Unexpected Blessings at midnight

This picture has nothing to do with the midnight wake up call, but it shows my happy girl so I wanted to post it. :)


Leeza is a WONDERFUL sleeper. As long as I have had custody of her (almost 9 months now), she has NEVER woken up during the night crying. We've had some wicked thunderstorms that shook the house, but Leeza never stirs. She is one sleeping beauty that girl!

So, imagine my suprise when I was awakened from a very sound sleep at midnight with the distressing sounds of my baby girl crying. My bionic ears picked it up, while of course Daddy slept on. :) I ran into her room, and scooped her up.
She wrapped her lil arms around my neck and buried her head in my neck, and crying ceased immediately. My heart swelled as I hugged my sweet baby girl.

Why is this such a big deal? Clearly, she wasn't hurt, she was fine, maybe she had a bad dream. The big deal was that she totally and completely relaxed in my arms and nestled into her mommy and gave herself to me to be comforted. I think I've mentioned before that although Leeza always loved to be held, and loved to be carried, I just didn't think she was the "cuddly" type. She didn't want to sit in my lap and rock, or read too many books-she was too busy. However...as time went on, I began to notice subtle changes in her.

Recently, whenever she bumps her head, or arm, her foot, or whatever, she immediately runs to me and wants me to kiss it (so sweet!) and when she kisses me, she grabs my face with both sides of her hands and just grabs me toward her and gives me the sweetest, most heartfelt kiss. It's been a process to watch her become a more and more affectionate and loving child and it's been beautiful to watch.

It does break my heart to think that giving and receiving affection is indeed a learned behavior, and I wish I had been her teacher from September 5, 2007, the day she was born. Thinking of her before we knew her, although she was certainly well taken care of and loved by the baby house staff, still makes me sad. We had to wait almost 11 months later to meet our beautiful angel-but then again-it's been a wonderful transformation to witness first hand.

My sweet baby girl KNOWS she is loved, and she is learning to SHOW her love back to us-no holds barred. It makes being woken up from a very sound sleep a blessing instead of an inconvenience.

So..why did Leeza wake up at midnight, crying for her momma?
I think it freaked her out too-but she had to pee!! Yes-Leeza Peeza's body must be learning that it can wake up and she can go potty-and it must have freaked her out! After I took her to the potty, and hugged her some more, I put her back in bed with her elephant, her soska, and her blanket, with joy in my heart that my baby girl knows she's loved. And, who knows, maybe someday soon the pullups at night time won't be necessary anymore-but I am not sure that I will ALWAYS feel such joy at being woken up from my peaceful slumber, so I am all for her building some stronger bladder control before we go down this road. :)

Leeza has fun on sesamestreet.org

I love this video..Leeza is so enthralled with seeing her BFF ELMO on the computer. Whenever she sees a computer, she thinks there is a baby on the computer...from sitting on my lap, reading her blog, or watching mommy read about other cute kids, or watching videos or seeing pictures of her. This was really cute until I realized she tore a bunch of keys of Joe's laptop. Thankfully, he wasn't mad at either of us. I figured he would not be mad at sweet Leeza, but, he did tell me he "hoped I didn't miss an email " while Leeza tore up his laptop. OOPS!!




The girl works fast....I hadn't turned my head but a second...and she'd ripped off these keys! Lightening fast fingers-she will probably be a whiz on the keyboard soon!

But I love her joy...even IF she does get me in trouble with her Daddy. :)

Hangin with her "Homies"

Leeza may be a "girly girl" but she sure does love "hangin with her homies in the hood!" We got home yesterday and she saw Sean and his neighborhood gang out in the driveway and had to see what they were up to. Sean has this nasty habit of spitting sunflower seeds in the driveway, so, being the neat and tidy girl she is, she went and grabbed the broom to sweep up her brother's disgusting sunflower seed spit...




She kept trying to get on Sean's "longboard", so he kept taking her for rides. It was so freakin sweet I had to run go get my camera. However, it was hard to stay in front of them, but you can get the idea...



Leeza just idolizes Sean-and all his cool big brother stuff...his cell phone, his x box, his PSP, or anything he has. It's hilarious to watch him get mad and say 'NO LEEZA-BAD GIRL, NO LEEZA BAD BAD BAD" and she just mimics his tone, tries to repeat his words, and laughs as she runs away, with the contraband in hand. :)

I have such mad love for this lil girl, even when she's rather infuriating! Her beauty just takes my breath away.

