Our Crazy Life....A Birthday, Earrings, Snow, & One Fabulous Baby!

SO life has been absolutely and completely crazy lately!!!!! Trying to sell all of our things, pack what we will be taking, have a birthday party, stay healthy, pierce a baby's ears, while still constantly loving on a 2 1/2 month old precious princess - IT'S A LOT OF WORK!

Our VERY fun event this month was getting her ears pierced! She did super! We went to Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, Maryland. She did so well. After she got the first ear done, and the whole mall heard her piercing cry (which by the way, I think was more from the scare and me having to hold her down so tightly), she drew quite the crowd of spectators for the second ear. Most were looking at me like, "are you crazy? how old is she?!" :) One lady even got teary eyed! Ha!!!! Anyway, we did the second ear, she let out one more loud cry, and that was it! I was able to comfort her right away, and the crying only lasted a few seconds. She slept the afternoon away after that, and woke up a beautiful little lady with her pretty earrings! That was the end of that craze. I'm so glad we did it when we did! I was waiting for that moment since the day she was born! :)

Here's a picture of my princess showing off her dazzling little earrings, a few hours after she got them! (Video at the end of this blog for those of you interested in seeing the whole thing!) :)

Last Wednesday was Beto's birthday. It was very special - his first birthday as a Daddy! We didn't do much that day. He only worked in the morning, then Aliyah and I went out to lunch with him (to our fav - Five Guys!).
It was special just to all be together. Later on that evening, we went over to our friends' house, Shaun and Brandi, for dinner and cake. That was fun. Then we had practice at church, like usual. The big celebration was on Friday night. We had it at Anthony and Camille's house. About 30 people came over, and we had YUMMY tamales, taquitos, & Beto's favorite, Oreo Ice Cream Cake.

The next morning, we had our first moving sale. People stopped in all day long, to look and buy things. We had posted signs in our neighborhood and on some of the main roads in our area. It was sad to see some of my things go, but a relief at the same time, to be getting it done! We were hoping to have another sale today, but we're COMPLETELY snowed in, so it's a NO-GO! We'll have to box the rest of our things up and figure out what to do from there.

ALIYAH. She's a fabulous baby. I can't say enough about that! :) She's making this difficult and stressful time of life, less stressful than it could've been, had she turned out to be a handful! Actually, she's a constant reminder to me of God's faithfulness, and she's definitely our constant joy. I suppose the Lord knew we'd need an easy and happy baby to get us through all of this! :) She's our little bundle of joy.

Let's see....she's doing great, in all areas! It's hard to believe how fast time flies by. She's 11 weeks old already, and definitely out of that 'newborn' stage. To me, she actually seems more like a 4 month old. She's got quite the little personality, and loves to pretend she's a big girl. She likes to stand all the time. I can't wait to get her into a jumper or a walker, but that will have to wait til after the move. The house is already completely chaotic as it is; the last thing we need is more baby gear laying around!

Here's Aliyah testing out Sofi's Jumper/Activity Center - she LOVED it! :)

She still is a fabulous sleeper! She is sleeping about 10 hours a night, usually waking up once somewhere in between to eat. Her normal bedtime is now around 9:00 pm. She usually wakes up around 7:00 am, goes down for another short nap in the morning, wakes up for an hour or two, and then sleeps the afternoon away. Literally, she takes like a 4-5 hour nap in the afternoon, wakes up, chills for a few hours, then it's bedtime all over again! :) So funny!

Her newest thing, which just started this week, is she scoots in her crib while she's asleep! We lay her down in the middle of her crib (on her tummy - I know, I'm bad...don't tell the doctors! ha!) and a few hours later, when we go in, she's all the way at the top of the crib with her head against the bumper. So last night, she woke around 3 am to eat, so when I put her back down, I strategically put her at the bottom of the crib, giving her lots of scooting room, without having to reach the top. Well, sure enough, when she woke up this morning at 7, she was all the way at the top of the crib, laying HORIZONTALLY! So she scooted all the way up the length of the mattress, and almost completely turned herself around. I was SHOCKED! Those chunky little legs have LOTS of strength!

