Look at my new sink!

Hi Everyone,

This could be an ad for Kohler. Look at this sink. Isn't it the cutest sink you have ever seen? It's just the best one ever! It looks great with the faucet, the bubbles and the toys. They only thing better would be big brother next to him!!

Too Cute!

Would you like fries with that?

Hello All,

I hear that they are sending out roses from McDonalds now. And I get excited about a free cup of coffee. Does anyone know anything about the roses, do you have to do anything/anyone special to receive them?

hmmmmmmmmm

GOTCHA-DAY!!!! 2 years ago!

I can't believe that it has already been 2 years that this little guy has blessed our hearts. I can remember this day 2 years ago like it was yesterday, and I cannot even remember what I had for lunch today. This picture was taken for our first meal as a FOREVER FAMILY! We of course had to dress him in a Cubs outfit. Mike and I arrived in Guatemala that morning around 6 am, we were so excited and so tired all at the same time. We checked into the hotel and thought maybe we would be able to get some breakfast and then a short little nap before Evan's arrival. He was due to be at the hotel around noon. I ate pancakes, that always makes me tired. Then we went to the room and both just laid on the bed, I don't think either one of us thought we would fall asleep. At 10:45 am the phone rang, I couldn't figure out what that noise was. Finally I grabbed the phone. It was our attorney Heidy, she was in the lobby with Evan and the foster family! Mike and I showered in 2 minutes, we were in the lobby at 11:00. I was so excited, nervous, anxious, ready, but most of all happy to be seeing our little guy again. The foster mom was sitting on a couch with Evan all wrapped up in about 6 blankets, the foster dad was kinda pacing around. Evan was sleeping. Heidy greeted us and re-introduced everyone. The foster mom had big sunglasses on, I think she had been crying. I was trying to hold it together. I had a pen and paper ready for taking notes about our new baby, what did he like, how did he like to be held, what was he eating, did he like to be rocked. I tried to pay attention to Heidy as she told me everything the foster mom said. But all I was thinking was, 'I want that little baby under the blankets'. I was writing all kinds of things down, for the life of me, I don't have a clue what I wrote, or whatever happened to that paper. Finally Evan started to stir. He kinda popped his head up, and he was so cute! He just looked around and watched. Finally after what seemed like 10 hours, I said to the foster mom 'can I hold him', can I hold him like for the rest of his life!!! She slowly unwrapped him, it took her about an hour. Finally he was handed to me! His mom! Oh My God, I thought I was gonna die right there! He just laid his head down on my chest like he totally knew that I was his new mama! In the blur of things, I heard Mike trying to figure out how to turn on the camera, I heard the foster dad snapping photos of Evan and Mommy, I heard the attorney say, 'look, he knows that is his mama'. Then I don't know what happened. I just remember I was holding on to him like I had never held anything before. I know that I thanked the foster mom a million times for taking care of my little boy, for loving him and kissing him until I got there. Then in a blur Mike and I were up in a hotel room with a little person, who we knew liked formula, who needed 2 naps a day and needed our attention. We quickly dressed him in his Cubs outfit and then went to lunch. When I look back at that part, I am still amazed. We show up in Guatemala as husband and wife, now 5 hours later we are a family! I do remember that first time going down to the lobby with Evan, thinking that someone was going to come up to us and take him away. Like we made a mistake, we checked your paperwork, you need to give him back.

Our lives are wonderfully better since we had these babies. Evan is such a sweetheart. I love just to look at him. Even when he is having a fit about something, I still think he is the sweetest thing ever. March 28 we accepted his referral, July 16 we met him for the very first time, September 23 he was placed in our arms forever. I hope this blog is still on line when he gets his first girlfriend, she had better love him like his mama does!

We are so blessed! I think about how long it took to bring him home. We were so lucky with both of our boys to be able to bring them home so soon. So many families have the dreaded waiting game, that last forever. We waited, but we were so lucky. Somebody must be looking out for us.

Evan is napping right now, so when he gets up, we will have cake and balloons and Mike and I bought him a new James engine with bees on it. He loves James. Don't worry it's not a recalled one. Then he will just spend the rest of the day running around the house, tormenting Nick and getting into everything possible.

One Happy Mama.

Something you don't ever think that your mother would say ...

Tonight on the phone with my mom, my mom was talking about the boys, that is normal. Then she says, "have you ever noticed how big Nick's penis is?" Ok, well that is something that I would never think that I would hear from my mother, and I am sober! So I casually respond, "Mike thinks that is why he is so happy, he knows already". She laughs, I laugh and we move on to the next topic! I love my mom!

