6 months!

6 months old and so big!

We took her cupcake shot after setting up her high chair for the first time. She didn't pay much attention to it...she was pretty tired still from our weekend, but we managed to get a few pictures.

And...yesterday she went to the dr.

Weight: 14 lbs, 7 oz (25th percentile)

Height: 25.75 inches (50th percentile)

Head Circ: 16.5 inches (35th percentile)

We have a long, lean, big-headed baby!

He said she looked great though, and we're ready to start other foods. We'll likely do rice cereal first. She is still waking up to eat in the night (trying to encourage her to skip a feeding didn't work out so well--we ended up getting even LESS sleep)! She's been a pretty good sleeper, but for the past 4 or 6 weeks she's been waking up hungry more. Since she's so active, she's burning through her calories, but the Dr. said cereal will take longer to digest, so hopefully that means = more sleep! I can't wait for her to get back to sleeping 6+ hours a stretch.

Our second option is oatmeal. It tastes better than rice, so if we start with it there might be a bigger chance she rejects rice when we want to feed it to her later. Apparently the nastiest one of all is barley--Dr. said we might not even be able to find that anymore since no one likes it! ha....

Here's her iphone picture in the Dr's office--waiting to get her shots. Not the best quality because it's a phone picture--but way too cute!

(Yes, I planned this because I liked her 4-month picture so well. I matched her bow and diaper on purpose).

She did better with her shots this time around. Tiny fever, but for the most part happy, active and playing all evening.

ninety

This is looking to be a long post...but we just got back from Santa Cruz, CA for Grandma's (now Gran-Grandma) 90th Birthday celebration. We came back with hundreds of pictures, and that's not including what we'll have once we combine Ricardo's photos with the other two photographer's pictures.

Here's a mere smattering, to give all my faithful blog readers a hint of our trip (which was wonderful and too short, by the way).

Xaris got to hang out with her uncles in the mornings

Gran-grandma's first glimpse of her only great-granddaughter!

Beougheriveraguilarodriguez girls by the beach

Being silly with Gran-grandma. X did really really well this weekend. There were so many family members there who love her, and so many new ones to meet (and of course, they love her too). She was passed around and played with constantly, and she kept responding with smiles and tongue-sticking-outing. Yesterday was our first full day back, and she was rather tired (but not napping) and cranky...I think residue from so much weekend stimulation.

Getting ready for family photos.

She's feeling pretty in her sailor dress and sailor sweater.

Don't have the professional ones yet, but you get the idea.

Of course, we HAD to do the 4 generation mother/daughter shot...within 1 year, grandma turned 90, mom 50, me 30 and X was born.

Sisters and Brothers.

Hey...when is the next Sister's day? Or is it Brother's turn?

Our family

Ricardo and I played with the camera.

He's a superhero. Really!

Having a wonderful time watching Kira run around on the beach.

Party time!

X just sat on Gran-grandma's lap and ate her shoe while everyone worked at setting up.

Notice Xaris has no name tag? That's because she found it and tried to eat it. So we made her another one and stuck it on her back. She spent the rest of the party trying to reach for mine, or anyone else's, to peel off and eat.

Gran-grandma was pretty adamant that there be 90 candles on her cake!

After the party we met Brittany and Andrew, friends from back-in-the-day. We went to the beach, where a wiped out X met the Pacific Ocean.

Enjoying Pizza with Brittany and Andrew...Xaris is wearing her monkey suit. I'll try to post a better picture of it soon!

That's all for now, it's midnight, and I'm supposed to sleep while the baby sleeps.

Marshy & Xaritas

Xaris and I met John and Debra and their son John Marshall to play in the pumpkins at the Arboretum...

I brought X's pumpkin hats to take some cute pictures (I'm kicking myself for forgetting her monkey suit...Marshall was a zebra, they would have looked so cute!)

It was rather tough to get everyone looking in the right direction for the picture though!

I think Marshy wants to eat her head...

Now it's X's turn to be interested in the pumpkin hat...

Maybe if we stick pumpkins in front of them, they'll look forward.

But not up.

Almost there...

Success?

One more...

Plenty of news tonight!

Xaris fell asleep earlier than normal today and I'm starting to drift off while I type, but...

here's one last update!

Xaris got a jumper!

She's a little short for it still, but has figured out how to turn 360 degrees to get to all the toys, and has decided that she likes this contraption.

