GABRIELLA IS 2 MONTHS OLD

Gabriella with her straight hair
Gabriella with her curly hair

Nonnie and her girls. Caroline has on her Kyrgyzstan t-shirt which is so cute on her.

Gabby was 2 months old last Sunday and had her 2 month checkup on Monday which included 3 shots in the leg OUCH! She weighed 12lbs 3oz and is 21.75" long. She sure is growing. 75% for weight (that's my girl) and 50% for height. She definetly does not miss many meals which you can see from pictures. The doctor again said she is perfect. I got a little lecture from Junior and the doctor for letting Gabriella sleep in bed with us. He said of course I had to stop it someday so better sooner than later. So, I caved on Monday and let her sleep with us since she did not feel well from the shots but since Tuesday night she has been sleeping in her basinette in our bedroom and is doing great. She is waking 1-2 times during the night to eat but other than that sleeping great in her little bed. Though I miss having her close it is nice to get a good night sleep without her beside me in the boppy. We will give her about another month in our room and then between 3-4 months we will start putting her to bed in her crib in her own room. She has taken a few naps in there and does not seem to mind but I'm not ready to have her that far away from me at night.

We have a long holiday weekend and my birthday ahead of us this weekend so plan to do some fun things. Tonight we are going to some friends for pizza - they just had twin boys a few weeks before Gabriella was born. Tomorrow night Nonnie is going to babysit the girls while mommy has a much needed night out to celebrate my birthday on Sunday. Sunday will be family dinner with everyone for my birthday and then Monday we will relax. Not that a long weekend really matters right now since I'm not working but it is still nice to have a holiday weekend. Hopefully the not working will end shortly. I've been doing some job hunting but nothing has transpired. It has to soon! Just when Junior is back working I am now unemployed - well, at least one of us is working.

Here are a few new pics of the girls from the last few weeks. It is crazy how quickly they grow.

Love,

The Silverio's

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Today was a very special Mother's Day with both of my girls. I love being a mom. These two has brought so much love to my heart. At moments I feel overwhelmed with responsibility and screaming kids but it is so worth it. To be the mother of Caroline and Gabriella is a blessing from God and one that I cherish.

We spent the day with my mom swimming at her pool, walking around the block for frozen yogurt and then mom and Junior kept the girls upstairs for naps and I had 1 1/2 hours of quiet at mom's pool reading my book and getting some sun. I could have stayed down there longer but I missed my babies and wanted to be upstairs with them.

Today I think of Caroline's birthmother and thank her for the beautiful daughter she gave birth to who was meant to be my first child.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mother's out there. Being a mother is such a wonderful blessing.

XO,
Gretch

WEEKLY UPDATE

The girls in their matching PJ's

Chef Caroline!

The girls are doing great this week. Caroline had her 2 year wellness doctor appointment today and she is great. She weighs 28lbs and is 35 1/2 inches long - 50-75% for weight and 75-90% for height. She was not happy with the shot they gave her in her arm and kept saying "go" because she wanted to get the heck out of there.

Gabriella's face is getting a little better. I'm washing it daily with Aveno and it seems to be drying up and hopefully she will have her beautiful skin again soon. Here is a pic of the girls the other morning in their matching PJ's and you can see her red face. Poor baby. Caroline points to her face and says "bobo red". She is very concerned about Gabby's red face. We keep kissing it and telling her that Gabby is okay.

While Junior and I were cooking dinner the other night our little chef decided to make dinner too - this is how we found her after too many moments of quiet in the living room. She was very serious about what she was doing but we had to laugh at the get up that she managed to put on. Oh, the fun when they want to dress themselves. She loves playing in her kitchen and loves the chef hat and oven mitts that her cousin Bo gave her for Christmas.

I am looking forward to Mother's Day this weekend and spending the day with my family and my little girls. Mom will hang out with us for the day. I plan to go to church in the morning and then we will all go to the Wildlife Zoo here in town - we haven't been there yet and have been wanting to check it out. It will just be nice to be with my mom and my girls that day. Poor Junior - another day surrounded by females. Actually, he loves it and he puts up with a lot. He is a saint!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mother's out there.

Love,

Gretchen

GABRIELLA UPDATE

Sorry no new recent pictures of Gabriella. There is a reason - she has HORRIBLE baby acne right now. Her face is so broken out and red. Poor little thing. We have been to the doctor twice and they keep telling me that there is really nothing I can do and that it will go away on it's own in a couple of weeks. New pictures to come once she is camera ready again. She is still precious and beautiful of course but she probably would be mad at me someday if I posted pictures of her right now :).

