#1MOMBLGR

There is one thing different about New Hampshire then I have seen in any other state I have been to: EVERYONE has personalized license plates.

At first it was so funny, the first weekend I was here my sister and I would try and see how many we could spot on the way to the grocery store.
Then it just became odd, really odd because you felt like you were the odd one when everyone has one but you.
I get it Granny5, sunkisstan, redsox1 and famof7, you want everyone to notice you.
Maybe I will get my own plates (as soon as one of us gets a job and has $1k to register our cars here), but what do I put on my plates?
Here are some of the ideas I have floating around:

GodHatesNH
urplatesRstupd
2muchsnow
NJmafia#1
Ucantdrive
#1NHblogger
flwmeontwitter
agrl&hercar



The whole thing makes my head hurt. Guess what? I don't care about your vanity plates anymore.
That is until I was behind a driving school car this morning.
Its license plate read: MYBAD

Now that, is funny.




Also please go over and read my other blog, I want to know if you post pictures of your kids online?

Things I Hated About Yesterday

Things I hated about yesterday in chronological order:

-Waking up

-Waking up to a crabby kid who cries and stomps his feet for me to hold him when I was just trying to put on my bra.
I have to put my bra on right away because I hate the feeling of gravity on my boobs. (or the effects of gravity on my boobs. Whatever.)

-L hit his head on the side of the pool during swim lessons and when I got over to him, his mouth was filled with blood. I finally found the source- a small but deep cut next to the corner of his mouth. Off to the urgent care center we went.

-Duh, I have no idea where the urgent care center is.

-My phone was dead when I went to call E. Had to borrow one from a stranger.

-My poor baby needed a stitch in his face and he was so scared. He was a trooper but nothing is worse than when your baby is scared and you just want to hold him, but instead a team of doctors and nurses have to hold him down because he is screaming.

-After all the drama and we fed ourselves, washed the kids and put them to bed, I noticed I had been wearing my shirt inside out- ALL DAY.
Of course this was the one day that I actually left the house and had been to the town pool, urgent care and grocery store.
All with my collared shirt inside out and it was tagless so everyone and their mothers could see my size.
Yes, of course I wore my hair up all day.

-After enduring weeks of bad reality TV, namely I'm a Celebrity Get me Out of Here, I forgot the finale was on last night because I was so disturbed by my inside-out shirt and missed it. All of that bad TV for nothing.

So yeah, Wednesday can suck it.

How We Got Here Part 2

You can read part one here.

So we had no choice- we had to move. Despite my bad attitude because I did not want to leave my family, my state, we moved.
Well, E moved in September living with his cousins until we found a place to rent and sold our house.
He traveled the 6+ hours each way to come home on weekends. The twins, the baby and I were left to fend for ourselves and keep the cats alive all while trying to keep the house clean for house showings.
It was not easy. In fact it was the hardest thing I have ever done. Easier than carrying 15+ pounds of babies in my body for 9 months.

On February 1st we all moved to NH. It was cold and there was more snow piled up on the lawn that I have ever seen. It was going to be a long year.

I am not like my husband, I do not adapt easy.
I like my "stuff" and I like knowing where I am going and I like visiting my friends or family when I want to.
I spend too much time rolling around the bed moaning about how much I miss Wegman's or my hairdresser. Like I told E a hundred times: I do not do rural.
But rural I am.

Things were good, we were unpacking, the kids were getting settled in their new house and school. E was busy at work.
Then they had less appointments.
Next their clients had hard times refinancing their homes, getting loans, things that E and his cousin make their money off of.
The commission checks slowed.

Now the financial crisis has hit home once again, only now we are stranded in a new town, in a new state with a lot less jobs then our old town, in our old state.

We have nothing to lose, because we lost it all already. We gambled and came up short again.
Now, what are we going to do?



To be continued.............

