And We Are Off!!!..

Like Father Like Son!!!...

Its snowing and raining outside so we've been housebound for the last couple of days!! Jake has assumed the position of the couch!! He's taken control of the remote control to the chagrin of his daddy!!! Now instead of Sportscenter and football its Franklin, Wow Wow Wubbzy, Blues Clues etc!! The picture explains it all!!! LOL~

Too Much To Do!!

Its 8 days before Christmas and I've just started shopping last week!! I feel just alittle overwhelmed with so much to do BEFORE Christmas! This year will be our LAST year traveling. Like the last 7 years, we've celebrated Christmas Eve w/ John's mom in Cheshire. Wake up at the crack of dawn so we can celebrate Christmas day w/ my parents in Wilton. I'm just not looking forward to doing that w/ a 1 year old! Fortunately, this is the last year my parents are in CT and we've asked John's family to come to our house next year for Christmas Eve! On top of athat I've got to pack up the family for our trip to Amelia Island in Florida.... shorts, t-shirts, bathing suits, golf clubs and accessories so on and so forth!

Back to shopping.. thank goodness of gift cards and the fact that most of our family members will be getting them this year!! I've made up my mind to finish ALL the shopping by this week and have everything wrapped! That's my goal and I plan on sticking to it!!!...LET'S HOPE!!

Christmas Card Pics!!...

Trying to get a tired, teething and cranky 1 year old to stay still to take a picture is friggen IMPOSSIBLE!!! This year, like last year Jakey fought the good fight in taking our holiday greeting card pic!! This was going to be our 2008 card and trust us we were close but decided not to at the last minute ;) So I thought why not post it on his blog!!...

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Love,

Jakey!!

Turkey Day!!...

This year Thanksgiving was much more relaxed for me!! Last year Jake was 2 months and breastfeeding CONSTANTLY! may I add and I was a little bit worn down from it! But this year it was so much fun to see Jake movin' and groovin' at Mame's house (John's Mom). We ate and drank really really well! And by the time Saturday came around all three us were happy to be home! Plus Jake and I caught colds! UGH! sucks to be sick and to have a sick child!! But we are on the mend and looking forward to some Christmas Cheer!! Can't believe it!! But here are some cute pics from Thanksgiving 2008!!

The Slocum Men!! Aren't they so handsome ;)

This is the face he makes everytime I get the camera out to take a pic of him! Pretty funny!!

Daddy and Jakey.. two peas in a pod!!

Not a good week!!!...

So our beautiful 1 year old son needed 10 stitches on his left cheek because he was bitten by my parent's ornery, spoiled old dog!!! Last Tuesday night, Jakey and I were spending the night at my parent's house so I can get my new CT license the next morning!!... It's 7 pm and its time for Jake's nightly bottle and bed time! I'm in the kitchen watching our little dude playing w/ his toys and I turn around for literally ONE SECOND and I hear him SCREAMING!!! I turn around and all I see his our son's head down and the dog is looking at me!!! I THEN LOSE IT!! I pick him up and I see two gouges on his cheek and blood is coming down his face!!! My mom and I get him in my car and rush him to the hospital!!!

