I was surfing around Pinterest the other day, and I kept seeing all these beautiful beaches and locations that I could only dream about visiting. Then I reminded myself that maybe someday I really could go a fantastic beach getaway. It would be MARVELOUS! Then I thought about it a little more….would I ever REALLY get to enjoy a “relaxing” vacation again? As a mom can I ever really “get away”? Will a vacation every feel like it used to ever again?

I am not ready to leave our son for a period of time longer than 1 night at this point. I’ve only done it one time, and I am not rushing to do it again right now. The Captain and I really need some “us” time, so I am mentally preparing myself for a two night trip I am planning in early summer. I have signed my parents up as babysitters, and I am booking it. We really need some time away. I am hoping by then I will feel ready to get away. Even if not, then I am sure once I get there all will be good. But I know that my son will always be on my mind. What is he doing? Is he fine with out me? Most of all I will miss him. Heck I even miss him after I put him to bed at night!

Then I begin to think about our future trips. The bigger ones. The ones that include a plane flight. If it’s just Captain Awesome and I lounging on the beach will I ever be able to fully relax? Will my mind ever truly be able to drift away into margaritaville like it used to? Even if I am dying to get away, I have a sinking feeling the answer is no. I never will be able to truly forget my life back home like I used to.

I am looking forward to taking vacations with my son also, but again I am fully aware that it will never actually be a vacation. Even if it is at the beach I can’t get lost in a book, or sip cocktails till I fall asleep. Not any more. My son will need my full attention. Sure, maybe The Captain and I will get a nice dinner out if we are lucky enough to travel with the Grandparents, but it will never be the same.

I am so thankful that I got to travel so much pre having kids. The Captain and I went away many times and enjoyed every second of it. It’s just weird to think how different it will all be from now on.

Do you agree? Will my vacations forever be changed?

So what happened to my little angel? Where did he go, and when did this little one who throws fits show up? Before you think I’m a bad mom for taking a video of this I’d like to say something in my defense…he wasn’t hurt he was just mad…so I laughed about it. You have to right? Isn’t that how you get through these fits?

Why was he throwing this fit you ask? Well, he wanted something on the counter that I wouldn’t give him…so this was the outcome. I guess the terrible two’s start at 1? He certainly has a mind of his own!

But you know what he did after? He put his arms around my neck and gave me a HUGE hug and kiss. Then I wiped away his tears and we made up. He was back to being my little angel.

Now I have this video to embarrass him for years to come. Ahhh the joys of being a mom!

I can’t believe we have come back around to Christmas. It is my most favorite time of year, and last years Christmas, although different, was so special because my son was in my life. Now, this year, we are back to celebrating in the ways that I know and love with an added addition, and I could not be more excited. On this Christmas Eve…Eve…I get to wait in anticipation for my son’s SECOND Christmas. Such a magical time of year!

Finding out the “truth” about Santa Claus pretty much destroyed me. After that I still had my brother and sister to bring the magic to, but after that I have to admis some of the Christmas magic was lost. But a child changes everything. Having a child brings everything that is wonderful about the Christmas season back again.

My dad cracked jokes about all the presents I wrapped so that Santa could be good to Christian. I put little stickers on them saying “To: Christian From: Santa”. He said that he wouldn’t know the difference, but you know what? I would. Maybe alot of it is for me, but whatever. Christmas is about the kid now. I told my family that I didn’t want any presents for me and I meant it. Any money that they would’ve spent on me should go to my son. Does he “need” anything? NO! But I get so much joy out of watching him get things that that is more of a present then I could ever get! Christmas needs to be all about him and and I couldn’t be happier.

This Christmas will be spent with me or The Captain opening all of Christian’s presents, with him being most excited about the wrapping paper and boxes they came in. That’s OK. I know that it will be a Christmas that I will remember forever. Hey, even last year when he was 4 weeks old I made The Captain sit there with Christian and open all of his presents from Santa Christmas morning. Can you imagine next year?

So Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all! I hope you have a fantastic holiday and that Santa treats you well! I know you all deserve it!

When someone has a baby, people throw around the saying “It takes a village.” Well, I came to find out that saying is true, because I lived it myself. On August 4th, 2005 my daughter was born after I had an uncomplicated pregnancy. Not much morning sickness–or evening or afternoon, for that matter. But we found out when I was about to deliver that she was coming out butt end first. The doctors quickly did a C-section and we had a healthy baby. At that point, our “village” came around us right away. They were my parents, my husband’s family and a lot of friends who came by to meet baby Lily. Everything was going good, and we were not at all prepared for what was about to happen to us.

Things change when a baby comes. Until Lily was born I ran a salon in a large business that had three of them, and I was part owner. I had 20-some employees and also worked at a chair myself. After I was home a few weeks, I went back to work but I was not happy to leave my baby. After I worked about a month, I started to feel tired and out of breath, with no energy. I thought it was one of the changes from having a baby. Then I started to lose a lot of weight–up to seven pounds a week. I did not think that was normal, and went to the doctor in November. I explained my symptoms and after blood tests and an X-ray of my chest, they found out I had fluid around my left lung. Then a scan and more tests were done, and biopsies. On November 21, 2005, when Lily was three and a half months old, I was told I had malignant pleural mesothelioma–cancer in the lung lining caused by being exposed to asbestos. It turns out I was exposed to asbestos in childhood, and here I was, 30 years later, with mesothelioma.

I thought first of my baby and my husband, and we knew we had to do everything we could to save my life, because if we didn’t, I had 15 months to live. We left Lily with my parents and went to Boston for drastic surgery called extrapleural pneumenectomy, along with radiation and chemotherapy. I was in the hospital 18 days, and took two more months to get back to caring for Lily. I never went back to work because it would be too hard with one lung.

During this whole ordeal, we really learned that our village was people from different parts and times of our lives, and all of them loved and cared for us, and that gave us so much help to go on. Out of bad, comes good at times, and it did for us. Overall, our Faith in God keeps everything going for us, and we have Faith to believe everything will be okay and I will be here to raise our daughter. Embrace life, and remember in dark days other people love you and will help you, and you will be okay again. I am thankful for all the good that came to us through others after a bad diagnosis.

You can read more about Heather and get her full story on The Mesothelioma Cancer Survivor Blog

Halloween is quickly approaching and it’s always to find new ways of celebrating. Are you familiar with Spookley? Spookley is great Halloween story about a square pumpkin that learns the thing that makes you different makes you special. On Halloween after all the trick or treating end the night with the story of Spookley. As a matter of fact, Spookley was named the official Spokes-Pumpkin of Bullying Prevention month (October) by PACER organization encouraging kids to SPEAK UP, REACH OUT, BE A FRIEND.

Here are some ways you can participate in Spookley events.

The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin book

At Barnes & Noble stores and online.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com <http://www.barnesandnoble.com>

Spookley Themed Farm Attractions

Throughout the US and Canada including Water Mill, NY; Stillwater, MN; Bakersfield, CA; Oklahoma City, OK; Midland, TX; Saskatchewan, Canada

http://www.spookley.com/farm_affiliates.html <http://www.spookley.com/farm_affiliates.html>

Spookley Movie in Theaters

35 States: cities include Bridgeport, CT; Anaheim, CA; Pittsburgh, PA; Las Vegas, NV; Brooklyn, NY http://www.kidtoonfilms.com <http://www.kidtoonfilms.com>

Spookley on the Web

LIKE! Spookley on Facebook at  http://www.facebook.com/HolidayHillFarm <http://www.facebook.com/HolidayHillFarm>

Follow Spookley on Twitter @HolidayHillFarm

Spookley App available on iTunes, bn.com and amazon.com

In our household I am responsible for most things baby. If you think of the stereotypical husband and wife roles, you can think of us. I run the family and home, and he runs the finances. That means that I am in charge of anticipating my son’s needs, and that my friends keeps my brain on overdrive 24/7. As much as I love the job, sometimes I just want to go out and turn my mind to the OFF position. The problem is that I know that’s no longer possible. Now, and for the foreseeable future I get to live with the double edged sword. Wanting to relax and let loose, but always keeping my family in mind when I finally do.

The other day my friend and I were joking how nice it would be to be our husbands, and how easily they can flip the responsibility “switch” and go out and relax (or so it seems). We on the other hand constantly worry about everything under the sun, and no matter how much we may try, we never truly allow ourselves to relax.

Take wine club for instance. That is my “girls night out” once a month. Even though I am enjoying my time with the girls, in the back of my head I always think about my son at home….Is he having trouble sleeping? Then, once I remind myself that he is perfectly fine, I start to think about how early he will be up in the morning, and how crappy I will feel ALL DAY if I drink too much.

Thus far The Captain and I haven’t slept away from our son. He has been away, but I haven’t been able to, or want to. Since I have been breastfeeding I knew it would be physically hard, but more importantly I haven’t WANTED to leave him. I think I would always think about him at home, and to be honest I think it would ruin my time away. There is that double edged sword again! Wanting to get away, but knowing that once I got there I’d always be thinking about home!

Most of the family men I know are able to pick up and go with out much regret. The moms I know on the other hand have their kids tied to both their hips and their heart…therefore making it much more difficult to get out and let loose. Is it just the nature of motherhood? Or maybe it’s just me, and I just truly enjoy playing house at home with my son? Either way, I have a feeling that this w

Before you think…”OMG Jen is holding a gun!”….I will tell you that it’s a bee bee gun and I am shooting at cans (not very well might I add!). ANYWHO! Last weekend The Captain, our little man, our little Tinkerbell and myself hopped in the car and traveled to the Poconos to spend the weekend with my family. As a matter of fact Captain Awesome and I visited this house before two years ago when we went on a bit of a “weekend retreat” to heal after I had the miscarriage. It felt great to return this time with our son, and the rest of my family to spend some quality time together.

I’d like to give a shout out to my brother in law and sister for setting it all up. The house is owned by his family, and it was EXTREMELY cool of them to allow us to spend the weekend there. I love when we get to do things such as this with my family because I am a true believer that good memories are so important for a family and getaways such as this allows for many great memories to be created. Although we didn’t do much in terms of activities, just being together took us all out of our mundane daily activities to do and be somewhere different.

It’s funny that if you sit on your couch in your home it’s called being lazy, but if you sit around when you are away it’s called “vacation”. When my family gets together we do alot of sitting, but one thing that doesn’t lack is the laughter. Just give us a couple bottles of wine, a lot of beer and you get a recipe for silliness! Even when our night time bonfire got disrupted by 2 pesky skunks!

All in all it was a wonderful weekend away in the woods with my family. I was happy they got to love and play with our little man, and I always enjoy spending time with them. Maybe we can make this an annual thing!?

I have never been shy in admitting my love for TV. I’m not necessarily proud of it, but that is how I relax at the end of the night. With our son it has been a wee bit harder to keep up on my favorite shows due to lack of “sitting on my butt” time, but don’t you worry…I still get them in! But every couple of years my poor little heart gets broken when one of my favorite shows comes to an end. I guess I should be embarrassed to admit it, but I feel like I get invested in the characters lives…and then it’s over!?

The series finale of Entourage left me thinking about many of the other series that I grew to love. There are few ways that a series ends. One…it ends like life is going to continue for those characters as usual. In other words there really is no end. Some shows tie things up rather nicely, and others leave you wanting more. I am not sure which way I like the best. If they go with the “life goes on” approach like on Brother’s and Sisters, although I am satisfied knowing the characters are happy, I feel a bit sad that I don’t get to find out what happens next. When shows tie things up, like in Lost, I am happy to finally get a conclusion, but sometimes I am not very happy with the conclusion and am left frustrated. The wanting more approach is my least favorite. This is how they ended Entourage. I get that they plan on making a movie, but still. Come on people! How can you call that a series finale????

When I think about my LEAST favorite series finale, I have to think straight to Will and Grace. I was so mad at that one! How can you take a show, that is entirely about the long running friendship of two people, and end it with them growing apart and not being friends. WHAT!? That is not what happens to Will and Grace. So in my version, Will and Grace remain friends forever! Take that show writers!

My favorite series finale has to be Friends. That series remained funny through out, and I thought that they did a good job rounding up all the loose ends and leaving you satisfied that the characters would be ok. I was sad that the characters were moving on, but I guess it was time…lol….so I was ok….

What are some of your favorite and least favorite series finales. Do you get as invested as I do? Probably not, but that’s ok…..

Ok…random thought over…

Approximately 11 million couples in the US are trying to conceive (TTC). On average, a couple only has a 20% chance of becoming pregnant each month during the woman’s fertile time (not the best odds huh?).  In fact, 75% of women report an increase in their frequency of dryness when TTC. Pre~Seed mimics natural body secretions to relieve dryness while providing an optimal environment for your man’s little swimmers. Its moisture is delivered in the same pH , osmolality and viscosity (thickness) as fertile cervical mucus. Pre~Seed does not harm sperm and is less irritating to women than the leading lubricants (see Clinical Studies).

That my friends is why Pre Seed is so great for women who are TTC! I was ready to try pretty much anything while TTC, and when I gave this a try I fully noticed a difference. The good news is that you can now buy Pre Seed at your local stores as well as online. I promise you won’t be sorry you gave this a try.

When the people behind Pre Seed contacted me to do this giveaway, I knew that even though I didn’t need it now, I still wanted to offer it to my dear readers. I know many of you are struggling with TTC, and if there is anything I can do to help, I will. And I believe that Pre Seed will help.

So onto the GIVEAWAY! The giveaway package will consist of one carton of the Pre~Seed Product, and one product brochure. The giveaway will run until Monday September 19th.

How to enter: Remember…each entry needs a separate comment to count.

Mandatory entry…now this will be easy…:

Leave a comment saying “I want to win Pre Seed!” Yup! That’s it!

Extra Entries

1. LIKE After The Alter on Facebook
2. LIKE Pre~Seed on Facebook
3. Follow @afterthealter on Twitter
4. Follow @preseedbaby on Twitter
5. Tweet about this giveaway and come back to leave a link to your tweet! Be sure to @preseedbaby and @afterthealter in your tweet!

Look at all those ways to enter! Good luck!

I was provided with Pre~Seed for the purposes of this review. as always all thoughts and opinions are my own.

I should be thoroughly embarrassed that I am just now writing about my son’s christening which happened almost 2 months ago! It was such a beautiful and special day, and I wanted to take the time to write about it properly. I married a Greek and my son was baptized Greek Orthodox so since I grew up as a Catholic I had a lot to learn. I attended my first Greek wedding at my own, and now I attended my first Greek Christening…my sons!

In the Catholic religion you are baptized, have First Communion and then Confirmation. That’s not how the Greeks do it. All of those things are done at the Baptism. Therefore, we had one big party to throw.

As Godparents we chose my sister, and The Captain’s older brother. The role of the Godparent in the Greek religion is a VERY special one. Not that it’s not special in other religions, but from what I see, they take it EXTREMELY seriously. Traditionally, the Godparents provide pretty much everything for the event….all the ceremonial items, crosses, candles, witness pins, the christening outfit and favors. I personally wanted to choose the outfit (call me a control freak), and we felt that we would buy the favor since we felt the rest put a large financial burden on them. But they took their role in stride and everything came out beautiful.

The ceremony is truly beautiful and symbolic. I have to admit that I didn’t totally listen to it all because I was so worried about how my little man would do. Let’s just say for some of the ceremony he is completely naked and in a nice WHITE blanket, and the particular blanket we used was made by my mother in law out of her wedding dress. So needless to say I was a bit worried there would be a messy accident. But I had nothing to worry about. Our little man took it all in stride. Even when the priest repeatedly dunked him in holy water!

Our party after was held at a local restaurant. Our original guest list was 116 people, but we ended up with 80 who attended. The Captain and I had to compromise because I wanted a small back yard event with family, and he would’ve liked a large “wedding like” event at a catering hall. The restaurant was our compromise. We decided to go with cupcake trees as centerpieces. I figured I’d kill two birds with one stone…pretty centerpieces and dessert in one shot! The woman who made them is AMAZING! Paticakes also did my shower cake/cupcakes and I plan to use her for all my events. Not only are they pretty but they taste so YUMMY!

Our little man was a champ all day long. He was pleasant to all the guests who came to celebrate his day, and I was so happy to see all our friends and family there to honor our son. We are truly blessed to have so many great people in our lives.