CaLiFoRnIcATion!!

We had a great trip to California at the end of July and beginning of August. The trip was planned around two major events... me running the San Francisco marathon and our first benefit for Matteo's Dream Fund.

We were gone for a total of 11 days, including travel time (since we drove). Yes, we are that crazy family. Financially, it made the most sense and was much smarter to drive. I couldn't believe how much it was going to cost us to rent a suburban sized vehicle... we couldn't find anything for under $1,800.00 for 8 days. Add air tickets for 3 adults and 2 children (we brought our au pair) and that added at least another $1,000.00... and then we still needed hotel rooms on top of that! Driving saved us oodles of money!! But seriously... what was with the sky-high car rental prices over the summer!?

Also, because we needed to drive... this was the perfect time to invest in a bigger family vehicle, which we have been in need of. I LOVED the mini-van... no really, I did! Sliding, touch-a-button-to-open-doors being my very favorite feature... closely followed by the low chassis for ease of loading kids, and ease of parking it! But... it just wouldn't cut it for this trip with 3 adults, 3 children, and luggage for all! So, we ended up getting a used 2008 black Yukon Denali XL. And, it's been fabulous and perfect - love it. Still miss the mini-van a tad bit, but can't imagine not having all the extra space now.

The only challenging part of driving meant that we wanted to do it over night... leaving home in the afternoon and Dan and I driving throughout the night. Both of us ended up being sleep deprived. The unfortunate extra challenge was Giuliana once again battling a fever on the drive down and us having to stop at the ER in Medford, OR, after being directed to do so by our pediatrician.

Gabby traveled really well in the car with very little complaining - would totally do this with her again. Rocco spent most of the drive down (when awake) asking if we were at the beach yet. He loves the beach! He slept pretty good... but on the drive down and back, he did have one wake-up where he started crying hard because he wanted to be stretched out in his bed. Poor 'lil guy! Giuliana did not travel very well at all! When sleeping, she would wake up every couple hours crying and frustrated that she was in her seat. On the way home, 3 hours into the drive, she had a major meltdown after spending 45 mins on repeat, saying "mamma! out! mamma! buckle! out!" So, we had to stop for a little while, get her some food, and we were able to distract her enough to get her buckled up again and driving. It was torture though hearing/seeing her so upset to be stuck in the car seat! UGH!

We arrived the day before the marathon. Giuliana was still battling a virus with a nasty fever, and I caught a 1.5 hour nap to prep for the marathon the next morning, while Dan and Maria took the kids over to Fisherman's Wharf. We spent the night in 2 hotel rooms located right on Fisherman's Wharf. We had a fantastic Italian dinner on Columbus Ave the night before the race, and played at the "new since I lived there park" at Washington Square Park in North Beach (my old 'hood!). Dan and I of course loved hanging out in our old neighborhood... reminiscing about how we'd go out to dinner almost every night... just walking to any one of hundreds of yummy restaurants. The nostalgia hit hard - that was such a great, carefree time in our lives!

The marathon was Sunday. My family and Maria all got up at 5am and walked two blocks north to cheer me on 1.5 miles into the course - what troopers! LOVE them! After the race, we went back to the hotel, kids napped, I cleaned up and then we went touring and grabbed some yummy food in the Marina (also an old haunt of ours). We took the kids and Maria to Lombard Street and the Golden Gate Bridge. Then, we bbq'd with Kathleen's family at our friend's Sara & Brad's beautiful home in Noe Valley. We spent the next 2 nights there... it was SO NICE of them to allow us to stay at their home while they were on vacation! Thanks again guys!!

On Monday, we drove up to Stinson Beach and spent the afternoon soaking up the sun, digging in the sand, jumping waves and just relaxing. We had a great lunch at a little cafe right off the beach. It was a perfect day!

On Tuesday, we went to a park for the kids, did a picnic lunch, and then hit Venice Beach in Half Moon Bay for more playing in the sand, water and soaking up the sunshine. Dinner was Mexican food in Pacifica.

