Lucia'nne Baby is 4 months Today.

"She is the sunshine in my life," to quote dear old Stevie Wonder. She's grown so much I'm already anxious that she is growing out of baby-dom. She went to her first wedding this month in Ohio. Therefore, she endured her first long car trip. Thank goodness Grandma and Grandpa Obert were there to drive us. She had Mommy and Daddy to smile, coo, caress, and soothe her the entire drive. She only cried when she was tired or hungry. We would stop and I would fulfill all her needs and then I would say, "Thank you for letting me know what you needed, Lucia."
She would smile and me and make some lovely baby jabber sound that is like music to my ears.
Mommy and Daddy love their little girl.
I will save most of the milestones for the quarterly lovenote but I'm proud of my little girl for being so strong this month. She rolls over now, grabs things she wants, "inchworms" around the floor, holds herself up very high on her arms during tummytime, and sits up for stroller walks. She can do so much she has to cry in order to alert Mommy that she just needs to be cuddled and held.
Lucia is a wonderful little girl to have in our family and we were very happy for the opportunity to show her off to friends and family this month. Lucia met her great Aunt Marsha,Gini, Theresa, Mary and Uncles Mike, Chet, Jim, and Bernie. Not to mention she got to visit again with little Madeleine and various 2nd cousins and more! She has yet to meet Uncle Mikey, Aunt Angie, and cousins Patrick and Aaron save a video phone conversation on Mother's Day. That was very sweet because Patrick made Lucia many little drawings that he showed us over video chat. We plan on seeing them in August in Madison if all things go right.
I will upload a 4 month picture tomorrow. The batteries on my camera are dead and I was too lazy to leave the house today after work.

Mistakes or something better?

I just have a quote from a movie running through my head tonight:

Lounge singer: "I can't... Sometimes do you feel like you can't tell your life from all the mistakes you made?:

Piano player: "Come on baby- Mistakes are what make it interesting... They make life fun."

When you are lying in your deathbed will you be running the mistakes you made through your head and ruing every moment of it or will you be smiling and reliving every moment of sheer joy. Tonight I am thinking of those moments of sheer joy:

• Spending all night working on a painting/drawing, smoking cigarettes and drinking wine.
• Dancing with my Pop-o at Mikey's wedding
• climbing to the top of the Duomo and looking out at sunset over Florence.
• Singing and dancing at the Deadwood
• Walking dogs with hot coffee in my hand with JR at sunrise. Swimming with the dogs.
• Laying with Lucia on my chest asleep- kissing her forehead.
• My mother giving me a pedicure.
• Lying in the sun on my Pop-o's boat
• Kent's tears at my wedding
• Looks of love from Kent
• cuddling up with my family in bed

Life is something precious.

Seattle... the lost photographs.

Mom visited today and delivered the rest of the pictures I took (Chris deleted them off my camera when he transferred them to his computer but forgot to include them on the disc he sent home with me). I wanted to share my favorite photograph I took during the visit of Maddie and her friend at the Zoo. And then introduce you to the wrong ways Chris and I handle the stress of having children... Chris is not breastfeeding despite the fullness of his "Pecs" these days.

*Note* No children were harmed in the course of this evening... save the hate mail.

More moments from Seattle trip

Lucia and I arrived in Iowa City feeling quite abused by travel. Mommy was feeling crampy in her stomach and achy in the joints. Before the night was over my temp hit 102 degrees and was unable to walk on my right knee. So, in lieu of the original plan to return to work today, I am restricted until next Monday from work. It feels risky to be off longer and I'm nervous about returning. I will see the doc again before I return.

Our Seattle trip was... well... wonderful. The weather really cooperated and Lucia was a very good traveling companion. Here is a list of some of our adventures:

• Woodland Park Zoo
• Dog Park/view of the sound garden
• Out to eat (ALOT)... Favorite meal was either the Dungeness Crab cake eggs Benedict or the King Alaskan Salmon.
• Pike's Park Market
• Underground Tour (just Chris and I here).
• Old Pioneer Square (Guinness with Chris)
• Dinner with Trish and Chris' family and friends
• afternoon out in Kirkland (?) east side art community upscale living part of Seattle. Trish's old haunts were found here.

