Still blogging...

Hi everybody! Sorry for taking so long to update the blog. We've been fairly busy the last month or so, and haven't had much of a chance to post anything. Here's a little glimpse of what's been going on (and if you want to see any pictures, check out Nancy's facebook page):
- I attended a conference in Israel for a week, and went to the lowest place in the world (the Dead Sea)... highly recommend going!
- Spent Easter with friends, and Bella got to enjoy her first egg hunt.
- We went to Barcelona for about a week. We wanted to get one last trip in before Bella turned 2. Our trips are going to be a little more expensive now. We had a blast out there, and Nancy's now thinking about retiring to Spain... we'll see about that. We highly recommend going here too!
- Our little Bellarina turned 2, and she had an awesome Elmo birthday party with our Sigonella family.
- We celebrated our 5th year of marriage by making cupcakes for our little princess' b-day party... not too romantic, but it was pretty fun.
- Nancy & Bella flew home to see our friends and family in VA and FL.

Well, I know I'm just making excuses, but we promise to update the blog with a little more interesting stuff when we get a chance. Without Nancy and Bella around, life over here get's a little hectic ;) So wish me and Coby luck over on this side of the world.

FYI, I'll be spending a month in Djibouti for work too, but at least my girls will be back when I return :) Also, it's a little early, but for all you moms out there, HAPPY MOTHER's DAY!!

Take care, B

Happy Birthday Brian and Coby!

Brian turned the BIG 3-0 today. We celebrated his birthday on Saturday night with great friends at one of our favorite restaurants (pics will be posted later). It turned out to be a great surprise and everyone had a great time!

When we got Coby from the pound almost 4 years ago in July, they couldn't tell us exactly when he was born. All they knew was that he was born sometime in March, so we decided that he and Brian would share the same birthday. So, happy 4th birthday to Coby! He is and will always be our first baby. We have been through so much with him and he has been my companion through a deployment, a couple of surges, and my pregnancy with Bella. He is the best dog in the world and we love the fact that both he and Bella will get to grow up together. Here are a couple pictures of Cobiashi as well as a video of Bella singing Happy Birthday to her papi!

Our trip to Sorrento

As promised, here are pictures from our last trip to Sorrento, a beautiful town on the Amalfi Coast. While we were there, we had a chance to go to Pompeii. This was my second time there, but i didn't mind going again - it's an awesome place to go to if you ever get a chance. We didn't make it out to Capri because the weather was too cold and windy and Bella started to get a cold :( We went on this trip with our friends, the Moriarity's, so Sebastien is the little boy in some of the pictures. One of my fave pics is the lemon/orange tree, click on it to enlarge it so you can get a better look at it.

Random pics

Thank you to everyone who's been asking about how Bella is doing after her swollen lymph node incident! The swelling is completely gone thanks to the antibiotics and Bella is back to her beautiful self again :) Here are a few random but cute pics we wanted to share with all of you. Stay tuned for pics from our trip to Sorrento, Italy last week.



Look at what happens to a roll of toilet paper when you let a toddler out of your sight (even for just a few seconds :)

Trip to the ER

So yesterday was not a fun day for our little Bellarina. She's had a little bit of a cold/runny nose for the past week now, so i wasn't shocked when she snuggled up to next to me around 11 am and fell asleep. I figured she just didn't feel good and thought nothing of it. She woke up around noon and when she looked up at me the entire right side of her face, chin, and neck was completely swollen! And i don't just mean swollen, i mean HUGE! I was so scared and freaked out and didn't know what to do. I immediately called Brian who was on his way home from Odessa, Ukraine and told him that i was taking her to the ER. We jumped in the car and were there in about 25 minutes (mind you, this is normally a 35 minute drive). So we go, check in and the guy at the counter asks us what we're there for. When i tell him, he can't believe how swollen she is. Meanwhile, Bella is still being the same happy, social little girl she alway is, saying "hi" and "ciao ciao" to everyone in the ER:) Finally, after doing an ultrasound, the doctor says that the radiologist can't see anything abnormal and it looks like it might just be a swollen gland. She prescribes us an antibiotic and 5 hours later we leave the ER. When we finally get home, Brian is waiting for us outside with Coby and can't wait to see his little princess. After i explain everything to him, i start to cry uncontrollably, thinking the worst, and wondering what is wrong with my baby.

