2008 Christmas roadtrip - part 2

Christmas has come and gone and we're back home again. Even though it was A LOT of driving we were so fortunate to be able to spend time with both of our families. Josh had such a good time with all of his cousins.

It ended up taking us close to 9 hours (with stops and bad weather) to get from Scott's parents' house in Ohio to my parents' house in Utica, NY. Josh did quite well, slept for about half of the drive, and watched DVDs for a good part of his awake time.

Josh finally got to see real snow and play in it with Daddy (since we haven't had much in Ohio). He didn't like rolling around in it, or going on the sled - all he wanted to do was eat it! After his nap on Christmas eve's day we took Josh to see Grammy June since she was unable to join us for dinner then went to Cioci Joan's for Wigilia (Polish Christmas). The food was all so delicious and it was great to see most of my extended family. The time flew and after opening presents it was time to go home and go to sleep so Santa could come.

Josh had so much fun opening presents on Christmas day and he proudly put baby Jesus in the manger in Grandma's nativity all by himself.

After stopping by to see Zia Joelle and Zio Beppe, and Grammy June again, we headed to Cioci Paula's house in Syracuse for Christmas day dinner and more presents! Having small children around again really makes Christmas so much more fun. It was great staying at Paula & Patrick's for a couple days because Josh and his cousin Aidan are only 3 weeks apart in age so they had a great time playing together with all of Aidan's toys and the new toys they both got for Christmas. Friday was a lazy day, playing outside in the snow and inside with the toys. Grandma and Grandpa drove out to see us one more time and help us eat all the yummy leftover food.

We got on the road around 10 am yesterday for our 5.5 hour drive back to Cleveland. Since we weren't in any rush we stopped in Buffalo for lunch and went to Duff's for wings (chicken fingers for me). It was soooooooooooooooooo awesome to have REAL buffalo wings & fingers. (I highly recommend anyone stopping in Buffalo to get wings to go to Duff's instead of Anchor Bar - trust me on this one!)

We finally made it home around 6pm last night and immediately started unpacking and doing laundry. No rest for the weary, we're headed back out on the road tomorrow afternoon. If anyone hasn't heard (or read) yet, we're moving to Pittsburgh! Scott was offered a larger territory and we jumped at the opportunity. I haven't had any luck finding a job here in Cleveland (and I hate the house we're renting) so moving out of here was the best Christmas present for me. Josh gets to go to Nana & Papa's again for a few days while Scott & I go to Pitt to find a place to live and celebrate New Year's Eve with friends.

2008 Christmas roadtrip - Part 1

It's hard to believe that Christmas is only a couple days away and we are almost half-way done with our Christmas roadtrip. On Saturday morning Scott, Josh and I drove down to St Clairsville to his parents' house for the first part of our trip. The "Florida Bukowskis" (Chris, Jon, Day & Jimmy) flew in that afternoon and we've been having fun ever since. Jimmy is a year older than Josh and they have been playing together non-stop since they got here. It's great that they are so close in age... Josh is learning a lot from Jimmy (good and bad) and it's funny to watch Josh follow Jimmy around and do exactly what he does.
Yesterday we had a professional photographer come to the house and take family portraits of all of us. The ladies dressed in red shirts, the men in gray shirts and the boys in red and gray sweaters... very festive. I can't wait to see how they all turned out! We haven't had family pictures done since last July so we are long overdue. After the photo shoot I made everyone French martinis - my favorite - and we tried watching the movie "Fred Claus" but turned it off part-way through because it wasn't funny at all.
Today we got ready early and took the kids to the mall to see Santa Claus. Jimmy was up first and did quite well. He hopped right up onto Santa's lap and told him what he wanted for Christmas - blue shoes and a big net to catch doggies (so cute). Josh, on the other hand, is TERRIFIED of Santa. We watched how well Jimmy did and tried to convince him to do the same but no such luck. He clung to me and wouldn't even look at Santa. All we could do to get a picture of Josh with Santa this year was to be in the picture as well... it didn't turn out too bad.
We're on the road again tomorrow, this time for the 7.5 hour trek to my hometown - Utica, NY. Hopefully Josh will be good in the car and sleep for a couple hours... if not, we're equipped with a portable DVD player and Wiggles DVDs :)

Josh's Christmas portraits

I took Josh to get his Christmas pictures done yesterday (better late than never) and am quite pleased with how they came out. I'm sooooo glad that we have a Portrait Innovations up here... the people are great, they're not too terribly expensive and you get your pictures right away - we only had to wait a half hour for them to print our order!

Josh didn't want to cooperate at first, he was more interested in playing with other kids at the Lego table. It took me, the photographer and one assistant with a stuffed dog to get him to sit and smile for the camera. He just kept running around, trying to pull decorations off the tree, and grabbing all the different props that were in the room.

