2009 Meme

I swiped this from the fabulous Michelle at Bleeding Espresso. I did not do this in 2008 (for obvious reasons) so I am happy to revisit this meme and reflect on what has been an exciting and eventful year. To see what I did in 2007 click here.

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before? Participate in the Kids Lit Klub at Cabrini where I worked with 3 amazing women to create a reading camp from start to finish. Work in an elementary school as a reading specialist. Be a mom.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I think the only "resolution" I made was to be the best mom possible to my son - hopefully I have done this but you never know.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? So many babies so little time...the short list of new babies...Mackenzie, Isabella, Booker, Jack, Olivia (beautiful niece #1), Naomi (beautiful niece #2), Taylor (beautiful niece #3), Ethan (beautiful nephew)...I am sure there are more but who can keep track!

4. Did anyone close to you die? Not this year, but my friend Dave passed away in Sept of 2008 after a 9 m0nth battle with Melanoma. I think of him and his family often.

5. What countries did you visit? Italy

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009? My teaching certification and a job!

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? Jan 4 - my friend Suzie went into labor while watching the Eagles game at her parents house. April 17 - had to take Simon to the Emergency Room in the middle of the night because he fell out of his carseat. he had to have a cat scan and it was awful. May 15 - my niece Olivia was born. Oct 12 - my first day student teaching!

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Passing all my Praxis tests on the first try!

9. What was your biggest failure? I wish I had been able to breast feed Simon longer - but 5 months is great.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Not that I can recall. Had surgery on my gums which was heinous but I am lucky to have been healthy. Still have high blood pressure, despite my weight loss.

11. What was the best thing you bought? Well my mom bought it for me but my Snuggie. There, I said it.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? My beautiful son who has learned to walk at 12 months!

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? JD our cat...bad bad bad kitty likes to poop and pee in our basement but not in his litter box which is in the basement.

14. Where did most of your money go? Our mortgage, our bills, the last of my grad school classes. Oh yeah, and formula, diapers, etc.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Taking Simon to Italy to meet Nonna Linda!

16. What song will always remind you of 2009? I Gotta Feelin by the Black Eyed Peas....Simon loves this song and dances to it all the time.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: (a) happier or sadder? (b) thinner or fatter? (c) richer or poorer? Happier (getting more sleep!), thinner (like by 65lbs!), the same...still need to find a job.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? At the beginning of the year...sleep!

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Second guessing my parenting skills.

20. How did you spend Christmas? Dad, Uncle, Dan, Simon and I had dinner at our house. Mom was in Italy and we missed her.

21. Did you fall in love in 2009? Yes, with Stacy's Simply Naked Pita Chips...I am eating some right now!

22. What was your favorite TV program? Glee!!! Makes me so happy!

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? I try not to be a hater.

24. What was the best book you read? The Things They Carried by Tom O'Brien. Not my usual cup of tea but a really moving book.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery? The Laurie Berkner Band - Simon loves her and so do I!

27. What did you want and not get? A paying job.

28. What was your favorite film of this year? Duh, New Moon :)

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I was 36 and I was in class that night so I didn't do anything. Dan took me to dinner later that week. (this was the same thing as 2007...weird)

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Getting paid for my student teaching - but I love it so I cannot complain.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009? It fits? I'll wear it!

32. What kept you sane? My son's smile and giggles.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? My favorite vampire - Robert Pattinson

34. What political issue stirred you the most? Clean water is a basic human right.

35. Who did you miss? All my DC ladies...I still miss you greatly!

36. Who was the best new person you met? Karen, my cooperating teacher

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009. No matter how bleak life seems, there is always someone who is worse off than you - so get over it!

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. Still the same as 2007. "In dreams begin responsibilities" - U2, Acrobat My dream was to have a family of my own...and with that came all my responsibilities.

How did you all fair in 2009? Post a comment if you decided to do a year end review so I can read it as well.

I have high hopes for 2010 so bring it on peeps!

11 months young

Oh where o where has the time gone? My little man was 11 months old on Sunday. In a few short weeks we will be celebrating his 1st birthday...unbelievable. I love you peeper!

