GABRIELLA'S FIRST TOOTH

Gabriella's first tooth broke through this past weekend on Saturday. WOW - what a big girl. Caroline was 8 months old before she got her first tooth. I have a feeling Gabriella is going to be early on everything.

She showed no signs of teething - she wasn't fussy, no drooling or anything. Those symptoms have now started as the little tooth is trying to push it's way through and I'm sure more are right behind it. Poor little baby.

She also slept through the night 2 nights this week - 10-12 hours of straight sleep. Too bad I woke anyway and was worried so I had to check on her and thankfully she was peacefully asleep.

She loves my homemade green beans but is not a fan of the carrots that I made. This weekend I plan to make peas and sweet potatoes that hopefully she will like.

I can't believe she will be 6 months old in September. She is growing so fast - makes me want another one :). Just kidding for now!

OUR SAN DIEGO TRIP

Caroline and Daddy in the ocean @ Coronado Island
I can't stop kissing those lips

The Silverio's at Coronado Island

Gabriella's first time in the ocean - daddy was proud to do the honors

Out to dinner in San Diego

Caroline devouring a Heavenly Cupcake - she LOVED it and licked every bit of frosting off the top

The Silverio's at SeaWorld

The Shamu show - Caroline loved it and has been talking about Shamu all week. She says "Shamu jump, people wet"

Pure love

Caroline and Mommy on the Elmo ride at SeaWorld - this was her very first roller coaster ride

Sweet Gabriella

Caroline in her Asian outfit from Bapa and Nana - though they don't wear these in Kyrgyzstan she still looks like a sweet little asian doll

We went to San Diego last weekend - our first family vacation! It was so great. The girls were so good and had so much fun. We loved the time together away from home. Caroline loved sleeping in bed with mommy and daddy at the hotel - in fact when we got home Sunday night and it was time for her to go to bed she asked "Mommy/Daddy's bed?" I quickly replied "Hell no!". I'd been kicked in the head enough for one weekend.

We spent one day at SeaWorld and one day at the beach on Coronado island. Loved every minute of it. Junior and I decided to make this a yearly family vacation. He of course loves the beach and now wants to move to San Diego. That would sure be nice if we could afford it! We may have to live with a vacation there once a year.

The girls are doing great. Gabriella is hilarious - she is getting so big and is so strong. She loves to stand in the corner of the couch and loves her new jumpy activity chair - she goes crazy. They have one of these at daycare and when we picked her up last week she was going nuts in the thing so we went to Babies R Us that night and bought one. I'll get some pics/video of her in it - it is so funny. She has also started to growl - both girls have learned this from their daddy at a very young age - he loves to growl at them. Gabby just started doing it this week. She is also expanding her food choices and loves my homemade green bean baby food. She chows them down every night. This weekend I plan to make sweet potatoes and carrots to introduce next week - I'm sure she will love those too. As you can see from the pics she is not missing any meals. My little chubby girl!

Caroline is talking nonstop, and I mean that literally. If she is awake she is talking and occasionally I hear her in the middle of the night through the monitor. Some of the things she says amazes me. Yesterday morning she came to me and said "Mommy hangnail" and stuck her thumb in my face and sure enough she had a hangnail. Where she learned that I don't know but I was sure impressed. She is so smart. We are still working on the potty training. She loves to wear her big girl panties but usually wets in them. Nonnie had some success yesterday on the potty but she soon had soaked another pair of Dora panties. We will keep trying - she will get it one of these days.

We continue to love our girls more and more each day which I'm not even sure is possible but it continues to happen. They bring so much to our lives - we are so blessed.

SO MUCH FUN WITH COUSIN BO & AUNT JULIE

Mmmmm, rootbeer floats
Yummy

The air shoot at the Children's Museum

Playing in the kitchen at the Children's Museum

The noodle forest at the Children's Museum

Oh, the diaper dance - they ran up and down the hall for 15 minutes laughing and screaming.

Nonnie and her grandkids - she was in heaven.

We have had a great long weekend with Julie and Bo. The kids have had so much fun, including Gabriella. She just giggles and smiles as Bo and Caroline play. She wishes she could get in on the action - next year!

Here are some great pics from the weekend.

They enjoyed the Children's Museum and Nonnie made them rootbeer floats which were a real treat. As Caroline ate hers it pulled at my heart - my little American girl - I'm sure she would never have tasted a rootbeer float in Kyrgyzstan. What a lucky girl she is.

Enjoy.

GABBY'S 4 MONTH CHECK UP

Gabriella had her 4 month doctor's appointment on Tuesday which included heartrenching shots. Oh, how I hate that. She goes from looking in my eyes to a huge frown to crying. All the while keeping her eyes locked with mine thinking mom why are you letting them do this. I'm sure every mother feels the exact same way that I do. My poor little baby. Then they put the huge bandaids on her chubby little legs and I am reminded of the event until those fall off.

