It's a GIRL!!! For those of you who did not even know I was pregnant, well, now you do. I am 21 weeks pregnant with Baker baby #2 and just found out today that it is a girl. This picture is the profile of her head with pronounced nose and lips....maybe she is already looking like her mother;-)

This is a picture of the bottom of her feet. Max has been telling me it was a girl for a while now, but since it is still really hard to understand what he is saying and a little hard to trust him at 22 months I had my doubts. We are all very excited!

Last weekend we went to lunch in a Castle with some friends and their kids.

Max and his friend Logan.

Max and Athena.

Max was pretty excited that there was playground equipment. There were also lamas, a pigeon coop, miniature horses and peacocks. We look forward to going back there when it is a little warmer and we can eat outside;-)

Max is really into organizing things these days. This was how he left the plastic silverware and eggs when he was done sorting;-)

For my birthday some friends and I went out to a Brazilian restaurant.....yes it is possible to get tired of Italian food. To the right of me is LaVonna and to my left is Abbey, next to Abbey is LaVonna's sister who was visiting from the states for the holidays.

This is me at 33 eating my absolute favorite Italian breakfast roll with chocolate chips sold only at the Saturday market next to Teatro Olympico, luckily this year my birthday was on a Saturday;-)

The other day when we walked into town Max went over to this pay phone and let me know he wanted to make a call.

I asked him who he was calling and he said, "Inie," which is what he calls his friend Athena.

I thought it was pretty cute.

Hmmm, maybe no answer;-)

January 6 is a strange holiday in Italy called Witches Day. The Italians consider it a second little Christmas, but instead of Santa bringing presents to children a witch brings them.....I am not sure if she normally rides a motorcycle or if that is just this witches chosen form of transportation.

There was a big downtown market for witches day full of.....yup you guessed it, witches!

and lots of candy.

Thanks for visiting us Dad and Ann, we had a great time hanging out with you guys!

Max can't wait to do it again! See you in CA!

Max got some new frog boots for Christmas and LOVES them! He can put them on himself which is really exciting, except that somehow they usually end up on the wrong feet.

He is also really into trying to figure out umbrellas.....

Here he is in Piazza Signori in downtown Vicenza.

At least he is staying dry;-)

And then back to Vicenza! Where we showed my dad and Ann our neighborhood park.

Ate some pizza.

And taught them about vegetable shopping in Italian markets....your are not supposed to touch the fruit with your bare hand. Oh and don't forget to weigh and tag it yourself before you get in line;-)

One late afternoon we went to the Pantheon.

The building is beautiful and as you will see below Max had a good time running around inside.

Max got his own umbrella on this trip. He was really excited about it, but as you can imagine it also presented some challenges;-)

Max turns in circles at the Pantheon

One afternoon my dad and I took a walk through the Forum and Antica Rome

The weather was beautiful

and the ruins of Rome are truly amazing.

The Colosseum

Part of the Forum

The view from gates inside Antica Rome

The skyline

One day Max decided to clean up the Campo di Fiore market.

That kid loves to sweep....he did not get this from his mother;-)