Elmo-Leezapoolooza

I love Leeza's new Elmo dress I found on ebay. It has really cute matching pants to go with it, but it's too freakin hot! What I love about outfits like this is that have such a long life. When the dress gets too short, it looks darling over jeans or leggings. Leeza was so excited to put it on, along with her elmo undies. :)

I was cracking up as Leeza was in her Elmo dress, Elmo undies, watching Elmo's World on TV, while reading one of her many Elmo books, then snuggling with her Elmo tub toy. There is nothing like mad Elmo love!







We are having a major heat wave in Florida, so it's even more hot and humid than normal, which makes it MISERABLE to be outside. Plus, Leeza has a double ear infection, so we can't even swim for a couple days. I'm grateful for the distraction of Elmo. He's funny, and keeps her happy so I can update her blog. :) It's a WIN WIN!








I asked Elmo if he could babysit Leeza real quick while I ran for a pedi..but he said no...

As you can see, Leeza's favorite word is No as well...

That was then.....

{Much thanks for Tricia and Chris for taking and sending us this picture of Leeza taken a YEAR AGO!}

June 22nd, 2008.

Tricia and Chris were in Kostanai, bonding with their adorable son Rustam, while the Serra family waited in the wings, back home in Florida. I was just looking back at my blog post from June 16th of last summer, when I announced we got "the call"

So much changes in a year.....

She's so much a Florida girl, and a sassy lil Serra, it's ingrained in her very being. We love you "Baby Kaz!" and thanks for lighting up our lives and everyone you meet.

My lil Mermaid Elmo fanatic :)

Check out our bubble blowing fanatic!!

Leeza has conquered her fear of blowing bubbles in the water and sticking her face in. She never really minded going underwater, she'd happily "jump" to us off the side of the pool, and I'd "dunk" her to get her used to it, but it took swimming lessons from the wonderful Emily to get her to be the bubble blowing officiando that she is now. :)

I quickly learned that JUST BECAUSE she loves the water, does not mean that learning to swim is an easy task, kinda like, just because Leeza loved to sit on her her potty, didn't make potty training a no brainer EITHER. :)

However, if one is patient, and practices, again,and again, and is patient, over and over, repeat patience, x google x infinity...success WILL PREVAIL. Patience is a virtue..one that I would say I don't really possess, but one that I constantly work on, and Leeza sure is helping me. Together-we can move mountains! (Or, learn to blow bubbles, or, do our business in the potty instead of diapers-which is a lot like moving mountains, if you ask this EVER SO PATIENT MOMMY!)

We quickly found that having Mommy in the pool during swimming lessons was not a winning combination. After a day or two of crying and telling Emily "bye bye" at the beginning of the lesson, and using her infamous "pee pee" as an excuse to not have to blow bubbles, or float on her back, we are now at the point where we must wait OUTSIDE for Ms. Emily to come.


We walk thru the house and to the sliding glass door, while Leeza happily grabs Emily's hand and tells me "Bye bye" and goes in the pool with her beloved Emily, her rings, and her FLOATING ELMO that Emily brought for her.

I have to say, Elmo is my hero. I used to lament because Ms. Leeza showed ZERO interest in any tv shows or videos. I never understood the parents who didn't want their kids watching videos because there is so much GREAT educational stuff out there. The Elmo love started with a book on manners that I got because Leeza was refusing to say please, even though she COULD say it. We had a few stand off's about it-she once sat in her high chair for an hour and a half because she refused to say it and I refused to back down. (I am not sure who is more stubborn??)
I got the book, and made up my own words, and it became a favorite very quickly. I am not sure what it is about the lil red guy.

On our road trip to visit Kristan, I invested in a DVD player and got an Elmo video, so she was confined to her car seat and HAD TO WATCH. It was "love at first sight" for Ms. Leeza.

She now watches at least a video a day, and watches it INTENTLY, and pays attention. She sits still??!!! I was in shock!

I got her some Elmo pool toys to help encourage her to blow bubbles, so we have Elmo, Bert, and Ernie, who are also some new favorites. :)

Emily found the mesh Elmo who floats on his back, so they use that to demonstrate the "reach and pull", coming back to safety (the wall) and floating on your back.

