Malena Therese Marchetti » Recent Journal Entries » AboutMyBaby - online baby scrapbooks, photo albums, videos, birth and pregnancy announcements

Most Recent

Thu, Aug 9, 2007 5:52 PM
What an incredibly long time it has been since I've written on this website. Today is Malena's 3rd birthday, so this is a great time to start up again!

Part of me looks back on the day she was born and thinks it was zillions of years ago. Another part of me thinks time has flown by in the blink of an eye...especially when I look at an old baby photo of her.

Either way, she is no longer our little baby. No longer our little toddler. She is a little girl. "Preschooler" they call it. Malena is quite independent and sassy along with it. So, she is difficult lately. But she has been amazing us with every stage of her development, no matter how trying.

We recently left California and now live in New England. It has been trying for all of us, but especially so for Mimi. She misses her friends. She has virtually no normal schedule. No preschool right now. Just Mommy & Thomas for most of her days. It is frustrating for her. She talks about going back to our "old house in California when we're done with the new house." When Thomas cries she says it's because "he misses Ella-Bella" (her close friend).

The nice part about this move is being able to spend more time at Lake George with our family. She has 3 older girl cousins, whom she adores. She goes to camp in the mornings with kids her age. She loves swimming in the lake and going on boat rides. She gets to stay up later and hang out with her cousins next door.

Today is such a special day since it is her birthday. She has been waiting for it and talking about it for months. Tomorrow is her "Minnie Mouse" party, which we hope to host on a picnic island here at the lake. It will only be family, and I know she'll ask about all her friends, but it will be fun.

If I had to sum up Malena, I would use the words of a man who met her today. As we were leaving, he said to her, "See you in the movies." Little Miss Drama.

Comments:

Add a comment:

Name: Email:
Comment:

Notify me of scrapbook updates
Wed, Oct 25, 2006 12:58 PM
Some funny things Mimi has been saying lately...

Just now I had to go to the bathroom and she comes in and says:

"Mama, only big kids have the potty power."

The other day I went in her room to get her out of bed after her nap and she said:

"Mama! I'm finished with my sleep!"

A couple weeks ago we were at a friend's birthday party and while she was eating cake she said:

"I love birthday parties."

Comments:

Add a comment:

Name: Email:
Comment:

Notify me of scrapbook updates
Wed, Sep 13, 2006 5:28 PM
Mimi's new favorite word:

Why?

Comments:

Add a comment:

Name: Email:
Comment:

Notify me of scrapbook updates
Mon, Sep 11, 2006 2:06 PM
Malena's life seems to revolve around food. For a while, I was proud that I have been raising such a healthy eater, but now I'm getting concerned. I can't find pants to fit her.

Today, for example, we started back up again at Parent Ed "church class," as she calls it. I talked to her about going to church class a lot last night to prepare her for today. She kept saying, "Tomorrow church class? Snack?"

Guess who was first to sit down at the table at snack time at church class today?

Lately, she has been playing in her bed instead of napping for naptime. I just went in there to tell her for the third time to put her head down on the pillow to take a nap. She seems to think that when she naps, so does the rest of the world. Then she remembers Daddy went to work. So, just now she said to me, "Whens Daddy gets home, eat dinner?"

Comments:

Add a comment:

Name: Email:
Comment:

Notify me of scrapbook updates
Tue, Sep 5, 2006 11:24 AM
Today is Mimi's first day at pre-school. I guess for at least the next 19 years, she'll be going to school. So, yes, this is an important day!

We visited the pre-school a few weeks ago. She was thrilled by the idea that she could wash her own hands. The sink, soap, paper towels, everything were at her height. She has been talking about it ever since.

It really was a non-event. She wasn't upset at all when she got there, and she wasn't upset when I was leaving. She is such a big, independent girl. I know she'll do just fine. I'm so proud of her!

It was rough getting out the door because Thomas decided to jump out of his bouncy seat and onto the floor. Poor Thomas!

