A Great New Year

Last Wednesday I headed to New York for a few days. Nicholas will be starting kindergarten (!!!) in the fall and I realized we won’t be able to just get up and go visit whenever we want. My last class starts next week and I will be graduating from my certificate program this May and plan on getting a job once Nicholas starts school as well. The type of work I will be looking for (anything with dogs, really!) will most likely have me working weekends and even holidays. My Dad recently also turned 71 and as much as I do not like to admit it, he’s not a spring chicken anymore. I want him to get to see Nicholas and spend as much time with him as possible, so I’m glad we were able to make the long trip down.

The week before we were leaving I heard from my long time friend Lisa, and she invited me to her stepfather Steve’s 75th birthday. I thought that was such a wonderful gesture (I’ve known her and Steve since we were kids) and I was glad I got to make it there. Her Mom told me that Lisa was so excited when she learned that I could go, and that just made my heart happy. We played trivia about Steve and I actually did pretty well- the memories of the farm where we worked as teenagers had me laughing so hard. Nicholas ran around with another young boy and Lisa said it was really great because the boy was usually pretty shy- if anyone can bring someone out of their shell, it’s Nicholas. That’s one of the many things I love about him. Nicholas made so many friends and Steve told me that he was simply adorable :)

Nicholas and I also got to meet my brother Dylan and his wife Mariana’s son, our new nephew and cousin Ethan, for the first time. Our plan was to visit for a few hours but we ended up getting snowed in and spending the night. Mariana was wonderfully welcoming and Dylan picked up dinner on his way home from work- we had a great time and I don’t get to see them nearly as often as I would like so it was great to spend time with them.

Erik and Joe’s house was wonderful as always, not too much chaos with the dogs- I left Dexter at home this time around and we missed him (oh and Nick too, haha), so much! Nicholas is really attached to and loves Uncle Joe so much- as we were driving down I asked if he was excited to see everyone and he said ‘I’m so excited to see Uncle Joe.” It’s good to be home and I’m looking forward to the upcoming celebrations we have in the coming weekend.

xoxo

Life is Grand, You Guys.

Kahler's Pond, Center Moriches- Long Island. I used to love this place as a kid and Nicholas did too.

Holtsville Ecology Site in Brookhaven, on Long Island. I haven't been here in over 20 years, it was just as I remembered but more grand. Nicholas had so much fun seeing all different types of animals and playing on the super cool playground. Staff was friendly, and for all that you could do it was only $5 to park!

Being silly with Grampa

Soaking up the last wonderful rays of summer

Hello, September!

xoxo
Crystal

Memorial Day Weekend & Kangas Family Reunion

Our quartet headed to Long Island this past Memorial Day weekend. We had not visited since last August so it was great to be home (yes, I still call it home).

Saturday we had our 2nd Annual Kangas Family Reunion. My cousin Ron and his wife Melissa were a huge help in planning the event and scoped out a great location at South Haven Park on Long Island. Also, major shout out to my cousin Amber and her husband John who traveled from Florida, and Jason and his wife Miri who made the trip up from Tennessee. I know it's not easy so I truly appreciate the effort you made in coming. Even the NY family, thank you for taking the time to come. It really means a lot to me that we can all be together. It was a much smaller gathering this year than last, so I'm thinking we'll change it up next year and hopefully get a big family group to come:)

Here are some pictures of the day- it was truly perfect weather and I think everyone had a great time. I know we did.

The cousins in order from oldest to youngest:
My brother Erik, my brother Dylan (oldy moldies), Destiny, Dylan, Jason, Ron, Me, Amber, and Tom. The super sweet kiddos are Zoe (my cousin Dylan's daughter), Katie and Eli (my cousin Amber's kiddos).

Normally we head back to Massachusetts very early on Sunday morning but we spent the extra day and headed to Fire Island with Erik and Joe on Sunday instead. We had the pleasure of seeing Erik and Joe's long time friend Tom who we had not seen in ages- he's the coolest guy and it was THE BEST getting to see him and just relax and take in the beautiful weather. Major thank you to my Mom for watching Nicholas so we could have a grown up day out. :)

My Dad and Dexter on Memorial Day- giving him some comfort on a tough day for Veteran's.

The drive home...

One of the many things I love about my dog...he always looks like he just farted and is super embarrassed about it (and it's usually true).

xoxo

Nicholas NY 1st Birthday Party - Round 2

Round 2 Done, officially exhausted. We took a very short trip to New York to celebrate Nicholas' first birthday with my family. We left Friday Night at 7:30 and left Saturday night at about 7:00 pm.

We had a low key gathering at my Mom's house - just my parents, siblings and significant others, my nephew Riley, and my favorite Aunt & Uncle (my mom's sister) and my Grandmother. I got to re use a lot of the decorations from the MA party so that was a plus. :)

Here are some pics of the visit:


My mom picked this up for him as he's a major Sponge Bob fan


Godfather Erik & the nugget


Cupcakes done by Mom


My Uncle Tommy and Nicholas with a (gasp!) Giants hat on his head.


Dad showing off his shirt with a pretty cute baby on it






I left him in his onesie for a little while so people could check out his lil' ham hocks.











