Those Hard to Buy For People On Your List.....

Everyone knows someone who is IMPOSSIBLE to buy for.....birthdays, Christmas or any other gift giving occasion. Well I hope I can help you out here......OK so maybe not, but I'm sure these are going to make you laugh. They had me in stitches!

Gift #1:
Pregnant Woman Key chain
http://www.stupid.com/fun/AK-PREG.html

Gift #2:
The Toad Purse
http://www.stupid.com/fun/TOAD.html

Gift #3:
Chewed Gum Magnets
http://www.stupid.com/fun/STUP.html

Gift #4:
Freudian Slippers
http://www.stupid.com/fun/FSLP.html

And last but not least, for the baker on your list:
Gift #5:
The Fetus Cookie Cutter
http://www.stupid.com/fun/FETS.html

Hope I didn't offend anyone LOL.....

Voluntary Tagging......

So it was bound to happen sometime.....the inevitable blog tagging! I was reading my friend Amy's blog and she tagged me! Which is pretty cool.....she is the first to do so.

I like her explanation of the voluntary tagging. "It's like a chain letter, without the letter." heh It's a sneaky way to see who is reading your blog and if they will take on the responsibility of posting the tagged questions on their blog.....easy enough, right?!

Here are my answers to the tag:

8 Favorite TV Shows (not necessarily in this order):
- The Office
- ER
- Real Housewives
- John & Kate plus 8
- My Name is Earl
- 30 Rock
- Diners, Drive Ins & Dives ( I heart Guy Fietti!!)
- 17 Kids & Counting

8 Things I look Forward to:
- Christmas
- My mom coming up here on the 18th
- Roman starting school in the fall LOL
- Getting a deck in the spring
- The time of day when all the kids are in bed
- Times alone with my husband
- Reaching my goal weight
- Watching my kids grow

8 Things on my Wish List:
- New cell phone (Blackberry wouldn't be bad heh)
- Breast reduction
- Tummy tuck LOL
- My mom to move up here
- Swimming pool
- Another child
- A Lincoln Navigator
- Our businesses to do better

8 Favorite Restaurants (in no particular order):
- Texas Roadhouse
- De'Nunzzio's
- Patti's in Windber
- Rey Azteca
- Taco Express in Brownfield (I miss this place DAILY)
- Taco Villa
- The White House in Atlantic City
- SONIC!

8 Things I Did Today:
- Made my bad
- Showered
- Grocery shopping
- Fed Rocco
- Went to the Dollar Store
- Started laundry
- Got the boys dressed
- Made hamburgers & french fries (ok I didn't do it yet, but that is what I'm going to do after this!)

Thanks for reading and I can't forget to tag....hmmmm.......ummmmm.....Annie!

Just One of Those Days.....

Have you ever just had one of those days? Of course! We all have! And if you haven't, then please don't talk to me because I'm libel to claw your eyes out LOL

Today was one of those days for me. My patience level was...well is.....running low. I was on the verge of an emotional breakdown all day. I think the fact that I spend most of my days constantly picking up. Picking up clothes upstairs and throwing them downstairs so then I can pick them up from there and take them to the laundry room. Pick up toys......I just know that when I am older and need back surgery because I am no longer able to move I can place the blame squarely on my son. One thing I can NOT stand is a cluttered living room. He insists on bringing his toys into the living room where I spend the majority of my time. So that means by lunch there are 275 cars, trains and train track pieces as well as guns, a baseball bat and golf clubs. IN ADDITION TO the pile of baby toys I have in here for Rocco. I know I should just relax and not be so anal about the mess in my house, but I just can't do it. I am totally unable to relax in clutter. Many of you are laughing at me right now.......I know you are! Yes I knew that this toy business came with the territory of having children. Wait a minute....haven't I ranted about this toy thing before?....LOL

I was also frustrated with the pressure of getting my house ready for holiday guests. Not that my husbands family really *cares* if my house is disheveled, they know I have small children. But it would be nice if they could at least walk in and the house is all picked up. Oh and how lucky they would be to not need to play an impromptu game of hopscotch around cars & trains to make their way to my sofa!

Add to that stuff the fact my husband had the GALL to scoff at the turkey I bought tonight *raises eyebrow* Just because it is the store brand does not mean it will be bad. Heaven forbid you don't get a Butterball.....this is a nice FRESH store brand turkey! As in it hasn't been frozen......good grief. I guess the Butterball turkey people have some magic feed that they give their turkey's so that is why it tastes better? Yeah ok, whatever. I was quick to snap, "You will eat it and you WILL love it." LOL

Just one of those days my friends.......just one of those days :D

Must. Get. Into. It.

OK.....so there is no more putting it off. I must get into the holiday spirit.


There are exactly 42 shopping days until Christmas. Whoa. Just shy of a month and a half.


Are you ready? Have you started shopping? Ugh are you one of those who are already done?! Please don't tell me that! LOL


At this point in time I have NO clue what I'm getting my kids for Christmas. NONE! Ok, so maybe that is a tiny white lie....I do know that Roman wants a diner. Here is the link for the more "boyish" looking kitchen that it is. But yanno, he could very well change his mind in 42 days.....ok he could change his mind by tomorrow, he's 3!


So far on Kailey's list is a book and new bras. She would DIE if she knew I just posted that she wanted bras LOL.....she is 12. That is all she is giving me.....nothing else. No games....no toys...nothing. A book & bras for pete's sake!


And Rocco.....he is happy with anything that will fit into his mouth at this point. He is all over the place putting anything in his mouth and LOVES magazines. He will surely be in his glory with all the wrapping paper at Christmas!


I guess I could be thankful that my kids aren't into toys so much. Roman plays with his toys alot. Most times he plays with them in ways they aren't intended. He uses his imagination, which is so wonderful. One thing my husband and I agree on is the whole "less is more" approach with toys. I wish I could tell you we feel this way for some smart reason, like kids have been bombarded with toys and most wouldn't know what to do if they weren't doing something with a toy, video game or video. But the main reason we don't buy alot of toys for our kids is because we HATE cleaning them up. Yup....that pretty much sums it up.

So sometimes when I hear other moms go on about the toys their kids have and what they are buying next I feel a twinge of guilt.....but then I come home to our office and see what Roman does with the limited amount of toys he DOES have:


Yeah that twinge of guilt goes RIGHT out the window LOL
*sigh*


I know once Bob and I go on our yearly Christmas shopping day without the kids we will buy more than we intend and spend more than we wanted. That's what we do for our kids.


Tis the season......but I think I wait to start stressing AFTER Thanksgiving! LOL

Holy Evil Trainer Batman!

So I've complained for years since moving here that there wasn't a decent gym in town. Where I lived before there was a great 24/7 gym and it had childcare and nightly classes, etc. I used to go with a co-worker on nearly a daily basis and I got into really good shape! I haven't felt that good in forever. And I miss it!

Before having my 2nd child, I joined Curves. It was OK. I really felt out of place. And that was strange considering it is totally geared to women. I think the main problem is that I felt like the youngest member and the workout was monotonous to say the least. For any of you who have never been, you basically workout in a circle on different machines....go around the circle 3 times and your done. It's cool for awhile....but gets old! At least for me it did.....

Last week I saw some pamphlets that were left in our pizza shop up here where we live. Turns out a new gym was opening up in the shopping plaza near by. Cool! So I decided to go check it out the following weekend.

