July 4th

July 4th was the last "normal" day we had. The deployment had just hit 7 months and things were buzzing along. The weather had been getting progressively warmer and going on post for the Fourth of July festivities was like hanging out in a sauna. Oliver loved riding the "not quite safe for kids" rides and took his driving very seriously. We drank a beer but had to skip the hot dogs because the Italians were bum rushing the stands. They aren't the waiting-in-line kind of people. As we sat at the picnic tables, sweating profusely, a huge storm cloud covered the sky, the wind started blowing like crazy and the temperature dropped at least ten degrees. If I were psychic, I would have thought it some sort of ominous sign. Instead I just gathered the boys and left.

Here's the boys in their red white and blue outfits.

6 Months Old

Dashel is half a year old! About two weeks ago he totally gained mobility and there has been no looking back. He low crawls like a champ, and wants to explore and eat everything. His favorites include wires, remotes, newspaper and toy cars. He cares nothing for baby approved toys. I had to rearrange the entire living room to hide the wires and we took all the little toys upstairs. He still finds trouble and is a baby on a mission. My whole day is spent facilitating his play and trying to keep him somewhat contained. I nearly had a heart attack yesterday when I went upstairs for a second and came back down to find him standing up holding on to the couch. I ran down as fast as I could while having visions of him letting go and cracking his head open. I have a feeling that isn't the last scare this little guy will give me. I'm not sure how he pulled himself up, but there's only more of that to come.
His bottom two teeth have pushed through and the top ones are dangerously close to making an appearance. He's a happy guy but not in a smiley way. He's just focused on what he wants to do and as long as he's moving or being held, or both, he's content. He does love to be tickled, especially by Oliver. He enjoys beating up on Oliver and wrestling with. They are fast becoming best buds.

Ready to attack

Momentarily distracted by the camera

Confused by the flash

a slight smile while Oliver tickles him

5 months and 2 and a 1/2 years

Dashel loves watching Oliver play and is more than ready to get in on the action. He's started scooting across the floor a little ways when there is something that he especially wants. Which is just about everything. He loves to grab and dive for anything he sees.

No more bouncy seats. He flips over and slides out. Its getting hard to get anything done when he's awake. And he doesn't sleep that often!

I thought about mailing the boys to Kirby and giving him a turn.

They're on their way!


I love dressing little boys!

Oliver loves to draw, he's filled up three big notebooks with his doodles since he turned two. I found this drawing yesterday and asked him what it was. He told me it was a butterfly.

My favorite part of the day

Family Photo Sneak Peak

Click on the pictures to see them bigger. I'll post more of these on shutterfly soon.

4 Months Old

Dashel turned four months old on my birthday last week! He is 16 pounds now and growing everyday. He can sit up on his own and he wants to get up and play with Oliver so bad, I have to remind him that he is a little baby. He's a sweet little guy. Easy going but likes to be held and cuddled and he loves giving me kisses. He gets pretty mad when no one is looking at him or playing with him. He loves attention!


Here's one of his early attempts to sit up, he's gotten better since then.

At the winery on my birthday, giving me a kiss

He loves Oliver so much he just wants to give him a big hug, Oliver is a little less than thrilled

Spring

Spring is for boys,
With its lizards and bugs
And little white flowers
they pick for their Mum.

R & R

Our R&R has already come and gone, but the awesome time we had will last forever. We had a fun filled two week vacation in Italy, and really saw a lot of the places we'd been meaning to but never got around to. Here is a little sneak peak at all the fun things we did and places we went. We took a bazillion photos so I'll be posting more as I get a chance. Check back soon!

This picture of course will break your heart. This is the first time Kirby and Dashel see each other. They both look so happy, and Dashel seems to know that this is his Daddy


We jumped in the car and drove to Verona where we ate a fabulous sushi lunch (one tends to get tired of Italian food) and walked around the old city center. Here's Kirby and Oliver in the Arena.


We went to a zoo a little outside of Verona, they had a walk through part and a drive through part. Oliver was very happy to see the monkeys, and I thought this peacock was quite impressive.

We took the train to Milan where we ate sushi again (do you see a trend) and walked around and saw the Duomo and the VERY pricey stores. Lots of great shopping, if you want to spend a small fortune.

We drove down to Camp Darby, a small army installation where you can camp and rent cabins. We got one of the cabins which was very nice but the area is a little sleazy to say the least. One of the main attractions is being so close to Pisa.

We headed north and picked a spot on the map. A little town called Porto Venere at the very edge of Italy. It was absolutely beautiful and very non-touristy even though it was a tourist destination, if that makes any sense. Here's a picture I took from the boat ride we took.



More pictures to come!