15 months!

I can hardly believe that another month has flown by! It has been such a joy watching every moment. Greg seems to impress me with something new each day! We are so in love with him and LOVED sharing this Advent and Christmas season with him! Here are some highlights of what we are doing at 15 months!

*Greg wears 18 months clothes (he has a really long torso and the shirts fit perfectly...he has no bottom to hold up the pants, but he needs the 18 months for the length!)

*He wears a size 6 shoe and is still in size 4 diapers.

*He 10 teeth and appears to be getting more!

*He has become a very picky eater and does not eat nearly as well as he used to. This is so frustrating...for both of us! Some days he eats like a grown man, and others he eats hardly anything!

*He also started waking up in the middle of the night again! :-( I think this is mainly due to his nose being stuffy from the heat...this occurred last winter, too! In the last week, he has gotten much better! PRAISE GOD!

*Greg LOVES to be outside....even if it is 20 degrees and the wind is blowing...he just loves it!

*Greg still naps twice a day for a total of about 3 hours.

*Greg is SUPER active! When he is awake he is nonstop....a joyful ball of energy! He really keeps us on our toes.

(Ball Pit fun with Miss Zoe!)

*Greg listens to redirection and "no" very well. He is very well behaved. When we are at Mass, the girls in the nursery just love him and always compliment us on his behavior and attitude!

*He is so curious about everything and is very observant if something is new or changes in our house. (should be interesting when the little Maria is around!)

*His favorite time of day is still bath time. When we ask if he is ready for a bath...he immediately drops what he is doing and heads for the tub.

*He is still very attached to his blankie.

*He loves soft stuffed animals and will pick them up and pat them and love them. It is so cute!

(This was Greg letting us know that he was done taking Christmas pictures by the tree)

*Greg's receptive language simply amazes me at times! We are still working on the talking. He knows all the sounds, and "talks" nonstop all day! His vocabulary has not changed a whole lot this month...still the basic words (mom, dada, ball, b sound for boopie, blankie, belly)

*Greg hums to himself a lot when he plays and when he lays down to sleep! He gets this from my mom!

*Greg loves to play guitar with his dad

*He LOVES the vacuum. If anyone is vacuuming he wants you to hold him or let him push the vacuum to help! He also likes to Swiffer the floors!

(Vacuuming with Papa)

*He will take tissues and "blow" his nose.

*When asked he will point to his nose, belly, toes, and hair.

*He likes to brush his own hair and teeth.

*Greg is a climber! He will climb up on anything to get to what he wants! Uh-oh...

(HMMM...climbing on this is fun!)

*Greg still does not watch TV...just a little bit of Little Einsteins and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in the morning. He would much rather be moving around...which is fine with us! :-)

*He loves to read! He often looks at books by himself and will bring Greg and I books to read to him! I hope this passion lasts forever! :-) His favorite books are the Usborne touch and feel books...I'm pretty sure we own all of them! However, he thinks every books has some sort of touch and feel things on it, so when we read one that does not, he is constantly feeling the pages for some sort of texture!

*He travels well in the car...as long as he has his blankie and boopie with him!

(Grammy and Boo)

(Papa and Pumpkin! TWINS???)

Greg is such a sweetie! He loves to give us hugs and kisses as he passes by us on the move. It is so sweet for him to pause for seconds to love on us! He is one curious little man and we have loved watching him explore and grow this month! We cannot wait to see how he does with the role of big brother. I am sure he will continue to amaze us in all that he does next month! Although he often tests his boundaries, our consistency in parenting, as exhausting as it may be at times, has truly paid off. We are just so in love with our active little man! :-)

This month will be my last monthly update on Greg. I will blog about his updates regularly though...that is my plan. Looking forward to starting Maria's monthly updates soon, though!

Santa Baby!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Greg did an amazing job sitting on Santa's lap yesterday! He did not cry or fuss at all! We were the 3rd people in line at Bass Pro yesterday morning, and as we waited Greg just took all the sensory stuff in...tons of lights and LOTS of things to look at! When it came time for me to put him on Santa's lap, he was an ANGEL! He sat there, and as I walked away, he did not make a peep...he just kind of stared at Santa. The elves rang some bells to get him to look at the camera...hence, the confused look on his face! He had NO idea what was going on, but it was tons of fun. Greg took a video of the whole thing, and I grabbed a few shots with my camera. As Greg and I walked back to grab the little man, him and Santa had an intense moment of staring at each other...I just wish I could have caught that on film! Santa gave Greg some candy, and off we went! Santa=success!! :-)

One of many...

...trips to the Emergency Room, I'm sure!

