the one where Tori is 23 Months

I am 3 days ahead of schedule. That really doesn't make a difference but thought I would note it, nonetheless.

23 months old. I know everyone says it but its hard to believe time has gone by this fast. In the newborn moments, when your eyes literally HURT because they cannot stay open any longer and you literally think to yourself "how do people get through this?" ...and then if you're like me, you think of that one a-hole person you know who has kids and think "ok, if they did it, I can do it"... lol, no? You didn't do that? I guess it was just me then lol.. the days and nights seemed like the longest ever. That was a terrible sentence and you'll probably have to read it a couple of times but yeah, newborn days are hard. And then they are amazing because you cuddle, you smell, you kiss, you marvel in the love of your child.. you know what I mean.. the 'I didn't know a love like this existed until I became a parent" love. You dream about their future, all of the fun things you're going to get to do together when they get older. What will their personality be like? And then you fast forward to year two. When now, she is a little person.. she talks, walks, runs, climbs, builds.. its amazing. I would do anything to freeze her in this moment right now.

Tori's personality-
For anyone who hasn't met her... you are totally missing out. She is a class clown. She LOVES to make people laugh. Whether that is making silly faces or asking funny questions, she will do anything for a reaction (lets hope she outgrows that by the time shes in school lol). She is so, super aware of people and their feelings (which I like to think is one of the few good traits I was able to pass onto her lol). When she notices someone is upset or crying, she HAS to give them a hug or ask them if they're ok. Tori isn't a huge fan of things she isn't familiar with. If she's in a situation where she gets scared (like when the fire alarms went off in the house).. she will come to me and ask "Mommy, ok?". Its literally her asking me if shes ok in that moment. It is adorable. I love that she turns to Mommy to know that she is going to be alright. She is SO flirty. Guys, girls, anyone who is giving her attention, she will give 'the eye' and just the tiniest bit of a smile.. just enough to reel them in. Tori is SO freakishly smart. She picks up on everything right now. At the grocery store... "Mommy, pepper!"... "Mommy, apple!" (this could be an apple or a tomato but yeah she gets it). She officially knows what it is to have TWO of something, she recognizes the color pink and is putting more and more words together. "Daddys car".. "Daddy come back?"... "Mom, throw pink ball". It is amazing. This transition from newborn to toddler is just insane.

February is going to bring on lots of Birthday party planning. This year I am not going to have something huge but because I am Italian and there is no such thing as a small party it will still be a bigger party than most would have for a two year old. Grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles and neighbors. It is going to be a Daniel Tiger party. I have come up with a few fun ideas.. like tiger striped balloons, I am going to get two dozen donuts instead of a cake because girlfriend LOVES donuts. Oregon Dairy does MTO style so I am going to request orange icing with brown stripes. For the main dish I was thinking baked mac and cheese.... then the usual party stuff, chips, pretzels, cheese. Party favors will probably be something involving Oreos (Toris fav)... and then of course lots of kid play time and grown ups chatting about how fast the past two years have gone. Two years. Came and went. Two years. I have been someones Mommy. Two years. I have soaked up every last second of time with this sweet, sweet girl. The prettiest, best girl ever. (I am not biased! This kid seriously is the best!)

the one where I tell you about Life as of late

Welcome to the randomness that is today's blog post. I haven't posted in awhile so I thought I would give an update on what is going on with the Reras.

-Tori is officially putting together 3 words or more at a time. "Mommy.. cookie, please?" ... "Bye Bye Daddy"... "Mom where Daddy go?"
-We have been enjoying so much time with Daddy right now thanks to the snow and random holidays here and there. Its to the point now that when Dan has to work Tori is running around asking me where he is lol.
-Tori knows the difference between "Nonno" and "Nonna" now which is adorable and she loves them both so much but has been particularly clingy with my dad.
-On the home front: With this cold weather we are very happy we have the gas in the house now. I cannot imagine how much money we would have alrdy gone through if we still had the oil heat right now. FRIENDS is on Netflix right now so pretty much anytime I am doing work, blogging, etc... Its on the tv. I just watched the "We are on a break" episode and it still brings me to tears haha I mean, I have only seen it 100x. Valentines Day décor is out and Tori is loving it. She is obsessed with hearts. She always wants mommy and daddy to draw hearts and she always points them out on anything she sees. My Mammy gave me two hearts to hang on doors...so I hung one up on the door in the kitchen going to the basement and one in Tori's playroom. She is going to love having it hung in there (shes currently napping and hasn't seen it yet).
-Last weekend me and a couple of the lady friends went out in York last weekend and Dan had a guys night at the Diffs. York seriously sucks for night life. Except for the White Rose. I feel like all of the bars in York are either super chill... or they are like, a trashy dance club.
-Valentines Day my mom has very awesomely offered to keep Tori overnight so Dan and I can have a night to ourselves. We are planning on eating dinner at Ciro's and then having drinks somewhere/hanging out with friends. The following day we will pick Tori up from my parents and we will be staying there for the day because its my niece Samantha's 2nd birthday party. My sister is having a Disney themed bday party for her. Hard to believe its her second bday!
-On the fitness and eating front.. I am planning on next month starting to really crack down on eating better. I started drinking water with cucumber and lemon in it, its supposed to be a detox for the bod and I really like the taste. Been getting to the gym 4-5 times a week, the usual.

