Rob Wins Over Adam....

Melissa went home to Rochester for Columbus Day weekend. On her way back, we met her for lunch at Fajita Grill on the 12th, but on her way through, we met her at the park. Rob came, too. He had never met the A-team. Melissa and Rob were my first un-official mentees when I became an AHD at Cayuga. I bullied them both into staying for grad school and becoming a GRM and AHD, respectively. They also became really good friends, something I wouldn't have predicted! Let's say upfront, Abbey was tired and miserable and really only wanted me to hold her! She hadn't taken a nap yet that day. Melissa had just gotten her haircut (She doesn't trust anyone in Potsdam!) and was looking good. Adam didn't know what to think of Rob at first, but he headed straight to the playground. Rob followed him around, earning points! Melissa pushed Adam on the big kid swings, which he loved, teaching him weeeeeee...which he still says when he's doing something fun! And she took him down the slide, too...which he LOVES. Rob also did later, but the camera died before I could take a picture. By that time, they were buddies! On the little kid swings, Adam loved that he had a whole crew making sure he had fun :) We put Abbey in the swing for the first time but after two seconds, she started to cry....so another time! After an hour, it was time to get them home to nap...but Adam wanted to stay with Rob and Melissa. As Rob pointed out, they have the same afro ha. And I have to add, they have about the same maturity ;) Amazing that Rob has gone from the kid who threw up all over me on his 21st birthday to a school psychologist.

Abbey

The morning of our anniversary, I went into get Abbey and there she was....for the first time standing up in her crib. Now it's a regular scene!
I took this photo of Abbey the same day I did the "photo shoot" in the pink dress. I ended up using this dress for her portrait with Adam, but I loved this one of her too much not to post for posterity ;) Abbey amazes me every day with how much she changes. Last week, she just took off climbing up the stairs. No sweat. She just did it. Today, I walked into the kitchen and she was standing at the spice cupboard trying to open it. She gave me an "innocent" look I recognize from Adam's face a year ago!!! She's a really happy girl unless she's hungry or tired. Today I dragged the kids to Party City to get some stuff for Adam's birthday on Friday and she was just good to go the whole time as I dragged them around trying to get Adam to choose something (yeah, he just chose everything!!!) And when I had to drag them into the Haufmann House at the plaza because I was going to pee my pants, she just smiled as I crammed us in the bathroom then dragged her around trying to get lunch for us while Adam tugged my other hand. She smiled and giggled from her car seat as I fed her.

AND Miss Abbey drinks a bottle now. She just decided to do it like a week or two ago. She LOVES them....she has one every night before bed and has a little one during the day. Can you believe she turned 8 months yesterday??

Anniversary Dinner at Delmonico's

Our first year anniversary was on Monday, October 4. We had talked about going out to dinner alone on Sunday and my mom had volunteered to babysit. But when I woke up on that Sunday, I told Todd I wanted us to all go together on our anniversary. So we went to Delmonico's in Syracuse, my FAVORITE restaurant. I hadn't been there since my birthday last year as it is often packed and getting both kids up there and waiting always sounded like no fun. But on a Monday, there was no wait and it wasn't crowded. Adam marched in carrying his new trick or treat pumpkin full of his dinosaur puzzle pieces. Of course, we still got the kid corner table...but we love it! Adam was in a good mood. And colored a little bit....but was more interested in flirting with the waitress. For the FIRST time we put little Abbey in a high chair sitting up. She did so good! We had to strap her in as tight as possible though. I hate how I look in this photo...i look huge...BUT I'm trying to not cut myself out of my own family journal ;) And Todd looks nice. I definetely enjoyed the wine, having a nice wine buzz after only a couple of glasses. Yeah, I'm a lightweight now. The mood lighting made the photos look this way...but hey, it's all Italian baby! I LOVE their food....I had the clam sauce and Todd got a Delmonico. We ate Bruschetta and I ordered at tomato basil salad. Just like last November, when Adam stole Todd's penne, he gobbled his own plate of it. It's his favorite. And I took tiramisu home...got it half price since it was our anniversary! Honestly, for me, it was the perfect evening. Especially since Todd and I enjoyed alone time once the A-team was in bed ;) to top it all off.

