So who has time to write blog posts these days...well two blog posts? Not me! So, I've been pretty much just updating the family blog...if just to keep the Grandparents at bay. So, if anyone is interested here's the link...i'll probably be hanging out there for a while.
www.blessourmess.blogspot.
Ok then...
Well, yesterday was not a good day. Sam was extremely high maintenance, and Joe, just by the nature of his age, is always high maintenance...and I was feeling a little exasperated. But seriously, Sam is one high energy and active dude. I feel as though he'd be better off with some insanely chipper daycare worker than home with me. I'm such a drag. Always telling him to stop doing stuff. Anyway, today is already loads better. Sam is only kinda hyper and we've had some fun playing with toys. He's really a great kid. A hoot. It also helps that Joe has slept most of the morning.
In other news the weather has done a complete 180. It was 50 degrees this morning! Last night I actually went out for a walk since it was way up in the 30s! Not to worry, the weatherman has provided the requisite buzz kill...temperatures to fall at a rapid rate in a few hours, causing freezing rain and everything that has melted to become an ice skating rink. We would venture out, but I'm afraid to get caught on the slick roads. I'm a wuss. Perhaps we'll just head to the bakery. Worst case scenario, we could walk home. Or hunker down and live amongst the Raspberry and White chocolate muffins. Yum!
or just stay home and chill...
Note: I usually find white chocolate disgusting, but for some reason it is sublime in muffin form.
I've started about 10 blog posts since Joe has been born, never getting the chance to finish one. I wish I had some pics to share, but I'm afraid if I put one more photo on my hard drive my computer will explode. Therefore, my camera has become more of a digital storage device than an instrument of documentation. Poor Joe. Considering Sam was photographed every second of his life so far, he'll think we didn't love him as much. Not true little Joe! We only love the dog less....
We have been stuck inside the past two days. It's 7 degrees outside. No one goes anywhere in that sort of weather. At least not anyone with two small children. Unless they want to unwrap their perfect little bundles and remove some toes and perhaps a nose in the process. I'm sure there are weathered Vermont moms who don't bat an ice-encrusted eyelash at venturing out in this...I am not one of them.
As a result, Sam is going a little bonkers. I try and try to find something for the kid to do, but he is completely uninterested in anything but jumping on the couch (forbidden since he launched himself face first onto the floor) and banging random objects against other random objects. Ok for a minute, but after that, ANNOYING...and Joe can't nap in the racket. I've tried drawing, puzzles, playing with trucks. Dance Party worked for a while, but can't he want to do something that lets me sit on the couch? I even tried making cookies...what kid doesn't want to make cookies!? He's nuts. He rather bang the Corningware precariously on the tile floor. I feel like I spend the majority of my day telling him NO and snatching stuff out of his little destructive hands. Seriously, this place is like Fort Knox. But he manages to dent, bang, slash, scratch anything and everything within reach. The bottom 3 feet of our house is void of objects. Too bad we can't just hang everything from the ceiling and have a big open empty floor for him to run around in.
Ok...sam just walked over soaked in pee...
to be continued
Well, quite a bit is new around here...
please meet Joseph Edward! 
Born October 11th, 8:24 pm, 8 lbs. 4 oz., 19.5 inches long.
I know it's been over a week already, but the recovery has been a slow process. Good news is that I successfully had my VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean)! One of the bonuses about that was supposed to be a quicker recovery...hmmm, not so sure about that. It's all quite a mess down there. I won't horrify you with the details, but believe me, no fun.
I feel so blessed to have given birth while my mother was visiting. She and Sam had alot of fun while I was busy being pregnant, then giving birth, then recovering. Don't know what we would have done without her. Now we're equally blessed to have Jay's folks here to help out. We are so lucky to have these two healthy little boys and such a wonderful and supportive family.
I'll be following up with some tidbits from the trials and tribulations, but for now we are reveling in the bliss of this new little angel.
And he sleeps! Like alot. Thank God.
We're back in our house. THANK GOD. Though construction still continues. Hopefully it will all be over in another couple weeks. Well, at least the contractor part. There is still a fair amount of painting, moving furniture up from the basement and the giving birth stuff left to do before we can truly relax.
