Life as Mrs.T-Rod

The Call....

2010-01-05T15:27:00.003-05:00

Monday, November 2nd, the day was going on just like it usually did. I was home with Chase and unpacking stuff into the new house, when I got the call.

Abington Hospital (who was amazing through my entire stay and Anabella's stay there) would call me everyday with updates on my little girl. They would tell me her weight, how much she was eating, any progresses she made, etc.

I got this call every.single.day.
Little did I know that today would be *THE* call.

You know what call I'm talking about! :o)
I picked up the phone and Dr. Cleary (my favoritest NICU doctor) said to me: "Are you ready to take this beautiful baby girl home?"

I was in shock.

Because a baby's progress can go from good to bad in a matter of a day, the NICU never EVER commits to a coming home date. I knew it would be soon, but for some reason, I wasn't expecting it to be this soon.

Anabella was in the NICU for 2weeks 2 days, and now she was coming home.

I had to wait until my mother-in-law got out of work, so she could come and stay with the boys. As soon as she got to my house, my husband and I were setting out on our last daily trip to the NICU.

My Baby Girl was coming home.
<3

Because she was so small, we had to put extra blankets in her seat to keep her from moving!

Our first family photo

All my kiddies

Anabella and her Abuela

Andrew meeting his sister for the first time!

(due to flu season, kids under 12 weren't allowed in the NICU)

Daddy and his baby girl

My boys and my baby doll.

I swear it was like she was a pretned doll, that's how small she was!

Anabella and her MaNina

It was a great night, and I was so beyond happy to have all of my family together at home and safe under one roof.

Back to the NICU

2010-01-05T15:22:00.002-05:00

My little Bella went from this:

to having a Halloween Party!

She was only a week old and already having social events!

Here is my little skeleton.

This is the same costume Andrew wore when he was born 8 years ago., and the same costume that my sister-in-law Dayna wore when she was born 17 years ago!

Her outfit couldn't be complete without the bow!

My little Pumpkin!

Man Down, MAN DOWN!!!

2010-01-05T15:05:00.004-05:00

On Thursday, October 29th, (yes, one day before we got the keys to the new house and had to move), Andrew came in from playing outside. His arm was weirdly limp and he told us he just didn't feel like playing anymore.

Since I have an awesome Mommysense, sort of like a spideysense, I knew something was up. After much prying and pulling, I got him to confess.

He starts telling me about how he was playing on the hill (small little grass landing) and he jumped off it and landed on his hands. Apparently, one hand hit before the other and he heard a *snap*.

He wasn't crying. The tears didn't start until he thought he was going to get in trouble. I swear the child acts like we beat him with wooden spoons. He has barely ever been grounded, let alone hit.

So I tell him to calm down and lift up the sleeve from his coat.

I swear to you that when he lifted up the sleeve, it looked like Harry Potter's limp arm from one of his movies.

I almost vomited right there.
I knew it was broken.

So I called the hubby upstairs and he said the same thing. We knew we were in for a long night in the ER, so we ate some dinner, and were on our way.

After multiple hours of waiting, being transfered in an ambulance from one hospital to another, it was decided that surgery wasn't needed (Thank God!) and we could just do the cast for 8-12 weeks.

They knocked him out and started pulling and twisting the bones to get the aligned (barf). My stomach couldn't handle it. I had to step away while thankfully my mother-in-law stood guard.

Since the Phillies were in the middle of playoffs / world series, Andrew went with a red cast. That's my boy!

I knew he would have many "firsts" to add to his baby book, but I never thought this would be one of them!

4 weeks later, the cast is signed and he doesn't even realize it's there half the time.

This one came off and he got it replaced with a lovely, shorter green cast that will finally come off this Friday, January 8th!

WoooHooo

No more showers with plastic Shop Rite bags on his arm!

Back at the Ranch

2010-01-05T15:00:00.004-05:00

While Anabella was growing and getting bigger at the hospital, David and I found a HOUSE!!!

It was for rent exactly 1 block away from where we were living. It was important to us to stay in the same parish that we were living in, due to Andrew being in school.

We put down the deposit and were getting the keys on October 30th!
Here are a few pictures!

Bathroom

Kitchen <3

Dining Room

Living Room

It is 3 bedrooms, 1.5 bath, finished basement, seperate laundry room.

::sigh::

I just love it.

It may not be "mine" since I am renting, but it will due for now until I get mine!

Our NICU Stay

2010-01-05T14:55:00.002-05:00

Anabella was doing really great in the NICU. After only 3 days, she was off of the oxygen. On Day 5 she was moved over to the "big girl" nursery aka Continuing Care Nursery, since she was doing so well. She still had the feeding tube in, but we were working on that.

Introducing....

2010-01-05T10:27:00.012-05:00

Anabella Lucia

Anabella Lucia was born early at 33 weeks 3 days. She weighed in at 4lbs 5oz and was 18 inches long.

Here's how it all went down.....

On Tuesday, October 13th, I started having horrible back pain. I had been having random contractions all weekend, but nothing to get too concerned about (at least ,that's what the doctor said) I was also carrying very low and just had a feeling that something was about to happen. I called the doctor and we set up an appointment for Wednesday afternoon.

Wednesday, October 15th

I went to my doctors appointment to be checked out. He examined me and said I was 2cms and 50% effaced.

crap.

Then he said he didn't think my water was ruptured, but he just wanted to "double check". Well, when it rains, it pours. My water was ruptured. This meant that I wasn't leaving the hospital because of the risk of infection.

I was admitted to help one baby, while I missed my other two babies. My heart was torn.

I missed my little guys at home. Luckily, I had great family and friends that helped out, and made sure that I got to see them at least once a day!

I stayed stuck in my hospital bed for 3 days. I was pumped with steroid shots to help the baby's lungs and antibiotics to prevent infection for both of us.

Saturday, October 17th.

That entire early morning from 1am - 6am I was having a terrible time trying to sleep. I had a constant sharp pain in the left side of my stomach, which I knew was a warning sign of infection. As soon as I told the doctor and was examined, it was time to induce. The risk of a greater infection inside was too much to bargain with.

7:00am - I was moved over to Labor and Delivery where I sat all by myself. The call was made to my husband, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law that it was "time".

7:30am - The pitocin was started. Within 15 minutes, I went from having no contractions to "Ouch, these kinda hurt" contractions.

8am - 10am - was full of more and more painful contractions. I was determined to deliver as "natural" as possible. Meaning, I wanted no pain meds.

10am - 11am - My husband was driving me insane. I was in the most pain I have EVER felt in my entire life. I was burning up and had the Air Condition on in the room at full blast. Meanwhile, he was trying to "lighten" the mood while playing youtube videos of random, stupid weirdos. Every little clicking sound of the phone sent chills up my spine. After several attempts to hint that I wanted the phone off and gone, I had to let out a angry grumble of "PLEASE just turn the phone OFF!"

oops. I didn't mean to be bitchy...

11am-12pm - This was all such a blurr. I was on my left side in the fetal position, breathing and practically breaking the bedrail bar. I was ready for this kid to be out and having them check me every 10 minutes to see if she was ready.

12:30pm - I was BEGGING for the epidural. I know the *real* me didn't want it. I was petrified of regular needles, let alone a HUGE needle in my SPINE. But I didn't care. I wanted it and I wanted it BAD. I was asking for them to PLEASE get it and fast. So the nurse and doctor put the call in, but we all knew it wasn't going to happen. They were just "yes'ing" me to make me happy and think some sort of pain relief was on it's way.

12:35pm - The doctor checked me and I was 6cm.

12:50pm - She checked me again and said I was 8cm.

12:52pm - I started screaming that it was time and I had to push. The baby was on her way out and I felt it. I knew there was no time to stop it. The doctor kept telling me to wait and not push. She needed the NICU team there for the baby since she was so early. I tried and tried to hold her in but it wasn't happening.

12:55pm - 2 pushes later. Yes, seriously. Only 2 pushes. Anabella Lucia was here! She came out crying and wailing her arms everywhere.

There was a sigh of relief that came over the NICU team and all the doctors. She was breathing on her own and doing great. This was very important and great news.

I had a small tear that the doctor stitched with 3 stitches.

Then they brought me my baby girl.

She was so teeny tiny.

She was so beautiful.

She was mine.

By the time it was all over, I was exhausted and starving. The nurse brought me a tray of food, I gobbled it down and passed out.

After I was moved to my recovery room, I was allowed to go and see my baby girl.

As soon as I saw her, my heart broke. She had IV's and tubes for breathing and another tube for feeding. She looked to helpless and like she was in pain. She would whimper and whine. It was heart breaking. All I could do was cry. I wasn't even allowed to hold her yet.

Later that evening, after seeing some visitors, eating dinner and getting situated, I was able to go back down and actually hold my baby girl.

Her teeny head fit in the palm of my hand.

She was in love with this pacifier, even though it was bigger then her!

hahaha

Me feeding her for the first time.

