What I am Thankful For

This year I am thankful for many things.  One is my wonderful family.  Last weekend before Thanksgiving we all went to see the tree being lit at the local shopping “fashion park.”  My family has been my lifeline.  My parents are the most amazing grandparents to Preston.  They have been my saviors.  I am also thankful for three wonderful siblings.  This year I got a new brother-in-law too! 

I am thankful that I have the world’s most amazing friends.  Not only those I have known all my life and cherish with all my heart, but those of you that are now in my life because of Preston.  I feel so blessed that I can share my life and you all can share your lives with me.  Katie Johnson messaged me on Facebook a few weeks back and said we have 70 mutual friends! Our “family” is truly amazing and I don’t know what I would do without you all.  I am thankful for my health (even though my mother, Mel and Marrah have dealt with my self-diagnosing whatever I find on WebMD).  I am thankful for a fulfilling career with a great firm and wonderful people. 

I am thankful that Preston has such wonderful friends and a great personality and that he has a thirst for knowledge.  I am thankful he loves school and is so loved by everyone.  Here he is at Julia’s birthday party helping to blow up the bounce house:

Mostly I am thankful for this:

The absolute love of my life.

Now on to Thanksgiving.  We planned this year to do Thanksgiving in New York and Christmas in Virginia.  We set out Wednesday in the world’s worst driving weather (fine mist) and 10 1/2 hours later we made it to New York.  I must say Preston was a gem but the traffic was just awful.  As I said on Facebook, northbound on I-95 there were 10 accidents and 23 state troopers for the duration of the trip.  It took an hour just to get through Delaware---all 11 miles of it!  It was worth it because the next day Preston was up at the crack of dawn for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade:

Ready to go!

Preston the Straphanger.  We cabbed it to 63rd and Central Park West.  The weather was amazing for the first hour until the wind picked up.

This position and then picture both legs upon my right shoulder was how we spent the parade.  Mommy was so sore for two days after but for him to see more than just the big balloons, he needed to be up in the air. Katie and Steve were on the park side of the parade across the street and Steve said he kept seeing Preston go up, a float would go by, Preston would come down, and so on and so forth.  Here is how the parade starts: with the Macy’s stars.  My sister has been going to the parade for about 15 years straight, maybe more and is on a list to march in it.  Her wish is to hold the star.  Hear that Oprah?  Katie wants the stars!

He absolutely LOVED the parade. I will put more pics of the balloons up on Facebook but here were some of his all time faves:

For all you Ghostbusters fans-how cool if this was the Stay Puft Marshmallow man instead of the Pillsbury Dough Boy?

Of course the absolute hands down favorite was the man himself-SANTA!  My son is over the moon about Santa.  Here he is!

And there was one happy boy because we got back to the apartment before Santa had made it to Herald Square!  Here is my handsome boy dressed for Thanksgiving.

That night at about 10:30 he came down with a low grade fever and sore throat.  Because I have a Virginia health plan and it was not accepted at Urgent Care, we had to go to the ER. The nurses were floored that he was so cooperative-even asked when they were going to take his blood pressure.  He was given a throat culture and sent home with antibiotics. He was so feverish and lethargic that we drove home on Friday evening.  I didn’t get to see my friends or spend the night at Marrah’s, but he was just feeling so crummy.  Saturday morning he woke up happy and the fever broke.  His culture, I found out today, was negative so no more amoxicillin (and as I had said he hated amoxicillin which is just plain weird to me.  But nothing beats him telling me that the bottle said, “Kids don’t like this.”). I think that he was run down after all the excitement-at the parade he had his jacket off for a half hour since it was super warm when we first got there and his sleeping was very off.  But back to normal now!

 

Notice my brother with his stupid faces in pics all the time!

Last but not least, how cool is this train he got from Grandma and PaPa for his room?  It plays 20 songs and real smoke billows out of the smokestack! It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Warning to Aunt Marrah….

I will explain the title in a minute….Last weekend if you can believe this both us and the Chase Family, unbeknownst to either of us, we both chose to take our kiddos to Build-A-Bear workshop! How funny that across the country my friend is doing the same thing with her kids?  I think it’s cool.  Pres already has two built bears-a bear from his Uncle Chris he received when he was born and a Yankee dressed Monkey from Cousin Caitlin.  Preston picked out a black bear which is cute since when I was a little girl I had a huge black bear who I named “Black Bear.”  I was creative huh?  Here is Preston helping out:

Picking out his heart and helping stuff his bear. He hugged his bear to see if there was the proper amount of stuffing.

Then he rubbed his heart in his hands and on his face, kissed it and made a wish and stuffed the heart inside.

Then off to give his bear a bath!

Preston picked out a cool fireman outfit.  We also bought a tee shirt for his other bear that lights up and says Merry Christmas. And here is just a pic of me and my favorite man in the world after our train ride around the outdoor mall.

