Leora is gonna be a big sister??!

At cousin Merrick's birthday party
Hanging around the house while Merrick was here. Eating some tortilla soup, and putting on shoes. She loves to put on shoes and clothes. A true girl!

After the Texans football game with Papai. It was Red day...


All the cousins went to Nature Fest. Leora LOVED the petting zoo. Italo went in with her and they had a great time of bonding! The middle picture is the best one I got of ALL the cousins together, haha. They don't exactly stand still!
So for all of you that are not aware, we have found that we are expecting another baby. Leora will be a big sister sometime in June, and if she could understand that...she would probably be ok with mommy being sick because she'd be so excited about a new baby! She LOVES babies! I just hope she loves this baby enough to share her mommy and Papai with it!
More to come on the new baby as that develops. So far, there is nothing exciting to report except that I feel terrible ALL DAY! But that shall pass, and the belly will grow, and soon we will have a new baby! Hooray!
Until next month...

Leora is 17 Months old!

Leora turned 17 months today and finally got her first haircut! More of a trim actually. Her little baby mullet was getting way too long in the back and making a strange little poof, so I gave her a trim and managed to get some before and after shots! The first is before...you can see how long...
and then this is after! Now her hair sort of curls under in the back and looks oh so cute and stylish, haha! She also hasn't been feeling well today. She is teething and has been miserable and feverish all day. Poor baby! But right now she is sleeping soundly and will hopefully feel better tomorrow!
We spent Labor day at a camp called Trinity Pines which is right next door to Camp Cullen where Italo and I first met! Italo needed some relaxing time with his girls before the next two weeks of working like crazy!!

This is before church one day. Her blue dress makes her eyes just POP!

We found an abandoned Kitten on the street one night, and she has since become part of our family. Her name is Annie (as in little orphan Annie), and she is Leora's new obsession! We thought the kitty would be safe from Leora in her little house. But as pictured above, Leora managed to fit herself into the pet taxi chasing after Annie! We laughed so hard...it was awesome!

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!