Gobble Gobble!

We travelled to Dallas for our Thanksgiving Feast. Little traffic, a one hour nap, and a 15 minute pit stop made the trip wiz by. Seb kept yelling poop, poop! So we decided to see if he'd poop if he got out of the car. Fat chance! Here he is tricking us:

Somewhere in the middle of central Texas I made mom and dad pull over!!!

Seb chasing me in the middle of a construction zone

Little Zeekers looks soooo big already and he is almost back to his birth weight. He's eating like a champ. I fed him Friday and he gulped chugged down 3 oz within 5 minutes! You're ready for college, son!

2 weeks and 2 days old

Ending the night happy

This was the best pic I could get of the two cousins. Seb was soooo squirmy!

Ciocia Agnes daydreaming of her own little one, one day

We spent Thanksgiving with Cioca Agnes, her boyfriend Jeremy, Ciocia Anka, Cioca Evone, Uncle Gavin, Zeekers and Babcia Monika. What a great visit. We all made something for the table. Chocolate pie was a hit once again.  And I even made my own stuffing this year!  Pat absolutely loved it so I will try to perfect it next year. Pat and Gavin smoked a real fake Cuban that Pat and I smuggled across the Mexican border during our Playa del Carmen excursion.

Jail free!

Also, Gavin had a 30 year old scotch (bottled in 1996) he was holding onto to bust open with his late dad. It was a gift from his mom and was distilled and casked when Gavin was born. Since Grandpa Roger died a few years ago (prostate cancer) he decided to share the celebration with Pat and Jeremy. Half the bottle was gone before the end of the night. Although Seb didn't drink any, he sure is acting like it in this pic:

I can't see the camera!

1966, that's no typo!

About dang time!

Seb is officially done with the play pen. Or should I say, we're done with it. He woke up Thursday night at 4 am and wouldn't go back to sleep. Oh Brother! So we took him into our bedroom and put him in the toddler bed. He finally fell asleep around 5:30 am. We decided to try the toddler bed out again on Friday night. He slept through the night like a champ and didn't wake Pat or me up!  Bye bye play pen!!!  Just another little thing that makes me feel bittersweet about my baby growing up.

Seb had way too many sweets, AGAIN. Babcia spoils him rotten. The minute we walked in he asked for a pop pop (lollipop). I have her to thank for introducing him to those. I even put away the candy bowl and he threw a tantrum (these are occurring more and more frequently each day now) because he knew it was in the drawer. Sheesh kid. You're getting too smart! Speaking of smart, when we got home he was asking for Djuice (juice). I told him that we didn't have any so instead of tantruming, he walked to the pantry and pointed to the peach cup. He's so clever! He realized that there was juice he could drink out of there! Can you tell how proud I am of my problem solver?

That's me! 

When we returned, Daddy made Seb a little work bench for him to play with while in the gaaaarg (garage). Oh! He was so excited and it kept him busy for a whole hour!!!

Dad, a real aaamer (hammer)!!!!

2 Year Doc appt

Thanks to Josie and Karen's recommendation I was able to quickly find a new pediatrician for Seb. His name is Dr. Jack Louis and he is AWESOME! He spent so much time with me, I was impressed. He only takes new patients at 7:45 am though so it was a really early morning for both of us. We took Seb's doctor kit and Sali so I could show him in the waiting room what Dr. Louis would do to Seb at our visit.  He was a champ! He weighs exactly 32 pounds (90%) and is 34 inches tall (50%). I'm not so sure he's in the 50th percentile for height. The nurse took his measurements very quickly so I think she may have been off by a few inches.  After all, this kid is as tall as some 3 year olds!!!  I'll need to make my own assessment - just as soon as I can keep Seb still for more than a second. Doc gave Sebby a clean bill of health and we finished with a flu shot. That part was no fun. Seb screamed for about 10 minutes afterwards and was completely upset about it for the rest of the day. Needless to say, he now has an aversion to Scooby Doo bandaids.  We are done with vaccines until Seb turns FOUR! Praise Jesus!  Sorry folks, no pics.

For some updates: Seb has finally mastered the word please. For a long time he would just say "ees" and then it morphed into "pabst" and now he finally can say Please. I still have to ask him to say it but I'll take what I can get. He is absolutely loving school. Whenever I ask him if he wants to go to school he gleefully screams, Yeeeeeeah. In fact, the past couple of times I have picked him up he refused to come home with me. He screams and flails his arms on the ground. Today he was out on the playground and he kept running away from me screaming noooooo. I finally had to pick him up and "escort" him to the car. I gave him a lecture that consisted of me telling him that I am his mom and he has to respect me. I put on my "stern" mommy voice. And it actually worked! I asked him if he understood and he said, yeah and stopped whining. Hmmmm....we'll see how long this lasts.

He is still very obsessed with any and all tools. Today, I found him using the drill to make a hole in the wall. Yes, a hole! The only benefit to this was that it happened in the garage. Now, there's a gaping hole that needs filling. Maybe I can teach him how to fix it? Also, he has grown a liking to the leaf blower. I can't wait until he understands that the point of this apparatus is to move leaves away from the pool, not in it.  

He is mastering his colors! Pat and I have been working on naming colors in books and he can point out all of them...when he feels like it. I think he gets his stubbornness from daddy.

