Summer

I can't believe I haven't posted for SIX WEEKS! That is really sad. What can I say, I've been really, really busy at work and when I've been home I haven't so much as wanted to look at a computer screen. However, I do want my family and friends to stay caught up on little Miss Alessandra as well as preserve these memories for myself as well! A lot can happen in six weeks, that's for sure.

Like for instance, Ali got baptized! Father Bob (who married us) presided over Ali's Christening and also BONUS...Her little cousin Gabriel! It really was a fun setup since Aunt Yolanda and Uncle Mac are Alessandra's Godparents, and Ricardo and Gabriel's Uncle Kevin were the Godfathers of Gabriel. So Ricardo and Yolanda just did the old switcharoo when it was time for each baby's bath. And when I say bath I mean it, Father Bob does FULL immersion!

Here they both are giving Father Bob a workout post-dip. You should have seen how adorable their little naked butts were in church! I'm sure the whole building swelled in adoration as each parishoner and guest sighed and "awwww"ed.

I LOVED her beautiful Christening gown.

We go to the zoo a lot in the summertime too. We like to blame the love of animals on Alessandra, but it's really her mom and dad that can't wait to see them each time we go! The latest exhibit is "Africa!". Here are Cardo and Ali feeding the giraffe by hand. Yes, you read it right, they are FEEDING the giraffe!! His tongue is 18 inches long and feels really, REALLY weird!

Grandma and Ali! Grandma Jo is here visiting us now! Alessandra LOVES her grandma. Now I know why a lot of babies call their Grannys "Nana"...Whenever she yearns for hers she says "Na na na na na na na".

Other words that we are saying are mama and dada (of course!), bay-bee, and we are also making a brrrrrrrrr sound when we play with cars. She also imitates us coughing and sneezing (and I am proud to say that she even covers her mouth!). She likes to emulate like she is talking on the phone whenever she can get a hold of one of our cell phones, and she is also getting very good at the shape-sorter! (Pushing the circle, triangle, square, and star-shaped blocks into the corresponding slot.) She is VERY close to walking and even stands on her own for a few seconds at a time. No steps observed quite yet though! And MAN can this girl dance! She bops and sways and really gets into any music she hears. Her head goes up and down like she's profusely and very seriously saying yes and then it goes side to side like she's doing the Egyptian. It is pretty darn funny. She claps and says yay and plays patty cake. She also can give fives and kissys on command. And lately, she LOVES her mama. And I'm not sad about that. :)

Still a bully at daycare stealing other kids' toys and graham crackers and there's not a whole lot we can do about it at this point. Evidently she is no longer a stranger to the occasional time out, we've heard.

She still drinks out of a bottle but LOVES food. She'll try anything and seems to be okay with it. One thing that is NOT her favorite is spaghetti as evidenced by the way she spat it out here. That was a hair-washing night.

We've gotten the friends together for volleyball. Remember Sawyer? Look how huge he is now! And look how tiny Liza is! As much as I love her...Grrrrr....

Our little family also went camping for the first time. Here we are at our first bonfire...


She has come a long way in the tooth department. The first broke through at 9 months, and another bottom middle came immediately afterward. It was just those two forever until just last week when we spied some whitecaps. She is now cutting FOUR top teeth at once, poor thing. She has been such a trooper and barely lets on like it hurts at all. Also slow to come in but once it did, caught on quickly, lots of hair with LOTS of curls! She's also still such a good girl and happy baby! Somebody pinch me!

I expect to start updating again from here on out a little more regularly again. After all, in under two weeks we have someone in our family about to turn ONE that I need to update you on! Where has the time gone?!? No really.

Look where I was a year ago!...


Have a good week!

Love, RAD