Special Anniversary

Today is a special anniversary for our family...it's the anniversary of the day we got to bring home Marino from the NICU! I know this day is really important to lots of preemie moms (some say it's more special to them than their preemie's 1st birthday). While it is special to us, for me, it's tempered by the fact we had another 14 day stay in the hospital 10 days after we brought him home. Nonetheless, today is the anniversary of the day Marino came to live with Mama and Daddy (and Max).

Here's a picture of Marino from the day we brought him home from the NICU (July 31, 2008) He was only 4 pounds, 15 ounces.

And here's a picture of Marino on the anniversary of that homecoming. He's about 21 pounds now.

What a difference a year makes, huh?

I took the day off today so Marino and I could spent the whole day together. Unfortunately, we started sleep training last night, so I literally had a migraine, complete with nausea and no appetite, the whole day (presumably from listening to so much screaming). More on the sleep training below. In spite of the migraine, Marino and I did have some fun today. We went to visit our friend's we made in the NICU: Hayden, Jackson and Audra. We got a chance to swim before the rain came. Here's a few pictures I took today. Hayden and Marino are the same adjusted age, but Hayden was born a whole month before Marino.

Miracle babies.

And here's some cute ones of all 3 of the boys.

After our visit, we came home and had lunch and then took a glorious nap together! We spent the rest of the afternoon playing, reading, etc. It was a nice day.

A few weeks ago, I met with one of the Early Intervention Specialists regarding Marino's unwillingness to sleep through the night. I know lots of parents have expressed we should just let Marino cry it out in his crib, but he gets so worked up that he starts coughing, choking and scratching himself until he bleeds:( So the specialist suggested we go to sleep in the room with him and put him to sleep drowsy but still awake, to take away the separation anxiety portion of Marino's sleep problems. She also said not to make eye contact with him and if he gets out of control to pat his back, but don't pick him up.

Last night was tough. He screamed and cried for an hour and fifteen minutes until he passed out from sheer exhaustion. Not fun. Then he woke up at 3 but he just babbled and fell back asleep until 4am (he wakes up every morning at 4 to eat and I'm ok with that, for now, 8 hours is a decent start). Tonight was soooo much easier! I put him down awake (he didn't fall asleep after his night bottle). He fussed for 15 minutes (not shedding tears, just yelling) and then just laid down and went to sleep! We'll see how the next few nights go, but so far so good!

Allergy Testing Results

On Wednesday, we had Marino's allergy testing done. If you're unfamiliar with the process, they have a serum for each allergen, which they scratch into the skin next to where they have marked the skin with a number correlating to the allergen. They check the results in 15 minutes. I had Marino tested for the most common allergens (milk, wheat, eggs, soy, dust, mold and dog) and some other things I was moderately concerned about. They don't generally do the full panel of testing on babies, since it's difficult to find room on their skin (they use the back, so the baby can't scratch it and there's only so much room on a baby's back!). Marino was great - he didn't even flinch during the test. And the results were.....he's only allergic to eggs (we already knew that, of course). I was relieved. The doctor told us we should also get a blood test, but after discussing with our pediatrician, we're not going to do that. We know he gets sick if he eats eggs and we know that the histamine appeared during the allergy test - there's no clear reason why we need to subject him to a blood draw when we know we can't feed him eggs right now anyway.
We will likely have him retested at age 4 and also tested for nuts, shellfish (which I am deathly allergic to) and pollen at that time.

Wednesday night, Marino and I met my friend Megan for dinner. Megan and I met when we took a social planning class together and she discovered I didn't know what decoupage was. She took me under her wing to teach me about the world of crafting:) Megan makes really cool jewelry and she made a beautiful necklace for my birthday (thanks, Megan!). If you're in the market for affordable, handmade jewelry, check out her etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5191888.

Marino loves "big" kids and they seem to love him, too. At dinner, these two adorable random children arrived and entertained Marino. They were so sweet! The little girl (she was 5) kept using Marino's bib to wipe the drool from his mouth (she is an experienced big sister). She kept telling me "he keeps looking at me like this" and imitating Marino's "cheese" face. It was very cute and Marino was eating up the attention.

When we got home, we had a special visitor waiting for us on the door frame. Isn't he cool? How often is a praying mantis waiting for you at home?

