She's Got A Friend

We had a nice treat recently when we got to watch Chiara's oldest friend Magdalena.  This is a little clip of the two of them shortly after she arrived with her parents....

Chiara's First Charity Event

Chiara got up early this morning to participate in her first charity event.  This was to raise funds to help various homeless shelters and programs in the Washington, DC area.  

We joined our friends the Schwarz's out on the mall for this walk on what turned out to be a very beautiful day.  Our team was supporting Calvery Women's Services.  The event was a huge success.  We were told that Calvery Women's Services received an anonymous gift of $100,000.00, in addition to the funds that were raised by the walkers.  It always feels good to help people in need, particularly around the holidays.

After the walk, we decided to the National Gallery of Art to see the Arcimboldo Exhibit.  This is the second time we all came across his work.  The first time Chiara did not see much, but her parents did on their babymoon at the Musee du Louvre in Paris.  We have a feeling our precious Chiara may have looked a little like a miniature Arcimboldo painting while we were in Paris, since she was in her mom's belly.

The original poster child for V-8!  The exhibit was pretty neat and there were paintings from other galleries around the world that we had not seen in Paris.  It was more enjoyable this time around, as it was not 100 degrees, there were not thousands of people and we got Chiara's opinion of the work.  In case you are wondering, it just made her hungry!!

Which Purse is Mine?

While mom was away, Chiara realized....

This was not her purse!

So she decided to look for her own purse...

Have you seen my purse (she asked her dad behind the camera)... 

 Here it is!!

I think I'll stand here and wait for mom to get home.  Especially, because I can't walk and dad won't stop taking pictures!

"3" or "111"

Chiara celebrated her birthday since our last blog.  Luckily, she is too young to remember the standard that was set for this occasion.  Our little principessa celebrated her birthday not once, not twice, but three times!! When we asked her about it, she said she would be fine with one party, but her parents wanted to take this special celebration on the road.

Here she is at Birthday #1 at Grammy Sandy's :

Here she is at Birthday #2 at Grandma and Grandpa Lanzettis:

Here she is at Birthday # 3 in her own backyard:

This is her showing off her gift from her Mom and Dad (yes, that is a duck on her helmet):

As if children don't grow fast enough... we made our little girl 3 years old or 111 years old in just 12 months, depending on how you count the candles!!

Chocolate World

This weekend Chiara got to spend some quality time with her Godfather and his family on a weekend trip to Lancaster, PA.  She does not appear in this short video, because she is actually strapped to the camera man (Dad).  However, you do get to see her adorable cousins Aden and Avery in action at Chocolate World...

Catching Up With Chiara Post!

We hate to make excuses, but we are realizing that once a child passes the stage of being a cute potted plant, it is much harder to find spare time once they start crawling around the house!  There have been so many experiences since the last post, we thought it would be easiest to just inform everyone of the latest "firsts" for our dear Chiara.

First Swim

Chiara has always enjoyed her baths, but you never know how things will go for a first dunk in the pool. This little swim took place on the rooftop of her Godmother Sylvia and Zio Dan's condo building. She did fine despite the wind and a small audience.

First Picnic

Lunchtime is always a good time to take a picture of our little gourmand. It looks like either Avocado or Broccoli.  This was an awesome day.  We decided to take a drive to Charlottesville, VA to have a picnic and stroll around the town.  This outing led to two other firsts, but we do not have any pictures of them.  She experienced her first concert, when we ran into a free patriotic music concert on this Saturday before Independence Day.  Unfortunately, she also experienced eating dirt for the first time, when she reached beyond the blanket and helped herself to the most organic food of all...a good old chunk of mother earth.  Luckily, we stopped her at just a taste!

First 4th of July

This was a bit of a two for one First.  This was her first 4th of July and her first 4th of July party.  Tony and Anita invited us over to celebrate with some of their friends over a nice home cooked meal.  You would never believe it, based on how adorable she looks in this picture, but she wound up creating her own fireworks causing us to leave earlier than we hoped to on such a fun evening.  She was clearly exhausted, as she slept through our neighbor's annual live band/fireworks celebration.  While we feared our roof...our roof.........our roof was on fire, our little sweetie slept like a log.

