Easter 2010

Easter was low key this year. We cooked a ham and had a friend over for lunch and then managed to snap a few Easter photos of Roman to celebrate the occasion. Of course, he was nap deprived, crying, teething, drooling and spitting up so the pictures lack smiles as his only interest was trying to chew on the eggs (go figure...teething). As much as I tried to get him to look up at the camera- facial shots were only successful when he was lying on his back. He is much improved at sitting up on his own- but then his only interest is looking down on the world below him now that he is so "grown up".




Think the teething is evident from all the photos of eggs in his mouth.

Did I say we didn't get any smiles? Okay- we got ONE and this took a lot of noises, dances, facial expressions and ridiculous behavior on our part in order to get it.





The only original hair he has remaining is his trademark mohawk. New hair is growing in and we are excited about this...
Maggie being nosy? NO WAY!!! nothing can go on without her checking it out. Thank goodness we have a good guard dog on our hands to keep the Easter bunny from stealing back his eggs.

Easter Card from GG and Mary

Roman received his first Easter card/gift from his GG (great grandma) and Great Aunt Mary. Below are pictures of him intently discovering this multicolored glittery piece of paper. He was very amused as were we. Thank you GG and GAMary for your thoughtfulness. We love you.


He kinda looks perplexed above- so interested in this new creation.

Daddy read the card to him amidst Roman flapping it about in the air.

Johnny Jump Up

Well- its official- he has figured it out. Watch out Johnny because this little jumper is giving this toy a run for its money. Don't mind the naked boy- I gave him the opportunity to play with his sweet potatoes at dinner and as expected it ended up everywhere but in his mouth. But he had fun trying. Since he was close to bath time, we just went without clothes til then.


love the pictures above and below- shows him really getting into it. He laughs and giggles!



Maggie has been so tolerant of him and his Johnny jump up! Today she was lying down under his Johnny and letting him jump on her head...she didn't even flinch or move!

The Lazy 5 Ranch

Last Saturday, Roman and I joined a friend of mine (Laura and her family) from work for a day out at Lazy 5 Ranch in Mooresville, NC. It is a facility that you can drive or take a wagon ride through and feed the different array of animals ranging from giraffes, zebras, cows and deer.

Roman shows such interest in Maggie and the cats at home so i thought he would really enjoy the ability to see larger animals up close! i was wrong. He cried through the wagon ride while I danced and bounced and tried to talk him into a better mood. Thankfully the animals ignored his grumpy disposition only interested in the buckets of food and the hands that were feeding them.

Below are pictures of our outing...I was ready to feed him to the llama below :)- okay just kidding but we were definitely ready to get home at this point.




Poor tired boy- pushing away the paparazzi!!




Above and below is Tre, Laura's son, feeding the animals.




He looks really excited to go on this wagon ride- don't you think?! At least the weather was gorgeous and nice to visit the ranch with some friends.

Roman- 5 months

For Roman- 5 months has brought lots of new things. A big boy high chair, a grown up drinking cup, a johnny jump up and a hair cut!


Although he isn't able to drink out of the cup, I have started to let him discover how to put it to his mouth, hold onto it, etc. It usually ends up in his eye, nose or on the ground. But he enjoys trying to figure it out.

He helps me clean off his face after eating.