Friends, Marino has a true addiction. Seriously, he needs an intervention. His drug of choice? Peach flavored Puffs! He could eat about 800 of these in a sitting if I let him. Evan tried them and he concurred they are delicious.

This last picture of him makes me very sad. I know, I am totally neurotic, but doesn't he look very toddler-ish in this picture? His favorite teacher, Sherry, told me today she thought his face was looking very different in the past week and I really see it in this picture ::sob::

Weekend Highlights: Swimming, Playdates and Comedic Timing

Marino seems to be feeling somewhat better. He is definately more drowsy than usual, presumably due to the antihistamine he is taking. The good news there is he has been sleeping through the night. The bad news is, even if he is very itchy, we can't give him the antihistamine OR his Zantac for reflux again until Wednesday! His allergy test is Wednesday morning and he can't take antihistamines 72 hours before (Zantac is an antihistamine, who knew?). So, this should be interesting. We may have a very pukey, itchy boy on our hands next week.

Saturday morning, I took Marino to Romp n' Roll (http://www.rompnroll.com/). My fellow preemie mom friend, Megan, recommended it to us, so we checked it out. It's very convenient, since it's literally less than a mile from us. We took the Tumble Tunes class for kids ages 10 -24 months. We did singing in a circle, played in the gym, played instruments along with songs, etc. Marino enjoyed it, especially the gym part. He wasn't so great in the circle time. He kept just crawling in the middle of the circle, and trying to take "Rompy" (the big stuffed dog that is the mascot). This actually seemed to sort of annoy the teacher, which I had to give an eye roll to, since, seriously, he's 12.5 months. Don't show him a stuffed dog and expect him not to want to play with it!! I was also sort of annoyed at the "branding" in the class...all the songs and everything we did incorporated the company name. The highlight was that there was a boy there who looked just like Marino, but with blue eyes. Anyway, we did have a good time, but I'm not sure if we'll go back. It's also pretty expensive ($20 a class) so not something I want to make a committment to.

Later on Saturday, Robyn and Ryan came over to swim. We had a lot of fun at the pool.

Here I am getting to snuggle and swim with 2 very handsome boys:)

Pool pals.

Ryan is adorable. Look at that smile! Can I be melodramatic for a moment? I realize Marino doesn't have a ton of deep thoughts in his head right now. But, I swear, sometimes I feel like he just knows things. Yesterday, we were at the pool and it was a great summer day - hot and sunny and we were having a great time with Robyn and Ryan in the pool. Marino looked at me and smiled and then turned his face so the sun was warming him, closed his eyes, and gave this very content smile. Sometimes, I just feel like he knows how good he has it now.

Did you know that Marino is a comedian? Most babies are pretty funny, but Marino has true comedic timing! Miranda and Pacey came over to play Sunday afternoon. Miranda and I were talking about the babies clapping and I was going on and on about how Marino refuses to clap, even though we've been working on it with him for 6 months. As we were having this conversation, Marino started clapping! Oh, Marino, the irony!! He basically spent the rest of the day clapping...I think he was mad because I said he couldn't do it.

Here's a very short video of him clapping and doing the "YAY" sign afterwards (he's pretty pleased with himself)



And here's some shots of our visit with Pacey and Miranda. We had lots of fun!

The Mose Knows Where the Nose Goes!

As you've read below, this week has pretty much sucked. Basically, every night I saw Marino this week, he was overtired, itchy and crabby. But tonight he was delightful! We had a lot of fun after work playing. We were playing with the Laugh and Learn Puppy and Marino kept pointing to it's nose. I asked him "Marino, where is Mama's nose?" and he turned around and touched my nose! Then I asked him to show me the Laugh and Learn Puppy's nose and he did! Later, when Daddy was home, he asked where Max's nose is and Marino showed him!

Marino is a such big boy now. He successfully transitioned to the "waddler" room at daycare (12-24 months, but he is the youngest by 6 months). Is it strange that I cried after dropping him off there this morning (today was his first full day in the waddler room)? He's growing up too fast! I think that transition has added to his exhaustion this week - there is a lot to see there! Hopefully, when he wakes up tomorrow he will be more comfortable than this morning!

Edited to add: he also knows ears!

