Patrick- 13 Months

Patrick is 13 months old!   I typed this post a while ago, but never got around to adding the pictures.  So here is his 13 month post about 2 weeks late!  I thought I would stop doing the monthly posts at 12 months, but he is just changing so much right now that I decided to continue doing them for a while!  Plus I like them for my memory!

He has a favorite blanket that he carries around everywhere!  He will probably kill me when he is older for posting this picture, but it was too funny not to post!  This is Patrick trying to take his favorite blanket into the tub with him.  

He has a lot of favorite toys right now and can pretty much entertain himself with anything!  He loves to imitate us and try and "talk" on the cell phone or point the remote controller at the t.v.  He also loves to bring me a book and then crawl up onto my lap to hear me read it to him.  We normally only make it through a few pages, but at least its an attempt!  He also points to everything now saying "this?" and wants you to tell him what the object is over and over and over again.  I can see him trying to remember each time what it is so when he is ready to speak he can say it.  He often watches my mouth as I say it.  He is starting to understand what objects are, but isn't quite there yet.  He calls everything "dada" right now. 

He is doing really well with food this month. His appetite seems to have picked up and he has tried a couple new things.  Still really picky, but he is definitely getting better!

He has 12 teeth.  He got 4 molars this month as evidenced by all of the drool in these pictures!  Yikes!

He has started throwing huge temper tantrums!  I found myself wondering where my sweet little baby has gone this month!  When he doesn't want to do something, he drops to the floor onto his stomach and cries!  I can still distract him pretty well with a new toy, but he definitely makes it known that he is not happy with whatever I wouldn't let him do.

He has regressed in his sleeping this month.  I think mostly because he has been sick, but i'm sure it's also because he didn't sleep in his bed for a week this month.

He is giving lots of hugs this month.  I'm not sure if its because we were out of town or not, but the day after we got back he sat in bed with us and gave each Michael and I hug over and over again.  It was precious.

His hair has curled like crazy this month and I LOVE it!  I always wanted a little boy with curly hair!  I can't get enough of his cuteness with those precious curls!

He has also started doing this really funny thing when Michael and I hug or give a quick kiss before we leave.  He has started pushing my face away from Michael!  I'm not sure who he is jealous of but it is pretty funny!

He has also started smiling SO big!  Not like a normal smile, but a huge crazy smile!  I haven't gotten his "cheese" face on camera yet, but it't too funny! 

Love my little boy and can't wait to see what next month brings!

Sick, Sick, Sick

I typed this post last week, but for some reason it never posted!  So, this post is from last week and an update about Patrick this week is at the bottom!  We are doing so much better this week and I am so thankful for that!

We had a rough week in the Mulloy household!  Patrick was  really sick and he really struggled with sleeping, eating and playing!  We came back from vacation on Saturday afternoon and Patrick did okay on Saturday and slept through the night, but woke up on Sunday with his eye swollen shut.  I called the Dr. who said it was probably an allergic reaction to the pollen and told me to give him some Benadryl to see if it helped.  Luckily, it did help the swelling go down, but the next day the problems got worse.  Patrick was up all night and was extremely clingy!  At first I thought it was because he missed us, but on Monday morning he wouldn't play, eat or sleep and was crying hysterically.  I called the Dr. and made the first appointment available which happened to be at 2pm.  It was a rough morning and Patrick cried for the majority of it!  When we got to the doctor's office, he said that Patrick had two really bad ear infections, an allergic reaction to pollen (which caused swollen red eyes, runny nose and cough) and extremely swollen gums from 4 molars coming in at the same time.  Yikes!!  It's never good when your pediatrician tells you that he isn't surprised that Patrick cried all morning, because "this little boy has a lot to cry about right now."  We are trying a new ear medication, so I am praying this one works!  It was not a fun day, especially being the day back from vacation!  Patrick normally hates to be still during the day, but he felt so bad he didn't want to play and we just cuddled between him crying all day.  I made a funny face and it just so happens that I caught the only smile all day.

I couldn't take another day off of work, so Tuesday was Michael's day.  He felt that Patrick was feeling well enough to go to daycare in the morning since he wasn't contagious.  However, Margaret called and said he was fine before his morning nap, but when he woke up he started crying and was inconsolable.  So Michael picked him up and hung with him until he had to leave to go to the airport to go out of town for work.  Michael's mom watched Patrick for an hour and then my dad watched him for an hour until I could get home.  It was a full team effort!  Patrick was not happy Tuesday night when I got home (during what people normally refer to as "witching hour" which normally doesn't apply to Patrick).  He barely slept Tuesday night, so I expected to have to stay home with him Wednesday.  However, when he woke up on Wednesday he was running around playing, so I took him to daycare on Wednesday.  He did great during the day, so I thought we were crossing the hurdle!  Ummm...not so much.  I had a tough time getting Patrick to go to sleep Wednesday night.  He finally ended up falling asleep curled up to me in my bed at 10:30pm.  I moved him to his bed around 11:00pm.  I knew it was coming, but around 11pm, Bailey got really sick.  I knew she was sick since she was super clingy (yes both the dog and Patrick were clingy!) and her stomach was making all kinds of noises.  I finally got in bed around 12:30am and fell asleep shortly after, only to be woken up at 1am by Patrick having a screaming FIT!  He pretty much screamed until 2:30am.  I was frustrated and already sleep-deprived from the past two nights.  I finally got him to calm down by watching episode after episode of Elmo's world, which we watched til about 3:30am when he finally fell asleep. I was so thankful when Michael came home on Thursday night.  Patrick really only  wants me when he is sick, but its nice to have someone there with you to at least feel your pain! What can I say....when it rains it pours in our house!