Plans for future trips include more exploration of the islands and whale watching.

I FINALLY got to meet our Madeleine. She is SUCH a character. She's very much like Chris. However, there is a shyer and more thoughtful Trish side to her too. She's a nice balance. All in all, she's a beautiful and fun-loving girl and we are ecstatic to have gotten the opportunity to get to know her and for her to know us. She was very sweet with her cousin Lucia and even learned to say her name. She was on "Binky Patrol" all weekend long. Every time she found a "Lucia Binky" she would immediately find Lucia and try to shove the Binky in her mouth. One time I was nursing Lucia and hidden from her and she reportedly unrelentlessly looked for us until Grandma helped her find us to give us the binky. Binkies were a big deal.

If, indeed, Lucia turns out to be like her father with his loves the company of trouble- I can see these two stirring up a whole lot in the future.

Seattle!

I'm so excited to say that it looks like I'm going to be able to visit my brother and family in Seattle next month! It will be my first time meeting Madeleine who is going to be 2! already next August. They will be able to meet their new family member Lucia too! That's right: Lucia's first big trip!

Something I wouldn't mind trying to do is taking the underground tour (see above photo) except its not baby friendly. I was happy to see there is a scooby doo cartoon that features Seattle's underground, however. I'm open for things to do suggestions. We're only there for the weekend and will be carting around little girls.

p.s. while reading up I learned what a speak easy is and what a blind pig is too...

Here are some pictures from our trip to Denver. Top to bottom/right to left: Kent and I at Cubs/Rockies game [Cubs won but also inflicted serious injury to a Rockie who was up to bat when the Cubs pitcher accidentally hit him in the head with a fast ball- cubs got booed :( ], Kent enjoying a Black and Tan at an Irish pub outside the left field entrance to the stadium, Coors Stadium, Kent at aquarium with the sharks, Katy and Kent at the Zoo, Kent at Summit point in Estes park just before the rain.

I had another Katy dream adaptation of Florence the other night.
There is a very yummy and regional soup that you can only find this time of year in Florence called Ribolitta. In English is means "Reheated" because the more you use it as leftovers the better it tastes.
I went to this little Tavola calda after class in the winter and had this soup with a side of roasted chicken for lunch with my friends. That's been a hard experience to replicate. It took a long time to find this recipe. However, since the surgance of Rachel Ray its in her cookbooks. You can also find Pasta Carbonara which is "bacon and eggs" pasta- a Roman delicacy. I think that the word Carbonara comes from the family name Carbonari and is a secret society today. Or it could have something to do with the cooking process involving coal. I like the former idea better. Rachel Ray calls it, "Coal Miner's pasta". She's probably right.

Here are the recipes:

Ribollita
-means “reheated” in Italian- soup that tastes better with each reheating. Also, a native Tuscan staple food in the winter time.
Ingredients:
1. 2 onions
2. 6 Carrots
3. 4 ribs of celery
4. Fresh Parsley to taste
5. Cubed bread (day old, stale is fine)
6. Curly chard (handful or two- chopped)
7. 4-5 cloves of garlic
8. 5 large tomatoes
9. A heel of parmigiana (grate the actual cheese part for sprinkling on top)
10. Vegetable stock or meat stock
11. 1 lb of white Tuscan beans (Great Northern work fine)
*You can also put in any leftover pasta, green beans, peas, pancetta, and potatoes)

directions: Prepare a lb of white beans (Well washed). Cover w/ water in a stock pot and bring them to a boil. Take them off the heat and let them sit in the water for a couple of hours. Add more water to cover, add seasonings, and simmer until barely done. They should be watched because they ten to become mushy soon after they are done.
Clean and cut into medium dice: Onion, carrot, celery, curly cabbage or chard, garlic, and tomatoes. Mince a bunch of parsley. Saute the onion and carrots in olive oil.
After a few minutes, add the celery, then the chard and the garlic, adding more oil as needed.
Cook 10 min.s then add tomatoes, a heel of parmigiano and the beans. Add enough stock (vegetable, chix, or beef) to cover. Bring to boil, then simmer 1 hr to blend flavors. Add the cubes of bread. Allow to rest for several hours. Add parsley, reheat, and serve w/grated parmigiano on top and olive oil to pass around the table. Finally, add leftovers.
(Makes 15 servings depending on stock)

