Our Home in Como

Cole is home! What a relief for this new mom... His week in Italy went well - aside from the initial culture shock, he found most Italians to be welcoming and helpful. Fortunately, he returned really excited about our coming adventure - and not too terrified about the huge change we're facing. The primary goal for his trip was to find us a home - think House Hunters International. Truly, the places he saw were representative of an episode on HGTV! During his stay in Saronno, he met his co-workers, toured the area with Andrea, our relocation representative, and realized that we need to get serious about learning Italian. At this point, many people have been telling us "most Italians speak excellent English!" And we've been hoping they are right...

That may not be entirely true, since Cole struggled to communicate with both the driver who picked him up at the airport and the hotel employees. We know just enough of the language to be dangerous. Recently, during one of our lessons I kept asking our tutor why he was calling the shower "dessert." He patiently explained that he wasn't... the two words are just one letter apart. I know I'll get some strange looks when I ask accidentally ask for a shower instead of tiramisu. But dessert is the least of our worries - it's really time we buckle down... I'm sure that we'll learn (and remember) much more quickly once we have been immersed in the culture.

We are excited to know we'll be living in Como (Piazza Volta 28, 22032 Como) around this time next month - a date which is rapidly approaching. The photos above are of the building we'll be in - that third floor balcony is ours. The statue out in front of the building is Alessandro Volta, inventor of the battery.
Our building is situated just a few blocks from Lake Como, which is known to be one of Italy's most scenic lakes and a popular area for tourists, Como is located just 19 miles from the Swiss border and 25 miles from Milan. Cole thought Como would be the best location for Eva and I - since the area is popular with tourists, there will be more people speaking English, and lots of close activities, shops and walking trails near the apartment. Our new place is just a few blocks from the lake shore and is one of the more spacious and updated options that Cole toured. Yes, I said spacious. Here are some photos of the interior:

Here are photos of the living room, entryway and awesome ceiling!

This is the master bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and laundry room. 

The sweet life, or la dolce vita, will come at a price... Unfortunately, the apartment will not include a few American amenities that I'm sure I will miss dearly.

See that hanging rack stacked next to our itty-bitty washing machine? Yep. That's the drier. I guess I'll learn to love ironing!

Cole mentioned that many shops had their lights turned completely off during the day. He was surprised to find that they actually were open for business. I guess this is just a way they save money and energy, but for this wasteful American, it will take some getting used to.

During his stay, Cole was able to watch an episode of Walker Texas Ranger - completely in Italian! As he said, one thing was clear - Chuck Norris is still a badass. In order to watch movies in English, we may need to use Apple TV, which works with an iTunes account. We need to do a little more research here. Many TV and music websites (like Pandora - so sad about this one..) are blocked through the web in Italy. We'll have to learn what our options are by trial and error once we're there.

TWO Months Old!

Today is Eva's two month birthday! Our lives have changed so dramatically since having her - and we couldn't imagine life without our sweet baby girl... She is starting to smile at mommy and daddy and coo back at us, which is SO exciting! Over the last few weeks Eva's appetite has become more predictable and nursing has become a much easier process overall. Every day we see growth and development - Eva's baby blues are more focused and bright and she loves wiggling her arms and legs in excitement - or when she's angry! Cole thinks Eva has more of a yell than a cry - she definitely lets us know when hunger strikes or she needs some cuddle time. Already, two months old! It's been a wonderful journey so far.

She has also learned to chatter with mom! She just started doing this over the last few days, and it's so much fun! Here's a video: https://plus.google.com/u/0/111215586277693607037/posts/DXGFZUsKVFy

Expats

According to Wikipedia...

An expatriate (in abbreviated form, expat) is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing. The word comes from the Latin terms ex ("out of") and patria ("country, fatherland").

Yep, that's about to be us! We are so excited to begin our adventure as a family and experience a new culture. Officially, we will head to Italy on June 22nd, so the countdown is on! We'll return in June, 2013. So many people have asked if we think we'll stay there after our year is up... While we may fall in love with the country, we both know that we will greatly miss our family and friends! We have so much to learn in regards to language, transportation, lifestyle, etc. It's all a little bit overwhelming, but we are eager to get the experience started.

We'll be living northeast of Milan, most likely in Como or Saronno - in the Lombardy region. The Parker Hannifin plant where Cole will be working is in Veniano, which is a small town of about 3,500 people. Veniano serves as Parker's European headquarters. Here's a map of the three locations, Veniano is the middle marker:


View Italy


We have been fortunate enough to have the services of a relocation company, as well as a tutor in preparation for the trip. There has also been a company working with Cole to process his work visa and assisting us with all of the paperwork necessary to make the move. Overall, the paperwork has been a sticky process and I'm not sure we could have done it on our own - it's a bit overwhelming with multiple options for processing all of the paperwork and the Italian government has a reputation for being kind of confusing to work with.

2012 has already been a whirlwind, after welcoming our sweet baby girl on March 7th, we're now preparing to depart! I've said it before... but this year I am really hoping to regularly update this blog with updates about Eva and Italy! There will be so much to see and do - our year as expats will fly by! Cole is staying in Saronno this week, house hunting and meeting his new coworkers. Hopefully we'll have photos to share of our new "home" soon...

Eva's Arrival!

