O' Christmas Tree O' Christmas Tree

Here are some photos of our Christmas tree this year, Antonio was a very big help decorating it, he put almost all of the ornaments on... he usually gets to decorate it however he wants. As long as the kids are happy with the tree, that's all that matters to us :) Giovanni is feeling slightly better and he enjoyed listening to Christmas music while watching us do all of the work. I love the beautiful light our tree gives off. Nothing is better then snuggling on our couch, all of us, watching movies with the tree lit up. Its just a beautiful setting! This year, we bought a baby gate to go around our tree to keep our little one from getting into it :) It's going to be a life saver this year!

our beautiful boy and his red cheeks taking a nap

Giovanni's ER Visit :(

Wow, what a hectic weekend! I am completely exhausted... I am running on very little sleep since Friday and being so worried about my little baby definitely does not help.

Friday night, our little Giovanni got a temperature of 103.3 and started to throw up. I was able to get his fever down with infants tylonol and a luke warm bath. Saturday, I thought he was feeling better, I was able to keep his fever down and he did not throw up anymore. Saturday night however, his fever returned, only this time, I was having a really hard time getting it down, even with tylonol and baths. I also noticed a little rash on his legs and his left cheek was so incredibly red... so I started to get really worried, I knew he would have to be seen and I did not want to wait until Monday because at this point, he didn't even want to drink his juice and he was feeling terrible.

Sunday morning, both of his cheeks were red and the rash on his legs got worse. I knew something had to be done so we took a trip to the ER and our poor child had to be hooked up to an I.V. because he was dehydrated. I swear this hospital visit took years off my life, that's how upset I got. Thankfully, we were only there for about 4 hours and I was so grateful they were able to get fluids into him. Once he was hydrated, he started feeling better and by the end of the visit, he was drinking his juice and eating ice pops.

Their diagnoses was "5th disease" or as some call it, "slapped cheek".

This is basically just a viral illness that needs no antibiotic and should go away within the next few days. Praise GOD it was nothing serious! I just have to make sure my baby stays hydrated. His last fever was this morning and I am praying it never returns.

We took him to see his pediatrician today for a follow up checkup and he confirmed what the hospital had said. He is still not feeling well and I feel so terrible for him. I feel like I have been doing nothing but holding him for the last 3 days. My whole body is killing me. Hubby and Nino are being such big helpers, I don't know what I would do without them, they were here for us the whole entire time, I love my family!

Thank you so much for ALL of your prayers, its so great to know how loved and thought of we are!

^^^

If you look at his face, the redness started out on his left cheek, but by morning, both of his cheeks looked like this (poor thing)

^^^Our baby tonight trying to get some rest

Our Thanksgiving 2010

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year as usual, its always great spending time with our family! In the morning, Josh, our babies and I watched the parade while putting up some Christmas decorations. I also did some last minute cooking. It was really nice. I didn't get many photos since we were very busy, but I did manage to get a few! I hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving this year! Time to kick off the Christmas season!!

Our Turkey Cupcakes

So, along with my little helpers, we made delicious chocolate cupcakes decorated as turkeys for Thanksgiving tomorrow. This is the first time we have ever made anything like this... and it took us a long time... Fun, quality time though! Hubby made most of the ones that are messed up hahaha! We hope they taste better then they look but hey, not bad for our first time!! And we had so many laughs making them!

Giovanni on clean up duty hehe:

30 days of Thankfulness (cont.)

30 days of thankfulness; day 14: Today I am thankful to be a SAHM (stay at home mom). I know the economy is rough now, and many woman have to go out and work to help support the family and do not get to stay home with their children all day :( I am so thankful to God that I am able to stay home with my boys every second. I also give lots of credit to the moms who work and then have to come home and cook and take care of their babies and clean and everything!

30 days of thankfulness; day 15: Today I am thankful for the quality time I had with my GG. We just sat in bed watching Disney and snuggling and he let me rub his face and hair and he enjoyed it so much. It was just so cute and he looked so comfortable. I live for those moments.

30 days of thankfulness; day 16: Today I am thankful for the AMAZING day I had with my 3 boys. Josh, GG and I were Christmas shopping all day until Nino came home from school. Then we went to one more store and played all night, nothing but smiles and laughs, I loved every second!!!

30 days of thankfulness; day 17: Today I am soooo thankful that my mommy is feeling better and better every day. I hope and pray this continues and she is 100% better soon so we can go shopping together!

30 days of thankfulness; day 18: Today I am thankful that our little GG baby is finally WALKING!!

30 days of thankfulness; day 19: Today I am thankful that Josh, GG and I went up to Antonio's school to have a "turkey lunch" with him to celebrate Thanksgiving early. He was so proud and excited we were there to have lunch with him and all of his friends!

30 days of thankfulness; day 20: Today I am thankful that Antonio read ME a book tonight before he went to bed. I am so proud of him and all of his accomplishments. He is so smart God bless him!!!

30 days of thankfulness; day 21: Today I am thankful that I got to order a huge baby gate. Not only will the kids love to play in it, but it will be perfect to put around the Christmas tree when we put it up so that GG does not knock it down or get hurt!!

30 days of thankfulness; day 22: Today I am thankful that hubby bought us a brand new LCD flat screen T.V! It's beautiful and I can not wait to mount it on our wall!!

30 days of thankfulness; day 23: Today, I am thankful that I was able to get a little Christmas shopping done already, and I wont feel so overwhelmed in the month of December! I can concentrate more on celebrating the Christmas season and getting my boys all pumped for Christmas!!

Giovanni at 14 months old!

Happy 14 months precious Angel! You picked a great day to start WALKING! Yes, Giovanni is WALKING now! All of his milestones happen at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We visited them today after we picked Nino up from school and Giovanni started walking all over the place! Its about time little man!! We were wondering what you were waiting for!! We love you so much our beautiful baby boy! You could never possibly know the joy you bring to our lives!

(Check out his new big boy haircut!!)

and the big brother, the other joy of our lives... our everything, our Nino....

2010 Christmas List For Our Boys!

So, can you believe its that time already? To start preparing for Christmas??? Only 38 days left you know! This is the first year I started shopping early. I usually do not start until black Friday. Antonio sure knows what he wants this year! He has a list a mile long hahaha! We have to try to explain to him that he has to leave some toys for all the other good little boys and girls out there. Anyway, this is a very exciting time of year for my family and I, we just LOVE it.

Here is a list of things we have already bought and wrapped [for Antonio, we have not started shopping for Gio yet, we only have his list]!

Antonio's "big" item of the year = Xbox Kinect!!
*Some* other things on Antonio's list are:... as well as a bunch of other things like art supplies, more Star Wars figures and ships, Games etc.... we will see what he ends up with!!

A few things on Giovanni's list are:

Giovanni's "big" item of the year = Power Wheels Ford F150 ride on truck!!