Recent Quotes

Here are some things Marco has told me recently:

"Sometimes you are a great mom, but sometimes you aren't a great mom."  True, but this was in response to me not letting him watch TV.

We went to a friend's house for a quick stop one night.  Marco was in his PJs because he had already taken a bath.  I am getting him out of the car and he looks at me and says "Mom, why aren't you wearing your pajamas?"  I told him it was because I hadn't taken a bath.

He has started burping an incredible amount.  I find this extremely irritating.  I keep telling him to stop.  His recent response was.  "I'll try to stop, but I'll just keep doing it."

While driving he asked "Are we still in the world that we are?"  I just said yes.

Recently he has been insisting that his last name has a silent E in it.  I keep telling him it doesn't, that you pronounce the E in Torre.  Well, he showed me what a silent E is and what he means is a lower case E.  I told him as much and he kept insisting it was a silent E.  Finally he yells at me.  "No, it is a silent E.  My teachers are smarter than you!"  And this was followed up with "I am very angry with you."

Marco: "Do you remember when I broke the light in there?"  while pointing to the office.
Me: "Yes"
Marco: "That was when I was three years old.  Three year olds are very curious.  And they break things."

Monday Madness

This morning I woke up before both the kids.  I thought I would try to sneak in a shower.  Marco woke up before I could, so I told him to stay in bed, make sure Chiara didn't fall out, and DON'T WAKE HER UP!  Fast forward 10 minutes and she is crying.  I peek out to see why and Marco is sitting over her with a flashlight shining in her face.  I yell at him and quickly finish my shower.  He later admits he did wake her up.

Marco then runs off to the kitchen.  I am trying to brush my teeth and he starts yelling, "I peed on my shirt!"  I tell him to take it off and just wait in the bathroom.  I go in the bathroom and he explains he was making a waffle (kudos) and then he had to pee real bad and didn't make it in time.  We clean him up and head to the kitchen.

Chair is in front of the fridge for freezer access and freezer is closed.  Yay, success!  Eggos are still out, so I explain he has to put the rest back in the freezer.  He asks me to get him a plate, so I hand him his waffle.  He asks me if we have mustard.  I exclaim "Mustard!?" and he says he means syrup.  I decide since he was so self sufficient in making his breakfast, I will let him put the syrup on by himself.  I am getting Chiara's bottles ready for day care and I turn and shriek "STOP!" as I witness a waffle drowning in a sea of syrup.  A few minutes later he says he is done (1/4 of waffle eaten) and he needs some water.

We continue to prepare for the day.  He puts his socks on upside down, which may not be a problem, but the traction part is now on top.  I tell him to try again and he says he will wait until I help him.  A few minutes later, I help him.  "Why is your foot sticky?" (Hoping it isn't pee that I missed.) "Syrup."  Of course.

Get to school.  Marco pulls off his hat and jacket and I realize I forgot to brush his hair (oh well) and his teeth (oops).  As I am leaving, Chiara spits up all over me.

Oh and last night, Alessandro found his car keys in Marco's nightstand.  He still won't tell us why he took them and hid them.  His only explanation is that he is mad at dad for finding them.

I've Had a Busy Week

I can sit up all by myself.

I am starting to crawl just a little bit.

I've got some new teeth.

And I say Dadadadadadadada.

What have you done in the past week?

Observations

I am not sure how much you can tell about a person who is only about two months old, but here are my predictions.

I think Chiara is a morning person. When she wakes up in the morning, she is in the best mood ever. All smiles, stretches, gooing, and gaaing.

I predict she will be stubborn. She has a very stiff neck muscle. We do things that force her to stretch this muscle, which she does not like. One technique is tummy time. She's not going to have any of that nonsense! At 6 weeks, she learned how to flip over to her back.

Also, I think she will need more than the average amount of sleep. This girl is a sleeper. She sleeps, and sleeps, and sleeps.

10 Minutes Alone or More Aptly Titled "An Exercise in Futility"

Marco is home sick. Around 1:00, I tried to take a shower. Made sense since I was covered in spit up and had to completely change anyway.

