End of Year Wrap Up

Is it really almost the end of 2014? Is it just me or did this year just fly by? Seriously, I blinked and it was over. Not sure if its because I'm in my thirties (which everyone says time goes faster the older you get) or if its because we have a kid now (everyone says time goes faster when you have a kid). Maybe a combination of both. Boh! So nothing too interesting going on at the moment. Roman is getting bigger, he's almost 15 months. When do I stop telling people how many months he is and just start saying years? When he's like a year and half? I don't want to be one of those moms saying "oh he's 34 months".

He's reaching the stage were he's super clingy and if we don't pick him up he just goes into hysterics. I just let him have his moment he usually calms down after a minute or two. Its kind of funny we just step over him and leave him there on the floor throwing a fit. Then he opens his eyes and is like, hey? They didn't pay attention to me, oh well and goes about playing with a toy or doing something else. Now at the meetings he's getting very fidgety. He'll sit for a little bit, like 15 minutes at the beginning then he's like, ok I'm done. Put me down. Then he starts twisting and turning and making all kinds of noise and we have to get up with him to the back. Please tell me this phase doesn't last forever. We can distract him with books for a few minutes but then he throws everything on the floor. So I'm at a lost what to do. Any helpful advice would be greatly appreciated. He really is a good kid though, even though I made him sound like a little terror up there. lol. He loves playing outside and just exploring around the yard. He follows Leela everywhere its so cute. He's getting slightly better about throwing his food on the floor when he eats. Now he only does it when he's done eating. Hooray, progress! He loves music, he stomps his little feet and claps his hands when there is music on.

His vocabulary is still the same, mama, daddy, doggie, see and dank-eww (thank you). He also says uh-uh all the time, he'll say it for anything.  He doesn't really get the concept of no yet.  But if we don't want him to touch something we tell him its hot.  He knows what that means.  It was funny last night at the meeting he was sitting on Shelly's lap and he wanted to grab her earrings but we told him no that they were hot and he shook his hand like oooh hot and wouldn't touch them.  Mmm what else, what else.  That's all I can think of right now.  We want to start trying to potty train him.  It scares me a little bit but I know it has to be done at some point and I would really like him potty trained before baby number two arrives. So that'll be interesting.

As far as pregnancy number two goes, its coming along.  Once I hit 12 weeks the nausea finally passed, Thank Goodness!  Its horrible feeling nauseous all the time.  Besides being ravenously hungry I forget there is a baby in my belly.  With Roman I had time to sit around and read a bunch of pregnancy books/websites and think about the little life that was growing.  I read my baby tracking apps being like, oh today he's the size of a lemon or whatever.  Now I'm chasing after roman and when I do sit around I take a nap, lol!   My doctor's office was just like oh baby number two you already know all the rules so your good.  And meanwhile I'm thinking, hey where's my little care package for new moms with all the instructions I'm supposed to follow.  I know its only been a year and half but I forgot half the stuff I'm not supposed to eat.  All I can remember there is something about fish/shellfish and all meat needs to be well done.  Good thing I'm totally off fish right now, the sight of them grosses me out.  No particular cravings, well maybe McDonald's cheeseburgers but that's about it.  Which is funny because with Roman I couldn't eat hamburgers I just ate my weight in chicken tenders from Bojangles and spicy chicken sandwiches from Wendy's.  Which I do still enjoy but I don't crave them like last time. Of course now that I'm writing about it I want a chicken sandwich.  So, so far so good.  All my tests have checked out normal and baby is growing fine.  I am managing to exercise this pregnancy and since I started out smaller then when I got pregnant with Roman I'm keeping my weight down.  I'm hoping not to gain 50 pounds this pregnancy but if I do, oh well.  We find out what we are having on January 15th.  Taking all guesses on what you think we are having ;)  So that's about it.  Until next year.  And I leave you with this comparison shot, I was three and half months pregnant with Roman in the first picture.

13 1/2 Months

Sorry guys, I've been meaning to update the blog with Roman's latest milestones, like turning a year! But work and life kept me busy and I didn't have a chance.  So I'm taking an opportunity on this gloomy Monday morning at work to bring ya'll up to speed.  So let's see what's been happening since the 10 month check up.

