I lvoe daddy...

Daddy,
Mom let me pick out my own clothes today, becasue she said today is a stay at home day. I reached right into my drawer and picked out my I LOVE DADDY shirt.
I wanted to talk to you today, but mommy said you were very busy at work, so mommy and me made you a video instead.
http://s54.photobucket.com/albums/g119/handsfreebaby/?action=view&current=MVI_0369.flv
Time to nap now, I love you!
Bell

Flipping with Austin...

Hi daddy,

I just finished flipping over Austin's shoulder, a whole bunch of times!! I miss you, cause I like to flip over you daddy!!

We had spagetti and meatballs for dinner, but I didn't really like the sauce, I just got real DIRTY!! Mommy says you need to make us real us real gravy.

This morning mommy took me to playgroup and left me with Roxy's mommy, because she had to go to the doctor. I had fun and then went back to Roxy's house with them. Mommy came there to get me and we had grilled cheese and apples with Roxy and her sisters. She has two sisters, and they are going to have a little brother in August too!! I was so tired from playing I fell asleep as soon as I got in the car.

I am going to call you now befoe I go to bed to say night!!

Love,

Isabella Susan Tuscano (Thats my big name says mommy).

It was COLDDD today daddy....

Hi daddy,

Mommy and I went to a babywearing meeting this morning and I made a new friend named Sadie. She is a few weeks older than me and we had fun playing together. She also has a cat named Trixie, who let me pet her a lot. In the afternoon I went to work with mommy, I always have fun playing with the kids there, but today I kept trying to climb on the tables!!

Guess what I got to have for dinner?? Shrench Shries from DQ!!! (Austin too!). I tried to call you but had to leave you a message, but then you called me back so I could say I love you!!

I was so happy I got to talk to you before I have to go to bed, and mommy said you are going to get to see your friend Danny tonight and "shoot some pool". I don't know what that means, but I wish I could get to go in the pool too!!

Night, night daddy, love you,

Belly

This week is dedicated to daddy...

Don left this afternoon for a week in NJ, he will not be back until Saturday evening. They have a big plant shutdown at work and he needs to be in early and put in long hours each day, so it just makes the most sense for him to be there. But we will miss him and he will miss us. So this week Bell will write to daddy everyday! (I hate when he goes away, but feel blessed it is not that often, OK so a week later he is going to Arkansas for 4 days as well. My friend Lori down here just learned her husband will soon be deployed for 6 months and they have a 1 year old, so I can't complain!)
Karen

Hi daddy,
I was busy playing with my cars when you left, but stopped for long enough to say goodbye and blow you a kiss, and then right back to playing. Mommy says you took this picture of me while I was sleeping today, I love my Lucky dog to sleep with! I hope you did not get to wet in the rain and you call to say night-night to me later.

Mommy let me type this all on my own on the new computer at mommies new work desk, and then Austin and I played "foot fight" on the couch. I need to get bigger so I can beat him.

Now it is time for bed!!

Love you daddy,
Belly

Easter (in addition to the pics)

Busy week!
We had a wonderful Easter weekend visiting with our family and friends. It was nice to see everyone and get a chance to get back home one more time before the baby comes!
We went to NJ for dinner on Friday night and got to see Grandma and Grandpa T and Uncle Ed.
Saturday Michelle, Liz and I went down to he waterfront with the kids to play minature golf. Well we decided it was to cold for us, so we went and had a bowl of chowder while the kids played golf - I think we all had more fun that way, and then back to my moms house, where Maryann joined us for a while (Robbie was sick). It was great to see everyone they all look awesome - loosing weight while I am gaining!! Daddy stayed at Grandmas with Bell for some relaxing time while I went out with the girls!
Saturday night we did pizza at Dan and El's house, the girls always love to get to spend some time with Austin, and Bell had a fun time with them.
Easter Sunday we opened gifts from the Easter Bunny, and went to Mass in the morning with my parents, getting to see other Freeport friends there as well, and then headed over to Steve and Gina's for brunch. This may be the last in their house, as they have it on the market, they hope in exchange for something bigger!
Then packed up and the drive back home. Luckily we did not hit a lot of traffic, so that was nice.
It was a nice weekend and I love getting home to see everyone - we miss you all!!
K
Oh, and I finally got a picture of my belly (which many of you got to see already now). Don really pushed to get his belly out as far as he could to be bigger than me!!

