• First - I wish for them to be nice. Not to take a bad day out on another person just because they are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Every person deserves respect and a kind word, until they DONT deserve it anymore.
  


• I hope they love music and love to sing or play an instrument. Oh pllleeeeaaaaase don't be tone deaf.
  


• I hope they love animals.
  


• I hope they are ambitious and understand that in order to get what you want, most of the time you have to WORK for it.
  


• I hope they love our family as much as I do.
  


• I hope they are healthy and cautious and down to earth.
  


• I hope they like to try new things. Variety is the spice of life!
  

• I'm a bloody mess... please be more organized like Jasper.
  


• Don't let people take advantage of your niceness. Know when do draw the line and be able to do it.
  


• Don't procrastinate, get stuff done early so you don't need to stress at a deadline.
  


• Don't battle with a weight problem. Be active.
  


• I hope they are blessed to have good eyes and that their hair doesn't go prematurely white or fall out.
  

Its my birthday.

I'm 29 today.

I'm going to go upstairs to lay down and watch some TV before I go to sleep.

I'm working on a business card for A New York Touch beauty salon.  oh....I have to buy them a domain name.  I gotta do that before I go to bed.

I am having a little trouble getting used to this. I know everyone is saying that, but I really liked the old way much better... I hate logging in and then - oh yeah - how do I update this thing again??? Anyway...

We barely finish one project in the house now before we move onto the next!? It's exciting though.? Now we are working on the downstairs bathroom.? We've ripped down the panelling (ugly ugly ugly) and we are putting up greenboard.? We got a new shower from home depot and we are getting a new toilet, vanity, lighting fixtures - the works!? We aren't spending big bucks on the stuff, but it will be new, and ours and who cares.

I bought paint for the rest of the basement paneling the other day.?We are painting it a light coffee color.? Instead of buying a 5 gallon bucket for $93 bucks, I bought 5 premixed "oops" gallons.? They are all approximately the same beige color and one is a darker neutral brown that I LOVE so mixed it would turn out lovely.? Those buckets were $5 each - so I'd say thats a pretty good DEAL!

Jasper replaced the bifold closet door in the living room with a new door and he did a marvelous job.? It makes a huge difference in that room.? So when we are done with the walls in the bathroom (right now we have about 6 big peices of greenboard lying flat in the living room waiting to be moved down into the basement) that room will be DONE.? For now. hahaha.

As for work - I may be taking on a sales person.? I'm meeting her on Monday and I've spoken to her on the phone once and she seems really terrific.? I can't wait to meet her and iron out the details.? This could be VERY good for Currents.

I'm pushing the October issue back to the middle of November.? Last year, the holday issue was in homes the 2nd week of December and that was way to late for most people to do Christmas shopping. This time I am defering the October book till November and THAT will be the holiday issue.? I think it will work out much better this way.

I've just finished the Sundaes website and put it online this week www.sundaestheicecreamplace.com

and redesigned the JPM Construction Consultants site www.jpmconstructionconsultants.com

next comes V2K Virtual Window Treatments and A New York Touch hair salon.?

Oh, and Jasper and I were talking about the vacation we are going to take for our 3 year anniversary.? We wanted to go on a cruise, but the longer we wait, the more expensive the trips are getting.? I suggested the poconos and looked it up online this morning.? Resort isn't that expensive, it includes meals and activities, and the rooms are just CRAZY cool.? You have a private heated pool IN YOUR ROOM!? And a jacuzzi, and a round king size bed, and a bose wave cd player/radio and a refridgerator and a dry sauna and a massage table and a tv (visible from the hot tub) and I have decided I would REALLY like to avoid the massive hurricane season they are having down in the carribean and try the Poconos this year.

Can you blame me??

By the way, I didn't put all those question marks all over my last entry.  They just APPEARED there for some reason.

I love this. I really do.

Oh YEAH!  I just booked a cruise!  Jasper and I are going to the Bahamas for our 3rd anniversary and we just got a really great deal on a Celebrity cruise out of New York.  We were deciding if we wanted to go on a cruise or to the poconos for a few days and I know he really loves to cruise so I'm glad I found this deal.  $1572.10 includes EVERYTHING for the 2 of us (port charges and all) for a 7 night cruise!  I love Travelsmiths baby! My client and now also my travelagent.  Visit them online here http://thetravelsmiths.com/

Dooreen has said yes to selling ads for Currents and now I am meeting with Score on Friday morning to help me figure out the specifics of paying a commission sales person and writing up a contract agreement for us before we actually get started. She has asked that I pay for office supplies and for a cell phone.  I have to talk to Jasper about it but I think that sounds fair.

Evie is going to watch Kylie and stay at the condo while we are away.  I need to send out some press kits and call some clients about past due invoices.  Today is a GOOD day!

So I've been having wicked cramps all week and I called the girl doctor today to make an appointment.  They can't see me till next thursday.  I'm going to call back tomorrow and see if they can see me earlier because after I made my appointment I went to the pharmacy and bought a home pregnancy test.

Yup.

And now I REALLY wanna see a doctor.  Cause it says we are having a BABY.  But it also says that ovarian cysts can give a false "pregnancy" reading. (fine print) and I had to have an ovary removed 3 years ago because of a doosy of a dermoid cyst and at that time there was a "simple" cyst on the other ovary.  They said it was no big deal and that those go away by themselves.....but thats why I wanna see a doctor.  Good news or bad news???? 

I can't believe I might be a Momma. Woah.

I called the doc today and I have an appointment for tomorrow morning for a blood test and an ultra sound.  I have another appointment scheduled for Monday as well for another blood test.  Dr. Keelan says that when you are pregnant the pregnancy hormone in your body doubles in your blood every 3 days.  By taking the blood on Friday and then on Monday and checking my hormone levels they will know for sure! 

There are 2 ultrasounds scheduled for tomorrow (both ways) and I have to drink 32 oz. of water an hour and a half before and hold it until they are done!  Thats tough. I had ultra sounds back when I had my cyst and it wasn't easy! 

Jasper is kind of freaking.  I hope if we ARE going to have a baby, he gets happy about it soon.  I don't want to be the only optimistic one here - I'm scared too.

well, I just typed out this huge post and it didn't show up and I lost it.  ARGH.

Anway - things are going well.  The sonogram showed no heartbeat (too early) but did show a "sac" which happens when you are pregnant.  It also showed a small cyst on my right ovary.

I am still having wicked cramps though about 2 or 3 times a day. 

We told our parents and they are so happy.  Everyones waiting for the blood test results on Monday. I'll post again when we know for sure.

Dr. Keelan called me at 9am today and asked me to come into the office for another ultrasound.  He said my blood hormone levels doubled nicely but he just wanted to make sure that the pregnancy wasn't in the tube.  So by 9:30am I had showered and taken the short drive and was waiting to be called into his office.  Funny, I still wasn't sure if I should be picking up the pregancy magazines yet.  I didn't want to jump the gun.

When it was time for the ultrasound he said what he wanted to see was - a yolk sac within the gestational sac.  And if we saw a baby...well, that would be great.  He saw both sacs and yes, he saw a baby. A very very very tiny, 2 millimeter baby.  YAY!  I'm going back on Thursday (2 days from now) to have ANOTHER ultrasound done to see if we see the heartbeat yet because the baby was SO small that he wasn't sure if he saw one or not.

I'll pick up my prenatal vitamins at the pharmacy tomorrow (they had to be ordered) and we called our folks and friends to confirm with everyone that everything looks good! I felt kind of queesy earlier, but it could be that I'm just excited.

Today is Jasper's brother Neil's birthday so we are going to go to his parents house tonight.  I bought the book "What to Expect While Your Expecting"  here is the link... http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/089480829X/103-7158406-6423060?v=glance

I could have bought it used online, but I just bought it from the mall today like any other non-computer person because I wanted it NOW.  Not very frugal of me.  I also bought 2 new bras because I'm poppin out of the ones I've got and they are starting to HURT me.

I've got to get going on the window treatments website I should be working on.  I ran into Larry at the mall and he said he sent me a deposit today so I would like to have some pages finished for him to look at soon.  I really have to focus and make sure that this is going to be a productive week

I haven't really had cramps in the past 2 days so it looks like thats getting better.

Today I had an ultrasound again and my mom came with me.  We saw the heartbeat!  It was kind of slow, but not dangerously (said the technician).  It was 80 beats per minute.

The baby is now 34 millimeters and only 2 days ago it was 2 millimeters!  I haven't had any morning sickness yet, but thats good because I HATE to throw up.

He said that by the size of the baby they know I am 7 weeks pregnant and the baby is due on 5-26-04.

How cool is technology man?  My mom didn't know this kind of stuff at 7 weeks!

We got the paperwork for our cruise last night.  We can actually book the shore excursions online up to 10 days before the cruise!  I don't really care if we book them ahead of time, I just like knowing what they are.  There are a couple of excursions where you can walk through crystal caves... I would love to try that!  There seem to be a lot of stairs involved and they can get slippery so I have to bring good grippy shoes - I don't want to trip and fall! 

You can also see a glass blowing studio, go to museums and a zoo and take a glass bottom boat tour.  I can't wait it's going to be so much fun!

Well, this issue of Currents is underway.  The holiday book will be in homes on November 23, and since Jasper and I are going on our cruise on Oct. 16th, I've got to get my renewals done before we go away.  I'm so glad that Rivoli's restaurant has decided to go back in the book - I think that coupon did really well the last time they were in.

Today was my first OB appointment with Dr. Saez-Lacy.  Heather didn't like her much but I think she was really nice.  I'm so glad I'm going to this group - everyone there has been great so far and they are making me feel really comfortable every time I go.  My next ultrasound is on Thurs. the 14th but I don't think Jasper will be able to come to this one either because he has to work.  I'm going to call later this week to see if anyone canceled to make it earlier (today he was still booked up).  Jasper put the other ultrasound picture on his computer desktop.  I was so happy to see that.  I think he is starting to get into it.

Tomorrow I'll be picking up pumpkin's to paint for a juvinile diabetes event later this month.  I won't be able to attend the event (it's during our cruise) but I'll paint some pumpkins for it and contribute that way.  Should be fun!

Tomorrow Jasper is off from work.  I have a lot of work to do, but I'm glad he will be around.  I feel like I haven't seen him in days because I've been so tired and I usually fall asleep before he gets home.  I can't wait till the cruise this weekend - It will be so nice to get away.

I'm working on a new website for one of my clients.  http://onyourmarkdesigns.com/v2k/index.html

That's the url I've posted to while it's in development.  I've just emailed the address to the client - I hope he likes it so far!!

Kylie and I took a walk around the loop today.  It was nice to get out and stretch - for the both of us I think.  My stomach feels huge already - I haven't gained much weight but it FEELS big.  I really have to watch how I eat on the boat next week.  I think I am going to go to the health food store tomorrow and see if they sell "sea bands".  They are little acupuncture wrist bands that are supposed to help with nausea and morning sickness.  I didn't get sick on our last cruise, but now I have no idea what to expect.

Here is my ultrasound picture from today.  We are 8 weeks and a day and the heart beat is well above 100 beats per minute so the tech said everything looks good so far. 

Sure is a huge difference from the last one huh?  Now the baby is 1.7 centimeters long.  I probably won't have another ultrasound (if everything goes ok) until about 18 weeks so this will be the last one for a while.  Jasper was there with me for this one.  I'm glad he came. 

We really talked about the name issue and I am ok with the tradition now because it means so much to him.  I love him so much and he was so upset because he didn't want to upset me or my family but he can't help the way he feels.  At this point, we are both hoping for a gir., but a boy would be just fine too.

Other than some nasty nausiousness - I am feeling FINE today!

Here we are.  12 weeks pregnant with one trimester down and two to go!  Things are going well - and my family is treating me like I'm made of glass.  Don't lift that, here let me help you, no don't get up - I'll get it... and so on.  It's pretty nice.

I bought a baby doll to use to introduce Kylie to a little person that I will be paying a lot of attention to and I need to make sure that Kylie gets lovely treats when she is quiet and gentle around the doll.  I need to get a tape of baby noises....

Jasper and I had a wonderful time on our cruise to Bermuda.  I only got sick on the last night at sea because the ocean was SO rough.  The waves were 15 to 20 feet and you just couldn't get away from it.  But, thankfully, thats the only time I've thrown up during this whole pregnancy so far so I'm counting that as a good thing.  The ship, The Celebrity Zenith, was very nice though it was a little small.  The food was good and there were a couple of different options for dinner.  Sometimes we ate in the formal dining room, sometimes the casual dining alternative, and once we ordered from room service.

On the island we bought a 3 day bus pass, picked up a free attractions map and happily did what we want, when we wanted to.  We felt so independant to be able to plan our 3 1/2 days in Hamilton any way we pleased.  We saw the Crystal and Fantasy Caves, the Aquarium, Museum and Zoo, the underwater exploration institute and horshoe bay beach too.  We had to leave early on the last day because of the stormy seas on the way home (I guess) but we had a great time.  Maybe we'll go back to Bermuda someday.

Today I saw my cousin's wife Lil and their baby Jake.  They came to visit my aunt at her condo close by.  Jake is 17 months now and Lil has 2 other kids from a previous marraige.  She says she isn't having anymore children so she has stuff to give me if I want it.  I need to take a trip down to their house in Willingsboro and visit them.  I haven't seen Stevie in a long time and I've never seen their house.  Maybe this weekend since Jasper will have off.

November 18th - today I found out that Heather is pregnant too!  My best friend and I are pregnant together, how crazy is that?  She wasn't expecting it and didn't know until last week and she is going to the doctor on Tuesday to find out how far along she is.  She has no idea when she had her period last, but the last time she remembers was at her parents anniversary party back in August!  We might be having our babies at the same time!

I can't wait to hear what the doctor says.

Today is my Mom's birthday!  We are going to go out to dinner in a couple of minutes.  She's had a crummy day so far - her fridge isn't working right and she had to throw out a bunch of food. Today is also Jamie Lee Curtis' birthday - I saw her on Ellen today.

When I woke up this morning I had such a headache and my whole body hurt.  I'm definitely not getting enough rest lately!  It was really no excuse though - I did absolutely NOTHING today.  I woke up, watched tv, crocheted more of the blanket I'm working on, ate leftover stew, and just took a shower about 10 minutes ago.  I feel so lazy but I am totally pooped!

Great - my mom just called.  Mom and Dad got in a fight and she is crying and she doesn't want to go out to dinner she just wants to go home and go to sleep.  Today is just awful.

This webpage belongs to a friend of mine.  It's her family site.  That is a picture of her daughter on the home page.  Isn't she beautiful??

Ruthie's Family Website

16 weeks pregnant now. Friday Jasper brought me to the emergency room because I was having chest pains.  The pain and pressure in the center of my chest started the day before, but it got worse by Friday night.  I called my ob at 6:30 and she told me to try over the counter heartburn medicine.  She said if it didn't work I should seriously consider getting evaluated at the ER.

By 10:15 it hurt pretty bad and I decided to go.  We were there from 10:30 to 3:30am.  They gave me an IV with Pepcid in it and the nurse forgot to open the valve so for 2 1/2 hours I just had a needle in my hand for no reason.  Finally she came back in and I showed her the little plasitc piece and asked if it was supposed to be like that.  She silently opened it and left the room.  ugh.

The Pepcid didn't work and the doctor pretty much just ruled out that there was nothing wrong with my liver, my heart or my baby.  So we went home and as I walked out of the hospital to the parking lot I realized I felt just has crappy as I did when we got there. Oh well.

Saturday was the worst, I barely got out of bed.  But the pain has gotten progressively better and it only bothered me a couple of times today. 

I'm going to the doctor for bloodwork tomorrow so I will tell the nurse about the pain and the hospital.

I have a 20 week ultrasound at the end of the month - its going to be major.  They will be able to look at all the parts of the baby.  We should be able to know the sex by then, but I don't want to know.  Jasper is considering finding out and not telling me, but I don't think he will be able to keep the secret.  I really hope he decides not to find out.

Evie, Johnny and Joanie are all taking RCIA classes to get their confirmations.  Evie and Johnny are going to be the Godparents of our baby.  I'm so glad they are all going, it really is touching.  They have to go to class every Sunday morning from now till Easter.  I'm also glad because since Evie is going to church again I am going too.  We've gone to 9am mass the last 2 Sundays and I really do like going to church.  The music directors are leaving on December 15th and I don't know if they have anyone to replace them yet.  Hopefully they will find someone before Christmas.

No more chest pains.  As of yesterday I feel a lot better.  I guess it was heartburn after all.  I'm on this aol message board for pregnant ladies who are due in May and they have TP Tuesday.  They like to see how many toilet paper squares it takes to make it around your belly every week.  Well, I'm 17 weeks now and 13 TP sqares.  I've gained 15lbs.

I missed my networking breakfast this morning.  I was up till 3:30am last night so when I tried getting up at 7am in order to make it to the meeting, it didn't happen.

Today mom and uncle Adrian and I are going to go get us a Christmas Tree!!  I can't wait.

Last night, Jasper (I helped a little) started to put down the laminant flooring in the basement.  It was rough at first, but when he got the hang of the best way to do it, it went much quicker.  There is still a lot left to do, but I really think it looks great so far.  It reminds me of a gymnasium floor - I love how fresh and clean it looks. I can't wait till the whole room is finished.

I think Kylie wants to go out.... I gotta go walk her.

Merry Christmas!

I had scary zombie nightmares ALL night last night.  It was my own fault though.  Right before bed I watched the beginning of Shaun of the Dead - a comedy spoof on zombie movies, but even that was enough to freak me out in the dark all by myself (Jasper had fallen asleep).  I shut it off about 5 minutes after the first zombie appeared. 

I woke up about every hour and a half after running from, fighting with, and trying to inoculate myself and friends against the zombies in my dreams.  After reading a book, or going to the bathroom (with the lights on and the shower curtain flung wide open) I would go back to sleep only to meet MORE zombies in hospitals, office buildings, parking lots and boiler rooms.  Ack.

On a lighter note, yesterday was Christmas!  We went to midnight mass the night before and it was lovely.  Jasper came with mom and dad and me.  We got scads of wonderful presents yesterday and much to our shock - both my parents and his mom bought us digital video cameras to make movies of the baby when he/she arrives.  We had been planning on buying one in the next few months but we never imagined we would get one for Christmas - they are so expensive!  Well, we got two - so we are returning the one from his mom and putting the money toward the new TV we've been looking at for a few weeks. 

Jasper is going to buy the tv with his brothers today, come back and hook it up with the new speaker Johnny gave us (that makes a pair of 400 watt speakers since he gave us one for Christmas last year).  I am going to go over my parents house because my mom bought my dad a play station II and gave him Dance Dance Revelution Extreme along with a dance pad and I think my sister and I will have more fun with it that my dad ever will.  He actually did try it a few times last night, surprising everyone and thankfully getting him up off of the couch for a while.

The big guy in red and white also brought me lots of other toys to enjoy yesterday including...... a massage cushion for my chair, a new 160 gig hard drive for my computer (YAY!) lots of maternaty clothes (YAY!), tickets for the Broadway show Wicked (I got so excited I almost passed out!) and the cast recording of the show.  I got a body pillow for nighttime comfort and a bathtub spa do-hickey that hitches onto the side of the tub and has 2 jets that shoot water at you.  Fun Fun!  We got some other stuff too - its been the best "gift" Christmas I can remember for a long time.

I think the gifts we gave were well received too and its so fun when you get a gift "right" for family.

As for baby - we are 19 weeks along now and my big 20 week sonogram is on Tuesday the 28th.  I've been feeling the baby moving around for the past few days and it's so reasuring! I can't wait till the docs check us out and make sure everything is going the way it's supposed to.

Happy New Year!

I haven't really been updating in a while becuase I recently found my mom's diary from when she had me.  It was such a gift!  With her blessing, I loved reading it. She wrote about each doctors appointment, each milestone, my little baby quirks, nicknames, favorite things and when I would get sick.  I am keeping a physical journal now so that I can give it to my baby one day.

Also, I've stopped publishing Currents Magazine and am now helping out my dad at his office JPM Construction Consultants, Inc. I'm sorting through files and bills and piles of stuff in his office.  Busy busy.

I'm over half way there - 23 weeks.  I SAW the baby move last night while laying in bed I looked at my belly and saw a big kick.  HAHA!  What fun.

My next sonogram is on 1/25

Here are the pics from the sonogram we had on 1/25/05.  I didn't really want to find out the sex, but now I know sooooooo.... It's a BOY!

Take a look at our son....

A good shot of his face, looking to the right.

Laying on his back looking up with his elbow bent and his hand near his mouth.

Again, laying on his back looking up.

Again, laying on his back looking up - I think his hand is in his mouth this time.

We are closing on our refinance on Monday afternoon.  This is a VERY good thing since we have been trying to take care of it since November.

I've just finished "By the Light of the Moon" by Dean Koontz and I HAVE to give the book to Cioci Linda to borrow if she hasn't read it yet.  It was so exciting!  She would love it.

I've been feeling the baby moving around all day - I wish he would do this when Jasper was trying to feel him!  Jasper hasn't felt the baby move yet, but I'm sure he will soon.

I was concerned at the sonogram that my cervix might shorten before it was quite the right time... I had a conal biopsy done last year and they had to remove part of it then.  Turns out that the tech was able to take a measurement at the last sonogram and we are doing good - about 3"  Anything over 2.5" is fine.

I need to get my butt over to the bank and make a deposit before it closes.

I fell again the other day.  2nd time this month!  I haven't fallen this much since I used to rollerskate in high school.  There was black ice in our parking lot at the condo and CRASH, down I went.  This time it hurt and I was so mad at myself and frusturated that it made me cry.  I think the baby was keeping still because I was so upset, but after a little while he started moving around again.  The doctor told me not to really worry about the baby unless I'm in a serious car accident or something because he is really well insulated in there.

He also thinks I should take the class at the hospital on breastfeeding.  I've been reading about it and I thought that would be enough, but he thinks the class is a good idea.  I hope there is still room.

I've been singing to the baby lately, when I'm driving in the car, or at night in bed before Jasper comes upstairs.  I think he likes it, he moves around a lot when I sing.  I can't wait till May.

Neil is moving into his new apartment today, I can't wait to go see it.  Jasper has off on Sunday so we are going to go visit and if he needs help we will help him put his furniture together.  I hope he likes it where he lives.

Jasper said today that we may have a visitor for a week sometime in April.  Ed's 13 year old son.  This kid has gotten suspended 2 times in the past month and he doesn't seem to have any respect for his parents at all.  Well Ed and Jackie are going on a vacation and he might be staying with us... I don't know if this is a great idea - I am going to be really pregnant then (I already am...geez) and I'm sure if this kid gets on my nerves I'm going to let him know about it!  We will see how it goes, maybe we can get him to help out.  One thing is for sure, I'm not leaving him alone with Kylie in this house.  Who knows WHAT could happen.

So today I am researching vaccines for the baby. 

I can already say that I am biased NOT to get vaccines.  My dog is on a raw food diet and the more research I (and what I hear from my mom, the doggy research queen) do about holistic alternatives, the more it makes sense to me.  One of my clients  has 3 kids and 2 of them don't have any vaccines at all, while their first only has about half of the "required" shots.  His kids are perfectly FINE and I tend to think the risks involved with vaccines outweigh the benefits they supposedly provide.  I can't quote specifics yet, but I'll be back to post some research... including the schedule of what is required by the state.

The weather is so horrid outside today - it rained and then snowed yesterday and since I've fallen twice this month I am going to be a CHICKEN and stay in the house today.  It looks like one big ice skating rink outsite.  Kylie is looking at my sideways and shaking her head, embarassed to be the charge of such a lilly livered mommy. Ah well puppy girl, you'll have to be content with gazing out the window from your perch on the back of the loveseat.  Doggy TV.

Also, Heather called me last night after her sonogram - They are having another little......GIRL! 

hooray!

Here are a couple of pictures I thought I would share... This one is Jasper watching TV with Kylie...

And here is a BIG belly shot of me. 30 weeks preggo!

Yesterday I was working on the computer at my dad's office when suddenly I couldn't see the numbers I was looking at anymore.  It was as if someone had taken my picture with a really bright camera flash and I had looked right into it.  I could see everything AROUND whatever I was focusing on, just not the exact thing I was focusing on... that was hiding behind that wierd bright camera flash spot.

I stopped working on the computer, went to the bathroom, looked around the room at different things, and started to panic.

I called my ob and they told me to have my dad drive me into the office.

On the way there I noticed that the "spot" had drifted to the left, so now I could see what I looked at, but my left peripheral vision was shot.  It was really scary.

It began to fade just before we got to the doctors office (of course) but when I got there they seemed to be concerned about preeclampsia.

My bloodpressure was 130 over 84 (not bad) and I had no protein in my urine or swelling.  I didn't have a headache either.  The doc told me to go home and rest and to collect a 24 hour urine sample tomorrow (that is today).  Then on thursday I go back again for a regular appt. and to have my bp checked again.

They listened to the baby and the baby sounded fine. 

Wish me luck - I sure hope that was a one time thing... yikes.

Dr. Keelan says I'm 34 weeks and 4 days today - I LOVE LOVE LOVE this doctor.  He explains everything so well and I wish I could guarantee that he will be the one to deliver the baby (one of 5 in the group I go to) but I guess we will just have to hope that he is the doc on call.  He says I'm measuring a little above average for size, like 35 or 35 1/2 weeks.  Says the baby is still head down (yay!) and from the heartbeat he "sounds happy". 

More good news, my bp is 120/82 and my 24 hour urine test came back great.  He said regarding spilling protein in your urine, numbers over 500 are not normal, my number came back 117.5.  VERY GOOD!  Also I have VERY little swelling for "being this pregnant" so it doesn't look like preeclampsia is going to be a problem for me.  Whew!

He even said, as long as I am feeling ok and nothing seems to be going wrong, that I don't need to come back for 2 more weeks!  So my next appt. is 4/28.

All in all, everything looks great!

I am seriously debating on whether to vaccinate at all.  I've been thinking about this for a long time and talking to parents who both vaccinate and don't vaccinate about the reasons for their choices. 

I also ordered the booklet "Parents Guide to Childhood Immunization" from the Center for Disease Control and I don't like what I see.  The book is written to encourage parents to vaccinate their children, but the numbers they quote make me hesitate. Most of the disease that we vaccinate seem to be much more rare today than the side effects that your kids can suffer from the vaccines. For example...

Regarding Diphtheria: "in 1961 there were 617 cases.  Today there are only a few cases a year." This refers to numbers reported in the US and keep in mind... these are not just CHILDREN, these are CASES in people of all ages vaccinated and unvaccinated. 

Tetanus: "There are only about 50 cases of tetanus a year in the US, but 1 out of every 10 people who get tetanus dies from it." So I guess that's about 5 PEOPLE (not children) per year in the US, right?

Pertussis: "causes about 10-15 deaths a year in the US" (they don't say what year this count was taken).  They also say "The lowest number (of cases of Pertussis) ever reported was 1,010 cases in 1976."

The vaccine to protect a child against one of these diseases in called the DTaP vaccine. "When DTaP vaccine is given according to schedule (5 shots) it protects most children from all three diseases.  If a child does get one of the diseases in spite of the vaccine, it will probably be milder than it would have been otherwise."

Beyond the "normal" vaccine side effects, they have this to say about the DTaP Vaccine: "Occasionally, a child will have a more serious side effect.  About 1 child in 3,000 will get a fever of 104*F or more.  Rarely a child may cry continuously for 3 hours or more after getting the shot (in various studies this has happened with anywhere from about 1 child in 8,000 to about 1 child in 900). About once in 14,000 injections (our children are supposed to get 5 injections of this vaccine), a child may have convulsions or become limp or pale for a short while."

They also list "Precautions" or reasons the doctor might want to delay giving a child a DTaP vaccination or not giving it at all...

"A child who had a severe (life-threatening) allergic reaction after a dose of DTaP should not get another dose."

I'm trying to keep in mind that they wouldn't put these in the book if they didn't happen...

"A child who had encephalopathy (brain illnes) within 7 days after a dose of DTaP should not get another does of pertussis-containing vaccine."

Also telling me that encephalopathy is another possible side effect.

"...a temperature of 105*F within 48 hours after a dose of DTaP..."

"...a child who collapses or goes into a "shock-like" state within 48 hours after a dose of DTaP..."

"...convulsions within 3 days after a dose of DTaP..."

All of these are listed as precautions and so I think of them as possible side effects.

I know this post is regarding only 1 of many different vaccines "required" for our children, I'll post more about the other shots later.

What I am finding is that the diseases are very rare now (I know we have vaccines to thank for this) and they use the following quote many times throughout the booklet...

"Severe allergic reactions to childhood vaccines are very rare (estimated at around one per million doses), and no child is ever known to have died from an allergic reaction to a vaccine."

My question is.... How many "doses" of vaccines are our children supposed to get?  Quite a lot, right? I just did a quick count of the reccommended vaccination schedule on the CDC website and from birth - 11 years, looks like 28 doses for each child.

So that means approx. 1 in 35,714 kids has what the CDC refers to as a SEVERE reaction to a childhood vaccine. Thats the number of people who live in my town.

The number of cases of the diseases reported in the US aren't just children, they are people of all ages. 

I just don't think the benefits outweigh the risks at this point in history, in our society and in my opinion.

I'm getting really uncomfortable and the people around me are upsetting me because I think they are really doubting if I can do this naturally.

Everytime I wince when I stand up, or groan when I change positions, or take a deep breath when I feel like my freakin stomach is going to rip off.... I feel like I'm being judged. 

Last night Joanie asked if I was going to try to go natural and when I told her yes I was going to try she say "that's what my friend Kim said and then she got the epidural."  And then, horror of horrors, Jasper pretty much agreed with her.  He said that he thinks after 3 or 4 hours I'm going to give up. THAT SUCKS! I told him that I really need him to cheer me on when it gets tough cause I know it's really going to hurt - but he said we will just have to wait and see how it goes.

I REALLY don't want to get one. I just know now that I really need my mom to be in that delivery room with me to support this decision - I need people telling me that I'm doing a great job, not waiting for me to fail.

Oh boy....I feel like today is going to be a weepy mess of a day....

I had my dr. appt today and they said that I DO have it, the culture came back positive.  I thought they told me I didn't have it last week.... oh well.  I'll have to get 2 doses of antibiotic 4 hours apart before I deliver. She still said I shouldn' t worry about calling unless my water breaks or I have contractions 5 minutes apart for an hour.  I guess noone thinks that labor moves too quickly for a first timer!

She said he is still head down, heartbeat sounds like a happy baby and I am 1cm dialated and 80% effaced....

At least I'm makin progress!

So today I'm crazy 40 - what fun!

Anywho, I was at my mom's tonight and started having contractions.  5 minutes apart for almost 50 minutes.  I was so excited, I was pacing around and keeping track.  Once I sat down - they stopped.  Bummer.  I am really ready to meet this baby already!  Hopefully I'll be posting that we are all safe and happy and home from the hospital soon!

Today she said my blood pressure was creeping back up again.  133/88.  Said it looks like I've got some chronic hypertension and that I may need to be on bp meds when I get older....

"1 cm dialated and very very thin" and she said I have a "good size baby in there" so she may induce me on Friday if my bp still looks high.  I need to go back in on Thursday to have it checked.

I am excited to have him soon, but I REALLY don't want pitocin because I would like to have a natural, non-medicated birth... I think pitocin is gonna suck.

She told me to go home, relax, drink lots of water, no salt and lay on my left side.

I've got some work to do first (I need to design a business card for a woman whose website I finished last night www.parrotnutz.com ) and then I can go relax.

Take it easy everybody....

Giovanni Augustus Mazzuca is here!

I'll be posting his birth story soon, but I've been on the computer far too long tonight and Jasper is upstairs spending time with him all alone. I'd like to go join them...

Born: Sunday May 15th @ 11:08am

Weight: 8lbs 1oz

Height: 20 3/4"

Here are a couple of pictures...

