Sierra's first Easter

We went to church in the morning and then had a very yummy lunch at Poppa and Abuela's new house - with Uncle Matt and Auntie Meli too. When we picked Sierra up from the church nursery they said "I'm sure she will take a good nap today!" - meaning 'your daughter cried the whole time'!!! ...and they were right - she took a very long nap while we made and ate lunch. And when she woke up, we got right to pictures and Easter baskets :) ...


our sweet little Easter bunny

digging in to her basket from the (Abuela) bunny

our chubby bunny is not very happy about her ears

but then she warmed up to them

although she still wouldn't give us a smile

playing with her new ladybug duckie (this is her half roll over - she goes a little farther than this and then back to her back...she will not roll from her back to her tummy! ...but has easily gone from tummy to back for awhile now)

mmm, yummy

"get me out of here - no more pictures!"

silly Poppa making Sierra laugh

...updating the blog

wearing one of my baby outfits and cuddling with Auntie Meli

thinking about how tasty those jelly beans look

sadly we forgot to take a big family picture and somehow Abuela and Uncle Matt escaped from the camera - well Abuela was behind it for most of these.

Spring is in the air

enjoying the beautiful weather and spending more time outdoors...and loving it :)

playing with gumball noisemakers at Chloe's bday party

taking a break in the shade

relaxing by the pool (but the water is still too cold to get in!)

playing in the front yard

at the Wildflower Center...hiking up her dress to show off those chubby legs :) (no, she's not standing on her own just yet...Poppa is hiding behind the wall helping her!)

i'll have to do a full post just on our time here since i have so many pics...more to follow...

go go Gadget arms!

Kyle and I both have long arms so I guess it was inevitable that Sierra would end up with them too. But it still amazes me how far the girl can reach! We are definitely in the stage where we have to push things to the center of the table and watch how closely we walk next to breakable things since she always has her arms extended, reaching for anything she can!

Some of her favorite things to reach/scratch/grab for are: the keys hanging on our key rack by the door, light switches, my hair, our noses, anything shiny, the thermostat, the light and fan cords that hang down...ok, the more I think about it, she loves to touch EVERYTHING! She is sooooo curious!

It's a really fun stage to watch as she explores the world around her. But she is keeping me on my toes and I'm sure will continue to do that more and more as she starts to be more mobile!

...funny story: recently we were at a restaurant with Kyle's coworkers celebrating some birthdays and Sierra was sitting in Cindy's lap. Appetizers were coming to the table left and right and with about 20 of us there it was a busy table. In a very quick (and sneaky) move, Sierra reached for the quesadillas and was squeezing her fingers in the guacamole and sour cream before anyone noticed! It was pretty funny and poor Cindy didn't get much eating done with those go go Gadget arms sitting in her lap!

that's my girl!

who can guess where we are?????

that's right...that is a tortilla from Pappasito's, my all-time favorite mexican restaurant!! she may seem young to start eating fajitas but we don't want to deprive her of the best food in the world!

don't let the face fool you - it was just bad timing with the camera...she LOVED it!!!

(no need to worry, she just did a lot of sucking, no actual eating. but she IS well on her way to being a fajita lover like her momma!)

on my tummy

she finally enjoys being on her tummy...when there's something fun to play with in front of her! when i first saw this toy it seemed so loud and busy - almost too much for me to take in...but Sierra loved it from the very beginning. it's the only thing that keeps her attention long enough to have extended tummy time! (thanks to abuela for finding it for us!) ...until she rolls over to her back...and then mommy sweeps in and rolls her back to her tummy ...over and over :)

isn't she so cute?!!!

Grandparents are great!

Sierra has the best grandparents!!! She is one blessed little girl to be loved so well from both sets of grandparents!

She got to spend time with all 4 of them this weekend :)

Abuela and Poppa on the balcony of their new house, just outside of Austin! We are so excited to have them close by! ...and look at that beautiful view!


G.G. and Capt's when they came to visit today - they drove in just for the day to see us!

an acquired taste

this is random, but for those who know me well, you know that i have never liked coffee. and you also know that my husband is a coffee lover/addict/etc. he seriously loves the stuff. coffee and cereal - his two all time favorites; and i don't like or partake in either...

...until this week. i decided after Sierra was born that i wanted to learn to like coffee. yes, learn...to teach myself to like it. i have always said that if i didn't like it, why force myself to acquire a taste for it? well, with a baby in our lives i see a very long road of early mornings ahead of me and think that coffee may help me conquer those a little better.

so my journey has started. 3 mornings this week. kyle is helping me "doctor" them with some milk, flavor and sweetness. so far so good. i actually liked it the first two days! today, not so much but i'm still experimenting with proportions.

anyway, just wanted to document this big step. kyle never thought the day would come...and neither did i (ha!).

ok, that's enough on that topic. i can't believe i just posted about coffee. who am i?!?!!

this little piggy...