Daddy holding her for the first time.

Because she was jaundice, she had to lay under the bilireuben lights for long periods of time.

Getting her "tan" on.

:o)

October 19th
One of the hardest days of my entire life.

My discharge day.

My baby girl was inside of me for 7 months. I was with her every day. Now she was in the outside world and was supposed to come home with me. That's how it is supposed to happen.

But it didn't.

I will never, ever forget that feeling of walking away from her and leaving the hospital while she was still there. My heart broke and I was hysterical crying the whole way out to the car.

Then I got hit with another brick.

The car seat.

That stupid car seat was nicely installed in the backseat.

Just WAITING for a baby to be inside of it.

And it was empty.

I sobbed and sobbed all the way home.

I missed my little lady bug.

I missed my baby girl.

Helllllllloooooo 2010 !

2010-01-05T09:47:00.003-05:00

Holy Moley, I'm Back!
I've probably lost my 2 whole readers that I had, but that's ok! Hopefully you'll find your way back to me!

I'm sorry I have been so M.I.A. These past few months have been nothing but a whirlwind. I am back at work full time and have so much to update. Stay Tuned for updates and debute pictures of my princess!!!

27 weeks!

2009-09-03T09:39:00.002-04:00

Well heres the Bel-lay at 27 weeks.
Nice and round and HUGE.

I nkow they say every pregnancy and delivery is different (which is totally true), but if history repeats itself, and I go early again, I could have a baby in 9 weeks!!

I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is just flying by!!

We are going to be re-organizing the house to make room for my new baby girl. Lots of cleaning and stuff needs to be purchased!!

So far, I have the double stroller and a few outfits, but thats it!! I hope to get my downstairs organized quikly and then buy the crib and stuff to set up!

A Trip to the Park

2009-09-03T09:27:00.004-04:00

This past weekend, it was absolutely gorgeous outside! I swear it was like a quick jump into Fall weather and I was loving every minute of it.

The husband & I decided to take advantage of it and head to the park with the boys. I was pretty exhausted, so I stood back and just admired my little men and their daddy for awhile. I was even able to capture some adorable pictures!

Chase walking with Daddy :o)

Oh, and this kid LOVES the slide.
He says "weeeeeeeeeeee" before he even goes down! hahaha

Then we tried out the swings.

Andrew climbing up.

And...back to the slide!

He was such a big boy, going down all bny himself!

Daddy helping Andrew on the Monkey Bars and Chase watching & learning.

It was such a fun time. I love fun family afternoons like this.

2nd Annual Senoritas & Margaritas

2009-09-03T09:22:00.002-04:00

Last week, I had a wonderful night out for the 2nd Annual Senoritas & Margaritas!

A night by the pool (although too cold to swim), with mexican food, tons of desserts, new babies and senoritas!

I didn't take many pictures, but here are a few!

Colleen & Samantha

Amy#s, LarrysD, CCMom, & Ice

Mir, Baby Josh and Proud

Jess & Love

Me teaching Paige how to master the Kissy Face.

It was great to have a night away from my kids to stuff my face, hang with friends and snuggle up on teeny tiny new babies!

Ummm....

2009-08-10T09:53:00.003-04:00

Did I forget to mention......

After 2 gorgeous boys, we are now adding a beautiful litte girl to our family!!

My "Baby" Walks

2009-08-10T09:52:00.003-04:00

I have totally been slacking on updating my posts, so they are gonig to be totally random and all over the place until I get organized again.

In the meantime, I would like to show you
::drum roll please::
My WALKING BABY!!!

Peanut has finally learned how to walk!

Feelings in a song...

2009-08-10T09:49:00.003-04:00

Leave it to Mariah and her God awful movie, Glitter, to put feelings into a song.

Long Winded

2009-05-12T13:40:00.007-04:00

I know, I know.

I promised to keep you all updated on everything that has been going down in my Life as Mrs. T~Rod. Today I am feeling way to lazy, but I have a lot on my mind, so I am going to just put it all out there. One big post. All my current thoughts and feelings that have been bottled up inside.

Firstly, I'm pregnant...again.

My belly is already feeling ginormous.

The big "D-Day" is November 26th - Thanksgiving.

Well leaving out all the extra fluff and sparkly glitter, needless to say, I was a bit surprised and shocked and nervous and scared and sad when I found out. My head was spinning in a million different directions.

I have a 14 month old BABY, how could I have another BABY so soon??

If all was right in my perfect little world, then I would have been 100% happy. Instead, I was left with 65% happy.

Don't get me wrong. I know a baby is a beautiful blessing, and I am truly honored and appreciative. It's just that this all happened at what I considered the wrong time.

My husband & I are living in a 1 bedroom apartment, with a finished basement area that we use as a 2nd bedroom. There is no way in hell that I can fit another baby in my house. It just isn't going to work.

Soooo...you are thinking now "Ummm Mrs. T~Rod, why don't you just BUY a house." Well ideally, that is the plan. That is what we were planning on doing sometime NEXT year. Repairing credit and saving money is a big "To DO" before you can get a house.

Now to fast forward to present time.

The husband & I are completely happy and excited for our new little bean. Things don't always go according to "plan" but you just have to learn to roll with the punches and go with it. Make the best out of every situation.

The "problem" or current frustration that I am running into is this whole new house dillema. We obviously need a new home. But the things that we needed to do to get a new home are still there....(fix credit, save money,etc.) Time is slowly running out and I need to get all of this done in only a few months time.

Oh, and the icing on the cake. everyone in my family is buying new houses. Like right now. My mother-in-law is moving to a beautiful single house sometime next month. My Sister-in-law is looking for a nice new home for her and her family. My brother is getting a house with his friends. My dad is moving back in with his girlfriend in her house.

House. House. House.

I am soooooo beyond happy for EVERYONE in my family and all of the great adventures and good things that they have going on in their life right now. I am thrilled for all of them and their home buying expereinces. Truly, I am.

But it's hard not to feel sad and frustrated when everyone around you is racing forward to newer and better things, and you are stuck in Pause or in Reverse.

I just feel stuck.

Stuck in a sucky living situation.

I want some thing better for my kids.

They deserve something better.

Every other day, all Andrew talks about is his "house". For Christmas he wanted to buy us a house. In school, he draws pictures of his next house. He even prays for one at church.

And I just sit here and cry.

How could I not have a house for my babies?

How do they not have their own rooms and space?

I'm just so sad right now.

This was never my "plan".

I don't even know how I got into a situation like this were I am not financially set like I want/need to be.

gah!

I'm not sure where I'm even going with this blog entry.

Maybe I just needed to write it all down and get it out.

Thanks for reading my ramblings....

Happy Valentine's Day! Part 2

2009-04-21T12:53:00.002-04:00

The Hubby and I actually had NO plans what-so-ever, to celebrate Valentine's Day. Unfortunately, he's missing the "Romantic" part in his DNA.

My Sister-in-law, Nina, called me around 12pm that day and asked for the number to David & I's favorite place. Fogo de Chao. yummmmmm.

I made a split decision and decided to join the group date!

Now, it was Valentine's Day.

We had no reservation, and tried calling at 1pm to get one. The guy on the phone nearly laughed at me! Shoot. I would have laughed at myself too.

They said if we made it into the Restaurant before 6pm, there was a chance that they could possibly seat us, but it would be a while. Well we took our chances and showed up at Fogo de Chao 5 minutes before 6pm!!! Thank GOD for Valet parking!

We walk in and are elbow to elbow with tons of people. I knew it was going to be a looooong wait, so I put our names in, got a vibrating blinky thing, and we all started to walk over towards the bar.

Exactly 5 minutes later, my vibrating blinky thing started to go off! Noooo Way. This was impossible.

I went up and the lady at the counter looked at me like I had 10 eyes anda horn growing out of my head. She put on her fake smile and said "Ummm. I doubt it, but I will check with the main hostess."

Well guess who had to eat her words?? My vibrating blinky thing DID go off and miraculously they had a table for 6 people ready for us. I don't know how we swung that one, but I was greatful!

The food, as always, was absolutely delicious!

Here are a few pictures from that night!

Me & David

Chuckie & Tiffanie

Nina(sister-in-law) and Dave

We had a really great time. Also, as a Valentine's Day speical, they gave every couple a gift certificate for a FREE MEAL for one person!

Score!!!!

That bad boy is worth $50!

Can't wait to go back again soon!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-04-21T12:48:00.004-04:00

Chase wants to say Happy Valentine's Day!
(yes, I know we are a few months late)

Here he is reading his card.
Yes, my baby can READ! hahaha

Chase even stopped to pose for a few pictures in his cute Valentine's Day Outfit.

Then.......

He was done.

Holy Crap

2009-04-21T12:38:00.004-04:00

I can't believe I abandoned

::said in my best Gollum voice::

my precious blog.

Things have been such a whirlwind these past few months. I was reassigned at my job to a new department and I am constantly busy!

