Date Night with a Crooner

Handy Man and I had our first date night since before Trouble was in the NICU.

Seeing as how he is turning 5 in about a week, we were loooooooooong overdue for some couple time. So a few months ago, Handy Man surprised me with tickets to see my heart-throb Canadian crooner, Michael Bublé. The concert was fantastic. I've seen some of his "colleagues" - Josh Groban and Andrea Boccelli - and I loved those concerts. But Bublé is so funny and so believably sincere, it was more than his music than made the night. He is a genuine entertainer. The tickets were well-worth their cost.




It was fun to feel like a grown-up, a couple and to have an occasion to wear these:



Another first time? Leaving the boys with someone other than a grandparent. Thankfully they were in great hands and it felt more like a playdate to them than being "left with a sitter". They played with friends and had a great time. Big thanks to our "sitter" (who reads this blog!).

Most thanks go to my Handy Man. He planned the night. He encouraged me to be brave enough to leave the boys for a night. He took us to a fabulous restaurant and even got a cab for me when I didn't want to hike it in my cute heels. We meant to get a few pics taken together on our date night, but we forgot and had to ask the elderly porter to try. He did okay, don't you think? We have so few pictures of us together; this is a true treat.

Thanks for a great night and to everyone who made it possible. I love you Handy Man. You are so good to me. I had the hottest date at the concert (even more so than the "tan guy"!). XOXOXOXO

Week's Up!

It's been a busy week. The three days away last week were fantastic but it took seven to play catch up. I haven't had a ton of time for blogging but I did want to come share my favorite pictures of the week. Trouble shows off his getting dressed skills, then he gives a thumbs up for Lowe's new carts. He was so tuckered out after a morning of errands, he fell asleep like this in his car seat.

Long Overdue Easter Pics

Playing with Picasso

Picasso has been blessed with such beautiful eyes. And those eyelashes? TDF!

Have a Holly Jolly Christmas!

The holidays are in full force here! (Just ask my scale! ;) )

The boybarians have been very eager to get the tree up and decorations out. This is our first Christmas in our new home, although we did camp out here last year on Christmas Eve - with no furniture, no shower, and one working toilet. We moved in on December 31, 2006 and January 1, 2007. It was an exciting way to ring in the New Year.

May I have a drum roll please? Here is the reveal of the Boybarian Christmas card photos...






This year it was all Handy Man. I handed him two boxes of blank cards and ordered the photos. He did the rest - writing them, inserting the photos, addressing them, and topping them all with stamps. And? All before December first. I am so stinkin' impressed.

Here are a few pics of decorating today. The boybarians had a blast. Happy Holidays to one and all.








Boy, school is going to be so hard on Monday!

Oh, I nearly forgot!

In all my excitement and whining about lost luggage, blackouts and our trip to the ER, I nearly forgot to share some really exciting news.

May I have a drum roll please???

Oh, some background for my dear readers (how anticlimactic, I know). Trouble was a preemie. He was born weighing about 1 kg. One single, measly, lonely kilo. Last night, amidst our 3-hour stint in the emergency room he was... dum da da dum... 11.6 kilos. That is 11 times his birth weight. If he had been your average 8-pound baby, that would make him an 88 lb 4-year-old. That is an incredible growth curve, and for him - a child diagnosed with failure to thrive - a GINORMO, GIGANTO, HUMONGO deal.

Those of you who know no metric system - that's a whopping 25.5 lb. Throw the confetti; do the happy dance; raise the roof. He finally hit the 25 lb milestone!

In other wonderfully fantastic news, my husband is a saint. No, really! A real and true, ought-to-be-up-for-canonization, Saint. For years I have been not-so-secretely saddened about not having Trouble's professional portraits done. He has been too fragile or too susceptible to take anywhere. Years of magical baby and toddler moments lost, never to be captured on film. But while I was in the Big Apple, Handy Man surprised me by taking the boybarians to get portraits done! Can you believe it?! I will finally have portraits of the most beautiful, boybaric creatures on the planet. Trouble will have his childhood captured after all - better late than never. And now, with no tubes or wires, all 25 pounds of him are captured on film. And all 3 boys together are professionally photographed. Is there anything more precious to a mother? Be still my beating heart.

Sweet bliss! Handy Man deserves some sweet, sweet love for such a kind, thoughtful, wonderful gesture of love. Thanks Handy Man! You're swell.

So here it is, the first installment of the boybarians' first portraits.