We Love our Aunt Merissa!

(Check out Merissa's blog, too, to see another tribute of love to his Aunt Merissa)

So Far So Good...

Well, we made it through yesterday, with mommy's eyes glued to the clock. I called Shannon only 3 times! She told me I could call more but I have to set my limits, ya know. MD was a trooper. He took 2 good naps, ate his food and was entertained by 2 little 3-year old girls all day. Besides mommy missing him horribly, all-in-all, a success.

He was wiped out, though, when I picked him up so he sacked out in the car. He slept about 20 minutes more after we got home so when he woke up he was sporting this great hairstyle.


This was MD on mommy's last Friday at home with him...making sure I smiled. I did.

Watching the Clock

Well, I've not been a clockwatcher at work for some time now (I guess since I worked at Norman. No offense, Norman. It wasn't you. It was me.) However, I'm finding myself glancing at my phone clock about every 5 minutes today. Why? Because today is MD's first day with Shannon, his new caregiver on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

I start back full-time next week so I had to find a 2nd person to watch MD. My mom is still watching him 2 days, but both she and I agreed that watching him 4 days a week was just going to be too much for her. So, I found a very sweet SAHM (for you non-bloggers out there, that means Stay At Home Mom) to take care of my sweet one for me.

Now, of course, I trust Shannon as I wouldn't have chosen her if I didn't...but, I'm still a mommy. And I still worry. It was in my nature before and it's really in my nature now. And, I'm not worrying as much as I am just being curious as to how he's doing. I called Shannon right after MD's breakfast and I could hear him toddling around in the background in her walker. She said he was having a good time...and no tears so far. So, I'm going to try real hard to not call her too much today (even though she said I could!) But I will be counting down the minutes to when I do get to call her next. And especially to when I get to leave to go pick him up.

Ah, MD, I really miss you. Our 3 days a week together just aren't enough. Don't you go sprouting any teeth or taking any 1st steps without me. Mommy (and daddy) deserve to get those firsts from you. I love you, stinker man. OK, I can't cry at work so I'd better stop...

Easter Recap

Well, MD got his fill of easter egg hunts this year. The 1st was a disaster but the 2nd and 3rd were a lot of fun!

Hunt #2
Our church, Rocky River Community Church, sponsored an egg hunt at Franke Liske Park this past Saturday. It was happily well organized and MD had plenty of candy-filled eggs to choose from. Oh, and he got his first taste of big-boy swings and looooved them!







Hunt #3
Mimi and Papa's church, New Hope Baptist, had an Easter celebration Sunday morning and followed it with an egg hunt for the kiddos. This time the eggs were filled with money! Unfortunately, MD doesn't understand yet that paper money is way more fun than coin money, so he mainly went for the eggs that made noise. It truly was a good time.

The Harrisburg Egg "Flop"

Being a first-time parent (or just a parent) makes you do crazy things, I guess.

I (and Tina) had been seeing signs for Harrisburg's Egg Drop for a while and thought it would be a lot of fun to take MD (and Blake) to. So, despite the continual forecasting of rain and Donnie's many hints (ignored by me!) about rain, we loaded up the family and made the half-mile trek to the Egg Drop. We parked about 2 feet from our house and began the long walk to the park.

Well, after running people over with our stroller, getting pelted by grass and dirt from the helicopter droppings, fighting other kids...I mean parents for eggs, and reassuring Michael Dean that the helicopter wasn't going to get him, we got ONE EGG! Most kids...I mean parents didn't heed the 5-egg limit warning so someone threw back one lonely purple egg and Grams snatched it up.

It really was a lot of fun because it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience (mainly because we'll never be stupid enough to do it again!) and MD experienced a lot of firsts...a loud helicopter, eating dead grass and a plastic egg, being outside during a thunderstorm and getting jostled around on Fred's drenched shoulder. Good times.

MD's One, Purple Egg

Happy Family Photo (before the rain and thunderstorms)

Double Trouble

Double Trouble X 2