Our 3rd Anniversary

Apparently we are celebrating our 3rd wedding anniversary early (it falls on this coming Tuesday)-the blue Tiffany's bag with my coffee this morning tipped me off...And another surprise, an undisclosed dinner tonight without the kids!

So I thought I would post this early as well...

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Tommy's Four Month Milestone

In this corner, weighing in at 13 lbs, 14oz (26th) and 26" long (80th), Tommy the Teether.
He received a clean bill of health, but the doctor suggested I start him on stage 1 foods to help his weight catch up with his height. So here we were today at dinner: the old highchair dusted off, the pureed carrots prepared, and a baby who has something shoved into his mouth 24-7. He liked the carrots and seemed pretty content with himself when we were done. Patrick "assisted" with the feeding and I am actually looking forward to delving back into this stage.

In other household news, our new roof is going up-the workers started this afternoon. Three cheers for no more water in our kitchen this winter...

The Law of the (Play) Land

Tom brought home this page from his desk calendar at work:

Toddler Property Laws
1. If I like it, it's mine.
2. If it's in my hand, it's mine.
3. If I can take it from you, it's mine.
4. If I had it a little while ago, it is mine.
5. If it's mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way.
6. If I am doing or building something, all of the pieces are mine.
7. If it looks just like mine, it's mine.
8. If I think it's mine, it's mine.

These Boots Were Made for Walkin'

Nothing seems to be able to stop this guy. Tommy tries to crawl out of his bouncy seat, his car seat, his bathseat. He works his way off his activity mat doing a squirm crawl, especially when he sees a toy just out of his reach. Today, he did a triple roll and landed himself in the middle of Patrick's train display. The kid is never content where he is and seems ready to explore the world. Patrick loves it.

For the past week, I think he has been sleeping through the night (down still at 7:30) until 5:15ish, sometimes as late as 7. I say think because at least once Tom caught me turning down the volume on the monitor when he started fussing. Still, because his room is right next to ours I can hear him with or without the monitor when he really wakes.

I also started giving Tommy a little formula if I feel he isn't satisfied after a feeding-anywhere between 2-4 ounces a day right now. His 4-month check-up is next Wednesday.

If You Don't have Anything nice to Say...

I need a moment, and Tom knows this and has taken the initiative to start P's lunch downstairs. We just returned from church and I am close to tears because of one, short sentence muttered to me just before mass begun.

"Mom, are you gaining weight?"

I had to choke back tears.
This came from a male (of course) who knows me fairly well and sees me weekly. Who knows I have a four-month-old. Who was obviously implying that perhaps I am pregnant again. My poor already fragile self-esteem took a direct hit. Mayday, Mayday. My battleship has been sunk.

What kills me is that just this morning, I weighed myself and was pleasantly happy to see 152.5. That is down about 8 pounds from where I was two months ago. I was feeling good about myself. I could see someone not noticing that amount of weight loss, but to think I had gained? I have been working so hard! Follow that comment with Tommy spitting up all over my dress and shoe during mass, then pooping through his clothes towards the end of mass. I feel that this particular Sunday is a wash. Not sure if my ego can recover.

Maybe my emotions have something to do with a heartbreaking story here in Pittsburgh. Friday afternoon, a mother and her two children drowned when a nine foot wall of water that came from a flash flood buried their minivan as they drove down a main road. It happened on the exact same route I had just driven 4 hours earlier on my way back from my gym. In fact, it had already started raining when I left the gym. Same spot, just separated in time my mere hours. They had just left their husband/dad who they had met for lunch and were heading home. Another 72-year old woman also died in the same spot when she left her car to try to get to higher ground.

So here I am, feeling sorry for myself when really I certainly have nothing to mope about. When I actually put it in writing, it seems like such a petty thing to even complain about when such devastating loss has occurred.

Please say a prayer for those families, even if you have never driven Washington Blvd.

Moping over.

Pests

Okay scientists of America, let's put on your thinking caps and come up with something that kills stinkbugs and doesn't cost $50. I bought a RESCUE outdoor trap yesterday and put it on the tree/shrub next to our deck. I went out to check on it today and was surprised to see about 10 in the trap and another 15 crawling nearby. Then I turned to go back into the house and noticed the hundred or so crawling all over the house.

Ought oh.

Then I noticed them everywhere-on the grill, on P's toy car, the watering can, the patio set, the windows. We are barricaded in our house and I am not going to rest easy until Tom seals up every crack and crevice on the outside of the house this weekend. This could be a rough fall.

Something Stinky

Today started out with a bang-well, more like a squirt. While next door visiting my friend Judy, I was balancing Tommy on my knee while chatting when I heard the familiar rumblings of a bowel movement on the way. Tommy has had some doozies lately, but I wasn't prepared for this. I swear, it never even went in his diaper. It somehow came out his butt, made a hard left, and then catapulted onto my shorts, down my leg, onto my sandal, and onto the floor of my neighbor's screened in porch. That was the end of that playdate.

Then, to add more stinkiness to the day, while trimming the shrub next to our deck this afternoon, I noticed that the branches were full of baby stinkbugs! Uggh. Double Uggh. If you haven't had stinkbugs yet, you cannot understand the animosity that we Western Pennsylvanians have towards them. They are everywhere, all the time. I actually had never seen baby ones last year since the adult version are the only ones that enter the house. Oh, please, please don't let them be as bad as last year. Now that the night temps are beginning to drop, they are going to start looking for a nice winter home=our house. People are scrambling to be the first to develop a stink bug trap so they can cash in, but so far, nothing that seems to do the trick.

So this fall, I am bracing for two stink problems in my house-stink bugs and this cuter source: