Growing up Matthew style

I was tucking Matt into bed the other night and as I usually do, I leaned over his little body and propped myself up on my arm so we could sing our usual bedtime songs and end with fishy kisses. Matt began squirming a little and told me that his side was itching and hurting him. So I pulled his shirt up and decided that we'd put some lotion on it to help.

I grabbed the lotion out of the other room and when I came back into his bedroom he told me that Daddy had forgotten to put it on him after his shower, so we decided to load up all over instead of just that one spot. After putting the lotion on his torso and arms, I pulled his pj bottoms and underwear down to get to his legs and hiney. (Nothing worse than a dry, itchy hiney!) Matt was holding his shirt up and watching me apply the lotion when he informed me that his pee-pee was sticking out. (And just to clarify - not really "sticking out" but it was just there...and in his mind, sticking out.)

"But it doesn't stick out like Daddy's does," he says to me.

"And I don't have feavers like Daddy does eiver."

One Year

February 6, 2008 marks the one year anniversary since Bob passed away. A lot has happened this past year and not a day goes by that something doesn't remind us of why we loved him so much and just how much he is and will continue to be missed like crazy.

Robert resembles Bob from the wispy hairs on his head, to the similar baby pictures from Bob's childhood, down to the little chubby crooked pinky finger.

Matt not only talks about him constantly but continues to act like Grandpa in his carefree, crazy antics.

Every trip to Hamden is a reason for Megan to mention the trips to the convenience store where Grandpa would buy his hard rolls and a treat for her during the time he used to babysit for us.

And those same trips to Hamden always include a drive past the cemetery where he is buried and is cause for a chorus of "Hi Grandpa, hi Mimi, hi Grimpie! We love you and miss you!" to come from the back of the car from both kids. (And most recently, Matt has added a greeting to God in that grouping.)

Everyone in the family has dealt with this loss in different ways. Some moved past that moment in a steady gradual movement and others are continuing to struggle every day, looking for that happy or at least calm place in their lives again. But no matter how we've managed to move on or how far past the sadness we've pulled ourselves, his memories continue to stay with us.

Bob was always willing to lend a helping hand, and the way that he loved his family, his grandkids, the Red Sox and Notre Dame, can not be compared. He may not have been a perfect man or lived a perfect life, but he was about as passionate as they come. If he were here to tell you himself, I'm sure that he would agree that although he wasn't quite done, he managed to live a full life. And I thank my lucky stars every day that he was a part of mine.

Bowling - The New Contact Sport

We decided to take the kids bowling on Saturday to introduce a little something new in their lives. (And break up the monotony of our typical Saturday morning.) We went to a place right around the corner from the house that only offers duck pin bowling, which we figured would be perfect for the kids. Smaller balls + bumper lanes = easy handling and guaranteed scoring!

Before we even left the house, Megan started in with her typical, "I don't want to bowl" excuses and I figured we were doomed before we'd even begun. However, once she walked through the door her tune changed and surprisingly enough she was quite enthusiastic about it the entire time. (Perhaps the idea that she was able to wear new shoes helped the matter.)



Matt started us out, being that he is the youngest, and although he was coached by Daddy prior to rolling his first ball down the lane, he immediately adopted a style unique to himself. A little turn here and a little spin on your release and you too can be a duck pin master like Matt!

Megan stuck with the tried and proven technique of rolling between the legs but quickly proved herself to be as good a bowler as her Mommy. (Which is to say that we both stunk at this!) We both seemed to have decent enough techniques but there was something happening on our release that left us bouncing off of the bumpers. (Thank God for those bumpers!)

After a LONG and drawn out 10 frames we managed to make it through the game with only 3 melt downs. One was from Megan when she decided to hold onto the waiting balls while a return ball came barrelling up the shoot, smashing her fingers in between. (Even though we had told them both countless times to "get your fingers out of there!!") And twice from Matt. Once when an old crotchety man who evidently proclaimed himself the evil, duck pin, child terrorizer decided to yell at Matt for investigating the spot where the balls came out. And the second time when Megan smashed her finger and Matt arbitrarily decided to join his tears with hers.