I love my Nicky's noodle, I mean I love my Nicky noodle!!!

Here is a picture of Nick on the steps that my dad built, so that they can look out the window all day long. This will be the subject of many fights this winter I imagine. When the snow is flying and mommy is snug in the house and the boys are dying to get outside, they will at least be able to look at the snow!

Favorite Friday Foto!

Who is this linebacker? I still love this picture of Evan, what a mug. Look at those cheeks, I thought we would need a full adult ticket when we brought him home. What a porker. He was 5 months old when this picture was taken. I remember getting his up-date from Larissa and then taking each photo all over NB to show them our beautiful boy. I'm sure I was crying the whole time, so I missed the funny expressions that were probably on family and friends faces! We are so lucky to have this little brown eyed boy in our home!

At Wrigley

Go Cubbies!!!!! September 18, 2007. Mike was so happy to take his little guy to a Cubs game, even though they lost.

Kinda excited

They got there for batting practice, Evan got a ball, so that made Mike's evening.

Getting ready for the big game

Daddy and Evan all decked out for the game. Sitting on the front porch reading up about the Cubs.

Check out the Andersons!!!

Attention!!!

Check

out the

Andersons,

good lord!!!!!

NB Hotties

Hi Girls,
I am finally free to be at the computer and post something. That was the longest 8 minutes in history! Look at the girls, do you notice 5 girls and 4 beers, no beer for Donna Sue. I won't talk about what happened at Brewsters. I didn't get to finish my pasta today, I made homemade chicken lasagna for my parents. It was yummy! Mike was home for lunch, then went into the office. I told my mom and dad that I always cook Mike a lunch like this! HA. He had the exact same thing for dinner. I had a wonderful time last night, I am still clicking around the house, just like Anne.

Now, when are we going to the Jodie Foster movie, let's make a plan!

I've only got 8 minutes ...

I better hurry and get this done, I only have 8 minutes! Oh Oh, I better go, I will write more tomorrow when my 8 minutes are done!

xoxo

ALL the way up the stairs

Yesterday on DAY 10, I was too worn out to post, well my heart was just beating too fast. Normally when I have to use the ladies room at home, both of the boys follow me in and are fascinated by most everything in the bathroom. Evan tells me 20 times over and over that I do not have a penis, OK I get that. And Nick opens all the drawers to use them as a stair case so that he can climb onto the vanity, to climb up to the light fixture, to jump over to the shower rod, to use it like he is practicing for the 2016 gymnastics! So I am doing my business with no entertainment for once, I might have sat an extra 2 seconds. So when I come out, Evan is sitting at the kitchen table looking at a book. I ask him where is Nick? He calmly states 'in the living room'. He is not. So I look by the front door, a favorite place of his, because he is always trying to escape. Then on to dad's office, that door is closed, so that is safe. Then down the hallway to the guest room, he is not in there or the guest bathroom. And I have to look everywhere because daddy has started playing hide-n-seek with the boys and Nick loves to hide in very small places. And when he does, he just sits until you find him, Evan on the other hand will repeat over and over, 'find me ma-ma', until you find him. Anyway, back down the hallway I head, back into the kitchen, check under the island, no Nick. Look in the new room, under the dining room, no Nick. I am just about to blame Evan for finally getting rid of his little brother, when I hear, much to my dismay, the pitter patter of little feet running down the hallway UPSTAIRS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG, I flew up the stairs in like 3 steps, around the landing and caught up with him as he was headed into our room! I was floored! I pick him up and very loudly, because my heart was beating so hard, tell him that he can not come up the stairs by himself. He just looks at me and grins. Then as I am walking down the stairs with him, he just looks over at me and puckers his lips, meaning he wants to kiss me. He had better kiss me after he almost gave me a heart attack! So I wanted to have a beer then too, but I didn't. I just kinda sat down with both the boys and tried to breath normal again! Nicky is going to be in the ER way before Evan ever is. He is a little dare devil.

