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.

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.

Happy New Year

Go Ducks!

Yes, we are lame. We brought in the New Year in bed. Marco and I have colds and Alessandro had to work this morning at 6:30.

Christmas was great. Marco had the best time. He passed out presents both on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. He would very generously bring you your gift and then "help" you open it.

On Christmas morning he sort of woke up and then slumped back down into bed. I said "Merry Christmas" and well, have you seen the scene in Pulp Fiction where they give the shot of adrenaline? It was kind of like that. He immediately bolted up and slithered off the bed to go see if Santa had come. Santa had come and brought him the coveted Optimus Prime. Which took the adults approximately 8 hours to successfully change into a truck. Alessandro says Marco now just has a truck.

Marco had a great time with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and dogs. I barely saw him on Christmas, which was a gift in itself :-) I kept hearing things like "Come on, Uncle ___fill in the blank___. Let's play."

We had the fortune and misfortune of experiencing a bit of snow. The unfortunate aspect was that we were across town when it started and while it had taken it 30 minutes to get to that location, it took us 4 hours to return home. Over two hours were spent within 5 miles of home. The fun part was playing in the snow the next morning. It was starting to melt, so perfect for making snowballs.

The morning we left, Marco cried for 10 minutes because he didn't want to come home. He wanted to stay in Portland. On the plane, he cried prior to landing because he didn't want to land.

Isn't It Great to Be Three!

Happy Halloween

Twelve Weeks

It appears that it's official. Marco is going to have a little brother or sister. This picture is from 10 weeks, but today I am 12 weeks. Due date is a week after Marco turns four.

A notable quotable...

Me: "Mommy's tummy is going to get really, really big."
Marco: "Like daddy's?"

Marco has also decided he would like it to be a girl and we can name her Breauncie. He told me that if the baby cries, he will crawl into my tummy and hold her. He has been very sweet to me. It has been a rough go, I feel nauseous all the time. One day when I was in bed feeling miserable, he was jumping on the bed, throwing pillows at me. I finally told him I was sick and he stopped and asked if I wanted him to cover me up. So he did. Then he told me to close my eyes, no peeking! As he was shutting the door to leave, he stopped and said "Mommy, are you thirsty? Daddy can get you some orange juice. Or he can make you a hot dog."

In other random Marco sayings, one day recently when we were walking to school he told me "Mommy, walking is so boring." The next day he told me "Cleaning is so boring." Where did this teenage attitude come from? Another time he was reading some numbers off backwards and said "Sixteen, Fourteen, Twoteen." Too cute.

Sleep Tight

None of the following photos have been posed. This is exactly how we have found him while he was sleeping.

He really likes his Spiderman shoes.

Being a fireman is tiring work.

Operation Bribery Has Commenced

My Foe:

The Goal:

The Bribes:

Wish me luck!

Pictures Aplenty, Picture Galore

A couple of weekends ago we went to Indio and visited Great Grandma Bunny and went to the Date Festival.

Alessandro and Marco were pirates in a pirate show! Alessandro was the bad guy, Captain Greenbeard.

Marco went on a pony ride.

This past weekend Sirena came over to play. Here is a picture of them monkeying around.

And just as an aside, the title is in reference to a fun book Marco and I checked out from the library.

Dining with a Couple of Mice

We went to Disneyland two weeks ago and dined with a couple of mice. Now, I suspect that you currently have a picture of something like this in mind.

But you would be wrong.

Perhaps Mickey is busy and farming out some of the work? The mice were running and jumping around, having a great time. Marco thought they were tons of fun. We didn't have a camera with us the last time we were there, but we brought one today. As soon as we got to the area we saw them last time, Marco ran over saying he wanted to see the mice. We only saw one little guy this week. He didn't venture far away from his protective hole, but it was earlier in the day and a lot noisier than last time.

Things I Learned Today

Marco thinks that the trash truck is, and I quote here, "marvelous." He does not find the half of a hamburger left over from lunch an acceptable snack, but popcorn is. He not only recognizes Barack Obama when he sees him on TV or in a magazine or something, but he also recognizes his voice on the radio (I am so proud). Telling Marco we are going to paint a picture when we get home is a good enough bribe that we can leave the park without tears.

A Really, Really White Christmas

We went to Portland for Christmas again this year and were a little afraid we might not even make it because of the storm. Luckily we made it and Grandpa even managed to get through all the ice and snow to pick us up from the airport.

I love this next series of pictures...

Merry Christmas

Santa Claus

Marco has had the pleasure of meeting Santa a few times this year (and has always asked him for the same thing.) Unfortunately none of our pictures look very good. This one we met at the Grand Californian Hotel at Disneyland.

Our Little Elf

Tuesday evening we decorated the Christmas Tree. Marco enjoyed this task immensely.

Zio Alberto & Zia Angela

Zio Alberto and Zia Angela stopped in Los Angeles for a few days for a visit. Yesterday we took them to Disneyland.