Another Tough "Working Mom" Day

This was a pretty tough week...with the allergic reaction and now Marino's latest ailment. I'm sure I have mentioned before that he has eczema. He's had it since he was a couple months old and it itches like crazy, from what I can tell. His only method of self-soothing involves scratching at it (sometimes until it bleeds). Well, last night I noticed the boy had some small red bumps on the back of his thighs. He was also REALLY cranky and wouldn't eat solids when we got home from work/daycare, not even his new fav - deli turkey. When he woke up this morning, the bumps were even worse and had spread to his knees and a little on his back. Luckily, we have nurses at daycare, so as soon as we arrived, I had them take a look.

The nurses said they couldn't figure out what it was, but that he needed to see the doctor today (in case it was contagious). Well, today was basically one of the least convenient days of the year for me to have to take him to the doctor, since it was our department picnic and I was one of the people coordinating it (and since my boss was the mc, I knew he would need me there). Every year, I let my employees leave after the picnic and I go cover the front desk at the office, so I couldn't even take him after the picnic. I got a 10:30 appointment and rushed him over there.

In a nutshell, the pediatrician said the bumps were a) a severe eczema flare up, likely caused by compromised immunity (vaccines and allergic reaction) and b) a secondary bacterial infection, likely introduced by him scratching and bacterial slipping under the skin. She gave me a prescription for an antibiotic and an oral anti-itch cream and told me to use hydrocortisone cream for a week. She also said I should see the allergist sooner rather than later, since we both think his skin issues may be related to an allergy we're unaware of.

After that, I rushed him back to daycare, went to the picnic, and then went back to work. Marino was NOT in a good mood when I picked him up, so for the second day in a row, 80% of the time I spent with him, he was either crying or whining. I know he is uncomfortable; I just wish I could spend the day snuggling with him and get to see him when he's not already worn out. Feeling sorry for myself today...thanks for indulging me if you made it this far.

Cousins, Cousins and More Cousins

We were lucky enough to get a chance to visit with a bunch of Marino's fellow baby cousins over the weekend. Marino is so blessed to have so many friends his age! On Friday, we went to Ms. Weaver's to visit with Evan's cousin Ahmad's wife and kids and his cousin Rahsaan's family.

Here's a picture of Raiden, who has started to walk around (he's a little less than 10 months now).

And here is Donna, Ahmad's wife. Isn't she gorgeous? I wish I looked half as good as she does and she has three children! Jahvon is in the picture with her - he's now 8 months old. Ahmad is currently in Afghanistan, where is a helicopter pilot in the Army. When Donna shows Jahvon a picture of his Daddy on her phone, he kisses the picture! Unbelievably cute!!

Here are all the babies in their various stages of crawling.

And here are the mamas and babies. Isn't Jahvon's face here priceless?

(all the pictures are "shiny" since chicken was frying in the kitchen, making the lens sort of foggy)

On Saturday, we had Marino's 12 month appointment and then we were off to Pacey's 1st birthday party. She and Marino are only 12 days apart (although they were supposed to be 7 weeks apart!). Pacey is always happy and adorable and her party was no exception.

Here's a shot of Miranda (my cousin and Pacey's Mama) and Marino.

Pacey's first glimpse of her cake...

Here's Pacey enjoying her cake.

The aftermath...

Evan holding the new toddlers...

Daddy and Marino

After Pacey's party, we went back to Ms. Weaver's to spend some more time with the other cousins before Donna and her family went back to North Carolina. We gave Marino his first corn on the cob and he really enjoyed it!
I can't believe summer is half over already and I will be back to school (read: no more fun weekends) in September:(

1st Allergy

Marino is allergic to eggs. Today was the third time he had them and within half an hour, he broke out in hives. The hives went away and then he began wretching and vomitting all over me, himself, the carpet, etc. I ended up having to put him in the tub until he stopped. After he was done vomitting, he seemed very lethargic. Of course, Evan and I were freaking out! We left a message for our pediatrician, who is amazing and returned our call within 5 minutes (today is Sunday, too). She said he didn't need to go to the ER unless he seemed to have trouble breathing, and that we should give him Pedialyte and a dose of Benadryl. She also said no eggs or butter at all (even in baked goods) for 2 months and after that we'll do full allergy testing.

The pediatrician said a lot of times an allergic doesn't occur until the child has had a few exposures to the allergen, since it can take time for the antibodies to build up to attack.

