The adventure continues...

No one ever said living in Italy would be easy...


So, the weekend Eloise was born (over eight weeks ago now) the road that connects our parco (gated housing community) to the rest of the world, half collapsed. We sort of ignored it at the time because we could still get in and out on one lane of the road. However, since that time, no effort has been made to fix the road. It is clearly the result of some sort of small landslide and with the impending rain (this region experiences heavy rain in the fall and winter) we feel that the rest of the road is in danger.


This is a picture of our friend, Aaron, checking out the damage.

I went in to the housing office on base last Monday (about a week ago) and they recommended that we move as soon as possible. It was clear from the start that there wouldn't be time to find another house out in town to move to with the lengthy contract/inspection process, so we just decided to move onto the base.

After consulting with the housing office, things moved pretty quickly. Andy wrote an appeal letter to ask for funding for our move and for additional space, both of which were approved, on the condition that we move by the end of the fiscal year, which is this Thursday, the 30th of September! So, here we are, on the eve of yet another moving day. The movers come tomorrow, and we anticipate at least a two, perhaps three-day move.

So, goodbye Pozzuoli home.... goodbye wonderful garden and lovely fruit trees. Hello, base living!

Eloise's two month checkup

Today Eloise had her two month check up. She weighed in at 11lbs 15 oz... at the 93rd percentile and she was over 23 inches long, which is near the 85 percentile. Not that these things mean a whole lot, but she is growing quite well!

I must admit, I haven't gotten a lot of great pictures of her lately, but she is doing really well and really starting to smile and show off her cute dimple. Andy thinks I'm not blogging about her enough... so I will resolve to post more about her. Here is a picture of her sleeping in her swing... her favorite place for daytime naps (second only to the bjorn when Mommy is wearing her) and as she settles down for the night.


Eloise is also sleeping really well... although I'm sure I'm jinxing myself by just writing this... but she is mostly sleeping through the night from 9pm-ish until 6am-ish. She'll then usually go back to sleep until 7 or 8 as well. I feel like I've been blessed with a second good sleeper and very good baby.

We are now a soccer family!

Claire joined her first soccer team this week! Well... sort of. She didn't actually join because she's a bit too young. My friend Melissa is coaching the team for three- and four-year-olds and she said Claire could "unofficially" tag along. It is clear why the team isn't for two-year-olds. Don't get me wrong, Claire is having a blast, and she thinks she's playing soccer, but most of the time, she kicks her ball, as gently as if she were kicking an egg, as all the other kids run past her toward the goal. She also spent some time today checking out an airplane and waving to Mommy as she bent over and looked upside down through her legs.

Good times.


Well, at least she's enjoying herself and looking cute in the process!

Videos of the Girls

Over the last few weeks, I've taken some videos of some cute moments and I've meant to upload them, but I haven't gotten to them yet.

This first one is a video of Claire meeting Eloise for the first time in the hospital. Our friends, Mark and Kara watched Claire for us while I was having Eloise, and they brought her over to meet her new little sister the next morning.

Claire Meeting Eloise

This next video is during our second day home with Eloise. Claire was (and still is) very interested in what Eloise is doing and here she is singing Eloise a song.

Claire Sings Twinkle Twinkle to Eloise

This last video is of Claire running around in her Halloween costume the day it came in the mail. Because I wanted to be sure that it arrived on time, I ordered it super early. Claire picked it out herself and she now wears it every day. I sure hope it makes it to Halloween!

Claire as a Butterfly

Crazy Sleeper

Claire has always been a fantastic sleeper and like any parent who checks in on their sleeping child, I always think she looks like an angel.

However, I was not prepared for the sight that I saw two nights ago when I checked in on her. I have NO idea how she was asleep in that position. If it's not clear from the picture, she's got both feet on the floor, arms spread out, and she is leaning back on her bed, with her pink teddy bear over her chest.


Soon after I called Andy in to see her and took the picture, she happily woke up, smiled, and crawled into bed.

Baby Ballet begins again...

Yesterday our fall session of baby ballet began. Claire had such a good time in baby ballet last spring, that there was no question we'd put her in it again. This is a picture of Claire on her way to baby ballet. Even though Claire isn't going to school, she is definitely interested in backpacks. We got her one to put her toys and snacks in because now that I've got to carry around the huge diaper bag again, I'm trying to offload some of Claire's stuff onto her. She loves carrying it around like a big girl. She also had her ballet shoes in it on this day. Such a big girl!

Daddy still has some time off, so he got to come to baby ballet with us.


Eloise also attended baby ballet, of course, but more as an observer, not quite a participant. However, she was dressed for the part, wearing a black onesie with a leopard print tutu that Jessie sent her! She was the envy of all the ballet girls.

Here are my girls in their black tutus... no pink for my girls!

One month already?!

Eloise turned one month old on Monday the 30th of August. It's amazing how quickly this last month has gone.... especially compared to how slowly the last month of pregnancy went! ;)

Sisters!

Claire is very much in love with Eloise. So far, Claire has really accepted Eloise into her life and our family. The love is apparent and it makes us so happy!

Visitors

Over the last couple of weeks, we were very lucky to have two sets of visitors to come and see us, meet the new addition, and explore Italy.


First, Julie Krainick, my step sister, came with three of her kids. Tony (age 16), Mary "Izzy" (age 15, and Katy (age 12). They did some sightseeing and spent a lot of time playing with their cousin Claire. Boy, was Claire thrilled with their trip. She loved all the special attention she got from her cousins, the big kids. They all enjoyed meeting baby Eloise too.

Then, Andy's parents, Roberta and Otto came to visit for a week. They also spent some time doing some sightessing. They did a tour of Capri and Pompeii and explored some other local sites. They also spent a lot of time with the grand kids. Claire loved spending time with them. Grandma Roberta went swimming with Claire several times, which Claire loved, and she put Claire to bed every night too. There were lots of stories and cuddles and kisses for all! Of course, Grandma and Grandpa enjoyed meeting baby Eloise too!


It was very nice to have family in town to meet Eloise and spend time with Claire. I really think that Claire benefited from the extra attention from the family. All the love and attention shown to Claire went a long way in helping to ease the transition to having a new baby sister.