May Progress Report

So I'm a day early on the progress report but I've got some time to kill. The hubster and D are keeping each other occupied and out of my hair!

Here's the stats!!

31 number of days in this month
10 number of scheduled playdates I attended
15 number of invitations issued to/by me
2 number of invitations that I had to decline
1 number of phone numbers stored in the cell phone
1 friend made this month!!

I didn't quite make my quota this month, but this was a busy month for my ladies. Many of them were vacationing and that made it difficult to get together.

Today we stayed home and had a cookout, just the three of us. Check out my husbands quick thinking. He made turkey burgers on the grill:





Wanna see my contribution??? Wait for it.......



Tomorrow we'll hit up the KC pool again and the Grands may meet us there.

See you in June!!!

Happy Memorial Day!!

Membership has it's privileges...

This morning the fam decided that we would start the holiday off right and visit the local KC pool. My husband is a member and this weekend was opening day.

I emailed a few moms to see if any of them would like to join us. Two moms are out of town and one had prior plans. However, she mentioned that she would love to come with us if we decide to go tomorrow. We are thinking about it.

R responded that they would like to join us and they met us here at our house at 3 to follow us over. We had to have them with us when we entered as they are our guests.

The boys had a blast!! G loved splashing in the water and even took a dunk a few times, accidentally of course. My hubby talked with her hubby and the conversation was easy and pleasant. R mentioned that we will definitely have to do this again during the week when it's not so crowded.

I still have to come out of my shell some more with her. As much as we've hung out I still don't know a whole lot about her. I need to focus and ask engaging questions to learn more about her and her hubby. Things like:

*what did you do before you became a sahm? I have no idea. I don't think she's ever mentioned it.
*what does your husband do? I know he is in a band and I know he has just started a new job.
*where did you grow up? Her hubby grew up in NJ but I'm not sure about her.

They stayed with us for about two hours before needing to head back home. We stayed out another hour and then had to get little man home to eat dinner and get into bed.

I would post a picture but G is in it and I don't want to invade their privacy.

Friend tri-fecta!!

So I feel a little like I've just had a first date with a really awesome guy and am just hoping that he calls!!

Let me explain:
We had a scrapbooking meetup this afternoon that I've really been looking forward to. I had a project to get caught up on and this was the perfect time/place to do it. One of the attendees was G. Her son, A, will turn 2 in a few weeks and he is just the CUTEST little thing. Well, not quite the cutest...a-hem.

Anyway, from the time little A strutted in the door in his cute little Cowboys outfit he and D were inseparable! It was the cutest thing I've ever seen. Well, maybe not the cutest thing I've EVER seen, but it sure was heartwarming to see these two interacting. They were giggling and playing. Talking to one another as if they could truly understand each other.

When one sat down, the other did. When one climbed up on the little entry way bench, the other wasn't far behind. They were like long lost friends, these two! I have never seen D interact so animatedly before with another little one. It was great!!

As for the momma, G, she and I have common interests as well. She taught elementary school before staying home with A. She is also big into scrapbooking! Could the stars have aligned and brought me my fated new friend????

I sent her a message via the meetup site telling her what a great time D had and what a pleasure it was to meet them both and invited them over for a swim sometime next week. We will see them on Thursday of next week for sure as we are both attending a buggy little meetup.

I don't want to appear too desperate so I'm really trying not to weird her out, but I'll definitely be working on this one, folks.

Oh, and no photos, either as I left all recording devices at home!!!! Agggh! I so wish I could post a picture of the two little goofballs.

I invited R and G over this afternoon for a little playdate and they'll be here in about an hour. It will be nice to be just the two (four) of us. It'll give us a chance to talk some more.

The case of the heeby-jeebies

We decided to stay close to home today. No toddler storytime and no playdate at L's.

Instead, we stayed home and invited M and O over for a last minute swimming get together. The boys were both having a blast until the Polaris sweeper came a'creeping up on O and brushed his leg. O screamed like a little girl and started crying and clinging onto his momma! M and I couldn't help but laugh, we know all too well that feeling you get when something foreign brushes past your arm or leg. Don't even get me started on my extreme fear of spiders; they are ALL KINDS of creepy!

Anyway, we tried to persuade him that the Polaris sweeper is not the devil. M took him to the end of the pool where the Polaris was hard at work deep underwater. O was leery and didn't even really want to look at the thing! D and I swam over to it and I faked a few kicks to it and that didn't even seem to help.

