Holy Smokes - It's a Girl!!!

We're still reeling...Teresa from shock and me from sheer giddiness.

The bets were about 20 to 1. Teresa was the only one convinced it was a boy. Neither of us really cared what it was going to be...we only wanted it to be healthy, especially given all the trouble we'd been having with the pregancy up until this point.

When the ultrasound tech announced the moment of truth, my heart was thumping, and I know Teresa was tensed up as well. When we saw it was a girl, my eyes immediately started welling up (I'm such a sap). Truth be told, I was hoping for a girl. So was Teresa. Again, we ultimately didn't really care what the baby was, but we both knew we wanted a girl in the family, so imagine our joy when we found out!

Here are a few shots of our little growing princess:






...and that marks the last time anyone gets THAT personal with my baby girl. At least until she's 30. Got that?

Disney Recap!

Our 2009 trip to Disney World with Dan, Carrie and the girls started a day earlier than planned due to the possibility of a snowstorm impacting the Maryland/Pennsylvania area. We were originally going to fly out of Baltimore-Washington International on Tuesday, February 3, but since it looked like there was a good chance of snow Tuesday morning, we decided to fly out Monday morning instead. The whole thing cost us a little more, since we had to extend our stay at Walt Disney World by an extra night, but it was worth knowing we wouldn't have any trouble. It wasn't appealing to think about managing 2 toddlers in the airport for hours should our flight be delayed (or cancelled).

Our first full day there, we found out Alex was sick. Really sick. 104 degree fever sick. Yeah. We were able to manage it with Motrin and kept him cool, but he was definitely not feeling like his normal, nutty self. We had reservations for dinner at Cinderella's Castle on Day 2, which was a big event for Abby! Alex, however, was still not feeling well and was pretty much a total crank. He was near tears getting his picture taken with Cinderella. Poor kid...

It took us about 3 days to get him back on his feet. By the time the vacation was over, he was back to normal and having lots of fun. We were definitely thankful we scheduled a full week down there.

We hit all the major stuff: Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and Epcot. We skipped Animal Kingdom as the schedules just didn't work out for us. Our last day - at the Magic Kingdom - was by far the best, as Alex was in good spirits and we were able to put in a lot of time inside the park.



At Epcot, Alex scored a whole bunch of autographs: Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto and Goofy. We also got autographs from Chip and Dale earlier in the morning. Here's a picture of Daddy and Alex:



We spent a few of our evenings at Downtown Disney, which was within walking distance from where we were staying (Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa). We spent lots of time in the toy stores and usually ate at Wolfgang Puck Express (the four-cheese pesto pizza is HIGHLY recommended!).

One thing we noticed about Alex this time, and I'm sure it had a lot to do with him being sick, is that he needed to sleep. A lot! He was sleeping well past 8 AM some mornings and took nice, long naps. It's tough being 2! Even when we couldn't get back to the room, he didn't let that get in his way:



In all, it was a very fun time. We all had a lot of fun watching the kids enjoy themselves. Now we hunker down for #2... :)

Today's the Big Day

Well, in about 2 hours, we'll know if Alex is getting a baby brother or sister! Teresa swears it's a boy, but just about everyone else (including me) believes it's a girl. In either case, we have favorite bedding picked out, so we know pretty much how to start decorating the new room.

We owe everyone an update on our Disney vacation, and that's coming - I swear! - with pics and all.

More later!

Christmas 2008

This past Christmas was a lot of fun for everyone. For the most part, anyway - Teresa had been put on "pelvic rest" by the OB, so she wasn't allowed to move around a lot or lift too much. Still, she made the most of it (and by "the most of it," I mean "lots of cookies and a great Christmas dinner").

As expected, Alex made out the best of anyone. He got loads of presents and didn't have to shop or wrap for anyone! Knowing this was his last Christmas as an only child, we wanted to make sure he had a really good time this year.

First up was Christmas Eve. We drove to NJ and spent time at both Teresa's house and at her Aunt's. We didn't exchange gifts at her mom's because both her brother and father had to work (Scrooge lives on!). We waited until that Saturday to do that.

At Teresa's aunt's house, the whole family got together for dinner and to exchange gifts. The table was, to Teresa's chagrin, loaded with fish as usual. The fried calamari was just ridiculous. I think I now know what food I'd want with me on a deserted island (well, that and a box of Cheez-Its).

Alex made out really well - even though we did a "Secret Santa" thing, the kids (Alex and his new cousin Logan) wound up getting gifts from everyone. Here's a shot of Alex with a t-shirt of his favorite band (no, really, I'm serious).



After we got home later than we had planned, we still had to prep for Christmas. Teresa worked on some of the food for dinner/dessert and I put together Alex's kitchen set. It took us well past midnight, which for a woman in her first trimester is an incredible achievement!

Christmas morning was a blast. We gave Alex a boatload of stuff. The kitchen, a little piano, some Disney stuffed animals to round out his collection (which, by the way, sleeps with him every night in his crib) and a ClickStart computer (he's already mastered the use of a mouse - a true 21st century digital boy) among other things.

The Spread


Ooooooohhhhhh!


Alex in the Kitchen


Metallica's "Master of Puppets" - Piano arrangement by Alexander W. Griggs



Here's Alex with his Mickey's Clubhouse gang - ALL of these go in his crib!


Later in the day, Kenny's family came over and had a nice, long visit. Alex was ever the entertainer and happily played with anyone who came by. Dinner was, as usual, tremendous and contained too much food. Despite Teresa's attempts to throttle back due to the smaller crowd and pregnancy concerns, Kenny managed to slip in enough extra dish ideas to create a surplus of food yet again and make Teresa work too hard. He's sorry. :(

Aunt Debby, Joe and Grandma - if you're reading this, we missed you very much at Christmas and were thinking of you guys. We love you and hope to see you all very soon!

We were also fortunate this Christmas to have Kenny's cousin Gary visit for a couple days. He was on holiday leave from being stationed up in Alaska, so we were glad he took a couple days out of his schedule to visit with us. Despite his guest of honor status, he still couldn't avoid being put to work baking cookies! He's always a very good elf for Teresa around this time of year. :)