The Gonzalez Family

Bye Bye Pacifier

2012-01-19T20:43:00.000-08:00

December 15th was a great day at our house. Ella decided to put her pacifier under the tree so Santa would come early and give her a Jesse doll in exchange for it. She and I talked about it and Ella decided right away that was what she wanted to do (I thought I'd give her the idea and that she'd think about it for awhile and maybe go for it). Gustavo and I decided we were up for the consequences so we called Santa on Ella's Belle phone and he came right away. It took Ella nearly 2 hours to fall asleep the first night and she had a melt down when she woke up at 2 in morning, but things only got better from that point on. She never regretted her decision and sometimes asked for her pacifier, but accepted our answer that Santa had it. All in all, I am still a big believer in the pacifier. It helped her be an AMAZING sleeper for quite some time and weening wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. Ella is officially a big girl, oh wait, she still isn't potty trained... that is our next milestone to conquer.

Christmas

2012-01-19T20:26:00.000-08:00

This is the first year Ella understood Santa. The week of Thanksgiving we took Ella to the Disney Store for the first time and let her look at all the toys. She was in HEAVEN! Right now she is in love with all things princess (and Toy Story). Every where she turned she saw something new that she loved. She left the store deciding that she wanted Santa to bring her a Buzz and Sleeping Beauty. Ella is typically very shy and won't talk to acquaintances, let alone strangers, but at the beginning of December she gladly went to sit on Santa's lap and told him what she wanted and happily accepted her candy cane. We were absolutely shocked because it was so out of character. She enjoyed her visit with Santa so much that she looked forward to seeing him again at our ward Christmas party the week before Christmas. This excitement helped us enjoy the holiday season even more than usual.

This year we stuck with tradition and spent less than an hour at hour house and then rushed all over to visit all three sets of Ella's grandparents. It was pretty hectic and a little tiring, but we enjoy the opportunity to spend time with all of our family. We started off at Abuela and Abuelo's for breakfast. Ella couldn't leave the house without the Buzz and Woody that Santa Claus brought her (she changed her mind throughout the month and started asking for Woody instead of Sleeping Beauty). She was so excited that Abuela and Abuelo got her a Pinkalicious motorcycle!

Ella got incredibly spoiled by all of our family and LOVES all of her new toys. Ella got a set of Disney princess dress up shoes from grandma Liz and grandad. Ella couldn't believe it! She was so excited that she tried on every pair and then lined them up and just stared at them. When we told her that it was time to leave she started to cry and asked if she could take at least one pair home with us. When we told her that she could have all of them she stopped crying and gladly packed up each pair. She got a fun ladybug tent from grandma and grandpa Kramer that she has up in her room. She loves to play in it with her friends when they come over. We had a great Christmas!

five months

2012-01-19T20:07:00.000-08:00

Look at those cheeks! I love how chubby Sophie is getting. Gustavo loves putting her in the bumbo because she looks so cute in it. Sophie continues to be super content and happy, but is starting to be a stinker at night. Between both girls I am up SIX times some nights. We need to do some serious sleep training after Christmas. It is a good thing Sophie is such a cute girl so that even when I get her in the middle of the night and want to be frustrated, she gives me a HUGE smile and quickly softens me heart.

Sophie still exclusively breastfeeds. She won't take a bottle and sometimes that is really annoying, but secretly I don't mind. I realize that she is going to be big before I know it and nursing is one of my favorite parts of the day because Sophie and I get to snuggle. I love being a mom and love that I get to spend every day with my babies.

four months

2012-01-19T19:55:00.000-08:00

My sweet Sophia is getting sweeter by the day. She always smiles! Even when she cries, if she looks at us, she starts to smile. We can't believe what a good baby she is. Sophie is starting to have more of a sleep schedule which I like. She's got more of a nap schedule, but unfortunately doesn't sleep in her car seat much anymore which makes us stay at home more (which I usually don't mind). She has even started sleeping from around 11pm until 5 or 7 in the morning. It is lovely!

When we took Sophie in for her 4 month checkup the doctor asked "Is she always this calm?" She is just a sweet, chubby girl with her daddy's bright blue eyes. At her appointment we found out her current measurements:

Length: 25 in. ------ 75th percentile

Weight: 13lbs. 14 oz. ------ above 50th percentile

Head Circ: 41.7 cm ------- above 50th percentile

three months

2012-01-19T19:26:00.000-08:00

My sweet Sophie continues to be a dream baby. I often think of her as my therapy. She hardly ever cries and is easily consoled when she does. I honestly hope everyone has at lease one baby like Sophia. She is an angel. I love her so much and am so grateful for her.

thankful

2012-01-19T19:11:00.000-08:00

This Thanksgiving season I've thought of so many blessings in my life. I have so much to be thankful for. While thinking about this yesterday I realized that my life is exactly where I want it to be. When I was growing up if you would have asked me where I saw myself at 27 I would have described exactly what I'm doing. My greatest desire has always been to be a mother and I have been blessed with two beautiful girls who fill me with more love than I ever could have imagined. I am so grateful for a husband who supports our family and enables me to stay home and focus on our sweet babies. What more could I ask for? I love the gospel of Jesus Christ I am so grateful for a modern prophet who leads and guides us. My life is incredible.

bumble bees

2011-11-03T12:09:00.000-07:00

Although I planned to have the girls be ladybugs this year for Halloween, Ella like the idea of being bumble bee's better. It worked out well and we had a great time dressing up for various festive activities.

Ella loves Sophia a little bit too much sometimes.

This year Ella got really excited about Halloween. Some of our favorite things this Halloween have been:

Buzzing around (Ella would randomly ask me to "buzz her")
Ella spinning in her tutu
seeing spooky (or "fooky" as Ella says) decorations- especially "fooky fiders"
reading Halloween stories
preschool Halloween party (Ella asked to go over to preschool everyday for an entire week in anticipation! When we got to the party our neighbor Shannalee answered the door in a witch costume so Ella tried to turn around and go home. Shannalee had to take off her hat and wig before Ella would stay.)
Dressing up for our ward Trunk or Treat
Grandma Liz coming over to bring us treats Halloween morning
Going trick or treating at NuSkin with Abuela, Nena, Gabe, and Gavin
Trick or treating and watching "Scared Shrekless" at Daddy's work

Unfortunately we weren't able to go trick or treating around our neighborhood with our friends because I noticed sores on Ella's tongue at 5 o'clock Halloween night. I called the pediatrician and found out that Ella has Hand, Foot, and Mouth. She has been miserable. We are not looking forward to cold weather and more sickness. We are keeping our fingers crossed that Sophia doesn't get this virus.

neighborhood preschool

2011-11-03T11:38:00.000-07:00

We are doing a little preschool with three other little girls in our neighborhood. Right now we are only meeting on Thursdays from 9:30-11:30 because I wasn't sure if I would be able to do more with Sophia, but I think in January we are going to start meeting twice a week. Ella LOVES school and asks to go almost every morning. Her little friends Abby, Kinsley, and Aimee are adorable and we have a great time.

2 months

2011-10-14T22:09:00.000-07:00

On September 15th we took Sophia in for her well visit and found out that she is:

24 inches long (above the 97th percentile)

11 lbs. 3 oz (75th-90th percentile)

and has a head circ. of 39 1/4 cm (85th-90th percentile)

We love our little Sophia and continue to be amazed by what a sweet baby she is (and by her crazy hair!) She still wakes up 3 times a night, but other than that she is the easiest baby I can imagine. She loves her daddy and gives him smiles all of the time. We have to work for them, but Daddy gets the most smiles and they come the easiest when he tries. Although she doesn't love tummy time, she doesn't complain, she just rolls from her stomach to her back. What a problem solver :)

Lagoon

2011-10-14T21:47:00.000-07:00

This summer we've managed to stay super busy. I'm so glad that Sophie is an angel because if she had a difficult temperament there is no way I could have kept up with all of the family activities since her birth.

notice the Buzz Lightyear arms

At the beginning of September we went to Lagoon with Gustavo's family. Ella had a great time with Abuela, Gabe, and Nena. She loved the slow paced airplane and boat rides, but was scared by a lot of the children's rides because they were surprisingly fast. She is such a cautious soul (I have no idea where she got that from.) It was so funny to watch Gabe laughing with pure delight while Ella held on for dear life on the same ride. We love being close to family and having so many opportunities to get together.

Sophia's Blessing

2011-10-13T21:35:00.000-07:00

Sophia was blessed by Gustavo on September 4th. It was a beautiful blessing and we were so grateful for all of the family and friends who came to support us. We had a little get together after church in our yard (we FINALLY have a space big enough for our whole family to gather!) Unfortunately I took absolutely no pictures that day. I was sad when I realized that, but I was busy getting things set up, feeding the baby, and then visiting with loved ones. My mom added the sweet little cap sleeves on Sophia's dress and made the adorable headband.

My great great grandmother, Anna Sophie

Gustavo's grandmother, Caridad

I decided a long time ago that I want all of our babies to have family names. Sophia Caridad was named after my great great grandmother, Anna Sophie Wilhelmine Heine. (Yes, I realize we named our baby Sophia and my ancestor's name is Sophie. That is because I remembered incorrectly, but was set on the name Sophia when my aunt kindly corrected me.) Caridad is a family name on Gustavo's side. It is his Grandmother's name, aunt's name, and sister's middle name. I LOVE the family significance of this beautiful name that translates to charity in English. Although Gustavo's grandmother and I haven't been able to speak together due to the language barrier, I have heard many wonderful things about her and am impressed by the strength she has exhibited throughout her life. I do not know as many details as I'd like about her journey from Cuba to the United States, I can only imagine how much courage it took for her to bring their children amidst such difficult circumstances. I also love that she was a teacher her entire life. My girls have incredible women on both sides of our families to look up to. I hope that Sophia will see the hard work, dedication, and strength that each of the women who hold the name Caridad display. I also hope that she will be service oriented and learn to be truly charitable in all of her dealings.

first month

2011-09-07T12:53:00.000-07:00

Sophia is a wonderful baby. She loves to eat so I feel like I'm constantly nursing and we aren't really on any kind of schedule (besides eat, play, sleep). Sophie is getting less gassy and hasn't been spitting up quite as much. She used to have at least one fussy period every day, but that has gotten much better because she seems to be figuring out how her body works. She will sometimes go 4 hours before her first feeding in the middle of the night, but that isn't consistent. She usually wakes up every 2 or 3 hours at night. At around 6 weeks she started getting a feel for nighttime, meaning that she'll usually fall asleep right after eating so I'm not up all night long anymore. We love our sweet Sophie.

Sophie makes the most adorable faces after she eats. I love how she stretches her legs up and arches her back while tipping her head. It is SO CUTE! I regret not getting pictures of Ella doing this so I attempted to get one of Sophie. This is usually how she ends up. She is so sweet. I'm still amazed at how tiny she is, but I know that it won't last long so I'm trying to enjoy every second. I would stay at home in my sweats all day long if I could. I love my little girls.

our helper

2011-09-07T12:27:00.000-07:00

the girls in matching jammies when Sophie was 3 weeks old

When we came home from the hospital Ella's whole world had changed. She loved her baby sister, but didn't love that Sophie got Mom and Dad's attention too. Ella acted out in every possible way. Within the first week she stopped eating anything that had nutritional value, cried about everything, threw countless tantrums, bit me because I wouldn't let her keep a Barbie shoe in her mouth, asked to nurse, wanted to get in the crib, had me change her diaper on the changing table, and did just about everything else I feared. She hated when I nursed the baby. Absolutely hated it! I don't know if it was just because the process was new and strange to her, or if it was because I spent so much time doing it, or if it was because Sophie had one on one time with Mom doing something that Ella couldn't. Through this difficult period of transition Ella has always loved Sophia and has wanted to help her whenever possible. Sometimes she wants to help too much. Ella believes that giving Sophie her pacifier is always the best thing to do.

