Celebration!

Princess Ella playing with beads.
Because what party is complete without them?

Ella sq. helping the packing process for the Brindisis.

Grayson was left holding the mop, cleaning up their mess.

Layla was just sitting pretty, laughing at all the antics.

Ella, with her superior catlike reflexes,
was "chasing" the floating DVD symbol on the TV.
Yes people, she is entertained by a screensaver...

Earlier this week, before the colds set in, we went north to celebrate the acceptance of the house bid for our friends the Brindisis. Celeste and Grayson also joined in on the celebration. We let the girls play in the boxes for packing, and the younger siblings just looked on with mild confusion. We are so excited for Jenn, Danny, Eleanor, and Layla as they begin the next step in the house buying process, the inspection. Hope you all enjoy the pictures!

Big Kid at heart...

Mike and Ella played for a long time last night with Ella's stacking cardboard blocks. It was a great lesson in cause and effect and basic physics for Ella, and just a good time for daddy. Today Ella came down with a cold, that makes her little eyes look so heavy. I am hoping for an early bedtime all around tonight. We'll see if Fin agrees.

Ella's Dancing Ways

Ella has been dancing lately anytime she hears music (unless it is in front of a large audience). When we tried to capture it on camera last night, as mentioned in the yesterdays all written post, she noticed the camera and yelled out "cheese". Ah, cuteness.

Enjoy this and the 2 new videos in the previous post!

Fin's First Moments and His "reject" button

Video one is of Fin's first hours in the hospital. He was so calm even then. He is a sweet baby, and we were so proud to add him to the family. He was so little, squirmy, and sneezey. It kind of sounds like I am describing the cast off 8th dwarf, but most little newborns sneeze a lot. We have been trying to make an effort to get similar footage of Fin to what we had of Ella. For photos it was a heck of a lot easier to have photoshoots with one child, but having 2 children means that you nearly always have one that is in the mood for some form of photography.

Video two has a back ground story to it. My father had a chin cleft that was VERY prominent, and my mom used to tell a funny story about how when God was inspecting babies coming to earth he would poke the cheeks of the perfect babies, thus giving them dimples. When he came across a not so perfect baby, he would push on their chin and say reject...
She may not remember telling this story, in fact he may have been the first to tell it, but regardless of who originally told it, the story stuck with me. That said, we all loved my dad's reject button very much and it is a good story now that Griffin might have a slight chin cleft. We will have to see how his face develops as he loses the baby softness over the next few months and years. Right now, I just looking at him and his little smile makes mine wider!!!




Video 2 -top



Video 1-bottom

I am so ashamed!!!

While I realize that none of us are perfect, I do try my best to avoid easily avoidable mistakes. However my late night post last night had so many typos and grammatical errors that came from editing it poorly. I still am appalled at my where for wear. In my defense, I do think that came from editing a sentence fragment out and combining the sentences poorly, leaving a where that I read as wear. Ah what the brain does to reading in the wee hours.

Anyway, there will be no pictures tonight since I can't get our multimedia computer to turn on. I will look into that tomorrow, but for now, we are back to the written description of our days activities....

Fin ate, did some light sleeping, ate some, did some heavy sleeping, and had a couple of lovely tummy time sessions. I got some organization out of the way, wrote a few more thank you notes, played in the glorious sunshine with Ella, and did a little filing for the new career. Ella danced with her stuffed dog, ate perogies for the first time, fell asleep waiting for lunch, took a shower, and played with some vinyl window clings that she likes to stick to herself as much as the windows. We tried to get some video of her dancing with the dog (which I will post as soon as we get the computer working), but as soon as she saw the camera, she stopped and clearly said, "CHEESE!" Do you think we use cameras too often when one of her clearest words is cheese?

Fantastic Fin

I know I said in the last post that I was going to try to drag these out this week, but I couldn't wait on this update any longer though...


Fin flipped over on Friday!!!!

