To my boy (16mo)

Dear MJ

Wow, time flies when you have a lil one growing like a weed. You are getting so big and independent, it amazes me everyday. Your dad and I call you "lil monkey" bc you are constantly climbing on EVERYTHING. It makes me crazy bc I worry too much but you are a tough boy...and you hardly cry when you fall or bump your head.
-You love playing outside with your big red ball (throwing lefty) and playing fetch with charlie and her tennis ball.

-I have attempted to go for a stroll down the block with you but you constantly try to run in the street so you are confined to the fenced in yard until you get it.

-You make the funniest "oooohhh" face when something makes a loud sound or you drop something, its the funniest thing ever

-You love to laugh and clap at anything which makes watching bears games even more fun

-You still love dogs...ALL dogs...even ones that dont like you (like Diego)

-You wear size 5 or 6 shoes and have the cutest high top Nikes, you love the velco strap on top

-You dont talk much but you love making lots of noise and you point to what you want...or try to open the fridge when you want juice or milk

-You will give hugs and kisses but usually not when asked...so its always a nice suprise!

-You show us where your belly button, nose, and head is.

-You constantly try to put your finger in my belly button and laugh when I shreik bc it tickles.

-You are such a good cuddle-er in the morning and right before bed

These 16mo have been the happiest and most fun part of my life. I'm so lucky that you are my son.
xoxo
-Mama

-

Molloy's in Chicago (Sept)

Mubs and Adam had a weekend in Chicago and we were thrilled to meet up with them for a date night and then a playdate at the museum.

Before meeting the Molloy's out for dinner in Greektown

Miss ya Mubs...(boo, no pics of Adam)

Next day at the Museum of Science

MJ's favorite

Mezmerized!

end of summer

MJ enjoying one of the last hot days of summer....boo!

Watermelon is his fav.

Also, here are some summer pics of MJ and his best bud, Carter....they are going to be trouble when they get older.

2 parties, TWICE the fun...and cake!

My baby boy is officially a toddler!
I cant believe is ONE and walking (most of the time).
We had 2 parties to accomodate our Chicago friends/family and our P-town friends and family.

Two things are for sure....MJ is VERY lucky bc he has a lot of people that love him AND he was not a fan of the smash cake (either time)

To be fair, MJ was playing in the water all day at both parties so he was pretty pooped when it was cake time. He just cant hang with the big kids, I guess.



HAHA! I guess he didnt love the hat either

                                                      OK, how about 4 things he loves!!!

GOLF!!!

PLAYING IN THE WATER!

HANGING OUT WITH MAMA~

PLAYING WITH HIS COUSINS!



My baby is ONE!!!

MJ in his scrubs... (11mo 4 weeks old)

MJ and daddy day!

I was a bridesmaid for my cousins wedding on June 18th. The day started with hair and makeup at 9:30am and didnt end until we hit the reception around 730pm. This means I spent the WHOLE day away from MJ. The good news is that he was with Matt all day so they had a great time. I was finally able to see my baby around 730pm when we made our entrance to the reception. The wedding was absolutely beautful and my cousin was a gorgeous bride.
Here is MJ, Matt, and I. MJ is a party animal.

PS: MJ took his first unassisted steps on June 22nd!!!
yay! My baby is getting soooo big

Fam Photo Sneak Preview

I'm not going to put all of them up...bc lets be honest, no one wants to see 35 pics of our lil family....and I want to use a few of them for his 1st bday invitations so I dont want to spoil that.

10 mo old in ARIZONA!

pool time in Arizona!

MJ thinks his Auntie has the BEST TOYS!

Dont worry, he was supervised at all times.

Phoenix zoo





The club

In my previous post, I mentioned that I sometimes missed being pregnant and its true.Being pregnant was like being in a really cool club. The Pregnancy club....suddenly coworkers that ignored you, want to share their experiences, strangers go out of their way to hold doors open and let you ahead of them in line for the bathroom, aquaintances ask how you are feeling all the time, friends ask questions about the baby, other mama's smile at you in the grocery store, and other pregnant women are like old comrades that you can share all details with....its like everyone is HAPPY for you. Its a great club to be in! All in all I had a great pregnancy with MJ and I liked being pregnant, even when my walk turned to a waddle and my ankles looked like Fred Flinstones.....but I must confess, there is another club that I am loving even more....

