Gianna's 2nd birthday and July 4th

I want more presents!

We went to see Curly on Gianna's birthday. She was very excited - no fear.

She tried sharing her birthday cupcakes with Nick. Daddy baked them especially for her!

On July 4th we went to Columbus. Here is Great-grandma Kollmann and Nick.

Gianna no longer wants to get in the water. Instead she hangs around in her bathing suit on dry land.

Nick is starting his fascination with beer at a young age...

It has been really dry in Texas recently. This is the smoke from a large fire near Columbus - I think it burned about 1500 acres.

Matt in mid-air.

Gianna was reading Nick one of her new stories.

Grandma Christine, Aunt Beth and Aunt Caron sent Gianna this water play table for her birthday. I think it was a hit!

Nick today. So grown up!

Matt was holding the camera and Gianna was saying "cheese".

Movie star Gianna.

Is it just me, or does he look freakishly large for a 3-month old?

Nick showing off his 6-pack.

Father's Day

Nick refuses to believe he needs to stay on his back. And now that he can roll over, he tries his best to get to his tummy at all times.

Daddy went golfing this morning for Father's day, so we took some self-portraits. And yes, Gianna does have food in her mouth.

Milestone

No pics today, but I just had to get this down before I forgot as this blog is serving as my baby book of sorts. On June 15th Nick turned over from back to stomach several times!! He is going to be a stomach sleeper for sure, but we still have him trapped in the bassinet so he can't turn over in there. I did manage to catch it on video and maybe I will add it here later. Anyway, that is the news from Houston. Oh - and it is freakin' hot down here! Like 100 degrees. Gianna is also talking alot more. She says stuff like, "where daddy go?" and "I fall down". Very cute (at least I think so). That's all. TGIF tomorrow.

Summer in Columbus (Texas)

Today we visited Grandma Debbie's house for some relaxation in the sun. She had a new swingset for the kids and we also went swimming.

Nick seemed to enjoy the water and was lounging in his new swimsuit. If you can't tell, he is a monkey.

Gianna is scared of the water and would not go in the swimming pool. She did throw things in it for other people to catch. The swing set was a hit.

She has a lot on her mind...

Gianna and great-grandma.

Nick at school

Nick had his first day of school yesterday. This is how Gianna and Nick would look as drawings. (I've been experimenting with photoshop)

Nick and I leaving for his first day.

Nick and Matt at daycare. Doesn't he look so grown up?

Last weekend before returning to work

Gianna and Matt had some father-daughter time with a trip to McDonald's. This was the first time Gianna had been to a playland. It looks like she thoroughly enjoyed it.

Yesterday we received a package from my Aunt Laura and Uncle Dale. It was mainly a gift for Nick (lots of cute boy clothes strung along a clothesline), but Gianna had her own present. She got the socks she is sporting in these photos. We had to first soak them in water for them to expand (they were shrunken somehow into little teeny socks). Unfortunately, she wanted to wear them when they were soaking wet. After we dried them in the dryer, she insisted on wearing them with this mismatched outfit and actually went to the store wearing this. I guess she did get several compliments on the socks from strangers!

Before her nap

Nick and Gianna today.

Gianna wore this cute dress and sock combo Grandma Christine gave her today. She really liked the dress and socks because 1) they are yellow, 2) they have bugs on them and, 3) they have flowers on them. She is still wearing the socks because she wouldn't take them off when she went to bed.

Funny faces

For those who have been watching the Lakers, Gianna is doing her Kobe Bryant impression.

Post-cake face.

All in all a good weekend but I am sad to be going back to work. At least I have a job is what I keep telling myself.

We love books and daddy

Gianna has become quite opinionated lately and insists on taking books to bed with her as well has her stuffed horse (which is quite large). She is in a horse-crazy phase and we have watched Spirit (the Disney movie) like 12 times this week. The whole time it is on we hear, "more more horse please?" She says this while the horse is on the screen so we are not sure if she wants him to jump out of the TV or what. Anyway, this is what I saw tonight when I put some clothing back in her room. It is hard to tell, but one book is open as though she was reading it in the dark. I would have moved them, but I didn't want to wake her up. She looks comfy enough, right?

Nick showing Daddy some love...

Nick

Relaxin

Nick today.

Nick can talk!?!

Nick recently had his 2 month doctor's visit. Here are the stats:

Height: 24 inches (90th percentile)

Weight: 11 pounds, 9 ounces (50th percentile)

He has many new skills including drooling and "talking" as seen in the video above. Don't worry, although he sounds extremely congested, he is actually fine and not nearly as congested as his sister.

Gianna LOVES horses!

Because of my pregnancy and inability to ride, we haven't been to see Curly in a while. Gianna loves seeing horses on TV, so we thought it would be fun for her to go see Curly last weekend. She had so much fun. In this photo she was so excited because she was feeding Paco a treat.

Here she is trying to tell Paco that she had placed part of a treat by his toe. He didn't get it...

Here Gianna is feeding treats to both Paco and Curly.

Gianna also loves dogs. She had fun petting Cricket (Lola's mommy).

Curly got lots of treats this day!

Nick knows some tricks

Nick was enjoying laying on the floor by Aunt Caron.

All Grown Up

No longer a baby (sigh).

Mother's Day

Family Photo

Car sleeping - I thought she looked so cute!

The many faces of Nick

Chillin'

Looking tough

Ah - the elusive smile. I forget what it looks like when he is groaning for hours straight.

Nick - the thinker

Nick today

Mmm...we love candy

Giving his pouty look - future model?

Mischevious half-smile.

Mitch (Kate's son) Gianna and Nick. Mitch is about 9 months old.

Nick's first visit to Dylan's candy bar. He gathered all this candy and thought we would be fooled by his fake sleeping.

Nick with the candy bunny.

Straw love and more

Mitch is Nick and Gianna's cousin (Kate's son). He was here for a visit (with his parents). Apparently he loves straws!

Kiddos

Look at the chubby cheeks and chin!

He was saying "ooh" in this photo.

Smiling at daddy

Gianna helping with the laundry.

Houston weather

This was our street last weekend and it was even worse today. We were trapped!

Nice picture of Nick with Grandma and Grandpa.

This is a close-up of Nick during the photo session. I think he is taking after his daddy with the joking personality.

The children

Gianna's Easter outfit.

Thanks for the cute onesie, Ali and Leo!

Deep in thought.

This pic was taken April 2. Doesn't he look so young? He is so much more mature now.

Trip to the Zoo

We went to the zoo recently. Gianna hasn't been there since she turned a year old, so it was quite a different experience.

Gianna was very excited about the aquarium portion of the zoo, especially the turtles.

Nick and Gianna

My parents were in town for Easter and these pics are compliments of Grandma. Gianna loved her new bubble maker (a big sister gift) and Nick looked dashing in his Easter bunny hat (thanks Murrays!).

Bath time

Nick had his first real bath today. By the look on his face, it seems that the whole process confused him a little bit.