palm springs 2014 – part 1

Last winter was brutal. We hadn’t planned on taking a vacation over spring break but the weather was so awful and so cold we knew we had to get out. So somewhat impulsively we booked a trip to Palm Springs, a place I’ve always wanted to go. A friend of mine and her husband own a house in Cathedral City that they rent out to friends, which worked out great for us. It was affordable and private and gave us plenty of room for the boys to run, play and be noisy.

I LOVED Palm Springs. It was totally cool but it didn’t feel too busy. It was really family friendly. And there was so much to see and do. We can’t wait to go back.

This was Vincent’s first plane ride. (Looking at these pictures make me laugh because he’s so bald!) He did fine on all the flights except for the last leg home. That was a toughie. But look at Matteo holding his hand! Awwww…

Our friend’s house in Cathedral City.

The best part about traveling west is early morning walks through the neighborhood.

For us, the key to traveling with two young kids was to follow their schedules. We’d plan an activity for the morning when they have the most energy, and made sure we were back home by early afternoon for nap time. Then we’d rally for dinner and go out again. We also made sure we balanced what we wanted to see and do, with stuff that was fun for them. On our first day, we drive out to Cabazon to see the giant dinosaurs from Pee Wee’s Big Adventure.

It’s an interesting place. A creationist group bought the dinosaurs and built this strange little dinosaur park around them that you can walk through.

Matteo’s favorite part was getting to go up in the T-Rex like the scene in the movie (the mouth is a a LOT smaller in real-life!) then yelling, “ANDY!”

More to come….eventually!

the last of the indian summer

Last Friday we woke up to snow on the ground but just days before we enjoyed temperatures in the 70’s. Ah fall, you little minx. You’ve been especially lovely this year.

11 months old

Vincent is 11 months old today! He is loud and messy and into EVERYTHING.

He’s just like his brother was at this age but even louder and messier and more active, if you can believe it. He loves being at school, and plays hard all day long. So hard that by lunchtime he’s out cold.

His favorite foods are cheese and bananas, and his favorite game to play is basketball. If you put any kind of basket in front of him, he’ll throw something in it.

This video was from last week. He just started taking some steps last weekend and all signs point toward him walking by one.

He and Matteo are starting to play together more and more. They’re so fun to watch.

I can’t believe you’ve been with us almost a year, little one. We love you so much!

screen time

Sometimes this kid kills me. How can a three-year-old have such attitude? Here he is, hanging out in my office chomping on an apple, telling me he wants some screen time.

Look at those eyebrows!

halloween 2013

We had a very eventful Halloween that included trick-or-treating no less than three times. When Matteo and I first talked about me also buying a costume this year I wasn’t sure it would be worth the investment, but I think I got my money’s worth.

First, last Friday night we started with the Downtown Madison Family Halloween with our friends Stefanie and Ayla.

Then, last Sunday we went to the zoo for their Halloween party.

This time Matt came with us and also dressed up, which was awesome. After finding that the majority of the parents in attendance (which was like 2,000 people) were NOT dressed up, it kind of became his worst nightmare. But he was a great sport about it and I think this photo is going to be one of our all-time favorites.

And for those who want a front-view of Vincent, here is our very own Superbaby.

After all of this happened the idea of Halloween started to get confusing for Matteo, especially when when I would try to explain that it still wasn’t actually Halloween yet and we had more trick-or-treating to do in our neighborhood later that week. By the time October 31st finally arrived he was exhausted. Normally we participate in a Halloween parade in our neighborhood but he asked to skip it this year. (It didn’t help that it was raining and we had to slightly modify our costumes. Like the boots?)

After about three blocks he said he was ready to go home. Remember those Berenstain Bears books with “Too Much” in their titles? Like “Too Much Birthday”, “Too Much TV”, etc? Well this was our own version – “Too Much Halloween”. Plus, I think we were both ready to get back to this guy.

We made it one more block so we could hit the spookiest house in the neighborhood, the one that always does it up big with buried skeletons in the front yard and a smoke machine. And then we went home to this.

