SUMMER 2012/UPDATE

Wow I have not updated this thing since Mother’s Day….shame on me! We have been busy, busy bees this summer! So starting with the last post here is a quick update on our summer:

May 19, 2012 Gianna’s First Birthday! It was so much fun, thank you everyone who attended, you made it a blast. Gianna was in such a good mood and really enjoyed her cake!

June 2, 2012- David and Amber’s Wedding! What a beautiful event. A lot of hard work went into planning and making their day beautiful- We all had a really nice evening!...pics to come!

June 9, 2012- Carson’s First Birthday!! That was a Dr. Seuss EXTRAVAGANZA!!! Hillary and Gabe seriously outdid themselves. The décor was perfect, the food was amazing, Carson was the ‘host with the most’….such a perfect day!

June 17, 2012- Father’s Day! Daniel and Gianna enjoyed the morning together, we all went to breakfast and played at the playground. We then went to see Papa and got to swim and have a nice pool day!

July 4, 2012- Independence Day! We went to Daniel’s Grandma Jo and Ruben’s house for an early morning breakfast- followed by a 4^th of July parade! Gianna had so much fun!! We loved watching the parade then we had a chance to go to Tommy and Christy’s house for some pool time and hot dogs! Gianna LOVES the pool….she is a fish! Swim lessons this summer were a blast!

July 20- Gianna's Graduation from Swim Class! Gianna was in swim lessons all summer and the last day is "fun friday". What they consider "fun" is for everyone to jump off the diving board into the big pool! Gia is so FEARLESS she didn't mind the challenge a bit...and walked to the end of the board and jumped off (with a little push from her dad). There were NO TEARS, only smiles...and a little bit of shock! :)

July 21, 2012- Giselle’s 3^rd Birthday! We went to a birthday party for a dear family friend’s daughter. Gianna was overwhelmed (in a good way)  by all the “big” kids- she was interested in the magician for about 5 min because the big kids were interested….then she discovered the BOUNCE HOUSE. Oh my goodness- poor Daniel is the “worry wart” and would not let Gianna in the bounce house without one of us in there to make sure she was ok. I on the other hand thought she would be ok, and there was an older girl that was very protective of Gianna and was making sure she was not getting trampled (but isn’t that what bounce houses are all about). Either way, Gia spent the entire party in the bounce house- and she literally had a fit when it was time to leave!

July 27-29- Visit with the Prietos! We were sooo lucky to be able to visit with the Prieto family. It has been at least 3 years since we've sene Lily and Ryker and 1+ yr since we've seen Nikol, Jacque, and Jennifer. This visit was much anticipated and ended up being a BLAST. Such a good time with friends!

August 11, 2012- Swim day with cousins!! Gianna had an amazing day with Carson, Warren! Mom and Dad had fun with all the adults also! Such a relaxing and fun day. We ate, we played in the pool and enjoyed each other’s company- exactly what the dr. ordered!

August 12, 2012 Gianna’s first Lake Trip! Gianna had a date with daddy! They went to Lake Perris and got to ride on a boat! Daniel even let Gianna get in an inner-tube behind the boat! She had so much fun….

August 24-26- Road Trip!! We went up to Merced this past weekend! It was so great to see everyone and have a bbq with Nana and Grandpa. We also got to see Edgar and Rosie. Gianna was such a ham….doing “flips” (somersaults) for everyone, blowing kisses etc. Such a new environment- she was exhausted by the time the weekend was over.

1st Mother's Day!

Yesterday was my first Mother's Day....and it was perfect. I spent the entire day with my beautiful daughter, who I am sooo blessed to have in my life- and of course my mom. Daniel did a great job of making me feel special. Gianna of course always makes me feel special so all in all it was a wonderful day.

First thing in the morning we had to play in the balls!

Then it was off to breakfast

The flowers are so interesting...




The Water at Victoria Gardens....

 

My sweet baby girl

1st Family Vacation- Cancun

We went to Cancun April 7- April 14, 2012.  This was our first family vacation (granted we have taken plenty of extended weekends and short trips but most of the time we are traveling to/from one of Daniel's races).  We had been looking forward to this trip for months. It was such a RELAXING vacation...other than Gianna getting sick. The poor things spent the first 3 days in bed! She had a cough, runny nose, fever, vomit the whole 9 yards! This was definitely not how we expected our trip to start out, but we made due and by Wednesday afternoon she was feeling better.

