NYE

Let us take a brief look back into our past life:
Amedeo:
Used to wake every 1-2 hours.
Took medicine for reflux.
Had a hospital stay.
Did the sea serpent crawl.
Refused solid food.
Would not drink from a bottle.

Our current life:
Sleeps well, but wakes at 5:30 am. (take what you can get, mom and dad.)
No meds for reflux.
No more hospital stays and no more reflux.
Can crawl on all fours.
Eats like a champ.
Sucks a sippy cup like a pro.

We have had a great year. I can't imagine how we're going to top this one, but I know it's possible. Looking to the future with my two sweeties....Salute in 2009!!!

Yay for family togetherness!!!

I feel like I get a little preview of what Amedeo will be doing soon whenever I see Finn. And a preview of what I'll be doing when I see Morgan and Debbie. Mom had lots of little projects to keep Finn occupied. To quote Frazz by Jef Mallett, "[Children]...who have the attention span of fruit flies...And the impulse control of squirrels."

Finn made (with the help of grandma and his parents) playdoh, marshmallow snowmen, little graham cracker sculptures with icing and M&Ms, among other things. I can see how much fun it will be when we can do little craft projects together. And it will make our mommies meetings more challenging and messy (well, and fun too.)

We took him to the gymboree playtime and he had a blast. Debbie said it was great at holding his not-very-long attention span. I forgot to bring my camera.

Another view of the M&Ms in Finn's mouth. He was so wound up after this!


Finn spent lots of time running in circles around the house. He really really wants Amedeo to chase him. He will....eventually.


I asked Debbie, "Should I give Amedeo a cinnimon roll?" She emphatically said, "YES!" Amedeo was really pleased.


We all went to Mass on Christmas Eve. Here's the chili eating party afterwards.



Pietro believes in corrupting the young.


Here's Christmas morning at our house. Amedeo is heading for the loot.


It's important to taste all of your presents.


Amedeo caught on to the idea of bowling pretty fast.



At Grandma and Grandpa's house, we opened presents too! It's easy to see why Finn is so expressive...since mom is too!!!


Amedeo now is a veteran at removing bows from presents.



Here's a special present from Grandma...she spent a long time making these giant frog-chairs.


Amedeo likes to sit on it facing the frog's head.


And the only present that Amedeo still doesn't show a lot of enthusiasm for...the ball pit!


Here's one of Santa's Reindeer off duty in my parents' backyard.



I know I posted this pic before, but the cuddling moments are so rare and so cute...



One of the last things we did together was take a walk and play on the swings.



Uncle Morgan did an excellent job demonstrating his swinging abilities.


Amedeo and Finn had a race.


We miss you Morgan, Debbie and Finn! Amedeo misses the chaos.

Next...Amedeo is crawling like a real baby!

Happy Christmas (a little late)!!!

We had a great Christmas. It was nice to catch up with Morgan, Debbie, and Finn again. Finn continues to be a terror, but an extremely cute one, so it's ok. Their visit lasted about a week...though it seemed much shorter. Grandma and Grandpa were ecstatic to have both babies in the same place.

This is what Amedeo thought of one of his toys:



Everything seemed to be a big hit. The one thing he didn't like, was the ball pit in the pack n' play. Maybe he just doesn't like the PNP.

Next...recap of the visit from Finn and Co....

I'm NOT addicted to facebook, okay!?!?

Hee...We've just been really busy around here.
Trying out a new hairstyle:



When dad was away, Amedeo had spaghetti for the first time:


Amedeo now displays a large quantity of teeth. He just might chew through the gate:


There was an awesome cookie trading party. Mom had a pre-Christmas relative bash, since there's too many of us to do it on Christmas. 20 people and LOTS of children. Morgan and Debbie and Finn are here and we're having a good time.

So far, we haven't had any bloodshed between cousins.


Hugs were given:

Incredibly huge amounts of sugar were dolled out by grandma:

And, it's way past my bedtime...more later....

My Husband Left Me!!!

But that's ok. He's coming back on Thursday. We took some pictures so I'd remember what we look like when we're together. I think I need to either get a haircut, or let my hair grow, 'cause I'm hating it right now.

Weekend Projects

This has been a fairly productive weekend. I finished a jacket for me! Yay...long enough sleeves! It's made out of fleece, so when it becomes covered in baby barf, I can toss it in the wash.


Pietro took us one step further into the land of childproofing with this gate at the top of the stairs. He had a good time using his power tools that have been collecting dust lately.


And the requisite picture of Amedeo from the snow last weekend. He wants to stand all the time. ALL THE TIME. Hee hee. He's very good at opening the kitchen cabinets, so that is the next baby proofing thing.

