Jock itch.. so much to learn..

This is one product that I never saw myself purchasing. I absolutely crack up at the diagram on the front of the package with the highlighted area in yellow.

This started as the "diaper rash" from hell.. and when one prescription cream didn't help.. there we were.. after a trip to the pediatrician.. standing in the athlete's foot/jock itch section of CVS. They should make a version of Lotrimin for children so that you don't have to stand in that section. It's sort of like standing in front of the wall of condoms that are always in plain sight of the pharmacy and all of the elderly grandparents sitting waiting for their prescriptions and frowning on the teenagers trying to figure out the difference between the 70 brands that are available.

Come to think of it.. that's another subject that i know nothing about. I'm worried enough about buying ben his first cup when he starts sports. I learn something new every day...

How we spend our weekends...

Since I moved to Boston back in May of 2000, I have spent at least one weekend if not two or three down in Connecticut. I love Boston and I do consider this area that we live in now to be home.. and I'm a bit sad to be leaving Arlington. There are parts of it that I really love.. the ability to be in downtown Boston in fifteen minutes is one of those things. The ability to stumble on a "Spring Festival" put on by a Chinese cultural group on a random Saturday and take part (on his own accord) in a small demonstration of martial arts for kids.. that is part of the diversity that is hard to find outside of a city like Boston.

That said.. I miss Windsor Locks, CT because it is my hometown.
I miss Ellington, CT because that was my first journey away from home and I liked living down the street from a farm (and kept Yankee Candle in business while I lived there.
I miss Manchester, CT.. wait.. no I don't.
I miss Malden, MA because it was my first REAL journey away from home, I made some great friends, learned to love Chinese food from an awesome place who never understood that we lived on Tufts Street and not at Tufts University and the town always smelled like toast.
I will miss Arlington because it is where we started our family. All of Benjamin's firsts have happened here.. well.. except when he said his first work (bye) at my dad's and when he took his first steps at my dad's... but you know.. other than that.

With the exception that my mother is hanging out in her mansion in Kentucky with the horses in the back pasture, moving back to within 30 minutes of the rest of my family is very exciting. The weekends probably won't change much though.. we spend all of our time at my sister's in CT already..

Ben can talk now... and this is his "haHA! I know something and I know how to say it!" We have to be careful about him now..


A few weekends ago, we finally got to play outside at Aunti Beck's.. Spring rocks. We also had a special visit from one of my long time reader and blog commenters... "S". Sean Bravakis went to high school with Beck.. which means that I was in the same school with him for one year in high school and since we went to the same college, we technically were in the same school again for one year in college.. although the baseball players didn't hang out often with the music majors and definitely not with the engineers. He now checks my blog daily.. smart boy.

Shiela and I were actually able to sit on Becky's back deck and relax for a while because Ben was way more impressed with playing with them than playing with his boring old moms.



Super Happy Boy.



Another Super Happy Boy.



I have to throw a pic in of Beck too.. this is where Benji gets his curly hair..




This picture cracks me up.. all three of them thinking "hmmm.. how the heck does this thing work?"



Sean.. let me know if you want a real copy of any of these -- I can email you the actual file without being resized with the Copyright note on it.

Scratch that..

The bathtime ended with me telling Ben that no, he couldn't have more soap and then he returned the sentiment by pouring a bucket (why does he have a bowl that big in his tub toys anyway?) all over the floor. Then he proceeded to tell me off in baby-babble until I got him dressed and sitting in front of a bowl of yogurt.

I saved the laptop though.. success..

A little imagination..

Wi-Fi rocks...

So I have been trying to figure out a way to be able to check my email, occasionally blog (yes, Shiel.. blogger has spellsheck), and play Mouse Hunt on Facebook during the day. The problem is that if the laptop is out.. Ben and I end up playing tug of war (yes.. my own fault.. but he's cute playing games on sesamestreet.com and pbskids.org and nickjr.com and... well.. you get the idea.

Currently.. Ben is in the bathtub.. I'm sitting in the bathroom with the laptop on a tray table.. simultaneously caring for the little dude and playing on Facebook. He's turning into a prune.. so this will be short lived.. but it's a step in the right direction.

it's April??

Ok.. good lord..

I think the announcement that I've gotten used to being a stay at home mom will be when I figure out how to do things like blog again. When I first started this new phase in life.. I had this grand idea to like.. blog the first 365 days of being home with my son after working for 20 years.

Since I left work... I have blogged twice.

In my defense, life has been all sorts of hectic. I could write for hours, but well.. it's 10pm and tomorrow is racing toward me like an energetic red headed three year old.

I'll sum up:

1. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE spending more time with Benji.

2. I surprised myself by forgetting to eat for several days because I was so busy with Ben.

3. Shiela mixed things up a week after I gave my notice by getting laid off.

4. Yes.. I said that.

5. We threw all of our options up in the air and decided to take the plunge and do everything in our power to forward our lives in a positive direction.

5a. First step -- move home. I moved to Boston in 2000 and I'll be completely honest in that it was the best thing I've ever done. I never went away to college.. I never really stood on my own. For me... ME.. to pick up and move a few hours away from my bubble of a life that I had created and leave a partner that I had thought I had started a life with and to leave my family who are more important to me than air.. this was HUGE. But I also grew up. Here I am.. ten years later.. and moving home.

5b. Second step -- find a home. We browsed for a bit but have decided to stay in Massachusetts and have found a house in the Springfield area with the idea that in our next "lives", both shiela and I will likely look for work in the Connecticut River Valley (which for those of you who aren't up here.. extends up to vermont).

ok.. i'm tired of numbering my thoughts. We're moving.. both of us are psyched to be less than 30 minutes from Windsor Locks (my hometown) and close to my sister(s), niece, nephew, half of my parents and Benji's great grandmother and great grandfather. I'm also psyched about having a whole house.. walls.. doors.. yard.. the whole shabang..

The other thing that has kept me/us busy over the last few weeks has been the ongoing feud with our downstairs neighbor. I won't go into all of the details, but the final ending to that story is that he's been booted from the apartment and has to be out by the end of this month. I'm relieved for the future occupants of our place.. they won't have to live over loser-boy.

So those are the hot topics... I'll hopefully be back in less than two weeks to provide a more comprehensive and interesting update.

btw.. Sean.. I haven't forgotten to upload your photos... they are sitting safely on my computer and are waiting for Benjamin to let me have a turn on the laptop.