OOF Mamas' Weekend Getaway!

If you aren't an OOFer, you're probably wondering what "OOF" means. :) When I was pregnant with William (4 years ago) I joined an online message board. The moms on this board were all due to have their babies within months of William's birth. After our babies were born, we all joined a message board for moms of babies who were about 0-6 months old. After awhile we decided to start our own private message board. This is when OOF was born! We've all been chatting and friends on OOF since September 2007! Some have gone, new members have joined, but overall it's been the same group for almost 4 years!

Two years ago I met one of the moms (Beth) in England as we were over there for Christmas at the same time. Beth's husband is also English. This past summer I met another mom, Linda, while she was visiting Minnesota for her cousin's wedding. It was neat to see Linda and Beth in NYC again last month.

Last month 35 of us met in NYC for a weekend. It was awesome to meet all of these lovely ladies that I've "known" for 3-4 years! It was really surreal to walk into a room of women having met only TWO of them, and know who they were (from pictures). Not only that, but I could name most of their children and tell you at least one thing about each of them. Did I mention there are over 100 of us on OOF?

I'm hoping that someday in the future (hoefully sooner rather than later) we will have another get together and see each other again. I think our NYC trip planted the seed...

Some highlights from the weekend:
1. Flying on an airplane by myself and reading my book with no interruptions.
2. Meeting the first OOFer, Mara, at the airport. It was straight out of the first episode of the Real World. You know...they meet at the airport for the first time.
3. Staying at a hotel right in Times Square.
4. Times Square-you have to see it to believe it.
5. Sex and the City tour-really neat to go around and see NYC.
6. Friday night-this was the first time we were all together in the same room. It was really neat to hang out and talk to everyone.
7. ROCK OF AGES! Oh my gosh, if you ever go to NYC, you have to see a Broadway show. It is so worth the money, and Rock of Ages was awesome! I'm still singing songs from the show. "Here I go again on my own...goin' down the only road I've ever known...like a drifter I was born to alone..." DO you know who sings this song? WHITESNAKE!
8. Seeing the Statue of Liberty. Unfortunately there wasn't enough time to take the ferry to the Statue and out to Ellis Island, but it was still really neat to see it.
9. Visiting Ground Zero. It was very surreal to think about what happened there just over 9 years ago.
10. Coming home to my family!

Kate, Mara, and me in Battery Park.


This is a memorial at the FDNY across the street from Ground Zero. This particular department lost many/most of their firefighters that day.


Looking over Ground Zero where the World Trade Centers once stood.


This is one of the new buildings on the site of the World Trade Centers. It's amazing to think about how long ago 9/11 happened (9 years ago) and how little progress they've made (although I'm sure it's actually a lot of progress compared to what it was like that day).

Times Square-Amazing


All of us OOF girls together



The last two pictures are of Saint Paul's Cathedral right across the street from what was once the WTC. The first pictures shows what it looked like following 9/11. Several feet of debris and papers. The second pictures is what it looked like just recently when I was in NYC.

I realize I'm going in the wrong order...

with pictures, but that's what happens when you let a couple months go by in between posts.

Here are some photos from William's preschool. They paraded down the hallway on the day of their party. William was a fireman for Halloween since he wasn't able to wear his Batman costume (no superheroes). Owen is his "best buddy" from preschool.

Breakfast with Santa

This morning we had breakfast with Santa at church. It was funny because William thought we were literally having breakfast with Santa (despite the fact that there were hundreds of people there). When we sat down at the table, he asked, "Where's Santa going to sit?" And he kept looking around for Santa thinking he was going to come over and sit with us for breakfast!

Grace wasn't too sure of Santa. She really checked him out and seemed quite interested in his beard. She did cry whenever she turned towards us. William didn't want to sit on Santa's lap, but he was quite happy to stand next to him.

It's been a long time...

Oops! Once again, I've let too much time go in between blog posts! It's just so difficult to keep up with everything! I'm going to really try to be better about posting to my blog. Between working full-time, going to graduate school, and raising William and Grace, there's very little time for anything else.

Here are some "fairly" recent pictures of Grace. How cute is she?!?!?! She is now 10 months old (although I would say she was about 8 1/2 months in these pictures). She's growing so quickly! I cannot believe my baby will be a year old in less than 2 months. It seems like just yesterday I was admitted to the hospital to have her!

What is Grace up to these days?
-She can stand up to furniture and walk along furniture.
-She says "dada" and "mama".
-She loves to eat! She will eat anything and everything put in front of her.
-She still doesn't sleep through the night (grrr...). She averages 1-2 wakings per night. I don't mind it too much though, because I love our middle of the night cuddles, and I think my body is so used to waking up. I have no idea what it means to get a full night's rest without interruptions.
-She is way more interested in William's toys and getting into things than her baby toys.
-She LOVES to climb the stairs. I go behind her and say, "I'm going to get you!" and she laughs and tries to climb faster.
-She loves attention, being around people, and being held.
-She loves her big brother! Her face lights up when she sees him and when he gives her attention. She is very quick to forgive too (it's a good thing she doesn't hold a grudge ;)
-She dislikes (hates) getting dressed and getting her diaper changed. She wriggles and squirms all over the place which makes it really difficult.
-She loves to crawl all over the place and she's really fast.
-As much as she loves her freedom to crawl around and play, she does love to be held and cuddled. I call her my little "cuddle bug".

Apple Orchard

We went to an apple orchard this past Sunday. We agreed that we'd never go back to this particular apple orchard! We were there for about an hour and it was lame! Afterwards, we went to a town near the apple orchard and enjoyed a nice walk along the river and lunch at an Irish pub that made us feel like we were sitting in a little pub in England. That was the best part of the day.



We went on a hayride, and this group of bikers went on the hayride with us. They were hilarious and just seemed so out of place at an apple orchard. They wanted their picture taken so here they are!

Since I'm Caught Up...

Here are a few pictures from tonight, and some of the only pictures I have of myself with William and Grace. As mommy, I'm always behind the camera!

Love Love Love My Kids!