Back to work tomorrow

It's 11:50PM and I should be sleeping, I have to go back to work tomorrow - my maternity leave is up. Lucky for me (I"m not feeling very lucky right now) I'll have a short work week and Monday is labor day. Joey and Christina will have had 4 days in daycare this week and then a long weekend with mommy and daddy, and hopefully big sissy, much better than getting thrown back into everything on a Monday. My heart hurts. I wonder who will get sick first.

Kid's first day at daycare

Well I had to take the kids to daycare today after the most wonderful 12 weeks of my life. I don't start work for a couple of days but I had to go work on the condo I used to live in so Joe and I can sell it. (that could be another blog - why not to own rental properties). Joey was sobbing when I left Goddard School - on the way there he kept saying "BYE BYE - BOUNCE?" because he thought we were going to the bouncy place. I knew he would be ok, which he was, he ate all his lunch, took his two hour nap, and played. When I picked him up he seemed fine. I hated leaving Christina, she's just so little, when I got her home she cried at every little noise (which was a lot of crying, since Joey is pretty noisy), and was a little fussier than usual.

They were there for 9 hours today, way too long. So now I'm stress eating cookies, even though I have been dieting and keep reminding myself of how I looked pre-kids and how I would like to be that thin again.

So this is what Joey and I did this evening after his dinner of hotdogs and ketchup, yogurt, and carrots (the guilty mom dinner - what Joey wants Joey gets). We put together what he called "my track" out of foam alphabet blocks and he drove his tractor on it and ran up and down.



Here is Joey holding Christina's hand...I think he missed her today

Daddy Work Tools

When Joe is home and trying to work (he works from home when he's here and unfortunately the rest of the time he is out of town) - he works in the basement. Reason being, I am currently home on maternity leave, Joey wants Daddy to play with him and doesn't understand that Daddy has to work, a little inconvenient when Joe is constantly on the phone. So he moved his office to the basement.

When Joe retreats to the basement, we tell Joey "Daddy is going to work with his tools" since Joey is a tool / fix-it crazy little boy. He gets all excited and goes to collect his own tools (plastic - hammer, pliers, wrench, measuring tape, etc) and keeps repeating "Daddy work tools", like he understands that Daddy is doing something very important. Then I spend the afternoon with Joey fixing various things around the house that are broken (Joey's choo choo, the child proof gates, the baby swing etc - they're not really broken but we pretend so we can fix them).

So one day when Daddy was out of town and we were missing him very badly, I took this picture and sent it to him.

The Elmo Doctor

A few days ago I had to take Joey to the ENT specialist for a checkup, he had ear tubes put in over a year ago due to chronic ear infections. The right tube is out, the left one is working it's way out. Anyway, I kept talking to Joey in the car on the way there about "joey's ear doctor". When we got there, the doctor looked in each of Joey's ears and said "Is Elmo in your ear?". Joey was very still like he thought Elmo might really be in there. Then when it was all done he got an Elmo sticker (non-toxic, he lifted up his shirt so his sticker went on his belly, I am still trying to wash off all the glue). So all the way home I heard Joey say over and over "more doctor? more Melmo doctor?" (he says melmo instead of elmo). How cute, should have gotten a picture of his sticker.

About Me

My name is Cathy and I am a lucky lucky mom to two BEAUTIFUL children, Joey who is 22 months old, and Christina, almost 3 months old. I also have an INCREDIBLE stepdaughter, Emily, who is almost 13 years old. I am creating this blog to keep my friends and family updated on what is going on in our children's lives, and what is going on in our lives (which would be our children's lives), and to create an online diary of all the cute things they say and do.

A little about me...I am in the AMA club (some of you will know what that is). I had Joey at age 39, one week before my 40th birthday, and Christina at age 41. I was divorced at age 37 and never thought I would ever get re-married, much less have TWO children. I met my husband Joe online and we had our first date at Bahama Breeze. He wanted our initial meeting to be dinner, I just wanted to meet for a drink. I had two drinks and we saw each other all the time after that. We did things a little backwards, we honeymooned in Maui, bought our house, and were expecting a baby all before we were married. We've been married now a little over two years and boy have we had a lot going on. Two kids, a new house, and two new jobs. How quickly life can change.



My son Joey is very very smart, he's not even two yet and he's figured out all the childproof locks - so I've had to install the magnetic ones. He talks up a storm and repeats a lot of what we say, word for word. He loves Elmo and Big Bird, and is starting to learn his colors and numbers (thanks for the help PBS). He also loves choo choo's and has endless energy.



My daughter Christina is absolutely beautiful, She has darker hair and a darker skin tone but looks like Joey. She's about 13 lbs and I think she's going to be smart too. I'm glad they are close in age, Joey calls her "my baby" and kisses her and holds her hand all the time.

My stepdaughter Emily is fantastic, she's a straight A student and involved in drama and band. She's also played soccer and has been in cheerleading. I think she's got a bright future ahead of her. She is so good with Joey, she taught him to play hide and seek one of the last times she was over.

So I think I am one of the luckiest women on the planet, I have a wonderful loving husband and great kids. Not a bad commute to work, and a nice house. How much better than that can it get?