Gabby started KINDERGARTEN!

Gabby started all-day kindergarten recently - and she is in HEAVEN!

This child was beyond ready to start kindergarten... literally counting down the weeks and days since June. Every time she would talk about kindergarten... it would be followed with a very girly, high-pitched scream. So fun to see her so excited! She also picked out her new backpack, and jumped with joy the day it arrived.

There were many little steps leading up to the big day... we got our list of supplies that we needed to bring in, along with our date & time for her kindergarten assessment. At the assessment, they basically tested her reading skills, asked her to do some simple rhyming, asked her to identify her name, shapes and numbers and I think they also did a little writing. I think Gabby did really well and was able to read all the pages in the book the teacher went through with her with just a little help from the teacher on a few words.

Then, we had her orientation on the Thursday after Labor Day. (By that point... Gabby was ITCHING to be in school every day and was SO JEALOUS that Rocco had already started school.) Gabby really enjoyed the orientation... it allowed her to meet some new friends and hear more about rules, the routines and what her school day was going to be like. There are 18 boys in her class and 5 girls (including Gabby). I'd say the girls are a bit outnumbered!

Her first day of school was the next day - Friday. We drove her to school and picked her up on the first day... and let's just say she was NOT a fan of us picking her up. She really wanted to ride the bus that day. I was met with tears, instead of a hug... from a VERY, very tired and new little kindergartener. She had SUCH a great time at school though and was sad that she had to wait all weekend to go again. When Monday arrived, I walked her to the bus stop for her very first bus ride... and to say she was excited to ride the bus is an extreme understatement. As Gabby said "Mom, I've waited my WHOLE LIFE to ride the bus!!"

Gabby's all day kindergarten goes from 9:15-3:25. Her teacher, Ms. T, told us to expect our little ones to be very tired when they arrive home for the first two months. But, after that, they should be adjusted to the new schedule and stimulation. Gabby, by the way, LOVES her teacher. And, I really like her too! She has so much energy, has the kids doing neat learning projects and I love the constant communications from her via backpack mail and email.

In addition to adjusting to a new school schedule, Gabby also is involved in swimming, gymnastics and dance. Dance class started last Monday. She's in a tap & ballet class that she really enjoyed last year with the same instructor. Swimming class is on Sundays. And, she's in an invite-only developmental gymnastics class. The class is twice weekly, from 5-7pm, and they work those girls hard. Seriously. I watch them, and wish I was out there doing all the strength training, stretching and fun gymnastics moves with them. I hesitated a bit with the advanced gym class for several reasons... I was worried about Gabby adjusting to all day kindergarten, and thought a twice weekly, 2 hour class would be too much for her... and maybe for us too (with having to taxi her there & back), especially with having two other little ones at home. But, the Level I coaches started telling me that Gabby was getting bored in class and needed more of a challenge. They said strength-wise and skill-wise, she was more than capable of handling the invite class. So, I caved... and enrolled her in that class. Honestly though.... she is MUCH happier in this new, more difficult class and it so far hasn't been too difficult to juggle with everything else. It definitely messes up dinner on Tuesday nights, as Rocco's gym class starts when Gabby's does... it just ends an hour and 15 mins before Gabby's. But, I now send the kids off to they gym with PB&J sandwiches, milk and that seems to work fine. Then when they get home, they usually eat a second dinner.

Gabby is LOVING all of her activities. I would say it is a toss-up between dance & gymnastics for her favorite activity. Swimming is not really an option in our house... we feel strongly about the kids having to learn to swim for safety reasons. But, the other activities are up to the kids. As long as they are having fun, it isn't making them too tired or impacting school/homework (which is the top priority!), then we'll support them in whatever.

Gabby seems to have grown-up so much lately... in a kindergarten sort of way. And, I also had to go through her closet again recently - she's growing so fast! Very tall & lean (making it really hard to find pants that are long enough but not falling off of her). And, she happily does her homework each night and looks forward to our half hour of reading. She is also really starting to get confident with her own reading and will often attempt to read books to her brother and sister now. Super cute to see! We are SO proud of her... love her to bits!

