Little man

My little man had his 18mos check-up today and weighed in at 24.3lbs and 32 inches tall.  He's just shy of Vanessa's height at the same age (she was 32 1/2 inches) but the boy's got the pounds on her, she was just barely 21lbs.  My little brute.  He's growing up so fast and doing new things everyday we just love it.  The second time around and we still get just as excited over the smallest things that demonstrate his growing independence.  The few things that we don't get so excited over...the way he seems to already know how to irk his big sister and purposely "pick a fight".  Just today for example I watched as Vanessa was quietly doing a puzzle by herself on the floor when Roman decided to walk over, look at her and slowly step down on a piece she was about to reach for.  When Vanessa said "no, no Roman.  Move please, I'm using that" he proceeded to then sit his bottom on the entire area of puzzle pieces and laugh.  Boys.  Seriously, are they born knowing how to get a rise out women??

Hold me closer tiny dancer

At the end of August I gave Vanessa a few choices for what she could do for a kids program: gymnastics, music or ballet.  Since she loved gymnastics and music last year I sort of thought they would be front runners, but nope.  Ballet. Ballet. Ballet.  For weeks I was asked if it was time for ballet class.  Finally...on Monday the big day came.  First thing in the morning I was asked "is it Ballet day today?".  Why yes Vanessa, it is!  So we put on the required leotard, tights and slippers and pranced off to class.  Armed with my camera I was a bit surprised to be shut-out of class!  No mom's allowed.  The nerve!  Apparently they have better success with the little 3 year olds paying attention when mom's are not in the room.  Blah.  They were nice enough to leave the door cracked just a tad so that me and the other 7 moms could take turns trying to squeeze a peek.  Below is all I managed to get.  Don't worry....I'll find my way in there.
In the poor excuse for a video look for Vanessa to come running from the left side.

Winding down the summer

And just like that...it's September.  As our summer comes to an end we were able to check off a couple more items on our "list".  For a few months now Vanessa has been saying she wants to go on a bus, a train and a boat this summer (once again, thank you Curious George).  When we visited NYC we knocked off the bus and the train (subway's count right?).  Last weekend we took the kids to Lake George on a perfect day and rode the steamboat around the lake.  I think mommy and daddy were enjoying it a bit more than the kids -- what's not to like about sitting back enjoying a lake cruise with a Corona in your hand? 

Also on the list was to hit an amusement park, so we loaded up and headed to where else...Sesame Place.  Vanessa was more than thrilled that she got to meet each and every character friend, especially Abby Cadabby.  It was definately fun and age appropriate.  Even Roman was able to enjoy a few rides, that is when we could get him out of the wadding pools.  We'll be back next year!  Probably at the same hotel, but not the same room (...perhaps a story for another time)

chillin, relaxin, waiting to get my boat on

our Steamboat

Sesame Place
Cookie's Tower 

meeting our first friend

Roman getting some luvin



the best for last



Running with giggles

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Summer pics

almost 17 months old

a regular expert on the Carousel

Pinkalicious and NYC

Last weekend we packed the kids and headed down to NYC to spend time with Susy!  Since we were going to be in the city we also decided to take Vanessa to see Pinkalicious...the Musical.  LOL!  Yup.  Her favorite book come to life.  We made it a girls day and yes...we all (even Tia Susy) wore PINK.  The show was pretty darn cute and Vanessa was most excited about being able to meet Pinkalicious after the show.  So very cute!  It was great to see Susy and both kids were very much into their Tia.  Roman thought she was hysterical (little does he know just how funny she can be).  We explored the city, hit the sprinkler park and of course had dinner at Caracas Arepa Bar....yummmmm.  (I should have brought home seconds)  Pretty sure Tia Susy was sad to see us leave.  We're hoping for a return trip soon!!

LOVING getting wet!

yum...fresh squeezed Apple juice

Daddy's girl

one of the biggest french toast plates I've ever seen a 3 yr old attack



Vanessa's first subway ride
(the highlight of her trip according to her)



ta da!

meeting Pinkalicious

Lincoln Center fountain



silly girls



NYC Ballet

One of the very cool things about living where we live is the State Park, especially in the summer.  It's a great place to hang out, picnic, run, golf, swim and of course see some good concerts.  The other very cool thing is that for two weeks in July the NYC Ballet comes, this year we took the kids to the opening which was "Family Night" and went.  It was a nice night and although we didn't stay for the entire show (who starts a "Family Night" at 8pm????) we had fun and Vanessa got to see some ballerina's.  Prior to the show there were two dancers who came out and taught the kids a few steps.  Pretty comical to watch!  Of course Vanessa wanted to be right there.  Maybe someday I'll be buying point shoes? 

Free ice cream!

dance lesson



standing with one of the principal dancers



Lock down the house, we're mobile

this morning Roman took four steps...by the afternoon he was going room to room!