First Wearing

This was the first time Chiara wore this outfit, that she should have clearly wore a month earlier!  Don't worry sweetie, this particular line runs very small ;-)

First Proclamation

This is Chiara's first time proclaiming her Italian heritage.  Zio Rob brought her back this shirt from his trip to Boston.  For the record, he also gave her the famous Douglas the Duck! This is not a two for one first, even though it looks like she polished off her first tray of cannoli or first pound of pasta.  With so many outfits and so little time, we probably should have let her start wearing this one a little earlier too! :-/

First Wrestling Match

While this was Chiara's first wrestling match, her old friend Magdalena looks quite experienced.  We're not sure if Magda scored any traditional points at this stage in the match, but she certainly gets some for style.  Although it looks like Chiara is seriously considering using that foreign object as a weapon (WWF Style), she most likely put it in her own mouth no matter what position Magda decided to place her.

First High Chair at Restaurant

This is Chiara's first time sitting in a high chair at a restaurant.  I know that is a lengthy and trivial honor like (Best Sound Editing for Foreign Short Story).  However, I had to come up with something, because this is such an awesome picture.  She actually did sit up nicely throughout the whole meal.  This was taken in an Italian restaurant, but she still did not score her first cannoli or plate of pasta.  However, her mom and dad provided a heck of a demonstration for her.

First Swim Lesson

This was Chiara's very first swim lesson.  She is enrolled in the Daddy/Daughter swim class at the local recreation center.  She did great for the first time in the big pool.  While some (much older, I might add) kids cried, she was pretty much all smiles. That temporary look of concern on her face was due to her feet getting caught in her dad's chest hair!

First Stroller

This is a picture of Chiara's first ride in her new big girl stroller.  We are all celebrating graduation from the Snap and Go, as it was getting more and more challenging to lug her around in the infant car seat.  This one is pretty sporty.  It came with lots of standard equipment and should last until she is four years old.



                           First Doll (Second Wrestling Match)


This one does not require any further explanation!

Douglas' Revenge

For those of you that know Chiara pretty well, are probably aware that Douglas the Duck quickly became her best little friend after she received it as a gift from zio Rob D'Onofrio.  It might be hard to tell from this picture, but Douglas is a stuffed animal without the........stuffing! 

Just in case you think she was already giggling in this picture and Douglas was tossed at her right before the picture was taken, here is another picture of them enjoying each other's company.

From time to time we noticed what seemed to be a perfectly normal and sweet occurrence.  Every now and then it would appear as if Chiara fell asleep with Douglas by her side and both of them were resting comfortably and very happy.  

As you can see here, we caught a more aggressive side to Douglas in this picture.  Whether it is for throwing him to the ground so many times throughout the day or for keeping him more wet than a duck out of water should ever be, he seems to get revenge from time to time.  His favorite move is the smother!  

As a result of the mounting tension between these two, we have decided that Chiara should start seeing other ducks.  So, her mom brought the tall skinny one shown here next to Douglas home.  We'll see how this works out, but it will be hard for her to move on from her first stuffed love.  Help us name the new duck by voting on the top right side of this blog page.

First Mother's Day

Here is a family photo on our first Mother's Day. We snapped this photo right after church service on Sunday. We were able to somehow keep Chiara from looking suspiciously at the camera like she normally does in photos.  Actually, we think the problem has been with the blinking red eye reduction light.  She is apparently fine smiling at a weird metal gizmo with three legs, so long as it does not have a blinking red light!



The first Mother's Day was pretty special.  Dad actually went to three different places early in the morning to try and make Mom some fancy French Toast.  He found out the early bird does not always get the worm, unless he is willing to wait until a bakery opens at 8:00 a.m. for it.  Oh well, the bread from the grocery store worked out just fine.  After breakfast Mom got to open a few presents.  A neat customized poster with Chiara's name and birth date and a Roman/maternal themed pendant for a necklace.  Dad will pick up the freight on Mother's Day gifts until Chiara can pull her own weight in the kitchen or the craft room! ;-)

Since this is a Mother's Day post, I would like to shift the focus back to where it is due, to Chiara's Mom.  Aside from personally and physically delivering a gift to us directly from God, Gina has been an excellent mom.  For those who know her tough exterior shell side, Chiara makes her melt like the chocolate inside an M&M candy! There is no shortage of maternal instinct or protectiveness either.  Chiara and I have much to be thankful for in Gina.  From the physical demands of carrying, delivering and nursing Chiara to the time consuming tasks of cloth diapering, endless laundering, and organic food making, Gina has made one incredibly happy baby and an enormously proud father and husband.

