17 Months Old & Crazy!

Christmas Day and Nana & Poppi's house


Christmas Day opening gifts. His face was finally clearing up



Trenity gave Angelo a cold sore and it spread. He had to take antibiotics. I was so bummed since it happened right before Christmas

My baby boy is getting so big. He's 17 mos old and growing so fast. He has 8 teeth now. 4 on top, 4 on the bottom and cutting 2 more. Angelo wants to eat ALL the time! Whenever we have food around, he goes, "Na Na, Na Na!". He associates all food with bananas and that's his way of saying, "Give me some right now, damnit!" He's starting to get picky about his food as well. When given vegetables, he'll take it out of his mouth and throw it on the floor, unless I cleverly disguise them with pasta sauce or something else. I gave him lettuce the other day and the look on his face was priceless.

Bubbas still walks on his toes sometimes. I'm trying to keep him on his flat feet, but he's not ready for that yet. It's odd because he was doing it for a few months and this tippy toe thing is rather new. He's SO active. He attempts to climb up on the couches, ottoman and one of our recliners. Sometimes he makes it, other times he doesn't.

Angelo is obsessed with opening and closing doors, drawers and cabinets. Now he'll open a cabinet just to put his toy inside and later he'll go back for it. He likes to hide our remote controls in the vents too. Somehow he figured out a way to pull the register out of the floor, dump the remote and put it back in, LOL. One day it took us over and hour to figure out where he put our stuff.

I'm trying to get him to dance. He'll throw is arms up and stomp around when he sees people dancing on TV or when I've got music playing and dancing as well. It's really cute to watch. He LOVES his musical toys, especially his Yo Gabba Gabba guitar. When the music stops, he runs back to push the button. Can't have any quiet time with this 'lil booger, LOL!

He's doing well with his words. He's saying Hi, Bye, Bubba, What, Dada, Mama, Boo, Up, tries to say Mine, but it's a hit or miss, More (also hit or miss) and Weeeee! He's been trying to say ending syllables to words. If I say "couch" he can say "ch". If I say "up" he'll either yell the word or make the "p" sound with breath, etc... I caught him trying to say No yesterday. Here we go!

I'm also teaching him the names to his body parts. If I say, "Angelo, show me your teeth", he opens his mouth and pushes on his teeth or he go to my face, open my mouth and point to mine. Too cute! He knows his feet as well. When I say, "Gimme those feet", he raises his legs and kicks his feet. Right now I'm working on having him point to his nose.

His comprehension is incredible, at least I think so. He's really understanding commands quite well. If we say, "Shut the door", he looks for the nearest open door and closes it. Now he can reach the doorknob and can shut the door using it. He has to get up on his toes still, though. He knows where his room is so when I say, "Angelo, go to your room", he runs right to it, waits until we're both inside, then shuts the door. When I say, "Go to bed", he runs to his new toddler bed and gets in. There's much more.

Speaking of the toddler bed, Angelo went and busted his crib a week ago. That's right folks, he was DONE with being caged in, LOL! We can fix it, but at that point, he would throw fits and hit his head on the bars so I was done with that thing too. We put the mattress on the floor for a few days to get Angelo situated and he LOVED the freedom, of course! Dave and I bought him a cherry colored sleigh bed and he was super stoked. He kept climbing in and out of it so it took us a while to get him to sleep the first night. He's been perfect ever since.

Now we're having slight issues with nap time. He will play around in his room for a while, but when he gets tired, he climbs up and sleeps in his bed. Sometimes he'll take 2 naps a day and other times he won't. He's a real cranky Bubs when he doesn't get his rest. Much like his Mama and Dada. Putting him to bed at night has been a real dream though and I'm grateful for that.

Angelo LOVES to be tossed in the air as "Super Bubbas". He also likes to play the Boo game. It's his version of Peek-a-Boo. He'll walk up to you, grab your hands, cover your eyes and yell, Boo! He tries to cover his eyes, but somehow ends up covering his ears instead. His other favorite is the "I'm gonna getcha" game. I yell, "Gonna getcha" then he giggles and runs away.

I know I'm forgetting a ton of stuff, but that's all I have time for today. Every day is a new adventure with my son and still, I can't believe I have one! He's the light and love of my life and I'm so grateful for this little wonder.

Cristin

Bubbas on the Move

Making a mess at 13 mos



14 mos - He won't give up the Wii remote!



