Busy Bees

Last week, my good friend Catherine was in town with her little girl Madeleine. We took all the kids to the zoo and had a great time. The funny story from the day was at the Children's zoo. Matthew was really enjoying petting the goats. There was one goat that was standing on a bench. He really liked this goat. Well I'm not sure the goat was in the mood to deal with kids on this particular day because as Matthew went back to pet him a second time he turned around and pushed Matthew over with his big head. Poor Matthew was devastated, but recovered quickly. Here's a picture right before the incident.


Thursday we had Andrew's end of the year picnic. It was so fun to see how much he has matured. We had a great time, and I think he may have his first crush! Mary Catherine is our neighbor and they have suddenly become great friends. It's so cute.



Friday was my grandma's 80th birthday! My parents had a cocktail party for her on Friday night at their house. Everyone had a great time. Poppa took a trip to Target before the party and bought the kids lots of bubbles so they had a blast. We had great food and drinks and enjoyed being together as a family.



Saturday we worked outside getting ready for our Sunday Open House. Then we took the boys over to meet their new cousin Josie before heading to another birthday celebration for my grandma. It was so good to see John and Christina at home with their baby girl. Everyone seemed to be doing well. There's nothing like the fear of being a new parent. I wish I could ease their worries but everyone goes through it. After our visit with Josie, we headed to my aunt and uncles for a Casino party for my grandma. She loves gambling so it was the perfect theme. Everyone had a blast.


Sunday we forced ourselves out of bed early to go to early mass then come home and clean, clean, clean for our Open House. Then we headed to my parent's for naps and then home for a quick dinner and bed. WE WERE WORN OUT. The good news is 8 couples came through. Drew and I were not sure what to expect since it was a holiday weekend so we were pleasantly surprised.

Monday, Memorial Day, was stormy so it was the perfect morning to just hang out and have some family time. We grabbed lunch ran a few errands then came home for naps. We planned on grilling an All America meal but the weather didn't seem too promising so we went with the All American Poppa John's instead.

Now it's back to reality. We had another showing tonight during dinner, of course. We are praying something comes of this showing. We've been lucky to have so many showings but are just praying for someone with real interest!

Andrewism of the week: "My owie (scab) looks like a snail that's coming uncurled, it's coming out of the covers."

WELCOME JOSEPHINE SARACINO BENOIST

We are so excited to announce that my brother John and sister in law, Christina had a baby girl yesterday at 4:07pm. They did not know the sex of the baby so it was an exciting day! Josie weighs 6lbs 7oz and is 19in long. When I left the hospital last evening both mom and baby were tired but doing really well. The boys are excited to meet their new cousin! When I told Andrew that Josie had arrived he said, "You know mom, babies need ALL their fat." Not exactly the comment I was thinking he would say but that's usually how it goes with him:)

Eventful Week

I'll just start from the beginning with a recap of our week.

Monday: Matthew decided not to nap while Andrew was at school so I decided to go look at a few houses and see what the area was like. Everything was going well until...I was in my own little world and speeding through "work zone". Sure enough, I got a nice little ticket. I knew Drew wouldn't be too pleased but he took the news quite well.

Tuesday: Drew left early to catch a plane for a business trip. This was the first morning I was on my own with the boys during the "morning sickness" phase. Luckily, I had Drew wake me up before he left so I could get up slowly before the boys and everything worked out nicely. We met my friend Lindsey and her little boy Bobby at the park that evening. It was great entertainment for the boys as well as me since I knew Drew wouldn't be home.

Wednesday: I set my alarm to get up before the boys so I could ease into the morning but of course they woke up early as well. Everything ended up working out. I got Andrew to school and Matthew home for a quick nap. I had my monthly check up so I had to wake him up but he handled it quiet well. I got to hear the baby's heart beat and was a very happy momma. As I was leaving my appointment, I got a call from Drew who was still out of town. He said, "an agent wants to show the house in a couple of hours". In theory a couple of hours may sound like plenty of time BUT I had to get Matthew fed, Andrew from school, and the house clean while keeping the boys entertained but not getting any toys out. You would think our house would be relatively clean considering it's on the market but with Drew out of town, I just couldn't keep up. I started to panic and told Drew he better pray for a miracle. I came home, got Matthew in the high chair and went to work. Headed to pick up Andrew and had no idea how the last 45 min before they arrived would go. THANK GOD, I pulled in and our neighbor Kelli and her son Timmy were outside. I went over and begged for her to watch the boys for 45 minutes. She said it would be no problem. THANKS A MILLION KELLI! The house was ready, Max was packed up, I got the boys, packed them up and headed to my parents for naps. After naps we headed home and went about our normal evening.

Thursday: I guess it was just a normal day b/c I don't remember what we did.