Hopefully, and thats a BIG hopefully, I can update my blog little by litte.

Thanks for checking back and staying commited! I won't let you down...again!

Flash Backs

2009-03-05T11:57:00.003-05:00

Hey Everyone!

Things have been a little crazy at work with a big re-org, etc.

To hold you over, here are 2 funny posts from back in the day.
Enjoy!!

A Mouse Tale

Getting Gas Gone Wrong

Hopefully I will be back soon to update with tons of pictures!
xoxo,
Tammy

Kickin It Old Skool

2009-02-17T16:43:00.002-05:00

Back in December of 2007, my Sister-in-law got me an awesome christmas present.

A Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine!!!!

I used to have one when I was little and remember all the good times that I had with it and the yummy sno-cones that I ate.

hahahaha!

What kind of jaded memories did I have?

This thing was a biotch to work. You had to manually grind down the ice cubes 1 by 1 to get the sno-cone stuff. Then they gave us grape(ewww) flavoring that you needed to add over a cup of sugar to. Of course, we were out of sugar, so we just made soda sno-cone floats.

My arm got so tired that David had to take over the ice shaving.

Back to the closet for this un-fun toy!

At least it was fun in my memories!

hahaha

Another Philly Baby GTG

2009-02-16T16:18:00.011-05:00

Last weekend, a group of local Philadelphia moms all got together! We usually try to get all the babies together everyone other month or so.

This time, we chose to hit up the Please Touch Museum. I was a little nervous that they wouldn't be able to enjoy much, or that all of the exhibits will be for bigger kids, but they had a blast!!

Here are a few pics from our day!

When we first walked in, we saw the piano that they used from the movie BIG. It was so much fun. The kids would crawl across it and it would play music and light up.

Scarlett & Jonathon

Chase

Taryn

Chase & Charlie in the play house

I love this picture of Chase.

I swear he was having a conversation with these frogs.

He was so excited playing in the rainforest.

They had tall trees and these wires hanging down. At the top of the trees, there were musical instruments attaches and everytime you moved the wire, it would make all of these sounds. I swear he could have sat there all day.

Our newest member to the group!

Anna & Keira!

I love this picture!

banging on the drums

Benjamin

Keira

Cheryll & Ben

Chase & Charlie playing in the "garden"

Scarlett

Colleen & Charlie

Look at her pregnancy glow! Baby#2 is on the way!

Scarlett stealing some of Chase's cheerios! LOL

Tiana & Taryn

Chase always trying to eat the plastic food in the pretend picnic area

Ben hammin' it up!

Me & My Peanut!

We had a reallllly great time! I can't wait until the next gtg! By then, most of these baby's will be walking all over the place.

A Day with GGMom & GGPop

2009-02-16T15:57:00.005-05:00

A few weekends ago, we took a trip over to my grandparent-in-laws house. They ahven't seen the kids in awhile and we thought it would be good to do some catching up.

Here are a few pictures from our visit.

Chase taking the "Puerto Rican" test.
Apparently, ALL Puerto Ricans LOVE Malta drinks. I took the test and failed miserably. This white girl hated the taste of it. Andrew passed a few years ago and still loves them. Chase was now up to the plate.

First sip...

A funny face or 2

but he loved it! He kept going back for more and more!

David & his grandmom trying some brain buster puzzles

Chase being a cry baby

Mercedes

Dayna & Grandmom

GGPop & Chase

Dayna & Chase

Mercedes, the nose picker

Grumpy butt

BFF's

Chase <3

GGMom & Mercedes

Daddy & Chase

Siani & Dayna....typical teenagers

Mercedes being a fatty and stuffing her face

It was good visit. I'm glad we had that opportunity to catch up.

Photo Shoot with Mommy

2009-02-16T15:48:00.005-05:00

About 2 weeks ago, I gave Chase a bath, and he was in a great mood, so we had fun and did a naked baby photo shoot.
Here are a few pics of my crazy haired, silly boy.

I love this picture.

His "cheese" smile

Laughing at Mommy

My Big Boy

His Model Pose

Me & Chase

I love his birthmark on his thigh.

Upside down baby

Then he stole my camera case and tried to eat.

Once I took it away, the tears and attitude came out and photo shoot time was over! hahaha

Curious Chase

2009-02-16T15:37:00.002-05:00

So Chase is absolutely in LOVE with Curious George.
It is soooo damn cute.

He has this little George doll that sings lullabys when you squeeze its belly, and he will hold it all night long.

Here is a picture of sleepy Chase with his Curious George

Farewell Meldot!!

2009-02-16T15:30:00.002-05:00

A fellow online frined of mine was making a big move this month.
Meldot was moving from Philly, PA to the fabulous Los Angeles, CA.

While we will miss her dearly, we know this is a great opportunity for her & the Mr.!

Here are a few pictures from her going away party.

Rummy & Meldot

Me, Superbef, & Rummy

LarrysDarling & IceBunie

Mirpete & Amy#'s

Mel - Come back and visit soon! You will be missed!!

It's been awhile...

2009-02-16T15:27:00.002-05:00

Hopefully I still have some blog readers out there. I can't believe I fell off track again, and haven't been posting. A big BOOOOO to me. Sorry I have been sucking lately.

I am hopefully going to bang out 3- 4 posts today.
Stay Tuned!!

Love, Laundry & Tears

2009-01-19T11:18:00.003-05:00

Saturday

So.....
For the past month or so, I admit it. I was putting off doing laundry. When I ran out of work clothes, pajamas, bras, socks and underwear, I knew it was time. I couldn't avoid the laundry monster anymore.

Luckily, my weekend was free, my cable was fixed and I had a nice clean room to take it all in. I dove in, head first, Saturday morning. I almost fainted at the sight of my laundry room.

Imagine this picture.
Multiply it by like 10.

THAT is how much laundry I had to do.

I started right away and never looked back. I was a washing, drying, folding machine. I even put them right away! Woo Hoo! Go Me!

To pass the time while folding and waiting for loads to finish, I decided to put on another chick flick. It was "that time of the month" and I was feeling extra sappy, so I decided to go with a classic.

Molly Ringwald.
You can never ever go wrong with a Molly Movie.

Awwww man.
It was just what the Sappy Doctor ordered. There were tears, followed by laughs. Oh, not laughs from me. Laughs from my husband. He couldn't contain himself. Then he made the ultimate mistake.

He says:
"Why are you crying so much??....Wait, Oh Yea. You have your period."

The way he said it.

"period"

In his own weird funny mocking voice.
He said it like it was the devil!

Listen here buddy. You better say a prayer to the Dino Jeebus and thank the LORD that I got my "period". Because if I didn't, your ass would be working 3 jobs to pay for a child we can't afford to have right now.

Then this scene came on.

I yelled at the TV.
"Don't do it Molly, I mean Darcy!! Just run. He will turn into an ass and make fun of you when you have your period!

I looked at the hubby and we both just started to crack up laughing.
::sigh::
The power of love.

Next up on the Sappy McSapster movie list....
The Notebook!
hahahaha
As soon as I turned the other movie off, this was on the TV.
It was at the best part. I couldn't contain the tears.

That's when the husband exited the room.

The Women

2009-01-19T11:13:00.002-05:00

Friday Night

My cable was FINALLY fixed. All I wanted to do was crawl up in bed and watch a good chick flick. Luckily, my BFFFFFF, Candice, came over and we decided to rent The Women. (Thank God for On Demand). So I spent $4.99 on the movie and snuggled into a good movie watching position.

Well, let me just tell you.....

There is a REASON why movies go straight to DVD.

I had high hopes for this one. I mean, in my opinion, it was an all star cast of women. Maybe not all A-listers, but popular and funny women. This thing bombed. When they titled the movie The Women, it was for a reason. There was not ONE man in this movie. Not even a man standing in the background or walking down the street. Gah! Just bitchy, moany, sometime funny, sad women. There wasn't even cool or good music when they were switching scenes. It was just dry.

So save yourself the money, and DO NOT rent this movie.

Meet My New Friends

2009-01-16T08:59:00.002-05:00

The Secret Trios.

Dear God and Readers,

Please brace yourselves for the funniest thing you will ever see.

xoxo,
Tammy

Happy Friday
:o)

p.s.
Remember before playing all videos, to press pause on the music player in the right hand column.

All The Single Ladies

2009-01-16T08:55:00.003-05:00

Have you ever seen a 3 year old do the Beyonce - All the Single Ladies dance?

I have.

So. Friggin. Funny.

Here is a video of our New Years Eve entertainment.

Beware:
It's craziness. Kids are everywhere. The lighting is bad.
But it is funny.

Happy New Year!!

2009-01-15T16:22:00.009-05:00

Welcome to 2009!!

For New Year's Eve, I headed over to a very close friend of the family's house and brought in the New Year with all of those that I love.

Here are a few pictures of the night.

Chase passed out around 9pm. haha

Me & My BFF, Candice

Maya

Aniyah

Andrew

Me & My Big Boy Andrew

Our Hosts, Lisa & Bobby

Me trying to look all cute.

