And Were Back!

Hey There!

We are back, I know you all missed us dearly ;) And our little guy is walking at 10 months...just as I suspected would happen! I will post a video of his walking skilz very soon!

Here we are pictured above at our friend Jeff & Sherri's wedding in the Dominican Republic just over a week ago. And the happy couple below right after they tied the knot! The wedding was beautiful and our vacation week in the Dominican was great. We enjoyed being away with our friends and having some time to ourselves but I can't get over how much we missed our little guy. By day 4 I was ready to make our way back home for sure. The airfare was just so expensive to only stay on vacation for 4 days.


While on vacation we worked on our tans and caught up on some much needed rest. I was able to get a full nights sleep every night, and woke up every morning springing out of bed, it was wonderful. I even squeezed in 3 workouts in between all the partying and drinking we did.The gym was really nice but the treadmills were kinda funky. I was doing sprint intervals at a rate of 15? I have no idea why it went from 0-17 on their speed scale. I could never figure that out. Anyway, I was able to get in 3 great 45-50 min. workouts & my weights so I was happy with that. Made me feel much less guilty when I was ordering a Cocoa Loco at 10 am beach side!

Speaking of beach, here is what our beach looked liked, it was gorgeous!

Some more pictures from our vacation below - group shot from the rehearsal dinner night, all the boys at the wedding (they have been friends since grade school pretty much), and a shot of Adam and I at the beach.

Happenings...

Hi Everyone!

Adam and I are getting ready for a very big vacation away from Eli and it is so hard! One minute we are excited to be away in the Dominican Republic for our friends wedding & the next minute the thought of not seeing this cute little guy below for a full week is killing us!


They say vacations for Mommy's & Daddy's is really important so I just have to focus on that. If I get sad while away I can just drink it off right? hahaha... On another note my dieting for this vacation is finally paying off. THANK GOD.

This past weekend, my best friend from home Sarah had her wedding shower & bach party. It was so much fun to see everyone, and we all had such a blast. Most of us spent our summers growing up poolside on the Milford Yacht Club swim team. The MYC was not only for practice we literally spent all day there, think of it like summer camp. Such great memories there! Sarah's sister Samantha planned an awesome scavenger hunt for Sarah to kick off the night, we visited all our old stomping grounds as kids growing up in Milford. It was so great, cuddos to Sam & Sarah's parents for being the best coordinators & hosts for the weekend!

Here is Sarah & Sam together and one of Sarah on her own, we had pizza & wine at the beach down from their house to start the night off.


And just before I left the house on Saturday morning to drive to Milford, Adam decided for his father/son weekend to put Eli's hair in a mohawk! I had to take a picture, Eli looks so silly. I am always working on "Eli's part" in his hair and Adam is concerned with making sure he has a rad mohawk!


Also....Saturday morning after my run, I found my latest and greatest new "trash to treasure" project! I absolutely love this cabinet and for $15 (also a donation to the Lou Gehrig Foundation) I couldn't pass it up! Haven't decided what room it is going in just yet but more pics to follow once I am done revamping it!


And I leave you with some funny things Eli has been doing lately.
#1 our new PC we bought has the most shiniest blue button ever and Eli keeps turning off the PC!! I caught him in the act, he looks caught off guard in this pic. That little bugger turned it off most recently while I was in the middle of an accounting for work! Good thing he is cute. I spent last night rearranging our PC set up so that he really can't get to the button now. I can't tell you how many times I say no when he goes near it and he laughs at me! He totally knows what he is doing too....

This is a picture of Eli in his morning robe - It is perfect for when he wants to sit on the couch all cozied up with his morning cup of coffee & paper! hahaha....


And last but not least - this is what Eli does when he wants to be silly while eating something he likes!

1/2 Marathon Report & Results!

