Hot Seat Answers

So here is the first of the "Hot Seat" questions....

Sharon, an old (almost lost) friend from jr high/high school, asked me "What do you enjoy most about being a Mom?"

To me, the most enjoyable thing about being a mom is just knowing that I, along with my husband, created this little person. I created, gestated, and birthed him and now I am raising him. Watching Devin grow and develop has been amazing. I thoroughly enjoy seeing how he changes each day. Devin is becoming a very humorous, loving, and caring boy.

His newest thing is, "You okay Mommy?" whenever I say OW or he thinks I might be hurt. How sweet is that?

The next question comes from Lisa, my wonderful friend from Babycenter. Lisa asks, "What is your dream house/location?"

My dream house is located in North Carolina. If I were brave enough (and not such a Mommy and Daddy's girl) I would want to move there for the beautiful weather, gorgeous scenery, cultural and calm living, and beautiful weather (wait did I already say that?). I would own a 2,400 square foot ranch style home with four bedrooms and three bathrooms, a wonderful playroom for the kids, gorgeous master bed/bath, a two stall garage, and a screened in pool with hot tub nearby. (Not that I've thought about it at all!) Ahhhh, if only it was meant to be.

Please feel free to post more "Hot Seat" questions!!!

Hot Seat

Due to my boring life and lack of exciting things to blog about, I am stealing this idea from LauraC. Thanks Laura, I hope you don't mind!

Is there anything about me, Devin, my family, job, life etc. that you would like to know? Is there some pressing question you have just burning to be asked? Please post it and I will respond in my next post.

Memorial Day Parade

Here are a couple of pics from the Memorial Day parade in Manchester. We went to see my dad, who marched with the Vietnam Vets, and to enjoy the music by the city's school bands. The first one is my Dad with Devin checking out the ARMY truck.

Devin LOVED waving the flag at the passers-by! He also enjoyed shaking his booty to the music performed by the many different school bands.


I hope everyone enjoyed their (hopefully) long week-end. Back to work tomorrow!!!

ZOO

We just got back from the zoo. It was a lot of fun. The zoo, Stone Zoo in Massachusetts is rather small, but that mkes it perfect for taking a two year old!! We spent about 2 hours there this morning, walking around and enjoying the many different types of animals.

We saw Black bears:




And a jaguar, whom I must add was very photogenic!



We also saw owls, wolves, a bat, reptiles, birds, many unique animals, and of course barn yard animals. Over all we had a great time and Devin enjoyed seeing and learning about the creatures!

Somewhere Over the Rainbow......

I took this picture on Thursday evening, right in front of my house. Please enjoy!

Long Week-end

I sit here, in my ever so comfortable recliner, at 12:34 am on Saturday May 24th of Memorial Day Week-end. Erick and I finished watching Mad Money about an hour ago and now he has moved on to watching I Am Legend (without me) while I surf around on the internet. I know that tomorrow morning we will both regret staying up so late. Hopefully Devin will sleep late tomorrow...errrr this morning!

Saturday is going to be our family day (yes, Erick has the WHOLE week-end off!! Can you believe it??) We haven't decided for sure what we are going to do, but we are thinking about going to the Stone Zoo in Massachusetts. We are also going to return something to Best Buy (an external hard drive or something???) and buy a program (Leper, maybe? I sure do hope Erick knows more about this computer stuff than I do) that allows us to put Microsoft (and others...) programs on to our MAC. This will be great because one of the only problems I have been having is not being able to open attachments or type documents. Hopefully that program is easy to use and solves our problems!!

Sunday we are having a BBQ with our friends, the Beaulieus. This is always a good time. Their son, Pierce, is 3 1/2 and is a good little playmate for Devin, even though he is slightly older. More good food and good friends. :)

Monday we will go to yet another BBQ, this time at my parent's house. It will be nice to see them, my brother, and most likely my Grandmother. The weather for the week-end is supposed to be nice, each day getting warmer (starting at 68* and going up to 80* by Monday).

Happy Memorial Day everyone! Don't forget to take time to reflect on why we have this holiday!

Anyone Out There???

I am not sure if this is actually "ok" for me to post...lol....but I figure :

Its my blog and I can post what I want...post what I want to....post what I want to....you would post too, if it was foooor you..... (were you singing along?)

Does anyone even read this thing? I am not sure how entertaining I actually am, and if anyone really checks this. I guess I am the kind of gal that needs a little postive reinforcement. (slightly embarrassed)

No Mommy

Devin's favorite word seems to be "NO!" Often he pairs this word with "Mommy" and that results in a phrase that drives me batty... "No Mommy." He says it with this deep whine, like I am hurting him. For instance, when I get him water but he wants milk, "Noooo Mommy." If I am trying to get him in his car seat and buckled up, "Noooo Mommy. I do it!" When I try to hold his hand to walk in public areas, "Noooo Mommy!"

