Ethan's Birthday Party

Today was Ethan's birthday party at Kid's Clubhouse in Midland Park. He turned 3 years old, so of course, Reagan was my child who was invited ... but since Reagan was so sick, I decided to show up with Avery instead! Turned out that Mia was sick with a fever too, so Nicole just took Bennett ... she picked us up and we all went together.

Melisa (who just found out she's having another boy!), Stacey, Corey (holding Jamison), and Ronnie

James and Damian ~ Damian and I have the same birthday!

Grown up Bennett

Avery, Amanda and Bennett

Justin, Ethan (the birthday boy) and Matthew

Avery was pretty attached to me the entire play-time session, but when they announced it was time to eat pizza, she couldn't have cared less where I was! The kids were all holding hands, walking to the other room, so she held Bennett's hand and was determined to find food!

This picture cracks me up! She was determined to find the pizza as fast as she could ... I could have left the building and she wouldn't have noticed!

Pizza Time!

Ethan and Stacey

Avery decided the frosting on Bennett's plate looked very appealing ... before she touched her own cupcake, she put her finger in Bennett's several times, then used it as paint on her own plate. I guess she thought it was time to "finger paint!"

This picture hardly shows the real mess she made with the cupcake ...

Time for bubbles!

The birthday boy

Ethan and Matthew

Avery ... getting tired

Love these pictures of Avery! She was in this giant mat that was in the shape of a tube and we started playing "peek-a-boo"

I can't believe how big my baby is getting!!

It was a really fun party ... Thanks Stacey and Ethan! I wish Reagan could have been there :( Avery definitely tired herself out. She went down for a nap today at 1:30 and we had to wake her up for dinner at 5:00!

Bumps, fevers, and dog food ... our weekend!

Last year, I posted about Bumps because Reagan kept bumping her head ... now it's Avery who can't seem to stay bump free! This week, she took two nasty falls, landing head first both times. Luckily, they were on opposite sides of her forehead.

This was on Tuesday night (3-24-09) ... we were in the kitchen and I was cooking dinner when I watched the fall happen in slow motion. Dawson was outside and Avery walked toward the sliding glass door to look at him. She tripped right over her own foot and fell face first into the sharp edge of the sliding door. I couldn't believe how big the bump was!

You might also be able to see her swollen gums ... this poor girl has 3 molars trying to poke through. Her hands are always in her mouth and she's got lots of slobber going on.

Last night, I watched as she and Brutus both tried to walk into the kitchen together ... Brutus barely bumped into her, she lost her balance, then she fell into the craft table (head first, of course!).

The only saving grace when it comes to bumps like these is that Maribel gave me a magical remedy: when she recently went to Spain, her relatives there insisted that she rub this stick onto Joaquin's head when he fell. She brought two of them back and gave one to me. Whenever the girls fall, I rub this stick (kind of like a glue stick, yet the substance is more oily) right onto the wound and it hardly even bruises! It's amazing. They also told me to use Olive Oil and I once tried that when I'd left the stick somewhere ... the olive oil worked really well too :)

Here's Reagan helping John feed the dogs. Yes, she's in a T-shirt and a pair of tights ... and red shoes. She's such a funny girl. She's been sick all weekend :( She's had a very high fever (104.4 and I don't think we took her temperature when it was at its highest). She's such a good sport whenever she's sick. She's usually happy, but somber and snuggly. Even though we tell her she's sick and can just hang out in PJ's all day, she still insists on getting dressed, and always in a DRESS! She is totally refusing to wear pants these days. She's such a sweet little girl and John and I love her to pieces!

Erin Elizabeth McTigue

My friend Diane gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on Thursday night, March 26th at 8:10 PM. Erin Elizabeth weighed 7 lbs, 17 oz and was 20 3/4 inches long. Diane only had to push for 5 minutes, so I was very happy for her!

I set up the schedule for all of Diane's friends to take her meals for the next couple weeks, so I got to sign up for the first day :) After Jen Wilkin recently made stuffed bell peppers for me, I decided to make up my own recipe for stuffed peppers, which came out REALLY good!!

I had a really nice time visiting with Diane and holding her precious 3-day old baby girl.

Mommy and baby are both doing well and I'm in awe of her relaxed nature, considering she now has 3 kids! Way to go Diane!!

We are looking forward to getting to know Erin better ... maybe Diane can plan another Mom's weekend away to her Lakehouse and she can bring Erin this time!

Dinner with Hoon

Tonight was a fun family evening out. John's friend Hoon was in town from Korea (he's been working there on an assignment for the last 2 months) ... they had meetings together all day Thursday, then thought it would be fun to get together for dinner tonight as families. Hoon and Michelle live on Staten Island, so we tried to meet somewhere in the middle for dinner. We ate at Houlihan's in Weehawken (right next to Hoboken), which has an excellent view of Manhattan. The only bad part of the night was that we hit TONS of traffic on our way there. What typically should have taken us 25-30 minutes took us an hour and 15 minutes! We were so frustrated and felt bad we left Hoon, Michelle and Ian waiting for us. Luckily, both girls took great naps this afternoon so they were angels on the long drive, and then Avery took a cat nap on the way there.

