Date Night

Boy have our date nights changed. We decided to go out for a nice dinner to celebrate our little monkey turning 1.5! He has not been feeling well, but had a burst of energy so we decided to give it a shot. We have decided the high chair is not the best option when eating out. I spent most of the dinner wrestling him and sipping my Pinot noir in the other hand. At one point we took shifts to let him run outside where he flirted and talked to all the people walking by. It kills me the people who are obsessed with his glasses. I love to hear the comments as we walk by. Yep we know he is adorable ;). Aj and I are wondering what we will do a week in Mexico that we can actually sit down and taste our food. I'm sure we will both shovel it down, not realizing we can take our time. You will notice Keegan isn't with us. He is becoming quite the socialist on the weekends. He is headed to DC with his class this week. I can't believe he is old enough to fly and stay in a hotel without us.AJ and I were talking about if we would be ready to go on a trip like that when we were that age. I am a bit jealous with the things he gets to see, but I'll take my relaxing vacation at this point in my life!

Big Boy!

Graycen is 22 lbs and 31". I say he will be over 6' someday. He charmed the doctors and was so brave with his shots. We enjoyed a stroller ride and some playtime outside today. He does not care for the grass!

Brothers

Everyone always asks me how I like the 12 year age difference between my oldest and youngest. I love it. Now you can see why!

Picture From The Week

I was so excited to get into some prepregnancy pants and they were actually big!

Me and my soon to be teenager.

Swinging in the pjs!

Who needs toys when you have cords?

My sweet boy.

Oh. Moma needed a drink!

Missing our Daddy.

Love sgetti!

Sweepy boy.

Early Birthday Celebration

We were able to celebrate our little guy's first birthday with his Dad a few weeks early. I am so glad we could pull it off!

Waiting For Brothers

Now that G can walk to the stairs, he was looking for his brothers to wake up!

Crazy Monkey

This Moma is tired. G is a crazy monkey! He did finally sleep from 1130 to 630 without waking up! Yeah! He has had a total of one 45 minute nap. As I type this I am trying for nap number 2. How does he not need sleep? On a happy note, I woke up to a text of AJ's leave dates. He gets a shorter time then many because he is in the command element. Oh well I'll take 12 days. We have plans to do Graycen's birthday a few weeks early, and take the kids to the Indianapolis kids museum with an over night hotel stay. I made sure to locate the Trader Joe's and Cheescake Factory already! It will be fun to have a little family getaway. We now can begin the countdown !

Loving The Weather

Mid 50's in January? Yes please! Got an amazing 3 mile walk in! I needed it along with some vitamin D. G was excited about our walk. It sure was exhausting for him!

Crawling!

Daddy got to experience the first real crawling episode, but he went so much farther last night!

Loving Dada

My Mom got Graycen this wonderful talking photo album for Christmas! It was sweet to hear him talk to Dada this morning.

9 Months

I have 5 teeth. No desire to crawl. Walking along furniture and getting braver everyday. Love big people food and baby food and babas (bottles) can go away. I love water in my cup! I can say Mama, Dada, Ball, Pop, Hi, and Bob.

First Real Shoes!

Look at me and my teethy smile!

Mamaw's Chollis

My Mamaw was the best cook! I always loved watching her and she taught me a lot about cooking. She wasn't Italian, but made a lot of yummy Italian food for my Italian Papaw. Our favorite was her Chollis aka Mostacholli with Meatballs. We used to ask for it everytime we visited and sometimes made her make it twice for us! I have perfected her recipe and we had it for Christmas Eve. Graycen loved it (as you can see). I decided to share the recipe!

Italian Meat Balls

1 cup Bread crumbs

1 lb ground beef

2 eggs

1/2 cup fresh Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons Oregano

1 tsp Salt

Dash of Pepper

1 clove garlic, minced

Mix all together with hands. Roll into balls and line them in an olive oiled pan. Cook at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until both sides are brown.

Spaghetti  Sauce

3/4 cup chopped onion

1 clove garlic, minced

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 1-lb cans tomatoes (4 cups)

2- 6 oz cans of tomatoe paste

1 8 oz can of sauce

1 1/2 tsp of Salt

1 1/2 tsp of crushed oregano

1/2 tsp of Pepper

Cook onion and garlic in hot oil until tender. (Not brown) Turn of heat and let "sweat" for 5 minutes. Add to blender with other ingredients. Blend all together then add to crock pot. Add meatballs and cooked Italian sausage. Let simmer on low for 4-6 hours. Serve over pasta.

First Christmas

Graycen loved Christmas!

5 teeth!

Finally! The top fangs broke through! We have 5 teeth and 2 more on the way! Whew this teething has been hard work! Do I not remember being this exhausted with the other boys or am I just old?

First Present

Graycen opened his first present from Aunt Monu yesterday. The paper was the biggest hit!

Talking Boy

Graycen is 8.5 months old. My mom taught him last night "Mama Baba" when he wanted his bottle. Last night at 11:45, I heard "Mama Mama Baba". Hmm... Yep that is what he wanted! So far he can say Hi, Dada, Mama, Pop (for his grandpa), and today it was Bye Bye when we went to get his brother!

Growing So Fast!

Our baby is growing so fast. He just turned 6 months old! He weighs 20.8 lbs and is 28" long! He has 2 teeth and is rolling all over the place. He loves his jumper and his saucer. He is eating solids and we have been give the o.k. to start finger foods and sippy cups more. He did great with his 4 shots. The last one got him, but he was quickly comforted by Dada. He has been repeating what sounds to us like " I love you." My parents got a kick out of it last night! He is such a joy. Now.. to work on sleeping. We got him to sleep through the night 2 days ago. The doctor says it is time to cry it out. :/