Kisses for Mommy

Z just got this new Clifford Thanksgiving book from my mom and he loves it :) S reads it to him every night at bedtime and even though we think it is a very silly story...he thinks it is great.

The premise of the book is that Emily Elizabeth leaves town for the Thanksgiving holiday and Clifford is lonely. He decides to go to the city to spend the holiday with his mom. The book is all about his adventures in getting to his mom.

Every night during the reading of this book, Z comes to get me at the part when Clifford finds his mom. I can hear him at the top of the stairs calling, "Mommy....Mommy" and so I run up to join he and S in our bed. When I get there, S reads the part where Clifford's mom gives him a big kiss and Z immediately looks at me and gives me a big kiss. This kiss is so sweet, wet and wonderful :) We then cuddle in for the rest of the story.

Today at naptime Z asked me to read him this story. As I read it to him, I began to daydream about all of the things I had to do while he was napping. All of a sudden, Z climbed up on top of me and planted the most wet kiss on me. It startled me at first and then I realized that we were at the mommy kiss part :) I giggled, smiled and gave him a big hug and a kiss. It was so cute! We then snuggled in and read the rest of the book.

These are the moments that make being a mom so special!

Weigh In Thursdays....

I'm down a 1/2 pound. I had one dress fitting the other day....not too bad. The scary dress fitting is this Thursday! I have been running and working out again...so that is good :) I also cut down on my drinking of wine this week. S and I both need to do that.

Addicted to Facebook!!!

Okay, I thought I could handle the world of facebook...but now I am starting to second guess myself. It is so addicting! I only started a week ago, so please tell me that the newness will wear off and I will be able to get on with my life :)

Here is a look into my brain for a typical facebook session...."I know I have laundry to fold but let me log on really quick to see if anyone wants to be my friend or if anything interesting was posted. 45 minutes later.....Oh before I log off...let me try find that person. Is it them? Maybe...let me send them a message. Oh look who just popped in and wants to be my friend...they have 4 kids!" And it goes on and on until Z's entire nap is over and I have done nothing!

If you asked me 2 weeks ago to join facebook, I would have laughed in your face. I was not going to be apart of any social networking program. Then my best friend L told me to log on and play around with her account, before I knew it I had my own account and was on facebook for 2 1/2 hours (Z had a long nap that day). I now have S hooked (he also swore he would never use it) and have had a blast hunting down all of my old high school, college, study abroad and grad school friends. I have reconnected with folks I haven't spoken to in over 13 years! It has been so much fun seeing who has kids, where people live and what people do for work. I know, I know...who cares? Well I guess I do. I am also hoping to use facebook as a venue to deal with a person from my past who I upset many years ago. We have not spoken in 13 years and I would like to apologize for whatever I did (unfortunately I still don't know what I did ) to make her so angry with me. Maybe facebook will help us to put the past behind us and help us to move forward. Who knows???

I do know that if I want to live in a clean house, I need to set time limits for myself :)

My Husband...The Hero!

**Warning...this post might not be for the weak of heart :) **

This past weekend was the first time, since May, that we spent the entire weekend at home (not traveling more than 5 miles away). Z had a high fever (reaction to his MMR shot) but other than that it was so nice to be home and able to attack some projects that have been in the works for a very long time!

Our Master Bathroom has been under construction for over 2 years!!! When we had the issues with rot, we had to move out of our bedroom. Once the bedroom was complete (a year later) we moved back in and began work on our bathroom. I started by taking down the wallpaper. Then almost 6 months later, we plastered the walls and this past weekend S sanded, primed and started painting :) I have to finish painting today and then we can hang the new light fixture :) We then need to caulk the shower, put up molding, change out the faucet and then we will at least be able to use it ;) We then plan to do the floor this winter. What a long process it has been.

The reason this project has taken so long is that we get distracted by other projects (yard stuff, painting the downstairs, new light fixtures etc.) and we travel around so much. We are very busy people and always on the go. This makes home projects tough to finish.

