A Post To Update You With Pictures

Hey all! It's not much of a blog that's full of information, but I thought I'd better put some pics up here for you to see! Mason is getting so big and today I got on video him singing me a few songs. It's the video that's the blog before this one. All is going great here. Looking forward to sunshining weather! Enjoy the pics, I'll try to actually write a blog soon. :-)

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Shame On Me!

Hey everyone! I know it's been so long since I've blogged. Sorry about that. Honestly, sometimes I just totally forget! A lot has happened since you've last heard from me. We've finally pretty much finished our kitchen. It looks beautiful! There are a few minor things that need done in there, but the majority is done... here is a pic for you.
This picture isn't super recent. Since this was taken the base boards have been put in along with another cabinet that you wouldn't be able to see in the picture anyway. If you knew what this kitchen looked like before you would know that this is a HUGE improvement! I love it!
Big news on the Mason front.... it's been about a month and a half now I believe, but he finally gave up the pacifier! One night I just told Dom to throw them in the garbage and that's what we did. Mason had a rough go of it for a few days and would take a long time to fall asleep, but really he did so awesome giving it up! He's such a big boy. Still to this day he will once in a while ask "where paci?" and I'll tell him it's all gone and he will chant "no more paci!" He's too darn cute I tell ya.
He is talking up a storm these days. He loves to sing songs. It's really cute because he will only sing a few words from each line and then hum the rest and bob his head like he knows exactly what's going on. He's still a guitar playing machine too. I think he thinks he's a rock star! I would buy his record. :-) Ha! Recently we took him roller skating for the first time. He did so good! I went around a lap with him holding his hand and then after that he insisted on doing it all by himself. He only fell a few times and really I was there to catch him before he actually hit the ground. I can't believe how fast he is growing. Where did my wobbly headed little baby go?
His new favorite thing to do when we go outside and play is roll down our hill in the backyard. It's so funny! The whole way down he'll say weeeee! The weather has been super nice here the last few weeks and we've been spending a lot of time outside in the afternoon. He loves to go for wagon rides and every time he has to take something with him... a ball, bubbles, a bat.... you name it, it's gone along for the ride with us.
Funny story about this next picture... Dom's dad and the kids came over last weekend and they were playing so hard that Mason didn't get his usual afternoon nap in. By the time they left it was around 4 and Mason was becoming extremely whiny.... which is typical when he doesn't get his nap... anyways, he was standing next to the couch crying about a cereal bar and I turned my back for a second. By the time I turned back around he had totally fallen asleep half standing and half laying on the couch. So of course I had to snap a picture of this! We laughed so hard.
Well, I'm sure there's a lot of info I'm skipping, but I wanted to put something up here with a few pics so that I could half way update you all. I hope you have a nice Easter with your families. I can't wait to hide eggs and let Mason go on a hunt for them. He will be so proud of himself when he finds them!

Germs, Germs Go Away...

Well, the last almost 2 weeks have been quite sickly in the Ippolito household. At first Mason was showing signs of a typical cold, that turned into a 3 day fever. Of course during this he wasn't eating anything which worries me to no end. We took him to the doctor and they determined it was just a virus.... big surprise right?! Do they EVER say otherwise? ha. Six days later he was back at the doctor because the fever had returned and was on it's 3rd day and he still wasn't eating. This time they discovered he had a double ear infection. Poor little guy! So they put him on Augmentin which is a super strong antibiotic. He's been on it before when he was little, but for some reason this time it affected him differently. Within 24 hours of starting the medicine he was having severe 'blowouts'.... and of course not eating again. We let it go for 2 days thinking he would adjust. On that 3rd day I ended up calling the nurse and told her what was happening. They ended up switching his antibiotic so it would be easier on his tummy. Finally he was on the mend! Thank God for that! It's hard for us mommas to see our babies sick. Mason was acting normal for 1 day when I had a few friends over on Thursday night. They brought some Pizza Hut with them and we enjoyed our dinner and it was nice to have some fun after dealing with sickness for so long. Yeah, spoke too soon.... within an hour of eating that Pizza Hut I was in the bathroom throwing up like I've never thrown up before. Thankfully, Mason was already sleeping so I didn't have to worry about dealing with him since Dominic was at work. My friends ended up leaving so I could try and lay down and feel better. It didn't work. Thursday night/ early Friday morning was the longest 10 hours I think I've ever had in my life. While my house was sleeping soundly, I was violently getting sicker and sicker. I ended up losing 8 pounds within those 10 hours if that tells you anything! Gosh! By late yesterday morning I was feeling better, but just sore and tired from the events hours before. Today I am very happy to say I feel back to normal. Although now it seems to be Dominic's turn and also the turn of the 2 friends of mine who ate that fateful pizza right along with me. Dominic doesn't have it as bad as I did. In fact, he just has the nagging feeling of getting sick and is more sore and tired than anything. At this point we're not sure if it's really the food we ate or if it's a little stomach bug. It's all so confusing because it all started with me and I hadn't left the house since 5 days prior to me getting sick because I was too busy taking care of Mason. So I'm not sure how I could have picked up a flu bug. BUT it is possible that Mason's issues with his antibiotic weren't really issues with the antibiotic after all and he's actually the one who started this whole mess! We will know for sure it was the pizza if the mother of my friend doesn't end up with it since she lives in the same house as him. Needless to say, it will be a long long while before I will be hungry for a pizza again! Bummer.

