Daycare just called...

Apparently Monkey really coveted the Ritz crackers that his friends were having. The teacher asked if he could have one.

"Of course" I said and hung up the phone.

Then I realized it... Slowly my baby is growing into a little boy.

It made me want to cry.

Maybe it is just the lack of sleep...

So, I was on my way to work this morning and I heard it again...an argument about banning children from restaurants.

Now, don't get me wrong, I understand the desire to have a nice quiet meal and that SOME children mess that up. But when I tell you this whole "kid free" thing pisses me off, it is the understatement of the year. We take our son to restaurants to teach him how to act. And he acts well or we go. It is as simple as that. But people seem to want to punish good families for what bad kids have done. And that is not acceptable and not fair.

When we go to a restaurant, we bring baby food, milk, and something for him to play with. When we walk in it always happens... we get a dirty look from someone in the restaurant. A look that says "how dare you bring your child here?" We ignore it and sit down and our son happily eats his puffs and plays with his toys. Occasionally he will look around and flirt with the table behind us. He is good as gold and if the dirty look people leave before us, I will shoot them a dirty look of my own.

I also don't appreciate going to a restaurant and being seated as far away from everyone as possible. We don't have a disease, we have a kid. Kids happen. If they didn't then there would be no one to leave the world to when we go. Exposure to social situations need to happen; otherwise we will potentially be left with a generation of socially awkward kids.

I am going to go on the record here. If a restaurant we go to EVER institutes a kid free rule, then it is the last time we step foot there ever. I shouldn't have to call a babysitter last minute or have to plan when we want to go to a restaurant instead of cooking.

Sorry, just the entitlement of people sometimes really gets to me. It is a PUBLIC place, and like it or not, my family is part of said public. Institute your kid free policies if you don't like it, I guarantee you that there are many parents like us who won't give your restaurant our hard earned money anymore.

My Sleep Apnea Journey...

In December I was in the hospital with Pneumonia, and it was there that the nurses thought I was sleeping oddly. My follow up with the pulminologist touched upon my sleeping problems that I have had since I was pregnant. (Getting 8 hours and feeling like I got no sleep at all, feeling sucked of all energy, stuff like that.)He suggested I get a sleep study done, because all my issues seem to lean toward sleep apnea.

So I set up the appointment, and I started to notice more about how I slept, as well as how I was feeling. When I met with the doctor, he said he was 99.99% I had sleep apnea, but we needed to do the sleep study. Two weeks later, I did the sleep study and now I wait for my follow up appointment next week.

I just have to say - I am sick of having no energy. I am sick of not feeling like I am getting any sleep. It is very frustrating when I am too tired to play with my son. Today I feel like I am dragging and I felt completely zapped of energy after the zoo. Last night Mr. followed me to the bedroom because "I looked drunk".

The treatment:

1) I could have that lap band surgery and that will help me lose weight and that may fix things. -- First off, I am not super overweight. Second, that is MAJOR surgery. Not something I really want to do. Also if I have another child, I would have to have surgery to have the band adjusted/taken off.

2) C-Pap machine~ This is the reasonable one of the two. I would have to sleep with a machine helping me to keep my airways open. This would give me a better nights sleep, and that would give me more energy to exercise, and that would give me some weight loss. Sure it would take longer, but this way definitely works.

I will chronicle my journey here... besides the pictures of the cute baby.

The Big 30 - The day the frozen earth melted!

My Birthday was yesterday and for the first time in my life it was warm. As a kid, I can't even begin to tell you how much I hated a winter birthday. In fact now, Mr. and I are going to aim all of our kids for that Spring/Summer Birthday. No kid deserves a blizzard ruining their birthday.

So weeks ago I earned a comp day at work, and decided to take the day off. I figured that I would take Monkey to the Children's Museum and we would go to lunch or something.

Then I saw the weather report... 60 degrees? I instantly thought that we should do something fun and outdoorsy.

Then it hit me. This winter birthday gal wants to go to the zoo!

And zoo we did my fair readers. There is a little zoo in Attleboro Massachusetts called Capron Park Zoo, and it is perfect to go through if you have a 8.5 month old. It took about an hour to travel through (not rushing) and had a petting zoo with llamas and goats!




