When I was pregnant with Jack and swore that I was going to
do everything right. Well the problem
was in the grand scheme of things the day we brought him home from the hospital
was seriously one of the happiest yet, terrifying moments of my life. I remember pulling into the driveway. Jack was crying, my stress level was rising
because I mean why was he crying? We
went inside the house, changed his diaper.
Didn’t stop crying. Tried to feed
him. Didn’t stop crying. Perplexed and semi-panicked, I remember
looking at my mom thinking what do we do?
Then that was when Deb said do you have a pacifier? I looked at her horrified and said “Mom we
are not giving him a pacifier he is going to have messed up teeth if we get him
hooked on a binkie”. I remember my mom
rolling her eyes and saying “Where is it”.
I pointed hesitantly to the cabinet as my mom reached up and grabbed the
binkie. She popped it in his mouth and instantly
he stopped crying. My next response was
“Well maybe for a couple of days until he gets adjusted.”
Friday, February 14, 2014
Bye Bye Binkie: Back Logged November 2013
Sweet Jack: Backlogged December 2013
December 12, 2013
You were invited to attend your schools soccer camp despite
being a year younger then what they normally require. Your dad and I are very proud and love going
to watch you. It is adorable seeing you
run around and also try to figure out what exactly you are doing. Your coach says it is just good for you to be
exposed even if you don’t get the formal aspect of it yet. You also love going on Mr. Tommys Music
Bus.
Christmas is coming fast and this year is drawing to a
close. When I reflect back on you and
your growth I feel so blessed that you are our son. You have been resilient through so much
change and have adopted to everything your father and I put in front of
you. 2014 is sure to be a fun year
welcoming your new baby brother, but for right now I just want to embrace every
moment with you, my sweet little Jack. I
love you buddy!
A New Year: Backlogged from January 1
Back
Blogged January 1, 2014
2014 the Semeraro’s are ready for you!
I can feel it this year is going to be awesome.
2013 What a year. I would have to
say that 2013 taught me more, challenged me more, and put life in perspective
more than any other year thus far. We
started the year with the excitement of crazy change and ended the year with
perspective and growth as a family, as a couple, and as individuals. It certainly was a year that had many
fantastic memories. Some of my favorites
included Jack’s every growth milestone and seeing him grow like a weed. Our trip to the Final Four and National
Championship certainly goes down in the books as both JMS and I’s top memories.
Go Cards! An amazing trip to Europe to
celebrate Cecilias wedding and just be together as a couple. So many wonderful memories from that trip
including “The BM Beard”, food/wine, “Be Greek”, the weird guys selling the
dancing animals, just quiet moments together, time with mom and Jake, Erin
& Kostis wedding, and many more. It
was pretty amazing! And then came
July….and the news of our impending arrival that we are now only 11 weeks out
from meeting! A bit unexpected, but nonetheless ecstatic about. With July came decisions, tough decisions,
and the reality of where we were at and where we needed to go. They were not easy, and still as we try to
gain clarity don’t remain easy, but one thing for certain I know is that our
Team is stacked with another strong member on the way to navigate all life
throws at us.
Monday, October 14, 2013
It's A ...........Boy
The original plan for our gender reveal was to go to Disney and open a box of balloons in front of Cinderella's castle. Well the only problem was our doctors appointment was on a Monday and Disney was not until Saturday. 6 whole days we were going to have to wait! Once the envelope was in hand below I knew that we had to come up with a back up plan and fast!
Within an hour of leaving of the doctors our impromptu dual gender reveal party with the Midkiff's was under way! By the end of the day a special gender reveal cake had been ordered for us and the balloons were reserved for the Midkiff's.
The big event was to take place the next night at 7:00PM. Thank goodness for work being crazy to distract me for 36 hours. And so the night went like this......
It’s a boy! I am past
the moment of shock and on to thorough excitement about having another little
boy to add to the Semeraro clan. If you
asked me last Monday what I thought I was having it was a girl without a
doubt. This pregnancy has been similar yet
different then Jack, especially when it comes to food cravings! So I was positive we were about to diversify
the genders in this household. But god
proved us wrong and has blessed us again with a little man. I am so excited for Jack to have a brother
and to have them be best friends. They will be the perfect distance apart that
my hope is they will be very close. John
is happy because he has almost a complete foursome for golf, I on the other
hand still would like to get a spa partner at some point…time will only
tell. Every time I peek into Jacks room
when he is playing I smile to think his little brother will be by his side
soon. We are so excited to meet you
little guy, you are joining a super fun family and life is sure to be a
wonderful ride. Now in the mean time we
have to figure out a name for you!
Monday, October 7, 2013
Happy Birthday My Sweet Baby Boy!
Happy Birthday My Beautiful Boy
The past two years have been a whirlwind and I find myself
fighting to embrace every moment with every part of me because it truly is
going by too fast. You amaze me with
your enthusiasm, spirit, energy, and just plain awesomeness. I could not be prouder of the little boy that
you are becoming. I find myself admiring
your soft skin, sweet little hands and feet when you are still in my arms
before bed after a long day of you going, going, and going. I can’t help but stare at you in your crib
and the way you lie in your happy baby pose to sleep with your little bum
raised in the air. Your little toddler
squat is adorable and I can’t get enough of watching you explore the
world. You learn something new everyday,
and with every new word, or action that you master my heart swells with
pride. Your sweet innocence and the way
you tackle life is something I hope never changes. The sounds of your laughter, and the sweetness
of your little baby voice make me smile and laugh. The way you see please, and thank you, and I
love you melts my heart.
Thank you for being amazing Jack, and making life that much
sweeter. You are my love, my baby boy,
and your dad and I thank god every day for giving us the opportunity to be your
parents.
Happy 2nd Birthday Baby Boy
A Memorable Birthday Weekend
This birthday weekend was awesome. Seriously one of my
favorites ever and I think we have decided that rather than parties we need to
just plan fun Disney getaway weekends for our kids birthday. At least until they are old enough to choose
party or vacation that is. It was so
fun, simple, and stress free. Being a
Florida resident definitely has its perks, especially when you get to live so
close to the mouth and enter the park for virtually nothing compared out of
state residents. We had to take advantage.
Animal Kingdom was awesome and it has almost made me really want to start selling John on why we should get Disney passes. The African drummers are my best selling point to get this to happen as I witnessed seriously one of the funniest, happiest, greatness memories I will have with John and Jack watching them dance. It was awesome. My little man has some serious moves, and is not afraid to get up and dance. I would say he gets that from both John and I, while neither of us have that much rhythm we don’t care and like to have some fun.
The rest of the day was filled with excitement and by 3 Jack had taken a 15 minute nap all day, and John & I were equally as pooped. We couldn’t leave without going to see the Nemo musical and Jack loved it. He may have burst out crying when it was over since he is obsessed with Dory but we made it out and he was passed out in the car before we had even started it. It was a perfect memorable birthday that I will never forget.
We topped off the weekend with some water slide action. My fearless little boy had no issues
navigating the slide on his own and his smile says it all. This kid had a blast.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Letters To Jack- 23 Months
To My Sweet Jack,
The craziness of the past two months has made this letter
two months overdue so I will try to overcompensate with details. The past 65 days since my last note to you
has brought change, growth, and self-reflection to our family. You of course being sweet, innocent, and just
Jack has per the norm taken everything in stride and adapted along with
us. The news of your brother or sisters
impending arrival came mid-July. It was
a Sunday evening and you were splashing around in the tub when mommy found out
she was expecting. You were actual the
first one to know not your dadJ. I remember looking at the pregnancy test and
then glancing over to your sweet little face and my heart and eyes filling with
tears of happiness and emotion. My first
reaction was “Jack is going to be the best big brother ever”. I went over to you and held you in my arms
relishing in the moment for a few minutes while it sunk in that our little
family of three was too soon be four.
These days the only time you are still is when you are watching a movie
or just before bed when I am holding you in my arms. This moment of stillness sitting with you
after learning of such a wonderful blessing is a moment I will hold dear to my
heart forever. While you don’t quite understand
that you are going to be a big brother and what that exactly means right now,
you do know there is a baby in mommys
belly and you like to give he/she a kiss whenever we remind you of this.
Your growth has been incredible the past few months. I say it each month, but you never cease to
amaze us. Your growth in terms of body
weight has on the other hand not been that great. You are a little string bean! Your 2 Year doctors apt. is in two weeks and
I am so curious to get your most recent stats.
You still wear 12-18 month shorts
and 18-24 month shirts are still running a bit big despite you almost being the
big “2”. You continue to get better at
counting and your ABC’s every day. Your
colors are a bit choppy, as you can pronounce them all but in most
instances you think everything is red. Your
vocabulary is excellent. While you speak
in your own Jack language you are extremely articulate. I love hearing your little voice, it is so
sweet and innocent like music to my ears.
We have been working on your manners and you are very good at please and
thank you so we are starting to add in sir and ma’am to continue on your path
to good manners and respecting others.
Your listening is improving more every day. We read a book called 1,2, 3 Magic that was
recommended to us and it works remarkably well.
I am very pleased and so proud of the little boy you are becoming.
I also love how well rounded you are. I don’t think there is an activity you don’t
like or take interest in these days. You
are obsessed with golf lately which makes your dad extremely happy and you have
an excellent natural swing according to your dad. He is planning on getting you your first real
set of golf clubs for your birthday and I am sure you will put them to good
use. Your other favorite thing is play
doh. You know exactly where the craft
bin is in the house and every morning and afternoon you want to play with play
doh. The way you say play doh is so cute
I have a hard time turning you down, you certainly have us wrapped around you
finger. Well you definitely have your
nana wrapped around your finger as she was your play doh partner in crime a few
weeks back when she was visiting. I will
say there is something special about sitting across from you at your mini table
just enjoying the simple pleasure of playing with something so simple.
Other things you are fanatical about include trains, finding
Nemo, swimming, your water table, Elmo, Woody and Buzz and being outside. Mimi
just bought you another part to your small set of tracks for your birthday and
you have been playing with it non-stop.
You are going to be Woody for Halloween and daddy is going to be your
best friend Buzz, Palin is probably going to be the dinosaur from toy story to
round out the family costume. Your
swimming is amazing for your age. At
least we think so. The problem with you
and the water is that you have no fear.
You just want to dunk under and literally dive heard first off the side
of pools which stresses us out. While I
want a pool, at the same time I get a bit nervous about your fearlessness.
You started with a new school a few weeks back and so far
have really been enjoying it. For the
first time in a long time you don’t cry when we drop you off. It surely makes it a lot easier on us, as any
time you cry it breaks our heart. Your
teachers love you and you have been doing great thus far.
You are also quite the ham. You sing, you dance, and you make silly faces constantly and it cracks us up! You are seriously the greatest ever.
Jack, you are my sweet lovable little boy and there is
nothing I love more than your little arms squeezing around my neck and the
sweet kisses you give me on the lips and on the cheek. I love how you say “I
love you mama” and how you just mimic your dad and I. It is funny as you just don’t know what will
come out of your mouth. You are very
smart and in tune with your surroundings. I am so proud of the little boy you are becoming. Your voice, your laughter, you are full of
life and innocence and you make our life so much sweeter by being a part of
it. Happy almost 2nd birthday
my love.
Baby News
This post was written on July 14th saved for
October. I can’t even begin to describe
the last week but will do my best.
Before we left for Europe my first deal at work was set to close when we
got back, a few folks had asked for sellers disclosures and an offer was on the
horizon to sell our house. By last
Friday everything had seemed to fall apart.
Monday I traveled to Houston and got word that we needed to drop our
house another $25k in order to have a chance at selling it. Tuesday my deal started to unravel due to
miscommunication on my part with the group I was working with. A learning
experience would be an understatement, I am hoping when I actually publish this
that the deal actually does end up closing but you never know (Yay it did! perserverance). Regardless downhill to Friday where John also
underwent a very difficult day at work.
To say the least our emotions were running high and the stress that was
filling our minds was putting us over the edge.
Friday night we joked that we would end up being pregnant. All this past weekend John and I were
consumed with thoughts of questioning the decisions we had made, and wondering
what to do next. Related to so many
different parts of our life. It was
seriously one of the hardest weeks ever.
Just when we thought things were turning in our favor to be a little
easier. See we both have over the top
positive attitudes and outlook on life and there aren’t many days or weeks mind
you that get us to that point.
With me headed out on a three day business trip the next day
John headed out to the grill to cook for the week and I headed up to give Jack
a bath. While my little peanut splashed
around I found a pregnancy test in the closet and decided to see if this day
and our life was soon to get any crazier.
And as you know it both lines were red indicating that our joke was
actually a reality. As I looked at Jack
splashing around in the tub, my eyes filled with tears and a calmness that I
hadn’t felt in a week crept over me. As
well as feelings of shock and disbelief.
Without
actually trying again we were being blessed with this amazing gift. While John had the same feelings as I did
when Jack handed him the pregnancy test we could not be more thrilled about
this addition to our family.
As I fly high in the clouds off to a meeting in San Diego my
emotions are filled with joy and happiness that we are having another
baby. Yet nervousness as what is to come
and how we will handle it all. I have
faith in Team Semmy and know we will be fine but also know we are faced with
more decisions on what to do next and what is best for our family. In the mean time I pray for a healthy baby,
and am going to do everything in my power to have the healthiest, happiest
pregnancy possible.
