Roman Mainers

We were so happy to have Gramama back in Rome to help with baby Dietrich's arrival. I was expecting to be near or on my due date again, just as I was with the girls. However, this wasn't the case. We had a bit of waiting to do. Fortunately for the girls, their anticipation was broken up a bit with the gifts from Gramama, one of which was an inflatable swimming pool.

Modern Roman Baths

It doubled as a good washing, given they had been getting pretty dirty for while.

Personal Bathing Assistant: Daddy

Bubbles!

Since we had the hose hooked up to fill up the birthing tub, it was really easy to pull it through their window and fill up their pool. As a side note, our birthing tub got filled every few days when the smallest signs of labor appeared. One of those times, the tub was left filling and flooded our apartment. That ended up being the day before labor actually started. Good spring cleaning!

Meanwhile, I was trying everything I could to help labor along. Including stuffing myself with over-sized donuts.

Note the symbolism in the background: The tree of life and a big, fat, round sun.

"Mom, don't you think you could share
just a little bit of those donuts with us?"

Aside from eating and swiming, there was also fairy crowns being made and fairy houses being found on campus grounds.

Fairy sighting

In the week before I gave birth, Stella hit nuclear melt down. She was so extremely emotional that anything you said could sent her into a screaming tantrum, including the dreaded question, "Do you want some candy?"

I just need a hug (x1000)

Again, enter Gramama who is always ready with a hug. And secrets, if you need them.

psh-psh-psh

She must of just sensed the excitement. Because really, they had no clue what was coming to them!

Right now, her big sister is still her biggest challenge.

So unsuspecting

Then, BAM! 11 days late, on April 3rd at 12:02pm Dietrich made his big entrance. Labor was (relatively speaking) a breeze despite the fact that he was 10 lbs 4 oz. Easiest of all the kids so far! And biggest!

Totally chill.
If not a little blue.

Meeting the little man...again.

He was a hit to say the least.

Mom and kids

We all agreed that he has cute enough to keep.

The whole Griesbach family

Gramama with grandchild #7, and grandson #3
Two very lucky numbers

and so it begins...

just enjoy the pictures...

Here was a picture of Leon in the background of Dietrich as baby.

Father and son,
about 30 years apart

End.

Honestly, I keep holding off on the blog so that all posts will be chronological. I left off at Christmas time, and I still have a lot of pictures from our Trip to Siena, and then to Perugia. But at this rate, I'll always be half a year behind in posting, and that's not fun, nor acurate in keeping family abreast of our life here. So I'm going to have to get back to those events when I can.

Looking just a little bit back, here are some random shots from our little family life in mid-February. In just 2 months I've definitely seen the girls change and grow up, especially since the arrival of their little brother Dietrich.

Whenever we have guests over for dinner, Emma will excuse herself at the end to go change into a pretty dress and then order everyone into the living room, informing them that there will be show. Attendance is mandatory. She rights the rules here. She loves dancing and I can't wait to get her into some kind of dance class.

Spin shot:

No, it's not a manicure, just a fancy spin move.

It's fun capturing faces when she's getting dizzy.

...the hair flies on.

This one's my favorite. Concentrate!

Then the girls get lavished with attention from their adoring fans after every show. Ok, they're the ones lavishing Daddy, really at all times during the day.

Group hug!

Stella can actually knock you out with her powerful hugs!

Love the pink tights and baby leg warmers :)

Here, she's reading books on Daddy's legs, just after the previous picture was taken.

Stella is hilarious how fluidly she moves between affection and abuse. She smacks you in the face then falls into a very big sweet hug. Here, she's kicking Leon in the face.

"I only do this to build your character, Daddy"

Just before the baby came I worked on a bunch of paintings, assuming that I'd never paint for another year. That's not true of course. Dietrich is only 3 weeks old (and a day) and I've already started the background for a new painting about a week ago.

I recently read a letter that the writer Keats wrote to some student encouraging him to create something everyday. Even if its terrible and nobody ever sees it, experiencing something creatively is very beneficial to your personal growth. I like to remember that when painting. I don't think my final product is anything amazing, but I enjoy doing it! Here's my first painting that I hung on our wall here.

Pen on Acrylic. Actually not very stable. Oops!

I tried to seal it with Modge Podge, but it just smeared the pen on the left side. Big bummer. But now I just try to pretend that it's a shadow. Yes, a shadow on the sun. Very rare.

Then I thought I'd do a moon to match. Except it didn't match and it was 5 times bigger. O well. Still fun!

Big moon. Very moving.

Then I followed this up with a light house painting, seeing if it would remind me of Maine and home. But it just reminding me of a 4th grader's work, so this piece is in a hidden corner of the house, and I might just paint over it later.

Acrylic lighthouse

Let's see...these pics were followed by some shots immortalizing the long wait before Dietrich was born. And the large belly that the girls loved!

This was 8 days before due date!

When looking at Emma, I could only see her forhead

Dietrich joined us 19 days later, 11 days past his due date! The stinker!

And before Dietrich made his arrival, Pauline made hers. What an immense help she was! Her meals got us through Holy Week :) and the girls were very excited to have her back in Rome.