{14 months}

A post without a picture? Gasp!

This post is so great, it doesn't need a picture.

Today, Johnny let go and took 3 consecutive steps. Mom was my witness and John was in the kitchen. Then, a few hours later, I was in the kitchen and Johnny took 3 consecutive steps to Daddy! And he wasn't even wearing his AFOs :) We've all noticed how much more flat-footed he is in just the one month he's been wearing them.

Now, remember Johnny track record. He likes to show us he is capable of doing something and then make us wait weeks before he does it on a consistent basis. We can't wait to post a video of him soon walking across the living room. There is no doubt that is coming...

He's so awesome.

Oh, wait! You need a 14 month update...Ok!

• He has started signing! So exciting, especially since he's still not saying much of anything. Just to know he's comprehending and communicating back to us is awesome. His favorite sign is "more"--as in "more food"--no shocker there!
• Playing peek-a-boo, blowing kisses, waving bye-bye, pointing.
• Shapes! He is so good at the blue & red Tupperware shape ball. He'll pick up a shape piece, we'll turn the ball to that shape and damn if he doesn't get that correct shape in with ease.
• Hitting--more like whacking! We're trying to teach him gentle, and we do hope he gets it soon. He's so excited and combined with his spastic movements, you're bound to get bopped on the head, when really, he's just trying to tell you he loves you :)
• Dancing--this kid is just like his Mommy in that department--he hears tunes and he starts groovin'.
• Smolder. Yep, kids got smolder. After bath, when he's all fresh and clean and his smooth, silky hair is combed just right, he's Baby George Clooney.

Christmas Day {2011}

Lola & Johnny

Christmas Day 2011

Here's a recap of our Christmas Day in Florida last month, in pictures :) The kids took several trips in the new wagon, Lola did some painting, Johnny had a special "Santa Baby" photo session and we had a delicious meal together in the evening, of course!

It was a Very Merry Christmas...

Christmas Day {2011}

Lola's 1st Skate

A very special full-circle moment happened this morning--for the first time in her little life, Lola had blades on her feet and ice under them on which to skate upon.

My childhood is filled with memories of ice skating, a sport I picked up after falling in love with watching the 1988 Winter Olympics. I just had to get out on the ice and try it myself. My father obliged, as he had loved the sport growing up, too (speed skating--no foo-foo figure skating for him--until today!) Thus begun years of lessons, costumes and early morning trips to the rink on Saturday mornings (thanks Mom). Before long, Dad had to drop a chunk of change on some professional boots & blades for his girl--I am still using the blades, 20 years later and know I will be able to pass them on to Lola one day, which is pretty awesome.

Lola's first skates are special ones, picked out by Mimi yesterday for her. She was so excited about them--and of course, safety first. And one cannot skate without an awesome Princess helmet!

Lola headed right onto the rink with Papa on her new double-runners. She held onto our hands for a few trips around. I held her hand and thrilled her with some spins we did together. When we took breaks to warm up in the main house, she was the one pulling us back out on to the rink. Eventually, she was letting go and taking her skating steps all by herself.

Another thanks to Mimi for capturing these moments. These are the times I have to leave my camera behind--but then there's Sue with her fancy D40 :)

{the digitization of education}

WATCH THIS. John and I are so excited about how our children will {hopefully!} learn while in school. They're already doing it at home and to see how Lola has been able to apply what she has learned using this incredible device and to now see John learning with it as well is exciting, to say the least.

{johnny}

Poor baby boy is feeling under the weather with another cold. But still, cutest damn thing on EARTH! We are still pinching ourselves in disbelief he's ours and we get to keep him forever :)

Christmas Morning {2011}

We had a fun and relaxing Christmas morning. We all got some wonderful surprises from "Santa". Renee got some fun new t-shirts, Mikey got gift cards towards his new Kindle Fire, Mom & Dad got a hand grinder for their beans and a new picture frame and the kids got lots, including an AWESOME new wagon (which fit in our car, so we were able to bring it home!). I gave John a new pair of P. Rod's (Nike SB Shoes, for those that don't speak our lingo) and a special baseball Johnny & I made together for him--he spoiled me with L.L. Bean slippers, ear buds, a lululemon gift card and...an iMac.

The thoughtful gift-award of the year though has to go to Renee--she made John a beautiful book commemorating their experience at Lollapalooza this summer and Ren gifted me with a special necklace from Etsy with "13.1" hand-stamped on it--the amount of miles we'll be running together come February 26th. So sweet.

Christmas Morning {2011}

Nutella Hot Chocolate

CLICK HERE for the recipe--you WON'T be sorry!

Source: audrinasvanity.blogspot.com via Kristin on Pinterest

{princess pals}

One of the best things about preschool is meeting new friends! We had Lola's friend Kyra over to play the other day and the girls had a blast with Lola's new 3-ft. Rapunzel tower and dressing up in their pretty princess costumes. Kyra brought over her Cinderella dress so I had to snap a few of these beauties all dolled up...

