Amelia - 1 month

I'm not sure why my text blends together with no paragraph breaks....

Amelia is already 1 month old! So far we feel safe from acid reflux but we won't be fully at ease until she's at least 2 months. :) She's been a relatively easy baby, but keep in mind our point of reference is Camila - who essentially cried nonstop until she was 12 weeks old. Amelia is a great night sleeper, in general. Some nights are tough, such as the other night she wouldn't fall asleep until after 1:00. Or the night after that she woke up at 2:oo to eat, but wouldn't fall back to sleep until 4:00. However, last night she wowwed us by sleeping from 10-5:30. I think we can put that down as "sleeping through the night". ;) However, I am not holding my breath that tonight will be just as great. Daytime is also hit or miss. Some days she's great and generally eats, sleeps, and hangs out. Other days she fights sleep, needs to be held a lot (which is tough when Camila is home). And evenings are hard in general, as she cluster feeds basically every 1.5- 2 hours. My evenings are: feed Amelia, try to make dinner (something 30 mins or less), feed Amelia, eat dinner myself, play with Camila for 15 minutes, put Camila to bed, feed Amelia, and finally sit on the couch before feeding Amelia again. Thank goodness my parents have come over to help out the nights that Fabricio has to teach, otherwise I don't know how I would have gotten everything done. Camila is still in love with her baby sister, and makes sure we're always taking care of Amelia. She loves to help out, and will always run to get us things we ask for (baby's blanket, etc.) I'm hoping her love and fascination with Amelia continues for a while. Camila has surprised us recently too, as she's learning her alphabet and numbers at daycare. She'll randomly count to 10, or start singing the alphabet. We hadn't taught her any of this yet! She also has her colors down, and loves it when we play game related to colors. We also have noticed that she's starting to "read" to herself, and sing songs that I sing to her at night. She's starting to be better at independent play, which of course we love right now since Amelia takes a lot of our attention! Amelia recently starting cooing at us, and is much more aware of her surroundings. She'll hold our gaze for some time, likes looking at Camila or whatever other activity is going on, and will "ahh" back to us when we talk to her. And I *think* I saw a smile last night, but it was probably a coincidence! By the way, Camila is in her favorite pjs. Not sure what we're going to do after the holidays.... :)

Amelia & Camila

Just a couple of random pictures. I particularly like the ones of both of them - the first "sisters" shot. I'm not going to talk about Amelia's sleeping or general temperament, as I don't want to jinx anything. Suffice it to say that I feel relatively human (although naps are still a great thing!)

Misc pictures - Amelia

Amelia Rose

Amelia Rose was born on Friday, November 13 at 8:17am. She weighed 11 lbs 2 oz (no, I'm not kidding.)

In case you didn't believe me....

Look who got into the lotion....

Carousel, taking care of baby

Whew, things have been busy around here! Fabricio has been teaching on Monday & Wednesday nights, and our weekends have been packed with house projects and errands (the baby's room is about 50% ready for the new baby!)

However, we decided to take a break on Labor Day and bring Camila to the Como Zoo (but forgot our camera). She loved the Carousel, and for 2 weeks afterwards she kept saying "horsies go round and round" while waving her hand. So, we decided to take her again a couple of weekends ago (and remembered our camera). Fabricio took her on the Carousel twice (I don't exactly fit behind her on the horse at this point in my pregnancy!), and then told her "horsies are all done". It must have worked, because she really hasn't mentioned them again. Which is kind of sad, because she was pretty cute always talking about the horsies going round and round! It was fun to see her enjoying herself, just looking all around at the lights, the horses, the mirrors. I'm glad she was able to have some fun, as we haven't been able to take her many places this summer.

She's also really into taking care of her baby (and kitty.) She loves to give her a bottle, change her diaper, put her to bed, etc. We're a little nervous, because as we've been pulling baby gear out for the new baby, she wants to use all of it for her baby doll. The swing, pack 'n play, newborn clothes, bathtub, you name it. I suspect we're going to have a few arguments when the new baby is here and needs to use the baby gear! You can see in the picture above that Camila has her baby, blankie, and bottle in the baby's stroller. And yes, she's going to be a kitty for Halloween. :)

Here she is taking care of one of her baby dolls. I think she was pretending to change her diaper, or maybe she was trying to put a pair of baby socks onto her miniture doll. (That did not go well as she couldn't understand why they didn't fit!)

