Andrew's 15 month checkup

Today I got to take Andrew to his 15 month check up. He weighs 26 lbs & is 32 inches long. How did that happen? We met with a new doctor since his old one changed practices. I like her very much & will stay with the doctor's office! I was waiting to meet her before I changed doctors, because the other guy in the office that we got shifted to when the first primary care physician left was a cranky old guy who made me feel pretty inadequate. So new doctor - very good! She actually sat down and took the time to answer my questions and didn't give me the "every kid does this, I'm bored with this question" type of an attitude I had been getting. Andrew got 3 shots & screamed like crazy! I just hate doctor's visits! I have promised him some Dairy Queen, because we all know nothing makes you feel better than a little DQ!

A day in the park!

Laurie brought Liam over to go to the park down by our house. Here are some cute pics of the boys!

I've noticed my picture taking has been lacking lately - We leave for Denver THIS THURSDAY!! and I am definitely going to do better! Speaking of Denver - I've vowed my house will be spotless before I leave. Today Andrew took a nice long nap for me so I was able to shower & clean tubs, toilets & sinks in BOTH BATHROOMS!! This includes washing the shower curtains, scrubbing the liners & washing the bathroom rugs! It's a big accomplishment for me - I don't brag about my housekeeping skills, so to get all that done in 2 hours is a big deal!

Festival of the vine

Laurie & I took the boys to Festival of the Vine a couple weekends ago. We stopped at Starbuck's for some latte's & kept the boys busy with some raisins so we actually got an adult conversation in! Then, we walked around & looked at all the crafts. We made our way over to the courthouse parking lot where they had pumpkin painting & a "find the candy in the hay"

thing. The boys had a blast in the hay! Andrew didn't really know what to think about it - but we were also about 1/2 past nap by this time! Andrew painted his own pumpkin & loved it! I let him dip his fingers in the paint & use them to decorate! We had planned on a horse drawn carriage ride, but both the boys were way past the point where they needed to be sleeping, so we opted for a drive home instead!

White trash update

So, today @ 8:30 am those dogs started barking again. Of course I was up, as Andrew decided to get up at 6:15 this morning (ugh!), but with all the windows open, it was annoying. So, I made the executive decision to call the cops & it was a very good call! The officer agreed with me that the noise is excessive, and said it's too bad there are neighbors like this. She rents the house from her brother - the officer said I should stay out of things, but he said he is going to send the ticket to her brother because it will probably have a greater impact than if it went to her. He said it will be easy to do since no one was home, all he needs to do is look up the registered owner to the house & it's done. I asked him about the harrassment - nothing they can do. He said ignore her & she'll eventually get tired of yelling to herself! I think I'll wait a couple weeks & see if this ticket has any impact. On the bright side - it's almost winter so the house will be shut up anyway!

Two words...WHITE TRASH!!!