When people asked Ella if she helped Mommy she simply said, "No." It was the truth. Fortunately the more she adjusts, the more willing she is to help me out. For Christmas Laz and Allie gave Ella a lawn mower. She loves mowing the lawn with Daddy.

I am happy to report that now, in Sophie's 8th week of life, Ella is back to normal!!! She sleeps well, eats about as well as can be expected, and has stopped acting out more than an average 2 year old. The second our "normal" life changes she starts to act out, but I'll still take it!

two weeks

2011-08-01T08:55:00.000-07:00

It is amazing how much I've forgotten about newborns! At this point we are just trying to figure out eating and sleeping. Sophia is a good nurser. The only problem we've really had, besides initial discomfort on my part, is that she wants to eat more than she can handle. Sophie seems to have a little bit of reflux so we are just trying to help her deal with that. Sleep on the other hand hasn't been quite as easy. I forgot how sleep deprivation affects me! It is so hard not to sleep (especially since my headaches are back!) After Ella was born I read about every book and article I could get my hands on about sleep and I've forgotten so much of it that I've found myself re-reading favorite books and trying to decide how strict I want to be this time around. We are also trying to train ourselves to sleep through her grunting! She is the loudest baby I've ever heard! In general, Sophie seems to be an easy baby. I realize it is still too early to tell much, but she seems to be a pretty content girl.

We took Sophia in for her two week appointment and were excited to see how much she has grown. She is so long and skinny! We thought she looked like Ella at first, but we are noticing a lot of differences the bigger she gets.

Length: 21 inches

Weight: 8 lbs. 1 oz.

Head Circ: 35 cm

Sophie doesn't love being swaddled. She works as hard as she can to get her arms free so she can turn and sleep on her side. I think she looks adorable!

ice cream

2011-07-31T16:59:00.000-07:00

She's here! (including birth story)

2011-07-20T12:10:00.000-07:00

Sophia was born July 13th at 1:53 am.

She weighs 7 lbs 14 oz.

She is perfect.

I went in for my 37 week appointment on July 12th and found out that I was already dilated to a 5 and the baby was at 0 station. So she was half way here! The doctor told me that if I was uncomfortable he would send me over to the hospital. I told him I was fine to wait. He then spent the rest of my appointment impressing on me the importance of getting to the hospital at the first sign of labor- consistent contractions for 30 minutes, my water breaking, or ONE really painful contraction. I told him that my fear was getting Ella situated with a babysitter and then being sent home from the hospital. He reassured me that no one would send me home considering how far along I was. That evening I found myself having consistent contractions. They were 4-5 minutes apart, but not really painful so if I hadn't talked with the doctor earlier that day I would have waited to go in. I decided to be safe and found comfort in the fact that Dr. Jones promised that no one would send me home so we called Gustavo's mom and I finished packing a few last minute items. By the time we got to the hospital it was 7 o'clock and I had been having consistent contractions for an hour and a half. I was check and the nurse told me I was still at a 5 and 75% effaced. The doctor on call said that the only way he would admit me was if I dilated more within an hour. I was devastated when an hour later I was 85-90% effaced, but still at a 5 with contractions coming 5 minutes apart. The nurse advised me to walk around the hospital for an hour and then get checked again. Gustavo and I raced around the hospital for the next hour. I was having really consistent contractions that were getting increasingly painful. I was sure something had happened. I was wrong. The baby had dropped lower, but I was still at a 5. I just started crying. I was embarrassed and frustrated. At this point it was 9:00. Ella had been with Abuela for almost 2 hours and I really thought I was going to have the baby that night. I called my sister through tears and asked her what she thought I should do (the nurse had told me I could go home and come back in the morning, or stay for another hour). I decided that I would just go home because I didn't want to risk waiting even longer and still get sent home. Gustavo called his mom and we planned to get Ella at 7 o'clock the next morning so she could make it to work on time. At that point the nurse came in and told me that my contractions were only 3 minutes apart and that she wanted me to stay and get checked in another hour. At about 10:30 I was checked and had finally dilated so I was at a 5+ or 6. I quickly got admitted and the anesthesiologist came in to give me my epidural. That didn't go very well. I had no idea what was going on! The first time I got an epidural it was quick, easy, and practically pain free. This time I felt like he kept poking me over and over again. I had pain shooting down my legs. When he finally told me I could lift my head I immediately had the worst headache I've ever experienced. I was grabbing my head as the doctor explained that he had messed up and spinal fluid had leaked. He said the headache would last for 7 days. The only thing that alleviated the pain was lying flat. I was the unlucky 1% of patients who have this happen. The anesthesiologist left and Dr. Watabe (not my OB, but the OB who was on call and who also delivered Ella) came in. He broke my water and was on his way. Due to the problems with my epidural the head nurse just took me off the pump and told me that hopefully I would have the baby within 2 hours because that's how long it would last. I didn't inquire about it because regardless of what I said, she jumped on me and acted like I was the most annoying person she'd ever met. It was easier just not to talk. Well, I started to feel pressure and have more feeling in my legs at 1:20. By 1:40 I could move my lower body and was feeling amniotic fluid as it leaked out. At 1:45 the nurse came in and told me it was time to push. She got Dr. Watabe and we were all set. I was super uncomfortable and really nervous because I had full feeling in my lower body. When it was time to push I felt everything. Sophia was born at 1:53am so fortunately I only pushed for 5-7 minutes. With Ella I did not feel anything so I was not anticipating this experience nor was I prepared for the pain I felt. When Sophia was laid on my chest I couldn't believe she was here. I had been so focused on the pain and being done that I forgot that the end result was my beautiful baby! I quickly told Gustavo that she looked so tiny (this was funny to me because when I first held Ella I said "SHE'S HUGE"). Sophia weighed 7lbs. 14 oz. which is one ounce bigger than Ella was. The labor and delivery was so much different than I expected it would be, but I left in great shape. This time I only had second degree tears which are about 10 billion times less painful than the third degree tears left by the forceps with Ella's birth. The headaches were really masked by the pain medication I took at the hospital, but they came back with a vengeance on Sunday when I decided to stop taking medication. They were miserable for 2 days, but by Wednesday afternoon they were gone and now I feel great. Things are going so much better than I ever could have imagined. We love our little girls and are so excited Sophia decided to come 17 days early (especially considering how big she was!)

swimming lessons

2011-07-07T14:55:00.000-07:00

I decided it would be fun to take mommy and tot swimming lessons with Ella this summer before the baby came. Some days were rough, but other days were really fun.

We knew it would be more fun to take lessons with friends so we went down to Pleasant Grove to be with Makaylee and Alysha.

Ella's favorite part of each lesson were the last 10 minutes when we went to the shallow end. She loved to walk around and jump.

About half way through our lessons she discovered the rope that sectioned off the shallow end and became obsessed with it.

The girls really liked showing us how big they were by climbing out of the pool all by themselves.

On the last day of swimming lessons all the kids got to go down the water slides. Since I'm pregnant Alysha was sweet and took Ella down. Amy, our swimming teacher, offered first but Ella was too afraid to go with her so Makaylee went with Amy and Ella went with Alysha. Despite wanting to go down the slide every day previous, after going with Alysha Ella didn't quite know what to think and decided she did not want to go again.

Ella received her certificate of completion and a sucker from Amy on the last day. Ella really enjoyed swimming lessons and I'm glad we did it. We still need to work on all of the skills:

blowing bubbles
floating on her stomach and back
using superman arms when she floats
jumping in the pool
going all the way under water
monkey crawling along the wall
ice cream scoops (or swimming like Sebastian as we called it)
kicking her legs

It was great to go swimming every day for two weeks in a row. This summer has been full of playing in the water and this was a great way to start it off. It definitely made Ella more comfortable and she loves to talk about her swimming lessons so I know she had a great time!

Fourth of July

2011-07-05T20:02:00.000-07:00

We had our annual Kramer family 4th of July party at my parents' house this year. All of my sisters were there- even Megan who is currently living in Africa. I was pretty tired and didn't get pictures of the playing and swimming, but I got a few pictures of Ella's first experience with fireworks.

We started out with no fire.

Daddy decided that she could handle it as long as she was right by him.

She took safety very seriously- look at the fully extended arm.

She loved the sparklers as well as all of the other fireworks she saw this 4th of July.

progress

2011-07-05T19:44:00.000-07:00

36 weeks

Part of me can't believe how close I am to my due date and another part of me is anxious to see how everything goes the second time around. On Sunday night I realized how quickly she just may come. At midnight as I was laying down to go to sleep I started having really painful contractions. I tried to just rest thinking they would go away. They were so painful that I couldn't sit still and I was fearing that I might have really been in labor. I decided to go and get a few things done just in case. My contractions continued. They were at least a minute long and seemed to be occurring within 5 minutes of each other. At 2:40 I decided I would try to lay down because although the contractions continued to happen frequently, they were only lasting about 30 seconds. I fell asleep at around 3 in the morning and woke up contracting again at 5, but after that I didn't have anything else. I was so relieved that I hadn't gone into labor, but curious to go get checked at my appointment this week. I went to see my doctor today and found out that the baby is head down, but still pretty high. I am dilated to a 4, but only 50% effaced. I'm trying to make sure that I get as much done as I can in case she comes soon, but also trying not to get too anxious!

33 weeks

2011-06-14T18:24:00.000-07:00

I felt kind of bad about not taking any belly pictures this pregnancy, so Sunday morning I hurried and snapped one. Most days I feel HUGE, but I'm still comfortable considering where I'm at in the pregnancy. My favorite part of being pregnant is feeling this sweet little baby move and she moves all of the time! In fact the other day Gustavo fell asleep resting on me and I was watching his head move every time she kicked him. He couldn't believe it was the baby who was making him move like that. She did the same thing to Ella on Monday, but Ella didn't seem to notice. At my appointment this week I found out that Sophia is measuring right at 33 weeks. Ella consistently measured 2 weeks bigger than her due date and came exactly 2 weeks early. I'm still hoping Sophia will come a little early, but I just want her to come when she's healthy and ready. During Relief Society this past week I was watching lots of mother's with their newborns and it still doesn't seem real that I'm going to have a baby. The planning part does, but I just can't fathom having 2 children. It will feel real soon enough though! I was holding my friend's little 2 week old daughter this week and is was amazing to remember how sweet and tiny newborns are. I'm excited to experience that again and am just hoping for a much smoother recovery this time around. I feel very fortunate because Gustavo will be able to take 2 weeks off of work (the military passed 2 weeks of paternity leave after Ella was born). When he goes back his mom is going to come and help out for another week. I feel so spoiled just thinking about it! I think this will be huge for Ella because I can only imagine how hard this transition is going to be on her.

We are trying to prepare Ella in every way we can think of so if you have any great suggestions I'd love to hear them!

nesting

2011-05-30T07:51:00.000-07:00

When I was about 11 weeks into my pregnancy and realized that I was actually going to regain my energy and stop feeling gross I started going crazy with my "to do" lists. I am always a crazy list maker, but add in pregnancy hormones and it has been intense! I made one big "nesting list" and have made about 30 smaller lists pertaining to the nesting list. I have put everything on the lists from small projects like cleaning out drawers, closets, and organizing recipes so I have everything either in a cookbook or on recipe cards (no more recipes that have been printed out or written down on random papers) to large projects like finishing the yard, painting, and decorating both girls' rooms.

Along the way I've found plenty more small things to take up time and make me feel a bit more organized. While I love the feeling of getting things done (there is NOTHING better than crossing things off lists- okay, maybe a few things) I am starting to feel slightly burned out. I am hoping to reach a point of satisfaction pretty soon here. I still need to organize the garage, but my dad took me out this weekend to buy the peg board and wood I'll need for that. I also want to make a few more freezer meals. The rest of the lists are all things I need to buy for this little baby so I can knock that out in a day or two and have been waiting because I feel a little anxious buying some of that stuff this early. It has been great having the motivation and energy to get so much done. This weekend as we were laying sod I was thinking about how much we've done to make this house our home and I was very satisfied. We've put a lot of us into the home within a year.

