6 days and counting...

First, I have gotten some inquiries about where we are with the miscarriage. I apologize for not updating. With the trip to Boston, baking for the shower and getting ready for D's SECOND birthday party, I've been overwhelmed lately.

The m/c is officially over and was painless and not nearly as bad as I was expecting, God be praised. This was our second m/c in a year so we knew this was a possibility, but it still sucks all the same. We are focusing on little D and what a blessing he is to our family and that has helped us heal. Thank you all for the thoughts and prayers. <3

Now, speaking of D, I can hardly believe that in just 6 days my little baby will be turning 2!!! He is already dipping his toes in the "terrible two" pool. Yuck! I still have my sweet little man about 85% of the time, but the other 15% is pretty difficult to muddle through. It's a fine line between frustration and madness, you know.

We are planning his big party for next weekend and I've been busy at work getting things ready. Here are some sneak peeks at what I've been working on:



This will be on the cake top along with a cookie shaped 2. Toodee is the inspiration for the party.



These will be in the favor buckets. It is a compilation of 7 of D's favorite Gabba songs.



This will be one of the signs to welcome guests. Remember the pot I made???

I plan on making some "Parking for Gabba fans only" signs for along the curb. I also have to finish my balloon wreath for the door and finish painting the Toodee land mural.

Now, here are the pics of the treats I created for the bridal shower that my neighbor hired me to do:



Strawberry jam filled shortbread cookies.



Red velvet cupcakes with fondant topper to match the shower colors.



Surprise inside cake. Four layers, each a different color to match the shower theme. My neighbor called me last night to let me know the cake was "F***ing awesome!!" I'd say she liked it!!!

Where's Waldo????

Here's a hint:



That's right, Boston!! We were so ready to get out of this heat and go somewhere a bit cooler. The weather was WONDERFUL! Temps in the 80's. Ahhh...Almost cool enough for long sleeves. Ha!

We did the Freedom Trail and had an excellent guide, Michael. He is a college history professor who forgoes the dramatics in lieu of the academic. He was very informative and we had a great time on the tour. D slept for the first 20 minutes but woke up once we arrived at Paul Revere's grave.

We had an obligatory visit to North End and had a delectable meal at a little place called, Trattoria Il Panino. The two lady waitresses just fell in love with D and made the experience that much more enjoyable.

My parents picked us up and drove us to Rhode Island for a short visit with my relatives there. We had a lovely lunch/dinner at a cousin's house and all the family came. This was their first time to meet D and they all (of course) loved him.

Once we got home I found an email in my inbox from my neighbor, M. She is hosting a bridal shower for a friend this coming weekend and asked me if I could bake the desserts for her. I am flattered. I know that she loves when I bake because she always gets to try whatever I have made. The fact that she would think of me to provide the dessert for a bridal shower is pretty cool!

I spent Monday brainstorming. Here is what I came up with:



After we discussed my ideas I was ready to go shopping. A quick trip to Mike's and we were good to go.

I spent Tuesday afternoon making these:



Tuesday evening I had a burst of energy and I decided to make these:



I must be honest though, I actually decorated them today. I had some of these big sugar balls sitting around from D's baptism party and decided to add them to the top. Cute, no?

I've also been working on D's birthday party that is next weekend. I'll post pictures of some of those crafts after the bridal shower baking is finished.

We've got a busy month this month. I'll try to keep up, I promise, but don't hold my feet to the fire, ok??

Another HOT one!

Today was our 12th day above 100 degrees. I'm not talking 100 degrees either, I'm talking 104+ degrees!! HOT!!

We've been pretty good at hunkering down inside and waiting for some semblance of Fall to arrive. However, there's only so much inside activities you can do. We struck a balance on Friday.

We met R and G at 10am for a little museum fun. One of the local, small museums is having a dinosaur exhibit and I just knew the boys would love it. Since R lives out that way it was a perfect invitation for her and G.

On the way over she called to ask if it would be okay to invite S and M, another meetup mother/son duo. Apparently, S texted R while R was driving out to the museum and sounded like she needed to get M out of the house. I certainly empathize with that sentiment. She showed up about ten minutes after R and G.

Admission is just $9 and the boys were free. Not too bad!! We strolled through the exhibit and I snapped some pics of the dinosaur oddities. At the end of the exhibit was a large sand pit with buried bones and brushes. The boys had a blast digging and scooping sand.