Final scores? I don't remember exactly but I am a big enough person to admit that Matt beat me. Hey, back off! I still managed to kick Megan's butt!

Everything AND the kitchen sink

It's been a long couple of weeks, making the most boring part of winter feel even longer, darker and colder than usual. And although February is right around the corner, with the corner being this Friday, I sometimes feel like the months of January, February and March will go on and on forever.

We began the year with an emergency trip to the hospital which turned into an overnight stay. Along with an ear infection and bronchiolitis, Robert managed to pick up RSV and the next 10 days were filled with steroids, antibiotics and breathing treatments. Although I began to honestly believe that I would never see him as a healthy, happy, smiling child again, we actually reached the light at the end of the tunnel and this is what we ended up with:


Of course, that lasted for all of a week and half and we are now back to snot encrusted noses, difficulty sleeping at night due to some major stuffiness and a lot of whine. (Not the good kind of wine...) Oh my, the whine that comes out of this child. I don't know if non-stop crying would be
easier to listen to but when you're stuck with this noise - well it's just far too difficult to describe.

See the shine above that paci? The return of the SNOT!!

On Friday, I walked into the school extension program and found Megan with a bright pink cheek and nice little ding under her left eye. One of the boys was throwing something in the trash and evidently Megan's face happened to get in the way. She says he was throwing out some pasta but I've never known rotini's to be quite so dangerous before. So who knows what the real story is...none-the-less, she ended up with her first black eye.

Kind of difficult to see in this picture but honest, Ronzoni left his mark

And then there's Matt...always Matt. The kid who is forever entertaining us with his crazy and sometimes questionable antics. Here he is sitting in Robert's Bumbo chair and looking like he'll prove us right after all about riding on the short bus someday!

Lounge lizards

Loose teeth and boyfriends

Megan lost her first tooth a little over a week ago at Grandma's house and no one even knew it was loose to begin with. Apparently she was eating a lollipop at the time which got stuck on her teeth and as she was prying it loose discovered a missing tooth. She stuck out her tongue to show Grandma and there it was. Sitting right on the tip of her tongue.

Amazingly, our drama queen handled this with flying colors and is now the proud owner of not only one little gap in her bottom front teeth but also, as of last evening, a second loose tooth right beside that one. She has been wiggling it like crazy in anticipation of another visit from the tooth fairy.

She also proceeded to tell me last evening that she has a boyfriend. Ricky, is his name and she says that she likes him because they went to pre-k together, they talk all the time and because he wears a cute hat. (All very legitimate reasons to have a boyfriend these days.)

In trying to understand how my little kindergartener thinks when it comes to this little boy, I inquired about how they "became" boyfriend and girlfriend. She said that while talking to him yesterday he said to her that she was his girlfriend. So I asked how she responded and she replied, "I said, well I guess that means you're my boyfriend then."

So there you have it. Nice and easy. No passing notes like we used to do in elementary school stating, "I like you. Do you like me? Will you go with me? Yes or No. Please circle one." (And by the way, where did the phrase "go with me" or "going out" come from? Where did we think we were "going" back then? To the lunch room? Maybe to the playground?)

Oh, and about that cute hat that Ricky evidently sports to school every day...it's brown and white with a little brim on the front like a baseball cap, but it's not a baseball cap, it's a different kind of hat. And it's cute, as in cool cute, not baby cute, so let's just make that clear right now.

Second Skin

-From A Second Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul

My favorite pair of old jeans will never fit me again. I have finally accepted this immutable truth. After nurturing and giving birth to two babies, my body has undergone a metamorphosis. I may have returned to my pre-baby weight, but subtle shifts and expansions have taken place – my own version of continental drift. But that’s okay, because while the jeans no longer button, the life I exchanged for them fits better than they ever did.

For me, this is a barefoot, shorts and T-shirt time of life. I have slipped so easily into young motherhood; it is the most comfortable role that I have ever worn.

