WTF!?! Otherwise known as "the hits just keep on comin'!"

Around 9pm last night, Bill and I were just getting ready to sit down and kick back for the evening when we heard an unmistakable cracking noise followed by a huge crash/splash. We both went running out the back door to find an enormous tree toppled over and laying across the entire width of our backyard.

I knew without a doubt that it had hit the pool due to the splash that I had heard from inside the house. So we threw on the flood light and climbed up onto the deck to begin pulling large tree limbs out of the water fearing that the pool liner or walls were goners.

The rain was still coming down and it was difficult to tell if the water we heard running was from the storm or damage done to the pool. What we knew for sure was that the deck was "dead" along with the metal vacuum pole that I had carefully propped up along the railing a few days before when I finished vacuuming. As it was still thundering and lightening, we decided to head back inside before one of us ended up electrocuted and we would assess the real damage in the day light.

We couldn't stop laughing about it for the rest of the evening because, for those of you who know us, this is exactly our luck these days. But if we're going to talk about truly being lucky then I have to thank God it happened at 9pm and not in broad daylight because the kids play back there all of the time on their bikes. The basket ball net survived and as it turns out, so did the pool, which appears to have only a minor ding from where the tree and/or the deck collapsed on it before falling into the water.

Relay For Life

There's a lot that I could say about our time spent at the Relay For Life that took place yesterday morning through this morning, but it all seems caught up in a hazy fog of incredible heat and humidity combined with sore feet and legs as well as a lot of exhaustion from getting only 2 1/2 hours of sleep. The most significant thing that I can say for sure is that it was humbling, sad, and joyous, all rolled into one event for a very worthy cause...the fight against cancer.

While we celebrated 2 battles won (Kyrstyna and Jean), an ongoing battle (Dan Topper) and two other battles lost (Grandpa Bob and his sister Beth), there were so many others that were thought of as well. What a great event and I'm glad that I had the opportunity to be a part of it.

Oh what fun - look who's one! (Or some other cheesy tag line for a 1st birthday.)

All day yesterday I would look at the clock and think, "a year ago at this time, I was doing *this*". At 6:00am I began experiencing some cramping. Around 11:00am, because the contractions had stopped earlier in the morning, I had the brilliant idea that if I did laps around the block, pulling 2 kids in a wagon, that it might jump start labor again. When that didn't work we went back to the house to relax. (Maybe resting would do the trick!) At 2:00pm I was sitting on the couch, trying to nap but spent more time whining about how I was going to be pregnant FOREVER because nothing was happening and it was all just another false alarm. Around 3:00pm I decided that the cramping that had come back was definitely turning into regular contractions about 10 minutes apart. "But surely this would not last either so let's just take our time packing up the kids and head into to town to wait things out."By 4:00pm we were racing through traffic in order to make it to the hospital before I had the baby in the front seat of our car. And by 4:45pm, I was admiring our new son who had made his entrance about 10 minutes prior and had already managed to pee on the nurses several times indicating that his one kidney was working perfectly.

Although I think this way on the kids' birthdays every year, it really doesn't have the same impact as it does for that first year. It all flies by so quickly that the sleepless nights, crying fits, sickness, etc, which at one point felt as though they might never end, now feel to me like they flew by in a blur. And in reality, they probably did.

The first year is the hardest and so far one of the most rewarding for me. The kids change and grow so much that it feels like I'll miss something if I happen to blink for too long. And although the years are definitely not slowing down and the kids are growing up far too fast for my taste, I know that with the first year hurdle down, we can begin to relax a little as Robert turns from a baby into a toddler. The growing and changes that seemed to have taken place before our very eyes now begins to slow down to a steadier pace. To a pace that seems more manageable for our day to day lives. From here on out the obstacles become a bit bigger but perhaps it's the simple fact that we are sleeping through the night (most of the time) that makes it easier to breathe. (Amazing what sleep deprivation can do to a person's perception!)

