Happy Birthday Baby Bro!

Today my baby brother is 22. Happy birthday David! So cute in his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sweater!

Weekend in NH

We are back from our weekend away to NH. We had a great time. The purpose for the trip was so that the Doc and I could go out on a date. With no family here, we have no one to watch David so he comes everywhere with us. It was nice to have a night out. We left for NH on Friday night around 6:30 so we decided it would be late enough by the time we hit NY to take the GW. It actually wasn't bad, there were a few slow spots but nothing that slowed us down too much. We figured we'd be making great time since we didn't have to take the Tappen Zee. Anyway by the time we hit CT we were stopped. I know I have said this before but I HATE CT. Every time we drive through CT it seems there is a problem. If it isn't the traffic then it's a monsoon. It was 9:30pm by the time we got there it made no sense to me why there was so much traffic that late at night...it was so bad I could've walked faster. So we arrived in NH at 12:30am and of course because David had slept the entire car ride he was wide awake when we got there. Thankfully it only took me an hour to get him to go back to sleep! Saturday morning we gave David a bath in MIL's kitchen sink...he still doesn't quite like the bath. After he was cleaned and dressed we went to visit with family. We took lots of pictures and they all came out great!

David with Auntie Robyn


David with Uncle John


David with Uncle David and Auntie Krystal


David with his Cousin Scottie


David with his Papa and David with his Grammy


After that we went back to MIL's to get ready for our date! She was our babysitter along with Auntie Kristin. For the most part David was on his best behavior but they did get a glimpse of Fussy McCrankypants! On our date we went to see The Prestige. Going to a movie is not something we can do with David so it was nice to be able to go and get popcorn and see what ended up being a really great movie! After that we grabbed a bite to eat. It was really a nice night out!


The Doc and I ready for our big date!


On Sunday we went to P. Buttercup's new house! They've lived there since August and we just haven't had the chance until now to see it! It's a great place and our new home away from home! Not sure how poor Simba and Darla felt about all the commotion. There was a battle between Simba and David and we're pretty sure Simba won this time - I mean, afterall, he did have the advantage of being mobile! It was a fun time hanging with them the Stacks and Eric. No Sunday this time of year would be complete without the Patriots! It was the perfect end to a perfect weekend. Beer, Football and good friends!

The Family ready for the game!

Shopping for Boys:

What is the deal with shopping for baby boys? I have been to Target, Old Navy, The Children's Place, Carter's, OshKosh B'Gosh and Babies R Us and I can't seem to dress my child unless I wish to dress him like the picture on the left. So instead our poor child is wearing onsies and pajamas. Old Navy is the best for casual wear but I hate spending 15 bucks on a pair of khaki pants that he will not be able to wear that long. Not to mention that the legs are so long the Doc calls them his "Grandpa Pants".

That is why I am so excited that I am going to have a baby niece that I can shop for! My brother John and his girlfriend Kim are expecting a baby girl Savannah Nicole on February 23! It's going to be hard going into the baby stores now that there is going to be a girl in the family.

I am also going to be getting another nephew my brother David and his girlfriend Krystal are expecting a baby boy Cohen Michael on March 7th. My word of advice is please don't put him in Teddy bears and Plaid it's NOT cute! I must say that while it takes a lot of time searching you can find some cute outfits. It's just not the same as shopping for a little girl!

So congrats to both of my brother's can't wait to spoil them!

Bitter Sweet!

12 weeks goes by fast. A week from Wednesday I will be returning back to work. That means we will be sending David to daycare. We chose the Brightside Academy Center. There are several locations in Philadelphia but the one we chose is about a mile form our home. It's nice because it's close to the EL and so I can park my car right in front of the center for the day. Today was David's first day. We are easing him into going by doing some half days and then by the end of this week he'll stay for the full day.

This morning I dropped David off at 7:20am. I met his teacher and she assured me he would be fine. It must have been very obvious that it was my first time leaving my little guy. She humored me when I kept rambling! So it was a bitter sweet day. Bitter because I hated leaving him and sweet because he'll get to be around other kids and play! The last thing I want is for David to only want to be around mommy and daddy. I didn't even cry when I left! I think it was because he didn't cry. He was so good. He was laughing and cooing at the teacher! He is such a good little guy! I enjoyed my morning off by catching up on some zzzz's. Tomorrow I will tackle some housework!

