Giana at 6 months

Giana turned 6 months on Thursday and wow how time flies when you are having fun! This is really a fun age...and each month just gets better. Giana went to the doctor today and weighs in at 16 pounds, 8 ounces (60%) and is 26 inches tall (58%). Big girl! She had a nice gain over these past few months--my girl likes food! She got 3 shots in her thighs and was very sad, but was able to calm down quickly and then slept for a few hours. Her legs seem to be sore as she is whimpering while trying to stand on them. Poor baby! Anyway, she is doing all the things that she is supposed to be doing. She is grabbing at objects and holding them for a long period of time. Kenny actually noticed that she likes to grab things with her left hand...wonder if she is a lefty??? (Hand preference is not really shown until 3 or 4, but who knows???) She has found her feet, (which I have said before) and now she brings them to her mouth. SO CUTE!!! She is rolling all over and is pretty mobile--we are having to baby proof, which is not easy with all of Talia's small toys all over the place. She definitely knows what she wants too--she will roll and move around to get it! She is so vocal these days too. While eating, she will say "mmmm" after each mouthful--pretty loudly. It is pretty funny. She was crying the other night and clear as day said "mama" while she was staring at me...could that really be her first word? She is really loving Talia and laughs at her constantly--it is the sweetest belly laugh. Talia loves the attention from her (of course) and will ham it up for her. Talia will also sing to Giana when she gets fussy (or fuzzy) as Talia says. As for sleeping, we are still working on getting her to sleep through the night consistently. We have some great nights (like last night 7:15 to 5:15 this morning!), but then some not so great nights, where she wants to nurse and play for hours at 3:30 am! I know that this night waking *should* be over soon, so I will just be patient and enjoy the quiet time that we get together in the middle of the night. Let's hope that she is happily sleeping for 12 hours a night by the time school starts in less than a month--boo hoo!

These pics are from her professional session at Portrait Innovations at the Glen. I love that place!

We Have Videos!

Hey there, blogosphere. My name is Ken, otherwise known as "Daddy" or "Kenny" throughout this blog. I was downloading some videos to our computer today and thought I'd throw a couple up here.

Video #1 & #2 - The Our Father and Giana Rolls Over (Almost)

After about a month or so of praying the Our Father with Talia every night, she is finally able to recite it on her own. It 's not exactly something that translates in photos, so we took some video. While we were recording, I finally "caught" Giana rolling from back to front for the first time. We know she had done it a few other times because we'd find her in her crib facing the opposite of the way we left her, but this was the first time either Fran or I actually saw it. Of course we couldn't get her to do it for the camera :(




Video #3 - Talia Dancing "Ballet"

Talia is very much a girly girl. She's into wearing princess dresses while dancing "ballet". Unfortunately, our girl isn't the most graceful of children, as this video shows. The kicks are particularly hilarious.



Video #4 - Fran Has Competition

All there is to say about this video is that it is getting shown at Talia's wedding rehearsal dinner. The real question is do we give her fair warning and tell her sometime before that date arrives or hide it from her and spring it on her then.

Carrot Face

Just wanted to share a few adorable pictures of Gigi's carrot face. She loves her veggies!

Swinging Fun

We have a great park that was redone last summer just down the block from our house. Giana is finally big enough to go on the swings and she LOVES it. Talia loves to swing along side her, and they are just too cute together. Here are some happy faces:

High Chair Time

Gigi was trying to do whatever she could to get out of the bumbo during her feedings, so I finally nagged Kenny enough to bring up the high chair from the basement. Here are some shots of her during her delicious oatmeal dinner, the first time we used the high chair. Doesn't she look so tiny in there?

We started her on some juice to help her *digest* better. She doesn't love the bottle though...

For some reason, she leans to the left side.

I love this pic--she is winking!

Happy 4th of July!

We had our annual 4th of July party today, and despite the yucky rain (ugh!), it turned out to be a great party. We love to have all of our family and friends over every year. We usually have a great turn out and this year was no different. Thanks to everyone for coming to celebrate! Here are a few pics of the day:

Gigi wanted Kenny's beer--that's my girl!

A happy baby girl.

Sisters--poor Gigi almost fell face first in the shot before this one.

Mundelein Days

Today, our family and Auntie Diane (Kenny's aunt (and godmother) and Gigi's godmother) went to Mundelein Days. Talia loved to go to carnivals last year, and she certainly loved going today. She remembered a couple of the rides and was adventurous enough to try some new ones.

The first ride she went on was the cars ride, where she *had* to have the purple car that she rode on last year too. She has such an amazing memory.

I took her on a bumblebee ride, which goes up and down.

Kenny took her on her first roller coaster, which she laughed the whole way through.

I love the way that they are looking at each other in this picture.

She wanted to ride the tea cups ride all by herself, (well, with a stuffed Scooby Doo.)

Finally, she wanted to ride the car ride again, and chose a motorcycle this time. She looked very lady-like in her striped dress. After the rides, we had dinner, had ice cream and played in the park. We had a great time.

Giana and Her Toes

As I told you in the "Giana is 5 months" post, Gigi has found her toes. It is so cute to watch her grab and reach for them. She is now trying to eat them too. It is so hard to change her diaper, as she will not let go of them when she is bottom-less. I love this stage!

Smile!

Just wanted to share some super cute pictures of the girls that are sure to make you smile. How did I get such cute girls?