all smiles

We are near the end of a very busy and very fun week. Sofia had enough birthday celebrations to hold her over for a long time. Like next year. By yesterday afternoon I was cupcaked and stickered out, but have the fondest of memories of how Sofia-mia spent her 4th birthday. Family and friends (in person, over the phone, over email and even on Facebook) wishing my little girl a very happy birthday and making it even more special for her and for me too.

Nothing but love and smiles to all from Sofia!

4 years ago today...

I met my baby girl...

and a family of two became a family of three.

Happy 4th Birthday Sofia Mia! You amaze us everyday and we love you so very much!

Birthday Celebrations!

A weekend of celebrating! First in Maryland with my family on Saturday...

New daddy, Zio Scott, will be celebrating his 30th birthday next weekend, so we had him and Sofia sing and blow out the candles together. I adore the picture on the right!

And then at our house in PA Sunday evening with Anthony's family...My sweet little baby girl is growing up so fast and gets only more beautiful inside and out with each passing day.

And then this morning at her pre-school, I brought in a special birthday snack for her and her schoolmates. Notice the birthday crown she got to wear today...wish they would have spelled her name the right way!! Oh well, she loved it anyway and wore it through lunch at home. She told me she was a little queen.

We have one very lucky and very happy almost-4-year-old!!!

is there such thing as good blur?

I think so.

Sofia gets an upgrade

Nonno Nicky and Nonno Lisa got Sofia a bike for her upcoming birthday. Sofia was so excited to go to the store with Nonna Lisa herself and even pick out the one she wanted - naturally, it was purple. She was also very excited to get to pick out the basket for the bike. That was a necessity for her.

The bike was brought back to my parent's house where my dad spent some good time putting it together. He had two little helpers to assist...

Olivia was so happy about the whole thing too. I think she knows that one day this bike will be hers. Oh, the joys of hand-me-downs! Check her out in her heels inspecting the basket.

And after all of that, Sofia would not get on the bike. She just wanted to look at it but that's typical Sofia behavior. She needs to warm up to an idea before she fully commits. Olivia, on the other hand, was all set to take off on the bike!

Grazie to Nonna Lisa and Nonno Nicky for a beautiful bike for our beautiful almost 4-year-old! While we've had some runny days since, the bike is sitting in our mudroom where it gets constant attention from BOTH of our girls!

it's good to be outdoors

We had some gorgeous days last week in Maryland and the girls couldn't get outside fast enough. They rode their trikes, threw balls, played hide-and-go-seek and even just sat back to enjoy the warmth. AND the fact that they could be outdoors without a coat on!

Olivia LOVES hide-and-go-seek and doesn't even mind when her big sister and the other kids in the court make her count every time. She's even pretty good at not peeking.

Fascinated with the moss growing around my parent's driveway. She would press on it with her fingers, look at me and say "Squishy mama!"

Even though it's officially Spring, the weather isn't really cooperating. But it can't be too far off and once the weather stays nice, it will be difficult to bring the girls indoors again.

One more week of being 3!

Sofia Vincenza, my almost 4-year-old! My beautiful little girl is growing up so quickly. More often than not, she's this super independent girl, wanting to do everything by herself even if it means more than 5 tries to get it right. She will huff and puff, but once she's gotten it, she is the happiest and proudest little one. But then there are these other times where she curls up on our lap for a book, tuck herself under our covers to cuddle or ask for help in the sweetest little voice. It's this perfect combination that makes everyday so new and wonderful. And makes me so proud and thankful to be her mama.

Little Man Chase

So, Thursday morning we get a call at my parent's house from Scott telling us Chaela was 9cm dilated and the doctor said there would be a baby before noon. I did what every good sister would do and had a mini-freak-out/crying/smiling-like-crazy moment. And with many, many thanks to my mom's dear friend, Nonna Anne, I was able to leave the girls at the house in caring hands so I could be with my parents and brother at the hospital. It was incredible.

I left with my little welcoming bag for the baby and my camera. What always seemed like a quick ride to Annapolis, took forever. We normally drive into town using the back roads and this morning I had had my fill of seeing another farm - I just wanted to get to the hospital. It was a beautiful morning though and I had to stop for a minute to really grasp what was going on...my little brother was going to have his baby boy. And then I did what any crazy-wanna-be-photographer did and took a picture of a passing field to one day show the baby. I would completely admit that while I should have been en route to the hospital, I stopped. Only for a minute, but I stopped to snap a picture of this field that was just gorgeous to me. It was just a perfect moment and I had to absorb it.  And then I snapped back to reality and was off to the hospital...

