Olivia loves her morning naptime!


I love this little summery tube top! The only problem is that when she crawls it goes down to her waist!

Today was a day to do laundry and Luca always likes to help with laundry but today he wanted to just sit in the basket and have me push him around.

Summer Summer Summer Time!

I love babies in bathing suits.... especially my babies! This one piece bathing suit has Olivia's sides exposed and Luca kept tickling Olivia. She thought it was hysterical - so precious!


All ready for the pool! Our gym has 4 pools - 3 kiddie pools and an adult pool. Luca absolutely loved it and Olivia enjoyed playing with the pool toys. I didn't bring my camera but hopefully we'll be there a lot this summer and I'll be sure to snap some pics.

Update on Luca: I have been SLOWLY trying to potty train him - baby steps! He has gone on the potty 5 times in the past 7 days first thing in the morning. I am amazed that he wakes up with a dry diaper so I know he needs to go. I have to bribe him with anything and everything. It changes daily. Lemonade, juice, suckers, gummy bears and even money. I know, he doesn't really know the meaning of money but he really likes putting coins in his piggy bank. He's done a great job but we still have a lot of work ahead of us. I've tried to have him go in the afternoons but nothing but farts come out. LOL He refuses to go #2 on the potty. It definitely takes LOTS of patience. I think he sat on the potty for 15 minutes and he said his butt hurt but I told him no juice unless he goes potty. I let him sit in my bathroom on his potty while I started to make my bed. I didn't think he was going to go and he comes out with the potty spilling his urine on the carpet saying "Pee Pee on Potty!" I couldn't get mad b/c he did go potty and getting mad doesn't help the situation. Good thing for carpet cleaners! I was still so proud of him. I really hopes he keeps it up.

Izzi's 3rd Birthday Luau!

Our friend Izzi is turning 3 in June but since her parents are moving to San Diego AND expecting a baby next month they decided to have an early Birthday Party. We all had a fabulous time but they will be missed. :(


The Birthday girl!


Olivia and her boyfriend having a lunch date eating pizza. :)

Look at this stud muffin! His belly looks so big here.

Olivia in between her 2 boyfriends.

Sitting in the shade taking a break from the pool.

Olivia LOVED the pool.

Not sure what kind of pose that is!

Olivia and the Bday girl matched!

Olivia playing with Spencer.

Walking

So Olivia has taken her 1st few steps about a few weeks ago but now she is able to walk the entire length of our great room. I like this clip because it seems like Olivia is a little bit cocky after showing off her steps!

Arms Up!

Today as Olivia was eating some of her puffs I taught her "Arms Up". So I had to grab the camera and share this with all of you!

Baby Taylor!

Our friend Lacy who is in our weekly playgroup had her baby girl, Taylor Ann, on May 19th! I think we are starting a new tradition to make a playdate at the hospital whenever one of the mommies have a baby! We did the same for Rita you can see her baby boy Spencer in her stroller on the bottom right! He was the only child that was looking at the camera! Olivia was spending some quality time with her Grammy & Poppy for the day that's why she's not in the pic.



I love new babies and how tiny they are and the little noises they make...it's so cute! Congrats Lacy!

11 Months Old!

I can't believe in one month she'll be taking her picture next to her Birthday cake! She would not lay down for the pic. She's too much of a big girl now to lay down!


Updates on Olivia:

Olivia has been having separation anxiety the last few times I've dropped her off at the gym. Normally, she's happy to play but now she won't let go of me when I drop her off. She loves to eat food more than she loves her formula lately so I had to not feed her as much so she would drink more of her formula. I guess it's a good sign b/c by next month she will not be drinking formula anymore.



My friend Jackie and I made over 70 waffles this past weekend for the kids. She's into all organic foods and this is the 2nd time we met to make a batch of food to freeze. We made Banana Apple Cinnamon waffles with just egg whites, wheat flour and no sugar or oil! They turned out wonderful - Luca has requested "Jackie's Waffles" the last two days. I also put the waffle on his purple plate and he said "no mamma, blue plate." He wanted his blue plate instead of his purple one! He's so high maintenance but I was so happy that he's recognizing his colors that I gave him his blue plate special! :) He's also trying to sing "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes." He keeps saying "knees - toes - eyes, knees - toes - eyes."

Luca & Learning

I haven't taken any recent pictures but wanted to write this down so I wouldn't forget. This week I've noticed how Luca is noticing emotions. I was reading him his favorite book "Eight Silly Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" and he noticed that the monkeys that fell off the bed were crying. He got sad and said "Monkey Crying." Olivia likes to laugh with Luca and he'll say "Baby Funny!"

I also think it's funny that I've been trying to teach him his PRIMARY colors - blue, green, red, & yellow and it's one thing that he hasn't caught on to yet (he's getting close) but the colors that I haven't worked on with him such as orange, brown and purple are the ones that he knows! I guess I need to just let him learn on his own because the way I'm teaching him it's obviously not working! When he was a baby I really tried to teach him sign language and I kind of gave up. He could sign the basics like milk, more, eat, please and night night. This week he learned how to sign cat, dog, bird, sorry, book, Mamma, and Papa. It's amazing how quickly he's learning - I've noticed that he's catching on to a lot this week. I've also mentioned that he absolutely LOVES puzzles. He could sit down for a good 30 minutes to put his puzzles together and do it over a few times. He definitely gets that from his Papa - Corey loves puzzles.