The Amica Iron Horse 1/2 Marathon I ran this past Sunday went really well! It poured rain for the first 5 miles but then it let up. There were some highs & lows when I was running but overall I think I did good for my first 1/2 marathon distance run. I have done a full marathon in the past & a bunch of other distances in between but I think I really liked the 1/2 marathon distance.

My time was 1:57:03, I ran a 8:56 split, my goal was to beat 2 hours and I did it!! I think I am setting a new goal to run another 1/2 this year and maybe a full marathon. I am still searching for the right full marathon to sign up for because I have so many weddings & tied up weekends.

Crossing the finish line and having Adam there with Eli was the best :) I wasn't sure if Adam would get out there with Eli because the race is a 1/2 hour from our house & it was raining, not to mention the terrible storm warnings we had. I guess Adam took a chance once he saw the rain let up and put Eli in the car and it all turned out fine!

After the 1/2 I went home and was craving eggs!?! Weird. I really wanted a bagel with cream cheese and an omelet. So that is exactly what I did. All I ate at the house before I left for the race was plain oatmeal and my coffee. I just don't have a huge appetite at 5:45am, but really who does? Then after I got my race bib & packet I had half a cheese stick but couldn't finish it. Maybe it was nerves?

Later in the day, Adam did yard work while we had a break in the crummy weather we were having. Eli and I went to Adam's parents house to take a dip in the pool. Eli seemed to really like it too! It was his first time in and he was relaxed and calm! I think I am going to check out our town pool for the mommy & me classes for this summer. I grew up in the pool ALL SUMMER long and by the beach; so I have very fond memories of learning how to swim at a very young age in grandparents pool. I hope Eli will grow up to be a little fish in the water just as I was. Actually, I think the term was "water rat"...but hey I did love being in that water!

Here are some pics from our dip in the pool. Eli is having a blast with Meme' in the bottom picture!

9 month appt. & 4 years of Marriage!

So we have our camera back, yeah! Thank you Adam for picking it up :) As you can see above Eli is playing as usual with all his toys scattered through the living room enjoying every minute of it!

Here are Eli's new stats -

19 lbs. 4 oz. - 35th percentile

29 1/2 inches long - 85th percentile

45 inches circumference of his squash

(we refer to Eli's head as his "squash", it is quite round, he gets this from Poppi & Uncle Tommy, they both had very round heads as babies. He is completely normal though, it just protects him from his falls better! hahah..)


The doctor said Eli looks great, he had his cold/runny nose situation going on (he is cutting another tooth) but his ears & lungs were clear so nothing to worry about. Finally that tooth has come through and it is working its way out now. Poor little guy is a BEAR when he cuts these teeth!


Yesterday, June 3rd was our 4 year wedding anniversary!
(this is our engagement photo)

We have been together for 9 years total. We reminisced last night about our wedding day, and how we had the very best time that day. Totally carefree and not at all stressed! It even rained so we didn't get married on the golf course but we were moved inside and everything was perfect, we couldn't ask for more. All our friends & family were with us, I wish I could relive that day again, I guess that is what makes it such a great memory....

We celebrated last night by drinking some white wine & we had take out sushi once Eli went down to bed at 7:30pm. The best part about the wine is that it is a new cheap bottle and it is FAB!! For the price you can't beat it - $5 a bottle!! It is called Gato Negro and we had the Savignon Blanc variety, I highly recommend. My friend Nicole was at the same packy I was at last night and I got the recommendation from her. Thanks Nicole :)

Our sushi was YUMMY as usual, this is our new way of eating fancy with a baby. For Adam's 30th it was also during the week and since we are eating dinner together when Eli goes down to bed we started doing take out sushi and it is perfect. We are working our way through the whole menu at this point! Last time we were actually sitting at the restaurant was New Years but takeout is just so much more convenient these days.


And....some might call this the height of laziness (which I am ok with) but I tried for the first time "ShopRite from Home". You order your groceries online, schedule when you are going to pick them up and they come out to your car with the little computer thing, you give them your coupons and form of payment (cash/check or credit card) and you are checked out right at your car! Then they get your groceries and bring the cart to your car and you load them up and your off!

