Spread The Joy!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Turning One is Lots of Fun!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY VINNIE!!!

Happy Halloween!

This year was tons of fun! Both the boys picked out their costumes: Gio wanted to be Peter Pan and Vinnie chose to be Nemo (I had shown him all the costumes @ the Disney store and he was REALLY excited about this one). They were adorable! Gio participated in his first school Halloween parade as they included the pre-school with the regular kids. On Halloween day, we attended the party at Churh in the afternoon and trick-or-treated in the neighborhood with some kids from the street. Gio decided to ride his bike as he trick-or-treated and was so excited he forgot to wait for most of the candy. He'd ride up, shout "Trick or treat!" then ride away. It was hilarious!

Moving on....

The boys & I are doing good. I know, I haven't done much on here in FOREVER. No promises that I'll keep this up as I'm pretty darn busy, but just a quick update:

Gio's in preschool now and LOVING it. I know, I shouldn't be surprised. He's made new friends as no one from Tot Lot is in his class but being as social as he is that's not really a problem. He does miss his Tot Lot friends a great deal, though (as do I). We had a great reunion party with a few of them at our favorite Chic-Fil-A a couple weeks ago - good times!

Vinnie's growing like a weed. I'm pretty sure he's almost tripled in size since birth. He's crawling like a speed demon and already pulling himself to standing. I've even seen him let go a few times to test out standing on his own. The boys love each other very much and are grateful to have one another.

I am back in school, completing pre-requisites to enter nursing school and also complete my bachelor's degree in Health Science. Life is crazy, but what can you do? Thank you to everyone for your love and support. It's been a pretty tough year with many changes. Some were drastic and others more subtle but the Lord has blessed us greatly and for that I am eternally grateful.

The Mind of My Gio....

As I opened the front door for us to head the the car for school this morning, Gio ran out to the porch, spread his arms up wide and shouted, "Good Morning World!!!" He is SO my son :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIO!!!!

So, I know I've been horrible at keeping this thing updated, and I promise to do some back-blogging soon, but today was just too important to forget: Gio turned FOUR!!! I can't believe my sweet boy is four. He had a party week and a half ago with his BFF, Spencer, who turned four on the 9th. The theme was Nemo and it was tons of fun. The kids made cute Nemo bags to collect candy from the Nemo pinata, played a ping-pong toss game and enjoyed Nemo jello cups. Personally, my favorite part of the Nemo party was the water balloons and how all the 3 & 4 years olds chose to lean into the big box, grab a water balloon, turn around and throw it right into the ground. In addition to many of our friends from church, Gio's best girl friend from Tot Lot also attended. He was thrilled!





Today, my mom & I took Gio & Vinnie to Disneyland to celebrate on his actual birthday. Gio chose to wear his Woody costume. Since we have annual passes, Gio got a gift card in the amount of a one day, one park pass. No surprise, he chose a Disney Railroad Train Set. He's been wanting one of those FOREVER. He was so excited he really just wanted to buy the set and go right home. We talked him into riding a few rides (his choice): "Buzz" (Astroblasters); "Xbox" (Star Tours); and "That Train" (Monorail). Unfortunately, Gio went to bed with a fever and did not get a chance to put together his new toy, but I'm sure he'll ask for it first thing in the morning.

Toddler Language

While eating his Mickey Mouse pancake this morning, Giovanni informed me that he wanted to wear his "Charlie Brown shirt and smaller pants." It took me a minute, but when I returned from digging through his dresser with his Charlie Brown shirt from Halloween and khaki shorts, he happily exclaimed, "Yeah!"

Many Happy Returns

Hooray! Thanks to a generous donation from Ryan's mom (thanks Robyn!), I've renewed my Disneyland Annual Pass & Gio finally has his very own!

My mom also renewed with us (Yay! Thanks, Mom, for joining us!). :)It's great to be back. Vinnie was ecstatic, as you can tell from his picture, and ate up every moment. HA HA.


Gio was delighted to see Minnie Mouse on Main Street and even rode his first big boy ride: Star Tours (he calls it Xbox).

Funny Guy....

