Mommy Musings

Okay, I had originally planned to write 100 things about myself for this post, but since no one asked any questions{ :( } it just seems to daunting to think of that many things about myself to tell you. So instead I've decided to write a list of 100 things I would like to accomplish. I first got the idea from Vanessa over at Journey to James 1:27 . She has compiled a list of 101 things she wants to do in 1001 days. I'm not going to be that specific. These are just 100 things I would like to get done in the next five years. I will keep this post on the side of my page and check off each one as I accomplishment so you can check up on my progress! PS....finished things will be changed to red Things in progress will be in orange Work out at least 3x per week for three months straight Take Little M on the train at Van Saun Park Visit the Outer Banks Finally send in my paper work for my NJ teaching license Establish a once-a-month date night out with my husband Finally buy new furnit

Today was my husband and my four year wedding anniversary! I can't believe sometimes that I have been married that long. I know in the grand scheme of life, four years is not that long, but it seems that way when you are only 26 years old! Now that I have a daughter, it seems hard to imagine me being okay with her being married at such a young age. I give my parents so much credit for willingly giving me away to my husband...I guess they could just see how much we loved each other! Skip and I had known each other less than a year when we got engaged, when I was only 21 years old {I will tell you all about that story when it is August 8 th , our engagement anniversary}. We were then married less than a year after that; I was 22 and he was 23. We may have been young, but nothing felt more right to me. Our whole relationship was that way, and still is...everything just makes sense with him. The day we got married was just perfect. It was warm and humid, but perfectly sunny.

I know, I know, I'm on vacation and I shouldn't be blogging. But I managed to hook up the Internet here, and I just couldn't stay away all week! Besides Little M is taking a nap and Skip went out for a run, so I've got some time to myself. The other day I was flipping through one of the cookbooks my mom has down here, looking for a possible new recipe to make for dinner. The cookbook is called 'Goodness Gracious: Recipes for Good Food and Gracious Living' by Roxie Kelley. And way in the back I found this recipe and just *had* to share it with you. Mainly because it just sounds like the most delicious dessert ever! Peanut Butter Cup Cookies 2 1/4 cups of flour 1/3 cup of cocoa 1 teaspoon of baking soda 1/2 teaspoon of salt 1 cup butter 3/4 cup smooth peanut butter 3/4 cup packed brown sugar 3/4 granulated sugar 1 teaspoon of vanilla 2 eggs 10 ounces peanut butter cups, coarsely chopped 1 cup {6 ounces} semi sweet chocolate chips Preheat the oven to 350*.

Skip, Little M, Mr. B, Shiba Inu , and I are leaving in about an hour for VACATION!!! We're going down the shore and I could not be more excited!!! { ok , maybe a little more excited if we were going somewhere tropical, with separate nannies for the baby and each of the puppies, and unlimited funds for shopping and daily spa days} But for my current situation I could not be more excited. It will be so nice to just get away for a while and just spend some time with my little family:) I'm pretty sure that I won't have Internet access while I'm gone {:-0} but I'll try to get on at my sister's place just to catch up on some blog reading, so it doesn't build up too much! I'll fill you all in when I get home. Have a *fabulous* week!!!

I should not be allowed to go into Buy Buy Baby by myself, for many different reasons. The first being that I absolutely cannot control my spending. I have no problem not buying things for myself anymore. And it is important for me to carefully save for things I want for the house. But when it comes to things for my little girl, I just can't resist anything! {I will *have* to get better at this though when Little M is older and asking for everything in sight!} Case in point...Little M and I went to B.B.B. the other day to get a gift for someone. I also wanted to pick up another teething pacifier as we seem to have lost the one we had {and Little M is teething like *crazy*} We did get the gift and paci , but by the time I walked out of there, about an hour later mind you, we also had some baby-proofing corners, a vibrating teething ring, and a Sesame Street dvd . I was this close to buying several outfits, but I knew I would be pushing it. Now, it's not like I bought a

If you live in the Northern Jersey area, you have heard about one of the local cops that was shot and killed last week while on duty. He had been on the job for 10 years and had a wife and three small children at home. It is a story that has touched the hearts of everyone who has heard it. As I mentioned before, my husband is on the Honor Guard for his department, and while he was not in the same department as the man who was killed, he still attended his funeral today. And they were not the only ones. Thousands of cops, both local and from as far away as Florida, came to show support for their fallen brother. Being a cop is very much like being in the military, in that your coworkers become like family. It is a dangerous job and you must learn to rely on the man next to you to possibly one day save your life, and for you to save theirs. The local news channel covered the funeral procession both before and after the church mass. I watched as my way of honoring him, and also to see if I

My sweet tiny little baby is big enough to use a sippy cup all by herself now! We've been slowly practicing with it for a few weeks now, and yesterday I just handed it to her, she put each hand on the handles and started sipping away at her water! I just cannot believe how fast she is growing!! She isn't really into juice yet, just water. I guess that's a good thing though, since you aren't really supposed to give kids a lot of juice anymore. I'm going to give her a little water in it at each of her meals, and I'll bring it along anytime we're out, in case she gets hot or thirsty. I'm so proud of my Little M and can't wait to see what she will accomplish today!

