Viva Las Vegas

Whew...after leaving my full-time job the end of June, I thought my summer would slow down a bit!  Not the case at all!  I have been a world-traveler the last couple of weeks!  I spent 5 days in Pennsylvania, 2 days in Chicago, and most recently, 4 days in Las Vegas!

One of my greatest friends, Courtney, who I've known for 20 years (crazy huh?), celebrated her bachelorette party in Las Vegas this past weekend.  While I realized with a three hour time difference, missing my baby, and being 5 years older than the last time I visited Vegas, I simply could not hang like I was hoping to!  I only lost 2 dollars gambling, got to experience some of the best clubs in Vegas, oh and I saw Carrot Top's stand-up!  All and all I had a blast with some of my best and oldest friends - my SMARGEs!  Just seeing these beautiful women and spending quality time and having some much needed girl-talk with them was well worth the lack of sleep!  Look at these beauties!

While I did have a lot of fun with my girls, I missed Roman like crazy!  We got to skype and Justin sent me at least 3 pictures each day to tie me over until I was home!  Looks like he had a blast while Mommy was gone, doesn't it?

Let's try this again!

So it has been a busy couple of months, and quite frankly, I forgot about my little blog!  To bring you all up to speed, here is the what has happened with the Castellis since I last wrote...

I made the tough decision to leave my job at WRTV-6 (which I loved) to be at home with Roman (whom I love sooo much more)!  I didn't want to fully leave the work-force all together, but I wanted to do something part-time.  I have found a wonderful part-time Account Rep position with Godiva Chocolatier!  Let's just hope I don't gain 100lbs from eating the amazing chocolate!  I love my time with Roman, and he is changing so much daily that I wanted to be there to see all of his changes!  

Speaking of Roman, he is now WALKING!!!  He took his first steps the day before his 11 month birthday!  Now he's walking all over the place!  It's so cute to watch him do his 'mummy-walk' as I call it! He still has his arms out while he walks, but it is the cutest thing to see this little 29" baby walking around!

Not only is Roman walking, but has really taken an interest in balls the last couple of months (which Justin is happy about)!  He will always choose a ball over any other toy, and it's so funny to watch him try to shoot at his hoop like his Daddy!  

Finally, this summer we decided to do a little landscaping in the backyard.  I have always been happy with our front yard and how the landscaping looks.

But our backyard around our patio was pretty bare!

So Justin and his friend Joe got to work!

We planted 2 trees, hostas, and arborvitae around the back patio, and did some shrubs on the side of the house!  I think it turned out pretty good!  We'll add more and more each year, but this is a good start!

And then finally, our little guy is going to be ONE is just 20 days!  I can't believe a whole year has gone by!  This time last year, my feet/ankles looked like this -

Ha!  Isn't this scary?

And now I'm in the midst of making birthday buntings, Roman's 1-year shirt, and ordering cotton candy for Roman's birthday carnival!  I'm sure I'll do an entire post with pictures of his birthday!  :)

So that has been our summer so far!  We still have a couple of months left to enjoy our hot weather - and then I think I'll be ready for the wonderful fall - football, pumpkins, sweatshirts!  I'll keep you posted on it all (if I can remember)!

Updates...

I have really dropped the ball on this blog!  It's been over a month since I last posted, and a lot has happened in the last month!  I'll just share a few of my favorites, starting with our trip to AZ.

We got to visit with our great friends, Trish and Zac.  I've known Trish since the 6th grade, and we pretty much grew up together.  I love that I still have those girlfriends who knew me as an awkward middle schooler, consoled me through all of my heart breaks, celebrated our weddings together, and now are able to be a part of Roman's life!  We had a relaxing time in Phoenix visiting and reminiscing, and I attended a Holy Yoga class Trish teaches.  We then headed to Sedona where we visited the Chapel on the Hill and all of its beautiful scenery.  We snapped a few pics when up at the Chapel.

Another exciting event in the last few weeks is Roman's baptism.  He was baptized at our church, Holy Spirit at Geist, and all of our family was there.  Justin's sister, Kristin, is Roman's Godmother, and my brother Tony is his Godfather.  It was finally a semi-warm day, so I didn't feel so bad putting Roman into Nolan's baptism outfit that had little shorts!  Here are a few pictures from the day.

