Summer time is here again!

She loves little chairs her size.


Playing outside one morning. 14 months old...4 teeth now and growing so fast!

Playing at the park one day. We went to feed the ducks, but there were no ducks...only pigeons and fish! Leora was stingy with the bread though so mostly she just ate it when I gave her a piece to feed the birds!


Playing at the Splash pad for Kehnley's birthday party! Leora had a great time and got a nice little tan showing her true Brazilian side!


Leora is now 14 months old and doing great. She is so happy and loving and never boring! She is eating all sorts of good food now, and she loves reading books and learning new words! She has excellent hand eye coordination and she seems to be so smart that she surprises us sometimes! She can do sign language for several words, and can say a lot of them now too, so she is learning to communicate. She even understands when Italo speaks to her in Portuguese!
As far as the rest of us...we are doing well too! Rachel is still here with us and she is working hard and losing a lot of weight and learning to be healthy! She also helps out with leora and with work around the house, so its been nice to have a helping hand! Italo is working hard and definitely staying busy. He is doing excellent in school, work, and ministry. In his last class he got the highest score of his whole class! I am doing well also. I take care of Leora( a 24/7 job in itself), cook, clean, and work out... and anything else in there that needs to be done. Our only complaint is that we are a little bit chronically sleep deprived, but we are working on that slowly but surely!
Italo's second Father's day in this Sunday, and his birthday is Monday! So we will hopefully have lots of fun celebrating and making him feel as loved and special as he is! I'll update again soon. I stopped for a while because Rachel was here and was updating her orkut account, but Italo informs me that other people would like this blog to be updated that don't have access to that. So I apologize for my neglect and I will continue to post updates and pictures! Love you all!

We got Leora all dressed up because I was trying this dress on her to see if it would fit her as an Easter dress. But the dress was so small around the chest that we could barely get it on and it was impossible to get it off without hurting her! So we added shoes and a bow and took some pictures before we cut the dress off of her and ruined it! It was so cute on her too...so sad. But it was a hand-me-down from a friend, so I guess there is no harm done!
At a friend's baby shower wearing her cute blue ducky dress! She looks really good in blue I am finding. It makes her eyes pop!

11 months and growing so fast!

Leora eating avocado at 10 months the day she officially started solid food!


walking and playing at 11 months. She puts every little thing in her mouth now too. In this pic she had a little peice of paper. in the first one you can sort of see her new tooth there on the bottom.

playing one night that she didn't want to go to sleep after her cousins went home.
playing on a warm day!
Italo and I on my 26th birthday


Well, Leora is 11 months old now and she only has one more month until her first birthday! We aren't going to have a really big party, but we will surely make it special and post lots of pictures and videos of the big day! Leora recently started walking and got her first tooth too! She's been eating lots of different foods now and she loves lemons and limes for some reason! She also loves music and always has to dance when she hears it! She still likes to have a finger to hold onto when she walks... but she's getting more and more brave with walking and occasionally will venture off all by herself. Her hair is getting longer especially in the back, but still no ponytail yet for a hair bow! I still enjoy the fact that I don't have to fix her hair yet, so I'm not complaining!
Italo and I are doing well also. I'm still at home with her and keep busy with her and with house things and church stuff. Italo is really busy with college ministry at church and he is also back to playing soccer after about 10 months without it! So he is really happy about that. We are all really excited to welcome Italo's sister Rachel to stay with us for about 5 months. She will be here next week!! Hope you enjoy the pictures! Love you all!

Valentine's Day and 10 month photos

Leora is now 10months old and goofier than ever! Still no teeth and still not walking yet...but those first steps are so close I can taste them! Leora loves bathtime and gets pretty upset when its over. She's getting some hair, but still no ponytail haha. Her favorite word is "HI" and she says it to everyone, and as you can see... plays like she's talking on the phone a lot!

She got her first stomach virus yesterday and now I have it too, so this will be brief. I took the pictures outside this morning on Valentine's Day. She was still not feeling great from being sick, but she's getting a lot better.

Love you all and I'll try and catch up more later when I'm not sick!

Lovely Leora

6 months

my first time to wear shoes...!
Leora is about 5 months in this pic and already sitting up and being silly!
Leora is growing up and getting sillier every day! She talks and babbles all day long and she is now crawling and pulling up onto anything she can get a hold of. She doesn't much like to sit anymore because she wants to stand... so I don't think that walking will be too far off. She is now 7 months old this month, and so far no teeth yet! But she does seem to be teething all the time and loves to chew on things and explore them with her mouth! She is healthy and vibrant and she may look a lot like mommy, but she's got her Daddy's temper! We are so excited to be going to Brasil in December and Leora will FINALLY get to meet our family there! She is the first grandbaby on Italo's side of the family and it will be a joyous thing for them to meet her and show her how much love they have for her! We are so blessed that God has provided for us to take this amazing trip and we are so very excited!!

Lake Travis

Pool fun!
Hanging with Grandma and cousins Bella and Adilen
Mommy and Leora at the lake!Daddy's getting his soccer legs back!
Leora's first sick day!! So Sad! It only lasted a day though!