Today, for the first time, we were up to see the sun rise. Guess why :-)
It's not true. Valentina behaved perfectly well. She slept in her Bugaboo (only today I managed to buy her bed and won't be ready 'till tomorrow) superbly quiet and happy and woke up only standard twice (don't forget she's only 4 days old...) to be fed like at 2:30 am and at 6:00 am.
What more can we wish (we know but it'll come later :-)?
Today we had our midwife (the one with 2500 babies on her CV we couldn't reach that night) come up and check up Valentina's drinking techniques, her weight, helped washing her, checked Cassie's stitches, etc...
We're ready for the second night together.
Tomorrow I pick up Grandpa Alex Han, aunty Jessica and big brother Davide at the airport in Verona! VERY EXCITING for all of us!
We'll keep you posted.
Good night.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Life has started
Real life has started for the three of us.
Valentina's bilirubin level dropped well and she resulted healthy at the check-out check-up (...)
Her transition to the outside world happened gradually. She fell asleep in the hospital and woke up at our place the Miramonti Residence, up in the mountains in Avelengo (where the worldfamous blond horses come from...www.haflingerhorses.com).
What a peace; the nature!
Today the weather was amazing. Chilly, crisp and sunny! I finally managed to take a few pictures to show you our "eagle's nest". It's really comfortable and it has amazing views.
Probably this first night, 'till I buy a crib, Valentina will have to sleep in the bed with us.
See how it goes.
-2 days to Davide, Cassie's dad and Jessica's arrival!
PS: Davide passed his swimming exam on Monday! He can't wait to see his sister, he says!
Valentina's bilirubin level dropped well and she resulted healthy at the check-out check-up (...)
Her transition to the outside world happened gradually. She fell asleep in the hospital and woke up at our place the Miramonti Residence, up in the mountains in Avelengo (where the worldfamous blond horses come from...www.haflingerhorses.com).
What a peace; the nature!
Today the weather was amazing. Chilly, crisp and sunny! I finally managed to take a few pictures to show you our "eagle's nest". It's really comfortable and it has amazing views.
Probably this first night, 'till I buy a crib, Valentina will have to sleep in the bed with us.
See how it goes.
-2 days to Davide, Cassie's dad and Jessica's arrival!
PS: Davide passed his swimming exam on Monday! He can't wait to see his sister, he says!
the girls are coming home!
Busy busy busy buying all the stuff we need...
If Valentina gets a good tan tonight (she was a bit yellow today) the girls will be dismissed from hospital tomorrow morning Wednesday the 27th.
Cassie has now milk for Valentina (the first three days it's called colostrum and it's pure immune system booster!) and that knocks her out every time she drinks. 5 minutes of breastfeeding causes her to sleep for half hour. This went on all morning... Really funny to see her pass out.
Let me finish putting together the Bugaboo now (yes; not done yet but it's really easy I see...) and the rest of the stuff for tomorrow and try not to go to sleep again at 3:20 am 'cause I have to pick up the girls early.
Buona notte!
PS: We don't have a car seat yet!
I went to buy one but my Volvo doesn't have the Isofix system (introduced nota bene by Volvo in 2000...) and my safety belts wouldn't fit around a Maxi-Cosi (can you believe it?! They're too short!!! How does the rest of the world do, even with smaller cars than a Volvo V70...???)
I'll figure out something to take our daughter home safely...:-(
If Valentina gets a good tan tonight (she was a bit yellow today) the girls will be dismissed from hospital tomorrow morning Wednesday the 27th.
Cassie has now milk for Valentina (the first three days it's called colostrum and it's pure immune system booster!) and that knocks her out every time she drinks. 5 minutes of breastfeeding causes her to sleep for half hour. This went on all morning... Really funny to see her pass out.
Let me finish putting together the Bugaboo now (yes; not done yet but it's really easy I see...) and the rest of the stuff for tomorrow and try not to go to sleep again at 3:20 am 'cause I have to pick up the girls early.
Buona notte!
PS: We don't have a car seat yet!
