I Finally Saw the Boys!


Yay! It was very exciting, I tell you! I was going to go alone, but then Ed announced that he would like to see Ryan and Isaac too, so the three of us went together. Luckily, Grandma was also there, so she got to play with the girls while I cooed over the boys and Ed talked to Scott about sports. It was so weird to pick up Isaac for the first time. After lugging around 26 (or so) pounds of Abby on a regular basis, to hold a 5 pound infant was like holding a ragdoll. My mom had the opposite problem when she tried to pick up Abby after holding Ryan for awhile. But both boys are very cute and tiny and sweet. :)


Unfortunately, I remembered to bring my camera, but neglected to actually use it. You'll just have to keep depending on Becky to provide the pictures. Claire was in rare form. Usually she doesn't want to have much to do with Abby, but she actually got excited to see her and played with her very nicely. I guess the baby brothers made her more receptive to other kids. It was nice to see the two of them together. Just wait until next year once Abby is able to keep up with her. That should be fun.


Other than that, it's been a lovely, non-eventful weekend. We didn't even leave the house at all yesterday. Who wants to go out in the yucky rain? Abby was thrilled to have a day at home with both Mommy and Daddy. She hasn't gotten too much time with the both of us together recently. It's only going to get worse, but at least it's just temporary. Things will go back to normal in January.

Wacky Week

And the worst is yet to come! All I wanna do is go visit my sister and Ryan, but just haven't had a chance yet. Boo! Oh how I wish I could be a stay-at-home mommy. Tomorrow I work late because of the first bookfair of the season and then Friday I have a huge lunch-time event. I've barely seen Ed all week. He umpired the late games on Monday, he umpired the early games yesterday and then had a 10pm enrollment, then tonight he's umpiring again and will have to go to bed almost as soon as he gets home because he has to get up at 4am. Blah. My mom is watching Abby tomorrow afternoon and then Ed will pick her up when he's done for the day.

I guess it's good preparation for the upcoming months. November and December are going to be hellish around here. It's the busy season for both of us. I'll be working late almost every weeknight starting in the middle of November until the second Tuesday in December. Then I'll be working most weekend days. I have no idea when I'll get to spend any time with Abby. I guess I'll just keep her here in the mornings and then take her to daycare around 11 so I can have enough time to get ready for work. We're going to have to depend on my mom an awful lot...she'll just have to take Abby with her when she goes to Becky's house to help her out. Is it January yet?

Blahness

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate Mondays? Cause I hate them a lot. We didn't even have our usual Monday Morning Manager's Meeting because my manager came in late. That really sucked because not only did I get there at 7:00 for no real reason, but it made the day seem much longer. At least I took my shower last night, so that was an extra half-hour I got to sleep. Woohoo.

So, Becky and Ryan are home. Yay! Read all about it on Becky's blog. Hopefully Isaac won't be too far behind. I would like to be able to come visit this week, but that depends on how everybody's schedule works out. Between taking care of Claire and Ryan and getting to the hospital to see Isaac, Becky's days are pretty full. I have to work around my work schedule and Abby's schedule. Plus, Ed has a crazy schedule this week between enrollments and umpiring, so he's not much help in the Abby department. But, I will try. I'm dying to see my nephews! :)

Tonight is the beginning of the television season! Hooray! Heroes and How I Met Your Mother, two of my favorite shows, start tonight. If you don't watch HIMYM, you must start! It's one of the funniest shows on tv and way underrated. That's my television plug for the day. Prison Break and CSI Miami, two more of my shows, are also on tonight. Our DVR definitely works overtime on Mondays.

Off to try to get a little rest while Abby takes her post-daycare nap. Have I mentioned how much I hate Mondays?

A Little More Baby News

Well, the good news is that Ryan will move in with Becky later today. Yay! :) She's actually staying until Sunday, so he'll be going home with her then. The not-as-good news is that Isaac will still have to stay for another two or three weeks. Poor little guy. Even once his breathing is acceptable enough for him to leave, he still has to learn how to suck and whatnot. Right now he's being fed through a tube, so he's got a lot to learn. I'm sure he'll figure it out quickly.