Today is DAY 11 ... I think

Today was a hard day. We started off by heading up to Benton Harbor YMCA to check out a class for Evan and then looking into membership for old tub-o (me). Well, we were late for Evan's class, so we just got a look at the place. It it a wonderful place and has great classes, for both Evan and I. But I am afraid the drive would kill me. Especially in the winter, I am not a good snow driver. Although, I might be better, now that I have my mom car. (right at this moment the boys are DUMPING out every toy they have all over the place, and Mike should be home in like 10 minutes!!) Anyway, I think I will look into the YMCA (are you singing yet?) in Michigan City, a bit closer and maybe more do-able. So from there we go to McDonalds for lunch. Evan eats and then I have to bribe him into climbing on the play land stuff. He doesn't want to do any of it, regardless of the fact that Nicholas has climbed to the top and is jumping off like he is Superman! Finally, Evan starts to climb around in this germ infested jungle gym, and I am actually happy about it. Well, then this little 4 year old girl comes in, she starts playing with Evan. She is 4 so she is telling Evan what to do and where to climb and all that kind of stuff. So I am sitting there watching and being so happy. Nick is all over the place! Then my sweet little Evan hits this girl in the face, right if front of me and the other mom! OMG, I was in total shock. Now at home I am used to saying yelling at Evan to not hit Nick, but I was not prepared for this. So I make him take a time-out and he goes crazy!!!! He won't sit up, he is screaming at the top of his lungs, trying to take his shirt off and all the time I am just standing there in amazement. Then he says to me (in front of the other mom) "I hit Nicky at home". Well, yes you do Dameon, but not in public. I was so glad that we were out of town! We quickly ran to the car and came home. Evan went to sleep in about 2 minutes and looked like a little angel, little devil is more like it. By the time I was home, I was fine and one of Nancy's fancy brownies did the trick for me!!!!

Two cutest boys in NB

Look at these guys! In their matching Stray Dog shirts. They only way I could get Evan to smile like that was to tell him that right after mommy took 100 pictures of them, he could watch Thomas! And of course, Hop had to be in the picture. I wonder what Nick will start carrying around 24/7?? These steps go up to our upstairs, I caught Mr. Climber (Nick) on stair # 11 yesterday, don't tell daddy. He climbs out of anything and on everything. We never once had to use the straps in the high chair for Evan, but Nick gets strapped in like he is Britney Spears at the Old Country Buffet!! Today we went to Lowes and McDonalds, see how exciting my life has become! Anyway, he climbed out of the cart at Lowes and the high chair at McDonalds. Then Evan won't play on the big kid stuff, he just kinda stands and watches. But Nick he was right over there, like watch out, here I come.

Speaking of Britney Spears, I read one of the reviews about her performance at the VH1 or MTV or UPS show, which ever one, I don't have a clue. They just ripped her bulging stomach! Well, I am here to say, I would swap in a heart beat with her bulging stomach! Oh my, that poor girl, now I am not saying that she should have been in a bikini in front of millions of critics, but come on, the woman popped out 2 kids in like 1 year! I had 2 kids in 1 1/2 years, and I would never ever be in a bikini, at least on TV!

I need to go finish my Super Sized Double Quater Pounder with Cheese.

The counter top guys are here!!!

I have a giant headache! They were to be here between 10-12, they showed up at 12! They must be associated with the cable company! They are not very friendly either. I have had lots of workers in here and they have been so pleasant. But these guys are just plain cranky! I hope all goes well, I don't want to get in a fight with them. With my charming personality, you probably think that could never happen, right??

Today is DAY 7!!!!! I even survived yesterday. Mike had a hard day at work yesterday, he had a golf outing, poor thing. So he left at 9 am and returned home at 11 pm. Of course since he held Nick ALL DAY SUNDAY, Nick was screaming bloody murder when he left, how nice for mommy. The plumber was here and put in my beautiful sink. How funny is that, I am getting excited about a sink, where have the years gone? The boys and I walked to the beach and caught the rail road tracks being fixed. So all of these different RR vehicles were going by right in front of us, Evan's eyes were as big as saucers. It was kinda like watching Mike watch the Playboy channel. All the guys were honking at us, so Evan loved that. Then when we got to the NB bridge, there was a guy fishing. So we had to stop and watch him. He was just bringing in his catch for the day, only one fish. He asked us if we wanted it? HA HA We made it to the beach and Evan came home covered in sand. Good day.

Well, I wonder if these guys need help carrying in the counter tops? I'm afraid to go into the kitchen, they are making lots of noise!

Yesterday Nick drove the Retro Rocket down into the living room. I was at the island making Evan something to eat and we hear this noise and then crying. Evan runs over to the landing and says 'mama Nicky big crash'. He survived, he is going to be my dare devil. I know have to strap him into his high chair. If I don't he climbs right out, I wonder if he is trying to tell me something about what I am feeding him!

Gotta run and help the workers!!! I have on my Zoning badge today!

Mouth Surfing??

Mouth Surfing, now that is an interesting thought. I learned a new one yesterday from Rah-Rah. So how are the other body parts today girls, just wondering?

