June 17, 2012

Vince Turned 4 on Father's Day!

We've had a busy June, with lots of good sunshine and warm weather!  Well, except for Vince's birthday pool party.  It started out sunny that morning, but quickly turned into a cloudy dreary day.  That didn't keep the kids out of the pool though.  God bless little kids and their ability to swim in cold pools!

I ventured away from the Costco cakes that we've been getting every year, and went all out with a Thomas Train cake from Stop and Shop.  Oh my, it was totally over the top.  Let's just hope Vince doesn't expect this every year from now on.  Complete with mountain scenery, trees and tracks, there was enough frosting to turn the candy man into a diabetic. 
Vince with his favorite girl Norah Downey
 Time to lick the frosting off Thomas!
 
And just in case they didn't get enough sugar from the cake, we had a train piñata they could take some swings at.

Vince got the inaugural first hit
 Zoë did her best to get it open too
 Everyone got a chance, and then the masses got tired of that and went for the trap door.  No one went away disappointed.  I'll just say I agree with Mike that I have a habit of overfilling piñatas
  Vince spent the rest of the evening arranging his birthday presents into a convenient display for all of us to see.
Father's Day opened with Vince and Mike getting breakfast in bed, complete with OJ and milk in sippy cups, and Zoë giving father's day kisses to Daddy and birthday hugs to brother Vince


Happy Birthday to my little man, and may you have many many more.....

June 2, 2012

Luca's Baptism/Memorial Day Weekend

It was the perfect weather last weekend to enjoy the holiday, ring in summer, start another pool
season, and to have Luca's baptism celebration.  It was great fun having Mike's brother Charlie come visit us, along with his wife Hilde and their two daughters Amelia (8yrs old) and Melina (6 yrs old).... Vince and Zoë don't have many of their cousins come and visit, so it was a special treat to have them around!!   I think Amelia and Melina are going to be bugging their parents to come back and visit soon so they can swim in our pool too.  Amelia was like a fish all weekend, they had to pull her out to get back to New York!  And Melina would have stayed to take care of baby Luca, she's an adorable little girl who just wants to be a mommy... she watched over Luca all weekend for us.  I worked on Saturday to help out on low staffing, but was able to come home early enough.  Here's what I found when I came home!  Hilde had set the kids up outside at a little art station.  Everyone was having fun making pictures, and running back and forth to and from the pool. 
Everyone had fun in the pool all weekend!  Zoë got to go skinny dipping most of the weekend, and received personal swim lessons from awesome Aunt Hilde!
Luca sat on watch to Lifeguard
 Pop-Pop got in some good visiting with some of his grandchildren.... and don't forget Maxie!
And Melina lost her tooth at our house!
And now on to Luca's baptism!  Both Mike and I come from more traditional religious backgrounds.  Mike grew up Catholic and I grew up going to Lutheran Church.  Although I still enjoy and partake in the Lutheran beliefs, Mike and I have found a church in Braintree that we really feel reflects our ideals and has like minded members.  So we decided to have Luca's baptism at our Unitarian Universalist Church in Braintree.  
 I purchased a simple little christening outfit for Luca.  Love the little white bowtie and hat!
 
It was a very warm and heartfelt ceremony, leaving all of us in tears-literally.  See, I was a bit worried about what Mike's father would think about the church, seeing as he attends a traditional Catholic Church at home in New York.  In fact, I was ready to have him blaming me for bringing his son to some 'cultish' church (when actually Mike was the one to really want this church!).  Anyway, I feel like we witnessed a miracle during the church service, as Mike's father got up to speak during our "joys and concerns" part.  He got up and made a very touching speech about how warm and welcome he felt at our church, and how he really understands why we attend this church now.  Indeed, everyone in the family was moved by hearing Joe make such loving and touching comments.  It really just made Mike's entire weekend, and everyone's weekend.  
 Luca's Godparents Charlie and Hilde
We even learned about how you get Universalist Holy Water: you boil the hell out of it!


May 22, 2012

I Can't Multi Task!!

......... any more than I already am.  I feel like I've been going non stop these days, and well...... it's because I have.  I know, I asked for all this.... and I wouldn't have it any other way (except maybe I'd add more sleep).  Every night I want to come to the blog and write all my thoughts and tell the stories of all the amazing and wonderful things that Vince and Zoë and Luca are doing.  Every morning I wake up and make the promise that I'll jot memories down, as I watch these amazing little people grow up and come into their own personalities.....and then I run around all day, drive kids here, change diapers there, feed this kid, feed that kid, and when I sit down, it's 10pm and I can't keep my eyes open, and instead I fall asleep thinking about what I would write.