Now to explain about Marrah.  Marrah does not like to see pictures of Preston at appointments adorned in gowns or in a recovery room after an operation.  When Preston was two months he underwent an inguinal hernia repair.  I took a picture in the recovery room because under his gas mask he was sucking his pacifier.  Hilarious:

Well Tuesday was Preston’s sleep study.  Ugh.  He was actually kind of excited about it at first.  Here he is when we first got to the sleep lab.

We decided to tell him he was going to be a super hero.  After the first 20 wires went on I don’t think he was convinced he was akin to Batman.  I could see the doubt in his mind (so his Mother’s child).  It’s like “where’s the cape?”  I also began thinking to myself, “I just told him he is getting super powers when he goes to sleep.  He is going to wake up and wonder why it is he cannot fly.  Perhaps I should switch gears.”  I then told him the wires hooked up to a robot that could read his dreams.  At that point I don’t think he gave a rat’s patoot:

He did go to sleep pretty fast and then we re-inserted the nasal canula since that was pissing him off to no avail.  Once he was in REM sleep (in about 2.4 seconds) we put that on.  Of course the recliner I was promised went to the other mother down the hall so I had about five inches of bed to sleep on and was woken up pretty much every hour to the tech repositioning his wires. And getting that gunk out of his hair the next morning---ugh!!!! Needless to say I was told, “Mommy, I don’t ever want to come back here again.” Amen.

Our Busy Weekend

We have had two busy weekends! Last weekend my Aunt Pat and Uncle Dennis came down for a visit.  It’s always nice to have company in the house.  Aunt Pat bought Preston his newest obsession-Lightening Bugs.  These are gummy snacks but they come with tweezers that has a red light so when you pick up the fruit snack it glows.  Very cool.  Please pray we don’t lose the tweezers.  Here are some cute pics from last weekend.

Gosh! Isn’t he handsome? When you are told your child may be different you immediately start thinking of the strangest things.  Here were some of my thoughts: Would my son look so different that no one on a grocery line would ever comment he was cute?  Would my son go to the prom?  Would my son play any sports?  Will he be invited to birthday parties?  Ok well so far the cute comments have been over the top throughout his four years on Earth, the prom is still many years off but I am pretty confident he will go.  Sports-he loves watching them and is getting really good at catching and throwing so I am sure Little League is in his future.  Oh and the birthday parties----WOW!  He is invited to a lot.  Even for children NOT in his class anymore. This weekend he was invited to a party at Inflation Nation-an inflatable world for children and adults.  I must say I truly enjoyed the slides.  On Saturday morning I woke up to, “MOMMY! WAKE UP! WE ARE GOING TO MISS DECLAN’S PARTY!”  This is a child that cannot be roused before 7 and even then I literally pull him out of bed by his feet.  I look at my clock 6:45.  Seriously?  The best part of the party was when Declan opened his gifts.  Preston’s was the first on the table.  His parents had not even put the gift down in front of the birthday boy, when Preston screamed across the table, “We got you cars Declan!”  I had to explain the element of surprise to Preston-that we don’t tell people what it is.  I did laugh though.  Here are some pics from the party.  I will update mid-week about our fun adventures today! 

27 Observations from the 27th World Championship (Even for the Non-Sports Person)

Ok so here comes my gloating::: WE WON! WE WON!!!! You all know I am a Yankees fan, but I really love the Yankees. I love them to the point I cry, I throw things, I curse at the television. I watch from April to October (or in this case November). I loved living in New York and passing the stadium almost daily that by February started counting down to Pitchers and Catchers and then Opening Day. What a season. What a post season. The only horrendous thing about this post season was listening to Joe Buck for the majority of it. ARGH! I thank you all for following me and happily commenting along with me on Facebook. I really did get TMJ and heart palpitations due to this post season. One of my favorite sports writers is Bill Simmons the Sports Guy from ESPN. Although a rabid Boston fan, his 2004 (season we don't really speak of) column of the post season mixed baseball observations with culture of the post season. So I too have a few observations from the World Series....

1. The Verizon Droid "drops" today. Which is a good thing. Apparently the Droid has everything iDon't. I tried looking up the Droid during the series but the website would not load. That can't be a good sign. So since "iDon't" have a million dollars, "iDon't" have a hot rich neurosurgeon husband, will procuring the Droid change that? (And yes, I am perfectly well aware that the "iDon't" refers to the iPhone).

2. That Red Sux fans still have a lot to say when their team is golfing and next year will be severely lacking the majority of their current line up. Which I guess for the Red Sux might turn out to be a good thing, because like I said, their line up got them as far as the closest tropical golf club.

