Fleeting Thoughts

I have thoughts racing through my mind all day long but never have enough time to really explore them and jot them down. Recently I have begun using all lower caps on my emails to save time, though I still do care a bit about punctuation. Here are a few fleeting thoughts before they get away from me.

Now that Veronica is approaching 2 and Lorenzo is approaching 1, my life has really gotten easier. Both kids are very independent and will play for quite a while on their own. Oftentimes, I get to catch up on my reading of TIME, Food and Wine and Parents; while on my tummy in the playroom. Lorenzo is usually tearing all the books off the bookshelf and Veronica is pushing her baby stroller around in room asking for 'diff-rent song, diff-rent CD.' I can go grocery shopping with both kids if Veronica agrees to sit in the cart and Lorenzo in the baby spot. Usually, I will fill the cart up with essentials and we are off. Veronica will crawl into her car seat herself and I close the door on her side and secure Lorenzo in his seat before going back to her side and strapping her in. She is also a fan of 'sticking' her hands to the car as I get him out of his car seat. She then takes my hand only after I say 'okay'. (Don't try this in a traffic-ky area, I don't trust her that much.)


They both self-feed, they both sleep, they both love baths and they both love to help mom. Veronica takes her jacket and shoes off and puts them away, she puts clothes in the dryer, she cleans her own hand and face, brushes her hair and so much more. Lorenzo helps a lot by sleeping and being very agreeable almost all the time. Now that he understand the word 'no' he puts up a fuss if he is frustrated but that is his way of letting me know he has specific wants and desires. My role as a mom is satisfying as I hear Veronica's vocabulary grow each day and as she learns to do more and more things. Lorenzo is the cuddly one and allows he to hold him and hug him much more than Veronica does so the nurturer in me is also satisfied. What more could I ask for.

Play Days

We have looking more places indoors to have the kids play since the weather turns cold soon. Here is Lorenzo at an indoor play space in the middle of Alderwood Mall. It features large sea animals the kids can climb on and slide off.


Veronica loves the lake and we go for walks when we can. Here she is playing with a soccer ball and pretending to be a goalie.

V in motion!

Lorenzo takes a stab at playing with the soccer ball as well.

V relaxes and watches clouds, airplanes and ducks go by.

Race Day

We got up bright and early to participate in a Race for Hope today for Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome. It was 5K and Deme and the kids were the first stroller to cross the finish line, 29 minutes. I walked behind slowly and finished in 56 mins.

Don't we look like a sporty family?

Boating!

We are invited by our friends, Dagne, Brandt, Indie and Asher to go for a ride on their boat yesterday. It was a fantastic afternoon and the sun was shining. We jumped at a chance to hang out with them, everyone had a great time, esp. Veronica.

Veronica gets a chance to push a few buttons as the boat is docked. She adores steering wheels of all types so this was right up her alley.

Lorenzo likes being in the sun and outdoors so he was a happy camper.

With a cookie in had and the wind blowing in his hair, what more would a 10 month old ask for.

Veronica adores Indie and was more than excited to be in such close proximity to him for such an extended amount of time. They played on the boat together, had snacks and she got to see him squirt water from his super soaker.

Lorenzo and I almost never have our photo taken so Dagne obliged us. He is relaxing in my arms as he enjoys the lake view. Thank you for inviting us!

This Week's Photos

My mom arrived and the kids are loving here. I prepped Veronica by showing her photos of her and her nonna from Guam. Lorenzo saw my mom and burst out crying but stopped 5 minutes later and they have made up. Finally, his two front teeth have grown in a bit and he no longer looks like a vampire.

This girl has got her cappuccino perfected. She no longer needs help to pull the piston up and does not need help to push it down either.

She is a pro and when she see a coffee shop, she says 'daddy's cafe.' I think Howard Shultz would be proud.

This is the cappuccino that Deme makes for Vero. She gets milk foam and a sprinkle of cocoa power on top.

Last weekend we drove out to the outlet mall in North Bend to stock up in fall and winter clothes for the kids. They needed new shoes as well as warm sweaters and pants.

Veronica saw her love, Elmo and his sister Zoe and went wild for this ride. She is either going to have a career as a race car driver or a Disney executive.

Both kids love to read and although we have not read to Lorenzo as much as we did to Veronica, he still loves to chew on his books, turn the pages and point to his favorite images.

V at the Zoo

This week we went to the zoo. Both kids love animals and being upclose really peeks their curiosity. When we visit the family farm and Veronica see the animals in her books up close, she gets very excited. She also gets somewhat of a fright when she hears an actual donkey braying and an actual cow mooing. The deicbels are amplified compared to the sounds we make. Oftentimes, she is taked aback but lately, she's been okay with them.

Here Veronica is to the left of the man in the blue shirt who is holding a rubber boa in his hands. She declined the opportunity to touch it but watched with avid eyes.

