USF 41 NCSU 10

USF traveled up to Raleigh NC to play NC State so we took the 2 hour trip over to watch our Bulls play. Dom realized the Bulls were coming up here about a week ago, and since we haven't been to a game in quite a while we decided to go. I thought it was a great idea and couldn't wait to see some football. Then when I realized it was a 7:30 game I started to worry. What would we do with Francesca? Of course we were planning on taking her with us, for 2 reasons, #1 it would be cheaper than paying a babysitter and #2 she is going through her separation anxiety pretty bad right now and breaks down when I leave her with strangers. I woke up in the middle of the night last week worrying about things. What would people think of me bringing my young baby to a late night game? What would we do if she fell asleep, just hold her? She does get pretty heavy.
Dom had no worries so off we went towards Raleigh. We left the house after she woke up from her nap. I wanted to make sure she got at least one good nap in. The drive over went well. We stopped about mid way at a Target to pick up a rain poncho. We got the last one, but it was nice to have later that night. Once we got to Raleigh we drove around the stadium and had no idea where to park. Dom wanted to meet up with his buddy from MedSchool and we had to meet the people with the tickets. We found the tickets on craigslist. I wanted to sit in the USF section so I put a want ad in the Tampa area and we luckily found some. After resting in a business park parking lot for a while and allowing Francesca to crawl around and be out of her seat we jumped back in the car and found our parking spot. Dom started cooking and I went walking towards the stadium to get the tickets. When I got back Francesca was pushing her toy around the parking lot with Dom following close behind. We tailgated for a little while and then started heading towards the stadium. Francesca wore her USF Bulls cheerleading outfit and was a hit with all the fans on our walk up. She was a in a great mood, smiling at everyone and loved all the people. We were able to meet Dom's friend Jason Kurecki and let them catch up.
Game time!! We went to find our seats and Francesca was so tired on the way into the stadium. I was hoping she would fall asleep, but there were too many people to look at. So we found our seats and watched the opening. Once the two teams came out, everyone started cheering and the fireworks went off she had the deer in the headlight look. I was hoping she wouldn't break bad on me, but she didn't. I thought that if I went back under bleachers where the consession stands were that she might fall asleep. Well after USF drove down and scored on the first drive and then NCSU got a field goal I figured she was not going to sleep. So we went back out to watch the game. After a few minutes it started raining. I thought we might be able to weather the storm but it started getting heavier and I knew she had no business getting wet. This is where it was nice to have the rain poncho. Dom stayed to watch the game while Francesca and I went back underneath with all the other fans. She did very well, but would not fall asleep. At one point I found a place to sit and started reading to her. I gave her a cookie to eat, hoping that would help her sleep. But then the winds changed and the rain started hitting us. We evenually moved. It rained and rained, part of the first quarter, all of the second, through half time, and into the third Dom called and told me it had stopped and we could come out and watch. A lot of the NCSU fans had left during the rain. It was already 27-10 when we got back out there. Dom took Francesca to give my back a break and within 5 mins the girl was out. She was finally getting her nap, over 2 hours after she was initially tired. She took a 30 min nap and was in a great mood for the rest of the game. She seemed to enjoy the crowd and all the cheering. She would smile and flirt with all the fans around us. The game ended 41-10. The walk back to the car everyone was surprise that she was still awake and said that she would fall asleep as soon as we got into the car. Well she didn't. Dom called it, he said that we were about 30 mins from the house she would fall asleep. And that is what she did. She was awake for over an hour in the car before she finally crashed.

Crystals Wedding

Crystal tied the knot!!!

Francesca and I drove to Florida for the first time. We left here on a Tuesday morning and then jumped in a van with Crystal & Jeremiah Wednesday afternoon. Jeremiah was not looking forward to the 6hr trip with Francesca. He doesn't care for all of her talking. To him she is just making noise, so the thought of spending 6hrs trapped in a vehicle with her was not appealing and very discouraging. I was a little apprehensive b/c she doesn't travel well at night, but knew she would be able to make it. We left Columbia in the evening around 5:30ish after they got home from work. Francesca fell asleep about 15minutes into the drive. Her and I had gone swimming earlier in the day, I was trying to wear her out so that she would nap in the car. She slept for over an hour and half (YEA!!) I was so excited. After about an hour of being awake she got pretty fussy and it was time for us to eat dinner. So we stopped at a Beef O Brady's to eat. We let her walk all around the restaurant and hotel lobby(it was connected to a hotel.) When we got back in the car she stayed awake for 45 mins or so before she went back to sleep. I was so proud of her. After all the trash talking and bad mouthing her Jeremiah admitted that she did do very well and it was a quite plesant trip.
The wedding was Saturday Sept 13 at Marineland in St.Augustine, FL. I was in the bridal party so I rode with Crystal and the girls up to Marineland before the wedding. Dom was in charge of dressing Francesca and bringing her up. The girls and I were all across the dolphin pool and I saw Jermaud walk in carrying my baby, Frankie (Jermaud nicknamed her that.) She did well during the ceremony and got a little vocal towards the end. But Dom just got up and walked around with her.
During the reception Francesca spent, what time she wasn't being passed around, pushing her stroller back and forth. It was very warm in the tent so by the end of the night I took her dress off of her and let her run around in the diaper cover. She did dance a little and when they played "Shake your booty" she was on the dance floor shaking her groove thing. Around 11pm she was looking pretty tired so Dom and I took her out to the parking lot so that she could fall asleep. Once she was a sleep we put her in the carseat and waited until the party was over. She slept the entire way back to the condo. But once we got there she was awake and very dirty/sweaty. So we took a shower, which might have woken her up a little more. But she was nasty. Eventually she did get to sleep that night.

