Interviewing????

I went on an interview this morning. I had sent out a few resumes late last week...one in particular was with another wallpaper company in northern NJ but they are going through an agency to weed out the applicants. The agency called me on Friday and I had a phone interview Monday morning right after I put all of our luggage in front of the door in preparation to load the car and head back to MA with Christian. I interviewed for about 20 minutes and got off the phone with a concluding statement from the hiring agent that she wanted me to come in and meet with her. Via email we decided today would be a good day (so I didn't drive to MA and then turn around again!) So Christian and I spent a few hours in the mall buying Mama a new interview suit and shoes and I jumped on the train to go on my first interview in NYC. It's funny; 7 years ago, back when I was single and facing college graduation, i dismissed the idea of NYC. I just didn't forsee that as the life I wanted. Now I have a family and a home back in MA and I am entertaining the idea again. Nothing is for certain and we will just see where this goes. The idea of being home with Christian and whatever other kids we may be blessed with in the future is certainly an ideal of mine. I guess I am counting nothing out of the realm of possibility. Something new is bound to happen next week I am sure! :)

Tf*&#!

Christian is just blowing us away with all of the words he learns. He says a couple new ones almost every day at this point. The other day we had a playdate at our new friends Cooper and Taryn's house and we were sitting out on the back deck and Christian pointed up and said "UMBRELLA"...it comes out "UMblehBLUH" but we know what he means. This morning he said "shower. All wet?" So now he is even putting small groups of words together. Making progress.

Another word that came up sometime last week was "truck". He got some big tonka trucks back in June for his birthday and has just recently become totally enamored by them and plays with them constantly. Being here in White Plains, we are always seeing trucks, fire trucks, police cars...they are all trucks right now. The problem is in how we SAY truck. In our house it is the F-bomb. Over and over again. F*&#, F*&#, F*&#. Walking over by the water fountains earlier in the week, there was a box truck parked on the side of the street and a guy was there taking a break from unloading it. As we walk by, Christian very excitedly points at the truck and says F*&#! The guy almost fell off of the crate he was sitting on. All we could think to do was to very loudly say, "RIGHT! TRUCK!"

He says it so much he is taking the fun out of it! :)

Budding Rock Star or just Guitar Hero?

As I have mentioned before, Rich was given Guitar Hero before he moved down to NY. Well, on our birthday visit down here, Christian decided he wanted to wear the guitar finally. Rich put it on him and that was it...he was hooked. During our week-long visit down here, I have had to lock the guitars in a closet because he wouldn't stop playing with them and i am afraid he will break it. He REALLY gets into it. Rich even taught him to make a guitar noise and swing the neck of the guitar up in the air. (we are going to attempt to catch this on video soon so stay tuned.) So here are some photos of our budding musician...perhaps this is a glimpse of the teenage years? :)



OH..there is a random appearance by our fish, Red. Red made the trip to NY. We didn't secure a fish-sitter ahead of time so he took to the road with us. He seems to like the new digs. I felt bad that he has yet to appear on our family blog..he is a part of the family.

Stay-at-home-mom.

So this is my first official week as a stay-at-home-mom. Last week I was home and not working but Christian was finishing up at Kindercare so it was kind of like a vacation from "life"...kinda. For this week, because I really have nowhere else to be, Christian and I are staying in NY with Rich. We are doing alot of walking around and checking out what living in a city is really like. The weather has been great so we have met Rich for lunch yesterday and today at a park right in front of his office building. There are a few spots with water fountains that Christian and I have hung out at for a bit and took in the great weather and the nice breeze. Every single block from Blue Sky to the apartment is taken up by a different shopping plaza. (who can shop this much???) We have checked them all out and bought nothing.

Yesterday as I was making our picnic lunch, I was about to make christian's jelly sandwich and saw the jar of peanut butter. Now, while I know that Christian has been accidentally exposed to nuts of various kinds during the no-nuts years, I have been wary to give him peanut butter since the go-ahead at his two year physical. In the back of my head I keep thinking "what are the chances"? I am not related to a single person with a nut allergy and neither is Rich. So it's not in the family gene pool. But I know alot of people who have nut allergies or their kids have an allergy. It's not something I wanted to mess with. Nut allergies are a very real and serious problem right now and I do not want to see my son stop breathing. So, yesterday I handed him a spoon with a bit of peanut butter and held my breath. He took one lick and he was hooked. Kept saying "mama, MORE!" And I obliged. And took pictures :)

SO, if we are counting....
Day 1 of stay-at-home-mommyhood: 0 Boo-boos/trips to the ER. Wahoo!

