Voyages in Parenthood

Happy Halloween! What a day! First, there was a Halloween parade at day care - well, what would constitute a parade for a bunch of kids under the age of 3 - mostly it was just milling about the play yard showing off for the parents in their Halloween costumes. Leda looked very cute in her witch costume. And that's what she called it, her 'costume' - not outfit, not dress up, her costume - several billion times today! We were only supposed to be there for a few minutes and then head back to work, but Leda must have been a bit confused (read tired) because there was screaming and crying and it had nothing to do with play acting! We finally calmed her down and she pretty much went straight in for her nap and Daddy and I creeped away and back to work. So tonight, after work, we headed off to the Shier/Gabb neighborhood. Our neighborhood doesn't get many trick-or-treaters - in fact, in the 10 years we have lived here, not one - but we live on a busy street, not conducive to ...

Saturday night we headed over to Aunt Rachel's for a Halloween party and parade. Aunt Rachel lives on main street of a little town in South Jersey. This little town throws one heck of a halloween parade. The whole town (and then some) comes out and hangs outside their homes and have people over and have parties and watch the parade, which is what Aunt Rachel did! So we hung out with Calean and Tristan and Uncle Wayne and Albert and Margaret and Jackie and lots of friends and family. The kids all dressed up and we ate chili and dips and chips and lots of other goodies. There was even a funnel cake booth set up right across the street, just for Brock! It was so chaotic though (I mean, a good chaotic) I just couldn't get a lot of pictures. So no, I don't have pictures of the kids in their halloween outfits. After the parade was over, Uncle Wayne was about to take off to go out for the evening on his motorcycle and as he was saying goodbye, Leda wanted to get on the bike. So we...

I'm the one: One in five fans believe in jinxes, survey says But it wasn't my fault this past weekend (if you hadn't heard, the Eagles blew it!) I wore my jersey, Leda wore her jersey AND the green socks! We did everything right. Maybe we should have been playing that game. I mean, I think after the first 10 plays that the Eagles' defense guarded the sidelines and the Bears went right down the middle, I GOT A CLUE! Enough about that. Anyway, they promise to do better next week. Hummmm, deja vu. This past weekend, Leda and I spent the weekend alone. Brock was off in California playing with his friends at some race track ( 24 hours of LeMons ) (and, no I didn't spell that wrong - click the link - it's nuts). So it was just us girls. We made oatmeal cookies and read books (LOTS of books, over and over again, too!) and built castles with our blocks only to knock them down over and over again. We did a little Halloween costume shopping - Leda wanted to be the Little ...

Yesterday we headed off to Linvilla Orchards for a little pumpkin pickin', a hayride, some lunch, and a little playin'. We had a big group together for this one - the Durhams, the Shiers, the Fodens, Karen and Sydney and Leda's Granddad and Fay came along as well (given that they live right around the corner from the orchard, it was kinda a no-brainer for Leda's Granddad to join us!) What a fun day we had. We went on a hayride around the orchard and then we had a little lunch. Leda and her Granddad went over to feed the ducks and check out all the animals they have there at the farm and then we took the kids in to the play area - a huge area swarming with kids (and I swear, they really were just as bad as the bees in the swarming arena - it was amazing the amount of kids that were there!) Leda had a blast climbing all over the wooden structures they had for the kids to play on. Freaked me out, some of the things she would climb on - I was terrified she would fall. Then,...

On Friday night, for the first time in probably 20 years (I think I may have made it back at least once, maybe twice after I graduated), I went to a football game at my old high school. It was pretty new to me - we didn't have lights when I went to high school (and, no, it is not because electricity hadn't been discovered yet!). There were probably only about 3 high schools in our area when I was in high school that had lights on their football field for night games. All our games were on Saturday afternoons, with the exception of one or two away games where the other school had lights! Since I graduated, the school district built a middle school on the visitor's side of the field, where once there was just lots of practice fields. The parking lots and drives are all different now. I wasn't sure where we should try and park, as we got there just before the start of the 3rd quarter. We did find a spot and we entered the stadium on the visitor's side - I've never ...

Lately we have been trying to teach the "you had better listen to what Mommy and Daddy tell you" lesson, with little success. This afternoon, Brock and Leda picked tomatoes and peppers from our garden. Leda picked tomatoes, Brock picked his hot tomatoes - one is a hybrid which apparently is pretty hot and the other Serrano, which is apparently also pretty darn hot. Brock had left his pepper bowl on the living room table and Leda and I came in from outside and I told Leda, don't touch Daddy's peppers, and I specifically told her not to eat them (yes, I realize that is where I went wrong!) Next thing I know, the child is screaming and scrapping her tongue with her fingers and shaking like crazy. She bit into one of the hybrids - luckily she only bit into it, not bit it off, but that apparently was bad enough. For the next 15 minutes it was everything we could do to calm her down. As she got a little calmer, we tried to use it as a learning experience - see, when Mommy t...

