Paulo Family Blog

Little Surfers

2011-07-11T02:02:00.000-07:00

Easter 2011

2011-04-24T21:56:00.001-07:00

This is my attempt to start catching up on this blog. haha. i have SOOOO many pics that i need to put on here since i've barely blogged since alana was born & now she's 19 months old. so, here are some pics from today...we took a bunch more pics but since we still haven't really learned how to use our "new" camera (that we got when i was pregnant w/alana) since we haven't taken advantage of the free camera classes that came with the camera...a lot of the pics we take come out blurry. so, this'll have to do for now. enjoy!!!

Happy Easter everyone!!

over a month late...

2010-10-28T20:36:00.001-07:00

so, i've been meaning to update this ol' blog for a while now. i've been jotting down alana's milestones and cute stuff she's doing for months now, so here i go getting it on here.

okay, i'll start with her stats from her 1 year dr. appt...she's 29 1/4 in. tall & almost 16 lbs. yes, i know...she's a little one. but, this last month she's been eating really good and her clothes are fitting tighter so i bet that she's closer to 17 lbs. now.

alright...now, i know i'm gonna forget some of the words she says, but here are a few off the top of my head: mama, dada, nana (banana), mema (for nema/derek's mom), papa, sissy (sounds more like yissy), jojo (our friends daughter's nickname), bird (she loves to look at the birds while we're eating outside at chipotle), mum mum (little baby snacks), ball, shoe (after i get her dressed, she looks at her closet and says "shoe", sounds more like you), dog, bubba (her dog's name), down (when she wants down....or up), bite (when she wants a bite of something we're eating), bubble, milk (as she points to my chest ;), bye, kaia & leia. oh, and cheeto (her favorite junk food...hey, we only give her the baked ones!) VIDEO coming soon.

some other stuff alana can do is dance. she LOVES to dance, ANY kind of tune she hears, she stops everything and shakes her little hips...even when the printer is printing, she finds a nice little beat to that too. haha. she knows a little sign language...she can sign "more", "please" & "done". she will give real kisses if you ask her (if she's in the mood) and she'll blow kisses, she loves to clap & wave hi & bye, she loves to stack blocks up & do that little "ah ah ah"/indian thing where she claps her mouth (does that make sense?), points to her eyes, nose, mouth, ear (sometimes), hands, feet, teeth if i ask where they are, she LOVES to go to the park and swing, she also loves taking baths SO much that when she hears the water filling up in the tub she excitedly chants "bath bath bath" & i started taking alana to a fun place called Little Gym...she loves all the stuff to play on there but her favorite is when they blow bubbles at the end of the class. oh, and 1 more adorable thing... she loves is story time i take her to once a week...she's starting to learn the hand motions to the songs. her favorite song is "Oh Mr. Sun"...she'll hold her hands over her head to symbolize a sun and point when the song says "all the little children are asking you, please come out so we can play w/you" and she really likes "5 little monkey's jumping on the bed", she always points to her head when it says, "1 fell off & bumped his head".

anyways, that's all for now...i know there's more, but i'm beyond tired and delirious. i have a few videos to post...so, check back soon!

yep...some more "1 year pics"...

2010-10-01T06:45:00.000-07:00

Alana's 1!!!

2010-09-24T23:13:00.000-07:00

more to come...

alana's 1st birthday!!!

2010-09-24T17:00:00.000-07:00

she's a natural...

2010-09-14T22:56:00.000-07:00

leia's in pre-k!

2010-09-13T22:15:00.000-07:00

my little soccer star...

2010-09-11T22:27:00.000-07:00

kaia's first day in 1st grade!

2010-09-07T15:48:00.000-07:00

here's kaia and her teacher, mrs. McCoy at back to school night last week...
and kaia next to her desk...that's right, no more tables, now they get desks!
here are all the girls & daddy this morning before the first day of school started...
playing with sis...
and here she is this morning before the first day of school started...
lining up...
check out that look on her face...so excited! :)

"pine cone-ing"...aka:looking for pine cones :)

2010-09-05T15:45:00.000-07:00

just a little glimpse of how a day at the beach with alana looks...

2010-08-31T20:25:00.000-07:00

last beach trip of the summer...

2010-08-31T20:23:00.001-07:00

there's no stopping her now...

2010-08-23T18:46:00.000-07:00

here's alana taking a few steps (11 months)...of course right after i took this video and put the camera away, she took like 10 steps! haha!! :)

alana 11 months old!

2010-08-23T16:18:00.000-07:00

i really, really, really CANNOT believe that this baby will be 1 next month! better start party planning!!!

Idyllwild, CA camping trip...

