The Holidays Are Here!

I guess I can finally say that we have settled in to our home. It's not fully decorated or anything yet, but I doubt it ever will be. We have a Christmas tree up and our stockings, but I just don't have a knack for that stuff. I will have to enlist the help of a new friend, http://www.monicabenavidez.com/ Monica is somebody I met while I was helping Rosa out with her wedding. It was beautiful, by the way! Monica played a big role in it going smoothly, but she is also one of the coolest girls I have met in while. She is also the reason that I am blogging today.

A lot has happened since my last post, but I am sure I can't remember it all now. I think one of the biggest newsworthy events would have to be that Hannah is completely weaned. No more Nursing for Hannah! I am a little relieved, but at the same time, I miss it so much. It happened right around the 15 month mark. She was only nursing before bedtime, so I had to tell Brian to start putting her to bed. That started going really well. Now on the rare occasion that she wakes up in the middle of the night, Brian is the only one that can put her back to sleep. She wants absolutely nothing to do with me! I feel like crap, but at least I can go back to sleep Brian is up with her at night. My, my, how the tables have turned. She is such a daddy's girl already, and this is just making them even closer.

This picture pretty much sums it up. The 2 reasons that I exist.

This was taken this past weekend at our Goddaughter's 3rd birthday party. Hannah had her first ever moonbounce experience and she loved it!! Michaela's daddy, Laurie's husband, was able to make it in just in time! Kenneth was been away for almost 4 months. He is in the Navy but Laure and Michaela are still in San Antonio until he gets stationed somewhere, then they will go with him (and I will be there every chance I get, whereever that may be).

We have been in our house for 5 months already, but it seems like a blur! Within those 5 months, we have had a housewarming party, a bridal shower, and Thanksgiving there. What a way to break it in! I was never one to host parties, it was always Brian's idea. Now, I want to party all the time! OK, not all the time, but I want to have something going for New Year's. For some reason I have to twists Brian's arm to get on board with me, but we will see.

I hope that I can write some more, but I rarely have time, and I miss it.

~Abby

Home Life

Well we officially moved in almost 2 weeks ago and we have yet to settle into a routine.

Last week Hannah had her first ever Ear Infection. So she couldn't go to daycare for a few days. Her doctor was really surprised that Hannah had never gotten an ear infection especially since she is in daycare. It must be all the antibodies in Mommy's Milk! Anyway, she had a fever and runny nose for a few days. At the same time we were still trying to unpack and work on the house in the evenings after work.

Then last weekend, Esther had a friend from college over to visit and asked if she could spend the weekend at our place, as opposed to driving back and forth to Floresville. Brian and I said it was OK.

This week we had Brian's brother Daniel spend the night a few times because we were expecting deliveries and pick ups for some of the new things we purchased. Again, we still were not able to settle on a normal routine like, get home from work, cook dinner, have dinner, spend time together, get Hannah ready for bed and just relax!

Don't get me wrong, our house is livable but it's not to the point to where I can just watch TV in the evening and not worry about our bathroom not being totally unpacked, or Hannah's toys still in boxes. Hopefully by next week, we will be there!

On a much lighter note, Laurie and I had a nice evening together on Monday 8/3. We attended a Girls Night Out Event at the Melting Pot. I love that place! Brian and I went there for our 1 year wedding anniversary. It was a good chance to catch up on all the things that are going on in our lives. Her husband is leaving for the Navy in a few weeks and I wanted her to know that Brian and I are there for her as well as Michaela.

On to other mommy issues: Hannah has been extra clingy lately. At first I thought it was because she was under the weather, but it has been going on for a few weeks. After reading up about it, it seems that this is perfectly normal for a toddler at her age to go through. We will probably be dealing this a while because she will soon begin her transition into her toddler class. Hannah will soon be leaving the nursery that she first came to know at 3 months old! I don't know if the transition will be more difficult on her or me. My baby is growing up!

Not only that, but I am turning 27 next week and I am feeling it!

HOME

On Tuesday July 21, 2009 Brian and I closed on our first home! The whole process was better than I though it would be. I though we would be searching for weeks, maybe months, before we found "THE house." Luckily, I am not that type of girl. I am the type of girl that plans her wedding in 2 weeks. I am also the type of girls that takes her Civic to get serviced and walks out with a new CRV!

I digress.

Owning a home was never really a big goal of mine, especially because my parents don't own a house. Growing up we moved every 3 or 4 years and the Church always provided the home. Even when Brian and I got married, I was never in any rush to buy. I always figured that we would eventually move out of San Antonio and settle down somewhere else, kind of how I grew up. Brian, on the other hand, had been ready to be a home owner since we got married! It must be a "Man Thing" to want to own land. My turning point was having Hannah and watching her grow and realizing that I wanted to give her a place of her own that was big enough for our family. We are moving in this weekend and we couldn't be happier!