How We Got Here

It was Autumn, leaves were falling, the air was crisp and I was five months pregnant. I was excited to add to my little family of four. The twins were excited to get another sibling and all was falling into place. All except my husband E hating his job.
E was good at his job, great in fact. He was given many awards, voted to lead by his peers and had a decade of experience in his field. The problem was his boss.
She was new and wanted to fit in the big boys club and needed someone to mold into exactly what she thought the company wanted: another her.
She groomed E for the position, he was talked up, promised promotions, put on the fast track and it all came to a screeching halt when he did one big old no-no: He disagreed with her in a meeting in front of their team.

A cardinal sin. He was told he didn't have what it took to be on the fast track, he was treated like a new trainee instead of someone with as much experience as her, he was written up for petty, silly things. AS fast as she gave it, she took it all away.
We knew she was mad enough to strike hard and called his HR to tell them he knew she was setting him up to be fired.
The next week he was fired.

He had no recourse. We could sue, but didn't have the time or money for lawyers. He needed another job now.
"It shouldn't be a problem" I told him after all he received job offers on every interview he had been on in his life so far. With all he knows, he will move on to bigger and better.
Not so.

The economy really started the downward spiral, I was pregnant I needed insurance, nobody would hire me in this condition.
We scoured the Internet, made calls, put his resume on every site imaginable and nothing.
He went on 30 interviews and never got a second call back.
Talk about a blow to your self esteem.

I have never seen my husband so depressed, feeling so worthless.
We were on the verge of losing everything and we would have lost our house if millions of people were not in the same position as us and the banks were waist high in people who could not pay their mortgages. We consider ourselves lucky because we just promised the bank we would sell our house and they agreed not to foreclose-yet.

So we put the house up for sale, E decided to work with his cousin in NH and we would move there.
"How are we going to live on a commission based job?" I asked. "We have no safety net, nothing to get us by until you can learn the job and make money!" I would argue.
"We have no choice, it is the only offer I have had in 9 months" E told me.

We had no choice.

To be continued....................

Wordless Wednesday

I'm A Horrible Reality TV Viewer, Get Me Out Of Here

Thins I learned While Watching The Most Education Summer Show, I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here:

1) My summer show standards (say that 3 times fast) is at a all new low.

2) Lou Diamond Phillips' head is very oddly shaped. I can't stop looking at it.

3) I think Janice Dickinson looks good for her age, but would look better without so much work and the oil she must grease her face with 24/7. It is like the gel they use for your ultrasound. Unless Janice's face is pregnant, she should lay off the stuff.

4) I miss Sanjaya's hair. Hair made that man.

5) Really "celebrities"? You may as well call this show I'm nobody you have ever heard of until now but now I invade your every thought with the shape of my head and greasy face sucka Get me Out Of Here.
It would ring more true.

6) Torrie can kick your ass. I am scared of her.

7) Some shows that were made in Britain are better off staying in Britain.

Who Doesn't Love Lemonade?

There are very few celebrity moms that I like. Kelly Ripa is on top of my list. She seems real and warm and appears to be just like any of the moms that I woudl meet at a school function. Only with a better job! Plus she is a Jersey girl. Bonus points!

Kelly Ripa, has teamed up with Electrolux to kick off a virtual lemonade stand campaign to help support the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund, a cause close to Kelly and to women everywhere.
This summer, exclusively at electroluxappliances.com, you can design and open your own virtual lemonade stands and even pick the flavors of lemonade you want to feature. For every lemonade stand opened at www.electroluxappliances.com, Electrolux will donate $1 to OCRF. In addition, you can help the cause even more by selling virtual glasses of lemonade to your friends and family; 100 percent of the proceeds will go to OCRF. And to help spread the word, Electrolux is giving away an elegant new French Door Refrigerator with Perfect Temp™ Drawer!
Who wouldn't want this awesome refrigerator?



Go and visit my stand and make your own! While you are there check out the recipes of the great lemonade drinks.

Summer Of Lobster

I hate it when I want to do something special for my family and it turns out to be a failure. Today I was trying to bake my family some extra goodness and I had strawberry bread on the brain. I made the executive decision to make it a strawberry bundt cake since I didn't have two loaf pans.
Everything was fine until I tipped my bundt onto the cooling rack and a tiny piece broke off. I put that piece right into my mouth and I realized what I had done wrong-I forgot to add the sugar.

