Picture Update

This summer has been crazy! I feel like things are just now slowing down. I'm feeling overwhelmed with how far behind I am on updating what's been going on. So, here it is... a bunch of pictures, hopefully you can use them to fill in the update-gaps.

She loves the power of the fan/light remote!

When Tucker gets home, she runs to the dog and starts laughing and dancing her feet. He throws her on the dog, and she loves it (can't you tell?).

I LOVE her smile!

She's had lots of fun in her giraffe pool from G.

Dad brought her back some pots and pans from Ikea when he went to Portland for a conference. She loves banging them and putting their lids off and on, and transferring toys back and forth between them (she'll do this for hours- in baby time... more like many minutes).

She LOVES sunglasses! We bought her her own and we keep them in the car. Every time she gets in the car she wants her pacie and then points to my sunglasses and asks for them until I put hers on her (she even wants them when it's dark outside). She keeps them on for the whole car ride! Just chillin'

When she's going to give you a kiss, she grabs the sides of your face and pulls you towards her, precious!

Oh- the messes she gets into!

She like the aquarium, or liked running around the aquarium.

She really loved the splash park outside uptown shopping area. And below: now maybe you understand why her Aunt Melissa sometimes calls her Cousin It.

Pure joy!

 She learned how to open the cabinets and we have bottle parts EVERYWHERE! On the plus side, she'll bring me a sippy cup, spoon, or bottle when she's thirsty, wants milk, or wants to eat.

She loves sleeping with her doll and bunny. I just think it's the sweetest when she gives them big hugs!

Surprise Visit!

On the 4th of July weekend, my amazing sister and her wonderful family surprised me with a visit. It was loads of fun! I've been patient for four years (still can't believe I've been here for FOUR years) and it was well worth the wait!
We went to Santa Fe and ate at The Shed (very fun place) and spent some time looking around at the art and buildings. We also went to the zoo (albuquerque has a very good zoo... people who live here say they have a good aquarium too... not so).

Lizette and Claribel had so much fun playing together. Claribel loved it went Lizette would push her around in this cart she has.
They both looked adorable in 4th of July fashion attire- thanks to the handiwork of Melissa!

I just loved getting to spend so much time with my little niece!  One morning I woke up to see her sitting on my kitchen counter, next to her mother of course. I went up to her, gave her a big hug and said, "Claribel, I just love waking up and seeing you in my kitchen." "MMMMMmm, HHmmm." Was her reply! So adorable!  Lizette loved watching her cousin, and wanted anything she had... including her food!

And here's some funny faces Uncle Ray caught!

Lizette's Bday Celebration (finally)!

We've had a whirlwind of fun, visitors, and trips these past few weeks!

Lizette had an amazing FIRST birthday party! I can't believe she's 1! Crazy!

She opened up some presents from d and Monie before her party here. Monie gave her a bracelet that she had when she was a little girl, so incredibly sweet! I can't wait until she's old enough to know how special it is. But for now, she loves the way it tastes!

Her long legs get me in this picture! How did she grow soooo fast?

She had some pool fun for her birthday. She loves the pool. She would even kick her legs to turn and face the person who was trying to take a picture of her. Adorable!

We made her this cute little cake. Special sour cream and cream cheese cake so it wasn't so sweet. It was still too sweet for her, but she picked the blueberries off the top. Tucker finally put a piece of cake in her mouth and she just spit it out. It was actually the first time she learned to spit something out. So many firsts!

She loved taking steps with her HABA push cart. She was so proud of herself. When Dad and Granddad tried to help she would push them away. She wanted to do it HERSELF!

Breaking Down

So, Lizette has had cramps for the past two nights and hasn't slept. Last night she slept off and on, but the night before she didn't go to sleep until 6 a.m. Tucker and I took shifts and had some joint time up with her too.

Let me say. I need my sleep. My stomach gets nauseous and it's so not fun being awake at 3 am, not knowing when it will end. I feel all weak and I can't think right... (do you feel sorry for me yet?)

Well, what's harder to handle than the crying baby and the sleep deprivation is a spouse that's also "losing it." I get so frustrated because Tucker gets angry with the situation and then I'm dealing with trying to calm him down and the baby too.

Then something happened that caused me to see things more clearly. Tucker went to the room to go to sleep, and I settled down for a long night, holding Lizette. As I saw him leaving the room I started crying along with Lizette. Tucker came back in to ask me something and I saw that I was losing it.

It's the same thing... I cry, he gets angry... we're both losing it though. His reaction when I'm crying is the same reaction I have when he gets upset. I don't like to see him angry, he hates to see me cry. Both situations don't make the crying baby situation any better. But, what are we to do? It's just not human to be reasonable, calm, cool, collected, when you stay up until 6 a.m.

It was helpful for me to realize though that me crying and Tucker getting angry are the same. I can't really get frustrated when I'm doing the same thing.

So now, she's taking a nap (poor thing's so tired from being up 2 nights in a row), and I'm going to try to get some sleep in too. I've done enough thinking for the day, and if I think anymore I might start to wonder how tonight's gonna go....

Creation Quiet Book Day 4

I made the moon out of a mother of pearl button, and it can move from one side of the earth to the other. The tops of the trees can velcroe on and off.  I also have to add the "4", just remembered that.

Happy Easter!!!

10 month park celebration

Lizette is 10 months.  It's been crazy around here!  She started crawling yesterday! She's been sick, we got our car vandalized, and Tucker's been working crazy hours... so this post is going to be short and sweet.  Here are some pics of our little Lizette who's already 10 months old (sigh to catch my breath).

 If you make a funny sound, it's nearly impossible for her to resist joining in.

 I just adore her....

 She likes waiving

And her laugh and smile make me so happy!

Creations...

I had fun with these pages.  I figured Day 3 needed 2 pages.  I love how they turned out!
I did have plans to add a seed growing into a flower, some rocks where nothing was growing... but I kept it "simple" (btw... nothing's really simple for me as with each page I'm doing things for the first time).

The first page has a garden where she can "pick" radishes, carrots, and onions (I'm missing an onion in the picture, it's somewhere in my stash of sewing materials... I guess if my eyes start watering when I'm sewing I'll know it's gotta be close...).  The cloud velcroes on and off, and the tree is just for decoration (I'm hoping to find some cute apple buttons to add to it.

 This next page has flowers that she can button on, matching the color of the one that's already there.  It also has "grass" that she can practice weaving.  I think this is my favorite page so far.  I also love how the flowers are connected with green ribbons for their "stems."

 Now, onto day 4.  I'm still not sure what I'm going to do for the 7th day when God rested... any ideas?

The next crafty thing I did was work to spruce up some gerber onesies.  I sewed some snaps, ribbon, and crocheted flowers and here's what they look like now.  I love the way they turned out, and I found a new love... crochet!  Thanks to Tucker's grandma for sharing her crochet stash with me :)

 I learned how to do 2 different types of flowers, I think the solid blue one is my favorite because it has different layers. 

All the ones with the pink flowers share a flower.  I put a snap on the back so I could take them off for washing and it worked so I could share flowers too!  All in all this was a cheap project and I have several onesies that I'm going to love putting her in!

Our weekend plans....

Just chill...

 Enjoy the beautiful outdoor weather...

 And hopefully have some good food! 

Hope you have a great weekend!