Rainy Day Fun

It has been rainy, wet and cold the past few days and we have not been able to go outside to play. I tried to keep the girls busy with art projects since they are tired of playing with their toys and watching videos. We played with playdo, we painted, colored in coloring books, and had numerous tea parties. Unfortunately we finished all of the above activities in about 30 minutes. It took me longer to clean it all up. Aaagghh! What else is there to do??

We did not actually cook - I put aprons on the girls to keep their clothes, well, close to clean. The hats came with the aprons - they love the entire look.

Future chefs?

Gisella is such a funny girl - she hates the smell of paint! Who taught her to cover her nose? I have no idea . . . the things they pick up at school . . .

Giuliana painting with textured paintbrushes. She is so talented.

Georgina Baptism

January 16th was a very special day for our littlest G - it was the day that she was baptised. Throughout the entire service, she did very well and most importantly, she did not cry when water was poured over her head. Georgina was listening intently to the Deacon. I love the little baptism cap - it is so sweet.

SHe loves to play/look at her hands.

The godparents (my brother, Tony, and my SIL, Larissa) lighting the baptism candle -

My brother holding the candle, he was very serious (probably thinking about all of his godfather duties). Since he was sitting behind me, - I was nervous that he was going to light my hair on fire. Hehe.

Georgina's baptism cake - it was very yummy - strawberries and cream. Too bad she could not have any yet - her sisters really enjoyed it!

Behind the cake are the party favors that Larissa made for us. She did such a great job - they were beautiful. Georgina is blessed to have such loving Godparents.

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Happy 4 Months Georgie!

Laughing, cooing, looking at her hands

Grabbing her very first rattle and then placing it in her mouth.

Who is that pretty baby in the mirror??

She can kick up her legs . . .

and then flip to her side!

My sweet baby girl is now 4 months - such a big girl - she has changed so much in the last month. Every day she does something different. She is growing and changing every day.

Her stats:

Height 23.5 - 20%

Weight 12 lbs 5 oz 30%

Head 40 - 25%

No, she is not sleeping thru the night. Not yet. In fact, it seems like she has regressed to newborn sleep - waking up every 3 hours. Perhaps she is still trying to establish her sleep pattern from when she was sick. Actually, the past 2 nights she has slept for 5 hour straight. Also, formula does NOT help. COntrary to what everybody says, "Just give her formula and she will sleep all night". Is not true and yes I have tried it.

BUT there are so many things that she can do and I am going to focus on that. Here are all the things that she CAN do.

She can

• from her back turn over onto her side


• reach for a rattle and grab it (just did this yesterday!)
  
• look at a mobile and reach for the objects
  
• when placed on her tummy, flip over onto her back
  
• smile, squeal, coo and laugh out loud
  
• follow me or papi with her eyes


• mantain steady head control


• kick and thrash her arms around when me or papi appear ( I love this - it is so cute!)
  

Georgina loves her swing now - and has fallen asleep in it during the day. She also loves to look at her hands - too cute.

Overall, there are so many things that she CAN do - most importantly, she makes her mommy and papi so proud of her and she makes them so very happy -

Merry Christmas

The G's playing with Nonna's Nutcrackers.

The week before Christmas, Giuliana and Gisella get sick with a cold and then both develop a double ear infection. Georgina also gets sick and we had to take her to the Dr. right on Christmas Eve. Thank you Dr. B for staying at your office and waiting for us! Georgina also developed a double ear infection and during Christmas, all 3 G's were on antibiotics. Poor little Georgina could not sleep nor eat very well. And of course, wanted to be held and would cry whenever we would put her down. So, MG and I took turns holding her, shooting saline solution up her nose, and giving her the steam bath. Day and night - we were and are still exhausted!

We spent Christmas at my parents home in Brookshire - the 'Ranch'. It is tradition - my family and I have done this every year - since I was a child. SO, after the Dr.'s visit, we packed up all the G's and headed out.

In the above picture, the girls are playing the piano. Giuliana loves music - listening, singing and playing. Gisella likes music also, but prefers climbing up and down the stool.

Christmas Eve dinner - I think that I sat down a total of 5 minutes - enough time to inhale my dinner before running off to hold little G.
The G's stayed up with us - in fact, they went to sleep close to 10:00 that night - they loved playing with their grandparents and their cousins. They ran all over the house - played with the Christmas tree ornaments - sang and danced to Christmas songs.

God Bless Silvia - she has worked for my mother for 20 years - here she is holding Georgina while Mommy takes a break to eat dinner.

Christmas morning opening gifts - Santa was so generous to all! Poor Gisella was so tired - we had to wake her up - not Giuliana, she was up and ready to have more fun with her cousins.

Gisella is having her first cappucino with Nonno. Hmm, maybe that will help her wake up a bit!

Books and more books - Giuliana loves books - she is such a great reader!

Austin Visit

Here is the hot mama outside her new home. Gorgeous, right?

Here we all are inside Kel's house - can you believe we all used to teach together? Good ole fun days! (Not the teaching part - just the hanging out together).

On Tuesday, Anna, Tanya, Laura and myself headed out to visit our friend Kelly that lives outside of Austin. Kelly has recently moved into a house that she and her husband designed together and had built.

The drive to and from Austin was fun - I got to catch up with my old Poe friends - without having to worry about the 3G's - they stayed at home with their Nonna.

Kelly's new house is absolutely gorgeous - what an inspiration for me to see that it can actually be done!

Unfortunately, we could only stay for lunch and then we had to take off - a 3.5 hour drive awaited.

My Angel

My sweet happy baby is now 3 months old.

She has grown so much these past few weeks - there is so much that she can do!

She can now vocalize, or coo, and of course, the first time that I heard her do this I thought that there was something wrong with her - I ran over to her and realized that she was just trying to speak. I also heard a deep belly laugh that very same day while we were playing peek a boo. Just recently, she has discovered her hands - it is the cutest thing watching her look/stare at her hands - she is so fascinated by them. She will be crying and then notice her hands and suddenly just stop crying in order to look at them! The funniest thing.

Georgina loves to smile and laugh. She has really been smiling since birth when I thought that it was just gas - but now I know that it is who she is - a happy smiling baby. Her only vice is that she loves to be held - all the time. My mother says that it is my fault for spoiling her and holding her too much. But how can you hold a baby 'too much'? I don't get it.

Because she loves to be held so much, it is a challenge to put her down in her crib to sleep. I will rock/nurse her to sleep and as soon as I try to put her in her crib she wakes up and the cycle starts all over again until she gets so exhausted that she finally just gives in to it. She fights sleep in order to be held. I need to try to fix this somehow but not sure how -

Once Georgie gets to sleep, she will sleep for about 5 hours straight on most nights. Then there are those nights that she wants to be fed every 3-4 hours - nothing consistent yet!

Grandparents Day

Tuesday before Thanksgiving was Grandparents Day at the girls school. The Gs enjoyed showing off their work and their school to the grandparents.

My girls are so blessed - all four of their grandparents went to their school and are also a huge part of their lives. They have such supportive, loving and caring grandparents that love them so very much. How incredibly fortunate we all are! We are thankful for them.