July 4, 2008

Wow!! It has been a while. Great update here. Steve & I took all 5 kids on vacation last week. We were gone 9 days, to Six Flags -NJ; Washington DC; & Virginia Beach. I have never been to DC before and what a gorgeous, clean, historical city. I loved it and I look forward to going back. We just walked and walked and walked everywhere. To name a few, we saw the White House, George Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Jefferson Monument, Roosevelt memorial, Fords Theatre, the Smithsonian Museums, American History Museum, and had dinner in Georgetown and took a look at the University. What a city. I am looking forward to going back. We spent Mon-Weds in DC.

Then we headed to Virginia Beach, stayed at a hotel on the beach, and visited with my Aunt Nancy & Uncle John, then my other Aunt Betsy, her friend Sherry, and then my Dad & sister Susan drove up with my nephew Braden. My cousins Billy & his wife Heather & their kids Trevor, KayLee & Emily were there. So was my cousin Bobby and my other cousin Bryan. We spent 4th of July at Bryan's awesome house on a lake with Bay Access. The boys got to fish, and go tubing and just had a great time. We got to have wonderful Maryland Blue Crabs....yummm just thinking about them, and fireworks at night. My aunt made her famous mouth-watering Fried Okra, and tons of great great great food. My Aunt Bonnie, who couldn't join us, sent us two coolers full of good old Texan BBQ food.....to say I'm probably gaining 20 pounds just thinking about the food is an understatement.

We ALL had a great time. Steve & I think this was the first time in our 3 years of marriage, that we really saw the kids acting like a family. They all sounded so excited as we were getting ready for the trip. Victoria was helping everyone download their ipods. And everyone took turns pushing Tommy around in his stroller and keeping him entertained in his carseat. It was a lovely lovely time, and just makes me appreciate being around my family that much more. Victoria is in FL now, visiting with all my FL family. When the kids are gone, the house is.....verrrry quiet. Too quiet. Ofcourse we have Tommy who takes care of that.....but I still miss hearing all the noise and fun, having so many kids around.

June 14, 2008 - It was a good day!

On Saturday, Victoria, Tommy & Myself, went to the Portsmouth Market Square Day. We walked around, looked at all the venders boothes, ate some of the delicious food (lobst'a roll & chowd'a), went into the stores for shopping, and at one point, after several hours of this, Victoria said to me, "Mom, we're having such a nice day together." That made my day.

This week, Victoria starts personal training. She has been really looking forward to it. I hope she learns some techniques she never knew before and also hope she feels more comfortable around the exercise machines at the gym. Cardio she's had down pat for a long while. Now onto the bigger and better stuff.

This morning, Steve, Tommy & I went to breakfast. It was a nice quiet morning in Durham. Ahhh. The good life!

Tommy & Braden

I thought I'd share the video of Tommy & Braden, taken back in April, while we were staying in Miami. Two cute little boys, with two very cute dispositions. We get to see Braden again for 4th of July. We can't wait!

June 4th, 2008

Sleep. It's been over 8 months since the last time I can remember being able to sleep for longer than a 4-hour stretch at best. Last night was terrible. Tommy went to bed around 9:30pm, only to wake up at 11pm. Then again at 1am. The problem at 1, was he wanted to play. He was not ready to go to sleep. At 2am, Steve put him in the car and drove around for half an hour, only to return w/ a crying baby. Steve put Tommy in the crib, shut his door, shut our door, and said, "He cried the whole time. What kind of baby doesn't fall asleep on a car-ride at 2am?" So, he finally quietted down by 3am. I went in to check on him and make sure he was covered up. Guess what time he woke up for the day? 5am.

My guess is it's new teethe coming in. He seemed to enjoy a teether I gave him this morning on the ride to daycare. I love him to pieces, but I need some sleep so I can function. What is going wrong? Victoria slept all night at 6 weeks, but she started waking at night when her first two teeth cut at 4 months. She would wake only once, maybe twice at night, but I don't remember it as a terrible thing either. I wonder why Tommy just won't sleep longer.

It's raining here in Portsmouth today. Very blah. And I'm tired.

Steve's taking Jake to a Redsox game. All of Jake's class is going, and Steve asked if he could buy extra tickets for Logan & Will too. Hopefully the game doesn't get rained out. Last night, Jake asked me if I'd buy him some red & blue face paint....I did. Should be interesting!

Hugs to everyone reading this. I miss you.

May 27, 2008

Today is my nephew's 1st birthday. Tommy wanted to send him a little note...

We had a nice Memorial Day weekend. We worked around the house, put in the new white wooden blinds, shopped a little, walked around Portsmouth a little and just enjoyed ourselves in this sunny weather.

Victoria has a softball game today, 3 hours away. She was comparing the bus ride to a one-way trip to Miami from Boston....she said it was like flying to Miami and then back in the same day.... Suffice to say, she was not looking forward to it.

We have Tommy's new professional pictures, and when I get my act together, I'm mailing them out to my family members. He's adorable.

May 9, 2008

Yesterday was overcast in the morning, but by lunch time, the sun was out and it was in the mid 70s. I walked Tommy over to the park by Kathy's house again. It was a nice little walk. He got to sit on the swings again and slide for a little bit.

Last night, after work, Will & I took Tommy for a walk around the block w/ Princess. Then later, Will read Tommy a book he'd picked out, about shapes.

Afterwards, Tommy got his beloved bath. He practically leaps out of my arms to sit in his bath-tub. He splashes and has a little toy he chews on, he plays w/ the little cups, it's lots of fun!

Victoria had a double-header softball game, won one, lost the other. She returned to the school at 10pm last night.....Tommy was asleep in the car.

Today's another overcast cloudy day, supposed to rain....just what we wanted.....

May 7, 2008

Well, I'm venturing out into the cyber world and creating my very first blog....without my daughters help!

Life is good. Yesterday was a beautiful day here in New England and I took my 7 month old son for a nice walk at lunch. We went to the park near Kathy's house (his sitter), and he got to sit on the swings, and swoop down the slide.

Yesterday afternoon, I had the baby in the car, and took my beagle Princess along for a ride to pick up my daughter from softball practice. I heard the baby making one of those belly-felt-laughs/giggles. I looked in my rear view mirror to see his reflection, as my dog had her nose sniffing the baby food in his mouth and licking his face. He loved it.....me, not so much, but it was a very cute moment.