In Tribute to the West Webster Fire Department Family

I wanted to make sure I posted about another horrible tragedy that occurred Christmas eve morning. This time, it was in my hometown of Webster, NY, where I grew up. I went to school with Mike's wife (a fellow twin) so I am sharing my brothers blog post to get the word out for trying to spread kindness. The fire department is made up of all volunteer firefighters and I also went to school with the Kohlmeier family who are very involved in the west Webster fire department. Thankfully, none of them were injured, but the pain and hurt they are all going through with their family shouldn't be unnoticed. Thoughts and prayers are with everyone during this difficult time. I thought about them a lot over the holidays.

Two volunteer firefighters, 19-year-old Tomasz Kaczowk and 43-year-old Mike Chiapperini were shot and killed and two others, Theodore Scardino and Joseph Hofstetter were seriously wounded, all when responding to what they thought was a routine house/car fire.   An off duty police officer John Ritter, just passing by, heading to work in a neighboring town, sustained minor injuries and is credited with keeping others from entering the area, possibly saving many more lives.  

Rather than focus on the events of that terrible day, I would like to focus on the amazing outpouring of support I've seen from the community and from everyone all across the nation and even from across the globe!  I also wanted to provide ways that you can help out.  

Main Facebook Page:

https://www.facebook.com/WebsterFirefighters

There you will currently find a pay it forward type event going on where they are encouraging individuals and businesses alike to pay for rooms for firefighters coming into town to attend funeral events scheduled for tomorrow and this coming weekend.

Most of the hotels in the area are providing highly discounted bereavement rates to help out as well.

Here are the details:  "If you wish to donate a room(s) for visiting fire departments or participate in our corporate challenge simply contact a local Webster/Rochester hotel, make all necessary arrangements and we will recognize your gift on our page."

Bereavement Rates for Webster/Rochester area hotels:

Hampton Inn Webster: $76

Holiday Inn Express: $ 79

Fairfield Inn: $89

Hampton Inn Greece: $79

Rochester Plaza: $69

Quality Inn Airport: $64

Towpath Hotel: $60/$65

Hyatt Regency: $92

Doubletree Hilton Henrietta: $85

RIT Inn & Conference Center: $60

Radisson Airport: $60

Hampton Inn Irondequoit: $75

Homewood Suites Greece: $96

Doubletree Strathallan: $119

Radisson Riverside: $60

Holiday Inn Express Irondequoit: $68

Homewood Suites Henrietta: $79

Comfort Inn Suites Henrietta: $69

Best Western Marketplace Inn: $59

Woodcliff Hotel & Spa: $108 Fairfied Inn by Marriott East (Webster) - $79 

Fairfied Inn by Marriott South (Henrietta) - $79 

Fairfied Inn by Marriott Rochester Airport - $79 

The Rochester Marriott Airport Hotel - $89

Courtyard by Marriott Rochester West - $79

Residence Inn by Marriott Rochester West- $89

Courtyard by Marriott Penfield - $79

Courtyard by Marriott Brighton - $79

The Renaissance Del Monte Lodge Hotel & Spa - $129 

It is great to see that the number of rooms donated by businesses and individuals is really picking up the pace this morning!  That includes a two room donation from our friends and former WNers that own Ann O'Malley's pub in St Augustine.  

Mike Chiapperini Memorial Fund

Additionally, a memorial fund to benefit Officer Chiapperini's surviving children has been established at his family's request at ESL Federal Credit Union.  Individuals (whether ESL members or non-members) who wish to contribute to this fund may do so by cash or check. Checks must be payable to "Chiapperini Memorial Fund." Deposits can be accepted at all ESL locations, or may be mailed to:

Michael Chiapperini Memorial Fund

ESL Federal Credit Union

P.O. Box 92714

Rochester, NY 14692-8814

I have an email out to ESL to see if there is also a way to do a bank transfer into that account, rather than mailing a check.  I will report back if/when I get any details. 

IndieGoGo Donation Page

You can also make an online donation on this page as well.   

Webster Community Chest Support For Fire Victims That Lost Their Homes

Webster Community Chest donation page  

Other ways to help

If you happen to be in town and wanted to help in person, I've seen several offers from individuals and local businesses offering to provide food/support during any of the various events scheduled around town as well as new ways to assist popping up on that Facebook page by the minute.  

