Now it's September - WOW

So, it's now September and my Giana is turning 2 on 9/15.

I cannot believe how much time has flied since she was born. I reflect back on her birth-day and just remember how much my life changed because of her. It was 11 hours of labor and worth every minute, contraction, and excrutiating pain! Having a baby in Sept was the best time to be pregnant b/c you're soo pregnant in the summer time. Talk about swelled up all over! Drove me nuts but worth it like I said.

James & I both plan to take Tuesday 9/15 off and spend it with the little one. Maybe take her to Gilroy Gardens, if the weather permits, and let her run wild - which is what she does best.

For a two-year old, Giana is pretty darn smart. A few things she can say/do:
~ ABC song (grant it, she skips letters but she gets the jist)
~ She can count 1-12 in English & Spanish
~ Animals and the sounds they make
~ Shapes
~ Distinguish family members with each other
~ Knows when it's bath time
~ ALMOST potty trained - I say almost b/c she does not quite know how to match the "sensation" of peeing to run to the toilet yet. But she sits on the toilet and will pee every once in a while.
~ When I ask where's mommy's baby, she pulls up my shirt and grabs my belly & says "there it is" THEN she lifts up her own shirt and says Giana's turn (she has a baby in her belly too lol)

~ Favorite songs (and she does the actions too):
*Wheels on the Bus
*Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
*Mr. Golden Sun
*Row Row Your Boat
*Ring around the Rosy - Mommy gets so tired after falling so many times lol
*The Ants go Marching 1 by 1 - she does the cutest march

~ Sentences:
*Mommy, step up* means Mommy, stand up.
*I do it*
*Stop it, Mommy (or Daddy)*
*I want dish* means I want this
*Mommy, come ear* means Mommy, come here
*Awnt roni cheese* means I want Macaroni & Cheese - her fav food
*Giana's turn* she says this when she wants to do or say something and when she wants me or Daddy to do or say something - she'll say Mommy's turn or Daddy's turn.
*She prays for her food (a tradition from my family) before meals and when she goes to bed
The real prayer for food:
Thank you Jesus, for the food. Bless the food. Hallelujah, praise the Lord, Amen.
Giana's version:
Jesus, food. Food. Hula, Amen.

There is many many more things babygirl does and say but that's the jist of it.

We're celebrating the weekend of the 18th & 19th for small family parties for her. I will post pictures then!

Potty-time!

Giana sat on her potty and PEED for the first time this morning when she woke up!

Her diapers have been dry when she wakes up from the night which shows that she can hold it at night. I decided to put her on the toilet by chance and after a few seconds we both heard the music go off on the toilet (the toilet has a censor to play music when pee hits it) and looked at each other like "what's that?!" Then I realized she was peeing! I screamed & clapped for her and she started to get all excited and jumped up..I was like "no, mama you have to sit b/c you're peeing!" LOL So she sat for a while cheesin' it, clapping with me. I went to kiss her and she grabbed my face and said "hug!". Omg, let me tell you how special that moment was to me!!!!!! :D

I then took pictures of her on the toilet to celebrate her accomplishment and got her dressed for school.


Before I dumped her pee, I got a pic of that too (dont worry, I wont post lol). Sounds gross but you have to capture all these moments, so I don't care. As long as I'm not bronzing her first poop like Tom Cruise & Katie Holmes did for their kids first poop ever, gross!

I can't tell you how proud I am today. I feel so good knowing that my daughter accomplished this milestone with flying colors. Now I can't wait for her to sleep in a big girl's bed!

Here she is after her milestone!

What's with the attitude?

Lately Giana's been miss snob. Annoying. I guess most people who know me are like, "hmm, where did THAT come from?" hahahahha. Not too funny though when she's saying no to everyone and stop it! Cute? No. I am trying to teach her to act right and respect others. While I feel in some areas, I'm successful, the important ones I don't feel she's learning. She IS only 22 months, so time will tell and as long as we continue to teach her that things are not right to do or say...she'll come around.