We were rushed into the ER and at this point the doctors are telling us he definitely needs stitches and wants to know if we want him to do it or call a plastic surgeon.. before he can say another word I tell him to call the plastic surgeon.. I didn't want the ER doc to go at my son and take the chance of scaring! We wait for about 45 minutes for the surgeon to arrive.. and this is where my real nightmare begins... they proceed to wrap my child up like a mummy and tape his shoulders and thighs.. he literally can't move and his screaming and crying!!! I then have to hold him down while they inject needles in 5 DIFFERENT places in his cheek!!!! I am shaking and balling at this point and all I want to do is wake up from his nightmare!!! The surgeon puts in 5 stitches in each site was told to keep an eye on it because they might get infected!
The next 2 days I am washing and changing his dressings twice a day... then on Friday I KNOW SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT!!! I called our pediatrician and tell him that one of the areas looks infected! I tell him that every time I go near the area to clean it HE.GOES.BONKERS!!! I can just lightly touch it and he screams in utter pain! The pediatrician tells me to come in so they can look at it... He proceeds to tell me that the stitches look "excellent" and that I have nothing to worry about!!! I feel somewhat better but still alittle worried!
So its 5:30 pm and he's bathing I am cleaning the dressing and I see puss coming out! Out of the tub and I am rushing to the ER.. I call the plastic surgeon and he tells me NOT TO GO TO THE ER!! He will keep his office open for me so he can personally see Jakey.. We live 45 minutes away from his office!!! (Oh BTW, John is on his way home from a 2 day business trip from NYC! He meets us at the doc's office)
The minute he looks at Jake's face he tells me that "a mother's instinct is never wrong.." the areas are infected... Now I have to hold my child down again while he proceeds to take out some stitches and drain out the puss UGH!!!.. in the middle of it John walks in.. He tells me to go out of the room and he will take over from here!! I go out to the waiting area to hear my son screaming like he did on Tuesday night!!
After what seemed like forever, John and Jakey come out!!... It's finally over! Thank God!!! Our follow up appointment is this Monday and hopefully the rest of the stitches come out and we can go on living somewhat normal!! Even w/ all this traumatic instance, he's still our happy go lucky son!! God bless him!!!

1 year Check Up!!!

So we went for our 1 year old check up today!!!... and its kinda scary how big he's getting!! He is definitely following in Daddy's foot steps.. Jake is now 34 1/2 inches and weighs 27.2 lbs!! I asked the doctor if he could just give me a ball park number of how tall our man was going to be.. although he said that he hates to guess and spectulate.. but just how Jake has been plotting, he would "conservatively'" estimate that he will be at least 6'5"!!! Maybe even play football!!

Just a quick update....

We've been quite busy the last couple of weeks!! With Jake's 1st bday party, family visits and getting my house back into working order has been quite tiring!!! On top of that, Jake has finally gotten a molar!! and the thing is friggen HUGE!!! And the drooling has reached its peak! I no longer put a bib on him! its just useless!! and I'm quite tired of looking at him in a bib! His "walking" has stalled!! He loves it when we "walk" with him.. even just with one hand.. but as soon as we let go and he realizes that he's standing by himself.. he folds like a cheap suit!!! But like my mother in law says, "no on crawls to Kindergarten.." This weekend our goal is to clear out his closet and drawers of his "baby" clothes so we can make room for his "big boy" clothes!! 2T to be exact!! He has his 1 year doctors appt on Tues so I will post his stats!!!

Happy 1st Birthday Jake!!!

You are 1 today and mommy and daddy are just blown away!!! You are the best thing we've ever done and you amaze us every single day! Exactly 1 year ago, you debuted yourself to us, your entire family and the world!!! From that day one, you've become such a loving, care free, and beautiful boy! We love you and can't wait to see what year 2 brings ;)

For My Auntie Megs!!!!

My Auntie Meg has been bugging my mommy to upload me pics of me... well... here you Auntie.. Take me alllll in... I know I know.. I am CUTE!!

Calling All Moms.. Your Help is Needed!!!

I am writing this blog today so I can get some feedback on the different kinds of sippy cups your child(ren) uses!! Jake is almost 1 is REFUSING to use a sippy cup.. I mean he's just using the friggen thing throw/chuck/ bite.. everything except to drink out it! I've tried every brand, avent, playtex, gerber and nothing is WORKING!!! I know he can do it but when that cup get placed in front of him, he cries and yells until WE feed it to him!! Please if anyone has gone through what we are going through, let me know HOW we can help our child use his sippy cup!!

Gearin' up to the BIG -1st Bday!!!

Only 2 more weeks to Jake's 1st bday fiesta! The invites have been mailed, the food ordered, the cake picked out and entertainment booked!! John and I are just AMAZED by how fast his first year has gone by.. feel like I just blinked and BOOM he's going to be turning 1! To top it off, Jake's Gramps (who lives in Missouri) will be making a trip out to celebrate! Let's pray its not raining that day for the moonbounce I ordered will be a total waste of money!!! and I will be out of my mind crazy w/ about 20 kids running around my house!!!

