Saturday's Top Five Laughs

This week has been another crazy one in our house. The kids have been keeping us on our toes :)

1. When we were driving home from dinner on Wednesday night, Gary stopped to get gas. He called my car a girl and Dominic asked why.  Gary advised him that all cars are girls. He asked why again. I said that cars are just like women, you have to treat them right. To which Gary added, and change their oil every month. Dominic said "oh is that why Mom uses Tampons every month and those band aids for her butt? She leaks like a car?" We all started laughing hysterically. And the husband responded "You will find out in health class in a couple years guy."

2. When Logan is mad about something, he started responding "F-I-I-I-N-E!" Omg, is he a 2 year old boy or a 14 year old girl?

3. Logan was playing with a balloon in the living room. Bouncing it. Playing "katchah" with it. Throwing it. Charlie was laughing every single time he touched it. Then Logan would laugh and say "ah it funnay, huh Chahree!"

4. Logan is learning how to play the sympathetic I am going to say what I want in the saddest way possible card. "Ah Muma, I yhant a fuppah. Ah peas. A fuppah?" *in a really soft sad puppy voice* He is asking for a fruit bar but makes me laugh every single time.

5. "I yhant douch Muma. No Bubbah douch. I douch!"  Ha, douch is for juice and yeah a 2 year old saying douch just about makes me teary eyed.

And just for something a little extra:

Logan likes to go in his sister's crib and jump up and down. Which is funny. And well, not so much if it wakes her up. :)

If you have funny things that happen each week and like to share it with us all, please link up at Melissa's Blog!

Lovable Labels Review and Giveaway

I am so very excited to announce my first review and giveaway! Lovable Labels

As a Mom, I know it is hard to find products that have your child's name on it for daycare. Everything has to have it on there. Bottles, clothes, shoes, jackets, creams and blankets. Lovable labels has a resolution for all of those. No more writing with permanent marker every single morning. Because you know, as well as I do, that the marker washes off in the dishwasher!

When I received this product, I was instantly in love! I was given a metal zipper pull for their coats, stickers for their shoes, stickers for clothes and stickers that had multiple functions. For which, I used those for creams, bottles, wipe containers and blanket tags! 

*I am in no way endorsing the products or clothing designers that the labels are on. These are all clothes and products straight out of my kids closets that they wear and use. I have received no monetary gifts or products to show from these vendors*

As you can see, I have placed the labels on a variety of products. They have been used this entire week as I wanted to give amble time to wash clothes with them on, get them to and from daycare and sitters to see if they hold up.  I am impressed with how well they stick. I am a full time working Mom and anything to make my nights easier is great. These products help out for sure and lets me spend more time with my kids and less time prepping their stuff.

Lovable Labels also has a variety of products for children with allergies or medical/emergency contact information. These are fully functional, colorful and informational.


Lovable Labels has offered to give one lucky reader one of their products for free!
You must be 18 years or older to enter and the winner will be picked from Radom.Org
Contest is open from today until Wednesday November 2, 2011 at 3:00 pm Eastern time
I will announce the winner on my blog by 10 pm on November 2nd
Contest open to US and Canada residents
You will need to email me at tromano24(at)hotmail(dot)com within 5 days to claim your prize

*To enter, please leave a comment on what product you would use. I chose the Holly Jolly Holiday pack for my review and would love to hear which are your favorite!

*Additional entry will be given by liking Lovable Labels on  Facebook and by leaving a comment below.

*Additional entry will be given by following @MyLovableLabels on twitter. Please copy and paste the URL from your tweet below.

*Additional entry will be given by mentioning this giveaway on your blog and leaving a link below.

*Additional entry if you follow their blog and leave your blog info below.

So you have 5 different entries for a chance to win!!


*DISCLOSURE** The product in this review was provided to me free of cost for the purpose of conducting this review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and are not influenced by monetary compensation.

Wordless Wednesday - Black and White Love

Half Year

Charlotte

Much to my surprise, you are 6 months old now. I have spent the last 6 months holding, loving, kissing, changing, wiping, bathing, talking, giggling, staring and adoring you.

This past month has lead you to be able to sit up better with your boppy pillow, although not too steady yet! You are moving and grooving with the rolling and scooting where you want to go.  You have gotten up on your hands and knees and rocked yourself into a face plant. Mommy may have laughed at you just a bit when you did. I kid, or maybe I really did. You still love to be in your exersaucer and on belly playing on the floor.  You have stacking cups that have been your favorite toy along with your My First Baby Alive dolly.

