2012 New Year's Resolutions Re-cap

Some of you might recall my New Year's Resolutions at the beginning of the year. In case you forgot, here they are again along with my updates:

1.  Try to post on this blog regularly.
 I would say I did a pretty good job with this, though after I was done with my 'Daily Dose of Rocco' I did tend to do several blog entries as once instead of updating the blog in a timely manner. But I stuck with it through the whole year!
 
2.  Update Rocco's baby book frequently so I won't get overwhelmed with the task of completing it by the time he turns one.
 I basically did this. I got behind on the last two months leading up to his birthday, but I had the book completed before he turned 13 months old! It came out awesome if I do say so myself:
http://www.adoramapix.com/app/showbook/UFCasey/book/Baby-Book-1

3.  Do the whole breastfeeding/pumping thing until Rocco is 1 year old. 
Did it! Still doing it actually. It helps that Rocco is not walking yet and only has two teeth (bottom only). I think once he starts walking and has top and bottom teeth I will be a lot more inclined to wean him. For now, it's selfishly easier to keep doing it in the mornings. It gets me an extra hour of sleep, and everyone knows I am not a morning person.

4.  Try to not cuss as much.
Yeah, that didn't happen. Whoops.

5.  Take down my Christmas Tree before Feb 1.  
Did it on Jan 22!

Stay tuned for my 2013 resolutions!

Christmas Day 2012

Christmas Day we travelled to Gainesville to spend Christmas with Holly's side of the family. Kieran and Rocco hung out in their Christmas pjs most of the day, playing with each other's toys.

Twas the Night Before Christmas...

The children were nestled all snug in their beds, 

While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads; 

And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap, 

Had just settled down for a long winter's nap.

14 Months Old!

This month's theme is "Christmas":

Milestones for this month:
- Learned to blow us kisses, complete with "Mwah!" sound. Cutest.thing.ever.
- Magically ate everything we offered to him, but for only one week. He then went back to being a picky eater :(
- Learned how to remove his own socks and shoes. Thus, the daily battle to get him to keep his socks and shoes on while riding in the car has begun.

Jacksonville Get Togethers

Since we wouldn't be in Jacksonville for Christmas or Thanksgiving, we squeezed in a trip between the two holidays so we could visit with Great Grandma Glick and our Jacksonville friends, Meredith, Cory, Carrie, and Matt.

 

 

The Holidays at Sea World

We took Rocco to Sea World to check out their Christmas decorations and shows that they only have this time of year. We of course also went to the children's area so Rocco could enjoy some of the rides. His favorite ride is the carousel. We always put him on the angler fish because it's one of the coolest fish in the ocean and it reminds us of his glow in the dark angler fish shirt that he has outgrown sadly.

Swimming With Whale Sharks - Georgia Aquarium

The main attraction we went to while in Atlanta for Scott's birthday weekend was the Georgia Aquarium. When I used to live in Atlanta, Scott and I had annual passes to the aquarium and would visit it about every other month. We were very excited to share this experience with Rocco for the first time.

One of our favorite parts of the Georgia Aquarium is the beluga whale tank. We love it so much, that it was actually the inspiration for Roccoc's  beluga whale themed nursery. Rocco was entranced and we stood there for easily 20 minutes just watching the whales swim around and play with their toys in the water.

Even more impressive is the Ocean Voyager, the largest tank in the Georgia Aquarium. This exhibit was specially designed to house it's four whale sharks, the largest fish species in the world. Massive manta rays, enormous goliath grouper, many schools of fish, and several types of sharks all ply the waters of this ocean habitat containing more than six million gallons of saltwater. With 4,574 square feet of viewing windows, a 100-foot-long underwater tunnel, 185 tons of acrylic windows and the second largest viewing window in the world at 23 feet tall by 61 feet wide and 2 feet thick, amazing doesn't even begin to describe this exhibit.

Sting Ray

Scott and Rocco with a Whale Shark swimming up above

Not the best photo, but you can see the scale of the Whale Sharks

Rocco loved to push against the tank, trying to get the attention of the fish

But even more amazing was the views from inside the tank, as Scott found out when he went scuba diving in it! It was an experience of a lifetime, and really made Scott's 30th birthday a very special occasion.

Scott scuba diving

Swimming over the tunnel

Scott and the other scuba divers with a Whale Shark and Manta Ray swimming above them

Christmas Decorations in Atlanta

These photos were taken outside the World of Coca-Cola. Loved the oversized ornaments!

