August 30th

Look at what we have now!! Art has been working all day on our new deck. He is almost done with it, except for the stairs and the gate. (Where the ladder is, that is where the stairs will be)

Here is a view from the back of the house. He had the EZ-UP up on the deck to keep 1. the sun off of him, and 2. the rain off of him. It's a good thing he did, too, because it poured for about an hour in the middle of the day! Of course, it was not easy getting the EZ-UP on there... it is almost the width of the deck, so at one point one side fell off... and you know how Art can get! I laughed, and that didn't make it any better. Oops. But we managed to get it up, and get it to stay, so all was well!

Here is a view of the back of the house. See the big apple tree in the center? Man, it's really looking ratty in this picture... but it is such a pretty tree! Art wants to also re-do the porch off of our bedroom to match this one. Not this year, I'm sure... but maybe next summer? Of course, that means we'll have to get rid of the brown deck that is painted white in some spots because 4-year-old Samantha wanted to "help us" and started painting our deck not soon after we first moved in! Stinker! But we've kept it there all this time, just for the cute memory!

Had to add a kid picture! I brought the kids to the local Science museum on Thursday. It's a small museum, so we only stayed about an hour or so. But I had free passes so I had to use them up!
And I just have to mention that today, August 30th, is the 17 year "anniversary" of the day I met Gloria Estefan for the first time! Isn't it funny how certain dates are stuck in your head? I will never forget that day. Sarah and I had a ball, meeting lots of people and (gasp!) wandering around downtown Albany, at 14. The good ole days!

Wow, it's Tuesday *again*??

So today was an important day in Samantha's life.... she got her herbst appliance taken off. In the picture you can see it well, all that extra metal in her mouth. Now she just has regular braces, and rubber bands to wear at night. When they took it off, they also took off most of the bottom brackets, and then had to put them back on... so her mouth is pretty sore. Thank goodness for Daddys who are willing to bring you ice cream! (and then you share it with Mommy!) I hope it doesn't hurt for long, I remember those days well.... ouch.

And over the weekend we got bunk beds for Will and Colby. This is not the greatest picture, because Colby made a fort on the bottom! But it at least shows what they look like. Will has the top, Colby has the bottom. They certainly take up a lot of room but they fit very nicely, and the boys are liking them. See that toy box on the left hand side? That has to go! But for now it is holding all of their new school supplies. They need curtains, and the knobs (painted blue, not pink anymore!) put back on their dresser drawers, and then we start going through the toys. I'm fore-seeing a huge headache there!

Last Saturday Colby was riding on our neighbor's go kart (on the front, not on the seat like you're suppsed to) and he fell off. He banged up his knees pretty bad. Gave me a big scare! There were no cuts/scrapes/blood so I didn't think much of it... just gave him some cold wash clothes because they hurt. And within ten minutes these bruised appeared, and his knees swelled. Oy! Thankfully my friend Lauralyn (who is coincidentally a nurse!) came to my aide and helped me out. A little tylenol and some ice and he was good to go.

Will helped me take care of him (which was so cute!) We had Colby on the couch with his feet up on pillows and ice on his knees. He slept there most of the night. Will was going to sleep there too, but he only made it a few hours before going back to his bed. That boy loves his bed!! Colby is smiling in this picture because by then it wasn't so bad.

I brought the boys to a little local stream last Friday. I tried to get a picture of them together, and this is the best I got because Colby refused to stand close to Will. Will kept trying to put his arm around Colby and Colby would have a fit. Red heads!! Will was swimming in the water, and Colby was finding really cool-shaped rocks. Eventually my friend Amy showed up with her kids and her son Evan, who is Colby's age, played with the boys for a while. They dug some very deep holes in the bottom. It was really fun- and so pretty!!!
Went to the doctor yesterday. Baby is doing well. I gained 3 more pounds. BP was good. Baby's heartbeat was low- in the 120s... but doc says that is normal for a resting baby so I will believe him. Baby has been moving consistently so no worries there. He did check for placement and thinks he is still breech... so at my next appointment I have an ultrasound scheduled. Then an appt with the same dr. We need to talk options. He thinks the best course is a C-Section. Have I mentioned I am scared to death of needles? And even more so of someone cutting me open?? PLEASE baby, just turn the right way so I don't have to stress about this!!!!
When we put up the bunkbeds, we also started working on the baby's room-- finally!!! We emptied Colby's clothes out of the dresser and filled it with little teeny tiny clothes. A friend of mine dropped off a changing table so we also set that up. Honestly, I have the most generous friends!! We have so much stuff already!! And I still have boxes in the attic I need to bring down. It is so fun setting up his room....
Art is coming along on the deck too. He was at a stand still the last couple of days, waiting for the materials he had ordered to come in. But we got the call today and they are coming tomorrow, so maybe by next Tuesday we will have a new deck!! I can't wait!! He is doing an awesome job so far... it's really hard to imagine what it will finally look like.
Well, I'm off! Have a happy Tuesday evening!!!

