We had a great halloween, and extended the fun by attending 2 additional halloween events before the actual day. First we went to a halloween trick-or-treat event at Weigand’s nursery near our house. Rosie decided to be a princess and Sammy was a dragon. It was SOOOOO cold, so we hurried through the maze of trees and jack o’lanterns and managed to get one cute photo of Rosie before we left.

The next event was the Zoo Boo at the Detroit Zoo, we smartly remembered to bring a stroller and wheeled the kids through the designated treat stops, checking out all the displays of pumpkin art along the way (pumpkins put together to resemble animals, TV and movie characters and etc.). It was ok, but kinda lame. Rosie decided to be a black kitty cat for that event, and Sammy was a dragon once again.

For the actual day of Halloween, which is also Joe’s birthday (the big 4-0!) we had an awesome (if I do say so myself) family costume. Rosie was goldilocks and the rest of us were the 3 bears. It was a fun costume, and appropriate for cold weather, so of course the weather had to be unseasonably warm, like 70 degrees that day, so we were all sweating in our outfits. But it was a fun time and we went to Aunt P’s house and hung out with the cousins and Bubby too and had some cake to celebrate Joey’s B-day too. Of course we didn’t get a good photo of all of us together - this was the best we could do.

Rosie loved checking out her bounty of candy, we let her have one piece (she picked out a lollypop), and Sammy had his first piece of candy as well, a tootsie roll.

The next day, Rosie traded in the rest of her candy and “bought” a Strawberry Shortcake DVD from me with it. That way, I don’t have to worry about her eating too much candy, and she gets something she wants too.

The day after halloween, we had a small get-together at our house with some of Joey’s closest friends to celebrate his big milestone birthday. We dressed up as white trash and requested guests dress similarly or as gangsta style and we accessorized with big 40 oz bottles of beer to drink. It was a lot of fun and nice to spend some time with our friends who we see so rarely.

Now, on to Sammy’s new developments:

Sam is slowly but surely making more of an attempt at actual words. He is now making animal sounds - but mostly doing only partial words and sounds.
Cow is “ooo”
duck is “aah aah”
monkey is “oo oo aah aah”
cat is “ooow”
dog is “ah ah”

His word for phone is “ohn”, all done is “aah uhn”, and he just started calling Rosie “sis-a”

My attempts at teaching him sign language to help him communicate has worked a bit, he now signs and says “eat” (sounds more like “ee”) he signs and says “hat (”at”) and baby “bebe”. Some days I feel like he can talk more than he does, and he is just trying to be difficult. He will say something like “nurse” perfectly (as he tries to rip my shirt and pull it down) and I will try to get him to say it again “oh, did you want to nurse? nurse? is that what you want? nurse?” and he just looks at me like “yeah that’s what I said, you heard me the first time, I’m not saying it again”.

Rosie is obsessed with birthdays, knows the order of when everybody’s birthday is coming up, and talks non-stop about how on her next birthday she is going to be FOUR! She has been learning and loving playing catch lately, and is getting quite good at it.
She says the most amazing things like, being asked by Gigi if Wow Wow Wubbzy (”waa waw” to Sammy) was her favorite show - she replied “it is absolutely my favorite”.

She is back to being a real challenge lately, after a few months of being a bit more easygoing. She just wants to be in control of everything, and if I say “ok, let’s go upstairs” she has to have the last word, saying “wait, I just need to run over here first” or some other stall tactic just to be sure that she is the one in charge. She has been stalling and asking for things over and over at bedtime lately too. She needs water, then she can’t find her water, then she can’t find her teddy, then she needs her nightlight off, then she needs it on, then she needs her door open a crack, then she needs me to fix her blanket, then she needs me to take the water out of her room, etc.
I love her, but holy crap is it annoying! I hope this phase ends quickly too…

We had our first real snowfall last night, only a couple inches, but enough to play and make a snowman.



Rosie LOVED playing in the snow and I had to drag her inside to take a bath and warm up. Sammy wasn’t so into the snow, he thought it was too cold and went inside on his own after a few minutes.

Well, that ’s it for this month, have a great Thanksgiving!

