Waaaaaaaa (that’s me crying), my baby is growing up way too quickly! We have to go to the school district next week to register him for Kindergarten. I am very happy for him and very sad at the same time; his journey in life began with him being dependant upon us for everything and now as the journey continues he is becoming less dependant and moving to be an independent little man; the irony of it all, though I’m sure secretly he will always come to us for help to now he still is in need.
We entered the raffle for the Easter Egg Roll in Washington
Last Thursday evening Nick went over to Grandmas house for a few hours and Mike and I went out to Good Luck for drinks with Shannon, Kelly, and Chris (they are the parents of 2 of the kids that Nick goes to school with). The night was really good, we were kind of nervous at first but no more did we sit down and they made us feel extremely welcome; the conversation and company couldn’t have been any better. We compared stories of our kids and I was amazed to find that the three of them are all on the same page as far as attitude, development, and so on. My amazement comes only because when I speak with his teachers they don’t tell me what other kids do, only what Nick does so I was happy to see other kids do the same thing.
That night and the following couple of days we got a ton of snow dumped on us about 1.5 feet and we spent the next few days shoveling out and it wasn’t a light fluffy snow it was a real heavy snow that just about broke your back to lift. At the same time it was really pretty to see, Mike and I stayed home from work and we kept Nick home from school as well. It was an excellent surprise day off just like when I was a kid getting a snow day.
We had a nice visit this month with Kathy, Fae, and Zack; we met at Red Lobster (Nick calls it the Crab) and as always it was great to see them and catch up a bit in person, we are hoping to make a trek up there to see them as soon as the weather breaks and turns warmer.
Earlier this month a lot of friends that I had living in other parts of the country got the day off due to snow storms, I felt rather left out only because w haven’t had one (yet) and about 9:30 in the morning I got a call from the JCC saying that they had a water main break and that they had to shut the place down. I couldn’t of been any happier, I left work and picked up Nick and we went out shopping for a couple hours, then came home ate lunch, Nick played and I bought some chairs for the dining room that I was putting together. I love surprise days off…as long as the surprise is a good reason for me that is.
February 5th we got to see Kathy Griffin at RIT and I have to say we laughed our asses off; she was so hilarious, I would so see her again if given the chance. Nick slept at Grandmas house and as normal loved it. I had a cold and Mike had hurt his knee so the two of us made quite the couple that night; with a wind chill of almost zero we managed our way across campus, Mike shuffling along and my nose running off my face. We were planning on going out afterwards but I felt like poop so we decided to go home. It didn’t matter because the company was good and so was the entertainment.
So far classes this semester have been horrendous I can’t say that I’ve had a decent break from it yet as soon as I finish homework on one class I am starting it on another, once I finish an exam on one class I am studying for another. I haven’t had two classes like this in a very long time. MIS is an accelerated class and that one is half over and then the work load will at least be less exhausting. I’m still trying to decide if I want to take two classes this summer or just one. I love going to school and learning new things and I always tell Nick that school is cool, but I am starting to have a dislike for it now at least the time constraints…I had to quit
Here are a few funny things that Nick has presented us with this month, I like to call Nickism.
Nick asks as a matter of fact, of course “when are we getting another baby?” After I spat my food across the room expecting a different question, we gently explained to him there wasn’t a snowballs chance in hell for that one ever happening. But thinking that would end the conversation a few days later again he says “so when is the new baby coming.” Here we go again.
As I’m leaving the house one morning Nicholas tells me “work hard for me today!” My only comeback was a Donna Summer song… She works hard for the money so hard for it honey. She works hard for the money so you better treat her right.
I am so amazed that at the sweet tender age of 4 going on 5 everything in life is boring and he feels the need to argue with me about everything.
I am very impressed that he knows everything, no matter what I say to him his come back answer to me is “I already know that!”
I try to encourage Nick by telling him “you can do anything you want to.” Apparently I need to rephrase that statement what I meant to say was “no matter what happens in life you can achieve and accomplish anything.” The first statement he took so literal that when I told him not to do something his response back to me was “I can do anything I want to,” well I did tell him…
It’s obvious that Facebook has taken more precedence than writing this blog. I can’t help myself I find it so addicting and compulsive to keep up on the lives of those that I really enjoy. A lot of people that are close, acquaintances, family, friends, a couple of people that I really don’t know why I have them as friends as all our views are like total polar opposites but I assume it’s because I keep saying that diversity is the key to life. OK I don’t always say that but for this issue I’m saying it.