While S was up painting the bathroom, I was doing my least favorite chore....LAUNDRY. Once I finished, I went into the bathroom closet to pull out some ingredients to make my all natural cleaning solutions. I brought the supplies into the kitchen and noticed that there was something weird on the outside of the plastic bag that had been holding the supplies. I threw it away and went back into the bathroom closet to investigate. There (next to all of my dish towels) was the mouse that had been locked in our bathroom a few months ago!!! We thought it had escaped but instead it decided to die in my dish towels!!!! YUCK!!!!! I screamed, ran upstairs and told S what I had found. He was just as grossed out but we decided we couldn't do much until Z woke up (we figured it would be pretty loud).

After nap, S got into his "hazmat" outfit (gloves, goggles, mask, old clothes). He had our indoor/outdoor vac, heavy duty cleaning solution, paper towels and garbage bags. He told me he was going to have to throw out all of my dish towels and that I could go and get some more...fine with me! As he explored the situation, he found MAGGOTS!!!! Tons and tons of MAGGOTS!!!! All throughout my dishtowels (thankfully I had been using the new dishtowels that I got for my anniversary and haven't used that closet in awhile). SO GROSS!!!!!!!!! He worked diligently to remove all of the disgusting materials, washed the area clean and removed it to the garbage. It was disgusting and I hope poor S doesn't have to do anything else like that for a long time. As for me...I am so relieved to have him in our life! What would I have done??? If I had had to clean that up, my gag reflex would have kicked in and there would have been double the mess to clean up.

S you are our HERO! Thanks for working so hard this weekend and cleaning up that horrible mess. We love you!!!!

Bob's Rock Video

Weigh In Thursdays.....

Nothing gained...nothing lost. Another blah week. I was toooo busy for my own good :) I am looking into starting boot camp though...that will kick my butt into gear :)

Friends Thanksgiving

As I mentioned in my post about the train, we had our 7th Annual Friends Thanksgiving this past weekend. Thanksgiving is one of my most favorite holidays and so to be able to celebrate it more than once a year....AWESOME! The tradition started 7 years ago with our friends J and R. S and I invited them to our first apartment and asked that they bring their favorite Thanksgiving dishes. S and I made the turkey and our favorites and we sat down to a nice, quiet dinner. It was wonderful.

This event then became a tradition and grew in numbers. The second year we added our friends S and R and a few others to the table. Each person brought their favorite dish and we started the meal by telling everyone what we were most thankful for.

Over the years the tables have changed but the sentiment is always the same. Our first Friends Thanksgiving with children was a memorable one :) Z was only 2 months old and we also had 11 month old baby O and 19 month old N joining us for their first Friends Thanksgiving. O got to try mashed potatoes for the first time. He was the first to use Z's new highchair and managed to fill the entire deep tray with vomit :) Apparently the mashed potatoes didn't agree with him. My brother in-law, who was not use to being around children, could not get over this disgusting display!

Last year was the most chaotic of Friends Thanksgivings. We had 5 children ranging in ages from 2 months-2 1/2 years old. Our poor friends J and R who don't have children yet were a bit overwhelmed with the chaos. Gone were the years of sipping wine and playing a board game after dinner. We barely made it around the table to share what we were thankful for before the kids started to lose it. It was crazy but fun!

This year we decided to keep things low key. My friend S offered to host it at her house (we had always hosted it before) and I was quick to agree :) The plan was only our three children and then to invite two couples without children. We thought that this might help in keeping the dinner a little more calm and relaxing ;) My friend S bought an 18 pound turkey for dinner only to find out that one couple canceled the night before and the other canceled 40 minutes before! She was much calmer and more understanding than I would have been.

The four of us sat down to a table with food for 8 adults and started to laugh. We toasted each other, shared what we were thankful for and all agreed that even though there was a lot of food...we were so thankful that it was just the four adults and three kids....so much calmer than the year before :) Although we missed the others who have shared our Friends Thanksgiving Table over the years...it was nice to have a nice intimate dinner with good friends and fabulous food! Thanks S and R for a great dinner :)

Z's View on the Election

This morning, I sat down with Z and over "coffee" (his was water) we had a political discussion. Here is how it went:

M: Today is a special day. Today we go to vote for a new president.

