Florence.

Brian wants to see all the American cemeteries in Europe; we only have two left to see.  This was the one outside of Florence.

So with all the sickness in the house, I've gotten a little distracted and forgot that I never finished "catching up."  We did some other things with Michael, Krista, and Tristan around Naples (i.e. downtown Naples, the Amalfi Coast yet again : ), and Herculaneum).  After that, we headed up north for a week.  It was sooooo nice up there and very different.  Florence probably had the most tourists out of any town we've been to since getting here and people spoke the most English, so that was a surprise.  The city was beautiful though and was a great walking town.  We'll definitely be going back sometime with future visitors : )  

Sick.

The boys both felt pretty horrible this morning and JJ refused to even look at me.

I got out this old baby toy of JJ's today for Owen, so of course JJ decided it's HIS, not Owen's, new favorite toy.

We're pretty sick in this household and it's no fun.  Last week both the boys had colds and I took them to the doctor.  JJ's hasn't really gotten better or worse, but Owen got a lot worse.  He had a fever for a few days and a horrible cough, so I took him back in this week and it turns out he has pneumonia. They put him on meds and hopefully he'll improve soon, but it's been a pretty bad week.  Owen really likes the doctor though and was smiling at him through the whole appointment.  The doctor always says we can come back anytime, but hopefully we won't have to go back soon.  

He's such a tough little baby already.  He had an ear infection a few months ago and now pneumonia, but he's still smiley almost all the time and of course JJ can always cheer him up.  The only time he got upset at the doctor was when they put him in a torture device, aka the infant chest x-ray machine.  It was pretty scary looking and super uncomfortable for poor little Owen.  JJ was with me and he also got really upset because Owen was crying and was scared in the device.  JJ is definitely sensitive when it comes to his little brother, so that's really sweet.

On a side note, Brian went to Athens, Greece this week.  He called me when he was there and said, "Don't feel bad about not being here.  It's basically just like Naples with lots of ruins, shopping, and places to eat."  Apparently Brian has been traveling around the world soooo much that he can now be bored in ancient and historical places!  What a hard life he leads ; )

5 Months Old.

Owen is ALWAYS chewing on something, mostly his hands.

JJ gets a little jealous of Owen's "month" stickers, so he wants to be in all the pictures : )

Owen is now five months old.  He can now roll in both directions, front to back and back to front.  Our house has tile flooring with some area rugs, so he gets a little upset when he rolls off the rug onto the tile, but hopefully he'll learn to hold his head up while rolling.  He's also sitting for longer periods of time unassisted.  Sitting independently is my favorite milestone, so hopefully he'll reach it soon : )  He's also teething pretty badly.  He's drooling a lot and always wants to chew on things from his hands, to my hair (one of his favorites), to his toys.  We learned from JJ's horrible teething that teething tablets work well and this is proving true with Owen too.  He will literally be crying uncontrollably and refusing to suck on his pacifier because it hurts, then you put two teething tablets under his tongue and shove the pacifier in and he will instantly fall asleep.  Truly baby crack.  Hopefully he'll get some teeth soon.  

Catching Up Part II, Naples.

Italians LOVE babies and Owen is a huge hit in this hat : )

The first week that Michael, Krista, and Tristan were here we showed them some sights around Naples.  The pictures above are from Cuma and Pompeii.

Catching Up Part I, Christmas.

Owen could hardly contain his excitement over his huge stocking : )

Look, it really is a Spiderman rocket, just like I asked for!! Thanks Aunt Krista!

We have been VERY busy the last few weeks, so I'll be updating with the happenings around here.  First, Michael, Krista, and Tristan got here on Christmas Eve!  Yay!  They got in really late, after JJ had already gone to sleep, so here was the conversation that I had on Christmas morning with him:

Me:  Do you know who got here last night?

JJ (very excitedly):  Jesus!

Me:  Well, yes, but who else?

JJ:  Santa!

Me:  Yes, I think he came last night, but who else?

JJ:  Ummm, Michael, Krista, and Tristan!!!  Yay!!! Can I go wake them up?!?!?

Me:  Yes, let's go!  

JJ and Tristan were so excited to play together that we finally had to convince them to open presents about 2.5 hours after they woke up!  It was so fun to watch them play.  We had a great Christmas and everyone got what they asked for : )

Merry Christmas Eve!

The red marks on Owen's forehead are from him sleeping on his stomach/hands during his nap.  Don't tell the SIDS police!

This is the result of Brian getting up in the middle of the night to watch the Seahawks game!

JJ wasn't actually sleeping, but he was feeling a little left out, so was pretending to sleep.

Chomp!

JJ "borrowing" Owen's new super soft blanket and teddy bear : )

We are very ready for Christmas in this house!  JJ has been incredibly patient about not asking to open presents, so we let him open one early, which were from my Aunt Rosalee.  He got some really fun new slippers, which he loves.  He was even good about not asking to open more because he was so excited for his slippers and Owen's new blanket!  

A few days ago JJ and I were discussing the True meaning of Christmas and here was our conversation:

Me - JJ, we celebrate Christmas because it's the celebration of Jesus birth.

JJ - Ok

Me - We get presents as part of that celebration, for His birthday.

JJ - (really excited)  Yay!  Is Jesus going to come open presents with me?!?!

Me - No, Jesus won't be here.

JJ - Ok.

Me - Well, actually, Jesus is always here.  He's always in our hearts.

JJ - Ok.  Can we play PlayDough?

Me - Yes, sweetie.

I really think someone should write a book about explaining Christmas to kids for dummies!  I'm sure he didn't really understand, but at least we're talking about it : )

Michael, Krista, and Tristan were supposed to be here a few hours ago, but their flight was delayed, so Brian's on his way to get them now.  Hopefully they don't run into Santa on their way home!

Merry Christmas!

4 Months Old.

Ahhh!  That baby has huge cheeks!  What does his mom feed him?!?

Owen is now 4 months old.  Crazy!  He had his well visit doctor appointment today and is doing pretty well.  Unfortunately his skin is getting pretty bad, so the doctor gave us cream for his eczema, so that should help.  The doctor also gave us Zantac (for reflux), which will hopefully help with his frequent and uncomfortable spitting up and waking up so much at night.  Other than those two things, he looks good and is definitely growing and thriving!

We really like the pediatrician on base because he's straight forward, listens to our concerns, he has three young children so he understands us, and most of all because he's a Christian and goes to our church!  Today at the appointment, he brought up that we could start feeding Owen solid foods.  I said that I didn't really want to start yet, mainly because it's such a pain to do.  Then he talked about how the rest of the world starts around 4 months and doesn't stress out as much as Americans do.  He said if Owen seemed interested, we could just feed him whatever we were eating and mash it up really well.  He said that we don't have to make him separate food and we DON'T have to start with rice cereal!  We can start with whatever we want and the only restrictions until he is one are honey and cows milk.  Since his main calories are still from breast milk, he said it shouldn't be stressful, it should be fun.  I'm waaaay more excited now!  He's such a lucky baby to be here in Italy and now he doesn't even have to eat disgusting rice cereal!  Maybe we'll start him out with spaghetti : )

Owen takes really short naps all day and has been sleeping poorly at night, which is hard.  He also wants to be held almost all day.  He likes to be rocked to sleep and held for naps.  I had been working on making him sleep only in his bed for naps and not rocking him at night.  Brian and I have talked a lot about it though and especially after the horrific tragedy last week, we've decided that if our baby likes to be rocked and sung to sleep, then we will snuggle him tighter and longer.  We are so grateful to God for our two beautiful boys.