Random thoughts..

I feel as though I've been kinda slacking on my blogging-I end up using the days such as house tours, or Lou's Tuesday's to fill the week and haven't really been sharing my thoughts. So here are some random thoughts from me!

Dominic's teething: I feel as if Dom's been cutting teeth for 4 months now. Every day his gums are more swollen, he's drooling more and tugging at his ears-but no teeth..yet. I just want some relief for him and for us! He's on a steady diet of teething tablets, baby Tylenol and baby oragel at night. I give him ice to chew on in his mesh feeder and Sophie the Giraffe is always within arms reach. It has seemed to get worse the last week or so with Dominic waking earlier at night and not napping as soundly. It's hard to believe he's going to be 8 months old in less than 2 weeks and we still haven't seen teeth! It just breaks my heart to see him uncomfortable.

I get asked all the time if Dominic is crawling yet. The answer is no. He isn't a huge fan of being on his belly so it's hard to try and get him to all 4's. He does, however as I found out this morning-scoot on his bottom to get places. And quite speedily may I add. Part of me thinks he is going to skip crawling altogether and just walk when he's ready. I really don't mind that he isn't mobile yet...we haven't completely baby proofed and it's nice to not have to chase him around just yet! He is on track developmentally in every way so I am not concerned.

Today is the first day of July, which means it's that much closer to the fall semester starting. I will be taking 3 classes next semester. Anatomy & Physiology II, A&P Lab, and Cross sectional Anatomy. These classes are extremely time consuming and I've managed to schedule them all in 2 days during the week. As afraid as I am to start a new classload (and possibly tarnish my 4.0 cumulative GPA) I am most afraid to put Dominic in some sort of child care. He's definitely going through the stranger/clingy phase. I usually can't walk out of the room without him crying, screaming and reaching for me. I can only imagine what it would be like if I left him for the majority of the day. But the inevitable is approaching quickly....any tips, suggestions, advice?

On an unrelated note.....Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince comes out July 15th!!!!!! Yippee!!! **I wanted to post a few pics but Blogger is being bratty today**

Tuesdays with Lou

We’re half way through 2009!

With only 6 months left this year I decided to look at the goals I set for this year back in January. I set 6 goals for myself. I am on pace to achieve 4 of those goals. I’m hoping to run a 5K later this year. I have spent nearly every possible minute with my family which is extremely important to me. I’ve also kept true to sending my nieces and nephews birthday cards on their birthdays. Brooke and I are a little behind on our date night each month goal. I think we’ve only had about 4 and we should be at 6 by now so looks like we’ll just have to make up for it in the second half of the year. I still think I can achieve the other 2 goals but it’s going to take some work. I’m on pace with my running to meet my weight loss goal and I’m hoping to clear some time to study for the CPA exam. This year is going by way too fast.

Prayer Bear

Each night Brooke and I give Dominic his bath together. After his bath Brooke gets Dominic ready for bed while I clean up from the bath and get his room ready. Before Brooke puts Dominic in his crib she gives him this little bear. The bear says the standard “bedtime prayer.” This is very special to us as this is Dominic’s way of praying each night before bed. He has learned to love this bear and has a good time smiling and laughing and even chewing on him while the prayer is going on. Prayer Bear is kept right by his bed to keep him safe throughout the night.

Lebron and Shaq

You heard it here first. In my June 2nd post I said I was hoping the Cavs would get Shaq then BAM 22 days later Shaq is a Cavalier. I know he only has about 3 years left but he’s still huge and can be dominant when he’s on the floor. He’s not going to give you as many minutes as he could several years ago but you don’t need him to with this team. We still have Z and he could use a break in his minutes because he’s getting older too. This was a perfect move for the Cavs because we got rid of Ben Wallace who was going to retire anyway and even if he didn’t he is not nearly as good as Shaq. We also got rid of Sasha who has promise but wouldn’t see the floor on this team. We got Shaq without giving up anyone significant to our run at a Championship next year.