Once again classes have started up for Mike and I, we seem to be dragging our feet more and more with each semester that happens; school is really starting to be a bit of a bore that we dread with each waking moment, ok, ok I know I’m a drama queen but it is so true we are starting to count down by class now instead of by years, which by the way is two years left as long as we take two classes in the summer months.
Tonight (1/28/10) was orientation to register Nick for Kindergarten I didn’t want to do it and told myself I wouldn’t but they presented us with a slide show of the whole kindergarten experience that he will go through. The slide show took us from daily bus rides to learning and my eyes swelled up…my baby, class of 2023 is growing up and I can’t stop it. On the happy side of the evening we met another same sex couple whose little boy will also be going to school with Nick, I can’t tell you how happy that makes me but what’s worse is that it scares me more than it would scare him, he’s pretty tough but I also know that kids can be really cruel and they only know what they are taught by their narrow minded parents, opps sorry about the sarcasm.
I had changed my hours at work so I could spend more quality time at home with Nick and Mike. Being this has been the first week of it I must say I have been much happier seeing the two of them more, I pick Nick up from the JCC around 4.15 and we go home, before Mike was picking him up and I would get home from work about 6 give or take a half hour. He’s in school less and three of us get to spend more time together, which in this house is a premium.
The holidays have come and gone and though I captured them on video I never seemed to really put the experience down into words; to sum it up the quality time spent with Mike and Nicholas was of course priceless. I had taken off the week between Christmas and New Years and made a 1001 plans all of which never happened, the weather was beyond freezing for my liking and laziness seemed to hamper most of my laid out plans.
I had hoped to spend some time with mom but she was sick with the flu and didn’t want to get Nick sick as he was also off with me, so instead I annoyed her with a daily phone call. I was hoping to spend an afternoon with Tony & Elaine because I know they are home during the daytime but a grave misfortune hit Tony. The Monday after Christmas while he was out shoveling the snow when he collapsed in the driveway of a heart attack, luckily his neighbor had seen him and rushed to his aid and performed CPR while Elaine called 911, he was rushed to emergency and had surgery a couple of days later. With his surgery being a success he along with Elaine’s help and strict orders are following the doctor’s advice to a “T.” We were all very happy to hear that he is doing much better and getting the rest that is needed.
I can’t help but be in a bad mood today and it’s a direct reflection of the vote in
It really sucks when not only do you have to deal with homophobia on the street but it also sucks when you have to deal with it in your own families or friends as well. I am a strong believer that family is not a shared bond of blood but it is who you let into your heart. I really don’t understand and maybe I’m just naive why some people would insist on me celebrating their marriage, their children, and their life together, yet when it comes time for me to celebrate they look at it as though we are playing a child’s game of house. How could we possibly be serious? We are two men. I’ve decided recently that enough is enough if you can’t take a serious confirming interest in my life than my life has no room for you. My life is too valuable and short to have it filled up with the negativity of some people.
One thing in life that I value more than anything is my absolutely loving partner, Mike and our adoring little angel Nicholas. Nothing in this world can ever rip apart the bond that the three of us share. We have had discussions many times about raising our family with religion and we have finally come to the absolute conclusion that religion is actually the root of all evil. Religion disallows anyone to be a free thinker; it disallows anyone that is different from them to have a happy life together. They say to give your heart to Jesus and God in my opinion they might as well give their heart to Charles Manson or Hitler because that is the behavior that they, the religious right groups are portraying. Don’t get me totally wrong because there are plenty of good people out there that do hold religion dear to them but also are not bound with hatred and have sensitivity in their heart to others with different beliefs.
To cliché a phrase “misery loves company,” is that why there are so many right wing religious groups? Have they become a collective like the Borg? Are people today that miserable that they are drawing in on the negativity of everything and trying to suck the life out of those that are weak only to make their own cause stronger. I heard a great phrase in a song by Annie Lennox “dying is easy, it’s living that scares me to death,” how true.
I feel somewhat better after blowing off some steam. I refuse, as do many of the lgbt community, to give up the fight for equality. With any hope in the near future we’ll start to see some change for progress and we can all live in a country that values all of its citizens as first class.
Alright now I thought I was seriously behind in my blog but I just looked at a friends and he hasn’t updated since October 2008, so I guess I’m not as behind as I thought I was. We left summer and headed into the fall very quickly this year; actually I think it happened shortly after spring left us. The weather this summer was pretty nice for being outdoors a lot; even though we had our fair share of rain the temperatures mostly hung in the mid 70’s. last week however we’ve been in the 30 – 40 range still a great temperature to be out, now if only I get take the blanket off of me and move my butt.
