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!
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.
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!
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.
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!
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.....