The other benefit to getting Shaq is his contract expires after this year which would free up enough cap space to sign another younger big name player next summer in a big free agent year. We’ll hopefully have won our first NBA title by next summer and can either keep the team in tact with Shaq or sign a younger all star to replace him. We can also offer Lebron more in salary than any other team can next summer. We live in a global world now and Lebron can be a worldwide icon in Cleveland, Ohio. He doesn’t need to be in a big market to make more money or build his status. Lebron is a hometown guy who will retire a Cavalier. Let’s hope I’m as right on this one as I was on Shaq coming to Cleveland. We’ll find out next summer.

Thanks

I just wanted to give a quick thank you to the comments from last week about our cell phone dilemma. We’re probably going to stick with Verizon and just keep hoping the I-Phone will eventually be available with Verizon.

Misc Monday

Mommy's new "do"
Daddy & Dom

Things got a little messy during lunch

Lorain's International Festival was this weekend. Picture taken from our neighborhood while on a bike ride.

Dominic in his ducky tub!

Show Us Where You Live Friday

It's time for another installment of "Show us where you live Friday" hosted by Kelly's Korner. (I would totally insert a link if I knew how! Sorry Kelly!) This week's featured room is the "Master Bedroom." Enjoy your tour!
Looking in from the hallway. We painted the one accent wall a robin's egg blue. I love the way it makes the white sheer curtains *pop*. I also really like the black cubes that are hung on the wall. I added some candles in there as a filler.
Our King Size bed-quite possibly our greatest purchase when two adults sleep with two dogs every night. You can see the ottoman placed at the end of the bed so TJ can get into bed. I love having such a big window as well, we get a great view of sunsets & the Bascule bridge going up. Sadie decided to sneak into the picture as seen at the bottom left.

Here you can see the linen closet and entry into our master bathroom.

The wall plaque above our bed. Obviously, a favorite quote of mine. :)

Looking in from the bathroom. The glider doesn't match-but I won it on The Price is Right (I won two and the other is in the nursery) so it's staying! :) This is usually where I would go over notecards and study my Anatomy & Physiology. Just a quiet area to read.
Another view into the master bath.

To the left is the walk in closet. I would have included a picture, but it wasn't quite up to picture par! ;)

I had to add this! Dominic was not too patient while I took pictures of the room.

Clearly he wanted me to take pictures of him. He's such a ham!

He was much happier once I focused on him! He looks so small in our bed! <3

Thanks for stopping by! :) Sweet dreams!!

3 Words Thursday

@BrookeGrasso

Tuesdays with Lou

Fathers Day Weekend

I spent Saturday and Friday evening away from my family to attend a good friends wedding in Toledo. Brooke stayed home with Dominic so I went by myself. Brooke is more than just my Wife, she is my best friend and to not have her with me Friday and Saturday night was very different for me. We do everything together. We don’t do guys night or girls night because what’s the point in hanging out with your friends while your best friend is at home or with someone else. We love doing things together so this weekend was very odd for us both. I also cherish every minute I get with Dominic and when you work 40 hours a week that’s time I miss with him. Being away made Fathers Day on Sunday all that much better as I enjoyed being with my family a little more than I already do.

Brooke/Dominic got me a new pair of crocs and a new money clip along with a few other little gifts. Brooke got the money clipped engraved, “I Love You Dad. Love Dominic.” It’s a beautiful reminder every time I buy something to see, “I Love You Dad.” Thanks Brooke and Dom for a great Fathers Day!

Bike Seats = OUCH

I picked up our gently used bikes last week. After my inaugural ride with Dominic I quickly realized we needed new seats. On Sunday we bought two new bigger seats hoping it would make for a more comfortable ride…WRONG. Okay it was better but still it wasn’t painless. I’m debating getting a gel seat cover and putting it overtop of the original seat. If you’re a bike guru or have a tip or seat that would help please let me know so I can return the old ones. I’m hoping with nice comfy seats we can take long family bike rides in the metro parks since Sundays first trip around the Development was a huge success.

Cell Phone Dilemma

I’m eligible for an early upgrade and $100 off a new phone July 26th. I have been with Verizon since 2002 and Brooke joined our family plan when we got married. The majority of my family is on Verizon (free in-network), they have a huge network and we have a good plan. I am still using the Treo 650 which I’ve replaced about 2 times through the insurance. I like the Treo and there isn’t a phone out there I like more for Verizon. We looked at the Blackberry Curve a couple months ago. I’m extremely irritated Verizon won’t let you get a blackberry or internet based phone without paying for internet service ($30 per mo). So if Brooke and I wanted Smart phones but didn’t want to use the internet all the time we’d have to pay an extra $60 a month regardless! I think the other carriers do the same thing but wish there was a way around it.

