Off we go

Well my back has been feeling alright (and we realize it could just start feeling worse from here) and the weather this weekend looks GREAT for Florence and Venice - so we are off!!

The plan

• Thursday morning head to Pisa for a couple hours


• Then go to Florence - stay there for two nights


• From Florence head to Padua for 4 or so hours


• Then to Venice - stay there for two nights


• Monday at some point head home

I've got our train schedules all figured out and our hostels booked (please pray that they aren't dives or anything!!). Today will be for shopping, laundry and packing... as well as looking into what we want to do there.

Everyone told us to reserve tickets for the big things in Florence, but you need to book a month ahead and obviously we haven't thought that far in advance... so we'll see how that goes. I don't really like booking that far in advance either, because a month from now I'll be a month more pregnant, it will be that much closer to our big move home, and who knows what the weather will be like at that particular time.

I won't update on Sunday with "22 Weeks" but I will take a picture that day and post it all when we get back :)

Ciao!

Weekend recap

Well Monday morning was looking pretty miserable out so I wrote up a weekend recap - at least it was sunny on the weekend!!

• Sat morning - went into Civitavecchia with Conor and Finn. Went to the park, to the market, to the boardwalk. Remember the grocery store that I was so sad closed here? Well there was one in Civi right by the park, so everytime I would go out there I would stop buy and grab a few things that we really liked from there, or that was really cheap. The last two times I've gone the store has been closed - boo! They must be changing as well. Anyways, we had a good morning!

All Finn wants to do is drive his trucks down the slide.


• Sat evening - went back to Civi with Eleonora and Kevin for pizza


• Sun moring - went to Mass. Finn is such a good kid at church these days. Other than maybe one other family with kids under 4, we are the only ones that even TRY to keep our kid sitting on the pews through mass. It's so distracting. Most of the families get there late, so there aren't any seats left, and then they just let their kids run around like crazy people in the back (and even up and down the aisles) How is this acceptable? Normally by the end of mass, after we come back to our seats from Communion, Finn doesn't want to sit again, so Conor takes him to the back to one door, but doesn't let him run all over.

Caterpillars walking in a line. There were about 6 of them. We walked a little farther and saw a line of at least 10 (unforutnately all squished and dead) and even another line of caterpillars after that. Who knew they walked in groups like this?


• Sun evening - headed to Kevin and Eleonora's for the first bbq of the year! It was so great to sit and chat with everyone... a lot less people than last year though! Finn LOVED LOVED playing with the other kids. It was a great end to the weekend.

The BBQ - lots of fun!

After all of the walking around this weekend, my lower back was killing me by the time we walked home last night. So we'll see if I'm prepared to go on a trip this week or not. The weather forecast isn't looking so good anyways, so we'll just play it by ear.

Zoo

When did my house become a zoo??

True to my word I let him have the camera afterwards, and I showed him how to play the video for himself. He watched it no less than 20 times before I got tired of it and took it away!

21 Weeks

Well our trip plans are coming along. I think we're going to go on Thursday, and probably do two nights in Florence and two Nights in Venice.

How far along: 21 weeks

Size of baby: (from whattoexpect.com) 8 inches - a spaghetti squash (I had to google that one!)

Total weight gain/loss: Didn't weigh myself this week

Maternity Clothes: Still just the bellyband with my jeans.

Gender: IT'S A GIRL!!!

Movement: Oh lots and lots of kicking going on in there. If I lay on my side with my one leg up I can really feel her doing somersaults.

Sleep: Finn has had a few rough nights, but the pregnancy isn't really affecting my sleep. When I do get awakened by Finn I usually have some pain in my hips from laying on my side, but I just adjust and it goes away.

What I miss: Not having back pain. I don't know if it's just because of the pregnancy, or if it's just exacerbating a previous problem, but my tailbone has been hurting, especially when I walk for long distances. I feel like an old man. Hopefully it won't bother me too much on our trip.

Cravings: Just sweets - actually I'm in love with caffeine free Coke and chocolate milk right now

Symptoms: The usual - growing belly, stretching belly pains.

Best moment of the week: The sun!! I went out with Finn and had to take off my sweater!!

St. Joseph's feast day

Saturday was the feast day of St Joseph. The main church in Santa Marinella is St. Joseph's, so every year they have a festival in celebration of his feast day.

