Life with Sam n Zack

First Day of Camp

2007-06-25T09:43:00.000-04:00

Sorry tilt your head. The boys are off to their first day of camp today. I can't believe that both of our boys went on the bus today. I can hardly think of anything else but 2 o'clock when they get back on the bus to come home. Lois -already waitng at 10 a.m.

It's been a while

2007-02-04T12:09:00.000-05:00

I can't go back and talk about all the stuff I missed, too much has gone on...

Here's a brief summary:

I switched jobs, now I'm CFO over at Michy's company. She gave me that title. I'd say I am slowing working toward knowing what's going on after almost 5 months. I don't miss my old job a bit and we are having a great time together. I would love to be working at home more then I am but technologically I'm having trouble. Gotta work on PC Anywhere but who has the time?
We've been to Jamaica although we got there a day late due to flight delays and Mich's luggage never made it. That was a really terrible thing because NorthWest kept stringing her along with hope that it would be there any minute. The weather was perfect. We spent our days in the ocean or pool. Ate our meals at the restaurant that "changed food", that's Sam's way of saying it was the same location but at each meal there was different stuff.
We've also been to Florida to visit Aunt Marsha and Aunt Bert, Mom came along this time. We went to see the Mouse of course. Dad, Rob and Kate surprised us by coming down on Saturday. Sam was so happy to see Grandpa it was truly priceless. I am so glad that he made that trip.
Dad had a pacemaker put in and then had a second surgery that resulted in a stent. He also found out that he has significant heart disease and that he has to be put on a strict medial regiment. It's amazing how this could happen to my healthy dad. Guess I'd better take a look at myself.
The kids are amazing as ever! I can't believe we are barreling towards their birthdays again!!! We have the best time with them. More about them soon.....

Change Change Change!!!

2006-10-18T12:35:00.000-04:00

Here I sit at home in front of my speedy new Dell working at my new job. Yes, Michy finally talked me into working for her. From home!!!!! Mich keeps calling me CFO and I keep telling people that I am cooking the books but really I'm just here struggling to figure out Quick Books and bookkeeping in general. The scary thing is she says that I am doing a much better job then the person who she fired so that I could have this position. Yikes. It's weird to not go to the office anymore. Last week I went into the city every day to learn about how to do this job and starting Monday I was working from home.

Yesterday was my first partial vacation day, I am class mom of Sam's class and he had a field trip. We went to the Liberty Hall Museum, we were supposed to picnic, pick apples and see antique fire trucks but since it was pouring we ate inside and only saw the trucks. I was in charge of Sam plus two other kids, one I know pretty well and the other I met yesterday. That one kept wandering off, not like there was anywhere to go but I had to keep looking for him. There were many different buildings that we kept moving from and to which required many on and off on the jackets. That was the worst part about the trip, dealing with three wet coats going on and off about 15 times. The kids had a great time though. They are all so cute and I'm so happy that I will be going on all the future trips as well. Next trip is to see Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar in November.

Isaac is in school, I can't believe that my little boy is so big! He has transistioned so well, he says goodbye at the door and runs in the classroom and doesn't look back. His teachers say that he is a wonderful student and seems to enjoy his time there. I am very looking forward to back to school night next week to hear all about it.

Well I better get back to work.

You get what you get...

2006-07-25T16:51:00.000-04:00

...and don't get upset. Isn't that a great phrase that Sam came home from camp with. He decided to use it when he was sharing his strawberries with Mich and I. It was so cute.

Summer is rolling along and I again am falling way behind in keeping updated. Here are some random things:

Today I am 38
Isaac went into camp happily and didn't look back
I'm really happy
and tired but in a good way
Mich is going to Vegas for work for 3 nights while Sue is on vacation leaving me to be a single stay at home mom for that time
Sam is so delicious and smart I have to stop myself from taking a bite
Michy is really sick, she spent most of the weekend in bed, she even went to the doctor
My 20th high school reunion is in two months, I'll go if I can convince myself it's a good thing to spend $120 (a person) on
Isaac is still so busy and crazy I am seriously considering a padded suit
I love Michy buckets
We have plans every night this week
I'm especially excited about tomorrow nights plan, gay family night at the Children's Museum of Manhattan
We are planning not one but two trips to Disney World

Guess that's all for now.

Dummyhead and Idiot

2006-07-07T16:57:00.000-04:00

Yes, these are the new endearing words that my boys have for each other. I really should work on recording Isaac saying dummyhead. If it weren't so bad I'm make him say it for anyone that would listen. When Sam came out with you idiot talking about his dear baby brother, I nearly fell over. Why does this stuff start so soon!

Pinch hitting finds Cavities

2006-06-29T12:00:00.000-04:00

Yesterday the dentist called home to confirm Mich's 7:00 a.m. appointment. Sue called me to tell me and I in turn called Michy. (I know it's wierd but that's a whole other issue) So, Mich calls me about 2 hours later to say, they won't let me cancel without paying a $75 cancellation fee. So I say, well what if I went for your appointment. I have been lax in going and it's been at least a year so I was due. Now I really don't know why I didn't just say go to your appointment. She loves this dentist so I figured I'd go. Well, they found 3 tiny cavities! They have cool equipment that uses sonic to detect where a cavity is starting. So next Friday I'm going to have them all filled.

I can't believe......

2006-06-29T11:53:00.000-04:00

This is my hundredth post. It's good to look back at those 99 posts. It's been more then a year since I've been writing here and I really enjoy it. It's great to put an idea out there even if no one is ever reading or commenting. Great to get it out of my head or off my chest.

Words

2006-06-29T09:34:00.000-04:00

We have been reading so many books lately! I love it. It's one of the few things Isaac will sit still for. So, one of the current favorites is Dinosaur Stomp. In it there are many dinosaur names and a few made up words. When I read some of them Sam tells me that I am saying them wrong. So I tell him no and then I sound the word out for him, not that that helps. He insists that I am pronouncing the words incorrectly but what has really happened is that Sue has read it the wrong way so many times he memorized it that way. Then he fights with me about it.

I tell him that I am pronouncing it the correct way at that Sue is incorrect. Mich is so bad, she will say Sam, mommy can read, she is right.

She mispronounces many words, I wish I could remember some right now to share them with you.

What's a mom to do?

Photos

2006-06-28T09:44:00.000-04:00

Sam the soccer star!

Cute boy in the pool!!
Bubbles, yum!

SO handsome!!!

Joy and tears

2006-06-28T09:39:00.000-04:00

Sam loves camp! He ran to the bus without turing back.

Isaac cried the entire time until they got onto the playground for the last 15 minutes.

Sam's Camp Begins!

2006-06-27T14:36:00.000-04:00

Sunday we went to the Meet the counselor day at camp. We got to the room a few minutes late because the parking situation was awful. The kids were sitting at a long table doing arts and crafts and Sam took a seat and started playing. He was across and down a couple seats from on of his favorite classmates from school, Sarah. Sam tried to talk to her but it was very noisy. Finally the kids next to her got up to do something else and he ran over to sit next to her. There was never anything formal so we never even got to know the names of his counselors. I gave the photos we were asked to bring to his head counselor and introduced myself. There are 4 counselors in total for the 16 kids in the group. The session ended abruptly and we headed to get more t-shirts, which it turns out they ran out of the size we need and had to order. We also got to write notes that would be given to Sam on his first day. Then we went out to the parking lot and got ice cream from the truck they had arranged to be there. Sam was excited and we were too, with a bit of nervousness too.

The next day, yesterday, was the first day. We were told that they camp bus would arrive at 8:20 and that we should be ready 15 minutes early. So we got Sam up at about 7:20 and at about 7:55 he was at the kitchen table being presented with a waffle. He said it was hot and then there was a knock at the door. The bus was nearly 25 minutes early! The bus counselor said they were sorry and they were working out the route and by Friday we should know when they would arrive. I shoved a breakfast bar into his hand. He took the girl's hand and off he got onto the bus happy as can be. Mich and I nearly died as we watched him drive off in that bus.

We both came home early to see the bus arrive. The bus leaves camp at 2:00 and he is the first stop getting home. So at about 2:05 we saw the bus drive past the house. They turned around and came back around, he came off the bus with a giant smile. He said that he had a great day and that was basically it. Nice huh, it started already. He doesn't tell us anything. So we ask him many questions and learn that he didn't swim because it was raining, that they had animal crackers as a snack, that the piece of pizza they gave him for lunch was really big and he ate the whole thing. I then asked him what his favorite part of camp was and he said riding on the bus with Sarah. So then I asked him for his first, second and third favorite things were. Number one was riding home on the bus with Sarah, number two was playing with Sarah at camp and number three was riding to camp on the bus. Last night after bath and books he said, "we were in the library today and they were asking us questions. They had a big gold metal. I asked in my nice big boy voice, may I please hold the gold metal, and they let me. I was so happy to get to hold it, it was big and really made of gold!" Who knows what that means, it is awful sweet though.

This morning he was very excited to go and we got breakfast in before the bus arrived at 8:15. I got a report from him on the phone when he got home. He said they went swimming, that his counselors go in the pool with them. He said he had a great time and they he wasn't tired. That was it. I spoke to Sue at 2:30 and he was asleep.

I dropped Isaac off at camp this morning. He didn't want to go. He said no camp, no back pack. Poor guy. Sue picked him up and they said that he was pretty unhappy for most of the time until they went outside and then he was like a new boy. Sue said he was very happy to see her. I decided that I'm not going to take him anymore. Maybe if I can swing picking him up a couple times during the summer.

Summer fun

2006-06-20T13:02:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we had open house at Isaac's Ready Set Go camp. He had a great time. There are 6 kids in the group that he already knows. There are 10 children in the group and 3 teachers. Basically he played for a while, did a group art project and had a snack.

Last night Mich and I went to parent orientation for his big boy go on the bus camp. It was nice to see that they are organized, caring and seem to have a good program. Some of the parents asked the stupidest questions. You know the kind that you want to bop them over the head about. We got to see the list of other kids that are in his group and there are 3 that he knows.

Isaac started camp and we all handed out kids over to the teachers at the doorway like they asked. Isaac was one of the many kids that was crying. Most of the moms hung around in the hall peaking in the window to see if their kid had stopped. After about 20 minutes everyone had stopped and I went with four other moms to Starbucks. That was fun! We could only stay there for a few minutes because we had to be back at 10:30 to get the kids. We got back a little early and our parking spot was perfect for spying on the kids. They were on the playground having a great time. Whew!

Busy weekend Cometh

2006-06-16T13:13:00.000-04:00

I actually love a weekend that is this full. Tonight we have plans with Amy and Nadav. I am really looking forward to seeing them. I hope they don't mind that I was planning on having them come to our house for dinner.

Tomorrow we have two birthday parties, one at 11 o'clock and the other at 1 o'clock. I think it should be great fun since the first one is Eric's second birthday party. I'd have to say that Eric is Isaac's first real friend. They truly love to be together, It's so amazing to watch them. It doesn't hurt that Eric's big brother is Jacob one of Sam's best friends and that we love their parents. The second party is Alyssa's fourth birthday party. How could that be bad! We all love them too. I guess the hardest part will be leaving the first party to be in time for the second one. I'm sure that we will be at Vic and Joe's into the evening. My only concern is Isaac's nap. I will try to go with the flow and see what happens. I guess I can drive him around a bit and then put him down on a blanket in the yard somewhere.

On Sunday we are having Father's day/Mom and Dad's anniversary celebration at our house. Rob is making pulled pork and a grilled veggie pasta salad. I have committed to making a green salad and have to figure out the rest. Mich won't eat pork so there has to be another entree, I guess I feel like I have to step up and not just throw chicken on the grill. I better get onto epicurious.com or something.

But I can't find my vest and take off peas

2006-06-12T13:42:00.000-04:00

Sam was asking me when my father's day was. I think he doesn't get that Father's day is like Mother's day in that we are celebrating a day in which we celebrate all fathers. Then I started thinking about the fact that he doesn't really have many father's in his like. Basically in his immediate circle there is only one, my dad. But this isn't even why I am mentioning this, I then went on to say that this year Grandma and Grandpa's anniversary falls on Father's day so we will be celebrating both. I asked if he remembered how long they were married because he and Grandpa had a lengthy talk about it once. He couldn't remember so I told him and then he said but I can't find my vest. He was referring to the vest that he wore to my brother's and Mich's sister's weddings. That was such a sweet cute thing for him to say! Maybe you had to be there but we loved it.

Every time we are outside and even a lot inside Isaac had been asking, take off peas, said as he is tugging up on his shirt or down on his diaper/shorts. The boy loves to be naked! He wants to be without clothes all the time. It's a bit scary when he is climbing up on the swing set especially coming down the slide. He goes on his tricycle without his clothes but yesterday he went behind the bushes and pooped in the yard! How gross is that!!!!!

Two long weeks.....

2006-06-09T15:55:00.000-04:00

We still have two weeks until camp begins and besides soccer for one hour next week, Sam has no plans. I'm not sure who that is worse for him or me. This morning he was crying asking me to take him to work with me. When I told him that I had a luncheon to go to and that I could bring him today, he had a total meltdown. At least it's not raining today, we have just come off of three full days of rain and he barely left the house. Yesterday he called me at 4 in the afternoon and said, mommy when you get home from work today will you please bring me somewhere. I called Julie and asked if I could please borrow Jacob but they were already planning on going to Chuck E Cheese's so I met them with the boys at her suggestion. Thank goodness I did, the boys burned off a lot of steam! At least next week the weather is supposed to be nice. I better make some calls next week to get my boys a playdate or two.

Last day of School

2006-06-06T10:36:00.001-04:00

Today was Sam's last day of school. I can't believe that he is finished with another year, next year will be in pre-k. I don't know how it happened so fast. We got mini rose bushes for his two teachers and he drew his one eyed monsters in their cards and actually wrote his name. We gave Miss Audrey a Amex gift card and for Miss Meryl we made a donation to the Mandy Reichman feeding program. This is a program that she started in memory of her daughter who dreamed about ended hunger.

All the kids were so cute, giving their gifts and talking about what they will be doing this summer. The class gifts were beautiful scrap books that each child's hand print was on one side with a page that we each made at home on the other. I was glad to be able to look though the books after they were presented. What wonderful keepsakes.

The camp bus came on Sunday, it was the trial run day. We were told to expect the bus sometime after 1:15 so finally at around 2:45 the bus pulls up. We all run outside to meet the driver and the bus counselors. They give Sam his camp backpack and let him look around inside the bus. After surveying the bus, he says to the counselors, my car has a tv and they said well we play really fun games. Thankfully he was satisfied.

We got back into the house and took out the camp shirt which Sam had to put on and wear for the rest of the day. He is so excited. And so are we with the added nervousness of sending your kid off with strangers on a bus at the expected pick up time of 8:20 a.m. for 9 a.m. camp that 2 miles away. Yes, he'll be looping around the neighborhood apparently playing games.

A Sad Day

2006-05-31T13:33:00.000-04:00

One of our very best friends in losing his dad. Nadav's dad was out bike riding with a helmet, no less, and was struck by a passing car. He suffered major brain injuries and it was found that the is no chance that he had any brain function. If you want to read more see here: http://yoramstatus.blogspot.com/

Although I had only met Yoram a few times I know how much he meant to Nadav and for that my heart is breaking. The more I think about it the more it breaks. I'm just so so so sad. I'm trying to think of something to do, but can't thing of a thing. I'm devastatingly sad for you my dear friend Nadav. I know that you dad shines inside of you.

Happy Birthday Isaac!

2006-05-26T09:46:00.000-04:00

I'm once again amazed at how fast two years flew by. All this past week I kept thinking two years ago I was overdue and sick of answering the two baby yet question and here we are celebrating Isaac's second birthday!

Isaac you are such a wonder, joy and delight to have in my life. You are growing into an amazing little boy who's so smart and has such determination. I am always in wonder when I watch the the way you approach everything, you eat, play and sleep hard!

I hope that this next year is filled with just as much excitement as your last two have. I look forward to all the that future brings and can't wait to watch you grow and see what's in store.

Isaac, I love you more then you will every know. Today more then ever! Happy Birthday to my big birthday boy!!!!!!

A $15 Dollar Sticker

2006-05-23T10:34:00.000-04:00

I left at about 7:30 this morning to get the car inspected and get an estimate for getting the car fixed. I told Sue that I was hoping to be back in time to take Sam to school and that I would call her when I was leaving the repair shop. I called and she told me Sam said he wasn't feeling well. She said that he was coughing when he first woke up but that now he was dressed and ready to go on lying on the couch. I spoke with Mich and the two of us called him together, he said that he had a bad cough and didn't want to get the other children at school sick. I went home to find him on the couch, looking fine. I asked him how he felt and he said not well. He didn't feel hot or look bad at all and never coughed in the 15 minutes I was talking to him. He asked several times for me to take him to the doctor. I asked him what he expected the doctor to do for him and he just kept saying please take me to the doctor. Finally he told me that the reason that he wanted to go was to get a Spiderman sticker.

It's starting already!??!?!!?!!?!?

Time at the Don

2006-05-18T12:30:00.000-04:00

A 9:45 a.m. flight is perfect but you have to be ready earlier then you think. Sue arrived as Mich and I were running around doing all sorts of last minute packing and getting ready. Both of the boys were still asleep, I put her in charge of getting them dressed in the pre-selected outfits. We got the bags and us loaded into the car and we were off, there is rush hour traffic at that time of day so we were feeling like we could be late. It all worked out, we arrived about 59 minutes prior to departure time, curbside checked most of our stuff, made it through security in plenty of time. We got on the plane and ended up waiting on the tarmat for about 40 minutes until it was our turn to take off. The boys were amazing, we fed them breakfast on the plane, Zack fell asleep right after we were in the air and Sam played with the really great sticker book he got from Jacob (thanks Julie). There was turbulence on the way down, you know the kind were people make the same noises they do when they are on carnival rides. The boys and I loved it and Mich hated it. We were on the ground only slightly later then the published time, I think that's the new way airlines claim to be on time. Just tack on an extra hour into the "flying" time and then miraculously reduce the in air time.