Your face is still filling out and we can see you smile from behind! Your still a sweet chubby thing that is super long! Your eyes have stayed a fabulous deep blue. Your hair has curls too it when you are fresh out of the bath. That long wonderful dark brown hair makes us giggle. You know, since you have some balding spots and looks like an old mans comb over on occasion! You do have a rash on your face from rubbing all of the drool everywhere on it! And the big thing of the month is YOU GOT YOUR FIRST TOOTH on the bottom right! Whoa, you are a cranky teether. But you made it, and so did we. And you have the left bottom tooth coming in right beside it. So we are bracing ourselves for the cranktastic beast that you become. Girls. Are. All. Drama!

You are eating just about all fruits and veggies. So far, so good. No complaints or funny faces with any of them! Next up is meats and yogurt. We did try cheerios but you gag on them. So we are holding off on those and puffs for now! You mostly eat 4 bottles a day of around 4-6 ounces of formula. You still have to take medicine for your reflux but have been so happy since we got it under control.

Your sleeping improved a ton. But then you got sick with a cold. (darn daycare, darn brothers, darn putting all the things in your mouth)  Like clockwork, you are ready for a morning nap between 1.5-2 hours after waking up. It is usually around an hour long. Then you are awake again for 2 hours and take a longer nap of around 1.5-3 hours (depending on how you slept the night before) and finally you take a small nap of around 45 minutes about 3 hours after getting up. Then you go to bed between 8-9 and wake up between 5-8.  If you could just get that all into a nice neat ball of bed from 8-8 and then 2 separate 2 hour naps a day, that would be great. Mmmmkay?!

You do not have your check up until next month but I am guessing you are around 19 pounds and 26 inches.

I love watching you grow. Love watching you learn. Love, love, love snuggles and the hugs that you give. But please baby girl, slow down a bit!  You have your whole life ahead of you :)

Saturday's Top Five Laughs

Thanks to Melissa and her awesome blog for starting this great way to remember the funny things that go on during the week.

1.  Logan was picking his nose (something he learned at daycare, GREAT, huh?!) and I told him to get his finger out of his nose. He looked at me, pulled his finger out, pointed it in the air and declared "I got it!" Ha and EWWW!

2.  When my Mom and I were in the ER last weekend with Dominic, we were reminiscing about his early childhood. We were talking about how he used to say things and how funny/adorable/loving he was. We then were talking about his potty training days. After he was fully potty trained, he used to STILL tell my Mom to wipe him bum. We would hear from the bathroom: "Nana, come wipe my bum." All. The. Time. He never did that at home. Was very capable of doing it himself but still told my Mom to because....well she would still do it. So as we were talking about it we all said practically at the same time: "Mom come wipe my bum. Nana, come wipe my bum."

3.  I was smelling some not so fresh bummage and I asked Logan if he had pooped. He looked at me very seriously and said: "No Mama, Chahree do it." He has learned to blame his sister already. Smart cookie that one is!

4.  Logan likes to watch The Wiggles and runs around quaking like a duck. Hands folded, doing the dance and making his rooster feathers on his head. He even says "quack, quack, quack a doodly do."  It cracks us up!

5.  After Dominic fell in the bounce house and hurt his arm, Logan was jumping around in it, falling and yelling out "owwy, muh ahrm. it hurt. oh, oh I okay." While laying there, his arm was stretched out just like his big brother.  Making fun or just copying him, I do not know.  But funny indeed it is!

If you liked this post and want to join in, go on over to Melissa's page and link up!

Wordless Wednesday - Tutu Cute

Bounce House Bash

I have always be terrified of trampolines. I think they are dangerous and they scare me. Bounce houses have never fallen into the fear group. That is, until this past weekend.

As I am sure you read Logan's 2nd birthday party was this past Saturday. Blue's Clues theme with a dinosaur bounce house.

We had lots of kids in and out of the bounce house. All supervised by parents. No serious injuries occurred, although one little girl did get bumped on the head. Poor thing, I felt horrible. Blood was my biggest fear. Bloody noses caused by another child's head. I was so thankful that it did not happen.

After all of the party goers left, Dominic wanted me to jump with him. So I got my shoes on and headed out to play. Boy am I glad my husband was preoccupied and no pictures of me were taken. Especially with all my stuff bouncing about. How embarrassing would that be for me to find those online?!  I left Dom in th house laying down to go inside.  My sister arrived shortly after and said Dom was hurt.

