In Loving Memory

June 10, 2003 to July 6, 2010

Rolo Tomasi, we will miss you. All our love, Jaime, Todd, Norrin and Scout

So Many Moments

I feel horrible that the posts have stopped since February. We had some computer issues for a while and now I've just been working much harder than I'd like and when I'm not doing that, I soak up the moments with my hubby and my son...who wants to sit at a computer when I could be enjoying every waking second with my boys :). Of course, then I remember that this is sort of a baby book of Norrin's adventures and we have so many great times that I want to document them. Monday was a classic example of things I want to remember forever. My brother is visiting or "Uncle" as Norrin calls him and we decided we would drive to Avalon for a kind of trial run (we have a week of vacation in Cape May coming up). There was absolutely no traffic the whole way there and Norrin was excited for the beach. He kept asking me if I brought his sand toys...yes, Norrin, they're in the trunk. We stopped at a deli we like that makes yummy subs...err, hoagies...whatever and then it was off to the beach. There was no one there. We had our choice of parking and we set up our blanket, chairs and umbrella close to the ocean. It was windy and the temps were in the high 70's. The ocean water was cold, but not unbearable. Norrin clung to Todd and I like he did last summer. He wouldn't let his toes touch the water. I asked, "Norrin, are you scared of the ocean?". He said yes. "Well, we should just scare the ocean right back then". With that, I ran towards the waves yelling, "I'm not scared of you, ocean!". Norrin looked at me, laughed and ran straight in, yelling, "You can't scare me, ocean!" And in that moment, Norrin became a true appreciator of the ocean. He ran into the waves, but not too far (two or three knock down moments gave him a bit of a healthy fear), he lied down at the edge of the waves and let the water wash over him, he stomped and splashed. It was amazing and beautiful and a little bit sad to let him grow up just a little bit more. He spent a couple hours getting completely soaked...then, he realized he was kind of cold, so we changed into dry clothes and played at the playground across the street. After about an hour of that, we got dinner at Tortilla Flats where Norrin ate most of his beef burrito and thanked all the waitresses for feeding us. All of Avalon was a bit of a ghost town, but the local mini golf course was open and since there was practically no one around, we played some mini golf. Norrin's first time and he loved it. He cried when we couldn't play again. He stole the bigger clubs from Uncle and Da and made them play with one of the smallest clubs I've ever seen :). He liked the holes where your ball went in one place and came out another. It was like magic to him. And when he was done with a particular part of the course, he would yell "Next hole!" at the top of his lil lungs. It was such a wonderful adventure and we all left exhausted and content.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday

This was a difficult weekend. The terrible twos were in full swing and it was very taxing on all of us. We did manage to have a little bit of fun though.

Fruity snacks while sitting on his piano...this boy really knows how to live it up.


Blocks, not socks.

Snow! Again!

Throwing snowballs at Da...nothing gives him greater pleasure...except maybe when he hits Ma in the face with one...hmmm.

Baking with Ma...he likes to wear an apron, which he calls a cape...even when he's baking, he likes to be a superhero.

Look out, Da!

Hours of fun with the coolest of toys.

Taking a break for a little Rolo snuggling. Rolo is truly thrilled...truly.

Pics From Our Latest Trip To Please Touch Museum

Just a few pictures...



One of the car displays:


A miniature house...one of the many in this museum:

The shrinking doors in the Alice in Wonderland display:

Funny mirrors:

Practicing a little gardening:

Turn the wheel and watch the ball go up:

Design and launch your own airplane:

We had a lot of fun there, as usual. However, our camera didn't make it through the whole adventure. The battery died by the time we got to the airplane launching.

More Snow!