Mich and Isaac waited for the bags while Sam and I went to pick up the rental car. There was no line and we got the keys in a flash. Meanwhile Mich had gotten the bags and was digging around trying to find quarters to get a cart out of the machine. We got a cart, loaded the stuff and went to our car. Exited the airport and followed the simple directions that I had printed off the Don Cesar website.

Arrival at the Don was dreamy, young men in uniform surrounded our substandard minivan to open all the door, and retrieve our bags. We were early to check in but they took my cell phone number to call when the room was ready and gave us a giant stack of kids eat free coupons. We then headed down to lunch. We were seated on a deck just off the beach, Sam was dying to look for shells so we let him go onto the beach and he was thrilled to discover that he was at a shell finders paradise. We didn't even get our food when we got the call that our room was ready. We went down to the desk to officially register. We were given keys and boy the boys were given fischer price toys! They were so excited. A bellman followed us to or tiny room and offered to show us around and get ice. We declined both and quickly changed into our swimsuits. We went on the beach, in the pool and the hot tub (or hot pool as Sam calls it). At around 6 we decided that we would go buy some water wings for the boys to help us feel better about them not drowning and to help them swim. While we were out we got beach toys and a snack for the boys. While we were out shopping Robyn called to say they were in the rental car and on their way. We were very excited to see them! They got checked into their room and we went and had a late dinner. It was so great to see the Green-Moran clan again. The most amazing one was Toby of course, he is so big compared to the when we saw him last and he runs. After dinner we all went to bed.

The next morning we had breakfast and then found a spot on the beach. The boys loved playing in the sand, Harris loves to swim in the ocean and Sam got to work on the world's largest shell collection. We were back and forth from the beach to the pool. Sam loved the water wings and could easily make it across the pool in them. Isaac inherited the pair that Harris rejected and he was doing a pretty good job of swimming too. Toby fell asleep and took the fist of many naps on a lounge chair. Isaac thought nothing of rolling around in the sand and was soon covered from head to toe, it stuck especially well to the sunscreen. Isaac was seeming tired so I took him up the room to give him a bath and get him to take a nap. I had finished the bath and we were very calmly reading books, he was nearly sleeping, when Mich and Sam returned. She insisted that the boys needed to eat so we ordered room service. After they ate I got Zack to fall asleep fairly quickly while Mich and Sam showered. I took a quick shower and Sam and I went downstairs to look in the shops so that we wouldn't wake his brother. Sam bought Mich and I rings, he picked them out special for us. Mine is like a little crystal ball for my ring finger. We were meeting at 6:00 to go to dinner and one of Robyn and Cindy favorite places, Sea Critters with E's clan. It was great to meet the super cute and chunky Charlie and nice to meet his moms as well. After dinner we went to a park where the boys enjoyed burning off steam. After dinner we went back to the hotel and went to bed.

Saturday we woke up late, or late for us and by the time we were up and out the Green-Moran's had eaten breakfast and gotten us all a great spot by the pool. Basically, the day went the same as Friday with the exception that we actually ate lunch. Oh, and I didn't mention all of the frozen drinks we were consuming. I was drinking pina colada's, yum, Sam was having a strawberry drink and Mich and Robyn kept switching around. Sam befriended a girl twice his age named Jessica, they swam, hot pooled and played ping pong together. I took Isaac to the room for a nap around 3, he finally fell asleep at at 3:30 and slept for three hours. I took a shower, read the paper and watched two wedding take place outside our window. Mich and Sam came up and got cleaned up and we met and went to dinner in the hotel. After dinner we went for ice cream. After that we let the boys run off their sugar highs in the long halls, letting them run up and down them many time. We wandered up to the lobby to see the pianist and saxophone player while our boys wrestled on one of the couches in the lobby. We went down the hall to look at the beautiful fish tanks that look through to the patrons in the upscale restaurant. After that we called it a day.

Sunday we woke up and Sam remembered to say happy Mother's day without either of us reminding him. He is such a sweet boy! We managed to make it downstairs to join the Green-Moran's at breakfast, of course they were finished before us. The day went basically the same, more beach, pool, Jessica, frozen drinks, shells, hot pool etc... The only difference was that Isaac took his nap poolside along with Toby and Harris. So cute, three sleeping boys in a row. We ate at our lounge chairs, which was fun. We ventured out for dinner at ate Luna Cafe, a recommendation from the concierge, she called ahead for us. The food was great but they were ill equipped to deal with kids. They only had two highchairs, neither had working straps, cause Isaac to climb out as whim. It took a while for the food to come but it ended up fine in the end. After dinner we went back to the hotel and got into bed.

Monday came and we had to pack to leave. I got us an late check out at 1:00 p.m. We woke up, packed, ate snacks in the room for breakfast and headed to the pool. Sam was excited to see Jessica and we wanted to make the most of our final day. We came back to the room at 12:15, in just enough time to shower and get out of the room. We were all hungry and Mich and I decided to try to find the Cuban place that we were supposed to go for lunch on Saturday and never made it. All I can say is yum, yum and yum. We had such a great meal, all of us were happy. We then went to the airport, curbside checked our bags, returned the rental, went through security, got to the gate to find that our 4:45 p.m. flight was going to be delayed at least 2 hours. Thank goodness Tampa airport has a play area. I better say that again, thank goodness Tampa has a play area. The boys played for about and hour and a half then we went to get some dinner. After we ate we went back to the play area for another 45 minutes. We took our two sweaty boys went to our gate got on the plane. Isaac was so tired we fell asleep soon after I strapped him into his carseat. Sam and I played with his sticker book and he fell asleep too. That left Mich and I to watch the very dumb but slightly amusing, Big Momma movie.

Dad was at the airport waiting for us, there was no traffic on the way home, Sally was waiting at the door to greet us. We all dove into bed as soon as we could.

More peas

2006-05-17T10:17:00.000-04:00

I know that I owe a party update and we've been to Florida with the Green-Moran clan and that deserves an entry on it's own. I will find the time, really I will. But for now I just have to say, more peas.

That's Sir Isaac's latest sentence! Said with such cuteness that he should fear I may eat him for a snack. Of course you know he means more please, right?

Double the Fun

2006-05-04T12:02:00.000-04:00

We are having the boys birthday party on Sunday. We can stop worrying about the weather since all sources say that it's not going to rain, whew, and that it will be around 68 degrees. Could there be better weather? We are having a farm theme, the invitations turned out super cute. We have contracted with a petting zoo that will come with a cow, a sheep, a goat, ducks, chicks and rabbits. I think that we under control with the food and drink. Many many people are coming. I'm so excited!

Monday Mich decides that she REALLY wants to have a Cinco de Mayo party. We will only invited a couple families. Well, now we are having 11 adults and 7 kids for a party on Friday too. Plus there is a chance that we could get two more adults and three more kids. I agree that it will be very fun. Robert is making most of the food. The weather will be great for a backyard event. We will eat off paper. Now lets make sure that neither Michy or I drink too much since we have so much to do on Saturday to prepare for Sunday!

Big boys

2006-05-02T16:35:00.000-04:00

Isaac has started using mini sentences, it's so cute. Moon book read. Horse movie on. That one. I so hope that this trend continues since I think it will significantly reduce the need for us to find baby anger management classes. He is so amazingly physical he climbs and climbs. He jumps up and down and jumps off the bottom stairs. He basically moves through the world in a jog and hardly ever walks. He has no fear which is very fear invoking for me. He can count to 10.

Sam went to school this morning with his soccer gear in his back pack. He was going home with his friend Jillian. Her mom was going to take them both to soccer. I called Jacob's mom Julie to ask her if she would keep an eye on Sam since no one would be there with him. He then went home with Jessica. My little independent man! He is so wonderful. He goes with the flow and is sweet and nice nearly all the time.

My love for these two guys is really something. Every day I wonder how it grows and grows then it grows some more.

Mich and I say nearly every day, having kids was our smartest decision.

Is it me?

2006-05-01T16:36:00.000-04:00

Sue had our car over the weekend. She has been driving it to and from work for at least two weeks now as her car is being repaired due to the fact her daughter crashed her car. First of all she said that on the weekends all she does it take our car home park it in the driveway and on Monday morning she gets back in to come to work. Well, Saturday she crashed our car, actually someone crashed into her. So, today she tells me that the police report will be ready on Wednesday and she'll go pick it up and give it to me so that I can contact the man who hit her about the repair. WHAT!?!?!?!? I composed myself the best I could and basically said, I want you to deal with the man to get my car fixed. I don't want my insurance to go up but I bet it will. I also don't plan on paying a penny out of pocket to get it fix. Am I wrong? Is it me?

Sam at Sue's

2006-04-27T09:51:00.000-04:00

Did I ever write about Sam spending the night at Sue's? Well, the short of it is that every night when Sue is leaving she asks both boys if they want to come home with her. One day a few weeks ago Sam said, yes I'm going to go get my pajama and toothbrush I'll be right back. Leaving me stunned. I said that we should call Mommy first and it was decided that Sam would go. He went stayed there, we all survived. Last night he wanted to go again. Mich wasn't going to be home until late so having Sam out would make it a bit easier for me. We called Mich, who wasn't thrilled since she hadn't seem Sam that morning since she left earlier then he woke up but we decided to let him go. Isaac and I ran errands while Mich worked late. We met at the diner for a late dinner at about 8:30 where Isaac ate my entire Belgian waffle. As we were getting in the car to go home Sam called and said he wanted to come home. Sure thing kid, we'll be right there. He said that he missed us. When we got home he was lying in our bed and I laid down next to him. He said thanks for picking me up mom. I told him no matter where he was if he wasn't happy he should call and I would come. Then he said thanks mom, I love you and nearly squeezed me to death with his hug. It's great to be missed and even greater to be able to fix a problem. They should all be this easy.

Photos

2006-04-26T15:36:00.000-04:00

I figured that it had been a long time since I posted any photos, so here are some of the latest.

Alyssa getting kisses by a sea lion at the Aquarium.

Sam with some birthday loot!

Silly Sam!

This is what he does when you ask Issac to say cheese.

Dapper Isaac!

Isaac Overboard and an unrelated funny story

2006-04-25T10:00:00.000-04:00

At 33 days shy of his second birthday our small boy decided its time to climb out of his crib. He loves his crib, I know that he could have been climbing out of it for months now. The boy climbs anything he can, it's scary really. I think that yesterday's successful escape was due to the fact that Sue put him in there when he didn't want to be. Just because he looks tired doesn't mean that you can dump him in his crib and expect him to be happy. Her story went, he was tired, I put him in his crib, he cried for a minute, then it got quiet, I thought he had fallen asleep. She was downstairs folding laundry. So, a little while later she went upstairs, peaked into his room and he was not there. He was in Sam's room playing on the floor. I just hope that she learned her lesson and doesn't give him the opportunity to do it again. He never cried when I put him in his crib. I never put him in awake, I just know that he is ready. He also never goes to sleep right away, I will hear him talking and playing for a while afterward. I guess it will be interesting to see. We did move the mattress to the lowest setting last night.

Yesterday the boys came to my office. In the area where the photocopier is we have a dish of paper clips. Isaac started taking handfuls of them and throwing them on the floor. Sam was picking them up and putting them down my shirt and Sue's shirt. I went to Sports Authority to buy Sam cleats for soccer. As I was squatting down to pick out his size I had a very terrible feeling down there. I looking around to see if any one was looking and then gave a little tug to find that one of the paper clips made its way into my undies and got caught in the hair down there. OUCH! I had to go into the Sports Authority bathroom to remove it. Crazy, right?!?!?

I just want to feel fine

2006-04-24T12:40:00.000-04:00

I've been sick since Wednesday. As the afternoon went on I started to feel worse, when I got home I was having trouble imagining how I was going to deal with the kids. Thanks to the tv and both of the boys being very agreeable I survived until Mich came home. Wednesday night I felt crappy and although I didn't take my temperature am sure I had a fever. I would get terrible chills and shake then be sweating like gardening on a 100 degree day. Thursday I woke up feeling so much better and decided it was a fluke and went to work. Once again the afternoon came and I started to deteriorate. I left early and went home and got in bed. Mich came home early and Sue stayed a bit late so I didn't have to deal with the boys. Mich took my temperate and it was 102.8, that's a lot for an adult that took advil an hour before. I was having that shaking.sweating thing again too. Friday I decided that I'd better go to the doctor to make sure I didn't have something awful. She said it was a virus and that I should rest and take Advil and/or Tylenol. Saturday I woke up feeling better but not perfect. I had an afternoon slump but was okay in the evening. Sunday was better and today is better yet although I'm still not fine. I'm okay but not right. I just want to be right.

Happy!

2006-04-17T15:00:00.000-04:00

I'm so happy today. Well, I'm almost always happy but today my happy meter is nearly 100%. Mich and I had 4 days off in a row, yes 4! Thursday I had taken a vacation day to spend with my cousin Vicki and her daughters. We planned to go to Coney Island to go to the Aquarium and possibly go on rides maybe see if we could find a shell or two. Well, Thursday morning the alarm goes off and Michy says she's not going to work she's coming with us. Woo Hoo! We started out by going to the bagel store and loading in the Heffalump movie into the dvd player. The kids were happy, Vic and I were sitting in the front and Mich spent most of the ride on the phone with work. We got to the Aquarium just in time for the sea lion show and somehow snagged seats in the second row. I think the highlight was the kiss that Alyssa from the sea lion. Afterwards we went to dinner at Arirang for dinner. It's a hibachi place where they made a big deal about your birthday, flashing lights, a cake and a special song. Every time the lights would go down Sam would say is in my turn. So stinking cute. The next day was fun because we had Sue and we both had the day off. We went shopping for furniture, clothes for Sam and birthday presents. We had lunch just the two of us. That night we went to my mom's house to celebrate Sam's birthday. We always have an especially good time when Rob and Kate come. Mom did a Spiderman or as Isaac says man-man theme. Sam was in heaven. He got many gifts and was a happy boy. Saturday his eyes weren't even open for a minute when he asked can you call Jon, I want to see him for my birthday today. We told him that we had to wait a little bit in case they were sleeping and went downstairs to eat breakfast and open the presents we got him. We got him all the things that he's been asking for a batman watch, a batman space ship and a guitar. We also got him a some undies and pj's. We wouldn't let him open the guitar until Isaac woke up because that was from him. So he checked and checked and he finally woke up. We already had plans with Vic and the girls to go to Bowcraft and also plans to see Cynthia, Julia and Jonah. So we called Jon and he was available, we arranged to pick him up. Then I talked to Cynthia and Jonah had a fever so I arranged to pick up Julia. So there I we were with 4 kids in the car! We were off to Bowcraft, it's a little amusement park right near our house, perfect for the 4 year old crowd. They went on the big trucks, train, boats, motorcycles and scrambler. The also played one of those games were you shoot the water at the target and things race to the top. We told the kids that no matter who one they had to give the prize to Zack. It was a Bob the Builder doll. He loved it! In between the rides all the kids had ice cream too. Then we went to TGIFriday's where the adults refrained but were so ready for adult beverages. Service was kind of slow but it all worked out in the end. When every one was finished they came and sang a birthday song that was so funny. Sort of this rap thing, there were five people standing around our table clapping and stomping their feet. Sam loved it but of course didn't take a bite of the dessert they brought. Then we went back to our house to play in the yard and have the Buzz Lightyear cake that I decorated. It was a bad idea on my part to ask Sam what he wanted for breakfast on his birthday on Friday night as we were driving home from my parents, I guess it didn't dawn on me that he would ask for something that we didn't have in the house. So he said strawberries and a Buzz Lightyear cake. Crap where was I going to get one of those! So I was thinking that I'd go to the bakery and get a cupcake and surely they'd have a Buzz that they put on cakes. Well, all they had was "whatever's in the book lady", so I flipped through every page of the book and no Buzz. They had Woody but I doubt he'd do. So I went to the supermarket. Did I mention that I woke up extra early to try to do this before Sam woke up. At the supermarket they did have a Buzz cake in their book, things are looking up. Of course they can't just throw together the cake for me but I can buy the packet of stuff and do it myself. Great. So I pick a cake that is white with green trim and has only 3 balloons that I figure I can scrap off. I take a photo of the cake in their book with my phone so that I can see how to decorate it. I had already bought decorating icing for the jello gigglers that I was planning on bringing to school but then found out I couldn't use because it's not kosher for passover. I rush home to work on the cake. It turns out much better then I could have expected, I was proud of my efforts. I even had it all done before Sam woke up. He didn't make mention of the cake on his actual birthday so that's why we finally got around to cutting it after lunch. It was getting late and we had plans to go to the Gigantino's for dinner. I drove Julia home then headed to Jon's house. We got there and no one was home, poor Jon gave me this horrified look and said, Will you babysit me? Like I was going to leave him there alone. I called his mom on her cell to find that her husband had come to her job to visit with the baby. So we drove over there and dropped Jon off. I got back home and we rushed off to our dinner plan. It was such a pleasure to sit in the backyard and watch all of our kids run around and have such a great time. They have a son that is Sam's age and boy/girl twins that are Isaac's age. They got a cake for Sam. So many celebrations! We got home and crashed. Sunday we were going to Albany for Mich's grandma's 88th birthday party. It was scheduled to bring between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m. Not really the best time for us to start a party that is taking place 3 hours from home but oh well. For some reason I woke up early and couldn't fall back asleep so I went to the kitchen to make the jello jigglers for Sam's birthday celebration at school the next day. We had to do something that was kosher for Passover so we decided on jigglers. I looked at the package and saw that we needed 2 1/2 cups of boiling water so filled the tea kettle and took out the baking pans that I was going to put the jello in. Sam picks his jello by color so they ended up with green, yellow and pink or lime, lemon and strawberry kiwi. The water boiled I made each color and then got in the shower. The boys woke up had baths and got dressed. We went to the diner for breakfast and ate with all of the post church easter dressed people. Then got into the car to head for Albany. There was an accident that caused our trip there to be 30 minutes longer then it should have been. We figured out a wonderful thing, how to have the boys wear the headphones so that we can listen to music! So we opened the sunroof and jammed to the xm radio. We got to the party and had a great time. It was wonderful to see everyone in Michelle's family. The boys had such a great time running around and they were so social and wonderful with everyone. The boys got many gifts especially Sam, since it was his birthday the day before. We had the forethought to pack pj's so when we stopped at a rest area for a potty break we put on the boys pajamas. Both of them were asleep by the time we got home and they both transferred. The next morning we woke up and as Mich got the boys ready I went downstairs to deal with the jigglers. I decided that I'd cut squares, circles and triangles. I pre-plated one of each on to the Spiderman and Batman plates that had be selected by you know who. As I was doing it I was thinking these don't seem right, they seem too soft. So I plated each one and covered it with waxed papered and then stacked them into the guitar box. We all went to school together. We dropped Sam at his class and then took Zack to his class. It was great to have Mich there with me so she could see what it's like in the class. Also for her to see what our boy is like with his classmate. Sue came to pick up Zack and we went back to Sam's classroom. We read a book to the class, Green Eggs and Ham and then it was snack time. The jigglers weren't jigglers at all. It was basically a diaster, they stuck to the wax paper and the ones near the bottom were so smushed. The kids all seemed to love it though. They gave Sam a crown to wear and all sang happy birthday. It was so very adorable. Then it was back to reality as Mich and I went our separate ways to work. When I got home from work I looked at a jello package and found that I was supposed to use 4 boxes of jello. No wonder, I used more water then the regular recipe calls for.