Last year was a blast (click here to read my post about it), but this year just wasn't the same without all of the other families to enjoy it with. Either way we took Finn out Saturday morning... he really liked looking at the balloons and hearing the songs from the rides.

Kevin holding Rocco, Conor and Finn

In evening we headed back in to meet up with some friends to watch the fireworks. Last year I didn't know there were going to be fireworks, and they started as I was giving Finn his bath, so we missed a lot of it. We met down at the church and waited.

All I have to say is "pitiful". I was so disappointed. They didn't even last long enough for me to take out my camera, except the very end. Again, I was so disappointed, I was so looking forward to seeing some fireworks. Conor kept telling me that we've already seen the best fireworks we'll probably ever see (New Years Eve 2008 in Sydney).

We wandered around afterwards for a bit - I got some cotton candy. Then Eleonora arrived and mentioned there might be more fireworks around 11:30. We eventually went home and put Finn to bed and watched tv until just after 11, and then the fireworks started!!! I ran outside and watched the from the terrazza - perfect place... and they were MUCH better!

I've seen better days

But today was definitely much better than yesterday.

Finn is just so frustrating right now. He wakes up between 6 and 630 am, normally breakfast is a happy time for him, but he VERY begrudingly comes to the table now (this is after whining and crying and screaming while Conor or I try to make breakfast), and then proceeds to whine/cry/scream all morning. Today was Conor's day on breakfast, and I broke down a little at the table while Finn did his freak out.

But then Finn was pretty good after breakfast. Conor was going out in the afternoon until late (probably won't be home until 10 or so) to meet up with a guy who is writing his thesis on pretty much the exact same topic as Conor (which is rare, since neither have met anyone else who have written on the subject) so he gave me a break and took Finn out in the morning.

I should note that I have the body of an old man right now... yesterday I had to walk to the hospital (remember, 30 minute walk one way), to get my last test results back, plus I had gone out with Finn in the morning AND grocery shopping with him in the afternoon... I was SOOOO sore by the evening. This is partly why Conor took him out this morning fo rme.

Anyways, I rested and relaxed, they got back at lunch and we ate together. Then Conor left and Finn and I had a nap, and he actually had a decent nap, and then played upstairs for a bit. We went out to the grocery store and I made the mistake of not taking the stroller (it's nice to have for two reasons 1. if he freaks out so I could just put him in there and not have to deal with his trying to go in other directions and 2. to put the groceries in)

But I wasn't getting much from the store, it worked out in the end, but he can be a trial. I am amazed at how the "1,2,3" trick works with him about 98% of the time! If he looks like he is going to turn around, or is just standing there giving me a defiant look, I just say "OOONNNNEEE..." and hardly ever have to get to 2 or 3!

He freaked out while I was making dinner... but because he's also been a monster at dinner time (and lunch too... lunch was always his sure fire happy time), I decided to get frozen fries, something I knew he would come to the table for, since I didn't have Conor to help me out.

It worked!!

Now he's playing with my ipod while I write this, and then I will go on with my trip research!

Is it the weekend yet??

I'm having a hard week. Every week is hard. I pretty much only "see" people on the weekends (I see many Italians, but no one I can talk to). Finn has no kids to play with and I think it's adding to some other grumpy issues. I love the weekends. Anywas, enough about that. Once I make it through the rest of this week, there will only be 9 weeks left anyways!!

To take my mind off it, we are planning a trip! Originally this year, if funding came through, I wanted to get out of Italy and see something else... preferably somewhere they speak English (so yeah, the UK somewhere)... but we also did want to see some more of Italy. But now for budgeting reasons, and not wanting to do TOO much in my pregnant state, we are just going to stick to Italy unfortunately. Maybe when we're old and retired and we'll come back to Europe!

Anyways, as it looks right now we are going to head north, to Florence and Venice, and maybe a few smaller places in those areas, for a few nights. It's not going to be cheap, so my job is to plan it out.

I like planning stuff :)

20 Weeks

We are half way through!!!

How far along: 20 weeks

Size of baby: (from whattoexpect.com) 7 in - a large banana (PS. Last week the baby was the size of a cantaloupe)

Total weight gain/loss: Up 3 pounds from week 16 - so right now I'm 2 pounds up from when I first found out I was preggo.