Those of you who know me well probably are not surprised my son has a food allergy. I have celiac disease (gluten/wheat allergy), I'm lactose intolerant, allergic to shellfish and eggs bother my stomach (although I don't think that the eggs are a true allergy for me). I was also allergic to citrus when I was a child. The allergy testing will be good and take a lot of the guess work out of feeding him.

He is now resting peacefully on my lap (he also LOVED the Pedialyte).

12 Month Checkup

As a preemie mom, one of the greatest phrases I've heard since Marino has been born is "he's all caught up from his prematurity at this point." What a blessing! Today we had Marino's 12 month "well baby" visit and that's exactly what the doctor had to say.

Marino is now 20 pounds, 14 ounces, which puts him in the 20th percentile for his actual age. He's 29.5 inches, which puts him in the 35th percentile for actual age. And his head...well his head is enormous...48.5 cm, which puts him in the 93rd percentile for actual age!! Perhaps the most amazing part about all this is that, even 6 months ago, Marino wasn't even on the charts for height and weight (head is a different story, of course:)). He's really made remarkable strides and we are so proud. This also means it's time to put him in the big boy car seat (the seat he's in now only goes to 30 inches).

He had a couple shots today, but after a long nap, he was back to his old self today. We also got the thumbs up to stop formula (yay! extra money!!) and to feed him any food we want to give him, with the exception of nuts and shellfish. She also recommended we see a dermatologist for his eczema (which continues to get worse each month) since a couple of new products that have been FDA approved for infants have been released recently.

It was a great visit and I'm hoping at our next well baby visit (15 months), Marino is able to walk to the exam room on his own!

Emo Baby, Emo Mama and Some NMR Updates

It's been interesting to see Marino's personality to develop more. He is actually a very sensitive guy. I had noticed that he is very troubled by other people's sadness...he'll cry if Evan or I cry or pretend to cry and he gets really concerned if a friend at daycare is crying (and won't focus on anything else). But he's also started to get really sad if Evan or I say "no" in our serious mom and dad voices. He doesn't get frustrated (we know if he is because he throws a mini-tantrum)...instead there is a 3 minute transformation where every part of his tiny face crumples up, the lip comes out and he starts wailing like he lost his best friend. Very heartbreaking but we only use the "no" for serious offenses (the latest on that comes to mind is snatching his spoon from my hand and throwing it while I was feeding him). I wonder if he will always be sensitive...

Speaking of sensitive, I had a terrible "working mom" moment on Friday. When I went to pick Marino up from daycare, he CRIED when I took him from the arms of his favorite teacher, Sherry ::sob::. I gave him back to her and he was happy as a clam, snuggling with her. I pretended to leave and when I came back he reached for me, but, wow. That really broke my heart and made me wish (even more than I normally do, that I could be a stay at home mom for now). Ouch. All moms long for the day their newborn starts to prefer them over everyone else...I didn't realize this wouldn't be the case 100% of the time:(

This is NMR (Not Marino Related), but on Wednesday, we had a baby shower at work for my friend, Monica. You may remember she is the one who went into PTL at 29 weeks in June. Well, she is off bed rest, back at work, and doing a great job of keeping Baby Vincent safe inside her! I'm looking forward to meeting Baby Vincent...once he gets to 40 weeks gestational age!

Here's a couple pictures from the shower...in this picture she is showing off her special sugar-free cookies (she has gestational diabetes)

And here she is showing off her bump (she's still tiny...I could carry her in my pocket)

Evan, Marino and I went to visit Sandra, Ishmael and Baby Anthony on Wednesday evening. He is so precious. Marino would giggle every time he saw him (maybe he wants a sibling? :) j/k). He was sleeping peacefully the whole time we were there. I forgot how sweet newborn babies are!

Special Pictures to Share

When Sonia, Wil and Catalina were visiting last week, our friend Dave took some pictures for them and he managed to get some really cute ones of Cat and Marino. I LOVE these pictures; they are some of my favorite ones since he's been born. Catalina is so adorable and such a great little girl. She is very sweet and loving and so smart! Her vocabulary is really amazing. I can't wait to see her again (we're going to visit them in NJ next month). I miss hearing her around the house saying "Momo" and "woof woof" to Max!!

Quiet Summer Weekend

This weekend was a relatively quiet one for us. I was feeling pretty burned out from planning for and having last week's party so I wanted a peaceful weekend. Saturday morning, Evan, Marino and I went to the pool for a little while. Marino loved it; he is getting really good at grasping the concept of kicking his legs to get where he wants to go in the pool via his boat. We also made a friend in the baby pool. He just learned "splash" this week (receptively, not expressively) so we had some fun splashing.