With Father and Roman's Godparents - Kristin and Tony

A family picture taken by my brother-in-law, Matt.

 And finally, our little guy has turned 7 months!  It's amazing how fast time has flown by!  Roman is so active at 7 months, reaching for EVERYTHING, putting everything in his mouth, rolling around, clapping, laughing, and just being cute!  Below are a few of his 7 month pics that I take with his bear.  It's getting harder and harder for him to sit still and let me get one good picture!

I love this little rascal!  See you soon!

Trip to Chicago

Justin was in Houston and Chicago all of last week, and Roman and I decided to go stay with Justin in Chicago for his birthday this weekend! But first, Roman and I detoured to Manteno, IL to visit with my Papa and Grandma on Thursday night.  I had to laugh as I brought in all of our luggage - Roman's pack-n-play, his bumbo seat, his diaper bag, a bag of his food and bottles, a bag of my toiletries, a suitcase of our clothes, my computer bag, and a bag with Justin's birthday presents in it!  You'd think we were moving in with my grandparents!  Roman and I had such a good time...we I had my Grandma's homemade meatloaf Thursday night, then we sat around and visited for a couple of hours.  Friday morning we got up and spent time in my grandparents' basement.  I spent 22 Christmas's in that basement, and going back down there brought back some fun memories...performances on Christmas, stealing peanut M&M's from the gumball machine, seeing a video of Santa climbing out of the fireplace, and sitting at their bar on Christmas and feeling so grown-up as a little kid.  It really was fun trip down memory lane -and I'm so glad we got to spend that time with them!  I won't wait another 7 years to go back to their house!

Friday afternoon Roman and I headed to Berwyn to visit with my Aunt Jayne!  Roman was in the best mood, just laughing away as Aunt Jayne sang "Ol' McDonald" to him!  He also got his first taste of a popsicle - and he couldn't get enough!   Roman and I loved the short-time we spent with my "Buddy" (what Aunt Jayne and I started calling each other when I was 4 and I lived in Florida), but then it was time to head to Chi-town to surprise Justin with our birthday present!

We got to the hotel and gave Justin his gift...an I-pad.  He had been talking about getting one for about 6 months, but I knew he didn't think I'd get him one, so he was so happy and surprised!  We then went to dinner and called it a night!

Saturday, Roman and I headed to Lincoln Park to see Jen (my college roomy and friend since 4th grade). Two other college roomies,  Sarah and her two kids and Emilie and Duke and their daughter Audrey all met up for lunch and to catch up!  It was great to see my old roomies and their kids (and pup Murphy)!   Roman and I took a walk over to Nordstrom  to look around, and then just hung out with Justin that evening!  All and all it was a relaxing weekend in Chicago, and I got a couple of pictures of Roman just being sweet and cute!  I'm mad at myself for not getting pics of Roman with Papa & Grandma, Aunt Jayne, and the IU kiddos, so I just took some solo ones of Mr. Roman!

Loving the soft, plush bed!

He loved standing by himself using the
ottoman that was just his size!

Just playing the in the sunlight shining in our room!

Trip Down Memory Lane...

In the midst of our ice storm winter wonderland, I was doing a little house cleaning this evening.  For whatever reason, our bedroom gets pretty bad.  We pretty much keep the downstairs clean and presentable, but our bedroom always get neglected.  With the laundry room upstairs - my bed becomes the folding table, the dresser becomes a quick place to put all of my jewelry when I take it off at night, and the nightstand will have 3-4 empty bottles on any given day (currently 3 bottles, baby lotion, about 12 books I've never read, a thermometer, blah blah blah, you get the picture).

When I was trying to clear away some of the clutter tonight, I came across a cd case that said, "PICTURES" on it.  At first I thought it was our engagement pictures - but I wanted to pop the cd in to see exactly what was on it.  I was so excited when I saw pictures from when Justin and I first started dating almost 8 years ago!  Just for giggles, I thought I'd post a couple.  We look so young!  Brings back fun memories of college and all of the fun we had together!

Excuse me...notice my nose ring and Justin's earrings - oh,
and the one shoulder shirt was a staple in 2003!

Our Halloween costume for the annual 518 Halloween Party!
Look at my cute little Gangsta' hubs!

