This Could Be It....

Warning: get ready for some boring tech talk.

It almost happened again. A couple of years ago I had a Yahoo email account for my personal use. I used that account to sign up for this blog too. Something went haywire along the way, and I was locked out of Yahoo email permanently. I couldn't get in. I couldn't find help. It was awful. I had a copy of my resume, important saved emails, photos. They are now locked and lost somewhere in cyber space.  

I didn't fall in the same trap again, I decided to be smart and change my Blogger log in to my work address. I mean, I couldn't get locked out of that. And if I got another job - I'll just change it again!

But, not so fast....About a month ago my work IT team changed our spam filter system to Google. So my work email was now registered with Google again - for a whole other reason, with a whole other administrator. Are you confused? Me too. And so is Google.

After disabling my Blogger log in, Google also won't allow me to log into my personal email account - which is totally separate from work. They basically shut me out of everything. I Googled (oh, the irony!) how to fix it, who to call - and it's impossible. The one thing I did learn (and many people griped online about) is that there is NOT a call center at Google like in the movie The Internship. There's no place to message someone for help, nada.

So here I am. I got in somehow, but I can't promise I'll get in again. I think I mistakenly also registered my private account address as my work spam. That's a puzzle for the IT guys to figure out (and they will not be pleased).

I'm getting these adorable, smiling, frozen-in-time faces on this blog...just in case it's the last time.

This Guy

Have you met my bestie? He's a healthy, happy, delicious 22 pounder at only 6 months old. He's wearing Leo's 18 month clothing. He enjoys butternut squash and sweet potatoes - then will poop it out in a glorious blowout. He enjoys chewing and pulling on sweatshirt strings and depends on Mom to warm him up in the middle of the night with cuddles and nursing. We can easily snooze an hour or two past the others in the house.

He thinks his sister is hilarious and his brother is curious. He's known for rubbernecking when something piques his interest. He's pulling up onto his knees and can't wait to get out to run around with the others. He's on the fast track to growing up. I'm not a fan.

Spring Has Sprung

It took a hearty New Englander to make it through this winter. While snow didn't actually fall until almost February, when it came - it was intense. The city of Boston hit a new record of 108.6 inches of snow. On top of the illness we experienced (see previous post), we were all incredibly ready for the possibilities of Spring.

My New Years resolution this year was to run one race each month. I made it for February (5 miler in Cambridge) and March (Holyoke St. Pat's 10k), but already failed the month of April.  I'm hoping to make May a two-fer.

Sadie went to two Father/Daughter dances recently. The first was a Girl Scout cowgirl dance, the other, a more formal Shamrock Ball for the town soccer association. I'm already trying to lobby for some Mother/Son dances, though I doubt Leo would be in to it.

Speaking of my Leo - his personality has ripened over the past few months. No longer a baby, this kid is a legit boy. He appreciates a good joke and can speak volumes with facial expressions. He's way into Peppa Pig, Mickey Mouse and Tom & Jerry. Loves his 'milkie' and can power down snack after snack. He's an independent player but realllly misses Sadie if she's not around to bug. And while the winter gave him shovels and snow blowers, he's ready to dust off his lawn mower and leaf blower for work.

Our girl is on the tail end of her Kindergarten year. She's been saying lately that she doesn't like school, but after consulting with her teacher, we think that's because she's afraid to make mistakes. Sadie is awesome at math, and her reading skills are making leaps and bounds by day. Most importantly, her art skills are off the charts. Back in March I received an email from her art teacher asking if she had any outside lessons - and if not, she should be in some. She's working at a 3rd graders level.

Sadie was chosen as Holliston's "artist of the month" for April - this is among all kids/all schools...not just elementary or even just kindergarten! She was the youngest this entire year (most other months are graced by high schoolers). Her work (the shell photo below) hung in the entrance of the high school for her four weeks of stardom.