I love the feel of this baby on my hip, his soft head a perfect fit under my chin, his tiny hands spayed out like small pink starfish against my arms. I love the way my 8-year-old daughter walks alongside us. On gorgeous spring days, the breeze lifts her wispy ponytail, and we laugh at the way the sunshine makes the baby sniff and squint.

I am constantly reaching out to touch them, the way a seamstress would two lengths of perfect silk, envisioning what might be made from them, yet hesitant to alter them, to lose the weight of the wholeness in my hands.

On those rare mornings when I wake up before they do, I go into their rooms and watch them sleeping, their faces creased and rosy. Finally, they squirm and stretch themselves awake, reaching out for a hug. I gather them up, bury my face in them and breathe deeply. They are like towels just pulled from the dryer, rumbled warm and cottony.

My children curl around me on the sofa in the evening, often falling asleep, limbs limp and soft against me like the folds of a well-worn nightgown. For now, we still adorn each other, and they are content to be clothed in my embrace. I know there will be times that will wear like scratchy wool sweaters and four-inch heels. We will have to try on new looks together, tugging and scrunching, trying to keep the basic fabric intact. By then, we will have woven a complicated tapestry with its own peculiar pattern, its snags and pulls and tears.

But I will not forget this time, of drowsy heads against my shoulder, of footy pajamas and mother-daughter dresses, of small hands clasped in mine. This time fits me. I plan to wear it well.

Little version of Daddy...

I am determined to get a better picture of this little guy. It seems that every photo I take he either has a very determined, puckered lip look or this sad little look of disinterest. But let me tell you, when he sees his Daddy, his face literally lights up. (The only time I can get him to give me a smile remotely close to that is when I'm tickling him and even then it's hit or miss.)

And while his shirt says he's a "little version of daddy" it's mostly that I'm told his current size is the equivalent of Daddy's when he was a baby. However, this child is the spitting image of his grandpa Bob as a baby. Boy do we miss him!

Update - new and improved - now with pictures and of course some ramblings too

I've obviously neglected my duties here in order to keep you informed of our travels along with gratuitous pictures of kids. So consider this my "month of December update".

We started the month out at the annual Yacht Club Christmas Party during which pictures were taken of the kids on Santa's lap. But they really weren't very good so, sorry, no pics of this event. (Honest, there really were pictures taken. I had neglected to charge my camera and even went as far as to borrow the MIL's camera for just this purpose.) Anyhow, Megan and Matt both got to sit on Santa's lap and Robert would have too had he not fallen asleep in my arms. But all three kids came away with some great gifts and had a fun afternoon.

The following weekend, we had a little "freak" snow storm that no one seemed to know about. It began around 3:30 in the afternoon and by the time I left work at 4:30pm, it had created a nice mess. Unfortunately, that mess led to an accident in which I managed to total the Pacifica. And somehow, although I was the third accident in a line of six on that steep hill, I was the only vehicle that was not able to drive away. It made for a long evening, hanging out at a stranger's home (very nice strangers, by the way), waiting for the police to show up and then the tow truck. Which of course Matt was ecstatic about because he got to see "Mater". (The tow truck from the movie Cars.)

Bill swears that I did this just so I could get a new car. I'll have you know that while I'll freely admit that I'm crazy, I'm not stupid and I would never put my kids in harms way on purpose, like we ended up in that evening. I'm sure it will be a long time before he let's me live this down but at least I've blown that theory out of the water. Let's move on, shall we?

For the next two weeks, as if we didn't have enough on our plates already with Robert's Christening and Christmas coming up, we began our hunt for a new car. We settled on a 2005 Honday Odyssey, which I have to admit, I absolutely love. Not only does it ride nice but the storage in this car is just unbelievable! The kids get in/out easily on their own, no more climbing over center consoles or struggling to put seats down so someone can get into the third row. I'm looking forward to our first trip to BJ's in it so I can prove to Bill just how much more room it has for all that bulk shopping we do!

(I just re-read that paragraph and it still amazes me just how much my life has changed that I am actually excited over a mini-van, storage and bulk shopping. Who would have thought?!) (And yes, that is my car in that picture.)

