Little sicky-poo

So my goal was to upload the pictures of our BEAUTIFUL real tree with fabulous new ornaments from this weekend...but my amnesia struck again I left my camera at my sister's house!  Pregnancy really caused me to be forgetful!  Pics to come later!

In the mean time, for all of you who saw Mr. Roman on Thanksgiving, the little man wasn't feeling too well.  But, I am happy to say I think we are finally in the clear with little man's first cold.  Not only did he hate having a giant bulb syringe shoved up his nose every other hour, but it broke my heart seeing the way he would look at me as I was doing it!  It was as if he was thinking, "why are you doing this to me?".  Needless to say, after every suction session, I'd pick him up to console him and the tears were dry in 1.5 seconds!  Just to show you how much better he's feeling, take a look at the pic Justin snapped of him this morning before taking him to the babysitter's house.  He's always in such a great mood in the am, and as I was carrying him in the bathroom  this morning, I caught a glimpse of my adorable boy in his little jacket and sweet hat and told Justin we needed a pic!  Enjoy!

Our trees...yes, treeS!

We are in the Christmas spirit here at the Castellis!  Roman and I made our way out to Hobby Lobby today...after our morning nap!  No, we weren't one of those crazies out at 4am!  We headed out at 12:30pm and were home by 2:30p.  Our mission...new tree ornaments!

Since we've been married, Justin and I have always used a fake tree his parents so graciously gave us four years ago.  And while it is a great tree, and such better quality than the fake trees they make these days, I've really missed having a 'real' tree in my home for Christmas!  Well this year, I am getting my wish!!!

It just so happens that one of my clients this year was this great tree farm in Greenfield (Lost Forty Tree Farm).  We filmed a commercial for them on site, and it really made me want to go back with the fam and cut down our own tree and start a new Castelli family tradition.  Well that day is tomorrow - hopefully, if we can all shake this cold we have had today...so of course we needed all new ornaments for the new tree!  I'm pretty proud of what I found, and I'm super excited to get the new tree and the new ornaments up tomorrow!  Until then, please enjoy the picture of our fake tree that we decorated this evening and put in the basement this year!  This will be our fun/family tree and where I think we will open presents on Christmas morning every year!  My real tree will be more themed for now...until we start getting all of the great homemade ornaments from the kids!

And then there is the mini-tree that is in the foyer.  This tree received fresh new ornaments today as well!    Nothing fancy, I just decided to change the theme of this tree to match the decor of my house!  I'll have some pictures of the holiday decor in the house later this week!  I'm hoping we can even get our large 4' wreath hung in the front window of our two story foyer tomorrow!  That was quite the chore last year!  I'm pretty sure Justin swore off ever hanging this wreath again after last year's fiasco, but since I'm not pregnant this year, I can climb the ladder! :)

Ten Things I'm Thankful For...

I know it's cliche being Thanksgiving Eve, but I am sitting here looking at my precious baby, and wondering how in the world I am so blessed!

One of my best friends from Chicago - yes she's a Smarge - came over tonight and we were talking about how Thanksgiving Eve used to be the big night we all looked forward to to go out to the bars and have a blast...yet at 28 years old we were perfectly content staying in and eating pizza and watching Modern Family tonight!  I think as we grow up and go through different experiences, our priorities change for the better, and for that, I'm thankful!

I'm thankful...  

1. that my husband makes me laugh at the silliest things, like knuckle sandwiches and "turdles",
2. for Sunday night dinners with our families,
3. for the friendships I have had since elementary and middle school,
4. that all of my pre-pregnancy pants fit me once again!
5. For sales at the Loft,
6. for hearing my little man laugh and seeing his eyes light up when he sees me when I pick him up from the babysitter,
7. to have "girls nights" with my Pulte girls,
8. to have my sisters to call to ask about anything pertaining to post-pregnancy symptoms and baby questions,
9. for hair color to cover my grays,
10. And for my perfect little family of three!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Another project...I love projects!

