Giuliana at 4 Years Old

Our Giuliana is 4 years old. How did that happen?? I truly cannot believe how fast the time has gone and the fact that next year she will start Transitional Kindergarten. I took her to an orientation type meeting for prospective students and it was surreal. She will be attending the same elementary school as I did and that is so special. We toured one of the classrooms that I was in and I just remembered so many things about that time. This year is sure to fly by and I'll be a mess when I have to drop her off every day for school.

In the meantime, her pre-k class is going very well and she comes home with new skills, new words, and new attitudes every day! She's quite the negotiator that it makes me wonder if she just likes to disagree with me for the sake of wanting to be right. I see a future boss lady in her future. Her class is working on letter/number recognition, days/months, and lots of arts and crafts. She has been tracing letters and numbers and the improvement every week is really amazing. I'll be blown away when she learns to spell and write her whole name.

At her 4 year checkup, she weighed 38 pounds and was 42 inches tall. She can now go on most of the rides at Disneyland. Yay! We'll be planning a trip in the future, after a disaster of a day we had when we went around her birthday.

She is incredibly independent, makes her bed everyday, dresses herself and is such a little person. She is the biggest help around the house especially with Ava. Ava is equally obsessed with her. We are so lucky that she loves her so much and is willing and wants to help in any way she can. I can't wait to see them in action when Ava gets a little older. The holidays are sure to be even more exciting this year as she starts to understand more of what that means (gifts mostly!) It is so cute to hear her talk about Santa and his elves, watch Polar Express on repeat, and tell us how many new costumes she wants so she can dress up all the time.

We couldn't be more proud of our girl, her persistence and that she always knows what she wants. Giuliana we love you so. Happy 4th birthday our love.

The Best Big Sister

Giuliana, my number 1 girl, the girl who made me a mom...where do I start? I am so proud of you in all you've done in the past three, almost four years. You are incredibly independent, smart, and have the biggest personality. You keep us on our toes with the attitude, sass, and ability to have full on conversations! You have embraced your role as big sister in the best way possible and we couldn't be more proud of you and so happy that you will have a sister to share your life with. The bond you'll have is like no other and I hope you cherish every second of it.

You helped me so much while I was pregnant and loved to kiss my belly, rub lotion on me, and give kisses to your sister. Now that she's here you want to help with everything. You like watching diaper changes ("let's see what kind of stuff we got in there!"), washing bottles, and singing your own songs to her. She's so lucky to have you!

You've been doing great in school and love to talk about your friends and pretend you're the teacher with all of your toys. It's hard to believe you will be four in just a couple of months. I have no idea where the years have gone. I want you to stay little forever and I wish I could freeze time. Your imagination and your innocence are something I never want you to lose. The world is a tough and crazy place and I'm not ready for you to grow up so fast. Thank you for being the best big sister to Ava, we love you so much!