Mardi Gras!

Nicole as a Princess.

Filippo the Race Car Driver.

Today we went to a Mardi Gras playdate and the kids were going crazy...I guess kind of like Mardi Gras!


They were ALL jumping on the couch - so cute!

So, originally this playdate was scheduled on Fat Tuesday but since we had a ton of snow they rescheduled it. My friend Mariangela hosted and I guess in Italy they dress the kids on Mardi Gras kind of like Halloween. Well, I forgot that I stored away all the Halloween stuff in our basement crawl space but I remembered that I still had the Santa costume and Reindeer costume in the kids closets!

Olivia as a Reindeer.

Luca being a serious Santa.

Croy as Croy.

Cameron as Cameron.

Spencer as a Giraffe.

What a busy day today! Took the kids to the playdate at 10am then took them to Grammy's house at 1. Fed Luca lunch and waited until they were both in the pack n plays for their naps and I was off to another market study! This one was for Bath and Body Works. They asked me to look at their new website and tell them what I liked and didn't like about it. It was the easiest $100 I've made in less than an hour. I even asked the guy if I could do this full time as a joke and he told me to come back on Monday! Fun stuff - I'm hoping there will be more of these in my future.

Olivia is 8 Months Old!

Wow! Time is just flying. My baby is 8 Months today. Since I like to get her all dressed up on her monthly pics since we rarely ever put her in dresses, I realized I ran out of dresses for her! So I put her in this dress that is size 3 to 6 months! I couldn't believe it fit but was definitely super short on her. I was tempted to buy one today at the store but she rarely ever wears these dresses so she's taking her pic in this small dress. At least it's really cute and makes her look like she has super long legs!


This was right before nap time. I gave her a bath before hand and was surprised I even got a little smile - she was very tired.

Love this one of her!

She's doing much better with her ear infection and is starting to sleep longer. When she had the ear infection she was getting up at 6am but the last two days she got up between 7 and 7:30. She also does not like medicine! She's like her mommy, I hate it too so we have to hold her face and basically pour it with a syringe on the side of her mouth. I hate doing it but it will only make her better. :(

She has been able to stand as long as she has something to lean on like this toy. She's getting really close to crawling and she's definitely moving around. If I lay her down in the great room she will do an army crawl backwards. Yesterday, I put her on the carpet walked away for a couple of minutes to find her on the tile which was about 5 feet away from her!

I really don't know where the time goes during the day! Today I went to the grocery, Target, did 3 loads of laundry, dusted our room and Olivia's room, gave Olivia a bath, and I feel like the house is still a wreck and didn't get done as much as I wanted! I still need to get dinner prepared and clean up all the toys. I love being a stay at home mom but it's a lot more work than I ever imagined...I thought we were supposed to eat Bon Bons and watch soap operas?

Noah's Ark

So remember when I mentioned that Luca is in this stuffed animal stage where he takes them with him everywhere? Well, now his collection has even grown! I seriously think he had about 6 today....Noah's Ark! As I was making the marinade for the Pork Tenderloin I noticed he was very quiet and whenever he's quiet it usually means he's doing something he's not supposed to but this time he laid on the couch with ALL of his animals and even put the blanket on him! Good thing I always have my camera handy and I had to snap a pic.

He was pretending he was sleeping in this picture. I can't believe he's going to turn two soon! He's getting so big and he's getting smarter and smarter everyday. He's finally starting to put more words together. Today he said "more apple juice please."

I did a paid taste testing at Wendy's today and I got to try TWO milkshakes. They basically tasted like their Frosty. The first sample had a strong chocolate taste and the other tasted creamier. I chose the 1st sample. I have another market study on Friday about Bath and Body products. It's an hour to talk about lotions and I get $100! I love these things and I'm getting really good at qualifying for them. Anyway...when I came home from my Wendy's taste test Corey and Luca were finishing up dinner and they had the National Geographic channel on and it was about fox and wolves. Luca kept saying what sounded like "Fuck" and I asked Corey if he was swearing a lot while I was gone or something but he was trying to say FOX. It was too funny!

Olivia's First Ear Infection...

We got another 7 inches of snow! Corey was off school again so Luca got to play in the snow while his Papa shoveled.


We finally bought Luca snow pants. Well, we couldn't just find pants, this came with a coat which he didn't need but I noticed the coat was ripped and asked the people at Kohls if we could get a discount and we got it for 80% off! The coat and snow pants were only $12 total! What a steal! Plus they are a size 2 so he definitley should be able to wear them next year - I had to fold the pants they were so long!

