Christmas 2012

Our Christmas was wonderful this year, although Marino was sick and ended up with a constant cough on Christmas. Evan had to wake him up on Christmas morning. He came downstairs and said "He came! Santa really came!"

He loved all his Ben10 toys.

Awesome Playmobil pirate ship from PapPap and Gramma Barb

In the afternoon, he headed over to Monique and Dexter's house to visit with the family.  Marino had a lot of fun playing with his cousins - he loves to wrestle so willing participants are quick friends. Here he is with Mikey.

All the family together on Christmas.

Marino put on a little show for us. He's pretty entertaining.

Sleepy Max

Me and my favorite boy on Christmas

5 on Friday

As always, here are 5 special reasons I am loving my boy this week:

5. Marino has been battling a virus since Friday.  I asked him how he was feeling the other day, and he said "The fever went down from my head to my nose to my throat to my heart shape and it made my heart beat really fast like this beep beep beep beep. Then the fever went down to my belly. But I'm still sick."

4. Christmas Eve, Aunt RiRi and I took Marino to see "Rise of the Guardians." He loved it, except the scary parts, at which point he said "This is not my favorite part of the movie."  The villain in the movie is the Boogeyman which Marino thinks is named the "BoogerMan." Too funny to correct him!

3. We got some fairly rare snow on Christmas Eve, as well (just a dusting). Marino was so excited. As soon as he saw it, he said "It's snowing! That means it's really Christmas!"

2. Before we went to see the movie, I said, "Marino, we need to eat so we can see this movie" 
He said, "But I'm sick. I can't go anywhere."  "You're too sick to see a movie?!" I asked.  "Ok, I'm just a little bit sick. Little bit sicks can still see movies."

1.  The other night when Marino was falling asleep, he whispered "Goodbye, sickness." 

More Christmas 2011

After opening gifts and having a yummy breakfast with my dad and stepmother, we headed up to Saratoga (about 2.5 hours away) to my Aunt Mary and Uncle Gordon's farm. It was great to see my extended family and Marino really enjoyed getting to climb on a real tractor.

Evan and I on Christmas day (with Marino giving us a dirty look in the background)

Aunt Carol and Mom skyping with my brother in Dallas. Isn't technology great?

My cousin Clare snuggling with my aunt Carol and Chloe.

More snuggle time with Clare's aunt Rashni.

Uncle Gordon patiently teaching Marino all about the tractor.

Of course, after all that explantation, his two questions were "How do I make the tractor move?" and "Can we get the tractor to pick up that car?"

Looking forward to visiting the farm in warmer months soon!

5 on Friday

As always, here are 5 special reasons I am loving my boy this week (I'm a week behind):

5. On Christmas Eve, Marino declared "I just love Santa so much!"

4. Over dinner at Jennifer's house, we asked Marino to sit down and eat. "I can't!" he said, "I'm too play-ee!"

3. While we were at my dad's house, Marino asked "Can we go see Gramma with the white hair?" (this is my mom). He calls all of his grandmothers "Gramma" so he has to find innovative ways to differentiate which one he's referring to.

2. While we were at my dad's house, he asked my dad, "Pap Pap, are you my family?" My dad said yes and Marino said "Let's be a family of ghosteses. WOOHHHWOHHH" and started pretending to be a ghost.

1. Evan and I have been very impressed with Marino's control over his own body (not so much the withholding his poop for a week at a time to avoid the potty). He can roll his stomach and raise one eyebrow at a time on each side. This must be hereditary, since we skyped with my brother the other day and he could do it, too.

Christmas 2011

I have tons of adventures to post about, since Marino and I spent a full week in New York with family and friends (Evan was with us the first 4 days). Christmas this year was really special, as it was the first year Marino "got it" and was anticipating Christmas and Santa's arrival. He truly delighted in every part of the season - every house decorated with lights, every Christmas tree, every gift. It was a joy.

Our trip started off with a bang - quite literally! 15 miles from home, in holiday traffic, the car in front of us hit a stopped car going 65+ mph, and then swerved into our lane...we coasted parallel with the careening car until we both came to a stop just inches from the guardrail and each other. To say we were lucky is an understatement. All the cars involved in the accident were totaled. A dog was thrown from the stopped car and was injured. It was very scary but after doing what we could to help and giving a statement to the state troopers, we continued on with our trip. Let's just say that experience did not make the next 5 hours of driving any more enjoyable!

Our first stop on Friday was at my stepsister Jennifer's house. She, her husband Hagen and their daughter Bae-Corine hosted a great dinner for us. Marino and Bae-Corine had an amazing time, as always. Those 2 really love each other and its so fun to watch them together.

I mean, how adorable are these two?

After our fun dinner, we headed to my mom's house for a good night's sleep. Saturday morning, I had my first success at getting Marino to poop in the potty (FINALLY! We've been at this for 6 months!).