Where's George?

Oh my goodness, I thought that my child was going to have a nervous breakdown this morning! His all time, favorite, can't sleep w/out blankey George was NO WHERE TO BE FOUND!!! You are now wondering who in the right mind would name a blanket "George".. well.. from the minute he was introduced to this blanket he just LOVED it!! we didn't have a name for a long time.. just blankey.. then one day I come home and John is asking where "George" is!!!! He kept saying, "Jake, let's find go find George so you can take a nap.." At this point, I am looking at my husband as if he has completely lost his marbles!!! I say, "who are you talking about babe... who's George and why are we looking for man who will help our infant child take a nap.." Then he shows me blankey and turn it over and the maker of the blanket is George.. so thus the name!! Anywho, this am our child REALLY needed a nap!!! woke up at 5:30 am and was Mr. Cranky Pants all morning!!! so finally its time for the bottle and George and Nap.... got the bottle and George is no where to be found.. I looked everywhere.. his bed, our bed, under the bed, in our family room.. finally after bitterly crying for 25 minutes while I searche and navigate my entire house for George, he falls asleep.... to wake up 45 minutes later!!! Needless to say I finally found George... it was stuck in his pack and play underneath all his toys!! don't know how that happened.. Take a look at how happy he was to finally reunite w/ George!!

Molars, Colds and everything else in between!!!

I swear we think we have this parenting thing down... then all of the sudden "bang" you get suckered punched in the face!!! Jake has been drooling like a sieve ever since he's been 3 months.. He's has 8 teeth it seems like FOREVER!! But when he started to wake up at night a 3 am and not wanting to get back to sleep.. we were BAFFLED and EXHAUSTED!!! It took me a couple of days to realize that it's his friggen 12 month molars and a heapin' dose of Tylenol throughout the day and night would help his crankiness. Whewww, everything is solved...NOT!!! Then he started to get lethargic and didn't want me to put him down.. he also spiked a fever.. but I attributed all this to this teeth.. WRONG AGAIN!!! cause he started to projectile vomit all over... and the direction of his vomit always landed on me!! So, at this point I am about to start licking windows for I am just totally and utterly at my wits end!!! FYI.. I also thought this would be the BEST time for me to switch his formula!!!! I'm such a rookie!!! WTH was I thinking!!! So I called our pediatrician and fortunately he doesn't have an ear infection but he is fighting a cold and getting his molars.. and we are now back on his usual formula.. last night he only woke up at 2:30 for he had a wet diaper. I changed him, gave him his usual formula, and some more Tylenol and straight back to bed until 7:00 am!! The moral of this story is that I learned some lessons the very hard way - Keep It Simple Stupid!!!

Fightin' a Serious Cold!!!

With the start of fall comes the demise for all mothers....Colds!! 101 fever, snotty/boogy nose and gnarly diarrhea!! Let's hope we have a mild winter this year!!

My First Music Class!!!

Today was my first day at Teddy Bear Rhythms!! and boy was it AWESOME!!! to be honest with everyone I LOOOOOVVVEEDDD IT!!! Mommy's friend Therese and her babies Jake and Jaden came too!!! Miss Gail was such a great teacher! She played the guitar and piano and we all sang along! Plus I got to rock on the a big drum!! and if you listen closely to the video I can drum out my own name!! Pretty Cool!! I can't wait to the next class!!!

Checkin out all the instruments!!

Miss Gail

Therese, Jake and Jaden

These two sticks really make cool sounds ;-)

Shake, Shake and Shake the eggs!!! and try to eat it!!

Daddy's Best Friend!!!

Jake is getting to recognize and understand his surroundings, things and people... especially HIS DADDY!!! It's pretty amazing I have to admit.. however he has a hard time pointing out the person who spends 24/7 w/ him while nurturing and caring for him!!... hmmmm... like ME!! his friggen mother!! Needless to say, its pretty amazing to watch this video... it melts John's heart every time he does this!! Enjoy!!