Everything else here is same old, same old. Apparently my daughter thinks she's a cat, as evidenced by her attempt at eating a handful of catfood at my mom's house. My mom's pretty sure she got most of it out of her mouth, but she may have swallowed a piece or two. If nothing else, at least it will be a good story to torment her with in six or seven years! As long as she doesn't start meowing, it's all good.

Does anybody else watch America's Got Talent? I love, love, love Nuttin' But Strings! Having played the violin (very poorly) from the 5th grade until I graduated from high school, I know how difficult an instrument it is to play. These guys play their violins beautifully, while playing their own compositions, while infusing hip-hop with the classical, while dancing and stomping around the stage. It's crazy and awesome. And that's my plug for everyone to vote for them. ;)

More Baby Talk

Sorry, still no pictures, but Scott has been just a little distracted. The babies are doing about the same. Ryan is still strong and may be out of NICU in a couple days. Isaac spent most of the day in a "baby house" to help keep him warm and to minimize any outside stimulation. He just needs to chill right now. The x-ray they did of him this morning was looking better than yesterday's, so that very good news. They should keep getting better every day.

Becky actually did get to go up to see them last night. Apparently the night nurse was more accommodating than the earlier one. She's seen them on and off all day today and actually got to nurse Ryan and hold Isaac. She's still trying to wrap her head around the fact that both babies are hers. Physically, she's in a lot of pain from the c-section. She's mad at me for telling her that the c-section wasn't that bad. I never said it was a day at the park, but I really didn't think it was too horrible. But they did have to pull two babies out of her, so that can't help matters too much.

Since I was actually off today, I was able to go visit again. I didn't see the babies because Scott was home with Claire and it's not that easy for Becky to get up to NICU. In order to see a baby in NICU, one of the parents has to accompany you. The grandparents are allowed up by themselves, but they can't bring anybody else with them. It's all good, I know I'll be seeing them plenty at home before we know it. :)

Becky is scheduled to come home on Saturday. Not sure about the boys yet, but we'll all keep our fingers crossed that they'll both be able to come home soon.

The Boys are Here!

My adorable nephews Ryan and Isaac, that is! Go to Becky's blog for full details!

Photo Dump

New pictures! Yay! Enjoy these because I didn't get to do the cool photo birthday party invitations that I was hoping to do. Ran out of time and decided I didn't want to spend the money. Generic Sesame Street invites it is! Speaking of her birthday, I went to Toys R Us today to get her birthday presents. Their Fisher Price baby toys are 30% off, so I got her a couple of cool new things. One more thing I can check off my to-do list.

Okay, now the pictures for real.

Trying to get her Cheerios out of the Snacktrap. If you don't have one, I highly recommend it!

Cheese, glorious cheese!

Cruising in her hot ride.

Saying "Hi" to Daddy after her nap. We keep moving her crib further and further away from the wall because she keeps trying to grab the video monitor wire.

Playing with her very cool house, thanks to our friends Dave and Deb.

Well, that's one way to deliver the mail!

Yeah, we're in trouble already.

Yet Another Busy Weekend

Someday I'll be able to just relax on the weekend. Yesterday we went to a 4th birthday party. The weather was horribly hot and humid, so sitting outside was not particularly comfortable, but we made do. Abby finally got over her anti-crawling-in-the-grass stance and starting crawling all over the place. Oh well, so much for being able to keep her contained outside. She had fun with her friend Paige, eating Mommy's mac and cheese and Daddy's ice cream, and swinging in the baby swing. Mommy was happy when we finally went inside. I hate hot.

Today we invaded Becky's house for a girl's-day brunch/mini shower. Becky got some very cute clothes to add the boys' closet (which is huge by the way...I wish my closet was half as large!). The nursery was finished by the grandmothers and Scott yesterday and is cute, cute, cute! Planes and trains as far as the eye can see. Anyway, good food, good conversation, no kids (besides Claire). It was a very nice change of pace. Hopefully we kept Becky's mind off her discomfort for at least a little while.

Now to order invitations for Abby's party. I need to get them out ASAP. I'm such a slacker!

