See Ya 2008

Wow. 2008 is just an inch away from being gone and 2009 is banging at the door. I have been around reading a bunch of blogs and almost every one has a nice recap of 2008 with some photos or an actual montage set to music. Well, I have barely had time to write any post this month, I can try to get around to that next year.

What I am thankful for in 2008 is my beautiful baby boy and the very cool big brother, the health of my family, the fact that Hubby has some pretty good job security, a new home, a new car. And here's to wishing some more plentiful thankfulness (is that a real sentence?) in 2009.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year!

Yes, those are my socks he is wearing as gloves. hahaha

Our Tree

Whoops. So I thought I had a few posts scheduled to come out during the Christmas week since I knew I was going to be so busy. Well, I did it wrong. So the next week I will try to get these posted. This is the post I was going to put up on 12/16.

We went out last Friday (12/12) to get our tree at a little place around the corner from us.

The Kid had so much fun just running in and out and between the trees. We picked the most perfect little tree,

You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!

I'm so bummed. We were supposed to go up to a friend's house only 30 minutes north of us, but at her house, SNOW. At my house rain rain rain. So we have postponed for another day. Our kids make Christmas cookies each year and exchange little gifts. This year we decided to have the kids make gifts for each other. I can't tell you all what my Kid made for his girlfriend, yet. Her mom reads here, and it's a surprise. LOL!

So we will see them Monday and in the meantime...we made a kick ass gingerbread house in the non-Christmasy weather.

Very proud of his work.

Notice the sleeping Baby in the swing... the very rare nap. I don't think he has napped longer than an half an hour a day in a week... but the plus side, he only gets up 2 or 3 times at night and goes right back down after nursing for about 15 min.

How's the Weather?

This was us yesterday. I took this myself. Hubby was at work.

We were in the house most of the day in PJ's. I didn't want to go anywhere. It was too cold and cloudy and just looked crappy out there. But, after the 7th hour of Backyardigans I decided I HAD to get the Kid outside and get some energy out and get some fresh air. So I bundled us up.

He rode up and down the driveway about 20 times.

I sat them together for a cute brother's shot.
This was us TODAY!

It was freaking 64 degrees here in NJ! It's December FIFTEENTH! It was gorgeous. No coats, no hats. I got to see my Baby's chunky little arms today. And the Kid went across the monkey bars all by himself for the first time!

Help me choose a camera!

I am so sick of my camera. I am sick of the red eye that makes my Baby look like the devil. I am sick of the missed smiles because there is a delay on every shot I take. I am sick that the once 'waterproofing' of my camera has been broken for the last 2 years. I have the Pentax Optio. It only has 5 megapix and I know there are cameras out there with more than double that! But I honestly don't know what megapixels are. ARGH!

Dear Santa,

I would love new camera for Christmas.

Thanks!

Love, Beach Mama

I have told my family to just give me cash so I can get a nice camera to take more (and better) pictures of the kids.
...Now I just have to figure out which one to get. It will depend on how much money I receive, of course. I do love that I can just stick my little camera in my pocket where ever I go. I do love that there is a little video feature that I can take if I don't have my actual video camera.. which is over 8 years old and massive compared to the ones out there now.. but I digress it's a photo camera I am looking to buy now.

So here are my very important questions I am throwing out there for all of you that take and have beautiful pictures on your blogs...or just have a good camera and want to share with me what you have.

First I will tell you that I have an awesome Canon RebelXs camera that I got back in 1996 for a college class. It is film, not digital. But I have a 35-80mm lens that came with it. Do all Canons have interchangeable lenses? Would I be better off buying a more expensive body of a camera and just use the lens I have?
I am leaning toward getting a full big body camera, I can still use my smaller one outside and stick it in my pocket if I want to leave my good new one behind...especially for amusement parks and the like. Or would a powershot or elph be just as good? I am not set on a Canon, but I figured since I have one with an extra lens it would be easier. If you have another camera and want to let me know all about it, please do.

- I have been seeing online and in some people posting something about SLR. What exactly is that? I read about it on wiki and I still don't quite understand it. Anyone have a simpler explanation? Or is it not really worth it for someone like me? Is it more for professionals?
- What do you need to be able to just push the button and take the picture with NO delay? This one is super important. The delay kills me!
- Is there any way to eliminate red eye without that flashy light and delay before the shot?
- Is there ANYTHING else I should be looking for to have a great camera?