What a super weekend!

2006-04-03T12:43:00.000-04:00

Friday night, I drove into the city and picked Mich up from work and we headed uptown to Lincoln Center. We parked and found a place to grab a bite to eat. Then we went over to the fountain where we met Ann, Jen and Greg. It was so great to see them. Jen and I have been friends for 19 years, Greg is her husband and Ann is her friend from growing up. We were all there to see Joseph's film, www.thingsthathangfromtrees.com , Joe, Jen and Ann all grew up together. I met Joe on my first day of college. The film was amazing, I'm so proud and impressed with my friend. It was really sad though, left you thinking. Our home was uneventful and we arrived home to everyone but Amanda sleeping. It was so hard from Amanda to wake up Sue.

Saturday was our lazy day. The only thing on the agenda was a birthday party for one of Sam's classmates and I didn't even have to go. We hung out in the backyard and enjoyed the 70 degree weather. Isaac is so amazing physically, he climbs up the rock and rope wall on the swing set and then dives down the slide. Mich and Sam went to the birthday party while Isaac and I started out to do some errands. Our trip was short lived as Zack fell asleep after the first store. I headed home and put him in his crib and took the time to relax alone. It's not like I got that much time as most kids parties only last 90 minutes. We spent the rest of the afternoon just like the morning, hanging out in the backyard.

Sunday we started by waking up late and realizing it was even later after we changed the clocks. Mich had her riding lesson at 12:45, I asked Vicki to pick her up so that the boys and I could come watch the tail end of the lesson and then we'd all be on our way. We went to see Jen, Greg and Nate in Staten Island. It was so great to see Nate, we celebrated his second birthday with him. Sam had a great time being the big boy and leading all the games they played. We had expected Zack to sleep on the way there but that never happened so by the time we were nearing the end of our visit he was so over tired. We said our goodbyes and we weren't even off the block when Zack feel asleep. That was at 7 p.m., we got all the way home and he slept until the next day. His bedtime is usually 9:00 p.m. We got Indian food for dinner and we're happy to get to bed.

Happy Friday

2006-03-31T14:41:00.000-05:00

I'm so looking forward to this weekend! Mich and I have a date tonight, I'm going into the city to meet her, we are going for dinner and then to see a film at Lincoln Center that my college friend, Joseph directed. Tomorrow Sam has a birthday party and I think the rest of the day is free. Sunday Mich is going to her riding lesson and the boys and I are going to watch. Then we are going to Staten Island to see Jen, Greg and Nate who are in from LA. The weather is great, today it's 76 degrees. Tomorrow there is a chance of rain but it's still going to in the 60's and Sunday is supposed to be sunny and in the 60's again. Oh and I decided to join ww again. It's time for me to do something.

On to the Next thing

2006-03-30T08:36:00.000-05:00

The boys birthday party date has been set. We are having it on May 7th. Sam's birthday falls during Passover, that never makes for a good cake, the Sunday after is Easter and we can't have it then so we decided upon the joint party again this year and picked a date in between. The party is going to have a farm theme. We have hired a petting zoo and pony rides which I think that both our boys will love. Yesterday I order the favors, we really prefer one good thing but decided to go with the bunch of junk that Sam seems to prefer. I am searching for something to present this junk in, seems silly to me to but bags that cost 75 cents each especially since we invited so many people. There are 53 kids on the list and it doesn't include babies. That also doesn't include kids we know that surely won't be coming but Robyn we would love it if Harris and Toby could make it! After considering bbq for food we decided that 6ft subs with salad was a much simpler and inexpensive way to go. Nothings been ordered yet so that may change. The invitations went out yesterday so there's no turning back at this point. I'm so excited! Stay tuned for further developments.

The Carnival

2006-03-27T15:00:00.000-05:00

The Carnival was yesterday and it went really well. There was really only one exception, the moonwalk didn't work for the first two and a half hours of our 4 hour carnival. That really sucked because it caused us to lose money. Otherwise it was a great success, all the kids has a great time, the volunteers were amazing and we probably did as well as last year. I won 4 silent auction items and am proud to report that they are all useful items expect the basket of musically instruments donated by Music Together. I decided that next year I am definitely not going to chair the carnival. I don't mind the work beforehand or even setting up or cleaning up but I didn't get to have any fun with my kids. Poor Sam waywardly wandered from person to person and I wore Isaac on my back for a lot of the time. I got there for set up at 7:30 a.m., silly Robert (Mich's salesperson) volunteered to help. He went to our house first and when Sam heard that Robert was going to help me with the Carnival he wanted to come with him. So Sam arrived with Robert at 9:45 a.m. I basically told Sam to be a good boy and told Robert to make sure he didn't get lost. Mich arrived with Zack at 11 when the Carnival started. He really only wanted to be with me or running around like a maniac. My arm was getting tired of holding so I asked Mom and Dad to stop at my house and get the ergo. They arrived and I loaded Zack onto my back. He was so happy there, so much that he fell asleep, which was really perfect. Until some stupid person said something like "oh how cute" while rubbing his face and he woke up. Miserable I might add. Once he calmed down as long as I kept moving. Mom and Dad took over watching Sam and Mich left for her riding lesson at 12:15. She got back at around 2:45 and took the boys home. I had to stay for clean up and money counting. Everyone was so happy with how everything turned out so I can't really complain. It's just that it would have been nice to have some fun with my kids.

Current ramble

2006-03-24T16:34:00.000-05:00

Everything is good. Sam has become a regular pooper, he doesn't even expect gifts anymore. He is charming, outgoing and wonderful to be with. Isaac is equally amazing he is using more words every day. He continues to be his crazy active self and still plays, eats and sleeps hard. Mich is very busy at work. She hired yet another new salesperson yesterday, but she is doubting her decision. That's such a hard feeling to deal with. I can't really give advise on this one, I mean whether or not she made a good decision. I just tell her she has to ride it out. If the guy can bring in enough business to cover his salary isn't that enough. Not every salesperson has to be a powerhouse. My main concern is that this work stuff is stressing Michy out. Hopefully we will have a nice fun weekend and she can forgot about work for a while. Now that my conference is over I have be trying to very seriously consider the idea of quitting my job. What's stopping me? Well, for one the concern that we won't be able to afford our lives. I guess that minor compared to the greater concern of what if I think it's a big mistake? Will I be able to undo it? Will I want to? I can't decide this today. See the trouble is that I always decide that I can't decide this today, will it get any easier? The carnival is on Sunday. Yes, they roped me into being the Chairperson again this year. At least I feel ready this time. It will be great, I'll report on that next week. Mich starts her horseback riding lesson on Sunday. She rode her whole growing up life. She is feeling guilty about the me time aspect of taking the class. I told her that she was crazy that she really deserves a me activity. She feels like she doesn't get enough time with the boys. Quality not quantity, right? Oh, and another topic that keeps popping up, should we have a third?

Have a great weekend everyone!

Keep your eye on the Prize

2006-03-16T12:57:00.000-05:00

Things are winding down for me here. The luncheon is underway and there are just two more breakout sessions. I think the prize is starting to come into focus. We got to have one of the few pleasures of our trip. The spouses get a gift certificate to the spa/beauty salon as part of their registration package. If there are people that don't show we take their gift certificates up to the salon and buy ourselves products that we we never otherwise get. This year's hot item, was a teeth bleaching system that comes with trays that you mold to fit your teeth. We are all going to have brighter smiles! Still keeping my eye on the prize, which is heading north on the Parkway and making it home for dinner!

Atlantic City

2006-03-14T16:47:00.000-05:00

Yes, it's time for the conference I have as I told Sam two sleeps to go and I'll be home. Things are going relatively well and more inportantly I think my boss is happy. My mantra: keep your eye on the prize.

TGIF

2006-03-03T17:06:00.000-05:00

Did you ever want to set your desk on fire and run away from work screaming? It's been that kind of week for me. My conference starts in 9 days. It has been the year of the problem. Nothing is going smoothly. I don't want to spend 5 days in the evil city without my family. I am bitter that I am going to miss the Purim celebration at Sam's school for work. I should probably be working tomorrow and/or Sunday but I can't bear the thought.

All I can say is thank goodness it's Friday!

Tsotsi

2006-02-28T12:49:00.000-05:00

I signed up for the Filmmakers Symposium with Sam's school. It's a fundraiser. You get to see 4 films that are yet to be released. Last night was the first one. What a film! It was so very emotionally draining but such and amazing work. It is scheduled to be released in the next couple of weeks here in the states. If you want to read more about it see the website at tsotsi.com and if you do see it let me know it would be great to have someone to discuss it with.

There are 6 of us in total that go on any given Monday night out of the 8 weeks. Mich and I both signed up but I'm going 5 times and she's going 3. So, I was there with 5 other moms all very nice. One I'm friendly with, one I never met before and the other 3 I have met in passing. So afterward they all go to Starbucks and I decide that I am going to go home. I hadn't seen Mich all day and I was having a busy day today. I wonder if a mom in a two mom family is more likely to make this decision. On the nights when we are together I'm sure that we will go for a little bit.

He's gone 5 times in a row at this point

2006-02-27T16:59:00.000-05:00

That pretty much says it all.

Twice in a row

2006-02-21T08:56:00.000-05:00

Sam pooped on the potty. I sure hope that we are over this gotta poop in a diaper thing. We were at Aunt Lishy's on Saturday visiting the new boy, more about that later, and Sam said that he needed to poop and couple we put on a diaper. He knows the drill you only poop in the bathroom, so off he went into the bathroom. After about 15 minutes he was saying that his foot hurt when he tried to push. After questioning further we surmised that he had a charlie horse in his calf. It was so terrible he had to go so badly but he couldn't seem to do it. Michy went in with him and sat and read to him and talked to him. Finally she suggested that he sit and give a big push and voila he pooped. Everyone did a happy dance, we all had to look at it and he was so happy with himself. When we got home he picked one of the wrapped pooping presents that have been sitting on the back on the toilet for many months now.

Last night we went to dinner with Vicki and the girls, when we were done Michy dropped the boys and I off at home, she went to look for a new pair of shoes at DSW. I was supposed to be giving the boys a bath but Sam asked for a diaper, here we go again. I told him that he could do it and he begged. I questioned my parenting decision but decided to stick with it. After about 30 minutes, like a switch went off, he said, I'll try now mama. And he sat and I read and read. Mich came home and found Zack downstairs and said I thought he would have been out of the bath by now. I just said, it would be great if you could come up here. She came up and found me reading potty side. After I finished the book I was reading I asked if mommy could take over and that he call me the second he poops. They couldn't have made it through one book when I got called. He was SO excited and proud. He picked a present off the back on the potty and said that he'd go on the potty all the time now. I guess time will tell but I'm very hopeful. Better get more pooping presents.

Odyssey

2006-02-17T14:12:00.000-05:00

I bought one over the phone yesterday. Sage Brush Pearl. Touring Package.

Hooray for me! I won the minivan war!!!!!

My Girl...

2006-02-17T14:06:00.000-05:00

is amazing. She is really wonder woman when it comes to to work. She said yesterday the problem that I am having is that my business is growing too fast. She hired two new sales people, one that started the second week of the year that is new to the industry but is a real "gogetter" and is working her butt off to bring in business, the other is a guy from a competing company that came with a huge amount of work build in. She is working on expanding her business by opening a factory in LA and has another trip planned to go there March 1-5. I am so super proud of Michy!

More Swimming

2006-02-17T13:57:00.000-05:00

Sam swam without the bubble all buy himself. Sue says his lips were underwater as he doggy paddled along but he was going it alone.

Swim Sammy Swim!!!! Way to go my little man!

The arrival of Padraig and going it alone

2006-02-03T10:19:00.000-05:00

Michy and I are now official aunts. Mich's sister was scheduled for an induction 10 days prior to her due date because her blood pressure was high and she was having swelling. The only person Alicia wanted anywhere near the delivery room besides her husband was Michelle. So, of course Mich had to go to Albany for the birth no matter when it was going to happen. It would have been smart of us to think about this prior to scheduling a trip to Florida but I guess we weren't thinking, she didn't express the desire for Mich to be there that early and well I guess we thought she'd be late. So we have this trip to go to Orlando to stay with Aunt Marsha and Aunt Bert, they rent a house there so we had a free place to stay. I got the whole family tickets for $411, it was a no brainer. Until Alica got scheduled to go into the hospital the evening of the 25th and our tickets were for the afternoon of the 26th.

Okay, so the baby will never be here by 3:00 p.m. on Thursday they has just started the pitocin at 10 that morning. I am going to take the boys alone. I can do this. I go all sorts of places with them so why would this be that much worse? We had already arranged for Sue to take us to the airport, Mich was going to come from work anyway. So just as planned we left for the airport. I curb side checked the big bag and one car seat. So now I have the double stroller, one car seat, a carry on bag and the boys. I get Sue to help me load Zack into the ergo, I pile the car seat onto one side of the stroller, plop the bag into other seat and strap Sam into the carseat that is on the stroller. I should have taken a picture. Off we go. All is well, we get to security, I send the bag, car seat, stroller, all of our shoes and coat through the x-ray machine. They insist that I take Zack off my back and have him walk through alone. OY! I say, can't you wand us a whole bunch and look in between us. Nope. So, then I say will someone help me get him back on, yes at the other end. You know where this is going right. Well, we got to the other end and miraculously both boys stayed right by my side until I alone collected all our stuff and got us back on our way. We got near the gate with plenty of time so we went to McDonalds for a bite. We assumed since I had the isle and Sam had the window and we had only canceled Mich's seat about 10 hours prior that we'd luck out and get that seat for Zack, we were wrong. The plane was fully booked so we gate checked both the stroller and the carseat. We got to our seats with little fuss, I took the middle and Sam took the window. We had a nice 20 something boy sitting next to us that tried to seem enthused about the Buzz Lightyear Sam was showing him. I apologized in advance. It took a while for everyone to get seated since the plane was filled to capacity. Once we started taxi-ing Sam fell asleep and during take off Zack fell asleep too. I watched the inflight entertainment, who would have though I would need something to read? They played Will and Grace, Everybody Loves Raymond and Joey. My only problem was my arms and legs kept falling asleep from holding Zack. Zack woke up just prior to landing and Sam woke up during taxi-ing. Whew! We got out on the plane and loaded back up and headed to baggage claim. Once we got our stuff, I piled the big bag into one side of the stroller with one car seat on top of it and in the other side was Zack strapped into the other car seat with Sam helping me push. We made our way, finally, to the car rental desk which had a considerable line. About half way though the line Sam said he had to pee, I had just asked him when we were in the bathroom and he said no. I talked him into waiting. We finally got to the front of the line and got the car. Still no crying so I'm feeling very successful. Sam doesn't want to go to the bathroom anymore he wants to wait until we get to Aunt Marsha and Aunt Bert's house. Fine. We are now wandering around the parking lot looking for the section that has the SUV's but there are none to be found. (I only rented the stupid SUV cause I had a coupon, it was so cheap $90 for 4 days.) Sam is starting to be very tired of walking. We find the man that offered to help us when we first got out to the lot and I said there are none of the class that I'm supposed to take. He says something like are you sure that there aren't any way down there. I reply that I have just come from down there and he directs me to a manager. She tells me that they have 10 of them on their way. So, as calmly as I can, I say I reserved in advance, I confirmed like your website told me to, I waiting in your big long line, and now I've walked around this giant lot. My kids and I just need to go. I don't car what like of car you give me. So she says, oh, well then take one of those minivans over there, that one has a dvd player. Woohoo! We get to the car. I install the car seats, turn on the car, start Toy Story 2 and then get the rest of the stuff in the car. As I drive I look back at my little tv drones and smile. I made it! I call Mich, still no baby yet, she is dilated to 5 cms. We get to the house and it was great to have someone give us all a beverage. I was happy to sit and the boys were happy to run around. Aunt Marsha had made a great dinner and it was so nice to sit and eat a real meal. Kate and Regina are Aunts M&B friends and they were renting the house with them. They were super nice to me and the boys. Soon after that we were in bed. I made a final call to check on Alicia. No baby yet. Our room was great. A king bed with a full sized crib in the room plus our very own bath. The boys adjusted quite well and we all fell asleep. I woke in the middle of the night to hear my cell phone beeping. I had a text message that said Padraig James arrived at 3:32 a.m. via c-section weighing in at 10 pounds mom and baby are both good. So, of course I called Michy to ask her all about the baby and Alicia. He never fully engaged and she never dilated past 7 cm. Greg turned white when they said surgery so Mich went in to the operateng room to support her sister. She said it was amazing. Padraig, they will call him Patty, is beautiful and giant. He sent to the NICU because he had shallow breathing. After he was born Greg went to get some sleep to be ready for the doctors that morning, Mich stayed with her sister until Greg got back and she went to get some sleep. I got back in bed and woke up with Zack the next morning. I got to have some of the best cuddle time that I've had in a long time. I didn't want him to wake up Sam so we went into the living room and he was so content for the longest time to just lay on top up my with his head in the crook of my neck. A delicious moment for sure. Sam woke up soon after and we went with Aunts M & B to Sea World. It's really cool there. I guess I didn't remember. We saw a dog and cat show where the animals perform alone. Totally amazing. We fed dolphins as you can see from the photo on the right. We fed Mr Ray. We saw sharks, penguins and many other fish. No, we didn't see Shamu. I statue of Shamu but not the real deal. Who can wait in line that long and then sit in the stadium for the show to begin? Not Zack. Feeding the dolphin was amazing, they would come right to your hand. You could pet them and give them belly rubs. Both the boys loved it. Although Sam said his favorite was seeing the sharks. Meanwhile, Mich had napped and was back at the hospital with her sister. I found out for her that she probably wouldn't make it back home and then to the airport that night so she arranged to be on the first flight on Saturday morning at 6:45 a.m. There was a change fee of $30 plus the difference in the ticket price of $180. How crazy is that! The ticket in the first place was only $138! Mich started back to NJ while Zack napped. Sam refused to even rest but we all knew he was tired. Aunt Marsha was preparing to cook again and I said isn't there somewhere easy we can go? They came up with Cee Cee's, it's buffet salad, pasta and pizza place for the low low price of $3.99 a person and both the boys were free. Well Sam had fallen asleep on the way there and continued to sleep through the whole meal. Zack however made up for it by eating he weight in pasta and pizza. Both Aunt Marsha and Bert were astonished with the amount that he consumed. Sam woke up as I carried him out to the car. We then headed to downtown Disney to look for a new Buzz Lightyear toy that I had promised Sam since he was a super good boy so far. We get to the parking lot and there are about 6 or 8 of those flood lights circling around in the sky and both boys were mesmorized. We blew through the Lego store, which I thought was so very cool, in favor or finding the Buzz Lightyear store. We got to the Disney World of Toys store and wow was it amazing. All sorts of cool toys that you can't find anywhere else. Sam thankfully picked an action figure of Buzz that's wings pops out for only $6 and I picked out a Buzz cell phone toy for Zack so that he wouldn't be jealous and we were off. Sam got Italian ice and he was a happy boy. We got back to the house and went straight to bed. The next morning we were off to the Magic Kingdom, somehow I managed to get all of us up and fed to make it inside the park. Where did we head, straight to the tea cups of course. I did sneak and get fast passes for Pooh's Honey Pot ride before our first whirl. This was taken on our fourth time in the cups once Mich has arrived.
Sam loves the cups!

