Giving thanks

As I grow older (and hopefully wiser) I find myself becoming a little more pessimistic about things that I would never have thought twice about in the past. Since we moved to Cheshire more than two years ago and had the "pleasure" of finding out (the hard way) that our home was built on top of barite mines, I sometimes feel like the bad times just keep rolling in. As they say, "the hits just keep on coming"! Having dropped close to $15,000 into closing that sinkhole, Bill and I were no longer able to fix up the house that we had hoped would be our little dream home in which we raised our kids, made many happy memories and lived happily ever after. Or at least until the kids were off in college and Bill and I escaped to tend bar and run dive tours in Turks and Caicos.

The smarter, happier side of me has to slap that crabby side around sometimes in order to remember that, you know what? We've got it pretty darn good. Sure, we're caught up in a law suit that could take years to finalize and even then we might never see a dime. And we can't sell the house we're in order to downsize, perhaps allowing ourselves a little more financial freedom. And yep, Bill needs a new car (or at least a heating coil) because he has no heat, which of course means no defrost either, and he just trying to make it through the winter before breaking down and buying a new one. (Ask him about the lack of A/C during the summer heat with only one window that would go down and find out which scenario he enjoys most!!)

So with Thanksgiving upon us, it's time for me to express my appreciation for all the things that are right in our lives. Bill and I have our ups and downs like all couples do but we'll soon be celebrating 9 years together in January and 8 years of marriage in May. We are blessed to have four beautiful kids, three of them together. Two of them happen to think that the sun rises and sets on their big brother Bryan and I'm sure Robert will be feeling the same way too by next year. We're all healthy and we just happen to be lucky enough to be surrounded by loved ones on both sides of the family. There's always plenty of food on the table and darn it, it might be a money pit, but we still have a roof over our heads. (For the time being anyhow.) (See, there's that pesky negative side of me again.)

There are so many people out there that are less fortunate than we will ever be even during the lowest points in our lives. There are those who are no longer on this earth and for all we know there might even be some who are celebrating their last Thanksgiving with us and don't even know it yet. I am so thankful for the times that we've shared, the lasting memories that we created and the happiness that these relationships have both given and received.

May you have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving celebration. And may you remember that without the bad times in our lives the good times wouldn't be quite as sweet.

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!

Ole!

Early Halloween celebrations? Nope. Just a stop off at our favorite Mexican restaurant. Which leads me to my rant today.

While waiting for our waitress, we were teaching Megan how to say various foods in spanish...papas fritas (french fries), hamburguesa con queso (cheese burger), cerveza (beer), you know, the basics. When our waitress showed up we innocently asked her what the spanish word for pumpkin was as Megan had told us that she learned it in spanish class that day but couldn't remember it. (I, on the other hand, had seven years of spanish in high school and I don't think that's a word that I ever learned.) (It's calabaza, by the way.) Of course Megan had to count to 10 for her as well. (She'll sing it for you too.)

The waitress proceeded to tell us that she too has a daughter in kindergarten and that she had to enroll her daughter in english classes. You see, she has never spoken to her in english and upon entering school her daughter couldn't say or recognize a single word.

Maybe I shouldn't have been, but I was taken back by that. Here we are, proud of Megan for learning another language and yet this woman, who lives in the US, sends her daughter to an english speaking school, couldn't be bothered to teach her child a single english word?

See, when we found out that Megan would have spanish class every Friday in school, I was happy about this. Bill on the other hand? Not so much. I look at it as a good thing. Everyone should know a different language and in fact, I wish that I had retained more and used what I learned in those seven years more frequently.

But the conversation we had with our waitress simply reiterrated Bill's point and irritation about this subject. We're completely behind a parent's wish to ensure that their child can speak their native language and of course they would want to maintain their family's culture as well. But you live in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Where we speak ENGLISH!! If you are going to live in this country, learn the language and use it!! Then go home and speak spanish, french, german, italian, yiddish, whatever, to your little heart's content. And don't ask me on a phone call to press 1 for english or 2 for spanish...just continue speaking in english and give the option for an alternate language. I shouldn't have to choose!

Maybe I'm being a bit too regressive on this issue. I look at other countries where english is splattered all over the place, on products and in public places, and think nothing of it. Am I being a hypocrite? Perhaps.

To top it all off, this woman was quite fluent and spoke with barely a hint of an accent. So I assumed that she was sharing this story with us because perhaps she had a tinge of regret for speaking to her daughter solely in spanish for the past 5+ years. Perhaps she now saw how maybe some english (and I'm being generous by saying "some") would have been a good thing to help ease her transition into kindergarten...in an english speaking school... After she told me how her daughter was progressing and that she had begun to pick up the language fairly quickly, I asked her if she now spoke to her in english a little more often to help out with the learning curve. Her response was, "no", with a big, content smile on her face.