I love photography. And when I was taking the class in college and the first year of the Kid's life while I was using the film camera I took shots that were beautiful. I just can't get the same degree of photos with my little handheld.

I really appreciate any and all suggestions and help I can get.
Thanks!!

Tiny Bit of OCD coming through...

I know. It's Dec 11th. Where do the days go?



Guess what? We still don't have our Christmas tree. Yup. We were planning on going yesterday, didn't happen. And said we'd go today. Well, now it's raining. So I don't know if that's going to happen. See now if I had a fake one, I could have had it up weeks ago.



We are going to head over to the mall today so I can get the boys pictures taken all dressed up with Santa...so I can get the Christmas cards. Nope. Haven't done that yet either.

And the funny thing is, I feel no pressure, no stress that I still have so much to do for the holiday.



I do have all the gifts bought and wrapped for the Kid. I have the gifts for the kids' grandma's. Can't show you here yet, because they all read my blog...but I will show you after Christmas, they are great!


In spite of the lateness of everything else, I think I caught a little bit of Christmas OCD. I am the furthest thing from an OCD person. But, I decided this year to tell the Kid that Santa brings one or two big special gifts and fills your stocking and the rest is from mommy and daddy. I wrapped the Santa gifts in a pretty red paper and decided to wrap all of the mommy/daddy gifts in this white & silver snowflake paper. Then, when I had only 2 or 3 left to wrap I realized I wrapped the stocking gifts in snowflakes! My Kid is too damn quick. I KNOW he would realize that if I said Santa fills the stocking - how did the mommy/daddy paper get in there. So I did what I think is a bit OCD and unwrapped the stocking gifts and re-wrapped them in the red paper. I don't know, do you think that was a bit crazy? If you know my kid, you know he doesn't forget a thing and he picks up on stuff that we never thought he would. It's kinda creepy.

My Christmas Tree Rules

I have been in a writing slump for a while. I know you all love to see pictures of the kids for no reason what so ever. But that only keeps readers so long... right? where did you all go?

Anywho, now all of a sudden December hit me up side the head. Holy crap! I can't believe we have less than one month left in 2008. The kids are getting too big too fast. But yet, at the same time, time is dragging. Why is that? How the hell does that happen?

I am stealing a couple ideas for this post. Of course I am giving credit where credit is due.

My favorite Modern Matriarch made a list today of her Christmas tree rules. I loved it so much I couldn't just write a whole blog post in her comments when I have been neglecting writing over here. So here are my rules.

1. White lights only. And those would be solid white, no seizure inducing chasing lights. Although, I would like to know where AA gets her 'twinkle' lights. They sound pretty.

2. Real trees only. I just can NOT jump on the fake tree band wagon yet. I know I will eventually. Hubby asks every year for one, and every year I tell him it's just not Christmas until we go out in the freezing cold to pick out a tree that will (hopefully) last a month and die. (I know, not very green of the bf, cloth diapering mama.) I tell him we'll get one next year. That has lasted 8 years. I just love the challenge of finding different nooks and crannies for all my different ornaments. If we get a fake one they will all have the same place each year. Bor-ing.

3. I throw all of my ornaments up on the tree. I love my ornaments. Some are handmade, most are bought. All have a sentimental meaning. They all find a place in my mish mosh tree.

4. I refuse to buy an expensive blanket that is circle shaped to go around the bottom of the tree. I use a perfectly good cheap green table cloth. I used to use a green sheet, but found a table cloth on sale after Christmas one year.

5. My tree is topped with an angel. I don't know where or why I bought it. I am not super religious. I just never found a star that I liked. And now, this blond little angel that sits atop my tree is symbolic of my late grandmother who passed on 1/1/01. She isn't going anywhere.

2007 tree in our old house

When I get a chance I am going to do a short post of what I do with Christmas Cards... inspired by Swistle

Hope you all had a Happy Turkey Day

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Last week we went to the mall. It was the first day Santa was there. Seriously, 2 weeks before Thanksgiving the big guy shows up at the mall. They are really trying to push the holiday aren't they?
The Kid wanted to let Santa know that he wants the Diego Dino Mountain Playset. It is the only thing he has been asking for for weeks. Has mommy bought it yet? No. Am I a bad procrastinator? Yes. I really need to get this thing now before it's all sold out. I haven't had a chance to shop without him...although, I should just get it online, duh. Anyway, the mall. yea. This mall had a great Santa AND a sassy little Mrs. Claus too. They got to sit and chat because there was absolutely not one kid in line. The mall was empty on a Friday afternoon.
But, now I really wish that I took the sleeping Baby out of the stroller to get in on the photo opportunity. Oh well, we'll try again after Thanksgiving with the adorable outfits I got them with a gift card I had from the Children's Place.

