Chase-Salerno Family Events

Quinlan is two months old now and we’ve been getting more and more smiles, coos, gurgles, and “talking” sounds. We can’t stop touching her amazingly soft hair, and her “do” is the main subject of conversation with people when we’re out and about at the store or on the street, as in “Wow – look at all that hair!” Quinn still sleeps a lot, nurses a lot, cries once in a while, and the EC is still going smoothly – she tells me when she has to go potty, she goes, and if she had a diaper on, it’s often still dry. Declan is still as enamored as ever with his baby sister and enjoys when we reminisce about his own babyhood, comparing nursing to eating ice cream now, or lying down to riding a tricycle, etc.

Talking to Papa.

“Can I hold her, mommy?” Declan asks this all the time and takes supporting her head very seriously.

Saying goodbye after visiting buddy Emily (3 mos.).

Hanging with fellow big brother Olin……….

and Olivia, who all have new little siblings, too!

Baseball, but with a huge ball!

Declan works hard at this project almost every day, “fixing” the patio door.

No way does rain stop this kid! There’s digging to be done!

We love being outside and try to hike when we can. Here are some pix from last week, along with some friends.

Our friend Heather came to visit this weekend, and Quinlan enjoyed her one-on-one time with her.

Declan having fun with Daddy and Luca.

We enjoyed a nice hike up to Awosting Falls along with Aunt Tracey and baby Luca
– gotta throw lots of rocks whenever we go there!

Here, Declan’s trying to get Quinn to hold a rock so she can throw it in the water. “I must teach her, mommy.”

Mommy and Quinlan (asleep in sling) took a walk with toddler Lily and her mom, Caitlin and had fun petting some horses.

First soft-serve of the season!

“I love mom” – that says it all!

Despite what Declan had told Papa the day before Easter (“We can’t let the Easter Bunny in the house, Papa – we don’t let any bunnies in the house – they eat everything all up!”), the Easter Bunny arrived anyway, and we enjoyed a lovely Easter together….Quinlan attended her first church service, then we all headed over to Gemma and Papa’s for dinner, along with Grandpa, Gumpa, and Aunt Elisa (we missed you, Grandma – glad you’re enjoying the Florida sunshine with Great Grandma, though!). Declan had a successful egg hunt and was thrilled about the generous amount of gifts and candy that came his way. Quinn settled into various arms and laps receiving lots of hugs and kisses as she was passed around.

Egg hunt 1

Egg hunt 2

Quinlan and Erica are still “communicating,” and this is the dress Quinn preferred and literally picked out herself, over Erica’s original plan of crinolin and bonnet. Also wearable every day rather than just a special occasion. And half the price. At that, Mike said, “She’s finally speaking *my* language!”

As part of our preparations during Easter week, we made a yeast bread for the first time – Declan had a blast kneading and punching the dough, as you can see below.

We had our driveway repaired this week, and Declan got to help – he got to ride, and help drive!, the tractor with Uncle Mike and buddy Norah, as well as Daddy. He also got the filthiest he’s ever been in his short life – “I worked really hard, mommy!”

Hooray for warmer weather! Despite some runny noses, things are going pretty smoothly around here during this second week of “real life” after having Mike home for such a wonderful month. We had some great visits last week with some very special people. That’s one huge benefit of welcoming a new member of the family — lots of time with folks we don’t get to see enough! Declan continues to amaze us with his exploding abilities, which we keep discovering by his constant insistence “I do it!” such as cracking eggs without getting any shell (really). When he finds he can’t do it, he says, “I started it for you.” And Quinlan, well, she still sleeps and eats a lot. She is not enjoying her congested nose very much, but she should be over that soon.

Today, Declan said something that cracked me up and I couldn’t stop laughing – we were eating lunch and watching the birds at the feeder through the window. He pointed one out that was hopping up a tree. I told him it was a downy woodpecker. Then we saw another one, and he asked if that one was an “uppy” woodpecker. Now it’s a big joke, downy and “uppy” woodpeckers. It’s fun to see the connections he makes with his growing language skills.

This week, our focus is on Easter. Each day, mommy and Declan are doing Easter related activities – reading Easter books, learning about Easter symbols, dyeing eggs, decorating wax candle eggs, shaping marzipan eggs, and making hot cross buns.

