Epiphany / Insane Ramblings....

So I had this grand epiphany the other day...

It seems that my 9-to-5 job is the source of all my life’s problems:

1) I have to send Jake to a daycare in this god-awful hick town, because that is where my job is.

2) I spend waaaaaay too much money sending Jake to daycare, since I am at work all day, making money.... to pay for daycare.

3) I have to spend money gassing up the car to drive to - guess where? - work.

4) I stay up waaaaay too late at night working on my freelance jobs because I get home too late from work. And then, of course, I am extremely tired in the morning.

5) I have to get out of bed early because I have to go to work, which makes me a very cranky and not-nice person all around.

6) I don’t get to spend any time with my husband or my son because I spend over an hour each day commuting, and 8+ hours a day at work, and when I do see them, I am a tired and not nice person.

7) The daycare hates me because my schedule is erratic due to things like my doctor’s appointments, Jake’s doctor’s appointments, dentist appointments, chiropractor appointments, car servicing appointments, all of which are located in the town we live. They want me to drop off Jake first, then go to my appointments. BRILLIANT! This means I have to drive 120 miles in one day to get him to daycare on time (30 miles south), go to my appointments (30 miles back up north), drive back down to work (30 miles south again), then back home at the end of the day (30 miles back up north). In the rental car, this is a full tank of gas. In one day. At $2.89 a gallon (on a good day). And two hours of pointless driving.

8) I take crap from the daycare simply for trying to run all of the errands that it takes to live one’s life and operate one’s family in a given day. All of this could simply be avoided if I took care of Jake myself and had the free time to run these errands, go to these appoinments, get my freelance work done during normal hours (as opposed to 2 am, seriously).

So the grand solution here is to quit my job. My plan will work wonderfully for the first 2 weeks, until the bills pile up, the eviction notice is posted and my car is reposessed.

But then, if I have no car, I don’t have to pay for gas and bring it in for service and drive a rental. And if I have no house, I won’t have to worry about cleaning it up and doing laundry and dishes all the time. With all of the walking I am doing (since car has been repossesed), I will finally lose all of this pregnancy weight.

But winter is coming and we will have no place to sleep at night....hmmmm... Perhaps we can live in Ralph’s Honda? He works from home, so we can drive around in our office / home / daycare center / dog house. But then where will we shower and go potty? Using porta-potties and fast-food bathrooms are not my idea of fun. Plus that whole germ-a-phobic thing I have...

Can we come bunk with you guys, the readers of the baby blog? Tee hee. I am losing my mind....

Ok, back to work before I get fired.

Video: Eating Cereal

Yeah! Jake is 5 months old already! (how???)

Here are two 40-second (silent) movies of Jake "enjoying" rice cereal. Daddy fed him while mommy kept him distraced from the ucky taste. Lots of fun!

Car Update

So it turns out the fuel pump is to blame for yesterdays car troubles. Apparently you need fuel for the car to go. (laughing). They are ordering the new part, the warranty will cover this mayhem, and I get to keep driving the armpit-mobile for another 2 days.

Speaking of that, the rental car is still a thrill to drive {sarcasm}. There's nothing like consuming a quarter tank on the way to work, another quarter tank on the way back. This car guzzles fuel like a frat boy at a keg party. Chug! Chug! Chug!

Had another run-in with horrible day care witch. Will spare you the details but I was ready to get the boxing gloves on again. She actually won't talk to me face-to-face. She growls from another room with a caretaker as the poor middle man. Grrrr..... Such a bad situation. I was supposed to check out another daycare this morning but I slept thru the appoinment since I am sleep deprived to begin with and couldn't get up any earlier to go to another day care. But I gotta figure out something soon.

What a day...

So Mondays are bad enough to begin with, and even harder when it's the first day back from vacation. But today was a doozy.

My car broke down, in the middle of the road, as we were on our way to daycare this morning. I had to have a kind stranger help push my car off the road (thanks man!). The past year has not been a good one car-wise. My beloved Integra (may she rest in peace) was totalled last year, on I-95, when I was about 3 weeks pregnant with Jake (didn't know at the time). Then we got hit by a deer (still pregnant) in Ralph's Accord (we were okay in both accidents thank God). I bought a Mazda 3 hatchback, my current car, to replace my beloved Integra. I like this car, but I don't really care much about it either way. It usually runs just fine, has enough horsepower, and looks fairly stylish. But today, it decided to konk out on me, and I just don't have time for crap like that (ok, who does?). I waited 90 minutes for a tow truck and had to get Ralph to take Jake to the Evil Daycare Center 30 miles south. Then it was off to the rental car place. I won't bore you with the details of that lovely visit....

BUT....Anyone who knows me well shouldn't be surprised when I say that I am (1) an import car snob and (2) a germ freak. So any situation involving a rental car is about as pleasant as sticking a fork in my eye. Today I was issued a 2006 Ford POS minivan-type god-awful thing. (My sincere apologies to anyone who loves their Ford, and to anyone who owns a minivan. I don't mean to offend, it's just not my cup of tea.) The rental car company was kind enough not to charge me for the potpourri scent of armpit and pee that came standard with this car. Who says you don't get anything for free? (I have been scrubbing myself with baby wipes all day - ewww!)

I'm not a minivan type of girl, and I really really miss my little silver sports car. The fact that we are considering replacing my Mazda with an SUV (a Honda, of course!) in the near future is bad enough. But driving a rental car that I hate makes my Monday so much worse. I felt like the queen of uncool driving a minivan today. If you really press me though, I will admit the space was...well, nice. But that's all you're gonna get out of me...



Click to see my charting of the cars I have owned/driven since I was 16, and the coolness factor attached to each one....lol

The funny thing is....

