Happy 100th

This marks my 100th post....and little ol' me didnt think I had anyhitng to talk about!

Tonight we went to Hibachi with my parents and Aunts. The food was AWESOME as usual and so was the company. This was Noah's first time there and he loved it....he even ate salad and zucchini.


Here are some pics.....


My dad and stepmom


My Aunt Sharon and Aunt Jo


He was gobbling up the salad

Shenanigans

I watched J&K Monday night an was so disgusted by what I saw. First off, I used to really like the show. It settled some inadequate feelings I had as a new mom and their silly sarcasm even seemed alittle like Mike and I. After coming across some blogs relating to them, my ideas have shifted dramatically. Now I watch to remind myself that family is truly the most important thing in life and to treat my partner with the respect he deserves as a man and a father. And mostly, to remind myself that I only get one chance to fully enjoy my son's childhood.

J&K is like a trainwreck you cant look away from. This episode was about their 4th of July celebrations and started with the girls getting their hair braided. If anyone of you have ever had that done, you will know it can be quite painful. I am an adult and it hurts like a b*tch, so could you imagine the fine hair and sensitive scalps of three 3 year olds? Most of them were crying and looked like they were in agony. Kate commented that she wanted to get this done so their hair would be out of their faces. "They have such beautiful faces I want to be able to see them" she said. Not because, uh, I don't know? They wanted to get it done? But because it would make her life easier. Now I get it, having to do 5 girls hair can get tiresome, but to clearly see they are in pain and to make them sit through it anyway seems a little satanic to me. Isn't stuff like that supposed to be fun?

Then they decided to make a festive cake with strawberries and blueberries. Originally she said she wanted to do it with all the kids, but then just decided to do it with whichever kids came into the kitchen...which happened to be the little girls. The were eating the fruit and she yelled at them to stop. I can truly understand her frustration. I mean, I have one kid which sometimes makes me want to scream and fly off the handle, so I couldn't imagine wrangling 8. But I wonder if she realizes what a b*tch she comes across as? She looks like a really mean person who is more concerned with the cake looking perfect then her kids enjoying the process of making it. Then Joel ( I think) came in and one of the little girls asked if he could help. Kate looked at him and said "No, he's not allowed" The look on his face was so sad, I wanted to cry for him. She is just so short with them and it angers me. Then Joel goes downstairs and asks Jon if he needs help. Jon snaps back at him "No buddy, I don't need help" And again, poor Joel is refused by another parent. Even if you didn't need help Jon, he could watch you or spend some quality time with you. It seems like the only one who has time for some QUALITY time with the kids is Jenny the nanny.

I understand J&K are under the public eye and EVERYTHING they do or say is judged, but I tell you this....If I was on TV coming off as a total B*TCH to my kids, I would sit back and take a look at myself and CHANGE! Like I said, it seems like she is more concerned with have the "perfect" family that the fun and excitement of being a kid gets lost.

I do like how they make it a point to celebrate each holiday and it has even given me ideas on things to do with Noah. But I read it somewhere, a lady posted that with all the hustle and bustle of them making the "holidays"special for the kids, there are no relatives around and festive paper plates and balloons don't make the holiday.

And the way she talks to her husband is just ridiculous. Jon needs to grow a set of balls and light off the damn fireworks already!

She just seems like such a witch which makes me wonder....is TLC trying to bring out the nasty side of Kate to get more viewers? As much as I cant stand her, I still watch waiting for that next "I cant believe she said that" moment.

Who is the boss here anyway?

I have come to realize I live with a very bossy, very stuborn man. This man is still in diapers but he rules with an iron fist. Over my vacation I realized how demanding my kid is. Mommy get up, Mommy sit down, Mommy close door, Mommy go in, Mommy brush teeth, Mommy do this, Mommy do that, the list goes on and on. By 4pm Mommy can no longer take his demands and wants to scream "Leave me alone!!" But Mommy gives in the the beast to appease him.......for the most part. The other non-cooperating times I tell Noah to worry about what he is doing and not so much as to what I am doing.