The Nursery

2011-05-19T11:53:00.000-07:00

My parents came up a few weekends in April and helped us with the bead board. We are really happy with how it turned out.

Her initials stand for Sophia Caridad Gonzalez.

One more project down, only 2 or 3 left to go!

Happy Easter

2011-04-24T13:24:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter!

Thank you Eleanor

2011-04-21T12:31:00.000-07:00

One of the many projects on my to-do list since moving in has been the entryway. I had a good idea of what I wanted and decided to wait until Christmas. Gustavo got me the table and my parents and Eleanor got me the frames. Eleanor also told me that she would help me get prints for each frame and gave me some great ideas. My little sister, Eleanor, is a graphic designer and the company she works for recently went through a re-brand so between all of that work, freelance projects, and her busy social life, it wasn't until a month ago that we were able to sit down together and decide on the prints. She got everything to me this week and I'm so excited to have another project crossed off my list!

I'm not a photographer so the pictures don't really do it justice, but I am very happy with the way it turned out!

Thank you Eleanor!

terrible, yet terrific twos

2011-04-17T14:24:00.000-07:00

Our little Ella reminds us that she is two every day. Her favorite phrases are "Ella do it all by myself!" and "But that's Ella's toy!" She has always been emotional and had some difficult character traits, but once she turned two I believe she kicked it up a notch! Some days I can't believe my sweet little girl can be such a demanding little stinker. She loves her friends and always wants to play with someone, but most of the time she tries to play with a friend it quickly gets embarrassing because Ella becomes so bossy and has a hard time sharing (even toys that don't belong to her!)

On the other hand, the older Ella gets the easier and more fun parenting her becomes. She is so much fun to play with! She LOVES to have tea parties and participate in imaginary play. Ella loves all of her toys. She takes care of her babies, Barbies and stuffed animals all day long. The other night about an hour after we put her to bed we thought we heard noises, but dismissed the thought quickly because she is such a good sleeper. All of a sudden we heard Ella's Dora guitar going off. Gustavo went in to check on Ella who was obviously playing. He found that she had placed every single doll and stuffed animal on her bed along with her guitar. She was trying to lay down and sleep with all of them. She has done this multiple times so I went in and got a picture the last time she did it. You can see she put on all of her toys and the new clothes I just bought her. When Gustavo was talking with her and asking why she did this again she simply replied, "I love bunny, okay. Bunny needs to take a nap, okay."

Ella has great language skills which also makes life much easier these days. We try to parent her with "Love and Logic" and for the past 6-8 months have been trying to help her remember to use words instead of whining. The last few weeks when we give Ella the choice to "be a big girl" or go to time out, she has more often said "Ella be a big girl" and fixed her negative behavior. When she is upset she can do a much better job of communicating what's wrong which helps us remedy the situation. I LOVE being able to talk with Ella. In fact, I've been getting so used to it that I get a little nervous about starting all over with the baby in a few months!

Ella has really eased up so much in the past few months. She used to be incredibly clingy (her pediatrician even pointed out that she was much more anxious than most.) She rarely, if ever, let anyone else hold her or play with her. Honestly, she loved me, Gustavo, and her aunt Yolanda. I didn't dare leave Ella with anyone else for their sake! Ella refused to go to nursery for a very long time. She is still inconsistent, but is getting so much better now. She is opening up to her grandparents and other adults in our life as well. In fact, for the first time ever she let her Grandpa Gonzalez hold her yesterday. The past few times we've left her with neighbors, family, or friends to be babysat she's done great- NO TEARS! This has been so helpful!

Other terrific things about 2:
-Ella is a pretty good eater. She used to be incredibly picky, but eats quite a bit of different foods and is willing to try things much more often. I really can't complain about her eating any more. In fact, she even tries bananas now! That hasn't happened since she was about 9 months old!!!
-Ella loves to pretend to talk to her friends and family members on the phone. Her conversations usually sound something like this, "Hi Nena! Good morning. See you later. I love you."
-Ella talks to her babies and animals in such a sweet voice which gives me hope that she'll be soft and loving to her new baby sister in a few months.
-Ella is much better about letting Daddy take care of her. She's always been a Momma's girl, but there were a few months where she refused to let Daddy do anything- she just wanted me and it was SO HARD.
-Ella knows her colors. She is learning her letters and constantly impresses us with her memory. We think she's pretty smart :)
-Ella loves to watch Disney movies. We got a bunch of her uncle Isaac's old VHS movies and she loves to watch them. Her favorites lately have been Aladdin, The Princess and the Frog, Bolt, Monster's Inc., Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty.
-Ella continues to love to read books. All of my books from teaching first grade are really coming in handy these days. We also have started going the the library regularly and she loves it!

Ella says the darndest things

2011-04-17T13:21:00.000-07:00

Ella's been really talking since about February. She says the funniest things some times and I know if I don't record them that I'll surely forget. Here is my attempt at remembering.

Right after her birthday we were driving on the freeway and the car was quiet (which is very unusual because Ella is always ~~asking~~ telling us to sing to her). Out of the blue Ella said "WHAT THE HECK?" in a very disgruntled voice. Gustavo and I just looked at each other and I asked, "Did she just say what I think she did?" She repeated it about 9 times to answer my questions. We tried not to laugh, but couldn't help it.

The first night while we were babysitting my sister's kids I made taco salad for dinner. We were all enjoying it when Ella suddenly in a very excited voice yelled "Oh my gosh, this salad is so good!" My nieces just started laughing and mimicking her.

That same weekend I asked my little sister Eleanor to come and help me at church because Gustavo had to work that Sunday. My sister Emily's ward is very established and doesn't have many children so sacrament meeting was very quiet and Ella was NOT! She was talking even louder than usual because it was so quiet. While the sacrament was being passed you could hear a pin drop. Someone on the bench behind us rubbed their foot against the bench making a squeaking sound. Ella loudly exclaimed "Nor has gas!" Even I started laughing. At least Ella said "Nor" instead of "Eleanor" right?

During our prayers we pray for our baby. One Sunday afternoon while the three of us were playing, Ella suddenly folded her arms and said "Heavenly Father, please bless our baby." Then she opened her eyes and resumed playing with us.

After we found out that we are having a girl I told Ella that for Halloween I want them both to dress up as ladybugs. That morning while we were praying Ella inserted in the prayer "Please bless Ella and Sophie be ladybugs." Ever since then she will randomly say that in our prayers.

Ella and I were out running errands one day and were stopped at a light. A teenage boy started walking through the stopped cars and was almost hit by oncoming traffic. I just shook my head, but didn't bother to say anything. I didn't even suspect that Ella noticed until I heard her say in a very concerned tone, "What's he doin'? STOP HIM!"

Now that Ella sleeps in a big girl bed there are a lot of mornings when she'll wake up and just start playing for a few minutes. Last week I heard her talking, but it sounded like she was having a tea party with her animals (which is what she does most often during solitary play). I was dozing in and out of sleep when I heard her sweetly calling "Good morning. Good morning. Where are you?" I quickly realized she was ready for me to open the door and start our day.

After finishing Ella's big girl room I've been trying to work on the nursery. We were heading over to Home Depot a few weeks ago to purchase bead board and chair rail. I told Ella we were going to the store to get things for Sophie's room. While we were there Ella was being very anxious. At one point after being in the store far too long, we were walking down the aisle with cabinet hardware and door nobs. There were hundreds of little drawers that Ella was trying to open. I picked her up to quickly remove her from the situation and try to keep her from making a mess. She started screaming and crying. Through her broken tears she said, "I was just getting toys for Sophie!"

Ella LOVES songs and tries to sing them. She usually omits a few words here or there and mixes up plenty more. She has been loving the story and song "There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly." When she sings it by herself she simply says, "I know an old lady who swallowed a fly (or any of the other animals/insects). PERHAPS SHE'LL DIE." She uses the funniest tone while screaming this.

Ella calls me Mommy almost all of the time, but a few times throughout the day she'll switch it up and call me Sydney. When I call out for Gustavo she'll do the same. For example she usually says, "Gustavo, it's time for dinner."

The other day we were in the car and I was telling Ella about the errands we were going to run. I told her that I needed to go get gas. She promptly said "Say excuse me Mommy."

I took Ella to the zoo this past week with my sister and her kids. Ella loved to see the animals, but would say funny things like "Look at the pretty snake Mommy. I DON'T LIKE SNAKES."

Ella's Big Girl Room

2011-04-04T08:23:00.000-07:00

Ella's big girl room has been my first big nesting project. We transformed our guest room into her new room and will keep her old bedroom as the nursery (my next big project). It is so nice to be able to check something off of my list and I'm really happy with how the room turned out. The best part of it all is that Ella has transitioned really well. She LOVES her big girl bed and has been sleeping on it for 2 weeks now without any problems. Now I just can't wait to get started on my next big project!

ultrasound

2011-03-18T21:51:00.000-07:00

We had our ultrasound scheduled for Tuesday morning, but unfortunately Gustavo had a conflicting polygraph test so we had to push it back to Wednesday at 4:00. This pregnancy has been so different (faster weight gain, not nearly as sick, super emotional, and I want to eat EVERYTHING- especially sugar which I didn't even like when I was pregnant with Ella) so I naturally thought it was likely that I was having a boy.

I was wrong. We are having a healthy baby girl!!! I am so excited. I love the idea of having two girls close together. I love all of my sisters and hope my daughters will be as close as the five of us are. This sweet baby was very cooperative. The tech took about a million pictures and kept saying "Oh, this (fill in the organ) looks beautiful! Textbook." It was so wonderful to hear.

Ella has been right all along, I am pregnant with baby Sophie. We're certain Sophia will be her first name, but are still deciding which of her great grandmothers' names she'll have for her middle name. We are absolutely thrilled!

Taking care of 6 kids

2011-03-14T08:49:00.000-07:00

For the past 4 and a half days Gustavo and I have been down in Provo taking care of my sister's five children. Including Ella, the ages of the kids were 11, 9, 7, 4, 2, and 18 months. The older girls were all very helpful and things went well for the most part. In all honesty, Ella was my biggest problem half of the time because she didn't do well sharing the spotlight with her 18 month old cousin Max. Of course I didn't make dinner as well as their mom some nights, but even looking back on all of the cooking I didn't receive too many complaints (some nights it just felt like a lot- I definitely need to develop thicker skin before my own family get's big enough to share their opinions). I was doing fine until Saturday when Gustavo was off at guard weekend and I was trying to help everyone do their chores, keep kids from fighting, taking care of 2 extra nieces, fixing scraped knees, trying to save the dog from his malfunctioning electric fence dog caller, calling their neighbors and friends trying to fix the problems that arose for the dance pictures that were being taken in the evening, searching for dance tights, curling hair, applying make up, taking dinner orders, giving baths, and worrying about the 11 year old who was supposed to be back from her sleepover at 2:30 but didn't arrive until 6:30 (she was supposed to be ready for dance pictures at 5:45). It was a little overwhelming and since things were out of my control (which I HATE) I allowed myself to get stressed out. When the night was almost over and all of the kids were in bed I was cleaning the kitchen (I believe I did the dishes at least 50 times) and making muffins for Sunday's breakfast. Gustavo came in to talk with me and to my surprise sincerely asked "Do you think we should be done having kids?" I just turned around and laughed. I pointed to my belly and he said, "Well after this one of course." I said "TWO? Of course NOT." He then replied, "Do you think you can handle it?" I just laughed. It was so funny he felt that way! I definitely want more children, just not 5 more at once!

any tips?