Congratulations Uncle Tom!

This past Sunday, my youngest brother Tom, graduated from Wentworth. He is now the proud owner of a HUGE civil engineering diploma (I am not kidding here...it literally is huge I guess. I haven't seen it but my joke of having to carry home a Publisher's Clearing House check wasn't entirely laughed off. My brother said its big enough that he won't be able to hang it in his cube at work...) So finally, my parents have paid off their very last college tuition bill...now they are looking on towards retirement...So I guess congrats are in order for them as well. With me taking 5 years and my brother Jay taking a bit longer than that ;) they pretty much told Tom he had to finish in 4. And he did. It was a great day to be outside (not like the three hours in the rain we sat through for Jay's graduation from UMass Amherst) and Christian held it together very well considering he is two. There was a lot of running around in the grass,walks, ripping up the grass and throwing it at complete strangers, throwing shoes at complete strangers...thank GOD these complete strangers were also very patient and understanding. There were also a few incognito diaper changes in some nooks and crannies...(hey Wentworth..good luck finding those diapers! he hee!) .

Tom also graduated with his good friend Matt from high school. Coincidentally, his oldest sister Christina graduated from high school with me and there is a middle sister that graduated with my middle brother. I got to run into Christina in the bathroom...small world! :)

Good job, Uncle Tom!

Good-bye Kindercare.

Last Friday was Christian's last day at Kindercare. We had originally given our two week notice and planned for it to be our last day there anyway; we had found a very nice home day care that we were going to switch to in order to lighten the load on our bank account :) Rates are always going up in the daycare centers and understandably so with the overhead that they have and the programs they run but it had all become too much for us and we were ready to make the move. We sadly gave notice; we have thoroughly enjoyed our time there and Christian truly flourished there. In my opinion it was worth every penny and I regret nothing. When I went to pick Christian up from daycare the day after I got laid off from work, the center director called me into her office. We went in and she informed me that she had gone to her regional director and asked if she could lower my weekly rate to get me to keep Christian there. I thought that was so nice of her; she didn't need to do that and I certainly never asked or expected it. So we left it that IF I get a job and we are still living in the area then we would come back and work it out for Christian to return to Kindercare.

SO for now, we had to say good-bye to all of our friends...in particular Abby..that was a tough one :) But we will really miss our favorite teacher Jenna who was super great with Christian. HE was comfortable with her so we never minded leaving Christian with her. There are lots of other people we will miss; too many to list really. Good-bye Kindercare!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Yesterday was Rich's 31st birthday. Back when I was working I felt bad that he was going to have to spend his birthday alone in NY. Then I lost my job :) Over this past weekend I concocted a plan to surprise Rich for his birthday. I cooked and baked ahead of time, picked the dude up from daycare and then hit the road. We made our three hour trek with little hassle (other than the dude figuring out how to unbuckle the upper harness of his carseat...the kid is Houdini reincarnate.) We make it to the Korman garage (Korman is the "hotel") and get all of our stuff/food into the apartment and start cooking the rest of dinner. By now it is five after 6. I call Rich's cell phone and he tells me he is in a meeting, he will call me back. Christian starts getting restless; he needs to eat. I set him up with dinner and wait..no phone call. Then I start hearing some movement outside the door. From the table; there is not a clear view of the door so I had to walk a few feet to see my bewildered husband who wasn't quite sure what to make of it all. (I had made a little sign that Christian colored and taped it to the front door and hung a banner inside the apartment..he was still trying to figure out if I had mailed the sign down and had the hotel staff put it up for me :)

So, needless to say...my surprise payed off. We went and had cake up on the penthouse roof deck with two of Rich's co-workers, Min and Chris and shared a bottle of wine that Min had bought for Rich's birthday. I also got to meet Mr. T...and business man from Japan that speaks less english than he can understand...not a whole lot. Rich, Min and Chris apparently run into Mr. T quite a lot up there so they are all good buddies :) Christian learned everyones names and got to see lots of planes taking off from Newark (I think) and we even saw louds (fireworks).

