science fiction fan

Apparently, we have a science fiction fan on our hands. Quite often lately, after I've put the girls to bed, I go up to my room a little later to discover that Ella has snuck up to my room. She is in my bed, "reading" Ender's Game. Night after night, it has been the same book in the same spot at the same time. We have a fan of Orson Scott Card... or at least of reading... or at least of staying up past bedtime. Probably all of the above.

So Big!

I think the pictures speak for themselves on this post. Gabrielle has gotten so big, so quickly. She is now sitting up by herself. (Although, she still falls over ocassionally.) She is rolling. She squirms her way across the room. She does a million push-ups a day. If I did as many push ups and scrunches as she did, my abs and arms would look a lot better! :) By sweet baby is growing way too fast.

heartbreaker

Apparently,Alfredo needs to start worrying about the boys already. Michelle announced to me yesterday after school that Alexis loves her. Today, when I picked her up, she told me, "Alexis really does love me, Mom. He kissed me today." So I asked her to tell me what happened. Here is the scoop, in as close to her words as I can recall.

Well, see, today was Friday, so it was a short day. So after school, I went to after school program and we went outside on the playground. Alexis was there with his sister. I don't know why; maybe his mom didn't come to pick him up or maybe she was in the car letting him play for a little bit. I don't know. So we played with Alexis. Then he had to leave. As he left, he turned and did this. (Michelle puts her hand to her lips, and blows a kiss. I clarify: "So he blew you a kiss?" She nods.) He did that to me, Mom! Really! So see, he does love me. Well, I don't know if he loves me or just likes me. But he doeslike or love me.

As for Michelle's feelings on the matter? Who is to say? She can't decide whether boys are fun to play with or gross.

clean

just have to celebrate that i cleaned and vacuumed my car this evening. it is so nice and clean. that's all. it made me happy.

professional photos

We had professional photos taken of the girls at Sears back at the beginning of January. I finally picked them up this weekend. Here are most of the poses. Sorry I am not savvy enough to turn them...maybe I can figure it out and fix this later, but I'm in a rush now.

thank you

I have said before that I feel very blessed to have such good friends and neighbors. I truly mean that. Last night for Valentine's Day, my good friend Brenda watched my kids so Alfredo and I could go out. We'd watched her daughter all morning while she was in a class, but I still really appreciated her willingness to spend Valentine's at my house.

We have received a couple of plates of yummy cookies for Valentine's (thanks Aly & family, Julie/Brandon and our anonymous friend) and one friend mailed Valentine's cards to my kids which made their day (thanks Jaylynn and Jayda!). I am grateful for these small yet thoughtful deeds that helped make my kids so happy.

But I also want to express appreciation to those friends and neighbors who have been our babysitters over the past (nearly) six years since Michelle was born. I've always worked (although part time for 2 of the 6 years) and we have been fortunate to have wonderful people care for our children.

When Michelle was a newborn, Alfredo and I arranged our schedules such that Michelle only went to a babysitter 2 or 3 times per month. A wonderful lady named Alicia, Alfredo's friend's mother, watched Michelle.

When Michelle was about 15 months old, Aly watched her for about 4 or 5 months. Michelle loved playing with Annie and Max. I enjoyed talking to Aly about reading and raising kids and other topics.

Then when family circumstances made it impossible for Aly to watch Michelle anymore, our neighbor Bernadina watched Michelle (and then newborn Ella) for about a year. Again, Michelle made great friends, Jenni and Francisco. I think probably having these older kids to play with (Jenni, Francisco and Annie) is probably part of the reason that Michelle is so comfortable with kids that are several years older and several years younger than her.

When Ella was about 5 months old, Janene began watching the girls. She watched them for more than 3 years and Sylas and Bryce became two of their closest friends. My girls learned so many things from Sy, Bryce and Nene. This was also how we met their wonderful preschool teacher, Brandi. Janene not only cared for them, but took them on many school field trips and took them to preschool.

Now, Michelle, of course, is in kindergarten all day. And in a sense, we've come full circle. Alicia is now watching Ella and Gabrielle. She speaks more Spanish than English and so Ella's Spanish is improving. Ella is able to play with her grandson Dante and Alicia is so kind to both girls.

I am so grateful that since I am not able to be home, that I have been blessed to find wonderful people to provide such good care to them. We have been so fortunate and these people have earned my eternal gratitude.

Crazy things my kids have said

1/24: Michelle asked Alfredo if he ws about to leave. He said yes. She said, "No wonder you are wearing your handsome shirt."

1/19: Michelle and Ella were playing and Ella was "buying" things from Michelle. I overheard Michelle tell Ella to buy some "Silly-antro" (cilantro). :)

12/6: Our dog needed a bath yesterday. (He got one later that day.) He was inside, laying down by my feet and I started rubbing him with my foot. Michelle said, "Don't do that Mommy." I asked why. Michelle said, "You'll make him stink more." Thanks, Michelle. Thanks a lot.