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After the teacups we headed for It's a Small World. Sam is apprehensive about going on rides but once we're on he loves them. So there was a lot of explaining that the boat stayed flat and didn't go down and big hills. Both of the boys but especially Zack loves It's a Small World. SO much that we went another time. We got out of there and it was time to use our fast passes. I got new fast passes for Peter Pan's Magic Flight on the way. We went on the Honey Pot ride, again explaining that nothing bad was going to happen. We all loved it, until they do that evil thing and sphew you out into a gift shop which I didn't love so much. We got away without a purchase. After that we went to this really cool new playground. Both boys had a ball. It was while I was there that Nadav called to find out about my J&J order. Yes, I was one of those people trying to keep track of their two kids in a playground while on my cell phone. After that I decided that I better feed my kids. I forget their need to eat much more often then I do. So got a mac and cheese kid's meal that came with yogurt, grapes and a drink. Really the perfect sharable snack for my guys. As they were devouring that I got a call from Cynthia asking if Sam wanted to come over and play, guess we didn't tell them we were going away, and a call from Mich that the pick up at the airport went well and that Aunt Marsha was dropping her and Aunt Bert off at the front gate to the the Magic Kingdom. I told her where we were sitting in the restaurant. Poor Mich looked so tired but we were all happy to see her! Mich and Sam used the fast passes for Peter Pan. We saw more stuff and went on rides until our lunch reservations at the Crystal Palace with lunch with the Pooh character. It was so amazing to see the magic in the boys eyes as the characters approached. As so as we took Zack out of his highchair he would run and hug them so tight and not want to let go. The do a little parade where all the kids march around the restaurant with the characters and Sam had a great time doing that. The food was actually really good, like I have wanted to go there without the characters. It was also nice to just sit and have your drink refilled and rest! After that it was more rides and fun until we found a spot for the evening parade. Which we actually never ended up seeing. We were nearing meltdown with both boys and Mich was nearly falling asleep. We went to bed. When we woke up in was off to Sea World for another fun day. We did basically the same things as the other day only this time Mich was there. We did see the seals this time. You feed them too. We didn't do that but we watched many other people. You had to have good aim because the cranes would swoop in and get any fish that didn't land right near the seal. After we left there everyone but me took a nap while I started to prepare for our 7:00 a.m. the next morning flight. Who thought that was a good idea?!?!?! So I packed a bit and rested I bit then it was time for us to go to dinner at Boma, our favorite Disney dinner. African food, yum! Every time we go there I wish we could have one near home. After dinner we went outside to see the animals, we saw zeezah as Zack says for zebras and some sort of big cattle. We got back to the house spend a little time with Aunt Marsha and Aunt Bert and crashed after setting the alarm for 4:15 a.m. We got up and managed to be loaded in the car by 5:15 p.m. We got the car returned and checked in the bags and headed to security and found the longest line in the universe. I mean hundreds, thousands of people waiting. I found someone to show our boarding passes to that let us into a expedited line and we made it to the plane. We found out that this plane was also fully booked so once again Zack was on our laps. Both boys fell asleep during take off, Sam slept the whole way and Zack woke up bouncing around about an hour in. It was very difficult to amuse him but we made it. Mich went off to work straight from the airport and Sue picked us up. We went directly to Sam's school and dropped him off and I was at work by 11:00 a.m.

Swimming

2006-01-20T10:47:00.000-05:00

Sam swam across the entire length of the pool the long way all by himself!

I am very proud and so is he.

Happy New Year

2006-01-20T10:22:00.000-05:00

Every time I say this, I think life can't get any busier then this. Then it does. Well here we are in 2006, my dear Michy's business has picked up to a greater then whirlwind speed. She never mades it home before 8 p.m. anymore and last night she even stayed in the city. Good thing though since the trains had some sort of problem and none of them ran into the city this morning. Oh and I forgot to mention she is working on opening another factory in LA.

There is nothing that has happened here that is especially eventful. Sam is still his charming self with a twinge of brat mixed in. Isaac is still going and going and going. He is picking up new words every day. The newest being stay. As in I'm walking out the door for work as if the hysterical crying Mommy isn't bad enough he throws in stay to make it even worse.

That brings me to my latest thoughts, I should be a stay at home mom. It's the right job for me. Why pay Sue when I am a better candidate? But I keep thinking, will I actually make a good stay at home mom? Can I deal with it? When should I quit? Should I quit now? Should I hang on till after my dreaded conference to get the bonus? So many questions.

So Happy New Year everyone! Seems like there will be change for us in 2006.

Change is good.

Socks - Finally

2005-12-22T14:47:00.000-05:00

My brother tells me that he wants warm socks for Chanukah. The criteria seems simple to me, warm, wicking properties, preferable not wool in size extra large. I looked in about 10 stores for them and couldn't find any. Some had wool socks in XL. Others had synthetic socks in Large. You get the idea all combos of the wrong kind. Well, I've been saying all along that I want to go to Bill Army and Navy, it's about 1/2 a mile from me at work. On the same road no less. I went there today and viola 7 pair of socks that fit the criteria and 2 pair of sock liner just for good measure. Plus a pair of black Merrill slip ons and a great pair of Keens that were both on sale for me!

This nearly wraps up my holiday shopping. I'm still not thrilled with the gift for my Dad. Mom said he wanted tighty whitey so although I don't love the idea of getting him undies I bought him 12 pairs. He also wanted the new New York Zagat guide, which I'm yet to receive (should check b&n.com). Apparently he needs new screens for his electric razor but those are harder to find then the socks. Everyone else got basically what they asked for or what we decided they needed.

I am excited for Michy's gifts. Somehow I feel like I shouldn't list her presents here in fear that she will read this. I'm not sure how that would happen. She can barely work a computer and I don't even think that she knows I have a blog. Anyway, since she told me please don't buy me the super expensive watch that she's been pining over for years now, I've been amassing many smaller gifts! Now I've decided that I need 16 gifts so that each boy can give her one each night of Chanukah. I'm going to do one little and one bigger per night, like a pair of socks from one and a sweater from the other.

I love this season of giving! There is not a thing in the world that I can think of that I need or even want. My cup is full!

Little Me

2005-12-20T10:38:00.000-05:00

So my co-worker got a new scanner that has a really cool place to put slides in. She said, I wish I had a slide to see how this thing works. I knew that there was a slide in a drawer in Isaac's room but I couldn't remember what it was of. I found it and brought it in today. So, here's me in my backyard in January of 1973. I'm really not that serious. So cool!

Bob the Builder

2005-12-19T14:56:00.000-05:00

Have I said just how much my young son Isaac loves Bob the Builder? Not exactly sure how it happened but the love affair is in full swing. Anything he sees that is remotely related to construction is now called affectionately BobBill (said just like that Bob then Bill with no space in between). Yesteday we had our family holiday gathering and 3 Bob items were bestowed upon him, boy you would think he'd been given gold! He was so happy and so cute. My cousin and aunt were so glad to get such a wonderful display of appreciation. He carried them around for the next 2 hours. Repeating over and over BobBill.

Costco

2005-12-16T10:52:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I met Sue at Costco during lunch, we needed so much stuff and I didn't have enough cash to give her and the costco card need to match the credit card so I ended up going so I could pay. Anyway, I go there first, got a cart and waited just inside the door. She showed up with Isaac, who was asleep. She layed him down in the cart, he took up nearly the whole thing. We shopped for about 30 minutes before he woke up. He sat right up and said, more. Yup the little piglet was looking for samples!

School Photos and religion

2005-12-16T10:06:00.000-05:00

Rosa's scanner is broken so I can't post the school photos just yet but they are cute! Actually she did take one home and scan it for me, she even touched up the photo. Now you can't see the black and blue on the side of Sam's head from when he fell off the couch or the stamp of the frog that's on Zack's hand from school that day. I'm not going to post it just yet, since I think it may be our holiday card photo. I can't seem to get a good photo of both the ones. We have quite a few were one looks great and the other doesn't or many were they both look okay. I want one where they both look great. Maybe I'll be sending New Year's cards.

Sue is frequently shopping with the boys as she run many errands for us. One day last week I came home to find Christmas cookies with santa, trees, candy canes and wreaths on them. I didn't notice them until after she has left for the day. I did think to myself, tell Sue not to buy those anymore. When Mich got home she was less calm about them then I was. She said doesn't Sue know that we don't celebrate Christmas in this house. So the next day I asked that Sue take the cookies home and not buy anymore Christmas cookies for our house. A couple of nights later Aunt Robert is having dinner with us and he says, I just want to let you know that Mich is nuts about those cookies. So that started our big discussion about the cookies. I guess I must be nuts too since I think that Christmas cookies have no place in my house, not ones bought by me anyway. I'm fine with celebrating Christmas with other people, it's a lovely holiday but we don't celebrate it. So I was trying to come up with a reverse example, like to Christian/Catholic people ever buy dreidel cookies. Probably not, probably never. I think that people that celebrate Christmas just don't consider that other people celebrate something different. I'm sure they do but why do people have to say Merry Christmas to me. Strangers trying to be nice for sure but can't they say happy holidays like I do. Maybe that should be my reply to the Merry Christmas, they'll say Merry Christmas and I'll say Happy Chanukah. I'm going to try that. It's not like I live in a place where their aren't any Jews. We are surrounded by them. Sam doesn't even know that the man in the red suit is Santa. We were in the diner having breakfast. They have a freaky life size (well dwarf life sized) Santa that sings and gyrated to Christmas music. Sam said to me, can I go make that man play music. I said sure, so we are watching this santa do it's thing and a man walks in and says, you like Santa, I bet he is going to bring you something very special. Then he went into the diner and we left to go to school. At the point that I was with the man then only think I could think why the f do you assume that we have anything to do with Santa. Not to mention, what does he know about how special of a gift Sam will get.

We have been talking a lot about family traditions around the holiday season. It totally sucks that my cousin got married to a Catholic guy so they decided to pick a new religion since she wouldn't be Catholic and he would be Jewish. My brother just married a Catholic girl and I hope that they work out their religion issues prior to having kids for not things are just odd. My brother says that he doesn't feel Jewish, his wife probably would have gone along with the Jewish thing if he cared but since he doesn't well they are doing their own thing. What that means will be seen. For this year it means they have a tree and all sorts of Christmas decoration. My brothers says that he won't have his children raised in a religion that has a cross but he doesn't care what his wife does. So, basically we have no Jewish family except my family. That makes us a little sad. Everyone is willing to play along and come to our house and eat latkes or endure a Seder or break fast but it's not their thing. Just like we are happy to come help decorate your tree or search for eggs. So we are going to make a great effort to celebrate each night of Chanukah and start our own holiday tradition. More to come for sure.

Lollypops

2005-12-08T14:51:00.000-05:00

I've been making them for Michelle's sister's baby shower on Sunday. We are going up to Albany on Saturday spending the night at her house and them Sunday we will have the shower and then come home. I'm so glad that the boys are welcome at the shower, it would be so hard to plan this without them. Everyone will be so excited to see them! The last time they saw the boys was Lishy wedding in March. I'm not sure that everyone got to see Isaac, he was so little then. Won't they be surprised to see my little ball of fire!

The lollypops are quite cute, some are blue baby bottles. Yes, she's having a boy! The others are the pregnant girls. They are dark and white chocolate. We are having those are the favors. I still have one batch to make and wish that I could figure out a way to step up production. Maybe it will be easier tonight.

I can't wait to see Alicia, she is saying that she's huge. I just want to rub her belly and say hi to the cousin that she is cooking!

Chanukah

2005-12-02T13:02:00.000-05:00

The holidays are here. They come earlier every year don't they? Sam is really into the lights that people have been putting up on their houses. Driving yesterday he even said, when can we cover our house in lights like that? Well, never. It's not really the answer that he was looking for but it's the only one that I could give. Jewish people don't hang lights. I guess we should get a light up menorah for his window maybe even two. How do I instill that we can enjoy the lights that others display but not do it ourselves. It's not our thing. Too bad I have an event on Friday cause I'd love to attend the talk that Rabbi Sagal is giving about this very subject. At least Sam is at school at the temple, he will learn about the macabees and the oil that lasted 8 days. We will reinforce at home. Maybe I'll buy that clay in the link that I send Robyn and we'll attempt to make a menorah at home.

Sue asked Sam what he wanted for Chanukah and he said a gun. He said that Etan and Henry have guns that they use to shoot and kill people. Can I get a gun and shoot these two three year old boys. I'm not really one of those guns are horrible kind of people. Not that I want guns in my home nor do I want Sam to have any toy guns at this point. He's little, his brother is even littler. Boys seems to make guns out of the stuff they have. They use their fingers to shoot, sticks, brooms whatever they get their hands on. I get it. Why oh why does he come home with phrases like shoot and kill. Do these mothers realize? Am I over reacting?

So, I've been trying to come up with 8 gifts to give each of the boys for Chanukah. I don't really think that Isaac needs 8 gifts. He really doesn't need anything but since Sam will know and we will all be there together I will come up with 8 for both. I got Sam some Batman pj's that I think he is going to love. Mich wants to get Sam a remote control dinosaur like Harris has. I bought a couple books. Maybe I'll do a night of giving to others. Start a tradition of one night getting gifts to give to people in need. Do I buy the gifts and we try to give them to someone/somewhere that night. Do we shop for these gifts together and give them beforehand so that they can have them for the holidays?

Mich and work

2005-12-02T12:12:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Mich had a great day! Thank goodness. She works so hard all day long she deserves to be happy about it. She really enjoys working hard from the minute she gets on the train she's on the phone about work and sometimes she's still on the phone after she gets home at night. It's a really good thing when things good well. I'm so glad for her.

Robert, one of her salepeople is homeless. Not for long. The apartment that he gave up that was way to far away from the city ended on the 30th and the new apartment that is really close to the train and much closer doesn't start until the 15th. She brought him home last night. He loves the boys and they love him. Robert is in the short list of words that Isaac knows. He's very nice to me. Why does he bother me so much. Maybe it's that he cause Mich's work to spill over into our home life that she is hardly home for anyway. I don't know. Maybe because, her new boyfriend as I have taken to calling him, is not the most stable guy. I'm just hoping that he's not living with us till the 15th. On the bright side I'm driving his fancy Infinity today.

I've been thinking about Mich and work. I want to be supportive. She has her own business and it's growing. Her business could allow me to eventually not work or do something part time. I don't know where I'm going with this. All I know is that I think that she's planning on working tomorrow so it's gonna be me and the boys again.

The big birthday weekend

2005-12-01T12:35:00.000-05:00

We are so busy. Michelle is so busy at work she has taken to coming home at no eariler then 8:30 but sometimes as late as 10:30. That leaves me to do all the stuff. Not house stuff becuase luckily Sue does most of that, she's even happy to go to the dry cleaner and supermarket. But the boys and I do the other stuff, I return things buy gifts etc.

We have three birthday parties this weekend. One on Saturday and two on Sunday. Funny that both of the parties on Sunday are for girls named Sarah. I still have to shop for the one Sarah, her mom and I went to school together and she told me to buy clothes. I think I'll go to Old Navy for that. Sam is very agreeable to going there, they have a gumball machine filled with high bouncing balls for a quarter. They are the big ones too, so no choking for the Zackster. Plus where else can you make your kid happy for 50 cents. It's gotten to the point where he asks to go if we are anywhere near the shopping center.

