Phantom of the Opera

By a strange turn of events, I had the opportunity to take my oldest neices (Teresa, Mary, and Elizabeth) to see the Phantom of the Opera on Saturday. I've wanted to see this for a long time. It was about a decade ago (man I'm old) and I was a little older than these girls, when I first remember listening to the Phantom of the Opera. It was on tapes back then, and I think I was able to listen to it because my older sister went to see it and bought the tapes. I remember creating images of it in my head based on the few pictures that came with the tapes and of course, by the music. Somehow I got a hold of the script and would even follow that along. And by reading that and the stage cues, I got a pretty good idea of what it looked like. Still, it was very fun to see it actually preformed.

I hope my neices had a fun time today, because I really did. Many people commented on my cute trio. I hear the boys had a great time with daddy. Mario has a knack for keeping MJ in line.

mmmm...food

Sometimes last week, I think it was Tuesday, Joey tried Oatmeal. He likes that as well. I'm thinking of trying to make my own baby food fruit and veggies. But I know the jars are easy and they work, so I can always fall back on them.

Friday night we had yummy lemon chicken for dinner. Mario LOVES lemon, and we feel this recipe does an excellent job of really saturating the chicken with lemon. MJ likes lemon too. He already loves broccoli plain, but learned he also likes it the way daddy likes it (soaked in lemon juice).

This lemon dinner reminded us of the first time MJ had lemon. It was June 9, 2005, so he was almost 5 months old. His daddy thought it would be fun for him to try this. Actually, we have a cute video of it. MJ makes a very sour face after tasting it, but then lunges at it for more. This was also the night Mario and I had a "discussion" about citrus allergies and infants. It is not good to give an infant citrus food. Clearly, MJ survived, but it probably wasn't the best idea.

5 months

Last Monday, July 9th, Joey turned 5 months old. By my home measurements, I think he was 23.5 lbs and 28 3/4" long. He rolls and flips and at that point was able to sit up for a little in his tripod position. I think it was sometime this week (maybe Thursday July 12th) that he became an independent sitter. I'll have to get some pictures of that.

Here he is in his bouncy chair demonstrating what happens if he is not strapped in.

And here he is just before bedtime, when I realized that I hadn't taken many pictures of him on his 5 month birthday.

Swimming Pictures

Wow, I have a lot of catching up to do. These pictures were from last weekend. Obviously when we went to the pool. You can see MJs new jumping into the deep end trick.

4th of July Pics

These are also older pictures from the 4th of July. We hung out with the Kaza's in the morning and I was able to go downtown to watch the fireworks as planned. Oh, but I think I posted all of this before. Well, here are the pictures to go with it.

Joey liked Catherine's exesaucer. And here is Catherine in her Jumperoo.

MJ and Joey

These are not great comparisons but the first two are MJ on the July 4, 2005. He was 5 1/2 months old. And here is Joey at almost 5 months old. I'll have to do some more comparisons.

Happy 4th of July - 4 days late

I don't have any pictures from the 4th of July this year. We hung out with the Kazas in the morning and I left my camera there. That evening, Mario took the kids so I could go see the fireworks in downtown DC. I've been wanting to do this for over a year. MJ took a late nap (until 5:30) so it was actually the perfect scenario for firework watching with the kids, but Mario was not up for the crowds, and I already had a fun evening planned with Kelly (friend from college). It was nice to be kid free again for a bit. It's amazing how less planning is involved when you're on your own. We took the metro in a little before the fireworks and had dinner at Potbelly's (yummy). Then we staked out a nice firework location just outside of the checkpoint by the Washington Monument (we figured we'd avoid the crowds a bit). We happened to be on the side that was a bit too close to the fireworks, so once they started we ran across the street and plopped our chairs down once again. Afterwards, we went to the Bottom Line to grab a drink while waiting out the metro crowd and "celebrating" Kelly's birthday. Happy Birthday Kelly!

Mario said he and the boys had a fun night. MJ saw some fireworks from our window and said "It's okay" which is his way of convincing himself that he doesn't have to worry about something which scares him. Overall, I think a fun night was had by all.

Pool Fun

I think I forgot to mention how two Wednesdays ago (back in June) MJ seemed to start potty training himself again. All of the suddent he decided to try to use the toilet. The last time we attempted this was before Joey was born, when the whole plan was foiled. He got Cars underwear and was very excited...but our weekend was a bit too crazy with the babysitter and all. So, it seems we missed that window. We're taking it casually now, but he's doing well.

He's other new big boy task is swimming. Since Mario took a few days off of work last week, he was able to come to the pool with us and I had a free hand to take pictures. MJ is doing so well! I have to credit Mario. It seems MJ is even more adventurous with his Daddy. Yesterday he started to willingly jump under water. And now we can't keep him from jumping in the water, climbing out and repeat. Plus, he really likes the deep end. He does this with arm wing floaties and the force of the jumping plunges him under the water while the floaties quickly pull him back up. He LOVES it! But it worries Mario and I. We want MJ to know he can't jump in alone, but we dont' want him to become afraid of the water.

And since Mario was with me at the pool, we could finally take Joey in as well. He's definitely interested in it. He seems a bit more mellow about his play than MJ. Next year he'll be bounding in the water just like MJ, and then we'll really have some fun. :-)

Mmmm...rice cereal

I was looking back of pictures of MJ when he was a baby and I realized 1) MJ sat up on his own early and 2) he was eating solid foods just before 5 months old... hmmm...maybe 6, I should look into that again. Anyway, we thought we should do the same for Joey, so last Monday we gave rice cereal a shot. The kid loved it! He couldn't get enough. Since then he seems to want more and more. As you can see, he tried to lick the bowl clean.

Mario asked how I felt now that my baby was eating food. I am excited for him b/c he looks so big, but sad that he is growing so quickly.

All done... That was good.