Going to try to start blogging again

Not sure how dedicated I am going to be to blogging.  And let me all warn you there will probably be A LOT! of Disney ramblings as I am in the process of planning our trip in October.  It will be almost seven years since our last trip and the first time we are staying onsite.   I am just a little excited.

I remember that excitement when we took Zac for the first time, seeing Disney through your child's eyes is truly one of life's magical moments and this time I get to see the expression and wide eyes of Cassidy and Jax.


So right now when I have spare time I am usually surfing Disney sites and reading my "Unofficial Guide to Disney World."   Trying to prepare as much as possible before our trip.

In other news, Cassidy is thriving in kindergarten.  She is so sweet, she's made so many friends.  We just enrolled Jax in a pre-k class.  He would be eligible for kindergarten in the fall, but feel he could use another year under his belt before he starts "real" school.




Happy Valentine's day!

Why does it always seem . . .


that most things in my household are the EXCEPTION to the rules.
I was reading an article the other day about fertility. It stressed that 35 is not a magic number and a woman's fertility doesn't drop drastically, in reality it doesn't take a nosedive til age 38 --- hmmmm the year I got preggers with Cassidy and really falls off the charts at 40, HAHAHA when I got preggers with Jaxon!

The article got me thinking about other things my family seems to buck the trend on.

Boys are harder to potty-train than girls --- Well, Zac was trained at a little over 2 and never had an accident. We are finally starting to make progress with Cassidy at age 2 1/2 (after much stubbornness and "NOs") and a few accidents, but not too bad. We'll see where Jaxon falls on the spectrum in another year or so.

Formula fed babies are sicker than breastfed babies (DISCLAIMER!!!!! I am NOT suggesting that breastfeeding is not the best for your baby, it just never worked for me, I blame my boobs!) Zachary has been on antibiotics twice in his life -- age 4 for his first and only ear infection and at age 7 for a mild case of walking pneumonia where he actually threw a tantrum because he had to miss school for two days because he felt fine. Cassidy has had one sick appt in her 2 1/2 years and Jax has had 2 in his first year. I do believe (DISCLAIMER AGAIN!! this is my thoughts for my kids) that this has very little to do with how they were fed as babies and more to do with the heredity because Chuck and I are never sick either.

I know there are a couple more, but at the moment I hear that naptime is over, so I will stop here . . . . oh yeah --- I LOVE my in-laws! LOL

Oh and here is a scrapbook page I made earlier this week, I am becoming addicted to digital scrapping and having so much fun doing it. That is my mom, I look NOTHING like her! I was always jealous of her darker complexion and dark hair --- can you believe as a child I hated being BLONDE! :D

Where Did These Adorable Kids Come From ?







Holy Crap! I can't believe Jaxon turned a year old. It honestly feels like yesterday when I was thinking possibly maybe I might be pg, but in reality after all those years of NEVER actually being pregnant who was I kidding.

I was a bit panicked when the reality of having two under two set in. But now that we are a year into it I can honestly say it was not nearly as hard as I thought. Cassidy is still a pretty happy and easy going child. She rarely gets annoyed with Jaxon is even more mellow than her. They both take nice naps in the afternoon to help with my sanity and the fact that Chuck works from home Wed & Fri also helps. Zac has helped this summer, not often, because I hate to ask him to help with the kids too much, I don't want him to resent them.

Today's picture sessions went incredibly well. The gal taking the photos was just wonderful. Cassidy was being a bit defiant about the idea of having her photo taken so we started with Jax. Of course that smiley boy was easy pickings for the photographer. Then the photographer asked Cassidy if she wanted to take the pictures, of course, this worked like a charm and a couple wonderful pictures of Cassidy followed. The most difficult picture, as I'm sure you can imagine, was getting the three of them together. The boys were easy, but getting Cassidy situated close enough to Zac was the trickiest, she kept moving off a little by herself. But in the end we got a beautiful family picture that we will cherish for years. It captures their personalities -- Cassidy, our little diva; Jaxon, our little clown; and Zac, our smartass! and I say that with love.

A FAN


Anyone who really knows me, knows I'm a hockey nut. I'm a fan of the game as well as a fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins. I believe a fan follows their team through thick and thin and accepts when heir team struggles and still proudly wears their team's apparrel. Then there are fans (I'm related to one) who come out of the woodwork when the playoffs roll around and their team is making a run for the championship. They couldn't name the coach of the team or name players that were traded during the season, etc. but gladly jump on the coat tails of the team.

