Monthly Archives: December 2009

Holiday Letter

happy holidays

Hi Family & Friends,

We hope you all are enjoying every moment of this holiday season, we sure are over here! This last year has brought so many changes to our lives, and while we have embraced every one, we still have to pinch ourselves from time to time to remind ourselves that this is our life! We apologize that this letter is not coming to you in its normal fashion in your mail box, we are pretty sure someone hit the fast forward button on our lives and we have no way to slow it down. (We also figured we would jump on the ‘going green’ bandwagon and save a tree or two!). We have received so many wonderful and thoughtful holiday cards, we love getting them and hearing how everyone is doing, so we promise next year you will get one in return :)

Everyone says how quickly time flies once you begin your family and have children, I never believed them until this June. It is so incredibly hard to believe that our sweet baby girl is already six, yes, S-I-X, months old. I feel like it was just last week that we announced we would be having a baby, and just yesterday that we met our perfect angel for the first time. We are enjoying every second of being parents and having Olivia in our lives, she has been such a blessing in so many ways. If you do not follow our blog, you may not know that:

She is rolling over and has been since about 3 months

She is sitting up

Almost crawling (she has gone about 3 steps/scoots but has yet to really figure it out)

Is 13 pounds 1 ounce, and 27 inches. That’s the 8th percentile for weight and 75th for height, possibly a model on our hands?? ;)

LOVES Kobe (the dog), bath time, snuggling with mommy and daddy, and listening to music

Her favorite toys include giraffes (she has 5 of them), soft blocks, and just about anything that rattles and lights up

She spends most of her days jumping furiously in her jumperoo, napping in her swing, or scooting around on her play mat

She is eating pureed foods now, her favorites are prunes, carrots, sweet potatoes, and pears.

She has TWO TEETH!!

Has found her voice and LOVES to screech and scream to get our attention, it seriously cracks us up!

She is a huge people watcher, any where we go, she is mesmerized by people of all types, it cracks us up

Is quite the drama queen, but so full of personality, and she keeps us laughing all day long!

Aside from getting the hang of being parents, we have been busy with other things as well. I am still working as an ICU nurse here in Arizona. I love my job and am so grateful for all of my amazing friends and co-workers. I have been pursuing my photography here and there (when there is time, which is rare these days) and am hoping to build up my portfolio in 2010. I am also going to be an auntie for the first time and am soooo excited. My nephew is expected to arrive in early March and I cant wait to meet him. He and Olivia will be 9 months apart and I am so excited to watch them grow together and to have the opportunity to watch my sister become a mother.

Mike has been busy with his business, Snapbooth Entertainment. For anyone who doesn’t know, in March of this year him and his step-father opened up a photo booth rental company for weddings and other special events. After all the fun we had with the one we rented for our wedding, they had to have one for themselves. We are happy to report that his business is going awesome, with a total of 44 events completed in 2009, and 28 already on the books for 2010. It has been a huge blessing for our family and we are hoping to see huge growthfor the business in the coming years. I have to put my hubby on the spot here and say that he also has been an almost full time stay-at-home-dad. He watches our daughter for 14 hours straight, entirely by himself, and has never once complained. She is always fed, bathed, and happy when I get home from work, and there is almost always dinner on the table (bonus!). I am so SO proud of the dad that he has become, it has been so awesome to sit back and watch the beautiful relationship he and Olivia have formed with each other. I cant wait for the months and years to come!

We hope that you all are doing well, we think of you all often, and even if we don’t keep in touch as often as we should, just know that we love each and every one of you and are thinking of you this holiday season!

Bookmark our blog, I update it all the time with family stuff and photos!

all our love

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6 Month Letter

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My beautiful, sweet, loving, funny little girl,

How could this be baby? You are halfway to a YEAR?! I don’t believe it, it feels like just yesterday you were a brand new wrinkly and squishy little newborn that I held in my arms all day long. You are such a different baby now, its amazing how fast time goes!! I know I say this often, but watching you grow is so bittersweet, I love cheering you on as you reach each milestone, but each one that passes sets in the reality even more that you will grow up, and there is nothing momma can do about it. I always joke around when friends ask how you are doing, I usually start with telling them a milestone like “She has two teeth now!” and follow that with “I may as well just send her off to college!” Silly, I know, but each day that passes, makes me miss and remember the first day I spent with you.

You are so special to your daddy and I, every day we talk about how incredibly lucky we are that God chose YOU to be OUR baby, it really is a miracle. (We think he chose the most perfect baby in the world by the way).

You are so loved and spoiled by your family, they love you so much! Grandma Val and Papa Kent, Auntie Bug and Uncle Haris (lovingly named Uncle Harry which I am sure he just loves) live here in Arizona and we try to see them as much as we can with our hectic schedules. You get a real kick out of how silly Kent can be, and you love when Grandma Val sings you songs. Grandma Suzanne and your Bumpa are still in California, but we see them all the time, and you love to see them on the web-cam and hear them on the phone (although all you ever want to do is eat it). Auntie Bean and Uncle Jose are in California too, baking your baby cousin who will be here in a little over 2 months. They all will be here on Christmas morning this year to celebrate with us. (Mommy is still plotting for them all to move here to be with us, lets hope before your one year letter they live down the street!). Speaking of Christmas, it will be our first year all celebrating together and we are so excited. You have been such a sweet girl this year and I know Santa is going to bring you lots of fun things ;)

