Dusting this off...

Since I'm going to be blogging at work, I think it's time to dust off this old blog that's been inactive since 2006. Plus, this gives me a place to jot down my thoughts and it was pretty interesting to read my posts from 2005 and 2006. LOL

No need at all to re-hash the past 2 years since my last blog post. Let's just go forward.

This weekend, we went down to the Cape to Scott's parents' house and went out on their boat. LD ("Little Dude" for those who are new to the blog) had such a good time. He thought it was hilarious when the speed boat revved up and we hit choppy waves. Luckily, I had a blast as well -- which is pretty huge, since I've known Scott for 13 years and have only been out on the boat twice in that time frame -- last year and this year. I had a bout with motion sickness while on a whale watch during college, so I've always thought that being on their boat would make me sick and just wouldn't go each time. Wimpy wimpy wimpy.

But, last year, LD really wanted to go out on the boat with his cousins and I didn't want to stay behind while he was out on the water. So, I went... and I had a blast. Insert the image of me kicking myself all over creation here for wasting years when I could have been enjoying the boat.

<-- This isn't Scott's parents' boat, but it says "Great Scott" on it, so of course I had to grab a picture while we were out on the boat yesterday.

This year, Scott's parents bought a smaller boat (rising costs of gas and all that), but it was just as fun as last year. We were out on the water for close to three hours and just had such a good time. LD even said he wants a boat of his own. Sure, I'll get right on that. ;) I asked him if he wanted a baby brother or sister (adding a disclaimer -- no baby brother or sister in the near or not so near future! A baby cousin is fine for now.) or a boat. He thought about it for a moment and said "a boat"! Hah

Santa's not coming to town...

because he's already here!

Went out to dinner Friday night with some college friends to a local mall. While waiting for the girls to arrive, Barbara (a friend I had driven down with since we live near each other) and I roamed through the mall. To what to our wondering eyes did appear but Santa Claus all dressed up in his red suit and sitting in his "workshop" for pictures.

This was November 10th. Isn't that a bit early for Santa to be arriving at malls for pictures? I could have sworn that usually Santa arrives at the mall the weekend after Thanksgiving, or at least the day after Thanksgiving -- not weeks ahead of Thanksgiving. It was quite crazy.

On a good note, though, a lot of stores are having "Christmas" sales, and I picked up a gift for Scott (that I won't disclose since he reads this) on Sunday while at yet another mall.

Whale Trail

Haven't posted here in quite a while, but wanted to tell you all about this great art exhibit that's been going on on the Cape this summer. In fact, it ends this weekend (on the 2nd), so if you haven't had a chance to see it, go this weekend!

Titled The Whale Trail, this exhibit consists of 58 whale sculptures situated throughout the Cape and Islands. I've seen the ones that are in Hyannis and Chatham, including one adorable one in Chatham modeled after Wally the Green Monster from the Red Sox -- named Whaley The Green Monster. These whales are just adorable and draw quite a crowd.

The whale sculptures are all up for auction and benefits charities and local artists.

Make sure you hit the Cape by Saturday of this weekend (the 2nd of September) to check out these great whales.

The wit and wisdom of LD

The LD ("little dude" for those new to my blog) has been cracking me up the past couple of days, so I thought I'd share the two most amusing statements...

Last night, LD came home from daycare with some pictures cut out of a magazine that were taped onto a piece of paper. He said that at daycare, he used scissors and a magazine. Hmm, who knew LD could use scissors? I remember learning that for the first time in kindergarten -- and with thoose charming green scissors no less since I'm left-handed. Anway, in order to help him learn how to use scissors further, we went to Tarjay and got him some scissors (and of course two Matchbox cars too). When he took the scissors from the shelf, he said "no cutting fingers... cut paper". I was dying. I have a feeling he might have heard that a few times at daycare yesterday using scissors for the first time.

And one from this morning... I was putting on some brown eyeliner this morning. LD was watching me and he said "it's brown on lashes" (close enough). I then went to put the eyeliner back in my purse and he said "smudge!" and rubbed his finger across his eye lid to remind me to smudge the eyeliner in case I forgot I guess. He kills me. Funny, funny guy! Future makeup artist or Fashion Police on my hands, I think.