First mini hamburger! 14 mos



Dirty Bubs - 14 mos - Halloween fun night at home

The Incredible Hulk! 15 mos - Halloween 2009


Life with Dave, Angelo and the girls keeps me super busy, as I'm sure you can tell since I haven't updated in 3 months. School started for the girls at the end of August and I've had to change my schedule a couple of times due to that, our situation with Dave's ex-wife and Angelo going to daycare. He goes Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 1-3:30pm. Just long enough for Dave and I to run errands and for me to take a few appointments. Bubbas is doing really well there. There's a little boy 2 months older he plays with and a couple of 2yr-olds as well. The first month he started pulling that baby manipulation thing when I dropped him off. You know, the crying and holding on to me for dear life. Well, that's gone now and he's adjusted beautifully!

My child eats everything now and I mean EVERYTHING. Anything he can get his little hand on goes straight into his mouth, be it shoes, toys, stuff in my purse and of course, real food. He's been off formula since 11mos and we're finally done with bottles. He's graduated from the beginner to intermediate sippy cup. No handles! I knew he was ready because I had him in the living room playing one day, locked in by the baby gates. I was in the kitchen. I accidentally left a small glass of apple cider on an end table. I heard slurping so I ran over to the living room and there he was...holding the glass with two hands, drinking the cider. As soon as he saw me, he knew he did wrong and threw the glass on the carpet, LOL! Two wrongs don't make a right, buddy.

Bubs still only has his 4 teeth, but is cutting the 2 eye teeth. They'll be in any time now. Unfortunately, the teething has been pretty bad lately so it wakes him up in the middle of the night unless I give him baby Tylenol before bed. I've been up at 3, 4 and 5am a lot and of course, could never go back to sleep. His attitude has been really go throughout this teething process, so I feel we're really lucky.

As for his motor skills..well, he's an animal! He runs around the house chasing his sisters, climbs up the stairs by himself (we're always behind him though) and sometimes walks on the tips of his toes. He tries really hard to climb on the couch by himself, but it's still a little high for him. He's a little hellion when it comes to taking our stuff and running away with it all, LOL. I need to get more videos of him doing that. When we say "No!" he just laughs and runs away like it's a game. Too cute for words...right now. We really need a bigger yard so he can run around to his heart's desire because that's all he wants to do anymore. I took him to the bus stop without the stroller and he was super excited, but I had to hold on to the hood of his coat or else I would've lost him, LOL. He only likes to hold our hands when he's in unfamiliar territory.

His language skills are developing much quicker now. He mumbles like nobody's business and says "Hi, Mama, Dada, Bubba, Up, Oh & More" very clearly. He's trying other words, but it's still slurred. He understands commands well too, but sometimes he just chooses to ignore us. He does well with them when he wants to though. He very clearly knows the people around him and when asked, "where's so and so" he looks for them and goes to the right person. Bubbas points at people's faces in pictures and giggles a lot and it's very cool to watch. He doesn't point at something he wants, however, he just goes and gets it. This kid waits for NO man!

As for clothing..well, let me just tell you that this kid is not only going to make us broke with his eating habits, he's wearing some 18 month, 24 month and 2T sizes! Good Lord, son! He's only 15 mos old, which kills me. He wears the bigger sizes in shirts and jammies. He's in a size 5 shoe now, but will be in a 6 pretty soon.

I'm taking him to the DR. on the 19th so we'll find out his weight, length and get his chicken pox vaccine. At his 12 month appointment he was 31 inches long so I'm guessing he's about 35 now. I could be off on this one again. Weight wise? I have no clue. He only gained one pound from 9 to 12 mos so we'll see.

I have to say that I'm extremely excited to have a toddler vs. a newborn. Life is so much easier even though my particular toddler won't sit still, makes a huge mess and does whatever the hell he wants most of the time, LOL! I HATED carrying that infant seat around with me everywhere. I love the idea of this kid getting out of the car and walking into the store. The cost of formula and bottle liners wasn't as bad as I thought, but now I don't have to worry about that stuff anymore.

We're going to start potty training him at 18 months. He's already grabbing his diaper when he goes and I can tell that he's got more control with his potty muscles. We've also been looking at toddler beds because this kid attempts to climb out of his crib almost every day. I don't think he's ready yet, but I'm going to see how he is around January when he turns 18 mos. I'm just so afraid that one day he'll be successful in escaping and really hurt himself. He can already reach the door knobs and has opened a door so we're going to start taking precautions with that as well.

