You're Never Fully Dressed...

If I Had A Hammer...

Fractured Fairy Tales

Michael likes to tell Max stories while he's feeding him. It seems that I always catch him during his renditions of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The first time I heard the story, he was telling it to him in an Arnold Schwartzenegger voice. No joke, the whole story! Hilarious.

Tonight's story had a new spin:

Goldilocks lived on a commune. She ticked her mother off while playing Wii, so her mom told her to go take a walk and play outside. She wandered to the Three Bears house and because she was very forward thinking (living on the commune and all), she didn't have a sense of ownership, so she helped herself to the bear's food (which happened to be Vegemite), sat in their chairs, tried out their beds, etc.

 

The Mother Bear in this story had sciatica, so she had Swedish tempurpedic padding on her chair and bed. Father Bear also had a bad back- one paw was shorter than the other- so he needed extra bed support as well. 

 

The anthropromorphic Bear Family had been on a nature walk before they found Goldilocks in their house. Baby Bear had taken a nice pic of a speckeled finch! Ooooooh!

When they got home and found Goldilocks in Baby Bear's bed they hog tied her, covered her mouth with duct tape and put her in the back of their Toyota Prius. The rest is history.

Methinks my husband was trying to teach our son to respect other people's/bear's property?...

Aim High, Little Boy!

Obama Birthday!

I am 32 years old today and getting probably one of the coolest and most special gifts EVER in less than an hour- a new president!!!

Adventure at Circuit City

It was announced yesterday that Circuit City will be going out of business nationwide to help pay off it's creditors. While I feel particularly thankful for the stability of my job (there are unfortunately 34,000 CC employees who will lose their jobs), we headed to take advantage of the sales! 

The store was to open at 10am- we arrived in the parking lot at 9:35. It was packed! The technogeek in me was giddily amused and excited, as you can tell by the pic above, snapped by my new BlackBerry. As we waited in line, I heard one man jokingly yell "I call the 52" plasma!". We technogeeks laughed appreciatively.

The doors opened at about 10:05 and the masses made a beeline. Our family's goals for the day: a laptop for Michael and a hard case & screen cover for my BlackBerry. We spent the next two hours waiting in line, but scored! I not only found the BlackBerry accessories I was looking for, but also two DVD's- 50 First Dates (which Michael often says describes his life with me- I may be a bit forgetful at times) and Working Girl, the awesome 80's flick about corporate world starring a young Melanie Griffith, Harrison Ford & Sigourney Weaver. (Thanks for the early birthday presents, Mom & Dad!)

After spending a good time of that searching the web on our phones for price comparisons, Michael settled in on a Sony VAIO laptop. It will do everything he needs it to do for school, not to mention that it has a built-in webcam, which will come in handy for keeping in touch this summer when he studies in London for a month. We'd been planning to get him a laptop for school sometime this spring and the closing sales worked in our favor- we saved about $300 off the original price! 

The good folks at CC hadn't been prepared for the onslaught of technogeeks. There were only two cashiers up front, one tech support guy and another guy in charge of computer sales. I felt particularly bad for the girl who checked me out at the customer service counter- she had to help back up the cashiers, as well as answer the phone. While I was in line she took a call from someone who was angry he/she couldn't get through to the cell phone department. When she (politely) explained that they were swamped today, the customer apparently said "Well, it's no wonder you're closing!" and hung up. She looked like she was about to cry and it was only 10:30am!

Needless to say, it was a lonnnnng line at computers. The elderly gentleman behind us had driven 100 miles to purchase the same laptop we were buying. As Michael was being checked out, I meandered over to the cage where I'd seen the sales associate get our computer and luckially, there was one left for the man. I whispered to him that there was one left and he said "I've never travelled so far to wait in line to spend money!". He was cute. When we finished up and the clerk was ready for him, he said "Do it again!" (meaning the same computer, warranty, etc.) We wished him well and headed out.