Only two more months until we get to do it all over again for his 2 year old birthday portraits! :)

mama's new 'do

So I cut my hair... again. I really didn't mean for it to be this short, I actually wanted it an inch or so longer but this is what I walked out of the salon with. Its definitely taking me some time to get used to it (I cut it on Friday afternoon).

I remember when I was a teenager seeing Moms in the mall with their kids and a lot of them had short hair... I used to wonder why women felt the need to chop their hair off as they got older and had kids. Alas, that's me now. I don't know what it is about short hair that makes me feel so old...

Health update

Just a quick update on what's going on with me... it's been almost 2 weeks since the problems with my left side started. I've had numbness in my left leg from the hip through the toes and hypersensitivity to touch on my left side from the chest to the hip. It has slowly started to get better but I am still not 100%. Both the regular doctor and a chiropractor couldn't figure out what was causing my symptoms so I went for an MRI today.

Above is a picture of the contraption I had to sit in, very still, for 45 minutes. All of the times I've seen MRIs done on TV the patient has been laying down so it was quite a shock to me to see this machine when I walked in the room. The only good part was that I got to watch TV so it helped to pass the time. Now I wait for the results to come back, the tech said 1-2 days. Tomorrow I go for another test, a nerve conduction study, to determine if my symptoms are caused by peripheral neuropathy. I know, a big confusing term. Once I get an answer on what is going on I will explain it in non-technical terms :)

PSS Great Lakes Holiday Party

What a fabulous weekend we just had! On Friday we drove to Nana & Papa's with Josh & Kody in the back seat... surprisingly it wasn't too bad and they both behaved (for the most part) on the 2.5+ hour drive. On Saturday afternoon Scott & I left for our night out in Pittsburgh. After stopping for a little outlet shopping in Washington, PA we made it to the hotel - the decadent and gorgeous Omni William Penn in downtown Pitt. The hotel was really spectacular and our room was very spacious and comfy. We didn't have much time to get ready for the Holiday Party and after two outfit changes (on my part) we were ready to meet up with Chris and Susan and get the night started.

First was the cocktail reception where we got to meet a lot of Scott's fellow reps and branch personnel. After, we were escorted to another room for dinner and dancing. The buffet dinner was delicious, the DJ played good music (although no one really danced), and they gave away a bunch of gifts to all of the employees - it was a random drawing and Scott won some Harry & David treats, yummy!

Afterwards a bunch of us (me, Scott, Chris, Susan, Jen, Jerry, Shawn, Julie) decided to change into more comfortable (and warmer) clothes and go out to a bar. Since we had no idea where there was to go we let the "locals" choose and we went to Bar Louie at Station Center. The DJ there was playing awesome music and we all had a great time drinking, dancing and cutting up. Sadly the night had to come to the end... it was so good to see old friends from Jacksonville and have a night out with Scott.

Now its back to Cleveland, and more doctors appointments, for the next 2 weeks. Its hard to believe that our "Christmas roadtrip" starts in 12 days! Oh, and you can officially call me Scrooge... we're not getting a Christmas tree at all this year.

You get what you pay for

So I spent the majority of the day today Christmas shopping and am happy to say that I am pretty much done. All the kids are bought for, as are the gifts for the family present exchange among the adults. Scott and I aren't buying each other gifts because of our current financial status so that's one less thing to fret about... he is always so hard to buy for and never really wants or asks for anything.

Now to the topic of my posting... you get what you pay for. Against Scott's wishes I bought an artificial tree this year. We've had a real one for the last 6 years because he grew up with real ones and insisted on it. I grew up with an artifical one so all of the hassle that surrounds having a real one was just too much for me to deal with this year. We were away last weekend, are away again this weekend, and then leave on the 20th to start our "Christmas Roadtrip" to visit both of our families - in my opinion, we weren't going to be here enough this month to warrant getting a real tree. Besides that, the living room in the house we're renting is small and even after rearranging furniture we couldn't find a great place to put it where 1. Josh wouldn't get at it, 2. Kody wouldn't get at it, and 3. it wouldn't get sap on our couch.

I bought a 4 1/2 foot tree for $29.99 at Target and on the box it looked fairly decent (see above pic). Well, when we opened it and set it up I swear to you it looked like a Charlie Brown tree. I am so mad! Now I'm going to have to go back to Target, return the darn thing, and search for another suitable one. Bah Humbug!

Time just keeps flying by...

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving has come and gone and we're 3 weeks away from Christmas! Like a lot of people we are scaling back on presents this year and are mostly buying for the kids so I don't have too much shopping left... a few more things for Josh, something for my godson Matt and my cousin Mikey. One more trip to Toys R Us should do it!

