I took Giada to the park yesterday for more than an hour.  She just gets cuter and sweeter every day. 

It will be fun to see what Giada thinks of Menzie.  She followed Emily and Arlette around like a little puppy dog. 

Michael and I went to St. Bernard’s today because my sister had a Mass said for Rosemary and Joe.  I cooked a turkey and dressing and made gravy and cranberries yesterday and we have been pigging out for two days.  Friday Michael cooked the peppered Petit Jean ham Mary Ann brought.  I am going to make a pot of beans tomorrow with the bone.  It was not as hot as I remembered and I have eaten tons of it, too.  I still have some pie pastry in the refrigerator so I may make another mince pie or maybe a cherry one as I found the canned cherries I knew I had somewhere when I sent Michael out to buy some for Thanksgiving.  Amy and Brad sent over a tree I had given them a few years back and Michael has it all set up.  It looks really pretty just as it is, but, of course, we will decorate it.  We had Giada yesterday while Amy and Brad were decorating so we didn’t even think about doing anything.  The first Sunday of Advent liturgy nudged me into getting out the Advent wreath and getting down the Christmas dishes and even opening the door to the decorations closet.  It is a good thing Kate and David are coming because it is hard to start pulling out all the Christmas stuff.  It is so much easier to sit down at the computer.

Thanks to Bud and Janelle for a lovely Thanksgiving in Mexia complete with each person down to Teddy giving thanks as suggested by Jamie.  We were especially thankful to have Chris and Paul Beasley and their families join us.  So many memories of the past with their parents and Nannie and Sue and Paul and Jo Bowers.   Larry fried turkeys until he declared himself fried out, but they were delicious, so moist and flavorful.  I always roast mine for drippings, but, as far as the meat goes, fried can’t be beat.  Giada enjoyed being the baby, following around the big kids like Arlette and Emily, who, befitting their superior status, mostly ignored her.  She loved the fire pit and can’t wait until she is big enough to poke it with a stick on her own.  The Cowboys almost pulled it out, not quite, but the Christmans rejoiced nevertheless, winning two of the four quarters football pot.  We still haven’t heard the final results from the six dollar thirty-one game.  All Amy knows is she left Nolan playing her hand.  The odds were not good, however, as she was freeriding while Al had all six dollars intact.

Amy and Brad had a very nice party for Giada today.  I hope she will post some pictures.  We enjoyed seeing Janelle, Ivy, Arlette and Teddy and Jamie and Bill and their three girls.  Giada enjoyed herself.  Cake and presents were great, but her favorite thing was the little lollipops that fell from the butterfly piñata.  She took several steps, more than Michael and I had seen. 

It rained a lot today; we even had a tornado alert, but it cleared up in time for the kids to enjoy the piñata.  We needed the rain.

I took Giada home yesterday morning because I had a doctor’s appointment at noon.  She was glad to see her house and her kitty cats and Joanna.  She fussed a little when I left but not much.  She did crawl all over looking for her mommy and daddy, but she is very fond of Joanna.  When I went to pick her up after Bible Study this morning, both she and Brad were asleep so they must have had a rough night.  She had some new scratches on her face, too, so she may have had to get reacquainted with the cats.  We went to the Arboretum to check out the Kindermusik once she woke up.  She loves seeing all the little kids roaming around.

I hope Amy got to Florida O.K. , though with Amy no news is usually good.  I do have good news about Gia.  She slept eleven hours last night, nine-thirty to eight-thirty.  She was asleep at eight-thirty, but woke up at nine which was just as well since I had forgotten to give her her medicine.  She still has a runny nose, but she is napping now.  She has been asleep forty minutes.  We are going to take her to the Arboretum when she wakes up.  She ate a good breakfast, toast with poached egg yolk and grapes.  I cut them in four pieces and she eats them up.  She also ate a lot of watermelon yesterday with ground beef.  I am buying the ninety-seven percent lean so I don’t worry about too much fat.  I made a beef roast last night with onion soup mix for today.  Probably too much salt, but the iron and B vitamins will make up for it.  We sure do enjoy having her.  She is such a sweet baby and loves her grandma and granddaddy.  I hear her now gooing and cooing in the crib. 

Amy is gone for a girls’ weekend, and we are helping Brad with Giada.  Amy should put a picture on the juice.  She will look as grownup to you as the twins do to me in the picture Kate sent.  We did get some baby ibuprofen at Target but did not get orajel as we have a food pacifier, too.  I first saw those at Kate’s and think they are the greatest invention ever.  I just use plain ice, though, as that is the first thing I ever used with Giada though I was scared to death as it got smaller that she would swallow it.  She is not overly fond of fruit, unlike the twins, and turns up her nose at banana and strawberries.  She doesn’t go for rice and beans either, preferring fajita chicken and guacamole.  Ice is not nearly as messy as mango, etc.

Giada is at the age where she is teething.  It looks like she has four upper teeth one coming in right after the other.  Any hints???  They’ve recalled the children’s ibuprofen she was taking.

Gia was over last night and is just as sweet as ever.  She is eating people food now and making spectacular messes.  I’ve got to remember to put newspaper down before I put her in the high chair.  She has three teeth now.  Amy and Brad went to see Inception.  They seemed to think it was pretty good but not earthshaking.

I am going to haunt Amy until she puts a video of Miss Giada cruising on the juice.  When I left she was not even crawling, and now she is on the verge of walking.  She did not beat her mommy who took her first step before she had a tooth, but I think she will be walking before she has four teeth.  She is really a darling baby, very intent on toys, very glad to see Grandma and Grandaddy, and happy to read her favorite books with Grandma, but she does not sleep.  It is amazing how little she sleeps.  I picked her up at four o’clock yesterday.  She did not go to sleep until after ten thirty and woke up at seven.  Amy came to pick her up at noon, and she had only napped a little over an hour.  That is only about ten hours sleep in twenty hours.  And she is on the go every minute she is awake.  She is not at all fussy or grouchy.  She just goes and goes until she completely collapses.  I am going to start calling her Bunny for the Energizer Bunny.