12/4: Ella's prayer tonight: "Thank you for mommy and daddy and me and Michelle and Gabrielle. I love Jesus. I love the Christmas tree...."

11/29: Alfredo was teasing Ella. He called her "Medusa" because her hair was looking pretty crazy. She called him a ding dong. Then she looked up at him and said, "I only called you that because you were being mean to me first."

Dec 08 and Jan 09 Reads

December 08 and January 09 Reads--I am pretty sure I missed a couple but here are most.

An Unlikely Friendship ...very interesting book about the friendship between Mary
Todd Lincoln and Elizabeth Keckley, a former slave
Dave Barry's HIstory of the Millenium (so far)
Friday Night Knitting Club
Revelations by Melissa Delacruz
Royal Target by Traci Hunter Abramson
State of the Onion
The Hunger Games
The Next Thing on My List
The Shepherd, The Angel and Walter the Christmas Miracle Dog by Dave Barry
The Smile by Donna Jo Napoli
This I Believe II (everyone should read this!!!)

6 months old

First, isn't this an adorable cow outfit? She has so many cute outfits that I may just have to play dress up one of these days and do a post just to remember all these cute clothes. :)

Gabrielle will be six months old this coming week. It will be a busy week so I wanted to post about this milestone now. I can't believe it has been half a year since we brought this sweet baby home from the hospital. She is growing so quickly and fills our home with so much laughter.







I love the sweet relationship developing between her and the other girls. Michelle loves to make her laugh and tries all kinds of silly thngs to achieve that goal. Ella begs to hold her all the time. They adore their baby sister and she adores them.

She is rolling over fairly well now, especially from her back to her tummy. She grabs things with her hands and holds onto them. She can put her pacifier in her mouth and pull it out. She can hold her bottle. She can just about sit up on her own. She still topples forward sometimes but she is really close to being able to sit on her own. She is loving solid foods. She has pretty much loved everything we've given her so far, except squash. She generally wakes up twice at night to eat (for quite awhile it was only once, but for the past month it has been twice, sometimes 3 times a night, which is okay by me...it gives me a chance to cuddle her a little more.) She still does not have any teeth. She babbles a lot. I know it isn't a real word yet, but she often says, "Dada, dada, dada." She adores the dog and he is so gentle with her. When she is on her tummy, she pushes up with straight arms. She also sort of scoots around to grab onto things and she is starting to be interested in toys. She loves her swing. She tolerates her bouncy seat. She sometimes likes the exersaucer. She loves to be held, but she is content to be just about anywhere, particularly if others are in the room and she isn't left out of the action. She has such big, brown eyes and watches things so intently. Most people, right now, think she looks more like Alfredo. She is one of the most content babies I've seen and is such a joy to us.

student of the month!

Michelle is the student of the month for her class at her school this month. She was so excited when she told us Thursday night. On Friday, they were having an assembly at 9 AM and she really wanted us to come. I was hoping to be able to, but I couldn't justify taking a personal day for a 30 minute assembly when I'm down to 2 personal days and 3 sick days left for this year. So I figured I would talk to my principal on Friday and see if I could have my assistant cover my class for 20-30 minutes while I ran over to Michelle's school briefly for the assembly. (Thank goodness her school is 5 minutes from mine.) Fortunately, my principal said yes. Alfredo had a meeting at work at 9 AM on Friday morning and he didn't think he would be able to make it. But he talked to his boss and was excused from the meeting. He was there for the entire assembly and was able to stay for a few minutes after to take photos. Michelle was so happy that we were both there.

Michelle informed us on Thursday that parents bring flowers or balloons to their child at the assembly to show how proud they are. I stopped on my way to work to buy flowers. Alfredo also stopped to buy flowers, so Michelle now has a vase of tulips and a vase of orangeish-yellow roses to admire. :)


Here is Michelle with her Spanish teacher, Mrs. Tiburcio, and the students in her group.


Michelle and Alfredo in front of the Jackson Cougars mural inside the school.

Our sweet student of the month

getting her ribbon pinned on

Mommy handing her two bunches of flowers

At home showing off her beautiful flowers.

Michelle told me last night that in Spanish class she said two new sentences to her teacher and that her teacher was very proud of her. She said, "I'm really learning, Mommy. I love my Spanish teacher and Spanish class."

We are SO proud of you Michelle!

2 more crazy things about me

I totally don't mind being pregnant. I could be pregnant over and over. There is just something so remarkable about knowing that a child is growing inside you. But raising kids is hard and expensive and we probably won't have any more kids. This makes me a little sad. I would probably even consider being a surrogate except that I don't know if I could carry a baby and then give it up (even if it wasn't biologically mine) and also, probably people would think I was weird and I would probably worry about what people were thinking about me. Is that strange that I would even consider it?

My family mirrors almost completely the family I grew up in. I had two sisters. Rebecca and I were born 2 years apart. Then a little more than 3 years after Rebecca, my sister Suzy was born. (I'm the oldest.) Michelle and Ella are 2 years apart. Gabrielle is a little more than 3 years younger than Ella. Crazy, eh?