Excuses for my lack of blogging.....

Excuse #1:

This lovely space is where my blogging used to take place. Now there isn't even space for me to sit on the chair......

Excuse #2:

This little person has decided that he only needs 45 minutes to nap. That is enough time for me to take a shower, dry my hair, put on minimal make-up and prepare my lunch (notice that I don't say EAT my lunch). In the past I could have showered, eaten AND completed a blog posting or two during my 2 hour "break". Not anymore my friends......

One issue is being dealt with. Mike should be getting his own space and moving his home office OUT of our home. Once that day comes, blogging should occur on a much more consistent basis. We hope. OR I am going to start clogging up our apple devices with the numerous amounts of pictures that we take........

Happy Valentine's Day

We celebrated Valentine's Day in a low key way. Being that the holiday fell on a Tuesday, we all had work and Eva's House.

Prior to V-day, Mikey was a busy boy making Valentines for relatives and friends. I didn't get a chance to take a picture of our creative Valentines this year, but I will still talk about them (and if someone wants to capture their Valentine and then email me the photo, I will gladly post it!). The first Valentine was made up of Mikey's handprints. I cut yarn the length of his arms outstretched, from the fingertips on one hand to the other. I stapled the yarn to the hands and wrote on a card:

A Valentine Hug

Wrap these hands around you whenever I'm away,

so you can have a hug from me any time of day!

(courtesy of everything preschool.com NOT an Alli original)

For other family members/friends, we made Mikey's thumb print to look like a bunny, drew a face on it and then wrote "Some bunny loves you". They came out GREAT and Mikey had a lot of fun participating. He really enjoys craft time.

The night of V-day, Mike and I made a surf and turf dinner after Mikey went to sleep. We had a bottle of wine and cupcakes from Party Favors for dessert.

It was a LOVE-LY day!

(The next day was even better when Michael came home with a new iPad for me/us!!)

Speech Update

After working with a colleague from work over the past few months, we all felt it was best to have Mikey officially evaluated in terms of his speech. On Monday (2/13/12) he passed his hearing test. Tuesday (2/14/12) was his evaluation in which it was determined that he qualifies for weekly speech services. Receptively he is understanding everything (following directions, etc.) and his attention is fine, it is just a matter of getting that spontaneous language flowing. As of now we are comfortable going with private speech services and waiting on the public school referral.

Some fun things Mikey is saying now:

1) "It over?" whenever a song is finished or when the credits come on TV for a show or movie;

2) He still loves to say "and Mommy, too" or "and Daddy, too" or "and Mikey, too" even if it isn't true;

3) When I'm cooking something and I tell him what it is he will say he likes that as well.

For example:

Me: "Mommy is cutting up peppers"

Mikey: "I like peppers!!!!" (with this crazy intonation and excitement that can't be captured purely by text alone)

4) His fascination with babysitter and cousin, Emily. When asked who he wanted to invite to his birthday party, Mikey clearly stated: "Em-a-lee";

The one thing I really wish Mikey could communicate is what he does during his time at Eva's House. I want to know everything---what did he eat? did he like it? who did he play with? what did he play with? what songs did they sing/books did they read? did he go on the potty? Now when I ask him he looks away, smiles and doesn't make a peep. I know he knows exactly what I am talking about and so it is frustrating for me that he can't respond. My guess is if I am frustrated, he must be too.

The days of me trying all of my Early Intervention tricks are done and now the real professionals will take over. And I will be the parent that carries over ANY and ALL strategies/recommendations/homework that the speech-language pathologist (SLP) gives us. Take THAT, speech delay!!

SUPER BOWL XLVI

Michael has some great friends. Some of those great friends have great parents. One of those great parents works for the NFL. Thanks to him I was able to attend my second Super Bowl---and see the Giants win both times! Life is good.