We also have the fundraiser auction at the Temple this weekend. Michelle's company is a sponsor. She is listed in the brochure with the other sponsors like Target and Wachovia bank. We both got a chuckle about that. I am going to help set up on Friday night but they can't start until 10 p.m. So I've signed on for 10 to midnight.

Sam's BIG day!!!

2005-11-17T14:56:00.000-05:00

Today was swim class, he woke up saying that he didn't want to go. Well I told him that it would be great for him to know how to swim for our next trip to Disney, not that we have one planning. I guess he bought it because he swam for the first time today unassisted!!! I'm so excited!!!!

This is really big......he pooped on the potty!!!! I quote, it didn't hurt, it just dropped out!

Go Sam go!!!! What a big boy you are! I'm so proud!!!!

Here are the boys eating the cupcakes that Michelle came home from work with. She didn't buy them. One of her sales people bought them and sent them with her for the boys. The big one for Sam and the little one for Isaac. Sam never took a bite of his but our little man, well he loved it!

Words!

2005-11-15T13:10:00.000-05:00

The boys and I stopped at the bagel store on the way to school on yesterday morning. We're back in the car and I ask Sam how's your bagel, he says great! Then I say Zacky, how's your bagel and he says good! I nearly ran off the road! We have been getting a new word or so each day but we are now having an explosion! So far we have mommy, mama, horse, pig, mine, baby, goggles, good, car, boat, bubbles, dog, Robert and probably more I just can't remember. I had forgotten how much fun the acquisition of words was, look forward to an update on news words to come.

Halloween Fun

2005-11-02T10:39:00.000-05:00

What a great weekend we had! We got out of Shabbat dinner at Mom and Dad's, don't get me wrong it's nice and all but a Friday night free, whoo hoo. So we went to the mall. Serve all the needs that we had, we got to eat dinner, Mich got to find the new outfit she was looking for, they have a train ride and in general it's just nice to be out.

Saturday we had a busy day. It started by waking up and going to Jamarama, the Noggin, music fest concert. We went to the one in Morristown but apparently it's making it's way across the nation. Sam got to meet Moose A Moose and Z, which he was very excited about. The concert opened with the Ohemies, they are a sort of band that gets the kids to do yoga exercises. There were slightly annoying but I think that they might be better on TV. The headliner was the Laurie Berkner band and she was GREAT. Isaac was dancing in the aisle! Sam sat on Mich's lap like a stick in the mud. He did say that the concert was good and that he had a great time. We skipped out after she finished so I can't report on how it actually ended. Then I took the boys to lunch while Michy went to Century 21 department store. The boys and I finished eating and went to pick Mich up. Then we were off to Westfield where they were doing trick or treating at the stores. Sam LOVED it. He was practically dragging us from store to store. He was so excited about the acquisistion that it took till at least the 20th store for him to realize that this was actually candy that he could eat. Bring on the sugar high. After that we went home. While Mich relaxed and the boys played I cooked a pot of sauce and meatballs. It was so nice to eat a home cooked meal. I should remember that.

Sunday we woke up, Mich wasn't feeling all that well. There were a few things that we needed at Target so we all went together. Sam had a birthday party to go to, Mich was going to take him but then she decided that since Isaac had fallen asleep she would stay him and rest while he napped. So, Sam and I went to Jacob's birthday party. It was at My Gym, I had never been there before and it was very nice. They were well organized and they had 3 people running the party and keeping control of the kids. After the party we went home, we were all supposed to go into the city to see our friends Angela and Tyson and their son Ronan. Mich didn't feel up to going so the boys and I went. We had a great time. Ronan and Sam dealt really well with pesky Isaac, they played so well together I actually got to sit on a sofa and drink a glass of wine. We got home the find that Michy was feeling so much better. Whew!

Monday was an exciting day, Halloween! The downside of sending the kids to school at the Temple is that they don't celebrate Halloween there. No biggie really. The exciting thing is that the firetruck visited school. It was very funny that Sam's class was out visiting the truck while Isaac's class was also visiting it. Isaac is getting better in the school setting, I think he is starting to understand that he should participate as a group at certain times. He still however spills the open cup of water that they give him. I skipped out of work early to take the boys trick or treating. Mich also can home early and we met up with Vicki, Joe, Julia and Alyssa and my parents also came along. The kids were all so excited, running up to the doors. Even Isaac loved it. Then we went to the Halloween parade that ends at the park with donuts, cider and coffee. After that we went to the really special Halloween houses so that Sam could see them. By the time we got home everyone was ready for bed.

I spoke to my dad yesterday I told him that we were going to the Great Pumpkin Sail so he said what do you need more pumpkins for? So I explained that it was sail not sale and that we got to take out carved pumpkin and they put it on a float and set it out on the lake. It was so beautiful by the end of the night there were 400 lighted pumpkins out on the lake. It was really magical. There were also 4 firerings with great big long stick and marshmallow and a great life performer and a storyteller. I can't wait till next year when we get lots of families to go together.

It's a good thing that I have an event for work today. I'm just sitting in the lobby of the hotel thankful for the free wifi catching up on my life. We have back to school night tonight and tomorrow I think I get to pack alone for our trip to see, as Sam puts it, Harris who has two mom's like me.

Acorns - Are they bad seeds?

2005-10-27T11:11:00.000-04:00

Sam had been collecting acorns for Etan. Do you remember Etan, he's the kid that has taught my kid lovely words like kill and pummer. They aren't even in the same class! They only see each other on the playground and if there are special events going on. So from what Sam tells me he gathers them to give to Etan for his collection. They call then super balls or beads. Part of me feels like telling Sam, I don't like that kid and you shouldn't either! Like when he asks if he can go to his house or have him come to ours. Instead, I say I have to talk to his mom and I don't know her phone number. Which is true, I don't know it but I could see if it's in the student directory. I know that this is the first of many kids that I will feel like negatively influence Sam. What I don't know is what to do? I do know that there are other moms that feel the same way.

How do the single moms do it?

2005-10-24T12:25:00.000-04:00

I have just survived my 5 day stint as single momma. When Mich left for work Thursday morning she went straight to the airport and still hasn't been home yet. She took the red eye in last night/this morning and went directly to work.

Thursday night I got home from work and I am ashamed to report that I just can't remember what we did. Not one bit! Well, I guess I remember that once I finally got into bed, I watched Survivor that I had recorded.

Friday morning Isaac woke up at 6:30 a.m.! He and I had a great time together but I didn't get to go into the shower until Sue arrived. I had gotten Sam ready for school so that she could take the boys downstairs and I could get ready in peace. I took Sam to school and went to work. That night we had dinner at my parents house. We got there early and ate early, we were done by 7:15. Mom was coming back home with me to baby sit since I was going to a grown up party. So funny that both Mich and I were alone and going out without the kids too bad we weren't on the same coast. So off I went to a party at Miriam and Joe's house. The party was being held because Miriam was going to be on TV. So the party was very nice, great drinks and yummy food. I knew that I'd be with the kids all day the next day so I didn't over drink or stay out too late. I came home at 12:15 a.m. and went straight to bed.

Saturday I woke up at 6:45 and thought should I sleep more or take a shower today. The shower won. I was all ready by 7:30 waiting for the boys to wake up. I had been waiting until 8:00 to call my cousin Vicki and at 7:59 the phone rang it was her. She was wondering what we were up to and I told her that since it was raining I thought that I was going to go into the city to the American Museum of Natural History. Our family membership would get all of us in for free. The boys and I went to my mom's house to take her carseats to put them in Vicki's car so that we could all travel together. We got to the museum quite easily and parked in the garage there. All the kids had a great time and so did we! The favorite part for everyone was seeing the big whale hanging from the ceiling in the underwater exhibit. On the way home both of the boys fell asleep. When we got home I transferred Isaac into his crib and we carried Sam still attached to the car seat into the house. He stay asleep in the car seat for another hour! I spent that time picking up around the house. Once both boys were awake we ate dinner. We made an after dinner run to Trader Joe's to get coffee and then drove past two of the nearby houses that have really great Halloween decorations. I got the boys to bed and I was not far behind.

Sam woke up asking to go to the zoo again. He has been asking for days so I was thinking that maybe we should try to go. The weather was perfect, sunny and about 65. I called Cynthia to see if they wanted to come she said that Marc's parents were coming for dinner and she needed to be back early. I said that I needed to go to Costco and planning to be home early enough to shop there before they closed. She ended up not wanting to go to the zoo but suggested that I drop Sam off to play with Julia while Isaac and I went to Costco. I took her up on the offer and my small boy and I shopped unloaded the stuff at home and went back to get Sam. We ended up staying there for 2 1/2 hours. When I got back to the car I had a message from my brother saying that he was available for pumpkin picking after all. So we drove straight to Uncle Robbie's house to pick him up and we headed to the farm. We took a farm tour and it turns out that this place is the largest dairy farm in NJ. They have 650 cows that produce 16 percent of the milk consumed in NJ. We got to see the cows and pet them. They had about 50 baby cows that were so cute and little. They also had other farm animals like chickens, goats, donkeys, etc. Then in was back on to the tractor pulled wagon to the pumpkin patch. They great thing is that they planted pumpkins and gourd together. So there were lots of choices in the field. Sam ended up picking 10 gourds that are sitting in a bowl on the table in our kitchen. He was so proud of them! We dropped Uncle Robbie back at home and we were off to mom and dad's for dinner. I told them that I couldn't stay long because the house was a mess and I wanted things to be nice for Michy's arrival back at home. I got the baby to bed and Sam and I spent the rest of the night picking up the mess that was in nearly every room in the house. Then he and I went to bed.

Monday morning's Sue doesn't come to work because Sam has school at 9 and Isaac has school at 9:15 so I drop Sam at school and then Zack and I go to class and Sue meets me at 10:15 to take him home. I don't know what I was thinking telling her that she shouldn't come to my house first! It isn't easy to get all three of us ready and to school by 9 but we made it. Poor Mich's flight was delayed in LA and then she circled over Newark for 45 minutes.

LA

2005-10-21T15:28:00.000-04:00

That's where Michy is. She is going to a trade show and to visit factories today. Rosa and I made her dummy cards so that she could get into factories in LA that do what she does. I am so excited for her, she is hoping to see some new stuff out there. Apparently Los Angeles is the fashion trend capital of the moment. She was talking about opening another location in LA, but who would run it? So, I'm single momma until Monday, she is taking the redeye Monday night and going straight to work. Tonight we are going to have dinner at my parents house and then I'm going out to a party while mom watches the kids. An adult party, it's been a long time since I've been to one, it's a little sad that Mich can't go with me. It's supposed to rain all weekend, I had wanted to go to the zoo but not in the rain. Maybe we will go to the aquarium, I've heard that it's more then half indoors.

The shirts

2005-10-21T09:42:00.000-04:00

So the shirts are on order. I am so excited about starting this little side business. Mich has been buying these really expensive Grail tee shirts and tells me that she has the ability to make these shirts in her factory. I'm not exactly sure how I will sell them, I think that I will plan to start by signing up for a table at one of the gift fair things that happens at Sam's school. I remember going to two things last year prior to the holidays where people had table set up with stuff to buy. I was thinking that I should probably have a label for them. But what? More news about this to come for sure.

Our little one is in school!

2005-10-18T14:47:00.000-04:00

Isaac is in a classs called Me and My Shadow. It's a class for 13-22 month olds to get used to being in school. You stay in class with your child, it's one day a week for an hour. When Sam was Isaac's age my mom took Sam but this time I wanted to go myself. So my boss approved me going I'm only going to be 1 1/2 hours late one day a week. So we had our first class on Monday. It was so cute. We got there and they had free play stations set up. First Zack decided to play in the kitchen, then on to the playdoh, yum. Yes he always decided to eat it but at least now he spits it out. Then they did sort of attendance thing, where each kid had to take a little felt bear that has their name on it and carry it to the board and hang it up. Nearly all the kids did it successfully. It took Isaac a while, he'd go to the front of the room, nearly put the bear up, everyone would tell him how great he was doing and he'd run back to me. Finally he put his on the board. Then we all washed or hands for snack. He ate all the graham cracker and spilled the open cup of water that they gave him. They said he should practice, who am I to argue. It's only water, right? Then we went back to the mat and sang songs. The whole thing is so cute! I was glad to find that one of Sam's favorite classmates younger brother's is in the class too!

I was Shabbat Mom

2005-10-18T09:48:00.000-04:00

Friday I was Shabbat mom at Sam's class. Each Friday a different parent goes into the classroom, reads a story, attends Shabbat "services" and has snack, that you bring, in the classroom with the kids. During orientation at the beginning of the year Miss Meryl asked that the book we bring has some special meaning, not that they don't love hearing about Thomas or Princesses but on Shabbat especially they are looking for something more. Sam and I went to Barnes and Noble, one of his favorite stores, to get a copy of Todd Parr's The Family Book. We talked about what kind of snack we should bring, the notice said a healthy snack so we decided on strawberries, pineapple and cheese fish shapsters. We arrived at school and although you aren't supposed to get there until 9:15 and drop off is at 9, poor planning what are you supposed to do it those 15 minutes? I stayed in the classroom. Sam did tzadakah (charitable giving), they have a tzadasauraus, a dinosaur bank that the belly fills with the coins, where each kid takes turns putting their money in the bank. Then it was time for the class to sit on the carpet but not Sam and I. I got a big chair and Sam got a little chair in the front of the room. Then I read the book to the class. At the beginning Miss Meryl, Sam's teacher, told the class to zip it, lock and and give her the key. That was so cute, all the kids zipped their mouths, turned the key and then "tossed" it to her. Then all focus was on me, I read the book and the kids seems to enjoy it. At the end Sam and I told Miss Meryl that we had bought that copy for the classroom. She was so thankful. Then all of the kids went to get their kipots to wear to Shabbat. We went to the chapel and the Rabbi talked to the kids about how special this time of year is and how we have to say sorry for the things that we did in the past and that we should be thankful for other things. She asked the kids to turn to the person next to them and say they are sorry. Sam turned to me and said, Mom I'm really sorry. It was so sweet! I told him that I was sorry too. Then we talked about what we were thankful for and both Sam and his friend Jon told me they were thankful for Thomas. Then all the Shabbat mom's (there were 5 classes together in the chapel) were invited to the front for the prayers over wine, bread and we lit candles. Amazingly Sam knows all the prayers. After that we went back to the classroom for snack. Sam had to give out the challah, see photo above. He was instructed to ask each kid if they wanted any and then give them some. He was quite the host. He then helped me with the rest of the stuff. Strawberries and cheese were big hits, pineapple not as much. Then I asked if I could take a photo of his class, which prompted Sam to want to take a photo. Then the rest of his classmates wanted to take photos too, so I let each kid take a photo. Miss Meryl asked for copies of the photos and she made a collage for the class that she called our view of the class. It was all so very special, sweet and cute. At the end Sam thanked me so much for coming. Later at home he said that he didn't want me to be shabbat mom again because he didn't want me to let his friends use my camera or let them give me high fives. A little jealous, huh!

The Ring Man

2005-10-15T09:23:00.000-04:00

As promised, here are a couple of photos from my brother's wedding:

Here's Sam on his way down the aisle! Our little man is so cute!!!!!

On the left of Sam is Alyssa and on the right of his is Julia, the girls are my cousin Vicki's daughter who were flower girls.

This one is so sweet I had to show you.

Me with the happy couple!

Where to begin?

2005-10-07T15:53:00.000-04:00

I have had so much go on in the past week or so...

I went away for a conference for work. I had to go away for 2 nights to the Borgata in Atlantic City. Everything went smoothly both there and at home. I got amazing nights sleep, closed my eyes and then next thing I knew I heard my wake up call. My room was gorgeous, our convention manager upgraded me to a suite, too bad I had no one there with me. I had nice dinners with my co-workers. The best thing that happened is one of our long time exhibitors gave me an iPod. I took it to the Apple store and traded up to the Nano. Don't I think I'm cool! Now to figure out how to use it. Anyone have a knowledgeable teen to rent me.

Mich is still working like crazy. She hardly mades it home for dinner anymore and she had worked for at least the last 5 Saturdays and is planning to work tomorrow. Busy is good, she has lots of work but I feel so badly for all the problems that she is having. Hopefully things will settle and she will find the competent workers that she needs.

Sam is very lovable yet a total pain. He whines so much and I am having a hard time focusing on dealing with it properly. It grates my nerves and I feel like screaming and running away. He still comes home from school everyday talking about the evil Etan. Why does he like this kid so much and how can I get him to stop? I think that he's love affair with him is cause misbehaver at home too. He hits his brother for no reason out of the blue. Just walks past him and whacks him in the head or sometimes back. He has been getting immediate time outs for this but I'm not sure it's helping. I guess we'll just keep plugging away. Don't get me wrong he is still very sweet a lot of the time and we're not ready to trade him yet.

Isaac is a nut. He never stops moving, well to eat and sleep but that's it. He climbs as high as he can where ever he can. It's quite scary. He eats like crazy and anything we put in front of him. his latest unusual food was scallops. He still does not say any words but he is making sounds that seem like words. He uses some of the same sounds in the same situation so many they are words just not English. He now officially has 7 teeth. He has been slow to teeth but now the arrival of new ones come without fanfare.

