Sharing everything . . . including cooties

We've had a loooong battle with the cruddies, cooties, whatever you want to call them. It's been awful. They BOTH went to the pediatrician on Tuesday and got matching prescriptions for antibiotics for their chronic runny noses and coughing. I am usually not a fan of antibiotics, but this time, I believe it is really helping them, because they weren't getting better on their own. Both had sinus infections, poor dears.



After two days on the medicine, I think (hope) they are turning the corner. Last night was the first night that Albert slept well. For the last week, he's been waking up frequently because he couldn't breathe, and I've had to suction his nose and give him Sudafed. It's nice that he's feeling better. He continues to be Mr. Mighty with his standing!



I don't know about Stella though. She hasn't quite bounced back!



We are so lucky that we have found good pediatricians in our area. We go out of town to a clinic northeast of Kalamazoo, and the doctors are so great. In fact, when we went on Tuesday, the doctor herself, not the nurse, took us back to the exam room and also helped me get both kiddos to the car. How nice is that?

Big News
Stella has been using the potty with some consistency for about two weeks. Fortunately for me, they started the potty training at school, and we've continued it at home. I hope I don't jinx anything by saying this, but we are very proud of Stella! She has both peed and pooped on the potty pretty regularly. We take her about every hour.

It's not 100% foolproof. She isn't telling us when she has to go, but we're working on that. And she needs lots of help in the bathroom, but it sure is nice to have one less kid's diapers to change. God knows that Albert fills up enough of them for me. I'll take any blessings that come my way, and for now, we are happy for and celebrating for our sweet little Stella. She tries so hard and we love her so much!

Sunday brunch

We just had SUCH a nice visit with Joe and Kathy. It was so great to have some visitors, and now that we have a house, they don't mind staying at the "Lakeshire Hilton" (our basement). It was great to spend some time with them, and both Stella and AJ had a blast.

The highlight of the weekend was that John and I got to go out to brunch, by ourselves, sans kids! We were giddy about it. We went to the nearby town of Marshall, MI to an old but very good restaurant called Schuler's. We had the most delicious brunch at this 95-year-old restaurant. It wasn't just pancakes and eggs . . . there was a spread like we've never seen, especially around these parts where there aren't a lot of great restaurants. We had smoked salmon, mahi mahi, ravioli in an asiago cream sauce ... it was great! We got a picture, so we can remember our once-in-a-blue-moon date!



Speaking of food, we had some good stuff while Joe and Kathy were here. Since the weather has been nice, we grilled flank steak and shrimp kabobs. Joe-Dad was the grillmaster and table-setter extraordinaire:



For dessert, we had apple pie. Karmel's home-baked apple pie. It was my second try (in recent years) on my own from-scratch pie. Last week I made one and my crust was tough from overworking the dough, and after the pie was baked it stayed on top of the pie like the roof of the SuperDome. This week, it was much better because I read the tutorial on pie crusts in the Fannie Farmer Cookbook, and boy did those tips help a lot:



The apples inside were good, local Empire apples, which worked perfectly just like the lady at the farmer's market said they would.

So it was a great weekend, and it is so nice for us to see our kids with their wonderful grandparents. Grandma Kathy is so good with babies that she swept right in and helped so much with one demanding and active little Albert.



Albert has changed a lot in the weeks since Joe and Kathy saw him last (a month ago or so). It's amazing how sitting up, crawling and practically cruising along the furniture can change a kid's personality. They saw for themselves how tough it is for us to keep him out of trouble, as fast as he moves.

The funniest part of the weekend was after we came back from brunch, and I saw that Joe-Dad had been drawing with Stella's crayons. His artist's rendering of AJ cracked me up!



Would you believe that someone recently asked me if we cut AJ's hair to make that widow's peak? Do they think we want to make him look like Eddie Munster?

Sick Day

We've reached a point now where I wonder if I'm ever going to see Stella's and Albert's sweet faces without their noses running. It seems like it's taking forever for them to get better.

Like AJ, Stella has been fighting this thing off for days. I thought she was going to escape it without missing any days of school, but she didn't make it today. She woke up with a temperature, lots of coughing and that ever-present nose-run.



Poor Stella.

She's been a real good girl today, though. She peed on the potty twice and helped pick up toys and played with A.J. She did well in OT today too.

AJ has been really having a rough time with this. I took him to the doctor a week ago, and he's still not over it. He's been whining and moaning all week long. It's been absolutely maddening.

But I think he's turned the corner because he has resumed those lovely naps, those sweet wonderful 2 hour naps that give me time to myself and make him happy and fun and jovial. (Stella was not a napper, ever, so I cherish AJ's naps!)

He crawls everywhere and gets into everything, and people (even Stella's OT) are just amazed by his 6 month old mobility. Here he is crawling on to my lap as if to say "Hi Momma!"



But it's added another complicatoion to our lives to have to watch him constantly. He is forever getting himself tangled somewhere he can't get out, or he loses his balance and bonks his head or pulls himself up to standing and can't figure out how to sit back down.



He sometimes acts like he wants to get up and walk. Oh please not yet!

We're looking forward to a nice visit from Joe and Kathy this weekend. We're so excited to have visitors!

And my mom is coming out in October on the Amtrak. Aunt Edie started a trend. We're looking forward to seeing Grandma Susan too. Have a great weekend.

Back in business

I guess I'm no different than anyone else in that I can get addicted to my modern technology . . . I had to get a digital camera. I couldn't take not having one anymore!

The good news is that they're not nearly as expensive now as they were when we bought our first one – the month before Stella was born. And they're much better quality now too. Okay, I can rationalize this all day ... at least I'm not addicted to my cell phone.