So after a full year of topping off the growth charts, dealing with snot, more snot, wheezing, doctor upon doctor visits, a hospital stay for good measure, more wheezing and tons more snot, Robert is now a normal, (relatively speaking - he is a Baker remember) healthy 1 year old. He weighs 24lbs, 12 1/2 oz and is 30" tall. He's cruising furniture now, has two teeth with two more only mili-seconds away from popping through on top, and although the only word in his repertoire right now is Da-Da, he says it with a vengeance. He's a happy kid and rounds out our family perfectly. I can't imagine life without him.

Happy 1st birthday Robert Paul Baker!

Brothers and Sisters

I walked around the corner the other day to find this on the back deck. As Megan and Matt were sharing an afternoon snack, they apparently decided to sunbathe together. So if Matt can go topless, then why can't Megan?!

Summer, Summer, Summertime!

Some of my favorite memories growing up in small town, south-central PA were of summer vacations. Mom and Dad both worked back then and because we lived out in the country, the summers were laid back and as a young kid I would have told you that they were BORING! These days with all the running around that we do, there are times when I long for boring summer days to unwind both my body and my mind.

I remember the hot mornings when my sister and I would wake up, pack some drinks and hop on our bikes for a long ride before the summer heat would dictate that we slowed things down and stayed inside. We'd come home, sweaty and tired and plop ourselves on the floor in front of the box fan in a desperate attempt to cool down.

We spent a lot of time at our cousin's on their circus trampoline. We'd spray it and ourselves down with the water hose, terrorizing Pinky the dog as we'd bounce like maniacs above his head. We'd ride our bikes during the day when Aunt Janet and Uncle Ron were at work and then do crazy things like have food fights, attempt to survive Aunt Janet's flaming hot, spicy BBQ pork chops, go for walks and catch the neighbors doing questionable acts up on their second floor, tour the Gettysburg battlefield and climb all over Devil's Den in the evenings or on Aunt Janet's days off.

On the quiet times when we were back at home we had to find ways to entertain ourselves. Rain storms always provided the perfect excuse for cooling off and playing in puddles. Riding bikes, playing wiffle ball and hide and go seek until dark with the neighbor kids are memories that I look back on fondly.

I want my kids to be able to create memories like these that they can in turn share with their own kids later in life. I wish that I could go back in time to really appreciate these things as they should have been back then. But I'll settle for seeing the joy and happiness in my kids' faces as they splash in the puddles after a summer rain.

Hot Date With Daddy

Megan and Bill had their annual date to the Father/Daughter dance this past Friday. Once again I got away with buying a new dress for her at the bargain price of $10.00!! (Two years running...can I make it to her prom at those prices?)

The most important part for Megan was her request for straight hair. So off we went to buy a flat iron...

While Matt and I shared a quiet Mommy and boys night at home with chinese food, Dad and Megan danced the night away. Ok, so Megan ran around with her friends, but I was told that they shared two dances. That's better than nothing, right?

It's Our Anniversary

Eight years ago today, I woke up with a hang over from the countless rounds of shots downed at our rehearsal dinner the night before, and began preparing for the day that I married my best friend.

This marriage is a second time for both of us; Bill's first ending after bringing a son into their relationship and perhaps a general moving in different directions, amongst other reasons and mine...in retrospect, I would normally say that mine ended due to marrying too young, but considering I married Bill at the age of 25, most might argue that I was still pretty young. (What can I say? I accomplished a lot in a short period of time!) I think that my first ended mainly due to the other party not being fully vested and I was too young and naive to make it work for the both of us.

Bill and I met while I was living in Nashville, having moved there less than a year prior to get away from things that had recently failed up north. I was a corporate travel agent and he was one of my clients who happened to travel quite frequently with a local colleague. We laughed a lot and harrassed each other for about 6 months on the phone before we finally met face to face. I'd like to say that it was love at first sight but I think it probably took me an entire week before that happened. (Again, that doing things in a short period of time...). What I can say for sure was that after our first official date I knew, without a doubt, that even if things didn't work out for our long distance relationship, that I had a new perspective on the kind of relationship I wanted to be in.

I said goodby to him at the Nashville airport on Sunday morning and then I left there...waiting for him to not call. Anticipating the akward phone conversations that were sure to follow at the office when we tried to remain business like and act like the date was nothing. I figured a best case scenario might be one where we decided to give a long distance relationship a shot but struggled to figure out how to make it work over time.

