weekend wrap-up

It was a great weekend on the compound with great weather and great fun. Even though today is football Sunday, we enjoyed a family outing to the pumpkin patch.

When we went last year, Austin was too young to enjoy the attractions. This year however he was eager to try them all----much to mommy's dismay. I know I am a paranoid mom, but I don't want my child touching those nasty farm animals!!! No one listened to me though and Austin had a blast petting everything. (get the Purell!!)


He also went down the HUGE slide with Daddy Mike---and again mommy gasped for breath and shrieked "omigod my baby, omigod my baby" way too many times! All in all though it was a super fun day and hopefully we can go again very soon.

In Leo news, he too had fun at the pumpkin patch. He slept soundly the whole time. Kind of like here. What can I say...he's a sleeper!!!

Keeping busy

There never seems to be enough time in the day around here...do you ever get that feeling?

After all, we need to wet our hair and make funny faces in the mirror.
We have tricycles to ride and sandboxes to play in.

Leo has lounging to do.
And eating!
as you can see he doesn't miss a meal! Athough this picture might make you wonder was in that milk that he drank.
He looks like he might have a hangover tomorrow!
(mommy swears she isn't hitting the bottle!)
(not yet!)

oh....we also have a dog to ignore too.

Now do you know why I can never get anything done?

Melissa Etheridge's new album comes out today!

Just wanted to let you know that Melissa Etheridge's new album is available in stores starting today!

Either rush out to buy it or you can get it right here!

birthday presents and other stuff

I cannot wrap my mind around the fact that Austin is turning TWO in a few short weeks. It seems like just yesterday I was posting about his first birthday party.
The time has absolutely flown by!!! (sob!)

I doubt there will be an official party this year (because of my drama filled life) so we decided to give Austin his official birthday present a little early.
(Ok the truth is that I was just too darn excited to wait!)
Here he is with his new ride!


Is this not ADORABLE!?!?!! Look at the smile on his face!!!


Of course now I realize that this makes the stroller virtually useless because who wants to ride when they can drive?! Oh well. Happy Birthday Austin. I'll be crying too hard on your actual birthday so I better tell you now.
(please don't ever move away from your mommy because she will have a nervous breakdown!)

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In other news, DM is conditioning baby L. to enjoy football Sunday. Here is a little football conditioning in action. (is he licking that football? I hope not!)

Of course, all that tv watching makes for very tired men. I can only IMAGINE their exhaustion level, y'know?

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and to add to our healthy food serious here on the compound, this is what was on our lunch menu today---courtesy of Austin. Who wouldn't want a combination of grapes, brownies, donuts, tomatoes, beef, oranges and a side of vegetable oil. YUM!

Sadly, it's more than I have prepared lately.


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Have you noticed my new blog on the sidebar?
Check it out!!! Workoutmommy.
Tell your friends. Email them right now, Ok? Thanks!

Monday blues

Do you ever feel like this on a Monday?
We do!!
Hopefully the day will get better!

Fat Friday

Remember when I was worried about Leo not eating and gaining weight? (refresh your memory here)

Yea, well...not so much anymore. Check out these cheeks! (on Leo, not Daddy)

Apparently, those brownies and cookies are helping to put weight on both of us!!!
The scary thing is that baby L is growing at a faster rate than A did!!!
Can we say "OH NO!"

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I'm working on a new project, so my posting on this blog might suffer a little. Please leave me a comment if that bums you out. (because it bums me out when I don't get any comments! )

TV talk

A wise friend of mine told me that the transition from 1 kid to 2 kids is like moving from a zone defense to a man to man defense. I didn't quite understand the analogy at the time, but now it really hits home! Mike and I take shifts with the two tykes and by the end of the night, we are just wiped out. How do people do this with more than 2?

In order to "relax", we watch some mind numbing TV.
Like this. and this
C'mon, admit it...you watch them too!

But here is a HUGE favorite of mine that I highly recommend
Don't miss it...these people really transform their lives!

Last night I sat down to 'numb out' while watching Oprah (thanks Tivo!) and holy cow....I ended up more stressed than ever!!!!!!! Jenny McCarthy and Holly Robinson Pete were on there talking about their sons' autism. Did you catch it? If not, here is a review
I want to put my boys in a bubble and never let them out!!!!! I'm definitely going to buy her book (using my Amazon link, of course!) and really consider delaying the vaccinations for Leo.

What do you think? Am I just being paranoid?
Did you hear that? It was the sound of another grey hair growing!!
(sigh)

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Let me lighten the mood with the latest Leo picture. Isn't he adorable?





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and because I haven't asked in awhile---have you clicked on those pretty boxes above and to the right lately? :)

my new workout partner

Today was the day for me to get reacquainted with those things called free weights. They have been sitting there mocking me for the past six months and I can no longer ignore the fact that I have zero muscle tone left. (sigh)

Austin decided to be my workout partner and although it was absolutely adorable watching him imitate my every move, I didn't get much done in the way of a workout. I spent a lot of time making sure he didn't get squished from a free weight or break his neck trying to climb on the weight bench.

