Jazzy

When I was 6 months pregnant with Gianna, Rick got this great idea to get a dog. Ive never been opposed to getting a dog but being 6 months pregnant, in March where there was still snow on the ground & trying to potty train an 8 week old puppy wasn't exactly my idea of fun. In fact, for months I made the joke he was trying to get me admitted into the loony bin.... a 17 month old, 6 months pregnant, and a puppy. Yikes. Needless to say, I was the one who found this farm with 9 female Golden Retrievers. We ventured out on the late afternoon of March 8th (Happy Birthday Daddy!) to *look* at the puppies. Seriously though, who could say no to that sweet little face. Surely, not a woman who was 6 months pregnant. We came home with a puppy and named her Jasmine. Ava wasn't able to say Jasmine so we nicknamed her Jazzy and haven't called her anything different since.

Moving on.... she did great adjusting until her first vet visit when I was told she had heart worms and to be careful (humans can get them, too.. ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww!) I cried. Me being the crazy pregnant woman that I am, called the pediatrician asking how I would know if my 17 month old had worms then followed by a call to the OB asking if a pregnant woman got worms what could happen. That was just the start of my downward twirl. She was treated at the vet for worms but it wasn't until Rick was out that evening that everything came crashing down. She was pooping worms all over! At first I didn't realize what it was but then as I got my rubber gloves on and paper towel ready, the poop, aka worms, were wiggling all over. O.M.G. I about died.. I didn't stop crying for a couple of days! I had to get up multiple times a night to let her out and to stand outside (IN MARCH) for her to do her business and pick it up right away due to the already mentioned worms. It was seriously awful. I had this hyper, worm pooping, chewing on everything puppy that I resented. We were this "-" close to getting rid of her.. just giving her back to the owner and not asking for a refund. I kept thinking in my head, "Everyone warned us not to do this, what were we thinking?!"

Now, a year later, I'm so glad we didn't give her back. I couldn't imagine our life.. my girls life, without this important member of our family. Sure, she still knows how to get under my skin with the occasional eating of random crayons found (btw, what is it with her loving to eat crayons?!) and the crazy amount of excitement she gives when we have visitors but this right here, is why I love her:

She puts up with my crazy 2 year old and not so nice 8 month old baby. She doesn't even mind when Gianna practically pulls her ears off and pulls each whiskers one by one. Gianna loves Jazzy licking her feet. Its actually the cutest thing to watch. Gianna puts her foot by her mouth, Jazzy licks it, Gianna quickly pulls away laughing hysterically and repeat. The other morning Ava woke up at an hour I really dislike seeing the clock say and I told her she could go quietly play until the rest of us had to get up. Not long after, Rick had to get up for work where he found Ava laying on the floor with Jazzy petting her in front of Gianna's closed bedroom door. Apparently, they were both patiently waiting for Gianna to wake!

To all those who swore adding this puppy to our family was a "really bad idea", I am proving you wrong! She loves us and we love her. I will admit the timing of getting her probably wasn't the best but really is their ever a perfect time for anything? Nahhh.

8 months!

Another month has gone by. My baby is now already 8 months old. I really think I sound like a broken record, but seriously people, these girls bring me so much joy, laughter, and love. On a daily basis I'm pretty sure that at any given moment my heart could just burst with love, even in the midst of yelling at big sister for hitting her sister in the head with a baby stroller or hoarding all the toys or for purposely jumping through the house the *moment* Gianna lays down for a nap.

Well, here it is. Gianna's 8 month picture with little giraffe. It turns out that last months picture taking was a piece of cake compared to today. By the way, this is not a "normal" smile. This is her half snorting/half smiling/half showing off her teeth.

Speaking of teeth... in the last week, Gianna has had 3 teeth pop through on the top. She is currently resembling a hillbilly (no offense to any toothless hillbillies that might be reading this) with only one of her top teeth clearly sticking out. The other two have just alittle corner saying hello for now. I must say she takes teething like the champ she is! At 3 am this morning she woke up with some discomfort and of course a bottle makes everything better.... 10 ozs. (!!!) later she was back to sleep and even slept in for me!


Gianna is sure growing up.. she is rolling, trying to crawl/scoot/catch up with sister but is having such a hard time getting her belly off the ground. She is still our very happy, content baby. She loves Cheerios.. in fact, the minute the box comes out she gets some major "happy feet" as Ava calls it. She is still so content with just sitting and playing. Its hard for me to accept that at 8 months old Gianna isn't mobile. Ava was walking at 9.5 months so having a slow mover is new but her and Ava's personalities are totally different so I shouldn't be surprised. I'm still very much enjoying the stationary baby phase. She does lunge forward from a sitting position to get her toy of choice, rolls around with it and scoots mainly backward but then she cries like a beached whale when she realizes she cant get anywhere. She loves her own voice.. she loves calling out for Mama. Mainly when shes hungry she says, "Mama" about a million times. Its really cute... but, Daddy doesnt think so :) Ava is her main source of entertainment these day. She even thinks its hilarious when Ava throws a temper tantrum, no joke, she belly laughs throughout the entire thing which makes it 100 times harder to stay stern with Ava.


I can already tell these two are going to be total opposites but best friends forever!..... They absolutely adore each other. I catch Ava all the time telling Gianna that she loves her, asking her if she wants to play, asking what toy she wants, if Ava accidently bumps Gianna, Ava kisses her and say "you okay Gianna? Im sorry". It makes me one proud Mama having these two girls that are all mine!

Im sure this little one will fit in just perfectly!.......

(p.s. I was totally secretly hoping for another girl. Rick and I couldnt be more thrilled to have another little lady around this house!)

Sneak Peak

Here is a sneak peak of our little bean... We did get a clear in between the leg shot but are waiting a couple more weeks to officially announce! :)
Looks alittle scary but baby was yawning looking right at us :).....
Baby holding its head up with its arm....

Hand? Foot? Oh, heck, they all look the same....

Waving to Mom...

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Big Girl Bath

Another step to being such a big girl. Gianna was thrilled to be able to join her sister tonight in the bath tub! She started out in her baby bath but after Daddy saw her legs practically hanging out of it and not having much room to play, he insisted that she go in with Ava. I cant even describe with words how excited she was. She kicked her legs so fast and scooted all around the bathtub to keep up with sister. She didnt take her eyes off all the cool things Ava was doing. Gianna was so excited that there were so many toys in the bath to play with and like her brother and sister, she also loved chewing on the foam letters! They both had alot of fun with each other in the tub tonight! No matter how hard we tried, neither of them would smile for the camera :)