Giovanni is just over a month old.  He is doing GREAT and I'm have so much fun being a new mom.  Traveling with a breastfeeding baby is a little difficult because I'm not comfy with nursing in public.... yet.  Don't know if I ever will be, so I'm trying to pump enough to hold him over on our short trips to run errands.  Mommy is on vacation this week and next week. Mommy, Evie and Daddy are staying with Jasper and I until the construction is finished on their house.  The new addition is coming along great - I can't wait to see it finished.  Mommy was a little concerned because of the lighting in the new room.  Turns out, she didn't know exactly what a soffet was so she was surprised to see it when they framed it out and put the recessed lights in. I've seen it though and I thnk it's going to look really nice.

It's a good thing Mommy has been here with me because she has been helping me so much with the baby.

Today we are going to head over to Staples to show Giovanni off to the folks who work with Jasper. They haven't seen him yet.

Jasper is on vacation next week so I have a feeling we will be trying to finish up some home improvement projects of our own while mom and dad are here to help us.  I would love to finish the floor in the basement and even finish painting that room!  Ohhhhh and baseboard trim!  We will see how far we get.

Here are a couple of pictures...

I'm so psyched!  Giovanni's blood test from yesterday came back GREAT!  Last week his level was 16.1 - no longer dangerous, but not real good either.  Yesterday's test came back at 9.4!

He is kicking that crap out of his little system.

No More JAUNDICE!

Hooray!

Today Giovanni had a real tear.  Sure it was in the wild throws of a crying fit outside of my mom's house - but that little tear surprised me! He is holding his head up for a long time, like a little champ AND this morning he gave me 2 smiles.  TWO!  And they weren't the twitchy half asleep kind either.  They were real ones.

I'm printing out invitiations for his Christening tonight and I'll make out envelopes later upstairs if I get a chance.

Everyone in my house is on Weight Watchers and we are all counting points.  As a nursing mom I get 10 more points than I normally would - 38 points every day!  I've lost 4 lbs so far.

Oh, and we got to go to the movies the other night.  Jasper and I went to see Batman.  We loved it - HE insists that it was the best movie of the summer so far. Jasper still thinks Michael Keaton is the best Batman, but I think I might like Christian Bale better. Overall review?  A must see.

Ask and you shall receive Ruth!

Here he is waving "Hi!"

Giovanni has been Baptised! The church service was pretty rough.  He cried the whole time.  Screaming, face turning purple, didn't want to be settled down for ANYTHING cry.  Well....maybe he would have settled down if I nursed him as sooooon as he started to get upset, but no.  I tried a bottle.  hahahahahaha.  He won't take em - especially not when he is hoppin mad like that. We gotta work on it.  Anyway, Father Jay, the priest who married us, performed the ceremony and two other families were having their kids baptised too.  I felt so bad for everyone because THEY felt so bad for us.  You could see it on their faces.... that - oh we are so embarassed for you and the poor kid I hope he stops crying soon look. And Father Jay was getting so distracted!  Boy, I would have been too.  Who the heck can concentrate when a two month old is screaming his head off 6 feet from you?  I think God made us that way so that babies can ensure they get what they need. Anyway, I really would have nursed him right away, but we were sitting in the FRONT row at church.  ugh.

Then, half way through Father Jay said if I needed to nurse I could so I took him to the back row and started and he calmed down some.  He kept calling us up to the front - pour the water on his head, make the cross on his chest with the oil, be up there for the prayer, etc.  I would head to the back again after each thing and nurse him some more.  We got through it.  Whew!

The party was lots of fun though.  We had it at The Lobster Shanty and the food was excellent.  The place just got remodeled recently and it's so elegant - I think it would be perfect for a wedding.  We had a buffet and I think everyone had a really nice time.  I didn't even worry about giving him a bottle then, I had a nice flowy shirt on and while we nursed I could just drape the flowy stuff over his head and it was very discreet. 

All in all, a great day.  And now I have a little saint!  Who can commit a sin at 2 months old?

This is the email announcement Heather's mom sent out yesterday. Yay! I'm so happy for them. We went to the hospital to see the family yesterday and took some pictures...

"Our third grandchild has arrived.

After being in brick Hospital for approximately 2 hours, Heather gave birth to Anna Rose at 5:14 pm, July 15.

 This beautiful little girl weighs 7 pounds 10 ounces and is 19 1/2 incles long. "

Also, July 15th was Giovanni's 2 month doctors appt. Jasper took off to go with us and everything went well. He is 12lb 2 oz. and 23 inches long. The doc is thrilled we are still breastfeeding, not so thrilled that I've chosen not to vaccinate. Oh well. G is cooing now and standing up more when you hold him above your lap. He's crying now so I have to go.

We went to church on Sunday and gave father Jay pictures of Giovanni from the Baptism.  At the service he had brought out a little photo album and showed us that he had a picture of us from our wedding and from our pre-wedding meetings with him, so we wanted him to be able to add Giovanni to the album.

We've taken Giovanni out to eat twice this week! 

The first time was on Sunday night.  We went to the Sawmill on Seaside Boardwalk on the Jersey Shore.  There was so much noise in the restaurant/bar that you could barely hear your own conversation, but Giovanni loved the racket!  I think it kept him calm, believe it or not.  He did get fussy at one point and I fed him right there at the table.  I had a big shirt on and put a receiving blanket over my shoulder.  We were sitting at a table near the wall so I just adjusted my chair away from the rest of the people - it was all good.  I'm getting the hang of this...

We went to Charlie Browns for dinner yesterday.  I was a little upset because we ended up in the smoking section (my aunt asked for "first available" and I didn't know till we were seated) but my mom ended up walking around with G for most of the meal anyway.  She tends to scoop him up when we are out and he gets fussy.  I think she doesn't want me to get discouraged and not want to go out with him, so she wants to take care of it.  Sometimes I like it when she does it but sometimes I don't.  I just tell myself to chill out, there will be plenty of times for me to soothe him when he is fussy - then I will be BEGGING for help.

I finished painting the basement tonight!  Jasper bought a GREAT rug from Target today for the room.  Tomorrow I will put all the furniture back and the stuff back in the built in shelves and put down the new rug.  I can't wait!  I've been addicted to design shows lately, so I am really excited about sewing some coordinating throw pillows and picking out art and fixing the lighting for that room.  It's gonna be b-e-a-utiful!

Giovanni found his hands last night.  He keeps looking at them now like "Where the heck did THESE things come from???" hahaha.

I went to the doc for a followup visit yesterday.  All is well.  He says I won't need to see him for a year. All right!

We got a new 42" plazma hdtv on super duper sale from Costco yesterday - its GORGEOUS. I love the way we rearranged the livingroom - we got a corner shaped stand to match some of the other furniture in the room and it lays out much better this way.

Giovanni is sleeping right now and Jasper went to Staples to lock in the guys who are working overnight.

I just watched the movie "Wedding Date" with Grace from Will & Grace.... it was pretty good but more serious then I expected it to be.  Two Weeks Notice still has to be my top favorite romantic comedy of the last 10 years... haven't seen one to beat it yet.

I am very sad to say that Sharon told me that she lost the baby earlier this week. I think she was only about 7 or 8 weeks along and at her prenatal visit the docs couldn't find the heartbeat on the ultrasound.  They said that they believe the heart HAD started at some point, but then it stopped for one reason or another.  You know there is SO MUCH development going on at that point - cells splitting all over the place.... anything number of things could have happened.  I know that it's the last thing anyone wants to hear, or say, but I guess it's natures way... if not, the baby may have been born with something terribly wrong, or she may have lost it late in the pregnancy.  Its just so sad. I hope they are able to start trying again soon - Sharon is going to make a WONDERFUL mommy.

We are so very lucky to have our Giovanni.

New pictures of Giovanni for all to see!  Hoooray!

Giovanni laughed this week!  It was a slow huh-huh-huh kind of laugh, but he did it twice so I know it just wasn't cooing.  Happily, Jasper was home and in the room with us when it happened the first time and we both looked at each other in shock when he did it.  It was great.

In other news.... G has been really high maintenance the last couple of days.  He just wants to be entertained.... I feel like I'm doing a floor show all day long!  whew!

We are having fun reading stories every night though.  He has a Winnie the Pooh sing along pop up story book that is tons of fun.  He actually smiles at the pop ups and tries to grab them!  He also enjoyed the entire Horton Hears a Who story (that one is looon too) and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. That one is my favorite.  My mom used to read that one to us so much that we all had it memorized.  If you started my mom off on it she could probably still recite the whole book!

I need to put some stuff from our basement on ebay....

I noticed Giovanni sucking on his thumb a few times today.  This is a first for him.  I'm not going to worry about it... we will see if it's a phase.  My mom was thrilled because she was a thumb sucker when she was small and it's another trait that little G shares with his grandma.  You have to see a picture they found of mom when she was young...she looks like Giovanni in a dress!  I'll post it here...

He doesn't like to be held in a cradle hold at all anymore.  In fact, when I am about to feed him, I have to get myself all ready when we are standing up so that when I sit down with him and get him into position I can do it quickly.  If he stays horizontal in your arms too long he cries like crazy.

He does love the "colic hold" though.  When you hold him face down across your forarm like this...

That's my mom holding him by the way... same as the baby in the previous picture.

It's back-to-school time at Staples so Jasper is working 6 days a stinkin week again.  boooooooooo. 

My birthday is coming up on September 7th.  I'm gonna get myself some contacts!

I'm doing well. The only downside is that I feel kind of ugly. I don't get to shower every day and cosmetics have become foriegn to me... my poor husband! My hair is haywire again too.  During pregnancy - I was really diggin my hair.  Soft, wavy, not too frizzy and no hair in the bottom of the tub after a shower.  I didn't shed!  Now?  It's EVERYWHERE!  My folicals are making up for lost time....if I worried more, I might be worried.

I love horsing around with Giovanni though.  I haven't been going to my dad's office this week.  He is on a trip to an ASPE meeting (American Society of Professional Estimators) so I've been hanging out with mom and G.

I ordered a doorway jumper from Amazon last night. It looks like a lot of fun and got good reviews.  I've heard tell that I may be able to get some stuff done in the house while Giovanni is entertaining himself in this thing.  I'm looking forward to running the vaccuum.

I think Kylie has fleas.  I've been trying to kid myself, but I can't anymore.  I'm even getting a little itchy. yiiiiieeeewwwwy! I put frontline plus on her 2 weeks ago (something I didn't even want to do because it's pesticide on my poor puppy!!) but it doesn't seem to be helping. Hence the reason I need to find a minute to VACCUUM! She also needs a bath - I'm giving her one today.

I just got a call from my Dad - Good News!

Marrissa had her baby!

Oh, Giovanni is crying I will post stats later.

Since later is now here...I'll edit this entry to include stats....

Madison Rose was born yesterday at 3:03pm

She is 6lbs 1oz and 19 inches long.

Congratulations Marrissa and Rob!

We had a big day today.  Mom and Dad bbq'ed and Giovanni was passed happily from person to person throughout the party.  He did get sleepy/cranky a few times, but for the most part he was charming the pants off of everyone there.  I took a bit more video today.  Oh, I found the disk of video we took at the hospital when G was born - I'm so glad, I thought I lost it.  I need to put it on DVD and make copies for the grandparents.

Cioci Terri gave me a cutting board, tapestry and shadow box, for my birthday.  They all have a beach theme and were probably all intended for the kitchen, but I think I'll put the shadowbox downstairs.

Jasper had to work tonight so he couldn't be there today.  Back to school time is hard.

We watched 4 more episodes of Smallville last night.  We are on the second season now and we are completely addicted.  The first season took us about a week.  I would be watching more right now, but Jasper is playing some Madden football online with his ps2 with a guy he works with.  When they are done, we will continue our Smallville marathon.  I'm so glad there are like 23 episodes in the second season.  You get so spoiled watching a series on dvd.  No commercials and you don't have to wait till next week when they stick you with a cliff hanger ending!

Ok, you wanna see nerve??

I designed a website for my father's company.  I created the graphics and wrote the content.  You can see the site here:
JPM

Today, my father was checking the resources page on his public hit counter and found this *&%@#*! website.
Copycat Site

They stole the graphics and the content and changed only a few things for this bogus company.  My sister and I were talking about it and she is probably right...it's probably some kid who is cheating on a project for school.  He had to build a site and decided to copy one. It sounds like a fake company, he is still using my father's picture on the Staff page, and the contact info is fake.  The contact form doesn't work and the web design company link on the home page leads to no-where.

I'm so disgusted.  The guy even used my hardhat image and removed the jpm logo.  grrrrrrrr.

Worst part is, I can't even look up the whois info on this guy - he used a geocities free site and yahoo won't release the contact info without a court order.

Stupid, false, cheating, copying people suck.

On the brighter side of life - here are new pictures of the boy... he is 16.4 lbs now and I hope he doesn't catch my dreaded head cold.

Presenting...

In person....

A neeeew theme!

It's really in honor of my birthday coming up on WEDNESDAY! I'm gonna be 30.

The only thing I want to do is go to the boardwalk.  I want to celebrate with everybody in a fun, outdoorsy way where we can take pictures and ride the carousel and play some ski-ball and get a funnel cake or waffles and ice cream and take it easy. 

We can't go till Thursday though - Jasper has to work on Wednesday and I have to go to Jersey City with my family. 

My Great Aunt Margie passed away and we are going to her wake.  She lived upstairs from my Grandma.  Her husband and my grandpa were twins and they bought their house together a long time ago.  Uncle Johnny died a few years ago and now that aunt Margie has passed, I wonder what will happen to that house. My grandma and aunt and cousin still live downstairs, but now upstairs will be empty.  My aunt bought a condo down here (in the same complex as us) 2 years ago so they could come down here but that's far from her job.  We'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Happy birthday to me!  Happy birthday to me!  Oh man, I'm 30.

I love my birthday.  Always have.  It's my own personal holiday.  I can't imagine ever getting down because I'm getting older.  I dig it every year.

Jasper got me a dvd recorder for our tv.  It's gonna be great!  We can tape anything we dvr.  Huh, I just realized that I will probably always use that word "tape" even though there isn't any tape involved anymore.

I can't imagine what technology is going to be like when Giovanni grows up.  Man, when I was born, my parents were listening to 8 tracks.  I remember intelevision.  And beta vcrs. I loved the Electric company and 321 contact. Just a moment, I was caught up in some nostalgia...... ok.  Back to 2005.

Holy cow, I just visited the WB website to read up about my newest TV obsession - smallville.  WARNING - don't read the article unless you want to find out key stuff that happens in season 5!  I can't WAIT!

We only have the season finally left to watch fromt he 3rd season and the 4th season doesn't come out on DVD till Sept. 13th!  (BLAST!)

I joined netflix so that I could rent the 4th season when it comes out, but I'll have to settle with renting the old superman movies until Smallville 4 is available.

Oh the trajedy.

Yesterday Giovanni gave me a great bday present.  He laughed 4 times!  Real, big laughs.  He laughed at my mom when she showed him her hair in his crib, then at my uncle Jimmy when he held him out in front of him and went real close to his face, then at a woman named Lydia who works with my uncle Johnny, then at me when we got home and he was sitting in the big recliner and I kissed his belly.  It was wonderful.  He laughed a couple times today - but yesterday was his first real laughing day.

Jasper got me a birthday cake last night on the way home from work.  He is so sweet.  He got me a dvr for the living room so we can actually record on dvds!  GREAT birthday present.

We got our first netflix dvd today.  I had signed up for the 1st season of 24.  I never watched the show but I heard it was good so I asked for the first 3 discs of the first season.  We got a disc today.  Of course it's the 3rd disc. Sheesh!  Hopefully disc one will come tomorrow.

Today we went to the boardwalk for my birthday.  Most things were closed, including the rides, but it was a beautiful breezy night so we walked up and down the boards, got an ice cream cone, and came home.  It was nice to get out.

My mom and dad got G an intelisaucer - kind of like a walker/playgym for their house.  He sat in it today - I think we were having more fun in it than he was, but I think he will dig it more as he gets older.

Jasper and Kylie and the Baby Boy are still in bed. I got up and took a shower (didn't get to get one yesterday) and now I'm down here fooling around on the computer until they all get up. I ditched mom and dad for Church today (even though they won't be leaving for a half an hour yet) I just don't feel like going.  I'm kind of down today. Blech. I feel the need to have a heart to heart with my husband. We gotta talk.

We are supposed to go to my inlaws house today and Jasper says his mom wants to go to the boardwalk with the baby.  We went yesterday, but I will definitely go again.  I love it and I think he likes the carrier more and more.  I went food shopping with Evie late last night.  We were there for a while, it was a long trip. He fell asleep facing forward in the carrier in the last aisle, so I held his little head up with my hand all through checkout.  Poor kid, he woulda had a stiff neck.  Do little babies GET stiff necks?

I'm very lucky.  He's so sweet.

Evie got me a coffee maker for my birthday... time for it's maiden voyage!

I've created an online album for my photos.  I tried zoto, but you can't order prints from them and my inlaws are dying to bring pictures in to work with them so I thought I would try this:

Giovanni's Album!

We need a hammock for Giovanni's stuffed toys.  He has a laundry basket full of them and Kylie (the clever girl) sticks her paws through the bars of the crib and steals them when I turn my back.  If they were in a hammock....well, even SHE couldn't jump that high.

Netflix has sent Smallville Season 4 disc1!!!!  It should be arriving tomorrow.

I ordered Giovanni's Superman costume for halloween.  Can't wait!

He has a 4 month Dr.'s Appt. tomorrow.  I am anticipating another debate about why I don't want to Vaccinate.  It kind of feels like going to the principal's office, but I just have to be firm.  I don't look forward to it though.

On a good note, I am going to the freehold mall tomorrow to meet Sharon and spend the afternoon.  I'll bring the stroller and the Baby Bjorn carrier and see which one we feel like using.  I have a feeling the front carrier will HURT after a while, so the stroller may be the best bet.  It will be Giovanni's first trip to the mall!  Maybe we will go to KB and get him a toy. It'll be fun, I haven't seen Sharon in a while and it will be our first afternoon together, just us, for a looooong time. Can't even remember the last time actually.

Yahooooo! We just got back from Giovanni's 4 month Dr. appointment and he is "perfect" according to the man in the white coat!  I kept waiting for him to bring up shots until we walked out the door, but he never did.  Whew - I'm relieved.  G weighs 16lbs 8oz. and is 26 inches long and he has a 17" head.  We forgot to ask about a dark spot he has on the side of his head.  We can't tell if there is just a lot more hair growing there or if his skin is discolored or both. But the doc looked him over, looked in his ears, eyes and checked his hips. 

We talked about developmental milestones and he said I can start feeding him cereal.  I think we will get him some oatmeal.  This should be fun.

Oh, we wanted to drop my car off for an oil change on the way to the Dr.  When we got there, the parking lot was all torn up.  A big construction site.  It started pouring shortly after that and it was getting too close to the appt. so we left the car in a nearby space.  I'll go back with my mom when she gets out of work to see if we can get the oil changed or if we will just head home and go back another day.

The baby is sleeping in his CRIB. 

My contacts are bugging the crap out of me.

Time to wrap it up and go to bed. 

I am having a client come to the house tomorrow and it's a disaster area.  I should have been showering, or cleaning the house, or doing laundry instead of screwing around on the computer for so long.

Goodnight

The house across the street from our condo complex looks like a cute little home with a fenced in yard.  It's got a for sale sign, so Jasper asked me to call to find out hom much.....$568,000

WHAT?!?!

Well, it has 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths and a basement. 

Ugh.  We will never be able to buy a house in Brick.  The condo is as good as it gets.  If we want a yard, we need to go south I think.

I need to start bringing home some bacon too, it's not fair that it's all on Jasper right now.  I feel terrible about it.

For scorned women everywhere...

DontDateHimGirl.com/

Giovanni had his first cereal tonight!  I mixed some rice cereal with ebm and he had a few spoons.  He ate it like a little champ.  Some of it dribbled down his chin, but he opened his mouth for the spoon over and over again.  It was fun!  Mommy held him on his lap while I fed him and Jasper watched us. 

We didn't let him get frustruated, he had a little bit, then I nursed him to sleep.  He had only had one nap today, so he will probably be out for a while.

Mom and dad and Evie are staying with us tonight and maybe tomorrow because mom & dad's hardwood floors are getting re-finished and it's been so humid that it took a long time to dry between coats.  They may be in by Monday.

The season premier of Smallville season 5 is in 2 weeks!  Wahoo!

Today we are going to Jasper's cousin Joey's  birthday party.  The baby turned 2 on Sept. 19th.  Joey and Rachel have 2 kids - Joey is the oldest and Nicholas was born 3 weeks before Giovanni.  I've never actually met either of the boys, so It'll be nice to see them today.  Actually, very few people on that side of Jasper's family have met G.  He is napping now, so hopefully he will be in a social mood when he gets passed around from person to person. Most of them live right here in Brick, so maybe we will see a lot more of them after this.  I hope so.

Jasper is closing every day until Friday when his vacation starts.  It's gonna be a rough week.  I can't wait till he is off!

I'll take pictures at the party and post them later.

The party was so much fun.  Joey (the birthday boy's Dad) dressed up as Spiderman and armed with a can of silly string (his web, of course) surprised the kids.  He climbed up a ladder onto the roof at the front of the house and heroically appearing to all the kids playing in the back yard. They were thrilled and a little scared at first, but they were all high-fiving spidey before he took his leave of the party.

The kids played pin the tail on the donkey, whacked a piniatta, jumped on a big inflated moonwalk and had plenty of hot dogs and chicken nuggets to fuel the fun.

I'm glad Giovanni got to "meet" his aunts and uncles and cousins on that side of the family.  Most of the women had seen him before - but the guys had never met him.

Here was a crazy party moment.  It made me shiver at every fall and scrape Giovanni is going to have as a kid, but also made me wonder about how to discipline children. There was a little girl about 3 or 4 years old who was somehow related to the birthday boy.  I think she was a cousin on his mother's side.  We were in the living room and Nicholas, who is 3 weeks older than Giovanni, was sitting on his grandma's lap.  The little girl approached grandma and the baby and grandma suggested that she show Nicholas the pretty blue tinfoil balloon weight that was sitting on the table beside them.  The girl picked it up and held it in front of him and he seemed mildly interested.  Before I could even blink, the little girl winged the thing right at him and it bounced off his little forhead!  Holy COW!  Completely unexpected.  The poor kid had a screaming fit and I couldn't blame him, that thing was heavy and she heaved an overhand pitch that little league coaches would kill for. The family wisked the baby away to be calmed down, but the little girl didn't even get scolded. I was pretty shocked.  When they asked her "Why did you do that?" she replied "I was throwing it to the baby." and that was that.  Again I say "Holy Cow."

I was sitting right next to that Grandmother and Nicholas when it happened and if it had been (Heaven forbid) Giovanni who got hit, that little girl would have gotten an ear full and she would have KNOWN not to throw stuff at an infant. I was just amazed at the whole thing.

The baby is fine by the way, thank GOD.  They had an ice pack on his little head for a while and he was sitting stock still with his little toes all spread out....poor thing - he looked like he was saying (woah, only a little spot on me is cold here, what the heck is going on??).

Anyway - I didn't take many pictures of the party, but this is my favorite latest picture of G.

I've gotten this email a couple of times in the past - but I still think it's cool.  Take a look at an oldie but a goodie...

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you
can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

if you can raed tihs psas it on !! 

Oh, I forgot....

We missed the season premier of Smallville.  The damn DVR was full. It's most of what I have been talking about for ohhhhh, the past MONTH!  I'm so disgusted, I can't even think about it anymore. 

Curses.

This was forwarded to me today.  Do you think I should post the warning on the Urban Legends site?  I'm not sure if it qualifies....

Anyway, this really was posted by the FBI :

http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel05/092805.htm

For Immediate Release
September 28, 2005

Washington D.C.
FBI National Press Office

TELEPHONE FRAUD INVOLVING JURY DUTY

Washington, D.C. - The FBI today is providing a warning to the public against an ongoing scheme involving jury service. The public needs to be aware that individuals identifying themselves as U.S. court employees have been telephonically contacting citizens and advising them that they have been selected for jury duty. These individuals ask to verify names and Social Security numbers, then ask for credit card numbers. If the request is refused, citizens are then threatened with fines.

The judicial system does not contact people telephonically and ask for personal information such as your Social Security number, date of birth or credit card numbers. If you receive one of these phone calls, do not provide any personal or confidential information to these individuals. This is an attempt to steal or to use your identity by obtaining your name, Social Security number and potentially to apply for credit or credit cards or other loans in your name. It is an attempt to defraud you.

If you have already been contacted and have already given out your personal information, please monitor your account statements and credit reports, and contact your local FBI office. Local FBI field office telephone numbers can be found in the front of your local telephone directory or on www.fbi.gov. For further information, please review the warnings posted on the U.S. Courts website at www.uscourts.gov, “Newsroom” news article “WARNING: Bogus Phone Calls on Jury Service May lead to Fraud,” August 19, 2005.

###

He ate more cereal today.  I tried mixing the cereal with BM a couple of times before, but it's such a waste.  I only use a couple of spoons of it and I would waste 2 oz. or more each time.  Forget it.  I'm mixing the cereal with formula. I don't care if I waste that, I didn't have to pump it.

Take a look at my handsome boys.  Sigh - I'm so lucky.

I gave Giovanni some sweeties today.  He liked them much better than the cereal we were trying.  He smiled and opened up for more.  I gave him a little this afternoon and some more tonight and then I gave the rest of the container to my dog cause she wanted to try it too!  hahaha.  Kylie got more than Giovanni did, but that's ok because it was his first try at anything but cereal.

He hasn't been nursing much lately.  I don't know if his teeth hurt or what, but it started that he didn't want to eat while I was sitting in the recliner.  He only ate while laying down.  Now he is picky about laying down and (ok, Jasper thinks he is completely spoiled when he sees me doing this) for a while he wanted to eat while I walked around with him....but he is getting HEAVY - so he has been cranky the past few days and not eating much. 

No fever, no cold, a little drooly and wants to chew on his clothes and blankets and he has been complaining a lot.  Not outright crying, but loud whiny complaints.  He just isn't comfy.

I must be eating too much chocolate and drinking too much coffee.

He found his feet yesterday - all of a sudden the started grabbing his toes when he was sitting on me on the recliner.  He's done it a few times since then, like they weren't even there before.

I made up a song for him last night - it's kind of dumb, but he likes it. :)

I love this.  Geez, I am still such a mousekateer.

Working on a link exchange campaign for my good friend Robyn's website....

Emerald Events - Affordable wedding planning at its best, servicing NY and NJ, specializing in 'Day of Wedding' coordination. Your wedding wishes and desires are the most important factors and we strive to make them a reality!

This woman's Kozy Carriers look so cute and strong and snuggly.  Giovanni is really outgrowing the Baby Bjorn.  I'ma gonna get me one of these...

A New Theme!  I've picked a new domain name and I am going to create a website about being a mom.  Interesting articles, controversial topics, recipes, how-to stuff, a forum, recommended reading, product reviews, and whatever else I can think of.  I love the Urban Legends site, but I think I am outgrowing it a little.  It's time to flex those muscles and start fresh.  When deciding on a subject - well I couldn't think of something else I am more interested in at the moment :)

It's a big endevour to start by myself, but I'll work on it in the middle of the night.... like now....

I know I won't have a lack of photos and images for the site....

I don't get out much though - I may need some help with articles....

I'll be sure to post a link to a draft when I'm ready.

He is a tough man to put down.

Literally.

Giovanni is not the kind of baby who will just drift off to sleep on his own.  I can't just put him in his crib, turn on his mobile and find him snoozing by the end of the song.

At least I don't have to nurse him to sleep anymore... but he does need to be walked.  Preferably to the musical tones of Mozart blasting with the lights OFF (watch your step!)

He's a funny boy.

New skills: rolling from back to belly, sitting for brief moments before toppling to the front or side, hiking his knees up under him while his face goes flat into the mattress, and spitting most of the green beans back out at me and swallowing just about an eighth of what I feed him.

Ok this has to be a short one, but I've got a lot to say.  Well, it's been a hell of a day.

First, my mom's new furniture got delivered.  My dad was home for it.  Nothing was ripped, they didn't scratch the wood floor, he was keeping an eye on the guys who were working at the house - I don't know what the hell happened but when my mom got home a half hour later (so the story goes) she sat down in the recliner and the damn thing wouldn't recline.  So - for the upteenth time during this whole renovation process, she needs to call customer service and NO they won't immediately replace the broken furniture even though it was only delivered BRAND NEW an hour ago - they will send someone out to look at it and "assess the situation".  This could take weeeeeeeks to resolve.  Ugh.

So mommy wants to go shopping to find a trunk, a rug, and some other stuff - she had a list.  I had to go shopping to find an anniversary present for Jasper.  Tomorrow (today) is our 4th wedding anniversary and my last minute ass didn't have anything for him.

So we pack up the baby and hop in the car.  We had to Pier One.  She is on her cell phone with furniture customer service and the baby starts to cry and we are talking about the delivery and we get the parking lot and I get out with the baby  and mom is still in the backseat on the phone.  I give her my keys and I'm walking in the parking lot. She hangs up and gets out and closes the DOOOOOOOOR!  No mom DONT!

She locked the keys and the diaper bag in the car. ugh.

We call AAA and shop in pier one till they come.  They in 10 minutes and give us back our car.  YAY!

Ok, so then we go to the mall (40 minutes from home and I don't get to go often) and I want to pick up Giovanni's pictures that I had taken on impulse when we went a month ago.  I never thought I would have to come back to get them, but they don't mail them out.  Shit.  So I'm there tonight with my mom and we go and they are closed.  Shit.  When the hell am I gonna get back to the mall?

So I found a great gift for Jasper and then we got hungry and tired and just wanted to get some ice cream and leave.  We go to cold stone and stand there staring at the menu boards and the buckets of ice cream behind the counter and I see my mom becoming frantic, shuffling through the diaper bag. My wallet, she says, where's my wallet?

Starts freaking out.  Starts taking everything out of the diaper bag and piling it up in the floor.  In the middle of cold stone creamery.

We don't feel like having ice cream anymore - so we are speedwalking through the mall trying to figure out where the hell she could have dropped her wallet.  She KNEW she had taken her keys and her wallet from her purse (in the parking lot) and put them in the diaper bag.  We go to the car and she is dumping diaperbag and purse into the back seat.  In the dark. Crying.  She is kneeling down and what does she see????  Her wallet fell UNDER THE CAR.  Yes, she found it.  Money and credit cards still there.  THANK GOD.

He threw her a bone.

And the baby screamed all the way home.

Now he is sleeping.  The dogs are fed. Jasper is home and making a pot of Cinnamon Pecan coffee and we have Lost and Invasion on the DVR.  We also have Equilibrium and disc 5 and 6 from season 2 of 24 from Netflix. The night is young, tomorrow is my anniversary and my husband doesn't have to go to WORK.

What a day.

I am currently involved in a debate about vaccinations on a message board I belong to.  This "debate" has gotten out of hand and ugly and I no longer wish to participate.

If anyone is interested, here is a link to an interesting investigation about the safety and effectiveness (or lack there-of) of vaccinations.

http://www.garynull.com/Documents/Vaccines/VaccinesOpinion/vaccines-2ndop01Intro.htm

Also, If you are a parent or guardian of a child under 24 months of age, you are invited to take part in a study about vaccinations.  It's basic and short - the research could be helpful.

http://www.immunization-research.net/

Halloween is over - in about 7 minutes.  We had a lot of kids come and went through bag after bag of candy.  YES!  I love halloween.  My folks came over - so did my sister and eventually Jasper's sister made it and his mom and brother came too. 

Ahhhh - the boy is awake and we are nursing so I'm typing with one hand....

onto the pictures...

"Earmuffs!"

& both his grandmas!

Mom and Evie have been on vacation this week so we took a couple of day trips.  Giovanni doesn't seem to loathe the car so much anymore - which is a very good thing.  We went to the Turtleback Zoo, in Essex County NJ and had a great day.

