On the Move...

Dear I,
What a hectic two weeks we have had! First, my first Mommy Birthday last week was GREAT!!! I do not mean GREAT just because I got a "shake-weight" from Uncle Ronnie, but because I got to spend the whole day with you, Daddy, and Uncle Ronnie! We had a blast, Indian food, Ice cream, shopping, and topped off with a good bedtime for you and shots of Bailey's for us! NOt to mention a fabulous Wustoff Knife set from daddy...Nothing better than kitchen gadgets to put a smile on my face!
After that we had a great visit from Gramma! She was surely impressed by how big & strong - and of curse CUTE you are now! We loved having her here! I loved having so much free time! It was like a mini vacation for me! I got so much done....and you (and Daddy) got some major Gramma spoiling!
OF course the weeks have also been filled with moving talk - and actions! Like I said before, kiddo, this move decision has been weighing so heavily on me. Honestly I do not think it is a good idea to let Mommies  make huge decisions within the first year of having a baby...we (ok, me) are just way to emotional for that! But anyway Daddy took the job in Colorado last week and since then we have been on a whirl wind ride of moving mayhem!
Fortunately house hunting in Denver means a trip to a Aunt Sue's house in Boulder! You have so much fun with your Aunt Sue and love to terrorize little Bogey as much as you can. Although you weren't too sure of the horses. Those were some BIG doggies!! You were overwhelmed at all the new things to put in your mouth! How exciting! It was a mad dash chasing you around as your explored her house eating plants, dog toys, nick nacks - and my personal favorite jamming up the toilet bowel with magazines! I had not even thought of that one. You and your daddy had a great First Father's day  getting all dirty in the mud and  playing in the grass. Alas did I fail to mention you SLEEPING THRU THE NIGHT!!??!! We may have to move in with Aunt Sue for that reason alone! I think letting you exhaust yourself throughout the day is going to be the way we have to go with you. Heck with scheduled bedtimes! We just let you tire yourself out and then BAM...out like a light you are!

The good news of the weekend was we found a cute little house in a seemingly great area (think Newburyport West!) the downfall was we looked at that  house first, and then wasted the following day looking at houses that were not nearly as nice. Did I mention how much you HATE to be in the car seat?   SO that part was a bit challenging...to say the least! There will definitely NOT be any road trips in your near future...but you were great on the plane this time, so we will have to cut our losses.
As I started this blog wednesday night it had not sunken in how real this move is becoming. But now, Thursday morning it has begun to sink in. We just waved good bye to Daddy in the driveway as he took off for the Rockies in his loaded down Forerunner. It is a bittersweet day indeed. Happy a new chapter will be starting but sad one is ending. I dont know if I will ever learn you cant make everyone happy. I am slowly realizing that I am my own worst enemy when it comes to that. What I am also slowly starting to realize is that You, Daddy & I have to be Priority Number 1 right now and no matter where we are our families will always be there with us. Boy kiddo, I really hope you do not inherit Mommy's sense of guilt...( Hmm...I ownder where I got mine...thanks Mom)

Well that is all for now. God willing our next post we will be happy to report Daddy's safe arrival in Colorado! As for you and I, let's just hope we dont drive each other crazy ( or Uncle ROnnie!) We are off to visit Noni and Nono next week for the 4th of July. I am sure everyone will be vying for some Monster time in NEPA...I can almost feel my long hot shower and nap already!!! Lock up the cabinets!! The Scrunchy-face-Toofer- Monster will be there soon enough!
Until then...As Always, Mommy loves you Monster Sir I!
love Mommy

The Big Picture

Dear I,

Whatta week! I can't say I am sad to see this one come to an end. It's too hot, it's too hectic, and I am sorry to say your Mommy gets too emotional! Last weekend we saw temperatures jump up to 110 and it has been hovering around there ever since! Ugh. You are not a fan of the heat either!  If I thought you were miserable in the car before, just try hot and miserable! Luckily we had lots of pool time to cool off. Shhh! Don't tell, but you are one happy skinny dipper! Like I have said a thousand times before - Who needs those stinkin bathing suits anyway! You and Prada  have a blast splashing around. Somehow you get more dog hair on you in the pool than crawling under the table! From the pool to the showers - You love every second of water time!

