Happy Happy Holidays

It seems the holidays are finally over. Oh my, what a stressful time they can be. Between trying to control an over-active one year old, trying to find just the perfect gift for everyone and doing your best to get everything in order and on time, holidays will wipe you out! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the holidays, but they sure do make me tired. I guess I just really want to make it special for Elise so, of course, I end up over working myself over it.
This year Kenny and I decided not to give eachother presents, and boy was that a stress relief. Instead, we opted to buy presents for a needy child together. That worked out really well.
Elise had a blast, of course. She was so excited to open all the gifts she got. This year she really got into tearing them open, which was so great. That girl is constantly making me laugh and smile, the holidays only make it extra special.
We started off this year on a good foot, hopefully. We recently found out that we are expecting a second little one, so we are VERY excited. I also haven't been nearly as sick or run down with this pregnancy as much as I was with Elise. It's been so great, sometimes I even forget that I'm pregnant! Haha! Now that's good.
I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season and that this new year brings lots of joy, happiness, and peace.

On to the pictures!


Being a princess, she made me put this dress on her, notice her Dora jammies poking out underneath.


Elise in her Christmas dress, one of the few pictures she stayed still long enough for.


This picture almost made it to the Christmas card, if Elise didn't look like a hostage.


Elise and Mia, starting work on the pile o' presents


Matching Christmas jammies!


I love Christmas! HAHAHA!!!!


Taking a much needed break, and trying out her new princess lounger.


Me and Elise with our Christmas tree, notice the ornaments have migrated to the top, out of reach for little hands.

Second Halloween, woohoo!

Happy belated Halloween to everyone!
I hope you all had as much fun as we did.
This year did not disappoint, as I hoped it wouldn't. We had so much fun fussing about and getting ready for the event. Elise had a blast going trick-or-treating with her cousin Mia, who is about 6 months younger than she is. We were so excited to have Elise actually participate in the holiday. Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays so I was especially excited. Kenny and I took Elise out to a pumpkin patch last weekend where she got to pick out her very own pumpkin, pet some animals and ride a real pony.
Elise loved getting dressed up and showing off to everyone she saw, it was very funny.
I actually got her a costume about a month before Halloween. I was really excited when I saw an adorable little bunny costume and got it for her right away. I had originally wanted her to be Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, but I remembered that it is always so cold on Halloween and the bunny was just so cute, so I decided to go ahead and get her the bunny one.
Well, come Halloween and it is so hot outside, I realized at 5:30PM that the bunny costume was just not going to work. So I left Kenny in charge of Elise and dashed out to the store. They only had two costumes in Elise's size left. Lo and behold, Dorothy was one of them. The other was a wierd Sleeping Beauty ballerina outfit, so, naturally, I went for Dorothy. I went around the store and was able to pull together her costume and have her dressed and ready to trick-or-treat in thirty minutes, it was awesome.
So, yes, we had a really great Halloween holiday. Despite some tragedy and heartache this month (you can ask me about this, if you don't already know the story) we managed to get to spend alot of really wonderful family time together. We are so happy, and so lucky!
Of course, here are some pics of the fun things we did this month:


Kenny and Elise, Elise showing us the reject costume and her grumpy face. It was still cute!



Down time at the zoo, riding the baby rhino.



Riding a pony at the pumpkin patch



Elise, being gentle with the bunny at the pumpkin patch.



Somebody get me a bottle to put this stuff in, I'm taking it to go!



Me and Elise in the hayride, Elise showing us that yes, there is actual hay in the hayride.



Looking for the perfect pumpkin.



I think we found a winner.



Kenny and Elise, on our hiking excursion at Lake Arcadia, preeetty.



Dorothy and Toto, ready to go.



Got what we came for.

Who's the boss?

