14 weeks

Some pics of my little cutie...he got a new walker this week...not that his feet even touch the ground but thankfully he loves to sit in it while mommy does chores.

Here is one of my favorite pics of late - what a great smile!

Who is the World's Cutest Baby? Simon that is who!!

I cannot believe he will be 4 months old in a few weeks...where did the time go?

Big Man Little Man

How cute are my boys? How can you not love that little smile!!!

At a loss for words

For those that know me well, U2 is more than just a band. My love affair with Bono, Edge, Larry and Adam began at the ripe age of 10...seeing as I am going to be 36 this year this speaks volumes.

Of these four Irish lads there is one in particular that gets my blood pumping, literally with his pounding drum beats and ageless good looks. Larry Mullen Jr is definitely my favorite member of the band. He is somewhat of an enigma...until the Elevation tour where he miraculously came out of his shell and gasp! smiled on a regular basis, signed autographs and handed out drum sticks at the end of shows...one of which he handed to me one night in Dec 2001 in Tampa. But I digress.

Click below to see this truly handsome man answer questions at the Knicks game. For those who know the band like I do this is an amazing moment...he looks like he is having fun!!! As I pick up my jaw from the floor I share with you this video...enjoy.

3 months old

Here is a picture of my little Casanova who celebrated his 3 month b-day on Sunday. It was also his Baptism so as soon as I upload pics from everyone I will post about that.

I cannot believe that 3 months have gone by since our little man came into this world. He is changing everyday and doing so many new things. He is still a bit "Simon Scissorhands" hence the mittens...his nails grow like weeds and need to be cut everyday...something I cannot do mostly because he is so squirmy.

He is almost ready to sit up on his own and talks up a storm to anyone who will listen. Last week he slept through the night 3 times - amazing! Hopefully this trend will continue as I look like a wreck and as the photos from Sunday horrifically show I still look pregnant. I do not understand this as I do fit into at least one pair of my pre-pregnancy jeans. It is a mystery. And no my feet have still not returned to their normal size...tear.

Anyhoo, I hope to get back to posting on a more regular basis...I promise to try and not make this all so Simon-centric...it will be hard!

The little things

It is amazing how something so small as fresh clean sheets and new pillows can make a night's sleep so satisfying...even if I only get to sleep 3 hours at a time.

While scrounging around in my attic for shoes that might fit me (my feet have completely changed shape since my pregnancy but that is a whole other post) I found the new king size down pillows that my mom had brought over after Simon was born. I must have put them somewhere bothersome because they wound up in the attic thanks to my husband and his borderline OCD.

So I decided to retire our pillows and try these new ones and man are they awesome. Funny how such a small change can make all the difference.

Wow, what a boring post...is this what my life has become?

On the upside the new U2 album comes out on March 2 - what I have heard so far is a bit meh but I am reserving judgement until I can listen to the whole thing. New album = new tour. Too bad I will probably only see one show - if I am lucky - Ticketmaster is merging with Live Nation which is sure to eff up any attempts to buy tickets on my part. I am not even sure it would be worth the effort frankly - wow did I jut say that?

Grad school is heating up...I have to complete 15 hours with a student - my literacy partner. While I love doing this sort of thing it is a major pain to find someone when you are not teaching. Thankfully my friend has loaned me her son for this purpose - he is in third grade and I am meeting with him this afternoon.

Tuesday I take the Praxis I. I am scared out of my wits that I will fail the math part...I did a practice test and just barely made the passing score for PA certification. I really do not want to have to take this test more than once...sigh...we shall see what happens.

OK, that is pretty much all that is going on here. Simon is getting bigger and bigger. His baptism is March 1 so we are gearing up for that. I will post pictures afterwards. I still have to upload a bunch of the more recent pics we took...maybe I will do that tonight...if Spy behaves and goes to bed on time like a good boy.

Peace out.

2 months old

Happy 2 month b-day Simon! I cannot believe it has been 2 months since you came into this world. You have grown so much and brought us so much happiness...the best part is that it is only going to bet better day by day! We love you peep!

My little man

I profusely apologize for not posting recently. It is hard to type proficiently with one hand when you are holding, feeding, nursing a baby in the other. People claim they do it all the time but I am not so sure.

Graduate classes started last week as well so I am also scrambling to find time to do my readings and homework. I cannot wait to finish all my courses...with a little luck I will be student teaching in the fall - yay!!!

I encourage you all to visit my SIL's blog to see some super cute pics of Simon and Sofia. They are on their way to becoming best friends :)

I leave you with a pic of my cutie pie at rest...

Cocco e Drilli

First off, Happy 2009 to all my friends and family that read my blog. I appologize for the lack of posts but my life consists of nursing, changing and burping Simon - all on repeat - and sleeping a few hours at a time when I can.

