He's Here!

Announcing...

Prescott Edward McCumiskey

born November 20, 2015 at 9:01am

8 lbs, 21 inches

We are all doing well and are so in love!

Our Little Transformer

Conrad's obsession over the last several months has been Transformers! He loves, loves, loves playing with the figures (and some of them were Sean's) for hours on end. So when it came time to plan his birthday party, he of course asked for Transformers!

We hired a face painter (best idea ever! The kids loved it) and borrowed a bounce house from a friend. 

Even though we had a blast and hosting was relatively easy thanks to Costco and help from the family, I think this is one of the last years I'll host a big birthday party at the house - too much work, prep, and cleanup. And for the same cost we can host a party at a local gym or park or something similar. Except for maybe baby boy #2s first birthday...we all know I love a themed party :)

Happy Birthday Conrad!

It's so hard to believe that in the span of 3 years we can have such a sweet, handsome boy on our hands. 3 years ago, Conrad,  when you were in my belly we were so anxious to see what you looked like, what your personality would be, and just how much we would love you. Well, Conrad, you turned out to be an adorably cute, smart, clever, sensitive, brave, goofy little guy and we love you so much more than you could ever imagine.

You are so advanced for your age in speech, reasoning, and understanding. And you're so tall - albeit kind of awkward but you're getting faster and more athletic. You love to eat, play with Transformers, watch UmiZoomi, play outside on your "motorcycle", play with stickers and play dough.  We can't wait to see what the next years will bring with you as a big brother. We love you!!!!

Let's Find a Cure

Being in the senior housing industry, I see and meet those with dementia or Alzheimer's every day. Or if I'm not meeting them I'm meeting their families and care givers. From a professional standpoint Alzheimer's is tough. From a personal standpoint it's excruciating. 

My Gramps, my mother's dad, has been experiencing a mental health decline for the past several years. We now have the diagnosis of Alzheimer's - and even though we knew that to be a possibility all along it's still a great blow. There is no cure. There is no getting better.

What was once a vibrant, social, hardworking, independent man, is now a quiet, reserved, and totally-dependent-on-my-mom person. Not only is this rough on him but it's devastating for my mom. However, she carries it like a champ! She's a true advocate for him and is totally devoted, especially since her mother, my Gampi, passed away almost two years ago. I can't imagine those that don't have a daughter like her to look after them or those that don't have the monetary resources for homes such as where I work.

This is why finding a cure for Alzheimer's is so crucial. With the baby-boomer generation getting older and our life spans getting longer, more and more will receive this diagnosis every year. The research and support that is provided by the Alzheimer's Association is amazing and my family whole-heartedly supports them. This year we did the annual Alzheimer's Walk with my whole family. My mom won an award for individual contributor and fund-raiser. She also (in my book) wins an award for being an amazing daughter and advocate for my Gramps. 

For more information on how you can help, visit www.alz.org. 

My Big Boy

Big news in our household!!! Conrad started pre-school! Our little guy (who will be 3 in October) started at a new "big boy school" on Aug. 31st. And boy were there tears. Lots from both him and me. The first day he was very excited:

Ahh....love that curly mop!

However, once it set in that this was an all-day, every-day affair the novelty wore off and he freaked out. I don't blame the kid - for the past almost 3 years he was with his daycare provider, Farzaneh, almost one on one the whole time. She had him since he was 4 months old and she was like a grandmother to him. He was totally spoiled! So he went from that to a class of 22 kids (and this kid doesn't like a lot of loud noises or ruckus) with lots of structure and schedules. It was a lot for him to get used to, poor guy. Things have gotten better but only after I had to have a conversation with the principal about receiving help from the teachers at drop-off. I kid you not, I absolutely need someone to peel him off me each morning. It's now an unspoken agreement between me and Sean that he does drop offs whenever possible because I can't handle the sadness - I end up running to my car and bawling :(

I know he'll adjust and get better and that this will be good for him in the end - hey it spurred his potty training and now he's fully potty trained before age 3! For baby boy #2 we will definitely put him in sooner in hopes that it will be an easier adjustment. It's these times that make me desperately want to be a SAHM but it's just not in the cards (or bank) for us. Major mom guilt here - what's a mom to do?! 

Where has the summer gone?

I'll say it time and time again - the days are passing by too quickly. I'm trying to spend as much time with my little guy as possible before #2 comes:

And Sean and I are desperately trying to get stuff done to the house because we know my ability to help will be much less once the newest baby boy comes. 

When we moved to our house one of the main things that attracted us to it and our neighborhood were the big yards and trees. However, the maintenance is slowly starting to creep up on us - we are just trying to stay afloat here! I think we'll eventually have to hire some professionals just to get everything done all at once as we can't handle it all. And neither can our cars! Here's just a part of a project:

We loaded my tiny SUV with 30 bags of mulch and 5 bags of top soil. We then had to go back for 12 more bags of mulch! Whew, home ownership is great but man it's tough work! Anyone know the name of a good landscaper? ;)

Pregnancy Thus Far

So unlike the first time around I've been horrible about keeping up my pregnancy updates. I've always heard that baby #2 gets the shaft and I'm afraid to say that I think that's the case here. Things are just so busy! If things are this busy now I'm super nervous for when we add another one to the mix. I only took one picture so far to track my belly:

For comparison, here's me at 15 weeks with Conrad:

And then when we found out it was another BOY we had Conrad introduce the gender with a balloon via Facetime with our families:

He had too much fun with that balloon, however, he was quite sad that it's not a baby sister. I'm sure he'll get over it once he sees how much fun he and his baby brother will have. Now just to decide on a name. If it was a girl we would have no problem - but however with a boy we are at a loss. I really like the idea of keeping with family names but it's tough to agree on one. I have a list with about one hundred 12 names and Sean likes maybe 5 of them. Oh dear.