We had signed up for 3 weeks, but I just signed up for 2 more. Leeza seems to be getting it. I am not sure she'll be swimming in 2 weeks, but she is WAY further than I know a group lesson or her parents could teach her.

I can't take any credit...I give all my credit to Elmo and Emily...the E time makes for EXCELLENT in Education for swimming safety in the Serra family. :)

Summer is HERE!!!

Ahhh...the lazy, hazy, and in Florida..HOT AND HUMID days of summer have arrived!!!
Still in "Kazapoolaza afterglow", we are settling into our summer routine here at the Serra household.

As I type this entry, Sean is at Busch Gardens for the day, as "youth week" kicked off at church, as he is a "Middle schooler" and gets to start youth group. I had initially signed up to be a middle school leader, but found that it was really hard for me to make any of the training sessions or be there for any of the meetings. I really wanted to do it, but it's a big commitment, and with Joe traveling more right now for his new job, and the addition of the princess to the family, I just can't commit right now. I am kinda sad about it, but have to realize "I can't do everything" but I am glad that Sean is excited about it and having fun. He had a fun week, at camp from 9-12, then something fun everynight with youth group, from laser tag, picnics at the park, just "hanging" out at the youth room at church, culminating with today at Busch Gardens. :)

I don't see Sean much, as soon as he gets home from camp, Leeza has Emily, her adorable swimming teacher from 12:30 to 1, and then goes down for a 2 hour nap. Sean is "out in the hood" playing with his friends, and I may see him and his buddies inside for a lil bit to play with his "box" (xbox), or outside in the backyard,they rotate from house to house on bikes, scooters, and skateboards. However, when he is home, he is very entertaining to his lil sister, who CLEARLY adores him.












Joe is in Memphis for a Fed Ex convention of sorts, and on the golf course everyday (watching a big tournament) and wining and dining in the evenings. I have had to wake up Sean AND Leeza every morning this week for camp. This morning, I had to have him at church by 7 so I had to wake Ms. Leeza up WAY earlier than she is used to. After a morning of 2 Elmo videos and an hour in the pool, she is now fast asleep for her nap, going down at 11. :) We have an afternoon at the beach planned with her boyfriend Ryan, and Ryan's other girlfriend, Angie. :) It should be fun. :)


Leeza just completed her 2nd week of swimming lessons. I think she is doing well-although-she is not quite swimming yet. She has learned to put her face in the water, reach and pull with her arms, pull herself out of the pool, and do the monkey crawl around the side of the pool. We have one more week left. We may take a couple weeks off, then get Emily back out here again. She made great strides this week, so we'll see how next week goes. She does better with Emily then she does with mommy, but we still practice. She did great today at putting her face in the water and blowing bubbles, but pitched a fit doing the back float. She does that better with Emily. It's hilarious because whenever we do something she doesn't like (like the back float) she immediately tells me she has to "pee pee" so she can get out of the pool. She cracks me up, but man..is she ever cute. :)






I keep the pink Kaz potty outside by the pool since usually she has to go a couple times. We just started working on going pee pee "in the big potty" and she is doing MUCH BETTER...yesterday we went on the big potty ONLY.






Running errands or going out and about is still challenging because she has to go pee every 20 minutes. I am waiting for her to learn to hold it a lil bit more, but what's a mom to do. At least she tells me when she has to go. She has had a couple accidents, but I can't say it was her fault because I thought she REALLY couldn't POSSIBLY have to go again, but..she did!! Patience mommy, patience, I keep telling myself. :) Althought, I admit I get frustrated about the number of times we have to go the potty, I am impressed that she won't pee in the pool, or the bathtub. She always tells me she has to go and out we come. I think it will be easier once she grows to love the big potty more and more, at least for trips to the mall and such...because right now we have to go back to the car to go in the travel potty. :)

Enough potty talk...I got sone great shots of her today with her "rings"...her swim teacher's very ingenious way to get her to put her face in the water and blow bubbles. She was showing off for mommy this morning!







She really does love the water, and I will feel much better when she learns to swim, just for my own peace of mind. She is a happy girl, until you make her do something she doesn't want to do, and then she has to pee...LOL

I think my favorites are the sweet way she kisses Miles and holds his face. :)