ParentProfiles.com

Maria loves to watch football with her daddy. She gets all dressed up in her bears dress and plays toss football with him during the breaks of the game.

Today was Maria's 1st day of pre-school at our church. She is going 2 days a week for 2 hours. She had so much fun, she could not stop talking about school when she came home, they painted, sang ring around the rosey, played outside... she took a 3 hour nap that afternoon!

Nonno and Nonna came over for a visit on the Labor Day weekend. Maria was playing ball with Nonna and they stopped for a picture with St. Francis. What a fun day! The weather was beautiful.

Can't believe it is already August! The weather has been great to hang out in our pool. We have been playing with all our friends in the neighborhood and visiting family.

Maria is starting to learn to go peepee on the potty... She gets 2 M&M's everytime she goes... She is wearing pull-ups now - we are very excited!

What a fun day, we had our friends Rose, Nick, Vincenza, Joe and Laura over with their kids Sam, Jillian, Caroline, Nicholas, Natalie and baby Paolo. We went swimming in the pool, played and watched a movie on the big screen in our home theatre! This is annual tradition for us because Laura, Sam, Jillian and Caroline live in Reno, NV and where in for a visit to meet our newest addition to our circle of friends - baby Paolo!

Wow the summer is flying by... It's already July! We've been having so much fun. We had 2 more cousins that came in for a visit from Italy for 2 weeks, we had 6 of our cousins in from Canada and they stayed at our house 7 days - all the kids had so much fun!

We hosted the July 4th party this year - 35 cousins with their kids. It was a ball!!

We have been to the zoo twice and swimming in our pool everyday the weather permits...

Maria is talking up a storm, she loves to sit and have a conversation with you, she has a new doll - baby Tina now along with baby Gigi - she is really into playing with her dolls and kitchenette - what a little girl!!

May has been a busy month. Nonno and Nonna returned home from Florida (their winter home), we planted our flowers and vegetable garden, went to the zoo and several birthday parties. Maria loves to be outside - she loves to find things in the yard and bring them to us. She found a rock for Mommy to play with her - she is so funny!

We've had a busy couple of weeks, we have gone to visit baby Paolo, Joe and Vincenza's son a few times. Vincenza and I have been friends since we were 6 years old! We've been playing outside since the weather has been beautiful and all the trees and rose bushes in the yard are blooming. Maria's newest favorite food are the 'smiley' potatoes we found at Jewel (the local grocery store), she loves them with ranch dip! Maria has been going to gymnastics twice a week now for the past month, she is doing really well, she loves the kids in her class and her teacher.

Maria is watching Sesame Street as she gets ready to go night night. She loves to be a big girl and sit in her chair and relax like Mommy & Papa before we go to bed.

Maria can say the entire alphabet and count to 20 - she is absorbing everything like a sponge right now - it's so much fun to see!

Zio Dom, Zia Angela, Louis and Mary gave Maria her 1st trike for her birthday - she had so many new toys on her birthday that we waited a couple of months to give her this one as we knew she would love it! She even wore the helmet the Easter Bunny gave her so she stays safe...

Our friend Laura shared the following poem with us to describe how she felt what type of sister Maria would be to her new brother or sister "A sister is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to the meaning of life..." BY Isadora Jame

We had Nia over to take some pictures of Maria for Easter, the weather was so cold she didn't wear her Easter dress to church but at least we took a few pictures!

We went to the local park district Easter Bunny luncheon, we had so much fun... face painting, balloon animals and the Easter Bunny! It took Maria a while to warm up to him but eventually she thought he was cool and sat on his lap.

We took our 1st trip to visit Nonno & Nonna in Naples, Florida. They have a second home there that they visit every winter to get away from the cold weather in Chicago. We miss them when they are not here but it gives us a great excuse to take a vacation when it's cold!! This is Nonno, Nonna & Maria on their patio with the Padre Pio statue.

Today is Maria's 2nd birthday. We had her birthday party at the local park district - they have a room that you can rent that has a carousel for the kids to ride! Everyone had a ball. It's amazing how quickly the time goes by... She is such a big girl now. She received 2 more dolls to add to her collection when she plays house and another build-a-bear from cousin Solidea - we call her the Soli Bear.

Our friend Kathy recommended a friend of hers to come over to the house to take Maria's 2nd birthday pictures - her name is Nia. She did a really nice job - Maria had a lot of fun posing with her.

Our cousins Rose, Nicholas and Natalie came over for a visit. Natalie loves to play with Maria, today she wanted to read her one of her favorite books.

Happy New Year! Wishing you peace and joy in 2008.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day this year were so much fun with Maria as she ran around singing and playing with all of her cousins. What treasured memories to watch Christmas through her eyes... experiencing her 1st time realizing that Santa exists and brings presents to good little boys and girls.

We hope and pray that next Christmas Maria will have a brother or sister to play with when she wakes up on Christmas morning.

A special friend shared this poem with me today and I wanted to share it with you. Two years ago today we received the call that Maria's birthmother wanted to meet us...

Awaiting an Angel..............

I stepped into your room today
Knowing you're not there
This waiting for referral
Is more than one can bear

But taking in the moment
I sit down on the floor
And dream of you here with me
When waiting is no more.

