Because I promised...

I don't know how much time I have to write this post, because both boys are down for a nap. They are having what I call a tag team day, one wakes up, just as the other falls asleep, it forces me to accomplish none of the "things" I have to do. I did mention to pack one box while I was waiting for Zach to fall asleep, and I am sure if I rush really fast, I might be able to get at least 2 or 3 more boxes packed before Matt wakes up. But last week I did say I would write about the house, and I never did. I will say at least it is a structure now, so that is promising. We will be out of our house sometime in the next ten days, and I am doing my best to make life as normal as possible as we pack things up. They are long days, days I wish I could fast forward through, and yet I know looking back they will be memories I cherish. I am so fortunate that I get to go home again, and in many ways am looking forward to spending quality time with my Mom in the weeks we wait for our house to be built. I just hope the boys transition well, and that all of our potty-training success doesn't backslide, in the weeks ahead.

I just remind myself that I am a lucky girl.

I have a wonderful husband, two beautiful and healthy sons, a family that would walk through fire for me, and an opportunity to build my dream home. As stressful as the days ahead seem, I am practically walking on air thinking of what our future holds.

Here is a sneak peak at our house in one of its "rough" stages:

The house has come a far way since then. I will post a pic of what it looks like now in a few days. I also need to post some pics of the new addition to our family, my puppy niece Bella, but she deserves her own post, which I will try to write in the coming days.

Just a few more pics from the baptism...

Thanks to my SIL Lisa, aka godmother, I got some great pics sent to me yesterday.

I just had to share this one of Matt with his oldest cousin Jason. Jason is the sweetest, and just adores the boys:

Lisa also got this great shot of Matt and I:And her attempt at a family photo turned out a little better in that we are all facing the camera, and no one is crying, but all of our eyes are glowing. I guess no picture is perfect, but it was a great attempt.Thanks for the photos Lisa!

Mother's Day and Baptism Photos

Since I already told you in my last post what we did on Mother's day , I figured I would just share a picture of my Mom and say one more time how very much I love her. She is truly the most remarkable woman in the world, and if I turn out to be half the Mom she's been, my sons will be very lucky little boys. I love you Mom, and I hope you enjoy your new bracelet, even if it is a bit too big:

Saturday we had Matt's baptism. Even though it's traditional to have a godmother and a godfather, we opted to have two godmothers. Wayne's older sister Lisa, was a great choice since she is always so loving towards the boys. She is always offering to help watch them, or bake them delicious cakes, and she never misses an opportunity to make them feel special. My best friend Jenn is like a 2nd sister to me, so it was only natural that I would ask her to be the godmother to my 2nd born. She is one of the most compassionate and giving people I know, and one of the people I know will be there for me and my boys no matter what. Matt is super lucky to have these special ladies as his god moms and I know they will both always be there to support him. Here he is with his godmothers:

I tried to get some pictures of my boys together at home before the service, but this was the best I could do. Z and Wayne were dressed in suits, so cute, and Matt was wearing the same outfit Z wore on his baptism day. The only difference was Z was baptized in August on an 80 degree day and Matt's baptismal day was 50 degrees and felt like a hurricane was on it's way. Once we were inside though, I don't think Matt minded having on shorts:

Matt was cranky on our way to the church, but he seemed to perk up once we got inside. He was really well behaved throughout the service, probably because he was enjoying cooing to his Aunt Lisa, as he pulled her hair. When it was time for the big moment, we were all apprehensive, was he going to cry or not?

Even though his eyes went wide with surprise at the water on his head, Matt took the process in stride, by the look on all of our faces we were all relieved and happy when the moment had passed without incident:

And speaking of crying, we did try to get some family pictures, but this was the best we could do:Things went a little smoother when we substituted Jack for Zach:And both boys almost cooperated when Uncle Nick stood with me:Here is a picture of Matt with his grandparents and parents:

I didn't get pictures of Matt with all of the people there to share in the day, but that was due to a meltdown by a certain toddler we love. I would like to thank Uncle Ryan(great camera work), Aunt Olivia, and Scott and Grant for sharing in the day, even after your loss that same day. I would also like to thank my sister Aunt Lisa, Uncle Mike Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Dan(great photography)for all being there to celebrate with us.

