Giuliana is 15 months old!

Giuliana had her 15 month Well Baby appointment right before we left for Hawaii (mid-April). She hadn’t been to the doctor since her one year appointment in January – and that was a good thing! Prior to that, we were at the doctor every week (sometimes twice a week) to treat her constant ear infections. Poor baby! Getting tubes put in her ears have been such a good thing for this little lady. She has had several colds since January… and not one ear infection! Hooray!

Clearly, not having ear infections is good for a child’s appetite because Giuliana has been eating like a champ since her tubes were put in. On some occasions she’ll eat more for a meal that Gabby or Rocco do. Since she’s been such a great eater – I was convinced she would have gained a lot of weight and impressed Dr. C. [In January, Dr. C was not happy with her low weight percentage (3^rd %ile).]

But, I think this girl is just genetically meant to be long & lean at this point in her life… because even while eating like a champ, she’s still barely on the weight chart and at the top portion of the height chart. Here are Giuliana’s 15 month stats:

Weight: 17lbs 15oz (3^rd %ile)

Height: 30 inches (75^th %ile)

Head: 18.5cm (75^th %ile)

Giuliana is not a big talker yet, but she is starting to show much more interest in speaking up for herself these days (instead of just screaming and pointing). She says “momma”, “mom”, “Hi”, “Hi baby”, “birdy”, and “bubba” (for pretty much any animal that she sees). She will also make sounds when you ask her what a horsey, dinosaur, kitty-cat and birdy say. She seems to also say her version of “thank you” every time you give her something… it sounds something like “tiku”.

The big kids adore Giuliana. And, she adores them. I think she has a special affection for Rocco…in the morning it is beyond adorable to watch the two of them constantly hugging each other and snuggling while they watch their morning cartoons. Rocco really plays the protective big-brother role with her… even telling his grandma recently “Don’t wiggle Junana… she’ll fall over” (and then of course, she fell over)… followed by “See… you DON’T WIGGLE JUNANA!!”

Giuliana’s two favorite rooms in the house are the pantry (with all the food snacks) and Gabby’s bedroom. She LOVES playing with all the dress-up necklaces in Gabby’s room, she loves playing with the doll house and all the doll house furniture, she loves baby dolls, and she likes pulling her clothing out of her dresser drawers and trying to put them on herself. She can flip through book pages for a half hour, talking as if she's reading it to you. She especially loves books with animal pictures. She also plays so well by herself... whether it's the play kitchen, baby dolls, the doll house or sitting at her little table with a snack while watching the big kids. She LOVES going outside to play… she especially loves wagon rides, stroller rides, riding down the slide, jumping and walking on the trampoline, getting pushed in her swing and finding slugs, snails and frogs in the yard. She loves coloring. Her favorite TV show is "The Wonder Pets" and "Batman" (she watches this with Rocco). She LOVES bath time with the big kids. The moment she hears “it’s bath time!”, Giuliana is the first to run screaming and running toward the stairs with overwhelming excitement. Giuls also gets VERY excited whenever we say “let’s go!”… whether we’re going outside or putting her in the car to drive somewhere… she screams and runs around the house with such excitement, it’s hard not to laugh. And, the second you buckle her into the car seat, she screams and laughs and is full of big smiles. Always so excited to be included and go somewhere. It’s truly so cute!

She is very shy with strangers. When people she doesn’t know say hi to her, she will act bashful and hide her face in my shoulder. However, the shyness completely disappears with her family… as she has no problem screaming at the big kids to get what she wants. She’ll push and pull and fight to get what she wants, sometimes really upsetting Gabby. This little monkey is sort of earning the nickname of “the biggest little bully in the house”.

We sure do love this little girl though! And, Dan can often be heard commenting “she is the prettiest little baby I have ever seen”.

Giuliana brings such joy and happiness to our lives. She is truly our little angel. She is gorgeous, funny, and full of personality. So loving and affectionate one minute and showing us her feisty side the next. I just love watching and observing her… it brings me such happiness.

We love you, Giuliana!!