Across The Universe....

Last night I had a "me" night. Kind of...

Karl went over to a friend's house from work to play poker and Max was in bed by 6 pm. Soooo...I plopped down on the couch, grabbed a beer, and watched the coolest movie, "Across The Universe". It's been a long time since I sat down and watched a movie that really captivated me. The entire movie is acted/sung to the music of The Beatles....here is an excerpt from The Beatles website...

“I have never seen anything like it. Nor heard any noise to approximate the ceaseless, frantic, hysterical scream which met the Beatles when they took the stage after what seemed a hundred years of earlier acts. All very good, all marking time, because no one had come for anything other than the Beatles...

Then the theatre went wild. First aid men and police – men in the stalls, women mainly in the balcony – taut and anxious, patrolled the aisles, one to every three rows.

Many girls fainted. Thirty were gently carried out, protesting in their hysteria, forlorn and wretched in an unrequited love for four lads who might have lived next door.

The stalls were like a nightmare March Fair. No one could remain seated. Clutching each other, hurling jelly babies at the stage, beating their brows, the youth of Britain’s second city surrendered themselves totally.”
~ Derek Taylor (From his book “Fifty Years Adrift”)

Let me tell you the movie was astounding! I definitely give this movie a thumbs up!!Here is the storyline from the website.

"A love story set against the backdrop of the 1960s amid the turbulent years of anti-war protest, mind exploration and rock 'n roll, the film moves from the dockyards of Liverpool to the creative psychedelia of Greenwich Village, from the riot-torn streets of Detroit to the killing fields of Vietnam.

The star-crossed lovers, Jude (Jim Sturgess) and Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood), along with a small group of friends and musicians, are swept up into the emerging anti-war and counterculture movements, with "Dr. Robert" (Bono) and "Mr. Kite" (Eddie Izzard) as their guides.

Tumultuous forces outside their control ultimately tear the young lovers apart, forcing Jude and Lucy – against all odds – to find their own way back to each other."

Lion hugs a woman

Here is a great video for all your cat lovers....

This was actually sent to me as an e-mail but I found it on YouTube. SOOOO cool!

Max's First Easter...

Max is a pro at these holidays now, being that this was like his 6th one. Max is also becoming a pro at traveling...we headed to New York for Easter.

Saturday Karl and Opa took care of Max and Mom-Mom and I headed out to do some last minute grocery shopping, and a few other things too! We went to this fantastic store called Christmas Tree Shops, and I have to say that it took us a while to get out of there!! After that we headed to the grocery store and got some last minutes things we needed for Easter Dinner.

Sunday morning we headed to church, after a yummy breakfast courtesy of Mom-Mom. Max was fantastic! He didn't cry, holler or yell, he was an angel! After church we headed home for a big yummy dinner. We managed to get in a few pics of us after church and a few other cute ones! Hope you all had a great Easter and have a great spring!

Here is Max and Daddy before breakfast Sunday morning....

Uncle Danny a.k.a The Godfather, got Max a couple of adorable baseball hats, as well as the cutest kid pool ever! I can't wait for summer!!! I didn't get a pic of the pool but we managed to keep Max still for a second to get pics of the hats....

Here is one of Max opening his Easter Basket from Mom-Mom & Opa....I think that I had more fun opening it than he did....lol!

First Day Of Spring...

Well it's officially spring. Or at least the calendar says so! It's a little blustery today but it looks like the sun is trying to peak through. Max and I are supposed to go on a hay ride with The Little Ducks today but I am not sure that is still going to happen. The bonus is that it's also a winery SOOOO we may still have to take a trip out that way. :)

Happy Spring everyone!

Sweet Treatment...

This was a great little article found in one of my parenting magazines. Thought that I would share....enjoy.

If your child has a cough, try giving him honey before bed - it may cut down on nighttime hacking, according to a study in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. This is good news since traditional cough meds are no longer advised for kids ages 6 and younger.

The thick syrup coats and soothes the back of the throat, while the sweet taste causes salivation, which reduces the urge to cough. Honey's antioxidants may even help the body fend off nasty cold bugs, thereby alleviating cold symptoms, says Ian Paul, M.D., lead study author.

For kids ages 1 to 5, start with 1/2 teaspoon (don't mix with tea -this could dilute its effect), and for those 6 and up, offer one teaspoon. Feel free to re-dose as often as needed, but remember; Never give honey to children under 1 because in rare cases it can cause infantile botulism.

-Rachel Rabkin Pechman
Parenting, April 2008

With all the hub-bub about children's cough medicine I thought this would be great to share.

Too Cute For Words....

Max, Magoo, and I went for a walk the other day and I just happened to have the camera ready to click....just adorable!

What Do You Think....

This was sent to me in an e-mail today and I am curious about what everyone thinks about it. Obviously I know the opinion of the sender but would like to see what all my other readers, all four of you, think.