Monday I took Devin on five errands- the post office, the card store, Fashion Bug, CVS, and Old Navy. He was (nearly) good as gold in all of these places. I couldn't have asked for better behavior from a two year old. Yesterday I took him to Old Navy to return a shirt we had bought the day before. I needed maybe five minutes all together to look for the right size and to return the wrong size. As soon as we walked in the store he began SCREAMING!!! He was trying to run away from me, hitting me, and screaming so I plopped him in time out right there in the men's shirt section. This, though, made him scream more. Associates and other customers began coming over to "peek" at the scene. I was so embarrassed!!!! Needless to say, as soon as time out was over we made a beeline for the register, returned the shirt, and left!!!! Ugh.....

Just before bed last night Devin was in an extremely cuddly mood. He has not been that cuddly in a while. Maybe that was just his way of apologizing to me and letting me know that my sweet boy was still in there....somewhere!?!?!

Birthday Celebration

Devin attended his first friend birthday party on Saturday. Little Miss Emma turned 2 last week and we joined them, and many others, in celebrating Emma's milestone. The party was great, with good company, good food, and beautiful weather. It couldn't have been any more perfect!

Here are a couple of pictures from the party: Devin and his friend Emma, Devin attempting to blow out the party favor, and finally...my reaction of Devin eating a fistful of ketchup! HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMMA!!!

Good friends, Good times

This week-end was filled with lots of laughter and fun with my best friend in the whole wide world, Erin. Erin and I have been friends since I was 2 and she was 1. We think this is quite an accomplishment and we are pretty proud of ourselves for being there through it all! Sure, there have been times when we were not as close as other times, but the reality is that we are friends forver- long lost sisters if you will!!

Saturday Erin called and said that she and her boyfriend Shaun had gotten a hold of some Red Sox tickets and asked if we would like to join them that night in Boston. Of course Erick and I, being HUGE Red Sox fans, jumped at this opportunity and after confirming that my parents would take care of Devin we were off for a very long night of fun! The game was at 8:35. It did not get over until midnight and then we proceeded to continue our evening at a local bar. There was lots of fun and adventure, and we did not manage to arrive home until 4:00am!!!! Needless to say, I can not remember the last time I was out until 4 am!!! Actually, I don't even know if I have ever been out that late at all!!! LOL

Here are a couple of pictures of our night.

For some unknown reason Fenway chooses to sell some (a lot) of their tickets three in one row and one behind them. Erick was a great sport and took the lonesome seat, while Erin, Shaun, and I sat if front of him.



Sunday we celebrated Erin's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY AIYAH!!! (Aiyah is the name Devin gave to Erin, his Godmother). We had a nice relaxing time hanginging out, eat, and enjoying eachother's company. Here is Erin opening up some of her gifts.

One of My Favorite Moments

Its a picture of a picture, which is kind of silly in itself, but its one of my favorite moments of all time. A day or two into my four day hospital stay following the very scary emergency C-Section birth of Devin, I awoke to see Erick holding and cuddling our newborn baby boy (Erick was not quite asleep, but his eyes were definitely shut!)

I was instantly convinced that he would be the best Daddy!!! Erick is wonderful father and husband. He loves to spend time with me and Devin. In fact, Erick often tells me how he does not understand men who do not want to see their wife and kids/spend time with the family. Erick's favorite part of the day (he will tell you this if you ask!) is walking in the house after work because he is greeted with a (usually) smiling wife and happy toddler yelling, "Daddy! Its my Daddy!"

The Pledge

I just saw this on another May Mommy's blog and thought it was definitely worth reposting. As mothers the following points are important for us to remember and reflect upon. As I read each of the items I find that 90% of the time I DO follow "The Pledge." Its the other 10% I need to work on!


I will not sit in judgment of other mothers.

I will be supportive and understanding when I see someone else having a bad day, struggling with their child’s behavior, etc.

I will acknowledge that we all love our children and we’re all doing the best we can to raise them, but we will all make mistakes sometimes.

I will remember that parenthood is a journey, not a race or contest, and it is full of twists and turns, and more than anything else, full of lessons to learn.

I will remain strong in my faith in myself as a mother and not let others make me feel incompetent or unsure.

How many kids?

How many kids is too many? How do you know what number of children is right for your family? Its such a personal decision. There are so many factors to consider. We think 2 will probably be the perfect number of children for us. We have decided this based on several things- money, space, time, patience....and so on.

Staying on this topic for a minute, I came across this article regarding the perfect number of children for one family.

So what do you think?

New Computer

My COMPAQ laptop pretty much died yesterday. It has been "acting up" for a while now (think...months and months of frustration) so Erick tried replacing the hard drive over the week-end. When that didn't solve the problem (it got better for maybe a 1/2 hour and then got waaay worse) we realized it was the motherboard. We had been told it was probably the motherboard, but were in denial because we didn't want to have to buy a new computer. The laptop is only 2.5 years old. Darn technology dies fast!!!

Anyway, we decided to go with the Mac Book this time. We had heard lots of good things about Macs lately and thought- it certainly can't be worse than our dying laptop!!! So now we are in the midst of learning a new operating system. It is a LOT different than a Windows system, not bad, just different ~therefore there is a lot for us to learn!

Feel free to pass on any tips if you use a Mac!!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mommies out there!!