 We couldn't have asked for better weather and I think Giovanni had a nice time watching us watch the animals.  He is still a little small to enjoy the animals himself I think.  The lama did come up close to the fence so I think he did see that one though.  It was a lovely fresh air day. Here are some more pictures...

After the zoo we went to visit my grandmother and her brother and sister in Jersey City - not far from the zoo.  Giovanni had never met Uncle Philly and Aunt Isabelle so I was glad we got to see them.

The next day Mommy filled in for someone at work, so G and I went to Daddy's office. Then yesterday we took another trip to Smithville, NJ.  It's a little town with antique shops and ethnic (Irish, Egyptian, British, Italian, etc.) shops, cafes and taverns and such.  We went into practically every store, but didn't buy much.  Mom bought me a set of those little finger symbols that belly dancers use.... I wonder what they are actually called.

I'm cleaning out the basement and throwing out a bunch of old stuff I really don't need.  I have trouble with this....I horde things. Jasper is not a horder.  He would love to have zero nick-nacks in the house.  It's not even nick nacks really, I don't like them much either - it's memories.  I have all my old sketchbooks and paintings from college (I'm sure there are a few from highschool in there - doh!), I have memoroblia and some special things from when I worked at Disney, there are tons of records and books I can't let go of, jewelry boxes and candles, dishes from my old apartments etc. That stuff is really hard to part with - I'm a sap for setimentality.

What I can do is get rid of the stuff that is broken, that doesn't mean much but takes up a lot of room and go through the boxes of files that are in there.  I don't really think I need my paycheck stubs and health insurance paperwork from 7 years ago....

That may pacify my neatnick counterpart for a while longer. :)

Sometimes I surf around and read other blogs.  Sometimes I read a young person's blog that really makes me worried about them. It makes me think of the troubles in their lives and the issues they have to deal with and the fact that their very small world can feel so heavy and closed and the problems they face seem so huge and unsolvable. I remember having my whole world rocked over a guy, or spending days agonizing over a fight with my best friend that I thought would ruin our friendship forever. But honestly, it's fuzzy now.  The details aren't clear and I know there must have been more stop-the-presses-my-life-is-now-over moments in my teens that I just don't even remember at all anymore.

I still get worried over things that won't much matter a year from now.  Will I have enough money for holiday gifts, or even to pay my bills this month?  Will the printer I owe money to for the past year finaly pin me down, just when my the number in my bank account starts to rise?  Will I EVER lose the baby weight? (I gained 7lbs back in the last 2 weeks rather than continuing the downward trend on the scale) But for the most part - I have a short attention span when it comes to worrying and I don't have too many blue days.

I think what teenagers don't realize - I don't think I got it then either - was how DRASTICALLY your life is gonna change over the next few years. I recently turned 30 and I've had some pretty GREAT adventures so far.  When I think of my life now compared to a mere 5 years ago - things just that long ago were VASTLY different.  There was a different supporting cast (not married and no baby back then), plots and sub-plots from that time are long over and some are forgotten. The sets have changed from living and working in the city to owning a home in the town a grew up in. 

The jobs I've held in my life?  Fast seafood hostess, office manager at my father's office, counter supervisor and then assistant manager of boardwalk arcades, banquet waitress, telemarketer, executive assistant to an accountant, flower shop staff, tour guide for Walt Disney World FL, intern and then staff assistant at Walt Disney Theatrical Productions in NYC, temp, legal secretary, freelance graphic designer, art director of Coupon Magazine, Business owner and creative director of coupon magazine and website, freelance web designer, henna tattoo artist and the best wife and mom the world has ever seen (well, I'm working on that last one).  I think that's it - and this is all just my lifetime so far.  Some of it was a lot of fun, some was really hard and it all taught me a lot and made me who I am today.

Kids, whatever is going on in your life now and however terrible it may seem.... life is like a riverbed that is always changing.  Go with the flow, keep your chin up and you'll get your head back above water soon.

(Man, am I a mousekateer or what?)

We have a "total gym" that we havn't worked out on in a long time but are seriously considering dusting off and using again. While looking up total gym workouts online I found this article.....

Exercising My Rights: Who says I actually have to use my home-gym equipment?

It was so funny I cried. A couple of times actually...

I can't find my keys... and in looking around my house frantically....I found my computer.

What the hell am I doing, I gotta go to the office.

I worked out today for the first time in a looooong time.  Ha, it's funny but I am all inspired.  By what?  The Biggest Loser.  Great great show.  Hey, if the folks who program our networks are so obsessed with reality shows, this one is the most exciting of them all for me.  These people are changing every aspect of their lives.  Folks who are hoplessly overweight are just that - hopeless.  They have gotten to a point where they have lost faith that anything will work for them and that they are too far gone to do anything about it.  This show is more inspiring and rewarding to EVERYONE who participates in it than survivor, the amazing race or the rest of them all put together. I love it.

Let me tell you, when you lose a bunch of weight EVERYTHING changes, not just your dress (or pants?) size.  The way you carry yourself, see yourself, think of yourself and how others see you and react to you.  People treat you differently when you are thin - you've joined their club, come over to their side, and you feel acceptance like never before. Being able to fit in skinny clothes is like a DRUG and being noticed for it gets you HIGH, man.  It's the truth.  I know, because I did it once.  For a few short years, I lost weight and got skinny.  (skinny for me was 157 at my lowest point, but for my build it did the trick) I was in a size 10/12 and I even wore a bikini for 2 summers.  I felt hot and I got the whistles, smiles and compliments telling me that I wasn't the only one who thought so. The rest of my adult life I've spent hovering around 200 lbs and now I'm right back in that spot again.  I know - I just had a baby (almost 6 months ago!!!) but it's time to take off the weight that had crept back on even before I took that positive pregnance test! 

I can DO THIS. Every once in a while when I look in the mirror - I can see that body under there.  I remember how it felt and I WANT IT BACK. Selfishly and ferociously. So. Throw out the rest of the halloween candy and break out the rest of the old workout videos.  Dust em off and hook up the VCR baby cause 2006 is the year I'll be thin again!!!

Tonight was my second comcast on-demand workout.  Too bad we don't have the digital cable box downstairs in the basement.  I wouldn't mind jumping around so much on the floor down here, but we have tile on our livingroom floor and I don't feel like an elephant or anything, but I can feel the stuff on the bookshelves bouncing a little when I do jumping jacks and such.  It's a little scary.

But I don't care - shake it off (hehe) - I really like the on-demand workouts cause I can pick a different one each day.  The woman is kind of annoying (really muscle bound with a british accent reminding me of the guy who narrates the "Fabulous Life Of..." series on E) but damn the one I did today was hard.  Half way through, she wanted me to do another 10 pushups and I had to pause "are you f-ing KIDDING me?" and walk around for a bit before I kept going.  Man, my face was red as a pepper.

I joined e-diets today (nomad - remember not feeling like you are taking action unless you are spending money?) but I think it may have been a mistake.  I'm going to give it a chance, but I really have to buy all new stuff cause I can't make any of their recipes with what I already have in my pantry.  I guess that's the point of going on a diet, right?  Changing what you have been doing because THAT sure hasn't been working for you.

Also - a producer has contacted us regarding using the urban legends site in conjunction with a new series they are developing about urban legends.  It sounds like a great opportunity, though still in the early planning stages. My first priority before things move forward is to design a GREAT logo for the site.  The one I'm using, I lifted from Sony Sega.  I know, I know, baaaaad Lisa - but it was for a school project on creating a site that was a searchable database.  An online library of a specific subject.  We just expanded it to be a REAL site and I never got around to updating the lifted logo. I give Sony credit, of course - but they won't care.  They can still sue the pants off me. sigh.

Another perk to having a GREAT (my husband suggested the flavor of the Orange County Choppers logo which I LOVE) logo will be MOICHANDISING (Space Balls the FLAMETHROWER!) taking advantage of a huge jump in traffic that would be likely to result from being featured in a TV series.

So I gotta get crackin.  Perhaps I'll post drafts here so you folks can let me know what you think....

Today was Anna's baptism.  Heather's church was great.  There was a christian rock group and a big screen like kareoke. It made it easy to hold the baby and sing along - even when I didn't know the songs. It's a Lutheran church.  I didn't take communion, but here they put wine in a bunch of little thimble type glasses, rather than everyone drinking out of the same cup.  I like that idea.

We didn't stay at Heather's for very long afterwards.  She had a lot of family there and friends and kids and it was pretty crowded so we stayed for a few minutes and said our goodbyes.  I'm glad we went and got to see her. I miss visiting wiht Heath though - we need to hang out more.

Ok, diet news.  Started at 211, this morning I was 210. Hahaha - I can never just weigh myself once a week.  I weigh myself multiple times per day when I am trying to lose weight.  I can't help it, I get obsessive. Then my dad goes to the bakery and buys a coffee cake because some friends stopped over to see the addition on their house.  Put a coffee cake in front of me and I crumble.

Get it?

hahahaa.  Well, I confess - I caved in.  It's ok.  I'll do better tomorrow.

I've launched a new site.  http://aspe26.com

My first website with a forum. 

The ASPE - American Society of Professiona Estimators - is a not for profit organization serving construction cost estimators by providing continued education, industry awareness, recognition, fellowship, and opportunity for professional development.

My dad has been a member of the society for years and when they needed their site redesigned, my name came up. 

I'm glad to have the opportunity and right now I'm struggling to get some traffic and link exchanges.  Come on construction people!

An email I got today. I tend to wish it was true and that I would be there to see it. I've been getting into too many similar conversations in real life these days.

A Navy SEAL was attending some college courses between assignments. One of the professors was an avowed atheist. One day he shocked the class when he came in, looked to the ceiling, and flatly stated, "God, if you are real, then I want you to knock me off this platform. I'll give you exactly 15 minutes"

The lecture room fell silent. You could hear a pin drop. Ten minutes went by and the professor proclaimed, "Here I am God. I'm still waiting."

It got down to the last couple of minutes when the SEAL got out of his chair, went up to the professor, and punched him right off the platform. The professor was out cold. The SEAL went back to his seat and sat there, silently. The other students were shocked and stunned and sat there. The professor eventually came to, noticeably shaken, looked at the SEAL "What is the matter with you? Why did you did that"

The SEAL calmly replied, "God was too busy today protecting America's soldiers who are protecting your right to act like an idiot. So He sent me."

-Author Unknown

unbelievable.

I just did a search for a long lost friend online today.  I googled her.  It's funny because I've tried so many times before and I usually come up with nothing.  Well, that's not true - I come up with way too much.  Katy is a popular name. I weed through site after site, hoping for a picture and an email address - finding the wrong ones each time.  I've even tried emailing some organizations that have listed her name as staff.... trying to find out if it's my long lost friend.

It sounds so cliche saying that....long lost friend.  But it's true.  She was a GREAT friend whom I haven't even spoken to in 10 years but I still think of her often and at times, miss her fiercly. 

I found her. Almost.

Katy was a fan of Transformers.  I'll never forget how badly she wanted to be a writer.  She was already an accomplished writer when we met in high school, with plenty of stories and poems in her notebooks. I even illustrated one if I remember correctly. There was this poetry and short story newsletter we worked on together for a while too - The Voice or something...

She moved around a lot and had a lovely magical imagination. 

Anyway - I digress - I found her.

I searched and I found Transformers fan fiction written by her and another person.  I found that person's website and they had recently gone to a convention and, as luck would have it, posted pictures!!  There she is!!  She looks just the same and it makes me so happy even just to see those blurry little photos.

I've emailed her friend and hope she passes the word to Katy that she is missed and that I've been looking for her. I can't wait to talk to her again.

"If the land of make-believe is inside your heart it will never leave. There's a golden gate where the fairys all wait and dancing moons for you. Close your eyes and you'll be there, where the mermaid's sing as they comb there hair like a fountain of gold you can never grow old where dreams are made.  Your love parade!"

I'm at mommy's house - been here all day, since 9am.  We did go out once to Toys R Us to get some stuff to distract G. in the car tomorrow on the way up to Cioci Terri's house. He really still hates the car.  During the day he is ok, but when the sun goes down, he doesn't want to be in the car - he wants to be home.

Wish us luck with Turkey day travel tomorrow.

My uncle Rocky had surgery today.  We thought he would need to have quadruple bypass surgery, but it turns out they did two grafts (?) on arteries either going to or from the heart (I'm not sure) and bypassed the really clogged portions.  Hopefully this will help him. 

Mommy got a beautiful new camera from daddy for her birthday yesterday. Its a cannon powershot a620. We will be giving it it's first real test run tomorrow.

Ahhhh, the boy is up from his nap.  We are heading hom!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Giovanni woke up today at 8:30am for real. I showered while he babbled at his dad in bed for a while, then he and I ate, leaving Jasper alone to soak in a semi-conscious state. After a few visits back and forth into the bedroom to try and wake Daddy up for real - we finally bugged him enough to get out of bed and into the shower. While Jasper was showering, I gave G a bath at the same time in the kitchen sink. Jasper was ready, I was ready and G. was ready except for his coat.  We were going to try to get to Jasper's parents house for a bit before we left for north Jersey.  Didn't happen.  Getting the first sleeve on he started to melt.  I'm hungry and tired, his cry said, so I left the coat on the couch and fed him one last time.  He fell asleep.  The first nap of the day sleep.  He has been out for an hour and a half. 

Mom and dad should be here soon and as soon as the boy wakes up, I'll feed him again and then we will jump in the van. I gotta go get a sack of distraction toys ready....

Well have to go see Jasper's folks later tonight when we get home.

Today was Madison's Christening.  Marrisa and Rob are her proud parents. We drove 1 1/2 hours up and back with G and he was really good!  Not to hard a ride at all.

He was an angel in church - lots of other squiggling kids around us so he watched them through most of the service.  Kept him quiet, he was rivited, but I hope it didn't teach him to behave like they were.  oy. He was making eyes at the adults around us too. He is becoming such a little social butterfly.

We had 2 diaper emergencies - he leaked while I was feeding him at the rest stop on the way up north.  Thank God it was on my lap and not in the car seat.  Sounds crazy, but at least I KNEW he leaked and he wasn't sitting in it for 1/2 the ride.

Then at the party he pooped.  oooooh it was a big one.  hahaha.  The kid poops once every three days and he had to pick THEN.  In the middle of a crowded vfw hall with no changing station in the bathroom.  Ah phooey - I changed him on one of the only two empty tables in the joint.  Boy it was stinky and gross, but over fairly quickly and better than taking him outside to the cold van just for a new diaper.

He is winding down in his crib right now and Kylie is eating her dinner.  Big day.  We took pictures on my mom's camera.  I can't wait to see them.

There is a swimming school on Route 37 in Toms River called..... no kidding.... The Pied Piper Swim School.

The sign has a little cartoon drawing of a Piper leading some singing/dancing children in little swimsuits all in a line.

Correct me if I'm wrong...but didn't the Pied Piper lead a bunch of rats off into the water to DROWN???

------update------

yup, here is a quote from that poem....

"(The Rats)Followed the Piper for their lives.

From street to street he piped advancing,

And step for step they followed dancing,

Until they came to the river Weser

Wherein all plunged and perished!"

--------------

I think that is a SICK sick sick name for a swimming school.

............2nd update.............

Ok, so I just read the REST of the poem -

The Pied Piper, entire text

and what happens to the kids at the end is even more messed up then I remembered it.

I repeat, it's a bad name for a school and I would not send my children there, based on the name.  They should change it.

And read the damn poem.

................................................

Ok, if you are easily offended - don't click this link:

http://www.explodingpanda.com/404.html

The reason I posted this is that I found it by accident.  I did a search for something and this came up in the search engine listings.  It wasn't emailed to me and I didn't find it posted somewhere like in a blog or something - I just found it by accident.  Totally unexpected. Very funny.

You know what worries me and really makes me mad?  When I see kids posting there actual real names, ages, locations, birthdays and personal information on a public blog. They think they are indestructable and that bad things will never happen to them. I really wish parents would not let their kids on the internet unsupervised. It's a parent's responsibility to teach their kids how to be safe online. I've belonged to newsgroups where young kids have done the same thing. I always send them a warning to keep there info private but it always scares and angers me when I see it happen.

May God watch over them. ((((sigh))))

I'm putting together my Christmas cards tonight.  I photoshopped a picture of G and put him in front of a christmas tree. 

I'll post the picture.

Also, I bought a bunch of decorations today, but not enough garland.  I only bought 2 strings of it and it's pathetic - I need at least 3, probably 4. I can't put the ornaments on the tree before the garland, so I am stuck till I get back to the store!  I made G. a stocking today.  I bought a plain one and glittered his name on it - I had the glue and glitter in my old art box. My house is getting so Christmasy!!

Looks like I'm picking up some new web work.  One of the sites I designed is being sold to a new owner and he will probably keep me on as the web designer. Not sure yet if the design will remain the same or be completely redone - I have a feeling he wants something totally new.  He is sending me a confidentiality agreement, so I may not be posting much about this project here until we are all done!

Last night was amazing. Giovanni fell asleep at 6:30pm. He hadn't really slept all day, but I figured he would be up in a few hours so I started the Christmas cards.  I finished the cards at 1:30am and he was still sleeping! I knew if I went right to bed, he would be up shortly after I fell asleep needing to be changed and wanting to eat, so I woke him up. 

Risky, I know. I turned off most of the lights, picked the sleeping boy up out of his crib and carried him to our bed to nurse.  He woke up slowly and ate. He was laying in the middle, between Jasper and I and after a while he noticed Jasper, turned over and smiled, reaching to touch his face.  I took the opportunity to go get diaper stuff and changed him right there on our bed. No fussing! Then he ate some more but as I suspected, he wasn't tired yet and had really woken up by now.

We shut all the lights and all lay together quietly, but he already knows his dad is a softy! He rolled to face him and started to babble at him softly.  Jasper started talking back to him, "What are you doing baby? You aren't tired are you? Shut your eyes and go to sleep. Oh you are gonna be up all night.  etc, etc, etc."

I said to him "Stop talking to him and shut YOUR eyes - just be quiet and maybe he will fall asleep."

Well he did shut his eyes and so did I.  G was quiet. I was almost asleep when I hear Jasper starting to chuckle. I open my eyes to see him laying there with this huge grin on his face and his eyes still closed and the baby rolled to face him pulling on his mouth.  Both hands were on Jasper's mouth playing with his lips.  It was like he was saying "Why won't you talk to me Daddy?  I know you're still up!" So Jasper started laughing and I started laughing and the baby starts babbling again and poor Kylie is in her crate probably thinking - what the heck is going on out there at this hour??

We all fell asleep shortly after. I woke up and brought him back to his crib and he slep till 7am! I got him back to sleep in a half hour and he stayed in bed till 8:30am! What a tired little guy.

My hair is all goopy and stinky and I swear I can feel the stuff dripping down my the sides of my scalp... I have to wait 7 more minutes to wash out the hair dye. I just want to plunge my fingers into the mop and rub my scalp......ahhh the torture!

We did a lot today - my knees are killing me actually because after church we went to a couple of stores, then back to mom's house and then home where I made homemade tomato soup, put groceries away and finished trimming the Christmas tree. Whew. 

The highlight of the day had to be at the pool/gameroom store. They had a blackjack table set up with some chips and a deck of cards and while the rest of the family was looking around the store I played a couple of hands of 21 with my grandma. The rest of the family gathered around and we played a couple more hands together. Mom (holding Giovanni), Dad, Cioci Linda, Grandma and me, playing blackjack in the middle of this big showroom which, incidently used to be a roller rink I skated in as a kid. It's the kind of moment I never want to forget.

We are supposed to get hit with some snow tonight.  Jasper called me from work to tell me that if I needed anything I should go out now and get it because the storm is headed this way.  No way am I takin' the little boy out just to get milk. Hopefully Jasper will be a wonderfull husband and pick some up on the way home.

Besides, G-man fell asleep a couple of minutes ago and I am taking the opportunity to do some laundry, put away the semi-empty boxes of Christmas ornaments (there is always stuff left in the boxes, I never hang it ALL up) and I'm working on a newsletter for the ASPE.

Kylie is crying at me, I'd better take her out.

I can't find my cell phone. I tried calling it and it's either run out of juice or turned off. Damn I thought it was in the diaper bag. I'm so ticked off.

I haven't showered yet and my dad is coming to pick me up in a little while. Giovanni is not ready for Mommy to take a shower - I should have done it while he was sleeping. Double ugh.

He is starting to get some crawling momentum I think.  Now when he is on his tummy he will "swim" link a frog really fast - and he kind of gets a forward back forward back momentum going.  He is going to get it soon.

He loves to stand up and look at anything from that angle. He LOVES his dog.  He will call Kylie over and wave at her with his hands till she comes to say hi.  Of course, this means she licks him until I tell her to stop.  He stares at her tounge with such wonder.  I would have to imagine it's like us letting a lion lick our hands.... her tounge must be HUGE to him. She is so good with him, but all she wants to do is lick, lick, lick.

I'm getting sick. My throat hurts and my nose is running. I don't even feel like trying to be funny about it.

Jasper isn't home yet and the baby is asleep - I'm going to bring the clean clothes upstairs and konk out.

Maybe I'll have a cup of tea.

Today Giovanni made a funny discovery.  I put him in his little Jeep walker on the kitchen floor while I was eating some lunch at the table. He has three toys hanging from the roll bar on the front of the jeep - one is a little green bear with a blue circle on his tummy. Today, Giovanni is wearing a green onesie with a blue spiraled snake on his tummy. I saw him holding the bear in one hand and looking at it, then he looked down at himself. Then he looked at the bear, then he looked down at himself and grabbed the blue circle on his belly. He let go and looked at the bear again, then looked down at his outfit again.  I swear, he realized that he matched his toy! He was concentrating so hard... living with this boy is amazing.

I hope he doesn't catch my cold.

Oh I had such an awful dream last night. It actually started at about 4:30am. G. woke up and I brought him into bed to nurse him so during the twilight sleep I was getting (my college roomate used to call this "soaking") I was having these dreams.

Jasper had an affair.

Oh it gives me the woogies just thinking about it. I walked in on him and the girl laying together, naked, "afterward". I went crazy! I knew the date, how long it was going on, who she was - all the details. He wasn't sorry and after beating the pulp out of her...I wanted a divorce.

Strangly, I woke up a few times, realized it was a dream, then fell back to sleep to have it continue in another location... but the fact that he cheated was still something I was mad about and dealing with in the dream.

Horrible.

Worse than alligators.

I told Jasper about the dream at one point during the morning, while I was switching sides with G and he had woken up too. He called me crazy and went back to sleep. Later he woke up again, opened his eyes and saw I was awake, and without even thinking about it said "I just had this dream that you were breastfeeding (my boss). It was so wierd."

I cracked up. He can even find the energy to make fun of me the moment he opens his eyes. Ah, I'm crazy about him.

An old friend just sent me this picture she found of Jasper and I at the Senior Prom together. 

And this one of a bunch of us girls who used to hang out back then.  Man, I've always been a big ham!

My upper back is killing me. I'm calling the marvelous Dr. Mark at the  Point Chiropractic Center tomorrow morning and making a chiropractor appointment. My sister can crack her back and neck herself - a number of different ways. I can twist and stretch and bend and lean and nothing. I can't get relief. Its driving me nuts.

We are supposed to be going over Jasper's parent's house. He is in the shower now and the baby just fell asleep. We missed the window. If he sleeps for a long time, we won't be going anywhere tonight. I don't want to wake him from a nap to take him there because I was pretty sick last week and if his little body is fighting germs I passed onto him, he needs his rest.

He had some bananas and cereal today. I gave him some water in a sippy cup and he really is getting the hang of it now.  He pulls it into his mouth, I tip it back for him and only let him get a little at a time. He takes his mouth off, swallows and then pulls the cup back in for more. If I let him get too much, he pulls his mouth away (leaving it open) with this look on his face like "What are you doing? You should know I can't handle that much water at once!" hahaha. He lets it all pour out down the front of himself. But we have less and less of that now - he is training me well. :)

On the whole, he has been pretty cranky today. He really seems to need entertainment every minute or he is doing whiny crying sounds. Just complaining. ....sigh.... maybe he will be in a better mood when he wakes up.

I'm sitting here at my mom's keyboard, wearing a santa hat, a little tired and my back a little achey from wrapping presents. Giovanni is taking a nap in my old bedroom and uncle Adrian and mom are having tea in the kitchen. We've got a big pot of sauce bubbling on the stove for stuffed shells mom is going to make on Christmas eve.

I can't wait for Evie to get home - she sounded like she was in a really good mood on the phone yesterday. We need to do a major revamp on the urban legends site, I'm going to reorganize the legends - it will be much more user friendly.  We've got so many legends to add!

I should try drawing a new logo, I brought my sketch pad with me today...

Merry Christmas! It's a couple days later and we all made it and it's all over and other than the slightly stressfull family/time management issues, we had a wonderfull holiday!

Giovanni saw many relatives and charmed them all. On Christmas eve Jasper had to work during the day, so Giovanni and I went over my mom's till around 6:30pm when we left to meet Jasper at his parent's house. He went there straight from work. My mom had Cioci Linda, Grandma and Ricky over on Christmas eve. They were already down at the condo so they took a break from getting ready for Christmas and came over mom's to have Kielbasa and pierogies and stuffed shells and wine and fun. I was sad to leave early, but we went to Jasper's parent's house and had fun and food there too. Jasper's mom always cooks a lot of different things and they actually made shrimp and scallops and stuffed clams.  Yum.

We came home around 10:30pm and got to sleep around midnight I think. We woke up early - around 7:30am. We opened up presents and had some coffee. Jasper got me a new LAPTOP, which I am typing on right now. We got to his mom's house by 9:15am. We stayed there opening gifts and visiting until about 1:30pm when we packed up and went home to get Kylie and head to my Mom's house. We opened presents there and then went home for a bit so the baby could take a nap and then we headed over to Cioci Linda's house for Christmas. We were the last ones there so we pretty much missed dinner, but everyone opened presents together and it was good to see Stefan and Lil and Jake and Cioci Terri, Uncle Ken, Maddy and Emily.

The only one I didn't have a present for was Uncle Adrian - we are going shopping tomorrow, I have to pick something up.

Oops, it's 1:15pm, I was supposed to call the accountant at 1pm. More later....

Giovanni is sleeping and Jasper just got home. Tomorrow is Evie's birthday. I thought we were going to the outlet malls with her, but now I think she is going to ditch us and go out with Megan.

At least we will see her for dinner. I still need to wrap her present.

Shoot, there are still bags of stuff in my car from shopping earlier. I got a new magic broom thingy - as seen on tv. I can't wait to try it, Kylie hates the vaccuum.

We set up an IRA for my Dad the other day, I'm glad because he really didn't have any retirement account set up before this one.

We were getting ready to go to church and would have left in just a couple of minutes when Giovanni fell asleep.

I'm not waking him up to take him to mass and ask him to keep quiet for an hour.

I hope God understands.

I need to go to confession - I haven't received communion since Giovanni was born.

He splashes in the bath now. He did it a little bit a couple of days ago, but tonight he splashed the whole time. With a very serious expression and both hands, he splashed as though that was the whole point of being in the bath. The toys were dutifully ignored and as I pryed his arms up one after another to wash underneath, he tollerated the process and went back to splashing with enthusiasm when I was finished.

I thought he would protest when the bath was over, but he didn't. He seemed to finish at the same time I did.

Teething isn't going badly at all. I can still only feel the tooth with my finger, I can't see it yet, but he doesn't seem to be complaining about it.

We are having some old 8 mm film converted to DVD. The film was mostly taken by my Grandpa - my mom's dad. I can't wait to see what's on the film. They had one of the 12 cans converted years ago to VHS. I watched it at my mom's house tonight. It had my Cioci Linda, Mom and Cioci Terri as babies! My Grandma was young and beautiful and her brothers and sisters were all there. I saw my great Grandparents and all the rest of my mom's family. They were all very close back then. I saw my Grandpa on film and I'm so glad I got to know him when I did. I miss him a lot. He passed away back in 1989 I think.

I've been working on a family tree so that Giovanni can see it when he is older. I'm so glad we will have these movies to show him too.

Ok, big changes are happening with the Urban Legends site. I know it seems unrelated, but that's why I haven't been posting much lately. Here is the new and improved site:

www.urbanlegendsonline.com

Lots of new categories. Lots of new "reader submitted" legends. And, I'm a bit of a traitor here, a new blog. Yup, and it's on MySpace. I customized it to really look like the site and I could put links back to the site in the header - I dig it. I don't know how many pure Urban Legends blog posts I'll come up with, but I'm going to try to keep it updated...

I think my google rank has dropped a bit for the site, but hopefully I've cleaned up the code and added enough additional pages to make it better then ever!

I'm no snopes, but I think it's pretty good.

Giovanni is sleeping, I need to shower now. He still only has the one tooth, but the next one is coming soon. The front top tooth is right up against the gum, you can see, it's right there.

Even the smallest sound wakes him up now. Especially the front door opening and closing. Jasper had to leave really early for work this morning and oops! the baby woke up when he left. And it stinks because I can't immediatly be like, "Hey, look what happened, you gotta close it quiet..."

By the time I talk to him later in the day, the moment has passed and it's just not as effective anymore. Then I just feel like I'm nagging.

Oh, and when I feed the baby any real food now, he immediatly makes a "ewwww, gross!" face with the first spoon full. Then he takes a moment and decides if it's ok or not. He may open his mouth for the next bite, or he may not, but his first reaction is always YUCK. wierd, huh?

He is eating the zwieback biscuits now. Boy those things get all melty and messy, but he has a good time with them. I also got Gerber Puffs. They are little stars that are kind of like cherrios, but softer so they melt faster. He likes them and I think it's so intresting to watch him practice grabbing at them with his thumb and first finger. You don't realize how much dexterity it takes to get a little thing from the highchair tray into your mouth, but it take a lot! I think of them of Junk Food really. They aren't bad I guess, but they are kind of like baby potato chips. I only give him 5 at a time. I have no idea what the real serving size is because when I opened the package, that part of the label came off with the saftey seal. I think 5 is fine.

Anyway, I'm really borning today and I STILL really need to go take a shower so....off I go.

Today we brought Giovanni to Pete and Elda's for Pizza with Jasper's parents. He was such a good boy and while we were eating I cut off tiny ity bity pieces of pizza and gave them to him. He LOVED them. Today my little Mazzuca had pizza for the first time. This is a huge family milestone because pizza is a Mazzuca's favorite food. Hahaha.

This entry is taking a long time because we rented Zathura and it's pretty good so far.

This week Jasper has been on Vacation! We painted the living room, bot glass put into the picture we bought on the cruise last year and hung it along with a couple of matching mirrors we got at the framing place.

Johnny and Jasper are working on the bathroom downstairs - Johnny is much better at spackling than we are.

Other than the fact that I haven't been to the office in a couple of weeks, it's been a productive vacation so far.

On Monday we left Giovanni with my mom and went to Great Chef's night. We had the time wrong, so we missed the first hour, but G was really good for mommy and didn't freak out at all. I think mommy and daddy had a good time watching him.

He's got two teeth now... one on top and one on bottom.

I gotta go, this movie is nuts.

Ok, I started January at 217 and now I am 204! Good good good. I was even good at Ruby Tuesdays for dinner with my family. I had salad bar (lowfat dressing), chicken chili and a baked potato and I only ate about 1/2 of it.

Giovanni shared my potato with me. He is eating more finger foods now. I'm giving him little bits of some of the food I eat. This morning I gave him some soft boiled egg. I mushed it up with a fork - I could tell he thought it was a very strange texture. I had 2 and I made one for Kylie too. He has 3 teeth now and one more is just about to push through.

My folks and I went to the Monmouth mall today to get hair cuts. I really can't stand the woman who does my mom's hair. She drives me crazy and I think she is missing a few screws. I had my hair cut by her once and I felt trapped in her chair. You feel like you are being subjected to her. I don't care how talented she is, she is annoying. Mommy won't stop going to her though. She has difficult hair to cut and this lady knows how to do it well. She has even cut mommy with her scissors (nicked her ear) on more than one occasion, and my mother still goes to her. THAT is customer loyalty.