My brother-in-law told me that they let 2 yr olds in flag football, so we're going to check that out next summer. I can't BELIEVE I'm talking about this ALREADY, but I'm stoked. I can't wait until my 'lil Bubs can play sports. He's getting a tricycle for Christmas so we're hoping by late Spring he'll be able to ride it.

My Angelo Is A Toddler!

Angelo's 1st birthday party. He had a sugar free cupcake!

It’s official…Angelo is 1 and now considered a toddler. I can’t effing believe it! My little guy is just tremendous in every way. Though I’m very happy about my son’s achievements, I can’t help but feel very sad today. My best friend Dawn had a son a year ago today. He passed away a month later. I’m so proud of how she has been able to carry on through her grief.

Earlier in the month I traveled to Michigan to visit everyone and went to Bradly’s grave. I told Dawn how proud I was of her and I couldn’t understand how she has been able to be around Angelo this whole time. We were pregnant together. We planned to raise our kids as the best of friends. I can’t believe it’s been a year already. Bradly, we love you. Happy Birthday, dear angel.

Now on to the Bubs…

Angelo is walking really well, yay! The only time he stumbles is when he tries to run and/or is outside and doesn’t see a step. We’re always right there, hovering just in case. He’s throwing his toy balls everywhere and still making a huge mess in the living room when he’s pulling stuff out of our drawers, LOL. Angelo is not interested in holding our hands, he just wants to walk everywhere…especially outside. He just loves that!

We took him off formula and he’s drinking whole milk now. He’s done with baby food as well. This kid will eat ANYTHING, I swear to God. He has four teeth, but I can tell there are a few more coming in and I think they’ll be in all at the same time. He’s obsessed with pasta. He’ll take it in every form and with every flavor. That’s the Italian in him I suppose.

Unfortunately, we haven’t gotten him away from his bottle completely yet. He only takes the sippy cup in small doses. He throws a fit if his liquids aren’t in his ba ba. It’s awful! I only give him stuff in his bottle twice a day and we’re hoping he’ll be done soon.

Angelo says “Mama” all the time. He used to say “Dada”, but now he could care less, LOL. Dave says I sabotaged him this whole year. Bubbas also says “OH, Hi, Up” and babbles like crazy. He knows who everyone is. When I say, “Angelo, where’s Dada?” he looks at Dave’s chair and if he isn’t there, starts looking around the room. When I say, “Angelo, come see Mama”, he drops everything, holds his arms out and starts running over to me to give me a hug.

He still has some separation anxiety with me, but only me. If I leave him alone with Dave and the girls, he’s fine until he notices I’m there, but behind the baby gate. He’s been throwing fits lately too when he’s tired, wants his bottle or gets something taken away from him. He literally throws himself around the living room and that scares the living shit out of me. I worry that he’ll throw himself onto something sharp and really hurt himself.

The Bubs has a strange nap schedule. Most of the time he takes his nap from 10am-12:30pm and an afternoon nap that lasts about an hour and a half. Lately he’s been having trouble going down for both naps and he’s been skipping one a day. My schedule is changing due to the girls going back to school and I’ve been thinking about taking Angelo to daycare for a couple of hours, 3 times a week. It’s my step-daughter’s friend’s mom and she watches babies in her home, which makes me feel better. I want Angelo to get social with kids his own age and this would be perfect, I’m just waiting to find out if she can fit us in.

We took Angelo to the doctor not too long ago. He’s 23 pounds and 31 inches long. He’s only gained 1 pound and 1 inch since his 9 month appointment. I swear he’s much bigger than that, LOL!

Anyway, he’s doing just fine and we’re so very proud of him. There’s a lot of other little things to add, but I just don’t have enough time.

Almost Time for the Big Birthday!

Angelo at the beach in Hilton Head - May 09 (9/10 mos)


In the pool for the first time in Hilton Head with daddy!


Getting ready to cruise the wardrobe at home - July 09 (11 mos)


Chillin' at the Dublin Fireworks

In three weeks my darling son, Angelo, will be a year old. It’s been an amazing journey so far and I’m stunned we’re approaching the big birthday already. Watching the Bubs learn and grow has been my favorite part of being a mother so far.

I scheduled his 1-year appointment for next week so we’ll see how much he’s changed physically since his last one at 9 months. His regular doctor is taking a 6 month leave of absence so we’ll be seeing someone different this time. I believe next Wednesday Angelo gets his last set of shots for a while. I’m guessing he’ll be around 24lbs and about 30 inches long.