Sierra has been reaching for her feet for awhile and now can not only reach them, but also grab them and put them in her mouth! It's really funny to watch and amazing how she can just fold her body like that! (especially with the size of that belly and those thighs!)

About a week ago when she first got her right foot to her mouth the first thing she did was lick her big toe...ha! It was hilarious - she just kept licking it, trying to figure out what it was. I guess she liked it enough to proceed to sucking on it :)

As soon as you lay her on her back her legs immediately go straight up into the air...and then the arms go out and grab her feet. Also when she's sitting she leans forward to grab them (remember being tested in Elementary school on how far we could stretch to touch our toes?!)...and she has recently taken interest in my toes too!

Quite a few times now when I have gone in to get her after a nap, I find her socks off...and sometimes in her mouth!

...mouth open...ready to chomp...

she is soooo fun :)

Mayfield Park

we love this park and always have. kyle and i used to go there a lot while we were dating when the weather was nice. we'd grab some coffee (and tea) and sit at the park. it's so peaceful and beautiful. the park is full of: ponds with fishies, gardens (taken care of by locals), stone structures and arches...and peacocks! they roam the grounds, hang out high in the trees and fly between the branches...oh and make their squawking sounds, kind of like a car horn - i previously had no idea that peacocks even made sounds but turns out they are very loud!

celebrating the gorgeous day and Sierra's 5th monday birthday, on saturday we took a trip to Mayfield Park. we went in the evening when she is usually a bit fussy so it was hard work to try to get smiles, but she was a trooper and we did get some cute pictures :)

surviving the chaos of...

...the church nursery!

WOW.

so today was the first time we left Sierra at the church nursery. to be honest, we haven't gone to church all that many times since she was born and when we have, we've taken her in with us in her car seat and she has napped. well, she doesn't nap so well in public anymore because she's sooo curious.

things looked so calm and wonderful as we dropped her off in the baby room - one little boy sleeping in the pack n play, one little girl playing on the mat and another napping in her car seat. the 3 volunteers were just sitting back watching, so relaxed. the room was quiet and all was well. we handed Sierra off and she didn't cry! (that in itself was an answered prayer) it couldn't have gone better.

we got through the whole class and hadn't heard from the nursery! so i guess when we showed up i expected to see the same peaceful, calm scene that we had left. oh, contraire! what we saw stopped us in our tracks and i think we just stared with dropped jaws for a good minute before even locating Sierra.

baby chaos. total chaos. one guy volunteer on a rocking chair with two screaming babies on his lap, two volunteers on the floor feeding baby food to two babies - one turned out to be holding Sierra on her lap at the same time as spoon feeding a baby sitting in front of her (and with as squirmy and grabby as Sierra is, i have NO idea how she managed to do that!), one girl walking around the room trying to put a fussy baby to sleep, one baby playing alone on the play mat, one just laying there, one sleeping in her car seat, etc, etc. all the caretakers were different than the ones who were there when we dropped Sierra off and there were probably 3 too few workers for that many babies. yes, it was chaos...but YES, Sierra survived...and seemed happy about it!

for all you nursery volunteers out there...THANK YOU! whoever you are, thank you thank you. that is not an easy job!

...upon returning home we discovered they fed Sierra the "emergency" bottle from her bag. she shouldn't have been hungry while she was there, so we're guessing she must have been crying at some point for them to have dug out the bottle and fed it to her. and knowing how much she loves food, that might explain the happy state we found her in :)

so one nap less and one bottle more, she made it out in one piece...smiling! i guess in the world of baby nurseries we call that a success :)

a follow up to the last post...


ha, she hasn't quite learned the "sneeze in your arm/elbow" technique yet...and we wonder why all 3 of us ended up sick?!

on the mend

after a week and a half of battling illness at our house (all 3 of us), i think we have finally turned the corner and are all on the mend...and we are ever more thankful for healthy days!!!

here's a picture of our sweet baby one of the nights she didn't feel well:

she was a trooper...and was sooo cute even when sick! it was sad to see her not feeling well and we are glad to have all her smiles and giggles back in full swing :)

and here's one from today...feeling better (and currently talking to herself in her crib during her "nap" as i type this):

so much to say

Sierra is experimenting every day with new sounds that she can make with her tongue and mouth - it's super cute! Although she still grunts when she is frustrated or mad, most of the grunting has now turned into happier noises! (the grunts were pretty funny, but I was beginning to get worried she may grunt her way through adolescence!!)

Last week she was into the shrieking - very very high pitched shrieking. One morning when she and Kyle were playing downstairs, I woke up to sounds that sounded like cats playing in our house!

