Baby Girl Sick Day!

Elena and I stayed home today because she is running a fever.  Yesterday in the morning, she woke up with a bit of a runny nose and cough.  It happened overnight, it seems.  So, we took Elena to daycare yesterday hoping it wouldn't turn into anything too crazy.  Well, as luck would have it, I got a text at around 1pm that Elena had a fever.  Juan was able to go pick her up early and bring her home so she could rest.  He brought her home and put her to bed almost right away and she slept until almost 5pm...I guess all she needed was her own bed, huh?  I suppose that is all any of us want when we are sick.  Elena was SUPER crabby when she woke up and wanted nothing but to be held.  She had a few drinks of her milk and some juice, which was great.  We decided maybe she was hungry for some dinner and she did eat, but right as we were getting ready to get up from having some dinner, she just looked at me a little strangely and all of her dinner came right back up.  I felt so badly for our little nugget.  She just started crying because she was a mess and I'm sure it didn't feel all that great either.  We immediately took her to the tub, where she proceeded to cry the entire time as well...this little girl is obviously not feeling well because usually the tub is one of her favorite places to hang out!  So, we made it a quick one.  We got all ready for bed, had another drink of milk, took some fever medicine, and just laid down.  Elena fell asleep very quickly last night and slept through the night until almost 7 this morning.  I felt so much better knowing I didn't have to wake her up; I could just let her wake up on her own today.  She was still running a low grade fever this morning...right around 100.  She was still crabby and her nose just won't stop running!  But, we have read a few books, played a few toys, and that's it.  I laid E back down for a nap again around 8:30 and she is still sleeping now, about 10:00.  My hope is that she will rest as much as possible today so that whatever is keeping her down will go away.  I must admit, while I have a TON of work to do at school, it feels kind of nice to be home on a random Tuesday.  I got a pot roast in the crock pot going and I made home made fruit snacks too.  I can't wait to see how everything turns out later on today.  We have also been loving the warm weather, windows open a bit, and thunderstorms here and there throughout the morning.  It's been a great morning to be home.  I am excited for E to wake up again so I can check on how she's feeling...I have been checking on her so much since she went down for a nap. Say a prayer for our little girl that she can get better soon!!

January!

I just realized this afternoon that I hadn't made any blog posts this month...oops!!  I can't believe we have been so busy with things going on that I haven't even thought about making a blog post.  It seems like we have been filling our weekends with family time.  It's been a wonderful month.  Now that it has been getting cold most of our days, we tend to stay in our cozy house just playing and having fun!  It's been nice to just spend some quality time together.  Juan and I are both staying busy with our school work.  Right now I am in a transition with students as we graduate students out of Reading Recovery and begin our work with a new round of students that need some intense help getting on track as a reader.  It's always a very busy, but fun time of year to see how much the students I began the year with have grown.  Many of my students couldn't read anything at the beginning of the year and now they are reading books with actual characters, dialogue, and pages full of text.  It really is amazing work.  Juan is staying busy with all of his students at school too.  What an inspiration he is to them everyday...I know the kids he has don't always know it now, but they will realize soon how awesome of a teacher he is for pushing them to accept nothing but the best for themselves. Tough love, guys!!  Elena has been growing so much from week to week.  She is doing so well at the babysitters and has some really great friends there.  We couldn't be happier that she is enjoying herself while daddy and I are working!  Elena is eating so many new foods it's hard to keep up with all the new ones.  We have discovered, though, that she has fine taste...no room for generic items.  This baby is all name brand...ha!  We are still giving her some baby food purees to be sure she is getting all the fruits and veggies her little body needs since she isn't so fond of the actual veggies just yet.  We keep trying, though!  Her favorite food continues to be any kind of cheese.  She just loves it.  This past Friday night Juan and I got some pizza for dinner and she at a whole slice along with some fruits and veggies.  She is quite the little piggie! Elena is clapping her hands and lifting both arms to show us she is "SO BIG!" Elena likes to talk on the phone and she frequently calls my mom "on accident"...somehow if Elena gets a hold of my phone, she pushes something and calls my mom...it's too funny.  Elena knows to hold the phone up to her ear and say "hi!"  Elena can pull herself up on our couch...she thinks it's quite hilarious to just stand up once she gets up there and run from one end to the other...NOT funny in mom and dad's eyes.  Juan got stern with her yesterday and told her to sit down and she just looked at him with those gorgeous brown eyes and said, "Hi there" in her sweetest voice...oh geez..she starts now.  How can we stay mad at that sweet little thing?!

So, Elena just continues to get bigger and bigger on us...she is wearing shoes when we go out places now, is almost too big for her infant car seat, and LOVES to sit in the cart when we go to the store and say "HI" to everyone we pass.  She is a little girl now.  Our little girl...how can it be that she's not our newborn baby anymore?  Time is passing too quickly...I find myself everyday thanking God for her and keeping her safe, healthy, and happy.  We are just so lucky to have this little human being to call ours.  She is our joy, our inspiration to be better people, and she is love personified.  She is our Elena...Love you, sweet girl!!

Just looking at the snow.

This is the best one I got...she hates hats!