I went to buy one but my Volvo doesn't have the Isofix system (introduced nota bene by Volvo in 2000...) and my safety belts wouldn't fit around a Maxi-Cosi (can you believe it?! They're too short!!! How does the rest of the world do, even with smaller cars than a Volvo V70...???)
I'll figure out something to take our daughter home safely...:-(
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
our contact addresses in Italy
Friends.
Our email addresses work again:
lorenzo.viti@xs4all.nl
cassandra_viti@xs4all.nl
We'll start replying to your mail from now on...
We want also to give you an address in case you want to send post to us (for any particular reason...)
'till August 23rd:
Lorenzo & Cassandra
Apt. 210
Miramonti Gran Panorama Residence
Via S. Caterina 14
39010 Avelengo (BZ)
Italy
After September 1st:
Via Lorenzo il Magnifico 54
50129 Firenze
Italy
Our email addresses work again:
lorenzo.viti@xs4all.nl
cassandra_viti@xs4all.nl
We'll start replying to your mail from now on...
We want also to give you an address in case you want to send post to us (for any particular reason...)
'till August 23rd:
Lorenzo & Cassandra
Apt. 210
Miramonti Gran Panorama Residence
Via S. Caterina 14
39010 Avelengo (BZ)
Italy
After September 1st:
Via Lorenzo il Magnifico 54
50129 Firenze
Italy
Monday, June 25, 2007
Davide
Now that babycake/Valentina joined the family we'll keep you updated about all four of us...
As some of you know Davide is not with us because he is finishing school in Haarlem and is having a busy agenda too.
Yesterday he had a musical performance called Ferdinand de olifant at his choir school and it must have been great. I managed to follow the rehearsals 'till last week Tuesday before we left. A very cute and joyful musical based a bit on "The Lion King".
Today (monday) he'll be getting his swimming diploma A if all goes well! He's VERY fast in crawl (probably also being SO long) and does very well in swimming under water too. I'm sure he'll make it. I'll hear the good news tonight when he'll be back.
Coming Friday Davide will fly to Merano for a few days with Cassie's Dad and her sister Jessica!
He's very excited to see and spend some time with his little sister Valentina before joining us for four weeks of summer vacation on July 20th. We're all looking forward to this!
Good luck with your diploma Davide!!! :-)
As some of you know Davide is not with us because he is finishing school in Haarlem and is having a busy agenda too.
Yesterday he had a musical performance called Ferdinand de olifant at his choir school and it must have been great. I managed to follow the rehearsals 'till last week Tuesday before we left. A very cute and joyful musical based a bit on "The Lion King".
Today (monday) he'll be getting his swimming diploma A if all goes well! He's VERY fast in crawl (probably also being SO long) and does very well in swimming under water too. I'm sure he'll make it. I'll hear the good news tonight when he'll be back.
Coming Friday Davide will fly to Merano for a few days with Cassie's Dad and her sister Jessica!
He's very excited to see and spend some time with his little sister Valentina before joining us for four weeks of summer vacation on July 20th. We're all looking forward to this!
Good luck with your diploma Davide!!! :-)
Kwang-Li
Cassie and Valentina feel every day better!
Valentina has now a nice colour (when she came out she was gray...) and she eats....A LOT!
Ask her mum.
Cassie is getting rid of her hip pain she had the last five months and made it painful for her to walk/stand/sit/lie... She's feeling MUCH better. And she looks great. Amazing mum! (Super cute wearing her glasses!)
She can tackle a number of different nursing/breast feeding positions already. The hospital is really well organized and has a great staff that takes care 24 hours of proper nursing techniques and are there all the time to help, teach and advise! Amazing and friendly team of professionals. We're so lucky and happy we chose to come here!
Valentina's chinese name will be Kwang-Li, the original Mandarin form of her dad's name (Kwong-Pui) the Hong Kong immigration "cantonized" to Kwong and Cassie's character Li in her chinese name Li-Hsia.
Kwang-Li means bright expansive light-beauty...!
Above you see it written in Kanji (chinese characters).
Saturday, June 23, 2007
VALENTINA is born!
Babycake has a name since 2.17 pm today!
We welcome in our family Valentina Alexandra Viti, little sister of Davide; our adorable new daughter.