He seemed to like this cupcake a little better but still wasn't a huge fan (which is fine by me ;)

NY Weekend

Nick and I were in New York visiting my family from Friday- Sunday. I was really looking forward to the trip, since I have so little vacation time this year. While it was great to see everyone, it was REALLY overwhelming with Nicholas. Because the weather was so hot, we kept him inside for the most part. I'm so lucky to have my family who were such a big help, but it really didn't feel like much of a vacation. Nicholas was on his best behavior, he was awake for most of the day Friday and Saturday, but still woke up 2-3 times during the night. We are pretty sure he is teething so we think that is messing up his schedule. He sees the doctor on Friday so we'll find out what exactly is going on.

My Aunt Sandy and Aunt Sharon (my dad's sisters) made the 9+ hour trip from Pennsylvania to meet the little one - it was so awesome to see them there! My grandmother was also there so it was great for her to meet Nicholas, along with a lot of close family and friends. Everyone thought he was adorable (but of course!) and everyone that hadn't met Dexter fell in love with him as well. :)

Here are a few pics from the weekend.

Part of why we think he is teething - hands and anything else are constantly in his mouth - plus he has small white spots on his gums and drools like crazy! He's also been irritable and crankier than usual.

Hands in the mouth!

Looks like the end of the swaddle is near! He still likes/needs to be swaddled, but has been slowly working himself out of it.

Looks like Mommy needs some hair color - I've gone almost a year without color!

Nicholas and his Great Grandmother. :)

Surprise! Hospital Visit

I had my weekly check up yesterday with my favorite Dr., Dr. Fortune, and wound up in the hospital for 6 hours. My blood sugar is being well controlled, but apparently my blood pressure is not. It was 144 when I got there and when I was getting ready to leave, it was in the 150's. I was sent to the hospital to check what is going on because I'm not quite 31 weeks.

The hospital is very close to both the doctor's office and my home, so it wasn't so bad. I drove myself there and called Nick, and he met me there as soon as he could. I was strapped to a monitor for both the baby and myself, as well as a blood pressure cuff. They did a test where they swabbed my nether regions (I think it checked to make sure I wasn't in pre-term labor)and basically had me "relax" in a hospital bed for hours. I was glad I had my kindle and my iPhone to keep me company before Nick got there.

Apparently I am having contractions a few minutes apart, but they are very small and I did not feel anything. My blood pressure eventually calmed down and the doctor checked to make sure my cervix was still closed (thankfully it is), so I was given the ok to go home. I have to collect my urine for 24 hours and bring it back today to make sure I am not passing any protein. I am supposed to be scheduled for an ultrasound, fetal weight test, and I think another stress or non stress test (I'm not sure which). The doctor's office is going to call me today with more information.

On another note...my friend Brooke was texting me to see how I was and asked if there was any way I could come back to the office at 5, I told her no because I figured I was going to be put on bed rest - I actually didn't even end up getting out of the hospital until 5:15. I figured out that it was supposed to be my surprise baby shower at work - it would have been a COMPLETE surprise, I had no idea anything was going on. I feel so badly because people made food and were probably excited to surprise me, but I know everyone understands (silly baby). I told Brooke clearly our son hates surprises as much as I do :)

I just wanted to let everyone know what is going on, alot of people have called/reached out to me and I've just been trying to sleep/relax alot, on doctor's orders.

Thankfully I was basically given the ok to go home to NY for my baby shower as well, but I'm waiting to confirm that today.

Thank you to everyone that checked on me :)

xoxo

NY Surprise and MA Half Surprise

The reason we had to wait so long to tell everyone I was pregnant was that we didn't have any time to get to New York to tell my parents. I REALLY wanted to tell them in person, and August was booked with three weddings (one of which was my brother's - and he waited 21 years to get married, so I had no problem holding off a few more weeks) and alot of other stuff to keep us busy.

We had dinner as a family on Saturday night. I had thought about saying something beforehand, about family, but everything in my head was coming up cheesy so I thought I'd just hand over the books I got for my parents. After dinner we were all sitting around feeling fat (man I love pizza...and calzones...and garlic knots). My dad went to go downstairs and I asked him to hold on a minute..he asked why and I just told him to sit his ass down.

I gave the books to both of my parents (101 Ways to Spoil Your Grandchild) and my dad started opening his fast..I made him slow down and they finally opened them and then stared at me. Needless to say, they were shocked, which is what I was hoping for. My dad thanked Nick (heehee) and then hugged me super tight. My mom said "let me feel that belly!" My brother Erik thought something might have been up and Dylan was excited that he was going to be an Uncle. Joe was all smiles and very happy for us.

Nick manned the camera and got one good shot...but one is better than none.

My favorite. Apparently my dad and I have a hugging stance - you can see based on the below pic from my wedding, except he had a wee bit more hair then ;)

On Friday afternoon I posted on Twitter - "Can't wait to get to NY this weekend - have a big surprise to tell my family". NO ONE I know follows me on Twitter, so I didn't think anything of it. Wouldn't you know, at about 5:15 Nick's dad starts following me and we suddenly get a text from Nick's mom saying "big surprise??" I was SOOO irritated at myself! Nick made something up but it was pretty obvious what it was about. We got so close to having this surprise and stupid me had to blow it by thinking I was cute and posting that - ha! Well, we called Nick's parents late Saturday night (they were coming back from Florida) and they were both super happy and excited. Then I called Alexis - when she answered the phone I asked if she was busy in March of next year, because I wanted to know if she would be available to be the Godmother of my and Nick's child. She lost her MIND! I knew she would, and it was great. Alexis has been through alot in the last few years and we have grown much closer, so I was so happy to give her this exciting news. She of course said yes and I'm pretty sure is probably already shopping for baby stuff for us ;)

xoxo