And we wonder why spanish is predicted to become the predominent language spoken in our country...

**UPDATE** Yes, I know that there are not 7 years in H.S. No, I did not fail math during that time frame either. I had 1 year of spanish in elementary school and then another 6 beginning in 7th grade. I was just too lazy at the time of the post to clarify this so I lumped it all together. Next time I will not be so general with my information in order to keep everyone informed properly. (By everyone, I mean BILL.)

Blackmail

Call it what you want - say what you will. Honest to God, I had kids so that I could torture them some day the same way I was tortured growing up.

Don't feel sorry for them. I endured weeks of nausea, 27 months of incubating them, hours of NATURAL childbirth and the pain of squeezing those 3 melon heads out of my cooch. (I'm quite eloquent with words, aren't I?) This was followed up by months - years it seems - of sleepless nights, crying, talking back, snotty noses and temper tantrums. And, yes, I'm fully aware that the best is yet to come. Therefore, the following is just a small example of what I will be collecting as they grow up before me.

And for those who can't see the video - here's a little glimpse of what's inside:

Yes, I truly love being a mother!

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)

Brutal honesty

I decided on a whim last week to get my hair cut short. It's been approximately 5 years since it's been this short. In fact, I believe I started growing it out again right around the time that Megan was born, so about 5 1/2 years to be exact. But I'd had enough of styling my already short bob hairstyles and so I found a kicky hair style that I don't even have to style and decided to give it a shot. It certainly helps shorten my mornings by having one less thing to do in order to make myself presentable to the public.

As I'm sitting in the chair and the hairdresser is 'styling' me up to leave, Megan walks over with a big smile on her face. She takes a quick look at the hair laying on the floor and says, "Mommy! She cut a lot off. You're hair is really short now!"

"Yes, I know," I replied. "You've never seen Mommy with short hair before. Do you like it?"

"Not so much," she says, with the same angelic smile still on her face.

Nice to know that I can rely on her to tell me what she really thinks.

Wedding

We are back from a quick weekend in PA where my niece got married. (I still can't believe I'm old enough to have nieces and nephews who are getting married!) It was a very nice ceremony and the day just flew by.

Both Megan and Matt were in the wedding as the flower girl and ring bearer. Megan performed her duties beautifully. Matt, on the other hand, decided to change things up a bit and kept us all on our toes.

To start with, the wind was blowing slightly and Megan was having a tough time keeping her petals inside the basket. So Matt helped her out by chasing them around and handing them back to her. That was all wonderful and good as we walked towards where the ceremony was being held, however, once we arrived and they had to walk up the aisle, Megan's job was to scatter them for the bride. I guess Matt didn't quite understand that and thought that they were continuing to blow out of her basket. So he continued to pick them up as she scattered them and then gave a handful of them to my sister-in-law as he made his way to the front.

He had also decided the night before at the rehearsal that he really wasn't all that interested in pushing the bubble mower up the aisle. He played with it for hours around the reception hall but when it came to pushing it up front for the ceremony- it was too much trouble it seemed. So on the way back down the aisle, he handed it off to Megan and she carried it back for him. Thank goodness it was a pretty relaxed atmosphere, otherwise I would have been upset that things didn't run perfectly. Instead it provided some comic relief for everyone. Leave it to my rug rats to mix things up a little!

The girls...

The boys (groom on the far left)...

Moon over Misquamicut

Proof that we are raising our kids right. Here's a photo of Matt washing his hands after going to the bathroom...

Remembering...

Today Robert is officially 3 months old. He's growing like crazy and I affectionately refer to him as our "monster baby". It's amazing to me how much a child grows and changes during their first year of life. Three months ago he was a little 8lb 8oz crying, pooping, sleeping infant. Now he's somewhere around the 15lb mark (He was 14lbs 2 oz at his 2 month check-up), he smiles, coos and has begun laughing when tickled. He's now coming pretty darn close to sleeping through the night (bottle at 8:30pm - goes to sleep by 9pm and then sleeps until 5:30am) although not on a consistent basis just yet. He's eating real food now too and has been for over a month and his dinners have consisted of all the stage 1 fruits and vege's at this point. He really is a pretty content baby.