2011-03-09T12:05:00.000-08:00

I have not spent any money on this new baby yet. I'm waiting until I find out the gender to determine what I need to buy. One thing I need to buy regardless is a new infant car seat. My aunt gave me one for Ella that was only good for a few months beyond her first birthday. I've done some slight searching and have been really surprised at how expensive it is to buy a car seat independent of a travel system. Also, there doesn't seem to be much selection at stores (everything comes with a stroller and I already have 2 of those). Do any of you have any tips for me? Have you bought one for a decent price without a stroller? THANKS!

the second time around

2011-03-01T12:28:00.000-08:00

Our bellies. The black dress makes it hard to see how big my belly really is, but I'm bigger than Ella now!

This pregnancy has been very different from my first. Although I was EXHAUSTED the first trimester and definitely nauseous, I have felt significantly better this time. I was on Zofran for my entire pregnancy with Ella, but I only took it a few days at the beginning of this pregnancy. The only negative difference is that I'm gaining more weight (not my favorite thing). I am definitely showing now and I'm only 18 weeks. I've been really excited because I started feeling this baby at only 17 weeks. It has helped everything feel so much more real. I can't wait to find out the gender of the baby and am already counting down to the ultrasound appointment that is scheduled for March 15th.

One of the things we're anticipating most is how Ella will deal with the new baby. They will be two and half years apart. Ella has always been very clingy and is definitely a mama's girl. In fact lately she's been saying "You can't do that Dad!" and "No, Mommy do it" or "What's Mommy doing?" when Gustavo goes to take care of her or give her loves. I'm sure it will be difficult for her to adjust to sharing the spotlight and attention, but I have hope that she'll love and adore her little sibling. Lately she's been taking extra good care of her baby doll. We've overheard her saying things like "Are you okay baby?" and then watched as she'll rock the baby or snuggle it. She's even started trying to give the baby diaper changes.

When we ask Ella if she thinks the baby is a brother or sister, she'll answer either way. She has never said the baby will be William though, she always insists that the baby is Sophie so we'll have to see if she's right. If not, we'll have about 20 weeks to convince her otherwise. I've got plenty of nesting projects and now have the energy, I just need to get going! Maybe the next pictures will be of the nursery or Ella's room. Both rooms are planned and paint is even purchased, but I haven't gotten farther than that. Hopefully I'll get them done, or at least started soon.

bellies

2011-02-17T18:21:00.000-08:00

Tonight I was reading Ella a little bedtime story while she sat on my lap. She was only wearing a diaper and as I glanced down I realized our bellies are the same size!

5 visits in 2 months

2011-02-14T16:27:00.000-08:00

Ella has been sick since November 2nd! Yes, of course there have been healthy days here and there. There were actually 3 healthy weeks between her sinus infection and pneumonia diagnosis. We finished her antibiotic for the pneumonia last Monday and five short days later (yes, the day of her birthday party) she had a low grade fever and a runny nose. I figured she had another virus and gave her Tylenol. She acted like herself and was sleeping fine so I wasn't too concerned. I also was reassured by the fact that her 2 year old check up was Monday so I knew she would see a doctor and I could talk about how sick she's been. Her fever was gone this morning and her nose hasn't been runny so I was surprised when the doctor looked in her ears and found that she has a DOUBLE EAR INFECTION! This poor girl just can't catch a break. She has been to the doctor 5 times in 2 short months. This is her third antibiotic since the end of December. I hope we can get over this and then finally stay healthy. We did hear good news though. Here are Ella's 2 year old stats:

Height: 35 1/2 inches - 89th percentile

Weight: 28 lbs. 11 oz. - 75th percentile

Head Circ: 49.7 cm - 93rd percentile

Ella has become quite a talker these past few months. She speaks in 3-4 word phrases and sentences. She can effectively tell us what she wants, needs, likes, and notices. I'm constantly amazed by her memory. She is a very sweet girl, but is still full of spunk. She loves to run and play. She has also started to love watching movies. Her favorite right now is Toy Story 3, but she loves The Little Mermaid ("Little Erdaid"), Beauty and the Beast, and all things Signing Time. She constantly talks about her friends, neighbors, and family members. She loves to read books and sing songs. Every time we are in the car she asks me to sing songs from the minute we leave the driveway until we park at our destination. She also dictates whether she wants me to sing loud or quiet. She is learning her shapes and knows circle, heart, square, diamond, and star. She knows the names of colors, but can't correctly identify them. She counts "6,7,8,9,10" or "6,7,8,10." She is fascinated with letters right now and loves to watch "the frog movie" which is Leapfrog's Letter Factory. We are constantly surprised by the new things she learns. We love our little two year old!

She's TWO!

2011-02-12T22:16:00.000-08:00

Ella is trying to show 2 fingers. It still takes a lot of concentration at this point.

Today we celebrated Ella's birthday with family and some friends. As always, I wanted to do something simple, but even simple can be overwhelming with such a big family! For days leading up to her birthday Ella loved to talk about her friends and family members who were coming to her party for cookie monster cupcakes. Ella started getting excited about birthdays when "Five Little Monkey's Bake a Birthday Cake" was her favorite book. She used to ask me to read it to her several times each day. That is how she learned the birthday song and that on birthdays we eat cake. Unfortunately Ella doesn't like to eat cake which is why I decided to have a cookie monster theme. I figured that way we could have the cake she knew we needed and have cookies for her to enjoy. I'm disappointed that I wasn't able to get any great pictures, but here is what I got.

Of course Ella kept with tradition and refused to even touch her cake again this year. She did enjoy being sung to though. Instead of wanting any of the treats I made she just wanted to sneak the valentine's day candy I set out.

Ella was shy until she opened presents. Even then she didn't show much personality, she just told everyone "thank you" as she tried to open and play with the gifts they brought.

Before her all of her guests were even gone, Ella informed me that she was ready for a nap. She had taken one earlier, but was worn out from all of the attention. She took a nice long nap and woke up just in time to play with Makaylee for the night while John and Alysha went out.

The girls had a great time playing with Ella's new toys including this adorable tea set from grandma and grandpa Kramer.

Ella also convinced Makaylee to play her favorite game: run from the living room to the fridge as many times as you can, as fast as you can. Did you notice the adorable twosie birthday jumper Ella has on? I saw the idea on another blog and got extremely excited when I saw the fabric on clearance at Ikea. My amazingly talented mom helped me make it for Ella and I love it!

pneumonia

2011-01-28T19:57:00.000-08:00

Poor Ella has been sick all winter long. She had different colds all through November and December. Christmas weekend she was miserable so we took her in on the 27th and found out she had a sinus infection. She finished off the antibiotic the first week of January and has been doing well until this Wednesday. She woke up with a cough and runny nose. Thursday she just got worse and this morning I noticed she was having trouble breathing. We took her in and found out she has pneumonia. She's on an antibiotic and we'll keep monitoring her breathing over the weekend. We'll go back to the doctor on Monday to see how she's doing. Poor baby. She is miserable. She just keeps saying in a really whiny, pathetic voice "sick" every time she coughs or we wipe her nose. It is TERRIBLE having a sick baby.

Top 10 of 2010

2011-01-27T11:35:00.000-08:00

2010 was an eventful year. Looking back I can't believe how much happened.

Here is our top 10 of 2010

10. Gustavo received his scuba certification and was able to go diving over 20 times during his 5 week deployment in the Caribbean.

9. Ella celebrated her first birthday!

8. We almost sold our townhouse, but ended up renting it instead.

7. I left my dream job as a part time PE teacher at Meadow Elementary to stay at home with my sweet Ella (the best decision I ever could have made).

6. We built our home and moved in July 11th.

5. We immediately went to work trying to make the new house our home.

4. Gustavo traveled all over the United States with his new position as an analyst in counter drug. He was gone for about 10 weeks in 2010.

3. We had a blast spending a week with the Kramer family in Fairview.

2. We celebrated my 26th birthday by attending The Lion King at the Capitol Theater.

1. The week of Thanksgiving we found out that we are having our second baby in July 2011!

We look forward to a busy and very exciting new year.

heartbeat

2011-01-18T11:19:00.000-08:00

Today I went to the doctor to hear my baby's heartbeat! Everything sounded great. My due date is July 30th. We're so excited for our little family to grow.

Much Needed Haircut

2011-01-11T12:44:00.000-08:00

Ella has crazy hair. Part of it is curly while most if it is straight. In addition, she has multiple cowlicks throughout her hair. For this reason she has pig tails every day. Her hair had become pretty long so I wanted to get it cut, but was worried about whether or not it would look good down. Finally around Christmas time Ella started really fighting me when I'd try to do her hair so for the first time on Christmas Eve we took her out with her hair down. It looked pretty crazy, but she was happy. Ever since I've been counting down for this much needed haircut that we finally got today. Here are the results.

As you can see, I should have gotten it cut MUCH sooner.

The Rundown

2011-01-11T12:21:00.000-08:00

We get to celebrate Christmas 4 times each year. Here is this year's rundown:

#1 This year we celebrated Christmas Eve with Abuelo and Abuela. Ella was so spoiled; she got a pony, slide, and castle. She couldn't believe all of these new toys belonged to her.

#2 Christmas morning we woke up and opened presents as a family. Gustavo taught Ella about Santa and showed her the candy in her stocking along with her presents. She loved her candy so much that she refused to let go of it until we let her eat some. Ella was thrilled by the baby doll set Santa left (especially the baby bottle and food). Ella also got the Beauty and the Beast dvd and hasn't gone a day without asking to watch it. Up until this point the only thing she has ever cared to watch was Baby Signing Time. After Ella opened her presents we got dressed and headed down to Provo.
#3 As a tradition, my sisters and I always make Christmas breakfast. At 10:00 we all met at my parent's house. We enjoyed eating together and opening presents. The vacuum and cute headband Grandma and Grandpa bought Ella was a HUGE success (can't you tell?)

#4 As soon as Ella woke up from her short nap at my parent's house we headed down to Nephi. We arrived around 2:30 and spent the afternoon and evening with Gustavo's dad's family. Yaya, Cary, and Sigfriedo were her from Puerto Rico and they went down to Nephi with Gilda and her two children, Natalie and Robert. We enjoyed a traditional Puerto Rican meal and then opened presents together. Again, Ella couldn't believe that people were giving her more things. Grandma and Grandpa got her a new bike. At about 7 o'clock we headed back home to finally relax. It was a great holiday spent with all of our family.