I have decided to try this National Blog Posting Month thing to see if I can write a post a day for the month of November. This should be pretty interesting, since I think I have been averaging about a post a week these days! I guess I will have to come up with some material! Or Leda will have to supply me with some! We'll see how it goes! Oh, and yeah, the baseball playoffs - we get to play the Colorado Rockies (as my sister-in-law so kindly pointed out on the last post). That means that when we win the series in Colorado on Saturday night, it will be after midnight here on the East coast because the darn game doesn't start until 9:30pm. Guess it's a good thing it's a Saturday night and not a school night and that I don't have tickets to the Bruce Springsteen concert (don't EVEN get me started on that!) so I have the time to watch the game if I so desire. Now, see how nicely I played there? No trash talking (none that was blatant). See, we Philly fans can play ...

As you have probably noticed, I've been very quiet about my football team this season - I mean, really, there hasn't been much to talk about. Last week was awesome, except for the Blue and Gold jerseys - eeeeewwwww! They was ugly! I guess since it was "throwback" day (the day your football team wears old jerseys just to freak you out) and it's the Eagle's 75th anniversary, they decided to wear the first jersey's the team ever wore. Thank goodness some one way back when decided to change the colors to green and silver because that blue and gold sucked! But the team played well. I said to Brock, they lose next week, there will be calls for them to wear these ugly jersey's for the rest of the season. Well, we lost last night. And we lost bad - to the Giants of all teams. Pitiful, it was. Disgusting. If they continue to play like they did last night, we might as well start thinking about next season. Well, that's enough about that. Now, we do have SOME...

What a whirlwind we have been on since last Thursday! Brock and I attended the Jimmy Buffett concert in NYC on Thursday night. We headed up early in the day to make sure we got there and missed all the traffic! Got into the city around 3pm, parked the car and went directly to Molly Wee's tavern (real convenient, a half block from where we parked the car!). We had a few beers and a little light lunch and headed out to walk around the city for a little bit before we met Bob and Linda at Todai for Dinner. We did end up at Brother Jimmy's BBQ for a Land Shark beer - we had been told that Brother Jimmy's would be the place for Parrotheads and believe me, from the sea of Hawaiian shirts we saw when we walked in, we were told right! We had a beer and chatted with one of the bouncers before we headed off to Todai for dinner. Now, I've heard of Todai at least once (or maybe every other) a month since I met Brock. Todai is a Japanese buffet style restaurant that Brock and Bobby (...

There is something all-inspiring about 17,000 people dancing with their arms above their heads, hands clasp, looking like sharks. The first time I saw it happen, I was so amazed, I forgot to join in! Now, I join in, but I am still amazed! We attended the Jimmy Buffett Concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City last night. My first concert ever at MSG (considering I live in Philly area, this is not as amazing as it might sound!). We had an awesome time! More on that later, the Marsons (Abby and Sami - Leda's cousins) are in town for the weekend so it's pretty crazy around here! Lots to update starting with all we did in NYC on Thursday afternoon and evening and ending sometime on Sunday or Monday, after the Marsons take leave. Check back soon!

Nine years ago today, Leda's Daddy married her Mommy in the backyard under the old sycamore tree with lots of family and friends who came to witness. It was a sunny and warm September day. Happy Anniversary, honey. I love you! UPDATED : Oh, and Avast! Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day! Arrr!!

This will be a pretty quick post, due to the fact I have a headache that has plans to hit the Big Time if I don't get myself to bed and relax. Saturday morning we all woke up and, after the obligatory last photo of Leda in her crib, we immediately began to disassemble the crib. Leda was a little concerned that we were taking her bed away, but as soon as Brock started to bring the pieces of her new bed into the room so we could put it together, she got over it. Three hours later, TA DA! Big Girl Bed! The dolphin quilt behind her is from her crib bedding set - we obviously never used it and I never had a place I could put it until now! Works perfectly and goes wonderfully with the bed and canopy! So far, so good. She napped in her bed just fine on Saturday and after we spent the evening with the Durhams, she was so tired by the time we got her home, she was asleep before I left the room! Today, she napped fine (after a few minutes of playing in her bed) and she seems to be asleep now...

Okay, I am officially sad. Leda is sleeping in her crib for the last time tonight. Big Girl Bed will be built tomorrow and crib will be dismantled. After tonight, she won't be a baby anymore (except for the binky). However, she will ALWAYS be my baby! Wonder how many sleepless nights are in our very near future! ;-)

I have recently come to the realization that I am stuck on reality. Yes, I admit it, I watch reality TV shows. Now, I can honestly say I haven't voted for anything on any reality show other than Dancing with the Stars (and only the last season with Apolo on it!) However, I do love to pick and choose my favorites, and when anyone I wanted to get voted off gets voted off, I sometimes cheer loudly! I discovered So You Think You Can Dance this summer and I really had fun watching that show! I never voted for anyone on the show, but I was sure rooting for Sabra and am so happy she won! This is probably the only show other than Dancing with the Stars with Apolo on it that I would almost seriously consider calling in a vote. But I didn't! I LOVE Survivor. I only watched the last show of the first season, but have watched pretty much every season since. It's not something I schedule my life around, but I love to watch it. There is something seriously deranged about shows where peop...

