20 Months Old!

I can't believe we are nearing the end of Gianna's "month old" stage.  She has grown so much in the past few months linguistically and physically.  So, here are some of the mile stones:

Words:  Gia now has a pretty big vocabulary (I mean, I'm guessing... I've never had a toddler before, but she's pretty good at talking).  She repeats back pretty much anything we say to her, and then learns to use it on her own within a couple days.  For example, we taught her to say "I miss you" on the phone to her grandparents, and just today she said it on her own to Bobby after he got back from his Bible study.  And she says "I love you," which is my favorite.  So precious!

Music:  This girl loves to sing!  We can't usually tell what she's singing, but she goes around the house doing it.  And in the car or when we have music on in the house, I will turn the music off and Gia will continue to (attempt to) sing the previous song.  Her favorite songs right now are "Gettin' Jiggy with It," "Twinkle Twinkle" and "B-I-B-L-E."  She helps us know that we need to sing one of those songs by saying either "Na na na," "Up above" or "Bee-uh-bee-uh-bee."  

Also, she absolutely loves any kind of music, especially if it has a beat.  She dances, spins around, sings along, claps and laughs.  She loves to play the keyboard, especially at her babysitter Kenna's house.  I think we're going to have to start putting money away for dance and music lessons!

Eating:  Gia is still not the worlds most fabulous eater, and I'm assuming this will just continue throughout her childhood.  She does eat at least one good meal a day, and she loves her milk, so she's healthy enough that I've stopped worrying.  Chocolate, cookies, and anything you can drink in a grown-up cup with a straw are her favorites.  She uses a fork really well and can pick up mostly anything with it.

Playing:  Gia is the most social kid ever.  She doesn't cry (or for that matter, get sad at all) when I drop her off anywhere.  I can leave her in the gym daycare while I work out, leave her with Kenna, or the church nursery.  We've been looking at other churches lately to gleam ideas for our church plant, and she is totally fine going into a strange nursery with new people.  Another confirmation to me that the Lord gave me this type of child so that I could financially help provide for our family.  Thank you, Lord.

Size:  Gia weighs about 23lbs and is now offically out of her 12 month clothes.  Everytime we get dressed, she counts as we put her arms in (one, two), and then asks for her shoes and bow when we're done.  Then she will say, "Gia?" which means that she wants to look at herself all dressed up in the mirror.  SO cute.  I'm creating a fashion monster... we're going to have to start putting money away for her clothes, too, I guess :o)

TV:  She still doesn't watch TV, although she's starting to glance at it once in a while.  We probably only have a few more months of being able to watch our stuff when she's around.  She does, however, stare at the TV when the commericals come on (because of the music), and she has a favorite video.  My mom got her this "Classical Baby" video, and she asks for it 5 times a day.  She interacts with it and dances around... and stands way to clost to the TV, as if she wants to touch the drawn-characters.  I may have to write another post about that at some point.

Teeth:  Gia had her first dentist appointment this month.  She has this thing with her lip, which isn't a big deal but will require a "snip" later in life.  They didn't charge us for that visit, but they charged us $35 to look at her teeth when she fell last week and chipped her top tooth.  Yep, $35 to tell us that it's not that bad and will probably wear down on it's own.  Live and learn.  But we love the dentist, so I won't hold it against him.

Bedtime:  Our routine is: PJs and change diaper, milk, clean up, brush teeth, she gets her blanket, paci and bear, read two books in the rocking chair.  We pray over her, give lots of kisses and then put her in her crib.  Most nights she goes right down, although sometimes she cries.  She sleeps 12 hours because we have her on a routine, but when my parents were here she sometimes slept over 14.  So, there's hope for sleeping in during the summer!

Gianna is just the joy of our lives.  She is loving, friendly and mostly obedient.  She loves being around people, especially her grandparents when they visit or Skype.  We just love her to pieces and feel so blessed to be her parents.  

Sunday Morning Conversations

In order to fully appreciate this story, you have to know that our & Gia's bedrooms share a closet, so we can hear each other very well.

This morning we woke up to the sound of Gianna jabbering away in her crib.  I got up to get her and she wanted to keep playing in her crib.  I put my arms out to her and asked, "are you ready to get out?" and she said, "no."  So, I told her that she could keep playing and that I was going "night night" again.  I got back into bed, and she continued to play.  

About 10 minutes later, she said, "Mama?"

I said, "Yes Gia!" 

"Hi Mama!"  

"Hi Gia!"  

"Mama?"  

"Gia!"

"Gia."

This is a game we often play, where she continually calls to me, and I call back to her.  It's one of my favorite things ever.  Then Bobby joined in, and we all called to each other through the closet doors.  When Nola heard all the commotion, she came up to my side of the bed and started to howl.  So, naturally, Gia howled.  Then Bobby and I howled, causing Nola to howl again.  We spent about 5 minutes howling back and forth.  It was so much fun.  I wonder what our neighbors must think.

Second story:

When Bobby was getting Gia out of the car for church this morning, they had a really sweet conversation:

Bobby: "Okay baby, time to get out."  

Gia saw his Bible and said, "Bi-buh."  

Bobby: "That's right Gia, that's my Bible.  We're going to go to church."

Gia: "Ah-min" (Amen)

Fun at the Circus!