Maybe I am taking it to literal, but I feel like I am his puppet, made to do whatever the king demands. And if you don't appease him the first time he asks, he will continue for 2689750 times until you do...asking you over and over and over again. Now I know all the parenting mags and crap say you are supposed to explain things to them so they eventually "Get it" however how many times can I tell him to put his butt in his seat before getting tired of hearing myself talk? Finally I just pick him up and plop him in there.


Not a good idea.


This is followed by wails and hysterical crying and Noah screaming "do by self, do by self" Like I said earlier, I admire his determination, but enough is enough already.


Terrible 2's at its finest this morning. Noah woke up crying thinking he heard thunder outside. When I assured him it wasn't thunder and just the fan, he seemed OK. Then he asked for his binkie...No binkie, only when you go night night. Then he asked Mike...again, no binkie, only when you go night night. Then he wanted Caillou, then Barney....Again he got 4 no's to that, 2 from me and 2 from Mike.


Have I mentioned how much I HATE, no wait, hate is to nice of a word. DESPISE those 2 shows? While Barney has a pretty good message, Caillou is a little whinny bald headed kid, but none the less, they annoythe crap out of me. Maybe it is because I am subject to watch them over and over and over and they only have 4 episodes to choose from On Demand? Last night while lying in bed and having a pillow talk session with Mike, I started singing " Macaroni, macaroni, mac and cheese, 3 times daily pretty please. Macaroni, macaroni, mac and cheese, I like mac and cheese" Yeah I have problems, I know.


But getting back to the charades this morning. When I told Noah he couldn't watch TV he freaked, and continued to whine about it for the entire 30 mins till we had to leave. We could have let him watch the damn show and spared our ears (and patience) but it was the principal.


I have heard 3 is even worse...oh joy!



Anyone looking for a slighly used 2 year old? He is kinda house broken, occasionally shits on the floor, often bites but has all his shots...Any takers?

Some Pictures

We decided to get up early and go to Kent Falls this morning and it was beautiful. It started off a little rocky with a whiner , a runny nose (for mommy not Noah) and some brisk air. But after we got going it was really nice. I haven't been there in years and have to make it a point to get back more frequently. Noah had a great time throwing rocks in the water and I even got some sun. You can tell he had a great time because we were there for 3 hours.

Here are some snapshots of the day.
Although it looks pretty right there, I saw some guy washing his kids shit stained underwear off in the stream. I thought to myself for a little bit whether I should say something because that is just plain NASTY! I mean, who does that? Thank god my kid wasnt drinking the water.






Last Tues we went to Beardsley Zoo and here are the pics.....




I thought it would be fun to milk the cow!

What a week its been

Where have I been you ask? On vacation! I have had this past week off and seeing as I spend my whole day in front of the computer when I am at work, I decided to take a well needed break from it. So far it has been a great week off, with the exception of a nasty little bug that infected me the other day. The bug visited Mike last Sunday and ruined our plans to go to the fair, and then decided to pay me a visit which threw a monkey wrench in our ice-cream plans. And if you know how much I love ice-cream, you would see why I was so disappointed.

So here is an update so far. Mike has been home all week and off work due to an inflamed disc in his back. He is getting better and it seems like the worst is behind him. But this was definitely an unexpected surprise. I figure I would have been off for the week just Noah and I, going crazy by Thursday and racking my brain to find things to keep up occupied, but it has actually been great family time that the 3 of us do not get much of.

My exercise routine has been non-existent since the last time I blogged about it. I am not too upset about it though because even though I am not "sweatin' to the oldies" we have been walking 1 mile every night. It would be more if Sir Whinny Pants didn't get fed up by the end. But a mile is still pretty good. And it is great that we are doing it together. Its so hard to get motivated by yourself sometimes.