Ok, these are the exact kind of things that I say when watching Martha’s show. I mean, I love Martha for her ideas and stuff, but mostly she just goes WAY overboard with her OCD and makes the craft or thing she is doing way too technical and involved and complicated. And the fact that it is her daughter who is ripping on her is brilliant! I love Alexis’s blase attitude and her dry, sarcastic sense of humor. And the fact that this show was Martha’s idea and it is her production company in charge - well, that just gives me a new appreciation for Martha - that she actually has a sense of humor and can laugh at herself.

Check out this link for more info.
And the NY Times did a piece on it here.

I have only seen one episode so far, the “smores” one I linked to above. At the end of that episode, Martha organizes her linen closet, and even someone with OCD would think she was over-doing it a little bit. She labeled every shelf with a little typed label in a small gold frame. After Martha finished nailing in her last frame and put the label in - she said “what could be easier?” - and the “whatever girls” screamed in hilarity and made a comment like “I could think of 10 things that are easier than that!”
My thoughts exactly…

I don’t know why anyone would be against a person loving another person, no matter what gender. The reason most people give is that “the Bible” is against it. Well, basically, the bible “said” a lot of things were off limits, including eating shrimp and working on the sabbath and a whole bunch of other “rules” that most people have no problem breaking today. Now, I personally don’t necessarily believe that the bible is all that accurate in the first place, more like a “my cousin’s best friend’s uncle’s step-sister’s hair dresser told me….” type of thing that has been re-told and translated so often it’s hard to say that what we know as the Bible is actually how it was meant to be read. And, you can’t really pick and choose what parts to follow and what parts to not follow. Anyhow - watch and enjoy…

Pretty interesting stuff, huh? I don’t know why this has been on my mind lately, maybe because of the whole Prop 8 thing in California, and the recent coming out of a fellow mommy blogger internet friend. But I thought that clip was worth sharing.

I just want to say that I think it is ridiculous that some people are against using the word “marriage” for a same sex couple. How does that make my marriage any less valid or loving? If a drunk 18 year old can get married to a stranger in Vegas at the drop of a hat (and then get a quickie divorce or annulment) , I think conservatives should be more concerned with THAT ruining the sanctity of marriage, rather than a loving same sex couple who has been in a committed relationship for years.

Who cares who you love, as long as you love. God knows we could use a whole lot more love in this world.

Rosie, my demanding, headstrong firstborn child, is currently obsessed with being first. She wants to be first in and out the door, first up and down the stairs (instructing Joe and I to wait for her until she is all the way up or down before we can start on the stairs) first to get in or out of the car, etc. It can get tedious to accommodate her every time, but at least she is asking nicely now “mommy, can I please go down the stairs first” - instead of how she was screaming “Nooooooo I wanted to go FIRST!” so it makes it easier to go along with it when she asks politely.

She is still doing the hide under the blanket routine at bedtime, and now several times throughout the day she will say - “mommy, you losed me” prompting me to say “oh no, I lost Rosie, where could she be” and start the game of looking for her. She has recently added a new part of the bedtime routine. After Joe reads her a book or two, she usually requests I come in to sing her a song, it is always “rock a bye baby” but if I start singing it right off the bat - she whines “no, don’t sing that song” and then when I ask her what song she wants, she pouts and says “rock a bye baby”. She also likes to pretend to fall asleep — and makes pretend snoring sounds “just like daddy” while I am singing to her…

It is getting a little frustrating and time consuming to play along with all her little stipulations every night. She is such a creature of habit, the girl loves her routine. I have to watch what I say now, because if I say something once, like “hop in sweetie pie” when we are getting in the car, then I have to say it every time we get in the car now or she says “you forgot to say hop in sweetie pie”. She loves competition, and will bend the rules to have her way and win “first surprise” as she says. When we play “I spy” in the car now, she sometimes disputes our color, telling Joe or me “No, you need to say RED!” And sometimes she gives a little too much information - like saying “I spy, with my little eye, something pink in the car and it is what I am wearing on my legs” and when I guess, “um, is it your pants?” she says - “yes! mommy you got it, you are one smart cookie!”.

She has been doing a weird thing when I take a photo of her now, she hunches down and poses really strangely, usually with one arm out and her head upside down, and when I ask her what she is doing she makes up a name for the pose. It is pretty funny. We have been struggling a bit with having her keep her clothes on, she especially likes to take off her jammies (jams) and her pull-up at night. She used to stay dry all night, but lately has been peeing a lot, so when she takes her pull-up off, it usually means we have to change the sheets on her bed.