Now I realize that at 4 weeks this is more of a fluke than a real accomplishment, but I am still excited. First of all, he did it the "right" way (from front to back). He has been doing pushups building up those arm muscles for about 2 or so weeks now, but Friday one of his little arms collapsed under him and he rolled onto his back. He looked very surprised!!!

Ella flipped for the first time at 3 weeks, but did it the funny way from back to front because she was a squirmer that was really mad and got herself going enough to flip over. Just a recap for anyone who cares...

So that is the latest update on our amazing son.

Our incredible daughter is starting to sleep through the night again after all the turmoil of a new brother, visitors and a cold. We are all grateful and she has been a lot more like her old self now that she is getting more sleep. She has also started to speak more clearly and in full sentences. It is still very hard to understand her, and she mumbles like her father, but we are thrilled when we hear things like "That is a truck", or "I did it". Ah the simple pleasures of being a parent. Really it means more to me to hear Ella say mama (which she started doing today!!!) than winning any statue, even one as recognized as an Oscar. It melts my heart just to hear her utter my title or to ask for kisses.

I hope Halle Berry and any other new mom feels that way too sometime soon.

More photos from the Salernos' visit

Ella with Grandma S and Grandpa along the sculpture walk
on the Puget sound in Seattle.

Ella crawling through an exhibit at the Children's museum.

The last day of the Salernos' visit (last Monday for those keeping track), we were still having wonderful weather so we took a walk along the sculpture walk in Seattle. It was beautiful as always, and also like always smelled bad (it really does smell like a trash can, why is that?). We had a nice walk and then headed to the Seattle Center to the Children's Museum. Ella had been napping in her stroller, but I made her get up and play since I had purposely not taken her here before so that she could enjoy it with Grandma and Grandpa. Well I have to learn that when a child is tired, you let them sleep... She woke up great and really enjoyed it over all, but I was a little disappointed that she didn't seem to be as into it as I thought she would be. Part of it could have been that we didn't have time to explore the whole place, but she was really most entertained by the make believe section that had a store where she could "buy" groceries, a firetruck where she could "drive" the engine and wear the gear, and a pizza shop where she could learn the finer points of running her own corner restaurant. The camera battery ran out after the first photo at the museum, so I only have the one to commemorate the event. I will do better next time.

Later in the day things were a bit rough as she really needed to get a little more sleep. We had a friend watch Ella and Fin and the adults all went out for a goodbye dinner. It was lovely and we really enjoyed the weather, the company and the new experiences of the Salernos visit.

I have more info to post, but with all the nice weather this past week, we have been trying to get out and enjoy it. So I don't have as many pictures as normal, but more exciting tidbits that I will try to drag out over the week for those of you that check daily. So you hope for some rain for us, and I will get myself organized to update this more often!

Ella and Gizmo

At the park visit, we met a dog named Gizmo that Ella LOVED. Here are some of her playing with him. I think Ella and I both hope a dog is in our future (in a couple of years, I can't do puppy and newborn!)

The Salerno's visit Part 1

Grandpa helping on the slide.

Grandma S helping on the open bridge.

Ella kissing daddy through the bars.

Ella and Grandma smiling for the camera.

Ella ready to go down the big kid slide. They grow up so fast!!!

Ella playing with her ball.

Ella and Gma S coming out of the tunnel slide.

Our family leaving the park.
(Fin is strapped to Renate's front.)

The weather was so wonderful for the Salerno's visit we wanted to be out as much as possible. Saturday we went to the park near our house and played. It was fun for everyone, especially Ella. Fin just slept bundled against Renate the whole trip.

Typing one handed, while holding a baby is tricky. I had forgotten that! Blogs take longer if I don't wait for naps...

Fin Size Update

Who says babies don't smile?
Fin seems to be ahead of the curve...or have gas...

