4 Years Old

Well my sweet girl, today you are 4 years old.  I find myself looking at you all the time and thinking, "Wow, she's so big!  How did that happen?".

This morning when you woke-up, I said happy birthday to you and you asked me if you were a grown-up like mommy and daddy.  When I said, no not yet, you were quite upset.  I know 4 seems very big, but you don't need to be in such a hurry to grow-up.  There is plenty of time for that to happen!

The past year has been full of change for our family.  You had a tough time with the the move and missed our old house, but you are now happy where we are and you love your school and your best friend Elsa.  You are also very excited to be a big sister and you cannot wait for your baby to come.

Your very favorite thing to do is read books.  You read every day and always need a book close by.  You will read anything and everything, including my cookbooks and make up stories to go along with the pictures of food.  You also love to help me cook. Your favorite things to make are biscuits and chocolate chip pancakes.

Your other favorite things to do are play with your baby dolls, princesses, littlest pet shop, and my little ponies.  You are a girly girl through and through.  You only want to wear dresses and are drawn to everything pink, sparkly, and princess.  You love to sing and dance, especially to Taylor Swift and Katie Perry.

You have learned how to do so much on your own now.  You can get dressed and put on your shoes and socks.  You can open things by yourself that you couldn't before and you have been very helpful to me when I wasn't feeling well, getting me water and things from the fridge.

You are such a sweet girl and so full of personality.  You can definitely be challenging, but you make me smile everyday.  I love you so much and it is a joy to be your mother and watch you grow!

We celebrated your birthday and your cousin Josh's birthday last week with my family.  We had lots of fun at the park by Auntie Sara's house.

Then today we celebrated with daddy's family at the park by our house.  I think you had a very good birthday and I know everyone had fun spending it with you!

Happy 4th birthday Raeya!  I can't wait to see what the next year brings.

17 weeks

I am 17 weeks pregnant today.  I am getting close to halfway there!  I am pretty sure I felt the baby move for the first time a couple days ago.  It's so hard to tell because it feels like teeny tiny taps or twitches down in my uterus, but I really can't figure out what else it could be.  I think I'll just choose to believe it's the baby and be excited.  With Raeya, I didn't feel her until about 20-21 weeks, but I think I just wasn't aware when the movements were so tiny and hard to notice.

I am feeling so much better lately and it's definitely making time go by faster.  I can actually go out and enjoy life again!  I still need the Unisom&B6 for nauseau, but I'm down to one Zofran a day from three a day before and will probably stop the Zofran completely in a few more days.  I just need to get the courage to do it!  I guess the worst that could happen is I throw-up and take it again.  I just hate throwing-up so much.

I finally took some decent photos to document this pregnancy, so here is one from last week.

16 weeks pregnant.

Raeya is very excited and loves her baby.  Last Sunday we had a joint party for her and her big cousin Josh with my side of the family.  This Sunday we'll have a party on her actual birthday with Jose's family.  I can't believe my baby is going to be 4 years old in a few more days!  And this summer she won't be my baby anymore.  I will do her 4 year update after her party on Sunday.

A Lot of Change

I guess that's what happens when you don't blog for almost a year!

So, we moved to a new city in March.  Only 30 minutes away from where we used to live, but a very big change for us.  We love the area that we moved to and even though it was a little stressful, we are very happy with where we ended up.  There is a small city park right across the street from us and we can walk to a really nice creek trail and also a very cute downtown area.

We were sad to leave the home that Raeya grew-up in for her first 3 years, but this has been a good move for us.  I don't see my friends as often as I used to, but I do see them frequently and I'm working on making new friends in my area.

Raeya started preschool over the summer and we both love her school very much.  It's a Spanish-Immersion preschool, which is very hard to find, and it has everything I had hoped to find in a school for her.  She even made a new best friend there who she loves to play with and looks forward to seeing at school.

 Raeya's 1st day of preschool

Jose just started his last semester of school!!!  I am beyond excited as this has been a long road for us all.  He will have completed his Masters program in May which will bring about a lot more change for us, but I can't wait to have him home more.  Who knows where the job search will take us, but I don't really care because we are all ready to spend more time with him.

And last, our biggest and most exciting news...

Baby #2 will be joining us this summer!!!  The due date is July 30, 2015.  I will be 15 weeks on Thursday.  I feel like I have been waiting forever for this baby, but there is no way I was having another one with Jose in school and working 2 jobs! 

The planning seemed perfect until the horrendous nausea and morning sickness started!  It got so bad that I was throwing-up every 2 hours!  I got medication to stop the throwing-up, but I was still very miserable and could barely function.  Luckily the worst of it was during Jose's winter break from school and I started to feel better just in time for him to go back.  I was nowhere close to being this sick with Raeya, so it kind of caught me by surprise.

I think those are the main things that have happened since I was last on here.  I will try to do more regular updates since I am pregnant and would like to document the journey.  With Raeya, I took pictures every 4 weeks starting at 8 weeks, but since this baby made me so sick, I haven't been doing that.  Sorry baby, that's just how it goes.  I'll try to get the pictures started.  I feel so much bigger this time around!

I do have one crappy cellphone photo that I took at 13 weeks.  I guess I could share that.  Then maybe I'll have motivation to update with a better photo!

So, there's the belly.  I definitely need a better photo!!!

Better Late Than Never

At least that's what I'm telling myself to make me feel better!

My darling daughter, you turned 3 years old on February 22, 2014.  I really can't call you a baby anymore since there is nothing baby about you.