Things are pretty stressful. In addition to all that is going on with house and new baby, Sam has fully launched himself into the "terrible twos." Of course he's not two yet. And when you talk to other mothers, there is a pretty clear consensus that this tantrum prone, completely irrational, contradictory desire laden (I want OUTof the crib now, but DON'T you DARE pick me up!) behavior starts around 18 months. Oh, silly me. I thought it might start closer to TWO. Thanks for the warning.
Of course with all the drama coming from his direction, there is a lot of fun new stuff too. His vocabulary is growing. He didn't say much for a while, but it seems like the flood gates have opened. Sure, most of his words require translation, but he's giving it the old college try. Or rather, perhaps more the old frat boy try? Allow me to explain.
Like a lot of toddlers, when they start to talk, Sam mixes up his consonants or just plain ignores them all together. It has lead to a few interesting results. Like whenever Sam sees a clock, he shouts "COCK!" Nice. Or in his excitement of seeing a bag of Veggie Booty at the store, he begins a mantra of "BOOBIE. BOOBIE!.BOOBIE." And just the other day, Sam took off his shirt during his nap. When I walked in to get him, I exclaim "Look who took of his shirt! You have no shirt!" and he replies "No, Shit."
But many other words are coming along without the R rating. 'go' is a favorite. He says it when he wants to go outside, or when he is running in circles around a chair. Or just recently, to tell a bunch of bicyclist to get moving...
So if you can't tell, pregnancy hormones are really beginning to get the better of me. The other day I watched an episode of Jon and Kate plus 8 and they went to the Outer Banks...it made me cry. Because I want to go to the Outer Banks. And they were in Coralla! I sat there, again with tears in my eyes, and told Sam "that's were Mommy and Daddy got married" sniff, sob, sniff. "One day, we'll take you and your little brother there." sniff sniff.
I actually looked up the house were we got married to see if it was still renting...and also if it had the same name. When those houses get sold, people usually change the name from "Sandy Paws" to "Life's a Beach"...to personalize the cheesiness. Our house was called "A Joy Forever"...appropriate for a wedding, no? Well, it's still there. AND if you can get it for the week of October 18th for $2500!!! The house sleeps 27 people..not a bad deal. Sure, I'll be in labor that week (hopefully) but I couldn't help but think of pushing that reserve button and send out a mass email titled "Meet me in OBX!"....but life is much more complicated than that now, isn't it.
I still pledge to go on our 10th anniversary. So meet me in the Outer Banks...2011!
I just spent the last hour fighting back tears, rocking back and forth while repeating the mantra "don't think about it, don't think about it, don't think about it"...which of course, just makes me think about it.
Thank you cnn.com (yeah, that's right, NO LINK FOR YOU!...you fear mongers.)
There was a time before Sam was born and then directly after he was born that I shunned cnn.com. Wouldn't go there. If you are a regular you know that there is always at least one "mutilated puppy" or "2 year old killed by escalator" story. No, it's not news of national importance. It's sensational, tug at the heart strings, make you feel crappy kind of news. Its emotional sabotage. On a normal day these images and stories would be upsetting, but add the onslaught of hormones I am currently enjoying, you get a panic attack. But I learned this, so if I do go to cnn.com, I don't click on anything like that. Sure, the headlines are scary, but at least without the details the crippling empathy and horror can be kept at bay.
I won't tell you what the story was about...but the headline did not give enough information for me to know what was waiting for me on the other side of that click. In fact, I completely misinterpreted the headline. I thought I was going to read about a kid playing in a puddle or swimming with ducks or invented some new water toy... Needless to say that was not the case, and in hindsight I should have realized, but I am still trying to recover from the imagery and tragedy that unfolded.
It makes me mad. I'm not talking about censorship, but jesus! give a pregnant mother of a 20 month old a chance to protect what little emotional fortitude she has left. At least use a word like "death" or "tragedy" or for heaven's sake "sad" or something!
Ok, I feel a little better.
So, we'll be without internet for a while during our move back to the construction zone. I'm looking forward to being home, but I'm not exactly sure what it's going to be like with all the activity that is still going on. Just so you know where I am. Not that I'm writing up a storm over here, but it will probably be quiet here for a bit.
Later!