Wells Beach, Maine

Vanessa had her first beach weekend! We headed out to Wells, Maine to spend a great weekend with friends. Such a beautiful spot, right on the beach, we couldn't have asked for anything better. Great conversations, games, golf, lobster (!!), beach time...we did it all and loved every minute of it. Vanessa got to spend the weekend getting to know her friends Maddie and Richie, some day soon she'll be off and running with them. What a great way to "end" the summer!

our friends Maddie & Richie

Mommy & Vanessa

is Vanessa awake to play?

cuddling on the porch

Talk to me

We're getting pretty good at amusing ourselves!

The Girls

...just had to post a pic from my weekend, I'm already counting down the days until next year!

Daddy time!

This weekend marked Vanessa's first weekend alone with Daddy! Mommy headed out to Portsmouth, NH for a fantastic (and much needed!) weekend away with the girls...a little spa service and a lot of girl talk mixed with a few cocktails.....hit the spot! I'm told that Daddy and Vanessa had lots of fun singing songs, talking and hanging out. My girl was of course careful not to let Daddy think she's all fun and games (check out photo #2), but she sure did let him know how much fun she can be! She's a lucky little girl with that Daddy of hers.

Smiles for Daddy

Letting Daddy know who's the boss

Is summer really over?

A few pics from our Labor Day weekend. The weather here in Saratoga was absolutely gorgeous...is summer really "over"???? Tia Susy came to visit and hang out with us. The town was mobbed all over since it was the last weekend of the track --- lot's of live bands around, which Vanessa managed to sleep through (yup...even the bagpiper!). We ended the weekend with a visit from Grandma V, Aunt Toria and Uncle Ryan and all had dinner outside at Baily's Cafe which included mommy's favorite dessert on their menu....S'MORES! Vanessa was eyeballing them...just wait till those teeth come in little girl and you get all kinds of goodies!!

Aunt Toria

watching the live music

S'mores!!

Our feet had a long day

Love Bug

Gearing up for the last "official" weekend of the summer

A week with Abuelo

Juan's dad came up from Orlando for a visit...we had a great week and Vanessa was instantly smitten!

More photos in the slideshow in the entry below!

A visit from Abuelo

Miles of smiles

We're almost at giggle stage...I just know it's coming!!

A Policastro Wedding

We headed off to Syracuse last week for Uncle Joe's wedding and a fun weekend spent with family - California family included so Vanessa got to meet the entire Policastro gang. Needless to say our little munchkin was a bit exhausted by the time we got home!

Clink the link below for more pics...

http://picasaweb.google.com/julliet8929/PolicastroS?authkey=wdnVHAzS-Q0

8 weeks old!!

Vanessa is now a big 8 weeks old! She had her first "play date" with Marina. Marina was born on the same day (3 hours earlier), at the same hospital, by the same doctor as Vanessa. We checked into the hospital at the same time as Marina's mommy & daddy. We're looking forward to more play dates.

Just a few other super cute pics of our 2 month old (can't believe she's 8 weeks already). This week she began mastering the SMILE....a real smile, the melt your heart kind of smile you get when you look at your baby girl and say "hi there" and she grins from ear to ear in response.

...we also had a special lunch date with the Hardings who came to visit for the day! Next time they promis to bring Maddie and Vanessa promises to be awake.

Picnic in the park

Vanessa had her first picnic in Congress Park on this past Friday. It was a beautiful day here in Saratoga and we had special visitors.......Colin and his mommy Heather came for the day. We played in the park for hours. Vanessa was great, she just sat and chilled out in her little chair (too cute!!). She was especially good while she waited for her lunch --- mommy thought she was so good about packing the essentials that she forgot the nipple to the bottle and had to run (sprint) the 4 blocks home and back. Silly mommy, ya gotta get this parenthood thing down! We think we'll be hanging in the park every chance we get.

So big!

We're 9lb 3oz already! Had to adjust the straps on the carseat, mommy swears I grew overnight. The picture on the top is at 2 days old...the one on the bottom 42 days old.

Practicing my Spanish

Had to follow 'girl talk' with some Daddy talk...

tengo que practicar mi espanol

Girl talk

We're working on our sounds...There's a lot of talkers in the family so Vanessa has some work to do so she can hold her own! Not a super great video, but hearing her coo and ahhh is music to mommy's ears!

Reading stories is the best

New toys

Look....no hands!

Cuddle time

it was a long night last night....as evident from the first picture of Vanessa and Daddy finally catching some zzzzz's! Later in the day we headed out for a walk around town.

Lookin good in my new clothes

I'm getting bigger!! 8lbs 11oz today :-) Here's me in my first pretty dress (ok...so I was happier after mommy was done taking pictures) and my first pair of pants!

First trip to Syracuse....and I'm 1 month old!!

Big blowout

so...we heard the rumors, we knew it could happen. We just didn't know it could happen this soon -- we experienced our first big BLOW OUT (appropriately named since it describes the incident so very well). A tubby, a change of clothes (for both Vanessa and Mommy) and a washcloth to the couch later and we're all good again. Thank god for diapers otherwise I think I'd be cleaning the walls too! Aren't you glad we're keeping you in the "know"!

Fish Lips

our favorite trick