Monday Daddy flew out to Denver for a job interview. It was a success  - and he starts at the end of the month! I wish I could tell you how excited I am about moving to Colorado kiddo, but honestly I am not sure. Hence, Mommy has been an emotional basket case lately. Honestly I do not know how your daddy puts up with me some times! It is such a hard decision to make. On one hand I really do not want you growing up in Vegas, but on the other hand we are in a  great situation here where I can be home with you and not have to work. We also have Uncle Ronnie and Prada here. We do not know a soul in Denver!  I do understand that Colorado living is Daddy's dream. I guess this is part of the "give and take" of a relationship I need to work on. You know what monster, sometimes relationships suck - no matter what you give or take! I love your Daddy with all my heart  but sometimes I  feel like we are not only on different pages, but different books all together!
Fortunately our move will not be as sudden as Daddy.  You and I are staying in Vegas until the end of the summer. Daddy and Doc are going first to get things set up and settled in. It will be hard with him so far away most of the time but I think this is the best way to go about it. I am just not ready to pack up shop and move in 2 weeks. I guess I am not the spontaneous risk taker I used to be. Maybe your Noni is right, I need to just relax and go with it....(I do not know what your Noni is on, but I want some!)
Other than moving Drama/trauma it was Wheel tryouts week. Stupid show! WHo really watches  it anyway? OK, I was pretty disappointed I did not make it. The test was way harder than I expected. Sorry Monster, no millions just yet! I just do not think I am good with rejection! Thank goodness I never tried out for AMerican Idol!
Well I may not have made WHeel, but I did get a huge consolation prize - My Baby's first TOOFER broke through! I noticed it in the car on the way home! Finally! A tooth! I thought you would be a gummy bear forever! NOw let's see if all your fussiness disappears as your teeth come in...I will not be holding my breath!

Hopefully next week is better than this week. I am sure it will be plenty busy though - between you getting into EVERYTHING, Packing up Daddy, looking for houses, finding Prada a new playmate - we definitely wont be bored! Maybe I will tire myself out enough to actually get some sleep(as I write this at 2:30 AM!)! I hate stress! I sleep worse than you do now! Who knows, maybe the change will do us good.  I guess we will never know unless we try. I do know in some time this decision will probably be as insignificant as not making Wheel of Fortune. It just seems like a big deal now - you will probably never even know it happened! The Big Picture kiddo, that's what I am looking toward - and we all have to be (happily) in it. If this move gets us from here to there, then so be it....Right???
At least your daddy and I agree on one thing: You are the most important factor here! You are a very lucky little monster to have 2 parents that love you so much! Now I just hope we do not screw that up! :)
As always I love you Monster!
Love, Mommy

Summer Time!

Dear I,

Whatta Weekend we had! Memorial Day was here and gone, and thus the (un)official start of summer is here! Hello June! What a busy month! Here comes the heat! Although Daddy did not officially have the day off, he did not get called in to work, so we DID have a great extra long weekend together.

It all started with Daddy OFFERING to take you all night and let mommy "sleep" all night - peacefully - and ALONE!!! Well that lasted about 15 minutes...about 13.5 minutes longer than I expected. It was a very nice gesture though. I guess there is something about kicking and pinching me all night that just is not the same with daddy. Oh well, lucky me! And what a terrible night it was! I spent the whole night thinking of how I needed to video tape this to send into a sleep clinic or Dr. Sears!! I just kept thinking I must be doing something wrong - How can each night get worse than better??? I don't know kiddo! My only solace is thinking of your teenage years when I will wake you up every morning at 4 am!!! Ahh....sweet revenge!

Saturday we took a CRAZY ride into the mountains with dogs. Your daddy loves his mountain excursions! We loaded up the dogs, you and some picnic goodies and off we go! The only problem was we were not alone! We pulled off road and let all the mutts out of the car to run around, only to find a herd of wild horses within feet of us! The horses were not interested in us, but Zorro was definitely out for blood! I don't how or why that little mutt got so mean, but he just does not like other living creatures! What a bully! Lucky he is the cutest dog in the world!

Next came Daddy's four-wheeling ride. Sorry boys, but ugh, I just do not see the fun in that! I am sure you will love it once you are older, and once again mommy will be out numbered, but something about being thrown all over the car on a dusty dirt road is not appealing to me. You slept through the whole thing somehow. At least I know you can sleep through a hurricane or earthquake! Your Aunt Leslee was right, I should strap your carseat to a mechanical bull at night! You might just sleep the whole night through!

