To my cousin Eileen...

Why a picture of a cat you ask? This is Casey. Casey found a home with Eileen during a very trying time in Eileen's life. Casey has now passed. I'm not really an animal person but I know Eileen loves Casey, and I love Eileen so I don't like to see her hurt. To Eileen...you have proven to be a strong person in the past and I know you will get through this. You have a HUGE family that loves you and hopes you feel better soon.

Whom am I? Really?

So last week I sent out an email and the purpose was to see how well people know me. It was basically a list of questions that you had to answer about me. Some of the responses were comical. I thought I'd share them.

Where did we meet?
At 6:13pm. I was wearing a plaid shirt and some goofy pants....you were wearing a swaddled blanket and spitting-up on yourself (from an older cousin)

Take a stab at my middle name?
Lynn
Dork
Ann (3)
Marie
Eileen

Do I smoke?
not cigarettes but definitely something (I'm high on life)

Color of my eyes?
Black like my soul

What's one of my favorite things to do
watch reality t.v.
buy a new coach bag
send emails
sleep
make siblings for Julia
plan bridal and baby showers

What's my favorite type of music?
french classical
stripper (what is stripper music?)

Am I a rebel or do I follow the rules?
used to be a rebel now I'm a prude

Any special talents?
lounging around
massage
sleeping

How many children do I have?
I have 1 Joe has 2

If you and I were stranded on a desert island, what is one thing that I would bring?
a blanket
crack pipe (yeah to use as a planter)
in high school a curling iron now a knife

Thanks for a good laugh

She's here!!

My friends Christin and Rob welcomed their baby girl into the world this morning, 8lbs 6oz, 20 inches, and sooooo cute! I couldn't stop kissing her! Her name is Alyssa Katherine. Here are some pictures.
A close upHad to unwrap her and check her out. 10 perfect little fingers and 10 little perfect piggy toes.
Proud parents!



So that's what I did today. I worked all day. Which dragged on and on because I knew I was going to meet Alyssa. Then went to the hospital and got her all to myself. Her parents were very good at not hogging her. I changed 2 diapers, and got a baby burp in my face and enjoyed every minute of it.

I hate Mondays! (and can it rain any harder?)

Mondays suck can I just tell you that? I work until 8:00 at night. By the time I get home it's time for Julia to go to bed. I miss her on Mondays. :( And I know what you are thinking...I can spend time with Joe right? No there was some game on. He always let's me watch my girly shows. And sometimes even sits with me so I let him do his boy thing. Ok enough of this pity party. I just had to get that out.

I am waiting to hear some news on one of my bestest friends from high school. She has been labor all day. Dilating slowly, waiting, waiting, waiting. I can't wait to meet the little bugger. I'll keep you posted. Not that you care but this is my blog so I write what I want.

What a weekend!

This weekend was a busy, busy, busy! Here is Julia relaxing on the back porch reading before the chaos starts. Yesterday we went shopping because we had a few birthday parties today. Then met Kasey, Bob, and the kids at church. Julia went back to their house and had a sleepover. I don't know much on that except they had pizza for dinner, played outside, and Abby and Tyler went home sick. Julia didn't give me many details but she did have a cute story...

Abby getting sick according to Julia...

"Abby frew up and I went over and said (repeats to me in a high voice) Abby dear. Are you ok? (back to normal voice) Then Auntie Kasey says (in a loud voice pretty much shouting) Julia get away from Abby NNNNOOOOOWWWW!."

I was rolling on the floor with her imitation of Kasey. I am still chuckling as I type this. So the night other than that episode sounded like it went well.

Joe and I went to see Kevin James (on the show King of Queens) last night at Mohegan Sun. Joe surprised me with tickets for our anniversary. It was a blast. We went out to dinner before, then saw the show, had some killer chocolate cake, then came home. We were joking around that we could actually stay there, at the casino, until 9:00 a.m. because Julia wasn't going to be home until 10:30 the next morning. But that just goes to show what an old married couple we are because we were home by 11:30 p.m..