After the Santa visit, the Kid went over to the area that they created for Christmas for F.A.O. Schwartz. It's not there all year. Look at the $200+ stuffed animals. Who buys those? I can barely fit all the crap that the Kid plays with in the house.

I don't think that giraffe would even fit in my house!

Photo at 5:42 AM

Yes, he is sleeping in his bassinet. I turned over a very alert, playful and full baby to Hubby last night so I could get some sleep before the next feeding. He fell asleep in Hubby's arms and he put him down in the bassinet. Then the Baby didn't wake for a while...I got 6 HOURS of sleep. Then he nursed, went back down into the bassinet and slept for another 3.
*KNOCK WOOD* Please don't let me jinx it!

Doing my Small Part to Save the Earth

So I have dove head first into the cloth diaper pool. I am almost at the 24 hour point of not throwing one disposable diaper away. It feels really really good. I'll let you know how I feel tonight when I have to wash all the diapers. hahaha. But that shouldn't be too much of a problem, I have a great washer & dryer that has a cold soak cycle and then I wash with hot water. And doesn't he look SO cute in his new diapers??

This is the happy face in the FuzziBunz

And what a deal I got! I have 14 size smalls that I bought online from an eBay-like site that sells used diapers (and they look like new!), 15 size mediums that I bought from a good friend of mine before she moved back to TX (MISS YOU A). And she included a mess of other cloth diapering accessories, worth much more than she sold them to me for. The bottom line is, I have enough diapers to last the Baby until he is potty trained (unless he trains late and gets much bigger than his brother and won't fit in the mediums) all for about $250!!! Yes, $250 for the next 2 - 2 1/2 years of diapers!

We are also doing very well on the nursing. I am just so thrilled that I stuck with it through all the pain and the tears and will never have to buy formula either!

I can't get a job right now to contribute, but I think that's a whole lot that I saved for our family, and I can do my little part to make my footprint smaller on this Earth for my boys.

Cute Pictures of the Baby

Because he's 8 weeks old today...

Wearing a hat at the baby shower we went to on Saturday...it actually belongs to the unborn baby. LOL! The mom put it on his head. He was the hit of the party.

Ack! There's that flashy thing again

Yo yo, whaz up??

You know I am not sleeping in here, right?


HAHAHAHA!

And thank you for the prayers for my dad. He is going to be fine. He is still in the hospital for observation from his head injury. I saw the truck today and he is so lucky to be alive.

Need some prayers, please

Whew. I haven't blogged in a week. Sorry guys. Time just kept getting away from me.



We really didn't do much all week. The Kid got a hair cut. I went to a baby shower on Saturday and a kid's birthday party on Sunday. We got a gas line hooked into our house because we are going to convert from oil. We went to the mall and saw Santa for the first time of the season. And that's about it.
Nursing is going well. Baby sleeping was going well, until we had about 3 nights of no sleep, but last night was good again. The Kid is doing great.
I have a ton of pictures on my camera that I need to download. I will try to get that done soon...but on to the prayers...

My dad was just in a car accident yesterday. He is ok, but has some head trauma. He was driving around a curve near his house (AA- near the municipal building in your town) and a car coming the other way took the curve too wide and my dad swerved to get out of the way and he hit a tree. His truck is totaled. He was doing ok last night. But he would be fine and laughing and talking and then zone out, but then be ok again. My step-mom and step-sis were there with him. They are talking about moving him to another hospital so I am waiting to see where he will be and try to go see him this afternoon. Unfortunately, this was the 2nd head trauma he had in a week. Last Wednesday he fell off a ladder at his house and went to the hospital and had a concussion.
Please keep him in your thoughts and if you pray, send up some prayers for him. Thanks.

Rude Awakening

So the last week and a half the Baby has been totally sleeping through the night. No matter how much or how little he has napped throughout the day. Although, now that I have put it in writing he will immediately stop this.