Pasta Carbonara:

makes 4 generous servings

1 lb spaghetti
salt
a drizzle, plus 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (I like 1st cold pressed *KO)
1/3 lb pancetta, chopped (Italian meat (Bacon) available at deli counter or specialty meats and cheeses section of grocer)
4 or 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped (*KO says do the work and chop it your self - do not buy pre-chopped garlic)
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes, w few pinches, crushed in palm of hand.
1/2 c white wine or chicken stock
2 lg egg yolks or 1/2 pt container of pasteurized egg product
1/4 c boiling water
1/4 cp grated Parmigiano Reggiano chz (2 handfuls) plus extra or passing at table (again- do the work and grate it yourself from an authentic Italian cheese *KO)
a handful of fresh parsley leaves, finely chopped
coarse salt (a must have in every serious food lovers kitchen), to taste
several grinds of black pepper (again no shaker of pepper- you should have a grinder with good peppercorns)

Warning: do not drain pasta until you complete step 3!

1. Place a large pot of water on the stove and when it comes to a rolling boil, add salt and pasta and cook to al dente (to the tooth), about 7 to 8 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over moderate heat. Saute pancetta in a drizzle of oil until it browns, 3 to 5 minutes. Add 2 tbls olive oil, garlic and crushes pepper flakes and saute, 2 minutes. Add wine or stock to pan and reduce liquid by half, about 1 min.

3. Beat together egg yolks or egg product, and while whisking vigorously stir in a ladle of the boiling pasta water.

Drain pasta, and add pasta to pan with pancetta and garlic and remove from heat. Add egg mixture, cheese, parsley, salt, black pepper and toss 2 minutes until sauce is absorbed and thickly coating the pasta. Adjust seasonings and serve immediately with extra cheese

"Wanna see my monkey?"

I just scanned this one in from Xcaret. Very fun day trip from Cancun. It was very hot and there was an underground river to snorkel through. However, people mostly just bobbed around in there and it was really too dark for snorkeling anyway. But put fins on Kent and just try to keep up! He's an ex-state swimmer and prides himself on being a fish in water. I'm a fine slower swimmer.I just felt bad for the people Kent and I plowed past in there who were just trying to relax! Oh well, it still felt good getting in that cold water on 100+ degree day.

More honeymoon pics for mom.

..Another lovely night in Cancun.

Here is me at Xcaret.... hooooooooo... hummmmmmmmm...

Kent and I built a very impressive sand castle on our Honeymoon. We didn't see anyone else building sandcastles but the other people walking on the beach enjoyed looking at it.
I'm always appreciative of Kent when I watch him build things. He is very determined and he can stay focused for hours when he's making something. It reminds me of myself when I'm painting or drawing. His mouth goes agape and his brows furrow.
Very handsome.

Kent and I have returned from our honeymoon (last night at about midnight). We had a fabulous time. Here are some of the pictures to illustrate:
Everyday usally started the same. That is wake at 7:30 am, reserve spot on beach with an umbrella, eat a big breakfast, get swimsuit on and lounge on beach until done. I loved that ocean. I had never seen anything remotely as clear and blue and full of aquatic life! We snorkeled in it, bounce around in it and generally enjoyed the veiw and sounds of it. Don't get me wrong- I'm sure there is better ocean beaches and aquatic life out there- I just haven't seen it.

We stayed in one of the biggest resorts I saw in cancun with what seemed to me the biggest and best beach any resort was offering. The resort was all inclusive so we never had to buy a meal. We got reservations for the Brazillian and the Japanese restaurants which had a dress code and a menu so it had the illusion of going out to eat and not stuffing your face at a buffet. Buffets are hard for those of us with a problem with protion control and who eat fast. I made sure to always eat a big plate of salad before diving into anything serious. On the otherhand, Kent did not worry and oinked his way through our vacation with multiple plates full of food. Men... They have it so easy. It was his vacation and normally I'm worrying about him not eating enough so I didn't say anything.
I still think I probably gained up to 10 pounds. I haven't weighed myself yet and don't want to. I have Jenny on Wednesday and will really have to face the reality of 24 hr. of free drinks and food.

