Happy 4 months!

It's amazing and a little sad how fast babies grow. Honestly, I've never really been sad with changes in development, but this time I'm being really sentimental. P. is such a sweet baby. He's more mellow than my other two. I'm already missing some of the things he used to do, like sucking as if he were nursing in the middle of the night while A. would bring him over to me to eat. He would just catch on, mid-suck. It was so cute. He's already over his bouncy seat and swing. He doesn't like being in a semi-reclined position. He either wants to sit up, with a little help, or stand up, while holding our hands. He also enjoys lying down on the floor to play with his feet, talk to his hands (his best friends), or roll over and over. He hasn't woken up to eat at night for 4 days now. He doesn't make a lot of noise, except for when he talks to his hands. He makes a dinosaur noise (well, I'm assuming). He doesn't coo. He's hard to get to laugh, but smiles easily. He seems to have a tooth that's playing hide-and-go-seek. I've given up wondering about it. Another thing I miss is the way he would look at me while nursing and then when I'd catch his gaze he would quickly look away from me. I like when he reaches his arms and hands out to us. He first did this at his uncle JD. Lucky guy! He likes playing with toys, but he isn't too into it. Well, if I can remember anything else, I'll add it later. I just love my little guy. Today he'll be getting his shots. I hope it'll go well.

And some more...

YAY! I. got a sewing machine from her abuela, complete with offers to teach her how to sew! Lucky girl.

More b-day pictures

My mom went all out to have a princess party. It was enchanting.



I. posed on her own and then called us over to take a picture.



For her 6th b-day, we let her get her ears pierced.

Happy 6th Birthday, Beautiful Princess!

I love you. You've always been a spot of sunshine in my life.

Add this to the favorites!

Our thoughtful friends, the Calders, sent I. a fabulous birthday present yesterday! First of all, we got a knock on the door from the mail carrier, who said there was a package for E. My daughter then proceeded to jump up and down yelling, "That's me, that's me!" (which is good because she doesn't go by E. she goes by I., sorry if that's confusing). The mail carrier then tried to hand the box to me, and said, "It's for E." (meanwhile I. is still jumping up and down, saying "That's me!" and trying to grab the box). I told him that that was indeed for her, and he looked a little surprised and said, "oh." (which makes me wonder if he didn't think that a little kid could be named "E."?)

Anyhow, the next wonderful part came when the card inside was addressed to The January Princess, which I. LOVED. As I left the room to get my camera (non-digital, which is why I don't have the picture posted), I heard I. mulling over the phrase "January Princess" as if she were savoring chocolate on her tongue.

She was very excited to see a new book, which we've never read or seen before, entitled Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse. Unfortunately, because of circumstances, we haven't been able to read it to her yet. But I decided to read it to A. because we were intrigued by the fact that the note said that the book reminded them of our daughter. They were so right! I was amazed at how much I. is like Lilly (except that she's never adored a teacher like that before). I giggled throughout the whole thing. I adore the narritive style, and the pictures. This is now one of my all-time favorite children's books! I give it 5/5 stars.

Note to Calders: I'm very grateful for your thoughtfulness, and impressed at your knack of finding an excellent and approproate gift!

(Edited to add that I. loves the book)

The one with the mouth

As some of you know, my little D. has very interesting things to say.

D. goes to the university laboratory preschool (I. went there also, for 2 years). It's a fantastic program. The 16 kids in her class are divided into groups of four for certain activities, and they have a "caregiver" (a student teacher) who looks out for that particular group. Each day the children may "tell a story" to a caregiver, who writes down what they say, word for word. D.'s stories are very random (this is the way she usually talks) and they sometimes just consist of letters from the alphabet. This one from today is the longest story I've seen so far:

OK once in a while in a long ago there was a Snow White with very long hair named Snow White. She saw someone it was the evil queen. It was the evil queen. The evil queen was made of stone. She met. She saw. Then she saw a evil bird. Thumbelina. Then there's this lovely little girl named Thumbelina. She was lovely and a toad got her alseep. Her dress...One morning she saw a beetle with wings. Then she dance to dance to beetle song. It was scary. It was Halloween. Then she sail to her home and it was empty. And then she crashed. It was a a short Snow White there was evil queen. She drank coffee then there was grandma. She was evil she turn into a stone then it was morning. She saw the snow. She saw a prince. There was a lovely girl named Aurora. Then there's Milleficent. Her belly was bleeding from his sword. This one is called the Quest of Care-a-lot. This little girl was riding her little horse named Hallie. A dad dies and she's all grown up. There's this young boy named Derek. Then she gets married to Derek. Then her mom came. She did it without her dad 'cause he was dying. All those was completely a book. Book. I have lots of books.

Hooray, I'm at my desk!

This is sooo not going to be interesting to anyone else.

We've finally cleared a path to our desk. We've nearly completed "Operation Crib." P. needed to get out of the bassinet and into a crib. He had absolutely no space in his bassinet to move (shockingly, he's been rolling from his tummy to his back since he was 1 and a half months old) and he'd started to put his feet up to rest on the rim of the bassinett. That was when I knew we had to get that poor little guy out of there. In order to fulfill this challenge, we needed to clear out our older "dressers" (if you can call them that) and buy a real dresser that was taller and skinnier. So we used our as-yet-to-be-received tax return money, and bought one from IKEA (it really is as cool of a place as people say!). We then had to gut out most of our bedroom (ay ay ay) and put up the dresser, then the crib. That part went well. The next part was to then put all the other stuff back. We've been working at this for a week and a half and still aren't finished. We couldn't even open our front door, or make it from the bathroom to our front door (remember people, we live in a very small space). It's been horrific. We feel like we've just moved. There's still stuff all over the living room floor, but at least I've made it to my desk (hence the title). And the good news is (the reason for all of this) P. loves the crib and enjoys the space and ability to play with toys in there. Hip, hip, HOORAY!

Happy Birthday to You, Martin Luther King, Jr.!

Yesterday I told D. and I. that they were not going to school today because it was a holiday. I. said, "Can we make him a birthday cake?" And I said, "For who?" and she said, "for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday!" I'm happy she's learning something at Kindergarten. I asked her some more questions about him, and then I asked her, "Who did he help?" and I thought she was going to say, "African Americans." But instead she said, "He helped white people to be nice to black people." I was very surprised but thought that that was a profound point of view. He really did help everybody who would let him.

Little Guy, 3 months old

One picture was taken on the 23rd of December 2006, and the other on the 5th of January 2007.

Yeah, yeah, so I started a blog.

Only time will tell if I actually do something with this.