Labor Day

Although the forecast wasn't great, we decided to head down the shore anyway on Labor Day to see my mom and stepdad, who were spending the weekend down there.   I'm so glad we did. The weather was great & Gia absolutely loves the beach.    Side note about Gia's pony tail: While we were in Wildwood, I insisted on putting Gia's hair in some kind of pony tail for the beach. (She really prefers cute little bows but I vetoed that idea because they do nothing to keep her hair out of her face and then she spends the day pushing her curls out of her way and getting sand all over face in the process.) Most days, the best I could convince her to do was a half pony tail. By the end of the week I convinced her to do 2 half pony tails--mini pigtails. She would not let me do a "big pony," which is what she calls a full pony tail. But, for my mom? She'll do anything. I didn't do a thing to her hair before we got to the beach. So when we arrived I handed my mom a pony tail holder and told Gia that Yadi needed to do her hair. No discussion, no issues...BAM! Adorable adorable "big pony".    I'm in love with these pictures of Gia rocking the "big pony," even though it makes her look so grown up!

   She loves to collect shells and rocks and throw them back into the water. 

 

If she wasn't running around by the water, she was on the beach chair, snuggling with Yadi.  

  My mom always has a cute beach hat with her, and this time, Gia found it and fell in love with it. She wore that sparkly fedora for hours! Most of the time it was pulled way lower than in this picture.

I'm not going to say this is the last beach day for a while. I'm still hoping for one more beach day before it's *officially* fall...

The Name Game

Baby boy Quinn has a name!    But we're not telling :0)   What I can tell you is this naming thing is no joke. When I was pregnant with Gia, Jon and I quickly discovered that we don't agree on names at all. Jon likes Irish names and traditional names. Me? I like Italian names and names that are less traditional but not totally you-neek (aka unique. Get it? It's a play on the people who spell perfectly normal names in wacky ways. Mathieu for example. What happened to Matthew?)   Anyway, we decided, after a few cursory discussions, to not even talk about names until we knew if Gia was a girl or a boy. After the 20 week ultrasound we started talking and it took a few months to come to an agreement.   I remember the night we decided. Jon was online looking at baby name websites and was throwing out his favorites. I was vetoing most of them. One of his suggestions was Gina. Not really my cup of tea, but it made me think of Gia, which I said aloud. Jon immediately said he liked it. So we tossed it around a little while longer. I told my mom one night shortly thereafter (via Facebook messenger) and she loved it too. It took us a few weeks of sitting with it to officially decide on it.     Gia's middle name is Danielle, which Jon picked. It's always been one of his favorite names. Once we decided on Gia, we talked about middle names and knew we liked something with an "L" sound in there. Gia Danielle flowed well and sounded pretty so I {happily} agreed to it.

Gia Danielle -- less than an hour old

I knew that naming number 2 wasn't going to be easy. In fact, if it was a girl, we knew it would be even harder. We love the name Gia so much and it really just fits her so well. How would we ever agree on another girl name that was as pretty as Gia and that we both loved?   After our Gender Reveal we started the long process of making lists and checking out every baby name website Google could find us. Again Jon gravitated toward Irish names, suggesting things like Aiden, James, and even Seamus. And of course I wanted Italian names like Rocco, Marco, or GianPaul.    We finally came up with a list of names we both liked (there were 5 or 6 on there) and we slowly started whittling away at the list. Vincent was on our list, until my stepdad came up with "Vinnie Quinnie".  So, yeah, we crossed that one off pretty quickly!    About a month ago we were in the car, on our way to the shore. Gia was in the back, asleep, and we were talking about names. We came up with a first name and a middle name that we both liked. And then a few days went by and neither of us was 100% sure that it was the name.    I wasn't sure it was the name because I thought of another name that I loved--one that was not on the agreed-upon list...and one that Jon does not really like. I was secretly holding out hope that Jon would change his mind.   Yesterday we revisited the name discussion and Jon explained why he doesn't like my newest choice...and I had to agree with him. Suddenly it lost its appeal and our previously decided upon name was shiny and new again and I loved it.   So there ya have it. The very LONG version of how we came to baby boy's name. Now you just have to wait till October 22nd to find out what we picked {and why}!

The Land of Make Believe

Last summer we took Gia to the Land of Make Believe in Hope, NJ. It's a small amusement park and water park meant for little kids. Last year, our trip was one of the first times she'd gone on rides and we had so much fun.
I was worried we'd have to skip this summer because I'm pregnant and not really up for trekking around in the heat, but last week, we decided, spur of the moment, to go.  This pregnancy is so different from when I was pregnant with Gia. I feel better the farther along I am; and I feel better the more active I am. (Don't get me wrong, I'm still exhausted and achy and all that good stuff, but in general I feel pretty good.)
Instead of getting there at 10 am when it opens, we did the late shift and it worked out perfectly. Gia napped in the car, stocking up on all the energy she'd need to run around for a few hours. We got there a little before 2pm all the early birds were already leaving. We scored a parking spot right near the entrance. And, since it was later in the day, it was already starting to get cooler.
Gia went on lots of rides and loved them all.

    And of course we spent over an hour with the animals at the petting zoo.

Later, we went on the train two times. Here we are at the station, waiting for it.

We both have crazy eyes in this picture.

I love this litte face so much.

 

At the end of the day, Daddy convinced Gia to ride on a mini free fall ride. Somehow she wasn't scared. Till she got on, that is.

Jon didn't realize quite how scary it was till they got on. He talked her through it--telling her she was ok and that it was almost over. She didn't cry and she didn't freak out. I don't think she truly loved it, but she was a trooper and made it through. I was really proud of her for acting like such a big girl.
Add another fun summer day to the books!