It's going by way too fast-

Today, this handsome little dude is 6 months! I can't believe how quickly time is flying by, I swear he was born last week, right? 99% of the time we cuddle Dex for a bit and lay him down awake in his crib and he falls asleep all on his own. But the other night while I was snuggling him he passed right out in my arms... and I just couldn't put him down. I felt almost sad looking at how big he's gotten. And figuring he'll probably be our last I feel like our time with a small baby is almost over. We won't miss the sleepless nights, that's for sure, but the snuggles of a tiny little baby and the babbling noises are pure heaven, not to mention how good he smells! Now, I'm counting on a couple friends to have babies in the next few years so I get my fix and don't do anything crazy :) No pressure guys-

cute little monkey jumping on the bed-

I can't get over how good Clark is with his little brother. I thought we would have more jealousy issues, but I don't think Clark remembers life before his baby brother. I'm glad we have spaced them the way we have, even if it does make things a little hectic at times. I hope they grow up the best of friends. We'll see :)

And, this is how he wakes up from his nap. Seriously. I guess most babies are really happy when they wake up, but Clark was usually on the fussier side of life so it really amazes us every single time he wakes up and is the happiest little dude ever.

Recently Dex has discovered his feet. So whenever they're not in footie jammies or socks he's trying to get them in his mouth-

Clark was jumping up and down in the crib and Dex was loving every second of it...

And this is one of those moments I'm so glad we had two-

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas...

I love Christmas- by far the most magical time of the year (although Halloween is a close second for me.) And, getting to experience the holidays through your Children adds an entire new level of wonder. I've figured out the only good thing about it getting dark out at 5 is the fact I can turn our lights on for longer, and holiday cards are going out today!

We lost our Christmas tree in the basement flood of 2008 and since we were in FL for Christmas last year were able to put that purchase off. So we waited this year until the Christmas trees went half off, and scooped up this lovely one. Clark helped decorate it, which is why there's a blue snack bowl in the tree- that he was VERY proud of :) All our favorite guys are in there, Yoda, Chewy, C3P0, ET, Frodo, sock monkeys, fire trucks, choo-choos, and soon Woody & Jesse and even some of the UP characters will be there too. Clark loves walking around the tree and pointing everything out.

The Yankees are well represented

Yoda, of course.

What? Santa's coming?!?!

Matching Shirts

I had to snap a pic of these boys in their matching fire truck shirts that Grandma & Grandpa gave them for Christmas. Adorable, I love these little boys!

It's been a long two years-

I never used to go two days without talking to my Mom, and now it's been two years. It's just crazy to even think about. I was able to picture how it would be to not have her in my life because I seriously couldn't imagine it. She was always my first phone call for everything. But I guess that's why God gave me an awesome husband. He knew I'd need a new person to call about all the mundane things in my life. And people say you miss someone you love every single day once they're gone. And I do. And in strange ways, a certain song will come on, or I'll smell something that will bring a memory back, or something will be "christmasy" and I'll laugh because that's a little joke between us that has NOTHING to do with Christmas.

It's strange to think I have a new adorable family member that she never got to hold, or snuggle, or smell (because he smells SO good) and his smile just brightens the room. And I know she would have loved him. And sometime I wish I could just call her one more time and tell her all the things that have gone on in these past two years, because she was the best listener, and always knew the perfect thing to say. But mostly I try not to think about it, because it makes me sad.

And it wasn't planned tonight, but we had our first official meal on our new dining room table. It was Steak N Shake before Rich and Miles headed out to the Star Wars concert together. It was one of her favorites and I smiled to myself. So appropriate. Our lives will never be the same now that she's gone. But I'm so lucky she got to see her children grow up, get married and have babies and share in so many important parts of our lives. I'm lucky she met Clark and got to see me become a mom. And I'm lucky I was given a great Mother in Law, who I can call with all my random parenting and cooking questions, and that loves my children *almost* as much as I do :) And an awesome Gramme whom my boys adore. And seriously amazing friends and family who are here for me in so many ways. So as much as today really sucks, and always will- I am lucky and I can't forget that.

Great Grandma Grace

Turns 94 today. We wish we would have been able to celebrate with her in person at her party last weekend but we had to settle for the webcam today. Clark got to say "hi" to his Ge-Ge-Ma as he calls her, even though he was in a cranky mood, and Dex got to give her smiles. We already can't wait for our next trip down there. Love you Great Gram!!! Hope you had a wonderful day.

This is a picture of the boys in their matching outfits that Great Gram for them for Christmas.

