This one's for my Grandma

The last few days have been rough, very rough. Whenever times like this happen, my grandma always helps me through it.

So Grandma,

Thank you for always supporting me,
for believing in me,
for confiding in me,
for always bringing hope to a hopeless situation,
for always knowing the right thing to say;
for loving unconditionally,
for always listening,
for always giving positive advice,
and for just being you.
Thank you for loving my baby from the time she was the size of a peanut,
for teaching me that there is always more love to give,
and for always showing me the importance of family.

And thank you God for giving me my grandma.

"Bah"

I have been so tired this week! I think Elena Rose is going through a growth spurt because she has been waking up to eat so frequently at night, I haven't gotten much sleep. I still enjoy having her sleep with me for the second half of the night; we get a lot of cuddle time. Except for last night she kept shifting until she was completely horizontal, then she would lift one of her legs up and drop it right on me. I don't know how many times I was kicked, but it was a lot. It hasn't helped that it's been hot in Southern California. She sleeps hot anyway, and the nights have been warm. The other night when she woke up and we brought her to our bed it was too hot, so Jorge started opening the windows to get some ventilation. By the time she was done nursing she was wide awake. I was hoping she would just pass out but she was awake for a little while. I opened my eyes and she was staring at me and she put her little hand right in my face and started waving.

Her favorite sound to make recently is "bah." She makes the "bah" sound all the time. This morning when I was dropping her off before work she fell asleep in the car so I parked and wanted to wait a minute to take her inside so that I could try to keep her asleep. I was watching her in the little mirror that attaches to the backseat headrest so they can see you when you're driving. She had just fallen asleep and her head was to the side. With her eyes closed she whispered "bah" really softly, then a tiny bit louder another "bah," then she started babbling until she was completely awake. At that point it was clear she wasn't going to take a nap right then.

When I first finished graduate school I was working at an agency that had a daycare on-site. Two times while I worked there they had Scholastic book sales (remember those flyers we got in elementary school?). I told Jorge that I was going to buy books for our unborn child. And I did. I remember buying quite a few. In our old apartment I kept them in a box under my bed, and I was not able to find them once we moved into this house. It's been bugging me since Elena was born, I really wanted those books. So I decided that I was going to go through boxes in the garage to find our old stuff, not all at once, but over a period of time. I had Jorge pull out a box that was hard to get to because I knew I hadn't gone through it before (I've looked for things, including my books, several times, so many of the boxes have been sifted through). The first thing I saw in there was my box of books. I was so excited, I went through each one, and there are 35 total. 35 books that were meant for our baby before she even existed! I also found other things that I've looked for and couldn't find, like treasures Amy got me while she was deployed, the crystal ring-holder my grandma gave me (Sorry Grandma, didn't want to tell you I couldn't find it!), and some little Precious Moments snowglobes to go in the nursery.

We still do bubbles every day at bathtime. I will say "Do you want some bubbles?" and she responds "Bah." I like these bubbles because they don't pop easily, and she always has a bunch stuck to her head.
Happy belated birthday to Savanna and Monique. Savanna turned 18, wow!

First Father's Day

Today was Jorge's first Father's Day as a daddy! We had a good day. We went out to breakfast to celebrate. Elena Rose loves her daddy. He was sick Friday and Saturday, and she wanted him to hold her so bad. Every time he walked by her she reached for him, but he was scared to get too close. He was a lot better today, and they were both happy to spend more time together.There are so many healthy things I try to feed Elena Rose, but she's still stuck in her yogurt phase . . . mostly (I'm still sneaking cereal into her yogurt). There are a few things she will eat, like chunks of pineapple, puffs, and some multigrain cookies I just got for her. But then the other day she was staring at my pizza while I was eating it, then she started trying to grab it; when I finished the piece I gave her my crust, and for some reason she loves it. So now she eats pizza crust as well. She likes apple juice now, and she's drinking more from her sippy cup, but she doesn't like to hold it herself.Check out my childproofing skills! Jorge does most of the childproofing, but I put on the stove knob covers and the lock for the oven door. It was super simple, but I'm still proud of it! And as you can see, it was needed! She can actually reach the stove knobs now. And happy Father's Day to my husband and my dad!

New Achievements

Today was a fun day. I took Elena Rose to a birthday party at Gymboree, so she had plenty of playtime with other babies. We got there almost an hour late because she was napping, and I really didn't want her to go without a nap. Her nap was still short though, so she was tired by the end.

