Last night I decided that Nino needs to be in bed well before his recent usual, 10 pm. So at 830 we started books (I'm starting slow), went upstairs and he nursed, I laid him down, and he just went to sleep. Who is this child? Tonight, we'll start a bit earlier. Especially with "falling back" this weekend, I need to get him on a better schedule.

Meanwhile, I hate feeling helpless. I know it's not my problem, but I hate that my sister is having relationship troubles. I hate being far away, and even if I were closer, what could I do?

Last night was our first Halloween party. I had the cutest spider in town. He's such a ham. He loves to dress up and have pictures taken. He kept his hood on the entire time.

Today I decided that (even though I'm not pregnant), I want another little boy. But now I'm wondering if it's a boy I want or just the wonderful experience I've had with *my* little boy. I loved those first days, I loved all of his little blue fire truck clothing. I love his interest in all things wheeled. I love seeing the world through his little boy eyes.

I know I'll love little girl stuff, too, but for me it's all about the clothes, not having had a girl. And I know that it's *him* and that a boy will be different, as a girl will be. I guess I just want a repeat of my sweet son.

Tonight is our first halloween party. Nino is a spider, or a "bug". I'm just wearing my pumpkin t-shirt, or "momma, punkin". Pizza at the neighbors' house, costumes, cupcakes. I love spending time with my playgroup moms. Hubby doesn't understand that that's *it* other than my "imaginary friends" for social stuff.

I just ran into cousin Anna and her mom on the street. I miss her, we don't see her nearly enough. She's 3 1/2 now and going to Montessori school. She's too big. I want her to still be the baby who surprised us all by not being a Joseph.

It's day 2 of slim fast and I'm still hungry. I only ate about 1500 calories yesterday, and my body will adjust soon. Last time I had weight loss success I was more motivated, or it wasn't as hard. Now I'm just hungry.

Go Red Sox huh? I really believe this is their year. I want them to sweep, obviously, but hope they win in 6 so the big win is in Boston.

Weekend was fun. Friday Nino got his flu shot (which he didn't cry one drop for woohoo), then we went to mcd's. as soon as we pulled in, he said "happy meal?". *blush* Saturday we met some friends at this crazy furniture store that has restaurants and stuff *in* it. It was a lot of fun, and a good central location for all of us mass'ers (and nh'ers too). Even if next time we meet at the mall or christmas tree shop or whatever, it's good to know it's there.

Our new neighbors moved in. They seem nice, which is good considering our houses are 6 feet apart. Saturday night a party at a friends, and the first baseball game. yesterday just hanging out and we went to see Team America.

Oh and overnight Nino started laughing in his sleep. It was sooooo cute. He'd laugh and go "that funny". Completely asleep.

Nino went #2 in the potty yesterday. He's really proud of himself so of course I feel like crazy control freak mom, but if he's in unders sooner, better for us all.

Friday Viv had her stitches removed. Well, actually, her one stitch removed, as she'd done the rest herself. The vet was very impressed with her healing, her spirit, her general health. My baby girl. I hope she'll give us many more years.

Nino has now gone pee on the potty twice. Yahoo! I'm in no hurry to get him out of diapers but I know there's a limited w indow where they're motivated. I need to get his sitter and grandmas potty seats. Happy halloween, let my child pee all over your house too.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox have me totally overcaffeinated and Nino irritable. He wants to stay up and watch "baseball hats" and eat halloween candy. At times I can be a rotten mom.

Last night big milestone - pee in the potty. He constantly wants to sit on the potty when I am, and last night he was telling me "pee pee"- sure enough, there it was. He's so darn proud of himself. I'm not pushing him and don't want to call it "training" but he is obsessed with it so I want to take advantage. Even bought training pants yesterday.

We had a fun weekend. Neighbors had a party which was great fun. Great food, great music, great friends. Nino loved running around outdoors, decorating his pumpkin, and eating loads of watermelon and cupcakes.

Hubby is working late tonight, and I have to pick up the boy. I think we're going to do some shopping on the way home. I want a halloween tshirt and old navy has some really cute ones. And I'd love to stop by target, just because I heart target. I like to use my husband free nights as opportunities.

Just gave the boy a bath. We all ate ice cream in jammies and now he's playing with daddy. I love that laugh.

This afternoon Nino took a mega nap which made us late for Charlotte's birthday party. We still had a ton of fun, but he now knows how to unwrap dum-dums. He probably had 4. :( It was so bad that I was pushing cupcakes on him, thinking that they at least had more substance. He had a blast though and came home with a bag full of trinkets. Fake bugs, right up his alley.

And the Sox got rained out. I hope it's not an omen. Everyone at the gym today was wearing Red Sox gear.

And Viv is doing loads better. She ate tons today, is peeing on a regular schedule and normal volume, and is her spunky self. I so hope that her recovery is a full one, and that her life hasn't been shortened significantly

Surgery is complete

Vivian's surgery is over. She seems to be fine. Only time will tell how she does long term. I can pick her up this evening, probably. She was so happy to see the doctors this morning. She just loves everyone and had no idea they had it in for her. I hope they give her lots of treats and good pain meds.

On a funnier note, Nino's new favorite word is "boobies". Yesterday he looked down Sue-sue's shirt, said "boobies" and then asked her about milk. How do I deal with a toddler realizing that all boobs are potential snacks? I tell him that only Momma's boobies are his, and those are only for home, but it's not working. "momma milk?" is his standard request, wherever we are. He's so cute how can I fault him?

