SO, I went out and bought a whole bunch of produce and meats and got to work. I cooked, I boiled, I steamed and I blended, I froze things and Ta Da! I made a shit ton of baby food! And it's deelish, if I do say so myself! I made chicken dishes, beef dishes, salmon dishes, veggies and fruits. I added spices (not salt), but many spices, to get my little monkey used to eating good food and in the hopes that he will not become a picky eater in the future if he's exposed to the kinds of spices we like in our food now. He has been enjoying all of it and that makes me so happy! Here is a shot of him enjoying his Apple/Blueberry/Banana breakfast one morning:

I can't believe how big my little man is getting! He is 8 months old and I just can't even believe it. It seems like just yesterday he was born, and at the same time, I can't remember life without him! He is just too cute. He's blabbing away, saying "mama" and "dada" and "baba". He has started waving and trying to say "bye bye". He is so on the verge of crawling. He just can't get moving forward. He has the backward motion mastered but that is not the direction he really wants to go. It's truly amazing how they change.

Here he is enjoying a beer with Mommy and Daddy:

We are taking our first family trip on Friday, by plane! We're going to Florida for a long weekend and I am nervous and worried and just hope we can be organized enough not to screw it all up! I hope he doesn't cry and disturb the whole plane. I hope he doesn't have a lot of issues with his ears. I hope we have everything we need, I hope we don't forget anything or bring too much. Oh my god, this is stressful, BUT I am anal and I'm a planner so I think we'll be okay. We're just gonna get to the airport 6 hours early to be safe! Anyway, Sorry I've been so M.I.A. Work has really been busy and I guess life has been too. Sick baby = severe sleep deprivation so there has been nothing on my mind but work and home to take care of the fam. I am going to check in on everyone now. I haven't looked at anyone's blogs in SO LONG!

Hope you're all well! XOXO