Jack - 2 months

Jack,

I can’t believe it’s already been 2 months since your birth. These couple of months have flown by and you are becoming more interactive. You now smile. And Jack, thankfully for us, you smile all the time, my baby.

You are beginning to make sounds like you want to communicate with us. You are hungry all the time and clearly growing a lot. You only cry when you are really tired or really hungry. At all other times, you smile, smile, smile.

I went back to work 2 days before you turned 1 month old. It was an incredibly difficult thing to do, but after much thought, I decided to go back in order to maximize my days with you next year. I can’t wait until next summer when I’ll take my maternity leave and will get to spend a lot of time with you.

Jack, I love how you put your hands together like you are praying, I love how you curl your little toes, how you have fun with Charlie and Daisy and your sister, how you are so easygoing and cool. And Jack, I simply LOVE how you smile all the time. I absolutely love you, my son. Happy 2 months.

Newsletter: Month 25

Giulia,

Today you turned 25 months old. You are this amazingly creative, smart, loving and absolutely beautiful little girl. This month was super cool because we had some very special visitors from Brazil: Titia Mara e Titio Helio. They spent a couple of weeks with us and we got to do some great things with them. You bonded with them very quickly and to date, almost a month later, you still ask for “Titia Mala” e “Titio Mala”, actually quite often!
This past Memorial Day weekend was also quite special because we had Titia Carla come and visit us from Dallas. We went to Leavenworth, Snohomish, downtown Seattle (on a very cool “coffee crawl”), to West Seattle and on awesome car rides throughout beautiful WA. You loved spending time with Titia Carla and the 2 of you got along beautifully.

It didn’t take us long to see Titia Mara e Titio Helio again. On May 7th we left for Brazil for your Dindinha Buba’s wedding. You, again, did great on the trip over and back (thank God for portable DVD players!) making this otherwise tiring process a fairly easy one on your dad and me.

You looked like a princess in your flower girl dress, you played amazingly well with your cousin Maria, swam in the kids pool with Jusia, papai and mamae, had beautiful moments with Vovo Rita, Vovo Toinho e Vovo Nair, had much fun with Dindinhos Dede and Buba, had a great time playing with Malu, Mariana and Joao Pedro, amongst many other amazing and unforgettable moments you got to spent with some very special people while we were in Brazil.

Giulia, our bond grows every day as you and I have become incredibly attached. It is so difficult to be away from you, I have an incredibly hard time every time I have to leave you, despite knowing that you are in great hands and being as loved as ever.

Today there was a moment that will be in my heart forever. We went to the airport to drop off Titia Carla and stopped at the Mall. I sat down to wait for your dad while you and Santana went up and down the escalators. As you went up, you kept looking towards me to make sure that I was still there. As you came down you kept on waving at me and smiling and the second you were off the escalator, you ran towards me, with the biggest and most beautiful smile on your face, with your arms wide open to give me a hug. You repeated this, 5 or 6 times and every time you and I would have this amazing moment when we would looked at each other and you would run towards me to give me the biggest hug... In that moment, it seemed like it was only the 2 of us in this whole universe and nothing else mattered! It was only pure love, emanating from both of us, a love so complete and perfect, which I’d never known existed, not until I laid my eyes on you. May you always continue to search for me, Giulia, and every time you do, I promise that you will find me still there.

I love you so, so much, Mamae

Newsletter: Month 13

Giulia, yesterday you turned 13 months old. This has been a crazy month for mommy and daddy because we have been negotiating for a job in Seattle for the past month, so our anxiety level has been high.... Mommy in particular doesn't do too well with uncertainty!

The weather has turned for the better in the last few weeks so you have begun to play in your princess pool. You are reluctant when getting into the pool but once you are in you seem to enjoy it.

You are also becoming more secure in your walking and have been exploring new sounds. Your books have become very important to you. In particular you like the small Baby Einstein books and love to have Mommy, Daddy and Santana read to you. Your favorites are the Brazilian book you always chew and the Baby Einstein book with the pop open flaps.

