March 30

Ben had a great weekend last weekend!  When we first got back, he started a little rough.  The first two nights he woke up every 45 minutes from 8 to midnight, because he thought it was still afternoon (StL time).  He didn’t want to eat solids either.  Perhaps we spoiled him by holding him while feeding him?  But Friday he had a great day at daycare, good naps and eating.  Friday night we went out to eat, and he fell asleep on the way there, woke up on the way back, ate when we got home and went right back to sleep, woke up once, ate, and went back to sleep, then slept in until 10:30! 

The next night we went to dinner again, but the walk was not long enough for him to fall asleep.  Too many people to look at, so he was awake during dinner, but happy, and he finally fell asleep later while we were hanging out with our friends.  We had a late night that night, but Ben slept until 10, and then (all of us) went back down for a 3 hour nap at 11:30.  I love this weekend schedule!

Unfortunately that sleeping did not carry through the week.  He went back to getting up every three hours to eat.  I am starting to send more milk to daycare to see if we can get him to eat more during the day.

We received our things from the moving company only three days before we left for the States, so we are still unpacking and organizing.  I also picked up a few things in St. Louis that I couldn’t find here, and a few things that I left at my parents’ house.  This weekend, my goals are to organize our things and maybe decorate Ben’s room.

For Ben’s room, I have letters B E N to paint green, add monkeys and giraffes, and hang on the wall over his crib.  I also have his Noah’s Ark cross from his Godparents, Laura and Jeff.  I will hang his Jungle Babies blanket over the bed, put the Jungle Babies bed skirt on the crib, and put shelves and photos on the other wall.  Then I will need to come up with something for his books.  Probably just a bin for now.

I tried hanging some pictures last weekend, without any success.  The walls are something I’ve never dealt with before.  I believe it’s plaster.  I tried hammering in a little nail into a piece of tape on the wall, and the nail stopped after a fraction of an inch.  The more I hammered, it only crumbled the plaster and bent the nail.  We don’t have a drill, and I don’t even know if that would work.  I am going to look for adhesive picture hangers.

I made my first batch of baby food for freezing this week, carrots.  I used the hand grinder, and it worked really well.  Before this, I had been making single servings using a fork or mortar and pestle. 

He did really well eating the carrots.  We tried plums again, for the second time, and he gagged on them again.  Maybe they are too tart; I think we will hold off on those for a while.  His favorite is still bananas, followed by avocado, egg, and carrots.  We just started ricotta cheese, and he is slowly warming up to it.  And he’s starting to like peas.  We will be trying meat soon, and maybe teething biscuits.  Still no teeth though!

Trip to St. Louis

We just got back from a busy two-week trip to St. Louis.  We flew to Chicago first, and went to the Italian Consulate to get our work visas.  That went very smooth, and we got them that same day, even though we were expecting it to take a few weeks.  That afternoon we flew to St. Louis.

Ben had his own seat on the plane.  For a little while.

Nona and Grandpa McCord were so happy to see him.  At first he gave them a blank stare, but after a few seconds he broke into a smile.  He definitely remembered them!

Ben had his own room at my parents’ house.  My mom cleaned out a second room and turned it into a nursery with a crib, rocker, and toys.  Tim and I went into the office most days, and grandpa babysat.  We got to visit Great-grandpa McCord, Great-grandma Aholt, some cousins, several friends, my best girlfriends and their new babies, and our birth class friends and their babies.  We went to Monarch for the last time with some family, and we went to the zoo with my parents.  Tim went to Las Vegas with some friends for a concert and fantasy baseball draft. 

Ben and Nona.  She's still got the touch.  Great Grandpa McCord

Ben and his Godparents Laura and Jeff, and his girlfriend, Cecilia.  We did not help them hold hands, they did that all on their own.

 Monica, Lucas, Sophia, Laura, Cecilia, me, and Ben.  It was great getting together with wonderful friends and all of our babies.

 

 Our birth class group and my doula.

Ben getting his most recent hair cuts from Missy.  He's had several by now, the first at 6 weeks old.  He did pretty good with this one, and really liked her bracelet.

