Big Weekend! Baptism and Birthday Party Pictures Galore!

This Memorial Day weekend was jam-packed for us with all sorts of activities! We had lots of family visiting for the weekend's big events - Matteo's baptism and Sebastian's 2nd birthday party celebration. There are sooooo many pictures I felt it was almost impossible to do this post...but here we go. I posted a link at the very end that just has all the pictures unedited if you are interested.

Matteo meeting his Titi Mayra, Titi Arlyn and Tio Frasqui for the first time. It was so special to have them with us for these special celebrations!

On Saturday we ran around and did last minute preparations for the big party. Luckily, we were able to get into the clubhouse on Saturday night so Paul and I spend two hours getting everything just right for the big party! I have to say, it looked pretty fantastic!

Sebastian's birthday party theme was stars (he LOVES stars) and Paul decided to decorate the cake again this year. We started working on the cakes around 10 pm....it was a long night!

The cakes turned out fantastic!!! Great job Paul! I also make that cute little star tower for his cake table out of wooden star blocks...they were really cute too.

Matteo's baptism cake and table.

Sebastian's giant birthday star that we made and our new family pictures above the fireplace (look for a post of those pictures in the coming days). It almost seemed like we lived there! We made a quick run to the clubhouse to drop off the cakes in the morning and then we were off to church.

Matteo with us and his godparents, my friend Tiffany and his Uncle Corey.

Matteo with the visiting Silva family.

Our family with our parents. This is a great picture with all of us.

I love this picture of our family! It's amazing.... sometimes I still can't believe this is our life!

My favorite picture of Matteo on his baptism day.

This is Sebastian on his baptism. It's interesting to compare features, etc since the pictures are taken so similarly. Sebastian was only 6 weeks when he was baptised, Matteo is nearly 10 weeks, so you have to account for an age difference too.

Fr. David also baptised Sebastian. Here he is receiving the chrism oil. I love Sebastian's expression here too watching his little brother.

Being baptised.

Welcome to the church Matteo! When Fr. David lifted him up, he got really quiet and just looked out at everyone. And he only cried a few more seconds afterwards too!

Receiving the light of Christ.

Party time! The food is all out and ready.

I managed to completely surprise Paul and recognize him for graduating with his Master's. I planned this whole spoof and made him wear and hold a bunch of silly things. Then at the end he got silly stringed. The pictures are a bit blurry, but you can get the idea if you look at the link at the end. =) We are proud of you Paul!

Now it's time for the birthday boy!

After singing happy birthday, he took the candles off his cake.

Paul's graduation cake. We made it UCF colors, but still had to get that Gator spirit in...

Birthday Boy.

Baptism Boy!

All smiles.

Matteo with his baptism gifts.

To see all the pictures of the weekend, click here. There are more of the party preparations, baptism, Sebastian opening presents and Memorial day gathering. Enjoy! And thanks for everyone that was a part of this special day with us! It was wonderful!

Happy Birthday Sebastian! Two Years Old!

Today, my baby turns two. I can't believe it. As I sat up last night nursing Matteo, my thoughts were with Sebastian and that day two years ago when we entered the journey of parenthood. Our lives are so full, so rich, so chaotic, and so spectacular now as a family with children. I think neither Paul nor I ever imagined how much having children could change your life. And I am so grateful to God each day that he has led us on this path.

So much has happened in Sebastian's life this year. From walking, running and jumping (well, okay so he can't really jump!) to using a quiet voice, a LOUD voice, knowing how to be funny and throwing tantrums, it's hard to believe that they develop so many skills in such a short time. Paul has graduated from grad school, we've sold our house, moved to Melbourne, Paul changed jobs, I became a stay at home Mami, and Sebastian gained a baby brother. Whew...!

We had a great day today. In the morning we went to Gymboree for his playgym class. The topic was firefighters and firetrucks and he had a blast. Then I ventured to do some grocery shopping by myself for the first time with both kids. Sebastian loves Wal-Mart and he enjoyed his birthday shopping trip. He was super excited when it turned out the two guys in line behind us to pay were firefighters! They showed him their firetruck after and he throught that was great. After his nap we played hide and seek (a new favorite) and he pretended to be the doctor with his little brother. We had hoped to take him swimming in the pool, but it had been raining all afternoon. =( He loves looking at the rain though and had been saying "rain, wet and outside" for a while so as soon as Paul came home they went outside to play in the rain and puddles. He was so happy. We had pizza for dinner (he loves it) and sang happy birthday with some cookies. Overall, a great day for the birthday boy.