Today we went to Abby's 4th birthday party. Didn't get many pictures because the batteries died in my camera.

Here are the girls putting on makeup in Abby's room.Annie and those beautiful blue eyes!

Abby opening her birthday gift.

Next we were on to Arthur's 4th birthday party with a fresh set of batteries in the camera. Arthur loves baseball so his party was all about the sport.

Everyone decorated their own baseball hats. Julia of course picked pink.

Alex and Julia.

Julia up at bat playing baseball. I think she has the stance down. This is the coolest thing. The balls are in the red basket. When you step on home plate the basket moves up and the magnet on the end of the pole grabs a ball. Of course it's from ESPN.

Julia ready to catch the ball when Arthur was up at bat. Julia and the birthday boy!

Well that was our weekend. I am exhausted and going to bed. I'll write more tomorrow.

Today is a good day!

For those of you that don't know I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease back in Jan. It was a long 2 years of tests, different doctors, and lots of frustration from feeling crappy and not knowing why.

Inflammation has taken over my body mostly in my hands, knees, and the lining of my lungs. Some days it'll take an hour before I can fully bend some of my joints when I get up in the morning. Fatigue is a familiar friend. I only work 4 days a week, 6 hours a day, and as soon as my shift is done I am so exhausted I go home and take a 2 hour nap so I can be awake enough for Joe and Julia when they get home. Fluid accumulates in my knee so I have to go for knee aspirations and cortisone shots. Which is painful and I get my self so worked up I pass out. The stress on me and my body was causing my blood pressure to go way high. At one point I was rushed to the hospital because it was 160/116. Not much higher then normal for me. Now I have it under control with medicine, 123/70 was my last reading. Can't get more perfect than that!

Back in January my doctor, Christine McCrary (she is amazing and soooo good to me), put me on a medication for this disease and told me I should feel a whole lot better. The catch...the meds take 4 months to work. I felt like I sprinted forward and hit a wall at 50 mph. She wrote me a bunch of scripts and I felt like an 80 year old with the amount of pills I take every morning.

This has been a struggle. I miss my family. I have not been able to be the wife or the mother I was meant to be. Joe is amazing and I thank God for him everyday. He picked right up cooking, cleaning, getting bills paid, being both parents to Julia, sometimes not getting home and sitting down to dinner until 10 at night. Julia wants nothing more than to have a brother or sister and asks me every day when that's going to happen. It breaks my heart when I see how she adores her baby cousins Annie and Katie. She is so lonely and I can tell. The doctors told us awhile ago to hold off on expanding our family and that was very hard. But I would rather be around another 50 years for Julia and Joe than leave a family of 5 behind.

I want to say thank you to those that have been so supportive sending over dinner, taking Julia, prayers, and encouraging me when I felt there was no light at the end of the tunnel. You know who you are but just to name a few. Joe, the love of my life. Julia, for going with the flow because she can be very set in her routine. My mom, for not blinking when I took my frustration out on her. Kara, my wonderful sister who calls up every week to take Julia and over does it in the Auntie spoiling the niece department. And my mother in law, who treats me as one of her own and never hesitates to help us in a any way we need.

Now back to the title of this blog. Today is a good day because for the first time in years I woke up with energy. My joints aren't that swollen and I feel good. Great actually. As I am ending the third month on this medication I have seen changes in the last week. I only took 1 nap all week! It was easy to get up and going and Julia was on time to school every day. I worked every day this week putting in some extra hours. Took Julia to the park twice and even took her for a walk.

I'm getting my life back and I am blessed.

TGIF!!

Yeah!!! It's Friday! I just got out of work and it's beautiful out. That last 1/2 hour dragged on and on. It felt like 2 hours. But here we are ready for the weekend. I don't have to argue with insurance companies, or listen to customers talk about their BMs, or identify crazy rashes until Monday. Something about that lab coat makes some of the customers open up in a way I'd rather connect not with them. Sometimes I get more information than I need to know. But the good out weighs the bad by a landslide so I stay.

