6 months old!

Joey turned 6 months old on Thursday (Aug 9th). I forgot to weigh and measure him, but I rememberd to take a picture. This is Joey's lips closed grin. I missed taking a picture of the week when he loved sticking his tongue out. Maybe he'll do it again, it was really cute. He has his 6 month check up on Monday, so I can fill you in on his measurements then.

Mmmm...chicken! I love having toddler toys around b/c it's fun making baby toys out of them.

My cute boys!

I can't believe I haven't posted this picture yet! The Sunday brunch after the wedding was very yummy and a nice way to end the weekend. One last time to hang out with friends...and they all got to see MJ and Joey for a bit. We tried to get them all to smile, and I think this one turned out nicely.

About 15 minutes after this picture, I was taking the boys back up to the room to pack up, Mario was talking with someone, and so was I. MJ was at the elevator (he usually has very good elevator etiquette) but that day he had his fingers on the door as it was opening. And the guy I was talking to and I turned to see a screaming MJ with his fingers stuck in the door! I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I know the guy and I pushed the door and pulled his hand until it came out. His fingers were a little swollen and bruised, and he of course was very very sad. Just then, another friend (Ryan) came down off of the elevator. He's a doctor now, so it was fun to be able to ask his professional oppinion about MJs fingers and if they were broken. He said they looked fine. We gave MJ some chocolate milk and iced his fingers, and within 10 minutes he was playing and bending them just fine. It was a bit scary though. Now, he comes to elevators and tells us not to put hands on the doors.

I'm not sure if I posted these other pictures either. I was so proud of myself for packing light this trip. The pack n play is so handy, but after checking into and out of so many hotels, I just didn't want to bring it. Most hotels have a chair and ottoman which work nicely as a crib. Although, since Joey rolls now, he actually rolled off of it in the middle of the night. His first fall on the floor, ouch. Now, we prefer to put the lounge chair up to the swivel desk chair wedged by a bed. This makes a very cozy crib that you can't fall out of easily. MJ even likes to sleep in it.

Hotel Pool!

Our whole trip was fun, but I think Monday served as the best vacation for me. Mario was right, if I had gone home, I would want to clean/work/etc. But since I was just in Cincinnati, I could relax. We shopped at Walmart in the morning, and not the 'hurry up let's go so I can get home and get more work done' shopping. That probably sounds silly, but I really enjoy Walmart. I found some cute matching outfits on sale for my boys next year. Mario is not a fan of matching outfits...but I am, especially when they are on sale!

Then we had lunch and back to the hotel. MJ was so tired he climbed in the bed and said he was ready for rest time. But they still needed to clean our room. So I took them on a short walk and we all slept after that.

In the afternoon, we went to their outdoor pool. (On Friday we tried their indoor pool). MJ is doing so well with his floaties. Joey was just hanging out happily in the stroller when I realized since MJ swims/floats I could actually hold Joey. And since we want Joey to be just as comfortable in the pool as MJ, I probably should get him in it more. So, he splashed around a bit, but I definitely didn't have enough hands to take a picture then.

More Wedding weekend

So here is more of the summary from our vacation:

Thursday - drive 9 1/2 hours from Ashburn, VA to Cincinatti, OH, where Mario is working. Spend the night there.

Friday - drive 4 hours from OH to Ann Arbor, MI. Went to rehearsal for Steph and Matt's wedding and then the rehearsal dinner. I had the boys with me by myself, and Mario drove his rental car after work...he got in about 8:30pm Friday night. The boys were great at the rehearsal. I told MJ this was a special day at church so he was able to bring toys. The dinner was a bit trickier as it was getting late and feeding 3 people is always tricky for me. But we managed. We stayed at a Fairfield Inn.
Saturday - We went to Steph and Matt's wedding and gladly used their babysitter for the ceremony. I did a reading and Mario videotaped the wedding, so we definitely couldn't have the kids with us. This is an excellent idea for all of you planning weddings out there... especially if you'll have a lot of out of town guests with kids. It's hard to find someone you trust to watch your kids when you are traveling, so even if you just find a few people you know, it is helpful to offer that to guests. After the ceremony we checked into the Holiday Inn (where the babysitter was watching other kids so we wouldn't have to move them far at night). Then we had a fabulous kid free time at the reception. The whole wedding was great... Steph and Matt look so happy. It was fun to see all our old ND friends (and some I didn't even think would be there).

We met Emily and Jeff's baby Joseph (who was 7 weeks old and sooooo cute!) Here are Jeff and Joseph.

I didn't have a picture of Emily and Joseph, but here are Emily and Steph (Emily was a bridesmaid). Can you believe she had a baby 7 weeks ago! She looks great!

Sunday morning, they had a brunch at the hotel. So we checked that out. We tried to get a few pictures of our boys with the bride. This is all we could come up with.

They are having a serious discussion.

Sunday we drove our seperate cars back to Cincinnati. Mario took MJ in the rental car (the Saturn Vue). Mario sometimes gives MJ car brochures, and one of the most recent ones was the Saturn Vue. So MJ was very happy to ride in that car. It was a little silly that we drove seperate cars to the same location, but it would have taken longer to drop off the rental car and then pick up a new one. We checked into the hotel (our 4th new hotel room in 4 nights). I'm glad Mario suggested that I stay in Ohio Monday. It was nice to relax and do nothing (and be in the same place 2 nights in a row).

Wedding Photos

I just got back from a road trip which I of course made more unusual than it needed to be. We basically had to be in Ann Arbor Friday-Sunday since I was reading in Steph and Matt's wedding. Instead of just driving the 10 hours there and 10 hours back, me and my boys drove to see Daddy in Cincinnati Thursday night. Then to Ann Arbor, MI for the weekend. Back to Cincinatti Sunday night... Mario suggested I relax and stay another day, so we stayed Monday night and just drove back today. We are all very happy to be home, now Daddy just needs to come home too! I'll probably take a few posts to recap the weekend, but here are a few photos from the wedding.

Don't be fooled, even though Mario and I are dressed exactly the same, this is a different wedding than the one a few weeks ago.

BP Babes!

Quarter Dogs! If you're an ND student or alum, you probably know what quarter dogs are. (Basically after midnight, the student center would sell hot dogs for a quarter). We are soooooo happy that Steph and Matt had these at their wedding. They were a bit more upscale than the quarter dogs we were used to, but I can't say I've been to any wedding that served them! They had it set up on a table at about 10:30 or so. I wasn't really hungry, but had to eat one just b/c they were there.

I was so happy my dress colors sort of went with the wedding. I have to include this picture b/c Kate and I look so cute!