Five For Friday

I guess the post should be titled Four for Friday but I make five so I am going to keep it.

In my life, I have been blessed with four best friends, Andrea, Kimberly, Jenny and Erin. We have been friends since we are about three - that marks 30 years of friendship this year.

We met because our parents picked houses that shared yards and a neighborhood. Erin lived a little ways away but she still would come over to play with us. Our summers were spent running around the neighborhood, playing office, making soup outside, swimming in our pools, and riding our bikes with wooden walkie talkies that we made from wood chips and tree twigs.

I cherish every childhood moment I had with these ladies. There wasn't a day that went by that we did not talk or see each other.

As we got older and into high school we were still a tight bond. Andrea and Kimberly were cheerleaders so they were together, Jenny and I were in the band and we were together and Erin played tennis but was always at the games to support us. Erin and I also ran track together in the Spring. There probably wasn't a time when one of us was not with the other. Driving to school in the mornings and praying our cars got us there, afternoon pig outs watching GH in Kimberly's kitchen and of course weekend fun at the mall or just hanging out.

High School ended and we all left and went to different colleges. While we did not talk as much as we once did, when we came home for breaks we were inseparable. We all learned that we could still be friends even though we weren't in each others back yards.

As the years went on we all continued to stay close but we were also starting our own lives meeting new people, working on careers and getting married. It didn't matter anymore that we were not in each other's backyard, we were still there for each other.

Now that brings me to today and why I am writing this post. This week Baby Z was born, Baby Z marks baby #5 for this group of friends. It is like a whole new chapter in our lives has opened and I know we are still going to be there for each other no matter the circumstances. The moms of older ones will pass their wisdom to the new moms and the new moms can show the older moms some things that we didn't know.

I love these girls, they are like my sisters and I can't wait for summers where our families can be together, where our children can start making memories with each other like we did.

                                      

Wordless Wednesday - kinda

Yo! It's about that time
To bring forth the rhythm and the rhyme
I'm a get mine so get yours
I wanna see sweat comin' out your pores

Book Worm

After almost 17 months my child still does not really play with toys BUT he will sit and read book after book. We assume he gets this from his Grandmother's, they are both big into reading, and always have a book with them.

We probably have about thirty different books in our house, but he only wants the same five to read. There is book #6 but that only comes into play if none of the others are available.

At bedtime if we don't read all five books he sits up and keeps saying "More, More" while pointing to the book stack. One night I forgot to read one and I put him into his bed. The next morning when he got up, he went to the book basket and pulled it out. We had to read it that morning.

Here are Henry's Top Five Books (no particular order):

1. The Very Hungry Caterpillar - loves to play with the holes that caterpillar makes while eating the food. Saturday is his favorite day of the book because the caterpillar eats a lot of different things.

2. I Love you Through and Through - this one is my favorite. Simple easy read and it points out fingers, toes, head and nose.

3. Who's There, Spot - Loves to open the pop ups and call Spot - Ellie. I get a kick that the Hippo is named Helen and the Monkey is named Steve. I do find it odd, at the end of the book, the dad for some reason is in the bath tub. Why, can't he be coming home for work?

4. GoodNight Moon 123 - This is a counting book and he likes to pretend to count. His favorite page is the 100 stars because we pretend to count.

5. Five Little Monkey's Jumping on the Bed - Hands down the best one to read (over and over and over). Henry gets such a kick out of this one. We read as a sing-a-long rhythmic poem. His favorite part is when Mama calls the doctor and the Doctor says  "No More Monkey's Jumping on the Bed".  He laughs because I am shaking my index finger to the rhythm and he will join in with shaking his finger.

It is a nice selection and I am very happy that he enjoys reading. I can see that he is learning new words all the time when we read. Someday soon he might even read them to me!

Busy Day at the Office

Some Boo Hoo and a BuckleyBoo

The Boo Hoo is that I am at home sick and Henry's sleeping issues are not improving. Last night, he went to sleep at 7:30pm like normal, but then was up at 8:30pm. He decided he didn't want to be alone until about 10:30pm when he finally fell asleep. Only to wake at 5:45am! I did however put books in his crib after he fell asleep last night so he "read" those until about 6:30am this morning.

You are probably wondering what the heck a BuckleyBoo is. Well here it is.............

www.buckleyboo.com

A stuffed animal with buckles. They come in a variety of different animals and in two different sizes. Now we all know that Henry plays with little or no toys so I debated whether or not to get one. The one I bought retails for $30 BUT a girl on my mom's board found a website where they were half off. The website is Baby Half Off and they post deals all day on different items. I have their button over on the Blogs I follow section.

Anyway I ordered this one yesterday and we shall see what happens. I will give a product update once Henry receives his. Hopefully we found something that can keep Henry entertained longer then two minutes.

Here is my new favorite picture of Henry....

A Groggy Weekend Update

Another fun filled, no sleep weekend is gone. Henry is still on his early morning kick and it is really kicking us in the you know where.