We have been so swamped lately with school work. Mikes classes have him writing extremely long papers each week with a test every other week. In my classes I have been taking exams and test’s every other week, reading, homework and projects due each week. All that plus still realizing that we hadn’t really done as much work on the house this summer liked we had hoped for; except for a huge whole in the wall at the end of the hallway and Mike stripped the wallpaper off the bathroom wall. Maybe that’s where the expression “the lazy days of summer” came from.
Nick is a fanatic for telling silly jokes and he definitely got mileage out of “look under there,” where your response would be “under where?” This is the part where he screams out with laughter and says “I just made you say underwear.” Yes I told him that joke and glad he had so much fun with it.
Well I got another year older in August but certainly don’t feel it. Each year before my birthday I go through the same routine and each year Mike will ask what my problem is – he asks it much nicer than that though. I hate the fact of having another birthday or even celebrating it only because it’s total proof that I’m aging; true it’s better than the alternative of not having a birthday at all. But the day comes I realized that I still have my teeth, my hair, and wrinkles didn’t magically appear while I was asleep and all is fine for another 350 more days.
The end of August (8/29) Nick slept over to Grandmas house while we went to the Hart Theatre to see The Assassins. Mike Szatkowski, a friend from high school was playing in it. It was a very good play about the assassinations and attempts of US presidents. We also got to meet up with some other friends that I haven’t seen in many years, Janet & Gerry (facebook is a great thing). We sat with them during the play and went out afterwards for drinks and a bit of a catch up. That was such a great night all around and just being able to see friends I haven’t been with for so many years was the absolute BEST!
Labor Day weekend we went to
Nick has been having quite the busy time at school; his class had a luau, a pajama party, a field trip to the zoo and the animal farm. It’s like Club Med for little people. He seems to really be enjoying the class this year and his teachers couldn’t be any nicer, they are absolutely the best I only wish my teachers were that great when I was in school. On the 20th of September he was invited to a birthday party for his friend Sammy, there was a fair amount of kids there with a lot of games and prizes; Nicky brought home a bunch of bugs and Mike brought home a cold that he gave me a couple weeks later; we definitely believe in sharing in our house.
Nick had his six month dentist cleaning and checkup on September 12th, he really loves going to the dentist it could be the prizes he gets and he also gets to watch any movie he wants in the chair. Unfortunately he had his first cavity so the next week we had to go back and get it filled, very interesting they didn’t use any Novocain or anything to numb it up. Just gave him a Batman movie to watch and he was good to go, the whole thing took about 15 minutes at the most to be done. What really surprised me is that he still likes to go to the dentist; we now floss everyday instead of once a week.
ICE CREAM! “The ice cream man is here!” Those were the loud words I heard screaming throughout the house yesterday over the bell of the ice cream truck. I came running up from the basement calling for Nicky who was no where to be found. When all of a sudden I see this little boy holding his piggy bank charging to run out of the door to get his fair share of heaven. I quickly swopped him the bank for the few dollars I had in my hand as he ran to the end of the yard to greet his favorite person in the whole entire world, EVER! The man stopped and Nicky studied the ice cream pictures as though he were picking stocks to trade or the horse that would come out in first place. “That one, I want the Sponge Bob one again,” it appears that one is the ultimate favorite and wins out each time. I’ll admit it’s also my favorite too he lets me have a few licks as well. He came running back in the house yelling…”Daddy look, it’s Sponge Bob” then he ran back out and sat on the front step to devour it. Ahhh now that is what summer is all about.
July 18th was the Pride events for Rochester and this year we only took part in watching the parade. It was colorful and boisterous like it has been in past years; this year main theme was equality although it appears to be that is what it is each year and so it should. Each person should be allowed the same equal rights as the next person and not be ridiculed about who we love.
Seeing how we got there a bit early we stopped by the Auditorium to talk to Bob and see how life was with him, which is good by the way. After that we decided we would take a walk down
It was amazing how the tone changed from happy and colorful to black and despair just from crossing over
We are all entitled to our opinions and beliefs and no one needs to agree with the other but to yell at us and our son that we are going to hell and that his fathers are no good for him is totally wrong so in my opinion THEY are not very good Christians. I haven’t been to church in about 20 years, but I’m pretty sure the “do onto others stuff” is still part of the teachings.