Today is Tuesday

On Sunday we went to Grafton State Park with my sister, my brother, and our cousin Matt. We were there for a few hours. The weather was beautiful- nice and hot and sunny, and we brought our EZ-UP so we were in the shade the whole time! We brought Shea along too, and aside from some very annoying barking bouts, she was great. She got to meet a Labradoodle that was twice her size and only 10 months old!
My sister brought along a friend of Colin's named Keegan, who my kids know from going to Colin's races, so the kids played together nicely. They didn't swim much, but they played in the sand, rode on scooters, played ball, and even played beach volleyball!
We had a yummy lunch too... well, the adults did. The kids were too busy playing, until we started packing up and they started with the "But I didn't eat!" comments. Oy!!

Here is our new deck! Art is moving right along. This picture above is the view out of the sliding doors in the kitchen.

This view shows how wide it will be... it goes under the apple tree, so we'll probably have to cut that back a little.

And this is a view from outside. It is so cool to watch it be built like this!! Hopefully soon it will have a floor so we can see what's it's like to walk out onto our deck!!

Great Escape

We spent yesterday at the Great Escape in Lake George, NY. It was a great day to go. Even though it rained 3 times... other than that, it was sunny and bright but not too hot. The kids didn't mind the rain (which only last a few minutes each time) so we didn't let it bother us either! Samantha brought her friend Sarah, and they were so funny to watch. They've reached the age where little kid stuff, like the Looney Toons park, is "cool" and "funny" and the boys were basically like "Umm, this is for babies..." I'm glad I got a picture of them with Tweety Bird. Will wanted nothing to do with that, and Colby is still afraid of life-sized characters!!

My mom's work (we went with them) has a lunch and also a raffle for everyone who goes. This year, Will won the "big" kids prize-- AN IPOD SHUFFLE!! He has had his little heart set on an Ipod for years so now he finally has one!! And the kicker is, Samantha pulled the ticket!! We thought that was so nice of her :*)
He *really* wanted the PSP2 which was an adult prize... and a woman won it, and he ran right over and asked if she would trade with him. Honestly, only Will would do that!! She said no... but that was okay, he loves the Ipod!
And funny enough, Sarah won a prize too... but 11 year olds are consider adults and she won a DVD player!! We told her she technically should give it to us but she didn't agree!

The Ragin River is so fun!! Six people go on this ride at once, getting splashed along the way. Well, they have these things where you pay a quarter, and you can squirt people! I think it's even more fun than the ride! A whole group of us (people I don't even know) were squirting everyone!! I I used one to squirt these guys, and I got them good!!!

WET!!!

By the end of the day, Colby was awfully tired... I tried to take his picture but this is the best "smile" I got. What a stinker. And the hat, I have to post about the hat! It's Art's hat... and at first he only wore it because Samantha "Oh, you are NOT wearing that hat!" but he wore it all day... and Colby wore it a little. One little girl walked by and stared at him.... and then smiled... it was cute!!

Well, we're off on another adventure- enjoy your Sunday!!

Our trip to Springfield, Mass

Today we took a trip to Springfield, Mass to visit my cousin Jenn, who is Sam's idol. My mom tagged along too because she is Jenn's Godmother. Springfield is about 90 minutes from us and it was a nice ride. (We brought Art's GPS so that helped a lot!) After we picked up Jenn, we went to the Dr. Seuss Memorial. It was basically a bunch of sculptures in a courtyard. But I loved it!! (and it's free). I love Dr. Seuss and I thought the sculptures were great.
This was the first one we saw, the Lorax. Colby did this funny pose when I asked him to smile by him.