Friday night we actually played Rock, Paper, Scissors to see who would get up with him at 4am. I won and I was so excited! Like clock work 4am came around - I woke Charlie up and he went into Henry's room - when he went in there Henry only screamed louder, so guess who had to wake up and go in there. I still think Charlie paid Henry off so he could go back to sleep. I slept on the floor in H's room until 5:30am, when I woke up to him snoring. Went back to bed and Charlie got up at 6:30am with him.

Saturday was the day of the big Community Yard Sale. Beautiful weather, we get all set up. Henry is enjoying being outside all morning. Then the wind blows and knocks a glass off the selling table - Charlie goes to clean it up - I take the glass inside to get rid of it. As I am inside, Charlie comes running in with Henry, who was screaming. Henry fell down the concrete steps outside and has scrapes all over the side of his face. He was fine and was back out there in five minutes.  We did make some money at the sale, but used $20 of it on a co-pay for the doc that afternoon.

In this picture you can kind of see the scratches on the one side of his face.

Well after more time outside and a date with Cassie to the swings - it was time for bed. The dreaded night time was upon us. We did our normal routine and before I put him in the crib I offered him a puppy to sleep through the night. Apparently Henry really wanted a puppy bc he woke up at 5:45am - which normally is way too early but after the past week I would take it.

Sunday was another fun day! Park, Reston Town Center and then a BBQ over at Grandpa's. We even made a picture and texted it to Grandma for her Birthday.

Night fall is upon us and this time I offer Henry a pony, a pony - every kid wants a pony, right? Not my child....up at 5:15am. 

We have bags under eyes and keep asking ourselves where is our twelve hour sleeper - if you know where he is, please bring him back to us.

What you lookin at?

My Dad took this picture of Henry this past weekend and everytime I see it, it brings a smile to my face.

What you lookin at, huh?

Please also note that he is holding all his utensils in one hand and eating with his other hand. This kid cracks me up!

It's 3AM.....

And she says baby

It's 3am I must be lonely

When she says baby

Well I can't help but be scared of it all sometimes

She says the rain's gonna wash away I believe it

This is what ran through my head as I woke up to Diggs crying in his crib this morning.

I was so confused as to what was going on. This hasn't happend in months.....I thought maybe he was just rolling over or getting situated in his crib, but I was wrong.

He just kept wimpering so I finally was able to get up and get in there. He wasn't warm, his diaper was fine and he didn't seem uncomfortable. So we snuggled for over an hour and I sang this Matchbox Twenty song over and over again.

At 4:30am, I woke Charlie up to take an hour shift. He says Amy he is drooling all over and keeps sticking is hands in his mouth - did you give him Motrin? No, he just seemed tired when I was in there. Charlie gives him Motrin and ten minutes later Diggs is out and back sleeping in his crib.

It's 3AM, I must be lonely..........

Monday, Monday.....

First I would like to wish all my mom friends and family a  Happy Mother's Day! I know that it was yesterday but I still would like to wish all the experienced moms, the new moms and the moms to be a Happy Day!

I had a wonderful day. We were up in New Jersey visiting my family. My mom was even there, so it was nice to celebrate with her too. Sunday morning, Charlie took Henry so I could get a few extra minutes of sleep. Then we all headed to church, yes church. We went into the cry room and Henry was just fine. It was the first time in a long time we made it through the entire mass.

After church we went home and had a late breakfast. Then we did some things around the house up there and went to an early dinner. Diggs was a gem at dinner - he did so good! Then it was time for the trip home - boooooooo!

We did make it home and now are getting back into the groove. Mondays are so hard and I hope this week goes by quickly. I am ready for the weekend.

School Pictures

I never thought that at 16 months I would have a school picture from Henry, but here they are! 

I think he did pretty good for his first school shoot.

This next one is my favorite....

So many options to choose from. Charlie and I both like different ones so we will have to get two sets.

Too old for this?

Happy Monday!

The weekend was a great weekend. We went out on Friday for our anniversary dinner and then spent the night downtown in Old Town. We have been here five years and have never seen a bar in Old Towne - that is pretty unique for us. We hit two bars and I can say while they were fun, I didn't feel like we were missing anything. We had a great time, don't get me wrong, but maybe, just maybe we are too old for going out on a Friday night.

I guess I felt old when I heard a kid say he graduated from high school in 2006!!! 2006 - did he really just say 2006? We were out celebrating our anniversary from 2006 and this kid was graduating high school. We had to leave that bar shortly after.

The next bar was an Irish pub and they had live music. It wasn't too loud and you could still talk...did I just say that - again does this mean I am old? While there the girls next to us instead of talking to eachother or dancing on tables like we used to do, were texting. Really?  Why come to a bar if you are going text. Charlie then proceeded to make fun of them and I don't think they were too happy about it.

Bars were closing and our night was coming to an end, and it was time to return to our regurarly scheduled life of getting up early, chasing Diggs all day and falling on the couch at night. Which I have to say I missed.

Here is a picture of Diggs from last night.....