Survived Chuck E. Cheese

Well, I took LD to Chuck E. Cheese for the first time today -- I took a vacation day and LD and I got together with a college friend and her son, who's the same age as LD. I was a bit nervous because LD's never been there before, but he had a BLAST! Our friends had just gotten there when we arrived and they had a table all set. We ordered a large cheese pizza and drinks that came with 30 tokens and then split the tokens between the two of them.

LD rode this Chuck e Cheese car that takes a picture of the kid riding, which was pretty funny. I was cracking up when I saw the picture because he's looking so intently at the steering wheel.

There was skee ball (fun for me!!!) and LD enjoyed it as well -- he would just roll the ball up, and then I'd get it when it came back down and roll it for real.

The pizza when it came out was delish! How bizarre is that? I had no idea. LD was loving it and I had 3 slices (what a piglet!!! ). While we were eating lunch, a real-life (well, as "real-life" as a guy dressed up in a Chuck e cheese outfit can get) Chuck E. Cheese came out to see the kids. LD thought he was great and was waving to him and all excited. Surprised the heck out of me.

Then, after lunch, it was time for more skee ball and playing the games there. There was a train that went around and around when activated by a token. LD loved that one. Then, we played some game where you roll the token down and see where it lands up and you get corresponding .. of tickets from that. On the 4th try, we landed on 70 tickets, so LD got 70 more tickets. He was in heaven watching them all furl out. It was cute!

After that (about an hour and a half after we got there), figured it was time to head out and bring LD home for a nap. We cashed in his tickets and got a Chuck E. Cheese koosh ball and two things of smarties. Fun day. I'm still amazed.

I think I've created a monster though. He's already talking about wanting to go back soon.

RAD.... or not so rad

So, all the coughing that LD had every time he had a cold -- turns out that it wasn't just a cold. Instead, it's something called Reactive Airway Disease (aka "RAD") -- which basically translates to that anytime he catches a cold (or can be caused from allergies, which is highly possible as well), it triggers his respiratory system and becomes like asthma, but strictly cold-induced asthma -- and there's no wheezing, just a constant cold. I was a little confused because I've always thought asthma was just wheezing, but I guess not.

Anyway, after oh, something like 16 trips to his pediatrician in the past 6 months to try and figure out just what the heck was going on, his primary pedi finally figured it out and prescribed an inhaler called Flovent -- this is a different one than the Albuterol he was on before. It comes with this quite nifty chamber and a duck-bill plastic piece that fits over LD's nose and mouth so that he doesn't have to keep his mouth closed while using the inhaler. Instead, the inhalant goes through the chamber and into the plastic piece and then LD just breathes it in for a count of 5. Very easy and not bad at all.

LD was started on it when the last cold started and this one was sooo much better than the previous colds. It's been over a week since that cold started and it's just like anyone else's regular cold now. There's been *no* nighttime coughing and no coughing all the time during the day like there was with the previous, untreated by the inhaler, colds. What a difference!

LD having RAD makes a lot of sense. Every time he was all stuffed up and coughing, the pedi's office would recommend a vaporizer with menthol or eucalyptus in it -- which would help a normal cough, but would instead make his cough even worse. Turns out the menthol/eucalyptus irritates the heck out of the respiratory airway, which makes the coughing even worse. Good to know and bye-bye vaporizer!

We went to a local Festival of Trees yesterday with my parents, sisters, and brother and significant others; and Scott's parents, sister, brother-in-law and our nephews. A great time was had by all. Above is a picture taken there of me, Adam and Scott in one of the trees we loved. Sadly, we didn't win any in the raffle, but we came away with some great ideas for our own tree.

