birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, oh my...

I am consistently amazed at how quickly time flies. For example, Gio's first year went by as quickly as one could say "It's a Boy" and today, I find it as equally hard to realize that we have been married for five years-and they said it wouldn't last ;) In looking at our wedding pictures we have scattered through the house that day, that weekend, feels like it was yesterday. I can just close my eyes and feel the love we felt from our family and friends and I can also feel the clouds making room for the sunshine as it peeked through the stained glass onto us as we shared our vows in the Basilica. (Thankfully, there was not the weather in South Bend on our beautiful fall day as there was today-12 inches-oh my-how would you have handled that mom?). November 22, 2003 is one of my favorite days-the day that made every day since then a little happier... Everyone celebrates anniversaries in different ways-big trips-big gifts-but to us those things would have equaled another thing-big debt- so we opted for the just as wonderful family day which included napping in the middle of the afternoon with Gio in my arms as he is refusing to take naps these days. We later wandered around our favorite places-The Galleria(and my personal favorite, Janie and Jack)and Babies R Us (an almost daily ritual for me). Yes, I admit it, we are two wild and crazy kids!! We were invited, and I would have loved to be home with my family, to celebrate a family wedding but today we celebrated more than one wedding, we celebrated Jason and Karen's wedding, our wedding, our marriage, and our bella vita here in Pittsburgh! Of course, every November 22, we also celebrate the feast of Santa Cecelia and my late great-aunt Cissy who was born on this day may we all share with others our smile as she always shared hers with me. Since Gio's birthday, we have had a few rough weeks because I think I have spoiled him rotten. I never knew the challenges of parenthood until i had a baby with never-ending ear infections. It breaks my heart to hear him scream when he goes down for a nap and I just don't have the strength to make him do it. It is such a fine line-do I pick him up-or do I let him cry? Well, I refuse to make him cry if he could potentially have another ear infection so it is off to the dr's office we go on Monday! Gosh, our doctors could probably go on vacation on our co-pays alone!!! I just want to make sure he is ok before we head home to Indiana for Thanksgiving. Although he isn't napping well and leaving me zero time to accomplish anything during the day, I do like seeing his sweet, innocent face breathing softly as he lays on me and takes his nap-sigh. Other than his ear infections, Gio is changing rapidly, I can hardly keep up! He has been taking his first steps and each day he becomes a little more confident in doing so. Our favorite thing right now is when we are making sure he doesn't go too quickly with his walker on the hardwood floors, we try to guide him along but he quickly shoves our hand away and gives us an "Ahhh". He isn't very verbal yet but we sure understand what he means. Some children start walking and never stop but this little boy is taking it one step at a time-literally. Not sure if we will have time later in the week to write but we wish to all a very blessed and happy Thanksgiving.

Happy Birthday!!!

Wow, I can hardly believe that Gio's first birthday is here! With much joy we celebrated one of the last firsts that our little guy will celebrate this past week! In preparing for his big day I became mixed with much excitement and, honestly, some sadness that our little baby is now -sigh-a little boy! I certainly relived every moment(including the castor oil) of October 31-November 5, 2007 as we prepared to become parents, never knowing the crazy ride of our life were were about to begin. I can now understand why mothers call their children every year at the exact hour of their birth-it changed my life forever-why shouldn't I celebrate? Lucky for John Paul, his 8:23 pm is not too inconvenient of a time). I cannot believe how much he has developed since that day Carolyn (our midwife not my sister) told us "it's a boy"! I look at him today and see the baby I welcomed into my arms that day but I also see a little boy who has every day developed a little bit more, grown a little bit more, achieved a little bit more and made my heart grow a little bit more. In addition to his first, second, and third cupcakes, he had a wonderful Mickey Mouse birthday party that he will never remember but we have taken enough photos so he will never be able to forget. He has also officially taken his first steps. Now, I cannot say that he is officially walking but on Sunday after my dad took Carrie to the airport he took 1-2-3 itty bitty steps and you would have thought he won the Nobel Peace Prize I was so excited and so proud of him. It was fantastic because he did it for an audience and I'm glad others were able to be a part of this big moment. Before having him, I never knew how much this little boy could amaze me on a daily basis but it is true-there is no love like the love for your child.

Love-Love-Loving Fall!!!

WOW, how can anyone NOT love this fantastic time of year? Please, If you don't like fall, please let me know why this is the case. I have always loved this season and last year around this time, I loved being in our new home, taking walks surrounded by trees that take your breath away by their glorious colors and I daydreamed about sharing this with our child.All I can say is,Wow, this year has gone by so, so quickly. John Paul must take after me in some regards because I think he loves this season as much as his mom. He will sit in a pile of leaves and play with those leaves longer than I have ever seen him play with an individual toy. When we take walks, I will hand him a leaf, and unlike a toy that will be tossed on the ground, he holds such a tight grip on that leaf, inspecting it the entire time. He is always curious and taking in the sites and the sounds from his stroller perspective. We have had wonderful visits from GiGi, Aunt Carrie, Grandmommy and Grandpa the past month or so and he is pretty bored when it is just the two of us (You should see him practicaly leap into his dad's arms). I think he is saying "Come on, Mom, aren't you going to pay attention to me and spoil me every second you are awake, too"? I do try but he is certainly full of energy. I love our days together, our trips to music class and the library and everything in between, but I never knew how much energy this boy would have! I certainly give much, much deserve credit to our parents for finding the energy to raise four crazy (and brilliant and kind...) children-wow! I love being a parent for many reasons but one of the best things about being a parent, in my opinion, is that we can act like children and do things just as much for us as for John Paul. We took John Paul for his first apple picking adventure with Aunt Carrie and for his first Halloween pumpkin with his Grandmommy and Grandpa Pete. We loved these adventures, the beautiful weather, and making memories that I so badly want him to remember but I am pretty sure this family takes enough pictures to remind him!

how did I let this happen?

