Happy Days

Happy-Thursday-almost-to-Friday-almost-to-the-weekend!

We've had a lot to celebrate today...

First, I must report our little scrumptious one is sleep training like a champ! I always begin at around a month and this little lady is already putting herself to sleep for naps and going down to bed around 6:30pm (that's if mom doesn't eat anything unusual that upsets her poor tummy!) I couldn't be happier about her emerging sleep patterns--for a schedule-oriented mama, this is bliss. The sooner we conquer sleep, the sooner our life finds its new normal. We are already partway there! woo hoo!! I think God heard my prayers for a good sleeper--there's no other way I'd be surviving otherwise. :)

Secondly, we celebrated our sweet pup, Custer's birthday! The boys were so excited to make an event out of it... Cus turned 8 yesterday, but we decided to extend the celebration to today when he could have some "friends" over for a party. Unfortunately, one friend hurt her paw yesterday (stitches, splint, etc.), so Custer and his cousin, Jackson, had their own puppy fun together. Mimi and Papa (good sports) also came over to celebrate with the boys. We all wore party hats, sang "happy birthday", and watched the pups enjoy some puppy snacks. Are we cheeseballs or what?! I feel like I'm making up for the past few years of missing the "big" event... Other priorities? You think? :)

Hope this finds you having a great week!

Blessings,

I'll take what I can get

Walking upstairs tonight, hand in hand with our T...

T: I love Daddy the most.

B-mama: Oh, he's pretty special.

T: Mommy, I love you almost up to Daddy.

Around The Town

1 mom + 3 energetic boys + 1 small baby girl + 1 home = general home insanity + a great desire to GET OUT! :)

Therefore, we've been trying to have as many Gasperini-Ville adventures as the 1 mom can take!

Getting the kids out in the morning and returning for lunch (or having lunch out--an even better option! :), always makes for a more relaxing day. The kids have gotten out some wiggles and we are all ready for a restful afternoon.

And that's without mentioning our wonderful home visitors, who have been giving us fun daily distractions. We had a college friend of ours, C, and her baby, A, swing by for a visit. They live in NYC, but were heading through VA for a quick visit! What joy to see them and feel their love... We definitely gave them a Gasperini-Ville welcome of zooming boys with cars and the CARS soundtrack blaring in the background. What good sports they were to humor our effervescence! :)

C, baby A, baby MG, and me!

To branch out a bit, we moved to the backyard with our wonderful bounce house! It was awesome and kept the boys occupied a bit before succumbing to the hot, hot weather. What you don't see here was a crazy mama frantically trying to bring IN the bounce house before a later storm... Not one of my most wonderful mom moments. lol. :)

We ventured this week to a local firehouse with one of my moms groups. The boys really enjoyed seeing the fire engine and learning about all of the cool fireman tools! They even got to pretend to drive it...

Just yesterday then, we ventured to our local mall, where the boys rode the train with some neighbor friends. It was this little man's first ride and he was excited and so brave...


All in all, great fun for the G clan.

We are all "resting" today--the two older boys are swimming with Mimi and Papa, while J and MG are hanging with Mom and Dad. It's amazing what two children feels like now--what a breeze! Miss my boys in the meantime. ;)

Hope you all have a blessed weekend,

Whew!!

One of our professional hospital shots--amazing, huh?

Hello, hello!

Yes, we are still here and still breathing... coming up for air every so often! lol. ;)

I have thought of you all often, thinking "Gosh, I need to post on the blog..." only to be pulled away by someone and some other need.

I will not lie: 4 is BUSY!!!!!

Many needs and requests, many mouths, many tummies...

Not to mention, yesterday we had a fussy baby who was clearly uncomfortable and unable to sleep for long periods unless she was in my arms. Must have been something I ate Sunday. I was strapped!! I wish I had a camera to show you how gross I looked by the end of the day--stretched out nightshirt, sweatpants, circles under my eyes, frenzied hair... We would have all had a good laugh. And then to show you the chaotic house... Ahh! :) [By the grace of God, though, we had dinner provided by one of the amazing women from one of my moms' groups. They have been an absolute godsend and I haven't cooked since MG arrived!!]

By early evening we had our sweet baby back and she slept great last night. Right now she's pulling a consistent 5-6 hour stretch in the earlier part of the night, followed by two 3-hour stretches. What I'm hoping is that she'll continue to extend the early part until we reach 12 hours!!! Let's hope! :)

I definitely can't complain about her sleeping, its just this mama can't get her tush in bed to take advantage of the earlier hours! There is just too much to do and prepare for the next day. Oh and I do like to hang out with GG too. He's a pretty great guy. ;)

Every day when he comes home from work its as if Gasperini-Ville cumulatively takes one large deep breath. He really gives us all our second wind and we love him for it. Especially since the poor guy has then been working 'round the clock on projects. What a trooper! Love you, babe! Thank goodness you don't have to feed the baby too! lol.

So that's the report from our little corner.

We are in love with our little girl and in gratitude to you all for your support during this time of transition. Even with messes and craziness, we are blessed beyond measure...

Hey friends

Could I ask you for some quick prayers, please?

Family friends and neighbors of ours have a daughter who is recovering from a major heart operation (the FONTAN) to repair some congenital heart defects. Harlie came through the surgery beautifully, but has developed some complications in the days following. Could you perhaps offer a prayer heavenward for her?

The communion of saints here on earth is a powerful thing! Let's storm the heavenly gates for Harlie!!

With thanks,

Gasperini-Ville's First Bow

Call me biased, but I think we wear it well. ;)

Happy Tuesday all!

