I am slacker extraordinaire when it comes to updating this blog. I try to copy and paste from my diary, but, well, I have a potty mouth in my diary and I rant a lot about my family and I figure no one that reads this wants to hear about all that and be exposed to repeated use of the F bomb (among others!), so that's why sometimes 10 or 15 days go by before I update. Oh yeah, and I am a slacker.

Savino's birthday is tomorrow. ACK! I no longer have a baby, I have a big boy. Excuse me while I go weep. I can't believe he will be ONE!! I remember this time last year, well, technically I was ASLEEP since it's 1am when I'm writing this, but I was very excited and nervous and anxious and extremely extremely pregnant. I was ready to have that boy! Now a year has gone by and he is the sweetest, funniest, most unique little man. He is so affectionate and loving and usually so happy to smile at anyone who looks at him, especially little old ladies in the store! He is so charming and though I am still eagerly awaiting the point when he actually sleeps through an entire night, otherwise I really couldn't complain when it comes to him.

I love playing with him, and making him laugh, and the sweet sleepy milky smiles when he nurses and how right in the middle of him playing, he will crawl over to rest his head against my shoulder for a minute before he goes off and plays again. It is the most loving gesture, it just makes you melt.

He has been an exceptional baby, and I have been blessed to be able to just enjoy his babyhood so much. We have such a deep bond, and I wouldn't change a thing about him. I get really wound up and paranoid a lot of the time because it feels "too good", I am constantly worried that something will happen to him and that he will be snatched away from me somehow because he has been such a little miracle to me. I never thought Tim and I would have any more children, that he would ever want to go through it again, and I don't think that we have ever regretted making the choice to do it again because Savino is everything both of us could have ever wanted in a second child. Haley is such a wonderful big sister too, and Savino loves her so much. She is always so good with him, and takes so much joy in making him laugh and entertaining him.

Aw, yes, I am a big sap. My baby is one! I am allowed to be! Tomorrow I will put together his 1 month to 12 month collage and I know I will get all misty looking at how he has grown. But for now, I leave you with pictures...

Poor Savino, I don't know what hit him, whether it is teething or a bug or what, but he has a pretty good fever going. He was cranky off and on all day and slept longer at his nap than usual, but ate fine and nursed a lot and didn't refuse his bottles or anything. He doesn't seem to be in any pain or anything, but he is drooling a lot more and he keeps chewing on his fingers. I felt in his mouth but didn't feel any progress on his molars or any new teeth coming through. I gave him some Motrin during the day and then Tylenol tonight to try and make him comfortable enough to sleep well. His fever started at 100.3 this morning and peaked at 102 after his nap, but those were taken under his arm because my in-ear thermometer needs a new battery, so it was probably a little higher than that. I think you're supposed to add a degree to the temp when you do it under the arm.

He played and seemed to be comfortable enough most of the time, I don't think he has an ear infection or anything, but I am going to keep an eye on him over night and see how he is tomorrow. I hope he is not seriously sick! This is the first time he has ever had a high fever, so I am being over protective and hovering. I hope it passes quickly.

I did a ridiculous amount of baking over the weekend. Tim's mom had brought over a huge zucchini from her garden and I shredded it in my food processor (it was the first time I had used my food processor to shred and I was very impressed with how quickly it did the job!). I made a loaf of regular zucchini bread, a loaf of zucchini cranberry bread, and a zucchini chocolate chip walnut cake with a chocolate frosting. I also used up the last of the cranberry sauce Tim made and made a batch of orange cranberry muffins. Today I tried a quick foccacia recipe that turned out really well, except that I didn't have enough olive oil so the flavor was a little more subtle than I think it would have been if I had used all olive oil (I substituted veg. oil when I ran out).

I think the cooking thing is my Zen self defense against the drama. I can channel some energy into baking and cooking and I feel better afterwards. Of course, the result is that my kitchen counter is starting to overflow with baked goods. I gave Jay some of the zucchini cake and he loved it. You can't even tell there is zucchini in it, though I think that I overbaked it a little, the texture is a little more crunchy than I wanted it to be. Oh well. There are more recipes that I want to try but I think I better hold off until we've disposed of all the baked goods we have now!

Laila has been spending the night and I think I am just going to keep her here until school starts and that's that. Of course, she is going to be out of clothes again soon, but I'll just wash what she has and we will cope.

Tim's MRI is tomorrow at 4:30. I don't think that they are using that contrast dye this time, at least that's something. He has a physical therapy appointment on Friday too. Lucky him!

Haley has all of two days left to her summer. It just flew by! We didn't go to the pool enough, and we didn't go bowling enough, and now it's over, which is sad. :( Oh well, next summer we will be more on it. She had a pretty good summer over all though I think, she has become a little pool fish, she runs and jumps into the 16 ft. section of the pool with all the other kids, she can swim all the way across the deep end without stopping. She has really blossomed as a swimmer and really loves it.