We have a full weekend planned with birthday parties and sleepovers. Joe and I are also going to see Kevin James tomorrow night at the casino. He surprised me with tickets for our anniversary. 7 years already. I can't believe it. I love him more than I thought you could ever love. Can't wait to see what unfolds over the next 7+ years.

So I'm off the enjoy the rest of the day. I'll post pictures of our weekend.

You might be a Redneck...

As a mom we all have our moments that we aren't proud of. Those times that you hope no one is looking or paying attention or judging your parenting techniques.

In the winter we give Julia a bath every other night. As the weather gets nicer, we get dirtier, we take baths every night. Last night we took Julia to the park. She was falling asleep on the way home so we just put her right to bed. This morning she got dressed for school. With brushed hair and teeth we leave the house.

When we get to school I take her out of the car and I noticed that her knees were black. Yes black. I was horrified. So the natural instinct of quick thinking (which has been fine tuned since becoming a mother) kicked into action.

My solution??? Me on the side of the road, in front of the school, hiding behind the car wiping my daughter down with wet naps. Yup I'm not proud and my husband called me a redneck.

One thing I learned today...

Having the windows down in the car so your hair blows in the wind. You decide it's too windy so you start to close the sunroof. Not recommended for anyone with long hair because long hair can get stuck in the roof quickly causing whiplash. True story, I swear.

School Pictures are here!!

My little girl is old enough to have a school picture! As you know I was very worried about the pictures because the night before my daughter had a massive cold. Her nose and under her nose was bright red and dripping, her eyes were droopy...I'll spare the many details. But here she is! The nose a little red but I am happy with it. No do-overs here. Cute as a button!

Now I know that I have been lacking in the professional picture department over the years. Any pictures that anyone gets they pretty much take themselves (or she sneaks into Kasey's camera) Anyone that wants one just let me know and I will get one to you.

I know, I know a little obnoxious to think you would want a picture of my daughter but I'm her mother and her biggest cheerleader.

Black Balled?

My cousin Kasey was joking today that I have been black balled by blogspot. I think she's right.

Again today people couldn't view my blog. Some could, some couldn't. I emailed them again and they are "working on it". So again I'm sorry if you are having problems. (It just occurred to me that I am apologizing to people that can't read my blog, on my blog) Brainiac that I am...

Either Blogspot sucks or I'm a Dumb Ass!

I'll start by saying this blog address is actually my second. Why you ask? Because I did 2 entries then forgot the email I created with Gmail. I couldn't update my blog or anything. It didn't really matter because I only had done 2 posts.

So I created a whole new blog, this one that you are reading now, and a whole new email account. I blogged and blogged and blogged then last night decided to rearrange things on the site. I got tired but my page was a mess and I didn't want anyone to see it because I didn't have things the way I wanted them (and still don't as you can see by the template) So I checked off that box that said only authors can view the blog figuring I could finish it today. WRONG!!!

Well I couldn't get into my blog today along with some others from the emails I've received. (Sorry Whitney and Steph!) I had blogspot reset everything and we are good to go. Apparently (according to Blogspot) I changed my password. (which I never did) Rest assured I printed the email, for future reference, from Blogspot telling me how to fix it. (Just in case it was me...But it wasn't)

So needless to say I am very happy that I haven't had to yet create a 3rd blog address. But don't underestimate that! Just remember if you can't see the blog check your email because I probably went click happy and messed things up again.

Happy 80th Birthday Grandpa!

Today we went to Baci Restaurant and celebrated Grandpa's 80th birthday party. It was nice seeing everyone again. After having a conversation with one of the cousins we realized that we haven't all been together since Christmas. I spent too much time socializing so I didn't take a lot of pictures but here's what I did get.

Here are Julia and Audriana getting away from the adults to concentrate on their princess books.
Julia and Daddy making fish faces.
Aunt Lucy and Alexa.
Lauren and Jared came down from Boston. Jared made the girls bouquets.

