COUSINS!

It's so fun to see the kids play with their cousins!

At the beginning of August they were able to see and play with Alexa and Callie (Shanghai, China) for a day before they headed back home to China. And, they've been able to play with Maddy and Emily who live in Minnesota, quite a bit. The only cousins missing from the fun summer get-togethers were Matteo, Ellie and Maya. Ellie and Maya live in Alaska.



Playing has consisted of lots of swimming in the lake, boating, playing soccer, computer games, building forts, watching cartoons, eating lunches/dinners, and pretending Giuliana is like everyone's real, living baby doll. Seriously. All the little girls want to help feed her, entertain her, dress her, and change her. And, Giluliana has been held a LOT by little people in the past 4 weeks! She's such a good baby!

The kids all played so nice together and Alexa (the oldest by approx 6 years) was the best mommy's helper. She helped me with Giuliana and always made sure to include Rocco in activities. Rocco seems to not get too flustered by all the girls bossing him around. And oddly enough, he and Emily get along really well. Emily is so quiet and sweet... she'll calmly direct Rocco as to how the fort should be built and Rocco thinks is the greatest thing in the world that this cute little girl is giving him all of her attention. Rocco seemed to only really be bothered once by the girl madness, and he said "Those girls are MEAN!"

What I wouldn't give to see Matteo here with his brother, giving all those girls a run for their money. I can only imagine the 8:2 ratio wouldn't even impact the powers of those two little dudes.

Zoo fun!

I am sooooo behind with blog posts! Ack! I guess this business of living like a gypsy and vacationing is a lot crazier than I expected. Our new au pair arrives on Friday night and we're all looking forward to it!













Next week... I'm hoping to catch-up on blog posts, laundry, running, and planning for the big move into our new house!

We visited the Minnesota Zoo a few weeks ago and it was AWESOME!! All of the exhibits are so clean, so well thought out, and the animals have TONS of beautifully landscaped living space so you don't feel bad for them. Gabby's favorite animals were the dolphins and the grizzlies. Rocco's favorites were grizzlies, tigers and sharks. Giuliana's favorite? Hmmmm... the monkeys? Matteo would have loved it too... one of his favorite things to say before he died was "WOW wow wow wow wow!" whenever he was in awe of something. I think we would have heard a LOT of WOW's from our little dude that day. Sure do miss our little guy...

We were able to get within 4 inches of the grizzlies and the tigers, thanks to the genius of glass walls. Too bad I just brought my pocket camera instead of the SLR.

I am still amazed at the length of the bear's claws and how HUGE their heads were. I definitely wouldn't want to bump into one of those in the great outdoors! Two of my brothers did on a family trip to Alaska back in the 90's... but that's another story. ;)

Anyway... way to go Minnesota with the fantastic zoo! We hope to visit you at least once more before we're off to our new home. Rumor has it that another fabulous zoo is real close to our new home.

Giuliana's 6 Month Update!

Little Giuliana turned six months old mid-July! Sadly, I seem to just be catching up with myself but I wanted to still include a little Giuls update because she has changed SO much since her 5 month update.








Giuliana's 6 month stats:
Weight: 12lbs 14oz ( 3rd %ile)
Height: 27 inches ( 90th %ile)
Head: 17cm (75th %ile)

Her growth stats are very similar to what Gabby's were at this age... although Giuilana is taller. I believe Gabby was 65th %ile for height at 6 months. I would really love to start fattening Giuls up with baby food... but she still has no interest in actually eating any solids. She will open her mouth up for me to put the spoon in... and then she spits all the food out. So, Giuliana is still on a breast milk only diet.

Some of Giuliana's new things include:
* Sitting on her own! She started doing this in early July and keeps getting more & more balance.
* Rolling and spinning on her back and tummy which allows her to sort of chase toys of interest. I'll set a toy off to her side and she'll somehow find a way to roll and spin to get it.
* Standing. She LOVES to practice her standing while we hold her hands. She smiles real big as if to tell us "Look! I can do it too!!" Her legs have gotten so strong.
* Interest in sippy cups. She watches Rocco & Gabby drink from them... and has several times reached out for their cups, grabbed them and brought them to her mouth.
* Screams, grunts, and groans to "tell us" that she's happy or sad, that she wants something, or wants to change positions.
* She's started saying "na na na" and "ahhhhh"
* Grabbing and reaching for everything that mommy's holding and everything she shouldn't be touching. And everything goes directly to the mouth, of course.
* She's great at grabbing small/skinny items and she can pass them from one hand to the other.
* LOVES being entertained by Gabby and Rocco. They'll actually fight over who gets to bring her toys or who can dance to make her laugh first. So funny!
* Bashful/shy side. I'll be holding her and Dan or Sarah or a complete stranger will come over to us and start smiling at her and talking to her. She'll give a big smile and then hide her face in my shoulder. It's so cute!
* Sleeping on her side seems to now be her preferred sleep position. I'll always lay her down on her back but find that she's rolled onto her side. I've also busted her on her tummy a number of times which of course freaks me out for all the obvious reasons. So, I seem to be in this mode where I'll put her on her back (even if it wakes her up) as many times as needed even if I'm up in the middle of the night for hours with an upset baby who wants to be a tummy sleeper. During the day, I can logically tell myself she'll be fine. But, at night, all I can think of is "what if Matteo really died of SIDS?" and then I can't allow myself to sleep until I know she's on her back.