I need to work on an add for a Deli for a friend on mine. They are opening up Signature Deli, Jacksons only New York style Deli and Restaurant in March and I can't wait to go. Wish them luck, I think they will do great!

The Emmys are on tonight but I wasn't really watching. I just had it on so that I could avoid watching Lost and Invasion until Jasper got home.

Be careful kids. This is the reason you shouldn't give out your personal info online...

Murder On MySpace

Giovanni's first snow day!  As it happens, Jasper got to stay home today too. The who-haas at Staples decided to close the store so he gets to stay home and play today. We'll be painting the basement bathroom, shoveling out the cars, watching movies and probably eating things that we shouldn't be eating. Oh, and don't forget online poker tournaments and xbox 360.  We've got a busy snow day ahead of us.

Mom and Dad are leaving for Florida tomorrow. They are coming over later to borrow suitcases and to drop Libby off with us for the week. I hope they have a great time and bring us back PRESENTS!!

Ok, so mindsay has set up a new urban legends wiki page, per my request. I've posted the same page content as on my personal wiki page. I hope some other folks interested in urban legends decide to join me!

Urban Legends Wiki Page

Here is a new picture of my mom and Giovanni. He has taken to "mugging" for the camera. Yesterday, when we took this picture, he was doing it everytime he realized the camera was pointed at him. I love it now, but I'm sure I'll be wanting his sweet little smile back again in pictures soon. :) We are going to miss mom and dad this week, but they are having some fun is sunny Florida. They missed their first flight this morning so they had to wait on 3 lines before they got on the next plane. What a pain in the butt!

Here is our snowy home as it was yesterday, just after the snow had stopped. Mommy and Giovanni are peeking through the door to watch me taking out the dogs. It was the first real snow of the year. The power went out a couple of times the night before. We have a battery backup hooked up to our TV and that thing was beeping like crazy. Shockingly, it didn't wake the baby.

And this is my girl. It's Kylie the Aussie and she is loving the snow. "Drop the leash, Mom! Drop the leash!" Is that how you spell leash?

Libby is staying with us when my folks are away. I'll post a picture of her this week too. Kylie likes having doggy company, but my girl is such a bully. Poor Libby can't get anywhere near our bed, the baby, the dog toy box, etc. without Kylie trying to bite her on the head.  Libby is a sweet lab who lets Kylie get away with a lot of crap. 

There's my smile! Good boy! He gave my mom a kiss the other day. I think it was on purpose too. He did it two times, and it just made her week! I'm so proud of him.

Last night and this morning were really tough. Last night G woke up around 12;30 or 1am and didn't fall asleep untill........5 o'-stinkin-clock! ugh. I was walking him around in the dark and he would drift off to sleep but when I would try to put him in his crib and he would wake up during the transfer. Then he would do his little baby push-up and look up for me and cry. I'd scoop him back up and start walking again. He was miserable. I tried nursing him but he kept biting me with those little razors he is packing now. ugh. So I made a bottle and tried that. HA! No way - nice try. I tried bringing him to our bed, but he was crying and rolling and grabbing me to hug me and cry and I had no idea what to do. The last time I looked at the clock it was 5 - honestly I don't remember how long it took for us to finally fall asleep.

Well he stayed in bed with us and I guess in the morning I switched sides with him to nurse. I was so tired... I fell asleep. I don't usually fall asleep with him on the outside unless I put a pillow behind his back - but I didn't do it this morning. He fell. He fell off the bed! Oh God I almost had a heart attack. It was his cry that woke me. I shot out of bed and scooped him off the floor. We walked a little bit and he was crying BIG and then I walked him him to the front door and opened it so he could look out at the sun and the snow.

He immediately started to laugh and smile. There is a big pine tree just outside that he loves to look at. Oh thank GOD - he is ok. No more tears after that. No bump that I can tell, and his eyes look ok to me. He was in a pretty good mood all day. Whew!!!!! Very scary.

I thought he would have napped  a lot today because he only caught a few hours last night, but he just had two 1 hour naps today and then fell asleep at 10:30pm as usual. Its midnight now, so we'll see how he does for the rest of the night.

As for valentine's day...Jasper got me a pocket pc!!  I can't believe it. He WAY out-did me. All he got was a lousy t-shirt. It is a pretty cool shirt though - it was died using recycled US money. The tag said about $168 worth! hahaha. We had waffles for breakfast, angelhair for lunch and Jasper made filet mignon for dinner. I made some gouda mashed potatoes and we had ben and jerry's on some more waffles for dessert. Today we broke our diets BIG TIME. It was really good though.

I loved spending Valentines day with my two favorite guys.

This morning Giovanni army crawled across the bed to get a toy from Kylie. Hooray - he actually moved FORWARD.

Today the Urban legends site got 3 times as much traffic as usual. I'm not real sure why, but I think I've moved up to the first page on yahoo searches for Urban Legends.

We picked fixtures for the bathroom downstairs today. It's going to look so nice!

Well, I haven't been strict on my diet since Valentines Day, but I weighed myself this morning and I've lost more weight! Yippee! Now I am 202.8 which is officially pre-pregnancy weight. Hooray!

Not that I'm done loosing though - this has inspired me to keep going. I had been getting way out of control even before I GOT pregnant, so now I have the chance to do something about it while my bod is still burning calories being a milk factory. haha.

We had a big surge in hits the other day on the UL site (3 times as many!) and now it's dropped back down. Wierd...

Mom and Dad are home from florida today and Giovanni is napping. I'll give them a call when he waked up so we can get together.

Giovanni had his 9 month appointment yesterday and the Doc says he wants us to get him a sonogram...on his head. Turns out it's larger than average. He says if there was really anything wrong, it's very likely that he wouldn't be developing properly, but he is right on track.

I told the Doc that, embarassingly enough, I think that it's hereditary. I have a HUGE head. No kidding. No hats fit me at all. My dad's noggin is pretty big too, and it turns out that my mom's dad 5'4" and had the same size head as my dad, who is 6'3".

So, my son has a great big Polish bonk head, just like his mom.

He's a chip of the big old block.

We have an appointment for a sonogram on March 9th.

I saw the new Related last night. This show has made me laugh out loud since the premier, but last night it made me cry out loud too.

Loudly.

With my eyes closed. 

It was really sad. But I love the show.

I read an article about putting G to sleep without having to nurse and walk him. They say to settle him down with a routine but before he drifts off, put him down in his crib and sit there next to it (and let him cry...ugh) until he falls alseep. Do that for like 3 nights.

Then, move your chair half way across the room for the next few nights and then by the 9th night you should be able to put him in the crib and leave the room and he shouldn't be crying like a crazy man. Should be able to settle down by himself.

I would love to try it with him. I know we need to. I can't walk and dance with him every night for the next 3 years or so.... I just have to prepare myself for it. I can't be inconsistant. It would be such a waste to make him miserable and then cave it and make it even harder next time I try.

Giovanni clapped today for the first time. It was like he decided  - today is the day.

I woke up to him babbling at me in bed. His little face was close to mine and he was snuggled (he might say smooshed) in between me a Jasper. He started to get a little frusturated because he knew I was awake and he didn't want to stay laying in bed all day. I sat him up and propped myself up on my elbow to see him and as soon as I plopped him on his bum, he started clapping.  It was fabulous!

He had been flailing his arms for a few days, but he wasn't making the connection. Today was the day. He clapped a lot today and I loved it.

Today Mom hosted the winter birthdays and Cioci Terri and Uncle Ken and Emily and Maddy came down. Cioci Linda, Ricky and Grandma came too.

Grandma said they put the house in Jersey City on the market. She seemed upset about actually moving down here - I think it'll be great. I told her that She and I will hang out all the time. Their condo is just a few doors down! Grandma will have a great time with me and Giovanni.

I'm so crazy about this game I found online, I made a graphic for it to put on my websites.... what do you think?

Giovanni did FINE. He was such a good boy. We brought one big toy that he loved but hadn’t seen in a while. He had to lay on his back while the woman sonogramed his brain through the fontanel in his scull. She used a couple of different attachments, the computer froze and needed to be rebooted, and except for a little wiggling because he was playing with the toy, he did great and it took a long time.

The good news is that the radiologist looked at it right there and said he was fine. No fluid build up, which was what the doctor thought may have been happening. YAY!

He just has a big head. :)

I feel like crap. I've been eating garbage all week and I know I'm gaining weight. I gotta get back on track.

I went shopping today and bought good stuff. Tomorrow is a NEW day.

Giovanni is sick for the first time. He had a fever today, but he started feeling bad a couple of days ago. He had a little cough and I noticed that he was starting to loose his appetite.

He is sleeping now, but I doubt he will be for long. He has had a rough couple of nights. Last night I moved his cosleeper back into our room. He slept in it for most of the night and he felt a lot better this morning, but just like when I get sick, by the end of the day, he felt like crap again.

His temp was 100.0F and I gave him some infant tylonol.

I hope he feels better tomorrow. I would like to go to my cousin's baby shower Saturday, but if he doesn't feel 100% by then, we are staying home.

Today was my cousin's shower and we went and had a great time. I found out my other cousin's baby just got over rsv, a serious virus that infants can get. She had to have breathing treatments!  Oy. Pretty scary, G has been very lucky.

He started crossing his finger a couple of days ago and he really likes doing it. I love it, it's so cute. I've given him a bath the past 3 nights and started a little routine. We are still walking to sleep for now. I hope we can figure something out soon.

Ok, the issue is sleep training.

Two days ago was my grandmother's birthday and Jasper's grandpa's birthday. (another shared holiday) We went to lunch with my family and visited Jasper's grandpa afterwards. They were having a big birthday party (a surpise to us actually) and lots of people from that side of the family came by. Giovanni's cousin is 3 weeks older than him and he is a beautiful baby boy. He's big. It really drove home the fact that I can not keep walking Giovanni to sleep at night - he is just going to get bigger!

That night I tried to get him to sleep without walking.

It was miserable and a disaster and I failed badly. My little man can sustain a 4 alarm wail for a looong time. It seemed like his head would explode! I tried in his crib. Then I tried sitting in the rocker/recliner with him on me (sitting is not good either) and I tried laying down with him in bed (without nursing) and it was completely miserable.

I ended up walking him in the end and he slept fitfully for the rest of the night.

(the story gets better....)

Yesterday I decided that G needed some shoes. First real shoes for my boy. We went to the mall and bought him some Nikes (size 4) and I think he is much more stable now as he is trying to stand and take a few steps when you hold his hands.

Anyway, on the way home from the mall he was so tired! It was 7:30 when we left. He hit the carseat and started to wail. He cried like crazy for a half an hour and then....stopped. He fell asleep. This gave me hope. Hope HOpe HOPE! I now knew, it may take as long as a half hour to fall asleep but it WILL happen. Just give him time.  So I dropped my mom off and drove home with him snoozing in the carseat.

I got him from car to house, but when I tried to take off his coat in his room, he woke up.

I decided to try our sleep routine again.

I gave him a bath, read 2 stories in my room in bed, played for a little while with a couple of toys and nursed him. When he was done nursing he looked tired so I brought him to his room, shut the light and put a low stool next to his crib. I put him down and he didn't start crying right away (which thrilled me) he crawled around a bit and reached for me through the crib in a playful way. I didn't think he was quite ready yet so I picked him up and brought him into the living room. We sat on the couch and I layed him on my chest. He wiggled off and sat next to me and snuggled his head into my stomach and FELL ASLEEP!! 

I was able to bring him into his room and put him in his crib. I'm not sure if he was fully asleep or not when I did, but he stayed and he STAYED ASLEEP TILL 6AM!  Awesome!

I have more to add,  but I'll add it later.  Too much is going on right now...

We did it.

At 10:30pm I took a tired, bathed, read to, played with and nursed Giovanni into his room and kissed him good night. I put him in his crib and sat down next to him.

He reached for me through the bars and cried a lot. I had to kick Kylie out of his room because she was getting fidgety and nervous, but after a while he started to try and quiet down a put his head down. He started crying again a few times, but he fell asleep and I stayed for a bit longer to make sure he was out. I straightened him out on the mattress, covered him and left the room.

The time was 10:50pm. 20 minutes!  10 minutes less than last night (in the car).

Hopefully he will stay asleep for most of the night.

10 minutes. 10 MINUTES!!  It took him 10 minutes to fall asleep tonight, from the time I walked into his room to the time I walked out.  Holy moly and he didn't even cry. I am so floored by this. I never thought this would happen this quickly...what the hell was I waiting for???  I realize that he could backslide here, but come on, that is COOL!

I put him down and he started being kind of playful, reaching for me through the bars and trying to pull himself up a little bit. Then he started getting frusturated and did this moany, whiny sound for a few minutes while trying to get me through the bars. Then he settled down and put his head down while holding my hand through the bars and then he let me go!  I straightened him out a bit (his head was up against the bars and one of his feet was through the other side) and I covered him and it was all over!! 

A pretty good experience, I'd say. It won't be long before he is kissing me goodnight and waving me out the door! hahaha.

It's officially one of my best parenting decisions so far. (Or at least is seems that way now) Today he didn't even seem THAT tired, but since I'm not feeling real well, I wanted to start a little earlier. Today I gave him a bath, brought him to my room where he let me read 4 stories to him, nursed him in bed for a while and then let him climb on me and crawl around on the bed for a while. When he put his head down on the bed for a few seconds I scooped him up and brought him to his room.

I shut the lights and sang him a song and then I kissed him goodnight and put him in the crib. He didn't even really complain this time! He moaned a bit at me through the bars ( sit on a stool right beside his crib ) and then he put his head down. He switched from one side to the other 4 or 5 times and then fell asleep.  I swear it was no more than 5 minutes!!  He has got the hang of it! I think we may backslide if we don't continue with the same routine, but as it is I think this is fabulous progress!  Anyone who has a little one who is hesitant to do this - TRY IT for a few days. It worked beautifully!

I hate being sick. I can only take Tylonol sinus because I'm still nursing. Blech - it's not working as nicely as I'd like. I'm usually all natural but after about 30 cups of tea in 2 days, vitamins, elderberry cough drops and enough soup to drown my dog......I'd like some powerful medication please.

I'm going to become an AVON rep. I don't know any personally so I think I'll hand out some books, put some around the galleria where my dad's office is, and post an ad on http://currentsmedia.com about it.

Maybe I'll make some extra CASH!!!  wish me luck.

I went to the doctor today because I now have PINK EYE in BOTH EYES. It started last night. He said I had the flu and I'm getting over it. He gave me drops for my eyes and cough syrup to help me sleep at night.

I can't wait till this is over.

Ok, so last night I took the medicine that the doc perscribed for my cough and this morning I woke up and felt REALLY wierd. My head was killing me and my insides felt strange and suddenly I got queezy.

I puked twice.

Then I looked in the mirror and now, not only do I have conjunctivitis in both eyes, but blood vessels in both eyes broke with I threw up and now my eyes are all bloody looking.  I look like a demon!  And WebMD said it is going to take 2 or 3 WEEKS to go away.

I'm pooped. I'm going to bed.

Jasper is getting it. We thought he might dodge, but It hit him. He came home early from work yesterday. Mom bought him Sambuccol, a natural remedy with elderberries and echinecia that should cut down the duration from more than 6 days to about 2 or 3. Clinical studies have been done to proove it's effectiveness so hopefully it will help him.

You know you're from the Jersey Shore when....

You've had arguments over pizza quality and you know the location of at least 5 pizza places in your town alone.

You've been to the popcorn park zoo and seen the 3 legged deer!

You don't understand why there aren't more 24-hour diners elsewhere in the country.

You know what a Wawa is, and know the location of at least 15 of them.

You have EZPASS and you know that you don't do 15mph through it... that's just too slow!

Your mom still loves Bruce Springsteen.

People at college thought you were so cool to live so close to the Ocean!

You have empty Wawa coffee cups all over the floor of your car!

You buy Shop-Rite brand food at Shop-Rite.

You know how to successfully handle a traffic circle while talking on your cell phone, changing the radio station at the same time...

You could drive to Delilah's with your eyes closed...

You knew that the above mentioned was a strip club...

You graduated with at least 3 Ashleys...

Your middle school hangout was the mall.

You know water is pronounced "wooder"

Even your school made good Italian subs, and thats what they were SUBS!!!

Subs from wawa and Jersey Mike's were a staple part of your diet

You know that ACME is an actual store, not just a Warner Bros. creation, although, you would never be caught dead in one!

You dind't know there were other area codes besides 732, 609, and 908

You know it can be -10 degrees and 70 degrees in January in the same year.

You've been to Caffrey's, Jenk's, Bamboo, SawMill, Fo-Ho, or the Thirsty Mallard!

You will always say "YO", and you'll say it often.

You go to another state and sit at a gas station wondering when the people will come out to pump your gas.

You have season passes to Great Adventure.

You know that Philly is just as close as New York but New York will always be the "city"... Philly is just a poor excuse for one!

You know that you should get the hell out of Lakewood before dark.

You have had a near or close call experience hitting a deer with your car.

You've had some of the best parties in the woods.

You've ever driven around aimlessly for hours with your friends saying "So, whatta we doin?" then end up at a diner

You don't think you have an accent.

You know all of the "back roads" to get everywhere and prefer them to the parkway in the summer!

You don't know that in every other state, people get their licenses when they're 16.

You count the days down until you can throw on a pair of flip flops and head to the beach!

You know that seaside at night has some "interesting" people but you go there anyway to make fun of them.

You know that Ocean and Monmouth county are the only two counties in Jersey that really matter.

You know that forked river is pronounced For-ked River and if you hear pronounced wrong you correct the person right away!

Remember your roots... POST THIS

Our sleep routine has fallen apart over the last few days. I do know that Jasper and Mom tried to lay him down for a naps while I was napping when I was sick. They had both given up and scooped him up out of the crib when he cried at them... I think that facilitated our backslide.

I went to Mommy's tonight and I was helping my Dad by preparing some files to be printed tomorrow. I stayed too late and Giovanni started to fall asleep on my dad at 7:40pm!  Ahhhhh - get his coat on, it's time to go HOME!! He fell asleep in the car on the way home and we were able to put him in his crib where he stayed asleep for about a half hour.

He woke up and I nursed him but he was wide awake so I played with him for 2 hours till he looked sleepy. I brought him into the bedroom and read our stories and nursed him again. He was almost asleep so I put him down and he stirred a bit but then settled. I thought he was out so I tried to cover him with a blanket. That's when he woke up and all hell broke loose.

Tonight was a particularly powerful protest. I found that he can stay up and scream a whole lot longer now that he has figured how to pull himself up to stand inside the crib. The bar comes up just about to his armpits so he stretches one arm out to me and tries with all his might to pitch his little body over the side to get to me. He was wiggling and bouncing and SCREAMING for at least a full half hour... oh man that realllly sucked.

I finally picked him up, changed him and nursed him till he was almost asleep and then put him down. He fell asleep immediately.

Tomorrow I am going to stay home and at 9pm I am going to give him a bath and start the routine all over again. When I DO go out I need to be home by 7pm if he hasn't had a good nap during the day.

Live and learn. Poor little guy.

Once upon a time in the Kingdom of Heaven, God was missing for six days. Eventually, Michael, the Archangel, found Him resting on the seventh day. He inquires of God, "Where have you been?"

God sighed a deep sigh Of satisfaction and proudly pointed downward through the clouds. "Look, Michael, look what I've made."

Archangel Michael looked puzzled and said, "What is it?"

"It's a planet," replied God, "and I've put life on it. I'm going to call it earth and it's going to be a great place of balance."

"Balance?" inquired Michael, still confused.

God explained, pointing to different parts of the earth, "For example, Europe will be a place of great opportunity and wealth, while Africa is going to be poor. The Middle East over there will be a hot spot." God continued, pointing to different countries, "This one will be extremely hot and while this one will be very cold and covered with ice."

The Archangel, impressed by God's work, then pointed to a large land mass with an ocean as it border and said, "What's that one?"

"Ah," said God, "that's the Jersey Shore, the most glorious place on earth. There are beautiful beaches, rivers, lakes, and climate. The people from the Jersey Shore are going to be modest, intelligent, and humorous, and they are going to be found traveling the world. They will be extremely sociable, hardworking, and high achieving people, and they will be known throughout the world as diplomats and carriers of peace."

Michael gasped in wonder and admiration, but then exclaimed, "What about balance, God? You said there would be balance! Everyone and everything seems so totally perfect in this place you call the Jersey Shore"

God replied wisely, "Wait until you see the assholes I'm sending down from New York every summer."

The boy is CRAWLING. Yeah, some kids are crawling or even walking by the time they are 11 months old (on the 15th actually) but MY boy is up off his belly. He isn't creeping anymore - now he is hands and knees crawling! hooray!!

He is also pulling himself up to standing and he even walked along the couch a little yesterday which was pretty cool.

Tonight we played "which hand?" and he really got it! We had such a good time. He was making all kinds of loud hooting sounds and he would flap his hands while I got ready to show him mine. When I put my hands out in front to show him (with a ball hidden under one) he would try to peek around each hand to see which one had the ball. He chose the wrong hand a lot, but I was using a ball with a squeaker so that when he got it right I got really excited and squeaked the ball a lot to tell him he did a good job.  We both had a lot of fun!

I'm going back to my business networking group meetings tomorrow morning. I belong to FISHNET and I'm the new webmaster of their site. I just redesigned it over the weekend. Take a look! http://fishnetbiz.net

We brought G to the Philadelphia zoo today. It was a gorgeous day and he was such a good boy. Mommy and Evie and I went. I drove down there (2 hours) and he slept part of the way, but he wasn't really fussy in the seat at tall. Mommy kept him busy back there a lot, but it didn't seem like he was even really on the edge too much. We got him a big floppy hat at the gift shop so he wouldn't get too much sun. Most of the animals were out and about for photo ops - I'll post a link to pictures tomorrow.

G knows "slap me 5" he is so much fun.

Happy Easter!

I'm working on a new website. I'm posting the home page draft here (none of the links on the page work, it's just the layout)

Let me know what you think....

http://currentsmedia.com/above/index1.html

I have gotten myself into a project tonight that I know is going to keep me up till at least 3am.

I'm just about to start and I have a feeling it's going to be messy.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Happy Easter!

Oh yeah! When you search for "sundaes" in google we come up FIRST!! wahoo!!

See?

Google Search

Very cool!

Giovanni has a snotty, boogery, runny nose today. Poor kid has to breathe through his mouth and he is HATING it when I wipe his nose with a tissue.

By the way, I tried that crazy idea where you suck the boogies out of the baby's nose with that plastic bulb... ugh. It didn't work and it just ticked him off. I'm not trying that again.

Nona came to visit from Trenton today and Giovanni is going to be a year old in 2 weeks!!

Today I went to "toddler time" at the Brick library with Dana and her kids Lochlyn and Brayden. We had such a great time. The kids were all from 1-4 years old and the woman sang songs and read a couple of books and handed out little plastic eggs with rice in them and did a little song and dance with the kids. Everyone was shaking the eggs and Giovanni was too. I think he had a good time. He was a very good boy.

I've been getting a lot of work lately from networking and such. I've got some new websites...

I finished the fishnet site http://fishnetbiz.net

Above and Beyond Entertainment http://anbent.com

Working on Apartments in Seaside http://apartmentsinseaside.com

and I just updated http://ticketsforgroups.com with info about How the Grinch Stole Christmas. They are the official group sales agent for the Broadway Musical.

http://simplesweets.com has been getting a lot of traffic lately and she's gotten a couple of orders with the new shopping cart I put on the site.

I've also gotten a few new clients on http://currentsmedia.com and I need to create an ad for http://fairytalesandfrogs.com it seems like such a cute business.

Happy Birthday To G!

Happy Birthday To G!

Happy BIIIIIRTHDAY To G!

Happy Birthday To G!

So, I'm frusturated.

I just became an Independant AVON representative. I did it because my site http://currentsmedia.com gets a whole lot of traffic on my old avon page because a representative advertised with me like a year and a half ago and I left the ad online (just not attached to the home page) and I check the traffic. Yeah, I'm obsessed with my web traffic.

Since I was still getting all this traffic, I decided to become a representative myself, replace her old ad with mine (she isn't paying me for it anymore) and sell sell sell.

Today I read the "rules" and it sounds like I'm not allowed to make a really graphic based ad to promote my AVON business online. I'm not allowed to use the logo (just block letters) and I'm not allowed to have the word AVON in the url of the webpage.

Now this is an ad on a website that has a very local push, but I get good traffic and the internet is GLOBAL man, so folks in Japan will see my ad if they look for it. I don't know if it's allowed and the folks I signed up with knew my intentions about putting an ad online.

I feel kind of mislead here.... I'm not sure if I am going to follow through with being a representative. I think signing up for their erepresentative thing is kind of pricey when I would be able to create my own site for NOTHING. ugh.

Have I mentioned that I'm Frusturated?

Jasper's working overnights this week. I can't wait till he gets into his new store. Oh, he got promoted! Mike told him he is going to be General Manager in Absecon! He'll make the move in the next two weeks. A nicer raise then he expected too. It's good to be the king. :)

We gave Evie Jasper's computer from downstairs because we only really use the laptops upstairs now. Evie had been using my waaaaaay old gateway.

I love the Underworld sequal. I need to buy the DVD. I can watch those movies over and over - hands down the best vampire movies ever made.

I'm about to put in my first Avon order. I'm not frusturated about it anymore - I'm having a good time with it. I started an AVON rep blog and I'm not using the logo. I think it's a good way to advertise but not advertise online. mwahahahaha.

So, back to the sleep training.

I just put him to bed tonight for the first time, kissed him and left the room while he cried. He was beginning to take longer and longer to settle down with me sitting next to him while he cried in the crib. Put him down at 10:08pm and he is silent now at 10:17.

Not too bad.

We took him to the beach today for the first time. He'd been to the boardwalk before but this time we took him down to see the surf. The water is still too cold even to put his toes in, but I let him touch it with his fingers while I froze my toes off standing in it and holding him in my arms. I never imagined that he wouldn't love it right away. He got nervous and clingy when he saw the BIIIIG ocean. When I thought about it, I could see how it would be overwhelming, but it hadn't even occured to me until I saw his reaction.

He didn't cry though, he just looked at it very seriously, as though he was looking into a pit of snakes that he would rather stay away from - thank you very much.

Clingy clingy dog. I love my Kylie, but she is was too needy for me right now. Attention pregnant first time mom's with loving pets! Begin to distance yourself from your pooch or feline NOW! Don't let them sleep next to you on the sofa (she has to be touching me), sleep with you in bed (this 30 dog takes up more room than a full grown adult), and be (pardon me) up your ass all day long.

How do you do this distancing you ask? I have no flipping idea or I would have done it. What used to be sweet and welcome affection now drives me NUTS when I have a little bitty boy who wants to be touching me, climbing on me and basically telling me what to do all day. I love them both, but I'm starting to loose my patience with me fluffy friend.

What 1 year old doesn't take a nap all day?

A cranky one. That's who.

Quickly now...

Giovanni has had a fever for the past 2 days. It's gone up to 102.5, but the infant Advil is able to knock it down every time it creeps back up. Tylonol would only bring it down to 101. He has no other symptoms and when the medicine is working and the fever is down, he is in good spirits and ready to play. He had less of an apetite today than yesterday. I hope he feels better tomorrow. He didn't go to sleep till 11pm tonight. I didn't get ANY work done. Ugh.

Bruce on Judging Amy said in today's episode. "Blogs are democracy in action. It's the first time we've ever really had a free press."

I never thought of my blog that way. I'm sure it applies more to some of the politically focused blogs out there on the internet, but it makes me think twice about posting "nothing really happened to me today" posts.

We got a new car!!!!! A 5 door 2006 Mazda 3. It's a hatchback and it's such a hot little car, I love it. Jasper wanted to take the Mitsubishi back and forth to work from now on since his commute is about an hour from home. Rather than teaching me to drive stick, he traded in the black car for this new one which is an automatic.

I was going to describe it, but a picture is worth 1,000 words, right?

We have a sunroof, power every-stinkin-thing, 6 cd changer, and alarm, leather interior and cupholders all over the joint. I've never really driven a new car before. I LOVE it.

62 things about ME... what about YOU??? Copy and paste and re-write the answers folks.

1) How old do you wish you were?
I like my age now... I'm 30. My son just turned 1 so if I was any younger I wouldn't have him yet and any older I'd have missed too much.

2) Where were you when 9/11 happened?
I was home at my parents house, recovering from surgery, online. My sister worked downtown on Manhattan and could see the towers from her window. She IM'd me and told me a plane flew into one of them. The phones were out and they were about to evacuate. I couldn't believe it. I asked her what eveyone was doing and she said there were "lots of tears". She said she had to go and logged off. I went into the livingroom to watch the news. I saw the towers fall.... what an awful day.

3) What do you do when vending machines steal your money?
Mourn my lost cash.

4) Do you consider yourself kind?
I do.

5) If you had to get a tattoo, where would it be?
A butterfly on my shoulder blade. I had a dream about it once.

6) If you could be fluent in any other language, what would it be? 
Italian & Polish 

7) Do you know your neighbors?
Yes I do.

8) What do you consider a vacation?
A Cruise with my husband. We LOVE Cruisin'

9) Do you follow your horoscope?
Not anymore.

10) Would you move for the person you loved?
Yes.

11) Are you touchy feely?
Yes.

12) Do you believe that opposites attract?
YES.

13) Dream job?
Making boat loads of money while doing graphic and web design from home part time and having someone else quote prices and chase down the money. I'm half way there! hahaha.

or

A Disney Animator (that used to be my dream job, but I'm not so sure about the Mouse House the past couple of years. I do miss it though)

14) Favorite channel(s)?
ABC, WB Channell 11, TNT, Food Network

15) Favorite place to go on weekends?
Out with the Family. The Boardwalk!!

16) Showers or Baths?
Showers

17) Do you paint your nails?
Not anymore with "instant manicure" from AVON!!  Visit my blog to ask for a free brochure! http://beautybylisa.blogspot.com

18) Do you trust people easily?
Yes, but not as completely as I used to.

19) What are your phobias?
Alligators, sharks, sea monsters, the DARK, washing my face and having someone sneak up behind me while my eyes are shut and my face is wet.... I know, I'm wierd.

20) Do you want kids?
I HAVE a kid and I LOVE LOVE LOVE having him.

21) Do you keep a handwritten journal?
Not anymore.

22) Where would you rather be right now?
With Jasper.

23) Who makes you feel warm and fuzzy?  
My sweetie and my baby.

24) Heavy or light sleeper?
I used to be a heavy sleeper, but now I'm up like a shot when I hear him stir.

25) Are you paranoid?
No. Why, should I be? What do you know, that I don't know? Tell me!!!!!!!!!

26) Are you impatient?
When I am hot or hungry, yes, very. Oh, and I'm extremely impatient with computers that go too sloooooow.

27) Who can you relate to?
I can relate to most people. I consider myself a people person.

28) How do you feel about interracial couples?
I think it's hard enough to find a person that you get along with or who lights your fire. What the hell should it matter what color they are? Why put such a stupid limit on who you can love?

29) Have you been burned by love?
Who hasn't?

30) Whats your favorite pick up line?
"I'll bet you $20 I can kiss you without touching your lips...... worth every penny."

31) What's your main ringtone on your mobile?
Ahhhh, one of the ones that came with it. I get so few phone calls on my cell that I wouldn't even recognize it.

32) What were you doing at midnight last night?
Sitting in this chair, typing on this laptop, working on this website http://shopjerseyshore.com

33) What did the last text on your cellphone say? 
This doesn't apply to me. I think text messaging is stupid. It costs more that actually talking to someone. Duh. 

34) Whose bed did you sleep in last night?
Mine!

35) What color shirt are you wearing?
Brown

36) Most recent movie you watched?
Failure to Launch

37) Name three things you have on you at all times?
My son, my laptop (most of the time) and  my wedding ring.

What color are your bed sheets?
cream

39) How much cash do you have on you right now?
zip. There is about $60 in my wallet though. Shocking, I'm usually strapped.

