Rhode Island

We got back last night from our 2 day excursion to Rhode Island. Max had a lot of fun! Needless to say, I'm pooped. Max, Mason & I went to the Roger Williams Zoo Wednesday morning which he loved!

After the zoo we putted around for a while, went back to the hotel, had a snack, went to pick up Ray at work and then it was off to my Aunt Joan & Uncle Rob's house for some dinner! We had a nice visit with them! (I know you look at this blog often - so THANK YOU!!)


** That night Mason slept pretty much through the night!!! 8:30pm-5am!! We're getting there!!


The next day we all got up early dropped Ray off at work and the boys and I headed to the YMCA in North Attleboro (where Aunt Crystal works) where Max had a 3 hour gymnastics/sports/arts and crafts mini camp with his buddy Stone. He LOVED IT! While Max did this Mason and I went to a nearby mall where I got my walk in for the day. (and spent a little money - whoops!) Then it was back to pick up Max and to have lunch with Crystal and Stone.

Then we were homeless, no hotel to go back to but 4 hours to kill. Ugh - so we went to another mall, got an ice cream and walked around. That got old REAL fast so we went on a hunt for a playground - we found one but it was a bit advanced for Max but at this point moving all the luggage around to get the stroller in and out of the car wasn't an option so I timed him about 9000 times running around the fence.

So all in all the trip was nice, it was a change of pace which we all needed but between the "are we almost there yet", "I don't want to go in the car again", "Mason has a poop!", "That hurts my ears (referring to Mason crying in the backseat), "I have to pee", "I need to have a break and stretch my legs", "my belly hurts", "I want a snack," "I'm bored", "My legs hurt from walking"...it goes on and one but this may help paint the picture of our car ride home last night...

That's a USA Today newspaper that Max destroyed, I didn't get a picture of it when it was totally in shreds, in the backseat on the way home. We chose not to pick this battle and let him do it - he'd already been in the car on and off all day and he desperately needed SOMETHING to do!

When we finally got home and there was silence (ahhhh!)...Ray & I looked at each other and said - "Martha's Vineyard next week? HELL NO!" So the boys and I will be staying back and Ray will be making the trip alone. :-)

So we did some number crunching and the medical bills have been trickling and unfortunately I’m not able to take the 12 weeks of maternity leave in which I had hoped. My intention was to go back to work May 27th but I’ll be going back May 12th. To be quite frank, it sucks but what can I do about it. Mason won’t be going to daycare with Max until 5/27 however so at least we'll have a full paycheck when the double daycare hits us. UGH - not looking forward to that! Oh well, no need to dwell on it…on to better things!!

SMILE:
Mason has perfected the smile over the past week! SO cute!

BRADBURY MOUNTAIN:
Today we took advantage of the great weather and hiked Bradbury Mountain (for those that aren’t familiar with it – it’s a very gradual incline and only about a 1 ½ - 2 mile walk). Max was a trooper and loved it!

TEETH:
A few months ago while brushing Max’s teeth I noticed a dark brown spot on one of his back teeth and initially thought it was food so brushed hard and sort of forgot about it. Well a few weeks back I noticed it again but this time got out the flashlight and got a better peek. My god, the kid had a crater in his tooth. So I called the dentist and moved his May appointment to this past Friday. Long story short, indeed he’s got a pretty significant cavity, which baffles me because we have been anal about brushing his teeth since he got them, and we got referred to a pediatric dentist that we will have to have him see to do a further analysis on it and determine how they will treat it. Lovely. Oh and that’s not it. Part of his “First FUN visit” was to count his teeth. The hygienist kept saying “I bet I you have 20 teeth” (kids under 6-8 should have 20) so she started counting…19, 20, 21…22?? Yes, Max has two EXTRA upper teeth. Explains why his teeth are so crowded up there. Not a big deal but something very rare!

So last week I went to the dentist. A bit of background before I tell you about my lovely visit…

1.) I’ve never had a cavity. Yeah, that’s right!!
2.) For years upon years I have had X-Rays taken and every time they always say “My gosh, you don’t have wisdom teeth” FYI – my last X-ray was a year ago and again no sign of wisdom teeth.

Well I found I have TWO cavities (booo!) and during my pregnancy two freaking wisdom teeth decided to pop through! Needless to say I have to get them removed the week before my maternity leave ends and will get the cavities filled in August. UGH!

RHODE ISLAND:
On Tuesday we’re off to Rhode Island for 3 days! Ray’s working and I’m taking the kids and going on a few excursions! Wednesday I’m going to take them to the Roger Williams Zoo and then hopefully Wednesday night to visit with my Aunt, Uncle and cousins. Still working that out. Then Thursday Max is going to the Hockomock YMCA (North Attleboro, MA) where Aunt Crystal works for a 3 hour gymnastics/sport camp with Stone!! He’s VERY excited about this! The following week we’ll be going to Martha’s Vineyard (Edgartown) with Ray for work again!! A good way to end my maternity leave, I suppose! So we’ll have lots of photos and updates in the coming weeks!

