Cameron & Evan's 2nd Birthday!

Saturday, we went to the 2nd birthday party for our fellow preemie friends, Cameron and Evan.
Our buddies Katie and Brendan were there as well. It had been a while since the last time we saw them, so it was great to visit and see all these healthy, happy toddlers running around. We were so happy to be a part of the twins' special day!

Let me just say that Marino had more fun at this party than I've ever seen him have before. What a blessing it is to see my boy having so much fun that he can't stop smiling or laughing...just running around with a look of sheer joy on his face. His happiness puts joy in my heart. The reason for all this joy..................................a bounce house. Not just any bounce house, but this monstrosity here.

This was the bounce house they had at Rollie Pollies for the birthday party. And the boy was in love. He climbed into the bounce house, up the ladder (about 10 steps) and went down the slide and climbed out all on his own about 50 times! I had no idea he could even do those things! He had no fear, every time he just got more and more excited. I wish I had one of these in our backyard!!

Brendan was having a great time, too!
At the top of the steps, that he climbed on his own.

Does he look happy?

This is before he discovered the bounce house.

One of the birthday boys, Evan.

Ready to go down the slide (that slide was fast and fun for mommies, too).

I asked Brendan to smile and check out this million dollar grin. He's a natural model!

Big trampoline.

Falling into the wall in the bounce house and cracking up.

Marino and Brendan, discussing their love of balls.

Evan being brave on the jungle gym.

The boy is in love.

Cute Elmo cake for the boys!

Cameron and Evan...plates are more interesting than pizza (by the way, does pizza have eggs in it? I couldn't remember, so I avoided it, but Marino was interested in it).
I think Marino had a crush on this little girl.

Laura was so sweet, she made egg-free cupcakes! Marino didn't get past the frosting - he was really into it!

Happy Birthday, Cameron and Evan!!

Katie and Laura got Marino this super cool Brobee backpack! He loves it! The whole way home, he was hugging it and saying "Oh, Brobee. Cute!" and giving Brobee big smacking kisses. This morning he was wearing the backpack while he was playing and periodically hugging himself with Brobee's arms. Thanks for thinking of him, ladies! You're the best!

5 on Friday

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

5. Over the weekend I found him laying on his belly in the kitchen, staring at the floor. I asked what he was doing and he said, "Mommy, I see bug walking." And sure enough, there was an ant walking on the floor. Sometimes his language blows me away.

4. Marino got some little sunglasses in his goody bag from Nicholas' party and he was totally in love with them. I brought him upstairs to show him what he looked like in the mirror and as soon as he saw himself, he said "Ha ha. Cute!"

3. Evan was calling me the other day and Marino kept looking at me strange since he was calling me "Sara" instead of "Mommy." I told him, "Mommy's other name is Sara." He touched my chest and said "Sada." It was ridiculously adorable.

2. When the boy is done hearing a book I'm reading (no matter if we're on the 2nd page or the last page), he shuts the book and shouts "THE END!!!"

1. Marino has been transitioning into the pre-school/toddler room at daycare (he's currently in the "Waddler" room). Wednesday they reported that he took a nap ON A COT in the pre-school with other big kids. He's growing up so fast!!!!!!!!

A Wednesday With My Boy

***Please excuse the poor quality of the pictures in this post. My camera battery died soon after we got there, so I sort of forced the camera to take pictures with a weak battery and the results were not great!***

Wednesday, daycare was closed for a professional day, so I took a personal day and spent the day with Marino. We had a great time! First, we went to the Playseum with our friends Jen, Sydney and Baby Noah. Sydney is the sweetest child; I just adore her! Marino is currently refusing to share anything with anyone, so this is making him a less than ideal playmate right now. Luckily, Sydney didn't seem phased by his antics.

I don't think you can fit that ball in that hoop, Marino.

Here's Sydney, being adorable in a playhouse.

Marino doing some shopping.

His favorite place in the Playseum, the ball room.

It was interesting to see what he was and wasn't interested in there. They have a room with dresses, jewelry, wigs, etc, and while I didn't expect that to be his favorite place, he started yelling when I even tried to have him come in the room (where Sydney was trying on a dress). It's very interesting to me, from a sociological standpoint, to see children take on gender roles at this age. Certainly, no one has ever told him not to like dresses and wigs or to like balls and cars, and yet he seems to naturally gravitate to those things.

I got to hold a baby bunny at the Playseum. I am totally in love with all baby animals, so this was a rare treat for me. I know this picture is awful, but I wanted to share the cuteness. Marino was actually very gentle when petting these bunnies, and the bigger bunnies they took out for us. He kept pointing at the bunnies in their cages and saying "oh, bunny jumping! oh, bunny running!" He loved them.

Sydney in the fire truck.
She's so cute, here she was telling Marino to sit in this seat.

I know this picture is out of focus, but I thought it was very cute how excited he was over this apple!

I had to take him home since he decided he was starving and went and took another boy's orange off the table in front of him. The whole way home he was saying "Bye bye, Sydney. Bye bye Baby" (baby = Noah).

After our Playseum trip, we went home to EAT and nap and then went to a follow up appointment with the Pulminologist. Ironically, Wednesday was the first time since our last visit to the Pulminologist two months ago that Marino had any congestion (we're not sure if it's a cold or allergies). He told me to keep Marino on the same dose of Pulmicort we're using (.5mg twice a day), at least until June. It's been 8 weeks and between the Pulmicort and the Singulair, Marino's breathing has been perfect. We haven't even needed any Albuterol! We'll see him again in June, and if all is still well with Marino's breathing, we'll start cutting back the Pulmicort dosage, at least until cold and flu season starts again.

After we got home from the doctor, Evan, Marino, Max and I all went down to the lake. Marino got to feed some geese, which he really enjoyed. He particularly enjoyed watching them fight over the bread; he kept saying "ooooohhhh, coooool!"

First Weekend of Spring!

After last weekends' insane amounts of rain (and my scary flooded road experience), I was happy to see lots of sunshine this weekend. We've been heading to the playground every day after we get home from work to get in some playtime before the boy goes to bed (and wear him out...it took him a few days to adjust to daylight savings time). Saturday afternoon, we headed out to North Beach to go to a birthday party for our buddy Nicholas. He turned 2 (but he is the size of a 5 year old!).

Here's the birthday boy Nicholas and his sweet mommy, Jessica.

Marino loved this keyboard. McKinzy is next to him, isn't she precious?

This is Morgan. Such a sweetie and look at that face! Adorable!
The boy (I know he really needs a haircut!)
A boy and his "moose" (still what he calls balloons). The party had a Nemo theme, so he's wearing his Nemo shirt.

He's cracking up at something Morgan's mom said...he thought she was pretty hysterical.

After the party, Marino and I took a trip over to the beach with Morgan and her mommy. It was a gorgeous day, and the kids liked the beach, although Marino had a total tantrum meltdown because I wouldn't let him go in the freezing cold water.

This bunny was in front of one of the beautiful houses on the beach. Marino was in love.

As you can see, they were the exact same size.

He definately enjoyed walking on the beach and checking out the water.

By the way, if you want a whale shirt, it's part of a new line of sea creature shirts my buddy Jill will be selling over at Zingo Tots.

Happy boy with Morgan on the boardwalk. They had lots of races...Marino lost them all!

Pointing out the birdies.

Not only is Morgan photogenic, she actually holds still for pictures. It's great!

How cute are these two?

Checking out the ocean

Morgan giving Marino the side eye.

Oh, that bunny again!

Morgan liked him, too.

Hello, Spring! Nice to see you again!!