2010-08-22T15:45:00.000-07:00

last weekend we went camping with derek's parents, grandma & kim & her family. it was a lot of fun but...i've said it before and i'll say it again, i'm a 1 night camping kinda girl. i enjoy all of the activities, sleeping in a tent is nice (especially when all 3 kids actually sleep well...i guess 2 out of 3 isn't too bad) and it's nice getting away to nice fresh mountain air. i'm just always totally done by day 2...ready to get home to my shower and my big bed. so, that's what we did...met them up there saturday afternoon, stayed the night and came back sunday. the girls had a blast. here are some pics of the stuff we did up there in Idyllwild...
we went to the cute little town and walked around, got some shave ice...
alana's first time having shave ice...yep, she loved it! duh.
got a cute pic of leia checking out a monarch butterfly...
having some hot cocoa...
getting nice and dirty!
on our way to see the mama and baby horse..they ALL loved the horses, including naner's...
they loved this little 6 month old horse...darcy! so sweet.
she was very well fed by the time they were done! :)
here's kim & caleb with mama & baby horsey's...
gotta get a family pic...
they loved collecting stuff...like these huge pine cones and kaia and leia both had a big cup full of acorns... that kept 'em busy for a while :)
whoa...that's a tall tree! ;)
had to go to the pool for a bath...i mean dip before we left. haha!

thanks kim for taking this group pic...
and 1 last shot at a scenic lookout on the way back down the mountain!

it was a great weekend!

SLO...we missed ya!

2010-08-13T15:28:00.000-07:00

little "naner's"

2010-07-28T22:43:00.001-07:00

once again, my friend jessica did her thing! she took alana's 9 month pics last month and did a great job...btw, you'd never know that these were taken in our house with a white curtain draped over the back of our couch as the back drop, huh? :)

thanks again jessica...i love them!

Alana 10 months old...

2010-07-23T09:53:00.000-07:00

4th of July!

2010-07-04T14:59:00.000-07:00

Alana 9 Months

2010-06-23T13:15:00.000-07:00

oh, June...

2010-06-18T11:57:00.000-07:00

...i can barely keep up! but, now that kaia's out of school...yes, she had her last day of kindergarten yesterday! the plan is to keep up on the 'ol blog this summer.
i'll be adding more pics soon!

Balboa Beach...

2010-06-18T11:55:00.000-07:00

more to come...

go Angel's!!!

2010-06-18T11:49:00.000-07:00

more to come...

leia's 4th b-day party!

2010-06-18T11:46:00.000-07:00

buildin' bears...

more to come...

kaia's "growing God's Way" school program...

2010-05-24T12:04:00.001-07:00

last friday was kaia's school program...here is one of the video's we took.
enjoy!

trying not to get behind...

2010-05-04T22:30:00.000-07:00

okay...i know i've been really bad about blogging lately (at least typing much)...it's really starting to turn in to a picture blog & i do intend to come back when i get a chance and write more about the pics i've been posting. but, for now, enjoy the pics from alana's 7th month...
no...she's not really standing (i kinda helped her into this position)...but she is starting to pull herself up a little bit!

also, we introduced the sippy cup a couple of weeks ago...just for fun. :)
she's learning to like her jumper & is actually jumping in it now...

army crawling around the house like crazy...and very close to "real crawling" (gets up like she's gonna crawl & then when she starts to move, she plops back down onto her tummy and starts scooting around)...
once again...i helped her do this for a cute pic...but she looked so proud of herself!
just a couple pics while she was playing in her room...

she's also become fond of her bottle (it's still so weird to see my baby drinking a bottle...that's a first). i'm still pumping as well as nursing to get my milk supply up a little more...and as you can see she likes to hold it herself while i get her dressed or change her diaper :)

just relaxing on the hammock in this beautiful spring weather!

smart girl...

2010-04-25T16:05:00.001-07:00

she's a Paulo...

2010-04-25T15:14:00.000-07:00

she loves watermelon!!! :)

alana 7 months

2010-04-22T17:01:00.003-07:00

i can't believe tomorrow she'll be 7 months old already!

Spring Break & other fun stuff...

2010-04-22T17:01:00.001-07:00

we had a fun week during Spring Break...
me & the girls transformed their room from white to lavender...

the girls got their hair cut...

and, we went to Morongo for a couple days of sun and swimming...

it was all a lot of fun!

Easter 2010

2010-04-06T22:53:00.000-07:00

leia's Easter parade

2010-04-06T22:46:00.000-07:00

the latest...

2010-03-31T22:29:00.000-07:00

alana started sitting up on her own...it's so cute, if she starts to lean a little too far to one side, she'll just put her nand down & catch herself (most of the time :)....good job baby.
oh, and we've moved on to feeding her carrots...which was kinda fun for her yesterday (the 1st day) & now, not only is she not wanting them anymore...she doesn't want rice cereal anymore after the first couple of "bites". it was stressing me out so i looked up what you're supposed to do when your baby doesn't want to eat from a spoon and it said to just be consistent and keep trying every day & they'll eventually "get it". the fact that she's teething doesn't help matters either. i think i might try something one website said to do & feed her using my finger as the spoon. so, that's gonna be my strategy for tomorrow. ugggghhhh, i wish we could just skip straight to bananas! ha. wish us luck!
oh yeah...this was her after attempting to feed her for about 10-15 minutes....if you can call trying everything to get her to open her mouth & then watch it drip down her chin onto her bib, feeding. i finally just put some on the spoon & gave it to her to see what happened. probably not the best "mom of the year" moment. :) hey, she thought it was fun.

green thumbs, i hope.

