Since Manny reached 18 months, he has slowly been taking over our living room. I was determined to keep at least one part of the house (besides our bedroom) "adult", and wanted to keep our coffee table as long as possible. Now that Manny has a brother in arms (Christian), his occupation of the living room is finally complete. I feel like I should wave a banner over the couch that says, "Mission Completed".

When John got home from work today, he moved the coffee table down into the garage. I could almost hear a trumpet playing somberly in the background. When he came back up from the garage, he brought with him "the jail" (as my mother so lovingly once called it), **evil voice** which shall help me enact my revenge....muahahahahaha (not really).

Christian isn't exactly crawling yet, but the boy has definitely figured out how to get across the room. I laid him down today on the floor of the living room, I ran to the restroom, and when I came back, he was on the other side of the room! We need "the jail" to keep him safe. There is so much stuff on the floor brought in by Manny, the dog, and the cats, I wanted one clean, crumb free place for him to crawl.

However, once "the jail" was set up, Manny wanted to play in it! The following picture (I feel) is quite hilarious....
I don't know why, but he looks like a little puppy in a cage....maybe the enclosure is a bit a cruel. I'll have to rethink using it....haha.


I also have some pictures of Christian enjoying his dinner. We started him on solids last week, and tonight for dinner he had banana, avocado, and oatmeal. I think it sounds horrible, but he really loved it!



Ugh....and our final topic for the night....potty training. I really wish we could have someone come in, and take over this horrible mess. Manny wants NOTHING to do with the friggin' toilet. This morning when he woke up, I asked him if he would sit on the potty, and he told me NO.

I just have to remind myself that within the next year, I'll be down one child in a diaper. I mean, he can't still be using a diaper at 4 or 5...can he? Someone please give me some reassurance, because I have hit a major road block.

I swear my child loves to see me frustrated. I say black, he says white. I say up, he says down. If I like something, he doesn't like it (wonder where he gets that from ;) you enjoying this dad?). I have to use reverse psychology in order to get him to do anything....seriously.

For example: The other day I wanted him to drink milk, he wanted juice. I asked him nicely several times to drink the milk, he said "no, I want juice". So I said, "actually, you're right, I don't want you to drink the milk", and I started to take the cup away, he said, "No Mommy, I want the miiiiiiiiiiiiilk!" Yes, all drawn out and whiney.

I love this kid to death, but he already knows what buttons to push....haha. Gotta love toddlers ;)

We started Christian on cereal last Wednesday. I know he's not 6 months yet (he will be in about a week), but he's reached every other "bench" mark besides his age (can sit unassisted, has lost his tongue thrust, etc). He's been really interested in what we've been eating for the last week, so I thought I'd try out some cereal just to see how he liked it, and he LOVED it! There was no need for a bib, because he did so well. I've tried it every day since (just to make sure it wasn't a fluke), and he's been a champ.

A couple of days ago we started him on banana, and tonight for dinner he had banana and avocado puree.

I'm making my own baby food this time, and it is sooooooo much cheaper. Cutting, and storing the food is the biggest pain, but it's saving me a TON of money. I just finished cutting up some banana, and avocado, and have them stored in the freezer, ready for when we need them!

I'll try and post a picture the next time we feed him :)

Manny is going to be Buzz Lightyear for Halloween. Thankfully, we were lucky enough to get a costume from our friend Jen. We saw a Buzz costume at the Disney store and their costume was $40! There is no way that I wanted to spend that kind of money on a costume.

I asked Manny to try on the costume the day after we brought it home (I wanted to make sure it fit), and it's been hell trying to get him out of it ever since. In addition to the costume, I was able to find an inflatable jet pack online. I again, asked him to try on the costume, with the jet pack, to see how everything looked, of course, he looked adorable, but again, he didn't want to take the costume off.

He literally lived in that costume for 2 days. John was finally able to peel it off of him b/c it really, really, really needs to be washed. Here are some pics:

Outside...


At the grocery store...


Eating dinner...


Mom, please no more photos...


Lookin' cute....


Trying to fly...


To infinity, and beyond!


And now some new pics of Christian. I can't believe my baby is going to be 6 months this month!