Laser tag!

We celebrated Joey's birthday today with a laser tag party. Talk about a boys' dream party! Running through dark mazes, shooting lasers at each other. They had a great time!

Joey, captain of the red team

Joey with all his friends.


After booking the party, I was informed by them that no homemade cakes were allowed, only store bought! Something about controlling for allergy foods. Totally ridiculous, since there is no way of knowing what is in a store bought bakery item. No way was I going to buy store bought! So I went to Michael's craft store and bought one of those bakery boxes. I love that store.


When I asked Joey what he wanted, he said a Star Wars cake/cupcakes. Since we were having a laser tag party, I decided to go with light sabers.


I used fondant to make little light sabers. Really easy, especially compared to some of my previous cake/cupcake adventures! Thanks Laura for the awesome homemade buttercream frosting recipe!

Nobody questioned where the cupcakes came from. I figured it was because my cupcakes looked so professional they could only come from a bakery. Peter said it was because the pimple faced kid running our party could care less about some corporate rule concerning store bought items. hmph!Make a wish!

Happy Birthday Joey!

Today is Joey's 7th birthday! As is typical for me, I spent the day thinking about that day 7 years ago. "Oh, I was just going into labor right now!" "I remember when Peter had to sneak me in a bagel because the nurse said I couldn't eat!" And, at 3 pm today, "He's here!"

Joey, 7 years ago

Joey on his first birthday.

When I think of Joey, I think about sports! It seems like that kid was born playing sports. At a young age he was coordinated enough to swing a bat and kick a ball.

Here was at 2 years old at one of Zachary's t-ball games. They would let him hit the ball between innings.



Here he is at 3 years old playing soccer.


He also participates in karate and is currently a purple belt.

Last year joey was in coach pitch baseball.


Here he is last Fall playing soccer.


I have already mentioned how great a skier he already is. Here he is tearing up the slopes.


This year Joey is in single A baseball and doing a great job (despite the fact that he seems to be half the size of so many of the kids out there!)

Joey is not just a great athlete, but an awesome all around kid! He is a sweet and loving boy, and won't go to sleep without a "Good Dream Kiss" from me on his forehead, and always has one for me. He loves school and always tries his best. I just love to see him get so excited about reading books. He is a wonderful big and little brother, always looking up to Zach, while keeping an eye out for Christopher and Vinnie. He is a good and loyal friend, careful not to hurt others feelings.

I think back to that moment 7 years ago when I first set eyes on his sweet baby face, and I think of how I couldn't have asked for a greater kid! (well, one that doesn't dawdle so much in the morning would have been nice too...)

I love you Joey!!

And then for his encore...

Poor Vinnie had a bit of a rough weekend. On Friday night we were at Zach's baseball game. The younger kids were playing at the park right behind us. We heard screaming and turned around to find some mom carrying Vinnie over to us. Not sure exactly what happened (yes, I know. Bad Mom moment.), but Vinnie had a bleeding cut under his eye

Wouldn't you just kill for those eyelashes?!


Luckily we happened to have the special skin glue at home, so after the game Pete glued him.


Vinnie was an awesome patient!

Sunday during Mass he started complaining of a stomach ache. I didn't make much of it because Vinnie ALWAYS complains of stomach aches. Usually it means he has to poop or just doesn't want to do or eat something. I admit, he did do alot of laying around after Mass, but he ate lunch and seemed OK, so I sent him off to a birthday party.

Oops. The mom had to call me to come get him early because he was crying that his stomach hurt. When I got there he was lying in a ball in the corner sleeping. We made it home just in time for him to throw up all over the bathroom. Awesome. I felt horrible.

This was pretty much how he spent the rest of the day and evening. Poor guy!

Progress...

"If you build it, they will come..."


This was what my chart rack looked like after my second week at the office. Pretty sad, huh?! The charts were so lonely and pathetic looking that my staff had to beef it up with some blank charts so it didn't look so bad. (I took the blanks out for the photo)

Those first several weeks were pretty slow. I even had one day without a single patient! I tried to be patient (hah!), I know it takes awhile to build a practice. Things slowly picked up. I began having babies born.