After a nap (Marino, not Mama, unfortunately) we went to Sarah's house to have a playdate with her and Claire. Claire is getting so big and she can do everything Marino can! It was fun to watch them play, although I wish there was a simple way to teach Marino "gentle." He is pretty rough.

Doesn't he look like he's up to something in these pictures?

After a nice long nap, Daddy helped us clean up the yard and we played with the water table, a birthday gift from Aunt Sonia, Uncle Wil and Cat. As you saw in the pictures from Marino's birthday party, the water table is a big hit with kids of all ages. Marino loves splashing around in his.

By the way, if anyone has advice on how to grow healthy grass, please tell me! We've grown some new grass since the spring but then some of the formerly healthy grass died. I'm lost!

Today we just relaxed and ran errands, including buying a big boy carseat (although he can still fit in his infant seat for now). I have to say that Marino is becoming increasingly opinionated and tempermental. I suppose it could be teething but it is probably more likely a sign of him becoming a toddler. He has adopted a new cry that sounds like some small animal is being tortured. I'm hoping once he is able to communicate better, the amount of crying and tantrums will be reduced, but I am probably kidding myself:)

We got a few new things for the tub today, too. Last week Marino fell backwards in the tub and hit his head, since all he wants to do is stand in the tub. My mom suggested we get a no-slip mat and we found it serves a dual purpose, since he like pointing at the cars and "telling" us about them. We also got a fun new toy, hoping he would sit in the tub longer.

Here's a picture from tonight's bath.

Our efforts seemed to be relatively successful!

Marino's 1st Birthday Party!

Last Saturday was Marino's birthday party. It was a really special party for us...not only was it a chance to celebrate our amazing boy but also to celebrate lots of the wonderful people in our life who have shared their love, support and prayers for us over this past year. It really has taken a village to raise our child and we're lucky to have all these special people in our lives. We had lots of old friends, like Sonia and Rachel, who have been my friends since we were in high school, and new friends, like Dr. Simon, who was Marino's critical care doctor in the PICU and Lauren, who was my nurse the night Marino was born (and after).

Another very cool part of the party was that people knew each other from the blog! I loved it!! And of course, Marino was spoiled with gifts from all our generous friends and family. He also really liked the "Happy Birthday" singing (both versions that Daddy had us sing). He was pretty indifferent about the cake...he seems to prefer cauliflower!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the party and a video of many others.

Note: As always, all the decent looking pictures here were taken by our friend, Dave King. Also, if anyone is looking for a 1st (or 2nd, 3rd, etc) onesie/shirt (some people have asked me about this already), this is where I got Marino's http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6119023

Welcome to the World Anthony James!

Our friends Ishmael and Sandra welcomed their baby boy, Anthony James, into the world last night. He is 7lb, 6oz and almost 21 inches long! Evan and I had the honor of going to visit them in the hospital tonight and I even got snuggle time with Baby AJ! He is adorable and so peaceful! I can't wait to watch him grow!!

Staycation

Since Evan and I both have very little vacation time (and even less money), we decided just to take a few days off from work this summer and stay home with the boy. Lucky for us, my dear friend Sonia, her awesome husband, Wil, and their 17-month-old daughter, Catalina, were able to come stay with us for a few days (they live in New Jersey), so we had a lot of fun together.

Thursday, Richelle and I took Max and Marino for a walk around the lake and got caught in a huge rain storm! Richelle took this very cool picture of us trying to keep dry under a tree...note Max's innovative way to stay dry...

On Friday, which was Marino's actual birthday, Evan and I spent most of the day getting things ready for Marino's birthday party the following day. My mom, stepfather, dad and stepmother all came over to spend some time with Marino, which I think they all enjoyed.

Saturday was the birthday party (seperate post on that to come once I have the pictures). My wonderful friend Rachel and her boyfriend Wrenford stayed the night and we loved having all our great friends with us!! After the party, we attempted to go watch the fireworks at the Soccerplex but we ended up watching them from a nearby field (which was probably better for the babies anyway, since we could see them but they weren't very loud).

