September visit from Gammy & Papa

My parents visited us in September. We didn't do anything too exciting when they were here, as life was pretty busy with getting used to the new school year and activity schedule, Marco was still so young and breastfeeding, and a new au pair had arrived at our home just 6 days before my parents arrived. It was perfectly fine though, because were able to simply spend time together enjoying each others company, amidst the chaos of 4 young kiddos and their busy schedules!

My dad was able to meet Marco for the first time, and my mom was very excited to see him again since she was here when he was born.

We cooked a few good homemade meals, and Rocco was even my assistant chef one day, chopping up a storm! He chopped peppers, potatoes and green beans for a vegetable curry soup I make (my mom loves it - so I usually make it when she's here). We also picked a LOT of blackberries from the blackberry bushes that surround our yard. We went on a few walks. My parents enjoyed taking Rocco to school, Gabby to her bus stop, to Target to pick out a little toy, and they even took the kids out for ice cream once or twice. 

My mom loved spending more time with Marco--he will probably be her last grand-baby. She would rock him to sleep and spent most afternoons holding him as he napped in her arms. Marco soaked it all up and napped for a few hours each time (long naps were NOT normal for him at that time!). So - it was great!

Gammy also spent lots of time reading to the kids, playing on the swing set with them, and doing learning activity books with Rocco and Gabby. She also gifted us with babysitting the 3 older kids one night so Dan and I could escape (with Marco, of course) for a sushi date night. No easy task, as my kids can keep a person VERY busy!

Papa spent LOTS of time with Miss Giuliana and Rocco. Giuliana thought Papa was so very interesting and fun, and she loved that she could get his complete, undivided attention. She took full advantage of every opportunity to play with him, sit by him, and get him to tease her. She would even perform little song/dances for him just to make him (and us!) laugh.

Rocco, if given the opportunity, would glue, staple or tie himself to his Papa. He LOVES his Papa. He thinks his car is the car from "The In.credibles", that he knows everything, and can do anything. Papa is basically on superhero status to Rocco. So, the entire time Papa is here, Rocco is right beside him. If Papa takes a nap - this is devastating to Rocco and he is asking the entire time where Papa is and when he'll wake up, and then he proceeds to mope around until Papa is ready for more action. It's hilarious! The day Papa and Gammy left, Papa drove Rocco to school in the morning. When Rocco got home, he asked where Papa was and we reminded him that Papa had left. Rocco got so upset and gave us his angry face while yelling "HE DIDN'T EVEN PLAY WITH ME TODAY!" It was SO sad!

Gabby just loves when Gammy and Papa are here too. I think her favorite reasons would be because it means she gets to sneak into their guest bed at night and sleep right between them. And, she loves that they get to do fun stuff like go to the ice cream shop, and "get ready" with Gammy. They'll wash their hair, blow dry and put makeup on together (you know... the whole "getting ready" process that's excited to a 7 year old, but not to an adult). Papa will play the "what am I drawing on your back game" with her and the other kids... and they all love, and are very good, at guessing what's being drawn on their backs. (This game also is a great way for Papa to get a 6-handed back massage when his turn comes up!)

It's always fun to have my parents visit. We wish we could see them more often and that we lived closer. But, we'll take any time we can get with them! Thanks for the fun visit, Gammy & Papa!

The 1st Tooth is Out!

Gabby lost her first tooth on Friday, 9/14/12.

We visited the dentist in late August, and he told us that Gabby would probably lose her two bottom teeth before Halloween. Then, three weeks ago Gabby started saying it was hurting to bite down on food. The same day, she discovered that she could actually bend her tooth a bit. She spent countless hours wiggling that tooth back & forth. The tooth finally lost his battle to to a gummy bear… the gummy bear being stronger than whatever was still holding securing the tooth to Gabby’s gums.   

