Happy Birthday Kenny!

We celebrated Kenny's 35th birthday today by going to Talia's friend Taylor's 4th birthday party. It was at the same place that Giana had her b-day party--the Carousel room at the Elk Grove Village Park District. We really love that place. Taylor had a "clown" making really cool items out of balloons (Talia got a ballerina)

They also had a face painter. Look how beautiful Talia's butterfly face is.

The girls had a great time riding the carousel, eating a ton, and playing in the play area.

When we got home, we sang Happy Birthday to Kenny with a cherry cheesecake.

Happy Birthday to Taylor and Debbie too!!!

Giana at 13 months

Wow—this month has really flown by! Giana is 13 months today and it seems that the past month has been a whirlwind. At 13 months, Giana is still not entirely walking on her own, and now it has become a game to have her walk between us and watch her give up trying and just fall down and crawl away as fast as she can! She is sleeping much more soundly, usually waking up around 6, with an occasional 3 am wakeup call (where I sleepily leave her be until she falls back to sleep, usually within 15 minutes) as well as the occasional 7 am wakeup call on the weekends. (it is those times, however that Talia seems to wake up around 5:30 am—I just can’t catch a break!) She has an amazing mouth of 11 teeth, and 3 of her molars have just come up. She is talking a lot more and especially seems to be saying ends of words more clearly. Some of her new words include: “Nick”, “Sarah”, (2 of Annie, our sitter and friend’s kids), “hi yo”, OK, Ja-na (for Giana), and “nana” for banana. She has learned to shake her head no and swat items away. She also knows some animal sounds: “mmmm” for cow, “oof “for dog, and “mow” for cat. She knows where her eyes, nose, ears and head are. What a smarty pants! She loves music, and is starting to finish the ends of songs, like the Hokey Pokey—that’s what it’s all a—and she’ll finish with “BOUT!” She loves to dance and bobs up and down. It is so cute! She is loving food too—and is trying everything. She loves chicken and hamburger. She has also loved quesadillas, applesauce, olives and of course pasta. She now drinks only from a sippy or straw cup (no more bottles) and the transition has been fairly easy. Hooray!

Chuck E Cheese

We headed to Chuck E Cheese today, and we had a great time. We have not been there since a b-day party in Sept, and we should really go there more often, as both of the girls love that place and it is pretty cheap. Yes, I said both girls--Gigi loved being there today. She loved seeing Chuckie, dancing up and down, pointing at him, and riding all of the rides. Fun times!Talia and her friend Taylor on a "roller coaster" ride.

riding with the Tellitubbies--are they still on TV?Hi Mommy!

February...

I am sorry that I have not posted in a while...my new class (I am getting my masters in Administration, if you don't know) is kicking my butt and I have just been so busy! But I do want to share some pics so far in February.

Giana loves purses. She will hook any purse onto her arm and crawl away. It is so funny. She has also started to take some steps on her own, but still toward something, like the couch or one of us. When she falls, she just continues to crawl.

It is very cute!

Giana now sits forward in her car seat. She has never loved being in the car and we thought that since she was 1, now she would be able to sit forward facing and all of our car screaming fits would be over....we were WRONG! I think that she just doesn't like to be tied down....

I went to a Creative Memories Regional Convention with my newest team member Debbie (hooray!) and saw a great little movie clip that included some tips on taking pictures. I tried them out with Giana and I think that I did pretty well. She is a beautiful model, though...

Talia had a 102 fever for 5 days, with really no other symptoms, so that was a hard week for me and Kenny. We were alternating days off, which was not fun. When we took her into the doctor, Talia had developed a cough and continued with an ear infection. She was placed on a nebulizer and an anti-biotic. Talia was a bit scared of the nebulizer, but when I showed her the album from 2008, where she had already been on a nebulizer b/c of pneumonia, she was not scared anymore. Plus, she gets to watch some TV (and wear a princess dress) while she is taking her "breathing medicine." It seems to have helped her cough, thank God!

Gigi likes turning the machine on and off.

Valentine's Day was fun! Talia loved her class party and getting chocolate and cards from all of her friends. The girls wore the cutest Hanna outfits...

I think that you are all now caught up to date! Phew!