Sunday morning we went to Maine to look at properties. We initially thought we could make a ton of money on our house which we got super cheap, and pay off all mortgages and really do some good college saving. Turns out that's not going to happen in the area we're talking about. We have to change our mindset. Ideally, we'd build a brand new house, but maybe we need to look into a house that has expansion possibilities. Really, it's all about the location. What we have is nearly perfect. Great neighborhood, great neighbors, nice quiet street, beautiful view, water frontage, big lot. Not hard to find right? ;o)

If it weren't for the taxes and the fact that ILs live in and are very involved in town, we'd stay. Now it's a less agressive schedule, just waiting for the right thing to come our way. And expanding our radius. I wouldn't go any further north, but maybe west along the river.

I talked to Miranda the other night. It was fun. I don't just sit and chat with people on the phone so much any more.

She's just a dog, right?

Vivian has enormous bladder stones. There are two of them, baseball sized. She's having them removed Wednesday. But harder still is that the kidney damage may be irreparable. She's just the best, sweetest dog ever. She's only six, so I'm hoping that her youth and spunk will help her recover. I just fear that we're going to spend $1000 on surgery and she still won't be okay. I shouldn't be this sad but somehow I am. She was an abandoned puppy set to be put down and is, bar none, the best dog I've ever known. The smartest, the cutest, the nicest, the spunkiest. *sniff*

they asked when we got back, where we went, and then proceeded to tell us about the 18 times they've been to disney parks. Some of these stories are 40 years old. Most are over 25 years old. But did you listen to us at all?

I really don't hate them, but I do hate spending time with them. I never, ever, get a word in. My recent tactic was to only say "mm-hmm" and see if they catch on. nope.

I'm glad they gave me dh, and I'm sure that they did a great job raising all of those kids, but I think they're taking the selfishness of their retirement too far.

Short week

I don't work on Fridays. So today, my second day, is my last. And Monday is a holiday. I'm beyond thrilled. It's beautiful out today and will be so for the foreseeable future. I want to go check on my pumpkins, get back to the gym, do laundry, mop floors. I really want my house to be at a baseline level of cleanliness that it just doesn't have. Not to mention I'm in a big hurry to get the kitties fixed so I can teach them to poop outdoors. I hate litter boxes.

By the way, the cats smell like poop. Or at least one of them does. I thought cats were self-cleaning? Would they hate me if I used one of the dog bath wipes on them?

On vacation I lost somewhere in the 2-3 lb range. All that sweating did it I'm sure. I hope it did something to my metabolism and now I can get started.

I had scheduled an appointment with an endocrinologist to determine if I have a thyroid issue or insulin resistance. It was to be November 9. They called me to reschedule for April. What kind of bs is that? I want to be pregnant in April, so no thankyouverymuch. Stinky dinky doo.

The trip to meet the Mouse

We got there thursday night. We were with my parents, older sister (special needs), younger sister, her boyfriend and 2 month old baby. Checked into the villa (Old Key West), went to Downtown Disney for dinner. We weren't in Disney mode yet so we didn't realize that you need reservations everywhere. Ended up getting sandwiches and ice cream - fine by us. Next morning, up early and to the Animal Kingdom. It was over 90 every single day. But we rode on the safari, Nino loved seeing all of the animals. "baby moo" (for some reason, he thinks elephants moo). We saw a few more animals, went back to the hotel for a nap and a swim. That evening, we went to Epcot's Morocco for dinner. Fantastic food, walked back to wonderful fireworks and light show.

The babes together:
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Next morning, we went to the Boardwalk for breakfast. We wanted to rent the surrey bikes, but that wasn't an option. So we just walked around the lake, hung on the faux "beach", shopped a bit. Returned to the room for a nap, then went to Saratoga Springs resort for the pool. Wonderful for little ones. Great play area and tiny water slide (big one too). Dinner again at Downtown Disney - Portobello Yacht Club. Yum.

Next morning, off to Epcot. Went to the Living Seas which had a wonderful aquarium with dolphin, manatee, sharks. Spent a long time in there. Did some of the other rides (hardly any lines, woohoo), walked to the World Pavilion. Took our time, got free gianduja chocolate in Italy. Met parents for lunch in Norway, which Nino mostly slept through. Saw the rest of the countries, went back to the hotel for a swim. Sis and I and our families had dinner at Downtown Disney (Bongo's). Eh food.

Here's Nino in a sombrero in Mexico.
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Monday morning, Winnie the Pooh character breakfast at the Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom. Nino loved the characters, which we weren't sure about. We thought he might have been afraid. Piglet was his favorite. "Pig pig pig."
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DH then left to go back and work. We rode a few rides, walked around (Nino loved the steam train). We were all so hot and that was the most crowded park so we headed back to the hotel. Got freshened up and headed to the Boardwalk (Flying Fish Cafe) for dinner. Here's Nino at dinner. He was soooooo good.
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Tuesday morning, got up and packed. Ate all of the leftovers for breakfast, went for one last lunch together, went to the airport. Nino fell asleep just before takeoff and slept the entire ride. It was wonderful. We flew Delta's Song, which has dish tv in every seat. However, I was the only one watching SNL that Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson hosted and was hysterical really LOL while everyone else was watching the Red Sox. Oh well.

Now I'm back. Back at work, Nino's back at the sitter. I miss my sister and baby already, I miss having someone else make the bed. Glad to see the animals, and put a sweater on. It was hot.