Bring on the Twos

The Di George household has been chaotic over the past few months. Thankfully I only had five weeks of bed rest instead of twelve like it could have been. I’m not sure Leisa or Marco would have survived much longer without me. I think Leisa was running the household more than anyone at that point. Now that I am back on my feet and ready to be done with pregnancy, we are all in panic mode trying to get everything ready for the new baby. In the midst of all that we are trying to make the best of the time we have left with just Leisa. She took swimming lessons this summer and had a blast with it. She did great and we are still working with her so she doesn’t forget what to do. We have also been spending lots of time at the park and playground. Anything we can do to get in a little quality time in between all the chaos. She has been a trooper through it all, so a little reward is the least we can do for her. After all, her life is about to be turned upside down when the baby comes. Marco has been working hard on getting the house ready and in order before baby arrives. Leisa has been moved to her big girl room and she loves every bit of it. She likes to stay in there all day. I can only imagine how it will be when her new bed with the slide arrives. We may never see her. She is becoming so independent and turning into a little girl more and more everyday. It breaks our hearts to see her growing up so fast. I wish I could freeze her at this age. We are having so much fun watching her personality develop and seeing the excitement in her as she discovers new things. The temper tantrums at times, we could do without but even then it’s hard to resist her. She is a pro when it comes to getting out of trouble. She thinks all she has to do is hug and kiss mommy or daddy and that makes it all better. It’s been hard but we have to toughen up on that a little. She is definitely a charmer just like her daddy. The terrible twos haven’t been so bad yet, but I hear they really don’t start until around three. I guess we will just have to wait and see. I will however say I never understood the saying “You can’t wait for them to start talking, but once they do you want them to stop”. Now I completely understand what people meant by that. Leisa has become little miss motor mouth. She talks non stop ALL the time. Sometimes Marco and I look at each other and ask how is it possible for her to keep going and going. It can be more exhausting then you think. All in all she is a great kid and we can only hope the next one is just as good. Something tells me we may be in for a big surprise. I just hope Leisa will adjust ok with the new addition to the family. Right now she likes to kiss and rub my belly and talks to her little sister, but that may soon change when she sees what it is all about. I have high hopes that her sweet nature will overcome it all and she will be the best big sister. One can only hope!

My Angel Baby

I know it has been way too long since I have posted any updates, and I apologize for this. Time seems to just get away from us lately with our busy lives. We are still trying to settle in to our new house after six months and you would think by now we would be. It is a slow process but we are getting there.

Leisa is sprouting like a weed. I cant seem to keep up with her most of the time. Her clothes are too big one day and the next day they are too small. She has so many clothes she only got to wear once or twice. It breaks my heart to see how big she is getting. I remember people telling me to be patient and don't rush her to talk because once they start they never stop. Boy have I learned the true meaning of that statement. It started out as jumble that we couldn't understand half the time, but now we understand most of what she says. She can say three word sentences when she wants (and I mean when SHE wants) but most of the time she is straight and to the point. This week her favorite word is NO. I cant tell you how tired I am already of hearing that word and I know it is only the beginning. I was holding out hope she was going to be different but then reality it. At least she can say it with a "please" and "thank you". I made sure to teach her that before all else. Good thing she has mommy's rhythm because she loves music and loves to dance. It is one of my favorite things to watch her too. She is also really into books and puzzles so I am hoping she will be book smart unlike her mother. Her favorite book right now is "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" We read that book at least five times a day. And it still never gets old. She does a great job at exhausting mommy everyday. I am not sure who is more tired at night, me or her. At the end of the day no matter how big she gets she is still and always will be my Angel Baby!

For those of you who don't know, our dog Scruffy passed away at the beginning of this year. We all miss him a lot but he is in a better place now. Since then, we have adopted a kitten for Leisa. We thought she would like her but we never knew how in love with her she would be. The two of them don't miss a beat together and they play like sisters. Wherever Leisa is you are sure to find Tabby (our kitty). Tabby is very protective of Leisa and has to be with her at bath time and bed time. She lets me know when she is crying and Leisa lets me know when Tabby is locked in a room somewhere. They have the looking after each other part of their friendship down pat. It is cute to watch them together and Marco and I get lots of laughs out of the two of them. I think it is one of the best decisions we could have made and the beginning of a lifelong friendship.

Where has the time gone?

It has been way too long since my last update and so much has happened. We have finally moved into our new house and we are still trying to settle in. Leisa really loves all the space to run around. She is so excited to go outside and play in the backyard now that we finally have one. We are no longer captives in our dungeon. She would play out there all day if I would let her. And you are sure to find Scruffy tagging along right behind her. Now we just need to work out getting some outdoor toys so she will stop playing with the ant hills. She has a fascination with sand so I see a sandbox in our future. OH GOODY! More mess for me to clean.

