Growing Children

Once again it's been too long since I last updated our blog! I wish I had more time to update more ofter but Joseph and Aubrey are keeping me busy. Aubrey will be 9 months old tomorrow! Where did the time go? Joseph has completely transformed from a toddler into a real boy :) but still my little boy! The other day he told me that he didn't want to go to his school anymore (pre-school) and that he wanted to go to Kindergarten. Noooooooooooooooo...Mommy is not ready! He still has a couple years before her will start Kindergarten but there are a few of his friends from school starting this upcoming year. He is still very much into baseball and golf. We had him in T-Ball at the Y but he said he didn't want to do it again and wanted to swim instead so I am currently trying to get him into a class. He needs a more structured T-Ball league. He seemed to be more advanced than the other kids with hitting and throwing. So we will wait a little longer until he can join a real league. He has great hand and eye coordination, we'd love to get him in golf lessons as well! Aubrey has skipped crawling all together, which I wish she hadn't. Crawling babies are so cute and it gives mommies and daddies a little more time to prepare for a walker. She isn't walking on her own yet but walks around the couch, to her jumpy, over to her toys and back and FAST!

I've been pretty busy or at least it seems I have been. I'm always on the go, going somewhere or doing something. Work takes up too much time :) I have so much I want to do and need to do and not enough time in the day or weekend to do so. The kids come first so if you ever come over to our house you'll have to excuse the mess and understand that our living room has been over taken by the little munchkins and the kitchen table has been over taken by my sewing projects. I seem to always have a few going at a time. I have an awesome project waiting to be finished for Joseph's school. I really hope they like it! I can't say what it is in case Amanda is reading this ;) Over the weekend I made Aubs a new dress and I was pretty darn pleased with.

I've been making my car seat canopy covers out the ying yang. Tons of really cute Scruffy Rags out there now and a few more to come. 

You can check more out on my facebook page www.facebook.com/ScruffyRags 

30 before 30!

It's exactly 1 month until I turn 26. 26!!!! Now on the other hand Adam's only got a couple months left until he is 30, so this got me thinking. I want to do things, set goals accomplish them before I turn 30. I've only got 4 years and 1 month to do so. Some things on my list seem a little far out of reach but I tried to make them realistic for myself. I know that I will not be going to Antarctica to frolic on an iceberg with penguins or hide in a snow cave with a polar bear...more like lose 5lbs and keep it off realistic but now that I am typing that...I don't know if that is even realistic :) So here they are:

30 things to do before I am 30!

1. Go to Hawaii

2. Buy a brand spankin' new car

3. Get my tubes tide...no more babies after 30

4. Go on a hot air balloon ride

5. Take a road trip vacation

6. Write a business plan

7. Start a business

8. Learn a new language

9. Go back to school

10. Eat fried green tomatoes

11. Have a booth at a street fair

12. Volunteer at a food kitchen

13. Host Thanksgiving at my house

14. Flip a house

15. Go on a Disney Cruise

16. Make curtains all on my own

17. Set monthly budgets

18. Have a savings of $20k+

19. Finish a book from front to back

20. Take a photography course

21. Make a will

22. Take a train ride with the kids

23. Spend the day at a spa

24. Write a childrens book (even if it's just for my own kids)

25. Learn to play a musical instrument

26. Take dance lessons

27. Bury my Dads ashes (I know, I know he still isn't in the ground and it's been over 2 years)

28. Create a timeline of my 20's with pictures

29. Dig up my roots (and I don't mean my Dad after I complete #27)

30. Enter my 30th birthday fit and healthy!

BONUS 31!!!! If Garth Brooks is in concert between now and the next 4 years I will go, no matter the cost! Maybe this should be a life time thing but I'm aiming for before 30...

Those seem doable, right??????

New baby and New Year

It has come to my attention that's is been just about FOREVER since I last blogged. With facebook and all other social networks there really isn't a need for me to because everyone already knows what going on in our lives.

