20 Months Old And So Much Fun!

I am really loving this age! Gianna is such a little sponge and I can not believe how quickly she picks things up. She is adding new words to her vocabulary daily and does so much on her own. She is such an independent girl and is so proud of herself when she tries something and gets it.

I have been tracking her language on my phone since she started speaking. It's nothing fancy, just in the Notes section. I keep a running list and at the end of the month I note how hold she is and how many cumulative words she is saying. I can not believe how quickly it's exploded! I have definitely missed some but I try to keep up as best I can. I think it's neat to see which words she's adding. She says over 100 words, uses 3-4 word sentences (when she wants to) and can hold mini conversations with us. It is so much fun to interact with her.

Hi, Mama, dada, woah, duh (down), nana, fish, art, cracker, baby "hi mama", uh-oh, this, bye-bye
(14 words, 15 months old)

More, eyes, nose, up, I sit, Car, "bye-bye dada", no, bus, Elmo, my nana, book, apple, banana, clean up, row row, go go go, oh no,
(34 words, 18 months old)

bow, shoes, achoo, bubbles, more ____, beep, swish, hot, duckie, watch, choo-choo, chair, owie, bike, truck, pee pee, stuck, trash, chugga-chugga, ummies, happy, hat, heart, help, stuck, pretty, up down, run, ice, jump, wash, blue, purple, cookie, sock, dough, hot, pouch, truck (73 words, 19 months old)

Outside, backpack, pink, yellow, home, eat, milk, push, remote, juice, tight, ice, bread, rain, boobies, hand, pull, back, shade, black, white, (94 words, 20 months old)

Airplane, again, green, orange, cook, peas, house, home, open, please, blank(et), two, closed, jump, hug, boom, toys, knock, purse, red, poopies, wow, toes, teeth, (21 months on 8/5/14, ?? Words)

We have little conversations in the car during our rides to school/work. These are some of my favorites:

G: Owie!
Me: Do you have an owie?
G: Yeah
Me: Where is it?
G: Knee (it's always her "knee")
Me: Do you need some kisses to make it feel better?
G: Yeah (if Marco is in the car she tells us who she wants the kisses from)
Me: (blows kisses) Is that better?
G: Yeah, all gone.

Gianna takes her shoes off and can not reach them. She exclaims, "Mama! Uh-oh, my shoe!" Then repeats, "Mommy, help!" even though I can't stop driving to get her shoe. :)

When she was in her infant seat she liked to hold my hand. I can't reach her in the convertible seat so she just cries, "Mommy, hand!" :(

I love that she asks for hugs now. I tell her to use her arms and hug "tight tight". So now, she gives hugs and says "tight tight" when she hugs you. They're the best.

She also loves the World Market building off the 95 (I have no idea why) but everyday when we pass it, it's quite the momentous occasion. She always says, "WOW" with such wonder then gets upset when we've passed it and she can't see it anymore. Then we say, "bye-bye, big building" ("building" sounds more like wa-wa for some reason).

Some other new developments in the last month or so are that Gianna has learned 8-9 colors. She can identify them by name and by pointing. It's so cute to hear her little voice. She loves her big book of colors and all the fun pictures in it. Even from when this video was taken (about a week ago) she says "yellow" the right way now. It's so fast! She also cracks me up when she chooses the wrong object on purpose. She plays her own game. LOL! 

She also has a blast playing the color game with daddy in her ball pit.

I think she is getting close to counting, too. She knows what numbers come "after". I will say, "one" and she shouts, "two", all the way to ten. She is also doing great with plurals. For example she knows that there are two shoes, two Elmo's, etc. If I show her one and ask what it is, she changes back to the singular. 

Overall, I am just loving everything about this age. I love that I can not keep up with her word list and she adds new ones daily. I love that she has the best little personality and is just blossoming into the sweetest little girl. I think we will be diving into the world of potty training soon, too so that will be quite the adventure! Wish us luck!