This week the new fad is blowing rasperries and spit bubbles! It is hilarious and she can entertain herself for a long time! At the same time as she is playing with her spit (or milk) and spraying anyone who is close by, she is practicing her "agoo"s and "gee"s. It is so fun to have these coos and baby talk fill our house :)

...and I see the days of constant bib wearing in our very near future

I'll have to get some video uploaded soon - she's too cute for words :)

she loves to stare at the camera, so it's hard to get a smile when the camera comes out

she loooooooves her Daddy! again, no smile because of the camera, but I promise you that just before I pulled it out she was smiling, talking and blowing raspberries and having a blast!

4 months

Sierra turned 4 months old this week! the weeks go by so fast!

she continues to grow like a weed...only much more filled out than a weed, maybe more like a bean stalk :)

at 2 months she was 75th % in height, weight and head circum. and now at 4 months her weight has leaped up to the 90's % and her height and head circum. continue strong in the 75th!

she weighed in at 16 lbs. 10 oz. and is 24 inches long and checked out to be healthy - we are so thankful!

she still LOVES her hands and holding anything she can. she now likes to scratch things too and sadly her sweet little face has become the evidence of that new skill. she gives us lots of giggles and shrieks and is soooo close to a full laugh! she can roll half way from her back to her tummy but can't quite get over her arm. she is very squirmy and loves to kick. we continue to struggle with naps, but overall she still seems to be a happy little girl!!! we love love love her :)

we have been taking weekly pictures of her in this same chair with the same bear. i'll have to post some of the older ones so you can really see how fast she is changing and growing !

in other news, to celebrate the day, when Sierra turned 4 months we were so excited to try giving her rice cereal. with her apetite, we were sure that she'd be all about it. well...although she didn't seem to dislike it, she just couldn't figure out what to do with it! it was so funny! she just played around with it on her tongue...but never swallowed.

guess she just isn't quite ready yet...we'll try again soon!

doing laundry with mommy :)

braving the cold to go run an errand

...stumped...

ok, so I started a post in December and just finished it and when I posted it, it put it under Dec.2009 instead of Jan.2010...and I can't figure out how to move it so that it shows up when you go to the blog...I'm stumped. any ideas?

so, to see the long (with lots of pictures) post, click on the 2009 link to the right and then on December. it's titled "catching up - part 1"

here's a direct link also: http://blueteam3.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2009-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-06%3A00&updated-max=2010-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-06%3A00&max-results=26

6 years!

Kyle and I have been married 6 years to the day today!!! Happy Anniversary mi amor!

I am so blessed and honored to be married to this wonderful man!! Last night we were reflecting on our 6 years of marriage and were amazed at all that we experienced each year - the good, the fun and the challenging. It's been a great adventure. :) We have SO much to be thankful for.

So much has happened just in this last year. This time a year ago, Kyle had just started his new job at CRES, I was substitute teaching while job searching for the 3rd month in a row, we had recently moved back into our condo...and we were pregnant and didn't know it! Here we are one year later with a 4 month old precious little girl and learning how to fulfill these new roles as Mommy and Daddy!

Thanks to Capts and G.G. for coming in to watch Sierra so that we could sneak away for the night (our first time alone together since Sierra was born) to a B&B just outside of Austin. We had a GREAT time reminiscing, reflecting, relaxing, sleeping (!!!) and celebrating 6 years together. It was so weird to not have Sierra with us and sad to leave her behind, but we are thankful for the uninterrupted time to be together. (we are so fortunate to have both sets of grandparents willing to come stay a night with Sierra - my parents did 2 weeks ago when Kyle went to Philly to visit John and I went to Plano for Lauren's shower - and that we KNOW they will love on and take care of our daughter and we don't have to worry about her in their care!)

But I sure was excited to come home to that sweet smile and those chubby thighs!

oh my hands!

ok, since my catch up post is taking entirely too long to finish, i'll just start with a recent update and keep working on the catch up. i think that shorter and more frequent posts will be much easier to maintain!!

starting just before 3 months, Sierra really discovered her hands! first she would just hold one hand in the other over her chest - we think she was doing a lot of praying! it was really cute and she still does it some but not as often now that she has discovered they have other uses.

right at 3 months, she started reaching for things and touching and grabbing them intentionally - this was a fun milestone! she can grab and hold on to toys (and anything else) that hang over her or are put within reach of her hands...and of course they then go straight into her mouth! some of her favorites are: the toys on her playmat, her burp cloths (because these are easy to chew/suck on), her bottle, my hair and our hands. it is so cute that she likes to hold Kyle's and my hands...as we change a diaper, feed her a bottle, or just lay our hand on her chest :)

the last "trick" with her hands is sticking her fingers in her mouth too. her favorite is her thumb - but she puts it on the side of her mouth next to her tongue, not in the middle...it's really cute!

...and sometimes she sticks her long fingers all the way in and kind of gags herself...right after she does it, she makes this "yucky" face! but she doesn't learn, she just keeps doing it over and over...she's so funny :)

i know that milestones like these will come quickly since she is changing and developing so fast! it's been fun and makes us look forward to what lies ahead!!