Rock Cats Game

After Abby and Julia's full day they went home for a bit of a break. Once Joe and I got home from work we went and picked Abby up. Abby came out to the car with snacks for the girls thanks to her mom. And off we went. You haven't experienced music until you hear two 4 year olds singing Hannah Montana at the top of their lungs. Here are the girls walking to the stadium with Joe.Stopping to see the bull.

In our seats waiting for the game to start. Julia and Rocky. Abby wanted to stay and eat her french fries instead.

Abby reading Julia Snow White. So glad we brought the books as a distraction. The girls were ready to go at the first inning.

MMMMMMMMmmmmmmmm Cotton candy. All Abby kept saying was "Mmm I love this stuff!"
Time to go home. What a long day. The girls were asleep by the time we got back to Karla's house.

Spring Break (Day 5)

I know I'm posting this a day late but yesterday was a full day. I had to work so Julia was to hang out with my mom as she does every friday. My mom showed up with a surprise, my sister Kara and her cousin Abby. Julia was so excited to have a playmate for the day. Off they went to Imagine Nation. That's twice in one week for Julia.

I called a few hours later to check on them and was extremely jealous when they were on their way to the Olive Garden. My lunch hour was spent at the doctor getting my knee drained and getting a cortisone shot. And to my cousin Kasey---> This time it was done successfully without margaritas but I did get queasy.

After the Olive Garden Julia and Abby went to the capital (which if you remember is Julia's princess tower). One day a few weeks ago we drove by it with Abby and when Julia pointed it out Abby said it was the most beautiful castle she had ever seen. This from a kid that has been to Disney. So my mom dressed them each in a princess dress (Sorry Karla) and off they went. The security guard got a kick out of them and humored them by asking if they saw any princesses while they were there.

Sorry no pictures were taken. You can tell I wasn't there. Can't wait to get back to school and to a normal routine.

Spring Break (Day 4)

Today Julia accompanied Mema to get her haircut. Then they both met Auntie Sandra at her work and they all ate lunch. Julia said she got to see where Auntie worked and she got to meet her boss. Then she explained that "a boss" is someone that tells you what to do in a nice way. I don't ever want her to lose her innocence.

I know this is short and boring but I worked all day and didn't get to spend a lot of time with Julia. Right now Julia is asleep and Joe is playing poker with the guys so I am off to watch reality T.V.

I promise more interesting stuff this weekend.

Let me sleep!

I know the screen is black but there is a video there. Just click on the arrow. Got this in an email today. This is to cute. I love it!

Spring Break (Day 3)

Today I didn't have to work so I got to sleep in because Julia slept over her Mema's house last night. I went and picked up Julia and we headed off to the doctor. I didn't tell her that we were going until 5 minutes before we got there. In the car she asked if she was getting a shot. I said "yes" and the flood gates opened. "Maaaaaaammmaaaa Noooooooooo" And being the sucker that I am I promised her everything under the sun if we could just get through the next 15 minutes. We get there and she stops crying because she sees all the toys in the waiting room. You know all those disease and germ infested toys that only sick kids have been playing with all through cold and flu season? Yeah those. Normally I would give her a book and that would distract her away from those toys but they shut her up for those brief few minutes. We get into the little room with the nurse and she starts screaming right away. We both have to hold her down. The nurse sticks the needle in and we scream some more then we are on our way. The Hannah Montana sticker and the grape lollipop made it all worth it.



Next we drove to the park, which Julia loved because it looked like a castle. She was running around screaming and yelling because she was so happy. At one point though I felt bad. She said she wanted someone to play with. I suggested she go ask the little girl that was around her age nearby if she wanted to play. Julia did and the little girl said she could not play with Julia because she already had enough friends. Julia came to me in tears. What do you do when you set your child up to be hurt like that? I see how lonely she is sometimes and it just breaks my heart. She asks me everyday when am I gonna get a baby in my belly for her to play with. So I played with her and we ran around and chased each other, then played in the sand.