On Wednesday we headed down to our hotel right on the main strip in Los Gatos. Wednesday night we went to our good friend's and old neighbor's home, Jody & Andy. It was super fun to catch up with them, and spend time with all the kids together. Dan worked on Wednesday and Thursday. And, I spent Wednesday and Thursday prepping for the Matteo's Dream Fund benefit... there was LOTS to be done so it was like a full time job! It was SO GREAT staying in downtown Los Gatos though... seriously, truly LOVE that town. And, loved walking around town each night and hitting different/favorite restaurants of ours. Maria watched the kids during the day and took them over to Oakmeadow Park on the train, carousel and all the play equipment. They also played in the fountain in Los Gatos's town square park.

Friday, we took the kids and Maria to Natural Bridges beach and Santa Cruz beach & boardwalk. Then, we went to Kathleen's house that night... her mountain neighborhood has a bbq every Friday night during the summer with great food and volleyball, boccie ball, parks for the kids, etc. It was a fun, relaxed night hanging with good friends.

Saturday was our event for Matteo's Dream Fund!! It was a total success and you can read more about that here.

Sunday, we spent the afternoon with our family.... Leo, Kenny, Trish, Todd and Courtney and it was fabulous! We've really missed them SO MUCH since we've lived in Washington. It's brought me to tears at times... I truly miss having them/family near us and being a part of the kid's lives. The kids have really missed them too, so it was such a great afternoon of quality time together. Trish made a super-delicious dinner (as always) and we caught up with everyone's lives. So fun!!

Monday, we headed home... we had to rent a small trailer to get us home because Leo & Kenny had been babysitting 5 of our very large plants ever since we moved! Also, we ended up having a lot of extra Matteo's Dream Fund "stuff" to bring home.

Oh... and on our way home, we unknowingly stole a gas pump line @ 4am from a gas station in Washington!! It was hilarious! Dan had been driving since we left at 2pm on Monday afternoon. We stopped at a gas station. I took Gabby in to go potty. Dan started pumping gas. Dan came in and browsed for snacks. Then, I browsed for snacks and told him I could drive. He agreed because he was exhausted and went out to the car. I paid, went out to the car, jumped in the drivers seat and took off. We were probably 4 or 5 miles on the Interstate and I saw something sparking in my side mirror... something was hanging off the side of the truck. What? So, I asked Dan if he noticed that earlier. I couldn't figure out what it was. Dan thought it was a chain from the trailer. No.... couldn't be.... not from where it was hanging. I looked closer in the mirror and realized it was the GAS PUMP LINE!! OMG!! Sparking EVERY time it hit the road!! I started laughing so hard as I realized what it was... Dan was SO upset and did not think it was funny one bit. I couldn't stop laughing and I started slowing down so we could pull over and remove it. I couldn't help but wonder what the couple cars who were now passing us thought of this.... total crazy white-trash people, right?! OMG... soooooo funny! Still can't believe this happened. Obviously, I never checked the gas pump before I got in the car. I guess I figured that since Dan started pumping the gas, he would finish it! Especially since he was in the store browsing for food! Slight communication problem there, eh?! That was the funniest story from our trip... will definitely remember this forever! HA!

San Francisco Marathon 2011

I ran the San Francisco Marathon with one of my very best friends on July 31, 2011. We trained separately for the 18 weeks prior… only she got to train in better weather conditions!

We have a history of running together. She’s my California running pal. We’ve run hundreds of miles together and have now run two marathons (San Francisco Marathon – July 2011, and the Nike Women’s San Francisco Marathon – October 2008) and two half marathons together (Los Gatos Jungle Run Half Marathon – July 2008, and the Santa Cruz Half Marathon - April 2009).

My training went really well, and qualifying for Boston was a serious goal of mine/ours. We need a time of 3:45 to qualify and it was definitely in the realm of possibilities with the training times I/we had been logging during our weekend long runs. Kathleen had actually qualified for Boston on the same course two years prior. I was pregnant at the time or I would have trained & run that with her. Unfortunately, it also happened to be 3 weeks after Matteo died. So, the timing would have been awful.