At one point I was carrying Nicky while Mike was trying to distract him; a woman came up next to us to shield Nicky with her umbrella so he didn’t have to see that. People like that woman deserve a round of applause for her kindness and those bible thumpers could really learn a very valuable lesson from her about what it means to be a true human being.
I think, what made me feel worse was at some point I would have to explain to Nick that there is a
We could have easily avoided that crowd but I wanted to be closer to
Life would be so easy if we all just looked at the world through a child’s eyes. I’m pretty content and happy with my life that I don’t need a crutch and I want Nick to be able to have the courage to stand up for the right thing and do “the right thing.”
Had a wonderful time on vacation in Lauderdale, we were gone from 06/26 until 07/05. The week was really good even though it rained a lot we did just what we did when we lived there, made two sets of plans - the indoor and outdoor plans depending upon the weather.
The ride down there was a total nightmare we hit construction the whole way through PA and then all the rush hour traffic in DC plus some more construction and some accidents, with all that it delayed us by about 6 hours however the good news we made it there alive. We got into our hotel after 11PM on the 27th and Mike was quite excited to say let’s go out for a drink, who am I to argue with him. After all that crazy driving a drink was just what we needed to settle the nerves.
We went to Riverwalk and saw Transformers II, great movie and Nicky really loved it too, Bumblebee was his favorite character. Went for a walk on Las Olas afterwards, Nick loved that because he got a piggy back ride and I would walk into the wet on purpose so he would get all wet. Sawgrass Mall and Rainforest Cafe was another day adventure; poor Fae she wasn’t use to all the walking maybe we forgot to tell her that Mike & I love to walk a LOT.
We went to the beach a few times playing and swimming. It was so worth it just to see Nicky’s excitement as he went in the water and played in the sand and had an all around great time. Fae also enjoyed beach and being buried in the sand and collecting the shells. The water was great and we forgot how much sand a bathing suit will actually hold.
The Everglades was another great stop along the way; it was something that we never did when we lived there and had to do. We took an air boat ride and saw a bunch of hungry alligators, shifty eyed snakes, and a huge iguana. There was a snake show and alligator show where we all go to hold a snake and baby alligator. On the way back it started to down pour and traffic was backed up so we stopped in South Beach for dinner and ice cream. After dinner we went for a walk on the beach while Nick played at the playground there.
Fae was kind enough to be our au pair while we were there so we could go out at night and enjoy some of the nightlife that we had been craving since we moved from there. And that so filled our cravings for a while. We went to visit some friends of ours while there and was able to catch up in person; Elouise, Al, Concha, Lou and Jerry. There were a lot of folks we did want to see but time and circumstances however didn’t allow us to see each other; that can be another trip.
We did visit Palm Springs, our old neighborhood while we were there and the picture of what we had in our head either remained the same as we lived there of it enhanced a lot since we moved, undecided on that one. But it seemed to look a little run down since we moved away, however they have had a couple hurricanes that hit that area since we left and took out a lot of trees plus a few of the houses on the road had gone into foreclosure including what was ours from what I hear from Lou and Jerry (they were our next door neighbors).
Back to work and finally got back to normal schedules again, I must say it was real hard to do that one but it’s time to save up for our next vacation.
The graduate. Nope I’m talking about the other graduate, Nicky. Both Grandma’s, Aunt Char, of course Mike and I all came to see Nicky achieve another milestone in his life. His graduation was very sweet. All the kids in his class came walking back from the gym to the classroom; some of the kids ran up to their parents and first person Nick saw was my mom and yelled out “Grandma” he ran up to her and gave her a hug. They all went to the front of the class and Mrs. Sivard gave a small speech and then Maggie (his other teacher) read them a story. Nicky loves to be read to so he was right up front to listen and then wanted to see the pictures in the book. It was really cute to see. Maggie lead all the children as they sang a few different songs, some of the kids happened to be shy when it came to singing. It was no surprise that Nick was one of the shy ones; he also gets shy at home sometimes when I ask him to sing. After that Mrs. Sivard handed out diplomas and the kids went to their parents.
After the ceremony they had an ice cream social and Nicky and grandma decided they would be social and had some. We took everyone out to Friendly’s afterward for dinner and more ice cream to celebrate and then home where he got to open up some presents and play for a bit. We got Nicky Peter Pan, it only seemed appropriate as I never want him to grow up, he watched it and seemed to like it. I however got sleepy and dosed off during it but what I saw was good just the same. We were very proud of Nick. Even though it is preschool we still think it’s a great accomplishment for him and just the beginning of great things to come.