What I got instead was a phone call that very afternoon after he landed and was back in CT. What followed were endless phone calls lasting until the wee-hours of the morning, bi-weekly visits (on weekends he didn't have his son) and a three months later, a cruise to the Caribbean over my 24th birthday when we decided to get engaged. (Again with the short time period thing...)

Two months later I was on the move again and this time it was to CT to be with him. The following year flew by with settling in to a new job, fixing up and selling a home, moving to a temporary home, a new job oh...and wedding plans of course. And before I knew it, May 27, 2000 had arrived and I was about to become a "Baker".

I couldn't have asked for a nicer evening. We were married at sunset, overlooking the ocean and as I walked out to stand next to him, the wedding reception on the floor below us was bellowing out "Beer Barrell Polka". How fitting.... We danced all evening and then moved the party on to Bill's college roommate's bar for more dancing (some on the bar, some involving $20 bills) and partying into the wee hours. The next day was spent with family and friends and finally on Monday, we were off on our honeymoon to Turks and Caicos.

Since then we've bought and sold homes and welcomed three more children into what started out as a ready-made family of three. We've had some obstacles to overcome over the years; some were pretty funny, like psycho ex's, (we both had one of those) and others were not, such as sudden deaths in the family and a mammoth sinkhole in our back yard. But we've never faltered in moving through these as we both travel on the same path to an ultimate goal... Growing old together.

Happy anniverary Bill - I love you more today than ever before!

Punishments

Honestly, I love Matt unconditionally. But recently he's been pushing me to the end of my rope. It could be because I'm home with him 24/7 now. Or it could just be the age. Who knows. But when he makes me mad, he inevitably makes me love him a little more with those big, sad, brown eyes.

He's taken to doing things to Robert that I would have expected to see from him after we brought Robert home from the hospital. You know, that whole adjustment to another human being taking up space in Mom and Dad's arms. But c'mon kid...it's been almost an entire year. Why now?

Today, for instance, Robert was sitting on the floor, innocently playing with a toy and Matt walked over to him, stepped on his ankle and as soon as Robert began to yelp, he walked away as though nothing had happened.

After his time out, I make him hug Robert and tell him he's sorry. When I spoke to him about his actions the other day, his eyes filled with tears and his lip began quivering. This is very unlike Matt because after a punishment is doled out, he gets over it and moves on rather quickly. So I asked him why he was sad and he replied, "he was sad that he hurt Robert." (Insert heart melting.)

Unfortunately it hasn't stopped the behind the scenes torture. Recently a similar event occurred and as I mentioned before, Robert can be quite whiney. So when I hear the whine, I tend to ignore it figuring he's probably just stuck standing up and will eventually figure out how to plop down on his hiney. This time, however, the whine grew to a frantic cry and when I turned around, I found Matt sitting AND bouncing on top of Robert.

I immediately reprimanded him and made him sit on the couch while the rest of us went about our business. About 5 (ok, maybe 10) minutes later I realized that I had forgotten to tell him he could get up. I also realized that it was awfully quiet over on that couch. I snuck around the corner and found this...

Darn you child! Why must you be all innocent like when Mommy is still trying to be mad at you!?!

Word Play

A thunder storm rolled through last evening and since Bill was working late I used it as an excuse to get the kids into the shower early telling them that if the electricity went out they'd already be ready for bed.

I finished up some things downstairs while Megan and Matt went upstairs to shower. A few minutes later I went up to round them up and to see if either of them needed help. I toweled Matt off first and sent him into the bedroom to get dressed. Megan followed and as I was helping her brush the tangles from her wet hair we listened to Matt talking in the next room.

"Mommy, what's light chicadee?" he asked.

Megan and I both looked at each other kind of funny as we tried to decipher not only what he was asking but why he was asking it. Unable to figure it out I asked what he meant.

"You said that when it thunders and lightnings that we might not have light chicadee," he replied.

I couldn't help but laugh when I realized he meant "electricity". Maybe my enunciation needs some work...