Stone Mountain Georgia

For Scott's 30th Birthday, we went to Atlanta Georgia for a long weekend getaway. First stop was Stone Mountain Park. We took the Summit Skyride to the top of the mountain, where the view was beautiful but the wind was bitingly cold when you're that high up. We also took advantage of a photo opportunity by visiting the 121 year old covered bridge.

Thanksgiving 2012

Here are some photos of some of the yummy food we made for Thanksgiving at our house this year!

Left to right: Jalapeno Cornbread Poppers, Stuffing, Sweet Potato Casserole, Corn Casserole, Baked Ziti, Green Bean Almondine and Mashed Potatoes.

Not pictured: Turkey, Gravy, and Biscuits/Cornbread.

After we all stuffed ourselves silly, we went to the park in our neighborhood with Rocco. The sun was going down and it was starting to get cold so we didn't stay too long.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and I can truly say we have a lot to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Milk - It Does A Baby's Body Good!

13 Months Old!

Now that Rocco is over a year old, we are ditching the monthly photos of him laying on the desk calendar. He's just too mobile and too big to keep that up. However, we are not done with the monthly photos! The new plan is to continue to take a monthly photo of him but with a 'theme' that goes with that calendar month. Some months the theme might just have to be 'cute photo of Rocco' ;)

This month's theme is "Fall Leaves":

Milestones for this month:
- Pulls himself up to a standing position on his own (requiring us to lower his crib mattress)
- Started walking while holding on to furniture (also known as 'cruising')
- Got two teeth at the same time! He finally has teeth!
- Started drinking cow's milk (which was a bigger deal to me than it was to him - I finally put my pump away!)

Someone To Look Up To

Rocco just loves his Cousin Kieran!

Happy Halloween!

Before we get to what costume Rocco wore for Halloween, I first wanted to show off his outfit that he wore to daycare today:

His onesie says 'Teething Bites', which it does. Literally and figuratively. Ouch for mommy. But anyways - his onesie couldn't be more appropriate since he is finally(!) getting some teeth in. Two to be exact.

Getting back to his costume - last year after Halloween, Scott and I saw a cute cow costume on clearance and bought it for Rocco to wear this year. It turns out the costume is even cuter on him than we thought it would be!

Rocco makes a very cute little cow I must say. However, he wasn't the biggest fan of the hoodie part of the costume at first:

I'm pretty sure he was thinking "Get this THING off me. Now!", but after a couple of minutes he got used to it. To get into the spirit, Scott and I also dressed up as dairy farmers. We had a silver pail/bucket (like a farmer would use to milk a cow - and yes I realize that with Rocco obviously being a boy cow, that doesn't work out, but whatever) to hold candy to give out to the neighborhood kids. It was a really nice night and we enjoyed meeting a lot of neighbors for the first time, some of which have kids near Rocco's age.  Dressing up this year as a family was a lot of fun, so we're already trying to figure out what we're going to be next year!

Happy Halloween!!

Footie Pajamas

It's finally cold enough to warrant putting Rocco back into footie pajamas and these Halloween ones are perfect for Halloween Eve.

My Favorite Fall Photo

It's that time of year - where everyone finds a pumpkin patch, not to buy a pumpkin, but to use it as a fun fall backdrop to take a photo of their child(ren). I had every intention of joining the masses for the very first time this year (Rocco was only a couple of weeks old this time last year), but then we got busy, and all of a sudden it was almost Halloween. Lucky for me, Rocco's daycare had a little fall display set up outside their front door, so I used that!  So here is Rocco's official 'pumpkin patch' photo (minus the patch). It's just about my most favorite photo I have taken. Ever.

Sea World Halloween Spooktacular

We have annual passes to Sea World, so we had to go while they still had their Halloween Spooktacular going on at the park.

That's steam coming out of the shell, not just a blurry photo for the record.

Next year, we need to remember to bring him in his costume! All the other kids were so cute dressed up - I wish I could have taken some photos of them, but I didn't want to look like a creeper.

You Are My Sunshine - Birthday Party!

The past year has had a lot of ups and downs, but through it all, Rocco really has been our "sunshine" when "skies are gray". I also sing him "You are my sunshine" on a rather regular basis, so it was fitting to use that as the theme for his first birthday party. We didn't go all out - just some decorations, ordered food from Sonny's BBQ (sunny, sonny, get it?), and had family and just a few friends come over (thanks Lindsay and Andrew for making the drive!). It was a great time - Rocco loved all his presents. He did not love his smash cake though, for the record. Here's some photos!

Decorations:

Guests:

It's my party...

...and I can cry if I want to!