2010-03-29T23:07:00.000-07:00

after 2 days of prep work for our garden...it's finally done!

(just ignore me in that pic...i was as tried as i looked). heh.

ta da!

back at it...

2010-03-29T23:05:00.000-07:00

dance class, that is...i can't believe it's been almost a year!

alana's 6 month update (6 days late)...

2010-03-29T22:40:00.000-07:00

baby nana, you're officially 1/2 way to being 1 year old...and now i know exactly what the phrase "not enough hours is the day" means! the days go by so fast and i can barely keep up. you had your 6 month appt. last week and here are your stats: you're about 25 inches tall (about 25%-30%) and you're only 12.5 lbs (1%). i felt so bad when we left the hospital...i felt like i've been starving you. i mean, you eat very often throughout the day...just not for a long time each time you eat. you just like to snack & your weight shows it. so, we're going back in 1 month to get weighed and in the mean time, i borrowed auntie kimmy's breast pump to help increase my milk supply & so that i can keep track of how much your getting. you're still nursing the ol' fashioned way, which you WAY prefer, but i think you think drinking from a bottle is kinda fun. OH, and the girls think it's fun cuz they got to hold you and feed you the other night...daddy too. you also started eating rice cereal (which i add "boob milk" to) and you're starting to like that more every day...you just need to practice opening your mouth and not look down while i feed you so that i can get more inside your mouth and less on your face & chest. you're pretty good for a beginner though. :) something else i noticed you doing the other day is pouting your lips out...and i remembered your sisters doing that when they were getting a tooth, so i looked in your mouth to see that you're getting your 1st tooth (bottom right). let's see, what else have you been up too...oh yeah, you're sitting up with a little help from your boppy pillow & when i put you down for tummy time last week, you started pushing up on your hands and off your knees (that's hard to describe...i'll have to get a pic). also, you're really into your toys now. every day your personality gets cuter and cuter and you smile SO much...you melt my heart. please stop growing up so fast...i really can't believe you're 6 months old already. we love you so much, my love.

what a day!

2010-03-23T22:08:00.000-07:00

our day started off taking the girls to school... leia and i dropped kaia off and then headed to her pre-school where they had snow blown into the sandbox (like they do every year around this time) & then as if that wasn't enough excitement, we found out that the chicken eggs in her classroom hatched early this morning...so, she got to see some newborn chicks. so cute! leia's SUCH an animal lover that, i'm not kidding, she could have stood next to that cage the chicks were in & watched them all day. her teacher told them that they might be able to hold them on thursday. she's gonna be in 7th heaven!
here's leia standing by the snow...the weather's been so nice here, the snow's probably not gonna last long!
and here's leia next to those adorable babies...
then, we got the call from the escrow company telling us that our closing escrow papers are ready to sign...so we got kaia out of school a little early and all 5 of us drove down to temecula to sign the papers...that was an experience! ha! :) so, we're almost at the end of this almost 10 month long house buying process! we should officially close on the house by thursday & the best part is...we don't have to move since we're buying the house we've been renting for the last 1 1/2 years. hey, when we moved into this house i told derek we're never moving again...i didn't think that was true though! well, i'm sure this won't be the last house we ever live in, but we won't be moving for a LONG time! whew!

ahhhh....food.

2010-03-23T10:12:00.001-07:00

yep...alana's 6 months old today & she officially tried rice cereal for the first time. i have to say, it went better than expected...she actually seemed to like it a little.
p.s.~a video's coming soon! :)

Dedication day

2010-03-22T10:21:00.000-07:00

alana had family dedication day at church yesterday, here are some pics from the day...

as you can see, alana was way more interested in the fountain than attempting to get a family pic! :)

lately...

2010-03-16T19:53:00.000-07:00

i've been an awful blogger lately. life is going faster than i can keep up with & this time change really makes the last couple of days seem to fly by! just thought i'd post a few quick pics before march is over. i can't believe it's spring!
alana...almost 6 months old...

tooth fairy time...

2010-02-26T21:23:00.000-08:00

after many dramatic tears and weeks of worrying about her tooth being loose, kaia's tooth finally fell out today as she was eating Chipotle (how appropriate! :) haha. in fact, she almost swallowed it...after a few seconds of sifting through 1/2 chewed up rice and black beans (sorry, TMI), i found it. now, it's safe and sound in the little pocket on the tooth fairy pillow case i made a few weeks ago. now, i hope the tooth fairy can stay awake until she falls asleep...it's been a long day! i love you, kaia and your new adorable smile.
xoxoxox

alana-5 months...

