Merry Christmas!

I was so excited for Christmas this year! I couldn't wait for Adam to come out in the morning and see his presents.  We didn't get him a ton, but I think he enjoyed opening and checking out the toys he did get. He's still mastering opening presents, and little miss impatient Bailey was happy to help him along when he was taking too long.  I'm not sure how well that's going to go over next year so hopefully his efficiency will pick up, lol. ;)

We had a nice quiet Christmas in Chicago.  It wasn't exactly what I had envisioned, because I hurt my back two days before and was pretty much stuck in bed or on the couch all day. But it was quiet and cozy and Adam certainly enjoyed a full day off with both of us there and lots of attention. 

Oops

My poor, sweet, abandoned blog!  I'm going to do a few "catch up" posts and backdate them to update on what's been going on since my last post in October!! 

To tide you over, here are a few pics of Adam and things he is loving lately:

• Wearing hats
• Giving kisses (especially to Bailey)
• Coloring
• Handing us things
• Choosing his books for nap and bedtime (and by "choosing" I mean he pushes the one out of the way that he doesn't want)
• Redecorating the Christmas Tree
• The neighbor's Christmas lights
• Watching me turn on the tree and mantle lights first thing in the morning
• Dumping things out of containers
• Pulling/pushing things around the apartment
• Opening and closing doors

And he still lets me wear him <3 br="">

My Family Visits

My parents and brother came out to visit this past weekend.  Adam loved having visitors and showing off for them. He especially loved getting scared by Uncle Matt.  He would legit jump when Matt would scare him and then he would run to me and laugh hysterically, then look for where Matt was hiding for the whole process to start again.

My parents stayed at a hotel near the airport so Saturday and Sunday morning we joined them for breakfast.  Adam had fun exploring at the hotel and standing in the window watching the cars. He is also obsessed with turning lights on and off and there was a perfectly placed Adam height lightswitch in their hotel room...probably his fav part :)

We didn't get out to do much while they were here, just enjoyed the company in our cozy apartment. We did attempt to go to the Zoo lights, but after a parking nightmare and a not very content little Bud we just went home. An hour and a half in the car was absolutely not worth seeing some Christmas lights. 

Here are a few pics from the visit!

O Christmas Tree!

We're saving the hassle errrr pure bliss of going to the Christmas tree farm to find the perfect tree for when Adam is a little older and can enjoy this Christmas memory.   So for now Tom went to Home Depot to pick out our tree while Adam and I prepped things at home.

Last year Adam was enthralled by the lights, and the only thing that has changed this year is that he is mobile and able to explore them independently.  He "helped" check all of our lights by dragging them all around the apartment for about 30 minutes.

I was worried about what he would do with the ornaments, so I tried to put soft/non-breakable ones near the bottom of the tree.  He focused in on 2-3 main ornaments that he constantly took off and "tried" to put back on.  Eventually he broadened his horizons and didn't discriminate against any of the other ornaments :P

Every single morning the first thing he does after he wakes up is take one of us by the hand and lead us out to the tree so we can turn on the tree lights.  Then he points at the mantle and waits patiently while we turn on the garland lights on the mantle.  It's going to be a sad day when we have to take down the tree!  

Thanksgiving

So much to continue to be thankful for this year.  In a year where we have been tested as parents, at the end of the day we have a happy, healthy, loving boy and that's all that matters.  This past week has actually been difficult - a dear coworker lost her husband to his 3 year battle with colon cancer, and a neighbor kid we have seen a few times passed away from a brain tumor.  It's easy to get caught up in life's tiny daily challenges, but really we are pretty blessed and fortunate when it comes down to it....

