Blessed

Today I found out that one of my sorority sisters 2 year old baby passed away. She wasn't anyone that I kept in touch with but I read her blog today and I can't stop thinking about her. It's such a tragedy. Basically she had a perfectly healthy little girl that got sick then turned into a pnemonia and it went downhill after that. Plus she had a little baby girl in between all of it and the 2 year old girl really didn't get a chance to meet her sister. It's just so so sad & I just can't even imagine how she is feeling. I hope she finds the strength to get through this horrible tragedy. It reminds me to count my blessing every single day.



Here's my baby girl growing up so fast. I can't believe how big she's getting. She sure likes to sleep. She took a nap last night around 5:30 when I was getting dinner ready and I had to wake her up at 9:30 since she napped through her 8:30 bedtime. I thought for sure she would wake up in the middle of the night but instead she slept in until 7:30am and when she woke up she was just cooing and smiling and was happy as can be.

I can't believe Luca is going to be 19 MONTHS tomorrow! He's getting closer to 2 years old...unbelievable. I went shopping today and I was hoping to get something for myself but of course I end up buying something for the both of them. One of these days I will buy something for me. Hopefully it's not when they turn 18! I will put Luca in his new shirt tomorrow for his 19 month Bday. As for Olivia, I bought her the cutest little tube top for when she's 12-18 months. I guess now is the time to buy them both their summer clothes for next year.

More Pumpkin Time!

This was in 2008. Luca looks so small and he was 7 months old. He was just about to start crawling!




Wow, how time flies!



He looks the same but yet so different!

Here are the 2009 pics of Luca at the Pumpkin Patch.

Pumpkin Time!

Today we went to Jacqueman Farms to pick out some pumpkins.



Luca was more interested in petting the dog than picking out a pumpkin. This dog is here every year that we go and it's the most friendliest dog - next to Bianca. I think Luca misses Bianca. :(



It's hard to get a good pic with them both but this is the best shot.


Luca's 2nd favorite part other than the dog was getting to ride in the pumpkin cart.

Happy Birthday Mamma!

Today was a great day, I turned 31! I am so blessed with such great friends and wonderful family. I love Birthdays because it reminds you that a lot of people love you. Just a simple Happy Birthday from people shows that they care and are thinking of you, it's so sweet. This is my favorite Bday gifts my two babies! Here they are getting ready for bed so Mamma could have a nice dinner with her Moms N Munchkins friends. We went to My Big Fat Greek and it was great. Unfortunately, we had such a great time that I forgot to snap a pic!





Luca, Olivia and Papa gave me a warm quilt for our new bed and they gave it to me a day before my birthday so I could wake up on my Bday nice and warm. I also got a food processor that I've always wanted and beautiful red roses. The beautiful roses below were from Aunt JuJu, Uncle Kevin and Evie. I never received fresh flowers from Fed Ex. As the Fed Ex lady pulled up I thought...Oh no Corey bought MORE golf clubs? I had no idea I was getting beautiful flowers. It was very sweet of them.


I also had Grammy, Papi and Evie visit me this morning and gave me a nice Bday gift - Clothes which I desperately need. I wish I would of taken a pic of lil Ms. Evie - she had the cutest little tutu with a monkey shirt. She was precious! My parents are in Florida and my mom is still recovering from her surgery. She had her galbladder taken out but it was infected and she started getting an infection throughout her body so she was in the hosptial for 5 days. I wish they lived here so I could help them out.


Here's me and Luca and the beautiful flowers that Corey bought me. :) I love flowers! I am lucky to have a great husband and 2 wonderful children that make me smile everyday.

Nice and Warm

Brrr...it's freezing here in Ohio! Okay, not freezing but it definitely feels like fall. I didn't realize that Olivia had a TON of summer clothes and not so many fall/winter clothes so we HAD to go shopping and buy some pants for her. Here she is in her Polo Pj's that her grammy bought her. I love that I can finally put hats on her. I just love babies in hats and this summer it was too hot to put them on her.




Today I played the Baby Einstein DVD - Baby Bethoven for Olivia. She seemed to watch it for a good 20 minutes then she was ready for her nap. I always play her Bethoven CD at night during her last feeding it actually relaxes both of us. She's getting so big and now fits into her 3-6 month clothes. I hate to put away all of her 0-3 month stuff, it's just soo cute and it makes me sad that she's growing so unbelievely fast. I'm trying to cherish every moment since we just want 2 kids.

Landscaping

Corey did a wonderful job putting our landscaping together and I just wanted to post some pics of his work.

Girl Time

While Luca was napping Olivia and I decorated our fireplace mantle with some Halloween Decorations. I saw a really cute pic from Better Housekeeping Magazine with three white Pumpkins on the FP mantle. I bought these at Target since I knew I would have a hard time finding real white pumpkins but it turned out cute. I think Olivia liked it. :) I am hoping if the weather is nice maybe next weekend we can go to the Pumpkin Patch to get some real pumpkins for the kids. We bought Luca's Halloween costume and he's going to be "Dr. Luca Andres" and we borrowed Evie's costume and she's going to be a sweat pea or pea pod? It's super cute and very warm.