Update on Fat Baby

Robert has got to be the whiniest kid that I've raised so far (God love the child) but when he's happy and smiling it's absolutely the best ever. He's still living up to his nickname(s) of Fat Baby, Fat Boy, Chubbers, and any other tubby nickname we come up with. But even with all that chub, he hauls ass through the house like you wouldn't believe.

He's a major ham for the camera too as you can see from the pictures posted. As soon as he sees the flash light up he's gets a huge smile on his face. He usually crawls towards me at that point and of course ruins a perfectly good shot, but occassionally I can sneak in a few good ones.

Along with that whine usually comes his least favorite situation to be in these days. He constantly pulls himself up on things and plays around for a while but then begins to whine/squeal/fuss/out-right scream because he's petrified to sit down. We've tried showing him how to do it all nice like, but recently I've taken to just plopping him down on his rear end in the hopes that it will prove to him that all that padding down there is going to protect him. So far, no luck.

Yes, I had to help him sit down after this picture was taken.

On the development side of things he still only has two teeth but he'd figure out a way to eat a porter house steak if you'd sit it in front of him. (Marshmallow Peeps not excluded. See below.) The only word in his vocabulary is Da-Da. But Da-Da can mean a lot of things depending on the tone in which he says it. My favorite is when he sounds like he's ticked off about something, with his face all scrunched up and pissy while chanting it.

So while I know I shouldn't be wishing his life away, I honestly can not WAIT until he finally starts walking. Maybe that will eliminate the whine. In the mean time, I'll just enjoy carrying that little bundle of chub around, stealing kisses any time I want and wondering how we managed to have one child with the bluest eyes...

Sports

We've finally gotten motivated enough to sign the kids up for sports this year. Megan decided she wanted to give soccer a try and Matt is in the Pebbles and Bam-Bam T-ball league.

After several rain-outs for both of them, they've both had a few practices and scrimmages too. We've come to the conclusion that Megan will never be the next Mia Ham-Garciaparra but if she actually pays attention she's not too bad. The problem seems to be that the coaches are volunteer parents. They're doing it because their kids are playing too; not because they necessarily want to teach 5 and 6 year olds the ins/outs of soccer. While I would NEVER complain about the things they teach the kids or how they are teaching them, I really wish that they would keep them a little more occupied throughout the hour and a half that they are there. I find that during the many lulls in practice, I go looking for Megan and find her twirling around the field with her friends. Oh well - as Bill said, we just paid $40 for her to socialize a bit more.

Matt isn't much better. And unfortunately it appears that the coaching style there is about the same as on Megan's soccer team. But he's having a blast running the drills. They are teaching them to throw, catch, fielding, running bases and hitting the ball off of the tee. After his first practice I asked Matt if he liked it. He said no because "it was hard work". But we know better by the fact that he always wants to know when it's Saturday so he can go to baseball. And by the way that he takes off for the field when we are there and we have to pry him away at the end.

Ummm - guess I've been slacking

So, Megan had a birthday a little bit ago. Ok, back in March. March 19th to be exact, but it sort of got pushed to the back burner due to the death of my Grandfather that same day. But we didn't forget it and we did celebrate with her that day. It just turns out that she had a very low key birthday this year. Nothing wrong that, right? So happy 6th birthday Megan!

Easter was back there too...sometime in March...just after Megan's birthday I think. And I found out that getting all 3 kids to cooperate so that I could get our annual Easter picture of them was difficult to do at best. Here's what I ended up with:

The kids had fun hunting for eggs at Aunt Alicia's and it was a nice day overall.

The way kids think

Last night at dinner Megan was asking me why Daddy had to work late. I explained to her that he had to take a phone call from someone who was in a different time zone - which of course led to the next obvious question from her. "What's a time zone?" I began explaining what it was and how it worked to which she replied that it all sounded a little silly.

So I decided to make it a bit more interesting and told her how her cousin in Japan was already waking up on Friday morning even though we were only eating dinner here on Thursday. Her eyes got big, she laughed and said, "now that's just freaky!"