We took Noah to the zoo this week and we had a blast. The weather this week has been awesome and mostly in the mid 70's. Definitely not the kind of weather you expect in August but I am not complaining. Our favorite exhibit at the zoo were the prairie dogs. And even though it was at all comparable to the Bronx Zoo, it was really fun and best of all FREE!

Last night my parents took Noah for the night and Mike and I had a date night filled with pizza, ice cream and softball at the park. There is this pizzeria across from the college that has by far, the BEST pizza in town...and that is saying alot for this area. We have yet to find pizza that we truly love, and although we thought we found one place, it is too inconsistent to get excited about. This is pretty damn close to NYC pizza that I can find, and seeing as they have another restaurant on Bleeker St I can see why. After that we headed to the park to watch a softball game and then got ice cream.

In other news, it has been about a week now that Noah is binkie free! Well let me rephrase, binkie free during the day but at nap time and bed time it is ok. Hey, that is more then we had ever hoped for. I was petrified to take the damn thing away from him because he is addicted to it like a smoker to his cigarettes. But to our surprise, he is doing great. Tantrums are getting more frequent which is always fun and Noah is really finding his independence. He has to do everything by himself which I admire that he is so determined to do. However sometimes the situation doesn't allow time for this seeing as he takls his sweet ass time to do it, and sometimes we are in a crunch.

As I am writing this, time is ticking by till we have to go get Noah and I am enjoying my last few moments alone. We love our son to death, but last night we both agreed it was nice to have some time to ourselves and remember what it was like to be single again.

Pictures will be posted soon......

Smile

We took Noah to get his pictures done yesterday and even though we had a temper tantrum (or 5) we still managed to get a few good shots. This is what we got..........

A cap, diploma and broken flower

Today was Noah;s graduation at daycare. It was for his transition from the infant room to the toddler room back in December.....I guess they were a little behind. I get to his school this morning and see all the diplomas and asked if they had graduation or something. "yeah are you coming" they asked. I was baffled by this, because although one of his teachers mentioned it to me a few weeks ago, that was the last I heard about it. They said slips were mailed out but we never got one. I was quite pissed. Luckily I work 10 mins away and my boss is awesome, so she didn't have a problem with me leaving to go view it. I come to find out later when I spoke with the director that she didn't send done out to us. She is new and wasn't aware of all the kids that transitioned I guess. Definitely not acceptable but at least I made it to see my little guy graduate.


It was the cutest thing in the world. They made him a cap to wear and gave him a diploma and flower (which he ripped the head off) Today I decided to put him in pants seeing as it was a little chilly this morning. So he had on khakis and a cute 3 button polo. I thought about having him wear his loafers but opted for the sneakers instead. He looked sooo Connecticut!......very preppy but with a flair because of the sneakers! Mike and I are definitely not the preppy kind, more like grunge meets business casual but our son always looks so put together. Hopefully no one thinks we stole him...ha!

Here are some shots from graduation:

The graduate:

Noah and Laurenze

Noah and his favorite teacher Ms Betty
All the toddlers waiting so paitiently with the big kids behind them
Noah is getting his diploma and flower
How sweet!Friends
Doing what he does best! Getting a snakc with his uddy Jo-jo

I'm 2!

This past weekend was Noah's 2nd birthday and we rang it in with a party and a sour belly. Saturday was a long day for him seeing as he woke up at 5:30 am, didn't nap ALL day and was in bed at 8:30. Surprisingly enough he was in a really good mood for not have taken a nap. The next day he was beat (as were Mike and I) didn't eat all day, and threw up in the car.......not such a happy birthday for the little man. Luckily he had a great time with his friend and family the day before. Here are some pictures from the festivities:

Noah's Car Birthday cake:

The Birthday boy and his tricycle:

Sharing his toys with Rylan

Noah and Grandpappy:

Aunt Jo and Aunt Sharon:

Joe and Allison

Balloons!!