St. Paddy's Day {2013}

On St. Paddy's Day this year we decided to head to Old Chicago for some yummy food...

...and of course a couple green beers! ;)

 

  

Since we drug the kids along for our fun, we decided to let them have a little fun too! We headed to the play area at the mall, which just happens to be next door. This was D's first time there and he definitely enjoyed it!

He loved every minute of it. (and so did Elena of course!)



 
I think that he really thought he was making the rides go! So serious.

 
 
 
 

And of course Daddy can't say no to the candy store! Can you say wrapped around her finger? :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!



8 months!

I just can't believe how fast this little guy is growing! I am already thinking about his 1st birthday party and that is just crazy to me!!! What has my big 8 month old been up to this past month?

Crawling and crawling and more crawling. He is on the move, everywhere, all the time! Once he got that down there was no looking back!

The main place he likes to crawl to? The bathroom, specifically the bathtub. Finally I just put him in there to play with the toys and he would stay in there all day I think. Very convenient when I am getting ready for work though!

He must love it because he loves taking baths too. He loves the water and would stay in for hours! If Elena is in the bath he does everything he can to try and get in with her. 

He has also mastered pulling up! I'm afraid this kid is going to figure out standing and walking way to quick for my liking! This was the first time that he did it on his own - I thought is was cute he was kneeling at the dishwasher so I grabbed my camera and he suddenly stood right up!

  He still loves listening to music - it is so cute he has started bouncing up and down and dancing to it, especially when we sing. His favorite song is Jesus Loves Me - he will stop anything that he is doing and start smiling when we sing it to him.

He is not a ''little'' guy - most people think he is at least 2 months older than he really is! He is right at about 23 pounds and I'm not sure about the length - we will find out next month at his 9 month check-up!

His new thing is making this constant motor boat sound. Seriously - constant. I got a short video of it  to give you an idea...

 He has 2 teeth coming in on the bottom!!! This was a bit surprising since Elena didn't even get her first one until 11 months!

With those two teeth he seems to be getting pretty confident in his eating skills (or maybe mommy does!) he has been eating pretty much what we eat just smushed up versions. His favorites? Refried beans, any kind of potato and green beans. Oh and chocolate ice cream - we have Grandpa to thank for that one! ;) It is amazing how differently we are with him vs Elena - she had never had anything but baby food at this age! :) Let's just say there will not be any issues with him not digging into his smash cake on his b-day!

His other favorite thing to eat is Gerber puffs. Sweet potato and banana flavored to be exact!  

He loves to be outside. Thankfully it seems as though it is finally going to start warming up and we are going to be outside all the time when it does!

He has said his first word.....drum roll please....."Mama"! Yay! Although he says it for pretty much everything, not just in reference to me! Ha! That is ok though, I will take it. And I just love hearing my name come out of that sweet little mouth!

Happy 8 months my little man!

Jack's Little Man Party.

Last weekend we got to celebrate my best friend's sweet little baby boy's 1st birthday with a little man party! It was too adorable! I just loved all the mustaches and fun accents!

 

 Dom dressed up as a little man too! ;)



Such fun decorations!!



Time for presents! We got him a little Cars couch and he went nuts for it!! :) It was seriously the cutest thing ever. I mean, he did this - with no prompting!!

 

 Max, Jack and Dominic all loved the couch! I'm sure this will be the only time they can all fit on it together too!

 

Jack was ready for some cake after all that present opening!

There was also plenty of fun to be had with all the mustaches! :)

 

Happy Birthday Jack!



Friends and sand.

As promised the weather was absolutely amazing -- for 2 days! Lol. We reached the upper 70's last week and it was such a tease! Now we are back to windy, cold and believe it or not - SNOW! Yes, we are supposed to get some snow for the next two days. Boo - we are so ready for spring! The warmer weather brought some friends up for Texas! Anthony, Marisol and their little man Andrew came by for a visit. It was so fun to see all the kiddos together! Man are they growing! (and also almost impossible to get a photo of all of them together!)

CJ - 3.5, Estela - 2.5, Elena - 4.5, Dominic - 7 months, Sofia - almost 2 and Andrew - 3 next month!  

It was so fun catching up with the girls too!

 

The next day was amazing! We went by the park for a little fun! Dominic loves the swings so much! 

 

He was even clapping with Grandma he was having so much fun!

 

 This big girl, on the other hand, opted to tackle this giant spider web climbing tower. Last time she attempted she had a little accident and had a nice little bruise under her eye for a while!

 Lets just say she was much more agile and brave than last time!!

 

 My heart might have stopped beating until she put both feet back on that top rope! Yeesh! But she was so proud of herself - and so were Grandma and I!

While Elena was climbing away the little man plopped down and got his first taste of sand! (and yes, it definitely went in the mouth!)

 

  He was absolutely fascinated! So much so that I decided to let him check out the sand in our backyard after his nap. Yup, he was still fascinated!

 

 Nothing better than sandy baby toes. :)

 He also enjoys the dolphin swing too. And mama doesn't have to fish sand out of his mouth every two seconds!

 While we were playing in the sand those little sandy hands of his grabbed some and dumped it on my camera. Which then proceeded to not open. :( and now the lens won't open at all! So upsetting. The rest of the pics will be from my camera on my phone for a while. Trying to decide whether to splurge and get a big fancy D-SLR camera or stick to a smaller point and shoot. Any opinions out there - especially what might be a good starter D-SLR?  I would really appreciate your thoughts!

Later that night we went to Elena's little buddy Justin's 5th birthday party! It was super-hero themed and super fun!

 

Mr. Amazing was excited to be a super-hero for the night!  

Or maybe he was already Iron Man in disguise! Ha ha!  

 The kiddos had fun in the bouncy house.

 and I even took little man in to bounce for a little bit - he loved it!

What a fun way to enjoy some nice weather!