Just Cara

Cara is now 3 1/2 months and is the most precious baby ever! I feel like Cara always has to share the spotlight with her sister, so this post is going to just be about her. One day, I hope she reads this.

Cara, you are the sweetest baby. I am always telling people how you never cry. When you wake up in the morning or from your naps you are all smiles. Every morning, daddy gets you from the crib while I warm up your bottle downstairs. You don't make a peep while your bottle is warming even though you are probably starving. You currently weigh 14 lbs and your hair style is truly unique (buzzed in the front, long in the back). You started sleeping through the night at 10 weeks and learned to put yourself to sleep at week 6. You are a thumb sucker and tummy sleeper. You love to cuddle and laugh. When I hold you, you nestle yourself in my arms and rest your head on my chest. I love that!! You seriously melt my heart.

Cara's 100th Day

Last Friday, August 5th, was Cara's 100th Day. We didn't do much since everyone was either working or far away. To tell you the truth, initially I was really bummed and disappointed b/c I was looking forward to having at least a family dinner. It's all good though, we had this yummy dduk for cara and she got much love from mommy and big sis throughout the day.

Lauryn was so~ excited to finally be able to do "happy birthday" with the cake. LOL!! (we had to wait for daddy to come home)

Okay, this is a much better, calmer lauryn.

Happy 100th Day, Cara...we LOOOOOOOOOVE you!!!

We're dancing

We started preballet and tap dance class this week. Lauryn has been so excited about this class and has been wearing her ballet and tap shoes in the house for about a month now. We just finished tumbling, which was her first class ever. I'm so glad I signed her up for that one b/c I feel like I learned so much about her. Lauryn is an observer. She is shy and takes a long time warming up if she's not in her comfort zone. Once she feels comfortable, she kinda does whatever she feels like doing. Ugh...lauryn can be so stubborn sometimes!! She definitely has a short attention span (in my opinion) and gets totally bored after about 15 min. She doesn't really understand the concept of "student/teacher" and will do almost anything for a sticker. She may not have been the star student in the class, but I was so proud of her.

Lauryn in her ballet clothes.

The real lauryn.

She thought this was hilarious. So did I.

Quick story about this last pic:

Lb: mommy, what's that?? (pointing to the area in picture)

me: that's a picture of you

LB: no, mommy...what's that??? (pointing to the hand)

me: ohhhh, that the mouse pointer.

LB: noooooo mommy, that's not mouse pointer...that mickey hand!!!

LOL!! sorry, i thought that was so funny!!

My Girls

It's been exactly 8 weeks since I had Cara. Many things have changed in the last 8 weeks, and I'm just so happy to have survived the last two months w/o going completely insane. Lauryn is a great big sister and is so over protective of Cara already. She loves to show her affection and is a great helper when it comes to taking care of baby sis. Cara is growing so quickly. She is now on a schedule and only wakes up once a night (sometimes twice). I crib trained Lauryn at 10 weeks, and only regretted not letting her cry it out sooner, which is why I began sleep training Cara at week 6. Some may think that is too early, but ever since I started the training, I've slowly been getting my life back. You know that saying "happy wife, happy life?" Well in this house its "happy mom, happy children." Here's a quick side by side comparison of Lauryn and Cara at two months. Do they look alike?

As hard as it is taking care of a newborn, it's through those tough moments when I really got to bond w/ Cara. She has completely won me over, and I am head over heals in love with her. I am so happy to finally have my complete family. From here on out, it's just the 4 of us.

GIRL POWER!!

Chronicles of a Babywise Mom: Motherhood Reality Check

I really needed to hear this right now...

Chronicles of a Babywise Mom: Motherhood Reality Check: "image source “It has really been a busy day hasn't it?” I said to my friend Stephanie. Stephanie lives a couple of houses down from me. ..."

I'm a BIG SIS!!

Lauryn's first time holding her baby sister. As soon as we got home, LB says, "I hold! I hold!"

This is Lauryn just being herself. We were so surprised and happy to see the natural affection LB immediately had for her baby sister. Unfortunately, it was not well received. How sad.
"After months and months of talking about baby Cara's arrival, I finally got to meet my sister!!"

In honor of royal wedding week

Lauryn wanted to wear her princess dress today. She then grabbed her toy and said, "no soccer ball, princess wand." Everyone knows LB has a wild side, so when I see her girly soft side..it just melts my heart.

When she's not in the princess costume or taking care of her baby dolls...she's usually running around, jumping, climbing, screaming, or dancing with her hat on backwards.

Easter 2011

Our community hosted an Easter egg hunt for the kids this past saturday. It was our first community event that we attended since we moved here a year and a half ago, so we didn't really know what to expect. To say the least, we were pleasantly surprised.

There were plenty of Easter decorations along with a jumper, refreshments, coffee station, and of course the easter bunny. We couldn't get any pictures with the bunny because Lauryn is still terrified of those characters.

Here's the egg hunt for the kids who were 4 and under. Having a toddler, I really appreciated that they had separate egg hunts for the little kids and big kids.