Ok, last time Roman took his first few steps, well he's been walking since 11 months so he's basically an expert now.  He practically runs around the house.  He loves it when we chase him, we tell him, I'm gonna get ya! And he takes off running and giggling hysterically.  Another fun game is telling him to get Thumper (my mom's shih tsu) and he chases him around the living room trying to catch him.  I'm not sure its that fun for Thumper, lol.  He likes to crawl up the steps but we have to be with him because he hasn't mastered coming down yet.  Well he'll come down but not the right way.  He really likes being outdoors and playing in the yard, just exploring and checking things out.  With us being in Autumn, he likes crunching around in the leaves.  When we are out in a public place I don't like putting him down because he doesn't want to hold our hand and he just takes off.  Little chubby face of determination not even looking where he is going but where ever he is headed he's going full speed.

As far as food, he's usually pretty agreeable with most meals.  He always wants what we have so I don't really make him separate baby food, just a smaller portion of our dinner.  Since he only has 4 teeth he can't chew somethings so unless the chicken is really tender he'll spit it out.  Even though he can eat crackers and pizza crust just fine, hmm, little trickster.  We can tell when he's done because he starts playing with his food and throwing it on the floor for the dogs.  They hover like satellites around the table when we eat now.  He's also completely weaned now (at 13 months) and drinks his milk, juice and water out of sippy cups.  Its so nice.  His new thing, which he has been doing for about the past month, if we don't give him something fast enough or what he wants, he falls over to the side and cries or screams.  Sometimes its funny but I  try not to laugh so I don't encourage him.  It only lasts a few seconds then he manages to compose himself and he likes oh, what I wanted was right here the whole time.  He does it when he's playing too and wants something, we just ignore him and he stops after a few seconds and goes right on playing.  I read its just a phase and I sure hope so. 

Umm what else?  He says mama now along with dadd-deee.  I think he said Nana the other day for grandma but I'm not sure.  He also says dank eww for thank you, he's really good at saying that for various things.  The funniest thing when he's talking baby talk and just babbling, if he's really into what he's saying he gestures like crazy, like he's trying to get his point across.  I tell Mike, Roman is so Italian because I sure don't gesture like that.  At his last checkup he weighed in just over 25 pounds and I think 30 inches tall.  So still a big boy, wearing 18 month old clothes and size 6 shoes, sniff.  His little tiny feet got big so quick.  Another cute thing is our bedtime routine.  He gets his bath and all ready for bed.  Then we pick out a book and he brings it to me and climbs on my lap and we read a story before bed.  Its so precious.

Well I think that brings us up to speed.  I'll still try to do semi regular updates on Roman along with updates on how pregnancy #2 is progressing.  So stay tuned...

11 Months and everything in the mouth

Assembly and knocked out

Everything is funny

Little man

10 months

Well, here we are at 10 months.  Little guy just keeps on growing. No matter how much I want time to slow down I don't think its going to listen.  Roman has mastered the art of crawling and is all over the place.  When he really gets moving his little hips are swinging from side to side making tracks, reminds me of a snake slithering away.  The poor dogs are so tired.  They can't lay down to relax and can't go upstairs because of the baby gate. Thumper was jumping on the couch to get away from Roman but now he can reach up there and still grab at him.  On July 11th he started standing with no assistance.  Sometimes he'll stand clapping his hands or he'll squat to pick up something and stand right back up.  Then last night he did it!  He took his first few steps without holding on to anything.  It happened so quick I almost missed it.  I know in the next few weeks as he gains more confidence we are in for it. 

As far as food goes, he eats almost everything.  He's taken a disliking to broccoli recently I have no idea why.  He doesn't like pureed baby food at all.  Which stinks for me because I have a ton of frozen pureed butternut squash in the fridge.  Have to figure out what to do with that.  He's so funny when we are eating.  We have to time our meals with his because if we are eating and he's already done, he wants what we have too.  We have to eat at the table now, no more being lazy and eating on the couch because he's like, hey, whatcha got there? You gonna share? You're not! WAHHHHHHH!  I feel like this kid eats all the time.  For me, when I'm home I eat breakfast, skip lunch and make dinner sometime in the evening.  With hungry Roman, its breakfast, nurse, nap, lunch, nurse, dinner, snack, nurse, go to bed.  I can't figure out how all that food fits in his belly.  He also is completely refusing to take his bottle/sippy cup with my milk or formula when I'm not home.  He wants it directly from the source.  However, we have found out he will take regular milk in his cup, so here's hoping he'll be easy to wean when we hit a year old. 