Last night I decided to try and put Little M down 15 minutes later than normal. That did not go well. She was hot and way too overtired by that point. It took over half and hour to get her to go down and involved a ton of crying, rocking, singing, and stories. She finally went down at just about 8:00 pm, and to be honest I did not have a lot of hope that it would make her sleep later this morning. Sure enough, she woke up at 5:15...which is 15 minutes earlier than she normally does {I think she was trying to tell me *not* to put her down later at night}. Skip was just about to get up for work anyway, so he got up, changed her diaper, and brought her in to me for her bottle. She drank it hungrily and then snuggled up with me. Normally she just wants to play after she eats, so I thought this might be a good sign that she was still tired. I let her snuggle for a few minutes and then got up to try and put her back to bed. I laid her down in her crib, closed the door, and told Ski

Here are some old pictures taken of the husband and I when he was only my boyfriend! These were taken when I flew out to see him for the weekend when he was stationed in California. I thought it was going to be the last time I would see him before he got deployed. It wasn't though since he surprised me a month later by coming home! {more on that story next month on the anniversary of when we got engaged} Saying goodbye on base Relaxing on the beach *Gorgeous* views Right after I got off the plane. Hadn't seen him in a month!

I miss my tiny little newborn. Most people can't wait to get out of the newborn stage with their kids because of the lack of sleep/round the clock feedings. But not me, I miss it. Now don't get me wrong, I *love* this stage Little M is in. She loves to just sit and play all day, she gives us big smiles and laughs, she's on a more normal feeding schedule, and she just gets cuter and cuter every day. But I miss the sleep of my newborn. What you say?? Sleep and newborns do not normally go together, but they did with mine! Little M slept through the night pretty much from the start. My doctor practically made fun of my because I was waking her up during the night the first week to feed her. She could be put in her bed for the night with no trouble at 7:30 or 8 and we wouldn't hear another peep out of her until 7 am. It was *glorious*. I thought I was the best mom ever! I was well-rested and had time during my day to get things done. Life was fabulous. However,

Recently I tried giving Little M tiny bits of soft bread. I want to expand her food horizons and help with her fine motor skills. She was able to pick up the bread, but wasn't able to put it in her mouth {she did love it when I fed it to her though!} However, when I put her on the carpet to play she immediately finds the smallest bits of dog fur and puts them right in her mouth. {don't worry I get it right out!} I am seriously concerned over her food preferences!

Nothing in life is better than this. {photo taken by my sister}

So I am quickly approaching my 100 th post { yay !} and for it I thought I would compile a list of 100 things about me. The length seems really daunting though, so I thought I'd ask for all of your help! What do you want to know about me? I will try to answer all of the questions within my list, however some things I may not be able to answer for safety reasons. {exactly where I live, my last name, and which department my husband works for...things like that} You can leave me a comment or send me an email if you don't want it to be public. {my email is on the side of my page} So ask away!

Skip had regular hours this week....like normal people's hours {well more like 8-4 than 9-5, but close enough} See, besides his regular responsibilities as a cop, Skip also does a few other things in his department. He marches in parades on holidays and does funerals and wakes for deceased cops or judges. He also teaches at the police academy sometimes, which is what he was doing this week. It has been so nice seeing him leave in the morning and come home every afternoon, no overtime, no nights. I've made dinner every night this week! {I definitely don't cook real meals when it's just me and the baby...I'm the queen of pizza bagels} And to top it all off, he's off this weekend...Saturday AND Sunday! Not that any of this really matters since I don't work anymore, but it is nice to feel like a 'normal' family for a change. In celebration, we are going down the shore this weekend. We aren't going to leave until after 7 tonight, hoping most

In just a few short hours I will be going to see this..... I am like ridiculously excited. When the whole Harry Potter craze first started, I wanted nothing to do with it. I'm not really into magic and I thought they were more for kids. However, by chance I came across a free pair of tickets to opening night of the first movie. I went and have been hooked ever since! I would read each new book within two days of it coming out, and try my hardest to see the movie on opening day {I do however draw the line at going to a midnight showing last night though...girl's gotta sleep!} I cannot wait to check out the newest installment tonight with some friends. Not to mention that I haven't been to the movies since October, so that alone is exciting! It should be a fabulous evening! {A special thanks to my husband for agreeing to watch the baby tonight so I can go out. Love you babe!!}

Here are a few pics o the husband and I at a wedding we went to last Friday. It was only our third night out since the baby was born, so we were very excited! Skip is going to kill me for posting this one...but trust me there was a much more embarrassing one that I left out!