Overall, it was a great night and Rich says our surprise made his month.

Happy Birthday Babe!

It's gonna be a bumpy road.

I know life has its ups and downs and you just deal with it. The bumpy road and all that crap-oh-la. Well, the whole road seems to have caved in front of me at the moment :)

I got laid off yesterday morning. I worked for a very small wallpaper company that just cant seem to keep its head above water right now so the hard decision had to be made to let people go and unfortunately I was one of them. It was sad to leave; my boss was awesome and just as much of a friend as a boss. I got to take Christian to work with me for the first 10 months of his life because we worked in an office of three people in my boss' house...her kids and husband played with Christian when they were around and even took him in the house and I could just work and not really have to watch him. It was a rare experience and a good one; one that will be impossible to find again.

So, it will all work out for the best, it was meant to be, blah blah blah....Now I get to be a stay at home mommy for a while anyway so there is a bright side.

Well, off to the unemployment line....

The fine art of eating no-no.

Christian LOVES yogurt. It's not actually CALLED yogurt in our house; its called "no-no". (Lord knows where this name for yogurt came from but we are going with it....) He frequently asks for yogurt after dinner for his dessert; last night he actually REFUSED the chocolate chip cookie that TeeTee Kerrin brought for him and asked for no-no instead. Well, not only does Christian like the taste of yogurt but I think he truly ENJOYS the ACT of eating yogurt and strives to beat his last performance every time. Here are some pictures of the actual act and then the aftermath .

Christian just recently acquired this skill. This is how he finishes off his milk in the morning after he has eaten his cereal. TeeTee said he will probably just replace the bowl with a beer in a few years.

(Sometimes, if I am truly lucky, he flips the bowl over on top of his head like a hat. Those are the good days. :) Auntie Kerrin thought Christian was dead ringer for Col. Sanders after the no-no. (There is some tomato sauce on his cheeks under the yogurt too. This was one of those meals that we REALLY enjoyed.)

Living like a Rockefeller.

Due to recent events, I liked the title :)

Christian and I went to White Plains for a weekend with Dad. Saturday was a bummer of a start because it was like the end of the world outside for the first half of the day. Seriously, I have never seen so much lightening...we are also up on the sixth floor so we were CLOSER to it I guess but it was still amazing. I think Christian thought it was more of the fireworks he loves so much. We did get out and walked to PF Chang's for dinner. Never been before..it was amazing. YUM.

Sunday we went on an adventure. Literally. The Google totally failed us and did not give very good directions. We were on the hunt for the Rockefeller Natural Preserve. We eventually did find it after asking for directions at two different gas stations in Pleasantville, NY. (seriously, want to live there..everyone walks down the street holding hands and skipping...kidding.)
We bought a map at the second gas station and got our bearings and headed in the direction was thought the park was in. Eventually we did find it. It's beautiful there; tons of walking trails and nature. We took tons of pictures; tried a gazillion times to get Christian to just LOOK at the camera. NOT interested.

The funny part of the day: So earlier in our walk we had come upon three turtles sunning themselves on a log. One of them kept turning around as Rich snapped the photos as though trying to show us his "good side". A while later we came to a part in the trail where big stones had been set into the lake to provide a path over a shallow part of the lake. Rich headed over first and I hung back for the photo op. As he walked over he said "Oh look! Another turtle!" I ran over to snap a photo as he pointed back towards a stone the path. I looked down and saw a little head poking out from under the rock in the water. The head was attached to a rather long neck...

"Hun, I don't think that's a turtle."
"Sure it is!"
"I don't think turtles have necks that long. That's a snake."
"NO, that's a turtle."
"Do turtles have striped necks?"
(upon closer inspection on Rich's part)
"OH..YEAH..that IS a SNAKE!"

(now me, who is afraid of snakes, has to walk over the path by MYSELF carrying the camera and beach bag trying not to squeal like a five year old girl.)

All in all, great day. And new material to harass Rich with relentlessly. Thanks, Babe!