Olive Garden Outing

Yesterday Ben and I decided to get lunch at Olive Garden. Ryan was fresh off eating his lunch so we figured we would be safe to go to a sit down restaurant. Olive Garden has these nice car seat "slings" that you can use rather than a booster seat, so with a few toys we set Ryan in there and hoped for the best.

Now I would be lying if I were to say that I never used to bristle at a screaming child in a public place; I did and so did Ben. So we have tried to be very conscience of Ryan disturbing other's meals. Ben is especially jumpy if Ryan makes so much as a peep. One time at church (Christmas eve, so Ryan was all of a month old) Ryan just started to whimper and Ben popped up and scurried Ryan outside. A little excessive.

So it was quite hilarious to see Ben at Olive Garden. Ryan was not crying or fussing at all. Instead he was literally squealing with delight. He was playing with his toys and screeching/squealing to his little heart's content. I knew people were looking but I found it adorable, a little loud yes, but adorable all the same. Ben however kept giving me the stink eye because I wasn't quieting him down. He tried several times doing the "Shhh" finger at Ryan (he's seven months old and does not understand that).

After a couple hairy eyeball glares I scooped Ryan up and held him on my lap. The curious baby stood up and reached to try and grab the man's shirt in the booth behind us. I pulled him back before he could grab the shirt so instead he began squealing and smiling at the family. He thoroughly entertained them for the duration of our meal. And he made me laugh (and Ben laugh too). He is such a happy baby. I love that boy.

The Massive Wassive Spider...

The massive wassive spider

Waited til dark to come about.

Crawled up my arm,

And scared the shit right out!

Made me run out the room

For he was an unwanted guest.

So the massive wassive spider

Took a ride on the porcelain express.

There was a rather large spider (if you couldn't tell by my wonderfully written poem) in Ryan's room last night. I put Ryan to bed at his normal time and he woke up around 10:30pm. So I went in to see if he just needed his paci. I grabbed the pacifier which was covered in drool. I walked, in the dark, over to my boppy pillow and grabbed the burp cloth off of it. I walked back to the crib while I wiped off the paci and felt like I had something on my left arm. Figuring it was a hair I brushed it off with my right hand. Then I felt something on my right arm. At that point I knew it wasn't just a hair and I squealed and ran out of the room like a big ass bird. (All the while poor Ryan is crying). I flipped on his light and saw this massive black spider (not as big as the one from our basement, but big enough). It started charging me (yes, running right for me!) and the only thing I had was my bare feet (yeah, right!) and Ryan's hamper. I called to Ben to bring a shoe and stat! And meanwhile I fended the beast off with Ryan's hamper. I smashed the hamper on him and lifted it back up. El Diablo (the spider) survived the hamper. He continued to charge for me. I started picking the hamper up and smashing it like a crazy person. I felt like a performer from the traveling show, STOMP.

Ben shows up with two squares of toilet paper...my knight in shining armor (instead of riding in on a trusty steed (a shoe) he rode in on butterfly (two squares of toilet paper)).

Anyways, i lifted the the hamper and Ben hesitates after seeing the shear size of this monster but then goes in for the squishing. He misses by like a foot. Then a little game of whack the mole ensues before he finally gets the bugger. Down the toilet it goes.

I felt like I had spiders crawling on me all night. Creeped us both out, but nevertheless we survived the night.

My Poor Camera

So it seems that my trusty camera isn't so trusty anymore. I think after its last bump on the ground it has decided that it doesn't want to keep on living. Unfortunately the cost to replace my DSL sidekick would run me a lot of money that, with a baby, a new car and sinking driveway, we just don't have the spare funds.

My flash also has kicked the bucket, though I do hope to be able to repair it instead of replace that. The camera itself isn't focusing consistently, randomly has deleted pictures off the memory card before they can be transferred to the computer (really good pics might I add!), and has more recently been popping up with error messages. I think I need to play the lottery...or just save the money that I would play into the lottery....hmmm.

So sad. It has been a good run dear friend.

Poop.

There have been so many memorable moments with our adorable baby boy Ryan that I can't even begin to count them all. The memories of him laughing at his daddy playing peek a boo around the doorway, or lighting the room with his toothless smile in the morning, all are equally important to us, but let's be honest, the poop stories are the best.

Many heard of the great "I put a size too large diaper on my boy and he exploded everywhere" story of last week. And this latest story is no exception in the funny category.