David & His MaMa

Me & The Hubby

Getting our Salsa on

Melissa & Amaris

Melissa, Amaris & Maya

The girls dancing

Maya being silly

All the kids playing a game

The men talking about life, love & the pursuit of happiness. hahaha

Natalia

Group Shot

Aniyah, Lydia, & Manny

David & Andrew

Me & Chase

He woke up right before the ball dropped!

Uncle Stevie & TiTi Tracey

Attempting to take a family picture

Sleepy Chase

Lydia with her 2 grandsons

Cameron

Me & Lydia

Manny & Lydia's Annual New Years Eve picture

Happy New Year Everyone!!

I wish you a safe, happy & healthy 2009!

xoxo,

Tammy

Please Touch!!

2009-01-15T16:06:00.006-05:00

During the break, we took all of the kids to the brand new Please Touch Museum. They had a fabulous time.

Here are some pictures from our day.

Andrew & Aniyah

Mercedes, Andrew, Aniyah & Chase

Aniyah & Mother Goose

Chase petting the turtle

Torch made out of toys

Lady Liberty herself, Mercedes

Aniyah as Lady Liberty

Playing with letters

Andrew fixing a hot rod

Checking out a Septa Bus

Story Time in the "park"

Chase went right ot the lady and sat on her lap while she read the story. I was so surprised.

Playing with the picnic table food & vendor cart

MmMmMm plastic grapes

Followed by the ever so yummy plastic banana

Aniyah at the Shop Rite grocery store

The museum was awesome.

The kids loved every single minute of it.

Even though it was a bit crowded, I can't wait until I go back again!

This is Me

2009-01-15T15:59:00.002-05:00

Yea, I take many pictures of myself.
Hey, sometimes I feel cute.
Other times, not so much.
So I choose to capture the cute times.
:P

Enjoy the many faces of me.

The trademarked kissy face

Family

2009-01-15T15:46:00.002-05:00

Over the break, I also had a chance to meet up with my mom, mommom and little sister.

We were able to enjoy the afternoon together and open some presents. I even got to take her home with me for 2 hours!! She was really good and didn't even cry once! I am getting her overnight later on this month and can't wait.

Here are a few pictures.

Mommom & Maria

Me & Maria

Mercedes

2009-01-15T15:41:00.002-05:00

The Queen Bee of everything.
My Niece, Mercedes.

I stopped by a few days after Christmas to visit her, and when I walked in, this is what I saw:

Her sitting in her rocking chair, jammies on, with her juice box, watching Alvin & The Chipmunks.

What a little stinker

She is her father's twin

Then she took me to see all her new toys

Cooking in her kitchen

Enjoying my Peanut

2009-01-15T15:28:00.005-05:00

Since work closed during the holidays again this year, I was able to stay how with my peanut for almost 2 weeks straight. It was absolutely fabulous.

Here are some pictures of the little guy exploring.

Always Laughing

Playing with his new Piano

And he's up!

And he's down!

:o)

Checking out his new play table

Pretty cool so far

Rockin' his new Teddy Bear coat

Who needs toys when you have a nice big box to play with?

Sitting Down

Up....

All the way up!

My sleepy boy

And he's up!

I had such a fun time playing with him.

We were both sad when I had to go back to work.

A Family that Rocks together

2009-01-15T15:25:00.003-05:00

Stays Together.

Here it is.
The Family on Tour.

Enjoy :o)
(Press Pause onthe music player in the right hand column)

Merry Christmas...Part 2

2009-01-15T15:02:00.006-05:00

We finished opening all of the presents and were finally ready for some relaxation.
I told ALL of my family and friends that I refused to leave my house on Christmas. You already read how my Christmas Eve went. It was craziness. I was tired and just wanted to stay home with my boys and enjoy our Christmas presents.

Here are a few pictures from our day.

The Hubby rocking the kissy face

<3

Me & The Baby

Nap Time!

Play Time!

ROCK TIME!!!

Chase loved watching us rock

Chase & His Godmother, Aunt Candice

For lunch, we decided to treat ourselves to some take out.

But wait, it was Christmas.

The only place open was the Chinese Food Place.

Steamed Dumplings it is!!

That night, I made a nice ham dinner and my Sister-in-law, Brother-in-law and niece all came over for dinner and another rock show.

Dave attempting to play on the drums

Mercedes watching

Nina on the guitar

Me & Mercedes

David on the microphone

The kids playing

Rock on family, Rock on.

Chase

Me & My Glasses.

The ONLY time I have to wear my glasses, is during Guitar Hero time! hahaha! I stare at the screen so long, that it hurts my eyes, so I have to bust out the glasses.

At least I look hot in them.

Dave, Nina & Mercedes

Mercedes and her adorable hat

Merry Christmas...Part 1

2009-01-15T14:36:00.006-05:00

Merry Christmas!!

The day was finally here!
Daivd got off of work at 7am and was home by 7:30am.
Believe it or not, we were all still in bed!!

Here is a few pictures of our morning.

My sleepy head boys in bed.

Chase didn't want to get off of Mommy.

He loves laying on the boobs. A perfect pillow.

Me & The Hubby

Chase & Daddy

Andrew

Self picture with my new camera.

Chase is ready to open some presents!!

Playing with his stocking stuffers.

"How the heck do I get this thing open?"

Andrew opening his Wii game.

Opening some books

Andrew opening his "How to Talk to Girls" book.

It was written by a 9 year old boy.

Sooo cute.

Chase opening his piano

He didn't know what to do with all his new toys.

I guess I did go just a little overboard.

Andrew opening some more Wii stuff

Sorry Sliders!

Such a fun game.

The greatest gift of all.

MINE!

Guitar Hero World Tour!!

Merry Christmas Eve...Part 2

2009-01-15T14:26:00.003-05:00

We finally got home around 9pm.
Chase was exhausted and went right to bed.

On the way home from my MIL's house, Andrew's cousin Nicolas saw Santa Clause walking and knew he had to hurry up and get home and into bed. He called Andrew to tell him this story and the look on his face was priceless.

Nick's mom called me back to tell me when driving by our house, there was a guy dressed as Santa and walking out of a bar!!
hahahahaha

It was so funny, yet true!
He did see Santa!
Santa was definietly on his way alright.

Andrew was so anxious and went straight to bed.

Me on the otherhand.....

I was busy playing Santa and still had to wrap ALL of the presents.
oops.
At least "It's a Wonderful Life" was on and that kept me occupied. David had to work the night shift that evening, so I was all on my own.

Here are some pictures of our final set up.

Cookies & Milk for Santa

Our Tree & Presents.

(pay no attention to the messed up floor!)

Stockings

Next up...Christmas morning!!

Merry Christmas Eve...Part 1

2009-01-15T14:04:00.006-05:00

First off, I know I haven't updated my blog in over a month.
I'm so sorry fellow readers!!

I was off for 2 weeks during the Christmas break and it was awesome!! So here is my holiday break down!

Christmas Eve
Part 1

We started off the day by going over to my Mommom's house.
We opened presents, played with a miniature candy crane machine and enjoyed each other's company. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures.

Then, we headed over to David's grandparent's house. We had some great spanish food, played with all the kids, and enjoyed the company.

Here are some pictures from the visit.

Most of the kids.

Reina

Danielle, Siani & David

Lil' Steven, Big Steven, Cameron & Angel

Chase & Reina playing

Next on our day full of stops was my Mother-in-Law's house.
He had a plan of Christmas movie watching and baking cookies.
We also stuffed our face with tacos and fajitas and opened some presents.

Here are a few pictures.

Aniyah helping me make cookies.

Me & Aniyah making cookies.

Mercedes

Andrew opening his DS.

Lydia, Aniyah, Andrew & Nicolas

Dave & Mercedes

Chase

Mercedes

Aniyah

It was a busy and hectic Christmas Eve, to say the least. Our boys are beyond spoiled. I honestly don't know how I was able to fit all of those gifts into our little tiny car. 4 trash bags FULL of gifts for all 4 of us and it wasn't even Christmas yet!!

Christmas Time is Near!

2008-12-16T10:47:00.002-05:00

It is that time of year again. A time to bake cookies, go shopping, exchange gifts and most importantly, spend time with the friends and family that you love.

I am pretty excited for this Christmas. My job closes down for the entire Christmas break now. So I have off From December 24 - January 4.

AWESOME!!

Here are a few things on my Christmas List.

Feel free to past the information along to my husband.

1 - Guitaro Hero - World Tour!

2 - Wii Fit!

3- Jillian Michaels Game for Wii Fit

4- New Digital Camera

Canon PowerShot SD790-IS Silver

10 MP Digital ELPH Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom & Face Detection

5- Some Disney Classic Movies

(I'm trying to build up my collection)

Okay, so a few of my wants are a little pricey....

But oh well! I work for a living! I bust my ass all year long.

If I want to wish and hope for these presents, then I will!