Mommy has been working with you on petting Charlie and Daisy. She has been trying to teach you not to grab and pull their fur but to pet them. You love Charlie and Daisy very much but at times can be a bit energetic with them.

Lately you have become a bit needy with Mommy and Daddy. You love to be held and carried around the house. You get upset when you are put down or when you are given to someone else and you have begun to hug more. We can't tell you how wonderful it is to get a hug from you.

Your sleeping is still an issue and you are still teething. Lately you have been waking up in the early morning and not going straight back to sleep. Mommy and Daddy made the tactical error of bringing you into our bedroom and feeding you a bottle to get you back to sleep. We are now having a difficult time transitioning you back to your own bed. Mommy and Daddy cherish our time with you but is sure makes our work day a quite trying.

Even though our anxiety levels have been up do to the pending move our love for you and each other has kept us grounded. You constanty remind us of the important things in life which are our love for each other and you and the esance of our family.

Newsletter: Month 12

Giulia, today you turned one year old. I’ve been thinking of what I wanted to say to you when you reached this milestone, and I decided that I wanted to start with even before your father and I got pregnant with you… even then, we already wanted you so, so much. As soon as your dad and I started dating, we would have conversations about one day soon, having kids. Then on April 14th 2007 we secretly eloped and got married. Well, as soon as your dad and I made it “legal”, we decided that this “one day” should be immediately! Luckily for us, it took us one try and a month later we found out that we were expecting you.

On Saturday August 25th, three days after my period was supposed to start, your dad and I took a pregnancy test and it was negative. On the 26th, your dad drove me to the airport and I left for Asia on a business trip. During my 1st night in Singapore – I’d been lying awake pretty much all night, unable to sleep / get adjusted to the time difference – so, I decided to call your dinda Bruna to chat and while we were on the phone debating whether if “drinking wine and eating raw fish could harm the baby, just in case I had taken the pregnancy test too soon thus getting a false “negative” result”, I decided to take yet another pregnancy test, “just to make sure”. This time, the result was positive and I just can’t describe how incredibly happy I felt when I saw the double pink line. I hung up with your dinda and called your dad to tell him that our life as we knew it was going to change forever! Needless to say, those were the longest 2 weeks ever – I so desperately wanted to be home with your father and celebrate and share every single second of this pregnancy with him and no wine or fish for me!

And Gi, here you are now, a year after the nurse handed you to me in the hospital and you reached your little hand out to me. The love that I instantaneously felt for you and the overwhelming desire to protect you and to make sure that you had the best possible life was and still is the most powerful thing I’ve ever felt in my life.

You are a totally different baby then when we brought you home. You are so happy and independent and you know what you want and what you like and you make sure that everybody is aware of what that is! You like to play with your new toys, your big thing now is to talk on the telephone, untwist caps, put things into something and take them out, you love books and babies (neném!) and you are starting to stand on your own and to babble quite a bit. I love how excited you get at bath time when you play with your toys in the big girls tub and when you look at yourself in the mirror. You still love to watch Xuxa and to sing along with her and you love to watch the new DVDs that vovó brought to you from Brazil. You’ve become such a cuddler of late and when you give us the absolute best and biggest hugs, your dad and I simply melt in your arms...

This has been the best year of my life: I have never learned so much about life and compassion and love. You have taught me so much already... I feel like I’ve been given a second chance at life, one through the magic of your eyes. Our world has so much more color since you’ve been in it and now everything makes so much more sense and we feel so complete since you’ve become a part of our lives. There has never been a more peaceful moment in my life than when I go into your room and watch you sleep, breathe, to hear your life in the air. I thought there was meaning in my life before you came along, but in reality, I didn’t even know the meaning of meaning.