My day started off with a marathon run to several stores to finish gift shopping for this weekend's wedding festivities. As I unloaded my cart full of goodies to pay at Toys-R-Us I reached for my wallet. Gone. Shit....it's by the computer at home. Super. I happened to have my checkbook which the cashier graciously let me use sans driver license.

I headed over to the bank where I begged for them to cash a check without ID. Luckily since I work at another branch, they just asked a few security questions and I was on my way cash in hand.

On to the mall. Parked the car and realized that I had no stroller with me. Double shit. So I picked up my 16 and a half pound son and headed in. Now I understand 16.5 pounds isn't a lot. But toting my equally as heavy diaper bag and shopping bags I accrued proved to be a work out. Somewhere around JCPenny's Ryan decided he had had enough. Understandable. So he started crying as I shopped for ties for Ben and then proceeded to fall asleep. Deadweight. Awesome.

Keep in mind that Ryan is not much different than his Daddy. He shares the same looks and the ability to be a mobile heater. Always hot and sweaty. Thus making Mommy hot and sweaty.

Then on to Target. Luckily I kept Ryan in his car seat and placed him in a grocery cart. Sweet relief. Target went over relatively smoothly. And it was off to home.

Now comes the poop. Ben and Ryan have a sort of agreement apparently. He doesn't poop or poops very little while his Daddy is home. But when Daddy goes to work, the flood gates are open. As I sat at the computer with my baby boy on my lap to balance my checkbook (multitasking my friend) Ryan grunts and grunts a little more and proceeds to fill his diaper.

I move him to the changing table and there I find a surprise (not so much of a surprise anymore). The diaper leaked. Up the front this time, thus covering his dirty bits. So in an effort to be diaper changing savvy, I started the kitchen sink sprayer. Warmed the water up, went to get Ryan off the changing table I found him grinning from ear to ear with poop all over his hands and face. Triple shit (literally!). Ryan decided to take a sample of the poo that covered his belly and make his Momma's day even more exciting.

So I took the diaper off and ran him over to the sink. The sprayer worked wonderfully. It sprayed off the stinky mess and I gave myself a pat on the back. What a brilliant idea! I celebrated too soon. Because in my haste to spray off the brown artwork my son displayed on his hind-quarters I forgot to have anything prepared to dry off his now soaked body. As he dripped across the floor on the way back to the changing table I laid him down and grabbed the extremely faulty dirty diaper and ran it to the trash. I came back to my smiling son...never a good thing when he has his "I'm so cute you can't get mad at me" smile on. He had peed. So I sopped up the pee with paper towels, diapered his ass up, and am looking forward to making thru the rest of my day.

I'm thinking we are going to have to rework this arrangement he has going with his Daddy!

Baby Boy!!

He's so cute. I can barely stand it!!! He is a hand/thumb sucker already. The first picture is of his little fist up by his face. The ultrasound tech was trying to poke my belly to get him to move his arm, but he was determined to keep his hand up there.

My appointments are now every two weeks. The baby looks healthy and he's a bit of a chunk (3 pounds already!!!) But the funny thing is I haven't gained a pound in the last 3 weeks, so the doctor wants me eating more! Interesting since last visit she said I have gained too much...oh well. I'm trying to eat healthy. :)

Can't wait to meet the little guy. We still have no name...can't decide, but hopefully we will decide soon!!

Our Wonderful Visit

It seems that the weekend with Mike, Jen, Caleb and Owen just flew by! We had such a great time. We were just saying that we wished they could stay longer and are looking forward to the next visit (hopefully soon).

The boys got along with Aida which was wonderful. Even Caleb warmed up to her! We went to the local park, into Washington DC, to Ben's firestation, Ben's favorite mexican restaurant, kite flying, Dinosaurland, to the backyard for s'mores and sparklers, and of course the Wii was played.

I'm glad the weather cooperated, and wasn't too hot. It was the perfect visit :) I posted pics on facebook and I will hopefully get some pics posted on the blog soon.

Thanks for such a great visit Mike and Jen!!!!

Baby Bump Time!

So our little guy is growing into a big guy...here is my (a little more than) 5 Month baby bump pic. The doctor is very happy with everything so far, but she's still keeping a close eye on me. So I go back in three weeks. The ultrasound turned out pretty crappy, otherwise I would post that too. The ultrasound tech is not very good at taking pictures...Oh well.

The doctor says our baby is actually measuring 5 days bigger. So who knows, this could be a sign that he's coming early :)

Ben and I went out and went shopping yesterday and I got some clothes that actually fit!!!! I'm still fitting into most of my shirts and my jeans, just not my shorts or dress pants. The joys of gaining weight during pregnancy. I think I've gained like 25 pounds already. Hopefully that'll slow down!!!