This month you are: yelling/screeching like crazy, loving eating your pureed foods (especially prunes, carrots, pears, and sweet potatoes), have learned to “buzz” your lips which you think is so funny (and it is, except when we are feeding you, makes for one HUGE mess!), starting to sleep on your tummy with your face nuzzled right into your crib bumper, any other way and you just wont sleep. Still love when momma rocks you to sleep, still up twice in the night to eat, loving picking up toys and throwing them, and you also learned to put a toy from one hand to the other (a milestone according to your pediatrician). You just love your daddy, whenever he is in the room, your eyes are glued to him with a huge smile on your face, I think we have a daddy’s girl on our hands. Kobe is just about your favorite thing in the entire world, you could just stare at him all day and especially love when he gives you kisses (when really all he is doing is looking for any food or spit up, gross), you still love the jumperoo and exersaucer, you love falling asleep to classical music (you loved that when you were in Mommy’s belly too), and love when we sing you songs. You are showing a big interest in crawling, you have scooted quite a few times and have the right technique down, I think you are just extremely determined to get to your toys that we make sure to place out of arms reach. You are starting to not like being confined, whenever we try to hold you you immediately turn the other way to see whats going on around you, I think you are very observant, especially when we are out shopping, you just love people watching! You really love toys that are bright and colorful, the more noise the better. You will hold your own bottle now, but only if I am holding you. If I prop you up with the bottle, you are flipped over and scooted 3 feet away from where I put you in about 2 seconds. The morning times are your favorite, you are so funny and playful and full of laughs, mommy and daddy really get a kick out of it. You still take about 3 naps a day. Still loving bath time, we got you a cool new bath chair and you still are unsure if you like it or not. Your hair is still long and crazy just like when you were born. I think there are some ringlets coming through, which makes momma SO happy! Lately I think your hair will be a light brown/red color, but that could always change. You are just about the best thing that has ever happened to us and we love you more and more every second!

I know that in the coming months, you are going to start really crawling, furniture cruising, talking/babbling, walking…I just want to freeze us in this moment in time, today, at 8:32 am on Wednesday December 23rd, because I love the baby that you are at this moment so much, I hate to think that you will change so much. I thank God every day for the blessings he has brought to our lives with you, we are so lucky to be the parents of such an amazing little girl.

I love you baby girl,

Momma

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Cheesy Grin

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Is my child extremely cute, or am I just biased? ;)

Lovin Miss O @ 6 months, such a fun fun age, I swear every day shes doing something new!

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Ten on Tuesday

Saw this cute idea on a blog, thought it may be a good way to quickly blog on those days and weeks that I am feeling too overwhelmed to keep up. Ten on Tuesday= 10 random things, in no particular order. Ready? Go.

1. Contemplating doing holiday cards this year, it has been such a busy and stressful couple of months, we may do a facebook/e-mail/blog holiday letter with pictures! Next year I am sending them out December 1st I swear!

2. If you have never tasted the deliciousness that is oreo truffles, you are missing out and I think you should make them immediately. I will post the 3 ingredient recipe for you, and I am sure your waistline will hate me for it ;)

3. O had prunes today for lunch, I think she really liked them, I had to hose her down afterwards I think they were covering 50% of her body

4. Getting so excited for Christmas, I gotta get a good shot of our tree this year, its soooo pretty, I did it in all gold, silver, and red. Love it!

5. Wondering how I can get out of the dentist this Friday, its my most least favorite place to be.

6. Have a pile of dishes to clean downstairs thats driving me nuts, but every time I have a second to do it, is when O is sleeping down there in her swing, bummer ;)

7. Becoming more anxious by the day about the arrival of my baby sisters baby boy, I seriously cant wait!!

8. Speaking of babies, planning a baby shower for January 30th, its gonna be so much fun

9. Irritated that none of my mobile uploads will post on facebook

10. Wondering how many gigs worth of videos and pictures I have to upload and sort from the last 2 months, I have a headache just thinking about it.

Since yesterdays post had was pictureless, here is an extra cute one to make up for it!

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2 weeks?!

How has 2 weeks gone by without a post?! I promised myself I would update this blog at least 2-3 times a week, obviously I am slacking. I have been working some overtime at work for the holidays, and between the baby, business, family, friends, etc, I guess my poor blog has been neglected. I feel like the last 2 months have gone by so fast and its not slowing down. O has been hitting some big milestones the last couple months, she has sat up a few times on her own (usually for 20 second or less), she grabs for things, pulls hair, and loves biting us. She turned 6 months on the 10th and we sang her “happy half birthday” and got pink cupcakes (sadly, she did not even have a taste, mean mommy I know), shes sitting in her high chair now, eating foods for the first time this week, although she is really unsure as to what to do. I will update more with her 6 month pictures and letter, I have taken a few and just need the time to upload them. I have attempted to take her Christmas pictures a few times, but every time her dress seems to get puked on, she throws a fit, bonks her head, wont sit still, etc. Hopefully daddy can help in that department so we can send out our holiday cards. Christmas is literally right around the corner and I feel so unprepared. I am going to start preparing in July next year I swear! Just wanted to quickly update and say we are still here, just been so so busy and trying to enjoy every second with miss O.

Hope everyone in blog land is doing well!

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