The whole process worked smoothly and I would do it again because I have some serious issues with grocery shopping:

I have to do it all the time, Adam doesn't do the grocery store. Period. Not even going there.

I have severe ADD that strikes me the moment I step foot into the grocery store. It is out of control. I just can't focus.

I use coupons allot and I am very organized about how I keep my coupons. I save a ton of $ doing so, the only area I am unable to save is in the produce aisle. I price compare so well that I often beat hands down any wholesale club & lots of times I get things for free or for pennies on the dollar. I save the most money in the areas of paper goods/cleaning items/baby items/and general grocery. Having said all that, price comparison takes me allot of time and grocery shopping is a chore, it pays to save but a chore for sure.

I constantly run into people at any of our 3 grocery stores in town, it is a given....so I chit chat and that just adds time to my whole process.

I don't have time to get to the store until Eli goes to bed and I HATE having to go out at night. Grocery shopping on the weekend is just not my way of spending my time, I will do it but I despise grocery shopping & laundry on the weekends!

So that is my new thing...we'll see how it works out, I am sure I will have to go into the grocery store here and there but no more 2 hour grocery store visits for me!! And I get to use my coupons still so this is a win-win for me I think!

Only 2 more days until my 1/2 marathon on Sunday, I will post the update on howthe race turned out on Sunday evening hopefully. Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Recent Adventures

This past week & a half has been kinda busy you could say...I got lots of good runs in which was great and I am feeling very prepared for the 1/2 marathon on the 6th ! Only 1 more week until race day & I am hoping for no rain, low humidity and a nice breeze. It's a tall order but 2 out of the 3 would be FAB!

Last weekend we had a family picnic on Saturday for Adam's cousin's birthday's and Eli got to play on a huge trampoline. He had a blast! I wish I had pictures to post but our camera is still there. Very annoying. I don't leave the camera anywhere and if I did I would pick it up right away. * hint. hint.* Having a 9 month old dare devil requires you to have a camera on you at all times! Ok that is my lame passive aggressive attempt to see if Adam will go pick up the camera finally. Moving on....

Adam started a huge drainage project at our house while Eli & I spent 2 days visiting at my sisters with my Mom & Aunt Lydia. We went up to celebrate the long weekend but more importantly my sister's birthday that is coming up in a week. While we were out in Massachusetts, Adam spent his holiday weekend digging up our yard with a backhoe. Every time Adam does an outdoor project & rents heavy machinery it initially always brings a smile to his face. Being the outdoors man that he is to begin with then throw some construction equipment on top of that and he is happy as a pig in shit!

Currently, our house looks like a huge construction zone from the outside, all the major trenches he had to dig and drainage pipes he put in had happen this weekend. The backhoe will be picked up tomorrow & the remaining portion of the project is supposed to take Adam 2 weeks to finish. Once Adam is all done he will breathe a huge sigh of relief that all our gutters from the house will dump into this one fancy drain he put in. Also, we won't have to deal with a huge puddle that ices over every winter in our driveway and creeps into our garage. Not to mention the marshy area on our side lawn which got so bad a frog pond formed last summer and was back again this spring.

Tomorrow is Eli's 9 month appointment, he also has a cold, initially we thought it was an ear infection but the doc told us Saturday morning it was just a common cold. He was super cranky this past week, wouldn't nap many days in a row so it looks like there is another tooth is on it's way. The good thing is that if you keep Eli distracted enough he is ok with his cold and the runny nose you have to continuously wipe dry. Basically, you have to be on your A game with this his little guy just keep it moving type of thing and then he can't focus on how yucky he feels. He is a little clingy as well but I secretly love that part :) All the other times I try to keep Eli in my arms he tries to get out and on the ground so I do love snuggling with the little guy!

