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! ;)