A Letter to Aaron on his 5th Birthday

Dear Aaron,

5 years old!  Woah... that went so fast!  If I'm going to be honest, you feel like a five year old to me.  You're so smart... so so so smart!  The things you know blow me away.  I love it when you teach me things... like when we go to the Museum or the Zoo and you tell me everything there ever was to know about each of the dinosaurs.  I love how engaged you've been in school and how much you are learning from Miss. Lynn and Miss. Gwen.  I love how much thought you put into your Friday show and tell about the topic of the week.  I was so impressed last week when you learned about hibernation and migration and remembered the book we used to read (Chaucer's First Winter) and how that fit with the theme of the week.  I hope you will always have this enthusiasm to learn. 

We had a big year... a move from Boston to North Carolina.  Whew... you took that like a champ!  I know you miss your friends back in Boston but the new one's you have made are amazing!  You have a great class full of really nice boys and girls.  Now the news of a new baby... a baby girl, just like you've been praying for!  We already know you are an amazingly patient and sweet big brother and I am so excited to see you with your baby sister.  

We celebrated your birthday on Saturday at the Museum of Life and Science.  We invited your entire class, all 27 of them!  It is hard to have a birthday so close to Christmas and we weren't sure what the turnout would be... about 20 of them made it along with their parents and some with siblings.  It was a blast!!!  I wish we had video taped you opening your gifts from your friends... you are the kindest and most gracious boy I've ever met.  You said things like "Wow! My friends sure know how to make me feel special" and "How did they know I would love this?" and "Look at this drawing... Isabelle must have spent a long time doing this and it's amazing. Can I frame it for my room?"  I'm tearing up just writing this.  I am so incredibly proud of you.  

My wish for you this year is that you continue to explore and learn about the things you love, that you treasure your friends and also stay open to making new friends, that you continue to be an excellent role model for your little brother (and soon to be, little sister) and that you always remember how much you are loved.

My bigga boy... you have made me a very happy Mama.  I love you to the ends of the Earth!

love,

Mommy

It's a... GIRL!!!

A few weeks ago we learned that Baby Libertore #3 will be a girl!  I was very surprised.  This pregnancy has not been very different than my pregnancy with they boys so naturally I assumed I was carrying another baby boy.  I was so sure, in fact, that I sobbed when the sonographer said "It's a Girl!"  Aaron was with us and danced around singing "I knew it, I knew it... A Sister Baby!!!" 
We are overjoyed to welcome a little girl into our wild and crazy nest!  Getting into girl mode has been more fun than I anticipated.  The clothes!  Oh man, the clothes!  I'm having too much fun buying her sweet little outfits.  I better start taking inventory of what I have before I end up with 6 months worth of 0-3 month clothing!  :)

Libertore... Party of FIVE!!!

Baby Libertore # 3 is expected to join our family the first week of May.  We cannot wait to welcome him/her!  Aaron is hoping it's a girl, Marcus thinks he/she is a bug and Brad is convinced it's a Mexican (because I'm craving tacos... *eye roll*)  My prediction is it's another boy.  We will find out on New Year's Eve.  Either way we are thrilled!  

Aaron said it looks like the baby has a super hero mask on... agreed!

Sitting up and looking right at us!

Heart rate of 167... a beautiful sound!

This one is my favorite!  My uterus is shaped like a heart... how appropriate!  

And the Award for 'Worst Blogger on Earth' Goes to...

We have been, admittedly, a little busy lately but seriously... I am the WORST at keeping this thing up to date!  :) 
So let's see... I cannot honestly recall everything we did between January and July but we did buy our first home and move to North Carolina (kind of a big deal!)  It all started when we came down for Tom and Kristi (Baleno) Caley's wedding in April.  It just felt right driving around our old stomping grounds.  Boston was always supposed to be a temporary move... 7 years later we finally came home!  I met up with a realtor (Ashley Gronewald - AMAZING!!) and talked about our wish list.  She immediately sent us a list of 35 homes that met most if not all of our specs.  The Libertore's and Kristi agreed to check out my top 9 homes and narrowed it down to 3.  I flew down on my own, checked out one of the 3 (the other two were eliminated by a drive-by and talking to neighbors who did not have good things to say about the neighborhood.)  We did add a few more homes to the list for me to take a look at (so fun!) but ultimately, we went with the house Kristi and the Libertore's picked for us!  Do they know us or what!?!?!  I put in an offer that day and after a little bit of back and forth, we went into contract the next day!  23 days later we closed on this beauty...