40) What is your favorite part of the chicken?
thigh.

41) What's your favorite town/city?
Brick

42) I can't wait till:
My free haircut at Salon Du Monde on July 11th. I'm going to be a hair model for their apprenticeship program. I'm going to let them do whatever they think will look good. MAKEOVER!

43) Who got you to join MIndsay?
Nobody. I found it myself. Long time ago...

44) What did you have for dinner last night?
A California Cheese Steak from Main Street Cheesesteaks on Route 88 in Brick, NJ

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

45) How tall are you barefoot?
5'7"

46) Have you ever smoked heroin?
No. Are you nuts?

47) Do you own a gun?
No.

48) What do you prefer to drink in the morning?
Coffee, coffee and more coffee

49) What is your secret weapon to lure in the opposite sex?
My big fat LIPS! hahaha. I used to cringe at those words, I got made fun of for them when I was younger, but now I like em.

50) Do you have A.D.D.?
No. I think it's very sad for people who do. I honestly think that a lot of that crap comes from vaccines.

51) What time did you wake up today?
Lots of times this morning but we didn't really get out of bed until about 10:30am.

52) Current worry?
That one of my clients thinks I'm ignoring them but I'm just kind of stuck on their project. I feel like I want to start over.

53) Current hate?
That there aren't more hours in the day.

54) Favorite place to be?
Point Pleasant Board Walk

55) Where would you like to travel?
Eastern Carribean

56) Where do you think you'll be in 10 yrs?
Living in a house with Jasper and our kids (don't know how many) with a strong client base and lots of friends and family close by.

57) Last thing you ate?
Rainbow Sherbert.

58) What songs do you sing in the shower?
Dream a Little Dream, Both Sides Now, Somewhere Over The Rainbow

59) Last thing that made you laugh?
Giovanni.

60) Worst injury you've ever had?
When I had abdominal surgery to remove a dermoid cyst with my left ovary and the wound got infected and I needed to have home nurses clean and "pack" the wound for a month.

61) Does someone have a crush on you?
I don't know, but my husband is in love with me. He just bought me a new car! hahaha.

62) What's your favorite candy?
Baby Ruth

63) What song do you want played at your funeral?
I Hope You Dance!

Corner of the Sky (from Pippin)

and a medley of showtunes until the last person goes home.

Today was the first time Giovanni and I went to the pool. We've lived here since 2001 and the pool is literally right outside our back door, but I had never bothered to get pool passes and had never really been interested in fraternizing with the other folks who bake their every summer.

There is a kid pool there though and other moms bring little toddlers to that pool and it's going to be fun to introduce Giovanni to the neighborhood kids. I also want him to get used to playing in the water when he is young so he isn't afraid.

We had a really nice time! He was a little nervous at first but he was really getting comfortable by the time we left. We will try again tomorrow.

Yesterday we bought a new oven at Sears. I'm so excited! The one we picked was out of stock so the salesman upgraded us to a better oven for the price of the first one. We got free delivery and a REBATE that the salesman hadn't realized could be applied until after he made the sale.  Good for us!

I like this one because you can lock the oven door by holding down a button. This is great for when I have something cooking and a curious little boy wants to have a peek.

I was looking forward to finding a stove with the knobs on top of the range, instead of on the front where he can reach them, but only the most expensive gas stoves have the knobs up out of reach. Most electric stoves have the knobs up high, but not gas. Bummer. I'll just have to pull the knobs off the front and only put them on when I am cooking.

He is certainly going to talk before he can walk. His first word was UP.

He looked up, pointed up and said up 3 times in 2 days.

He still isn't taking any steps on his own yet, but that's fine. He is taking his time.

I got Jasper to come to the pool with us today. I slathered the boy up with spf 30 and we staid out there for about 45 minutes.

I bought $135 worth of plants and put them in front of the house yesterday and now it is really coming down out there. The gutter is spewing all over my brand new plants and when it stops they will probably wind up in the parking lot. Curses!

Last night Giovanni woke up at 11:30 and was restless. I brought him into the living room to rest with us on the couch and he wanted to get down and play on the floor. He kept standing up all by himself, not holding onto everything, practicing how to balance. We had the feeling he might give walking a try, so I got out my camera and started taking a little movie clip. When I started the second clip, he did it! He took his first step!

And I Got It On Tape.

And Jasper Got To See It!

I'm so happy.

He is officially a toddler. His wobbling little walk is becoming the preferred method of travel, especially if he can grab your fingers to help him along.

After almost a whole week of a grumpy little boy (probably 85% of waking moments were spent moaning and growning at me) he was in a particularly good mood today. I think his teeth were really bothering him - but I can really tell when he is getting hungry hungry hungry now. It's taken us both some adjusting since we aren't nursing anymore. Sometimes it seems like he is eating all day long, but he only eats a little bit at a time. Except yogurt. He LOVES yogurt. Plain, whole milk, stonyfield organic yogurt. The kid could eat the whole big container of it if I let him.

Busy Busy Busy over here. I've picked up a new project - http://onespecialevening.com will soon look something like this.... http://currentsmedia.com/onespecial/index.html

On the AVON front, I am putting in a light order for campaign 15 - I need to get more of the books out for campaign 16. Anybody need a representative????

I've gotten two compliments on my blog today - I'm so honored!

Last night wasn't so positive for me though, I got sick. I think it was because of what I had for dinner, but I kept tossing and turning with stomache pains. I held it together until Giovanni woke up at 4:30am and wanted to lay all over me to get back to sleep. The third or forth time he draped his little body across my churning tummy I couldn't take it anymore. I woke Jasper up, left he baby with him and ran to the bathroom to get sick. Then I did it again 2 hours later.

I've had a headache most of the day, but at least my stomache feels better.

Giovanni had a fever today. It happened just like this once before, no other symptoms, just a fever. I noticed a new tooth had popped out this afternoon - that's probably the cause but he did take two naps today so I'm glad he got the rest he needed. Both his naps were about two hours each so we will see if that affects what time he goes to bed tonight.

I got a massive splinter in my toe today when I was walking barefoot on my back deck. I am such a baby! I can't get it out! I tried to soak my foot in warm water with epson salts but Giovanni wanted to soak too and he wanted to splash the water all over the place... it didn't last very long. I even tried to use a nnnnnneedle to get it out. Youch!!! I couldn't get it. I'm going to try to soak it again when G goes to sleep. 

The heat wave has subsided here at the Jersey Shore. Well, somewhat. It was pretty hot out there today, but not like earlier in the week. Giovanni and I have spending about an hour a day in the pool. He is really getting a kick out of it too. Now when we are in the kitchen he keeps pointing out the window and "talking" about going to the pool. Blah blag gah gmuah!

I hate that the little mouse touch pad on this laptop gets in my way when I'm typing. My thumbs come too close and suddenly my curser is somewhere else on the page. Ugh.

Mommy has been very upset about work lately. She is dealing with a new system and the absence of supervision and sufficient help. She is so frusurated.

Giovanni is walking all around. We brought him to the grocery store today and he walked up and down the aisles quite a bit. I have to scoop him up when he melts down to his knees so he can touch the floor.

He's very needy lately. I can't go to the bathroom by myself when we are home alone - I have to bring him with me. And even then, when I put him down he cries and cries till I'm done. He wants to be held a lot so I don't get much done around the house. His is ok when I do the laundry because he LOVES it when I float the towels over his head before I fold them. He gets all excited and squeels with delight.

He likes the car now. We found a great niche. He faces forward now, we got a better carseat - very cushy - and we have 2 cd's back to back of toddler songs that he LOVES. He sticks one finger up in the air and conducts, up and down, up and down. It's a riot.

I'm watching Bridget Jones Diary. I can't believe I've never seen this, it's hilarious. I love that she is kind of an idiot through the whole movie. I love the girls in the thailand prison.

I need to lose weight. I say it all the time. I drive myself crazy with it. I would love to be skinny. sigh.

Giovanni really wants to use a spoon / fork to eat. He tries desperately to get the food from) plate to mouth and sometimes he succeeds. Last night he was eating late, right before bed (so were we, our schedule was wierd yesterday) and he wanted to use the spork (kiddie version of a spoon and fork) but actually eating the applesauce wasn't a priority. He just kept slapping the applesauce with the little plastic utensil and then flinging whatever it picked up all over the kitchen. I tried a few times to actually help him scoop it up and put some in his mouth, which he reluctantly did while I was helping him, but as soon as I took my hand away he started splashing in the applesauce again.

It was funny for about 5 seconds.

Then I took away the spoon and tried to distract him with something else but he flipped out a bit.

He's been sleeping better the last couple of days. He has slept in his crib till at least 5:30am which is ok in my book. I've decided I'm going to try not to stress out about getting him to sleep all night in his crib. I like it when he is with us in the morning anyway.

I gave him a trim yesterday and it looks good! He's such a handsome kid.

Dana from http://peek-a-boopictures.com gave us some of her son Braden's clothes from last fall that are just G's size. They are cute and I like her style so I'm quite happy to have her dress my boy. hahaha.

Oh, Jasper and Kevin and I went to see Miami Vice yesterday. I HATED it, but they thought it was ok. To lend perspective, I also hated Traffic and Blow and Momento.... so there you go. I hate undercover cop drug conspiracy movies unless there is some humor running through it.  All drama is NOT my idea of a good time.

More TEETH! The back ones. He was pretty cranky yesterday and I put my finger in his mouth (it's dangerous because when he bites down with those sharp little front teeth - youch!) and felt his gums in the back. I felt new teeth on the bottom on both sides and on one side on top. The gums are really big and swollen. Poor kid!

Jasper went to the flea market with Joanie yesterday to sell some stuff he still had from "The Card Guy" and Giovanni and I went to meet them there when we woke up. G had a good time playing in the dirt for a while. We left before they did and went to Denae's Sweet Shop http://denaesweetshop.com to visit and get some ice cream since it was just down the street from the route 70 flea market. We shared some moosetracks ice cream and Denae gave G a balloon. He is such a little ladies man.

I had planned on going to the carnival at Epiphany church all week and wanted to go yesterday since it was the last day. My aunt heard about an Italian American festival in Ocean Township so we decided to go there instead. When we drove out there there was a long line of cars and everyone was hungry so everyone in the van agreed to go to the Olive Garden for dinner instead and give up on going to the festival.

So no festival or carnival. Bummer.

I need to get some fronline for Kylie, she is scratching like crazy!

He has had a fever for a couple of days and I have gotten next to NO work done.

I took him to the doc yesterday because it was 103.9 after his afternoon nap and, though I got it down after I gave him a bath, I don't like it getting that high. It was breaking through the infant Advil and making me nervous.

Again, like fevers he has had before, no other symptoms. Kind of tired (2 or more naps instead of just 1) but no coughing, ear pulling, runny nose, etc. He is just HOT. BUT - he just busted through 3 molars this week. So just like the last 2 fevers, it came on when he got new teeth.

An old wives tale says that teething can bring on fevers in babies. The doc said that she doesn't even fight people on it anymore because they are so convinced that it's true, but there is no scientific evidence to support it. She kept saying it was a virus.

What do you think? Usually I lean toward what science supports, but its just such a huge coincidence that the fevers keep coming with the teeth.... Anyone else believe the old wives?

Giovanni loves to dance. When we watch Hi5 on Discovery Kids he bobs up and down bending and staightening his knees and he swings his arms back and forth clapping his hands when they swing out in front of him. I love it!

I swear he said Grandma today. My mom was outside the back door walking the dog and he was standing there with both hands against the glass looking at her and babbling loudly. He stopped for a moment and said Gmaaama. Loudly, without anything else after it. I almost fell off my chair. My mom was thrilled when I told her.

I've taken a couple of video clips of him in the last couple of days but two of them came out really dark. I need to take them in full daylight or they really stink. He is doing such funny stuff now. Today we went for a walk around mommy's neighborhood and it was rainy and gross outside but G really wanted to walk so we took about 40 minutes or so to go around 3 blocks. It was great. He found a good size rock in front of someone's house and for about half the walk he made up a great game to play! He threw the rock 2 or 3 feet in front of him, walked up to it, picked it up and threw it in front of him again, and again, and again. I had an adult sized baseball cap, adjusted really small, on his head because it was all I had and it was drizzling. He liked it so much. The hat was slumping down over his eyes and I would adjust it back for him but he would put both hands up to the hat and pull it back down on his head. No mom, I like it just the way it is! Once or twice he got frusturated and flung it off his head, but then he pointed to it, picked it up and tried to put it back on again. So cute!

He is sleeping now so I am going to try to do the same.

I'm working on the diet. Today stunk - I had ice cream for the first time in a week and I had some left overs from Hinks at my mom's house today. Can you say, "Creamed spinach is NOT diet food!" I need to drink more water.

Today's weight - 208

For the past two nights Jasper and I have been hanging out in bed for a while with Giovanni reading him a story and playing before he goes to bed. Then I continue with shutting the lights, getting him a drink, singing to him and putting him down. He is doing really well now. I've even decided to forget the covers from now on because he really hates then. Now he is going to bed in long sleeves and sweat pants.

Grandma is worried about being able to get her banking straight since they moved down from Jersey City. Cioci Linda is on vacation this week and my birthday is on Thursday!!!! I love my birthday.

So today I'm coming to terms with the fact that 2 of my shows aren't coming back this fall. Invasion being cancelled is dissappointing enough, but I am really mourning the loss of Related. How sad. I loved that show.

On a lighter note, I think Joey Lawrence was Awesome tonight on Dancing with the Stars, he did a great quickstep. I also don't care what those judges say about Mario Lopez (they thought he did too little actual quickstep in his quickstep and put too much extra latin "garbage" in there) he was fantastic and looked so incredible. oy. I voted for him 10 times on http://abc.com

Can't wait till the Grey's Anatomy premier. Thank God for Comcast DVR (digital video recorder).

Yesterday we took Giovanni up to Jersey City to visit my Aunt Sally who is in a nursing home there. I was a little worried that he would be super cranky after the long ride, but I'm very glad we went and especially that we brought the little man with us. He was a big hit! It was so wonderful to see how pleased all the residents were to see him! We set him down to toddle through the halls with us to find my aunt's room and he walked along peeking shyly into a doorway here and there. Once we found her, we all gathered on a couch and a few chairs in a seating area in the middle of a long hallway. Well, I didn't sit, I followed G up and down the hall. I gave him a little rubber ball and he bounced it up and down the hall and toddled after it laughing and playing. He bounced it to a couple of nurses who were sitting nearby and they were happy to play with him. Seniors with walkers came from all over the floor to see the baby playing in the hallway. People ooooed and ahhhed over how cute he was and what a blessing he is and asked over and over "how old is he?". We were there for about 2 hours and by the time we left were were quite exhausted, but happy and glad we had come.

Aunt Sally always loved kids and I knew she wanted to get to know him a bit, but ironically, he was a little shy with her. She was being very quiet and sitting still, so I guess he just wanted to keep moving and playing. When were were getting ready to leave, my mom brought G over to Aunt Sally one more time and she gave him a little hug. He stayed right with her with his little hand on her knee because he caught site of the beads she was wearing and began to fiddle with them. This gave her a chance to see him up close for a little while and pet his hair and touch his face. It was lovely. I'd like to bring him there to see her again. I think she enjoyed it. I know I did.

words words words.

Giovanni has more and more to say now. When you ask him what a dog says, he whispers "arph" every time, even though when I tell him what a dog says I say "woof" to him. hahaha. He says "moo" when asked about what a cow says and when he even sees a picture of an elephant, he puts his lips together and blows out and he puts one arm up in the air in front of him.

He gets very excited when the phone rings because he wants you to go answer it. He loves to spin because he knows it makes him dizzy. He's got a great arm and playing ball is his favorite game above all else. We went to Atlantic city last week when Jasper was on vacation and we saw a new mall they had built called the pier. At the end of the mall they had a huge water fountain that did a music, light and water show every hour. The show was loud and fantastic, but there was a brass float off in a corner of the fountain that had something to do with the mechanics of the machinery underneath. Don't you know that that was the most interesting part of the fountain for G for the first 15 minutes?!? He has such a one track mind! He did seem to enjoy the rest of the show, but more than that, he liked walking around the wide open area of the floor while Jasper and I blocked him from going to far away from where we were standing. He had been stuck in the stroller and the car seat for hours, so he got a kick out of the freedom.

Anway, what else has he been up to? He loves baths so much he will play in the water till he is pruny and he still cries like crazy when I take him out. When we go to my mom's and we are in the back yard, he walks right up to the gate leading to the front because he loves to go for walks around the neighborood with us and the dogs. We go down to 17th and around and back and he walks the whole way.

No one makes him laugh like Kylie. He loves to play with her, but tonight he was getting a little hysterical and starting to drive her a little crazy.

He is going to LOVE Halloween. He is going to be Batman.

Ok, I'm watching Lost now and it's goooood.

Giovanni is starting to play pretend. We noticed in church 2 weeks ago. I was offering him goldfish crackers from my hand and he was taking them and eating them, one or two at a time. When there were none left in my hand, he would reach out anyway and pretend to take crackers out of my hand and offer them to my aunt, who was sitting next to me, watching us. She would pretend to take the crackers from him and eat them. He loved it! He did it over and over again - took pretend crackers from my open, empty hand and offered them to my aunt, who pretended to eat them. This may not sound funny, but we thought it was hysterical.

The day before yesterday, Giovanni has started to want to play in his crib during the day. He goes over to it, and calls for me wanted to go in. I put him in the crib and he bounces, plays with the pillow, moving it from one side to the other, and turning the lighted projection toy on and off, on and off, on and off. This boggles my mind because he still isn't thrilled with the crib at NIGHT, so for him to want to play in it during the day seems like a step in the right direction.

Yesterday, while playing in the crib, he had turned on the projection toy and was putting his hand over the top of it letting the light shine right on his fingers. He would take his hand away and sit in the crib looking at it turning it over and over (I guess, wondering why the light wasn't still there). Then he would stand up and do it again, sometimes with one hand, sometimes with two.

Then he started to "take" the light and offer it to me, just like it was a goldfish cracker. I took it from him and pretended it was something very special and thanked him very much. I showed it to the dog (and she sniffed my hands and licked them, perfect!) then I pretended to put it in my pocket for safe keeping. We did this over and over again. He loved it. He is so much fun.

Today in the grocery store G saw a big stuffed Elmo in the toy aisle. It was as big as him. He walked up to it and said "Elmo!". My mom almost fell down! hahaha. She was so surprised.

He had a mini oreo the other day and immediately pulled it apart into two pieces. He's 1 1/2 and he could sell oreos to anyo ne. We need to film it and send it to the company. haha.

New words.... Elmo, Apple, Grandma (sounds like Anma), Ball (his favorite) and Diaper. He just popped a balloon for the first time! He was so surprised. He keeps shaking the floppy piece and saying "uh-oh!"

Yup, that's an uh-oh! He also says uh-oh when he throws food across the room at the dog. I'm trying to let him know that it's not an uh-oh if you do it on purpose. haha.

I'm on weight watchers (going to meetings) and I almost fell off the wagon this morning and had 2 cups of vegetable mai fun (it's like chinese angel hair pasta) which would have been 16 points at 10am. I only have 26 points for the whole day.  I put the lid back on the container and put it away....so hard. I called my aunt and my sister and told them about my crumbling resolve. They pep talked me out of it. I went food shopping today and bought good, healthy stuff.

Heros is on tonight! I can't wait to watch it. We are waiting until G is asleep because it's hard to watch the show while he is awake. He is also starting to notice when something on TV is kind of scary. I don't want to freak him out.

I've joined an online weight loss challenge with a CASH prize. hahaha. It's free to join and it's a cute site. I'm a Biggest Loser fan - Now I can play the game too. We can raise the cash prize above $500 by posting a link to the site, so click my link and visit the site so that the prize gets BIG and when I win I can pay off some credit cards! hahaha.

I've launched a new website redesign for clients from my networking group. These two work from home moms are certified massage therapists and their business, The Pampered Soul, is a mobile spa and massage service. They will come to your company for corporate chair massages and they specialize in elegant spa parties to pamper you and your guests in the comfort of your home.

I love the idea that you don't have to jump in your car and drive anywhere right after you've had this totally relaxing experience.  Right?  Ahhhhhh....

http://thepamperedsoulnj.com

The diet is successful so far! I started weight watchers at 215 and now I'm 200!  yeah baby! I have my one week weigh in at http://weighins.com tomorrow. I've lost 3 lbs so far with them.

I had a killer salon visit today. Salon Du Monde in Point Pleasant is the greatest place. http://salondumonde.com/ If you are in the area, or are willing to make the trip for a great salon experience, then I highly recommend them. I'm a hair model there. This means that I get FREE cuts and colors when they need to have a junior stylist practice on someone who is open to reasonable change. Are you kidding?! Can I get a "hell yes"? 

Jesse was my stylist and Sally was her instructor/mentor. Today I had color done. She did 3 different shades, a deep rich red on the under side of my hair, blondish highlights on top and a middle auburn shade on top in between the highlights. They are so nice there, she made me feel so comfortable and I could see that the instruction that the sylists receive there is top notch. I've had an excellent hair cut there in the past (also by Jesse, overseen by Sally). I just can't say enough postive things about the place and the people. The place looks like it was an old house converted to a salon. The inside has been done with hard wood floors, modern fixtures, and a funky MTV mixed media reception area. I love the wallpaper in the shampoo area which is located right up in the front rather than tucked way in the back of the salon. The wallpaper has sketches of woman with great hair... haha very appropriate.

Oh, and when I was pregnant I got an eeeeexcelllent prenatal massage there. ooooh wow.

Anyway, plug plug plug to my favorite salon.

You've all very likely gotten this email already, I've gotten it twice today, but in case you haven't, check it out...

If you go to this web site, www.letssaythanks.com, you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq. You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to some member of the armed services.

How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!!


   This is a great site.

   Please send a card.

   It is FREE and it only takes a second.

   Wouldn't it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these? Whether you are for or against the war, our guys and gals over there need to know we are behind them...

Today I was looking at pictures of Giovanni from last December.... he couldn't even crawl yet. It seems like so long ago.

Two Kirby salesmen came to my door today and they did a demonstration for me. They vacuumed my house! hahaha. It was a beautiful caddilac of a machine, I really wanted to get one. Then they layed the price on me while I was on the phone with Jasper and he said, for $1,500 we could tear out the wall to wall carpet we have in the two bedrooms and put down laminate and never need a vacuum! They guy didn't really have too much to say after that. That is just way too much money to spend on a vacuum cleaner, no matter how much it can do, suck up, or convert into.

I'm going to start playing world of warcraft, which means I probably won't get ANY work done for the next few months. haha. I hope I'm joking. I know I'll get completely addicted, I can't wait.

I've asked for more RAM for this Sony Vaio Notebook of mine for Christmas - it will be great not to have to wait 5 minutes everytime I want to save a photoshop file.

G is getting quite a temper. He runs away from me when I need to put on his shoes or change his diaper. He hates to sit in the shopping cart and everytime I open the fridge he looks for the whipped cream container.

He LOVES "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" and "Catepillar Spring, Butterfly Summer".

We tried to take pictures with Santa the other day at the mall, but he had a death grip on my shirt and wouldn't let go when I tried to put him on Santa's lap. It was a no-go, so we cut our losses and bid Santa farewell. He did wave goodbye nicely to the tired old man in the red suit. That poor man looked like he was melting.

I became an erepresentative for Avon, so I have my own online store now.

http://lmazzuca.avonrepresentative.com $3 shipping from now till the end of the month!

Check it out and if you have any questions about products, let me know. I'm your own, personal, customer service representative. :)

Lets see, what's Giovanni been saying lately... Up, Down, Ball ball ball ball ball, Mom, Moo, Moon, Star, Hippo, Meow, He growls like a bear and lion, Arf, diaper, elephant noises, more, elmo, and that's all I can think of right now. He understands so much of what I say now and nods or shakes his head "no" if he agrees or disagrees with what I say.

Keeping the Christmas tree decorated is kind of challenging. He notices it every day and wants to steal all the balls... maybe I should have decorated the tree with non-ball ornaments this year... didn't really think of it till now.

I'm working on a new website... so far I've got a home page and an about page... http://currentsmedia.com/cj/index.html

This is not intended to offend anyone or make anyone mad. I was just wondering about a question that a lot of people have probably thought about at one point or another. Does a person's sexuality depend on nature, or nurture?

The reason for this question is today G and I were playing on the living room floor with his mega-blocks and listening to showtunes on Comcast on demand. I used to work in theatre and have loved movie musicals and musical theatre all my life. I don't think it's that great for G to watch tv all day long (The American Pediatric Association says that kids under two shouldn't watch ANY tv) but I figure that music wouldn't hurt. I got a return call from a guy friend of mine who I recently (within the past year) found out is gay. He asked me what we were doing and when I told him he said something like "I'm raising a gay architect."

Now, this guy has always liked to push my buttons. He thought he was being funny and just wanted to say something to make me laugh uncomfortably - however, it's not the first time he has said something to that effect. "Look how I turned out" has come out of his mouth before, so I thought it raised an interesting question. He has said that when he told his parents, they "blamed" themselves. But, even if he doesn't admit it, does he "blame" them?

When we discussed it again later (I called him back to ask him) he said he didn't. He believes you are born gay or straight, but he does think that a caregiver has major influences on a child and that child's personality. So, I may not be raising a gay boy, but I could be raising a mama's boy. A wimpier, quieter, more introverted kid who may get pushed around a lot in childhood and might be sleeping in my bed till he is 12. 

I've always thought that sexual preference has to do with nature. I think the choice to follow your "natural" instincts and live a certain lifestyle has to do with free will, courage, acceptance and priorities. I'm not sure about "manliness" or "feminity". Sometimes you see little boys who act distinctly feminine, is that something that can be influenced in or out of a person? Maybe, maybe not.

I certainly don't think that by listening to "cabaret" that my son will become attracted to men, but I wonder if "fabulous-ness" is learned or genetic?  

Ok, so I am Catholic and I go to church most Sundays and bring G with me. I go with my family and I really enjoy going to church. I pay attention to the readings and the gospel more often than not and I love to sing in the congregation. I'm even considering joining the choir again, but I don't want to take the step till I'm ready for the commitment.

Anyway, I didn't go to Catholic school, I did go to Catechism (sp?) classes, though we stopped when my mom went to work when I was in the 4th grade. I've read parts of the Bible, but not the whole thing all the way through.

The last time I went to confession was when I was about 8 months pregnant and THAT was the first time in over 10 years. I cried through the whole thing but I felt a lot better after I was done. Kind of like ripping off a bandaid.

My immediate questions are these....

At the end of the world, I was under the impression that Christ will come and take up his followers body and soul. Now I know that in a coffin, your body decomposes and whats left is bones and eventually dust, right? So is it ok to get cremated as a Catholic? If so, what if you have somebody spread your ashes out over someplace or in the ocean or something... how does that work? It might seem silly, but how do you think about it?

I'm downloading this today, I saw it on the view. Charlotte from Sex in in the City has a recipe in there. Barilla donates money to hungry people when you get this for FREE!

http://www.barillaus.com/Celebrity_Cookbook.aspx

My newest website... still putting on the finishing touches but here it is....

Christopher James - Pop artist song writer creating and performing at the Jersey Shore.

I couldn't agree more with the following excerpt.

I think it's completely nuts to add yet ANOTHER mandated vaccine to the list, anywhere in the US. There is so much wrong with this issue I sputter all overmyself trying to begin.

"Legislation mandating the HPV vaccine for pre-adolescent schoolgirls is pending in the District, Maryland and Virginia. Those who advocate it are quick to note that parents can opt out of the program. But few can say exactly how many bureaucratic hoops a parent will have to jump through to do that. Besides, why should the onus be on the parents to figure out how not to be in a government-mandated program? In New Hampshire, parents opt in -- and the burden is on the government to show how the vaccine can benefit their children....So are New Hampshire residents somehow smarter and better able to develop effective public health programs? Are they more concerned about their children than the rest of us? Hardly. What they have that we do not is the right attitude. They take their state motto seriously: "Live Free or Die," while too many of us are content to live and die as slaves." - Courtland Milloy, Washington Post , January 24, 2007, Force Is Not the Only Way to Administer a Vaccine

Time to show and tell. I know some folks I don't get to see that frequently take a look at my blog every once in a while. So, this is what we look like now. I'll post more later, but here are the basics....

I'm letting go of http://currentsmedia.com

I haven't been updating it in a while because I've been busy with client sites and I've got ideas for developing some other revenue building sites for myself.

This site is from a time in my life that I can only look back and see as painful to me. I had a dream about Lisa Haley a couple of nights ago and I just can't seem to let go of what she did. To recap for those of you who don't know, in 2003 I went into business with my best frined of 15 years. She didn't tell me that she still owed a LOT of money to creditors from her last failed business and shortly after we began publishing our direct mail magazine she decided to quit her recruiting job and put all her energy into our business.

She spent money on credit cards that were in my name. She spent money from the business bank account that was set to go to production and mailing of our magazine. When I confronted her about it and insisted on not spending money until we made money, she shut down and left. 

She quit me and the business. When she left, she had peronally spent over $7,000 of cash and credit and the business was in debt $30,000 total.

My husband and I have struggled to pay off the debt because my partner, Lisa Haley and I didn't really function strictly as an LLC and we would have had to declare bankrupcy to get out from under it.

It's almost all behind us now, but it's been a huge burden. I don't dwell on the past in most cases, but I miss her and our relationship and I'm just so hurt that she chose not to know me anymore. She chose to run away and not to take responsibility and work with me to dissolve the business and pay off the debt or figure out a way to legally resolve the financial mess we made. I'm so hurt that she doesn't know or doesn't care that I have a son.

Any you know what? I found her listed on a local website. The Toms River chamber of commerce lists her as a under "sales" for The Home Town Guide - a full color glossy magazine that has ads for local businesses. What a slap in the face THAT is.

As for the website, the domain expires at the end of March. I've chosen not to renew it - made the adjustment in the registrar today. Then this evening, I got an inquiry from a local contractor about advertising on the site. I haven't had an inquiry in months. Why can't the universe just leave me the hell alone?

Brand new studies show that 1 in 150 children has autism. It's more prevelant than we ever thought before in the US. At this time, 560,000 US kids have autism today. In New Jersey 1 in every 94 kids has autism.  The rate in NJ is 3 times higher than in Alabama.

Whats the common denomenator between all these us kids?

hmmmmmm?

Shots.

"Humanity is a parade of fools and I'm up at the front twirling a baton."

I just read that quote in Brother Odd, the latest book I'm reading by Dean Koontz. I feel like that lately... haha.

Giovanni just had his followup doctor's appointment for his nose today. On Feb. 24th my son fell face first on my mother's tile floor (while strapped into his booster seat) and broke his nose. They called it a small fracture on the tip of his nasal bone, but it was a crazy mess when it happened. The seat wasn't strapped to the chair the way it usually is and we didn't realize it. He crashed to the floor and his whole face got swollen. When we brought him to the emergency room, it really looked like his mouth had taken the worst of the hit, but his teeth were fine and by the next day the swelling had gone down to almost nothing. We all felt so terrible. It was a big shoulda, woulda, coulda kind of circumstance and THANK GOD he is ok now.

Poor kid was such a trooper, but he healed so nicely and now he just has a little black and blue spot in between his eyes on the bridge of his nose.

Giovanni is obsessed with the movie Cars. If my girlfriend's son had his choice of what to watch on TV, he would choose "The 12 Barbie Princesses" every time, so I guess Giovanni's favorite movie choice could be worse, right?  I do love the movie and now I know it by heart. I'm sure his choice will change soon enough.

We are having a baby! I found out on the 23rd via a home test that we are expecting another bundle in December. It's VERY early of course (the first day of my last period was Feb 23rd) which means that I'm probably just about 2 or 3 weeks pregnant and I didn't even find out last time till about 7 weeks.

Right now we are focusing on putting our house on the market and finding a new house. We are staying in the same area but homes here are priced way out of control so we are struggling through a bunch of dumps to find a diamond in the rough.