Let's see, what else? She's all about smiles and laughs! She is a very happy baby! She has her fussy moments too - but when she's content, she definitely lets us know! :) It's so precious.

Among other things, I've been quite sick this week. I've had a horrible sinus/head cold. As a result, Aliyah has had quite a bit more Daddy time than usual. These are some of the activities they enjoyed together.........

Daddy made my toys magically hang from the ceiling to keep me entertained on my change table!

Daddy set up my very own TV-watching chair! It's a front row seat!

I LOVE DADDY TIME! :)

Today we're all snowed in. It started at about 9 pm last night and hasn't stopped since! The news is saying it probably won't stop until about 6 am. It's definitely a WINTER WONDERLAND outside the window! :) I wish we had a Christmas tree to sit by and enjoy, while we stay cozy inside. Makes me a little sad that her first Christmas is being spent surrounded by chaos and boxes - but oh well! It's not like she knows any better....it's me that's missing all the lights, and baking, and all of my other favorite Christmas traditions! :(

Here's a picture of Aliyah opening some presents the other day...she especially loved her bows and JUMBO PJ's! :)

Two Months old, Holidays, and Changes All Around...

Yesterday Aliyah turned 2 months old! To celebrate, she had her two month doctor's appointment! :) Along with that joyous occasion came her first round of shots. She did super. She always does really well for the Doctor and I always leave feeling very proud of my brave little one! :) She cried when she got her shots (all 3 of them), but it didn't last long. We made sure to have Motrin and a nice yummy bottle all made up and ready for her, for when she was through. She then slept most of the day. When she woke up in the afternoon, she was very mushy and emotional and wanted only to be held. So she basically spent the rest of the day in one of our arms, body limp, and feeling very tired and out of it! I think she just wanted an extra dose of love - and I don't blame her, I'm that way ALL the time! :) We gave her one more round of Motrin in the evening, and she went down around her normal time, 10 pm. She woke up just fine this morning! So all the hype of that is over! :)

So besides the shots, it was just a regular check up. She weighs 12 lb 7 oz (88th percentile, WOW!), and is measuring 22.25 in long (47th percentile). She has doubled her weight since she was born. Pretty crazy to think about the tiny little thing we brought home from the hospital at 6 small lbs! :) She is definitely not that tiny little thing anymore! :)

Besides growing in chunkiness, she's also growing in every other area. She grows smarter, stronger, more playful, and of course cuter, with every passing day! :) Smiling seems to be her new favorite thing. She started at the beginning of November...but now it's almost a constant! She smiles whenever we talk to her. Her favorite time of the day seems to be the morning, and they too, have become one of the major highlights of my days! One of us goes to get her from the crib, and from the minute we pick her up, she's ALL smiles! We then bring her back to our bed and hang out with her for a good half hour or so, and she completely entertains us with her smiles and giggles. It is SO cute! I feel like taking video of her EVERY single morning! It's so fun. She's also all about standing now. She has the strongest little legs ever! We stand her up on our laps, and she can stay standing for a good five minutes straight, while all we really do is keep our hands under her arms to keep her balanced. I'm amazed at the strength in her legs!!! She likes to pretend she's a big girl already! :) Awww.....

So that's all the Aliyah news I guess there really is. She's overall doing great. Sleeps well, eats well, poops well. What more can you really ask for in a baby? :) The soft cheeks that I spend the day kissing away, is an added bonus I suppose! :) But most of all, she's healthy and content - so we're thanking the Lord for that!!!

HOLIDAYS........ I can't even BELIEVE they're here again already!!! This year FLEW by! I love this time of the year. Christmas music, lights, gingerbread scented candles, cinnamon scented pine cones, trees, and even the cool (but not yet frigid) air, it all makes me SO happy!