Gustavo's brother Laz was in Virginia for Christmas, but he and Allie came and stayed with us the following week. Ella fell in love with her uncle "Gaz" and Allie. She was so spoiled with attention from 4 adults all day long. She is still sad they are gone and talks about them every day. We can't wait to see them again soon.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T20:16:00.000-08:00

Free Things for ME

2010-12-22T08:05:00.000-08:00

My sister in law Yolanda started a money saving blog a month ago. She is an amazing saver/couponer. She is constantly getting things for free or close to it. Her blog keeps readers informed about great deals (and teaches you how to get them- think packs of Huggies diapers for only $3.50!) she also has great give aways regularly. You should check it out!
freethingsforme.blogspot.com

adults

2010-12-08T18:34:00.000-08:00

So I decided we should do Christmas cards this year. It seems like something most adults do. If you would like one then please e-mail me your address. THANKS! If you don't have my current e-mail address let me know by leaving a comment and I'll get a hold of you to make sure you get a Christmas card from us.

second wedding ring

2010-12-01T19:35:00.000-08:00

Yep, you read the title correctly. Today I went to the jeweler and picked up my SECOND wedding ring. No, I don't have two, this is a replacement for the ring Gustavo proposed to me with on my 20th birthday. I had fallen in love with the ring my senior year of high school. After seeing it in the mall I found a picture online and tucked it away in a file folder labeled "important." When Gustavo and I decided we wanted to get married three years later I showed him the picture and sent him off searching without much luck. He was in California for language training and I was in Provo and neither of us could find anything like it. I had despondently decided I would need to find another style of ring when my friend Aimee and I went to one last jeweler who told me he could order it in! I scheduled an appointment so they would have it when Gustavo was coming to visit for my birthday. When he came to Provo we went and looked at it and Gustavo had me go to the car while he talked to the jeweler in private - of course, I figured he was working out the details of purchasing the ring and getting it sized and dipped. I expected to get it while we were together for the holidays a few months later. To my surprise the next day, my birthday, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him while revealing the ring! I was completely shocked. After I settled down and told him yes, he told me that a jeweler in California located the last ring the company had in Texas and got it sized and sent to him the day before he traveled to Utah. I LOVED this ring, but a month or so before our first anniversary I lost my first diamond. I had it replaced and within six months lost another. This continued to happen for the next 5 years. Some years I lost one diamond, while other years I lost 4. The ring was sent away for 6 weeks each time a diamond was lost. As most of you know, this July I lost my ring and didn't find it until the end of August. After I found it, I took it to the jeweler to have the diamonds checked. They found another loose stone - of course. When they sent it away to get it fixed the "master jeweler" tried to make the ring more stable and ended up ruining it during the process. They told me I could keep my ring although it looked different and much worse, or I could take credit for my ring and order a replacement. I found the ring I feel is closest to my original ring and was able to go pick it up today (6 weeks later). It is so nice having a wedding ring again. Let's just hope I have better luck with this one!!!

big girl

2010-11-24T13:20:00.000-08:00

My baby is 21 months old! The last few weeks she has started playing a lot more and seems to be a little less clingy. In fact, for the first time I can ever remember, Ella has asked me to put her down a few times this week! She still asks me to "hold you" throughout the day, but after some Love and Logic discipline, she seems to be better at understanding that sometimes she needs to wait and be patient. Ella has recently fallen in love with the stuffed bunny Abuela gave to her last Easter. Ella loves to take care of "Bunny." She tries to feed her and give her water and has a very hard time understanding why I won't let her. In this first picture she is putting lotion on bunny (I think she did this for almost 20 minutes and I was in heaven because she is just barely starting to play independently).

Ella likes to put Bunny down for naps and night time (yes, she is still obsessed with pacifiers and no, I have not taken them away at bedtime or for naps yet.)

Like most kids, she has always been intrigued by our computers so my parents got Ella her very own laptop on her first birthday. Whenever we're on the computer we tell her to go and get hers so she runs off to her room and brings it in with us so she can play.

For the past month or so in an attempt to get Ella to stop whining I've been telling her to use her "big girl words" or to act like a big girl so now she climbs up on things and proudly exclaims "BIG!"

She also stands on random objects to "balance" and gets so proud of herself.

She isn't interested in potty training, but she demands privacy when she is going to the bathroom. She hides behind something (usually the couch) and doesn't want you to come close to her.

Ella is still very in love with shoes (and clothes). These adorable Minnie slippers are a hand me down from my sister and Ella loves them. I had to include this random picture because she is just so cute!

Here are some other fun things about Ella right now:

Ella loves clothes and shoes so much that she has a say in what she wears every day. I can get her excited about going somewhere by telling her what we can wear (her coat, boots, a dress- you name it!) My sister Eleanor asked me if it was hard to get Ella to wear tights and my response was, "Are you kidding me? She asks to wear tights!"
Ella is becoming a better eater. Still not good, but better.
Ella loves to play with Daddy. She is still a mama's girl, but she is being much nicer to Daddy and even cried the other night when he was leaving.
She is starting to string words together. Usually not more than two, but the other night she said "baby movie here I go" which meant that she wanted to watch the Baby Signing Time movie, "Here I Go."
She has very good manners. She always says please and thank you. Gustavo is currently teaching her to say "excuse me."
Ella loves our neighbors Jen and Ian and asks to go play with them almost every day. When Jen and I go walking, Ella gets paranoid if Ian is ever out of her sight. Ian is 4 so even though he likes Ella, he considers her a baby.
She loves bubbles.
Getting her to stay in nursery is still difficult, but she has gone 4 of the last 5 weeks.
She loves singing so much that it is usually the only way to calm her down when she is upset. Her favorite songs are "Popcorn Popping", "The Wise Man and the Foolish Man", the alphabet, and "If You're Happy and You Know it"

*As a disclaimer for many of the random outfits, or lack of pants in some of these pictures let me explain that those were days where I was sick or days where Gustavo had gotten up with her and I hadn't gotten her ready yet. I do dress her, I promise :)

Shutterfly Promotion

2010-11-23T18:37:00.000-08:00

this is the picture I used for last year's Christmas card

Every year I have a hard time deciding what to get for our parents and extended family members. Now that we have Ella it is easy to make her the center of the gift. Who doesn't like pictures of a cute kid, especially one you are related to? Last year my sister-in-law and I made calendars for our family on Shutterfly. The site was so easy to navigate and the finished product was adorable. I think we'll do that again this year and I'm excited because they've made some new templates that you can check out here. I'm also excited because this year they are doing a promotion where you can earn 50 free Christmas cards. How great is that? It's really easy. You can read about it here. Shutterfly has really cute holiday card designs and Christmas photo cards. You should check them out. I am definitely ordering from Shutterfly this year.

Good luck with your Christmas gifts!

gratitude

2010-11-16T21:05:00.000-08:00

"My brothers and sisters, do we remember to give thanks for the blessings we receive? Sincerely giving thanks not only helps us recognize our blessings, but it also unlocks the doors of heaven and helps us feel God’s love." -President Thomas S. Monson

Reading President Monson's talk from October General Conference got me thinking about all of the many blessings I enjoy.

being a wife and mother
staying at home with Ella
having a testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ
living near a temple
our home
Gustavo's job security
family
friends
a modern prophet
my education
the opportunity I had to teach for 5 years
health
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

We are so blessed.

giving in

2010-11-13T14:23:00.000-08:00

Friday I gave in. I was changing the radio station and when it landed on Christmas music I kept it there. I usually wait until the day after Thanksgiving so I felt a little guilty, but I got over that quickly because the songs filled me with such excitement! I LOVE Christmas time and now I really feel like it is just around the corner.

HALLOWEEN

2010-10-31T12:12:00.000-07:00

It is definitely safe to say that Halloween has become more fun now that I'm a mom. Of course I loved Halloween as a child and a teenager, but after high school I haven't done much. This year we were able to celebrate on five separate occasions. Thursday morning Ella and I went to our neighborhood preschool for a costume party. Our block has 7 houses (one of which is the model). Four of us participate in a weekly "preschool" of sorts. We rotate having the kids over at our house for an hour each Thursday to play, sing, read, study simple subjects, and eat snacks. It has been a really fun way to get to know our neighbors and make new friends. The boys are all 3 and capable of much more than Ella, but she still enjoys it.

Ian, Morgan, Miles, and Ella

Ella loved dancing to the Halloween music.

The kids had a cake walk, but once Ella saw the cookies she stopped playing and wouldn't take her eyes off of them!

The boys were patient and decorated their cookies, but Ella quickly ate hers and then snacked on the candy she was given to decorate with.

After preschool we had lunch and then Ella went down for her nap. When she woke up we went up to Camp Williams where Gustavo works for another party. This was her first experience trick or treating. We've been trying to teach her how to say "trick or treat" but she just smiles and sweetly says "treat." We figured that was good enough. Once we got to the different offices and Ella had the opportunity, she just took candy and said "thank you." At least she had good manners. At first she refused to let go of her candy to place it in her bag. Once she had 3 pieces Gustavo was able to convince her that it was all still her candy and that it was going to be easier if she put it in the bag. Each office was decorated with scary Halloween things so Ella learned the word "spooky." Every time we passed something she would point and say "spooky."

Friday night we went to a friend's "Dinner in Disguise" party. As a family we dressed up as characters from Peter Pan. Ella was Tinkerbell, I was Wendy, and Gustavo was a pirate.

The party was at Adobe, formerly Omniture. The building was really nice and had this adorable chair. Ella loved sitting/swinging in it, but I wasn't able to get any good pictures.

Saturday night we had big plans to go trick or treating around our block, but we got rained out so Ella ate treats from our candy bowl before we headed down to spend some time with my parents, Emily, and Max (the other kids were all out trick or treating).

On Halloween after church we lounged around and then headed up to Yolanda's house to eat her award winning chili and spend time with Gustavo's family. We've had a great time celebrating with friends and family this weekend.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Halloween Dinner Party

2010-10-25T14:17:00.000-07:00

jogging partner

2010-10-21T13:59:00.000-07:00

This summer Ella has become my running partner. She's usually in her pajamas, but yesterday when I finally took pictures we went out an hour or so after waking up in hopes that it would be warmer. I'm not really a runner. I just want to be healthy so each week we run about 18 miles. Yes, that is what I run in a WEEK, not on Saturdays for my long run like the rest of you!
My sweet friend and co-worker let me use her old jogging stroller at the end of last year when I was sharing my workout dilemma with her. I wasn't sure how I was going to be able to exercise each day with Ella and didn't want to invest in a stroller without knowing she would enjoy it (in case you don't know yet, she is a pretty picky girl.) After I told Kathy how much Ella enjoyed it, she gave it to me. Kathy's baby is in fourth grade so she hasn't needed it for awhile. We are so grateful for it. It is perfect because we will be able to use it for a long time since it is a double stroller.
I'm bummed that the winter is coming so soon and that we won't be able to run outside much longer. I am trying to get geared up to run at the rec center track a few days a week and to do exercise DVDs some evenings. Have you tried the Jillian Michaels workouts? Oh my goodness, they are tough! My friend let me borrow three of her DVDs and they are definitely the hardest workout I've ever done at home (okay, probably the hardest workout I've ever done period.) You should try them!

I had to include this picture because I feel like these days Ella is always pulling funny faces.

ksl finds

2010-10-01T11:49:00.001-07:00

I am definitely in project mode. I needed to find a chair for the new desk so I searched thrift stores, yard sales, and consignment shops on Saturday and didn't find anything I loved so I looked on KSL. I found a few things I liked (one that I loved, but it was already sold) and decided to get this chair. I put a quick coat of paint on it to brighten it and then my sister Emily helped me make this chair cover with some fabric I had from a previous project that I never got around to. All together the chair and pad were $23.
While searching for the desk chair I found these bar stools that I love. I got both of them for only $25. It was perfect because my brother-in-law, Shevin, works right by the warehouse these stools were at in Salt Lake so he picked them up for me on his lunch break. I sold the 3 bar stools we used in our old house for $20 so I feel like I only spent $28 for the new bar stools and the desk chair!

FHE

2010-09-27T18:50:00.000-07:00

Tonight for family home evening we talked about the temple. I told Ella that because Gustavo and I were married in the temple our family can be together forever. I said, "Don't you want to be together forever?" and she quickly replied, "Yep." After the lesson we were singing I Love to See the Temple and Ella started singing with us (no words of course, just "aahh".) It was so funny I couldn't help, but laugh. I believe we sang the song at least 4 times because we couldn't believe how cute she sounded (and because she kept saying "again.")

5 dollar project

2010-09-23T19:18:00.000-07:00

I want an entry table (among a million other things). My little sister, Eleanor, and I have looked online at blogs many times for design ideas. She knew about my plan for the entry and gave me a call one Saturday morning saying that she was at a garage sale and found a table she thought I could make work. She wasn't promising anything, but she said she liked it. When I heard it was only $5 I told her to go ahead and get it without knowing much about it. When she brought it to my house I was a little surprised. First of all it was 6 feet long and couldn't even fit in my entry way. Second, it looked like this:

Gustavo looked at me and said, "You just threw away 5 dollars."

His negative attitude made me determined to prove him wrong. There was no way I could make it work in our entry, but I decided to turn it into a desk while he was off in Las Vegas for work. I sanded, scraped, and sawed the table to make it fit an area in our great room.

I had plenty of sandpaper, primer, and white paint to I didn't have to spend anymore money and now it looks like this:

I think I proved him wrong.

shoes

2010-09-22T08:38:00.000-07:00

Ella insisted on changing her shoes all day yesterday. She rotated through these four pairs.

