Lillian

It's been a busy couple days over here in Napoli. Our good friends Melissa and Doug welcomed their baby girl on Tuesday morning! Daniel and I were up taking care of their son Mason, who did very well considering Mommy left and we had to go visit her as opposed to her coming home. Lillian Paige is the cutest little girl, with adorable cheeks, a head of dark hair just like her parents, and she looks almost exactly like her brother (in my opinion :0). The beauty of the whole birthing process over here in Napoli is that there are only four birthing rooms, and two to three nurses on the floor at any time. It makes it much more of a community hospital feel than other Naval hospitals. The only challenge is the lack of staff; when things get a little crazy and two women are delivering at the same time, you don't have enough hands to get to both right away. I could not have asked for a better experience with Grace's birth, and I just hope that with baby number 2 we have the opportunity to go to a community hospital as well.

Taking care of Mason for the last three days definitely shed some light on the challenge of two kids as opposed to one. It was definitely hard to watch a crawling toddler, get meals made, naps done, apartment cleaned, and helping out Mason with pottying, milk, playing, etc. The only time I sat down was during afternoon naps when Mason would be sleeping and Grace hadn't woken up from her nap yet. It was only about 20 to 30 minutes, but it was definitely needed! I can understand why they say going from one to two kids is the hardest. I'm not sure where you get me time, but I'd imagine you'd have to figure something out, because it's a full-time job! Luckily, you don't start out with a crawling toddler and another child, so hopefully things just kind of ease into a new normal. :)

We have plans to go to get fall pictures tomorrow, hopefully Grace cooperates and so does the weather. It's finally starting to get cool at night and in the morning, which is a welcomed change considering this summer seemed long and HOT. We don't have to run the air conditioners anymore (yea!), and having the windows open brings in a nice breeze. The trees are starting to change too, which is always fun to watch. Though, in the back of my head I know that with the changing trees come the winter and I realize then that we don't have that much longer here in Italy. Today I have mixed emotions about that. I think you're always ready to go until it actually comes time to go and then you wish you had done more and seen more. It's inevitable though, if we hadn't gotten orders for December, we would have been leaving in March, not that much more of a difference. Such is the Navy life.

Last note, Grace and I went to Kindermusik this morning. Completely cheesy and adorable! There were six little ones and Grace did a great job considering this was her first time being in a group of babies her own age. She stuck around me most of the hour, but at the end she started crawling away and reaching for things, which was a big deal! She's a very observant little girl... she sits back and watches, then decides to go. I think she liked it, and I'm hopeful that it helps with her separation anxiety and socialization. We'll go every Thursday until we leave here. I think it will be a good time for her.

Here is a picture of Miss Lillian with her very proud Daddy :)

Ciao Tutti!