-------------------------------------------------

Yesterday was Labor Day, and we headed over to Paradise Cove Beach. It was so beautiful. Only 80 degrees over there. Malena had a blast playing in the sand and eating lunch at the cafe. She wasn't too brave in the water, but the waves were high, so I don't blame her. She loves the beach and the ocean. She is a water baby. Just like her Mommy always was. ;-)

It was nice to just chill out on Sunday & Monday. Saturday was a BIG day. We had Mimi's birthday BBQ at our house. There were more than 60 people in attendance! It was a lot of fun, though. Kids were swimming, blowing bubbles, playing T-ball, making sticker visors, eating BBQ and delicious cake & ice cream. We only do this once a year, so even though it takes a lot of preparation, it is so worth it. It's always fun having people over. Mimi was a little overwhelmed at first with all the people at the house, but she soon acclimated and swam in the pool with Amanda (her babysitter) while T.J. cooked and I did all the running around. Thomas hung out in the bouncy seat outside once he woke up.

Comments:

Add a comment:

Name: Email:
Comment:

Notify me of scrapbook updates
Tue, Aug 29, 2006 1:05 PM
Malena is now in a "big girl bed." She refused to nap on Saturday. After an hour of listening to her complain, we heard a loud THUD hit the floor. She fell out of her crib and was screaming that she hurt her head. I'm not sure how she landed. She didn't get seriously hurt, but it scared me enough to demand that T.J. remove the crib and put the twin-size bed in her room right away.

This momentous occasion has caused quite a mess in the house. The bed Mimi has now was the bed I'd been sleeping on in Thomas' room. Now I'm back in the bedroom with T.J. and the baby monitor. Strangely enough, I slept better with the baby than I do with the baby monitor. T.J. isn't sleeping too well with me getting up a couple times at night. I may have to move into the office/guest room. That bed sucks, though.

So, anyway, our little girl is now in a bed! It's crazy! I sort of wish I'd taken a photo of her last night in her crib. I did take a photo of her first night in the bed, which I'll upload. She hasn't complained too much about the bed. I think she likes our new routine of me lying down with her to read a book before bedtime. What she doesn't know is that Thomas is now sleeping in the crib (which looks so adorable with his baseball bedding) in the very next room. I don't think she'll be too happy when she sees that!

Comments:

Add a comment:

Name: Email:
Comment:

Notify me of scrapbook updates
Wed, Aug 9, 2006 7:25 AM
Malena is 2 YEARS OLD! I can hardly believe it.

We are up at Lake George right now. Mimi is at "camp" at Silver Bay. She is a "Cricket." She is going all week long from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. She cries when we drop her off, but she gets over it quickly and has fun playing with the other kids. This is great practice for pre-school, which she'll be starting after Labor Day.

After she returns from camp, we'll make cupcakes, open presents and go swimming after she naps. This morning when I told her happy birthday, she immediately proclaimed, "I want cake!"

She has been having an amazing time here. She adores her cousins and loves swimming in the cold water. She jumps off the dock just like she does at home in our pool. She is sleeping in a crib in her own little room in the house. It faces the driveway and she loves lifting up the window shade to play peek-a-boo as people come and go. Clearly, she isn't sleeping much, but she's in good spirits.

Speaking of lack of sleep...

Like BIG IDIOTS, we decided to fly here on a red-eye flight. Malena slept only 1 1/2 hours before I had to wake her to leave the house Thursday night. I figured she'd fall asleep in the car on the way to the airport...nope. She stayed very wide awake for 4 1/2 hours and DID NOT SHUT UP the entire time. It didn't help that our flight was delayed by an hour and 45 minutes. She slept all of 2 hours on the flight to Chicago, and didn't sleep at all on the flight to Albany. In 24 hours, she got 4 1/2 hours of sleep. Nice.

Thomas, on the other hand, did well on his first flight. He was in the Baby Bjorn pretty much the entire time, so he did sleep but not soundly.

Yesterday, we went to the beach and took family photos. I hope some turned out well, but my expectations are low. Both kids were difficult throughout the whole shooting, and the wind was whipping my hair all over the place. T.J. will probably look great, just as always. ;-)

Comments:

Add a comment:

Name: Email:
Comment:

Notify me of scrapbook updates
Wed, Jul 26, 2006 10:04 AM
Here are some funny things Mimi has been saying and doing lately...

She loves eating her English muffins into shapes. Today she took bites out of it to shape a car and was zooming it around the table. I don't know where she learned this, but she gets pretty creative. Yesterday it was a dinosaur, and the day before it was a donkey. Hee-haw!