When I am awake and online I have been looking for songs to sing to Simon and I came across this...my absolute FAVORITE Italian childrens song from 1974's Zecchino D'Oro competition. Seriously...you can find ANYTHING on the internet...isn't technology wonderful?!?!?. I had the 45 of this and played it constantly as a little kid...now I can sing it to my son and how awesome is the original footage from the show...seriously...cuteness is to follow. To those of you that do not speak Italian, this song is about 2 crocodiles Cocco and Drilli who are in love. One day a hunter captures Drilli (who is slower and cannot outrun the hunter) and wants to make her into a purse and a "beauty case." Cocco rallies all the other crocodiles to save his precious Drilli. Cocco is successful and he and his Drilli live happily ever after.

Enjoy

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!!!

Last day

So tonight we check into Labor and Delivery to have Baby Simon since he does not want to come out on his own. I am excited to meet our little one who has been baking for so long in my belly. I am also completely nervous about this whole birthing process. And while I understand that women have been giving birth for thousands of years it offers me no comfort to know that there is a good possibility that something the size of a grapefruit is going to squeeze itself out of a hole the size of a golf ball. YIKES.

Dan seems to be taking it in stride...tonight we leave the house as a couple and when we return we will be a threesome. We will have this little person who is half me and half Dan living with us for the next 2 decades. Again we are excited. Being able to see my precious niece Sofia blossom into an amazing toddler has us excited to watch Simon grow and change. I am also nervous about being the best parent I can be - an incredibly important job which I feel like I will never be ready for no matter how much I read and how hard I try.

On that note I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. I promise to post pictures of our newest addition when he arrives...hopefully without much fuss...tomorrow!

Hero worship

Last year I posted about my friend Lizzy who gave up her comfortable life in Washington DC to move to New Orleans and start the St. Bernard Project. She was interviewed by Anderson Cooper - you can see the video and read the original post here. I had no idea that she had been nominated for CNN's Hero of the Year award...not only was she nominated but SHE WON!!!!

I am so truly proud of her and all her accomplishments. The pre-taped telecast airs on CNN this Thursday (Thanksgiving) at 9 pm. I plan on watching - unless I am in labor of course.

It just goes to show that when you put your heart and soul into anything you can be successful!! And not monetarily successful but you can really change peoples lives one person at a time! Liz could have easily visited New Orleans and gone back to her life in DC but she didn't. She let that seed of inspiration grow into something meaningful and important and in the end so many people have benefited from her courage and perseverance.

To quote my favorite band..."She's gonna dream up the world she wants to live in, she's gonna dream out loud."

It makes me wish I was more like her.

Are you ready....

for Twilight?!?!?!?!?

Le sigh...I definitely am. Hoping to sneek in a matinee on Monday...hopefully Simon will stay put long enough for me to see this. If not I am not sure if I will be able to wait until it comes out on DVD. I have one book left to read in the series...I am trying to get my paper for grad school finished before I allow myself to pick this up. Just in case Simon does come this week school work comes first...grrrrr.

So for those of you that have read the book...are you team Edward or team Jacob? Like there is even a question about who Bella belongs with (team Edward).

Belly - 38 weeks

Thanks to Lisa for taking this beautiful picture of my belly...it actually looks normal and not like I am having triplets!

Rock a bye

Well, 16 more days until my due date and we finally put the finishing touches on the nursery.

Yes, there is a cow theme...in my defense I figured it would be suitable for any future female children we will spawn.

My belly gets bigger and more uncomfortable. Today I noticed my first stretch marks...figures that I make it this far to get them only weeks from delivery!

Other than that things are going well. I am completely enthralled by the Twilight saga and have been reading the books non stop instead of doing work for Grad school. Sad and pathetic but true. I have been on modified bed rest for about 2 weeks now and reading has been my salvation...that and my DVR. I just cannot wait for Simon to be here so I can sleep on my belly again and at some point in the distant future get a semi-decent nights sleep!

On a different note...it is time for the African Well Fund annual ebay auction. Click here to see what goodies we have up for sale. 100% of proceeds go to clean water projects in Africa. I know that it is difficult during times of financial distress for people to donate money...charities tend to suffer around this time but take a gander and see if there is anything you might like...the holidays are right around the corner after all!

OK, I am off to bake some pizza crust with my Pampered Chef Pizza Dough kit. Hopefully I won't completely mess it up!

An important day for America!

No matter who you vote for....please, please, please go out and cast your vote!!!!

Book talk

I know I may seem a little biased but my niece really is the smarted baby ever.

Enjoy.

Bump watch

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