We took our Christmas photos with Dore and I've already ordered our Xmas cards. I'm patting myself on the back as I write this! Here are some shots and a sneak peek to our xmas cards:

And one last note, whenever he sees a baby or hears the word baby he screams out ZEEEEKE, ZEEEEKE.  Baby baby baby. So stinkin' cute!

Zeeeeeekers

Welcome Zeke Roger Twigger !!!!!!!  Sebby and Zeke are exactly 2 years and 3 days apart.  What a big boy! He came into this world weighing more than Sebby! How is that even possible!!?!?!  21 inches and 9 pounds, 9 ounces....hello Linebacker!  We had a great trip up to see the new momma and dada. They are doing so well!  We came in on Friday afternoon and visited Ciocia and Uncle right away.  They had just come home from the hospital. I have to say, I'm super duper impressed they were ready for visitors. I'm relieved Seb slept on the way up as he was so excited to meet his new buddy. I can't wait until Zeke gets a little older and they can play. This is gonna be so much fun watching these two grow up together. Seb was on his best behavior (all be it, super hyper for most of the time we were visiting). Babcia Monika made Zupa Ogorkowa (Pickle soup - it tastes sooooo much better than it sounds) and Golumpki. Seb gobbled both up. He's a true 50% Polak!  That's my boy!

We visited again on Saturday and ran an errand to Leslie's Pool for a zippered vacuum bag.  It was $36. I wonder how much it will cost in the next 20 years???  Gavin was aaaahh-mazing. He's gonna make a wonderful daddy (like there was ever any doubt)!  He helped Evone with the breastfeeding and took care of EVERY detail. Evone felt well enough to take a walk on Saturday. It was her first official outing with Zeke (not counting the doc office and trip from the hospital). If you can't tell, I'm absolutely thrilled to be a Ciocia!!!!!  We love you Zeke!

Seb can't wait to touch Zeke!

So little itty bitty

Babcia visited

Is that Seb's foot on Gavin's head?!

Proud papa!

Horsing around

My nephew!

Seb giving kisses

Love this face!

Seb finds an old toy

2nd pic of the cousins!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

At this time 2 years ago I was in labor for my 26th hour. I still hadn't received my epidural and I was approximately 7 cm dilated. I remember this so vividly because the pain was getting pretty unbearable and I couldn't believe I had been up for almost two days straight. What an experience that was! I would make it to midnight before the epidural but I had two centimeters to go before then. Phew! Glad that's over!

Sebby, I'm so glad you have joined me and your dad in this little life we've got going for us. We are so fortunate and I pray each and everyday that I remember to thank God for the little things in life. I try not to take for granted how truly blessed we are.  You are such a loving, warm, kind, rambunctious (almost) 2 year old. I love you my sweet child. Please don't grow up too fast, ok?

Babcia and Jeremy helping with prep

Here are some pics from your birthday party this year....there's more to come. Mommy's camera pooped out during your birthday candle blow out so I'll need to snag some from grandma and friends...We had so much fun with your pals!  We celebrated with a Thomas the Train theme. You're absolutely in love with Thomas, aka "Choo Choo" as you like to call him!

The cake....Chocolate cake with buttercream frosting...Yuuuum

This is about the time mom's camera pooped out...right before the most important part

Preparty in babcia's bed

Sophia was our first guest

Then Seb's girlfriend arrived with some others

Daddy made this sign and the train tracks behind it. 

I made the railroad crossing

Saying bye bye to Ciocia Agnes, Babcia and Jeremy

\

Seb trying on Niva's tiara

After a couple of mimosas....in me, not Niva!

The aftermath

More destruction

Sali makes an entrance during "present opening time"

Happy Halloween!

We had an absolute blast for Halloween this year. Rather than staying in the hood, we decided to venture out and go "trunk or treating" at our preschool.  Check out Tony the Tiger:

Mom! I can't see anything!

I dressed up as a wizard...Can't you tell?

My pirate and tiger. What a pair!

Dad forgot to brush his teeth

Who coordinated these outfits? A tiger, a pirate and a wizard....the next George Lucas sensation...

Seb had a blast playing with Leo and Carla. For whatever reason, Sebby was completely obsessed with shouting out Leo's name for almost the entire time we were there.  He officially has a man crush, a bromance has blossomed. How sweet!

Leo never misses a work out....

Seb following Leo around. Do you see the King of the Wild Things in the background?

Leo and Seb cracking up at Leo's grandpa. He was a clown and at first Seb was completely terrified of him but he won his heart over after treating him to some candy.

Time to rehydrate

Couple of days prior to Halloween I took Sebby to a nearby church that had a Pumpkin Patch.  He's gonna be a strong man one day!  He really did push that  pumpkin over.  One day, I'll make him pick it back up. For now, I'll just use my legs to lift.

"I'm too sexy for these punkins, too sexy it hurts"

He decided to buy this one. He even paid the lady a $1 for it

1, 2, 3....goooooo

Looking at all the other kids...such an observer

Halloween is so much fun when you've got kids! We got home and had a few trick or treaters and then decided to give one more candy to Seb. He had about 5 pieces the whole night. However, he was so pooped by the end of the night, he passed out without a peep.  THANK GOODNESS!