Me, well, I have been thinking for a long time that I really should be doing Sue's job. I don't really make that much more then she does after taxes and Mich could put me on her health insurance at work, as long as I'm not working since I'd have to be shown as an employee because of the stupid domestic partnership laws in NY. Anyway, one of the main issues I had, besides the actually fear of leaving this job, taking on the kids and some little thing to make up the difference in $$ was that I worried that Mich would be jealous. It wasn't my worry, she said that it would bother her. If the roles were reversed I'd jump to let her stay home over Sue. Not that I would wish it could be me but I'd rather her them someone else. Well, she basically said that she thought we should get rid of Sue and that I should be with the kids. If only I could get off my butt and do something to make up the difference in dollars. I know that once I'm not working it will not make that much difference, I'll cook more or something. Anyway, Mich and I have been taking about starting this business doing embellishments on tee shirts and other clothes, to sell at the gift show and other places we haven't figured out yet. So today, I applied for a corporate account at American apparel to buy some garments to make samples. I think that this is a great business idea for us. Michy can do the embellishments in her factory so the cost will be minimal, it will also give her workers something to do during a slow period. I am going to try to start this while I'm still here and make sure that we think it's a sustainable business but I'm totally psyched! Maybe I'll even get to talk to Mich more, even if it's just to place orders.

This weekend I am going with the boys to the NY Children's Museum to see the new Alice in Wonderland exhibit, them hopefully Mich can meet us for lunch. Then on Sunday we have two birthday parties, one for Sam's classmate and the other is for cousin Julia. The funny thing is that they are at the exact same place, one starts at 11:00 and ends at 12:30 and the other one starts at 2:00 and ends at 3:30. Mich is going to take Sam to the first one, then we are going to meet for lunch and all go to the second one. After that, at Sam's request, my parents friends are coming over. He loves this couple, he calls them his friends Susan and Arthur, it's quite funny. So they are coming over to play with him and I had the dumb suggestion that they eat dinner with us. Oh and my parents are coming too, since I guess we can't have plans with their friends without them.

I guess that's all, I feel like I have so much more to say but I should get back to work. I'll post a photo of the ring man soon.

The Wedding

2005-09-25T14:46:00.000-04:00

My little brother got married to Kate. There was so much talk about this wedding, as I guess there always is about a wedding in your family. The wedding week officially started with the Bridal Luncheon, apparently a southern tradition of the woman in the brides family, in this case Kate's three Aunts, having a luncheon the day before the wedding. My cousin Vicki decided to go and we had a great time. It was fun to go to a nice restaurant in the middle of a work day and sip wine and eat salad. There were 20 woman there, I got to meet the 2 girls in the bridal party that I had not met before. After lunch we went back to my house where Sue was watching our boys and Vicki' girls. The kids had had a great time. After that Aunt Thelma took the girls to dance class while Vicki and I went to get our nails done. I was so happy with the way mine turned out. I never get them done and they really looked great. I went home and got ready to go to to rehearsal. Sam and I went and we rehearsed a couple of times. The priest, minister or whatever he was, put me in charge of directing the ceremony from the back. So I had to make sure that everyone walked when they were supposed to. Sam did GREAT. He was so cute practicing and I was very hopeful for a repeat performance the next day. After the rehearsal we went back to my parents house for dinner. Mich and Isaac met us there. As usually mom made a great dinner. The kids ran around and had a great time. We finally got out of there at about 10 and we were all very tired. I went into work at 6 the next morning because I am preparing for a conference next week. I left work, went home, showered and primped. Then I went to Kate's mom's house for photos. Meanwhile Mich and Sam got ready for the wedding and we all met at the place at 5:45 for more photos. The wedding started a bit late, but it was very nice until is started to rain. Yes, it was outside. It didn't rain all that hard until the very end and no one ran for cover. The combo Priest/Rabbi was great and you'll think these two guys had been doing these together for years. Sam and the girls were like kids out of a magazine, they were so perfect walking down the isle and they looking stunning. Not as stunning as Kate, boy did she look beautiful! The reception was very nice and after too many cocktails I found my way home. The next day I woke up early, nursed my headache while uploading the photos that we had taken. I got all 100 printed, pu them into an album and brought them to the brunch that Kate's parents were having the next day. Everyone was so happy to see the photos. The brunch was very nice. Rob and Kate are in Portugal for 12 days and will be back Wednesday. Now I'm just waiting for cousins. ;-)

Grape Pie

2005-09-21T08:44:00.000-04:00

I had never heard of it either. It's totally yummy though. It's like cherry pie only made with concord grapes. It was served with vanilla ice cream. A delicious dessert even for a non pie lover like me.

The Weekend

2005-09-19T15:03:00.000-04:00

Friday night Michy worked late again. I called Cynthia to see if she and Marc wanted to bring the kids over and have dinner together. Sam was thrilled with the plan. He and Julia really love each other and play wonderfully together. Jonah and Isaac are ever showing signs that they will play together soon. They are basically still into parallel play but they are so darn cute together. Jonah is only 3 months younger then Isaac.

When Michy finally came home at nearly eleven she told me that the possibility had come true and that she had to work on Saturday. She said that she wanted me to go to PA with the boys and have a good time and they she'd catch up with me later. I had gotten the Amtrak schedule because somehow I knew this was coming. She left for work at 7:00 a.m. We talked about her coming on the train that got in at 6:27 p.m. Okay, so she'd make it in time for dinner. I got the car packed and the boys ready. Just prior to leaving I decided to see if Sally had to pee, Bernie wouldn't be picking her up until 4. Well the *!%!ing dog rolled in something horrid and she needed a bath. So, I quickly threw her in the tub and scrubbed. Then we got in the car and we were off. Lancaster is a 2 hour and 45 minute and actually it went quite well. For those of you that have never been to NJ, you aren't allowed to pump your own gas, it's illegal. So, we are in PA and I see a station that has gas for $2.68 a gallon, at home it's over three dollars. I pull into the station, rolled down Sam's window and I get out of the car. Sam says like he always does, can I give the car to the man. Usually I had the credit card to him and let him hand it to the attendant. So, now I'm at the pump and he's asking again to give the card to the man. I tell him that I have to pump the gas. I see his little mind churning and then he says, Mommy, you're the man??? I cracked up! So finally we get to the place, it's in the middle of nowhere. We went over a covered bridge to get there then through giant corn fields and finally turned down a farm road and saw the house. We were greeted by the owner, who I had talked to on the phone. She said, you traveled all this way alone with the children? So, I said yes that I had to pick up Michelle at the train later. She introduced us to her two grandchildren ages 5 (Isaiah) and 3 (Becca) and said that she had to run to the store that was closing at 1 and that her g-kids come show Sam the animals and we could show ourselves to our room. So we went in and dropped the bags down and used the bathroom. Cute house, religious references everywhere, the room was clean and decorated nicely with not too many little things for Isaac to mess with. Then we went outside. The boys were in their glory, there were about 10 kittens, many cows, goats, chickens, sheep, a pony, a dog and a bunny. Soon Sam is learning terrible things from the G-kids, they were picking up these kittens by one paw. Then Isaiah is throwing cow poop around telling me it's no big deal cause it's dried. OY! Then our friends arrived. They went inside to drop off their stuff and came out back. I was telling Tyson about the kids and he told me that we had to come up with a new name for them because everytime I said the children were.... He'd assume it was our kids so his name: Pawflinger. Sam and Ronan did learn a little about how to abuse a cat from the Pawflingers but that was quickly quelled went Sam got scratched. I explained that he needed to be nice to the cats so that they were nice to him and the rest of our visit went without incident. My brave little Isaac loved all the animals! So much that he tried to get into the cow pen and stuck his fingers into the mouths of all the goats. He was equally facinated by all the kittens and followed them everywhere. Angela had gone back into the house to go to the bathroom and when she came out she said, so your husband couldn't make it? Apparently this woman made the assumption that my husband wasn't coming but that I had a friend coming to join us. I never did address that since I felt like I wasn't really in on the conversation. We then left for Dutch Wonderland and had a great time! I had gone there as a child and had fond memories and it's still a really fun place. The kids went on lots of rides. I'm sure that we will go back there again. As we were leaving the sky started to get dark and then the rain came very quickly. Of course we were at the back on the park at they had closed everything since it was 10 minutes past closing time. It poured and we got drenched. There were mini rivers that we had to walk through that came up to our calves. So, instead of going straight to dinner we went back to change. We went to the County Kitchen at the recommendation of our host for a traditional Dutch dinner. I had chicken which was really great but the best was my veggies called chow chow. It's a mix of corn, carrots and bean kind of pickled. Yum! The boys mac and cheese was amazing too. After dinner we went to pick Mich up at the Amtrak station. She was happen that I had saved her the majority of my grape pie. I had the foresight to change the boys into their pj's in the restaurant parking lot so it was easy to carry both our sleeping boys in to bed. The next morning I volunteered to go to the Stausberg Railroad to stand in line for Thomas tickets. The advanced tickets were sold out and 10% of the tickets were available for day or purchase. I was told on the phone that they start selling at 8 but to get there at 7:30. Well at 7:20 there was already a line of 25 people. They finally opened at 8:50 and I secured us tickets for the 12:15 ride. I got back, ate a little breakfast and we back to train-o-rama. A great time was had by all the boys and we got out of there as soon as we could. We grabbed lunch and then went to the Gap outlet, left there with a a giant bag of stuff. We started home and got stuck in a huge traffic jam took us 2 hours to go a mile.

Lancaster PA

2005-09-16T09:43:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow we have a trip planned to go to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. We are going with my college friend Angela, her husband Tyson and their 5 year old son Ronan. This trip has been planned for a couple of months. We are going to see Thomas and to go to Dutch Wonderland amusement park. We got rooms at the Bed and Breakfast on the farm where you can help feed the animals. What a fun family trip, right? Well, Michy is probably not going to come with us. I did find an Amtrak train for her to take out if the city at 3:00 on Saturday but she will miss the whole day with us. It's totally killing her. She is working so hard and I hope with all of the hope I have that all this work is going to pay off big time for her. There is nothing I can do to help and she thinks that we should go along with our weekend as planned. Thomas isn't until Sunday so there really isn't a reason that we couldn't go in the afternoon. I haven't talked to Angela yet to firm the plans but the original plan was to wake up and go. I guess that would be better then the boys and I trying to amuse ourselves all day while Mich worked and then starting a car trip. Mich will be able to relax on the train. It's totally better then her idea of driving out there after she is finished working. Since there is no one using the rooms that we are staying in tonight the woman told us that we could come as early as we wanted. It would be great to get there are be settled so that we could enjoy the afternoon. Mich said that she can't have the pressure of this weekend too, that she needs to focus on work. I'm not adding the pressure it's all self inflicted. So, I totally looking forward to Dutch Wonderland, I have a very fond childhood memory of the place. Their website tells me that it was voted in the top 10 amusements parks for kids under 10 years old. I hope that I'm not disappointed. I really could live for the rest of my life never seeing Thomas again. I know that Sam will have a cow when he sees him. He still talks about the last time we went and Isaac wasn't even alive then. It will be fun to see Sam and Ronan together in all their train glory. They both love those trains so very much.

I'm a single momma

2005-09-15T16:29:00.000-04:00

Well not really but poor Mich is never home anymore. She is working her butt off. I'm not even sure that the factory is totally moved. She is working on so many new applications. The postcard that we mailed telling people that she moved and letting them know they could visit their new showroom was such a hit that she had at least 10 people walking through the door every day asking to see it. Well the showroom isn't finished either. Everything happened so fast and everyone there is so busy that it's just not complete. She has been going on the 7:40 a.m. train and the train that brings her home arrived at 9:33 p.m. She never gets to see Isaac awake, it's probably been three days now. Sam is fine until about 9:00 and then he asks about every 3-4 minutes, when is mommy coming home? Is mommy coming home? We both know that all this hard work is going to pay off but I feel so badly for her. Me, I'm having a great time with the boys. Monday night we went to half priced pasta night with Grandma and Grandpa. Tuesday we had Vicki, Joe, Julia, Allysa, Rob and Kate over. The boys had a blast! Last night I took the boys to the mall, not that I accomplished anything, I was looking for shoes for the wedding and Mich and I both need hoses. I did get to return something at Macy's and we ate dinner but didn't do anything else. Except look at the beautiful new fish tank that one of the store put in. I haven't talked to her yet today and I wonder if I will be a single momma again tonight.

Will you talk already?

2005-09-14T15:12:00.000-04:00

There's my cute boy, yes that is a funny outfit. Let it be known theat his nanny picked in out and it's a good thing you can't see the shoes she put on with it. Actually most days I change his clothes before Mich gets home just so she doesn't see how silly he looks. Anyway, the boy is SO noisy but he doesn't have any words yet. He does sort of say things that make you feel like he is asking for something specific. Muh Muh Muh MUH MUH, okay do you want some milk? Whew. I can just tell how frustrated he is. We try to teach him signs for things but he doesn't seem to get it. I try to remember back to Sam and wonder did we have more time and work on signing with him more. Sam really didn't know that many signs but the ones he knew: up, more, milk, please, thank you, were definitely helpful. I can only hope that once Isaac does start to talk we are in for an explosion of words. He knows so many things. If we ask him to get something he will and never brings back the wrong thing. He will usually sit down when he is standing on some he shouldn't be. Like the top of the kitchen table. He has worked long enough on his motor skills now he should start on the verbal skills. He will already go down the highest slide at the park unassisted.

Ready to get some knowledge

2005-09-13T14:00:00.000-04:00

Sam had his first day of school this week. We went to parent orientation on Sunday night, we all met together for an overview of the program and discussed the changes from last year. This year they will be driven by a student guided curriculum. They will be flexible in the classroom so that they can go with whatever topics are prevalent in the classroom on that given day. Instead of getting a schedule of what is going to happen next week we will get a summary of what took place over the last week. He has several familiar faces in his new class including Jon who Sam adores! We also love his parents so we are very happy too. Sam really seems to love his teacher too, Miss Meryl is a prize winning teacher and we are lucky that he was put in his class. Sam still comes home talking about Etan, which doesn't thrill us. Apparently they see each other on the playground. I keep hoping that somehow Sam will lose interest and we won't hear about him anymore. We had to sign a permission slip for Sam to go on walking field trips at any time during the school year. I wonder where they will go? There really aren't too many places close enough to walk to. Sam is such a champion that he barely looked back when I dropped him off. I asked if he wanted me to show him where his new cubby is and then I showed him, he hung up his bag and went to play. He really is an amazingly wonderful big boy!

Labor Day Weekend

2005-09-06T10:05:00.000-04:00

Labor Day weekend turned out to be really fun especially going into it with no plans. We celebrated our 15 year anniversary. On that day we went apple picking with the boys. It was a beautiful day and to be outside in the field with no one else while out boys ran free though the orchard was really great. Sam loved picking the apples most of them weren't quite ripe so he took his whole body to pull them from the tree. From there we went to the Great Swamp and took a walk. It's a nature preserve that has several miles of boardwalks that go through the swamp leading to oberservation areas. The only wildlife that we saw was a snake that had just enjoyed a meal judging from the bulge in his belly. The lack of wildlife was probably because the boys were anything but quite. It was so great that we could let Isaac walk and there were only two direction that he could go in. That night we went to dinner at a Thai restaurant with my parents and we were presented with an over the top generous gift. The day before we went to Indian Town for a really great Indian buffet lunch and to have our eyebrows strung. Amy and Nadav joined us. We had a great day on Labor Day at our friends Jim and John's, the boys had a great time roaming around their backyard. Jim barbequed and we drank wine. It was perfect. On our way home Isaac feel asleep, no wonder he absolutely refused to nap at J&J's house. So, Sam and I went to the Italian Feast while Mich stayed home to relax with the sleeping boy. We met Vicki, Joe and the girls and had a great time. The kids went on lots of rides together and we finished up with us all riding the scrambler. Now Sam says he like to ride the rides that go fast and slow not just slow. We ate dinner there too. I got away without having to play any of the games. We did have fun playing the games last year with the Green-Moran crew but we DON'T need one more stuffed animal. We also had a great dinner at the Cohen's house. We christened their new grill with a wonderful meal and wonderful company. Sally was happy that she got to tag along and play with her friends too.

The whirlwind tour

2005-08-30T10:55:00.000-04:00

Mich made it bad from Vegas. Her plan to go to the office straight from the red eye was too hard on her so she decided to come home for a shower and a change of clothes. She actually had a change of clothes in her bag but their was a UPS place next to the bag check at the convention center so she shipped her bag home, one less thing to worry about. Well, she didn't think about not having her stuff one she got back home. So, she's at home for a few more minutes and then it's back on the train to go into the city. She has to go because she has an interview with a new accountant.

We had dinner with my parents at the half price pasta place. It's really amazing how good it was and the whole bill for my parent, me and the boys was $20. Sam was being a little bratty but I he stayed in check when I reminded him that we couldn't go to Barnes and Noble afterward if he wasn't a good boy. Isaac ate like a pig, what else is new. That boy is a little vacuum, it's lucky that he never stops moving or we wouldn't be able to lift him. The only reason I suggested Barnes and Noble was because it's not too far from Bernie's house. He was supposed to bring the postcards home so that I could figure out how much the bulk mailing will cost. Well, turns out he forgot to bring them so there was no reason to go that way at all and there was a Borders next to the restaurant. I didn't call Bernie until I was in the car with the boys all loaded in so we went there anyway. Sam loves it there. They have a train table and unlike other places they have tons of trains to play with. He got to pick out a book and of course picked another Thomas one. We got home last night and I started toward getting Isaac in bed. He didn't seem all that tired but I had a fairly easy time of it. Changed him into his pjs and let him play with Sam for a little bit. I tried to stay on top of the mess they were creating but that is no easy task. After a few minutes Sam and I kissed Isaac goodnight and I plopped him in his crib. He fussed a very tiny bit (probably only 20 seconds, I think he doesn't want to miss out on any fun) but then went right to sleep. Sam wanted me to read him the new Thomas book which I had already read to him once in the store. He wanted me to read him 10 books but I bargained him down to only 5. I told him that only 2 of them could be Thomas books. So, I read Oswald, Mr. Putter and Tabby feed the Fish, a Grover book and the two Thomas books. All of them had many words so when he lost interest in the middle of book number 5 I was so glad. Then I turned on the tv and we watched a show about underground cities that Sam referred to as the fish show. He crashed a few minutes later and so did I.