3. Jimmy Rollins must feel like a complete schmuck face. I don't talk trash during the Series. Because I am superstitious. Not in the traditional sense either. I will walk under a ladder with a black cat and not cross my fingers, but I will not post on Facebook or this blog how the opposing team is going down. I will only do this if my team is not playing and I then I will cheer for whomever is playing the Red Sux. It's complicated, but Io believe somehow I will jinx them if I partake in trash talking. Sometimes I even believe if I walk out of the room that helps them. Like CC breathes a bit easier and can pitch without the distraction of me turning various shades of red. But Jimmy shot off his mouth stating how the Phillies would win the Series in five games. Wow Jimmy wow. One station in Philly apparently pre-printed World Series Championship shirts before the first pitch of Game 4. There is a jinx right there. People in third world countries are substituting this tee shirt for the Patriots 19-0 one. Never jinx your team. Apparently when asked about the comment after the Series, he still believes he is on the better team... you know...the one that did not have a parade today.

4. Who boos Derek Jeter? I mean I get A-Rod. I get even to some extent, Andy Pettitte, but Jeter? Everyone loves Jeter. Even guys. I bet you those are the same people who heckle at Little League games, bruising egos of 12 year olds everywhere. And I am also pretty sure Derek Jeter laughs at the boos. Most guys who boo Derek Jeter have a beer gut preventing them from seeing their feet.

5. For 89 cents you can now eat ground dog crap in a crispy black taco shell. Not quite sure exactly what ingredient the black taco shell is made out of. That is taking "thinking outside the bun" to an extreme right there. And speaking of the bun, McDonald's reminded us that for a dollar you can pave your way to coronary artery disease with a double burger or a large fry or a hot apple pie for a buck. The only sandwich that would ever entice me this post season would be one between #2 and #13.

6. Words of wisdom from the buffoons in the broadcast booth: Tim McCarver told us last Saturday to set our clocks back for Daylight Savings Time just to be sure we are not late to the game on Sunday....right...exactly. Let him think he'd be late. Idiot.

7. Further wisdom came from Joe A-Hole who stated on Sunday night that Sunday had been a long day in Philadelphia sports since both the Eagles and Phillies had a game. Evidently New York didn't play football last Sunday. (And figuratively they didn't, but that is neither here nor there). I am perplexed as to why this mattered? Can a person not handle both a football and baseball game in the same day? I am pretty sure this is a feat that can be accomplished with little exertion. Pretty sure us Giants and Jets fans managed, albeit slightly, to fit in three games, the 1 pm, 4 pm and 8pm slot. We may have even gone a bit nuts and at 4 and switched between the Jets and the showdown at Lambeau.

8. American Idol starts in January-two months away from blogging about it again. Did anyone else catch that showing up behind home plate? No? Just me? Whatev...you know you totally watch it.

9. I wonder the tenure of the Wanda Sykes Show? Her time slot kind of sucks. Saturday night on FOX?

10. I did not understand the BlackBerry commercials. I understand the message-"All You Need is Love" plays in the background and you people are inspired. Some garage band gets to tour with the commercial's equivalent of Bon Jovi and apparently one woman was pretty ambitious and decided subway performer was the way to go. But I don't really "get" it. Why did one need a BlackBerry to accomplish these tasks? And if you are just starting out and trying to make it in the world you probably don't need such an intricate phone. I mean if you are rehearsing at 29 still in your parents' garage you might not even have the money to afford a phone bill. Don't get me wrong I love my BlackBerry-it's the closest thing I have to a boyfriend right now, but I am pretty sure it will not help me in my next deposition.

11. Another Joe Buck classic, "And there is monument park. They brought it over from the old stadium across the street." As opposed to what? Destroying it? Why would this NOT come to the new stadium? Let's remind everyone-we JACKHAMMERED up a portion of the new stadium while it was being built because some douche buried a Red Sux jersey in the concrete. We almost publicly caned the guy in Times Square, but you don't think we would bring over the monuments? How in God's name does this man have a job?

12. I heart the AMEX commercials with everyday objects turned into faces. Pretty much the only good commercial...ok and Bud did not disappoint either with the "ways guys say hello" commercial. Love the bro hug, double back tap. You guys totally still do this!

13. I don't think certain people on the Yankees should get a ring. I understand they have to have an active 40 man roster for the World Series, but for heaven's sake you should only get a ring if you contribute. And by contribute I mean actually get on the field at some point and make a half hearted effort. I swear that I saw some dude behind the Core Four during the trophy ceremony that could have been selling beer in the mezzanine during the 7th inning. And then there were people on the floats today-who are you? I watch pretty much every game. And if I don't watch, I read about it and I swear I don't know you. They need to be more selective-those blinging bad boys are not cheap. They should not be handing them out willy nilly.