Busy Busy!!!

We've been quite busy!... w/ the end of summer comes lots of activities for our Jake!!! I hate sitting around the house w/ nothing productive to do... so I've signed him up for several things this fall!! so he's nicely scheduled w/ fun things to do!! On Mondays and Thursdays he's going to be going to Lasses and Lads a creative activity center where he can romp around in the gym to learning how to speak Spanish! I get a list of weekly activities and find the best one for our Smagortzy =) On Tuesdays he and I will attend a music group called Teddy Bear Rhtyms.. this is where kids his age can play and learn through music and instruments.. I've gotten great feedback from other moms about this program! I know he will love it and I will love watching him! The last thing he will do will be on Fridays where I am trying to sign him up from "mommy and me" swim class... although I think I've missed the deadline.. oops! This swim class is daddy's request! I think he wants Jake to swim like Michael Phelps by the time he's 2! seriously... he really wants to Jake to learn to swim before he really becomes fearful of the water!.. All in all it will be a great fall.!!!.. plus we all are gearing up for his 1st Birthday Party!!! Hope everyone is well and have a great week!!!

Last Days of Summer!!!!

We went back to the beach for our last summer getaway! It was too short but we all had a wonderful time!!! We were able to invite our good friends Beth, Dave and Josh to enjoy the last days of summer together. More importantly our sitter Lorena and her daughter Nikki were able to come along so John and I were able to have some "mommy and daddy" time!!! which in turn meant lots of golf =) We took the kids to an amusement park and of course they loved it! Jake went on a "car" ride w/ Lorena and Nikki.. although he didn't love or hate at the time but about 15 minutes after he got off the ride he projectile vomited all over himself and his stroller!!! OMG!!! and needless to say that was the end of our amusement park day! The rest of the weekend was much more calmer.. lots of walking on the beach and enjoying our surroundings before heading back to reality!! We hope everyone had a wonderful summer!

Our view from the deck!! Doesn't suck!!!

Our happy little.. I mean... big dude

Getcha motor runnin'... headin' on the highway!!

Gettin' some lovin' from the dada!!!

WHAT the heck is this friggen thing???

Josh, Dave and Beth

Nikki and Josh enjoying the FROG ride!

9 Month Check Up!!....

Well.. its really like "almost 10 month check up" because we are only 5 days away from my 10 month birthday day.. so it goes like this.. I am 33 inches and weigh 25.3 pounds!!!... yea you can say I'm a biggen!! So my mommy called my Mame to see where my daddy was at 9+ months... now if you are NOT sitting down.. this may be a good time....... ok... so my Mame doesn't have his 9 month stats but had his stats at 13 months.. and my daddy was 34 inches and 29 pounds!!!! Enough said!!

A random Birthday Party!

Jake's new friend Adam.. He's 1 and Jake is 9 months!!

Tug of war w/ Adam

This Saturday we crashed a birthday party for a 3 year old girl we didn't know!!!... well our friend Jon was letting his neighbor borrow his yard for the party.. their house was being renovated... so Jon asked if we wanted to come and hang out!! At first we were hesitant but we wanted to see our friends Jon and Deneen!!... To our surprise their neighbors were really cool and the party was a lot fun!!! Jake got to mingle w/ new peeps and DOMINATED anyone who got in his way!!! He even got to play in a moon bounce!!.. He's just so big for he's age!! there was a boy at the party named Adam who turned 1 the previous day... we put them side by side and it was just amazing how much bigger Jake was!! Let's hope he gets taller and bigger... we have high hopes of him being an athlete =)

I love tupperware!!!

The 'dude' has been getting around and around and around!!! NONE STOP!!! but with the none stop action he is FINALLY sleeping through the night!!! We never thought this day would ever come but it has and it feels sooooo good =) Anywhoser... he has taken to getting into our cabinets.. although most cabinets are off limits I have left one unlocked w/ plastic tupperware.. he makes a b-line for it everytime!!! Sooo friggen funny and its really cute to see him playing w/ it..

First word and more!!!

