Photo Shoot.

His favorite train.

One of his current favorite books.

His favorite blanket with his bike.

Brian has been traveling a lot for work lately, so JJ and I have to find creative ways to pass the time. A couple mornings ago we held a very intense photo shoot : ) Like most kids his age, he loves to take pictures and then see the results. These photos are some of his and my favorites. He's wearing his boots, which are his favorite shoes since he can put them on himself.

JJ's been saying some pretty funny stuff lately. The other day he and I went out for a long walk and when we got back he walked in the door and said, "it's good to be home." He was so serious about it, I almost laughed! Then yesterday we were playing "race" and I hid behind the couch and startled him and he said, "Mommy, you can't hide. It's dangerous and I could fall and get hurt." It's so hard not to laugh at him sometimes when he sounds like such an adult!

Positano.

We went down to Positano (which is now JJ's new favorite word) on the Amalfi Coast this weekend and it was beautiful! JJ got to play on the beach for a long time which was really fun. It was a really warm day, which I really enjoyed : ) The town is really cute with lots of shops and restaurants and lots of tourists! It was definitely worth the trip and we're very glad that we went in the "off season."

Note to future visitors - this is a great place to visit and if you're here during the summer, we encourage you to visit on your own! If you're here in the off season, then Brian and I will be more than happy to go with you : )

More Matera.

Our awesome tour guide, Luigi.

Trying to warm up : )

We took about a 2.5 hour private walking tour through Matera on Saturday afternoon. It was about 45 degrees outside and very windy. We were all very cold, but very glad that we did it because we learned things about the city that we would have never known. Our tour guide was great and had lived in Matera his whole life so could give us some great stories about the city. The only big breakdown was when JJ wanted to run through the old rock churches that had huge drop offs that were only protected by a small fence. JJ thought it was hilarious, Brian didn't think so, and I was too distracted by Luigi's amazing stories about the church to really notice!

We went out to dinner on Saturday night and it was our first experience with the "true" Italian dinner schedule. Matera was the first place that we've been that's not super touristy yet so they haven't changed their schedules to suit ours! On Friday night we found a restaurant that was open at 7:15 pm, but I refused to eat at the same place two nights in a row during vacation, so we needed to find a new place Saturday night. We walked all around the town and the earliest we found was a restaurant that opened at 7:45, so that's where we went and it was amazing. Brian wasn't a fan of the time that we ate dinner, but you can't complain when your dinner is great.

One of our favorite things about being in Italy is that we can order JJ a very cheap pizza for dinner and they bring it out right when it's ready, hot out of the wood fired oven. It gives Brian and I an excuse to eat pizza as an appetizer as we're waiting for our own meals : )

Matera.

As you know, I'm pregnant! This is a picture of JJ's new favorite thing to do. . . lift up my shirt and say in a semi-scary voice, "Hello baby, I love you!" Then he laughs at my belly and belly button, pointing out that it's huge and that my belly button is going to pop off! It should be a really fun game for the next five months : )

We went to Matera, Italy last weekend and had a really great time. Matera is an ancient city in Southeastern Italy, about a three hour drive from our house. The part of the city that we stayed in is called the "Sassi" and is the oldest part of town. Our hotel was literally in a cave! It was really fun because it's the first place that we've been that we know we would have never gone if we didn't live here.

We've Moved!

Yep, we've finally moved into our "permanent" house! JJ seems to love having all his old toys and books back. He keeps finding things and screaming, "oh, there's my car/train/hard hat/soccer ball/penguin book, etc."! He loves playing in his new room with all his new furniture including his new toddler bed. I think he likes it because it looks like the Ikea showroom : ) We have a nice little patio outside and we've been able to go out and play almost every day. We're slowly getting settled in and will hopefully be able to settle in to a nice little routine here.

Limbo.

The fun new Playdoh set that my parents got JJ for Valentine's Day

Here's us all dressed up before we went out to a formal dinner for Brian's command. It was fun and JJ got to stay up late, which he enjoyed.

We've been living in limbo basically since we left our house in San Diego at the beginning of December. Now I'm very, very excited to say that we'll finally be moving into our new house on Friday! I've felt bad for JJ because we've been talking about moving to our new house for so long that I think he stopped believing us. We're so excited to finally start to get settled in.

JJ's been making me kind of sad lately with some of the stuff he says, but then most of the time makes me laugh. He likes to talk about what we're going to do "next week" but I'm pretty sure he has no concept of time so has no idea what that means. Yesterday he told me we will be going to see Aunt Krista next week, and go to Disneyland next week, then today he said we will be going to Grandpa's house next week, and riding a big bus. Apparently JJ and I have a very busy schedule next week, starting with finding a bus that can drive us across the Atlantic Ocean : )

We've gone to Ikea multiple times over the past week getting stuff for our new house, including a new bed for JJ which he's really excited about. The other day, JJ was showing me a new toy that he wants at the store and he told me that once we "go home" he will buy it. I asked him where we live and he said "Ikea!" Then today we had this exchange in the car -

JJ: I want to go to Grandpa's house

Me: No, sorry sweetie, we can't, it's too far away

JJ: I want to go to Tristan's house (in a very sad voice that made me start to tear up)

Me: No, I'm so sorry sweetie, we can't go there because it's too far away

Brian: JJ, remember, we moved and won't be able to go to their houses for awhile. Do you remember where we moved to?

JJ: Oh yeah, we moved to Ikea!!!!!

Sometimes it's great that a 2-year-old can make you laugh and cry all within a minute. I'm thinking that he'll be very excited when he sees his new bed in our new house instead of at the store, or he'll be disappointed that we're really not going to be living at Ikea!

Puddles.

It's been pretty cold here the last few weeks. Definitely not as cold as up north, but cold for us. We had a little bit of snow on the ground Saturday morning which JJ enjoyed. Brian took JJ outside in the morning and made him a snowball. JJ really enjoyed it until it melted and he accused Brian of throwing it away and threw a huge tantrum! Trying to explain melting snow to a 2-year-old is a little difficult.

I think JJ's favorite part of the snow though was that it turned into puddles in the afternoon. JJ, like most little boys, never gets tired of jumping in them and getting soaking wet. He didn't stay outside too long though because it was freezing.

So JJ has a new phrase these days, "I can't want. . ." We thought it was kind of funny and cute at first, but now it's kind of annoying! Tonight, Brian and I have each already had to go into his room a few times because he's yelling "help" but then when we go in his room he says, "I can't want that pillow" or "I can't want that blanket" or other nonsense that then you have to "change" for him so that he stops yelling and goes to sleep! When he told me tonight "I can't want dinner" I asked him why and he said "ummm, ummm, cause 5 more minutes." Oh the things kids say : )