Every night he will go down anytime between 8-10pm and sleep for 4-6 hours! Then he will get up, nurse (only on one side), I'll change his diaper (sometimes try the other side) and he will go down again for 4 more hours. The last 2 mornings he (AND the Kid) didn't get up until 8AM! How the hell did I get so lucky?? Of course, we do have one major problem....

This is where he sleeps.

This picture was on 10/27 and was a nap. At night we totally buckle him in and cover him with a blanket wrapped just around his legs, because he hates to have his hands covered if he wakes up and can't move around. Swaddling stopped at week 1.

What am I going to do when we move upstairs and his crib is all set up? I am sure the swing will follow us up there, but once he is mobile and the swing is just for play time and is no longer safe for him to be sleeping in while the whole house is also sleeping, oh boy. I have a feeling we are in for a rude awakening, literally.

Gator Time

Some afternoon fun last week. The Kid rode to the park. It was such a nice day. He loves his little John Deere Gator that my in-laws got him for Christmas last year. Hubby finally took the lock off the 2nd gear on this thing and I couldn't keep up with him. I had the baby in a front carrier while we walked around the neighborhood. I had to bring him to the empty parking lot around the corner so he could zoom around safely.

And of course, no post is complete without a picture of the Baby too.

But I wanted the Natural Pearl anyway!

Yesterday was a busy busy day.


First we dropped off the Kid at school. Then we went over to the bath showroom and had to pick out a counter top for our new bathroom vanity. We already chose 'natural pearl' but they told us it was discontinued. So we went over so I could check out my second choice again 'peach'. I was so worried that it would be too pink. But it did match the tile perfectly...and the vanity is only 33 inches, so it wouldn't be that much peach in our little bathroom. I agonized there for 20 min and finally said f*ck it. Let's just get the peach. Hours later Hubby calls me and says that peach is discontinued too, but the factory does have a left over piece of the original natural pearl that I wanted. WTF? They couldn't have found that before?! ugh.


Then we headed over to the paint place. We had to pick up paint for the last 2 rooms. Our bedroom and the Kid's bedroom. I am very excited about the Kid's room. He has wanted a construction room for over a year. He has wanted it since we knew we were going to move and he was going to get his own room and could make it anything he wants. He originally wanted black across the room to look like a road. I was a bit skeptical, so last week I thought...why not brown? We can paint the bottom half of the room a nice brown like 'dirt' from a construction site and the top half a very very pale blue - the same blue that the Baby's room is going to be - to make it look like the sky. He liked it! So all the paint is picked. but....


while we were in the paint store the Baby was hungry, so I took him out to the minivan to nurse him. I took him out of the carrier and he was soaked!! I forgot to change his diaper before we left the house. The poor baby had a diaper heavier than him! And guess what? I didn't have a change of clothes! But, I did have the Kid's t-shirt in the car and a small blanket to cover his legs in my diaper bag.

Doesn't he look too cute in his brother's 3T shirt? LOL!

Next stop. Home to change the baby's clothes. We were in and out, then we headed over to my favorite consignment store to get my money from the stroller/infant car seat I dropped off there in August. I made $30! And I promptly spent $13 of it. That place is dangerous.

We then picked up the Kid from school and went to vote. We came home had some lunch and then I headed back out again with the Baby to my 6 week OB visit. This is what I really really wanted to talk about today, but all that other stuff happened that I just had to share. Here is the most important part of my day:


Weight at my 1st pre-natal visit (1/28, 6 weeks) 205 lbs.
Weight the day before I gave birth: (9/22) 225 lbs.
Weight at my 6 week post-natal visit: (11/4) 198 lbs.


I only gained 20 pounds in this pregnancy and I seriously lost 27 pounds since I have given birth!! Granted, 7 of it was pure baby, but still. I am so excited and so motivated right now.
I just got back from walking a local bike path. After I dropped off the Kid at school I walked 2 1/2 miles with the Baby in the stroller for 45 minutes!
Now I have to get my butt in the shower while the Baby is still sleeping in his carrier!

Still Undecided...*added some more thoughts*

*This will probably be my only political post ever.*

How is this supposed to help me decide??

What am I going to do today?

I know so many moms that are for Obama and so many moms that are for McCain. I say moms, because that is who I am, and we are all in the same boat. They are all are passionate and have strong reasons why they want one over the other.