Then all of a sudden with March came a flood of patients!


Wow! Look at the chart rack now! It is filling up! With real charts! And my office girl Katie who has been dying to get on my blog! Hi Katie!! Now quit reading and get back to work!

The sudden increase is due to my awesome new business partner, my husband Pete! Pete left his practice and moved down the hall to mine this month, bringing a flood of patients with him. I am having a blast working with my husband. Technically he works for me as I am the president of the corporation and he isn't even officially a shareholder yet. I am milking that for all it is worth! At the end of the first day, after all the patients were gone, we just sat and looked at each other, then started laughing. We didn't want to go home! It was so nice to be able to talk to each other without the constant interruptions to pour someone juice or wipe someones butt.

My own practice is getting busy too, and it is nice for Pete to have me see his overflow when he is busy (not to mention take over his histrionic teenage girl population!)

Welcome Pete!

Todays public service announcement...

... brought to you by Joey Contini.

(background: Pete's dad was a smoker and died of lung cancer 28 years ago)

Joey: "Dad, if your dad didn't smoke, would he still be alive today?"

Pete: "Yes Joey, he probably would be."

pause...

Joey: "Oh. I guess he learned his lesson then."

Another step closer...

...to no longer having a baby!

A few weeks ago we set up the toddler bed for Christopher. At 22 lbs he certainly wasn't outgrowing the crib, and in fact still can not climb out of it. My initial thought was no way, keep him confined as long as possible. Then I realized that as long as he was unable to climb out of the crib, I could always use it as a threat if he tried getting out of his bed. He was so excited about having a big boy bed, the threat of going back in the crib was enough to keep him in the bed. It worked! In fact, he doesn't even get out in the morning. He calls for us to come get him.

We finally felt comfortable taking down the crib. Any takers? We are done with it for good!!

So proud to be in his big boy bed.

Giving his bed the ole' thumbs up!

Now if we could only get him potty trained!

Happy Birthday Michelle!!!

Today Michelle turns the big 4-0! Woo Hoo!! Things have been so busy around here that I didn’t have time to get her a card. So here it is my love. I can’t believe you are 40 and I can’t believe I have known you since you were 29 (just a kid). Here are just a few reasons why I love her so much.


1. She has single minded determination. She worked full time through college to pay her way and still had the grades for medical school. She decided she wanted to become Catholic. She did it. She decided to run a marathon. She did it. She decided to open a practice. She did it. Her complete lack of consideration of the possibility that she may not succeed, never ceases to amaze me.



2. She is a great mom. With four boys and a full-time job she does not have much free time. Nevertheless, she makes time to volunteer in their classes: library helper, art vista, rainy day mom. She always takes the boys to the latest kid movie and makes special time for each kid like taking Vinnie to see Thomas the Tank Engine or taking Zach to NYC.




3. She is creative. Cupcakes that look like sharks, birthday cakes that looks like pirates and footballs, homemade Christmas cards with a different theme every year. Who knew I married Martha Stewart?



4. She is tough as nails. Four babies, no drugs. Enough said. But let me say more anyway. She once went to work while she was so sick she had to go to the bathroom between patients to throw up. Nevertheless she stuck it out all day. She ran a marathon with a ruptured plantar fascia. Just recently she survived two root canals in less than 48 hours and still worked and packed for a ski trip.

5. She is a great doctor. Her patients love her because she is a normal person (you don’t find too many of those in the medical profession) and treats them with respect. She is my number one consultant. I trust her opinion more than anyone’s.

6. She likes sports and she knows sports! Everybody knows Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Tiger Woods. My wife knows Manny Ramirez, Tiki and Ronde Barber and Tim Lincecum. I love sitting on the couch after a long day at the office and watching PTI with her. What is PTI? Ask Michelle, she’ll tell you.

7. She is funny. Just take a look at this picture. I still crack up when I think of her stuffing herself in to that car.

8. And clever. More clever than I knew. I love reading her blog and seeing our life through her eyes. Somehow it always seems funnier and more memorable when she writes about it.

So here's to you Michelle on your special day. And here is looking forward to being with you for another 40 years!--Pete