Playing in the Grass!

It has been unseasonably warm here in Wisconsin, so we have been doing our best to take advantage of the nice weather.  Drying the diapers and clothes on the line, spending time with neighbors, and, yes, our first chance to play in the grass at Nana and Papa's house this weekend. 

Giovanni seemed to love it as long as he was on his back.  However, putting him on his tummy prompted quick tears, as usual.  Luckily, we snapped a few pictures before he had a complete meltdown.

  

We also got to spend some quality time with Uncle Jon and Aunt Amanda.  They both love playing with him!

In other news, we had our 4-month appointment on Friday and immunizations yesterday afternoon.  He's growing well, measuring in at 14lb 4oz (50th percentile) and 25.25" (70th percentile).  Tall and skinny?!  Where did he get those genes?  Oh well...glad he's growing at a healthy weight.  And the Dr confirmed...we are teething.  Let the drooling and screaming commence.  Or continue...

The Early Days-Thanksgiving

We had plans for Thanksgiving 2011. We knew we didn't want to drive far enough to spend the holiday with our family, so we had planned on joining our neighbors Brian and Andi for "Pie Night" at their church Wednesday night and dinner at their house on Thursday. (Seriously? A church with "Pie Night"? Sounds like winning to me!) My parents were hosting Thanksgiving on Saturday and Cousin Tricia and her daughter Olivia were riding in with Kym and Eric.

Then I went into labor Wednesday morning.

A call to my Mom when we headed to the hospital got her quickly tying up loose ends at work. (Her boss already knew that her daughter was pregnant and she intended to be there for the delivery. She was really understanding.) By the time we got admitted 2 hours later, Nana was already on the road. She arrived just a couple hours before Giovanni was born at 6:20pm. (Yup, I got by with just 11 hours of labor. You are allowed to be angry.)

All three of us fell in "love at first sight" with Gio. Papa joined us on Thursday. Giovanni watched his first Packers game in the hospital. (Yay for beating the Lions on Thanksgiving!) We were discharged around noon on Friday after a brief scare with Gio's bilirubin levels. Fortunately, they decided that he wasn't too jaundiced to go home. 

(Note to self: don't tell your daughter that "the hardest thing I ever had to do was leave the hospital without your brother because he was too jaundiced" before her chid has been cleared to go home!)

There was no way Nana was leaving her precious grandson to serve dinner at her house on Saturday, so we relocated Thanksgiving Dinner to my house. It was a shorter trip for Kym, Eric, Tricia and Olivia coming up from Chicago. Nana and Papa paid for a hotel room for them so the house wouldn't get too crowded but they could still be close. The only downside was that Jon and Amanda couldn't come because Amanda had to work that weekend. But they got a one-on-one visit with Gio two weeks later.  So it all worked out, just not completely according to our plan!

Great-Grandparents

Last night Nana and Papa drove to our house.  We didn't have much time to visit as they didn't get in until nearly 11pm.  And just for fun, Giovanni was up at 4am to eat.  Where did this come from?!  First time in two months that he hasn't slept through the night.  Hope we're not starting a new trend.
Today we woke up at 6 so all 5 of us could road-trip to Michigan to see Papa's parents, Giovanni's great-grandparents.  We had a great visit with them.  From the minute we walked in the door, they had eyes for no one but Giovanni.  He was enamored with them, too...making noises in mimic of Grampa's.

Cousin Tricia and Olivia as well as Papa Bill came over to visit too. Olivia was so cute with her cousin, giving him lots of kisses. 

We also discovered that Giovanni is a variation on the name John.  Don't tell Uncle Jon...we'll never hear the end of it!  He already brags about being Gio's namesake since they share the same middle name (Papa's first name, no coincidence).

Gramma is 88 and Grampa is 83.  They still live at home, but Gramma's back problems prevent them from travelling much anymore.  So we were excited when, upon our departure, both said "We'll see you in May."  Meaning they plan to come out for Jon and Amanda's wedding.  Yay!!