She is changing so fast. Even her smile has changed. She stood up today without holding onto anything. I was sitting in front of her and I was scared that if I said anything she would lose her balance. Afterward I clapped for her. She did it a few more times today, and every time she stands without holding onto anything we get super excited and clap. I don't know if she knows why, but we're proud of her regardless!

Her hair has grown a lot, and it's funny because several people have asked if we've cut it. She is just lucky to have hair that is growing really evenly. It's getting long and it's reached her eyes, so I tied it up in a little spout today. I didn't have to move it away from her eyes once.
When I took the tie out, her hair stayed in place.She's always exploring

Thanks for Visiting!

My grandma and sister April came to visit on Saturday. I really enjoyed having them over because it's not often that I see my family. April's baby Destiny is two months old now, and the difference between her and Elena Rose is pretty big. It's funny when I think back on Elena being that small, and how much has changed since then. Destiny smiles a lot, but she slept through most of the visit. She is adorable, though, and has a lot of personality when she's awake. It was a nice visit, and April and Grandma got to see Elena Rose playing at home.

April & her baby, who finally woke up and was all smilesApril & my babyAt one point Elena Rose kissed Destiny, it was so adorable!

She Knows What She Wants

Elena Rose is getting such a personality! She's so happy and always wants our attention. When I'm holding her and talking on the phone, she'll lean forward so she's right in my face, and she'll just smile at me. She did this to Jorge today when he was talking to Janice with Elena in his arms. The other night she was sitting on Jorge's lap next to me and I opened up a book to read. She starting leaning toward me, with a pacifier in her mouth, just smiling. And she wouldn't look away until I acknowledged her and kissed her, then she would do it again. It was adorable, and after a few times I said, "Okay, Mommy won't read right now!" She also wants to stand up all the time. And she loves her blankets and her baby doll. She has two fuzzy blankets that she likes to snuggle with, but now she likes to have them even when she's not tired. This morning she was crawling, dragging her blanket behind her. She did the same thing yesterday with her doll; I heard "clunk" . . . "clunk" . . . "clunk" . . . and she was crawling, holding on to her doll's arm so she could take it with her. We have so many sweet moments with her.
The other thing she's come to love is balls. We are doing two baby classes right now, a play & learn class and a music class. She has a hard time letting go of the balls during both. So during the play & learn class I just let her hold onto whichever ball she attaches to that day and do everything with it. She goes down the slide holding the ball; she goes under the parachute holding the ball; she sits on a balancing mat holding the ball . . . and she's not interested in too many things that she can't do while holding onto the ball. She has quite a few balls at home, 4 are regular-sized, and my friend just gave us several small plastic ones because she loves those and chases them all over the floor.

She Grew a lot in 7 Months

Today after a Play and Learn class (songs, parachute, bubbles, slides, etc.) I took Elena Rose to visit one of the lactation consultants that was a huge help when the baby was born. I loved going to the breastfeeding group each week to talk to other moms and see how much weight Elena Rose had gained. And I was able to ask all of my questions about her eating. In November they took a bunch of pictures of the baby and I, some are shown below.
Looking at these pictures, I just can't believe how much she has grown and stretched out! It's amazing. Today she stood for a couple seconds without holding onto anything. She's going to be walking before we know it.

Ahhh, I Love 3 Day Weekends!

I am so thankful we have a 3 day weekend! We really needed it. Elena Rose is all over the place right now, she keeps me chasing after her all day long. It can be really exhausting. She loves being around the dogs and chasing after them, too. She is growing so super-fast. She's found her favorite food, yogurt, and that's pretty much all she wants to eat now. Yogurt and puffs (not cheerios, but the puffs that disintegrate). She could eat those all day long. And all the veggies and fruit and cereal that she used to eat before? She's not so much a fan now, but I try to get her to eat a little bit each day, to make sure she's getting fiber and iron. Hopefully this phase doesn't last long. She loves her bathtime more and more each day. And around bathtime she'll crawl into the bathroom, so then we start getting her ready. We've got the bedtime routine down now, too. After her bath, I'll brush her teeth and Jorge will love on her and say goodnight. I take her to the nursery with lullaby music and read her a bedtime story in the rocking chair, then nurse her if she's hungry. Now when she's hungry she'll turn around and face me when I'm in the middle of the book, then she'll look and my chest and whine. So then I know she wants to eat. She's so precious.

