February 2012 Update

Hello, all! This photo summarizes a bunch of things that have been happening in our lives.















As you can see, Celeste is excellent at sitting. She is very happily eating solid food. I haven't used purees this time. She eats what we eat, just in smaller pieces. Her favorite food is oranges. She can clean a wedge of orange peel in no time flat! Almost any food is fun to wear. Yesterday she learned that mashed potatoes are good for getting an even coating all over the skin and hair. Our floors have never been filthier!!!

We have been having picnics in our family room. With dinosaurs. Dinosaurs are a big part of our lives lately. Amedeo is a bit of a dino nut.


Our little Celeste having a food riot. It is fun to fling, wear and smear. I think that some of it goes in her mouth.


I find this hard to believe, but Amedeo has had his 4th birthday! Eek! This was a little family party with a few cupcakes...



The next day, we did a little dino birthday party with a few children he wanted to invite.
Here's a picture of the dino party favors....



And, I made him a dino cake! I usually go for taste over looks, but this time, I managed to find an easy way to do both.



Here's a window into our dilemma: How do you keep a 7 month old away from the 4 year old's tiny legos? Put the 4 year old in a box, or put the legos in a box? We've tried both...so far, legos in a box work ok. Once Celeste is crawling, we'll have to rethink our plan.



Here's Amedeo eating breakfast in his tent. Celeste can roll around well enough to get anywhere she'd like to be. Mostly, she wants to see what Amedeo is doing in his tent.

September is here!

I can't believe that September is here! I am looking forward to the cooler weather. I am not looking forward to the trees losing their leaves...then we see our nemesis, Walgreens. Amedeo starts preschool on Tuesday. He is so excited. He talks on his pretend phone, telling people, "oh, no, I can't come over today, I have preschool!" What a tease!

Celeste is doing well. She continues to be a very smiley baby. We will never tire of toothless grins...even at 2 am, they are still cute. Ask me in 6 months if I'm tired of getting up 2 or more times at night. Ha!

Amedeo is surprisingly good-natured about his sister. I think he mostly views her as another audience. He wants her to come with him everywhere so she can see him do stuff. Just wait until she can crawl and mess up his trains. Then the gloves will come off!











Even now, there are still lots of sleeping baby cuddles. I don't remember when Amedeo started taking naps in his crib, but I am still enjoying this time. Of course, not much gets done during the day....who needs to mop the floor when it keeps getting dirty? Foolish parents!

I miss knitting. I miss fitting into my pants and shirts. If you see me, and I'm wearing ugly clothes, it's just because I'm cheap, and I don't want to buy bigger clothes to get by until I lose the last 15lbs. My chocolate chip cookie habit might be impeding my progress a teensy bit. Ah well....

Bows

Today's subject is BOWS!!! They are ubiquitous on little baby girl clothing....but, do they make anyone who wears a bow cute? Cast your vote for the cutest bow-wearing individual of the Bernasconi household.



Here is subject #1: Celeste. Definitely cute.



Subject #2: Amedeo. Also, pretty cute. He seems to like his bow, but complained that it was 'too small.'

Subject #3: Pietro. Cute? Not sure if bows and goatees go together. But, at least he is a very good sport.



Subject #4: Violet. Cute and unphased by said bow. She may inherit it from Celeste when she is finished with it.


My conclusion: Bows do not make anyone cute. Bows DO make everything FUNNY. I had a fantastic time attempting to put bows on everyone. You may note that you didn't see me wearing a bow. Hee hee.

8 Weeks Old!

It's hard to believe that Celeste is 8 weeks old today! Time has flown by. She is growing very well. Her birth weight was 7 1/2 lbs and now she is 12 lb 13 oz! Holy smokes!

A few things have been keeping us from loading pics on the blog..we just don't have as much time, but also we have had some computer snafus. The computer problems aren't resolved yet, but we're working on it!

Hopefully these pics will tide you all over while we continue to adjust to being a 4 person family.


Celeste LOVES her bath. If she's screaming, it calms her down. It has been a nice way to signal bedtime, so we do it every night. She seems to know the difference between day and night. Typically, she does a 4 hour stretch, drinks milk, then another 3 hour stretch. Last night, she did 5.5 hours, drank milk and then another 3. Good girl!


Celeste loves her big brother. She is constantly looking at him and smiling. Amedeo has lots to say to her. We are lucky that Celeste is a happy girl!!!


She prefers to sleep on people during the day. I rarely am able to put her down for a nap during the day yet. We'll see. I am enjoying the cuddles while I can!



Here's a fantastic yawn. Babies yawn with their entire faces.



We put the air mattress on the floor of the living room so we could sleep downstairs during Hurricane Irene. Amedeo and I slept on the mattress, Pietro on the couch and Celeste in the pack n'play to the side.

We'll try to keep the pics updated!
xoxo

Celeste Aurora Is Here!

