Doctor Doctor Give Me The News.....

Mr. Jack had his 18 month well baby in August and I swear Dr. Van said, "He's growing beautifully, just look at him, Sharon, he's growing beautifully" at least 5 times. (Insert picture of my face beaming with pride here.)

This was, of course, while he was screaming like a banshee and clinging onto me like a cat being put into water when he spotted where he actually was. We walked into the office, they called us and as soon as they opened the examination room he freaked right out....poor baby. The kicker was, when Dr. Van left the room, through his fit of screaming threw in a "TANK OOO!" (Translation: Thank You!) When the nurses left after his shots another resounding "TANK OOOO!" I remember seeing a comedy routine somewhere that talked about the different ways a person can say thank you and mean it or not so much. I think his version was the not so much, so of course, I laughed. What a polite son we have.

So getting back to business. Jack is now 29 pounds and 34 inches long. He's starting to look like a little boy instead of a little baby now. (Sniff sniff)

I got his hair cut REALLY short this last visit to the hairdresser and I fear his baby curls are going away. He looks a lot more blond though.

I am amazed every day at the things he can do. I know it will sound silly to you long time parents, but here are some things he does that I just can't get over:

1. He understands me when I ask him to get or do something. i.e. "Jack, please get in your seat for dinner." Then he walks over and stands next to his seat. or "Jack, do you want to go upstairs?" and he walks over to the stairs. Amazing.

2. He repeats the last word of every just about every sentence we say.

3. He knows the proper time to say, "Thank You" and uses it frequently.

4. The first thing he says in the morning is, "Mommy/Daddy.....where are you?"

5. He holds hands when we're walking outside.

6. He holds onto our clothes when he wants to bring us to something.

7. He knows he supposed to say "Excuse me" when he burps, but teases his Grammie Dot and says, "Bless you" instead. Then grins like the cat that ate the canary.

8. He knows his body parts, and not just the easy ones. He knows head, hair, eyes, nose, mouth, cheeks, elbows, knees, belly, feet, toes and a couple of others I can't think of at the moment.

9. He remembers things, mind like a steel trap. We won't be able to divert (Translation: lie to) him for much longer.

Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure:





In other news, Matt has decided to go back to school to be a teacher. Look out student population, Mr. Rossiter is on his way. He starts in the fall and we figure with him going part time it will take about 3 years. He's been talking about it since our dating days and we are both thrilled that the wheels are in motion.

The summer is winding down and last weekend was the last weekend before Matt goes back to his 2nd job. (tear) So Jack and I will be gearing up for Saturday day trips again and are looking forward to my favorite season, fall.

Matt and I will be celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary in October. Who would have thought in the 6 years we've known each other we would have gone from this:

to this:

to this:


How darn lucky am I?

It's Been a LONG time....

Blogger seems to have fixed our blog, I hope, so we should be good to go! Sorry it's been so long, but I've been trying to fix the blog so everyone can see it.

The Rossiters have had a very busy summer:

There's been travelling......

There's been water sports....



There's been laughter....



And beaching....



Eating popsicles....



And cake...



(Collective ewwwww, gross!)

Sometimes, just sometimes you need to wear your Elmo easter basket as a hat.



And dancing....we can't forget dancing....

18 months! I can't believe Jack got here 18 months ago....Jack is quickly approaching the tumultuous twos and is showing it. OH Boy! But I digress, some accomplishments of note:

Jack is starting to put two word sentences together like:

No Mommy
Mine Mommy
Ieewwww Mommy (I love you Mommy)
No Dada
Mine Dada
Iewww Dada (I love you Dada)

Yes folks, I've graduated to Mommy (sigh, tear) My heart is warmed, even when he's telling me, "No Mommy"

Jack has about 16 teeth and knows how to use them. Yup, a biter. Thank goodness he only bites me, but he's sneaky. He makes you think he's coming in for the kiss and CHOMP! Little so and so.

He is Spiderman and loves to climb anything and everything he can possibly get near.

He runs, never walks, loves school and is repeating just about everything we say.

To elaborate on our summer adventures, we drove out to Ohio for Mr. Sam Palam's birthday. Matt and I decided to drive at night so Jack would sleep. It worked out PERFECTLY. He slept for 10 of the 12 hours out and 9 of the 12 hours back. He was a trooper, I'm SO proud of him. It was an absolute blast. I can't remember when we were all together in the same place. Matt's sister and brother-in-law have a house with a fenced in back yard, so we could just let Little Boy run and jump and play to his heart's content with his cousins without a worry. Excellent way to start off the summer. My nieces and nephews are all older than Jack and the ones closer to his age are far away, so it was really a treat to be near the cousins that are his age. I wish we could be closer so that every weekend could be like that.