Easter

A kinda, sorta picture of my belly...

Bell and I went down to Salisbury, MD (right on the border of DE and MD) last week to the first Babywearing meeting we are setting up down there. I am very excited as the group has branched out from just Dover to three meetings a month (actually mine own are the most inconsistent - need to work on that). The new moms had a great time trying on carriers and this is a picture of Bell having fun leaning backwards!! Someone wanted to know if she would fall out of the wrap if she leaned back and she had a great time showing tham that she was very securely on mom. And you can kinda of see my growing belly, I will have to get Don to take an official picture to post!!
Karen
PS - Oh, by the way that last post was on APRIL 1st (i.e. April FOOLS day!!). So for those of you reading our blog consistantly (mom, Laurie and the Fabbs - sorry to get you so excited!!). Still only one - gender still to be determined at birth.

Our BIG news!!!

So we have been waiting to tell everyone this, and decided today was the day to spread the news!!!! From this we can see who is reading the blog!!
Karen & Don

It's finally back!!

Yeah, I got my camera back today!! Austin is at a sleep over at a friends house, so Don and I took Bell and went out for Mexican for dinner, yum (and a few Tums for me for dessert!!). When we got home Bell was tired so I laid her in bed with daddy with her milk and came back to find this:

We have been busy lately, just with this and that it seems. I started working at the Y, so am doing that two days a week, and last weekend we all went swimming to get a good start on using our membership! The four lane pool has a spiral tube slide so we went there and Austin finally got Don to go down the slide with him a few times, while Bell and I played in the low end. Austin is excited about having time off from school for spring break, and getting to see his NY friends over Easter weekend.

We just got a new computer, as this one has been giving us LOTS of problems! So before setting it up here (where a crib will need to be in a short time), we searched the house for the best place to relocate my "office" to for the time being. The living room won out over the bedroom (my being on the computer late would disturb Don), and the kitchen (just to tight a squeeze). And the bathroom was just not an option!! So the hope chest will go into our bedroom for now (to get covered and used as a makeshift changing table while the bassinet is in there), and the desk will take its place. We got a new desk, as Don feels he has lived with my white wicker one long enough, so it will have to go and find a new home! Boy, we can't wait to build the addition to teh house and have a little more room!!

Gotta go and get to bed now as we have church in the morning.

Karen

I wish we could have done Baltimore the way we have wanted to, a weekend with beautiful weather and spending some time exploring the inner harbor. Another time....
Of course this weeknd was 32 degrees out!! I was at the Convention Center all day Saturday and Sunday, but had a lot of fun and did great business!!! Vendors were complaining that it was slow on Saturday, but I was busy all day long. One of the events coordinators told me I had the busiest table in the hall!! I really love being able to show moms in real life how great baby carriers can be, and there was tons of pregnant and new moms there. Perfect venue for me.
Saturday Don took the kids to the National Aquarium, and it sounds like they had a fun time! The aquarium is all people movers and escalators, so no strollers - so it worked out good that Don had HIS Mei Tai carrier to wear Bell in. After I was done, they came and picked me up for dinner (corned beef on Saint Pats Day!!), and then we went back to the hotel for some fun in the pool. I was in bed by 9 pm because I was SO tired. Sunday was another good day at the show, and Don ended up driving home earlier than I did to get a little down time before going off to NJ for the night. Harold came back to work today - yeah for Don!!!
This morning Bell got her bath, and while I was cleaning up the bathroom, she was running around naked. Well in the minutes time I was in the bathroom she got up on the kitchen table (again!!). She was sitting up there, naked as can be, eating grapes out of the bag on the table, juice running down her nice clean front, and when she saw me said over and over "grapes"!! I miss my camera. She just LOVES to climb these days. And she is saying SO many new words. This weeks new ones are : grapes, chair, soda (that comes from daddy drinking DDP, not me!!), apple, juice, nap, moon, stars, windy. It is amazing that she can say so many of the words she can sign, it seems to have really helped her pick up words quicker! One of her favorite words now is dirty (or doooorty as she says it). If she gets the slightest thing on her hands, they are dooorty!!

Nice to nasty!!

