Has it been ONE YEAR already?!?!?

Something wonderful happened exactly one year ago yesterday.

Don Matteo made his grand entrance into the world and, well, he's never looked back.

Can you believe that this not-so-little baby........

Turned into this mischievous lookin' mini-dude?!?!?!?!?!

Amazing.

Happy Birthday, Matty!!

The Little Bro Blues

Sometimes being the Little Brother ain't all it's cracked up to be.

Sigh.

See Exhibit A below.

Mikey

The Five O's

I love the Olympics.

Let me clarify that.

I love the Winter Olympics.

I have to say it is quite a challenge trying to watch the Olympics this time around. I record the nightly broadcast and watch periodically throughout the following day. And though I can't watch all that I want, I get my fill. All the exciting bits.

No, I can't go online and watch it. If I go online, you find out who won what almost immediately. I like the suspense.

The best part about watching during the day is that Katie is really into it. I'm not sure if she is genuinely interested in the sports or if it's just 'cause the TV is on.

She is most content watching figure skating. YAY!!!! Huzbend hates (is hate too weak a word?) figure skating. So, this is great for me. Let's just hope the interest is sustainable for another four years.

Warning: Winter Olympics Fandom exposure imminent......

Go, Evan! That Yevgeny dude needs a good slap upside his ego-filled blonde head. Do it to it, bro.

Mikey laughed out loud at Katie for the first time today. She was jumping on the bed and he thought it was the most hilarious thing he has ever seen. He's smiled at her before, but never laughed at her antics. I'm beginning to see the bond forming. I am gonna be in sooo much trouble when he is old enough to boss around. It'll be two against one.

Then there was this gem.

Mikey finished helping out some students with a study today at the UDUB. As we were leaving the building, Katie noticed that some girls were sitting at a table covered with baked goods.

"Mommy? Am I allergic to that?"

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure you are, kiddo."

"Are there eggs in there?"

"Yep. Eggs and maybe some nuts too."

"Well, maybe I can eat that stuff when I grow up and I'm not allergic to eggs anymore."

"Sure. Maybe you can."

Katie walks over to the girls at the table.....

"Um, can you make sure that no one eats any of this stuff 'cause I'm gonna come back when I'm not allergic to eggs anymore, okay, so I can have some."

Ahhhhh. Two great Mommy-moments in one day.

I think my heart grew two sizes today.

Stumped

This is it, folks. My first chance at a blog in like a week and a half and I can't think of anything worth saying.

Sorry.

I'm still tired. I don't let Mikey sleep on me anymore. Yes, it had come to that. It was either get one hour if I put him in the crib or two to three hours if he slept on me. Which would you choose?

Hmph. I thought so.

Anyways, he still eats all night long; nursing about four plus times a night. But, as soon as he is done, I put him in that crib and he can now make it about two to three hours all by himself.

That is enough for me.

Katie went skiing again a few weeks ago.

Mikey and I hung out at the lodge and handled the camera. Daddy was on chase duty. Katie had a good time "goin' fast", until she had a fabulous crash. After a few tears, it was in to the lodge for a break and some hot chocolate.

Before Hot Chocolate.....

After Hot Chocolate.....

The healing properties of Hot Chocolate should be further studied.

Mikey is making his way through "yellow" vegetables. He's currently enjoying squash. We still have yet to get a YUCKY face picture. Maybe with the carrots? He's definitely gotta make a face when he eats green beans. Come on.

We decided to turn Superbowl Sunday into FishBowl Sunday. We packed up and visited our local aquarium.

A good time was had by all mermaid princesses and all flounders.

Katie ended up bringing home a new friend. She had the pick of the store. We told her she could have ONE toy from the store. There were fuzzy pink otters there. There were mermaids there. There were pink frilly octopuses there. But, she turned her nose up at all that nonsense and brought home this little guy.....

Her very own squid.

Man, how awesome is that?!?

February 2nd already?

Phil's official forecast as read February 2nd, 2009 at sunrise at Gobbler's Knob:

Hear Ye, Hear Ye, Hear Ye!

On Gobbler's Knob on this glorious Groundhog Day, February 2nd, 2010, Punxsutawney Phil, Seer of Seers, Prognosticator of all Prognosticators awoke to the call of President Bill Deeley and greeted his handlers, John Griffiths and Ben Hughes.

After casting a joyful eye towards thousands of his faithful followers, Phil proclaimed, "If you want to know next, you must read my text. As the sky shines bright above me, my shadow I see beside me. So six more weeks of winter it will be."

The Pix of Six

The Stats:

Weight - 15lbs 7 oz. - 15th percentile

Height - 26 inches - 30th percentile

Head Circumference - 18+ inches - 90th percentile

According to the chart, I have the head size of a 1 year old. Check out me noggin.

RIGHTEOUS!!!

Hi and welcome to another edition of "Mikey's First Year: An Awesome Dude In The Making".

I am officially 6 months old, if you weren't keeping track.

And I do say, shame on you if you weren't.

I'd like to start off this entry with a little art.

Here is a sketch done by my wonderfully talented big sister. The title of this masterpiece is "Mikey Crying."

All the up and coming artists use AquaDoodle, you know. It just enhances the the sense of art in the NOW.

Okay. Moving on.

I'm 6 months old! Yeah, baybeeeeeeee! I did a whole lot this past month. I don't think that I can even remember it all. Good thing we take all these pictures.

So, here is the first thing I did this past month. Check it out!