We try to be frugal (the operative word is "try"), and we hadn't bought a new piece of electronics in a long time. In fact, maybe the last time was the first digital camera. As some of you know, I love using the computer, but I have tried to stay away from getting interested in the newest gadgets, i.e. iPods, fancy cell phones, wireless devices of all kinds.

Still, I feel very cool when I'm holding my new digital camera. What is wrong with me?

And the fun doesn't end here. My employer, the Child Abuse/Neglect Prevention Council, have approved the purchase of a laptop computer for me. We have had bad luck with desktop computers in the office, which is in an old church building. So I've ordered a laptop and wow, they sure do come with a lot of bells and whistles! I'm sure I'll be in love with that thing, too. I'll just have to keep reminding myself that it's not really mine.

I had to show you the first pics:



No, she's not wearing make-up. She just has a cold and is all red and rosy! The cold bugs really popped up when school started. AJ has had a cold for a week, too. Anyway, I hope Stella will feel better soon. I'm not sure if she can make it through school today. Mornings start out rough everyday, so it's hard to tell if she's super sick or just grumpy getting up. At least I'm only a few miles from her school. I hope this is short-lived, because she starts swimming lessons on Saturday and I want her to have a good time with that.

Albert continues to amaze us. There's no stopping him. Look what he can do NOW!



Now I can't let myself forget to put the rail up on the crib. Which I did forget last night. Luckily he did not launch himself onto the floor. He's crawling really well, too, and having all kinds of fun. Maybe we'll get a little video of that sometime.

Have a good day.

A week of firsts

Below is a list of "first things" that happened for Albert John from Saturday, September 1st through Saturday, September 8th.

• Sitting up
• 1st solid foods
• 1st vaccination (we're doing a delayed vax schedule)
• 1st day at daycare
• 1st cold (2 days after first day of daycare)
• Crawling
• 1st tooth, and then the other 2 days later
• Started babbling (ba ba, da da, etc.)

I keep thinking of more things, too.

Stella is getting used to her new school, busdriver and routine in general. At first she was okay with it, but now the shock has set in.

Life is busy busy here. John is already snoring on the couch and I'm about ready to fall over exhausted. See you later ...

Mighty mighty boy is 6 months old!

With our little Albert, one truth stands out above all else: he's brought us so much joy. Pure pure joy.



Calling him "mighty, mighty boy" will make him bounce because he wants to be impressive. Whenever he sees you, he calls out to get your attention. He can sit up very well now, and can almost crawl. He's so much fun.


When John comes in the room, A.J. does his best man-to-man deep voice, "Uhhh, Uhhh."



He's Stella's biggest fan. He laughs and kicks his feet at the sight of her. And I think he's her favorite person, too. In fact, I think she likes A.J. more than me now.

It's hard to believe it's been six months since that long day of trying to get labor started, walking through contractions, squatting and finally going so fast that I was screaming to the nurses that I would NOT wait for the doctor before I started pushing. It's hard to believe it's been six months since John first carried him around the room, whispering, "Hello little Albert!." Even though the six months since March 5th have been some of the most grueling days of my entire life (including finals in college while working two jobs), I can say it's been a labor of LOVE.



I just love my babies!

Forgot to mention Clara Kathryn!

I just realized that I have made no mention of little Clara Kathryn, who was born while we were up north early Monday morning, August 27th at 2:23 a.m.

She was 6 pounds, 11 ounces and 20.5 inches (I hope that's right).

I think this is a rather attractive family and one beautiful baby girl. Again, I am amazed how great Jill looks just minutes after giving birth. Welcome to the family, Clara! We can't wait to see you.

These babies always come in twos in the Puzzuoli family ... two in 2007!

Stella and Albert have been enjoying the last days of summer swinging together outside:

And the time is near, Albert! Get ready to digest!

I like beets.

When I was a kid, I was just as grossed out by pickled beets as the next kid. I thought they were especially yucky at church dinners, when people would put them on their plates and everything they ate would turn purple-red and drippy.

So you'd never guess that I went to the Farmers Market this morning in search of an Amish family who sells the world's best pickled beets. The family was there with lots of fruits and vegetables, but nothing pickled in jars. So I had to hit the grocery store.

They're not as good as the kind from the Amish family, but the whole way home, my mouth was watering thinking about making a salad with pickled beets on it. Weird!

Just like any kid, I was picky and didn't like a lot of different vegetables, but now I can honestly say that I like almost everything now. My favorite restaurant in Battle Creek is a Korean/Japanese place. I like all the pickled Korean stuff, like Kim Chee and other pickled radishes.

So I guess I've changed!

It's the last Saturday before Stella goes back to school. She starts back up on Tuesday. I hope it doesn't take her too long to adjust to her new teachers and teacher's aides, as well as her new class.

She needs to go back to school, though. She spends far too much time with the landscaping rocks in the backyard. For whatever reason, she's extremely fascinated with rocks. John and I are both just grateful that she's not into ants anymore.

A.J. is going to start daycare next Friday. He'll just go two days a week while I work. I hope I can make enough money to pay for this daycare with my part-time job. I certainly need a chance to get out of the house, even if it is to work on my part-time job. Heck, even that's a break compared to being at home with kids – it's truly the hardest job in the world!

Not to mention, A.J. will become a tad bit more complicated (and expensive) when he starts eating solid food next week ... he'll be six months on Wednesday. I hope he likes oatmeal cereal, because John bought two boxes of it!

Well, that's enough of my boring life. Laundry calls!