Life is good!

Eva at rest and in motion

Every day she's doing more of both--sleeping and moving. Last night she only woke up once to eat--almost a record!--and every day she's more active too. She loves to stand up, and she is so strong that she can stand up straight, balanced on my legs, with me just holding her hands. Her neck is strong enough that she can hold up her head and look around for long periods of time. She's talking more and more too. She's discovered that she has volume--she can whisper or shout--and she and I just had our first real conversation just a couple of days ago. Her eyes lit up as we were repeating sounds back and forth to each other and I could tell that she knew we were talking--knew we were taking turns saying things to each other.

New wonders every day...

Under the Tuscan sun

Some photos from one of our recent walks which take us into the countryside just on the outskirts of Florence.

Family photo

Bouncy chair

I shudder to think how close we came to missing this wonderful thing. My mom reminded me about it just before Claire came (we hadn't found one here), and so we were able to find one that wasn't too garish and order it in time for Claire to bring it with her. We are so glad we did! Eva loves it--loves just sitting in it even if she's not bouncing--and we love having another place to put her where she can watch what is going on or sleep or continue to be as content as she almost always is. (Thanks again to all of the friends who gave us the Amazon gift certificate!)

A visit from Auntie Claire

We had a wonderful time with my sister Claire when she came for a visit at Easter. She moved to New York City and started a new job just before Christmas, but she took the first vacation days she had at the earliest opportunity to come and meet Eva and stay with us in Florence. The only bad part about it was that it was too short! She arrived on the night of Holy Thursday, so much of our time was spent in the Duomo, where we celebrated all of the services of the Triduum. They were all incredibly beautiful celebrations, each in their own particular way. (Side note: Eva continued to amaze us. We sat in the front circle right around the altar, even in the front row for several of them, and she gave not a peep the whole time! She slept right through, not even waking up to eat.)



Eva and Claire hit it off right from the start, getting to spend lots of quality time snuggling. Because of the long masses and often late nights, we spent much of the rest of her visit resting or unwinding at home. We had some great, easy mornings of staying in pajamas and drinking coffee while Eva snuggled right in with Claire, getting to spend the time with her aunt in the way she loves the most.

Florence then and now

Last weekend we discovered the Forte Belvedere, a great lookout over the whole city that also serves as a park these days--lots of families there on Sunday afternoon, lots of sitting in the grass and strolling around to take in the prospect. A kind passerby took this photo of us and when I saw it, I remembered the bottom photo.

That photo--one of my favorites of us--was taken just over 3 years ago in a spot not very far from the fort. Bill and I had just started dating and he had come to visit me while I was living in Rome. We came to Florence for a couple of days on that trip. It was my first time in Forence, but Bill had spent a month here the previous summer. He had spent it, in fact, at the Florence Academy, doing their summer program which is also an appetite-whetter for the whole program. When he came to visit me, he was hoping to be able to come back and enroll in the painting program, but didn't have a clear idea as to whether or how that would happen.

Now here we are--a year and a half in to our residence in Florence, and married with a 5 1/2 month-old baby. It confirms again to me that it's a good thing that we can't see the future before it happens. There is no way that we could have imagined this future, standing there in the cold, windswept piazza that February. Even if we could have, we would have been completely overwhelmed by all of the intricate ins and outs and ups and downs that its taken to get us here as we are at this moment.

I'm so grateful for our life here--so glad that that weekend in Florence was a preview of what would be coming, and so glad that it was hidden from us at the time, allowing us to make the choices step by step to bring us here as we are.