I went to the bounce house with thoughts that all was probably okay. See, Dominic is known for being dramatic imaginative. However, when I saw the look on his face, I knew something was not right. 1.7 million thoughts ran through my head. I helped him out of the bouncer and into our house. I examined his arm and found swelling and what appeared to be a bump on his inner part of his elbow. I hurried and took him to the urgent care.

It was just the two of us driving. Dominic was telling me how he just slipped and fell, with his arm bent behind him. My stomach turned as he explained the situation. I imagined a dislocation or maybe a torn muscle. No broken bones.

They gave Dominic ice as soon as we got in because all I grabbed was my phone and my wallet. No purse. No ice. No jacket. Just got out the door and to the UC as soon as I could. The first Dr was not an orthopedic and thought it was broken and needed a second opinion. An orthopedic PA came in to see him. Without even having xrays he knew it was broken. He ordered xrays to verify.  The xrays showed his elbow was broken almost the whole way through. I started to get light headed. My vision tunneled. I grabbed the chair and sat myself down. Ready to pass out and barf. Off to Children's hospital we had to go with the explanation that they would give him medicine before setting his arm.  He had 2 breaks. Maybe 3.

With that, I called my Mom to come with me. Called my husband to say we would be coming home first. Construction is all around. It took us 2 hours to get there. Poor Dominic was grumbling, whining and at times teary eyed with each passing minute because of the bumps and extended timing. He was sore but being a trooper.

We arrived at the ER after making a wrong turn and getting lost. Pictures of xrays in hand. They took us back pretty quickly. The first attending came in without seconds. After all the information was gathered, she took the xrays and got another attending. An IV and morphine was ordered because they needed to see how many breaks and if any surgeries would be needed.  Within an hour it was determined that he would be admitted and have surgery the next morning. What the?

I quickly called my husband. Who just so happened to be hosting Logan's family party to celebrate his birthday. I needed him. I felt like I was going to fall apart. I managed to not let Dominic see the fear in my eyes. My poor kid going to spend the night for the first time ever in a hospital (aside from being born).  Just as the IV was ready to be put in, an orthopedic Dr came in. She advised that his break was okay to just cast without surgery. RELIEF! Panic passed.

It was still not determined if the upper arm was broken as well. The Dr thinks it is since it feels as if the bone is poking up into the skin. She said it really did not matter because he was going to get a cast up to his arm pit anyway.

Dominic picked a blue cast. Was given a foam swiss cheese looking device and a sling. With that, we were on our way home. 5 hours after the ordeal started. Completely exhausted and in shock from it all.

The moral of the story is....
It does not matter what surface you fall on, you can break something.
Anything can be dangerous.
My 9 year old is braver than me.

Less than 24 hours after the break, he was helping Logan open his birthday presents. Making sure his special day was still all about him!

Turning 2

Logan

You turned 2 years old today. You had 2 parties yesterday and one of them I had to miss. Your big brother Dominic fractured his elbow on the bounce house. It was a crazy day. So happy to celebrate with you. So scared driving your brother from the Urgent Care to Children's Hospital. I missed your family party but we had a blast at the friend's party. You blew out your candles and loved opening presents. You may have opened one before it was time and ran around the house caring it!

The last year has brought so much! You had tubes put in your ears, your adenoids removed 2 days before your birthday party. You started daycare again, which was a huge challenging change. You did not adjust well at first. You grew so much this past year. Getting taller and skinnier! Your vocabulary has exploded and you repeat everything. I mean, everything. Ha!

We love you so much and laugh constantly at what you say and do. You love Blue's Clues, Wiggles, Coloring, Duplo blocks, Cars/Trains and so much more. You adore your baby sister and love playing with your big brother. You amaze us every day with your new skills, funny sayings and loving personality.

Happy Second Birthday Little Man! We are so blessed to be your parents!!

Hallowboo party of 5

On Saturday we went to Idelwild park for Hallowboo.  Idelwild is a local amusement park that has rides open, the park decorated for Halloween and trick or treating through their storybook forest.