All in all it was a very different vacation than Daniel and I are used to, but it was so nice to have it be just the 3 of us for an entire week with time to lounge around, swim, eat, drink and play in the ocean. Here are a few pics from the trip....and in case you can't tell Gianna is an OCEAN LOVER!

Gianna with her seaweed, she was so excited to grab seaweed out of the ocean.





they are so far out into the ocean- she was loving it

Gianna making friends- she LOVES older kids

Gianna was practically running at the waves- no fear!

She is like her mother- the humid air made her hair frizzy/curly

First day in the ocean, loving the waves

swim up bar- Gia ordering an OJ "on the racks"- jk Mamma was getting a bloody mary.

She loved playing on the balcony

This is what vacation is all about- being fed breakfast in bed!!

View of the pool from our balony

10 months!

Wow how time flies!!! Gianna is now 10 months old!  She went back to the doctor just before she turned 10 months- we are on ear infection #2 (boo!). The checkup showed that she weighs 18lbs 1.6oz, 28.5 inches long and her head circumference is 18 inches. As for the percentiles: Weight = 19^th percentile, Length = 56^th percentile, Head Circumference = 82^nd percentile.

She is still “cruising” on furniture and has started to take steps on her own. She can also balance and stand up on her own. As for her teeth, no new teeth have come in recently, but she has developed a habit of grinding her teeth…it makes me shiver!

Last week (just before GIa turned 10 months) we were asked by a friend of a friend if she could observe Gianna for her Bayley certification. I read up on it and below is a quick description.

Definition: The Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID) measure the mental and motor development and test the behavior of infants from one to 42 months of age.

Purpose: The BSID are used to describe the current developmental functioning of infants and to assist in diagnosis and treatment planning for infants with developmental delays or disabilities. The test is intended to measure a child's level of development in three domains: cognitive, motor, and behavioral.

I was so nervous that Gia would be in a bad mood or uncooperative but to my surprise she did GREAT! It was so fun to watch her try the different tests. Gianna “scored” at 12 months for her gross motor skills and about 11 months for her cognitive. We are proud parents! Haha. All in all it was a very cool experience and I am glad we were able to help out the girls that needed testing hours.

My Gym!

Gianna has been going to "My Gym" classes for about two months now. She loves it! We sing, we dance, we climb (of course) and we play with the balls. Most of all I think she likes that she has Daniel and my undivided attention for one whole hour on Thursdays! She LOVES to show off in front of the other babies and show off if she has any visitors. Ha ha. Mimi and Grammy have come to the classes and Papa even stopped by to play!



"Mom if  you keep moving that basketball I'm going to lose it!"



"I know there is something FUN at the top of these stairs!"

"O.M.G. look dad TONS of BALLS! Can you believe it?"

BOOM! I guess Mom was giving her too much freedom!

busy body...

Gia is so unbelievably busy …I was making dinner the other night and my “routine” is to leave Gia in the kitchen with me so I can keep an eye on her. She usually tries to climb on her highchair, plays with the dogs, and gets into the pots and pans. Well she decided that it was time to make a little hideout. She cleared out the pots and pans on one side of the cupboard and crawled in- it was cramped so she didn’t stay long- but long enough for me to take a picture with my cell phone!

As for the walking. She is getting brave. She will walk from the island in the kitchen to the sink and then to the fridge. Same thing in the living room…she will let go of the couch and try to walk across the room. She is up to about 10 steps unassisted and she can stand on her own now without pulling up on anything. I anticipate we will have a full on walker/runner in the next few weeks.

Monkey Business....

Gianna’s current obsession is climbing! We are convinced she is part monkey. She will find something, and I mean anything, and immediately bring her foot up to look for a place to heave herself up and start to climb.  We took a few pictures from this past weekend. I took the tray off the highchair so I could wash it, Gia was playing on the floor with the dogs…and apparently that was boring her so before we knew it she climbed into the seat of her highchair (from the ground). We caught a glimpse about the halfway point- Daniel wanted to pull her down, I immediately ran for the nearest camera and I convinced Daniel to let her climb and be there only as a “spotter.” I love watching her try to climb on things and figure out what will work and what doesn’t- she is so determined and so strong. Daniel on the other hand, is about ready to have a heart attack! (What will he do when she is five and scaling the tree tops with her cousins Warren and Carson?)

Conclusion…we need to baby proof IMMEDIATELY and Gia needs to get into Gymnastics ASAP!  Ah, a girl after my own heart!