And that my friends is the excitement as of late.

the one with NYE at the Eden

The past 5 years in a row, the whole crew has spent New Years Eve together at the Reed's house. The "main crew" has pretty much stayed the same and then we have had a few people come and go as we have gotten older and well, as life has happened.
Their house has always been perfect for NYE  because 1-they offer it 2-we don't go to their place as much as its considered to be a little more "out of the way" than everyone elses houses 3-We can sleep there 4-they are the most gracious of hosts 5-they plan, there is booze, food, music, décor.
This year the general consensus was we have had an awesome run there but maybe this year we should switch it up and try something new.
Enter: The Eden Resort and DJ Freez
The Eden hosts two new years eve parties. One which is considered to be the  "older party" where there is a live band and filet mignon... and the "younger party" which includes open bar and a buffet. We decided to go with the "younger party" because there was a DJ and well, it was cheaper at $160.00 per couple. I am the cheapest person ever and $160 is normally something I would never consider to spend on NYE but I mean, food, a dj AND open bar... seemed like a really reasonable price. The next part would be trying to get everyone to commit. That ended up being way easier than I thought it would with the conversation going something like this:
"Hey guys, we were thinking of going the Eden this year for NYE.. $160 a couple for a dj, food and OPEN BAR"
-Friends response- "Ok, where do we get tickets?"
Done. 12 of us. The Eden. Dan, Me, Meg, Ray, Chris, Mad, Jess, Von, Amber, Andy, Lauren, Pete, John, Christine.
When we got there we noticed a two major things.. 1-we were 12 of about 20 people who were under the age of 40 who were there, 2-the DJ was playing "old people" music. We very quickly forgot that we were the only people under the age of 40 there. When you show up to a party with 12 of your best friends, you very quickly forget there is anyone else in the room at all. Also, the DJ was just warming everyone up. He actually did a great job with mixing the music up and had the dance floor packed.
A perk of the party being mostly older: there was not one minute of a wait for a drink. Open bar. All the drinks you wanted, over and over again without waiting. It was fabulous. I am pretty sure we quickly reminded everyone that we were the youngest group of people there. There may have been a glass broken on the dance floor, an "a$$hole" chant and someone may or may not have fallen out of their chair. I wont name names. What I will say is that all of those things were done by different people lol.. open bar, seriously, what more do I say?!
Now onto the mushy part of this post: it was really fun bringing in another year together. When we were all dancing on the dance floor at some point I was looking around at everyone and just thinking ... Dan and I have been together for 7 years, this was the 6th or 7th NYE in a row I have spent with Meg and Ray, Chris and Mad are getting married this year, Lauren is without a doubt the BEST thing I have gotten out of pledging my sorority in college.
We are so lucky to have each other.


Side note: being a mom and being hungover with a toddler is just terrible. Next year, I think a more family friendly NYE will be in order.

the one where Tori is 22 Months

Tomorrow my baby girl will be 22 months old. That means she will be TWO in two months. AH. Yeah one to two is no joke. It has flown by. She is turning into a little woman. Craziness.

At 22 months:

-Tori has her favorite people list: Mommy, Mammy, Nonna, Bubba, Pop pop, Mema, Iz, Daddy
-She asks for Iz now all the time. Its adorable. They are really the best of friends.
-She recognizes herself in pictures and knows her name is Tori
-She is awesome at giving you the side eye. It is hilarious
-Loves to hop
-LOVES DOGS. "Puppies", "Doggies", "Puppies", "Doggies"-she cannot get enough
-Gives amazing hugs where she puts you in a choke hold
-Loves to jump in her crib. Thinks its a trampoline
-Hides from me whenever I need to change her diaper. Its not fun.
-Still loves water, she is a little fishy who loves bathtime
-Current favorite foods are: chicken nuggets, M&M's, grapes
-Hates wearing shoes and socks, always wants to be barefoot
-Is a total Momma's girl (and I love every single second of it)
-Anytime she gets upset or stressed she looks at me and says "Ok?" It is so cute and adorable how she is looking to me to make sure everything is going to be alright.
-Loves anything and everything Daniel Tiger. She still hasn't said his name but she can say "oh" which is the Owl's name and "Kit Kat" which is Kitty Katerina lol. Side note: I am having her second birthday party in the DT theme :)

My head is still out of it from last nights festivities so that's all I can remember right now.

For your viewing pleasure: one of Tori's favorite things to do, facetime with her cousin Iz :)