Unfortunately, Giuliana came down with an ear infection the weekend before the marathon. And, as luck would have it, two days later she came down with a virus that make her spike fevers of 103-104+ in the late afternoon and evening hours.

For all the obvious reasons, I have a really difficult time sleeping when my kids are sick. But, if anything brings out my PTSD, it’s having a child under the age of two fighting a fever that spikes above 104 every few hours throughout the night. It would be impossible to explain all the emotion, stress and worry that results and weighs on me in a situation like this. My adrenaline gets going and I find it incredibly difficult to sleep at night and I get very easily agitated during the day… because I can’t stop worrying/stressing about my sick baby with an unexplainable fever. Subsequently, it also exhausts me like nothing else.

Anyway, so for the 4 nights prior to the race I did not get more than two hours of sleep at a time. In addition to that, I still had to pack for 4 people, and finalize a lot of the details for our very first Matteo’s Dream Fund fund raiser and silent auction that we were planning to host in the Bay Area the following weekend.

We left for CA on a Friday afternoon. The drive started out really slow as we left later than we had hoped and battled awful rush hour traffic getting through WA. Then, around 1am, Giuliana spiked a 104.5 fever on the drive (1.5 hours after giving her acetaminophen). After paging our peds office and talking to a nurse, we ended up having to stop at the ER in Medford. We were hoping her ear infection was not responding to the meds. But, as it turns out, her body was just battling a virus and needed to keep fighting. Grrrrr…. This momma likes getting a diagnosis.

So, Dan & I basically drove through the night with one very sick baby. We arrived in San Francisco around 10:30am, went to get my race packet and then to the hotel. I was exhausted, but able to catch a one hour catnap at the hotel while Giuliana napped. Dan and the au pair took the kids over to Pier 29.

At this point, I knew I wasn’t going into this race as rested as I should have been or wanted to be. But, I still wanted to run it and was going to just try and do my very best, have fun with it… and qualifying for Boston was certainly still in the back of my mind.

Giuliana’s fever seemed to go away again that afternoon. She didn’t have a fever at all that night (thank God!). So, I got approx 6 hours of sleep the night of the race. It felt SO GOOD… it was more sleep than I had in days.

I woke up at 4:30 to prep for the race. I met Kathleen at 5:15 and the race officially started at 5:30am.

I am NOT a morning person. So, early morning races are really not my thing. But, since this race takes you over the Golden Gate Bridge, there is also a very early start time.

Surprisingly, I felt pretty good that morning. However, mentally, I clearly wasn’t where I usually am or should have been. I didn’t have the nerves that I normally get the night before the race. And, I definitely didn’t have the nerves or adrenaline rush that I normally get the morning of the race, especially when you arrive at the event and see all the other runners.

One thing that I was looking very forward to though, was seeing my cheer crew - the best cheer crew on the planet – at mile 1.5, 12.5, 17.5 and at the finish line. My cheer crew consisted of Dan, Gabby, Rocco, Giuliana, and our au pair Maria. They got up at 5am just to cheer us on … AND, they made special signs. LOVE them! My extended cheer crew consisted of Kathleen’s family, of course… Michael, Livi & Maddy. Seriously the best cheer crew on the planet!

We started out strong, getting splits of 8:15 and 8:20 for the first 4-5 miles. And, then the hills started hitting… and I started getting tired. I think we got a mile split of 7:45 when running back over the GG Bridge. And, I kept feeling more tired. Mentally, my mind wanted to stop running, find a spot alongside the road and go to sleep. Amazingly, I stayed on pace to qualify for Boston until approx. 14 miles into the race. But, at mile 11.5, I sort of waved goodbye to my running pal and encouraged her to keep going strong. I was TIRED. It took me about two miles to change my mental game from being a Boston qualifying time goal, to being a “just have fun and finish this race” goal.

