Funny Ha Ha

All right, whenever I think of family the one person that always comes to mind is my crazy (in a good way) niece Naomi. I inevitably wander to her blog site to hear the latest and greatest. I love to visit her life there, especially since we probably wont get around to seeing each other again for many years to come... unfortunately. Any who, if your looking for a laugh a really good funny ha ha laugh, you must visit her site. Her link is on my page "The Knight Life". All of her stories are so much fun. You can honestly SEE her going through these crazy events and can even picture them happening to you at times. My crazy niece. At the same time that I laugh at her day-to-day craziness, it reminds me how much I really miss her. I mean really miss her. Love you tons Naomi. And thanks for making me laugh so hard at the end of my hectic day. Since I can't drink a glass of wine without falling asleep these days, you're just like my boxed wine and I just can't get enough. MUAH

Brrrrrrrrr, who turned off the heat !!!

I know its been a long time since I've blogged. It's terrible around the holidays. Your "to do" list just keeps getting larger. Lots of exciting things have happened. We have a new president effective in january that will hopefully clean up the mess we are in. Yay. Go Obama. - We just returned from a week long visit in North Carolina with the folks. It was great. Sami got to spend lots of time with her Memere and Pepere. I think Sami was attached to Memere's hip the entire time. She didn't mind though. Heck that woman has been lugging babies on her hip for 60 years... whats one more? We were so thrilled to get out of Florida for a change, but ironically as soon as we left, we wanted to hurry back. The cold winter air hit North Carolina and believe me, we were not ready for the briskness (is that a word?) - That's about all really. I thought there was more to say but, as it turns out, my life is so like groundhogs day. But... Sami will be 17 months old tomorrow. WOW, I can't believe how big she is getting.

yeahhhh baby

I'm going to make this short and sweet....

GO OBAMA / BIDEN !!!!!

I love my job, I love my job, I love my job

So, September 1st is right around the corner already. Where does the time go? Lately, it seems as though my day is the same, day after day after day (ground-hogs day). Sean just started a new job this week. Thank goodness it's with a reputable company and he's all geared up and ready to go. He will be working from home which is SO excellent. If I need to run to the store or I have a doctors appointment he will be here to help out. AND, I may actually get to work out every day like I would like. Often I feel as if I'm ready to deliver baby number two -- and we don't want that when were NOT pregnant !! So, I'm very excited about a little me time for a change. I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining. I love taking care of Samantha every day "my job"; seven days a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. I mean, no one can raise your kid the way that you do. And even though most people say its the toughest job there is, it's also the most rewarding job there is. I get at least 2,000 kisses and hugs a day, 10,000 giggles and laughs, and I get to see just about every "first" there is. So to that I'll say, "I do love my job, I do love my job, I do love my job"....

Look Ma, no hands

Sami started swimming lessons when she was about 10 months old. This picture was taken at 11 months old when she learned to float at the top of the pool in the event that she fell in. Now, Sami is still attending lessons and we will continue throughout the summer months. She is learning so much and is doing so well. In this position, she floated for about 2 minutes before the teacher picked her up again. It's such a good thing for her (and for us), considering there is so much water around us. It doesn't matter to us how long it takes or how much it costs. Swimming Lessons for babies: Priceless

Where does the time go??

So its just one day after fourth of July and I'm STILL struggling to get my energy back after Sami's first big birthday party last SATURDAY!!! It was sooooo much fun. There were probably 30ish people in the house and I felt like I was being torn in 50 directions. I'm not good with things like this -- I get a little edgy and I want everything to go just right. Well everyone knows that the only way to get the "ahhhh, who gives a crap" attitude is to start your event off with a good stiff one. I mean a good stiff drink. So, the wonderful hubby hooked me up with a Margarita. MMMMMmmmm good. That did the trick. Within 2-3 sips I was raring to go, ready for the event, ready for the swarm of kids (ok, there were maybe 8 altogether), ready for the swarm of adults! That's really it isn't it? The party is really for the adults. Those are the ones that will judge your party. The kids could care less. Give them a toy and some chicken nuggets and they'll love you forever. It's all about pleasing the parents... keeping up with the Jonezzzzz :) - Well, I didn't really have many Jonezzzz to compare my little party to. I had only been to one other one year old's party in the last decade or so and I thought it was just right. Sami played and played and played and played. We sang Happy Birthday... which we've been singing to her for months so she would not be afraid of the song. It worked...she loved it. Then the meltdown began. She was was the gracious host for more than 3 hours and then she had had it. She was begging me for her bed. She fell asleep with the house still full of people and slept hard for at least 2 hours. Thank goodness you only have ONE first birthday. I have a few years before I have to get ready for the next big basherama. Or do I?????????

Potty Talk

So the latest and greatest on my little peanut is that she is the best kid ever! Yes, I said ever. About a month or so ago I bought her a potty chair. I figured that I would give it the ole' college try since I'm at home with her all day. I occasionally will put her on the big potty after a nap or first thing in the morning and she's a champ -- tinkle, tinkle. NOW, what mom wouldn't get excited about that ??? Now, there have been many false pee pee alarms but I've gotta say she is trying really hard to pee like a big girl. Now before everyone gets excited, I'm well aware that she could lose her interest altogether and prefer her butt "pampered", but I figure it can't hurt exposing her either. Now I'll spend the rest of the week preparing for Sami's first big birthday basherama. Okay, its not really a basherama but doesn't THAT sound so much more fun? I'll fill you in the details later along with some birthday photo's.

Marco...Polo...Marco..Polo

Marco Island Adventure:

So two weeks ago, Sean, me and the baby ran away for a few days to Marco Island. It's near Naples, Florida on the west coast. Sean had to work for one day but we were able to play a little for a day and 1/2. We had such a great time there. It was just beautiful. Samantha had become very successful at walking just weeks before so she was eager to put her new walking shoes to the test. She decided that she loved to walk down the long halls of the beautiful hotel and wave to everyone who walked passed her. There were a lot of business conventions that week so needless to say her little arm got quite a workout. We are all pretty sure that she will be up on stage someday. We are not sure what she'll be doing, but she'll be doing something that allows her to be the center of attention and/or the gracious hostess. She loves the beach and she even let some fishies swim around her feet in the ocean. Here's a great picture of a conch shell with a live conch in it.

The beginning

So this is where it all begins...
Realistically this is the only opportunity I've had to "start" a blog. I admit that I borrowed this idea from my nieces, Naomi & Cyprianna. I was so impressed with their blog sites that I have put myself to the challenge. I have things in my life to chit chat about now (now that we have a little one) so I feel the urge to blog, blog, blog. It's far easier to post your blog occasionally than to try to remember who you've emailed or called to update. This poses my first question.. Do people still really call each other like they used to? Remember you'd call someone and spend an hour on the phone just to update them on your life? NOW, usually via email, in two or three sentences you can basically sum things up. Goes something like this...
Hey how are you? Life's good on my end. Babies teething. Baby just pooped gotta go.
And that my friends is how it goes. Speaking of poop....