10 Months

I'm 10 months old! (This post is a few days late)

I weigh 18 pounds, 7 ounces, and I'm 29.5" long.

I have 3 teeth.

I move around so much that it's hard for Mommy to take pictures with me on the bed. 

 My hair's getting long, and starting to curl in the back.

 I'm standing for longer periods of time, and trying to take some steps (and quickly falling).

I laugh and play a lot, and I love playing in the ballpit and tent in the playroom.

I still don't sleep through the night, but I'm cute enough to make up for it.

I love finger foods, I still prefer Mommy over everyone else, I'm a big eater but I'm getting a little picky, I play teasing games by crawling away from Mommy and Daddy and then quickly crawling back, and the only place I can be contained is on the lawn (on top of a blanket because I don't like the way the grass feels).

Snippets from the End of Summer

I've been so busy and haven't been keeping up with  the blog. So here are some shots of what we've been up to lately.

Elena loves to play in her car outside.

Elena got her first haircut. I've just been letting it grow out, but when I saw she had some split ends I asked Francine, our friend and neighbor, to trim the ends. Elena did great.

She got a lollipop afterward. She likes to go with Jorge when he gets his haircuts, and the people there always give her a lollipop afterward, so she was looking forward to getting one for her own cut.

Samuel is a big explorer.

We've been spending a lot of time outside enjoying the weather. I steamed some edamame and here Samuel's sucking on a pod. 

 

Morning

Samuel's interested in whatever Elena's playing with. 

He is so strong. He's standing a lot on his own now.

Elena's favorite snack is strawberries and cream. 

Samuel weaned himself a month ago. He will not nurse at all. In fact, he arches his back and turns away if I offer it to him. So it's been pretty exhausting pumping 4 times every day and washing all the pump parts every night. Below is a picture of all the parts I have to wash at the end of the day. That's part of the reason I've been so busy. Some days Jorge washes them, which gives me some more time, but the process of pumping is time-consuming and just a big inconvenience.

Jorge has been working hard. There was a fire that reached the probation camp he works at, so he's been commuting even farther to a different camp for awhile now. His regular camp is finally cleaned out and ready for the boys to be transferred back, so things will get a little less hectic for him soon. And things are always hectic at home with two kids, it seems like. But it's good . . . there are a lot of laughs and hugs.

Beach Visit

Earlier this year Jorge and I talked about how last summer we didn't even make it to the beach, and this summer we'd have to take the kids there. Well, a couple weeks ago we realized that we're nearing the end of summer and we still hadn't been to the beach. So we went.

The spot we like to go to (at least we liked this spot pre-kids) is in Malibu. We probably won't go to the same beach anytime soon because it's pretty difficult getting there. You usually have to park far away and walk, then you have a long walk down a mountain, with spread out steps, and then tall, steep stairs. When you get to the bottom there's a lot of rock that you have to get through to get to the nice sand area. We like it, though, because it's a small cove, hardly anybody goes there, and the water is super calm. Still, carrying all of our stuff and two kids, plus a stroller down the steps and over the rocks was pretty difficult. And by the time we left, the water had risen a lot so getting back over the rocks was even harder.

It was beautiful, though, and fun. Elena had a blast.

Jorge took Elena to check out the tide pools. They saw tiny fish in them. 

I didn't even put a toe in the water. I love swimming in warm oceans, but the water's not warm in California. My favorite thing to do here is relax on my towel on the nice, warm sand and just enjoy the sun and ocean sounds and smells. Samuel actually didn't like the feel of the sand on his feet, so he didn't want to be off the towel at all. And when I tried to put him on the sand he picked up his little feet as high as he could. It probably made the afternoon easier because he just hung out with me on the towels.  

 Jorge helped Elena build sand castles.

Elena had just watched Wall-E for the first time and it was funny seeing Samuel in his little swim outfit because it had a hood on it, and he looked like the little babies in the movie. 

For awhile Jorge and I took turns relaxing while the other watched the kids. Here Jorge is on his break, even though Samuel is clearly sitting on top of him. Just goes to show that parents are never really on break, right?

Family Reunion

In early July Jorge's family had a reunion. Most of them used to live in southern California, but some have since moved to Texas and Idaho, and they came back to visit.

Samuel and his great uncle Valde (short for Valdemar).

With Valde and Vero (short for Veronica).

 

 

And here he is with Vero's daughter Liz.

 

Elena got to hold her newest cousin Adam. She's been calling her baby doll Adam since then.

Jennifer's daughter is next to her on the couch. She loves babies; one time she told me, "I like babies, but my dad said we can't have anymore."

 
The kids had fun, even though we weren't able to get Samuel to nap at all while we were there.

Jorge comes from a big, loud family. His mom has 9 siblings. If you're outside they'll wet you with the hose because they think it's funny. Nobody goes by their full names; there are nicknames galore (like Chochi, Chata, Titi, Pelón, Neco, Tavo, etc.); that's one reason why Jorge has a hard time remembering some of their actual names.

Elena turned 3

Elena turned 3 on July 15th. I can't believe my little girl is 3 years old! She seems so big to me now. 

We had her party at Chuck E. Cheese since there are still a few things we want to finish in the house to make it better for entertaining a group of people. I'm really looking forward to having small birthday parties at home, and I'm hoping that we'll be able to have Samuel's birthday party here. But Elena had a blast at Chuck E. Cheese.

I went in the ticket blaster with her to catch some tickets.

 

She exchanged her tickets for a necklace and a purse.

She had fun on the rides. 

She got a crown for being the birthday girl. Samuel was amused by it.

 

I had only been to the Chuck E. Cheese in Santa Maria, and the last time I was there was over a decade ago, so it was different than I remember it. But we had fun. It was loud and a little chaotic. Still managed to nurse Samuel, though.

 Elena kept waiting for the robot characters in the front to perform; they stalled for a long time.

She made a wish.

 

And she only eats the icing; she has no interest in the actual cake. 

 

 

She had fun dancing.

 

She was the birthday girl. Then two days later was her actual birthday, so we celebrated again.

We went out to eat and the server brought her a muffin with a candle.

 

 

She was excited about this little car we got her. She's wanted one for a long time, and she loved going to Buy Buy Baby because she could play with the one they keep out.

 

I also got this little squirrel game for her, and I was excited to find a game for kids as little as 3. She really likes it, and it's fun to play together.

 

 

 

She also got some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse books from Jorge's uncle Gustavo that read out loud to her. There's a gadget that came with them and she pushes the button with symbol that matches one on the page, and it reads it. She's been reading those books constantly.

I can't believe this little thing is 3. 

She's creative.

 

And talkative

And caring

She likes to get some baby treatment every once in a while.

And she still looks so angelic when she sleeps.

So strange to think about when I first met her.

Right after her birthday passed we stopped giving her the pacifier. She was only getting it when she napped and went to bed, but she loved the thing dearly, and she still misses it. When she's getting ready for sleep and she has her blanket I look at her and wonder what's missing, and then I realize it's her pacifier. But it was time, and I never thought she would even have it that long.

She's one special little girl.