My ’lil guy is really developing well and as it seems, on time. He cruises around, barely holding on and walking quite fast. He’s walked across the room without assistance a few times and we’re working hard to get him consistent. He’s been quite lazy about it though. He’s got tremendous speed with crawling and I think he prefers that right now.

Angelo is getting into EVERYTHING. That started about 2 months ago, but now it’s really bad. He’s been into the “open and close” stage, where all he wants to do is open drawers and cabinets then take everything out. He makes a huge mess, LOL and it drives Dave crazy. Especially since he’s messing with our Wii games and remotes. He also LOVES Daddy’s laptop. When you try to take something away from him and replace it with one of HIS toys, he throws a fit. Damn…and I thought I wouldn’t have to go through that stage since normally he’s a perfect child. I guess he still is, since I’m hearing that this is common at his age.

Bubbas has 3 teeth! Two on the bottom center and now he’s gotten his first front tooth in. I noticed him grinding his teeth so I’m trying to get him to chew on his teething toys instead. I’ll let you know how that goes because right now it’s not doing much good. Due to the teething, he’s still taking 2 naps a day.

He’s eating normal food now. Bubs prefers that to baby food any day of the week and quite frankly, I can’t blame him. His favorite stuff is rice, pasta (with sauce), garlic bread, mashed potatoes, veggies and beef. I mash everything up real good for him and he’s the best eater in the family…for NOW. LOL! I wonder what he’ll be like at this time next year. I’m going to wean him off the bottle soon because I don’t want him on it passed his 1st birthday. He does OKAY with a sippy cup, but we need to be more consistent with him so he’ll forget about his precious bottle.

Angelo talks a bit, but is still babbling for the most part. He can say Mama, Dada, up, oh, hey, hi and me. I was changing the pictures around my home and found some of Angelo when he was first born. I cannot BELIEVE how much he’s changed. He doesn’t even look like the same kid, it’s crazy! He has light brown hair, lighter skin and is starting to take on more of Dave’s features. He has A LOT of hair and it’s pretty long so I’m thinking it may be time for his first hair cut.

I also have to schedule his 1 year pictures, but I’m not sure where I’m going to take him yet. We’re having his birthday party on August 1st, a few days after his actual b-day because the girls will be coming home from vacation with their mother and need a few days to adjust.

As for me…

I’ve lost all my pregnancy weight, yay! I can’t remember when I actually hit the milestone, but I think it was about 2 or 3 months ago. I haven’t been as active as I would like, but I’m getting back into the swing of things. I still have some stuff to work on, my stomach for example, but I’m sure I’ll get there eventually.

My latest project is re-decorating the house. I’m SO sick and tired of the same old crap. I don’t feel like spending a ton of money so instead of buying new furniture, I got a couch cover with new throw pillows. I also moved the recliner that was in my office to the living room. Now all I need is a cover for Dave’s chair. It’s looking God-awful. I plan to paint my home office pretty soon and I’m DYING to paint the rest of the place, however, we plan to buy a new home within the year and I don’t feel like re-painting this town house when we move. So who knows what I’ll ending up doing with that.

Dave and I rearranged the girls’ room and bought them new beds. It’s looking quite organized now and they have more space to romp around. I’m also dying to get new bedding for my room and add new colors. I need to do something with it as it’s quite bland and I don’t want that energy bleeding into my sex life, LOL. Bland is BAD. Right now I’m just on the new energy wave and desperate for simple change. Perhaps it’s the fact that I’ve made major changes to my life in general (getting married, Angelo turning 1, etc…) and I want the design of my home to reflect that.

New Pics of the Bubbas!

"See my teeth Mommy? I've got 2!"


"Shhh...don't tell Mommy"


"I love electronics!"


"Gimme that Wii!"


"I've got a pee pee diaper. Hurry up Mom!"


Angelo and Mommy - May 9th

9 Months Old!

Angelo is 9 months old today and doing all sorts of great things! In the last entry I said that the Bubs pulled himself up and now that's ALL he wants to do. Yesterday I caught him walking while pushing a box of diapers. We're still trying to get him to balance himself with his walker toy, but he gets distracted by all the gadgets on that thing. He takes good steps just by holding our fingers and when I say "flat feet", he gets off his toes. It's awesome! It looks like I'll be ready to get him his first pair of shoes soon.

