Nanni Rules

In this house - Nanni rules. During the day, I am guaranteed to get several requests to contact Mom: “Nanni, talk” “Nanni, Skype” “Nanni, hi.” And sometimes she gets pretty demanding  When she feels it’s time to talk to Nanni, nothing can change her mind. Luckily (for me), Mom is usually available for a quick call, if not Skype. We talk bebos (bellybuttons), her day, Ella shows her some toys, mom and I catch up, and then it’s time to go….until a few hours later when Ella needs another fix.

During sleep training, Ella will spend about 15 min. calling for Adam or me and then she’ll go right to Nanni. She truly believes her faithful Nanni will come down from New York and save her from the evil sleep training mommy.

Why is it that she loves her so much? Would you love a warm, cozy woman who adorns you with attention, love, kisses, hugs…reads you books, engages you in activities, changes you, feeds you, tucks you in, and who has the best nails to run along your back or tickle you with? Of course you would.

So cheers to you Nanni! We all love you just as much as Ella, but she is sure taking the cake for showing you just how much every day. 

Here are some photos from mom's visit a few weeks ago, miss you! 

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Adam and Ella made this Labor Day weekend extra special by packing it full of birthday celebrations for me. The highlights included spending the day at my favorite DC spot, Eastern Market, enjoying a lovely lunch in the city, and a big family dinner honoring both birthday girls – Adrienne and myself!

But the best part of my birthday hasn’t even happened yet…Adam got us Broadway tickets to go see Patrick Stewart and Ian Mckellen’s two man show this November. I am a huge Stewart fan and I am beaming with excitement!!!!

What can I say about being one year older. I feel a lot more like a mom than anything else these days. Now that we are coming out of the baby stage I have been able to focus some more attention back on myself. I am working more, working out, and trying to find time to be creative with my photography and art.Once our basement renovations are done I will have a nice little office to make some magic happen! 

Most of all, I feel grateful. Grateful for my amazing partner who makes everyday so much fun and loving, and my Ella. I never expected to have a life like this...sure feels good. 

Cooling off in front of a gigantic fan! 

She was cracking up

Happy  birthday to me! 

End of summer treats

They looked amazing but they were moodily by the time we got home :(

Brooke 

Summer!

Best friends 

Brooke giving Cindy a heart-attack

Birthday girls

Making a wish with my girl <3

Water Fun

Ella is in love with the water fountain play area in downtown Rockville. But when we arrived last Friday for some fun, they turned them off after 5 min to prepare for that evening’s concert. Ella was so upset and kept saying to me “Mama, wa-wa, please!” What’s a mommy and daddy to do? We rushed home and turned on the sprinkler. She had a blast!

Only problem is – now all she wants to do is play in the water at home all day. This wouldn’t be an issue if it was still super warm out, but the chill of fall is in the air and it’s a bit too cool to be wet in the shade for long.

This weekend should be nice and hot however, lots of water fun in our future. 

Last night of vacation

Adam plays on two hockey teams, one on Sundays and one on Wednesdays. Usually, his games happen too late at night to attend or the heat/cold keeps us away. But fortunately, Ella and I were able to attend the last game of the summer, which also happened to be the last night of our vacation.

It ended up being a lot hotter than we expected so Ella and I had to hang in the shaded area away from the rink for most of the game, but Ella got a lot of good hockey time regardless.

She knows the word hockey and it seemed she made the connection between Adam running around and the word but it’s hard to tell. She would get very excited when she spotted him on the rink or when he was waiting for his next shift. She also spotted the “puck” (street hockey uses balls) during the game, which was really exciting for her. Haha – she loves balls!

After the game we took our packed picnic dinner to the Potomac River, overlooking the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial. It was a beautiful view.  The boats and planes (headed to Reagan) kept things exciting for Ella. She is going through a big airplane/helicopter phase so this trip was perfect.

Wonderful day all around. 

Daddy's two biggest fans 

Man on the run

Put your right hand here...

Left hand here...

There you go! 

Adam making a shot

Our picnic spot

Ella talking up a storm about the airplanes

Watching the boats

Airplanes! 

A walk with dad

Happy birthday Zach!

Loved having the birthday boy and family over for breakfast to celebrate his second birthday. Blueberry and chocolate chip pancakes were at the heart of our fun morning.

The kids played so nicely together, as always. We love you Zach, Sydney and Dylan!!

Happy birthday! 

All the kids love to play with cookie monster

Pretty lady

Pretty lady 2

Playing in Ella's room

Cookie shop

Happy little drummer 

Pushing Zach around the house