On a lighter note... our actual Thanksgiving day was pretty low key.  I made a turkey and dinner like usual, we watched the Macy's parade (Adam liked the balloon/floats), and we watched some great football games.  We hung out, relaxed, and ate (and did a little online shopping) ;) 

One of our purchases was a much needed new vacuum, which Adam was happy to test out the box and *assist* with any vacuuming needs.  We also took Adam to get his second haircut, dang that baby's hair grows fast!  He did great, again, until we had to leave and he freaked out because he couldn't stay and play with all of the *new* toys. 

Adam's coloring hobby also took off this weekend.  He mostly liked pounding the crayons on the paper but eventually he got into scribbling.  So far it's looking like he has my art skills but I'm hoping somehow he was blessed with some of my cousin Sarah (his Godmother's) skills!!!

"Helping" me prep the turkey

Boxes are so much fun!

Second haircut at 16 months!

"Mom we need to come here more often"

Vacuuming

"I freaking love coloring!!!"

Sadly I think he got my "art" gene :(

Date Night!!

Tom and I went on a date night waaaaay back in June/July and decided it was something we were going to do AT LEAST every other month.  Well, fastforward 5 months later and we're only on our second date night ;) 

One of Tom's coworkers has been recommending a steakhouse downtown, Brazzaz for years now, and we finally had the opportunity to go tonight.  After Adam went to sleep, our neighbor came over to "watch" him and we headed downtown.  The restaurant was cozy and really nice.  There was a little wait so we sat at the uncrowded bar and cracked open a bottle of wine.  The whole concept of this steakhouse is that they continuously bring around different cuts and types of meat for you to try.  You have a little token and you flip it to one color (green I think?) when you want them to come by, and red when you want to take a break/enjoy what is already on your plate.  There was also a "salad bar" complete with sushi (yummmmmm) and lots of other good treats.  My favorite meat by far were the bacon wrapped filet mignon.  The shrimp came in a close second :) 

We had a great time and vowed to not let 5 more months pass before our next date night :)

Halloween

Since the weather was supposed to be crappy on Halloween this year, I took Adam's pics a few days beforehand, and I was so glad I did!  It was snowing, hailing, and freeeeeezing on Halloween night!  Tom still sat downstairs and handed out candy, and we joined him for probably a total of 90 seconds, but otherwise we spent the night upstairs in the warm apartment!!

Our neighbor got him a goody bag :)

Lover of the lights

"Mom I'm ready to go back inside!"

"But not until I sneak some candy ;) "

Happy Fall Y'all!

Gosh, where did August and September go? How is it almost the middle of October?!  I *really* need to be a better blogger! 

We are having a perfect fall weekend. Earlier today we went to a "Fall Fest" at a local park. (I must say, Park District Fall Fests in your neighborhood are the way to go for one year olds...we had originally planned to drive north of the city but it's just not worth the car ride when the one a few blocks away is pretty much the same thing in the eyes of Adam). 

Adam got to roam around in the "pumpkin patch" and we managed to snap a few cute pics of him.  It was smart getting there when it opened so it wasn't overly crowded.  Our neighbors joined us and we tried to get a pic of the three of them, but it was virtually impossible to get all three kids (ages 4, 2, and 1) looking at the camera at the same time! I don't know how people who have 3 kids do it!! 

There was a petting zoo that we got to check out for a few minutes.  Adam wasn't really too impressed and I think just unsure of the whole situation. He "petted" a few sheep and a small pig (a pig!).  He watched the big kids going on the pony rides, and walked to the edge of the park to stand by the gate and watch the cars drive by on Addison (the kid loves cars). 

We got home and I managed to whip up 2 pumpkin rolls and some crock pot pumpkin spice lattes (2 fall staples in our house!) during his nap.  We're spending the rest of the afternoon watching football and later on we'll go for a walk and (maybe) check out another Fall Fest at a park in the other direction. 

Hopefully it will be enough to wear Adam out so we can enjoy a few beers and homemade pizza tonight for the Penn State game!  Tomorrow we are having some family photos taken, kind of spur of the moment, but I'm really excited for them!  Stay tuned for lots of pics! :)