Giving Pledge

Thanks for stopping by and thanks ahead of time for your generosity!  As a way to encourage giving, I pledge to give at least $100 to the Michael Chiapperini Memorial fund.  I will also match, up to an additional $100, for anyone that makes a donation to the fund or any of the other causes under way.

**My brother has just informed me that he exceeded his goal for matching, but we need to keep going! I have my check written and will mail it out for the Chiapperini Memorial fund. What about you?

New Mommy Confessions

Today, I am featured on New Mommy Confessions.  I have loved reading Sara's, from Running from the Law's blog series from new mommy's about the fun and not so fun parts about being a mommy.  The stories have been seriously hilarious and I was glad to contribute a few of my own.  Head on over to read mine along with some other great ones today.  Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours. I hope you have a fabulous, safe holiday with friends and family. 

Oh Christmas Tree!

We took our Christmas card picture at David's office. They have a huge lobby with a huge Christmas tree that we thought Max would like to see. 

A majority of the time he was just starring at it or trying to get you to move away from it. We wanted to set him down in front to get some solo pics of him, but that was not going to happen. On the bright side I guess it's good he didn't try to tear down the tree. 

This is as close to it as he'd let us get. Sweet boy, but he wouldn't smile, too nervous.

We tried to get a photo of all of us with the timer, but Max kept starring at the tree.

We finally had him looking and David thought he wasn't so he isn't paying attention. 

As good as it gets.

Tada!

Just the two of us! 

Max Goes to See Santa 2012

This weekend we went to take the little ones to see Santa. David's parents' neighborhood does a picture with Santa thing every year. You just have to bring food to donate and then it was free.  I knew this could go one of two ways.  He would either be in amazement of Santa and his beard or he would do stranger danger scream.

Let me introduce you to stranger danger.  Poor little boy was all dressed up with his puffer green vest and cute shoes, but he wasn't having that so you get nice blue socks.  He was terrified of Santa.  Santa was great though, trying to get me to try again once he was happy and give him the drop and go 3 second rule.

He says "who are you scary white haired man, I don't like you."

Santa decided to cry with Max (not sure this was on purpose or what, it's funny). 

I tried later to get in with Max and he was still not having it, but it came out better than I thought.  I am glad we went and I know I'll look back and think these are hilarious.  Hope I didn't traumatize him too much.

This is what little boys and girls are suppose to do when they see Santa.  Look at cousin Kinsley.  She is so cute in her ruffles. 

So cute!!

We tried to get a photo by this vintage car they had set up for food pantry donations.  We couldn't get them to look and we were too concerned about them falling off.  Gotta love them. I am so glad we got this done (on moving day).

Blogger Day of Silence

We Are Officially In!

Before I post I just wanted to address the horrific events that took place in CT on friday. I really have no words, but just thoughts and prayers for those families  I can not even imagine. I held my little boy extra tight this weekend. I can not even fathom sending my little one to school and having them not come back. It's hard to even listen to the news. It's so easy for us to turn it off but for those that have lived it first hand, they can not. I think about them often.

Saturday morning David and family/friends moved our stuff from storage. I had way more stuff than I even remembered. As big as the kitchen is I swear the boxes of kitchen gadgets kept coming.

Max went and saw Santa as well... Pictures to come later this week. I'll leave you with iPhone pics I took from the weekend.

Somebody had fun playing in Molly's bed/crate area. 

On our way to go see Santa, he's already unsure about it. 

He found our plastics cabinet we had set up to let him play in. He had fun climbing and throwing everything out of it.

Last night we had a cheers to the new place. I picked out a bottle of champagne when we went to the Biltmore while I was pregnant. I've been waiting for a good celebration and this was it. It was fantastic. Hope everyone had a great weekend. I am trying to get organized for the upcoming Christmas festivities and trip to MS.

Home Sweet Home!

We finally closed on our house yesterday afternoon and everything went very smoothly.  We were in and out of there in 30 ish minutes. I wanted to take photos of the house empty, but of course that didn't happen because I couldn't find the camera that we loaded in the car somewhere.  We loaded up our cars Tuesday night so we could go straight from work to closing (well David took half day and loaded heavy things without me) to the new house.  We were anxious about getting in there since it had been so long and couldn't wait for the weekend.  We brought just mattresses to sleep on (of course Mr. Max got the royal treatment with full crib set up and all his toys).  Thanks to Davids parents for bringing stuff over that we couldn't fit and to Darrin, Stacey and Austin for helping unload our cars and make us yummy dinner and breakfast! I thought I'd share some photos that are half from my iphone and half from the listing.