Here is Sam. SAM-I-AM

Colby wore his Cat in the Hat shirt just for the occasion... so of course I had to take his picture next to the Cat in the Hat!!

This is Jenn, Sam, Will and Colby in front of a huge book of "Oh, the Places You'll Go".
It was beautiful there... we thought it would rain but it held out so we lucked out.
The courtyard that the garden was in, was surrounded by 4 museums. One was a science museum and the kids wanted to go in. One admission gets you into all 4 museums, but we only went to 2... the science museum, and another geneology museum that had a room on Dr. Seuss.
The science museum had a great dinosaur exhibit, and cool animals, and an aquarium. There was also an exhibit on planets and one on rocks, and one on Africa which I thought was really interesting.
After the museum we went to lunch at the Northampton Brewery, yum yum!!
And then to a cool toy store... which was a little annoying because of course the kids wanted everything they saw! Too bad the store isn't closer because they had really neat things that would be cool for Christmas gifts! And so many nice baby toys.
And then we went out for ice cream, to a place that is famous for being the first place to put candy in their ice cream. I had a little cup of chocolate ice cream with some sprinkles. It was great!! Sam and Will had chocolate too, and Colby was the oddball and had banana ice cream!
It was a really fun trip. Nice to go with Grammy. And so fun to see Jenn, we hardly ever see her. She is on her way to UMass this fall to start getting her PhD. Wow. I'm glad she's Sam's idol!!
Well, gotta head to bed, going to Six Flags in the morning.

August 12, 2008

Went to see the midwife today for my 32 week check up. We had a lengthy discussion about what we would do if the baby stayed in a breech position. She thinks I'm a good candidate for both 'version' and also just having a breech birth, but I need to talk to the doctor about that because that's not something my midwife can do. So I will make an appointment for 36 weeks with the dr. I like, after my next ultrasound. And after all that talk, she went to listen to the heartbeat, and she was almost certain that the baby has turned anyways!! So it may not be an issue at all. Either way, she gave me a sheet of suggested exercises to try to get the baby to go head down, and also some other simple things I can do. I am not a good guesser as to what position he is in-- I'm always wrong!! So I'm eager to get that ultrasound... 4 weeks until then. (Which is really sad because that's also when school starts again). So the check up was great! I gained 2 more pounds, in 2 weeks. And baby's heartbeat was a healthy 145 BPM. Everything was great-- except for the kids who spent the whole time in the waiting room fighting with each other! ugh! Why do they have to fight in public when I cannot yell at them or separate them??

Today Art started pouring the concrete bases for the deck!! Very exciting! It will be so nice to finally have a deck on the house-- and not just a door leading to nowhere!

We have been painting Will's room... the boys chose navy for the color, and it is so hard. I've practically given up, and now I'm just waiting for Art to come in and finish the job for me. We've done 3 coats so far and I think it looks awful. Just awful. I'm ready to prime it and start over but Art is convinced that it will all be okay. Let's hope so-- I am so ready to get the boys in the same room and start working on the baby's room! I'm tired of putting everything in the attic.

My friend Laurie sent me a HUGE box of baby stuff yesterday, it was like Christmas!! So many little outfits, and onesies, and hats and socks... so tiny! It was so fun to look through! I really can't wait to see this little guy and start dressing him in the cute little clothes!

Had lots of rain here yesterday, and Rensselaer was in a state of emergency. Art's best friend John lost his truck- it was literally buried under water right up to the windows. Amazing! We also bought the kids to tae kwon do but the entranceway was also flooded, so the fire dept. told them they had to cancel classes. It was weird to see so much water! Thank goodness it wasn't so bad here. Usually the pond floods but it hasn't. We did have a wet spot on the carpet in the basement- but Art was able to figure out why and fix it. Thank goodness we caught it right away. Oy. And poor Shea-- it seems every single day there is thunder, and she is so afraid of thunder! She won't leave my side when it thunders. It's cute, but sad too!!

Speaking of the pond, we saw the blue herron today. I wish it would come closer so I could get a picture. Tonight it was on the opposite side of the pond, too far to even really get a good look at.

Happy Tuesday!

August 7th update

I did this layout today... it was from a sketch I found on another blog! I love the sketch, and I love the pictures, especially the middle one! Colby was so cute that day!
One of his gifts was some money from Grandma Lorna, and he finally got himself Heely's the other day...he is so proud of them!