Over the past four months she has developed quite the personality. We can see that she is going to be a very strong willed child. She can be very persistent at times. Okay…all the time. She has become very familiar with the concept of time out. The good thing is that it really does help. Her vocabulary is definitely expanding. Her favorite game right now is point and say. That means she points and we say what it is. This has been very helpful in her understanding of what things are and how to tell us what she wants. She pretty much tells us when she is hungry, what she wants to eat or drink, and when she is tired. I have become quite the expert at understanding toddler talk. Now that we understand each other more, she has started helping me out around the house. That means putting EVERYTHING in the trash or toilet. Not to mention painting the house with toilet paper (that’s because daddy forgets to close the bathroom door).

Birds and bugs are her favorite things at the moment. The words are permanently burned into my brain. At least until she takes interest in something else. Hugging is also a big thing for her right now. She hugs everything. And when I say everything, I mean everything. Yes, this includes the bugs on the ground and of course poor old Scruffy. It’s really cute. Hopefully she will continue to be this sweet. We can’t forget to mention what a book worm she is. She LOVES to read. She spends the majority of her day hiding in her corner flipping through her books. Her favorite of course it the Little People Farm book. And she really enjoys it when we read to her so we make sure we do at least once a day.

Teething has been a nightmare these past couple of months. She sprouted all four of her molars at once. AGGHHHH!!!!! She just got one of her bottom side teeth and now she is working on a couple of her eye teeth. All together she has ten teeth now. And they just keep on coming. This means no sleep for us anytime soon. As you can imagine, we have all been a little miserable. Her more than us, but we are all in it together. Her weight seems to be holding steady at 24 pounds and she has sprouted to about 31 inches tall. We still can’t believe she has gotten to be so big. We are enjoying every bit of her. More than anything we are really enjoying taking her to new places now that she understands more and seeing her light up. Parenthood defiantly has it rewards.

Water Water Everywhere!

As usual things have been very busy around here lately. Most of which I owe thanks to Leisa. Now that she has mastered the art of walking, she is wasting no time learning how to run…from me that is:) Yes, she is a sneaky little thing. Always up to no good. When things are quiet I know she must be getting into things she is no supposed to. In her case, silence is not a good thing. Silence means trouble. Good thing daddy always remembers to put the toilet seat down. Since the toilet has become her newest curiosity. Why? I still can’t understand that and I don’t think I ever will. That is usually the first place she runs to when she’s looking for trouble. Besides becoming an expert at finding trouble she has managed to learn a few good things along the way. Her vocabulary is expanding quite a bit. She points to her pictures on the wall and says Lay Lay. She just loves seeing herself in the mirror. Again, a daddy thing. I am starting to wonder if there are any traces of me in this child anywhere. We shall see. Some other words she has picked up on along the way include dog, milk, and bath. She also likes to sing E-I-E-I-O to one of her favorite songs Old MacDonald. Her favorite word of all would have to be bath. She loves taking a bath. We don’t skip bath time at this house unless we absolutely have to. That’s like taking candy from a kid. A big NO NO! Just recently she has become very fond of the water, so we started taking her to the pool and she loves it. We are getting ready to sign her up for swim lessons for her and daddy. Mommy won’t be able to handle it without having a nervous breakdown so I am letting daddy take the lead on this one. He can just tell me all about it. We may have to send her to dance classes as well before we know it with how much this child loves music and loves to dance. We may have a little performer on our hands...surprise!

We have also been working with her to recognize her body parts. She can point out her eyes, nose, mouth, cheeks, ears, tummy, toes, hands and feet. She also has little flash cards with animals and objects on them and she can point out the ones you ask her too. What a smart little cookie. I am sure all parents say that about their kids. We will join the party:)

We did manage to escape to craziness and take Leisa to the beach for the first time. I was not too sure if she was going to like it with all the sand and the waves, but she loved it. I am not sure which one she liked better the sand or the water. She would just sit there and let the waves wash up onto her while she threw around the sand. What a mess she was but it was worth it to see the smile on her face. Somehow in all the mix, mommy became her personal sand bucket. I had more sand on me than she did. The things we do for our kids!

Oh, before I say goodbye for now, let’s no forget the teeth count. Her two bottom ones are in and she is working on one of her top teeth. What a nightmare that is. And how many more to go??? Sorry to keep you so long, but it's been too long:)

Happy “1st” Birthday Leisa!

We have somehow managed to survive her first Birthday. I don’t know how but we did; and amazingly enough without shedding a tear. I am still trying to figure out who had more fun at the party, the adults or the kids. Since she loves Finding Nemo, we decided to go with that as her party theme. We bought her a pool that we filled up with balls and made a ball pit out of. It turned out to be a hit. I know she loved it! We had to fight her to get her out of it. Not to mention her Uncle Frank. He was dying to get in it all day until he couldn’t take it anymore and he snuck in while we were all eating. It was a sight you had to see. Like I said I think it was more fun for the adults. The same goes for all her presents she got. I think everyone had waaay to much fun shopping for her too. She got more clothes than I know what to do with. Good thing we are moving and will have a bigger closet to store it all. She is going to be the best dressed kid in town. After presents we moved onto the cake. That was a treat. Her Aunt Sharon made her a Fish Bowl cake to go with her Finding Nemo party theme. It was so adorable. She also made little cupcakes for the kids and that is what we gave Leisa to smash in her face. It took a little coaxing at first but once she got the hang of it she looked like a pro. It was messy. And the mess did not stop there. She was pooping blue for two days afterwards from the icing. As long as she had fun that is all that matters. All in all, it turned out great and we are so happy. It was great to see everybody and I appreciate all the help!

