Sunday, June 30, 2013

Flying

Gabriel loves to be the airplane.  Whether its me or Scott swinging him around, he loves it!  

He flies and giggles and it makes us smile.


Maybe we have a future pilot on our hands.  That would make his mother extremely happy.  

Friday, June 28, 2013

Friday Mornings

I love Friday mornings.  We get to sleep in later, Scott hangs around a little later and I get to play with Gabriel a little longer.  This morning I interrupted him watching the news in our bed.

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Our Wedding

I randomly found a blog that was asking people about their wedding details, a deet-up if you will.  They wanted to know the good, the bad, and the ugly from your special day.  Thankfully, I only have good from that day.  After reading a few, I feel like I'm one of the lucky ones.  And with our anniversary coming up, I thought I'd share what I thought.

Location(church/outdoors/destination):  Our wedding goal was to show as many features of St. Louis City as possible.  Being a tourist in our city is a big part of our relationship and we wanted that to show.  Ceremony was held at St. Ambrose Catholic Church.  We picked the Church because they actually talked to me when I was calling around.  We narrowed it down to a few churches that we liked and then I made calls.  St. Ambrose worked with us the most since we were not parishioners anywhere.  My great aunt sponsored us and we found a priest and we were set for the ceremony.

We had a 4 hour gap between the wedding and the reception.  And in true St. Louis fashion, we drove around town getting our pictures taken.  We hit the normal places Ted Drewes(for much needed free frozen custard), Forest Park, Busch Stadium, and Keiner Plaza.  Our reception was at the Randell Gallery.  We had the entire building to ourselves.  We had a sit down dinner on the third floor, a gallery of pictures and sculptures in the basement, and dancing and lounge area on the main floor.  The place was perfect for us.




Colors:  I always thought that black bridesmaids dresses were perfect.  I'm very rational and did not want my bridesmaids to spend a lot of money on a dress they would never wear again.  So, when I picked out the dresses, I went to the "dresses you can wear again" section of David's Bridal.  Since our wedding was in August, I wanted something that was light and comfortable.  I think I accomplished that with strapless, knee length dresses with pockets. 


We stumbled upon yellow flowers while shopping for florists.  The florist I ended up going with was a family friend and she did an amazing job with the flowers.  I love the yellow and think it really popped against my white dress and the black of the bridesmaids dresses.


Bridal Party:  We kept it small.  We had our closest family and friends from grade school and college.  We had 2 junior bridesmaids, 2 flower girls, 2 groomsmen/ushers, and 2 ring bearers to include our family.  I think the small size kept the group close and fun.



First Dance Song:  After much, much discussion we chose Kenny Chesney's "Me & You."  I felt that after 12 years  of knowing each other the song was a perfect fit.  My husband compromised with me on the song, he is not a big Kenny Chesney fan.


Honeymoon:  We went to the Mayan Rivera for our honeymoon.  We left bright and early the morning after our wedding.  The flight down was not fun.  I had a headache and then our driver in Mexico was crazy.  It was the second time in my life that I felt car sick.  But the trip was great, we laid on the beach, repelled into a sink hole, saw Mayan Ruins, Snorkeling, slept in, read, tanned.  It was great!


What would you do different?:  I loved our wedding; I don't think there is anything I would do different.  I might take an extra day before leaving on our honeymoon.  Spend it was family that came in town.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Summer Fun

Here are a few picture updates of Gabriel's first summer of fun!  We've been walk/running most Saturday and Sunday mornings.  Gabriel goes on the long runs with Dad and the hilly walks with Mom.  It's been a busy and fun June!


 



 

   

 
 


Thursday, June 20, 2013

Father's Day

This was Scott's official Father's Day.  We knew last year that we were expecting, however, it was still a secret to everyone else.  And that was kinda fun.  But this year Scott was really ablt to celebrate with Gabriel and me.

Our day started bright and early, 6am.  We opened presents right away.  It was really hard for me to keep everything a secret, and even harder for me to not give the present as soon as everything came in the mail.  But I think it was well worth the wait.  Scott got, from Gabriel, a framed picture of the two of them at Gabe's first Cardinals game for his desk at work, 2 new t-shirts for the summer, new running shorts for all their runs, and a picture book with many Gabriel and Dad pictures.  I think Gabe did a great job on picking out gifts this year, not too bad for a 4 month old.


