The Italian Stallion

My aunt Holly called Atticus the "Italian Stallion" once (because his middle name is Italian for Joseph) and I loved it so much!!  These pictures are not current, but here is what he looked like right when we brought him home from the hospital, until he was about one month old. 

I failed to mention in my previous post that the day before he was born my mom and I had a marathon cooking day!  We made all our favorite foods for Sunday dinner-maybe being on my feet all day the day before he came out helped put me into labor....I don't know!  But it was SO wicked!!!

Our menu:

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Salad de Maison

peasant bread

pretzel jello

zucchini casserole

cheesecake

                                            This picture of us was when he was 5 days old

             Gretel LOVES him!  She never gets enough, and kisses him every second! 
"Lemme see the baby!"  is the second most frequently uttered phrase. (the first is "let's play Tom and Jerry and the Giant!")

It was so nice having my mom here to cook tons for us, go to the grocery store, and take late shifts with the baby when he went several nights in a row being most fussy until 2:30 am.  Most of all, she was my "Laundress" which was SO helpful!  She is awesome at doing laundry, and says she really enjoys it!  It's so hard to keep up on normal laundry plus all the things that newborns are constantly "soiling!"  Go mom!

I'm glad I snapped a quick picture before his cord fell off-I think it fell off the next day.  It's always a little sad for me when this happens, because it feels like they're no longer a "newborn."

I just took some pictures of Gretel before we took her on our first outing...she spotted a snail.

                                                            After church one week...

My dad has said that he looks like his grandpa Walt, and that Atticus has a "grandpa face."  This makes me laugh whenever I think about it!  The nickname I call him the most is  "Little Man."  Now that's what Gretel calls him.   She'll yell dramatically, "Little Man's crying!"

                                    This is how Gretel gets downstairs-she loves sliding down!

I don't mind if she does it, but Johnny doesn't like her to do it.  She was worried one time when she was mid-slide and told my mom, "don't tell my daddy that I did that."  Another thing that I don't think I ever wrote down was something  she said to my mom when they were driving in the car when she was probably 2.  She was silent for a while before she sighed and said, "Mims, I wish people has tails..." in a wistful voice.  My mom loved it.  Gretel is such a character!

On Mother's Day, Johnny helped her make the cutest card for me.  I have it taped to my closet door now.  She wrote, "We love you mommy" and drew pictures of Johnny, myself, Gretel, Atticus and Gwen.  I just loved it so much!  She is really good at drawing all her letters; I'm so impressed!

On Mother's Day I was telling her that moms get to do whatever they want on this day.  She said, "Mommy, you can just watch Ellen and sleep!"  WOW!  She really does know my favorite things!!

Speaking of Ellen, while my mom was here, she and I were having a conversation about Ellen and I was  telling her about something funny on the show.  I used the word "she" at one point while referring to Ellen.  Gretel was right there and said, "I thought Ellen was a boy."  We started laughing of course, which got her so mad.  We asked her why she thought that, and she said "because she talks like a boy and wears boys' clothes."  My mom screamed which is something she does often when she thinks something is smart/entertaining, (which Gretel just hates)  and she ran out of the room crying.  She still remembers it and talks about it.  She'll say, "member how Mimi screamed and I started crying?  Isn't that sad?"

Gretel loves watching Tom and Jerry and playing lots of games on the ipad.  If I didn't limit her time on it, she'd do it all day long!  Also, I like how Atticus is almost as brown as the blanket!

I had to take one last picture of him wearing the bottoms of his "take me home suit"  because he looks just like "Frog and Toad are Friends" in them.  So high-waisted; I love it!

Cheryl's two friends made this awesome diaper cake for us!  I took a picture of both the front and back, because they'd attached so many cute things all around it!  I especially love the hat on top!!

I love when Cheryl comes to visit!  She always helps Johnny do a major overhaul on our yard.  Also, she is super organized, so she always helps me to declutter and get organized.  We gave the kitchen cabinets and pantry a makeover inside by clearing out all the platters and entertaining dishes and things I rarely use, and storing them in the garage so I have room for all the day-to-day stuff!  It was so fabulous! 

Major Catch-up!

 Since I never blogged about any of the big holidays and things, I figured I should just do it even though it's out of order!  It's now or never, I thought! 

This first picture describes how Gretel spends most of her days-doing a whole lot of nothing!  She rolls around on the floor humming and telling us stories of "Louis-and-the-frog,"  (her alter-ego)
She never gets bored because she has the biggest imagination I've ever seen!  She is always in her own little world, and makes us play along while she directs each of her short films.  She's very particular about every little thing and it makes me think that she'll want to direct movies when she grows up!

Helping me make Jello Valentine cookies for Valentine's Day!

Her last play date with her friend Evelyn, before she moved away

 Johnny surprised both of us with flowers and a balloon for Grettie on Valentine's Day, and we posed before running out the door to get ice cream at Coldstone

 One of her many funny faces

 Walking to the neighbor's house and checking out the moon.  I just liked her face here.

Her friend Kadence invited her to go and see Disney on Ice with her, so I took some pictures before they left!

 This is what we call her "Popeye" face and she does it all the time when she's mad!  Hands on hips are an added bonus!

 Another series of funny faces...

 This last one made us laugh SO hard!  Johnny was being silly and described to her how she should pose, and she followed his directions which turned into THIS!

 Just snapped this fast after church one day

 We went to Newport in March and it was Gretel's first time in the ocean!  She normally won't even touch the sand with her feet, so she's made major progress!  The water was so freezing on my feet as I was taking these pictures, that I don't know how they actually were able to be in the water.  Crazy!!

 Being silly in Johnny's parent's backyard

She lives to draw in the dirt

 Her first time climbing a tree, and she loved it!

 I thought it was funny how her expression gradually changed, and she became worried

 Holding on for dear life

 Back to happy!

 She used to sleep on piles of every blanket she could find, which was her kitty bed, before we changed her room around

 We snapped a few last pictures of her room before we brought our queen bed in from the guest room and gave it to her for her big girl bed.  She helped move things in and out, and was very excited!

 She's thrilled about her new pink bed!

 Helping paint Atticus's room, and loving it!

 This was her monster she painted on the wall

 We posed together after Johnny worked his magic!  We love how it turned out!!  We'll have to add some pictures of the room now that all the furniture is in!

 Her first time coloring Easter eggs was such a hit!  She was in heaven.

 After she found her basket, she insisted on holding it in her teeth, because that's what kitties do.  She is always in character!  We will probably have to get her a pet kitty one day, since she asks for one all the time!

 One of my last nights reading a story to Gretel before Atticus arrived!