California; May 2011

Over Memorial Day weekend we took a family trip to California. We stayed in a "fancy hotel" as the kids like to say in Newport Beach. It was a great time and a much needed change of pace for us.
The first day, we went to Huntington Beach. We got there about lunch time so we decided to walk down the pier and eat at Ruby's before we pulled out all of our beach gear. We spent the entire day at the beach. The kids loved playing in the sand and in the water and did not want to leave.

Later that evening, we noticed our brakes making some strange noises so we decided to take the van into a dealership to be checked the next day. Luckily, our brakes were fine, but it took the entire day for them to get to our van so we ended up at a fun shopping center where we ate at Cheesecake Factory and let the kids play on the fake grass. Once we finally got our van back, we decided to head back to the hotel and take a rest then let the kids go swimming in the pool.
The next day we planned to go to the beach. It was quite windy and chilly so we played at the beach play ground and explored Balboa for a while then we put the kids in the car for a nap and drove down the PCH. We love seeing all the different beaches and towns.
On Monday we decided we would take the kids to Disneyland. It ended up being SO MUCH FUN! We had no expectations so we just took some advice from friends who have been there multiple times and did as much as we could without feeling pressure to get to every ride or land. All the kids enjoyed the rides and the sights, but I think the highlight for Allie and AJ was meeting the characters. I would have never guessed they would have liked that part so much, but they really did and wanted to stand in line for each one we saw.
On our last day there we had a late breakfast and then went out on a boat to do some whale watching. This ended up being a little bit too much for the kids. It was cold and we were all tired. We didn't see anything the entire time and then finally we came across a huge group of dolphins. The guides said there were at least 500 to 700 of them. It was way neat to see so many dolphins jumping all around us, but it was too late to really be exciting to the kids.
All in all, we had a great time. We are lucky to have a fun loving patient daddy who loves to go on adventures and make memories with our family!!

Anna at 11-Months

Anna is 11-months old today! The changes in Anna this month have been so dramatic to me. I look at her face and I can see her changing. When I see her laying in her crib, I can't believe how big she looks. Her personality is coming out more and more. She is one funny, beautiful and lovable baby. This is what has happened in the past month:
1. First and foremost, Anna is officially walking. The first day she really started taking steps on her own was so funny because she couldn't stop trying. She was so determined and excited. She would get up take a few steps, fall and get right back up. She did this until I finally put her down for a nap.
2. She is still primarily nursing, but I have began to give her a little milk in a sippy in an effort to begin weaning her. She really likes it and I feel like I will be able to completely wean her at anytime.
3. She has 7 teeth and at least 3 more coming in right now.
4. She is "talking" so much more. Some of her usual sounds/words are: Mama, Dada, Mom, Dad, Nana, Papa, Aw-yee (Allie), Hi. She makes several other sounds and we are pretty sure she has also said a few other things, but not consistently.
5. LOVES food! This girl can eat. She loves nearly everything I feed her, as long as she can do it herself. She does not want me to feed her. The only things she doesn't like right now are plain bread and eggs.
6. She LOVES to play with the kids. She always wants to be right where they are and in the middle of whatever game they are playing whether it is just Allie and AJ or the whole neighborhood.
7. She is practically fearless. The other day we were at the lake and she would just crawl right into the water and not even react to the cold. If we took her out she'd spazz out.
8. She climbs on everything: Chairs, the dishwasher, dryer, low tables or benches, steps. She can even climb the ladder to the slide and the actual slide.
9. She is constantly smiling and laughing. She has the best fake laugh too.
10. She is really good at throwing things. She loves to throw balls and toys. When she gets really frustrated with a toy she will throw it and do a little scream/growl.
11. She gives kisses. Its the cutest thing because she says, "mmm" and is just learning to close her mouth so you don't get all slobbery.
12. She loves to wave "Hi" and "Bye".

Sleeping Babies

The other night I peeked in on Anna and found her sleeping like this. Watching my babies sleep is one of my favorite parts of being a mom. They are so sweet and peaceful.
After taking this picture of Anna, I peeked in on AJ and Allie and found them sleeping like this. I love it because you can tell they were chatting and playing and just fell asleep right in the middle of it all.