I'm ready to go, Mom!

Our silly monkey...

Playing around early in the morning

This is me everyday...surrounded by toys and reading a book.

Grandpa loves me!

I love my monkey.

Homer loves his grandma too.

This looks like a good idea...

Enjoying a book with grandma before going to bed.

Where's the puzzle board, Elena?

Trying to read Curious George...

Then she tried to escape!!

That's more like it.

Talking on mom's phone!

Reminiscing about the 1st birthday by reading her cards again.

I am SO SO cute!!!

A few more photos...

 I'm busy, here.

 Playing with daddy before a bath

 Just your typical night in Elena's room...Pulls all books out of the shelf and decorative flowers off the front.

 Using my "big girl chair"

 Listening to a good "gook"

Finally got her to stand still for a 12 month picture...a few weeks late :)

 So Big!

 Oatmeal cookies...and still trying that sippy cup...

 Wait...is she really taking a drink?

Yes, a small one, but it's a start!!

Christmas 2012

Merry Christmas to Everyone...a few days late!! :) We had an absolutely wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to a fabulous 2013 ahead. It is hard to believe we are on our way to saying good bye to 2012...it has been such a fast year. I guess when you spend most of your days trying to figure out how to take care of a child for the first time, the hours of each day seem to pass by faster and faster! Juan, Elena, and I got to spend Christmas Eve together in California, MO with Juan's parents and sister. We had a wonderful day eating great food, opening presents, and making stockings. Elena was not feeling that great as she was coming down with a cold and cough, so by the time evening rolled around, it was time to bring her home to get some rest. Santa was coming and we wanted her to feel well for Christmas Day. When Elena woke up on Christmas Day, she appeared to be feeling a bit better, so we made our way to St. Louis to visit my parents and sisters. Again, we opened presents, had great food, and watched our regular Christmas cartoons...Charlie Brown Christmas and Garfield Christmas. It was wonderful to spend time with everyone. By the end of the day, Elena was getting crabby again, so we tried to get her down to sleep, but she had a hard time falling asleep, so we needed to do some "old school" rocking and laying in bed together in order to get her asleep...it worked! :) I must admit, it was nice laying in bed with our girl...she is a good snuggler and is SO warm!! Other than our Christmas traveling, we have been just spending as much time as possible at home. We spend most of our days playing with Elena and cleaning up after her. We read TONS of books everyday and are TRYING to get her to drink from a sippy cup...She seriously won't have ANYTHING to do with any of the cups we offer her. She still wants her bottle. This is going to be a challenge. I know she will grow out of the bottle phase, but I am hoping things will start to change soon. We have been working with a sippy cup for months, but she has never shown any kind of interest. Any tips from you moms out there is definitely appreciated! Elena is getting more adventurous with foods, though. She is enjoying yogurt, bologna and other lunch meats, hot dogs, pizza, spaghetti and meat sauce, and all her regular baby foods too. We are still giving her baby food at times just to make sure she is getting all those nutrients. Elena has enjoyed all her Christmas goodies too...she learned she likes spice cookies and cream cheese cookies...YUM!! So, as we come to another end to another year, Juan and I wish you all a blessed and prosperous 2013. We are forever thankful to everyone who has helped us in any way over this last year as we stumbled our way through as first time parents while trying to juggle the rest of life at the same time. All the prayers, thoughts, well-wishes, meals, visits, etc...it is all SO appreciated. Thank you for supporting our little family! :)

A few Christmas pictures...SO many more, but this is just a start :)

 

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December...

This month has been flying by!  We have been just enjoying the Christmas season together hanging out at home and playing around the Christmas tree.  Juan and I finally got our tree up last weekend and it is awesome.  It makes me just so happy to turn it on all day long and enjoy the lights and sparkle.  Elena has really enjoyed looking at it as well.  Believe it or not, she doesn't touch it that often.  I put a few "touchable" ornaments closer to the bottom so that if she did get a bit curious, we'd all be safe!  I have a video below of her playing with an ornament with a bell inside and she just thought that was great.  Smiles all around.  Since Elena's birthday, we haven't been doing much of anything!  We'll bake a few cookies again this weekend and hopefully get out for some more shopping, but that's about it!  This momma is hoping to get all of the shopping finished this weekend and begin wrapping it all up!  I really do enjoy wrapping Christmas presents.  For me, it's SO not a chore.  It makes me happy knowing that the gift is going to bring a smile to someone we love's face.  No better gift than that!!  One more week of work left for both Juan and I and Christmas vacation will be here.  I seriously cannot believe it.  Another school year is passing us by in the blink of an eye.  Trying to enjoy every second, but times are getting busy and the hustle and bustle of daily life can make that difficult at times!  We thank God everyday that we have and love the jobs we do everyday and are able to touch so many lives.  Here's to a blessed rest of the Christmas season!!

 Can we please eat dinner now?

 Stacking skills...

 Not quite a pro, yet.

 Trying again ;)

 Playing "Where's Elena?"

 Playing before we go meet Santa Claus!  (She hated him, by the way.)

 Hanging out on daddy's lap...look at those teeth!!