Weekend Fluff Festival

Anyone like to eat marshmallow fluff? Well, our neighboring town of Somerville has a festival each year celebrating the creation of fluff in their very own town. Every September, Union Square pays tribute to Archibald Query and his invention of Marshmallow Fluff in 1917. So yesterday we braved the rainy weather and took Vince to his first Fluff Festival. There were girl scouts selling their cookies packed with fluff filling and chocolate, various ice cream stores selling desserts concocted with fluff, and high school band members selling fluffer nutters as a fund raiser. For those of you on the west coast... fluffer nutters are sandwiches with peanut butter and marshmallow fluff on white bread. Not exactly a food of choice for anyone with blood sugar issues (or otherwise).

Vince is reading up about Fluff Boy on the computer before heading to the festival

Games and Prizes were around, here's one for knocking down the Fluff jars

Mike and Stefan planning their gettaway to the bar

Naomi was our friendly neighbor fluff girl volunteer!

Conversations with Vince

Vince is getting very talkative these days. It seems like he always has a story to tell. It's fun to watch while he tells them because sometimes he gets so serious, as if he's telling a drama.. and then he'll smile while he's telling another part, obviously the comic ending. Either way it's clear he has lots to say and really wants to get it out.

He also does this odd thing with his hand where he sticks his fist up in the air and will hold it up for a while.... it reminds Mike of some sort of black power symbol from the panthers.... He just likes to keep his fist in the air! Here's a small piece of him telling a story to mom..... and then he throws in a little of the fist too, right on little man!

Here's Vince looking extra surprised when Daddy flashed the camera at him!

Note the new outfit... yes the video above was taken the same day. Vince is pretty good at peeing on his clothes (and face) when I change his diaper!

Pootie looks on very curiously

Recap From this Week

It's Friday night, and me and Mike are home... and this is ok with both of us! We had a friend over for dinner which was nice, and it's been a mellow night after a busy week.

It started out last weekend with us driving to Connecticut to visit Mike's Uncle Tony and Aunt Nanucci. They were both so excited for the surprise visit, with Aunt Nanucci continuously pinching Vince's cheeks and getting him to smile at her. After the visit we headed back to Boston, with Mike's parents following behind.

Visiting Uncle Tony and Aunt Nanucci

We stopped along the way in Sturbridge to eat at the historic Publick House; where Vince quickly made friends with the group seated next to us. At one point the lady at the table belted out an "I love you, baby!" to Vince and everyone in the restaurant because he was taking all the bait she was dishing out to get him to smile at her.

Then on Tuesday I started back to work. The first day back was like a reunion... being able to see my patients and co-workers again made it an easier transition from staying home with Vince. It was also easier to leave that morning because Vince was still asleep... so I didn't have to leave him while he was awake and being his cute self. I'll be working three days a week: Mon, Wed, and Fri so hopefully it'll be a good balance and still give me time to hang out with my son during the week. I didn't work this Wednesday though so I was able to visit with Mike's parents during the day a little bit.

Wednesday started out with the adventure of riding the subway with Vince for the first time, as we headed over to the hotel where Mike's parents were staying. I took our gargantous stroller with me on the T as well, and it was during rush hour commuting... so I knew it would be a challenge. As the train came, I waited patiently to let everyone else on, and then I politely asked if there was more room as I just pushed the stroller on to the train. People grumbled and gave me dirty looks but sure enough there was adequate room.

Mike's mom and I visited Baby Gap and she bought a cute overalls outfit complete with a cap for Vince to look sharp in... see picture below.

Dinner in the North End

The rest of the week went by pretty quickly as well. I took Vince to his second 'Itsy Bitsy Yoga' class on Thursday. This is where they teach moms poses to put your baby in. Different poses that help with soothing or digestion or whatnot. He smiles through most of the poses but I think it's because of the songs that they teach us to sing while we are doing the poses with them. There was one move where you bounce your baby from knee to knee, and your neighbor does the same with their baby. As a result the babies end up looking at each other... Vince loved this and let out a few giggles whenever he was face to face with the neighbor on his left. I was sitting next to the instructor so when I put him on my right knee he was face to face with a plastic doll... he was pretty perplexed at this and just stared blankly when he saw the doll!! It was pretty funny.

Anyway, that wraps up the week. We plan on having a mellow weekend as well, just enjoying the last days of sunny weather as it gets cooler here in Boston.

Vince is 3 months old

We can hardly believe it's been three months that we have had our little one with us, but when we look at him it's so apparent how much he has changed and grown, showing how much time has gone by! He's smiling so much more, and really starting to laugh as well. He makes cute little squeaks and giggles when he is smiling, and he starts kicking his legs like he's in a Thai kick boxing tournament. If you start to talk to him he really gets going, kicking like champ!

Mike's mother had a conference here in Boston this week so we got to spend some time together, although they left a day early because Mike's sister Lisa had her baby last night! They had a little boy and named him Andrew Joseph, you can see pictures on their blog La Vita è Bella. Vince is excited to meet his new cousin so they can team up and tease Andrew's big sister Noelle.

Here's some recent pictures of Vince, we tried him out on his baby bumbo and he really liked it!

This kid's amazing, already grabbing for toys! He just started realizing he has hands

Lunch at the Oyster House with Nonna and Pop Pop

More pictures of California Visit

Vince got to meet the rest of his family while we were out in California! We had a nice time staying at my brother Eric's house in Highland. They put us up in their cabana so we had the whole place to ourselves.... but I think maybe they did that so they wouldn't hear Vince screaming for food in the middle of the night. They are smart people! We also got to swim in my brother's pool and meet their two German Shepards Karma and Kismet. We didn't put Vince in the pool yet but next time he's at his Uncle's house he'll be the first one in the pool.

Eric and Michael making a gourmet dinner for us

Eric introduces Vince to one of the dogs

Grampa says hello

Auntie PJ helps entertain Vince

Auntie Renee got a hug too!

We have a miracle

Oh my gosh Vince slept almost 8 hours last night! It was a record, and when Mike and I actually woke up to his alarm clock at 6am instead of a crying baby... I pretty much jumped out of bed worried about Vince because he hadn't woken up. I was thinking that something must be wrong. I pictured him all lonely in his little crib. But when I got into his room there he was, wrapped in his little blanket and just sleeping away like a little angel. I know that Mike and I shouldn't get used to that much sleep though because parents tell me it varies all the time. Either way we are pretty happy with his current sleep habits!

More Hawaii Pictures

Too many things have been keeping me busy so I haven't been able to keep up on the blog, but I finally finished putting together most of the Hawaii pictures. Our stay at the beach house was fantastic, with the front yard overlooking the ocean. We never wanted to leave our house! Vince liked Hawaii too... he had his first dip in the Pacific Ocean when we put his toes in at Turtle Beach.... We were able to snorkel at Shark's Cove and Keiki Beach as well, and hang out with good friends while watching the sunset. We were minutes away from Haleiwa Town which is a small surfing town on the North Shore of Oahu, offering good food, fun shops, and the State's best Hawaiian Shave Ice.

The only unfortunate event is that while we were snorkeling one day Mike got some water up his sinuses and they started bothering him.... then he ended up with a nasty cold that he gave to me and Vince and practically my whole family! So now we are home and trying to recover from jet lag and colds. Vince is actually doing fine, just sneezing once in a while here and there. Mike's taken a couple days off work though.

Here's a few pictures of our trip, and if you want to see more click here

Here's Vince attending his first Luau

All of us in our Hawaiian Best

Mom hanging out in the front yard at the beach house

Vince gets a personal hello from a Fijian Dancer at the Polynesian Cultural Center