Happy Thanksgiving

Adam's cold became a croupy cough (up all night one night coughing, but thankfully breathing fine) topped off with a double ear infection for good measure. He's been on Amoxicillin for a week now and is doing so much better. That nasty cold/cough that's lasting for 3 weeks plus is really going around -- my sister-in-law's kids both have it as do the kids of a friend of mine. Crazy bugs!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

A new look

Trying out a new look on the old blog. This one reminds me of the Cape, where I grew up. Okay, so I didn't live right on the water like in the picture, but it's the general idea of the Cape.

Not much going on. LD's in the sicky mode again -- this time, it seems to be just a cold (as opposed to allergies, or an ear infection, or early, early stage pneumonia again). He was coughing quite a bit yesterday and last night, but he actually slept pretty good last night. He woke up this morning with a faucet of a runny nose. Poor guy! He was in great spirits though besides that, so off to preschool he went (to infect those he got the cold from in the first place ;) ). Fingers crossed that we don't get a call that we need to pick him up, and that indeed this is just a cold.

And so it begins...

I just signed up to chaperone my son's daycare field trip in a few weeks. Since he's very cautious, I figured that would be a good way for him to enjoy it a bit and be able to go. He's still young for a field trip (3), but since his class is going, I guess there'll be other 3 year olds there as well. It's to a science center since they're learning about dinosaurs, and I predict many requests for dinosaur-themed toys for Christmas.

End of an era

Okay, that's over-dramatizing more than just a bit, but CasualCorner.com is shutting its doors as of November 17th. That was my site to go to for twin sets (yup, just call me Bree from Desperate Housewives -- minus the creepy pharmacist love interest, of course! ) that I always knew would fit. Damn, I'm going to miss that site -- however, they seem to be offering 50% off on everything on the site until they close the site on November 17th, so I know what site I'll be checking out tonight.

Happy Halloween

Dr. LD wishes you all a Happy Halloween. He had a blast trick-or-treating and greeting trick-or-treaters at the door, although I think he now is hoping we'll be going trick or treating every night.

The case of the missing lunch box

Had a lovely parenting freak-out today. Got a call from LD's daycare that his lunch box wasn't there. Hmm... it was with him when he went to preschool this morning. Maybe it somehow didn't make it on to the bus. So, I called preschool and spoke to his teacher, who told me it was in his hands when he got on the bus. Great. Then, I called the bus company and gave them (what I thought was) LD's bus number -- they searched that bus and no lunch box. Then, the daycare director called and mentioned to me that she was a little concerned about the bus company, because on Tuesday, they went to give her the wrong child -- not LD. Errr... not quite what I wanted to hear about the transportation company I entrust with my child three days a week. She said she was concerned about it, and thought it might be worth a call to the school system. I agreed.

I called the school system and spoke to the transportation coordinator there (yes, there actually is such a person with that exact title :) ). He was quite concerned as well that that had happened, especially since LD's bus has only 4 kids on it and is considered a "special needs" bus (LD qualifies for that due to a speech delay and a wee bit of a sensory issue, go figure). So, yeah, even more troubling that the monitor of the bus doesn't have an idea of what kid goes where. He was going to call the school company and see what was going on.

In about a half hour, I got a call back from the transportation coordinator. He talked to the monitor and it turns out it was a simple mistake that was rectified immediately. She said that when they got to daycare, she got up and went to unbuckle the wrong child, but then noticed it right away and then went and unbuckled LD -- at no time were the kids off the bus. That made me feel a bit better, and I have a feeling the daycare director may have been overly cautious, which is fine by me! But, that was quite a fun couple of moments where I had these thoughts going through my head that LD might wind up being given to the wrong daycare or person. Oy!

In related news, I had the wrong bus number and the transportation coordinator had the right one. They checked that bus # and sure enough, the lunch box was still on it, so LD will get it back tomorrow morning -- they'll give the lunch box to his preschool teacher when she gets a child off the bus in the morning.

Nor'easters -- Have to love them

We had a "Nor'easter" today here -- thankfully, it wasn't snow related (too early for that in my world ;) ), which is what I usually think when I hear the term. We did get gale-force winds and plenty of rain. However, said winds knocked out the power to LD's daycare. Greaaat. I got a call at work in the late morning from there and was thrown for a loop a bit because I knew LD was still at pre-school and wasn't even there yet. But, they were calling because they had to close for the day because their power was totally out. I was surprised to hear they didn't have a generator, but maybe they do, and it was knocked out as well. I didn't even think to ask.