Well, it was 80 degrees. In PA. In October. So, needless to say, we had to run out for a different costume for Charlie so she did not get over heated. I choose an adorable lady bug costume for her. Logan wanted to be Brobee from Yo Gabba Gabba and Dominic wanted to be a Hobo. All can be used again for actual Halloween except the Lady Bug....which is totally fine because we have another one for her ;)

The day started off rough. Dom was attitude city. The babies were whining and crying. We were running late. I was stressing because of all the things. Dom and Logan were hungry and did not want to wait to get there so we parked and gave them some food. We arrived to find traffic backed up for what seemed like miles. Oh, did I mention that it was about time for Logan to take his nap when we got there. I didn't? Oh, well, yeah that too! I could not help but think "OMG. Why did we choose to do this with 3 KIDS?"

We parked, changed the babies. Packed the 2 strollers. Helped Dom finalize his make up. There. Ready we were! Whew.

We got in the park. Gary and I grabbed a chicken sandwich and fries. Gave the kids some drinks and off we went.

 First up, maze. The boys went in while Charlie and I hung out and took pics.

 The boys were playing around and so excited!

 Logan as Brobee. He calls him Rohbee.

 Charlotte as a little lady bug. She is the cutest little bug.

 Dominic is a handsome hobo.

 Waiting till we go to the next ride at the Carousel.

 The boys wanted pony rides. We happily obliged.

 The smiles on them were priceless.

 The scenery was perfect!

 All of the water throughout the park was colored blue, green or purple!

 The boys loved the fountain.

 Logans first ride was the Carousel. He loved it. Big smiles.

The boys rode on ponys while Charlie and I sat on a sleigh.

 Daddy and his little bug.

 The boys favorite part...BALL PITT. Logan has no fear. None.

 Trick or treating through Story Book Forest.

Logan slept for the trick or treating. Don't worry. Daddy grabbed all his goodies for him and Logan ate them as soon as he woke up.

The day started off rough. It ended with big smiles, laughs and all of us being thankful to have had the experience.

Wordless Wednesday

I choose to post some pics of newborn Logan.

All clear

This morning I went in for a procedure. The prep work for it was horrible. I was so very sick for hours. I could not eat for a day and a half. I was just hoping they did not say the C word again. (Back story: I had horrific stomach pain as a teenager and was tested for Cancer at the age of 14. Most people do not even know that because I am not one to talk about it. Cancer is deadly. Cancer is evil in my book.)

It all started a few weeks after having Charlotte. I had some lower stomach pain. There was blood involved. I ignored it until the bleeding got pretty bad about 2 weeks ago. It scared me and I finally told my husband what was going on. I went to the Dr. and he referred me to a specialist. They got me in pretty quick. We woke up at 4:30 am, got to the hospital by 6:30 and I was done with my colonoscopy but 8:10 am. There was nothing serious that medication would not fix. I had no polyps this time around and needed no biopsy for a cancer search. I was very relieved to hear that. Even if I do not really remember the Dr talking to me, heh.

They put you out for this procedure. 3 injections of lidocain and snoring I was. They woke me up and my husband was there in the post-op room. Laughing at the fact that I was talking rambling on about nothing. After a small can of Pepsi and no sick in the stomach feeling, I was good to go home.

Hubs treated me to Eat N Park in my lovely yoga pants and Steelers sweatshirt. No eating for a day and a half is crap. And hard.

The recovery period is a day. I am not allowed to cook. Not allowed to be alone. That was all fine and dandy with me. My Mom watched the kids this morning and took Dom with her to her house while the babies napped. Gary and I watched Dexter and layed around. It was a great afternoon of nothingness. Then the hubs cooked dinner for everyone since yesterday was my Mom's birthday. Now time to supervise baths and get to bed. The no eating, small surgery, laying around all day me is completely exhausted.

Surgery here we come

We went back to the ENT again for Logan. The poor kid has had a stuffy, runny, yucky nose for 2.5 months. He is on his 3rd antibiotic. He snores like a freight train. The Dr. had mentioned in February when he had his tubes put in his ears that his adenoids were enlarged. To keep an eye on things. Little did we know that 8 months later would we be back at the Drs getting xrays. "Very impressive" were the words used to describe his adenoids. They are completely blocking his air way. The poor kiddo.

So off we go to Children's next Friday to have them removed. The day before his birthday parties. 2 days before my little love turns 2. I am glad that the recovery period is so quick.

Wordless Wednesday

I am going to join in on the fun of Wordless Wednesdays! Thanks to Heather, Melissa, Jill and Jamie for all of your posts and making me want to join in the fun :)