HOORAY!!!!!!!!!!

HOORAY, HOORAY!!!! The plumber is here! You know what that means, next the counter top guy will be here. Then the tile guy for my back splash. Then the wallpaper lady (my sister). Then the final painters. Then the furniture shopping. Then the big PARTY! I cannot wait. The plumber just asked me when we started this project. I told him back in 1985! I am so ready to have a totally working kitchen and all my junk back in the cabinets and my junk drawers filled to the top!

So who thinks I made it through the weekend without drinking? Well, I guess you all know, because you were all here to see me not drinking. Now I'm on my water binge, because of Nancy the Nurse. So I had to get up 6 times last night to pee. Then every time you flush the toliet, Nicholas cries because he can hear EVERYTHING. So maybe I should go back to beer, because then my body will be dehydrated and I won't need to pee anymore.

I am writing a sympthy letter to the Regis and Kelly show to ask them to take my postcards that came back to me!!! Hopefully someone will have a heart and let me enter my 100 cards! That I hand wrote with 2 boys on my lap, both screaming the whole time! Then I have to walk down to the post office to over night mail my letter, the ladies at the post office probably think I am crazy. Oh well.

Have a great day and I'm sure something will happen to me today that needs to be posted.

OH MY

My wonderful husband is making dinner and I am trying to stay away from his glass of wine. I could use a big swig of that.

Trying to be the good girl that I am, I am sending some more clothes to the orphanage in Guatemala. So I e-mailed the guy that I sent things to before just to make sure that he was still involved. My blog address was at the bottom of my e-mail, great! Nancy thinks that I should hide these entries from Larissa and Sue also. I would do that if I knew how to work a computer! Do you have any idea how long it takes me just to post a blog. Is that what it is called?

Right this moment Evan is lining up his trains on the hearth. And Nick is looking for scraps of crackers! Oh my!

I need to win the van on Regis and Kelly!!!!!

OK, I had 100 of these postcards and I addressed them all, the van should be showing up any day now! How could they not pick those 2 adorable little guys!!

Barney Fife Messinger

Calling all cars, calling all cars. I took the boys to Niles, MI today to a going out of business furniture place. Tons of stuff and I only took the umbrella stroller. So that means one kid in the stroller, one kid on my hip. Well, we started with Evan in the stroller. That didn't last too long, too hard to push the stroller on carpet and Nick is heavy! (Not as heavy as Amy, but that is another story) So Nick is put in the stroller, Evan throws a mini fit, but I just walk away and pretend he is not with me, I think that makes him mad. Then I was ready to shop, I found some incredible sales. But about the exciting part of my day. We were headed home on 12, when I noticed a truck driving over all over the place in front of me. I quickly jumped on my cell phone and called 911. The guy was driving really bad, so I decided to follow him to see if the police really do show up. Well he pulls off the road I told 911, so I was like do I call 911 back and tell them where he is now? Then he goes by a school and I am just holding my breath. So about 30 seconds later, right as I was getting ready to do a citizens arrest, I already had my Zoning Committee badge on, a cop pulls up and zips between me and the truck. He follows very close behind him, and then pulls the guy over. I casually drive by and then I am out in the middle of nowhere and very lost. So I turn around and drive back by the scene of the crime. I'm thinking the cop will probably pull me over and tell me that I am such a good citizen for calling in a drunk driver, and then I can go on and or about how I don't even drink! (Well for 4 days at least) When I pull up by the cop car, the person is out of the truck and kinda weaving around. I say person, because I think it was a woman. Either it was the ugliest woman I have ever seen, or it was the ugliest guy I have ever seen with boobs. So that was my excitement of the day. We were coming home on Route 12 and thank God there was not a cop behind me, because after hearing 'ma-ma I need help' 37 times in a row, I was trying to pick up Henry and fix Evan's shoes and I was probably driving all over the place too!

WEIGHT

I did it tonight, I weighed myself. I was holding both Evan and Nick, so I'm sure it was a little bit more than what I thought it would be, oh brother!

On a much lighter note, when Diane was here she made a comment that she heard Evan say a 4 word sentence. Well tonight he said, "Look Mommy, Nicky is walking down the hallway again". I was really impressed with his vocabulary until I realized what hallway he was walking down! We were upstairs and I was folding laundry in my bedroom, the boys had been playing in Evan's room. By the time I got to Nick, he was standing at the top of the stairs peering over the side. I about had a heart attack! I got him in time and he of course was mad. So I brought him into my room and put him in an empty laundry basket, that lasted about 2 seconds. He is Mr. Speedo! I thought Evan was fast when he was little, oh boy, watch out.