Lil' Pumpkin - 10 months

Spy was 10 months old this week. Here we are at Linvilla Orchards with cousins Sofia and Olivia, Zia Lisa, Nonna Maria and Nonno Mario and our good friend Leandro. Simon was wary at first and then really had fun feeling all the pumpkin stems...what can I say...he is very tactile!

I cannot believe that in a few short months we will be celebrating his first birthday! Crazy!!! He is a super fast crawler and loves to pull himself up and then let go...soon he will be walking and then all the fun will begin. He has 3 teeth and 3 more breaking through...so it has been a rough past couple of nights but we love him to pieces anyway!

With Nonno/a

The awesome Halloween display.

Very tactile my son.

Sofia has fun on the playground.

A lil' bit o' this n a lil' bit o' that

Since I have lost my ability to focus on any one thing for more than a period of 5 minutes, I have decided to post a bunch of blurbs about what is going on with me. You know for the 2 of you who still tune in to read this blog.

Whet to Fogo de Chao Sunday night and had a very un-Weight Watchers friendly dinner. Seriously, it was a crazy meat-a-licious meal. If you like meat I highly recommend the experience.

Speaking of Weight Watchers, I joined when I got back from Italy and have lost 11.2lbs in 6 weeks. I feel pretty awesome, better than I have in months. Now if only I can convince Spy to sleep through the night and I would feel 100%.

I took the Praxis II on Sept. 12. I need to pass it in order to student teach. I find out the results on Oct. 9 and I am supposed to start student teaching on Oct. 12. Talk about cutting it close and waiting until the last minute. Yeah, that is how I roll. If I fail...well I have to take it again in Nov and I student teach in Jan. Sigh.

Simon is crawling now, Lord help us all. He also has 3 teeth with at least 2 more on the way. He is still not sleeping through the night and hence I am not sleeping through the night either. If I do end up student teaching there are going to have to be some changes in our household with regards to who gets up to get Simon in the middle of the night. Yes, I am talking to you, D.

I need a mani/pedi in the worst way. My feet look like hooves. As usual, I have no time for this.

I am crazily looking forward to the next movie in the Twilight Saga: New Moon. Yes, I know it is a movie for teenagers. No, I do not care. The trailer made me squeal like a school girl at a Hot Topic meet and greet which by the way I have never been too in case you were wondering.

Finally, today is our 2 year anniversary. I cannot believe 2 years have gone by so quickly.

Happy Anniversary Baby!

9 months old

They say time flies when you are having fun...where have the last 9 months gone? Our little monkey is growing like a weed. He has two perfect teeth in this perfect mouth. He is almost crawling forward...definitely crawling backwards and can pull himself up in his crib. Sigh. Soon he will be asking for the keys to the car...what on earth will I do then?

Merry Christmas

Our best Christmas present.

Wishing everyone a safe and happy Christmas. May Santa bring you everything you asked for and then some!!!

Why am I not sleeping?

Our little SPY

Finally Simon is asleep (it is 5:30am) and what am I doing? Blogging. Well at least I got 2 hours in tonight - not so bad. Getting used to working on brief spurts of sleep - which really is overrated - I just wish I did not love to sleep so much!

Spy had his 2 week appointment today (er yesterday at this point I guess) and all is well. He is weighing in at almost 10lbs which is great. Yesterday we had his frenulum (flap of skin under tongue) clipped and he seems to be feeding better which is awesome. I am hoping to eventually phase out the formula - my milk supply seems to be increasing fingers crossed! It is still hard...he eats often and so I find myself blocking things out into 2 hour increments...when you are trying to nap that is not the easiest...I hope to be able to pump some extra milk so Dan or my mom can feed him as well...or maybe I won't ween him totally from formula...we shall see.

OK, I really will try to sleep now...we shall see how successful I am!

2 am blogging

Rooting for the Eagles on game day.

Finally Simon is asleep...for how long no one knows. In a measure of desperation I have brought the changing pad from the changing table into my room and he is asleep there - he will not sleep in his bassinet. Last night he slept for a few hours in his car seat - tonight no such luck. He LOVES his changing pad so I hope this does the trick...along with some Buena Vista Social Club.

I am hanging on by a thread. I love my little man so much and yet this 2-3 hour cycle of feed, pump, burp repeat has worn me out. I am not producing as much milk as he needs so we are supplementing. In the hopes that more milk will come in I am pumping several times a day as well as having him feed from me...talk about feeling like a milk cow!!! But I know it is in his best interests so in the end I suppose it is worth it for him to be as strong and healthy as possible.

On Monday we have to go to the doc to get his frenulum clipped...apparently the little flap of skin under his tongue is too tight and could be causing latching problems hence the lack of milk...so he is having the procedure. It breaks my heart to have to do this but if it will help him latch than so be it.

We also had our first illness...conjunctivitis...this week. Luckily we had a pedi appt the same day we noticed it so we got drops right away.

What an exhausting week. Life really does change when you have a baby...I have no idea how people go back to work after 6 weeks...I cannot imagine mentally being able to function at work after 6 weeks of sleep deprivation.

OK...seems like he is still sleeping which means I must sleep too...that next feeding is only a short hour away.

The new man in my life

Introducing Simon Patrick Yeager.

Born Dec. 1 at 3:35pm. 9lbs 3 oz and 21 inches long. He may be the most beautiful little boy in the world. I am sleep deprived and sore but honestly I only pushed for 40 minutes...and I HIGHLY recommend an epidural...even though I was going to try and go naturally one night with horrible labor and back pains changed my mind completely. I salute all women who choose to not have one...you are brave and have super high pain thresholds. I on the other hand may very well have never recovered from that type of pain.

I will post a more detailed birth story when I am home...I promise to warn before you read in case you do not want to hear about it. Although as far as labors go it was pretty normal. I have to give a HUGE shout out to the L&D staff at Paoli Memorial Hospital as they have been AMAZING throughout my child birth experience.

OK, I have been awake for days with very little sleep...Simon is in the nursery until he gets hungry again so I need to try and rest. A bientot mes amies!!!

Bump watch

I look like I swallowed a ______________. I will let you all finish this sentence.

Our little man

So I went to the Doc today for the 28 week appt and was lucky enough to get another ultrasound. The tech let us see Simon on the 3D screen for a minute and this is what we saw

You have to use your imagination...it's kind of like that picture of the woman that if you look at it long enough it looks like a cat. I see a nose and eye and a mouth - his hand is in front of his face (as usual) so it was hard to get a clear shot. Anyway, he has supper chubby cheeks and weights 3.3lbs and measures 15 inches. I was in love before and now I am 100% super-dooper in love with my son. I cannot wait to meet him...11 more weeks!!!

Now I get to go to the Doc every two weeks - the perks of the 3rd trimester - and they will do another ultrasound in 4 weeks (so they say - this is a perk of being AMA (of advanced maternal age - ie 35). I am not complaining...the more I get to see my baby the better!!!

What an amazing thing to see on the 7th anniversary of the WTC and Pentagon attacks. To think on that day I was one of thousands fleeing Washington DC as the city evacuated. I had to find a different route home since my usual route took me by the Pentagon. The next morning when I left for work I stepped out my front door and could smell the Pentagon still burning from a few miles away. Such sadness and loss. 7 years later I feel proud that I am able to remember this day by celebrating life.

Has anyone seen...

...my feet? I cannot seem to locate them. Where they once were are only stub like appendages. Lucky me I have 12 weeks to go.

Rocking and Rolling

I actually got a whole 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep last night. I usually wake up 3 times a night to pee or re-adjust my position to alleviate my aching back. So I am up early enjoying some quiet time before Dan awakes, reading my blogs and having some coffee.

Simon is also awake and literally rolling around in my belly, kicking and punching. My belly looks like a popcorn popper - sporadically bulging out here and there. It is the strangest feeling this little person inside of me. I have a constant companion, one who loves to let me know he is here, especially when it sit or lie down.

My doctor says lots of activity is a sign of a healthy baby...I think it is also a sign of hyperactivity. If he is this active in utero I can ONLY imagine what he will be like once he is out. So much for uninterrupted sleep!!!

