Rory is Proud of His Baby Belly

While playing with the t-ball set outside, Shelagh accidentally hit Rory with the plastic bat in the belly. He dropped his bat, grabbed his belly and said with a straight voice "Oh...my baby belly" followed quickly by "The baby in there is crying". Seriously.

Fall 2008 TV Schedule

I've really cut down on my TV watching this summer. We're only watching Weeds and Mad Men and that's it!!! For anyone that knows me, this is monumental. I'd like to say it's because I've opted to do more cultured things, my husband and I are spending more quality time playing cards and games, and I'm reading like crazy. But, alas, those reasons are not true. The truth is the writers strike really screwed me. What used to be a lovely spattering of shows throughout the year is now a clusterf*&^ of crap in 2 nights almost all at once. It's really going to be survival of the fittest. I just reviewed the Fall 2008 TV Schedule on the Futon Critic site and it's going to be tight.


On regular TV,
The Office, 30 Rock, Scrubs, ER, and Greys. Thankfully, Heroes, Lost and a few others don't start until Winter. I think I'm dropping Private Practice...it was kind of corny anyway.


On cable,
Dexter, Entourage, True Blood, and the Shield. Starter Wife is starting again on USA, but I think I'm stretched too thin and will have to skip that one. I'm just relieved that Big Love and Curb Your Enthusiasm have Winter starts now!! True Blood is the new HBO show about vampires. I know I seem a little obsessed with Vampires lately, with the reading of the Twilight books, but the guy that created Six Feet Under is doing this show so it's a must try in my book.


Yes, it's pathetic the volume I watch in a given week. In our defense, 4 of the 9 shows are 1/2 hour (which is 20+ mins w/out commercials) and the remaining 5 shows are closer to 40+ minutes without commercials. That's not a rationalization, is it??? Good thing Joe and I like mostly the same shows. He does not watch Greys and I try to avoid sports with all my might. Thank GOD for the DVR. All my network shows are on Thursday night and all my cable shows are on Sunday night, so the DVR helps me spread everything out over the week.

Closets in NYC

The author that wrote this article from New York Magazine has a blog and that's how I found it. What an awesome collection of peoples closets...Random, but cool.

What I Love About Being Pregnant Right Now

The simple things...

1. Elastic waistbands on my pants.
2. Rationalizing that eating 4 mini-peppermint patties a day is okay b/c a) it fulfills my sweet need and b) after all, it is a "low fat food". Haha. Thank you, Costco, for selling these by the case.
3. Shelagh and Rory like to give Baby Belly zerbits (who the hell knows how to spell that) and kisses.
4. I don't have to change the cat litter or pick up stray cat poops (yes, we have stray cat poops, although Lickey Cat is in the crate now so that's stopped).
5. I sleep really heavily. Yes, I get up to pee, but then it's deep slumber with lots of weird dreams.
6. My fingernails grow REALLY long, REALLY fast. It's not like I file or paint them or anything, but at least I feel kind of girly.

I'm sure there's more, but that's what is on my mind today.

Charlottes Web

We did a family movie night last night and Shelagh wanted to see Charlottes Web. It's been a really long time since I've read it and I hadn't seen the recent movie. I knew Charlotte died, but I guess I didn't give much thought to how she'd react to it. I'm usually the one that cries in movies...Shelagh didn't seem to have hit that age yet where it affected her like that. I cry at the end of Cars when Lightning McQueen pushes Mr the King over the finish line. I cry during Nemo when Nemo and his dad are reunited (we skip the first scene when Mom is brutually inhaled). You get the point.

So, of course I cried during the movie a few times and Shelagh started her lip quivering. By the end, she was trying with all her might not to cry but she kept asking me why Charlotte died. Once I pulled myself together, I kept trying to focus her on what good friends they all were and how Wilbur and Templeton helped all of Charlottes babies and all that. Didn't work. I had to snuggle her in bed and really help her fall asleep, the poor thing. I guess I'm at the point where I need to pay closer attention to even the G rated, kids movies. My bad.

