sweet moments with Toby

These days life is filled with either very sweet moments with Toby or moments of wanting to pull my hair out. And the amazing thing is that no matter which moment we are in, I still am filled with undeniable love for him!

So let's focus on the sweet!
Sweet moment #1: (this is MY FAVORITE) At dinner time, as soon as we all sit down to eat Toby will hold out his hands for us to pray. He will hold our hands and sit quietly while we ask the Lord's blessing over our meal, our loved ones, and our lives. When we are finished he will say something along the lines of "Amen" (at least the inflections sound like "Amen",) and then we eat. It is one of the most special memories I have thus far in parenting. I wish we had a picture of it, but because we are all 3 required to participate that picture will be more difficult to capture (but I'll try.)

Sweet moment #2: many times I will be doing something around the house and will notice that Toby is very quiet! And as any mom knows...it's those quiet times that alert you most. The last few days I have found Toby sitting quietly in his room looking at his books. It is almost as though he is reading the books to himself. He will sit in there for 10 minutes or longer which I think is amazing for a 13 month old! Although he enjoys all his books, there is one that I continually find him looking through (I promise I am not making this up...) It is a book about the Red Sox. It is a board book, but there are no cartoon pictures, only pictures of Fenway, Wally (the mascot,) the Green Monster, Carlton Fisk and other famous Red Sox players, bats, balls, a score board...I am amazed that this is the favorite...but it makes his daddy SO proud!
note: today when I found him reading I realized that before he made it to the bookshelf he pulled all his onsies out of the basket and had them thrown all over the room! (it's not all sweet)

Sweet moment #3: well, maybe not so sweet, but pretty funny. Toby has a new face...he started making it on Friday. It is like he is laughing really hard, but he makes no sound. It's really funny!
Just a sweet picture!
Sweet moment #4: We have a sign language video that Toby enjoys watching and to my surprise he is learning it! Here he is saying "book." You put your hands together, then open them like a book...and Toby's got it down!

Not so sweet moments...trying to eat lunch with friends today. Toby didn't want to eat or sit in the high chair. He was only happy walking around the restaurant entertaining the other patrons. They all loved him of course...but needless to say, I have no idea how my friends are doing. Life is fun and challenging with a toddler!

let's try this...

some of you have been having trouble viewing the pictures, so in honor or the BIG WIN yesterday...we are going to try a new layout...a Pats theme!

In response to the many temper tantrums we have been witnessing lately...we decided it was time to set up the "time-out" chair! so far he loves it, but we haven't used it for time out just yet, it's still a little early. Thanks to Baci, we are ready for instruction and correction.

ch ch ch changes!

I stole this new blog layout from a fellow blogger, and I decided I am going to try to change this up from time to time...just to keep you interested! However in the process of changing the layout I lost the comments section and the email me section. I am working on it and hope to have them back up soon. bare with me.

For Christmas Toby was given his first set of golf clubs and when he isn't playing with a ball he usually has one of the clubs in his hand. I am trying to teach him not to hit Max or anything else for that matter with it. that's my challenge for today.
Toby giving Max kisses...they love each other so much!

Last weekend we spent Sunday afternoon as a family day. We went to the STL Science Center with Toby. He is still a little too young, but we had fun anyway. We went to the Discovery Room which has special activities for young children. There were so many thing to do there...musical instruments, a tee-pee you could get inside, a train table, blocks, a water station...I could go on and on, but my sweet little boy went straight for the BALLS! It's about the only thing he likes to play with these days. When I forced him to explore other things he throw a little tantrum, but we did get him to move on!

We finally got him into the tee-pee and he immediately turned and headed out...he was going back to the balls!

these pictures are taken from the bridge that goes over hwy 40. it's a fun place to clock how fast the cars are going.

a big day for Toby!

Today started with a one year check up for Toby! The doctor said he looks great. he is still tall, but has dropped some weight. His # are...weight 22.5 lbs 40%, and length is 31" 75%. He has met all his developmental goals and is well on his way. He enjoyed all of it right up to the time when the mean lady came in with 2 big needles. Needless to say he didn't enjoy the shots...but who does?

In the afternoon, Toby, Mary and I went to the Magic House. He loved it...especially that water works! Mary had fun too. They are so cute together, she is great with him and he LOVES being with her. when we drop her off at home he cries when she leaves! What is he going to do when she leaves for Mexico next semester?

riding the horse!

Here is the video...it's not great, the room was dark and we don't have a great video camera (this is taken from our digital camera) but watch him ride. Also, for those of you who don't know Baci is Joe's mom.

so much to catch you up on...

The holidays have come to an end, so let me catch you up on all we've done...

Christmas Eve 2007 Christmas morning...was wild and full of excitement--Toby slept right through it!

Our favorite basketball star, Devanna Smith, had a Christmas tourney where she scored her 1,000th point in her high school career! Congrats, D!

The birthday party! We had a great time celebrating Toby's first birthday. I can't believe how fast the year has gone and how much fun each day brings. My parents gave Toby a rocking horse that has become his new pet! he loves to ride it, pet it and pull the hair out of it's mane--good thing it's not real. I'll video him riding it and post it in a few days. you'll all get a kick out of his jockeying moves. the kid has talent!


The cake! he was much more into the frosting than the cake and so cautious.

as soon as the party ended...it was time to gear up for the BIG GAME! GO PATS!

This year was our first Annual New Year's with the Fabbiano's. We decided it would be a fun tradition to spend New Year's Eve and New Year's Day with each other and our families as they grow (Katie is pregnant!) This year, for New Year's Eve, the adults went to dinner at the Fabbs house. (Toby was with his favorite sitter...Devonna) We had a wonderful stake dinner and FONDUE for dessert. It was REALLY fun. Then we went to a dueling piano bar which was a great way to ring in the new year! For New Year's Day we watched the Cotton Bowl, Katie and Jeff are MU fans and we are a Razorback household, but we all behaved. We ate, took naps, the guys played PS2 and when we had had enough TV we went to Wal*Mart to play a game...we drew name before going and had 10 minutes to buy a $5 gift for your person. Then we went to Chili's to share our gifts. It was a really fun couple of days and I look forward to many more New Year's celebrations with them.

Happy 2008!

Happy Birthday Toby!

Today is a special day for our family...Toby turns ONE! I have done a lot of remembering of this day last year. It was a day that changed my life forever, in the most wonderful way imaginable. What a year it's been. I don't' have time to write much more...we have a party to get ready for! stay tuned...more pictures, video and thought to come.

Happy 30th!

I would like to formally welcome my baby brother to the 30's! It's taken him awhile to get here, but FINALLY, he has arrived! Happy Birthday, Nick! Enjoy your day and your family. Love you.

He is such a great brother, friend, husband and an amazing dad. Just look at how he loves and cares for his girls. (I took these a while ago for their birth announcement, so they are a little dated, but not bad)