I can add two states to my list of states visited (or driven through) - Vermont and New Hampshire (if I'd ever been to either one, I don't remember it at all, so I count this weekend as the first times I've been in either state!) We left immediately after work on Friday and drove to Deerfield, Massachusetts to spend the night. We got there around 10:30pm and Leda had slept maybe an hour before we got there. So she was WIDE awake. We got into our hotel room and got ready for bed and decided to watch a little news (since Leda wasn't quite ready to go back to sleep). We probably turned off the TV at 11:30pm, but there was no sleeping until about 1am, when Leda finally stopped poking and prodding me and Brock to keep us awake! Of course, then, Duff decided he wasn't going to sleep pretty much the whole night, so he trotted around the room, with his collar tink-tink-tinking all through the night. Oh, and then the whining started around 4:30 or so! The dog, not the kid! W...

...(and a day or so)... until Leda is in a big girl bed. Ikea finally (FINALLY) had the bed we wanted for Leda in stock as of yesterday and so we trundled on down to the store to pick it up along with the canopy and mattress. Since we will be heading off to New Hampshire this weekend, it will be next weekend before I will be able to put it together, take down her crib and get her bedroom all reconfigured with the new bed. Leda's excited. She loves the bed (the set up they had in the store tonight had the bed as a bunk bed and Leda climbed right on up and loved it. Of course, she won't have it as a bunk bed yet, but it's nice to know she likes it that way as well!) I'm excited. Leda's been playing in her room a lot more now an likes to play in her crib (which she can climb in and out of when the side is down). This gives me heart attacks everytime I see her in and/or climbing in or out of the crib. I figure when we have the big girl bed in there, I won't have to ...

This is what I received in the mail today.... Yes, that would be TEN (10) catalogs! Yes, I said TEN! Okay, so I usually get a lot of catalogs - I have in the past purchased from many catalogs (mostly their online stores). But to receive 10 catalogs in one day, now that's gotta be a record!

Why is it that Labor Day is the end of Summer? Isn't the end of Summer on September 23rd? I always feel as though we are being rushed into Fall on the day after Labor Day. Not that I have a problem with Fall. I love Fall - one of my favorite seasons (I tend to like Fall and Spring more than I like Winter and Summer). I just don't want to be rushed into it. Anyway, school's back in session (not that it effects us all that much yet) and the traffic outside the house has picked up during the morning and afternoon hours and the weather has a nice coolness to it that is usually lacking during the Summer months. A leaf or two have begun to change on the trees outside my office window. I may have put away my "baving soup*" for the last time yesterday (*what Leda calls a bathing suit). We had a nice holiday weekend at home. On Friday night we had the Flogaus's join us for dinner. Dave and Annie and Brock and I had some nice adult conversation while Leda and Danny play...

Well, we had a nice weekend! Even though it was SO darn hot here! Actually, it was more the humidity than the heat, oh, forget it, it was freakin' hot! Anyway, we went to Connecticut to spend a Saturday evening with Brock's college buddies. One of his friends is turning 50 in a few weeks and his family threw him a party. It was an adult-only party - kids were going to be staying at the hotel with a few baby-sitters. This was unnerving to me on a few levels - first, an adult-only party? Hello, the last time I went to an adult-only party was like forever ago! How do you behave at an adult-only party? Does this mean I have to have intelligent conversations without yelling, "Leda, No!" or "Leda, don't touch that." every other sentence? I am not sure I know how to do that! Second, you want me to leave my child at a strange hotel with strange people?? Are you kidding me? I freaked out about this for about three or four days before hand. That was until I found ...

A few weeks ago, as my boss and I were driving out of town for work, we noticed that the main road into town was going to be shut down during business hours (9-5) late this week. My boss, who, for the two days I spent riding in his car with him, spent most of the time lamenting about all the bridges in the US that could fall at any moment (didn't make me very comfortable), said it must be to fix the bridge that we had just crossed. Turns out, it was better than that! M. Night Shyamalan, yes, The Sixth Sense , The Village , Unbreakable , Signs - that M. Night Shyamalan - was going to be filming scenes for his new movie at the 'G' Lodge, a local restaurant that is a fixture in this town (not yet as famous as the Val Rio - the diner from The Blob , but soon, might be!) Brock and I have never eaten at the Lodge, although I have passed by it hundreds of thousands of times over the 15+ years I have lived in this town and we threaten to go eat there every once in awhile. M. Night ...