This was Lauryn's first time egg hunting. She caught on quickly. At one point, she was grabbing two eggs at a time.

Here's how she did for her first hunt. Not bad!!

She had a lot of fun collecting eggs...but she had so much more fun opening the eggs at home and seeing what was inside. We let her have some jelly beans and a mini twix. What a big big mistake...she was on such a sugar high. It took her an hour to fall asleep for her nap. Next weekend is our community garage sale. I hope we can score some deals on big toys, specifically a slide, outside water toys, or a wagon. If Cara doesn't come before then, we will try to sell some of our own junk too. We shall see!!

The Wiggles

*fyi: she lifts her shirt b/c she's trying to hook her thumbs in her pants like the wiggles...ENJOY!!

Ready or not...

here she comes!!

so we're counting down the days till cara's arrival. i gotta be honest with you, i have such mixed feelings at this point. i'm nervous (how will LB cope w/ the transition), scared (do i still know how to take care of a newborn), excited (can't wait to meet my 2nd daughter), etc. it's all so overwhelming, and the baby is not even here yet! The last few weeks I've been on disability, so its given me a chance to prepare for the lil one, as well as, spend some quality time with LB. We've been busy with playdates, running errands, and just hanging out at home together.

Here's a quick update:

suitcase is packed

big sis presents are wrapped

fridge is stocked

double stroller, swing, cosleeper, bottles, yada yada yada are ready to go

cosleeping has officially stopped (THAT WAS A BIG ONE)

laundry is done and both my daughters have clean clothes in their rooms

This past month, Lauryn's vocabulary just exploded. I rarely hear her say anything other than words. She surprises me everyday with her sentences AND opinions. Its funny to me that there are moments when phil and i have actual conversations with her, and I wish I could record everything she says. These days, she's obsessed with buses...school buses, city buses, charter buses...she loves them all. She's also discovered the wiggles and became a fan instantly, which is why i had to buy the best of the wiggles dvd for her. hopefully, that'll keep her busy while i'm feeding the baby. Here's how big she is now...

The fob look

Happy Early Easter!!

1st haircut. She did really well until the curling iron came out. At that point, she completely freaked out.

Practice makes perfect

Happy 2nd Birthday, Lauryn!!

This past weekend, we celebrated Lauryn's 2nd birthday with family and a few close friends. We decided to throw her a minnie mouse party, since she absolutely adores her. I must admit, I went a little over the top w/ minnie mouse...minnie invites, banners, balloons, clothes, favors, cake, etc. It's funny because I kept telling myself and the hubs that this was going to be a small get together (not even a party). Let's just say, I didn't know where to cut corners b/c as I was getting deeper and deeper into the planning everything looked so cute, and I knew how happy LB would be with all the minnie stuff.

The only problem we ran into while planning LB's party was with the weather. Initially, we reserved a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse jumper which fit PERFECTLY with the minnie mouse theme. As the party was quickly approaching, we kept checking the weather and noticed the chance of rain kept increasing. Eventually, I decided to cancel the jumper. I had 3 days to come up with another plan. After searching online for hours, I came across this mobile petting zoo. We got so lucky booking this vendor. Usually, they do not set up the zoo for a 1 hr booking, but they happened to have another engagement right next to our house so they agreed to make an exception and stop by our party. We expressed our concerns about the weather and they said they could set up the zoo in our garage. Perfect!! It was a huge relief once I knew we were good to go with the zoo. I would totally recommend "All God's Creatures" to anyone looking for a party vendor. Not only were they great with the kids, but they were so punctual, great with clean-up, and super duper nice. The animals came all dressed up in their party clothes and I can confidently say EVERYONE at the party was entertained. At times, the parents seemed more excited than the kids. =)

Happy 2nd Birthday, Lauryn!! We love you soooooo~ much!!!

It's all in a name

It's finally been decided. We are going to name our 2nd daughter Cara Elyse. When we were naming LB, it was so much easier. We decided on Lauryn Rose because we liked the way it sounded, and I knew if I ever had a daughter I would want her to have my name for her middle name (don't ask me why). We literally came up with Lauryn's name in like 30 mins...so easy!

This time around, it was so different. We have been thinking about our next daughter's name for months and months. I was so happy when we finally decided on Cara. The hubs wanted a name that he liked and had a good meaning, especially since the name Lauryn doesn't really have a meaning. So anyway, Cara means "beloved or friend" and Elyse means "with God." I'm so happy we finally have a full name now...my brain can rest easy.

Since we're on the topic of names, I have to repost a blog entry I wrote long time ago about names. I was cracking up when I came across this information:

The name Rose doesn't really have a meaning, but it can be traced to the Old German word "hros" meaning "horse."

Philip, on the other hand, means "horse lover."

I mean...were we meant to be or were we meant to be??? You can guess who liked who first...HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!

Palm Springs

Talk about trying to squeeze in as many things as we can before the baby comes!! We just came back from Palm Springs today, and we had such a great time. First of all, the locals in Palm Springs are awesome. All the retired grandmas and grandpas are so~ sweet and nice. They were giving LB so much love!!

