9 months

February 26-March 25, 2011

This Saturday morning the boys had yogurt with cherries in it for the first time. They really liked it! We also left them for the first time at night with Allison and Javier to go to Tyler's birthday celebration. They did so good and it was nice to be able to get away for a few hours. The next day we had another Sunday Funday playgroup with Daegan.

This month started off as the "moving" month for Porter and Eli. Starting off slowly, Eli started to pull and move his bumpers during naptime or at night before falling asleep. Most Italian homes have a light switch (for the overhead light) in the middle of the room on one wall, with a long cord. This is so you place your bed on that particular wall and then place the switch on/near your bedside table. That way at night you don't have to get out of bed to turn off the overhead light--just flip the button. Eli's crib is on this wall and the cord is wrapped up and just above the level of his bumpers. We have already had to move the crib further away from the wall because of our little grabber.

One morning on my way back down the hall I got a little nervous because the light in their room was on. I stood outside wondering if it had been on their entire nap time or was someone else here? After walking in to flip the wall switch, I noticed it was down=universal sign for "off". So as I look up I see Eli, on his back in the corner of his crib, with the bumper pulled down, and the cord and switch in his hand. He was fast asleep. I had to laugh silently while I jimmied the cord out of his grip, turned off the light, moved him out of the corner, and left him to finish his nap. This was only the beginning! These pictures are from another time but you can see the cord and wall-plate behind the crib.
"What Mom? I just wanted to see what was on the other side."
And this was it. Evan checks on the boys right before we go to sleep at night. This night, we had just put them down and I was about to go out for pizza. Evan decided to look in on them just because. We are so glad he did! This is what he found. Eli standing up and hanging over the side of the crib. We immediately moved him to the swing in our bedroom and silently lowered the crib in the dark while Porter slept soundly. What a monkey we have on our hands!
Hanging out with Dad in the morning after breakfast. This month the boys also ate pasta, chicken, cottage cheese, and waffles for the first time, and they started putting the star puffs in their mouths all by themselves. Eli showed us his first tooth on the 5th--we have been waiting so long for it!
On our walks in the afternoon, Eli has been very stubborn about letting me cover up his arms or hands. So alas, his hands are out in the open, exposed to the chilly weather. I have been scolded at least once each walk by Italian ladies who walk up to us and give me the look for not covering up his hands. They then proceed to do it for me while Eli stares at them. Porter always has one hand covered and the other in his mouth--which they don't like either. They are big fans of pacifiers here and thumb-sucking is not ideal! So they tell me to get Porter a pacifier like Eli's and to cover up Eli's hands, but I quickly get over it. They also gush over them for a few minutes before or after scolding me so it makes up for the look.

We also had our first bout with sickly little boys. Runny noses=sucking their noses with the aspirator=Evan thinks I'm torturing them. It took about 8 days to get completely over it.

