I lost the will to blog...so here is all of June!

June has been super busy for us. It started with a fun trip into Manhattan for a playdate with Riley (2) and Piper (10 months). Gianna and Riley had a great time playing together. And Gianna is quite taken with Piper too. Piper introduced Mark to one of her local friends, Ryann. And these three chubs had some good staring contests. It was an unbelievably gorgeous, mild day and we were so happy to spend it all outdoors with friends! Thanks girls!

The next weekend our friend from Harvard, Kelly, came all the way from Texas to visit us. It had been a year and a half since we last saw her and it was great to reconnect. Gianna took an instant shine to her and wanted to show Kelly everything; especially her latest accomplishment: using the potty! We’re grateful to Kelly for being such a good sport and being Gianna’s potty “audience” for 2 days! (The potty training was basically Gianna’s idea and she’s been doing great! We’re so proud of her!)

The following week we went to my parents’ house in VA while Doug was in Luxembourg again. We didn’t do too many exciting things, but I got a chance to get some shopping done with the extra hands around. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

We came home Friday afternoon and Nonna made the trip with us; which was great since there was a major accident and the trip took almost an hour longer than it should have. Pop-pop came up Saturday morning. It was great to spend the weekend with them.

Gianna sporting all of her pull-ups on the trip home.

Gianna "feeding" Mark, so cute!

Last week we went to our church’s annual carnival. Gianna enjoyed the rides this year, so that was fun. It was SO hot when we were there that it sapped our energy a bit. Nonetheless it was fun to see her enjoy the rides and games.

Mark makes this face often, but it seems like the heat made it more prominent!

For the last few days Doug has been at a class and not been able to get home before the kids were in bed and was also gone all weekend. So we missed having Daddy around for sure! We’ve mostly passed the time with silliness at home, but we have had some fun outings like our trip tot he Discovery Museum. And check out our two silly videos at the end where Gianna sings happy birthday to America and Mark spins on his butt.

TEETH!

I swear, he makes this face all the time. It's not JUST because of the tiara :)

Mark loves The Supremes (he's watching a video of them)

I'm sure he would have enjoyed this "pond" more if he could crawl.

The first time Gianna has ever enjoyed a ball pit.

Grandparents and great-grandparents

The last couple of weeks have been busy. The kids and I went to VA while Doug was in Luxembourg during the week. We had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa and getting to see Aunt Elizabeth, and cousins Bella and Jack almost every day was a real treat. Unfortunately, I am a terrible photographer and there is little to no evidence that any of this occurred. But, it was a hot week, so I managed to snap a few pictures of all the fun Gianna had in the pool at Grandma and Grandpa’s and all the fun she had with Bella in the sprinkler at Nonna and Pop-pop’s. It was a great week and we are super grateful to everyone for keeping us from missing Doug too much.

Doug had a good trip to Europe, but we were so glad for him to come home Friday evening. But there’s no rest for the weary and so we were off to Binghamton to celebrate Doug’s grandfather’s 90th birthday and to see the rest of the De Angelo family (including great-grandma De Angelo, see picture). We had a great time getting to see so many family members!

As a side note, we are on day 2 of being pacifier (aka bunkin) free! I followed my sister-in-law Elizabeth’s idea of suggesting the idea of a bunkin fairy coming to take them all away and give them to babies who need them (thanks, Elizabeth!). So I’ve been mentioning the bunkin fairy to Gianna for a week or two and every once in a while I ask if she’s ready for the fairy to come. On Monday, much to my surprise, she said yes! There have been a few minutes of crying at every bedtime or naptime and some early wake-ups (but she’s been getting up early anyway, so not that much worse!) but all-in-all she’s done really well and we’re so proud of her. After her first nap without it she said, “Am I a woman now?” Sorry Gianna, just because you’ve gotten rid of your pacifiers does not make you a woman. Unfortunately, I believe she thinks the only thing standing in her way of becoming a woman now is using the potty. We’ll keep you posted on that one!