finally! and family

Oooooh man I have so much to write about - I am behind on blogs, that's for sure. With Easter, my parents being here, volleyball updates and Hendrik, I could have been blogging every day. BUT, with Easter, my parents being here, Hendrik's usual busy-busy routine and Steve being sicker than a dog, things have been a bit, well, busy. But instead of playing catch up I'm going to cut to the chase and share our news - we're having a girl!! A girl! I had an ultrasound yesterday in Cavalese (read: far) that took way longer than I thought it would; the appointment was at 10:30 and because of all of the waiting (in the waiting room, for baby to re-position herself - twice) we weren't out of there until after 1:00... yow! BUT the babe is healthy and... a girl! Yay! Neither of us really had a solid feeling - boy or girl - but because we only know boy, we both were sort of leaning that way - we were both surprised to find out that there's pink on the horizon. Unfortunately Steve wasn't there to get the news in person (he had some seriously strict orders to get better... and fast; his wife has had enough of all of this sickness), but I called him asap and told him that if he wants Hendrik to have a little brother, we'll have to have three. Soooo... pink! It might take a little time for both of us to wrap our heads around the news; do we need new/different stuff? We need to think of names! What will it be like for Hendrik to have a little sister? Sigh. There's excitement (and mucho more) in our future.

Hendrik LOVED his second Easter; hunting for eggs was so much fun that he did it again and again, and again the next day. He didn't quite get that the eggs were edible and made of chocolate goodness but that's okay because... they were bought for the adults anyways. Do little kidlets like dark chocolate? Bffft, doesn't matter because he's not into eating them anyways, just looking for them. We were up early on Sunday and the hunt was on:

And my parents are here! We're having a great time so far, with a mix of mellow stay-around-here stuff and some venturing too. We took the secondary road up the Valle di Fiemme to Cavalese yesterday, so got some mountain scenery and grapevine-vistas in before the hospital room views. Lunch was amazing: a salami + prosciutto + cheese plate and bruschetta to start, followed by fresh pastas and a salad; and the gelato (Serafini) on the way home wasn't bad either. Yumyumyum.


The latest on the Hendrik-is-the-cutest front: cutie-PIE! honey-bunch and cute-as-a-button... I love it!!

And vb! The team made it through the first round of playoffs, and the three-game semi-finals series starts tomorrow night; they play Latina at home and then travel south (somewhere close to Rome) for a weekend game. Fingers crossed that they win! I don't think I could handle going home early... leaving the food, the company, and the place will not be easy. On our way home from Cavalese yesterday we stopped for some apples and honey but they only had huge mega jars, so I had to pass. When we were telling Mr Sicky-Steve about our day later on, I told him that I had to pass on the big jar - we certainly won't eat that in three weeks. "Three weeks? Uh, more like two," he says. "It's the 10th today." And that actually made me cry. At the door, Getting keys from Antonella. It was an emotional day, with good news (a healthy babe) and no news (we're going home soon); at least we're going back with something that will always tie us to this year, the town, the people and the house... a little girl!