Reily just had to be in there

We decided to take Gabe on a walk/run first thing in the morning, well after the rain let up.  Scott ran 4 miles with Gabriel while Reily and I walked 2 miles, it was a great way to start the day.  Then it was time for Cardinal baseball.  While the Birds lost we still had fun playing with Gabriel.  Between naps, Scott and I caught up on some Mad Men.

All in all, I think Scott had a great 1st Father's Day!

Monday, June 17, 2013

4 Month Doctor Appointment

Gabriel had his 4 month check up and it went great!  He is a happy and healthy baby boy.  His 4 month stats are:

Height - 25.25 inches (50%)
Weight - 17.25lbs (79.33%
Head - 43cm (85.39%)


Waiting for the doctor

He is about average in height, even though I thought he was very long.  He is up there in the weight, which is why he earned this "chunky monkey" name.

This was right before his shots

He did get 2 shots and he did great.  He didn't even flinch with the first one and cried out for all of 2 seconds with the second one. It was a great doctor's appointment!

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

4 Months

Gabriel hit the 4 month mark today.  He is growing like a weed!  Everyday there is something new to be discovered or trick to learn.  We have his 4 month doctor's appointment on Friday so his stats will be coming shortly.

For now Gabriel's likes are:

Silly faces


Silly noises


Bath time with Dad


Swinging


Jumparoo


Watching Reily from swing and jumparoo


Patty Cake


Peak-a-boo


His rings


Smiling


Drooling ( a lot)


Eating his fingers


Getting tickled


Laughing


Watching Cardinal Baseball


Looking at the picture slide show on the Apple TV


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We had a small photo shoot at 5am and I could not be happier that he is a very, very happy baby when he wakes up!  Reily had to get in on the photo shoot as well.


reily

Monday, June 10, 2013

St. Gabriel's Picnic

* Half of this post is written by Gabriel - he is becoming a great blogger.

Gabriel has attended his first St. Gabriel School picnic.  It was a success.  Gabe had a very busy day before making an appearance at the picnic.  He went on a 5 mile run with his Dad, while Reily and I walked 3.  Then we went out to breakfast on Main St. in St. Charles at Picasso's.  We quickly ran home and took a bath with Dad while Mom ran to Target to get a lot of needed items.  After a very short nap, we loaded up the car and headed to the mall to get flip-flops for dad and an accessory for Mom's outfit.  Then it was on to the picnic.  I met so many people who knew my mom and Zio Andrew.  Everyone said I was a Manzotti, until they saw my Dad.  I watched Mathew and Catherine go on a few rides and then it was back to the beer booth to say my good byes, I'm not used to the heat yet.  Mom and Dad had another reunion to go to so I went home with my Aunt Michelle.  We had a fun night of playing while Mom and Dad had a semi-date night without me.

Below is the only picture my mom remembered to take at the picnic.  You can see the church and the infamous Ferris Wheel from Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch (in a year or so, I might be on the kiddie rides).

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Thursday, June 6, 2013

1 Year Ago

1 year ago today I was sending Scott text messages of positive pregnancy tests while he worked late.  And it was a crazy week after that.  I took 4 tests just to make sure it was really positive.  In a little over a years time, Scott and I have started new jobs, that we both LOVE, went on a trip to the Northeast, done home improvements and then Gabriel Scott joined us.  It's been almost 4 months and I'm thankful every day that I get to wake up to a chatty, healthy, smiley baby boy.

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Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Gabriel's Room

We added a few more items to Gabe's room to make it feel more like a completed room.  Before he was born I had found a few things to hang on his wall over his crib.  Of course time passed and I never bought them.  I finally bought them a week ago and Scott was nice enough to hang them, along with a shelf, for me this past weekend.

I have to say, the room looks more complete and my voice doesn't echo off the walls.  I just need to buy a frame for one more picture to go up and maybe some curtains for the window. 

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[caption id="attachment_3090" align="aligncenter" width="300"]Sports Shelf Sports Shelf[/caption]

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Tough Weekend

Gabriel had a very tough weekend of going out to breakfast with Aunt Michelle, going to the Soulard Farmer's Market, meeting new people, going for a run with his dad and watching the Cardinals games.  This is what happens after a very tough weekend.

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At least he was still rocking his Cards gear and dreaming of a Sunday win and Yadi not getting kicked out.