I actually made a healthier treat then I was trying to and really, it isn't that bad without the sugar. My kids still ate it. E ate it.
I am trying not to think about making a cream cheese icing for it, because that would be so delish.
This was a minor baking fail, but I was disappointed in myself. Sometimes I realize how perfect I want to be and how I let myself down when I can't be or do everything perfectly.

I am trying not to be so hard on myself, and this is something I will consciously try to work on this year.
Also on my list of things to do this year:
-eat more lobster
-try and do something outside my comfort zone at least once a month
-take more pictures of the baby
-eat lots of lobster
-cut out soda (almost have done that)
-let the small stuff go when it comes to my kids
-try lobster with even MORE butter then I would usually use
-do more crafts with the kids
-lose 25 lbs
-did I mention lobster?


Yes, the last two things on my list are counterproductive. I am aware and trying to lose the weight on a all lobster diet.

I Will Never Win NIght Time Parenting Awards

I have written about how my boys are roosters many times.
They get up at the crack of dawn, they are hard to put to sleep and wake up in the night screaming "CUUUPPP OF MILLLLLK" or "WAAAAAAAAAH" way too often. I, like most every parent, hate the night time wails, I just can't deal. I am a terrible nighttime parent, E is much better than I am but I can handle putting the kids to bed a bit better that my husband.

Baby K sleeps much better these past few weeks since I have been using your tips. I did what I used to do with the twins, we have a routine, I stick with it and put him awake in his crib. He is usually a dream to put in for a nap and slightly harder at bedtime, but not terrible.
E and I deal with the "not terrible" much differently.

I have my routine and if he cries in his crib after I put him down, well then, I just let him cry. He usually won't last more than five minutes and he is asleep.

If K cries for more than 4 minutes and E is home, he marches right up there and does whatever he has to until the baby stops crying and goes to sleep.
He can't take the crying.

It is not like I adore hearing my baby cry either but I know that it is okay for him to cry a little bit and usually by bedtime, I am done with ALL of the kids and they need to stay in bed and I need a stiff drink.
This is why E is a dream night time parent because when anyone wakes in the night crying he is usually on top of it, while I lay perfectly still and pray/beg/make deals for the crying to end on its own.

No, it never works.

Who is the better night time parent in your house?

Mama Cub

I always tell E that he better make good money because our kids will never leave this house. I tell him that they will never be allowed to attend sleepovers and play dates and all of those have to happen at our house. So we better stock up on food, drinks and pool tables.
I say those things to E half kidding, half truthfully.

The truth is: I am scared to let my kids go to other people's homes because I fear everyone to be a pedophile.
You hear the stories on TV, the missing girls, the priests, the kids who fall through the cracks and nobody sees the warning signs. You watch Oprah.
You hear the neighbors, the parents say "I never thought he could be a molester... he was so nice...he was friendly and helpful...a family man and on and on.
Of course what you see on TV isn't a complete representation of the public and doesn't mean every child is being molested by their neighbor, but so many are, and just how many are never, ever reported?

R asked to go over the neighbor's house yesterday to play with the 9 year old girl who lives there. I have no problem with them playing in our backyards where I can see or hear them, but I don't want them in the house.
"What if they go in the house?" I asked E who rolled his eyes at my- his words- overreacting.
Am I overreacting? Isn't it my entire job to protect those children at all costs? If I fail them....well, I cannot even think about that because it is not an option. I will NOT fail them.


I have had talks about their body and how nobody has the right to touch them. I told them that if grownups ask them to keep secrets from their parents then those are bad people and they should and can tell us everything.


How much is too much? When a parent asked if R or L can come over for a play date, what do I say?
"I prefer if all play dates are at our home" sounds pretentious and "I am scared your husband or father is a molester" may be a bit too much.

I wonder if there is such a thing as too cautious or too protective and I am not just talking about helicopter parenting.

I want to know what it is other parents do.
Do you allow your kids to go over close friends homes that you trust? Do you educate your kids and let them go and be kids? What about school friends and neighbors that you don't know much about?