So, one week ago today, (I know...I'm way late at posting) my sweet baby boy had his first visit to the ER! To be honest, he has been walking for 5 months and I am surprised we have made it this long with as active as he is, and the fact that this kiddo has NO fear! So here's how it went down...

That morning, the little man fell and bit his tongue. Greg and I ran him over to the sink and the bleeding stopped relatively quickly with the use of some wet paper towels we were stuffing in his mouth. We looked in his mouth and could see the cut. The cut was just a red line, very flat, and just on the top of his tongue...nothing down the side or through the bottom. So off he went to nap! He woke up and had lunch...no problems...wasn't fussy! We played and went through our day. As I prepared him for round 2 of napping, I looked in his mouth...no changes. The cut was still flat and did not appear deep. He woke up from his nap, played, and then came dinner!

Greg does this awesome new trick when he is done eating. He sticks out his tongue and spits out whatever is in his mouth. As dinner came to close, he stuck out his tongue to spit out his food...and that's when we saw it. His red lined, flat cut had turned into this massive gash and part of his tongue was sticking up and just kind of flapping out. GROSS! So....off we headed to the ER thinking, "wow, that's deep...we may need stitches!"

We arrived to hospital at 6:30ish...chilled in the waiting room until about 8ish, and then headed back to our room! He did GREAT in the waiting room...he just let Greg or I carry him around and we just walked with him. He even got some stickers from one of the nurses and these kept him amused for at least 30 minutes! We headed back to the room, and our nurse checked him out, and told us it may be a little bit until we saw the doctor. And by a little bit...she must of meant an hour and 45 minutes!! At this point...it's around 8:30 and BEDTIME! He let me rock him...but was so fussy, then he would let Greg rock him, get fussy, and we kept switching over and over for what seemed like FOREVER!! The doctor finally came in close to 10 and our fussy boy turned on his charm for her. He acted like a perfect angel, and was such a FLIRT! The doctor checked his tongue out, and came to the conclusion that stitches were not needed since the cut was not down the side or all the way through the bottom. She told us that we needed to just give him Motrin to help with the pain, and cold things like popsicles or ice cream to help with the swelling. (He even got a popsicle that night at the ER that the nurse brought him...she might as well have been his new best friend!) She informed us that the we just needed to keep an eye on it for infection, but it should begin to lay flat and heal itself within a week.

I am so glad he did not have to get stitches, but was irked to have spent 4 hours in the ER for what seemed like common sense. Oh well...better safe then sorry! So off we went back home for a bath (had to get all the hospital germs off) and bedtime! It has been a week, and his mouth looks great. The redness is gone, and it only swells the tiniest bit toward the end of the day. It lays flatter and grows together more and more each day! Greg was such a champ, and took his injury like a real big boy! :-)

FIRE TIME!

It has been quite chilly here in GA over the past several days...this morning I woke up to 19 degree weather with a wind chill of 4 degrees...not so common for GA weather in December! Greg and I have made a few fires in the evening this winter...but all have been after the little man is in bed! This morning, we decided we needed a fire...mainly because our heat was not working right....awesome! Here are some pictures of the little man and his first fire!!

Hmmm??? That's new!

Can I touch it?

HOLY COW!!! It's awesome!!

Helping Daddy tend the fire!

Loving on Daddy while we work!

Man time by the fire!

SOOO warm!!

He did great with staying away from the fireplace. He did try to throw in a few books and his blanket, but they were caught in time! :-)

and we shall call it....

THE BUS!!!!!!!

We got the double stroller...it is HUGE! I am super thankful for my Grandma and Papa for purchasing this for us! Although the stroller is quite large when unfolded, it folds up nicely for putting in and out of the car! I am excited to put this sucker to use in just a few weeks! :-)

I am almost 36 weeks pregnant, and eager to have baby Maria make her appearance. We are busy finishing all the small touches on everything. We have the bed, dresser, and all the necessities. Greg is finishing the nursery! It looks AMAZING!! I cannot wait for him to be done with it, so I can post the pictures! It looks soooo good!

In other news...little man is just as busy as can be! I will post pictures of him later this week! Hubby Greg is super busy with work, and we just take advantage of as much family time as we can during this busy time of the year for him! More to come soon!

14 months!

Yet again...another month has FLOWN by so quickly! I can hardly believe Greg is 14 months, and I can hardly believe he will be a big brother in about one more month!! He is just growing so fast and learning and developing new skills each and every day! It is such a joy as we watch him explore and discover his world around him!! Here are some things my sweet baby is up to!

(Greg likes to crawl onto our coffee table and end tables now!)

*Greg is in size 12-18 month clothes.

*He is in size 4 diapers.

*He wears a size 5 shoe (big foot!)

