Today marks our 4th wedding anniversary. It’s so crazy to think it’s been 4 years since we said “I do,” had a blast at our reception and then hours later were off to our wonderful Honeymoon in Maui!

Meeting Lori over 11 years ago truly has changed my life for the better. She is the most loving, thoughtful, caring person I have ever met and no one has consistently shown me these qualities quite like her. It is truly hard to remember life before Lori.

Also without Lori we wouldn’t have been blessed with the joy of Dominic and when I look at him I think of her and I am overjoyed with how complete my life is!

However, due to having an 8 month old baby anniversary celebrations this year have been subdued a bit.

Last Friday Grandma Castelli happily played with Dominic for the evening which allowed Lori and I to go out on probably our first date since 2 weeks before Dominic was born (almost 9 months prior.)

We went to Parkers Lighthouse (same place we went to on our previous date) had a nice dinner and then made our way to 2nd street in Belmont Shore. There we walked around and enjoyed each other’s company while we snacked on some Yogurtland.

It was a great evening and while it felt nice to have an evening together, it became a little harder as the evening went onbecause I was missing Dominic.

We’re hoping in a few weeks to have Dominic sleep over at Grandma Castelli’s house while we spend the evening and following day in some city a few hours away (wine tasting in Temecula?) and wrap up our Anniversary celebration.

Here are the collections of photos from our wedding and honeymoon.

 

I love you Lori and look forward to many more loving years raising our family and growing old together.

Well, today was my very last day of work for this school year!

With the baby due in just 2 weeks (OMG 2 WEEKS!)  I really wasn’t sure if I was going to make it ‘til the end of the year. See, I am one of SEVEN people pregnant at Old River this year and the majority of them had their babies 2 weeks or so early. I even had co-workers placing bets that I wouldn’t be at the end of the year luncheon and that made me nervous! So, I have been working feverishly trying to make sure that I finished all report cards and important end of the year paper work early, just in case.

But here I am! I made it! My room is cleaned out, my bins are packed and in the shed and I can officially relax, well… as much as I can for being 9 months pregnant in 100 degree heat!

In Septemeber, I will start a new chapter of my life at a new school! I will be team teaching with Gina in the first grade at Rio San Gabriel! I couldn’t be more excited about this change. I have always wanted to go down to primary and after 5 years in the fourth grade, I finally get my wish! Also, I will only be working 2 or 3 days a week which allows me (and Gina) to be home with my baby. This is huge answer to our prayers. Thanks God!

So, I’m sitting in my glider (the chair, not the plane) kind of not knowing what to do with myself. I’ve always entered summer with many plans and certain expectations. You know, summer means sleeping in, traveling, beach trips, etc. Well, this summer doesn’t include any of that! Nope, this summer I become a mom. a MOM. Wow. I don’t know if that has sunk in for me yet. No, I know that it hasn’t. I have to be honest, I’m scared. What if I’m not good at this? I have been told that I am a “natural” my entire life, what if that isn’t true? How am I going to deal with the lack of sleep? Angelo could tell you that I am majorly cranky if I don’t get enough sleep, so I am a little unsure how I’m going adjust. And, I’m nervous about going back to work! I know, I know. I haven’t even had Dominic yet but I’m worried about work? But seriously, how is THAT going to work!? He’ll only be 7 or 8 weeks by then, will he allow me enough sleep to function so that I can handle a bunch of 6 year olds? I guess only time will tell. Thankfully (another blessing) Angelo can stay home with Dominic while I am work because he can work remotely.

For now, I have a couple of little things that I hope to accomplish before this little bundle shows up. I hope to FINALLY finish my thank you notes from my baby showers! I promise that they will be out in the next few days!! I had 3 showers with in 7 days and my goodness, that’s a lot of thank you notes! We really are so thankful to everyone that thought of us. Dominic received everything he could *possibly* need, and then some. Angelo and I were so blown away by everyone’s generosity, honestly.  I also hope to visit Gina and baby Emma and maybe, just maybe go swimming at my parents house, we’ll see if that happens.

So, there it is, an update on my little life. Hopefully I’ll be posting here often, Angelo (and Rachel!) has been bugging me to do this for months! But, we’ll see how that goes.

*** oh, funny story- tonight Angelo and I went to dinner at the Outback and when they called our name they took us to a booth, only, the belly wouldn’t fit! We had to go back to the waiting area! Finally, they called us again, this time they took us to a smaller booth and put a chair on the end of the table for me! Ok, seriously??? I know I’m pregnant but geez! It’s so funny how I often forget how big i’ve gotten. Sigh… only 16 days to go…