It's a cool gym. Not real big, but it has all the equipment I am familiar with. The membership price wasn't bad and so what the hey, I joined. Turns out they don't have room now for classes, but they are looking to rent the space next door with plans to do something like have classes in the future. Sounds great!

I went in the next day for my consultation with a trainer. This was just a basic get your weight, BMI, blood pressure, etc. Then he walked me through the gym showing me how all the stuff worked. I also decided to get a few sessions with him in hopes he could help whip my rear into a shape other than ROUND! LOL

Yesterday was session one. I arrived and he greeted me holding a clipboard and two sheets of yellow legal paper where he had mapped out our hour together......an hour.....what did I just get myself into LOL. I started with 10 minutes on the elliptical machine AKA Satan incarnate. I guess it's not quite as bad as the dreaded StairMaster, but it's darn close!

I did my 10 minutes, as soon as I stepped off this machine my legs were JELLY. Holy crap! Then I follow my trainer to the back of the gym.....he proceeds to make me do squats, lunges, modified push ups on the shoulder press bar, modified pull ups on that bar (me sitting looking like an arse not being able to pull myself up from the floor...talk about shameful LOL)....I am really dying at this point. And we are BARELY at the 1/2 way point!! Then he whisks me to the free weight section and has me doing some other upper body exercise with *blush* 2lb weights. Next we went to the other side of the gym and he has me do those reverse sit ups....you know where you face downward, wedging your legs on some pads and bend down then come back up? Oy.

At this point my face is bright red LOL I then remind him that I have children at home to care for, including a 20+ pound infant I will need to carry the next day! He has no mercy.....next stop the mats. He has me working my core. Sitting with my knees up, arms out in front of me holding what might as well be a 100 pound medicine ball. Side, middle, side.....over and over. I really just want to die. After that, I'm on the floor laying on my side struggling to lift my fat arse and hip off the floor only using my side muscles.....side muscles, obliques? WTH are you KIDDING me? This my friends was a sad SAD sight.

Oh but it gets better!

3 minutes of "general fitness".....this was the most embarrassing display of physical activity in my ENTIRE life folks. If I wasn't in so much pain at this point I would have probably crawled under a treadmill. I had to do 15 jumping jacks....my legs felt like they were going to buckle at any moment. Not to mention my failure to wear.....or even OWN for that matter.....a sports bra. OH MY GOODNESS. Talk about a sight.....after the jumping jacks I had to SKIP across the gym. You see what I said? SKIP! You HAVE to be joking. Again, a VERY sad sight. Then I had to do these things that I have seen football players do during warm ups at high school games on occasion. You get down like you are going to do push ups, then you jump your feet up under yourself, then jump them back into the push up position. This was ridiculous. There are NO words I can use to accurately describe the way I might have looked at this point. After this there was another series of jogging and more lunges....then I got to "cool down" on the treadmill for 10 minutes. Let me tell you, I was NEVER so happy to see a treadmill in my LIFE.

When I got home and walked in the door, my husbands face was priceless. That is how BAD I looked. All I could do was tell him this trainer was worth every penny and then head up to my beloved jacuzzi tub for a soak. I did nothing the rest of the day or night LOL

Today I am one sore cookie. I barely trust myself to carry my baby up or down the stairs my legs hurt so bad. My arms are pretty sore too. Lord help me because I have 7 more sessions with this guy LOL

So I'm going to stick it out. As bad as I hurt today, I know that it will pay off in the long run. I really need to get fit. Not just for me and my own well being, but for my kids sake.

Now I'm off for another dose of Advil so I can make lunch for my 3 year old LOL

The Little Fish Learning to Swim....

I finally got a couple of videos to upload :\ Blogger was being a booger LOL

Just ignore the "Silver Sneakers" water aerobics in the foreground *snicker*
Enjoy!!

Fall Time Busy-ness

Why do I feel like my cleaning mode is stuck in Spring and not in Fall? I swear I have been a busy bee this past week tying up loose ends around here, organizing and just cleaning in general. Things I didn't do in the Spring because......oh yeah I had a baby LOL

I mowed the lawn for, I hope, the last time this season. I don't mind at ALL. Especially since I have a snazzy new riding lawn mower. Just pop on the iPod and it's some nice "me" time. How lame is that? LOL But it's so nice to just be alone with my music that I never get to listen to now that I have a toddler and a tween.....you moms know what I mean.

The hall closet got sorted and organized. So I had shoved boxes from the move in there and it was a jumbled mess. Out of sight out of mind right? Well now that the temperature is cooling and we are opening the closet to get jackets more often, it's not so out of sight LOL I even picked up one of those neat 3 drawer plastic things to put hats, gloves and the like in. I figured that I can wheel it into the laundry room (it's by the garage door entry that we use) for fall/winter use and then when we don't need those things anymore I can just wheel it back to the closet. Just another attempt for me to be Martha organized *snort*

I FINALLY hung the address plate on the house. I have a legitimate excuse as to why it has taken me 10 months to do so.......the mason had to re-do the mortar on our brick and so it made no sense for me to hang it and then take it down, with ruined screws after putting them in mortar, and then find new screws to re-hang it. But alas it is up and looks nice, so I'm happy!

OH and I hung up these word art deals I got. They are from a place called Uppercase Living. They are like rub on transfers that go on your walls. Very cool! I swear I've had these in the back of a closet for MONTHS. But they are up and look so cute:

My kitchen & entryway also got a nice scrub on the tail end of that day's cleaning frenzy. I have to admit I rarely mop the entry because to be honest no one uses that entry LOL. At most it just needs a dusting or I run the vacuum over the floor hehe.

Then I wrapped up the week & weekend with a delicious ham dinner last night. Ham, sweet potatoes & fresh green beans DELISH!

So there you have it.......that's what I've been up to! Roman started swimming lessons today and I hope to get the kids in their Halloween costumes for some pictures, so look for those on here soon!

Hope you are all enjoying the fall! I'm off to upload some video of Roman swimming!

Has anyone else noticed......

OK.....I have to preface this post with a lil disclaimer. I am by no means an angel. Those of you who know me can attest to the fact that on occasion, if the situation warrants, I can throw around some bad language. I have gotten better over the years since having children and have traded common swear words for "G" rated words like "gosh darn it" and "shoot" or "darn" and "heck".......Foul language is a vice for many of us, and we all really know we shouldn't use it. But sometimes it's fun to cut loose and cuss like a sailor when your having a good time with friends LOL

So that brings me to my post.

I took the kids with me to Wal-mart this evening to grocery shop. I didn't need too much, just some staples and things to make dinner the next few days. Also some stuff for Halloween....yes I am a procrastinator LOL

While walking the aisles there at good ol Wally-World I can tell you that I overheard more than a few people swearing like a sailor. And no, they weren't "kids".....they were ADULTS....many of whom had children with them. And we aren't talking words like "shit" or "damn".....I'm talking the ultimate.....the "F" bomb. What the heck? We were in the Halloween aisle and there were two women with a couple of young kids in their cart talking about treat bags and the like. Dropped a few "F" bombs and were laughing. You should have seen the look of horror on Kailey's face. Funny that at 12 years old she has the social knowledge that these are not words that should be used in a public place for anyone to hear. I mean come on? Is it that hard to put a filter on your mouth while you are in public? Really? We all know that the prices of things are high and the economy stinks, but must you verbalize this with profanity in Wal-mart in front of your kids......in front of MY kids for that matter!