After the park we went to Dairy Queen where we ran into Uncle Pete. We sat outside and ate our chocolate ice cream cones dipped in cherry. MMMMMmmmmmm my favorite.



We then decided that we still wanted to play outside so we went to K-Mart and bought a princess baseball bat and a ball. We went to yet another park and threw the ball around and Julia tried to hit it with the base. She had more sucess using it as a golf club though.



Next we went down to the ferry because we wanted to see the boats. I thought maybe we would ride across the river but everything was flooded. There was water all the way up to the street. Julia thought it was hysterical that trees were growing out of the water.




We decide to go to West Side and get the makings for dinner. We decided on hot dogs on the grill. Julia wanted to "bake" the meat outside like Mema does.



After dinner we went to Auntie Kate's house for a little birthday party for Uncle Scott. It was really low key and relaxing. It was just Peter and Julia for the big kids and Annie Bananie who is sooooo freakin cute when she smiles and is always laughing or dancing...I could go on forever. Of course Julia had to show Auntie Leenie where she got her shot and tell her how much it hurt and how much she cried. Little bit of a drama queen???



Here we are exhausted from our eventful day!




So that was our day. I am off to see who gets voted off Idol and Big Brother.

Spring Break (Day 2)

Joe took the day off to spend some quality father/daughter time with Julia. They went to this place called Imagine Nation. They spent about 3-4 hours there and had a blast! I wish I could give you more detail but I wasn't there. But click on this link and you can check it out. (Imagine Nation) And FYI to all my family members with the Kid City membership it's free.

Right now we are packing Julia up for an over night stay at Mema and Papa's. She is beside herself with excitement telling everyone that will listen that they will be making pancakes for breakfast. Happiness is so simple at that age isn't it?

That's it for today. Boring I know but I have to go on a date with my husband and there will be no time for blogging later!

Spring Break (Day 1)

I had to work at 1:00 today so Julia and I were limited on our time together but we made the best of it.

We woke up to breakfast from Dunkin Donuts (thanks Daddy!). Then we watched Sleeping Beauty, read the book Sleeping Beauty (the long version), colored 3 princess pictures (including Sleeping Beauty), while wearing the Sleeping Beauty costume. Any day now we can get over this princess phase I swear...

So now it's lunch time and we decide to get McDonalds and bring it to the park. Once we ate, Julia went running to the swings screaming at the top of her lungs because she was so excited. Watching her at the park is great food for the soul. It's easy to forget all your troubles watching her enjoy her childhood.

Next Mema met us at the park so I could go to work which was very hard for me to do with the weather we had. But I have Wednesday off so hopefully we can enjoy ourselves just as much.

So that was our day. Short and a little boring to most but a nice memory for us.

Very Creative!

Julia spent the afternoon with Auntie Kara and made these cookies. One thin mint cookie in the middle of 2 vanilla wafers put together to look like burger. Frosting make the ketchup and mustard, and green coconut for the lettuce.

Props to Auntie Kara! She will make a great mom someday.

Politician or Princess?

Every day on the way to school Julia waves at her tower from the highway. This building is the most beautiful she has ever seen. She is convinced that all her favorite princesses live there and one day she will too.

The other day I decided to surprise her and after school we stopped by the tower. She told everyone that would listen that she was visiting her castle. The conversation between her and the security guard was cute. He told her that if she did see any princesses walking around when she was there she was to tell them that they needed to hurry and get ready for the ball. Her eyes widened when the guard told her she too could go to a ball when she was older.

What's this tower you ask? It's the state capital. She made me take a picture with my cell phone. And that little spec on the right is what she calls the "Flag of America".

God has a sense of humor

Having a daughter in pre-K and working in a pharmacy I was fearful that I would get sick every other week during cold and flu season. Being on medication for my immune system I have worked hard this season to do avoid any extra exposure to unwanted germs. I thought that my main threat would be my daughter who takes part in the ever so gross rituals of a four year old with the finger in nose, not covering mouth when coughing, always forgetting to wash your hands, etc. You would hope that as one gets older they learn about hygiene and adjust their habits accordingly. You would hope...