~And that's what's been happening around here... hopefully the next post will talk about good times and great, warm, sunny weather or something! Ha! Happy Valentine's Day to you all!

Laurie Berkner and the waterpark

Hey all, I know it's been way too long since I've blogged. Sorry about that!

Well, let's see, what's been going on? We went to the Chicago area back on January 16 to take Mason to see The Laurie Berkner band in concert. I'm sure most of you may not know who she is, but Mason LOVES her. She is on his cartoon channel and he also has a DVD of hers that has her music videos and he always dances and plays his guitar right along with her! The concert was a lot of fun. He had such a great time! He did, however, have a meltdown before the show started when we got to our seats and he looked up on stage and saw the set complete with about 50 balloons! Needless to say he thought they belonged to him and he was trying with all his might to get to them. Once Laurie came out and started singing he forgot about his troubles and proceeded to have a ball! I must say, although it was a concert for kids, it was one of the most fun I've ever had at a concert. It was so neat to see all the parents singing and dancing right along with the kids. Us parents know the songs just as well as the kids since we listen to them all the time also! Ha! And yes, in case you're wondering, the concert was a pajama party.... that's why he's in his pj's!
After the concert ended we stayed in the area for the night at a huge indoor waterpark/hotel. Mason sure loves water! He was running all around the place yelling "slide! slide!" He looks like such a big kid in his little swim trunks. Where did my tiny baby go?!
Well that's all for now. I hope to get on here later tonight or tomorrow and blog about the rest of our kitchen remodel.... I'm waiting on pictures to be able to be taken.

All For The Love of a Dishwasher....

Hey all! I've been terrible about blogging. Sorry! Dom's mom came on Sunday and helped me make some curtains for Mason's room. She stayed the night with the intentions of getting up the next morning and putting a few outlets in the kitchen and helping Dom install the dishwasher. THAT turned into a whole lot more! Many of you don't know what our kitchen looked like, but let me just say that there were no upper cabinets and the lower ones were old metal ones that half the paint was scratched off on. The doors didn't stay closed, the sink didn't drain, no garbage disposal, and no dishwasher. We knew coming into this house that the kitchen would be one of the main things we would want to fix. WELL, as they started their supposed to be small project many things were discovered. Dom had to completely bust out the wall behind the sink to remove the pipe all the way down into the basement because of the fact that the pipes were so clogged with grime. Get this, the pipe that drains the sink actually went horizontal! Um how do you drain water sideways? So many years of gunk had built up enough that the sink wouldn't drain. He replaced all that plumbing like a true rock star. Go Dom! Shirley put in several outlets for us... the old kitchen had one. And it was in the middle of a wall that didn't even have access to the cabinets. They tried to remove the drain so they could install the garbage disposal, but we discovered that it was so old it wasn't coming off that sink at all. Soooo..... since all this mess was already here and things weren't going as planned, it was suggested that we just do it and do it all. So that's exactly what they did! After 3 solid days of non stop work on their part we now have a beautiful kitchen! Complete with all new cabinets, countertop, sink, garbage disposal, dishwasher and outlets! Some of these items came from our old house like the dishwasher and disposal, so we didn't need to buy them. We still have 2 base cabinets to get, but those go on the other side of where our stove is.... so it's not a big deal as of now. It all looks so beautiful! I am now so excited to paint and make this kitchen really ours. I will take and post pics once the entire project is finished. Paint and all. Great job Dom and Shirley. I love it! And best of all.... I no longer have to hand wash my dishes! Yahoooooooooo!!

Home For Christmas

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! We have had such a nice time being here with all our family around for the Holidays. I am so thankful to have been home for Christmas. Mason has received soooo many gifts! Dominic had to put up more shelves in his room just so we could organize it all. He has been having such a great time playing with all his new stuff though. He even likes to put on his Santa hat and dance in the mirror. If you ask him what Santa says he says "uh oh ho!" It's too cute.Happy New Year to you all! I have a mess to clean (we just finished another Christmas) so I'm not going to say much on this post. I'll just put up some pictures for you all to enjoy. :-)