These are the kind of people who end up on Maury Povich with teens who do as they please and the parents just don't understand why they act the way they do.....hmmmm.....what a mystery!

I hope I don't offend anyone with this post. I just had to get it off my chest. This isn't the first time we have encountered people like this, and I'm sure it won't be the last. I'm just glad that I can put a filter on my mouth and that my kids know that these words aren't appropriate. Even though I'm sure one day they will have a curse word pass their lips.....I just pray I have taught them well enough that they don't do it in the Halloween aisle at Wal-mart LOL

We Are The Champions!

I have to post about my sweet girl to share with everyone that her and her soccer team had a playoff game and championship game last weekend.....

Saturday the girls played the 3rd place team (they were the 2nd place team) to determine who would play for the championship on Sunday afternoon. All of their biggest fans (ie: parents LOL) were SO excited for them and were hoping they would do well. You see, the girls got off to a rocky start at the beginning of the season......they didn't win a game until the mid point of the season! Then they rocked it out to come in 2nd! You can't tell I'm proud, can you? LOL

So Saturday's game was AWESOME! The girls did SO well! They were all very worried because they were playing these games on the stadium field, which is turf. So the ball reacts totally different than when it is on actual grass. It's faster and bounces higher.......but they did a great job. It was a nail biter and the game ended at 1-1! So they went into overtime, 10 minutes of play....no score......another overtime, 10 more minutes.....no score! Now they had a shoot out. Each team chose 5 girls to take a shot at the goal. Just one girl against the goalie. Our girls came out on top winning the shoot out 2-1! They were going to play for the championship!

Sunday the girls were super nervous. The team they were playing a team that they had tied, lost and beat during the regular season. So it was really a toss up. I have to say that they were pretty evenly matched. It was just going to come down to who could score and who could play some great defense........

So......take the last of my paragraph from Saturday and place it here! LOL! AGAIN they girls played excellent and ended the game 1-1....went into double overtime and then a shoot out!

They WON the shoot out 2-1!!!

I am SO proud of all these girls.....and especially one FABULOUS defense player :D

Kailey is like a brick wall! She did so well! Of course maybe I am a tinnny bit biased!!......NAHHHHHHHH!

Congrats to those 7th & 8th grade girls from our school.....you guys did FANTASTIC! And now I can't wait for basketball to start!

Just a Quick Video Clip....

Just wanted to share a quick video clip of my chubba bubba :D He's just getting so big!

But Mom I Like Ants!!

So I'm sitting here relaxing on the couch. Rocco is sleeping in his swing, Kailey is upstairs in her room doing homework and Roman is in the office playing with his toys. Ahhh it's peaceful in the Fetzko house for now.........

I'm half listening to Roman talking to what I presume is himself. Totally normal for him, I swear he rarely isn't talking LOL

So he's talking and it sounds like he's talking to someone.......I look up and he is walking towards me, talking to his shoulder. You just cocked your head and thought "Hmmm", well I did the same thing!

He got up close enough for me to see his "friend". It's a little brown ant crawling on the sleeve of his t-shirt. I promptly grab the ant off his shirt and smoosh it in a Kleenex.......

"MOOOOOOOMMMM THAT WAS MY FRIEND!"

"No, Roman that was an ant. Ants are bugs and they can sting you!"

-since I can't explain that some ants are bad and some are harmless at his age, they are all bad LOL-

"But Mom I like ants!"

And on that note Rocco awakes from his short nap in the swing..........ahhhh so much for the nice quiet time.

My Chubba Bubba....

So Rocco had his 4 month well baby check yesterday. These appointments are always bitter sweet so to speak. I get excited to see how much my lil baby has grown, even though I'd prefer he stay a lil babe......As cliche as it sounds, time really does fly when you have children. They grow so fast. One minute they are this sweet smelling, squishy, helpless infants then you turn around and they are toddlers! *sigh*

Well getting back to Rocco's appointment.........he is doing great! Growing like a weed! He is a bit of a moose actually LOL At 4 months he is weighing in at a super healthy 18 pounds 12 ounces and is 26.5 inches long. He has officially doubled his birth weight which was 9lbs 4ozs!

We also got the OK to start solids if he is interested......another bitter sweet milestone :( LOL

Roman was with us at the appointment and he was such a sweet supportive big brother. When the pediatrician was looking in Rocco's ears, he got a little upset and Roman sat next to me and talked to Rocco. Once Roman started talking, Rocco got quiet. It was super sweet. Then when Rocco got his vaccinations Roman kept telling him it would be OK. I swear that kid melts my heart daily with his sweet moments :)

I love my kids. I'll leave you with a couple pictures I snapped yesterday......enjoy!

I Just Can't Believe This.....

A week or so ago I was flipping the channels one evening.....this of course was when no one was around because otherwise I am forced to endure hours of Wow Wow Wubzey, Ghost Hunters or World Series of Poker.........

I can't even tell you the name of the show or what channel it was on, but it was about garbage. Not garbage in the sense that 90% of what is on TV is garbage, but literally garbage.

Why does this fascinate me? Who knows.....I don't know why anything fascinates me these days LOL.....I'm a simple person I guess. Maybe it's because garbage is almost an enigma of sorts. We all make garbage. We take it out each week for pick up by the cool garbage truck. We almost pity the guys who have to deal with it after we leave it on the curb.......some of us even know where they take the garbage. But what happens to the garbage when they unload it from the trucks? Where does it go? How does it get there? Have you ever wondered?

Well that takes me to this show. They were following garbage! From the can to the dump. They even had a "Sanitation Engineer" aka "Garbage Man" showing the host how to properly lift garbage cans and or bags and toss them into the garbage truck. It was pretty interesting.
Next the guy went with the truck to the landfill and much to my dismay they don't just dump it off to bury it!

So much of our garbage is resorted for recycling.....it was amazing to see how they sorted the garbage, both by hand (yuck) and machine. They ended up with TONS of paper, metal and glass that could be recycled.

As interesting as all of this was to me.....nothing prepared me for one single factual nugget the host revealed. I watched this show and the most memorable thing was this statement.

"Do you know where the largest landfill in the world is?"

Several cities popped into my head.....NYC? It's a big city with LOTS of people. That surely equals TONS of garbage. OK.....maybe LA? Houston? Heck, what about Hong Kong or some foreign city......largest in the WORLD?!

You are going to be SHOCKED at this.....cause I know I was. LOL

The largest landfill in the world is not a city.......it's not in a state........not in a country.....not even on a continent! It's IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN!!!

Are you kidding me?!?! Nope!
Check it out: http://science.howstuffworks.com/great-pacific-garbage-patch.htm
Make sure you read the whole thing.......it's really interesting!

Can you believe that?! There is a GIANT (twice the size of Texas) vortex of swirling garbage in the middle of the ocean. So much garbage in fact that they can't remove it because there is no place for it! Fascinating AND disturbing really! LOL

Not only is that one of the craziest things I've learned recently, it's something that makes me really think about my impact on the earth.

Now........I'm not one to go totally off the handle and be a green green girl. But I know there are a few easy things I could do in my daily life to help out in a small way. I can say though that we do not buy bottled water. We drink the filtered water from our fridge in a glass. I'm even known to bring a glass of water with me. It's not as "easy" as having a bottle of water with a lid, but I like it because I'm an ice eater LOL

We also are replacing our regular light bulbs with the energy efficient ones. Our builder put in regular light bulbs and I'm not wasteful, so when they burn out I will put the green bulbs in :D

And I bought a tote bag for the store......I admit I am not the best at remembering it. But I have good intentions and am going to make a real effort to wean myself from those store plastic bags that I swear breed in my laundry room. I am guilty of throwing many in the garbage. However I noticed that my local grocery store has a recycle bin for the plastic bags. From now on I put them in that.

