ABC's with Michela

Watch on youtube by clicking here!

Dear Michela,

I love hearing you sing.  You have heard Raffi enough that you can sing along with his songs in the car.  My favorite happens to be "Bananaphone".  You get nice and loud when you sing that song and it cracks me up!

The other day you sang the ABC's while pursing out your lips - show off!

You are too cute for words!  Keep on singing!

With all my love,

Mommy

Lucky

Dear Penelope,

You are so lucky you're cute.  Only you can get away with waking up every 1 to 2 hours all night long.  Just look at your smile!  I tell myself that you have been waking up so frequently because you just can't get enough of my beauty.  But guess what - my beauty is fading the longer I go with broken sleep.  Soon I'll be sporting beautiful black circles under my eyes and that's not pretty.  I will admit that after 3 nights of you waking up every 1-2 hours, you finally gave me a 4 hour stretch then another 3 hour stretch last night.  While I am hoping you go back to only waking once or twice a night, I was thrilled to have 3 hours of consecutive sleep!  It's the little things that make me happy these days! 

I love you with all my heart Penelope!

Love, 

Mommy 

Summer Fun... Wait I mean Spring Fun

It has been in 85 - 90 degrees the last few days.  On Friday we went to Happy Hollow and Saturday we went swimming in the backyard.

Happy Hollow Zoo with Nathanael, Brandon, & Cheryl 

Fun with Edo, Dario & Kelly

Stop Daddy!  No more pictures!

Road Trip

Dear Penelope,

We went on our first road trip to Ventura over the weekend and you proved to be a stellar traveler.  On the way down we stopped in San Ardo (about 2 hours into our drive) to feed and change you.  Then we stopped again in Santa Maria for lunch.  You slept most of the trip and when you were awake you chatted to your plush block.

Fed with a fresh diaper - ready to go!

You also slept well at the hotel.  You woke up a few times but that seems to be your current trend.  I'm just pleased that when I put you to sleep (or back to sleep after a feeding) you stayed asleep for at least a couple of hours.

Nana, Papi, and Uncle Kyle were happy to see you again.  You have changed so much since their last visit.  During dinner on Sunday you kept us entertained by telling some great stories.  Daddy caught you on video.  Unfortunately I don't have pictures of you with family.  I was too busy playing with Nana and Papi's camera that I forgot to take some with ours.  Maybe they'll be kind and share some of the nice shots with us.

We also had an opportunity to introduce you to my friends from my childhood - Heidi and Allison.  Allison had a baby boy in August of 2011.  You two had fun talking and smiling together.

Allison, Aiden, Mommy, and You

I like this picture because I am breastfeeding you but it simply looks like you're sleeping.

You and Aiden took a nap together.

Heidi, Allison, Aiden, Mommy, You (sleeping) & Michela

We had a nice trip visiting family and friends.  I think my favorite part was when you decided to vomit your entire meal all over me (twice)!!  The first time was at Nana and Papi's house.  That was okay since I could use their washer and dryer to clean our clothes.  The second time was at a park in King City when we stopped for a picnic lunch.  I had fun cleaning and changing both of us in the back of the mini van.  :)  Your sister has only vomited an entire meal all over me once in her life.  You had to one up her and do it two days in a row!

I love you baby girl!  Keep growing strong and talking up a storm!

With all my love,

Mommy
 

Potty Training

Dear Michela,

What do we have here?  

That's right, it's time for potty training!  You are now equipped with potty books (two books use real photographs), a potty, kissaluv training pants to wear at night, and big girl undies!  We'll probably need more undies but there wasn't much of a selection at Target.  I am teaching you a little chant and so far you love it!

Pee-pee, 

Wee-wee, 

Poopie in the potty!  (repeat x3)

Come on Meeka, 

You can do it,

Squat on the pot,

 There's nothin' to it!  (repeat x2) 

Psssssss, psssssss, pssssss, puuuuuush!

Tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,

Yeah, yeah!  (repeat 4x)

Okay, okay so I didn't write the chant.  I found it on youtube and modified it a little.  :)  Regardless, you like dancing around while we sing our chant.  You even help me sing it!  Your favorite part is saying "yeah, yeah!"

We're going to start our potty training party on Wednesday while Daddy is home for spring break.  We'll need his help to make sure you are successful!  I think you'll have fun with it and pick up on the concept quickly.  If not, your diapers still fit and we can try again at a later date.  There is no hurry to grow up.  I just think you're ready so we're going to give it a whirl.

I love you Michela Grace!

With all my love,

Mommy

4 months old

Dear Penelope,

Today you are 4 months old!  I am so happy that you are part of our family.   You are always happy and interested in what ever your sister is doing.  I like to say that you already know how to read.  You just prefer to read to yourself rather than read out loud.  hehe! You love looking at books during tummy time. My favorite thing to do is talk with you.  As soon as I start talking you light up and start chatting back.  I often have you stand on my lap while we talk because you enjoy standing.  I enjoy watching your personality develop and shine.  You are one very smart, strong, and beautiful little girl.

You had your 4 month well check on Friday.  We didn't give you any vaccinations at that appointment because you have mild congestion from a cold you have been hanging on to the past couple of weeks.  We will wait until you're back to 100% to get your vaccines.  That is in case you have a reaction to a shot they will know it's from the shot and not your cold.  Michela has an appointment on the 17th.  Hopefully you'll be healthy so we can give you your vaccines at that appointment.

Keep growing strong!

With all my love,

Mommy

Here are a few pictures from the last few days.

4 months Stats:
13lbs 10oz  (56th percentile)
25 inches long (80th percentile)

Egg hunt

Dear Michela,

We celebrated Easter (a day early) with an egg hunt!  Santa Clara has an egg hunt every year so we decided to check it out.  There was an under 2 division and it was perfect for you.  It wasn't much of a hunt; more of a grab any egg you see before the next kid (or parent) grabs it.  The great hunt lasted maybe 2 minutes before all the eggs were claimed.  None-the-less you enjoyed going to the park with your Easter basket.  Next year we'll have a real egg hunt at home.  :)

Love you baby girl!

Mommy

On our way to the Great Egg Hunt!  You're holding your basket along with Penelope's basket.

Do you see any eggs?

Look at all of your eggs!  You even gave two eggs to your sister.

Feeling accomplished!

San Francisco Zoo

Dear Michela,

"We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo,

How about you, you, you..."

That's from Raffi.  You love Raffi and request demand Raffi when ever we're in the car.  As the song sings, we went to the zoo!  You loved it!  In fact, we all loved it!  We brought our double stroller but you proved that we didn't need it.  As soon as you saw the giraffs you wanted out and didn't want to get back in.  So you walked for about 3 hours!  Needless to say, you were exhausted by the time we got back to the car.  Here are some pictures of our fun day.

 With all my love,

Mommy

---------------------------------------------------------

Dear Penelope,

Thank you for using and enjoying our double stroller at the zoo.  Your sister sat next to you for a brief period but she wanted out to get a better view of the animals.  You on the other hand simply enjoyed being outside.  We had a nice time seeing the animal in the zoo and riding the train.  I'm sure we'll go again when you're older so you too can run around and explore.

I love you sweet, baby girl!

With all my love,

Mommy

Sharing the stroller with your sister.

Not the best picture but it's proof you didn't spend the whole time at the zoo in the stroller.