Crazy week...of course

I'll have to make this quick because I'm a little on the sleepy side and should get to bed.

Vacation went by WAY too quick as it always does, but we still thoroughly enjoyed it. I've been feeling a little under the weather for quite a few weeks now, so I finally decided to go to the doctors. Looks like it's just an upper respiratory infection so I'm on some nasty antibiotics to help clear it up. I'm just glad Jack hasn't gotten it yet.

Jack was great during the whole break, and Mark and I both really enjoyed spending more time with him. He's now starting to put two words together when he talks, sing his ABC's (his version of them anyway) and he's playing by himself a lot more than he used to....which is great for all of us. He's just a great kid all around =)

Last Friday, Mark and I went down to Albany for a Relay for Life fundraiser...a Gaudy Galla. The point was to dress up as crazy as you could. Joan and I thought we were dressing pretty Gaudy in old bridesmaid dresses, crazy earrings and necklaces and 80's style hair, but we were actually too nice for this event. It was pretty interesting to see what people found to wear. This was the first time I was more than 30 minutes away from Jack. Needless to say, it was a rough night for me. Jack was of course fine. His Mammy, Papa and Auntie Kim stayed at the house with him so he could at least be home. Didn't seem to help much, because he woke up in the middle of the night asking for mama. Made me smile a little knowing my little boy loves me that much =)

On another exciting note, the pictures from Katy's wedding are up on the photographers website. Click here to see them. They are beautiful! Jack was quite the camera hog and I look horrible....but Katy and Ryan look awesome! I think I'm going to have Jason and Vanessa do our next family pictures. I just love their work.

Here are a few left over pictures from the wedding and a cute one of Jack with a cheerio on his nose. What a kid!!

Kim and Kenna
Erika eating her flowers...
Jack just waking up from his 20 minute nap...
My goofy kid...

Katy's Wedding!!

Well, the weekend finally came where one of my little sisters got married. Okay, so she got married a year and a half ago, but that didn't really count because it was a shot-gun wedding before Ryan headed over to Iraq. Seeing as both of them always wanted a big wedding with family and friends, they planned theirs for this past weekend.

Friday after work we had the rehearsal and then some pizza and cookies at my house with the girls before the big day. Jack was of course, just as I thought, very intrigued by the baptismal font in the church and got himself soaking wet...even his mittens. That's my kid.

Saturday was the big day and I thought it went off without a hitch...well, except for Kim getting her cell phone stolen in the morning and her being a LITTLE late for her hair appointment. Worked out okay though and all of us were pretty much on time. Does it matter that the photographers got there before us and we had to frantically get dressed and do make-up? Nope, cause Katy was smart and left us plenty of time to get pictures done and then get to the church. We even had time to stop at an undisclosed location to take some beautiful pictures out in the snow. God bless the photographers for getting out in the cold weather, laying down in the snow and putting up with us girls. They were fabulous!

As for Jack, he took a 20 minute nap the whole day and believe it or not he was fantastic. He woke up just before he had to walk down the aisle (with Kim and myself because he would not go alone) and was for the most part pretty good during the ceremony. It was only about 30 minutes because there was not a full mass, but it was beautiful.

At the reception, Jack cut a rug and was a dancing fool. The video Mark got is a little blurry because it's from his phone, but that's Jack dancing and my dad starts dancing with him. He was a riot!


It was a wonderful day, but of course it went by way too fast. I have a few pictures from my camera, but I was too busy to take a lot. I'll post the ones I got and then give you the link for Katy's photographer's website. There are a few pictures of Katy up on their blog and in a few weeks they will have the rest of them up on their web page. I'll let you know when they are up so you can take a look at my beautiful sister and our little monkey.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day!!

In the Limo on the way to the church....
Jack just woke up...
Ryan with Katy's flowers....Us girls and Rusty...Jack on the dance floor...
Here is the link to Greer Cicarelli Photography
More pictures of the big day to come, I promise!

Weekend without Daddy and a very busy week...