He also isn't all that ready for his johnny jump up but when mom gets bored around the house and needs entertainment, we toss him in there and watch him spin!! He does okay with it, but the dog is nosy and wants to know what all the commotion is about. As he continues to develop better head and motor control- he'll be a pro at this in no time.
Here are the incriminating photos of him with his new hair cut. I took some scissors to his hair to try to find the balance between the long wispy strands that keep growing and the bald spots on his head. It doesn't help that he never stops moving. But at least his hair is out of his eyes.
At 5 months he has about mastered rolling both from tummy to back and back to tummy. It is an accomplishment for him just to think that it is a good idea for him to be on his belly. Crawling is a thing of the distant future. Not sure we'll master that one soon- but it isn't from lack of trying- just lack of patience. He gets frustrated so easily when things don't go as planned (wonder where he gets that from?). He continues to find his voice and just when I don't think it can get much louder- it hits a whole new level and pitch. He is sleeping fairly well at night- 6p-3am on average and then up again at 6am. He has been better about learning to put himself to sleep both at night and during naps but as I am writing this he is upstairs in his crib refusing to remember how to do it. But he never ceases to meet you with a smile when he wakes from his nap or is rescued after an hour of crying. He is a happy boy (when he is getting his way) - but couldn't ask for anything better :)

Matt competing at Crossfit Sectionals

The first workout on Saturday was a sand bag shuttle run followed by squats with the sandbag. 400 meter run (turnaround at 25M) 20 squats, 300 meter run, 30 squats, 200 meter run, 40 squats. Matt was proud of his plan to take a steady pace and even though it looked like he was going slow at first (he started out in last place in his heat of 12) he passed everyone except for the number 2 competitor to finish 2nd in his heat and 5th overall with a time of 7min 17sec.



After the first workout at about 2:30 PM Saturday they had a chance to rest for about 3 hours until the second event. Since Matt was ranked 5th after the first workout, he got to have the most rest and go in the final heat of the night for the second event which was right up his alley. The competitors had perform 6 reps of a deadlift at 275 pounds (that is picking up a barbell off the floor and standing up with it), then 12 jumps over a 20 inch box (you could go forward or sideways) and then climb to the top of a 20 foot rope. This triplet had to be performed 5 times as fast as you can and Matt finished in 6min 7sec, which was the 2nd overall for the event, and placing him in a tie for 2nd place overall. Over 50% of the competitors could not complete the event in the 15 minute time limit and were disqualified.

Sunday morning started with a one rep max effort lift at the clean and jerk, which is basically how heavy of a barbell can you pick up off the ground and push to all the way over your head. Aud wasn't there to take pictures and Matt is happy about that because he says the form was not so pretty. He got 220 pounds overhead, but with a very strong field of competitors this was only good enough to tie him for 50th place in that event, dropping him to 6th place overall in the standings. The winner got an amazing 305 pound lift.


The final workout of sectionals was a "chipper" because you just keep chipping away at the different exercises. As usual, its a race to see who can get all the different sets done as fast as possible. We started with 60 double-unders (two revolutions of the jumprope with one jump), then:30 barbell thrusters with 95 pounds (this is a squat with an overhead press, all in one motion), then:30 Burpees (drop to your chest, pushup, and back up to your feet, clap over your head), then:500 Meters on the concept 2 rower (takes about 2:00 at a decent pace), then:30 "Slam balls" - 30 pound medicine ball, bring it overhead, then slam to the ground and catch before it bounces, then:30 situps on a machine called the "Glute-ham developer" which takes you from touching the ground, to touching your toes, then - back to the rower for another 500 Meters, then:30 "kettle-bell snatches" The kettlebell weighs 24KG or about 53 pounds, and with one hand you take it from a hanging position, to locked out over your head. You are allowed to switch hands whenever you want to but you can't use both at the same time. Then:
With the slam ball from before, 30 steps of a walking lunge holding the ball overhead. After that you are ALMOST done. All you have to do is finish up with 60 more double unders, which by now are very tough to string together. Matt ended up 5th overall in this event with a time of 15min 30sec. This time 11 of the 84 competitors did not finish within the 25 minute time limit.

Matt held on to the 6th place spot overall, with other athletes from Crossfit Charlotte also getting spots at 7th and 10th, qualifying the three of them for the regional competition in Jacksonville FL in May. the training continues....


Here was the warehouse where the event was held:


Roman taking all the sights, loud music, and people screaming and cheering:I don't know why his hat got all crooked, probably trying to keep him from getting sun burnt.