What frustrates us most is that she won't even give family hugs or kisses when we see them! I always tell ppl don't take it personally b/c she does to our parents too! I literally have no idea why she is so mean like that. My mom said I was like that when I was young too so maybe she got it from me?! I'm not rude when you first meet me now lol so hopefully it's just a phase. I definetely know I need to tone down my attitude all in all though. I don't want Giana growing up watching me get pissed and irritated at small things in life. It's not right & James has told me time and time again that I'm like that & he hates it. For instance, when Giana tries to put my flip flops on and she can't get her toes in the right way she screams & throws the slipper! OMG, I can get that way when something small doesn't go right either! Well, maybe not right but my way.

I need to make some changes with my attitude so it can rub off on her. I just do not like how mean she is when people just want to kiss & hug her. Ugh.

Feeling happy for once!

James, Giana, and I are all settled in our new apt. We did a down grade into a smaller place to save money as we want to be part of the new home-buyers club in about 2 years. But what is most important is that it's ours and we made it like home. So far Giana is loving the living rooms space b/c she can run all around it!! Let me tell you, this little girl of ours is FAST! James swears she's going to be a track star lol. Of course, I want her to hula dance and be girlie but he wants her in sports. Which is fine, she can do both :) She can hula down to the 1st base line. Haha! Anyways, so she loves our new space so that's most important. Plus the neighborhood is wonderful. It's where I grew up going to Jr High & High School in Burlingame. So, needless to say it brings back memories!!

Giana is counting to 12, knows all the colors of the rainbow + more, and knows her animals and the sounds each makes. She is also mastering sign language. This makes me pat my and James back for making the great decision of putting her in daycare. We had many doubts of putting her in daycare with a stranger when she was in the comfort of my mom's home all day. However, it started to take a toll on my mom (she has my young sisters to care for too) and even though mom was sad that we Giana wasn't going to be there often, she knew it was best for her too. When G turned 1, that's when she went in. She has grown so much and yes, being a mom you miss some moments of her life! I stayed home with her for the first 6 months of her life so I got to see all her main first milestones and we even got to see her walk. After she turned 6 months, that's when I had to go back to work so she went with my mom. She started walking at 10 months, everyone would trip out seeing this little midget walking and stumbling around. I would get stopped and asked how old she was and how LITTLE she was to be walking! I'm like she was born small!

As Giana's 2nd birthday is creeping up on us in Sept., I am getting sad b/c my little girl is growing up. She is the single best thing in our lives and we cherish her to the length of the moon & beyond! Giana is the epitemy of a Daddy's Girl. James is just too much with her - anything she wants, she gets with him! AAAGH, the teen years of that....just the thought ;) Just as much as she is a daddys girl, she is a mommys girl too! She knows how to get me b/c she reminds me so much of myself and I see it more and more everyday. James calls her mini-me and it's the truth and I will soak that up to the fullest!

Here is Giana reading one of her books. Enjoy!!

God is in my life for a reason

This weekend was crazy. Friday night, we went to an A's game with my father in law & his wife. Giana was at home with her Nana (James' mom). The game was fun, not my team but I was there to support James & his A's. They blew out the Orioles by like 8 runs and the weather was pretty nice too. Our seats were tight too. J got the tickets from through his work, Aramark. Aramark does the uniforms & all that for the Oracle Arena so we always get tickets to Warriors and A's and I think the Raiders (but I will NEVER go to a Raider game - F that!) When we were leaving, we were asked to move to the side. Next thing you know, there's a girl being wheeled through on a strecher drunk as hell! This chick had throw up on her shoulder! Nasty. I dont' get why people get sooooooooo drunk at a BASEBALL game!! I understand tailgating & having fun with a few beers & friends but damn...it's a game. But all in all, we had fun. Here's a pic.

Saturday we went to a grad party at a park for James' lil cousin. It was ok. Giana had fun running around.

Sunday was church in the AM. It's so crazy how the pastor can preach on things that are going on in your life at that VERY moment. I'm telling you...Pastor Paul was preaching on topics that I was like.."um, do you have a tape recorder in my purse?" LOL! Anyways, I won't get into detail about my stressful life but it was so good to hear encouragement about life and how it's dealt to you by God. One thing he said that I won't forget is "God will put people in your life to test you. And it's how you deal with it that makes you stronger and you have to say yes to God and stop running from His will. If you keep running from Him, he will keep bringing people in your life to test you. Once you're done with those people & their problems, he has a brand new batch of people with issues waiting in the wings to drop down in your life". What I took from that is, there will be people in your life that will drive you UP THE WALL with their problems and issues. All that comes from God. My question is why? haha, I know WHY but sheesh! God tests us like that. And God knows me & how I am being (selfish I guess) so he's testing me like that b/c he knows it's one of my problems is dealing with certain people.