Girls Night In

2008-12-08T10:55:00.002-05:00

After a long day out on Saturday....
A Baby Shower & 5th Birthday Party,
I headed over to my BFF's house for a few hours to enjoy a girls night in.

Of course, whenever they have these, David has work, so I have to be home for the kids by 10:30pm. But at least I was there for a good 2 hours.

We watched some videos and played some fun drinking games.

Revealing a little too much TMI about each other. hahaha

Here are a few random pics.

Candice & Jackie

Theresa

Jackie

Me & Theresa

(Don't you love my red "allergic to alcohol" face?

Sporting my Latina Temple Shirt

It was good while it lasted. I'm glad I went.

When is the next one girls?!

Babies Babies Babies

2008-12-08T10:44:00.002-05:00

This weekend I had the great pleasure of going to a good friend's baby shower.

You can read about her story HERE.

Mrs. Soup is pregnant and beauftiul.
Little Cuppa Soup is baking and growing.

It was so great to see her and all of my knottie friends.

I didn't get too many pictures since the batteries in my camera died.
Here are a few.

Colleen & Choo Choo

From left to right-back row to front
Cheryl, Beth, Colleen & Charlie, Jackie, & Laura
Cheryll & Ben, Me & Chase, Rachel, Tiana & Taryn

All of Us

It was so great to see everyone.
I can't wait to meet little Cuppa!

Ave Maria

2008-12-04T10:09:00.002-05:00

Beyonce Style....

Lately, Big B has been annoying the crap out of me. Last night while I was watching the Rockefellar Christmas Tree Lighting and Celebration, Beyonce sang her rendition of an Ave Maria.

Now obviously, it isn't something that would be played in church or at a wedding or anything like that....And I was surprised that I even liked it. But it was beautiful.

Here it is on YouTube.

*Press Pause on the music player in the right hand column before playing*

Happy Birthday to...

2008-12-03T16:39:00.006-05:00

David!!

My Hubby turned 24 on November 28th.

After I was out all day shopping, I came home to get ready for a "small" birthday dinner. It was originally going to be just his mother, father and sisters. Yea. It wasn't.

Group 1:

NaNa, Siani & Nick

Group 2:

Lydia (mother in law), Manny, Dayna, Jasmine, Niko, Gianna, & Aniyah

Group 3:

Nina, Dave & Mercedes

Group 4:

My dad & Felicia

Group 5:

Uncle Nicky

Group 6:

Candice

oh, and don't forget, me, Andrew & Chase.

Whoa.

A lot of people in my little apartment.

We had 2 huge hams, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, string beans, corn, biscuits.

Followed by pumpkin, apple & lemon mirangue pie and Stock's birthday cake.

It was a great night. I am glad that he had the love and support from his family to be there. Those who were important showed up and celebrated. That's all that mattered.

Happy Birthday Baby!

Best Friends Forever

2008-12-03T16:30:00.002-05:00

Chase is always getting so excited every time he sees his brother. And Andrew is always trying to make Chase laugh or is holding him or playing with him.

I am so glad that they already have such a good relationship.

Here they are watching TV together.

Sooooo friggin cute.

Best. Friends. Forever.

Teeth?

2008-12-03T11:45:00.002-05:00

I don't need no stinkin' teeth!

They are sooooo overrated.
:o)

9 months and no teeth.

I'm just enjoying the big gummy smile.

Christmas Time!!!

2008-12-03T11:37:00.004-05:00

Yay!
It is offically December!

Let's get our Christmas on!

Here are pictures of us putting up our tree.

Mommy does the assembly.
Along with lights & garland.

Chase was very excited about his first tree.
He LOVED those Christmas beads.

Andrew hanging up the first ball.

Chase still playing with beads....

All my boys.

I swear that the bigger boys don't believe in wearing a shirt. ever.

Chase hanging up his very first ball.

He Loved the tree.

Examining the balls.

Trying to touch them

Lastly, Andrew tops the tree off with the star.

Chase tried to help too.

My tree.

Of course, now it has a different star.

The old one broke.

I was so sad.

But YAY for Christmas!!!

Thanksgiving - Take 2

2008-12-03T11:19:00.005-05:00

For the past few years, as my mommom has aged, I have been going over her house on Thanksgiving Eve and sleeping over. Thanksgiving morning, we wake up VERY early and get the stuffing and bird cooking.

This is my way of learning the trade so that I can make my own Turkey & Stuffing one day.

Here are a few pictures:

Andrew & Chase playing around.

Thanksgiving Morning
Poppop bringing in the paper that holds the glorious Black Friday Ads.

Me scouting out my plan & reviewing ads.

Guess who got up early too?!

Mommom making the stuffing

Andrew picking apart the bread for the stuffing

The bird.

Stuffed and ready to go.

Almost done!

Finally!!

MmMmMmM

It looked soooo good and tasted even better!

The Boys all dresses and ready to go

Me & Chase

Chase & his spoon

Eating some mashed potatoes

Conner & His Turkey hat!

Chase & Conner

Oh yea.

Conner is almost 2 months younger then Chase and he doubles him in size.

Chase in the Turkey Hat

Yea, he didn't like it.

We then headed to my Mother-in-law's house for Thanksgiving Dinner. By then, I was sooo stuffed and tired. Chase was exhausted and cranky and crying the entire time. Needless to say, no pictures were taken there.

I was also supposed to go to my Sister-in-law's house for dessert, but we didn't make it. It was 7pm and David & Andrew were having asthma attacks due to my MIL's cat. My poor boys can never breathe when we are there.

So we went right home and jumped in bed.

I mean, hello!! I did have black friday shopping the next day!

What Happens When....

2008-12-03T11:16:00.001-05:00

......you leave your child unattended with your Black Friday Sales Ads?

Any guesses??
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
I'll just show you....
*
*
*

Oh, he had a great time ripping them to shreds!!!

Thank goodness it was only the KMart ad.

Thanksgiving - Take 1

2008-12-03T11:07:00.005-05:00

Since we all couldn't be together this Thanksgiving Holiday, I decided to host a mini-Thanksgiving dinner a week before.

My nice table spread.

Roasted Chicken & Gravy

Sweet Potato Casserole w/ Pecan topping

String Beans

Stuffing

Cranberry Sauce

My Guests

My niece Mercedes

Walking around

Soooo friggin cute!

Trying to kiss Chase

Going in for the kill

Poppop with all of his grandchildren.

Not an easy picture to take.

My sister-in-law and brother-in-law were also there.

It was a nice dinner followed by Apple & Pumpkin pie. I was so glad that we could be together and enjoy that great meal.

Family

2008-12-03T10:44:00.003-05:00

2 -3 weeks ago, we got together for someone's birthday and were able to snap some family pictures.

Here they are:
David, Dayna & Nina - Brother & Sisters

My Andrew

Growing up so fast

Chase being a busy bee.

Crawling everywhere.

Chase & Aniyah

Me & Andrew

Twins?

Chase with his Choo Choo hat

Then he face planted into the crib. Please notice the huge red mark on his right cheek and the stream of tears. At least he was a trooper and pulled himself back up.

New Tricks!

2008-12-03T10:38:00.003-05:00

My own personal toy that learns new tricks all by himself!
Yes, I am talking about my son! haha

All in one weekend he learned this:

Crawling!!!

And standing up in is crib!!

He also gets his feet stuck through the bars.

oops!

I can't believe Chase is getting so big, so fast!

I had to do some major baby proofing around the house. That included lowering the crib and rearranging some furniture and household items.

Jammy Time

2008-12-03T10:33:00.003-05:00

Yes, I am a bad blogger.
Especially since I am almost a month behind in posts!!!

Get ready for a blogging marathon of at least 6 new posts today!!

This was taken a week or 2 before Thanksgiving.
Just a little Pajama Photoshoot with Mommy.

I love baby piggies!

Sleepy Boy

2008-12-03T10:32:00.000-05:00

The Peanut LOVES his monkey's.

Happy Pastele Day!!

2008-11-10T10:48:00.006-05:00

Saturday, November 8th, 2008

was the

First Annual

Rodriguez, Vasquez, Perez, Ortiz, Gonser

Pastele Day!!!

Hopefully I listed all the names...

Anyways.
It is a Spanish/Puerto Rican tradition to make Pastele's once a year before the Thanksgiving & Christmas Holidays. The reason why it is only done once a year, is because it is a lot of HARD WORK!!

We had a late start this year, but this is how our day went:

-Up and out of the house by 9am.
-Head to Cousins (grocery store) to purchase all the ingriedients.
-Come home, divide jobs and work stations.
-Make fresh Sofrito.
-Peel all the green bananas.
-Peel the plantains.
-Cut up the orange looking pumpkin stuff.
-Cut up the meat and get it cooking.
-Start making the masa.
-Grind everything in the food processor for the masa.
-Mix the masa.
-Cut the paper, string & banana leaves.
-Get the assembly line ready.
-Start stuffing, folding, and tying them all together.