Didn't really mean for this post to turn into a go green lecture of sorts......but man, how can you not think about it when you learn that there is garbage floating in a section of ocean that spans the area of a continent and extends 100 feet below the surface?!

Something to reflect on and think about........

A Thursday Funny....

I was happy to get a little ray of sunshine in my email box this afternoon. I have read this before, but it is still pretty funny and definately true! Enjoy!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning ... uphill BOTH ways yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!
But now that I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today.

You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a freaking Utopia!
And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

There were no MP3's or Napsters! You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself! Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up!

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'asteroids'. Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy or some old broad with a hat sat in front of you and you couldn't see, you were just screwed!

Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 15 channels and there was no on screen menu and no remote control! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel and there was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little brats!

And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up we had to use the stove or go build a fringing fire. Imagine that! If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid Jiffy Pop thing and shake it over the stove forever like an idiot.

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled. You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980!

Regards,
The over 30 Crowd

(Send this to someone you'd like to make smile, whether they are under 30 or not.)

Trying to Post My First Video....

Let's see how this works out LOL Roman the entertainer......


I sold my old camcorder on e-Bay a few weeks ago and purchased a new snazzy one. It's a Canon FS100 I believe. And it's all digital! This makes me so excited! No more tapes!

Expect more videos on my lil blog now! :D

Summer Is Gone.....

Well, I have neglected my blog once again this summer :( What can you do....my sweet blog had to take a backseat to life the past month. It was a whirlwind of things to do and get done. I don't even know where August went, and heck I couldn't believe it was here in my last blog post!!

Is it just me or does time seem to really fly the older you get?

Remember the days when the school year druuuuuuuuuuuug on foreeeevvvver! Gosh I remember Christmas was NEVER going to come. Everything that was fun when you were a kid never came fast enough......what the hell happened?

I feel like I am in a constant rush. Trying to beat the proverbial clock........we took a vacation the end of August and I was needing to find a bathing suit top. I wear a tankini (like you really care LOL) and I LOATHE the whole halter top thing going on with them. I really just wanted a TANK for my tankini *eyeroll*. I had a hard time finding anything related to swimwear.....the lone rack left in my local department store was surrounded by SWEATERS!?!

Retailers are already pushing Halloween & Christmas at us.......been down the holiday isle at Walmart lately? Ack!! Halloween is 2 MONTHS away?! But you know what? For us adults, it will be here in the blink of an eye. Then you blink again and it's Christmas.....it's January......well it's May and a whole school year is gone! Summer is at hand again......whoah!

I just want things to slow down. Is it my own doing? Have I crammed my life so full of "things" to do that I have damned myself to not having enough hours in the day? How many times I sit here at the end of the day thinking of the things I didn't do.....the things I'll have to do tomorrow.....calls I need to make.....appointments I must schedule......it's CRAZY!

*sigh*

Another reason I hate that time goes so fast now......my kids are growing up WAY too fast. How on earth did I become the mother of a 7th grader? A 3 year old? An almost 4 month old? Wasn't I JUST pregnant?! Rocco is almost 4 months old.........*whimper* Time really does go too fast.

Kailey started 7th grade and is doing great so far. She keeps me busy with soccer practice and games. She is also going to be in various school activities during the year which I'm sure will require me to shuttle her back and forth. I don't mind at all. I love seeing her blossom into such a wonderful young lady.....she's so well rounded. And beautiful. I had lunch duty at the school Friday and every teacher came to tell me how much she had grown during the summer and how beautiful she is becoming.....not that she was ugly, but she is growing out of that whole tween "awkward" stage.

Roman is Roman LOL......if you know him, you know what I mean. He is the MOST social kid I have ever met. He never meets a stranger and finds "friends" wherever we go. Much to his father's chagrin, seeing as he's a bit on the shy side! I have to say he got the social butterfly gene from me.....not trying to toot my horn or anything, but I'm not one who has ever had issue making friends in life. He is my most imaginative child so far (can't tell what Rocco has in store for me yet!). He loves to watch movies and will emulate them........Peter Pan is a new favorite. Singing "I can fly" and jumping from the footstool to love seat are a favorite pastime now. Also anything that resembles a hook and held in his hand isn't safe......He still loves his cars and trains though. I don't think that will ever change LOL As you can see from this picture he is never still either LOL

Rocco.....my sweet baby Rocco. He is growing TOO fast *tear* A couple of days ago he hit another milestone by rolling from his back to his belly.....he mastered the belly to back roll about a month or so ago. Now he is so much more alert, active and vocal. He LOVES his big brother and sister. When they come to talk to him he just beams. We have also introduced him to the Jumperoo......anyone who has a little one should have one of these. I swear I don't know a kid who hasn't loved it LOL

I'll leave you with a picture of my crew in the pool on our vacation:

August Already?

What the heck? It's August already?! Not just August.....but today is the 6th!! WTH?

I don't know about everyone else in blog-land, but summer has FLOWN by! I barely remember anything that happened in June. It was a blur. And July? What happened after the 4th? Good grief.

Maybe I feel like the summer has flown because we are taking a late vacation this year. We aren't going away until the end of August. So maybe I've subconcienously willed the summer to hurry? LOL OK maybe summer has flown because I've been adjusting to live with 3 kids......hmmmm I wonder.

Speaking of the kids, they are all doing well. I haven't killed any of them yet. Although Roman and Kailey have come close. I swear people who say that it is easier having an older child when you have little ones needs to be punched in the throat. I think they fight more than if she was closer to his age. All I hear non-stop is "Mooooooooooooooooom Roman is *fill in the blank*" Usually he is in her room bugging the crap out of her.....aren't little brothers SUPPOSED to annoy the piss out of their older sisters? heh

Mostly I think he just loves her so much he wants her to play with him ALL THE TIME. She doesn't have bad knees so it's easy for her to play horsey with him.......she has a young strong back too LOL.....oh and let's not forget she doesn't share a room with a nursing almost 3 month old who is still waking up in the night, so she is RESTED!

Other than those issues of fighting siblings everyone is doing well.

-Roman is over his double ear infection. He was feeling better the next day, but has happy to take all of his fruit flavored Amoxicillan LOL

- Kailey is a typical teen (even though she is only 12).....on the phone with her friends all the time. She is also doing really well with her braces. I haven't had to stay on her to take care of oral hygene at all since she got them. I'm still wondering if that will wear off LOL We have gotten her school uniform purchased and just need to get her school supplies. Then she will be ready to start the 7th grade (sniff) on September 2nd (school actually starts the 26th, but we will be on vacation that week)

- Rocco is growing like a weed kids......he is probably around 15 pounds already. I just can't believe how big he is getting. He is so alert now more during the day. Smiling and cooing. I'm still waiting on the full on belly laugh......he is dying to do it, but just won't let it out! I just love watching him and smooch on him every chance I get. The thought that he *could* be my last makes me so SO sad. But hey, you never know *wink*

On the house front, the excavator is here as I type framing our driveway for concrete. Not only are we getting a concrete driveway and walk, we are getting STENCILLED concrete. So it's won't be the plain boring gray concrete.....it's going to look like flagstone tile! I'm SO excited about this. Don't worry.....I'll post pictures when it's done :D

This guy is also going to be doing our lawn. He's going to take off a few inches of our yucky topsoil and then sift the ground for glass and rocks, etc. Then he will replace the topsoil with nice fresh stuff and plant our grass! Who knew how excited someone could get over stuff like this?! LOL

We are waiting on the full fledged landscaping (bushes, flowers, retaining walls, etc.) because we need some things done to the brick on the front of our house. Long story short, the mortar was mixed funky and so the front of the house looks "striped". Some of the mortar is darker than other parts.......so the builder is in the process of figuring out what to do to correct it. That could mean they will need to rip all the brick off the front of our house and redo it....ugh....I hope there is a better way, but just in case they do have to do that I don't want them ruining nice bushes and such. So we will wait til Spring next year :D

That's the update on us so far. Sorry for not blogging sooner, but as you can see I've been keeping busy! But I will leave you with the group picture of my kiddos that was taken last week:

Hope everyone is having a great last few weeks of summer & I'll blog again soon!