Hope everyone has a happy Easter – look forward to sharing pix of the day in the next blog update.

Kisses from “Ama” Suzanne during her awesome surprise visit all the way from Ithaca!

Hugs from Mrs. Mellor, cozied up in the beautiful baby blanket she made!

An aerial view of what Quinlan looks like most of the time right now – asleep in her carrier.

I was so surprised and impressed by Declan’s previously-unknown (to Erica, anyway) ability to crack eggs without getting any shell in the bowl, that I had to capture the moment.

Our friend Aunt Heather gave Declan this t-shirt for his second birthday, and she’s one of the coolest friends we have. Now our son is too cool for us – he’s just going to have to spend more time with Heather, I guess! They are way out of our league. This was not staged – he did the hat that way himself and when I saw it, I quickly snapped a picture.

During a recent walk down our street, one of our neighbors offered this tricycle to Declan, since their nieces and nephews had all outgrown it. Needless to say, Declan *loves* it and can’t wait until he’s just a little bigger to be able to ride it better.

Storytime with Daddy.

Wow. Quinlan is one month old this week, and Mike heads back to work. We have had such a blessed family time, and now Erica dives in to “real” daily life as a mother of two. The weather is warming up now, and we’re looking forward to lots of time outside and starting up our regular hikes again.

This was a big week for us. Quinlan got to enjoy her first real walk outside with godmother Aunt Tracey and buddy Luca (6 wks.); she had a visit with her pal Emily Grace (2 mos.) and her mother, Linda Brook; she had her baby blessing with our friend Nancy; and this weekend, she got to meet all kinds of family at our gathering here on Saturday. Uncle George, Auntie Vanessa, and Kai (1 yr.) came all the way up from Texas; great grandpa came down from Schenectady; and Vanessa’s parents came over from Massachusetts. Quinn was also happily surrounded by both sets of grandparents.

Declan continues to enjoy his role as a big brother to Quinlan and often shrieks with delight, “She’s looking at me!” or “She’s waking up!” which, whether or not they were true before he spoke, are always true by the time he has finished uttering those sentences. (grin) Plus he had fun playing with Kai and showing her all kinds of new things, like drinking out of a cup and eating strawberries. He’s been a big help to mommy with baking and daddy with painting. Our home is being transformed with all of their hard work!

Daddy time

Baby Emily and mom Linda Brook

Baby blessing with Nancy

Giving Kai a ride

…and getting one in return!

Fun with bubbles

I love my niece!

Ditto, from Auntie Vanessa!

“Robot Walking” with Uncle George

Baking with mommy

Painting with daddy

We’re enjoying our visits with friends and family coming to meet Quinlan or to see how she’s changed from day to day. Declan had fun being out and about with Daddy at the local children’s museum, too. Erica’s really getting better at the Elimination Communication rhythms with Quinn and understanding more about how she signals to let us know about pees and poops. Quinlan still spends the majority of her day, and night, sleeping. She seems fascinated by Declan, who happily enjoys being her focus when she’s awake. : )

What Quinlan does most of the time…..

Morning time, hanging out after pancakes with Daddy and Declan

Making alligator sounds, as inspired by the recent gifts from Aunt Marsha, Uncle Steven, and cousin Andy

Cozying up with Aunt Colleen

Checking out Declan’s buddy, Miles

Photo opp with buddies Norah (9 mos.) and Luca (1 mo.)

Playing dress-up at the children’s museum

Climbing wall

Ride ’em, cowboy!

Quinlan had her first doctor’s appointment this week, and as of Thursday, she weighed 9 pounds, 14 ounces. She is enjoying her last week or two in the newborn size.

Quinn loves Declan – any time he talks, which is pretty much all the time, she turns her head to listen, and Declan loves how she looks at him. He’s not totally getting the concept that she can’t throw a ball to him, yet (“Just let her try, mommy,”) but he loves being called a big brother, which he often responds to by saying, “That means I can lift *big* boxes!…but I can’t touch the ceiling yet…I’m not that big…”

Enjoy the pix.