I wont keep you too much longer, but I wanted to fill you all in on her latest achievements. She went to the doctor yesterday and found out she is 21 lbs. 12 oz. and 29 ¼ inches tall. She is getting to be such a big girl. She has actually lost a little weight since the last time she was there but the doctor said that is due to her walking. Yes I said walking! She is walking all over the place. She is so prissy though walking all carefully as not to fall and break a nail (I still say she gets that from her daddy…hehe). Motor mouth is her new nickname. She talks up a storm. Not too sure what she is saying most of the time but it must be something good with all she has to say. We can understand, Mama, Dada, Night Night, and Bye Bye. The rest is yet to be discovered. I have also been working really hard with her to learn how to give kisses. For a while there she refused, but I fixed that. Now she is a sweet baby and loves to give kisses. It is so cute, her and her little friend Piper give each other kisses. Let’s just see how long we can keep the boys away. Last but not least she finally got her first tooth just in time for her birthday. Yeah!!! Now she is working on a few more at the same time, so she has not been a happy camper lately. Sleep has become a thing of the past.

Bunnies and Baskets and Eggs, Oh My!

Last Sunday Leisa got to meet the Easter Bunny and participate in her first Easter Egg Hunt. We weren’t too sure what she would think about it all, but it turns out she had a blast. She held on tight to her Easter Basket as mommy helped her find the eggs and put them in the basket. She was so proud of herself. You would have though there was gold inside those eggs with how tight she held onto that basket. Not to mention her reaction when I tried to take it from her. That was a mistake I was sure not to repeat. Her favorite part of it all was the music playing all around. I think we are going to have a dancer on our hands. Looks like we better start saving for those dance classes. Anytime she hears music you are sure to find her shaking her little butt. And of course she hams it up when she knows you are watching. She definitely loves attention and knows hoe to get it.

Getting attention is something she is becoming very familiar with. We have been working on baby sign language with her for a few months now and she is really getting the hang of it. Just over the past month she is starting to use it to get our attention when she wants something. She has learned how to sign eat, milk, and more. We are still working on a few more but I am sure she will have those down pat in no time. She catches on quick. AS for food, we have moved onto big girl food. She eats what we eat, so baby food for the most part is a thing of the past. Yippee!! It makes things so much easier for all of us. She is getting closer to walking but still not there yet. She has worked up to 4 steps before she hits the floor. That’s our little Daredevil! And the countdown begins! Can she walk before her birthday? We shall see…

My Best Friend

We have been busy, busy, busy! Our mommy and me group is really taking off keeping us quite busy during the week. We have made all kinds of new friends, and best of all Leisa has found her best friend as well as I have. We spend a lot of time with our new friends Jenny and Piper. Piper and Leisa seem to get along excellent, Leisa trying to play the big sister, and Jenny and I feel like we have known each other forever. We are so much alike it is almost scary. We love watching the girls play together; they can be quite amusing at times. They always seem to want to play with the same thing and sometimes we end up having to take it away from the both of them. As you can see, we are still working on the sharing thing. Leisa loves to go to Piper’s house and play with all of her toys; it is like a whole new world for her. She is also teaching Piper all of her tricks, like how to do raspberries. And along the way she is learning new things herself. She has learned how to clap hands, and peek-a-boo has become her favorite game. She would play all day of she could, even with strangers. I will say she takes after her daddy in the sense that she loves being center of attention. She loves talking to people wherever we go and she is always showing off all her little tricks. I think she just likes everyone telling her how cute she is. Can we say DRAMA QUEEN!

Without a tooth in site, she has managed to move onto eating big girl food. She has become a pro at gumming anything you give her. Who needs teeth anyway when you’ve got gums of steel? She wants to feed herself, but hasn’t quite figured out the spoon thing yet. We are working on it. For now we give her finger foods and anything that isn’t too messy. Mommy doesn’t need anymore of a mess to clean up. There is plenty of that to go around. As for getting around, she is getting very close to walking. She can stand very well on her own and sit herself down, but she is still scared to try to walk without holding onto anything. We are not rushing her, she keeps us busy enough. I can’t forget to mention Snugly Bear. This is her tiny blanket with the bear attached that she can’t go to sleep without. She loves to rub him all over her face and kick her little feet. We can’t leave home without him (or Leisa).