20 months/The holidays are upon us

This has been a big month for us. Maria got her first haircut, we have begun holiday preparations and our little one just keeps growing. Maria is now 34" (maybe even more), and 24 lbs. Long, lean and full or energy. She also enjoys entertaining us with her ever expanding vocabulary, long sentences and stories (I challenge someone to actually understand the stories though). I have lost count of the number of words she says, and I know she has at least 10 2-word phrases that are clear to more than just Mom and Dad. She is also beginning to identify her colors (purple being the most consistent) and count. She keeps me ever amazed, and grounded. With all the kids I see at work, it is so refreshing to be reminded of what normal looks like. Although, after a day with severely speech delayed children she seems downright gifted some days.

19 Months/Happy Halloween

So our little one is now 19 months, and just celebrated her 2nd Halloween...but the first where she got to do the trick-or-treating. She even managed a thank-you at most of the houses we went to (7 in total). She was a little hesitant at first, but quickly warmed to the idea.

Maria has also been a bundle of energy lately. It may have to do with the shorter days and slightly cooler temperatres (I say slightly as we have had many days of above average weather here) meaning that she has to spend more time indoors than out. That doesn't stop her from finding ways to amuse herself though...and us at the same time (just check out the crazy hair). She has also amused herself a lot in the last two days with her newest phrase: "Mommy, don't do that." Guess she hears the latter part of that phrase a bit much as of late :)

Daddy's Influence

Daddy is trying very hard to influence Maria's taste in music...and it looks like it just might be working too! A little "guitar" anyone?

Updates

Okay so it has been a long time since I updated this, but I've had a really good reason for this:

In case you are unable to view this video, for whatever reason, we were delaying posts because Maria is going to be a big sister in April (on or around the 20th) and we were biding our time before telling everyone. Maria of course has no concept of what is going on or what it means to be a big sister, but appears excited (in the video) none the less.

Maria herself is still growing like a weed. She had another growth spurt at 18 months and is now 33" tall and 22lbs 12oz. The weight gain was not great, but if the height keeps going she'll be 3 ft tall by the time she's 2! She is also talking up a storm, with many single words, a few 2 word phrases and even the odd 3 word phrase. She often speaks in sentences now with the odd "real" word thrown in here or there. I am constantly amazed, and pleased that I won't have to take her to see one of my colleagues :)

Aaron and I are also keeping busy, finishing the basement (there is incentive to get it completed before the spring now), and keeping busy with work. The basement is coming along...the walls are painted and the flooring is on order. Hopefully this weekend we will be able to get the ceiling textured and start laying tile...I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

First trip to the dentist; New fall attire (more fashionable than mom)

Look who's talking

Don't know what she's saying, but she's quite the conversationalist on her "phone".

Summer fun

Summer is here! And Mom and Dad finally put grass in the backyard! That means fun in the sun! Thanks to an abundance of sunny (and hot) weather Maria has been spending almost all day, every day (that Mom or Dad aren't working) out in the sun...and she has the "farmers" tan to prove it. She spends all her time playing ball, swimming (or standing) in her pool, and going up and down her slide. If we aren't in the backyard, we're going for walks that usually end at the park where we spend all of our time on the swings or slide.



Helping get ready for sod


Here I go!!

June 15 & 16 - Barcelona, Spain

Back on dry land and two days on our own to explore the city of Barcelona. We took in a variety of sights. We went to the Picasso museum (I still don't know if I'll ever understand what was so genius about his later works; his early stuff was beautiful though), took the cable car to the Castel Montjuic, visited the aquarium, and managed to make our way to the beach at the end of the second day. I still love Spain, and the people in Barcelona were very friendly...just have to get used to the dinners at 8pm if we go back again.

We also, by sheer luck, stumbled upon the most amazing street performance ever here. It was amazing to witness first hand, and we feel blessed to have done so. Who knows if we'd ever get to witness it again.

June 14 - Villefrance, France

This was, by far, the most beautiful port we docked in. Or rather dropped anchor, as we were too large to actually dock and had to go ashore using water taxis. Aaron and I took a break from cruise appointed shore excursions this day. We used the morning to leisurely stroll through Villefrance, and Aaron remembered enough of his French to effectively order lunch for the two of us before heading back to the boat to spend the afternoon tanning on the sundeck.

