2009: A Year in Pictures

January

February

March
April
May
June July

August

September

October

November

December

Special Christmas Visit: Bernadette and Beena

Monday afternoon, my friend Bernadette and her daughter Sabrina came to visit. Normally, we would have seen them while we were in NY, but they were visiting Bernadette's parents in North Carolina. It was great to see them and Marino was loving the attention.

Tuesday, we all went shopping. Can I take these girls shopping with me all the time? We went to the mall and within 20 minutes they found me 2 pairs of jeans that actually fit my bizarre proportions (seriously, it usually takes me several months to find 1 pair of jeans that fit me, since there is a 16 inch different between my waist and hip measurements). Not only did they find me 2 pairs of jeans (and a pair of boots), but the jeans were on sale for $16 a piece! Best shopping trip ever! Marino was really good, too, he kept calling for his "Beena," as he calls Sabrina. We all had lunch together and then Bern and Sabrina left to visit Sonia in NJ. Marino literally passed out in the car within 2 minutes of me buckling him in his car seat!

I wish we all lived closer!!

More of our New York Trip

On Saturday we got a chance to visit with some of our friends in NY. My friend Sonia and her family were there and Rachel and Wrenford, too. Marino finally got to meet Mr. and Mrs. Kimlin who are the parents of my dear friend Lorien, who passed away about when I was 19. The Kimlins are so sweet and I am so glad Marino finally got to meet them.

Here's Marino with Mrs. Kimlin.

Cat being a sweetie to Mrs. Kimlin.

Marino practicing walking in Daddy's shoes.

Cat and Marino playing.

Wonder Marino and Witch Daddy

Cat was in love with this big gingerbread man!

Rachel, Sonia and I. Love these girls!

After lunch, we went to the Children's Museum with Sonia, Cat, Siena, Wil and Sonia's mom. It was a great day to go because there were very few people there. The kids had a great time!

This was Marino's favorite exhibit...he kept grabbing this ball and saying "MINE!!"

Trying on a firefighter hat with Daddy

Loving the slide!

Can you tell he loved this?

Sonia and Baby Siena

Building with Mama

Cat and Marino...practicing for school.

This fire truck was very cool...of course Marino wanted to drive.

It was so great seeing our wonderful friends! Looking forward to seeing everyone at Cat's 2nd (!!) birthday party in February.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2009

Whew, I have a lot to catch up on here on the blog! Wednesday night after work, Evan, Marino and I drove to New York for Christmas. Marino slept most of the way there, but when we arrived at 1:30am, he was ready to play! We didn't end up getting to sleep until 3am, with all 4 of us (including Max) in one bed. Luckily, my mom was up and ready to play with him when he woke up at 6am, so Evan and I were able to sleep in. Here's a picture of Marino hanging with his Grandma.

Later on Thursday, we headed over to my Dad's house to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with my father and stepmother. All of my parents (all 4 of them), really went out of their way to make Christmas special for Marino. Both houses had lots of special new Christmas decorations and of course lots of presents and new toys for Marino to play with. He's such a lucky boy to be so loved.



Christmas morning started off with a bang. Marino woke up at 4:30am and I guess either his teeth were bothering him or he just got scared because he didn't know where he was. Whatever the reason, he had a full blown temper tantrum for a good 40 minutes. Evan, my dad and I were all trying to calm him down, but nothing would work. Finally, he tired himself out and drank a bottle, watched Yo Gabba Gabba and went back to sleep. Needless to say, we got up later than we expected to open gifts!

My dad and Barb went all out with gifts for Marino (and Evan and I!) but Marino really wanted to watch Yo Gabba Gabba! Here he is checking out all his gifts...notice he has the remote in his hand...

Here's Max wearing his snuggie that my dad and Barb bought him.

Marino and his Pap

Getting gifts out of his stocking
He loved these jingle bells!
Opening his Little People farm.

This was his absolute favorite gift...the Yo Gabba Gabba CD. Mind you, he cared nothing about listening to it, he just liked the CD case. I'm sparing you all the photographic evidence of his love of this CD case and just sharing a few of the pictures of this love affair.

He laid down on the couch with the CD and said "night night" (I have not let him take it to bed with him).

Barb was nice enough to take him outside to play and calm down a bit after opening presents.

I am very excited about all of my gifts! Evan got me this special necklace I really wanted (its a mama and baby bird). My Dad gave me a digital SLR camera, so I am looking forward to learning how to use that and improve my photography skills. He also got me a crockpot, so I am looking forward to cooking to new foods (starting with gluten free "fried" chicken in the crockpot this week).

After breakfast, we drove up to my Aunt Mary's house in Saratoga (2.5 hours from my Dad's). Yes, we are insane, but it was really nice to see everyone.

Here's Marino and my cousin Clare playing. Unfortunately, I think he wore on her nerves by the end of the day, but she was initally very patient.

I love this picture of Clare! She was named after our grandmother, and she looks so much like her, especially in this picture.

Here's Marino cuddling with my cousin, Kim.

Mama and Marino snuggling

Love this picture!

4 generations: me, (sleepy) Marino, my grandfather and my mom

Daddy and Marino on Christmas

Clare getting excited about her gifts

My mom and my Aunt Carol (who will be a first time grandmother within the next couple weeks)

My stepfather Ray, Marino and my mom

This whole trip was not as easy as our last trip to NY, when Marino was 11 months old. He's certainly a lot more opinonated now, and seems a lot more thrown off balence with schedule changes. With it being Christmas, and travelling back and forth between my parent's houses, with new toys and presents everywhere we went, I think he was also really overstimulated. He also had a tooth cut through on Sunday, the day we came home, and he has two more pushing through on the top (incisors). It certainly could have been worse, but it was definately a bit of a challenge.