Double Ear Infection!?!?

Well what I thought was Roman suffering from a case of good old fashioned swimmers ear, turned out to be a double ear infection :( Poor kid.

Yesterday was NOT a fun day in our house. Roman was up and screaming in pain at the ass crack of dawn. I was up in the bed nursing Rocco around 4am when Roman came in crying. I had to send him downstairs to Bob for a dose of Advil. You could have set your watch to when the Advil wore off 6 hours later. Roman was screaming again. I still believed he had swimmers ear, so there I was trying to talk him into letting me put alcohol down his ears to help dry up the water trapped in there.......I feel bad now LOL

Finally around lunch time I couldn't take him screaming in pain so I called the pediatrician. They got us in a couple hours later. My 'little' boy now weighs 43lbs! Oy vey, he's getting big! The nurse was super gentle and nice to him and he was such a good boy. She took his temperature and he had a fever :( 100.9 poor thing........Then the PA took a look at his ears and the diagnosis was in. Double ear infection. WHAT?!?! This is a FIRST for us believe it or not, so I was floored. What are the odds that his ear infection gets bad enough for him to cry about a day after swimming? Little trickster LOL

So we are on good ol antibiotics for 10 days. He is acting much better today and hasn't had a fever or dose of Advil all day.

Later on we are going to the Inclined Plane for some ice cream and a ride. Roman has never been on it! Crazy! But every time we drive past he asks to go. It's a gorgeous day here today, so I think we will make it there. I should get some good pictures while I'm there :D Maybe I'll come back and post some up for you guys!

They Grow Up So Fast......

Roman's first sleepover, part duex:

OK......so in my previous post I told you about Roman not wanting to sleepover. That was Saturday night. Well......we went over to my brother-in-law's on Tuesday to swim. They have 3 kids too.....ages 10, 13 & 16. Roman and their son Alex, who is 10, get along SO well. Mostly because Alex is at that age where he is a bit grown up, but still likes to play with little boy things. Like trains and guns and cars.....same stuff Roman is in to LOL

So we spent the day there and Alex asked if Roman and Kailey could sleep over. Sure! I don't mind......but I told Alex that I didn't think Roman would stay due to his actions on Saturday LOL
Alex asked Roman and sold him on the idea with promises of staying up late to play Thomas and video games.

We all came to the house here so they could get bags packed. Then I took them all to eat at McDonald's before dropping them off at my brother-in-law's.

I quickly escaped from the house......it was a bit after 9:00pm.

8:00am - the phone rings

My sister-in-law: "Kelly......Roman is up and he is asking to come home."

So Bob gets dressed and heads over to get a VERY sleepy and VERY cranky Roman LOL
Turns out he was up until midnight and then got up a little before 8:00am. Once he came in he then complained that his ear hurt :( I think he might be getting swimmer's ear since he was in the pool so much yesterday. Poor kid!

But he did it! He actually slept over somewhere other than home WITHOUT mommy & daddy!
I guess he is a big boy now LOL

"I want to sleep at home!"

Well.....so much for getting a night with out 2 of our 3 kiddos :\

Last night my sweet husband took me out to dinner for our 4th Anniversary. We went to Pittsburgh and ate at a steakhouse called Ruth Chris. It was a great evening out without the kiddos for us.

The plan was........we dropped off all 3 kiddos at Bob's mother's house. Kailey & Roman were to sleep over and they would meet up with us this afternoon at a family cookout around noon. They both packed their over night bags and Roman was SO excited about the new Thomas rolling backpack bag I had gotten him. He said, and I quote "This is SO cool Mom! I never seen anything like this in my WHOLE life!" LMAO.......he was thrilled. So Bob and I thought with this excitement he was sure to sleep over at Nunny's house, no problem. Well I should tell you that he has NEVER slept anywhere without us or not in his bed. We have left before for an overnight or like when we had Rocco.....but my MIL always came and stayed here at the house. Roman has always been a weirdo about sleeping in *his* own bed. Even when he was a baby he wouldn't nap anywhere but home. This was wonderful when we were home, I could just lay him in his bed and he'd crash. But when we were anywhere else, it made for a miserable time once he got tired. We would have to stick it out & I'd hold him the entire time he slept, or we'd have to leave so he could nap in his bed LOL

So we take all the kids to my MIL's house and Roman seems excited at the prospect of sleeping at Nunny's house. We leave and all is well.

On the way home, I call my MIL to let her know we are about 20 minutes away. Kailey answers the phone and tells me Roman is asking for me and says he wants to go home. Next thing I know Roman has grabbed the phone and tells me, "Mom I want you & I want to go home." I try to talk him into wanting to stay there, but he continues his argument. I tell him I'll see him in a few minutes and then hang up. I tell Bob and we decided that maybe once we go there and reassure him, give him night time hugs and kisses and all that jazz that he will be cool.

Nope. We get there. Bob changes him into his PJ's. Roman packs up his bag and says, "OK lets go home." LMAO We stay there for another 20 minutes trying to talk him into staying. No go. He puts his Crocs on and is ready to hit the road, Thomas bag in tow. *snort*

So we came home with our boys. This morning Roman asked us where Kailey was. We said she stayed the night with Nunny because she is a big girl. His reply?

"Well I'm just not a big boy yet."

Wow...2 months without a blog?!

Yeah so I have to admit I have been a bad blogger yet AGAIN! Well life with 3 kids, one of which is a newborn can kind of do that to a blogger LOL


We have had a whirlwind of a summer thus far, and NO we haven't even taken a vacation yet! June was filled with soccer for Kailey. She played in all day tournaments on Saturdays in June and 2 in July. They weren't too bad, and I took Rocco with me. Roman stayed home and hung out with Dad. No way I could have had Rocco and chased Roman around a soccer field. Roman had a blast on his days with Dad though!


