Our last "Floridian" blog post!

It has been a long few days. But our adventure has finally begun! Our movers came today and packed up the house. Sebastian played all day at Abuelita's as Paul and I supervised the movers and worked on packing our house on wheels (the minivan!) for the next five days. It's going to be a crazy trip. We are packed to the gills, but very happy we are taking as much as we are because we found out that the truck that will deliver our things isn't even scheduled to load until Thursday. So it seems it will take a while. Although leaving is bittersweet, most likely it is only for a year and we will be back in Melbourne. We are open to whatever God has planned for us and our family. Please keep us in your prayers this week especially as we travel to Rochester. I'm sure we will be updating our Facebook status and who knows, I might even get a blog post in while we are on the road - but don't count on it! =)

Story time with Sebastian before bed. Reading the best Gator book ever!

Matteo with Gloria - our lactation consultant extraordinaire! Gloria has been such a blessing in our lives since Matteo was born and I'm sad to be leaving her and the group of nursing mommies she leads at the hospital. I can't wait to come back in September to see her, the girls and all the babies!

On Friday, I went to the playgroup from church for the last time. We were meeting at a beach park...I was up for the adventure. Matteo cooperated super well and hung out in his stroller in the shaded pavilion. Sebastian had a great time splashing around. It was a lot of work and by the time we got home everyone was hungry, wet, sandy and tired. Brutal combination, but everyone got 3 hour naps that day - whoo hoo!

Hi!

Getting ready to pack the van. Sebastian thought it was pretty cool to run around in the back! So much room. I really don't know what we'd do without it!

Tio Daniel entertaining Sebastian while we got things ready. I think he quickly figured out that the best toys were not toys at all. Hence, the basket on their heads...

...and Sebastian in the storage cube! They had a great morning playing.

All the suitcases, bins, baskets and paraphernalia ready to go into the van.

Bye, bye Volvo! See you in Rochester! First she has to travel south to Port St. Lucie where it'll go on a big car carrier and then who knows when it will get to Rochester. Again, another reason we decided it would be smarter to drive.

All packed up. Two large suitcases, 4 storage totes, 2 collapsible baskets, 1 carry on suitcase, bathtub, bouncer, playhouse, foam tiles for floor, double stroller, boom box, two coolers and countless other things. All of this probably seems crazy, but I'm sure it will be worth it since who knows how long the rest of our things will take. Whew!

Matteo with the moving truck. His first move of many.

Bye, bye Florida. My family came to say their last quick goodbye. The Giammarinaro's are all up in Michigan so we said our goodbye's with them before Father's Day. I'm happy to report that the tears were brief and not as bad as we expected. Sebastian was happy and waving bye bye and blowing kisses. See you in September for Labor Day. We will miss you! Again, please keep us in prayer as our family enjoys this special year-long experience!

Videos!

I'm trying to learn a new way to upload videos to Blogger without taking up so much space. So I'm going to start setting them up in YouTube and then posting them onto Blogger that way. I think it will take up less space. The videos are set to private though, so I think you can only see them through the blog. Or so I hope. =) Enjoy! And I will try to post more videos for the family and friends once we move since you swear you'll watch them!

Sebastian Reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom - a new favorite! Make sure you turn up the volume because he is a little quiet as he reads it.



Matteo Talking Away

Father's Day, Playgroups and Dance Recitals

Last weekend was a busy weekend. Our last real weekend with family and friends before we move, we did a lot of running around. Although we don't actually head out until Tuesday the 30th, this coming weekend we will be busy doing some packing and organizing so there won't be much time for visiting. We knew saying goodbye would be hard, but it hasn't been as bad as expected (I say that now, right? I'm sure I'll be crying as we drive into the sunset...). It's nice to know we will be back for Labor Day in September and we have lots of family visiting us in Rochester throughout the year. So we should see lots of the family - and you friends are welcome to come see us too! The fall there is supposed to be beautiful and we are only 2 hours from Niagara Falls. Enjoy pictures of our family and friend time last weekend.

Really awesome water toy at Ana's. The boys all loved it.

In the swimming pool!

All of our two year olds (well, almost!) We missed having Emilio and Jackson with us!