Although he was tired of trick-or-treating he wasn’t tired of eating candy and Matteo was hoping the candy that we didn’t give away would be added to his own stash. A few minutes after we got home the doorbell rang and two teenage girls were on our doorstep. As I was going for our candy bowl to offer them, Matteo ran straight to the door. At the same time they politely said, “Trick or Treat!”, he yelled

“WE DON’T HAVE ANYMORE CANDY!”

That kid is too clever.

haircut

Somebody finally got a haircut. He looks so much older!

back to school

It’s back-to-school time! Yesterday was the first day of school for Matt and Matteo. Vincent started going to daycare last Thursday for half the day and today is his first full day.

Here’s Matteo – first day of preschool:

He’s in a mixed age class of 3-5 year olds and has three new teachers. He loves it! I walked him up the stairs to his new room yesterday and he sauntered right in like he already owned the place. I talked with his afternoon teacher at pick-up yesterday and she said he had a great day. He picked up on all the class routines right away and loved it when the older kids introduced themselves to the little ones as the ‘classroom helpers’. She said she watched his face as they introduced themselves and she could just tell he was thinking to himself, “I want to be a helper one day!”

His lead teacher called last night and left a message, also giving him a very good report. I love that she took the time to do that. He’s in such a great place.

Vincent is also in a great place. He has the same teachers that Matteo had and they are so wonderful with little ones. The lead teacher told me this morning that he laughs and plays all day. Here they are together, and here is a shot of him playing in the room. Can you see his little head there? (Yes, I’m the weird mom lurking outside and watching through the window after I’ve said my goodbyes.)

Here he is yesterday after a walk. He loves being outside. Whenever he is fussy, as soon as you wheel him outside he calms down. Since he was tiny he’s always loved sitting in the stroller, looking up at the leaves and watching the world around him.

Here is a shot of Matteo from three years ago, at almost the exact same age in that same buggy:

After I picked him up yesterday we took another walk around the neighborhood. He napped and I stopped for an iced coffee and a cookie at our favorite coffee shop. This has been our routine for the last several months but now the boys are both in school and I’m back to work full time.

Goodbye summer. I have to say that you were especially awesome this year.

the baptism

We had Vincent baptized on Saturday and it was lovely. It was a smaller group this time around (Wisconsin summer weekends are always full, especially close to Labor Day, so a lot of our friends were out of town) but we were still joined by more than 40 people to witness the ceremony and celebrate with us back at our home.

I love this new life of ours but it’s insane. Balancing a new baby and a wild three-year old is crazy! Matteo is going through a naked phase where he’s always taking his clothes off, and he pees on the ground outside whenever he feels the urge. Last night we came home from a walk and he stripped down, ran up and down the sidewalk nude, and then peed on the grass in front of our house. Matt and I just looked at each other and shrugged. It’s all about picking your battles. And hoping a mosquito bites his privates and teaches him a valuable lesson.

When you have only one child, life feels like this.

But when you go from one to two, life feels like this. In this photo, Matteo is refusing to have his picture taken with us so he’s rolling around on the sidewalk.

Here’s one with Matteo and Vincent and their cousins. He still looks insane, but at least he’s standing up.

During the ceremony, Matteo stuck his tongue in and out like a lizard at the people in the pews and Vincent pooped so loudly that people four rows behind us heard it (during a moment of perfect silence, of course). But somehow we made it through. The priest even said Vincent was the happiest baby he had ever baptized!

Life may be nuts right now, but I really do love it so much. Happy baptism, sweet boy!

appreciating matteo

During the summer, Matteo’s class learns about appreciating each other. Each child gets a week where their classmates tell them what they appreciate about them, and their parents are invited in to present to the class something about their family.

Our family presentation was all about sports and how Matteo’s Mom and Dad are coaches. We spent about 30 seconds talking about lacrosse (I had to cut it short once Matteo got a hold of his stick and started chopping with it), and then Matt talked about basketball. He demonstrated some ball-handling tricks and then had the kids each practice dribbling.

matteo’s first fish at green lake

He caught it all by himself!