At Home on the Range: Craig loves Golf.

Craig loves sports. He likes dribbling the soccer ball, he loves batting and will even tolerate watching baseball on TV. But of course, golf is his favorite. Not only will he watch the golf channel when PBS kids goes on lunch, he plays golf down the hallway everyday.

So Grandma took Craig to a golf range a while back, and Craig loved it. So when we went as a family I took some video. Craig does well and loves it, which is the most important part.

NOTE: Before deeming him the next Tiger Woods, there are TONS of youtube videos of 2 year-olds golfing. The difference is Craig is cuter, and the other videos don't have Dads talking the whole time.

Craig hitting with his 7-iron.



Craig on the putting green (first time!)



Now, before you say he took it easy by moving the ball so close....check out the 2 year-old Tiger Woods. (scroll to 0:42)

Jeremy's Baptism

Back in February Jeremy was baptised! Although most people get baby baptised within a month or two, Jeremy had the advantage of a 6-month-old who could hold his head up. We had a little reception before mass, and Jeremy was baptised at the 6:30pm youth mass at St. Anselm. The ceremony was great, although it was apparent that Fr. Benedict hadn't done a baptism in a while and was trying to rely on memory!

This is Tania and Jeremy at the reception before the Mass.



Jeremy and his Godparents Curtis and Sheila. Tania and Sheila worked together at a school in Columbia for a little while, and their friendship has only grown. Tania is also the Godmother for their child Julian!



Mom and Dad with Jeremy and Fr. Benedict, who was one of the priests at our wedding.



Jeremy and his Baptismal gown, which comes from Tania's grandma Lawler. I know it needs to be a white garment, but I fail to find why it is always a dress!



Craig occupied himself at mass by reading the lectionary with the readings. Actually, all the Mantia cousins were extremely well behaved and I was impressed. Not that I expected them to misbehave, but that it is hard for kids to sit still in a church with no cry room and and echo that is fun to talk to. Well done!

Sick, but hanging in there.

Pretty much since Christmas week, somebody in the family has been sick. It's been rather rough, and we will be glad when the weather warms up. Tania's had sinus problems, I had flu symptoms for about 3 days and none of that is fun when you still have the boys to watch.

Clearly the kids have had the worst of it. Craig has had a runny nose most of the time and currently has an ear infection following a double ear infection a couple weeks ago. Jeremy has had lots of congestion and even had RSV a couple weeks ago. We have only had about 3 days this month where nobody was sick! In the end, we have lots of fun. Let's get to those moments, shall we?

Although it was Daddy's birthday, Craig got a present too! Clearly he appreciated it.



Jeremy has mastered the art of holding his head up. No small feat I might add. Last checkup he was 45% weight, 55% length......95% head circumference. My bad.



Jeremy can also roll over! He loves to roll over and get new toys....he just gets bored on his stomach pretty quick. Which is what happened here.



(Sigh) Proud moment in parenthood. We watched the Super Bowl at Tania's sister with all the Mantia cousins. Sometime right after halftime we noticed Craig had snuck off. Tania found him like this: fully clothed, in the tub with the (cold) water running. This led to a massive bath time.



As Jeremy gets older, some of Craig's toys come out of storage. He doesn't grasp the "you are too big for this" concept. Obviously.



Next blog I will have pics from Jeremy's baptism!

The Season That 'Twas.

Christmas came and went....and apparently so did the month of January. Here are some pics from the whirlwind season that is Christmas.

Tania valiantly tries to hold Craig, Jeremy and my cousin Meg.



I take the easy route and just hold Craig and Jeremy.



Jeremy tried to open his first Christmas present. Fortunately, he has an older brother with present opening experience.



Craig had a blast opening presents. Each time you give him a present he always says "OOOoooooo!"




Craig plays Guitar Hero with my cousin Brandon. All Craig does is hold down the green button and strum....which scores more points than it should.



Craig stopped opening presents, so I had to fill in. And I got excited about it.



Here are most of the Mantia cousins sitting in our kitchen eating Cool-Whip. I don't remember whose idea this was, but we are all fortunate that the whip cream went in their bellies and not in our faces.



Here is Jeremy almost rolling over. He is still in the "stuck on my arm" phase of rolling over, but I saw signs of him crossing his leg over which will help the process along.



Also, Jeremy ate solids for the first time this week. He ate rice cereal and did pretty well! (film at eleven). Craig sings all the time, he will sing the theme song to all his PBS favorites as well as Veggie Tales. He also started singing even without music, which I found impressive. I don't know where this fits in the Milestones, but we love our singing little man.

Baseball training.

I've already posted blogs about Craig trying out golf and soccer. Well, Craig is a baseball fan too. Here is a poorly lit video of Craig taking batting practice of sorts. The setup is we were at Tania's parents for dinner and TV (I think the VP Debate was on). It was probably during the MLB playoffs, so baseball was on the mind. Craig had picked up a wiffle ball bat and was swinging it around a little too enthusiastically.

So I took Craig in the garage where he proceeded to take batting practice on a plastic apple that hangs from the ceiling so you know how far to pull the car in. We did this for almost a half hour. Good times.

Also, a blessed Christmas/Holiday season to all of you from Ricky, Tania, Craig and Jeremy!

Catching up with Jeremy

Jeremy is 3 1/2 months old now, and he has gone from a tiny baby with no neck to a growing baby who will smile at everyone. Here are some pics to catch up with our littliest man.

Here I am holding Craig holding Jeremy.



Tania was taking pictures of Jeremy in his "i'm new here" outfit and Craig had to get in the action.



Another pic of Jeremy in one of Tania's favorite outfits.



Dad and Grandpa are giving Jeremy a bath. It took a little longer than expected.



This video proves how smiley Jeremy is. He does this to everyone, and we love it.

The most awesomest cookie cake.

This is the cookie cake that makes Mrs. Fields cry in a dark corner. Tania baked it for Craig's birthday. I am still eating it. It represents the good in all things considered cookie and cake. Bask in its awesomeness!