She's quite talkative (often uses 3 & 4 word sentences) and is pretty bossy, which I understand from my mom that are a couple of traits she inherited from me. :) She's learning her colors, although only gets it right about 50% of the time. She's getting much better at sharing and taking turns, and will even have her baby and kitty take turns doing something. (I'll often hear her say "Kitty's turn"). We've been talking to her about her baby sister, and while she doesn't fully undestand the concept she knows that there's a baby in mom's belly. (I forgot - she been referring me as "mommy" for several months now, and sometimes I'm "mom". I remember when she used to call Fabricio "daddy" and I was still "mama"!)

Fabricio Nunez, PhD

I don't have any pictures, but Fabricio officially defended his dissertation yesterday, and submitted all his documentation (including his 220+ page dissertation) today! Of course, it wouldn't have been a complete journey without yet another snafu requiring him to make an unexpected trip to the U of M this morning (as if he didn't need to go to work....) but everything is fixed and his degree will be conferred in October. Yeah for him! It's been a long, often tiring road, but we're both really happy it's done. Maybe now he can sleep in - getting up at 4am for the past few years has worn him out!

Catching up on pictures

OK, so my excuse for not posting much is that we've been really busy with the new house - fixing things (AC, water softener, doors) painting (Camila's room is now a light pink, the baby's room is next) and misc housework/yardwork. Oh, I think I can also use the excuse that our internet is much slower here, so it takes FOREVER to upload just one picture. So this time I'm trying smaller pictures in the hope that it takes less time!

Camila LOVES chocolate -- although it usually ends up all over her face and hands as she tries to lick every last piece she can. Here she is after a special breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes.

Our little girl is quite the "helper". Her favorite phrase is probably "I do it". Here she is after insisting she help Fabricio put back a switch cover. Cute, but not exactly helpful.... :)

Now this could be helpful one day! ;) Here she is, thinking she's mopping the floor. She does love to clean, but we're not sure where she gets that from. She loves to go around with a washcloth or paper towel and any bottle (or her sippy cup with water) making spraying sounds, pretending she's cleaning the table, floor, chairs, etc.

Here's me at 26 weeks And another at 27 weeks. Notice the hair. Not as fun and curly as it was when I was pregnant with Camila. My standard hair "style"? Pulled back with a clip for work, ponytail on the weekend.

More fun with water, and 22 weeks

One of the things we needed with the new house is a water sprinkler for the back yard. Fabricio figured he could kill two birds with one stone on this one. A sprinkler + water toy for Camila. She loved this thing! It gives off a fine mist of water, and is just tall enough for her to be able to run underneath it. The neighbors might think it looks funny, but Camila had a blast. And better yet, it does a good job of watering the lawn! ;)

Camila also discovered where I'm putting my baking pans. In the townhouse they were much harder for her to get to. Here you can see the drawer and the mess we get to clean up each day. I'm hard pressed to tell her "no" on this game since I'm just glad she has more space to play in our new house!

And finally, a picture of me at 22 weeks (I'm now 24 weeks.) We've been so busy these past few months that we've been bad about taking pictures and such! Although you can't tell since I don't have any earlier pictures, but I basically popped around 20 weeks. Up until then people at work were still giving me "the look", but weren't brave enough to say anything. There's no hiding it now! ;)

New House - The Joys and Frustrations

So we've been completely out of commission this past month, but some of you might not know the reason why is because we moved into a new house. When we found out we were pregnant with Baby Girl #2 (yes, we just found out we're having another girl!) we really wanted to look into moving into a bigger house. So, after lots of looking, we bought a rambler in Maple Grove and just moved in at the end of June. It's a 4 bedroom/3ba, with 3 bedrooms on one level (my main concern.) It has more space than we need for now, but we'll hopefully be able to grow into it as the kids get older.

We weren't sure up until June 13 if we were going to close on the new house, as we decided to rent our townhouse rather than sell it in this housing market, and we didn't have renters until June 13. As you can imagine, it was pretty stressful. So, after we had a signed lease, we had just under 2 weeks to pack everything up to prep for our move. Below are some pictures of Camila enjoying herself in the new place.

Camila has been having a lot of fun running around the new house. Since it's a rambler (and more sq ft than our townhouse) she can run and run to her heart's content. Here she is playing with the railing that separates the kitchen from the tv room.

Just a misc picture of her playing on the couch. One of the reasons we wanted to move is to have a yard for Camila (and the new baby) to play in. Camila had a blast playing with the garden hose. As you can see, she is soaking wet. She couldn't get enough of it!