Temper Tantrum:

Yesterday David and I went to the supermarket to pick up some ingredients for dinner - I know what your thinking...your thinking I can't believe they are actually cooking. It's true and it's all thanks to Rachael Ray's 30 minute meals...she's a lot crazy but her recipes are to use her word YUMMO! But I digress...so back to the supermarket story.

I went to a different supermarket to check out their international food aisle (I was on a mission for Mango Chutney) because the Ghettomarket near our house well it's ghetto and has a small international food aisle. Those of you who remember CUSTEAUS MARKET it's sort of like that. I digress again...the point is I hadn't been to this market before and not familiar with the aisles. That meant I had to go up and down each aisle, something I LOVE to do...call me crazy but that is why I don't go grocery shopping with the Doc unless I have to. He doesn't let me enjoy the aisles. I must have a list and he gives me a time limit.

So I am walking past one of the aisles and I started to turn to go down until I saw something that made me change my mind. I heard it beforehand but it's nothing until you actually see it with your own eyes. There was a little girl no more than five years old, lying on her belly, on the dirty supermarket floor kicking her legs up and down and slamming her fist to the ground screaming bloody murder at the top of her lungs. I tried not to stare but I couldn't help it...this is something you see on TV not in real life.



I pictured that being me someday and I laughed...not my David...he is too cute and sweet to pull a stunt like that. I mean just look at that innocent face! I asked my mom if I ever did that to her and she said no - thank goodness. How embarrassing - although the mother didn't seem to pay her much attention. I would've be mortified if it were me.

Birthday Wishes!

Why is David so happy? Well today is Brady's first birthday and he is just so excited and wanted to wish him a happy birthday! Happy Birthday Philly Style! Your first cheesesteak will be on us!

Maddie and The Great Pumpkin

Now this is what I miss about NH. I have to say that it's been so warm here and everything is still green around us that I forget it's fall. I am glad to have this as a reminder. Can you believe we're already in the middle of October and little Maddie is six months old...

Watch out Ben - she'll be dating before you know it!

Shots and Little Old Ladies

Today was David's two month check up at the doctors office. His latest stats are: 12lbs 15oz & 22.5" all within the average standings! My peanut is getting so big. He also had his shots today and he was a champ! The first one didn't phase him but the second two had him a teensy bit upset! He was fine after about 30 seconds!

Before his appointment I gave David a bath and like always he started to cry...you can tell from the picture he's not real fond of the tub. The nice thing about today though was he stopped crying after a while instead of crying the whole time...maybe he's finally getting used to his tubby time!

The weather has been gorgeous recently. I even turned my A/C back on today because it's so warm....with the exception of Friday and Saturday of last week it has been pretty warm...high 70's. So we usually just keep David in a onsie so he doesn't sweat to death. Well wouldn't you know that twice last week while at the supermarket two old ladies felt the need to comment..."he's going to catch cold" or "don't keep your stroller closed up he won't get any air"...Um hello...it's not air tight or anything...

I am sure they mean well but it's annoying...First of all I cover his legs with a blanket and second babies are no different than you or me...the rule of thumb is if you're comfortable then the baby is comfortable...but thanks for saying I am a bad mother...

Oh and if you see a woman pushing a baby stroller around at a store...don't ask if there is a baby in there...of course there is you dumbass...I mean no there isn't - I just like to push baby strollers around stores because it's fun. Go buy yourself one of those t-shirts that says "I'm with stupid" only change the arrow so it points up.

2 Months!

Well we survived two whole months of parenthood. Here is a 2 minute picture slideshow that caputres David in the last two months. I know it's long but David is so damn cute you won't even notice how long it is! (wink)

A Day of Celebrations!

Happy Birthday I.A.! You've finally caught up with the rest of us geezers! Look how happy he is to be 27! So young and vibrant in his table cloth resembling shirt (don't worry I won't tell anyone that that picture was taken 6 years ago - wink, wink). My only question is - do you still own that shirt?!! And FYI - I am a big fan of clean shaven I.A. - there is a silly rumor going around that you're going back to the beard...DON'T DO IT!! I should do a retrospective of the many faces of I.A. - it could make for a very interesting blog piece...haha! Anyway happy birthday from all of us out here in Philly!