All is well and it's an exciting time!

My mom and I went to look at homes today. The properties we saw today were much more encouraging than the houses Jasper and I saw with Walter last week. They were all clean, none of them smelled, and for the most part, all were in good condition. Some were layed out a little strangely, but I could picture our furniture in a few of them and 2 of them were contenders for becoming our new home.

Jasper is off tomorrow so we will go to see those two again, and see a few more listings he may have to show us. The next step is to list our condo on the market. My job? Clean, purge and clear out this house and get it ready for people to start looking at it. I don't know HOW I am going to keep this place clean until it sells. It will be a struggle every day. Probably one of the hardest things I've ever done. hahaha. I'm just not a neatnick.

I can do this! We are going to buy a HOUSE! Wahoo!

Oh Giovanni was up for 3 hours in the middle of the night last night and then woke up at 8:00am this morning. Miserable.

He was so edgy last night.

It wasn't even the thunder that bothered him, he slept through that part and it was just about the loudest thunder I ever heard.

I expect him to nap soon and I just might join him.

So house hunting is going a little slowly. We've kind of changed what we are looking for. Seems we can't quite afford a big house that is also in move in condition, so we are willing to put some elbow grease in to get more home for our money. The key is looking for sq footage, hopfully a ranch, some storage (I don't care about a basement though) fenced in yard, 3 bedrooms, and the rest is really up for grabs. We are going back to a majorly messy house on Thursday. We may be able to get it for a song and we'll have money left over to renovate.

I just wish I was more handy myself to help get our house in order to sell. I feel like I can barely get it clean enough and cleared out enough to show people, let alone fix baseboards and level a floor.

Giovanni went down the slide today on our deck all by himself. First time! He also knows that a duck says QUACK! He repeated a hellooooo the other day when he heard me on the phone.

I'm usually pretty good at getting the idea of what my client is looking for the first time I talk to them about a project. I totally missunderstood one of my clients this time.

She sent me an email she was about to send out through constant contact with a link to an rsvp form that I THOUGHT she wanted recreated somewhere on her website.

I spent over an hour recreating this email and rsvp, laying it out as an html page and setting up a new email address with her hosting and making sure everyone would get the replys.

Turns out, she was just asking me how to make the rsvp link a "live link" to an email address in her constant comment email.

Yeah, it would have taken 2 seconds.

Blech.o

Giovanni, Kylie and I just took a walk in the cooooooold, but sunny outdoors and found some never-before-seen little tiny pinecones on the ground. We still have one in his jacket pocket.

We've made the appointment for monday. We are putting an offer on an AWESOME ranch on Monday and we are also putting our condo on the market. If we don't get these bathrooms done before people come to see this house I am gonna scream!

Holy moly. The first people to come see our house want to come back for a second showing this weekend. That's a good sign right?!

Giovanni is going through my wallet. He loves to take out all the cards.

They should totally make a kiddie wallet with sesame street credit cards and blue's clues id and dora library cards, and Thomas the train money etc. etc.

It would be a favorite toy for many a toddler.

I am so disgusted with mysitespace.com

I just did a search on their service on google and check out the hosting reviews I found from some of their other customers. Webhosting Reviews for MySiteSpace.com I wish someone would shut these criminals down - I hope I've stopped someone else from using them if they were considering it. BEWARE!

Don't use this hosting service!

1. They charged my card for a renewall without the customary 2 or 3 day warning before the charge. There was no way I was going to keep this site with them for another year because so many of my sites keep going down and having interupted service. I disputed the charge with my cc company and when mysitespace FINALLY responded to me, they said they were sending me to collection.

2. Two of my other sites hosted with them have been taken over so that I have no access to the dns servers and porn links appeared at the top of one site while both sites try to install viruses each time you refresh the page. AHHHH! Again, mysitespace isn't responding to my emails about it or my trouble tickets.

I have asked them to cancel all my accounts with them. I feel like I need to cancel my credit card so they don't charge me for anything else.

3. Another site I had hosted there consistently locked my client and myself out of the control panel. Our username and password needed to be reset for this hosting plan at least 4 times.

4. Every hosting plan has to have it's own login information to access the account. If you host more than one site with them, you can't see all your accounts in one place. Each time an account came up for renewal, they send you notification with a transaction number on it, not the domain name that the account was associated with so that you had to ask them each time which of your sites was about to renew. What a crappy setup.

The service is MISERABLE.

I use godaddy now. I've transfered pretty much all my sites over to them. Other than the fact that many of their promotions can't be used on renewals, just on new purchases, I love their service and their convenient account display. Everything is in one place!

Had my first sonogram today and all is well. We see the baby and the heartbeat and we measure right on schedule to be due Nov. 30th.

Giovanni is taking a nap and once I research pricing on trading cards for a client, I am going to join him. I'm beat.

I have someone coming to look at the house within the hour.

Giovanni fell asleep about 45 minutes ago for his nap at around 3:10pm.

I'm going to have to wake him up with the people come to see the house. I also have to throw my crazy dog out back while I wake the sleeping child, put on his shoes and jacket and get him outside so these people can look around without me in their way.

My dad wanted me to put his signature on a form today and email it, but he has no idea how to do it, so I had him fax me his signature and I tried to scan it for him. MY SCANNER won't install on my laptop, even though it's a multifunction machine and I can print from my laptop to the networked printer/scanner/copier just fine.

I hate hate hate hate this.

Someone made an offer on our house today. $10k less than we need to buy a house. Not good enough ladies.

I got rack cards and business cards back from my printer today for one of my clients. I misspelled something and both the client and I missed it in the proof.

I am so frusturated and depressed. My life is great but I'm having a shitty day.

Justice has been served! The shmo's at mysitespace.com have given me a refund for the crappy service that they charged me for without warning. It doesn't make up for the down time, lack of customer service or the viruses that tried to install on every computer that visited my website, thereby sullying my (ahem) reputation, but I don't care.

I got my money back.

Na, na, na na na.

They can kiss my butt, my strings to them are cut! hahaha.

Jasper's cousin, who owns a construction business, just left after working all day finishing up our trim, hanging 2 doors in our basement and hanging a light fixture for us in the stairway to go downstairs. We had agreed to pay him $150 per day to help us finish up the house and get ready to sell and he wouldn't take the money from me when he left.

He said he doesn't get a chance to do stuff for people and he never gave us a wedding gift and he hasn't really been around and he wouldn't take it.

He made the pregnant lady cry. Very sweet.

Ahhh, mysitespace.com found another way to get me. My fault actually - I missed one of my accounts and didn't cancel it when I cancelled the others.

http://urbanlegendsonline.com  - don't visit it unless you have virus protection - is installing trojans to anyone who visits today.

I've intiated a transfer request and am canceling my account.

Someone hacked mysitespace (or they are doing it themselves) and took over my site.

3rd time that happened this month.

I hate them.

My father pulled a really embarassing stunt today. He went into a store near his office - the same large retail chain that my husband is a general manager for almost 2 hours away - and flipped out at the employees of that store because he thought he was being over charged for an order that he hadn't even been charged for yet.

This isn't the first time he has been a nasty customer to employees in a store, and when he does it in front of me I just want to disappear. Even if he is right, there is no person that deserves to be treated like an ANIMAL and he has been known to make a terrible scene. He talks about contacting attorneys and how incopetant people are and the disturbs other customers and it's all just a mess.

THIS time, he tried throwing his weight around and, of course, wanted to get my husband and my husband's BOSS involved. What a complete nightmare. This is my husband's CAREER we are talking about. How interested is his boss going to be that his crazy father in law is making a scene in one of his stores about an issue he isn't even RIGHT about.

I could only apologize to him for my crazy embarassing father. I'm so disgusted. He's really nuts. He's my dad, I'm allowed to say that.

Now that I've transferred http://urbanlegendsonline.com to a safe server, I've resurrected some interest in updating the site. I'm actually reorganizing the stories so it will be much easier to update.

There will be lots more legends on there soon, so if any of you know of any that I haven't posted, send them to me!  Email your legend

Kylie bit the dog 2 doors down today. What a nightmare.

I was sitting in the livingroom working on the computer when she ran to the screen door, barked twice, smashed through it and ran outside.

I through down my computer and raced after her screaming her name at the top of my lungs. When I reached the door, about 4 steps from where I was, she was already tusseling with the small yorkie who was being dragged in circles by the 12 year old girl who was obviously scared and surprised by my idiot Aussie.

I ran to my dog and threw myself on top of her. I hit the ground hard, screaming at the dog, scraping my knee and my hand and successfully scooped Kylie up and walked back toward the house.

I was totally freaked out and already crying before I got to my door. I asked the girl if the dog was ok and she assured me that he was and got the hell back in the house before I could say anything else.

I brought Kylie inside, through her into the basement, put on a bra and shoes and went to knock on their door. I wanted to make sure the little guy and the girl were ok, but noone answered the door.

The poor girl was probably so freaked out. I know I was.

I found out later that my dog gave him a scrape on the side of his head, close to his eye. They said they cleaned it out and they will just keep an eye on it but he seems to be fine. I was so upset, I apologized like crazy and you can be sure I'll keep the main front door closed from now on. I love to let the light in, but unless I block it with the gate, it's more important to keep my crazy dog in.

That little dog didn't deserve to get bit, but I never did like him. It sounds awful, but they got him in the dead of winter when there was 3 feet of snow on the ground. For the first couple of months he was home, he peed on papers and never left the house. He was never socialized and doesn't "speak dog". I think that's why Kylie always goes nuts when she sees him - and he barks like crazy at everything he sees. Anyway - it was my fault, my dog's fault and not his. But that doesn't mean I have to like him. 

Now that the condo is sold (closing May 31st, ahhhh!) I'm feeling the pressure of finding the perfect house for us. I've got a twitch on the right side of my face this weekend.

I have no idea how many listings we've actually seen so far, but it's been a lot.

Tomorrow we will see 3 more. I've seen 2 of them without Jasper, but since I'm not much help with home renovations, he needs to see if either of these homes have the kinds of projects he would like to take on. In our price range there is very little in real "move in condition". Well, I guess you can move in to most of them, but some projects need to be done almost immediately in order to make it your own and not be skeeved out.

Thankfully, we both pretty much hate wall to wall carpeting.

My printer fouled up on me and trimmed my last order of 5,000 trading cards to the size of business cards, cutting off some of the design on the top and bottoms of the cards.

Now we've got a big delay and I hate to dissappoint my client by making him wait LONGER for the things.

It had to happen on Friday so I loose the weekend to even TALK to them about reprinting and shipping asap. ugh.

Giovanni is saying his long E's now. He says E E for Evie. hahaha. I love it. He said Daddy a couple of times today and he's been saying hungry the past few mornings when he wakes up. The little bugger took a 20 minute nap today so I expect him to fall asleep early tonight.

We went to Collingswood auction with the family today. Most disorganized flea market I've ever seen. It's pretty dirty and gross inside, but they have a stand where they sell pickles from the barrels and they are so delicious. I try not to think about the flea market when I eat them - hahaha.

Giovanni loved the auction because they have a slot car race track. He was laughing and bouncing up and down when he saw it. Cars and playdough are the coolest toys in the universe to him at this point.

This baby in the belly is making me nauseous every night. I'm only 10 weeks and I need to go buy some maternity clothes because I'm getting FAT! hahaha. I really don't weigh anymore than I did two weeks ago, but I feel really bloated in the belly and I can't stand my jeans by the end of the day. Oh hell, I was fat to begin with.

I gotta get these contacts out of my eyes, put a pillow on the floor for the boy who is watching tv with his head laying on the rug and thaw some meat for the dog's dinner when Jasper brings her back from her walk.

So we are offering and counter offering with what I am confident will be our house very soon.

I hope they can close soon after we do.

I need a storage space.

I bought a maternity bathing suit today - how pathetic and huge I will look. But at least I won't be ghostly pale.

I got my mom a rubbermaid food storage set for mother's day. Her dishwasher always eats her storage containers.

America's Got Talent is going to be such a Freak Show. That crap, oh, and the Bachelor, should be kicked off TV. I can't believe that stuff lives on and Related got cancelled. So not right.

Today is a GOOD day.

I'm at my mom's with Giovanni and Kylie while my husband is working on our house finishing up the bathrooms. His cousin Danny is helping him and I'm just so relieved. I've been calling handymen for a couple of days and the labor costs so much! I would much rather pay Jasper's cousin, then the guys I find in the phone book. Plus, I'm glad that Jasper is involved with the repairs.

I posted some books on ebay. I hope they sell. If they do, I'll post a lot more. I'll make a little money and it's less stuff to move.

We got a house! It's a 4 bedroom ranch in the area and price we were looking for. Needs some work inside, but we should have the $$ to do it. I'm excited. We close on June 31st. It's going to be about 2 weeks that we will be staying with Jasper's folks, between the closings. That's fine.

I'll be starting a new website in the next couple of weeks for Tuscany restaurant in Brick. One of my other clients reccommended me to him so we have to meet and go over what he wants. His current website could use a lot of work, so I'm sure that he will be pleased with what I can do for him.

Happy Mother's Day!

Jasper made me a scrapbook of our wedding! It's basically an album with a lot of scrapbook stuff in a section that I can use to decorate it, but he took our wedding proof book and scanned in the photos and printed them big and picked ones to put in the album.

I never got our actuall wedding albums from the photographer after the wedding. We just never got the chance to sit down and pick the photos and tell the guy and it seems silly but as time went by I just got embarassed that it took me so long so I never followed up. It's been 5 1/2 years and now it's just ridiculous.

So he made me one. He's so great. I love it. Giovanni loves it too. He was looking at all the pictures with me pointing out his family. He didn't recognize some of the people at first... you can look a lot different in 5 years.

Like Cioci Evie. Losing 85lbs made her look a LOT different. She looks SMOKIN'! hahaha.

My house is sold and now I am a bag lady!

My husband, son and I are squatting at my in-laws house until we close on our new place.

I'm so glad the first part of the move is over. Moving day was a nightmare. The girls who bought our place showed up at noon and sat in the parking lot with their loaded truck until we were finished. We were supposed to call them when we were done and contractually, we had the place till midnight. I was furious!

We finished by 3:30, gave over the keys and now we have 2 storage spaces packed practically to the ceiling full of our crap.

I feel displaced, but not depressed. Things look good and as long as I can get some checks coming in and keep working, I'll feel even better.

My email address has changed, I'm living off my cell phone as my main contact info and I have no permanent address. I feel like a gypsy! hahaha.

Kids adapt so well. G spent last night in Jasper's old room, in his old twin bed. The monitor was plugged in and though I got up about 5 times last night to pee (damn pregnancy urination frequency), he slep through the whole NIGHT. Till 9am!!!

He didn't wake up ONCE!

Amazing.

Week 20 of this pregnancy and we are half way through. I'll find out on Thursday if this little one is a boy or a girl! I think I like Abigail for a girl's name and I like Vincent for a boy, but I'm still up in the air about that one.

I feel the little one wiggling around inside and I've gained about 15/16 lbs. so far.

We are still staying with my in-laws. We found a house we love in Beachwood and we are finally out of attorney review. Hopefully we will be able to close by July 20th and Jasper will have a week off right away to get settled in.

I think, since I will be traveling the parkway pretty often to come back home to visit, I will do some vinyl lettering on my car to advertise website design. Might as well take advantage of the windshield time.

We've got a home inspection on Saturday. Here's hoping everything works out.

I'm over staying with my inlaws.

So I'm an ungratefull little bitch.

It's not my home and I feel like I am being "tolerated" while I'm there.

I just want to move into my new house. Can we make that happen please?

Some people have told me they hate unpacking. I CAN'T WAIT.

Today was our Termite re-inspection on the new house. The guy suggests a treatment ($800) and to repair the damage found in the garage he estimates $500 smackers.

That's definitely not a deal breaker for us so we are still moving forward to close on the 20th.

Tonight (in a little more than an hour) we will find out via sonogram and the miracle of modern medicine whether we are having a girl or a boy baby at the end of November.

I'll keep you posted, so to speak.

This Friday we should close on the new house.

Anna's second birthday party was yesterday - everyone had fun. We stayed a long time, got there early and stayed till 5. Giovanni is getting better at sharing I think. He isn't as brave as some of the other kids, but I'm sort of glad he is a carefull kid too.

We got her tub toys and G picked out a hotwheels plane for her.

They had yummy Costco cake.

Sharon and Mark were there. Mark does look super thin. I hope they are able to help him with the vertigo problem. My prayers are with Sharon and Mark about their fertility situation. I love them so much and I know Sharon will make a wonderful Mom.

Jasper hurt his neck. He needs to see a chiropractor, so I made a tentative appt. for him today but he isn't going to make it. This is the second time this has happened.

Well, we have a wake to go to in North Jersey tonight and it's POURING rain here. If it lets up in the next half hour, we will go.

I've got lots of work coming in now. It's actually a good time for it - even though I am jumping back and forth from my inlaws house to my mother's everyday to see her and take advantage of the highspeed internet - at least I'm not in the middle of moving yet. I bet I won't even get a chance to check my email for days once we actually move in. I've got to move my butt and finish some of this stuff up before moving day.

I see it.

I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

We are scheduled to close on our new house on Tuesday at 3pm. We'll change the locks that day, set some stuff up and actually "move in" our stuff on Thursday.

The last issue had been the CO. The city had come to inspect and found some electrical work that was done 15 years ago without a permit. So and electrician needed to inspect it to make sure everything was up to code, then the state had to inspect it and give their blessing, and then the city had to visit one last time to issue the CO.  All this is completed now and the CO is in the hands of their realtor. Ready to close!

Whew.

23 weeks pregnant now.  We have a wedding to go to at the end of August. I'll be big as a house by then (I already feel like it) so I'm keeping my eyes open for some fancy, comfy, maternity frock to wear. I think I'll take Giovanni to Burlington Coat Factory to look for a little 2T suit. He will look so handsome.

I've gained 18lbs so far. Hopefully I won't double that by the time the baby is born.

I've got another sonogram on August 9th to see the heart and face better so we may be able to find the sex of the baby out then. We couldn't see last time because of the position of the baby.

My mom is trying to clean out the storage space and throw away old stuff. She found my old pink lady's jacket from when I was Jan in Grease in highschool. Can throw that out. :) Lots of old stuff from college and from my Dad's office over the years. Go through it, throw it out and save $200 a month on the stupid bill. YES!

I just ate a whole package of sugar free jello instant chocolate pudding.

with whipped cream.

That's so nasty. How did I even DO that?

ugh.

Now I feel sweaty and I am having trouble breathing. I haven't felt asthmatic since my freshman year of college, but my chest sure feels tight now.

Maybe it's the artificial sweeteners. I'm such a dope.

We just closed on our new house yesterday. Movers move our stuff tomorrow. The carpet in the basement gets cleaned today. Lots to do - very exciting - I have an ADDRESS again! YAY!

So we spent our first night in the new house last night. I still don't know which box my microwave or my utensils are in, but we are making some headway with unpacking. I can't wait to paint the bedrooms, but today I got a glimpse of what a big job taking down wallpaper is and I'm thinking of hiring someone to help me get it done. Thinking of, and actually doing it are two different things since I noticed today that the balance in my bank account was $2.44

I've been spending a lot during this move - carpet cleaning, dehumidifier, cleaning supplies, all get expensive.

We had a sonogram last night and the sonographer was able to see everything they needed to see, but didn't from the last scan. Heart looks good, face, hands, feet - all look good. She was also able to see that we are having a GIRL!!!!! When she told us I busted out laughing - not sure why, it was from joy and excitement and suspense all at the same time - but I couldn't stop. My belly was bouncing all over the place and she started laughing becuase she couldn't finish the scan while I was laughing. She said if she had known, she would have waited to the end to tell me. This made me laugh even harder and a nurse came in from outside wondering what was going on in our room. Everyone was giggling in the rest of the office when we were done. It was an amusing visit. :) Anyway, I'm 24 weeks pregnant now, weigh 222lbs (I wonder how much I weighed at this point when I was pregnant with G) and my bp was 110 over 70. Not too bad.

So we wanted to get direct tv at our new house, but our house is surrounded by trees so we won't get it because we can't get a signal. BLAST. So now we need to get cable - fine - only our address isn't in their system and it will take a few days to put us in. THEN I can schedule a guy to come out and install service. So I don't think we are going to have tv for like 2 weeks.

I need to join blockbuster online or something.

Then I called the power company to make sure they don't turn off the electricity and to put the service in our name. Another wierd address thing happened when they told me that the account that they had for the woman who lived in the house before us was set for the address 5 houses down from us - not our address. They wanted to put my name on the account for that address and I told them NO - I don't live in that house. Please set it up for my ACTUAL address (I'm being vague because I don't like putting too much personal info online).

Isn't that wierd? The address wasn't in the system for comcast or for the power company. I feel like I moved into the twighlight zone.

Today the cable guy comes and we will get quotes from 2 fence companies to fence the backyard.

Giovanni's bedtime is getting out of control.... I have to try to force an earlier nap, rather than one in late afternoon. Last night he didn't go to bed till 12:30am and I passed out asleep in our room around 11pm. Jasper brought him into bed with us at 12:30am and I was all squished up all night. At least Jasper got him to bed - I felt bad for baling, but I was beat. We unpacked a lot yesterday.

Today I'll try to get more of the wallpaper border off the wall in G's room and clean up some of the craziness.

Gonna go out and play with G now, maybe trim some trees.

I just registered my new phone number with the national do not call registry. https://www.donotcall.gov

I had done it with my old one a while ago and got spoiled. I forgot how annoying the telemarketing calls can be when you are home all day and the phone won't stop ringing.

I am also experiencing something with this pregnancy that I didn't when I had G. My heels are KILLING me. I know it's probably from walking around, unpacking and working on the house and the move and all that, but I've never felt anything like this. I've been walking around on the balls of my feet for days and when they finally start to....stop hurting... they kind of feel a little numb. Not better - just tingly and numb. It's so wierd. I fully expected when it first started happening that they would feel better the next morning - once I had been off my feet for a while - but it doesn't help. When I wake up, they feel just as bad as when I went to bed the night before. I hope this goes away soon or at least with delivery. I fear it won't and I'll have to wear shoe inserts and I can kiss my flip flops goodbye forever. sniff.

So I've had 2 fence quotes today and the first guy was higher, but I liked him better. The second guy was a fast talking salesman (literally, it almost made me laugh when he was talking) but also the owner of the company and the guy has 4 labradors. How bad could he be? hahaha.

The first guy reccommended cedar over spruce or vinyl because our lot is heavily treed and he said we will get a lot of mildew on a vinyl fence which will be a pain in the butt to clean. The second guy gave me a quote for spruce and vinyl and he basically said forget the wood fence because the vinyl will last forever and it's easy to clean when it gets dirty and it will last forever and by the way, it's gonna last forever.

I think I'd like to go with the vinyl. Probably from the guy I don't like cause it's less money. ahhhhh, the power of the all american dollar.

We've chosen a fence guy and a tree guy and everything should be done in the next 2 weeks. The tree guy is coming TOMORROW. yes!

We are getting ready to head to Brick to go to church with my family. Jasper is going to a fantasy football draft party this afternoon.

I'm doing better on weight gain since we've moved in. I didn't buy any junk food or snacks so when I'm hungry I'm eating yogurt, lite english muffins with pb&j and baby carrots. Quite a change.

I'd better take G for a walk around the block before I throw him in the car and head for church - time to take the edge off.

8:20pm and G still hasn't napped yet. I'll be leaving my Mom's house in a few minutes and I expect him to fall asleep in the car before we even get off the block.

Last night I made "tangy chicken" from the 4 ingredient cookbook. One of the ingredients was water, so I don't even really count that... 3 ingredients. Chicken, butter and heinz 57 sauce. 45 minutes on the stove top. LOVED it. Served it over white rice with broccolli on the side. Giovanni liked it too - so it's a winner. I'll make it again eventually.

I just copied all the entries from my mindsay blog into a word doc. Don't know why, but I was getting nervous... I've been keeping this diary since 2004 - what if something happened and all of a sudden I lost it.

I like having a backup.

We got a new electric grill, griddle, pannin maker by cuisen art. Our panini maker broke during the move, so we got this one to replace it, but it's so much better than our old one. Number 1, the plates come off so you can wash them in the sink or dishwasher - big bonus. Number 2, the thing opens all the way and lays down flat so you have this big surface to work on. I was making 6 pancakes at one time this morning.... less time in front of the griddle. I LOVE IT.

I hope it stops raining... it's been raining for 3 days straight.

If G had an ipod, this would be at the top of his playlist.....

Oklahoma.

hahaha

He loves the title song from Oklahoma. He requests it every time we get in the car and wants to play it over and over. He also loves The Belly Wobble Song from Hi 5. He loves Sloop John B by the Beach Boys and Sweet Home Alabama (he calls it sweetheart Alabama). We've been singing Jack and Jill and humpty dumpty before bed lately and I really want to get some of the Backyardigans music on cd because he loves that show.

I feel like I got a lot done today when in reality... probably not so much. hahah. Today Giovanni and I visited the Toms River Library. We took a look at some of the kids books and did a puzzle and then got down to business and found the copiers. I needed to make 5 copies of my survey so I could go to my town's municiple building and submit an application for a fence permit. Since the copiers on the first floor were busted, we road the "great glass elevator" to the second floor (fun fun fun) and found the copiers there. G put the money in and we made the copies quick. I told him it was time to go and he said "Bye Everybody!" loudly, giving the whole second floor a general wave before we quickly boarded the elevator back down to the first floor and the building's exit. hahaha.

We went to the municiple building to find out how to get the taxes for the new house in our name and found that they get that info from the county and the bills haven't been mailed out yet anyway. They are going out late and we have 25 days to pay them from the date they are mailed, so no worries.

I found out the water hasn't been switched into our name and a final read hasn't been ordered yet and our attorney has to do that.

I submitted the application for the fence permit and drew our perspective fence on 3 of the 5 copies I made of our survey. Giovanni ate a lolly pop in the chair next to the counter and sat still like a good boy till I was done.

We picked up a calendar about our town which tells me all kinds of valuable info like garbage day, recyclable day, bulk pick up day and events scheduled to happen in our town including a big town-wide garage sale toward the end of September. THAT is going to be cool and I totally want to participate. I should have thrown away half the stuff I packed up before we moved.

I did some research on the internet today and actually purchased a lamaze DVD because I won't be taking childbirth classes for the new baby. I just want to be able to review the breathing techniques and stuff and this one got good reviews.

I also bought Mosquito Barrier http://www.mosquitobarrier.com/index.html and can't wait to get it so I can try it on our crazy yard. We have got those nasty tiger mosquitos that bite you at 8:30 in the morning and don't have the decency to wait till dusk like all the other mosquitos in the North East. I literally run in and out of the house at this place because they start attacking you immediately. I've been thinking about putting up a bat box but it freaks Jasper out. Did you know that bats can eat up to 1,000 mosquitos in 1 hour?! Totally worth it to have those little critters around.

We've all been sick the past few days but the baby and I are starting to feel better. Jasper is really feeling crappy tonight so I stopped on the way home from my mom's to buy him some Aleve Cold and Sinus. They have to sell it from behind the counter now and they take down your driver's liscense info when you buy it because there is some ingredeint in the medicine that can be used to make street drugs. Nuts, right? The stuff works great as sinus medication though.

I also got an email saying that I am going to receive the free senseo coffee system - the single cup brewing system that uses coffee pods. My sister is using it and she really likes it.

Oh and finally, check out this link. After the baby comes I think I will create a free account at this site and use it to help me loose the weight. www.fitday.com

I don't want to loose my previous post, but everytime I try to create a new post my last post shows up as though I want to edit it. I wonder what will happen when I post this one?

I feel like I got a lot done today when in reality... probably not so much. hahah. Today Giovanni and I visited the Toms River Library. We took a look at some of the kids books and did a puzzle and then got down to business and found the copiers. I needed to make 5 copies of my survey so I could go to my town's municiple building and submit an application for a fence permit. Since the copiers on the first floor were busted, we road the "great glass elevator" to the second floor (fun fun fun) and found the copiers there. G put the money in and we made the copies quick. I told him it was time to go and he said "Bye Everybody!" loudly, giving the whole second floor a general wave before we quickly boarded the elevator back down to the first floor and the building's exit. hahaha.

We went to the municiple building to find out how to get the taxes for the new house in our name and found that they get that info from the county and the bills haven't been mailed out yet anyway. They are going out late and we have 25 days to pay them from the date they are mailed, so no worries.

I found out the water hasn't been switched into our name and a final read hasn't been ordered yet and our attorney has to do that.

I submitted the application for the fence permit and drew our perspective fence on 3 of the 5 copies I made of our survey. Giovanni ate a lolly pop in the chair next to the counter and sat still like a good boy till I was done.

We picked up a calendar about our town which tells me all kinds of valuable info like garbage day, recyclable day, bulk pick up day and events scheduled to happen in our town including a big town-wide garage sale toward the end of September. THAT is going to be cool and I totally want to participate. I should have thrown away half the stuff I packed up before we moved.

I did some research on the internet today and actually purchased a lamaze DVD because I won't be taking childbirth classes for the new baby. I just want to be able to review the breathing techniques and stuff and this one got good reviews.

I also bought Mosquito Barrier http://www.mosquitobarrier.com/index.html and can't wait to get it so I can try it on our crazy yard. We have got those nasty tiger mosquitos that bite you at 8:30 in the morning and don't have the decency to wait till dusk like all the other mosquitos in the North East. I literally run in and out of the house at this place because they start attacking you immediately. I've been thinking about putting up a bat box but it freaks Jasper out. Did you know that bats can eat up to 1,000 mosquitos in 1 hour?! Totally worth it to have those little critters around.

We've all been sick the past few days but the baby and I are starting to feel better. Jasper is really feeling crappy tonight so I stopped on the way home from my mom's to buy him some Aleve Cold and Sinus. They have to sell it from behind the counter now and they take down your driver's liscense info when you buy it because there is some ingredeint in the medicine that can be used to make street drugs. Nuts, right? The stuff works great as sinus medication though.

I also got an email saying that I am going to receive the free senseo coffee system - the single cup brewing system that uses coffee pods. My sister is using it and she really likes it.

Oh and finally, check out this link. After the baby comes I think I will create a free account at this site and use it to help me loose the weight. www.fitday.com

Today was a wonderful day. DH was off today so it's always nice when we can all wake up and have the morning together. G and I went to Brick to go to church with Mom and Dad. After church, we brought my Mom back home and we went to Seaside furniture clearance center to try and find some good labor day sales on a living room set. First we went to Ruby Tuesdays for lunch and though G didn't really eat anything in the restaurant (he rarely eats what we order him when we go out) he does love to furniture shop. He actually got really upset when we wanted to leave the store... kids love furniture stores.

On the way back to Brick to drop off Mommy G fell asleep so we dropped Mom at home and went to my inlaw's house. He and I left the sleeping baby with his family and went to Levitts to see some more couch sets. Not only did we find a couch and loveseat that we really liked, but the manager made us a deal on the floor model of a bedroom set that I liked that we couldn't refuse. Seriously. The original price of the whole set was $3400 and we ended up getting the whole set for $800. Insane!  And it was really the only set that caught my eye in the store - I really like it! We also got a set of 3 lamps which was priced at $100 for $50!!  We'll get all the furniture delivered this week and I just can't wait - it's going to look so great!

My birthday is this Friday and my sister is off all week. I'll give her a call tomorrow and see if she would consider coming over one day and help me paint my room before the new furniture comes. I think her boyfriend is off this week too, so if there are 3 of us working on it, we'll have it done in no time!

She's been asking me what I want to do on Friday and I have no idea. I know she hasn't been to the popcorn park zoo for years and they have really made it so nice now. I'll see if she wants to go to the zoo. If not, maybe just to the park or the boardwalk. I hope it'll be a nice day.

Oh, per her suggestion, we got a Senseo coffee pot. It's a very cool one cup coffee maker that uses coffee pods, so the brew is always consistent. DH LOVES this coffee pot and he ordered a second pot to put in his office at work. It's pretty good, and I like it, but it really doesn't make much difference to me to brew a whole pot of coffee or one cup at a time. I'll either drink the pot throughout the day or throw it out... shrug - no biggy - but it's a new toy for DH and he is so into it.