Uncle Bobby Babysits

On October 2, Todd and I wanted to go to the county tax auction...we took Abbey but knew Adam could not sit still. Uncle Bobby wanted to babysit. When he walked in the door, Adam clung to me as he usually does when he suspects I might leave. But all his uncle had to do was sit down in his room with him to play with his beloved puzzles and he was good.
I came back at about noon with the auction taking longer than we thought...Uncle Bobby had Adam in his chair feeding him lunch. I was told Adam didn't even whine at all until he heard me...they had a good time. We all walked Uncle Bobby to the car....I love how Abbey is looking at him... Later, Bobby told me he would love to babysit anytime. He loved spending time with Adam. And he plans on passing on all the Duttinger men things...like fishing and working with wood.

Picture In My Mind

This morning, Adam was driving me crazy. He was acting out and being aggressive. He even punched Bailey in the eye! I finally got myself and the kids pulled together and in the car at 11:30...heading to my Mom's house. Adam even bitched at me on and off in the car.

We got there and I handed Mom Abbey and asked her to feed her (Adam wouldn't even let her nap at home or in the car, stealing her blankets and toys on the way there let alone let me feed her). I got Adam outside...I felt like he just needed to get some aggression and energy out. We fished his ball out of her garage and raced all over the backyard until he got tired. Then I showed him how to use the rake and how to put leaves in his little toy wheelbarrow. He loved raking, which I knew he would. Then when he was willing to give it up, I took the rake and starting raking leaves and throwing them in the air at him. He had been enjoying himself up to this point, but the rare joyful laughing started. He just loved the leaves "getting him"....his grin was huge and I wished I had my camera. I was tempted to run to my car to get my camera phone, but then I was like NO WAY I was going to ruin this moment. The air was cool and crisp, Adam was wearing a brown hoodie over his overalls and the gorgeous red and orange leaves of the maple tree behind him just made it the perfect fall moment....reminding me why I love this time of year and how the moment is way better than a picture of it . A couple of leaves, of course, got stuck his his crazy curls.

And...He even tried to throw leaves at me, but of course he just got a couple. It was so cute when he would throw them out me and run off, expecting me to "get him" back. This picture is in my mind forever.

And Adam was actually chilled out on the way home :)

Rainbow

I did purge quite a bit when my life changed, but there's still some crap I ahve pcked away. I stuck it upstairs in the house's sole closet and have started to go through it. Once upon a time, i had a 20-plus beanie baby collection. I only have a few left, but when Adam spotted this rainbow colored lizard thing...his face lit up. He brought it downstairs and had dragged out some of his other animals earlier and played with them all. See that tag? The reason I had kept this one and a green one like it as they had a manufacturer's issue and the tags were accidentally switched. Well, the tag doesn't exist anymore, but I don't care. Things were meant to be used! The next morning, he spotted that thing from his crib and when I took him out, he grabbed for it. He was talking to it and loving it. It was his favorite thing for the day. Of course, he's moved on since then meaning he isn't obsessed as kids do....but when he notices "rainbow" (tag name)...he still smiles and picks him up.

Miss Abbey's Photo Shoot

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to try on a dress that was given to Abbey by her cousin April...she looked so cute I knew I had to do a little photo shoot...when the photographer was here yesterday I slipped her in the dress for a couple shots, too. Anyow, she makes an ADORABLE model, don't you think? Adam started to get jealous of all the attention I was paying her, so he wanted to get in on the action. He was pretty cute, sitting down and playing with her. He's actually pretty good to her, even when he's jealous, he doesn't take it out on her. Just me :)

A Bromance at the Farmer's Market

On September 23, I went to the Farmer's Market for the first time this year. WIthout realizing it, I was instantly reminded of my father as my mother sold cookies last year there and of course, Dad was there. He would get excited if I came with Adam, wanting to take Adam around and show him off...feeding him mom's cookies the mintue I walked away. It made me miss him...but at the same time, I can be grateful at least there was these few moments my kids had with their grandfather.