It astounds me the things that make a baby laugh. Fans of the show Friends will recall the episode in which Rachel and Ross make baby Emma laugh by reluctantly singing the rap song Baby Got Back by Sir Mix A Lot: "I like big BUTTS and I cannot lie!" Well, it seems Jake has a similar sense of humor...

Last night, Ralph and I were scrolling around on the tube, and stopped on Comedy Central, where they were replaying one of our favorite movies, Friday. There's a part where they play the song Hoochie Mama that includes the lyrics "Big Booty Hoes!" I jokingly sung that part of the song out loud, and guess who cracked up? Jake thinks "Big Booty Hoes!" is absolutely hilarious. It's even funnier to him when I sing it with the bass beat beforehand (bum-ba-dum-ba-dum!), and Ralph bounces Jake up and down on his stomach and I yell it out loud - "BIG BOOTY HOES!". Jake erupts in laughter. We have been singing to him all day. The neighbors must think we are insane...

On the Booooardwalk...in Oooocean City!

Jake tries to take in all the sights on the boardwalk. He stayed awake the ENTIRE time both nights on the boardwalk.



Jake poses for a picture with Homer Simpson. He kept staring up at him like - "Who is that??"



Jake in front of a wall of Salt Water taffy in Candy Kitchen. We were there more times than we would like to admit. Can't beat the dark-chocolate-covered pretzels. We may need to stage an intervention, as Ralph and I are hooked.



Ralph poses for his high school yearbook picture.



Ralph, Grandma, Grandpa and Jake stroll the boardwalk. Kelly snaps pictures while walking backwards. She can also walk and chew gum at the same time.



Grandma, Grandpa and Jake stop for a photo-op.



This guy is the best puppeteer in all of Ocean City. I have to go find a picture that me and my friends from high school took with this same guy and his same dinousaur puppet 12 years ago...



Jake unwillingly gives up his dollar to the dino puppet.



Funnel Cake? Don't mind if I do! (no, we didn't really let him have any)

Pictures from Vacation 2006

It is much more economical to take a picture of Jake in the souvenir hat, rather than buying the hat.





Jake and Ruthie spend some quality time together.



Nose to nose.



A little too close!

More pictures....

Grandpa with Jake in the Baby Bjorn



Jake is protected from the sun in his new beach pop-tent (thanks grandma & grandpa!)



Jake playing inside his beach tent. He fell asleep quickly after this, so he still has not played in the sand yet. Maybe this afternoon once his mother stops blogging and starts playing with him....

Pictures?

Woo-hoo! The Holiday Inn on 66th Street in Ocean City has FREE wireless internet access in the lobby! The music is terrible, but you can't beat the price! Blog away!!!

Trying these picture things again...

Greetings from OC, MD!

We are on vacation and unfortunately the wireless internet connection we had last year in the timeshare is no longer working this year. Bummer! So right now I am blogging from the lobby of the Carousel Hotel, parked illegally, paying $9.95 a day to get wireless internet access, just so I can update you - the faithful readers of the baby blog! The pictures we took won't upload...argh! You know I will update when I get back though, ok? I wouldn't forget about you!

Picnic at Aunt Joanne & Uncle Lace's

...and by "picnic" I mean "eating seafood in Connecticut, poolside". Aunt Joanne is a world-class hostess. Uncle Lace is a whiz behind the bar, at the grill and a DJ extraordinaire. We always have a great time! I certainly married into the right family!!!! :)

Gavin is too adorable.


Aunt Jo picking teams for the Bocci tournament


Funniest. napkins. ever.


Uncle Bobby and Millie.


Brennan, taking life too seriously.


Ruthie knows some good food will drop sooner or later...


Greg is maxin' and relaxin'


Aunt Barb and Jake


Gavin and Kylie in the pool


Dylan blows out the Carvel cake for all the August birthdays (Dylan, Aunt Joanne, Ralphie)


Finally got all four Boyack kids together in a photo...

Batting Practice with Uncle Chris

Jake didn't seem too interested in learning about batting stances or how to grip your bat, but he did want to see how tasty the bat was...

Jake and the Boyack Kids...

It only took me until Wednesday night to finally edit all the photos I took over the weekend... good lord! Here are pictures of Jake and the kids horsing around at Mema Peggy & Aunt Barb's house.










Sometimes my camera captures way more than I wish it did. SOOO gross! (click to enlarge if you want to see the full slobbery picture)

Vasami Family Picture

Here is the entire Vasami/Mancuso/Boyack/Lancia crew at Aunt Joanne and Uncle Lace's house in Connecticut. Piper and Ruth even got in the picture, but Max and Millie (the Boyack's dogs) had a previous engagement by the pool.

Weekend Wrap-up Part 2

Jake's first meeting with the Boyack kids...

Jake is being held by Kylie, there's Dylan in the back, and Aunt Laura on the right.



MANY more pictures to come...

Big Weekend Wrap-up Part 1

One of my oldest and dearest friends in the world, Sarah Kee, is dating a wonderful guy named Michael who lives in Queens. Sarah found out last minute that both she and I would finally be in the same state at the same time, and we decided to meet up. Since she had not met Jake yet, she couldn't wait. I was happy to get to meet Michael too. He was a great sport as Sarah and I talked all things baby, and caught up for the first time in MONTHS! Here are two great pictures of Jake and Sarah in the Mamaroneck Diner, one taken by Michael, one taken by me:

Another one from the other day

Love the little bubble.... (click to enlarge)

New pictures...

Just learned some new digital photography / image processing stuff this week....ok, enough with the design geek-speak, here are the pics: