Off topic-Need some advice

This is completely off topic, but I don't know who to talk to about this so I am turning to all my blog friends. Last October, S and I attended a wedding. It was a very lovely wedding and we had a great time. The bride and groom are both very successful and already have most of the stuff they need for their home-so in lieu of gifts they suggested charitable donations to their favorite organizations. We are the type of couple who always go to their registry to purchase gifts-this way we know that they are getting something that they really want. Therefore, when we got this note, S and I decided to donate to the 3 organizations they selected. For 2 of the 3 groups, we were asked if we were giving this as a gift so we were able to provide their names. For one of the organization, we were not asked(I did it on line so there was no spot to even mention that this was for a wedding registry). We got confirmation that all 3 organizations received our donation. Here is where I need help-we never received a thank you note from the couple. Now this is the first time I ever made a donation as a gift-do any of you know if they just forgo all thank you notes? I guess I just want to make sure that bride and groom is aware that we made those donations on their behalf-and I don't want them to think that we totally blew off their wedding present. Should we say something? And what should we say? How do we even bring up this topic? Or should I just let it go and assume that they know? I guess I just don't want to be labeled as that couple who went to our wedding and never gave us a gift.

PS. I know that they technically have a year to send out thank you notes...but they just had twins and I sent the twins baby gifts and we already received a thank you note for that--so this shows that they don't' blow off thank you notes--at least that's how I interpret it.

Airports and Airlplanes

Since we found out that #2 was arriving early this year, we decided that we should take a few trips before the big arrival--because who knows when we will be able to travel again. My guess is not at all.

The vacations were all good. We travelled to Can.cun, Chi.ca.go and Atl.anta in the last 7 weeks. This means that we got on a plane 6 times with a toddler. Fun stuff. The trip on the way to can.cun was a little painful. They let us bored the plane and realized that we had a flight tire so they had to fix that which meant we had to sit inside the plane for an hour doing nothing!! Not so bad if you don't have a toddler. B was doing well, until the end of that hour...he just wanted out of his car seat!! Screaming and crying ensued and the guy across from us kept giving us the evil eye. Sorry buddy--I don't like it as much as you do. Once we were on the air, it took B a few minutes to settle down and he was able to sleep for about 1 1/2. Coming home was a different story. They recommend that you arrived at the airport 3 hours in advance in Can.cun--so like good citizens we followed this rule--only to find out that our flight was 2 hours delayed! Great. But not the end of the world--it is better to get stuck inside the airport than a plane with a toddler. We finally left Can.cun 4 hours after our original departure--once we were in the air B was asleep(thanks to a lot of walking and exploring around the airport). Unfortunately we were towards the back of the plane and there were a lot of commotion from the flight attendants, plus they were serving beverage. To make a long story short, all that noise woke B up after an hour. He was okay for a little bit, but once we reach Virginia we were informed that were thunderstorms and we have no clearance to fly to J.F.K at this point so we need to do circles around the area...for an hour!!! At this point it was already 10 pm way pass B's bedtime so to say he was hysterical doesn't even do it justice. We finally landed, after getting our bags and getting thru customs we finally made it home at 1:30 AM!!!!

A month after that trip, we braved it again and got on another plane to Chi.ca.go. Again, on the way there everything was perfect. B was happy and even flirting with all the women. Coming home was another story. We were once again delayed in Chi.ca.go. After 3 hours, our flight was cancelled. This was problematic since we were flying to a much smaller airport closer to our house, which means that we don't have a lot of options in terms of flights. To make a long story short, we had to fly into a different airport, call a car service to pick us up and drive us to the original airport to pick up our car. Our original flight was supposed to leave at 1:25. we left Chi.cago at 8 pm and arrived home at 12:30 AM!!! B was hysterical the first 30 minutes of the flight b/c he was so tired and he couldn't find a comfortable spot to sleep. The poor lady in front of us tried to offer some help-maybe because she can't stand listening to a screaming baby--but there really was nothing she can do.