I tried to take a picture of his cute son Ian, but he was camera shy at first and kept dodging my camera!
Ian and Michelle ... Michelle works in the fashion industry as a designer for Reebok and Adidas. She went to design school while in Seoul, Korea, then went to FIT in Manhattan.

I finally got a picture of Ian!

Reagan developed a mild fever this afternoon, but after a dose of Motrin, she was acting just fine, so we figured she was fine to go out. She was SO good throughout the entire evening and we were really proud of her good manners in the restaurant. I wish I could say the same about Avery, but she's at that age where she doesn't want to sit still in a high chair. She went back and forth between John and I most of the night, sitting on our laps.

My sweet little Reagan

Amanda, John and Avery

By the time we got back to the car, Reagan's fever was coming back, so she quickly fell asleep on the way home. Only a few minutes after she fell asleep, she started talking in her sleep. She said, "Mama! Avery's getting on the table! Mama, Avery's on top of the counter!" She is ALWAYS talking in her sleep and it's rarely just mumbling - we can usually always hear her words very clearly. She definitely takes after her mother when it comes to wild dreams and sleep-talking :)

Another reason my poor blog will suffer ...

I'm a working mom! I went back to work full time at LG Electronics, USA Inc. and I'm actually enjoying it. It was rough at first ... everytime I thought of the girls, I got a huge knot in my throat and tears in my eyes. But the warm welcome home at the end of the day was PRICELESS! Over the last week and a half of working full time, I've realized I definitely took my role as a Stay-At-Home-Mom (SAHM) for granted. Although it was the hardest job I ever had, it was also the best place for me to be and certainly the most rewarding job in the world.

Here are a few more details about my new job: LG Electronics, USA (LGEUS) is a very solid company based in Seoul, Korea. Their North American headquarters are in Englewood Cliffs, NJ which is 10 miles away from me. For those readers who know this area, it's right on Route 9W which parellels the Palisades Parkway and the Hudson River. The headquarters have grown out of their first building and now take up office space in 3 different buildings. These buildings are right next door to the CNBC Studios. My job is an Administrative Assistant to the legal team which covers all of LGE USA, Canada, and Mexico. The legal team consists of my boss who is the Head Legal Counsel (the man who started the legal team for the US 5 years ago), 3 other attorneys, and 2 contract administrators. I'm learning A LOT about the legal world and the foreign language that accompanies it ... it's a little overwhelming and I feel like my pre-mommy-brain could have done a much better job retaining all of the information that's recently been thrown at me! But overall, I've enjoyed it and it's been a nice place to go to work each day. I have my own cubical in a very quiet office, so it's actually relaxing and peaceful to spend each day there.

I definitely miss my girls, John, and all my mommy friends. Luckily, my TPG friends have allowed Avery to attend without me each Friday morning, so at least she's still getting plenty of playtime and interaction with other kids. As any change, it's been an adjustment, but I'm confident everything will work out the way it's supposed to in the end, so I'm just going with the flow. Thanks to everyone who's been so supportive during this transition :)

So, I guess my blog will suffer, but I'll do my best to keep it up. My faithful readers, please don't completely give up on me!

Dinner at the Heid's

Tonight we went over to the Heid's for a relaxing night of dinner, dessert and fun. Nicole and Chris made all kinds of delicious tapas (appetizer type foods), so we ate all night while the kids played with each other. Here are some cute pics of the kids ...

Dessert time ~ Avery and Bennett chose fudge pops

Reagan and Mia chose cookies (Milano's!)

I wish I'd taken a picture of the dessert for the adults ... Nicole made a Spanish dessert called Crema Catalana which is the Catalan version of flan. It was amazing! It was a perfect combination of flan and creme brulee (caramelized sugar on top). All the food was SO good ... we had grilled shrimp, crabcakes, calamari, and a potato and spinach Spanish tortilla, which is a mix between an omelet and a quiche. Nicole, please correct any of my mistakes by leaving me a comment!

We were all pleasantly surprised by the kids' ability to entertain themselves throughout the night which allowed Nicole, Chris, John and me to hang out. The kids are finally getting old enough where they can play without constant supervision. The only problem was that they trashed Nicole's house ... at one point, Avery and Bennett took out every piece of clothing from all 6 of Mia's dresser drawers! Sorry Nicole :( Despite the messes, it was a very relaxing evening with excellent food, fabulous friends, and good old family fun! Thanks Nicole and Chris!!!