Baby Shower in Winfield

At our appointment Tuesday, Dr. Welch scheduled an induction date... Evidently at 38 weeks, our little girl is already measuring 40. Hopefully it's because she has her daddy's height and not her mommy's hips! ;)

So Baby E will officially be here on March 7th, assuming she doesn't decide to come earlier! We cut it close with the shower in Winfield - not realizing just how quickly things would progress towards the end of the pregnancy. It was a beautiful shower - organized by my sisters and with some help from Mom, too. The girls hung paper lanterns and tissue paper pom-poms from the ceiling, transforming the country club into an explosion of pink! I'm sure all the golfers filtering in and out appreciated that... They even ordered a cute cake and made a diaper cake, too. It was all really special - so beautiful! Lots of friends and family members came for the shower and it was so great seeing everyone. I always end up feeling guilty after it's all over - there's never enough time to really have a good chat with everybody... but I am so appreciative for the time I did have with everyone and for their generosity, too! 

February Showers!

What a busy, busy month it has been! I am feeling like one spoiled mama - just having finished up our third baby shower! She is not even out of the womb yet, and this child has everything she could possibly need...

First, my dear friend, Sabrina, threw a shower in Manhattan. It was absolutely adorable! Like any southern belle, Sabrina really loves to entertain. She made some delicious food and had such cute decorations and activities, too. The theme was a book shower - so we now have piles and piles of awesome books ready to read to our little girl! Sabrina also had onesies and puffy paint...

It was really fun to see what creative ideas everyone came up with. Her hubby, Ryan, just might have won the prize for best onesie! There was one leftover and later that evening he painted, "My Dad Can Beat Up Your Dad!" Of course, Cole appreciated that one. :) So many friends came to celebrate - including a few I hadn't seen in years! My college friend, Tara, came from Topeka and Melissa (one of my childhood friends) drove from Kansas City - and we both cried when she left. I certainly felt loved and the weekend left me in happy, overwhelmed tears. I have been blessed by some fantastic friendships, and it meant so much to be surrounded with such wonderful friends!

Shower number two was at Cole's Aunt Kathy's home, near Salina. It was so fun to see both the Eilders and Hasker sides of the family, along with great friends from that area. Many of Cole's aunts drove really long distances for the shower - again, the weekend left me feeling so spoiled and extremely blessed to have such wonderful family and friends! And left Baby E's closet full of CUTE, girlie clothes!

Shower number three... yes, I said THREE, was in Winfield with family and friends. I have two of the best sisters anyone could ask for - and they went ALL OUT! :) More details to come...

Inspired by Pinterest

Maybe inspired isn't the word... maybe obsessed is more like it. :) In fact, I could totally relate to one post that read:

Pinterest:

It's like fantasy football for girls.

So true. It's been ridiculously fun and probably a little too time consuming... I especially love finding free printable graphics, and each time I come across an Etsy print, I always think... I could so create that myself! So I gave it a shot, both times in an effort to print something I could hang in the nursery.

Here's the first - I used publisher and downloaded lots of free fonts to create it. It's not perfect, but I'm really happy with how it turned out. Now I need to find just the right frame... 

AND I just love this second phrase, too. It's such a fitting quote for any mom. I'm now 31 weeks along and cannot believe there are only 9 weeks to go in this pregnancy! Time is flying by!!! If only we could decide on a name... :)

 

A million little reasons...

Hard to believe it's been nearly an entire year since I've last updated this blog... It makes me sad to see how long I've neglected it, since I truly enjoy blogging and catching up with friends online... but NOW it feels like Cole and I have a million reasons to get with the program and blog regularly!

I had a post written about our trip to Yellowstone, but never quite finished it. I could have blogged about our fun trips to Table Rock Lake last summer, but it just didn't get done. Life is certainly busy, and my mind hasn't been very focused on blogging this past year. We spent over a year trying to get pregnant, and it was emotional roller coaster - especially for me. Throughout the process, Cole managed to be the calm, steady one... I'm sure he thought his wife was going nuts - more than once! It's possible that he even told me that. He was just so sure that nothing was wrong with either of us, faithful that God's timing would be just right, and he kept reminding me to relax and be patient. This is one time I don't mind admitting that he was RIGHT!

We are expecting a baby girl March 15th, and couldn't be more excited! nervous! unprepared! Don't get me wrong, we are so ready to be parents and mostly just very excited for the future, but we know, as tiny as she will be, Baby E is going to rock our world! Life will change dramatically in March - ready or not! :)

Making her debut March 15, 2012! :)

As if having a baby isn't a big enough game-changer, we learned a few months ago that Cole was nominated and accepted to a foreign exchange program through his job.  So our little family of three will head to Veniano, Italy in late June. (For one year.) Veniano is a small town of about 3,500 in northern Italy, near Milan. We will be about one hour from snow skiing in the Swiss Alps and one hour from the coast. (I'm dying to capture the scenery and can't wait to take lots of photos!)  So, we'll spend our very first year as a family of three together in Italy - it still sounds crazy, even to me! We are thrilled with this opportunity...  truly a once-in-a-lifetime chance for us to experience another culture.

Bring on 2012! I'm, um, pretty sure we can handle it...

Rally Time

 

Last weekend I had so much fun doing the "bling thing" with my favorite jewelry ladies. Premier had their Regional Rally in Kansas City for the second year in a row... LOVE that it's in KC. Three years ago we made the very chilly trek to Des Moines - yikes! I'm pretty sure at one point the temperature gage read -25 degrees that year... BRR!!!

Here are some of my favorite photos from our girl-time!

Isn't Kailen adorable??? Here she is walking across the stage for her "Amethyst" award! GO, KAILEN, GO!!!

 Here I am with my upline, Heather and one of my favorite "Designers," Kasey! :) We had a fantastic time - and Premier released their new spring line at the Rally! WOW!!! I am loving all the new spring pieces. In fact, I just received my shipment today! Now I'm faced with a very tough dilemma... what to wear first?!?!?!

2010 Christmas Card!

THIS is our first-ever Christmas card! :) Cole really wanted the dogs to be dressed up in outfits, but I just didn't have the energy for that... maybe next year! :) Merry Christmas, blogging friends!