What a Week!

This has been a very busy week. First, we spent a total of a full day at an Italian immigration office - questura - trying to get our permission to stay - permesso di soggiorno - documents from the Italian government. As with most things in Italy, there is a lot of red tape to go through in order to get this document. It's also always nerve-wracking to try to get it because often they accept or reject you based on whim. Also, you never know how long it will take at the immigration office when you go to apply - a scary thing when you have a baby boy who loves to run around! :)

We woke Colton up very early (for him) to go to the questura - 6:30am. Before we even arrived at 8:30am he was exhausted!

When we arrived at the questura we got our number. We were 465 - 425th in line at the time! We waited from about 8:30am until almost 11:30am only to find we had accidently shown up on the wrong day - we were one day too early. We had to leave and return the next morning. Luckily, though, we managed to get there a little earlier and we were 288th in line - much better. :) Being at the questura is a little like showing up to the United Nations. There are people from all over the world waiting with you, trying to get permission to live in Italy.

Though I was nervous about how Colton would do, he proved to be a great little boy once again. Both days Colton napped a good portion of the time we had to wait. We have to cover his stroller with a blanket, though, because if he can see all that's going on he isn't interested in sleeping. :)

Our second trip to the questura was a success. After waiting for about 1-1/2 hours for our number to be called, we were sent to another window where we waited for about another 3 hours while our documents were reviewed and, finally, accepted. Last, we were sent to another window again to get our fingers printed and turn in our passport photos. After 5 hours we were able to leave assured that we should get our permessos in October! Phew!

After the adventure of the questura, we were hoping for some down time. This morning, however, Colton decided he wanted to give us a new experience to navigate through. When I went in to his room this morning to get him out of bed, I found a M-E-S-S!!! Colton has been sleeping in only a diaper this week because it is hot in the house we're staying in (it hasn't been under 85 degrees inside yet!). Well, Colton finally figured out how to take off his diaper and he had a little accident in his pack n' play.

Wait...did I say 'little?'

Let me reprhase that. Colton had a BIG accident! There was poop everywhere - on his sheets, caked on his pacifiers, on his stuffed puppy blanket that he sleeps with, and on the netting and railing.

The worst, though, was this...

There was also poop all over Colton - from hair to toes! He had a little poop gotee going on and kept on licking his lips. Gross! I wonder how much poop he actually ingested... :( Ha! When all was said and done Colton and his bedding got all clean and we were no worse off for it. Let's just say, though, that I will not be putting Colton to bed in just a diaper any more.

Despite all our crazy adventures this week we've had a lot of fun together, too. Colton and Daddy learned a new game to play - 'catch me if you can!' :) I love watching my boys play together!

**NOTE: That is not Ross' crack you see in the video, it's his tatoo. Sorry if that scared you. :)

Colton Misses Carson

Tonight at dinner I was looking through some Facebook photos. I came across one of my friend Tiffany's son, Carson, who is the same age as Colton. They used to hang out a few times a week in Orlando. I showed the picture to Colton and this is what followed...

We miss you Tiff and Carson! We miss all of you family and friends back in the States!

Who Needs Toys???

Since we moved to Italy, Colton is trying really hard to fit in. One way in which he seeks to be like Italian babies is by eating like them. He has begun eating homemade veggies (by dad) - which all the Italian babies do, Italian dishes such as ribollita and bruschetta, and he has expanded his menu when it comes to meat. His favorites are lamb and ostrich (pictured below)!

Colton is also trying to blend in fashion-wise. While we were out on the town the other evening we caught Colton wearing his Euro shades! ;o)

Also, he has begun trying to get on an Italian baby sleeping schedule. He is starting to really enjoy going to bed late (around 10pm) and sleeping late (around 10am). Mommy is not such a big fan of this new schedule. However, whenever I try to change it by making Colton skip his 2nd nap of the day and go to bed earlier (around 8pm) he still sleeps until 10am! What am I to do???

Besides all of that, Colton is finding some favorite things to play with. His favorite "toys" are empty water bottles and ropes/strings/leashes. They keep him entertained far longer than any real toy he has, and are the perfect go-to's when he's fussy in his stroller.

This video shows how quickly a fussy baby can be made into a happy baby, just by giving him a water bottle.

Confused

I've felt confused to some level every single day since we moved to Italy. I have a feeling those days won't end anytime soon, either. So, I wanted to capture on film and share with you some every day tasks that, here, are so confusing! Never take for granted the ease of life in the U.S.! :)

The first task I found really confusing was buying baby food. Luckily, I know enough Italian to know what the food is... but I really got confused regarding the types of food available, and the amounts. For example, I have seen no orange veggies - anywhere! Do Italian babies only eat green veggies? Aren't they missing out on important nutrients??? Another example would be the fruits. They sell a ton of fruit but almost all of it has added sugar. I guess I just suck it up and let him start loving sugar early, huh? Finally, their measurements are all in metric so, instead of ounces, baby food is measured in grams. There is no "Stage 1," "Stage 2," "Stage 3" indictors on food here so he just neded up with what he ended up with. Poor baby. Below is the stash I wound up with.

Most of it was pretty normal except:

Baby food cheese?!? I just had to get some, though I've yet to use it.

