Happy Halloween!

I will post some pictures of the big kids later. For now. Here is your treat of the day. Luca with smiles. He is also cooing and making noises at us. It is adorable.

New camera

I got my new camera today! I am so excited!! Yesterday it was supposed to be delivered. I was home all day because I had to sign for it. It never came. So I check Fed Ex tracking and it says it will be delivered on Tuesday (today). Great. I was supposed to be gone from 10-3 today. I asked my neighbor to sign for it and a note on the door. But guess what!?! It came at 3;30pm when I was home. OH HAPPY DAY! I didn't really get a chance to use it much today. But tomorrow! Oh boy. I am going to take pictures all day.

I got this camera. CLICK HERE> I did not pay that price for it. I paid less. I got an awesome deal. I am really happy. I had 100 dollars from my birthday. DH sold a car part for about half the camera price. Anyway. We spent little out of pocket. It was present for having a baby. Isn't my hubby awesome?!! Not mothers day, but Thanks for going through all that and having our baby present.

On that baby note, we had our 6 week appointment today ( a week and 1/2 late). Luca weighed 11 lb 7 oz. I am back down to my regular weight. Got a new pair of jeans this weekend and I look awesome! Another shout out for breastfeeding and weight loss. HA HA! Also I had the most gentle, quick and comfortable Well Woman exam of my life! You know how you dread it? Well no more. It was very nice. I will go back to my midwife for this service in the future.

Date night.

Saturday night DH and I went out for date night. We went to a nice restaurant (with baby) and then afterwards we went to Whole Foods. Thats right. We went to the grocery store, BUT got to take our time looking, didn't have to chase kids and baby was asleep. NICE ONE! The kids got to do something really cool. Gioia's gymnastic teachers sponsor a Parents Night Out once a month. It was $30 for our family for 6-10pm. The kids got pizza, juice and dessert (cookie). They get to play on the gymnastic equipment. There are probably 30 different riding toys, trampoline, moonbounce, and various climbing things. When we got there at 9pm the kids did NOT want to leave. They had so much fun. I love it too, because it is Gioia's teachers so I totally trust them. Next one is Nov. 15th and I am already going to sign them up for it. Maybe next month we will do something more risque than grocery shopping. Also Dominic was excited that he was old enough to go as well. He always wants to participate when Gioia goes to gymnastics.

Then sunday all took a 3 hour nap. WOW! After that we carved pumpkins. I made homemade pizza and later we watched a movie. FUN!

Today is a lazy hang out at home day. Tomorrow we have our homeschool group. They are having a speaker talk to the older kids about internet and personal safety.

Election.

Is it over yet? Seriously. I am getting so tired of hearing about it. Most people have already made up there minds, so I can't wait for the voting to be over. Our current administration sucks balls. How is that for eloquently put? But really there is no other way to describe it except in the Jr. High foul mouth it deserves. Bush is a war mongering, money grubbing, oil wasting moron. There is more but those are the main points. This election will be historical since either a black man will be president, or there will be a woman VP. Either way will be firsts for our country.

And on the issue of oil wasting. I find it comical and a bit scary that my husband can build a totally electric car in 6 months for around $9,000 that gets around 70 miles per charge. This is with bottom of the list batteries. I mean the batteries are fine, but they are not the super cool high mileage batteries. They are reqular batteries. For around 25,000 (the cost of a new car) he could build a kick ass electric car that gets probably 300 miles per charge. So he can do this in 6 months but the car companies can't make an all electric car that is affordable. OH WAIT! SILLY ME. Yes they can. They don't want to. Our current government supports oil, so they give no incentives to try or switch over. GRR!!!

Things to do list:

I have to start cooking again. I am tired of scrounging around the kitchen at the last minute to find some food for dinner. I am getting my recipes out and starting a grocery list for some yummy goodies.

On my dinner list for this week: Cheesey Hamburger soup, Homemade Pizza, Pasta with Pepper Sauce, and Stirfry with meat and veggies. Tonight we are grilling steaks.

On my list of things to do: Finish the binding on my baby quilt. Finish Quilting my Futures so bright quilt. Baste and start on my Star Quilt. Finish my fabric storage cubes. Order the calendars for Christmas gifts. Keep looking for good deals on Christmas Cards.

I am concentrating on sewing and finishing up my things for Christmas gifts. This year I am ordering my calendars for the grandparents. I scrapbooked them calendars last year. It took lots of time that I don't have this year. Actually the cost will be pretty close to the same.

Hooray for sleep!