2010-02-23T16:43:00.000-08:00

...and her new favorite thing to do...grabbing her toes! :)

she's funny.

2010-02-18T14:40:00.000-08:00

when i picked leia up from pre-school today, i asked her teacher how she did with the glasses (it was her first day wearing them to school) & she said, "fine...one of the kids asked her why she was wearing glasses...and she said, 'because i can't take them off". well, that's 1 reason. : )

"i can see...."

2010-02-16T14:43:00.000-08:00

well, we picked up leia's glasses (her "back up pair"...her really cute ones won't be ready for a few more weeks) & she put them on and says, "i can see the wall"...then we went to Costco & she says, "i can see the fans" (way up high on the ceiling)...on & on she went. poor girl, the dr. said she's probably never seen totally clearly so i am SOOO excited for her new vision. but, more importantly, i'm so thankful that her pre-school caught the fact that she was having vision issues so that we can help her "weak eye" to correct itself (actually with Amblyopia, it's training her brain to learn how to make her eye work correctly). okay, well...here's my little doll right after she put on her new glasses seeing clearly. so sweet!

just for fun...

2010-02-16T14:41:00.000-08:00

almost 5 months!!!

Valentine's Day parties...

2010-02-16T14:37:00.000-08:00

kaia & leia had their classroom valentine's parties last week...
i love my little Valentine's.

SNOW...a love/hate relationship!

2010-02-08T22:29:00.001-08:00

this weekend we went took the kids up to the snow...our friends sally & emme came with us. it was pretty funny...on the way, the kids were SO excited! they were all chanting "snow, snow, snow!" at first we tried to go where we went sledding last year (Yucaipa) and there was NO snow in the sledding area so we drove up the mountain toward Big Bear to a place called Forest Falls and there was a TON of snow but not a great sledding area. "oh well", we thought, this'll work. so, we got out and found a little spot where we kinda made a little hill to sled down & everyone was having a great time until the COLD set in. oh yeah, and did i mention that kaia and leia didn't have snow pants on...just regular ol' sweats (the snow pants i had for them didn't fit...oops). to make a long, dramatic story short...we didn't stay too long, just long enough to sled a little, have a few "my leg is stuck in the snow" moments (yes, some areas were THAT deep!), and some" i don't wanna wear my gloves 'cuz a little bit of snow got in it"...and then having freezing hand" moments. yeah...all 3 girls cried before the day was over...but the day wouldn't really be complete without tears, now...would it? ha. ;) as we drove off to come home, kaia said something like "i don't like the snow!" hmmmmm, do you think she'll forget that by next year? probably.

that night before they went to bed, i asked leia, "did you have fun in the snow?" and she says, "yeah, but not the "cold-en-ess" a new word she made up. so cute.

yummy hearts.

2010-02-04T18:11:00.001-08:00

with auntie "lettuce" a.k.a. Gladys...

takin' a hike...

2010-02-04T18:08:00.000-08:00

last weekend we went to this wilderness park right by our house to go on a hike...i can't believe it was the 1st time we'd gone there...the girls LOVED it!

alana was kinda sick...poor baby :(

we'll be back soon...

Nana

2010-01-27T02:01:00.000-08:00

alana had her 4 month dr. appt. today & here's the latest: she got 3 more shots :( & a rotavirus liquid in the mouth thing). she weight 11 lbs. 2.4 oz (-5%)... 23 3/4 in. tall (25%) and her head circ. came in at 40.6 cm. (i thought the dr. said that was 50%, but i think i heard wrong because i think it's like the 95%) anyways...if so, her brain's growing nicely :).
i'll write more when it's not 2 in the a.m. goodnight.

sisters

2010-01-27T01:58:00.001-08:00

Alana's 4 months...

2010-01-23T08:21:00.000-08:00

Well, it's Alana's 4 month "birthday" today & her gift to us was letting us finally get her laughing on video last night. all i was doing was wiping her neck off where she drooled and "giggle, giggle, giggle"...just then i looked up & derek was walking past the room so i asked him to get the camera and we captured the moment for a second (before her hick-ups started). anyways, at least the first few seconds you can hear it. so cute.
p.s.~please excuse my annoying-baby talk-ridiculous attempts at making her laugh.

catchin' up...

2010-01-21T13:41:00.000-08:00

wow...i've been slacking on this bloggin' thing! so here are a few pics from the last week or so...
if you're one of my face book friends, you probably already saw this pic...but i think it's so cute that i had to put it on here too. yes, alana started sucking her thumb a few days ago...we'll see if it lasts :).
and, she (like her sisters) is quite the fan on the t.v. i think she was watching Baby Einstein's here (i'm gonna ignore that "recall" too, sam) haha.
all that t.v. watching wore her out...
just a cute pic og the big sis's...
kaia had her first Kindergarten fieldtrip...loved it!

and, a quick pic before school today...see the rain, we've had A LOT of it lately!

just cuz...