The weekend of December 15th rolled around which was the weekend that we planned to have Robert baptized. Of course a double snow storm was predicted and before the weekend ever rolled around we were scrambling to come up with alternate arrangements for God Parents. As it turned out, only Mom and Dad were in attendance as they were able to make the trip up from PA in between the storms. So while Dad stood as a proxy for the God Father, my MIL stood in for the God Mother.

We joked that if we had waited any longer to have him baptized that he would have been able to walk up and dunk his own head into the water. In reality, he really was the biggest baby there, among a sea of teeny-tiny 3 month olds. Oh well, the sacrament was received without a hitch, and then there was plenty of food back at the house to last us for the next few days due to the low guest attendance rate.

What was that? You want to see pictures of this event too? Yeah...ummmm...still didn't charge my camera.

But my MIL had her camera with her! Of course, she was standing in as a proxy so that meant she couldn't very well take pictures at the same time.

But my Mom was there and had no other duties to perform!! So she took pictures!! Did I mention that she's electronically challenged? No? Well, she is. I also think that she has an undiagnosed electronics phobia. Yes, she's petrified to use strange computers, cameras, DVD and CD players...and the list goes on. This phobia also renders her incapable of utilizing the common sense gene for actions like holding a camera still while snapping pictures. So while she did attempt to take some photos, only one came out (one that I took by the way) as all of the others appeared to have been taken by someone who had a bad case of the caffeine shakes. So when I get around to scanning that one itty bitty, beautiful picture, I promise I'll share it with you. Until then...you're out of luck.

Now, while my parents were in town, we were successful at something and that was building a gingerbread house. Mom patiently helped Megan and Matt, well mostly Megan, but occassionally Matt, decorate a pre-fabricated gingerbread house. (What? Did you think I actually had the time to bake these individual pieces? HA! Nice one!) But guess what? I managed to get pictures of it too! Never mind that they were taken a week later when I finally remember to charge the camera. They were taken just in the knick of time too as the two little devils in the picture were just itching to tear that thing apart. Which they promptly did as soon as I gave them the ok.

So this brings us up to Christmas. I end this post with more pictures and just a quick blurb that Christmas was a huge success. The kids are at such a fantastic age right now that I'm just having a good time watching them 'believe' in the magic. Oh, and their favorite gifts were their Leapsters which I honestly believe have been surgically implanted to their hands.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!!

Robert, looking like he's being squished and is about to lose his breakfast...


Chillin' next to his Lightening McQueen CD player - KACHOW!

See? Surgically implanted Leapsters.

Don't be messin' with the exersaucer!

More Bitty Baby clothes (as if she needs more)

Yes, every picture must have the "cheese" or "mouth open wide" pose

Posing with her new big girl bedroom set

And here's the "open wide" pose

Too busy to post

I promise to have some pictures to share but I'm way behind these days. Between preparing for the holidays, Robert's Christening (12/16), and everyday life, I'm finding it hard to accomplish much of anything. But here's something for you to think about until I get around to coming up with something better:

Matt, to me, on the way home last night: Mommy, how old is God?

Me: Rrreeeeaaaallllyy old Matt. Ask your Daddy when he gets home tonight.

Bill, to Matt, later in the evening: He's 43!

(Nice try Bill.)

Manners 101

While Bill and I are both fully aware that our children are no saints, by a LONG shot, we've been told by some that the kids are actually pretty well behaved when we let them out of their cages to roam within view of the public eye. But we still hammer the kids on a daily basis about their manners.

Megan is pretty good about this. She remembers her please's and thank you's, covers her mouth when she sneezes and coughs, uses a napkin when eating, and is pretty good about being considerate of others. (Although she definitely has a bossy side that we are trying to tame...)

Matt is the tough one. On a good day, he'll remember to cover his mouth when he sneezes. But on an off day, when he just feels like getting under our skin, he'll quite blatantly refuse to do so. Those off days tend to occur more frequently than the on days.