A few days ago the weather was 78 degrees here in Delaware andwe were at the park in shorts and today it is just above freezing and raining (soon to turn to hail / snow for a few hours says the weatherman). Typical March weather! Dad said they had two inches of hail in NY today.
Of course it was beautiful all week, and now forhte weekend it will be COLD. We are going to Baltimore last minute this weekend. I just, literally just, had the opportunity come up to share a booth at the Baby and Toddler EXPO at the Baltimore Convention Center this weekend. A woman who runs lactation and baby classes in MD has a booth and is doing some seminars, so for manning the booth while she is speaking I get 1/2 the booth for FREE (booth costs $900.00).
It is a two day event and will be two LONG days, but should be fun as well and hopefully great for business. Don and kids are coming along to help set up and then go spend time at the National Aquarium in Baltimore and the hotel pool! Luckily we were able to get a room at the Inner Harbor Holiday Inn (on rewards points!!) so the hotel, convention center and attractions are all very close together.
We have been talking about a weekend trip to Baltimore for awhile, but this is not exactly what we planned. I really wish the weather was going to be nicer for Don and the kids getting around.
Well, I have to go finish getting stuff ready as we have to be out of here at 6 AM - ugh!
Karen

Hi all,

The main babywearing website The Babywearer (TBW) just started up a new weekly feature called Spotlight On. They interview one Babywearing business every week and hightlight them on the main page of the site. We are the Spotlight of the week!!!

Spotlight on... Hands Free Baby Come visit with Karen Tuscano, owner of Hands Free Baby, as she talks to us about her business selling baby carriers and accessories, shares about her family, and gives us her thoughts on babywearing advocacy. Karen will also be dropping in to answer your questions, so feel free to ask what's on your mind!

You can check out the whole interview here:

http://www.thebabywearer.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1056778#post1056778

Chicken Man

So I do get to post a few pics, thanks to other peoples cameras!! These are of Don in his "Chicken Hat" from our Church's auction last month.
Every year a woman in the parish makes a new one to auction off - highest bidder get to decide who wears the hat for the whole night, and Mike won it and chose Don. So if anyone needs a hat for "crazy hat day" or an Easter parade, let us know - it is in the attic!! Hey, he paid $35 bucks for that beautiful hat.

Swimming, cleaning and the purple crayon....

Here are some pics from swim class today at the Y. Bell loves the water and has a great time (I know you can't really tell it from this picture!) Usually there are three of us from playgroup there with the kids, but this week Alex's (far left) grandma was in town, so she took him in the pool, and Emma's (middle) dad came and took her in. My friend Virginia got these pics of Bell while taking pics of Emma. She also got some great video clips, but I can't download them, only watch and e-mail them :(( Not the best shot, but you get a little glimpse of by pregnant belly here in the one group shot.

I really hate our kitchen floor, it is not bad looking, just so hard to keep clean! All the little grooves in the tiles trap so much dirt. So every once and awhile you need to do more than just mop it. I was sick of it today, so decided today was the day to get on my hands and knees and do some work on it (not that easy at 28 weeks!). So while Bell ate lunch I started by the dog bowls (always the worst spot) and worked around by the cabinets, you know, the spots the mop just don't get very well. About half way through Bell was done ands wanted out. So I gave her a sponge and she went to town! She preferred washing the vertical surfaces instead of the floor, so did the cabinet doors (which once you are down on the floor looking at them needed doing as well) and washed to front of the oven about 10 times. She did learn that she does not like the taste of the bubbles on the sponge, and when she got a lot of bubbles on her hands kept coming to me and saying and signing "dirty" and needed to wipe her hands - a lot of times!! Of course the oven door was worse off after she "cleaned" it than before, but we had fun, despite the fact that once she got down, not much really got done. The other half will save for another day. When Austin came home from school and let the dogs in, half of the muddy, melted yard came in with them anyway!!

So while I was cleaning up, from cleaning up, Bell went off to play. All of a sudden I heard a noise that was just not right. Well, I turned around to find her scribbling on the hallway wall with a purple crayon. I am not sure where it came from, as we are very careful to put them away after each time (the concept of paper is not complete yet, either is the one of not EATING the crayons!!). Luckily crayon washes off wall easily.

