All Ready For School!

I just cant believe it. The time has come for me to send my oldest baby off to school tomorrow... Kindergarten, wow.

Thursday was open house at Antonio's school. We all went to meet Antonio's teacher and see his classroom. I cried like a baby but Antonio is very excited. I just cant help but think about my little baby having to find his way around such a big school all by himself like a big boy. Where has the time gone?? I'm not so sure I'm ready yet!! But, I guess that is part of being a mom... letting go sometimes... right? I am so proud of the little young man he is.Well, its the night before Antonio's first day of school. Josh and I will be taking and picking him up since we have decided against him taking the bus this year. We have to be there by 7:45a.m. He is all ready for the school year. He is all set with all of his clothes, shoes and supplies. He has to wear a uniform to school which I am very happy about, a solid colored polo shirt and either black, navy or khaki shorts/pants. Right now, Antonio is all snugly in dreamland waiting for his big day tomorrow. I just cant believe it.

My Miracle. My baby. My little Kindergartner.

I'm sure we will have to get him more clothes throughout the year, but for now, this should do ;)

Our Baby Is 11 Months Old!!

I just cant believe how quickly the time has flown by. Our precious miracle Giovanni Gabriel turned 11 months old yesterday.screaming 'cause I took his baba away for the picture LOL!

Giovanni is one of the most happy, pleasant babies I have ever met. I have never seen a more beautiful personality on a child this young before. He is sooooo expressive and knows exactly how to make each of his many faces at the perfect time to get attention weather it be his "cheeeeeese" face or his sad face with the lip or his mad/angry face, it is just soooo amazingly adorable! He is so lovable, always giving hugs and kisses. We are stopped a million times when we are out with this baby. People swoon over him, just as they did with Antonio. He is completely wonderful. A true blessing.

Giovanni's 11 month stats/milestones:

- Crawls full speed all over
- Can now walk pretty steady holding on to things and lifts himself up on everything
- Gives "high five"
- Recognizes and points to nose, eyes and mouth (my smart baby!!)
- Says "HI" "HI DADA" and "HI MAMA" (of course I have to repeat it first for him sometimes)
- Shows us how big he is by lifting his hands all the way in the air when we say "so big!"
- LOVES to dance. As soon as the music comes on, he really gets down!!

Our Mini Vacation at the Nickelodeon Hotel

Our little vacation was a blast. The last "big thing" of our summer since Antonio will be starting Kindergarten in just a few more weeks. This was the first time we have ever been to the Nickelodeon Hotel and it was absolutely adorable. It was non-stop fun for my boys since the second we got there ... from the pool to the slides to the arcade to the 4d movies to meeting all of the characters ... they just had a complete blast. Giovanni got so excited every time he got to meet a character, he LOVED them, it was so cute!! Josh and Antonio got picked to be part of a show in which Josh ended up getting a pie in his face. Hilarious. It was amazing just watching the looks on my babies faces while they were having so much fun singing and dancing to all of their favorite Nickelodeon songs. Giovanni recognized quite a few of them.

A Pirate's Dinner Adventure!

As Part of our 2 day vacation, we went to A Pirate's Dinner Adventure. To visit the website, click here. Antonio has been a die hard, loyal pirate fan since the age of 2 (no kidding!) so this had been something we've been wanting to take him to for a long time. Since we were in the Orlando area anyway for the Nickelodeon Hotel, we decided to make this the last stop of our vacation. Boy are we glad we did that! This was the most fantastic dinner show I have ever been to. Antonio was in his glory. He did not take his eye off of the show for one second. One of the pirates was named Antonio which made the show that much better for him. I completely recommend this show to anyone who is going to be in the Orlando Florida area. We ALL enjoyed it, even my teenage niece and her friend loved it (and they are hard to please!). Check out their website for all the details of what goes on during the night. Here are some photos of our fun!

Giovanni Crawls For The 1st Time!

Well, we didn't think it was going to happen since his brother and I skipped crawling and went straight to walking, but today, it did. Giovanni crawled for the first time! It was like he had been crawling all along... all of a sudden I look over and zoooooom... off he went! He was so proud of himself but he can never be as proud as we all were! I love witnessing these beautiful milestones!!

Loveeeeeee this little goomba!!

Brayden's Babyshower!

Brayden Anthony came into this world 5 weeks earlier then expected. Praise God he is healthy and doing wonderfully as is his mommy, my good friend Ashley.

Little Brayden was born before the day of his baby shower but yesterday, we were finally able to celebrate!