I'd want to write about Vince, and how my little boy is growing up so quickly, and how I can't believe he's almost finished with his first year of preschool, and he's going to be 4 years old in less than a month.  I'd want to write about his spring concert at school last week, where he showed the audience his belly (again) and teacher had to go over and zip up his jeans (thanks Mrs. Ward!), while he waved and smiled at me and Kathryn the whole time.  I'd want to write about his adventures with his swimming lessons, his t-ball team "Molly Moo's Allstars", and how he has taken to running around the house "playing" our wii guitar.  I'd want to write about how when I've looked at him these last couple of days, I don't see a little toddler anymore, but an emerging little boy who has a passion for his trains and his books.
Here he is getting practice for his own pool at home ;)


 Vince with his buddies, celebrating shortly after their music show
 we love you Mrs. Ward!
 Vince taking out the t-ball stand along with hitting the ball
 running the bases!
And then there's Zoë.  I'd want to write about how absolutely adorable she is, even when she stands in the kitchen screeming at the top of her lungs for her 'baba'.  I'd write about how she gives the best hugs and cuddles, kisses her little brother on his bald little head,  and chases Vince while trying to give him hugs.  I'd want to write about how she can make me melt one minute when she grabs my neck and gives me tight hugs, while the next minute she'll give you the most evil death scowl look you've ever seen.  I'd want to write about how much talking she is doing, and how brave she is about climbing on things, and how much giggling comes out of her when she gets pushed in a swing. 
Vince can give kisses too once in a while
 shortly after that kiss
I'd want to write about Mother's Day, and how gorgeous it was as we spent the day at the Arboretum for Lilac Sunday.  Mike arranged for us to have a picnic, explore the gardens, and listen to music.  All five of us spent hours on our picnic blanket in the shade... making small trips to watch the fish in the pond, or chase a runaway child through the grass, and then coming back to lay down and watch the clouds float by.
 Zoë had fun hanging around....


 I'd want to write about how ridiculously hard it is to try and get photos of all three children together at the same time.  As soon as they see a camera, Vince and Zoë start acting like complete monkeys-removing any hopes that we'll someday have some good family portraits.  When I finally give up and put the camera away, I swear I see the hint of satisfaction glowing out of their little eyes.  We'll just have to keep trying..... 
 And then there's Luca, sweet little baby boy that he is.  I'd want to write about how amazingly easy this little baby is, and how he practically only cries when he's hungry or needs a diaper change.  I'd want to write about how he's starting to give me giggles-and that I can usually trigger them by tickling under his chin.  I'd want to write about how much his face lights up when one of his siblings comes over to talk to him, it's like watching a child getting giddy in a candy store.  He's just in awe of his brother and sister.  I'd want to write about how much he's already learned how to roll with the punches, and literally take a beating from his older siblings.  We try and watch as much as we can, but that poor boy gets his share of rough housing already.   I foolishly thought I would try and get a picture of all three kids in their "birthday suits".... and this is the best I could get.  Notice Mike's hand visibly forcing Vince to stop kicking his little brother.... who's obviously had enough of this.
stay tuned for more on trying to update.  Until then, I better get to sleep.    

May 6, 2012

No Rest For the Weary

So, my mom left back to California a little over 2 weeks ago now, and yes, that's why you haven't been hearing from me dear reader(s)!  Um.... this 3 kid thing is HARD!  I've also started back to work, the type that I actually get paid for, as opposed to the free labor I do at home.  I consider my job pretty challenging and stressful throughout the day, but compared to being home all day.... it's actually a break that I look forward too!  It's nice to get adult conversation in as well.  I love my kids, don't get me wrong!  I'm pretty exhausted, but feeling guilty about not keeping the blog up!  Here's the best I can do with jotting down things I want to remember about the last few weeks. 
-trying to get all three kids in the car to take Vince to school, and all three of them have poopy diapers (yes, Vince STILL won't go on the potty).  We are late already, which I naturally stress over (gotta stop that), I start to cry along with everyone else, then Vince and Zoë start laughing.... then I start laughing, and... well..... Vince made it to school and we made it through the day.
-Luca had a follow up swallow study done last week, and we were happy to find that he no longer has swallowing issues.  His throat muscles are strong and he's no longer dis-coordinated  We have started weaning him off rice cereal in his formula as he doesn't need it thickened anymore, we are so grateful for his health
-Vince started swimming lessons and t-ball!  More to come on that.
-Luca is getting more and more smiles in.   See below... my adorable little man!

-My new favorite thing to do is to try and get pictures of all three kids together.  Here's a few pics from that last couple weeks:
We got to meet Adam's new little sister Jacqueline!
-and I do enjoy wrapping him up in his very own towel after a bath

April 20, 2012

Sorry for the Confusion!

So everyone thought my mom had passed away on that last blog post...  guess I should check my writing a little more closely!  Not to worry, she's alive and well.... back in California! 
Meanwhile I've survived my first few days without her here to help us.  Today is my last official day of maternity leave, and to celebrate it I've been working on a slide presentation for a talk I'm going to give at the National Health Care for the Homeless Conference next month.  I'm pretty excited to be able to give this talk, I'll be highlighting our respite HIV team and how it benefits our homeless patients.  So... no slowly getting back into the work life for me!  Just taking the plunge right back in! 

In other news, we finally took a picture of Luca in one of Daddy's t-shirts... to take one every year on his birthday.  He's definitely a little chunkier than he would have been if we were able to take it at his birth weight of 4 pounds!