This morning Isaac woke on the early side. I hadn't gotten into the shower yet, I was trying to tidy up the house before Michy's return. My anti-clutter girl. Sam woke up at about 7:15 which is early for him too. Then the phone rang at 7:35, it was Sue saying that she overslept. So when she arrived at a couple minutes to 8 I ran for the shower. Amazingly I was only 5 minutes late for work.

Viva Las Vegas

2005-08-28T20:40:00.000-04:00

We dropped Michy off at that airport, she's going to MAGIC. It's the largest trade show for the fashion industry in the world. It's actually surprising that she's never been before. Hopefully her flight took off on time and she's about 20 minutes into her flight. You wonder why I'm here at the computer, well both the boys fell asleep on the way home from the airport. I knew that Isaac would, he didn't nap today, well maybe 45 minutes but he's a three hour napper. Sam had a busy day, we went to a birthday party at a karate place and he never stopped running around. So I tucked both boys in their beds fixed a glass of iced tea and headed for the computer. I am actually a bit tired so maybe I'll take this opportunity to get some sleep except I know that I won't sleep all that well in our big bed all alone. I told Michy not to call, she get in the Vegas at 11:07 which is 2 am here. Hopefully I'll be sleeping then. Mich is taking the red eye home tomorrow, she leaves at 10:15 p.m. and will go straight to work when the plane lands at 5:56 a.m. That doesn't sound fun. She is expecting to have a busy day in the office on Tuesday and doesn't even think she'll be able to come home early. So tomorrow night I'll be single momma again. I hope that both the boys decide to to behave and nap during the day so we can spend a night on the town or at least make it to the park.

A sticker for the car

2005-08-25T15:59:00.000-04:00

I've been thinking that a we need a sticker for the car. I'm not sure what it should be exactly but I want it to say two mom family when you see it. Not necessarily the words but an image that says it would be fine. So, I was delivering some stuff into the city for Mich's new showroom that she had bought in Target and on the way home I stopped on Christopher Street. I amazingly got a parking spot on the street and there was already 30 minutes left in the meter. Right across the street there was a shop called something like rainbow cards. I went in and looked at the stickers none of them appealed to me. There was one that seemed okay, it said family car with a rainbow flag underneath. So I left there and went to another store and they had the same selection. So I didn't get a sticker. There was another reason though, neither of the shopkeepers seems gay. Somehow I feel like I should be supporting the community. I discussed this with Michy and she said that's the beauty of America. So I'm trying to thing of other instances like this where I feel like I should support people because of the community. I like to buy at the greenmarket but I will get produce elsewhere if I have to. I'm hard pressed for other examples but maybe I should have bought a sticker from the straight guy. Maybe if he had the perfect one?

The sky are falling and other Weekend events

2005-08-23T10:47:00.000-04:00

Friday I took the day off and went with the boys to the Somerset County Fair. It's an old fashion fair, no rides, games or midway just mostly animals, food and some handiwork. Upon arrival we went in to the first tent to see the beef cows, Sam really wanted nothing to do with the cows he wanted to see the horses. Please mommy please lets go see the horses. So we left the cows passed by nearly everything else and went to see the horses. Well, they have them so you see the back on the stall, the front side is off limits to visitors. So, mostly we saw horse's butts. There were a few that were facing the inside but there was fencing that you could only get a finger or two through to touch them. It made petting them hard. After that Sam was happy to visit the other animals, we got to meet a cow that was only 18 days old, he was bigger then Sally but not by much. He was SO cute. We saw pigs, sheep, goats, alpaca, chickens, roosters, snakes, lizards and many more. At some point Sam said he was hungry so we got curly fries which both boys loved and an ear of corn on the cob for Isaac the four toothed corn eating fool. He loves it and can manage to get every kernel off. Then Sam saw someone with a cotton candy and wouldn't take no for an answer, so off we went to buy a cotton candy that was bigger then his head. He tried to eat it apple style, by just going at it with his mouth. It was very messy! We went through the tent with the information about 4-H and the county where Sam got to play little games to win prizes. He left with two frisbees, a couple pencils, a short ruler and a certificate for the goldfish that he won! On the way our he decided that he wanted to "work the digger" after refusing on the way in. The kids got to walk up a set of steps into the cab of a very large excavator and use the controls to make the digger go up then down. They were given cute yellow hard hats too. A big thank you to Aunt Marsha for letting me know the fair was on. It was too bad that that couldn't meet us since I know that Sam would have been very happy to see them. It's also unfortunate that it only happens during the week and Michy is in no position to take off with everything that is going on with the move at work. Poor Mich is hardly home, even working on Saturdays. I will be so glad when things settle there.

In our bedroom we had a curtain hanging over our bed. A little decorative curtain that hung near the ceiling attached to a board that was attached the ceiling. The board is about 1 inch by 4 inches and slightly wider then our king sized bed. We are sleeping, Mich, Sam, and I and it came out of the ceiling and fell on us. We awoke to Sam's blood curdling screams, he was totally inconsolable. He couldn't tell us what was wrong, he was crying and gasping for breath. It was horrible. After about 10 minutes of trying to calm him down we called my mom to come stay with Isaac so that we could take him to the emergency room. She arrived speedy quick, took her about 15 minutes to dress and drive to us. By the time she arrived he was slightly calm, He told us that his nose hurt him and asked for a bandaid. We put a bandaid and that made him more calm. He asked for a drink, took one sip, said the bandaid fixed his nose and asked to go back to bed. So we brought he upstairs and put him in bed, he asked to watch a mommy show so I put on a national geographic show about coral reefs. Fish are calming right. Meanwhile Michy had called the emergency number at the peds office. The nurse said that she'd have a doctor get back to us. By the time the doctor called back Sam was sleeping soundly. You could see the lines on the bridge of his nose where the board hit him. The doctor said that it doesn't sound like head trauma and that we could wait until the next day if his nose was broken. The next morning he woke up looking terribly swollen and bruised. I pressed on it to see how he'd react, trying to assess if it was broken. He said ouch mommy please don't touch it, it hurts but didn't make much fuss. He also said it was fine when asked. So I decided that he was okay.

Since Michy went into the city on Saturday she took the gold car. The boys and I went to Ikea to help mommy out with shopping for showroom furniture we went in the blue car. Thank goodness Grandma came because it was so crazy there. When I got home I parked the car in the road since Grandma's car was in the driveway. I never got to pull the blue car into the driveway before Mich came home so I left it on the street. We were in took much of a rush Sunday morning to put it back in the driveway.

Sunday morning we met Robin, Andrew, Jacob and Sara at the Bronx Zoo. We all had a great time! We spent the greater portion of the day looking at all the animals and using our membership to it's fullest by riding the carousel, going in the children's museum (home to Sam's favorite the donkeys) and riding the monorail. What a fun day!!

So we got home and pulled into the driveway. The blue car needed to be on the inside because it's the one that I take to work. Sue drives the blue car. We go into the backyard and fill up the kiddie pools. It was a hot day at the zoo and we are hoping that the boys will be happy to play while we try to relax a little bit. So we are happy in the yard and we hear this popping sound like fireworks. We look towards the street, the direction that we hear the noise coming from and see the wires bouncing up and down. I run through the house on to the front porch to see that a tree has fallen on our car. You can hardly see the car, the tree is blocking our half of the road. Within minutes the police were detouring people and directing traffic. Now we are hoping that either nothing happened to the car or the car is severely damaged. It took at least two hours for the emergency road crew to come to remove the tree. Turns out the car is dinged and scratched but not all that bad. The nice police officer dropped off the report and told us not to contact our insurance company that the county will pay for it. So Monday morning they came and took the rest of the tree down. It's very sad that it's gone. Maybe our garden will be happier. We still do not have phone service restored.

The boy's really growing up

2005-08-17T14:39:00.000-04:00

That's what Uncle Nadav said after returning from a trip to the bathroom with Sam. They left the table saying they were going to wash their hands. When they got back Nadav says Sam knows exactly what to do in the bathroom the only thing he can't do is pull his pants up all the way. He then goes on to say, he walked right up to the urinal, pulled down his pants and peed. A urinal? Has he ever even seen a urinal before? So Nadav says, doesn't he usually go in a urinal? Well, there are never urinals in the woman's room so I never get to see them. I actually assumed they were too high for him to use, since I haven't seen that many in my life. The rest of our 1/2 price sushi dinner was fairly uneventful. We had our favorite waiter Jeremy, who dotes on the boys endlessly. (I actually think he's gay and has caught on to the fact that we're a two mom family)Sam had his favorite, chicken and noodles, which as usual Isaac ate most of. Isaac also ate two pieces of eel and alvacado roll. Oh, and Sam had the required Exotic Sensation drink. It's mango and pineapple juice in a fancy glass with a cherry and a piece of pineapple pierced with a tiny sword and an umbrella.

How it went

2005-08-16T15:38:00.000-04:00

I woke up and looked at the clock, it was 5:30! We needed to leave for the hospital at 5:40. I ran downstairs and saw Sue standing at the door, I opened it for her and she said, I've been here since 5:15 but everything looked so dark I didn't want to wake anyone. Hello, you knew we needed to be at the hospital at 6! Well, at least we weren't up at 3 worrying. We dressed and threw down a cup of coffee as fast as we could. When we were all ready to go, I took Isaac from his crib, he slept through the transfer into his car seat. Whew. There was no traffic on the way to the hospital except for the stray deer that was behind in keeping up with her family. Michy screamed as I was slamming on the brakes. A near miss but the boy was still asleep. We decide it's best that we transfer Isaac to the stroller and hope that he will transfer yet again. Slick hands Lo gets him into the stroller without a problem! We get into the hospital, register and go to the waiting room to be called. I meet a woman who is there with her son, they call the kid in but the woman was at the registration desk. She says to the kid honey will you let Aunt so and so take you in I'm registering your brother. She come to sit down and I say two in one day? She says actually three, her 6 year old triplets were all having their tonsils removed. She goes in shortly after and Michy and I debate whether all in one day is better or not. We are finally called in at about 7. The first nurse asks us a million questions. Of course the which one is the mom questions came up and although she was lovely to us, I could tell she was processing and processing. The anesthesiologist came to meet with us and asked us the same million questions, he was better with the two mom thing. He explained that they would be putting him under using a mask and that as long as he didn't need to be under for more then five minutes he wouldn't need an IV. AN IV, THAT WAS NEVER IN THE CARDS! Well we hoped that wouldn't happen! Then the doctor came, she didn't ask about the two mom thing, had I told her? Mich had never met her before, I had been the one to go to all three of the prior appointments. She explained that there was a 10% chance that this wouldn't be effective and that he'd need another procedure where they'd actually leave tubes coming out. Out of where, his eyes? His face? Don't ask we won't be in the 10%. She also goes on to say that he should be back to himself about an hour or two after but that he may bleed from the nose. Mich and I discuss how they tell you the bad stuff when it's too late. I change into the white suit that covers me from my neck to my feet in preparation for accompanying Isaac in to the operation room. The nurse come back to take the vital, temp in the ear, blood pressure, pulse and a listen to his chest. WOW, he didn't even wake up through that! Yet another nurse come, she is the one that will be with him from the time the surgery starts through recovery. She looks at me and says, I guess you're mom, well actually we both are. She asks those Sam questions and says that she'll be back in a few minutes. Now it's about 7:25 and she and the anesthesiologist come and tell me that I should carry Isaac to the operation room sleeping. I pick him up, we walk down a long hall, through two sets of doors and there we are. They try to put the mask on him while he is still sleeping on my shoulder but no go. I think that the pressure on them holding the mask on his face caused him to wake. So I had to put him onto the table. The nurse was holding his body while the anesthesiologist was holding the mask on his face. I stroked his face and told him that everything was going to be okay and that I loved him. I sang a bit of the wheels on the bus, which always makes him smile. He looked into my eyes, with a look that said why are they doing this to me but he quickly went limp. I'm crying about this now but I was strong for him then. I went back to where Mich was waiting, took out my white suit. We were told that we should wait in the waiting room and that the doctor would come out and let us know how everything went. So we nervously flipped through magazines for what felt like eternity, looking at the door every time it opened until finally 15 minutes later they called. Only one of us could go in so I went. He was crying inconsolable. So miserable. I held him, I rocked, I sang and he cried. He needed to drink glucose water and hold it down before they would let him have milk. They had been trying to give him a tiny bottle with a newborn nipple on it like the ones they give you went you first have a baby. Finally he calmed down and decided to drink some on the water. Once he finished about 4 ounces they let him have milk. They seems to make him happier. They took they monitor off his toe and let us peel off the 3 monitor pads that were left on his chest. We got him dressed and as soon as a let him walk a little he was SO much better. We got in the car and were home by 9:30. He was a little cranky but all in all there were no visible signs except for the three circles on his chest. It's been 4 days now and he still seems fine. I better schedule the follow up!

Isaac's new toy

2005-08-10T14:10:00.000-04:00

I went to sign the papers today for accompanying Isaac into the surgical room. The woman was extremely nice and I could tell that she has to deal with so many parents who's kids are having very major procedures done. She explained everything to me and showed me photos of what the room looks like and how I'd be dressed. I had to fill out a questionnaire so that they could see if I am fit to do this, just to make sure that I won't make him nervous, probably more of a concern with older kids. As I was leaving I was given the new toy, a mini mask that will be used to administer the anesthesia. I am supposed to give it to him to chew on, I mean play with.

In other news, Michy had signed a lease on her new space. She will be moving the factory to a bigger space down the block. This is really big news! I am so excited for her. She of course is a big stress ball and her mind is churning a mile a minute. With the additional space she will be able to offer her customers different products and be able to do great production of the types of work she is currently doing.

The Forms

2005-08-09T15:27:00.000-04:00

Friday is Isaac's surgery. I am so not worried about it. We went through this with Sam, it was a much bigger deal for him, he was under for 35 minutes. With this procedure it's only going to be 3 minutes, that is so short, right? Well, I just talked to the hospital about going in to the room while he is put under. We didn't do this for Sam. They just took him away, he was little, 4 months, I don't even think he cared. I know that Isaac will care so I want to go in with him. I think he will be so much calmer if I get to go in then if they take him from me. I have to go sign some forms at the Child Life office at the hospital. So, when this woman said, so your will be the last face he sees, I nearly lost it. Will I even get out of the room before they start the procedure. I will go to the hospital on my way into the office tomorrow. I wasn't upset till now. I was hardly worried. Everyone says this is the most minor childhood surgery. Ah, the worry of being a mom.

Whew, I can finally stop lying!

2005-08-08T10:54:00.000-04:00

Mom's 60th surprise party was a great success. After weeks of on telling a twisted deceitful plot I can finally stop lying to my mom. It was so hard keeping the secret. We had to keep the secret from Sam too since we knew that he'd blow it. All of her friends were there, the food was great and she really enjoyed her party.

The rest of the weekend news was uneventful. Well actually I had a great day Saturday, Vicki and the girls came over. The kids played and played. Mich and Vic went to get their nails done while I stayed home with the kids. Asides from the girls falling down the playroom stairs, minimal crying, it was easy to be with the four of them. When they got home, Vic and I left Mich with the kids and we went shopping at Lord and Taylor. I got a cute new outfit for Mom's party. Dad felt bad that my hair was so awful that he called me and did my hair on Saturday afternoon. I got highlights and it looks great! Saturday night we say Lana and Colleen for dinner at their new house. We hadn't seen them in the longest time. It was so good to see them. We are all thinking the best and biggest implantation thoughts as we found out they had an embryo implanted earlier that day.

The Poop Doctor

2005-08-05T10:57:00.000-04:00

We saw Steven the poop doctor with Sam yesterday. You know he won't poop on the potty, he is perfect with pee, wears undies with no accidents. When he has to go number two he will get a pull up and ask that you put in on him. We would suggest that he try to go on the potty but at this point he won't even sit. So, Vicki took Julia to see this guy and we decided, what could it hurt. Basically he said that we have to lower the anxiety of going poop. That we have to stop talking about except for in a playful way. Wait Thomas has to take a potty break, he is going to poop. (Do trains poop?) He also said that we should get pooping toys, are their dolls that actually poop. He gave Sam a pig that poops when you squeeze it. We have to get him to sit on the potty three times a day, just sit without asking him to try. We are supposed to get 10-15 small poop prizes to wrap and keep in a basket in the bathroom. If there is any success he gets to pick one. When he does want to poop in a pull up we are supposed to just put it on him and change him after without any fuss. We are supposed to encourage him to only poop in the bathroom. So, day one of mission poop in the potty begins.

I'll let you know.

Weekend Fun

2005-08-02T16:01:00.000-04:00

Friday night we went to my parents house for dinner. That was fairly uneventful and always a reliable source of nutrition.

Saturday my cousin Vicki called, she was not going into the city as planned and was available for the trip to the Bronx Zoo. So, we all piled into her car, gotta love a mini van. It was Michy and I the boys and Vicki and her two girls, Julia who's 4.5 and Alyssa who is 3. What a great day!!! We joined the zoo since after 3 trips it pays for itself. We were planning on getting the regular family membership but then discovered that if we got the premium family membership we would all get in and get unlimited attractions. Woohoo! Vicki paid the $30 difference between the two prices so it cost us the same amount, she was happy because it cost her less then it would have if she just paid to get in. We were very happy because now we can get a guest in for free every time we go. It's good at all the zoos in the city, including the aquarium which we have plans to go to on the 13th. We had a great time seeing all of the animals and enjoyed all the special exhibits like the butterflies and the bug carousel. Also, it was great to spend so much time with Vicki and the girls. They live a couple blocks away but since we are both so busy we rarely sadly ever see them.

