WTF?

* It's 82 degrees out. On April 27. At 10:21 at night. In upstate NY. Ick.

* I was watching an episode of Maury today (yeah, I know). They were doing a show on paternity tests (completely unheard of, I know) and there was this one woman on there trying to prove that her exBF is the father of her two kids. Right away, I knew that this wasn't going to work out in her favor - she was white, her kids were white... the exBF was black. Ha.

* I can't tell who has more attachment issues - me or baby Elijah. My little guy is only happy when I am holding him (typing one-handed now), but I have major separation anxiety too. I had an appointment in Albany on Friday where I had to leave him for two hours. He was fine with hubby, but I actually considered cancelling the appointment - the mere thought of leaving him put me into a panic. How on Earth am I going to go back to work?

* Speaking of baby Elijah, I am more paranoid with him than I was with H, if that is possible. This weekend, I dropped $140 on an Angelcare monitor - not only is it a baby monitor, but an alarm goes off if your child stops breathing. Probably not all that necessary, since he sleeps right next to me in our room (where he will likely stay for the next 4 months or so), but you can never be too careful, right?

* I cleaned out our pantry today and found seven packages of Peeps from Easters past. Right away, I put a call into the Easter Bunny - no more Peeps for hubby unless he eats his package from this year. He loves them, but never actually eats them... go figure...

* This afternoon, I spent two hours cleaning our downstairs - including scrubbing the kitchen floor. Want to know how long it stayed clean? Gotta love living in a house full of boys.

The one in the bubble!

I have a total love/hate relationship with this commercial. It is so annoying, but I have to watch it every time I see it - then say to Elijah, "no more bubble for you!"

Other things I have a love/hate relationship with:

* Babies R Us - the fact that they are related to Toys R Us is enough to make me want to boycott them (terrible return policy!); plus, it is always super-crowded in there. But, I could spend hours in there, looking at bath toys and clothes and swaddle blankets...

* The Duggars - I don't agree with many of their practices (blanket training, having 18 kids), but I love watching their show and admire the fact that they stay true to their beliefs

* Ice cream - love the taste, hate the fact that it is likely going to be the obstacle standing between me and the last 5 pounds I need to lose to get to pre-pregnancy weight (at least I have been able to wear most of my "normal" clothes since about 2-3 weeks post-partum). Damn you, chocolate peanut butter cup ice cream from Stewarts!

How about you? What do you have a love/hate relationship with?

Thanks Easter Bunny!

Easter was quite an event at our house. Despite the fact that Harrison was terrified of the actual Easter Bunny, he was more than happy to open the basket that the bunny left on Easter morning. I swear, it was like Christmas around here.

Here are the Easter baskets:






And here is Harrison, tearing into his loot (Elijah's is still sitting on the dining room table):



Finally, here are the boys in their Easter finest:





Hope that everyone had a great holiday!

One year.

One year ago today, I said goodbye to one of my close friends. Someone I spent countless hours with over the years… probably more time than what I spent with my own husband at times. Someone who always knew just how to make me laugh, and someone who always was willing to lend an ear or a shoulder to cry on when I needed it.

Even though he left us too soon, he made the world a better place. Not only is my life better for knowing him, but I am sure that there are many, many others who would say the same. Family, friends, colleagues… and especially his wife and their two young sons.

Last year at this time, I was driving home from New Jersey, my eyes tired from crying. For as long as I live, I will never forget the how he looked that night, with his C21 gold jacket draped over his body. I’ll never forget hugging his wife and seeing his two sons – one who was still too young to realize what happened, and one who likely didn’t comprehend that his daddy wasn’t coming back. And I’ll never forget the ride from South Jersey with my friends, where our tears were entwined with moments of laughter as we recalled some of our favorite moments.

