Love is in the air...

I have to say that as Darren grows and forms his own little personality, it's super cute to see him with his friends. Darren and Julia really seem to like each other -- and dare I wonder -- love each other? If Erica and I have to plan a wedding one day, our husbands will surely have heart attacks. 

Jayden and Darren

Darren met a new lady friend this weekend. Her name is Jayden and she has red hair and awesome toys. What more could a boy want?

Darren Declares His Love For Ava...

And she declares her love back to Darren.

Christmas with The Spanos

Christmas Eve

I promise to post many more pictures, but here is a little sneak peak of the amazing time we had on Christmas Eve. I cooked the traditional Italian 7-fish dinner and then Darren performed for everyone. 

Happy Hanukkah!

Darren and Rory had a great time at Hanukkah dinner! They both got great gifts but the hit of the night was Rory's new chair. As soon as Rory got out, Darren sat down, kicked up his feet and made himself comfortable. I think we have one of these chairs is in our near future.

Growing Boy

Darren has never been a picky eater (he takes after me). In fact, there's really nothing he won't eat (again --- that's me). But some days I really wonder where it all goes. Darren has a report sent home with him from school everyday with the details of his daily activities, naps and of course, bowel movements. Here's today report...again, I don't know where he puts it all. 

As you can see, he had 3 helpings of macaroni, 4 helpings of peas/carrots and 2 helpings of applesauce. His teachers mentioned that he may not be hungry for dinner. But oh how they were wrong. He ate more than me.

Luckily, one thing Darren doesn't seem to get from me is my slow metabolism. 

The Children's Museum

We finally made it down to The Children's Museum with Darren's friend Joey. He LOVED it. When we got home Darren took a 3-hour nap, which means I loved it too.

Thanksgiving

Darren had so much fun eating tons, running in circles and taking pics with his cousins Rory, Zach and Ian. We thought there was no way the boys would sit still long enough to take a picture - but it turns out, they were so in awe of their matching outfits,  they literally sat there without moving a muscle for a good 5 minutes. Maybe we should put them in matching clothes every day.

After

Disclaimer: No curls were hurt while taking these pictures

During

Before

Half Marathon? Complete.

Yep, I ran 13.1 miles. And look who was there to meet me at the finish line. 

And we have a walker ...finally.

It took Darren 16 months - to the day - to take his first step. Now he's walking all over, with the exception of the occasional fall. 

What's cuter than cute?

My nephew Rory - who is going home from the hospital TODAY!

Updates!

They took Rory off oxygen yesterday! Danny and Cari were able to hold the little guy for the first time since he was born - and really get a good look at him. I think he's a mini-Danny with blue eyes....cute, cute, cute!

In Darren news, we're really working on the walking. Last night he took 4 steps on his own! Of course he was going to grandpa - his favorite person in the entire world. 

It's hard to know what to say.

After doing everything they could, Cari and Danny lost one of their babies, Drew Aaron, on Wednesday, October 8. They have been so strong through the past months. Rory James is one lucky little guy to have them as parents. Since it's hard to know what to say, I'm just going to copy the announcement from their blog.

We are proud to introduce...

Rory James Lichtman was born at 1:51 pm on Wednesday, October 8th. He was 4 lbs 8 oz and 17 in long. He is in the NICU, so we haven't had an opportunity to get any good pictures yet, but will put some out once we have some. We think he is a beautiful baby, but we are also completely biased!

We are sad to announce...

The passing of Drew Aaron Lichtman. Drew was still born at 1:57 pm. He was 1 lb 10 oz and 12.5 inches long.

Grandpa Jeff Got a New Camera...

So we had a photo shoot!

Dinner Date

Darren proves he still a lady's man. Hailey Owens was quiet smitten with him last Saturday night – which is understandable since he was wearing his muscle shirt. The ladies always love a man who works out.