Sickie-Poo Baby

Poor Abby is not feeling good today at all. She sounded a bit congested last night and this morning, but apparently it got worse while she was at daycare. By the time I picked her up, her poor little nose was running like a faucet. She felt warm too, so I took her temperature and it was a little high. She didn't want to take a nap when she got home, so I just tried to keep her occupied so she would forget that she didn't feel well.

One thing's for sure, being sick doesn't diminish her appetite. She still had a full dinner (a handful of Cheerios, a whole level 3 dinner and half a jar of carrot dices) plus 4 ounces of a bottle before she went down for the night. I made the mistake of trying to clear out her nose with the bulb before I put her down and she cried like I was killing her. Oy. I finally got her calmed down enough to put her in the crib, which just got her started again. I cuddled her a little more and then put her down for good. She cried for a couple of minutes, but then went down. I can tell she's still congested, but at least she's sleeping. She's at Ed's mom's tomorrow and my mom's on Friday, so at least she'll get plenty of love and attention while she doesn't feel well.

Hopefully it will be a quick thing because we're supposed to go to a birthday party on Saturday. It's for our friends' 4-year-old son. I always look forward to their parties because, much like mine, the food is always good. ;) I'll have to remember to take a blanket for Abby and I to hang out on, since it's probably going to be outside (if the weather cooperates) and she won't stand for just being held by us the whole time. She doesn't walk yet and she is very much opposed to being in the grass, so a blanket it is! Their backyard is pretty big, so it shouldn't be a problem, but I guess I'll e-mail Deb just in case.

Sunday is our get-together, mini-shower for Becky, but with her now being on bedrest, who knows what is going to happen with that. Hopefully her hospital appointment on Friday will go well, so we can still have it (at her house). I'm sick of looking at the huge baby bag of boy clothes that's been sitting in my room for over a week now. It was kind of novel to shop for boy stuff, but girl clothes are still much more fun! Anyway, happy thoughts for my sister please! Let the boys cook for just a little longer and let her be able to stay home until they're ready to join the world!

11 Months Old!

Wow, where has the time gone? In just a month I will have a full-fledged one-year-old! So weird!
Anyway, our biggest accomplishment this month was the mastering of the pulling up. She's so good at it now that she can even use a wall to pull up on. She gets into everything and makes us laugh all the time. She's getting much more independent and will let you know exactly what she thinks at all times. She understands the word "no," but mostly thinks it's funny when we use it. She's a fighter at daycare and doesn't let the other kids push her around. Her favorite things are laughing and eating...and I mean eating! She hasn't met a food she doesn't like...including the fruit dices that she had a questionable first experience with. Now she loves them too. She is the most amazing little person and I couldn't love her anymore if I tried. :)

Official monthday picture (complete with top teeth):

Yay for Baby Sales!

Target and BRU both have some rocking sales starting tomorrow. Target has lots of baby stuff on sales, including clothes, Gerber 2-packs (I think they're 89 cents each) and diapers. Their Luv's boxes are $15, if you buy 2 you get a $5 gift card. Go here to print out 2 $2 off a Luv's box Target coupons and then combine those with any manufacturer's coupons you have and you can get a pretty good deal. I'm going to go early tomorrow before they sell out of the size 4 boxes. Saving money is fun!

So, how 'bout that rain today? It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be...but it was still a lot of rain. Now it's just windy as heck. At least tomorrow is supposed to be nice for the Raven's opener. Not expecting much from them this year, but much like the Orioles, I still like to root for the home team. At some point tomorrow we're also planning on dropping by Becky's to drop off some baby stuff she needs back. I went through all the clothes I had to pull out as much gender-neutral stuff as I could. At least she should be okay on onesies and sleepers, if you count the gifts she's received/will receive. But with two babies, who knows how much is actually enough.

Abby is now up from her late nap. Time for dinner!

Wacky Day

I had to go to a work meeting downtown at 5. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate to drive downtown? I'm not a big fan of driving period, but it's even worse down there. I get confused and flustered and nervous and it's just bad. Unfortunately, due to baby-related timing, I had to go by myself so I was forced to drive. Luckily it was at the Holiday Inn, so it wasn't too hard to find...but still. Blah.

