My three boys

Gotta love it when they get along.

These boys have had me laughing all day.

End of summer update

Hello Blog followers:

This has been a fabulous summer. I got to watch the kids play with friends, enjoy the pool nearly all summer long and blessed with a wonderful family. I was just telling Andy how happy I am with our life. I couldn't ask for anything more. We both realized this is the life we have been trying to achieve for so long and without warning... we've got it.

The questions I ask my sisters is "how do you define success?" Some people say by my bank account, others may say by winning prestigious awards, while a few may say graduation from college or high school. Whatever the answer, everyone has something to define it. Success for me is right now! Right now I have three healthy and amazing boys.

Right now I have a husband that loves and adores me. Right now I have the two best sisters and brother I can depend. Right now I can stay at home to mold my boys into gentlemen. Right now I can say that Dante calls me 'Sonia' and no longer SoSo and even calls me once in a while from his cell phone. Right now my two nieces are both fun and amazing, especially Anelese who always entertains me with her funny commentary.

Right now I am happy with my house and even happier for great neighbors. Right now I am blessed to have so many amazing friends, even if I somehow managed have 50% of friends 50+ years old. (Seriously, a lot of my friends are over 20 years older than me. What does that say about me? Am I an extremely mature person or are my friends extremely immature. I'm sad to say it is probably the latter.) Right now I can go to sleep through the night and not have any worries to keep me up.

Right now I am happy with my life!

So, on with my boys.

Andy
Andy will be traveling to Europe for work at some point this fall. I wanted to go with him, but he says this will probably not be the only time he goes. Maybe I'll tag along for another trip. Still, we have other trips planned over the fall as a family.

I am jealous of Andy, too. He manages to get himself out of bed an extra hour early Tuesday - Friday to hit the gym. He has been doing this for 3 or 4 months. You can tell he is losing weight and has better spirits in the evening.

Keep in up! (I'll get back into the groove once school starts up.)

Andy and I are still working on Andy's wine and my labels. It's a good combo effort.

Giuseppe


Giuseppe starts school in less than two weeks. He will be entering first grade.
I am not worried about him.

Socially he won't have any problems. As a matter of fact he averaged one playdate a week with a kid outside of the neighborhood, not to mention his daily interaction with his neighbor friends.

He has kept up on reading and math and even did a science project with me over the summer.

He stayed active with biking, hockey, roller blading, swimming, etc. He really is a very fit kid.

Vincenzo


Vincenzo starts two preschool programs in a few weeks as well as a weekly hockey class. I have already met with some of the other parents and really look forward to getting to know them as well as I know Giuseppe's friends' parents.

Over the summer we worked on a lot of preschool songs all summer, as well as colors and shapes. He has it all down. His sentence structure has grown. He can easily say 5-7 word sentences on his own.

He also stayed active by trying to keep up with his big brother and swimming. Vincenzo is just as fit as his brothers.

Rocco


Rocco loves the water. At the beginning of summer he use to just float around with me in the pool but now he likes to splash and kick his legs.

At 13 months he weighed in at 23 pounds. He is a meatball. He certainly doesn't look like he is only 13 months, more like an 18-months old.

His new word is 'tada.' Very adorable!

Rocco and I will enroll in playgroup during the school year to give him some interaction with other babies his age as well as some structure to his life.

Ann Arbor boy raises $1,300 for Operation Injured Soldiers, gets invitation to White House

I am so proud of Giuseppe and his brothers. Their actions make Andy and I appear to be good parents. Check out this article annarbor.com wrote about him.

Our way of saying thank you

Brothers

Just before bathing, these boys let me snap a shot.

Another fun video

Halloween night was cold and windy, yet fun. The boys got lots of candy. Please enjoy a moment in time in our lives during this scary event.

Anticipation to the first day of school

Giuseppe starts school tomorrow. The night before we got the boys a nice sudsy bath.

Andy put Giuseppe and Vincenzo in the jacuzzi and turned the jets to high.

The bubbles took over.

Look what we found

Photograph by Giuseppe

While the boys were working outside doing yard work and car washing, they found a small frog and big toad.

Fishing Derby

Who brings a fishing pole to a golf course? Yep... that would be Vincenzo.

Polo Fields Club had a fishing derby yesterday. I took Giuseppe and Vincenzo. Rocco was at home with my mom and Andy was golfing in Ohio.

Lucky me, I got to fish for my first time. Needless to say, we caught ZERO! Good thing. I have an extreme phobia with fish. In the past I have passed out or had panic attacks in such situations.

I tried to hold it together for the boys, but secretly I was hoping we'd get none. What kind of mother am I? I sabotaged their chance at winning the big debry. Take my Mother of the Year award away now.

Feel the love

The boys can't keep away from little Rocco.

Staying busy

We made a trip to the Saline park this morning.

This afternoon we are going to the pool.

No pictures of Rocco. He was snoozing in the stroller the entire time. (Lazy guy.)

Indiana visit

The boys and I made an appearance to my homestate, Indiana.
Here are some highlights (and lowlights) of what we did:

Monday: Giuseppe got stung by a bee. Freaked me out since he simultaneously had a nasty nose bleed. Still don't know why.

Tuesday: We visited the Minnestrista Center in Muncie, Indiana. (As a side note, not worth it. It cost more than it was worth. We spent $25 for less than an hour of "observing." Not recommended.)
During our visit Giuseppe had a pretty hard fall which got him a bloody lip, scratches on his face, a bump on his forehead and mild black eye.

Friday: We visited New Haven. This was Rocco's first visit there. He got to meet new people like his great-grandparents, Uncle Nick and Cousin Greg.



Photos are of Giuseppe and Vincenzo at the Minnestrista Center in Muncie. The traveling exhibit was local animals. They had fun exploring the animal's different habitats.
Photo by Sonia Gottfried

Smile!

These boys have the same great smile as their dad.

First Bath

Tonight Rocco got to experience his first real bath. He was joined by Giuseppe and Vincenzo. It was an exciting and loud time.

Scared to pieces

You may not be able to tell it from this picture, but Vincenzo is as still as a statue while next to Rocco. He is so concerned about not hurting him that he just holds really still. He won't even move his eyes.
Vincenzo and Giuseppe are thrilled to have a little brother.

Busier than usual

Here is the debut of Rocco Giustino Gottfried:
Born July 23 @ 10:33 a.m.
Weighing 8 pounds, 7.3 ounces
Measuring 21 inches

We welcome Rocco to our fun-filled family.

No pictures to post, little to report

Friday, July 3

We made a trip to a nearby Metropark to watch the fireworks. The display had Vincenzo mesmerized. 

Saturday, July 4
We made an appearance at the Lodi Twp., July 4th event. While there, Giuseppe collected more money for his Operation Injured Soldier jar. At this point, he has collected over $265. Great going!

In the evening, Andy entertained us with his own backyard firework display.

Sunday, July 5

Church. Play. The boys made a trip to the pool for a few hours.

Last game of the season!

The coaches treated Giuseppe and his team to ice cream!

Mohawk mania!

Big Kid

Vincenzo likes to be a big kid... and here he is eating at Grandma Gottfried's like a big kid. Yummy, fried chicken!