14. Game 6 almost did not happen because Mary J. Blige sang the "Star Spangled Banner" for 9 minutes. (Wasn't there a Simpsons episode about that? Someone? Anyone?)

15. If law doesn't work out I can get a job as an umpire. The only credentials needed are to semi-pay attention to the game and make up a strike zone. Even the dumb Fox strike zone could not keep up.

16. And what the hell is FOX TRAX? Do we need to know the speed of the ball when it left the pitcher's hand and when it was caught or hit? This isn't frigging physics class. And the other annoyance was in the top right hand corner forever branded was the standing of the series (i.e. Yanks lead series 3-2). Ok we get it. Most of us watching know what the standings are and if not the morons at FOX tell us and why does it need to be there...the....whole...game?

17. Notice I just used the word frigging. That was not the word of choice during the post season. In fact I wish I kept count of how many times I dropped the f bomb and it's many variations. My mother (yes my mother-it's baseball she expects her daughter to become a foul mouthed wench) and my friend Dennis got the brunt. My mother in real time, Dennis via texting during the game. I sent over 1100 texts this month and I am pretty sure most were to Dennis and most contained a word Preston gets a time out for using.

18. Philadelphia has the green fan-atic to get the crowd pumped up. We had Jay-Z and Alicia Keys perform "Empire State." We win that one.

19. If you are a celebrity and are coming to the game at least be a Yankee fan. Seeing Jimmy Fallon occupying a seat that should go to a Yankee fan is just utterly disgraceful.

20. "Who's Your Daddy?" absolutely hands down never, ever gets old.

21. I'm just going to pretend Mariano is going to pitch forever. Because the thought that he won't is just too painful to even think about.

22. Chase Utley and the hair gel. Seriously? Really? I mean why? And if he is dating someone I am really curious as to her thoughts.

23. Charlie Manuel has outlived most of the people in monument park.

24. Listening to Joe Buck and Tim McCarver made me really miss Susan and Sterling. My favorite was the scenario game hosted by Buckface. As the Yankees inched closer to the win and the outs went from 15 to 12 to 9, I listened to Joe get more and more pathetic. He was like the girl in high school chasing after the football jock she had no chance with. It was great. It went something like this..."If they Phillies load up the bases and get to Utley and Utley hits a grand slam they will be within one and then when all else fails, we will bring in Tom Brady. That's right folks! You can't go wrong with Tom Brady! And you know what? If you load up the bases it will be like when Boston played the Yankees and the bases were loaded and Johnny Damon hit a grand slam....but really guys if someone can just break Mo's ankle we have a shot here." Best part of the series, when Buck had to say "And the Yankees are the champions of baseball." (He may have said Red Sux-he's that bitter).

25. Victorino is a very cool last name.

26. Who is with me that they need to obliterate all use of the "CHARGE!" and the accompanying music from all sports arenas?

27. Wal Mart was the first commercial I saw to remind me that Christmas is in seven weeks. AHHHHH!!!!!

We do it all again starting April 5, 2010 at Fenway! CONGRATS YANKEES!

Picture Overload

We had a great Halloween-as I said on Facebook Halloween is a hallmark for me.  Watching Preston grow year to year on the day when I was told six weeks before he was born, something was “wrong,” is nothing short of amazing.  Last weekend Preston’s school had a fall festival-complete with goodies, hot dogs, a pumpkin patch, a bounce house and a police car and fire engine! Here are a few shots of the fall festival!

 

 

Friday he had pajama day at school and a Halloween party! Telling the kiddos they can wear pajamas to school is like Grey’s featuring McDreamy and Dr. Avery in the same show-that amazing!  Friday night Preston had a babysitter and Mommy went to the adult only neighborhood Halloween party.  So much fun. 

Yesterday was fabulous.  It rained ALL DAY until 4:00 and then poured again at 9:30.  The moon was even out for trick or treating.  Preston had a birthday party first and then back to the neighborhood for trick or treat.  There were over 100 kids on the street trick or treating. Living on Long Island my whole life everything was flat-literally we were built over potato farms. We walked from house to house with ease-here every driveway is like  football field long and some are up hill and then stairs at every house.  And in 80 degrees it was quite a work out.  But since my ex husband tells me I am fat, I guess it was good that I got in the exercise.  Preston had a BLAST.  It was so cute how he said “trick or treat” at every single house and then a big “thank you” after each piece of candy! He only lasted about 10 houses in his costume because it was so humid but then we hit about 10-15 more.  His favorite was being able to trick or treat at the house and having my father make a huge deal out of him coming to the door.  Here are some pics of my RED DRAGON!  Yes! We got the costume.  Javier’s mother still had it, so I presented them with a candy dish and Halloween dish towel in exchange since I could not find a red dragon costume anywhere! Enjoy! I’ll put more up on Facebook this week!

And to prove how much rain we had-check out the creek in the backyard!