Kailey is enjoying her summer. We got a letter from the school and she has been chosen to take Pre-Algebra next year in the 7th grade......wow....7th grade.....I am a mother of a 7th grader!! Yikes! Oh and she got braces on the 11th of July. She's getting so big :( She should only have to wear the braces for 12-18 months.....that's not too bad :) Bob is seriously going to have to carry a big stick around once this girl stops dressing like a tomboy. What can I say, she is just like her mother :D


Roman is Roman.......a sassy, smart, energetic 3 year old. Testing his limits on a daily.....wait, hourly......no.....every minute of every day LOL We had our first "major" injury a couple weeks ago. Don't ask me how or on what, but he fell in the office/playroom and came out with blood dripping down his forehead. He fell on something and poked a hole in the middle of his forehead. I cleaned it up and it was too small for stitches, so I just made him sit with me til the bleeding stopped. No biggie! He is a crazy little man who loves to jump around and play outside. I just can't believe how big he is now......it's crazy! And the things that come out of his mouth......some days I think I have two tweens living here :\


And my sweet baby boy Rocco. Ahhhh he's just so precious. Loves his mommy and is grinning at anyone who cares to come talk to him. He's getting so big too! We went to his 2 month check up on Tuesday and he is up to 13lbs 7oz and is 23.2" long. My chunky monkey! He is doing great! He still gets me up a few times at night, but that's ok because he will sleep late with me too LOL


Bob & I will celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary on Monday. WOW! Talk about time flying! I think we are just going to go to dinner tomorrow night. Bob's mom is going to watch the kiddos. Roman and Kailey will spend the night and we will pick up Rocco when we get home. This will be the first time leaving Rocco with someone other than Dad....eeeek! AND this will be the first time Roman will sleep over at Nunny's house :D A day full of firsts! LOL


I think that about catches you up on us. I PROMISE to do better blogging. Things are calming down a bit around here. I guess you could say we are falling into more of a routine. I say that and then school starting is around the corner.....oy vey.....no rest for the weary!




Sorry I've been away for so long, but I will make up for it with these ADORABLE pictures :D
Have a great weekend everyone!!

Introducing....

Rocco James Fetzko
9lbs 4ozs & 20.5 inches
May 14th 2008
1:21am

Well I DID IT!! I delivered a 9+lb baby! Whooohoooo no c-section for me :D

Labor progressed really well after I got my epidural around 3:00pm Tuesday (the 13th). I was chugging along and watched the Pens hockey game.....started to notice that my epi was "pooling" to my left side because that was the side I was leaning/laying on (ahem to watch TV lmao). So after the game the nurse came in and I told her I had more feeling in my right than my left. She then helped me to adjust to laying on the right. Well....Mr. Rocco DID NOT care for that! His heart rate had been flying around 160-170 and then dipped to just under 100. So I had to flip back to the left and UP went his heart rate right back to "normal". So I was stuck, laying there as my epi gradually wore off on the right. Thank goodness it was towards the end. I really started to get uncomfy AKA miserable around midnight.


The nurse came in and I was finally able to start trying to push him down.....yes he was STILL floating up there :I pushed about a half hour and then the heart rate dips started again. Everyone in the room was glued to the monitor watching to see if his rate would come back up after my pushing. At one point my doc looked worried, left the room and then came back without saying a word. I just KNEW he was thinking c-section if things didn't hurry. And I also KNEW that since my epi was funky they would have put me under. That was the motivation I needed to push like I never had before! I finally got him down far enough and we dropped the bed to get him out! Another 1/2 hour or so of pushing, with my sweet Bob pushing my one leg back to my ears LMAO, and we saw his head! Then the rest of him came and he is just BEAUTIFUL!! I am STILL in shock that I had a baby this big LOL


We came home Friday the 16th around lunch time and it's been a blur to say the least......Rocco is jaundice like his big brother was, so we are on a bili-blanket round the clock and I've had to be vigilant on the breast feeding. He'd sleep almost all day if I was to let him. So I have to wake him up, not piss him off too bad, get him to latch blah blah. Feedings freaking take almost an hour.


He has a few hours left to be on this wretched blanket. Then home health will be here in the morning to take a blood sample. We are PRAYING his numbers are down! Having to work around a bili blanket attached to a newborn is for the birds!! I'm SO ready to have my baby 'unattached' LOL


Here are a few pictures of the new bundle :D I think he is the cutest thing, but of course I am biased!

Such A BAD Blogger I Am!

OK, so needless to say it's been awhile since I blogged LOL

I have to say I've been pretty busy getting ready for this baby boy to come. For those that don't know, we are scheduled to be induced on Tuesday, May 13th!!
I had an ultrasound on Tuesday this week and he is just getting too big. The tech estimated him to be around 9lbs at this point. I'm hoping and praying she is off a few POUNDS LOL
So due to my past history of difficult births, we need to try to get him out to avoid an emergency c-section. There is a real concern that he could get stuck because of the way my pelvis is......I know alot of women who have had 9-10lb babies no problem, but it's not a possibility for me. Thank you genetics :\ LOL

My mom flew in yesterday and so I feel much better knowing she is here and not going to miss anything. I was a little freaked out Tuesday that she wasn't here and my doctor started talking about inducing me that night! Luckily, we did an amnio and saw that the baby's lungs aren't *quite* ready yet.....so that bought me another week!

So I guess my next blog post will be announcing the newest member of the family! I'm taking the next few days to get ready and also we are celebrating Roman's 3rd birthday Sunday :D

Have a great weekend everyone and wish me luck on Tuesday!!

We Have A Jumper....

Well......it was bound to happen.....me and my BIG mouth bragging that Roman had never jumped out of his crib :\

The other day....Friday to be exact......Bob took Roman up to take a nap before Kailey's party. He was being a real crab and I knew it was going to be a LONG night. So Bob takes him up and of course he starts crying that he doesn't need a nap LOL. Bob goes to the bathroom in our room and I then hear, "What the hell?" Roman met him at the bathroom door!
So mean mommy had to go up and yell at Roman to get in his room and put him back in the crib. I then told him to go to sleep and he better not jump out again!

Well, the past 2 nights Roman has made his way to our bed in the middle of the night. He never even made a noise getting into our bed. Like last night I woke up at 5:30am to go potty and there he was in the middle of the bed....lil shit LOL

So I finally did it.....took the dang rail off the crib tonight. It was ROUGH! He has been complaining for weeks that he is scared of his room because there is a ghost in his closet :\ I had to stay up there for a half hour yelling at him to get back in his bed......he was crying for his daddy......he wanted to sleep with Kailey.....he wanted to sleep with me......anything besides in his bed LOL I felt horrible, but stood my ground and finally he fell asleep IN HIS BED.

I am SURE he will end up in our bed in the middle of the night *sigh*

Whhhhhhhhhhhhy couldn't he just be cool in his crib for another couple of months? Whhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhy? LMAO

My Baby Is 12!!

Well I officially feel old.....my oldest baby turned 12 years old on Friday. *sniff*


It's part of the reason I haven't blogged all week. I had been gearing up for the little shin dig I hosted here at the house Friday for Kailey. We had family over and Kailey had a couple of her girlfriend's here as well. I ordered out most of the food......fried chicken, veggie tray......and my sweet MIL made her famous potato salad. That just left me to make my yummy bacon baked beans and taco salad. We also had some chips and dip....and of COURSE cake and ice cream!

Kailey chose her cake & theme......no surprise it was Pittsburgh Penguins LOL She asked for a photo cake using a picture we took at her first (and only so far) hockey game back in January. She is standing in front of a poster of her favorite player, Sidney Crosby, at Mellon Arena......they did a good job with the cake I thought:

So the party went off without a hitch and no one left hungry :) Kailey's friends slept over......I use the term 'slept' but in actuality they stayed up til 6am. Bob and I were too exhausted to get out of bed and yell at them to go to sleep LOL Lucky them!