While we had thought that Matt was our last child, Robert came along as a pleasant surprise. Perhaps it was because someone up there decided to bless us with another family member while proceeding to take away another. Because of that, I don't want to take this gift for granted. I'm trying to remember every last detail, every last smell, every last facial expression.

I don't know if Robert really looks like Bob although he looks a lot like Matt when he was this age. Of course Matt looks like Bryan, who looks like Bill, who looks like his Dad... And Robert has Bob's crooked pinkie fingers although they're not as noticeable now that his fingers are so chubby. And Sandy swears that he has Bob's "turtle lips", as she likes to call them. Heck, he has a double chin just like his grandpa did.

So perhaps it's just wishful thinking but wouldn't it be nice if there really was a "transfer of souls" so to speak? Wouldn't it be nice to know that there is still a part of Bob that is with us through Robert? And when he smiles in his sleep as babies do, I'll always think that it's because Grandpa is whispering to him. It's good to know that Grandpa Bob will never truly be gone.

Cankles I understand, but hippos...??

Matt has a way of saying certain words that I find pretty darn funny. And although I know I should be teaching him the correct words, so far I've refused because...well, I'm lazy for one...and with the chaos that surrounds you after having 3 children, one needs to find humor in the little things in order to get by.

One of the words is "elmos". "These are my elmos," he says referring to his elbows. And this one I understand. It's just a mispronunciation of the actual word.

But the other one is "hippos". One might think he is referring to his hips, but no, I assure you that is not it. He's actually referring to ankles. Hhhhmmmm... the only way I can rationalize it is to think about my own ankles which proceeded to disappear towards the end of each of my pregnancies and instead morph into what I affectionately referred to as cankles. (Calves + Ankles = Cankles) So perhaps he is referring to the enormous size of those cankles which were relative to the size of hippos? No? I don't know, this one has me stumped...

I'm back! But I don't have to like it!

After 12 weeks on maternity leave, I have to say just how easy it was to leave the electronic world behind. At first, my guilty conscience ate at me when I wasn't checking email but I quickly got over that. And now that I'm back to work...well I can only imagine that I will have more time to check my email, update the blog, do some laundry, take a shower....oh sorry...I got a little carried away there. But in all honesty, one can accomplish more working a full-time job than you can when spending all day at home with 3 kids.

So what have we done all summer long? Take a look...

Of course, first came the introduction of Robert into our family...

Then Megan "graduated" from pre-k. The ceremony was held the day after Robert and I came home from the hospital. So I apologize for not taking more pictures of the event but let's just say that stitches and metal chairs do not make for a comfortable combination. It was all that I could do to shoot this one picture and unfortunately it's a bit blurry. Here she is accepting her "diploma"...

Along with a visit from his Aunt Chris from Tennessee, Aunt Tam and the girls also came up from PA for a visit. The kids and I also made 2 trips back to PA as well with one of those trips occuring when Robert was only 2 weeks old. He is now a seasoned traveler just like his older brother and sister. (Here are the kids playing at a playground back in PA.)

We also made a trip to Sea Isle City, NJ with some of the family. Here's Robert's first trip to the beach...

Here's Matt, learning how to boogey board. First he started on solid ground...

Then he went into the water with some help from Dad...

From there he was on his own... (and no, I was not quick enough to snap the picture of him getting slammed by another wave and coming up choking and sputtering which resulted in the end of the boogey board lessons. Why? Because I was too busy yapping at Bill for letting him go when the kid doesn't know how to swim. Let's prioritize Bill!! Eliminate the oldest child first and then move on to the younger ones!)

Walking to the lake...

The boys, playing in the ocean...

Matt was often found just staring at the water and giggling...

Exhibit AExhibit BExhibit CExhibit DPosing for Sports Illustrated, Swimsuit Edition...

Megan and Matt, sitting along the water and having fun as the waves pushed them around...

Taylor and Bill...

Zach, the funny kid...

Some good natured rivalry...

Seth...

Goofy Megan...

Mommy Taylor... best babysitter EVER!

Uncle Bill taught Matt how to pop a wheelie - here he is practicing...

Peeking out from the tent...

Uncle Dan, taking Megan on one of many bike rides...

Crazy kid...

Jocelyn...

Taylor...

Dad and Megan...

Matt in a hole...

So now the summer has come to an unofficial end with Mommy going back to work, the boys are at day care and Megan is starting Kindergarten. She's doing well (although her first morning going off to the extended day program was a little teary) and enjoys going to school. She loves to wear a uniform and thinks of herself as one of the big kids now. She also proceeded to tell me last evening while I was tucking her into bed that this year she might get a boyfriend. "Lord, help us!"