Roman loves to say dadadadada all the time.  He calls all of us dada.  Every blue moon when he's real upset he'll cry mamamama.  Guess I'm the bad guy lol!  He's pretty good at saying cat, dog-gay, dum-pah (thumper).  He likes to strum his lips and make weird gurling bubbly noises, he thinks its hilarious.  I need to record it so I don't forget the sound. When he's all done eating he puts his hands up and waves all done.  We got him some new toys that require more interaction, he likes to turn them on and catch the balls and put them back in and start all over again.  Or listen to the different songs they sing.  He was playing with one of them last night and I remember when he was a few months old that toy looked so big next to him now he can pick it up and press all the different buttons.  Amazing how much he's grown in such a short span of time.  That's all I can think of for now, until next month little guy!

Assembly and at the doctor's office

First time in the ocean and his fave spot, the dog bed

First haircut and into everything (don't worry we baby proofed the kitchen after this pic was taken)

Let's see, does it fit in my mouth, good

Eight and a half months

Here we are at almost nine months!  My little baby is growing fast!  I thought time moved fast when you hit thirty, well it revs up to warp speed when you have a kid.  Little man is growing right before our eyes.  I just bought him some shoes a month or two ago and he has outgrown them and moved up two sizes, plus he's more comfortable in 12 month clothes, sometimes even 18 month pants fit better depending on the brand.  I'm still trying to squeeze some life out of his 9 month onsies though, lol!  I don't know how much he weighs because we haven't been back to the doctor since he was 6 months.  At that time he was 21 pounds, so on July 1st we find out how much he weighs (because ppl ask ALL the time).

Now that he has been crawling for over a month he can really pick up some speed.  Sometimes when he really wants to go he does this weird crawl on his hands and feet, he doesn't even use his knees.  He's pulling up on everything and I mean everything.  He pulled over his exersaucer on top of him, the side table too.  The exersaucer was kinda funny cause it was all slow mo and he looked around like, why is this on top of me?  If we are in the kitchen he'll crawl over and pull himself up using our pants or just grabbing our legs.  He likes to cruise around the edge of the couch, checking things out and grabbing for the remote.  Sometimes he sneaks up on the cats and grabs a tail or a handful of fur.  They are really good about it, they cry until they can break free, no scratching or biting at him.  He loves when we walk him around the house.  He can walk just holding one of our hands for a couple steps, he's wobbly but getting better at it.  I know once he walks there will be no stopping him.  He will be into everything.

As far as food goes, he's still nursing but eating 2 to 3 meals of food a day.  He likes fruit better than vegetables, big surprise there, ha!  Or it could be he just doesn't like pureed veggies.  He's real funny about texture.  For example, mashed bananas, he hates it.  Give it to him in chunks and he loves it.  Same with avocado and green beans.  So sometimes I give him pieces of my broccoli or squash and he loves it.  And of course he enjoys meat as if there would be any doubt since he is 1/2 argentine ;)  And what will definitely help him in his food consumption is his first tooth!  I finally felt one tooth yesterday.  Which would explain the extreme crankiness, crying all night that was going on last week, sheesh!  He is quite the healthy eater and hopefully won't be too picky when he gets older.  And if he is getting fussy you can always pop a cheerio in his mouth ;)

So little munchkin, you keep on growing and we will keep on enjoying every second of it.  Even all the crying, late nights we have with you.  Because those other moments when you lay your head on our leg or shoulder and sigh contentedly or you clap your hands from happiness or laugh at your mommy dancing for you or daddy belly flopping on the bed are so worth it.

Into everything, literally

Big boi on the move

With family and friends (btw little Olivia is 3 months older than Roman)

7 month shenanigans

Well we had a busy month.  We went to Pennsylvania to visit Mike's sister and her family.  We hadn't seen them since Roman was a week old.  It was nice to see how the cousins are getting bigger and doing a lot more.  Roman and Donald don't quite interact yet besides putting their hands in each others face and Roman not sharing his toys.  Donald would grab one of Roman's toys and Roman would drop whatever he had and reach over and grab the toy from Donald.  Donald is a good sport though and just moved on :)  We will have to work on sharing.  And of course Patricia just wanted to hug Roman all the time, lol!    We visited with Mike's childhood friend Joe and his family.  Its fun, everywhere we go there are babies :)  Even though it was a week before our anniversary, we celebrated by going to Emeril's Chophouse at the Sands Casino.  I had been dying to go there since it opened a few years ago.  It totally lived up to my expectations, the steak was AMAZING!  It was nice being out just the two of us.  We spent time with the family on Sunday and Monday we went sight seeing in Jim Thorpe, PA.