The meeting was okay. A little dull, but at least I was being paid for it. I had to be out of there as soon as it was over because Ed had to umpire the late games tonight, so I had to get home to take over baby-duty. I had been wondering earlier whether or not the garage there took credit cards, because I never have cash on me. In my rush to get the heck out of there though, I forgot to check. Naturally, as I get to the booth, I notice the sign that said "No Credit Cards."

Argh! Who doesn't take cards in this day and age? Luckily for me, my work peeps happened to amble along at this time, having made a pit stop before heading out to their cars. One of them was awesome enough to lend me some cash so I could get out of there. I have no idea what I would have done otherwise. Stupid, dumb non-credit-card-taking Holiday Inn garage!

Anyway, when I got home I was dismayed to discover that Ed thought it appropriate to let the baby take a **very** late nap. I had to wake her up at 7:40. Good times. She was a little perturbed to be woken up like that, but got over it once I put her in her highchair and put some cheese shreds in front of her. She had cheese, a level 2 "Pineapple Glazed Ham" jar AND an entire Gerber "Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Glazed Carrots" side. That child loves to eat! She ate all that and even drank 3 ounces of formula an hour later before I put her down for the night.

Monday at her Gram's house, she tried zucchini and raw tomato for the first time. She loved both things. The only food that she's tried so far that she hasn't loved are those Gerber fruit dices. I'm pretty sure that's just a texture thing though. She actually got so upset when I put one of those in her mouth that she made herself throw up. Not cool. Sunday was hilarious. I made my famous (in my "circle" anyway) mac and cheese. I took a plate of it outside where we were sitting on a blanket with Meg and Paige and Kathy. I was feeding Abby some of it one noodle at a time. Needless to say, she loved it. After my plate was gone, Meg somehow wound up with Conner's uneaten plate of it, so she started to feed some to Paige. My shameless child sees this, double-time crawls over to Meg and proceeds to perch herself next to Paige on Meg's leg with her mouth wide open. It was absolutely hysterical. And very, very sad at the same time. Oy.

Busy Weekend

Abby and I will be running all over the place this weekend. Just as long as she gets her naps, it should be fine. I'm just relieved that we didn't go to Hooper's Island this year...the traffic on the Bay Bridge is a nightmare right now thanks to the decisionmakers in Annapolis who decided to shut down part of the bridge for repairs....on Labor Day weekend. Oy.

Anyway, this morning Abby and I went to the grocery store to pick up the weekly sale items and to get the ingredients for the mac and cheese and sausage cheese puffs I'm making for Claire's party tomorrow. Yum! Later we have to run to Ms. Erin's house to drop a couple things off and then we're running to BRU so I can take advantage of their rocking Labor Day sales and get Isaac and Ryan some gifts. At some point, I also need to find time to actually make the mac & cheese and sausage puff mixture.

Tomorrow we're going to Becky's for the par-tay. Hopefully the weather will cooperate since it's supposed to be outside. Then Monday we're going to the in-laws' house for my MIL's birthday. Actually, that reminds me of the other thing I have to do sometime in the next two days...pick up her card and gift. Oh, did I mention that Ed's playing in a softball tournament for most of today and tomorrow? Hopefully his first game won't be until later tomorrow morning so I can sleep in a little. Sleeping in makes me happy!

New Abbyisms

• We found a new favorite food...Mashed Potatoes. Yummy! I actually made dinner early tonight because Ed had an 8:00 softball game. She had already had her dinner, but we kept her in the highchair while we ate. I thought I would give her a little bite of my mashed potatoes to see if she would like it. Uhhhhh...yeah. She definitely liked it. When she wasn't eating them, she would look from me to my plate to me to my plate until I would give her another little bite. She's definitely her father's child!
• Today she discovered how to climb. She was having a "Daddy Day" and he called me at work to tell me that she managed to climb on top of her little Fisher Price table. He said he saw her put one leg up and before he knew it, she was in a crawling position on top of the thing. He tried to get a picture, but she decided to get down before he could. She is also working on climbing stairs. She can't really do it at home because we have the staircases blocked, but she's done it at daycare and at Aunt Becky's house. At daycare she'll actually knock the gate down, climb over top of it and get about three steps up before starting to cry because she can't figure out how to get back down. Gotta love it.
• Apparently she needs to work on her sharing skills. My daycare provider calls her "The Attacker" because if another child has the audacity to try to play with a toy, my daughter automatically has to have it. Oy. This also goes for pacifiers.
• The other day she decided to crawl to her nursery. The door was only halfway open, so she crawled in, sat in the doorway, looked right at us, gave us a big grin and proceeded to throw the door shut. Heh.
• Ed discovered that Abby has two new teeth! The ones on either side of her top teeth are just coming in. We were surprised because she's been in a really good mood for the past week. The only time she was unusually fussy was when she woke up crying at 6am on Monday. But other than that she's been a pleasant as can be...we weren't even looking for new teeth. Ed just happened to see them when he was giving her her bottle this morning.
• The funniest new thing that she does is to carry things around in her mouth. She figured out that if she keeps a toy or her sippy cup in her mouth, she can crawl around and still have it when she gets to the other side of the room. She'll also keep it in her mouth while she's standing. See exhibits A and B below:

Never a dull moment, I tell you! :)

So Much to Think About

Can you believe that it's almost September already? Crazy, I tell you! And thus begins the season of craziness around here. Between the end of August and the beginning of November, we have 12 major birthdays to deal with (if you count the yet-to-be-born twins). In order of date, there's Claire, my MIL, my BIL, Abby, my SIL, Ed's grandmother, my mom, Becky, Ed and my FIL. And that's just the family. If you throw friends' kids in the mix, there's also Meg's daughter Paige in October and our friends Dave and Deb's son Jeremy in a couple of weeks. And right after all that madness, it's the holidays. No wonder we're always extra broke that time of year!

Since fall is officially sneaking up on me, I'm really starting to think about Abby's birthday party. I'm going with the Sesame Street first birthday theme because she loves Elmo. S.S. is pretty much the only tv she watches...and she really only pays attention when Elmo is on screen...or when there's singing. I found a really cute Elmo "It's My First Birthday" shirt up for bid on E-bay, which I'm hoping to win for cheap. Don't anybody go bidding against me now! ;) I got some cool S.S. party favors for free from work, but now I can't remember what I did with them. Hopefully I'll figure it out soon!

At least her birthday is in the beginning of fall, when it's cool out, but not cold. That way we can still have people outside for the party, which helps when your house is as small as mine is. I just have to decide whether to do the cookout food (burgers and hot dogs) or not. I think I'm leaning towards doing it that way just because it's cheaper and easier to coordinate. I only have so many crockpots to prep stuff ahead of time, and it's a pain to do lots of things that need to go in the oven. Of course, I'll still do other non-grill things. I'm still deciding on the menu though...and I'm always open to suggestions/demands. :)

I'm hoping that Ed's friend Eric's wife will make Abby's birthday cake. She does beautiful work. Check out the wedding cake and groom's cake she made for her own wedding:

Hopefully we can afford her. She's actually met that Ace of Cakes guy and is on his short-list of go-to bakers to recommend to the customers he has to turn away. Pretty cool, huh? I'm probably just going to do the smash cake myself. AC Moore has small, 5-inch cake pans for fairly cheap (especially with a coupon). That way I can just decorate it with plain, white icing so I don't have to worry about dye getting all over her. I think about these things!

Okay, my head is spinning. I have to stop thinking for a little while.

Don't Wanna Go To Work!

It feels weird to still be home at 11:40 am on a Monday, but I have an event tonight, so I don't go in until 12:30 today. Which is awesome and sucks all at the same time. I usually hate Mondays because I have to be there at 7:00 for our Monday Morning Managers Meeting, but I skipped it today. I thought that meant I would get to sleep in a little this morning, but Little Miss Abby had other ideas, which I discovered when she started crying at 6:00. Not fun at all. I was planning on taking her to daycare at 8:45 and run a few errands, but that didn't happen. She started getting cranky again around 8, so I put her down for a nap and called daycare to tell them that we would be there even later than planned today. At least she got a couple extra hours of sleep (and so did I).

This weekend was fun. Saturday I worked (which actually wasn't all that much fun), but then I went straight to Becky's for Claire's family birthday party. Ed and Abby got there before me and had fun with the kiddie pool. Apparently Abby went under water by accident, but she wasn't phased at all. She just held her breath and then looked around once Ed got her up while everyone was fussing like, "What's wrong with you people?" She's a natural born swimmer, I tell you!