Don got home from work not to late today, which has not been the norm lately (and he had been away overnight Thursday), so we got to have a nice dinner together. We then put on a movie (Barnyard) to watch all together (Austin had a friend sleeping over), and poor Don fell asleep watching it!! Luckily we have a low key weekend, so he can relax, but he has to go back up to NJ Sunday night to stay over for EARLY Monday AM meeting. Not being a early kind of guy, it is always better if he does not have to get up at some ungodly hour to drive there in the AM. Oh, and I am awake now typing this because they called with a question at 1 AM from work, and then I could not get back to sleep! He will be happy when things are more back to normal at work. And I will be happy for him.

Well, I guess I need to try and get back to sleep.

Night,

Karen

We had a fun day on Saturday. The weather was fairly nice, so we took a ride to the duck pond to feed the ducks / geese some stale bread. Well, when we got there, NO ducks! But lots of seagulls, so we fedd the "birds" as Belll kept calling them. Then we went to the park and Austin took Bell down the big slide and daddy and I caught her at the bottom, she loved it!! When I put her in the swings, she loves it right until I take her out, and then she cries because she has to stop. But for daddy she got right out without a tear, go Daddy!! We rounded out the day with Dairy Queen for dinner (as far as takeout goes, it is our favorite - even Austin!) and watched Nanny McPhee - which was pretty funny. It was a good faimly day spent together.
More soon,
I miss my camera!!
Karen

Sorry no pics, camera broke :(

My "new" camera fell the other day and the battery door broke. I brought it in today, not thinking to upload pictures before I did. It has to be sent out, approx "6 - 10" weeks to fix!! Ugh, it is great Don got the warrantee, but sometimes it seems that if it is under wanerntee it takes SO much longer! So I need to break out the old digital to get the pictures I have off of the memory card, but no new pics after those for awhile :((

When I get them up there is a cute video of Bell changing a diaper on her doll. When we were playing it back yesterday she said, AND signed "change doll". Yeah, two word sentences!!! She is actually talking so much these days with lots of new words. She calls Austin "bruber", and will stand on something she knows she is not supposed to and says "sit owen" with a smile on her face!

We went to the YMCA this morning for our first Tot Parent swim class and she saw this little girl walking along with her mom. She started running after them saying "irl" and signing girl! It was so cute. We had a great time in the pool and Bell is much more comfortable in the water than most of the other kids (two friends from Mothers and More are also taking the class with us). After the pool I put her in the Kids Zone, and she had fun playing with the other kids. The Y has a great kids drop off area which as a member you can use for 1.5 hours a day for free. We are not members yet, but soon...... When she was in the Kids Zone I was finishing filling out my paperwork to work in the Kids Zone 1 or 2 mornings a week (3 hours at a time). My friend Jill runs it and finally had an opening to get me in! So I am getting a job at the Y (takes a few weeks as they need to do a background check and all that stuff first), not for the money (which is not a lot), but for the benefits!! Family membership is only $24 month (as compaired to $78), kids zone babysitting is free and all kids programs and classes are half price and adult arobic / water arobic classes are free. So figure that what I make will cover the cost of the membership and classes - so it is all good. The best thing is that when I "go to work", I bring the kids with me!! Don has really wanted to get back into working out and loved the Y when he did a free trial membership in January, so this is going to be a great thing for the whole family.

Of course Don needs to actually have some free time to get there! He was covering a shift from 6-10 PM yesterday for one of hte guys who is taking a certification class (AFTER a full day of work), and spending the night at the hotel. I called him about 11:30 PM, thinking he would just be settling in at the hotel, but he was still at his desk catching up on paperwork he did not get done during the day. With two guys out on disability, he will be running on overdrive for at least the next month.

We went to an awards night at Austin's school this week for the first and second marking periods. Austin got Honors Roll certificates and pins for both marking periods! He is really doing so well in school. He just switched specials and is now in Design Tech. They make cars, airplanes and at the end of the year a rocket which they launch during school. They of course learn the mechanics behind them and the tools use to make them as well. He seems to really like this class and when we went to open house Don had a great time talking to the teacher about it!