The mommies. =)

Hair donation for Locks of Love. I cut 10 inches, but in retrospect I probably should have cut like 12 inches. My short hair is still pretty long!

New hair, new woman!

Me and Angelica after her dance recital. She did such a great job!

Silly bath time with Daddy.

Happy Father's Day early celebration with Uncle Corey and Papa.

Just waking up from a nap.

After Mass on Father's day. Our boys are so blessed to have such a wonderful Daddy!

Brothers together after a long weekend. They love each other so much!

Matteo's Nursing Moms and Babies Group

***I had to repost this post tonight because blogger had some sort of issue with some of their pictures. If you were able to see it already, sorry for the repost!***

Here are some pictures of Matteo's buddies. It's so great to have other moms to talk with each week to share our stories. I've become pretty close to these ladies and will be sad to leave them! It's been a great 3 months getting to know them.

Me and Matteo with Laura and Mason and Julie and Nathan.

Circle of Babies!

Just them.

Nathan, Mason, Matteo, and twins Matthew and Makayla.

Hanging with the boys!

I am so in love with these pictures! Finally they are both looking and although not smiling exactly, looking very cute!

Loving on his brother. When Paul takes Sebastian to bed, Paul asks him "Do you want me to hold you?" So recently Sebastian has been coming to me when I'm holding Matteo and say, "hold you" because he wants to hold his baby. It's very sweet.

Matteo y Abuelita playing.

Boo! Hanging out in the Ergo carrier with Daddy.

Snuggling with Mami in the morning.

Sleeping with Daddy in the chair.

Father and son moment...

I don't do much of the blogging since Cristina handles all the pictures, but I had a fatherhood moment tonight that I just had to share.

Sebastian and I were on our own this afternoon because Cristina took Matteo to Angelica's dance recital. So we ran some errands and ate dinner at Chick-fil-a. As Sebastian was eating his nuggets, he reached out his arm to put it around my neck and said 'buddy' and proceeded to give me a hug. It's moments like this that make you truly realize the blessing of fatherhood.

Happy Father's Day!!

- Paul

Family Portraits

Right before Sebastian's birthday we had some family pictures taken. A few are great and a few are pretty funny. Even though they are almost a month old, they are so cute and we wanted you to see them. Enjoy!

Summer time - June is here!

This month has been crazy. Well, last month was crazy too. I guess, really it's all crazy. But this month has been especially busy since we are trying to make sure we spend lots of time with everyone, see everyone we want to see and get as organized as possible for our big move. On June 29th the packers will be packing all our things and on June 30th our family is off for the ultimate road trip. With babies. 1,300 miles. 21 hours. Double that with kids. 42 hours. With children. In a mini-van. Yes, we are nuts. But we will be happy nuts (that's the plan...although I don't know how much Mickey, Elmo, and Gymbo music I can take) since we will be experiencing the Eastern Coast with our family. We will be making stops in Savannah, Raleigh, Washington DC and finally on to Rochester, our final destination and home until December. By the 4th of July we will be New Yorkers. Weird. But exciting weird. =) So here is our June so far!

Playmat at Abuelita's house.

Abu with her great-grand children. Can't believe there will be another addition in December! (No, not me people! My brother and sister-in-law!)

Angelica spent some days with us and they really enjoyed the swimming pool. Sebastian loves the water!

Wasn't me!

Angelica playing with Matteo.

Yes!

Noooo!!!!

I don't know what I want!

I go to a mommy group at the hospital with a lactation consultant every Thursday. It's a fantastic group of women and cute babies, and it's great to have breastfeeding help and information available to me every week. Sure makes things go much easier!

Matteo and his buddy Nathan, born a day later. He is the fastest growing baby of the group as he has already doubled his birth weight at only 3 months!

Getting ready to go in the wading pool at Nana's house.

Splash time!

Tyler came and stayed for a night too and the boys had a great time. Here are all of Nana's boys. No one is looking, but that's okay! Someday...

Sebastian used to fit in this truck. He still thinks he can fit in it.

Little fingers playing with Mami's rings.

Blue eyes! Still blue! I still can't believe it. I am really starting to wonder if they will change or stay blue!

He could be a baby model. Look at that serious, piercing look. =)