You tell me...

Is there anything better than when your baby falls asleep on you? I think not.

My favorite time of year!

It's sweatshirt weather!

Doesn't take much, does it? But, come on, how nice is it to wake up with a chill in the air and throw on a nice cozy sweatshirt? It's a good thing I work from home on Thursdays - might look a bit ridiculous if I went in to the office dressed this way.

I have a thing for sweatshirts. I know - I have a thing for coats, too. And flip-flops, right, Denise? Never you mind. =)

My poor husband can attest to being dragged back to a store on more than one occasion to buy a sweatshirt I initially passed over. There have been times when this meant going back to a town we were no longer visiting. He's a good, patient man. Love you, babe.

OK, back to my sweatshirts. I could probably wear a different one every day for a month. At least. I've got zip-ups and pullovers, hoodies and crew necks, really any kind of sweatshirt you can think of. I've got sweatshirts older than I care to admit. When I go somewhere, that's what I do. I buy a sweatshirt. Whichever one I've bought most recently tends to become my new favorite, and all the rest get relegated to the back of my closet (or a bin in the attic). With the exception of one gi-normous pink one I bought in San Francisco probably 10 years ago. That one's never far from reach, and it's the one I've pulled out for today.

We're looking at a high of 67 for today, and there's a frost warning for tonight. Better cover up my mums. 4 days 'til the official first day of fall, and I'm loving this early preview. Looks like it'll be a good weekend to pick some apples (and go to The Big E, of course!)

Oh, and yes, I do have a light blue zip-up hoodie like the one in the picture. =)

Best of friends to be

Today we visited our friends Adam and Chrissie and their 5 week old son, Timothy. He's such a cutie! He's grown so much since we first saw him at 2 days old. He's unbelievably strong - pushing up on his arms and pushing with his legs. I haven't decided yet who I think he looks like - I see both Mommy and Daddy in him.

Here are a few pictures from our visit. Matthew had a great time hanging out with his friend, and only had to be reminded a couple of times to be gentle! Won't be long before the two of them are rough-housing together!

Thanks for letting us come visit, guys!

Trip #1

Today we made our first trip to this year's Big E, and Matthew's first trip ever. I know, I know...opening day was yesterday. Believe me, I wanted to be there. Hard to imagine, but I've never been on opening day. Once again, it just wasn't in the cards. It was absolutely pouring last night, and even I'm not that nuts.

We tend to shy away on the weekends, just because it tends to be crazy busy. Today was unusual in that it was almost more quiet than the weeknights we usually go. It worked out perfectly - the weather was great for being outside, and we weren't forced to shuffle through like cattle like is typically the case on the weekend.

We had a great time, and Matthew really seemed to enjoy himself. He loved staring at the cows. I'd share some pictures of that, but my camera battery died when we got to the Mallary Complex. Figures - they had my favorite - Oreo cows (a.k.a. Belted Galloways). Don't worry - the battery's charging, and we'll definitely be going back there on our next trip.

Here are some shots I got before the battery croaked...

Inside the Main Gate

The Hallamore Clydesdales all hitched up

Don't you love how he puts his foot on top of the stroller?

The Budweiser Dalmatian

Just having fun!

Tootsie's fried dough. Didn't have any today, but we will, and we only buy it from the one that looks like this.

Millie's pierogi and golumpki, baby!

Matthew's soccer ball (or should I say football) from Ireland

The Eddy Law Office

Check out the tracks on this thing!

All tuckered out!

By the way, I must give special kudos to The Big E. I was looking around for an out of the way place to feed Matthew, and we decided to head toward the First Aid area. What a pleasant surprise when we saw a sign outside the New England Center for a Nursing Mothers Lounge. La Leche League has a curtained off area set up for nursing moms, complete with gliders, recliners, and a changing table with wipes and diapers of all sizes. Very nice!

Back in the land of the living

Man, it's been a while....

Life has been busy, work has been stressful, and I just haven't found the gumption to actually put a post together. I've concocted a bunch of pieces of posts in my head, but that's where it has stopped. So, here's an amalgamation of some of the things happening around here lately.

For any of you who read my sister's blog, you know that my brother and his family just moved back to CT. Dennis flew out to Vegas the Friday of Labor Day weekend, and he and my brother set out Saturday morning for the drive back across the country. At first I was jealous of all they'd get to see along the way. But the more I thought about it, I realized I'd be miserable driving for 16 hours like they did one day. I'd still like to do that someday - just not in less than 3 days. They landed at our house around 5 p.m. on Labor Day, tired and ready to be out of the car. Matthew was so happy to see his Daddy and Uncle Chris.





Notice how he gives kisses - grabs you on both sides of your head (usually by the hair) and plants one on you! Love that!

My brother stayed with us for that week (along with their dogs and cat) since his belongings weren't arriving until the weekend. Matthew enjoyed playing with one of the dogs, Rocco.



He also enjoyed playing with one of the presents Daddy brought him from the trip - a stuffed Ernie doll that he bought at the Iowa 80 truckstop. Here he is giving him a big smooch.



All the excitement of the week made Matthew extra tired. So much so that he fell asleep standing up in his activity center. How sad (but cute) is this picture??!



Then, this past weekend was move-in weekend, but not before a quick trip to The Big E to get our pictures taken for our 17-day value passes. I love going there before it's open - you get to drive around all the roads and see everything being set up. We saw the milking cow from the Farm-A-Rama being delivered!



We spent the rest of Saturday helping Chris move in. Well, I should say Dennis helped, along with my cousin and a friend of my brother's. Matthew and I just hung out, although we did make ourselves useful going to Big Y to get lunch stuff for everyone (with the help of my cousin's daughter, Jenna).

On Sunday, my brother and I ran around on a wild goose chase in search of the perfect mums. Dennis and Matthew hung back at home to watch the first Pats game of the season. It was a glorious fall day - couldn't have asked for better.



On Monday night, Allison, James and Ella flew in. Tuesday evening, they came over for a visit, and we got to meet Ella. She's so cute, and such a peanut! Matthew enjoyed playing with James and showing him all his toys.





So, that's the news. While I haven't been posting, I have been reading a lot of new blogs. Check out the additions to my blogroll. One that I must highlight is this one, especially this post. I must make this ASAP.

That's all for now. Be back soon.