Hi Poppy!

Hi Poppy...Amedeo and I wanted to share what we had for lunch today.



Smooches from us!!!!

Yard Sale Saturday!

Holy Mackerel! If you like yard sales, this is the day to go out and bring your $1 bill collection. We couldn't drive a mile without passing three of them! We picked up a whole bunch of bargains...a tricycle for $8, boots for $3, a large dump truck for $2, a Hot Wheels case for $2, and a big metal SUV for $0.50, and a book about firetrucks for $0.25. Super awesome!

Then we visited a new playground today...mommies, we're going to have to head to this one together...it's great....brand new. It's off of Montgomery Road and Tamar Drive.

And...I've done another little update on my sewing blog...come and check it out!

Journey to the Aquarium

Pietro couldn't take all of Labor day off, so he took today off to play in the Baltimore Aquarium with us. Here are the bubble tubes. No fish needed. He was delirious! How can we recreate this in his room at night?



We entered the Australian exhibit first. He was literally screaming with delight. I have never seen him so excited before. I think this is the best part of being a parent, seeing your child get so super happy about something. Fishes and turtles are his THING!



Here we are watching the diver volunteers get in the water. They were doing routine maintenance and feeding the sea turtle. Our turtle friend eats around 12 heads of lettuce per day.


I've never been scuba diving...I think it looks like lots of fun.


Pietro and Amedeo in the Amazon exhibit. We saw lots of birds. We learned that Amedeo is terrified of parrots, owls (or birds that look a lot like them), snakes and lizards. As my mom said, "He'll probably get into dinosaurs later." Yep. I agree.


Here's Pietro and Amedeo in the below water fish viewing area. It's at the end of the reef/shark thingie. The divers were feeding the fish, and one stopped to look at me. I'm looking at the fish, and he's looking at me. Weird. He waves and tells me in pantomime that he and I should go swimming together in the fish tank and that I should write my number down. Pietro and Amedeo were a ways off, so they missed this. Apparently, in dim light, with the water distortion, I have lots of sex appeal. Go me.



Have you ever dined with the extended Bernasconi clan? No? Well, to get a better idea of what mealtime is like, take a look at this picture.


Yep. I married into a family that does not talk when eating. They eat. Then talk when the food is gone. I'm more of a nibble, talk, nibble, talk kind of person. We ate lunch after we were done with the fish in the Harborplace Restaurant area. Amedeo shared pizza, pasta, and most importantly, chocolate cake with us. He was an angel the whole day.


Look at that, folks, he can eat cake with both hands. Tell me he isn't going to be an ambidextrous genius. (You know I'm kidding, right?!)


We had a lovely day.

Last week, I have (almost) completed Amedeo's fall jacket. I've been working on lots of sewing projects, but haven't had the energy to blog about them on my other blog. I can barely keep up with one. I'm glad I made this. Amedeo loves it since it has trucks on it. The inside is cotton and the outside is a really soft cotton/bamboo sweatshirt fleece. I've got mixed feelings about making children's clothes, since they grow so quickly and they tend to be hardheaded and fickle. But, I'm happy that he likes it.

Have a nice weekend, everyone!

Ready for Christmas Yet?

This week, my mom and dad helped out lots and lots. I had a dentist appointment, so I dropped Amedeo off at their house. They had a good time playing together at home. My mom had an art class at the senior center next to the Miller Library, so Amedeo went along. My dentist was just off Rt. 40, so I met them there. I asked the lady at the front desk, "I'm looking for my mom. Um, she has gray hair." Duh. EVERYONE there has gray hair. "And, she's got a baby?" There we go. I'm so brilliant! Amedeo enjoyed hanging out with the old folks and generally being the star of the show.

On Friday, I had to take Zenzero to the vet for a checkup. He's been peeing outside of the litter box, in our CLEAN laundry in the basket!!! We figured that he must have some physical thing wrong with him. Nope. $100 later, the vet tells me that he's fine. The bloodwork and urine tests were all normal. It's an EMOTIONAL problem. Poor cat. I'm sure this must have something to do with Amedeo's recent penchant for shrieking and chasing the cats EVERYWHERE. So, I'm trying to give Zenzero some special attention so he doesn't wee wee all over everything. I promise, our house doesn't smell like cat pee. We cleaned it all up...I think.

On Friday, we had a little playtime in the sandbox.



Grandpa is an excellent book reader!



I try not to brag about Amedeo too frequently, but I thought I'd share a picture of him that captures his insane cuteness. When I look at this, I don't care that he throws food, screams and cries, and generally causes mayhem. Ah, motherhood.



It is September. I'd like to point out that Christmas is only 3 months away. To start our preparations, we're decorating a little early.

We thought we'd start with red.


And finish with green.

Ho ho ho.

18 Month Stats

We had Amedeo's 18 month doctor's appointment today.

Here are the facts:

• head circumference: 47.5 in -- 50%
• height: 34.5 in -- 95%
• weight: 24 lb 8 oz -- 25%

Pretty much what we expected. He's tall and skinny with an average sized head. We asked the doctor about milk consumption. He doesn't drink much cow's milk since he's still breastfeeding about 3x a day, and if he drinks more milk, he wouldn't eat any table food at all.

I'm a little perplexed as to what to do. The doc tells me to give him more milk, but then he won't eat. He'd get the fat that the doc says he needs, but would miss out on the other nutrients. I'm thinking of trying to find a nutritionist who specializes in children so I can get more information. I feel like the doctor is encouraging me to stop BFing...well, she called it "skim milk" from a nutrient perspective.

I don't feel like he's ready to stop yet, but I'd like to be a good parent and provide the right things. What do I do? What do you do about milk in your household?

Wah!

For no good reason, Amedeo had some trying moments today. Maybe he was tired. Maybe his teeth were paining him. Maybe he's mad because I cut his hair a little too short in the front. All in all, it was a nice weekend, to the contrary of this picture. Tomorrow, we've got his 18 month appointment. I'm looking forward to finding out his measurements. I'm not looking forward to his (most likely) hysterical reaction to any doctor who might examine him. Ah...that is tomorrow. For now, I can eat chocolate.

Fun with Babies and Mosquitos

I hosted the mommies and babies today in our backyard. 'Twas a fun time...Mel and Jillian plus Denise and Jocelyn. Mel took the pics and swatted mosquitoes. I just swatted mosquitoes. Lemonade and apple cake was had by all.

The girls hung out in the pool, while...



Amedeo picked tomatoes and looked confused.


Violet was a good beastie and let the kiddies chase her a bit. Very brave of you!



A little bit of indoor story-time...


Well, folks, I left the tiling plans up to Pietro, and he decided to postpone it until after he gets back from New Mexico. Ah...there go my dreams of having a nice bath while he's gone...on the other hand, who wants to take a bath when it's 90 degrees out anyway?

Hopefully, I'm going to update the sewing blog tomorrow...I've been working hard on some new projects. JoAnn's had a FABULOUS sale on patterns this weekend, and I admit that I went nuts.