June 13 - Pisa/Tuscany, Italy

Port: Liverno (highly industrial; "modern art" as our tour guide Simona stated)

AM - Headed to Pisa, just a short 30 minute drive away. Here we marveled at the beauty of Miracle square, the leaning tower (bell tower to the cathedral), cathedral, baptisery and the graveyard. Unfortunately, like most other stops time was minimal, and we were unable to get inside the buildings. I would have loved to climb the tower, but with only 20 people allowed in every 30 minutes, we just didn't have time to wait. It was interesting to hear a local's perspective on the tower. How amazing it was that people still come to marvel at Italy's greatest failure.

PM - This was the best part of our favorite shore excursion. We headed to a villa in Tuscany that produces olive oil and wine. We were expecting a "wine tasting" not unlike those in Northa American wineries. What a surprise! What we got was an authentic, Tuscan Sunday family dinner. We started lunch around 12:30 and were not finished until 3pm. We were told that as of lunch we were converting to "Italian" time - meaning minutes don't matter so much.

We went through 3 courses, with 3 different wines. If your table finished a bottle, you simply held up the empty and another full bottle was brought in its place. After the 3 main courses, we were brought a dessert wine and fresh biscotti. Finally we finished off with an espresso and a shot of grappa. I didn't feel brave enough to drink the 90 proof wine spirit, but Aaron did, and it was almost to much for him to handle. The food was amazing too: olive oil, balsamic vinegar and bread, proscuitto, Italian sausage, olives, pasta, zucchini, beans, salt fish, onions, and cheese. It may not seem like much, but we went away satisfied.

After this experience I could safely say that I could live in Tuscany - that is what I always pictured Italy to be.

June 12 - Rome, Italy

Port - Civitavecchia (1 1/2 hours from Rome - depending on the traffic)

This was a long, and busy day...and by the end of it, not really long enough. As the saying goes, "Rome wasn't built in a day and you can't see it in a day either". We started off the tour with a driving panoramic tour of the Arch of Constantine, the Coliseum, Spanish Steps, and the Circus Maximus (chariot racing circuit, where they filmed "Ben-Hur").

From there we arrived at our first stop: Trevi Fountain. This fountain was a beautiful depiction of the sea. The statue in the center represents Neptune (or Poseiden) and the horses on either side represent the nature of water. The wild horse represents the destructive nature of the sea and the calm horse, the peace, serenity and life-giving power of calm waters. Superstition says that if you make a wish in the Trevi fountain while throwing a coin with your right hand over your left shoulder you will return to Rome one day. Aaron and I both made our wishes and fully intend to return to that city again.

We then walked from the Trevi fountain to the Pantheon. Formerly the temple for all Roman gods, it was transformed into a catholic church and allowed to remain in the city. The dome was absolutely amazing and an architechural wonder - since according to modern architects there is no reason this dome should not cave in on itself.

We then walked from the Pantheon to the Piazza Navona where we were able to see the Fountain of the Four Rivers, representing the four major rivers on the four major continents as recognized by renaissance geographers: The Nile (Africa), the Ganges (Asia), the Danube (Europe) and the Rio de la Plata (America). Unfortunately it was being cleaned at the time and we couldn't take in it's full splendor with water flowing from it. We were also able to get some pictures of the other fountains in the Piazza. Our tour guide also showed us a marker on the wall of one of the buildings in the square depicting to water level from the last great flood. It was a good 3 feet off the ground (if not more). Since that time great efforts were taken to build embankments and fortifications along the Tiber River so that the river did not continually flood Rome.

At this point we took a break for a leisurely Italian lunch. The food was good, but we were all eager to get to St. Peter's, and did not feel like spending two hours at lunch. After lunch we made our way to vatican city (after waiting for President Bush's entourage to clear the streets for our passage). I would have loved an entire day here, but unfortunately we were only given 45 minutes to see the inside of St. Peter's. It was beautiful, but we were only able to see about half of it in the time alloted and did not even have time to climb up to the cupola to look out on the city of Rome. Again....next time we're there.