This is DAY 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tired boy

Nicky was out after about the 5th inning. He will have many more games in his future

Cubs 2, Beers 0

Mike and I and the boys at the Cubs game. The other team won that night, but we managed to stay for most of the game and I had ZERO beers!!!

Day 3

What happened to DAY 2, well where do I start. Maybe I missed DAY 2, because that is how long it took me to figure out how to post on my blog!! I swear this blog thing could drive me to drink! I guess Tuesday was my first full day of not drinking, but it was a challenge! The day time part was fine, not having a shower until 2 p.m. was ok, watching Nick try to climb into the shower from the bath tub didn't even throw me over the top. I put him in a DRY tub with lots of toys while I shower, he tries the whole time to climb out of the tub to get to me. It's like watching a turtle try to get out of a fish tank. (Hope Larissa or Sue aren't reading any of this.) We went to Chicago for an evening Cubs game, oh that's any easy night of not drinking! First of course, we go to one of my favorite restaurants for dinner. I figure since I am not drinking I can eat more food! Dinner was fantastic!! Then since I was the D.D., I will drive us to Wrigley. Well after going over 2 curbs and almost hitting a pedestrian, getting yelled at by a very angry Chicagoan, (Thank God for NB) we made it into the park. Well almost, Amy and I had to have our bags searched in case we were carrying in any weapons, the only weapon I could have had was a dirty diaper! Wouldn't that be funny if the guy stuck his hand in my diaper bag and out it came, messy! Just the thought of me taking in a diaper bag to a Cubs game is kinda funny! So Robin has Evum and she gets right in and RUNS to our seats, I still don't know why? So Amy and I are mooing through the crowd of Chicagoans, some of them not so friendly, we were about to find. This guy is pushing a wheelchair and decides that Amy is not walking fast enough, he tries to drive it up her back legs. She squeals out in agony. I of course am right there to help her because Robin has escaped with my first born. I turn and look at this angry man and smack him right in the face, he falls flat on his back, I then proceed to beat up the lady in the wheel chair. Then I scoop up Amy, carry her the mile to the First Aid station. Hold her hand through all the x-rays, cat scan, stitches and pain shots. All the time wondering if my first born is having his first beer! After we get Amy's crutches we are able to finally work our way to our seats. Where we find Robin in glee with Evum! Well, some of that really happened. Robin did escape with Evum and Amy did get hit by a wheel chair. The guy was a real hum dinger, I really did want to hit him with my diaper bag. But I thought if I get kicked out of a Cubs game sober, I would be really mad. Her heel really was scraped up, I didn't really carry her to First Aid, although I could have, just throw her up on my hip like I do Nick. Anyway, the game was great. We managed to stay until the 7th inning stretch. Evum seemed to really enjoy himself and Nick didn't eat any foreign objects! We had a really good evening at the game.

Here is a picture of Nick and I on the weekend before I started my no drinking binge. I will weigh myself later, I will not be posting that though!!

Hello All,
I have decided to start a blog, welcome to 2007! This blog will document my desire to stop drinking for a bit. I don't want to say 30 days or 90 days, or even 3 days, I will just try to stop. And since I am up practically every night anyway, I thought this would be a good outlet for me.

Here are my Top Ten Reasons Why I Need To Stop Drinking.

10. NONE of my clothes fit!
9. I look like a stuffed sausage in a bathing suit.
8. My beer budget far exceeds my mortgage payment.
7. Evan now recognizes beer labels.
6. I need more energy.
5. My body looks like I actually gave birth to my boys.
4. I'm starting to look like a bar fly.
3. I'm still trying to get pregnant.
2. New hobbies are fun to start at any age.

And the number one reason why I want to stop drinking ...

1. I will finally be a DD (designated driver).

So there you have it, I am starting Day 1. Now I know that it is 5 AM and my temptation level is not too high right now, but this is just a start. The true test will be this evening when I go to my first Cubs game tonight with Rah-Rah, Amy, Mike and the boys. Rah-Rah, Amy and Mike will not be any trouble, but the boys will be pushing me to have a cold beer. I can just see Nick now at the game, he is so excited and I know that he will want to sit on my lap the entire time. He will probably not even want to be down on the gross dirty floor where every thing possible has been either poured or spit there.

Ok, now I need to figure out how to use this page and post and make sure that all of you can follow me on this wonderful journey!

Good Night and Good Morning!

xoxo