Stefano Gets a Baby Sister!

Daisy Lu, We Love You

Daisy Lu (McGillicuddy) Allevato
1995-12/27/2011

Daisy was the first dog I ever loved and now a piece of my heart will always be hers.  She brought more joy to our lives than we could have ever imagined and she made Tony the proudest master there ever was. We are especially sad that Luca will not get to know her the way that we did, but in the 14 short months that the two of them shared as best pals, she taught him more than some humans could and we are eternally grateful for these precious memories. 
Erin gave us a beautiful blanket with our family picture woven into it for Christmas - so wonderful to have her memorial- ized so beautifully - I have it folded over the couch right now so that you just see her "looking out her window", and Luca goes up to it, patting it saying "Day-dee!" (her name was his first word!)

Luca learned so much from Daisy about sharing, friendship, compassion, patience, and most of all, unconditional love - she was always gentle with him, even when he was climbing over her or pulling out fist-fulls over her hair. We are so lucky that Daisy left such beautiful paw prints on our hearts.

People/Doggie-Watching

Checking on his patient

Luca's Second Christmas

This Christmas, Luca was a lot more fun than last year, but I can only imagine how EXPONENTIALLY more fun this little guy is going to be with each passing year! Right now, he is still more interested in tearing the wrapping paper than the present itself.


We had a great time at Ken and Monique's house on Christmas Eve, Christmas morning at Mimi and Grandpa's house, and the afternoon at Nonna and Nonno's.



Here we are snuggling in our Christmas jammies!

Grandpa took lots of video Christmas morning, but here is the last little bit...

2011 Christmas Cards

This year, it was too hard to pick one photo for the Christmas card, so I went with Daisy with Luca at 3 months, Luca in the park at 9 months, and 2 fun family shots from Luca's birthday. What a year it's been watching him grow from a tiny little baby to a boisterous little toddler!

Christmas Cards from
Family and Friends

Seeking Santa

This year, it took several attempts before finally meeting up with the Big Guy. Mimi took Luca to the mall one day early in the season, just to test the waters, but Luca wanted nothing to do with the man, not budging from his stroller.

The 2nd attempt was a few days before Christmas at the Grove, but we weren't the only ones who had this idea, so we opted out of the 2 hour wait and just took pics outside of Santa's House and grabbed lattes at Coffee Bean.

I had ALMOST given up...until I decided to make a last ditch effort at the Brea Mall the morning of Christmas Eve. Guess what - procrastination WORKS! We literally walked right from our parking spot to Santa's lap, no wait at all! And the little guy did not disappoint me with his reaction...I tried to explain to him that he is gonna LOVE this guy in a few years :)

Firetruck Coming Through!

Look, Mommy! Daddy pushes me 10 times faster than you do!

TVG Christmas Party at the Bowling Alley

Tony's annual Christmas bowling party is more fun every year - this year it was especially fun because we got to bring Luca. He had so much space to roam around, he was in heaven! That is, until he found the actual lanes and we stopped him from running to the pins! Fortunately, we distracted him with the air hockey table :)

Baby Food, Schmaby Food

These days, it is such a relief that Luca can eat so many "real food" items and drink out of a cup, so we don't have to schlep around quite as much gear/supplies. This weekend, while we were at Tony's parents' house, Tony wasn't paying attention as he was getting something out of the refrigerator and walked away without closing it. Luca followed him right in, open the crisper drawer, found a pear, closed the drawer, then closed the refrigerator door, and then completely went to town eating that pear...here is the video I caught :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DGGbhEp-2Q&feature=youtu.be

And here he is devouring a taco that Tony brought him home from our favorite little taco stand on Vine.

Decking The Halls

This year, the stockings are hung by the chimney with care, literally! As in, in hopes that Luca will not yank them off the mantle and clock himself in the head with the hanger! We did not even bother with a tree, because I don't have strength for what a battle that would be. Fortunately, the grandparents go all out in the decorating department, so that's where we will get our fill of the holiday spirit this year!