Today is not only I.A.'s birthday but it's also Brian and Erica's third anniversary. This picture was taken in 1997 at our senior prom back when Brian had some hair! I could do a retrospective on Brian's hair loss 1994 to the present...another intersting blog piece!! Most of you probably don't remember what he looks like with hair so I thought I would remind you with this throwback to the 90's picture! So Happy Anniversary...ship the kid off to the grandparents and enjoy a nice evening out!

We Can Dance...

Today I was a little bored and decided to do this video clip. He loves this bouncy chair and he will kick his feet while sitting and move his hands around. You could say he is "dancing" and when you put the video clips in fast motion one could argue he's a dancing machine! I am warning you it's really cheesy but enjoy!

David goes to IBC

Today David and I went for a visit to my work to meet my co-workers. Of course they all thought he was just adorable!! Since the only clothes that fit him are his onesies and his pajamas we went and bought a pair of khaki pants at Old Navy yesterday for the occasion! Isn't he handsome! He was on his best behavior at IBC mostly sleeping but he did wake up for everyone to see his cute smile!

When we got home I decided to ask David how his day was...the video captures the entire conversation. Obviously he can't really tell me about his day but what makes this clip so cute is that his babble actually sounds like the real words. When I ask him how his day was his babble sounds really close to "it was good" and then when I tell him to say bye it sounds like he says bye!! Maybe it's just me but I swear it's true, but again I leave it up to you to decide!

*video edited for optimal cuteness!

Something to Brighten Your Day!

Can you believe that our little David is now 7 Weeks old?! Holy crap where did the time go?! This update includes a new video as you can see from the title he gets the hiccups a lot but that doesn't stop him from getting the giggles. It's been edited down to show only the cute stuff! My favorite part is when he makes a dolphin sound at the end. At least that's what it sounds like to me it could be a mouse sound...I leave it up to you to decide!

In other news, and I am hoping that I am not jinxing myself by mentioning it, David slept for 5-1/2 hours straight the last two nights! I am not sure, this could be a fluke or a stroke of good luck, but it seems as if he is starting to come up with some sort of schedule! I am not going to get too excited just yet! He is also smiling and laughing more and more everyday!





The Doc and I had a discussion the other night about how you don't realize just how much having a baby interferes with your everyday life. Even watching your favorite TV show becomes a challenge. While I wouldn't trade this for the world it was just an interesting observation that we made!! So I have decided to come up with a list of things that change once you have a baby even typing this blog post is a challenge!! Check it out below:

P. Sophie's Top 5 Things A Baby Changes:

1. Sleep - forget about ever getting a good night sleep again...EVER! When you have a baby (especially if you're nursing as I am) remember the baby makes the schedule. So you can just forget about the days of sleeping in until noon because those days are now OVER!

2. Eating - whether it's eating a home cooked meal, ordering take-out or even being brave and going to a restaurant...how you eat will never be the same.

Trying to cook a meal becomes a challengebecausee it's either I wait for the Doc to come home or hope that David will nap long enough so that I can be in the kitchen. And when he naps long enough for me to cook the food...guess who wakes up just in time for me to eat the food and wouldn't you know he's hungry too!

Ordering take-out usually is a little easier but again if the baby is awake and I ordered a tasty Italian Hoagie for dinner...I have to wait until I can put the baby down to eat it.

The Restaurant is the most fun/challenging because while the little angel falls asleep during the car ride over to the restaurant he will most likely wake up at some point during the meal. And while he is sleeping you're holding your breath the whole time hoping that he won't wake up so you can finish your tasty cheeseburger and fries without having to take him out of his seat and bounce him. So while it can be done (we do it all the time) it is very different than when it was just the two of us!

3. Watching Television/Movie - Unless you have TiVo or any other DVR be prepared to be interrupted at some point. The Doc and I hope that if David is going to be fussy that he will fuss on a commercial but that wasn't the case during the last 5 minutes of House last night. My secret trick (which doesn't always work) is to nurse him during the show! A movie is easier because it can be paused but that just means it takes longer to watch. For example the Doc and I are trying to catch up on Season 2 of Lost and so while we can pause the DVD it takes over an hour to watch 42 minutes of show.

4. Shopping - used to be just pick up and go. Not anymore. It's feed the baby before we go, get him into is car seat, grab the diaper bag, put the baby into the car (while he is usually fussing), hope he falls asleep in the car (which he usually does) and go! Once we get to the store/mall and get him into the stroller it's pray he doesn't wake up and start screaming! Now the advantage to nursing is that you don't have to worry about bottles but if your not very good at it like me, nursing in public can be awkward. If I have to feed him while I am out I usually do it in the car and that just means I have to take him out of his car seat and go to the car (very time consuming).