She is such a girl!

or...

maybe she's just like her dad

Family Pictures

2010-09-18T12:04:00.001-07:00

Our friend and old neighbor took these pictures for us and we couldn't be happier. She also took the ones on the post below. I uploaded the edited pictures so you should peek at them again too. THANKS ANNETTE!

stay at home mom

2010-09-14T18:35:00.001-07:00

Today one of the women I used to teach with called and asked if I can watch her little boy tomorrow. During the conversation she asked if I like how things are going this year, referring to staying home and no longer teaching. It has made me think about how much I love being home with Ella.
I do not miss feeling rushed in the mornings. I do not miss worrying about Ella. I used to worry I might miss something (like her first laugh or her first steps- oh wait, I did). Fortunately once I went part time I didn't feel much guilt. Even though staying home isn't always easy, I don't regret it. I never wish I could drop her off and go to work. I feel really fortunate that I get to be home with her. I had unrealistic ideas about being home. I thought I would have a lot more time to work on projects, but that isn't true. I'm busy taking care of Ella. Some days it is hard to just get a shower and dinner made. I do enjoy the flexibility of my new schedule though. I love that I can choose to just stay home and spend every minute with Ella, or that I can go have lunch or visit with friends and neighbors. I love that I have the time to focus on what matters most- my family. Ella is only 19 months old and it is already hard to remember when she was a little baby. It goes so fast, as cliche as it is to say, it is so true. I'm so glad I get to be with her. She means the world to me.

first things first

2010-09-08T12:51:00.000-07:00

Our house is definitely a work in progress. Everywhere I turn I see another space I want to work on, or another thing I want to buy. The first thing we purchased was this entertainment center. I love it. Of course, it isn't perfect and I am constantly changing something on it, but it adds a lot to the space.

Our next big projects have been in the kitchen. This is what it looked like when we first moved in.

Right away we contracted someone to build us an island. While that was being built we added hardware to the cabinets and drawers. Once the island was built we had black granite counter tops installed.

Our next kitchen projects will be painting the cabinets white and putting in dark wood floors. Who knows how long it will be before we can afford to make those changes though because we've got a whole lot of dirt that needs to be cultivated! Our next focus will be on the yard. We need to put it in next summer so every penny will be saved for that HUGE project.

twenty six

2010-09-06T20:08:00.000-07:00

We have had a great weekend. Busy, but great. On Thursday Gustavo and I went up to Salt Lake to watch The Lion King at Capitol Theatre. It was just as incredible as we heard it would be.

Saturday we went to my cousin Mallory's wedding and Sunday we went to Gavin's blessing. This meant we got to spend time with both of our families. Ella was exhausted after each of these events. Everyone got to see what a peach she can be (yes, I'm being sarcastic.) She started screaming while my cousin and her husband were exchanging vows on Saturday and then again during Gavin's blessing. Why was she screaming? No good reason. She just wasn't happy. It is a good thing she is adorable...

My birthday was Sunday and Gustavo got me a Dairy Queen ice cream cake to celebrate. A few of our friends came over that evening. Monday my sweet sister in law took me out to lunch and to the movies. That night I had dinner and pie (my favorite) with my parents and some of my sisters. This has been a wonderful birthday. Once again, I feel so overwhelmed with gratitude for our amazing family and friends. Thanks for thinking of me on my birthday. I love you all!

18 months

2010-09-01T13:15:00.000-07:00

My little Ella is 18 months old. She is one sassy and demanding little girl! When we went to the doctor for her 18 month visit Ella yelled at everyone and insisted on being right by me the entire time. Dr. Spencer told us she is more anxious than most, but that she is doing great. At the end of the visit after the nurse gave Ella her shots she asked if there was anything else she could do. Ella looked right at her and yelled "NO!" I believe that was the only word she said the entire visit! Here were her measurements: Height: 32.5 in. - 75th percentile

Weight: 25.6 lbs. - 75th percentile
Head: 49.1 cm - 97th percentile

Here are some pictures of the things she's been up to.

Ella loves clothes and shoes. She looks in her closet every morning and points to her church dresses and says "pretty." One day I picked out an outfit and she started yelling because she wanted to wear something else. She wore what I picked out though, because that seems way to crazy at this young age. She is obsessed with shoes and randomly starts playing with them and asks me to put them on. In the above picture we were getting ready for bed so she was trying to put her pajamas on.

On Ella's first birthday she fell down a full flight of stairs in our town home. I have been overly cautious about stairs ever since so I didn't give her much opportunity to learn until a little camping trip with my family last month. We were staying in cabins that each had a loft space and porches so Ella finally learned how to go up and down stairs.

Ella would suck on her pacifier all day long if I let her. She is only allowed to use it when she is sleeping. Sometimes she tries to trick people and tells them she is sleepy just so she can have her pacifier. One day I noticed Ella was playing really quietly in her room so I went to check on her. I found her hiding behind the rocking chair sucking her pacifier. She also hides when she needs privacy while going to the bathroom or sneaking a treat she shouldn't have (like gum- wrapper and all).

Ella's hair is so crazy! Even though I try to do it I can't figure it out. The right side has curls that will not straighten. I've tried using a flat iron and blowing it dry with a round brush, but it will still not go straight. The left side is stick straight. On top of that, I'm trying to grow her bangs out so this poor girl looks crazy most of the time. I still think she's adorable though!

For the longest time Ella could not figure out how to use a straw. It was so frustrating to her. She would just bite it or even blow into it, but now she can successfully use one! It is very exciting for her.

Ella is a lazy drinker! If someone holds her sippy cup as she starts drinking, she will refuse to take it from them and stop drinking when they let go. She also tries to find ways to prop it up so she doesn't need to hold it. It cracks me up!

At the beginning of July Ella started to talk. Before she really didn't try very much, she just signed and said Nena (her aunt Yolanda's nickname), Mama, and Dada. I wasn't worried, but we kept trying to encourage her to use her voice. Now that she has started she increases her vocabulary each day. She doesn't phrase anything together, but she gets her point across! Some of her favorite words are: night-night, bye-bye, mommy, daddy, doggy, kitty, ready, go, please, grandpa, abuelo (not grandma or abuela though), Nena, baby, potty, eat, yummy, treat, juice, pretty, cookie, no, ball, and Ella. She loves to watch Baby Signing Time still. That is the only thing she'll watch. She loves to learn new signs and continues to sign regularly.

Although part of me is sad not to be back at school this year, I'm really happy I get to be home with Ella. She is bound to teach me patience (I thought I had gained a lot after teaching elementary school for 5 years, but I have so much more to learn!!!) She loves to cuddle up and read stories and occasionally she shares a kiss with me to brighten my day!

lost and FOUND

2010-08-29T11:55:00.000-07:00

I FOUND MY RING THIS MORNING!!!
Right before going to church I decided to change my outfit. I grabbed a dress and put it on. After a few minutes I realized there was something in the pocket- MY RING!!! It was lost for 56 days and I really didn't think I would find it. I am so relieved.

first trip to the zoo

2010-08-20T12:42:00.000-07:00

The week before school started, my sister Emily called and invited us to go up to the zoo with her family. Since Em wanted to go on a Friday, Gustavo was able to go with us. This was Ella's first trip to the zoo.

Anne, Max, Olivia, Abbey, Ella, and Jane after the bird show.

Ella was so excited when we sat down for the bird show and she saw birds. She kept signing "bird." at that point she was signing it on her forehead, now she signs it correctly by her mouth :)

Baby Zuri was my favorite

Abbey was excited to see the ostriches because someone in her class told her there was a new baby. She was disappointed when we saw there was only one adult and it was "an ugly looking bird."

Gustavo always says the penguins are his favorite.

Ella liked the giraffes best. As soon as she saw them she excitedly yelled "DOGGY."

This huge iguana was just wandering around the reptile house.

We left a little bit sooner than everyone else because Ella was exhausted. She was asleep after only 1 or 2 minutes in the car.

where oh where can it be?

2010-07-29T20:07:00.000-07:00

I can't find my wedding ring.

I swear I have looked everywhere.

Where oh where can it be?

I'm getting really scared I may not find it.

Abuelo y Abuela

2010-07-29T12:29:00.000-07:00

Every year for the 24th of July, Gustavo's mom and Juve take the family to the Fiesta Days Rodeo.

About a week before the rodeo Ella learned how to say "Buelo" and she want to be with him all night long. She entertained herself by combing his beard when she got restless during the rodeo. This was really the first time that Ella decided she was comfortable and didn't need to be held by me the entire time. In fact, she asked Abuela and Abuelo to hold her most of the night.

Ella loves Gabe (and so do we). It is always so fun to get the chance to see these cute boys.

Gavin was a trooper and slept during most of the rodeo.

Girlfriends

2010-07-25T19:18:00.001-07:00

I graduated in Early Childhood Education at BYU in 2005. This is a small program. Our year there were 36 girls. We had all the same classes for our last 2 semesters and became really close. Here is a picture from my reception a few months before graduation.

Since graduating, we've tried to stay close. We get together for lunch or dinner a few times a year. Slowly, friends are moving out of the state to get closer to family or for their husband's education.
We decided that every five years we'll have a reunion weekend. I was lame and missed the first girls' night in Park City. I don't plan to miss anymore though girls!

This year Emily flew in from Oregon, Erica came from Florida, and the rest of us organized family vacations around this weekend. We got together for dinner (and dessert of course) at the Cheesecake Factory. We spent the weekend swimming, shopping, getting massages, visiting, reminiscing, and EATING.

We got to meet Erica's little Wyatt. All of us fell in love with this cute little guy. He is definitely the most easy going baby I have ever met. He was so fun.

Girls, I can't wait for out 2015 reunion. Hopefully more of you will be able to join us!

We Moved!

2010-07-21T20:12:00.000-07:00

We have been so busy the last few weeks trying to get packed, moved, ready for the renter, and settled into our new house.

We absolutely LOVE all of the open space. Our town home was 1600 square feet on three levels. Now we have 1800 square feet on one level (1800 unfinished square feet in the basement). I can't tell you how nice it is not having to deal with stairs.
Our first projects for this house have been painting the dining room table black and buying/assembling the white entertainment center. We have a million more projects...

One of my favorite things about this house is the large pantry.

After a lot of work, it is starting to feel like our house. Come over and visit us!

4th of July Weekend

2010-07-07T03:47:00.001-07:00

When I first saw that the 4th of July was on Sunday this year I was a little disappointed. It turned out being great though because we got to draw out the celebration! On Saturday we had a bbq with Gustavo's mom, Juve, Yolanda, Shevin, and their boys. After eating we left Ella with Yolanda and Shevin and headed off to Stadium of Fire. I didn't bring my camera, but it was an awesome show. We love Carrie Underwood and she was just as incredible as we thought she would be.
The 4th was really low key. My sister Meg and her family got here Saturday night so on Sunday we went down to Provo to visit with them for a few hours after church. On Monday we headed down to Nephi for another bbq in the afternoon. Here is a picture of Ella and Gabe. I love that these two are so close in age. It is fun watching them grow up together.

Liz is always so good to get a group picture.

At around 3 o'clock we headed up to Provo for my family's annual 4th of July party where we swam, ate, visited, and played with family.

This year I was too busy enjoying the traditional water fight to get any pictures, but it was a blast like always. Ella just enjoyed walking all around. I think she loved swimming with the boys because she could see so many belly buttons.

It was a great weekend.

fathers

2010-06-19T22:21:00.000-07:00

"Any man can be a father. It takes someone special to be a dad."

Ella is lucky to have such an incredible dad.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

I love summer

2010-06-15T19:09:00.000-07:00

This morning as Ella woke me up (she makes a great alarm clock), I immediately started thinking about getting ready for work. I was so excited when I remembered it's summer... and then even more excited when I remembered that I'm not going back. Instead of going to work, Ella and I went running and then met Alysha and Makaylee over at the splash pad in Highland.