Well, here's to hoping tomorrow is a better day. I didn't take any pictures today because I spent most of it consoling a poor hot little boy. Oh well. Tomorrow is another day.

It was INSANE trying to get Haley school clothes today. I was overwhelmed after just one store and poor Savino was not OK either. The crowds, the traffic, the insanity. I managed to find Haley one outfit and we had to come home after that because I was done, I was just overwhelmed.

I guess we will go back out tomorrow early in the morning and try again. I need to go through her clothes in her closet and dresser and purge what is faded or stained or ripped and doesn't fit. Some of her current jeans I am going to cut off and hem into long shorts for her because they fit fine in the waist but are too short at the ankle. I still have to get her everything else though, about the only thing that she is fine on is shirts, she has an incredible amount of shirts.

I am clinging to my zen about everything. I have been cleaning like a madwoman. I have been taking time to just sit on the floor with Savino and just play with him and chill out and it helps. He is such a sweet little boy, if you hang out with him then he just comes over and puts his head on your shoulder or leans into you and just cuddles with you for a second before he goes on to playing with something else. It is so sweet and so touching. He loves to lay down and put his head down on his blanket if you fold it up neatly and put it on the floor. He will play play play and then crawl over to his blanket and lay on his stomach with his head on it and rest for a minute and then get up and crawl off and play play play. He has such a funny, sweet personality. Jaden was pretty reserved and still is for the most part, but Savino is just all out there, smiles and giggles and cheesy grins and flirting and outgoing. It's funny to watch the way he plays with Jaden because Jaden will take toys away from Savino, but Savino just doesn't care, he doesn't cry or get upset, he just lets Jaden have it with this "Um, OK." look on his face. He lets Jaden get away with it, well for now at least! They still give each other those adorable kisses too, Savino with his mouth wide open and Jaden bending over with a little pucker. It's too cute!

My kids are my sanity right now, they are such good kids and they make me so proud to be a mom. I love the feeling that wells up in me when I look at them playing together, and how sweet Haley is with her brother and how much he loves her. She is the only one who can ALWAYS get a kiss from him, no matter what. I don't know what I would do without them.

Savino's birthday is fast approaching, less than two weeks and he will be a year old. It seems IMPOSSIBLE that it has already been a year! The time has gone by so quickly, from my little baby to my little man, and the time only slips by even more quickly from here on out. Jaden will be TWO soon, which also seems impossible. I can't believe how fast it goes. And here Haley is starting fourth grade next week, her last year at the elementary school (they moved the fifth grade to the middle school a few years ago, so this is truly it for her!). Where did my babies go??

Well, I am turning into a big sap now, I should probably stop before I start crying or something. I have to work on getting Savino's dressers into our bedroom tomorrow and dismantle my little photography set up in the spare bedroom, which is turning back into Chantal and Jaden's room. *sighs* I have to get everything out of the closet in there too, and move a bunch of boxes out of my bedroom to make room for the dressers and move a desk downstairs to set up another computer in the front room. Fun. Oh well. Hopefully it's not forever.

I leave you with this picture, which is my new desktop. It is actually an old one, but I have been going through and re-editing a few with some different techniques and I like this better than the original.

I am very tired. There has been a lot of drama lately. Our renter decided he couldn't afford to rent the Little House (not because of how much rent we were charging, we were only aksing $200/month). Chantal is moving back in with us, again, with the kids. Laila is starting kindergarten and has to be re-registered in St. C and of course, Haley is starting school in two weeks. Savino's birthday is the 29th, and a few days later both Savino and Tim have doctors appts, Savino has a 1 yr. check up and Tim has an appointment with his neurosurgeon to discuss what they will do about his neck. Fun fun fun.

So, yeah, I am a little stressed lately. And money is tight so we are cutting back on our casual spending, with Chantal and the kids moving back in our utilities and grocery bill is going to skyrocket. I am just really feeling it.

To add to the fun, Savino hasn't been sleeping really well either, and so I am running on about 5 hours of sleep a night, which is not too much fun. The extra fatigue makes things so much more interesting. I am a little grouchy lately, Tim has been weathering it well, but I am just hoping that things even out here in a month or so.

I am mostly just stressed about Chantal and CO. moving back in, and how it is all going to work. I am not looking forward to rearranging everything and dealing with the usual issues. I hope that it is a short term thing. Well, let's face it, if it isn't a short term thing no one will be surprised but I am just hoping that it won't be so stressful. I am already trying to put down a few ground rules for everyone's sanity but Tim isn't great with enforcing limits and boundaries so I am sure I will be venting about it before too long. I am just trying to be as Zen about it all as I can. There is a lot of things coming up, like Tim's sister's wedding which I am not only photographing, but making the grooms cake for, and with both Haley and Laila in school and Chantal working, I will be in charge of making sure that everyone has homework done, etc. I just foresee the stress piling up. I am sure that they will be living with us through Christmas at least. *sighs* Oh well. There's not much I can do about it.