My dream is for Verizon to sell the I-Phone. I’m on the fence about wanting to go with AT&T just to get the I-Phone. I don’t get a great signal in my Office with Verizon which is a good reason to switch. If I wait until November I’ll be out of my contract so I could leave at that point. AT&T has an exclusive contract with Apple to sell the I-Phone into 2010. Verizon and Apple are discussing the possible development of an iPhone for Verizon, with the goal of introducing it next year. This would be a huge blow to AT&T who signed up 1.6 million iPhone customers during the first quarter 09 — 40% of them new to AT&T. It makes sense Apple would develop an I-Phone for Verizon so they could sell phones to a network with 80 million customers. If you have an I-Phone or AT&T let me know if there is anything bad with it. Either we stick it out with Verizon and wait for our upgrade until sometime next year or upgrade now and then pay extra if the I-Phone is available next year. We could also join AT&T in November and both get I-Phones. It’s a tough decision we’ll have to discuss.

*Running update: Since June 11, 2009 I've ran 31.35 miles. It's not getting any easier to get up a half hour earlier though.

Misc. Monday

Father's Day Bike Ride!!

Lou & Dominic getting ready for our first family bike ride!

He's such a happy boy!

How cute is this!? I am so glad the baby seat came on the "boy bike", the saying is not true-you CAN forget how to ride a bike and I am certainly proof!!

Can you believe this view is right in our neighborhood!?

Dominic, cruising and squinting into the sun
Me on my new bike!

Weeeeee! Once I changed out of the 6th gear, riding got MUCH easier!

How pretty!

The area of our development now sits upon.

Me, after my first bike ride in MANY MANY years--ugh!

"When are we going again!?"

Happy Father's Day!

I want to wish a VERY Happy Father's Day to my wonderful husband! He is such an amazing father. Every time that I see him with our beautiful son-I fall further in love with him! Here are a few of my favorite photos of the two of them.

Love at first sight.

Our family!
I just love this picture! Daddy & Dominic

Dominic sure does love his Daddy! :)

Happy Daddy's Day! :)

Show Us Where You Live Friday!

This week on "Kelly's Korner" the featured room is Playrooms/Bonus Rooms/Laundry Rooms. I was excited because we actually have a Bonus room. We recently re-decorated the room to make it a safe playroom for Dominic when he is mobile. What I love most about the room is the fact that there are NO cords in reach for Dominic, there isn't a TV or DVD player that he could reach up and grab. The couch is very soft and the room is open--perfect for playing! :) Thanks for taking a look!

If you've noticed in the other room tours, our decor isn't extremely "girly" and when we decided to paint the walls of this room-I jumped at the chance to have a peaceful purple room!

You can see attached to the ceiling is a HD projector. LOVE IT! This was Lou's dream (a media room) and added the surround sound. We plan on having an actual "movie theater" type room when we eventually move.
This room is still in the works. We haven't installed the curtain hooks or added pictures to the frame. I plan on using all black & white photos in here.
This was SO easy and I love the way it turned out. We were going to frame in the screen but decided that we would just leave a white strip on the wall. Thank goodness for a laser level! The white square inside the white strip is actually a piece of paper that is covering a light switch we had moved...the room is still in the works! lol But look--nothing plugged into outlets but the safety covers! :) You can also see the door to the half bath on the right. (the butterfly bathroom)

The picture is actually very clear but at the time we were watching "Hells Kitchen" and clearly this potential chef was cooking up a storm! I can't wait to watch some Buckeye Football games this fall on the 90 inch screen!

One of our wedding gifts, from Lou's cousin Nicole and her husband, Jared. Isn't it so neat?! This still needs a black & white photo to replace the colored one.

I'm so proud of this!! I actually bought the large "G" and placed a matted frame around it. You can really see the different levels & shadows in person.

This room is on the first floor of our three story home...I'm planning on spending a lot of the HOT summer down in the coolest room! Thanks for taking a look! :)