Okay, so many of you may know already about my white trash neighbor. If not, here is the brief synopsis. Last winter, our nice quiet old neighbors moved out & their daughter w/ 3 kids & 3 dogs moved in. Whenever Holly was outside, her dogs were outside, off leash, and not fenced in (we have a very small neighborhood - all the houses are close, so this is a kind of big deal). Repeatedly, we had to call Holly in because these dogs were snapping at her through the fence & I even saw them try to pee on her. (No, I'm not kidding!). One night, as we're trying to put Andrew to bed, I heard the commotion outside once again, and had had enough. I handed Andrew to Mike & went outside to deal with this. One of her dogs charged me in my yard with its ears pinned back and tail straight out barking at me. Knowing enough about dogs to know this is a defensive stance, I stood in the same spot (there was no way I was going to go back in my house and risk this beast following me), and called for her to call her dogs. The neighbor got her dogs back in the house & shut the door. I went over there, and knocked on her door. Now, I had a lot of adrenaline pumping & I know I can be a bit of a B at that point in time, but at any rate, I asked her if she lived there now, to which she replied yes, and then I very sweetly (yeah right) informed her that her dogs need to be leashed when they're outside & that they routinely try to attack my dog through the fence. Fast forward to Andrew's birthday in June. For months, we had been tolerating these dogs being locked in her garage barking all day long. It was June & I couldn't have my windows open because it was so disruptive. At 9:30 at night after his party the dogs were still barking. I finally decided to take action & called the police. She just happened to come home while the cops were there writing her a warning & low & behold she opened the garage & the dogs charged the officer down the driveway. PERFECT! She proceeded to yell profanities over my fence to me and our friends who were joining us for a drink after the party. This went on for probably 10 minutes in total, and at some point I quit talking to her & just let her look like the idiot. A few weeks go by (the barking has not yet stopped) and my cat was outside laying next to my fence by my house (way on my property) and 2 of her dogs come charging onto my property to attack her through the fence. Luckily Holly was outside and went over there barking with her hair up (which, for those of you who know Holly, is very uncharacteristic). I yelled at her to get her dogs off my property & told her that I wasn't going to tolerate it anymore, and I was going to let the police deal with her from now on. The next day, the barking continued, I called the cops, and low and behold, the barking stopped for quite some time. Recently, it has started again. I don't want to be the neighbor who calls the police all the time. I actually think it is a waste of resources to call 911 (as advised to do) every time her dogs bark for the better part of the day. So, I went down to the police station to see what we could do about the problem. They told me that if it's that big of a problem that I'm willing to go to the police station to see what options there are, they would put it in as a "keep the peace" violation which is a $25 fine per occurrence. I'm glad they are willing to do something, but I still don't want to be that neighbor! Now, I'm not an unreasonable person. By excessive barking, I mean beginning at 6:15 am when the B leaves the house until she returns at 4:30 pm. Now, maybe they stop for a little while here and there, but I would say out of the 10 hour stretch, they are barking for at least 7. Dogs are dogs, and they will bark, but give me a break! So, onto today where the beef is big enough to get me to blog about it. There is a family two houses down from us that have a black lab named Izzy. Today, I was playing with Andrew on the side of the house & I saw Izzy run across the street and down the sidewalk. I noticed one of my neighbors friends grabbed the dog by the collar and said "I'm not taking this dog home if we don't know where it belongs". I was right there with Andrew & said that I knew the dog & I would take it home. No big deal, right? Later in the afternoon, Andrew & I are playing in the back yard, and miss White Trash herself says "Where's your black lab, sweetheart?" (say that in the snottiest tone you can come up with & it's almost how she said it!) I was like "What are you talking about" She then proceeds to tell me that I said the dog was mine, and she knows who the dog is, it's Izzy & she lives 2 houses down. I was shocked by the confrontation (which you all know I don't like anyway), and simply said that I didn't say that, and told her exactly what I did say. She then proceeds (and pardon my language) to tell me that I am a fat ass, a bitch, and a pussy, and am afraid of dogs. I told her I'm not afraid of dogs, I just have a problem with dogs that attack my animals through the fence and bark all day. She continued on with the barrage of insults for a little while. I did call her a B, which I feel badly about, because I do not condone that type of language in front of Andrew. Why can't I just have a peaceful afternoon in my backyard? I really hate living here now because of her. She makes every day uncomfortable. Now, I need advice. Her brother owns the house. She has 3 babies from 3 daddies & can't afford a place of her own. We have met the brother on several occasions, and he is a really nice guy, as are her parents. So, do I:

A) Contact the brother, inform him of the situation, and tell him that my next phone call will be to the police for harassment

B) Skip the bro & go straight to the police

C) Sell my house & move to a cute little house in South Elgin w/ St. Charles schools that I can afford & is listed!

D) Ignore her, and teach Andrew how to say "Hi White Trash" whenever he sees her! (he he!)

E) Call the cops every time the dogs make a noise & make those $25 fines add up to the point she's put out on her scrawny little behind!

Happy Anniversary & Happy Birthday!

Mike & I celebrated 3 years of marriage on August 28th. It's amazing how a baby changes things! Our 1st anniversary, we went to Chicago for the night and spent a wonderful evening downtown & had dinner on the Spirit of Chicago dinner cruise. Our second anniversary we had a 12 week old baby! Andrew had his first sleepover @ Grandma & Grandpa's, and Mike and I went to a nice dinner & a show. This year, we went to Chili's with a cranky 1 year old! Next year we'll have to do a little something special!!

For my birthday (29...the age I'll be for the rest of my life!!) we tried unsuccessfully to get a babysitter. We decided to go to dinner anyway, and went to a new restaurant called Urban Grille in Geneva. The food was excellent!! However, the service was terrible. I would definitely go back without a baby! It took us over an hour to get our food. We knew when we sat down it was going to be slow, so we ordered an appetizer so Andrew could have something to eat. They forgot to bring it! The appetizer makes ordinary fries seem lame....french fries w/ garlic butter sauce & parmesan cheese...mmm!!! After we got home from dinner, our friends Bart & Nicole came over for a night cap & we had some very exciting conversation! We sat outside with a fire & talked...it was a wonderful evening. Next year is the big 3-0....uh oh! I'm already dreading it!