Anna at 10-Months

Our sweet Baby Anna reached her 10-month mark on Saturday. I can't believe we are only 2-months away from a year old. She has turned into such a big girl lately. I can't even tell you how many people have said, "How old is she? About 18-months?" It cracks me up because I think she could pass for a year old, but not 18-months. Here are the latest developments:
1. The biggest skill Anna has mastered over the last month is standing without holding on. She can get up from anywhere and can go up and down all day long. She has awesome balance and can stand for a really long time all by herself.
2. She is also practicing her walking skills along furniture and holding hands with someone. She has all the skills for walking so we are guessing it'll happen sooner than later.
3. Anna is a snuggler. She gives lots of hugs and pats on the back.
4. She is learning how to dance. If she hears a song of any sort she will quickly stand up and start bobbing up and down.
5. The last few days she has started doing a fake laugh when she hears someone else laugh.
6. She babbles all the time and has added several new sounds including "shh" and "ch" and "ss" sounds.
7. When ever she falls down or gets a little bonk she makes a sad face and says "OOOHH". It is so cute.
8. She loves to play with Allie and AJ and does not hesitate to get right in the middle of whatever they are doing.
9. Anna has always loved being outside, but these days she will stand and the door and throw little fits if she thinks there is any chance she can go out. She especially loves to stand at the glass door at home and at my parent's and bang on the glass.
10. She is starting to eat and drink like such a big girl. She loves feeding herself and wants to eat whatever we are eating.
11. She has started pointing at things in the last few days as well. It is so cute!
12. Technically she has 6 teeth now. 4 you can see and two more that just broke through a few days ago.

Anna has been such a joy. I have to say this last month has been one of my favorites though. She is so fun and has been such a blessing to our little family. She is so loved by all of us.

Easter 2011

I got so many great pictures through out Easter weekend so I am going to post a lot and I am not going to apologize because I love pictures!!

Easter weekend was fun, fun, fun.

The kids and I slept at my parent's house Friday night so we could make it to the Easter Egg Hunt in Santa Clara on Saturday morning. The egg hunt turned out terrific. It was not crowded at all and the kids were so CUTE!! Allie jumped right in and began filling her bag. AJ on the other hand, took a minute to get going. He walked out into the field and then just stood there looking around. I told him to start picking up candy and he looked down and said, "Is that the candy?" I said it was. So he picks one up and says, "Should I get this one?" I told him he could pick up ALL the candy and put it in his bag. So he starts picking some up and telling me, "Look Mom, this one is pink. This one is yellow..." I think he was confused because the candy was taffy and we (me) are chocolate people so they have never had taffy. When it was all said and done, they both got way too much candy.

Later, we colored Easter eggs at my mom's. I usually love the way our eggs turn out, but for some reason our colors were not too awesome this year, but it was fun to try and keep the kids from breaking eggs and mixing colors.

On Sunday morning, all 3 kids woke up early so the kids did the egg hunt and looked for their Easter baskets. This year the Easter Bunny left each of them a new church outfit on their chairs. He also hid a basket for each of them with another outfit, candy and a Book of Mormon.

We went to church and then after naps headed to my parent's where the Easter Bunny also hid some eggs and several gifts. The kids were excited to get more new clothes and some outdoor games.

I was really surprised how excited they were to find each egg. I think finding eggs was more exciting than finding the baskets.

9-Months

Today Anna is 9-Months! We decided to knock out her well visit while we were getting her rash checked on Monday. She weighed in at a little over 19 lbs (60%tile) and she is 28.5 inches (82%tile), so while she is still a big girl, she has slowed down a bit. I guess it is a combination of her hair and long body, but most people think she is a year old already. I even had an old lady ask me if she was 18 months and then a few weeks later a different old lady asked me if she was 2 years old. Both women were astonished when I told them she was only 8-months. I guess you really do forget what it is like the older you get.

