Ray got "appetized"

This past weekend we celebrated Ray's baptism. Lill was very excited to "go to church" for RayRay to get "appetized". One of the ladies with another baby being baptized noted how "delicious" he was and how "meaty" he was. Don't have to tell us, people ;-) We also want to eat him up on the regular.

We also got to fit in some QT with our dear friends Justin, Carly and Chris while they were in town for the weekend. Grandma and Grandpa Ferrier also came in town for the festivities. No complaints from this girl with so many of my favorite people in one place :-)

God bless you, sweet Ray!

Ray with is Godmother, Carly, and Godfather, Justin

The cousins exploring after the baptism

Milestones

A few milestones to report from the Bruno household!

A week or so ago, right around the same age as Lill did, Ray started crawling. He had been getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth for a couple of weeks and occasionally would move one of his extremities but hadn't quite mastered coordinating all four extremities in such a way to make a move. He's now crawling from one room to the other and getting into every possible shoe, cord and toy of Lilly's. Remind me again why I was looking forward to him starting to crawl... ;-)

And just as Ray started receiving cheers and clapping from the parental units, Lill decided she wanted in on the celebrations. I'm happy to report that we have not needed a diaper (other than while sleeping) for her in nearly a week! She's very proud of her big girl underwear and likes to check out the potty at any and every place we go.  "I go pee pee at school. I go pee pee at Schnuck's (grocery). I go pee pee and poo poo at the restaurant".  The last one she felt the need to also announce to the entire dining room of said restaurant. She doesn't quite understand that the excitement and clapping ends at her immediate family and friends :-)

We are not above a little bribery/encouragement.

We did a little potty bootcamp the first few
days and basically lived in the bathroom

Baby Nolan

One of my dearest friends that I've known since middle school, lived with in college and experienced all that is Chicago with, is expecting a sweet little boy in December. This past weekend our high school friends all met in Chicago to celebrate Baby Nolan. Kelly came from Michigan, Vicky from Indy and me from St. Louis. The other girls all still live in the Chicago area. Our friend Victoria, who I've known since kindergarten, brought her sweet new baby, Amelia for us to snuggle and oooh and aahh over. It's crazy to think that we've known each other since we were nearly our kids age. And it makes my heart smile, oh so big, when we all have a wonderful excuse to bring us all together.

Luckily, we have even more to celebrate in the coming months as Carly recently got engaged. Babies and diamonds and showers and weddings, oh my!

Baby Amelia resting on Baby Nolan

Firehouse Openhouse

Our neighborhood firehouse had their open house earlier this month. Kids could climb on the fire trucks and ambulances, check out their uniforms/gear, practice putting out a 'fire' and watch the fireman put out an actual fire. Taylor and Carter came over and we all walked up to the event. As expected, Tay climbed right on up on the truck with no fear, whereas Lill was propped up there and just about froze, looking as she had just seen a ghost.

Gamechanger

Until last week, Corey and I both did bath time with Lill in the tub and Ray in his baby tub. He wasn't quite big enough for the tub but putting the whole baby tub in with Lill was really crampin' her style. But he had officially outgrown the baby tub; would splash and get myself and area around soaked and try to crawl out. We tried putting him in the tub with Lill but since his core isn't quite strong enough to not wobble in the tub, that required Corey or I to lean over uncomfortably to hold on to him and keep him from slipping and knocking his head :-) I thought, "we need one of those ring seats like my brother had when he was a baby". Turns out those things have been recalled and banned for various reasons of which the underlying theme is "just because your baby is in the contraption doesn't mean you can leave them alone in a filled bathtub..you still must supervise at ALL times."

I reached out to some mommy friends to learn their tricks for bathing multiple children when one is still small (ish). Luckily, another momma out there had one of those recalled seats that she referred to as a "game-changer" for bath time and insisted I have it. I'm happy to report it is the Game-changer. One of us can now bathe both kids while the other cleans up/walks Ty/etc., etc., etc. Lill loves helping bathe her little brother and Ray loves being able to watch his big sis and steal all of her bath toys!

I will most definitely be paying it forward and passing this seat on to another mom!

7...and 8 months old

I've really been slacking..  I was about to get going on the 2/3rds of a year (yes, I'm a math nerd) update and realized I never did the 7 month one. Oops!

Our (big) little guy is 24 lbs, on the verge of crawling and has 8 teeth that he LOVES to eat with. Seriously. Just try eating in front of him without sharing and see how that works out for you. It's ridiculously easy to get a smile out of that boy, except when he's eating. Then, he is allll business. He flails his arms and feet when he's happy, attempts to clap and tries to chew everything he can get his hands on.

He's highly entertained by his big sister and more so by all of her toys (which she is not a fan of) and while he has yet to master sleeping through the night but is just a joy to be around!