Sunday, October 31, 2010

Fall Fun




Well, the cat is out of the bag so to speak. But, I will try not to spend this entire post whining. It has been tough. Chasing after a little monkey, dealing with morning sickness all day long, and twice the exhaustion of the last pregnancy, all while going back to work and having my husband repeatedly leave for Canada! Boo! But that is enough about that.

We are very excited, due May 5th, but I am freaking out. Once again, "hey, let's just see what happens," is not good family planning. Yes, I will not be preggers for Jennie's wedding next September, but I will have a newborn for all of her festivities that I want to make fantastic, such as shower and bachelorette.

Not to mention, 2 kids under two! I know, some of your bloggers have three kids, twins, third on the way, etc. But you guys are better than me... I am not sure how I am going to handle it, the sleepless nights again. I have already thrown the Bfing out the window for fear of totally loosing it. I need advice! Tricks, tips, and also, the ever-comforting, it will be easier when they are older... You will be in your late forties, and all will be out of the house (hopefully). We are done after #2, let me tell you!

But, it is not all panic. There are some hot moments. The extra-exhaustion and the not so terrible sickness this go round leads me to want to think this is a girl... Plus, I have been breaking out, my hair has been falling out in clumps and my mother, who said and I am quoting here: "The witch knows" said it was a girl as well. Don't girl's steal your beauty? Eh, if we had a boy it would certainly make life easier. All the stuff here and ready to go, a few years and Joel will take them on boys things and I will drink wine... But, a girl and think of the outfit possibilities...

Needless to say, we already booked our Disney vacation and will be finding out the sex mid-January.
So that is enough of that for now. I am excited, I am. But I am overwhelmed, frightened and exhausted too. Everything happens for a reason though, so the timing just must be perfect for us!

We have been enjoying other Fall activities. Here is my little monkey man in the middle of one of his common freak-outs. He just goes ape sometimes, pardon the pun. Starts crying, throwing a fit, hitting, and then two seconds later, over. Not sure what brings these things on. I think we really need to start talking soon. At least that might be able to help him communicate what is wrong.

In NH they schedule Halloween, which is so weird. We had it last night and went around the the neighbors we knew. Husband scored a beer. Not bad. We had two little bees visit our house, all evening. It is sad. Growing up I lived on a main street, set back from the road, on the opposite side of the street from the sidewalk, so we hardly ever had trick or treaters. I assumed moving to Hampton Falls we would be the cash cow of trick or treating. People would flock to our neighborhood to score big candy bars. I was wrong. Who is going to walk down our loooong driveways? It takes about 5 minutes to get from one house to the next... Sad. But, we are making up for it today by going to Declan's in Methuen. They do not schedule Halloween there, so we will be camped out on the street passing tons of candy out. I am excited!
We also went up to Maine yesterday, to visit with Joel's old boss. He was having a cider press party. I rationalized my consumption of his freshly pressed cider in many ways, including, it is fresh, it is local, it is my second child, etc. I should probably stop that now and instead really pay attention to the preggo eating rules. But seriously, well-done hamburger? Gross. I miss cheese. I am not going to be preggers again I tell you! I remember watching Giada on Oprah, and she ate non-pasteurized Gorgonzola and told Oprah, "I should not be doing this, I am pregnant." I, pregnant with my first child, was horrified. How could she risk it? What was she thinking? Now, I am having a hard time holding back...

Thursday, October 28, 2010

News

Scariest Halloween costume ever... Wait, it is not a costume... Joel Andrew will be a big brother on or about May 5th!