Well, this past weekend Jack and I got to hang out just the two of us without Daddy. He had to go to Albany for a night for a Relay meeting. Jack and I hung out with Auntie Kim, Mammy and Papa on Friday night for dinner and then Saturday went to swimming lessons, had lunch together and then came home while mommy did some cleaning. Jack was very happy when his daddy came home though, mainly because he brought him some balloons. As for Sunday it was another day at home just the three of us, so Jack's room got cleaned and I went through his clothes again. It feels like this kid is always growing and I always have to go through his clothes. Good thing we have lots of hand me downs!

This week has been quite a busy week already, and it's only going to get worse. Tomorrow night is the kick-off meeting for the Relay, so I've been helping Mark and Grammy get things together for that. Friday we have Katy's rehearsal and then dinner at my house and then Saturday is Katy's wedding. All three of us have a role in the wedding (I'm the matron of honor, Jack is the ring bearer and Mark is doing a reading) so we have some pretty big duties for the wedding. Mark and I have been trying to get our work done for the tail end of the week because we have a lot going on. It should be a fun weekend....provided my son doesn't try to jump in the baptismal fountain during Katy and Ryan's ceremony. I'll let you know how he does =)

Of course I have some pictures to show you from this week. Although I haven't had time to take a lot, I've still got a few. Jack enjoys getting into things lately, one would be his hamper and the other would be his diaper box. He is a strange child....but I think you all knew that.

Reading books in his hamper...
Diaper box time...
Cheese!!
We are mean parents...making him get out all by himself
Have a great weekend!!

Jack's newest video

I realize I don't post a lot of videos....mainly because I don't have a camcorder and my camera that I take the videos on takes up a lot of battery juice. This one however, is my new favorite video of Jack. We are teaching him the difference between happy and sad. He says "ad" when someone is sad and now he's starting to act happy and sad. I don't get the best facial expressions, but it's still too darn cute not to share. Oh yeah, and that's him saying "Cheese" at the beginning. What a ham.

Snow day and Birthday

As most of you are aware, we got quite a bit of snow this week so Mark ended up having the whole day off. I went and saw one of my kids and ran a few errands in Plattsburgh before it got too bad. Ended up being a nice day at home, just the three of us. Jack has been out in the snow once before, but he wasn't overly thrilled about it, but I decided to take him out on Wednesday anyway. He woke up from his nap in a pretty good mood, so we got all dressed up and just went out into the backyard.


He soon started to really enjoy himself outside and gave me a hard time when it was time to head inside. His newest thing....eating the snow. Oh well, I guess all kids go through it.

The next day was my birthday, and of course I had the busiest day of the week. It turned out great though, and thank-you to everybody for the birthday wishes and presents. Mark invited both of our families over for pizza and ice cream cake, which he told me about an hour before everyone got there. That would be why he went on a cleaning rampage the night before =)

I wasn't expecting much for my birthday, seeing as we are just getting back on our feet financially now, but Mark surprised me with something I have wanted for a very long time.....A Wii!! Finally!! He had all of our families go in on it together and my sisters got me a Raving Rabbids game for it. I was beyond surprised, but very happy. I warned Mark this year that he had to make up for last year. All I got was last year was a "Happy Birthday" at 3:30 in the afternoon, when I was picking him up from work and we had driven all the way to Rouses Point together in the morning. Needless to say he didn't have a lot to top. I was very happy this year, all I asked for was a Happy Birthday in the morning (which he did) and I got one thing I have wanted, plus it was a great evening with our families.

Jack has been up to quite a bit this week. Words keep coming out left and right (of course not all of them make sense) but he is just so much fun to listen to and watch. His newest thing is of course bowling on the Wii (at least he thinks he is bowling). Here are a few pictures Mark took of him the other day when he woke up from his nap. He is such a boy....


Yes, that's right, he's holding his manhood. What a kid. Have a great weekend and go Steelers!!

Weekend Update

This will be a quick update because I'm a little on the tired side...it's been a long weekend.