She's so tall now, and wants to climb everything. She pulls herself up and wants to stand all the time.
Helping mommy do laundry Everybody loves bubbles at bathtime, even Charlie!Jorge, with help, demolished our old, yellowish bathtub today and installed a new, white, porcelain tub. I love it! And it's deeper than our old tub, so it will be way better to soak in. No pictures yet though, because the rest of the bathroom is being ripped apart. I will post pictures of the final product. Amy came to visit today and we had a good time. She was originally going to come yesterday, and I'm soooo glad she came today instead, because we had to stay out of the house a lot since they were tearing everything out, and I knew that napping would be a challenge for the baby. So it was nice to have company and help, and it's been a long time since she came out so we were due for a visit anyway. First we went to church, then got lunch for the guys, then my mother-in-law came for a short visit. After that we ran errands and sat in the car for awhile to let the baby nap, since sleeping in the nursery today wasn't an option. I miss my sister already!

Auntie Amy & Elena RoseNew sunglasses, just in time for summerAnd the weekend's still not over. Tomorrow all 3 of us are going to have lunch at a friend's house (the baby's playmate, Alana), and then Jorge is going to try to tackle one more task in the bathroom, tiling the floor. I can't believe the bathroom is finally getting done! And when I post pictures of the hideous wallpaper that we've tolerated for almost 2 years now, you'll understand why.

I know my baby's sweet because . . .

-She leaned over and puckered up to kiss Jorge when he got home from work
-Whenever she's holding a doll and I sing "Rock-a-bye Baby" she starts rocking
-She waves goodbye to me
-She likes to sit in my lap and play
-She runs her fingers through my hair when she's tired
-She likes to cuddle at night
-She cuddles with her blanket in her face to fall asleep

And here's a picture of my sweet baby

Isn't she Precious?

A Busy Week, with a Busy Baby

Things have been a little hectic over the last week, even though it seems like not much is going on. Maybe it's just that the baby is so active now that she's keeping us on our toes. Now that she's able to crawl all over the place, she's more interested in standing and climbing. She always wants to stand in the bathtub, while I'm leaning over with my hands on her in case she slips or lets go. It's becoming more and more difficult to get ready for work in the mornings because I need to keep her amused while also making sure she doesn't pull herself up to standing then fall, and when she doesn't want to do something, or doesn't want to stop what she's doing, she lets us know. So I think we're just busy trying to keep up with her. I guess this is what it's like once they're mobile and entering the toddler stage. Not much else is going on. Jorge has been working in his new position for a little while now, and he likes it.

Elena Rose turned 10 months old on Sunday. I can't believe it. Here's one of my favorite pictures from when she was a newborn; we were still in the hospital. I like to look at her newborn pictures to remember how different and small she was then.

Happy Mother's Day to me!

I hope all the mommies out there had a wonderful Mother's Day. I am so blessed to have my baby girl in my life. We got up early to go to Santa Maria that day, and Jorge brought roses and a Mother's Day card to me when I was waking up. I got to meet my sister April's newborn baby, Destiny, and we got to spend our first Mother's Day together. Destiny is super sweet, and super small. She feels tiny compared to Elena Rose.

Myself, my mom, my sisters and nieces, and the two babies.Elena Rose, me, Grandma, Destiny, and AprilElena Rose did really well for traveling so far that day. She was in a good mood and gave my grandma lots of kisses!Elena's getting stronger every day. She's pulling herself up in her crib to stand, and then she'll suddenly let go to land on her butt. I'm glad she's figured out how to get down once she's up, and she loves to be in there and play.

Alana, another baby, had her first birthday party on Saturday, so we went to that and Elena Rose had a good time. It was at Gymboree, a play place for babies and little ones. You can see tiny bubbles stuck to Elena's hair in this picture. She liked the bubbles.
This was her first time on a rocking horse. She sat in a big girl chair and ate puffs. Plates are really useless, she just flips them over.While I'm at work, Elena Rose stays with Janice. Sometimes Janice's grandkids go over, and the baby loves to play with them. This is Ellie. She's 6 months older than Elena. Elena loves to play in one of the bedrooms there. She crawls up to the window and pulls herself up to look out, and she could pretty much spend all day looking out that window. She's so big!Also, happy birthday Amy! My sister turned 29 today. Love you!