She realized that she was doing this all by herself...and that pleased her!

So much fun!

My favorite photo.

I'm off to bed (sleep while baby sleeps). I still plan on posting some video soon--I just haven't uploaded them to the computer yet. I'll give it a try sometime soon. Have a good week and happy October!

3 Girls

Friday we got to spend the day with friends! Both Luis and Rebecca were in math conferences, so Claudia and Chiara came to play with Xaris and I all day long.

The day's events included:

Pulling ALL the toys out of the baby's room

(but not playing with them)

Grilled cheese sandwiches and grapes for lunch

(while watching a movie!)

Playtime at the Arboretum while waiting for Tio

(Ricardo) to get done with work

Back home: Coloring and painting pictures for mama

(and Xaris did one for Gramama)

Chicken nuggets, apples and carrots for dinner

(with another movie!)

Way too fun!

But I was exhausted because the previous night Xaris slept very little

(which means I was cranky all night and tired all day).

Normally she sleeps great, she has been fairly consistent from day one...but we have had a couple of rough nights here and there and unfortunately this was one such occasion.

They were angels and had so much fun with Xaris. She was a little overwhelmed at first--while they were very gentle and sweet, she was still startled by so many hands near her little face.

I don't blame them though--her cheeks are irresistible!

Cute girls in a pumpkin patch!

Picking out their pumpkins.

We ended up getting different ones. They had to carry them, and they thought the little baby pumpkins were cute, so we chose those ones instead.

Xaris watching the big girls, jealous of their mobility skills and thinking she could just jump down and run with them.

Some firsts and new tricks

It's been so long since I blogged, sorry! Life has gotten a little crazy, and I'm wondering if it will slow down anytime before the holidays are done. Still my favorite time of the year, but it does get a little nuts.

Speaking of nuts...here are a few updates in a nutshell.

First time for the toes in the mouth...at least it was after the bath so the toes are clean.

So serious...but crawling is tough work and takes concentration!

Bundled up for her first cold day experience

Finished a pumpkin hat for a little friend

First shower!

First mini-mission trip work day.

Fail

So...10 on 10 didn't work out so well. I didn't finish! I got some good shots in the morning, but the day just got away from me and I didn't finish.

Good thing November has a tenth too, so I get another shot at it.

Bundled up for a morning walk at the lake!

Good wind for some boating!

I loved this day. So gray. Perfect.

f i v e

Our darling girl is 5 months old today!

Here's her cupcake shot...

Yes, that is a spoon in her hand. No, she didn't get any cupcakes, but we've been letting her play with spoons and feeding her a little milk with a spoon so she gets used to it by the time we are ready to try cereal and other good stuff. This way, she's not learning new foods at the same time as new methods of eating.

Yes, she is sitting on her own!

Not very well, in fact, before the picture session, she toppled and bonked her head a little...not very much, but enough to make her sad for about 15 seconds. Might have just been drama...she stopped crying really quickly.

But, she is getting steadier and steadier, and refuses to lay back in her stroller most of the time now, she wants to be up and on her own.

Yes, she is in the cutest sailor dress ever--Thank you Tia Kira!

Other news, adventures, and firsts:

First time being carried in an aguallo from Bolivia. She didn't like it laying down, but maybe she would if she was sleeping. Upright she didn't seem to care too much.

Eating everything: her stroller...

Her shoe, when mama's not around. Papa thought it was cute.

Another grand adventure to the pumpkin patch with friends today!

Along with preferring sitting up to laying down, she also prefers walking to sitting.

Here we are, walking around the pumpkin patch.

Sitting again, on a Xaris-sized bench, with a Xaris-sized pumpkin.

Which...she wanted to eat.

She wanted to eat the giant ones too.

Nightly routine, walking around and around the house with daddy before bath-time, eating-time, and sleepy-time. Only way to wear her out...I'm starting to think this girl needs a jumper or exersaucer.

On monday she rolled over from back to tummy...about 5 times!! I didn't get to see it (it was during the 3 hours a week she has a babysitter while I'm in staff meeting), but her babysitter had her camera and happened to record it so I watched it later. She doesn't seem inclined to show her papa though, so we're still trying to get our own recording...

All in all...happy baby, and such a delight as she grows. She also learned one new game this week, but I have it on video, so I won't tell you what it is until I can upload it. Too cute!