Living through Mother's Day as a parent for the first time was a wonderful experience for another reason too.  It makes you count your blessings for having a child and a wonderful wife.  It also makes you look back and really appreciate your own Mom in a whole new way.  You may have heard the stories, but you just figured they kind of had to do those things for you.  If you roll back the calendar 30 or 40 years earlier when your Mom was doing these things for you without all of the handy tools and gadgets we have today, you really wonder if they had any time for themselves.  When you become a parent yourself, you realize parents can either take shortcuts or they can go the extra mile.  Most importantly, you also realize the natural bond between a child and their mother. We hope those that are blessed to be honored on Mother's Day are always proud of their labor of love and given the appreciation they deserve!

Someone Has Something to Say....

Chiara's Baptism

We were so proud of Chiara during her baptism. Not an ounce of stage fright in front of a crowded church. She did not cry once throughout the long service or the photo session afterward, which included her being passed from one person to another at least six or seven times. She did not even fuss while receiving the water and oil on her forehead!
The service was beautiful. Pastor Roger did a very nice job with the baptism and made it very special for the parents and Godparents. To celebrate her official status as a child of God and her Godparents, Zia Sylvia and Uncle Peter's willingness to take on a formal role in her life, some family and friends got together for a nice lunch together. We thank all those who joined us to witness and celebrate this important sacrament. Especially, our family that traveled from the Detroit area and New Jersey.

Click here to view these pictures larger

Blizzard of 2010

This is periodic video footage of the snow falling over Friday and Saturday taken from our sunroom. Keep an eye on the bench, armrests, umbrella pole and the birdhouse. Enjoy!

Hanging Out in The Bouncy Chair

It has been quite some time since our last post, so we thought a little video clip would be a nice way to give you a quick update on the star of our family.  Here is our little princess at 4 months old. You have to listen closely to her responses to her papa's questions.....

Our Little Reindeer

Our little reindeer Chiara was trying to log as many miles as Santa Clause for her first Christmas.  Just like Santa, Chiara apparently likes 12 inches of snow on the ground to start her holiday visits.  The first day of the road trip was spent driving through a blizzard and lasted until after midnight, when we finally decided to sleep in  Fremont, Ohio.  After a very short night of sleep, we got off to our newly defined early start of 9:30 a.m.  We made it into Windsor, Canada for a quick visit to meet her Bisnonno for the first time.  Despite the exhausting drive, the only real casualty was that Chiara’s little butt was almost as red as Rudolph’s nose from all of the hours logged in her car seat!

After meeting her other Great Grandparents and great Auntie Susan, she got to meet her (Uncles) Winston and Oliver (well, o.k. ---  they are actually Grammy’s two dogs), all for the very first time.  She braved the usual Christmas pace.  Even though she did not prepare a dish to pass, she wound up being the most well received guest at each of the family dinners.  She attended midnight service on Christmas Eve at the same church where her parents were married.  Finally, one last meal at Bisnonno’s in Windsor, Canada and she was heading back home. One more lovely evening spent right off the Ohio Turnpike and Chiara declared, “Virginia or Bust”!

Despite logging over 1,200 miles, Chiara made an attempt to venture up to see her grandparents in NJ.  Unfortunately, the traffic was so bad that her parents had much less stamina than her and they had to turn back home.

All totaled, Chiara traveled approximately 1,320 miles and logged over 25 hours on the road, with about 21 hours spent in her little sleigh (seen pictured here)!  Chiara has already elected to play Santa next year instead of one of his reindeer.  She is particularly interested in the role of eating cookies and drinking milk next to her own Christmas tree rather than the part of flying through the night and delivering packages to all of the other children! ;-)