This is our friend BJ and they were really cute today as they really began to play together for the first time. We had lunch at the zoo and hung out for a couple hours.


Both kids climbed all over the komodo dragon statue, the real things did not seem to do much for either one of them.

Another hit with the kids was the bronze baby elephant. The real one died a while back and the whole city mourned.

Front Page News

The Deme, the kids and I always go the the market in Kirkland and last week they got their photo taken for the front page. Aren't they adorable?

1+1=0

With my last visit to the doctor, I was weighed and have lost 6 pounds from last month. I have to admit that I have not noticed my weight loss at all my face, arms and legs look the same but my pants to seem a tad bit more loose. With my mom arriving in two weeks or so I have vowed to take some time to go to the gym. With a membership and many, many excuses, my over 25 BMI self really needs to get back to working out.

Today I had some leftover pizza for breakfast, Deme won’t eat leftover so it is up to me to make sure it does not go to waste. (does that sound like another excuse?) well, I washed the pizza down with a tall glass of homemade veggie juice. A somewhat delicious, earthy blend of all the leftover fruits and vegetables. This batch had carrots, celery, 1 lime and 2 oranges. With all that beta carotene and vitamin C goodness, I reasoned that call the bad carbs and cheese from the pizza I just ate somehow evaporated. I was never a math whiz but since I lost 6 pounds last month without counting calories for trying, I am going to assume that 1 piece of pizza plus 1 giant glass of organic homemade veggie juice = zero calories. I better keep it up.

An Afternoon with Ducks

We headed to a park yesterday afternoon with ducks galore. A very kind lady gave Veronica a piece of bread and she was in heaven.

She carefully torn a piece of bread from the slice and handed it to the duck. The duck was greedy and pecked at Veronica's hand but she paid no attention.

She loves animals great and small. With beautiful parks all over the city, nature abounds.

Finally I got Demetrio to take a photo of Veronica and I. Usually I am behind the camera and do not have many photos of the kids and I. This one is precious.

Solo Lorenzo

Well 10 months have passed since the day Lorenzo was born and it has been a busy and exciting 10 months. Today he was discharged as a physical therapy patient for his torticolis. He still has a 5 degree tilt but he no longer needs to go to the therapist for evaluations. I am glad that is over and done with. However when his growth spurts hit, I still have to stretch his neck to keep him limber and at 5 percent. His terrible blood blister in the front of his mouth just dissolved away last week and that front bunny tooth is ready to poke through. He is standing well on the furniture and will stand on his own soon, walking will be the next frontier!

Lorenzo sat in front of this rock for about 2 seconds before he decided he wanted to climb it.

There he goes but first he has to get a taste of it.

At the water park he got too close to one of the sprinklers and got a real surprise. Still he laughed it off and had a great time.

Everyone, absolutely everyone tells me our little guy looks at least 1. He is such a giant boy and so tall that he is often mistaken for much older.

This is a real accident waiting to happen but she loves to push her brother in their little car. We only let her do it on the grass in case of a crash landing.

This is his future NBA basketball card photo, if he makes it past 6 feet tall.

Happy 10 months! Here are a list of Lorenzo's nicknames:

didi, didi boy, boo boo boy, lorencino, handsome boy, big boy, and of course mamma's boy

Big Sis and Didi

I made them matching onsies and both are cute as buttons in bright lime green. Lorenzo is almost as heavy as Veronica but she still tries to pick him up. He loves to play with whatever toy she is playing with at the moment and does not understand 'no.'

The other day Deme and I were patting ourselves on the back for buying a black leather couch. With the spitting and dribbling this little guy does, it makes clean up really easy.

A Video for Nonna Stefania

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books
Tou might want to turn this up to hear Veronica. Here is Veronica saying a special 'Hello' to her nonna who will be here in about 6 weeks for her and Lorenzo's birthday party. (Yes, I made Veronica a special Elmo bib. Don't give me grief about it.)

Grinch

This morning as I was enjoying my 1 hour of respite, the dog started barking and the UPS guy rang the doorbell to drop off a package. Granted I love to receive packages and I love the mail and delivery men but I don't love the barking dog. So I posted this note on the door since I am expecting 4 packages this week.

Veronica in Motion

In a month Veronica will be 2. She is more independent than ever. She plays, climbs, jumps, want to go down steep stairs by herself. In fact, lately she wants to do everything for herself. She runs around saying 'self, self' all day long. She climbs in her crib, she buckles and unbuckles her straps on the high chair, she feeds herself, she puts her sandals on and takes her shoes off, she washes herself and so much more. What's next? She'll soon be driving herself to school.Independent play is really her thing, she enjoys taking things apart then calls for help when she thinks something is broken.

At then end of the day she is more tired than ever. Yesterday she went to bed at 6:45 and got up at 7:15. More and more she wears herself out at the end of the day. I am dreading winter when there are not as many outdoor things to do and we will have to be cooped up a bit more.