20 months

AJ is 20 months today! For some reason it is harder to accept then 18 months. Maybe it's because it's so much closer to two! My baby will be two in 4 months! So I'm bringing it back: a picture of my newborn:

My 6 month old:

My 1 year old:

And my 20 month old (yes, it's snowing and we let him outside without a coat--only for a second, he LOVED it!):

AJ-Happy 20 month birthday. You are the best thing to ever happen to Daddy and I. You never stop amazing us in all that you do. We love you!

Saying Goodbye

One of my college friends, Lindsay, and her family moved to the Hampton Roads area. Lindsay happened to live about a half of a mile from us here in NOVA. We got a chance to walk the boys several times a week together. Here is her little one, Ryan and AJ:

They will be missed!!!!!

Happy Birthday Roman!

My first and currently only nephew, Roman, turned 1 on January 22nd! It's hard to believe that 1 year has passed. I remember waiting, and waiting, and waiting for him to arrive before they made the call to do a C-Section. He was induced on the 20th and didn't arrive until the 22nd. My mom hoped to have a grandson born on her birthday too, but alas, he didn't come until the day after. He said to the world "I want my own birthday!". His party was fun. We had A LOT of family come in for the big day.

The Birthday Boy:

They had A TON of balloons, which was a BIG hit for kids of all ages. If you take this idea, make sure you have someone like my beautiful sister there to be on call whenever a balloon pops to pick up the pieces as they are a choking hazard. Here is AJ and Leah enjoying the balloons and a snuggle:



See how much fun?! Looks like AJ is having a balloon fight with a much older kid--that's my boy!

Roman blowing out the candles:

Afterwards we headed over to my parent's house for more celebrating. Here are the boys with Leah--it's so hard to get 3 1+ year olds to take a picture together!:

Leah is just like her mommy:

Happy Birthday to my little cute nephew Roman. We all love you so much!

Happy Birthday Grandma and Aunt Kayla!

Today is Grandma and Kayla's birthday! Yes, another mom-daughter same birthday. I treated them both to afternoon tea at the Ritz. The next day, we had family in town for Roman's birthday party and kind of celebrated their birthday. AJ's favorite thing to do at Grandma's is to go into Aunt Kayla's room and dance. Usually it's a fast tempo dance, but this time it was a slow Boys-2-Men song that they SLOW DANCED too. How cute is this (yes, that is Eagles bed sheets and pillows!):

Meeting Baby Bowen

McKenna Lea Bowen was born on her mommy's birthday--January 12, 2010. I am so proud of Lauren. Lauren opted to have a natural childbirth via hypnobirthing. She said that her labor and delivery were everything she could have hoped for and more. She has even inspired me to attempt natural birth the next time.

Mckenna is a beautiful baby girl. Here is a picture of me holding her:

Lauren, Mckenna, and I:

The proud new parents (they don't even look tired yet!)

Chucky Cheese

We took AJ to Chucky Cheese for the first time ever. He was a little too young, but that didn't stop John and I from having fun! We walked away with a TON of tickets!

John and Daddy waiting for AJ's dinner:

They have a toddler zone, AJ liked the slide (he is containing his excitment to look cool:

Of all things they had, AJ liked the telephone--which we have at home!

This was a common occurance of anything that moved. AJ was a BIG scaredy cat!

Lauren had the baby!

McKenna arrived today--no details or pictures yet. So funny, as I had a dream last night she had the baby AND today is Lauren's BIRTHDAY!

New Years

Happy New Year everyone! Mommy and Daddy actually got away for the night with Maggie and Michael. AJ slept over at Grandma and Grandpa's house and we heard he partied until after midnight with them!

AJ and I checked in at the DC hotel we were staying at and got to hand out until I took him to my parent's house. AJ and I 'relaxed' on the big comfortable bed. He was SO CUTE hanging out saying "relax!". He has a Daddy face on:

After we dropped him off and John met me at the my parent's house, we left for the hotel to get ready. We met Michael and Maggie for a drink before dinner:

Maggie and I:

We had a fabulous dinner at Zaytina. It was unlimited mezze the entire night. We were still eating at midnight! Afterwards we went to Adam's Morgan to a little place called Tom Tom's (used to be John and I's favorite place). It was a very fun night! I did miss AJ though!