Mother's Day!

It was a nice Mother's Day yesterday. Corey made me my favorite breakfast - french toast, bacon, strawberries and Orange juice. It was so cute because I got to sleep in and Luca woke me up and Corey was whispering to him to tell me Happy Mother's Day so Luca whispered Happy Mothers Day to me. So cute! The kids gave me a sweet card w/certificates for a few car washes and a pedicure! Aunt JuJu joined me for my pedicure and it was nice to get a little break.


Olivia after her nap watching Basketball with her Papa. She was sitting like this for the longest time.

Her new thing lately is that she likes to take her bows, socks and pacis and throw them behind her crib.

Here is Baby Elle smiling! Aunt JuJu came over on Saturday night so Corey and I could go out for dinner with no kids. We got to visit with Baby Elle and she couldn't stop smiling! It was great to go out to dinner with Corey and eat sushi without having to rush or leave early since we didn't have the kids. Thanks Aunt JuJu for the break!

The Gemini

Olivia is Gemini. A few people have warned me about Gemini's so I googled it today and here is what it said....

"Gemini is the third sign of the zodiac, and those born under this sign will be quick to tell you all about it. That's because they love to talk! It's not just idle chatter with these folks, either. The driving force behind a Gemini's conversation is their mind. The Gemini-born are intellectually inclined, forever probing people and places in search of information. The more information a Gemini collects, the better. Sharing that information later on with those they love is also a lot of fun, for Geminis are supremely interested in developing their relationships. Dalliances with these folks are always enjoyable, since Geminis are bright, quick-witted and the proverbial life of the party. Even though their intellectual minds can rationalize forever and a day, Geminis also have a surplus of imagination waiting to be tapped. Can a Gemini be boring? Never! "

Very true! Olivia loves to pretend like she's talking and she's never boring!


Some more on Gemini's... "Since Geminis are a mix of the yin and the yang, they are represented perfectly by the Twins. The Gemini-born can easily see both sides of an issue, a wonderfully practical quality. Less practical is the fact that you're not sure which Twin will show up half the time. Geminis may not know who's showing up either, which can prompt others to consider them fickle and restless. " No...fickle and restless?

"They can be wishy-washy, too, changing their mood on a simple whim."

That's funny because Olivia will cry and laugh at the same time!


"They are quick-thinking, quick-witted and fast on their feet, much like the messenger god of Roman mythology that rules their sign. Geminis are both curious and clever, which is why they are such a hit at cocktail parties. Although they talk a great game, they also love to listen and learn. With any kind of luck, the Twins will find themselves in interesting company, because if they don't, they are likely to get bored and start fidgeting. Any social setting is a good one for a Gemini, however, since these folks are charming, congenial and love to share themselves with their friends. While their effusiveness may be misconstrued as scheming by some, Geminis generally have their hearts in the right place. It's that ample energy which can also paint them as scatterbrained and unfocused, but behind all that zipping around, the Twins are busily filing all that good data away. "

That's my little Gemini!

Happy 70th Birthday Mom!

Fun with Evie!

Evie came over to play today while her sister had a doctor appointment. The kids had a lot of fun and Luca enjoyed pushing her around the house on his firetruck.


Olivia giving Evie and Luca the look as if she's thinking "Yeah, you better watch out b/c I am practicing on my walk and soon I will be chasing you both around!"


Here is Evie and Olivia posing for the camera.

Olivia is always sticking her tongue out!

She looks like a little girl here. She's growing up way too fast!

Luca's 2 Year Pictures

I like this one with the river in the background.


This one is my favorite!

I love this one, too.

I guess he just had to sit in this chair. Jen has a lot of props and I guess he really liked the girl chair prop!

He's so handsome and looks like a little man.

He loves firetrucks!

Sometimes some of his facial expressions remind me of my dad.

I loved this park - they had a ton of beautiful flowers.

It looks like he's picking a flower but really this is a sucker. I had to bribe him with a sucker so he'd sit down. He wasn't very cooperative at this shoot.

First Steps...

Don't pay attention to my outfit...I still had my work out clothes. Just focus on Olivia's balancing and her step she took. ;)

He did it!

Olivia's new thing lately is to point at everything! I had to snap a shot of her pointing. It looks like she's always pointing to her big brother like she's saying "He did it."


Here she is pointing to the TV. I try not to have the kids watch any TV but sometimes when Luca has his meltdowns after waking up from his nap I'll let them watch Yo Gabba Gabba. It's the only show that calms him down. Olivia was dancing and pointing to the TV.

Yesterday she took three steps on her own! She was holding herself up on the coffee table and just decided to walk towards me and took three steps!

Meeting Cousin Gabriella for the 1st time!

Here she is! Sweet little Gabri! She's such a good baby and she's so cute!

Luca kissing his cousin. He now has 3 girl cousins...he'll be the protector of them all.


Luca LOVES holding babies.

Olivia checking out her new cousin.

We wish they lived closer so we could visit more often. :(