A-B-C Adventure

Just found this great tool at Shutterfly called My ABC Adventure. And best of all - it's FREE!

When a boy takes his Halloween costume seriously...

He even wears his eye patch to sleep! Aargh, matey!

My Middle Man is 3!

I can't believe that my little Sean is a big 3 year old boy. I have been a delinquent mommy - his birthday was actually last Sunday, and I just haven't had the time to put into words how much he means to me. So here goes...

Compared to my first pregnancy, being pregnant with Sean was pretty easy. I had no swelling, my blood pressure stayed down, no bed rest. The only little glitch was that I was measuring bigger at the end of the pregnancy. The upside of that was I got to have multiple sonograms to check on my big baby.

I was scheduled to have a repeat c-section on October 25th (my Uncle Tom's birthday). Due to the excessive amniotic fluid and the size of the baby, my doctor decided to do a non-stress test on the little one during my regular appointment on October 14th. The baby didn't respond very well, so Dr. F sent me over to the hospital to do a pitocin stress test. At this point, Chris figured we were having the baby that day - I mean really, they are going to induce labor in effect, and then send me home? I don't think so. As it turns out, Sean didn't really tolerate that test either, so Dr. F came in and worked some magic and moved us to the front of the line for the operating rooms. My head was spinning a little bit at the speed with which we were moving from just a regular appointment to having a baby. At 4:56 pm. Sean Eugene entered the world weighing 8 lbs 15 oz and 20.5 inches long. Look at that weight again - 8 lbs. 15 oz and remember that he was 3 weeks early! I cried when Dr. F pulled him out and proclaimed "It's a boy!".

We had decided not to find out ahead of time what sex our baby was. We knew that if we had another boy that his middle name would be Eugene - after my dad. Little did we know how prophetic that name would be for this child. You see, looking at Sean is like looking at a small version of my dad. Of course, my dad doesn't see this, but everyone else does. What do you think?Fast forward three years - and believe me, it feels like these past three years have flown by. Sean loves to learn - he's known his letters and their phonetic sound since the time he turned 2. He learned how to say the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be this year. His vocabulary just amazes me all the time. He knows the names of many dinosaurs, and I just love hearing his little voice say - "ramphorincus". I'm not sure how he got so big...
The time I have spent being Sean's mommy have been some of the most intense emotional times of my life. We joke around that Sean lives on the edge. He totally embraces life and lives every moment to the fullest. He can be the happiest little man around; with a smile that lights up a room. His smile melts my heart. When he comes up to me and puts his hands on either side of my face to give me a kiss, I feel like this is what heaven must be like. I am so blessed to be Sean's mommy. I have loved watching him grow these first 3 years, and I can't wait to see what this next year brings for Sean. Happy Birthday Sean. Mommy loves you to pieces!

100 Acre Woods

Brian and Sean are very much into Tigger and Pooh right now. When we went to Disney a couple of weeks ago (we now have Florida resident passes - woo hoo!), Sean ran up to give both Tigger and Pooh a hug. Brian, while excited to see them from afar, was a little more reticent about being up close and personal with the big guys.And then there was poor little Colin - stuck in his backpack. He was fascinated with all of the excitement, and everyone was talking about how cute he is (of course!). He started waving at Pooh, which of course brought the fuzzy bear on over. Everything was fine until Pooh stuck his hand out to Colin. All of a sudden you heard a high pitch scream! This would be the shot that I got of Pooh quickly moving away from scared little Colin!
So in deference to my little men's current obsession, I thought I would take this quiz that I found over at Jacobite Rose.

Take the 100 Acre Personality Quiz!
I really like the last part of the description! Although the boys have really been good lately - not as much need for time outs - praise God!

Florida bugs just won't die!

The other night I went out to the kitchen to put my glass in the dishwasher. When I turned on the light, I encountered this...
In most other areas of the country, this is called a roach. In Florida, we call them Palmetto bugs. They are big, and nasty, and when you smash them with a trash can repeatedly, they don't die. I know this for a fact because my Chief Bug Killer, who used the aforementioned trash can, had a darn hard time killing that bugger (pun completely intended here). After he thought the guy was dead, he went back in the kitchen to get a paper towel to pick him up. When he made the three step return to pick up the monster, IT WAS STILL MOVING!!!

Yuck - bugs are something I could certainly live without. Unfortunately, such is my life now.