We decided to call it a day and M suggested we retreat to their house for some afternoon play in the AC. Good call! After a quick change by both of us we met them at their house. I brought some Blue Bell ice cream to help O feel better. It worked!

We talked about going to lunch next week as a belated birthday date for myself. We'll have to see how our calendars synch.

I think I may have a new reader as of today. If that's the case then this picture is for you:



I got an invite to a girl's afternoon at the movies next week. The invitee sent an email to a group of us "regulars", in her words, inviting us to go see the new Sex and the City movie at Studio Movie Grill. I HATE THAT I HAVE TO MISS THIS!!!! There's just no way for me to manage it...my neice is graduating from elementary school the same afternoon and I already promised her mom I would go. Ugh!

Oh well, I'm happy to know that I am now considered a "regular". :D

The cake monster

Yesterday the ladies in the neighborhood playgroup hosted a baby shower for one of our own due in July with baby boy #2. Gifts were optional, though everyone had something to "shower" her with. Afterall, just because it's baby #2 doesn't mean EVERYTHING should be hand-me-downs, right?

The first thing that Dominic saw as we entered the kitchen was the cake. He pointed and squealed, "Cake!!". This is just one of the 60 or so words in his ever expanding vocabulary. He didn't forget about it either. Not even when I tried to distract him with the plush Brobee doll. (It seems that EVERYONE but D has one of these.)
Note to self: go by Tuesday morning this afternoon and pick one up!!

When it was time for cake, punch and present opening, D sat on my lap and shared my cake with me. After each bite he would say, YUM! So cute! He even enjoyed a little watered-down punch in his sippy.



There were 9 of us moms there: 6 boys and 3 girls. The majority are walking by now although a few are just days from taking their first steps, I predict.

L and I discussed the possibility of going to toddler storytime at the library this morning, but she couldn't reschedule the exterminator. She did, however, invite us over this afternoon for some play time. Our AC is out in the front of the house and she couldn't stand us being miserable in the 90 degree heat of summer.

If we end up having a visit, I'll be sure to post pictures accordingly.

In other news, D got his haircut yesterday. He looks so grown up. Check it out:

Ogre and Out!

We started yesterday with a little mommy-son date to the movies. We saw Shrek:Forever After. Well, we saw all but the last ten minutes of Shrek. D decided that he was ready to go and couldn't be talked in to staying until the end. If those darn previews hadn't lasted 15 minutes we might have been able to make it!!

After lunch and a nap we were off to R's house for a little swimming. Dominic LOVED getting in the water and splashing and kicking his legs! He squealed and giggled. I couldn't get any photos of him in the water but I wish I could have. He was so cute!!!

We hung out around the patio and talked while the boys played. We talked about how we met our husbands, which is something that I find fascinating for some reason. I just think it's so interesting how people meet. Out of all the people in the world and the chance meetings we have for ONE person to stick out above all the rest is just so cool to me!!



We are going to a local festival this afternoon after D naps. There will be a live performance of The Stinky Cheese Man that we are planning to see. It should be so much fun for D. We invited L and A to meet us out there and they are going to try their best to make it.

So they made it to the show but they only caught the last 15 minutes. Lucky them, the show was RIDICULOUS! The longest 45 minutes of my life!! Talk about ADD!!!

We enjoyed the air conditioning for a bit before grabbing some early dinner and a chocolate ice cream cup.



This week we've got some fun playdates scheduled. A baby shower/playdate, pool playdate and some scrapbooking fun are on the menu.

Have a great Sunday!!!

Bouncing around town

Today we have a nice, quiet day with the Grands. Not a lot of activity going on today. Yesterday was another story!

We started the day with a 10 AM playdate near our church. We discovered that the hostess will be enrolling her son in the church's pre-k3 program at the same time as D. We have met classmate #2!!!! J is only 9 months old. It seems weird that D will be in a class with kids almost one full year younger than him. He misses the age cut-off by a mere 4 days!! I've heard that is actually going to be better for him, as boys tend to need an extra year to mature. Hmmmm......that explains a lot.

Anyway, back to the playgroup. We had a lot of new faces this time. I met one lady, E, who has a 14 month old son, P. She talked with me and L about her daughter's adoption and then her surprise pregnancy 6 years later. Sounds a lot like my parents. They adopted both my sister and brother and then 6 years later I came along!

I got her email addy and sent her the list of upcoming playdates for the group. I hope to see her again soon. She was very nice and interesting to talk with.

