Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

The truth of the matter is: I hate being on the computer when I'm home because I'm on it all day at work. There I said it. So I stink at this blogging thing because I used to do it on my lunch break at my previous employer's and now I can't.

Anyway....lots going on since the last time we posted, oh, 5 months ago! I'll include some pictures.

Our little boy is changing SO much, (see pictures below). He's tall and getting lean. Still no change in the potty situation, but I'm hoping that he'll have some peer pressure from school and go on the potty soon. I've felt some reassurance from friends who tell me their little boys fought the potty, but when they left them alone, one day they just decided that it was time and did it on their own. (Please God.)

Jack is extremely articulate. My Dad called a few days ago. Jack spent a few days up with my Mom and Dad while we were on the cruise. He spent a lot of time in "Papa's Workshop" aka, the basement of wonders. As in, "I wonder what the hell he has down there?" Anyway, I digress, so my Dad called a few days ago and the conversation when something like this:

Sharon: "So Dad, did you and Jack have a good time?"
Dad: "We were down in the basement most of the time. He was so good, we pounded some nails into styromfoam, played with the vice, walked around, it was great."
Sharon: "I'm glad he didn't show you his temper."
Dad: "Nope, he was great. By the way if he's right there, ask him what a countersink is."
Sharon: "Hey Jack, What's a countersink?"
Jack: "It's in Papa's basement."
Dad: "Ask him what a countersink does."
Sharon: Jack, what does a countersink do?"
Jack: "It makes holes Mom"
Dad: "I can't believe it! The little *$& remembers! He's got a mind like a steel trap."

Oh and he does, this is just a small example of the things Jack remembers. So just a warning if you're around the boy....watch what you say. I see some embarrasing moments coming my way....

Matt and I went on a cruise with the Rossiter clan last week and had a blast. I was a complete wreck before we left. Drafted a will, a medical attention form for Jack, had them notarized. What a psycho. I've never had problems travelling before, but now that we have Jack, all I could think of was that we would die on the plane, the bus or the boat and he would be in foster care unless I made it VERY clear where he was to go. Sometimes my OCD gets the best of me, what can I say?

Everything is great, having a wonderful summer. We haven't been to the lake as much as we would like, but there's so much to do in Somersworth that we haven't had much of a chance. I can't believe it's already August. I'm looking forward to fall though, it IS my favorite season.

My Krystal is due to have little Noah in less than a month! I'm SO excited I can't stand it! She and Ray are working on moving into a bigger place so she is working on the nursery which is a really good thing because I think she was going a little stir crazy being out of work. They found her replacement a little earlier than she had hoped, so she stopped work in July. I think it's better for her, being a pastry chef is no joke. I was exhausted at my desk job and can't imagine how she must have been feeling. Getting that girl to relax is like an act of congress though, hopefully she'll take advantage.

Work is going well for both of us, Matt is still pursuing his master's degree in education, but won't be going back until the winter semester. I love my job and Jack loves school. So basically, we're all good.

We send our love to all of you and hope to talk soon. Hope you're all enjoying your summer. Here are a few pictures for your viewing pleasure.


The Beach


Mom and Jack at the Beach


Kiss the Cow


Billings Farm


These Boots Were Made for Walking

Yup! Still a Slacker!

So let's see.....some updates.

- We think Jack may be a lawyer in later years. His newest is when you offer him something, he answers with, "How 'bout (insert something he's not supposed to, or doesn't often have here)?" i.e. apple pie, apple juice, ice cream, cake, candy

- He loves to sing loud and proud like his momma. "a b c d e f GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! h i j k l m n o PEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! q r s t u VEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! w x y AND ZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

- Jack LOVES Caillou. For those of you who don't know who this is, it's a 4 year old little cartoon boy who, while educational, can sometimes be whiney. Maybe I think this because I've seen every episode at least 231 times. But hey, he could be watching worse? Right?

- Our son is quite witty for a 2 year old and he makes me laugh often throughout the day. You'll see in the photo below.

- Jack is testing boundries, BIG TIME, but I think he's starting to get the concept of there being consequences for his actions.... NOT! (HA HA)

- He is an excellent traveller. We went out to Ohio last month and he was awesome on the plane and wonderful on the 14 hour drive back.

- No signs of interest with the potty.....I'm anxiously awaiting but nope, no interest.

Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure. Some are blurry because hey, he's 2, he moves A LOT. By the way, that scrunched up face is our son's version of a smile. Oh Boy!

I'm a Slacker!

Some new pics.


Doin' the Alligator.....



See how big I'm getting?



My personal favorite.

Happy Thanksgiving and Christmas Everyone!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

from Jack 'in the Box' Rossiter!

Not a lot of new things to report. Just welcoming fall and watching Jack grow like a weed. Some random goings-on:

1. Jack LOVES books. He likes to be read to every day and his favorites at the moment are "Go Dog Go" and "Hop on Pop". I'm not intentionally bragging, but he recognizes some letters and numbers. He also says Alba FEEEET. Which is Jackese for Alphabet, I LOVE it!


2. Matt and I went to a costume party this past weekend. Here are the results...


My hero!


The sinister couple out for the night...


Me and my hippie chick, Steph.

Tucker and Linda have been gone now for over a month. This is what Jack has to say about all that:

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.