Whew!
It was a looooooong busy day.
But we got them done and they tasted great!
We did make 1 or 2 mistakes, well variations, but it wasn't too bad considering it was our 1st time doing it alone.

Here are a few pictures from the day:
All the ingriedients.

Lydia making the Sofrito.

The Fresh Finished Sofrito

Jasmine, Dayna, Nina & Aniyah peelnig the bananas.

Aniyah copying her mother.

Cooking the Meat

Nina & Nana cutting up the orange stuff.

Getting ready to make the Masa.

Grinding up all the veggies for the Masa.

The finished Masa.

Oh, did I mention that you must drink heavily during this process??

We had a nice cold yummy bottle full of Coquito to help with this.

Me, Nina, Lydia & Dayna

This is a day strictly for women.
There aren't supposed to be any babies or kids around.
With the exception of Aniyah, it was like this for most of the day. However, towards the end, my babysitter time ran out so Chase & Andrew had to come and hang out with me.

Aniyah waiting for the food to be done.

Can we say drama queen?

Well, it was a great and busy day. I am glad that we were able to start our own tradition full of strong women to make pasteles. I look forward to the day that my future daughter will be by myside helping out too.

President Obama

2008-11-10T10:40:00.003-05:00

What a proud day in U.S. History.

The United States of America has chosen Barack Obama as the nest U.S. President.

I am so excited. As I watched Presdient Elect Obama deliver his acceptance speech, tears just rolled down my face. We have come so far in our country. Things have changed so much over the past 20 - 30 years alone. I am glad that my kids were here and able to witness this with me.

With the economy in the hole right now, I beleive Obama has his work cut out for him. But if anyone can do it, it will be him. I feel like he can relate to me and my family and help us and this economy as we are struggling to make ends meet. I have faith in him that he will restore the U.S. and make things right again.

God Bless President Obama & His Family.

Election Day

2008-11-10T10:36:00.002-05:00

Tuesday, November 4th
was Election Day!!

I was so excited to be able to take the kids with me and show them that a piece of history was going to be made. Either the first African American President or the first Female Vice President.

Either way, I wanted them to be apart of it.

Chase went into Vote with me.
Proudly wearing his 'Babies for Obama' onesie.

And Andrew went in with David. He even let him push the green VOTE button to cast his vote.

I am going to put this in Chase's Baby Book, as well as the 'I voted for Obama' sticker I received. What an amazing thing.

Rock Band & Beer

2008-11-10T10:29:00.003-05:00

Still updating my blog.
Yes, I am a WEEK behind.

So let's get rolling....

Last Sunday, I went to a friends house to enjoy some pizza & wings and "watch" the football game. Yea, there was no watching the football game going on. We were too busy stuffing our faces, playing with babies and gossiping about everyone. Including YOU! just kidding...kinda.

I didn't get to take many pictures but here are the few that I do have.

Rock Band
I have never played before, but just watching was good enough. I need to get this game for my Xbox 360. All family members that are reading this blog, put it on my christmas list!!

Yea.
We put babies in beer boxes.

He loved his personal Beer Train Box. We pushed him all across the floor and it was the best thing since slice bread.

All Grown Up

2008-11-07T10:27:00.006-05:00

As I mentioned before, I have a group of online friends. We all seemed to be pregnant right around the same time. SInce the babies were born, we decided to have our 2nd Baby get together. The first time we met, they boys were only a few weeks old and Taryn wasn't even here yet!!

Pictures from our First GTG - HERE

Here are some of the pictures of our babies now.
They are growing up so fast.

Jonathan & Chase

Jonathan

Charlie, Chase & Jonathan

Chase & Jonathan

Baby Taryn

Scarlett

Charlie

Chase

Ben

The boys playing

Jonathan

We thought it would be hilarious to dress them up in their Halloween Costumes and attempt to take pictures.

The Results.

haha

Kelly & Jonathan

Colleen & Charlie

The Girls

Scarlett & Taryn

Charlie eating Grass

A Group Shot

Ben, Chase & Scarlett

Tiana & Taryn

Then they started escaping!

Ben running, well crawling, wild!

Jonathan & Chase

Chase getting grumpy

All the Mommies & Babies

From Left to Right.

Erin & Scarlett, Me & Chase, Colleen & Charlie,

Tiana & Taryn, Cheryll & Ben, Kelly & Jonathan

The older boys.

David (Kelly's son) & Andrew (My Big Boy)

We had a great time!

The kids are grwoing up so fast! I can't believe how big they are all getting! Can't wait to get together and do it again!!

Happy Halloween!!!

2008-11-07T10:14:00.006-05:00

Yes, I know I am a week late with this.
But to my defense, I have been crazy busy.

After the parade, I literally got home, got the kids dressed, and was out trick or treating 10 minutes later.

Can you say exhausted??

Here are a few pictures from the night.

David & His Uncle Nicky

Mercedes aka Darth Vader

Love her Cape.

Chase aka Yoda

Andrew & Nicolas
Storm Trooper and Bubba Fet

Siani aka The Rockstar

Me & My Boys

Lydia & Her Grandchildren

Mercedes being sweet & kissing Chase

Candice & Jackie came over to see the kids.
Chase was exhausted and was not diggin the cat costumes.

After everyone left, I climbed into bed and CRASHED.

Between my back and feet, I don't know what hurt more.

At least the kids had a great day.

Chase Utley

2008-11-07T10:03:00.002-05:00

How could I forget to mention this awesomeness?

Friday I had to work before the parade. I was sitting at my desk and my phone made a little ding a ling sound telling me I had a voicemail. Didn't ring or anything. Just a voicemail.

Then my work phone rings and I just assume it was David who had left me the message on my phone.

Nope. It wasn't.
I missed the call of a life time.

Apparently, My Mother-in-Law's boyfriend that works for the Philadelphia Police Department, was in charge of escorting all the players during the parade. Well, before the parade started, he got to meet and socialize with all the players. Shane, Ryan, Cole, JRoll, JC Romero, and CHASE UTLETY.

He told Chase that I was a big fan and I even named my son after him.

Don't you friggin know that Chase Utley called my phone that went right to voicemail and left me a friggin message!!!!

When I heard it, I nearly fell off my chair.
I couldn't breathe. I was soooo damn excited.

I did make a video and had it uploaded to YouTube, but my husband pointed out that it was something personal and I shouldn't have it all over the place for people to see. So, if you are interested in hearing it, you can always shoot me an email or leave me a comment with your email address.

Basically, he said this:

Hey Tammy, This is Chase Utley. Just wanted to call and say Hi. I heard you named your son after me. Thats pretty cool. Well have a good day. talk to you later.

Yes.
I died.
It was 1 of the best moments in my life.

Happy Parade Day!!

2008-11-07T09:07:00.009-05:00

On Friday, October 31, 2008, the mayor had a HUGE parade for the City of Philadelphia to celebrate the awesome World Series Win by the Phillies.

I had to go to work that morning, but decided that I would be taking a 1/2 day. David and the kiddies came to work, we ate lunch and were ready to get our parade on.

Yes, I know people were lining the streets since 9am that morning. But the pararde didn't start until 12-12:30. Plus I had won free tickets to the Linc to watch the ceremony inside that stadium then on the big screens when they moved into the other stadium.

My plan was to take the Subway straight down to Broad & Pattison, watch the parade and follow them into the stadium.

Yea. Didn't happen.
We got on the subway. Made it all the way to Walnut Street (just past city hall) then they kicked us off!!! The parade already passed. We completely missed it. We were so excited and determined, that we decided that we were going to WALK, yes WALK to the Linc. From Walnut. Little did I know that this was a 4 MILE WALK!!! I also wore the baby in the baby carrier since I didn't think there would be much room for a stroller.

So we walked.
Down Broad Street.
With crazy people.
And a 20 pound baby strapped to me.

Here are some pictures from our crazy walking adventure.

There were about 25 guys lined up along this wall just peeing.
gross.

We Phinally made it to the park.

Found this in the parking lot.
RIP Vet Stadium

Then we Phinally made it across what seemed to be the worlds largest parking lot to the other stadium.

Right as we were walking in, the players were walking around the field. By time we got to our seats, they had already made their way to the ceremony stage. They were doing a small ceremony for us fans in the Linc then walknig over to do a larger ceremony at Citizens Bank Park.

This is a picture of Jamie Moyer holding up the WS Trophy.

After they left, we took the time out to take some fun pictures.

Chase Utley Junior.

Then the ceremony started.

Chase Utley

Shane Victorino

Cole Hammels

Charlei Mannuel

They all got up and said a few inspiring words.
Then Chase, my love, got up to speak.

He had the best speech out of everyone.

HAHAHAHAHA
I LOVED IT.
I know some people had their panties in a bunch about it, but seriously, GET OVER IT. All he did was say exactly what we were thinking.

World Champions.
World Phucking Champions.

Couldn't have said it any better myself.