Friday: Drew's brother Mike was headed back to Oklahoma from working in West Virginia for 5 months so he stopped here to rest and visit. I wish we could have visited more but it was my friend Brittany's Rehearsal and Rehearsal dinner for her wedding. So we said hi to Mike, took the boys to my parents for a "sleepover" and headed to the pre wedding festivities.

Saturday: Drew and I had the whole day without the boys! This is the longest adult time we've had since Matthew was born. So needless to say, I was excited. We had breakfast with Mike and then he hit the road. Then I drug Drew with me to get my make up done. He was actually really entertaining. We had a nice lunch, alone, and ran a few errands that would have taken all day with the boys. We ran home, put curlers in my hair, threw on my dress and away we went. The wedding was absolutely beautiful. Brittany looked amazing. The reception was lots of fun and Drew and I danced the night away. Being the pregnant sober one, we decided to call it a night when things started to get a little crazy. And I hate to say it, I was looking forward to putting my PJs on and getting a full night of sleep (I'm getting old:)).



Sunday: We slept in until 7! Then I got ready and went to get the boys while Drew stayed home and started perfecting the house for our Open House. I got Matthew down for a nap and cleaned the floors while Drew mowed. He showered real fast and we headed to Kaitlyn's baptism. Then Pete and Jill had a really nice luncheon at their house. Before we got out of Pete and Jill's neighborhood, both boys were sound asleep. It worked out perfectly because we still had an hour and a half to kill before we could head home. So we drove around and I showed Drew some of the houses I had driven by. Then the boys woke up, we headed to get Drew's car from my parent's house and were ready for a quiet evening at home. Well on the way home, we got a call that an agent wanted to show our house which is a great thing. So we had dinner out instead of in and then called it a night!

I told you it was eventful!

Happy Mother's Day...to me!

After what was not the best of weeks, I had a fabulous Mother's Day! The morning started with a craving of McDonald's pancakes. So Drew loaded the boys in the car and drove through McDonald's as well as Starbucks (decaf of course) for the perfect Mother's Day breakfast. We had a nice family breakfast and just hung out around the house because we went to church the night before. Right when Andrew woke up he told me Happy Mother's Day and we had to go to church. I told him we had already gone the night before. But he told me that his teacher's told him on Mother's Day you had to go to church. What a good boy for listening to his teachers.

Matthew took his morning nap and then we headed to my parent's for the perfect Mother's Day lunch. Everyone was so relaxed and enjoying the day. We enjoyed being outside watching the kids run around and play. After the fact, I discovered Drew had been feeding Matthew whole grapes WITH THE SKIN ON the entire lunch. I about had a heart attack, doesn't he know Matthew could have choked?! He told me to chill out and continued feeding Matthew grapes. Guess that's what happens when dad is in charge. My mom gave all the girls a gift card for a mani/pedi...just what I needed! Thanks mom.

After lunch we headed home for naps and everyone took one. It was so nice. Then we all woke up and I decided to embrace the day and take advantage of my mani/pedi. Drew said he'd be happy to watch the boys. So off I went. Oh it was so nice to get the nail polish off my toes that had been on there for 3 months. I enjoyed every moment. I grabbed dinner and headed home. As we were eating I discovered that Drew accomplished one of my least favorite tasks...grocery shopping WITH BOTH BOYS! I was so thankful. I asked if he picked up some apples, bananas, or grapes. He said no but he did get 3 bags of chips:) While they were shopping Andrew picked out a Mother's Day card for me too. He was so excited to give it to me because it had a picture of Elmo that he had colored. I started to read the card out loud and it said, Happy Mother's Day GRANDMA! I was laughing so hard. That's boys for you...attention to detail, not so much:) After dinner we were talking about how my day was almost over and Andrew asked when it was going to be Son's Day:) How funny that he knew to say son, we got a good laugh from that as well.

We got the boys in bed and I convinced Drew I really needed to end the day with some ice cream. He never argues when it comes to ice cream so he went to pick it up. Meanwhile, I thought Andrew was asleep and I hear him come out of their room. I met him outside his door and he says to me, "Mom, I'm sorry your day has to end." Now if that's not the perfect end to Mother's Day, I don't know what is.

No filter

Last night we went to one of our favorite pizza places, Racanelli's. Drew and I were trying to talk between all the boys' requests. We'll all of the sudden we hear Andrew yell...and I mean yell, "FAT GUYS!" Two "larger" men walked into the restaurant and Drew and I didn't notice them until Andrew brought them to our attention. Drew's first reaction was to ask Andrew what he said. Not exactly something we wanted him to repeat. This was not the busiest time for the restaurant so there was only one other table besides us at the time. Luckily I think the men were talking and not paying attention to Andrew because they ended up sitting one table over from us. CLOSE CALL!

Barely Alive

That's how I've felt the past few days. What is going on?! I thought 12 weeks was the magic number! Now, I don't want you to think I'm being a baby, of course I know there are much bigger problems in the world but this is the reason I'm blogging. To remember the good times and the bad:) So here we go.