Earlier Little M and I went through our typical morning routine. She wakes up crying and I go in, pick her up, and change her diaper. Then I bring her back into bed with me and feed her a bottle while catching up on the morning news. Then she sits next to me and plays, watching Sesame Street, while I fire up our laptop and catch up on Facebook and read some blogs. However, I got completely distracted today. Guess who made and appearance during the "Elmo's World" part of Sesame Street.....Super Grover!!!!! How many of you remember Grover's alter-ego, who never actually seemed to be able to save anyone or anything. It was such a flashback to my carefree childhood days and I was so happy to share it with my daughter. It's nice to see that some classic things don't change!!

Ok , so I have been completely failing at keeping up at my baby gear posts. I promise to work on cranking these out! Here is the one on clothing for a newborn. A lot of this is self-explanatory, but I will give as many tips as I can! Coming home outfit - The best option for this is pants with a side snap shirt. You don't really want anything rubbing on their belly button until it has fallen off. 4-6 Side snap undershirts - Great because you don't have to pull anything over their heads. They also won't rub on the belly button. 4-6 Receiving blankets - These are great for swaddling and wrapping the baby. Also good to just throw on the floor for them to play on when they get older. 2-4 Swaddling sets - I loved these when M was little. She *hated* having her arms swaddled, so I would just wrap it underneath her armpits and it worked so much better. 4-6 Footie outfits - Great as jammies 4-6 T-shirts 3-5 Pants - 2-4 Sweaters - You really don't need 2-4 sweaters and jac

Sorry blogger buddies...I have failed at finishing up telling all of you about Little M's first Fourth of July party! We were down at my sister's Jersey shore house for a party. She and I have a lot of mutual friends and they all drove down too. I also got to hang out with my sister's friend from elementary school who I haven't seen in YEARS which was nice. She is expecting her first baby so I was happy to pass on as much wisdom as I could! Little M was a huge hit (as always) and was sooo well behaved! She was perfectly happy to sit and play, and be passed around to everyone. She ate her strained dinner while the rest of us feasted on traditional hot dogs and hamburgers and all sorts of other goodies! My sister really knows how to throw a party! It was nice and relaxing. We were going to go to see the fireworks on the water by my sister's house (well, M and I weren't going to go as she was passed out upstairs) but everyone was having too much fun to bre

Here are a few pictures of Little M taken last week in our backyard. What a happy little girl! Mom, give me that camera!!

I had a *fabulous* first Fourth of July with my baby girl. Skip was originally scheduled to work, but was able to take that day off. My older sister was having a party at her house down the shore and we were psyched to go! My parents have a house about 5 minutes away from her down there, so we were going to stay there. My mom had bought a crib and put it in one of the spare rooms to make it easier when we go down. Definitely a huge help! Unfortunately my parents would not be able to go down, because of everything going on with my Grandma, but we were happy to get to check on their house and get a few things done for them down there. Anyways we left for the party early on Saturday morning. We hit a few pockets of traffic, but nothing too bad. I was surprised at how smooth the ride went since there was me, Skip, Little M, Mr. B and Shiba Inu (our two dogs) and all our stuff all packed into one car. It was Little M's first overnight visit as well, so I had definitely over

Today is the Fourth of July. The day we celebrate our nation's freedom. Among all the bar-b- q's let us take a moment to remember all of those who continue to protect our freedom, our men and women in the armed forces. They dedicate themselves to making sure we can still live in a safe, free country. We truly are so blessed for their sacrifices. I think the perfect song for today is "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood. (it was also the song they played when my husband and his unit were getting off the plane when they got home from Iraq) I've included the lyrics below. God Bless The USA by Lee Greenwood If tomorrow all the things were gone,I’d worked for all my life. And I had to start again,with just my children and my wife. I’d thank my lucky stars,to be livin here today '‘Cause the flag still stands for freedom,and they can’t take that away. And I’m proud to be an American,where at least I know I’m free. And I wont forget the men who died,who gave th

I am totally and utterly in love with my vacuum.  Now this is not a new vacuum, but one we've had since we bought this house about 15 months ago.  But this is not just any ordinary vacuum.  It is a central vacuuming system!! (I love how they call it a system)   We had a central vac in our house when I was growing up, and my mom absolutely loved it.  I never really got the appeal since it involved lugging the giant hose and all the accessories around to every room.  Even when we first moved here it didn't seem all that impressive to me.  It is nice that I can move between our carpets and hardwood floors with only the quick switch of an attachment.  And the hose is long enough that I only have to move it when I move from one floor to the other.  But I honestly didn't think it suctioned as well as the old vacuum we had when we lived in the condo. Tonight, however, all the negatives went right out of my mind.  I was vacuuming because well it needed it, and some of my friends ar