Late Saturday morning, we headed over to my dad's house (about 45 minutes away). Marino was ecstatic to finally get to watch the Polar Express with my dad. He LOVED the movie. While he was engrossed with the North Pole, Bernadette and Sabrina came over to visit. Sabrina is turning 16 this month, I can't believe it! I mean, she looks 25, but if she's 16, that makes me officially old!! I remember the night she was born...the snow storm...ahhh! How was that 16 years ago?!

Christmas Eve, Evan and I did some last minute shopping while my dad and Barb watched Marino. He is in love with these musical penguins they have...here he is dancing to the penguin music.

They also baked cookies for Santa, which Marino was quite proud of.

So, of course that night we left out cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer.

Christmas morning we woke up (Evan woke us up; he was so excited) and asked Marino if Santa came while we were sleeping. "No, he didn't" he said "I didn't hear him." We decided to go check and Marino couldn't believe that Santa had come and brought his beloved space station he had been asking for.

Special spy plane Santa brought for Marino for pooping on the potty the day before...

Reading The Polar Express with PapPap
Snuggle time with Gramma and Grampa Ray

More posts about our trip coming soon!!

Early Christmas Party with Our Family

Last Saturday we had an early Christmas party with our families. We had a really great time and it was fun to get together with all our local relatives from both sides of the family. Unfortunately, I only took a few pictures since I was busy socializing.

Here's Marino and his favorite cousin, Pacey, making "cheese" faces and eating strawberries...

At one point I went up to Marino's room and this was happening...all his toys were piled on the bed! I asked why they did that and Pacey said "because we're travelling." Miranda asked where they were going. "To the store" Pacey said.

Miranda, Samantha, Aunt Kerry and Pacey

Marino bonding with Monique (Evan's cousin)

Serious scrabble game (or "Words with Friends" as the kids nowadays call it...)

L to R: Dexter, Sammy, Evan, Richelle and Monique

I wish I had more pictures since there were many other special people there!

It was a really fun night!

5 on Friday

Sorry I missed last week; between traveling and a Marino illness, I was a little frazzled.
Here are 5 special reasons I am loving my boy this week:

5. Marino did great while I was gone but the day after I returned, he was sick and extra snuggly. Throughout the day, he would say "Come here you" and give me a big bear hug.

4. While standing at the potty the other day, Marino announced "KABOOM! Its a pee pee volcano!"

3. Marino is so excited about Christmas - we talk about it numerous times every day. Last year, my friend Rachel sent us a bunch of beautiful, hardcover Christmas stories, and we have really been enjoying these books. This whole month, we have read nothing but How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Polar Express, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas and the Olivia Christmas book. I was surprised he enjoyed Polar Express so much, since there is a much greater word to picture ratio than the books we usually read, but he loves it. It's really been a joy experiencing this season with him this year.

Even more adorable, last night we were reading 'Twas the Night Before Christmas when we got to the page that is just a picture of reindeer. Marino announced "This reindeer is Flyer. This one is named Doctor Rahman [his pediatrician] and this one is Hugo [the name of Jen's puppy]".

2. The other night we discussed that we were having a little family get together for Christmas this Saturday. "Are people bringing me presents?" Marino asked. "Yes, some of them might bring you presents," I said. "Well, can I give presents to everyone, too?" he asked.

1. My sister-in-law Rianne showed me a You Tube video of a toddler singing "Don't Stop, Don't Give Up" from Yo Gabba Gabba. She said it was her inspiration for getting through finals week. Little did she know, this is the song we sing on the potty every day! So I made her this little video for further inspiration. Does this boy have energy, or what?

Christmas Time Is Here!

Marino is so excited about Christmas this year and we're having a lot of fun with the holiday. Last Saturday, we went with Aunt Chelle and cousin Sammy to see Arthur Christmas, which he absolutely loved and got him a lot more excited about Santa. He also rocked out the Justin Bieber video at the beginning of the movie - you should have seen him dancing!

After the movie, Aunt Chelle, Evan, Marino and I picked up Shi Shi (Director of his old daycare) and we all went to the Garden of Lights at Brookside Gardens. Every year we plan to go but it ends up being freezing on the day we plan to go, so this year we went on a day it was 68 degrees!

We had a really good time - it was a lot of fun to walk through the lights rather than drive through them, since Marino could experience them at his own pace.

Howling with Daddy and the wolf

Marino and Shi Shi

On Monday, we put up and decorated our Christmas tree. Marino was so excited. Every ornament he unpacked, he would shout "I found the Grinch!" "I found a reindeer!" It was a lot of fun, although Marino said we need presents under the tree:)

Marino insists this is "his" Christmas tree. We're so looking forward to Christmas this year.