She is always on the move and wanting to do something active. She loves to play catch and jump off everything and show me how fast she can run. She puts her shoes on and tells me which ones are her good “running shoes”. I hear “mommy, watch me, mom, watch, mommy, watch me, watch this, mom, watch how I can jump” at least 50 times a day.

Sammy is talking a bit more, attempting to repeat a lot of words, but still not really consistent or understandable with his language. He is getting the tone and inflection correct, even if the consonants and vowels are off - he was trying to say “Go Blue!” (mimicking Rosie) the other day, and it sounded more like “ga dah!” I really need to start making more of an effort to spend some one-on-one time with him and read to him and talk to him more to try to help him learn words.

He has 12 teeth (and has had a full mouth of teeth for a while) and he is currently working on #’s 13 and 14. He is still a screamer, and gets really cranky if he doesn’t get his naps when he needs them, needing a total of at least 3 hours at some point in the day or he is unbearable. He is an awesome sleeper and is happily in bed by 7:30 every night - he starts to melt down shortly after that time if he is still awake. He loves to play chase and tackle with his sister (when she remembers to be gentle) and really loves climbing on me when I attempt to do a little yoga. He has been doing this really cute kind of laid back lounge thing lately, where he will climb up on the couch, chair, or bed and he will lean back on the pillows and spread his legs, put his hands on his belly, and smile and just relax. It is pretty damn cute.

He also likes to help out, and loves to hand me things so I say “thank you” and then he says “tee to” back to me and grins and is so pleased with himself. He also likes to do this when I am going to the bathroom, he follows me in (of course you lose all privacy when you are a mom) and he will rip off a tiny piece of toilet paper and hand it to me and he thinks he is such a big helper, he giggles and smiles. He has been waving and saying “Hi” to everyone lately, he will flirt and wave to the waitresses at restaurants, people in the grocery store, saying “Hi” over and over to the same people, I think he is really starting to realize he can communicate with people and it makes him so happy. Other words he has been saying (or attempting to say) - Tree (tee) open (op) apple (apm) down (dow) and dude (duu).

We are excited that the fall season is here, and we have already made a couple trips to Yates Cider Mill, just down the street a few miles from our house. They have a great trail right near the Clinton River, a petting zoo of sorts so the kids can feed goats and etc. and a pony ride tent. We love to go and get some fresh cider and donuts and walk along the river.


That’s pretty much it for this month - we are excited to celebrate Halloween and Joe’s 40th birthday at the end of the month!

Rosie is still on imagination overdrive - playing pretend and making up words and games and songs all the time. She really loves playing games, her favorites are playing “I spy” in the car, candyland, chase and kiss (everytime Joe asks her for a kiss, she takes off running and giggling and turns it into a game), she pretends I’m the baby and she is the mommy and she reads me books and puts me to bed, she puts her dolls to bed and we have to be very quiet and tiptoe when they are sleeping. She loves to tell me about the 10 babies she will have and how she will nurse them all

She has finally stopped resisting so much at bedtime, and we have a new fun bedtime routine. After she is in bed, she always needs something, usually water, so I leave her room to go get her water, and when I come back, she is hiding under the blanket giggling loudly. I have to say “gee, where did Rosie go?” as she continues laughing and then I have to look for her for a few minutes and in the end I lie on the bed and exclaim how lumpy the blanket is, then I finally find her and she is happy and goes to sleep pretty peacefully.

Rosie went rollerskating for the first time with her friend and loved it. She had really great balance for her first time on skates. It will be a good activity for wintertime when it is too cold to go outside. And it was nice to see that the roller skating rink decor from my youth has stayed intact.

She loves to play with her blocks and build towers,

and she loves trying to write and make letters. She is getting pretty good, she can almost write her name legibly. I have noticed, in the last month, she has mellowed out a bit. She is not so defiant, and quick to whine and complain about something, she is more patient and sweet. She still has her moments, but it is not like it was last month. I think the difference is that I have been more patient with her and I have been playing more with her and giving her more responsibility. So far, it seems to be working to make her more agreeable and less bratty.