2010-01-11T22:10:00.000-08:00

i feel like i've been slackin' so here are just a few random pics from the last week or so...
alana's becoming quite the expert at doing tummy time...she can push herself up (kinda) longer & longer every time she does it...and she's becoming quite the drooler (as you can see in the pic above)! :) also, she's been able to roll from her tummy to back for a while now too.
you can already tell that she loves her sisters SO much & smiles at them like crazy...
she loves doing "super baby!"
she laughed her first "real" laugh last week...i tried to get it on video, but of course she stopped by the time i got the camera going :(
her big sister's are so good to her.
attempting to sit up...kinda.
leia & i got to play out back together the other day while kaia was at school & alana was inside napping (in her swing, of course...still hasn't mastered her crib). they love rainbows!

daddy's at it again...

2010-01-05T21:27:00.000-08:00

not even 3 1/2 months old & she's already doing her "balancing act".

"look mom, no training wheels"

2010-01-04T07:47:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T01:58:00.000-08:00

our new years eve was very mellow...we spent it thrift shopping, going to the beach (very briefly since it was SO cold) & eating Filippi's pizza on the way home. and, i'll admit it, i fell asleep before midnight for the first time ever (hey, 3 kids'll do that to ya!) but, as you can see, it's 2 a.m. & i'm up again...
can you tell by the look on alana's face that it was cold & windy...poor baby. :)
i thought it was so funny how you could see me in derek's sunglasses...haha.
alana's first "feet in the sand" pic!

such a big kid

2010-01-01T01:55:00.001-08:00

here's alana in her new little jumper/play/exersaucer thingy. she's starting to play a little...or, at least smile at all the little animals "looking at her". i can't believe she's a little over 3 months now!

our December.

2009-12-27T18:55:00.001-08:00

Christmas 2009

2009-12-27T13:26:00.001-08:00

a Christmas video is coming soon!!!

my little helpers in the kitchen...

2009-12-27T13:19:00.000-08:00

a little behind...

2009-12-26T21:52:00.000-08:00

just wanted to post this pic of us from our texas trip from last month. thanks dad & debbie!

almost got it...

2009-12-21T20:53:00.000-08:00

a pic of all 3 girls smiling, that is. close, but i wouldn't really call what leia's doing smiling. :)

Lake Arrowhead

2009-12-21T20:47:00.000-08:00

follow the leader

2009-12-21T20:37:00.001-08:00

this was at kaia's kindergarten Christmas parade...as you will see, leia participated too:)

some "winter" fun...

2009-12-16T19:27:00.000-08:00

here we are downtown...

my little singer...

2009-12-16T19:19:00.001-08:00

here are daddy and little sis watching leia at her pre-school Christmas program...such a supportive sister :)
see her in the front in the black & white...
not the best pic, but hey...we had to take one in her classroom.
here's leia holding the gift she made for us...she's so cute, she tells me, "mama, you can't open it 'til Christmas, it's a surprise". she worked so hard making whatever's in there. ahhhh.

Leia's Christmas program

2009-12-16T14:20:00.000-08:00

i know, i'm way behind.

2009-12-10T22:24:00.000-08:00

i finally got a facebook page (or whatever it's called...see, i don't even know the facebook "lingo" yet :) j/k. anyways, that's why i haven't been blogging much...i've been trying to wrap my mind around the idea of the fact that i'm a face-booker now. now i see how people can waste hours on facebook...time flies when you're on there! i'm gonna have to set time limits for myself or something. that's partly why it took me so long to do it, i didn't want one more "time waster" for myself. anyways, the "newness" is wearing off now, so i think i'll be okay. anyways, i still don't really know the difference between 1. writing on someone's wall, 2. leaving a private comment and 3. doing a regular "post" (i guess that's what you call it). so, if i write to any of you facebookers and do it wrong, sorry. come visit me on there if you want a new face book pal. :)

just 'cuz she's cute...

2009-12-10T22:18:00.000-08:00

i LOVE how easy it is to get her to smile...she has such a fun personality!

she's growing up.

2009-12-10T22:00:00.000-08:00

well, here's leia's first official pre-school picture. i wish i woulda known that the background was gonna be a pumpkin/fall theme 'cuz i wouldn't have dressed her in pastels. oh well, i think it's still pretty cute. look how proud of herself she looks! :)

until we meet again...

