In which a caja becomes a casa.

We ordered X's next car seat.

We're not using it yet--maybe some of you more experienced friends can help us out here--

we got a Britax, which we are happy about, but they are huge

(most car seats for the next stage are).

I don't think it will fit backwards in our car.

The specs on X's current car seat (which is her infant-carrier seat): goes up to 30 lbs or 30 inches, whichever comes first. She is currently neither, but almost 30 inches. She is also almost 1, and very much NOT an infant.

The specs on the Britax: backwards up to 35 lbs, or forwards from 1 year and 20 lbs on.

She's not 20 lbs yet.

This is where we run into a little bit of a dilemma.

She could very easily outgrow (lengthwise) her infant seat before she's heavy enough for the Britax (forward facing).

So, which is the lesser of the two evils? Or which would be the safer option? Keep her facing backward in the infant seat she's too long for until she weighs more than 20 lbs? OR put her forward facing in the Britax a few lbs. early?

The best part about the Britax?

It comes in a huge box.

A huge box (caja in spanish) is lots of fun for an almost one-year-old, especially when mama cuts a door and windows in it and it becomes a casa.

in and out

out and in

for an hour or so!

papa didn't fit!

mama did...kind of?

She...

gives kisses

plays

works

stands

and is a generally super-happy-almost-1-year-old!

church

Some friends (Keren and Christine) have recently posted about going to church with babies, and how difficult it is. Or can be.

I decided to jump on the bandwagon!

Probably the one and only reason we make it to church week in and week out is because I work at one and it's my job! And there have been just a couple times Ric has stayed home with the baby--but not often because we do want to be the people who raise our children in church. Wish there was a "how-to" manual for this one, we've run into our fair share of snafooos (yes, 3 o's) along the way.

Snafooo #1

We thought about being the kind of parents who keep the kid in church all the time--until she got too loud or antsy, and then take her to the nursery. First try: November. Ricardo took her to the nursery part way through the service, they played, all was well. Until the next day when I get a phone call from another mom who said her son was diagnosed with Swine Flu the night before--8 hours after playing in the church nursery with our baby. Bluh. We stayed swine flu free, fortunately. But we decided no more nursery with a small baby during the winter cold/flu months. Ric just takes her out and plays with her in the cry rooms--which, by the way, have signs that say "For Nursing Mother's Only".

Snafooo #2

Sundays are one of my longest days of the work week. When X was little and not taking a bottle very well, we had to try to top her up before the service (requiring me to leave Sunday school early), and hope she wouldn't get too tired or fussy during the service. She's never been a regular napper, so it doesn't seem to matter what times we're at church. The worst part is the turn-around to other events after the service. It never seems like enough time to change a diaper, much less nurse the baby, put her to sleep if she's tired, make her food if she's going to be awake and eat solids while we eat lunch, etc. and usually one or more of those gets forgotten. After the worship service we have a quick break for lunch and the above-mentioned baby tasks--before youth worship practice, youth basketball league, and a variety of other random meetings, events, or activities that can occur. It was a hard day to get through before having a child, now it's just insane. A good part of my Monday is cleaning and reorganizing the explosion that happens in my office every Sunday.

Snafooo #3

Separate cars. Now that X is old enough to go longer without eating, it makes it easier for me to leave early, Ric and baby come to church, we go to lunch and basketball, and then they go home, and I come home later. However, I have to have everything ready. Diaper bag, church clothes out, food packed, etc. I'm getting better at it, but I have forgotten various things over the weeks. One week I hadn't really packed enough snacks/food for the amount of time she was going to be out. Good thing we ate lunch where I could share some with her, and she's still nursing! Another time I had forgotten the nursing cover. One time I didn't have a complete set of extra clothes (I now have a few articles in a drawer in my office). And now, Ricardo is the one who gets her ready for church. I lay out her clothes, but he gets to dress her. He's been doing a great job, but not without mishap. One week, tights were on the outside of clothing. Last Sunday, shoes were on the wrong feet. He can do hair clips, but not pigtails yet. Baby steps :)