Personally, I am afraid of both sides. I feel this is another 'lesser of the two evils' election. This is a very hard decision that I probably won't share with you later. I am not one to start a political argument or talk politics much at all. I just can't stand the mud slinging and lies going around on both sides. I can't stand that people are voting for Obama because he is black or people that are not voting for him because he is black. And people are voting for McCain because he has a woman VP or not voting for him because of who she is. And many other things like that. I don't have a good idea of what the real issues are because they are too busy defending themselves all the time. ugh.

Part of me believes that it really doesn't matter who is the president. That he is just a figure head and the people with all the money really run the country the way they want it anyway. I have explored this website and it really scares the hell out of me. The videos are so intense and the ideas that are out there for the future of this country - no matter who the president is - are truly frightening.

If someone has a totally UN biased web site that I can see where they each canidate stand on issues and has FACTS about their past please post them! Or post who you are voting for and why...just on one issue that means a lot to you and made your decision.

This was a silly little quiz was just for fun to see if it could help at all. It didn't.

But I WILL vote. Because that is my duty...I just don't know who.

Your Issue Profile: 56% Obama, 44% McCain

Truth be told, you're not really satisfied with either of the candidates. You could vote for either of them. You are the typical coveted swing voter. You may want to narrow yourself down to a particular set of issues in order to pick your president. Or start looking at third party candidates. One of them might suit you better.

Should You Vote for Obama or McCain?

Please leave nice comments or don't comment at all. I don't want this to become a political argument...just my crazy confused thoughts to words. Thanks! :) We'll be voting sometime after lunch after I pick up the Kid from school. We always take him to vote.

**I wrote this yesterday. Edited early this morning to add some more thoughts**

Super Cool Uncle

This is about my only brother. He is 4 years younger than me and has been traveling the world for the last 4 years. He lived in Prauge in the Czech Republic for a couple years and only came home for Christmas. He has traveled all over Europe and educated himself by immersing himself into the cultures where ever he is. Most recently he has been to India, Cambodia and Malasia. He never stays in hotels. Hell, he never even makes reservations before he goes. He just hops on a plane and when he lands he goes off to find a place to stay, usually with the locals. He has even inspired our step-sister and cousins into traveling. Of course, none of them have any kids. LOL! Almost all been to Thailand and one cousin is now in Veitnam. I know there are more places, and when he gets back this Christmas I am getting a huge world map to hang on the Kids wall and start pinning where his Uncle has been. The Kid loves to hear and learn about different countries he has been.
Not quite sure where he is now. When the Kid slept over my mom's last week they got to talk and see each other on Skype on the computer. My mom got a camera for the computer just to see him. It was the highlight of the Kid's week!

I believe these pictures are in Malasia or Cambodia. I am so jealous. Tigers are my favorite animal and he got to pet them!

I also have a picture somewhere of him riding an elephant in India...but I'm not sure where that one is right now.

I am in awe of them and how they get to visit all these places and learn about cultures outside our little bubble that we live here in the US. Things are so different. It is so educational. I would love to travel. I only traveled out of the country 3 times in my life. Two were Spring Break trips, one to Cancun and the other was the furthest. A few friends and I went to Tenerife, a Canary Island with a day stop over in Madrid, Spain. That was an amazing trip. And the third was my honeymoon 5 1/2 years ago to St. Lucia. But we stayed at a Sandals, not quite roughing it.

Now our biggest trip we take is our yearly visit to Florida to the grandparents and an occational stop at the House of Mouse.

But I would never trade these guys in for all the traveling in the world. They have a very cool Uncle that brings back cool stuff and stories from all over the world for them.

Miss you Uncle D! Can't wait for you to meet your newest nephew!

Pumpkin Picking

Last Monday Hubby and I took the boys to get a nice big pumpkin for carving. We went to a place that also has a petting zoo. They sell bags of sliced carrots for the animals and the Kid loved to feed them.


There weren't any good pumpkins there though. The field got wet from some massive rain and there were a lot of rotting ones. But we got a couple cute pictures.

So we went somewhere else that didn't have thier pumpkins on the ground. We found a nice one.
And another cute photo op.

The Kid wasn't too thrilled with scooping out the seeds!

I forgot to get an actual picture of this years carved pumpkin, and it's rotting already since we left it on our table in the warm house. Ooops.