Abba is in heaven now, may he rest in peace. We thank our family and friends for the constant support and love they are shared over the past weeks.
Our lives are forever changed yet we have the blessed smiles of our girls to carry us on. 
Natalie reached her six month milestone 
and continues to sit 
and reach and make some new noises.
Norah got her nails painted, 
watched a parade and is a best friend to many!
Miss Natalie is getting into a groove. She is napping twice a day and breastfeeding on demand about 6x a day. She can roll over from stomach to back and giggles at Norah while playing. Natalie has graduated from the Baby Swing to the Jumperoo as well as from the Bouncy Seat to the Bumbo.
Miss Norah is have a month of Big Girl milestones. She potty trained over Memorial Day weekend and moved from baths to showers. Norah loves to sing songs and lullabies and she dances, bounces and hustles around the house.
Both girls enjoy storybooks, dressing up and hugs.
We send our love to Abba Piccolo who is in our thoughts and prayers as he fights his cancer each day.
Yeah, we like our baby posing in the pot and we think that our baby likes it too, do you?
And in other places…
And our toddler likes it too…
She even wants to jump in.
Oh mannnn, motherhood is busy with trips to the library, park, storytime, playdates, Gymboree, and Music class. Toting around two kids isn’t bad now that the weather is nice. I thought I would fall down all winter so now it’s fun to get out and explore. The tough thing is trying to manage our photo galleries, Facebook pages, and this blog - it’s digging into my exercise time (ya right!) But I’m about 5lbs away from pre-prego weight, it’s another story regarding bathing suit season so I have to skip the excuses and get off my butt soon. That said, nursing Natalie is exhausting. Every 3-4 hours she sucks the life out of me and only chocolate can replenish it :) Luckily, Natalie is sleeping in her own room, in her crib, as of mid-April so we are bound to skip one nighttime feeding soon.
But enough about me, here’s some talk of my all stars!
We had a wonderful Easter holiday with family. Natalie met cousin MaryAnn and Joey from Pennsylvania during a brief encounter the night before Easter. The Piccolo cousins made a big fuss and showered the girls with Easter gifts and new clothes. Natalie’s1st Easter was enjoyed with both sets of Grandparents and her Aunties and cousin T with dinner at Nana and Grampa’s house. 
Big Sis Norah had a blast hunting for Easter Eggs, picking through Easter Baskets and eating Ham and candy all day long. Plus the girls and a little doll wore darling Easter dresses (a gift from Auntie Kristen and chosen by Lexi.)
A week later, Natalie met her little cousins Lexi and Ryan.
Big Sister Norah enjoyed playing up a storm with her cousins and celebrating Ryan’s 3rd birthday with Ice Cream cake and trains. 
The following day was Natalie’s Christening. Natalie had a relaxing morning before the celebration began. And Norah enjoyed wearing her party dress and remarked that ‘Uncle Paul is gonna love this dress’ when she buttoned up the top coat. 
Natalie received her first sacrament at Sacred Heart Church in Weymouth on Sunday, April 19th, 2009. Godmother Justine and Godfather Dave were there to support her and were picked with love. The reception back at the house was packed with good company and the bright day allowed the youngsters to play out back exploring the rocks and trees. Baby Natalie was passed around and shared smiles and coos all while wearing her beautiful eyelet Christening gown (a gift from Grammy Pic.)
As we settle down after weeks of dining on cookies, cakes and chocolate we hope that this warm weather carries us through till May so we can get out and walk!
Natalie is growing by leaps and bounds, she is making more noise, she is sleeping and eating better and she loves to eat her hands and toys! 
Tummy time is quick but rather cute. 
And Natalie’s bouncy chair with motor is our saving grace for naps and bouts of fussiness. Natalie is getting pretty good head control which allows her to sit on the couch and on a hip. She is a social baby - smiling at other mommies and children. As the winter melts away, we hope Natalie’s gigantic boogers do too. Mommy can drag em out with a tissue - a very useful skill.
We had a great month as a family, and little big sister Norah is speaking more and more. Some favorite phases are Eye’s Open, No Nap, More Milk Please (with prompting) and Excuse me. Norah knows all the colors of the rainbow by sight and is getting to know more letters of the alphabet and counting to 10 and higher. She likes to watch Dora with Dad and Exercise and Eat and Play and Shop and Read with Mom. To note, Norah’s feet are the only thing small about her - she is strong, smart and a super big sis.
Natalie passed the two month milestone the other day and she is getting bigger by the day. I’ll post her stats after her doctor appt. next week. Natalie is still nursing on demand but our schedule is something like, 2:30am, 6:30am, 10:30am, 1:30pm, 4:30pm, 7:30pm, 9:30pm, and one wild card time. Her bout with gas has been better but on occasion we do get dosed with a load of spit up. Plus, Natalie is already growing out of her size one Pampers and I have to get the 3-6 month clothes all washed with Dreft real soon.
Our little baby Natalie did manage to smile while posing in the infamous lobster pot and makes sweet cooing sounds with twinkling eyes when she spies someone she loves. Natalie is typically great in the car seat so we have been getting out to the library, shopping at local stores and have even dined out a couple times as a family. Our favorites are Bugaboo Creek, El Sarpe and Kristin’s.
Natalie’s bright blue eyes capture our heart everyday. Big sister Norah showers her baby sister with affection - hugs and kisses and toys and books - so we think she is hooked too.
Norah, herself, is blossoming into a bright and captivating child. Norah practices counting & saying the alphabet daily. She is learning words to her favorite songs and body parts. And she is mommy’s little helper.
Valentine’s Day was sweet this year, both little girls dressed in red and we enjoyed the day.
Today we went to the pediatricians office for baby Natalie’s 1 month well visit. She is doing fabulous! 10lbs and 22 1/2 inches, the 60% and 90%tiles. Maybe some Ryan genes in the size category…or just a hubba bubba baby.
Big sister Norah also saw the doctor today, for her 2nd sick visit ever. Ears, chest and throat all looked clear thankfully, so it’s just a common winter cold plaguing our little girl.
Since the weather is sunny and mild, we took the girls out to lunch after our appts, and now we are all resting comfortably back at home.
Oh and, I need some feedback, which prop should we use for baby Natalie’s month milestones, the infamous pot or the soft Boppy pillow with chickie?
Norah turned two years and Natalie is two weeks old. We managed to get the sisters into the pot!
To mark the occasion, Norah had two cakes, one chocolate with chocolate frosting and a homemade one, white with white frosting. Norah loves CAKE! She received many special gifts including some great outfits, a great wooden coffee maker and birthday cake, a fun Mr. Potato Head and some new books! Norah had her little buddies, Colin and Patrick over for a playdate in the morning. They had fun playing with Norah’s new kitchen set and gifts from Christmastime. Mommy also enjoyed the company. Later that day, Nana and Grampa came over for dinner (pasta and meat sauce) and a wonderful chocolate cake which Norah devoured. We all got our slices and Norah took the rest! Over the weekend, Grammy, Grampa and Auntie Cheri visited! Talk about fun time and lots & lots of play.
And the girls have been getting along fabulously!
On a wild snowy winter day, we ventured out to Natalie’s first doctors appointment. On Jan 3oth, baby Natalie had gained her weight back, plus some, due to her healthy eating habits, which Norah states clearly using her first phrase, ‘baby eat boob.’ At 7lbs11 1/2ozs, we won’t need return till Natalie is a month old.
Our days are filled with playing with Norah’s toys from Santa, reading story books and eating meals and snacks together. These activities are punctuated with naps, dancing and TV time. Our little family of 4 are bonding and growing together!