After everything was over, we braved our way back to the subway station and stood in a huge "line" (ball of craziness) with about 20,000+ people. We got on after waiting 20 minutes. Not too bad.

Here are 2 pictures from Chase's first Subway ride.

"Hmmmm. What's this??"

This is when he finally went into meltdown mode.

I was beyond exhausted.
It was already 6:30pm and I still had to go Trick or Treating.
Gah!

Wake Up Sweet Babies!

2008-10-30T11:43:00.002-04:00

The boys were sleeping in and I wanted to try and capture what our morning wake up is like. They were both so sleepy and Chase rubs his eyes a million times then gives me a big cheesy smile.

I also told Andrew that the Phillies won the World Series and he sprung up from bed! So cute!
*Note* press Pause on the music player in the right hand column, then press play*

Phinally!!!

2008-10-30T11:23:00.006-04:00

Well, they PHINALLY did it!!!
The Philles won their first
WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP
since 1980!!!

I can't believe it!!
It was such an amazing night.
Brad Lidge closed the game and dropped to his knees.

I LOVE THE PHILLIES!!!
Parade is on for Tomorrow, October 31,2008.
Starting at 12pm @ 20th & Market and ending up at the Stadium on Broad Street.

Since I went out partying for no reason on Monday, I decided to stay home with the Hubby & kids last night.

This is a picture of the kids during the game.

Yup. They punked out and passed out.

When Brad pitched that last Strike, David & I went crazy!! Silently of course since we didn't want to wake the sleeping beauty's.

We decided to take a picture so we will always remember that day.

I actually live relatively close to the intersection of Cottman & Frankford Avenues. This is one of the biggest party spots for Sports Championships. Now, my husband works on Broad St. Another HUGE party spot for Sports Championships.

Guess who had to leave for work at 10:30pm, right after the game was over, to go to work?

The hubby.

He was definitely late. Broad St. was closed down and the backroads were filled with Phillies Phans.

I was still up, now celebrating by myself, so I decided to take some pics of me, then dress up the kiddos as they were sleeping! hahaha!

Little Chase Utley.
Can you SEE the excitement on his face?!!

;o)

Go Phillies!!!!!!!!!!

Bathtime & Bedtime

2008-10-30T11:18:00.003-04:00

I haven't captured any bath pictures since Chase was a teeny tiny baby so I decided to take some last night.

Enjoy the cuteness.

(no, those are not teeth. he is STILL toothless)

Baby Butt!

All clean, lotioned up, jammies on and ready for bed!

Lets Go Phillies!!!

2008-10-28T16:22:00.004-04:00

Last Night,
Monday, October 27th, 2008,
was supposed to be the night that the Phillies won and clinched the Mother Flucking WORLD SERIES!!!
(If you don't know, I am a huge Phillies Fan. Hello! I named my kid CHASE)

Anyways, I really wanted to celebrate at a bar on Frankford Ave. I actually live right near Cottman & Frankford Ave.'s One of the biggest party places for championship sports games. Don't ask me why, but every just flocks there for major sporting events. I think it gets so crazy because of the fact that there are 2-3 bars per block on each side.

Well, goody too-shoes (me) actually went out.
to a bar.
on a work night.

I know! I was surprised too!!

Here is what went down:
The HUGE crowd in this 2x4 size of a bar.

The Lovely Ladies & I

2 of the Guys (Chuckie & Dave-my Brother-in-law)

Me & The Guys

(Please notice alcoholic beverage in my hand!!)

Me, trying to eat Nina's face off.

Me, Dave & Nina

The Sisters

Me. Drinking. With my red face.

Wait, did I forget to mention I'm allergic to alcohol?

Stoli Raspberry Vodka & Cranberry Juice Rocked my world.

All the Girls

It then got a little wild.

They kissed a girl, did they like it?

*note- I am taking the picture, not swapping spit*

Still kissing..... hahaha

Tiffanie - preventing a fight.

Our Bartender.

He was cute.

Front & Back

:o)

Then the sad news arrived.

Rain Delay.

Delivered by Mr. John Bolaris

(hahahaha - inside joke)

We were sad to leave.

It was only 11pm.

Secretly, I was so happy to leave. There was so much smoke in the bar and I was tired and drunk and I missed my babies. Getting home and climbing into bed was the best thing ever.

Too bad I am totally hungover today.

The Past Caught Up

2008-10-28T14:47:00.011-04:00

Well, it finally happened.
The past caught up to my present.

I am going to give a brief back story, but will follow up with a more in depth post of what really went down 7 years ago.

The Past

I have not seen or spoken to my mother for the past 5 years. It was one of the hardest decision I ever had to make, but I knew it was best for me & my family.

Last year, I found out through my brother (who still does talk to her), that she was pregnant. At age 41, she was going to have a new baby. Both of her kids were grown with my brother at age 18. She always wanted another child, and she confided in my ex "friend" that she purposly rig'ed her birthcontrol to get pregnant. She knew that I could never neglect a sibling of my own and this was her plan to "win" me back or at least replace me with another girl.

The Present

My mother had her baby girl that was meant to replace me 1 year ago today. I have been filled up with so much emotion and anger and hurt this past year. How could she bring another child into this world, when she couldn't even take care of the 2 that she already had?

Well, my sister turned 1 on October 18th. I had seen pictures of her throughout the year, but never got to meet her. I couldn't bare it. My heart couldn't bare it.

As the holidays approach, I keep thinking about her. How she is getting older and won't even know who I am. So I decided that I would go to her birthday party.

And I did.
I went to my sister's first birthday party and met her for the very first time.
It's hard for me to type this, without getting a big lump in my throat. I currently have tears rolling down my cheek. It was one of the most bitter/sweet moments I have ever had.

I am looking at this little girl, and she doesn't know who I am. She cried when I held her and only wanted her other siblings from her dad's side.

Yet, I am there. I am looking at her precious face and imagining the future. Shopping trips and talks about boys. I was her sister. I had always dreamed of having a sister. How could she not be in my life??

Well, this "breif" explanation has turned into a novel. I am just going to share the pictures and will update on the complete backstory in a few more posts.

Everyone,
Meet
Maria.

Isn't she gorgeous?

They had the party at Chuck E. Cheese.
The ~~scariest~~ funnest place on Earth.

yes, the mouse is still scary as hell.

A few pictures of Chase waiting for Maria to arrive.
They were a 1/2 our late.

Then we met.

And she cried.

Luckily, Chase still loves me.

Me & Maria

Same Blue Eyes

:o)

Meeting Chase for the first time.

Andrew couldn't believe that he has an Aunt who is only 1 years old!!

All she did was stare at me.

Her Dora Cake

She had her own personal cake.

Chase was eyeing up the chocolate cake.

So, being the awesome mommy that I am, I gave him some.

As we were leaving, I got a few smiles.

Maybe we can even have a sleep over in the future.

The day ended and it was time to go.

Seeing my mom again was very awkward. I actually didn't say 1 word to her the entire time. I couldn't. I am just to angry and hurt. My purpose was to meet my sister and establish a relationship with her, not my mother.

So I left. I did answer a question when she asked about Chase's formula. And when I was saying buy to Maria, my mom sneak attacked me and kissed me on my cheeck and said "Thanks for coming." Honestly, it meant nothing to me. I said nothing and most definitely did not return the gesture.

I just walked away.

My Sleeping Peanut

2008-10-28T14:41:00.002-04:00

Here he is.
The Sleeping Peanut.
Breaking all the co-sleeping rules.
In his Adorable Cars pajamas.

He is getting so big.
When we sleep he snuggles right up next to me and hides under my arm. He hates the covers and ALWAYS kicks them off. But he LOVES pillows. He hugs them and squeezes them and pulls them over his face to shield off the light.

My Baby is no ordinary sleeper.
Then again, Andrew never was either.

One day, I will have a bed that is for just me and my husband. We will be able to cuddle up together and not worry about a baby poking us in the eye or a foot up the butt.

But for now....
I like my full bed and cuddling my babies.

Soon enough, they will grow up and move away. I choose to treasure the small moments now.

My Nekkid Boys

2008-10-28T14:30:00.002-04:00

Clothes, who needs them??

Not my boys.

I swear, whenever we get in the house, the clothes just come flying off. Sure, if I was a single woman, with no kids, and my man automatically shed his clothes off for me when he walked in, that would be awesome.

But no.
I am a happily married woman and mommy.
Sooooooo, instead, I follow behind the pack of "men" that are shedding their clothes and I get to have the awesome job of picking them up! ha! lucky me!

Anyways.
So, they get home, and get nekkid down to their undies.
And I must say, they do all look cute.

Nekkid Baby #1

Hanging out with Daddy

Eating a Car

Nekkid Boy #2 & #3

All My Nekkid Boys.

They are cute.

:o)

He's A Big Boy Now

2008-10-28T14:21:00.002-04:00

Ahhhhh! Guess who got a new highchair!?