A little giggle fills the air
As I rub your feet
I place my hand upon your heart
To feel its every beat.

A song is sung so very soft
Your eyes begin to close
Your meeting me in dream land
A place where love still grows.

My vision now is very blurred
The tears stream down my cheeks
I've dreamed of you quite often
Throughout these past few weeks.

Suddenly a sound is heard
The phone rings in the hall
Waking up I quickly pray
Please let it be "The Call"

We have been doing a lot of Christmas shopping. We have 2 christmas parties this weekend and 3 parties next weekend. It's a lot of fun, we look forward to getting together with our friends and family around Christmas. We do a present exchange with all the kids under 16 years old.

Maria is starting to warm up to Santa, she won't sit on his lap but she will hold his hand. She understands that you receive presents from Santa and she says 'ho ho ho' anytime she sees a Santa. We can't wait to see her excitement on Christmas morning this year!

What a special day... today is Zio Bruno's and Zia Rosetta's 50th Wedding Anniversary. Their 4 children and spouses and their children and grandchildren are having a big party for them at a banquet hall and invite the entire family. We all have new outfits for the party and Maria is very exciting about playing with all of her cousins tonight - she has 4th generation cousins that will be at the party tonight that are her age. It's so wonderful to see all the generations of our family together... it makes for special memories we truly treasure.

We had a busy week, we took Maria for her Christmas pictures but she preferred the kitchen props - so her Christmas pictures are of her playing with kitchen stuff - it's funny!

We had 20 people for Thanksgiving at our home. It was a blast. All of our brothers and parents came and so did Marty's Zia Maria and cousin Solidea from Italy and her roommate Mindy Chen from China - it was their first American holiday. Always too much food...

We are having our family over for Thanksgiving. Jenny will be cooking for 20 people and is very excited! In addition to Turkey, sweet potatoes, stuffing (Nonna's secret recipe) we'll be having lasagna, green beans, chicken for the kids that don't like turkey, pumpkin ice cream, chocolate eclair cake - Zia Silvana's specialty! Auntie Maryellen will be making her awesome fruit salad filled with fresh melons and berries. After dinner we will all watch the football games and then a movie. Our cousin Solidea from Italy is very excited to share her 1st American holiday with us - she'll be making the lasagna!

We taught Maria to say 'turkey' today and also when you ask her 'what does the turkey say?' - she says: Gobble Gobble!! Too funny.

Marty and I are the first generation in our family to be raised in America. Our parents were born and raised in Italy until they were 18 years old.

We have been teaching Maria to say words in italian in addition to american. She is catching on really well so we thought we would share these words with you so as you read our profile you will know what we are saying!

Nonna = Grandma
Nonno = Grandpa
Nonni = Grandparents
Zio = Uncle
Zia = Aunt
Ciao = Hello and Goodbye
TiAmo = I love you
Cugini = Cousins

Our family just loves to hear Maria speak italian and especially when she has a conversation with them on the phone.

We have been enjoying the beautiful weather in Chicago this fall. We went to the pumpkin patch, our local library's halloween party, Boo at the Brookfield Zoo and have another halloween party this weekend! Maria is going to be a kitty cat for halloween this year. She can say 'meow' really well so we figured our neighbors would understand 'meow' versus her trying to say 'trick or treat'...

Maria experienced her first hockey game today. Her cousin Dominic was playing and Uncle (Zio) Tony is the coach and they won! She had so much fun - sure she was able to scream when everyone got excited when they would score a goal and she clapped and dance for them too. All the way home in the car after the game she said 'mommy - hockey' and would clap.

It's such a blessing to see her experience things for the first time, it makes us appreciate each and everyday and remember to live life to it's fullest.

Of course it was Solidea's first hockey game too - it's fascinating to listen to her tell stories of how life is Italy. She often says 'only America' you can experience life in this manner.

Jenny has signed up to volunteer at the Nursery at church. Maria loves to play and listen to christian music with the other children while Mommy & Daddy enjoy mass. It's a great benefit in our parish and I feel I need to give back to other parents so they can enjoy their time at mass too.

Jenny's cousin Solidea from Italy is in Chicago for 1 year on a scholarship she won from her University in Italy. She goes to school monday-thursday and comes to visit us every other weekend. We are having so much fun with her. Maria calls her 'Soli' - she says Mommy where is 'Soli' during the week - it's so cute! It's great to see Solidea experience life in America, in a lot of ways she is just like Maria as she explores new things for the first time. I'm not sure who had more fun at the pumpkin patch - Maria or Solidea??!

We shared our dear birthmother letter with Father Tony, the pastor of our church, he is such a wonderful man and so inspirational. He is so excited, he also adopted his son and is now a grandpa. He published our dear birthmother letter in the church bulletin to share with the parish. He too believes birthmothers are truly 'angels' on earth in disguise.

We have shared with all our friends and family that we are searching for another birthmother (an 'angel') to adopt another child. They are very excited for us and especially Maria, she loves to be around other children and will be a great sister.

Life has a way of placing challenges and opportunities in our path. We are both facing challenges in our life now--- you with a difficult choice for your child and us with trying to grow our family. Together we have the opportunity of realizing dreams--- your dream for this child to have a lifetime of love and happiness and our dream of having 2 children to share our life and love.