Cat Problem Persists

So, Squeaky has been in a cage for almost 2 weeks now and it just sucks. Lickey was left out b/c I don't think she was peeing, but I have since discovered that she is the poop culprit. I am officially fed up and unable to "retrain them". My neighbor is trying to help me find a home for them. After vacation, I decided I just can't handle this along with the 2 kids and baby. It's terrible...I've had these cats since they were kittens 11 years ago and I feel so irresponsible trying to find them a new home. Truth is, most of the shelters won't take senior cats and the ones that do are full and not taking new animals. The average life span for cats is something like 20+ years. No can do. I'm trying to hold on long enough to get them a home, but it's hard to give away cats that are ignoring their litter box and can't be let outside b/c they are declawed. At least Shelagh doesn't even like them...Rory, on the other hand, keeps telling me that Lickey is his favorite cat and has taken to hugging her and snuggling her. Ugh.

Beautiful Family Sunday

Yesterday was my and Joes 6 year wedding Anniversary and what a day we had! After a somewhat tumultuous vacation, we decided to hit the beach for a relaxing family day. We went to Wingaersheek Beach in Gloucestor which was only about a 1/2 hour drive for us and managed to make it by 945am just in time to get parking. Of course, the day started with a meltdown since I forgot Shelaghs bathing suit. Ridiculous of me, but I was rushing around making lunch and all that and just spaced on it. Thankfully, I didn't argue with her earlier about wearing her swimming shirt from the day before despite it having chocolate ice cream all over it. So, we managed to get her onto the beach and convince her to swim in her underwear with her swimming shirt. Yes, we were that trashy family with droopy wet underpants. She quickly forgot about the bathing suit incident and both kids had a fabulous time playing in the ocean (the sandbar was out so far and they just kept running in and out of the water splashing around). They played and we had a picnic with our lunch and snacks and it couldn't have been a more perfect beach day. On the way home we stopped at Woodmans for To Go lobsters and steamers and made a really nice Lobster bake to eat at home outside. The kids ate the corn and potatoes at least and Joe and I feasted on a huge bowl of steamers and yummy lobsters.

Of course I forgot the camera too and didn't snap any of the awesome lobsters...That's okay though...it was the perfect last day of vacation and we were all nice and rejuvenated to head back to work and school today.

We're Back!

We had a great time in Vermont and Canada and managed to squeeze in 2 days at home before getting back into our regular routine. Our trip was a lot of fun and had some challenging parts also. We drove up to Vermont on Friday night and spent the next morning having a great breakfast(thank you, Libbys Blue Line Diner in Colchester!); bike riding and playing at the lake in Burlington; visiting the new student center at UVM (why couldn't they have built it when I was there!); and showing the kids my summer camp, Brown Ledge, on Malletts Bay in Colchester. I'm hoping to plant the bug early with Shelagh and that she'll want to go there when she turns 10.

We continued north to Entrelacs, which is about an hour north of Montreal. Our friends parents have a beautiful log cabin on the lake with a gorgeous boat house for waterskiing, canoeing, and kayaking; a tennis court; and lots of open space and wooded trails outside for the kids to play and explore. It was our family and our friends family which included 3 boys around the same ages as our kids. All in all it was a wonderful week with friends. Shelagh and Rory both tubed for the 1st time and kayaked with Joe and I for the 1st time. Shelagh tried tennis and ALMOST waterskiied. She said she wanted to do it after watching the boys do it and even practiced on the dock, but changed her mind. We picked raspberries and blueberries from the bushes on their property every day and took a few nice nature walks down some "secret paths" in the forest.

We also had some really challenging behavior from the kids which made things difficult. They started off the week with mild fevers that thankfully didn't lead into anything. Rory also had his last 2 2-yr molars pop through. That and the fact that his day care was closed for the 2 weeks before our vacation causing him to be plopped around to a variety of day care situations started him off on shaky ground. The kids shared a room and both woke very early and Shelagh didn't nap all week. Between the lack of sleep, being out of routine, and Joe and I bending as much as we could to keep the peace, it made for some big tantrums and some not so nice behavior like fresh talk, hitting and pushing, and grumpy moods. As a result, we left a day early, which ended up being the right decision. The drive home, which was 8 hours with a 2 hour stop for lunch, was pretty good and the next 2 days at home brought us back to normal. Everyone caught up on sleep, went back to normal eating, and the naughty aggression is hopefully back under control under the new zero-tolerance hitting/pinching/pushing policy. Rory's blanket is once again relegated to his crib and his thumbsucking and babyish behavior has improved dramatically.

We ended up our vacation with 2 great days in Massachusetts playing at home, going to the pool, and hitting the beach. Next summer, a beach vacation is a must and hopefully we can squeeze Disney in there as well.

