Just One Day

I have one of the most loveable babies in the whole world. I was so happy to see her when I got home from work today. She gave me a kiss every time I asked her, and she let me give her big hugs. She wanted to go outside so we went for a walk. It was around 5:30 and still pretty hot outside, but we enjoyed it. She loves being in her wagon. She's so quiet when we go on walks, just looking around at all the squirrels and dogs that go by. Then when we got home we played in the playroom. She really enjoys being in there. Now she dances standing up; it's amazing how that just happens naturally. She really loves the puppets, too. Here she's sifting through them deciding which one she wants me to play with. She seems ambivalent about the alligator and lion because they look scary, but she's always handing them to me to play with. She kept crawling in my lap to play with a syringe that came in a doctor's kit we got for her. She gives me the stethoscope and I'll put it on her chest and pretend to listen to her lungs and heart. She likes to pull the two parts of the syringe apart, then hand them to me to put back together. She could do that about 20 times and be amused. Jorge got to spend the whole day with her, then he had to leave for some time this evening. When he got home he took her "flying." She really likes that. Overall she had a pretty good day, and so did we!

Perseverance

Ah, we are always on our toes! All week I've been unpacking boxes for the garage sale, and we finally had it today. It was a success! The weather was perfect, our driveway was shaded the entire time, and we sold stuff we haven't used in two years. The other plus is that now we'll actually have room to store stuff in our garage! It was tiring since I couldn't go through all the boxes until Elena Rose was asleep, but it was worth it. She got up early with us this morning; people were at our house buying stuff at 6:30! And she was a really good sport through most of it. Everyone always tells us we have such a calm, mellow baby . . . we are really lucky. I'm just glad I can focus on other things now.

RestingElena Rose wants to walk constantly now! Or at least she tries. She takes a few steps then falls forward on her hands, then tries again, and again. She has a lot of determination. She's still getting the hang of it, but pretty soon she's going to be running all over the place!She's so sweet, she was kissing her stuffed dog and then resting her cheek on him.This is after I asked her where her bellybutton is. She has been playing peek-a-boo by putting her arm over her eyes. She now has 4 teeth on top and 4 on the bottom. She is eating a lot more solids now. Today she had several grapes, cherries, watermelon, bread, string cheese, cheddar cheese, pizza crust, chicken tenders, yogurt, milk, and juice. Quite an improvement!

I wanted to put both of these videos to show how fun she is. The first one is of Jorge playing peek-a-boo (a rather aggressive form of the game, she likes to be startled!), and the second is of her practicing her walking skills.

Sick

Poor Elena Rose, she's sick. I stayed home with her today, and Jorge is staying home with her tomorrow. I took her to Urgent Care on Sunday and found out she has Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease, a virus that's going around right now. Apparently it just plays itself out like a cold virus. She had a fever all weekend, and now she has blisters in her mouth and throat, which makes eating and drinking painful. She doesn't have the rash they can get on their hands and feet, thank goodness. She did pretty well today considering her discomfort. We spent a lot of time in the playroom (It's almost finished, I'll post pictures when it's done). She played a little bit, and rested a lot. I gave her a bath, just to break up the day since she was having a hard time. She loves the ball pit that Dora gave her for her birthday, so she spent some time in there.

She's actually smiling here, I only got a few of those today. She loves playing peek-a-boo when she's in there. Peek-a-boo!
Peek-a-boo!She likes pulling the balls out of the holes, and now she'll try to put them back in.Then she would go to her blanket and lay her head on it to rest.Here are some pictures of my baby healthy. Her hair's getting so long!
She loves her gyro bowl, thanks Janice!She loves to stand. This picture was taken as she took her first consecutive steps. So far she's taken 6 baby steps in a row. She really concentrates, it's the cutest thing. I can't wait for my baby to be healthy again, send lots of positive thoughts our way!

1 Year

Elena Rose is 12 months old! Talk about a busy year . . . but it sure did fly by. I can't believe how fast babies grow, and then all of a sudden they're not babies anymore. Yesterday Jorge and I both took the day off work to spend with the baby. When she woke up in the morning we took her to the living room to see her birthday present, a bouncy horse. She had a really good day and spent most of it playing. She played with her walking toy and her puppets, which she loves now. A lot of people came out today for her birthday party. Friends and family spent the morning and afternoon with us celebrating, and we had a good time. Jorge barbequed. The kids hung out.We visited with Jorge's family.Amy came last night and helped us out this morning. Thanks, Amy!Elena Rose was so cute when we sang happy birthday, she seemed to be in awe! We had to block the wind so the candle wouldn't blow out.Elena Rose slept in this morning so she didn't get her morning nap before the party. She was super sleepy by the end, but she did pretty well considering!We are so thankful for our baby and all the joy she brings into our lives. I can't believe a year has already passed. We are very blessed.

This picture was taken when she was just a few days old. What a tiny little baby she was.

Family Time

I hope everyone had a good 4th of July. We didn't do much, the baby went to bed early. She did get to play in the pool during the afternoon and had fun. Elena Rose likes to drink the water, and at one point got water up her nose, poor thing. But then she started drinking water again . . .Yesterday we went to Santa Maria. My family was participating in the Relay for Life, raising money to fight cancer. I had a lot of fun. Here's Sabrina working their booth, selling raffle tickets and baby blankets. I visited with everyone in the trailer. We had a lot of fun, and the babies got to interact. We had so much fun. Destiny is growing quickly, and Elena Rose really likes to watch her. April held Destiny up to Elena's lap and Elena started to rock. Elena Rose and her great-grandmaCousinsWe got to open the baby's birthday presents from my grandma. She got The New Testament in a beautiful little pink cover that her great-grandma made, a gold cross necklace, and two little outfits.We have less than one week left before her first birthday! I can't believe it.

Summer is here . . .

And it came with a vengeance! It's been about 100 degrees for a few days now, which makes going places inconvenient because we have to cool the car down before I can put the baby in. But we're dealing with it okay, mostly staying inside. Elena Rose got to use her pool for the first time today to keep cool while we were at my mother-in-law's house. She really enjoyed it. Her swimsuit is size 18 months, but it was a little too snug, so we ended up taking the top off after awhile.

She's super active all the time now. She's always pulling herself up, trying to climb, and grabbing things. She likes to stand at the sliding door and look outside.She loves it when the dogs are inside. The annoying thing is that they're always around when she's in her highchair, waiting for her to drop something. And when she doesn't want something she just throws it on the floor, which doesn't help. Ginger's really sweet with her, though; she'll run up and just lay down in front of her so that Elena can pet her, but the baby barely notices. And I'm happy to say that I actually got Elena Rose to eat food other than yogurt today! She nibbled on strawberry and cantaloupe, and also on toast with avocado spread on top. Progress!

And look, she doesn't have rolls on her ankles anymore, that's how much she's grown!Just this weekend she started batting her eyes. I don't know where she learned how to do it, but it's adorable. In this picture she's batting her eyes at Jorge. And when I laid down with her to put her to sleep for her afternoon nap today, she started batting her eyes at me. I couldn't keep myself from smiling so I had to hide my face so she wouldn't start to play.I'm still going through all the boxes in the garage. I always saved things that had sentimental value, so it's been nice to find all the little things I put away to remember. I found a tiny little guardian angel pin my grandma got me for my 11th birthday, and I also found my 1st year birthday plaque. I was so excited because everyone always says that Elena Rose looks exactly like Jorge (except people do say she has my eyes), but when I saw the picture on this plaque, I saw her right away. So she does look like her mommy, too!And her first birthday is less than 2 weeks away! Where did my baby go?!