We originally requested tickets within minutes of the Giants beating the San Francisco 49ers. We were told that tickets are very difficult to come by once the teams for the Super Bowl have already been determined. There were no guarantees. Damn. THEN......on Wednesday night, February 1st at 11:15pm, Mike's cell phone rang as we were getting ready for bed. It was him. And then the question of the night came, "Are you guys still in?". After me pleading with Michael to take back his answer of "We can't", we left it that we would call him in the morning. Two tickets were up for grabs....and they had my name on them!! Mike and I talked it over and between all of the work he had to do for his business, the fact that it was a last minute decision to find someone to watch Mikey, AND since he had already been to FIVE Super Bowls himself, Michael volunteered to "share the wealth" and suggested I bring my Dad. I was unable to speak to my Dad directly that night (he was out COLD when Mom tried to wake him) but we started the search for airfare and hotel. Two things were learned that night: 1) There was a 12:45 am flight scheduled for right after the game that I knew I wanted to be on and 2) I was NOT spending $2000 on airfare OR $900 to sleep in a Best Western....for one night. The next morning, when Dad was fully coherent, we discussed our options and he gave me the green light to start seriously thinking about going. It was a YES! So I sat with the laptop and finally found the best flight deals to get us to Indy and back.....and it would all take place in a 24 hour period!

On Saturday evening, February 4, Dad came up to Boston. We were in bed by 9:00.

Sunday, February 5 was Super Bowl Sunday! Our alarm clocks woke us at 3:15 and we walked out the door of the apartment at 4am exactly. Our flight was from Providence, RI to Washington D.C. to Indianapolis. The flight left at 6:15 am and we landed in Indy at 10:30am. (It is SO easy traveling with just the clothes on your back. Highly recommend it!)

By 11:15 we were in the lobby of the Hilton hotel where my first celebrity sighting took place----Ann Curry. She looked beautiful and short! After we received our tickets (and tailgate passes--woot!), we explored downtown Indianapolis. We first set out to see the roman numerals in the monument circle area. (I would use street names but they changed all the street names for the Super Bowl---each street was a different NFL team---clever, huh?). From there we tried to stalk the Giants hotel. We first tried a hotel that had lots of the NFL cars parked out front and there was a lot of hustle and bustle going on from the outside. We made our way into the lobby and had our eyes peeled for celebrities---Giants players or otherwise. And then to my left I see a celebrity boxer---Evander Holyfield. (Dad was impressed by my ability to identify people in a millisecond!) Our search continued......and then we found it. I was envisioning it would have been a little less obvious than what we stumbled upon (after all, when you watch the interviews on TV the only location info you get is "Giants Hotel in Indianapolis"). In person there were great big banners of Eli and signs reading "NEW YORK GIANTS" covering the entire front of the hotel. Fans were lined up everywhere and the media crews were setting up their cameras to catch the team as they boarded the bus. Security was obviously tight at the hotel as they didn't let anyone into the lobby unless they had a room key. Although we didn't spot any celebrities, I counted it as a success!

From there we ventured to the NFL Village where there were bands, food, beer, and all sorts of fun activities (zip lines, etc.). We went to the plaza area where they were filming ESPN Sunday NFL Countdown and got to see Keyshawn, Chris Carter ("CC"), Boomer and the rest of the crew. We then got to meet up with two of my "cousins" (cousins are in quotations because they aren't first cousins to me but somehow we are related along the cousin line) who were in town for the game. We caught up with them for close to an hour prior to heading in to the tailgate party. (Quick side note: The weather was in the mid-40s and sunny. Boy were we lucky to be able to enjoy all of the outside festivities with only a light jacket!)

The tailgate was in the Convention Center located directly next door to the Lucas Oil Stadium. We were able to eat, drink and watch the live entertainment of The Fray and Lenny Kravitz. Unlike the Super Bowl in Arizona where Mike and I hung out by the red carpet next to celebrities such as Ryan Seacrest, this red carpet was a bit more secluded. Through the clear glass we were able to see Adam Sandler and Andy Samberg. Later on during the tailgate I caught a glimpse of John Elway, too.

Around 5:15-5:30 we made our way into the stadium. We sat in Row 11, seats 21 and 22. On the end. Directly in the middle of the goal post in the Giants end zone. Perfect. The best part about the seats was you got to see what the players see when they are on the field. It would frustrate me so much during the season to see Bradshaw charge up the middle and get no where. I would often say, "what did he see that made him think that was the best route to take?". On this day I was able to see more clearly why he went the ways he did. Another cool advantage of our seats was the lack of security personnel preventing you from getting the shots you want. I was able to go down to the first row and cheer to the players while they were warming up, waved (and made eye contact) with NFL Commissioner Roger Goddell and also got a glimpse of Tony Dungy. Obviously the first half was intense and we had a feeling that the second half would be that and more. The Madonna halftime show was A-MAZING.....even if she did lip sync it. I found myself watching most of it on the big screen since our seats didn't have the best view of the show, but even still, it was a great show with great guests (LMAFO and Cee Lo Green were awesome!).