R noticed that there was an outside section to the museum that held about 12 animals. Since G is an animal FREAK we had to go check it out. I was sure to keep sun exposure to a minimum. Even though it was 10:30am it was well over 90 degrees already!



We made it through the animal section and ended up at the butterfly houses. We made a quick run through there before heading to the exit.



D was asleep within 5 minutes of pulling out of the parking lot! That's what I call a successful playdate!

Today we went to the IL's for a little water sprinkler fun.



Dad is at the local pool grilling burgers for a back-to-school bash. We decided to sit this one out since it was likely to be jam packed!

The waiting game

Today we hosted a meetup playgroup at our house. In honor of today being the Chinese Valentine's Day I asked the kids to wear red and the moms to bring a red food. I supplied pound cake with cherry pie filling drizzled on top and oven warmed to a yummy goodness. M brought strawberries (YUM!) and L brought red jello.



Needless to say, the little one's ate well. D's hands were all red from the jello. You try eating Jello with a fork!

The kids had a great time running around and playing in the submarine. Yes, it's still up!

We had a blank cupid coloring page for them to color and they made beautiful works of art of them. I had some Valentine cards for the kids to share with each other and they were so cute handing them to each other.



Most meetup playdates last around one hour to 1.5 hours, so I didn't figure this one would be any different. However, this one went on for 3 hours!!! D was so sleepy that when we shut the door on the last guest he told me, "Ready. Sleepy." How's that for a sleepy guy?!

As for me, we are still waiting for the m/c to progress. I go back on Monday to monitor things and I'll know more then, hopefully. Until then, it's just the waiting game.

The day time stood still...

As most of my "guests" know, I am technically 8w2d pregnant today. However, at my ultrasound last week the gestational sac only measured at 5 weeks with nothing inside. It's called a "blighted ovum" and my days have been blighted ever since.

Thankfully I had the camp to keep my mind off the personal matters, but alas, camp is now over. We had a follow up appointment this morning and discussed our next possible steps.

We have a second ultrasound tomorrow morning to check for growth. I am not really opimistic that we'll see any, but I've got to admit there is a small part of me that prays we see something in the empty little sac. I'd love to be one of the "lucky ones" who are surprised to see a healthy fetus growing right on track.

So, time has really been at a standstill today. We went to ToysRUs after the appointment and then home for lunch and a nap. We hosted a playgroup at our house at 3 and had pleasant small talk with the 5 other moms in attendance. All the while I have felt a little "off". I think I'm just super nervous about tomorrow.

When we see a still empty sac, it will be finalized. No more guesswork.

My dad always said, "You can't be a little pregnant, you either are or you aren't." He'd say this to define the black/white areas in life. Sadly, I have proven him wrong once before and I'm afraid that might be the case again with this pregnancy. I am technically pregnant. Sort of pregnant. Pregnant and just waiting.

Today time stood still.

Friday: Last Day of camp :(

Friday was the last day of camp for this summer session. You could definitely tell it was the last day because the kids were so rambunctious!

This time we read "Shark Mad Stanley" as it talks about caring for a pet and the kids got to take home a fish with them. They listened to about half the story before the entire audience consisted of the moms. The kids defected and played inside the sub!



We sang a couple of songs, including a version of BINGO using NEMO as the name. The kids liked this one and D even clapped along. I caught him later in the day sitting on the couch with the song sheet in his hand, rocking and "singing" the songs. SO cute!!

Next we did our craft: coloring book of ocean animals. The kids sat around the picnic table and shared the crayons. D didn't color at all. He just hid his crayons under his coloring book. G, our only girl, spent the most time at the table. Such a girl!!



After reassembling the kiddos we had a small awards ceremony. Each child got a personalized tote bag of goodies, and an award. I made each award something special for each child. The awards were:

D- for being a wonderful host
G- for surviving a week with 5 boys
G- for making the best whale-in-a-bag
O- for making the submarine a convertible (he punched out the windows on day one)
X- for dilligent submarine duties (he refused to get out!)
A- for being brave enough to eat a starfish

Inside their bags were the following: baggie of goldfish, 2 plastic toy fish, 1 seashell, their coloring book, their whale-in-a-bag, their fingerpainted fish and a photo of the whole group on day one.

The kids knew just what to do during the awards ceremony. They waited until their name was called and then came up and got their award and bag. We all got a good laugh out of it.

And then, look what I got from the moms!!



They like me, they really like me!!