We took Gia to the circus this past Friday.  It was her (and my) first time at the circus, so I was really looking forward to it.  I kept telling Bobby, "we need to leave at 6, because otherwise we won't get good seats!"  Of course, he told me that we would be just find leaving at 6:15, and he was right.  There was a good crowd there, but plenty of seats.  

Gianna enjoyed the circus for the most part, but she was really more interested in eating snacks, climbing under the seats and taking walks with Daddy & me than watching the show.  She did enjoy when they had a bunch of dogs parading around.  Other than that she wanted to stand on my legs and watch the kids sitting behind us.

Just as the show was going into the second half and getting good, she got tired & orney and we had to leave.  Of course the one night we want to keep her out later, she takes an early nap and is ready for bed by 8.  Oh well, it was a fun experience and now we have some circus memories.

Eating goldfish as Daddy explains what's going on.

Gia loved climbing under the blechers.

Watching the puppies with Daddy.

Coming back from a walk around the arena with Daddy.

Bring on the Snow!

About a week ago we had a ton of snow fall in our town.  I have been waiting for this since we moved to Utah!  We have had 3 mild winters, and finally this year we got a good deal of snow.  We even got enough snow to close school, which doesn't happen often at all around here.  We got about a foot of snow, but it came down so fast that the plows couldn't keep up with it all.  Fortunately, we didn't lose power, so we just got to have a fun, snowy weekend!

First off, Bobby got our car stuck.  The traffic was AWFUL coming home, so he took a short cut around the back of the neighborhood.  Unfortuantely, one of the hills was covered in ice, and the Accord slid to the side & couldn't make it up.  My dad, Bobby and I spent a while trying to dig the car out, and then someone tried to toe us up the hill.  It didn't work, so we just left our car there until the next day.  

We took some snow walks.  It has been 11 years since I've seen this much snow (we had a big snow storm in Cary when I was 16 that closed school for a week), and I had such a blast stepping into the knee-height snow mounds and throwing snowballs.  Nola is in 7th heaven, and she just rolls around in our backyard to cover herself.  At times she was so covered in snow that had been falling that we had to really search to find her (she blended in!)  

We still have all this snow in our yards and driveways because it hasn't been above freezing in over a week.  I think it's supposed to warm up soon, so I'd better take advantage of this snow while I can!

Shoo-wee!

This is a short post, but I had to record it.

Bobby was sitting in the chair and had just passed gas.  I smelled it and sat on the opposite couch.  Then Gianna walked over to him to get him to play.  As she approached the chair she said, "Shoo-wee."  She smelled his fart and knew it was a bad smell!  Hilarious!

Christmas 2012

Christmas day was awesome.  It snowed the day before, so we had a white Christmas, and Gianna got spoiled.  I got my first taste of a late-night-Christmas-Eve-Mom; I was up until after 1am because of wrapping gifts, putting away food, getting Gia's toys & stockign ready, etc...  Despite this, Bobby and I were up early on Christmas morning.  Bobby kept asking me if my parents were awake yet so that we could go look at the tree (I think he was excited about giving me the big gift he had gotten me).  When we finally got them up, we made coffee and went out to see the tree.  The stockings were overflowing (mine with chocolate, Bobby's with candy) and the living room was filled with gifts. 

Christmases at my house growing up always lasted all day.  We didn't live near family, so we spent the whole day opening gifts and eating leftovers.  My dad always went overboard with gifts, which made Christmas morning so exciting as a kid.  Christmas for us lasted from morning to late night, mostly because there is a 5 minute story behind each gift.  We also tend to wrap our gifts 3 times, so it takes three times as long as a normal family to open everything.  This year we opened our stockings before Gianna got up, then opened some gifts with her & some of ours, and opened more after she went down for a nap.  We took a break when Gia got up so that we could enjoy her playing with her gifts, and then continued after she went to bed.  I think we finished around 10:00pm this year (because of the long break) :o) 

Papa Joe putting Gia down for her nap.

Both sides of our family are very giving people.  Bobby's big gift was an iPad that everyone had chipped in to get, and my big gift was a TV for our bedroom (insert big smile here).  I also got two seasons of the Duggars (my favorite show).  I love me some Duggars.  We were able to Skype with the Wood side as Bobby opened his iPad.  That was really special. 

Gianna of course got spoiled.  Bobby and I got her some leggos and play food for her kitchen.  Bobby's grandma had gotten her the most amazing rocking horse, which she LOVES.  My parents got her a tent & tunnel, train made of blocks, books, clothes, winter clothes & a stroller-sleeping-bag thing.  Bobby's parents had sent her the most amazing floor-piano (remember the piano from the movie Big?), a shopping cart, and later got her a baby doll (another post coming about that later) along with a ton of other things.  Gia and every other kid we ever have are totally set wtih toys until they're 5.  We are so grateful and blessed by the love of our families.  They are too good to us.

Here are some pictures from our Christmas in Utah.  Be prepared for picture overload :o)

Christmas Eve pictures:

Gia's tent that Bobby put together.

Go App!  Nana & Papa Joe got Gia a great sweatshirt.

We love to read The Polar Express.

My Dad and I opened our traditional candy bar gift!  The cure for that Christmas cough :o)

Bobby was pretty excited to get a deep fryer from his mom.

Our puppies even cuddled on this special day.