5. Personal Hygiene - the days of taking a nice long hot shower are now gone. If he is sleeping I worry he will wake up and if he is awake I have to sit him in his bouncing chair and hope he doesn't start fussing. There were even a couple days I was so tired I didn't get to brush my teeth - know, your thinking how gross - and it is, but it happened to be on a day that I didn't sleep much and I crashed on the couch all day and slept in between David's feedings - believe me if you were as tired as I was I don't think clean teeth would've be a high priority to you either.

So there you have it - the top five things that have changed for us in the last 7 weeks - more for me than the Doc because I am pretty sure his patients wouldn't like it if he hadn't brushed his teeth and took a nice long hot shower. And as long as David gets his num nums and his diapers are changed regularly he doesn't care if I have stinky breath! There are other things too but those are the big ones. I suppose our circumstance makes it a little harder since the Doc has an unconventional work schedule and we're away from friends and family. But we're surviving and the cute pictures that you see make it so much easier! Although, it would be nice to have the grandparents close by for babysitting so we can go on a date once in a while. It's not easy to keep the romance alive when you smell like spit-up (wink)!!!

New Kid on the Block:

On Sunday we introduced David to Brady. Brady didn't quite know what to think and tried to pat his head and instead whacked him...it was cute. It was funny to see the two next to each other. I mean Brady is almost a year so of course he is going to be bigger but just seeing it in person was too funny! We figured that it's the GIANT head that makes the difference! Check out the cute picture:

My Little Angel:

This past weekend we were in NH for David's baptism. What a wonderful weekend it was. It was nice to see family and friends and introduce our little guy to everyone. We got into town at about 2am. We left Philly around 8:30pm because we were picking up our new car!! We are now the proud owners of a 2007 Toyota Corolla. Saturday morning I got some "me" time and was able to spend the rest of the weekend off duty from being a Mommy (with the exception of feeding time!) I enjoyed every minute of it! Put a baby in a room full of family and friends and I didn't have to hold him once!

On Sunday we had our baptism ceremony. It was really nice and David was an angel. He slept the entire mass and even when the pastor poured the water over his head. His baptism gown is made from my wedding dress. It even includes a cute little bow tie at the top. The woman who made it did a wonderful job, he looked like a little angel. After the ceremony we held a reception back at MIL and FIL's. It was really nice. My Aunt made homemade meatballs and baked ziti and we ordered cold cut platters and mini sandwiches. We couldn't have asked for a better day, it was absolutely gorgeous outside.

Thanks to everyone who was there to share it with us!

David's First Babble!

Tomorrow David will be 5 weeks old and yesterday we went to the doctor for a one month weight check and wouldn't you know our little porker gained exactly two pounds since his birth. David is now 10lbs 2oz. He is also a lot more alert and awake during the day so we try to spend some time with him on Gymini Super Deluxe Light and Music activity mat. He is also starting to babble more. It's so cute. I was able to get a couple babbles on video and just had to share.

David's Birth Story:

Today marks David's 1 month birthday! I can't believe it has already been a month. I am still tired although some days are better than others. I have spent most of my days on the couch watching TLC all day long. On the good days where I actually get a little sleep we will go out for a drive or a walk. Some days I envy the Doc when he leaves for work because he is able to be with adults and have adult conversations. David is cute and all but our conversations are pretty much one sided!!

On Monday we will go back to the pediatrician to see how much he has grown over the last four weeks. The way he has been eating lately I would guess that he is upto 9lbs - but who knows! To mark this milestone - I have finally finished his birth story and even included some video clips from our birth video. Enjoy!

David Charles Birth Story

We arrived at the Hospital at 9:15am - we were scheduled for 7:30am but they had a full house at the time so they asked us to come in later. We sat in the waiting room until 10:30, at which point the charge nurse came and told us that they still had no rooms available - instead, she put us in a recovery room just so she could get us set up. I changed into the gown and she proceeded to put in my IV and take my blood pressure etc. We finally got to our room around noon time. The nurse hooked me up to all the monitors and then we waited for the doctor to come and check me so that they could come up with a game plan for the induction process. I was 3-4cm dilated and 2cm effaced so they opted to only use Pitocin - I wouldn't need Cervidil.