It took Cassie 35 hours to let her join us but it all went "naturally" and well...
She is healthy and her mum feels really well too so I'm relieved and looking forward to welcoming them back home (here at Residence Miramonti) in a few days.
The hospital and the obstetricians were great; they gave Cassie the strength and the emotional tools to make it through the pain and the moments of desperation. The girls are in really good hands.
Benvenuta Valentina!!! Brava mamma Cassie!!!
We welcome in our family Valentina Alexandra Viti, little sister of Davide; our adorable new daughter.
It took Cassie 35 hours to let her join us but it all went "naturally" and well...
She is healthy and her mum feels really well too so I'm relieved and looking forward to welcoming them back home (here at Residence Miramonti) in a few days.
The hospital and the obstetricians were great; they gave Cassie the strength and the emotional tools to make it through the pain and the moments of desperation. The girls are in really good hands.
Benvenuta Valentina!!! Brava mamma Cassie!!!
Friday, June 22, 2007
waterfall
After a beautiful Cap Verdian music concert in the amazing botanical gardens of Castle Trauttsmandorff in Merano invited by dear Heike (Cassie managed to enjoy a lot lying on her side on the grass) we went to bed pretty late. It must have been one o'clock.
At 3 am Cassie wakes me up and says: "Honey, I think my water just broke".
She stands up and it looks like Niagara falls between her legs... I'm not kidding; it was quite A LOT!
Called Dad in SD (6 pm...) and he reminds us that when the water breakes you must go to the hospital to avoid infections. And so here we are, after taking an hour to pack (of course we weren't quite ready yet...).
Cassie's contractions and dialations are being checked every two hours; at 2:30 pm (in one and a half hour) they'll decide wether they'll induce lightly or not.
The heart beat is ok and Cassie's doing fine so far. The atmosphere's friendly and relaxed and we can trust everybody. We ended up skipping the help of the 2500 birth midwife as she didn't pick up the mobile phone when we tried to call her at 4 am!
We're thrilled and will keep in touch with the homefront...
Ciao.
At 3 am Cassie wakes me up and says: "Honey, I think my water just broke".
She stands up and it looks like Niagara falls between her legs... I'm not kidding; it was quite A LOT!
Called Dad in SD (6 pm...) and he reminds us that when the water breakes you must go to the hospital to avoid infections. And so here we are, after taking an hour to pack (of course we weren't quite ready yet...).
Cassie's contractions and dialations are being checked every two hours; at 2:30 pm (in one and a half hour) they'll decide wether they'll induce lightly or not.
The heart beat is ok and Cassie's doing fine so far. The atmosphere's friendly and relaxed and we can trust everybody. We ended up skipping the help of the 2500 birth midwife as she didn't pick up the mobile phone when we tried to call her at 4 am!
We're thrilled and will keep in touch with the homefront...
Ciao.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
xs4all e-mail is down
Disaster has struck!
Since one hour our xs4all email accounts are down.
We don't know what is happening and are trying to contact the help desk in the Netherlands. They kept me waiting twenty minutes on the phone and still didn't manage to speak to anyone.
We're stuck!
If anyone has important things to mail us use my:
loreviti@gmail.com
temporary account and Cassie's:
cassandra@southcoastmedicalclinic.com
We'll let you know when xs4all will work again.
Sorry for the inconvenience...
Since one hour our xs4all email accounts are down.
We don't know what is happening and are trying to contact the help desk in the Netherlands. They kept me waiting twenty minutes on the phone and still didn't manage to speak to anyone.
We're stuck!
If anyone has important things to mail us use my:
loreviti@gmail.com
temporary account and Cassie's:
cassandra@southcoastmedicalclinic.com
We'll let you know when xs4all will work again.
Sorry for the inconvenience...
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
getting ready
I know I know...
You guys are getting nervous there. No false alarms. Babycake is ready to come, nice and low in the birth canal but we're not completely ready yet :-)
Today we bought the Bugaboo... The best pram on the market (Dutch design of course) our friends say. It still has to be put together though...