 

Gabby was so excited. She went running around the house screaming “my tooth fell out!” Rocco and Giuliana were very excited for her and intrigued by this. Rocco kept asking when his teeth were going to fall out. Giuliana told me her teeth were NOT going to fall out. Never ever.

 

Gabby then asked me to take a picture and send it to Michalina, our au pair for the past year who had just left to go back to Poland. She had really wanted to be here when Gabby lost her first tooth. And, I also sent the photo to daddy (away on a biz trip).

 

This was a VERY big deal for Gabby! To say she was eagerly anticipating the loss of her tooth is a grand understatement. You see… in  Kindergarten, there was a “tooth” bulletin board that displayed the names, pictures and dates for each child who had lost a tooth (or more). Gabby really wanted to be a part of that, and spent a good part of the year complaining about tooth pain, or telling us she thought one was starting to wiggle.

 

Monday morning came, and Gabby was quick to share her big news with the bus driver, teacher and all of her school friends. And, she even got to put her name on the first grader’s “I lost a tooth!” bulletin board. J

 

No more training wheels for Rox!

As of Sunday, 9/9/12... Rocco no longer needs training wheels on his bike! Dan worked with him for about an hour, at the request of Rocco himself... and there he went... doing another big kid thing. So, so proud of this little guy!

If only Matteo could do it too... [sigh].

Marco's 4 Month Update

Marco's 4 Month Growth Stats:
Height: 26 3/4 inches (95%ile)
Weight: 15lbs 11oz (75%ile)
Head: 17 1/8 (75%ile)

Night Sleep: He’s still not on any real schedule, but daytime nap patterns have emerged which is nice. As for night sleep, he typically goes to be between 8-9pm. And, up until about 2 weeks ago, he’d first wake up between 12-2am for a feeding and then again between 4-6am. Well, lately, he’s been waking up crying around 10:30pm, 11:30pm… and we’re able to soothe him back to sleep without me nursing him. But, at 12am or 12:30am, he’ll want to eat and that’s when I bring him into bed with me so he can nurse and I can try and get some sleep. My theory for him waking up more often in recent weeks is that he is beginning to teethe. And, I say that because he is a drooling mess during the day and wants to chew/bite my hand constantly, as well as anything that he can manage to pick up and put into his mouth. Poor little guy! Also, the past few nights he’s been waking up in the 3am hour crying. Sometimes it takes me getting out of bed and rocking him back to sleep. And, sometimes I’m able to “shhhhhhhhhhh…” him back to sleep. I love teething (not)! Then, he’s also decided to start his days earlier. So, he’s now waking up for the day between 6:30-7:30am.

Naps: Marco’s awake time has now stretched to 1.5-2 hours during the day. Every time he wakes up… he’s able to stay awake for almost 2 hours before he needs to take another nap. I love when these patterns start emerging, as it makes everything so much easier. I can always anticipate when he’ll need to go back down for a nap. His first nap of the day is usually around 8:30am. The majority of his naps are still rather short (30-40 minutes). But, he has napped as long as 1.5 hours.

Eating: Marco still eats on demand…lucky boy! When he is hungry, I nurse him. I will also still nurse him to soothe him if he’s upset. I probably still nurse him 12 times throughout the day. The doctor told us we could start to feed him rice cereal, mixed with breast milk. But, I’ve decided to pass on even trying the rice cereal, as not one of my children ever liked it… and actually, it made most of my babies gag. Instead, I’ll just start introducing him to baby pureed vegetables in a few weeks. I always really enjoy giving babies little tastes of their first baby foods. It can be so entertaining watching all the facial expressions, their look of utter disgust, and watching their little tongues try to figure out what the heck that spoon object is that you’re putting in their mouth. Not to mention, it’s always fun to see how much of the food they actually get on their tongue and figure out how to swallow.