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Never wake a sleeping baby

Especially for a Doctor's appointment. But, I had to! It was his 15-month appointment. As you can see in the progression of the photos, he really did not want to be woken up. Alas, we made it to the Doctor's office with no time to spare. Mom had also forgotten her wallet and cellphone. Hey, at least we made it there.
The Doctor seemed to pick up on our craziness and decided to tell us that all 15-month appointments are very interesting, usually with the child running around screaming and throwing things. Joel really didn't scream, more whine. And didn't throw too much... But, hey. I guess he is a normal boy then.
Other fun things I learned. I point blank asked the Doctor: "If my son throws his food, can I just take it all away? Yes, he might go hungry a few meals, but will he learn not to throw his food?" I think Dr. Lamm is continually surprised by my "tough love" statements. He was in full agreement with me though. "If he is hungry, he will eat, not throw." Here's hoping for that. Both Dad and Mom are loosing their patience. While Otter and Angus are having a field day. Wait until Grammie sees that her little angel has been throwing food, she will not stand for it. If Joel Andrew thinks I'm tough love...
All in all, a healthy guy! He is 72nd percentile for height, whatever that means. And, comparable for weight and head size. He is growing well, looking good and certainly is developing a personality. His new favorite things:
  • "singing" Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.
  • throwing food, duh.
  • Dancing with the Mickey Dancing toy.
  • Dancing to Reggae.
  • Throwing tantrums...
  • Laughing hysterically when you "bite" him with the pot holder mitts.
  • He can now identify and bring us all the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse characters, and Tigger. We need more Disney stuffed animals to get him ready for our January trip!

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Pumpkin Baby

We had a nice fall Saturday with Auntie Bobo and Uncle Nick today! Pumpkin picking, out to lunch, got some apples, and enjoyed the sunny, yet windy day.
The little guy has certainly perfected his whining lately. It has started to drive Mommy nuts. He also has stopped eating vegetables altogether. Well, except for french fries, if you can count those. The whining has got to end though.
Our photo of the month was a little late this month. But, here it is! It is getting harder and harder to take a good photo of the constantly moving and whining man... Where is my smiley boy?

Friday, October 15, 2010

Wife Carrying Competition

No, husband and I did not partake. But, we had a nice long weekend at Sunday River last weekend for the annual Wife Carrying Competition. The Kings joined us for a mostly good time. We did have a bunch of hiccups. For instance, we noticed on the car ride up that the kiddo's fever was back. Now what do you do? Planning a nice long weekend with your friends who have a kiddo the same age, and now yours is sick? Well, we all toughed it out. Thank you, Kings for being so great!
The next big bummer, Angus - our not-so-bright-farting-but-cute-french-bulldog, ate something bad, and almost died. Husband spent all day at the animal hospital with him on Saturday, and we had to leave him there over night. It was a close one, and so sad. But in the end he toughed it out and is back to normal.
The rest of the weekend was spent trying to enjoy the festivities. There was a pretty good craft fair where we bought some awesome hats for the kids. They had a "kid" area, but it was more for bigger kids... There were ponies, and beautiful scenery. The Dads went for golf. We went out to eat a few times which ended up being crazy. I think only Sunday River knows how popular this weekend has become yet, the other restaurants seemed clueless! Hopefully next year they will be better!

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Baby Tricks

Nana and Pa are back down south, so I better get better at my blogging!

I just thought I would update you to all of the baby tricks we have now. I know, he is a human being and not a dog, but husband and I seem to really enjoy teaching him some fun things.
  • He can now identify his belly, nose and his head. I taught him belly. Nose and head? Daycare? For years I tried to teach him his nose. Those who went to Montana with us will remember a particularly funny moment after a few glasses of wine when I complained that my son does not know where his nose is. Well, he found it, all of the sudden!
  • Husband thought it would be funny to teach him "The Situation." This is when we say "The Situation" and Joel proceeds to lift up his shirt and to the side exposing his belly. For those of you who do not know, it imitates one of the Jersey Shore people. For the record, I do not approve of this one. But Joel does a really good job in imitating The Situation.
  • Go get... We can now mention any member of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Joel will go and get them and bring them to us. Donald, Minnie, Mickey, Goofy, Pluto. Still a little iffy on Daisy but almost there. And, yes, of course we bought a stuffed animal of each of these.
  • Put the clothes away. Still a work in progress, but isn't Grammie going to be so impressed? I am getting him to put his dirty clothes in the hamper! Unfortunately, I did not think to check the hamper before doing laundry and found that Joel must have thought a stuffed animal and a plastic snake also needed to be cleaned.
That is all for now. I have been meaning to write a post entitled "To Mini van or not to Mini van..." That will be a long one!