Although we'll probably still be lecturing the kids about these things when they're 27, it's nice to know that some of the things we've taught them do actually sink in occassionally. However, we seldom reap the rewards of our efforts. Maybe because we are just Mom and Dad and are undeserving of routine manners in the eyes of our 5 and 3 year olds. (Oh wait - the 15 year old is pretty much the same too!) (Robert - you're off the hook on this one.) But Wendy, our babysitter, will sometimes tell me when the kids have gone out of their way to be kind.

Last year, when Megan was still going to daycare a few days every week, Wendy was telling me how demanding her kids can be. (By "her kids", I mean the kids in her care.) While the other kids were forgetting or neglecting to use any manners, she informed me that it was refreshing to hear Megan politely ask for things that she wanted.

Because Megan was standing there when she told me this, I used that opportunity to prove our point to her about how nice manners can be, how good it made the other person feel and how manners will get you so much further in life. And she gets it. That's just how Megan is. I just have to remember to not take that for granted with her.

Matthew, being the terror that he is, has us believing that he is the exact opposite of his sister. Well Wendy has once again proven to us that we must be doing something right. She told me the other day that she had walked into the room with kids everywhere and commented about having no place to sit. Matt proceeded to jump off of his chair and said, "Here Wendy. You can have my seat." She said it brought tears to her eyes and as she told me the story, I could feel the same thing happening to me. I've always called him my little man and when he does things like this, it gives me glimpses into the wonderful man that he will grow up to be.

Robert, you've got a lot to live up to baby boy! But lucky you, we'll be hounding you about these pesky manners just as hard!

He's far too quick, this kid

There's a new Nationwide Insurance commercial on the radio these days. Well, to be honest I'm not exactly sure how new it is, maybe it's just new to me. It starts out with a guy and girl in their car, driving down the road and he's commenting about how great her hair smells and ends in an accident. Of course everything in the middle is absolutely the type of meaningless, childish humor that I get a kick out of. And as it turns out, so does Matt. (Hence the aforementioned childish...)

On our ride home the other evening, the commercial came on and the rest unfolded something like this: (And remember, I'm paraphrasing here...)

"Mmmm...you're hair smells great! I love the smell of lemons."

"Thanks! It's my new shampoo called Scentalicious. It changes scents every three seconds."

"Mmmmm...now it smells like cherries!"

...giggle, giggle from the girl voice

...and now I notice in my rear view mirror that Matt has a goofy grin on his face as he's listening to this.

"Mmmmm...now it smells like....OH DISGUSTING! IT SMELLS LIKE COW SH...!"

"LOOK OUT!"

Honking horn, screech, crash, bang (sounds of auto accident)

And as the commercial wraps up with the Nationwide Insurance Info on accident forgiveness, Matt shouts out, "COW POOP! HE WAS GOING TO SAY COW POOP MOMMY!" All while laughing hysterically.

Happy Halloween!

Another successful Halloween has come and gone with tons of loot left over at the house as evidence. (Note to self: any candy still remaining next year will be placed in plastic eggs for Easter baskets just like last year.)

The kids had a blast and no one complained about being tired at house #5 this year. In fact, the only one who was exhausted was Robert who promptly passed out on Daddy's shoulder at the very last house. What a trooper! (Ok, props to Dad who carried him all night! How's the back this morning Bill?)

This year, because the kids all went dressed as 3 of Bill's favorite sports teams, we made Daddy dress up as the referee as well. He added the hockey helmet since he was carrying the Bruins player around the neighborhood.

Matt cleaned out each house, either because he quickly got back in to double-dip before we could catch him or because he was told to take more candy due to the Red Sox costume.

So it was a lot of fun and the kids loved their costumes, but I have to admit that I'm a little disappointed. It's just so much more fun to paste the pictures everywhere showing Bill in a kooky costume with the kids. This year was pretty tame...but I always have the year of Winnie-the-Pooh to hold me over!

