Is She Turtle Enough For The Turtle Club?

We have a turtle toy, where the shell has shapes cut out, and Giovanna's supposed to put the correct shaped "block" in the matching hole. Well, she's not old enough to get that concept yet, but she definitely likes to wear the shell on her head like a hat! It's really funny when her hair is in a pony tail, and the pony tail pokes out of one of the cutouts on the shell! Ha! Too cute! The video below is Giovanna demonstrating her triumphs! Also, just a few cute other pictures. Oh and Annie made the pink with brown polka dots dress for her. Love it!

I love this face!

Fun With Food

We have been having sooooo much fun with food lately. Since Giovanna can eat what we eat, she's been introduced to a whole new world. It is so neat to see her reactions to all the new flavors. She is getting better at controling the food in her mouth and actually swallowing the food instead of it landing in the seat of her high chair only for us to find at the end of the meal! Below are two cute pictures of Giovanna eating. Last week we had burgers on the grill, so what goes with burgers??? PICKLES! Yes, Giovanna had her first pickle and loved it! We also found that she does really well eating Barilla's new Piccolini (the tiny versions of pasta). Below is a picture of Giovanna and her bow ties! This is also an exciting week for us, because Gunnar gets to spend another entire week with us. It is his last week of camp, so he's been busy with that. Tomorrow we have plans to go to the beach, and he will finish out the week at camp on Friday. Today was the talent show, and Gunnar did a card trick for his talent. It sounds like it went over pretty well.

Most Beautiful Babies Contest

We have entered Giovanna into a Most Beautiful Babies Contest through WGN. If you would like to vote for her, you can click this link and rate her! http://beautifulbabies.trb.com/wgn/babies_home_gallery,0,6303296,permalink.ugcphotogallery?u=lees2007 If she wins, First Prize is $5,000 and a photo shoot!

Below is also a video of our little monkey. I can't believe how much she's climbing now! Climbing on this music table is her "new thing." She's doing it all the time! Yikes!

BIg Girl Seat

Hooray for the summer weather! Giovanna finally got to swim in her froggy pool. Sooooo cute! It was also great to see everyone from Georgia that was able to make the trip up for Father's Day weekend. Today we also went to the Fire Department and had her "Big Girl" car seat installed. They were so nice and demonstrated how to install the seat so if we ever have to switch to grandma and grandpa's cars, we're set! Gunnar is also spending the week with us. He started Summer Day Camp on Monday. They played Duck Duck Splash and it sounds like he really enjoyed himself. Today they had a field trip to Lincoln Park Zoo, and tomorrow is the Sidewalk Chalk Contest.

She's 9 Months Old!

Yay! Giovanna is 9 months old (well, Monday the 15th) and today we had her 9 month well visit. Dr. Vassmer is very happy with Giovanna's development. She weighs 18 lbs 1.0 oz and is 27 1/4" long, both putting her in the 40th percentile. We officially got the green light to start feeding Giovanna whatever we have to eat at our meals. This is going to be exciting! Giovanna is also learning lots of new things like to Patty Cake on her own. I apologize for my horrific singing voice, but for Giovanna. . .ANYTHING! Isn't it amazing what babies make you do? Especially in public!?!?! Ha! (You probably want to turn the volume down a bit on your computer)

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.