Well, I have not written much in the past couple of weeks. I guess you could say I have been busy! We are in the middle of corporate site reviews and it is taking up most of my time. If you don’t believe me, take a look at this picture of my desk. Yes, I am a neat freak!

My nice clean desk!

I’m back to work today after enjoying the annual “Muscatello Family Beach Vacation”.  It arrived at the perfect time for Pete and me…. We were rundown, I had a nasty cold and Charlie was teething.  We spent the week along the North Carolina coast, a trip I’ve taken almost every summer since I was a baby. Now it was my time to show up with the little one, and boy did he make an entrance…. he was fiercely cutting his first teeth–2 of them!!  The first few days were… hmmm…. interesting.  Charlie was super cranky, had a rash, diarrhea, wouldn’t eat and wouldn’t sleep more than 2 hours at a time.  Luckily by Tuesday his second tooth had cut through the gum, and my happy baby boy returned for the end of the trip.  Whew.   

At the beach in North Carolina

Charlie also found a new octave in his vocal range.  I fondly call it “the pterodactyl”.  He shared his new screech with all of the passengers on our 2 1/2 hour plane ride home.  At one point I thought of opening up the emergency exit and jumping out.  I was “that person” with the screaming kid that everyone groans about as they try to relax on the flight.  Sigh.  Just another first in parenthood. 

Charlie the Pterodactyl

His first tooth and a sippy cup?!?!  Is Charlie really old enough for this?  I’m not ready!!

For whatever reason, the fact that his first tooth is trying to poke through his bottom gum and that it’s time to introduce him to a sippy cup is completely throwing me off.  He just seems too little.  Wasn’t it yesterday that I brought my 7lb, 10oz baby home from the hospital?  That his newborn clothing hung loosely from his body, that he layed like a lump in my arms for hours?

Everybody warns you that time flies by… and it’s moments like this that make me realize how right they are.  My little guy turns 6months old next week, is sitting up on his own, and laughs so hard at times that his shoulders shake. I… just…cannot… believe  it. 

Charlie, so far, (trust me I am knocking on wood) has handled teething okay.  He’s been rubbing his face alot, chewing on his fingers and anything else he can manage to put into his mouth, and, of course, drooling.   He also has an inflamed, white bump in his lower gums that his babysitter informed me is his first tooth making it’s way out.  Is it weird that my reaction was to scream, “NOOOOO!!!”  

Luckily,  he hasn’t been overly fussy and he’s been sleeping even more than usual. 

As for the sippy cup, after reading for the last few weeks that 6months is around the time to introduce them to babies, I finally broke down and bought some yesterday.  I’ll let you know how it goes.  They “guarantee” that they are spill-proof, but my mommy friends tell me that’s a bunch of you-know-what.

It wasn’t too long ago that our mobile web numbers meant nothing. The users numbered in the dozens and did not impact ournumbers for web visits or ad impressions at all. I am all about our numbers here at WPRI.com!

Things are different today!

(more…)

While his little discoveries each day may bring much surprise and delight to his mom and dad, it appears my Charlie is hitting developmental milestones and funny quirks by the book.  For example, I was reading in my What to Expect the First Year book–a great resource for a first time mom–about the life of a 6-month old when the subject of fear of baths showed up.  “Funny,” I thought, “Charlie loves the bath.  It’s one of our favorite evening activities.” 

I’m not kidding when I say that literally 2 nights later I was putting Charlie in the bathtub when all of a sudden he started screaming.     It was a terrified, hysterical screech like I’ve only heard out of him a few times (Mainly when we’ve had some unpleasant medical tests done).  I thought it was a freak event because we were in a strange place and I had him in the “big boy tub”.  But, alas, last night we were back home, and I tried to give him a bath in his comfy infant tub, and it was the same hysterical screaming event.  All I can figure is that Charlie was watching me wash down the hotel bathtub before I bathed him and was freaked out by seeing the water going down the drain. Perhaps, he fears the same thing will happen to him when he gets into the bath?  As irrational as it seems to adults, apparently babies have no size perception yet, so they can’t rationalize that there’s no way they’d squeeze down the drain. 

Now, our challenge will be to show Charlie in the coming months that baths are not scary.  The experts say it’s unwise to force a frightened baby into the tub.  Instead they suggest giving them as much time as necessary to get over the fear—by playing with bath toys outside of the tub, taking baths with mommy or daddy, and until he’s comfortable, going back to giving him sponge baths (Ugh!). 

Charlie’s other noticeable development in recent days is to sleep on his belly.  He’s been sleeping with his knees tucked underneath him and his little bottom up in the air.  It’s adorable (after I got over my fear of SIDS).   I’ve tried forcing him onto his back, but he rolls right back over, so once again I’ve had to surrender control.

There is a new website that is supposed to save you money on household items like toilet paper and cleaning supplies. Better still – you can do it all online, delivery is free and coupons are supposed to be right there for your use.
We have an article about it on wpri.com – It’s called Alice.com.
I am going to check it out myself and will keep you posted.

Snarge. Impress your friends by using this odd sounding word in a game of scrabble. I had a rare opportunity to say snarge Tuesday night.

http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_news/local_ap_ri_bound_plane_returns_to_maryland_after_bird_strike_20090707_mds

In case you didn’t know…why would you… snarge is the ‘official’ term for what’s left after a bird hits a plane.

One of the hottest days of this chilly summer season claimed the life of a Warwick boy in a tragic accident. This week, his father talks about the loss for the first time.

(more…)

What a glorious weekend. It’s amazing what a little sunshine can do for your spirits.  We had a fantastic first 4th of July weekend with little Charlie.  We took in the sites and sounds of Bristol, Narragansett Bay and even took him to the beach in Newport for the first time. 

Loving the Beach!

Charlie loved dipping his toes in the water… it was too cute.

  The recent crazy weather has kept me from finding time to post recently, too.  Needless to say, I–like everyone else– am enjoying the reprieve from the storminess.

I have been saving a ton of money since we’ve adopted strategic shopping, but this is the first week I bought things just because of the deal and not necessarily because I use them all of the time – and let me tell you I am already regretting it. Don’t get me wrong – I didn’t go off the savings wagon. I bought $165.17 worth of groceries for $83.58 – a savings of $81.59 – almost 50% - Even better considering we haven’t gone shopping in 3 weeks or so. However, I need to keep myself from getting caught up in the high of getting a great deal – and to make sure I am buying only what we need and what we use. Let me explain.. (more…)