New pics ;)

My teeny niece Zoey getting her cryface on. But still the cutest ever!
Giana loves her Zoeyoyoy. ( that is what Giana calls her)

Happy Daddy and Giana

Giana helping Mommy vaccumm

I'm sorry- but I have to say this is the cutest pic!! I have got to frame it.

Big News!!!

Well, Mike and I have big news- Giana is going to be a big sister!! ;) I'm 16 weeks along on Tuesday, due on May 17. We are very excited!!! Still very surreal sometimes!!! I'll have to scan in some of the ultrasounds. Everything is looking great and we'll find out the sex the end of December!!!
We've had a busy month! Giana and I flew home to St. Louis the beginning of Nov to meet my new niece Zoey. She is just so teeny tiny and perfect!!! And Giana absolutely adored her! Giving her kisses, hugs, rubbing her head, and was so gentle! Just the best!
And my parents just finished up a week long visit with us. We had Thanksgiving at our house this year. My Mom and I successfully made everything and it was pretty stress-free and 100% delicious!!! My parents were a huge help all week and Giana was sooo happy with them! And added Oma and Pops( their nicknames instead of Gma and Gpa) to her vocabulary! YAY! And my Mom and I got so much Christmas shopping done also! I'm about 95% done! This is the earliest I've ever done my shopping! Love it.
And in 2 weeks my sister Liv and bro-in-law Chez come to visit! And in 3 weeks we head to STJ to celebrate an early Christmas with everyone!!!
Giana update- talking up a storm!!!! Constantly chatting, repeating what we say, into EVERYTHING( who knew a 15 mos old could make such a big mess in a matter of a few minutes!) She is eating practically everything, except for pasta. The girl will not go near it. Crazy! She is now taking only 1 nap in the afternoon- but they usually last 3 + hours! She is still obsessed with "Lights"- seeing them, saying the word, turning them on and off. I know she is absolutely going to love Christmas! She just went for her 15 mos check-up- she now weighs 24 lbs ( 50% percentile) and is 32 1/2 inches tall( 90%). Tall and skinny girl!!
Posting pics in a few minutes!

More Halloween pics, etc

Here is our saw-carved pumpkin! ;) Not too shabby!
I gave Giana her 1 piece of Halloween candy. A Dum Dum lollipop. She was loving life!

Crazy Hair after her nap!!

We also went to the park on Halloween. Cute pic of Daddy and Giana.

My baby girl!

Happy Halloween!

Giana had a great 2nd Halloween! Carving pumpkins, trick or treating, going to a party. Mike has a genius pumpkin carving technique. No need for an hour of carving, scooping it out, etc. He using his small saw and carves it that way! And we are good to go in like 10 min! It was pretty chilly for trick or treating but we took Giana out on our street. She wasn't sure what to think. ;)

Our little pumpkin!

Activities with Giana ;)

So, Mike's sister Caren watches Giana along with her daughter Ariella. For many weeks now they have been doing color theme weeks, where they wear that color, eat a food of that color and do activities pertaining to it. I love it! I feel like she is in "school"! In the end she is making them a big color book with all their activities in it.
Here are a few pics. ;)
Yellow week- activity with popsicles
Happy Girl!!! Green week eating cucumber! She LOVES them!

Pink Week- Coloring!!

White week- eating apples- silly faces. ;)

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Months too late!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Flowergirl at my sister Liv's wedding

Officially enough hair for pigtails!!

Ok, how horrible am I??????????? It was a crazy hectic summer and I have just gotten out of sync of doing the blog! I will get back on!!!! Here are just a few pics of Giana from the summer, etc. She is doing so well! Turned 1 on August 15th!! She is officially walking all over, talking lots!! And tries to repeat everything we say. Her favorite word is definitely "light". She says it a million times a day- whenever she sees a light, wants a light on, etc. ;) She's still such a love bug and we can't believe how big she is getting! I will get back in the habit of blogging and posting pics of a little girl!!

Some more random pics.....

I just thought this was a silly pic .
We have a swingset for Giana and she LOVES swinging all the time!!

Ok, this is literally the messiest baby on the face of the Earth!!!! WHOA!