Long story short (ok… this wasn’t so short!), I didn’t hit my goal time of 3:45. Nor did I get a new personal best for my marathon finishing time, which I WAS bummed about because I should have easily accomplished that! But, I finished with a pretty solid time, finishing in the top 18% of women in my age category. That’s not so bad.

Mentally – it was a good challenge for me to face. I trained hard, by myself and I really felt qualifying for Boston was within reach. So, when you work that hard and push yourself for 18 weeks… to give up on one goal and have to find another to pull you through to the finish is a bit of a set-back. A good life lesson... a lesson I feel like I learned and live with every day since Matteo died. You can plan how you want your life to be... but life is what it is, and so much of it ends up being how you respond to the unexpected changes in your plans.

However, it’s also definitely a sign that you could have, and probably should have, pushed yourself harder when your legs aren’t sore anymore 3 days post-race. Oh well. It was fun and I'm glad I did it.

I’m 99.9% sure that will be my last full marathon ever. Training for a marathon is SO time consuming! From now on, this lady will only be doing half-marathons only or less! I think I’ll have a lot more fun with that training, those fitness goals, and working on building more speed and the constant goal to hit new personal best times in the half. And, it will also allow me to spend time doing other things like pilates and yoga as well.

My overall race stats:

Overall: 1885 out of 5920
Women: 376 out of 1976
Females aged 35-39: 58 out of 279

SPLITS:
7.4 Miles: 1:03:11 - Pace: 8:33
Half (13.1 Miles): 1:53:31 - Pace: 8:40
20 Miles: 3:02:40 - Pace: 9:08

Official Finishing Result = 26.2 Miles in 4:04:23 (Pace = 9:20)

Special Visitors!

My younger brother & his beautiful family visited us at the beginning of July from Alaska. It was so great to see them and meet their newest addition, who turned one year old just two weeks before they visited. Gabby had SO much fun playing with Ellie. And, Rocco spent lots of time trying to get the girl’s attention. Ellie has a very similar personality to Gabby, and their 1 year old, Maia, is an absolute doll and so easy going and mellow. The kids acted as if they had known each other forever which made it so fun watching them together. We did a lot of playing outside with the kids, catching up and roasted marshmallows at night. Gabby and Ellie tried to do a slumber party in Gabby’s room… which didn’t work out so well. (Of course, none of the parents were surprised by this).

They were only able to spend about 24 hours with us because they had lots of other people to visit and a lot more traveling to do while in the lower 48. The last time we saw them was August 2009, just a few weeks after Matteo died, and at that time I was still in a fog and not at all social. So, it was great to see them, catch up a bit and watching the cousins play together was priceless.

4th of July

This year on the fourth of July – we decided to be social. We were invited to spend the afternoon and evening with our friends who also transplanted here from the Bay Area last summer. Their home is on Lake Washington, so the plan was to watch several different fireworks displays from their roof after dinner.

Since Matteo died sometime during the evening of July 4^th two years ago – I never look forward to this holiday anymore. It seems all too easy to replay every moment and wish we would have done everything different that day and night. But, I guess the thoughts of spending time with friends who were such a great support system to us after Matteo died seemed like a comfortable distraction for me/us.

The kids had so much fun playing together… the girls dressed up in a million different outfits, wrote notes to each other, colored, etc. The boys played with legos, planes, cars and built a very long train with all of Giovanni’s lego cars and airplanes. Dinner was great, and Dan & I always enjoy our conversations with friends. The sunset was beautiful, the fireworks were fantastic - we must have watched 3-4 different shows from the roof of their house. And, the kids really enjoyed getting cuddled up in their sleeping bags to watch fireworks with their friends.

I’m glad the kids were able to enjoy and celebrate the Fourth of July holiday this year. Gabby & Rocco even got to do sparklers for the first time – which they REALLY enjoyed. I often wonder if they’ll have mixed emotions about the holiday as they get older since it’s the anniversary of Matteo’s death.

