Trick or Treat!

The excitement that was in the air the days leading up to Halloween would have made you think that it was Christmas. I am happy to report that the boys love Halloween as much as I do & that Cookie has also learned to love it too!!! We had a busy day carving pumpkins and playing outside in the nice fall weather and then after nap time we headed out to trick or treat the neighborhood with Elijah & Samuel's friends Ava & Micheal. It was so much fun to walk around with Carla and Anthony and share the holiday with good friends, I think I might be getting corny as I get older and have more kids! Here are a few pictures of the evening, ENJOY!!!!

FoF

Friday it is so here is my list....

1. I LOVE Halloween, always have & I thank my parents for that. Every year we could be whatever we wanted, we trick or treated for what seemed like hours, and then back to our house for a neighborhood Halloween party.....it was awesome & I hope the boys grow up to love it as much as I do!

2. I am still getting use to Samuel's new hair. Most mornings when I go in to get him I still pause and look at him & think I really do miss his afro.

3. My baby belly is really starting to get bigger and bigger. The baby is moving alot these days & I can not believe that I am already 18 weeks and almost half way there.

4. I think I am the only mom I know that did not enter her kids into the Gap photo contest.

5. It was fourteen years ago this week (26th) that Cookie and I had our first date. I wish we had a babysitter that lived close so we could have had a moment out for a decent meal to reflect and enjoy eachother, I miss going on dates with my husband!

Mommy confessions

I have a few mommy confessions I need to get off my chest! Some of them seem to be on going and some have only happened once. Prior to becoming a mother I thought this job would be a piece of cake, I knew there would be some hard days but what I did not realize is there would be so many challenging days. So here is my list:
~My house house is never clean, no matter how hard I try I can never get it to stay clean!
~Elijah has a fresh streak in him that truel only comes out on me and I often feel responsible for it because I did not address it sooner!
~I am very nervous that baby #3 is going to be a girl and not going to be as beautiful as the boys, yes I think my boys are beautiful!
~Samuel and his climbing drive me crazy and I often put him in his chair and offer him a snack just to be able use the bathroom!
~Some days I am jealous that Cookie gets to go to work!
~Sometimes I use homework as an excuse to get out of the house to have some quiet time and a soup at Panera Bread!
~I long for the day we live near family that wants to be a part of the boys life and actually give us a helping hand!
~I find that I am sometime jealous of moms who do have family that can and will help them with no strings attached. It is REALLY hard to do this without any help, somedays
~Hardly ever do I sit an eat a meal I just seem to serve the entire time and that is getting old really quick.
~My boys survive on chicken nuggets, bagels, and Annie's Mac & Cheese!

I know that none of these things make me a bad mom but if I could fix just a few maybe I would be a slightly better mom for my boys!!!!!

Fall Frolics....

In an effort to get the boys out and burn off some of their endless energy Uncle Jay was kind enough to build us a giant leaf pile! I was so excited to take them out and see what they did with it and how they liked it. Elijah loved it and could not get enough and did not want the fun to end when the rain started to fall. Samuel on the other hand kept a distance, ventured into the pile once & discovered he hated it and never returned. I wonder will he like the life pile more next year & how much bigger does the leaf pile need to be for three kids???

THAT IS MY HAT!!!

Today while getting ready to go outside I was putting the boys coats and hats on, simply enough right???? Yeah well then I put the hat the Michelle made Elijah when he was a baby on Samuel and all hell broke out. Elijah instantly ripped the hat off his brother's head and put it on his own and FIRMLY informed Samuel that it was his hat not Sammy's! I never knew he had such a strong attachment but who could blame him it is beautiful and cashmere, he is so my son!!! I wonder if maybe over Christmas vacation on her lack of free time if Auntie Michelle might make Samuel a special winter hat too?????

Bye Bye Afro Baby....

Bye bye afro baby.....Hello handsome toddler!!! Finally after pondering when would be a good time to cut Samuel's hair we just jumped in and did it. The past week had been a hand full with his hair between the food, stickers, and toys he likes to store in it and the dread locks that were starting to form in the back it really was time to get the 1st hair cut. So, without any planning we just went out and did it! He was fantastic he sat in the chair calmly the entire time just looking at himself in the mirror and waving to anyone that came in. I will be honest I a little teary eyed watching my baby's afro fall to the ground and watching this toddler appear before my eyes! I have to say I think he might of even gotten cuter since his hair cut.

Five on Friday

It's Friday finally!!!

1. Samuel is getting 2 more teeth which at 16 months will give him a grand total of 6! I am still amazed that he is able to eat as much as he does with the 4 that he has now.

2. Elijah has been a testing his limits in all areas and to great lengths. Cookie and I are in the process of regrouping and really putting him on the lock down with the rules. Thank you to Grammie for all her advice and guidance.

3. It is FREEZING this week and I hate it! The thought that there may soon be snow on the ground makes me want to throw up. I really hope it does not snow before Halloween.

