Landed

An new stamp in the passports! Last night we flew into Costa Rica, met up with the Royce family and will be playing the sun and sand for 9 days!!! We had a quick turn around from our Sicily trip back midnight Friday from sicily Sat. Cleanup and party planning for Lotties 1 bday, sunday party. Monday clean up and pack. Tuesday morn. out the door at 4am! It was quick! More to come on the adventure that lies ahead.

across the ocean once more

Little Lottie and I arrived this morning back in Milano. We are trying to adjust quickly to the time, but it is not so easy. Traveling was smooth and many people helped me along my way! Thank you Strangers!
I left many unfinished projects (sorry mom) and missed seeing many friends- it just seems that no matter how long I stay it is not long enough!!!
Lottie continues to learn new things, she cruises around on all fours, sometimes using her toes instead of knees and stands up on the furniture, I know she will really miss playing with her cousins! She loves to babble and pick little things up, not to eat them just to pack them around. She loves to rake the sand or run her fingers through hair (hers or anyone else- but watch out, she pulls too)! She is pretty much on a 9month level- really good for only 7 1/2 months!
Now that I am back to my "normal" you will see more updates!
Ciao!

Cugini da Roma!!!

Sunday night our family from Rome, Massimo, Laura + girls (Gio's brother and wife)as well as Milena (Laura's mom) and Amalia, who lives in Turin, came to visit us!
It was the first time for Charlotte to meet her cousins Gaia (3yrs) and Lea (9months). We had a nice dinner together and stayed up to talk and play.
All the girls got along really well!
Our apartment is not very big- and we had people sleeping EVERYWHERE! Max, Laura + girls in front room- Milena in the hallway and Amalia on our bedroom floor- only the kitchen was missing a bed!
We are looking forward to more fun times together with you cugini da Roma!!!
Our State- side travels begin on Thursday! Looking forward to it!
All tuckered out!

Loving Little Lottie!

I know that many of you would like to see more pictures and hear about what has been going on with us since Charlotte has become an official part of our family, here I am to tell you a bit about it all! As I write this Charlotte is sitting on my lap with one hand next to her eye the other resting on her lap and curiously staring at the bright screen of the computer- so pensive!!! She is a very attentive little one and LOVES her "homework" (basic black and white designs that she could stare at for hours)!!!
My parents have been here for a few weeks and we have enjoyed the company! Not only the little day trips we have taken, or the great food we have eaten, but the pure quality of the time we had together! It could not last forever- they headed back to Utah Sunday afternoon, we look forward to the time we will spend together in the spring!
Charlotte is a great baby! She cries for the normal things- food, sometimes to be changed or when her tummy hurts- she sleeps 4, 5, and sometimes even 6 hours at a time through the night. She is still pretty little to have her "routine" down yet, but she is doing well!!! I kiss her way too much and I am sure she thinks I am just nuts!!! Giovanni is doing his best to balance work and his want to be home- he loves to hold her and is getting braver about changing the diapers too! He is a big help when tiredness takes me over (especially now that gma & gpa Royce are back in the states)!!!
She is growing too!!! She was born at 5lbs and when we left the hospital she was 4.6- last Friday she weighed in at 5.6, the Dr.s have all been impressed at her growth only with breastfeeding! Yea for us!!!
I have added some pictures of some of the places we have seen and things we have been doing- enjoy!

Monaca- what

Yesterday afternoon Giovanni had a Dr. apt on the northern outskirts of Milan- after leaving the apt. we decided to drive up to Como since we were not too far away. It was really nice drive with little snow flurries in the air and a little bit of snow on the ground- Beautiful!!!! Once we got to Como we decided to head up to Bellagio we did not get 5 min from Como when we slowed down to let a car pull out in front of us. You see they had been pulled over by the Carabinieri (one of the MANY police type of authorities here) and were now pulling out- we slowed to a stop so they could easily pull out and then the little uniformed man waving the white stick with a red target like circle flagged us to pull in!!! Gio and I were both confused- we had not done anything to merit the "pull over"!!! As one officer checked out Gio's license, registration-and the insurance stuff the other one did a little walk around the car with Giovanni *this is very different from USA they don’t care if you get out of the car* he was checking out the tires and telling Gio they needed to be changed- then he asked what we were transporting- nothing- Gio opened the back to show him the spare tire and empty water bottles rolling around back there. It was as if they were searching for something to nail us with! Then they asked for my documents. *Another difference, they usually ask for all the documents of passengers* we handed over the copy of my visa and my Utah drivers license- I could tell something was up when they started looking at it funny! Sure enough the visa- being only a copy was not valid- I have to carry around the real thing as well as my passport. Not only that but apparently my Utah license is not valid for them as a id- I know I need to get my Italian id card! I was thinking... "so what are they going to do? take me in b/c I don’t have my correct documents"?
Then came the best part!!!
Both officers came to my side of the car and asked me a few weird questions.....
Officer "how did you enter into Italy"?
Me: "On the airplane with my passport" Very perplexed
Officer: "okay, I understand that, but are you a monaca?"
Me: (not knowing what the heck a monaca was) "ummm I am a Mormon"
Officer: "I know the Mormons, I respect them, but for us the system shows that you entered Italy for religious reasons. When is the baby due?"
Me: "in less than 2 weeks, I entered in 2002 with that visa- in 2003 I went home and 2 years later I married him (pointing to Gio). I don’t understand why it shows that I am still under a religious visa- I have had 2 family visa's since then"
Officer: "My colleagues and I are curious, why is a monaca pregnant"?