Thanksgiving was great. We spent the day with our friends Pete and Jess. Actually, Aliyah had her very first sleep over. We went over on Wednesday night, and spent the night there in order to wake up on Thanksgiving day to relax in our PJ's and to get an early start on the cooking. It was just the four of us (plus Aliyah, who slept through dinner)...but we made enough food for about 25! Haha! It was a lot of fun and the food was great. Later that evening we went over to Anthony and Camille's house. They had their families over, and we joined them for dessert and just a nice relaxing evening. It was overall a wonderful day. We couldn't have asked for more, as we felt so thankful and blessed to have spent the day surrounded by our dearest friends, who in reality, have been more like family to us over the years.

The festivities didn't end that day though!

Friday we spent the day relaxing at home (which was SO needed)! It was a cloudy and cold day, so we made a fire, watched movies, ordered Chinese food, and basically spent the whole day lounging around on the couch. I LOVE THOSE DAYS!!

Saturday we went to one of my favorite places - Butler's Orchard! We go there a couple times a year, either to pick raspberries, apples, strawberries, or at Christmas time, a Christmas tree! This year we won't be getting a Christmas tree (for reasons that will follow below.....), but we went with the Strickland's (who also didn't get a tree this year, as they will be spending Christmas down in Guate) and the Deleon's. We basically all went to watch the Deleon's cut down their tree, so that we could get into the Christmas spirit, and at least get a few pictures at the orchard with Aliyah! Well, Aliyah slept through the whole thing, but it was a very fun afternoon, and we of course, always love to snap pictures of our little Sofi muffin (who is now 10 months old and cuter than EVER!). She's such a joy to be around - we love her so much.

Not that this has ANYTHING to do with the holidays, but the fun continued on through Sunday, as Aliyah experienced her first "Clasico." Barca vs Madrid. We spent the whole afternoon/evening at the Strickland's for that event. Aliyah matched her Daddy, all decked out in her Barca ware. They both looked adorable...and she must have been a little good luck charm, because Barcelona won! :) Yay!

CHANGES,, CHANGES, CHANGES.......So now you may ask...why no Christmas tree?! Where will we be this Christmas season? The answer...we'll be here. But our house will be in boxes, because this is our last month in our condo. December 31st we will be moving out, and at the beginning of January, we will be moving to Guatemala.

Yes, you read correctly, GUATEMALA!

I know, it's been years since we lived there!!! Trust me, I'm still trying to get used to saying it and wrapping the thought around my brain! :) It would take me a very long time to explain all the details behind the move, and why we came to this decision.... But we're trusting God that this is the right thing for us for now. We're not sure what He has for us in the future, but we're taking this one, very small step now. It is extremely sad and painful for us to think of all that we will be leaving behind. We have formed an entire life here...and not just any life, but a life that we absolutely LOVE! We've spent our four years of marriage building and equipping a home together and it'll be very tough to let go of our belongings, literally our entire "home." More than that though, we are surrounded by the bestest of friends we could ask for...and I couldn't even begin to tell you how extremely difficult the goodbye's will be, and the thought itself is, of a life without all of them. But again, we're trusting God for His best for us. Furniture and objects are all things that are easily replaced, and we know that in the larger scheme of life, they're not things that matter at all. All of that will one day pass away anyway. And friends will always stay friends. They all will be in our life forever....we'll just be separated by distance for a while. Goodbyes are never forever, especially when aside from being friends, we're also all brothers and sisters in Christ!

So Guate it is! We're looking forward to seeing all of our friends down there, and to be near Beto's family! They all (besides his Mom) will also be meeting Aliyah for the first time, so we're VERY excited about that!!! :)

January is going to come very quickly, and I have about a million and one things to do before then. Please pray for us this month as we scramble and get ready for a gigantic move and ginormously huge changes! :)

I will try to do better with posting more frequently....I've been a terrible blogger lately! :)

Love to you all and happpppy holidays!!!!!!

BFF FUN!

A total highlight of November was a visit from RAQUEL!!!! Only my BFF since forever ago! :) It was so so awesome to see her!!! We hadn't really hung out since the wedding, almost 4 years ago, and because of the circumstances, even that visit didn't cut it. Anyway, it had been YEARS!