Sunday was a lazy day of home and pool - and of course WATERMELON!!! It is just not the summer with out it! Mommy got to go grocery shopping solo - only to come home to daddy feeding  you...I think! Or you were both playing finger paint with the carrots and pasta! What a mess!! Silly boys!
Monday was pretty much the same thing. We went for lunch, you attacked my hummus plate and made one heck of a mess! It was funny though, and the waitress got one heck of a tip for that clean up! Uncle ROnnie and Daddy had to make a pit stop at the Harley Davidson store on the way home. It is like testosterone heaven in there! Don't get any ideas of a Harley just yet little man - you or daddy - or Uncle Ronnie!!

While they window shopped in Manly man Grr Store, we were off to the baby store next door. (I do think it is a bit weird to have a baby store next to the mega Harley store???) Anyway, I couldn't help but laugh as I strolled through the amazingly overpriced baby things. I saw glowing prego women filling out registries and looking at $50 baby clothes and I just wanted to shake them and say "Look at this (albeit beautiful) baby covered in hummus!!! DO NOT waste your money on $49.99 onesies!!! It just amazes me what people will spend on baby gear! Hopefully it is just a new mom thing and you do not fall for that twice. I Won't! If I ever had to do it all over again I would NOT buy anything new! I think I would sooner buy a Harley! At least that has some chance of staying clean!! Take note my prego friends, "Do not believe the hype! Expensive is not better!!
We posted some new videos of you getting around! I cannot believe how fast you move! This week you had so many discoveries! First the stairs, then the doggie door. One second you are under the kitchen table the next you are across the room in the dog's water bowl! I definitely have my work cut out for me in keeping up with you! I think the key to you sleeping is to completely wear you out all day! The only problem is I wear out MUCH quicker than you do!
Well baby Monster, hopefully this week brings us just as much fun and excitement as the past week! Thank you again to all our military men and women who allowed us to have such a great carefree weekend! Honestly, we cannot thank you enough for all you do.
I love you My little Monster Monkey!
love, mommy

40 weeks of Fabulous!

Dear Baby Monster,

40 weeks old this week! Wow! Can you believe we made it this far??? I would have wrote sooner, but as you may already know, we have not had much sleep this week. So what's up with that Kiddo?? Were you to upset about the finale of LOST to sleep too? We were doing (sort of) good for a while...then the (Godforsaken) dramatic downturn. Ugh. Sleeping in the crib seems to be a thing of the past these days. You gave it a good few weeks - and Mommy gave it her all to keep you in the "baby cage", but lately you just are not having it! Oh well, we tried, back to the drawing board, back to the Mommy, the sleep hostage.

I must say the all - new "mobile Monster" is quite the handful! I do love how you can keep your self (somewhat) occupied these days, but you went from barely getting on your hands and knees to getting across the room in no time! You are into everything now. To my dismay I turned around yesterday only to find you now able to pull up on the furniture and stand on your own - and then this morning was the worst: You finally discovered the wonderful world of the staircase on your own! Ugh! Thank goodness you cannot get up them yet!      Y E T! Nothing is safe anymore! I think there is  a magnetic attraction between you and electrical outlets, the stairs and the dogs' water bowls. I don't know what it is  - but none can have a good outcome. Even with all my research into baby food, organics, and what makes the best diet for you, who would of thought your first meat (ugh..) would be Prada's Meaty Bones??? It was only a matter of time I guess....At least your teeth will be clean - if you ever get them!

Well the sign language has not caught on yet. No teeth have come in yet. But I'll be darned if you don't say "DADA" like a champ all day long! Sigh! Oh Baby Monster you're killing me here!! We had your 9 month check up last week and the Dr. says you're right on target. I asked him about your lack of sleep, to which he replied, "oh...that sucks". I am sure he meant that in a purely scientific and medical way. I couldn't have figured out on my own that my 9 month old NOT sleeping more than 4 hours a night "sucks". Good thing he wasted 12 years on medical school for that.

In other news, Memorial Day is upon us, the official start of summer is here. Uh oh. Next week we are supposed to break into the triple digit temps. Hopefully we will keep the trend going as one of the coolest years to date (in Vegas, at least!)

You came up with a new trick this week. You learned that if you drop the Cheerios one by one on hte floor the dogs will hang out next to you and eat them up! Personally I love when you feed me the Cheerios but Prada really loves this game! HE is not too keen on watermelon though - but you are! Maybe Mommy will come up with a big watermelon cake for your 1st Birthday! I bet you would like that - only if you could eat it off the floor of course. 

Last weekend Uncle Ronnie, Daddy, you and Me had a great time hanging out at the VEnetian while Mommy tried out for Wheel of Fortune. Last Night we got the good word that we made it to the final auditions in June! HOORAY!!! Hopefully we could put a cool $100,000 in the bank and save it for a rainy day! Keep your fingers crossed! Hopefully you are my good luck charm(er)!