Costume change! And great lesson in sharing, LOL! John and I can't get over what a little girl she is now--our cute baby is now a beautiful girl. And we really feel like it happened in the blink of an eye.

Little do Lola and Kyra know their Mommies plan on taking them to Disney Princesses on Ice in a few weeks! Shhh, don't tell :)

{special moment}

Yesterday, while playing at his fun new activity center he got from the Nashville Zics, Johnny let go and took a few steps towards me. Granted, he pretty much fell forward into me, but he did it while taking consecutive steps in the process. It happened in an instant, but it was such a "wow" moment.

Christmas Eve {2011}

Christmas Eve was so great, filled with family and food! Lola was a huge help in the kitchen cooking with Nonna and baking with Titi. They are so good about including her on everything--she makes a great assistant. They even had a special chef's attire waiting for her to wear when we arrived, hat included!

We indulged in so much deliciousness. Really, it was just the start of a gluttoness 10 days! It's so hard not to--everything John's family makes in simply amazing. Mom & Aunt Jan's cooking and Ren's baking--forget it. And don't even get me started on Uncle Rich's Antipasto {my favorite!!!}. Yum, Yum, Yum.

Christmas Eve {2011}

December 23rd

We arrived in town VERY early the morning of Dec. 23--we figured we'd go right to sleep, but we were all so excited to be together, we ended up hanging out, catching up, eating Pistachio cookies (!!!), playing with Rudolph and giving the kids baths at 1 am! It was fun :) We slept until about 7 am and then got up for the day. Ren and I went for a run in the beautiful weather and then later on, we headed over to Uncle Rich, Aunt Janis & G.G.'s house for a visit. Then, as par for the course, Mom whipped up something fab for dinner. Johnny ended up getting sick later in the day and we had to make a trip to the ER to be safe on Christmas Even morning, but he ended up getting better within 24 hours, thankfully.

It was just the start of a great week of being together.

December 23rd

{johnny-13 months}

The day after Christmas, Johnny turned 13 months! Thanks to an ER visit (no worries, all good) on Christmas Eve Morning, we know he's 26 lbs. 8 oz. Yes, my arms are finally starting to hurt! Everyone who held him for the first time while we were visiting Florida had the same initial reaction: "Whoa!" We love our big boy so much! Lola never really had any fat on her so we are really enjoying how squishy he is, haha!

He's had quite a developmental explosion as of late. We've always know that cognitively, he is very much there--his therapists have all commented on that and he's always shown us we've got nothing to worry about in that department. But he's really starting to pick things up at a faster pace than ever before and it's very exciting.

We're increasing PT to 2x a week starting tomorrow and we're really excited about that. He's doing great in his braces and I think it's a very realistic possibility he'll be walking by his next birthday. He does things on his time but HE DOES THEM.

He is starting to babble a little more. He makes the hard G sound alot, but that's about it. We're going to have another Speech evaluation done next month and may perhaps start that therapy as well. Our physiatrist commented on something during our initial visit with her 2 months ago--research is finding that not properly evaluating kiddos born at what is considered late pre-term (like Johnny was at 35 weeks) is really doing them a great disservice. They may just be slightly behind, because of those lost few weeks in the womb, but those last few weeks are SO important, so why wouldn't we be sure to give them the extra help they need?!

His fine motor skills are really great! Lucy got him a cookie shape jar for Christmas and without even being shown, he tried to put one of the blocks in the correct shape, so needless to say, we've been working on that for the last few days.

Stay tuned for 14 months...

Chicago Christmas

Before we left for Florida Christmas, we had two special Christmas celebrations here. We celebrated with Mom, Ronnie, Brittany & Silvia on December 17th, after a feast of traditional Polish food. We celebrated with Dad & Sue on December 18th, after a delicious dinner of beef tenderloin roast, double baked potatoes and sauteed asparagus. The kids are really enjoying playing with all their fun new gifts they received...it's was so fun watching their excitement through it all. Oh, to be a kid again :)

Christmas 2011 {Mom}

Christmas 2011 {Dad & Sue}

Santa {2011}

A look back at our visit to Santa last month...Bass Pro Santa rocks!

Santa {2011}

{art} by Lola

We are more and more amazed at Lola's artistic ability with each passing day. It's downright impressive. I walked into the kitchen and a blank sheet of paper turned into this:

"Look, Mommy! I drew Daddy."

For Nonna & Papa

We had such a wonderful visit to Florida this Christmas. I have tons to blog and 1500+ images to weed through and edit, so needless to say, that's going to take awhile! But I couldn't help posting this for Nonna & Papa in the meantime...

xoxo

{John Michael-Christmas 2011}