Gianna And The Big Girl Car Seat

Gianna is now 20 months old. Believe it or not, this 9lb, 5oz baby turned out to actually be a little peanut. She is a shorty like her mommy (on track to be about my height) and for weight she is about middle of the road. One of the perks of having a "little" little one is that we have gotten great mileage out of her infant car seat. She is in a Graco Snugride 35 and can stay in that seat rear facing until she outgrows it by height or weight. That means she needs to hit or exceed 35lbs (she just hit 25) or be 30" or taller. If her head is within one inch of the top of the car seat it's time to get a new one. Well, friends, this 20 month old hit the height limit! It may be one of the only times in her life that happens. :)

We have been researching convertible car seats for a while and decided to make a purchase when we got back from London. We brought her infant seat with us on the trip and used it for the cab rides to and from the airports. Once we got back, we were able to test out the Graco 4ever which was brand new in Babies R Us. We heard about it before we left but they didn't even have it on display yet. My mom would be buying this for Gianna so she came with us to the store to test it out.

We had tested the Graco MySize65 and the Chicco Nextfit and Gianna was not the best test baby on that occasion. You would have thought I was strapping her down forever! It was hard to see the fit but she didn't seem too comfortable in either one. When we put her in the 4ever,  she was calm. Not thrilled, but calm and I liked the way she fit in the seat. :) The thing I like about this seat is that it is a 4-in-one. It will keep her rear facing until 40lb, then forward facing until 65. When she is ready for a booster seat, it converts and also eventually becomes a backless booster. Hopefully, it's the only seat she will need.

We brought it home and took it out of the box. We made a big deal out of the special new seat and put it in the family room so she could play in it. She loves to do the "buckle" herself (the chest clip) so for a few days we just let her buckle away and climb in and out! She also likes to point out the pink part. About a week later we had it installed and checked at our local hospital.

We ended up moving her from the middle to the passenger side outboard position, which I am not the biggest fan of but it had to happen. We are keeping her rear facing and the seat couldn't stay in the middle because it hits the drivers seat when Marco drives. We moved her behind the passenger and that is just as safe. It's going to take some getting used to. It's harder for me to see her in the mirror and near impossible for me to hand her things. It is also an adjustment for her and we are going to do some tweaking to the position of the seat. There are three recline options and she is in the middle one in the pic below. I think we are going to recline her one more to give her a little more leg room. I am not worried about her legs being bent for safety reasons (as I know that is not an issue) but more because she seems uncomfortable.  We will see if that helps at all. I also need to get used to the way her head falls when she sleeps. Totally different than in the infant seat.

First ride in the big girl car seat! She totally fell asleep, lol. :)

Our big girl is growing up! She looks so big in this seat. :)

It's Been A While....But I'm Back!

My last post was from when Gianna was born. Our little love is now 20 months old... I had every intention of continuing this blog when she was born but life had other plans. Consider this a two year recap of sorts.

I had four glorious months off with her and during that time I really struggled with the idea of going back to work and leaving this little baby with strangers. It was all consuming and lead to some issues with postpartum depression for me. I just could not understand how on Earth I was supposed to be the kind of mother I wanted to be if someone else was taking care of my baby for nine hours a day. Needless to say, I had a really hard time. Every minute I had with her at home was precious (the hour in the morning and the two hours in the evening) and after she went to sleep I would do the normal mom things of cleaning bottles, getting her things ready for daycare the next day, cleaning my pump parts, then would pass out in bed. There never seemed to be enough time for blog entries though I started many posts. Many times I would write the text but could never find the time to add the pictures. You can't have a blog post without pictures.... :) There will be some "catch up" pics throughout this post. 

Gianna wore my baptism gown, 2-17-13 (3 months old)

With her Godparents, Zia Nannina and Uncle Billy

 

Some of our professional six month pics

Nine months old!

Gianna's first word was not just a word, but a gesture AND a word. We are over achievers in this house. :) She was about 10 months old and would wave to us and say "hi" at the same time. In this video I got her waving and then saying "hi".  It's still one of her favorite words!