I think it is only fitting to thank my parents as well for allowing us to have the dinner following the ceremony at their home, since our electricity went out an hour before the baptism. Seriously, I called my Mom and said, can I have the party at your house only an hour before we left for church, she didn't hesitate to say Of course. You two really are such blessings in my life. It ended up being a great party, with good food, delicious cake, and a little boy all smiles as his Christian life begins:

So much to say...

There has been quite a bit of excitement around these parts the last couple of days. Matt was baptized Saturday, the house is nearly up, and getting ready for roofing and drywall, and today was of course Mother's Day.

I promise I will fill you in on all of these topics with pictures and posts, but for tonight I will just recap my day.

This morning I slept till 9:30 which was a gift in and of itself. I was also surprised with a very thoughtful gift of a sweatshirt from my college Alma mater. I won't be posting that since I think you have to be just a little cautious with how much information you put out on the web. I will say that for the last 14 years I have been wearing the sweatshirt that I bought at freshman orientation, and I think both my sons and my husband thought I deserved a little better than a lounge around sweatshirt that has holes in the sleeves, and the lettering missing. It's sad that I kept it this long, but I think now that I have a replacement I will have to part with it. (I don't want to end up on Hoarders in 20 years)

We had a lovely brunch at my sister's house and gave my Mom her gift, a Pandora bracelet from all of us. I will say her reaction was priceless. She really had no idea that we were getting her that gift. I would also like to say I think my sister is truly remarkable. She works all week, eight, nearly nine months pregnant, and then takes the time to whip up a delicious brunch after a weekend of gatherings. Did I mention that she is also a wonderful gardener, an eco friendly composter, and a mother to a very energetic 3 1/2 year old. I am sure that my niece, Emma, knew what she was doing when she picked her as her Mommy. (See, she's a smart girl already!)

I want to wish a very special Mother's day to: my Mom, who is my best friend and greatest teacher, my sister who is my excellent adventure and an inspiration, My Mother-in-law Alice who is the sweetest 2nd mother I could ask for, my sister in law Lisa who is a dynamo in all she does, my sister in law Olivia who has embraced her role as Mom with total love, my BF Jenn who is embarking on her journey into parenting, my sister in law Cheryl who is the most doting Mom to her fur-baby Leah(with another on the way),my grandmothers(I miss you)my aunts, my cousins, my friends, my cyber friends, and of course that means you.

I will be back when I can to post pics from our life soon enough.

Giveaway for Mother's Day

I just wanted to let all of my readers know that The Vintage Pearl @http://www.thevintagepearl.com/ is giving away 5 $50 gift cerificates to their awesome store. Be sure to head over there and enter to win.

As for this Momma, I am loving their names on a ring piece. Be sure to check it out!

Stressed!

To say that I am stressed seems like the understatement of the year right now. I know even as I write this how trivial most of the things that have me tied up in knots are, and yet I can't seem to shake this feeling that I am treading water. Since, I blog to reflect/document, and write in general to have an outlet for my thoughts it seems only fitting that I list for you my stressors:

Weighing in at #1 is this new house-I am so lucky to be building this home, but I swear the decisions that surround it feel like a boulder on your back. Even when you make the choices and you see things start to come together, you find unexpected surprises, and well these surprises are not good. Just this week they built the 1st floor of the house, forgot a window in the family room, and changed the windows on us. We toured a model, only to be told that they changed the windows, I was told we would still have transoms, but this week, guess what? You bet ya, no transoms. To make matters worse I swear the windows they are putting in my "great room" are no larger/longer than a bedroom window would be, and I hate,hate, hate them! I just am so frustrated by this process and feel like I was deceived a bit.

Taking 2nd place in my woes is our current home- I know I should be packing right now instead of blogging, but hell this is the one thing I do for me these days. I feel like I am never going to get anything accomplished between the 2 kids, and the daily grind. My mother has offered to help, but seriously, how much more can I let her do for me, she is already letting us live with her for 6-8 weeks. I just hate asking for help, and I know that I am going to have to in the coming weeks. Seriously, I just need to start, then maybe I won't feel so overwhelmed.