She came to visit for a week, and she got to meet Aliyah!! It was so great!! We took her to DC for a day...Baltimore another day...shopped, and just hung around the house relaxing. She mostly wanted to just hold Aliyah, which was totally fine by me! :) She was such a big help!!

Here are some pics of her time here.... Thanks for taking the time and money to come see us Quels!! WE LOVE YOUUU!!!!!!!

First "Social" Smile

This morning was special...

Aliyah got up pretty early (around 6:15ish). She wasn't in the mood to go back to sleep after eating like she usually does, so I got up with her and went to the kitchen to make my coffee. While we waited for it to brew, we sat down on the couch to hang out. I was talking and singing to her, and she was looking at me, seeming to pay very close attention to me (much to my surprise!). Then all of a sudden, she smiled real big!! I wasn't sure if it was a real smile ("social" smile as it's called, ha!), or a "i-have-gas" smile; so I repeated the same thing over again. Talked and sang, and poked at her cheeks. Sure enough, she smiled again and again! It was so cute and special!

YAY for social smiling! Although she's been smiling since day one, not once had it ever been or seemed, intentional! I was soooo waiting for the moment when she would smile out of happiness, or because she thinks I'm hysterically funny! :) I guess that moment finally arrived! :) Yay! (Maybe not the part about thinking I'm hysterically funny, but I at least would like to think so!)

So yeah, fun times...thought I would share that.

We've had a good week.

Yesterday we took a day trip to New Castle, Delaware. Beto likes to try to make it at least once a year to go see his college soccer team play. They had a game in Delaware yesterday, so Delaware it was! We had a really nice time. It was about a two hour drive away and Aliyah slept basically the whole trip. So she missed the whole thing, but at least we can say that she went! :) Her first Nyack soccer game. Actually, her first soccer game, period.

Aliyah and I watched the second half of the game from inside of the car.

It was SO cold outside!

Also this week, we got together with a good friend from high school, Ray. He's out from LA right now, just wandering around the East Coast. We met up with him for dinner. Was great to catch up! It's always sooo great to see old friends, ESPECIALLY ones from high school. It's so easy to instantly re-connect! And reminiscing of those old days always brings the brightest smiles to my face! I'm glad Aliyah got to meet an old friend of ours.

A Few More Updates and Fun With Friends...

Now that I was able to share the good news about poopy diapers, I figure I can get back to blogging about normal things.

So, changes...let's see?

Aliyah is doing awesome still! She definitely is changing a little more everyday - in looks/chunkiness, habits, etc. I love that she's one month now...only 11 more months until my favorite stage starts! Ha! :) (Not that I'm counting down or anything!) ;)

Aliyah...I'm going to LOVE every stage with you (I just secretly have my favorites, that's all!) :)

She still loves to eat like it's nobody's business. We're ALMOST, sort-of learning that to be awake, does NOT mean the same thing as hunger. Ha! She is slowing realizing that having her eyes open, isn't supposed to be code for, feed me! She still eats a ton though. On the weekend, I started giving her SIX OUNCE bottles! To some, that may not mean anything, but trust me, for a tiny little thing like her, that is A LOT! Anyway, eating department basically hasn't changed. She loves to eat, all the time.

She does SO well when we're out! Thankfully so, because we're out A LOT! This is something we really wanted her to learn early. We needed her to be ok while being out, because we did NOT want to cut back on being out! :) (Sorry for going way overboard on the word "out") She was either going to have to like it, or just learn to roll with the punches, even if she hated it. Ha. Don't get me wrong, she's not in love with her car seat or anything, and still will get upset having to be in it sometimes. But for the most part, she does awesome. She can sit a whole car ride, staring around, while staying very content. Most times, she falls asleep. And by the way, those sleeps are my favorite...if she falls asleep in the car, I can count on her being COMPLETELY zonked out for a good 2-3 hours plus. Those are probably her most solid naps. Occasionally, she'll hate being in her car seat - but that usually means she's hungry or overly tired. Then of course she just cries it out, and THEN falls asleep! :)

