Me and Elena

 

 

 

Happy Birthday, Dear Elena

(I added a few pictures)
I can't believe that my baby is two! Wow. Where does the time go? She had a really good day. 

And I have to say that experiencing her birthday with her is way more exciting than my own birthdays ever were for me.

She woke up to balloons hanging over her head.

 

And decorations in the living room.

She understood that today was special.

We went to Build a Bear and she picked out a piggy. Here she is stepping on the pedal so that the stuffing would go inside.

She really likes her piggy, and she played with it throughout the day, hugging it during her nap.

She also rode a carousel and a little train before her nap.

After her nap we went to my mother-in-law's house (Originally I had hoped to be able to have a birthday party at our house, but because of the work we're doing on it, it just wasn't possible, so we planned to just have a little celebration when we realized there was no way to finish in time). She's really into the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse characters right now, so I made Minnie Mouse cupcakes.

 

Elena doesn't really like sweets, so she didn't even want to eat her cupcake. That's okay, though; Jorge and I took care of it.

She did eat one of the Oreo ears.

 

She likes trains a lot, too, so she loved her "choo-choo."

And her cousin Dominic liked it, too.

 

She had fun playing with her train, a new doll stroller, her piggy, and my mother-in-law's dogs. 

After reading to her at bedtime I sang "Happy Birthday" to her. Then she said "more birthday?" So I sang it again. I must have sang it to her 10 times because she kept asking. Then I told her that I would sing it just one more time, and that then I was going to turn off the light.

A couple of weeks ago we had an early celebration at my grandma's. Here's a few pictures of that day and the awesome cake Amy made for her. 

She is so sweet, and she will always be my baby.

Summer Fun . . .

We're definitely feeling the heat over here! But that means that we're having lots of playtime, water play, barbeque, and tomatoes coming in.

 

 

 

Our backyard is almost entirely shaded, so all of our tomato and pepper plants are in containers (It was the only way to make sure they got enough sunlight).

Some days, though, are too hot to play outside. I'm sure Elena would tolerate it, but I can't!

Here, Elena is reading to her baby. 

When I put her to bed at night I read Goodnight Moon, then I set the book on the floor next to the rocking chair. I think that's what she's doing here.

 I made Elena "cloud dough." It's fun to play with.

Jorge finally got a helicopter, which he wanted for awhile. He's had a couple before, but they broke (Well, he crashed them pretty bad . . . ). I have to say that this one has already lasted longer than the others. Elena likes to watch it fly around. Ginger goes crazy barking at it when he flies it outside.

Elena also likes to play with the remote control car. She will control it a little bit by herself, but usually she wants Jorge or me to control it. 

Good times!

Happy 4th!

We took it easy for the 4th of July since Elena's not 100% well yet. We went to eat, then went to the park.

A couple seconds before this shot she was hanging from one of those rings.

She liked hanging from the bar. Jorge would let go and she would hold on really tight, and then yell "Daddy!" when she wanted him to grab her.

We went out for frozen yogurt in the afternoon, then took her to see the local fireworks at night. It was a nice, relaxing holiday for us. Happy 4th of July everyone!

Some Fun Moments

This last week has been crazy. Elena got a nasty stomach bug that snowballed into other complications that landed us in the ER overnight, with follow-ups at Urgent Care and her regular doctor. She's doing a lot better now, but is still recovering. And we are very tired.

But kids are awesome and resilient, and she has managed to have fun these last couple of days, even though she's still recovering. I'm glad to see her happy again. Here are some fun moments from the last couple of weeks.

Elena is all about cooking right now, either in her playhouse or in the front yard.

Here she's playing with her little teapot set.

She really enjoys spending time with her daddy.

 

And she likes when he tickles her (sometimes . . . other times, she's calling me to rescue her). Here she's lifting her arm so that he'll tickle her some more.

This was after a really long walk. They both passed out on the floor.

 

I finally dyed some pasta for her. I've been meaning to do this for awhile now. Here she is putting them on a pipe cleaner.

She quickly discovered other ways to play with it.

 

People tell me that I barely look pregnant, and I think "seriously?" This picture was taken 3 weeks ago, and I've grown a lot since then.