*He has 10 teeth, including his back bottom 2 molars. His top ones are coming in now!

*He eats three good meals per day, and 2 snacks!

*He LOVES chicken nuggets, pizza, all fruit, cooked carrots, anything with cheese, cinnamon toast waffles, toaster strudels, sausage, and eggs...just to name a few favorites!

(hanging out in my toy box!)

*Greg LOVES to be outside! He would rather play outside, just walking around and exploring. He could care less that it has been 30 degrees out at times!

*Greg gives kisses to mommy and daddy...and Grammy...Papa sneaks one every now and then too!

*He loves to smell socks and shoes and make a stinky face!

*He likes to blow out candles. If he sees one up high he goes below it and starts blowing.

*Greg thinks that Christmas tree lights are fire too. He tries to blow out the tree ALL THE TIME!!

(bath time!)

*Greg LOVES the bath!! He would play in there all night if I let him!

*Greg loves whole milk and drinks two glasses a day! He drinks water the rest of the time! Every now and then, he gets some Gerber juice!

*Greg certainly has a sweet tooth, and will gladly take any dessert! He had his first taste of a churro last night at Frontera!

*Greg runs every where!!

*Greg went into the nursery at SJN while Greg and I were at Mass for the first time 2 weeks ago! He did GREAT! We go and get him before Communion so that he can get his blessing, too! *He likes to read on his own, and still loves reading with Mommy!

*He does not watch TV - maybe about 8 minutes in the morning when he first wakes up and is still in the snuggling mood!

(Tupperware fun!)

*Greg needs to learn to be less aggressive with other children! He is very rough when he plays with others! He pats them hard on the head with his hand or toys!

*He still loves to have his blankie with him....every where we go!

*He is very lovey with his stuffed animals and likes to hold them! His favorites are his moose, dog, beaver, and bear! (very manly animals)

*Greg uses his boopie for nap time and bed time. When he is teething, he wants it more often during the day!

*He is testing the limits with behavior. He responds to "no" and is very aware of the things he will get in trouble for doing or touching...but often times will do it, look at you, and just wait for you to respond...little stinker! :-)

(helping Daddy around the house!)

*Greg has GREAT receptive language skills! He is certainly good at letting me know his wants and needs...just not with words yet! He says mama and dada and yes...but he says yea instead. He makes the b sound for belly, baby, and blankie. We're working on it...

*Greg likes to dance to music!

*He is not a fan of getting his diaper changed...or any other activity that requires him to be still!

(little cutie!)

*Greg is non stop and is so curious about everything and how everything works!

*He likes to play with his trucks and his Little People animals! He also loves his ball pit! He likes to push his lawnmower and his ATV around the house!

*His hair is finally coming in and more evenly all the way around! :-)

*He likes to throw things...all sorts of things!

(YUMMM!!)

We have loved watching our sweet boy grow up! He is such a joy to be around! He is a GREAT baby! He eats well, sleeps through the night, and really only cries when he has a reason to be upset! He is learning new things and discovering things all the time! I cannot wait to see what next month has in store for us! :-)

Update!

The past week has been quite busy for us!

We are busy preparing things for Maria's arrival and I am having a blast picking out all of the girly stuff this time around. Greg is busy with getting room painted. I cannot wait to post the pictures when the room is done!! I am currently 33 weeks pregnant, and eagerly waiting the arrival of our sweet baby girl! All has been well this go around...Mommy and baby are healthy and moving along just as we should be. After my doctor's appointment last Wednesday, Greg and I decided to not make the trip up to Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving. It was advised by the doctor that we not travel. I have been having some contractions at night, and with this, the doctor was more hesitant with me traveling in the car for so many hours, and being so far away from home, if labor were to happen! We are spending Thanksgiving Day with the Klaus family! We are very excited for this, as preparing my first bird while being 8 months pregnant was not sounding too exciting for me!

The little man is also doing great! He is growing so fast, and has been so great these past few weeks!! He's always great, but has been SUPER awesome as I have gotten bigger and am without the energy I had weeks ago! :-) Here are some pictures from his photo shoot with my Dad for his 1 year pictures! We opted to have my Dad take the pictures as money is better spent elsewhere for Greg and I right now! They turned out great...well once we got Greg to sit still! :-)

Not so sure about sitting during this whole process...

Maybe a close up??

How about we tear down this sheet?

Perhaps I can come to you for this...

Let's move this to the couch! As you can tell...he's not to thrilled with this!

He was not feeling the couch either!

At last!

And another one...

Back to the floor for some silly faces!

And then he started to cry, and wanted his blanket...and we were done!! :-)

Hubby Greg has been super busy with work, as it is the busy season at UPS. I have been busy with Grad school, and cannot wait until this class is over! 2 more weeks!!