Ten Months Old and STILL Driving His Mother Crazy!

We didn't do anything special today. Though, I would like to make a comment that Amedeo seems to take special pleasure in refusing nice homemade food in many forms. BUT! He will eat dry cat food off the kitchen floor. I saw him chewing on something, so I stuck my finger in there to fish out a kibble. Tell me, should I put his food in a bowl on the cat placemat?? Will he eat it then? Or does he just love dry cat food? And, evidently, plastic hangers are great to chew.

Geez, has it really been two weeks since my last post?

I must admit that I'm starting to stress about Christmas. Decorating, cards, presents, toys, eggnog....wait, eggnog! Yay!

We had a very nice T-day at my cousin's house. Amedeo was entertained by his second cousins. He sea-serpented after them all through dinner. Here he is playing with daddy.


He has recently become much more mobile. Here he is harassing the cats, namely, Zenzero.


Poor Zenzero!!! I think all three cats are a little stressed since we've put up some gates. Here is our first session of learning how to jump over the gates.


Violet gets the prize for being the most graceful.


And, lastly, we have a mystery on our hands. It seems that Maestro and Zenzero (both neutered males) are feuding. They have lived together for almost three years with no problems. Now, Zenzero hisses and spits and Maestro. It started very suddenly yesterday morning. Maestro chased Zenzero up this tree yesterday afternoon. See if you can find him!!!



Today is Pietro's birthday!!!


Hugs and kisses!!!
Brenna and Amedeo

While dad's away...

We've been trying to keep busy while Pietro is in Arizona. Thursday night, we had leftover pizza with grandpa. Amedeo was good that night...he slept really well..only getting up at 11 and 2! Angelic baby:



Friday, we went to the library in the morning. In the afternoon, we went to grandma's house for dinner. She let us play with the pot lids.



The next picture describes how Amedeo was in the car ride home: a basketcase.


Friday night, we had lots of crying from 2:30-3:30am. Not so angelic baby:


Saturday morning both Amedeo and mommy were grouchy. We went swimming to try to counteract that. Now Amedeo is taking a super long nap...I might consider taking him swimming every day!

9 month appointment

Amedeo turned 9 months on Monday. Happy 9 month birthday!!! We had his appointment today and learned that he is 30.25 inches tall and 20 lb. 2 oz. 50th percentile for weight and 95th percentile for height. Not a surprise given his parents' body types. Things all look good healthwise. The doctor verified that he is, in fact, cute. His peculiar eating habits are normal...more annoying to mom than anything else...he's growing, so he's getting enough food.

Pietro is en route to Arizona today. He's going to a meeting there and will be back early early Sunday morning.

We're going to miss you, daddy!

Panini and Sea Serpents

I bought a panini maker (or sandwich press), so I tested it out on my parents Friday night. They gave it a seal of approval. And, we had more panini on Saturday night. These are goat cheese, mozzarella, chicken, red pepper, zucchini and basil sandwiches.

Closed

Open

Amedeo saw some of his second cousins...they were in Columbia for a birthday party and stopped by. I wasn't so good about taking pictures...alas.

We do have a video of him doing the sea serpent...and one of his favorite activities: knocking things down!!

Updates

I've been pretty bad about posting. We've got a number of things to cover here...our little fellow now has four teeth on the top and two on the bottom. Holy mother of mercy! His sleep has been dreadful, and I'm starting to understand why...he popped out 3 teeth in two weeks. Let's hope he'll give mom and dad a break tonight.

Amedeo had his first haircut. Looking at the pictures makes me realize how perilous it is to trim an 8.5 month-old's hair. He is lucky to have both of his ears intact.

Emily came to our house last week to sew a non-sock monkey for Jack. We decided to put them in the same outfit...


The day before Halloween, Emily, very kindly hosted a party. It was terrific fun to see all the babies dressed up. We learned an important lesson: as they get older, they start expressing their opinions with more volume. I'd say that was the loudest gathering yet!

On Halloween, we went to storytime at the library. It was amusing to see the little kids' costumes.
This weekend, we had date night on Saturday. We went to the cheesecake factory for dinner. Our waitress looked a lot like Jennifer Coolidge. No kidding. It amused me the whole dinner. Pietro ate a raw piece of fish...he said it was rare...I like fish, but I go to restaurants so they can COOK for me. I can stay at home and eat raw meat straight from the refrigerator. I had a pasta dish with shrimp, garlic and enough butter to choke a horse. By the end of the meal, both of us were ready to fall asleep in the booth. Thank you very much gramma and grampa!!!