Danny's favorite

Danny is so talkative right now. Usually it is good, other than the other night at dinner when he told Stephen and I who was mean and who was nice in my family. That was hilarious, but a little scary to know he could easily tell the "mean" people what he thinks of them!

He is saying more and more words and making small sentences. I once thought he would never put two words together, but now he says "Home Depot" and "Old Bay" about fifty times a day. If you know my husband, than you know that those two statements means he is a small chip off of Stephen's block for sure!

Today is my husbands birthday, we celebrated by going to the zoo. Danny was so excited to go to the zoo (and get popcorn). We had a great day, a hot day, but it was still a wonderful time. Tonight at the dinner table my husband starts to ask Danny who his favorite animal at the zoo was. He didn't get past "Who is your favorite. . ." when Danny shouted out "JOE." Joe, of course, is my oldest brother, and one of my best friends. He is Danny's Godfather, and definitely one of Danny's favorite people on earth. Danny adores Joe, and I love seeing how much fun they have together. I thought it was so cute that Danny didn't even wait for my husband to finish the question, he just shouted out that Joe was his favorite.

There is a lot of pressure here, though. Now I have to find a way to one day make Joe's child love me as much as Danny loves Joe. I am not sure how I will accomplish that, but I am sure up to the challenge!

Uncle Joe/Godfather/Uncle Stompy

Welcome, Baby!

Brayden and Haley. 2/7/2012

Welcome to the family to my adorable new nephew, Brayden. Brayden mad his arrival SIX weeks early, giving his mom and dad, and the rest of us a big scare yesterday. Everything turned out perfect, Brayden weighs 6lbs and only spent a few hours in the NICU. We are so beyond thrilled to have this little boy in our lives. He has made us very happy aunt, uncle and cousin. Danny is in for the big awakening now that he isn't the baby of the family. We are so excited to watch this little boy grow up!!

Congrats to Brian, Haley and big sister Alexis!

My son, he is smart

BOYS!

This was Danny's face when I told him his new baby cousin, due in March, is going to be a boy! Doesn't he have a sneaky kind of grin on his face? I imagine he is thinking about wrestling matches, sword fights, eating sushi at age five and torturing all sisters and female cousins that will come their way. We are so excited for the new addition coming to our family next year!

Fall

Brothers

Cory and Eric

 

Joe, Matt and Andy

My home is spotless

 

For all the idiots out there. . .

Friend Fail

The Sweetest Thing

East Coast Earthquake

Grandparents

Mom Fears

Big gathering anxiety?

What to do

30 Day Challenge-Day 2

Day 2 - A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest

Summerlea, Cana, Me, Shannon, Nicole.

 Ok. I have been closest with my sister, Cana, the longest, but how could I leave these other girls out? Summerlea and Shannon are my cousins (also sisters) who have always been there. Always. We weren't super close when we were little kids because we didn't live too close to each other, but their mom passed away around the same time that my parents split up and the four of us grew very close because of that. Nicole, is my sister in law. She doesn't have any biological sisters (I'm sure the rest of the girls in the picture wished that was the case at some point growing up :)). Nicole is just like a sister to me, I am so lucky that my brother married her and made her my sister!

When not to listen to your instincts.

Question: When shouldn't you listen to your instincts?
Answer: When your child is choking.

Yesterday while visiting my Grandma I overlooked her giving Danny a small peanut butter pretzel sandwich (I should have listened to my instinct when I wanted to say "no!"). About two minutes later Danny tripped and fell, began to cry and as I picked him up to console him I realized he was choking. Really choking. His face was white and he couldn't breath, just a pathetic attempt to cough it out. My first instinct was to pry his mouth open and do a quick finger swipe-then my knowledge kicked in and I remembered what I learned in the CPR/First Aid class that my husband and I took when I was pregnant.

A little back story.

My husband was stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma (Yuma, Arizona) while I was pregnant with our son. One of the benefits of being a poor enlisted couple is the opportunity to take tons of pre-baby prep classes. When I was 36 1/2 weeks pregnant we took an Adult/Child CPR/First Aid class.

Just for fun imagine this with an additional four weeks attached giving CPR to dummies and pretend Heimliching my husband:

It wasn't pretty. Anyway, the class, taught by two wonderful firefighters/emts from the MCAS Yuma firehouse taught me the proper way to save a choking baby. Five pounds on the back, flip, five compressions on the check repeat as necessary. The class was about six hours long, but probably one of the best things I've ever done because I knew exactly what to do in a scary situation thanks to the awesome teachers (and thanks to LINKS for offering the class for free).

So, I Heimliched Danny. I was lucky enough to only have to do the five back pounds (probably not the proper term) before he started to breath again. He was hysterical (probably thinking why the !@#$ is Mommy hitting my back when I am choking), it took about five minutes to calm him down, but he is ok. Thank God.

There are so many classes, books and stories that claim to help prepare you for parenthood. None of them do, they might, if they're really good make you feel a little less scared, but you'll still be terrified when the hospital discharges you and you and your partner realize that "they're letting you take the baby home-by yourselves" like my husband and I thought. The CPR/First Aid classes can prepare you to handle a scary situation and save your child's life. If you do nothing else to prepare for parenthood, this is what you HAVE to do.

If you already have children and haven't taken the class, it isn't too late. It is never too late to learn how to save your child. Take the class with your baby sitter, aunts, uncles and grandparents. Make sure anyone who might be left alone with your child is prepared for a common, yet dangerous situation.

