Fun Weekend!

We had such a fun weekend. Friday I took the day off, well kind of, as much as I could take off and J.R. and I spent the day together. He had an ENT doctor appointment that morning. Good news, no tubes yet.. keep your fingers crossed! Then J.R., Tony and I went out for lunch at my favorite place, Red Velvet Cafe. This is a Vegan restaurant which has non-vegan options and it's SO good! We go there so much J.R. says he wants to go to a different restaurant! After that J.R. and I went to get him summer shoes. We found some washable sandals from Pedipeg in Henderson. You might think our day was done but oh no, not in the Zaino household, we went to the Wrangler's Hockey game that night. J.R. didn't get to bed until 10:30pm! Here are some pictures from the hockey game.

J.R. ate his first hot dog! He was showing me it was in his mouth!

Having a little H20.

He has no hearing issues, he says it's, "too loud".

Saturday Tony, J.R., Uncle Scott and I went up the mountain to Mount Charleston. We rode a horse carriage then went up the mountain on a trail to have a snowball fight.

J.R. is actually driving the horse carriage!

This is a VERY serious situation here, check out the concentration.

Snow ball fight!

Sunday we took it easy and hung around the house, went out for lunch and played across the park across the street. Oh yes and ate ice cream sandwiches, that's our new favorite thing!

So I'll leave you with one cute story. J.R. asked me to show him how to work the remote. I kind of ignored him then he brought the remote over to me and said, "Mama with teamwork we can do this together!". Really.. I know all parents think their kids are funny and cute you can now officially add us to that list of parents. I never thought we'd be those!



Pictures

Lots of Pictures to post from the last few months!

We have been SO busy the last few months. Here are some pictures that I've finally downloaded.

We went to Chicago for a week and a half the beginning of January to visit Nana and Papa. We had so much fun and the weather was actually unseasonably warm. We hauled all of Tony's and J.R.'s hockey stuff from Vegas and they could only play hockey one day during our trip.

We took Nana, Papa and Auntie Lori to Pizzeria Due after going to the Shedd Aquarium. This is Tony and my favorite pizza place!

Here's a picture of J.R. at the airport on the way home to Vegas after our Chicago trip. He was such a good boy on the plane!

B

Happy 3rd Birthday J.R. Zaino! We LOVE you! Nana, Papa and Auntie Lori got J.R. TWO cakes; one Spongebob and one Blackhawks cake. This guy got so many birthday parties this year, he's one special boy!

Here's J.R. at the Blackhawks game with has daddy. It's SO loud in there Tony brought the noise cancelling headphones.

J.R. hanging out at Nana and Papa's house.

J.R. and daddy riding the bus from O'Hare airport to the car rental place. J.R. loved this, he thought it was so much fun!

Here's the second J.R. birthday cake!

We had J.R.'s birthday party in Vegas when we got back from our Chicago trip. We had a birthday party at the Wrangler's Hockey Arena then went to the game after the party. Duke (the mascot) came to visit during the party and J.R. gave Duke a hug. I'll have to post those pictures soon, once I find them.



Here's J.R. dressed up before Toy Story on Ice. This was a fun night until the end of the show. We ended up in the ER that night with an ear ache. Only the second of the year, this year. Last year we had 7 ear aches! We are going to an ear nose throat doctor Friday to see if we should get tubes???

Here's my guy in Chicago again during our January trip. If you notice he's holding a Blackhawks cookie that his Auntie Lori bought him from a delicious bakery.

Here's J.R. during his first "professional" hair cut. I've been cutting his hair since he turned one. He did really good. This picture was the beginning of the process.

Okay, I'm obsessed with the underwear pictures. He looks SO cute in his underwear! I'll have to pull these pictures out when he has his first girlfriend over at our house.

Here's J.R. in the tub! He made a beard with the bubbles.

Okay, this is J.R.'s classroom. He goes to Candilhall 5 full days a week. This was the Easter party at his school. J.R. is sitting next to his BEST friend Gavril. Gavril is the little boy in the red shirt. J.R. and Gavril have such a special friendship. Their teacher says she's never seen anything like it before, they fight like they're an old married couple.

Here's Uncle Scott and J.R. in the pool a few nights ago. It was already 98 degrees here and it's April!

This is after the pool fun with Uncle Scott.

The other morning, I went to wake up J.R. and there he was quietly playing hockey with his hockey guys.

This is towards the end of the haircut. I am admitting now, I had to cut some more layers into his haircut. It was a little too Justin Bieber for me.

J.R. sleeping in his crib a few months ago. He is crazy about the blankets surrounding his crib and making tents. Yes, J.R. is 3 and we still have him in his crib. He likes his crib and doesn't climb out. I'm really weary to set up his toddler bed. His room is right next to the stairs and they are wood. I worry J.R. may sleepwalk and somehow take a wrong turn and fall down the stairs. For now I'm keeping the motto, "If it's not broke don't fix it!"



YES YES YES

It's official... WE ARE POTTY TRAINED!!

I told J.R. he had to go all week without an accident before he could wear his Spongebob underwear... well he did it! 

Today we went to the Clark county fair about an hour away from Vegas and he did SO good, he made it the whole way there and back without a potty stop. I had our portable potty in the car just in case! We spent all day at the fair with our friends and friends of J.R.'s and he didn't have an accident.. he went potty twice while at the fair. I was pretty impressed AND J.R. went into the Men's bathroom by himself. The girls line was so long he would NEVER make it and no one offered for him to "cut" in line so I sent him off by himself to the men's bathroom and he went all by himself and even washed his hands! 

Onto another subject that continually amazes me.... J.R. has the best timing.. he's soaking up all the one liners he hears on t.v. and in conversation between people. The other day he was putting away his toys and after he was done he says, "See mom, that was easy as pie!" I'm thinking where did he pick this up, then a few days later we were watching Peppa the Pig. This has turned into one of his FAVORITE shows and I heard Peppa and her dad say it!