Matt isn't much better these days and seems to constantly be asking "why?" to anything he possible can. (I thought that was a 2 year old stage - not something a 4 year goes through.) I appreciate that he's simply trying to comprehend the big world around him but I have to admit that it drives me up the wall a lot of the time. Mostly because the "why's" seem to be an automatic conversation reflex after a while and not really a legitimate question. But then there are times when he simply cracks me up with his simplistic logic behind what can be a complex issue for a 4 year old.

For example; this morning Matt found one of our cats in the backyard torturing a squirrel. From what I could tell, the squirrel had a broken back or something as it dragged itself away from Gipper. And as Matt watched, Gipper batted the squirrel around a bit more and then finally grabbed it by the throat and rag-dolled it a bit. The questions from Matt just came rolling out about why Gipper would do such a thing. I didn't want to pretend that the cat was just "playing" because, hey, you can't coddle your children forever. But I also didn't want to play out the slaying of the creature with too much drama and end up scarring his little brain forever. He seemed satisfied with my answers at first until he finally said, "why can't he just eat his own food instead of eating squirrels and mice?"

My response was that Gipper is an animal and that's just what some animals do. To which he replied, "Gipper's not an animal!"

Ok, so now how do you explain that an animal is a creature and not what we refer to he and his sister as when they are acting crazy? (And I knew for a fact that my answer would lead to the next question of what is a creature?) So I explained it by saying, why don't you ask your Daddy.

(Hey, I'm home with the kid all day, every day now. You can't expect Daddy to get out of answering some of these important questions!)

Pregnancy

I've recently been surrounded by a lot of pregnancy 'issues' so I thought I'd share.

First of all, I've been going through every piece of maternity clothing, baby clothing, baby furniture and gadgets, etc. that Robert has outgrown and have been handing it all down to my niece to be stored away until she and her hubby are ready to procreate. And it reminded me of just how much stuff one little kid uses. The day that she stopped by the house to pick up the items that I had ready for her was an eye opener for both of us. The shocked look on her face as I continued to hand her box after box of baby clothing was classic. It was the look of someone who hasn't been in this position yet and is completely unaware of just how quickly and easily a child will "over run" their household. She asked that I only save clothing up until about 18 months as she felt that would be adequate.

Having been there, I think I'll save up to 24 months. The kids grow so fast in the first two years that before you know it, another season has changed, and your child just outgrew everything in the previous size. It's nice to have the clothes as backup until those growth spurts slow down a bit and clothing sizes last longer than 2 months.

It was surprising to me in the way that I didn't realize just how much I had been storing the 3rd time around. After Matthew was born and we were sure (ha ha) that we were not having another kids, we gave everything away. When I found out that Robert was on the way, we scrambled to replace all of those items. And through the help of a lot of hand-me-downs from friends, we replaced everything pretty darn successfully. Which is why I was shocked, once again, at how it all accumulated so easily.

The family has also been blessed with the news that my cousin is expecting her first baby. This news came right before my Grandfather passed away - so I predict - a boy! Let's see if the theory of "when God takes one away he replaces it with another" holds true. So yeah!! Another baby in the family! What's better than that? Unfortunately this wee-one will be born in Japan so I have no idea when we'll all get our first visit with the expanding family.

And while she is kind enough to share the news of ultra-sounds, etc. with us, I have to fight an overwhelming urge to give assvice. I just keep thinking about when I was pregnant with Megan, all the firsts were so great but some of them were rather unexpected. And I remember thinking at times that "no one bothered to give me a heads up on this". Plus, now that I've been there and done that 3 times over, I often think back to the times Bill and I shared before the kids. I wish we'd made a point to do something special in those final months. Just the two of us. But the only thing that I can remember doing was enjoying a nice dinner out a chinese restaurant and joking about things were going to change soon. Hmph...had I really had a better idea, that dinner out would have been expanded to a little weekend getaway or something similar. Oh well... hind sight's 20/20, right?

And yesterday, I came across a few other items that I wanted to hand over to my niece. Some pregnancy books and an unused pregnancy test. I laid them on my desk, which happens to sit right inside the door from our garage so that I would remember to pack them all away with any other items that I came across and promptly forgot about it.