The mama club!!! It feels a lot like the other club except many people love to share funny stories and give you nice compliments about your child, I still get lots of questions about MJ and he is a great conversation starter for meeting new people. The mom's club is great bc I get to be MJ's mom. He's funny but def has a serious mug, he is a rough and tumble boy but loves to cuddle when he's sleepy, he loves to eat anytime anywhere, he loves to wave hello to Charley but hates saying bye to Matt in the morning. He loves to explore and hates to sleep. He loves to observe and doesnt sit still much anymore. I've enjoyed being his mother for all of his 10 monthes sooo much. My first Mother's day was great. Spent the day with my boys, got some cute cards, ate a great dinner, had a nice long shower, and cuddled with my monster before bedtime.

Happy Mother's day to my momThank you for your unconditional love, patience, thoughtfulness, sacrifices, and support.

Happy Mother's day to my mother in law. Thank you for raising such a great son because now he is a great husband and phenomenal father. 

I love you both!

Am I crazy?

I sorta miss this:

This photo was taken the night before MJ was born.
Whoa kankles and bloated face....haha!

MJ's first easter (9.5mo old!)

Eating some applesauce...mmm

I LOVE EASTER!

Mama and Baby going to church

We had a great Easter! It turned out to be a nice day. Last minute BBQ at our house with Matt's sister and bro in law and their kiddos and Matt's dad came too. It was great to have them over and catch up and eat.
Matt's a pro at the BBQ so the food came out perfect.
I found a church close to home for Easter. I'm not sure if thats the church we will go to on a regular basis. We still have some church shopping to do to find the right fit. MJ was a good boy during the service and made friends with the elderly lady sitting next to us by boldly grabbing and playing with the buttons on her trench coat. haha!

Happy Birthday to my lovely mother!

Thank you for being the best gramma to MJ and a pretty darn good mom to me and liz.
We love you!

MJ says "less pictures, more eating!"

My son is funny that way....

In the journey that is MJ's sleep habits, Matt and I have learned to NEVER EVER talk about him having a good night. Because when we do, the sleep gods make sure our next night is not so good. Neither of us have talked about or commented on his sleep progress in the last few weeks, besides the little green dot we put on the calendar to keep track of "good nights," we are even careful to not make eye contact after the dot is made on the calendar so a grin or smile to each other cant be misconstrued as smug or cocky after a full night of sleep. So it was a great suprise to us that last night was one of those not so good nights. He went down at 730pm, no problemo. But our real marathon started at midnight and our star runner was MJ. From 12 til 3am, I tried to get him to go back to sleep. He wrestled, squirmed, and cried. Finally at 415am, I put him in his crib and gave up....Matt's turn. Matt got up at 430am and after unsuccessfully trying to get him to sleep, sat and rocked with him until 6am. Yep, he finally went to bed at 6am!!! Just in time for Matt to take a shower and get to work. Poor guy! MJ slept til 8:15am and was up and ready for the day. I'm not kidding by the way. What a night!!
You dont even want to know how the rest of the day went. I'm leaving it at that.
Oh motherhood, most days are great and spending the day with my son is amazing, but every once in awhile its a real doosie.
I'm thinking it is another tooth that is giving our lil guy a hard time.

Ok, time for bed....

Mom quotes that make me smile

A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie. ~Tenneva Jordan


When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child. ~Sophia Loren

God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers. ~Jewish Proverb

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Before I was a Mom -
 

I slept as late as I wanted and never worried about how late I got into bed. I brushed my hair and my teeth everyday.


Before I was a Mom -
I cleaned my house each day. I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby. I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous. I never thought about immunizations.



Before I was a Mom -

I had never been puked on - Pooped on - Spit on - Chewed on, or Peed on. I had complete control of my mind and My thoughts. I slept all night.



Before I was a Mom -

I never held down a screaming child so that doctors could do tests...or give shots. I never looked into teary eyes and cried. I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin. I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.



Before I was a Mom -

I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put it down. I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt. I never knew that something so small could affect my life

so much. I never knew that I could love someone so much. I never knew I would love being a Mom.



Before I was a Mom -

I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body. I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby. I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child. I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important.