Here's Miss Olivia staying inside with mamma but occasionally looking out the window to watch her brother and papa in the snow. She seems to love the new rug we just bought! When we bought the house they recommended that we not put a rug for 6 months b/c the hardwood will change colors but with all the snow we just really needed a new rug so here it is.

We also finally bought a picture to put above our buffet and I LOVE IT! We knew we wanted something with wine in teh picture since when we have parties we put the wine and wine glasses on the buffet. I'm so glad we found this b/c it looks great with our wall colors and was the perfect size! Now we still need to buy another picture or mirror for above the fireplace. Buying a new home is great but it takes a lot of time to fill up all the walls.

My poor baby has an ear infection in her left ear. We've noticed that she's been fussier than normal and I thought maybe she had PINK eye because she would wake up with all these crusties in her eyes even though her eyes weren't pink. I thought it was just a bacterial infection. Corey noticed that she started tugging on her left ear. I still didn't think it was an ear infection because it was totally different symptoms than what Luca had when he had an ear infection. He had a fever, runny nose, and would scream in the middle of the night or whenever we would lay him down. Olivia has been waking up at 6am the last couple of days instead of her usual 7:30-8am wake up time. I took her to the doctors this morning and she didn't seem to mind when the doctor looked in her right ear but when he touched her left one she just screamed. Corey called it and was totally right-good thing I listen to him. She's already had 2 doses of her medicine and the doc said by day 4 she should be fine. Poor baby. :( I feel bad that I didn't catch it, I just was thinking of different symptoms. I have some great pics but I can't seem to work my new 8 GB SD card that I got for Valentine's Day since my 1 GB gets filled up so quickly b/c I am camera crazy. Hopefully the SD card will work on the other computer.

Bed Head

This is what Olivia looks like in the morning right after she wakes up. Do you see that big spike in the front of her hair?


At least she's still happy with that bed head of hers!


Here's Luca putting his Papa's gloves and shoes on himself. We've been stuck in the house for the past 3 days. (Other than working out last night). I'm going a little stir crazy in the house. It's been hard to get out of the house b/c Olivia takes her 10am nap then doesn't wake up til noon so by the time I feed her Luca is ready for his 1:00 nap and Olivia goes back at 2 for nap.
He was dying to go outside in the snow or just to get out of the house!

Here's his new collection of animals that he carries with him. His monkey, 2 cats (that he got from the gym daycare) and his new addition - a little bear. He's been in this phase where he has to bring them with him EVERYWHERE! Plus, he has to sleep with them all. It was always his monkey but now his monkey has a few friends.

Here he is carrying them all with him. Corey says Luca has a litter of cats since he has 2 of them. If he adds another to his collection he might turn into crazy cat boy!

Look at Dem Deers!

No that's not how Luca says it and no we are not rednecks - but I just had to put that on my title b/c that's how Corey likes to say it when he's in white trash charachter. I love that we live 7 minutes away from Downtown Columbus and we have a family of deer that are always outside of our window. I was able to take a few pics.


Luca is always looking for the deer and gets so excited when he sees them.

Do you see our mailbox? This is our driveway!

I love this clip b/c this is the only one that holds her hair up. The others are always hanging off 1 strand of hair. I should buy some more of these.

Pay It Forward

Today Corey was off for a snow day. Corey's parents were at a garage sale this summer and saw a snow blower that was for sale and called us and asked if we wanted it. We were hoping it worked b/c you can't really try it out in the summer. It worked and it was a good investment because Corey has used it a lot! When we used to live in our old neighborhood our neighbor, Chuck, had open heart surgery and Corey would always shovel his driveway and sidewalks. Well, even though we aren't neighbors anymore, Corey will drive to his house and still clears his sidewalks and driveway. He also removes the snow at his moms house and he noticed an older lady that lived across the street trying to shovel her driveway and he cleared hers too! Chuck and the old lady offered to pay Corey but he just told them to pay it forward. Isn't that sweet? He's such a good guy. Plus, my pregnant friend, Salwa, just posted on FB that her husband isn't coming home until Friday and she's snowed in so Corey said he'd clear her driveway, too.


Here is my sweet lil girl watching her Papa take a break and playing a game on the internet. She was staring at the screen until my camera made a noise then she looked at me. She just woke up from her nap. Look at her frizzy hair! She's really itching to start crawling. She spent most of the day on her belly. I didn't even put her on her belly. She is in sitting position then bends over to the crawl position.