Luca, "helping" to decorate Nonna's tree...

And Mimi's tree aglow at night...

And here is Luca with Nonno in his front yard.

Luca's First Trip To The Track

Tony took Luca and me to Los Alamitos for the Champion of Champions Race. Luca got all dressed up like Daddy for his first trip to the track!

We had dinner in the Turf Club and Luca explored every inch of the place that we would let him.

Tony took him down to the paddock and the Winners' Circle and he even got to meet a horse!

Gregory "Josh Groban" Lima

Gregory sang "O Holy Night" at Amat's Holidance program...
there are no words for how amazingly this kid sings...!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aB379v7QXDM

New Babies!

Either it's been a long time since I've posted any birth announcements, or our family and friends have been BUSY this year! Maybe both...!

Using a Spoon (...Kinda)

"Well, if no one's gonna pay attention to me here, I'll just feed myself, thank you very much!"Here's Luca experimenting with a spoon... :)

Walking!

Over the past week, Luca has become increasingly more confident with his footing, adding a step each day in his attempts at walking - here he is with his first solid set of strides...he even claps for himself at the end :) I'm just trying to figure out why I was sooooo anxious for this to happen?!?! Now he needs a baby crash helmet!

Luca's First Kings Game

Tony and Uncle Raji took Luca to his first Kings game to watch them beat the Ducks 5-3. Daddy got him all bundled up for the night, and got him his first Kings sweathshirt. He enjoyed the game very much but was NOT a fan of Bailey the Mascot...let's just hope that next month's visit with Santa goes a little better!

Toothbrush-Slash-Drumstick

This month, Luca is learning how to brush his teeth with his new "Cars" electric toothbrush. He's actually good about letting me have the first go at them, then he pretty much just swallows the toothpaste and plays with the toothbrush for the rest of the session, even trying it out as a drumstick!

I Can Feed Myself, Mommy!

Blogger is driving me crazy tonight, as I am unable to upload any videos!
Oh well, that's what YouTube is for! Click on the links below for some funny footage of Luca's independent eating and drinking :)

Slurping Up Noodles

Bottoms, Up!

Peas, Cheese, and Pasta Balls

Also, here are some pics of him using avocado as hair mousse :)

Magic Pillow

The pillow I've used to breastfeed has become a "tired maker" for Luca - he has the cutest thumbsucking/cuddling Pavlovian response every time he sees it! 

Luca's First Halloween Costume

Of course, I couldn't resist dressing the little guy up as a monkey for his first costume! I dressed up as Jane, too, but couldn't convince Tony to join us as Tarzan ; ) I absolutely love dressing up on Halloween myself, so I was so happy to be back in a costume this year, as last year, I was just 5 days post c-section!

This year, I learned that babies are not big fans of being dressed up head to toe...but all in all, Luca was actually a pretty good sport - here is a cute video of him and Zio Greg in his banana costume from a few years ago!

Happy 1st Birthday, Luca Tony!

Luca's 1st birthday party was a super fun monkey party at Mimi and Grandpa's house! The first time that we had both sides of the family together since our wedding, there were a whole lotta Italians there...here are a few favorite snapshots, with rest in THIS LINK.



And here is a video of him going for his cupcake, which he wasn't really interested in when actually sang to him, but enjoyed getting messy with after the party died down...

Video in link below
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK90b69eZEg

Amat Homecoming 2011

A fun night at Kiefer Stadium for Amat Homecoming against Loyola...fun because we went with Kathy and Uncle Fran & Aunt Cherie, but less fun because we didn't win :(

Mom got Luca his own Amat onesie for his first football game and I got mistaken for "Miss Lima" by a parent of one of Cat's teachers yet again!

Luca really enjoyed the night, captivated by all of the sights and sounds, but started to get tired at half time, so Grandpa graciously offered to take him home, as he was also getting tired at half time!