Since it was 2 minutes from when LD was going to get on the bus to head from pre-school to daycare, he still took the bus and then daycare kept him there until I got there to pick him up. There were a bunch of other kids still at daycare as well when I got there, so I didn't feel bad.

Thankfully, the power at home wasn't knocked out at all (knock on wood!), so I was still able to work from home. Big phew to that since I'm still training my new editorial assistant as today was only her 2nd day. Kind of bad timing, but thankfully, she got a lot of training yesterday, so I was able to help her out with anything else remotely today. Phew, phew, phew!

Halloween candy be gone

Can't wait for Halloween to be over! LD's dressing up as a doctor, and I'm sure he'll look adorable... but, I will love not having Halloween candy in the house anymore. Specifically, I'll be glad to be rid of those tasty little treats of fun-sized Butterfingers. They're the devil. I'd never tried them until last year's Halloween, because for some reason I thought they'd taste gross. Clearly, that was the wrong judgement because now I can't get enough of them. And, it's just the fun-sized ones. I'm not a big fan of the regular-sized Butterfingers -- too much effort to break them into bite-sized pieces. :D

Yes, yes, it's my own doing that I keep buying these little devils and then eat them. Mind you, I'm not even buying it to give out as treats for Halloween. We already have two bags of 115-count candy from BJ's stashed away -- which is about right since we live in a big family neighborhood and easily pass out 200 pieces of candy each Halloween. So, since we already have Halloween candy, why do I keep buying these? Yup, no will-power whatsoever. Thankfully, Halloween is over in just a little over a week's time and I can stop buying those damnable little pieces of goodness and get back to eating apples as snacks instead.

Okay, and now to catch up besides just this week, since I somehow haven't posted in here since March...

LD is now 3 years old and has started preschool. He's doing great and absolutely loves taking the yellow bus from preschool to daycare three days. He had to leave his little girlfriend (mentioned in a blog back in March) behind at his old daycare, but he has, of course, found new girlfriends at preschool and the new daycare.

Scott started a new job about a month ago that is going great. He loves the company and the people and is doing a fantastic job. Much better than a past gig or two that he had and hated.

As for me, per a recent post (that I pasted in here today from another journal), I'm now a manager. Yup, lil' ol' me is now managing three people. Perish the thought! But I seem to be doing pretty good at it. When I hired on the third person, I went out and bought The One-Minute Manager (great for my ADD ;) ) and The Everything Guide to Managing. Some interesting theories in The One-Minute Manager, but I think I might check out The 30-Minute Manager -- have heard better things about that.

A sweet compliment

Catching up on the past week's events in here:

Saw my husband's aunt and uncle from CA on Monday. His uncle's a plastic surgeon. I haven't seen them in a while and got a great compliment from his uncle -- he said I "looked great". Well, hearing that from a plastic surgeon is a definite high. So glad he didn't think I needed work and tried to slip me his card. :D

A new phrase

LD said "I love you" for the first time last night -- S and I were saying "I love you" to him and he suddenly looked at us, grinned and said "I love you" right back. My heart leaps just remembering it.

LD has a girlfriend

LD has a little girlfriend at daycare. For the past two days, we've dropped him off and one of the little girls has come up to him and handed him his favorite book (a Blue's Clues one -- LD's latest addiction). Then, he sits down at the table happily reads the book. It was cute the first time and adorable the second.

Intro time

I've jumped on the Blog bandwagon. About time, I know.

Brief intro for those who may have found their way here. I'm Mary -- I'm an Editor for an Internet media company. Husband is Scott and we have a son -- to be known here as "LD" for "Little Dude", a nickname that seems to have stuck and a big old dog named Blake.

In here, you'll read about our adventures, or misadventures as the case may be; the ups and downs of toddler life (LD is 2-1/2); and other such stuff.

Welcome!