It took a while to feel like myself again. It was after her first birthday and once the holidays passed. I was able to stop taking the medication, stop therapy and finally feel like the old Dana again. The funny part is, when people (not everyone) hear the words postpartum depression, they think it's about not being able to connect with your baby, not wanting to take care of them, not bonding with them. That was not the case at all with me. I was/am so incredibly bonded to her. I can't get enough. Even now. There are not enough minutes in the day to spend with her. The overwhelming guilt of thinking I could not be what she needed and what I wanted to be was what got me.

Some of our professional 1 year pics

For her actual birthday, we had the family over and I baked Gianna a cake. She had a lot of fun diving into the cake and opening her presents.

We had Gianna's first birthday party at our house. I loved planning it and decorating. She doesn't really watch TV or have any favorite characters yet so I just went with some pretty colors. :)

We had some other struggles along the way, too. I exclusively nursed Gianna until she was six months old, then we introduced solid foods and continued to nurse. I had some milk supply issues that started around month 3 and it took a while to get things back where they needed to be. Luckily, I have the incredible support of Marco and my family, and hired an IBCLC to help me. She worked wonders! I pumped at work until she was 14 months old then was able to wean off the pump. Now, G is 20 months old and we are still nursing twice a day during the week and a little more on weekends. It is one of my favorite parts of my relationship with her. I plan to let her self wean and decide when she's done. It's just part of life around here. She did learn to say "boobies" recently and it's pretty hilarious to hear her ask for them by name instead of just pointing to my chest and saying "this".

Marco, Gianna and I have taken two trips abroad in the last year or so. I travel to London for work each summer and last year Gianna and Marco came for the first time. G was 7 months old and we were there for ten days. That was a great trip but also a hard one for me. I was in the middle of the throws of depression, had just started taking meds but they hadn't kicked in yet and I struggled immensely.

London 2013 (7.5 months old)

This year was much different and so much better! G was 19 months old and not only did we do the ten days in London for work, but our families met us in London and we did a five day vacation to Rome, too! What a difference a year makes. Gianna met Pope Francis (Papa Francesco to the Italians) when we attended the Papal Mass at the Vatican. We has great seats and he drove right in front of us in his pope-mobile. Pope Francis looked right at Gianna (as Marco held her up), smiled and gave her a blessing. I don't think it gets any better than that.

LONDON 2014:

Changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace

There is this perfect little toddler park right near the University of London

She loved all the squares! There were little flowers to pick and birds to chase.

The most beautiful gardens

She loves to smell flowers!

This is how we traveled...triple wide.

Loved her Cornetto :)

Afternoon Tea at Kensington Palace

Incredible garden at the palace

My little family!

Near the toddler park there was this little house. G had a blast walking around in it. Here is a short video of my smart girl!

ROME 2014:

Coming into the square for mass at the Vatican

He was right in front of us and blessed Gianna right after this was taken.

A Swiss Guard

The humidity gave her the most amazing curls!

Hanging out on the steps at St. Peters Basilica

And practicing her best Marilyn impression

She had so much fun with Zia

This girl LOVES her spaghetti

Family dinner at the apartment

She loves cooking with daddy

And eating everything he makes (scrambled eggs with garlic and basil)

The Spanish Steps

Inside the Colosseum

She wanted to touch it..

At the Colosseum and in front of the Arch of Constantine

That face!

Walking the streets of Rome like a big girl

Enjoying apertivo on the patio

All in all, I am really happy with where life is right now. I am more in love with my husband than I have ever been. He makes my world a better place and takes such good care of us. There is not a better daddy out there anywhere. We just celebrated five years of marriage and will be together for eleven years this November. I have a thriving daughter who is so incredibly smart and loving. She is a chatterbox and says about 75 words, talks in 3-4 word sentences, knows 4-5 colors and is learning more and more every day. She loves to give kisses and "hugs with arms". She will stop what she is doing to come get me, lead me back to where she is playing, give me a kiss and tell me to sit so I can play with her. She melts me. How did I ever get so lucky in this life? I am counting my blessings and thanking God for everything he has given us.

It's good to be back.