As the sun was starting to set, creating a beautiful orange sky… Gabby noticed the moon (see photo) and told me she thought Matteo was sitting on it, waiting for the fireworks with us.

Yes, Gabby… he was… sitting right on that moon… waiting for the fireworks with us. Sigh...

Just wish I could have been hugging him tight too.

Matteo's Dream Fund, Bay Area Benefit - JOIN US!!

Two years ago I swore that I would do something to pay tribute to Matteo's life and help other children who are sick.

Today, I am proud to announce that we have planned our very first benefit event. And, I am equally proud to unveil the most perfect, beautiful logo designed for Matteo's Dream Fund. Matteo's profile is used in the design, and it includes a balloon and the moon... both of which have significant meaning to our family and Matteo.

Here are our event details - please join us!!
WHAT: Matteo's Dream Fund - Bay Area Benefit, dinner & silent auction
DATE: Saturday, August 6, 2011
TIME: 6:30-9:30pm
WHERE: Pedro's Restaurant & Cantina in Los Gatos, CA
WHY: ALL proceeds from this event will be donated to Lucile Packard Children's Hospital in Palo Alto, CA, where Matteo was born 3.5 years ago, and where he had ear tubes put in 27 months ago.
TICKET DETAILS: Tickets are $42.50 and include a 3 course dinner, unlimited non-alcoholic beverages, 1 raffle ticket, access to an exclusive selection of silent auction items, and a $15 donation to Packard Children's Hospital. Cash bar. Tickets can be purchased at the door - but please RSVP!
Two options to RSVP:
1. Send email indicating # of people to: jodimartino2002@yahoo.com
2. RSVP quickly & easily by visiting the Matteo's Dream Fund Benefit event page on Facebook

The donations we have received for the silent auction are amazing!! It is so wonderful and heart-warming when people unite together to do something GOOD! I am so very grateful to each and every person who has assisted us in soliciting for donations, and for each person and business who has so generously donated something, whether it was a personal donation, their time, services, or products for this cause. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and soul. THANK YOU!

SILENT AUCTION ITEM LIST (and it's still growing!):

1. Courtside Club of Los Gatos, family membership initiation fee ($2,300 value)

2. FOX Racing Shox mountain bike suspension fork ($650 value/retail price)

3. San Francisco 49ers Experience, includes two home game tickets, two pre-game sideline passes to watch warm-ups, pregame activities and maybe meet players, and a parking pass ($500 value)

4. San Francisco 49ers Autographed Football ($75 value)

5. Hula Hooping Party (& Instruction!) at Uforia Studios in Palo Alto, led by licensed Hoopgirl instructor, Julie Greicius, includes 3 hours & space for 10 people ($50/pp or $500 total value)

6. San Jose Sharks, includes four home game tickets and free parking pass for 2010-11 season ($332 value)

7. 4 tickets to Adele on August 14 at the Greek Theatre in San Francisco ($250 per ticket value)

8. 4 tickets to the San Francisco Giants vs. Diamondbacks on September 14 ($value per ticket tbd)

9. Palo Alto Oshman Family JCC, choice of pool or sports party package ($450 value)

10. Flight around the Bay Area in a Cessna 172 ($250 value)

11. Cameron Hughes Wine, 12 bottles of 2009 Cabernet ($152 value)

12. Cassie Green Photography, photography session ($150 value)

13. The Mountain Winery, includes 1 Mountain Winery Reserve Chardonnay, 1 Mountain Winery Reserve Cabernet, and 4 wine tasting coupons ($83 value)