So.. he does it!! says his first word!! normally its the traditional "momma" or "dadda".. Oooohhh no not our son.. Jake's first word is "bye-bye"!!! to boot he waves "bye-bye"!!! He is now the bye-bye king!! Bye bye to daddy when he leaves for work, bye-bye to the techs who came to install our tvs, bye-bye to our neighbors.. you get the picture ;)

And just yesterday, while I am trying to straighten up his playroom, Jake stands up on his radio flyer wagon.. and... TAKES OFF!!! Now its good-bye and have a nice day to you mommy!!! He is just in constant motion all the time!! and now all he wants to do is "walk" w/ his wagon!!

Don't mess w/ my cookie!!!

I love cookies!!! enough said.. and so when my freakin' mommy tries to take it away from me not only do I get alittle annoyed.. I give her some 'tude so she knows its makin' me mad!! Can you blame me!! It tastes SOOO GOOD!!

Just another exiciting weekend!!!

It was another busy and exciting weekend at the Slocum household!! by Sunday night Jakey couldn't wait to go to bed... It's been 7 months since we moved into our new home and I had enough of looking at the white walls.. when we first moved painting wasn't on the top of the to do list.. now we've settled in, I wanted to get our home painted.. I called around got a couple of quotes.... almost fell off the chair when I got them!!! just to get our kitchen and family room painted the LOWEST quote was $2000!!!..... you didn't read it wrong.. that's 3 0's following the 2.. $2000!!! Needless to say we weren't going t be paying anyone to paint and we were fortunate enough to get our good friend Jon to volunteer to help.. he painted and built homes throughout college and he knew exactly what to do!! so on Friday he came over, prepped and painted our family room!!! then on Saturday morning we painted our kitchen!! The results are AWESOME!! and very cost efficient.. it colors made our family room and kitchen more warm and inviting!! we've now on our way to paint our entire first floor!! On Sunday John's family came over.. Uncle Josh, Aunt Tina and Mame!! we haven't seen Uncle Josh and Aunt Tina since their wedding in June so it was really nice catching up w/ them!!! On to Jake... he has been an eating machine these days.. although at times his teeth hurt too much that I have to give him baby food...but w/ the large amounts of teeth his got he can eat graduate meals.. his favorite is the beef raviolis!! And now at meal time we have to entertain him any which way we can so he sits still!!! so John has been sword fighting.. well its spoon fighting w/ him so I can feed him ;) its pretty funny!!

Cutting molars + 9 month old drooler= NO SLEEP FOR MOMMY AND DADDY

Jake has been seriously cutting teeth since he has been 3 months old!!! Add that to being a newborn, being stickly breast feed for 6 months and constantly cutting teeth and of course growing all adds up to that he has NEVER fully slept through the night for 9 straight months!!!! So we have not slept since October 31, 2007!!! Unlike his friend, Izzy Kaiser, who seems like has been sleeping through the night FOREVER, our boy still hasn't attempted this sleeping through the night thing!!! Now he's cutting his molars!!!!! Holy S$%T!!!!! Sleep has become a mere distance memory for John and I!!! For the last couple of nights we are lucky to get about 4 hours of sleep total!!! We give him tylenol and rub benedryal on his gums and still he wakes up... So to all mothers (fathers too) who read this blog, pray for our sanity!!! because I think we may end up loosin' it soon for the total utter lack of sleep!! pray that our son gets through this phase as soon as possible!!! Thanks!!!

On the Go! Go! Go!!!

I'm just sayin' I got a lot of exploring and learning to do!!! And the only way I can do that at this point is be on the go ALL THE TIME!!! God bless my mommy for trying to keep up w/ my pace! Poor lady!!

In the Octagon!!!

In case you were all wondering why I've been banished to the "OCTAGON"... because I can roundhouse kick my BoSox bear and slap the you know what out of anything that gets in my way!!!

