It's hard to believe...

this itty bitty 5lb.5.oz. baby girl...

grew to this a few weeks later...

then to a sitting up baby girl a few months later...

and now to this crawling, big-eyed, toddling, babbling, pancake-loving, silly, music fanatic, silky-haired, happy, snuggly, mommy helper/buddy, exploring, giggly, wonderful, sweet baby girl.

I couldn't have asked for a more wonderful daughter. She's made me a better person and made my world a million times better. My pores ooze unconditional love for this little girl and just when I think I can't love her anymore, my heart grows a bit bigger.

I love you to the moon and back a million times over, my chiquita. 

Happy First Birthday!

Just a little size comparison. =)

                                       

Family Photos

I've been slacking on the blogging, big time. I guess I've just got too many good things going on. That's true, but also not the main reason I haven't been logging on here. Unfortunately, the piece of equipment that I use to load pictures onto the computer is missing. I don't know what happened to it when we moved. I've been using the hubby's computer to load pictures since his laptop has a little slot for the camera's memory thingy, but I only have access to his computer in the evenings when he's come from work and well; sometimes I'm busy doing other things. Oh well.

But, right now, I don't need that little gadget because these photos are already on the internet! Yippee for cut and paste (or dragging on the mac).

For Amélie's first birthday, which is quickly approaching!, I decided we should take family portraits. I once again got in contact with our favorite photographer, Nicole Hoxie, and set up a time to take photos. That was yesterday and she already posted a preview of our session today! She's amazing and fast! She was able to capture some beautiful photos our little family and my favorite little girl in only about an hour. I can't wait to see the rest, but I couldn't wait to share these. I love Amélie's new thing, which; is sticking out her tongue. She's discovered it. =)

{love those little hands}

Ten Months!

We love our chunky monkey! This smiling girl finds happiness in every little thing. 

{photo all the grandma's received for mother's day}

She loves to explore everything around her. Anything within reach will be touched, poked, and probably subjected to drooly baby lips. Amélie would like to walk everywhere just as long as she gets to hold on to one of your fingers. She's not quite willing to let go, although she will if she's amused and distracted enough to not notice. 

{moving around in the dress-up area}

Our sweet girl loves visiting the Discovery museum, spending time with other kiddies, singing, and dancing to all sorts of music. The hubby thinks she's into rock music and I think she's into Latin music. But, she really doesn't have a preference. It all sounds good to her!

{trying to stay dry}

She's my sidekick, my buddy, and a blossoming crafter like her mommy. Amélie loves visiting the craft store and touching all the silky fabrics, staring at all the colors, and then also doing her own art projects at home.

{playing in the water at the museum}

Our mornings usually include watching her favorite show, Plaza Sésamo; the Spanish version of Sesame Street. This is the only show she can sit quietly for right now. The English version somehow doesn't have the same effect, which doesn't surprise me. When it's time to say goodbye to daddy, she always sends him to work with a big smile and a wave. 

{looking like a big girl in her highchair at the kitchen table}

She hasn't encountered a vegetable she doesn't like. Woo! On the other hand, she's a bit picky about her fruits and will only eat most of them in puréed form. Amélie loves having a snack to grab and feed herself during meals and drinking out of a straw is her favorite way to enjoy her beverages, aside from mommy milk, of course.

{one of the few photos where she wasn't moving during her 10 month photos}

She's full so full of energy and really lights up any room she's in. Amélie has a great sense of humor and somehow always manages to give us a good laugh at just the right moment. The bean always gets all our jokes. =) The hubby and I like to call her our little "jámon," our little ham. 

We fall more and more in love with her every second of every day. We look at pictures of her when she's asleep because we can't get enough of her, we kiss and snuggle her as if our lives depended on it, and we thank our lucky stars for our amazing baby girl. We are unbelievably blessed to have such a wonderful daughter.

We love you Amélie Sophia. Happy 10 month birthday!

New friends and a bit more

Amélie and I have made some new friends in the last week. As mentioned in my previous posts, it's been a challenge to meet stay-at-home moms in my area. I did look into other groups as some of you suggested and I will be attending a meeting in the near future when I have time. For now, Amélie and I have been socializing with moms and babies at the local museum.