A week after this, we once again got on a plane to go to Atl.anta. The flight both inbound and outbound was good--although we almost didn't get on the flight home since S didn't get a seat assignment and the flight was overbooked. I was dreading the flight due to our past history but no delays this time. But of course everything can't be perfect. When we got to the airport our main bag was no where to be found. We had to file a claim for it and it was finally delivered 24 hours later.

As you can see, I am not very eager to get on another plane or spend a single minute at an airport for a very long time. Today marks 28 weeks-so even if I wanted to fly I can't. Let's just say I am not disappointed about this at all--it is nice to be home. And I learned that yes, I have to respect all the other passangers and try to make their experience as pleasant as possible. But if you have a screaming child that you can't console-you heart just breaks and all you want to do is make you child feel better-no matter how many evil stares and looks you get. At the end of the day, my child's well being is the most important thing and he doesn't understand what is going on while a 40 year old man/woman should. You want to believe that they would be more understanding, but unfortunately that is not to be.

18 Months!!

I can't believe B turned 18 months last week! We are definitely entering the terrible two stage. There's been so much changes with B in the last few months that it is so amazing to watch. The 18 month check up went really well-he now weighs 24 pds 15 oz and is 33 1/2 long! Everything is on track developmentally! Woo-hoo!

First of all his language/vocabulary is changing everyday. He is finally saying Mama and knows what it means! The other day I was playing with him and pretended I was sleeping. He came over to me and handed me a book to read--and I kept on "sleeping"..he did his normal practice of getting my attention by shaking my leg/arm and saying "eh". After a couple of seconds and I wasn't responding he shook me again and said "Mama" and that just melted my heart. He can say a few words like, bo for book, ba for ball, ca for car, bah bah bor bye bye, baby, dada, mama. He points to my belly and keeps saying baby which I thought was really cute, until lately he points to everyones belly and says baby. I think he thinks that baby means belly--hmn..hopefully we won't offend anyone until he figures out the difference.

He is getting really good with sign language. He mastered "more" in one day! Which is good and bad. At least now he can tell us if he wants more food or if he wants to ride his toy car a little longer. Sometimes he will give us the sign "more" and "finish" at the same time-which makes things very confusing. I started teaching him some sign language just a few weeks ago and I am very pleased with the outcome so far.

He is also learning matching things. He finally mastered his sorter box and I was so proud of him. A few weeks ago, he knew probably 2 of the 6 shapes but all of a sudden, one day, he was able to match all the shapes with the box! I think at this point I realize that he is really starting to understand more and more things.

He is they type of boy who knows what he wants and is pretty stubborn--thanks to daddy's genes. He is starting to cry for things and sometimes won't stop until he gets his way. He plays pretty well with kids, although I am starting to notice that he is beginning to be very territorial with his toys. I think this is every mother's biggest nightmare! I know he needs to go thru this stage to learn how to share, but it is very embarrassing around other parents when your child is snatching away toys from their children. One other thing that he started doing is biting!! Oy vey!!! So far he only bites us and not other kids but we are trying really hard to nip this in the bud, but sometimes it is very hard to try to reason with an 18 month old.

***Some other updates***

My ex company settled...surprisingly. The agreed to change my classification and threw in $500-gee thanks. I think the company lawyer is the one who threw this in the package since DH and I know him really well-I am not sure if I ever mentioned that DH worked at my said company for 7 years. I got the final papers yesterday. I am so happy to get this behind me-I am sad that we even had to go this far.

On the P front-I went to the doctor last week and found out I gained 10 pds in 4 1/2 weeks!! Holy crap! My doctor was concerned b/c as of 20 weeks I haven't gained anything and she told me that I need to start gaining a pound a week going forward. Well, I did more than that!!! I guess this is what happens if you eat tiramasu or ice cream or a milk shake every night!! Everything else is going well--but I did cut down on the sweets!