Milestones

Elena Rose got a new carseat to replace her infant carrier. There are a lot of advantages to the infant carriers, like she would stay asleep when taken out of the car, you can cover it and take it inside and they're not exposed to the weather, etc. But her infant carrier is only good for babies up to 22 pounds, and at this point she's 19 pounds. We could have used it a little longer, but it's really difficult to carry around a 19 pound baby in a carrier that weighs about half as much as she does. This one she can use until she's 70 pounds, so we're good for a long while.

I also started brushing her teeth . . . both of them. And she loves it!

I cooked her first really savory meal. In case you can't read the bag (I pureed the food and froze it in cubes), it's chicken with leeks, sweet potato, and carrots. So far she's not the biggest fan of savory, but we're gonna keep trying until she gets used to it.

It's raining, it's pouring . . .

Literally, all day. Which brought our attention to a couple small leaks in the attic we'll need to take care of. Our entire backyard is flooded.

At night Jorge realized we had a big puddle on the family room floor by the wall. Turns out the side of the backyard was flooded so bad that it was above our slab foundation. So Jorge was out there in the dark, freezing cold while it was pouring rain, digging a hole under our wall. He was successful, the water drained out through the front. So what did we do today since we had to stay in? We slept in a little. We played.

Elena Rose chewed on Elmo.

She sucked on her floor (don't worry, it's new, so it's not dirty yet!).

She showed a slight interest in her baby doll, especially when I played with it.

She watched Daddy go outside to work on the flooding.

Drumroll, please!

Ta-daaaa! Notice anything different about me? NO BRACES!!! Yep, I finally got them off.

My Big Girl

Sometimes when I look at Elena Rose it's like she's almost not a baby anymore. She's getting up on her knees and rocking now, and she dances as soon as music comes on. She's so close to crawling and being more independent. At the same time, she's getting more clingy with me. At night I have to lay next to her until she falls asleep; Jorge tries to help, but she just cries. We lay her on the couch with us and I just cuddle next to her, and she'll play with my hair and pass out. Sounds like it's pretty easy, but my face needs to be right next to hers and she isn't always gentle with my hair. I know some people use the cry it out method for sleep training, but that's just not for me. She's doing great with her solids. She's so good with eating now. I make her food and freeze it in cubes to give her later. The other day I took pictures while I was feeding her, hoping I could zoom in to see her teeth (she doesn't open her mouth wide unless she's laughing or eating). Didn't really work out, but I got some cute pictures.

You can actually see her bottom teeth here.

We use bows now! Her hair has grown and her bangs almost cover her eyes when her hair is loose.

Eating Out

We go out to dinner pretty much every Friday night after work. Elena Rose loves it because she likes to watch people. She stays occupied the entire time, usually sitting on the table. Jorge holds her while we eat (now that she can sit up on her own we can try the highchairs). Yesterday we went to BJs and I took this picture on my phone.

April's Baby Shower

On the 5th we drove up to Santa Maria for the day for April's baby shower. She's due in a month. It was so nice to see everyone, and the baby had a lot of fun.


Here's a picture of me and Elena Rose with my sisters, and the baby bump.

My grandma was ecstatic that Elena Rose was kissing her. She does the really cute kisses, the kind with her mouth wide open, which shows that she wants affection, but doesn't really know how to give little kisses yet. I love them however they come!

Present time.

It looks like Elena Rose is waving at to the camera. I made the diaper cake in the background.

Lately

Random things that have been going on. Elena Rose continues to eat a lot, as you can see. She's a healthy girl! Love the sweet rolls.

Elena Rose loves the dogs. Charlie likes to jump into Jorge's lap, whether or not the baby is there. I like this picture because you can see Charlie's tongue.

This is when we were leaving to Santa Maria. She always smiles when I pull out the camera.

On a random note, Charlie figured out how to jump on the planter, and now when we get home we see him running back and forth. Looks like a little rat.