Oooh Baby Baby

I finished registering today and am quite pleased with all of my registry items. I have to admit I was NOT looking forward to this. Lately I have had a serious inability to make up my mind about anything so deciding on what to register for seemed like almost an impossible task especially in this day and age of completely unnecessary and superfluous baby items at our disposal. I mean do people really need a little purse for their pacifiers? Can't the passy just go in the diaper bag? This is only one of a million examples of stupid things which you can buy at Babies R Us and The Right Start.

Here are some of my favorite things I registered for at BRU:

The Carini Bambini diaper bag. This bag is sooooo cute and only $25!!! They have it in pink too. I suspect I will have more than one diaper bag...I want a Vera Bradley one too but I could not resist this one. I got a Diaper Dude for Dan as well...so he does not have to be embarassed carrying this one.

This humidifier will match the baby bedding. I mean seriously, how freaking cute can you get? For those of you that know my obsession with cows this will make perfect sense. I hope it works well because I will be sad if I have to return it!



Seeing as Simon will be arriving during football season it is only appropriate that he has some Eagles gear to help him cheer the team on when he watches the game with Daddy. It is really soft too.

We also registered at The Right Start which has some cool organic and more unique things than BRU. Here are my favs from Right Start:



I love this blanket. My friend Suzie has a similar one and it is great to spread on the grass or on the sand. We will definitely use it when we go to see Daddy play softball next spring.



I got the Mary Jane version of these socks for Sofia. I am so glad they make them for boys too. Although I will admit the girl ones are so much cuter.



Last but not least...I got this for Sofia also but I wanted my own copy. I also registered for the Bob Marley and Beatles versions as well. Sofia loves her Coldplay one and listens to it every night before bed. I wonder when she is older if she will have a subconscious narcoleptic reaction whenever she hears a Coldplay song. I guess we will have to wait and see. They also make Led Zeppelin and The Cure which I may buy later on at Amazon...I mean serious what a great gift for a music lover who is about to have a baby...why did I not think of this!!!

My shower is in Sept so I will keep you posted with more pics of the cute things I get. Yay!!!

Stalled

I deeply apologize for the lack of posts. Last Monday I started up with grad school again and this one particular class "The Teaching of Writing" while enjoyable is grueling. Since we meet every day for 2 weeks we have a semesters worth of reading and writing to do in 14 days. It is not easy, especially when you struggle to keep your eyes open during the readings. I had to take a break and blog so that I would not fall asleep.

We went out and bought a scanner/copier/printer today so on July 14 when we have our next ultrasound we will be able to share a picture of our little one with the world. I really hope that baby is in the right position to see the gender...I don't know if I can wait until Nov to find out. The baby has started moving around now and I can feel it. It is such an odd sensation, like little hiccups or flutters in your belly. I didn't even realize that it was the baby moving until it started happening every day.

I have officially become and emotional mess as well. We had our lit circle in class on Thurs. For those those not in the know, a Lit Circle is like a well organized "book club" for students. Each student is assigned a role (Discussion Director, Word Wizard, Illustrator, etc) and then the book is discussed with each person contributing their share. The book we discussed was Miracle's Boys by Jacqueline Woodson. It is a pretty emotional book and I cried like a baby while reading it. I also burst into tears during the lit circle much to the dismay of my fellow lit circle members. It is awful how little it takes to set me off and I never know when it is going to happen. I suspect this is why I have been a recluse these past couple of weeks, not leaving the house and watching far too much television.

Ok, I guess I should get back to reading. I have to start working on my memoir as well which is due on Friday. Tomorrow night I also start my Math class at Montgomery County Comm College...don't even get me started...there will be a huge post on the evils of math soon enough.

A dopo.

Happy Mother's Day!

My wonderful husband was kind enough to buy a mother's day present for me from our future baby. Of course it made me cry - what doesn't these days - and made me love him even more.

He is going to be such a great dad!!!

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms and moms-to-be!!!! You deserve it!

It's Official

I've got a bun in the oven. Not just any bun but a Thanksgiving bun. I am due November 28th, 2008. We are excited. I am exhausted but feeling good. I will post sonogram pics when we are farther along since now all you can see is a little blob. In fact we have named our embryo Blobbie. Just until we can come up with something better.