Here we are in the play-yard. I was in the kitchen getting dinner prep going and I would sneak away from the sink to make sure I could see 2 little heads still on the mat. Check! As I walked back to join the boys I couldn't put my finger on what was different. Everyone was still here, nothing out of the ordinary right? Wrong. OH! I realized Eli was on the wrong side of the gate. He was checking out all his clean toys in the basket (we cleaned them after the runny nose week). He crawled around the edge by the wall and made it to the basket to rescue all of his toys as Porter cheered him on from behind the gate. Sneaky little Eli.
"What? Yeah, you lowered my crib. Obviously not low enough though."
In jail. Really I just corralled them to see where I should put Eli's bed. The room was re-arranged about 6 times in 2 days. Eli lost his bumpers and his bed moved all over the room.
Final resting spot, for now at least. The crib is low but he still likes to stand up because he's such a big boy. He also likes to maneuver his animals out of his mobile when he gets bored.
We celebrated Grandpa's birthday! Happy Birthday Grandpa!!
Eli has started pulling up on any and everything he can, aside from his army crawling. He also likes to puff out his lips and blow through his nose during mealtimes--like a bull. He thinks he's really funny when he does it.
Porter has really started moving a lot more. He now spins in circles on his belly to get places and really stretches to reach something he wants. He is so determined in his movements. He makes little ooches and schooches with his knees. He has also started biting the spoon when he eats--he now has two top teeth to match his bottom ones (1st: March 9, 2nd: March 10).
Hanging out during play time on the mat.
The shortest distance to anything, is over whatever item is in front of him. "So I'm in the basket. What about it?"
Porter's drool helps him cross barriers as he learns to move more and more.
I sat on the toy box in front of Eli's crib with Porter to look over and play with Eli. The joke is on me. Porter was gnawing on the crib. You can see what he left behind in the picture below.
I know you asked Eli to distract me with smiles and laughter while you ate away at the crib!
Nap time is tough business! "Lost a sock and I had to cover my face with my blanket just to get any shut-eye around here!"
The movement month continues as they are off the mat most of the time and crawling into new territory. They both have been clicking their tongues a lot lately. It's really fun to be across the room and grab their attention by clicking our tongues. Then they smile, which I love.
Standing is so much fun! We went to play group and Eli loved standing on all the mat equipment.
Porter really wanted to join him!
Happy 9 Months!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

Eli says, "Pinch me. I dare you." Porter is a Lucky Dog.

Sacile Carnevale 2011

March 5, 2011

Carnevale is the last celebration before the lent season begins and is the Italian version of Mardi Gras but with confetti instead of beads. We are going to save next year for the Venice Carnevale celebration when the boys are older but we thoroughly enjoyed the Sacile celebration this year.

Heather and Todd invited us over to watch the parade from their PERfect viewpoint in their apartment that looks directly down onto the parade festivities. We made a batch of hurricanes to share with our friends and they shared their typical Carnevale fare--sweet pasta fried and covered with sugar or honey. This is looking out their window down the street before the parade.
The theme this year was Disney. If you closely enough you can see Cinderella, Snow White, Buzz Lightyear, etc.
Porter and Eli sort of enjoying the festivities. Eli is not a fan of loud noises and the parade was very loud!
I believe this float was supposed to be like the movie Aladdin.
Each float had some container/device for dispensing loads of confetti into the crowd.
This is to show how big and wide these floats were for the narrow Sacile streets. Our stroller barely fits on that sidewalk.
Most of the music they played was American and they really enjoy two-stepping oddly enough.
A large plastic bag on wheels full of confetti. There were so many people of all ages with each float. We wondered where they set up the floats and practice their routines.
More two-steppers.
Alice in Wonderland float.
Alice's Wonderland friends--there were a lot of them.
Pinocchio. Geppetto looks rather mean.
This particular float had to stop and rotate their cards in on the back because they were not going to fit through the most narrow part of the street.
And here is where our version of Carnevale becomes official. We watched these guys walk around with "beer bong" (for lack of a better word) confetti shooters. The Snyders apartment windows were open with no screens, so we were aware of the confetti throwers throughout the parade. When someone on the street would see us hanging out the window, sometimes they would act like they were going to throw confetti through the window and we would quickly shut it. Evan and I watched this guy fill up his little device and look at us, so we quickly shut the window. Only to watch him place his gun on the back of the float. All is good right? No. He had an entire bag of confetti, open, and he tossed it right into our window as we were shutting it.
And here is the mess that followed. Confetti everywhere.
I mean everywhere.
Aside from the confetti disaster, we cleaned everything up and enjoyed the rest of the parade. It was beautiful weather, a fun activity, and celebrated with friends--a great day!