Maternity Clothes: The bellyband with my jeans, and I wore one of the maternity shirts this week :) Oh, and my black dress pants that I bought shortly after Finn was born (too shortly after he was born, and they have been really big on me ever since) fit WITHOUT a belt! haha.

Gender: IT'S A GIRL!!!

Movement: Baby girl is getting stronger and stronger, and I can feel it in her kicks. I think she also stretches out sometimes and gets me with her feet and her hands because I will feel "kicks" on both sides of my stomach at the same time.

Sleep: Good and bad - Finn took a bit of a napping strike again after last weekend, but the last few days have been good. Plus he's been waking up between 615 and 645 most mornings! blah, can't wait for the time change. Last night though I didn't have to get up for Finn or to pee, so I felt well rested this morning when he woke up at 7!

What I miss: Nothing that I can think of.

Cravings: Just the usual sweets... but I haven't made brownies this week, so that's good! Oh, we went to this festival yesterday and I couldn't resist the cotton candy (that's fairy floss for you aussies!)

Symptoms: My hair! somethings up with it this week especially and I think it's pregnancy related. It is getting to an awkward length, which has nothing to do with the pregnancy, but it's feeling extra thick! Also, it doesn't get as greasy as fast, which is nice!

Best moment of the week: Getting to see baby girl kick... I could see her poke out of my belly.

Also, now that I'm 20 weeks, I'll add a weekly countdown to our flight home when I'm 30 weeks

10 weeks until we fly home!

The artist

Finn's been really enjoying drawing these days. He's starting to master squares and triangles.




A lot of the time he wants us to draw. Lately Conor's been drawing a lot of trains for him. Finn started mimicking the wheels on the train by drawing a lot of circles in a row and then putting a line through them.

The wheels that Finn draws

Conor's train that he often draws for Finn

Then one day he drew this picture - a train complete with smoke billowing out! I can't believe it... he draws trains better than I do. Is it too early to sign him up for art lessons?? haha

I meant to post this a few days ago, since then I've been going through some of his notebooks and there are three more amazing ones!

Goodbye sleep schedule

It's amazing how one day in the life of a baby/toddler can really mess up their sleep schedule!

On Saturday morning we went out for this amazing barbeque with Kevin and Eleonora and we didn't get home until around 5, so Finn missed his nap (although he did fall asleep in the car for a little bit). We put him to bed at 730pm that night and he slept until 815 the next morning.

Normally he wakes up between 630-715am, so 815 was quite the sleep in... which meant that he was FIGHTING naptime on Sunday. It took him a good hour before he finally fell asleep.

Then that evening some friends came over to watch a movie. We put Finn to bed just before 830pm and waited a bit before starting the movie... since there's no door to our room he could hear everything and clearly was NOT going to fall asleep. We were watching "A Mighty Wind" and during the concert part there is alot of clapping, Finn thinks it's really funny when groups of people clap, so everytime there was clapping on the TV, Finn would start laughing upstairs!

They left just after 10 and I finally went to try laying down in Finn's bed with him to get him asleep, but he kept kicking around and rolling on me. Finally I just got ready and brought him into bed with me. Still no luck, even after Conor came into bed Finn was talking (well whispering, I taught him how to whispter!) and rolling around. I don't think he fell asleep until around midnight!

Of course then that means we all slept in - until 9am!! I don't think I've slept in that late in a LONG time!

Good luck trying to get him to nap... blah... its a vicious cycle.

Well in the end he did finally nap for an hour, and he went to bed at 830 and put up quite the fuss! Crying like it was the end of the world or something.

We now know that we either cannot have company over until after he's in bed, or else everyone has to be completely silent for at least 15 minutes after he goes to bed.

Canale Monterano

An historical picture of the town.

The main Church on the top left corner still stands, as well as part of the aqueduct and the smaller church in the center of the town.

Normally on Saturday mornings we have someone over for pancakes, if not we just eat them all ourselves! On Friday Kevin asked us if, instead, we would like to go out into the hills for a barbeque. Of course!

We drove out to an abandoned town called "Canale Monterano" which dates from the middle ages. When we got there we parked and walked for maybe 15 minutes, it wasn't long at all, Finn walked as well.

As we were walking we could see parts of the town up in the hill, and actually walked right past this aqueduct, it was pretty spectacular. Up top there was a guy with horses and donkeys, Finn was very distracted from that point on!