So,I originally thought that I would be writing on this all the time-I mean, our little boy was sleeping like an angel during the day and at night-we had it made. Unfortunately, that is not the case anymore and although I am certainly flattered that an adorable boy wants to spend all of his time with little ol' me, he does not leave me much time to sit down on the computer. I apologize for my lack of picture taking and picture sending but I do hope-pray-long-for the day when he decides to take a nap. Well, even if he doesn't, I'm sure I'll have time when he starts pre-school. This little boy is growing soooo fast-it is unbelievable. He is standing now on his own and I can tell in those amazing blue eyes that he wants so badly to move a little bit more but he finds himself just as comfortable slowly taking a break and sitting down. He absolutely loves his new car that his Gigi bought him. An unexpected surprise is that this ride on toy is also educational and we love that!!! I never thought we would be 'those' parents who would be so excited over him learning to 'open' or 'close' or 'press the button'. It may sound ridiculous but we love it and we love him which makes us really not care!!

Wow, I can't believe our John Paul is almost 9 months old. end every day has been so rewarding and such a learning process for us all. It is truly a joy to watch this little boy grow and develop. It seems like he hit the fast forward button about a month ago and has been going nonstop since. Gio has become so active and has learned to scoot which turned into a crawl, he has learned to pull himself up, which at first he was able to do just a little bit but now he can pull himself up onto anything stable that is within his reach. His newest joy is chattering all day long-it is so much fun to listen to him babble. Every day he gains a little momentum and a little more strength and he is pretty tough to keep up with but we would not have it another way! It is just so much fun to watch him explore his little world. He will sit for five minutes opening and closing my cell phone and be completely content. Although it is so enjoyable to interact and play with him, it is just as rewarding to sit back and watch him. Every day I think "this is my favorite day" but I've learned to try and take plenty of pictures and cherish these sweet moments. We have had a great summer so far and we are staying pretty busy with plenty of walks, as well as trips to the park and the library and being the sole supporters of the UDA softball team. Bryan plays a mean outfield and although the team's record isn't the best, they seem to have fun at the games as do we. Our favorite times are those that allow us just to relax and enjoy time as a family on the evenings and weekends. We enjoy trips for coffee or to the pool or relaxing with visitors when we are lucky enough to have company. Bryan has been so busy making our house a home and taking care of the hundreds of little projects on his To-Do list (not that anyone gave him the to-do list he did create it himself) so it is nice when he is able to take breaks and he isn't traveling for business. I can't believe time is moving so quickly for us although we often want time to stand still, we are so excited for the adventures that are still to come.

Summer-what's that?

How on earth can we possibly be halfway through the summer? I envisioned plenty of walks, trips to the pool and much more relaxing than has actually taken place. Oh well, now that our family is reunited in Pittsburgh, we certainly hope to spend the next few weeks enjoying some quality family time. John Paul and I had a wonderful trip to Munster earlier this month and we survived the largest storm to hit the area in years. We were pretty frustrated to have lost power for almost 24 hours but when we saw the damage that others faces, we were very lucky. Just a few blocks away families were without power for days, trees crushed rooftops and the winds literally uplifted driveways. John Paul is in his 'stranger danger' phase right now and although it is hard for everyone when he cries or turns the other way when they want to greet him, I must admit, my heart just skips a beat when he tugs his arms so tightly around my neck. Fortunately, he does come around after a few minutes and reaches out to everyone! He has so many new teeth that his smiles are hilarious and a little devilish I must admit. He always looks like he is up to something! Although we had a great trip, we were certainly glad to be reunited with Bryan and Lucca in Pittsburgh. Although it was an adventure for Bryan to return home and he returned after John Paul was sleeping, John Paul wasted no time smiling for his daddy first thing in the morning. John Paul is saying plenty of da da da da's but he hasn't yet addressed Bryan as 'da dad' but I can feel that it is coming soon. We just returned from his 9 month well-visit and he is a healthy 9 month old baby boy weighing in at 16 lb 13 oz. which only puts him in the 20th percentile for his weight; somehow, he feels much heavier than that at times. The Dr. sounded surprised when I told him he was pulling himself up on furniture and taking a few steps when holding on to the couch so we are in for some big changes soon! How exciting!

We thought this would be a great way to share what we're up to while we are so far away from our families. We'll keep you up to date on John Paul and his latest activities and we might even throw in a few bits and pieces about his parents.

It's a work in progress but we'll see how it goes.