8 months

January 25-February 25, 2011

Sometimes the boys' clothes are a little big in the chest or the legs are too long on their sleepers. During a nap, Eli wiggled his arm out of the sleeper and was sleeping soundly. Until I got the camera and he looked at me like, "What? I'm fine. This is how I wanted to wear it today."
Pops celebrated a birthday in Texas so we decided to celebrate with him! Happy Birthday Pops!
Oh the water bottle. They love my water bottle. Well this is what happened when my army crawler noticed I left it unattended and went to the living room. It started out by the by the toy with the toys hanging off of it and rolled. Eli continued to chase it and once he grabbed it, it made a turn for the mat instead of towards the window. What a fun game!
I have learned that Eli is okay to hold in the air but Porter is not. Porter is our spitter-upper. Evan learned this lesson today.
What's mine is yours and what's yours is mine.
Another Mommy mishap. I make lists in the morning while we sit and play. I ran to get something and put down the pen and paper. I would be right back. I was not quick enough. Eli sees me with the pen and paper everyday and took advantage of the opportunity to see what the fuss is all about. I heard the banging noise and thought, "okay, he's banging a toy on the ground. Wait. NO, that's the PEN on the ground!" He's not in pain, he's blinking because of the flash. No more pens or paper on the play mat!
I watched this particular escapade from the dining room table. Since we moved the play area to the hallway, I sit and eat breakfast while watching them from afar. They play by themselves and I get to enjoy my breakfast (and People magazine) while peering up now and then to check that everybody is okay. Hollie left us Ceci's exersaucer and we have enjoyed having a new toy to play with. I watched Eli approach and then turn in circles while trying to get out of the saucer part. He was very proud of himself.
This is, in my opinion, Porter's favorite part of the day. We finally captured it on camera. This is his spot to sit and wait while I put on my magic pillow. He squeals and giggles and those chubby cheeks--SO cute! He just cannot contain his excitement.
Thanks to Nana and Grandpa, they have their first big boy clothes. First time to wear clothes that don't snap or zip.
We take walks about 3 afternoons a week. It's usually around the 4:45 p.m. time until 6 p.m. so the boys can get outside and they usually take cat-naps. I also treat myself to a coffee on the way home if they are both asleep at the same time. There has been a carousel in the center since the Christmas markets began in November. Everything else is gone but the carousel stuck around. I walk up to it and point to the animals and talk about the colors, and if it's running we sit and watch it go 'round and 'round. The man in the booth saw me a lot and I would wave to him. The last week of the carousel being there we got a fun Italian surprise. Even when no one was on the ride, he ran the carousel for the boys each day. I was shocked the first time, but I guess after seeing me for almost 2 months he knew I was going to stand there even if it wasn't moving. I really hope it comes back next year because Porter and Eli will be old enough to ride.

Eli started clicking his tongue this month. It's really cute and he will do it back and forth with Evan and me. Once again our army crawler is on the prowl. He sees the way towards the cords and is on a mission.
Porter! Come on! He was supposed to alert me if Eli strayed from the "normal" play area. My spy was too busy with his buzzing bee. He really is my yoga baby sitting up straight in butterfly position.
We had a doctor's appointment on Valentine's Day so I decided to get their shots on the same day to save me a trip. They each got 4 shots! What was I thinking? The shots have not affected them until now. We went through 1.5 days of fussiness, tired babies, and cuddly bugs before they were back to their normal personalities. They really were troopers with the shots considering they got 4 pokes each!
My little Valentine.
We started eating yogurt this week. The doctor thinks we need to gain some more weight so bring on the protein! We are so over those shots--back to normal. They were playing so cute today in their coordinating onesies from Steph, I had to snap a pic.
Other new foods: Strawberries, cherries, and turkey. The boys hit their trays while I prepare their food. It's like a concert with all their grunts and groans and tray-hitting that goes on in the dining room. It's directly above Lino the Landlord's bedroom--I'm sure he is pleased.

This is what we look like every night before bath time. I corral them in Eli's crib and strip them down. They seem to wait more patiently when they are almost naked. I bathe one and the other one waits.
We ventured out, with some friends from the office, to Gemma's for some yummy Italian food. Evan got cannelloni and I ate spinach ravioli with pears. The boys did great--Eli sat in the only high chair and Porter was passed around the table. At the end of the night, Evan let Eli taste his tiramisu. What a sweet treat for our lip smacking Eli! I guess we could say it was in celebration of him turning 8 months old.