About half of Rosie’s friends started pre-school this week, and we are still undecided about if/when/where to send her. I know she would love to meet new kids and have fun activities and learn new things and have some special time away from her brother (and mom and dad). And, honestly I would love to have a little break from her a couple days a week - especially since she is not napping anymore. But, we really don’t have ANY extra money right now and I don’t want to send her someplace that is just a glorified daycare, just to send her someplace. So, we are still calling places and trying to decide what to do.

Sammy has been a handful lately - needing a lot of attention and wanting to constantly explore and get into things. Plus he is still screaming this mind-numbing piercing scream when frustrated (or tired). My sister nicknamed him baby pterodactyl. He is also throwing more mild tantrums now, stomping his feet and either abruptly sitting or lying on the ground and pouting. He hasn’t really learned many more new words, still just a handful of things that he says - but he has really been pointing at everything and I can tell that he wants to learn words.

He is eating more, and will take the matter into his own hands when hungry and he will climb up on kitchen table and help himself to a banana, biting right into it - peel and all. He has been sleeping great, usually only waking once during the night to nurse - sometimes as late as 4-5am. Now, if I could just get myself to bed before midnight, I would be getting some great sleep!

He loves to dance and shake his head when he hears music. This video is from when we went to the Michigan State Fair and Alice Cooper was playing and you could hear his music while riding the rides.

He is at the great age where everything is so new and fun and exciting. He is almost always smiling (when not screaming) and seems so pleased with his new discoveries. He just figured out the Curious George jack-in-the-box the other day:

The weather here is just starting to get cool in the mornings and evenings, you can feel the chill in the air that tells you fall is just around the corner. I love this weather, sunny and nice during the day, and a little cool at night when you open your windows. I am going to try to make sure we play outside a lot in the next few weeks, because I know that I will turn around and there will be snow and I will wish I could just send the kids outside to play. Though, I did hit the new Salvation Army thrift near my house and got the kids fully prepared with winter jackets, snowpants, gloves, hats, etc. The only thing I need is boots for Sammy and we will be set for the cold weather.

Speaking of playing outside, here’s a little video of the kids playing outside on the playset Gigi got for their birthdays.

And a few last photos of the kids enjoying the summer:

I am so excited! I am going to be a contestant on WHEEL OF FORTUNE!

For those that know me, I have said for a long time that I needed to go on WOF because I knew I would be so good and I would win lots of money. Though I was kind of half-joking when I talked about it in the past, my wonderful husband cut out a notice in the local paper when the “Wheelmobile” was coming to town around Mother’s Day this year. I knew I HAD to show up to at least see about becoming a contestant. It was a wet and rainy day, and I stood in line outside (with Sammy in a sling) for 3 hours while Joe and Rosie waited in the car and ran errands.

There were about 200 people in the auditorium once I finally got inside for the auditions (and this was the third round that day), and they were randomly drawing names out of a barrel to see who would make it up on stage to play a practice game. After about an hour, my name was drawn and Sammy and I went up on stage to play. We got our picture taken, and did a short interview with the fake Pat Sajak before taking turns calling letters and trying to solve a puzzle. I didn’t solve a puzzle, but I think I made a good impression. I was enthusiastic and loud when calling letters (as they instructed) and after my turn ended and I collected my swag (WOF fanny pack, duffel bag, t-shirt, baseball hat, and a talking Vanna keychain) I went home to wait and see if I would be invited to a final round of auditions to be held in Detroit in the near future.

After returning home from our France vacation, I was excited to check my email and see that I was indeed invited to the final round of auditions - 2 days after we got home (thank god our trip wasn’t longer). This time I went solo - and there was only about 60-70 people in the room. One at a time, we were randomly called and had a chance to call a letter to try to solve a puzzle. The first time, I called a letter that was the first one revealed in the puzzle, but then my second letter was not there so I lost my turn. The second time I was called, I solved the puzzle - a “same name” puzzle that was “Mickey and wireless mouse” - I won another WOF t-shirt. After everyone had been called at least once - we took a written “test”. We had 5 minutes to solve as many puzzles as we could - each puzzle had only a couple letters filled in. I think I got about 60% filled in and I was a little disappointed in myself, until I saw the guy next to me had not completed a single one.