I'm kind of changing my mind on the new baby's name. These are the possiblities so far....

Abigail Rose

Roselyn Grace

Grace Roselyn

I think I'm leaning toward Roselyn Grace.....

The new header is recent picture of our family.....soooooo far.

I think it's funny that G and I have the same look on our faces. hahaha.

Aren't my guys handsome? :)

I posted this reply to a comment on someone elses blog, but I feel it bears repeating here.

I do not agree with someone who thinks it's a good thing to feed stray animals in their neighborhood.

Having a stray come onto your property every day but free to roam around and catch diseases or get run over or make MORE babies is extremely dangerous.

A law against feeding stray animals is a good law. My family and I have dogs that are like members of our family. I bring my dog with me, for the most part, whereever I go. I love her and do what I feel is best for her as though she were my child - and so does my mom with her dog. A woman who lives behind my mother feeds stray cats and has MANY of them that flock to her yard to look for food and water. This is very dangerous for our beloved pets. When those cats come to my mother's yard (which is fenced, but what does a cat care about a fence?) we are always worried about what diseases they might have and they PEE all over the property. Gross.

Once, our doberman encountered one of the kittens from a litter of one of the strays. He didn't attack this cat, but they were facing off with each other when we caught up with him in the yard and brought him inside. Even though he had just had his rabies shot 6 months before, the vet reccommended that after that confrontation, he get revaccinated just in case. We had no idea if the cat had scratched or bit at him before we got there. After this booster rabies shot, he was never the same again (mentally) and became a difficult dog to live with, until he had a heart attack and passed away a couple of years later.

If someone wants to have a cat, then they should keep it in the house, take it to the vet when it needs to go to the vet, feed it and care for it as a member of the family. If you aren't able to do that, take it to a shelter or find a home with someone who will care for it properly.

Someone who feeds a stray is not a hero, they are a nusiance to their neighbors and they are breaking a law that exists for a reason.

Tomorrow is the town yard sale - we have lots of stuff to sell and I'll be doing henna tattoos too. I need to make up boards with tattoo designs tonight after G goes to sleep. I tried to start them earlier, but he totally wanted to draw all over the oak tag (can you blame him?) so I have to do it later.

I don't know how I'm going to haul all of this stuff out of the garage myself tomorrow morning, but I'll do my best. We are also getting our FENCE tomorrow!!! This is going to be a great weekend!

I'm not sure how to price the vinyl records I'm selling. I'm thinking I'll price my books at $2 each or 2 for $3. I have a few bags of clothes I was going to donate, but I'll see if they sell first. I've also got lots of stuff I packed but never should have made it into the boxes from the old house.

Dear Sister and her BF are coning to help tomorrow, but I don't expect them to be around till the afternoon. They aren't early risers.... I can't blame them. I used to like to sleep in on the weekends too.

G surprises me every day, but yesterday was particularly interesting. During breakfast, DH was making some coffee, I was at the kitchen table and G was squatting on the floor looking down when he said "These bugs are a pain in my ass."

He said it slowly and a little.... blurry.... so I wasn't sure I heard him right. I said "what did you say?" and he repeated the sentence more clearly this time.

Rather than acknowledge it or tell him NOT to say it, DH and I kind of looked at each other in disbelief and (of course) before I could deny it, Jasper said "He doesn't get that from ME!" hahaha. Blast. I probably do say that more than I should.

Then at lunch time I made him some rice and cheese in a flour tortilla and heated it up a bit in the microwave to make it melty. Since rice and cheese isn't exactly the picture of a healthy lunch, I put some chopped fresh tomatos on it too. He loved the tortilla, but when he got to the inside with the tomatos he made a face, looked up at me and said "I don't like the tomatoes, they are crappy."

Ugh.

We went to the Seaside boardwalk to walk around and play some skeeball last night. My mom, Cioci Linda, Grandma, G and I went and though it was colder than we expected, we did walk up and down the boards a bit before playing in Lucky Lous arcade for a while. While we were walking, G noticed a statue of a lobster in front of one of the fast food joints on the boardwalk. It's a pretty big statue and a kid could stand in between the pinchers and have his picture taken. My mom began to fiddle with her camera and asked G to show her the lobster. He did and was about to loose interest and walk away so she asked him to "shake hands with the lobster". So he stops, looks up at the big thing, puts both his hands up in front of his face and starts shaking them in front of the lobster.

HILARIOUS!!  We all cracked up - he's such a funny kid.

We also saw a big blowup football player inside another food joint and G stopped to check it out for a minute or two. When  we encouraged him to keep walking because it was cold, he came running over to me and ran into my legs. He isn't really a run up and hug you kind of a kid so I asked him what he was doing and then I realized that he was "tackling" me, like the football players on TV. So I asked him if he was playing football and he backed up, bent over to pick a pretend ball up off the ground between his feet, and pretended to throw it to me! So we played pretend football all the way down the boardwalk till we got back to the arcade. Kids are so much fun.

I love Picasa, the photo organization program available for FREE from Google.

I've created a web album. Check it out if you are interested....

http://picasaweb.google.com/lisamazz1

I couldn't sleep last night. Woke up at 3:30am and stayed awake till 6am. I came out to the living room to do some work on websites and I watched Heroes on DVR. What a great show.

Do you think the flying kid took Clair's car or what?

Anyway... maybe Kenzei is Clair's great great great great great grandfather or something...

I got up at 9am so I shouldn't be too exhausted during the day.

I have to put this house in order today. I spent too much time on the computer yesterday and my house exploded around me.

Have a lovely Tuesday.

I've finally cleared out enough of the boxes in the room that will be our soon to arrive DD's nursery and I'm ready to paint. The issue I found today that makes my shoulders droop to the floor in defeat is that one of the walls (yes, one of four, thank God) had, at one time, been wallpapered and then painted over. The paper has started to peel at several places along several seems and I, in my infinite wisdom, decided to try to remove it.

I am an idiot.

I have just spent the better part of 2 hours scraping painted wallpaper and have gotten basically nowhere.

What a mess. If I continue, I fear the wall will look worse than it did before so I am going to cut my losses, clean up what I've done the best I can, and paint as originally planned. If the old paper starts to peel worse after I am finished, I'll deal with that when it happens. The good thing is, we planned on that wall being our accent wall so it will be a different color than the other three. If things go terrbily wrong... I can scrape again or paint that wall again and I won't have to worry about doing the whole room.

We are going to have some dinner and I'm going to clean up the fallout and paint the ceiling. I'll do the walls tomorrow.

I took this from alwaysdoot 's blog. I LOVE it.

I have let my child nap for too long.

We will be up all night long.

I need to go and wake him.

 I love country music. My husband says it gives him splitting migraines. Ack. The sappy ones are good, but the funny ones can turn my whole day around. Especially this one....

I'm so run down today. I took Giovanni to the mall for a few hours and he played in the playground and went to lunch at Applebees and walked around for a while. He played with a bunch of other kids which was really good - gave him something to think about. I hate it when we stare at the same four walls all day.

My grandmother is on Lipitor for high cholesterol. Her memory is really shot. I know that old people can get confused sometimes, but she is driving everybody nuts. She has no clue what you told her and even when you explain things over and over again.... she forgets. She recognizes everyone, so that is wonderful - but she is so befuddled most of the time. My mom thinks its a side effect of the Lipitor and I think she is right. I don't trust drug companies at all. Geez, I only take tylonol when I can't stand the pain of a headache because it's made me sick to my stomach.

As of yesterday I am 32 weeks and 5 days pregnant. I'm measuring at 34 weeks. I weigh 226lbs. She is head down. Her heartbeat sounds good and though I usually ask them, I forgot to ask what my blood pressure was at the doctor yesterday. It must be good because it didn't seem to be an issue and that is a relief because it was getting high during my last pregnancy by this time.

Today is the first day all week we will be staying home for the whole day. G got bored within the first hour of being awake. Maybe he had a feeling it would be a slow day. I started cutting in the baby's room but he didn't want me to work alone so he discovered an extra paint brush in with my supplies wanted to get involved. It worked for a while... I slapped some paint up on the middle of the wall and had him spread it around while I cut in the corners,  near the ceiling and around the windows and doors.... Then he wanted more and more paint. Then he wanted to use MY brush which is nice and small and if the bristles get all funky and messed up it will be useless. This was a no-go so he pitched a FIT and that ended painting.

I had trouble connecting to the internet earlier, my dsl wireless connection sucks lately, so while I was trying to get my computer to connect, I did the dishes. I hate not having a dishwasher. It's really gonna suck with the new baby comes and I actually want things to get sanitized with steamy water, you know?

I put a sweatshirt on him and we went outside to try out my new leafblower. I blew all the leaves from my front yard to a pile next to the house and sucked up most of them with the vaccuum feature. It's really not all it's cracked up to be, so G and I started just putting the leaves into a bag but after about an hour of working out there we were both ready to stop and he had a dirty diaper so we went inside. The yard looks much nicer now (except for the small pile of leaves left in front of my car... I need to finish bagging them) but I can't wait to cut down a couple of more trees. We've got tons of trees on our lot and I'd like to get rid of the young ones that are real close to the house before they get bigger and start causing more problems. I know it's nice to have shade but this is ridiculous. I picked up the chain saw in the garage today and looked it over. I put it back down because I have NO idea how to use it, it scares me a little, and I think it needs more gas and other than what is in my car at the moment, I don't have any.

I wish I could find an old fashioned saw or ax to take down the freakin trees. My husband is so not into doing any of this, so I just have to figure out how to do it myself.

He is actually playing golf today, but it's because he has to. It's like a mandatory meeting that the who-has set up. They do "activities" every once in a while that the GM's in the district MUST participate in even if it's not really their thing. Oh well, at least it's not pouring like yesterday. The golf thing is in Hillsborough - I don't even know where that is but I think it's far.

I'm tired. I think I'll try to get G to nap for a little while so I can finish cutting in the bedroom. I need some coffee.

We went to Storybook Land in Little Egg Harbor today with G. DH's friend Kevin came with us and his kid comfort level isn't really high so we were surprised he wanted to join in. We had a good time, but it wasn't that fantastic a place. I think he would have had more fun if he was a LITTLE bit older.... G - not Kevin. haha.

There were bigger kids pushing each other to get on the slide, he wasn't really interested in going on rides that went up in the air, and he kind of pitched a fit somewhere in the middle. We had a lot of fun going through a hay maze. They had you collect stickers to put on a card that, when all done, made a photograph of the outside of the maze. He got a medal at the end and we had fun running around in the hay.

They had a great "Billy Goats Gruff" exhibit where you can feed the goats by buying some feed for a quarter, and putting it in a bucket which you then ran up along a pully system to these little platforms about 20 feet in the air where actual, live goats are waiting for the snack. There are platforms and stairs and bridges that the goats walk on to get up to the platforms to get the feed. It's really pretty great!

G hasn't been eating well lately. He's turning his nose up to anything slightly good for him and holding out for convenient junk food. I need to be more diligent and cook good stuff and not make the crap available. He's got a runny nose today and he has been sneezing... I think it's starting to take it's toll.

I can't wait to try to the one about the pizza....

PLEASE BE SURE YOU READ THE LAST ONE ABOUT THE CLOTHES DRYER!!!!!!

     1. Reheat Pizza
     Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm.  This keeps the crust crispy.  No soggy micro pizza I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.

     2. Easy Deviled Eggs
     Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag.  Seal bag, mash till they are all broken up.  Open bag and add desired ingredients, reseal, keep mashing until mixed thoroughly, cut a corner tip of the bag, squeeze mixture into egg.  Easy clean-up, just throw the bag away.

     3. Expanding Frosting
     Whip a container of cake frosting with your mixer for a few minutes.  This will double in size and less sugar and calories per serving.

     4. Reheating refrigerated bread
     To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water.  The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

     5. Newspaper weeds away
     Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil.  Wet newspapers put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and forget about weeds.  Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.

     6 Broken Glass
     Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass y! ou can' t see easily.

     7. No More Mosquitoes
     Place a dryer sheet in your pocket.  It will keep the mosquitoes away.

     8. Squirrel Away
     To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper.  The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.

     9. Flexible vacuum
     To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum.  It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

     10. Reducing Static Cling
     Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or  dress.  Same thing works with slacks that cling w! hen wea ring panty hose.  Place pin in seam of slacks and -- ta da! -- static is gone.

     11. Measuring Cups
     Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water.  Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

     12. Foggy Windshield
     Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car.  When the windows fog, rub with the eraser!  Works better than a cloth!

     13. Reopening envelope
     If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just  place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two.  Viola!  It unseals easily

     14. Conditioner
     Use your hai! r condi tioner to shave your legs.  It's a lot cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair.

     15. Goodbye Fruit Flies
     To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass fill it 1/2" with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2  drops of dish washing
liquid, mix well.  You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

     16. Get Rid of Ants
     Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants.  They eat it, take it "home", can't digest it  so it kills them.  It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works and you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

     17. INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS
     T! he heat ing unit went out on my dryer!  The gentleman that fixes things around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and he went over to the  dryer and pulled out the lint filter.  It was clean (I always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes).  He told us that he wanted to show us something; he took the filter over to the sink, ran hot water over it.  The lint filter is made of a mesh material -   I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like.

     WELL...the hot water just sat on top of the mesh!  It didn't go through it at all!  He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh that's what burns out the heating unit.    You can't SEE the film, but it's there.  It's what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and static free - that nice fragrance too, you know how they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box, well this stuff builds up on yo! ur clot hes and on your lint screen.  This is also what causes dryer units to catch fire and potentially burn your house down with it!  He said
the best way to keep your dryer working for a very  long time (and to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out and wash it with hot soapy water and an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months.  He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long!

Ahhhh - I'm so excited. There is a tree service working in our neighborhood today and the guy came up to my door and said that because they were already here and they have all their equipment, if I wanted to get anything done I could get a really good price...

So I went outside and talked to him about it and the guy is taking down 7 trees for me, one of them is really big and hanging over the house, grinding 5 stumps, leaving us the firewood and taking everything else and it's gonna be $1,000 !!!!!

Wahoo!!

I'm so psyched.

Don't worry all the tree lovers out there... these are trees that were very close to my house and I still have about 12 trees left on my property - I'm not clearing out everything. This is going to be great.

Tonight I'm goin' out! My college roomate and her husband are having a halloween party and DH is going to stay home and watch G. Much to his delight actually - my sweetie isn't really a social butterfly. He would much rather hold down the fort while I go play for a while. Since I probably won't get to go out and play by myself for a long while soon..... nursing a baby doesn't allow for much me time, which is totally fine.... I'm determined to have as much fun as this big pregnant bod will allow.

I'm officially 35 weeks now and the doc said the other day that if I go into labor at this point, they won't do anything to stop it, so I am basically a ticking time bomb! I doubt she will come even one minute early (oh please, oh please come early) but now I am required to go see the doc once a week till d day. The crummy part is that my next appointment is scheduled at their OTHER office, which I have never been to, to see the one doc in the group I haven't seen even once yet during this whole pregnancy. I only saw the guy once while pregnant with G and, well, he did nothing for me. Heather also had that guy deliver her first born daughter and said he was literally no help at all, coming in just before delivery to "catch" the baby. The nurses were really the ones who were involved the whole time. I would really rather not have to see this guy at all, but they want you to be familiar with everyone in the group because you never know who will be on call when you actually go into the hospital.

Anyway, lets all cross our fingers for Keelan, I like him the best and he's the doc there I really consider to be my doctor.

Anybody out there watch Word World on PBS? Giovanni loves it! He recognizes some of his letters now, but he lines up all these little foam letters I got him and says the letters as he "builds his words" even though a lot of the letters are wrong. He wants to build Truck and Duck and Rocket... whatever the episode is about.

Ok, we need to build a rocket. See ya.

Halloween photo of me and my boy!!

How did I wake up this morning at 7am????

Charlie Horse!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Holy craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap that hurt. I'm like a turtle on my back now so when I first flexed my foot and felt my calf tighten up like a rubberband, I had to throw off the covers, kick my foot up to the ceiling and stage whisper JASPER.............My Leg Is Cramping!!!!!!!!!!!! Grab My Leg and Help ME!!!!!!!!!! I Can't Point My Toe!

He grabbed my leg and rubbed it a little and I was able to point my toe and then suddenly the muscle in the FRONT of my leg spasmed and I couldn't flex my foot again. It was the craziest feeling! I flew out of bed and tried to stand on it (while howling in pain and quietly as I could so I wouldn't wake G in the other room).

I ended up kneeling with the cramping leg on the bed with my weight on it and my good leg was standing on the floor. I massaged the leg that was under me and somehow stopped the cramping cycle that was alternating from the back to the front muscle. Even now, I'm afraid to flex my foot one way or the other because the muscles feel so tender.

Suddenly, I'm not looking forward so much to contractions of labor........

We found the old Transformers song (and the first episode actually) on u-tube. I've been singing the song to G for days and I thought there might be more than one verse so I looked it up. There is actually only one verse and somehow I remembered it. G is starting to sing it with me now... I love it when he sings. hahaha.

Tonight we had an unbelievable waiter at Friendly's. He was a stocky, 30 something, proudly geeky guy and he even commented on my son's new "Megatron" toy that we had just gotten him from KB. The guy was remembering the high pitched evil doer he knew when he was young... fine.

Later, we overheard him trying to explain a kitchen misunderstanding to a customer sitting in the booth next to us. She was upset because the cheese on her order wasn't melted to her satisfaction. He promised to have the order remade for her and she must have expressed that she didn't want them to bother.... he assured her that it wouldn't take long because the microwaves that they use in the kitchen are very powerful. So powerful in fact that 30 seconds in one of these microwaves would be enough to....

"kill a cat."

I almost fell out of the booth. 9 months pregnant, I almost fell out of the booth because while trying to smooth over a stituation with a customer, this kid actually used THAT descriptive phrase to let the woman know how quickly her order could be remade.

Anyone else see a problem with that?

Today can be defined by the following words..... heart..... burn........

That is IT. I am going to drink 3 cups of Red Raspberry Leaf Tea before I go to bed. At least.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I have been running around shopping for a couple of days, but geez for all the contractions I'm having we still don't have our little girl yet.

My Mom's birthday is tomorrow, so I am thinking that she may very well join us for Thanksgiving - what do you think?

G slept last night from 7pm to 8:30am. I can't believe it, but he has been in a great mood all day. The two previous nights he had been sleeping miserably, waking up every couple of hours... but last night he only woke up once.... early.... and then slept through. He was such a good boy in the stores today too. I've started picking up some little Christmas presents for him. Nothing too big or expensive, but little games and activity sets that he can open up on Christmas morning and they might actually keep his interest longer than another toy car, or robot.

I just wrote an email to my aunt and figured it would make a good post here so here it is...

Very quickly because I gotta go lay down, it's been a big day. We are home from the hospital. Abigail was born on 11/26 at 5:03pm.

I started keeping track of contractions at 10:40am, we went into the doc to get checked around 2:30pm - I was 8cm dialated - in the hospital around 3:15pm.... they broke my water around 4:30pm I guess and she was born at 5:03pm. Got an epidural at the last minute. No time to take effect because I passed out during the process and by the time he was done it was time to push. 3 pushes and she was born.

8lbs 5oz., 20 inches long, and she is doing great. NO STITCHES for me. huge difference from last time - but I'm tender, sore and tired. We are nursing and hopefully we will avoid jaundice this time.

I'll be back online soon everyone!

 Abigail was one week old yesterday. Today I took her to the lab to have some bloodwork done to check her bilirubin levels. G had to be readmitted to the hospital when he was 9 days old for jaundice. We just want to make sure she is doing ok - I really think she is because he was practically glowing in the dark when he had to go back in to go under the lights - but she seems to be doing really well. My milk came in faster this time and we have sunny exposure at the new house so for a few days we put her in only her diaper in a sunny window for a few hours and I think that really helped.

G has been such a good boy for the last couple of days. We haven't been doing anything real exciting and it's too cold to go outside to play that much so I have to say he has been in a good mood for being in such a boring, kiddie environment. We've been watching lots of Christmas specials on DVR.

The little pickle is waking up again - I gotta go get her.

My Mom is so terrified of driving on the parkway. I just don't get it. Highways have always been a nobrainer for me. I'm not the bravest person, skiing makes me cry....another story, but short of driving on the streets of Manhattan, I'm not a nervous driver. I also have a pretty good sense of direction, which I did NOT get from my Mom. That's definitely a major part of the reason driving freaks her out so much in general, but the parkway scares the heck out of her.

This has become a major issue because now that Abigail is here, she WANTS to be able to come and visit when I need her or when she wants to come see us, but it's as though Mt. Everest lies between my house and hers because of the stinkin highway. I have to say, it's frusturating. For the both of us, I'm sure.

I have got to send out some invoices if I want to have any cash for holiday shopping. I think I have $20 in my bank account. I am NOT putting Christmas gifts on credit cards. No No No No way Jose.

I'm going to weigh in at the end of every post now....it'll keep me honest.

218.4

Jasper just took G to meet uncle Johnny at Lowe's and pick up a Christmas tree. Little do they know, G is going to take the better part of an hour to decide. I hope he's quick for their sake... it's cold out there.

He is going to be so excited - he is totally digging all the decorations he sees on houses in the neighborhood when we drive at night. I would love to put some on our house, but Jasper says we have no outside outlet and he doesn't want to run a wire through the window.

Ah! We could run one into the garage. Ohhhh, he is going to be so defeated when I tell him. hahaha.

G will LOVE decorations on our house. Sorry Dad.

216.4

Last night and today we decorated. We put everything on the tree (which was way too big till we cut it down... uncle Johnny likes big Christmas trees). I also put up the nativity on the mantle and some garland around the doorways and the wreaths, signs and stockings too. I don't have TOO many decorations - definitely have room to grow a collection in this house.

I've been getting headaches all week. They are making me nauseous too. They always come around 4pm and I have them for most of the evening. I've also been getting pretty cold the past few days. On and off I feel like I have a fever, I shiver with terrible chills, but when I take my temp, it's about 97. Totally normal for me. I think my hormones are just trying to stabalize and my body is getting all screwed up.

Giovanni is into the power rangers movie now. I told him he can watch it as long as he doesn't start hitting anyone. If he hits me, I am chucking this movie. There is a LOT of fighting in it.

That little peice of cord left on Abigail's belly button fell off today. It still looks like there is some dark crusty stuff in there, but that gross hard peice is gone.

216

We've been home all day by ourselves. I haven't done dishes or wash. I've been feeding the baby when she is awake, I gave G a bath and other than that.... we've been watching TV.

Poor kid. I hate just sitting in front of the TV with him, but my head is killing me and my stomach is upset. I took some Advil earlier, I could probably take more by now. Jasper should be home any minute. I feel like such a slug.

Abigail is asleep and G wants to play a Jakers game on the computer.

214.4

I've been Christmas shopping online tonight and I got some things for Giovanni and Jasper. What the heck do you get for a 1 month old who has a big brother with a hundred million infant toys that are getting handed down to her?

I'm a bad Mommy cause I don't want one more crunchy, squeaky, puffy, rattling stuffed animal. ugh.

213.2

Ok, ok - so I got her 2 brand new toys just for her.....

The Jungle Stacker and the Taggies Activity Bar.

Now I'm excited and I can't wait to get them.

Ok, so we heard all this hype about how great the movie blood diamond is and we barely made it past the opening credits when I chucked the control accross the room, and stood up saying "Oh my God, I can't watch this movie! I can't watch this movie." I had to turn it off immediately.

If any of you have ever seen the movie blood diamond, you should know what made me react that way... well, let me just tell you if you haven't. This band of people come into this village on trucks and just start slaughtering people. Shooting women and children and everyone. This man attempts to save his family. They seem to make it, but he gets captured. People are just getting shot all over the place - families - it's horrible. Then you see that some kind of militia is running this group and they start forcing the men to their knees and explaining that they will now chop off their hands so that they can't vote. "Chop Him!", they yell, and then up goes the ax and OFF goes the guy's hand.

That's when the remote flew and I had seen enough.

I don't care how great that acting is in a movie like that. That kind of shit is NOT entertaining to me. I don't need to see sunshine and rainbows in every movie I see, but I am not ever interested in seeing that kind of film.

Yuck.

her eyes got wet when she cried today. not enough for a tear yet, but there will likely be one soon.

g fell and hit his face on the tv table yesterday while we were doing a workout video. we were having so much fun, and then he fell. rats. right on his cheekbone. i put ice on it right away, so the swelling didn't get bad, but he does have a bruise. a Christmas shiner. ugh.

he still wants to excersize with me though. it was the first thing he said this morning.

215 sigh.

In my previous post, I was nursing while typing with one finger. That's why my typing was wierd.

We excerised again yesterday. He wanted to switch tapes (one billy blanks tape to another) in the middle, but it was ok because the second one didn't have a stretching warm up and I was already warmed up so I just started it and kept going. Little Miss woke up during it and wanted to eat. Thankfully I wasn't too sweaty yet - ewwww.

I pumped yesterday and tried her on a bottle when she woke up in the evening but she just doesn't get how to suck on the nipple. I used an Avent bottle yesterday - tonight I'll try again with a playtex nurser and see if she does better with that.

G has been up late the last couple of nights. We've had the video Live Free, Die Hard for a couple of days now and haven't had the chance to watch it  yet. I hope we get to see it tonight... we are going to owe a million bucks in late fees.

I have lots of wrapping to dooooo. I think Jasper is taking G to his parents house for a little while this afternoon. I'm going to bust open some of these amazon boxes around my house and wrap some presents while they are gone.

212.6 yahoo!

Abigail is dressed in a "my first Christmas" winnie the pooh outfit. G is decked out in a button down shirt and kakhi's... I even dragged out a red turtleneck for myself in the spirit of the season.

Jasper had to work, but I'll be meeting him at his Mom's house at 6pm with the kids. Till then, we are hanging out with my family.

Everyone is looking forward to Santa bringing us presents to celebrate Jesus' birthday!

The only thing G has asked for is Blackout. The deceptecon robot from Transformers that turns into a helicoptor. Don't know why this is the toy of the moment, but I found one on Amazon last week and it came just in time.

I could have just seen him opening present after present and surrounded by wrapping paper and boxes looking up at me with puppydog eyes... "what about blackout?"

No worries kid - Santa knows.

My sister is baking today. 3 batches of cupcakes, some brownies, and chocolate coated marshmellows. We also have lots of yummy Polish food to eat today thanks to CJ's Polish Deli in Point Pleasant.

PS. Diet be damned till January.

Merry Christmas to All!

We are talking to family members about becoming God parents for Abigail. We are Roman Catholic and there are few folks in the family who are actually practicing and qualify to be Godparents, according to the Church. This poses a problem for us because we don't want to insult anyone, but we need to put some pressure on the folks we've asked to either meet the requirements of the church, or to let us know that they aren't interested in doing so. If they don't intend to register with a church, make sure they have all their sacraments, and actually attend church - then we need to ask other family members who WILL do or have done these things because the clock is ticking so-to-speak. I'm a little frusturated by the situation.

I'm bringing Giovanni to the dentist with me next week. I called to make a first appointment for him, but since I am overdue for a cleaning myself, the appointment will be for me and he will tag along and hopefully let the Dr. take a look and see what is going on with his front teeth. He has two....divits.... in his front teeth. The scary part is that they are starting to chip up from the bottom and one has chipped up and into the divit. I don't want his little baby teeth to disintigrate before he is even 3 years old. I'm a little freaked, and I hope the Dr. has some suggestion or solution so that we can save those teeth. Hopefully it won't have any effect on his adult teeth.

I also have a followup visit with the ob on Jan 10th. Looking forward to getting past that hurdle. I had a dream last night that Jasper and I were roomates and he was dating someone else. Pissed me off. I told him about it when I woke up this morning and without pausing he said "was she hot?"

Jerk.

hahaha.

This was an email I sent to a friend last night and I thought it made a good blog post.

The babies are sleeping and Jasper snoozing on the couch too.
I was trying to get some work done, but I'm tired and my contacts are
bothering me and Abigail will be up soon to eat, so I am going to pack it in
for the night.
I actually wore a skirt today because I had no pants clean.... the joys of
motherhood. hahaha. I can see you saying ...."so, that sounds normal for
you...."
Today was a Dr. appointment day. I brought G with me to the dentist because
his front teeth are getting scary. Since they came in there have been 2
little yellow spots on them, but in the past 2 weeks they have started to
chip up into the little spots. These are only his baby teeth, but they have
to last till he is at least 5 or so..... I'm so scared they are just going
to break apart! My dentist said we need to see a pediatric dentist who deals
with little kids all the time. Sounds like he might need to have them capped
or something. I need to make an appointment this week, but I want to see
when we can put him on Jasper's dental insurance. We never thought we would
need to worry about getting him dental so soon....
He was such a good boy at the dentist though. He sat on my lap on the chair
and he let the Dr. and the hygenist look in his mouth, and he opened wider
when they asked him to and he even let them poke around in there with their
tools. I was so proud. :) When he was done, he went back to the waiting room
and I got my teeth cleaned. Abigail slept out in the waiting room with my
Mom the whole time. I've given up coffee the past week, so since she's been
on decaf she's been sleeping a lot. hahaha.
I also had my 6 week followup appointment for her birth to make sure I'm all
healed up and can be considered a regular, non-pregnant person again. I got
the all-clear and everything's good.

G and Jasper are watching American Gladiators and I am sitting at the kitchen table as I type with a glass of white wine by my side. Ahhhhh. Abigail is asleep in her swing. Today I vaccuumed (I can never spell that word), made some doctors appointments for the next few weeks for the family and ordered a cord of fire wood to be delivered next Saturday. It's seasoned, so if we use that for the rest of the winter, the wood that the tree guys cut a couple of months ago and put on the side of the house should be seasoned for next year.

I also cleared out some of the boxes in the garage my moving them down and consolidating them in the utility room in the basement. I found my weight watchers stuff in one box which means I'm starting points next week! Jasper's off for the weekend, so I'm not going to force the diet food upon him just yet. hahaha.

I also found my Adobe creative suite which is good because I HATE this computer and would love to get a new one. Now I know that I will have the program disks I need to install when I finally get a new machine.

Giovanni is requesting I put him to bed (at 9:35pm YES!!)  so off I go....

I'm so screwed. I'm way too backed up and need to spend every available moment working on websites. I've got 3 clients who want work done YESTERDAY and no time to do it. (meanwhile, I'm BLOGGING - and contradicting myself)

I actaully made a HUGE dopey slip up this morning when talking to a client on the phone and apologized for not getting to her work yet because another client was on me to get some of their work done. Like she isn't important or something. I NEVER do that... I actually got sick to my stomach after I said it. duh duh duh.

Ugh - NOW is NOT  the time to perfect CSS - but that's what I've been trying to do with one of my website redesigns. I think I need to do it over in html. I'm NEVER gonna learn to do sites without tables. ugh.

So that detox diet made me feel a lot better, but I didn't really lose any weight. I loved doing it though - and it got me off the coffee for a while. (now I'm back to one cup in the morning - it's terrible, like crack.) No no no - not like crack at all...... The first step is admitting you have a problem anyway.

I started counting weight watchers points on Monday with Jasper. He is doing it too. He only needs to lose 10 lbs where I need to lose like 60 but whatever. I love him and it helps me get started when he does it with me.

On Monday I was 212.2 and now I'm 209.6

I know it's not Monday yet and with WW you should weigh in once a week, but I'm not strong enough for that. I step on the scale at least twice a day when I'm NOT on a diet, so when I'm dieting I weigh in pretty much every time I go to the bathroom. I know, I'm nuts.

Ok, so I sabatoged myself when I weighed in 2 days ago because today is the official 1 week mark and I'm still 209.6

Ah well, that's still down 2.6 lbs for the week! YAY.

Slow and steady wins the race. WW is all about being consistent and not giving up. I can DO this.