Stats:

Weight: 23 pounds - 75%

Length: 31.5 inches - 97%

Newsletter: Month 11

Dear Giulia,

On 3/30 you turned 11 months old. This letter will have a bit of a different format than previous ones, because you’ve developed so much this month that I want to make sure that I capture as much as I can here, so that when you have your own babies, you can show them how advanced, smart and extremely cute you were as a baby (qualities, which I am sure you will continue to have for the rest of your life):

· We are still working on having you sleep in your crib by yourself: sometimes it works, but most times it doesn’t. You have, however, begun to let go of our hand in less and less time, once we put you in your crib. Part of the problem here is that your daddy and I love it so much when you hang on to us, so even though we know that we "should" be letting you sleep on your own, we just love it when you cling on to us and don’t let us go. I have a feeling that, consequently, this process will continue to develop slowly...
· You are standing on your feet more and more – you’ll be walking any time now. In mid-March you stood in the big girls tub all by yourself. You are letting go of our hands and trying to walk on your own. When you crawl, you do a funny crawl/walk, because I think that you can't stand not being able to walk yet!
· You are really enjoying bath time again and are doing great in the big tub.
· Santana brought our Pilates ball upstairs and she has been playing with you by rolling you on the ball. One morning, as I was going down the stairs to go to work, I heard the most contagious laugh coming from downstairs. I stood by the room where you 2 were playing and Giulia; you were laughing so deliciously hard and having so much fun, that I couldn’t stop looking at you amazed at how happy you are. I thank God every day that you are so incredibly happy - it's contagious, really.
· You started eating real apples, home-made baby food, yogurt melts (you can’t get enough of them), crackers…. You have graduated to real food now, little one.
· You are quite vocal and you make the funniest sounds. You have said: mama, dada, papa, esse (“this” in Portuguese), you will say: eeeeeeeeeeey!, trrrrrrrrrrrrra!
· You blow kisses, wave good-bye, make fishy-mouth.
· You clap hands, you sing, you play with Charlie and Daisy. It took this long, but now Charlie actually loves to play with you! I know, our puppy was jeaulous of you at 1st, but now, he can't get enough of you - as we knew he would.
· On weekends, the 2 of us have been going out on mommy and daughter trips: we go to the stores, supermarket, walks… and everywhere we go, people can’t believe how happy, smiley and beautiful you are. .Daddy still loves to put you to bed at night and is spring loaded to run into your bedroom when you make the slightest peep. In the morning you are typically waking up before us so we go and get you and cuddle with you for 10 or 15 minutes before you start your day. This is the best part of mommy and daddy's day.
· When we come home from work at the end of they day you are always very happy to greet us. We can't tell you how wonderful the feeling is to see your smiling face after the workday.
· You are staring to understand what 'no' means. Since your baby teeth (you have 6 of them now) came in you can no longer chew on our hands without hurting Mommy and Daddy so we have begun telling you 'no, that hurts Mommy (or Daddy)' and you usually stop when we say this to you.

OK, my little genius. Mommy is planning your 1st birthday party and part of me can’t believe how fast this time flew by and I feel nostalgic about my little baby that was so tiny, only 11 months ago, but the other, more prevailing one, feels so lucky and so blessed to have had the best – almost – year of my life. You and your father have made me complete.

Newsletter: Month 10

Giulia, on the 28th, you turned 10 months old. The reason we are celebrating yet another month in your life so early, is because this February only had 28 days. Don’t worry, once you get older, you will not want to celebrate your birthday a couple of days early, but for now, I’m sure you won’t mind.

In the beginning of the month you had your 2 bottom teeth. Then after a couple of very difficult days, mommy found that you, all of a sudden, had six teeth: 4 upper and 2 lower pearly whites. Now, level with me, kid, why did you have to go and grow those six teeth and did they really have to sprout at the same time? You are usually such a good-natured baby, but I had no idea what teeth could do to a human being, even to the sweetest of them all! And to make things even more exciting for your daddy and I, people everywhere would say, “oh, don’t worry, things will get so much easier…”, and then in the same breath “…but this will last until she’s 3 years old!”

In the last month we have met Miss Personality: you love certain things and really, really don't like other things. You love banana puffs. You do not like spaghetti baby food and you will make the cutest “this-is-so-yucky” face when we try to feed it to you. You like applesauce. You do not like to be kissed. You love to watch Xuxa (so much that mommy and daddy have are now singing Bila Bilú in their sleep!), but hate it when I try to clean your nose.

