Florida October 2009 (150 photos), by Amy Senna

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.
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Some of my recent favorite pictures..

Helping Daddy with the lawn.
"Mommy, I don't like the sprinkler!"

Petting a 4-day old calf at our local Farmer's Market. It is a great one-located a mile away from our house and every Sunday!

Can you believe it? I am back again!

I am really going to do my best to turn over a new leaf and start posting. Here is the latest update on all of us.

Anthony: His speech therapy has helped him tremendously...he is talking up a storm now and saying new words everyday. I am so happy I made the call. He can't stop talking about going to preschool in the fall. He will be in the afternoon program 5 days a week (12-2:30). He doesn't nap anymore (gave that up when his binky went away) so it works out perfectly because we can still do activities in the morning like the library and Mom's club events and then he can go to school. Of course we tell him he needs to go on the potty to go to preschool---yet it is not speeding up the potty training process. He is on the young side of the preschoolers and boys train later so I imagine this is why he is so resistant. August will be the big push... Anthony is loving our new yard and being outside. Whenever we ask what he wants to do he says "rake leaves" I swear we have a future landscaper on our hands! ;)

Jackson: He is walking...wait...running around everywhere. We are currently in the throes of teething eye teeth which with both boys was the hardest and most painful. He even took an extra nap today because of it. He is already starting to say a lot of words and is becoming quite the little boy. We have already had to get his curls cut twice because they tend to "go big" when it gets the least bit long. We took him for his 15 mo appt last week and he was 29 pounds! Anthony is still keeping a tiny lead on him-he is now 31 pounds. It won't be long though and J is definitely stronger than Anthony. We tell Anthony to watch out-b/c picking on his brother will come back to bite him.

David: After months of going back and forth with doctor's we finally think the neurologist zeroed in on what is happening with the dizziness and equilibrium issues. It is a vestibular issue where his eye lag when they track, thus causing him to feel suddenly dizzy. He now needs vestibular physical therapy (who knew there was such a thing) so hopefully once he starts that things will get better. The good news is that his two bosses finally realized he was doing the work of probably 3 employees and are starting to delegate some projects away (12 high-importance projects at once + day-to-day stuff-yeah, I would agree). So work has lightened a bit, which is a relief b/c the docs also think stress is to blame for a lot of his issues.

As for me, next week I start my 5 week summer program directing a musical! Eek! This is a big jump for me, and the first time being a FT working mom. I am excited at the prospect of doing something different on a temporary basis and the whole program is kind of my little brain child so it should be fun. I do have the jitters right now, that same way I felt the few days before a new school year started...but it should be fun! I am sure August will be nice b/c I will kick back and get some time off before my fall/spring schedule starts back up again. I am enjoying working around the house and *gasp* have actually tried my hand at a little gardening-I never thought I would see the day, but I love seeing those flowers bloom! Don't worry-I am not going to get anywhere near to the amount my mother has! Baby steps....

Long time....

I have been very, very bad about posting lately. I have to admit, it wasn't completely my fault, the last handful of times I tried to post, I kept getting error messages. I am attempting to turn over a new leaf and try to get back on a regular schedule....Stay tuned!

My New Job!

For a while now, I have been waiting to find a happy medium between staying at home with the boys and doing something that is just for me that makes me feel like I am keeping fresh and using my skills. For a while now I wasn't quite sure if that was even going to be possible and in education part-time is a scarce word. I was hoping to stay in the education field as I already have 7.25 years in toward my retirement and I would hate to see that time go to waste, but I was beginning to think that might not be possible. Well I am excited to say it is!

I was recently hired as the director of the Capital Theater Arts Academy. It is an arts outreach program at the Arts Magnet High School nearby working with children of all ages. The classes include dance, drama and visual art and there is the potential that I could grow the program and create new opporunties for the kids. The perks: the pay is great, I work from abut 5 to 8:30 Mon-Thurs evenings and a few hours on Saturday mornings, so I miss very few hours of my kids lives and still am a stay-at-home mom during the day. I still get to see David because I am not out all night which is huge for me as well. I also get my foot in the door at EastConn which looks like it could be a great career stepping stone for me too! I also get a business laptop and phone which I think is pretty cool!

CTAA is run by EastConn which is a regional education center that along with the ACT school and CTAA runs many educational services and magnet schools for our local region. Being part of the EastConn staff opens doors for many opportunities in the future-ways I can be involved in education without being a classroom teacher, yet still accuring my retirement years. This is just music to my ears!

For my birthday David gave my 3 gift cards so I could update my wardrobe for my new job. Yesterday he stayed with the kids and I went on a mini-shopping spree for myself! It was great! The new job "officially" starts tonight (I already did an oopen house for the program on Saturday) and I can't wait to get started!

Jackson's Surgery

Life has been very busy these past few weeks since Jackson's surgery. On December 30th Jackson had his hypospaidius correction which we knew he would have to have since the day he was born. Basically, hypospaidius is a birth defect that is fairly common in boys-1 in 200 boys are both with it. There are varying degrees of severity and Jackson's was moderately severe. It was rough with him in the hospital as he had to lay completely flat for 4 days, not something an active, newly crawling baby was interested in. He hated the "no-nos" that had to be placed on his little arms to prevent him from moving. Due to having a catheder he would get painful bladder spasms, someting that made mommy cry watching her baby scream while waiting for the pain medication to kick in. All in all it was a long 4 days, but fortunately surgery was successful and they were able to accomplish the entire correction in one procedure which was great news. He did look so cute in his baby-sized hopital scrubs outift-I wish I could have taken it home, he could have been a little doctor next Halloween!

When we got home our work was cut out for us, as Jackson was prohibited from his favorite toys for an entire month! No jumperoo, excersaucer or and ride-on toys. Most of all, no rough-housing with big brother, somethin that has proven to be quite a challenge. We were double diapering for a week and only giving sponge baths.

After a weeek, we got a glowing report and are happy to say double diapering is over (no more catheder!) and although J is not yet cleared for regular baths, he can soak in this special iodone bath, so at least he can splash around a bit. He is also down to just regular strength tylenol and motrin! On Wednesday we can start regular baths again which J is sure to love and we go back for another follow-up at CCMC. I am very happy we are almost through this very stressful time as a parent!

Our Christmas House!

Sorry for the sideways pics!