The Baby Bump!

I am now just about 14 weeks along and the baby bump has officially arrived! Still a little weird to see it, but exciting all at the same time! :)

Pics from visit with Daniel

The three peas in a pod outside Dan's new apartment

Daniel outside his new apartment door.

Dan's new view of the Capital building...

Daniel wearing his shirt he got from us as part of his Birthday present.

Daniel was just so excited about his day with us that he was dancing in the street as we left....(or was he excited that we finally left....hmmmm?)

Daniel's belated birthday visit

Yesterday, Ben and I took Daniel out for his birthday (belated). We picked up Daniel from the metro in Fairfax and took him to lunch at On the Border. We had a huge lunch, got chips and salsa to go, and headed over to the Apple store in Reston Town Center. There Daniel played with the ipad while Ben and I contemplated the purchase of the 27 inch imac. (We didn't purchase it....yet) Then we headed over to Trader Joe's where we bought some delicious cookies (peanut butter with milk chocolate chunks) and of course, mochi.

Then we headed into DC to take Daniel back. We got to see his new apartment and I did take some pictures that I will hopefully upload soon.

We had fun and I think Daniel enjoyed his belated birthday day :)

Awesome!

How cool is this?!?! The Doctor said that i get the award for best ultrasound. The baby was moving all over the place! And this ultrasound was our most favorite. (It was the doctor's favorite too!) We are so excited!

The baby looks healthy and happy says the doctor. And I get to go to my old OB/GYN for a couple more appointments before the high risk doctor wants to see me exclusively. Starting in July I will be going in every two weeks so they can monitor me very closely as my biggest risk is premature delivery. But as of now, the due date is still November 24th!

For you, Aunt Martha

Say hello to our little (BIG) friend!....

The blueish green fangs.....holy crap!

Let's call him Pierre (i was feeling French when I named him). Pierre is a freaky Bold Jumping Spider. He's creepy and not welcome at our house. I think he lives up to the Bold part of his species' name as he stared me down from the inside of the Rubbermaid container to which he was imprisoned. And i felt threatened. No joke. He even started cleaning those awful looking fangs of his whilst looking me right in the eye from his many eyes....

Ben claims Pierre tried to eat his hand when he jumped from the braking mechanism on the Camry's wheel. I think he was going for the jugular. Only Pierre knows the truth.

Got the freak out yet Aunt Martha?

Arachnophobia right here in Stephens City.

Our Good Deed Done...

So for the past 2 weeks Ben and I have been watching a German Shepherd for a woman from the rescue who's father passed away. She was paying $100 a day for her dog, Harper, to be boarded while she was out of town handling the funeral arrangements. So we were asked if we could watch Harper so that her owner wouldn't have to pay around $1400 on top of all the travel expenses she had in flying to Florida, and moving her Mom up to New York.

Harper was a bit of a challenge. Within the first three days she peed on the floor four times (she is supposed to be housebroken), she got into several little scuffles with Aida, got into potted plants leaving dirt all over the carpet, ate a few receipts, and chewed on my shoes, underwear, socks, Ben's shirts, among other things.

The icing on the cake came on Friday when she made a deposit in the middle of our bedroom floor which sent me into dry heaves while cleaning it up. And then yesterday she, seemingly out of nowhere, attacked Aida which required a folding chair to separate the two of them. It was quite scary. Poor Aida has blood in her ear and lost several chunks of hair from her head. In the evening I discovered a gash on Aida's head that I cleaned up (it is looking better today). This morning it looks like more of the hair around the gash fell out so my little girl has a bit of a bald spot, but she's a trooper.

Harper's owner picked her up today, thank goodness. I'm glad we were able to help her out in this most sad time for her and her family, but I am much more happy that Harper is no longer here!

It Finally Happened...

It's been too long. I must admit I have been somewhat of a hermit when it comes to technology lately. I have barely been on the computer in the last few weeks except for updating my resume for the....get this....job I was just offered!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have to say, it is a bit ironic that I have been applying for so many different jobs since moving down to Virginia without even a slight interest from employers and as soon as I find out I'm pregnant I get the phone call. I had a phone interview followed by an in-person interview the very next day. And believe it or not, they loved me and offered me the job a few days later!

The job is at a bank as a teller and it is only part time, however I get an awesome pay rate, benefits and PAID vacation in addition to a 401K. I can't complain.

I will start training soon and will hopefully have lots of fun updates once I start my new job!!!