On Sunday, Wil and Sonia cooked breakfast for us, which was awesome! Catalina calls Marino "Momo" which is the cutest nickname ever! I love it!! Then Sonia and I went to Wheaton Regional Park where we met up with one of Sonia's college friends, Cara, who lives local. We rode the carousel (on the big zebra this time), played at the playground, and rode the train that goes around the park.

Sunday evening, Sonia and I went to see "My Sister's Keeper." The movie was good, but whoa, it was sad. I mean, start to finish, I had tears in my eyes...and Sonia is 6 months pregnant so she likely felt like she was being emotionally tortured. I read the book long before I even got pregnant, but being a mom gave me a very different perspective on the entire storyline...I think you'd have to be a mom to really understand the pain that the mother in that story feels; I can't imagine. Anyway...on to happier things...

Here's Sonia and Cat before the train ride.

And here's Momo and Cat on the cars at the playground.


Then Momo decided to work on his big boy skills, like holding his own bottle...

Later that afternoon, I snapped this picture of him...ready to take on the world.

On Monday, we took the kids to the zoo. This was Marino's first trip to the zoo. He was definately more interested in the indoor exhibits, which were closer to his eye level and sight plane, but he seemed to enjoy himself.

We saw some cool animals like...seals

and gorillas.

Momo tried to put his sun hat on Cat.

We saw some creepy crawlies...

And Cat and Marino had a chance to bond. Seeing them play together just melts my heart...Sonia and I have been the best of friends for almost 17 years now and seeing our children together is just a beautiful experience.

As you can see, Marino was very tired by the end of our zoo trip...

Tuesday was my 31st birthday. Let me say that my 30th birthday was the worst birthday ever. And I don't just mean for me. It seriously has to rank as one of the worst birthdays of all time (although no one died or anything, so I realize it could have been worse). Overnight on my 30th birthday, I developed c.diff after having had a blood transfusion (ie: my body was already beaten down) and being put on antibiotics (which killed all the probiotics in my belly). I was already so sick that when the c.diff came, the doctors and nurses had a hard time getting it under control, which was why I ended up having to spend 2 full weeks in the hospital. C.diff is an infection of the colon. The bacteria can only be controlled with hand washing...hand sanitizer doesn't kill the bacteria, which is why it spreads quickly in a hospital setting (where I picked it up). But when it started, I was still immobile, catheterized, etc....I had to have Evan and everyone else leave so I could spend the entire night developing a bed sore using a bed pan. Ummm...if anyone ever told me that was how I would be spending my 30th birthday, I would have never believed it. Then, of course, to add insult to injury, everyone who came in my room had to be gowned and gloved (as if I had the plague) AND I couldn't see Marino until my fever broke (days later). So, yeah, bloody colon, no NICU visits and a bed sore = worst birthday ever.

Back to the present...my 31st birthday was great! Not only do I have a healthy body and a healthy son, I also got to do lots of fun things! In the morning, Sonia and I went to Glen Echo Park to see the Tiny Tots puppet show with the kids. It's really cute...the kids can run around, dance, etc. I really enjoyed it and Marino gave some "YAY"s with his arms up, so I'm assuming he liked it too:) Then we all went to Buy Buy Baby to test out some double strollers for Sonia, before she joins the world of "2 under 2" (we found a great one).

Then we came home for naps and were off to the pool. Sonia and family had gotten Marino this turtle float as one of his birthday presents and he loved it! He was kicking his legs, and dunking his face in the shallow part in the front of the float (don't ask me why, maybe he was trying to drink the water?)

Here's Sonia with Marino and Cat in their boats.
Evan and Wil hanging out in the pool.

When we got home, we gave Momo and Cat a bath together. What's cuter than that? I censored the private bits, so Cat doesn't hate me one day... Marino has gotten so tan since the summer started (I put plenty of sunscreen on him but he tans anyway).

After the baths, we went to dinner at my favorite thai place, Jasmine Thai.

Here's a family shot...

Sonia and Wil

Sonia and I.

And here's Max from last night, snuggling with Marino's new Laugh and Learn Puppy.
Sonia and family left this morning and we all miss them already! I took Marino to daycare around noon today so Evan and I could have some time to relax before we go back to work tomorrow. Today was the first time Marino ever cried when I was leaving him at daycare...it was tough.

Today is Evan's 30th birthday! We ordered in, watched a movie, and spent the day being lazy. It definately wasn't an exciting day, but I hope Evan enjoyed it anyway!