After lunch and a nap we were off to the bouncehouse meetup. This one was re-scheduled due to the rain last week. We were the first to get there and D made himself at home exploring the backyard. At first the clouds kept the sun from melting us but before long the sun was back out in full force. We had some good photo-ops of the boys in the bouncehouse before retreating indoors.



Once inside the last lady showed up and joined us upstairs in the play room. We chatted about haircuts (for the boys), shoes (for the boys), and various solid foods they'd recently tried. It was good to hear that D isn't so far behind on the solid foods. Sometimes you see little babies eating chicken nuggets and such and wonder, "Should he be eating stuff like that?" It's a personal preference that he not eat fast food, but it's also paranoia on my part. I'm TERRIFIED of him choking!!

We made plans to meet at R's house for some outside swim play on Friday and I am really looking forward to it. There will only be three of us, all with boys aged 14-20 months, so it will be a lot of fun! I think I will really get along with at least one of these gals.

Two-fer Tuesday

I've got two days of plays to post about today. I have just been so crashed out at the end of the day lately!

Yesterday we extended an invitation to our neighbor, M and her son O to join us for a little afternoon playtime. It was wonderful to relax with the boys and catch up on our gossip. The boys are at the age now that they are beginning to interact more while playing. They still don't play TOGETHER, but they will pause in their own play to check out what the other is doing and occasionally give some input. It's too cute!!

They were here for about 1.5 hours. It always helps the afternoon go more quickly when you've got some friends to help you lose track of the time.

Today we got an email from K asking for the name(s) of any landscapers we might recommend. I took the opportunity to relay the name of our "yard guy". I have learned to respond to any email asking for help, even if I don't really have any help to give. It's always nice to let people know that although you may not be able to help at the moment, you may be able to help them out later.

I inquired if we would be seeing them tomorrow at the neighborhood playgroup and she responded that they were definitely going to make it. She then invited us to meet them at the local park as they were about to leave the house. We couldn't make it for about an hour but we let her know that we would be there.

On the way I called L and told her that we were on the way to the park if she wanted to meet K and I there. She said she'd love to and to give her about 20 minutes. We all met up and the kids had a good time exploring the park.

While we were there, D made himself a new friend, Luke. Luke is about 9 years old and loved talking to D. I say talking TO D because D can't exactly talk WITH him. It was so cute to see him interacting with an older boy. You could tell he was loving the attention!!!



L and I kicked around some get together ideas for this summer: dollar movies, first Tuesdays at the museum, zoo visits, toddler storytimes. I'm really going to enjoy hanging out with her, I can already tell!

Tomorrow is a busy play day for us, we have a morning play group and an afternoon bouncehouse playdate. Should be fun!!!

When the cat's away, the mice will play!

Yesterday we had a full day! Two events to attend.

First up was the invitation from L to join them at Barnes and Noble for some storytime activities. We had such a great visit and the boys loved playing afterward with the train table set up. It was so cute to watch them parallel playing nicely with each other. I just love watching Dominic as he interacts with other little ones.

Of course we had to buy three books! We bought a Yo Gabba Gabba board book, a set of dinosaur seek and find placemats and a How-to book showing how to draw Marvel super-heroes. The last book is actually meant for our sponsored friend, Francisco. He is 11and loves to draw. I will copy off some instructional pages and send them to him in our correspondence. I think he'll get a kick out of that!

After a LONG nap (2.5 hours!!!) we were off to playdate #2: the recipe swap. I made caprese bites while D was napping and then assembled them prior to walking out the door. We met two new faces at this meetup. C and her 6 month daughter O were just too stinkin' cute! And C made the most fabulous pineapple crumble!!! YUM-O! I've already hit her up for the recipe. Her printer died before she could print out the recipe.

I noticed that one mother in particular has a rather rambunctious son. He is constantly taking toys away from other kids and upsetting them. He did it to Dominic a couple of times, but I was always right there to intervene. She seems pretty oblivious to it all. She sits politely chatting while her child is being the group bully. This bothers me to no end and for two reasons.

1. As a former teacher I see that this behavior only escalates with no consequences are given for said behavior. They become the kids who don't realize that they are doing something wrong because they are never reprimanded at home. It makes the teacher's job so much harder to deal with when there is no support at home.

2. Children need to know that there are boundaries. Personal space. I'm sure he wouldn't like it if Dominic came up to him and just grabbed a toy away. Children, especially boys, have a pecking order. The bully shouldn't be allowed to be the top dog all the time. It should fluctuate accordingly.