Z: blank stare

M: Our President is like the Mommy or the Daddy of our country. He or She take care of the people in our country and keep us safe. Today we get to vote for either John McCain or Barack Obama.

Z: blank stare

M: Well Z, which letter do you like better...O or M? You could vote for your favorite letter today.

Z: O.....M.....no vote O......no vote M.....vote for W!!!

M: Z we are voting today to get rid of "W"...he has already had 8 long years in the White House! So today you can vote for President O or President M...who would you like to vote for?

Z: O....vote for M.....no O.....no T.....no vote for XYZ!!!

M: Cheers to that Z :)

A Train Ride to Somewhere

This week Z and I were going to go with a bunch of mothers in my mothers group on a "Train Ride to Nowhere". One of our amazing mothers organized a trip for the train lovers in our group (most of them under 5) to ride our local commuter rail. The plan was to ride the commuter rail for a few stops, hang out on the train platform for a bit (eating snacks, reading train stories and playing games) and then return back to the original destination....BRILLIANT!

I was so excited about this opportunity for Z to take his first train ride until Saturday afternoon. That is when our weekend plans changed and Z and I had the chance to take a "Train Ride to Somewhere"!!! Because S missed his train on Saturday, he drove to meet our friends for a fun night on the town in Maine. Z and I stayed behind and visited with Noni and my family. On Sunday, we then took the train that S was suppose to take and we met him and our close friends for a wonderful tradition we have done for the last 6 Novembers, "Friends Thanksgiving".

When I first told Z that he was going to ride on a train his face lit up. He started to talk about how he hoped to see the "Conductor", the "driver" and "Sir Topham Hatt". He couldn't believe that he was going to ride on "Thomas"!!! I made the mistake of telling him after nap on Saturday so he kept asking about the train. I told him that when he woke up in the morning, we would get ready to go to the train station. He was so excited :)

Sunday morning came and we made our way to the train station. I packed light and we chatted about our journey and listened to our "Thomas" Soundtrack the whole way :) When we got to the station, we bought out tickets and then had the opportunity to see a train, going in the opposite direction. Z was awestruck! He has seen trains before but never this close up :) He just stared at it in disbelief and I think he was a little frightened. After it left he started to get really worked up and kept talking about the train and the conductor and how fast they went ;)

When our train finally came (it was delayed), Z grabbed my leg. He was a little timid about this new experience. We got in line (Z clutching his stuffed "Thomas") and he actually walked onto the train himself. The conductor greeted Z with a smile and said that he would be down to talk to us a little later :) Z and I found two open seats and he sat there wide eyed! The conductor came to greet him and chatted with him about how much he had loved trains when he was a little guy. Z stared at him, unable to speak :) When he left, Z started to chat away about the "conductor" and how he had his own train seat. He was so happy to be riding on that train.

Z and I spent our time on the train looking out the window, cuddling while reading a story, playing with both stuffed "Thomas" and wooden "Thomas" and of course...snacking :) With every stop, Z thought it was time to get off. When I told him we could go on another train ride, he said "Good". Towards the end of our trip we took a walk to the cafe cart...he thought this was very cool. We bought some pretzels and then returned to our seats for the remainder of the trip. I have been on many train rides before but this was by far the best one. It was so incredible to experience this for the first time with him. It is a memory I will always treasure :)

When we got off of the train, S was there waiting for us. It was nice to see him :) We then went to our friends, S and R for an amazing meal...more about that tomorrow :)

Where Did "Momma" Go??

One of my most favorite words to hear is "Momma". Z would say this and (most of the time) my heart would swell :) Well something happened when my baby went away last weekend with his daddy......he no longer calls me "Momma"...I am now "Mommy"! To some people this would not be a big deal but it makes me really sad :(

It took me a day or so to realize this switch. I knew something was strange but I really didn't put it together until Z called me over and over one morning.
"Mommy...Mommy...Mommy...Mommy.." he cried. It was then that it hit me...where did "Momma" go?

I have tried to get him to switch back but it is no use..."Momma" is gone and "Mommy" is here to stay. I guess it is better than "MOM"!