fall is here!

Mia loves singing the song about seasons I taught her (gotta love those kindergarten teacher skills). She now is so excited when we go for walks saying "mommy, mommy it's fall now!". We've been busy doing lots of different things. One thing is going to visit Grandpa George, who is home now staying at Aunt Marilyn's but will be back at his home tomorrow. We are going to visit him tomorrow. Mia laughs when he calls her "Momma Mia". Aunt Christie also came to visit last week which was so much fun. The girls love their aunt, Mia even did a running hug when Christie came in the door. So sweet. Dad and Mom had their dental visit on Saturday which wasn't fun but both girls did amazingly well waiting in the play area. Grandma had to come watch the girls for me yesterday morning so I could get some cavities (sigh!) filled and other stuff done. Getting old is rough! Today we had to take Annie to the eye doctor to have a few things checked out per our Pediatrician's request. My prayers were answered when the doctor said it's very minor, she will need outpatient surgery when she is a bit older, around 1, but it could have been much worse! She has a cyst on her eyebrow over her left eye....but it's nothing scary and will be removed and she will be fine. God is good.... Phew!

Mia is such a little girl now. Her and I go to our local grocery store every Saturday morning and she eats an apple in the produce section. One of the workers calls her the 'apple girl' and told her pick up line the other day. Now she will say "mommy member that that man said? I need sunglasses your smile is so bright!" she loves to repeat this and makes me repeat it! She also loves to repeat scenarios of things that happened and replay in sequence things that happened to us during the day.

Here are a few photos from this week. Annie is trying to sit up in the tripod position, Mia and her friend Rocco at the Fall Festival in town and Mia and Dad picking out the first pumpkins of the season for our house!

Happy Anniversary!

We are celebrating our 7 year wedding anniversary today - so thankful for all we have and our two healthy, beautiful daughters above all. Saturday was our first date night in a LONNNNG time. We took the train to wrigleyville for dinner and the Jason Mraz/DMB concert at Wrigley Field. It was a blast! Grandma and Papo came out to watch the girls and Annie did great. She has only had a bottle with pump breastmilk once and took it very easily for Grandma and went to bed easily. Once I heard that I was able to relax and enjoy the night out.

We took the girls to the Lighthouse outlets on Sunday for some major fall clothes shopping. Mia made out with some cute stuff....she picked out a ballenrina pj set with a tutu....she hasnt' taken the tutu off for two days now! Annie does have a good amount of hand me downs but she did get a bunch of new things too.

Here are the girls last Friday at Leavitt Park...Annie's first swing and Mia's crazy static hair down the slide.

Cereal time!

Friday we gave Annabel her first taste of rice cereal - she loved it! It was super soupy but today I made it thicker and she gobbled it up! It's a bit challenging to try to find the time to pump some milk to mix in but so worth it! Dr. Roome put us on a 30 day plan so that in a month she should be on three meals a day - cereal with fruits and veggies. We will see how it goes...I will start to make my baby food this weekend and start stock piling the freezer! I love making baby food!!

Here are some photos: Annie's first taste of cereal, her enjoying her new friends - her feet and Sophie, Dad and Mia under the Bean

4 months, a birthday and catch up

Today was Annabel's 4 month check up. Everything went fine, she is smaller than Mia, weighing in at 12 lbs 2 oz and longer than Mia, measuring in at 24 inches. Dr. Roome said everything looks great. Her shots were no fun, neither was the big poop up her back and through her clothes right before the doctor came to see her! I had no change of clothes with me, thinking that would never happen, so we quickly went home in just her blanket! We were given the go ahead to start rice cereal so we will start that tomorrow....and I have to break out my baby food making supplies, so excited!

Yesterday was my birthday, it was a great day! The weather was perfect! We spend the morning at Hillcrest Park and enjoyed the last Storyhour in the park of the summer (the rest will move into the library). The girls both took a long nap for me (yeah!) and I made one of my favorite dinners, Chicken Marsala...daddy brought home cake and ice cream and it was a perfect birthday. Mia kept saying in the sweetest voice to me "Happy Birthday Mommy!" Saturday we will have my mom, Greg, Uncle Brian and Aunt Pam come over for more celebrating with pizza and game night! Also, daddy surprised me with tickets to see DMB at Wrigley Field next weekend. I am so excited for a real night out and a fun one at that!