2009-12-05T20:09:00.001-08:00

well, the time has come...our d-land passes expire in a few days, so we went one last time yesterday. i'm sure we'll renew our passes again, but i think we'll wait until the baby's 1 or so. i have to say, it was a great "grand finale" the girls went on a lot of rides (which doesn't always happen when the lines are too long) & leia went on the Matterhorn for the first time. she was SO proud of herself...she kept saying, "can you believe i'm tall enough?!" we didn't realize that you only have to be 35" tall, we thought it was 40". she's been tall enough for a while. oops, at least we realized that yesterday before the passes expire. she LOVED it! and, the baby had her 1st Santa pic (ans Mrs. Clause pic :).
enjoy the pics...

let the decorating begin...

2009-11-30T19:01:00.001-08:00

we got our tree this weekend and the whole "tree picking out" experience was a little different this year...good "ol target was where we got it & for 19 bucks! yeah, it's a little "charlie brown tree-ish", but, hey...the kids could care less. :)
and...i embroidered alana's name on her stocking, i remember thinking last year if i'd get to be sewing another baby's name on a new stocking this year. ;)
here are all 5...
my little decorators...

as you can see... once again, alana's not thrilled with the idea of a pic! one of these days we'll get one of all 3 girls smiling (or not crying or AT LEAST looking). haha.
ta da...
hey, 2 out of 3 smiling isn't bad...especially when one of the one's smiling is a 2 month old!
let the Christmas season begin...

We're thankful.

2009-11-28T08:13:00.000-08:00

our first Thanksgiving as a family of 5...and, i'm just SO thankful for them.
(isn't it cute the way alana and leia are lookin' at eachother :).

2 months old (and 5 days)...

2009-11-28T08:05:00.000-08:00

alana had her 2 month well baby appt. yesterday and she's doing great. here are her "stats":
weight: 9 lbs. 7 oz. (13 th %) ... she was 5 lbs. 12 oz. at birth
height: 22 inches tall (31st %) ... 19" at birth
and, poor baby, she had 3 shots! i cried...she really cried...not fun. you'd think i'd be a little tougher by now, huh?

Texas.

2009-11-25T11:44:00.000-08:00

okay, i'm finally getting around to blogging...i forgot how much work it is traveling (or maybe it's just that we have 3 kids now OR maybe it was the fact that we drove...anyways). yes, we drove to texas and back last week (about a total of 45+ hours in the car with all the stops for food, gas, potty breaks...mostly for me & nursing). oh, and thank you bennett's for the portable dvd player...i DON'T know what we woulda' done without that. i think the girls watched at least 15 movies on the trip...isn't that awful! oh well, the next time you're on a 45 hour trip...i bet you'd let your kids do that too! :) anyways, it was worth the LONG drive...it was SO good seeing so much family that we haven't seen in years and having alana meet everyone. enjoy the pics...
as you can see, alana's really smiling a lot now....
2 months old!
here's my dad (texas papa) & his bride debbie :)

here's alana with her uncle matthew (my brother who i haven't seen since i was pregnant with kaia).
kaia helping papa pick his tomatoes. so cute.
here's alana with uncle mikey (my younger bro) and auntie elaine...
at the "luau" rehearsal dinner...you can tell that alana was SO excited! haha.
here are girls after they got caught with their hand in the chocolate fountain (at least leia's was)
here they are getting their hair & nails done before papa's wedding...
here's daddy throwing leia up in the sky again...
cousins...
the flower girls...
kaia & leia were 2 of the 5 flower girls in the wedding & it was so funny...leia kinda forgot to walk as she threw the petals down. she stood in one place at the front of the "aisle" and carefully took 1 petal out at a time & concentrated SO hard as she perfectly threw 1 to the right and then 1 to the left standing in one place. she got a lot of laughs.

here are papa & debbie newly married.

there's always room for cake!
i don;t know how, but alana slept mpst of the night even though it was very loud.

this was the next morning...i guess they were wiped out! :)
here's alana and texas grammy...
cousin nicole...10 months old and walking!
here we are at Chewy's for michelle's b-day dinner...Happy Birthday Michelle!

it was great seeing all of our "texas family"...i wish we coulda' stayed longer. love you all!

silly songs make her smile.

2009-11-17T08:05:00.000-08:00

derek and kaia are singing, "Littlest Girl" (a song derek made up) to alana...and, as you can see, she loves it.

she's 6 !!!

2009-11-15T22:29:00.000-08:00

my first baby turned 6 today...i can't believe it. she's my "artsy girl", constantly coloring, drawing or painting. she's always drawing pictures to give people as gifts, she's so sweet. anyways, since she's so crafty, we thought a Color-Me-Mine party would be perfect. it was great! here are a few pics from the day...
the birthday girl...

and then, sunday was her actual birthday, so papa and nema made lunch for everyone and we had another b-day celebration...

here's kaia as she opened the gift from auntie kimmy, uncle john & cousin caleb...she's been telling kimmy that she wanted a cross necklace and can you guess what it was? :)

happy birthday, my love!

2 hours!