Quinn in her first real outfit (for her first outing, to the doctor) – one of many cool hand-me-downs from buddy Norah (9 mos.) — here’s Quinn saying “No pictures, please”

Dismissing Daddy, the camera guy…

Daddy and Quinn

Mommy and her brood

Helping Daddy assemble Quinn’s book/toy shelves

After months of obsession, and using any two objects around the house for a pretend instrument and bow, we finally got Declan a violin just his size. He plays it all the time – he seems to especially enjoy the ritual of it all — opening up the case, putting rosin on the bow, “tuning” it by plucking the strings like mommy does, then playing “Eensy Weensy Spider” and the alphabet song while he sings along. Then he wipes everything off with his cloth, then puts it away if he’s not too distracted. Then, maybe an hour later, he does it all over again. We do sing-alongs with the piano, but other than holding it correctly, I’m not doing any formal instruction. Just having fun with it.

Well, we’re a very little happy, blessed family bubble! This first week postpartum has been amazing. We’ve had lots of nice visits with friends and family as well as delicious daily meal drop-off’s coordinated by our friend, Tarie. Erica’s taking it easy and caring for Quinn, feeling great. Declan’s a very affectionate big brother. And Michael is a proud papa of his new family and will be staying home with us for another few weeks.

Quinn is a lot like Declan was when he was a newborn, and probably basically like most newborns. Loves to nurse, sleep, pee, and poop, and be carried around, just held in general. A very peaceful, contented baby. The color scheme around here has evolved from blue and fire engine motifs to pink pink pink! Lots of gifts, and we’re having fun wrapping up our little one in rosy tones this time around.

Quinn’s birth was a beautiful, powerful, yet “normal”-feeling event, all at the same time. We also did a lotus birth, where the umbilical cord and placenta remain attached to the baby until it falls off naturally (fell off on Day 4), and after an appreciative thanks and farewell, Michael and Declan buried them in our yard. From nurturing Quinn, to nurturing our earth. We’re also practicing “EC,” or “Elimination Communication” where she’s basically diaper-free and pees/poops on prefolds or in a bowl. Just another way to do things that’s been working well for us so far. All of these things are ideas that Erica feels were intuitively prompted by Quinn while in utero.

We can’t believe it’s only been one week. We feel like we’ve all been together forever. Here are some pix from her first week.

Declan with Quinn, from birth on…

Quinn with Aunt Nikki and daughter Norah, 9 mos.

Quinn with “Gemma” and “Papa” Salerno

Quinn with Grandma Chase

Quinn with Grandpa Chase and Declan

This afternoon at 12:18pm Erica gave birth to a little girl in our home. The birth went wonderfully and the labor was short, even though she came out butt first. She was 9 pounds, 6 ounces and her name is Quinlan Boe Chase-Salerno, Quinn for short.

We are immensely overjoyed.

So, we’re in the midst of finishing up all kinds of projects before the new babe arrives, anytime between now and the end of March. Yippee! It’s been nice to be able to visit the other newest additions…Linda Brook and Todd and big brother Olin welcomed baby Emily Grace Andrews into the world on Monday, 2/6/06, 11:59 a.m., 8 lbs., 13 oz.

Here’s Declan helping to paint a sample color in our office/playroom/guest room.

If it’s too loud, you’re too old……wait a minute…..

Chilling with Uncle Jim watching the Olympic skiing.

Tracey and Erica in a final preggers picture together. Tracey and Jim’s baby Luca James Catalano was born a few days later on Wednesday, 2/22/06, 7:57 p.m., 7 lbs., 3 oz., 20 1/4″ long, all are doing well.

I felt “led” by my baby to host a “Girls’ Night Out Last Hurrah Bowling Party” last weekend and we laughed for hours. Same crew as the Succulent Women party, minus a few new moms…here we are before we venture out.

It took us a really long time to figure out the new-fangled bowling computer scoring screens. We’re all from the stone age of pencils. I’m wearing my new bowling shirt gifted to me for the occasion – the back says “Mama E” and the front says, “Women With Balls.”

After three rounds, we preggers gals sat out the rest of the game, chowing on lots of food. Our friends played the rest for us – and I *still* lost! My score for the night was a 57. My fun quota? A full 100!