Also being a fan means accepting defeat graciously. Maybe having watched my child play sports for over 10 years make you realize that calls get screwed up, any team can beat any team on any given day -- that's why you play 9 innings, 3 periods, 4 quarters. It's not over til it's over. AND as important as skill is, luck has more to do with winning then some people would care to admit. A lucky bounce this way or that, a rebound in the right direction, etc. may make the difference in a game.

I have a handful of very close friends who like me are Penguins faithful, through thick and thin wear our Pens gear, display our team on our vehicles, even when earlier this season things looked grim and there was a coaching change. It's a long season and while I certainly didn't get to see as many games as I would have liked, I often followed the games online.

After all these years I've learned it's best to do my talking when the game is OVER and not before, and not to whine, which makes this victory so much sweeter. I know I have enjoyed my team as a gracious fan.

So with that said, Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Penguins, I am so very proud to be a fan.

When it rains it pours!!


It's been an eventful week.   Apparently we wanted to keep with the dreary weather with our dreary events.   I would like to see the sun for more than an hour or two, maybe today, before the next rain system comes through.  But on the bright side, the "unsettled" weather is supposed to be gone for Mother's day and next week looks brighter.

On Saturday we were rearended.  It was quite a big hit, the guy must have totally been not paying attention.  We were on our way to Zac's baseball game and it was a field we had never been too before, so we weren't driving all that fast as we were looking for a road (out in the boonies where the GPS didn't work).  We saw the road and Chuck stopped to turn left . . . lots of oncoming traffic.  We both looked behind because it was a quicker stop, but the car was about 2 blocks behind us, so neither of us continued to watch him and waited to make the left.   All of a sudden we heard screaching, in that split second I was looking around thinking who is that? never thinking it was the guy behind us.  And then BAM!!   Of course, as soon as it was done I was screaming, are the kids ok, are the kids ok?  Jaxon cried for about 20 seconds as I think he was startled out of a doze.  Zac proudly announced that it was the "THIRD" accident he's been in (none were all fault).  Zac was closest to impact as he was in the third row of the van, but he was fine and quickly crawled out.  The guy did try to get around us, but didn't quite make it, so our major damage is the back passenger side of the van and his front driver side was a mess.  He screwed up his axle and the car was not drivable.

The most important thing, of course, is that we are all fine.  Zac's neck was sore a bit the next day, but we haven't heard any complaints since.  And I've learned not to ask, if it bothers him he'll say something, if I say something it just reminds him to get some sympathy! ;)

We will be replacing two car seats and will need a rental for about a week (the adjuster figured we'd be out of the van for at least that long).  Since fitting two car seats and a teenager in the back of Chuck's car would not be a pretty sight, we will have to get a rental.  Which is all covered by insurance.

Then Sunday, Jaxon was especially cranky.  He still tried to smile and be happy, but he just would cry all of a sudden.  No fever, BUT an occasional tug on the ear.  So since he wasn't sleeping well either, I decided on a Monday morning pediatrician visit.  As all you moms know, calling the peds on a Monday morning is so much fun, NOT.  

So Monday morning rolls around and I'm greeted by a smiling infant AND a feverish, snotty toddler, who was on her way to losing her voice.  Normally, I wouldn't have taken Cassidy to the ped because she gets a cold like this every 6 months or so, but since I was already going I made an appt for both.  I was only on hold about ten minutes and had an appt for 9:40.  Chuck had emailed work to say he was going to work from home, so he could help me with the kids and get the van stuff squared away.  So we both went to the docs.  Cassidy was quickly confirmed as a cold and Jaxon was confirmed with a double ear infection and prescribed bubble gum medicine.

So a couple days later everyone is on the mend.  Cassidy did lose her voice, but it's back in full force and Jaxon slept through the night last night and is back to normal.  

