Leora is 16 months old!

Saying goodbye to aunt Rachel



using the potty and wearing big girl panties!!


1st bowling experience for Rachel's last day

Fun around the house, the beach, and her tiny ponytail!

Happy Birthday Italo!!

We spent Italo's 27th birthday at the Cheesecake factory. We had a great time with good food and finished with a delicious cheesecake for dessert!
Leora got an eye infection after spending a few days at VBS and had to go to the doctor for her first sick visit! She got better very quickly with a little medicine and she's doing great now! But as you can see...she didn't look to good! This was actually the morning after the doctor visit, so it was a little worse the day before!

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!