I guess I need to pray and seek His guidance. Especially right now because I'm going to tear my hair out and God is the only one that can keep me from going bald.

Caught up

Time to catch ya'll up...if you care lol

James and I hosted Cousin's Night at our place a last weekend. It was so very nice to get together with my family. I miss my cousins and how much fun we have when we get together. Laughter & happiness was in the air for sure. Even though we're family, there is still something missing...I feel. Since we don't see each other often b/c of busy schedules or what not, it's hard to keep up with everyone. We all have evolved and changed so much since growing up at 89 Menlo Ave. That was our Grandpa and Grandma's house in Daly City where we grew up and spent most of our childhood. If you didn't live in that house at least once, you at least spent 1 weekend a month or year there visting Grams and Gramps.

I often think about how we were all so close and somehow life allowed us to drift apart. Not by choice, but that's just how life goes. You grow up and start your own families. My cousin Miriam and I were ALWAYS together until their family moved to Livermore during the last yrs of elementary school. I remember crying b/c she wasn't around anymore often. It sucks seeing family only on the holidays. I want to hang out with my cousins more. I miss them. I never had siblings so they were the closest I had to them. 3 of us have kids born in the same year and I hope God will make a way for them to grow up together. It's impossible to see ALL the time but why can't it happen often at least?

Here is a pic of the kids. Order: Ella, Giana, Jacob





Let's see...we went to a graduation lunch for friends of James' in Jr high yesterday. It was nice for him to catch up with old friends. Now that he knows that some more friends are going to his 10 yr HS reunion, he for sure wants to go. I wanted him to go, how fun is that stuff! His is in Oct and rumor has it, mine is in Nov. James went to Serra so it's all guys. But it'll be fun to get dressed nice and get together with all his HS buddies and their significant others and party! I know he'll love it...

Crazy how it's 10 years since high school. Even though there are some people I would rather not see at the reunion, I still want to go. I'm still in touch with a few people from HS. My close group of friends are still around and even though we have gone through hella crap after we graduated and drifted apart, it will still be fun to hang out with them again. All of our differences seem to have been put behind us which is a great feeling!

Speaking of old friends, after the grad lunch we had a couple of kidless hours (my dad picked Giana up from the restaurant we were at so J & I could enjoy ourselves lol). So James suggested we call up G and see if her & Serge were around to meet up for a drink. I'm like, Hell ya!! So the 4 of us met up at Elephant Bar. Bought a round and chopped it up. It was soo much fun, James & Serge clicked, talking sports and what not. Sports seems to be the ice breaker for guys lol. Anyways, it was a great time. I missed Gee.



That's all for now folks. I gotta get Giana's blankets outta the dryer and put her butt to bed. After that, I'll be waiting up for James to get home, he went to a movie with his mom & bro. Went to see Terminator...I can wait for the DVD lol.

Nite Nite.

MY Mother's Day

Needless to say my Mothers Day was a good one. I woke up to James hopping out of bed, changing Giana's diaper, and going to Stacks to get my favorite breakfast ever - fruit crepes and my usual mocha from Starbucks! Then we lounged around in the AM which is EXACTLY what I wanted to do. Giana gave me her gift she made at daycare...a little flower picture frame with her pic in it. I love it so much :) These are the things I love about being a Mom!


Around noon we went over to James' mom's house for a lil BBQ and then off to my Grandma's for the usual Sun lunch. That was nice to see my Grams and some family. We then stopped off at my moms b/c she didnt make it to Gram's house. Hung out there for a while and then off home.

James watched the rest of the Celtics game - they won by the way lol, the last hit by Big Baby House! Haters out there don't know wussup w/ Boston!!!!! Anyways, off track hehe.

Mother's Day was great. I got a watch from James super cute! But he gave me the option to return it for another. Which I will, I don't normally return gifts for him but I want an "everyday" watch that I can wear. He got me a white one, which is cute too though! It's GUESS. My baby has good taste though =D always has.

So, that's about it. Had another cool holiday, now what to do for Father's Day...lol.