It has 5 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, Formal Living Room, Formal Dining Room, Family Room, Sun Room, Breakfast area and a 2-car Garage.  Brad is using the 5th bedroom as an office and the boys have decided to share a room (for now...)  I've decided to hermetically seal one of the bathrooms so I don't have to clean it as often (kidding... sort of!)  Our neighbors are great... really great!  We are so glad to be back in NC.

Aaron started Pre- Kindergarten on August 28th... he was so adorable!!  He picked out his first day of school outfit 2 days in advance!  Here are a few snap shots from his first day...

The next step is to get Marcus enrolled in preschool... too bad he misses the 2's room cutoff with his September 2nd birthday!  I'm sure I can find SOMEWHERE that will forgo that restriction... right?  I mean, come on... putting him in a room with non-walkers is just dangerous.  I will gladly obey the "rule" when it comes time for Kindergarten but at this age, the difference between a 12 month old and a 2 year old is HUGE!  Enough of that...

Hopefully I'll return soon with more updates... no promises though!  Ha ha...

NYC for Aaron's Birthday

We gave Aaron the option of having a birthday party or taking a trip to New York City, seeing a show and doing some touristy NY things.  He chose the trip to New York (Yay for all of us!!!  Although you know I love throwing a party!)  We had a really great time!  We left on Thursday morning after Aaron opened his birthday gifts.

We arrived in NYC around 1pm.  We drove around for a bit to get our bearings then checked into our hotel.  We decided to stay at the W in Time Square... we thought it would be fun for the kids to be right in the middle of all the lights and action.  They sat on the lounge chair by the window with their faces glued to the glass for the majority of the time we spent in our room.  They loved it!  The M&M store was right near the hotel and they had a giant screen that played little M&M clips over and over... Aaron loved it but insisted it made him "need" to eat them.

Once we settled in we grabbed the stroller and hit the streets.  We were on the corner of 47th and Broadway so it was a nice walk to Central Park.  Aaron insisted on having "street meat" for lunch (I think he must have heard us joke about this once and pulled it from the vault for our enjoyment!)

There was a really cute Holiday Market being held in Central Park which we hit up... we got Marcus a cute new hat and some other goodies.  I was obsessed with a little spice shop and could have spent an hour there but alas the kids were antsy.

Alexzndra met us at our hotel after she got out of work and we ordered in some dim sum and hung out for a while.  Aaron was  PSYCHED to see his auntie!  After she left we attempted to get some rest... I say "attempted" because it was the WORST NIGHT EVER!!!  Marcus, my dream sleeper, was awake and unhappy the whole night!  Nothing would console him.  He literally cried for 6 straight hours with a few 5-10 minute intervals of sleep which were really just a tease at that point.  Maybe it was the fistfuls of frosting from Aaron's birthday cupcake just before bed... or some new teeth... or just the strange environment.  All I know is that there was no way we could do it again the following night!

Despite our miserable night we were in good spirits the next day.  Thanks to my girlfriend, Nicole and her mad baking skills we had a delicious pumpkin bread breakfast in our room before grabbing the stroller and heading out again.  We had tickets to see the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall at 1pm so we only had a few hours to kill before changing and meeting Alexzndra.  Aaron wanted to go back to Central Park and play... we found a great playground and hung out there for a while.
Marcus had a great time in the giant sandbox and Aaron loved all the play structures.

  

After a bit we walked over to FAO Schwartz for some shopping.  That place was a mad house!

We COMPLETELY lost track of time and had to book it back to the hotel to get changed.  Alexzndra met us there and we hauled tail over to Radio City... fortunately for us it was just a few blocks.  I have the BEST memories of doing this with my parents growing up and I'm so glad we get to start memories like these for our boys.  The show was great and the boys were mesmerized!

 

 

 

After the show we walked over to Rockefeller Center to see the tree.  Impressive!  Aaron saw the ice skaters and insisted we do that the next day but in Central Park.