 

Emergency Sessions

 

It's inevitable. You start daycare, your kid will get sick. I thought we were pretty lucky, up until this point - seeing how Leo and Sadie were exposed to kid-germs all day and we all stayed relatively healthy. Perhaps I was a fool to think that by S & L slowing bringing germs into the house, Jude would build up his tolerance a little bit better. Oopsie. 

First of all, the daycare transition didn't go as smoothly as it has in the past. "Someone" was a little too comfy with the All Day Mom Buffet and turned his nose up to bottles. He went on a 3 day hunger strike until he finally caved and decided to drink from them. 

By the start of the second week of daycare, I was feeling pretty good. He was happily eating, we were starting a schedule, I was pumping successfully at work (which is the worst, by the way). But then that slight cough started. It was just a tickle on Wednesday. By Sunday it was a full blown hack. 

 

I took my sweet, sick man to the doctor on Monday.  Doc was pretty unconcerned, as his oxygen levels were measuring at 100%, he had no indication of a fever and his lungs sounded pretty clear considering the congestion going on. We were sent packing with a warning to watch for a few things. 

Fast forward to Tuesday afternoon, Jude hadn't eaten all day (as you can see - atypical for my beast) and he was measuring a temp of 100.7. Off to the doc we went! After a quick listen they put him on the nebulizer immediately to try to clear his airways. Soon after it was announced that the ambulance was called and they'd be whisking us away to Milford Hospital (actually they wanted to take us to Framingham, but I argued that our insurance is no good there!).

I'd say our experience at Milford was satisfactory at best. We were wheeled in amongst every old person that looked like they could easily play the "elderly town drunk" in a blockbuster film. We were assigned a room, given no water to drink (until I asked), they didn't have wipes to change a diaper (we squirted some strange liquid they gave us on napkins), and the pediatrician assigned to us would occasionally pop his head in and say "I'll probably be back in a while."

We sat there, comforting our baby, as we had to listen to an ear-deafening machine beep at us. By midnight we strolled out of there with little reassurance that we'd be ok.

 On Wednesday we went back to the pedi for a check in, and this time they said they wanted us back at the hospital - but we were ok to drive ourselves. With this freedom, we hightailed it to the lap of luxury known as Newton-Wellesley. A night and day difference! It was clean, doctors were attentive, they provided us medications that were better fit for a baby. While he wasn't 100% when we left that night, we were confident he was on a better path to health.

Now, a week later, he's back in the game. He's finishing up his last hours of an in-home daycare as we speak - since he's moving to Leo's school on Monday. My champ. Even sick, he's terribly handsome.

These Three

  This one, the man with a million smiles. He's crossed the 3 month threshold, is in full time daycare (out in the world alone!) and still the best thing since sliced bread.

This one, the actress extraordinaire. Part of her birthday gift was signing up for an 8-week session to a "Showbiz Kids" class. Think singing, dancing, acting - and zero recital. Yes! Jazz hands are in full effect.

Then there's this one, the parrot. If the words come out of Sadie's mouth - he's repeating them moments later. To hear him enthusiastically tell me he wants a treadmill is hilarious. After Sadie struck a pose (above), I asked Leo for one. This is what he came up with. Clown.

Sweet 6

Birthday pancakes, a trip with friends to see Annie at the movies and dinner at Bertucci's. Exactly what my 6 year old wanted for her birthday.

She's a good egg: super smart, funny as hell, a self-proclaimed chatterbox and beautiful in every way possible. 

Christmas 2014

You spend so much time shopping, wrapping, and prepping...and it's destroyed in a matter of minutes. Amazing. Leo was way into present-opening this year. He got a taste of it for his birthday, and from that point on assumed that all wrapped gifts had his name on it.

The kiddos had a pretty good year. Santa didn't disappoint too much (though *someone* pulled out her list to show me what he missed), but we also had to have the conversation that Santa doesn't bring EVERYTHING one's heart desires. Sadie is already asking for a navy blue Jeep for Daddy next year. I told her Santa doesn't build cars. I'm hoping she lets it go.