Here's a shot from our hotel room. We stayed at the Hyatt Suite Palm Springs in downtown. I would totally recommend this place for many reasons. Let me start off by saying, we booked our room through travelocity and got a pretty good deal, but I have to say right off the bat, there are definitely cheaper places in the area. However, I thought it was well worth the price because each room is a suite and it came with two breakfast buffets (which ended up being FANTASTIC). The suite also came with a roomy fridge which is very important when traveling with a kid, and the hotel staff was seriously amazing. Over the summer, when we went to San Diego, the first night was terrible b/c we all had to sleep in the same room and LB was not used to Daddy's fret train snoring. Let's just say for the remainder of the trip, he had to sleep in a nearby motel 6. We learned our lesson from that trip, this time LB and I slept so peacefully in the room while Daddy was comfortably snoring in the living room.

On Saturday morning, we headed to Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. Honestly, when the hubs and I first saw it...we seriously wanted to back out. Both of us are scared of heights, and we couldn't even see where the tram ride would end b/c it was so high up. Obviously, we didn't back out, but we were really thinking about just going back in the car. LOL!! Anyways, that's what the tram looked like and boy, do they pack it in...you'll be surprised how many people fit inside one of those. Doesn't that cable car look scary?? Each time it passes these towers along the way, the cable car dips and swings back and forth. It's so freaky the first few times. The hubs and I were laughing, but it was the nervous kinda laughing...like huh huh huh!

So while you are riding the tram, the floor of the tram rotates to give you 360 degree views of Palm Springs...LB was very amused by the floor, which is why she is staring at the bottom. The tram moves pretty quickly up the mountain, which makes your ears pop throughout the ride. Knowing this was going to happen, I tried to buy some suckers from the gift shop, before the ride, but the only ones they had had real scorpions inside them...gross!! Next time, I would bring some dum dums or something for the tram ride. I could tell LB's ears were bothering her in the tram b/c she kept touching them. It wasn't a huge problem or anything...but just something to prepare for next time.

Here's LB touching snow for the first time. Thank goodness I found these gloves at Walmart for $1 because LB would not have touched the snow without them. It took her awhile to get comfortable with the snow, but once she got the courage to walk alone and play with it...she really got into it.

Next time we go, I hope we can go sledding. Since the snow was really icy, the rental shop was closed.

In order to get to the big open snow area, you have to walk down this trail really steep trail. Going downhill was not bad at all, but coming back up was H-E double hockey sticks!!!!! LB had us carry her down the trail and back up, and she still needed a gatorade break. Kill me! Yes, the hike up the trail was horrible...but we would definitely go back and do it all over again.

"thank you, mad scientista for the rec"

Baby Cara

Now that I'm 27 weeks, we decided to take 4D pictures of our new baby. Personally, I think 4D pictures all look alike. Nonetheless, it was still exciting to see our new baby yawning, kicking, and moving around in my tummy. We can't wait to meet her in person!!

Here is a picture of Cara sucking her thumb. She was also sucking her thumb in a previous ultrasound session a few months ago. It'll be interesting to see if she really is a thumb sucker when she comes out. LB never cared to suck her thumb or anything else. I wonder what Cara is going to be like...I guess I'll find out in 3 months!! I'm officially in my last trimester.

Disneyland: Day 2

These days, LB doesn't leave the house w/o grabbing a few personal items. Aside from her favorite "mimi" sleepsacs, the other items are random. It could be a book, toy, food, and in this case...a hat. She's had this hat forever and recently rediscovered it at the bottom of her toy bin. She kept taking the hat and pulling it over her face...like in the picture. She would even walk around Disneyland like this...she thought it was so funny to look through the holes. Everyone is line would initially stare, but eventually bust out laughing. She is such a ham!!

When we tell LB to smile for the camera, she makes this face. I don't even know how many pictures I have of her closing her eyes...ON PURPOSE!! Why LB...why??? The hubs was able to join us on the 2nd day of Disneyland but only for a few hours. He's so crazy...the hubs had an inventory audit for work the night before and didn't come home until 6 AM and then, woke up at 7:30 AM to watch LB since I had to go to my glucose test (which i passed..whoohooo!!). Then he drove us all (my mom included) to the Disney Grand Hotel to meet my sister and her family for breakfast. I was sure, he was going to go back to their hotel room and crash at this point...but nooooo, he said he was going to join us at the park for a few hours. What a trooper!! Because of him, I was really able to enjoy my time with LB at the park and even take some pictures with her.

Our one family picture...LB refused to look at the camera. It's always hit or miss w/ her.

Of course when daddy bought her a cherry slushy, she was all smiles. Unfortunately, that was his parting gift. The rest of the day, I was on my own again to tackle Disneyland by myself. It was great...seeing how much LB loved being there made it all worth it. Listening to her talking about minnie's house every day made it all worth it. Looking back at all the pictures made it all worth it. Disneyland, I can't wait to visit you again!! You truly are the happiest place on earth!!