2009-11-12T17:28:00.000-08:00

alana took her first "real" nap in her crib today...once before she slept in there for about 20 minutes or so, but today she napped for 2 hours. i think the fact that both girls were at school had a lot to do with it...haha. oh, and her lullaby c.d. that nema got her that played in the background helped too, i'm sure. :)
anyways, i've been a bad blogger lately...things have been kinda busy. kaia's very small birthday party is this weekend, i had a light case of mastitis a couple of days ago...not fun, but the baby nursed a lot on that side and helped me get rid of that before it got real bad, and we're getting ready to leave for texas in a few days. anyways, that's what we're up to...i'll post pics from kaia's party this weekend...
until then...here's the pic from alana's nap today.

6 weeks old...

2009-11-04T12:01:00.000-08:00

round 2:

2009-10-31T23:15:00.001-07:00

well, we took the girls "real" trick-or-treating tonight in our old neighborhood and it was PACKED with kids. i know some of you aren't gonna believe this, but it was their first time doing the door-to-door thing, we've always just done the trunk-or-treating. it was fun, but there were a few scary houses that the girls weren't crazy about going to the door...you know, the 2 headed men with flash lights leading them to the doorway on 1 house, etc. i don't blame 'em...if i was a kid, i doubt i woulda' ran up to that door either. :) kinda creepy.
anyways...leia was still princess leia and (as you can see), kaia had a wardrobe change...she wanted to be wonder woman (her costume from last year)...

alana wasn't having a great night...look at the silly little face she's making, that was in between "i wanna go home" cries. thank you for being a good sport, baby!

round 1:

2009-10-31T12:58:00.001-07:00

because of this "2 night halloween" thing (kinda), we went trunk-or-treating last night & we'll be going trick-or-treating tonight. as you can see, leia was over the "puppy costume" so, we threw together this princess leia costume a couple of hours before we went out. very appropriate for her name, huh? :) and kaia was "kitty kaia" & alana was her little pea-in-the-pod baby VERY briefly...she was not lovin' her costume :)

poor baby...

can you see derek hiding behind alana...it looks SO real huh? haha.

leia's costume parade...

2009-10-29T18:09:00.000-07:00

leia had her halloween costume parade at her pre-school today...it's still so weird not having kaia there. leia loves the fact that this is her school now. so cute. anyways...leia was a puppy (whick i tried to talk her out of being, because the costume was WAY too small, you can't tell in these pics, but the "ankle" part stopped right below her knees :). but, there was NO talking her out of it...but now i think she changed her mind because during the parade she kept yelling, "mom, i wanna be ariel!" it was kinda funny but...ahhhhhh. i wish i woulda known this earlier. haha. so, i'm gonna try to "throw together" my version of ariel with costumes we already have for halloween...we'll see if she goes for it. hmmm.

baby alana was there supporting her big sis (almost 5 weeks old)!

"tiny little sister"

2009-10-29T18:07:00.000-07:00

that's what leia calls alana...tiny little sister. she LOVES holding her! kaia too!

1 month old

2009-10-23T11:15:00.000-07:00

wow...1 month already! that was the fastest month EVER!
this month has been interesting...learning to divide time between 3 kids is a challenge. kaia and leia are great big sisters, they want to hold & touch her constantly (especially leia...and she's turned into this "little mama", you should hear the voice she makes when she talks to alana. SO cute!). at the same time, all the "help" makes for not much quiet around here. i feel like poor alana's constantly getting woken up. hey, you pay a price for big sisters helping out. :) ha.
anyways...i can't believe how much alana changes every day. i know this shouldn't be a shock to me since she's our 3rd baby, but it still is.
anyways...happy "1 month b-day" baby!

Rainbow family night...

2009-10-21T09:12:00.000-07:00

it's been WAY too long since we've done family night, like months...and the girls have missed it & have been asking if we can do family night lately. i have had NO creativity lately, but we pulled together a family night last night and it was great! very simple, but one of the smoothest, non-drama family nights we've had.
they're very into drawing rainbows lately...especially kaia, so we had "rainbow family night"...
we made "rainbow rice krispie treats"...you can't tell, but they're the rainbow marsh mellows.
alana helped too :)
ta da!
then we did a rainbow experiment...
with food coloring...
both girls did 3 colors (kaia mixed red and yellow to make orange)
and leia mixed red and blue to make purple...
then, they made their rainbow crafts...
dinner had nothing to do with rainbows, they just love making their own pizza's...
and, the rainbow fruit salad!

Tom's Farm

2009-10-19T10:30:00.000-07:00

we went our to Tom's Farms on saturday after kaia's soccer game with papa & nema. it was fun but SO hot...what happened to the fall-like weather i was so happy about?
anyways...the girls got to feed the adorable baby pigs, and baby goats in the petting area & they got to ride a pony and go on a little train ride...
check out alana's smile...i guess she heard daddy say "cheese" haha.

i guess alana was having fun too :)
alana's first train ride...and as you can see, she was thrilled...

sorry baby...i didn't know there was gonna be a "western shoot-out" during the ride, that was pretty loud!
yeah, and i'm doing a great job at keeping the sun out of her eyes...poor girl.

pick a punkin...

