Happy Halloween

I hope this Halloween finds you with plenty of...

Sweets!

Wuz Up Dawg?

Just a quick update.  Lots of news but no pictures, my camera's acting up a bit.  I'll start with today and work my way backwards.

25 - Alessandra and I enjoyed a beautiful walk today through the forest and then stopped by HHL to surprise Daddy at school.

24 - We got to visit with our Enfumes for a little bit and we finally got our replacement stroller ordered.

23 - Found ridiculously cheap tickets to Spain so we're going to go meet up with the Enfume's for a long weekend in Barcelona.

22 - Jon's birthday!!  We had a great time with some friends at our little kegeln alley.  A little bowling, great food, a few drinks, and some awesome cake made for a pretty great night.

21 - After going to 3 different bakeries to find out they don't know what carrot cake is (Jon's favorite) I headed over to Katrin's house to make one from scratch.  All we had to do was find a German recipe for this American cake, do a little shopping, baking, and hope for the best.

20 - Pumpkin Carving with Katrin and Sophia.  It was the girls first time carving pumpkins and when I say girls I mean Katrin too.  We had such a good time - I'm hoping Katrin will share her pictures with me so I can share them with you :o)

19 - We took a walk through the farmers market - man I love fall.

Well that's what we've been up to this week.  I think I failed to mention earlier that the hookers moved out so there's one more thing to be happy about.

Okay, I think that's all I've been up to - what about you?

Charmian

Firsts

Carving Pumpkins

Inspection Complete

 

Time to Dig In

Slimey

Stringy

Seedy

Slippery

A Total Mess but So Much Fun!

 Bath Time

(and yes those are pumpkin floaters)

 Picture Time

 and of course...

...a few squishies!

Charmian

My Sweet Pea is Eleven Months Old

OH MY GOSH!!!

Did I really just type that!  I can't believe that in one short month my newborn, baby girl will be one year old and on the verge of toddlerdom.  

11th Month Milestones

HEIGHT/WEIGHT

 

 Still just a peanut with a few rolly polly areas.

SLEEPING

Two naps a day, just like before but they are pretty set nowadays.  

You'll nap from 10:30-11:00 until 11:30-12:00 and again from 3:00 to 4:00.

What I'm most happy about is your new trend of nighttime sleeping.

We usually put you to bed between 8:30 and 9:00 (p.m.) and you'll sleep until 4:00 (a.m.).  You wake up, nurse, and then will go back to sleep until 8:00 a.m.

HOORAY!!

EATING

Besides nursing every four hours through the day you eat everything I eat with a few exceptions.  You're current favorites are beans, eggs, and Daddy's Veggie Soup (okay, I'll be honest, you love anything your Daddy makes).

PLAYTIME

We have different stations set up around the house for you to play at.  So depending on what room Mommy is working in you have different things to play with.  In the kitchen we have all of your kitchen gadgets, water bottles, and bags.  In the bedroom we have the schrank (wardrobe) where you keep yourself busy pulling the dirty clothes out and putting them back in.  In the bathroom there is the cool contraption that hangs on the wall and it holds the prettiest white paper with pink writing.  You love pulling it out into a big pile on the floor and then ripping the squares apart.  Oh, and the purple stool, towels, and doggy brush are pretty cool too.  And last but not least the office/living room which has your toy box (read bright orange OBI crate) with all of your "real" toys in it.

You absolutely love to dance - I know I've said that on every monthly update but it's true.  You started out just headbanging to the music and now you have a whole set of different moves.  Whenever you hear music the biggest smile comes across your face and you groove to your little hearts content.

You are a pickle, not a normal pickle or a sweet and sour, you're a Zesty Dill.  You have so much spunk and sass that most days we don't know what to do with you.  We are constantly having to remind you to be gentle and not scratch, or pull hair, or pinch, or bite, or hit, or... you get the idea.  Someone told me once that you're too young to know what your doing but I can tell by the look on your face that you know exactly what you're doing which is why we've had to figure out, VERY quickly, how to handle it.  The solution we found is actually quite simple and it leads me to my next paragraph.  We tell you "No" or "Stop" and set you down or move you out of arms reach.  Once you're there we explain that you need to be gentle and that whatever your doing hurts us.  You then pull your bottom lip out so far you could wrap it around your head and you turn on your big crocodile tears.  You continue to pout and cry until we pick you back up and explain how that makes us feel.  This normally stops the behavior for at least an hour sometimes longer.  

You are a social butterfly in every sense of the word.  That's why the only punishment that actually hits home is being separated from people.  You love to flirt with adults, watch big kids play, and play with other kiddos your size.  You, quite simply, love people! 

WHAT'S NEW

You're crawling everywhere and can stand up with very little support.  You will cruise but you much prefer holding onto either your Mommy or Daddy's fingers and walking around.  

You have another tooth - so, four in total (Two American, One German, and One Italian).  Your most recent tooth came in somewhere between Italy and Austria but we're calling it your Italian tooth because you got it during our Italian vacation.  

Speaking of Italy, you can add two more countries to your list because we recently took a road trip through Austria to Italy.  

You are talking so much these days and now you say more than just "Nein, Nein!"  Whenever you see your Daddy you yell "Da Da".  If you want us to look at something you'll point and yell "Tha Tha".  We taught you a few signs and instead of just signing "all done" you yell "Du".  When you see your Mommy and you want to cuddle (but only if you want to cuddle) you yell "Ma Ma".  Notice I said you yell, that's because you currently only have one volume for your words and that's loud.  For all your other babbling though you do have a regular talking volume which is nice.  We are constantly having to remind you not to yell and to use your talking voice.  Oh, and sometimes, if we don't pay attention to you quickly enough you just scream at the top of your lungs.  We've found the only way to get you to stop is to blow in your face.

You are a total ham, and you make some of the funniest faces.  Just tonight your Daddy jokingly said to you - "Do you think you could be a little more boring!"  Of course we don't want you to change, we love you just the way you are, but there are days when you definitely test our patience.  

Happy Eleven Month Birthday!  We love you Sweet Pea!!!

Mommy & Dad

Oh, The Places You'll Go!!

I have this thing with feet. 

They're stinky and dirty but they also take us from one place to another. 

Some are cute some aren't but they are pretty useful.  

Really early on in my pregnancy with Pearce we had an ultrasound and we got the best picture of his tiny little feet.  After he was born the photographer took this picture of his foot, and as soon as I'm done nursing Alessandra I'm planning on getting a tattoo of those little feet on my ankle so that for the rest of my life every step I take Pearce is taking it with me.

Okay, on to the real reason I'm writing this post.

Enjoy!

A different take on a family portrait.

 

Oh, The Places You've Been!

Charmian

Vernazza & Riomaggiore

After a late start we grabbed a bus to Manarola where we caught a train to Vernazza.  

We spent the day in Vernazza and then headed back over to Riomaggiore for dinner.