The kids and I went upstairs later that evening to get them showered and ready for bed when Bill came home from work. The look on his face as he tried to calmly inquire about "why I had a pregnancy test downstairs" was priceless.

No Bill, your 5th child is not on the way. You're a starter gun now, remember?

Update #2

While my brother was in the hospital, so was my Grandfather. As a 92 year old man, he was doing very well mentally but had begun having health issues a while back.

While he was admitted to the hospital for 3 days he was kept on oxygen and the original thought was that he would be allowed to return home but would most likely remain on the oxygen...forever. But after about two days, he came off and was doing well enough to have the oxygen sent home with him in the event that he needed it. We were told that his heart was weakening as well. In fact when he had had been hospitalized a few years prior he was told that he had about 4o-60% capacity. This time around...he was down to about 15%.

About a week after he was discharged he began experiencing pain and was taken to the hospital again. This time around he was told that there was nothing that they could do there that he couldn't do with the help of hospice from home. He was told that, at best, he had 6 months to live.

On the morning of March 19th, my Dad went to visit my grandparents and to install a type of "lift" for my Grandfather's recliner in order to help him get in/out of it with ease. He left the house around 12:30pm and a little while after that, the minister from my Grandparent's church stopped by for a visit. She said that she spent some time talking and praying with them both and because they had been unable to make the trip to mass that Sunday prior, she asked if they would like to receive communion. They agreed and no sooner had she given them communion when she said that a funny look came over my Grandfather's face. She asked him if he was ok, to which he replied, "no" and at that point she and my Grandmother decided to call hospice for assistance. A few moments later my Grandfather passed away. He was still sitting in his favorite recliner.

Norman Harold Adelsberger was 92 years old. He left behind my Grandmother whom he was married to for 69 years along with 3 children, 9 grand-children and 18 great-grandchildren. It was a small family but we shared a lot of love. We'll miss this wonderful, quiet man. But I know that he's in a better place, having lived a long and full life. I only hope that I can be so lucky some day.

Update #1

A while back I mentioned that my brother was diagnosed with colon cancer. A lot has happened since that time but I've not mentioned it since as it was and still is an ongoing battle for him.

Immediately after the tumor was found, his operation to remove it was scheduled for the following week. I stood by the phone that day in anticipation of any news that would come my way and sometime around noon I finally received word that he had made it out of surgery and was doing well. As I exhaled a sigh of relief for him making it past the first step in this process I began scheduling my trip back to PA in order to visit family that weekend.

Friday evening rolled around and I planned on picking up the kids, running home to finish packing the car, feed the kids, say goodby to Bill and hit the road by 6:30pm for the 5 hour drive ahead. Unfortunately after a phone call with a family member my plans were altered. Tests results from the tumor that was removed were delivered that day and the news wasn't good. There was cancer in 9 of 13 lymph nodes and he had stage 4 cancer.

I quickly placed a call to Bill at work with the news and he decided to head back with me as well. We both decided that if there was nothing else that we could do for him we at least wanted him to know that we were both there supporting every decision that he and my sister-in-law would be making and to give them our love and support along the way.

Dan was doing really well by the time we got to see him Saturday afternoon and was discharged the following day. The best that we could do for him was to deliver balloons to his room displaying just how much we loved him, in writing..."Congratulations on the sex change operation". (Can't lose your sense of humor through adversity, right?)

I also got a chance to visit with my Grandfather who had been in the hospital earlier that week as well with heart problems. All in all, it was a nice weekend. Far too quick as usual but it's always good to visit with everyone any chance I can get.

The weeks passed for Dan and other than a blood clot in his leg, he healed quickly. The best news of all came to us last week when it was determined that there was no cancer, anywhere, in his body. Take a minute to let that sink in...because remember earlier...stage 4 cancer!!??!!

To think that this was possible when the earlier diagnosis was delivered is by far the understatement of the year. Does anyone ever receive news like that after a stage 4 diagnosis? So whether the doctors did a fabulous job or there was help from a spiritual side is not for me to decide. All that I can say for sure is that I am so happy for him. The roller coaster ride that I'm sure he was on has leveled out to a steady ride of chemo treatments to ensure that any undetected cancer in his blood is eliminated has begun.