On the map up top you can see the church in the top left hand corner, just below the church there was a nice picnic/barbeque area. That's where we set up, Kevin started the fire while Conor, Finn and I headed into the old town to check it out.

I should point out that I had no idea where we were going, and therefore didn't think to bring my camera, so I got all of these images off of google.

After we wandered around we headed back to the fire for the barbeque. Kevin had done up some eggplant and zucchini, and then sausages and some really yummy chicken wings... it's always nice having a chef for a friend! haha.

It wasn't the sunniest or warmest day, but with the fire it was pleasant and we had a good time. While they were barbequeing Finn spent a good 30-45 minutes with the firewood just throwing it all into a big pile, it was a great babysitter for us!

We got home around 5, Finn fell asleep for a bit in the car, and I was starting to get a dreaded cold. We put Finn to bed around 730 and I went to bed at 930 (I was ready at 830, but didn't want to end up waking up at 5am)

We slept in until after 8 the next morning :)
Splendid!

19 Weeks

Sorry for no picture today. It's Saturday night as I type this up and I'm exhausted from a long (but great) day out with Eleonora and Kevin. Next week I'll have a picture, and I'll also have a post about where we went today.

How far along: 19 weeks

Size of baby: (from whattoexpect.com) I think I messed something up, because it's still saying mango.

Total weight gain/loss: Didn't weigh myself again

Maternity Clothes: Still just the bellyband with my jeans.

Gender: IT'S A GIRL!!!

Movement: So much movement! It still surprises me though, and makes me kind of catch my breath wondering what the heck is going on in there! I think I kind of felt the kicks from the outside the other night, so it shouldn't be long before Conor can feel them!

Sleep: I (heart) sleep! Yesterday Conor was going into Rome, so I decided I wouldn't have a nap and I would give myself a pedicure instead. But then I put Finn down for his nap and decided to lay down too, hoping I would just sleep for 30 minutes or something. And I did! I had a nice nap, woke up refreshed, came downstairs and soaked my feet while reading a book. And now my toes are pretty! I hope this tells mother nature that I'm ready for some flip-flop weather!

What I miss: Nothing, it's all good... actually I've made brownies three times this week (twice for guests, don't worry, we didn't eat them all) and I really really am tempted to eat the batter, but I limit myself to one or two licks!

Cravings: Nothing really this week.

Symptoms: Kicking baby :)

Best moment of the week: Conor got to feel the baby kick on Wednesday!!

Fat tuesday

Since it's 'fat tuesday' and all today, I made brownies... yum! And they actually turned out really well. (I say actually because I have a blog post in waiting of all my baking disasters this year... I have utterly lost my ability to bake cookies). Thankfully we didn't give up chocolate for lent, otherwise we would have to eat them all today!!

We will be having pancakes for dinner tonight... also yum!

I love the sun! I found a little kids table in the closet outside, so I've set it up for Finn. He loves having his snacks there, and coloring there.

This is the face he makes when I say "can you make a funny face?"

Well that turned out to be a really random post... Happy lent everyone!

Lent

I'm in no way trying to "brag" about what I'm doing for Lent, really it's nothing compared to the sacrifice Jesus made for us - but I hope to encourage other people to do something, and to keep myself accountable.

Well another Lent is upon us. For me I get a little excited about making goals and trying to stick to them... but it's always a bit of a drag too, because most of my 'goals' involve giving up something that I like. But I guess that's the whole point!

Every year I give up coke and maybe something else. And I've never really participated in the whole 'almsgiving' part... giving of your time or your money to a cause. So this year I've looked up a few organizations, and we're going to give some money... it's a little difficult to give of our time around here, since we don't speak the language.

Anyways, we've decided to give to Abbotsford Right to Life. Check them out if you haven't heard of them before.

I've also decided to cut some things out of my day to day life to give me more time to spend with God... but also because they are just clutter. One of those things will be some of the shows I watch which just are not edifying and I would feel wrong watching them during Lent (I guess I really shouldn't watch them at all, but we'll see how Lent goes, and go from there!)

Also, I will be cutting back on my facebook and blog time. I'm going to try not to read things like status updates during Lent, but maybe once I week I will look to see if people have put up pictures... I need to still feel connected! I will check notifications and messages to myself as well. As far as blogging I'm thinking of staying off blogger except Saturdays. I really waste time everyday just checking if anyone has updated blogs, and then reading them right away, and then still checking through out the day to see if anyone else has posted. This way on Saturdays I will just sit back and read everything (or whatever I want to read) and then prepare a few posts for the week.