 

 At the St. Louis Zoo.  Monkey see, monkey do!

 When we went the first time he was 2.5 months, and all he could see were the penguins.  This time he loved the penguins, and could also see some of the bears and monkeys.

Ben used the high-chair that I used, and my dad used.

We spent the last four days in Cape Girardeau with Tim’s parents.  Ben had about the same reaction to them, big smiles after a few seconds.  They also put up a crib.  We had a relaxing long weekend, visited with more friends and family, played games (with and without Ben) and went to a winery on St. Partick's Day (no green wine though).  I made tiramisu once in St. Louis and once in Cape with cookies and espresso from Italy.  It was so good!

Ben with Grandma, great uncle Barry.

Ben's first time at a playground.  Not so sure about the swings at first, but he liked it if you kept it gentle.

 He sat and played with the grass for a long time.  One of grandma's students met us at the park.

The cats have been super lovey since have been back, even Hunter.  He’s been sleeping in bed with us (Zeus always does anyway).  Zeus won’t leave our side, and Hunter has been jumping up on my lap while I feed Ben.  I think they missed us! 

March 1, 2012

Today, I am home with a sick Ben.  He started a fever yesterday afternoon, and it comes back whenever the Tylenol wears off.  Hopefully he's not really sick, and just getting a tooth!  I've been expecting one any day for 3 months now.  He was also home on Tuesday because he was throwing up/spitting up.  I'm not really sure which.  It was probably just spit up, but it was like he was two months old again.  The past month or so (other than Monday/Tuesday), he has gone several days with no spit up.  I know many of you reading this blog have been his victims in the past, and you know what an improvement this is!

Last weekend we went to the Carnevale in our town, Gallarate.  It was not near the production of last week.  The parade was really short.  First, there was a king and queen and a bunch more people in old fashion costumes.
 
Then there was the parade's one float,which was a repeat from last week's parade we saw in a neighboring town.  Bringing up the rear were two groups you probably wouldn't see in the States, one group of men and women all dressed up as black women, and a group in what I would call Vegas show-girl costumes.
 
 
I have no idea if there is any special meaning to the king and queen or any of the other groups.  Some of them were up on the stage from time to time, but we couldn't understand anything they said.  Still lots of confetti, though!

 

 Sunday Ben and I drove into Milan to Ikea, just the two of us.  I was nervous about it, but it was a successful trip!  We needed more organizers, since we are living in a much smaller space than we are used to.

This week, Ben started giving us kisses.

And opening his mouth wide for the spoon, if you're giving him something he likes.


 He brought home his first art project from daycare.  They had a little Carnevale celebration.
 

He is starting to like books, especially if they make noise or move.  This one has has music and a pop-up.
 

And here are some more cute pics.

Now THAT'S going to take some getting used to! Part 3

Out and about:

You have to go to the tabbaccheria (tobacco shop) to get a stamp to mail a letter.  You then drop it in the red mailbox located just outside the shop.  So what do you do at the post office?  You pay your bills.  For anything from apartment rent to a parking ticket to a hospital stay, you get a “ticket” to take to the post office to pay.

The dates are reversed.  Today is 24/2/2012.

Keyboards have extra letters.  The regular 26 are the same, but Italians need extra keys for accented letters like è í ò, and other symbols like the Euro €.

Commas and decimal points are reversed.  Working in estimating, this really gets me.  Three and a half is 3,5  and ten thousand Euro is 10.000,00 €.  Either way would have been fine, but whoever decided that Europe the US should be opposite is an idiot.

Paper size is slightly different.  Instead of 8.5x11, they have A4, which is 8,27x11,69.  No real problem, just strange to look at.

The metric system.  Yes, the metric system far superior to the crazy units we use in the States, but I’m just not used to thinking in kilos.  And for baking, they measure flour etc in grams.

Shops close for lunch from 12:30 until 3:30, and close for the evening at 7:30.  And they are closed on Sundays.

You can only go to a restaurant for lunch between 12:30 and 2, and for dinner after 8:00.

Most intersections are roundabouts.  This basically eliminates left turns.  Genius.

The majority of the household goods we buy, especially food and clothing, are produced in Italy.  Very impressive.

