Month 3

Wow, Frankie - You've certainly had a busy third month of your life!  This month you not only experienced the magic of the Christmas season but also had your first long road trip and learned a few new tricks, too!

Mom and Dad kicked off our own Christmas holiday with a casual dinner out - our first family meal out!  Frankie and Mommy have had several lunch dates out with friends and Grammy but this was our first dinner with Daddy and it went great (meaning Frankie slept the whole time!).  After dinner, we drove around Arlington to check out some Christmas lights at houses that were all the rave in my Mom's Group.  Later that week, Santa made an appearance on Pocomoke St when he rode by on a fire truck!  In a few years, I'm hoping Frankie will be more excited about this than his Mommy. :)

 

We spent the night before Christmas Eve at Uncle Jon's and Aunt Laura's house with Grandpa.  After opening presents and a delicious meal on Christmas Eve day, we attended Christmas Eve mass - and despite being extremely overtired from not napping, Frankie were quite good during your first mass!  The next two nights were spent at Grammy's house, where Santa visited one very special little boy!   

After a day back at our house, the three of us made the trip up to Long Island and only had to stop once each way to feed and change you!  We were pleasantly surprised.  You met so many special people during that trip - your Papa, Aunt Danielle and Uncle Tony, your cousins, Kate and Emma, Uncle Chris and AnneMarie, Aunt Dale and your cousin Michael, along with numerous family friends.  You were quite the attraction and of course were incredibly intrigued by so many new faces and surroundings that you did everything in your power to stay up all day, which resulted in quite a cranky little boy but also gave us your first 8 hour sleep stretch at night! 

As fun as it is to travel and spend time with family, we were relieved to be back home on New Year's Eve.  Mommy & Daddy had no intentions at all to stay up and watch the ball drop, but apparently Frankie was eager to ring in 2012 - He coincidentally woke up right before midnight to eat, so Frankie and Mommy quietly rang in the new year together.  It was so nice having time at home with just the three of us - relaxing and bonding with our little man.

In between all of the holiday excitement, Frankie started discovering his hands - It so cute to see him bring them up to his face and check them out.  When he's on his back on his playmat, you can tell he is purposefully starting to bat at his toys, too. 

He also loves 'standing' - He's able to support his weight on his feet and I think he likes this position because it allows him to really check things out. 

Frankie has also developed strong head control so we finally felt comfortable enough to take him for a run in the BOB - We kicked off the New Year with a family run.  Just this past week, we also broke out the Bumbo seat...He's not sure what to think of it yet but it seems to be growing on him. 

One of his favorite new tricks is sticking his tongue out at you, which I'm sure we won't appreciate as he gets older, but for right now it's adorable.