You are crawling everywhere; putting every single thing is your mouth, testing your limits… You are curious, happy, tenacious… You’ve learned to stand really well and you are trying to walk. You’ve become a biter but you are also learning that that’s not an OK thing and when we say “no”, you actually stop. You are playing with Charlie and Daisy a lot more and they seem to want to play with your toys and you seem to want to play with theirs, making it very difficult to keep them separate. Every morning you wave us goodbye, and you are always smiling and that reassures us and enables us to actually leave our home, because Giulia, even though we’ve been back at work for some months now, we can’t tell you how difficult it is to leave you every morning. But knowing that you’re OK makes it so much more bearable.

Daddy has finished working on the condo and he is back feeding, bathing, playing with and putting you to sleep every night. During the time that he was working on the condo, daddy woke up every single night and morning to feed you. It was your special time with him and something that your daddy learned to cherish and look forward to.

One day you started coughing and to mommy it was obvious that something wasn’t right – sure enough, you had swallowed a little piece of plastic, which was causing you to choke. Thanks to a very quick reaction from Santana, she was able to dislodge it from your throat. The whole thing lasted 5 or 10 minutes, but to us, it felt like an eternity, because right then we both realized how precious your life is to us, and that just our knowledge that you were not OK, scared us tremendously. Right then, we further realized that ensuring your well-being and us protecting you from any and all harm is much more than just another job of being parent, it is our essence and an integral part of who we are.

Newsletter: Month 6

Giulia,

On October 30th, you turned 6 months old. That’s half a year, for crying out loud – where did this time go? We celebrated your ½ year birthday with a birthday cake, hats, noise makers, many, many smiles, and of course, happy birthday songs in both English and Portuguese. We all had so much fun celebrating you and the joy you bring into our lives.

Many things happened this month - you are clearly becoming more independent and self-sufficient, like, for instance, you are now sitting up, spinning around in the Exersaucer, blowing kisses, bouncing your body, as asking to be picked up and even dancing when we play or sing you a song. You are now eating baby food. You love sweet potatoes and carrots and you like apple sauce. You’ve started to hold your own bottle, which was devastating for us (you are growing up too fast!!) but wonderful for you. During this month the adventure continued with vovó Nair and with the return of vovó Rita and the arrival of tivó Maria coming to stay with us. Thanks to them, you have become a frequent shopper at the Clinton Outlet Mall. We also spent a weekend in NYC. You really enjoyed walking around Times Square, people watching, seeing all the beautiful, bright colors and lights and the craziness of the city.

On October 31st, we celebrated mommy’s birthday and we dressed up and went “trick-or-treating” for Halloween: mommy was Winnie the Pooh, Daddy was Tigger and you were the cutest chipmunk I have ever seen. So cute that the neighbors who we visited we taking pictures of YOU! We had fun handing out candy too. Mommy and Daddy felt that we truly experienced Halloween this year, since we got to trick-or-treat with you.

You had your 6-month apointment, got your shots, examined and more importantly, a clean bill of health.

This was a wonderful month spent with vovó Nair. Our relationship with her has become so much stronger. To me, she has always been one of the single most influential people and it was nice to, 10 years later, share my life again with her. Your daddy feels like he “has a new grandmother” – a feeling that, I know, is shared by vovó Nair, and Giulia, you’ve developed a very special bond with her. This time has left everybody with a desire to spend even more time with you, and hopefully they will all come back to celebrate the one year of absolute joy and blessings that your birth has brought to us all. Thank you for adding so much to all of our lives.

Stats:

Length / Comprimento: 27 3/4 inches / 70.5 cm (97%)

Weight / Peso: 19.2 pounds / 8.7 kg (95%)

Head Circumference: 43 1/4 (75%)

Newsletter: Month 5

Giulia,

Yesterday you turned 5 months old. We have reached some major milestones this month and mommy and daddy still can’t believe how fast you are growing.

