Family

Rocco is at an age where he is constantly trying to assert his independence. Jade and I nurture his independence through free-play and letting him explore as much as we can. Despite our best attempts, there is at least one daily battle, usually more, because we won’t let him get his way.

Last weekend, our local Orange County Wisconsin Alumni Chapter hosted a day at Zoomar’s petting zoo in San Juan Capistrano. Jade and I haven’t attended any alumni events since Rocco was born. We also haven’t ventured out of the house with both kids, other than a quick trip to the farmer’s market or a walk around the park. Now that Gigi is over her colic, we figured we should try taking both kids out for the day.

Colic is Satan incarnate. “She won’t stop crying. I seriously can’t take this anymore. Will this ever stop? Is something wrong with her? Is she ever going to be a normal baby?” I repeated to myself, tears rolling down my cheeks, every day for two months straight. This is life with a baby who has infant colic.

This Fourth of July weekend, I’ll be chasing this little guy around, spending some time at the pool with friends, grilling out, and playing with sparklers. I hope you have a safe and happy holiday weekend. Happy 4th of July!

I’m so excited! SheKnows recently accepted me as an Experts Among Us contributor. Published this past Friday, my very first article talks about how we decided when was the best time to have a second baby.

When Willie Nelson wrote “On the Road Again”, I doubt he did a road trip with toddlers. I’m almost certain it wasn’t in a four-door sedan, with excited children asking, “Are we at the beach? How long until we get to the beach?” every two minutes.

My last living grandparent, my Grandpa Richard Vivian, passed away at age 86, less than a week before Giada was born. Yesterday was his funeral. Since I was not able to be there, I wanted to take a minute to say goodbye to my grandpa, to share what he meant to me, and what he taught me.

Have you gotten your dad’s or husband’s father’s day gifts yet? You still have a couple of weeks to find the perfect gift. I’ve mentioned before how many cool and unique gifts you can get on Etsy (for moms). I love that these items have a handmade quality and many of them can be personalized for your dad or husband. Here are eight neat father’s day gift ideas I found on Etsy.

This Sunday is my last, first Mother’s day and I’m already nostalgic. This is my first Mother’s day having a daughter, and my last, first mother’s day, since we don’t plan to have any more children. As I reflect on what Mother’s day means to me this year, it dawned on me that there are now three generations of women in my family. Now that I have a daughter, Mother’s day feels different somehow–when daughters become mothers to daughters.