We did some window shopping and decided to have an early dinner near the hotel in hopes that we wouldn't miss our sleep window with Marcus.  We found a cute little Italian restaurant a few buildings down from the W and had a great meal.  Marcus passed out at the table and actually slept through the night!!  Thank God!!
We delayed check-out on Saturday and walked to Central Park again for our ice skating adventure...

Spirits are high and Aaron is pumped to get out on the ice...

Hmmm... not quite what he expected but still holding strong

Aaannnnd... let the melt-down begin!

Aaron HATED ice skating!  I insisted we take one lap around the rink so he can say he gave it a fair shot.  He was not happy with me about this... he wanted off the ice ASAP.  He kept picking up his feet forcing me to hold him up... between that and the fact that I haven't skated in 20 years, I was so sore the next day.  When we asked him if that meant that he doesn't want to play hockey when he's older he said, "do you have to ice skate to play hockey?"  When we said, "yes" he shook his head and said, "then, nope!"  :) 

One final photo at the rink... Aaron is still upset about his experience.  :)

We did a lot of walking for the remainder of the morning and took some photos around the park...

After we checked out we went to Hoboken to check out Alexzndra's apartment and meet her roommates.  It was super cute and I got LOTS of ideas for things to make her for Christmas!

Happy Birthday, Aaron John... we had a great time in the City!!!

A Letter to Aaron on his 4th Birthday

Dear Aaron,

Today you are four.   As I sit here writing this letter to you the emotion that hits me the most is gratitude.   I am so grateful for you and for what you bring to our family… 

Thank you for making me a mom on this day four years ago. 

Thank you for being the best big brother – for loving and protecting Marcus and for applauding his accomplishments as a parent would.  For making him laugh so hard he gets the hiccups.

Thank you for your silly voices and your creative stories. 

Thank you for waking up every morning with a smile on your face. 

Thank you for being both strong and snuggly. 

Thank you for choosing a birthday trip for the family over a party. 

Thank you for saying, “surprise me” when I ask you what you’d like for breakfast.

Thank you for being a chatterbox… it is truly amazing to hear what goes on in that beautiful head of yours.

Thank you for the million ways you make us laugh.

Thank you for your ferocious hugs and your wet kisses.

Thank you for learning to wipe your own dupah.

Thank you for surprising me daily with how smart you are.

Thank you for always putting family first.

Thank you for saying the blessing at dinner.

Thank you for being a good friend… not only at school but also to your brother and his playgroup friends.

Thank you for keeping us in check with our language… you sponge!

Thank you for being a wonderful example of how to love.

Thank you for accepting everyone and seeing people for who they are and not how they look.

Thank you for giving me the confidence to let you figure things out on your own. 

Thank you for your constant curiosity.

Thank you for seeing us as your playmates and your parents.

Thank you for your "help" in the kitchen.

Thank you for remembering all the words to the songs I sing you.

Thank you for being polite without us having to nag you.

Thank you for still needing me to kiss your boo boos.

Thank you for finally being a great sleeper!!!

Thank you for reminding me to find the humor in toots and other gross boy things.

Thank you for being a good eater and for always trying new things.

Thank you for letting us test out our parenting technique on you and for forgiving us when we make mistakes.

Thank you for making me happier and more proud than I have any right to be.

Daddy and I love you to the ends of the Earth, little one.  We are so incredibly proud of the person you are becoming.  I am grateful for every day with you… even the challenging ones! 

Love you BIGGEST!

-Mommy

The Polar Express

Our church, St. Catherine's put together a Polar Express train ride for our town this year.  It was so great!  It was on Sunday, November 27 so we had to come back from our trip to VT for Thanksgiving early on Sunday to get ready.  All the children were encouraged to wear their pajamas which Aaron that was awesome.   

We boarded to commuter rail train, renamed "The Polar Express" for the day in Norwood and rode it to Westwood and back.

Waiting for the conductor to come by and punch our tickets.

Not the best family photo...

The conductor reading the story of The Polar Express (his voice sounded JUST like Frosty the Snowman!!!)

Santa's helpers brought around Cookies and Hot Chocoloate

We met LOTS of Christmas characters... The Gingerbread Man, Frosty, Rudolph, The Nutcracker and of course...

SANTA!!!!!

Marcus was so excited... adorable!

Aaron volunteered to sing "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" to the whole train... he did AMAZING!

Merry Christmas!!!