Hi everyone! So we just thought we would post an update to assure you all that we have not fallen off the face of the earth. It has been such a busy few months for us, as well as our extended families! Sofia and Isabella entered the world, as did my brother Christian's baby boy (Christian David), so it's been a little bit of Baby Heaven. There's nothing quite like the miracle of new life! We LOVE seeing the pictures of our beautiful nieces, and can't wait to meet them in person. And we are so happy for you David and Marisa, and Jack and Christina. What an exciting time! We also are enjoying all of Mom's activity on the Blog. We look at the pictures constantly and we feel closer to you all despite the miles between us.
As for us here in VA, we have been enjoying a very busy summer. I haven't posted since May, so I will back track to the beginning of June and share some pictures. I am realizing that my rate of picture-taking has greatly decreased since my college years, when I would document EVERYthing Ryan and I ever did together. Now I rarely think to take pictures. This is probably just the calm before the storm, because once Cecilia arrives I will take pictures of everything once again. :)
June seemed to be the month of family get-togethers and parties for us. Once the weather got warm, both my siblings who live in VA hosted a number of parties in their new homes. Here is a picture from an Ashburn get-together at my brother Mario's house, when Ryan went down to the basement at the request of all the kids and returned upstairs looking like this:
No wonder Ryan is everyone's favorite Uncle! Who else would let the kids do that to them? Some of my Franzonello cousins (the owners of the Farm, maybe you remember some of them from the wedding) were in town for a quick visit one weekend, and Ryan was able to be reunited with my cousin Chris. I'm sorry for the offensive content in this picture of them together:
This picture is much better. But then again, why is it that Ryan doesn't look as happy in this picture as he did in the one with Chris? Hmm..
My brother Michael and his family also made it down to VA for a week of partying in June. When we were all together on the weekend Ryan and Peter took on all the unsuspecting little girls in a water gun battle. Here they are looking very fierce before they launched their attack:
Here I am with Sarah. I'm holding my buddy Simon and Sarah is holding her Michael Jr. (my Godson) who is one of the happiest babies you will ever meet.
The month of July has been very fun-filled so far as well. We kicked it off with a trip to NY for 4th of July weekend and our 1 year wedding anniversary. Ryan made my Dad a happy man by going Beaver hunting with him a couple of times. As you can see by the Jeep in the background, Luke surprised everyone by driving in from his diocese in Conneticut to join us.
One of my favorite places at the Farm is the waterhole. The water was freezing the first day we went, but at least we got a cute picture together:
My niece Maria and I got to spend some quality time together over the weekend. I was honored that she chose me to take her on a go-kart ride, since she tends to not like people who are not her parents. She did warm up to me, however, and when I would take her for a spin she would shout "Cooool!" and "Go Go!" to indicate that she wanted to go faster. Here we are:
Here is a "sister picture," which in my opinion you can never have too many of:
On the 4th we had a little 1 year anniversary celebration at the Farm. And what a wonderful year it has been :)
Now that we are back in VA and will be staying put until Cecilia's arrival, I think I have entered the nesting stage a little prematurely. I am completely preoccupied with preparing everything for her, even though we've got about 11 weeks to go. Ryan gave me permission to start a little clothes shopping, since I have abstained up until now. My sister and I heard about some great sales at the Osh Kosh and Carter's outlets, and we just couldn't resist. Here is my bounty from my first day of shopping. A bit much? Maybe.
Since I knew Ryan would have a hard time swallowing how much i bought, I was sure to buy a few items that would soften his heart. It worked.
Now for the pregnant lady pictures. Here I am at 23 weeks:
27 weeks:
And now, 28 weeks. The story behind this picture is that my mom is convinced that none of the pregnant lady pictures Ryan takes really do justice to how big my tummy is. Since he is so tall, the pictures end up a little distorted. There's definitely some truth to that, so I asked Ryan to try and take a more accurate picture, from down lower. This is the result:
Ah well, at least you can get an idea of the tummy progression. I had my 28 weeks appointment today, and heard only good news. Cecilia and I are right on track for growth, weight gain, etc. Ryan and I are really enjoying this stage of pregnancy, as Cecilia's movements are becomming more and more pronounced. I am very proud to say that she is strong enough to kick my cell phone off my tummy. She also continues to kick and punch anything that gets in her way, such as the kitchen counter, seat belts, and the elastic panel on my maternity pants that annoy her. She is already giving us a taste of her personality, and we think she has a lot of spunk. We also think that she is going to be a super-athlete, and we anticipate that she will be an excellent soccer player. :) She really enjoys it when Ryan talks to her, and responds to his voice and his touch. She also responds to music, which is very entertaining to watch. I will experiment by turning my music on and off; when it's on, she kicks up a storm, and when it goes off, she suddenly stops. Her favorites to dance to are U2, Jack Johnson, and Led Zeppelin. That's my girl! As you can see we are very proud parents already. Here is a picture of us together, taken today at Ryan's work building, where we had a picnic together for his lunch hour.
In other news, we are in the process of figuring out our housing plans for when our lease ends in September. While we love our cozy little apartment and could fit Cecilia comfortably with us here, we have decided to look around just in case we could get a bigger place for the same price. The day we decided to start apartment searching, my brother Mario called me to let me know that he's been meaning to buy an investment property for some time now and he thinks Manassas would be a good place to look. He also suggested that if he could find a nice place, he would like to rent to us for the first couple of years, since finding good renters you can trust is kind of tricky. Obviously, Ryan and I are thrilled at the idea! Tomorrow morning we are going to do a walk through of a townhouse that looks like a strong possibility. It is 3 stories, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, and we would get it for the same that we pay in rent right now. We are excited at the thought of having more room to house guests (hint hint) and will let you know if anything comes of the walk-through.
I hope that some of you had the perseverance to read this long long post to the end, haha. I hope we can do some more web-cam in the near future, and that more picture posts continue on the Blog. We love you all and miss you very much!
Hi! Sorry its taken me so long to get back. Angela and Robby had summer camps the past two weeks which meant driving around and that always leaves me tired at the end of the day.(Not that this picture would reflect that.) Anyways, they had a great time and improved alot in soccer for Angela and ballet for Robby....aaalmost!
Another treasured moment- I love being a grandma!!! Here's Isabella. Pink seems to dominate in color schemes around here:) It's about time the girls ruled! Which reminds me, Mary, we have a large bag of beautful newborn clothes f or Cecilia donated by Christina and Marisa! I'll send them to you so you can decide if you can use them:) Fun!
This picture was actually taken on Teresa's birthday! I see so much love and devotion in this picture. She looks like a little candycane.
This is their first family picture I have. It was taken on the 4th. They look so happy!
Nicolette and Joe's picture was also taken on the 4th. They are very happy too!:) I will have some photos of Joe's birthday soon since Robby is home now from his soccer camp and can download them to the computer.