Not much new here with me. I did go on a new topical and an antihistime day before yesterday, so I am hoping it helps the itching some in a day or two! Otherwise I am feeling good and starting to get BIG! I did get to breifly meet our new (soon to be) neighbors this week. Te house next door has been empty since the end of November, and we miss our friends Brett and Steph (Hi over there in Guam!!). Our new neighbors have three kids: 10, 8 and 14 months, so hopefully that will be fun. Of course Austin's first question when I told him was "do they have dogs?", which I forgot to ask! The reason I met her was that the dogs were barking their heads off (which is not unusual), so I went out to check on them and saw her over there, but we only chatted for a few minutes as it was cold out and Bell and I had no coats on.
Gotta go clean the house, enough goofing off....
Karen

This and that...

Austin was home from school today. A trip to the doctor says he has strep throat. I guess it is good that it is a long weekend so he only has to miss the one day of school.
I also went to he doctor today. I have had a rash for the last week +, had the same thing when I was pregnant with Austin. Head to toe and itchy as all get out!! This type of rash (PUPPP) lasts until the baby is born, so I was not going to be like this for 15 or so more weeks, so she gave me a topical med and I should be good in a few days = yeah!! Otherwise I am feeling good, baby is moving and kicking all of the time!
We packed Don off this afternoon for a weekend of work! Ugh, three nights of 6 pm to 6 am night shifts. He will be home sometime Monday AM, probably to sleep for the whole day, and go back to work on Tuesday. I can tell you he will be very happy to have Harold back and eventually Marty (the guy who broke his hip!). No one ever said being the boss was fun. Well, at least he should get some playstation time in at the hotel (I don't think Austin knows yet that he took it!).
Don is officially part of our churches parish family. This past week was the annual auction they hold each year. Last year we went to it and this year they asked him to work at it. It is a lot of fun and you never know what you will find there. But they have a tradition called the chicken hat. Some woman from the parish makes a new one every year (it is a BIG chicken atop a straw hat with fake hair and ribbons hanging down it), and they auction it off. But the key is whoever buys it gets to choose who to give it to and that person has to wear the hat all night long (and then gets to take it home). Well Don bid on it, but this guy Mike ended up winning it, and promptly turned around and gave it to Don!! So he had to wear the chicken hat all night long. So funny, I wish I had had the camera with us. Bell thought it was great and kept saying (yelling actually) Daddy and signing hat and bird. It is quite an honor to be chosen to get the chicken hat (which is now up in the attic).
Bell is doing great, She learned to open the corner cabinet in the kitchen that spins around and took out all of the spices today. I let her do it, and then we made a game of one by one her bringing them back (she had brought each one over th me at the table and laid them on the floor) and putting them away.
Well, that's all for now - night all!

They grow up so fast!

Everyone says it "they grow up so fast". But it really is so true!
It is hard to believe sometimes that my little baby boy is almost a teenager. He has always been such an independent one, when he was small I used to put the bowls, cereal and some spoons on a bottom cabinet shelf and the milk in the bottom shelf of the fridge. When he woke up on Saturday mornings he would make his bowl of cereal on the kitchen floor and go watch cartoons. Now he does his whole morning routine and some mornings he only comes in to say goodbye if I am not out of bed yet! (But most mornings I am up with my "boys" to see them off for the day!!). So when he asked me on the night before Valentine's Day, "mom, am I allowed to have a girlfriend?", he almost knocked me down! My little boy is growing up!!
Bell is also growing into a real toddler these days! She loves to play with her dolls and asks to carry her doll like mommy carries her all of the time. Hopefully this will help her transition when mommy has a new baby to carry! She puts on her doll and plays, walks around and then stops to pat it on the back and signs and says "doll". She knows probably 50 signs now and can really comunicate so much with us, and everyday almost is saying new words (or what passes for words from a 15.5 month old). We know what she is saying anyway. She has yet to come up with a word for her brother, but calls his friend JD (who is here A LOT), "AD". Right now she is walking around saying "y-et" to the dogs. This means quiet, which she hears mommy say to the dogs when they are barking a lot. So when they bark, she says Y-ET, loud!!
They really do grow up so fast!!!

Snow Babies

No school

So I was awoken this morning at 6:30 by a 12 year old jumping up and down singing, NO SCHOOL, NO SCHOOL. Snow day in Delaware today, with about 5 inches on the ground.
Will post pics of the kids playing in the snow later I am sure, but first that same 12 year old needs to go SHOVEL!!
K