To wait. Not for too long though. And my parents were there, as was this little leprechaun that I bought on a whim for the baby just the day before to add to his welcoming bag. Appropriate for a baby to be born on St. Patty's Day, don't you think?

I asked my parents a number of times to tell me again what had gone down in the labor and delivery room just minutes before I arrived. Chaela was now 10cm and the room was cleared of anyone not involved with delivery. Now it was just a matter of waiting. Patiently. Excitedly.

After what seemed like forever, but was only an hour, we were allowed back into the room to meet the new little one. Little man is how I referred to him until we had a name and it suited him to a tee. He was perfect in every way and I couldn't believe he was finally here with us. Nonna Lisa and Nonno Nicky are beyond thrilled for this new addition to the family.

Cue the tearing up of the eyes. I couldn't hold back my smiles and tears as I saw my brother holding his baby. It was a surreal moment for me.

Like Father, Like Son. Little man is only minutes old and his daddy is already making faces at him and being silly. Scott was on cloud 99 and his adrenaline was sky-high. You could tell that Scott had just fallen in love.

I went back that afternoon so that Zio Antonio could meet his nephew. In a matter of hours, Little Man was already changing so much. Love that perfect little profile.

Friends and family stopped into the hospital to meet Scott and Chaela's little bundle. Such proud occasions for my brother to introduce his boy to his loved ones.

Is it mean that I gave my brother my camera so I could have a picture with my nephew? He has to get to know his Ya-Ya after all. Yes, I will be Ya-Ya to this little precious guy. Scott asked me if it was ok for the baby to call me that since it was what Scott used to call me when he was little and couldn't say Lisa. I don't have to tell you that I could only nod a yes in response since I was choking up.

And baby makes three. Love this new little family and can't wait for all the great things to come their way. It's going to be a very fun ride and I am so happy for Scott and Chaela.

We love you Little Man Chase. Welcome to the famiglia!

Introducing Chase Nickolas Pitocco

We had ourselves a pretty incredible week last week. Scott and Chaela had their baby boy! Here are just two pictures from the hundreds (literally) that I took.

Chase was born at 10:30am on St. Patrick's Day weighing 8lbs and was 21 inches long. He has a head full of black, black hair and the sweetest little round face. 

Many more pictures to come!!!

The happy, little family!

some light reading...I think

From the looks of it, you'd think Olivia was reading something more serious than Clifford, her favorite Big Red Dog. Maybe analyzing the stock market, reading Dante's Inferno or figuring out difficult mathematical equations.

A tradition of Sofia's to climb in our bed with a stack of books is quickly becoming a favorite past-time of Olivia's as well. Sure, she can't quite make the climb onto our tall bed, but she grabs her books and says "peeeease up mama" in her sweetest voice. Then she settles in right next to her big sister and away they will flip through one book after another quite contently. For about 30 minutes and then they're off onto their next activity.

buona notte

Sunday night and tired from a busy, but fun weekend. A long week lays ahead of me, the days already packed with activities and hopefully lots of smiles. I'm being constantly reminded at how fast the time is going. I want to just inhale those bright moments, soak up that energy and live in that precious minute forever.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

While we still love our banana bread around here, I opted for a different kind of banana baking recipe this past week. I'm glad to report that it was a huge hit!

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1/4 c. vegetable oil
• 3/4 c. milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips

 Directions: 

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. 
3. In a smaller bowl, combine the egg, oil, milk and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients until moistened. Fold in bananas and chocolate chips. 
4. Spoon into paper-lined muffin cups until two-thirds full. Bake for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool before removing from pans. Delicious! 

when the rain comes down

There was a bit of reading, playing with the toys and a fun, loooong game of hide-and-go-seek in the house yesterday on account of the rain we had ALL day long. But there was also a bit of the girls just staring out the window to watch it come down. Sofia commented on how everything looked and explained it to Olivia...

Olivia, my Little Miss Curiosity, thought it was all too enchanting and ran to the window to gaze out more than a few times...she was in awe.

Sofia wondered about her toys that were left out in the rain from over the weekend and how they were doing now all soaked and sitting in mud puddles. She worried especially about her pink soccer ball which she could see from the window and went to check on it from time to time.

There was a lot of much-needed relaxing going on yesterday. While I had been dreading staying in after all the yucky weather we've already had, it turned out to be a really nice day. Comfy clothes, a mess all over the floors, a blissful kind of day. Thank you rain.