Our Band

Happy Anniversary to Mario and I! Wow, 4 years... it's been pretty great. Sadly, Mario was on a project and was traveling from New Jersey to Cincinatti on Thursday so we weren't together. I had fun with my other boys though. I wanted to get a picture of Joey and one of his new favorite toys (the red piano). Mario grabbed the xylophone and started to play too. Wasn't it nice of them to play for Mommy and Daddy on their anniversary?

This basket was at least a foot away from Joey, but somehow he lunged at got it. He tipped it over and hit the "jackpot" of toys. I remember when MJ was at this stage. Their eyes light up like, "Wow, look at all those toys in there!" As you can maybe see from the ladder in Joey's hand, I'll need to do a better job of watching which toys are in his reach. I doubt he'd poke his eye out with that, but I should still be careful.

In other fun news, I've been trying to remember to add prayers to our bedtime routine with MJ. He really likes it when we start saying "God Bless, Daddy... etc" I know he misses Daddy so much when he's away. I didn't actually think he'd pick up on the prayers so quickly, but after about a week of doing this, I walked away to fill his cup of water and when I returned I heard MJ trying to say the Our Father by himself. I know he's heard it many times before this, but it was fun to hear him try it on his own.

We're heading to a wedding in Charlottesville tomorrow. And now I hear Mario is getting off the phone with his brother, so it's time to watch our movie!

2 1/2 years

At 6:08pm Monday, July 16th, my neice Natalie was born. I'm so excited for Christian and Michelle. I totally began to reminsce my first moments holding MJ when he was a baby, when I realized that it was exactly 2 1/2 years ago that MJ was born. Really, almost to the minute too, b/c MJ was born at 5:54pm on January 16, 2005. I'll never forget Natalie's birthday! So, late Monday night I wanted to get a picture of MJ to remember the moment. This is the best I could do. Happy Birthday Natalie!

Our First Movie

This is just a picture of Joey sitting up from earlier in the week. I'm not sure if you can tell, but he's holding a car. He loves watching MJ play with them; and it seems he already likes them too.

This morning we made our first attempt to see a movie in the movie theatre. One of the new theatres in our area is showing movies at 10am for kids (and their parents) FREE! Small soda and kid-size popcorn are $1 each. Today they were showing Over the Hedge. MJ sat on this little booster seat and Joey's carseat fit in a chair well and I positioned myself between them. Joey should have slept, but I think he was awake for the whole movie. MJ was a little scared in the beginning, so I had to hold him then. But then he got back in his chair. I think they had a good time...well, at least they were cooperative. I had a good (free) time.

Joey looks really big from the angle of this picture. I stayed during the credits so I could take these pictures. The few people left in the theatre with me probably thought I was crazy.

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.