Kent and I did find time fore activites and excersize too! We went snorkeling without fins (as they were always, "out" of them due to so many kiddos running around). So that meant more muscle power to swim around the ocean. Also we spent a day at X-caret which if anyone one visits Cancun I would highly recommend. While weighing our choices for a day trip Kent and I liked the idea of someplace that had "underground tunnels" both for swimming and walking as the sun was very hot. I had talked to vacationers coming off buses from some of the Mayan ruins that said they had been to, "Hell and back" as it was so damn hot and long of a day.
X-caret was perfect as its part Zoo, part beach, part historical and part theatrical show! I took pictures on a disposable that I will post later. It was recommended to us by my parents and another couple I know, Sarah and JohnDavid that also went to Cancun for their honeymoon.
We shopped at "La Isla", at the flea market (we mostly just got barked at there), and at a few malls. Kent bought an obsidian skull, a shirt and a hat. I bought a mask that has a Mayan face (mask) which is split into young, old and skull. I think its fascinating that the same themes such as this one carry throughout ages and regions. I also got some gifts for co-workers who helped out my caseload while I was away, a gift for Madeline, a hand embroidered shirt ( I wanted the Frida Kahlo big white dress: mostly because I thought it would be fun to wear when I get pregnant but settled on the cheaper one that was just as beautiful), and I bought a Cubano. Some other knick knacks too but I can't remember.

Lastly I want to say thanks to all of you who helped us out so generously at the wedding. I was so amazed at the love everyone put into our weekend. It really made Kent and I feel so good and relieved to have that kind of love and support. Every couple should be blessed with the kind of family I was so proud of at my wedding. I was really proud and happy to have all of you there! Sorry to those of you who couldn't make it- We love and missed you and thought of you. You were in our hearts.

Here are Lin and Bri with me at the site of first Beatles venue 

Gifts from Liverpool

I grew up believing that I had an aunt and an uncle living in Liverpool, England, named Lin and Brian. Although they weren't really blood family, every year they would send me Liverpool scarves, banners, and other various knick knacks. This was before I actually understood what made someone an aunt or uncle as opposed to just being a family friend. We would get cards and letters with long letters written in them with that very European way of writing where everything is in print but in a special, almost bubble-like, penmanship.

When I did my study in Italy I found myself without any family or anywhere to stay for Christmas. At the young age of 21 that was a very vulnerable place to be. Although I had never officially met Lin and Brian before they welcomed me into their home without so much as a breath of hesitation.

Lin is my mother's pen pal. Mom won the Scouse penpal on a coin toss with one of her Beatle-maniac friends when she was still very young. Her whole life she wrote to Lin through grade school, high school, graduation, marriage, having children, growing older, children growing older, moving, working, crying, laughing, and through saying goodbye to loved ones. Until pretty recently, they had never met. In fact, I think my mother had either just met Lin in Florida or was only about to meet her there the next summer (I can't remember). Anyway, the point is, I was to go to their house, where even my mother hadn't made it to yet.

Today, I received yet another gift from my family in Liverpool. I say family because by all my purposes they are family. They sent me a very nice black t-shirt with the child faces of Paul McCarteny and John Lennon on the front with the title, "The Long and Winding Road" printed underneath. What a nice reminder of their relationship with my family. I actually found it quite meaningful and put it on at once. I even got a compliment on the t-shirt from the woman who repaired a couple of skirts for me as I picked them up.

Lin and Brian are going to try to make the trip to be at my wedding. They actually were mostly enthusiatic about the possibility of it being in Greece. Perhaps, we will just see them on our honeymoon.

I was also given another gift today- Iowa City was visited by a bright and beautiful double rainbow today. Isn't that nice?

Anyway, it must be my lucky week.

P.S. Kent and I had dance class again today. That means we've made it through the waltz, the slow dance, and the swing dance. Today, we learned the Rhumba. To be honest, we were finding it hard to connect today. I suppose as a couple we still have a lot to learn about reading each other's cues.

In my Italy dreams I'm simply walking the streets of Florence going the places that I loved so much 

Preparing my roomates dinner.