Roman updates this month, he feels heavier.  But that's nothing new, lol!  We don't have another doctor visit till July, so I'm just guessing he weighs more.  He's been eating rice cereal and various fruits and veggies.  He seems to prefer veggies most of the time, but I'm sure that will change as he gets bigger.  I really think he knows mama means me, because whenever he is upset or wants me he starts saying "mama mama mama".  He says dada too but I'm not sure if he knows that's Mike or if he just likes saying dada.  Last Monday, May 5th, he started crawling.  He had been trying for over a week before that.  He would get on all fours and scoot backwards but he didn't have forward movement till the 5th.  Now that he's mobile, there's no stopping him.  If you want him to move fast put either a dog dish or a shoe in front of him.  Those are his favorite things to go after.  And of course electrical cords.  What is it with kids and cords?  The other day he got the laptop cord wrapped all around him.  I don't even know how he did that.  So needless to say we have started baby proofing the house.  Had to get a gate for the stairs and start locking things down.  Not only is he crawling but he stands too.  He'll grab the windowsill, side of the couch or his crib, cat tower, really anything and pull himself up and cruise along a bit until he loses his balance and falls on his butt.  So fun times ahead.  I can't believe in 7 months how much he has changed.  Every day my baby is disappearing and he's looking more and more like a little boy.  If we can just slow down time that would be perfect.  So till next time!

6 years!

Cousins and friends, babies everywhere!

Roman and me and Melanie at the races!

Terrorizing the cat

With mommy at work

Seis meses

The little guy has been with us for half a year already!  Can't believe it!  He had his 6 month check up the other day.  He's coming right along.  Weighs 21.12 pounds (might as well say 21 1/2 :p).  We thought for sure he was going to come in at 25 lbs.  When she told me that, I was like are you sure? lol!  He's a perfectly healthy little booger.  Doctor said he's good to go on eating solids.  Now I asked her about the difference between pureed baby foods and doing baby led weaning.  She said either is fine, but the nice thing about baby led weaning is the baby can get used to the different textures of food.  If any of you moms out there have experience with either let me know.  Pros and cons.

So far, he's had carrots, broccoli, sweet potato and avocado.  I guess I've been doing the baby led weaning because I haven't pureed a thing :p  He also loves to drink water from his sippy cup.  I tell you, he wants to be grown already.  Whenever he wakes up from his naps he looks around and then tries to get down (if we are holding him) and I ask him "Where are you going?  You know you can't walk or crawl yet, right?".  His biggest feat, he finally figured out how to roll over.  He flings his arm over and eventually the rest of his body follows.  He also likes to try and practice standing.  If we are laying on the bed he'll roll over and grab our legs and try to pull up.  Let's see what else, bath time is a lot of fun.  He takes a bath in the tub now, because he did not fit in the baby tub anymore.  He sits there and splashes around, grabs his toys and chews on them.  And I finally did it, he's now sleeping in his crib.  Mind you, he outgrew his bassinet at 4 months.  So for the past two months he's been sleeping with us.  I finally had to admit, even though I love having him with us, he was getting too big.  Trying to sleep with his feet in my back, no fun.  He transitioned awesome.  I mean he still doesn't sleep through the night, but he only wakes up once or twice and he sleeps a lot longer in the mornings.  I think he's more comfortable too.  Speaking of sleeping through the night, all the advice I see online and from the doctor says "Your baby should be sleeping through the night now, they no longer need night time feedings." Umm yeah, you try telling that to Roman.  If you try to get him back to sleep without a feeding its not happening :p Lies and deception haha!

He's talking up a storm and finds it hilarious when I dance for him and when we make funny faces or noises.  He's growing fast and we are just trying to keep up.  I was holding him the other day and couldn't believe how big he is, he fills up my arms.  I think that's the latest with him.  I feel like I'm forgetting something, hmm.  We are off to see the family in PA in a couple weeks so we will have some cousin pictures coming soon! :)  Till next time!