Today at 4PM Nicky has his graduation from Preschool and will start PreK when we come back from vacation. I think I’m more excited about it than he is. I spoke with the teacher this morning and she told us that the kids have been practicing a song to do in front of the parent’s, again I think I’m more excited than he is. I had a hard enough time believing that he was turning 4, but thinking towards the future and knowing that he will be starting kindergarten next fall totally throws me for a loop. I can’t help (this is where I get all sappy) but to stare at him and think to myself what a wonderful bundle of joy in such a tiny package, then of course I need to hug him, give him a kiss and say I love you, thats when he thinks I’ve lost my mind and tells me I’m squeezing him too hard. I’ve heard parents say in various ways of how they would do anything for their child but never understood the magnitude of i t until Nick and to me it’s amazing the amount of compassion that exposes itself and the amount of selflessness that develops.
Well I finally completed a task that I have been putting off for a very long time and that was to mail my story to a publisher for review and with any luck approval to be published. I had heard that it could take up to six months to hear anything after submitting a story to a publisher so I really have my fingers crossed on this one.
The JCC is closes on the 29th and reopens on July 06 so we decided it was the perfect time to go away on vacation so we have been planning a trip to Ft. Lauderdale for a while now and can’t wait until it happens. The three of us plus Fae will be leaving next Friday morning by car, we figured if we could survive a cross country trip that took us about 5 days we can survive the overnight drive south. It will be a lot of fun and really hope that everyone enjoys themselves, we have some cool activities lined up; of course we have to go to the beach, then we need to see alligators hopefully in the Everglades, shopping, swimming, seeing friends, and the list goes on.
This past Saturday afternoon we went to Linda’s graduation party, she is my youngest niece and she just graduated from college. How amazing I remember Mike playing “fatty and skinny” with her and now she graduated. Wow too cool and congratulations to her.
On June 6th my cousin Patrick came over for a visit with his partner Jason. They both live in Washington DC’s DuPont Circle, very cool area to be living in. It was so great to see them; I haven’t talked to Patrick in like forever so it was really nice to spend some time with the two of them. I have to say Facebook is a great tool, that is actually how we connected. With any luck we might go to DC later this year I love the museums there and it will be great to see Patrick and Jason.
Well that’s all folks
On May 30th Nicky had his very first sleep over at Grandma’s house. He and Grandma seemed to have a very good time. I did feel bad for Mom, she wanted to go out for dinner but Nick wanted to stay in and she gave into his wants. He had ulterior motives though, he wanted to raid Grandma’s fridge and cupboards as we don’t buy a lot of the fun things that she has. But after they ate they did go out shopping and you can imagine that he sweet talked his way to the toy aisle and as sweet as Grandma is she bought him some new toys.
I have to say whenever we go out shopping with Nick he is the best kid ever in the store. Like me, he has to touch things to look at them but will never put up any fuss when you tell him “no.” He’ll ask to see a toy and when he’s done looking at it he’ll hand it back to you to put away. He might ask every so often if we can buy something and we might. However if it’s not feasible at the time and I have to say “no” then he will say “ok maybe next time.” I think this is great and I hope I haven’t spoken too soon. Back to the story…
As for us we didn’t do the shopping thing, we did however go out to dinner for sushi at California Rollin’ in Village Gate. One thing that we both enjoy is sushi. Even though I tease Mike about the year Jennifer and I took him out for sushi on his birthday and he complained about it for years to come because that wasn’t what he wanted, man how ungrateful he was about that night. After all it was two against one. Just because he was born on that day, jeez you’d think he owned the day, “excuse me, hello other people in the world too you know.” Opps sorry I got off course; anyway I was really hoping for the wood fire pizza that night but was very gracious when Mike said sushi. “Take a lesson mister.” Oh yeah the food was great there and we both recommend it.
One more thing sitting next to us also eating dinner was Dorothy from the “Wizard of Oz,” no not Judy Garland the other one, from the play that was going on at the Auditorium Theatre. So of course after we finished dinner we had drove past the theatre and stopped in to say “hi” to Bob for a quick catch up and while there he ushered us into the backstage door so we got to see the performers. How I miss those days, that was how we got to meet Carol Channing and Tibit, and Sam Harris, not to mention have a chance to see all the performers and the action that goes one behind the Broadway shows.