Hopefully tommorow I will have pictures to post with Eli's 9 month stats and report :) I would post a "file" picture but we finally got a new PC and all our pictures are on our external back up hard drive that we haven't transfered over yet either. I know we are just batting a zero here....

Where has the time gone?!

Hi All!
I guess we got a little busy over here these past few weeks! Eli is cruising now & loves to play with the remote as you can see. He went from crawling really fast to cruising all within a week! It is a challenge to keep him out of things as well....we are loving every minute of it though, is it is so much fun to watch him concentrate really hard on things. His favorite new thing is to pull up onto the coffee table and let go & balance himself. Now he is having thoughts of taking a step...he sometimes just falls forward but that will all come in time. His 9 month appt. is right around the corner (he turns 9 months on the 24th but his appt. is June 1st) I can't wait to see his stats. He sure has grown allot to me!

Here is a little recap of the past few weeks

• Mother's day weekend was great! We went to a brunch on Sunday morning with Adam's mom/dad/brother & girlfriend and it was quite yummy. Adam took Eli out shopping for me and on Friday of Mother's Day weekend I was greeted with beautiful flowers, then Saturday a running watch and Sunday I got a really pretty beaded necklace & Willow figurine of a Husband/Wife/and baby which made me cry & I am not much of a cryer... My mom was so busy with school work (she goes to college which is amazing to me!) that we decided to celebrate together the next weekend. So that is what we ended up doing the following weekend and we went for mani's & pedi's together :)


• We had a family picnic in Long Island at my Uncle Hector's house. It was so nice to see my family, the trip from CT there was a bit interesting to say the least. Eli got carsick 2 times. The first time was gross and I thought "ok glad that is over....". At this point my car smells like puke and I am already wondering how I am going to get the car seat cleaned up of all this puke that is in every crevice so that I never have to smell it again.....My wishful thinking came to a screeching halt when we hit the traffic trying to get over the Throg's Neck Bridge in NY. Eli just started to get increasingly frustrated not to mention it was very sunny & hot. I ended up sitting in back with him while Adam was driving and wouldn't you know he puked again but 3 times the amount of the first time. UGH!!

This was by far a challenging parenting day for both Adam and I. I have to say we kept our cool as best as possible while cleaning a baby up on the side of the Cross Island Parkway in NY. Needless to say by the time we arrived at my uncle's house we were very late & on Eli's last outfit of the day. All we had left were clean PJ's to put on him.

Here are some pictures of trip, If you notice, Eli is in great spirits in all the pictures. He definitely was carsick because he was happy as could be once out of the car!

Below in the large group picture are both my uncle's from my Dad's side & my uncle's wife Annie at the top of the picture. My grandma & grandpa from my Dad's side on the rocking chairs and on the lower left is my sister Tammy, her husband Ed and my nephew Ben. And in the infant carrier is my brand new cousin Emmie (Emmerson) and my uncle's wife Jennifer. Not real sure what Eli is doing in this picture to be honest!




This weekend I plan on getting in a nice long run on the 1/2 marathon course & we have a family party that is local so no long driving trips for us or Eli getting car sick!

Cheerios!!

This is Eli's face with his first taste of a Cheerio this week :) We have been trying the Gerber puffs & he hasn't really taken to them that well. He likes to play with them, feed them to the dog & get them stuck to his clothes all places but his mouth!

Eli figuring out what these things are....

"Ok...I like it", going in for more!!


Not much else going on with Eli, he just continues to crack us up. He loves to yell especially when the phone is in our hands! It is really cute. No other teeth have come in yet & he crawls really fast now and likes to pull up on our legs.

On the running front - I have been doing awesome with my training for the 1/2 marathon on June 6th. I was feeling great during my runs and enjoying running with Traci (even though we keep missing each other on our long runs).