By the time I got there, she was very much ready for a nap, so we set up her pack-n-play and put her down. At least Ed and I got to eat without having to do the baby switch-off, so that was nice. Claire got lots of presents and was more than a little over-whelmed. All of her older cousins wound up opening the gifts for her. She just wanted to play with the opened toys in front of her. Can't really blame her there. :)

Yesterday was a nothing day. Abby and I ran to Target for a couple of things and then didn't leave the house again for the whole day. After all the running around we've been doing since late last week, she was very happy about that. Today, she was thrilled to be back at daycare with all her friends. And now I have to get ready for work. Happy Monday everyone! ;)

Fish Face!


Usually when I make the fish face at her she just laughs at me. Today she decided to try to mimic me. She's so funny!

TV Addict Moment

Did anyone else watch Project Runway last night? It was awesome. They had to design for drag queens. It was classic, I tell you. How many times on that show is the goal to be as over-the-top as possible?

In baby bargain news, there is a printable Target coupon available online right now for $1 off any Luv's jumbo. They're on sale right now for $6.99. Go to www.babycheapskate.blogspot.com to get the coupon. Personally, I love Luv's. They're nice and stretchy and I've never had any problem with them. I'm going to stock up! :)

Oh, and Superfresh is tripling coupons next week (actually, starting tomorrow) for coupons up to 99 cents. Plus they have lots of good sales coming up. I'm going to have to strategically plan my grocery shopping tonight so Abby and I can go after her morning bottle tomorrow. Yay for saving money!

So Sleepy

But I'm afraid to try to go to sleep until I know I can't keep my eyelids open another minute. Ed has to wake up at the butt-crack of dawn tomorrow, so he's been asleep for a couple of hours now. Since I won't get to fall asleep to the sounds of the television like I normally do, I'm just playing on the computer until I'm sure I need to go to bed. I'm just about there.

In happy news, I'm off for the next two days! Yay me! I had to work on Sunday and I work on Saturday, so I get two weekdays off. I was supposed to be off today and my mom was going to babysit as usual on Friday, but she did something to her knee (too much crawling around on the floor with the grandchildren) and was afraid that she wouldn't be able to handle Abby. So, I switched my schedule around (thank goodness my position allows me that power) so I could be off on Friday instead. Abby wasn't supposed to go to daycare today, but my daycare provider is awesome and was more than happy to take her anyway. So, it all worked out.

Since I'm off, tomorrow I'm going shopping with my mom (who's feeling better) and Abby sometime after her morning nap. Abby's nap, not my mom's. Then Friday Abby and I are going to visit Aunt Becky and Claire Bear so I can prep a couple dishes for Claire's family birthday party on Saturday. I work until 4 the day of the party, so I'll only be an hour or so late. Ed and Abby are going to meet me there so I don't have to waste time going home first. Should be fun and informal...Becky is ordering pizza since she can't really cook at the moment. I'm going to make my Garlic Salad Dressing of Death (aka Chiparelli's Salad) and garlic bites to go with it. Yum!

Okay, I think the final stages of exhaustion have set in. Good night!

Mommy, Look What I Can Do!

Now that Abby has discovered the joys of pulling herself up, she's doing it constantly. She finally figured out how to stand herself up in her crib yesterday. Good times. Hopefully she won't figure out how to climb out of there anytime soon.

To add to the crib fun, twice in the past three mornings she has woken up completely soaked. Apparently she is just a pee-pee machine. The first time we thought it was because we are still trying to squeeze her into size 3 diapers (up to 28 lbs my dupa), so we put her into a size 4 last night. She woke up this morning soaked again. Nothing like having to change crib sheets at 5:30 on a Monday morning. Blah.

Heh...as I was typing all that, I started to hear frogs croaking. Wondering how we could have gotten a sudden infestation of frogs in the attic, I went to investigate. Apparently the cat, who loves to try to sleep in the baby cradle we've been keeping up here, managed to step on the "soothing sounds" button on the side of said cradle and turned on the nature sounds. Silly kitty.