We went for a short drive after that and wound up at the Bachelor Forum for a couple of drinks and man they tasted so good, we did take a little break and decided to get some “air” and went for another short drive to Ontario but that turned out to be boring so we went back to the Forum and continued the evening of drinking, talking and watching the guys…who by the way do get better looking the more drinks you have.
We got home about 1:30 in the morning and by 3am we were sleeping, no need to ask what we did in-between but let’s put it this way there was no one to wake up with the howling. The next morning we woke up around 10:00 and lay around the house until we picked up Nicky at noon. The whole night was totally great and we haven’t gone out that late since before Nicky was born. I thought I would be calling Mom like all night to see if he was ok but had to keep telling myself no that he was fine, and he was. We were happy to see that when we picked him up neither Mom nor Nicky was tied up in the corner.
Scheduling a night out is not the easiest thing for us to do with the hours that Mike works and we just found out that he will be working a ton of overtime between now and the end of July. Yuck oh well at least we can pay off our trip to
Every so often we have this conversation, normally on the way to school, but not quite like this.
So this morning on the way to school Nicky told me he has two dads.
I said “that’s right you do. Do you like having two dads?”
He said “yeah, I’d rather have two dads than one dad”
I asked “is there anything that you don’t like about having two dads?” I wasn’t sure if he felt like he was missing out on anything.
He told me “No, I like having two dads; I don’t want just one or three dads, just two.”
I was very happy and content with that response. Then he decided to change his mind and said “three dads. Yeah three dads would be cool.” I was at a loss for words when that one came up, I was more prepared for him wanting a mother but that demand never arose. Then I thought. “how am I going to bring myself to tell Mike that Nicky might be a polygamist?”
This could be my worse fear that he will want to move to
Mike celebrated his 38th birthday on Friday (May 15) so we took the day off and spent it together. We did a bunch of running around in the morning shopping, well actually returning stuff that we had been putting off doing, after that we decided we were starving so we went to Red Robin for lunch and had the best burgers ever we were stuffed when we finished eating. But of course no birthday lunch would be complete without the staff singing “happy birthday” and totally embarrassing the heck out of Mikey.
Took a nice short walk through the park; talked, relaxed and enjoyed the time alone. Mike didn’t get so much sleep after he got out of work so we went back home and took a nap, oh man that felt so freakin’ good I say this because I never ever get a chance to take�a nap.
We picked up Nicky early and then we went over to the Lilac Festival for a few hours. While we were there he got to go on a pony ride which he really seemed to enjoy, I couldn’t get a good enough picture because the pony kept walking faster than I could focus. Mike and Nicky of course were in there glory as they both got to eat a foot long corn dog and suck down lemonade. They had the booth where you can win a gold fish, the guy felt bad that Nick missed the bowl’s so he gave him a gold fish; Mike & Nick decided to name it “Gorton,” yes like the fish sticks in the freezer aisle.
Very sad news struck our household on Saturday afternoon “Gorton” didn’t make through the first 24 hours in our care before he passed on to the great fish pond in the sky. The worse part is we had to explain death now to Nick which I felt horrible about, in doing so we tried to make this experience as comforting as possible with our explanation and burial process. We got a small box, lined it with cotton balls laid “Gorton” down and covered him with a tissue. The box got sealed, we wrote his name on it and Nick drew him a picture on the box and then we proceeded to have a burial� in the backyard. Each time we go into the yard now Nick will say�”lets dig up Gorton to see how he’s doing.” or he will ask when is Gorton coming back? It breaks my heart each time.
I was going to go out shopping today at lunch but it’s cold and rainy, believe me I’d rather be at home in bed wrapped up in a warm fuzzy blanket cuddling with Mike. But instead I’m stuck here in this god forsaken place I call work, freezing and sleepy. For some reason once the outside temperature got above 50 degrees they thought it necessary to turn the heat down to a very chilly temperature. So chilly that my freakin’ nipples are going to fall off. OK enough of the weather I made my point clear.
Yesterday at lunch I went out shopping and picked up some Dr. Seuss books for Nicky, one in particular was The Belly Book and it was quite a nice a book and he enjoyed reading a few times yesterday. He enjoyed it so much that when I woke him up for breakfast this morning he reenacted one of the pictures in the book. After the fear left my system I busted out laughing so much, it was definatly a sight to be seen.