Curious about anything else?  Leave a comment or Facebook me.  Or call, but if you call me, you won’t hear a ring, you’ll hear a tone.  If I don’t answer, it will go to voicemail.  You’ll hear Italian at first, then my recording, more Italian, and finally a beep.  I don’t have caller ID, so if you don’t leave a message, I won’t know who the missed call was from.  

Our first sight seeing trips, Lago Maggiore and Carnevale

What a busy weekend!!

Saturday morning I did some shopping.  I got a couple pairs of jeans, a couple shirts, and a stack of clothes for Ben.  The shops are nearing the end of their big sale.  Every shop in town has a sale starting in January, and goes until they run out of merchandise.  They start with 30% off, and by now most shops are at 50-70% off.  I hear they do the same thing at the end of summer.  In Gallarate, each shop is their own brand (like American Eagle or Express, but not those specifically of course).  There is one shop near our apartment that has famous designer brands, but based on the window shopping (€€€), I have yet to venture in.

Saturday afternoon we went to Switzerland.  We were headed to a town called Bellinzona, where they have some castles.  We took the scenic route along Lake Maggiore on the way there.  It was a beautiful drive!  The lake is 66 km long and 10 km wide.  There is a road that closely follows the shore on either side, and we drove up the west side for about an hour and a half.  I’m glad Tim was driving, because the road was narrow, curvy, and very close to the water at times.  The lake is right in the Alps, and the mountains go steeply into the water.  

 

 

I enjoyed looking at the houses as much as the landscape.  Around every bend, there was a small town built into the side of the mountain, and the houses, restaurants, and churches were all the Mediterranean style, with the clay tile roofs and weathered white, orange, yellow, and pink exteriors.  There were even a few villas built on their own islands in the lake.  

Crossing the border into Switzerland was easier than driving through a toll booth.  There were guards, but they don’t stop many people.  When we arrived in Bellinzona, we discovered that today was their celebration of Carnevale.  This was a surprise, because most towns celebrate on Sunday, or over several Sundays.  Almost everyone was dressed up in costume; all of the children and most of the adults.  We saw one family of three all dressed like cows.  Little girls were dressed like princesses and butterflies; boys were comic book characters; adults were clowns.  They must have just finished their parade, as several people were carrying instruments, and there was confetti all along the streets.  Unfortunately, most of the streets were closed off in the town center, and we were not able to get to the castle.  But even driving through town, we drove through some of the castle walls, and past several towers.  

We also drove past two Aldi’s.  We stopped at one, but it had closed at 5:00, and we were 45 minutes past.  I am still curious to see what it is like, so next time we go to the castle, we’ll plan to stop at Aldi as well.

 

Sunday we went to a nearby town Oleggio (oh-LAY-jo) for their celebration of Carnevale.  We knew it started at 2:30, but other than that we had no idea what to expect.  We got there right when it started, and it wasn’t crowded yet.  All of the children were dressed up as princesses, fairies, puppies, cowboys, Indians, pirates, etc.  The amount of "American" characters surprised me.  Some of the adults were dressed up.  Young couples dressed up as the opposite sex.  Lots of guys in skirts and wigs.  We saw a whole family of Smurfs, another whole family of playing cards.  We wished we had Ben’s dragon Halloween costume.  It would have been perfect!  

There were a few carnival rides, mostly for little kids.  The parade was just getting started.  There were a few bands, about ten floats, and a group on stilts.  The parade went in a circle around the festivities, which covered a few blocks.  Ben loved it!  Especially the bands.  

 

 

The people on/with the floats didn’t throw candy, they threw confetti.  Some would come up and bomb you with it.  We were covered!  Families also brought their own bags of confetti, and kids threw it at each other.  

 

There were vendors selling things similar to funnel cakes, cotton candy, roasted nuts, candy, and hot sandwiches.  The funnel cake is one food thing the US does better than Italy.  Something fried, fatty, and covered in sugar, go figure. 

 

We left after about an hour and a half.  It was pretty crowded by then, and the parade was still slowly going in a circle.  It was a small celebration, but it was perfect for us.  Ben had a great time!