Diana's one year pictures

Our little lady at a year old!

Thanks to Tony Ozegovich of TRMV Photo for the beautiful pictures.

We did it! Di's first birthday party was a success!

After lots of anticipation, Di's big day finally arrived! We celebrated her actual birthday Friday evening with pizza (her favorite!) and a big slice of yellow cake with chocolate frosting.

Saturday was party time! We had all of our close family and friends over to my parents' house in Weston to celebrate (minus a few people that were on summer vacations). Abby Caddaby, Elmo and the whole Sesame Street gang were on the plates, napkins, centerpieces and banners. Balloons were everywhere! Danny took the day off last Friday to help set up and thanks to my Grandma (Gigi), Aunt Jo, Mom, Ron and Brandon, the house looked amazing!

Diana definitely knew it was her birthday - she loves hamming it up and was shaking maracas, waving at everyone and just checking out the whole scene.
Check out Di shaking the maracas...and more maracas!

The kids ate at a special table and then everyone went into the pool. The grownups enjoyed a six foot La Spada's sub and some delicious salads and sides and chatted in the air condition : ) We ended the afternoon with a HUGE Elmo birthday cake - Nonna Linda was in charge of dessert and even got Diana her own mini cake to dig into. Her eyes lit up while everyone sang Happy Birthday - we've been singing it to her for two months now so she knew the song well. She stuck her tiny fingers right into the cake, got frosting everywhere (including Mom's shirt) and clapped her hands as everyone watched her make a total mess.
Watch the cake videos!
Cake Time
Cake Time2

I'd say the day was a success! It was a big milestone not only for Diana, but for Danny and me too. We made it through thick and thin during the first year of her life, and I think we're doing a pretty good job as first time parents. We really couldn't ask for a more sweet, spirited, beautiful, smart and energetic little girl! We can't wait to dive into year two!

Click here to visit the full picture gallery of her 1st birthday.

A budding animal lover!

Okay, so I wasn't going to post a new entry until after Di's first birthday party this weekend, but we went to the Museum of Science and Discovery in downtown Fort Lauderdale yesterday and I had to share a video of Diana looking at a huge turtle:

Di and the turtle

We've posted the pics from our outing on our Picasa website too : )

Museum pics

More to come after Diana's first birthday this weekend!

Wrapping up year one...

As Diana nears her first birthday this July 16th, we are enjoying every minute of month 11! Sure, our house is filled with lots of great toys and our backyard always has a duck or squirrel to point at, but when you're on the go like Di is now, you want new adventures and new experiences! Lately, we've noticed that our newly mobile little girl needs outlets for her energy, so we've been having fun getting out and about as June ends and July begins.

First up: My Gym in Coral Springs - Aunt Jo and I took her to her first "Tiny Tykes" class last Wednesday and she had an absolute ball during circle time and even went in a swing that the teachers pushed her back and forth across the room in! We'll be going every week to learn new things and play with other energetic toddlers.

Diana has been to the beach a few times now and we've started to take advantage of living only 10 minutes away. Last Thursday we met Matthew, Alex and cousin Roman right down the street at Deerfield Beach for a morning of sun, sand and splashing in the waves. Diana was so tired she fell asleep with sand all over her in the car on the way home - uh oh! Right into the bath when she woke up later that afternoon!
We also went to visit my good friend Rach at her grandpa's beach condo in Delray this past Monday afternoon - she was in for a quick visit from New York and it was SO good to see her! We managed to sneak in some beach time in between rain drops.

And last but not least, we spent some wonderful downtime with both sides of the family for 4th of July - Di's first! Danny had to work and study Saturday, so we packed up the diaper bag and headed to Weston to spend the day with Grandpa Ron, Grandma Susie, Uncle Brandon, Aunt Jo, Great Grandma Ann and Great Grandpa Manny. We had a nice, relaxing day swimming in the jacuzzi and watching old family videos (including MY first birthday party in 1983!) Here's a video of Di hanging with the fam in Weston, hamming it up as usual!