New tricks:
· Rolling from back to tummy, constantly. Sometimes doing this the very second you put him down.
· Gripping objects… he’ll eye something, and then it’s so fun to watch him move his hands towards it and try to grasp it and bring it to his mouth.
· Chewing on mommy’s hand, constantly.
· Chewing on anything that he can grasp and bring to his mouth.
· He has shown interest in watching us eat. I’ll sit him in the high chair with us while we’re eating dinner, or whatever, and he seems very busy watching everyone put food in their mouths.
· His neck strength has improved drastically, and he is now constantly turning his head to look around towards the sounds he hears, or when people enter a room, or at the various objects and lights that surround him
· Enjoys tummy time now. He’s able to lift his head and neck high by pushing up with his hands.

· More talking. He is very interested in talking, or telling stories as we say. He’s also sort of doing this muffled screaming sound that goes on, and on (which we refer to as him telling us a story). He’s very happy when he’s talking and the kids love it!

· His core strength is developing to the point where I can sort of hold him on my hip and not have to be super concerned about holding his neck or head. I love it when you can start holding your baby on your hip and they just hold on to you!

· Marco still isn’t a HUGE fan of the car… but he’s getting better. Or, maybe the kids are just getting better at distracting him instead? All I know is the blood curdling crying in the car which I will go to great lengths to avoid is becoming more rare.
· Marco has started to enjoy stroller rides. I love this, as it gives me a little more freedom to take him on walks and runs and bring him outside with the kids.

Heartbreaking Goodbye

It is always SO truly, incredibly difficult to say goodbye to our favorite au pairs who have lived with us for a year. They truly become an extension of our family. The kids look up to them and almost treat our au pairs as if they were their older siblings.

We had to say goodbye to Michalina yesterday. She was definitely one of our favorites.

Gabby and Rocco had to say goodbye in the morning, because they both had school.

As Rocco hugged Michalina, he said "I'll see you again someday in Heaven! And, you can meet Matteo there too!"

And well... that just tore me up inside...for so many reasons.

It's fascinating and heartbreaking to me that such a young little man (4 yrs old) understands the concept of a big goodbye and has such solid beliefs. The fact that he connects *the end of time* with seeing and being with his brother in Heaven... and that he is sure everyone who is important to him will get to meet his brother up in Heaven too, when we're all reunited... bone chilling to me. Love this kid.

Gabby started 1st grade!

Gabby was SO EXCITED for school to start. She truly loves learning and she also really enjoys the social aspect.

Two weeks before school started, we received a letter telling us which teacher and classroom she would have. She was thrilled to learn she would have Mrs C... the same teacher that two of her very best friends from kindergarten were assigned. The letter also came with a school supply list, so I invited her to join me to pick out her new school supplies.

While a lot of the schol supplies were pretty standard, Gabby enjoyed picking out a wide-ruled notebook decorated with hearts, 2 folders decorated with the "peace" signs, and a pink pencil pouch (vs. a pencil box). I talked her into keeping her same backpack from last year since it was still in great condition.

Coincidentally, we had also purged Gabby's closet the week before... so it gave us a great excuse to also do a little back-to-school clothes shopping. She needed new jeans, a few new long sleeve shirts, and a few new t-shirts.

Her school held a "meet the teacher" event the Friday before school started. It was nice for Gabby to be able to see her new classroom, meet and talk with her new teacher, see where her desk and locker areas were. When we got home, Michalina asked her what she thought of "meet the teacher", and Gabby's response was "my new teacher has brown and gray hair".

Glad she got something out of it! ha!

The night before the first day of school, I think she fell asleep close to 10pm... maybe even a little later. Crazy little girl... so excited she couldn't sleep. Granted, I remember that always happening to me too!

I hope it will be a great year ahead for her!

Rocco started pre-Kindergarten!

Rocco started pre-Kindergarten!

He's at the same school, but a different classroom with a lot of the friends from his old classroom. preK means he gets to do more big-kid stuff... practice writing his full name, practice writing letters and numbers, and classroom projects and experiments.

He's very excited about preK and is quick to boast that he's now preK, in the big kid classroom that Gabby was also once in when we first moved here.