The week after that, my sister, brother-in-law and niece and nephews visited from Virginia. We had a lot of fun, the kids are getting SO big and it was nice to see the cousins together. I miss my sister so very much, especially now that I'm a mom. After a successful drive to Ohio, it's not so far fetched to try to drive to Virginia, I'm thinking. It's about 3 hours closer, so should be cake for Mr. Jack. I'll have to work on that.

Then, the week after that, we went up to Lake Winapausaukee for a Rossiter family vacation and Amy, Guido and the kids came in from Ohio for some more fun. We were right on the lake. Again, just open the door to our room and let little boy run and play without too much of a worry. He LOVED the lake and the beach. He and I sat for hours just digging in the dirt with our butts in the water. I have always loved the water and feel right at home on or near it, so it looks like my little one has the same love. HOO RAY!

Tucker & Linda are moving to Ohio in a few weeks. We're coping, but I think I'm taking it harder than Matt. I will miss them terribly and not having the freedom to just drive up north and see them will be a really hard adjustment. But I know they're making the right move, I know they will be happy, I know they will miss us as we will miss them, I know their quality of life will improve immensely and I know we will see them again soon. I just have to keep reminding myself of that.

Since Matt works every Friday night and Saturday all day during the school year, in the summers we cram as much in as possible. Matt felt like he needed a little time alone with Little Boy, so I was sent away for...that's right....LADIES' WEEKEND! Tucker & Linda had some furniture and odds and ends that required us renting a truck to haul back home. SO I got the bright idea to get the truck and go up to the lake for Ladies' Weekend and kill two birds with one stone. It was a fabulous weekend! Drank too much, ate too much, laughed until I thought my sides would split and felt like crap when it was all over. Can't party like I used to, but it was definitely worth it. Ever tried Raspberry Vodka and Lemonade? TO DIE FOR!

In a couple of weeks we are going to my Mom's family reunion and I can't wait. Jack will finally meet my Aunts who have each played a very important part in my childhood. Each one taught me skills that I've been able to use all through adulthood and I'm so grateful for their influence. They haven't met Jack yet so I'm sure they'll be shocked to see a mini-Sharon running around with brown eyes instead of green. When Jack was born, he looked just like Matt, right now, at this very moment, he looks just like I did when I was little. Curly hair, chubby rosy cheeks, and a round face. I think about my aunts a lot, it's amazing how the four sisters are related and they are SO different. I think I'm going to have a post dedicated to my aunts after the reunion, so I can post pictures. I think it would be nice to have a post about them and what they taught me.

My apologies for this extremely long post, but now that things are fixed I'm really going to try to keep things updated, at least once a month. We hope everyone is doing well, healthy and happy and you are all enjoying the summer, wherever you may be.

I Want A New Blog.....(think Huey Lewis)

So I'm thinking I need to construct a new blog....I'm still trying to come up with a clever name, so stay tuned....

So our little boy is 16 months old today!!! I can hardly believe it. He is such a luv muffin, even when he's teething to all high heaven. Some accomplishments of note:

He's starting to repeat things and says a few more words like:

Go!
I knowwwwww or Oh no! Not sure which he's trying to say.
Barka (Which is telling Maggie No Bark)
Yummy
Mahna Mahna....like the song.

Our son is a dancing fool. We get reports from daycare about how he dances in his chair during snack time if there's music on. The teachers also point out how he's the biggest in his class, but is the gentlest. He's always kissing and hugging everyone and rubs his little friend, Harmonee's back when she wakes from her nap. I could just eat him he's so cute.

Sorry I still haven't put pictures up, but I typically update this from work, where I don't have my pictures. I'll try to get some up asap.

Hope all is well with all of you and Happy Summer!

Get a Clue!

This is SO embarrassing.....I haven't been able to view our blog for the last 2 months and couldn't figure out why and just haven't had the time to investigate.

WELL, our blog sometimes requires the "www" at the beginning of it, sometimes not. I don't get it. Mr. King? Are you out there? Can you help?

I'll post some pictures soon, but for those of you who want to know what's going on:

1. I secured another position at the hospital, so now I'm up to 32 hours. WHOO HOOOOO!

2. I'm convinced Jack is going to be a comedian. The things he comes out with are unbelievable. I'm now Mama instead of Bubba, which I am pleased about. He started saying "No" but it's more like nononononononononononooooooo. He probably says about 10 words now, let me see if I can name them:

Mama
Dada
Nana
Papa
Nina (on the Sprout Goodnight Show)
Ball
Ballloooonnnnn
Cracker
Car
Yeah (my fault, apparently I never answer yes to anything, just yeah, the nuns would be very upset with me)
No
Bye bye
oooooo, what's that?