We then waited for our “tests” to be scored, and then they made a final cut, and about 25 of us were kept for a final practice round. Yes, I made the cut. We were called up to the front of the room in groups of 5 - we had to introduce ourselves (like we would on the show) and we had to pretend to spin the wheel before calling out letters this time. We were told the wheel is really heavy, like 1000 lbs, and were instructed to lean over and really give it a good pull. Since there was no real wheel there, one of the audition coordinators was spinning a small fake wheel on our behalf, and she would purposely make it land on “bankrupt” or “lose a turn” occasionally to keep the game moving and give everyone a chance to play. On my turns, I called great letters, bought a few vowels, and then my spin would land on “lose a turn” before I could solve the puzzle - I think they knew I was pretty good. After we were all on stage at least once, the day was over and we were told that within 2-3 weeks we would receive a letter in the mail if we were chosen to be a contestant. The whole day lasted about 3 hours, and my hands were so sore from clapping basically the entire time.

I got my letter a couple weeks ago! I don’t know what day I will be on the show yet, as they said it could be anytime in the next 18 months. But I am definitely going to be on the show - I am so excited! They have a $1,000,000 prize on the wheel this year, and I am planning on winning it!

I have nightmares about ending up like one of these poor people though…

check out Pat’s face, he can’t believe it - “Seriously? You couldn’t get that, you idiot?”

I have to remember to take my time and speak slowly and carefully and not add in any extra letters and make sure I know the answer before I solve….

Wish me luck!!!!

They got a TON of presents and I have actually hidden some away, to dole out at a later date.

Rosie has been quite a handful, alternating between being super sweet and smart and helpful and funny, and then bursting into tears and being bratty and whiny and defiant. The things she has been saying a lot lately are “I just need a little attention”, “I just need to cry a little”, “I just don’t want you to talk”, “I just don’t want you to smile”, “I just don’t want Sammy to look at me”, “I just don’t want to go to sleep”. Her imagination has been on overdrive - she likes to pretend to be a kitty, she loves making up games and songs and dances. She wants to control EVERYTHING, I have been calling her Mary, Mary quite contrary as she always wants to do the opposite of what we say or suggest.

Sam has started to talk a lot more, saying mama and dada, along with: up, all done (uhn), dropping things and saying uh-oh (said in a really deep grunting way), waving and saying hi (in a high sing-songy way), signing and saying nurse “nuh-nuh” (not sure this really means nurse or night-night or both), pointing to diaper and saying something like “dida” or “umpa”. He has started to throw a mild kind of tantrum when he is cranky and tired. He will be whining and crying over something (usually when I take something from him like Rosie’s scissors or take a crayon or pennies out of his mouth) and he will scream and cry and lie down on his side on the floor and give me a look like “see how sad you made me”. I don’t know if the lying down part is because of his being tired, or if that is just to demonstrate how distraught he is - but it is pretty cute.

He is attempting to eat a lot more, but still chews and spits out most of what goes in his mouth (making mealtimes a HUGE mess). He has been practicing and is getting really good at using a fork and spoon. He loves giving kisses- if I purse my lips and make a kissing noise, he comes up and plants his open mouth right on top of mine. He has been climbing EVERYTHING. He climbs up on Rosie’s chair and then onto the kitchen table, he climbs every toy, he climbs up on the back of the couch, he climbs the playstructure in the backyard and knows how to go down the slide (on his belly), he climbs up and down the stairs (he knows to turn around and climb backwards). He is fearless and would climb right off the edge of the big playstructures at the park if I didn’t re-direct him.

The sleeping situations have changed yet again. Rosie is back to wanting nothing to do with sleep, protesting both naptime and bedtime. Sammy seems like he is getting ready to lose his morning nap, as it is increasingly harder to get him down in the morning, even when he is obviously tired. Though he is sleeping much longer and better at night, going down around 7:30-8pm and waking to nurse usually only once, anytime between midnight and 4am.

Rosie and Sam are playing together much more now. Rosie still gets irritated with her little brother and goes through periods where she doesn’t want to share, but for the most part - they get along pretty well. I love hearing them chase each other and play and laugh. It makes all the chaos and stress so worthwhile.

We will be making one more trip at the end of this month, down to Florida to visit GiGi (and for Joe and I to celebrate our anniversary). Then, hopefully we can be homebodies for a while and just relax as we head into the fall.