Giana loves pulling herself up in her crib all the time now. She gets all excited.

Some random pics... Cousins.....

So, the other night I let Giana go a little crazy with her dinner. So, so messy!!! Immediately into the tub!!
My niece Annabelle. This is a framer. ;)

Sweet Ariella. Snoozing it up. Notice the jewelry she is wearing. Loving the accessories already. ;)

Cousins- Louis, Big G( Giovanni) and Little G ( Giana) all hanging out. ;)

My snuggle bug

Swimming with Daddy

So, Mike took his turn of doing swimming with Giana. She of course LOVED it!! It was funny as soon as we walked into the pool area, she yells out in excitement and starts jumping up and down in my arms. So cute.

Ok, so this has nothing to do with swimming. But, Giana lots to be a gymnast. Constantly putting herself into split position. Usually she has them even more spread out. She even fell asleep like this the other day. God medalist gymnast in the making. ;)

Updates on Miss G. ;)

Well, Giana is a lady on the move constantly!!!!!!! She is all over the place in seconds it seems, so we have our hands full keeping an eye on her!!She just wants to explore everything. But Such a happy girl!!! Breaks into a big smile everytime a new person comes up to her. She is up to 6 teeth now!! And a few others starting to pop thru. She is loving eating all the "big people" food. She is still such a cuddle bunny, layinhg her head on my shoulder while we sing songs. And she is obssessed with reading stories. She loves to help turn the pages.She is saying DaDa all the time. And Mama pops out only if she is whiny or needs something. ;) We have a great state park near us with a trail we can walk to, so I've been able to take her on lots of run/walks with this great jogging stroller Olivia and Chez got us!!
Speaking of, Giana and I head to MO this week to celebrate Auntie Olivia with a wedding shower!!! YAY!!! Can't wait to see everyone and also see Auntie Sarah's growing belly!!! She and Joe found out last week they are having a baby girl!!! A best friend in the making for Giana. ;)
Ohh, I had a celeb siting this week in the city. Some of you may not now- but I LOVE the celebs. I'm all about reading People, US Weekly, watching my shows!! Mike makes fun of me all the time!! I saw Erika Christensen. She is on the show Parenthood, was in the movie SwimFan. Love it. A few weeks ago I saw Matthew Modine as well.
As far as the house goes, we are getting our hardwood floors redone while we are in MO. I can't wait!! And Mike is putting new siding on the house this summer as well.

Giana's 1st Swimming Lesson!

We started Mother's Day with Giana's 1st Mommy and me Swimming lesson. She absolutely LOVED every minute of it. Splashing like crazy, kicking her legs, laughing, just loving every minute of it. We'll be doing that every SUnday for the next eight weeks. Mike and I are going to take turns going in the water with her. Water baby!!

Taking a ride on the kickboard
WOOO!

Mommy and Giana in the water.

Warm Weather

It'a been so warm here lately and I have absolutely loved dressing Giana in little dresses and short sleeve shirts. Bring on summer!!! Giana has been such a happy baby!!! She stood on her own twice today!! Big girl!! Tries to talk back to you in her own little language. Is saying MaMa alot, which of course I love, love. My parents are here to visit!!! YAY! They are spending the week visiting and taking care of Giana. So glad they are here and get to spend some quality time with their grandbaby. We had a great Mother's Day today!!! My hubby surprised me with flowers and some gifts. Of course the weather was crappy today, so we were pretty low key. Had some yummy wine, Mike put together Giana's swingset and made a delicious dinner for us!! I can't wait to have Giana try out her swing set!!
Exploring the grass. Not knowing what to think. Love this outfit from Auntie Sarah too. ;)

Daddy and Giana playing outside

Trying to stand up.... getting so close. ;)

The best smile ever!

Pics, Pics, more Pics ;)

Mike got us a new fancy camera a few weeks ago so we have been snap happy!!! It's so fun and also takes HD video as well. Love it!!

Happy Baby getting ready for bath time
Mike loves to sneak in and take pics of Giana snoozing.

Daddy got her her first fancy dress by Juicy. ;) Loved the "Juicy" toosh.