Night before last, Luca went to sleep on his tummy and slept for 4 hours! I was so surprised when I looked at the clock. After nursing and diaper change he slept on his side for 3 hours. Nice one! I was hoping this trend would continue and guess what. Last night was 4 hours and then I think 3 again, but I do know that I only changed his diaper twice each night and only nursed 2-3 times. Great for the sleep. Not so great for the boobs. Man, that makes them hurt. I thought they would explode. HA HA! Oh well I will take the sleep any day. He did sleep the first part of the night on his tummy again.

Later today we are going to Kaleidoscope. I am excited to take the kids there.

Having 3 kids.

I have kind of figured something out today. My routine....which is loosely that, has to change. I was getting a little frustrated because sometimes I just want to do something for 5 to 10 minutes and someone (usually the baby) won't let me. Of course there are things that can't change. For example, I have to make breakfast, lunch and dinner. But the baby likes to be held a lot. He really won't sleep in the bed or other place without me. He will sleep like a rock in the wrap or sling. He will also sleep well if I am in the bed with him. I am totally ok with this. However, that means during the day if I try to lay him down he cries. I know that this will only last a few months. Once he becomes mobile and able to be played with I have two excellent helpers for that. Also I have the challenge of homeschooling my kids. I feel like I need to do it with a little more purpose now that Gioia has turned 5. She is learning so fast and doing so great I feel like I really need to start challenging her and also make the lesson fun enough that Dominic can participate or at least listen in.

So I am going to try to do more holding baby and reading to the kids, holding baby and helping with crafts, holding baby and doing Italian, etc.. I will try to not worry about the housework until DH gets home. Then I can do it while he plays with the kids. It will be less frustrating that way. Right now, I will lay the baby down and he is asleep. I try to put away the dishes/clothes/whatever and only get a few minutes into it and baby cries.

Hark. Baby is fussing. :) Ok. Gotta go.

Dominic had a tooth pulled.

For those that don't know the whole story. Dominic had a front tooth that got chipped, cavity filled, then died and got infected.

So today was the day for them to take it out. It couldn't have gone any better. We went to our Gardner Homeschool meetup and played for a bit. My mom met us there and we went to the appointment. Gioia stayed and went home with a friend that was babysitting her.

I gave Dominic some prescription medicine that was supposed to make him drowsy, it did. He almost went to sleep on the drive there. At the dentist office they gave him NO (Laughing Gas). He was concerned at first but the mask had a thing in it that smelled like bubblegum so he liked that. I asked the assistant if he would go to sleep. She said Oh no, I doubt it. But HE DID! So he was sleep. The dentist came in and numbed his lip up. He didn't wake up. He pulled the tooth and all that. D slept through it all. I think it helped that it was a 2pm appointment so it was nap time anyway. Afterwards he woke up and got his egg (they have presents in little plastic eggs), a pudding cup to take home and his tooth.

We didn't tell him that they were pulling the tooth. I didn't reveal that until we were home and he could look in the mirror.

Luca slept the whole time in the waiting room with my mom. He woke up right when we were finished and we nursed.

All in all it was great and I would recommend Dr. Praters office to others. He is a older man and was kind of blunt the first time we were there. But since I understand his mannerism now I can appreciate that he knows what he is doing and is FAST which is excellent when you are dealing with small children.

Family Reunion.

Well my cousin Les emailed everyone a few weeks ago and said he was coming home for a visit. He is in the Air Force and has been stationed in Guam (tropical island) for the last 3 years. I volunteered to host a party here at my house on Sunday. This is my fathers side of the family (VanBelkums) and they very rarely get together. Have you heard the joke about families that only get together for weddings and funerals? Well this is us. I don't like that, especially since 90% of them live in the KC area. It is dumb that we don't get together more often.

So we had the party yesterday and it was a big success. We had a great turn out and it was really fun. They all enjoyed seeing the new baby too. The big kids entertained everyone with their antics. One of the old ladies kept telling Dominic she was gonna take him home with her. Ha ha! I put pictures of everyone up on my flickr account. I did not take these pictures FYI. My dad did. He got a new digital camera of which I am JEALOUS! It is nice. I am getting one soon.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24599218@N06/

October already.

Wow. Where did the summer go? Didn't I just announce that I was pregnant? Now I have a baby here already and the summer is history. The days just go faster each year. We are doing really well around here.

The anniversary date went great! The big kids went to play with friends for a few hours. DH, baby and I went out for a fancy dinner. We went to Tatsu French Restaurant. It was expensive, but OOHH SOO good. Plus it was an adult place. One of those places were people do not take children, of course the newborn baby is welcome. One old lady took him from my arms to hold him. DH said it probably made her evening to hold such a tiny baby. I agree. It didn't offend me. I like to share my baby snuggles with other people. The picture above is the flowers DH got me for the anniversary. Below is a picture of my one month old guy. ONE MONTH! Where did the time go!