Great backdrop, huh?  What's up with my earrings - and my hair?
This pic is a hot mess!

6 months already?

I almost can't believe it, but our little Romie-Bear (he's gonna hate that name as he gets older) is 6 months old today!  I guess the saying is true...time flies when you're having fun!  I find myself saying, "Wow, it's already Friday" or "Geez, it's already Monday" pretty much every day of the week.  I just feel like time is going by so fast, and our little guy just keep growing and growing!

We stole a great idea from our good friends, the Davis' and decided to chart Roman's growth each month with a picture next to a stuffed animal to see how much he's grown compared to the animal.  Below you'll see a "Build-a-bear" that Justin made me when we were first dating almost 8 years ago!  Look at how much our baby is growing!  Tear :(

One Month

Two Months (in the same outfit!)

Three Months - Halloween (you can't help but smile, right?)

Four Months
(sorry for the bad quality...a phone pic)

 

5 Months (New Year's Eve)

Take #1

Take #2

Take #3

6 Months (today!)

Makes me sad to see how fast he's growing, but so excited for all of the new, fun things he's getting into these days!

"Everything I need to know...

...I've learned from my Daddy."  - Roman Castelli

Ok, ok, so he isn't quite speaking in sentences yet, but this month he sure is picking up on what Justin is teaching him.  Some of the lessons Roman has already learned from his Daddy:

#1.  It's never too early to start working on your vertical.

#2.  Sundays are for napping!

#3.  When you wear a hat, wear it slightly to the side.

#4  Our second favorite team is the Steelers!

 (Black and yellow, black and yellow! Shout out to our family in PA!)

#5  Michael Jordan is our hero!

#6  Dinner time is the best time of the night!

#7  Flash the ladies this smile, and you'll always get your way!  :)

He gets it from his Mama!

Of course Roman is surprising us everyday with something new!  Whether it's his "singing" at church, his constant rocking sitting on our laps, or how he cracks up at the smallest things!  I like to think he gets that from me!  My high school friends used to say, "If you want to feel good about yourself, go tell Ang a joke...she laughs at everything!"  I often find myself trying to tell people a story, and I am laughing so hard I can't even get it out, only to realize half-way through the story that no one else finds it to be half as hilarious as I do!  

I once heard that laughter adds 7 hours to your life!  I think I'll live well into my hundreds at this point!  Who doesn't love laughing, right?  My little man found our friends' daughter Jade absolutely hilarious this weekend!  She probably had him laughing for about 3 minutes before Justin thought to start recording it!  If you listen closely, you'll hear him hiccup every time he laughs!  He gets that from his Mama, too!  :)

Holidays 2010 Wrap-Up

Well, the last month has flown by like a whirlwind!  I enjoyed every minute of the holiday season...even some of the minor mishaps, like missing Mass on Christmas Eve at 2 different churches because there was no more parking left, or having to take down our beautiful REAL Christmas tree on December 23rd because it has shedding about 2 inches of needles daily!  It really was quite funny - considering my initial post about our Christmas tree included thoughts of it becoming a Charlie Brown Christmas tree!  Good thing we set up our fake one in the basement!  What would baby's first Christmas be like with no tree?

Ridiculous!  Remember how beautiful this tree was the day after Thanksgiving?  

Just a few needles that dropped off once they brought it outside!
Who knew a Christmas Tree could last just 4 weeks!  Yes, we watered it daily!

We spent the holidays in our normal tradition of Christmas Eve at the Castelli's, and Christmas day at the Adragna's.  Roman, of course, was so good both days and got lots of fun toys!  He just has such a peaceful little demeanor!  And then New Year's Eve we decided to keep it low-key and have our families over!  We ordered pizza, and everyone brought a dish, and we played games, watched Tony and Matt run (literally) into each other each holding an exercise ball - fun visual huh, had push-up contests, drank champagne at midnight, and then stayed up talking in the kitchen until 2am - a successful night if I do say so myself!  

Roman on Christmas Day

My little family on New Year's Eve

Now, onto 2011!  We are excited to keep watching Roman grow, and change, and smile, and look at us with his little "Puss-n-boots" eyes - and share it with you!  Do you see the resemblance too?  I'll catch up again soon!