Giuliana still has no teeth... but seems to have teething pains all the time. (Dear teeth: PLEASE COME SOON!!).

I gave her the official "first haircut" because she had a patch of hair on top of her head and behind her two ears with hair that was approx 3 inches long. So, it was looking kind of silly. Now it's all sort of the same length.

Giuliana has started to like her daddy. She thinks he's funny and will giggle and laugh at him. And, Dan has started to interact with her more as well. It's funny how men in general really don't begin "bonding" with a baby until the baby hits about 6mnths and has personality.

Still no interest in solid baby foods. I'll try to feed her solids twice a day for 2-3 days in a row, and then take a break. She's just not having it. Of all my kids, Gabby took to solids the best and was eating them happily every day by 5 months.

I'm really behind in blog posts. Life has been incredibly busy over the past few months and I haven't posted a Gabby update in ages. She has grown and changed SO much as a little person in the past year. Matteo's death has had a huge impact on her life and daily activities and she talks about him a lot, every day. I'm hoping to add another Rocco update again soon too!

Donner Lake & Lake Tahoe... an extended vacation!

We're currently on an extended vacation and enjoying the beauty and peacefulness that goes along with living in the mountains. It's great and we feel incredibly lucky to be able to spend the month of July exploring and playing in the Sierra. Our au pair, Sarah, is also enjoying the area and lots of time at the beach.

Dan still has to work, of course, but he's able to work remotely as long as he's within close proximity to his west coast territory. And, he did just return from a trip to Kona, Hawaii with some of his best pals to celebrate a friend's wedding... so no need to feel sorry for him! ;)












The house we're renting is owned by a friend of mine. It's fits our needs perfectly and has gorgeous views of the still snow-capped mountains. Gabby and Rocco share a bedroom and they think it's the coolest thing in the world. Gabby actually asked if they can share a room when we move into our new home. So cute! Also, the kids LOVE the fact that they can open the refrigerator. They couldn't open our refrigerator doors at home... just the freezer doors. So, this is all very exciting to them!

While Gabby understood that this was our "vacation home" from the moment we arrived, it took Rocco a little longer to adjust. When we tried to put him in bed the first night, he said "This is NOT my bed!" And, when we would arrive back at the house after being at the beach or whatever, we'd say "we're home!" and Rocco would say "This is NOT my home!"

Now though... Rocco seems to understand our temporary vacation situation better, because he'll often say "This is our home? Our vacation home? I like it!"

Every day the kids go to a beach, park or we do something new and interesting.

One day, we took the kids to the Tahoe National Forest so they could go horseback riding. Rocco's horse was "Patty" and she was 19 years old and pregnant. She liked to stop and eat a lot. Gabby's horse was "Shroder" and he was 20 year old and had braids in his mane. Dan led Rocco's horse and I led Gabby's horse on the trails. Giuliana was attached to me and I think she enjoyed all the new sites. Rocco seemed a little timid at the start of the ride, but he did really well and enjoyed it. Gabby LOVES horses so she was in heaven! She's been on several pony rides before, but this was the first time she rode solo with no trainer leading the horse (just mommy!). So, Gabby was very proud of herself and talked to the horse the entire ride.

The kids also enjoyed taking a gondola ride at NorthStar Resort. We also explored the village there, played in the sandbox and watched the mountain bikers, etc.

We spent a day playing at Lake Tahoe's Burnt Cedar Beach thanks to an invitation from my friend Julie. Gabby really enjoys playing with her daughters and the kids were excited to have a play date. The beach was AMAZING with breathtaking views of the landscape and mountains surrouding Lake Tahoe. And, there was a great kids pool which meant warm water to swim and play in (because the lakes are ice cold this year!).

We watched the the Truckee annual 4th of July parade. Truckee's such a cute mountain town and the kids enjoyed the old-fashioned parade where candy is thrown by almost every home-made float.

We've made countless trips to the beaches on Donner Lake. And, this weekend we'll be renting a boat on Lake Tahoe.

Dan and I have been enjoying the scenic runs... and our lungs and legs have finally adapted to the 6,500 foot altitude and all the steep hills.

This has been a good transition place for us... almost a way to gently say goodbye to beautiful and sunny California, before we're off on our next adventure.