When I went to bed last night I turned his light out and picked up the toys from his bed that he brought with him, which included a few matchbox cars, an airplane, a purple marker, and a dinosaur then I tucked him back in. Now I understand why he was so quiet when he went to bed. Alright, getting back to waking him up for breakfast I was horrified because the entire right side of his face was purple, it looked like he had banged his face on the wall. I screamed “Oh my god Nicholas what happened to your face?” He gave me a smile and then I looked at his arms and they were all purple as well, I relaxed and started to smile then he lifted up his shirt to reveal his art work which was a huge smiley face on his belly. After that I couldn’t help myself and totally busted out in laughter.
One of the captions and pictures in The Belly Book is a man drawing a smiley face on his belly and the caption read “funny belly.” So the moral of this lesson was reading actually does influence his creativity and imagination; it also made me wish I had woken up earlier, we had some serious scrubbing to do in the shower this morning.
It’s so hard to believe and feels like only yesterday that Lisa, Mike and I were getting ready to go off to the hospital for Nicky’s big day. I remember that on the 28th we left work early, went home packed up the car and drove up to LA to spend the night at Lisa’s apartment; we watched cartoons with the kids and talked about everything that came up with Lisa. We slept on the couch and the next monring I was woken to Rosie sitting on my chest (she had a small accident too, that was just a preview of life to come), we all showered, ate breakfast, waited for the nanny to arrive and then we left for the hospital where labor would be induced.
From early morning until early evening we had paced the floors and drank a ton of coffee to keep ourselves awake, smoked like there was no tomorrow to eat up the time and calm our nerves from all the coffee, talked, laughed and even cried. I can’t remember the exact time but I believe it was about 7:41PM Nicky was born. Our lives have never been the same since.
This past Sunday we had a Scooby Doo themed birthday party for Nicky at our house and invited both our families over. It was a real nice time, there were a also few kids there for Nicky to play with so it wasn’t all adults. We ate, talked, had a Spiderman pinata (we couldn’t find a Scooby Doo pinata), cut the Scooby Doo cake and opened presents. He had a great time playing with all the cool presents that he got from everyone and eating cake, candy and cupcakes.
We sent him to school today with cookies for everyone and little gift bags filled with toys and candy for him and kids. At snack time they all sing happy birthday to him, eat cookies, and he gets a birthday certificate. At nap time the teachers put the goody bags in the kids cubbies so they can bring them home to play with. After school we will go to Applebee’s for dinner, more cake and have them sing to him, go home and open up some more presents…I can’t until we pick him up from school to see him today.
Nicky…who could of asked for anything more.
Easter was a real cool around our house this year. The night before we all dyed Easter eggs and the 3 of us had a bit of a competition as to who did the best egg, and of course Nick won. Mike got carried away and boiled two dozen eggs for the three of us…we’re still eating eggs.
When it was time for bed Nicky wanted to leave out some carrots for the Easter Bunny which we thought was a really cool tradition to start. Who would of thought to feed the Easter Bunny, I mean we do leave out cookies for Santa so it is only fair to leave carrots for the bunny.
The Easter Bunny left some plastic eggs outside Nicky’s bedroom door, however Nicky didn’t see them when he woke up but he did come running into our room to let us know that the Easter Bunny came, and when we asked how he knew he said because he saw him hopping down the road…that concerned us a bit but stranger things have happened in the neighborhoods we’ve lived in.
Of course we had to get up and collect the eggs that the bunny dropped and then hunt for our baskets, that silly bunny was real good at hiding them in the house. Once Nick found his then he helped Mike and I look for ours, he was very happy to help and even more eager to help us eat the candy at 7am, there was no healthy breakfast that morning but have no fear he made up for it.
After a while of playing and eating candy I pushed Mike and Nicky out of the house and made them go to the playground while I caught up on some stuff around the house. They made it a very short trip both of them came busting through the door after being gone for about 20 minutes and started to complain that it was only 35 degrees outside and the wind was blowing really hard. Oh well quality time alone is overrated anyhow.
We went to my mom’s house for dinner and spent a few hours there and then came back home. Mike and I were busy in another room while Nicky was watching a cartoon on TV and very quiet I may add. This�should of worried me but I just assumed he was really into the cartoon, when in reality he was into all the rest of the chocolate that he got from the Easter Bunny and Grandma. He crashed real hard that night, like he pulled an all nighter drinking. He’s still eating Easter candy only we control the amount he’s allowed to eat in one sitting, we’d hate to see him start a 12-step program for CA (candy annonymous).
We finally finished painting his playroom this past weekend (April 19, 2009), it came out so good. Here are a couple of pictures of the room. Check out the Photo Album link for a the rest of the pictures
A piece of advice for all who read this, pass it on to all your friends, relatives and neighbors.
