Gisella

 So, it really happened. Luke and Andria have a baby girl! And she is a beautiful little thing too with velvety soft skin and lots and lots of dark hair.

I was hoping to make it to the hospital for the delivery, but there was no chance of that. Gisella wanted to make things nice and dramatic (welcome to life with a girl), so she decided to arrive in triage on the bathroom floor. 

These pictures are from the hospital the day she was born (July 19th). She has already grown up quite a bit in the last ten days. 

 Poppy Meets Gisella

 Cousins! Prim. Gisella. Lucette. And their matching headbands. Family gatherings are going to be pretty crazy fun in about 16 years.

They're tough, but can these boys handle a sister? 

Welcome to the family little one! We love you.

Four Months

 What Cetty has been up to...

+ Reaching for and grabbing onto things

+ Loving her thumb on her right hand and blanket in her left, especially when it's time for bed

+ Pushing up on her feet and arms, flipping herself over, and ending up in very different places than where I put her

+ Experiencing her very first heat rash from head to toe (at least that's what I think it is...and if so, I take full responsibility)

+ Plateauing on the growth curve, though the Dr. doesn't think we need to supplement or start cereal yet
+ Laughing so hard she gets hiccups (cutest thing ever!)

Sticks and Bumps

It's official. Poppy isn't a baby anymore. She isn't even a toddler. Even though she's still only two, she's a little girl who is surprising me every day with her grown up-ness. 

Like, for instance, when she started writing letters last week. She was "drawing," and I thought it might be fun to start teaching her how to write the first letter of her name. You know, just introduce the idea of writing letters down on paper. I didn't think she'd be interested, let alone have the fine motor skills required to control a pen, but I decided to give it a whirl. 

So I said, "First you draw a stick. Then you draw a bump." And she did. All by herself. Just like that. Then she started giggling and going crazy and wanted to do it again and again.

Here are her cute little hands...

 

And here are some of her cute little P's (bonus points if you can spot them in that mess)....

The scribbled blobs are there because she wanted some of the P's to be "sparkly." Yeah, she's a girl.

We're onto O's now, which are a breeze because circles are apparently old hat. So I guess I've been underestimating her and have most likely already stunted her learning. She probably would have written the next great American novel by now if I wasn't so behind.

The 4th (and the weekend after)

 Jenny and Luke are back with Luca, Avo, and Prim! After six years in FL, we are very excited to have them close to home again.

 Mom set up cute tables in the back yard...unfortunately the mosquitos were so bad that the adults ended up eating inside.

 Only the kids were brave enough to take on the bugs

 I tried a fun, summery recipe for mango carrot cake. So good!

 Saturday night fireworks over the lake with Poppy and Bry.

 Poppy trying to take pictures on Bry's iphone of the "shooting stars," as she liked to call them.

 Matching swimsuits! I love having two girls.

The best part about the weekend was spending a rare day off with my three favorite people and no big plans other than pool time, grilling, and a long walk...oh, and watching Andy Murray finally win Wimbledon!