Life is Good!

Yesterday was a wonderful day for so many reasons... First, Mike went to another government place to get citizenship sorted out. What he didn't tell me was that he brought all of my stuff to see what he and they could do... well... thanks to a renewed British passport it looks like I am actually and finally allowed to stay in Italy!!!Legally!!! Mike had to sign a form stating that he was supporting me 100% and that I would not work or need to work while here. The next thing is that I need private health coverage. Once I get that we send the forms in, the police come to our place to make sure we live here and then everything is good!!! YAY!!! My husband is a star!

What are you doing????

Since Mum left I have been feeling sad and a bit lonely. I have been determined to find something for myslef and Veronica to do so I can meet people! Yesterday I went to a Yoga class for mothers and babies. It is half English and half Italian. What that really meant was the instructor is bilingual and does it in Italian and then translates if any English people show up!! The instructor was amazing. Originally born in Coventry she has lived her whole life in Italy. I arrived early, as I didn't know where I was going, and got to chat with her for a while. It was so nice, and Veronica was so happy. 4 more mothers came in with their babies. 3 were Italian - babies aged 2 months, 2 months and 9 months - and 1 american woman with a baby girl almost 7 months. For the next 1.5 hours we were taken through simple exercises and breathing to help us relax, reclaim focus and become re-energized. In the past I have done yoga and it felt amazing to once again get my body moving and stretching it out. On top of this there were all these babies happily playing away with all these toys the instructor brought. Veronica was so good. I am so proud of her. Whenever a new mother and baby came in she would start screaming and waving her arms at them. For the most part she was happily "crawling" all over the floor to the new toys. Her and the little 9 month old baby boy were all over each other. It was funny and wonderful to see them interacting and "talking" to each other. At one point she started getting fussy and the instructor picked her up and told her her mother needed to focus and relax and then she plopped Veronica in her lap, gave her a toy and began

Not more PICTURES!!!

another exercise. Veronica just sat in the instructors lap, happy as a clam, dribbling, sucking and wrapping her insane tongue around the toy. I was so happy and proud of her that she could be with this person she didn't know and just let me relax into the different poses. Towards the end of the time Veronica got hungry and needed a little cuddle after she ate. She just wanted to sit between my legs and play. Another nice thing about the yoga is everyone there breast feeds. At one point I looked around and 3 out of 5 women were breast feeding! At the end of the session the instructor brought out some tea and applesauce for everyone. We all just sat around and chatted for a bit. It was really nice meeting all these women with babies. They mostly spoke in Italian but I was able to have some little conversations here and there. It will be a good way for me to learn. When I left I felt happy, more relaxed and much more centered within myself then I have felt in a loooong time. I will definitely be going back next week.

One of my concerns about Yoga had been that because it was at Cavour (where we used to live) and a metro and bus ride away Veronica would be really tired and would not have a good physio. She hardly slept at all between 8:30 am (when we left) and 1:15 pm (when we arrived at Santa Lucia) where as normally she could have up to 2 naps during that time. BUT physio went wonderfully. The therapist said it was one of Veronicas best and that she worked really hard. I am wondering if it was because she was so active at yoga, playing, crawling backwards, in circles, sort of forward, and just using her arm so much that it helped with physio.... who knows?

For the last 3 nights Veronica has been sleeping REALLY well. She has been sleeping in 6 hour intervals getting up to eat then back to sleep for another 4. Last night she slept for almost 8 hours before waking to eat. It has been WONDERFUL finally getting some sleep. I don't know what has changed as her routine hasn't but I put a little night light in her room so maybe that has helped?? All I know is we are finally getting some rest! The only problem is my body doesn't realize it needs to stop producing at night and I wake up with hard Pam Anderson boobs!!! Too much info?!?!? This video below was taken 15 minutes before she went to sleep. I am not kidding....15 MINUTES!!! We were trying to give her some quiet time before bed so she would relax.... ha!!! Side note... 1 year ago today I had my 20 week ultrasound with this munchkin inside me.. what a difference one year makes!!!