Sweet Saddie Dog

Currently there are a lot of things going on in our lives... kids starting new classes, Sean getting busier at work, Me getting busier at work, house on the market, and now my first baby is sick!

About 2 weeks ago I noticed that Saddie was peeing much more often than normal. I mean this is a dog who has a full bowl of water all the time because she drinks exclusively from the toilet. She's had several accidents in the house over the last few months (pee), but we just thought it was because we weren't taking her out enough later at night. Well, I finally (sorry ole girl) got around to calling the vet and Sean took her in last Tuesday. They did a culture and found a UTI. No biggie, just a long dose of antibiotics and she's cured. Well then they called me to say they want to send the culture out to the lab to be sure the meds they gave her are the right kind, but that will be another expense. "Are you in position to do that right now?" Well lady, this dog has been by my side when both my babies came home, no matter how moody I've been pregnant or post, and for all the stuff in between. Not to mention she's only 7 years old and she's got a heart murmur. So YES I'll make myself in a position to be able to afford that right now.

She seemed to be doing fine on the meds, until Saturday when Maureen was here and noticed blood in Saddie's urine when she was peeing in the yard. I called the vet back on Monday and they said bring her in Tuesday for an x-ray. Sean took her in and they found a rather large stone in her bladder. It's basically a calcium deposit that cannot be broken down with a simple diet change. MY POOR BABY! I had no idea, she seems totally herself. She's going in on Wednesday for surgery to have the stone removed. Man, I guess the stresses of being a Mom just keep coming!

4 going on 14

Last weekend Aidan had a birthday party for one of his best friends. He and this particular friend have been planning and plotting for months to have a playdate/sleepover/sneak out party. So when his Dad called and said they were having a birthday party and Aidan was invited I couldn't say no. That afternoon, literally 10 minutes before we were leaving, I checked my email for their address and found a new email from the boy's dad. It was an invite for Aidan to sleepover that night. Sean and I briefly talked about it, so I packed his bag and sleeping bag just in case. On the way there I talked to Aidan about it and he came to the conclusion that since I couldn't spend the night too that he wasn't ready yet. I just left it at that. Once we got to the party I barely saw Aidan. Lucky for me this boys parents are super cool, otherwise I would have been itchin to get out of there. About 2 hours after we got there I went in to check on him and he says to me, "I thought you said you were going to only stay for a couple of minutes?" (OUCH!) To that his friend replied, "Oh, I know Aidan you're spending the night tonight." Aidan quickly says, "Yeah, I'm spending the night." Oh Really?! I'm thinking. I ask if he's sure and he tells me YES! So I go talk to the Mom and she's cool with it. I tell her they can call me all night if need be. Well, as the title of the post says.... 4 going on 14! Our boy passed out, slept ALL night on his face and didn't even need to wear a pull up to bed. I, on the other hand, woke up every 1-2 hours after a dream about him. I don't think I'm going to make it through the real teen years! Sean and I were super proud of our big boy though!

"first" day of "school"

Although Aidan and Clare have not yet hit kindergarten they both had a big "first" day at "school" on Tuesday. You see, they both have been in the same preschool/daycare class for 1 1/2 - 2 years so Tuesday when the public schools went back they moved up to the next class in daycare. Now Aidan is a "BEAR" (4-5 year old class) and Clare is a "TIGER" (3-4 year old class). I was so proud of them for how well they adjusted, Clare much better than Aidan. (He's kind of a creature of habit.) I had to recruit Ms. Marilyn, who cared for him as an infant, to peel his butt out of my car. She was able to get him out of the car and down to the bus stop to Nana and his new teacher. From there I met him with a couple of his friends and once he got up to the classroom and discovered the legos and star wars guys he was SOLD! Clare.... well she just jumped right in! (That's my girl.)

On the way home last night, I asked both of them what they liked best about their new classes. Clare told me she loves to play in housekeeping in her new class and Aidan said his favorite part was that he only had to eat the beef and broccoli for lunch which he liked and got to be excused before he tried his potato. As you can see, it doesn't take much to make them happy.

Super Aunt saves the Storm Troopers

While in NY a few weeks ago, Aidan went over Kerry's house - one of his favorite places in the world. While he was there, his oldest cousin Mike was kind enough to give him a few Star Wars figures. That evening he began asking me when he could go back to Aunt Kerry's to get his storm troopers. I was completely clueless as to what he was talking about. Since our plan was to leave very early Monday morning, I told him we'd call Aunt Kerry and ask her to mail them to us. I called at like 6:45am and Tim answered, he too knew nothing about this transaction that took place the night before and Kerry was at the gym. About 10 minutes later as we sat in the gas station parking lot Kerry called me and said she'd bring the "guys" right up to us. Luckily for Aidan we were still in Amityville, although I'm not so sure she wouldn't have driven halfway across LI to get to him. Needless to say, Aidan got his storm troopers and Kerry gets to keep her title as Super Aunt. Mission accomplished!

