The boys

John tries to play it down, he tries to play it tough but the three of us really know he's a softy. I wouldn't have it any other way. That's Amore.

Eight months with Joey has come and gone as fast as he downs a bottle these days. I try hard to be a good mom, to document his life as much as possible. Years from now I want him to look back and know how much he was loved, how incredible he was right from the start. Even as a young child I remember looking back at younger photos of myself and family.  I could just sit there for hours and recall family vacations and time spent in the back yard pool. The photographs were nothing more than snap shots but my Mom had made memories in those little frames. Ones I will hold dear to my heart forever. These are nothing special, just a few frames from over the last week. 

                                              

Playing in the living room. 

He has two teeth now. 

Out take from our Christmas card photo shoot on kitchen floor.

I've been planing this year's Christmas cards since July it seems.

        

Dad spent some time with us Thanksgiving morning and Joey didn't cry once.

He's been taking his time warming up to grandpa. 

Playing with Nana and Grandpa. 

               

On our trip to Jersey John found his mother's meatball recipe in his cousins recipe box. It made his day. He spent Thanksgiving cooking baked ziti with the meatballs. It was all so good. 

Yesterday

Yesterday, the last day of my vacation for the rest of the entire year...Sad yes very sad I know. We spent the day cleaning and getting ready for the cold weather. It was mild so I cleaned broken pots and withering, frost bitten plants from the back steps Joey played for the first time outside in his play pen. I as I carried him outside he looked at me like, really mom, outside, come on we do this like, never... insert a tad bit of guilt here.

 As the garage got cleaned and the Mustang washed, we went for a tractor ride. The first since the first first when you were barely old enough to scream at the top of your lungs because you were forced to sit on the seat for cheesy photos. I think you enjoyed yourself a little more this time.

 I know John did. You also reached for the naked lady on the stearing wheel...

 Squealing for food...

 Playing with dad and your glow baby...

 Kisses...

 Reading books upside down...

 Tummy time... Oh the missery.

Jersey

 

We made the more than 600 mile trip across three states to John's home state of New Jersey last week to visit friends and family. It was so nice to see everyone and spend time with those that we usally only get to talk to over the phone.

It was Joey's first long trip, something that I was so nervous, maybe terrified about for weeks before. I planed and planed every last detail. What to bring and how to pack it. Turns out, there was nothing to be nervous about. He was such a trooper the entire week. We stayed with friends which was so much nicer than it would have been in a hotel. They have a 6 month old daughter Nicole and the two of them hit it off quite nicely. 

If nothing else the trip confermed my confidence in my day to day parenting skills. Seems a trip to the grocery store is nothing now, a little fussing at home is cake compared to the wailing from the backseat along I-80 someplace in the middle of Ohio. Can't say I blame him we wanted out too. 

I hope the trips out east contiune as much as possible.  There is nothing like it. But I've never been so happy to pull back in my driveway.

Christmas dinner

There has always been a tiny corner of my mom's heart where animals have a home. I'm not 100 percent sure but I don't think there have been many times in her life when she hasn't has some kind of creature to call her own. 

Joey and I spent a little time this morning visiting the hens we took to the farm earlier this summer and got one last glimpse of the turkeys before they make their way to mom's freezer. 

I may have gotten a little poop on my shoes but it was worth it to see them both enjoying a visit with feathered friends. I don't spend early as much time down there as I would like. 

Jump

It makes you feel good.


Jumping from Wendy Antrosiglio on Vimeo.

Guilt

I've been at this mom thing a while now, seven months actually, yesterday was the first time I let the "mom guilt" get to me. It's not like I wasn't thinking about his first halloween, his inability to actually walk the neighborhood in search of sugary goodness, or even consume it. One tooth isn't going to get him very far into that reese cup and his orthodontist with thank me later. 

Last week the pumpkin bib at the dollar spot seemed just the right bit of festive for your first Halloween. This was all before I walked the Halloween Stroll, the very walk my mother often took my sister and I on each year to get our sugar highs off to a great start. The place was crawling with tots dressed as dragons and fairies and other creatures of the sort. The ones that waddle when they walk and suck the tails of their costumes as their adults shuffle them through the line collecting all the loot they can get their hands on... They are all so cute, even the ugly ones. There really are ugly children. 

That's when it hit me. How could I let my little boy have his first sugar filled holiday pass him up without a costume. It was like I was starving him, oh the neglect. I called my mom and cried... What in the hell has motherhood done to me. I'm getting soft and worse yet it's starting to show. 

And then, after a deep breath I came to my senses and well, got over it.