And while his fight is far from over, it's nice to know that he has fought hard and has won every round so far. He'll keep fighting hard too. I know he will because that's just who he is. His spirit, personality and upbeat attitude are something that I admire a lot. And I'm proud to call him my big brother.

Updates to come

I have so much to share since it's been....well forever since I last posted. But I don't have time right now. Highlights of what you can expect...

• Megan's 6th birthday
• Easter
• Grandfather's passing
• Cousin expecting
• New job
• Haircuts, teeth and crawling
• Brother Dan's good news - no wait...EXCELLENT news!

Our lives are sometimes way beyond normal, in fact can be quite boring at times, but it's all passing by so quickly these days. I know it's not all over the top, exciting stuff and that you won't all be sitting on your hands, holding your breath, just waiting for the moment that I hit the 'Publish Post' button, but these events have not only kept us quite busy but on our proverbial toes as well.

Post birthday post

Lucky for us, Matt is a kid who is pretty easy to please and entertain. This year however, his birthday wish was for a four-wheeler and a gun (nice, I know) and he was quite adamant about receiving these items. We tried on countless occassions to get different gift ideas out of him but he stuck to his guns...no pun intended...and continued to repeat the same wish list over and over. So we broke down and caved to the little shit.

We started the day out by letting him open up the smaller gift of the two...

And as I mentioned, because he's easy to please, he never thought twice about how this might be the only gift he was receiving. He was as happy as could be and off to the sitters he went that morning with the promise of birthday cake that evening.

When we arrived home, having no clue that something bigger and better was awaiting him, off he went to play while I emptied out diaper bags and back packs. A few minutes later he came into the kitchen with a funny look on his face as he announced the fact that he had found a "really huge present in the living room!" I know how badly he was itching to get his hands on that gift so I made him wait just long enough for Daddy to get home so that he could watch him open it as well.

No sooner did Bill walk through the door did Matt start tearing off the gift wrap on the coveted present...

(Yes, that's Christmas wrapping paper. So what? It's double

sided so only one side looked 'christmasy'.)

I wish that I had been able to get a picture that captured the happiness on this kid's face when he figured out what it was. After every stitch of wrapping paper was removed from the box, he proceeded to climb on top. After all...isn't that what you're supposed to do with a four wheeler?


We promised him we'd go out to dinner that evening so while I fed Robert, Bill opened up the box so that Matt could at least see the actual gift. Once it was out, he hopped on top again. Hey, who needs wheels and handle bars anyhow?

(Can you see the joy on this kid's face?)

So after dinner, we came home for some cake. Recognize this thing? Yes, it's the exact same God awful green smiley face cake that he picked out last year. (Honest, go back in the archives for those pics.) After that it was off to bed with the promise that we would put his four-wheeler together that evening after he was in bed and that he could ride it the next day when the battery was done charging.

Saturday dawns and with it comes torential downpours. Matt spent every available moment sitting on his ride and while watching the rain come down, he would occassionally look my way and tell me, "Mommy, I love my four-wheeler." Although we felt bad about the still charging battery, we felt worse about the weather outside.

(Can't you just feel the love?)

Finally! Around 4pm or so, the rain slowed down to a light drizzle and so we hauled the four wheeler outdoors so Matt could enjoy his new gift. And off he went...

Almost taking out the light post and stopping just short of my feet...

All in all, his 20 minutes spent outside before the rain came down again, was well spent. We brought it back inside for lack of a better storage spot for the time being and Matt spent the next hour wiping it down. The tires even got a good cleaning too!

The next day was the parade in New Haven for St. Patty's Day, which Matt still thinks is held for his birthday. We braved the 36 degree weather to sit on the street and watch a lot of drunk Irishmen and Irish-wanna-be's march up and down the street. A few hot chocolates and many full bladders later, we made our way back to Grandma's for his official birthday party with the family at which he made out like a bandit. It looked like Christmas all over again. But the funniest part of the day was the attempt that I made at making a fire truck cake for him. The concept was good but the final result left a lot to be desired. Bill said it looked like a bad Maco paint job. I think it looks like it got too close to a structure fire and began to melt. Oh well!