10 for you and 2 for me

Our Lenten "sacrifice" is chugging right along. I'm excited each day to think of a way to show kindness to a stranger.

Yesterday we went to Target for a run and on the way home we were stopped at a red light. I noticed 2 men waiting at the bus stop. One was just pacing and the other was sitting on the bench listening to his ipod. I thought back to Rome when we had to take buses and the metro to get around and how long the wait can seem. Just then I spied a donut shop! Bling!! The lightbulb went off.

We turned into the parking lot of the donut shop and bought a dozen donuts. I used my pre-made RAK cards (which are in my purse at all times) and Dominic and I went up to the men and handed out the donuts. At first it was a bit intimidating, walking up to three (another man joined the wait) men. They were super nice and laughed when they read the card so that made me feel more at ease. The last guy even game Dominic a hug!!

Then we patrolled the area and gave out 3 more donuts to people waiting. One bus stop had a man and woman waiting. They were not together, they were not even sitting close to each other. After they got the donuts they began laughing with each other and talking. They both waved as we drove off. So nice to see!!

The last lady at the bus stop was all alone. She thanked me profusely and put the card in her pocket. She maintained eye contact and I could tell that she really appreciated the small act of kindness.

We had 6 donuts left and for the life of me we couldn't find ANYONE else waiting at a bus stop! We did, however, find a fire truck in an adjacent neighborhood with 4 firemen packing up. We quickly parked and ran to them with the last of the donuts and some cards. They immediately picked Dominic up into their truck and let him check out their gear!!

We had a wonderful time with this!

This morning we decided to RAK the mail carrier. We have yet to meet our carrier so we aren't sure if it's a man or a woman. We had a Hershey's bar left over from the girl scout RAK on Sunday so we taped a card to it and I included a hand-written thank you card and Dominic drew a picture. Cute!!

I'm really liking this idea!! Let's hope I can come up with something cool for tomorrow!

Two months later...

Has it really been TWO MONTHS since I last posted? Times have been so crazy here since we've made the move. I can't believe we've been in this house for 6 weeks already.

As you can guess, we've not done much in the way of playdates and such since the middle of January. Unless you count unpacking boxes, that is.

One thing that has gotten easier is Miss Jillian. She turned a corner behavior-wise late January. We've been loving her MANY smiles! Who knew this kid was so flirty?? My favorite is when she dons the "aw shucks" pose when someone smiles at her.

We've had unseasonably warm weather this winter and that's allowed us to play outside in our new backyard. That is perhaps my favorite part of this new house: being able to open the back door and boot Dominic outside to play and all the while I can see him from the huge wall of windows off the den! Superb!

Our new year's resolution this year is to volunteer, volunteer, volunteer. It's not easy to do with a 3 year old in tow, but I found 2 groups that revolve around volunteer projects appropriate for his age. YAY!! We are signed up to deliver meals for the Meals on Wheels program next week!

In a related note, last week we received our ashes for Ash Wednesday and we took some time to decide what our Lenten sacrifice would be. (Lent really snuck up on us this year!) Finally, at one of J's 4am nursing sessions it came to me: for the next 40 days Dominic and I will do one random act of kindness per day! So far we've only done two days so we'll have to make up for the 3 days we missed on the tail end of the 40 days.

Saturday we went through the drive-thru at Wendy's for lunch (long story) and I paid for the order behind me.

Today as I was leaving the grocery store there were 4 Girl Scouts selling cookies at a table. I noticed them walking in and made a note to buy each of them a candy bar. Since we bought 2 boxes just this morning after Mass, I told the girls that I wouldn't be buying cookies and that I just wanted to stop by and give them a little something for all the good they do for others. Their eyes lit up when they saw the candy bars and it made my heart smile as I walked away to their excited voices.

I'm loving the random-ness of it all. I even made some RAK cards to pass out as I do the good deeds to kind of explain what I'm up to. I suspect some folks will be a bit suspicious, sadly. I'll take a photo of the cards and post the pic later.

Any ideas for any good deeds that I can do? I'll make sure and post mine periodically so you all can participate with me, if you'd like.

On the first day of Christmas...

Before getting to the meat of my post, I just have to share a rare find: Jillian is SMILING!

My poor girl isn't happy unless she's being held (help!) so I rarely get to take a photo of her while she's smiling. Isn't that a cute smile? And please let's not forget the legwarmers. melt...

I had a friend ask me today if I had any ideas for doing a 12 days of Christmas activity with my kids. Funny enough, I have a few ideas that I have bookmarked and have always wanted to try out, but haven't had the opportunity to do so. Until now...

I got the book out a couple of days ago and looked it over again. These follow along with the carol, "The 12 days of Christmas".

Traditionally the 12 days starts on Christmas and ends on the 12th night, January 6th. La Befana's night.

Anyway, I promised her I would get the list posted so here I am. All through the house not a creature is stirring not even the spouse! (I just made that up! Clever, no?)

1st day: Make an ornament for the tree out of salt dough and paint a bird.
2nd day: Read a story about turtles or make a game of slow/fast (like red light/green light).
3rd day: Learn a few French words and use them throughout the day or cook something French.
4th day: Practice phone etiquette. (Never hurts to start early, right?)
5th day: Go out for donuts. (Get it, golden rings???)
6th day: Dye eggs. (It's not just an Easter activity.)
7th day: Make origami swans.
8th day: Make chocolate milk. (Or hot chocolate)
9th day: Do some new dance moves.
10th day: Pretend to have a knighting ceremony.
11th day: Use a bubble pipe to make TONS of bubbles!
12th day: Make a drum out of an empty Kleenex box and a balloon.

