Monday, August 30, 2010

Hey Mom here I come

Noah is happy as can be exploring our long hallway. Smiles as he follows me

Noah is 6 months

Noah is 6 months old and very motivated to keep up with his brother. He is so close to crawling, getting up on all fours and then "plop" he is back down and squirming and propelling him self forward with his signature "DelloIacono-Thies" toes.

He also love to hold his own bottle when it is less than half full and eats like a champ, every 2-3 hours. We have started him on a little rice cereal which he seems to find interesting but would still just rather have a bottle.

He has also gotten quite good and playing the piano and loves exploring his toys all over the living room - or the "house" as Eric refers to the living room-

Monday, August 23, 2010

Spelling his name

Eric is named after is great grandfather on Momma's side of the family(the story of his name). Ask him how to spell it and he says E-R-I-C. When he spells it out on the frig with the magnet letters he spells
B-E-E-R. I would have thought this was a coincidence had I not seen him spell his name this way THREE times while stating E-R-I-C.

We have made some progress though.....check it out

Monday, August 16, 2010

Movin & shakin

Noah is soooo on the move. He is quite determined to reach toys just out of his reach and will shimmy and pivot to get there. He really wants to crawl and his clumsy yet somehow coordinated efforts have recently propelled inches. And just when he reaches that truck Eric snags out from his reach with a "hey".

Noah is lucky enough to have a wonderful nanny, Courtney, who cares for him while Momma & Dadda are at work. Momma is also lucky that Courtney sends her updates, pictures, and videos of her little Sweetie Pie.

Here is a video Courtney sent today with Noah doing some of his moves.

Aaron asked me if I call Courtney a 100 times a day to get updates because I come home and seem to know exactly how the day went. Lucky for me Courtney is a quick and efficient texter so I don't have to interrupt her flow with my Sweetie.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Joy, work, & then some


When I think of these past five months one word comes to mind joy. I have had the most joyful five months getting to know Noah and nurturing our new family dynamic of a foursome. You will laugh when I tell you the joyful feeling began when I went into labor. If you would have seen me then you would not have described me as joyful, and Aaron is also laughing because he would not describe me as joyful at 4am or any time he caught me with rattled nerves. If you saw me in our first month (Mom) you wouldn't have described me as joyful either, but underneath a veil of sleep deprivation, nursing woes, and postpartum recovery was a strong sense of happniess and relief that Noah was here, healthy, and happy. The 3 H's.

Clif Bar & Co provided me a generous five month maternity leave that I like to refer to is the Total Mommy Immersion Program. We started out with a crash course in swollen & bleeding boobs, pre-schooler pink eye, and new-sibling rivalry adjustments. But, you know what was joyful about all of this? It was simply the normal challenges of becoming parents to two kids.
Thankfully Grandma was around to help us through our new normal, and after the first month we settled into our routine of really, no routine. Grandma went home leaving us to fend for ourselves with dinners, Dadda went to work,  and Eric went to school. I took the popular advice I received and kept Eric in his routine of attending Little Lions each day. He got to play with his friends, learn things, and be rowdy with the other boys his age while Noah and I got acquainted.

The days flew by and I truly soaked up the moments. Unlike Eric at this early age, Noah and I were eager to get out and about together. A big difference with a full-term baby is that instead of our lives coming to a screeching halt, things kept moving and we had to incorporate Noah into the action right away with activities like going to the park, the Oakland Zoo, grocery shopping, lunch dates, and strolling boutiques on Fillmore or Chestnut streets.  Aaah, so this is what it is like to take a new baby out in public.

I was eager to introduce Noah to others and we had many visitors: Isabella, Moose (a big dog), Lisa, Nicole, Sam, Maylen, Addison, Susie, Rachel, and our friendly neighbors. How nice to let someone hold him without feeling a rush of panic come over me. Sharing our joy is really fun.

Over the course of the past five months I have watched the seasons change from winter to summer through the view of our pear tree out our front door.

This earthy measure of the time is now green with leaves and staining our cars with each splat of falling pear nuts. The tree is telling us 1) that it is time to put the car in the garage and 2)it is time for me to return to work doing I job that I love, for a company I love, with people I love being around.

I can say that I have enjoyed just about every minute of my Mommy Immersion immensely, but I am craving some self-expression and time to think differently, which I am lucky to bring to the work I get to do.

The work I do is a true expression of another side of me. Having completed the Mommy Total Immersion Program I am ready to graduate to phase 2 of Nutrition Strategy Career Mom. Working at Clif Bar recharges me and makes me a better mom. Our kids thrive on the change in energy. To sweeten this deal, soon both of my boys will join me at my office, all piling into the car and heading to Clif Bar together, them to the Clif Children's Learning Center and me to desk at our new office location! What will Dadda do with the new-found quiet house? Probably recharge and have the break-through epiphany ADS is just waiting for!

Sunday, August 08, 2010

For those about to rock.....


We salute you!

Monday, August 02, 2010

Old friends

We regularly get together with our preemie buddies Ryan and Spencer. If we haven't seen them in a few weeks or so Eric will start asking when about them. The other night when I was tucking him into bed he said, "We can go to Spencer's house sometime. We can play with his big trains. Ryan will be there."

Here some pics of our last play day in Novato.:

Hard to believe that almost 4 years ago these boys each weighed less than 2 pounds

Always goofin'