Holy Infant So Tender

Sometimes I like to believe that Christmas is about celebrating not only the birth of Baby Jesus, but the birth of all babies, so holy and precious. Christmas is the celebration of life. Merry Christmas to all.

Hello Angel

And your name is? and you came from where? I am not sure I trust you yet

Momma on Holiday Eating

Merry Christmas from Momma the Nutrition Expert at (click the link here LUNA)

The rink

The gang finally made it over to Iceland. It has been at least two years since Momma has been one skates. Yes, those are the last pair of professional skates my mom ever bought me back in the day when her car would drive to the west side of town and go only one direction...the 4 Season Ice Rink.

For those of you how don't recall everything Momma needed to learn about life she learned at the "rink". I am not sure when I realized I wasn't going to make an Olympic figure skater but it must have been soon after this photo was taken: (stay tuned...will insert scary photo here)


Momma started skating at the age of 4 so seems fitting time to start Eric. My career started in basic classes after Grandma & Grandpa Bernell & Eric took  me to see my first ice show. I was hooked the minute I saw the costumes and the spot light on the ice. My (still friends - she as my made of honor) friend Heidi was a snowflake.  My Mom's financial sacrifices and my Grandpa's taxi surface to the rink has always been a gift I have been grateful for. Nothing feels as good as cruising around the rink, forwards, backwards, edge to ice, with wind breezing by you. It is the biggest aaaaah.

Eric did really well for it first time out with Momma and we even practiced falling so he wouldn't be afraid to hit the ground. Lord knows I have bruised my tail bone more than once. Aaron has taken Eric on one other occasion and found Eric was more interested in the video games that time around.

Aaron picked up skating recently too. Hockey that is. I will never understand why they don't want toe picks. He saw a beginners class and showed up as a beginner....hardly even knowing how to skate or owning any gear. He found out that apparently beginning hockey lessons includes mostly individuals who already know how to ice skate. This did not discourage his interest in the least. He picked up the skills fast, borrowed some gear, and now is as anxious I am to get our boys comfortable on the ice.

Noah watched us cruise and banged his hands up on the glass waving at us.

 

He is a natural!Winter sports watch out!

Rain day

Today we made the most of a rain day and duck taped the umbrella to the three -wheeler. It worked great. We road to the park where Eric wanted to see how wet the slide was but we never made it to the slide because We were distracted with pine cone soccer and pine cone basket ball. He said the baseball "court ", his word, was too wet.

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Wee play party

We had the pleasure of celebrating our good friend Roane's first birthday at Wee Play. Here is a quicky blog to share some recent fun.


Here is a pic of the big birthday boy looking completely aware that we are all there in his honor.



DJ Noah owned the learning tables at the party and kicked out some good beat box sounds.

He wore himself out and was ready to snuggle in.

Dadda trying to "heard cats" for a group shot of Noah and the birthday boy. Good luck with that!

Congrats to proud Mama  Jhana ( and Dada Christoper -not pictured here) for making it through the first full year as parents of two boys under the age of 4

Big brother Aemon (Eric's best buddy from Little Lion's) enjoy the homemade cup cakes.

Big brother Eric doing the same

Four years ago today

Our lives have just been getting sweeter and sweeter.......

http://ericthies.blogspot.com/2006/12/homecoming-pics-and-videos.html

Thanksgiving and stuff

Thanksgiving has come and now there is just 2 weekends before Christmas and we will be putting the tree up this week.  I am a bit behind on reporting action from November and now here it is December.

 Here is a run down of November events on Eric and Noah's calendars.
1) Visit from Uncle Sean & Aunt Courtney (actually end of October but who is keeping track?)
2) Visit from Papa Ralph and Nani Jeanne arriving on Mamma's birthday to celebrate

3) Two week trip to Boston. This was Noah's first time on an airplane and Eric's third trip to Boston to see the cousins, Great Auntie J, and Great Nana Mary.

This brings me to Thanksgiving, which is what I intended to write about when a started this.

We had a fantastic Wild Wood Thanksgiving complete with Noah's first visit to see Santa at Empire Mine State Park. Noah was intrigued with Santa's real (really!) beard. (You get a Santa with a real beard when you skip the Santa scene at the mall). Noah just kept diddling Santa's beard while Eric answered Santa's questions with eyes only for the bowl of candy canes in Mrs. Claus's bowl.

 
This is will also be the the first visit to Santa that Eric will likely recall. This is probably a good thing since the first visit to Santa  resulted in a  classic Santa scream which caused us to skip the whole thing last year.

Baby talk

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Beantown

Eric made his third trip to Boston and Noah his first to spend time with their Italian roots and the DelloIacono side of the family.

Momma has been soaking up knowledge and insights from a 4 day long (l.o.n.g. like morning through night) nutrition conference while Eric, Aaron and Noah have been cruising the sights. The have ridden the T,  gone to the children's museum, and explored a few playgrounds. Daddy has been keeping them busy and getting smiles all the while. They also had dinner with cousins Madison & iDylaan, Great Aunt Janice while the Momma's attended a documentary film festival on organic and fair trade food (that made Momma want to adopt a child from Africa). Ne

We have also spent time enjoying the company of our Italian cooking sage, Nanny Mary. Such a special occasion for her to have all her great grandchildren in her lap. Although, we had to try and temper their energy to keep them from making her too nervoso.
 
Eric got to play the Big Bad Wolf in the Three Little Pigs play at the children's museum

name calling begins

This morning Eric said to Noah, "Noah, you're a fat egg and I am noffing "

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Happy Halloween

Halloween is practically a holiday in Alameda with more decorations coming out almost more than Christmas.

