Introducing...

Here is the beginning of the adventure that marks the milestone in our lives of going from a family of three to a family of four! Late on the evening of January 16, 2010 my water broke at home. Still I wasn't having any consistent labor contractions. I called the doctor to see what I needed to do. He said if nothing has happened in 4-6 hours to come on to the hospital. If labor kicks in on its own I could labor at home for awhile then come in to the hospital as planned. So, I just figured I'd go to bed without setting the alarm thinking my labor contractions would wake me up in due time. NOPE!!! They never kicked in, and I got my last good night's sleep, waking up at 7am! So, I had a nice breakfast, casually got cleaned up, and Mario and I drove to the hospital to have our baby!

Me and Anthony before leaving for the hospital

Our family of three for the last time!

Lucas Paul Mammina

7 pounds, 2 ounces

18 3/4 inches

born January 17, 2010 at 6:14pm

Yes, the mohawk is natural!

The nurses even tried to smooth it down with some lotion, but it wanted to do its own thing.
My sweet boy can have his mohawk as long as he wants!

Daddy loving on his new baby

Swaddled and cozy

"Dr. Goebel came to check me out...He thinks I look perfect!"

peaceful

Anthony meets little brother Lucas for the first time

PaPa and Lucas

MeMe and Lucas

Anthony was more interested in "talking" on the unplugged telephone than he was in looking at the baby!

"Showing off my BIG BROTHER shirt"

sweet sleep

Why do our own babies feel so comfortable in our arms???

Ready for the ride home

Home at last

Kisses from sweet big brother

Chillin' on my boppy

Sending my love

Pregnancy Progress

41 weeks

on January 16, 2010

Here's the picture I really hoped I'd never have to take...but here I am!!! 41 weeks pregnant and no end in sight! Haha! It looks like I'm hiding a pumpkin under my shirt! I guess Lucas decided he just wants to hang out in there and keep putting on weight. Yippee!!! Well, I can't possibly be the first woman in the world who was pregnant forever, so I'll keep you posted on the adventure to come!!!

Anthony Becomes an Honorary Fireman

For those of you who aren't familiar with our house, we have a McKinney Fire Station practically in our backyard!!! The three of us walked across the street a couple weeks back to return a movie to the store. Upon our return, Anthony was soooooo excited to see a firetruck pulling into the station. Well, the firemen must have noticed his pointing and squeals of excitement because they hopped out of their truck and motioned for us to come on over. They let Anthony climb up and sit in their truck! Then they gave him a golden sticker badge and a red fireman's hat. He was a little unsure about it all once he was actually sitting in the truck. I think he was a little relieved when we got him down! But he sure did enjoy the experience!!! How fun!!!

Anthony "driving" the firetruck

Wonderful firemen giving Anthony his badge and hat

Just waiting for the next emergency!

Happy to be back in Mommy's arms! But man! That was so cool!

Cold Weather Fun

This first picture I forgot to post back in November!!! We woke up one morning to snow covering our backyard!!!

It's not much, but every little bit counts when you live in Texas!

(We ended up missing the "white Christmas" here since we went to Memphis!)

My sweet boy wanted to wear his snow cap around the house in December!

Another snow in late December after we came back from Memphis!

Anthony played in it until his hands were bright red from the wet and cold!!! Poor little guy! He didn't have any mittens!!! Who thinks about buying mittens in Texas???

Just Hanging Out

Just a cute recent pic and recent video...

Anthony "working" on his truck. I think he helped Daddy change the batteries.

Anthony woke up the other morning with his hair sticking straight up! i just had to get it on camera!!! So cute! He's eating his "pops" (aka rice krispies). He usually has much better manners than this, but right now he's being silly for the camera!!!

Pregnancy Progress

Here are the latest and greatest in the pregnancy pics...

38 weeks

39 weeks

40 weeks

Oh yes, you read that right! 40 weeks!!! I never quite made it that far with my first pregnancy. As of today, I am 4 days past my due date. We keep wondering when baby Lucas is going to make his grand appearance, but I guess he just needs a little more time in there. We will keep you posted! Let's hope I don't have to post a 41 weeks picture!!!