The main problem was that for awhile, we only had one car we could put the car seat in. Then we had two cars we could put the car seat in, but only one base. Then we had two cars we could put the car seat in, and two bases, but only one key to one of the cars. We just had to be really organized--so one person didn't end up with the baby and the car they didn't have the key to, 30 miles away from the person with the key and the car seat. Finally, we have two cars, two bases, two keys...just in time for her to need to graduate to the next level of car seat--back to only one car with the carseat. :)

Like I said--it would be lovely to have a manual. I liked reading friend's stories though, so perhaps they'll enjoy mine, and maybe have some other experiences to share.

We can only keep learning!

afternoon

Despite waking up with a headache leftover from all-day Thursday, the past two days have been too nice to not enjoy outside! So, today we packed up and went to the arboretum for a few hours in the park. It's almost getting to the too-hot-for-me stage, but it was only 75 degrees out. With the humidity though, after awhile in the sun I was ready for a picnic blanket in the shade!

The tulips aren't liking the sun and heat of north texas either--only the ones that were mostly in the shade were still looking strong--all the ones in the sun were a bit over-opened and starting to look either floppy or wither-y. I'm glad we made it while they were still mostly gorgeous!

Cute. But I really don't know if I should be nervous about this look?

Learning to be gentle. She only decimated one tulip all afternoon.

Crawling through acres (not really) of grass.

Rocking the shades.

The wallet chronicles

This is the story of a wallet.

This is my wallet.

This is my wallet after X gets ahold of it.

It is her favorite game, and she is certain that it is played by taking turns. My turn is putting it all back together and her turn is taking it all apart again.

So, this is my new wallet that X does not know about yet. And the new game is, we keep this wallet a secret from her as long as possible.

And this is X's wallet. It is now full of expired id cards and old gift cards and receipts. And we still play our game.

elevenses

Isn't it crazy that she'll be ONE in a month?

Some of her new tricks:

Scrunching up her face/wrinkling her nose and grinning big while she inhales/exhales really fast through her nose. The college kids at my work call it her "calia face". I must wrinkle my nose a lot!

She is lightning on all fours. Kinda lost interest in walking since she doesn't like to hold our hands and go where we want her to go when she can go somewhere else entirely, and much quicker when she's on her own. She seems to have forgotten how to crawl down the step in our house (she used to do it a lot--maybe she tumbled one too many times?), but today she climbed up onto our bed all by herself!

She has her first word: Gracias. She says it mostly with Ricardo, but also with me. It's usually when food is involved, but sometimes with other things--when we hand her something, or when she hands us something she'll repeat "graga" after we say gracias. She also says mamamamama or sometimes even mama and dadadadada or duh duh.

She eats pretty much everything still, except these weird yogurt melts that gerber makes. She'll put it in her mouth and then stick out her tongue when she realizes what it is, but they stick to her tongue! I think they taste kind of like space ice cream--that freeze dried stuff.

X has some favorites: cream cheese, (and regular cheese, and cheese flavored puffs, and quesadillas, and grilled cheese...) avocado, crackers, and anything that I happen to be eating that she thinks she wants. She's tried her first popsicle (lime juice bar), chicken, egg (scrambled yolk), and we've gone to tropical fruits--kiwi, mango, and coconut. Despite the fact that she's such a great eater, she still weighs in around 16-17 pounds.

She waves, claps, will give high fives and fist bumps, and we're working on blowing kisses. She smiles at nearly everyone and has yet to show any stranger anxiety. She had her first swim lesson last week, and her teacher commented on how NOT SHY she was about trying new things and leaving me to swim with him. I'll have to get a picture of her in her swimsuit up--too cute.

That's it for now, tomorrow is Easter, and I have to wake up at 4:30 to get to church to set up for the sunrise service. We wanted to make sure to celebrate and post the eleven months pictures though!