Our goal is to get him walking better by the end of next month. He's also in cruise mode with the couch and anything that appears to be stable. This child is everywhere, I tell ya! When we have to put him in his Pack 'N Play or Jumperoo for a few minutes, he throws a fit because he wants to cruise and crawl. He doesn't like being confined, that's for sure. I caught him lifting his leg to climb out of his crib the other day so Dave lowered his mattress.

Angelo has said "Mama" at random times in the last few months, but yesterday he crawled over to me, looked up and said, "Dada" very clearly. About 2 minutes later he started rambling "Mama Mama Mama". The other day I swear I heard "Up!" I can't wait until this kid can verbally communicate. A lot of people tell me not to wish that too soon, but I can't help it.

Now, on to the best news ever!

Angelo has finally cut his first tooth!

I'm going to have a hard time getting a picture of it since every time I try to get him to smile, he sticks his tongue out. His tooth is at the bottom center. The one next to it looks like it'll be popping soon, along with his two front teeth.

The Bubs is sleeping through the night most days, but he has moments of waking up around 3am. That hasn't happened in a week or so and only occurs when he's slept too long during the day. We've been keeping a good schedule.

He's now wearing size 12 mos, but they're just fitting him. Now I have to try and find 12-18 months, but that's been difficult. I have a lot of hand-me-down clothes that are 18 months, which I believe have shrunk so that's what I'm going to try next in effort to save a little cash.

That's about all for now. I'm sure I missed a few things, but I'll be posting another entry soon.

Cristin

Lots of Growth!

Angelo and Mommy (8 mos)


Dave and I - After the ceremony

Hey everyone!

As most of you know, Dave and I got married on Saturday, April 4th. It was quite an eventful day even though we had a very short ceremony. I'm so glad it was short because I was terrified that I would flub my words and sound like an idiot. The wedding was great! We rolled in, got married and rolled out. Nice, eh? Once the weekend was over we had to get back to normal with the kids, school, work and everything else.

Angelo has been doing a lot of new things this week. First, he's picked up a lot of speed with the scoot-crawl and yesterday he started crawling using his knees. He's been pulling himself on to his knees as well and is able to stand on his own while holding something stable. He's also starting to get off his tip toes and stand flat on his feet. Yesterday afternoon Dave went to get Angelo from his crib and found him standing on the mattress while holding the crib bars. I can't believe I missed that! He was screaming pretty loudly because he couldn't find his way back down, LOL!

The Bubs is into discovery mode big time now. If it looks new, he wants it and goes after it. We were looking at baby gates yesterday, but I decided against it because I really feel that Angelo needs to explore the house. I'll just designate certain times for him to do so under my or Dave's supervision. We did get those outlet plugs because I caught him trying to put his fingers in the holes. We bought a new Baby Einstein video. It teaches them terms for items around the home and uses sign language.

Finally, I got this walker toy that the babies push around and it's supposed to help them learn to walk. Angelo was able to stand while holding it and he took a few steps and pushed it on his own. Right now he gets distracted by all the neat toys on it, but I'm guessing he will be moving with it soon enough. We took all 3 kids to the park by our house the other day. I put Angelo in the baby swing and he giggled the entire time. It's still a little big for him, but he leans forward and holds on to the chains just fine. I'm mad at myself because I forgot my camera. I will get a shot of him the next time we go.

Dave and I took him to his 9 month appointment yesterday. He weighed in at 22 pounds and was 29 inches long. He's still coming in the 90th percentile for weight and length, but he's cemetric and doing just fine. Our doctor told us that we can start transitioning him off baby food to mashed table foods such as potatoes and veggies. He suggested that Angelo get more consistent with his sippy cup and be off of formula by his 1st birthday. We can also be done with baby food by then, YAY! His first birthday is less than 4 months away. Can you believe it? I can't...

Now, on to me...

I haven't been working out much lately due to all the excitement with the wedding and Halle's 5th birthday. I've been able to maintain my weight and not gain, which I'm happy about. I feel like I'm just now able to get back to my normal schedule so when Angelo goes down for his nap today, I'll be able to get a work-out in.

We have had some crappy weather lately and I'm DYING to get out of the house for walks with Angelo and the girls. Cabin fever and I just don't get along. The other thing I'm dying to do for some reason is buy new clothes. I feel like frump girl again and it's pissing me off. Other than that, things are going really well.