Happy 10 Months Gorgeous Gio!

Our precious boy is 10 months old today! God bless you always sweet prince.

Giovanni's 10 month stats/milestones:

- Loves table food, does great with using his jaws to mash the food

- Can pick himself up to the standing position

- Can play peek-a-boo

- Can shake his head "no"

- Knows his name and the meaning of other words such has "no" "yes" "good boy" "give kisses" "more" "all gone" etc.

- Calls for "mama" and "dada" and "nana" (brother)

- Size 5 diapers

- Can crawl a little (but I think he will go straight to walking like his brother)

- Very social, granting broad smiles to everyone he meets (he is such a doll and his personality is just blooming!!)

- Plays well along side his brother

- Starting to point at things he sees or wants

Why Don't Friends With Kids Have Time?

As I was browsing a friends profile, I came across a great article she had that I wanted to share :-)

The article reads as follows:

Why Don't Friends With Kids Have Time?

"Dear Carolyn: Best friend has child. Her: Exhausted, busy, no time for self, no time for me etc. Me (No kids): What'd you do today? Her: Park, play group...
OK, Ive talked to parents. I don't get it. What do stay at home moms do all day? Please no lists of library, grocery store, dry cleaners.... I do all those things, too. I guess what I'm asking is: What is a typical day and why don't moms have time for a call or e-mail? I work and am away from home nine hours a day (plus a few late work events); I manage to get it all done. I'm feeling like the kid is an excuse to relax and enjoy; but if so, why wont my friend tell me the truth? Is this a contest ("my life is so much harder then yours")? Whats the deal? Ive got friends with and without kids and all us child-free folks have the same questions.
-Tacoma, Wash.

Dear Tacoma: Relax and enjoy. You're funny. Or you're lying about having friends with kids. Or you're taking them at their word that they actually have kids because you haven't personally been in the same room with them. I keep wavering between giving you a straight answer and giving my forehead some keyboard. To claim you want to understand, while in the same breath implying that the only logical conclusions are that your mom friends are either lying or competing with you, is disingenuous indeed. So, because its validation you seem to want, the real answer is what you get.

When you have young kids, your typical day is: constant attention, from getting them out of bed, fed, cleaned, dressed; to keeping them out of harms way; to answering their coos, cries, questions; to having two arms and carrying one kid, one set of car keys and supplies for even the quickest trips, including the latest-to-be-declared-essential piece of molded plastic gear; to keeping them from un-shelving books at the library; to enforcing rest times; to staying one step ahead of them lest they get too hungry, tired or bored, any one of which produces check out line screaming.

Its needing 45 minutes to do what takes others 15. Its constant vigilance, constant touch, constant use of your voice, constant relegation of your needs to the second tier. Its constant scrutiny and second guessing from family and friends. Its resisting constant temptation to seek short term relief at every ones long term expense. Its doing all of this while concurrently teaching virtually everything - language, manners, safety, resourcefulness, discipline, curiosity, creativity, empathy, everything.

Its also a choice, yes. And a joy. But if you spent all day, every day with this brand of joy, and then, when you got your first 10 minutes to yourself, wanted to be alone with your thoughts instead of calling a good friend, a good friend wouldn't judge you, complain about you or marvel how much more productively she uses her time. Either make a sincere effort to understand or keep your snit to yourself. "

:-)

Our Little Cheese Face

Antonio now calls his brother "Cheese face" because when we take photos, we tell Giovanni to "say cheeeese" and he flashes us this big goofy smile and it is soooo cute!! It is completely impossible not to smile when you are looking at this beautiful, funny, smiley child! Here are some photos and a couple of video's of me trying to get "the cheese face". I finally got it on the last try!
Cheeeeeeeeeese [with that little crinkly nose awww]
Today, tooth #6 came in! Look at this photo haha I dare you not to smile!Fishy Face:

Video Clips:

Gio eating his snack and then telling mommy he does not want anymore:

Trying New Things!

Giovanni is doing such a great job trying new things and reaching new milestones everyday! He is getting so big, so fast God BLESS him. He is doing fantastic with small table foods and snacks. What a blessing! He is such a great eater [praise God] and loves trying new foods! He is such a happy, healthy, funny little guy who DEFINITELY has us all wrapped around those little fingers of his!!

Giovanni eating a real banana:

Giovanni eating his first "biter biscuit"

My baby's "CHEEEEEEEEESE" face, it is soooo cute he does it on purpose when I say cheeeeeeeeeeese. He drivess me crazyyyy omg.