I'm not sure which grosses me out more. The customer that coughs in my face and somehow manages to leave a few drops of spit behind. The customer that hands me a pill vial to refill and their hands are covered in blood from just testing their glucose levels. I am constantly wiping down surfaces and tools at work for that reason.

Last week I was bragging that I overcame the cold and flu season with no sickness. One thing I learned this week was that God does not like bragging. The last 4 days I have been miserable with a sinus infection. God has a sick sense of humor.

Vacation Day!!

I can't give you any updates on the kid today because I haven't seen her. Today she went to my cousins Patrick and Karla's house in the morning and we didn't see her until after church. Joe and I didn't know what to do with ourselves.


First my husband took me to a five star restaurant to celebrate our freedom. Ok it was Denny's but I didn't have to cut anyone else's pancakes but my own! Then we went to Wiggles and Giggles a cute little scrap booking store. I tried to scrapbook once. I kept telling myself that the basket of pictures collecting dust in my closet couldn't possibly be put in albums because I was going to scrapbook. Four years later, with the basket of pictures overflowing, I am still waiting for the perfect time to scrapbook. You know the funny thing is that over the years I have received about a dozen photo albums as gifts. Those too are collecting dust in the closet.



Ok so back to Wiggles and Giggles...I'm in charge of making centerpieces for a baby shower tomorrow. Whatever possessed these people to trust my creativity with that I don't know. But I gave it the old college try and this is what I got. I put a picture below. Hey what do you want when I had to make 8 centerpieces on a $10 budget? Now don't all of you contact me at once. It's wedding season so I am in high demand. If the price is right I can get you to the top of the list.

We decided to go across the river (over the river and through the woods to grandmothers house we go...) and check out Whole Foods. OMG!! I love it there. They have so much great stuff. But they are way expensive. We bought freshly made honey roasted peanut butter and as I type this I am dipping chocolate covered pretzels in it. MMMmmmm sooooo good!

After that we went to the park and played basketball. Now when Joe and I first met we used to spend a lot of time on the basketball court. I wooed him with my mad skills. Though if you ask him he'd say I have none. He claims that when we played I used to draw blood. Now why would the boy want to be with someone that abusive? So today I took pity and I let him win at a game of HORSE.


It was nice to have a day to ourselves. After each thing we kept saying "So what do we do now?" I forget how much fun we have when we don't have to be parents. Don't get me wrong I love my daughter and we have a lot of fun. But having a break from responsibility is refreshing.

Envious

One of these days I too am going to make a fort out of a blanket and an easel and hide from the world with my books.

School Pictures (part 2)

So I have this secret phobia regarding any offspring of mine and school pictures. Some of which, if you read between the lines, is quite evident in the last post.

I was relieved in the fall to find out that school pictures would not be taken at the start of the new school year. Mainly because my daughter had just taken scissors to her hair and had given herself layers. Instead the school would take the pictures during the peak allergy season, the spring. Which prompted the picture from yesterday of Julia with the bright red nose.

Today we went off to school. Hair perfect, clothes neatly pressed, dressed in an outfit that wouldn't clash the generic backgrounds all school pictures have. It looks like they finally got rid of that laser background that was around when we were kids.

Walking into the school, our perfect hair now blown to a mess by the wind...I look down to see my daughter's snot covered face smiling back at me. Off to the bathroom to get her cleaned up and I notice her lips are a little chapped. Gave her some chap stick and told her to put it on her lips.

With our shirts tucked in, hair smoothed down, no more boogers to be found, and the gunk washed out of our eyes, we head off to the classroom. I say "good-bye" and bend down for a kiss and I am greeted with a set of clown lips. Seems my daughter went a little crazy with the chap stick (which was tinted red) and outlined around her lips. I try and wipe it off her face and I only irritate it more and from nose to chin is all red and raw.

I think I might have wasted my money buying the largest picture package thinking I would hand the pictures out to family and friends.