I also struggle with watching as Dominic loses a toy to someone and he's not sure how to take it. He will often look at me incredulously as if to say, "did you SEE that???" I commiserate and then offer him another toy. Why should he have to continue to find another toy? We all know that toys aren't fun until someone else is playing with it, right? It would be a non-ending game!

Anyway, I am just venting about this situation. It's not going to get any better as the boys get older. I'm just going to have to get used to the fact that some days D will be the one pushed around and some days (not too often, I hope) he'll be the one doing the mischief.

Kitchen genes

Yesterday we had a meet-up about 10 minutes away. This time the theme was muffins and magnets. Moms supply the muffins and the kiddos get to create with magnets on cookie sheets. A great idea, no?

We got up and got cooking! I made 2 dozen mini pumpkin muffins and my (now self-proclaimed signature) home made cinnamon butter. We plated it up and were off!

D was loving the fake kitchen set. I think he'll be a cook just like his daddy. Or maybe he'll take after me and prefer to bake. Either way, this kid's got the kitchen genes in him! As a matter of fact, he has a special wooden spoon that he totes around on errands and walks. We are Italian but I swear it has nothing to do with the old stereotype. He just loves this spoon! We got him one for Christmas this year in his stocking after he took a liking to one that he saw my husband's friend using in his kitchen. He gripped it tightly throughout the entire gift-opening process!

I don't know how I got so far off track there. Sorry. Anyway, D played with the fake kitchen and also liked the Little Tykes slide. This is the second one he's seen and he's loved both. Maybe a birthday gift???



I learned that two of the ladies are into scrapbooking and we are going to get together in a couple of weeks to scrap. I will be updating my project life instead of dragging all of my supplies out.

When I got home I had an email in my inbox announcing a last-minute mom's night out with the neighborhood group. It was from 6-8 and I enlisted the babysitting skills of my MIL to help me out until the hubby got home so that I could attend. It was at a local nursery (garden center). The owner had a wine bar set up for us and we perused the flowers and then had a sit-down "lecture" about perennials that work in our zone. We were all happy to get some names of plants that will work in this insane heat with little upkeep.

We have no plans for today but perhaps that will change as the day progresses.

Happy Mother's Day Walk

This Mother's Day weekend I signed up for a walk to benefit the Pre-eclampsia Foundation. An online friend passed away in December of 2008 from HELPP syndrome, caused by complications of pre-e.

When I saw the walk being advertised in my neighborhood group's newsletter I jumped at the chance to participate. I am reminded of Heidi daily as I spend time with my son. Heidi and I were due two months apart and she died one month after her daughter, Abigail, was born. I think of them every night when I am rocking with Dominic and we are saying our night time prayers. It hurts my heart to think that she is not able to enjoy such precious moments with her daughter.

We made the thirty minute drive out and were informed that I was the #2 individual team to be participating, donation-wise! What a wonderful surprise! It was a perfect day for a walk. A little breezy, but sunny and warm. We walked 1.5 miles all around the town square, which was a quaint walk. Dominic fell asleep about a mile in.



We left after talking with the coordinators a bit-both of the ladies had lost little ones to pre-e. We went to a restaurant right on the lake and had lunch outside. After lunch we took a walk down by the water and watched the boats go by and called out to the duckies. A wonderful way to spend the day: doing something heart-healthy, spending time with my husband and son and enjoying all that God has created.



Tomorrow is Mother's Day. We are going to brunch with my IL's after church and will give her the framed photo of D as her gift.

Happy Mother's Day to anyone reading!!!

A Celebration of Mommyhood

A celebration of mommyhood! That's the theme for today's meetup. It was such a great time! D got to play with some new cool toys (inflatable ball pit, Brobee stuffed doll, plastic spoon) and I got to visit with some new cool girls.

We weren't the first to arrive, can you believe it??? We brought our s'mores pie in and got many compliments on how yummy it looked. The hostess got the first piece and said it was still nice and warm. Yeah!!



I talked with L for a bit about teaching. She is due in August and is currently teaching first grade. We got interrupted a few times by a toddler or two but had a good chat, nonetheless. Once D saw some of the other boys playing with blocks he was ready to get in the mix so we took the 3 boys upstairs where the bigger kid toys were. There was a Little Tykes inflatable "house" of balls that D just went nuts over.