The great news is that Anna's crazy rash is almost all the way gone. I am so happy she did not have to deal with that for 4 weeks! In addition:
Anna is a crawling machine. She goes all over the house-in and out of all the rooms. My favorite thing is when I am vacuuming she follows me into each room and then sits in the middle and watches me vacuum. The twins used to do this as well.
She can pull herself up on all sorts of stuff and from time to time will let go and balance for several seconds. The other day at the park she kept crawling up to my lap, pushing herself up and standing all by herself.
Her favorite things to say now are "AHH BOO!", "Boo-boo-boo", "OU" (like ouch without the "ch"). She also says mum, mama, dada, nana, baba (but I don't think she means any of it yet). She also growls and makes all sorts of deep throaty sounds.
She is starting to wave "bye-bye".
She L-O-V-E-S me. She wants me to hold her constantly. Since she has had this whole rash thing, she has been super cuddly and will lay her head on my shoulder and hug me. It is really sweet.
She is starting to have some anxiety around people she is not used to and will occasionally cry if someone looks at her the wrong way, but only occasionally.
She loves to eat and is happiest right after a good meal. She always wants the snacks that the big kids are eating. Right now she loves graham crackers and will get all excited and grabby when she sees them.
Still loves a good bath, sleeps great when she feels good and loves her brother and sister.

Allie and AJ are good too. They are getting so mouthy. I never anticipated back talking, but they have both mastered that.
Lately they live to ride bikes with their friends.



Brad pointed out to me the other night how well they articulate their thoughts. It is amazing that they can put together such complex sentences and express themselves so well.
Tonight Allie was brushing my hair and told me I looked like a beautiful horse.
Lately when given a choice like, "AJ do you want Life cereal or Chex?" He will say, "Lets go with Life." I think he must of picked up that phrase, "Lets go with..." from my dad.
AJ also likes to say, "Tear it up!" Alberto always tells him to "Tear it up" when he is doing stuff so now AJ will tell others to "Tear it up!" or he will ask, "Dad, did I tear it up?"
Allie talks and talks and talks lately. She will tell these crazy stories and likes to ask "Why" A LOT. She also copies what we say. Tonight she was playing a little game on the ipod and when it told her she earned a sticker she said, "What the hell?" Alberto and I were busting up (bad parenting, I know) then once we composed ourselves we talked to her about how that is not a nice thing to say.
Anna just loves playing with Allie and AJ and wants to be in on everything they are doing and they love her too, but often times they get really annoyed with her knocking there stuff down or ripping their papers. I think it is a good lesson for them in patience.

Seriously...

Remember my last post titled, "Sick of Sick"? Remember how I wrote about Anna being so fussy that day and that she was getting a tooth. Well deep down in my heart I knew it was probably not the tooth that was bothering her that day, but I wanted it to be just a tooth, so I went with it. Well later that day she started having a fever which never got too terribly high, but continued through the night along with the fussiness. The next morning I fed Anna breakfast and gave her the last dose of the antibiotic she had been taking for her most recent ear infection. After breakfast I went to change her diaper and noticed an intense rash around the top of her legs. I thought at first that I was the worst mom ever and had left her diaper on too long. Then with further inspection I noticed splotches on her thighs. Once I got her diaper changed, I pulled off her jammies and onesie to get her dressed for the day and found the same intense rash in her arm pits with splotches on her upper arms. I decided with this weird rash and a fever something was truly wrong with her and made an appointment with the Dr.
By the time we arrived at the office later that morning, the splotches were working there way up her neck and under her chin. While waiting for the Doctor (Nurse Practitioner) to come in, her ears turned red and began to swell and the splotches began to show up on her cheeks.
To make a long story shorter, after visiting with the NP she determined Anna was having an allergic reaction to the antibiotic or in other words she was breaking out in Hives. Weird considering she has had the same antibiotic before and she had finished the whole 10 days this time, but apparently it is possible. Although the NP felt quite sure that this is what was happening there was still some doubt due to the fever and the late reaction. So I left thinking in a day or two it would clear up. Unfortunately, this case of the Hives has just gotten worse and worse as the days go by. It was so bad Sunday night that we decided we needed to see our doctor for a second opinion. We took Anna in Monday (yesterday) morning to see Dr. Kaddu and he immediately knew that she had a condition called Erythema Multiforme. He said it can indeed be caused by a reaction to the antibiotic, but is more likely to be caused by a viral herpes infection (or the hand, foot and mouth she had only in her mouth). He assured us that it was scary to look at, but that she would be ok. The bad news is there is really nothing we can do for her and it could take up to 4 weeks to clear.
In addition to the nasty rash it also causes the skin to look bruised, itches and causes some swelling at the joints, which creates aching and discomfort. Here are some pictures of Anna over the last few days. Seriously these pictures look sad, but in real life it is so much worse.