My New Cousin ~ Alyssa Lee Rossetti

This weekend I finally got to meet my new girl cousin, Alyssa! She was born on July 3 and weighed in at 6 lbs and 3 ounces and was 18 inches long! She was really really small and slept most of the time. My mommy and daddy were amazed to see such a small baby for I NEVER was ;) I also got some lovin' from my Pap, my Uncle Mark and Aunt Stacy!!! and to top it off I got to play w/ my cousin Kai too!! I tried to keep up w/ him but he's got that walking thing down and I'm just learning!

The 3 grandchildren ~ Jake, Alyssa and Kai

Alyssa, wide awake and soaking it all in!

Hey Kai that's my truck.

No Jake that's my truck.

Well, I don't care I'm just going to take it from you anyway!

Alyssa gettin' a ride from Jakey... and Jakey having a hard time w/ the concept of sharing ;)

Boy oh Boy!

I can't believe in just about 4 months our precious boy will be turning 1!!! I'm so glad that he was born on Halloween!! I have tons and tons of GREAT ideas for his big milestone.. although I've been warned by my hubby not to go over the top because Jake will not remember it..but I know in his heart that I'm really not going to listen! Jake just amazes us everyday! He's so active and such an alpha boy. He plays with his trucks, smashes his toys and bangs the ever living crap out of everything he can get his hands on!!! He now has to eat his meals out of bowls that John and I eat out of w/ a regular spoon! He thinks he really is the cats meow;) He's eating real bananas (smashed up of course) and real applesauce! He's even gotten a taste of ice cream (thanks to this Nana!!)....trust me I wasn't too thrilled! And just yesterday he realized that he can make things happen with his hands.. he started to wave "bye bye" on cue ;) He realizes that if we say and do the gesture that he is suppose to the same.. although his wave isn't perfect yet.. it more like a cupping gesture.. it's still an amazing thing to watch as a mommy! Hope you all enjoy it!!

My First 4th at Higgins Beach!!

Ever since I was a little girl, my family has spent our summers in Maine!!! one of our favorite places in the world is our beach... Higgins Beach!!! And I always knew that I wanted to take my children here so they can experience all the fun things I did... swimming, kayaking, crabbing.... although our little dude is too young to do all these things ;) he did have an action packed 2 weeks!!! Our trek (it took about 4 1/2 hours) was pretty smooth going up to the beach but coming back NOT SO MUCH!!! let's say Jakey had several melt downs on our way home!!! But as soon as he got to our house, he got LOTS and LOTS of attention from his Nana, Pap, counsins and especially from his Auntie Meg!!! And a big shout to Meg who watched the Smagortzy (John's lovely nickname for our son) while we played golf everyday!! John is actually getting really good!!! Our afternoons consisted of swimming in his "pool", hanging out w/ family and enjoying lots and lots of fresh seafood... not Jake but all the adults ;) Take a look at our two weeks!!! Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th!!


Our visit w/ Gram in Boothbay, ME... It was so nice to see her!! She made us delicious lobster rolls!!

Lookin' cool in my daddy's shades!!! Check out the blonde hair!!!

Gettin' some lovin' from Gram

Hangin' w/ daddy!!! We are best friends ;)

My mom got him a "pool" so he can play in it!!! It turns out it was the best $30 she's ever spent on Jakey!!! He loved it so much that he didn't want to get out!!

Aren't I the cutest???


Auntie Meg, cousin LK and me.... They were the best "babysitters" while mommy and daddy were out on the fairways!!

Woman!!.. put the GD camera down!!!

My Nana is the best!!! She took me swimming for the first time in the ocean!!! Although mommy thought it was bitter cold, I didn't care!!! I thought it was the coolest thing ever!!

Hey Now!! I love waves!!!... Can you hear him giggling???

Rockin' out w/ my mohawk!!

Too cool!!!

There is a great family orientated 4th of July parade at Higgins and right after the parade the Rossetti's always throw a rockin' party!! Lobster, steaks, beer, wine and a mean game of bocci (sp??)!!!

Hangin w/ my cousin Jared!!!

My monmy and me!!

My Nana Goldie!! I love her sooo much!!

All in all it was a wonderful vacation!!! Looking forward to going back to the beach over Labor day!!!