Sebastian - my guapo - Mami and Daddy love you so much. This past year you have become such a little personality. You now know what you want, when you want it and you are learning how to let us know too! It's been so much fun being on this journey with you from being a baby to a toddler! We love you so much!

Enjoy the pictures of his special day.

Opening a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse music CD from Matteo.

Someday they will both be looking and smiling right?

Checking baby's heart.

Wet and happy playing in the rain.

This is a video so turn up your volume before you hit play!

Singing happy birthday to Sebastian.

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope all the Mami's out there had a wonderful mother's day. Isn't motherhood such a beautiful blessing?!? I never imagined it would be as wonderful (but let's also add challenging!) as it is. Amazing that God entrusts us with these little lives...

Anyhow, Sebastian and Matteo have been busy boys lately, now that everyone is well. We are also in countdown mode to our big move the last week of June, so we have been doing a lot of running around to spend lots of time with our family and friends. And of course, getting excited about Sebastian's 2nd birthday and Matteo's baptism which are going to be celebrated on Memorial Day weekend. Yippie!

Who knew baby toys could be so entertaining! Sebastian loves this toy of Matteo's and likes to lay under it with him as play. It's so cute.

Don't stick that in my mouth!

Our happy boy.

Sebastian with his cookie cake from our church playground pals group. We missed the birthday celebration, but Michelle was nice enough to save his cookie for him. He seriously enjoyed it. He loves cookies and cake!

This past weekend was Elias' second birthday - the first of the round of birthdays. The cookie monster cupcakes were so adorable!

Me with the boys on Mother's Day with my gift - a beautiful mother and child necklace. I loved it and Sebastian was very proud of it. I had a great day with all our family together. We went to Mass at San Pedro and enjoyed a nice brunch there afterwards. I was thrilled because we had both families together!

The Silva/Giammarinaro's.

The Giammarinaro's.

Below are two videos for you to enjoy. Make sure you have your volume turned up!

Sebastian says the ABC's. Sometimes he will just start saying them randomly...

Matteo giving smiles and chatting. =) He is starting to be so much more aware of everything!

It's May already! Time to catch up!


Hello! I've fallen behind on my blogging lately since we've been full of sickness at our house. First I had a stomach bug and then Sebastian got it (poor baby...you guys saw the post) and we are just now after two weeks starting to get back to normal. The laundry piles have been atrocious! =) Matteo is doing super well - nursing great, sleeping longer stretches at night (not always, but sometimes!), and weighing in at about 12 pounds! He's getting quite chunky on breast milk! Enjoy pictures from the last two weekends before all the sickness began. =) Thanks for the prayers for our recovery - we are finally at the end!

On April 16, Auntie Tiffany, Matteo's godmother came to meet Matteo for the first time. Matteo loved looking at his Auntie Tiff. Sebastian also loved playing with "Iff" during her stay with us.

Matteo had his first bottle ever. It was breast milk and he did great with it. It's a nice treat for Daddy to get to feed him sometimes.

Auntie Donelle came to visit too and it was great to have the three of us together. Hard to believe that we are going on knowing each other for 10 years now! Wow!

Paul puts Sebastian to bed every night and about 50% of the time I go in after it has been quiet for a while and both of them are asleep. It's so cute to see them all cuddled up together.

Matteo chilling out in the swing. Nice hair! He is so big!

Sebastian really wanted to get into this store. We were waiting for it to open and he was pulling at the locked doors with all his might.

On April 25th was Sebastian's Lab School picnic. There were lots of fun activities for the kids and he had a great time. Here he is waiting for the helicopter to land. Love the pensive look.

Watching the landing...

Matteo smiling away during the picnic as he hung out in his stroller.

Sebastian and his friend Sophia making funny faces. I love this picture. They see each other sometimes up to four times a week so they are pretty good buddies.

Starting to give out smiles!

Roar!!! Get that lion Matteo! He is really tracking things with his eyes and studying items with much more concentration these days.

Matteo with Dr. McTammany the OB that delivered him.

Trying on Daddy's shoes.

Tummy time! He is really starting to push up more and even rolling a little on his side. He loves to coo and talk to you too!

One of my favorite recent pictures. He is such a happy baby!