Since my last post back in June 2011, we have welcomed Aubrey Marie! She was born October 27, 2011 at 8:30am. She weighed 7lbs 13oz and was 19in. She is bringing much joy to her Mommy, Daddy and Big Brother.

I was off for 13 weeks with Aubrey and Joseph. I just recently returned to work on Jan 30th and it was pretty difficult. Two days in and I was ready to quit and head home to take care of my babies but I toughed it out and am now into my third week. We are currently searching for a bigger place so I need to work if we want that to happen. We have totally outgrown our townhouse and it's time to move to a house with a bigger yard for the kids and a sewing room for me...I mean a play room for the toys and books and all the kids stuff :) I have been doing a lot of sewing so I would LOVE my own little space to keep all my fabrics and supplies. I have created my own little company which is called Scruffy Rags. The origin of the name came from my Dad (Scruffy) who as you all know passed away a couple years ago, and Rags because I want you to love what I make so much that you turn it into keepsake Rags (if that makes sense...it does to me), therefor Scruffy Rags! Check out www.facebook.com/ScruffyRags

2011

Wow, it's been over a year since I last posted. That year went by way too fast! Exciting things are happening at the Coniglio Household. We are expecting baby #2 in late October, a little girl that will be named Aubrey Marie. We are so excited for Joseph to have a sibling and to be a Big Brother! He’s going to do great….we hope. If you ask him what his sisters name is, he’ll tell you “Aubey” and he knows that she’s in mommy’s tummy. Last night the baby was moving and kicking a lot so I had Adam come upstairs to feel. She did a nice big kick for Dad, which was pretty cool. Then Joseph blew bubbles on my belly for about 5 mins. I had to practically pull him off to stop, I guess my squishy belly is fun to play with. She stopped moving for awhile after that, she was probably wondering what the heck was going on. She then started back up as I was laying down for bed, it felt like she was trying to exit her living space feet first! Not the most comfortable feeling, I just moved around a bit and she stopped.


I feel like so much needs to be done at our house to prep for baby #2. The spare room is just that, a spare room for dumping “stuff”. Toys need to be sorted and closets need to be cleaned out. I plan on making her bedding set if I can find fabric that I love. I’ve seen many I like but nothing I love so far. So I am keeping my eyes peeled. I’ve been doing a lot of sewing and just patched together a blanket for her but still need the back. I’m not sure what color and fabric I am going to use for it just yet.
We were looking into possibly buying a bigger house but it’s not the right time for us. We have looked but nothing suits us. On the other hand my mom and step dad are buying a new house and we are very excited for them! It’s just around the corner from where we live now. If you don’t know my mom lives across the street from us. It’s got a very open floor plan and nice size back yard. I can picture Joseph running around with the dogs and pointing out where all the poop is. He’s usually on poop patrol at their house now. Anyway, we aren’t buying a new place just yet, we’ll wait until we find the right place, for the right price with the right amount of space. We want a house that we will live in for a long time to come. We want a house that when our babies come home from college they are coming “home”. So it may take awhile to get to this dream but we will make it happen.

I am currently 21 weeks pregnant. Only 19 or less weeks to go. I just can’t believe that the time has flown so quickly. Joseph keeps us busy and we try to make sure that we do fun things with him, especially with summer here. I’ll be taking some much needed time off in July and plan to take Joseph to Sea World, the beach, the zoo, and whatever else we feel like. Monster Trucks come to the Del Mar Fair on July 1st so we will also be doing that. That is where Joseph’s original love of Monster Trucks came from. Lots of fun stuff this summer and lots to look forward to in the months to come.

May already?

Oops, it's been almost 2 months since I last blogged, my bad. Lots of cool things have been going on. We have finally finished upgrading our kitchen and I must say it looks lovely! We started with counter tops which took forever to pick, added a back splash that goes all the way up the wall, it looks a little zebra like in the pictures but in person it is beautiful. It all looked really good but the cabinets didn't quite fit, so we jumped on the idea of refacing, since replacing was out of the question. It looks as though we have a completely new kitchen for about 1/2 the cost. If anyone needs names of people let me know. I'm more than willing to give them out based on the fantastic jobs they did. I don't have a totally before picture but when I find one I will post it.

As you all may know, Joseph is growing like a weed. He is quite the little stinker that likes to get into everything and take his parents right to their breaking point, then melts us with his devious chuckle and beautiful smile. His is testing every ounce of patients that both Adam and I have and I really think he is enjoying it :) He definitely knows where his timeout spot is and will go straight to it (most of the time) if told to.

He's thoroughly enjoying his gymventures classes that he goes to on Tuesday with Daddy and Saturdays with Mommy and sometimes Daddy. He will be starting swim classes here pretty soon. We haven't yet decided if we are going to do them at the Y. I got a name of an instructor from one of the Moms in our class so we'll see what the instructor says. He will be swimming though this summer...we are set on it :) He still continues to sign to us. He can now say "poop" and "help". Only a couple actual words like. who's that, what's that, here go, ma and da. He's in no hurry to talk and we aren't concerned at all. I would love for him to be able to speak in sign language as well as words.

As for Adam and I, we are both doing well and enjoying married/parent life. We will be heading to Vegas on June 3rd for a fun filled weekend that includes a Vegas Wedding! YAY! Aiden and Pat are tying the knot. It's going to be a GREAT time with great friends...in VEGAS! We love Vegas. We will be gone for 4 nights and will miss our little guy but when we return on the following Monday I will be off that entire week, so we will have lots of time to plan fun adventures with Joseph. Time is flying by so quickly, I feel like before I know it, it will be Joseph's birthday again and I'm not ready to deal with the terrible twoooooos. Although potty training does sound fabulous!

Hope this year is finding you all in good spirits and you are enjoying your life to the fullest!

Miss you Dad!

120 Days and Counting!

This blog is dedicated to my brother Jeff. Jeff has just accomplished 120 days sober. I couldn't be more proud of him and happy for the new life that he has started for himself! It's not easy to stop an addiction "cold turkey" but he did and hasn't looked back. Our Dad was be so proud of him and how strong he has been throughout these past 4 months.

When growing up we all were pretty close. One time Jeff and I decided that we wanted to buy a tent to camp in the backyard, so we gathered up all our old toys and sold them. Jeff only seeing $$$$ signs decided that we should try and double our money by putting into a slot machine, (we were probably 8 and 10 and in Scotland they had slot machines at the Fish and Chip shops and never questioned a 10 year old putting money into it!) Well needless to say he lost every penny that we had. WE, yes Jeff and MYSELF, got punished for this, even though it was his idea! We were grounded for 2 weeks and had to wash the walls going down our stair cases, we had a 4 story. I will never let him forget that. When we moved back to the US things changed. Our parents split and we started to not get along as well as we once did. He started hanging out with the wrong crowd and we stopped being friends. It's hard now to look back and see all the wasted years that we didn't get along or really talk that much. I wanted so bad to protect him and could because he was unreachable when on drugs. Then Joseph came along.....Jeff loves kids and kids love Jeff. We are the youngest in our family and always had older cousins that spoiled us. I think these are fond memories of his and he wants to do the same for little kids in our family. He dotes over Joseph. When Joseph first learned sign language he would say "more" a lot. At one of Jeff's meeting there was a 3 year old there and he wanted something. Jeff told him he had to ask for more and should him the sign for it, his mother told Jeff that he didn't know how to sign. Jeff replies, "oh well my year old nephew does" He's so proud of Joseph and just adores him. I think he realized that I he had to change in a BIG way to be apart of my sons life. I never accepted Jeff for who he was because I knew he could and was so much more than the person that he had become. He has now turned his life around and I accept him not only into my sons life but into my life for the person that he is. When it comes down to it, we are family and in the end that's all you have. Our Dad ALWAYS expressed and stressed this to us growing up.

Keep up the good work! :) xo