Amy and Ben

Wha’Gwaan?

What’s going on in the Rossi household is I am now a year older, Ben and I had a great trip to Jamaica (pictures coming soon), Nancy survived four days with Lily and Isaac and Joe arrives tonight to help with the big dig. Jamaica is a wonderful place; well at least I can say that the Sandals resort is a wonderful place. The weather was beautiful, the ocean warm, entertainment fun, and in general it was such a treat for Ben and I to get away for a few days. We really appreciated Nancy’s willingness to watch Lily and Isaac for a few days (especially since she watched them in house with no air conditioning. The air conditioning broke as we were walking out the door). Although she was quite happy to see us when we got home, she did say that they had fun and bonded over the few days. The must have all worn each other out because on Wednesday Nancy slept in until 11:30am, and Lily and Isaac both took four hour naps. This is just more confirmation that we have very fun, smart, and active children.

Update: I just posted some pictures and I had to make a new gallery category since these pictures did not really belong in the Isaac or Lily galleries. I guess after four year it is nice to have a few pictures of Ben and me. The pictures show us by day and at night. The long pink dress I am wearing in some of the pictures is my Mom’s dress from silk she purchased in Thailand.

He Digs, Digs, Digs, Digs, Digs, Digs, Digs, Digs, Digs, the whole day though

Ben spent his father’s day weekend continuing the big dig in our backyard. Our neighbor asked us if he was trying to dig his way to China. His goal may not be China, but he did almost double the size of patio area in the back. Now that the project has become a little larger than initially planned, we think we may need to find a company to come help with the wall creation and flooring.

In addition to digging, we did celebrate Father’s Day together. Lily, Isaac, and I made him breakfast and we all went to a Mexican dinner last night.

On Saturday, Lily and I got to have a quick visit with Kathy Weiner who is in the DC area with a friend. Kathy knew me when I was Lily’s age and our families have remained friends. It is fun to think about who Lily will still know when she is 32.

I also took Lily and Isaac to a birthday party on Saturday at a local swimming pool. It is amazing the difference a year can make. This pool had a beach entry (about 2 feet deep) and Lily and Isaac both did pretty well on their own. I can’t take my eyes of them, but they can play in the water on their own. It is now possible to take them both to the pool by myself.

Summer Has Arrived

It only took a week, but I did finally post some pictures from Lily’s birthday in her June gallery and a few summer pictures in Isaac’s June gallery. Lily’s birthday fell during a very busy week, ending with my studio’s dance show on Saturday. Lily enjoyed the show, and Isaac enjoyed watching a few of the dances from the backstage wings. They both especially liked my dance to the song Jai Ho, since we spend many mornings and evenings dancing to that song in our house.

On Sunday, our neighbors created a “water park” in their front yard. Isaac bravely used in the slip in slide for the first time. This is one of the first times he was willing to try something before Lily.

Happy Birthday Lily

Lily enjoyed her birthday yesterday. She woke up to presents, had a few friends over for a small party, and enjoyed her princess cake. I think she felt quite special. Yesterday, also taught Isaac a new piece of information; he can now tell you that his birthday is in March. This knowledge is probably the result of getting told at least fifty times yesterday that it was not his birthday, and that his birthday is in March.

For me yesterday confirmed my ability to cram as much as possible into one day. We all woke up at 5:30 to the sound of thunder and lightening (Lily’s birthday continues to deliver the first real humid day of the summer), I participated in the final delivery of a project to my work’s executive team at 9:00, I worked until 3:30, picked up a birthday cake from Wegmans, returned home for a small fairy birthday party, and then left for my last two dance classes before the show this weekend. I returned home at 10:15, swept the chocolate cake off the floor, vacuumed the pixie dust of the carpet, checked my work e-mail, and then happily went to bed. Thank goodness everyone was tired and slept until the morning.

Ben and I will hear our first concert of the summer season tonight at Wolftrap. We are going to see the Indigo girls. I have many happy memories of trying to play Indigo Girls’ songs on my guitar. It should be a great show, as long as I don’t fall asleep!

Home Again, Home Again

Since my last post, we drove to Cornell to celebrate David Rossi’s graduation from his Master’s program and I took another trip to California for work. Somewhere in between those trips I have been getting ready for a dance show, and trying to get a little sleep.

The drive to Ithaca was surprisingly better than expected. We spent only a little over 24 hours there, but it was great to see our family, celebrate with David, and see a small part of Cornell and Ithaca. Upstate New York is so pretty during this time of the year. The only disappointment in the trip was that the President of Cornell said in his speech that the students of Cornell communicate through Twitter and text, leaving out any mentioned of AIM or e-mail (two important products to AOL). This omission is an example of the reason that I traveled to California a second time this month.

This CA trip was for work, as I am working on a project to help ensure that future commencement addresses include important AOL products and services. Even though this trip was for work (and I spent the majority of my time doing just that) I did manage to get to see a few friends and my sister. I stayed for two nights with my good friend Karen Hennessy, and it was nice to spend a little more time than we usually get to together. The other benefit from this trip was I worked in the San Francisco office for a few hours, and left with a badge to the AOL Mountain View office. This will now make it easy for me to work in the Bay Area if/when necessary.