There is usually at least one moment during the day when both kids are melting down at the same time, so I scoop both of them up and rock them in the chair. I usually say something like, "My two babies!" Well, now if I'm holding Thomas, and Mimi wants to be held also, then she yells, "Mama! Two babies! Two babies!"

Sometimes, Malena looks really concerned when Thomas is screaming at the top of his lungs. I'll tell her, "Mommy needs to pick him up. He's very sad." So, last night, she didn't want to go to sleep, so she was yelling from the crib, "I'm sad!"

The other night T.J. and I were eating dinner. Malena picked up a big beach bag and said, "Bye-bye! My go on vacation!" We asked her where she was going and she said "beach!" She left the room and came back a few seconds later. "Need the keys," she said, so I gave her the keys. "Drive a car!" She left the room again. A minute later she came back and said, "No gas. Need money." Then she walked back towards the front door and tried opening it. (She doesn't know how to turn the knob all the way yet.) She kept jiggling the knob and decided it was "boken" and "needs batteries." Priceless.

Comments:

Add a comment:

Name: Email:
Comment:

Notify me of scrapbook updates
Sun, Jul 16, 2006 3:16 PM
Malena is becoming fearless in the pool. We really need to get her in swimming lessons. She goes underwater and loves jumping in from the side of the pool by herself. She wears her little floatie swimsuit, which allows her to swim "by self!" all around the pool (of course, I am right by her the whole time).

She also knows her full name! You can ask her to name either her first, middle or last name, and she'll tell you! She's not sure how to pronouce Therese, so it usually comes out "Reesa Reesa."

Finally, Malena is learning her colors. Most of the time she'll tell you the right color, but every now and then she likes to joke around and tell you green is brown, etc. She has quite the sense of humor.

Mostly, Mimi is very proud of herself lately and loves to let you know it, so you can show that you're proud of her, too. She is constantly bugging Daddy to tell him the lastest achievement she's made...especially if she did it by herself.

All of these things (and more) made me realize this kid is ready for pre-school. So, I signed her up! She starts on Sept. 5th and will go two days a week for half a day.

Comments:

Add a comment:

Name: Email:
Comment:

Notify me of scrapbook updates
Tue, Jul 11, 2006 4:36 PM
Where should I begin? It's been too long since I've written some news.

Malena is doing pretty well, considering how much her little life has changed in the past month. She absolutely LOVES her little brother. She always wants to hold him ("old 'em?") and kiss him. She loves helping me change his diaper and giving him a bath. I even let her feed him his very first bottle on July 4th when he was just about 4 weeks old.

It was really difficult being away from Mimi for the two days that I was in the hospital. When I finally spoke with her on the phone the night before I came home, it broke my heart to hear her little voice say, "Love you, Mommy. Miss you, Mommy." I will never forget it. It is burned into my memory. When she walked into the hospital room to meet Thomas when we were checking out, she seemed like a giant to me! I was so happy to see her.

Now that I've been home a month, however, I wished I could have stayed in the hospital for longer! ;-)

Mimi is 23 months old now and is hitting the so-called Terrible Two's. Yikes. It sucks. She throws tantrums over just about everything from getting her diaper changed to the color of her plate to the songs you choose to sing at bedtime. It is so frustrating at times.

One good/bad thing is that now she'll actually watch TV. Up until about 2 weeks before Thomas was born, she had no interest in TV. Now she would be a TV junkie/couch potato if I let her. It only took her about 3 days of watching the Sprout Network to memorize the shows and characters. She loves Cailou, Sagwa, Berenstain Bears, just about everything that comes on that channel. So far, I've been consistent with allowing her only 1 hour of TV per day...30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes before dinner time.

One of T.J.'s friends gave Malena a toy teaset the other day. She was so excited to receive a gift, but it was obvious she wasn't quite sure what to do with the teaset. To our amazement, she grabbed the box the teaset was packaged in and studied the photos of the little girl pouring tea. She then walked back over to her teaset and imitated the girl and started offering T.J. and me a drink. So cute!

Malena is getting really brave in the pool, and I think this is from watching older friends who know how to swim. She now swims "by self!" by floating around the pool in her pink floatie swimsuit. She is so proud, and so am I.

Comments:

Add a comment:

Name: Email:
Comment:

Notify me of scrapbook updates