Maybe tomorrow will be my day? I need to find the time though...no more excuses!
In the meantime, here are some cute pictures of our "workout". (don't you just love the headband look? ha!)


He may not be two yet, but he is lifting 3lb dumbells in each hand!!!! When was the last time YOU went to the gym and did bicep curls?!


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My little boy is growing up!
He likes to ride the bid kid swings!
by himself!

Stop the insanity!
Where did my baby go?!!?!

Ready for holiday shopping!

The holidays are fast approaching --are you ready yet? I found a great new site that will give you the Black Friday deals online without ever having to leave the house! How great is that? There will be no need to battle the 5am lines outside of Walmart or having to wrestle someone to the ground for one of the Elmo dolls this year. You can drive past the line wrapped around Best Buy and just laugh because you already got all the deals from the comfort of your own home!
Check it out here cyber monday
It is very user friendly and even includes a spot to enter your email address so you can be notified of all deals that you might like. You can plan your holiday list way in advance and not have to deal with any crowds!!

I will definitely be spending a lot of time checking out the Toys R Us deals, especially now that I have two kiddos to buy gifts for. And of course, I cannot forget my beloved Target. I always got excited about all the deals they offered on Black Friday but could not justify standing in line there with the HOPES of snagging any of them. With this site, now I can do it from home.
In my PJs!! Absolutely wonderful!! I can't wait!

Weekend wrap up with visitors! YAY!

We had visitors on the compound this weekend....our favorite Delawarians!! (minus Kristin because she is partying......I mean studying....at U of D these days)

The whole house was excited about their arrival, especially Austin who would scream "COT!!COT!!" over and over. No, we are not making him sleep on a cot, he was excited that cousin Scott was coming to visit.

Here he is all excited in his new hoodie!!

Scott was quite the trooper too because he was not allowed out of Austin's sight the whole weekend. Soon "Cot!" turned into "Cotty!" which I'm sure he just loved. (ha!)

Thanks 'Cot for entertaining Austin this weekend. He definitely misses you and hopes you come back soon.

We were als very happy to see Aunt Terry again and really wish she would quit that job. Little Leo gobbled up all her attention and he is wondering where that warm snuggly shoulder went? Come back Aunt Terry! Come back!
All in all it was a really great weekend that went by way too fast. Wouldn't you agree?

What a difference

two weeks makes! Here is a picture of Leo on 8/30:



and here he is again on 9/12:



wow...someone has been eating well!!
Unfortunately his food source has been eating well too and she is also growing in the wrong direction.

I need to get one of those shock collars that will shock me whenever I eat junk food. Then again, that probably wouldn't stop me, I'd just chew through the pain.
Sad but true!

Little Gym again!

No diaper leaks like last week but I was prepared!!
I had a diaper bag full of size 5's and a full pack of wipes just in case.
I am a prepared mommy, I swear!

Little Gym was fun tonight but there are some kids in there that are definitely brats...um....I mean challenging. And their "whatever attitude" parents really annoy me.
Seriously, if your kid is running wild and disrupting the class for everyone else, you really should do something about it. (yes, I'm talking to you Mr. Cool dad who didn't want to sing the Little Gym songs!)
His kid was jumping off the 3 ft. balance beam and very close to breaking his neck, but he didn't seem to care. I don't care if your kid breaks his neck either but please don't let him show MY kid how to do it. Austin is a follower and he picked up on this kid right away. We moved away from them but I could see he was still watching.
I hope this kid is absent next week!

At the end of class they blow bubbles and all the kids run around in a circle screeching together. (oh...that is where this headache came from!)
Anyway, Austin was trying to give the girls hugs but he ended up tackling a few, which from afar did not look good. I think some of the moms are now warning their daugthers about my son.
I was appalled.
Mike was proud.
(sigh)

Here are some cute pics from the big outing of the day:
Austin with Miss Jamie and Kayleigh

Guess what?!

Austin got a haircut today and it was successful!!!! I think it looks pretty awesome....how about you? It went much better this time---there was no flailing and screaming "no, no, noooooooooooo"!! He didn't clear the room with his screams and mommy was very proud of him.
What did the trick?
juice boxes and lollipops of course.

Yep, I've become one of those moms that bribes their kid with junk food even though I swore I never would. (yes, Terry...you told me so!)

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Guess what else? I went running again today! Woo HOO!!!! Ok, maybe running is a very loose term, but I shuffled my feet a lot and appeared to be running. It felt great and I can't wait to do it some more. Maybe someday I'll even look like this!

This is how my day went. How about you? (press the play button in the middle)

Firetrucks!!!