This Halloween we had fun Trick or Treating and then passing out treats to (we estimate) roughly 600 Trick or Treaters.

Eric's good buddy Aemon and his family joined in on our neighborhood action. The made for a brilliant Batman and Star Wars contingent. Aemon's dad Christopher was Dagoba Skywalker toting Yoda (baby Roane) on his back while Jhana (Aemon's Mom) was the best looking Sith Lord I have ever seen. Aaron came in strong as Darth and Eric pulled his weight as the superhero Batman.

Noah and Momma went the traditional Halloween route as which and baby creature next door.

I run to be a Momma

A few weeks ago I (Momma) ran my favorite half-marathon course in San Francisco as one of the 20,000 runners running the Nike Women's Half Marathon. Can you see my name on the list of runners? Hint: its in alphabetical order.

"I run to be....." was the theme of this years Nike Women's. Marathon. My goal was to just finish the 13.1 miles given I had hardly run a step until 2 months prior. Last year my goal was to NOT run it. Not as strange as it sounds. If you have been a runner as long as I have you know what I am talking about. Not running can be as hard and sometimes harder than actually running. Last year I was pregnant with our precious boy Noah and had my own marathon of pregnancy to focus on.

Jodi (good friend) came all the way from Anchorage so we could run this together

Jodi's fellow Alaskan ran the Marathon & joined us in some goofiness

This year running was about celebrating. Celebrating my blessed boys and all they have brought into our life, and celebrating the fact that I can run. This may sound corny, but it is true. I get so emotional at this race that when I run it I am smiling and sometimes even tearing up through the whole thing.

It might seem contradicting to some to say I run to be a Momma and then see me running "away" from my kids, but every time I take that running break I come back being a happier and more vibrant Momma. Not to mention running equips me with the stamina and endurance I need to stay ahead of these very active little boys!

Running is my sanctuary, my meditation, and my moving prayer. It is my giant exhale at the end of the day, in the early morning, or after my mind is over-jumbled with questions and thoughts. Running affords me the time I need think, or not; reflect, or not; it is after all my time and my choice however long or short it may be.

Seeing my boys waiting for me at the finish line with my dry clothes and chocolate milk was....well I can't describe it any other way than warming....warmed my heart.

So don't tell me that the Nike Women's event has nothing to do with men because for me it is all about them. I run to be a Momma.

All Mommas Running like a motha

I also run to be a friend and was so lucky to share this with my a friend who knows more about me than I know about me. Jodi came all the way from Anchorage to run and play.

So special for Jodi to meet my boys

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first time

Noah and I had a slight case of the sniffles last week. That didn't stop up us from enjoying our day at home together. After some good rest and relaxation we felt the need for some fresh air and headed to our nearby neighborhood park where Noah had his first ride in a park swing. He was curious and delighted.

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Go Giants...

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Eric's 4th Birthday (72 photos), by Tara DelloIacono

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Eric & Noah pay the check

Eating out at the dinner store as Eric calls it is a special treat. It is especially nice when Eric lays down his card.

Whirlwinding

If I could make a living blogging about my family and kids boy would you see A LOT more posts! 

We have been whirlwinding through the last 2 months of adjusting to Momma being back to work, which has also included moving to the hip to new head quarters with ON SIGHT PRE-SCHOOL and CHILDCARE. More on Eric's first day in the next blog.

First things first and that is catching you up on what our favorite six-and-a-half- month- old -Noah is up to, and I do mean UP.

He is not only crawling with verve and vigor that matches his older brother's famous moves, but he is also sitting up and pulling up to his knees. AND he is also doing these downward dog-type-moves and sometimes looks like he is going to just bend up at the waist and stand up, but I think we have a few more weeks before he does that.

Most babies start to sit up using there hands in tripod fashion with their bum, hands, and legs. Not Noah. He decided to go hands free. He would hold his arms out straight trying to catch his balance and wobble from bum cheek to bum cheek. Just when you thought he might tip over his "core strength" would kick in voila! he was sitting. I wish we had video of this but I was so busy spotting him in case he went over and I couldn't free myself up to take the video.


 I put Noah in his crib while I went downstairs to retrieve laundry from the dryer. I returned to Noah looking at me so proudly with his satisfied smile because he had grabbed the side of the crib and pulled himself up "pullup style" onto his knees. He was pleased as punch with himself and we soon lowered the crib down a notch.

Noah loves to explore and is always looking under things ie the couch to see what he can find. He has also begun the adventures in food and is enjoying a broader menu of apples, avocados, bananas, rice cereal, and sweet potatoes. All organic all the time around here.

That is the scoop.

Here is a lovely picture of the boys Skyping with Grandma & Grandpa while each of them is (already) trying to elbo the other one out of their way.

Panda is much loved in this house

Panda arrived on Eric's first birthday and is now being loved by both Eric and Noah. If anyone has suggestions on how to clean Panda let me know. His white fur has a nice tan at the moment.

Happy Birthday!

Four years ago today Eric began teaching me what really matters in this world. All babies are evidence of God's miracles, but preemies are touched with something even more.

When Eric was born we couldn't even imagine what he would be like today. He has an energy and enthusiasm that we can only hope to match! Watching him cruise around like a little mountain biking pro on his mini bike brings tears to my eyes because I am so proud to be his Momma and guide him on this path.

Each night I tuck him into bed and sing him Twinkle. Each night he requests one more verse which I sing (most of the time) and each night he asks me to lay down for a "little bit". I say to him, "Momma loves you." Just two weeks ago he said in a complete full sentence as he put his hand on mine, "I love you too Momma." I melted into a thousand pieces.

Happy 4th birthday to my sweet - totally Virgo - boy.