Here's a shot of Olivia during tummy time. I did put her on her tummy and she rolled over. I was able to get some of it on video. I'll post soon.



She sure does love the camera. Every time I bring out the camera she just starts smiling for me.

Ciao!

Big Boy!

Our friend Rita just had a baby boy, Spencer. They stopped by and I made Rita some Italian Wedding soup while her son Croy who is one month younger than Luca played. Spencer was 2 weeks old in this pic and it's amazing how big Olivia looks and they are only 3 months apart! Olivia had no clue that Spencer was next to her. She was more interested in trying to roll to her side.



I had Olivia's car seat in the office b/c she fell asleep in the car earlier and I didn't want to wake her up so I left her in her car seat while I was working in the office. Later, Luca thought he'd try to see if he still fit in it. He's such a big boy. He continues to say more words and is becoming very independent. He wants to brush his teeth every morning and night. He'll say "teeth" and pull the drawer to get his toothbrush. We've pulled out the potty since the doctor recommended that we start to get him familiar with it but he has no interest. He'll sit on it while he's brushing his teeth. I'll try to get a shot of it if I can remember.



Luca normally rocks Olivia in her car seat but this time he was enjoying being rocked as he sat in her seat.

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Shower time

So I'm hoping there are no perverts out there checking my blog and watching this video... but just wanted to share this video w/my friends and family to show you how much Luca loves taking showers and how good he is with taking direction. Hope you enjoy.

Luca's Room

I love it when Luca will get a book on his own and sit down and he pretends he is reading. It's adorable. I'm hoping someday the "My Baby Can Read" video will pay off. It has definitely helped him learn to say a lot of words but he doesn't know how to read yet. They recommend that they watch the video 2x a day and work on his flash cards several times a day. He watches the video every morning at breakfast and I've been slacking on the flashcards since Olivia was born.


Another pic of his room. His grammy bought and painted his letters. We're anxiously awaiting for Olivia's letters to be done soon!

2nd Floor Pics of the House

Luca's Room
Master Bath

Master Bed

Bath time!

I can't seem to get pics of Luca anymore b/c once he sees my camera he goes after it! This pic is proof! ;)



He wasn't looking so I snapped a shot of him looking out his window. I love that our windows are low because he loves to look out the window every morning. He also loves to watch his papa mow the grass. Yesterday he took his toys to our sliding glass door and played in front of it so he could watch him mow the lawn.



Here's Ms. Olivia with her rattle. She is definitely going to be a talker.


We've attempted to give both kids a bath at the same time but it's still a little challenging just because Olivia isn't sitting up but we thought we'd give it a try. Luca likes to pour water on her hair.

Olivia Babbling....

Here's Ms. Olivia babbling. She loves to try to talk! Sometimes it sounds like she's saying hi.

Olivia Playing....

Here's a video of Ms. Olivia playing. She loves to play in her gymboree about a half hour after she eats. She'll play for a while then I'll swaddle her and it's nap time. She was taking little 20-30 minute cat naps but since I've been swaddling her and not letting her sleep after she eats she's taking longer naps about 45 min-1hour. I am a little nervous because she does rely on her paci to sleep. We had this problem with Luca where he would wake up in the middle of the night b/c his paci fell out of his mouth. At 4 months I took it away from him cold turkey but now he relies on his monkey. I think O will have a hard time w/o her paci.

3 Months Old!

Olivia's Room



Grammy is working on painting her letters of her name so we can hang it above her crib or changing table.


Olivia is now three months old! She's growing up so fast. She's constantly cooing especially in the morning when she wakes up she will just talk and giggle. She's attempted a half roll from her back to her side. We've been working on a little more tummy time but she's not that interested, but we'll keep trying. The last three days we've been weaning her off the alimentum only giving her 4 oz of it and 2 oz of regular formula per feeding. I've noticed she's been more fussy but we'll keep trying it for an entire week. I'm hoping we can take her off it soon.



She gets very happy when I have one on one time with her. Luca was napping so I got her all to myself and she loved it.

More pics of the house....

Home Sweet Home.

Our dining room. I'll post pics of 2nd floor later. It will take some time to decorate everything but it's coming along.

The House

Everyone keeps asking me to post pics of the house finished so here's some pics and I'll post more later. This is our entryway.

Our Family Room



Eating area in the kitchen.

And my favorite part of the house....my dream kitchen that I've always wanted! When I sold homes I always pictured this kitchen in my mind. Thanks to my friend Crystal for designing the cabinet layout & giving me the kitchen knobs...I love it.


Another kitchen shot.

My princess

Grandparents and Godparents


Poppy and Grammy or as Luca says "Mammy"

Cinquemani Family



She's such a doll!