Well, its snowing again. This doesn't look as bad, but either way I'd have to go to work today...there's no snow days for registered nurses. Norrin likes to tell us what's covered in snow when he looks out the window. Its his usual ongoing commentary..."Cars covered in snow and trucks covered in snow and tree covered in snow...and park all wet and snowy". Then, when he mentions the park, he thinks he should either be going to the indoor park (Please Touch Museum) or the pool (YMCA). My lil boy certainly is not a homebody. He wants to be out and meeting people. Our last trip to the Please Touch Museum, I got all sentimental. A little girl asked Norrin, "What's your name?" and he said, "I Norrin...what's your name?" and it was just such a shock to listen to my little baby have a big boy interaction with another child. In fact, it seems like every day I'm reminded how much bigger Norrin is getting and its such a wild rollercoaster of emotions. At Target, when we were checking out, he wanted M&M's. I said, "No" and he threw a tantrum in the store. Then, he tried to run away from me in the parking lot, which resulted in me yelling at him. Halfway through the ride home he says, "I sorry, Mama" to which I replied, "why are you sorry, Norrin?" And he says, "I sorry I was bad in Target and I tried to run away". That just floored me. In addition to his conversations, which are just so much more intricate, he has started more imaginary play. His animals talk to each other, his dinosaurs attack each other and then make up, he's brought Bob and Shrek up to bed with Da, he's gone grocery shopping in our kitchen and made faux soup that I've had to taste about twenty times and Zebra has gotten a couple of baths in our bathroom sink. I don't know if I enjoy watching him play more because I'm at work full time, but its really amazing seeing him grow and change every day. Well, hopefully, there will be pictures this weekend. Time to test those snowy roads. Happy snow day!

What We've Been Doing Lately

Well, we've been hit pretty hard by the snow recently...but its resulted in some warm and snugly times spent indoors. Here's our house during the last snowstorm:


And here's our poor giant pine tree. The weight from the wet snow broke off several branches leaving it looking like someone took a huge bite out of it. We had to move my car out of the driveway for fear that snow would be the least of my problems when I had to go to work in the morning.

Norrin was recently moved into a big boy bed. We had almost a full week of restless, wild nights in the family bed and that was all the sign we needed that it was time to move our lil man into his own bed in his own room. If I needed more confirmation, it came the first night when he fell asleep in the first ten minutes that he was in his new bed. He's got a comforter covered in robots, he turns on his fan every night before he gets under his covers (he likes the white noise just like his mama) and on more than one occasion, he's found a cat buried under the covers with him.

As the weather continues to stay chilly, Rolo has found extra warmth next to our space heater.

Da has been taking lots of close ups of his handsome lil boy:

In between snuggles with Rolo:

I'm not sure when Norrin decided that the cats couldn't walk anyplace by themselves. He carries Rolo everywhere explaining that they're going in the kitchen to eat or to the living room to sit on the couch under the blanket. Scout is too fat for him to carry, so he makes me or Da carry Scout someplace.

One of Norrin's new favorite places to sit...not really sure this is the most comfortable seat in the house.

Snuggles with Da:

Time for Peek-a-boo:

Where's Ma's kisses?

The morning we took Norrin to the doctor, I had him practice saying "Ahhh". He liked it a lot. And by the time we got to the doctor's, he was well rehearsed and performed like we took him to the doctor every day :). I was very proud of how fearless he was.

Here's a picture of Da taken by Norrin. Not too shabby, eh?

Norrin's favorite snack...this week :).

Every time one of us has to leave, we have a game we play that I can't even tell you when it began. Norrin gives us kisses through the gate at the top of the stairs. We have to kiss him through every single space. Its pretty cute and has resulted in fewer tantrums.

And last, but not least, the winter boredom must be getting to Norrin because Da caught him dropping miniature marshmallows into the grate that we have yet to replace.

And that's just a snippet of what's going on here. Norrin is extremely chatty and its pretty funny to hear what he'll say from one day to the next. Some new favorites:

"I missed you today, Ma"

"Da make dinner for you, Ma"

"Shhhh, Da sleeping"

"No, I do it. You get away, Ma. Get away"

"I snuggle with you, Ma"

And there's singing every day. Norrin is constantly working on singing his ABC's. He's got the tune pretty good...he just needs to learn the letters :).

What We've Been Up To

Oh, we've been some busy little bees. Here's just a few of our adventures...


Lots of walks...sometimes with lollipop in hand :).


A little bit of tree-hugging.




A little bit of edible art with Grandmom.

Some painting of our bedroom...finally.

One very big snowstorm...

One very bundled up Da...

One very bundled up Ma...

And one bundled up and stuck in the snow Norrin.

Our snowy neighborhood.

Posing for Ma.

And posing for Da.

My handsome boys.

One truly goofy child...

Hamming it up for his parents.

And the completion of a quick knit for a wintry weekend.