Nice way to start of the month, eh? I'm a total pro at this now. Forget the whole tummy time thing. You put me on my tummy and, yeah, I just roll over. Ha-Haaaaaa! Suckers. Can't quite figure out how to get from my back to my belly though. Still a work in progress.

Next, I got TWO teeth in the space of two days.

In case you can't find them in this picture, they are on the bottom. Man, they're sharp too. Don't get too close or CHOMP. You might lose a finger.

I've got a few more nicknames now. Mommy likes to call me "Mikey Two Teef". My sister started calling me "Mr. Moo", but now just calls me "Moo." Yeah. I don't get it either. But, I do like it.

Next up, a little Jumperoo action. Okay, so I haven't quite got the whole 'how to jump' thing figured out just yet. But, I do like to play with the toys and hear the little song play. Sometimes, Katie likes to help me out and bounces me all extreme-like and stuff. Mommy puts an end to that real quick.

What else could you have possibly done this month, you ask? LOTS, I answer.

I tried food. Real honest to goodness FOOD. Baby cereal is food, right? Well, it's not milk anyways. I've packed away my fair share of rice and barley cereal and I'm working on oatmeal right now. I love it. It is so choice.

I found out that I can take those toe thingies and stick them in my mouth. I have to be careful not to chomp them though. That would definitely be owweeee.

And my crowning achievement for this month....drumroll please.......

I can stay in a seated position. Joy of joys! It's great to have this whole new perspective. So much to see, so much to do! Time to get workin' on that crawling thing I keep hearing about.

Alas, all in life is not a bowl of warm oatmeal. I do have my sad moments. Mostly they happen when I am hungry or tired.

Let me tell you, it's hard to get in a nap with a big sister who is pretending to be someone she calls Princess SeaWeed. Princess SeaWeed likes to teach herself MarioKart tricks by jumping off the couch and screaming. She also likes to fight monsters with her magic pencil.

This is what I usually look like after a loooooong afternoon listening to vocalized explosions, crashes and many "YAHOOOOOOOOOOO's!"

But then sometimes there's a lull in the action and I can manage to get a little shut eye.

As for sleep at night, well that is a whole 'nother matter. I'm sure Mommy has a lot to say about that. Me, on the other hand, I sleep juuuuuuuuust fiiiiiiiiiiiiine.

Well, I'm off. Got lots to do now. I'm a busy guy.

See ya,

Mikey

Lemons

You know that saying, "When life gives you lemons; make lemonade."

Well, I just tend to make more lemons. Big, gigantic, juicy ones. And then I like to throw them.

I want to apologize to Huzbend for having to put up with my lemony snippets for 14 years.

Yep. 14 years of my bad attitude. Dude deserves a medal.

I am surprised that he has not started drinking or smoking some doobage.

I guess that would be counter-productive to his quest to ride the Tour de France.

Hmph.

He must just stay for the money.

Hey. Wait a minute......

Nope. He's just insane.

For Your Viewing Pleasure

Pet Peeves

Hi.

I have some things that I would like to complain about. Two things, actually.

Number One:

We took a trip to Babies R Us the other day. Katie always insists on walking through the toy aisles. So, we did.

Here's my problem.

Why do the toy manufacturers insist on listing out how each toy will "help teach baby"?

All toys must now list what your kid is going to learn from them. Teaches - Numbers, Shapes, Sorting, Cause and Effect. Sigh. You know, wooden blocks can teach that too and they don't talk at you.

Okay, so, think about it. Have you or anyone you ever knew told you that they learned the numbers, the alphabet and Spanish from a freakin' talking frog? Take that, Baby Tad.

Number Two:

For cripes sake, why oh why do baby pants have pockets in them?!?!?

What the hell does a baby need with pockets? What, for instance, would he put in there? His iPhone? Come on.

Okay. Rant over.

It's Aliiiiiiiiiive!

Between preschool stuff, lack of naps, a cranky baby and, well, just life there isn't much time for any Mommy-type fun. So, no blogs and definitely no WoW. Sigh.

Here's a quick update.....

The EVO is back on the road. All fixed up and clean. The plan is to sell it. The problem is that Huzbend has fallen back in love with it. Katie has fallen in love too. She loves how it goes "super-fast". Is this fast car thing genetic?

Things have gotten quite girly around here. Since I don't have any nail polish to speak of, Katie decided to get creative with her washable markers.

Katie has also taken to dressing like Spicoli from Fast Times @ Ridgemont High.

Actually, she's dressed like a Toady from Mario.

And last but not least, this is what we do when our children cannot behave like "human beings" at the dinner table.....

Not really. This is self imposed.

Pluto loves to eat his Cheerios out of a dog bowl. Woof-woof.

Happy New Year!

Our plan for New Years Eve Day was to head on up to The Pass for some snow tubing at a ski resort. We drove all the way there, like one whole hour in the truck, and guess what?

UH-HILT! Sorry Folks, we're sold out!

Yeah.

So, Katie and Daddy played in the snow for a bit and then we walked over to the lodge to eat some lunch. Since we were already there, we decided to rent some skis for Katie and to have Huzbend shuttle her around the bunny slope. Why not, right?

Although she did complain quite a bit about the cold and was constantly losing her gloves, she had a great time "goin' fast" and "flyin' up in the air". She especially loved the post-ski hot chocolate.

Mikey did NOT like the snow hitting his face, so we had to run for the nearest shelter. Kinda boring, but at least it was warm.

Here are some pics.....

Oh, and while I'm thinking of it, here's a nice little vid from Christmas.