Well kiddo as I type this you are sitting under the kitchen table stacking up the hundreds of Cheerios you have dropped and hanging out with your buddy Super Why (you're also chewing on my flip flop, but we will forget that I hope). As  content as you are, I can smell you all the way up here. Time for the dreaded diapee change....if only I had the extra 3 sets of hands to make it an easy one!

I love you Sir Monster I

Love, Mommy

9 Months of Monster!

Dear I,
Happy 9 months of life baby Monster Boy! Today you are officially 39 weeks old, which means you have been "out" as long as you were "in"! So I guess starting tomorrow, this life on the outside will be an old hat to you - you're such a big boy now! Now if we could just master the sleeping thing....
I have to tell you, the month of May has brought about so many changes in you! All of a sudden you are a pro sitter, crawler, pincher, and one heck of a tantrum thrower (we will be working on the latter two in a hurry!). Everyday you have a new trick  - and a new test - for me!

For the past four nights I have been testing the waters out and putting you to sleep in the 'crib'. It has become nearly impossible to lay you down on the bed anymore without the fear of you crawling off. So far you have adjusted to the Babybox naptime  rather well, but we are 1 for 4 in sleeping thru the night on your own.    When I say "on your own" it should be noted that I mean "you lay in the crib while mommy hovers over the top holding your hands so you think I am actually lying in the crib next to you". It is an interesting sight to see and one hell of an upper body workout. It just takes FOREVER to get you to fall asleep "on your own". Once I lay you down, you toss and turn and cry for nearly 90 minutes each night. You are so tired  you can barely sit up with out toppling over ( I must admit, I laugh every time you do that), but you just will not fall asleep without (one hell of) a fight! I will keep trying I suppose. It is either this way or one night Mommy is going to end up in the crib with you!
Your appetite has also increased over the past few weeks. You are a Cheerios champ these days, but watermelon still takes the cake! Even when you see it in the grocery store your face lights up and you get all excited. It is absolutely adorable - even if it means the entire kitchen get covered in watermelon stickiness!

Something new this week has been your crazy aversion to the car and the car seat. I can tell you now kiddo, this is not going to work out in your favor. For some reason every time I put you in the car lately you FREAK OUT!! I am not sure why, but I am hoping this goes away quickly  - it makes for a LONG car ride wherever we go, and the hotter it gets the more miserable those tantrums are going to get! Maybe you are just upset that Zorro has to sit in the back of the car and not next to you? Hmmm...

Well Sir-9-month-old-monster, it is getting close to your wake up time. I can almost feel your shrilly scream coming on. Sometimes I like to humor myself and think that I will just check on you and you will be playing peacefully in your crib waiting for me to come and get you.  A mommy can dream can't she?
Happy 9 months of life on the outside kiddo! I love you very much.
Love Mommy

Happy Mother's day!

Dear I,

Happy Mother's day to me! Whew!!! It took me 32 years to figure out how much work goes into getting a Mother's day card! This year more than any, I can appreciate how much work your Noni and Grandma have put in to getting me and your daddy to where we are today! THANK YOU doesnt even seem to be nearly enough for them! Mommy is just working on 9 months of Mommyhood...they are working on 40 years of hard work! Even though we cant thank them enough, this year we can appreciate them more than we EVER could have imagined! We love you Moms....(and Noni & Grandma)!
Motherhood is a funny thing. It is a lifelong commitment and a thankless job. You can never prepare enough for it. No one gets a perfect score and the mistakes often make the greatest teachers. No one can really appreciate all the work a mother does until they have children of their own and by then many many (hopefully) years have passed. The sleepless nights, the school lunches, the waiting up late all gets taken for granted until you experience it for yourself - then a simple "thank you" doesn't even begin to touch the tip of the surface on how much your mother has put into you. As Mothers we are expected to raise our children the best  ways we know how...and after a few short years into it we have to let you go into the world on their own and see how we (as moms) did.  We know from the day the doctor places you in our hands for the first time that someday (soon) we will have to let you go.  But we gladly do it anyway. A thankless job indeed. But the most satisfying, challenging, inspiring, and courageous job any woman can take on. So Happy Mother's day to all us who enlisted....and many more to follow.
 In other news, the past 2 weeks we have seen you change by leaps and bounds! You can now sit up all by yourself and are in the early stages of crawling - or as you do - some weird kind of sit-and-spin-thing across the floor. Either way you can cover the entire room in minutes. By the time you get from one end to the other you look like a doggie with all their hair all over you! It is definitely time to start baby proofing! No more rawhide on the floor these days! Im sure you don't need that until your teeth come in!
You also have mastered babbling - although I will fight til the death that there is a HUGE difference between "dadadada" and "Dadda". Until you look at Daddy and say "Dadda" I refuse to accept "Dadda" as your first word! Come on kid, give me somethin here! Especially on Mother's day!!! You run me down ragged, I lovingly let you bite, scratch, and pinch me nightly, and now you are going to say Dadda first??? Nope...I wont have it!

