Sunday, June 29, 2014

back at it and life lately

I used to wonder what happened to all the preemie blogs, as many seem to disappear when the kids become toddlers. 

..that kid must have "caught up"
..they had another baby
..they've moved on

Truth is, we are here at preemie toddlerhood and none of that is true for us.  We have just settled into our normal and writing is no longer such an essential part of the healing process.  It truly once was and selfishly that is why I wrote so consistently on this blog for so long.  We are not necessarily busier and prematurity is no less significant in our lives, but I have began to prioritize other things.  

I miss this though.  I miss sharing our amazing little lady.  I miss thinking and worrying outloud.  I miss this community.  

For now, I am just going to share some photos and anecdotes about life lately, but Ill be back soon with some new thoughts and a few projects :)

We are off on an airplane tomorrow for some much needed beach time.

newest virginia-isms:
"beep beep, ssscuse me cars"- anytime we are at a red light
"where my sunglasses?"
"gimeee that" & "I hold it"

latest favorites:
chipotle
the beach
Daddy
water table & the hose
helping cook
ipad








Monday, June 16, 2014

Happy Father's Day

Wow, what an amazing journey (cliché’s much?).  I’m not sure I would have believed on my 1st Father’s Day that my 3rd would be as cranky and tiring as it was for both of us. It started with a 3 hour nap (that I wished I partook in) at 11:30 and ended at the beach and coming home letting her get as wet as possible before dinner.  Alyssa also had her saying “Happy Father’s Day” all day, that sometimes would break her into signing a “Happy Birthday” rendition of “Happy Father’s Day.”

I remember people saying it the first time and being like, you don’t know.  Now, I’m realizing that I do know and understand why people always say this.  It’s a badge but really a way to connect with other men knowing how little they have to do with the parenting and how their loving wife ‘guides’ (I know there are more female readers than males, so I’ll stay away from any other verb) them through the process.  While I was exhausted (and seriously that doesn't hold a candle to what Alyssa does every week), knowing where we've been, I just started laughing when she went to bed.

At this point, Virginia is best outside or at the ‘beeech.’  She boxes us out of any useful activity (cleaning, cooking, etc) with the skill of Charles Barkley and a sensible, ‘exxxcusse me.’   Her tastes are all over the map, cheerios from Stew Leonard’s are now her favorite for breakfast, just hold on for an hour long session.  She does eat as long as it’s Dunkin Donuts.  I’m not sure if eats fast because we take her to the Bridgeport location (because the coffee and donuts are cheaper) or the crack they put in them so kids love them.

I do appreciate that she calls our room, Daddy’s room.  I did not find funny when I was in the car the other day and she said she wanted to go back to Mommy’s house (don’t worry we didn't get a divorce).  When asked were Mommy sleeps, its Daddy’s room, in Mommy’s house.  I swear she’s already caught on.
She’s unfortunately obsessed with her iPad.  It’s her go to when she’s ‘bored,’ we've set ourselves up for this failure.  We've had a busy few months travelling and it’s the go to distraction in the car, I guess we asked for it.  Tuesday we get our cable back, so maybe this is the right approach so I don’t have to share my huge 32” screen living room TV with Caillou.

Also, it’s finally hitting me that I’m not going back to school any time soon, thank god.  It’s great realizing some of the little things that I've missed, especially those trips to Chipotle.  You would think Virginia was going to the Four Seasons, if she only knew.  I also can no longer get away with, I have homework and I won’t be able to get to painting the porch.

So this fulfills my yearly post, no worries to regular readers, I won’t be taking over the blog and talking to you about the nuances of the 3-4 defense and why the Redskins really need to go back to the 4-3.
This would have been more appropriate yesterday but too bad.

To all the father’s out there, BobBob, Shawn, Pete, Damian and all of my friends from college that now have kids, Happy Father’s Day, a day late. 

To my father, Happy Father’s Day, you've been an amazing inspiration and I hope I can do half the job you were able to for our family.

Lastly, thanks to Alyssa, it’s always been trying and fun; I wouldn't be able to do it without you.  Really Father’s day isn't so much for me but for the whole family, although I do love the fact that anything stupid I do can just be chalked up to Father’s Day.




P.S. I have no clue how I remembered the password for the account but remember this Virginia when you don’t think your Dad is snooping at your e-mail, Facebook or whatever other weird social media platform that will be available to you.

Sunday, June 1, 2014

March For Babies Wrap Up

Spoiler Alert.... It was another hugely successful year!!

In total we raised just over $12,000 which put us up and over $30,000 since 2012.  We are so incredibly thankful for all of our supporters.  Whether you shared our story, or donated, or walked with us, or simply cheered us on.  We are grateful for each and everyone of you.  Please know that you are making a difference in the fight against prematurity and birth defects.

We do what we do because another family raised these funds and raised awareness for us.  We are keenly aware that our outcome could have been very different and most definitely would have been different without the research and treatments that were funded by the March of Dimes long before we got involved.


This year:
We had over 70 walkers at 3 different walks.Our youngest "walkers" were 4 weeks old and our oldest was 80.
We had 12 two year old walkers.
We had hundreds and hundreds of donations ranging from $2 to $250.
We had 50 entries in our March Madness bracket challenge. 
We collected nearly $1000 at shake shack (and ate a few burgers too!)


We will be back in 2015 and hope that you will join us!