2009-10-16T20:56:00.000-07:00

leia's pre-school had "pick-a-pumpkin" day yesterday & leia was SO proud of the pumpkin she chose. it is a pretty perfect pumpkin. she's so funny...me, alana and leia were out doing errands today and leia saw a pumpkin that looked similar to her & she yells, "MAMA, that's my pumpkin!!!" she was SURE that somehow her pumpkin had gotten "pumpkin-napped".
i had to convince her that it's one that just looks a lot like hers...too bad all small, round, orange pumpkins look alike.
haha.

so practical...

2009-10-15T10:34:00.000-07:00

AND adorable. so adorable that it took me 3 weeks to bring myself to take it apart and actually put it to use (well, at least wash it so when she grows into it, she can wear it).
my dad sends us a bouquet of flowers every time we have a baby, which i LOVE, but they eventually die. :( so, this time, he (and his fiance, debbie) sent us this adorable clothing bouquet called Baby Bunch. as you can see it has stuff for babies to wear. i just had to blog about this...it's SUCH a smart idea. and, i'm really into practical gifts, so it was perfect! thanks guys!

so snuggly...

2009-10-15T09:47:00.000-07:00

this pic was taken a few days ago...i just love how snuggly alana is.
sidenote: also, i had to brag about her 2 week appt. last week. the dr.'s say that by 2 weeks old they like to see babies back up to their birth weight at least & alana had already gained 1 pound-2 oz. and grew 1 more inch (actually, her appt. was 2 days past her "2 week b-day", but still...not bad, huh!?
i guess i have some good milk!

i'm cheap.

2009-10-14T22:08:00.000-07:00

i went to the mall today and didn't spend 1 penny. first i stopped by Victoria Secret to get my free pair of undies (thanks heather for the scoop) & then we took alana to picture people to get her halloween pic taken (with a coupon for a free picture)...i woulda' paid for more pictures if they came out cute, but none came out very cute. this was the best one...hey, i can't complain when it's free. ;) haha. oh, i almost forgot...we even stopped to get a free sample at cinnabon.
i love free stuff!

comment of the day #20:

2009-10-14T09:00:00.000-07:00

it doesn't rain here much & yesterday we were driving in the car with the girls and it started sprinkling & leia says, "what's that stuff on the window?" that, my dear, would be what we call rain. :)

starting young...

2009-10-08T22:25:00.000-07:00

i know alana's barely 2 weeks old, but we thought today would be a good day to take the girls to disneyland. our passes run out in a couple of months, so we wanted to get at least a couple more uses out of them before then. we got kaia out of school a couple of hours early today & off we went. i think she liked it, she slept most of the time except for when we were on the carousel, i think she liked that one. :) either that, or she was thinking, "what are my parents doing to me?" here are a few pics from today...
first, she "met" mickey...

then, here she is on the carousel...no, she didn't sit on the horse during the ride, just after it stopped for a pic.

also, we went to watch the Aladdin musical...i guess she liked it, she slept/nursed through the whole show. hey, works for me!

belly button

2009-10-08T22:21:00.000-07:00

i took this yesterday on alana's "2 week birthday"...also, the day her umbilical cord fell off.
can you tell she had just eaten? look at that full little belly. ;)

alana's first photo shoot...

2009-10-06T01:28:00.001-07:00

my friend, jessica...the one who took my maternity pics a few months ago, came over last week to take alana's 1 week old pictures and some family pics & i don't know how she does it. she manages to get SO many great pics, even st times when it doesn't seem like a "kodak moment". does that make any sense? i just mean that she really has a great "eye" for getting great pictures.
anyways, check out a few i got off of her blog (and there are a bunch more to see there) & new photography website!

LOVE.

the fall is finally here...

2009-10-05T02:05:00.000-07:00

the weather is finally starting to cool off...it's SO nice!

anyways, we went on our first "real" family outing yesterday as a family of 5 (actually a family of 7 since papa & nema came with us)...our annual trip to the pumpkin patch.

the horses were a hit...leia was finally old enough to go on the "trotting" horses this year. she loved it, but she looked like a bobble-head. so cute! :)

thanks papa, nema for the cotton candy!

this is how me & alana looked for most of the day...i'm SO glad that she loves her sling! so cuddly!

me & my girls. love 'em.

cheeks.

2009-10-02T09:50:00.001-07:00

i love that alana's face is filling out a little, my milk must be working. :)

1 week old.

2009-09-30T23:56:00.001-07:00

coming soon...

more family pics...

2009-09-30T23:55:00.000-07:00

alana met great grandma grace for the first time a few nights ago...
and our dog, bubba, that i'm sure she'll love as much as her sisters do!
and, papa and nema...
alana...here are just a few more people in your family who love you A LOT!