Birthday Boy -

Nino got everything and more for his little birthday. It was quite a fun time.... Thanks to everyone who remembered or thought of the little guy on his special day. Nino is not walking to date but is still getting around very quickly. He can now stand for an extended period of time and even clap but when he takes a step he falls and gets hysterical. Thank goodness he will walk soon -

We did celebrate with a cupcake and 1st birthday decoration. He seemed interested only in the balloon which I guess is just the way it is. Alessandro also enjoyed the day so it gave him yet another chance to lick a cupcake for twenty minutes and then just leave the rest of it. URGH!

Nino is still working on all his thank you notes but they are on the way shortly.

All our thankful love - XOXO

Happy Birthday Nino!!!!!

Can you believe that little Nino is a year old today????? It is amazing how fast the year has flown by and how blessed we feel to have him a part of our lives. Actually Daddy and I were talking that we can not even remember what it was like before our second little guy joined the ranks.... Anyone even remember that?

Nino is amazing as you all know and so lucky to be surrounded by so much love and good wishes for his birthday. We are so excited. Tonight we are having baby's first cupcake and presents which should be lots of fun. The only issue we see is that Alessandro does not seem to understand that packages and letters are not always for him - luckily he finds baby toys still exciting and knows that Nino will only play with something for a minute and then he can have it whenever he wants. Smart older brother that he is.

Antonio is not walking at press time but he is crawling (that baby can move) and moving along the furniture and pretty much anything he can get his little hands on. He is growing through clothing faster then I can hand it down to our friends and learning something new each day. Nino loves to laugh when everyone else laughs even though he has no idea what it is about and will clap after every song that we sing. He is a great crowd as I often day. Nino also is sleeping pretty well which is a blessing and other then some teething crankiness and mama attachments (the ladies at the gym hate us) we have nothing to complain about.

For those of you watching the stats -we did go to the doctor today for his well baby visit. The nurses seemed to think this was a cruel birthday but this way Mommy could remember when we were supposed to go. Height 31" (90%) Weight 22.9 (50%) - so like his brother Nino has the proportion of a model catwalker but we are sure that will even out soon (although poor Alessandro is still a bean-pole to date). Nino also got some vaccinations and most importantly for the family budget the go ahead to leave formula behind and move to regular milk.... Come on fellow parents you know how very exciting this news is.... yippee!

Enjoy these casual photos of the birthday boy -

XOXO

Back at the Park -

Although it is raining now we loved being outside in the warm(er) weather this week. We power walked with the stroller, played at the park, opened the sunroof and pre-school was even out at the playground. It was excellent. Alessandro is obsessed with his sunglasses - likely an effect of me always wearing mine - and wants to wear them all the time. So cute! We also applied sunblock for the first time this season and tried Nino wearing a hat which seemed to be met with little resistance which is promising for the summer. For those of you who have visited us in New Jersey you know the house backs up to a nice park - so am glad the boys can go visit and not just dream about it while eating breakfast and staring out the window.

Of course it is going to rain all weekend but we will be ready next week when the sun comes out for even more adventures. Missing you all -
XOXO

A Haircut and Shoes Shoes Shoes -

Alessandro was going to have class photos last week and then we had a bit of bad weather and were unable to take them. Still it did get Mommy on it and to the barber shop - actually the posh kids hair cuttery in town. Alessandro is such a champ and now tells me to wait on the couch that he will be just fine - of course he is still riding in a giant car and watching Elmo so am not too worried he is growing up too fast.

Also the shoe fetish for our regular readers continues. He will wear anything that he can find and walk around the house - better if they are David's or something interesting like Boots. The photos are of him wearing my Cowboy Boots that were out the other day. Perhaps a future in design? Very exciting!

XOXO

Visitors for Nino Finally -

Yes it is about time that Nino had some visitors when almost everyone is here primarily to play with Alessandro. Our friends Ev and Dinesh brought our baby Kane and had a very nice visit. Poor Ev got dragged to a Junior League fundraiser at a Cowboy Club but she was literally the best sport ever and is likely a "target" now for the ladies to recruit her. So nice to see all our friends from the city we miss you all so much.

XOXO