Nino at 10 Months -

Anyone who can believe Nino is ten months already please stand up.... We can not believe how big he is getting and how much our littlest man is changing each day. In the past two weeks he has started clapping and waving and is beginning to verbalize - mostly when he wants a cookie while in the high chair. Although not walking yet he is pulling up on everything, crawling with the speed of light and pushing his little walker all the way across the main level of the house literally until he hits the wall and fusses for us to turn him around so he can do it all over again.

Nino is also doing well with "baby boot camp" for sleep at night and we really did appreciate all the support and good advice from all you guys to get him back on track with the sleeping - luckily Pop Pop brought his ear plus and seems to have missed the worst of it. Nino is also doing better with his separation during the day time and now loves baby school (aka Mommy's morning out at the church on Wednesday) and tolerates being left for short stints at the gym for abbreviated workouts for Mom.

At home he continues to be obsessed with the dog - poor Oliver just looks at us like "another one come on" and anything (and I mean anything) he can put in his mouth. The poor thing is just teething up a storm.... Also he is into everything like the dog's bowls, the fireplace (which is a convenient height) and all of Alessandro's toys (especially his cars). I have a feeling our comfort from ADL being calm and listening well might be over? Still he is a joy and just the cutest baby we have ever seen. People literally stop and admire him which is fun but unfortunately leading Daddy to think he has a future career as one of the E-Trade babies on the commercials Ha!

Cruising to the big birthday now - what do you think he will be like with cake - yikes!

XOXOXO

Alessandro Winter Fun -

Okay Mama Duck does not usually like to post about the boys separately but since there is so much going on this time it might make sense. Alessandro is 33 months - thank goodness we are nearing the point where we no longer need to count in months - or 2 1/2 and doing great. He loves school and we just had our first parent teacher conference where we found out that he is in fact a joy and a love for all to behold. Mrs. M did give us some little things to work on like verbal expression and pronunciation of the entire name (could we make this one more hard for him???) but all and all seemed very impressed. It is time to get him registered for next year and we are crossing our fingers that he will again get three days a week am (those of you who have been there understand right?). Alessandro is continuing to love story time at the library - especially when we read about trains and can visit "Fireball" his little piggy friend who surprisingly does like cilantro when even some humans do not. We are meeting more kids and nice moms around and try and do lunch or a play date each week with one of them. J (pictured here with him at the library) is one of the best and we love him and his Mom especially since they do like chicken nuggets and McDonald's playgrounds like we do. Alessandro is also talking up a storm and counting the minutes each day until Daddy comes home to play with him in the basement - yes life is good!

Most importantly Alessandro continues to be so good with Nino - playing with him, sharing toys (most of the time) and helping him and Mom. He is such a love.

XOXOXO

P.S. Love this photo of poor David trying to watch the Jets game with Alex while little Nino pulls at his leg - Alessandro has picked up some charming tidbits like "Go Man Go" "Touchdown" "Get Him" and "Nice Run" perhaps we do have a little Peyton on our hands? That would be great!

Pop Pop's Great Visit -

We have loved having Pop Pop here for the last ten days. As always he is the light of the boys life and they love every minute. He is also so very much to us around the house which is all working well thanks to him. During his visit Nino was just showing off learning to do new things and impressing Pops, am convinced we have a little ham biscuit on our hands for this.

Pop Pop was also quite a good sport to play with the boys while I got some shifts in for Junior League and even did not seem too mad when Alessandro gave him the stomach flu and created quite a fun two days with everyone (including him) sick. Urgh!

David also loved having Pop Pop around because he is more interested in discussing our probable new car and of course the JETS - so it was a win all around.

Most precious is the fact that everyday Alessandro gets his toy plane and says "Pop Pop went home on the plane and now I am sad....." seriously it makes me about to cry. Most of the time he will also follow up with "Pop Pop come back real soon" which we hope will be conveyed over the phone for Pop Pop himself as it is sure to get the poor man back on Jet Blue again soon - emotional blackmail at it's finest. Luckily we are already looking forward to another visit around the big 3rd birthday in April. Yippee! We miss you Pop Pop!

XOXO

Kanan's Baptism -

We were very lucky to attend the baptism of baby Kanan, son of our dear friends Evelyn and Dinesh. The baptism was at the very beautiful Grace Church in the city with a reception brunch afterwards. The boys were very good at church and even survived the Rite I service which leaves them in the church after the peace for much longer with us (hope we did not disturb too many people). Afterwards there was a lovely brunch at a local Carri bean Restaurant. With both boys we almost made it through the meal and only had to leave a little early which was great. The place was way too cool for us with great food and even a live DJ spinning.

What we loved most was celebrating Kanan's day and being with all our friends from Trinity Wall Street our former parish - as you can see in the photos there has been quite a "baby boom" with our church group which is very exciting. The first two photos are by Ev's friend Ryan who is a professional photographer and captured the day (and little Nino) much better then I ever could even with the new camera. We love all of the boys brothers (and sisters since Calloway is the lone beautiful lady) of the church they and we are so blessed.

XOXO

Sorytime is Back!

Yes our favorite thing in the entire world is back Story Time at the Library. We go every Tuesday morning to meet our friend Joshua and enjoy a story and craft. This week was extra special because we also had a little impromptu puppet show and song from the librarian which was really fun. Of course we also had to go and visit "Fireball" the resident Guinea Pig who continues to be very spry and young acting which furthers my suspicions from last season.

Hooray we are back at the library - it is the perfect winter activity - especially when making yummy crafts with marshmallows - yummm!

XOXOXO

Princess Birthday Party -

How fun that some of Alessandro's little friends from school are having birthdays and inviting us in on all the fun. One of the recent ones was Miss. K. and her 3rd birthday party - the soiree was a "Princess Party" and it was hosted at Burger King where the BEST indoor playground around is - so it does not get much better then that. There were about 10 kids there and everyone played on the playground, shared a quick kids meal (ADL ate nothing but fries of course), had cupcakes (which the little man has no interest in and quickly brought over to Mom) and then played some more. All and all it was a perfect celebration and a fun event for the kids to get together.

Note - Alessandro will tell you that he has two girlfriends Miss. K (the birthday girl) and Miss. S who are both in his class. Both are photographed here and may I say they are very good possible love interest. Well Done Alessandro!!!!

XOXOXO

Happy New Year - Let's Party -

The boys had a great start to the New Year playing with their favorite neighborhood peeps at our "New Years in London Party." We enjoyed a lovely dinner together with plenty of playtime excitement for all - then at 7:00pm (London's Midnight) we did a full countdown with the BBC complete with noise makers (Nino not being the biggest fans) and the beating of pots (am new to this tradition but think it really cute). What a fabulous way to start off the New Years with great friends and our little family.
All the best for a very Happy New Year!

XOXO