Letter by a Florida teacher.....A teacher speaks
This is a subject close to my heart. Do you know that we have adult students at the school where I teach who are not US citizens and who get the PELL grant, which is a federal grant (no pay back required) plus other federal grants to go to school? One student from the Dominican Republic told me that she didn't want me to find a job for her after she finished my program, because she was getting housing from our housing department and she was getting a PELL grant which paid for her total tuition and books, plus money leftover.

She was looking into WAIT which gives students a CREDIT CARD for gas to come to school, and into CARIBE which is a special program (check it out - I did) for immigrants and it pays for child care and all sorts of needs while they go to school or training. The one student I just mentioned told me she was not going to be a US Citizen because she plans to return to the Dominican Republic someday and that she 'loves HER country.' I asked her if she felt guilty taking what the US is giving her and then not even bothering to become a citizen and she told me that it doesn't bother her, because that is what the money is there for!

I asked the CARIBE administration about their program and if you ARE a US Citizen, you don't qualify for their program. And all the while, I am working a full day, my son-in-law works more than 60 hours a week, and everyone in my family works and pays for our education. Something is wrong here. I am sorry but after hearing they want to sing the National Anthem in Spanish - enough is enough. Nowhere did they sing it in Italian, Polish, Irish (Celtic), German or any other language because of immigration. It was written by Francis Scott Key and should be sung word for word the way it was written.

The news broadcasts even gave the translation -- not even close.Sorry if this offends anyone but this is MY COUNTRY. IF IT IS YOUR COUNTRY SPEAK UP -- please pass this along. I am not against immigration -- just come through like everyone else. Get a sponsor; have a place to lay your head; have a job; pay your taxes, live by the rules AND LEARN THE LANGUAGE as all other immigrants have in the past -- and GOD BLESS AMERICA!

PART OF THE PROBLEM, Think about this: If you don't want to forward this for fear of offending someone -- YOU'RE PART OF THE PROBLEM! It is Time for America to Speak up If you agree -- pass this along, if you don't agree --- delete it!

Moving Along...

Here is Max just cruising along! He is really starting to get quick!! Amazing!

It's In The Air....

Spring that is. At least out here on The East Coast. Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous! It was in the mid 50's, bright sunny sky, and just a few puffy clouds to make the day perfect. Max and I met up with our friends Kristin & Olivia for a day at the park. Max and Olivia enjoyed doing some swing time while Kristin and I just enjoyed getting out of the house and talking to someone that could actually communicate back to us!

On a side note Mr. Max was 8 months as of yesterday! I can't believe that it's almost been a year. How the time flies....

Dooms Day...

The Dentist. Those two little words strike fear in me like no other, well except maybe every scary movie preview, I am not a fan of the dentist which is ironic because Opa, my wonderful father in law is one.

Saturday night I woke up to a horrible, throbbing, excruciating pain in my back molar....the one with the blinged out gold crown, (I used to be a hood rat...ha ha, just kidding!). I inhaled about 20 Tylenol, (ha ha, again just kidding) and tried to get myself back to sleep. Sunday it's wasn't so bad but I did call a few dentists in our area trying to get in asap to have someone look at it.....Monday one of the offices called me at 9:30 am and said we have a 12 pm slot open...

Oh, I'm sorry I forgot to mention that I have an 8 month old at home who my world revolves around so that won't work. I get the next best one, Tuesday at 11 am. I make the appt., call one of my life lines, a.k.a Mom-Mom and see if she can come down. She says yes and I immediately start to sweat. By her saying yes this means that I actually have to go TO the dentist, I can't just say I SHOULD go to the dentist. Tuesday rolls around and I have bile just swimming through my stomach...Mom-Mom gets to the house and I can just feel myself wanting to procrastinate somehow and not go, but I know that is not an option.

I get to the dentist, they get me right in the "chair of pain & misery" and to make a long story short tell me that I have an abscess tooth and I have two options. One; they can yank it out and I can live with one less molar, or two; they can send me to someone to have a root canal. AAAAUUUUGGGHHHH...neither of those sound good to me. I decide to call my trusty Father in Law and we chat for a few minutes, I tell him the scoop and the next thing I know I have an appt at his office with one of his co-villain's, oops I mean co-workers! HE HE HE!

At 4:30 am this morning I hop in the reliable mini-van and zoom up to New York. I forgot to mention the other thing I am deathly afraid of is driving to New York.....this morning I had to do it for the first time AND by myself. Let me tell you I had quite the work out because I almost couldn't walk when I got there because my body was so tense, and let's not even talk about how tense I was when they started working on me....

When it was all said and done....it' wasn't that bad. All that worrying for nothing. The kicker is that I have to go back in 2 weeks so they can finish it....OMG. I have to go back to the dentist! AAAAUUUGGGGHHHHH

Spring has sprung...