Hope you all have had a GREAT start to your week...

We are here and well, hunkering down over the past couple of days and letting our little MG have some peaceful, restful time. It is serving her well.

You could say we saw a few of her "stripes" this weekend... I am partially to blame in consuming a record amount of caffeine on Friday along with a curry chicken dinner. Whoops. Our little girl was less than comfortable later that evening/morning when GG and I paid for my misstep trying to quell our restless babe. Talk about feeling tired on Saturday!!

Auntie J, MG, and Scrunchy M

Thankfully, we had reason to be more peppy due to a visit from "Aunt J", one of our besties from college, and her beau, A. Such fun. What a relaxing time we had chatting with them in the shade while drinking lemonade. :) Thanks for tolerating beach traffic to spend time with us, J and A. We loved seeing you!

Later that night we enjoyed a visit with GG's Aunt Margaret over at Mimi and Papa's, which was also such a treat. I promised I wouldn't post pics, but let's just say little MG took to her great aunt beautifully. Wonderful to see you, Aunt M!!

Since then, we've been laying low and finding our norm. What we thought might be potential colic was really just an overtired MG--nothing a little swaddle and shushing couldn't handle. It's also helped that mama has laid off the caffeine just a bit. Ahhh vices. :) She and I are finding our zen with nursing and her cheeks seem to be plumping by the day--don't you think?

Our little squish face and her daddy. GG notes that she seems to recognize his voice, but with more wide-eyed curiosity since she doesn't hear it often. Daddy's girl, for sure.

Lastly, I should document how completely devoted M is to his little sister. On Sunday morning, M asked me rather maturely, "Mommy, how did MG sleep last night?" and then later at bedtime he assured, "Mommy, if you need anything, like if MG starts to vomit or cry a lot, you just come and get me and I'll come and help you and Daddy out... (repeated over and over again about 5x)" Too cute!!

Be well!

Passing on the love,

This is what happens

when the almost-four-year-old gets ahold of the camera:

What a crack up!

Who's That Baby?

Four Gasperini cherubs are featured below.

See if you can guess who's who... ANSWERS ARE IN! MAJORITY RULES!

Baby A: The serious one--M

Baby B: The squished one--MG (I tried to hide her hair to make this one a little tougher!)

Baby C: The contemplative one--T (all the way!)

Baby D: The chill one--J

If you're stumped, no worries--I'm even having trouble distinguishing them!!

Pucker Up, Baby

My ying and yang babies

Gasperini-Ville got the first of its lemons yesterday afternoon--one of our A/C units went kaput!

Temps in the upstairs began climbing and by bedtime, they were in the upper 80's and GG and I felt it was borderline child abuse to subject our children to such heat. So down they came... all FOUR of them. And so began the family camp-out in our family room! Little MG was moved to the kitchen(!) in the bassinet part of the pack 'n play. M and T were in sleeping bags between the bar stools and couch. I was on a mattress (luxury thanks to my sweet GG) near the older boys. GG was on the couch and J was in the rest of the pack 'n play over by the TV. Cozy! Thankfully the downstairs unit kept running and we were all relatively comfortable.

MG woke us up at 6am and our day has been going full force ever since. The boys and I ventured out for our first Catholic moms' playgroup and then rushed back when we got the call that the A/C guy was there to repair... I had to apologize when we finally arrived back home to meet the guy--"I'm so sorry we're late--I have four kids and we never get anywhere quickly these days".

You can be sure I'll be milking that excuse quite a bit in the near future. A mama never passes up the opportunity to blame her own personal tardiness on her children! lol Just kidding, of course! ;)

Hope you all are making lemonade!

Blessings,

My Funny Children

As the family sat watching a PBS special on the Vatican tonight...

T: Daddy, where's Touchdown Jesus?

lol,

Loving On Our Girl

Dear MG,

How is it that in just over a week's time you've completely captured our hearts? How is it that your biggest brother never wants to stop holding you? How is it that a little girl can be followed and loved and soothed by so many besides her mama? How is it that I look at you and already see my future hopes and dreams?

You are so dearly loved.

Praising God for you, our little Miss American Pie!

Happy Independence Day!!

First Outing

We had the privilege of taking our sweet one to the botanical gardens on Wednesday. It was her local debut! She handled it with much grace and poise, sleeping throughout and even eating amidst the shade while mom and dad sat on a bench and brothers played in the sand. It is a beautiful set of gardens and has the most wonderful children's area--a splash park, craft center, shady sand box, gardening spot, etc. The boys have taken to it and I can foresee many-a-morning spent there while MG and I sit... How lovely!

We said farewell to my parents this morning (sniff, sniff!!) and couldn't quite convince them to stay another couple of weeks! What fun its been having them here--the boys have reveled in their presence and with our third floor guest quarters, we hardly knew they were here! My mom cooked and cleaned and both parents cared and loved on the boys. My dad did some yard work for us and moved a sprinkler to boot... Can you tell why we were so sorry to see them go? Not to mention we just love having them around and spending time together. LOVE YOU, Gramz and Pappy, and THANK YOU for everything! :) Come back soon, okay?!

Next week starts Phase 2 of our MG transition. GG heads back to work and I will be the full force mama! Praise God for meals starting from friends and the help of Mimi and Papa in the area. All will be well... all will be well.

God bless,

Sister Protection 101

The "Don't You Dare Touch My Sister" Fortress

by big brother M

complete with fan for cooling, pillows for deflecting, and (to be added later) a football helmet for "catching bugs". What a lucky little girl!