Here are some pictures of the fun we had...

* Shelagh looking at the waterfront activities at my camp


* Rory sporting his boat coat on the dock
* Shelagh and I on the boat watching Daddy ski


* Rory as a "mean chameleon" playing in the grass
* Shelagh playing in the lake ("Mommy, it's really 'freshing"...as in REfreshing)


* Shelagh practicing how to stand up on the skis
* Rory having a kayak with Daddy


* Shelagh posing in front of her favorite flowers (purple, of course. or fuschia, which Fancy Nancy tells us is a fancy way of saying purple)
* Shelagh and Rory playing in the grass together and relaxing

Off to Canada

We're off to Canada for vacation. So excited! We're driving to Burlington, VT for dinner and an overnight. We'll hit UVM, where I went to school, and Brown Ledge Camp, where I went when I was a kid (I'm hoping Shelagh will like it and want to go at some point!). Then, it's 4 more hours up to the Laurentians, about 1 1/2 hrs North of Montreal. It's looking like rain and low 70's for most of the week, but I'm choosing to be optimistic! I'll be back in a week with lots of pics, I'm sure and some crazy kid stories. Plus, we like to cook with our friends who we're visiting up there and I imagine we'll have some yummy food pics too.

Cat Problem

Squeaky has been officially contained. She is not happy about it, but I don't think she realizes that this is her only option. She has taken to peeing and pooping all over our basement/renovated playroom over the last couple of years and it's disgusting. I've tried a number of things and there is no medical reason, other than the fact that she is clinically obese, for her to be doing this so it's likely behavioral. We had 4 litter boxes for the 2 cats for awhile and it seemed to work temporarily, but then it was back to the old ways. The last shelter I called suggested crating her and only letting her out supervised for awhile, so that's what we're doing for now.

Yesterday was her 1st day in the crate and she spent a good 3-4 hours laying in her litter box. I should have gotten a picture of that. It was clean at the time, but still. Hopefully this doesn't create new problems.

When I first put her in she meowed a bit and Rory said "Mommy, Squeaky is sad". I wanted to say "No Shit. I'm sad she peed all over my basement", but I refrained. Shelagh had a meltdown this morning about Squeaky being in the crate which is ridiculous since she never liked either cat to begin with. And so started my day...

Here are Shelagh and Rory keeping Squeaky company. Shelagh is showing her pictures of her friends to cheer her up. She also asked Squeaky if she understands she can't pee in the basement anymore and then told me Squeaky shook her head No.

$20 Maple Syrup

It made me cringe to pay $11-13, which is the normal price for a 32oz bottle. I could pay $3-4 for that fake corn syrup crap, but I just can't do that. How on Earth did the price hike up to $20???????

Kids Eating

I started off with "Eating Kids" as a title and realized that that could be misconstrued.

Rory sitting in the Bumbo seat we have with his prized blanket and dreaming about Shelagh.


Yes, that is Shelagh eating Parmesean Cheese off of a spoon and declaring that it is her new favorite thing...This on the tails of loving Brussel Sprouts yesterday (me beaming).


The kids enjoying the fruits of my labor...literally. I HATE pitting cherries especially since my cherry pitter is a piece of crap and I basically have to cut half and dig the pit out with my nails. No, that's not blood stained under my fingernails.

9:16

Is my birthday (Sept 16th, that is, not today). Why is it that often when I look at the clock, it's 9:16? Isn't that kind of strange that I happen to look at the clock at that time on most days?

Pork Dumplings

Always something I wanted to try...Those wonton wrappers at the store always make me think of Chinese dumplings or Gyoza which I LOVE. I saw this easy recipe in Cookie Magazine and decided to give them a try. The pork mixture took minutes to make and then Shelagh helped me seal them up after I put the pork mixture on the wrapper. It was a little challenging not overstuffing them. I made them a few weeks ago and then froze them to cook later. Since we had some friends over on Wednesday night I decided to try them out. I happened to have one of those bamboo steamers my mom gave me way back when (which I have never used). Other than not realizing that I boiled off the water before my 2nd batch was done, the process was easy and they came out really yummy. The sauce on the side was equal parts rice vinegar and soy sauce with a squirt of lime juice I had leftover from the lime sesame rice I had made. Would definitely make them again for a party appetizer.