...and the meat. I got the regulars - chicken, turkey, beef - but also added lamb (which he loved) and rabbit (which he hasn't tried yet) to Colton's diet. Next new meat? ...Maybe horse! :)

The second task that really stumped me was doing the laundry. Yup - even that is confusing here. I mean look at the washing machine dial! What does that mean?!?

I spent about a half hour looking up words in my Italian/English dictionary, converting celsius temperatures to fahrenheit, and phoning a few friends before I attempted my first load of laundry! "Easy-tronic-plus?" Really? I don't think so.

Very few people have driers here so we have to hang our clothes to dry outside. I'm sort of thankful for that now because it was easy - nothing to be confused about there! :)

Finally, even one of the simplest tasks of life is confusing here - plugging in electric devises. "Why?" you might ask. Well, check out the pictures below for your answer...

Outlet type #1:

Outlet type #2:

Outlet type #3:

Outlet type #4:

Yes, folks, there are four kinds of outlets - IN OUR APARTMENT!!!!! That's the beauty of Italy, nothing is standardized (electric outlets included). So, when you buy an electric devise it could have any one of those four types of plugs. Do any of them fit into any of the other outlets? No, of course not. So, what you have to do is buy adapters for outlets that allow you to plug different sized plugs into different sized outlets. Is this making sense? Probably not. It can get a little out of control, as you can see below.

Sometimes we feel as though we are living in "The Christmas Story." Adapters plugged into adapters so that we can finally plug in the appliance!!! Ha!

The worst part about the crazy plugs, for me, is that we haven't yet been able to find outlet covers for any of them except the three little holed ones. Therefore, Colton could electrocute himself any number of places in our house. Lovely.

Anyway, I just wanted to share a few of the every day differences between life in the States and life here in Italy. One thing's for sure... This place sure keeps me on my toes!

4th of July

Yesterday we celebrated the 4th of July...all the way across the world in Italy! Of course, our celebration lacked the traditional fireworks display (which I missed very much) but we were able to get together with friends and have an "American BBQ." We feel very blessed that we could celebrate with new friends here in Florence. The company was great and so was the food! We had hamburgers, chips, Rotel cheese dip, hummus, strawberry salad, homemade frappuccinos, and a red/white/blue dessert. So fun! I meant to take pictures of the food, our friends, and the amazing setting in which we ate (on our friend's Matt & Melanie's beautiful terrace)...but I forgot. I did, however, remember to get pictures of Colton - who celebrated the day in his USA gear - and a family picture!

Please excuse how gross I look in these pictures - it is hot here and I'm constantly sweaty (no air-conditioning in most places in Italy).

Today Colton felt the need to represent his new home like he did for the USA yesterday. :)

We had a great time remembering our country with friends in Florence, but we missed celebrating with family and friends in the U.S., too. We love you all and we're thankful for the ways God has given us so many blessings in the area of relationships. Hope your 4th of July was special, too!

Faux Pax?

Today was a good day for us here in Florence. We finished getting everything unpacked and put away from our suitcases - well, mostly everything. :) Our kitchen is functional (water and gas hooked up, and most cabinets up), slowly we're getting boxes cleaned up...there is still more to do but we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

Tonight, to celebrate our kitchen being usable, we went out for one last dinner on the town (for awhile, anyway). We decided to go to our favorite restaurant in the city, which we affectionately call "The Trot" (I think the real name is Trattoria il Cantanori, or something like that). It's an awesome place where, for 10 Euro, you get water, wine, a pasta dish, a meat dish, and a side dish. The cost also covers the sitting fee, which is sort of like the tip. It's a great deal and the food is amazing. Ross went almost every week when he was here for STINT and has gone back each time he's returned to Florence since, so the family who owns and works at the restaurant knows him and has come to know Colton and me.

Like every time we go to "The Trot" we were greeted warmly by "Papa." He played with Colton for a bit, took our orders, and left. I ordered "ribollita" for my pasta dish - a Tuscan stew (see links if you're interested in more info about ribollita and a recipe - one of many possible ways to make it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribollita, http://www.ribollita.com/eng/ricette/21.htm). This stew is made with olive oil, bread, many veggies, and beans so, seeing that everything in it is Colton safe, I shared with him. At first he wasn't too sure about it but soon enough he came to love it. He reacted to it the same way he reacts to cornetto and gelato (see previous post)! Soon enough we drew the attention of everyone in the restaurant - they were getting a huge kick out of watching Colton eat it! They seemed very stumped by the fact that we chose to feed him this dish. At one point I heard the "Mama" of the restaurant say, "Well, it is vegetables so it should be ok!" They were so entertained by Colton's love for ribolitta that they actually told every patron who entered after he finished, "That boy ate ribolitta!"

I wonder if I unknowingly committed a cultural faux pax by sharing my stew with C...but it didn't seem to offend so no harm done, I guess! :)

Since I don't have any pictures to share from the story above, I figured I'd include a random video of Colton playing at the park near our house last week. He has come to love the swings! It's a little long (a minute and fifteen seconds) but I know our family will want to soak up every second of Colton time they can get, so I refrained from editing. Enjoy!