Happy half Birthday Oliver!

Yay Red Sox! World series Champs 2007!


So today was our 6 month check up. Ouch! 4 shots! Just to catch you all up on the development of my child. He has two little teeth, I've started saving for braces, if they end up anything like his fathers, he'll need 'em. He can sit up on his own for a short time before "Timber!" He loves to make his little raspberry sound with his tongue he just discovered. We all spend the day just drenched now. Not quite rolling all the way over, but very close. The Dr. said to baby proof immediately if not sooner. I know, I know, we should have already. We're on it this weekend! He's very happy and loves his new high chair. We eat lots of yummy food now. Fruits and veggies most of which end up in his hair. He's dying to feed himself, or maybe he just likes how it squishes between his chubby fingers. WE'RE SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!! It still might be too early to declare such a feat, but it has been 3 solid nights in a row now! I feel like a new women! (I just need a shower) In bed by 7, up at 5, then back down 'till 8! Now if I only could make my self go to bed before 11 I might catch up on some sleep of my own! He's still a great napper, thank god!
We almost never use the swing. He actually naps in his crib now too. Such a big boy. FEW..I've done it, broken all bad habits early enough. He's tall and thin, weighing in at 16.9 lbs and standing at a mear 27 inches. Tall and thin, hmm.. didn't get that from me? Growing like a weed. We've had a very nice treat, Auntie Stacy is down for an indefinite amount of time, and man she loves to spoil him! Any kind of talking toy has some how made its way into the shopping cart claiming he picked it out. We might be taking our first trip to Florida's finest theme park sometime soon. We'll let you know how it goes. I don't know, I'm pretty sure he's a thrill seeker like his mom. He's gonna love those roller coasters!

You can take the girl out of the north, but you can't take the north out of the girl.

So the weather broke here finally ,and by broke I mean it's now low eighties instead of high nineties. So I was ready to break out the sweaters and jeans. I settled for a knit shall and flip flops. I've lived down here a year, full time now, and can't bare to rid myself of those cozy sweaters that stare down at me from my closet shelf waiting for the day, I do mean THE day, it is cold enough to actually wear one.
I finally got to take Oliver out in daylight hours without fear of extreme sun exposure or death by heat exhaustion. We strolled up and down the streets of down town St. Pete for about an hour. By the time I was half way through my grande, decaf ,skim ,extra hot, no whip Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks (I always feel like such an ass when I order from that place) I was sweating so hard I had to strip down to my oh so cute wife beater, which I usually save for pj's. I've walked down town quite a bit to realize the beauty amongst the trash. A park along the water front is one of the nicest I've strolled through. A beautiful harbor view, palm trees,manicured grass and a homeless man bathing himself in one of the picnic pavilions. A bird of paradise in full bloom near the dumpiest part of town. It might cost you 10$ a stem at a florist up north. And there it was just a common sidewalk flower.
As I strolled I looked at my son, my god he's a Florida native, a very rare thing to be. I have a strong love/hate relationship with Florida,just as much as I do about the northeast. The memories I have of my New England childhood will be much different than those of my children if we continue to raise them down here. I get sad thinking of all the things that made growing up in New England so wonderful, and knowing that my kids might never experience that for themselves, at least not on a day to day basis. But Is that so bad? I mean they will get a taste of the best parts without having to endure the worst. Visits to the Ocean in the warm summer days, chilly summer nights spent at the cottage by the lake. Autumn in NH watching the leafs change color. Christmas, snow and all that goes along with the holidays, they really are just beautiful, more there than anywhere else I know. Down here Christmas decorations are more to see who can out class their neighbor by cramming the most amount of tacky shit in their yards.
Instead their childhoods will consist of swimming at the beach a good 9 months out of the year instead of 3. Great tans (not frost bite) and sun bleached hair, fresh bananas, oranges and veggies from our back yard anytime they want. They will never know how bad it is for your back to shovel snow, or how miserable it is to have to warm up your car and scrape ice off the windshield with a credit card because you've broken your last scraper.
It might not be so bad here. Catch up with me tomorrow I'll most likely will have a different opinion.

Martha Stewart wasn't that good a mother.

So as I threw away the second burned batch of sweet potatoes I was trying to make into baby food for my six month old son,it donned on me, why am I doing this when I can buy perfectly good food in a nice neat container for the exact same price(or a fraction more) as it cost to make it myself. Not to include the cost of my sanity. I can store it in the cabnet and don't have to worry about throwing it away if it's sat in the fridge too long.
He's still not sleeping through the night, which means neither am I. SO needless to say there are times throughout the day I'm a slightly more funtional than a coma patient. I tend to forget a lot.
I try to be the Stepford/Martha Stewart house wife I so secretly want with matching sheet sets and towels. Dish clothes that don't have stains, or any thing that doesn't have some sort of orange puke on it. I pride myself on a clean house(just don't look too close) and can't go to sleep if there are dishes in the sink. I have slight panic attacks every time I have to feed the baby with a spoon, because I know what a sticky mess it's going to make and I hate when my hands get that dirty, I know I'm a OCD freak(oh and have I mentioned we don't own a high chair yet, so he's fed in the living room in a Bumpo seat. If you don't know what one is consider your self lucky and you probably still have a life, nice shoes, a figure in the single digits and you still get "Laid")
So back to what I was saying, I could make the food from scratch, it's better for them, blah blah. I have to surrender this battle. Give up my title as the mom that can do it all, and buy (dare I say) store bought baby food. God bless all those moms who can do it. And thanks for all the "Best Baby puree" books, but their getting stored on the shelf next to my Zone cookbooks.
I've come to grips with the insane part of my brain, the one that tells me it's more important to do dishes, sanitize bottles and and wipe down the counter over my child's screaming fit. Put Down the magic bullet blender filled with bananas and breast milk and pick up the baby who's turning beat red from crying and read him a story. And if he's hungry later open that vacuum sealed pack of sweet potatoes (Organic of course!)

My birth-a-versary weekend in NH

As many of you know I was married on my birthday 5 years ago. Hungry for a little nostalgia, I recently spent the weekend (sans husband) in beautiful NH, enjoying the foliage and my family. Friday my actual b-day/anniversary was spent hanging with Mom, a quick trip to my Orthopedic Dr., then to visit with my Grand Mother in the rehab (knee surgery, not drugs.) Hermanos chicken garlic nachos for dinner, then white chocolate and espresso martinis with Kristi at the Common Man, the site of our rehearsal dinner, for dessert. All and all perfect day! The rest of the weekend followed suit, playing in the yard Saturday, off to the farm for pumpkin picking and ice cream. (Wow have you noticed my weekend revolved mainly around junk food. Hey, I'm still well within my "you just had a baby" time limit) Then we had dinner at Kristi's with Mom, Dad, My good friend (and Oliver's God mother) Lauren, and of course Alise and Korey. Sat by the fire with some good wine, stayed up WAY too late, and payed for it the whole next day. We apple picked in the morning at Gould Hill, what a beautiful day, although quite chilly. Oliver has never worn so many clothes! Cheeks still rosy, we went to Moms for lunch with my cousin Trista and "Chitney", yes that is my brother Chip and his girlfriend Whitney, we gave them a "Brangelina/Bennifer" name. They are very cute!

Although Scott was not with us for the weekend I don't think it fazed him much, he was down in Florida, in his element, with a friend from Nantucket. They spent the weekend fishing.

So that's how it is now. Flash forward five years and we're already taking our ideal vacations, just not together. Wrapping up Olivers third trip on an airplane in the last three months. He did pretty good! I think we'llstay put for a while, I've had my fill of changing poopy diapers in an airplane bathroom.