We also met a local midwife with 2500 deliveries on her CV that will assist us like they do in the Netherlands. If the contractions start we can call her and she comes to our place (so we don't have to drive down the mountain to the hospital and be sent back a few times 'till it's for real). She'll also be present during the delivery and follow through when we'll be back home; just like in Holland :-)
(Let's say Cassandra just doesn't trust me enough; and with 2499 deliveries less I experienced she's right). Every woman that delivered a child in the Merano Hospital keeps saying how great the people and the doctors are there and that's good news we already knew... It helps though those days in keeping Cassie's morale high!
We had a two hour relaxing break at the Therme here in Merano. It was quiet and almost empty and the new outdoor pools, lawn, "natural" waterfalls and steam room are amazing.
Matteo Thun architect. (I'll provide some foto's for the colleagues that might be interested)
That's it for today. I won't write every day (I think) but thanks already for your warm comments! They're all welcome.
Tomorrow we must get all the stuff ready for the "suitcase" that has to go with us to the hospital...in the next days...anytime.
Servus!
You guys are getting nervous there. No false alarms. Babycake is ready to come, nice and low in the birth canal but we're not completely ready yet :-)
Today we bought the Bugaboo... The best pram on the market (Dutch design of course) our friends say. It still has to be put together though...
We also met a local midwife with 2500 deliveries on her CV that will assist us like they do in the Netherlands. If the contractions start we can call her and she comes to our place (so we don't have to drive down the mountain to the hospital and be sent back a few times 'till it's for real). She'll also be present during the delivery and follow through when we'll be back home; just like in Holland :-)
(Let's say Cassandra just doesn't trust me enough; and with 2499 deliveries less I experienced she's right). Every woman that delivered a child in the Merano Hospital keeps saying how great the people and the doctors are there and that's good news we already knew... It helps though those days in keeping Cassie's morale high!
We had a two hour relaxing break at the Therme here in Merano. It was quiet and almost empty and the new outdoor pools, lawn, "natural" waterfalls and steam room are amazing.
Matteo Thun architect. (I'll provide some foto's for the colleagues that might be interested)
That's it for today. I won't write every day (I think) but thanks already for your warm comments! They're all welcome.
Tomorrow we must get all the stuff ready for the "suitcase" that has to go with us to the hospital...in the next days...anytime.
Servus!
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
...finalmente a Merano
Dear friends, we made it!
We had a stressful day last Wednesday the 13th we had to leave the house, Haarlem and the Netherlands...after 10 years.
We ended up packing and selecting stuff to take with us for the first 2 months 'till 9:30 pm. At the end our neighbors Melisande and Wietske were helping us carrying stuff and getting ready to leave. Thank you Wietske (and Tom), our new neighbors we haven't had time to get to know better; you are a great person with a big heart!
Luckily we had to drive only two hours to Muelheim, to Ben en Sabine's place. Sabine had prepared us a great dinner for she was in Frankfurt attending a wedding of a friend. Ben greeted us at that godforsaken hour (11:30 pm...) and sat with us at the table to chat and have a great end of that busy day.
The next morning we were driving to Strasbourg to meet our friend Herve` and "pick up" his wedding present. That was a dinner at the restaurant Au Crocodile. First we had drinks with Herve`; we hadn't seen each other since the wedding in September. Later we had a great four course dinner with wines (me) at this (former three now) two Michelin star restaurant. We were starting to relax. We were also staying at the Hotel Cathedrale with a beautiful view of the Cathedral (yes) and an amazing building with a wooden, wholly carved and decorated, fachade.
Next morning we head for Zurich to meet Jason and Monika and have (a wedding present) lunch together at a really cool "new" vegetarian place called Haus Hiltl.
I actually just discovered that the place has a 110 year old tradition. It was opened in 1898 by a group of vegetarian German immigrants and is the oldest vegetarian restaurant in Europe. Since 1903 it is owned by the family Hiltl and is since then located at the Sihlstrasse 28; in the center of Zurich. Amazing story.
We arrived late so Jason had to go back to work but as we sat down to eat Monika arrived and managed to spend some quality time with us. Thanks Monika. And thanks for the great lunch/present! The food was great and the place had a very nice atmosphere and light.