Sunday we went to the beach. I really don't like the beach but I had a great time since the rest of my little Feinberg family loved it. Isaac is a total nut, he will let the sea envelope him. Just stands and waits for the water to come, that's when he's not running away from us on the beach. Sam is a bit more cautious with the water only goes in up to his tush. He loves the sand, he builds and builts and digs and digs. Michy tries her best to soak up every ray that she can while I stay under the umbrella. After we left the beach we went to Red Bank. They were having their sidewalk sales. I got a great pair of Diesel shoes for $10 and we got my mom a birthday present. Sam had falled asleep on the way there and slept in the stroller for the first two hours of us being there. Once he woke up he asked for ice cream, we asked someone where we could get some and were directed to a place with an ice cream topping bar. Sam loved it, basically he ate a bowl full of sprinkles. On the way home from Red Bank Isaac fell asleep, that was about 6:00 p.m. Once we got home I transferred him to his crib where he slept until the next morning at 8:40 a.m. Holy sleeping Zack-man!

Spoiled Milk and the Cape

2005-07-29T09:43:00.000-04:00

I know don't cry over it but also don't feed it to your kid! We went in the city Wednesday night to meet friends for dinner. After our third night in a row with VERY well behaved boys in restaurants we stopped in a deli to pick up a small container of milk for Zack's bottle. We just poured it into the bottle and gave it to him. He fell asleep on the ride home. When we got home I picked up the bottle and it looked like there were bits on the sides of the bottle. Went inside and opened the bottle and it was rancid. Smelled awful and was totally chunky. He must have known that something was wrong with it becuase he barely drank two ounces. He had diarreha the next morning and vomited about the amount of a big spit up. I called the doctor and she said that the worst was probably over.

So that silly cape that I made from my old shirt for dress as your favorite character to camp has become a favorite. He has worn it every night to dinner and puts in on all the time. Maybe I should make a more proper cape? The man from the mobile blood drive that was standing outside of Trader Joe's told me that I should cut an opening and use velcro to close it. He was worried about Sam choking.

I'm so glad it's Friday, for a weekend with no plans it's starting to shape up to be a busy weekend. We are thinkning about going to the beach one day and the Bronx Zoo the other. I think that we are not having dinner at my parents house tonight. Michy birthday is Tuesday, I have to (shhhhh don't tell her) get her ring, it's ready. I was thinking of only working half a day Monday and going to the picture people to get a photo of the boys done.

Batman

2005-07-26T15:05:00.001-04:00

Today Sam was asked to wear a costume of his favorite character to camp. Sam doesn't have a costume, does he even have favorite character? Thomas, is that a character? I went to the children's consignment shop up the road to see if they had any costumes. Only one that looked like it may fit him, a power ranger. He doesn't know who they are. It has long pants and long sleeves, the forcast for today is 100 degrees. Even at 85 that costume would be hot. A cute ralph lauren shirt caught my eye, it was a size 5T. I can't hang on to that for 2 years even though it's in perfect shape and only cost $3. Maybe I should go back. I decided that I ought to flip through the 3T stuff, maybe there will be something wonderful there. What I found was a batman tee shirt for 50 cents. That's what Sam wore to camp today. We took one of my old black tee shirts and cut the front and sleeves off. That was the cape. He looked cute. He doesn't know who batman is. The report I got from Sue who heard from his teacher was that they had a play, where they were each their characters. Sam said grrrr. Must have been a funny play, at drop off this morning there was Etan, in a spiderman tee shirt and 5 girls in princess costumes. Tomorrow is pajama day.

My late 30's and sand

2005-07-25T11:35:00.000-04:00

Today I am officially in my late 30th, yup I'm 37. Age never bothers me even though I am starting to do that thing where you figure out how old you'll be when your kid will reach some milestone. Oy. Michy stressed about what to get me but she doesn't realize that I really don't need a gift. Not to say that my birthday isn't important to me, it is, I love my birthday. I want to have a happy day, with people being nice but gifts aren't the important part. The boys have a gift for me which I will receive later. We are going out to dinner tonight to Thai Thai with mom, dad, Rob and Kate. Michy told me that she gave the best birthday gift idea to my parents cause her not to have any other ideas. I can't wait to see what I get.

We had a great weekend! Went to the beach on Saturday, decided to try Seven Presidents this time, it was wonderful there (thanks Leslie)! The beach was clean, they had great a great bathhouse and food that you would actually want to eat. The majority of the food surprisingly wasn't fried and you could even get a salad, oh, and it wasn't really expensive either. Both of the boys had an amazing time. Sam got braver, he went into the ocean past his waist and fearless Isaac sat and let the surf envelope him. They played in the sand, digging and building. Isaac at one point ate a handful of sand. Michy and I talked about just how much sand is bad for a baby. I think we decided that he would stop, who likes to eat sand? He did chew on several of the shovels and pail handles that were covered with it. He didn't seem to care. When we got home he and I took a shower together prior to our meeting my parents for theatre in the park. So Sunday he wakes up with a poop, yes it was mostly sand. It was so much sand I had to give him a bath. Very strange. He didn't seem to mind.

Swimming and Surgery

2005-07-21T10:20:00.000-04:00

Sam is taking swimming lessons. We were worried that he wouldn't even want to go in the water since just a few weeks ago he wouldn't let us carry him into the deep end of the pool at Disney. But here we are week 4 of swimming lessons and he's doing an unassisted doggy paddle. Hooray!

Isaac has to have a tear duct opened. He will only be under for a total of three minutes. They basically stick a long pin into his face near the corner of his eye and open a drain that is clogged. After having gone through hernia surgery with Sam I know that this won't be so bad but still we worry. They rate of success decreases so drastically with time that we have to do it soon. So on my mom's 60th birthday, August 12th, it's set.

2005-07-15T11:37:00.000-04:00

The Pony Cart ride on the Boardwalk

Recent news

2005-07-15T10:49:00.000-04:00

I can't believe that it's been months since I've updated here. How will I ever amass adoring fans? Actually, I'm not really looking for any. I can't believe how busy we are. We never stop. There are parties and plans all the time. We are really having a great time but it leaves little time for reflection.

Disney! We had a great trip. The boys were great on the flight. Once we arrived at about 7:30 p.m., Sam kept asking to go home so we explained that we were going to stay in a hotel. Finally we explained that this was our new home for the next week and everything was fine. He actually woke up the next day telling us that he loved his new house. He went on and on, I love the new bed, I love the new chair, I love the new bathroom, you get the idea. It's funny now that we've been home for a while he will ask if we can go back to our new house. Too cute! Our days went mostly like this, wake up and somehow Michy and I woke up earlier then either of the boys every day except there were two days that Zack and I left the room to let Sam and Michy sleep. We get our acts together, sunscreen, diaper bag, water bottles etc and head off to the Disney buses. We go to a park, ride some rides, see some stuff and by lunch time we'd either eat in the park and leave or leave and eat at the hotel. OH, the hotel, we stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. It's amazing, they have these "savannahs" where animals roam around outside your balcony. At any given time there were zebras, giraffes, wildebeest and others, it was so nice to wake up and drink coffee while watching the animals eat their breakfast. Both of the boys really loved that too. So, we'd go back to nap and swim. Zack was surprisingly amazing with sleeping while away, he didn't mind the pack n play in the room and could nap for 2 hours in the stroller if we were on the go. Sam loved the pool and loved making new friends, he did so any time we were standing still, in the lines, in the bathroom, at the pool, in the elevator. He is so social, says hello to everyone. During the afternoons at the hotel Sam would work on his bead necklace, they had 5 activities that each earned one bead once you had all 5 you got a special totem bead. They activities were all nature/animal/African related. One was flamingo feeding, music of the Savannah, African games, etc. In the evening we would go back to one of the parks for more fun. We went to several character meals which the boys loved. Sam especially loved our dinner with the princesses. The photos are priceless, you can see that he is smitten with each of them. It's a good thing that they brought he some food quickly that he ate because once the Princesses showed up he couldn't do anything but stare. It wasn't exactly a relaxing vacation but we all had a great time. Our last day there Zack woke up with a fever and was a bit miserable. We got through the day, got to the airport to find our plane had just been delay, so that sucked. Turned out the poor guy had an ear infection.

Isaac. After hearing so many people call him Zachary we decided that we will try to call him Isaac. We both love the name. We had come up with Zack as a nickname because we really didn't want Ike. We have been trying to call him this. He hardly responds, since only my dad calls him that without fail. Maybe but kindergarten? Speaking of Isaac, he is ALL over the place. That boy never stops moving. He runs. He climbs. He will be our ER child. He has no fear. Shows no caution. The good thing is that no matter how bad it looks he never seems to mind the fall, just gets right back up and keeps moving. The only thing that stops him is food and man can that boy eat. He eats much more then Sam. We will get them something to share, mac and cheese for example, we end having to give him part of our food while Sam has left overs. We keep telling Sam he better watch out that soon his brother will be bigger them he is. Isaac (Zack, I can't stop!) had two teeth on the bottom, that's it. At this point Sam had about 10 teeth. There are two teeth on the top that seem like they are trying to make their way down, maybe they have even broken the gums. For now he still has that wonderful gummy smile!

Sam is going to camp this summer. He goes 4 days a week from 9 to 12:30. He is so well adjusted that he doesn't look back once I open the door to his room. Just walks away, his teacher says to him Sam say goodbye to mommy. Then he give a slight turn of his head and says bye. On the day he doesn't have camp he takes swimming lessons at the Y. To our surprise loves it. Yesterday was the third session and he put his face in the water and blew bubbles. This was the kids that clutched to us for dear life in the pool in June. He is verbally amazing, he knows so many words and it's truly conversational with nearly anyone who will talk to him.

I just finished a big event for work that had been keeping me very busy. I will have a slight lull before the September show gets into high gear. I'm hoping to play hookey from work a bit to do some fun stuff with the boys. I want to get to the Bronx zoo. I am hoping to plan a weekend trip to Landcaster PA to go to Dutch Wonderland and Hershey Park. I can tell that we won't be slowing down but the horizon is looking very fun.

Where to start?

2005-05-09T15:34:00.000-04:00

Gosh it's been a long time since I posted an update and a lot has happened!

The Party

The boys birthday party was a great success. It rained all day Saturday and was supposed to have stopped by the time we woke up. Well as I was driving to Costco to pick up the cake at 10:00 a.m. it was still rain. I began to wonder exactly what we would do with the 40 or so kids and 70 adults that were expected to arrive at our house in just four short hours. Thank goodness we were lucky as usual and the sun came out and dried up all the rain and we got to have the party outside. Zack fell asleep on the way back from Costco and didn't wake up until 1:00 p.m., we couldn't have planned it better if we tried. Sam was a phenomenal host, he would run and greet all of his friends giving hugs or high fives some special friends even got kisses! We had plenty of food and the sangria was a hit. Izzy the entertainer arrived at 1:45 and he made balloon animals for all the kids, then he did a magic show, Sam got to be the star in a few of the tricks, he finished his gig with face painting. Then we did the pinatas which ended up need to be ripped open by adults, three year olds can't whack them open I guess. Shortly after he left the ice cream man arrived and everyone was happy. I was surprised by the number of adults that actually got ice cream. We then did the cake, see photo here. After this people started leaving, first Sam's classmates. There is some unspoken rules about kids birthday parties, we are starting to learn. So far we know, once cake is served you should eat it quick and get out of there. The other is only one parent should go to the party. After a short while we were left with close friends and family. The people at the end were so nice and helped clean up and get the food put away which was terrific. Between Sam and Zack they got SO many gifts. As the people were arriving Sam wanted to open each gift, after he understood that he was not going to get to open them till after he stopped asking. Then at the end when we told him he could open which ever ones he wanted he didn't really want to open all that many. So, gift opening took 3 days. One of the favorite gifts he got was a doctor kit, he's been helping everyone feel better since. He also got Edward and the Gold Mining cars, thanks Jim and John they were the big hit! As always I feel like I didn't get to spend time with anyone but I did have a great time. Everyone we spoke with afterwards told us that it was one of the best kids parties they had ever been to. We feel really good about that.

Mother's Day

We knew that we were getting two Mother's day presents from school. Sam told us, he told anyone that would listen. I have two moms and I'm making two mother's day presents. We have a very cute smart kid. He was bursting at the seems about them. He brought them home from school on Thursday and he insisted on us opening them that night. We each got a card with his hand print and a photo inside. On the back there is a list of things that we "like" as Sam see it. The list was so cute and mostly right on for both of us. He did say that I loved hot dogs and wore bulldozer pajamas, neither of which is true but he also said that I love pink and that I love to go to Fujiyamama to eat sushi, which he's right on about. The cards were attached to tissue box holders that were painted and have a photo of Sam on them. Sam was very specific about which one was mine and which one was Michy. It was the sweetest thing, we were both near tears. The whole time we were opening them he said over and over again Happy Mother's Day.

2005-05-09T15:32:00.000-04:00

The birthday party!

Time flies, Sam's three!!!

2005-04-25T16:35:00.000-04:00

Our big boy is three! Not exactly sure how that happen cause time flew by so fast. The day started him going into his room to find his Thomas play tent all set up with presents inside. He was so happy to get new Thomas stuff for us and his brother. Then we went downstairs and ate cupcakes. We were both supposed to take the day off and do something special with Sam. Michy ended up having to work so I spent the day with Sam. We went on a play date with one of his absolute favorites from school, Ruby. I didn't spend any time with him there, he was with her and I was with her mom. From there we went to the park, the ice cream man was there so we had to get something, what a mess but Sam was happy. Stayed at the park for a long time, we didn't outlast the ice cream man so that cause a mini meltdown on the way out of the park. Once in the car Sam requested a hamburger and milkshake so I took him to McDonald's. He had such fun in the play place. It was a small one so there weren't any big kids which I find safer for Sam. We went pee pee on the potty at McDonald's, how do you not show your kid how gross you think a bathroom so that won't get worried about using it? Sam fell asleep on the way home so I did a kid switch, transferred Sam into his bed and took Zack who had just woke up. We did a little shopping. He's so happy to be out, never complains just rides in the cart taking in the world. That night we had dinner at my parents house Sam got 7 new Thomas trains. Grandma made a Thomas cake. Sam was in his glory!

2005-04-13T16:34:00.000-04:00

Where are the teeth? Zack enjoying the summer like weather!

2005-04-13T16:31:00.000-04:00

Sam can finally steer this thing, good thing we have managed to keep the batteries charged! He loves driving it.

Nope, I have two moms

2005-04-13T14:23:00.000-04:00

We were out to dinner last night at what is become a weekly event, half priced sushi at Fujiyamama. We were there with our good friends Amy and Nadav, at the table I was across from Nadav at one end, the kids were in the middle and Mich and Amy were at the other end. Right behind Sam was a little girl that was in between our boys in age. She kept saying hi to Sam and pointing at Zack and saying baby. After a while the mom at her table started talking to Mich, Sam and Amy. Sam decides to tell this woman "My birthday is April 15th, I am going to be three and I am going to be tall. So the woman replies, you're dad must be tall. Sam says I don't have a dad, I have two moms. So she says, well everyone has some kind of Dad. Sam then said, nope I have two moms.

We were SO proud of him. What a guy for being so grounded in knowing about his family. Hopefully we can foster this so that he always feels so perfectly fine and normal about having two moms.

Oh, after Sam said nope I have two moms the woman told him that he was a very lucky boy.

Small effort big change

2005-04-11T12:06:00.000-04:00

The house looks amazing. Who would have thought that one new sofa could change the whole downstairs. Well, that was the start of it anyway. Both of the livingrooms were painted and the fixture from my grandparents house was hung. Lishy came with Greg, his mom and Danny to take out old furniture away. We should have done this a long time ago. Makes me want to invite people over for cocktails. Wanna come?

Sam will be three on Friday. How can that be? He was only born a little while ago and now we have this amazingly smart little boy living with us. Last night a commercial came on that had a computer generated baby talking, he sat up and said, "mommy babies DON'T talk!" Doesn't quite sound as cute as it was. I can't believe that he is so smart, I'm so impressed with his interpersonal skill. He is a great host to playmates that come to our house. He is usually polite. Another thing he said to me over the weekend was, mommy I love you, you are a great friend, you are a great sharer. I'm always surprised by what comes out of his mouth. We are both taking off on Friday to do something special with him for his birthday. We still haven't decided what we are going to do.

Zack climbed the rock wall on the swing set. Yes all by himself, I was standing there to make sure that he didn't fall. I can tell that he will be our monkey, he will cause us trips to the ER and bones will break. I should try to get a photo of this. He's so little to be climbing like this, or at least compared to Sam who sat like a lump and never climbed anywhere.

The Pool Man cometh

2005-04-06T10:07:00.000-04:00

Tonight a man is coming to the house to talk with us about putting in a pool. He said that we could be swimming by the summer. Wouldn't that be nice. Work around the house continues Matt is painting in the front room and the couch is scheduled to arrive today. The house is a general disaster with stuff everywhere but it will be over soon and it will be much better.

I ordered a bunch of stuff for Sam for his birthday. I'm still looking for the perfect thing for Zack to give to Sam. It's kind of funny finding a present for one of your kids to give to the other. I want Zack's gift to be a special one because Sam has developed the most amazing memory and will know that it came from his little brother. I guess our gift should be special for the same reason. I can't believe that he will be three in just 9 days. How did that happen?!?

Zack has two teeth. He never lets us see them but he decided to bite my arm and it felt like more then gums so I tortured him for a peek. There are two tiny not even fully in teeth on the bottom. I'm working on getting a photo but usually he just sucks in his bottom lip, it's like he knows.

Lois

The House

2005-04-04T10:22:00.000-04:00

Las week Michy had off because it was Good Friday and I never work the day after the conference ends and it was a work day for Sue. So, we went a little shopping expedition bought a new refrigerator and a new sofa. Just like that totally spur of the moment, no checking around, no looking a features just okay we'll take it! So our new Kitchen Aid fridge arrived in the kitchen two days later and the sofa will arrive on the 6th. Of course this spurred on lots more activity, we left Domain where we got the sofa and headed to the fabric store for material for curtains. Got home and called the painted and as of Friday the living room is quite different. Michy worked on the curtains and we got them hung. She made a big mistake in the cornices and I told her to stop thinking about them for the rest of the weekend. We have still not come up with a solution on that one. Yesterday we had the very special light fixture, that had been hanging in my grandparent's dining room my whole life, hung in the livingroom too. SO much house stuff so little rest!