Freakishly Large

It's true, I'm finally in the 3rd trimester. Hooray!!! Aside from the numbers (I'm approaching 29 weeks) I can tell I'm there because: I seriously cannot remember ANYTHING, especially conversations and important information (Ryan keeps saying, "I can't wait for my wife to come back!); people have been making comments, like, "Any day now, huh?" and, "Looks like you're next" (when friends are in labor or very close to); I feel the urgency to set up for the baby (nesting) because I'm pretty sure I'll be immobile really soon; I can't sleep 'cause my hips hurt so bad; I am having the worst ligament pain, which I don't remember having with Gio; & I have so much anxiety about my delivery!

Gio & Vinnie

Every day, Giovanni talks to his growing baby brother, Vincenzo. He tells me, "Mommy, I want to see Baby Vinnie!" Then he addresses his brother (slowly), "Oh, Bay-bee Vinnie, I wub you!" It finally occurred to me, last week at Disneyland, to take a picture of this. I think it's so adorable!

My Wicked Birthday!

My fantastic husband took me to see Wicked at the Pantages in Hollywood on my birthday last Friday. It was awesome! I thoroughly enjoyed it. I absolutely love musicals, especially live, and this one did not disappoint. In fact, it exceeded my expectations. :) It was really nice to be alone, on a date, with my sweet Ryan. We dressed up for the occasion and everything. Everyone was really nice to us, too. We were guessing that everyone thought this was probably our last date before our new bundle of joy arrives. Little do they know, I have nearly 3 months to go! One lady sitting next to us kept smiling at us, especially when Ryan would put his hand on my belly to feel Vinnie kicking. And, of course, all the women in the restroom moved aside when I came in to use it as one of them said, "Oh! She's really pregnant! Let her through!" So thoughtful and definitely appreciated after a three hour show!

The Mind of My Gio....

My mom and I took Giovanni to Disneyland this past Thursday. While riding on the train around the park, Gio spent time checking out the pictures of how to sit properly. First, he pointed to the person on the left then pointed to my mom and said, "Nana!" Next, he pointed to the middle person on the pic and said, "Gio!" Last, he pointed to the person on the right and said, "Mommy!" He then moved on to:He pointed to the picture on the left, then he pointed to the picture on the right. Immediately after, he imitated the kid, raising his hands in the air! It was so funny! It cracks me up when he does this stuff and he's not even trying to be funny.

Happy Birthday Jim!!!

I am lucky enough to share my birthday with my older brother (of 4 years), Jim! He will probably fall of his chair when he reads this as usually today is all about ME but today I wanted that to be different for him, so........HAPPY BIRTHDAY JIM!!!!

6 Random Things About Me

So, I was actually tagged to do this by 2 different friends who live in 2 different states and don't even know each other. How funny is that?

These are the rules:
1. Link to the Person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag 6 people & let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.
5. Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

1. I was born with really abnormal teeth. I had braces for almost a decade, 2 expander's, a bridge and even wore a head gear for a short period of time. After all that, I had 3 different retainers then two different night guards (I called them my grinding plates). I have had 7 different oral surgeries on my teeth over the course of my life. I was actually scheduled for at least two more this year, but Vinnie decided to come a year ahead of schedule so now I only have half a mouthful of teeth.

2. I LOVE pink electronics. I didn't even want a cell phone until Motorola came out with the pink SLVR, which I recently replaced with a pink Sony Ericsson Walkman cell phone (the camera died on the SLVR). I have a pink Memorex iMove to play what is now my 3rd pink iPod that I'm on (first a pink Mini, then a 2nd generation pink Nano and now a 3rd generation pink Nano Video). Thankfully, my husband fully supports me in this quest as evidenced by my new pink Sony Cybershot digital camera I got for our anniversary.

3. I am very much into routines/schedules and very much dislike interruptions in whatever routine/schedule I'm on. It's kind of one of my favorite aspects of being the Girls Camp Director: figuring out what can be fixed from the previous year's schedule to make it better.

4. When I am upset about absolutely anything, I HAVE to clean. I could be literally crying about a friend's tragedy, or even my own, and you would find me picking up around the house, dusting, doing the dishes or even scrubbing the toilet. When my dad passed away last year, my sister-in-law and I spent all four days before his funeral deep cleaning my mom's house. We even dragged every piece of dirty laundry and bedding down to the neighborhood laundromat. I really appreciated her support in my neurotic grieving needs. Seriously, if you ever see my house completely spotless, feel free to ask who died.

5. I share my birthday with a ton of people I know: my brother (Jim), Wendy's sister Michelle, my good friends Sarah & Shawntel, my friend's son Brandon, a guy I went to Jr. High with (Adrian) and a few other people who I can't think of right now (see #6).

Which brings me to.....

6. I am a total mindless idiot when I'm pregnant. One of the first things Ryan said to me after I told him I was pregnant with Vinnie was, "You're not going to get all dumb this time, are you?" If you tell me something important and you don't see me write it down in front of you, ask me to. If you tell me a secret, it's surely safe with me as I'll forget it the minute we walk away from each other! Fortunately, this problem goes away a few months after the baby comes out of me.

So, now I tag: Kellie C, Alie B, Rebecca M, Becca B, MaryJo V, & Julie C!

Tot Lot

Giovanni began Tot Lot this week. It's actually going pretty well. I stayed the first day for about 40 minutes 'til I noticed he was playing with his good friend from church, so I ducked out. He caught me. He ran to the gate and yelled, "Mommy! Where you going? Come back!" I told him I'd be back in a bit and he'd be fine. He was. At home, he was an absolute nightmare. According to one of my mommy magazines, this is totally normal. On Tuesday, he told me he didn't want to go. As attendance is optional/not mandatory, we could have stayed home, but we didn't. I figured, why start that the first week, especially the 2nd day? By the end of the week, he was asking to go in the morning and telling me, "Thank you for Tot Lot, Mommy," the rest of the day. It's a total parent co-op program, so I work it every Friday. It's kind of nice that way. I get to be involved but not overly-involved. A good friend of mine is training Gio to call all the mothers "Mrs. Tot Lot." We'll see if he takes to it. I really like this program and think it will be a good introduction to the idea of pre-school for him.

We Were There

It's true. Last night, we had the great opportunity of attending the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim game where Francisco Rodriguez broke the record for most saves in a season. It was pretty exciting. We sat in a VIP suite that was awesome!

The Yard Sale Fairy

Last weekend, it was time, again, for our annual yard sale. This year, we included Chad (not for sale, just his stuff). Giovanni was so excited, although I'm pretty sure he had no idea what a yard sale was. He was walking around all Friday saying, "It's for my yard sale? For my birthday?! For my party?!?" I really don't know how he associated a yard sale with his birthday (which is not until April) and a party, but he did. He WOULD NOT go to bed Friday night, he was so wound up. So, finally, at 10:30 Ryan told him, "You better go to bed or the Yard Sale Fairy won't come." It worked! He went right to bed. Saturday morning he woke up at 6 a.m. with the same enthusiasm. No matter how many times we explained it to him, throughout the whole yard sale, Gio kept asking, "Where's my yard sale?" Oh, well. We tried.

Aunt Becki's

I cannot tell you how many times a day Gio tells me, "I wanna go Becki's!" It's absolutely ridiculous. So, we finally went....and it was great! Gio got to spend time with his cousins, Katie & Bailey, while Ryan worked outside with Chase & Ash (prepping for more construction) which left Becki and me to cruising in her Porsche and visiting the Coach Outlet down by the border. Thank you, Wolters, for a great time! :)