Before they left, they got to check out their fish and I explained the general care to the moms. The kids were so excited!!!



This week was a GREAT success and we are already planning another one in October. I'm thinking, "Camp Out". What do you think???

Thursday: Field trip!!

Thursday we had a field trip to a local aquarium dealership that has summertime storytime for kids. O is still running a fever so he was out and G had school so it was just 4 of us: D, A, G, X.



We listened to a story titled, "Shark and Lobsters". It was pretty cute. I like how the book opened up sideways rather than the traditional way. There is a big aquarium behind the reading area, which was so cool!



We then broke into groups, due to the large size of attendees. Ironically, all four of us "campers" were put into four different groups, although K/G and me/D had our groups combined. We took a tour of the freshwater, saltwater and touch tank sections and then participated in the coloring contest. Here is D's entry:



The kids got to feed the fish in each section and had the opportunity to hold a starfish at the touch tank section. D didn't want any part of it, he clinched his arms to his chest and said, "Care!" which in Dominic-ese means "Scared!". Too cute!

We later learned that A not only held a starfish, he was also brave (?) enough to put one in his mouth! I so wish I could have gotten a photo of that!!!

The kids walked around the "showroom", checking out the cool fish. One of the employees/tour guides took a group photo of us in front of one of the oversized aquariums with L's camera.

Check out this cool retro TV aquarium!!

Wednesday: Whale in a bag!

Today we had another small group. O was still running a fever and X took a late nap and was still snoozing by 3pm.

We read "Beach Party" and sang a little song, followed by the book "Commotion in the Ocean". Both books are rhythmic and colorful. The kids were pretty mesmerized!

We had two crafts today. First we made a pirate's telescope and then we made paper bag whales. The whales came out super cute!!

Tuesday: Fingerpaint fun!

Today we only had 4 kids since O woke up running a fever and G was in school today. It worked out perfectly!

We started by reading "The Pout Pout Fish". I LOVE this book! We practiced our pouty faces and it was so cute. We sang a little fish ditty and moved on to our second book.

"The Rainbow Fish"-a classic children's story of friendship. This book has beautiful illustrations, too. We sang another little ditty and it was time for the day's craft: fingerpainting!!



Each child was given a blank fish template to fingerpaint. We sat them down at the picnic table and the four kids each had their own seat to themselves. We put an oversize garbage bag on the floor, just in case, but it wasn't even needed! These kids are CLEAN CRAFTERS!!!



Last, we enjoyed a snack of fresh fruit: honeydew, cantaloupe, blueberries and strawberries. YUM!

We ended the camp session with some good, ol'fashioned fun. Of course, the sub was in high demand and I can't believe it is STILL standing! A few minor repairs to the windows, but it's hanging in there!



Check back tomorrow for more Summer Camp fun!

Monday: Ocean in a bottle

Yesterday was the first day of Summer Camp at our house. We had five of D's friends join us for storytime, songs, crafts, snacks and submarine play. It was crazy, but a whole lot of fun!!



The submarine was a big hit!



Notice D eyeing the Toy Story figures??? Ha!

We started by reading "Ladybug Girl at the Beach". A little long for the little ones to sit through, but they managed to walk around and check out the pictures. We danced to The Surfari's "WipeOut" to simulate the ocean's waves.

Next we read "Just Grandma and Me" about a trip to the beach. A nice short read. The kids liked this one. I dumped out a big bag of shells, all different shapes, sizes and colors and the kids took turns holding them, smelling them and of course, A had to put his in his mouth!!

It was then time to make the day's craft: ocean in a bottle. The kiddos crowded around the picnic table and the mom's helped them assemble the craft. It was a real success.

After all that fun it was snacktime. I made pb&j sandwiches cut in the shape of fish, goldfish and sugar cookies with apple juice boxes. They all sat at the picnic table and ate their snacks. SO CUTE!



The crafts are in the middle of the table.

We took a few (hundred) group photos, as they were all wearing their camp t-shirts. Some of the shots were in front of the sub and some were all 6 kids on the couch holding hands. Precious!

Check back later for today's report!!

Summer camp is now docking!!

Summer camp starts tomorrow and I am SO EXCITED!!! We have been busy getting everything in order and organized for the week. Here's a sneak peek at some of the fun we've been up to getting ready.

Our SUPER COOL submarine before and after:





After a coat of paint and it starts looking more like a submarine, no?



Even D got in on the action!!



I'll have more updates as the week progresses.