My poor little boy has been pretty sick this week. He has one of his two year molars coming in and he caught a cold that I had last weekend so he was in pretty rough shape. Poor baby had to go on the nebulizer again for a couple days, didn't eat much and was really cuddly for most of the week. It breaks my heart to see him like that.

He didn't take long to recover though, and was feeling much better by this weekend. Yesterday (Saturday) he had his swim lessons and then spent the rest of the day with Grammy. Mark and I did some shopping and then headed to Lake Placid for dinner at The Whiteface Lodge. Grammy got us a gift certificate to use for our anniversary, but we never had a chance to get down there to use it, so we used it for my birthday. I have never been to a restaurant where they check your coat and they have a sommelier, so needless to say it was a pretty fancy place. We had a very nice meal, one that was much overdue.

On Sunday, I again had a busy day getting ready for Katy's bridal shower. We had a really nice party for Katy up at Joan's house in the afternoon and Katy got some great stuff for her house.

Jack also enjoyed himself eating all of the munchies we had. We didn't end up leaving Joan's until about 5:15, so I was just able to do some laundry and play with Jack for a little bit before he headed off to bed. This weekend just seemed to fly by.

I of course have to leave you with one more picture. Jack loves playing with his boots and putting things in them lately. His newest thing to do....


Yep...that's his sippy cup. What a strange little boy.

We have another busy week ahead of us again, but what else is new. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Swimming and more....

As promised, I took a few pictures of Jack at swim lessons on Saturday. He is starting to love the pool more and more and Mark and I are just glad he's not afraid of the water anymore. He kicks his feet like a big boy and loves going down a little slide they have set up for them. (You'll see it in the pictures)

Just coming up from being dunked...
Going down the slide...
Coming out of the pool to get on the slide...

We had a pretty busy and fun weekend. On Friday we got together with a few of our friends from high school, Keith and Erika, Aimee and Jaramy and Andy and Danielle. We headed to Koto for dinner, where I enjoyed a long overdue drink and had some great conversation. We then went and bowled a few games and of course the boys beat the girls all three games. I did alright, but I'm very sad to say that Mark beat all of us in the first game. (this is the guy who usually bowls a 33). It was a wonderful, much needed evening away from the kids. I love Jack to death and he means more to me than anything, but I also love having adult evenings. He and Auntie Kim had a great night playing and watching Diego, but he did get a scratch while she was playing with him....so we just deducted some of her pay =)

Saturday was swimming lessons followed by a dress fitting for me and Mark took Jack to McDonalds for lunch and to play at the play place. Jack is very unfamiliar with McDonalds (this is only the second time I think he's been there) so he was very excited to play. He did manage to eat all of his hamburger and apple dippers though...hungry little man. That night we then headed up to Grammy's house for dinner and some Wii. We ended up spending the night because it was late and we were going to have lunch there the next day, so instead of wasting gas we just stayed there. It works out great for Mark and I though because Grammy and Gramps get Jack in the morning and let us sleep in. I love staying the night up there =)

Mark and I also had the day off on Monday, so we got caught up on some work and also visited with Meme and Pepe Brown (Mark's dad and Kandie). Jack enjoyed running around and eating home made donuts. He also has been getting a little stuffy so Kandie checked his lungs and it just sounds like he may have some upper respiratory things going on Nothing new....every time this little man gets a cold it's all in his lungs and it sounds like he is a heavy smoker. So out came the Nebulizer and he's been on treatments the past two days. I'm at the point where I want to test him for asthma because he always has such a hard time breathing, especially when he is sick or runs around too much. Oh well....we just will have to baby him for the next few days...nothing new.

Last thing, my sister Katy informed me that for some reason my blog only allowed comments from people who have an account. I have since changed that so anyone can leave comments on here. So feel free to comment away or make requests for certain pictures. I have several thousands of Jack to share =)

Okay, this really is the last thing....Jack on Saturday on Gramp's tractor. Obviously not a happy boy (it was nap time and he was WAY over tired.)