Our Thanksgiving was very nice... it was the first we've spent the actual holiday with either of our parents in years. We drove down to Nana & Papa's house and stayed for 4 days. Thanksgiving dinner was great and all I was in charge of was the potatoes - sweet and regular mashed. After dinner Scott & I took advantage of having built-in babysitters and went to a movie... we saw "Four Christmases" - very cute. We did a little shopping on Friday while Papa watched Josh and on Saturday we went to go get a Christmas tree (over 12 feet!) and to see the Christmas lights at Oglebay in WV. Josh just kept pointing and screaming "ooo" at all the displays, it was adorable.

Josh gets to go see Nana & Papa again this coming weekend. We're dropping him off on our way to Pittsburgh for the PSS Great Lakes branch Holiday Party at the Omni William Penn. I'm soooo excited to get dressed up and see my friends Jen, Jerry, Chris and Susan and eat and drink and have a fabulous time!

A week to just be me

Wow, what a busy week! I feel like I have been going non-stop for days and am grateful for this night to sit in my hotel room, relax and blog :)
This is the end of the line for me as a PSS employee as I am in Jacksonville training my replacement. I flew down at the beginning of the week and am flying home on Saturday afternoon. It is definitely a bittersweet trip for me... I got to come down to Florida and see my friends (on the company's dime) but it also is the official end of my 7 year career with PSS.
On a lighter note, I've learned 2 things during this trip: #1 - I will NEVER buy a minivan. I have a Dodge Caravan as my rental and absolutely hate it. #2 - My "sleep number" is 15. The hotel that I am at has the sleep number beds and I have enjoyed my nights laying on a pillow soft bed (that would drive Scott crazy).
So, as much as I have enjoyed this week to just be me and spend time with my friends, I miss Scott and Josh (and Kody too) and can't wait to hug and kiss them again.

Living in the South spoiled me

I'm a Northern girl through and through, or at least I thought I was. Granted, I complained enough while I lived in Jacksonville about how slow people moved (like they had no sense of urgency) and I never really got into Southern food (except for grits - with butter and cheese, yummy).
Now that I'm back up North I've come to realize that besides missing the weather I also miss people having manners. People are so rude here in Cleveland! Almost no one holds doors for other people even if they are literally 5 steps behind them, and when I do hold a door for someone they don't even thank me. That kind of stuff never happened in Jax! As for driving, I'm glad that people drive with more urgency up here but sometimes its to the point that you would think there was a fire somewhere. Anyone who has ever ridden in the car with me knows that I'm a crazy and fast driver but these people even scare me.
My final complaint is about the grocery store - Giant Eagle. They are severely lacking in customer service. 75% of the time we have to bag our groceries ourselves! What the heck is that?!?!?! I miss my beloved Publix where we never had to bag things ourselves and the employees were actually helpful. Its really sad when I'm actually thinking of boycotting Giant Eagle and doing all my shopping at (gasp) Super Walmart!
Ok, enough complaining for one day :)

Kody the "Conehead"

We all have allergies in our family, including Josh AND Kody. When we lived in Florida Kody's allergies weren't too bad... manageable with a little OTC Benadryl in the spring and fall. Since we've moved to Cleveland his allergies have gotten much, much worse to the point he is chewing himself all day, every day. He has managed to chew the hair off of a portion of his tail, break the skin and cause himself to bleed. So, on top of the steroids, super-strong Benadryl and antibiotics he now has to wear the dreaded "cone" until his tail heals. The vet says that the allergies will subside once we have a hard freeze which I'm sure isn't too far away.

From the 70's to the 40's

Two pictures from Josh's first trip to Chuck E Cheese last Sunday... I was a little disappointed... what happened to the ball pit?

It has been a pretty quiet, uneventful week for our family. Josh got to go see his new pediatrician this week and sadly has a double ear infection. He's on antibiotics now so hopefully he'll be in better spirits soon. The weather this week was fabulous, highs in the 70s which is unseasonable for Cleveland. But now its the weekend and of course the weather has taken a cold turn with rain and highs only in the 40s. Everyone keeps saying winter is right around the corner. I guess its inevitable :(

Ringling Bros Barnum & Bailey Circus

Nana & Papa came into town yesterday and we all took Josh to his first circus. He was a bit overwhelmed by all the sounds, lights and things to see but had a good time. He especially liked seeing the elephants, horses and tigers. The acrobats made all of us adults hold our breath. Afterwards, Papa treated us all to dinner at Chili's and we went home happy, full and exhausted.