Well, last Saturday my run was great, although very hot out I did really well. If I had water "planted" it would have been even better, I could have ran another 5 miles I felt. Then Sunday I went to the mall & I had heels on....yeah I know bad idea. Since then, my left knee has been killing me. I have been doing the RICE method - rest/ice/compress/elevation. On Wed. I felt good enough to try to run again, this time I met Traci at Adam's high school track. It is a rubber track - I felt this was the best place to see if running was ok on the knee. I got 3.25 miles in and walked a few laps, then stretched real good, still I felt ok.

Then I got home and an hour later my knee was killing me. Getting up off the floor with Eli in my arms or going up & down the stairs in my house was just getting to me. Since then, I have been doing the RICE method consistently & I was really hoping to get a long run in today or tomorrow.

Unfortunately, I know it is not a good idea. I hate being behind on my training especially since I was feeling great. UGH.......I plan on swimming laps in the town pool to keep up & it is a low impact workout. I love swimming so it is a welcomed change but I NEED to get back on the road by Monday. Please let me knee recover!!!

I hope all you mommies out there have a fabulous mother's day, this is my first real one! Last year Adam took me out to breakfast since Eli was in my belly, but this year is the real deal :)

Helping Momma clip coupons!

8 months old today!!

Well hello there!!

This past week and a half seems to have flown bye for some reason. We haven't been doing much, just day to day things. First of all how did 8 months go bye so quickly? I still can't get over it, but it sure has been a blast! Eli keeps making us laugh and smile more and more each day. I never thought being a parent would be this fun. You just don't know until you have your very own!

On the development front Eli is right on track, doing all the things he should be along with a few extra's. He hasn't quite crawled to the point where we need to baby proof everything but we know that day is right around the corner. We are slowly starting to baby proof the house this next week. I wish I had some current stat's on Eli but that won't be until his 9 month appointment. I do know he weighs in at 18lbs. 2 ounces as of this morning at 1:30am. You might ask why do I know that?

Well... we had to take Eli to the ER because he was wheezing quite a bit. (insert of Eli's "oh no" reaction...)

At first when I got home from work yesterday his breathing sounded really labored but he was in good spirits mostly. We decided to keep an eye on this, but that is just down right terrifying. We couldn't stop being worried about it and when I put Eli down to sleep at 7:30 his little chest kept going up and down allot when he breathed. We thought this could be asthma symptoms or a the start of a bad cold but we were not sure. By 11:30pm he hadn't improved much and we went to the ER with him. They put him on a nebulizer and it helped tremendously, we also came home with an inhaler. The doctor was not convinced this was allergies or asthma, he did think it was the start of a cold. In the end we did the right thing and when we got home we felt much more at ease and Eli could breathe so much better.

On a brighter note....last weekend we met up with my freshman year college roommate and her family. Good old Facebook reunited us. I haven't seen Melissa since we graduated college, life got busy for both of us I guess... Well I take that back - life got super busy for Melissa. After graduating college she got married right away and had 4 children with her husband! They range from 19 months old to 5 years old. Her kiddies are so cute and very well behaved, it was a fun play date. Eli felt like he was in daycare all over again at her house, he was mesmerized with all the kids and what they were doing. He just can't wait to be able to run around and play, you can just see it in his eyes.

So I promised a tooth picture last time I blogged. That stupid tooth has caused not only many sleepless nights but it doesn't like to be pictured! This is the best I could do. The closer I got to the dam tooth the picture got really blurry... All I know is that after all the discomfort Eli was in and the rough nights we had we only got one stupid tooth?? WTH!

Today we have one of my best friends engagement party this evening back home in Milford. It should be a fun time. Eli will be at my mom's house for the night and so will we after the party is over. This will be Eli's first sleepover at Grandma Neyda's house! I am sure my mom will love seeing Eli bright and early tomorrow morning :)

Here is a picture from bath time this week! I got Eli smiling at just the right time!

Have a great weekend!