There you have it! Looking back at my list I think I WILL do this. Only thing is, we are packing up to move the first week of January. I might as well give it a go, right?

As we get closer to EDD...

As I get closer to my EDD I am reminded of everything that could go wrong in these last few weeks. I belong to an online community of ladies who are/have been trying to conceive. I joined in April 2006 when my husband and I first started trying to conceive a baby. Little did I know I would have to wait another 22 months before actually getting pregnant.

You can imagine my great joy, then, when we actually DID get pregnant. In true first time mom fashion, I never really gave a second thought to complications or miscarriages. I was naive in a most wonderful way. Don't they say ignorance is bliss?

You may have noticed my new blog button to the right. Read on to hear why the pre-e foundation is so important to me.

One of the ladies who was on the board with me was Heidi. She was from another state, but to an online community distance doesn't matter. She was with me through my TTC journey b/c she was also on her own. She got pregnant a few months after me and we were overjoyed to experience our pregnancies together. There were 5 of us who were due within 3 months of each other so much of our talk was related to the daily happenings of pregnancy and getting ready to become mothers together. We were a tight little group.

Heidi mentioned that she was not feeling well and went to the doctor, who put her on bedrest. Since her computer was downstairs and her bed is upstairs she mentioned that she would not be able to post like she had been. We all understood, but as her EDD drew near and we didn't hear from her we began to wonder. What was Heidi up to? Had the baby come already? Was she still waiting to deliver? Was everything okay?

No one had her last name or specific information to contact her and as the days went by we began to outright worry that something had happened to the baby. Our worst nightmare and no one wanted to mention it. We sent private messages and got no reply. Perhaps she just needed time to digest whatever had happened to her little girl?

Finally we got our answer. Heidi's husband was going through Heidi's emails one afternoon and came across the pm's. He sent one of the ladies an email asking her to contact him, which she did. Here is what she told us:

"Unfortunately I have some terrible news. And I write this with an extremely heavy heart barely being able to see through my tears while to the screen. I got an email from Heidi's husband, asking me to call him. I just got off the phone with him.
Their daughter Abigail was born on November 7th, she's beautiful and healthy. She is now 11 pounds.
The bad news is that due to the preeclampsia Heidi developed Hellp syndrome. she was helicoptered to another hospital after the baby was born.
Heidi's liver and kidney shut down. She was on dialysis as well as lifesupport. Heidi didn't make it. She passed away on December 7th. She was 34. I could hear Abigail crying in the background and Heidi's MIL has been staying with him helping with the baby. We talked for a while and he talked about Heidi with great love as well as his daughter. He had no idea about Heidi's life on our board.
I told him she was very loved and a huge supporter to many of us.
He did tell me Heidi did meet her daughter and got to kiss and hold her."

This was in 2008. Just re-reading this makes me teary-eyed. We were all in shock! We'd never heard of pre-e or HELLP syndrome and didn't realize how prevalent the condition truly is. That summer on Facebook I found that the pre-e foundation has a page. I "liked" them and that led me to find a local chapter in my city. You may remember that I walked in the pre-e walk last May. I did a post about it.

This year I will be 36 weeks pg for the walk. I am so sorry to have to miss the walk, but it's hard enough getting in and out of the car, let alone walking a mile these days!

If you would like to make a donation please check out the following website:
http://www.blueskycollaborative.com/pfpw/fundevent.asp?nnaffundid=16

And while you're there, check out who's on the first slide in the slideshow!!

With Mother's Day just around the corner I find myself thinking of Heidi more and more. I am sad that she never got to hear her sweet daughter call her "Mommy". It's truly heartbreaking.

Love to all my mommy friends!!

Playing catch up!

I did it again...got behind on our activities.

Thursday we had our own version of S.H.I.T. night. What is S.H.I.T. night, you may ask? Well, for MANY MANY years the men in my husband's family have gotten together every Thursday night and made dinner and enjoyed some good wine. That's right, they COOK!! They enjoy getting together and seeing what they can come up with. It stands for Sure Happy It's Thursday.

Anyway, we S.H.I.T. night widows have been meaning to get together ourselves, but have never followed through on our plans. So Thursday night we did! It was so much fun!!! We had it at hubby's Aunt Katherine's house and she was prepared for kids. She has a whole room strictly for the kids with all kinds of cool stuff! D was in toy heaven!

He got to play with some of his second cousins whom he only sees at Thanksgiving. They were all so gentle with him, I didn't mind enjoying the family talk while he was in the other room. I managed to sneak a shot of him playing with a baby doll. CUTE!

**pic coming**

Friday was my hubby's birthday as well as our 5th wedding anniversary. D helped me bake Daddy a cake. Isn't he cute???



Saturday we had one of DH's college buddies over for a cook-out. Their birthdays are one week apart so we celebrated them both. He has two boys and D loved getting to check out their i-Touch. Why are kid's so into electronics???

Monday we took it easy. Grocery shopping and a nap. We had an impromptu playdate with R and G at their house. G is learning how to share. I know I am biased and all, but I think D is a wonderful playmate to learn how to share with. He is pretty patient and doesn't mind having to play with a different toy in lieu of fighting over one.

Today we played over at Nana and Papa's. D was asking for them yesterday so we made a date for this morning.

So, there you have it! We are all caught up now.

Tomorrow we have a pool playdate. Thursday and Friday I have to set up for my summer camp that starts next Monday. My neice will be here Thursday to help me get organized. Everyone is excited to begin!!