October 14th 2011 - Update - Long time ago....

A lot and not a lot has been going on around here lately. We have not really done anything exciting, but we have been doing a lot of last minute type of stuff to get ready for the new baby. The professional term for what we are up to is “nesting,” as in “We are getting the nest ready for the next baby!”

In the last couple of weeks we have successfully found a minivan. We have gotten it serviced and fixed. We have put up a loft bed for Alicia so that there is more room in our apartment. I have been working a lot at school to try to get on top of everything so that when the baby comes everything is running like a well-oiled machine. Linda has been doing her usual tons of paperwork, appointments and meetings. Linda has also been trying out new recipes for dinner to change up some of the monotony.

Despite the work all around us, things are still going well. We enjoy going for little walks, playing in the house, kicking soccer balls, and dancing around the house together. Alicia has done a great job with her training. She really enjoys it. She is getting stronger every day. On Friday’s Linda’s mom or Linda, Damien and I have gone swimming with her. She does so well in the water. I really think she is part mermaid.

Alicia also enjoys daycare. All the kids really try to include her. Recently Alicia had been playing with her beads when they fell to the floor. A new little boy to the class, who is 15 months old, picked them up and started playing with them. Immediately another older boy, who is 2 ½ , got down from his chair across the room. He ran over to the new boy, and said sternly, “Those are Alicia’s beads!” He then proceeded to snatch the beads from the boy and gently gave them to Alicia.
Damien is doing really well with everything. He can easily run a mile without really stopping. It is pretty crazy that he does not really know how to walk. He just runs, then stops, then runs more, then stops to pick up something or explore something, then he runs again. Walking does not seem to be in his system. Damien is also working on his talking. He is constantly pointing at things and saying “Den, den,” which means, “That, that.” So he is really interested in finding out what things are called. He understands most of what we are saying to him as well. Whenever we tell him to get something he does. Whenever we say do you want to go to bed, do you want to eat, do you want to watch Dora, or do you want to take a bath, he goes to the appropriate place. Some other words that Damien has been saying are Ma ma, Pa paaa (like an Italian), and Leeci (Alicia). Something that was really cool to see the other day happened when the four of us were sitting on the bed. Linda starting singing a song and as soon as she was done, Damien started doing the sign for “Incy Wincy Spider.” So we started singing that. He then did a sign for “Head, shoulders knees and Toes.” After that it was a sign for a song that was similar to “Little Bunny Fu Fu.” So we sang that. Then he wanted to do, “If your happy and you know it.” He kept on doing different signs to show us what he wanted to do. We all thought that this was really cool, because he was successfully communicating with us, and we understood.

Now here is what people really check the blog for, PICUTRES!!!


Out for a walk. Damien found it very funny to sit on Daddy's shoulders!!


Go Redskins!!


One afternoon we all went to the snozel for some family fun... Alicia feel asleep....


In the snozel.


Watching cousin Nadja one day - A peek in to our future with 3 kids

Alicia on her swing

Damien and Alicia hanging out!!