I started my day by sleeping in (something I have not done since New Year's Day I believe) and I didn't get up until 10:30 when my BFF, Erin, text messaged me to wish me a Happy Mother's Day. It was pure bliss! We went to visit my parents, especially my Mommy, in the early afternoon.

Here we are:

After this we went to see Erick's parents. We ended up at a Mother's Day party one of Maggie's (my MIL) friends was hosting. We had a decent time. My lil monkey was pretending to be shy at first and then became a little ham...making everyone laugh with his attempt at spanish words and his cute little booty shaking!

Here is a picture of Devin and his Grandpa Smith:

Cute

I think Devin is having a particulary "cute" day! He is melting my heart today.

He woke up from nap in a cuddly mood. It was entirely what I needed too. As he is hugging me, he is rubbing my arm and proceeds to say "I wove you Mommy." Awwww!!! A few minutes later he picks up a star bath toy (that was in room, why??? no idea) and says "Whasis?" (What's this?) I told him it was a star and so Devin busts out with "inkle inkle...." He then kind of dwindles out and then picks back up with "E-I-E-I-O" I didn't even realize that he knew how to sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" well, sort of sing it , and then for him to combine it with his other song of choice was just too darn cute!

He has now been singing his new song to everyone who calls- Grandma, Erin, Daddy.

TAG

Wow, so 3 days in to this blogging thing and alredy taggged. Thanks Bridget!

4 Jobs I have had in my life:
1. Sears sales associate
2. Child care assistant
3. Classroom teacher
4. Literacy Teacher

4 Places I’ve Lived:
1. Manchester, NH
2. Nashua, NH
3. Hudson, NH
4.

4 TV Shows I Watch/Watched:
1. Desperate Housewives
2. One Tree Hill
3. CSI: Vegas and Miami
4. House Hunters

4 Places I have Been:
1. Las Vegas, Nevada
2. Orlando, Florida
3. NYC
4. San Antonio, Texas

People who email me regularly:
1. My mom
2. Erin
3. myspace
4. babycenter

4 of my favorite foods:
1. pizza
2. roasted chicken
3. ice cream
4. iced coffee

4 Places I Would Like to Visit:
1. San Diego, Cali
2. Hawaii
3. Paris, France
4. Italy

4 Things I am Looking Forward to in the Coming Year: (not necessarily in correct order)
1. vacation
2. time with my family
3. bringing Devin on lots of day trips this summer
4. relaxing

4 Friends who I’m Tagging:
I think everyone already did this!!! If I find someone who hasn't I will add them on later.

Doctor's visit

Last week Devin went for his 2 year old check up. The doctor was very impressed with his ability to speak in multi-word sentences and his growth. For the first time in 2 years we only need to buy one kind of milk as now Devin can have skim milk! Yay! That is very exciting (to me anyway!)



After his visit we were sent for blood work. Have you ever taken a toddler for a blood draw? Eeee Gawd it was awful! He sat on my lap while Daddy held his arms down. When the phlebotomist stuck the needle in his arm- Devin gave her the DIRTIEST look like "What the hell lady??" And then he proceeded to scream and cry. It was very dramatic and very sad. Until, that is, the prize bucket came out and she let him pick not just one, but two matchbox cars. That cheered him up a bit. Well that plus Mommy and Daddy brought him to Applebee's. Now tell me he isn't like his Daddy?



The result of the blood work came back today. No food allergies!!!! Wait, did I even mention he was getting allergy testing because of a reaction to shrimp that he has had? At any rate, the doctor said that all of his results were absolutely "normal" and that we shouldn't be concerned at all. Apparently, shrimp just doesn't agree with his stomach but he isn't allergic. Well, now we know. The best part? I can give him PEANUT BUTTER now!!!

Vacation, OVER

So tomorrow I head back to work. Erick and I both had last week off. 9 days together, no work. It was very exciting! Well, the thought of it was very exciting. The week itself was kind of crappy. After having 2 weeks of nearly PERFECT weather (mid to high 70s and sunny) it rained and never got above 55*. BLAH

To top it off, Devin is teething like a mad man. Those 2 year molars are giving him such a hard time and making him SO CRANKY! Whine whine whine!!! That's pretty much what we heard ALL week! I mean, don't get me wrong, I feel bad- I feel terrible- knowing that he is hurting that much. But come on, the whining is like fingernails on a chalkboard. It gets to me.

On the plus side, Erick finished several home improvement projects. YEAH! He put in new faucets in both bathrooms, new towel holders, and a new kitchen sink and faucet. I am so proud of my handy man! If you know him at all, you will know that he doesn't really know a lot about this sort of thing. My dad is teaching him, which is wonderful and admirable all at the same time. Erick loves learning from my dad and my dad loves teaching him!

First Time Blogger

So, here I am jumping on the blogger bandwagon at the suggestion of my friends, Lisa and Kaycee from Babycenter. I feel like I should have something fun and witty to say, but alas nothing is coming to mind for the "spectacular first post." Oh well.

I hope over time to have this blog grow with me. I hope to "figure" it out and to be able to do all of the very cool things I see my fellow bloggers do on their sites. For now, it is what it is...