4. Tomorrow is my day off!!! I am so excited that I am getting a night away with some of my fellow mommies and some much needed time to re energize!

5. We are 16 weeks pregnant this week & I can not believe that we are almost at the half way point. I still at some point everyday am surprised that we are having our third baby & by surprised I mean that it happened with such ease and lack of effort, thank God!

Samuel's Well Check

I know I am playing a bit of catch up here on the blog since our time away in sunny, warm Florida but hopefully in the next few days we will be back up to date.

Anyways...last Wednesday we had Samuel's 16 month well check and everything went fantastic. I still can not believe how fast time is passing and how big he is getting or that soon there will be a little one that fills his role as the baby and he will become my middle child. Samuel's doctor was very pleased with his growth and said he is right on track, he is 32 1/2 inches tall which is about 75% for height and currently weighs 22.8lbs which is about 17% for weight. Surprisingly to me and Cookie he is actually taller than Elijah was at 16 months and is about a half a pound lighter and here I have been worried he is going to be the short fat kid with the afro and glasses! Dr. Chung was excited to tell us he has an above average vocabulary with about 15-20 words were he really only needs about 5 at this age, I was thrilled to hear that!!! I expressed my concern with his constant climbing and he just laughed and told me I have my hands full with two boys, if that is not an understatement I do not know what is! The two things Dr. Chung would like us to start is time outs with Samuel when needed and start planning to transition him into a bed in February. I am on board with the time outs but not so sure the bed thing is going to happen. Samuel also got four shots and did not even cry he was such a champ and Elijah also got the flu mist without a fight. I left the appointment very proud of my boys!!!

Forced Family Fun

Since we were in sunny Florida most of the month of September I feel like fall kind of just sprung up on us by surprise. Luckily for us this past weekend we were able to take some time for some forced family fun and do some apple picking with the Blake Family. Elijah loved it and had a blast! Thank goodness Cookie is so tall because at the start of the orchard most of the apples are way up high but he loved that Cookie was able to lift him up to pick the top ones. Samuel was not as excited about the apple picking as Elijah but he was more than happy to pick several apples up off the ground. We got tons of apples and Sunday night I made a yummy apple crisp for my Cookie, maybe I do like the cool weather after all????

Baby Popotte #3

The news has spread and I think almost everyone knows by now that we are very excited to share that we are expecting Baby #3 to arrive this coming spring. My actual due date is April 1st but unfortunately we will be having a scheduled c section somewhere between March 26th and April 2nd. Not sure if we will be sharing the date with everyone once we know it but I will at least keep everyone up to date on a need to know basis.

So far pregnancy has been great. I love being pregnant and growing this special little person. What I do not love it the heartburn and the migraines that I have been having but if those are the worst that I will have to deal with then I am very lucky! I had my regular monthly appointment last week and baby #3 was not being so cooperative in letting my midwife and I hear it's heartbeat so we had to have an ultrasound which gave us a chance to have a sneak peak at the baby before our big ultrasound next month. Everything looked great the baby is measuring perfect and had a very healthy heartbeat of 144!

Here is the picture of Baby #3

Scam Artist

Yup, that is exactly how I would describe my three and a half year old son Elijah scam artist. Lately I have to admit I feel like everything I ask him to do he is trying to make a deal or pull a fast one. The worst has been his sleeping or lack there of. About two months ago randomly out of the blue he started waking in the middle of the night and coming into our room. Out of pure exhaustion and concern I just simply let him snuggle up next to me since it was already 4am he would not be in bed with us for long, right? Yeah well that was two months ago and he is till waking in the middle of the night. The first excuse for getting up was monsters, then it was he missed us, then his could not sleep, then his bed was lumpy, and the latest and most annoying is the middle of the night "accident". He started wetting the bed at night my son who has not urinated at night for the last six months now has started peeing the bed at night. I think it is a bunch of crap!!!! Let me explain why & it is because the first night it happened I did not change his bed in the middle of the night and put him back to bed because I did not want to wake Samuel so Elijah stayed with us & then this occured a few more times but I noticed he was not really having accidents. He is only slightly peeing his pant, his undies are hardly wet but he tell you he can not sleep in his bed because it is wet from his "accident". So, I have decided he is simply trying to scam us so tonight I told him he had to wear a diaper and he had a flipping melt down that he would not wear one, he is not a baby, and he promised not to have an accident! We will see because if he has an accident tonight I have informed him very clearly that tomorrow night he will wear a diaper to bed just like a baby (as he said)!
Scam artist.....that is all I have to say!

Happy Anniversary Cassinellis

Happy Anniversary Cassinellis!!!!! Four years ago today on a beautiful sunny morning & six months pregnant with Elijah I had the honor of standing next to two the most wonderful people I know and watch them get married. Happy 4 year anniversary to Michelle and Luigi the two of you are an amazing couple and to have watched your relationship grow as husband and wife has been amazing. Cookie and I love you both and we love that you simply ardour our boys and that they feel the same way about you. Thank you for for sharing your special day with us four years ago!!!!