Yummy bottle

Stretch!

Bye Bye

 

Cali Trip

Ok finally getting around to posting about our trip to California.  It was really nice visiting with our family.  I realized I haven't been out west in about 2 years!  I know I definitely didn't go last year since I was pregnant and the year before that I went for a couple days to see my grandparents.  So it was a quick trip because me and my mom couldn't take off that much time from work.  I was worried about how Roman would do on a 5 hour plane ride but he was perfect on the way there.  He played with his toys, looked out the window, ate, slept, talked to himself.  The lady sitting behind us told me when we landed that he was a "rockstar" because he was so good. 

As soon as we landed in LA we picked up our rental car and drove straight to Las Vegas.  Because yah, we are crazy like that.  I figured since we were out there and so close I should see my two aunts and their families in Vegas.  Now in my head I'm like, a 5 hour drive, that's  nothing.  But a 4-5 hour drive through the desert to Vegas is BORING!!!  And Roman woke up around the 4th hour and made his displeasure known.  Ugh.  So we finally get there, check into our hotel, rest for about 5 seconds and meet the fam at the Venetian for dinner.  It was nice but at this point I'm so tired I'm dreaming about the comfy bed back at the hotel.  The next morning we got up and had breakfast with my cousins and my aunt Lydia at a buffet, because when you are in Vegas you have to go to the buffets, burp!  We visited for a while after that but then had to pack up and head back to Cali to see my grandparents.

The weather was so wacky when we were out there.  It rained almost the entire drive to Oxnard and the whole weekend.  The only sunny day was Monday, our last day there :p  On Saturday was my grandparents special assembly day.  Me and my mom slept in but we went for the afternoon session.  I'm so glad we did because we saw a lot of my family in one place plus some family friends that I haven't seen in a few years.  Sunday we went out in service with my cousin Connie.  It was so nice, because I don't think I've seen her in several years.  We had a blast.  After service we drove around seeing the old sites and the beach.  Then we had lunch at a really good mexican restaurant.  Afterwards we went to my Uncle Henry's house and hung out with the family all evening.  Catching up and just talking.  It reminded me of when I go to visit Mike's family in Argentina and we just sit around talking and eating, lol!  Monday we drove to Santa Barbara and visited an older couple who have known the family for years.  They really wanted to see Roman.  Then drove around Santa Barbara for a bit, its such a beautiful town.  That evening we had dinner with my grandparents and just hanging out with them and taking lots of pictures.

We flew home on Tuesday.  The flight back was pretty uneventful.  Roman slept for half the flight.  He got a little cranky at one point but for the most part he did really well.  So that in a  nutshell, my friends, is our Cali trip.  We already have our next two trips planned out.  We are going to PA to visit Mike's family next month and then a quick weekend trip to Vegas (again) for Agustinque's ten year anniversary bonanza :)  Here's a few pictures from the trip.  I left my camera at home today so these are just the pictures from my cellphone.  I have alot more pics of the family on my actual camera.

Ready for takeoff

Dolores expression here cracks me up

With his aunty Lydia

Uncle Henry reading the menu to Roman

With Connie at the beach

Pacific Ocean

Tommy's burger! Sooo good

Roman with his great grandparents Martinez

Four months old

Little guy keeps getting bigger and bigger.  He had his 4 month well check with the doctor and weighed in at a whopping 19.5 pounds.  Doctor said he's a healthy little boy, right on track with everything.  He loves to talk and coo all the time at home.  But sometimes he gets shy especially at the meetings and he'll just give people the most serious little face, refusing to smile or talk.  He's doing a half a roll now, he can get on his side but then flops back down on his back. He likes to sit on the floor propping himself up with his arms, but he can only do that for a little bit then tends to topple to the side.  He is also showing a lot of interest in his surroundings and touching things.  I have to watch him when I'm eating because he will put his hand right in my food.  He got a handful of scrambled eggs the other day, just squishing it with his fingers :p  He's reached the age where I have to keep my hair back and I now understand why moms cut their hair.  He will get a death grip on it and refuse to let go.  So not only is my hair falling out but he's pulling the rest out, ha! Guess I just need to have another kid so my hair will grow back, lol j/k!