Haha, what a funny title for a blog entry.
But I often find myself asking that very question around here. Who is the boss? I certainly don't know. I know that I probably am not. The truth is that Elise is the boss, I think, well, it's likey that she is. That sweet girl runs me over on a daily basis. She has so much energy, it is hard to keep up with her. She has Kenny and me wrapped around her little finger, and the problem is that I think she's starting to figure it out.
We are still having issues with her sleeping, which is a frustration. The good part, though, is that it seems to only be a frustration to me! Ever since Kenny came home from D.C. a few weeks ago (he was gone for a whole week), Elise seems to be unwilling to let him go or be more than an armslength away from him when she sleeps at night. So, consequently, she's been sleeping inour bed at night. Kenny loves it! He especially loved it at first when he got to snuggle up to our sleeping baby any time he wished. Unfortunately, we found out that Elise is probably the wiggliest sleeper ever. That girl doesn't stop! Not even for sleep!
She is getting better, though. We are working on her moving back into her own room. We got her a big girl bed, because apparently she is SO over her crib. She now takes daytime naps in her own room on her own bed again. So, I'm getting her back there, slowly but surely.
Other than our silly bedtime issues, things have been great. Elise is so funny and whacky, she cracks me up every day. She is talking alot now, which is great. We recently got a webcam so we can Skype with my sister in California. It is so cool to be able to see her and Elise and her even play games with eachother, it is awesome. I get to show off all of Elise's new tricks to her, haha!
Here are a few new pictures:



Tearing up the kitchen (July, 2008)



At the fair, collecting chicken eggs (September, 2008)



Picking apples at the fair, I think there's child labor laws against this, oh well.



Cleaning up the yard, I have to redirect her energy somehow!



Pulling out, I mean, smelling the neighbor's flowers.



Mexicaning it up at uncle Adrian's birthday party (August, 2008)



Fancy lady (August, 2008)



Hanging out with cousin Mia on the princess couch (October, 2008)



Her very own Elise-size house, thanks Aby! ( October, 2008)



My painting of Kenny and Elise, kinda creepy?

More Pictures...

I wanted to share a picture taken of my brother Adrian in an egg at the San Diego Wild Animal Park when he was about 1 year old. On our recent trip to California we got to go back and take a picture of Elise in the egg, she is about the same age as Adrian was back then.

Uncle Adrian in th egg (ca. 1998)



Elise in the egg, 2008.


Here are some more pictures from our trip.

Wrestling the ferocious Alligator.


Elise with her new friend.


Lorikeet fun


Making jokes with her Aby


Hanging out with Uncle Eloy


There's an Elise floating in that tea


Feeding juju-b


This horse better be fast. Giddy up!

One Whole Year

I can't believe how fast time has passed. Elise is already one year old. She is such a big girl. She has come so far from the little helpless baby that we met on the day she was born. She is a walking, running, talking energy machine of a little girl.

Alot has happened since my last update. For one, Elise is now an expert walker. She is still wobbly sometimes, but she is really good! Kenny actually got video of her running away from home. She walked out to the backyard, out the gate, and kept going up the hill without turning back. That girl is dangerous.

Elise turned one on May 31st, and of course, we had a huge birthday party for her. My sister flew in from California to help and join us in the festivities. Before I had Elise I never would have imagined that I would be one of those moms that gets all into the birthday parties and goes all out, but I guess I have become one. I even made Elise's birthday dress. I almost didn't put it on her because I thought it would look like monkeys had put it together, but I think, in the end, it came out looking pretty good. The party was awesome. We had a pretty good turnout of about 60 people. Elise had a blast, and (I hope!) everyone else did too. Here are a few pictures of the event:


Elise having fun in the moon bounce



Mommy let me down I wanna go break the PINATA!!!



Elise attacking her cupcake cake

Thanks to Charlotte for taking pictures. I was so out of my mind crazy that day so she took over picture duty for us.
The birthday party took place the weekend before her actual birthday. On her real birthday we took a little family hike at Martin park. We had a really good time together. Elise had fun getting dirty, climbing through the flowers, and seeing new creatures. Here's some pics:







Later that day, we went over to my mom's house where she had made Elise a second birthday cake. We were happy to be able to have another celebration just for us on her real birthday.



Elise and I also took a second trip out to California. We went along with my mom and little brother, Adrian. While there, we got to join in celebrating the graduations of my cousins Jorge and Eric. We got to see alot of family that I hadn't seen in a very long time. Elise had fun playing with new people she had never met before. She got to explore new places and things. It was so much fun to take her to Disneyland again and the Wild Animal Park where she came close to and actually woke a lion, and fed some ducks and lorikeets. It was precious. Pictures to come soon.

When we came back home, we decided to have pictures taken to commemorate her first birthday. The session was a little difficult because Elise just wanted to explore the studio. She was not interested in staying still and smiling at all. Despite our issues, I think we got some pretty good shots. Judge for yourselves:













I guess the last month or so was a little busy, but we had so much fun. Not that the fun is ending, but, well, it's all been fun.