Poor little guy and his hurting teeth!

I have also really struggled with being a working mom lately.  It's a struggle that I go through every day, but have really been going through it lately.  I think I have really been struggling because I know that if Patrick has a couple more ear infections that tubes are in his future.  I know it will be ok, but i'm already stressed out about the idea of it.  Every single one of the working mom's children I work with have tubes in their ears.  It's just a reality of your child being in day care so much.  I can't hibernate with him when I see that he is getting sick, because I would miss 50% of the time I am supposed to be working.  As soon as Patrick starts to get a runny nose and cough, I know that he is about to get an ear infection; but what can I do about it... absolutely nothing and that frustrates me! 

Prayers for no more ear infections would be greatly appreciated not only for Patrick, but for me as well since being a sleep deprived zombie at work is getting pretty old!

Update:  I typed this at work during my lunch break last week and I had it scheduled to post, but for some reason it never did.  Patrick is feeling so much better this week.  He is still waking up at 4am every morning, but Michael hasn't had a busy schedule this week and has been getting up with him and playing at 4am, which I am really thankful for!   I am also really thankful that Patrick is feeling so much better.  Now if we could just get rid of the chronic runny nose, cough and his teeth would hurry and come in, we would be perfect :) 

Wine Country- Part 3

Our last day in Sonoma, we packed and then headed to Gloria Ferrer to try a little bubbly.  We planned on taking the tour since they have tastings in their cave, but when we got there we heard their cave was closed so we decided to just sit on the patio, enjoy the wonderful views and have a couple glasses of sparkling wine.  

Gloria Ferrer is nestled among the hills.  So pretty!

After Gloria Ferrer, we headed to our last winery on our way out of town.  We went to Jacuzzi winery and it was packed!!!  A tour bus full of people had just finished their tour there, but we got two wonderful  servers and had a great time!  We loved every wine we tasted! 

For our last tasting, we had a dessert port wine in a chocolate cup.  It was wonderful!  

Then we headed next door to one of their olive oil tasting stations.  They were so good!  We couldn't decide which one we liked the best!  I wish we had more time to stay and sit out on the patio, but we had to head toward the airport.  Maybe next time we can spend more time there :)

On our way to San Francisco, we stopped at the Golden Gate bridge.  We didn't have much time at all and I wish we could have spent more time there.  We tried to stop at the beginning of our trip, but it was so packed since it was Saturday that they weren't allowing any more people to enter.  

Alcatraz

It was such a wonderful trip and we were so sad to leave wine country!  We can't wait to go back some day!  However, we were off to Vegas to celebrate a good friend's 30th birthday so the fun wasn't over yet.

I think I only took one picture in Vegas, which I can't seem to get off of the camera, but i'll recap the trip without pictures!  We went with the Montgomery's and Jo's parents.  We arrived in Vegas late Thursday afternoon, changed and then went to dinner at Lavo.  Michael and I had been there a couple years ago, and I had forgotten how good it was!  After dinner we headed to the casino.  I didn't gamble on Thurdsay and i'm so glad I didn't because they ended up losing in craps pretty quickly! 

On Friday Michael and I headed down to the pool pretty early.  It was nice to just relax at the pool although it gave me time to think about how much I was missing my sweet little boy!   We lounged by the pool, ate and took naps.  It was great!  Sam and Jo and her parents headed to see Elvis Cirque du Soleil and since Michael and I had already seen it we decided to go have dinner.  Since we have been to Flemings for every anniversary and big event in our lives, we decided to go there (and we had a gift certificate which made the decision pretty easy :) ).  It was so good and we were stuffed!  It was fun to look at the wine list and recognize a lot of the names!  After dinner we headed to the Sportsbook to watch the end of the predators game.  Unfortunately, they lost.  Then we headed to the casinos where we all lost a lot of money, which was a big bummer but we had fun!  The next morning we were off to the airport!  I was so ready to see Patrick!  Luckily, we watched a movie on the plane which kept me from thinking about him every moment!  

It was such an incredible trip and one that I will never forget!  Although it was so hard to be away from Patrick, i'm so glad we did it!  Michael and I really haven't had that much time to ourselves this past year with crazy work schedules and a baby that doesn't sleep much!  So it was really nice to be able to spend a week together!

