10 on 10

Nearly forgot, but here 'tis!

Asleep in the car on the way in to work

Tummy time in mama's office!

Nap time! Asleep again, this time under mama's desk.

Lunch with Mara

Knitting group...first time in a LONG time I was able to finish a project! X is modelling it for a friend of hers (who is bigger).

Home and watching the rainstorm

Making tortilla strips for soup

Dinner! Tortilla soup. Take a look at Xaris asleep with her hand on her bunny!

The mountain of clean clothes and diapers waiting for me to fold...

Done! (finally!) And yes, this was a separate hour.

Birthday, Wii's, and Labor Day

Ricardo's birthday has come and gone...he got a Nintendo Wii from Xaris and I (he also got a bi-lingual Bible...but we've played more with the Wii).

Depressing news: we got the Wii fit, and after the first analysis (height, age, weight, balance/reflex test), my "Wii-age" is....(gasp) 41.

So...it means I've got work to do. Good news is, I played with it a little today, and now I'm 40.

Maybe it's just a gimmick to get people addicted?

Here's Ricardo and his cake.

He requested a tres leches cake this year, and I've never made one before. I gave it my best effort however, and I think it turned out okay! It tasted good, it's actually a yummy flavor because it's not as sweet as most cakes. I think I would cut the amount of the liquid (the three milks) I pour over it next time though, because it was just a little soggier than I think it needs to be.

My parents were here for the weekend, and we failed to take any pictures of them with Xaris! ooooops.

They had their camera out, so I guess we'll have to steal some of their photos, and remember to be taking pictures when we see them again in another 2 weeks.

Xaris had her first lock-out with the youth!

She came (with her papa) and stayed until she was ready to do her monster-just-before-bed-feeding, and after that she was so milk-drunk I don't think she even noticed her car seat and the drive home. Papa brought her back early this morning (they had a successful night--she took a pumped bottle at about 3:30am!) and we traded cars and he left for the airport to go spend about 40 hours in Mexico while his mom has a knee surgery. I just talked with him, they are waiting to see her, but it seems the surgery went fine!

Xaris loved the lock-out. She was really active while she watched all the "big kids" play...she wanted to be out there doing everything too!

New job is going well as far as I can tell! I still feel like I'm trying to get a better knowledge of the kids, the church, the group, the program, the needs, etc...but realistically, when does that end?

Love to you all!

F O U R

Our darling girl is already four months old! Here's her cupcake shot(s)...she was too much of a clown, we couldn't stop at just one! She's got some great new faces, and her newest skill is getting her left index finger in her mouth--very consistently. Ricardo thinks this is a sign she is left handed.

Other news: she had a great time surprising her daddy with a Wii for his birthday yesterday, and has just started using her Bumbo seat (she seems to enjoy it, and gets proud of herself like she's doing it all by herself). She still cries every time we put her in the car-seat, but usually once we get going she's fine. On a few occasions she is not, and her cries turn into screams (which sound like Ma-ma), and I end up pulling over to calm her down.

Last night she slept from 11:40 to 7:10am...I'll take it! lovely!

She rolled from tummy to back for the first time on Monday, repeated it yesterday (but the other direction). We have yet to capture it on film...but she's getting close! She will "talk" to people if they maintain eye contact with her while smiling and talking, and she still loves her books. She also loves mama singing to her, and will smile nearly every time (or she'll calm down, as it is one of the tricks in my bag for when she's crying...sometimes she doesn't know whether to smile or to keep crying, and I love those conflicted faces as she goes back and forth trying to make up her mind!). Makes me wish I was a better singer.

Her 4-month well-check is not until next friday, so we won't know height/weight/percentiles etc until then, but we're excited to find out how our active girl is doing!

150+

The number of photos we took yesterday...

Xaris is 16 weeks old! What a fun girl. New faces, new sounds (she's becoming quite chatty).

She still prefers to be active, standing is better than sitting, sitting is better than laying down.

This week she's started to avoid napping...today was wonderful because she actually took a 2 hour nap! But I think that was the first one all week...a few days she really didn't nap at all, only 18 minutes once, until she finally conked out in the evening. I think I prefer her taking at least one good nap a day, just so I can accomplish a few things!

Here's a selection--some of the 150+ photos we took yesterday, while we enjoyed an afternoon at the Arboretum and then Central Market for the Hatch Chile Festival.

Chillaxed

Tummy time for our strong girl...take a look at her toned arms! HA!

Xaritas touches grass for the first time in her life

And then she promptly makes a pirate-face!

This stuff is fun!

Can you tell she's my daughter? We have the same "concentration" look...

Another of her faces...

Kisses!!

But she likes pulling off my glasses better than kisses.

Family photo

Daddy time. She looks like she's already got some attitude "Dad...you're such a nut!"

Looking at the Magnolia trees

Being a monkey

Watching the waterfall

She really wants to be able to stand on her own!

More kisses! What a wonderful day!

a little delayed...

Me, not the baby!

She seems to be advancing faster than should be possible for one so little. She prefers to be standing, not sitting or laying down, and moving every last minute that she can. Which means that mama is now slower at getting anything done, including but not limited to blog updates.

Here's her 3 month cupcake pictures. They were taken in Houston, on my parent's camera, so it was a little more complicated than normal to get them posted. But here's the cutie looking at her 3 cupcakes that she didn't get to eat!

Oooooh....

She looks like she's blowing out the candles...which aren't there.

Good practice for the future!

We're cute

In our matching tie-dye.

She's not gonna fit this onesie much longer, so I dressed us all matchy one more time today.

14 weeks old and...

Finally finished with her nursery!

The final thing to do was getting the birds up on the walls...and for some reason it just took me a long time! But I love the final result.

Baseball Game #3

We went to the Mariners game...but got stormed out. Here are a few clips of our experience!