Holiday time!

This has been quite the eventful week! We visited the Mormon Temple in Mesa to see the lights. It was C.O.L.D. We searched everywhere for hot chocolate, which was no where to be found. Then I decided I need to invent some sort of hot ice cream, for nights like this.




We spent the next day in the sun at the Zoo! How cute are these boys??!


Oh! I'll get back to you on that hot ice cream idea.

Cruz's FIRST Christmas!

We had three Christmases (is that a word?) this year! At five months old, Cruz had no idea what was going on, but he sure liked the attention and the Christmas tree lights. :) Everytime he had a cry-fest I would stick him in front of the tree. Bam! Smiles.

Here are some pictures of Cruz at his first Christmas celebration.
The Bolt/Critelli Christmas!





Here are some pictures of Cruz on Christmas morning at our house. :)

Cruz with his Grandpa Kasowski!









Annnnddd...last but certainly not least, Christmas at the Wagner house!

Here is Cruz talking to his Cousin Kevin via Skype - Kevin is in the Navy, and stationed in Guam. We missed him!


Taylor showing Cruz the new train set.


Cruz's new wheels!! :) Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for the sweet ride.






We had so much fun spending time with our family this Holiday. Thank you to everyone for spoiling our little boy!!!

Family Pictures - December 2011

Taylor photographed these BEAUTIFUL pictures for us!

I love this collage below. I plan to do something cool with it in our house. The image on the left was taken when I was 6 months pregnant...and the one on the right with Cruz "filling his shoes."



Yep, we're nerds.




I snapped this picture in front of our Christmas tree. Then I died. Seriously, how cute is he???!




Thank you, Taylor! :)

First(s)

Grandma Bolt helped give Cruz his first hair cut. This kid has a lot of hair, and it grows FAST! Grandma had a cast on her hand from her recent surgery, so she helped show me where and how to cut. Grandpa helped hold our wiggly-man down, and Daddy took pictures. :) The mo'hawk is back. Yayyy!






This was Cruz's first time eating cereal. As you can tell, he was, ehrm...IS not a fan. We're still working on it. We tried feeding it to him with a spoon, through a bottle, and different textures but he HATES cereal. Our daycare providers, "Grammy and Grampy" said he might not be ready. They suggested that we don't push it. I think next we'll try an oatmeal based cereal, instead of rice. Until then, wish us luck and lets all pray that potty training is much easier. ;) Ha!

I have not forgotten you, Blog

It has been a CrAzY two months!! Outside of my full-time job at University of Phoenix, AND being a Mom, I do portrait photography. November and December are my busiest months, for sure! I promise to post so many updates about Cruz and our family....but, until then, you can check out some of my recent photo sessions at my website: www.aprilelaine.blogspot.com

We'll talk soon! Promise.
XOXO

Halloween!!!

Halloween is my FAVORITE holiday! Mostly because it involves chocolate...but I also LOVE dressing up. It's like being a little girl again, but now I get to force Tyler to dress up with me. The first few years of our relationship he HATED dressing up for Halloween...but now he sees how funny it can be, so I've got him hooked. :)
We threw a costume party last year. Tyler was Kanye West and I was Taylor Swift - well, a pregnant Taylor Swift. Turns out I was about 2-3 weeks pregnant at the party and didn't know it yet. This year for our party, Tyler dressed up as Charlie Sheen and I was his "goddess". I was NOT a pregnant goddess. ;) We had so much fun!
I had searched for a costume for Cruz but couldn't find anything in a 3 month size. So I had a hand-me-down pumpkin (or punkin - this is how Tyler says it) onsie with jack O' lantern booties. I squeezed Cruz's chunky butt into the onsie but couldn't get it to zip! He was way too big for the costume. Thank goodness Cruz's grandma and grandpa Bolt got him a Halloween outfit so we put that on and sat on the front porch handing out candy to the kids. We can't wait for next year when he'll be old enough to go trick-or-treating and wear a big boy costume! I've already got some ideas for the three of us! :)

Back to work

This is my 2nd week back to work. Man, the days go by soooo slow while I'm at work...and soooo quick once we're home in the evenings with Cruz. We definitly value our time with him more. Every toothless smile is priceless. I wish he could come to work with me! :( I don't want to be a stay at home mom, but I don't like being away from him for such long periods of time. I wish I could put his cries on mute and play with him all day long in my cubicle. Luckily, we found a great daycare provider and they don't mind that I call to check on him daily. University of Phoenix needs to install Skype on their computers so I can see his face. I promise I'd still be productive.. promise! ;)