We have also been working on our sign language skills but so far everything translates into Mommy acting silly....or more Cheerios getting thrown on the floor. Either way you and the dogs are happy with it! I am still not sure when you are going to comprehend "NO". No matter how I say it you still think it is the funniest thing - and I have a feeling that is going to drive Mommy nuts VERY quickly.
If ever I thought getting you to sleep was tough before, the new sitting up and 'crawling' actions have put that to shame! Even getting a diaper on you is a challenge these days! You are all over the place. I have a feeling I am in for a wild ride with you as a toddler!

We got back from our nice weekend in Colorado late last night. We had a great time and got to spend some time with Aunt Sue in Boulder. You really liked her and seeing the horses and Little Bogey! She was sure impressed by how big and active you are! Everything was really nice, until the plane ride back - of course! I dont know how you know we are heading back to Vegas, But you sure put up a mile high fight! At least Daddy and Uncle Ronnie got to share in on the embarrassing torture of your inconsolable screaming! But once you fell asleep you were O-U-T! Thank God!
Well Kiddo, I have a feeling this naptime is not going to be very long so I best get going. Thank you and Daddy again for my Fabulous First Mother's day! I loved my Mommy Day crossword puzzle! I look forward to MANY MANY more!
Thank you again to my wonderful mommy! I love you very much and can only hope I am a fraction of the mom you are! Now I finally can appreciate why we had so many calendars hanging! :)
I love you Baby Monster!
Love, Mommy

Hey Soul Mister!

Dear I,

Baby darling, there is a little secret Mommy is going to let you in on now while you are young, and I want you to learn it quick. Someday Daddy can better explain it to you, but for now you only need to know that only ONE of us gets to be PMS'y at a time. And when it is MOMMY'S turn you have ABSOLUTELY NO CHANCE of winning!!! Although everyone else rather your whining instead of Mommy's, I'm sure!

Hoy Vey kiddo!!! Are you trying to kill me this week??!!! What's the deal? And it is ONLY Tuesday!!! Let's just pretend I don't mind that you go to sleep at 8PM and wake up at 11:30PM Screaming your bloody head off as if there was a crocodile attack in your bed. Let's pretend I actually like my face pinched all day long (the scars are conversation pieces). I will even go so far as to pretend I like to clean up your food from the ENTIRE kitchen rather than actually get ONE spoonful in your mouth...DO we really need to shower me with all of these in the same week??? Never mind EACH day of this week???
All I am going to say Sir is that you are DAMN lucky you are such a cutie....or Bam Zoom To the Moon you'd go!! (hmm... Maybe I will go!!!)

Aside from a thus far week of sleepless hell, screaming, and our newest hobby of pinching mommy's face til it bleeds, not much new here to report! We have taken Long Distance baby-rearing to YouTube! So now all of our long distance loves can see just how "cute" you are each day! I will break them all in with the cute and cuddley videos....then I will throw in the REAL ISAAC videos of the meltdowns and Tantrums! We will reel the family in slowly, then unleash the Sir I fury!
The warm weather has finally rolled in. The only good thing about that is WATERMELON SEASON!!!  You must have known I only craved watermelon when I was pregnant. You can go to town on a piece of watermelon Little Man! It is absolutely adorable to watch! One bite and your mouth and eyes fill up with water! You love it! I love it! Now we just have to get the dogs to love it so they can lick it up off the floor!

We are getting ready for a little weekend trip to Colorado this weekend. Should be fun. Uncle Ronnie is coming too, so he will get to see you in action on a plane! Thank Goodness this is a short flight! We will be spending our First Mother's Day in the Centennial State...Or as Daddy calls it, the Greatest Place on Earth!
Well....either a rhinoceros is upstairs or you just awoke from you mini nap...somehow I dont think I am lucky enough to go upstairs and see a rhino in the hallway....Someday Kiddo!!! Someday you are going to love to sleep - and I can't wait to wake you up when you do!!
I love you little Monster!
Love, Mommy