The Bumbo seat was starting to get a bit small, so when I saw this Fisher Price Space Saver HighChair on sale at Kohl's for ONLY $25.00!!!!, I had to get it.

He is loving it. Now he sits in the kitchen with Mommy, eats his Cheerio's and watches me cook as we groove to a few tunes.

Here are a few more pictures of my littlest prince.

I even let him feed himself on time. haha

Kids & Politics

2008-10-22T10:13:00.004-04:00

It is no secret that I will be voting for Obama in the election this year. My husband and I are actually on the same page about this and will be both voting for him.

We usually tend to keep our political banter to ourselves, and then do a "kid" version to our oldest son, Andrew. This way, he can start learning about politics and the seperate parties and how the whole voting process works. We have never told him that he should or shouldn't like a certain candidate over another. He usually just asks questions about how to vote and what is going to happen, etc.

Yesterday, after dinner, he decides to tell my husband and I, that HE (yes, my 7 year old) will be voting for Obama.

I was very curious as to how he came to this decision and this is how our conversation went.

Me: Really? What made you decide that?

Andrew: well, I just like him better.

Me: What do you like about him? Why do you think he is better then McCain.

Andrew: Well (yes he does start every sentence with well), Obama is nice to kids. And I am a kid.

Me: (giggling a bit to myself) Okay. I guess that is a good reason for you. What about McCain? Why don't you like him?

Andrew: Well, McCain is going to make a lot of people lose jobs. That includes Mom's AND Dad's! And I don't think it is very fair or nice.

I just had a huge cheesey grin on my face. Where was my son getting his "facts" from?

Me: Where did you hear that? Was your teacher talking about it in class?

Andrew: No, that is what us kids are talknig about in the school yard. It is just going around. No one wants their mom's & dad's to lose their job, so we are all voting for Obama.

Yup, "all" of the kids in his school, ages 5 - 13 are voting for Obama. ha!

I just thought this was really funny and most of all, interesting. They are learning a lot about voting for their own class president for 8th grade as well as this upcoming election. It is good to see them take an interest in politics.

Can't Wait For November to get here!

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-16T14:03:00.010-04:00

On Andrew's actual Birthday,
October 12,
We all headed over to Shaddy Brooke Farm Pumpkin Patch.

I must say, we usually go to Freddy Hill Farm in Lansdale and I liked it much more then Shaddy Brooke. I find it to be a bit smaller, not as many people, cheaper and just a genuinley great time.

We started off the day with some pictures at home of my gorgeous boys in their adorable outfits!
Me & My Birthday Boy

Chase
His Shirt Says 'I Love My Mummy'
:o)

I Love This!
Andrew is already 4ft Tall!

Mercedes was ready for pumpkin picking!

Chase was hot.

But Still gave a smile!

Mercedes & Her Daddy

Attempting the stupid Corn Maze.
We got lost and had to turn around.

Mercedes rockin' the orange bandana.

Cheese!
Our Little Farmers!

Sitting on the Dirty Tractor

The Hayless Hayride.
Who has a hayride, WITHOUT the HAY?!
Sure, it was nice to be able to sit on a bench and not have hay crawling down your butt. BUT I wanted Chase to be able to experience the whole thing. Hay in his butt and all!

Alirosa, Juni & Jeff

Eddie, Faith & Kids

Andrew & His Peeps.

Steven & Tracey

Finally, the Pumpkin Patch!!!
As soon as we got there, Andrew had to pee.
So I told him to go allll the way to the back and "water the grass".

I Love this Picture.
Mercedes, Nina & Dave

Finally Found a Pumpkin!
Our rule is if you can't carry it, you can't have it!

Needless to say, Andrew was determined.

Chase just kept staring at the pumpkins.
He had no clue waht they were.

The Non-Hayless Hayride back.
My Boys.
So Precious.

Mercedes. She owned that Pumpkin.

Me & The Boys.

By this time, it had been almost 5pm and it was a loooooong day. Chase was exhausted and the rocking back and forth on the hayless hayride put him fast asleep.

Going

Gone.

Mercedes was a trooper and stuck it out!

But as soon as we hit the car, he was up again.

Great. A 20 minute nap.

I even thought that maybe, just maybe he would pass out in the car or when we got home, NOPE.

Wide Awake.

Happy Birthday to...

2008-10-13T14:17:00.018-04:00

Andrew!!

My ~~Baby~~ Big Boy is now 7 Years Old!!!

This past weekend we had a huge birthday extravagenza for him!

We started out with a Halloween Costume Party on Saturday. We decorate my sister-in-law's house with awesome decorations and set the mood jsut right with some spooky music.

Here are a few pictures of all the decorations:

A good friend/family member was kind enough to carve these AWESOME pumpkins for Andrew.

The Witch & Her Couldron

Skeleton Face

Pirate Ship

Jack-o-Lantern / Mask Face

The Cupcake Tower he requested.

And Our Guests:

Not so easy trying to take a picture of 20 kids all at one time!

My Dad & Felicia

Aniyah the Bumble Bee

Tyler

Marky as Iron Man

Steven - The Karate Kid

Nick as a Star Wars Guy

Jay as a Fantastic 4 Guy

Natalia

Me :o)

Juni

Andrew, The Guest of Honor!

Tracey with Natalia & Cameron the cats!

Jay & Andrew

Alirosa

Reina

Benicio

Connor

He was a Dinosaur!

We played some fun games.

Pass The Pumpkin (aka Hot Potato)

We made our own Halloween Parade around the yard!

And! We had a costume contest! The kids walked up the walk way showing off their costumes and 4 kids won awards!

Now, Get Ready for a WHOLE lot of cuteness!

Chase & Mercedes

aka

Yoda & Darth Vader!

We finished the night off with some presents and a huge Happy Birthday!

Oh Yea!
I can't forget about the AWESOME Dirt Cups that I made!
They were soooo yummy.

Yoda I Am

2008-10-10T08:58:00.004-04:00

Last night I went and got the boys their halloween costume.

I present to you.....

Baby Yoda!!!

And.........

A Stormtrooper!!

Can you tell they love Star Wars??

Wait until you see Darth Vadar - Girl Form!!

My Niece Mercedes is playing the part.

:o)

Obama or McCain

2008-10-09T16:36:00.003-04:00

You Choose..............

.....................On Your Cup of Coffee??

So apparently, 7-11 has launched some new coffee cups.

A Blue Cup with Obama on it.

A Red Cup with McCain on it.

Your Vote Counts.

When they scan the cup as you purchase it, it tally's up the "votes" of who is more popular and "in favor of winning".

This all seems like a bit much.

When it is 7:30am, I'm tired, sleep deprived, and all I want is a cup of coffee.....

How are they going to make me choose??

Obviously, I would have picked the Obama cup, but what about those who are currently "undecided".

Man!

Talk About Pressure.

Just give me the damn coffee!

Luckily, they still have the regular cups, for now, for the undecided.

Sweet Baby Boy

2008-10-09T14:08:00.002-04:00

This picture of Chase was taken before the roll incident.

I'm not sure how I feel about the onesie.
Luckily Andrew can't read those words yet.
However, someone bought it for him, and it is adorable. Plus, he has no clothes! So it was long sleeve and clean so I put it on him.

This pictures was taken last night after the roll incident.
I gave him a nice warm bath.
Lotioned him up.
Put him in his Jammies and it was Snooze City.

Doesn't he look absolutely precious??
Look at the lips!
They get me everytime.

Yum Yum Yum

2008-10-09T14:02:00.002-04:00

Delicioso!

Soooooo.....
I am kind of a bad mom.
I gave Chase a roll last night while we were eating dinner. He already ate his dinner but since he was sitting at the table with us, he kept trying to grab our food. I was fresh out of puffs(baby snack food) and decided, what the hell! I'll just give him this roll.

Wow.
Let me just say he friggin attacked it!!

I caught it on video, but since I am a little slow, I didn't realize I was holding the camera the wrong way.

Sooooo.....
Tilt you head to the left and watch it that way.
haha!
:o)

*press pause on the music player before hitting play*

Tag!

2008-10-09T09:21:00.005-04:00

You're It!

An internet friend of mine started making these awesome Taggy Blankets. They are like the *new* must have for babies. It lets them explore different textures and fabrics, etc. She was kind enough to make Chase a taggy blanket, so I had to show off her awesome work!

Here are a few pictures of Chase exploring his new toy.

"Hmmmm what is this??"

"Okay...I might like it"

"Yes, I DO like it!"

"I want to hug it and love it forever!!"

"Yay for Taggy Blankets!"

He was soooo friggin cute with this blanket. He was holding on to it all night long. I even took some adorable video of us playing peek-a-boo with it.

**Note**
Press Pause on the music player in the right hand column before pressing play.

Here's The First Video.

And Here's The Second.

My Baby Boy is sooo damn cute.

If you are interested in purchasing a Taggy Blanket for your baby or as a gift for a friend or family member, leave me a comment with your email address and I can forward the info along!