6 Months

I'm 6 months old today!

I am 27.25 inches long and I weigh 15 pounds, 15 ounces.

I love to kick my legs like crazy (especially when I don't want to fall asleep).

I'm really interested in the things going on around me.

I can grab things very quickly, when you least expect it.

I like to stick my tongue out.

I got to taste banana yesterday, my first solid food!
 

Amy's Bachelorette Party

Amy's bachelorette party was last night. I got a weird stomach bug the day before and started to panic, but I felt well enough by Saturday morning to go on with everything as planned. We got pedicures early in the day, then in the evening we had dinner. Here she is at the beginning of the night.

We ate at a Spanish tapas restaurant, and the food was delicious.

Here she is with Lena, one of the bridesmaids.

Lena, Amy, and her friend Lisa

Amy had a blast dancing

 

This is the longest I've been away from Samuel (which means the longest that Jorge has taken care of both kids alone). Samuel hardly drank from the bottle while I was gone, and when I got home at 1 am the first thing I did was feed him. He was sleeping, but he started eating right away when I held him in my arms. It was a fun night. Now all that's left is the wedding!

Amy's Bridal Shower

Amy just got back from Afghanistan a few days ago, and Saturday we had her bridal shower. In 13 days she'll be a married woman!

She saw Samuel once before she left, right before Christmas. That's when she told us she would be in Afghanistan for a few months. He grew a lot since she last saw him.

My great aunts Shirley and Jean were there.

 

They got to see Elena at the very beginning of the party. When we got to my mom's around 11:30 the night before, she woke up and was too excited to go back to sleep, so she was jumping and running around and playing with the dog while I decorated the cupcakes until 1 in the morning. She woke up at her regular time, probably because Samuel wakes us all up, and at the beginning of the bridal shower she had a big frown and was super tired. So she went back to my mom's to take a nap, poor thing. Jorge brought her back when the shower was over, but we were all still hanging out so she didn't know the difference. 

 

Samuel met his great-great-aunts for the first time. 

He also met Victoria. I have to say that he did best when Shirley and Victoria were holding him. Then he just turned into my little barnacle again and wanted to be held by only me. I pretty much went the whole day with him on my hip.

 The cupcakes.

Me and my sisters, and Samuel.

Amy with her friends during one of the games. It was "Who knows the couple best." Everyone guessed right that Amy is the messier one.

 Family picture

Very soon she'll be walking down the aisle.

Relaxing Days at Home

We've had a lot going on lately. We made a last minute trip to Santa Maria to see my grandma. Her health has really deteriorated and she's in hospice care right now. So we drove up there after Jorge got home from work (for his part-time job that he was doing after his day at his full-time job), and stayed with my mom. She was having a really good day when I got to spend a good amount of time with her, so I'm glad I have that. That was one week ago, and right now everything is day-to-day with her.

This weekend we drove up to Santa Maria again for Amy's bridal shower. Next weekend is Amy's bachelorette party, and the following week is her wedding. Busy. Then we've had all of our regular, everyday things going on. So I've enjoyed staying home with Elena more over the last week, opting not to go to some of our usual activities.

I finally got her some water gems (we call them "water balls"). I've been meaning to get some since I saw them on Pinterest, and when I saw them at Joann's I had to buy them. They start out so tiny and then grow when you put them in water. It's for a sensory experience, and I love tactile stuff so I like them as much as she does.

She played with them a lot. 

And this little guy . . . my barnacle. The one who cries when I walk away, tracks me around the room, and reaches for me whenever I walk by him. He wants to be in my arms all the time. And my arms get tired. So I've been wearing him more recently. He likes that. And check out his little cleft chin! 

I love seeing Elena play with him and comfort him. She is such a caring person.

More sibling love. This was at my mom's house this weekend. 

I hope to have some relaxation in the near future. Traveling with kids is hard, I'm not a big fan. But they do enjoy it, even though we come home absolutely exhausted. So hanging out at home is good.

Nana's House

Elena loves to visit her nana. These pictures were taken on Easter.

 

 

 

 Samuel has a good time, too. 

 

It was a nice Easter. We went to church on Saturday because Elena's still getting used to going with the other children rather than into the service with us. I knew it would be extra busy for the Easter weekend, and they had a petting zoo and giraffe for the kids, so we decided to go on Saturday. Then on Sunday we went to my mother-in-law's house and had dinner.