Growing and Growing

Elena's able to do more on her own now, and she's so much fun to be around. I'm also able to leave Samuel with a toy sometimes without him crying in protest. The boy loves to be in my arms. I look at both of them and I'm just amazed by the little people they're becoming. Elena has such a great sense of humor, she learns quickly, and she loves to help others. She's really sensitive and always tells us that she loves us. Samuel starts smiling and squirming when he sees us and wants to be picked up. He wakes up next to me in the mornings and starts babbling and playing with his feet. He is so responsive to our eye contact; as soon as we look at him, he's smiling and interacting with us. 

And look at this little guy on his elbow. Even though he hasn't been a huge fan of tummy time, he's getting stronger and will stay there a few minutes, which means I can get more things done. 

We're still always trying to dodge his spit-up, so he usually has a bib on. That way I don't have to change his clothes 5 times a day.

 Elena is always loving on him and trying to take care of him.

Here she is hanging out with him. 

He likes his reflection, it's the cutest thing. 

We love ice cream. We make regular trips to Golden Spoon for frozen yogurt. Elena loves it. Here, though, she's eating an ice cream bar. Yum!

She still loves to hang out with her daddy. Here they're winding down for bedtime. Well, Elena's winding down and Jorge is passed out on the couch. He's been working so hard and doesn't get much rest. He had about 2 minutes here, but then he got up to put Elena to bed. We both go into her room at bedtime. Sometimes Jorge just says goodnight to her and I put her to bed, but I hurt my back a few weeks ago and couldn't lift her, so he had to get up (I couldn't do a lot of things). 

I discovered Nuudles! They're just little puff things made from cornstarch, and when you touch the pieces on a damp sponge, they stick to each other. You can make anything with them. Here's what Elena built (a house), then painted.

My little artist.

Then she painted this little white piece and said, "Look, Mama, I made a heart for you!" And it did look like a heart.

She loves nail polish now. She wanted green, but when I showed her that there was also blue, she wanted the blue instead. This is my favorite color on her so far. 

I love pictures taken right after doing her hair, before the wind, napping, playing, etc.

See how big she is? 

And this little guy . . . always growing and getting chubbier. I could eat him up, he's so delicious. Especially when I blow on his thighs and he starts laughing. I just can't get enough.

Outside Play and Sweetness

This little guy is finally getting used to sleeping flat on his back. His little foot made its way out of the swaddle.

 

He has so much personality, always wanting to interact with us. I propped him up with pillows and he liked it, but he still starts to fall forward or to the sides after a couple of minutes.

We had some really nice days recently. Elena and I enjoyed some time in the front yard. Here she's marching. 

 

Then she cooked.

 

I laid on my back and enjoyed the warm sunshine.

I love the dollar bins at the craft stores. Here Elena's playing with some stamps in a little notebook we got there today; she's also wearing her new necklaces for dress-up.

She wanted Jorge to put her in the sling. She is huge.

She is such a little sweetheart. She was loving on Jorge at bedtime. 

Tonight I was trying to eat a sandwich while nursing Samuel (I was starving after spending time at the doctor's and then urgent care) and I dropped some crumbs on the couch. Elena heard me react and said "It's okay, Mama, you can always fix it!" Warmed my heart.

On a different note, happy birthday, Dad!

4 Months Old

I am 4 months old today!

I am growing fast. I'm just under 26 inches long, and I weigh 14 pounds, 3.5 ounces. I'm in the 94th percentile for height, and 24th percentile for weight. My doctor says I'm settling into being tall and skinny.

I'm strong. I like to stand up for a few seconds at a time, and every time I do this I get super excited about my accomplishment.

I'm sucking a lot of the time, whether or not a pacifier is in my mouth.

Whenever Mommy and Daddy look at me I smile and coo at them.

I'm very vocal. I cry whenever Mommy walks away from me. And I sleep best at night when I'm next to her. I'm always trying to sit up.

I love my sister.

Fun with the Kids

Time passes so quickly. It seems like every day I'm just trying to do things like get the kids dressed and fed, then taking Elena to do one of her activities, and then it's practically time for bed. And these little things make me so busy that I haven't had time to post. But I've been taking lots of pictures.

We made some brownies and Elena wanted to stir. She loves to help stir when we're baking. Then when the batter was done she told me it wasn't ready, and that she needed to keep stirring it. She told me she would let me know when it was ready, so she was stirring it for quite a while.

At the Gymboree art class they were clowns. Here's my little clown.

She was playing with foam shapes and Jorge started sticking them on her face. All over her face.

Then she went on a licking attack.

I found her like this one day.

Samuel is getting more and more curious about things, and he can be amused for a little while.

 

I put him on a little play mat so I could do something, and when I went back a couple minutes later I found him near the bottom, almost off the mat.

Jorge has fun with him now that he sees him as more "durable." He's getting so big!

 

I mean, really, is this the same kid I delivered less than 4 months ago?

 
We went to the park and had lunch, then Elena played. She ran around, then she held onto Charlie's leash and he pulled her along . . . she liked that. She got to play on the playground, too.

By the time we left the little guy was exhausted.

The other day Elena said "I'm a princess!" We've tried to shield her from the whole princess theme, but the commercials before Mickey Mouse Clubhouse have undermined that. Her statement caught us off guard. Then Jorge said, "We don't have princesses here. We have presidents." I have a feeling the whole princess thing is going to blow up at some point, no matter how much we try to prevent it.

I'm just trying to cherish my time with them while they're small because they're growing so fast.