So for any of you technogeeks out there, Circuit City is definitely the place to be! From what I understand, they'll stay open until their liquidation is gone. Although the sales prices may go up this week, it's kind of a crapshoot- we *could* have waited and paid less, but there was always the chance we'd go back in a few days and the laptop would be gone. 

Love = Warm

I feel really thankful today.

It's soooo unbelievably cold outside and though it's small, we have a warm apartment and somewhere to live. More importantly, we have shelter and food for Max. I don't know why I started thinking it as I was driving back from campus this morning- maybe because my face and thighs were still thawing out?- but it just makes me sad to think that there are people out there who don't have homes during frigid temperatures like this, not to mention children without warmth and shelter. I would give my life to make sure my child was warm!

As I was changing Max's diaper and clothes this morning I found myself talking to him and telling him that it doesn't matter how little money we have or how much we may struggle at times to find balance to get everything (i.e. schoolwork, work, etc.) done each day, but all that matters is that we have LOVE. We love each other and we love him more than words... and that makes everything okay.

During cold winter nights in our attic bedroom in Pittsburgh, as we were waiting for the space heater to warm up the room, I used to (half-jokingly) tell Michael that our love would keep us warm. He always had a clever (albeit smart-assy) response, but when it came to write the lyrics to our wedding vow song, he proved he was *really* listening:

"They'll be sun, they'll be rain... they'll be laughter, they'll be pain... but the sunrise of today begets the sunrise of tomorrow. We'll have smiles, we'll have tears- to last all through the years... but our love will keep us warm, this I know."

I'm thankful for that warmth... especially on these subzero days. =)

Back to 'normal'

It's been awhile since our last post and we have good news! At Max's first physical therapy session since the holidays (on Tues) his therapist said he's caught up to his adjusted age! This means that he is acting & behaving like the 9 week old that he would be if he hadn't been born premature. She was extremely impressed with his alertness and ability to hold himself up. The next goal is for him to roll over (assisted and not). 

He has also turned into quite a little flirt. Be it the nurse at the pediatrician's office, the ladies in the theatre department office or other staff members... he's all about flashing the dimples, cooing and being ridiculously cute. Michael has also taken to combing his hair straight up into a faux-hawk after bath time as well, which admittedly amps up the cute factor. ("Oh my! Look at that HAIR!") He has started talking (i.e. cooing, squealing, laughing) a lot as well. Michael can get him to laugh hysterically- it's the cutest thing in the world! (I'll try to get a video up here eventually- it's not to be missed!)

On the Michael-front, his follow-up appointment with the oncologist last week went well. His blood counts are low, but the doctor says that's to be expected at this point. He'll have a CAT scan and another check-in with the oncologist in March. He's back to school full-time now and it looks like this semester will be pretty crazy. 

We're glad to have a little 'normalcy' in our lives again!

Growth Spurt!

Max had his third Synagis shot yesterday, as well as his four month 'wellness' check-up. Our boy is now 12 lbs, 5 oz (up from 10-10 last month!) and measures in at 24". If you corrected his age, his weight would put him at about the 52nd percentile and for height he'd be between 50-75%. Dr. C was thrilled with his progress and when he first came into the room he said "I'm sorry, I don't recognize this boy since the last time I saw him!" (2 months ago) He also cleared us to start transitioning Max off the preemie Neosure formula and on to regular formula! Starting tomorrow we'll give him one bottle per day and then go from there. He said we'll start him on rice cereal in a couple months. 

I didn't realize it when we went in, but Max also had to have another round of shots in addition to the Synagis. Poor boy was whooped when they were finished- he was like a rag doll. Mommy didn't cry as she held him down during the shots this time, but she sure felt like it afterwards! He was pretty punk all afternoon and into the evening. Seems to be feeling a little better today, but we'll wait until tomorrow to try the new formula.