We didn't have anything planned for today and therefore I was dreading what was sure to be a looooonnnnnnggggg day. Around 11am though we were pleasantly surprised by the arrival of 3 firetrucks right outside our house this morning.

Now before you freak out, there was no fire. I have no idea why the neighbors called the fire department, but there was no smoke and the firefighters weren't running or anything.
Maybe there was a cat stuck in the fireplace or something.
Anyway, I'm just glad they called because these trucks provided about 40 minutes of entertainment for Austin.

and as many of you know, that is like GOLD in adult time!!
Thanks neighbors!

weekend wrap up

I don't have much to wrap up because I don't think
we did anything blog-worthy.

Um, I went to Target.....alone. Yes, that was the highlight of my weekend.
Boring, isn't it?

Even Leo is quite bored with me! Too bad he doesn't feel this way in the middle of the night.


So..how about you, what did you do this weekend? Feel free to comment. I know you did something more exciting than going to Target!

warm fuzzies for the weekend

We got some more samples from our photo shoot last weekend.
They really turned out amazing, I highly recommend you give her a call!


There really is nothing cuter than this!!!!

this picture is awesome, but it makes me realize why women wear makeup. Oh well!

Austin is saying "OH NO!". Another one of his favorite phrases! He's smiling though, so we'll take it!

Little Gym

So I signed Austin up for The Little Gym and let me just say that he LOVED IT!!! Now, if that is all you need to hear, feel free to skip the rest of my rambling. Otherwise, here it goes.

Mommy was looking forward to the The Little Gym all day because it gets me out of the house and away from those godforsaken "CHOO CHOOs!!" (Austin doesn' t have many words so the few he does know get repeated 17 kajillion times per day. ) Austin was excited about it because he also likes to get out of the house and his friends are in his class.

Anyway, we arrive a little early and are very excited to see our friends Jamie and Jen. (with cutie girls Kayleigh and Lala) Austin is very clingy and not sure what to think. He has never been around such a large bunch of kids and is pretty worried that I'm going to leave him there. We waited for our class to begin and just as we are being waved into the room (omigod, I'm so excited to be out of the house and talking to friends and looking at something other than my family room!!!) ----I notice a wet feeling on my hip.
Nope, I'm not leaking.....Austin's diaper is.
AAACKKK!!!

I race to the back with him ---and trampling a few parents/kids on the way----to rip off his pants before they are totally soaked. Too late of course, so I think "oh well, he'll have wet pants in class. Hopefully no one will notice. The kids are too young to make fun of him for this."

no big deal...let's just get that new diaper on and get into class!! Hurry, we're missing the fun!!
and of course, the diaper bag is full of SIZE ONE diapers. Austin wears a FIVE.

Here come the tears because this is the most exciting part of my day and we are going to have to leave because my child pees more than a size FIVE diaper can hold.

***are you still with me? wake up!****

I run out to my friends and say we have to leave because I am a terrible mother that can't pack a diaper bag correctly. Jen offers up one of Lala's diapers (who is this tiny pixie kid) and I decide that it will have to do.

To make a long story short....Austin got squeezed into a small diaper and we got to have fun at The Little Gym. Like I said, he absolutely LOVED it and too bad I didn't have my camera because you would have loved the pictures.

In the meantime, enjoy this picture of Austin hanging out with Uncle Chris today.
only 7 more days until we get to go back to The Little Gym!!

Wordless Wednesday-YUM!

The blind leading the blind...

So I know you are all wondering how the cooking is going? Well, slowly but I'm trying!
I recruited Austin to help me out tonight and he did a great job. Who knows, maybe he will pick it up quickly and start cooking for us?? Wouldn't that be awesome?!!

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and what was Leo doing? Sleeping, of course. It was still daylight. I hope he's not a vampire!

sweet baby leo

We went to get family pictures on Saturday and for the most part it was a success. It was a long morning for everyone but I am pretty sure that she got some amazing pictures that will result in a depletion of what little money we have left. I am hopeful that these pictures will be kind enough to hide my triple chin, big hiney, bald spot, and grey hair. (hello Photoshop!) Mike is hopeful that the pictures will hide his flaws too but c'mon---he's a man and no one really worries about what men look like. As long as they are clothed, no one seems to notice.

Anyway, the photographer was awesome and very patient with us. You can see her work here.


and she sent me a sample to keep me on my toes until the proofs are ready. Leo looks adorable but mommy looks like she needs to get back on the treadmill!

Austin got a job!

(click on the volume button --the second button in the lower left hand corner--on the video to hear the sound)

We decided it was time for Austin to earn his keep, so we got him a part-time job at the local church as the ringer of the bells. We think he did an excellent job---what do you think?

Free MySpace slideshows, photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

PS: Yes, the position required him to be in a tshirt and diaper only. The church is a little PWT.