Mommy and Me Swim Class

On Saturday, Giovanna and I started a Parent and Baby swim class at Norridge Park District Pool. There are about 12 babies signed up, but only 4-5 showed up for the first class on Saturday. While it was only 60 degrees, Giovanna loved swimming. She was the first one in the pool and the last one out. Giovanna and her new friend Nina were the only two that didn't cry throughout class. I must say, she does not like to float on her back, nor does she like her nose to touch the water. Other than that, she loves it. At the end, we got to go over to the baby pool and play with some toys. It was like a giant bath tub with friends! I'm glad she likes the water, and I can't wait for class in the warmer weather! Gunnar's last day of school is tomorrow, however, he will not be attending. As of Wednesday, we have an official 5th grader!!!




Giovanna likes to take the dish towels off of the oven and play. Here she is fashioning a wrap!

She Can Do it!

As I've mentioned before, I belong to a website called babycenter.com, and I do a lot of research on that page. I read an article about how in the past it was believed that sucking your thumb can cause buck teeth, but in reality it's those darn sippy cups. Sippy cups have shown to cause buck teeth and speech issues, so we have decided to bypass the sippy cup. Joe and I have tried to teach Giovanna to drink out of a cup. While successful at times, it is often messier than productive, so we have opted to try cups and straws. What a success! What actually triggered the idea, we were at Twins (greasy spoon restaurant) for lunch on Joe's birthday and Giovanna was sitting on my lap while we ate. She kept trying to take my Coke, so I said, "If you can figure it out, you can have some." (thinking she would never figure it out) Well it only took about three attempts and we saw Coke shoot up the straw and I said, "Oh my god, she just had Coke!" This weekend we tried the cup and straw tactic, and she is doing great with it. No Coke, just water! We also introduced her to cauliflower and that's a moderate success. You have to heat it up enough in order for her to like it. If it's too cold, you just get the yucky face! Also, Gunnar and Jack's baseball teams faced eachother on Saturday. The Braves won 20-5. Gunnar hit a single, double, walk, and strike out. Jack pitched and struck Gunnar out, and Gunnar pitched striking Jack out. At least they're even!

Daddy Dressed Me

Bless his heart, Joe does a FANTASTIC job with Giovanna, but it is definitely mommy's job to choose the outfits! At least he matched the colors! In case you can't tell, that is a striped onesie, and cherry pants. When I picked her up from the sitter I said, "Is this how she came here?" Poor Janie said, "I wasn't saying anything." When we got home, I took a picture so in the future, Giovanna can see the day daddy dressed her. The picture says it all! You're the best Joe! Nothing but love honey!

Batter Up!

Gunnar's baseball season has begun, and the Braves have a 1-2 record. Gunnar is off to a GREAT start. He's pitching and playing 1st base, and rotating a few other positions. Most of his at bats, he either makes contact with the ball or gets walked. Giovanna also has her Braves Cheerleader outfit that she is proudly wearing to the games to help cheer on her big brother. A few more firsts have happened over the past few weeks. . .Giovanna had her first daddy/daughter dance at my cousin Natalie's Communion party (Joe's mom made Giovanna's beautiful dress). Joe and I are both looking forward to the time when she can dance on top of daddy's toes. Giovanna also had her first trip to the zoo. We went to Lincoln Park Zoo, and surprisingly, she actually looked at most of the animals. It was a great day for all of us. Joe recently had a birthday, and at the CTA, you get your birthday off of work. It was VERY nice to have him home on a Saturday. That doesn't happen often at all. To celebrate, we went miniature golfing. Both Joe and Gunnar received pretty spectacular hole-in-ones! Giovanna and I sadly did not, but we came in 2nd place!

Milestone Mania!

Can you believe it. . .Gunnar has reached double digits as of May 1st! He is now the BIG 1-0! Happy Birthday Gunnar! This weekend, Giovanna started mini-crawling. She would crawl one or two arm reaches and be content with that. That is until. . .TODAY! Giovanna is officially crawling! Daddy was the first to witness the event. It was so great hearing him tell me about it on the phone. I couldn't wait to get home from work today. Below is a video. She's a bit stubborn, and will only do it on her own terms. The pictures below are of Chiquita Giovanna (we wrapped a cloth diaper around her head and she LOVED it!) and Giovanna was "helping" me make the bed on Sunday.

I Juggle By: Gunnar Lee

I Juggle
By: Gunnar J. Lee

I juggle a ball,
I juggle a trombone,
I juggle an elephant,
I juggle a bear,
and anything that goes in the air.

I juggle a car,
I juggle a chair,
I juggle an umbrella,
I juggle a clown,
and anything that will come down.

I'd really like for you to see me.
One day I wish to be on T.V.
and if you don't turn on the right channel,
I'd like to see you juggle.

Kayleigh Anne Freeman

I belong to a website called BabyCenter and on this site there is a feature called Birth Clubs. I joined the September 2008 birth club when I was pregnant with Giovanna. This is a great tool to talk to other women going through the same things you are. I have used this site to answer many questions. Anyway, there is a woman who belonged to the September 2008 birth club, but her baby came early. Kayleigh Anne Freeman was born 12 weeks early, June 2008. On our board on BabyCenter, we've been following Kayleigh's progress. She was born 1 lb 1 oz, and is a survivor. The poor little angel has been through so many surgeries. Kayleigh is the smallest infant to ever undergo open heart surgery. It was a success, but unfortunately has had several more health issues since. Last night as I was waiting for the pictures and videos to post on our blog, I went to this family's blog and was crying my eyes out. Kayleigh has taken a turn for the worst, and I can't help but think about this poor family. There are people all over the world following this family's story, and I thought maybe our group of family and friends could keep them in our thoughts and prayers. If you would like to visit their blog, the address is http://kayleighannefreeman.blogspot.com/. Joe and I feel so lucky that we have healthy children.

OH SO CLOSE!

Oh my gosh, how time has flown by! It's been a crazy couple of weeks, and we have not been able to get on the computer to post. We had a great Easter, except Giovanna had a horrible cold, and got worse and worse as the day went on. She's all better now. We've tried some more foods: Avacado which was more like avacad-NO, Pears are a YAY, Peas no way, Apples yum, and surprisingly Acorn Squash is a GO! Gunnar began baseball practice last week, but we still do not have a game schedule. We've been taking advantage of this nice weather, and last weekend we put a blanket outside for Giovanna to play. She rolled to the edge and discovered grass. She studied it so seriously. It was too adorable. And on a last note, Giovanna is OH SO CLOSE to crawling! You'll see in the video below. . .

Green Beans!!!!

So far we've introduced Giovanna to Bananas (did not go over so well), Sweet Potato (LOVES them), and today we tried Green Beans. The video speaks for itself. What a champ! Enjoy!

And the Home... of the... BRAVES!!!

One season ends and another begins. Hockey finished on Tuesday. For the last lesson, there was a special guest appearance by Chicago Wolves player Rylan Kaip, #20, Center. The kids were able to talk to him for a few minutes during practice (first video below), then afterwards he was available for autographs. Gunnar was able to ask him a question and asked, "What position do you play?" However, Gunnar did forget to tell him that we were at the Wolves game on Saturday. He figured that since Rylan was injured with a broken arm, he wouldn't have been at that game. We did get a phone call from Gunnar's new baseball coach today, and he is on the BRAVES! We are not sure when practices begin, or when games start, but we will keep you all udpated! Below is also a picture of Gunnar and Giovanna. It was really cute, Gunnar put his Crocs on Giovanna. We also started giving Giovanna Oatmeal with Bananas today. So far so good!