1:02pm. Shower door opens. "Mom, Chiara is crying." Door slams shut.
1:03pm. Shower door opens, DVD in hand. "Mom, can I watch this movie?"
1:04pm. Bathroom door opens, giggling ensues. "What are you doing? Get out of my drawers."
1:05pm. Shower door opens. "Here mom." He hands me a pumice stone. "Thanks Marco, but I don't need that right now. Can you put that back?" More rummaging through my drawers occurs, followed by a much too long silence.
1:10pm. Giggling followed by shower door opening and a smiling face covered in makeup. This is when I gave up and got out of the shower.

Get everything back in order, get Chiara calmed down, get myself dressed.

1:23pm Go back in bathroom to brush my hair. Open drawer that contains brush. "Marco! Where is my hairbrush?" "I don't know."

And Then There Were Two

Chiara Valentina Torre was born at home in a water birth at 6:36am on Sunday, April 18th. Weighing in at 7 lbs, 12 oz and 21.5 inches long.

Four Short Years Ago

Four years ago today Marco was born. I never wrote down his birth story and with the second little one due any day now, I wanted to tell his story first.

First, Marco was born at home. This was a planned home birth and and wonderful choice. Mary Lou O'Brien was (and once again will be) our midwife. Her assistant is a great doula named Elena.

On the afternoon of April 4, 2006, I had an appointment with Mary Lou. My due date was April 5. She was going on vacation that weekend for a week and I remember being very upset at the thought of her leaving before I gave birth, but what could we do. He would come when he was good and ready, with or without Mary Lou. That evening, I went to a breastfeeding class at the home of our childbirth instructor, Jana. I think that was the first time I met Jennifer, another expectant mother who was planning a home birth with Mary Lou. She and her family have become a permanent part of ours. One the way to Jana's, I stopped by Jack in the Box and got a oreo cookie milkshake. :-)

The session went quite late, and I remember Alessandro was a little worried. I think he even called at Jana's to check on me. Through the later part of my pregnancy with Marco, I had Braxton-Hicks contractions all the time, but primarily at night. As I was driving home, it was pouring and I was having contractions that felt a little bit different, but since I was so used to contractions, I wasn't sure. I got home and Alessandro peeled and cut up an apple for me and then we got in bed. The contractions continued and I was getting pretty sure that they were different and this was it. I started timing them. Around 11:30 or midnight, I woke Alessandro up and told him I was in labor. It was time to prepare.

With a planned home birth you have to do more than just have a suitcase packed to take to the hospital. You need to have your supplies ready and then once in labor, actually prep the house a little. This job fell on Alessandro and my mom. One of the first things Alessandro did was prepare the bed. This entails putting on a set of sheets, then a plastic sheet or shower curtain or something, then another set of sheets. This way you can just pull the first set off and get into the second set after the birth. I was in the family room and Alessandro was taking care of the bed. I heard a thud and immediately knew what had happened and yelled "Piper!" Piper was all cozy, snug at the bottom of the bed and Alessandro had just thrown all the bedding and Piper onto the floor. Poor little kitty, what a terrible way to wake up. I think all the commotion this caused was when my mom woke up.

The next thing was the birthing tub. I think that the main body of the tub had already been prepared, but the liner had to go in, and the heaters set up, and of course the hose to put water into it. All I remember about this was Alessandro asking me questions while I was having contractions and me not reacting to this very well. I am at times reminded by him that some where in all this my mom told Alessandro not to take it personally.

I am not sure when, somewhere between 1 and 3AM, Alessandro or I called Mary Lou and told her I was in labor, but she didn't need to come yet. I think it was around 6:30AM or so that I decided it was time for her to come and that I wanted the pool filled with water NOW! The birthing pool does help relieve some of the pain. It relieves some of the pressures felt by gravity. Mary Lou and Elena arrived around 7:30 and I believe I was 8cm dialated. Around 10:15, Mary Lou checked me and then broke my water. After this, we waddled back to the tub and Marco was born in the birthing pool set up in our family room at 10:41AM.

Additional notes: during the night of my labor, it poured heavy, heavy rain, but by the time Marco was born, the sun had come out and it was a beautiful day. Also, my mom and Alessandro planted a plum tree the day Marco was born.

Happy birthday little boy. We love you more than you know.