So, anyway, I should probably work on some of my photo processing that is backlogged but a hot bath and a glass of wine sounds so much better.

My contacts are seriously bothering me, so excuse any typos, I am just trying to hammer this out before I take them out and go to bed.

I think we are FINALLY finished with renovations over at the Little House! Tim used his day off, his birthday and our anniversary, to go over and finish the last few things that needed doing, though we STILL have to order a part for the dishwasher, it is still leaking when you run it so no dishwasher for our renter. At least he can finally move in! I can't even tell you what a relief this is. We have been working on this stupid house for what feels like forever. We pretty much gutted and redid the entire kitchen, and finished the upstairs where Tim's brother had left it half done. It looks so good, though I have to say, it just doesn't feel like "our" house anymore. It's not the same. But it's very nice overall.

I had a good week in couponing despite CVS totally hosing us by not having much on sale because Ohio is part of their test market where apparently they were testing whether people would still shop there if they didn't put anything on sale! I did manage to get a few things anyway though, and this week will be a bit better because I have a lot of ExtraCare Bucks expiring and I have to use them up. I'm not as organized as my sister who takes these fab pictures of all her deals, I always forget and put everything away hehe.

But I did get...

4 bottles of V-O5 shampoo/conditioner for $2 (.50 each)
4 Schick Intuition Plus razors with 2 refills each, on sale for 3.99 but .99 each after my $3 off coupons (The regular price on the shelf was 9.99!)
2 3-packs of Irish Spring bar soap (for Tim, he loves this stuff) on sale for .99 each but .64 each after .35 coupon
1 Oust oil-candle with refill for 1.57 (on clearance 75% off)
2 Colgate Total Whitening Plus toothpaste 2/$3 with 1.50 coupon and .75 coupon, .75 total for both

Not too bad! I am pretty stocked up on razors, shampoo, and toothpaste though hehe. I think Tim will probably kill me for buying any more but I'm just going to sneak it into the back of the cabinet and hope he doesn't notice! If anything, I can always donate it to the women's shelter or food pantry. I'm so glad that this week CVS has Children's Advil on sale for free because Savino is teething hardcore and I was out of Tylenol for him. I just give it to him at night so he can sleep, otherwise he wakes up screaming at least three times in the night and wants to marathon nurse.

I participated in a Breastfeeding awareness walk at our local mall. I was pretty amused that they were having a walk... in the mall! It's not that big of a mall, but hey, it's air conditioned, I wasn't complaining. I think it's either World Breastfeeding Week or Month or something. Haley walked with me and Savino rode in the stroller. I was actually a little put off by some of the people who participated because they are like breastfeeding activists who want you to whip your boob out and nurse right in the middle of everything. It's not that I care about exposing myself (though, I don't enjoy it and sometimes I do feel uncomfortable about it), but really Savino just doesn't nurse well in public out in the middle of everywhere. He wants to look around and flirt and see if anyone is paying any attention to him. But I kept feeling like the other people who were participating kept waiting for me to nurse him in the middle of the mall to, I don't know, make a statement or something? I totally support breastfeeding and want more people to be aware that it is totally natural and that there is nothing wrong with it, it's not weird or painful (well, for the most part!), and there are a ton of benefits for everyone involved. Having said that, as a breastfeeding mom, I am so put off by anyone who thinks you ought to do it a certain way, or that you shouldn't be uncomfortable to whip it out in the middle of the mall. I think they hurt the cause more than they help it because they just seem so pushy and strident and out there. I don't want to be associated with them!

And in all fairness, I think that I have been able to do more for the cause of breastfeeding among my friends and family just by being totally normal about it, not forcing it down anyone's throat or making it an issue. Chyron, Jaden, Savino, and Therron are all Boobie Babies and it's just not a big deal. I was happy to participate, but I don't think I will next year. I was kinda weirded out by the expectations that other nursing moms were putting on me.

So, yeah, enough about my boobs!

Laila came home from spending the summer with her dad's family in Dayton, and has been spending the night with us. Well, first she spent the night with us and then Haley spent the night with her and then she came back with us when we picked Haley up and spent the night again. We went to the pool today and splashed around and we've been celebrating Tim's birthday and our anniversary, so there's been cake and ice cream and all sorts of spoiling! I think she is having a good time, her and Haley have been sharing a queen sized air mattress we set up in the spare/Savino's room and they have been thick as thieves. Laila has gotten so big! I missed her and I was very glad to have her back. I am having a good time hanging out with her, though she has been coughing a lot. I am so over her coming back from Dayton sick. I wish they took better care of her up there.

Well, I hear my son squeaking and getting ready to wake up and scream so I ought to wrap this up.