It was an eventful year with you being potty trained and getting weaned completely from breast feeding.  You have gained a lot of independence and love to be "helpful" around the house.  That usually translates to you sweeping piles of dust that I just swept or putting the laundry away where you think it should go.  It's the thought that counts though.

However, you are still very attached to your mommy and I am looking forward to sending you to preschool so you can have some fun away from me.

Reading is still your favorite thing to do.  You will read anything with pages, even a blank notebook!  You will have something to say for each and every page.

You have an incredible imagination and you love to pretend to be characters from your favorite shows and movies.  That usually means you are Izzie or Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates or some sort of Disney Princess.  You also assign the rest of the family roles, including your cats.

I love your stories, songs, and your imagination is amazing!  You are such a great little girl and it is a pleasure to watch you grow.  Your life is an adventure and I am glad to be along for the ride.

We had an ice cream party for your birthday and celebrated with all your aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents.  Then on your actual birthday, we went to the zoo with your best friend Jonas and his family.  Everyone had a wonderful time.

At the ice cream party. Yum!

Cupcakes at the zoo.

In a turtle shell with Mommy and buddy Jonas.

Kiss Kiss

I look forward to seeing what changes this year will bring.  I love you so very much!

MIA

I may not be cut out for this whole blogging business.  I guess only time will tell.  I don't feel too bad though, because no one actually reads my blog.

I just thought I would do a quick post since it's been about 6 months since I last posted.  I can't think of what I want to say at the moment, so instead I'll share a recent photo that I took of my cutie pie.

I can't believe how big she's gotten.  I'll try to post something with more substance soon.

Potty trained

So, I meant to write about this when I was actually going through the process, but of course that never happened!

Instead I get to say that my daughter has now been potty trained for about a month and a half.  We started April 2nd and it went very well.  She got it right away and had very few accidents.  Then by about the 5th day I believe, she wasn't having accidents anymore.

She will still occasionally have an accident, but it's rare and usually happens when she's really upset and just seems to lose all control.  In the past month, I think she's had 4 accidents and 2 of those were on the drive home from Disneyland, which is pretty good for a 2 year old who is newly potty trained!

I had no idea what I was getting myself into because I know some people have a really hard time, but she did so well!  I was just lucky with my timing I think.  She was extremely ready to do it.

Her best friend had just potty trained about 1-2 months earlier and she was extremely interested as a result.  She always wanted to sit on his potty and really seemed to want to start the whole process.  She was also very aware of her bodily functions and would ask to have her diaper changed.  Also, when she was naked, she would ask for a diaper when she needed to go.

I ended up feeling like I was holding her back from being potty trained and decided I better just go ahead and do it while she was showing such an interest.  And now I'm so glad I did.

I have to say, I don't miss changing diapers!  It used to be such a battle.  I love that she's potty trained!  Although now I'm sad that she really, really isn't a baby anymore.  And now I want another baby...

We are not ready for another one at the moment.  We are in the middle of too many major life changes, but hopefully soon everything will settle down and we can have another one. =)

Until then, I will just enjoy the one on one time I have with my toddler.  I love her more than anything. I can't believe what a big girl she is now!

I wanted a picture to go along with the potty training post, but the closest thing I could find was her painting in her panties!  So here is the artist with her wild hair, experimenting with some body painting while wearing her Cinderella panties. =)

A Very Late 2 Year Update

My sweet baby girl, we celebrated your 2nd birthday on February 22 by going to see Disney on Ice with grandma, papa, and cousin Caitlyn.  And mommy and daddy of course!  You had a lot of fun even though you weren't quite ready to sit through the whole thing.

Then the following day we celebrated with family and friends by having a ladybug themed party.  You had so much fun playing with your friends and cousins.

You received lots of nice gifts for your birthday and your favorite was a doll from your friend Alex.  You played with it the rest of the day and even took it to bed with you that night.

Daddy and I gave you a tricycle and you love to ride it.  Every time you see it downstairs, you want to ride it.

It has been another year full of joy as I watch you grow up.  You have changed so much this past year and even though I still call you my baby, you are definitely not a baby anymore.

You are such a talker, but whenever we go out, it takes you awhile to warm up.  So most people don't get to see what a chatterbox you are.

You also like to read books, sing songs, and dance.  Your favorite song to sing is twinkle twinkle little star.  I love it when you sing.  I also love it when you read books by yourself, out loud.

When we go outside, you like to collect rocks and look for bugs.  You are surprisingly good at picking up bugs without squishing them.

You love all animals and always enjoy going to Ardenwood farm to see the goats, chickens, and bunnies.  You like to pet the goats and chase the chickens.  Sometimes you even manage to pet the chickens, though mostly they are too fast for you.

You have become quite independent and want to do many things for yourself.  You like to try to dress yourself and don't want any help, even though you still need it.  You can put a skirt on all by yourself and sometimes you can get pants on by yourself too.  Though many times you end up with both legs in one pant leg!  It's ok, you're still learning.  You're pretty good at putting on your own shoes and you rarely let me pick out which ones you will wear anymore.  You are a shoe girl and you know which ones you want to wear.

You give the best hugs and kisses and are very good at making me feel better if I am sad.  One day I was upset about something and crying and you said "huggy" to ask me if I needed a hug.  I said I did need a hug, so you gave me a big hug and completely melted my heart while also cheering me up.

You are such a sweet little girl and I love you more and more every day!

Photo by JRoPhoto