April Showers Bring May Flowers

[Mamma-Mia]

Hello Everyone!! April was not as crazy as the previous month, but it was not without excitement.  This month was all about Ben's car.  It now has shiny new rims, a couple new speakers, and a new security system.   What should have taken a week at most, took nearly a month.  Something went wrong with the installation of the alarm and we were without Ben's car for a week and a half.  Fortunately, we have a second car and were able to still get Ben to work.  The car should be good to go for a couple years (fingers crossed). 

We enjoyed a relaxing visit from Ben's mom and got a chance to go out without the kids.  We had dinner and watched Eddie Griffin at the Improv.  It was great to get out and laugh for a couple hours.  I also got a chance to have girls only lunch with my friend Candy.  The boys and I have been spending more time with Candy and Aiden. Gio really likes hanging out with Aiden and I enjoy having someone other than a 2 and 1 year old to talk to. 

We also celebrated Ben's Uncle Pat and Aunt Judy's birthday with his family.  It was great to see everyone.  We only wish we could have spent more time with everyone.  Gio and the boys had a blast playing with all their cousins.  Gene took us to a Rivercats game and the boys got to watch their first baseball game.  They lasted about an hour and half and then it was more difficult to get them to stay seated.  There was a kid play area with slides and jumpers - the boys had a blast going down the slide.  I think Seppe was still a little young to truly appreciate the experience, but I think Gio enjoyed it and will look forward to going to his next baseball game. 

There is definitely a difference in weather between Sac and San Jose.  It was much warmer for us while visiting Sac.  We have had some beautiful days in San Jose.  I think our warmest day so far was in the mid 80's.  We cant deny that we enjoy the milder weather.  Hopefully the summer will be kind during the summer too.

We are back to potty training Gio.  It is very slow progress, but we are hoping that if we keep at it, he will eventually get the idea.  He has his difficult moments and there are some days that it seems never-ending but as long as we keep him active, he is manageable.  His new favorite movie is The Fifth Element.  He is enjoying going to Gymboree once a week.  He is very good at using his imagination.  He has the tendency to sometimes beat up on his little brother and isn't very good at sharing, but we are working on that.  He is still a very sweet boy.  He always gives Seppe a hug and a kiss before bed.

Seppe is growing and growing.  He's teething away with 4 more teeth coming in.  He can get quite miserable, but a little Motrin usually makes things all better.  He is very easy to put down for a nap and to bed.  All I have to do is lay him down in his crib and close the door.  He has to get use to getting only one nap a day now because it is very difficult to get him to sleep with Gio running around in the morning.  It's kind of nice when both of them nap at the same time in the afternoon.  I can usually get 2 to 3 hours of free time.  Seppe is talking a little bit more.  He can now say "bye", "what's that?", "mamma", "dada", "baby" and of course "no".  He shakes his head "no" any time he doesn't like what I'm asking him to do.  He is enjoying his Gymboree class too.  I think he likes being around kids his size.

As for Ben - his trainer tells us that he should be fully certified by the end of May.  He is doing really well with his training.  He will finish with the minimum required hours.  He really enjoys his job and works really hard to be the best controller he can be.  Once he certifies, we will be able to look at possible new locations for him to work at.  His main focus right now is to get the rest of his required training hours. 

I am doing a lot of spring cleaning.  We gave a lot of clothes and baby gear to Goodwill while we were in Sac - and we still have a lot more that we will be giving away.  I've swapped winter clothes for summer clothes.  Many thanks to Gene and Ruth for allowing us to store our stuff at their homes.  We want to go through all the stuff that we have in storage and give away anything that we just don’t use anymore.  Most of it will be baby clothes and toys.  Hopefully that will give Gene and Ruth some extra space for their own things.  Our apartment doesn’t have a lot of storage so we are trying to keep only what we need.  I'm really bad about keeping "unnecessary" things around, but I am working on it.  I'm also trying to get our home a little more organized.  We got a bunch of storage supplies and now we just have to use it!  I'll eventually get to put up all our pictures too.