Good wieght loss vibes for EVERYBODY who wants them!

I voted today. Had to bring the kids in with me. No line, the seniors running the show were so nice to G. He was super shy, but he pressed the red "cast vote" button and on the way out he said "that was a lot of fun!".

We are watching Hairspray. Jasper got me the DVD for Christmas, and we just saw it for the first time last night. G loved it. Today he must have told me that Hairspray was his favorite movie about 4 times. We are watching it now for the second time today. Jasper is baffled. hahaha.

I put Abigail in the bounceroo today for a couple of minutes. She didn't bounce, just kind of hung there, but the pocket she sat in was deep enough that she was sitting up straight in it. It's downstairs, set up right in front of G's jumpoleen, so she was watching him jump for a little while.

Tonight I will be up late working on a self defense website. I'll post the new link when I'm done.

Oh Andrea..... you were in my dream last night. I think we were arguing about something though. You got a bone to pick with me girl?!

Working on a couple of new sites:

http://bonair.org

http://selfdefense-newjersey.com/new1/index.html

Lots left to do..... I feel like I'm glued to the computer, but I'm glad for the work. I feel like I can breathe a little easier because I've had quite a bit of work lately and I've got something in my bank account now.

whew.

I'm really surprised at this, but I think Abigail is teething. She is drooling a lot more lately and seems to be fussier than usual. She is also getting frustrated during the day sometimes when I try to nurse her. She starts crying when I bring her into position and won't settle down to latch on. And, what really makes me think that's it is she is already sort of biting on me. Sometimes she bites down with those little gums and it doesn't really hurt, but if there were teeth there, it WOULD.

When we brought G to the dentist we got a pamphlet about children's dental health that said that some babies are BORN with teeth and some don't get their first till their 1st birthday but, on average, they start getting teeth around 6 months old. Abigail is only 2 1/2 months!

I have no intention to stop nursing this little girl any time soon, so I'm hoping the biting stops. Besides, I've tried pumping and giving her a bottle a few times and she won't have it. G never took a bottle either - he went right from breast to sippy cup around his first birthday. At that point, he was biting me and making me bleed so I had to stop..... I was getting scared of him! haha.

I'll be starting another blog in the next few days. My own site http://onyourmarkdesigns.com is lame. I'm going to install a wordpress blog at that domain and hopefully it will inspire me to develope my own site into a more organzied display of services and not just a list of sites I've developed and manage.

Today was wierd all around.

This morning we got up and I was getting the kids ready to get out the door - changing morning diapers, getting some breakfast into them and getting everybody out of pajamas and into clean clothes. I was headed from my bedroom to Abigails, looking for clothes for her. I wasn't completely dressed myself, just in a bra and pants, when I looked out her window into our fully fenced back yard.

I saw a big (probably about 80 or 90 lb) boxer/mastif looking dog trotting around my yard!

I froze. How the HELL did he get into my yard?!

So I ran back to my room and threw on a shirt and slippers and ran to my back door. It took less than a minute, but when I looked out the back door I couldn't see the dog in the yard. I peeked my head out the door and looked all around - still no dog. I called out and whistled, but I saw neither head nor tail. I went out into the yard and then out the closed gate and into the front yard and never saw him again. I checked all around my fence, but there were no spaces underneath big enough for a dog to get through - that dog had to jump over my 6 foot fence to get into and out of my yard super fast. amazing.

Then we left and went up to Brick to pick up my Mom and Sister and Grandma and head up north to help out my Great Aunt. She and my Great Uncle (brother and sister) lived together in Jersey City and he passed away 2 weeks ago. She is all alone up there now and she doesn't drive. She is loosing her hearing big time (you really have to shout at her for her to hear you) and she walks with a pretty significant limp. Since Uncle passed away, she has to take care of business with his estate before she can sell that house and buy a home in one of the many adult communities in Ocean County (near us). We were going up there to bring her to the bank, grocery shopping and to visit with her because she is all by herself now.

My Grandma is becoming more and more confused as she gets older - she still knows us, but honestly I don't know how long it will last. She is 84 years old and now when she talks to me she refers to my Grandpa as Uncle Steve (like she forgets the way we are related) and she was saying that Aunt Isabelle (her younger sister) was much older than her. She even called her her mother's mother. She thought her sister who is 10 years her junior was actually her grandmother. She got very angry with me today when we were in the car together waiting for my mom and my aunt to get out of the bank. She said some mean things to me - I know it was because she was angry and the more I tried to calm her down and assure her that everything would be fine, the more worked up she got. I didn't get upset with her, and I'm not hurt by it because I know she didn't mean it, but my heart was certainly pumping when she decided to stop talking to me. My grandmother has never yelled at me in my whole life - it was awful having her so mad at me.

It was all fine a short time later when they finally came out of the bank (whew) and we went to lunch and then did some food shopping for her. On the way home, my Grandma must have thanked me 5 times and she hugged me and thanked me again before she left my house (she is staying with my parents for now - long story that isn't my business to talk about).

I will allways love my Grandma and I will always be there for my family whenever they need me - but the going is getting a little tough. It's something everybody just needs to get through.

NJ and MD Parents Take Action on Vaccine Laws

Parents in New Jersey and Maryland are organizing to educate legislators about the need for informed consent and safety protections in state laws.


NEW JERSEY NEWS:

Sue Collins, co-founder of New Jersey Alliance for Informed Choice in Vaccination (NJAICV) reports that NJAICV is sponsoring an on-line petition to endorse support for the insertion of a conscientious belief exemption to vaccination in NJ vaccine laws. She encourages New Jersey residents to sign the petition, which lists the signer's name, town, state, comments and date signed. Go to http://www.gopetition.com/online/16754.html.

With the recent addition of 9 doses of 4 new vaccines (pneumococcal, influenza, meningococcal, Tdap) to daycare and school mandates, New Jersey became the state with the most vaccine requirements in the nation: 35 doses of 13 vaccines. The new vaccine mandates were rammed through by state health department employees last year under rule making authority and legislators did not vote on the new vaccine mandates. New Jersey has a religious and medical exemption but both exemptions are almost impossible to obtain due to opposition by state education and public health employees seeking a 100 percent vaccination rate among children.

I found the above exerpt on this blog late last night  http://vaccinesarebad.blogspot.com/ 

It's like an answer to my prayers - I'm going to write letters and get involved. I don't know if I will be attending meetings to argue with gov. officials - I'm terrified and I don't think I'm that good with words. I also get really emotional when I'm nervous and talking about something I feel strongly about - I'll be a blubbering mess and that won't help anyone.

If you live in New Jersey, please sign the petition. Even if you don't make the choice not to vaccinate for you or your family - please visit New Jersey Alliance for Informed Choice in Vaccination (NJAICV)  , read about what they have to say and support my right to informed consent.

Thank you!!!

Calling ALL Concerned NJ Citizens

Please take a moment and sign this petition which supports legislation currently in the NJ State Legislature. If passed, this will allow for a conscientious belief exemption in cases of mandatory vaccine administration.

This petition should be signed by New Jersey Residents ONLY. The requested email address is not made public on the petition. Please consider signing with your name made public as this adds credibility.

For more information please visit:
New Jersey Alliance for Informed Choice in Vaccination
http://www.njaicv.org/Action_Alert.htm

I read this this morning and it makes me sad.

Still, Clinton received more than 300,000 votes in Virginia in a losing effort while McCain collected less than 250,000 votes in his winning effort, which means the enthusiasm gap might be too much for any Republican to overcome this year.

— Stephen Dinan, national political reporter, The Washington Times

It won't be for lack of my vote!

Jasper just called me on the way to work to tell me something. G wanted to know who was on the phone so I told him it was Daddy and asked him if he wanted to tell him he loved him. G got on the phone and said "I love you Daddy. Why do you have to go to work?" Jasper said, "I love you too baby boy. I go to work because I have to." and G said "but why do you do that?" and Jasper said, " I go to work so we can make money and buy stuff" and G said "ohhhh.... I get it."

Such a funny kid.

My 2 1/2 year old is addicted to video games. This is a tangled web we weave. ugh.

Today we are going to visit Heather and see her brand new puppy! She just got a beagle (and the next day a beagle won westminster....funny) and the pictures she has on myspace are sooooo cute. I can't wait to see him.

Trumpets - sound the call!

As of 1:10pm today, Giovanni has been wearing UNDERWEAR!

I might be jumping the gun here.....

I hope this doesn't blow up in my face.

:)

At 3:30pm he peed on the floor when I was downstairs switching the laundry. Oops.

He still wants to wear underwear though, so I cleaned him up and put on a new pair.

Every few minutes I'm asking him if he has to go.... I have no idea what I'm doing.

Well, he peed on the floor twice today. Both times he was standing in front of the TV, transfixed. I kept asking him if he had to go potty and the answer was no, then he peed. ugh. At least he is noticing when it happens. I think I tried to start with the pullups too early. Now he thinks of them just like diapers, so it's really no different and he doesn't care when his diaper is wet - he would stay in it all day.

Maybe after the dentist tomorrow we will try again.

Oh, my Mom and Dad and Grandma came over this evening and when my Mom was playing with Abigail on my bed she laughed. My mother couldn't be more thrilled that the first time she laughed was at her. She's a grandma's girl.

Haha!!! Success! Giovanni is napping now after a successful dentist visit! He got 2 cavities drilled, filled and bonded on his 2 front teeth! He's got a brand new smile. I'll post pictures later.

He had to take this liquid medicine when we first got there called Noctek (sp?)

We watched a video for a half hour while it took effect and he started to get kind of loopy.

When it was time to get started, they brought us to another room with the dentist chair and then strapped him into a papoos board. I wasn't thrilled about this step when I heard they were going to do it, but I'm glad they did. I think that if he weren't in there he would have been flailing and flopping around and it may have brought him up out of the daze that the medication put him in. I think being nice and tight made him feel safer. I was standing right over him so he could see me the whole time but he was pretty dopey.

Needless to say, they look great and I'm glad it's over. He can also eat as soon as he wakes up because he didn't need to get numb. hooray!

Last night I had some crazy dreams.

I frequently dream about driving off of bridges and cliffs. I'm usually driving with Jasper as my passenger, and I'm terribly sorry about screwing up so badly as we are plummeting what seems like hundreds of feet into a canyon or into the water in the middle of a fall we could never survive. I always wake up before we hit the water/ground and as realistic as it is, I somehow realize it's a dream before I wake up.

Last night, I dreamt I was driving at night and Jasper and I went off a cliff. As we were falling, somehow I DIDN'T think it was a dream and I couldn't believe it was my fault that we actually WERE going to die and crash and our lives would be over. This time the car DID crash at the bottom of the cliff (while I had my eyes closed) and to my surprise, I wasn't dead. Then I was equally shocked that the car hadn't exploded into flames and just as I thought that and reached for the door handle, I FELT the car explode into a ball of fire. I felt the woosh of flames around me, my clothes and hair burning, and knew that I wouldn't make it out alive.

Then I woke up.

The next dream I had, I was driving again in the day time in the city. I needed gas and found a gas station. I had to get out of the car to fill my tank (which doesn't happen in New Jersey because all gas stations in New Jersey are full service pumps) and as I was pumping my gas I looked across the parking lot and saw a tall brunette woman with a ponytail talking to someone. She was obviously about 8 or 9 months pregnant and she was smoking a cigarette. I walked over to her and started preaching to her about how terrible smoking was for her unborn baby. I told he that this time is not about her, but about her child and she needs to stop being selfish and think of them and not herself. She argued again and I slapped her. Yup, I hit the wench.

THEN I come to realize that this woman that I just assaulted was actually the daughter of none other than, Mitt Romney and suddenly there was a media blitz in the middle of the parking lot at the gas station. CRAZY dream.

I just ate a dark chocolate candy bar and I have no idea how many points it was.

oooooooooh - it was good.

Mercury leaks found as new bulbs break

Energy benefits of fluorescents may outweigh risk

By Beth Daley

Globe Staff / February 26, 2008

Compact fluorescent lamps - those spiral, energy-efficient bulbs popular as a device to combat global warming - can pose a small risk of mercury poisoning to infants, young children, and pregnant women if they break, two reports concluded yesterday.

But the reports, issued by the state of Maine and the Vermont-based Mercury Policy Project, urged homeowners to keep using compact fluorescents because their energy-saving benefits far outweigh the risk posed by mercury released from a broken lamp.

 

They said most danger could be avoided if people exercised common-sense caution, such as not using compact fluorescents in table lamps that could be knocked over by children or pets and properly cleaning up broken bulbs.

 

The US Environmental Protection Agency and the states of Massachusetts and Vermont said yesterday that, based on the Maine study, they are revising their recommendations for where to use compact fluorescents in a home and how to clean up when one breaks.

 

"Using compact fluorescent bulbs is still the brightest idea out there," said Michael Bender, director of the Mercury Policy Project, a nonprofit organization that works to eliminate mercury use. "The message is: People should not be afraid but informed and prepared and learn how to dispose of them properly."

 

The two reports constitute one of the most comprehensive examinations of the dangers posed by the lights, which use about 1 percent of the amount of mercury found in old thermometers.

 

Mercury is needed for the lamps to produce light, and there are no known substitutes. No mercury is emitted when compact fluorescents are burned, but a small amount is vaporized when they break, which can happen if people screw them in holding the glass instead of the base or drop them.

 

Mercury is a naturally occurring metal that accumulates in the body and can harm the nervous system of a fetus or young child if ingested in sufficient quantity.

 

For the Maine study, researchers shattered 65 compact fluorescents to test air quality and cleanup methods. They found that, in many cases, immediately after the bulb was broken - and sometimes even after a cleanup was attempted - levels of mercury vapor exceeded federal guidelines for chronic exposure by as much as 100 times.

 

There is no federal guideline for acute exposure. Some states, including Maine, use the chronic exposure level as their overall standard, while others, such as California, have chosen higher levels for acute exposure. Still, the mercury vapor released by the bulbs in the Maine study exceeded even those higher levels.

 

"We found some very high levels [of mercury] even after we tried a number of cleanup techniques," said Mark Hyland, director of Maine's Bureau of Remediation and Waste Management. He said levels were the lowest if the room was well ventilated after breakage.

 

The study recommended that if a compact fluorescent breaks, get children and pets out of the room. Ventilate the room. Never use a vacuum, even on a rug, to clean up a broken compact fluorescent lamps. Instead, use stiff paper such as index cards and tape to pick up pieces, and then wipe the area with a wet wipe or damp paper towel. If there are young children or pregnant woman in the house, consider cutting out the piece of carpet where the lamp broke as a precaution. Place the shards and cleanup debris in a glass jar with a screw top and remove the jar from the house.

 

Disposal regulations vary from state to state, with some requiring broken compact fluorescent light bulbs, to be disposed of as household hazardous waste. Most states allow intact compact fluorescents to be thrown away, but some - such as Vermont, Minnesota, and California - ban disposal in trash, according to Bender.

 

Some stores, such as Ikea, have set out recycling containers for fluorescent bulbs. In Maine, Hyland says, some 200 retailers are participating in compact fluorescent recycling.

 

Massachusetts is also ramping up a compact fluorescent recycling program and in May will ban disposal of any intact compact fluorescent lamp in trash. However, broken ones - because their mercury would probably have been vaporized - may be thrown away.

 

Sales are skyrocketing for compact fluorescent lamps, which use about 75 percent less energy and last up to 10 times longer than traditional incandescent bulbs, as consumers become more aware of global warming and the long-term cost savings. More than 290 million compact fluorescents carrying the EPA's "Energy Star" label sold last year, nearly double the number in 2006. Compact fluorescents now make up 20 percent of the US light bulb market, and sales are all but guaranteed to grow: A new law requires lights to become much more energy-efficient starting in 2012.

 

According to the US Department of Energy, if every household replaced just one light bulb with a compact fluorescent, the United States would save more than $600 million each year in energy costs and prevent greenhouse gas emissions equal to 800,000 cars.

 

But compact fluorescents can contain from 1 to 30 milligrams of mercury, according to the Mercury Policy Project. The nonprofit cited a New Jersey study that estimated that about 2 to 4 tons of the element are released into the environment in the United States each year from compact fluorescents. That number is expected to grow as sales do. In comparison, about 48 tons of mercury is released into the environment by power plants each year, according to federal statistics.

 

"People should continue to support CFLs until there are mercury-free alternatives available," said Cindy Luppi of Clean Water Action, a local advocacy group.

 

So according to this article, if one of these bulbs break kids, pets and pregnant people should get out of the room because being in the same ROOM with mercury isn't a good idea - but according to health officials, it's safe to inject it directly into our bloodstream via vaccination. hmmm.

Oh, and by the way.... the fact that they conserve energy is good for the planet and everyone on it, so even if it's toxic - USE IT because the BENEFITS OUTWEIGH THE RISKS. That sounds familiar too. Who do they think they are?

Finding your baby dead in his crib is a horrible image but it was a
reality for three North Idaho families who found their infant sons dead
last fall.

KXLY4's Kalae Chock reports.

I believe this quote regarding refusing mandatory vaccinations is very well said and I agree wholeheartedly:

"I think very simply the point to drive is that this is not an issue about vaccines. This is about the fact that we must reserve our rights to refuse any medical treatment which carries the risk of injury or death. The Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System acknowledges over 6,000 deaths and more than 300,000 adverse reactions following vaccination. The right to say NO is the answer to the 26,000 dollar question (which curiously, no one has touched). the right to say NO is what separates humans from the laboratory animals--nothing else! Science in the service of interests is no longer science. It's not about diseases coming back, it's not about compliance rates, it's about the ethical principle upholding the right to autonomy which includes voluntary and informed consent. Stick to that."

Ok, so to my knowledge, noone has ever thown up after eating my cooking before. Today was a first.

I made G and I a spinach and cheese omelet to share for breakfast and some hashbrowns. He spit out a mouthfull of hashbrowns as soon as he tried them, but he was diggin the eggs for a while. On the last bite (of course, right?) he turns back to the tv to continue watching chaotic and then I have some coffee. When I look at him again, he is facing me with a horrid look on his face and mushy egg in one hand and all over his chin.

I said "what happened?!" - no reaction -

"did you spit it out?!" - no reaction, but it looked like more egg than was just in one bite - then I saw he had some egg in the other hand too.

"did you throw it up?!" - he nods yes - so I wipe him off with a napkin. I'm totally amazed because he has never thrown up in his whole life. Not even spit up as an infant - never. I said "woah, that was nuts" and he looks at me and nods in agreement. "yeah, that WAS nuts."

Guess he wasn't into the spinach...

Ok, this was emailed to me today. Does this suck or what?

I am pumped. twirling my hair, pacing around my house, muttering to myself, pumped. I'm a web designer but I've always had a hand in search engine optimization for my clients as well. I always keep engines in mind when designing a site and though I may not be a flash animation, css programing, database, php, and so on and so forth guru - I can do html with my eyes closed and I'm starting to get the hang of css a little bit.... I'd say I'm still a novice, but not quite a beginner. The seo has always been kind of an ongoing game for me really. I check the traffic stats from sites, do strategic link exchanges when I find someone who would "fit" with one of my sites, monitor page ranks and more. Most of the time, I do it without really thinking too much about "billable hours" and it's like checking my email - just something I do when I'm surfing around on the net.

Now I need to get serious about this and incorporate these services into what I can provide for my clients formally.

One of my clients has asked me how we can improve her search engine rankings (which are already pretty freakin STELLAR, by the way) because she has 2 major competetors that she would like to basically squash. Yeah - 2.

Yeah from keyword strings that bring up 250,000 search results, she is only worried about 2 other companies. wahoo!!!!!

but after doing some research and seeing that for some really significant keyword combinations she comes up a little lower (but still within the top 7 on google) I think there are some strategies that I can reccommend that can tweak the site to do even better.

I just installed google analytics on all her pages to get more info about how visitors are using the site and I need to see some of the reports before we talk specifics.

I need my sister's help to make a contract and decide on a list of deliverables I can expect to..... deliver. hahaha.

Very exciting possibilities here.

We are having more trees cut down today! 2 big dying oaks in the front and one smaller practically dead one in the back. They are grinding the stumps and leaving us the firewood - all for $650!!

I heart A#1 Tree Service of Brick, NJ!!

The spin they are putting on this is unbelievable.

I'm so thankful that I have the opportunity to do my part in this cause that means so much to me. I've put together a new website for this coalition that's trying to stop the new vaccine school mandates for 2008 and get the legislation passed for a conscientious belief exemption in New Jersey.

The site is http://njvaccinationchoice.org

It's the first time I've done a site entirely in css (though to "join" form is in a table) and it works with most screen resolutions and browers. Hey, can you leave me a comment and let me know if the front page looks wierd (I'm having some reports of the 2 columns stacked on top of each other, rather than side by side... this will be obvious in the page layout if it's happening to you.)

If you like the site, and more importantly, the cause - please link to it which will help me get it into the search engines pronto. The link code is on the link to us page.

Thanks everybody!

Giovanni did not go to bed easily tonight.

Sometimes when we are together during the day, it's hard for me to believe he is just going to be three this May.

He's pulling a lot of "Don't talk to me Mommy." "Go away" "Don't say that to me"

but for all of that, he also gives me surprise hugs and kisses too.

He asks me for food or to help him find a special toy and when we do he says "thank you"

When fun music is on he jumps up and says "Dance Mommy, Dance!"

He loves peanut butter cones with whipped cream.

He loves baby corn.

He loves jumping on the trampoline.

He loves power rangers (ugh).

He loves video games (ugh ugh)

He won't go to the potty grrrrrrrrr.

When I try to put his toys into the toy bins he panics and says "no - don't do that - don't put my toys away!"

When someone burps or farts he smiles and says "what was that noise?"

He is kind of obsessed with boo boos and bandaids. Wants to see everybody's boo boos and talk about them.

The movie of the week is Tarzan.

His favorite bedtime story is a book of Disney Adventure Stories and he always wants to read Tarzan, Hercules, Mulan, Toy Story II and Pooh.

Abigail is a delightful baby. More on her tomorrow - it's late and I'm goin' to bed!

I just got some spam in my inbox that started like this:

What do you need most?

Motivation,

Inspiration,

or a kick in the pants?

My answer? I need inspiration, which gives me motivation and if that doesn't work a kick in the pants don't hurt. hahaha.

We moved into our house in August and now that Spring is forthcoming, I'd like to address some landscaping issues. The folks who lived here before liked rocks.

A lot.

Not a speck of grass lives on my property yet and I'd like to remedy that - however, I think our foundation needs to be addressed.

I got a http://springhill.com catalogue and with a 50% introductory offer, I couldn't resist giving my green thumb a little excercise. I ordered 2 gardens - one is a foundation shade garden for the left side of my entrance and a corner garden for the right side. This is what my house looks like now.....

See that big pile of saw dust in the middle of the yard? That's the remains of 3 giant oaks that were dying from what the tree men called Gual Wasps. (sp?) As you can imagine, my property will get a lot more sun now. I can't believe we have taken down 11 trees since we've moved in (there are plenty left).

The left side where the foundation shade garden with go...

That scraggely looking little bush is an azalea that I think may have a shot at staying. We had many trees in our yard letting very little precious light in and I don't think that this landscaping was really ever tended to. You can see in the picture that I started to remove the white rocks from the foundation bed to prepare it for the new plants. I'm going to truck in some top soil and mix in some compost. With some food and water that azalea might do well, so I'll keep it in for now. All these creepy evergreen pine bushes need to go. I hate em.

The right side where the corner garden will go....

These pine bushes are embarassing. They will be a back breaking job, but they gotta go too.

I'll post the after pictures when I plant the stuff that's coming in. I can't wait. Delivery is between 3/23 and 4/6

I've got to get the rest of those rocks out of there.

Holy, this is nuts. I wonder if a Wendy's burger would do the same thing. I like Wendy's much better than McDonalds. I don't know, but I have a feeling the same thing would happen with the damn chicken nuggets I get for G. Ok - now they've done it. No more happy meals for us.

Public Health Risk Seen as Parents Reject Vaccines

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/21/us/21vaccine.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

G is playing video games with Hubby. We ordered 4 cheese brick oven pizza from Caponne's in Toms River and it got cold while I was talking on the phone, but it's still good. We will be going to my inlaw's house tonight to visit and I'll get some work done now. I haven't showered in 2 days so I think I'll do that now.....

It seems that lawmakers do not understand that freedom should include freedom from forced medications for ourselves and our children. The fact that we grant religions the right to do anything, but if not under a religious umbrella, those with strong science-based, philosophical-based or strong-personal belief get no such rights, I think this is unconscionable.

Especially when we are talking about vaccines with their known dangerous side-effects and potential unknown negative effects down the road. Here in New Jersey, home of the drug industry, we have no rights for personal medical savings accounts, no rights to purchase catastrophic health insurance, and no rights to refuse mandatory vaccinations. The drug companies hold the politicians in their financial pockets. People are led to believe in drugs and the exaggerated benefits of medical care and they do; the new religion in America—In Drugs We Trust.

Ok then.

Take a look at this shop that sells merchandise for the NJ Coalition for Vaccination Choice. I set up the shop last night and the designs are all original. The prices aren't marked up at all - they are the base prices for the products determined by cafe press.

http://www.cafepress.com/vaxchoice

I ordered the pink t-shirt and the bumper sticker today. Can't wait to get them.

We did work in the garden yesterday. I'll take pictures and post them to show what we've done so far. I bought 3 yards of top soil to supplement the foundation areas in front of the house. My cousin, Mom and Dad came over yesterday to help me remove the rest of the rocks, create a low retaining wall/border, till the existing dirt and add in the top soil to the beds. We only got this far on one side of the front door, but the side that's left is smaller so I think I can do that on my own.

The weather is pretty crappy today, so I put a couple of plastic table cloths weighted with rocks over my precious pile of topsoil and will work again when it's nice outside.

My plants are patiently waiting to be put into the earth. They are sitting in my garage now where it's nice and cool. I hope they don't die.

Here is a link to the Complete Foundation Shade Garden I ordered:

http://springhillnursery.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_07096  

Here is a link to the Corner Garden:

http://springhillnursery.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_65510

Hubby is coming home tonight - should be home by midnight. Little Girl got her ears pierced today!!  We did them at the Piercing Pagoda in the Freehold mall. She only cried for a minute or two and she was calm as soon as we left the store. She has pretty diamond studs and they are really sparkly! Bling! I love em.

I hope her dad likes them. She looks beautiful.

Go Jenny!

I agree with her 100%

They need to do the studies of vaccinated vs. unvaccinated kids. They need to make the shots safe.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/02/mccarthy.autsimtreatment/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

I found the following statistics on this website:

http://www.vaproject.org:80/statistics/autism-statistics.html

They are getting higher and higher all the time...

Autism Epidemic Statistics

Since 1998, VAP founder Ray Gallup has researched and tracked the dramatic autism epidemic statistics.

 

US:  1 in 67 children has Autism
US:  1 in 6 children suffers a developmental disorder
New Jersey:  1 in 94 has Autism
84% of children receiving EI services are born in New Jersey
UK:  1 in 86 has Autism

 

It costs $3.2 million to take care of an autistic person over his or her lifetime. 

Caring for all people with autism over their lifetimes costs an estimated $35 billion per year

 

Anyone out there have immediate family in the police force? A dear member of my family gave my husband and I these beautiful gold cards with our names engraved on them. They are really nice and my family member that gave them to us was very thoughtfull and we are gratefull for them.

Anyone else who has them should know however that they set off metal detectors! My husband got taken aside at the airport cause he had no idea what could have been on him that set off the metal detectors. They found it when they passed the wand over his pocket and he realized what it must have been.

If you are flying, leave your pretty pba card home!

Hahaha - and I thought I LIKED Horton Hears a Who.... I got all pumped up after I read this one... hahaha.

Gender Inequity in 'Whoville'

by Peter Sagal

 

I don't know what sins Dr. Seuss committed in his life to be doomed to have Jim Carrey star in movie adaptations of his books. But I came out of Horton Hears a Who, with my wife and my three excited and happy daughters, irritated by something even more annoying than Carrey's tics. In a new subplot added by the filmmakers, the mayor of Whoville has 96 daughters. He has one son. Guess who gets all his attention? Guess who saves the day? Go ahead, think about it, I'll wait.

 

No I won't. What's so irritating about this casual slap at daughters is the sense that the makers of the film didn't really mean it. They seemed mostly interested in riffs on pop culture and jokes about violating bodily integrity. But what writers are told, you see, in Hollywood notes meetings, is that every character has to make a journey, towards something he needs and ultimately gets, and what they decided the Mayor of Whoville needs was a better relationship with his son. Here is a father with 96 daughters — 96 amazing, beautiful, unpredictable, mysterious, distinct, glorious human beings — but gosh, what in the world is he going to care about? I know, let's give him a moody silent uninteresting offspring, but this one's got a Y chromosome... that'll be boffo box office!

 

Have the clowns who made this movie ever met a daughter? Have they dated one? If they did, did they meet the daughter's father? Did they then ask that daughter's father if there was anything more dramatic, interesting, arresting, and moving to him than his relationship with his daughter? Did they ask him if he might find that a close relationship with said daughter might be something he would care about? What do they imagine that we do — sit around, and watch our daughters grow and change and suffer and fail and triumph — and idly wish for something more INTERESTING?

 

And there's this — not only does the movie end with father and son embracing, while the 96 daughters are, I guess, playing in a well, somewhere, but the son earns his father's love by saving the world. Boys get to save the world, and girls get to stand there and say, I knew you could do it. How did they know he could do it? Maybe because they watched every other movie ever made?

 

We got into the car outside the cinpeplex and I was quite in lather, let me tell you. How come one of the GIRLs didn't get to save Whoville? I cried.

 

"Yeah!" said my daughters.

 

"And while we're at it, how come a girl doesn't get to blow up the Death Star! Or send ET home? Or defeat Captain Hook! Or Destroy the Ring of Power!"

 

"That's rotten!" cried my daughters.

 

"How come Trinity can't be the One who defeats the Matrix!" I yelled.

 

"What are you talking about?" they said.

 

"You'll find out later," I said. "But here's one: how come a girl doesn't get to defeat Lord Voldemort!"

 

"Well, wait a minute, Papa," they said. "None of us would want to mess with him."

 

I took their point. But I still wanted to grab that fictional, silly mayor of Whoville by his weirdly ruffled neck, and say, you see those 96 people over there? Those girls, those women, those daughters? You know what they're saying to you, every minute of every day that you waste thinking about anything else?

They are shouting at you. They are shouting:

 

"We are here! We are here! We are here!"

 

Peter Sagal is the host of NPR's "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me." and the author of "The Book of Vice: Very Naughty Things (and How to Do Them)."

 

I am trying like heck to get the last shrub out of my "garden" before I can move forward preparing that bed.

Once the shrub is out, I need to remove the existing border bricks (old ones that have cloud-like bumps along the top), build the new wall two bricks high, rough up the rest of the existing ground inside the bed and fill it up with top soil. THEN I can plant the dang plants I've had for almost a month now.

You know, I thought I had saved so much money ordering from this nursery because the prices were so reasonable, but if all the plants DIE before I get them in the ground, I won't have saved anything at all.

***sigh***

So this is my pretty girl who was being very patient. She watched me build the wall around my garden bed yesterday.

This is what this bed looked like before I got the second shrub out, removed the border bricks and got rid of the rocks.

And here we go sans-shrub and 1/2 the wall is built.

I did the gardening by myself, but the guys washed my car for me while I did it. Yeah, that'll do.

I read the book "The Mist" by Stephen King many years ago. I think I was a freshman in high school, or close to that when I read it. I remember it being unbelievably scary and I flew threw it. My DH rented the movie tonight and I watched it with him. It was terrifying. The movie ended less than 10 minutes ago and I still feel like I want to throw up. I can't wait to forget this feeling and put this movie behind me but I doubt it's something I'll be able to do for a long time.

Today is beautiful.

I was outside playing with the kids earlier and watering my gardens and trying to pull out the jungle of vines that exists in my backyard. We came inside and Giovanni come up to me and says "Mommy, you have a bug on you."