Rocco Started Preschool!

Rocco started preschool the day after Labor Day and he was SO excited!

Last winter, he was not looking forward to school one bit. We'd try talking to him about it and he would get mad and tell us he didn't want to go to school. We would tell him all the fun things he would do at school... and he would ignore us.

But, oddly enough, by the end of summer, he was full of anticipation for his first day of school. He would tell us all about what he was going to do at school and how he'd make his OWN friends (friends, that Gabby wouldn't have), etc. It's amazing how several months in the life of a 3 year old can make such a difference on their perspective and interest in something. It is also interesting how time changes their need for social interaction and their own friendships.

I imagine Rocco also developed a need/want for his own friends because he is much more aware of how Gabby has created friendships. And, he truly enjoys the friendships that him and Gabby have built with our neighborhood kids. The kids in the neighborhood are constantly playing together and going from house to house. It's really cute and sort of reminds me of my childhood neighborhood.

In addition to starting preschool, Rocco is now also enrolled in gymnastics and a swimming class that does not include a parent or his sister (both are once a week). He truly LOVES both classes!

I tried on several occasions to have him try gymnastics back in the spring, but he wouldn't even participate for 5 minutes. Now he really enjoys going to gymnastics and really looks forward to class. He even likes to show off and do somersaults at home and flips on the trampoline. He seems to do really well at the beginning of each class... he listens and follows instruction, doing exactly as the coach instructs. Then, I seem him start to get chatty with the coach, and other kids. And, by the end, I see him diving and jumping and rolling onto the mats like he's fighing some sort of superhero battle while he's waiting in line for his turn to do something. He's such a little clown! Last week, he was waiting in line, diving and doing somersaults. I saw his coach say something to him (her back was to me, so I don't know what she said) and then Rocco got up and I heard him say "I have another brother and his name is Matteo!", and then he dove back into another somersault. Ii was so strange... gave me chills and warmed my heart at the same time. Love that Matteo still lives within him.

Rocco and Gabby were in a private swim class together through the spring. Then, when July hit, I decided to enroll them in a different program, where they would each be in classes relevant to their level of swimming. This was Rocco's first class without a parent or his sister and I was expecting it to either be a complete disaster or something to build on. Well, in his first swim class he was frozen still and had his head down for the first 10 mins. But all of a sudden... it was like a switch went off, and he started having fun. He started talking and responding positively to the instructor, and when we went home, he was so proud to tell his sister and daddy all about his instructor and 2 new swim class friends.... even though they didn't really say a peep to each other. Last week... he talked the teacher's ear off and the teacher looked at Dan almost as if she was needing Dan to get him to stop talking. Silly Rocco... he's such a crack-up!

We're so proud of Rocco! Preschool, gymnastics and swimming classes... all by himself!

The ZOO!

We went to the zoo with very good friends of ours – Sofia, Giovanni and their mom & dad.

The kids had a great time running around and checking out all the various animals. They really enjoyed the cockatiel exhibit/experience which essentially allowed them to enter the “cage” of dozens of cockatiels and feed them from sticks and also hold them or allow the birds to land on them. Rocco was surprisingly really good at staying still and luring the birds to his food stick. Several times he had birds walk up his arm. It was so much fun to see him relaxed and connecting with the birds in such a calm way. He’s usually so loud and physicial – it was almost like watching a different child. Gabby was probably a bit too eager to get the birds to land on her, so she didn’t have as many land on her as she would have liked. I felt a little bad for her… but every child has to learn the lesson of patience, I guess. Giuliana also really enjoyed looking around at the birds… but she didn’t feed any. They also had a great dinosaur exhibit… you know, the only zoo in the country where they have dinosaurs.

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)