Its just a Dollywood Birthday

For my birthday Dom, Francesca and I went to East TN to stay with Missy & Greg & go to DOLLYWOOD, America's Theme park.
Dom had the weekend off so when he got home on Friday afternoon we headed out. Dom and Francesca were both asleep before we hit the interstate. The drive over took us around 6 hours after getting stuck in traffic and having to stop to eat and give Francesca a break.
That night Francesca had a really rough time. She fell asleep not to long after arriving at Missy's but she woke up screaming. Nothing I could do would calm her down. Finally I went out onto the porch area and we watched the fish tank. She would fall back asleep if I was holding her, but if I put her down the screaming would start again. Finally I was able to lay down with her on my chest around 2am.
Saturday morning Francesca and I went with Missy & Greg to Aaron's cross country meet. Dom stayed behind to catch up on sleep, he was getting off of night shift and hadn't adjusted his sleep patterns yet. I loved getting to see a cross country meet and it brought back so many memories of my time running in high school. The course was 2 laps through a great park and there were a lot of places to stand and cheer them on. Aaron did really well. I was so proud of him, I even got a little tear in my eye when he ran by. I guess being a mom brings out emotions I use to not have, but it was a great morning. That afternoon Sam B was in town for Booms Day and we went to the mall and spent an hour or so with him before we headed over to Maryville College to see Sam Howell's dorm and school. He gave us the tour around his dorm and the college. It seems like so long ago that I was living the care free college life.
Sunday was Dollywood day!!!! I've been wanting to go to Dollywood for some time and Missy, who has a season pass, got 2 free guest passes. Greg decided to go with us which was really exciting. Missy planned on watching Francesca while the rest of us stood in line and rode roller coasters. The TN tornado was my favorite. We waited extra to go in the front, my thought is that if you are going to ride a coaster, ride it from the best seat available. So tracks it makes a big difference to sit in the front and others it really doesn't, but this one was worth the little bit of extra wait. It was probably the fastest track I've ever been on. It was really intense. Francesca spent most of her time pushing her stroller around. Francesca rode her first carousel with Dom. I didn't ride b/c someone needed to take pictures, and they make me sick. Lunch was a highly reccommended turkey leg. Sam H. told me we had to get one, when I told him we had tried one at Disney he said "yeah, Disney's can't be that good, we know how to fix them up here in TN." And I do agree with him, it was quite tasty, and the meat fell right off the bone. While Francesca slept Dom & I were able to catch a show. We watched a gospel quartet sing. We figured since we skipped church this would make up for it. Overall the day was great. There are plenty of rides to keep you busy and entertained and a ton of shows that could fill in the rest of the time. I highly recommend it. Like Dom's friend said "It's not Disney and they don't try to be Disney."

Birthday Wishes

Well this past weekend was my BIRTHDAY WEEKEND. Dom and I give each other an entire weekend and sometimes an entire week to celebrate our birthdays. So for my weekend we took the trek over to Alcoa to stay with Missy and spend a day at America's Theme Park, Dollywood.

Party in My Crib--2am

So Francesca had a party in her crib last Thursday night. It was Dom's first night back from the night shift. It all started out like any other night here in the Mastroianni house. Francesca laid down between 9:30 and 10:00pm for bed and then Dom and I got to bed closer to midnight. Around 2ish she made some noise and I went in and tried to calm her down. She fussed a little but seemed to be tired enough to go back to sleep. I headed back to my bed. I would hear her whine every once in a while but she did so back to sleep.

Well an hour later I hear her up again. I thought to myself that she might be hungry since she was a little restless for the past hour. So I picked her up and fed her. I laid her back down and thought she would go back to sleep. I could tell she was tired and knew it shouldn't take long for her to fall back asleep. But she didn't. I send Dom in to see if she would go back to sleep. He sang to her and almost had her down, but then she somehow woke up again. It being around 3:30 at this point I tried to take her into our room, turn out the lights and feed her. This has worked before and b/c it is pitch black she normally will fall asleep. But she didn't. She ate and then she would sing and flip flop around between Dom and I. At one point she was 'shaking her groove thing' which is where she will shake her head back and forth and sing. Then I could hear her clapping her hands. She did this for over an hour in the dark. Dom had already gotten up and went into the living room to read, his sleeping schedule was so off anyways. Around 5am I took her into the living room and figured it couldn't hurt, what I was doing was not helping. Dom read to her for a little over an hour and around 6:30ish he was able to get her to fall asleep. I was so exhausted the next day, and we were suppose to drive to Missy's that night. I felt hungover. It's a terrible feeling when you didn't drink the night before to cause the hangover.