We took him to his first assembly a couple weeks ago.  It wasn't as bad as I thought, he did good but we still missed a lot of the assembly.  The main reason being he refused to nap.  All the noise and lights and he couldn't stop looking around.  And he doesn't want to sit he wants you to walk him.  It is nice though in the mothers room because they have a tv so you can watch the program.  But when it gets full of screaming babies its kinda hard to concentrate.  All in all  I say it was a success and we enjoyed seeing all our friends.

We have our first cross country trip planned for the end of this month.  Going to visit my mom's side of the family in California and Nevada. It should be interesting.  I have high hopes he'll do good.  He loves to eat and I've been told as long as you feed them during takeoff and landing babies tend to do fine.  So we shall see.  Here's some photos from the past month.

The purple family :)

Chillin' with auntie Dionne

What's tio Eddie talking about?

This carpet has fur on it, lol!

Sleeping and out and about

Till next month!

Sleepy

The munchkin has been teething for the past month or so.  It comes and goes the pain.  Some days he's fine other days he just cries and cries and wants to be held with his fingers glued to his mouth.  Last night was one of those nights.  I really need to buy the teething tablets Katie mentioned, its just that Whole Foods is wayyyyy on the other side of town, literally almost an hour drive to get there :p  Charlotte is too stinkin big.  But I digress.  So last night he would fall asleep, wake up an hour later crying and want to be held and fall back asleep.  He did this till about four and then just woke up for good.  So I'm sitting in the glider in the nursery and he's on my lap and he looks up at me and give me the biggest smile and coos and it makes all the tiredness go away.  Melts my heart.  Love him so.  I can't wait to get off work and go see him. 

Three and half months

So here we are a month and a half later.  Little guy is growing and growing fast.  I feel cheated sometimes I didn't get to enjoy a teeny baby but the important thing is that he is healthy.  The little chunk loves to eat, obviously.  He doesn't fit in his 3 month old clothes anymore, some of his 3-6 month old clothes fit but he's most comfortable in the 6 month old clothes.  They are a little loose but its better than him busting out of the snaps in the others, ha!  The past week or two he's started laughing.  Not just a half laugh but true baby giggles.  He's also started grasping and holding on to things.  Its funny though, he has this little monkey toy and it makes him laugh and he tries to grab it then he gets all frustrated because he can't quite make his hands do what he wants them too and he starts crying.  It cracks me up, I know I shouldn't laugh but its kinda funny.  He recognizes us and follows me or Mike when we walk around the room.  He gets so happy when Mike comes home from work at night, big ol' smile on his face.

We went up to Durham over the winter break to see family and friends.  Some of them hadn't met Roman yet so that was fun.  He was real cranky towards the end of the trip and we couldn't figure out why.  Well when we got home we realized he is teething.  He has a molar coming in on the bottom back right.  This little guy is determined to grow up asap.  My mom bought his a teething mesh thingie and we bought some baby orajel.  But his favorite thing to help with the teething is sucking his fingers.  So whatever keeps him from crying I'm fine with that.

He's still sleeping in his bassinet/rock n'play in our bedroom but I'm thinking he probably should be in his crib.  Starting to look squished in there.  I think I'm just in denial.  Its weird too how his sleeping pattern changes up, right when I think I have him figured out.  He was going to sleep around 11/12 at night, waking up once in the night and then little catnaps all day.  Now he's going to sleep around 1:30 am, sleeping all night till 9:30 then two long naps from 11-1 and 3-6 and maybe a ten second nap around 10 to make us think he's going down for the night and he's like, psych! I'm still up.  Its only been for the past few days and I'm sure he'll change it up again to keep us on our toes. 

Well I think that's all that is going on for now.  I'm working part time, 2 1/2 days a week, with  my mom watching the baby on Mon/Weds and our good friend watching him for half a day on Thursdays.  Its working out really well.  I don't think I could take being away from him more than that.  We are going to California next month so my family out there can meet the baby.  Hopefully sometime this spring I can make it up to Indiana so my Grandpa Tomczak can see the baby, I know he would really like that.  Plus Mike wants to go to PA in April so I would say thats a busy spring planned.  Till next time.

I love the look on his face during the bathtime photo, he's like "really mom, really?"

Looking like a little cowboy in his carseat