Lucia- 1 month old

I can't believe a month has already come and gone! Lucia has been doing well- though she can be a bit fussy and needy at times- but family members reassure me that she does not seem as bad as Ethan was. She had a couple nights where she slept for 6 hours- but now seems back to her 3.5 to 4 hour max stretch at night.
Ethan has been doing well as a big brother. He likes to hold her and shove the pacifier in her mouth when she starts to cry. We have also been working on potty training with Ethan- so far a handful of successful pees on the potty- but no poop! I hope he gets the hang of it soon because those poor size 6 diapers are having trouble containing his messes!

Swimming

Ethan does so well in Nonna's pool with his swimmies! Here are a few pictures from the weekend and yesterday.

New hair cut . . .

I'm not sure how I feel about this yet . . . Jim took Ethan for a hair cut a few days ago and this is how he came back. My baby is growing up- and that makes me sad and happy at the same time.

Now- if he could just get the hang of poop on the potty . . .

Arianna and Lorenzo

My cousin Arianna and her husband Lorenzo came to visit Michigan for a few days during their vacation. Ethan loved the attention Arianna gave him and was more than happy to show off his many cars. Lucia was a big hit too!

Ethan and Lucia

Some photos from yesterday. Ethan started asking "please hold the baby?" in his cute little high pitched voice! Of course you can! He does really well with her- I have to remind him to be gentle- I almost threw up yesterday when he pressed on her soft spot a little harder than I would have liked!

Lucia- 3 weeks old

Lucia had her 3wk appt. yesterday. She is doing quite well according to her doctor. Already 10lbs 2oz- only 2oz less than Ethan weighed at his 3wk appt! She's filling out quite nicely. Feeding is still a work in progress. During the day there are times when she wants to eat every hour it seems. I asked her doctor about this and she said that Lucia should be going at least 2-3 hours b/w feeding- so she may be nursing for comfort when she wants to eat every hour. We are trying to encourage the pacifier a bit more during the day. At night she is doing better since I started swaddling her. She will go about two 4 hour stretches during the night- which I'm appreciating!

Hopefully she will figure out her daytime nursing schedule soon!

Berlin Raceway

Last weekend Jim and I took Ethan to watch the car races at Berlin Raceway. Jim's company provided tickets and free food to employees who wanted to attend. It was a good time and Ethan seemed to enjoy watching the cars.

Birthday Party con't

Some pics from Dad's 60th surprise party. Perhaps the biggest surprise for dad was seeing his friends Peter and Ginny Stack. Dad and Peter went to elementary and high school together back in NY. Peter and Ginny made the trip all the way from Rhode Island for the party!

Dad also loved the cake- Chiara found a picture of Dad circa 1970- he got a kick out of it!

Birthday Boy

Here's the birthday boy (my dad) with his children, their significant others, and 1/2 of his grandchildren (Luke and Lucia are not in the photo).

Dad had a great time at his birthday party and was very surprised!

My siblings

We had a surprise 60th birthday party for my Dad on August 8th. Marco and Chiara were in town for the party and visiting- so anytime the five of us are together, my mom makes us take a picture together- it's fun to see how much we have grown from last years photo :-)

Ice Cream

What a cute kid we have! Ethan after enjoying an ice cream cone at Nonna's. I'll ask Ethan- "are you cute?"- he'll respond with "No, I not cute- I Ethan."

Lucia's first bath

Lucia had her first bath at home last week. She handled it pretty well- only a few screaming fits. She really loved getting her hair washed.

Lucia also had her first doctor appointment last week (Tuesday)- I forgot to bring the camera or even take a picture of her that day- oops! Her doctor was very impressed with how well she was doing- she had gained 6oz since she discharged from the hospital two days before her appointment- and was already above her birth weight!
For the most part, she has been a good baby- only crying when she appears to be hungry- which for the past two days seemed to be every hour! Today she seems to be able to make it a little longer between feeding, which I am enjoying- and I hope it continues!

First Day Home

We came home on Sunday with Lucia. Ethan has been doing well with having a baby in the house. At times he will be very interested in what his "baby sister" is doing, and then other times he's more concerned about his cars or "what's Oma doing?"
I was putting him to bed last night and he lifted up my shirt and said "good night baby sister" to my belly. I reminded him that his baby sister came out of mamma's belly and is downstairs. He looked at me with a bit of a confused look.

At the hospital

A few pictures of Lucia on Saturday

Lucia meets family con't

Lucia meets family

Ethan meets his sister . . .

Ethan did really well when he met Lucia. He kept calling Lucia "baby Luke" after his new cousin (Chiara's son).

Big Brother

Ethan on his way to meet his sister for the first time . . . he looks so grown up!

Daddy and Lucia

Jim holding his daughter for the first time.