Anyhow, we were meeting Jackie and Q. I let Adam get out of the stoller and he was drunk with the freedom. Q was very helpful, offering to hold his hand. Adam was in love... As we neared the street, I told Q to stop so I could catch up and grab Adam's hand. I love this accidental shot I got of Adam so in love...Jackie called it a Bromance.... And we finished up walking around what was kind of a weak market (of course I found cookies...I asked Jackie if it was OK if I came to the Farmer's Market and bought junk instead of healthy stuff...she said of course!) we went to the bouncy house. Q loves these...Adam had been in one when he was like 9 months old a Q's 4th birthday party (Jackie was trying for best mother ever) and seemed to like it...but now he is a big boy and it he loved it...like I knew he would! The owner asked me if his kids could be in there...I said sure and Adam LOVED that their were big kids there. The owner even let him stay in a little bit longer so I could get good pics...but the best ones came when I wasn't trying. I bought me and Adam fried dough and if you look close, you can see that I got powdered sugar all over Abbey's head. She didn't seem to care! This was after I wiped her down. After all that, Adam wasn't very interested in the fried dough. He was NOT happy when Q had to leave.

Happy Anniversary!

One year ago, I married my wonderful husband, Todd. We had a wonderful little ceremony with our dads as our Best Men and our closest friends and immediate family there to share it with us. The only thing that I don't like about that day is how fast it all went...I didn't get to share enough time with my new husband :)
I love Todd in a way that I had dismissed as girlish notions by the time I had met him. I cannot wait to see him, I love being around him and just hearing his voice makes me feel better. He loves me for who I am, flaws and all. And he loves our children and our family...he loves being a husband and a father to us. No, it is not perfect, but anyone who tells you each day is a bed of roses is lying and is not truly living life. We clicked right away and even just a few years later, things have only grown stronger(OK, two kids mighs have helped :) Now that everyone is gagging with how sappy this is..here's a few of my favorite moments....
My friends got better angles than the photographer on the vows...but I should've warned her that they were going to be short and sweet :)
Family photo...Adam was NOT in the mood to be photographed that day! I love this beautiful place cars Tammy made and the wine glasses we had made... I love this photo of us..I think it's so romantic...the photographer said walk off together and kiss, but we got caught up in the moment. I remember feeling so happy and in love. This is, I think, BOTH our favorite shot. Great moment of our wedding and also, it personifies us. I knew Todd would get me with the cake, but when he kept cramming it in my nose, I was determined to get him right back. Tammy was right there saying oh no your make-up makes the moment even better. We were in love, but still having fun. And I think that's how we want to live the next 40 years or so :) Happy Anniversary Todd!! It's the beginning of a wonderful thing....I love you!

September 11 at Salmon River Falls

On September 11, we were driving around looking for something to do. I had said how much I enjoyed our drives before kids so we decided to see how far we can make it. We were in the Pulaski area so Todd was going to stop and say hi to his bff Harry Potter, but he wasn't home. Then he was like, hey the Salmon River Falls are around the corner. So we followed the signs to the parking area and decided the path looked easy enough. Needless to say, we were both surprised by the gorgeous falls we saw. We agreed it was something you picture seeing someplace exotic. The A-Team LOVED it....Abbey was mesmerized.... My camera was dying, so I was excited to get a few good shots. We walked to the top area...but made sure not to get too close. Adam loved splashing in the puddles on the flat rocks. Don't let Abbey's face fool you, she loved it there! I think she was making that face because I was trying to take her picture while holding her :) Back on the overlook, Adam just loved looking at the falls...here he is considering climbing the fence!! Todd and I both held him to look better, too, but it made nervous me a little anxious of course. We were trying to leave and to convince Adam to go...he was not into the idea. Finally, we got him to go, letting him walk himself down the trail a bit. When we got to the parking area, there was a little girl and it was so cute...he went up to her and was clearly telling her what he saw, using his hands to show her how high the water was! (My Italian has rubbed off on him a little!) My favorite kind of day...a new adventure, but not too far from home!