Saturday, we had a showing at our house around noon. Luckily Andrew was invited to a birthday party and our whole family was able to attend so we knew we would have somewhere to go. Well I woke up Saturday morning and my wonderful husband started Matthew on his breakfast and brought me my bagel in bed. This has been helpful with the "morning" sickness. On this particular day I wasn't feeling that great after the bagel and I think Drew could tell. He told me to take my time and he would start cleaning up the basement with the boys (not an easy task!). I started to feel guilty and decided to suck it up. I got out the vacuum and in the middle of vacuuming our small area rug had to run to the bathroom. Oh boy! Now this is coming from a person who actually has a phobia of getting sick. I would rather have a broken bone or get stitches, I know, I'm weird! Anyway, I was so weak at this point I had to call Drew up to get me a wet cloth and help me up. So he helped went back to the boys and I headed back to bed, thinking about everything that had to be done. Well I finally mustered up enough strength to fold some laundry and let the boys climb on me while Drew worked on the upstairs. We were out of the house in time and the day got better from there.

Then Sunday. Once again, wonderful Drew, did something wonderful. He volunteered to help build a house for Habitat for Humanity. On any other day I would have been so proud! But considering the fact that he had to be out of the house by 7am on the day of our first official Open House, and me in this condition; let's just say, I could have had a better reaction. The day actually got off to a smooth start. Matthew took a good nap while Andrew watched too much TV and I cleaned the inside. Then Andrew and I went outside and he was my big helper sweeping the deck and getting all of the "helicopter leaves" into the yard waste can.

Once Matthew woke up we headed to my parents where we would hide out during the Open House and then stay for Sunday dinner. Again this went smoothly. Andrew ran a few errand with my mom, Matthew and I played outside and everyone was happy. Then it was time for nap. About this time I started to get a horrible headache. Not sure what a migraine is but this hurt. So I thought I would get the boys down and then take a little rest myself. RIGHT! Well Andrew has been a bear to get down for nap lately. I know he's getting older and we are losing nap (even though he gets up before the sun). So I have been setting a timer where he has to stay in bed for 1 hour. As long as he is quiet he can do what he wants. This has actually been working at home and he's usually asleep in 10 minutes. Well Grandma and Poppa's house is always a different story. Looking back, I'm not sure if this is one of those times where I should have let him win because I was too tired to fight but I didn't. I didn't back down. He was literally given more than enough chances to stay in bed. Finally after every consequence I could think of I told him if he got out of bed one more time, I was taking him home and leaving Matthew there with Grandma. Well guess what, he got up. I went down told my mom the story, he threw a fit. I gave him one more chance! He got up again. I marched him to the car, kicking and screaming and off we went.

Now what do I do? Well I cried. Don't really know why besides it must have been my breaking point. Then of course Andrew fell asleep once his wailing and screaming stopped. So I decided to drive around and look at a few areas we are thinking about for our next house. In the end, it was nice and relaxing and I was able to have quiet time. We got back to my parents and the evening went smoothly and my mom made her famous mashed potatoes and roast beef...the only thing that sounded good to me. Thanks mom!

That leads us to today. The day that will never end! I woke up with my head feeling like there was someone in my head with a little hammer knocking on both temples. I managed to get out of bed and get Andrew to school (my saving grace). I brought Matthew home and he was ready for nap. I laid him down and thanked God I could rest. Well that was short lived. I finally dozed off and heard my little man not so happy. He is usually a great napper and was acting off. So now I'm praying he's not coming down with something. I decided to go look at more neighborhoods in hopes he would fall back to sleep. He didn't but was quiet and happy so that was nice. After lunch we got Andrew and headed home. At this point my head was hurting so bad that I was in tears. I was just praying I could get both boys down for nap and sleep it off. Well I didn't make it that far. Before I knew I had myself locked in the bathroom...you know. NOT FUN! I managed to get the boys down and took a little rest. Thankfully our neighbor Kelli was out her with 2 kids and Andrew barely had his eyes open before he was out the door. Drew came home to relieve me a little early because he was headed to the Cardinal game tonight. So I showered, went and got some chicken noodle soup and started to feel human.

Last but not least, bedtime: Matthew couldn't get comfortable cried off and on for an hour (still praying he's ok). Then it comes time for my anti sleeper, Andrew. He's usually pretty good about not waking up his brother and staying in bed but whenever something is a little different in the routine, you never know. So Drew was out and I put him down. I'll just list the 5 reasons he got out of bed.
1. needed water, even though he had some right before I laid him down
2. had to go to the bathroom
3. couldn't think of an excuse
4. **the classic** "Mom my penis is pointing up! FIX IT!"*** where's dad when you need him?
5. Starving

Finally asleep. And that's where I'm headed after a prayer for a better day tomorrow!