Merry Christmas 2009!!!

Merry Christmas 2009 everyone!!! And Happy Birthday, Jesus! Here are just a few pictures of our Christmas morning. The three of us had a quiet morning in Memphis with MeMe and PaPa before the rest of our family came over to open gifts. So Anthony got to check out his "Santa" gifts all by himself! He really knew what was going on a little more this year...it was so much fun! When we got to opening the wrapped presents, I think he enjoyed opening the gift more than the gift itself, but it was great!

Anthony runs over to see his presents

Wow! How does the train work, Dad?

Playdough!!! So many different colors!

A magnetic refrigerator alphabet! We'll have fun with this!

Cousin James with his new "Bear-Bear"

James sitting in his new radio flyer

Anthony showing James how to "work" his Noah's ark

Out to lunch on Sunday after church

Anthony plays with his new train

Anthony looks at his playdough set

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and wishing you many fun memories in your 2010!

Happy New Year!!!

Anthony's First Big-Boy Haircut

We've been attempting to cut Anthony's hair for many months now, but lately, it's grown so long so quickly that we have trouble keeping up with it...and we don't know exactly what we're doing, either!!! So, Mario gave Anthony's hair a good once-over while he was watching Curious George one day right before Christmas.

He sat very still

Wet hair mohawk!

It just didn't turn out quite right! It seemed that we needed to take even more off, but it was starting to look a little "Dumb and Dumber"ish, or bowl-ish, or girl-ish! We just didn't know where to go from there. So, we opted for a splurge--taking Anthony to get his first "big-boy" haircut at an actual salon. Mario took some mental notes (for next time) as the lady was cutting Anthony's hair.

Anthony got to sit in the "hot-wheels" car chair!

He even got to pick out a video to watch on their flat-screen TV! He picked Elmo, of course!

What a great customer he is!!! Not a peep! The lady was super quick (about 10 minutes) and did a fantastic job!!!

Anthony got to color a little bit before we left

"Check out my big-boy style!" I can't believe how much older it makes him look!!! Where did my baby boy go???

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

December 17th was my 29th birthday. Anthony was not feeling well, and I was babysitting another friends' little girl who was also not feeling well. We ended up having a very smooth day, surprisingly enough. Mario brought home a birthday surprise for me after lunchtime--a piece of strawberry cheesecake from Del Frisco's--my new favorite cheesecake in all the world!!! Just looking at the picture right now makes me want another piece! And no, for all wondering, I did not eat it all in one sitting!!! I practiced self-control!!! Both kiddos happened to be napping right when Mario walked in the door, so it was perfect timing! I made myself some decaf coffee and ate my special treat!

We had a change of plans since Anthony was sick. I'm not sure what we were originally going to do since it was a surprise, but we ended up grabbing Starbucks and going out to see some Christmas lights...another one of my favorites!

Me and my presents

(Mario's parents shipped a few gifts down, so I could open them on my birthday. My parents waited with gifts in Memphis in the hopes we could make it there over Christmas and celebrate in person. It's always fun celebrating with my twin sister, Mandy).

Soooooooooo excited about the new "professional" hairdryer Mario got me...

You should see the old one....Haha! It had gotten pretty rough!

A new black sweater from Ma...and the best part is--It fits my belly now too!

(Although I think it will be even cuter once it can lay flat over my stomach!)

Here's a little movie of Anthony's expression seeing the Christmas lights. We knew he would like them this year, but what we didn't realize is just HOW MUCH he'd love them. So, I didn't have my camera ready when we first drove into this neighborhood. The first thing he saw was just rows of trees decked out in white lights. He got sooooooo excited and just kept saying "WOW!" Of course, by the time I got my camera ready, much of the excitement had died down, but he still thoroughly enjoyed it!!! This one is much darker on the blog than on my computer for some reason!!! Sorry!