Sarah got a new puppy....and she is Mini Shea! Not really, her name is actually Ellie, but she looks just like a mini Shea! It's so fun! She brought her over one day and Shea was so funny... she just kept sniffing the puppy. I wonder if she has that mothering instinct?

We found these baby squirrels the other day on Art's trailer. There were 6 of them... teeny tiny, pink and hairless. Art made sure not to touch/disrupt them as he moved their nest to a better place.

Will mowed the lawn! On the big mower! He's just like Daddy now!

My brother gave me these shoes! Aren't they just the sweetest little things?? Tiny is what they are! I think they are adorable and I can't believe the baby will have feet that small!
Speaking of baby... I am 32 weeks along today! Wow, it's really getting close now. He has been moving and moving and moving... hopefully flipping himself around, although I don't know because I still feel most movements in my lower abdomen. I'm thinking he's either going to be a gymnast or a contortionist... ha ha! I used to say he didn't move much... but lately, he doesn't stop! And sometimes boy does it hurt!!!

We've been busy doing school shopping. So far we've spent well over $100 just on SUPPLIES! Man, these lists are brutal!! Sam and Will both need flash drives, Sam needs a scientific calculator, and they all have very specific color-coded lists. Thank goodness we're almost done, not it's on to new clothes!!

It's August??

Well... I will go backwards from today....
Last night Samantha's travel team met at a Valley Cats game to have an "end of the season" party. Their coach had shirts made for them that said "EG Express, 12-0" with their name/number on the back. He also just happened to get these certificates in the mail yesterday... each girl and coach was sent a certificate of commendation from the legislature! He said they had seen the article in paper and sent them to him! How cool!

Yesterday was also the last day of Summer Camp. I've got no idea how 4 weeks went by so quickly! Whoosh-- did you hear that? There they went!
Camp was fun for the boys. I enjoyed my morning and afternoon walks to the bus stop. I love that the boys had lots of fun outdoor time, and swimming every day. Of course they could swim here, but they don't usually. We'll see if I can't change that. If it was up to Little Samantha, they'd be swimming in the pool all day long!
I'm not looking forward to "I'm bored....he hit me... there's nothing to do... why can't we do X... tell him to stop!..." all day long. But I suppose it's what I will have to deal with! I wish they would just get along.
And unfortunately we have a neighbor who is not the nicest child... and he tends to pit the boys against eachother. So I'm going to have to be right on top of that situation also.

On Wednesday I met Steve the midwife! My appt. was great. I gained 4 pounds in 3 weeks-- eeks! Hopefully that's mostly baby! My BP was good. The baby was great! Heartbeat was in the 130s. But he is still breech. The midwife showed me where the head was, and I felt it!! That was weird. He says if the baby hasn't turned by 36 weeks then they will do another ultrasound and decide where to go from there. I am SO SCARED of a C-section so I really hope he either turns or can be turned. There's still time, or so I'm told!!

We went to Rhode Island last weekend for the tournament. This is only part of the team. It was fun weekend- the girls had fun in the hotel, playing elevator tag and swimming and hanging out in each other's rooms. The parents had fun "meeting" at the bar at night.
The games were great! Samantha did AWESOME! There was one game where she hit the ball really hard, and the girl who went to get it sprained her knee and ended up on crutches... and that *really* upset Samantha.
In another game, a girl on the other team got herself out because she hit the ball and it ended up hitting her on the helmet, that was funny!
And in a game on Sunday, Sam got out in a really stupid way that we still don't understand... the player up to bat had a dropped third strike, so she ran to first, the player on first ran to second...and Sam was on third so she ran home. Well... apparently you can't do that... and she was called out because of "interference" and that she "baited the pitcher"...???? It stunk because she was the first one up and would have had the first run.
They played one team with a REALLY FAST pitcher... and Samantha was the ONLY one who hit off of her, and she did it every time she was up to bat! Go Sam!!
The tournament was cancelled on Sunday after their first game because it was raining and thundering and lightening. So we went home, got home around 6 PM.
It was a fun time! Their coach says they "tied for first place" although we may never know how they really did. I say they did great!! They won half their games that weekend.

Not much else going on, trying to do some "spring/summer" cleaning! HAGD!