Taking 3rd is a unknown hernia situation- I would normally put anything regarding the health of my child at the top of my list, but I have talked to 3 doctors about Matt's hernia(he was born with it) and they all assure me that it is nothing that needs immediate attention. Still in a month I have to take my baby to see a Pediatric Surgeon and eventually he will have to undergo an operation. (Oh, and thanks to stupid deductibles, we will probably have to pay the somewhere between 200-400 dollars an office visit will cost with a specialist) Hell, I am thirty one and no one has ever even cut into me. He is only 5 months! I do not know how people who have ill children cope, it would destroy me.

4th is actually a little more pathetic- I am stressed and what do I do when I am stressed? I eat. Well...not this time. I recently joined WW and have lost 6 pounds in the last 3 weeks. I have many more left to shed (around 20 more from my pregnancy w/Matt, and about 30 more I have been meaning to lose for years) I feel like it has to be time to be the me I want to be. That part isn't stressful, but I do feel like I would like to eat ice cream and muffins and cake almost daily.

So there you have it folks, my 4 little stressors. I am sure if given the time I could think of ten more, oh, like $! Can you even have enough $ to not feel stressed? How about whether you are being the best parent you can be? I swear my head is reeling with thoughts constantly. Wouldn't it me nice if you could just break away from yourself sometimes? So tell me friends, how do you cope with stress if you can't eat a hot fudge sundae?

They Say It's Your Birthday...

Today my wonderful husband turned 33! I can't even believe that I've known him since he was 25, and now in a blink of an eye 8 years have flown by. I couldn't ask for a better partner in this journey called life, I love you Wayne.

Since I didn't post early, I thought I'd share my honey's b-day in photos. We had a low-key day, ending with a wonderful evening out at P.F. Changs and some cheesecake for birthday cake.

The morning was spent looking at roofs. Seriously folks we drove around for over an hour and a half and just looked at different roofs, we ended up picking the color of our roof though so that was a good thing. We stopped at the house today to see progress. They almost have most of the 1st floors walls up, so finally it is looking like we might one day have a home. We came back home for naps, and everyone , but the birthday boy indulged in some mid-day snoozing. The b-day boy spent time relaxing on the couch watching TV(I wasn't there, but I can guess it was a movie he's already seen 300 times, or some sort of sports TV.) After our naps my parents stopped over to give the birthday boy a card, which he admitted "touched him". I love Hallmark. Wayne also cleaned bathrooms and did laundry, which made today seem less like his birthday and more like mine(I should mention I don't do bathrooms...hell I am not really the deep cleaner in the house. I know, you are all thinking, how lucky I am, and well...your right)

After our exciting afternoon, we headed out to P.F. Changs, which has delicious American Chinese cuisine. I don't even like Chinese food all that much, but this stuff is delicious. Well some of us thought so anyways, others wouldn't even touch our plates, and made a meal out of Puffs.

Here are the boys hanging with the horses when we arrived:


Once our dinner arrived, Matt chilled:



Wayne ate happily:


Zach looked excited to eat:



But upon further review, Zach looked at his dinner like like it was a meal from another planet:

Zach may not have eaten, but he was entertained by me taking his picture and playing with his kid chopsticks. Here he is saying "Cheese" for the camera. Immediately after each picture, he wanted to "See me", so cute!:

After dinner, Wayne and Zach took a stroll to explore, and Matt and I waited patiently. I couldn't help but snap some shots of Wayne and Z...they are such a pair.

I wasn't too disappointed to watch from a distance, because I had this handsome little man to keep me company. I just love his precious smile and beautiful face:

And speaking of the most beautiful/handsome faces I know. Here are three of them:Coincidentally, these are three of the most wonderful people I know too!!

After some snuggles, and games Matt went to bed, and Zach helped me get the cheesecake ready for it's big moment: In case you can't tell we tried to turn the candles into the shape of two 3's...you know for thirty three:

Zach and I did a stunning rendition of "Happy Birthday" and then Wayne and Z blew out the candles and made a wish:

Wayne I hope all of your wishes come true, because you continue to make mine and the boys' come true day by day. Happy Birthday I love you!