We have a fun busy two months coming up. We have grandpa, a friend from Chicago and Alenea and AJ visiting. We are going to Manhattan Beach for a week and bringing our friend Sandi with us so she can help out with J.R. Also, we are so excited for the month of July. Our friend Sandi is going to take the month off work to spend it with our family. She is going to watch J.R. for us so he can stay home and have a summer vacation! He always LOVES to stay home. This guys would be a home body if I let him. He never wants to go to school because he loves his home so much. Just tonight he said, "Mama, the only time I'm sad is when I miss you, daddy and Uncle Scott when I'm at school." Tell me that didn't make me feel bad that I'm a working mom but that's okay.. I know I'm doing the best thing for him. He's such a well rounded kid and so sociable and I contribute school as the reason why. 

One last thing to post. Last week, J.R. decided to share his huge firehouse that he got from Santa with his classmates. What a sweet kid. I worry we spoil him way too much since he's our only but this really made me feel like we are doing something right!

It's been way too long!

I can't believe how long it's been since my last post. J.R. has gone though so many changes! The latest change is that we are potty trained! We've been trying for a few months, bribing with anything we could think of but he just wasn't interested in pooping on the potty. He would pee pee all day long but refused to poop. Well Friday night while I was at a play, Tony was watching J.R. at home and what do you know, he pooped on the potty! All weekend he pooped but never when I was around, only when Tony was with him. J.R. told Tony once that he "sat on the toilet so long, his butt aged 20 years and now he has no control over his poops." Finally, last night I saw with my own eyes that J.R. is indeed poop trained! J.R. liked to yell, "Fire on the poop deck." when he has to go number two, it's a riot to see!

This kid is so funny, I'm so sad I've missed so many funny things he's said over the last few months. I remember a few because I posted them on FB. Here's some of the gems I never want to forget:

1. As I give him a kiss he turns his head, I kiss his eye socket and he responds, "Mom, that hurt on so many levels."

2. As I'm walking out to my car one morning he says, "Mom, I hope everyone at your work likes your belt."

3.  Were started to "officially" potty train and use only underwear, no diapers, as I'm putting on his underwear he says, "It's about time you put my underwear on, now I'll poop in the potty!"

4. As he's sitting outside by our pool relaxing in his little chair he leans back and says, "Wow, life is good."

He is like a sponge and remembers everything he hears but the fascinating thing is  he knows when to use the one liner's he hears. It keeps Tony and I in check and chuckling to ourselves daily.

I hope to get back to posting now that work may have slowed down a little.

Merry Christmas

We are off to Chicago tomorrow. I wanted to post these pictures from the last few weeks. This Christmas the best one yet.. thanks to my little guy, J.R. 

Christmas Season

This year is going to be so much fun for J.R. (and us) at Christmas. He understands so much more and almost every morning he tells me that it's Christmas time. We have a ritual in the morning that we've started this Christmas season. After I wake J.R. up at 8:30am (Yes, he's a sleeper like his daddy!) we go down stairs and plug in his little Christmas tree and then he tries to sing Christmas carols... well kind of... Here's a picture of J.R.'s big Christmas tree before presents are under the tree. J.R. thinks that any package that gets delivered to our his is for him so it will be interesting to see how he'll respond to presents that aren't his... a good learning experience for the little guy!

This last weekend I brought out all the Christmas decorations. J.R. LOVED this music box that has Christmas symbols go round and round. I took this picture. He looks so innocent and sweet. I can only imagine what he's thinking!

I've had a long week and it's only Wednesday! I've had a major install and I'm designing other big projects this week. I won't bore you with details but Tony noticed how exhausted I've been the last few days and my hubby cooked dinner. He hasn't cooked dinner for me in years.. literally! He's such a good guy I'm a lucky lady, here's a picture of my big guy cooking!

Now this is priceless! If you notice J.R.'s hockey game is on the couch and there is his piano with a microphone next to the couch. Well he was playing with his hockey game then he decided he needed to sing, "Oh Canada", Canada's national anthem. A few nights ago Uncle Scott and J.R. stood in front of the hockey net and sang the US national anthem with their hands over their hearts. Then they started singing Oh Canada over and over and over again! 

One last funny J.R. story. The other night after J.R. was home from school, he was sitting on the couch watching tv. Out of the blue, he told said, "daddy, my wee wee is getting big like yours". I was in the kitchen and Tony walked over to me trying not to laugh too loud. The funny thing is that same morning after waking up, J.R. was sitting on the couch watching his cartoons while I was getting his breakfast ready and he told me, "mama me wee wee is getting big like yours." I told J.R. that mommy doesn't have a wee wee and J.R. responded, "oh, let me see". I told J.R. he couldn't ask to see girls private parts. I told Tony, he gets to have the SEX talk with his son when he's 16 because I had the wee wee talk with him when he was two! 

Happy Turkey Day!

We went to Grandpa's  house for Thanksgiving this year. Tony, Uncle Scott, J.R. and myself drove to Phoenix the night before and we went to the Coyotes hockey game. J.R. had so much fun, here's a picture of him at the game!

J.R. had fun at grandpa's house. He amused us all for 5 days straight! J.R. asked papa about the band aid on his finger. J.R. has always been fascinated with band aids. Papa said he cut his finger and J.R. told papa that he had to be VERY careful!

Here are some pictures of J.R. at papa's house.

At papa's J.R. gets to sleep with mommy and daddy sleeps on the pullout couch. My favorite time I spend with J.R. is bedtime. He is so sweet! Here's a picture of J.R. pretending to sleep. You can tell by the big smile on his face.