So here I am, just a few weeks shy of my 27th birthday and I am blessed with a great career, wonderful husband, loving daughter, and now a Home of our very own. When I graduated college 5 years ago, I never thought I would be here this quickly. Brian and I work hard for what we have and the hard work is paying off.

Since we haven't officially moved in yet, we just go over to the house in the evenings after work to visualize where we will be putting certain things and showing the home to family. Every time that we go over, Hannah has a ball running around everywhere and inevitably trying to climb the stairs. By the time we get ready for bed she is TIRED! Just one of the perks of having lots of room in the new house.

I will keep you posted on how the moving process goes. It's something that I am all too familiar with, but nevertheless, I do not enjoy it!

Quality Time

Last night Hannah and I had the most fun that we have ever had together. Brian was working late and it was just Hannah and Mommy. Brian stays late one night a week since he is a manger. I look forward to picking Hannah up from daycare most of the time but I never really get to enjoy her. I will admit that most of the time I just let her play in the living room while I am getting dinner ready or get online to pay some bills or try to write. Last night I decided to focus all my attention to her.

I turned on some music (Lady GaGa has some good beats and rhythm) and we started dancing and laughing. At first she just stared at the speakers because she had to figure out where the music was coming from of course. Then she started dancing! Instead of just rocking back and forth like she used to when we played music, she is dancing with her legs too. Hannah lifts up her legs and her little body moves up and down. Her dance moves were so intense that she almost hopped! I opened some of her toys from her birthday and had a tea party. Every time her little tea pot started singing a song or said anything, she would turn to me with this big smile and a look of amazement! We practiced her walking and I must say she is getting really good at it. She lets go of whatever fixture she is holding on to and just GOES! Usually she has to have some kind of human target to walk to and I was glad to be that target.

After dinner and some more playtime, she was ready for her bath. I could tell that she was done with playtime because she kept coming up to me and resting her little head on my lap and she patted my legs.

As a working mother, I still feel guilty sometimes about not being with her enough and sending her to daycare. I guess it's just that mommy guilt. I honestly don't think that daddy's get it too much. It's probably because as women we are entirely too hard on ourselves and feel this pressure to be EVERYTHING to EVERYONE! Even though I worked hard in college for my degree and worked even harder in the workplace to get to where I am now, I sometimes wish I could stay at home with Hannah. Unfortunately to support the comfortable lifestyle that we have gotten used to, that really isn't an option. After that night, I realized just how much those few hours that I get to spend with her in the evenings really matter. In the end it's not the QUANTITY of time that we spend with our kids, it's the QUALITY.

Just when I thought we were on a roll...

Feeding Hannah has always been a struggle for some reason or another from the start. Since her second day of birth, the hospital wanted me to give her formula because she was losing weight and she wasn't nursing properly with me. It was so upsetting! I couldn't get myself to give her a bottle so Brian had to do it. Then, she became a pro at nursing! She was still and always has been low in weight. I just never had a fat, chubby baby. She nursed all the time, but when it came time to send her to daycare, that became an issue too. The caregivers were not sure how to handle Breast milk. All the babies were on formula and Hannah was the only that had expressed milk sent with her. Well we finally got that settled, but then came solids. I waited until a little after 6 months to give her solids. We started with baby cereal and breast milk, then bananas, avocado anything soft. Then I started making her food by steaming veggies and fruit at home and sending that to daycare as well. Everyone at the daycare and the moms that work with Brian were astonished of how I could work full-time, pump at work and make her baby food. To me, there was no other option. However, this is not the mother I envisioned that I would be, it just turned out that way. I would do anything for Hannah!

Fast forward to these last couple of weeks where I have agreed to let Hannah eat off the menu at daycare. I figured at 1 year old she need to learn how to eat other foods besides what I make her. I still send her snacks from home (pears, bananas, yogurt) just in case she doesn't like what they serve at daycare. Surprisingly enough, she has been eating very well. So i decided to let her eat what we eat at home. This has made us very aware of what Brian and I are putting in our mouths on a daily basis so we are going back to healthy eating, not only for ourselves but our daughter. Anyway, I decided to buy Hannah one of those Lil' Graduate meals for toddlers from Gerber. I know, I know, it doesn't exactly follow along the lines of what she has been fed in the past,but I figured that for her first year of life, I provided all of her nourishment's, and I needed a break.

Well, she ended up loving it! They are not cheap, but she only eats one meal a day with us during the week, so I could splurge. It saves a lot of time as well. She tried all different kinds and enjoyed them all... until last night! Hannah turned into the picky eater that I was trying to avoid. She didn't want any of it! She would shake her head and push the spoon away from her mouth when we got near her. After about an hour of trying to feed her, playing with her, trying to trick her into eating and giving her a break, she ended up eating cheerios and yogurt. You know what, I was OK with that.

I'll try again tonight, but I may just cook some pasta, which she loves! We'll see what kind of adventures will arise tonight!