Fin may have started out smaller than Ella at birth, but he seems to be making up for it! Above are 2 photos:

1. Is of Fin today in the same sleeper as Ella in the second photo. Today Fin is 3 weeks old.

2. The photo of Ella asleep on Uncle Adam was taken when she was 5 weeks old. Amazing how quickly they grow!

Valentine's Day at the Salernos

Ella helping mommy make a Valentine cake for daddy.

Lots of help, tasty help...

Oh so tasty help...

Oh no, almost scraped the bowl clean!!!

The finished product.
(ok, so I slightly overcooked the cake, despite my new timer.
However, icing makes everything better!)

Ella enjoying part of the finished product.

So I know the goal was to be cleaning the house for company this weekend, but Ella and I were having a rough day, so we decided to make daddy our focus. We cooked a nice dinner for him and baked a cake which occupied Ella for 30+minutes when it came time to clean the bowl. YEAH!!! Mommy time!!!! Haha!

Now that both kids are on the mend, it is getting easier and easier to balance them because it doesn't effect breathing if the other one cries for a minute while I attend to the others diaper or other crisis. Yeah for less snotty noses too!!!

Grandma and Grandpa Salerno arrive tonight, and it looks like it should be a fantastic weekend weather wise. We are hoping to get some wonderful photos to share next week. Hope everyone has a good weekend and we will update you then!

Fun at home!

Renate and Fin playing with the penguin balloon Gabi made.

Renate and Fin.

Ella and balloon penguin.

Proof of pigtails!!!!

Ah, vicks for babies...so slimey, yet so wonderful!

Ella and her blocks, she loves to sort by colors.

Ella playing in daddy's closet! Won't he have fun pairing his shoes back up later?


We are doing well, getting ready for the arrival of Grandma and Grandpa Salerno on Friday. These photos were all from last week when the kids were both struggling with colds. I think the worst is past for Ella, but Fin's cough continues to hang on. I think he will be better soon. At least we know that his lungs work! He is so cuddly, it is really wonderful. Fin does seem to have more gas problems than Ella ever did though, and he lets you know what is coming!!!

We will update the blog again at the latest after the Salernos visit, next Tuesday.

Aunt Gabi's visit

Superbowl Party Pics

Hayden showing off Gabi's upside down snail balloon animal handiwork.

Toby, a true Pats fan, very sad at last Giant touchdown.

Ella, all tired out sleeping on daddy.

Daddy smiles quietly at game excitement.

Ella teaching Dan her dance.

Fin dressed for the game.

Ella dancing at halftime.

Ella and daddy playing with blocks before the game.

Fin relaxing before game.

Cutest bear feet.

Ella hiding in the kitchen, her newest fort location.

As the pics show, a superbowl party with kids is very different than without! A lot more toys, more polite responses from adults to ref calls, and more rules about drinks and standing in the TV way. It was a great time with friends and family, made even better by the Giants winning!

Forgive our disappearance...

Sorry there haven't been many updates this week. I have not been able to sleep between the 2 kids having colds. Because of that, things like blogs get pushed lower in priority. Never fear, there will be lots of updates with pictures as I have still been really busy during the day.

Ella's cold is really improving, but Fin's cold is still making feeding him miserable. I really hope he gets better soon. It must be hard to eat when you can't breathe out of your nose! I will post some pictures in the few hours when Ella goes down for a nap.

Tollie and Zak make the trip

Fin and his hands

Ella loving on Fin.

Don't even think of touching Ella's baby...

Fin next to the comcast remote, just for a size reference.

Tollie holding Fin.

He has such a state of quiet awareness.

Ella needing some attention too.

We had a great night with Tollie and Zak visiting. They made the trip down after work to see Fin since it was going to be a busy weekend. Zak made Ella feel like a princess, showering her with attention and plastic blocks, while Tollie got to marvel at Fin and his sleeping skills.

Aunt Gabi flies in on Friday to see the new one and we can't wait! We will take more pictures this weekend and we hope you all enjoy the superbowl! In this house, I think the word is go Giants!