Saturday one of her friends left around 9:30am and I took the other girl home after we went to see a matinee.......which I had to leave 1/2 hour into because Roman wanted to go to the van and watch HIS movie *ugh*. We went to this girls house and stayed for her sister's birthday party.......I am really good friends with her mother, I'm not just a hungry pregnant lady trying to scam some more birthday cake hehehehe. The little girl turned 3, so she is the same age as Roman and they are best buddies. It was nice to relax and let the kids run around and play in my friends giant country yard. They had a blast, and so did I. We didn't get home until after 9pm! Needless to say I was SPENT!! After a hot bath I hit the bed and sacked out big time.....

Today I worked on a few loose ends I had around here, had Kailey write out her Thank You cards and then we worked on her science fair display board that is due Tuesday.

So basically I was just plain busy this weekend LOL It was nice though. Although this does kick off birthday season for our family.....not to mention Mother's Day is in there and OH how can I forget I should be having a baby in a few weeks!

There was my weekend in a nutshell. Hopefully I'll be back to blog again before NEXT Sunday.......So far my week this week doesn't look too busy. Whew. I'm glad cause I need a little break :)

Laws Concerning Food & Drink......

This was sent to me via email from my friend M.A.
.....it's a really great read and you should end up with a smile on your face at one point or another LOL

Laws Concerning Food and Drink;

Household Principles;

Lamentations of the Father

by Ian Frazier

Of the beasts of the field, and of the fishes of the sea, and of all foods that are acceptable in my sight you may eat, but not in the living room. Of the hoofed animals, broiled or ground into burgers,you may eat, but not in the living room. Of the cloven-hoofed animal, plain or with cheese, you may eat, but not in the living room. Of the cereal grains, of the corn and of the wheat and of the oats, and of all the cereals that are of bright color and unknown provenance you may eat, but not in the living room. Of the quiescently frozen dessert and of all frozen after-meal treats you may eat, but absolutely not in the living room. Of the juices and other beverages, yes, even of those in sippy-cups, you may drink, but not in the living room, neither may you carry such therein. Indeed, when you reach the place where the living room carpet begins, of any food or beverage there you may not eat, neither may you drink. But if you are sick, and are lying down and watching something, then may you eat in the living room.

Laws When at Table
And if you are seated in your high chair, or in a chair such as a greater person might use, keep your legs and feet below you as they were. Neither raise up your knees, nor place your feet upon the table,for that is an abomination to me. Yes, even when you have an interesting bandage to show, your feet upon the table are an abomination, and worthy of rebuke. Drink your milk as it is given you, neither use on it any utensils, nor fork, nor knife, nor spoon, for that is not what they are for; if you will dip your blocks in the milk, and lick it off, you will be sent away. When you have drunk, let the empty cup then remain upon the table, and do not bite it upon its edge and by your teeth hold it to your face in order to make noises in it sounding like a duck; for you will be sent away. When you chew your food, keep your mouth closed until you have swallowed, and do not open it to show your brother or your sister what is within; I say to you, do not so, even if your brother or your sister has done the same to you. Eat your food only; do not eat that which is not food; neither seize the table between your jaws, nor use the raiment of the table to wipe your lips. I say again to you, do not touch it, but leave it as it is. And though your stick of carrot does indeed resemble a marker, draw not with it upon the table, even in pretend, for we do not do that, that is why. And though the pieces of broccoli are very like small trees, do not stand them upright to make a forest, because we do not do that, that is why. Sit just as I have told you, and do not lean to one side or the other, nor slide down until you are nearly slid away. Heed me; for if you sit like that, your hair will go into the syrup. And now behold, even as I have said, it has come to pass.

Laws Pertaining to Dessert
For we judge between the plate that is unclean and the plate that is clean, saying first, if the plate is clean, then you shall have dessert. But of the unclean plate, the laws are these: If you have eaten most of your meat, and two bites of your peas with each bite consisting of not less than three peas each, or in total six peas, eaten where I can see, and you have also eaten enough of your potatoes to fill two forks, both forkfuls eaten where I can see, then you shall have dessert. But if you eat a lesser number of peas, and yet you eat the potatoes, still you shall not have dessert; and if you eat the peas, yet leave the potatoes uneaten, you shall not have dessert, no, not even a small portion thereof. And if you try to deceive by moving the potatoes or peas around with a fork, that it may appear you have eaten what you have not, you will fall into iniquity. And I will know, and you shall have no dessert.

On Screaming
Do not scream; for it is as if you scream all the time. If you are given a plate on which two foods you do not wish to touch each other are touching each other, your voice rises up even to the ceiling, while you point to the offense with the finger of your right hand; but I say to you, scream not, only remonstrate gently with the server, that the server may correct the fault. Likewise if you receive a portion of fish from which every piece of herbal seasoning has not been scraped off, and the herbal seasoning is loathsome to you, and steeped in vileness, again I say, refrain from screaming. Though the vileness overwhelm you, and cause you a faint unto death, make not that sound from within your throat, neither cover your face, nor press your fingers to your nose. For even now I have made the fish as it should be; behold, I eat of it myself, yet do not die.

Concerning Face and Hands
Cast your countenance upward to the light, and lift your eyes to the hills, that I may more easily wash you off. For the stains are upon you; even to the very back of your head, there is rice thereon. And in the breast pocket of your garment, and upon the tie of your shoe, rice and other fragments are distributed in a manner wonderful to see. Only hold yourself still; hold still, I say. Give each finger in its turn for my examination thereof, and also each thumb. Lo, how iniquitous they appear. What I do is as it must be; and you shall not go hence until I have done.

Various Other Laws, Statutes, and Ordinances
Bite not, lest you be cast into quiet time. Neither drink of your own bath water, nor of bath water of any kind; nor rub your feet on bread, even if it be in the package; nor rub yourself against cars, nor against any building; nor eat sand. Leave the cat alone, for what has the cat done, that you should so afflict it with tape? And hum not that humming in your nose as I read, nor stand between the light and the book. Indeed, you will drive me to madness. Nor forget what I said about the tape.

Complaints and Lamentations
O my children, you are disobedient. For when I tell you what you must do, you argue and dispute hotly even to the littlest detail; and when I do not accede, you cry out, and hit and kick. Yes, and even sometimes do you spit, and shout "stupid-head" and other blasphemies, and hit and kick the wall and the molding thereof when you are sent to the corner. And though the law teaches that no one shall be sent to the corner for more minutes than he has years of age, yet I would leave you there all day, so mighty am I in anger. But upon being sent to the corner you ask straight away, "Can I come out?" and I reply,"No, you may not come out." And again you ask, and again I give the same reply. But when you ask again a third time, then you may come out.
Hear me, O my children, for the bills they kill me. I pay and pay again, even to the twelfth time in a year, and yet again they mount higher than before. For our health, that we may be covered, I give six hundred and twenty talents twelve times in a year; but even this covers not the fifteen hundred deductible for each member of the family within a calendar year. And yet for ordinary visits we still are not covered, nor for many medicines, nor for the teeth within our mouths.
Guess not at what rage is in my mind, for surely you cannot know. For I will come to you at the first of the month and at the fifteenth of the month with the bills and a great whining and moan. And when the month of taxes comes, I will decry the wrong and unfairness of it, and mourn with wine and ashtrays, and rend my receipts. And you shall remember that I am that I am: before, after, and until you are twenty-one. Hear me then, and avoid me in my wrath, O children of me.

I Call It Success!