You’ve learned how to turn on your tummy! We think that you may have turned before, but last week was the 1st time that we have actually seen it. You’ve tried, for the 1st time, rice cereal. I had only added one little spoon of it to your milk and you liked it. Then yesterday, we gave it to you in a paste-like form (with less milk), with a spoon, and guess what? It was the cutest thing in the world. You had food all over your face and you definitely liked it!

These past few days you’ve been teething and this has interrupted “our” sleep at night. We see the outline of your 2 front teeth and expect and hope that they’ll be coming in soon. We’ve observed and can definitely tell that it’s been bothering you. We have given you many teething toys, and you put them and everything else you get little hands on, right into your mouth. You love to play on your gym-mat, with various toys and you love to pet Charlie and Daisy. You squeal in delight when your dad tickles your belly. Your eyes are turning browner, but today, when you were in the car and it became sunny, they were a beautiful shade of green, so who knows what color they’ll end up being. When we go out with you, you are a really smiley baby and your smile can melt the hearts of everyone we pass. Your personality is starting to develop into a strong-willed, happy, positive little person.

Your grandma Nair is staying in our home this and next month, visiting us. She loves to hold and play with you. In particular, you love to play “clappy-hands” with her: you participate by holding the back of your vovo’s hands while she claps and sings to you. Sometimes, you take naps in your vovo’s arms and the 2 of you look so peaceful together. Mommy can’t tell you how special this time is with you and vovo, because she is one of the most influential people in mommy’s life and mommy loves to share this special time with the 2 of you. Your middle name was chosen in her honor and in the hope that someday, you’ll become a bit like her. Another very important thing: in the mornings, she watches you, while mommy gets a few precious additional minutes of sleep and boy, is mommy thankful for that!

You were also reunited with Santana, who you met in Brazil, as she accompanied your vovo to the US. You really love to play with her, to dance to Xuxa DVDs and your walks in the backyard. Santana is very loving toward you and your friendship with her has continued right where you guys left it off in Brazil!

You are happy. You are healthy. You are smart. And you are still the most beautiful baby in the world.

Mommy feels really blessed that I’ve gotten to spend these past 5 months at home with you. After I return to work and for the rest of your life, for that matter, I want to continue to discover every little thing about you and root for you and be there for you, every step of the way, as, Giulia, your dad and I are, and will always be your number 1 fans. We love you, little monkey.

Newsletter: Month 2

Giulia,

Yesterday you turned 2 months old. My suspicions that you are growing WAY too fast were confirmed at your pediatrician’s appointment: you grew a whole FIVE INCHES since your birth, putting you in the 97% for height and weight.

Your eyes can now track objects. You like playing with the mobiles in your crib and car seat. We let you sit in front of the TV for 5 or 10 minutes to watch Dora – it’s so much fun to watch you: you are attracted to the myriad of colors on the screen and you scream excitedly and laugh at times. (This prompts us to laugh with you!) - You can now really look at your dad and me, I mean, you can "see" us. We love it when we know that you are becoming more and more familiar with us, the 2 people in this world who love you the most. We want you to know who your mommy and daddy are, but especially, we want you to know that you are so incredibly loved by us.

We sing the “Charlie, Daisy, mommy, daddy and Giulia” song that your dad made up just for you. Once we start singing it, you give us the biggest smile in the world and you sing along by making the most adorable sounds. You are becoming one animated baby!

We went to NYC to get your Brazilian passport. This time we had all the required paperwork, everything worked out great at the Embassy, and we had a couple of hours to walk around beautiful NYC. You enjoyed the people, colors, lights and your dad and I had a blast watching you take everything in. You did great, you, jet-setter, you! We received your passport in a little over a week and now we can finally take you to Brazil to meet your Brazilian family.