Before I was a Mom -

I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay. I had never known The warmth, The joy, The love, The heartache, The wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom. I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much before I was a Mom.

Guest Post from Auntie Boog

Dear Chunky Nugget,
I can't believe how big you're getting! In a few days you'll be 9 months old already and every day I wish I was closer so I can be there seeing you grow up. Every day I talk to your mom and  I am so happy hearing you in the background making adorable noises, listening to your already contagious laughter, and even "talking" to you on the phone. I hope you'll at least recognize my voice when I see you. As much as I want you to stay a baby forever, I also can't wait until you're old enough to know how much I am willing to spoil you. I can tell you now, every time you see me I will bring presents for you. Everything your parents say you can't have, you can come ask me... I'll probably say yes.
I will be seeing you in 2 weeks and I can't wait to cuddle you and hug and kiss you. I can't wait until May when you come to AZ to experience 100+ degrees. I love getting to hear the stories of all your accomplishments that are happening every day... even if that's the ONLY thing your grandma wants to talk about on the phone sometimes. You are the beginning of our family's next generation so you'll learn to get used to us all fawning over you all the time. I love you so much and am sending you kisses and hugs.
xoxoxo
Love,
Auntie Boog

MJ, in all his presents from Auntie Boog.

Rubber ducky you're the one!

2 teeth!

Yay MJ had 2 teeth! He won't show them for a pic so you will have to take my word for it.
This also means we have had a rough couple of nights so this blog entry is going to be lame.
Sorry:(
I'm sleepy and need to get 743 things done before I go to bed.
Tomorrow I will post some uber cute pic of bath tub time with my chubby baby:)
Night!

Holding his own baba like a big boy!

Yeah, so MJ could hold his own bottle while lying down but I have never witnessed the sitting up bottle drinking until yesterday. My lil baby is soooo on the go that he doesnt want to lay down while drinking his bottle now. He is such a cute lil pooper. Another new development within the last week was pointing. He points at everything. I'm not sure he knows what it means but he points at the other babies at playdates when they say "hi"....he points at himself in the mirror...and he points in the air just for the heck of it sometimes and then laughs...and then I laugh.

Oh and I did all of MJ's summer clothes shopping at carters.com when they had their 50% off sale! Everything came in the mail today and it is soooo cute. I just can NOT say no to baby overalls. They are pretty much the cutest thing EVER!

We had another swim class today too. MJ went under water twice and he did great. NO TEARS...from him. Geez, I still feel bad dunking him even when I am getting constant reassurance from the instructor.

Until tomorrow folks...

Hump day!

Is it jus me or does everyone feel better with a little tan? After moving back to the cold, I have been pasty white for the last 6 mo!!! I couldn't take it anymore!!!
BUT after years of abusing my skin with tannin beds in college, I just didn't want to do the beds again, so I found a spray tan place close to my house. For 10 bucks, they were offering airbrush spray tans!!! Score! I went yesterday and I was a little skeptical bc I came out looking brown as a bear with instructions not to shower for 8 hours. The truth is after 5.5 hours, I took a shower...I couldn't sleep with all that junk on my skin so I was a lil afraid that the tan wouldn't take. Boy was I wrong! I am less tan then when they sprayed me but I have a really nice, more natural looking hue with NO streaks!
I think it wAs totally worth it and no feeling guilty about increasing my chances of skin cancer! woo hoo!

30 day challenge!

Because of my poor blogging skills lately, I have decided to do the 30 day challenge. Which basically means I am going to try to blog once a day for the next 30 days.
It really will be a challenge with my very active lil boy tearing up the house on a daily basis.
MJ's schedule is filling up as he joined swim class and will be trying out a baby sign language class.
I am hoping to have some cute pics to post of all of this.


In unrelated news, MJ found his lil toy wagon that is meant to carry his florida sand toys. Instead, he liked taking a lil spin around the living room in it.

We had a few nice days last week, so we had a couple of playdates at the park. MJ is pretty much confined to the baby swings while the big kids play on the slides and jungle gym. He usually likes the baby swings for about 2.5 minutes before he would rather sit on mama's lap and watch the big kiddos.
We are having a good time meeting some moms and kids in Bettendorf and enjoying the life of a stay at home mom.
Life is good :)