We had a follow up appointment this morning with the pediatrician, who, after checking out her swollen face/neck, said it's probably a swollen lymph node and not a swollen gland (apparently if it was a swollen gland, the swelling would be a little bit higher). He told me to keep giving her the antibiotics and that if we don't see any changes by her next appointment Thursday morning, they might have to do a CT scan :( I am so happy and thrilled to say that the swelling is starting to go down!!! Thank God. I don't want my baby to get a CT scan - she's way too little for that. So that's where we are with our little Bella right now. Hopefully, the swelling will go down even more over the next couple of days, or we might just have to reschedule our trip to Sorrento this weekend. Brian and everyone keep reassuring me that everything will be fine and i know that it probably will be - i just hate not knowing what is wrong with my baby girl. I guess all i can do right now is pray that she will be ok.

Here is a picture of her last night after her bath. It's not the best picture, but you get the idea...

Mom and Nora's visit

So my mom and sister, Nora, came to visit us last week. It was a very short visit (only one week), but it was so good to see them! I miss my family so much and it was so nice that they were finally able to come out here. They were both amazed at how much Bella has grown since they last saw her in August. Bella instantly opened up to them and was calling for "abuela" and "Noah" the whole week.

We didn't get to do a whole lot, as it was a very short visit and the weather was kind of rainy some of the days. My mom and sister didn't care though - they were just as happy to spend some quality time with Bella. We did take them to Catania, the market (which they both loved!), Mineo, and a few of our favorite restaurants. Hopefully, they will be able to visit again around Christmas! Here are a few pictures of their visit (the last one is a view of our housing from the town of Mineo):

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year (belated :)

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a very happy and safe New Year! This was the first Christmas we celebrated without our families and although we missed everyone terribly, it was kind of nice to start our own little traditions with Bella. On Christmas Eve, we went over to our friends, Ryan and Miranda's, house for French hot chocolate (yummy!) and came home fairly early so that Bella could go to bed at her normal time and we finished wrapping up gifts. On Christmas morning, Bella woke up and was happy to see all the presents under the tree. She started unwrapping her gifts, and since she is my daughter, she would put every little piece of wrapping paper in the trash bag before tearing any more ;) She must already know what a neat freak i am! Bella was blessed with so many gifts from Santa and our families and she is having a blast playing with all her new toys and watching her new movies.

The day after Christmas, we took a little drive with some other friends up to Mt. Etna so that the kids could play in the snow. There wasn't as much snow as we had hoped, but they loved playing in it nonetheless.

On New Year's Eve, we went back to Ryan and Miranda's house, where we stayed up playing games, eating lots of food, and drinking delicious Sangria! We were spending the night at their house, so Bella went to sleep around 10, but woke up just before midnight so we got to wish her a Happy New Year! Then, we went out to their backyard to watch the fireworks up on Mt. Etna.

Yesterday, we took another little trip with friends (this time on a little train that goes around the bottom of Mt. Etna). We stopped at a little town named Randazzo, where we had a great lunch, then walked around a bit, and saw some beautiful churches and a little castle.

We can't believe we've been in Italy for over a year now! Time goes by so fast, and we are so excited to see what 2009 has in store for us. My mom and sister are coming to visit for a week this month and Brian's parents will be here for a couple of weeks in March. We can't wait to see them - we miss everyone back home so much! We still hope to get a lot of traveling done this year (hopefully a roadtrip through Spain, then maybe Greece in the summer and then Belgium and London this fall/winter).

We hope you all enjoyed the holiday season and have a wonderful and blessed new year!