Sunday, February 27, 2011

What's New?

Where to begin...Amélie and I (and the hubby) are having a ball! We've been in our new place for almost two months and we're in a groove. There's still things we're working on; like finding a mom group that will actually return my emails and calls (ugh), finding time to work out, finishing the decorating, and getting around with only one car... but I'd say that at this point we're doing great.


 {seven months. Whaa?! Where did the time go?!}

I'll start by saying that I love being a stay-at-home-mommy. I still can't believe that I really get to enjoy my baby girl every.single.day.all.day! We're just doing our mommy/baby girl thing. The location of our new place is really awesome. We have a really nice big park a block away and we usually go there a couple times a week if the weather is nice. The library is just a 5 minute walk away and Amélie and I have become regulars there. We'll usually go after lunch when the younger school kids have just gotten out of school from the cutie school next door and she'll get to see lots of kiddies moving around the busy library. Our little library is very much kid-centered. More than half of the library is devoted to children's literature, music, and videos. We love it. Oh, Amélie loves looking at all the bigger kids. She'll just watch their every move. We also live a few blocks away from San Jose's teeny weeny Japan town. It's adorable and now that I think about it, I can't believe the hubby and I haven't enjoyed any sushi yet. We'll sometimes go on long walks to the Downtown area and have lunch or do a little shopping. We also have a fabulous Children's Discovery museum, which, we have yet to discover. It's on our list and we plan on getting an annual membership for the us and the bean. They have some really awesome programs there for kids of all ages, even for our petite thing! At this point, we are not short on things to do. I still really love the later part of the day when the sun really shines in the family room and we enjoy some girl time together. We'll play, talk, laugh a lot, sing, have a snack, dance (she LOVES it when you dance) and sometimes even watch some girly television for a bit. "Say Yes to the Dress" is currently our fave. Oh, and aren't baby giggles and belly laughs the best EVER?! Oh my goodness, we're constantly telling ourselves how lucky we are to have such a smiley happy baby that loves to laugh. It's fabulous.


{hey lovers. Happy V-Day!}

Amélie has really adjusted well to the new environment. During the first month we were here she was having a somewhat difficult time sleeping well at night and we believe it was a combination of teething pain and just being in a new place. But, for the last month, she's been back to her old sleeping habits and has even gotten some full nights of sleeping in; 12 whole hours of non-stop sleeping! Its was great, but also not so great to wake up at 7 and realize she hadn't woken up (was she okay?!) and having rocks for boobs (from not nursing at her usual time around 3am). But, those nights have been sporadic and I'm totally okay with it because I enjoy our little night time reunions and it's much better than the three+ times she was waking up during that first month.


She's also growing like crazy! She's got quite a sprouting crop of hair in a coppery-brownie-blondie highlighted shade. I can't believe I have a green eyed blondie baby. Crazy. At her last doctor's appointment our baby bean weighed in at 16 lbs. 5 oz. She's close to 25 inches long and has a big head just like her parents. She's in the 20-something percentile for her height and weight, but something like 70 percent for her melon. Amélie has got some cheeks on her and they're definitely not going anywhere with the way she eats. We've ventured out of the simple baby foods and have her trying almost everything we eat. She still loves her sweet potatoes and squash and her usual breakfast of yogurt and pureed fruit. But, she's so far really enjoyed: butternut squash risotto from an awesome baby food cookbook recipe my bestie gave us, beef vegetable stew, sourdough bread, raisin bread, hummus, pita bread, hard boiled egg whites, chicken, pear spears (she'll gnaw on them forever), whole wheat bread, tomato bisque, greek yogurt, peanut butter and jelly, frozen yogurt, refried bean with homemade corn tortillas...basically this girl loves food! We're really crossing our fingers this will continue forever. This week I'll be trying out some new recipes for her; many of which I'm sure I will be enjoying as well. They all sound very yummy.

{just hangin' with my homie Boo}

She's super chatty. She's definitely fluent in Spanish as my brother recently made a quick visit and he noted that all her baby sounds are in Spanish; which, I thought was funny. But, that's not the first time someone has said that about her talking. Somone asked me if I spoke Spanish to her because her sounds have softer accent and inflections than English speaking babies. Uh, yeah; I only speak to her in Spanish. The only time she hears me speak English is when the hubby is around and it's never directed towards her. I'll still only speak to her in Spanish when Eric is around and then I'll translate for him. Although, he is definitely picking it up a lot more lately.



Amélie loves standing on her legs. So far is doesn't look like she'll be crawling since she detests being on her tummy for extended periods of time. But, when I say manos (hands in Spanish) and hold out my hands to her, she will immediately grab on and pull herself up to a standing position. She can stand and take steps for a really long time. She'll even give us attitude if we make her sit before she wants to. She can stand holding on to something for a while and will sometimes take little steps to the side. At this point, we're thinking she'll be walking before she crawls. We'll see. It makes me laugh to think about our itty bitty walking around on those little legs and that protruding belly.


Oh, and she got her ears pierced. It's very common for girls of Latin American decent to have their ears pierced as infants. My ears were pierced the day after my birth and my mom had hers pierced as a baby as well. I don't know why it's common, but it is. I would say it's a cultural thing. Amélie had her ears pierced shortly before her seven month birthday. She wasn't very happy during the whole experience, which, I understand, but once it was over she quickly forgot and moved on. She's had no discomfort and does not touch/mess with her earrings. I clean them as directed and she doesn't mind one bit. She looks freakin' adorable! She also cannot be mistaken for a boy now!

Before this post goes from super long to a novella, the hubby and I have not questioned our move once. We're so happy. There are definitely days when I wish I could interact with some other stay-at-home moms (helloooo...where are you?!?!?!) But, I've got my crafts going full force and now that we signed up for our local gym I'll be hitting it up frequently; I've gotten some kind of reply from one mom group, and I've joined a book club! Oh, and I have an etsy shop in the works. Yup, I'll be a real-life "business" owner. I'll definitely be spreading the word on that soon. The hubby and I have been out alone on a real date since I have good friend from my credential program that lives close by that loves babies and will babysit for food! Although, when we got back from our date he did say it was the easiest job he'd ever done in his life. He got to sit around on the couch, watch television shows, eat the cookies I made for him and the soda I bought specifically for him while Amélie slept soundly in her room. Of course I didn't only pay him in cookies and soda. He and his girlfriend are coming over for homemade pizza and game night on Sunday. The hubby feels good about being closer to work, having his wifey take on housewifey duties (girl power!), seeing his baby more often, learning to play the piano, having guy nights playing poker with co-workers, and doing his manly duty of bringing home the bacon. Yet, he is most definitely helping with cooking it up and taking out the trash since this whole thing is still a team effort.


Once last thing. Amélie recently started doing this thing where if I'm holding her and someone starts talking to her and smiling and basically fawning over her cuteness she'll get really shy, smile, and then bury her head in my shoulder. It is soo freaking adorable! Yeah, I have a crush on my baby.


Okay, really, the very last thing...separation anxiety...totally dealing with it. She needs to be able to see me unless she's with her daddy. Did/do any of your kiddies deal with this?

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Sweet

I am soo going to make this for the hubby. So sweet.



You can find more pictures, recipe, and instructions here.