Fall & playoff baseball are upon us!!!!

I guess we've been quite busy lately or at least that's an excuse for not blogging recently. Being back at work makes it more difficult to have any length of time on the computer...

Roman is still smiling and cooing a lot. He also likes to watch baseball and football with Joe. Go figure. He has been doing great at daycare and all of the teachers brag about how good he is. We also hear the same about Ava but I'm tempted to get some of her temper tantrums on video and show them to the teachers so they can see Ava, Side B. She seems to be adapting well at school and continues to open up to her "friends". One of the teachers told Joe last week she didn't think Ava was ever going to talk but she finally is! Again, she never stops talking at home. She also has mastered "selective listening" and earned a few timeouts this weekend because of it. It's mainly a problem when she's literally laying on top of Roman when he's in his bouncy seat and refuses to move when we ask her to. Someday, he will pay her back; I just know it.

The highlight of the week, and month... oh hell, the year so far, was watching the Brewers clinch a spot in the playoffs today with a win over the Cubs and a Mets loss to the Marlins.
I was lucky enough to be able to take Ava to the game on Friday night, thanks to my awesome friend, Christy. She had two extra tickets at the last second and asked if we could go. We were unable to get a babysitter with such short notice so I took Ava and we had a fun girl's night out. Ava was well behaved (until she hit the wall after 10pm) but the licorice, suckers, peanuts, hot dog, Mike N' Ikes and cheese fries kept her busy most of the night. I don't think she had any idea what was going on but she talked about it today when we were watching the game on TV.Yesterday I took Ava to Beloit for their Homecoming and the 1st annual Alumni Softball game. She got upset when I had to go on the field and play 1st base but those Twizzler's Pull N Peels came in handy again. She also kept yelling, "What are you doing Momma" when I'd put the helmet on to go bat. I'm proud to say I made contact all three times but only came away with one hit. After three innings, we were happy to hear the grills were turned on and cold beer was available. Unfortunately, my lack of fitness these days means every muscle I used to run, throw and swing a bat are sore today.Special shout out to my college friend, Kris, who says she enjoys reading my blog to stay caught up on our lives: Hi Sheriff, it was great to see you this weekend!!!!

Christy, thanks again for the tix...!

Back to some normalcy

I officially ended my maternity leave last week and started work again this Monday. It was also Roman's first day at daycare. He did great and slept most of the day. Ava even got a chance to visit him during the day as their classrooms are just down the hall from each other.

Ava continues to be very protective of her brother and gets quite concerned when he's crying. She's usually the first one to his side to see if his paci fell out and she will put it back in for him. She also makes silly faces and sings to him and he gets the biggest kick out of it. He is really smiling and cooing a lot these days.

I will have Wednesdays off so we did some shopping this morning and spent a little bit of time outside today enjoying the beautiful day.

The Booch

Roman inherited a nickname shortly after he was born. It started out innocent enough but I'm started to get concerned that this nickname will follow him longer than he may like.Ever since he's been in the picture, big sister Ava takes it upon herself to repeat everything I say to him as if she were the one in charge. Ya know, just little things, but after awhile, I realized I sometimes need to watch what I say. She does this with her dolls, too, and it scares me because when I look at her, I'm really looking at myself, get it? Last night she said to her doll, "if you do that one more time, I'm gonna put you in a time out!" Oops.

So... to make this long story longer, Ava started mimicking the baby talk I was doing to Roman. One morning I must have said something like, "Hello my little oochie boochie" (in that silly baby talk voice). Within hours, she was repeating, "Hi, my boochie" and that was it. Boochie was born. Simple as that. No more Roman, Romeo, RoJo, etc. Just Boochie.

It's to the point now that in this house, he's now referred to as "The Booch." Like, "How's The Booch doing" or "when is the last time The Booch ate?"

To Ava, he's "My Boochie". This morning she said, "can you take My Boochie out of the crib so I can kiss him?" When we get ready to leave for her school in the morning, she says, "don't forget My Boochie". Recently, we've taken it to the next level. Ava's known as Big Booch, I'm Momma Booch and Joe is, you guessed it, Papa Booch.

The Booch...

It's already September!

I can't believe it's the 1st of September already. Winter will be here before we know it but you'd never know from the current heat wave we're having. It's supposed to be 92 tomorrow. Ava and I have enjoyed going to the local watering hole recently; no, not a bar but a "splash pad" or zero depth pool as some call it. It's little fountains sprouting up through the ground and little sprinklers splashing from overhead. She enjoys filling up her bucket and watering the "flowers" in the surrounding grass. Little does she know they're actually weeds but I'm sure the parks department doesn't mind considering were experiencing a drought... one of the driest Augusts on record. Today we were lucky enough to meet up at the splash pad with two of my friends from college, Cara and Fred, and their adorable son, Jack. Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of them but the kids really didn't play together anyhow; they kinda did their own thing. Maybe next time...

Our deck is finally complete! It still needs to be stained but it's built and usable. Now we just need to find the right time to have a party to show it off! Here are two pictures looking from our bedroom window the 2nd floor.

Roman, A.K.A. Boochie (don't ask), is 7 weeks today. He is really starting to smile and it melts my heart every time!