If nothing else, at least check out these links and share them with your friends.

Quick INFANT CPR instructions

An illustrated guide to infant CPR and Heimlich

Find out where you can take a from the American Red Cross

VACATION

I did promise a while ago that I would post pictures of my family reunion, didn't I?

The second week in July brought my whole extended family together-minus several people who couldn't make it because of work. We gather at the same place every year, Oak Island, North Carolina. My fondest childhood memories can be found there. For me, the term vacation was used very loosely because my husband had to stay home and work so it was toddler Danny and myself all on our own. We still had fun. We still made memories. WE definitely appreciated Daddy that week!

The whole gang, minus a few who couldn't make it. Notice that my grandparents have 27 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. For the first time in a very long time no one is pregnant. . . I think.

The Outlaws aka the ones who've married into the family.

Grandma and Grandpa with seven of their ten greats.

Danny, Me and Bob in Southport.

My son ate 6 pieces of watermelon in one sitting.

Very inventive-Ike attached an umbrella and four noodles to an old beach chair-i

Waiting for dinner. . . they don't make living rooms big enough for us.

Three lovely ladies heading out for an early evening stroll.

I hope that my family continues this 21 year long tradition for many years to come. It is wonderful to get one chance each year to gather and connect as a family. We are all so different, yet have so much in common because we come from the two best people I have ever met in my life-my Grandma and Grandpa. What a great idea they had many years ago to start this vacation as a way to keep their family in touch.

Why I stay home.

Being a stay-at-home-mom is probably one of the most important things in the world to me, second only to being a good wife. Because it is so important to me I am very sensitive about the subject, I have gotten a lot of criticism from people who are supposed to be close to me and also rude comments about how boring it must be blah blah blah.

Well my only response to the boring comments is my personal opinion and that is "You can't possibly get bored unless you are sitting around ignoring your kids all day. There is always something to do." Sure you might get bored of the routine every once in a while, but all you have to do is switch it up. When you're a SAHM you are the boss, you make the schedule, choose the days events and are the only one who decides if it is boring or not.

Something I read in Dr. Laura's In Praise of Stay-At-Home-Moms made a lot of sense to me. Dr. Laura said "More often than not, these "grandmothers," are acting out their guilt for not raising you." The quote was in regard to SAHM's who are getting the guilt trip from their own mothers about staying home. That thought just might be true, in my case at least I hear a lot of the negative comments from older women who didn't stay home with their kids or women around my age who don't plan on staying home with their kids.

I'm not saying being a SAHM is the only way, or the only right way, or the best way for everyone, but it is for me and my family.

I used to want to have a career, have a few kids and put them in daycare, that was my dream as a teen. I did not want to stay home. Once I got married and started thinking about having my own family the idea of having babies to then leave them in the care of someone else all day was too much for me. I didn't want to do it. Luckily, I married a wonderful man who completely supports my decision to stay home and raise our children, even if that means he has to work harder and we will have fewer things. I am one of the lucky ones, I know that.

Even though I know I am one of the lucky ones who gets to stay home with my child it doesn't make it any easier to hear the bullshit negative comments. Just like I don't judge moms who love their careers and want to keep them after having children, I don't want to be judged for wanting to stay home with my kids over a career.

Another thing in Dr. Laura's book really hit me hard and it was "Being a SAHM was fabulous-even though it was very difficult. It was my second chance to have a mother-child relationship. The first one was a bust. But the second one? Well my son is in the military and says, "I love you, Mom," ever time we end a phone conversation."

Bingo. Right. There. That is is. That is what I want, it is why I am doing this. I want to give my child everything I never had. I want to be there for him no matter the day, whether he is happy or sad, sick or health, loving me or hating me. I want to be there. He will know that no matter what, mom is there and always will be.

So like I said, this is my dream come true. I might not seem like the most ambitious person in the world, but really I am. I am dedicating my life to my husband and my children and nothing else. Anything else will just be a very distant third. After all, what other job can you think of where you can sit at your computer (during nap time) and write about your life while you rock out to and Eric Clapton playlist?

Happy Birthday to my Wonderful Husband!

This may be a mommy blog but I can't let August 7th go by without writing a little something about my wonderful husband, after all he did make me a mother :).

My husband, Stephen, literally does it all. He is a kind, caring, considerate, loving and devoted man. He is super-dad.  He does EVERYTHING for our son. From the day Danny was born Stephen has been in incredible dad mode, I tell people this all the time (and it is true) that until Danny was about two weeks old I only changed two diapers. He cleans/diapers/plays/feeds/disciplines/loves our son. There is nothing that he wont do for him or me for that matter. He has picked up so much slack at home since I went back to college, doing dishes, laundry and cleaning after working ten hours so I can study or write. He works hard every day so that I can stay home with Danny because he knows that it important for moms to stay home with their kids. He supports me in every way shape and form.

He has been my best friend since I was 16 years old. We have grown up together. He amazed me when he decided to enlist in the Marine Corps even though he didn't have a lot of support from his family and friends. He is his own person, never allows anyone to influence his thoughts or actions. He worked hard while in the military every day until he was honorably discharged so he could pursue other dreams.

I am so lucky to have such a wonderful man in my life. We've been through so much together, I am so thankful to have him as the most important person in my life. He has gone from the guy who would drive around and "wreck stuff" to the guy who watched Elmo's World on a daily basis but still manages to be the same goofy kid I fell in love with eight years ago.

Happy Birthday, Stephen!!