More to come soon! May you all have a wonderfully blessed Thanksgiving!! :-)

There's a first time for everything...

...even our first black eye!

When the little guy started walking 3 months ago, I got used to the idea that his little cute head would be covered with bumps and cuts! I don't think I was prepared for the whole black eye thing...at least not until middle school! He was not involved in some massive fist fight defending my honor...no, not this time. Here's how it happened:

Hubby Greg and I had just begun to clean out Maria's room. Over the past three years, this room had become not only a guest room, but our storage space since we were without a basement. My dad had come over and helped Greg move my antique furniture out and to the storage unit. My mom and I had just gotten home from the bookstore, and we were off to give the little man a bath. As the water was running, I let Greg explore Maria's room...there wasn't anything in there that was harmful...really just a bunch of crap we had to go through!

On his exploration, he found a crucifix I had received after high school. This crucifix was a standing one and made of a nicer plastic. Greg picked Jesus up and held him with both hands straight in front of him and began processing our Lord around the upstairs! He was ADORABLE!! Future priest, perhaps??? He would not let Jesus go, and into the bathroom he went with Jesus all ready for bath time. I was in no mood for a fussy baby, so I let him hold on to Jesus as I undressed him. He had Jesus tightly in his hands, and tripped...Jesus hit the tub, Greg hit Jesus...right on his eye!!!! That's right...the only part of Jesus that was remotely sharp was His hand, nailed to the cross...and that hand, that saved all of man kind punched my baby in the face! (Okay, that was a dramatic statement!) Naturally, I ripped Jesus out of Greg's hand, as he SCREAMED!! He screamed and screamed and screamed. At this point, I had not realized the damage that was done, and put Greg in the tub with his toys to try and distract him from his pain.

After being in the tub for a few moments, I noticed something! "OH MY GOSH...HIS EYE is BLEEEEDDDING!!!!!!!!!" I was freaking out!!! Thank goodness my mom was there. In the midst of this discovery, I was ready to take him out of the tub, wrap in a towel, and head to the ER!! I was sick to my stomach and felt like the worse mother in the world. My poor baby was bleeding...from his EYE!!!!!!! Upon further inspection (from my mom because I was a mess) we discovered his eye lid was cut (on top, and a smaller cut below his eye). My mom explained that the ER would offer little help to me...she was right...no need to visit the ER. PS - At this time, Greg was super happy and enjoying bath time!

I bathed him and got him ready for bed...still feeling very guilty about his pathetic looking face that was still oozing blood!! I rocked him to sleep, cleaned up the dried blood...and then took this picture!

The purple thing on the eye lid is the cut from that hand of Jesus. You can also see the smaller cut below his eye!

Now as expected, the next day it began to bruise. I picked him up from his crib that morning and first noticed a small amount of dried blood on his sheet! My poor baby was bleeding in his sleep! :-(

These pictures were taken at breakfast...so pathetic!

These morning pictures really do not do justice to what it looked like. Since the top of the eyelid was what was really bad, most of the damage was hidden when his eyes were open!!

And that's that...our first black eye. Nothing heroic...just some innocent processing with Jesus gone bad!!

God Bless You!!

Greg LOVES it when he sneezes, and we say, "God Bless You!" He thinks this is the funniest things in the world. We have no idea why! He also loves it when other people around him sneeze. It just cracks him! He's weird...I know! :-) After hearing others sneeze, or when he sneezes, he tries to recreate the moment! He has mastered the fake sneeze! It is SO funny, and so dramatic...where does he get that from??? :-) Here is a picture of him recreating that perfect

moment!

This dramatic tilt back is followed by and even more dramatic tilt forward with lots of spit noises! :-)

Halloween 2010

We had a blast one Halloween as we took our little Superman out and about! He was just adorable and had so much fun...and slept so good that night! :-)

Both of our parents came over to watch Greg go out and about for his first time trick-or-treating! Last year, he was all of one month old so we didn't take him out! He LOVES walking outside, and loved walking around our street, although he had no idea what was going on! At one house, they put the candy bowl in front of him, and he picked out one piece and through it in his bucket! It was so cute, and we were so proud!! He will be a pro next year!

All ready to go!!

SUPERMAN!!!

Dressed up with Daddy!

Ready to head out!

Reading with Mommy before we head out!

Family shot by our pumpkins!

Hubby did a GREAT job!

Off we go!

First stop...Michael and Nicole's!

Now to Brian and Pam's!

Sharing my candy with the neighbors!

Greg and his buddy Dominic!

As close as we could get to getting a shot of both of the cuties looking at the camera!

Until next Halloween....