When Justin and I built our house over 2 years ago, we were quickly cutting certain things out of the house wish list due to budget!  It's really easy to go over budget when building a house.  The first things to go were finishing our basement, the irrigation system, and the custom wood closet shelving.  All of these were things we didn't need, although I'm sure Justin could argue the irrigation system was definitely needed this summer!  We've since finished our basement and added a huge island in our closet...but still no irrigation system! :)

Anyway, another small item that was cut off of our wish list was our garage entry locker/storage system.  We still have the niche space that is currently occupied by a hall tree, a small table that holds our spare keys, and then about 3-4 pairs of my shoes on any given day (why bring them upstairs when I know I'm going to wear them again in the next day or two??)!  Well, I've been given the OK to get this locker/storage system underway!  In fact, and friend of mine from Pulte is coming over next week to talk about design and details!  I'm pretty excited!  I am hoping it will be similar to one of the pictures below!

 Our space isn't nearly as wide as these two spaces, but I'm thinking it's about 2/3 as wide!  I don't need the cabinets on the sides, really just some cubbies on the bottom (for my shoes), some shelves on top for Roman's many hats, and some hooks for our coats and umbrellas!  I'll keep you posted on the progress!

The pictures are up!

I've always thought when it comes to most things in life, I'm a pretty patient person!  I don't know if it was growing up with 4 siblings, or being in sales, or just the way I was raised, but I've always thought of myself as patient.  Boy was I wrong!  I think I learned in the last 24 hours that I need to work on my patience!

We recently had Roman's 3 month pictures taken.  We found a fabulous photographer a couple of years ago, and she is doing 5 sessions of Roman his first year of life!  I get so excited planning for his pictures, but then once the pictures are taken, I can't wait to see how they turned out!  This time was no different!  I just couldn't wait to see Roman's pictures!  I knew his pictures would be posted today (because Jamie told me they would be), but for some reason, I couldn't control myself!  I just kept checking for his pictures probably 100 times (no joke) between Friday and today!  I even woke up once in the middle of the night, and checked my phone to see if the pictures were posted!  I know, I'm crazy!  I bet my sisters would do the same thing - (that's how I rationalize things...when Justin thinks I'm crazy for doing certain things, I always say, "my sisters would do the same thing")!

Without disappointment, his pictures were posted this evening.  I just love them!  Roman couldn't keep his little eyes off Jamie's camera!  Jamie Sanger does such a great job!  I'll post a few on here once we get the CD, but if you'd like to check out our little man, click here!  Don't forget to click on the slideshow at the end of the pictures!  Once you see them, you'll be calling Jamie Sangar to take some pics for you!

My little laughing man!

Roman is such a happy baby!  We really are pretty blessed when it comes to Roman's demeanor.  We were at a party last night (yes, we still go to parties with Roman - but we head home at 10p these days, not 1 or 2am!) and everyone kept saying how laid back and relaxed he was.  He would just sit there in our arms taking it all in!  And unlike some babies I've known (my brother), he is perfectly content having someone other than Mommy and Daddy hold him!  And in typical baby fashion, he's always the happiest when he's naked!  We've recently discovered he's ticklish on his inner thighs!  I just love hearing my little man laugh - quite possibly the best sound in the world!  Listen for yourself...I'm pretty sure you'll agree! :)

I'm new to this...kind of!

I have been putting this off for a long time now!  Justin started a blog about a year ago, and he told me I should start one to keep everyone in my life that doesn't live in Indy informed about our pregnancy!  After the first couple of months of being pregnant, I really didn't think anyone would care to hear about how exhausted and hungry and nauseous I was feeling!  I then got consumed with losing my job, starting a fabulous new job, managing the construction of finishing our basement, and putting a nursery together...all while trying to take care of myself and my precious baby-on-board!  Needless to say, blogging wasn't the first thing on my mind!  Sooooo, now that our little guy is the center of our world, I want to be able to share it with any and everyone who wants to listen (or read)!  I am new to this whole blogging thing, kind of!  I used to work for a blogging software company - and I hated having to blog at work, but I think blogging about my life should be a lot less painful!

Whew, my first blog post is down! :)  That wasn't so horrible!  I'll talk to you soon!