Wine Country- Part 2

On Tuesday we started off our day at Grgich Hills in Napa.  It was the winery that opened the earliest (at 9:30am) and we were there right when they opened!  The only other couple that was there that early was a couple from Hendersonville.  The people at the winery were joking that Tennesseans like to get started drinking early :)  Grgich Hills was one of our favorites since every wine we tasted was fabulous!

Grgich Hills barrels

It looked like it was going to rain all day, but luckily it held off for us!

Next we headed to Domaine Carneros for a tour and to taste some sparkling wine.  I had always wondered the difference between sparkling wine and champagne and we learned that it is the exact same thing. It can't be called champagne in Napa because there is a province in France called champagne and only grapes that come from that province can be called champagne.  But there are a couple wineries that can call it champagne in Napa since they were grandfathered-in to the rule.  We loved the tour guide and we learned a lot on the tour.  Not to mention that we tried almost every sparkling wine they had while learning about the process.

The view was wonderful!

Then we headed to a place called Gott's Roadside (which used to be called Taylor's Refresher) for lunch.  It was so yummy!  We hadn't heard about this place before, but we had driven by it twice that weekend and it was always packed!  I mean so packed that the line was probably 2 hours long.  Since it wasn't crowded when we passed by we decided to try it out and we were glad we did!  It was nice to have a filling lunch before going to more wineries!

After that we were off to Frog's Leap.  After the tasting we did a self-guided tour of their property.  We asked to buy a bottle and walk around the property but apparently this county doesn't allow open bottles of wine on their property.  That was a little disappointing, but it was still beautiful there.  We enjoyed walking around the property, looking at their orange trees, goats and various other fun things on their property!

Next we headed to Gundlach-Bundschu.  We loved this winery!  We were really disappointed that they only do cave tours on the weekend, since we heard it was incredible!  Maybe next time!

After tasting the wines, Michael and I bought a bottle and sat by the river and talked for the rest of the afternoon until they closed.  So beautiful!

Gundlach-Bundschu grapes

After a day full of wine drinking we decided to go to a cheese shop we had heard about.  It was really yummy and we bought a few cheeses to bring home!

Then we drove around downtown Sonoma until it was time for dinner.  Below is a picture of Sonoma City Hall.  Sonoma was the cutest little town!  We fell in love with it!

Then we went to dinner at girl and the fig, which was so good!  

Then we walked a couple blocks to the Swiss Hotel, which is a really old hotel downtown.  We heard that we had to try their signature drink, the glariffee, which is a coffee-like drink.  They don't tell you what's in it, but it was really good (and strong)!

The next day we headed to Ravenswood for a tasting before meeting up with Ryan.  Their motto is "no wimpy" wines and that was definitely true here!  I'm not a big red wine drinker and it was mostly red wine, but all of them were really good!

Then we met up with Ryan to get a tour of his operations.  He doesn't have a winery yet, so he buys his grapes from various vineyards.  He took us to his bottling, testing, and wine storage area.  It was really cool to see what all goes on behind the scenes. We also got to test a wine he is considering selling straight out of the barrel, which was really cool.  It was a late harvest white grape (i.e. lots of sugar) so it is a dessert white wine (muscat).  It was really sweet, but so good!  Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures, but I wish I had because it was so cool and not at all what you imagined the wine making process would be like.

After that we all went to eat at Fremont Diner, which is a new roadside diner in Sonoma.  It was really different. I was a little surprised when I ordered my gourmet grilled cheese sandwich and there was asparagus on it, but it was really good!

Then we headed to Wine Country Chocolates to taste some chocolate.  Yum! After that we headed to Benzinger to take their tractor tour.  Benzinger is a biodynamic winery and we learned a lot about the whole process.  I had always wondered what the difference between biodynamic and organic is and there is a huge difference!  There are only a few biodynamic wineries in California because there are such strict requirements.  Half of their property has to be dedicated purely to wildlife, in other words, they can't grow any grapes on half of their land!

Our tour was pulled by a tractor

Beautiful grounds!

Entrance to the cave

Inside the cave

The door to nowhere :)

Next we headed to Benzinger's sister winery.  We hadn't planned to go here (and we hadn't heard about it before) but since we took the tour at Benzinger we had a free tasting at Imagery, so why not?  Their wines aren't sold in stores, and you can only buy the wines from the winery so it was cool to go there.  They also have an incredible art gallery.

Next we headed to Seastiani winery.  Everything in Sonoma is named Sebastiani after the family and since its the oldest winery in Sonoma we figured we should try it.  It wasn't our favorite, but we are glad we went.

Then we headed to Cafe La Haye for our anniversary dinner.  It was incredible!  I highly recommend going if you are in Sonoma.  There are only a few tables in the restaurant, so its a very intimate little restaurant. 

It was pouring down rain, but we wanted to try a new tavern in town called HopMonk.  We made it there just before closing and ordered one of their specialty beers.   It was a nice change from all of the wine we had that day!  I think the picture below is the only picture Michael took all week.  Haha

I thought I could fit all of my pictures into two posts, but they post was getting too long, so Part 3 to come soon!