14. Villa Montalvo Winery presents Christopher Cross with Jenn Grinets - two tickets ($120 value)

15. Adobe software ($ value tbd)

16. Stella & Dot Jewelry , donated by Danielle Rowe ($ 142)

17. Bay Area Discovery Museum – 2 family visit passes, each admitting 5 people ($110)

18. Great America, two tickets for one day admission ($ 109.98 value)

19. Handmade Quilt by Sondra Horn ($300 value)

20. The Tech Museum, four tickets ($75.96 value)

21. San Francisco 49ers Autographed Football ($75 value)

22. Six Flags Discovery Kingdom – 2 tickets ($74 value)

23. Dance Attack! Studios, includes 4 dance lessons ($68 value)

24. Classic Car Wash, includes four $17.99 coupons ($71.96 value)

25. April Martin Designs - Jewelry ($ value tbd)

26. Winchester Mystery House, two tickets ($60 value)

27. Ace Photography - framed print of McWay Falls in Big Sur ($100 value)

28. Airborne Gymnastics – one month free membership ($92 value)

29. Children’s Discovery Museum, family four-pack of tickets ($40)

30. Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad, Inc., includes 2 cards good for 10 rides on the train or carousel ($40 value)

31. Aquarium of the Bay, two tickets ($34 value)

32. Asian Art Museum, two tickets ($34 value)

33. Cucina Bambino gift certificate – one parent/child class gift certificate ($40 value, including 10% discount off any additional classes)

34. Lesson Pros, 20 gift certificates for various instruments online lessons ($ value per gc)

35. $30 Wooden Horse Toy Store gift certificate

36. $35 Gymboree gift card

37. $30 Wooden Horse Toy Store gift certificate

38. $25 Hobbes gift certificate

39. 2 tickets to Happy Hollow Park & Zoo ($24 value)

40. Sharks Ice at San Jose – 2 skate rentals and 2 admission passes ($24 value)

41. StudioKicks gift certificate ($ value tbd)

42. $20 Main Street Burger gift certificate

43. $25 Petroglyph gift certificate

MATTEO'S DREAM FUND APPAREL:
I am hoping to have Matteo's Dream Fund t-shirts, ladies tank tops, fleece jackets, hats and visors available for sale soon. All proceeds from apparel sales will be put towards the legal fees associated with us becoming an official 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. This is a goal of ours we hope to reach by this time next year at the very latest.

More about Matteo's Dream Fund:
Matteo’s Dream Fund was founded in 2010, in memory of Matteo Tate Martino, who died in his sleep at 18 months of age. Matteo’s death was an unexpected, heart-breaking and overwhelming loss to his parents, big sister, twin brother, and unborn sister. In managing their grief, Matteo’s parents, Dan and Jodi, decided to establish a fund that would benefit sick and terminally ill children at children’s hospitals throughout the United States. While Matteo’s life was cut tragically short, the hope is that his story will forever impact the lives of others by encouraging people to remember just how precious the gift of life is and to reach out to those with less fortunate health.

Matteo’s Dream Fund will donate items, services and grant money to children’s hospitals and organizations that will provide recreational therapy, educational tools, and emotional support, assistance and services to sick children at children’s hospitals across the United States, as identified by the Board of Directors. Some examples include, but are not limited to:
• Purchase of new and unused books, toys, games, and art supplies for recreational therapy
• Purchase of new and unused educational materials and computers
• Purchase of materials and supplies for outdoor gardens, benches and/or play areas
• Working with local photographers to donate their time and services to capture photos of hospitalized children with their families and/or friends, and gifting them with photo CD’s and/or printed photos.
• Working with organizations that assist children’s hospitals in the development and construction of recreational therapy rooms (play rooms) within children’s hospitals where kids can play with toys, work on art projects and use computers.

Two years without Matteo...

Two years without Matteo...













It still hits me like a ton of bricks every day. So many memories and the very fact that Matteo is dead still knocks the wind right out of me. I often find myself trying to catch my breath.

It doesn't get easier. Or it hasn't for me yet, anyway.

There is always a very unsettled feeling that is a big part of every day. Something (well, someone) is missing... and there is nothing I can do to fix it. Nothing.

I feel like I'm in a constant mode of trying to find a sense of security or understanding as to what happened to our sweet baby boy the night of July 4, 2009. But, the more time that passes... I feel I never will. Rather, life will continue on for everyone else normally, and this will just be a constant part of my/our lives.

