Cha-Cha-Cha-Chia!

I think this is totally awesome. James thinks I am crazy. There are baby trees growing on our carpet on the porch. You know all of those fluffy strands that fall off of what ever kind of trees are in my back yard? I think this is the result. With all the rain and the carpet being a few years old and collecting dirt and such, the seeds are able to sprout! My suggestion is that we plant grass on the carpet like a giant chia pet! Nice clean grass free of Dutch presents! So, is it an awesome idea or am I crazy?

Big Brother

I have been trying to get a good picture of Dutch with William. So far this is as good as it gets. Thanks for the bandana, Grandma! For the record, it is not easy to get a dog and baby to pose for a picture!!

Dutch age 9 1/2, William 7 weeks

Moving out

At night, William has slept in a bassinet in our room, right next to mommy since he came home from the hospital. While James was gone to Jamaica, William decided that he was outgrowing his bassinet and displayed this new found way to show me - by spinning himself around in the bassinet and hitting his head on the wall of the bassinet. He wouldn't cry, I would just hear him making frustrated noises because he couldn't spin any more. So, when James came home we spent 2 more nights in the bassinet until we got our replacement crib tent. Sunday night William spend his first night alone in his room, sleeping soundly in his crib, only getting up once or twice to eat and to get his diaper changed. Last night was night two and he did well again! He went to bed around 10:30 last night and was asleep until 4:30am! Yay William!

Dishwashers - the truth!

I always believed that there was no sense of prewashing dishes that are heading into the dishwasher. I know some people who do this, quite a few in fact. I don't understand why all these people find it necessary to spend the time and waste TONS of water to wash dishes that are going into a dishWASHER.

I was reading some tips and tricks on saving time and resources the other day and guess what - prewashing your dishes IS a waste of time and resources and may actually leave your dishes less clean! Dishwasher detergent is formulated to stick to and destroy food on your dishes. So, if you wash the food off, there is just soap floating around with nothing to do!

So, save yourself some time and money. Just scrape off your dishes and put them into the dishwasher. Mother nature and your wallet will thank you!

He rolled over!!

You read the title right! William rolled over tonight! He rolled from his tummy to his back! I am sure this was a random fluke, but it is still exciting! He can stand up if we hold his hips and now this! I am going to have a mini-me athlete!!! Track scholarship, here we come!

I think I got part of it on video. Once I get it onto the computer I will post it!!

Ergo giveaway on make-baby-stuff.com

I have lots of new momma friends out there. Want an Ergo carrier? My new favorite website to explore is giving away an Ergo! Click this link to find out how to enter. Lots of cool stuff on this website, including home made wipe liquid recipes!

Meeting My Hair Twin

One of my favorite blasts from the past came up to meet William last night! We haven't seen Eric in almost a year. It was so good to catch up and have some tasty food. I made shrimp jambalaya!

Hey, we have the same stylist!


I know this didn't come out all that well, but I think it is so sweet! William was trying to snuggle with Eric as he was trying to leave!

Kitty Teeth Cleaning

Zuleika and Fritz went to the vet yesterday for dental work. As many of you know, Zee has teeth problems and had to have 4 teeth pulled a year and a half ago and has to get her teeth cleaned and checked every year. Fritz has never had his teeth cleaned and once I discovered that one of his teeth looked purple and that his breath smelled horrible, we allocated some of our tax money to get this taken care of before it became a problem. Noone wants a cat with a mouth infection!

Well, I totally expected Fritz to come out missing teeth because his back molars looked really bad. He came out with all his teeth still in his mouth but might need one or two pulled next year. Zuleika was not as lucky. Zee has a genetic tooth disorder which causes non-cavity dents in her teeth. They feel like cavities to the cat and are extremely painful. She has been getting sick every night for the past two weeks and her food has not been chewed. But, her teeth didn't look as bad as Fritz's teeth. She ended up getting 3 teeth pulled. So she now has no teeth on the bottom right and top left of her mouth. 7 teeth pulled in the past 1.5 years. Poor baby.

Zee was on pain meds when she got home and was so high. Fritz was also on something but not nearly as funny as Zee. Fritz paid us back by finding one of William's pacifiers and destroying it. They also took a loaf of bread off the counter and ate part of it and broke into their treat cabinet and got out two bags of treats and ate them too! I guess they had the munchies!

Zee is now on pain meds for 5 days - this should be interesting!

5 Weeks and Growing!

Our little boy is 5 weeks old! My father let me borrow his camera so I was able to take a ton of pictures with a really nice camera. Hopefully I can figure out how to use it to the best of its abilities soon! Here are a few of my favorites. I know he is looking more like James as he ages, but I can really see myself as a baby in some of these pictures, especially the last one!

I took these while he was playing on his mat.

I took these two while he was sleeping in his crib.

My Mom

Tomorrow is Mother's Day. It is my very first mother's day ever and I am very excited to spend the day with my family!

But who I am writing about today is my mom. My mother is an amazing person. She does so much for us kids. Growing up she was the firm hand that kept us disciplined enough to do our homework without being told to do so, she encouraged us to do activities that we were good at and enjoyed. For me, I was an athlete and aeronautical junkie. My mom made time to come to my track meets (my most important sport), helped me ensure that the winter track team would exist one year, brought me to the doctor when I pushed myself too hard and needed long term pain control so I could still run and not let down my relay team, the list goes on. She stayed by my side when I broke my arm playing soccer and needed surgery, then proceeded to be my physical therapist at home - pushing me to work on my arm so that it worked properly later in life no matter how much it hurt to walk my hand up the piece of tape on the porch door.

My mom stayed by my side, lent a shoulder, took time off of work and literally came to my work place to force feed me when I had a major break up in my early 20's. She supported me when I decided to move to VA to start a new life and to get away from the life I had in NH - so I could learn who I really was and what kind of person I wanted to be. I had not been on my own ever until the day I left for VA - I cried like a baby until I got out of New England, and I am sure my mom did too.

My mom treats my dog Dutch like her grandchild. She takes him to the lake for the weekend, buys him toys, lets him sleep over, comes to let him out on a daily basis, bakes him his own cookies and buys him his own tub of vanilla ice cream. She even makes him a new winter coat every year.

My mom is now the primary care taker for her in-laws. She tirelessly answers phone calls, coordinates medications, doctor appointments, interviews caretakers, and rushes over to their house when there is any type of a potential medical emergency. She spends her days off basically babysitting my grandparents because it is what needs to be done... and these aren't even her own parents.

My mom virtually single-handedly planned my wedding in a matter of a week. Who can do that?? I know - MY MOM!

Now that I am a mom, I find myself thinking about all the dumb things that I did as a kid and young adult and how my mom reacted to my behaviors. I also find myself planning my "mom style" based off my mom and my Memere - something we all swear not to do BEFORE we have kids. Well, if I am half the mom that my mom is I think that my children will be very lucky.

Happy Mother's Day to my mom! I love you and can never thank you enough for all that you do for me and the family.