Kristen & Darren's Wedding Weekend - Banff, Canda

This past weekend, Frank and I traveled to beautiful Banff, Canada for Kristen and Darren's wedding! Nicholas got his own little vacation with Grandma and Grandpa Busso in lovely Staten Island, NY.  As first time parents we were a little apprehensive about leaving the little guy for five days, but we knew he was in good hands. The wedding was absolutely stunning and so much fun and it was nice for mom and dad to have a little R&R time on our own. We ate great food, visited the various breathtaking sites in the area, oh and most importantly - we slept! Little Nicholas has been a pretty great sleeper so far, but it was still nice to have five consecutive nights of continuous sleep. We definitely missed him a ton, but the thought of going home to him helped combat the standard blues of the vacation coming to a close.  And Grandma and Grandpa reported that our little guy was an angel and they had a great time with him. So it was a win-win all around!

Here are some shots from the weekend. Kristen was a beautiful bride and she and Darren were positively beaming throughout the weekend!

The Canadian Rockies on the drive from Calgary.

The Girls at the Welcome Dinner - The Bear Tavern

 

 

 

The ceremony site - Tunnel Mountain Meadow. Quite the view!

 

Temps were in the 40s, thank god the sun made an appearance!

The happy couple!

The first dance

 

 

Aren't they the cutest?

Frank & Gram, dancin the night away!

Moraine Lake

Lake Louise

We saw Elk . . .

right beside this statue of an Elk!

We took the ski lift to the top of the mtn for some great views.

There's Lake Louise in the distance!

Lake Louise

At the top of the gondola.

The Return of Nonnie & Natalia!

As my maternity leave winds down, we're squeezing in all sorts of visits and trips! Nonnie and Natalia came down for a nice visit from June 14th to the 19th. Natalia was her usual adorable, precocious self and Nonnie was a big help in entertaining both kids.  Natalia absolutely LOVES Nicholas, which is really cute. In fact, when she heard all the adults cooing over him and claiming "oh he's so cute, I could just bite his cheeks/toes/nose etc" she took it to the next level and proclaimed "Oh Nonnie, Nicholas is so cute, I just wanna rip his head off!" Ha! We know what she means. Kids say the darnedest things! As always, we visited lots of parks so Natalia could burn off some steam each day - our new favorite is Burke Lake Park.  Nicholas had his first ride on the merry-go-round and the miniature train. After a stop at the ice cream parlor, Natalia announced that it was "the best park in the world." I suspect we'll be back . . .

He didn't care too much for the whistle.

Nicholas' first train ride!

Nicholas' first merry-go-round ride!

 

Round and round we went!

Nonnie and her grandchildren!

Nicholas' first swing ride - Bolling AFB

Coochie-coo!

Nicholas loves Nonnie!

It doesn't get much cuter than this!

Natalia & Nicholas

Frank's First Father's Day

We celebrated Frank's first Father's Day with a very lovely brunch at Aunt Christina and Uncle Marshall's house.  Grandma and Grandpa Busso, Marshall's parents and Nonnie and Natalia were all in attendance. Nicholas gave his Daddy a couple of onesies stating "Daddy's little slugger" and "I love my Daddy" as well as an assortment of board books about Dads.  Granted these all seem like gifts for Nicholas (he's sneaky like that), but I do think Dad will enjoy them with him.  Happy Father's Day!

"Just Like Daddy"

Natalia loves the gift-giving almost as much as the receiving!

Memorial Day Weekend in Staten Island

This past Memorial Day weekend, Nicholas made his first trip up to Staten Island to visit Grandma and Grandpa and many other relatives. He was a superstar on the way up and slept the entire car ride (3.5 hours).  He was also pretty good on the ride home, sleeping most of the way and making mommy read books and sing to him for the last hour. This love-affair with his car seat and motion is a new thing (just ask Nonnie who listened to his screams on the entire ride back from the National Zoo in rush hour traffic). He has also taken up the pacifier with gusto (thanks for the Soothies, Sean and Sara!) so that certainly helps too.

But the biggest news of the weekend was that he slept in his own crib last night for NINE straight hours. Up until now he was strictly a three hour man - waking up only to eat. But he was also in mom and dad's room until last night. I know that because I am talking about it,  it will never happen again - but we are just so excited/proud of him, I can't help it! I guess Grandma and Grandpa just wore him out!

In other news, we celebrated our six year wedding anniversary this past Sunday (funny how baby takes center stage and everything else is "in other news" now :-).  Grandma and Grandpa gave us a wonderful gift of babysitting while we enjoyed a delicious Italian meal at a restaurant, at night, with appetizers and cappuccino - like adults! Hmmm, maybe the 9 hours of sleep was an anniversary present from little Nicholas...how cute.

Ok so on to the photos:

Grandma and Grandpa Busso

Nicholas visited his first NY diner with our good friends Eric (the best man from our wedding) and Robyn.

 

We stopped to see cousins Nancy Ann and....

Randy!

 

 

 

Then we made a quick stop at cousin Joey and Devin's house in NJ to see the Hader side of the family and Nicholas was passed around like a hot-potato. He loved meeting everyone and all agreed he looks just like his daddy.

Great-Grandma Hader (on the Busso side)

Cousin Joey

Great Uncle Joe

Great Aunt Trisha

Nicholas was drawn in by the Irish in Aunt Trish - same as mommy!

Joey's beautiful wife Devin

Soon after this shot, Nicholas soaked cousin Kelly's left shoulder with drool...sorry about that!

Nicholas is 2 months old!

Nicholas is now two months old and well on his way to hitting the big milestones. He was up to 11 pounds 9 oz at his last doctor's appointment and he's about 23 inches long. He's usually smiley and happy and if you really impress him, he'll give you a chuckle. He also responds to noises by turning his head, and we're pretty sure he recognizes mommy and daddy :-)  He has also taken a liking to Souza marches - Washington Post March is his current favorite...especially when mom and dad hum it together (I know, we are such cool parents, hey whatever works!) Nicholas can roll onto his side and he has started to grab and swat at the toys hanging from his play mat. He also carries on a "conversation" with you if you coo or ahh and then wait for him to respond. We taught him to stick out his tongue when we stick out ours - and we're working on blowing raspberries. I swear he got half a raspberry the other day...baby steps!

Check out his two month old photos:

Nicholas and Friends!

We've had lots of visitors since Nicholas' arrival - the most recent group of gals were here for Kristen's bridal shower weekend. Mom got to get out of the house for a bit and have some fun with the girls while father and son bonded at home. We're getting excited for Kristen's big wedding celebration in Banff, Canada!

He's giving Cat an earful!

Snuggling with Kristen

He loved Kristen's mom, Cheryl and Gram, 
who's hiding in the background!

Melissa and Nicholas became fast friends.

Bridgette and Carl's cutie pie son, Aaron. As you can see from his bib - he loves his Auntie Kristen!