Ella loved eating their crackers. She is such a mooch.
It is so funny to see the difference in the girls' personalities. Makaylee was content to sit in the water and play with a single fountain while Ella just wanted to walk everywhere. She never stopped so I constantly had this view.

Once Ella noticed the vent where the water was recycling through she was determined to explore it. I was nervous to let her go over though because lots of big kids were playing in that area, but when the water stopped for 10 minutes all the kids left so I let her play.

Occasionally she let me see her cute face.

P.S. look at our house today...

I'm getting SO excited!

what a difference a day makes

2010-06-13T18:08:00.001-07:00

our house

2010-06-09T19:51:00.000-07:00

It's official...

We are building this floor plan

in this color scheme
on this corner lot with .35 acres.
This is what it looks like now.

Isn't it beautiful?

Our estimated closing date is July 12th.

HOORAY!

More great news: we found a renter for our townhome who seems awesome!

independent Ella

2010-06-09T18:28:00.000-07:00

This whole toddler tantrum thing is going to take a lot out of me. I was really excited to take Ella swimming today with our friends. She loves water and I thought it would be great. I was a little worried considering her recent behavior and the fact that we haven't been to a pool since she started walking. We didn't even get into the pool before the tantrums began. This time I was hit in the nose (no blood thankfully). I try to keep her away from my face, buy I'm obviously new at this. The line was long and she didn't want to be held. She wanted to wander around, including in the parking lot. It wasn't long before she fell flat on her face which left her with a cut nose and scraped forehead. She was upset and still didn't want me to hold her.

Things got a little better when we entered the pool.
She still didn't want me to hold her hand- can we say miss independent? It wasn't long before she tripped and fell under the water. Of course I was right there and quickly grabbed her out of the water. After Ella started breathing normally and calmed down she was a little more willing to stay near me and even allowed me to touch her.
Unfortunately, things got worse before we left. As we walked around the lazy river some boys were playing around and one jumped in the air and as he landed his elbow smacked into Ella's head. I heard the contact and knew it must have really hurt. Right after she calmed down from the collision Ella was drenched by one of four buckets that spontaniously empty to soak people. Of course we walked under at the worst time; she was hysterical.

It is a good thing that a long with these terrible tantrums, Ella is also playing and joking around more. I love this crazy little girl more and more (who knew that was possible?)

fat lip

2010-06-07T19:23:00.000-07:00

(a few hours after the incident so the swelling is down)
Guess who gave me a fat lip today? Yep, Ella. During the past two days she has decided to be very independent. Yesterday during church she was impossible. She wanted to be anywhere but with us doing everything we didn't want her to be doing. We haven't had this issue before and definitely not to this extreme degree. Today she screamed when I put her in the stroller (she wanted to push it), but once I started running she was fine. At the grocery store she was manageable at the beginning, but by the end she was done. She was screaming to get out so I picked her up thinking I'd hold her while we finished. That wasn't what she wanted. She started fighting to get down so I tried to put her back in the cart. She started kicking and flailing around. I distracted her for a minute and found a line (it was Walmart so the line was pretty long.) Once I got settled she got worse and worse. She was screaming and I felt all eyes on me. She wanted to run all over and wasn't willing to compromise. I wasn't about to let her run all over so I was trying to stay calm and whisper to her as she flung her head back into my mouth. I thought I was bleeding, but easily realized it was just swollen. I wanted to go home, but needed the groceries because I was supposed to bring dinner to my neighbor. I tried not to cry while somehow managing to get through checkout. What a nightmare.

p.s. Gustavo is gone again. He's been gone 9 weeks of the last 7 months.

dancing queen

2010-06-04T21:36:00.000-07:00

school's out FOREVER

2010-06-04T21:21:00.001-07:00

... and so far, life is wonderful

book recommendations

2010-05-31T19:19:00.000-07:00

Family and friends, I need some ideas for books to read this summer. I know lots of you are avid readers so please tell me some of your favorites or fun books you've read lately. The last books I read were The Hunger Games series and The Happiness Project. I'm up for anything. Thanks!

turn around

2010-05-30T14:49:00.000-07:00

Although Ella has been in this car seat since her birthday in February, we kept her rear facing since all of our research said that was still the safest position. This weekend we decided Ella is big enough to be forward facing so today we turned the seat around. We think she likes it!

doesn't she look big?

2010-05-24T15:40:00.000-07:00

I stole this picture from my sister-in-law, Yolanda's, blog. Doesn't Ella look big? Ella is finally healthy again. We went to the doctor 3 times the week she was sick. During that time Ella lost over 1 lb. Her appetite is definitely back. Unfortunately the whining, crying, and clingy behavior is still here. At her 15 month appointment we found out that despite her weight loss Ella is still:

weight: 22 lbs. 12 oz. - 50th percentile

length: 31.5 inches - above 75th percentile

head circ: 47.4 cm - 90th percentile

It's back

2010-05-13T18:54:00.000-07:00

Don't you feel like things always happen at once? Two weeks ago I got hit in the grocery store parking lot. Fortunately, the woman who hit me was insured. Unfortunately, the car needed to be fixed so I had to go through the claim process and get everything worked out for the car to get repaired. While going through this process Ella's cold symptoms got better, but she was still tired and irritable. On Tuesday and Wednesday she threw up and started having diarhea. I took her back to the pediatrician today and learned that she is breathing perfectly, her ear infections are definitely getting better, but she has contracted some kind of stomach bug. This poor girl hasn't been healthy for almost 3 weeks. I'm ready for the whining and crying to stop and I'm certain she's ready to feel good. On top of Ella being sick, cleaning up after Ella being sick (last night she threw up all over her car seat and the rental car), and getting the car repaired, Gustavo came up with a new plan to rent out our house and build a new home over in Lehi. This has taken more planning and meetings. Nothing is set in stone, but we are excited about the prospects. You can look at the plans here. Tomorrow we'll meet with the builder's preferred lender. My favorite part of the day has definitely been that our car is back.

I missed it. I'm glad to see it looks as good as new. Driving my own car is so much better than driving a rental (especially one that smells like vomit).

poor girl

2010-05-06T17:48:00.001-07:00

We went to the pediatrician today and found out that our baby has double ear infections. Poor girl.

My brilliant sister

2010-04-29T14:24:00.001-07:00

I just got back from listening to my sister, Erin Holmes, speak at Women's Conference. I am so impressed by her. First of all, who gets asked to speak at Women's Conference? Incredible women like Erin. Erin currently supports her family as a professor at BYU in the School of Family Life. She was asked to speak on "Finding Joy in Motherhood." As you can imagine, it was a very popular session at the conference. She did a beautiful job! She expressed the inadequacies we all too often feel as mothers and reminded each of us that our Heavenly Father will help increase our capacity to see the nobility of our efforts and help us feel joy. One of the points that really stuck out to me from Erin's message was that to find something we must look for it. We must SEEK joy. Often that means we must pray and trust that our Heavenly Father will help us. She shared a beautiful quote from Elder and Sister Hafen, "Our sorrows and sacrifices carve and stretch the caverns of feeling within our own hearts and as these caverns are enlarged they expand our soul's capacity for joy." It was such an incredible talk. You really should all watch it when it is rebroadcast on KBYU or find it on byutv.org later on. I'll end this post with another quote Erin shared from Elder Holland:

"Rely on Him. Rely on Him heavily. Rely on him forever. And "press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope." You are doing God's work. You are doing it wonderfully well. He is blessing you and He will bless you, even-no, especially-when your days and your nights may be the most challenging. Like the woman who anonymously, meekly, perhaps even with hestation and some embarrassment, fought her way through the crowd just to touch the hem of the Master's garment, so Christ will say to the women who worry and wonder and sometimes weep over their responsibilities as mothers, "Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole." And it will make your children whole as well."

Ella update

2010-04-27T14:58:00.000-07:00

Ella is such a cute little stink. She has her second top tooth coming in right now and it looks like at least 2 more are coming soon. I wish teething didn't bother her so much. Her newest discovery is the light switch by her crib. We'll be rearranging her room soon (I didn't think about that when I set up the nursery).

Ella loves spaghetti! She is still a very finicky eater. She used to love grapes and strawberries, but now she has decided not to even try them. Hopefully she gets over that soon. She likes peas, but those are the only vegetable she eats consistently. She signs that she wants crackers all day long. We try not to give her more than a few each day, except for during church (we use any tricks we can to keep her happy during those three long hours.) She loves yogurt, pears, cheese, mandarin oranges, wheat bread (she still refuses to eat white, but I don't mind), pasta, beans, and ANY kind of treat (she is definitely my daughter).

Ella is walking! It took her awhile, but within the past few days she's started walking most of the time. While transitioning into walking she started doing the bear walk- keeping her legs straight and sticking her bum up in the air. She still does this sometimes (especially while wearing dresses.) I can see more of her independent spirit coming out with this new milestone. I would usually categorize Ella as a clingy baby, but now she doesn't even want to hold my finger when she is walking. I'm sure this independence will continue to get stronger, but in most instances she's still a mama's girl who LOVES to give kisses and snuggle.

date night

2010-04-24T08:14:00.001-07:00

GO JAZZ!

what works for you?

2010-04-21T21:19:00.000-07:00

This year I've been really lucky that my job has given me great exercise. I didn't know if it would, but it has been awesome (I've actually lost almost 6 lbs. from my pre-pregnancy weight.) Now that I'm quitting, I'm trying to figure out what I should do to ensure that I get exercise. Before I had Ella I had a gym pass and loved it. I'm not sure if that would be the best option for me now though becasue I don't know when I would go. Gustavo leaves for work at about 5:30 in the morning so there is no way I can go before he leaves. I could go at night after putting Ella to bed, but I don't know if I really would because if I have time I know that I'd love to spend it with Gustavo. I thought about buying a jogging stroller, but Ella hates strollers. I also thought about buying an elliptical for the house because that is the machine I always use at the gym and I love running. We don't really have space, but we could make some right? Well, I've just been thinking about my options and want to know what works for you? How do you other mamas get your exercise? I know all of our schedules and responsibilities are different, but I'd love to hear how you do it so I have more ideas!

First Haircut

2010-04-19T14:03:00.000-07:00

Over spring break we took Ella to get her first haircut.

We were worried Ella would be sad, but she did great!
In fact, she started to dance when the blow drier was on.
Bye bye mullet (and pig tails unfortunately).
Hello cute haircut!

latest project

2010-04-17T19:43:00.000-07:00

We've wanted to finish our third bedroom for a long time. In February we finally did! This time we were lazy and decided to hire other people to do most of the work. We only painted and put in the baseboards.
I made this headboard (thanks for the tutorial Annie). As you can see, it isn't finished yet, but it will be soon.

Deployment

2010-04-17T19:23:00.000-07:00

As most of you know Gustavo was deployed for 5 weeks and came home April 2nd. It has been SO nice having him home. Some of you may have imagined him in the middle east or in some depressing situation. I know that I don't typically think of paradise and deployment being simultanious, but in his case it was. He was deployed with Lance and Paul who are 2 of his good friends from work.

This is the view from right outside of his hotel room. The hotel has a private beach.

He went to the beach almost every day.

He got scuba certified before leaving and was able to go diving over 20 times while he was gone.

He saw all sorts of incredible fish. I'll post more pictures of what he saw later.

open house

2010-04-17T14:11:00.001-07:00

We had an open house today. No one came. I feel bad for our realtor because he put a lot of work into advertising for it. I'm not sad though because our realtor owns a window cleaning business (who knew?) and cleaned our windows while he waited for people to come. They look great!

Plus, it just motivated me to clean out some closets and do some deeper cleaning.

funny stuff

2010-04-14T18:08:00.000-07:00

As a teacher kids tell me funny things all of the time. I never remember to write things down though. One of these days I am going to post the funny things I can still remember my first graders saying, but for now I am just going to write the comments that stick out from this year.