Photoshoots & Race Registration

Well hello!! Over here on our end has been sorta quite I guess. Nothing too crazy other than normal baby stuff. Eli is still figuring out how to crawl more effectively each day. He is getting so mobile that I had my first scare yesterday morning. He was on our bed in the center while I was getting ready for work with pillows lined up on the sides of him. I turned around for a quick second and he had made it all the way to the end of the bed where I didn't have pillows and almost fell right off. Luckily we have a bench at the end of our bed that is cushioned but even so I freaked out and got over there SO fast, I was terrified. Having said that Eli is not allowed on the bed anymore for any reason unless we are on the bed with him!! So much for him being completely entertained on the bed while I blow dry my hair in the morning.....things just got a little more interesting that's all!

After Eli's ear infection cleared up just over a week ago we had a few rough nights due to teething. Really, timing couldn't be worse. The poor kid wasn't sleeping well due to the ear infection and then this. Thankfully the tooth came through after just a few rough nights. I know it is all a matter of time before the next tooth pops out and we go through it all over but the last 2 nights have been lovely. He slept from 7:30-5:15am and that is a full night for our little guy so that is all I can ask for! I can't wait to post a picture of his first tooth but right now it is just out of the gum and not high enough to really get a good picture. Ahhh...the things that fascinate me now! hahah....

On the running front - I am signing up for the Amica Iron Horse 1/2 Marathon this week! I am very excited about it. I have been thinking about running it but now I am committed which is even better. Also, I have a running partner! I recruited my friend Traci, the race is June 6th. It is a perfect amount of time for us train for it and to get my mileage up. Having Traci to do training runs with is great and I think will be better for me. When I really think about it, it's not so much the motivation that I need it is more the time. I would love to keep running lots of times but I have to cut it short because I need to get back to Eli. Having a running partner helps me section off time better I guess.

Also, I have begun to multi-task more by running with Eli in the Bob stroller to daycare! The total mileage is 3.6 miles RT . The weather in the morning is a bit cool right now so it is a judgement call in the morning. I don't want to be running Eli out there in the cold or rain, but every opportunity when the weather is at least 55 degrees & somewhat sunny I am out there with him. Eli goes to daycare 3 days a week so this gives me a good opportunity to get in some added extra workouts that are desperately needed!

Oh yeah....
I realized when we had Eli's christening that I never got a good picture of just him in his outfit. I felt like I really needed a good picture of this & his first Easter outfit for memories down the road. I scheduled an appointment to get professional pictures done of him but we missed it due to his ear infection. While Adam was out golfing this Sunday, I took matters into my own hands. Since it was sunny and gorgeous outdoors I set up my own little photo shoot area on our lawn. Here are some pictures below from our session, Eli did pretty well with the photo shoot for the most part (except he would not let me put on his khaki's that went with his Easter outfit) but it did end up in a quick meltdown. Don't they always?

Easter Weekend & Gorgeous Weather!!

This weekend was so much fun, the weather made it so great! Good Friday I had off from work and took Eli out for a play date with my friend Sylvia & her son Jack. We met at the bike path to go walking with the babies, it was so nice to be outdoors. Then we grilled outdoors at our friend Rob's house in the evening and Eli just hung out while we enjoyed being outdoors. Saturday morning, we took a family scenic ride out to Simsbury to go to an estate sale but it ended up being a dud....oh well! Then we got some really yummy coffee at a place in Avon that is also an antiques shop. It was very nice, and since we were in the neighborhood we stopped over Sylv's house. Jack was all excited to play with Eli that he screamed in Eli's face & Eli started to cry! hahah.....These boys better get on the same playing field fast, we are all going away to Cape Cod this summer for a vacation!

Sunday we started Easter off by going to church with Adam's mom & grandmother, it was really nice to see them because after church we headed over to Milford to be with my family for the day. Here is a picture of the 4 generations!


Eli in his handsome Easter outfit from Aunt Tammy just before leaving the house

On the deck Saturday enjoying the sun
Eli playing with his Easter toy from Meme', it is so cute! I am starting to think I get a kick out of this more than Eli :)


Here are some bath time pics....haven't posted a bath time pic in a while