You are still making your own daily schedule but I am learning different cues, you’re your different “cries”, the times that you are fussing because you are tired, or hungry or simply bored, when you want to be picked up, when you want to play. You don’t mind much laying in your porta-crib – so long as the mobiles are entertaining you. We KNOW when you are done with them! Actually, you are pretty good about telling us when you are happy and particularly when you are not. You are one opinionated little one!

Grammy and Grandpa spent a long weekend with you and they had a blast. You love to be held by your grammy. You spend a lot of time sleeping in her arms. Your grandpa can't believe how beautiful you are. You have quickly become everyone's little snuggle bunny!

I can’t believe it’s only been 2 months that you came into and completely transformed our lives. You are the most beautiful and the best baby ever and you are changing and growing so much every single day, it is hard to keep up with all the wonders. But no matter how big you become, I promise you that my heart will always be even bigger and that you will always be in it, as my love for you will exponentially grow bigger, each and every day, for the rest of my life.

Stats:

Birth / Nascimento:

Length / Comprimento: 20 inches / 50.8 cm

Weight / Peso: 8.6 pounds / 3.91 kg

Head Circumference:

6 days / 6 dias:

Length / Comprimento: 20.5 in / 52.7 cm

Weight / Peso: 7.15lbs / 3.25 kg

Head Circumference: 35

1 month / 1 mes:

Length / Comprimento: 22.5 in / 57.15cm (90%)

Weight / Peso: 10.6 lb / 4.82 kg (95%)

Head Circumference: 37

2 months / 2 meses:

Length / Comprimento: 25 in / 63.5cm (97%)

Weight / Peso: 13.3 lb / 6.05 kg (97%)

Head Circumference: 39

Newsletter: Month One

Giulia,

On May 30th, you turned four weeks old. I can’t believe how you’ve changed in the past month. You now coo and you make the funniest faces and sounds when you are lying in your bassinette, nursing or when you see something that interests you, like when you see the colorful butterfly I hung on your car seat, which seems to distract you from the fact that, no, your dad and I are not holding you in our arms or carrying you around in your Snuggly.

Speaking of that, you have made it very clear to us, in the past couple of weeks that you want to be held all the time. It doesn’t matter if we are home, shopping at CVS or having dinner at Ruby Tuesdays: you want to be held, always. You can now see our faces and you recognize our voices and we are able to calm you down when we talk close to your face. You have also begun to smile. Giulia you have the most beautiful smile in the world and your dad and I live for those smiles.

You love car rides. You love going on walks. You love lying on your belly. You love taking baths. I was so nervous when your grandma Rita left to return to her home in Brazil, and I had to give you a bath all by myself, especially considering that you had liked it so much when your vovó Rita gave you a bath (while I stood there watching how much you were enjoying it all). Well, despite my fears, I did give you a bath, and luckily, you spent the entire time having fun while I spent it crying, not only because I was actually ‘doing it’, but also because I was missing my mom, who had helped me so much during your 1st month of life. Your baths have now become one of our super fun things that we do together.

You have quickly become our little sunshine and you so have your dad and I wrapped around your little fingers. Like, yesterday, your dad skipped golf to come home and hang with you. He then changed out of his black T-shirt to a white one because he is convinced that you don't like the color black. And even though we tell you every 2 seconds how beautiful you are and how much we love you, it is just not enough to express how we really feel. You are lovely, amazing and the best gift that God could have ever given us and we are so thankful to have you in our lives.

These days that I have had the privilege of spending with you have been the best days of my life. I have loved every single second that we’ve spent together and I look forward to the days ahead when I’ll be discovering more little nuances of you. I love you so, so much.

Mamãe

Stats:

Birth / Nascimento:
Length / Comprimento: 20 inches / 50.8 cm
Weight / Peso: 8.6 pounds / 3.91 kg
Head Circumference:

6 days / 6 dias:
Length / Comprimento: 20.5 in / 52.7 cm
Weight / Peso: 7.15lbs / 3.25 kg
Head Circumference: 35

1 month / 1 mes:
Length / Comprimento: 22.5 in / 57.15cm (90%)
Peso: 10.6 lb / 4.82 kg (95%)
Head Circumference: 37