She checked out great. Weighed 14lbs 8oz and is 24.5 inches long. At birth she was 8lbs 1oz / 19.5 inches long so she is certainly growing. They think she is pretty cute there at the doctor's office. I have to agree.

Aunt Julie and Cousin Bo are getting in town today and staying until Tuesday. We are very excited. It will be so much fun. Caroline has been saying "BoBo my house" for weeks now. She will be so happy that he is finally here. Those two will have a blast. Too bad it is over 100 here so our activities will be limited to inside but we will find plenty to do. I made a trip to Michael's yesterday and bought a bunch of stuff for art projects for Caroline and Bo.

I'll be sure to post pictures from the weekend after they leave on Tuesday.

Love,
Gretch

GABRIELLA'S FIRST NIGHT IN HER BIG CRIB

Gabriella had her first night in her big crib and slept from 10pm until 6:30am. WOW! She has grown out of her basinette and was not comfortable the last few weeks but we wanted to wait until we got a video monitor for her room. We got that yesterday so last night was her first night in her own bed and obviously she loved it. I can't believe it - maybe that was all she needed - a little more room to move around. Though I had the video monitor right next to me and could see her sleeping peacefully I had to go in twice during the night and check on her. I couldn't belive that she was not waking up to eat or be held.

This is a huge milestone for all of us. Maybe I shouldn't get ahead of myself until we have many successful nights in a row but I am very excited.

On another note - I have a job! American Tower has hired me back for a PM position based out of Phoenix. Most of my work will be in Phoenix though I will travel to CA on occasion. I am SO very excited. This is my 3rd time with the company - it's like a bad relationship, I just can't seem to stay away. I will start on Monday, August 3rd.

The Silverio's are back on track with both Junior and I working full time. We are so blessed.

Love to all!

GABRIELLA IS SUCKING HER THUMB AND HAS MOVED ON TO RICE CEREAL

Yummy, my first taste of rice cereal
Good stuff

I love this Johnny Jump Up

Hello everyone

Caroline making playdough cookies

Gabriella will be 4 months old on Friday which is hard to believe. She is growing up so fast. She tried some new things in the past few days, weeks. She now sits in her little chair with no extra support, she loves her Johnny Jump Up Swing that we put in the doorway, she has found her left thumb and loves to suck it, and last night she had rice cereal for the first time. Wow, what a big girl she is! She is the sweetest baby I have ever seen, she is so smiley and loves to chatter and coo. She makes me smile even on days when I am so tired. That being said, she is still waking up once or twice a night but I'm hoping with the addition of solid foods that maybe she will start sleeping longer through the night. Though I'm tired I still enjoy our little snuggles during the night.

Caroline is talking nonstop - putting 3-5 word sentences together. It is so cute. She is getting easier to understand every day.

Next week Aunt Julie and Cousin Bo come for several days - we can't wait to see them. Caroline and Bo will have so much fun. Too bad it is so blazing hot here. We will find fun inside things to do but it would be nice if the kids could play outside.

No news on the job front for me. I keep thinking that I have some good leads but nothing is working out. I'm trying to keep my head up and keep the faith that there is a plan and it will all work out. Junior started a new full time job this past week and he is pretty excited for the future. It is with a solar energy company (he has wanted to get into this, it is the way of the future). For now he is doing installations but he will move up quickly and hopefully be running his own crew in several months. It is a small company that is new so he is getting in at a good time. I'm very excited for him.

Enjoy the pictures.

4th OF JULY

Gabriella sitting in her chair
Caroline climbing the tree and picking fruit

Look at me climb this tree

Happy 4th of July from The Silverio girls

Nonnie & her girls

Tummy time for both of us

Oops, a little spit up from rolling over

I made it over

Hope that everyone had a great 4th of July. We did, we hung out with Nonnie and friends. Junior worked all day Friday and Saturday so we missed spending the holiday with him.

We had a big milestone on the morning of the 4th. Gabriella rolled over for the first time. She has been trying for a few weeks and finally made it over. Rolling from her back to her stomach - she hasn't quite made it back over to her back yet but I'm sure that will come this week. Watch out then - she will be all over the place. This baby pulls at my heart every day - she is such a sweet little thing and I love her so much.

Caroline had fun this weekend - swimming, playing with friends and of course being with her Nonnie. She is talking so much now and putting small sentences together. She says some really cute things. Nonnie was putting her down for a nap on Friday and they were laying together talking. Caroline tooted and that made her laugh and she grabbed her butt and said "my toot butt". Nonnie could not control the laughter. She says funny things every day and I love it. Some things are hard to figure out and of course she will repeat them over and over until I figure out what she is saying.

Gabriella is also a chatter box - the baby babbles non-stop. It is music to my ears. She is such a happy girl.

Enjoy the pics from the weekend.