A new lifestyle

Out with the old. And by old, I mean the way we used to live (eat). Before Cruz, we ate out all the time, and it was always bad (well, yummy, but bad for us) food. We would go on diets for about a month and then we'd get "too busy" to get groceries and wind up back at our neighborhood bar and grill ordering off the appetizer menu - boneless wings, potato skins (yes...I'm drooling while typing this) to be followed by a BIG bowl of ice cream while sitting on the couch watching HOUSE. It was sad, but unfortunately it became a big, bad habit.
In with the new. Now, we eat in about 95% of the time. Thanks to my recent time off work, I've been able to find new, healthy, AND yummy recipes to cook. We make sure that groceries are purchased each week, with quick (and healthy) options for the nights when we find it too late to cook. If we're out and about, and hungry we'll stop in to Subway and share a sub filled with veggies. Even if my hair is clean. (I hate the way Subway's smell sticks to you and your hair for hours. Gross.) We do let ourselves cheat every once in a while. *Moderation is key* If we're meeting people for dinner, we'll scope out the nutritional information online before, and plan what we will order. Another big change is exercise. I hate working out. Like, I would rather clean toilets than work out and I HATE cleaning toilets. But... it has to be done. So, every morning I wake up and try to talk myself OUT of working out: "You did good yesterday, so take a break today" or "don't turn on the Biggest Loser video, you have it memorized by now.. just do it from memory" and then I tell myself to shut up and I work out to Biggest Loser. PS, I loathe Jillian Michaels more than cleaning toilets. She's evil. But, she's in shape. So, I work out with Jillian Michaels while Cruz sticks his tongue out at me. I wish it was cute to have rolls on my knees, like it is for him. :)
Tyler and I are both excited about our good habits and weight-loss results!

Hmmm.

Doogie Howser

I think we have a real-life Doogie Howser on our hands! I know, I know, every parent thinks their kid is a genius and ahead of the curve... but SERIOUSLY Cruz is a smarty-pants! He is nine weeks old and can already hold his head up. He's been doing this for quite some time now. His doctor was very impressed and said we better keep him off the couch because he will be rolling over very soon! When we hold him up he plants his feet on the ground and stands on his own! His balance isn't quite there yet, so we hang on...but he can hold his own weight! Which is saying a lot because he is ChUnKy! He has been sleeping through the night since he was seven weeks old. This might be more luck than genius-ness, but either way, Yay me! It's scary. ...but, it gets better. Are you ready for this??? I taught him how to stick out his tongue! Yes. On command. I stick my tongue out and sing "La la la la..." and then he sticks out his tongue and wiggles it around trying to make the same noise. Gen-I-us! I called Tyler at work to tell him about it and he clearly didn't believe me but was kind and said "Ohh. Haha, cute." When Tyler got home Cruz showed him his new 'trick'. :) Now, when we put Cruz to bed he thinks it's funny to stick his tongue out when we are trying to put his pacifier in. It's so hard not to laugh!
I think Tyler is pretty impressed; he said "well, now he knows how to stick his tongue out to his parents...what do you plan on teaching him next?"
I have two weeks left of maternity leave, so we'll see what I can come up with. ;)

:) :) :)

He smiles :) and it melts my heart. If you catch him at the right time, (usually first thing in the morning if he's not starving, or 30 minutes after a nap...but not 10, because he's like his Mamma and kinda cranky right when he gets up ;)) he is so alert and full of personality! He has several different smiles, too! A slightly crooked one where he looks like he just got caught doing something (like farting on me), and a big wide open-mouthed smile where his eyes get so squinty - this one is the BEST!
He talks and I reply "oh yeah?" or "What else happened?" and he continues to coo and gah at me as if we were having a real conversation. I'm usually thrilled at this point because 40+ hours a week (on maternity leave) without adult conversation gets a bit interesting so..I'm all for it!
I can't wait to hear his laugh for the first time!!!!

The most photographed baby of 2011!!!

Little Cruz is almost three weeks old in these portraits and he did GREAT! I was able to capture his unique expressions and my favorite part of him - his signature mo'hawk, which is now TWICE as long! :)
Enjoy!

Our little Man!

Here are some candid pictures of Cruz - weeks one through five. In terms of sleep, we feel like he should be five YEARS old, not weeks. However, he has grown so much in such a short time. He is much more alert now! He loves to look outside, at the fan, and the TV. He is cooing, grunting, and starting to grab at things - like my boobs (such a boy), my hair, and Tyler's chest hairs. :) He smiles when he dreams, and if I lightly pinch his cheeks first thing in the morning I get a BIG smile. He recognizes our voices, too!