Boston

Yay! Congrats Mirko!

Houston Part II: Nina and Lucia

While Bruno was sleeping it off, Nina and Lucia had things to do! There was great fun to be had with the bubbles.....

and the slide....

Although lest you think it was all wine and roses, the girls did get into an occasional tiff.

"Nooo Nina!"

All was quickly forgiven especially when bribed with a trip to the park.

"The park is this way"

Geronimo!

I think there is absolutely nothing cuter in the world than little children holding hands (and barefoot at that). So let's end a few more shots.

Houston Part I: Bruno!

Two weeks ago, Nina headed to Houston to visit her brand new baby cousin. Bruno Jackson DeLuca was born on March 7 weighing in at a solid 8 lb 13 oz! It was great fun to get the family together, and we even managed to get the cousins settled down for a few seconds for a group picture.

The affectionate Nina, the proud big sister Lucia and the baby burrito Bruno

Not surprisingly Nina was fascinated by Bruno. She loved patting him night-night (new word "nigh-nigh"!) and giving him kisses. She was infinitely helpful in feeding him his bottle and replacing his pacifier (after borrowing it for herself for just a minute or two). Actually, I was surprised that she was relatively gentle with him and seemed to know that he wasn't the same as a baby doll. But you definitely did have to watch her like a hawk. Turn your back for a second and the next thing you know there is a pillow on Bruno's face!

"Here, let me help you with that"

Bruno being just a few weeks old was a good sport about it. It fact he slept most of the time.

Blissful Baby

Quick, everybody look... Bruno is awake!

Oh, wait, he is asleep again.

There was no shortage of people to hold this little bundle. Here are proud grandparents for the third time.

Wow, the family is growing!

And finally, we had a special treat with a visit from great-aunt Rebeka (my mom's sister). She came down from Ohio to hold Bruno and of course shower the girls with presents. It was wonderful to see her!

Bay-be!

Spring is definitely here! Time to get out and enjoy the fresh air and flowers....



Here is a picture that illustrates one of Nina's new words:


Hat or more correctly "at!". But by far, her favorite word right now is "baby" usually "be-bee" but sometimes "bay-be" or more likely "bay-be! bay-be! bay-be!". Nina devotes many hours each day to her babies. Carrying them, feeding them, and putting them for night-night.


We look forward to her reaction to meeting little Bruno next week!

Pretend

Nina has been all about pretend play lately. Last weekend, she had a little 2-in plastic man and a kleenex, and for about a half hour she was putting him night-night. She wrapped him in the kleenex then put him face down patted his back. Too funny. She loves to pretend to drink from little tea cups. She brings the (empty) cup to her mouth and then smacks her lips.

Oh, and now she is in to baby dolls. They have a bunch of them at daycare, and one day I when I dropped her off, she took a little play bottle and was feeding the baby doll. I just about died. It was the most heartwarming sight in the entire universe. They said she carried around the baby doll for half the day.

On to this week's (er, uhmm month's?) pictures.....

California Eskimo

Supermodel. Work it girl!

Resting in daddy's lap

Taming the wild mop-top

Holding Hands

Let's start with the most adorable picture in the history of the universe! Last Saturday, Hannah and Jane came over for a playdate. We had lunch and went to the park. Then the girls walked home like this. We finally had to pry their little hands apart when we got to the door. Super-duper cute!


With some things though, Nina is Ms. Independent. For example, she is really into carrying her own lunch on the way to school in the morning. And heaven forbid if you should not realize she wants to carry it. I am not saying she throws tantrum, but she stops in her tracks, falls on her bottom, kicks her feet and crys with her arm outstretched. Oh boy, here we go!

And look at those chompers! You can't actually see it in this picture, but Nina has been getting in her molars. Three of them have broken through and one more is on the way (at least as far as I can tell, for some reason she doesn't like me fishing around in her mouth). So that makes 11 teeth so far. Update: that last molar is indeed in - make that an even twelve!

Happy Heart Day!

Nina's first Valentine.

Birthday Party!

It's about time to get these birthday party pictures up, wouldn't you say? We celebrated Nina's first birthday on Sunday, January 13 with a chaotic gathering of her little friends. Cake, ice cream, balloons, presents - it just doesn't get better than this!

The Birthday Princess is all cleaned up and ready to party!

The guests begin to arrive.

Tara contemplates her birthday next month.

Yes, the cake was just as delicious as it looks!

"Hey, what's everybody looking at?!"

"Not too shabby, beats that broccoli stuff."

Hannah Grace

No caption required.

Now we are making some real progress!

And finally a birthday video:

Happy Birthday to Nina Movie

Birthday Adventures

On January 4, Nina turned one year old! I was invited to Boulder for a conference so we decided to make a family trip out of it. Here she is just after arriving:

"I got my fuzzy hat and my protein bar - I am ready to climb these mountains!"

Nina got to see snow for the first time. She wasn't sure what to think, and it took a few minutes for her to get her balance figured out.

"What is this stuff?"

We spent lots of time running up and down Pearl St. - the downtown walking street. Lots of adventures to be had there including....

a ride on the rocking pig!

and a beaver! and a frog!

And here is a final just for fun picture!

"Happy Birthday to me!"

1 year and 20 lbs

Among the advantages of no longer being zero years old (as Anya would say) is riding facing forward in the car. Thus, it is time to retire Nina's infant car seat. But first, we couldn't resist a little compare and contrast!

Left: 3 days old. Right: 362 days old

Wow! And that is not just a trick of the light, Nina really was a little orange when we brought her home. Our little Billy Rubin!

Yes, Nina is excited to ride in her new fancy car seat.

Well, maybe not, but it sure looks more comfortable.

Couple of fun recent developments.... First, the shoe fascination has begun in earnest. Nina loves shoes! She wants to put her shoes on, she want to put your shoes on and try to walk in them. Let me tell you, it is all about the shoes. She even seems to recognize the word. Last week, I told her to go get her shoes, and sure enough she went and picked up her new pink bowling shoes. We were dumbfounded!

Also, now that Nina is a civilized one year old, she demands to have a fork or spoon at dinner time. Amazingly, she is not too bad with a spoon. She can successfully manage a spoon or two of something thick like yogurt or oatmeal. But the fork is pretty funny! She knows you are supposed to jab at stuff with the fork, but on the odd occasion that she actually gets something on the end of it, she'll promptly use the other hand to take it off!

Christmas

Well, the lights have been taken down, the tree tossed by the curb, and the last sugar cookie is crumbs. All that is left of Christmas is the tinsel stuck in the carpet. But we still have the memories and even better, ... the pictures!

After a quick flight to Houston, Nina was happy to be reunited with her cousin Lucia.

They pushed each other around on the Elmo car for hours. Great fun!

Best Buddies

Lucia: "Whew, let's take a break. You're wearing me out." Nina: "Whadda ya mean? I'm just getting started!"

Fresh and clean after a bath

Porter joins in the fun.

Christmas Eve. "I sure hope I've been good this year"

"Ta-da!"

Excited for the guests to arrive

"Okay, everybody gather around for the group shot."

The DeLuca Clan (click to enlarge)

Christmas morning

Lucia Claus delivers the presents

On the treadmill: Now that Christmas is over, time to work off the holiday pounds!