New tricks

Robert is growing up so fast these days. He's laughing a little more when provoked, is much sturdier when in a sitting position and has figured out how much fun it is to jump and bounce around. Time spent in the bouncy seat is slowly being replaced by his Bumbo chair (although he only lasts in this for a few minutes before growing bored) and his "jumpy" thing-a-ma-bob. I have no idea what this thing is called these days so I simply refer to it as "the jumpy". He absolutely loves his jumpy and can be found hanging, jumping and twirling from the doorway at any given time.

This is the lovely stationary stage, which will be replaced all too soon by the mobile, won't sit still, can't keep up with him and can't get anything accomplished around the house, stage.

Summer weather - Fall fun

We took the kids on an impromptu trip to Lyman Orchards over the weekend. This was my first trip there and I was pretty impressed with the corn maze that they created. In fact, they had copies of the mazes over the past few years and I never realized just how extensive the designs were. This years theme was spider man:

Bill helped them find their way through the maze while I sat in the shade with a sleeping wee-one. (I guess I need to stop calling him that - he's not so "wee" anymore.) From there we wandered over to the hay ride. Although now that I think about it, there was no hay, so I guess, technically, it was just a horse and wagon ride. After that we picked out the perfect pumpkin for carving. Here are the pics from our day.

Hanging out by the duck pond

Entering the lazy man's pumpkin picking patch-heck with wandering a field, just pick from the pile!

The end result

...and Chunky Monkey

Robert went in for his 4 month check-up and our little chunker weighed in at 18lbs 8 3/4 oz!! (26" long). We're just about ready to ship him to his cousin Karen in Japan!

"Hey Karen. Can you get Robert to his Sumo training class on time for us?"

Not only is he outgrowing his clothes but he's also outgrowing the 'oversized' kitchen sink!

Notice the strategically placed bubbles

Chug Monkey

While eating out Friday night, Matt asked if he could play a video game when he was done. We of course agreed as this pretty much guaranteed a speedy inhalation of his food. So when he finished his PB&J, Bill dropped some money into the machine for Matt to play away.


Sounds innocent enough, right? HA! You must have forgotten who the parents are of this child!


Matt could be found bellied up to the bar, playing a rousing game of Chug Monkey. The object of the game was to have your monkey catch the mug of beer as it came sliding down the bar and chug it before catching the next one. The more you caught, the drunker your monkey became. Obviously this meant that after a few successful catches and chugs the more difficult it became to catch those brewskies! Occassionally the monkey would slide right off of his bar stool and onto what I'm sure must have been a beer covered and peanut strewn floor. He was a trooper though, that monkey. Because he would crawl right back up onto the stool and continue on.


(Reminds me of a few people I've partied with in the past!)

Driving 3 year old

Conversation between Matt and Daddy yesterday in the car:

flick, flick, flick

"Matt, don't play with the window controls."

"Because if I put the window down, it won't come back up, right Daddy?" (BMW on it's last legs - or windows, right now.)

"Right buddy."

"And if I pull on this handle, the door will open and I will fly out."

"That's right Matt. Don't play with that either."

"And if you pull on your handle, you will fly out the door. But then I will climb up front and drive."

The kid is always thinking...

Baby blue eyes

...teaser continued...

Check out those little blue peepers!

Sneak preview

Because you've harrassed me unmercifully about pictures, I broke down and gave in last night. (No, I'm not mentioning any names. cough Aunt Alicia cough) I delayed this poor child's bath and bottle in order to charge my camera and give you what you want. (Do you feel guilty yet?)

And then I thought...why give in so easily? Make her wait for it! No full facial shots and no complete body shots. You'll get to view him and all of his glorious chubbiness in person on Sunday. So here you go...

Peek!

Baby toes - YUM!

More rolls than an italian bakery, as the saying goes (Cankles...see?)

Cankles continued...

The other night Bill and I were discussing just how chunky Robert is. Bill grabbed his leg and said, "as you would say, the boy has cankles!" He moved his hand just a little further up his leg and said, "no, make that thankles."

To which I replied, "I think they're more like stankles."

(Get it?)

(Thighs + ankles = thankles)

(Stomach + ankles = stankles)

(Oh, nevermind. I found it funny but it kind of loses it's comedy when you have to explain each word.)

(sigh)