Cole: 1 week old

Much like his big sister, in Cole's first week of life on dry ground, he's already done quite a bit of stuff.

He met Gaga...

...and Yaya and Poppy.


He's slept...

...and slept...


...and slept some more.

We've taken a couple of walks in the neighborhood (he's all wrapped up under my coat).


And he's woken up just enough to realize that his house is a mess! ;)

Addie helped us with his first (sponge) bath (yes, in a pink flowery towel...sorry little dude)

...and he got his first mohawk.

But best of all, he's turned Addie into the best big sister. Ever. :)

Cole comes home

After a last swaddle in the hospital blanket and hat...


...Little Cole decided to get spruced up to meet his big sister for the first time!

This is Addie's first close-up of her new baby brother.


I'll admit, that Addie was even more thrilled by the fact that my hospital room's TV had way more channels than we do and one channel had one of her favorite shows, Caillou playing. When they brought my lunch tray, Addie feasted on rolls, grape juice and a brownie. She didn't want to go home!


But I did...so we packed up and headed back home where Addie found a surprise waiting for her--her brother had gotten her a big sister present! A new doll (whom she promptly named...wait for it...Cole...yes, even though she's well aware that her doll is a girl and that we tried to convince her that it would be confusing...she persisted) and some fun accessories like a little high chair, bouncy seat, front carrier...

...and pack n' play/playpen that I swear took Steve longer to put together than the one we have for Cole. ;)

(In his defense, the set of accessories was super cheap so it wasn't his fault that the parts are not all that well-made)


Addie loves to hold her little brother, and especially tickle him.

She drew him a picture.

And has invited him to join in our family dance parties.

I think the little guy is already a big part of this family :)


More pics of Cole's first day home can be found on Dan's photo site here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/danlaufer/sets/72157623628380238/detail/

Here's.....COLE! :)

Please welcome Addie's little brother, the newest member of our family. Cole Robert Silvestro was born on 3/12/10 at 6:06am. He is a big boy at 8lbs 6oz and we are absolutely in love with every inch of him!



First minutes of life

After he gets cleaned off, some snuggles with mommy.

...and Daddy :)




And Uncle Dan found a picture of Addie on her first day and a picture of Cole on his first day and put them side by side (Addie's on the left). Definitely a resemblance :)
Addie is excited to meet her little brother and teach him to dance and laugh :)

Thank you to the family for all the congrats and warm thoughts.

Love,
Monica and Steve

Thawing out!

The weather is FINALLY becoming consistently warm enough to play outside. With a light fleece nonetheless. We are celebrating by spending as much time as possible outside.

We put together the tricycle that Yaya and Poppy got Addie for Christmas. She LOVES it.

We met some of our Arlington friends at a huge park about halfway between there and Rockville. Here are Addie and Reese flying a plane :)

Yesterday afternoon Addie and I scouted out this cool lake not too far from where we live. We hung out by the water...

...did some serious searching for rocks and sticks in the field...
...and found "fairy caps" (acorn tops) by the water.

Thank you spring, for coming....you have NO idea how we missed you!!

Sweet Adeline's sweet voice

Well, folks, the due date came and past and still no baby. Trust me, blog-lovers, you guys will be among the first to know!

While you're waiting for pictures of a squishy little newborn, you'll have to settle for the musical stylings of my sweet Adeline's renditions of Where is Thumbkin and the ABCs.

39 weeks belly picture

Yes, I'm still pregnant! :) Baby boy is due a week from today (on 3/6) and apparently my babies like to be fully baked (Addie was 3 days late) because no signs pointing to the baby coming any time soon.


And a short video of our ballerina/yogini

Baby's room transformation

As you all know, when Addie was born, we lived in a rental townhouse and so we couldn't do much to her room--and tack on the fact that we knew we weren't going to stay there long, we didn't want to do much anyway, so we hung some things up and focused on purple with some green and it was fine. And...the house we moved into had a purple room already--score!

But we're in OUR house now, and the baby room had flowers and butterflies on it--cute for a baby yes (there were twin girls residing in this room before we moved in), but we're having a BOY so...you know...no flowers and butterflies for him ;)

Well how's this for a transformation?

This is the before:

Stevo doing all the hard work--taping, primer...

Layer 1 of blue paint...

All painted! But then there's a question of the carpet--it's a lighter blue than the walls, and there are stains...so it's kind of gross. I've wanted to get rid of it for a long time, but you know, with time and money, we debated it. Today Steve rented a steam cleaner to clean up the carpet before moving all the crib, etc back in and he decided to lift up the carpet to see what it looked like underneath (Addie's room is just hardwood floor).

And look what we found!

After a good sweep....gorgeous :)