Then yesterday when Zac came home from school he said his cell phone wasn't working (the screen would keep disappearing).  Well it's only a couple months old and still under warranty, so I told him to get his butt outside and help dad with cutting the grass and we would probably have time to run to the AT&T store before his 8 o'clock game.   So we head to the AT&T store, I stayed in the car with the munchkins for a while, until Jax was ready to get out.  Then I ventured in with both kids.  Luckily, things were moving quickly when I went in.  They replaced Zac's phone without much fuss and we headed back to the van . . . buckled everyone in . . . and then CLICK CLICK CLICK -- the battery was dead. UGH!!!    The lights and radio came on, so we knew it just needed a jump, but we didn't have cables.   Now this wasn't the end of the world because across the street was an auto store, but we only needed a jump.  Thankfully, our bestest friends were home and they only live about 5 minutes from where we were and Jim was there before we knew it giving us a jump.   This is the 3rd or 4th time we've needed a jump in the last couple years (mostly due to Zac leaving something on in the van after we vacate it!) so Chuck is going for a new battery later today.   We grabbed some Taco Bell and headed home and got Zac to his game on time -- HOWEVER, he was a whiney brat about it, because he likes to get there earlier than the coach asks so he can throw with one of his friends and proceeded to whine about it for the whole 2 minutes it takes to get to the field.  I was in no mood and told him to stuff it because our household no longer only revolves around him!!    I admit it did when he was the only one for 13 years, but gimme a break!

So after dropping him off I run to my mom's to let her pooch out because they are on vacation and head home to make myself presentable because I'm working the concession stand.  Kiss everyone goodnight and am excited that I get to miss out of bedtime duties for the first time in . . . FOREVER?  no not really but feels like it.      I get to the field with Zac's hat, because Mr. Whiner who was complaining I didn't get him there earlier enough forgot his hat.  And as I'm watching them warmup I feel PLOP PLOP PLOP . . . not a light drizzle, but BIG drops.  Oh joy.  At least I'd be in the stand if it rains.   Suffice to say, at 7:55 it decides to POUR.  With all the rain we've had recently it didn't take long for our field to look like a big old mud puddle. 

After a 15 minute discussion with the umps (at least I was smart enough to grab an umbrella, since the parking lot is quite a distance) it was decided no game.  So we headed home (first had to pick up my mom's dog cause he spends the night with Zac) and headed home.  Everyone was asleep; Cassidy in her crib and Jaxon on Chuck's shoulder.  Of course, about 90 minutes later our little fusspot woke up crying and didn't put himself back to sleep, so 15 minutes on my shoulder sent him off to dreamland and HE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!  So I'm taking that as a sign that things are going to be getting brighter.

And with that said, the sun has come out . . . even if it's just for the day.

Lil bit of this and that





So here are some pictures of the "coloring of the eggs".   Things went pretty well, Cassidy didn't want to share the colors (no surprise there) and she certainly didn't understand the concept of being gentle with the eggs, so there are several cracked color eggs in the box.   We will probably give it another go on Friday with another half dozen or so eggs.   Zac loves hard-boiled eggs, so there's no worry about getting sick of egg salad here.

On to other tidbits.  Zac was actually ASKING for a haircut.  I always promised myself that I would never whine about my kid getting a haircut.  As long as he washes it on a regular basis and runs a brush through it, I swore I'd never be one of those parents who makes their kids get a haircut.  So far I've been pretty good about it.  So now that baseball started and he put a baseball hat on and got these cute little flippys under the hat, he has been bugging for a short haircut.  Well if you can see above, it's not all that short, but he's happy with it, and that's fine with me.  He had a gentleman cut his hair this time and gave him an edgier cut, so for now, he's content.  Of course, I also noticed at dinner last night that he's sporting a hint of a mustache.  Since he's so fair skinned and has blonde hair it isn't extremely noticeable, but it's there.

And since several of my mommy friends have made "poop" posts over the last month or so I thought I'd have to share one.  I don't think I ever mentioned that Cassidy has been diagnosed with a type of chronic diarrhea.  Now it's not as bad as it sounds, it has to do with the fact that her movements are never solid, which always makes for a very messy cleanup.  Luckily, she only goes every other day (sometimes even a bit longer) but when she does go, break out the wipes!   So I am looking forward to when she gets a bit more interested potty training.  For now she'll sit on the potty with the diaper, she'll tell me right after she poops with a loud "I'm STINKY!"  

This morning while cleaning up her toxic waste, it was so delightful to hear Jaxon behind me, grunting and pushing . . . . . Jaxon is a dainty pooper LOL.  He prefers to leave me "little presents" several times a day.  

Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter Weekend.