standing and cruising

It has been a while since last we wrote. We have been having some adventures. Following the Portuguese adventure (which floored us financially, but was excellent, if tiring), we have now had the Italian adventure. Steve, Sienna and I took a 9 day holiday to Umbria, Tuscany and Rome, which was a wonderful break for all of us. We spent a week in an apartment on a tiny organic farmlet in umbria, run by a British couple. We had some glorious weather and enjoyed lots of evenings relaxation after Ms Sienna had gone to bed. We had a table, candles and the night sky all to ourselves, which was significantly enhanced by the supping of (very) local wine (one night we had wine made by our proprietors!). Following the week in Umbria and its neighbour Tuscany, which are absolutely gorgeous...we journeyed back down to Rome where we stayed with Steve's friend Melanie from the U S of A. Melanie is working for UN, and we stayed with her for 2 nights and had a tour of the UN food building from which you get to see ALL the ancient sites of this beautiful city.
Sienna was worshipped beautifully by Italians left, right and centre, almost to the point of being eaten up. She also got to sample some Italian food, and was quite the connoisseuse, with the most fabulous pizza, truffle tagliatelle and a teeny tiny schleurp of gelato (we had to let her sample it too. It is too good). Since our return from Italy, both steve and I are obsessed with coffee, as we were spoiled over there. We have begun a cafetiere ritual every morning, so our house smells heavenly in the morning (which starts rather early due to a certain little girl).
Little Sienna is incredibly mobile. She is a fast crawler, only contained by her Sienna Den (she does not always like being constrained by it, particularly when she is tired. But it is a necessity for us when we are cooking/cleaning in the kitchen). Sienna has been cruising for a while, but recently has begun particularly adept at using anything and everything to enable her to "walk" all over the entire house. We have had a couple of tumbles, but nothing stops this little adventurer.
As you can see from the recent photos, sienna has a full head of hair. She really seems to be quite the little girl at the moment, which is so wierd. Why does babyhood go so fast???? She will be 10 months old on 15th June. I can hardly believe she has been in our lives for so long/short.
She has become a little character, and is very silly and smiley. Her smile is contagious and often directed toward random strangers on the bus (who respond by fantastic sienna worship!).
We are still not getting very much sleep, but only waking up once or twice at the moment, which is a significant improvement on our previous situation. Still feeling exhausted though. It is hard being back at work and trying to do everything. I have started writing my book though, which is really inspiring and exciting. I just wish I had more time so I could spend lots and lots of time with Sienna too. Luckily Steve is fabulous daddy and having lots of lovely adventures iwith our sienna wenna whilst I am at work (flexible still - so still around a lot in the house).
We have CP and John coming up to see us this weekend. Very exciting. CP is one of Sienna's Godmothers, and loves her little Godchild. I am excited as it has been too long. Planning some daytime adventures with Sienna and some night time adventures with some wine!!!