Not a day goes by where I don’t think of him. When he first died, I dreamt about him a lot. When I was in the hospital after having Elijah, I spent the first night wide awake, praying that God didn’t take me from my family unexpectedly, like what happened with him. And in honor of him, hubby and I gave baby Elijah the same middle name – Justin, meaning “righteous, just, fair.”

I miss my friend, and I hope that he knows how much we all love him.

Photos of the week.

Lately, it feels that each and every week has been full of milestones for both Harrison and Elijah, and I have been trying to take lots of pictures to remember every moment.

Last week was full of excitement, as Harrison pooped on the potty on Friday (no, we didn't take pictures of that!). We were eating dinner, and he just turned to me and said, "Poop on potty." I said, "Do you have to go potty?" and he said yes. We ran to the bathroom and sure enough, he pooped! (According to Harrison, it was a "giant poop" - just lovely).

Here are some other memorable moments from the past week:



Elijah at one month.

















Harrison in his new sneakers (he loves them so much, he never wants to take them off!)
















Elijah at five weeks.

Five weeks.

Happy five weeks, baby Elijah!

I cannot believe that he has been in this world for five weeks already. There are days where I feel that he has been part of this family forever, and others where I feel like I was in the hospital just yesterday.

We went for Elijah's one-month appointment on Thursday. He is doing just great - he weighs 11 pounds and is 22.5 inches long, putting him in the 75% percentile for both weight and height.

Obviously, he is thriving, which is huge for me, considering the fact that the doctors didn't even know if I would be able to breastfeed. Given the complications that I had following the birth, there was a lot of concern that my milk wouldn't come in or I would be too weak to nurse. Ha! Reminds me of this onesie that Harrison used to wear (it says, "My mommy makes milk... what's your superpower?"):



Elijah ended up not getting his second Hepatitis B shot (they actually didn't have any in the office), but other than that, the appointment was perfectly normal.

Tonight, as I look down at him sleeping on my lap (his favorite thing to do, besides eating - and crying), I am amazed that we have this perfect, beautiful boy in our lives. Life is good.

I love my boys!

Updates.

Elijah is sleeping, hubby is bringing Harrison to school, so it looks like I have a couple of minutes...

* After a very rough few days, baby Elijah actually slept for six hours last night. It was wonderful, but it's probably nothing more than a cruel April Fool's joke designed to make me remember what sleep is like...

* Elijah has been so much more alert lately - his eyes have been open more often, he makes such cute facial expressions and we are starting to see little glimmers of his personality. Looking forward to his one-month appointment tomorrow... it will be great to see how he is developing.

* Harrison is his normal happy self. We made the mistake of playing the Filet of Fish commercial on YouTube for him (you know, the one with the singing fish?) and now he asks us to play it for him all. the. time.

* Speaking of commercials, has anyone ever seen the one for Huggies wipes with the bubble boy? All of these kids are playing on the playground and there is this little boy in a bubble whose mom doesn't want him to get dirty. When asked what child is hers, she says, "The one in the bubble" in the most annoying voice ever. It drives me crazy! Maybe I need to stop watching so much TLC...

* Speaking of TLC, there are a couple of programs that I find extremely disturbing (besides Jon & Kate Plus 8, of course). Has anyone ever seen "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant"? Um, the title says it all. And "Toddlers and Tiaras" delves into the world of child beauty pageants - spray tans, makeup, false eyelashes and bikinis on girls as young as two. Oh my.

* In the race for the 20th congressional district, there were over 154,000 votes cast - and there are 59 votes separating the two candidates. It all comes down to absentee ballots. So, anyone out there who thinks that their vote doesn't count - here's proof that it does.

* The warmer weather is here, so Harrison has been getting outside more. He is loving it! We set up his new playhouse that Santa brought him for Christmas and we took baby Elijah for his first walk (just down the street, but it was so nice to get out of the house). Here are some pictures:



Harrison's new house.



Mommy and baby Elijah.



Harrison taking his baby brother for a walk.



Elijah at four weeks - check out his eyes!