On a completely unrelated note, the mister and I have made it our New Year's resolution to start eating healthier and exercising in hopes of shedding our pregnancy/NICU/cancer/holiday/etc weight. Michael has been in the kitchen this afternoon preparing some healthy soups to have on hand for the week and boy, do they smell (and taste!) good. If you're looking for an AWESOME all veggie recipe, drop a note and I'll send you the recipe. I was a little leery at the concept of an all veggie soup, but it's deeeeelicious and Michael just reminded me to not eat it all so we have some for the upcoming week! 

Aunt Jean Update

Thanks to those of you have recently inquired about my Aunt Jean's condition. The latest is that she has been moved to the Rusk Institute at the NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases, one of the country's premiere rehab facilities. She will be there for at least three months and has begun work with neurologists and physical & speech therapists in hopes of gaining back as much independence as possible. My uncle reported last night that she actually WALKED a bit yesterday!!!, but is easily discouraged during speech therapy. As we learned during our month in the NICU with Max- these things take time. (Though we often found ourselves thinking "Patience may be a virtue, but it sure feels like a load of crap!") ;) 

Your continued thoughts & prayers for Jean are appreciated, as well as for my Uncle Allan. The police have not been able to find the woman who hit Jean yet and it's a strong possibility that they may never find her. This makes my blood boil, but my uncle (even through his own anger) is displaying the utmost class and focusing solely on the positive- that my aunt is alive and that they have the opportunity to begin a new journey together. He's a class act.

3 Years

Three years ago today I married the most wonderful, caring and supportive man in the world. It was an intimate ceremony held in a gorgeous chapel on the campus of Michael's alma mater. Just 12 people were in attendance and everyone played their own special part: my mom (a Lutheran pastor) officiated, my mother-in-law designed and sewed my dream dress, Michael's brothers did readings and his now sister-in-law played cello, my sister was my Maid of Honor, Michael's BFF was his 'Best Woman', my BFF played piano, her husband was our photographer, my brother was the videographer (we have yet to get the video converted to DVD to watch- yikes!), my dad walked me down the aisle and another of Michael's close college friends sang a song that we wrote together (he the lyrics, me the music) as part of our wedding vows. 

The whole wedding weekend was filled with laughter. We even chose to have a joint bachelor/bachelorette party the night before the wedding so we could continue hanging out. We're so fortunate that our families get along so well (we've even spent holidays together since!). Some of my fondest memories of getting to know my future husband (just as a 'friend') in 2001 were spent sitting in the corner of the Seven Barrel Brewery in New Hampshire, chatting the night away about our families and how important they were (are) to us. Our marriage was truly the joining of two families- his family is my family and my family is his. We are so lucky! 

And here we are now- three (married) years later... in a new town, new school, new job... with a baby! OUR baby! I must say, even sans all the craziness of this fall, it feels like it's been much longer and I wouldn't trade a day of it. We have certainly had our share of the "in sickness and in health" vow over the past couple years, but we've made it through the tough times together. I can't imagine life without my (fill-in-all-kinds-of-adoring-names-plus-the-manly-butch-ones-he'd-want-me-to-list!). 

Happy Anniversary, my love. Today, tomorrow and always.

4 Months

Can you even believe that this little guy is 4 months old today?! (P.S. We can't.) We wake up each morning and it seems as if he's grown overnight! He's about to hit another growth spurt, too. We went out the other day to pick up some new outfits and specifically got 6 month ones so he can actually grow into them instead of out of them after only wearing them a couple times! Mister Mister is also very chatty these days, which we love- lots of cooing, squeals and smiles (especially for Dad). He's starting to get on a semi-regular sleeping schedule as well. Talk about a happy new year!

The "Papa"razzi Strikes Again

So, Dad got this new camera... and I have seen more flashes in the last three days than Paris Hilton.

Daddy Got A New Camera

Daddy got a Nikon D40 for Christmas.  

It's payback time for Mommy. Oh yeah. Big time. Embarrassing pictures coming soon.