At 1:15pm they started the Pitocin - the labor has now begun. I would say that I started to feel the contractions soon after. Nothing that was painful, but I could tell when they happened and it was confirmed by the monitors. They would check the progress every two hours. It was slow going and by 5pm as the nurse increased the amount of Pitocin in my IV to the point at which it was no longer very comfortable. I had declared early on that I wanted an epidural, and at this point we reminded the nurse. She told me she wouldn't increase the pitocin any more until the epidural was in, and that she would get the anesthesiologist to put it in. It turns out, however, that we had to wait for the doctors OK to have the anesthesiologist set up the epidural. It ended up being almost a four hour wait. My anesthesiologist was really cool, though. He got it in and I was so happy. I felt like I could fly! I got my second wind and so with that I tried to nap because we both knew that we were not going to have this baby on Tuesday. With the epidural in place they began to increase the Pitocin every 15 minutes but since I couldn't feel the contractions anymore I was happy!

At 1am after another check from the resident I was still stalled at 5cm. I was very discouraged because I was tired and I couldn't seem to get comfortable and just wanted it to be over. The decision was made to break my water. As soon as she did it I felt a surge of pain - it sucked. I was not happy anymore. Apparently, when the epidural was placed it came out a bit when the anesthesiologist pull the guide needle out, so the positioning was less than ideal, a situation that was coming back to bite me. My two awesome nurses (one was in training) paged the anesthesiologist and he came and gave me a boost in my epidural. In about 2o minutes I felt some relief.

At 3am I was still at 5cm - I couldn't believe what I was hearing but the resident told me that since I was fully effaced that she would expect more change in the next two hours. Well, she wasn't kidding; after about an hour of feeling this intense pressure the resident come back to check me and told me that I had gone from 5cm to 8-9cm. I was so happy I started to cry. By about a half hour later the pressure was so intense that I told the nurse that it felt like I may have to push soon. She paged the resident again and sure enough I was ready to go - fully dilated and fully effaced! She had to go get permission from the doctor (I was considered a "private" patient) but that she bet I could start pushing soon.

The chief resident came in at 4:30 and said that he had a message for me from our doctor (he was a really funny guy) - he said the message was "wow, and go ahead and start pushing!" I thought that this would be over in no time. I couldn't have been more wrong. Two and a half hours later the Doctor came in to check on me and said that everything was fine and I was pushing well. I was having some decelerations in the fetal heart rate, but that was likely from the baby getting his head squished on the way out. They put a nasty O2 mask on my face (Charlie was a bit annoyed that they didn't have any nasal cannula on the floor) and had me not push every contraction to keep my baby's heart rate up. The doctor also told me that if anything went wrong he was far enough out that they could have him out in about a minute. That sounded nice because I was exhausted. I think I may have even zoned out in between contractions.

He came back 15 minutes later and told me that they were going to get the baby out "now". He had a vacuum in hand, and they turned the room into a delivery room. All I remember was a lot more people were in the room and I just kept on pushing. The head came out and the baby was delivered about 5 minutes later! It turned out that the real reason for the vacuum was because his heart rate went from 140's to 80-60s and wasn't going back up. Poor guy! The last 20 minutes were awful; it wasn't the pushing or the baby coming down - I got a leg cramp so bad that after each contraction I remember screaming "rub my leg, rub my leg!" and after three hours of intense pushing we had a baby!

Happy Birthday John!

Happy Birthday little brother! The Big 25! Hope it was a good one!

Mood Swings:

Below you will see two pictures of our little peanut...take a guess at which baby we like better?!

Happy Birthday To Me:

So today is my birthday. I am 27 today. How did I celebrate you ask? Sitting on my couch in my normal position with a baby in my lap. We did however get out today to pick up lunch from the Cheesecake Factory and finished our Season Two DVD of House, M.D. - awesome show by the way. I am a slave to David's schedule and wouldn't you know that it's different every day! Did I mention I miss my sleep?! My Dad says that this is it...no more ever feeling like my old self again. Until this child moves out on his own my days of a goodnight sleep are officially over. I don't remember signing up for that! (wink).

At least I got my cake this year! Well it was cheesecake but it's good enough for me!

Oh yeah - and a happy anniversary wish to P. Bride and her man...the days of being a newlywed are now over! Can't believe it's been a year already! Someday this will be you! Wait as long as you can!!!!!!! Just kidding!