We sat amongst other NFL employees in our section. A guy sitting in front of us was in charge of the referees. He was very helpful during the game and we loved asking him questions. He filled us in on a secret (the SB was the last game the referees would be wearing the white knickers. Starting next season they will be wearing black!) and enlightened us on how he got the job with the NFL. Overall, great guy. Partially joking, partially not, I asked him if I could have his number for next season whenever I had a question! Didn't get his digits though.....

We all know how it ended and boy were Dad and I happy! We do not have a good track record of watching the Giants win when we are at the game. After staying through the celebration and taking TONS of pictures, we made our way out of the stadium. We had a flight to catch! Within a few blocks of the stadium we caught a cab and made our way back to the airport. We grabbed some food to eat and waited for our direct flight from Indy to Boston. I don't remember much about that flight (we fell asleep before the plane took off) EXCEPT the fact that Terrell Owens ("T.O.") was on our flight. Random!

We landed at 3-ish in the morning and walked back into my apartment at 4:00am. What a crazy 24 hour period!!

I am so happy and thankful for multiple reasons:

1) The Giants won the Super Bowl (duh!);

2) I got to spend quality time with "Bob";

3) That I have such an amazing husband who not only passed on going to the Super Bowl but volunteered my Dad to go with me! Love you, Michael!

Dad & Madonna

I wonder which hotel the Giants stayed at?!?!?!

Strike a pose.....

ESPN guys (the stadium was directly to our left)

Kieran, Alli and Billy

The Fray

All of the Super Bowl rings---they have gotten more bedazzled as the years have gone by

Love this quote

Warm up

Roger Goddell---NFL Commissioner

I brought Uncle Tom and the entire McDonagh family to the game, too!

YAY! THEY WON!!

Stomach Bug!

Just when we thought things were looking up.......Mikey wakes up with the stomach bug. Awesome.

That brings us to a whopping total of 2 missed My Gym classes and 3 missed swim lessons!

With the weather being so mild this winter I am rather surprised by the constant sicknesses for such a typically healthy boy. No matter who I talk to, it seems like EVERYONE is sick. I was hoping we weren't going to have to go to the doctor until Mikey's third birthday. We made it 10 months. Pretty good, I guess.

Three weeks of being sick and counting. Hopefully this is really it. We have watched every Handy Manny and Chuggington episode "on demand" multiple times as well as all of his favorite Disney movies. We need to get off the couch and out of the house! (The blog is pretty boring when you only talk about being sick!)

Sick again!

For the third time in a week, we returned to the Pediatrician's office to determine why Mikey has such a high fever (while already on antibiotics for last week's ear infection). After two hours and three chest x-rays later, it was determined that Mikey has a virus and we will just have to wait it out. His ears were "perfect" per the Doctor and his eyes are "bedder" (better) per Mikey.

Hopefully healthier days are on the horizon. So far we have missed one My Gym class and 2 swim lessons :(

New Jersey visits Boston

This weekend Mommy's best friends from high school came to Boston for a visit. The Casey and Tolska families arrived on Friday.

On Friday night the Daddy's took ALL of the kids (5 kids--5 and under) to Pizzeria Uno while the ladies had girls night out! Mommy took Lauren and Erin to "The Cottage" where we ate great food and caught up like old times.

Saturday we went to Acton Children's Museum in the morning:

Emmalynn putting on a puppet show (with some help from Daddy)

Kaylie (looking very OLD!)

The 2 "brothers from different mothers"

and then the BC Basketball game in the afternoon:

Mikey LOVES the "Eagle"

....and followed it up with dinner at Union Street in Newton Center. As with any three families, everyone's schedules and preferences are different. So we tried to stick together as much as possible but it was inevitable that we all did our own thing from time-to-time.

Sunday morning everyone came to the apartment for breakfast and playing. Mikey worked on sharing his toys and also got some quiet time in with Mady in his bed!










Mikey and Jimmy were still battling their sicknesses but everyone still had a great time.

Thanks for coming everyone! We had a FABULOUS time!!