When I was younger the 1st sign of spring was getting a glimpse of a pretty little Robin. My sister and I always used to say that whatever you were doing when you saw your first one is what you would be doing for the rest of the summer.

Today I saw my first one while I was doing dishes talking to Max, who was gleefully crawling/army scooting around the kitchen floor. I am hoping that I will be playing with Max all summer as opposed to doing dirty dishes all summer....happy spring!

The other clue that spring has sprung is the 9 million semi's that are going in and out of the nursery across the street from us. My time with Karl over the next few months will be cherished because those moments will be far and few in between!

I'm Back...

Sorry it's been a little while since my last post. Nana & Papa Jim were out for the week visiting so the computer collected a little bit of dust.

We had a really good week. We had some nice weather, sunny and 50', and some not so nice weather, 40 mile hour winds + and a ton of rain. The wind didn't bother Karl and I so much but Nana & Papa Jim were having a heck of a time sleeping out in the camper with gusts like that. But they managed to survive and in the meantime soaked in all kinds of Max time.

They just left yesterday morning around 4 am, and they were already home by about 5ish....miss them already, and I am sure that the feeling is mutual. Other than that not a whole lot going on out here so on that note have a great day!!

365 Days...

Millville, New Jersey has been my home for 365 days. It's hard to believe that a whole entire year has gone by since Karl, Magoo, Trigger, and myself made the trek to our new life.

I can still vividly remember how emotional that morning was a year ago today. We had Paco (Carl E.), Dave, Papa Jim, and Nana over helping us load the last little bit of stuff into our rented truck and the mini-van. Dave was going to be riding with Karl in the big truck and my mom was riding with me and the animals in the van. It was so hard to see our beautiful home all empty, it almost felt like we were abandoning it. I was a wreck that morning, I am sure that it didn't help that I 5 months pregnant. LOL!

Anyway, after a long 14 hour drive we pulled into a hotel to rest for the night and the next morning we arrived to our new home. I do believe that was more traumatic for me than leaving our old house. If you have read any of my previous posts about the state the house was in when we got here you can understand my stress. While Karl, Dave, and some Hopewell workers helped unload the truck Nana and I made a trip into town to get a few things that we needed. Needless to say I was not feeling any better about the move and my tears were getting the best of me. My mother bless her heart was trying her hardest to make me feel better about the situation, she kept telling me that the place had potential. I just wasn't buying it. But on with the story....

The 1st few months were rough. Partly because some of our stuff was still in Michigan, and the simple fact that this house although sq. feet was similar it seemed smaller because of the floor plan. So finding spots for all of our stuff we somewhat of a task. I truly feel at that point I was already slightly depressed, I didn't want to go anywhere, do anything, make new friends, nothing. Looking back I wish that I could have kicked myself in the but to get moving but hindsight is 20/20. Very quickly July was looming and Karl and I were blessed to witness the miracle of birth. July 13, 2007 was an amazing day. Little Max Rudolph arrived and we couldn't have been happier. We did go through a few bumps because of his jaundice but Max finally came home after a couple of days and then the real show started.

365 days later I am in a better place, mentally. Even though it was a bumpy ride in the beginning it's really starting to smooth out and I am starting to enjoy the ride. Max is doing great, I am blessed with a fantastic husband, adorable animals, a roof over my head, food in my belly, my health, and a loving set of family & friends. I am excited and somewhat anxious to see what the next year brings.....here is a little compilation My Year In Pictures!

Here is little Max. I think that I had just a few weeks till my due date when this was taken. My doctor wanted to make sure he was head down....he was.

Here are just a few pics of my belly progression....

Looking back it's hard to believe that my belly was that big....crazy!

Here is our 1st family portrait. This was taken maybe 5 hours after Max's birth....

Here is Max and Daddy snoozing away!

Here is Max at about 1 month old. He just looks like a little sleeping doll...

Here is Daddy & Max after Daddy's major haircut...we joked that Max had more hair than Karl did....

Here is Max & Momma after one of his baths...he just loves the water. Both of these pics were taken mid September.

In October we had Max's baptism in the same church that Karl and Opa (Karl's dad) were baptized in....Teresa is Max's God Mother and Danny is Max's God Father.

Then came Max's 1st Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas...he took them all in stride!

Max, Karl, and I were lucky enough to celebrate the new year with our bestest friends....The Erznoznik Family! We had such a good time and we didn't even do anything but hang out. It was phenomneal!

February rolled into town along with Max. This past month he has been nonstop in his new tricks....rolling, sitting up by himself, crawling or the Army Crawl, holding his own bottle, and the biggest of all sleeping through the night!!!!!

What an amazing year....I can't wait to see all the changes The Rudolph Family goes through in 2008!!!!!