More Christmas pictures...

Because I took SO many pictures on Christmas and it would be crazy to post them all, I loaded about 86 (those were the good ones) of them to Dropshots (or as I have it posted on my blog "Guiliana's Photo Headquarters"). If you scroll about half-way down the page you will see all my sites to visit, and its listed under there. This way it will be MUCH easier for us all. Plus, there is video on there too!! ENJOY :)

Guiliana's 1st Christmas...

We knew Christmas this year was going to be a special one because it was our daughter's very first. Santa stopped by and left some gifts for her. Mommy and Daddy had so much fun "watching" ... i mean "helping" her open her gifts. But, the most special part of this Christmas was our daughter said her first words!! She had just woken up from a nap and it was time to get her dressed in her Christmas dress. After she was all ready I walked down the stairs and daddy said, "Hi Baby" and Guiliana said, "Hi Dadda" it was super sweet and it brought tears to my eyes. WE just stopped and looked at each other and kept saying "did she just say what I think she said"? Her words were as clear as day! There was no mistake what she said. We still can't believe it!
See Greg and I decided that Christmas is all about the children and there isn't really anything that we need. SO, we decided to buy only for Guiliana and little did we know, she had a gift for us too. Guiliana did get something for all her grandparents and GREAT grandparents though... oh, and of course Brooklyn! We can't forget our puppy.
Well, besides getting engaged (Christmas 2002) this was the BEST Christmas so far. I was so excited that just on Christmas Day I took 111 (yes! that is correct... ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN) pictures. I will try and post a few favorites but I did put together a scrapbook slide show to try and sum up the day. We opened gifts at home and then spent the rest of the day at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Guiliana was super spoiled this year. Our family was thrilled that there was finally a child to buy for on Christmas. Thank you to everyone who had a special part in making our daughter's 1st Christmas a fantastic one!
Enjoy (till I post more)

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Christmas Eve...

Yes, I know... its 11:26 pm on Christmas Eve and I am still up. My company just left and Greg and I put all the gifts from "Santa" under the tree. I have so much to share from Guiliana's first Christmas Eve (and of course I can't fall asleep yet) so I thought I would fill you all in.
Here is how this morning started...



I was in charge of the desert tonight so Guiliana and I made a Pumpkin Gingerbread Triffle! YUMMO! Of course she wanted to help.




THEN, off to Joanna's to bake cookies. She dug right in and even ate the dough! (and showing off our new car seat now that we are such a big girl!)







So after a good nap it was time for Great Grandma and Grandpa Tortora, Grandma and Grandpa, and Uncle Pauly to come over for dinner and desert.
She had some fun entertaining herself by the tree tonight for quite sometime.





Some "family time"



Letting her open one gift on Christmas Eve - this one is from Uncle Pauly.





And finally... Santa has come and all the gifts are in their place.


My Christmas Wish...

My dearest Guiliana... thank you for being the light of our lives. You have brought a whole new meaning to Christmas for me and your daddy. I waited a long time for you and you have certainly made my heart whole. You are truly the best Christmas gift ever. Nothing else can compare to the love you have given me. Thank you for letting me be your mommy. I love you baby girl XOXOXO
Merry Christmas!

Favorite foods so far...

Over the maybe 2 few weeks Guiliana has really started to explore "FOOD". There is nothing that I won't let her try. As long as it can slide down her throat (as she still only has her two bottom teeth) I have no problem letting her taste. She stares as us while we are eating so why not let her curious mind go to work.
Her favorites so far!


She also LOVES the veggie dip ones and the tomato flavors too!




So fun!!! She is such a stinker!!

A week of transitioning...

At Guiliana's school they have several classrooms for all different age groups. Grandma Fran works in the "Pre-K" room. Well, since Guiliana was 8 weeks old (when I HAD to go back to work) she was put in "Infant A". They stay in that room till they start crawling and moving around and then they go onto "Infant B" which is a transitioning room to get them ready for the "1 yr old" room. Two of Guiliana's friends were going to be moving and leaving her behind with little babies. No one that was left was around her age. So, I requested even though she isn't crawling (but wants to stand all the time! If she is sitting on my lap she is constantly turning herself around and trying to grab on me to stand. When I do put her in the standing position she jumps! She really does not like to be on her belly) that she move with her friends to get better stimulation. So, this last Monday was the day. She did great Monday but Tuesday had a breakdown. Now, I use to visit her on my lunch hour for the first 4 months that she was there but stopped because she started to get upset when I left. But, grandma still spends her lunch hour with her so that helped out on Tuesday. After she had her meltdown and FINALLY took a nap she did great that day and for the rest of the week. She is even eating the school lunches :) Thursday she ate Macaroni and Cheese, green beans, and pineapple bites. She eats animal crackers too! In the last two weeks she REALLY has grown up food wise. She only drinks a fraction of the formula that she use to drink now and eats a ton of "finger foods". Her favorite snack is the Gerber puffs that come in veggie, tomato, or cheese. Oh, and she started on the sippy cup. Its a bit of a challenge due to the fact that she isn't even interested in holding her bottle but we are working on it. My baby is growing up too fast. Jan 2nd will be her 9 month check-up! I can't take it!! One thing I do LOVE about her going to school is that she makes us crafts. Her first one was actually for July 4th when she was only 3 months old. Here is her first Christmas ornament for Mommy and Daddy to put on our tree... the first of many :)

Just another Saturday at Grandma and Grandpa's

So, Greg's grandparents are in town from NY so we spent most of yesterday over there. My mother-in-law and I along with Guiliana went to Desert Ridge to do some shopping. We got some good things and then stopped by the water fountains so Guiliana could watch the water while we enjoyed our favorite holiday starbucks. We had a nice family dinner at their house after and then Guiliana was wiped out!! Oh and Brooklyn got groomed yesterday so of course I had to take a picture of my baby. Here are just a few pics from a random(but fun)Saturday :)

This was in the morning when we were cozy by the fire>


Pics before we left. Of course I had to get a pic of the butterfly clip in her hair!


My Brooklyn all Clean!

Cozy boots Grandma bought her. (I am thrilled because they actually fit her chubby sausage feet and I think they are the cutest ever!)

She was wiped out from our day (sleeping by grandma and grandpa's "fireplace" that I built for them when I was like 8 weeks pregnant> LOL!)

This could have been our Christmas Card...

I was just playing around this morning on Smilebox and thought I would share my creation. We already had our Christmas cards made and sent out, but this would have been cute too!

Santa came to town a little early...

Last night we held our annual "Santa visits Caring for Women to say hello to all the children" party. The last few years I have not participated, but this year I couldn't wait to be apart of the festivities! Of course I had to volunteer because I LOVE planning things, decorating, etc... We had 36 kids RSVP (which meant that as "Santa's Little Helper", I had to purchase a toy of their choice for each child... a little overwhelming but so fun at the same time). I had so much fun decorating what we called "SANTA'S CUBBY HOLE". Guiliana seemed interested in Santa and really only cried due to it being a long day in which she is use to being home during that time of the evening on a weekday. We had hot chocolate & marshmallows, cookies, brownies, milk, snacks, good eats. It was good times! I got some great help from my gals at work. Without their help it wouldn't have been such a success!

All of our hard work...

So, I wanted to make a cute sign for the entrance to Santa's area and had asked Dr. Hlavacek for some ideas because she is a huge scrapbooking craft queen. She literally made this out of 2 pieces of poster board, 2 sharpies, and ribbon. She is amazing!!!

Meeting Santa...



Gift Time...