Monkey gets up close and personal with the goat.

They also had a big run through sprinkler area for the summer and a bunch of swing sets. They also had a little area with those rides that you would see outside of Roche Brothers or Stop and Shop. The ones that cost $.50. Monkey loved the jeep with the giant ape sitting in the passengers seat.



So needless to say, the trip was successful, and a great and memorable birthday was had.

I even made a white cake with homemade strawberry frosting... I just need to work on that frosting technique....cause it came out all soupy! But Mr., Monkey and myself sat around it and sang happy birthday. Mikey was fascinated by the candles and the hats and the blowers! And as usual, My boys spoiled me rotten.

Dear Monkey....

Dear Monkey,

It is hard to believe that you are 7 months old! You astonish me everyday with how much you have grown and how smart you are getting.

All I have to do is sing "Good morning to you" and you wake up all smiles. And at night, once the long day is over; all you need is a snuggle, story, and the good night song to set you off to the new adventures in your sweet dreams. I love watching you. It is crazy, but every move you make fascinates me. I am still in awe that your daddy and I created something so insanely wonderful.

I don't get to spend every day with you like I want to, but sending you to school and letting Grandma watch you two days a week was one of the smartest things I have done for you. Watching you play well with others and trying to share toys is so cool at such a young age, and it makes me one proud Mommy.

Someday, when you are older, I will yearn for these days back. I always wish I had more time with you when you were a newborn. I love each and every moment and memory we make. That is why I always have a camera and I am always taking pictures. Your smile is infectious and your belly laugh is adorable... especially when I copy your movements. For some reason you find that so funny!

This weekend we are going to family movie day for daycare. It is your favorite tow truck in Cars 2. You think Mater is so funny and you lie on the floor and laugh at him when we show you a short. I don't know if we can last a movie, but the money goes to the school and your little girlfriend and your buddy are going to be there, so worst case you guys can roll around and play. We are also going to do some finger painting, which you are great at. It is supposed to snow, so we may go out to see the snow.

Life with you is amazing. It is all your daddy and I could have hoped for. We hope you know what a blessing you are, and how incredible our life is because you are in it.

Love,

Mommy

The Holidays with a 6 Month old... Or How My House Turned Into Santa's Workshop.

The holidays have come and gone and they were magical. It was fun to be a family on Christmas morning and open gifts together. (Monkey liked eating the wrapping paper.) It was fun to see him react to each new toy. He also thought it was funny when Mommy hugged her new Kitchenaid Artisan blender.

After the present opening though... the boy looked like this.

But when he woke up he was excited to play. We weren't home for too long though. We were soon off to Grandma and Grampa's house for more presents and dinner. Then off to Nina and Papa's for dessert and then presents.

As always, we did our stocking's on New Years and welcomed the new year with Grandma and Grampa in the morning and with more family in the afternoon. All in all it was fun and hopefully next year we can do more, like go to see the lights at the local shrine. (Health permitting, of course.)

Happy New Year everyone! My resolution this year is to enjoy the time I have with him this small. He is growing so fast!

Christmas Time is Here!

It really is! I would have written sooner, but between the boy and I both being in the hospital (We are fine... a case of ALTI for him and Pneumonia for me) the season has been shorter than usual.

But I love the Christmas season, so the past week has been Christmas overload. We almost finished shopping.... we have a couple of gift cards left. The house smells of Christmas trees and cookies and we brought the boy to see Santa. We even dressed him like Santa.

So as you can see... he looks so cute. So we pack him up and take him to the mall the SATURDAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS!!!! We were crazy. But it worked for us. We got in the long line with everyone else with an infant wanting to see the big man. The line was an hour or so long and when we got up there I thought he was going to lose it because he was hungry and tired.

Instead... he looked at Santa, looked at me and took this picture.

It made my holiday season. I love the Monkey!

When we got home, I noticed something.... his bottom front teeth are working on making an appearance.

Apparently all he wants for Christmas is his two front teeth.

Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukkah or Happy Kwanzaa!