Amazingly enough, my due date (July 6th) arrived and I expected nothing to happen. I took Amedeo to the playground in the morning to play in the sand. We walked home and decided to clean up and have lunch at ChikFilA for a change. We met my parents there and had a relaxing lunch. I needed to go to Trader Joes to pick up a few things, but I had the funny feeling when we got in the van that I needed to go home instead. I started having contractions as we were driving home!

I was almost certain that these were false labor contractions. Amedeo needed a nap, so we read some stories, drank milk and lay down. I started having more contractions, so I gathered up the remaining few things that I needed in my suitcase for the hospital. I started texting Pietro to let him know that things might be happening. I really wasn't sure if it was real or not!

I started getting stronger and stronger contractions around 5, so I texted Pietro again that he should be coming home. We made some scrambled eggs for dinner. I called the midwife to see if these were real contractions or not. She suggested that I take a warm bath or shower to see if that would stop the contractions or make them stronger and more regular. I took a bath. They certainly got stronger! We called my mom and dad and started taking Amedeo over to their house. Pietro scrambled to get a few things together for himself for the hospital (silly man)!

We dropped Amedeo off. I called the midwife again at my parents house since the contractions were stronger. She agreed that I should come in. At this point, I was almost sure that I was in labor, but I did not expect to be 8 cm dilated when I arrived! I was able to breathe through the contractions (to my surprise). I am not a fan of pain. When I get my period, I reach for the motrin. I love motrin.

Thinking that we had lots of time, Pietro left the camera and a few other things in the car. When he realized that there wasn't any time left, he ran back down and grabbed the camera and his bag. We arrived at the hospital around 8 pm, Celeste was born at 11:05 pm.

After having me on the moniters for an hour or so, they let me get up and take a shower. That's when the contractions started getting really strong. I puked and sweated and moaned. It was not a glamorous thing. The nurses reassured me that vomiting signaled that we were almost at the end. They love vomit! Our bodies are very strange, I must say.

Once we got to the pushing phase, I was afraid to push. I kept thinking, "What are these crazy nurses telling me? How is a baby really going to fit? If I push, what if all my organs come spilling out too?" In 4-5 contractions with pushing, Celeste was born! I never expected to deliver without an epidural. I was shocked and elated. Mary, a knitting friend of mine is a labor and delivery nurse. She came back to work so she could be there at the hospital. I cannot thank her enough for coming. She talked me through the worst parts of labor. She explained that the more you push, the faster the baby comes and the faster you get relief from the contractions. Celeste started nursing right away. She figured out the latch quickly and was very alert for quite a while after her birth.


Ooooooh LABOR! That's the least fun part!


Celeste in her first few minutes of life. She looks so much like Amedeo!



The next morning, my mom and dad and Amedeo came to see Celeste (they saw us too, but we were less important).



Amedeo was thrilled to finally see his sister! He was fascinated by her tiny toes.



One of my very favorite things is the skin to skin contact. Celeste seemed to like it too.



Here she is at home for the first time. Being an infant is tiring. We have countless pictures of her with her eyes closed.



Ah, that's better! She has several wakeful periods during the day.



Celeste has already assumed a role as the chief train engineer supervisor. Her first leadership position!



The boys and our girl...Amedeo either closes his eyes or sticks out his tongue for pictures these days. Charming, no?
Sorry it took so long getting up the pics...there will be lots more to come. I think we've taken over 300 photos this week alone. Gosh.

Sleep

Last weekend, Amedeo was taking a nap. I heard him stirring and went up to see. He had climbed out of the sheets and promptly fell back to sleep at the foot of the bed with his butt in the air. Tee hee hee. Why is it that they are so cute when they're asleep?















And this brings me to what sleep will be like for me in 3.5 weeks. I am not looking forward to sleep deprivation again. But I am looking forward to meeting the baby girl. I suppose I can't have one without the other!

The Sprinkler

Last week was HOT! I looked forward to hot weather all winter until I actually got it. Now I don't want it any more. Fickle me. These pictures were taken late one afternoon last week. Amedeo and I had stayed in all day due to the heat. I thought he needed to run around and the sprinkler provided the very necessary entertainment. Pietro enjoyed it too after being in the office all day!



Hey, Mom! It's hot and the water is cold. Isn't that crazy?!?!



Ok, son, you head left, I'll go right and we'll get your mother with the hose. Don't let her get away!



Not sure what is happening here. I bet Amedeo had a reason.



Pietro thought he could hide from the water....no no no. Silly man.



Amedeo asked me what his swim shirt said. Surf Life. Not very applicable to our lives, sadly. More like Suburbia Life. Ha!



ME! I am in charge! You will do what I say because I am wet and covered in grass!



I like this last picture of Amedeo. I feel like it is a little window into what he might look like as he gets older.

So this is TWO posts in a week! Holy Smokes! We are going a little slower with the baby preparations. I have washed lots of clothes and carseat covers and all of that. Now we have a dresser to put the clothes in. I'd say we're ready, but I'm certain something else will come up in the next 4.5 weeks!