So I am going out on a limb here and sharing with the world that I do believe we have potty training success.........*knocking on wood*

Being a truly brave soul, I decided to try taking Roman out of the house in underpants yesterday. Brave? you are asking yourself......yes BRAVE! Why? Well because we drove almost 2 hours in the van to visit my niece and her lil boy in Pittsburgh! LOL Crazy, I know. But hey, might as well jump with both feet, eh?

He did GREAT! Made the trip and then asked to go when he needed and all that jazz. I would say we are on the path to being done.

I have to admit though, I think he was ready for this earlier than now. I also have to admit that I haven't done it out of pure laziness. It is SO much easier to slap a diaper on the boy when we go out so I'm not worrying about where a bathroom is every place we visit. Add to that the fact that I am officially waddling when I walk and it isn't comfy going at a fast pace to get to the potty on time........not to mention, have you noticed how SMALL those freaking bathroom stalls are now a days? Good grief! I pray everytime he has to go that the handicapped stall is open and not a mess :\

But I bit the bullet yesterday and he did a great job. We ventured out again in underpants today, and once again he did great. Whew!

My goal was to have him at least to this point before the new baby arrives.....looks like I made it! I'm sure Roman will continue to need the diapers or a pull-up of some sort for bedtime, but hey I can deal with that! Dealing with 2 needing diaper changes all day everyday? Not so much LOL

Sick of the Clinical Look.....

......so I opted to spruce it up a bit around here :) I am an idiot when it comes to doing things like a template for myspace or blogger, so I had to use the stock stuff LOL. Maybe one day I'll get more creative and figure out something more original! HA!

Enjoy my new skin in the meantime!

Holy Nesting Batman!!

So I'm in my 8th month of pregnancy. And typically women at this stage begin to get uncontrollable urges to get ready for the impending birth of their baby. I don't really remember having the kind of nesting urge with my previous 2 children that I had today!

I don't know if maybe it is because this time I actually have a REAL nursery to set up. I was still living with my mom when I had Kailey, so she was in the same room as me. When I had Roman, we were in our previous home which only had 2 bedrooms. So AGAIN I was sharing a room with the baby. I mean, it's not *that* bad, but I never got to do the whole cutesy nursery decorating thing. It's almost a rite of passage for women/moms! LOL

Well on Monday, Bob and I went to Babies R Us to purchase the crib and dresser for the new baby. Roman is perfectly content in his crib, so we are not messing with that right now......if it ain't broke, right? We also picked up a few other odds and ends while we were there. It was fun and brought back some memories.......

Monday night I promptly assembled the crib and dresser. I then proceeded to wash the bedding and make the bed. Wow! It now looks like a nursery!

Now the REAL nesting was today LOL.......I had an appointment this morning and decided to take advantage of Bob staying home with Roman and get some things done. Mainly, get to the old house and bring up some baby things. I went to the house and drug down 5 boxes of baby clothes (saved from Roman), the baby bathtub, the pack and play crib, the bouncy seat and the infant car seat. Whew! It was a long process since all that came from the attic. So 2 flights of stairs, oy vey.

I got home and Bob unloaded everything for me and the sorting began. I pretty much had everything sorted in the boxes by age, but there were a few things in the 'wrong' box and several had some staining.....so I weeded those out. Then started up the washer :)

At this point I have my last load of baby clothes in the dryer (I would be done, but I had to do a load of Roman's clothes in the middle LOL). Once those are folded and put away I would consider myself about 80% done with the baby stuff. Bob and his brother will be bringing over the cradle, changing table and swing tomorrow hopefully. Then I can relax a little bit I think LOL

And you want to know how perfect the timing was for this back breaking day? I happen to have a chiropractor appointment tomorrow......coincidence? I think not!!!

Once I have the whole room done and ready to go I will share a picture for sure, so you'll have to check back! But I am having a blast getting this room ready for our new lil bug arriving sometime next month :)

A Fun Day With My Girls!

Well.....I like to think that I'm a pretty sneaky gal. And one that is super savvy and hard to fool......WRONG! My friend Rachel had asked me last month to set aside a day in April for some girl fun in her hood. So I checked my ever busy agenda and set the date for April 5th, this past Saturday.

I had NO clue what we were doing, where we were going, nothing. Actually I really enjoyed not knowing! As a wife and mother, we are usually always at the helm of making and executing plans for ourselves and our family. So it was nice to let someone else take the reigns!

Saturday morning I got myself and my 2 kiddos ready for the 2 hour drive to Rachel's house. Once we got there, Rach asked if I had any idea what we were doing. Nope. I didn't. Not a CLUE. We are in a big city and there are TONS of things we could do.....so I was at a loss.

My first hint (that I didn't catch, by the way):

Me: Hey Rach, why don't I just put Roman's car seat in your van and we can go together since I don't know where we are going, etc.

Rach: No. That won't work. You have to follow me.

Me: Ummm ok

So we load up and head out. I'm following Rachel along. We don't really go too far from her house. Maybe 5-10 minutes. Then she turns into a hotel parking lot. What the heck?! Are we going swimming? I didn't bring a suit for myself or the kids.....why are we coming here?

We park by the conference rooms....ok now I have NO clue what it is up. Is there some mommy conference we are going to with the kids? Maybe a fun kid day with activities and such? Again, why are we here?

Now we get on the elevator....to the top floor. Whose room are we going to? Rachel asks me again, "Kelly do you have an idea?"....Ummmm NO! LOL

Rachel knocks on a door at the end of the long hallway........and who should open it? My friend Angiee!! OMG she came here all the way from Indianapolis!! I had NO idea!! I was so excited :)

Turns out these two birds had been cooking up the scheme for months. They planned on having a spa day, but Rachel didn't have a sitter......so they had to change plans last minute to include the kiddos. Which was NO big deal, we had just as much fun!

After some chit chat in the hotel room, we loaded up again to hit the mall (Angiee had loaded up her son's car seat in Rachel's van the night before......that's why we couldn't car pool, duh! LOL)

The girls had made an appt for us to have pictures taken together! How fun!!

We got to the mall to do a little shopping so we could be matchy matchy :D Everyone was wearing white shirts and denim pants. Next we grabbed a quick bite to eat at the food court. Then we had our pictures made that afternoon. The kids were anything but cooperative LOL and the photographers were deemed Saints by all 3 of us for getting any decent shots!

We all tried to get into one photo for a nice group shot.......and it was nice......but not us. We are some silly gals who love to cut up, giggle and have a good time. So Rachel suggested we do a silly picture! Something we don't do much now that we are "grown-up" LOL

So what do you think?

I'm the good looking one on the right ;D We really did have a good time together. After pictures we headed back to Rachel's so we could let the kids play some more and we grabbed a bite to take with us. Spent the next few hours talking about girl stuff......our kids, houses, husbands/boyfriend......you know, the good stuff!

We didn't leave until almost 11:00pm. It was sad to go, but I look forward to seeing them both again in August!

As wives and mothers.....sometimes we get so caught up in doing what we do, that we forget to carve some time out for ourselves. Time to hang with friends and act silly......helps you to stay young! It's hard to find true friends that you can do that with......when you do, you better hold on with both hands. A true friend is there through thick and thin....good times and bad. There to lend an ear, or an eye LOL......someone who knows when to just let you talk out a problem and not try to give you any advice. Someone who will give you advice when you need it. A true friend knows when you need something....a hug, a bitch slap, a visit, a phone call. They aren't your friends for show. They are true blue friends.

So this post is dedicated to my true friends! I love you girls and look forward to many more years of good times and hopefully a few more silly pictures :)