Apparently he thought I was a Woman Monk- monaca, the word I did not know, and that b/c I was pregnant Gio was trying to take me to Switzerland to escape or something!!! How funny is that!!! We had to do a little explaining, but in the end we left (not going to Bellagio) without a ticket and lots to laugh about! Here are a few pictures from the drive back!

Happy New Year to you all!!! Buon Anno a Tutti!!

last weeks travels

As I told you last week I went to Verona while Giovanni went to NYC. My trip was much less eventful then his was and I sincerely hope he has time to write on here about all the things he did and people he met! We have a few pictures that I will post in a few days to complete his NYC tales!
Before Gio left he was dealing with a cold, I was lucky to be feeling fine, but of course the morning he left I woke up with a sore throat. I went to Verona anyway and there I ended up dealing with the "COLD" full force. I stayed in the house two days (I stayed with my adopted Italian family, Edda and Remo). Some of you may have heard about this great couple, or have meet them before. While I was there they had some health issues of their own. Edda had twisted her ankle so bad she thought it was broken and had X-rays done to be sure, then one of her front teeth feel out and she had to go to the dentist. Some of you may know about Remo's eye sight, well, it has been getting worse and worse over the past few years to the point where he could pretty much only see shadows. When I arrived Tuesday it had been 10 days that he had lost his vision totally. It was hard to see him bumping into doors and little things at home, but he seemed very calm about it; almost as if he had been waiting for this to happen and now that it had he just accepted it. The following day he had a 3 or 6 month check up with the eye DR as well as a ultrasound. Edda ended up coming home hours later in a hurry to pack some things up and was pretty worried! She told me that Remo had been admitted to the hospital, currently they were running some tests and he would need emergency surgery on his eye. Apparently the retina on his right eye had become unattached thus causing the blindness! He also has heart problems and they were unsure how to proceed with the anesthesia (he has had 3 previous heart attacks)! Needless to say it was a pretty crazy and stressful week for them! The surgery went fine and they kept him in the cardo ward to watch his heart, Monday he was released and I will hear more this weekend about how he is. I am grateful for Edda and Remo who have become a true part of my family and I in theirs (I am sure if I had not met Gio they would have tried to hook me up with Edda's son or one of his friends)! I love them and pray for the health of them both!
As I mentioned, Giovanni has many adventures from NYC to share and maybe in the next few days he can write it and we can get some pictures posted!

just another day

It has been more then a week since the last post. I guess that is because nothing has really happened. Unfortunatly when nothing exciting goes on in our everyday life it seems unnessasary to report to those who check out our blog.... but in thinking a little bit more about "nothing happening" it is important to just check in!
Yesterday I spent the whole day cleaning the house and ironing. I usually keep up with these things easily on a daily basis and our little apartment never really gets too dirty... but the last week I have really been lazy and let things go. Needless to say a day of cleaning was well needed! I know Giovanni is also grateful that he came home to a clean house and a closet full of ironed and ready to wear shirts.
Last night we had our Family time and talked about how important it is to set goals. Both of us lately has felt a little unsure of where we are going and what we are doing. This time together really helped us to clear the air and to look forward to more from ourselves and from life!
I don't expect anything extraordinary to happen this week. Gio is going to Rome tomorrow for a meeting and today I started reading Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen.
Other then this the only other thing to report is that I will be in Utah from June 7th til July 15th. Giovanni will be joining me the first part of July! In August we will head to Sicily to see Gio's family (including a new neice that will arrive June 20th)!