In the evening our next wedding present was waiting for us! An overnight stay with dinner at the wellness Hotel Castell, in Zuoz, near St. Moritz offered by our dear friends Barbara and Peter (most of you know each other from the wedding I hope). It rained the whole trip but we were driving through beautiful mountains so we were actually just enjoying. The next morning...the SUN was shining!
The Hotel is an old beautiful building with a modern extension designed (if I got it right) by the Dutch architect office UN Studio (I saw also a competition entry by Sir Norman Foster but it looked more like UN Studio to me).
Saturday we relaxed at the Hammam; steam rooms and a quiet pool with dimmed lights. We both had a massage and then drinks on the beautiful terrace overlooking the mountain scenery.
Who wants to leave we thought? Well... We did. Our next stop would have been the spectacularly placed Residence Miramonti in Hafling, overlooking Merano; what a fantastic view we would enjoy there for the next couple of months! I'll try to post a photo very soon...
So here we are after three days of pleasant travel visiting friends and eating good food.
Our parenthood adventure just about to start soon...as soon as babycake (she'll get a name soon, as soon as she shows her face and character) will think she's ready to join us out here ;-)
We'll keep you posted...come back soon.
We had a stressful day last Wednesday the 13th we had to leave the house, Haarlem and the Netherlands...after 10 years.
We ended up packing and selecting stuff to take with us for the first 2 months 'till 9:30 pm. At the end our neighbors Melisande and Wietske were helping us carrying stuff and getting ready to leave. Thank you Wietske (and Tom), our new neighbors we haven't had time to get to know better; you are a great person with a big heart!
Luckily we had to drive only two hours to Muelheim, to Ben en Sabine's place. Sabine had prepared us a great dinner for she was in Frankfurt attending a wedding of a friend. Ben greeted us at that godforsaken hour (11:30 pm...) and sat with us at the table to chat and have a great end of that busy day.
The next morning we were driving to Strasbourg to meet our friend Herve` and "pick up" his wedding present. That was a dinner at the restaurant Au Crocodile. First we had drinks with Herve`; we hadn't seen each other since the wedding in September. Later we had a great four course dinner with wines (me) at this (former three now) two Michelin star restaurant. We were starting to relax. We were also staying at the Hotel Cathedrale with a beautiful view of the Cathedral (yes) and an amazing building with a wooden, wholly carved and decorated, fachade.
Next morning we head for Zurich to meet Jason and Monika and have (a wedding present) lunch together at a really cool "new" vegetarian place called Haus Hiltl.
I actually just discovered that the place has a 110 year old tradition. It was opened in 1898 by a group of vegetarian German immigrants and is the oldest vegetarian restaurant in Europe. Since 1903 it is owned by the family Hiltl and is since then located at the Sihlstrasse 28; in the center of Zurich. Amazing story.
We arrived late so Jason had to go back to work but as we sat down to eat Monika arrived and managed to spend some quality time with us. Thanks Monika. And thanks for the great lunch/present! The food was great and the place had a very nice atmosphere and light.
In the evening our next wedding present was waiting for us! An overnight stay with dinner at the wellness Hotel Castell, in Zuoz, near St. Moritz offered by our dear friends Barbara and Peter (most of you know each other from the wedding I hope). It rained the whole trip but we were driving through beautiful mountains so we were actually just enjoying. The next morning...the SUN was shining!
The Hotel is an old beautiful building with a modern extension designed (if I got it right) by the Dutch architect office UN Studio (I saw also a competition entry by Sir Norman Foster but it looked more like UN Studio to me).
Saturday we relaxed at the Hammam; steam rooms and a quiet pool with dimmed lights. We both had a massage and then drinks on the beautiful terrace overlooking the mountain scenery.
Who wants to leave we thought? Well... We did. Our next stop would have been the spectacularly placed Residence Miramonti in Hafling, overlooking Merano; what a fantastic view we would enjoy there for the next couple of months! I'll try to post a photo very soon...
So here we are after three days of pleasant travel visiting friends and eating good food.
Our parenthood adventure just about to start soon...as soon as babycake (she'll get a name soon, as soon as she shows her face and character) will think she's ready to join us out here ;-)
We'll keep you posted...come back soon.
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