Yay!

Yay! I have a new layout thanks to my very crafty and creative cousin, Liz! I love it Liz! What a great job! I also love my new heading (even though I forgot to have Liz include the "wide" part of the saying!) ..."An ocean- wide sense of wonder." It comes from the picture book Dreams for my Daughter by Becky Kelly. The book lists various "dreams" for one's daughter and the one that was chosen for my heading is my favorite. As soon as I am able to contact Liz, I will try to get the picture as my new heading photo. I am in the process of trying to do it myself, but it might take me a while!

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Oooo... I did it, but it took away the cute stuff the Liz had up there with the button, ribbon and everything and I hate not having the picture centered! Damn!

Ten Things Tuesday

I seem to have made it through Not Me Monday correctly (and received my first 2 comments from strangers!!) so I think I will try to do my first "for real" Ten things Tuesday. Check out XBOX WIFE and the button on my side bar for more info about this fun carnival! What are you thankful for?

With Turkey Day approaching quickly I shall discuss the 10 things that I love about Thanksgiving...

1. My Mom's turkey and mashed potatoes! There is NOTHING like a turkey dinner made by Mom! Mmmmmm!

2. The toast. I love hearing my Dad wish everyone health and happiness. This is the time when I really reflect on how thankful I am for all God's blessings.

3. Family time without the fuss. I love Christmas, but Thanksgiving is definitely my favorite holiday. No need to worry about gifts (unless Thanksgiving happens to fall on my Mom or sister's birthdays...like this year. It's Denise's birthday and last year was my Mom's!) At least I don't have to rush around in holiday traffic, pushing through crowds of slow people to get the "perfect" gift that everyone else wants to buy.

4. Dessert! No need to elaborate!

5. Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade

6. The memories of Thanksgiving past...I have such good memories. Especially of this one year where I wore a cute jean jumper and white turtleneck. For some reason, I will always remember that outfit!!

7. Cranberry sauce, V8 juice, olives, apple cider and baby pickles

8. Sleeping late (er)

9. Not entertaining loads of guests in my tiny town home

10. DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING SHOPPING!


Gobble, gobble!

Not Me Monday

So I think I will give it a try. I have been reading Mckmamma's Not Me Monday for weeks (weeks really, not months) now and I think I might be ready to give it a try! If you don't know what I am talking about, visit MckMama's blog and her Charming Kids for some details and a wonderful story about love, laughter, her 4 small children and a miracle...

It was someone else and not me who bawled like a baby during the father/daughter dance at her cousin's wedding on Saturday because her Daddy didn't ask her to dance (because he didn't hear the announcement) I am wayyy too mature to not ask my father to dance if I wanted to.

I did not bribe my dear daughter with her messy sand (oatmeal) box so she would sit still long enough for me to cut her already short hair...nope, not me. I would never use scissors (again) on her hair. I am a patient mother who doesn't mind spending $16 on a hair cut that I could do in my kitchen for free. And will certainly not hear all about it from my mother, husband, mother and sister in law, co-workers that I didn't cut Erin's hair again. Nope, not me!

I did not drive my daughter to the drive thru at Dunkin Donuts on our car ride home from school because she said an explicit word that she uses for "Dunkin"...and I automatically knew that ... meant "dunkin" and that she wanted a munckin. I definitely did not feed my toddler 4 munchkins in her car seat instead of waiting until we got home to feed her fruits and veggies.

It wasn't Erin and I who were locked out of our car outside Burlington Coat Factory because I did not know that our key pad for the key less entry on our car wasn't working. Not me. I know enough not to lock the car just for that fact!

It wasn't me who sent Timmy to his cot instead of straight to the bathroom because I knew he was moments away from losing his breakfast, snack and lunch!

I will definitely not be thinking of and saving comments for next week's Not Me Monday because I really didn't have anything exciting to share my first Monday! I am far too witty to have to resort to such a thing!!

I didn't just have to come back and edit this page and add a button for Not Me Mondays...I have already prepared for this and I really know what I am doing!! I also did not turn on my laptop while cooking dinner to add two more thoughts. And it definitely was NOT MY laptop that shut off unexpectidly without explaination before I was able to post my new thoughts. If that hadn't happened, I know wouldn't have swore at it and then run upstairs to the PC to see if the post had magically posted itself!

"You're never fully dressed without a smile!"

"Smile, darn ya, smile!"



from the musical "Annie"

My first love...

I feel the need today to tell you about my first love and how last night I saw him after 15 years. I first met him back in 1989. He was a bit older than me. Quiet, soft spoken, handsome. We both had an interest in music, him a bit more than me. We didn't see eachother much, but whenever I saw him, my heart skipped a beat. He was my first true love. Last night I saw him again after 15 years. I knew I would be seeing him and I really thought that seeing him again would be a waste of my time. It's been too long, those feelings are over now. We are both so much older. I think I was in denial because when I saw him again a flood of emotions came over me. It was like we had never parted. Like time had stood still and had waited for this moment for us to meet again. Maybe you have met him. His name is Jonathan... Jonathan Knight...and he's a New Kid!





Have I told you about his brother, Jordan?!

Headed in the right direction...

UPDATE~
We are scheduled to go in for Erin's surgery on Monday, November 10th at 7:30 and need to arrive an hour earlier. It should be a quick procedure and recovery will be between 45 minutes to 1 hr. then we can go home. Thankfully we are closed for the holiday the following day so Erin will get an extra day to recoup.

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Today was the day we met with the Ear, nose and throat doctor to find out what our next step with Erin's ears would be. It really has been horrible to watch her month after month with little relief from the chronic ear infections. Boy does this kid deserve a good night's sleep (and maybe we do too!) The kind doctor agreed that tubes would be the no-brainer resolution. I really didn't want it to come to this. I also didn't want Erin to have to be on SO many different kinds of antibiotics either and here we are on #6! No wonder she is resistant! I was hoping that Erin would be able to kick this last infection and we would be able to see a chiropractor as a preventative. C'est la vie! So, we are just waiting for our beloved Dr. Rotondo's stamp of approval (Erin's cardiologist) and we will be going in for surgery (eek!) some time on Monday. Yes, THIS Monday! I really thought that this process would be taking longer and was relieved to hear that it will all be taking place so quickly.

I am still debating wheter or not I will be going into the operating room with her. If Greg and I will both be able to then I will go too, but if it's just one of us I am not sure if I am ready for that. She is so much more aware of her surrounding and is becoming uncomfortable with meeting new people. I am sure she will be gripping my sweater and repeating, "I shy." She just might be more relaxed with Greg and not Mommy.

We shall see...

On a fun note, Erin and I went outside for a photoshoot in the beautiful fall leaves that have enhanced our backyard. Enjoy!
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Please help me pray...

Jess, a good friend of mine since junior high, needs some prayers right now. She just gave birth the other day to her first son, Ryan. Ryan was diagnosed months ago with a few Congenital Heart Defects, TGA (transposition of the great arteries) and a VSD (Ventricular septal defect...the same as Erin had). Jess is in Boston and both her and Ryan are being well taken care of. From first hand experience, I know that the doctors at Children's Hospital Boston are THE BEST, and will take great care of Ryan and his family while he is there. He will most likely need to have open heart surgery. Please keep this family in your thoughts and prayers. We have all seen the miracles that God has worked in the past few days for MckMamma and I pray he will do the same for little Ryan.


Ryan Antonio Salema