A kiss, a squeeze and a chomp goodnight

The other night I was laying in Clare's bed with her at bedtime. We read a Barbie book and then began to say our goodnights:

Me: "Okay Bug, it's time to go to sleep. Give Mama a kiss." ~kiss~

Clare: ~ kiss ~ "Okay Mama, good night."

Clare: "Now a big squeeze!"

Me: ~ big squeeze ~

Clare: "Even MORE!" ~ big squeeze ~

Me: ~ bigger squeeze ~ "Even More!" ~ BIGGER SQUEEZE~

Then she lays on top of me and tells me I'm trapped and I can't leave her because she's got me. So we give each other a few eskimo kisses and I get up from the bed. As I lean over her bed to give her one more kiss I pulled my face back and pretended to chomp her with my teeth. Which backfired completely because she began to laugh hysterically just moments before I was expecting her to go to sleep. Good job Mommy!

America's favorite past time

Well folks, we are officially NATS fans in this house! We are all about DC! We've LOVED the Redskins - through thick and thin - and so we'll love the Nationals the same. Actually when I say we, I mean Sean. He's the avid sports fan in the house. (We are about to embark on anther year of fantasy football in a week or so...oui va) So almost every night, because evidently baseball teams don't get much of a break in-season, we have the Nationals game (deafeningly loud) on tv in the living room. He's happy when they win and pissed when they don't.

It's really starting to make me have to pay attention to it because it's the only thing on most of the time. And I'm not really the kind of girl who likes to admit that she likes sports. Truth be told, I actually like that Sean's into baseball because I do feel a stroke of nostalgia when I hear the bat crack against the ball, the little silly songs/cheers the fans do in the stadium and the same old announcer voice calling the plays. It reminds me of listening to games on the radio in an uncles garages, my fathers car, or at backyard bbqs growing up.

But I mean, come on does baseball have to overlap football? Come on people, can't a girl catch a break around here??? Ha ha!

a first DATE

Lately it seems that whenever Sean and I each take one kid on our weekend "adventures" it's boys against girls. On Saturday, Clare and I went to starbucks then headed down to Toni's house to do some canning - will post that soon. As much fun as I have with Clare, it seems like I don't really get much alone time with Aidan.

So when we got home that afternoon, I asked Aidan if he'd go on a date with me on Sunday after mass. To which he quickly agreed and began making his plans. Every once in a while that night he come over to me and tell me another detail of our "date" on Sunday. "So it's my special day with you and I can make the plans right?"

Sunday morning he's sitting there watching tv and says to me, "Hey Mom, how can we go on a date when we're not even in love?" Ha ha! This kid is hilarious!

After mass, we dropped of Sean and Clare and headed out. First stop, K-mart to spend all his "allowance" money on a couple of storm troopers- cause now it's all about star wars. Second stop, Squisito for a slice and a soda. He walks up to the counter, unbuttons the pocket of his shirt, looks at me and then the pizza guy and says, "I got this Mom," as he pulls a $10 bill out. (Sean gave him the money and told him to do that... it was priceless) We sat and talked and hung out. It was great! Then I had to drag him to the grocery store where he shook me down for a few things.

The day was super great but the best part, the thing that still makes my heart smile, was when we walked out of Safeway and he turns to me and says, "Hey Mom, it was great having a date with you today."

Summerland

This past weekend we went to the best place on earth, in my humble opinion, Amityville, NY. The kids and I drove up on Friday morning and Sean flew up on Saturday. (The reason for this trip was to take my Mom and Dad out to dinner for their 60th birthdays.)

Once we arrived there Friday morning, we basically dropped off our bags and headed to Unqua... the Yacht club they belong to. The kids love this place for 3 reasons: cousins, diving board and snack bar (aka: ice cream). It's awesome at Unqua! I spent much of my childhood there, the first swim meet I ever won was there and the first job I ever had was there as I lifeguard. Most importantly, Sean and I had our wedding reception there. And now our kids are totally in love with this place. They fall right into place there, they find new friends and forget who their parents are pretty quickly. That night we had happy hour, pizza and a dance party at Papa and Nana's house then finished off the night at the tiki bar next door at Wayne and Karen's house.

Saturday morning, Clare went birthday shopping with Nana at Target. Aidan hung out with Matty, Emma, Maeve, Luke and Colum, Momo, Uncle Mickey and Aunt Jenny at the house while I took Ellie with me to the airport to pick up Sean. (At least one of the kids likes me...lol) When we got back from the airport Sean went to OTB with Mike and we all hung out at the house. We swam in the canal and played in the yard all afternoon. All us adults went to dinner at this great Italian restaurant in town and Aidan, Clare and Ellie stayed with my cuz Mary. We had a blast at dinner! It was so much fun to all be out together with no kids... the last time we did this was at a wedding in 2004! Sad but true!

Sunday we all piled on Tim's boat and he did shuttle runs back and forth to Gilgo beach! It was such a gorgeous day at the beach the kids were swimming and building sand castles all day!

All in all, another incredibly awesome summer weekend in Amityville! I wonder if it would be as much fun if we lived there... wait I used to live there and it was that much fun!!!!

Our own little summerland!