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!

Hockey All Day Long!

Phew, we are all hockey'd out! On Saturday Gunnar had hockey lessons in the afternoon. At the end of class, they played a scrimmage game. Below is a quick video of Gunnar playing. He forgot his jersey, so he is wearing the gray North Face and the white helmet. After practice, we went to the Chicago Wolves game: Anna, Laura, Gunnar, Brenda and Jack. They played the Quad City Flames, and it was an amazing game. At the end of the 3rd period the game was tied, so they went into a 5 minute overtime. Then when the overtime period was finished, they were still tied, so they went into a 5 man sudden death shootout. Each team sent out 5 players to have the shootout. At the end of the 5 guys, they were still tied! We all said "Now what?!?!" They continued to send out guys to shootout until there was a winner. Finally after the 8th guy the WOLVES WON!!! What a great game! Giovanna is now eating 2T of Rice Cereal or Oatmeal 3x a day. She has started to babble more regularly with a bunch of "Dadadadadas and Ayayayayayas!" It is so fun to see her smile more and more, and even starting to laugh and be ticklish! We also started rockin' the pigtails this weekend!

What About the Rice Cereal?

What a busy week we've had! Yeah! We've reached another milestone. Giovanna had Rice Cereal for the first time tonight. Joe and I are surprised at how well it went! The clip below is her very first taste of eating off of a spoon.

A Very Happy Half Birthday to You!

Giovanna is 6 months old! Can you believe it?!? Last night we took advantage of this beautiful weather and took a walk. We are definitely looking forward to more of these days. Today we had Giovanna's 6 month checkup at the doctor. She weighs in at 15 lbs 10.8 oz (50th percentile) and is 26 3/8" long (75th percentile. . .where did that come from?!?!). Unfortunately she does have her first ear infection, but she is on Amoxicillin and is taking it like a champ! Joe and I are so excited that we can finally start her on rice cereal tomorrow. Won't those be cute pictures!

Holy Cow!

Where did this kid come from?!?! Ok, so Giovanna and I are sitting watching Gunnar at hockey on Saturday. It was a normal lesson, mostly drills, nothing too fun. I captured some video to share with everyone, and then it happened. Free time. Free time gives the kids a chance to do whatever they want on the ice, as long as it has something to do with hockey. I decided to get a little more video of Gunnar and the Allstar came out! All of a sudden he breaks out this power skating, then some magic stick work. My jaw dropped when I saw what was happening before my very eyes. Where did this hockey star come from?!?! His hockey lessons are at the Ice Arena where the Chicago Wolves practice. Some of the Wolves magic must have sprinkled down from their victory banners onto Gunnar! Sorry the picture is sideways, but I don't know how to rotate it in this program. I hope you enjoy the video as much as I enjoyed filming it.

Bouncey! Bouncey! Bouncey!

Giovanna absolutely loves to be in her jumperoo! One night, Joe and I were exhausted from the day, and Giovanna was wiiiiiiiide awake. We put her in her jumperoo thinking she'd be too tired and realize she wanted to go to bed, and the opposite happened! She jumped in that thing from 10:00 p.m. until 10:30 p.m. straight! We told her to make sure to turn out the lights before she went to bed, but she just looked at us. Needless to say, we had to just take her out and say, it's time for bed and call it a night. Here's a video of her bouncinig away, although it's not one of her better bounces, it's still cute. Next week we have her 6 month doctor appointment, so we will have some updated stats to report towards the end of the week. Also, I will be bringing Gunnar to hockey on Saturday, so we'll have some updated video on his skating as well.