Saturday


Sunday

Monday

Sick of Sick...

Allie and AJ were born in November. I remember being so worried about them getting sick as infants. I bundled them and tried to protect them from all the other germ infested children. Aside from one mild asthma-ish thing Allie contracted around 6-months, they both made it to a few weeks before turning a year old with no sickness. Not even colds. After turning a year it has been a different story, but I am proud to say they stayed well as tiny babies. My poor Baby Anna on the other hand has had too many colds to count since she joined our family and along with those colds she has had (in no particular order):
2 bouts of the croupe
Bronchiolitis
Hand, Foot and Mouth-only the mouth part though
and 2 ear infections-Allie and AJ have never had an ear infections so I was not prepared for how miserable those can be.
I feel so bad for her. This winter all 3 kids and myself just can't shake the colds. We get better for maybe 2 weeks and then it all starts over. I feel sad for all of them, but mostly Anna. I hope this will mean later on her immune system will be strong?? (I am trying to be positive).
We all just got over the most recent cold, and ear infection for Anna, and now she is getting her top teeth and boy-o-boy is she miserable. I just hate seeing such a happy girl feel so sad. I am really hoping they will break through soon because she needs a break.

These are the kinds of looks I get when I try to put her down today:

8-Months

Monday was Anna's 8-month mark!! She is so big, so fun and so BUSY!! She started crawling forward close to 2 weeks ago. When Alberto left for Brazil she was still crawling backwards and then about a day later, she figured it all out and she was off and going. I can't believe how proficient she is. She can make it all around the house and is into everything. I am not sure if she is really that much more busy than the twins were or just that we have that much stuff around the house to get into now!!

A few more facts:

• I am not sure how much she weighs, but I am pretty sure it is over 20lbs.




• She is able to pull herself up on many things and loves to stand up.




• She wakes up SO HAPPY and all she wants to do in the morning is play with Allie and AJ. Lately I can't get her to nurse or eat breakfast.




• She is still waking up once in the night, but I have decided we need to put an end to that in hopes of solving the no breakfast issue.




• She is still exclusively nursing (way to go me), but she is so distracted ALL THE TIME.




• She has started finger foods and prefers to feed herself when ever she can. It is really cute and she is really quite good at it.




• She has started screaming this really high pitched scream that hurts my ears, but I love it because I know it is her way of telling us how happy she is.




• She has become very fond of Nana.




• She throws a big fit when you take things from her.




• Lately, she bites. It is not nice.




• Still only 2 teeth.




• Thinks it is terribly funny when I am mad. The other day I was 'talking loudly' at the big kids and she sat there laughing and clapping like I was so funny.




• Her smile is to die for. She lights up the room with her smile and makes everyone around her happy.




• Likes to sit on her knees; it is so cute. Alberto's mom told me he used to sit like that all the time as well.




• Gives hugs, pats your back and I think she is starting to give kisses.




• Loves her bath.




• Poops nearly every time I put her in the car seat. I guess this is her way of telling me what she thinks of riding in the car seat :)




• She has started throwing her hands in the air like she is showing you how big something is.

Better late than never...

Christmas 2010 was wonderful for our little family. Of course the best gift was having Anna there to celebrate with us this year. Having the excitement of children is what makes Christmas the best time of the year. Some of the holiday fun included:
Making our first ever gingerbread house and then remaking it the next day after it fell down.
Listening to Christmas music and watching Christmas shows and movies
Making lots of Christmas cookies
Reading Christmas stories
Spending time with family

On Christmas Eve we went to Nana and Papa's house where we relaxed and had a great dinner. The kids opened the traditional Christmas Eve jammies.
Christmas morning we were surprised the all 3 kids slept in until their normal times. Allie and AJ came into our room and didn't believe that Santa came because he didn't come into their room and wake them up. When we took them out to the tree Allie said, "Hey, who brought all these presents?" It was pretty funny. Once they realized Santa really did come and that all these gifts were for them, they were thrilled.
Nana and Papa and the Uncles came over to watch the kids open presents then we ate a yummy breakfast.
Later that day we went back to Nana and Papa's to open more presents and have dinner. It was a great holiday.

PS-I just realized that I wrote 2011 on my picture collage, but obviously this was Christmas 2010 (just for my own future reference).