I laid our sweet Giuliana down for bed tonight in the same crib and on the same mattress that I laid Tato down on exactly two years ago. She is the exact same age, older only by a few short hours, that he was the night he died. So many thoughts and emotions raced through my head. July 5, 2009 was a nightmare I am still wishing I would wake up from.

The feelings and memories from that morning are still so incredibly strong - it seems like yesterday. Yet, I feel like the first two months after Matt died are a complete fog.

We spent our afternoon and evening with dear friends today, watching the Seattle and Kirkland fireworks from the roof. They also moved here last year from the Bay Area. I think it was probably a good distraction for all of us. The view was beautiful... a perfect little moon sat perfectly in a clear blue sky with the Olympic Mountain range back-lit by a beautiful pink and orange sunset. Gabby asked if Matteo was sitting on the moon. I said yes. Then she told me he was the small little star in the sky above us. I agreed and told her it was a beautiful star.

We sure do miss you sweet Matteo. And, we love you more than words could ever explain. Your loss will always leave a gaping hole in our hearts, family and lives.

Nigh-night, sweet Tato-buns. I love you.

The 3 photos with this blog post include:
1. Last photo of me & Matteo on July 3, 2009
2. Last photo of Matt & daddy on July 4, 2009
3. Last photo of Tato, Rocco & Gabby together (after they spilled cereal all over the floor and they tried cleaning it up together) on July 4, 2009

Please, no hugging or snuggling!

Giuliana does not like it when Dan and I hug or snuggle in front of her. If we're standing, and Dan comes over to hug me... Giuliana will yell "Heeeeeeey!" and she'll come running over and get right between our legs and start pushing Dan away from me.

If we're sitting on the sofa, Giuliana will come running over (possibly screaming at the same time) and will climb up on top of me and sandwich her bum right between Dan and I and then push Dan away.

It is the funniest thing to watch her get so possessive of me... or just not wanting Dan to touch me or hug me. Dan and I will sometimes hug each other just to see Giuliana's reaction.

The child is like a walking birth control pill!

Big Boy Undies.... All Day, Every Day!!

As of 6/26/11, our big boy is pull-up free! That's right... our little man is sporting big boy undies all day, every day, and we're so proud of him!

Every time Rocco has to go pee or poo, we'll get a very loud announcement, "I HAVE TO GO PEEEEEE!!" or "I HAVE TO GO POOOOOOOOP!!" And the loud announcement is followed by running footsteps in the direction of the bathroom. Often times while he is sitting on the potty, there is singing, or humming of the Batman theme song.

A few times I've noticed the little guy has put his undies on backwards. I've noticed this a couple of times and I giggle and ask Rocco why his undies are on backwards, and he points out the fact that the big picture needs to be in front. You see... with little boy under ware, the big picture (of L.ightening McQueen or B.uzz L.ightyear) is on the bum side. So, when Rocco puts his undies on backwards, it looks like he is wearing thong boy undies. Too funny!

The other funny and very noticeable difference about Rocco since he's been wearing undies is he's very much more aware of his man parts. It's almost as if when there is no diaper involved, little boys can feel their pee pees wiggle and jiggle much better... so they therefore need to grab them, subconsciously, quite often. I notice a lot of holding and grabbing going on... which of course prompts me to say "Do you have to go pee pee?" And, then Rocco looks at me and laughs saying "Noooo!"

He started jumping up & down one day last week and laughing... and he said "I CAN FEEL MY PEE PEE!!"

It's like the child is FREE... and so proud of his pee pee. Gosh. It sure starts young with men & their man parts.

Rocco has also taken advantage on this freedom on several occasions recently. I think he's pulled his pants down and peed outside in the yard somewhere near trees at least 4 times this week. I don't know how this started... not sure if Gabby dared him or what... but probably not a great habit to get started on. Yikes!

Regardless... so PROUD of our little potty trained guy!!