It’s spring now and besides all the flowers blooming, trees blossoming, and the temperatures warming the ducks will be flying. Coming from the south to invade the north again.
In flocks, huge flocks. Enormous flocks.
So don’t walk gingerly. Run. Did you hear me RUN!
Carry an umbrella, and no matter what you do, don’t look up and don’t keep your back to them.
…Or else you never know what might happen.
Such a short period of time and it’s seems like a lot has happened. I finished my classes this past weekend, Easter Sunday to be exact. I’m still waiting for my grade from Macroeconomics but in my IS class my final grade was an A-. I got the list of classes offered for the summer and now I’m undecided if I want to take 1, 2 or no classes.
Last week started Passover and Nick had off from daycare on Thurday and Friday. Thursday he spent at Grandma’s house and was looking forward to it all week. Grandma took him for a ride to the store and they went for a walk and had a great day together.
I was off from work on Good Friday so Nicky and I spent the whole day together while Mikie slept. We went out for brunch at Camilles Sidewalk Cafe, great food by the way. Then we went the Strong Children’s Museum which was so over crowded with kids who also had the day off; picture 100 children hyped up on corn syrup running and screaming, we only spent a few hours there, my head started to spin.
I was going to stop at the store to get Mike something for Easter when Nicky quickly reminded me that we don’t give presents the Easter Bunny give baskets of candy and eggs; being corrected I decided that I shouldn’t go to the store. Nick was right the Easter Bunny did bring us all baskets full of candy and eggs and toys…he loved it. Instead of the store we went to the playground for a while until it was time to go to the theatre to see Monsters vs Aliens in 3D, it was so good so make sure you see it.
We started to paint the spare bedroom which will be Nicky’s playroom with any luck we’ll have it finished this weekend. I’ve been putting it off all week since I painted the clouds on the ceiling. We’ve been walking up to the playground all week and then too lazy to paint when we get back, I planned it that way.
Same sex marriage has now been legalized in Vermont and in Iowa which I have to say the midwest passing really shocked me and a number of other folks as well, although after reading Iowa was the first state to legalize interracial marriages as well. New York is sending the marriage bill to legislation now and with any luck it will pass and with any luck Nicky’s parents will get married…finally after a very long engagement 10 years to be exact.
Glad the weekend is finally here, I’m hoping Nicky wants to sleep in, until noon would be great but I’ll settle for 8AM. Oh well ta for now.
This past weekend we finally finished painting Nicky’s bedroom, which in my opinion came out so cool, it took us about three weeks to paint and worth every minute to see the final project. He totally loves it and can’t wait now till we finish his playroom. Hopefully that one will be a lot quicker than the bedroom although we don’t have too many ideas for that room.
Got a call from Bob a couple weeks ago and told me he had an early birthday present for Nicky; ticket to see “When Elmo Grows Up” at the Auditorium Theatre on the 21st. I had wanted to take Nick but didn’t have a chance to get tickets for it, thank goodness for Bob. It was Nick’s first live performance and he loved the entire show…oh yeah the cotton candy was a huge hit also but Elmo, he was way better. Nicky decided he wants to be a dragon when he grows up, defiantly more adventurous than what we do for a living.
Afterwards we took Bob out for Chinese which broke our diets, however delicious and worth every moment of getting up all night to get a glass of water to rehydrate myself from the salty feeling I had from dinner.
When we finished with dinner we went shopping to pick up a couple of electric heaters, which of course were no where to be found. The control panel in our furnace went out and needed to be replaced so we spent most of the weekend away from the house where the temperatures were between 55 and 66, yes brrrrr was the phrase of the day until Monday afternoon when the man came to replace the panel and “Viola!” we had heat again.
First of all happy first day of spring!!
With Nicky birthday happening in about 6 weeks I need to start planning. We decided not to do a kiddie party this year and possibly do it next year for his 5th birthday. This morning at breakfast Mike had asked what he wanted for his birhtday, he came out with “a rabbit,” I asked him earlier in the week and the answer I got wasn’t too much different.
He is starting to switch his birthday ideas from toys to things that are living and breathing; a mole, a bird, a cat, a rabbit, I think we will, in time, be home to a mini zoo. I told him once he stops wearing pull ups at night he can have a cat…he was dry again this morning. BTW I’m not a cat person, I don’t remember to feed the fish or the dog or water the plants, do we really need another pet or another house plant?