GOTCHA DAY 2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

Here I go with my new monkey "Boots"
Wow, I'm overwhelmed

Giving Boots her 5th bath

We love you Caroline

Gabriella liked Build A Bear too

Look at me - I can sit up by myself

Love this pic - Caroline always stands there while I am changing and dressing Gabriella.

Yesterday, October 1st was our 2 year Gotcha Day anniversary. What a special day! Two wonderful years with my baby girl. I can't believe it.

Caroline and Gabriella spent the day with Bapa and Nana since they babysit for them on Thursday's but we all went to the mall last night for dinner and Build A Bear. Nonnie, Aunt Amy, Bapa & Nana and The Silverio's all went - we had to make it special. This was Caroline's first time at Build A Bear. She loved it - she picked a monkey and of course named it "Boots" from Dora. They have a pretend bathtub where you can wash your new animals and Caroline kept going back to this bathtub saying "monkey bath". She must have walked back to it 5 times - the monkey was very clean by the time we left.

Here are some pics from our special night.

We love you so much Sweet Caroline!

THE ADVENTURE BEGAN 2 YEARS AGO TODAY

Chiefs Fans - daddy makes them wear this every Sunday - it's not helping the Chiefs
Love this pic

Daddy and his girls

So sweet

Caroline feeding the ducks

She loves to feed the ducks

Two years ago today Amy and I boarded an early morning flight for our trip to Kyrgyzstan - what an adventure that was. No need to relive the travel part :). I cannot believe it has been 2 years with my Sweet Caroline. Our "Gotcha Day" is October 1st - that is the day I first held her in my arms and we left the orphanage to start our life together. I am so proud of Caroline and the little girl she is becomming - though very challenging at moments she is my sweet baby whom I was meant to mother. This is a special week for us and we will celebrate by taking her to Build a Bear - this will be her first time there and I'm sure she will love it. I will take pictures of her and her new bear and post them later in the week.

A funny Caroline story from the last few weeks. She LOVES the Three Little Pigs story - I myself am so sick of it because I have to read it each and every night. Anyway, she is very worried about the big bad wolf when he falls down the chimney into the pot of boiling water - this really stresses her out. She tells me that she wants to jump in the pigs book and help big bad wolf. She repeats "big bad wolf burn butt". The other day the book was laying on the couch and she opened it to the end where the big bad wolf falls into the hot water and takes her babies (if anyone knows Caroline they know about her little baby blanket dolls - these are her everything) and puts them on that page and says "Here you go big bad wolf." She knows that her babies make everything better so she wanted to share them with the big bad wolf. It was so sweet. She has such a little soft spot in her heart for anyone that is hurt. She is such a little caregiver.

GABRIELLA UPDATE

Gabriella had her 6 month check up last week and weighed in at 16lbs 8oz and is 26.25 inches long. She is 50th percentile for both weight and height. The poor little baby has an ear infection in both ears though you would never know because she NEVER complains. I swear she is the best baby I have ever known - she is the sweetest little thing in the world. She is starting to sit up pretty much on her own and is scooting across the floor. Not quite crawling yet but she can certainly get to something if she wants it. I would suspect she will be crawling in the next couple weeks. As sweet as she is she is going to be a handful once she starts crawling. She wants to get into everything. I'm sure the fighting will start once she starts messing with Caroline's things - this should get interesting.

Hope everyone is happy and healthy.

The Silverio's

OUR SWEET IRIE

Irie had to have surgery this week on a large mass that literally must have appeared overnight. We noticed it one day last week and it was shocking. After a visit with the vet they pulled some fluid out of it and confirmed that it was not a lipoma (which is typically filled with fat) but instead was someother kind of a mass filled with unknown fluid. They suggested that we have it removed. That was done on Wednesday of this week. She is recovering well and we are waiting on the results of the mass. Prayers are flowing that it is not cancer. I already went through that with Jasper. Irie is not acting sick or like anything hurts her so I am hoping that it is just some sort of growth that has all been removed and she will be fine. She has a very large insision with a lot of stitches and two drains coming out of the insision (GROSS). The drains should be removed on Sunday.

Irie turns 10 years old next month and has been an amazing dog. Junior bought her for me 10 years ago next month. This girl has been with me through a lot of happy and sad times. I love her so much!

Please keep her in your prayers - she has a lot of years ahead of her.

BIG UPDATES ON THE GIRLS

She loves the swing
Why does my mommy put these hats on me?

Sleeping beauty - she loves to sleep like this on Junior's arm

All dressed up

Building things with daddy

New outfits from Abuela

I'm so good at this potty thing

Pretty new dress from Abuela

CAROLINE IS ALMOST POTTY TRAINED!

Caroline has decided she is ready to be potty trained. We were all sick this past Labor Day weekend so it was the perfect opportunity to spend several days in panties with the potty chair in the living room. WOW was it successful! She can spend several hours at a time with her panties on and will sit on the potty herself when she has to go. She is getting so many stickers on her potty chart. Yesterday she peed in the potty 8 times and actually pooped twice. Right now she is in the living room with only a tank top on with the potty chair ready. She has only had 1 accident in the last 4 days. Of course we have only been doing this at home and have not yet taken her out of the house without a diaper on but that is coming soon. It sure will be nice on the budget to only be buying diapers for one of them :).

GABRIELLA HAS 2 TEETH NOW!

Gabby got her 2nd bottom tooth - they are so cute and sharp! I haven't gotten a good picture of them yet but I will keep trying. We are working on her food choices too but she is still a green bean and sweet potato girl. She doesn't really like anything else. I've tried carrots, fruit and yesterday we tried yogurt - she hated it. She gags and makes the funniest faces. We will keep trying. I have been making my own babyfood which I have enjoyed and then I know exactly what she is getting. I had to make more green beans this week since that is her favorite. She is almost sitting up by herself. She can for a short time but eventually falls over but she is getting stronger and stronger and will be sitting soon. This one is going to be on the move. She is very interested in everything around her and wants to get her hands on everything. She grabs and reaches for anything in front of her. As sweet as she is she is going to be a handful once she starts moving. She continues to be one of the best babies I have ever known - she is so good. Makes me want to have another but I'm sure I would only luck out like this once. She is one of a kind.

Junior's new job in the solar business is going good and he is very excited for the future in this business. My new job at American Tower is great - I really like it and don't miss the sales quota hanging over my head. We are working on some projects around the house now that we are both working. We got a big new leather sectional in the living room and had it painted a really neat green color. We are getting hard wood floors put in the living room next week. This is so necessary with kids and dogs - the carpet is GROSS. I can't wait for the new floors.

Love to all!

The Silverio's

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.