A "national" year in review....

Thanks to our friends at Jib Jab, here is an entertaining look back at 2009! Enjoy and I hope you have a fun, safe and happy new year! Cheers!

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Christmas!

Christmas was here and now gone. Only 364 days until Christmas! Yes, I love this time of year. Antonio's 1st Christmas was great! He met a bunch of his cousins he hadn't met on the Schneidler side, see picture below. The Schneidler gathering is always interesting! In years past I can remember screaming, crying little kids and babies; I always thought it was a good form of birth control. Now it was bigger kids running, wrestling and doing mostly boy stuff. I am officially worried about my future now! ; ) Antonio did great considering we didn't leave until about and hour and a half past his bed time and we still had about a 40 min drive home!

The Schneidler/Wolcott/Rodriguez kids!

We spent Christmas morning at home, just the three of us. I made cinnamon rolls from scratch and had eggs and bacon with them for breakfast. My mom, in all the years I can remember back, has always made the cinnamon rolls and since her and Jon are gone I had to try to fill her shoes per Albert! I tried and came pretty close but maybe it's the "mom's love" that was missing! We opened presents and loved watching Antonio open presents; he actually pulled and ripped at the paper! We were impressed that he was even interested in it!

We then went to my Aunts for the day and Christmas dinner. Again, Antonio did great. He always loves watching his cousin Shaun, who will be 2 in February. I see them being buddies in a few years; at least thats what we are hoping for! Antonio received even more toys there! It is amazing how many presents he got from family and friends! He is so lucky and so loved!

My cousin, Suzanne and I with our boys!

It was weird not to see my parents but we did get to Skype with them before going to my Aunts which was great. I am not sure how we would have survived without Skype! If you haven't used it before, check it out. It is a completely free way to chat and "see" friends and/or family that live far away! Once we got home from my Aunts, we then Skype'd with Albert's family in California! Antonio's cousin Elise kept kissing the computer screen that she saw Antonio's face on. So cute! It makes us wish we lived closer to them. We had a good Christmas and were able to see all of our family (in person or via Skype) this year, which was a first! We look forward to many Christmas' in the future! I hope you had a good Christmas with friends and family too!

Oh and Happy New Year.....

T-minus 7 days....

I can't believe that this time next week Christmas will pretty much be over. I am so incredibly excited this year for two reasons. One, Antonio (which says it all!) and two, last year I was so sick I didn't get to enjoy it. I love this time of year so much it is ridiculous; you'd think I was a 5 year old all over again!! However, this year comes bittersweet! I have my absolutely wonderful baby boy to experience his very first Christmas and yet my parents wont be here. Instead they are in Granada, Spain for the holidays. Well, at least for Christmas. As most of you know they are on their amazing year long vacation all over (Germany, Sweden, France, Spain, Italy, Egypt, etc.) and I am extremely jealous! However this year will be my first Christmas not waking up at my moms and enjoying her homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast. It's sad, more sad than I expected it to be. Albert and I have been talking about starting our own traditions for a couple years now but haven't and kept going to my parents for Christmas. I guess this year is a good year to start with Antonio. I am going to try to make the cinnamon rolls myself Christmas Eve for the next morning. They won't be my moms but they will do and at least we will have that even if my parents aren't here. I know there are so many worse situations and at least I still have my mom in my life but still....it's sad. We plan on skyping with them Christmas morning after we open gifts here; so in a way they will be here!

On a happier note, Christmas is right around the corner!! I cannot stand it! I want Antonio to open his gifts NOW!! We did a small trial run with him while Albert's sister was in town and Antonio really did open a gift! He pulled the bow off and pulled at the paper and ripped it off! It was more than I expected! After it was opened he looked at the gift then turned to grab for another....he's my kid after all! ; ) I hope you all have an awesome holiday with your loved ones. Hug them and appreciate being with them!

Santa and the tree

As of the 11th Antonio is 5 months old! Seriously, where has the time gone?! He has 2 different jumperoo's, both he can turn himself 360 degrees. One he will be able to really jump around in and the other not as much but he still can bounce a bit. He seems to really like both. He's been enjoying them for about a month now. I think because of them he is much more interested in standing! He is still learning to sit but really enjoys standing!

Last Friday the hospital where I had Antonio and where we have our weekly class they had a Santa. We had to sign up with his name and age because he would get an age appropriate gift. So we went down to see Santa at the hospital and Antonio got to sit on his lap. Not only did they take two shots but we were also able to take pictures with out own cameras! They then got their toy and a small snoopy doll, so really he got two presents! All this was free! It was a great Santa too. He didn't seem impressed with Santa at all. As you can see by the picture he pretty much just sat there! Maybe next year we will get some sort of emotion from him! : )

Then Saturday, Albert's sister Nelly flew in to visit for a week so we went and cut down a Christmas tree. A first for Albert! It was really cold but so much fun! We found "THE" tree, Albert cut in down, put it in the trunk of my car and then we all enjoyed some complimentary hot chocolate! It was only about 10 min from our house too! So much fun!

California

As some of you know we (Albert, Antonio and I) went to California to visit Albert's family for 7 days. We stayed with Albert's mom and she let us stay in her room with a bathroom attached which was nice for that middle of the night feeding he still wakes for. (ugh...) I was extremely nervous for the whole flying thing (and all that goes with it) and then being away from home and routine for so long. I hoped Antonio would adjust after a couple days; no such luck. The plane ride down went pretty well. Most people said that he would probably sleep all the way down; again, no such luck. He took his binky for the take off and only fussed a tiny bit; it was when we were in air about halfway there he got very squirmy and fussy. Luckily we were able to calm him and he fell asleep for the last 30-45 min, including the decent! For all the draging him around we did and being on the go he did good. There was absolutely no "schedule" for him while we were there (shame on us). Of course he caught a pretty rough cold while there and still has it; the runny nose, sneezing, coughing and congestion. The last day/evening/night we were there was rough and we were glad we were heading home the next day. It seemed as if everyone around us was sick though. Albert's mom got a pretty nasty cold while we were there too so we are praying we don't get sick as well.

The venture home was a little more rougher. When we took off he cried then fell asleep and I had hope but then after about an hour he was awake and wiggly. Luckily the plane was about half empty so we go the whole row (3 seats) to ourselves which gave us some room. Just before we started the decent down Antonio started screaming and crying; it continued for about 15 min. then he passed out. Those 15 min were terrible though and he wouldn't keep his binky in. We were all so happy to be home. His toys, bed, jumper, etc. It was all so familiar to him and he seemed so happy to be home.....until about 6 when he just fell apart. He started crying.....hard and couldn't stop. I felt so horrible. I am guessing it is a combination of traveling, having the cold and possibly teething. Poor little guy. Tomorrow is a recovery day. There will hopefully be a lot of cleaning and laundry doing on my part and a lot of playing and sleeping on his. Albert's sister Nelly flies in Saturday for 5 days and hopefully all will be back to normal by then.

I would say the trip, as a whole, went well; it could have gone smoother but it also could have been so much worse! It was so good to see Albert's family and to have Antonio finally meet his Aunt Kiana, Uncle Abel and cousins Elise and Angelina! However, I don't think we will be traveling again any time soon; it's been a rough week and I am sure we will sleep good tonight!