Let's see, what else is new? She's sleeping in her crib now like a big girl! I was basically waiting for all our guests to leave before starting her in her crib. I wasn't sure how it would go, and thought it would be best to keep her in her bassinet in our room while having people in the house. That way, if she cried, I could tend to her quickly before waking everyone up! Her first night in the crib was last Wednesday. So far, so good! :) I thought I would be sad to have her so far away (her room is complete opposite side of the apartment), but that's not been the case at all! Ha! I sleep like a baby, Beto sleeps like a baby, and Aliyah, well, she is a baby, and sleeps like one! :)

Last night was one of our best nights yet! She went to bed around 11 pm. Woke up at 3:15 am (her normal time). Usually when she wakes up in the night, she's not awake at all - just hungry. So usually I feed her and she goes right back down. Last night, however, she was so WIDE AWAKE, and I was SO NOT WIDE-AWAKE! (we had had a little bit of a rough morning the day before, with daylight savings, so I guess I was not recovered from that yet!) Anyway, I was too tired to be up with her. So I fed her, changed her and just layed her back in her crib and went back to bed. Haha! Sounds cruel, I know. I have the monitor though, so I could still see and hear her. I expected her to be very upset with me, and just cry. And I was totally prepared to let her cry for a bit, let her get sleepy while doing so! Well, turns out, she didn't cry at all! She layed there for a good 20 minutes, totally wide-eyed, and then fell asleep on her own. AWESOME! Then, even better. She didn't wake up at her normal time (5:30, 6ish). She slept all the way til 7:30!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay for that! Awesome night.

Another great thing to report - she hardly cries at all now for baths! I think she actually enjoys them now. I bathe her at night, right before going to bed. She must love the soothing warm water at that time of night. I know I would. Babies have it good, let me tell you.

I could write umpteen dozen other things about Aliyah's progess and the new things she does....but I'll save you all the boredom of my rambling.

Lastly, just a few pictures to share of fun times with friends.....

Sofi with the silly boys... She seemed to be ok with Superman (although somewhat unsure). But she didn't take to Bill Clinton in the Ghost Buster suit AT ALL! Lol!!!

Sofi giving Aliyah a kiss :)

Aliyah with Aunt Kristin and Unkini

Sof was a lady bug, for a couple of minutes! :) She then proceeded to yank off the antennas! :) Love this little Sof-Bug

Hanging out in Sof's play room

Sof, learning to be "gentle" with Aliyah :)

Aliyah meeting Grace for the first time :)

Normal Sunday afternoon, hanging out at the Gillotts'

Learning to dance with Aunt Jessie

We have a ONE MONTH OLD that goes poopy!

Happy Belated One Month Old Birthday Aliyah!!

Yesterday, our baby girl munchkie turned one month old! Her one month old birthday came with a special birthday surprise - NORMAL POOPIES!!

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I told you that next time I updated, I hoped to have good news in that department. Well, in all honesty, I actually waited til I had the good news to update! Ha! So now I can write again!! :)

Apparently her little digestive system is regulating itself, and getting used to the formula. Praise Jesus!! We spent lots of time praying for her little tummy, asking the Lord to heal her from any and all digestive problems she may have. Funny story - we're SO not used to the new and approved digestive system that poops on its own....that last night after a while of a very upset little girl, we finally realized she had a poopy diaper! Who knew? We're not used to poopy diapers, especially checking for them! Ha! Poor thing, who knows how long she had to sit in that. She was probably like, "What's wrong with you people?! What in the world are you making me sit in for this long?! It's disgusting!" Ha!

So since turning a month old yesterday at 5:22 am, she has had 5 poopy diapers, and has gone ALL on her own! And by that I mean, no help! For the past almost a month, when she did poop, we had to help. I won't include the details. Just know it was very heartbreaking, and for most everyone would probably be too gross to read about! :)

Anywho, perhaps she thought she had to be a big girl to go? Well, she's certainly big now, and going!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY DOLL!

4 Weeks Old!

So yesterday Aliyah turned 4 weeks old. Hard to believe. It seems like she's been here forever, not just 4 short weeks! :)