So that’s it for now! Here are a few add’l photos of the boys taken this week!

Busy weekend! In a nutshell...Max went to his very first movie. Ray took him to see Horton Hears a Who. He loved it! While Ray & Max were at the movies Mason and I went to my friend Arin's bridal shower. Here's Arin with Mason...

Today went went to Max's best buddy, Owen's birthday party. It was a "Soccer" party. FYI - Owen's Mom, Nikki, runs Apple Blossom Daycare where Max (and soon to be Mason) go! She always goes over the top!! :-) She made each kid their own individual shirt and gave them each a soccer ball! Here are a few photos of the party...

Just a few other pics of the boys!

Never a dull moment with this one! What a nut!

"Raise the roof"

He loves sitting up seeing the world - and we discovered this weekend he likes Max's Spiderman chair!

Okay, here's the story with this picture. These are all siblings of kids that go to Apple Blossom with Max. They were born within 3 weeks of each other. Leila (right with her Dad) was born February 28th. Then Mason was born, March 3rd (obviously on the left with Ray). Lastly, Jack was born March 19th (middle). My point of taking this photo - TO PROVE MY KID IS A TANK!! Leila just hit 8lbs and Jack 7lbs...well Mason probably just hit 12lbs, not to mention that he never saw 7 or 8 pounds outside my belly!! :-)

Just a couple cute pics of the boys...

39 DAYS

In 39 days, I will walk 39 miles in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. I will be walking with many who want to do there part to help the fight against Breast Cancer. In order to walk I need to raise $1,800 minimum but I am not there. To date I have raised $945. If you can help that would be spectacular!

You can make a donation by visiting my web page at http://tinyurl.com/yvabwu

Thank you!!

Time flies

I can't believe that Mason is almost 5 weeks (on Monday) already! Where has the time gone?!?! He's doing great! We've gotten ourselves into a bit of a routine. He still sleeps a lot but is up for about an hour in the morning, about 1.5-2 hours in the early afternoon and then consistently from 6pm-10pm each night. We've been trying to give him a bottle between 10-10:30 and then put him down and he tend to sleep for about 5-5.5 hours for us, which is nice. (the little bit of rice cereal that mysteriously found it's way into his bottle this week as well has worked! ;-) He wakes around 3ish and then has another quick bottle and then goes back down real easily and is out until 6 or so.

Here are some pictures from the past week:

He's growing like a weed - this week he started wearing 3-6 month clothing...I'm guessing he's probably close to 12 pounds at this point. He's VERY long and thin but starting to get the cute pudgy cheeks! We're real close to smiling...I'm thinking it may be this week!!

With the weather warming up we've been getting outside quite a bit. YEAH!! I got out three days this week for a nice walk (some days even two!) and then in the evenings when Ray gets home we've been going to Windham HS to walk and bike the grounds. It's been nice and Max just loves it! Here are a few photos of our adventure Thursday night!

Ray & I have been really good this week about exercising! He's been good for the past couple weeks but I finally went for a longer walk and realized how out of shape I really am so I walked every day except one this week and plan on going out this afternoon for a nice long one! In addition, my friend Pam & I are going to start swimming at least once a week at St. Josephs college. I'm actually thinking I may try and get a few additional days in during the week, drop Mason off at my Mom's for an hour and get a swim in! Last night I took Max up open swim and definitely got the itch to do some laps! (and was horrified getting into a bathing suit!) I love swimming and at one time it was a huge part of my life - I couldn't help but continually think of the incredible shape I was in during swim season in high school - I'd love to get that feeling back!

Next weekend we have a busy weekend. I'm walking a 6.6 miler for MS with my sister (part of training for the Avon walk) Saturday morning, then I will be seeing one of my long time friends, Arin at her bridal shower Saturday afternoon and then Sunday Max has his best buddy, Owen's 3rd birthday party! Busy, busy!

So that's what's new in the Arbour household!

Terrible (but certainly entertaining) THREES

Three has been the most challenging year with Max behaviorally, but at the same time the most entertaining! Max is quite a character. He oftentimes comes off being shy but don't let it fool you - he's not!! Last night after his bath I asked him to run upstairs and get his nighttime diaper. The little bugger came down with one of Masons! So I thought - okay well then I'll put Mason's on him...

Needless to say we were in stitches for quite some time! Max hammed it up and danced all around- it was quite comical!! Good way to end a day! :-)