If most of you haven't read my sisters blog we have some bad news. The agency she worked with basically told them misleading information. It was important to my sister to have a healthy child. The children they showed her were severely disabled. They are very disappointed and have already returned to the US. I have been thinking about them a lot and also disappointed ok scratch that...ANGRY with the adoption agency that they worked with for dragging them through this long and grueling process for over 1 year to find out everything they told them was a lie.

Ladies Night With My Old College Roomies...

My old college roomies - Erin and Kerry came to Columbus to get together. Erin, has recently been dating Jim Marion, who was a Sig at University of Toledo and he lives here in Columbus. I have a feeling I'll be seeing her much more now that she has a new boyfriend in Columbus. Our friend Angie Hagan was also planning on meeting us but her sister was going into labor right before she was about to leave so she didn't get to join us but maybe next time. Our other roomie Nikki was invited but she is pregnant with her 2nd and is ready to pop. We all met up at Jim's house for some drinks then headed out to a restaurant called Lemongrass - we had some sushi then headed out for the night!


Let me tell you that even though I typically go out once a week with my mommy friends this was a different night. Me and the mommies typically go to a restaurant and have some drinks like 1 or 2 glasses of wine and food then I'm usually home by 11. Well, we headed to some bars and came home at 1:45am which I can't remember the last time I came home that late! Even though I enjoyed every minute with my friends I came to the realization that the bar scene just isn't my scene anymore. I've been struggling to get moving all morning. We ended up going to bed at 3am and then got my morning wake up call from Luca at 8am "Mamma!".
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The happy couple. So glad you coordinated this, Erin!

1st Snowman!

Corey came home to lots of snow today. Luca associates snow with Papa and his snow blower. He has to be out there watching his dad clear the snow from the driveway. After they cleared the driveway Papa made their very 1st snowman and of course I had to come out and get a pic of it! Olivia and I stayed warm inside and made Papa a nice salmon dinner with roasted potatoes.

Luca's jeans were soaked. I need to find some snow pants for him, poor guy.

Here he is shoveling but you can tell I took the pic from inside since you can see the screen.

Luca was so excited to see his Papa. He has learned how to take pictures on my camera and he took this shot of Corey and about 30 other shots of half of Corey's head and mostly Luca's fingers in front of the lense and the carpet. Luca also put this blanket on Corey. He always does to Corey then lays on top of him and cuddles. So cute!

Corey came back home today! He was in DC for business since Wednesday night. I guess I never mentioned this on my blog, Corey's fraternity brother, Aaron Lemieux invented a device called the PEG (Personal Energy Generator). Basically, this device can charge your cell phone, I-Pod, and any device that has a USB port by walking. They are also in the process of doing more research for a Wave Energy Generator that would be able to create electricity from the waves in a Lake or Ocean. Pretty neat stuff - Corey has been an investor and also has worked for Aaron to help with the development for the past 3 years or so, We're hoping that the PEG will go to market soon and we can start seeing some returns on our investment.

More Snow!

I didn't want to leave out our great friends Rita and Croy. Spencer was in his car seat so we didn't get a shot of him.




We got a ton of snow today and it keeps snowing as I type!


We were invited to Nicole's Birthday Party and we even came in all this snow. We didn't want the snow to ruin her Bday plus I'm from Michigan so I'm used to the snow but it was pretty slick out. Here is Luca being a good big brother and insisting on pushing his sister. He really did help me because I was able to open the door and he pushed her right out.

Here's our pals - Carson and Ms. Rachel. Luca loves Ms. Rachel.

Our friends Cara and Lane.

Me and my kiddos!

Olivia wasn't looking in this one but Luca was.


Here's the Bday girl with her mom and dad.

The party was at Graeaters - since Sophies' party was a hit there Kelly thought she'd have it there, too!

Nicole's Bday cake.

Poor Olivia was taking a nap but I had to wake her up for the party - she's such a good sport. I have been really nervous because she prefers to sleep on her belly and she likes to cover her face with a blanket. Last night, when I went to cover her up she was face down so I tried to turn her around but she woke up. This makes me so nervous so I need to keep an eye on her more.

In other news, my sister and Chris arrived safely in the Ukraine. We are all so excited for them. I wonder if they are going to get two kids. I also wonder if they are going to get a boy or a girl, two boys, or maybe two girls or maybe one of each? The suspense is killing me but I'm super excited to be an auntie! The kid/s they will be adopting will be very fortunate to have parents like them! Here is their blog if you want to follow their journey. http://mbellestrifamily.blogspot.com/