**Also, my next doctor appointment is in a little over a week so I will have updates on that as well soon!**

Riley

Riley, our very first foster dog, has been adopted! He was a wonderful dog and deserved to have great home. He went to a family down in Richmond, VA. They have a Bernese Mountain Dog that is about 3 years old. Riley seemed to really like the family and we've heard that so far he is already bonding with his new owner Brian. Brian and his wife Julie seem to be very active and live close to the James River where they like to take their dog swimming. We really felt like this would be a great home for Riley, but we miss him very much.

I hope he loves his new home and I hope he doesn't forget the people who saved him from the pound. :)

Bag of Almonds - $10.00

Bag of Pita Chips - $7.00

Tollhouse Chocolate Chips - $2.50

Everything else the mouse ate - $$$$

Catching the mouse alive and releasing him back to the wild - priceless.

Mr Plow ("That name again is Mr Plow!"-Simpsons' Reference)

They finally came around and plowed our street at 4:00PM on Sunday. Not that i minded the delay...there was a lot of snow to be plowed on more important main roads. Besides, the dogs were having so much fun playing in the snow covered street. But alas, Mr. Plow came and cleared our road...unfortunately our yard was his dumping ground for the surplus snow. So despite the fact that we'll have snow in our yard until mid May, at least our road is now drivable. (And the dogs have another playground...or a play-mountain if you will.)

Snowmegeddon 2010

I can say that this past snow storm rivaled any i have seen in Ohio. Not to say that the quantity surpassed what i have seen before, but at the very least it has been quite some time since i have seen that much snow in such a short amount of time.

The snow started at 9:00AM Friday morning and did not stop until about 4:30PM Saturday. We got 15 inches alone between Friday night and Saturday morning. I have heard that areas such as Dulles got a record 32 inches while other areas did not get quite as much. We measured the snow in our backyard at 29 inches this morning around noon and that was after the sun had been out all morning.

The dogs have had an absolute blast these last couple of days. They have been running around the culdesac with the other 4 neighborhood dogs. Last night we had a "snowed in" party with all the neighbors. They all came over to have a "potluck" style dinner. It was great getting to know our neighbors a little better and after everyone chipping in and shoveling each others driveways i think we all became much closer neighbors.

Every inch of me aches from shoveling. Ben did a good job handing out beers and "supervising" the shoveling progress we were all making. He also looked after all the dogs while everyone was busy working. Although our two canines were very much slowing down our progress as they would pounce on our shovels as we were trying to throw the excess snow off to the side. It was funny/cute the first couple times...but not the last 20 times....

Overall we survived. You'll notice in the slide show of pics that i fell down and could not get back up in the backyard this morning. It was a combination of having on many layers, the sloping backyard and my supreme uncoordination. It was hilarious. I felt just like that kid from "A Christmas Story"....i feel his pain.

Hope everyone else survived whatever snow they got! And we are supposedly not out of the woods yet as we are due for two more snow storms in the coming two weeks. Yippee!

...Facebook... (and an update)

I have gone over to the dark side. I have gotten sucked into the vortex that is Facebook.

Through the persistent urging of my friend down here in Virginia, I have decided to join the "social networking" site. I am not going to promise to anyone that I will keep my facebook updated regularly, but I suppose it doesn't hurt to have it on the side. I do promise, however, to keep my blog updated. :)

So if any of you blog readers that have Facebook want to "friend" me....feel free to do so.


**On a separate note i have an update on Ben. He went to the doctor today to have his wrist checked out with the hope that he would be released back to full duty. Unfortunately such isn't the case. He is to be on light duty for at least another 6 weeks. It seems that his bone just isn't healed quite yet. He is very bummed. :( **

A Visit from Daniel

Daniel came to visit us last weekend (sorry for the delay in posting!). We had mostly beautiful weather although it did rain a bit on Sunday. We didn't do too much, but we had a lot of fun. On Saturday we took a drive into Middleburg, VA and walked around a bit there. We also had to go to Wylie Wagg to get the dogs some food and treats.

Saturday evening we took Daniel to Brewbakers, a local restaurant in Old Town Winchester. Although Daniel had already been there before, he wanted to go again for their wings. Apparently they have good wings....i wouldn't know because I don't like to eat small amounts of meat off a bone like a caveman...

We also watched a few movies, took Riley to an adoption day at Petsmart, and took the dogs to a local park while Dan was here. Before we took Dan back into DC we treated him to lunch at another Old Town Winchester restaurant. The place is called Snow White Grill and it is a really cute little place to eat. We had a really fun visit and are looking forward to having him come back soon!