COXSACKIE!
Mood:  lazy
Our sickly little boy broke out with another rash today. Since we've been battling every weird virus and disease for the past 5 weeks, it really didn't phase us, but we did call the doctor just be "good parents."

We got to see Dr. Mike since Rosina was off...his diagonsis was that Ben now has the Coxsackie Virus. This is by far our most favorite named disease to date and probably will be for a long time.

Ben is now our little Coxsackie.

Roseola and Kicks!
Mood:  down
After 9 days of Ben being sick, I thought the worst was over, but today, I woke up to find Ben had a rash all over his body. So we gave in and brought him to the doctor. He was diagnosed as having Roseola, which is some virus that kids pass around like every other spit-swapping disease they pass around. Some strange lady in CVS insisted I was saying it wrong and correcting me with "Rosacea." I didn't even have the energy to try to explain that my 13 month old son was not diagonosed with Rosacea! Then when I called James to tell him what Ben had, he responded by "You mean Ben has Rosacea?" Ben does NOT have Rosacea, but I'm pretty sure the old man who lives next door to us does.

On a happier note, after weeks of harassing James and telling him to feel my stomach so he can feel the next little baby move, he finally gave in and actually felt little Tom move tonight. I was much happier with his reaction with Tom than with Ben. He smiled and was happy tonight...with Ben, he said "that's not a baby, that's just gas."

Benny's First Popsicle!
Mood:  accident prone
I'm not a fan of people who can't seem to eat without getting food all over their faces. Unfortunately, 97.4% of these people happen to be children. Including my own. Benny's been battling every ailment in the book for the past week so I was desperate to give him anything to eat - as long as he was eating. Well I whipped out an orange popsicle. I expected the worst...all over the face, home, furniture, cats, etc. I was surprisingly shocked at how nice he just sat in my lap and ate the thing up. I don't expect this to ever happen again.

I'm being Optimistic - Half way done
Mood:  happy
I'm officially 1/2 way done with this pregnancy. It was 20 short weeks full of vomitting, hot dog cravings, and bloody gums. Only 20 short weeks left.

Lots of Trucks and G.I. Joes!
Mood:  bright
Looks like the Haugh curse is upon us and we'll be having another boy! Yippee! We found out today and it was grand! We have pretty much decided to name this one Thomas (Tom, Tommy, etc). Tommy is already a little different than Ben. During the ultrasound, he kept rubbing his face (something Ben never did while being photographed in the womb!). Tom was also a little more discreet and "hid his goods" for a while (Ben let everything hang out, the whole time, every time!). It was a little nerve wracking, but the Ultrasound Tech was able to get him to squirm towards the end. Thank goodness for that! She is our hero!!

Daddy is not happy.
Mood:  sad
Today, Ben and I dragged Daddy to Babies R Us! He was excited! The mission? To figure out what double stroller would be a good one. We came to only one conclusion...they are all over-priced pieces of junk.

Happy Birthday To Me!
Mood:  happy
It was snowing for Ben's 1st birthday! Woohoo! It was an eventful day, for sure! Ben started it off by throwing up his bottle - compliments of the Rotovirus! We then trotted off to visit Rosina for our 1 year check up. She assured me that a piece of cake will not make a 1 year old vomit and have diarrhea for 3 days straight, but that the rotovirus would. I just think it's kind of ironic that his "sickness" started about 4 hours after he devoured his birthday cake. She said that sometimes coincidences happen.

Benny Boy weighed in at a whopping 21 lbs 12 ounces (a reciprocal if you will!). Though it sounds large and in charge, he's still only in the 35th percentile. We need to bring on more meat! Measuring Ben was quite a task, and the most accurate measure we could get was 29 inches - the same he was at 9 months. There is a strong possibility that Benny might be a midget. This will come in handy when his school's drama club does The Wizard of Oz.

Ben took a nice long nap in the afternoon and I trotted off to my 16 week appointment with Cara. Everything is going well and in 2 weeks, we should find out if Ben's going to have a little brother or sister!

It's My Party and I won't cry if I don't want to - but I will throw up!
Mood:  caffeinated
Benny survived his 1st birthday party - and so did his mother! Many thanks to the many friends and family who came out to celebrate! A big thanks to Mrs. Cindy Fitzgibbons (Fox 25 Weatherlady) who predicted a nice, sunny day for our party - she was correct! Although Benny was in great spirits all day long, as soon as the sun went down, so did the fun! That is when the first bout of vomiting occured. It was also about the time the last of the guests decided to leave. All night long we felt like bad parents - we obviously let Benny have too much cake and too much fun! The next day, Dr. Rosina suggested the Rotovirus. Too much cake or the Rotovirus? We may never know the truth!

Fun with Grammy, Meat, and the Easter Bunny!
Mood:  lyrical
We hopped on over to Costco today to buy lots of meat for Benny's big birthday cookout tomorrow! When we got there, we couldn't believe our eyes - the Easter Bunny was at Costco! Benny was fascinated with this large bunny and he was lucky enough to get a picture with him. Good thing Costco sells hamburger meat in bulk...if not, we might have never have gone and we might have missed the Easter Bunny.

A cold day for the Irish!
Mood:  cheeky
Even in the bitter cold, we bundled up and went to South Boston for the St. Patrick's Day Parade! Besides the horses pooping in front of us, Ben's favorite part was riding on the subway. He likes when strangers talk to him and lots of strangers talked to him today. I reminded Benny that he's not 100% Irish, but also part Hungarian. We're going to take him to a Goulash Festival this summer. I just have to find a Goulash Festival to take him to.