On Sunday, we had the Muzzarellis over our place for a BBQ to celebrate Linda's birthday. We gave Danny's mom a break from cooking and fired up our grill with everything from corn on the cob to hamburgers to vegan Tofurky sausage. After dinner and cake, I brought Diana outside to see fireworks from the back porch. As we expected, she wasn't scared in the least and even made little popping noises to imitate the fireworks!

We've really been having a great time this summer seeing the world through Diana's eyes and introducing her to new things almost every day. Preparations are underway for her 1st birthday party next weekend and we really can't wait!

At this time last year...

We've been so busy the past couple of months that I looked down at my day planner on my desk this morning and realized that today is already June 26th - that means it's been exactly one year since we closed on our house and moved in. Wow. It's amazing how an event that was a year ago can feel like it just happened yet it also feels like SO much has gone on since then.

Looking back, I guess we may have been a little crazy! Three weeks before my due date and in the sweltering South Florida summer heat, we packed up everything in our quaint little rented townhouse in Plantation and move a half hour north to our first home in Deerfield Beach. We put our families to work for 2 weeks straight until everything was moved in and in order for Diana's arrival. I was actually shopping at IKEA and having Danny move a couch up to 5 days before my c-section - it's almost funny looking back on the chaos now!

We have enjoyed our first home this past year - and it has been good to us!
I remember that very first night about a week before Diana was born that we finally felt "settled" in our house after a lot of hard work...there I was, huge and pregnant, Danny was exhausted from moving and working...and the two of us just cooked dinner and watched a movie together in our new living room. We knew life was about to change with little Di's arrival but we couldn't wrap our heads around just how different and wonderful it would really be.


We brought our baby girl home from the hospital 9 days later...and we've watched her crawl, stand and take her first steps here. She loves watching the ducks out back by the lake (but I think Stanley and Henry enjoy barking at them more!) We love our neighborhood- the playground down the street, the other dogs we meet on evening walks.

Yes, our house is still a work in progress. On any given weekend we have 10 to-do projects that never seem to get done! But little by little we get things organized, decorated, planted and hung.

Our first year here has been busy and great all at once. It's nice to stop and reminisce and look forward to what the next year will bring!

(PICTURES Top to Bottom: VERY pregnant sitting in our new living room visiting with my good friend Rach, our nice, neat house...the calm before the baby storm!, Diana arrives home for the very first time at 2 days old, our back porch)

Summer Celebrations

We had two very special celebrations this past week.

It was my Grandma Sally (or "Gigi")'s 77th birthday last Thursday. She watched me grow up and now she is a big part of Diana's life too! It's so sweet to see Di's face light up when her great grandma walks in the door or sings to her or plays with her. My grandma is definitely 77 years YOUNG - she comes over to help me with anything and everything I need (she's the BEST laundry folder I've ever seen!) We are all so fortunate that she is energetic enough to keep up with our crazy family! Diana is going to grow up really knowing how wonderful her great grandma is! We were lucky enough to spend Gigi's birthday with her - she came over to help out as usual and we made her a key lime pie and sang happy birthday!

Next up was Father's Day - Danny's first! We kicked off the weekend on Saturday morning and joined my family at their timeshare up in Singer Island (about an hour north in the West Palm Beach area). Aunt Jo came along too and we had a blast with Grandma Susie, Grandpa Ron and Uncle Brandon. Diana had been in the sand before but never in the ocean and SHE LOVED IT! She laughed as Grandma Susie jumped up with her during each wave and she could've dug in the sand for hours. We found a little time to relax too - we ate lunch together by the pool and enjoyed the gorgeous day and ocean breezes.

 On Sunday, Di and I hung out and went to the park while Danny golfed with his dad and brother. Later on, we headed to the Muzzarelli's for Father's Day dinner. It was great to just be together and unwind before the start of a new week.

(PICTURES From left to right: Diana helps Gigi blow out the candles on her key lime pie, Di and Grandma Susie laughing as the waves come on shore, Diana gives Daddy his Father's Day card and coffee mug with her picture on it, playing with Nonna in the kitchen after dinner)

New Di video

Couldn't resist posting a new video of Diana!

Diana at 11 months old