Ben and I are switching roles next week and he is off to Boston for a work trip. Somewhere in my busy week home alone, with multiple extra dance rehearsals, I will need to find time to plan Lily’s 4 year old birthday party!

I did post quite a few new pictures in Lily and Isaac’s galleries. Unfortunately, not many from either California trip since I forgot my camera both trips.

A note from California

I am writing this post from California. Lily and I flew home for David’s graduation and have been enjoying a hot California weekend. Lily has spent her weekend exploring my parent’s house. She has found every music box, and every interesting small item and turned them into toys. She has also experienced many of the joys of my childhood. This weekend was the Christ the King festival so we spent time playing games and winning prizes after church. We also took a trip to the Larkey swim club where Lily excitedly tried to swim (I think she needs some lessons). Needless to say, she was exhaused tonight and went to bed before 8. I don’t think Ben will believe me.

We also enjoyed our drive to Sacramento for dinner to celebrate David’s accomplishment. It was fun to meet his future in-laws.

Ben has reported a successful weekend with Isaac, and Ben even managed to run a half-marathon this morning. His time improved 50 minutes from his last half-marathon race. For those of you who haven’t seen him in awhile, Ben is in running shape. I think he is thinner than he was at our wedding, and he is really enjoying his running.

I actually found some time to read on this trip, and have been reading the book What Would Google Do? It is really interesting and insightful. I even decided to follow the author on Twitter.

I forgot my camera on this trip, but I am hoping to receive some pictures from Mindy (Lily and Lila met!) and also a few from David’s graduation. When I receive, I’ll post here to share.

Garden Exploration

I love this picture because it shows Lily trying to make a funny face, and Isaac watching her closely to learn exactly what she is doing.

We had a fun Mother’s Day morning exploring the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens. Earlier in the week, my friend Michelle went on a field trip there with her daughter’s class, and after seeing the pictures I knew we had to check it out. The gardens were so beautiful and we had fun looking for dragonflies, turtles, frogs, and running away from bees. This area is full of wonderful surprises, like this garden.

I am looking forward to a short work week because Lily and I are flying to California for David’s graduation from law school. We decided it would be fun for us to have a “girls” weekend, and Ben and Isaac to have a “boys” weekend. I am a little concerned that Isaac will confused at our absence, especially Lily’s absence, but I know Ben will have lots planned to keep him entertained. I think brewing new beer is already on the schedule. I suppose that sounds like a “Boys weekend” activity.

Laundry Help

Lily has a new skill, folding laundry. She isn’t perfect at it yet, but is getting quite good. This is an important skill in our household considering the amount of laundry we generate.

Isaac has a new skill too, singing his “ABCs”. He doesn’t quite say each letter, but he has the main idea, and he can even do it with different voice tones. Today, on the way to the gym, he gave us quite the performance singing it with a monster voice.

We had a rainy weekend, so returned to spending time indoors. Ben took his weekend work motivation to the garage and has been organizing all his tools and yard supplies. It is a job that we have put off since moving in, so it will be nice when it is done. At least his seems to be enjoying it a bit. I compared the satisfaction he feels from organizing his tools, to the satisfaction I feel organizing my jewelry.

Annie made a quick stop in town on Friday night on her way to Charlottesville for a wedding. This visit coincided with her birthday, so Lily and Isaac enjoyed making her a cake, and of course eating it too. It is still hard to be so far away from our families, but at least quick visits like this one make it a little easier.

Big Boy Bed

Well it is official, I no longer have a baby. Ben converted Isaac’s crib into a “big boy bed” after a solid week of Isaac climbing out of his crib at 2am. He has managed to do it safely each night, but we decided it wasn’t worth the risk. He seemed quite happy with his bed last night, and Katy reported that he went down for his nap today without getting out of his bed. It helps that he enjoys sleeping.

Ben mentioned that we took a few pictures on the walk, and by few I think he means three, and they were taken before the walk even started. We did manage to complete the four miles, but it was more a test of Ben and my patience than our endurance. Isaac ran about 2 of the 4 miles and then spent the other 2 getting in and out of the stroller, or wanting to stop and play with sticks. Lily did pretty well, and decided to stay in the stroller for most of the walk. The walk route wasn’t that well planned either. We had small sidewalks with lots of strollers, and multiple areas when we walked in a street. It is still a great cause, and thank you to those who donated. We feel blessed that we have such a healthy, happy, and smart preemie.

Ben and I went to Lily’s end of year teacher conference today and she received a glowing report card. She had checks in all the best boxes, and it made me happy to hear that she is also a very caring friend and is always concerned if a classmate is sad or upset, and then attempts to make them feel better. Her teacher also said that the other children always want to play with Lily, and that everyone enjoys talking with her (even the teachers). The one fine motor skill that she can work on this summer is holding scissors. I am not too worried about improving that one.

Thank you all!

With your support, we were able to raise $405 for the March of Dimes fundraising event, March for Babies! This went into the Deltek corporate team that I lead, leading to a total of $2700 for this year ($700 beyond our initial goal)!

You have our heartfelt thanks for giving.

We have a few pictures from the walk that should make their way up on the site shortly.

-Ben, Amy, Liliana and Isaac

Tags: family, March of Dimes, thanks