Another hit was the plush Brobee doll. D is a HUGE Yo Gabba Gabba fan and toted that doll around for a good while. Another boy joined us shortly after and I've got to say the boys played well together. M would get upset if anyone took his toy but had no problem taking toys from others. This kind of irks me, but I know it's just human nature. G was teething so he was a little cranky but he held his own all right.

We had a little girl join us along with her mom and 7-week old brother. He was soooooo cute and tiny! I even got to hold him momentarily while his mom went down to fix a plate. D got a little jealous and wanted me to hold him but he was a really sweet boy about it. He even gestured that he wanted to hold the baby, too. I've got to admit, this helped ease my baby #2 fears a bit.

The mercury must be lying!!

Tardy on posting again. Husband has been out of town for the last two nights and without his extra pair of hands to help out, I've fallen right into bed at night as soon as the little one is sleeping.

Yesterday we had a busy day. In the morning we went to a different local park and met up with some of the ladies from my church mom's group. We got there around 10 and left 40 minutes later. It was HOT! Not a good park for shade. We ran into my OB/GYN's wife and their three youngest boys. While this may seem weird to some, I just don't get that weirded out ick-factor talking to her. The boys look JUST LIKE my doctor!! Shrunken down versions of him only with red hair. She is pretty polite. We've always just chit-chatted politely. Not sure I'd like to be friends with her as her husband has seen my more intimate places. Talking to her is one thing but hanging out is quite another!

We decided to leave as we were both red in the face from the heat! When we got to the car the display said it was 77 degrees. The mercury MUST be lying!! It was HOT!!

We enjoyed a nice cool house and ate lunch. After D's nap we were off to playdate #2. This time it was K's house. There ended up being 6 of us; 4 girls and 2 boys. We were the first to arrive (duh!) and had a great conversation about K and G. K is from San Diego and I've always wondered if G was born there or here. Turns out she is a Cali baby at heart!

We talked hair and Mother's Day and preschool options before the others joined us. I'm glad to know that I am not the only one who is not too sure about putting D in a "daycare" type setting. I figure I am blessed to stay home with him, I don't want to be without him. Now every once in a while might be nice, but not three days a week from 8-3. That's a bit excessive, IMO.



When we got to the car L had sent me a text message to let us know that A had some bad allergies going on so they weren't going to make it. That sounds like a real friend, folks!!

Anyway, today we are going to a mommy celebration in honor of Mother's Day. I have some brownies in the oven as I type and they are smelling good! I'll report on how the meetup goes tonight. My husband is finally back from New Orleans! Lucky guy!!

Happy Birthday to you, O!!

So I had an entire post typed out last night and my keyboard went all wonky and erased the whole thing!! Lesson learned: save!!!!

Ok, so yesterday I felt like a complete tarheel. I have been asking M for 3 weeks now when O's birthday is. I knew it was in May but could not for the life of me remember the day!! We met at the park for a little outdoor play time and it dawned on me...May 4th is O's birthday!! I had totally forgotten! As a mom, I know how the world revolves around my little one and surely she feels the same way!

After playing at the park for a good hour and a half/two hours we headed home where I promptly got a loaf of pumpkin bread in the oven! Baked goods always help to say I'm sorry, right? I even made homemade cinnamon butter to go with it.

This morning I ran to Target at 8am to pick up a few gifts for the birthday boy as well. A book and bubble blower. Ran back home, wrapped everything up all pretty (forgot to take a picture) and called M to see if they were up and around. We walked over bearing gifts (the best kind of guests, right?). She toasted the bread, buttered it up and we had a chat while the boys played. What a wonderful morning!!

While at the park we met two other members of the neighborhood playgroup that I've never met before. They both have older children as well as the little ones so they usually miss all the playgroups. This summer both ladies have decided to join the mom's day out program so they'll be able to take the little ones to some playgroups. It was good to put faces with names.

I also ran into K and her daughter G! K said that she has been under the weather the last few days, so I picked up a card for her at Target today and put a Starbuck's gift card inside. Dropped it into her mailbox on the way home and feel good about it. Everyone loves a little surprise.

While we were at M's this morning I missed a phone invitation from L to join her and A at Barne's and Noble storytime. She just called back and told me we definitely have to go next week. I've got to remember to put it on the calendar.

The Grands are home from their two-week road trip and will be visiting this afternoon so we have no plans to get out. Tomorrow afternoon we have an afternoon playgroup at K's. Our quiet week is about to get busy!!