Misc Pics

I don't have a story for every picture (believe it or not!) but here are some of my other recent favorites!

Playing with rocks...his favorite!!


Making a super cute face while playing with his bubbles!


He wanted to bring the rocks to the bubble machine!


Mike was playing with a remote control toy for the cat & it scared Andrew! He was hiding behind his daddy for protection!


The little stink stole my twizzlers & thought it was so funny!


Such a cute face!!


He loves to play in the fridge!


So much for filling the pool! He loves to steel the hose!


Every time his bubble machine blows bubbles, Andrew
mimics the "oooh" sound the fan makes,
and makes this face!

Mall Trip!

So, Andrew's first ride was supposed to be at Elburn Days, but that got shot down by the rain. I was looking for a fun new thing to do with him, and remembered an indoor play area at Charlestowne Mall. On Monday, Mike and I took him to the mall to play there & he got to have his first ride in one of those cars you pay 50 cents for. He loved it, and every time the car started, he would say "Eeeeee!" Who says you have to spend money to have fun! It was so amazing to watch him take things in! There were two other little girls in the play area running around, climbing on everything & jumping on things. He would watch them, and you could tell he was trying to figure out how to do the same things they were. He was about 1 year younger than the youngest one, so of course he couldn't do everything they were, but it was so fun to watch him interact and try to figure it out!

Loving his pets!

Andrew has always loved Holly & Missy, but he has recently taken to hugging them and playing with them a lot! He loves to take Holly's toys and give them to her, and she is normally great at being very gentle with him. She's still a dog though & has knocked him down a couple times, but that is to be expected. Missy though, she does not enjoy his company nearly as much! Our fat cat is always out because she's anxiously awaiting the next time she'll be fed. Andrew takes every opportunity to "hug" her, and when she bats at him, he thinks it's absolutley hilarious & bats back. I'm very thankful she has no claws (eventhough I still feel guilty about ripping them out!!)! The cutest thing he has done with Holly - one night he wanted to play with her, but she would only play with me. I would throw a toy for her, she would drop it, Andrew would go get it, bring it back to me, then sit on my lap until I threw it. When she would catch it, he would laugh and clap his hands! It was so fun!

Cougar's Game

We had a company outing at the Cougar's game. It was Andrew's second of the season! Andrew had pizza for dinner, but I think his highlight of the night was getting to share my Nestle Crunch Dibs. Man this boy has a sweet tooth! I was not paying attention, and before I knew it he had a whole mouthful of icecream! Obviously, this was a special treat, so I let him enjoy! We had a great time with our friends. Andrew got a little sleepy around 8 (normal bedtime) and reached for Grandma. He knows who to go to to get rocked to sleep - that's for sure! It was a long night, and the little guy slept in until 7:30 the next morning. Who knew this was going to be a turning point for him to start sleeping in a little - a welcome break to his normal 6:15 wake time! He got his first souvenier - a Cougar's baseball bat, which will be proudly displayed in his room as soon as I get time to do something "boy" with his bedroom. He's getting to the point where I think his little teddy bears are a little too young for him!

Elburn Days

Elburn Days weekend was an incredibly busy & wet one! I don't think we've ever gotten that much rain in August! It is the first time that I ever remember the fair shutting down on Saturday and Sunday (and I've been going since I was 10...19 years, oh my!) Andrew was quite the trooper! We got to drive in the parade on Friday night. Laurie & Jeannie brought Andrew, Liam & Tabitha all down to the shop in mom's Explorer. How cute it was to see the 3 car seats across one row! I let Andrew drive our tractor, and he did a great job steering every time we needed to turn to the left. He had some problems going right, but I was there to help him out! He was way too busy to wave at anyone, but he loved watching everyone watch him. Before the parade we got to go pet some horses (compliments of a good customer of mine) and he stopped to show a bunch of police officers his little dance! Ozzie Cougar came over to say hi to us, and he couldn't get away fast enough! Apparently he isn't old enough for adults in Cougar costumes! Saturday, he and I went down to the booth & he got to help me "sell" some tractors. We ended up leaving at 5, just minutes before they closed the park down. Sunday he was going to come with, but again with the rain!! We got to stay home and have a lazy day all to ourselves!