This is the entry way.  I really like the hardwood floors. 

To the right is the office with nice french doors

 and to the left is a nice big dining room.  We were also thankful that they ended up leaving all the light fixtures, fans and blinds. They were suppose to take all light fixtures and maybe fans so that was a huge plus for us. 

The family room has rows of windows with views of the fantastic treescape in the backyard. 

The main selling feature to me was the kitchen.  We are in love with the kitchen island. 

 It is massive, probably the size of a full bed.  It looks much smaller in pictures than it is in person. There is so much storage and cabinetry as well.

The backyard is very luscious in the summer months, but even now in the winter is fantastic.  

You can hear the babbling brook (as everyone is saying) out on the decks. 

These pics are from the listing in the summer.  I can't believe it's been 7 months since we originally looked at the house. We are thankful to be in the house and the first night went great.  Max slept pretty good and so did we.  Cable is being hooked up today and carpet cleaning this evening. Now if only these next 2 days could go by fast at work so we can get to the moving of our storage unit items!

Max is 10 Months Old!

Our little boy isn't so little anymore. He is 10 months old! 

Stats- I have no new updates on the stats, but he is a growing boy.  I love how cute he looks in his PJ's. 

New Development- Max is pulling up on everything still and his new thing is trying to climb everything. He tries to climb on tables, couches, people, you name it. He has been trying to go from the coffee table to the couch and letting go in between to catch himself.

So I thought his top tooth was just about pushing through last update, but I was wrong!  For the last 4 weeks both the top incisor teeth have been trying to come in and they really were being stubborn. Well, they JUST came in a few days ago, right in time for his 10 month b-day. (December 9). They look rather large and I can't get a photo, but when I do I will share for sure.

Personality- He is such a fun boy. He is extremely happy unless he is tired or mad you took something away from him that he wanted (like cords and things of the sort).  He loves to play ball with Molly, eat  read books, be outdoors, go on walks and crawl around rapidly.  He is so fast that you have to be right on him or he'll be up the stairs or in the fireplace.

He likes to look at you and give you this look like I am about to do something naughty so you better be paying attention. 

Don't worry, Gigi was behind the couch in case he went over, but he was just climbing for fun. So athletic at this age already (he didn't get it from me). 

His hair is getting pretty long and it gets all crazy after he sleeps. I love it. It's still a dirty blonde color and pretty straight.

Eating- He is bf'ing morning and night and having 2 bottles (of formula) during the day with Gigi.  He loves real food still. Some of his favorites are avocados, shredded/cut up chicken, spaghetti/lasagna, really anything you put in front of him.  He enjoys eating off his high chair more than us feeding him with a spoon. He is still loving his water from a straw sippy.  He gets so excited when you give it to him.  Such a good boy.

Sleeping- He still goes to sleep at 7:30am and gets up around 6:30/7 but ever since we got back from TX his bad habits continued and every other day he has been waking up crying around 11pm or 2am.  I try to let him cry it out for a few, but you can tell when he is extremely upset and won't calm down.  I go in and try to comfort him, but all he wants to do is eat (prob. just to console not really hungry). I feed him quick, put him back and he is good to go until the morning.  I really think it's because of his teeth bothering him and some nights he doesn't stir at all.

He is napping twice a day still around 9:30/10 and 2:30pm for around an hour-hour and a half. Still those unlucky times where you only get 35mins.

At David's parents house they have their Christmas tree up and Max is not sure about it.  It lights up on and off and he is intrigued. 

Then he gets really scared and clings. 

Such a cutie pie.

He can now touch the lights and ornaments and get excited, but only if you are holding him secure enough. The trip to go try and see Santa this weekend ought to be fun.  He is in total stranger danger mode.  He is going with his cousin Kinsley so maybe he will cooperate.

Randoms-
-He is in size 3 diapers (pampers cruisers)
-He is wearing size 12 month clothes, but can still fit in the 9 month stuff sometimes.
-Christmas cards are mailed out and I can't wait to show you ours soon. Much more fun when Max is in the photo (actually we've never sent out cards before).
-Today is closing day on our new house and we are pumped! We had the final walk-thru last night and everything is in order!