{in "The Wonder Closet"- the area for itty bitty babes}

The Children's Discovery Museum is just three miles from our house and we've been really taking advantage of it's proximity since we got an annual membership a few weeks ago. I love the fact that we can jet over there for a quick visit any time of day. In fact, on Tuesday I had hoped to take her to story time at the library downtown (not the one two blocks away), but her nap ended up interfering with the time. So, while she napped I crossed my fingers she'd wake up in time for us to make it for the last hour of the museum. She woke up at just the right time, I fed her, packed her dinner, a snack for me, a blanket, and then drove over to the museum. After an hour of playing and walking around with the other kiddies (there's always lots of kids there), we left and had a nice little picnic dinner on the large grassy area in front before we had to go pick up the hubby from his stop. It was perfect.

{isn't the short handrail adorable?}

We recently even had a play date with some new friends. We had some play time in the park, a picnic lunch, and a nice walk around downtown Campbell. We had a great time and are looking forward to hanging out again. The girls are only a week apart in age. Amélie's always very interested in other kids and will watch their every move, but it was cute to have another little person with the same amount of interest in her. They got along wonderfully! 

{cuties}

{see...she loved watching her little friend}

Amélie also made a new friend for Easter. She was made especially for her. =)

{ i found a pattern on Martha Stewart, but I changed her quite a bit}

{I painted her face using delicate paint brushes}

We had a laid-back Easter sunday. We enjoyed...

our amazing roses from the backyard...

our sweet baby "flower"...

wearing our aprons...

dyeing some eggs...

playing with egg shells...

and eating some deviled eggs!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

9 Months of Curiosity

Happy nine month birthday to our baby girl! Where does the time go?! In three short months she will be one whole year old!

We adore you sweet girl. You light up our days with your smiles. Life is more exciting and simply complete with you in it. We could not have asked for a more wonderful addition. 

A Side of Rice and Beans

That's us. The hubby's been enjoying not just the company of myself and our little blondie bean, but also the daddy man. He came in about a month ago from Guatemala and has been keeping us company and doing lots of things around the house like picking up Eric from his bus stop, making awesome dinners, completely clearing our big yard area of a gagillion weeds, making plant stands for me, and a whole lot of other things we very much appreciate. We always miss him when he leaves; not because of all the things he does, but because we love his company. This coming week he'll be leaving us in order to move to Arizona. He's decided that being back in the States is what he prefers. He misses us (my brothers and I) and his new grandbabies. We're definitely happy to have him back closer to home.

{delicious dinner made by daddy man}

{visiting Bakersfield for our nephew's first birthday}

While the daddy man has been here we've been keeping ourselves pretty busy and our little girl has been growing and changing on a daily basis. I can't believe how big my girl is getting! I could probably write a detailed 10 page essay all about her changes this month, but I'll just provide a glimpse here. How about some to-the-point bullets?! 

{her 8-month photo at home}

• She is getting so heavy? I can't wait to find out how much she's gained at her next appointment in a month. I'm going to guess 19 lbs. Our chunky monkey.
• Two visible teeth! The bottom left came in first and is still working on coming out completely. The right bottom is just barely coming out, but I can feel it. She loves feeling them with her lips and tongue. 
• Crawling in reverse (still not loving it) and would love to spend all day standing holding onto something. 
• Still loves eating. She's tried lots of new things, but her faves are still yogurt and sweet potatoes. 
• Talks and talks and talks. She gurgles, "dadas" all day long, squeals really high (we say she's practicing her Mariah Carey notes), loves blowing raspberries, and says "hey" and "hi" to everyone she sees. 
• Happiest baby ever! She can definitely be a grouch when she doesn't get what she wants and can go from super cheery to big tear girl, but she is overall super duper happy. She adores people! Whenever we go out to she will stare at people just waiting for them to make eye contact with her so that she can smile and wave at them. Oh yeah, she's big on the waving of hi and bye. I can leave a room for one second, come back and she will have the biggest smile and will talk a lot. 
• Dropped her third nap and her awake sessions have been stretched out to three/three and half hours. Since dropping her third nap, she now also sleep for longer periods of time. I love this! I can get so much more done. She used to take three 40 minute naps and now takes one 1 1/2 - 2 hour nap in the morning and an hour nap in the afternoon. We can actually go out and do more things too. She's also sleeping all 12 hours most nights. Sometimes she'll still want to eat once around 5:30am, which isn't too bad for me since I've slept a good length of time. (Okay the last two bullets weren't really to-the-point. oops)
• Adores her abuelito. She can be pouting for me because she doesn't want to eat her lentils, but one look from her grandpa and she will be all smiles. 
• Separation anxiety still present, but we're working on it. 