She weighed in at 11lbs at the doctor on Thursday - that is about 3 pounds gained since birth. She is a growing little girl and has the cheeks, thighs and arms to show for it.

Caroline is doing good - adjusting more and more each day to her new baby sister. She loves to hold Gabriella and helps out as much as I will let her.

All is well at the Silverio house.

XOXO

CAROLINE'S BIRTHDAY PARTY

Happy 2nd Birthday Caroline!
Gabriella crashed out in her red polka dot bikini

Caroline getting candy from the Dora pinata

Caroline jumping into the pool to Bapa (she did this about 50 times - she was WILD)

Here she comes to jump

Playing in the little pool at Bapa's RV spot

She loves this little plastic pool

Heading to the slide at the train park

Riding the carousel at the train park

We had a GREAT birthday party for Caroline yesterday at Lake Pleasant. We had lots of family and friends there to share in the celebration. Caroline had so much fun in the pool and running around. She loved all of her presents and all in all she had a wonderful 2nd birthday.

Gabriella of course slept through most of the day so I was unable to get a good shot of the girls in their matching bikini's but they sure did look cute. Hopefully we will get more wear out of them - Caroline's for sure but Gabby's is getting snug. That baby is growing like a weed.

In addition to the party yesterday we did some celebrating earlier in the week by taking Caroline to the train park in Scottsdale. This is usually her date place with Bapa but on Wednesday she went with mommy, daddy, Abuela, Nonnie, and Gabriella. It was an unseasonably cold day so we did not stay as long as we would have liked but long enough for a train ride and a few rides on the carousel.

Thanks to all who joined us in celebrating Caroline's birthday and to all those who sent cards and such in the mail. She is one lucky little girl.

Love,

Gretchen

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY SWEET CAROLINE

Caroline and her daddy
Our wild 2 year old

Family shot

Caroline and daddy

OMG, I love this pic

This one too - she is so sweet (don't let the face fool you)

2 years old but still not giving up her "baby"

Happy Birthday to our dear sweet Caroline. Since it is officially the 17th in Kyrgyzstan right now I thought it would be appropriate to post her birthday wish. I cannot believe that she is 2 years old tomorrow. I so vividly remember having her in my arms for the first time at 5 1/2 months old. Now she is such a grown up little girl and we are so very proud of her. She makes us laugh everyday. She is learning so much every day and you can't get anything past her - she sees something once and she has it down. She is our little Miss Independent which makes us both proud and a little frustrated at some times.

We are ready to celebrate her birthday all weekend with her Dora the Explorer themed party at the Lake on Saturday and a fun day at the Scottsdale Culinary Festival on Sunday. Tomorrow on her actual birthday we will wake up and I will make her pancakes and a special breakfast. We will play at the park and go out for yogurt late afternoon. We have some presents ready for tomorrow with more to come on Saturday. Tomorrow anything she wants she has - she is such a special 2 year old.

On Caroline's birthday my heart goes out to her birthmother. I hope that in her heart she is at peace and knows that the daughter she gave birth to is the daughter of my dreams. She is loved so very much and is such a happy little girl. Junior and I promise to give her every opportunity that we can and to be the best parents that she could wish for. We love her so very much and are so blessed that God has placed her in our arms to parent and love her for the rest of our lives.

Here are some pictures from today that were taken by a photographer friend who came over to do family pics and pictures of the girls. Gabby is 1 month old on Caroline's 2nd birthday. More pictures to follow after the weekend of festivities.

HAPPY EASTER

I love Easter baskets
Wow, look at all this stuff

Basket from Bapa & Nana

Caroline finding Easter eggs

Mommy, there's money inside these eggs (Caroline found $21 in eggs)

Hot pink - one of my favorite colors

Mommy helping me find eggs

Abuela helping me find eggs

Caroline coloring Easter eggs

Gabriella crashed out with the Easter bunny

Gabby trying to eat mommy's face

My 1st Easter

Get this stupid hat off me & quit taking pictures

We had a very nice Easter Sunday. Gabriella missed most of it - she slept through most of the day but Caroline had so much fun and loved finding the hidden Easter eggs at Grandpa's house.

Here are some pics from Caroline's 2nd Easter and Gabriella's 1st.

We love our little bunnies!

Gretchen & Junior