Bananas

A couple days ago we gave Dex a banana in his mesh feeder, and he LOVED it. He couldn't get enough and ended eating almost the entire banana.


He got banana everywhere and we ended up having to give him a bath right after-

The Last Supper - Clark style

So I guess I'm not the only one with an unhealthy obsession with the dining room table. Clark is all over it- all the time. He likes to arrange his "friends" along the bench and then sit with them. Hilarious.

Here is Dug, the Gabba crew, Kevin, Alpha, Clark, Wall-E, and Woody.

Chicago & Rebecca's baby shower-

A couple weekends ago I headed up to Chicago solo for a little weekend away. We were going to make it a family trip (Rich and I even had Pixies tickets) but after getting back from FL we wanted to get the boys back on their sleep schedules and figured it would be better if they stayed home- So I drove up late Friday night. Beck and I got to see New Moon Saturday afternoon, and Franklyn and I went for some YUMMY Agami sushi. How I miss that place! Then Sunday was Rebecca's baby shower that I helped host, and it was fantastic. I didn't take many pictures because my Nikon was in the shop and the battery died on my Elph- so I took pictures with the Frye's camera. Needless to say I don't have any to post, but it was so wonderful seeing two of my best friends in the world in the same weekend. I can't believe the next time I will see Rebecca she's going to be a mom officially and I'll get to meet baby Gabriella. I can't wait!!!

Thanksgiving

I'm super behind on my photo updating, so here are some of our Thanksgiving shots. We got to experience a parenting first this year- missing a holiday because of a sick little dude. If we were the only ones with children it wouldn't have been a big deal, but of course we didn't want to expose any of the other kids so we stayed on lockdown. The night ended with me driving to Marc's house and doing a little food swap, and Rich and I ate Thanksgiving dinner on our couch at 9 at night. Oddly enough, it was perfect. Although, I do hope everyone is healthy this Christmas!

So, I had our guys in matching Thanksgiving jammies and wanted to take a cute picture of them together. But of course, with Clark not feeling well that was impossible. So here's some pictures of Dex in all his glory- I just can't get enough of him! And check it out- he can officially sit up on his own.

Dex eating rock band-

Poor little sick guy on the couch-

Dex got to eat some sweet potatoes

A1A - BEACH FRONT AVENUE

While we were in FL we were lucky enough to head to the beach for a couple days, and had so much fun we were left wondering why we hadn't done it before. I thought it was hilarious when we turned onto A1A, just like the Vanilla Ice song, ha! As much as we love our boys it was amazing being childless for two whole days, sleeping in, relaxing and playing in the sun. But of course we missed them like crazy. We're already so excited to go back one day with the boys when they're older, and Bella too! Thanks to Grandma & Grandpa for taking the little rugrats for two entire days. We know it was as exhausting as it was enjoyable, and it was so wonderful knowing they were in good hands. CLICK HERE if you want to see the rest of the pictures...

The first day when we arrived we ate lunch at a little restaurant on the beach. Then headed to our hotel, relaxed, got fancy and went for some dinner. Later that night we watched the Steeler's game and I even was able to catch up on some reading.

The next day we headed to a different hotel, Ron Jon, which had a very fun pool area we took full advantage of. Joe and Traci hung with us for a good part of the afternoon and then headed back home. Rich took a nap, something that doesn't happen often, and I read by the pool for a couple hours. Then we headed out to a Tiki Bar & Grill for some dinner and even a movie after.

Bella at the pool. It's just not right now cute Traci is pregnant ;)

Traci and I catching some rays

The boys on the lazy river

Rich going down the giant water slide

That next morning Joe & Grandpa drove Clark back to Ron Jon so he could play in the pool and hit the beach. He had SO much fun!

Clark and Joe "simming"

The boys heading to the beach

Splashing in the waves

Clark's first bite of clam chowder. And despite the look on his face he LOVED it and ended up eating half my bowl-

My new love-

It's not the greatest picture in the world, but I had to share our newest purchase- We have wanted a new dining room set for a REAL long time. We've been using my Mom & Dad's set that was given to them 42 years ago before their wedding. And as much as I loved it, it wobbled so bad that if you cut your steak your drink would spill, and who wants that? Well, gotta LOVE craigslist- I found the exact set from Crate & Barrel I had been drooling over for 1/4 the cost. It looks brand new, the previous owners hadn't had the table for long and were moving the next day. It wasn't going to fit in their new place so they needed it gone. Lucky us :) So of course I've re-arranged most of our first floor, the old dining set is now our breakfast room set. The media area is slowly turning into a playroom... Now my next project is replacing the super ugly lighting in this place!