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Swinging is the best

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Preschool graduation

On Monday Vanessa had a little "Moving Up" ceremony at preschool.  Our girl has graduated from the 2-year old program and is on to bigger and better things.  In other words...big-girl three year old class as she puts it.  It's funny because I think before I was a parent I might have rolled my eyes and said 'ohhh graduation, huh' not fully understanding the big-to-do.  I got that it was pretty cool and pretty special to be getting "bigger" and moving past things, but I think until it's your own little baby you don't really see the big picture.  We saw it on Monday.  It was pretty funny still.  Rather than moving up anywhere real, the kids slid down a slide in a sort of ceremonial way.  Notice Daddy's special tie in our little family pic (Roman was in the playroom).  It's a Vanessa original, made in preschool just for Father's Day.  He wears it proud  ;-)

A very pink Three

A little behind on some posts  :-/

June 6th came and went nearly as fast as the last three years seemed to have!  We celebrated Vanessa's birthday with none other than a Pinkalicious party.  Her request.  To anyone who doesn't have a little lady in the house, Pinkalicious is a series of books about a little girl who loves...yup you guessed it...PINK.  The original story is about her eating too many pink cupcakes and turning pink.  I have read that book so many times I am certain I could recite it in my sleep.  For four weeks all I heard about was how Vanessa wanted a Pinkalicious party, so of course that's what my girl got.  The only "too bad" was that all the little girls we know who could have joined in the fun live so far away (boo).  Happy Birthday Vanessa!!

First fohawk

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Easter photos

I got a bit overshadowed with Roman's allergies and, well...life and forgot to post a couple pics from Easter.  We stayed home and had a very family day ;-)  The kids were great in church, that is up until the part when they started the 9 baptisms.  Vanessa calmly looked at daddy and said "Daddy, I'm all done.  Can we go now?"  Can you blame her?  Let's face it Easter mass is loooooong anyway, add in 9 baptisms and who can blame anyone for getting a little board...right?  We took her cue and headed to a yummy brunch  ;-)

Hope everyone enjoyed their Easter as much as we did.

As pretty as a princess

Yes, I am that mom with "matching" kids  ;-)

Happy "little" guy

oh the irony

It's official. My husband has a son who is allergic to dogs (and cats). Anyone else see the irony in that one?! Poor Daddy. Poor Roman. Blood work came back positive, now we are figuring out if it makes sense to see an allergist or not. If not, then you know me...I'll be Googling pet allergies for the next month. Maybe a doc visit will be best :-) - Posted using BlogPress

To dog or not to dog

Well, we are in a waiting game right now (waiting for test results) to determine if Roman is allergic to dogs. Can you even imagine? Could be a sad day for Daddy if the results are positive. We started puppy-sitting for a friend (what was planned to be a pretty long stay) last Saturday. By Sunday afternoon poor Romans face was all blotchy and red. Then the runny nose, watery eyes....by Monday our poor little guys eyes were puffy too. A trip to the doctor on Tuesday and a blood test later we are expecting to get results Mon/Tues of next week. Testing for quite a few things so hopefully we arrive at some reason for the reaction. We started giving him Zyrtek to help the symptoms and on Friday morning mommy took Roman to grandmas house to get him away from the dog. Sadly, the only other time I ever saw a similar reaction on him was after visiting with friends in Boston who also have a dog. That time it never progressed to more than blotchy red spots that were gone after three days. I had hoped that it might have just been a skin sensitivity to the dog saliva since most of the spots then were where he got a few good doggie kisses. Looks like I may be wrong. We've been away from the dog/house for over 24-hours and Romans face already looks worlds better. Coincidence? We'll see! Below are pics of Roman four days after dog came (and a full day on Zyrtek) ...and the other is the potential cause ;-)





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Sibling playtime

We've been experiencing some sibling jealousy on Vanessa's part these days.  Seems the older and more mobile (more "fun") Roman gets, the more Vanessa seems to think there is some newfound competittion in this house.  It's because of this we tend to cherish, and film, every opportunity we get to see her actually have fun with her little brother.  Take a peek below.  Roman continues to think Vanessa is the funniest thing on the planet.

A little public thanks to Daddy for having a Daddy Day/night so mommy could go off and play with her friends.  I got to meet up with Donna and Kara for a little run (yes...RUN.  6 miles to be exact!), spa and girl time.  It was bliss.  A perfect little day trip that was so close by that I think it needs to be repeated.  While I was gone Daddy managed to get Vanessa to sit still next to her brother long enough to snap a pic  ;-)

Birthday Boy

Anyone else think this year flew by??  Anyone else think I've been horribly slacking with the blog updates?? Can you believe Roman is already one year old??  We certainly can't! (and Yes...I have been slacking) I've always heard people say that with each child the years get shorter and shorter, just always thought (hoped) maybe they were exaggerating.  Nope.  Not exaggerating. Our little Roman is the big numero-uno!  I wish everyone could live closer so that all our friends and family who live so far could see for themselves what a smile this little boy has!  He is so fun.  He laughs and giggles and smiles all day long.  Well, except for when a toy is out of reach, then we see the temper flare.  Oh man.  We're working on nipping that temper in the bud (or is it butt?).  We started the birthday week with the obligatory trip to the pediatrician for the check-up.  Remember way back when this little guy was only 5lb 11oz and four weeks premature....yeah, not so small anymore.  Mr. Blanco weighs in now at 20lbs  28".  He may be an inch shorter than Vanessa was at this same age, but he's got two pounds on her. 

The birthday "party" was planned by the big sister  ;-)   Foreshadowing for all future decisions? Hmmm.
Vanessa decided that Roman would like an Elmo party, lot's of balloons and Elmo cupcakes.  Of course we all complied (yes...mom even TRIED to do the cupcakes.  You can make your own assessment of the photo proof below).  Although Roman has no idea who Elmo is, he did appreciate the balloons.  We had a great day with family and can't wait to celebrate another birthday this June (OMG, she's nearly three!).

it's not a party without party hats!

see...Elmo.  Can't you tell??

One year old!

Be my Valentine

Happy First Valentines Roman