It's Only Once a Year

Once a year I like to take the boys to get professional photos done.  This year I was super excited to get a good picture of the boys together.  Maybe I should have gone back in early November right when Love Bug turned 1, but I didn't and we went today and though I didn't get a good one of the boys together, I got a few good individual ones and decent one of the family.  Roo was not on his best behavior and was acting very 3.  And by the time we got Roo to smile, Love Bug decided he was done.  Hopefully next time we'll get a better photographer, she just wasn't very helpful helping us getting the boys to smile and laugh.  But for the money and the number of photos you get, we sill like Portrait Innovations the best.  Here are a few of the pictures from today.  

Holly Jolly

The boys had a great day and had a ton of fun opening and playing with all the gifts they got from Santa.  I asked Roo who visited his house during the night and he whispered "Santa."  He was so excited he ran downs stairs and wanted to open every present he saw.  We held him off until everyone was around and then we all opened our gifts.  It's so much fun to watch the boys, it's hard not to spoil them!  They loved everything they got from everyone and had a blast spending the day playing with all their new toys.  Thanks to all our family and friends for making this such a special day for the boys!

Roo had fun finding everything that was in his stocking.  He had no idea what other fun things he was going to get from Santa and family.
Love Bug thought the nose on the snowman was pretty yummy!  He probably had more fun with the stocking than what was inside!
Love Bug was excited every time we put a present on his tray.

He liked his talking dinosaur from Grammy and Papa.

Roo was really excited about his soccer goal and soccer ball.  He's been asking to play in the garage recently so now he has everything he needs to become the next family soccer star!

Roo remembered the commercial we all saw of Elefun and the butterflies you try to catch.  Can't wait to play it later this weekend, should be entertaining!

What is this present that is so exciting to open?

It's an awesome parking garage with a heliport from Grandma and Grandpa.

The boys both really enjoy playing with the parking garage!  Mommy does too :)

Mommy and daddy got Roo a work bench that has real projects, and a handy man dress up outfit too.   Should be perfect for our little helper.

I'm going to get a lot of work done on the house today.  I just need Dean here to help me.

Both boys loved Chuck the Talking Truck from Grammy and Papa.  Chuck is always a hit with the boys!

What's this nicely wrapped gift?

Very cool, a book I can eat, chew, and play really hard with that won't get destroyed.  Thanks Barb and Robb!

This is all very fun, but tiring, I think I need a snack!

This piano from Grandma and Grandpa is really neat.  We both like to play it with our feet!

Hooray for Cookie Monster.  Thanks Uncle Matt, I love Cookie Monster :)

And this gift was a hit simply because of the gifter.  Thanks Aunt Carol and Uncle Kenny, I can't wait for mommy and daddy to put my kitchen together so I can make some cookies.  And thanks Uncle Matt for the toys to go along with my new kitchen.  Roo had fun feeding us all waffles that he made in his toaster later in the day.

This bag is really pretty, I like playing with it!

And the puppy inside is really cute too.  Just like me!

Grandpa, I'm going to have a lot of fun with these blocks, especially when I dump them around the house every night :)

Got your nose!

They got lots of other great gifts too.  I'll post them playing with them or wearing them over the next week.  Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season.  

Twas The Night Before...

Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Matt came down a little earlier than normal this year because the forecast was calling for some freezing rain.  We went to dinner at Vinny's with the boys and had a fun meal.  Before we left, I wanted to get a picture of the boys together.  Such a simple concept.  So much harder to execute.  I will never live down telling Roo that he was not being a team player.  At least I didn't tell him that Santa wasn't going to come, that would have been mean.  We had a really nice evening and Roo was excited that Santa was going to come to his house and that Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Matt were all sleeping at his house for the night, he doesn't get overnight visitors very often!

Hopeful

Since we've taken Love Bug off the Zantac he's been really cranky and has not napped well.  I emailed the doctor from Children's and spoke with her yesterday and she confirmed that his mood could very well be due to GI issues and she suggested we go ahead with the endoscopy.  I'm not excited about the prospect of putting him under, even if it is routine and for just a short time.  So daddy and I started discussing what we thought we should do but before we came to any sort of conclusions out of the corner of my eye I saw what I thought was a molar when I was playing with the little Bug.  So I stuck my finger in his mouth, and sure enough, he has a molar that is most of the way through.  

A molar!?!  

He's got 2 teeth on the bottom and 4 on top, so this molar is totally out of order.  But, I'll take an out of order molar any day over GI issues.  The solution for teething pain is Motrin and it seems to be working.  He slept in this morning until 7 and took a 2.5 hr morning nap and an ok nap this afternoon, and has been is such a good mood all day.  Our guess is that his random fever last week was probably from this pesky tooth and that this is what has been causing him all this discomfort.

We are hopeful that he doesn't actually have any GI issues, reflux or EE, doesn't need any tests, and can just be a normal baby and get regular doses of Motrin for pesky teething pain.  Fingers crossed!

Santa at the Firehouse

Last Friday, Santa came to our local firehouse.  In addition to letting Santa visit, the firehouse had cookies, punch and allowed the kids to see and play on one of the fire trucks in one of the bays.  

I took Roo to see Santa.  He did great, he sat on his lap and looked at him like he was insane when he asked what he wanted Santa to bring him.  He talked to him real softly for just a moment and then continued to look at him like he was crazy.

We had some cookies and punch and the firehouse gave us a couple of pictures they took of Roo with Santa and then we went to see the fire truck.  Roo loves fire trucks and was so excited to see the fire truck yet he stopped in his tracks as soon as he stepped foot in the bay.  I think he was shocked with the size of the truck.  And even though they were keeping it pretty quiet the noises were different enough that they probably scared him too.  A nice lady came over to us and tried to get him to come in and see the truck but he just refused.  

I didn't force him in, so we left and Roo was happy and ready to eat his candy cane Santa gave him.  Hopefully Santa will come to the fire house again next year, it was a lot of fun and great not having to worry about crowds at the mall!  It's nice that the county sponsors these sort of events for the community.  Every time we drive near the fire house Roo talks about how mommy took him to the fire house to see Santa, and goes on and on and on about it.  It's really cute and it's also exciting because this is the first year that he understands Santa.

Snowpocalypse 2009

Wow, we got a lot of snow!  Almost 2 ft of snow.  The snow started Friday night around 7pm and didn't end until around 10pm on Saturday night.  Over 24 hours of snow.  And it's beautiful, especially today since it's sunny out.

Roo played a little in the snow yesterday and decided it was a little too cold with the snow still coming down.  He did want to measure it like daddy does with just his normal shoes on, so he tried and thought it was pretty funny to get snow all over him, but quickly came in.

He's been outside today for a few hours now.  I'm actually hoping he'll come in soon because he's tired.  After daddy shoveled us out of the driveway, we went for a short ride to see how bad the roads are.  The state roads aren't looking so great, but they do have 1 passable lane.  The county roads are a little worse, but our neighborhood road is awesome.  A portion of our homeowners dues go to plowing during the snow, definitely worth the money.

Daddy and Roo built an igloo.  It's pretty cool.  And they also built a nice seat in the snow.  The little bug was a little unsure of the snow but he had fun being outside with everyone.  Hooray for a snow day!  Lets cross our fingers that work gets cancelled tomorrow.