I'll definitely keep up with the weekly pregnancy updates, and then maybe get a post or two ready to autopost throughout the week.

This is going to be difficult for me... but I think I can do it!

Whatever you are doing for Lent... don't forget what Lent is all about, and trying to remember to pray every day will make a big difference in your life.

Here's another little video for your viewing pleasure...

18 Weeks

How far along: 18 weeks

Size of baby: (from whattoexpect.com) 6 inches - a beautiful mango (this market that Conor used to go to in Melbourne, I hated it because it was soo crowded and loud, and the vendors -uwould be yelling stuff, this one guy with a thick accent would always yell "ba-UT-iful mangos")

Total weight gain/loss: Didn't weigh myself

Maternity Clothes: Still just the bellyband with my jeans.

Gender: IT'S A GIRL!!!

Movement: So much movement I love it! As soon as I feel her start I just stay as still as possible and try to fell as much as she'll let me. I can't wait for Conor to be able to feel it, and Finn!

Sleep: Really good. Naps EVERYDAY this week!

What I miss: Not having to pee in the night - two times last night! I seriously hate it... mainly because the bathroom is downstairs and sometimes the toilet runs, so I have to wait to see if it's going to run or not so I can stop it, otherwise it will drive me crazy when I'm in bed.

Cravings: McDonald's. Ice Cream. Actually Root Beer as well. It's no surprise I like pop - and I shouldn't, but do, drink coke... so Root Beer would be nice!

Symptoms: Kicking baby, peeing frequently, expanding belly (although it doesn't feel like it's expanded that much this week compared to last week.)

Best moment of the week: Everytime she kicks. Oh and I was doing the tally of my Grandma Stobbe's offspring. By the end of this year she will be: mother to 8, grandmother to 20, great grandmother to 34 (baby girl is one of those 34), and GREAT GREAT GRANDMOTHER TO 3!!

And now for your viewing pleasure....

Haircut time again

As you know I've been DYING to cut Finn's hair (and Conor's as well)

Well today was the day. I just couldn't stand it anymore.

After he woke up from his nap we set him up at the table with "Thomas & Friends" and some snacks and off we went.

Last time was horrible. He really really does NOT like you coming at his head with anything. This time I had Conor though, and I had a plan.

Clippers. I started off with clippers and then just went through and touched up with the scissors.

And as much as Finn hated the clippers, he hated the scissors even more - so it was a good plan. I got 95% of it done with the clippers and then went through with the scissors afterwards.

Conor had to hold down his arms and sometimes I had to almost press his head against the table so that I could cut the back.

But it's done! And I cut Conor's afterwards. It feels so weird going from cutting toddler hair to adult hair. Conor's is so thick and we waited WAY too long. But I'm glad their done!

I just have to say, oh my goodness, he's not a baby anymore!!

Frustrated!!

I wish I were back in Canada!

Somewhere they speak English.

Where I could go to a lab to get blood tested and they have regular business hours.

Where I wouldn't have to go back a week later to collect my own results.

Where (hopefully) my doctor wouldn't forget twice to test me for something, causing me to have to go to the lab three times to get tested and three MORE times to collect the results.

But actually make that FOUR times because they are only open until 10am and I got there at 10:05 thinking they were open at least until 10:30.

Oh, and to collect results they are only open between 11am and 2pm.

Can you tell I've had a rough morning already??

I had to drop something off to get tested this morning as well as pick up results (they are actually kind of nice that if you are already there to get tested and you have previous results to collect you can do that *gasp* before 11am). A friend needed some results picked up as well, but I got all the way to the hospital (30 minute walk) and realized I forgot to pick up her form that would allow me to collect her results. But then it didn't matter anyways because they were already closed when I got there.

So now I have to go again this week sometime.

Actually this all wouldn't be SOO bad if I had a car I guess.

New Bathtime Fun

Finnian has discovered a new thing that he likes to do in the tub.

He does this numerous times throughout the day, but somehow has only caught on to how much he enjoys it when he's in the bath.

Maybe because when he's in the bath, doing this causes bubbles.

Yes, he likes to "fluff" in the tub.

So much so that once he has done it, he says "more?" and strains to do another one.

What a little stinker.

No pun intended