First Sleepover

Day 130 (5.10.10) - We "attempted" to let Joey and Jacob have their first sleepover. Both Nick and Alex were coincidentally out of town for work for a few days so I spent the night with Kelly to keep each other company. We had a great evening until we got to the sleeping part and Jacob wanted Joey out of his bed! Oh well, we had a great time anyway. Here are the boys watching a movie and eating popcorn.

Mothers Day and Birthday Celebration

Day 129 (5.9.10) - We celebrated Mother's Day and Ruby's First Birthday with a family dinner tonight. Ruby got to eat her first cupcake and boy did she like it. She picked it up put it to her mouth and didn't put it down till she was done. She was eating it for about 20 minutes and needed a bath by the time she was done.

Future Firefighter

Day 128 (5.8.10) - Joey had a rough day today. After a couple doctors visits, then a trip to the ER earlier this week he had to go to a podiatrist and have the toenail removed that he hurt last week. Thankfully Nick took him because I am so squeamish with this stuff I probably would have passed out. Poor Joey was so excited to go to the doctor because he thought the doctor was going to fix his booboo. Little did he know that the doctor was just going to remove his toenail withough even giving him anything for pain. Afterwards we went to celebrate his friend Mady's birthday at the New Jersey Childrens Museum and it was just what he needed to forget about the pain of his toe. The museum is perfect for kids who love imaginary play which is Joey. Here he is dressed as a firefighter.

Night Out

Day 127 (5.7.10) - Nick and I had our first night out sans kids since we've moved here (well, if you don't count trips to our self storage unit to move our stuff over). Nick's sister Amanda watched the kids and we went to meet some friends for some wine tasting which was a charity event to raise money for children with special needs. Not only was it a worthwhile cause but it was a fun night! We saw some wonderful and very close friends who we haven't seen in a very long time. It is good to be back east for so many reasons. This picture was taken at the hosts house during the after party.

Happy 1st Birthday Ruby

Day 126 (5.6.10) - Dear Ruby, Today you turned one year old. I’m not quite sure where this past year has gone because time has literally flown by before my eyes. On one hand it makes me sad that your babyhood is nearly over and you are quickly turning into a toddler and on the other hand it makes me so excited to see your wild, spunky, willful personality emerge. You are an amazing little girl and so much more than I ever could have expected. It is hard to believe that it was one year ago that I was waiting to meet you for the very first time. Not only did I think you were going to be a boy but all I could imagine was a clone of your big brother. When I first met you I couldn’t believe how much you looked like him and at first it seemed you were similar in nature but now that I have gotten to know you, it is apparent how completely different you are. At only one year old I know that you are going to do well in life. I know that probably sounds silly to determine that from such a small baby but I just know that you are going to do great things. I have never met another child who is so determined to do anything. Whether it is climbing up on the couch or getting to something you aren’t supposed to be playing with you never give up until your goal is reached. There is no distracting you with something else, you always have your eye on whatever the prize is.

I’ve always heard about the special bond between mothers and daughters and I have to say from the moment I held you in my arms I felt it. You were my baby girl and my heart was overflowing with love from the second I laid my eyes on you.....and somehow you transformed right before my eyes from this tiny helpless baby:

to this independent, energetic and sweet one year old girl.

You just started to walk and surprisingly you are cautious. That is surprising because you are so fearless with everything else you do but seem to prefer to crawl still. You are a thrill seeker. You are very lingual though and can already say a handful of words including mama, dada, apple juice (your current favorite word to say – even though you call all drinks apple juice), up, lolo (of course you melt your lolo’s heart when you say that), this and that. You follow directions well and you love the give big, slobbery open mouth kisses. We recently moved across the country to NJ and you adjusted without a flinch. It seems like you are happier than ever with so much family around. You love your mom and dad but you also just love and adore your big brother. You laugh so hard when he pretends to scare you and you are such a copy cat. You copy anything I tell you to do and copy everything Joey does without being prompted. You sleep great and you love to eat. I don’t think I’ve even found a food you dislike.

People (strangers and friends alike) laugh when they meet you, nod their head in disbelief and tell me I have my hands full with you. But everyone who meets you loves you. When you are happy you are happy, silly, giggly…..but when you are mad, oh boy, you get mad. You scream so loud its like you reach new decibels and it hurts my ears. You cry and let the world know you are angry. You are an emotional girl and the crazy thing is, I can see so much of myself in you.

Happy birthday to my sweet baby girl. It has been an amazing, wonderful year and I am so grateful to be able to spend each day with you. You fill my heart more than you will ever know.

Splashing Around

Day 125 (5.5.10) - It was a beautiful day today. The kids and I spend the day at VJ and Melissa's house. Since it was so hot and sunny out, Melissa took out the water table and the sprinklers for the kids to play outside. Joey and Ili had fun but Miss Ruby had a BLAST! She splashed and splashed around the water table, crawled head on into the sprinkler and just drank lots of gross water from the table. She was so happy - just look at her face!

Trouble x2

Day 124 (5. 4.10) - One of the things that I've been working on since we moved is child-proofing this house. There are so many knick-knacks and breakable things here that the kids keep touching. So, I'm in the process of packing up everything on these book cases in our living room because the kids are driving me crazy touching everything. So far I cleared off the first two shelves and this is what happened....

Hello? Hello?

Day 123 (5.3.10) - Ruby is such a sponge these days. She copies everything you do. She is a great copy cat. You give her a brush and she combs her hair. She picks up the phone and says "hello? hello?" She's always on the phone these days. I'm imagining this is what it will be like when she is a teenager.

Baby Naming

Day 122 (5.2.10) - Today we celebrated my newphew Andrew at his baby naming ceremony. I just love that we are close enough to our family that we can celebrate every occasion with them big and small. Here is Nick's brother Alex and his beautiful family. I didn't get very many pictures today because it is really hard to when I have my hands full with my own kids but I thought this was a sweet moment of big brother Jacob giving his little bro Andrew a kiss.

Off to the Doctor

Day 121 (5.1.10) - A couple days ago Joey got a boo boo. A big one. He got his toe caught in the heavy metal door leading to my parents garage. The small black and blue on his toenail has grown and grown and started to look not so good. So, thankfully, we have a pediatrician in the family. This has got to be one of our BIGGEST perks since moving back here. (This was actually my second visit here - last week Ruby needed a breathing treatment and her nebulizer in a box somewhere in the middle of the country so they gave me another one with meds.) So, on Saturday afternoon, my uncle (Lolo Ronnie as Joey calls him) met us at his office, took a look at his toe, gave us antibiotics (since we don't have our new insurance cards yet to fill a prescription) and a cooler with ice to put the antibiotics in and keep it cold since we weren't going straight home. All without showing an insurance card or paying a co-pay! I love my family!

Happy Anniversary

Day 120 (4.30.10) - Today Nick and I celebrated our five year wedding anniversary. Well, we didn't exactly celebrate, it was actually just a typical day in our crazy lives. One day (hopefully in the near future) we'll have to truly celebrate ALONE. Crazy to think about how our lives have morphed in the last five years. We've gone from a young couple dating (we've been together for 11 years now), to a married couple and now parents. Truth be told, we hardly spend any time alone these days which is something we definitely need to work on but with 2 young kids, we're just trying to enjoy the chaos. Not only do I love him more every day but the kids absoloutely adore him. They really love their dad and apparently he is really funny - you can tell by the look on Joey's face.

Mmmm, Dirt

Day 119 (4.29.10) - It is only the end of April and I already have a million and one pictures of Ruby getting into stuff that she shouldn't. Today I got the kids dressed and ready to go out. As we were about to leave the house, I thought I should grab a jacket for Ruby so I ran upstairs for all of about 60 seconds and came downstairs to find this. RUUUUUBBBBY!! I swear I scream her name all day long. She was happily eating dirt (from one of my mom's potted plants) and a complete mess - her dress and face covered with dirt. I think I should make some sort of album of Ruby and all her mischief. She is lucky she is so cute.

Moving In

Day 118 (4.28.10) - Our stuff finally arrived today. It arrived a bit earlier than we were expecting but it all worked out because my mom was here (she leaves for the Philippines tomorrow) to take the kids out while I directed the movers. It was HARD to move an entire house of stuff into an already full house. We have a couple storage units so we moved some of my mom's stuff into the storage unit and most of our stuff will go there too. Today after Joey came back from the park her saw our couches in the living room. He looked at me and said "mama, THIS JoJo's new house?" Up until today I think he thought we were just on vacation but with the arrival of our stuff I think he figured out that we are actually staying for good!

Future Baker

Day 117 (4.27.10) - First off, let me apologize for getting so behind again in my posting. Our life is still kind of a mess from the move and I lost the USB cord for my camera. Of course we probably have like 20 USB cords but they are all in a box somewhere and the only one I had Joey was playing with and lost it! So, I finally found it and I have lots of pictures to update. Here is Ruby making her daily mess. She loves to play with my mom's baking supplies. On another note - how cool is my mom's kitchen aid cabinet. It rises up to counter level without having to lift it out!