Typically, Gio begins our nightly prayers and insists I repeat after him. But, somehow, I end up taking the lead, usually after Gio expresses his gratitude for Legos and blesses the whole gang from Spongebob Squarepants. I could not contain my laughter this evening when I attempted to guide him with, "Please bless us with good dreams," and he responded, "And.....Giovanni's not going to say it."

Tot Wot Diary

It has been brought to my attention that Gio has become quite the ladies man at Tot Lot. Mrs. Jeanette Tot Lot reported that last Friday a little girl had an accident and had to wait on the benches for her mommy to bring her dry clothes. Tender-hearted Gio sat next to this sweet girl and held her hand, with a very concerned expression on his face. Amother girl had dressed as Princess Jasmin for Halloween. Aladdin being one of Gio's favorite movies, it was not surprising that he all but stalked this poor girl for months and verbally expressed that she was his main motivation for his Tot Lot attendance. Alas, he has shifted his eyes to the one whose hand he held most recently and now proclaims that it is she whose affections he seeks. Over the weekend, he asked for her several times, claiming she is his sister. Both yesterday and this morning he asked for her before even leaving the house, expressing his hopes that she would be at Tot Lot. Thankfully, she admires him as well.

The Mind of My Gio...

I think it might be time to get Gio's hearing (and possibly vision)checked again. During the closing hymn this past Sunday, the Bishop walked past us in the chapel to greet people by the door. Gio asked, "He's my Papa?" "No," I told him, "he's your bishop." With a puzzled expression, Gio loudly questioned, "He's my spaceship???"

Twins?

I didn't think so at first but every day I am more and more convinced that I've given birth to Gio's twin. Vinnie is such a doll and reminds me SO much of Gio at this age. The only difference I can see is that Gio's always had orange hair while Vinnie's red is more rust-colored. That's Gio on the left and Vinnie's on the right.

Yes, it's true, life gets crazier with a 2nd kid. But Vinnie is a good baby and has been a great addition to our family. It seems like time has sped up since his arrival. Everything seems to take me twice as long to accomplish and, before I know it, another day passes me by. Not that this past month has been uneventful.

My recovery is going well. My doctor spent a good hour working on scar tissue from my first c-section after removing Vinnie from my womb, enabling me to heal faster, it seems. The downside of it was not receiving enough anesthesia. :( Oh, well, at least it's over and we're both healthy. If anyone's looking for a hospital where you'll receive mediocre service with demeaning comments from obstinate nurses, I know the place for you! Don't get me wrong, my doctor was fantastic. Unfortunately, she works with a bunch of idiots.

Ryan's mom, Robyn (an O.B. nurse) came down for the delivery and to help with Gio. She was a great blessing to me and I was really sad to see her go. Gio spent the week before Christmas with his cousin's down at my sister, Becki's, house. I cannot thank them enough. :)

Christmas was good. I had the boy's pictures taken in their Santa suits on the 22nd. We had Christmas Eve dinner at my mom's with Jim & Amy. Christmas morning was a dream come true for Giovanni. For that past month or so, every day he has told us and anyone who'd listen, " I weally need my s'pol'r s'press toy." Well, Santa took notice and now Gio is the proud owner of his very own Polar Express wooden train set.

The day after Christmas, Ryan's sister, Hollie, arrived from her visit in San Diego and drove me and boys up to Jackson (Ryan's mom's). It was beautiful up there and enabled me to get some much needed rest. Gio spent his days going on walks through the mountains, collecting and throwing rocks, painting Horsey Grandma's picnic table, blowing bubbles and playing with his Polar Express set. Vinnie was thoroughly spoiled and has forgotten what it feels like to be set in a swing or bouncer, have a dirty diaper for longer than sixty seconds, or wait longer than a minute to be fed.

Sunday, Giovanni became a Sunbeam at Church. When I peeked in the Primary Chapel, he and Spencer were sitting next to eachother, excited to be in Primary. After Church, he sported a paper crown that read "I Am A Child Of God." He definitely had a great first day out of Nursery.

Monday, Gio returned to Tot Lot. Since he went to Becki's, he'd been gone for 3 weeks! He was very happy to return. So now we're trying to get back into the swing of things, with the addition of Baby Vinnie. 2009 promises to be an exciting one for the Mangini clan.