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Letters To Jack 21 Months
Sweet Baby Jack,
You
were spoiled rotten for two whole weeks and between that trip and vacation with
mom and dad over the 4th of July.
It was so hard being away from you and the greeting you gave us when we
got home was amazing. I think we got
more hugs and kisses from you in a span of ten minutes then we do in a
week. It baffles me how you are growing
like a weed. I literally believe you
grew two inches while we were away.
You continue to amaze us everyday with the new things you
do. You have taken a new liking to
drumming, your kitchen set (actually making food), loading the dishwasher, and
are obsessed with applesauce, trains, and Finding Nemo. You are a
little grubber and the second you wake up in the morning you walk down to the pantry
to get something eat, and when you get home you make a bee line for it. You will eat anything, from anyone, at any
time. Yet you are a little string bean
that still fits into 12-18 month short with room to still grow.
One moment that made me tear up this month was when I
actually put your mini comforter and duvet over you to cover you up one
night. Your entire life this little
comforter has been on the end of your crib as it was too puffy to put in with
you. But now you are a big boy and move
around so much you just toss blankets off of you and we decided to give the
comforter a whirl so you could move underneath it instead. It worked, and now you seem to be warm and
more comfortable not wrapped in small blankets.
I am just waiting for you to jump out of your crib any second, with how
you have been jumping around in there.
You have also started making “silly” faces. You are quite the ham and just crack us up
when you start going off on silly face tangents. You crack yourself up as well as you go into
fits of laughter when you see our reaction.
Your teachers have said you continue to jabber away and you are staying
to say mini sentences with our
direction. We have been working on
you’re a, b, c’ and counting. You also
have become very good at singing Row, Row, Row Your Boat.
Your relationship with Palin continues to evolve. The two of you enjoy hiding under the table
together, eating each others food, and running around in circles.
You did although have your first fight with
Palin this month. While it didn’t phase
Ms. P you were awfully upset when she snatched the tennis ball out of your hand
and would not give it back. Speaking of
balls you call any ball no matter the size a basketball. You pronounce the word basketball better
then any other word in your vocabulary. We
finally got you to say soccer ball but for the sake of saying something
everything else will remain a basketball for the time being.
You are definitely a lefty.
Hands down you are. While I
sometimes think you are still stronger with a utensil in your right hand your
left handed throw is amazing. I need to
watch closer to see which leg you kick with next time we are playing
together. While I am happy you are a
lefty because I am, I do have a little
concern over your fathers ability to teach golf to a lefty being a right handed
player himself. While we have a few
years to worry about that. I want you to
know I am already thinking of this. Today your teacher said you were the best thrower and kicker in your class. Our little athlete.
Inspirational Women....Amazing Friends
I feel so blessed to have such wonderful woman in
my life to call my friends. Obviously as
time passes you get older, life changes the relationships you form with
people grow over time. Through my
career and the companies I have worked with I have had the opportunity to make
friends with lots of working woman like myself that I truly admire. Two of these woman I talk to every week,
rarely see, but love them like sisters, and are two of my best friends. They always pick up the phone when I call,
offer candid advice as moms and professionals, and are my own little cheering
squad. Some days I wonder how I got so
lucky to meet these woman and only hope I am half the friend they are to me to
them. There is a lot of exciting things
going on in their lives right now and I wanted to write this post to let them
know how much I appreciate their friendship and how proud I am of them.
I am beyond happy for the success they are having with Naturalmond, and truly admire Jaime for all that she has accomplished. With the dream of someday having my own company she is an inspiration to me, and someone I look up to with so much respect for taking risk and going after her dreams. I am so happy to know you and you deserve every bit of goodness that is coming to you through the hard work you have put in and for being an amazing person that makes this world so much better by being in it.
Then there is my friend Amanda. Amanda and I go back to my days of working at
Covidien. I spent two weeks training
with her in Michigan when I started, and she taught me everything I needed to know
about selling medical devices. The woman
is a super star sales person with a heart of gold. She doesn’t blink an eye if you need something,
and is always there to listen objectively to whatever I have to say. About two months ago my boss and I were
driving to a business meeting and he said “Nicole I would like to find two
other people just like you to fill the Central and West Zone VP jobs.” Amanda was the first person that came to mind,
although I will humbly admit I think she is better then I am J. I knew the second my boss met Amanda he
would want her on our team. After a
month of conversations my wish to work with this amazing woman again is coming
true and we will be dominating the outpatient cath lab business as a team
starting July 29th. I could
not be more happy to work with someone I admire professionally, as a mother,
friend, and person. We are going to kick
some butt!