Yesterday I was asking a class what they need to do to be healthy. Of course most students in other classes answered the way I expected: eat fruits and vegetables, drink lots of water, exercise, etc. This little first grader raised his hand excitedly and responded, "Avoid pornography." Not what I expected, but definitely a good thing.

The first day of school I asked students what PE is. One girl raised her hand and while smiling at me said, "The teacher is nice." I said thanks although I wasn't sure if she was referring to me and she wasn't answering my question. Sure enough 20 minutes later while I was teaching the students our warm up routine she raised her hand and in an aggravated voice asked, "Where is Mrs. Smith?" She was the PE teacher last year.

As a class of first graders was finishing up their PE session I overheard a student say in an exhausted tone, "I'm sweating worse than my dad."

While we were doing a simple basketball shooting drill one of the sixth graders said to me, "Let's face it Mrs. Gonzalez, I'm a video game kid not a sports kid."

bad news

2010-04-06T13:31:00.001-07:00

The buyers fell through. We are back to square one.

first steps

2010-03-31T14:05:00.000-07:00

My little Ella took her first steps today! I went to pick her up after work and Yolanda told me about some of the progress Ella had made toward walking during the day and so we decided to have her try again. We pulled out a little toy and had Ella try to walk to it. She started taking a few steps and I almost started to cry. I felt silly, but I was just so happy for my baby girl.

Details

2010-03-27T14:15:00.000-07:00

Back in December Gustavo decided we should put our house on the market so we could take advantage of low interest rates and house prices. There are so many condos and town homes for sale in our area (61 in our price range to be exact) that we weren't counting on anything. We looked at homes a little, no showings though because we didn't want to get attached to something that we wouldn't end up being able to get. On Wednesday night my agent sent me the details of an offer we received. The buyers wanted our response by 5 o'clock Thursday. The offer was $6,800 under our asking price. We were hoping to stay within $5,000 so I was considering a counter offer. I couldn't talk to Gustavo because as you all know he is out of the country. I e-mailed him and he didn't respond until 5:20 Thursday night. He didn't hesitate at all and wanted us to accept the offer. I wanted to talk about it more, but was on my way out the door for an appointment. At 7 I got home and we were able to talk on the phone (we talk on the phone about 2 times a week.) I filled him in on more details and he was very excited. Neither of us love to see the bottom line after giving our agent his commission, but we are still in a good position and will have enough equity to cover at least 20% down on our new home. The buyers have been pre qualified for the loan amount we are just waiting for all of the financing to go through. We feel excited and have definitely started looking and picking out homes we'd like to go see when Gustavo gets back. I figure next weekend we'll drive through the neighborhoods of our favorites and then schedule showings for the first week of April. While I'm sad to say goodbye to this house that I love and have made exactly what I want, I'm excited for a real home with a yard and more space. The best news is that Gustavo gets home in only 6 more days!!! We'll keep you posted on this exciting process.

Our House

2010-03-25T20:02:00.000-07:00

We just accepted an offer on our house. Crazy.

message for Daddy

2010-03-22T09:22:00.000-07:00

Gustavo has been gone for 24 days so only 11 more days until he is back. Still awhile, but we're making progress. He keeps telling me to take videos of Ella, but I'm not good at it and have no idea how to edit the movies so here are my attempts. You are welcome to watch her sign and look adorable while I sound silly:) Gotta love home videos. The first video is Ella signing, then her barking like a dog, more signs, and the last video is Ella blowing kisses to daddy.

13 months

2010-03-17T19:18:00.000-07:00

Ella must be going through a growth spurt because she has quite an appetite. She loves eating and is really trying a lot more foods. Of course not as much as I'd love, but some of her new favorites include strawberries, grapes, and hummus. She still doesn't eat many veggies. Only peas and carrots. If you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them.

Ella is very cautious. She is getting closer to walking, but isn't quite ready yet. She loves to walk with anything she can. She prefers when we hold both hands to support her, but she will walk when we only hold one. Just this week Ella has started standing by herself, but it makes her nervous so she reaches out for me quickly. If she falls then she cries even though I'm sure it doesn't hurt.

Ella hasn't attempted to climb up the stairs before today. She usually climbs up one step and then hangs out there for a second, slides down, and goes up again. Today while I was vacuuming the stairs she got daring and continued climbing up. When she got half way to the top, I brought her back down because I was nervous about her falling and instead of stopping the vacuum and going behind her, I finished vacuuming with her at the base of the stairs. I'm worried about this new skill because Ella has already fallen down the stairs. It was one of the worst moments of motherhood so I don't want to retell the story (let's just say I shed a lot more tears than she did and I cried for quite a few hours total). I don't want it to happen again.

Ella LOVES signing. I wish she would try saying more words, but signing is great. She only verbalizes "mama" and "dada." Ella makes more sounds and is trying to mimic some phrases. When I say "I love you" she copies my intonation and repeats some of the sounds. She gets so proud of herself when she signs. The other day I taught her the sign for diaper. The next morning when I was changing her she was complaining as usual. When I told her I was just changing her diaper, she signed diaper and then had a huge smile on her face as if she was saying "I know that one!" It was adorable. Some of her latest signs include car, diaper, baby (for baby signing time), sleep, and brushing teeth. During the third hour of church on Sunday she kept signing car. What a cutie! I love being able to communicate more and love to see how happy she gets when she signs.

Ella still only has her two bottom teeth, but I think she was such a stinker the other week because she is working on at least one of her top teeth. The corner of the tooth is visible, but none of it has broken through yet.

Ella has always given some mean looks. Even as a baby people would comment on her serious looks. We just joked that she was just like her daddy (you always know what Gustavo is thinking). Now she is always giving people "the look." My friend posted a picture of her little girl giving the same look which she has named "the stink eye." I think that is a good description. We'll have to get pictures soon. It is so funny, but it makes me feel bad when she makes it at other people. What a stinker.

Ella is really starting to demonstrate her sense of humor. She tries to get me to laugh throughout the day by doing silly things. When she thinks she is funny she bursts out in this fake laugh that always gets me. When other people start laughing on TV or when she is around them, like at church, she bursts out in a fake laugh. I love to see her personality devolop more and more. I love my little Ella and I know Gustavo is so excited to get home to see her. We're half way done with the deployment!

I would post more pictures of my big girl, but Gustavo took the camera so you'll have to wait a few more weeks to see recent photos.

The Happiness Project

2010-03-17T15:11:00.001-07:00

I just read The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin and strongly recommend it to everyone. It was a very thought provoking book that has definitely inspired me to make small changes in my own life in order to become happier. I believe as Robert Louis Stevenson said, "There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy." This book is all about Gretchen Rubin's year long project full of resolutions to really be true to herself and enjoy her life. It is full of research findings that affected her project along with her personal experience. I loved it and will definitly read it again at least once in my life. I don't think I'll start an extensive project at this time, maybe in the fall, but I will definitely start tackling some small resolutions of my own. Reading this book has caused me to think about what really makes me happy and changes I'd like to make.

inside my head

2010-03-12T19:35:00.000-08:00

Ever since I signed the letter terminating my contract I can't stop thinking about what I've done. Being alone gives me a lot of time to think. A LOT of time. I talked to my sister. I talked to friends at school. I did a lot of talking along with my thinking. I was sad, worried, scared, and even wondered if I was feeling regret. I played out a lot of things in my mind while I was in the shower last night. Then today I went and talked to Kristin. While I was there I put a lot of things together. I realized that I'm just sad. I'm sad to leave a job that is perfect. I'm sad to leave friends who I love. I'm sad to lose something that brings me satisfaction and a great sense of accomplishment. I'm sad to completely close this big chapter in my life. I'm sad to lose something I love. I realize that by ending this contract I may possibly never have a job like this again. If I do it won't be for at least 15 years (as long as things go as planned with our family and Gustavo's career). Kristin helped me realize that it is okay to be sad about this. I know that I didn't make the wrong decision. How could following the council of my church leaders, helping out a friend, and putting my daughter first be wrong? It can't. So I'm sad, but confident that I did the right thing.

Ella & Mommy

2010-03-12T18:03:00.000-08:00

I get Ella all to myself every Monday. Unfortunatly that turns into our running errands day more often than not. Today I took the day off and Ella and I had a wonderful day together- we didn't run any errands (well, okay one store.) After getting things ready for the substitute at school and taking a morning nap, we went down to the Provo City Library for story time. My friend Hillary told me about this a month ago and I was excited to take Ella. She wasn't engaged the entire time, but there were definite moments of joy. We danced and sang together and had fun. Then we stopped by to visit my sister Emily and play with their dog Princess. Ella is so in love with dogs that I thought she would really love this. We didn't stay long because we wanted to go visit Kristin, Jonah and baby Beckham. It was really great to visit with Kristin. She had lots of good input on my decision to stay home next year because she has been in the same situation, teaching and all. After our visit Ella took another nap while I had a good conversation with my sister Erin. Then to end the night Ella and I went and got pizza, cookies, and a movie (all for me, but she's okay with it). It has been a good day.

selling a house

2010-03-06T13:36:00.001-08:00

Have you ever tried to sell a home? It is such an annoying process! When we first listed the house it was right in the middle of the holidays and we didn't have anyone but realtors call. About mid January we started having one showing a week. In February we started having people look twice a week. Even though we've had consistent traffic we haven't had any offers. Lots of possitive feedback, but no offers. Last month we decided to finish the third bedroom (I'll post pictures when it is completely finished). Along with the anticipation of wondering if we'll sell our house and move comes the shear annoyance of showing the place. Sometimes we only get an hours notice which sets me in a panic because I want everything to be as perfect as possible. Other times people want to come in the middle of naps, or right when I should get home from work, or other really inconvenient times. Here are examples from this week. Monday night our realtor called and told us someone wanted to look at the house between 12 and 1. I thought that would be perfect because I'd be at school so I wouldn't have to find somewhere to go (I try to be out when people come). Unfortunately that day I got really sick and ended up coming home early- right at noon. I couldn't go home and rest because the showing was planned. I was so tired and so naucious that I didn't know what to do. I ended up resting in the car until 1 o'clock and then drove around for 20 minutes when the family came. Needless to say, it wasn't comfortable. Yesterday my realtor called when Ella was down for her nap saying that a realtor wanted to come preview the home within 15 minutes to an hour. I quickly started straightening up and inevitable woke Ella. She was cranky and irratable as a result. I was extra annoyed because the realtor didn't show up until 6 o'clock (3 hours after my realtor called). Then she quickly ran through, told me she loved it and said she'd call my realtor this morning to block out a time for the showing. It is 3 pm and she still hasn't called. I just hate this process because it drives me crazy. I want the house to be perfect and if I know someone is coming I feel like I can't make any sort of messes (no cooking) and I notice anything that is even slightly out of order. In other words, it makes me really anal. Not my favorite thing. Not at all.

changes

2010-03-04T20:47:00.001-08:00

I have the PERFECT job, but today I signed my letter of resignation. Of course I'm finishing out the school year, but my principal is trying to get everything situated for next year as soon as possible. I have really mixed feelings about this decision. I have gone back and forth about it for months because I absolutely love my job. I've written so many lists of pros and cons (that's what I do). I've talked to lots of friends and family and shed many tears while trying to figure out what will be best for me and my family. I know staying home will be best for Ella. I've always appreciated that my mom made the sacrifice to stay home with us and known that is what I want for my family. Although I know being at home will bring new challenges, I know there will be lots of benefits as well. I feel blessed that I have the opportunity, but I'm really sad to leave my perfect job.

stinker

2010-03-02T19:12:00.001-08:00

Ella was a skunk on Halloween for a few reasons. First, because the idea was too cute to pass up (thanks Amber!) Second, because she is indeed a stinker. These last few days she has been nearly impossible. Ella is constantly throwing fits, screaming at me, and trying to hit. I seriously don't know what to do with her. Fortunately she still gives me hints of the sweetheart and adorable girl she can be.