He still does his jabber, my personal favorite is dickadickadickadicka. I'll work on getting some video of him up. He "smiles" and does "fish face" and is starting to run instead of walk. (Sorry Mom) Jack had his first haircut, but they didn't take a lot off because I love his curly hair so very much. (I promise he won't look like Kate Hudson or Sarah Jessica's kid, that's just out of control)

Everything is really really good right now and we're looking forward to summer's fun, sun and cocktails...ummmm, I mean fruit cocktails. Stay tuned for some photos.....you won't believe how big Jack is now.

It went BOOM!

Our computer, that is.... :) We're back up and running and are proud to bring you the latest from the Rossiter Household. Get a load of this....



So yes, finally, little Jack is walking. Not all the time, but MOST of the time. He looks so cute, especially when he's in his little onesie with his chubby legs. I could watch him all day and all night.

Some Jack highlights:

1. He says "Cracker", "Gentle", "Dada" and I think he calls me "Bubba" I have no idea why, but he won't say "Mama" just "Bubba". So, Amy and Guido, I now have something in common with your son. Ha ha.

2. Jack has 4 teeth, two on the top, two on the bottom. He drinks milk from a cup and eats table food. No more formula or baby food and he was SO easy. What a little trooper.

3. He blows kisses to everyone instead of waving bye bye. (I encourage all of you with little kids to do this because there is nothing like seeing big tough guys in a store, at the mall, in Midas repair shop, blow kisses to a baby.)

4. Jack loves school, he has graduated to the next room where they sit at tables and have snack together instead of sitting in high chairs, has a ton of things to climb, and do little projects like painting with their feet.

5. He amazes us every day with the way he imitates things. Today he took a cloth and wiped the table, tried to plug one of his toys in (even though it didn't plug in, I knew what he was doing.) These are just a few of the ways he amuzes us.

In spite of a scary economy, due to an amazing support system, things are going great with us.

Some highlights:

1. Tucker and Linda are now home from the hospital and he is feeling just great.

2. I love my job at the hospital, it's a great fit and I hope to be getting some additional hours in another department soon.

3. Judy is back to work after her surgery and I will continue to call her the Bionic Woman until she gets her butt up here or tells me to stop calling her that. (Whichever comes first.)

4. The Beauregards are doing well, everyone is healthy and happy.

I'll be sure to post more pictures soon. We love and miss you all and hope to connect soon.

Love,
Sharon

Beautiful Beautiful Boy........

1 Day Old



1 Year Old

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY MY SWEET, SWEET LITTLE BOY - Love, Mama & Dada

Happy New Year!

Hello all:

We wanted to say Happy New Year to all! 2008 was such a wonderful year with the addition of our little bundle of love, we can't wait to see what 2009 holds for us.

Some updates:

1. Jack has 2 teeth on the bottom and has for a couple of months now, I've just forgotten to mention it.

2. Tucker is recovering wonderfully and we're hoping he'll be out of the ICU by the end of the week and back to the other floor where he has some more independence and Linda can stay in the room with him.

3. Matt and I are no longer chickens about going to Boston to walk around and take in the sites. We now know how to get to the Theater District, Chinatown, Downtown Crossing and the Boston Commons. I'm really excited about the Commons because my Grandmother and Mr. Bassitt took me there all the time when I was little to walk in the gardens, ride on the swan boat and feed the ducks. So now I can share that tradition with Jack when he gets older. I'm very happy about it.

4. Just a warning, there may be some video compliments of my niece floating around. She got some blackmail material of me lip syncing to Little Red Corvette on New Years and no I was not drunk. If she loves me, she'll put it in the vault for no one to ever see. (Right Moni.....right? Are you reading this? Have mercy on your Auntie Sharon, okay?)

5. Jack Attack is finally healthy, but the Doc thinks he's prone to ear infections, which apparently is a common thing until he outgrows it around the age of 3. Poor little guy. Otherwise, doing wonderfully.

Renee, Jess, Jeff and Josh all came up from VA for New Years and it was a blast. We all met up at the ol' homestead and had a wonderful meal, some laughs and of course, some lip syncing as only the Beauregard Beauties can do. I miss you guys every day and it was so much fun to get everyone together.

Here are some photos of Mr. Jack's previously mentioned hives at the later stages, believe me, it was MUCH worse at the beginning. Also, our attempted Christmas photo shoot. Just a word of advice from our son, he's wise beyond his 10 months: If it looks like a ball and smells like a ball, it must be thrown like a ball, not used as a prop in a photo shoot, Mommy.







Love to all! We wish a happy, healthy, successful new year to each and every one of you.