{yes, that blondie baby really is mine}

The hubby and I have been taking advantage of the daddy man being here by going on a date every weekend. It's been really nice. We've gone out to dinner and enjoyed a movie on every date. We love going to the movies, so it's been such a treat. Before the bean, we used to go almost every weekend.

{candlelit dinner in our backyard}

Life is really good. The house is all organized, so I'll be posting some projects I've completed on my neglected blog. I've been working on making things for my shop, but I've lost some steam with daddy man being here since I rather be spending time with him than crafting. Initially, my vision was to make pillows, but I've actually made a detour since I was inspired to make other things that I'm having more fun making. The Miscellany Shoppe is up, but not very exciting at the moment as I'm still learning how to set it all up. Basically, I'm making children's goods for celebrations or fun. I only have the bunting listed, but I've made fabric covered and sewn party hats and cupcake toppers/flags as well. The pillows...the cut fabric and zippers are hanging out while I have fun with playful fabrics. Any suggestions on items you'd like to see would be really appreciated. I'm already thinking of themes for Amélie's first birthday and one of my ideas has my brain swirling with ideas for things to make and probably sell in the shoppe. 

{some of the items in the shoppe!}

I honestly haven't missed work(the grading, the annoying kids, the politics...), but have had moments of nostalgia. I have always been very passionate about my teaching and truly enjoyed it. The hubby asked me if I thought I'd go back to teaching and I really had never questioned that I wouldn't. I will, but right now I'm doing the right thing for us. 

We're feeling pretty grown-up around here as we survive on one income and make big purchases like buying a new mattress and another car. Thank goodness for both, but more-so for the heavenly mattress! I was finally able to convince the hubby it was time to retire the cheap-y mattress he'd had since he moved to California, once it started to squeak. I'd been begging for one since before we got married. We're still shopping around for another car but I'm sure we'll be getting one within the next two weeks since the daddy man is leaving us and won't be here to help drop Eric off and pick him up from the shuttle stop while I stay home with a sleeping baby.

{the beginning of my garden with help from daddy man}

I gotta get back to blogging on a regular/weekly basis because I really don't like "dumping" memories in one post because I'm sure there are things I'm leaving out. I'm sure the next three, actually more like four months, will be full of things I don't want to forget. There are weddings!, birthdays, vacations, museum trips, and lots of outdoor activities we've scheduled. It's going to be busy!

Getting Around

Now that we're back in a city where I can actually ride my cruiser, I've been contemplating buying a bike trailer so that Amélie and I can ride around town. I really love my cruiser and I used to ride it everywhere when we lived in Sac and a bit in Petaluma when we could find paved trails. It definitely did not get a lot of use in San Francisco where riding up the hills nearly made me pass out.

I've been thinking about getting a trailer since we moved here and with the amazing weather we've been having this week, it's reignited my desire to purchase one ASAP! While out on a walk with the bean and my dad earlier this week, we wondered if it would be possible to convert my jogging stroller into a bike trailer. I mean, all we'd need is some kind of hitch to attach it to my bike and replace the front tire on the stroller and then purchase a bug cover, right? Apparently, it's not such a good idea because of the higher level of gravity on the stroller and no such part exists. Bummer.

{we have the BOB Sport Utility}

While conducting my research on rigging up my "bike trailer," I did come upon some really interesting alternatives. There is the obvious choice of purchasing an actual bike trailer; which, we'll most likely do, but there are also other options. For example, the Taga Bike. If I had money burning holes in my pockets I'd definitely get one. It is soo cool!

Or, how about a Zigo?

Then, there are also Chariot strollers that be converted into joggers, bike trailers, hikers, and for use in cross-country skiing...yeah, crazy, but cool.

If I can only decide on a trailer, we'll be up and biking in no time. I can't wait! 

Do any of you have any recommendations?