H - A - "double L" - O - W - "double E" - N 2008

Happy Halloween! This year Josh dressed up as Superman. He had a party at daycare where all of the kids (all ages) paraded to show off their costumes and then we all sat down for lots of juice and goodies. Since Josh is still so young (20 months) and isn't allowed to eat candy we decided not to go trick-or-treating this year. Besides that, the city we live in restricts trick-or-treating to only between 6-7:30pm and since we live on a busy street without sidewalks we would have to drive a bit down the road to get to a neighborhood with sidewalks. All signs pointed to us staying home so we did and took the opportunity to carve our pumpkins. Three pumpkins, one for each of us. I did a simple smiley face for Josh's, the Boston Red Sox logo for Scott, and a frightened face for mine. I'm very happy with the results!

A beautiful fall day

Yesterday was a beautiful fall day... high in the upper 50's and sunny all afternoon. While Scott unloaded the second Uhaul, Josh helped me rake up the leaves and then we all got to play in them. Just a few photos from all the fun and the porch decorated for Halloween.

This morning we had snow flurries, just a little bit and only for around 5 minutes but it was still snow. Scott was excited, I was sad (it's too early for snow), and Josh was just plain confused why we were staring out the window.

Pop Go the Wiggles

This afternoon I took Josh to go see the Wiggles concert here in downtown Cleveland. Earlier this week I found floor seats (9 rows from the stage) for half price!
I was nervous that Josh was too young or wouldn't want to pay attention for that long. But to my surprise we BOTH had a fantastic time! Josh, being the quiet reserved little boy that he can be, didn't want to leave my side and go dance with the other kids. So instead he bopped along on my lap and we sang and danced together.
They did our favorites "Toot Toot Chugga Chugga Big Red Car", "Fruit Salad", "Rockabye Your Bear", and "The Monkey Dance". Josh LOVED when Wags the dog, Henry the octopus and Dorothy the dinosaur came on stage... he kept pointing and saying "ooo, ooo, dog".
One hour and 45 minutes later we were happy and all "Wiggled" out and headed home. Don't you know that he STILL wanted to watch an episode of the Wiggles Show on tv before bed? Such a creature of habit...

Our first trip to the zoo

Yesterday we took our first trip to the Cleveland zoo. What an awesome place! They have so many different animals (surprising for a zoo in Ohio) and we had a fantastic time.

The zoo was all decorated for Halloween... they have an event on the weekend evenings this month called "Boo at the Zoo" that we will attend next year when Josh is a little older and can participate in all the activities. So for this visit we just checked out the animals.

Josh loved the monkeys and the camels... Scott loved the snow leopards and I loved the gibbon monkeys. We can't wait to go back when the weather gets warmer!

Toot Toot Chugga Chugga

Toot toot chugga chugga big red car...

Josh loves the Wiggles. I mean really LOVES the Wiggles. If he could he would watch them all day every day but I limit it to one episode in the morning before school and one or two at night before bed. I'm in the process of DVRing every episode so that we have a variety to choose from every day because Josh can watch the same episode over and over again but Scott and I are ready to wear earplugs.

I went to Toys R Us today to get some ideas for Christmas and ended up buying the toy in this picture. It's very cute, plays 2 songs, and Josh immediately loved it. Now we get to listen to "Toot Toot Chugga Chugga Big Red Car" even when they're not on the TV. :)

Here we are!

So this isn't my first time blogging... I had one on MySpace but figured this was a better site to use so all of our family and friends can keep up with how we're doing. But anyway...

Here we are in North Ridgeville, 20-25 minutes west of Cleveland. It's a small suburb, a little on the rural side (we have a horse farm up the road from us) but being somewhere more rural is nothing new to us as we lived in the boonies in Jax. This is only a rental though and we are in the process of finding a house to buy.

Josh is adjusting well. It was a rough first week but he's settled into his routine now and likes his new daycare. He LOVES playing outside in the yard and taking in all the comfortable fall weather. We've gone to two fall festivals so far and Josh points out pumpkins everywhere we go.

Scott likes his job as a PSS rep so far. He's used to sales so it's just a matter of learning more and more about medical products and devices which he does daily. I'm glad that I can help him since I've been with the company for 7+ years and have a very basic knowledge of our products.

As for me, I'm still working for PSS for the time being. I work from my kitchen table on my laptop after I take Josh to daycare. Some people would say that it sounds great but I'm too social of a person to enjoy the solitude and I crave to be in an office again. I only have about one more month before it's time for me to train my replacement so I am on the job hunt. There seems to be plenty of jobs here in the Cleveland area so it's just a matter of finding the one that fits.

So that's it for now. Not sure how often I'll update this but I will try to blog once or twice a week!