Otherwise we have been good. We took a trip to see the girls Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Caporale last weekend in Michigan. We stayed at Papa's and had a nice visit all around. Annie did great on the drive out but again on the way home, wasn't very fond of being in the car seat...but we made it. Other than that just busy with life and enjoying this beautiful fall weather that is upon us. We are ready for the fall, planting bulbs, picking pumpkins, collecting leaves, apple cider....

pics: Annie at 4 months, Papa and Mia playing football, Great grandpa giving art lessons, Mia drinking out of the espresso cups from Italy, Daddy teaching Mia to catch, Great grandma with Annabel Elaine (who she was named after)

Annie enjoyed her first train ride downtown on Sunday. We took the girls to the huge Harold Washington Public Library on a very hot and humid day. Mia loved the train ride pointing out all of the coal cars, tracks, etc. etc. Annie did great, her eyes were so big looking out of the window as we speed on by the trees and houses. Saturday we had a fun day, Grandma and Papo came to visit and stayed for dinner.

I have been visiting my grandpa George each night this weekend...he is having open heart surgery as we speak. We are praying he will do just fine and his recovery will be quick. I am glad I'll be home to help out when he is released. Mia has been praying for him too so that he will 'feel all better'.

social butterfly

Our little Annie has turned into a little social butterfly. She giggled, all out belly giggled, for the first time on Tuesday. It was the cutest thing ever and luckily my IPhone was nearby to catch it! But in turn, I think she is fighting her naps so much because of this! Yesterday I seriously tried to get her to nap from 1130 until finally she fell asleep at 220 (in her crib) but to wake up at 3! Then she stayed up until bedtime, which of course I pushed early and started to put her down at 630, only to have her smiling at me but crying whenever I left. Finally I just took her back out and she was so happy just watching Mia and I fold laundry. Then (Corey was late) we took her up and Mia sang to her (which is the normal routine, Dad and Mia read to her then sing to her before I put her to bed) and I rocked her a little (she isn't much of a rocker like Mia was) I put her down and she finally did her roll to the side, suck her thumb and fall asleep thing....then she was up at 455, 520, 6 then finally back until 730! I know I can't complain because she does sleep for so long at night but I hope this phase passes soon. We follow Dr. Weissbluth's book on sleep and he says by 4 months is when nap cycles start to length and mature. As long as she is happy, we are happy too!

On a side note, can I just say that I have taken a 'facebook' break and allow myself to only go on once a week! It's REFRESHING. Sometimes it's too much to know what all these people are doing, thinking, bragging on....I do like to see what family and friends are up to but years ago wasn't that what phone calls were for? or even letters and emails for that matter! something to think about today...

first week

Our first week staying home went pretty smoothly. We usually start our day with a double stroller, double dog walk. Then we do something fun (playdate, park, etc) then home for lunch/naps. Then we get dinner ready and wait for daddy - we are all happy to see him when he comes home. Someday are busier than others and some are 'no plans' day which I love! Last week we had a blast with our neighbors Rocco (2) Gina (3 months) and Carrie (mom) at the museum. We are super excited to have a close by playmates for those cold winter months. We also had a nice visit last week with Great Grandpa George and Uncle Brian.

Saturday night we had mexican for dinner and Mia insisted on trying the 'hot' salsa. So without asking she dipped into it and ate away...then screamed hot hot hot! We told her to drink her milk and it would feel better. She is a brave little girl and very tough. We've been doing 'school work' before dinner time and she loves it! She's been practicing writing left to write on the midline, counting small sets of objects, recognizing beginning sounds and lots of other fun stuff. She loves doing connect the dots, she makes me do it but does the counting part. She loves matching too, like lower to upper case letters, shapes, etc. She does it all the time when we are out or around the house (look mom dad's shirt matches bosco). She is becoming a baseball history buff. Each night before bed her and daddy read his big baseball history book. She is recognizing the likes of Ted Williams and Babe Ruth.

Annie is doing good too. Sleeping 10 hours at night. We are trying to work on naps. She loves being read to and 'standing up' on our laps. Still rolling around and trying to crawl like crazy. Loves her jumperoo.