We've had quite a few unexpected, unpleasant surprises after we moved into the new house. First, the garage door broke after just 1 1/2 weeks. Then this weekend Fabricio and my dad got up on the roof to clean the gutters, and noticed that they are about to fall off. The gutters are attached with insufficiently sized screws, and only at random spacing (some are 6 feet apart!) It seems that the previous owner wasn't good about doing things completely. Most things in this house seem to be "half done" or "just good enough". Also, we're dealing with a very strong musty smell in the basement, so we bought a humidifier to tackle that. We're actually considering buying another one, since it's still pretty musty downstairs (and parts of upstairs too.) In addition to that, we have to get the fireplace cleaned and will have the ducts cleaned as well, as the previous owners smoked and we want to make sure that there is no leftover smell. Fortunately Fabricio got a teaching position at Mpls Tech College for 2 nights a week, so the extra income will help cover these unexpected home repair/maintenance costs!

I've been remiss...

In posting our news. So I'll let Camila share with everyone.

We're due with Baby Nunez #2 on Nov 14. I'm currently 17 1/2 weeks! All appts have checked out great, and we've gotten a few sneak peeks at the baby. :)

I just have to say that this pregnancy has been completely different than it was with Camila. I had horrible nausea - all day sickness until about 14 weeks (I never threw up with Camila.) Now it's severe heartburn, so bad I've thrown up a few times. Yuck. My OB recommended I start taking Zantac, so hopefully that helps. Sometimes it feels like I have a beach ball stuck in my throat. It's given me a new appreciation for what Camila went through as a baby -- heartburn sucks, I can't imagine what acid reflux feels like!

Misc pictures

Just a couple of random pictures. I was home today with Camila, as she came down with strep. We had rough weekend with her -- she had a 102 fever, was really cranky & irritable, and worst of all, she didn't want to bear weight on her legs after waking up in the morning (but then she'd be fine). We gave it a few days thinking she was just experiencing muscle soreness, but after her fever broke Monday and she was still having trouble bearing weight, we took her in to the Pedi, having no clue what it could have been. After a few doses of Amox, she's back to her regular self!

Of course we're proud too, b/c at her appt the dr commented how "smart" she is. She said that while we probably think she tells that to every parent, she's particularly impressed with how Camila blows air whenever she sees a candle or flame. I guess that usually comes around 3. That makes me an even prouder Mommy since Camila has been doing that since she was 14 months! (Although the dr was probably just saying that to make us feel good.) ;)

Also, I'll have to write down the words/phrases she knows, but my best guess is around 60 words/phrases. Most in English, but several in Spanish. Just this week she's gone through a language explosion -- for example, yesterday "help" turned into "help me". :) However, she's definitely stubborn, which I have to admit comes from Fabricio -- and me!

Is this my picky eater?

So imagine our surprise tonight when Camila saw Fabricio grab a raw green pepper, and ask for one. She's eaten little diced pieces, but never a whole slice. Is this our picky eater we see munching on 2 slices before dinner?

And here she is eating lasagna - more than she's ever eaten. (And being silly making her squinty-eye face.) Some nights she just surprises us with how much she'll eat. Other days she surprises us in a negative way - yesterday she threw a temper tantrum b/c she didn't want to try her yogurt. I think it's b/c it was a different color than she was used to (mixed berries).

I bought this flower headband for Easter, but she likes to wear it on her forehead or over her eyes. I like this picture b/c she looks so much like she did when she was a baby (you can tell she's getting tired.) Whereas below, she looks like the little toddler she's become.

Just posing for the camera.

ANother eating pic - but this is applesauce - one of her favorites. Too bad it creates quite the sticky mess! :)

Her language skills continue to explode. This weekend she started giving Fabricio and I commands - "stay there mama" (complete with hand motion), and "lay down daddy". (Why am I mama and not mommy, yet he's daddy?) Fabricio's favorite is "no, no daddy", which he gets a lot when he's pestering her. Oh, and "come here" also complete with the hand motion.

She's also learned many new words, such as bus, plane (whenever she hears a plane she looks up at the sky), toes, face, legs, chocolate, upstairs, downstairs, outside, high chair. Now if only we could get her to listen better to us. We struggle with her a lot; she likes to test us as often as she can. We're trying to be firmer with her, but not make her feel like we're constantly scolding her (which sometimes it feels like that.) She's just notorious for throwing a temper tantrum whenever she doesn't get what she wants, when she wants.... ;)