Big Sister

Sydney has been doing well with Sophie. At first she just ignored Sophie completely but now she comes up to Sophie and calls her "phee phee" and knows that she is the baby. When Sophie cries, Sydney says, "baby! BABY!"

Here is my sweet toddler this afternoon after church

Sydney has been acting up a little bit. She has been a little more argumentative with us and throws a tantrum when she doesn't get what she wants. She has taken to doing things she knows she shouldn't, or completely ignoring me when I start counting to 3.
She is still the cutest little thing and I wish I had more time to spend with her right now. Its just been hard with taking care of Sophie to find the time I would like.

Gabe got a calling today. He is now the Ward Mission Leader! Hopefully we will still have the time in the evenings that we would like to spend together and to take Sydney to the park. He will be meeting once a week for meetings with the ward missionaries and the full time missionaries. And most likely attending ward council. I think I can manage getting the girls ready for church on my own. This will be a little bit of a change but if this is the trial we are to have at this time then I'll take it. There are far worse things people go through than having to give up a little time.

Sophie will be 2 weeks old on Tuesday! What a fast two weeks it has been too! I keep looking at Sophie and thinking how different she will be in just a month or two. I think she has dimples also, like Sydney. Here's a couple photos from the past couple days.

Halloween!

Halloween was fun this year!! We actually dressed Sydney up, which was the real difference. Last year we didn't bother since she was just 7 months old. This year she was a Pumpkin!!! Gabe was Loki from Thor, and I found a cute Raggedy Ann maternity costume online that I thought would work for me. At least it will work for the next years when I am pregnant again and maybe even my sisters could borrow it if they need a maternity costume at Halloween time.

I has bought my costume already off of Amazon, but Gabe found it cheaper just a couple bucks on another site along with his costume so we ordered both of ours off of that. I went back to cancel my order on Amazon, since I had only placed it 45 minutes earlier, but it had already been processed. I am sure glad that I wasn't able to cancel it after all. The one from the site Gabe found it on was a total Knock off and it was horrible material and dying and sewing. I was glad to have the other one which ended up being perfect! Gabe's costume was great, but we could tell it was on the cheaper end also. At least Amazon has the ratings and reviews you can read from other people who have bought it and everyone who had bought the Raggedy Ann costume loved it. Gabe still looked great in his costume! His first choice was Captain America and then Thor, but we couldn't find either of those under $40 that were his size. He needs the Teen Medium or Large, not the adult sizes. 

Anyway, we went to our Ward Annual Trunk or Treat and I brought a cheese and cracker platter, Gabe worked at a ring toss booth for half an hour. We stayed for an hour tops because I was tired of holding Sydney and it was waaaaay hot in the gym. We decided that Halloween has officially become a kids holiday, unless we are going to an adult party with friends, which didn't happen this year. I guess it will be a little more fun when we actually get to take the kids our Trick or Treating. But that still seems to be a few years away. Next year I think we will throw an adult Halloween party or get a group together to go to a corn maze or something. Those fun types of things aren't only for the teenagers! we are still young and need some adult time wit friends! So next year, I plan on having an awesome time!

On Halloween, I dressed Sydney back up in her Halloween Pumpkin Costume and Dad and I drove her over to Northgate High School so Omi could go show her off to all her friends and co-workers. Of course Sydney was the cutest thing around and everyone wanted to come and say hi. Sydney got a little scared of one of the teachers and started having that pout face and calling for me. haha. It was soo adorable! 

We had 1 trick or treater. Just ONE! I should have given that kid the entire bag of candy because I saw those bite size Twix and HAD to have one... or two.... or 10 of them.... for breakfast the next morning. What a mistake that was.

Don't forget to read the post below! 

Maybe It Was Her Teeth Afterall

Sydney, thankfully, hasn't had a repeat of waking up super early, but I can see her two lower bicuspids coming in now. Her naps are still shorter but I think it may have been a combination of the two; too long of daytime naps and teething.

Anyway, Sydney has been doing so well in Nursery. (She even made it til the last 10 minutes of Sacrament meeting without us having to take her out. Our Sacrament meeting is the third hour so she is sometimes cranky by the end of church.) She LOVES to play with the other kids. She LOVES bubbles and coloring and playing with the toys. But yesterday at church we went to get her and she was soo upset. The nursery leader said that she started getting fussy but then she calmed right down when she was given a book, or a puzzle. She just LOVES her books. That is what she "plays" with the majority of her time here at home. She is always surrounded by a pile of books on the couch or on her bed in her room. (I took the box spring out from under the queen bed in her room so she can get used to climbing up on the mattress and being on it, so when the time comes she can transition to that bed and out of the crib which will be needed in the next couple months.) She LOVES "There's A Wocket in my Pocket" and "Go, Dogs, Go!" and now she is smitten with this huge book, also by Dr. Suess, that has six Dr. Suess books in it. She knows how to get to her favorite page in the entire book which has a moon on it. She LOVES the moon and every time we go outside, night or day, she looks for the moon and calls for it.

She is also obsessed with Elmo! haha..... sigh. It was really cute, at first. But now that I started playing some of the Sesame Street episodes off of the netflix for her, that is all she wants. So these last 3 days we haven't watched any tv at all. She never watched tv before Elmo, even thought it was on sometimes. She just never showed any interest in it. She was much happier with a book. But now all she asks for when we go out o the living room is "Elmo?"

She even turned on the tv and Wii the other day. I have no idea how she knew how to do that, but she was sitting on the couch holding the tv and Wii remotes and it was on the Wii Menu. Luckily she is fine with my answer that Elmo is either "sleeping" or went "night night". I don't know when I can watch Elmo again. The whole "Elmo's World" music has gotten into my head and I have started humming it, singing it, whistling it, and it has to STOP! haha Now I know why my mom fins Elmo to be soo annoying sometimes, haha.

This past Saturday Gabe got up at about 4:45 and went to the Temple, and it was the Walk for Smiles charity event that one of my former employers does every two years to raise money for kids in our county that can't afford dental care. They raised over $14,000 this year! I was in charge of the face painting booth for the kids, like I was was two years ago. I think I painted probably 20 to 30 kids faces this year. Lots of fun! They even had a pretty talented balloon guy and the kids LOVED that. It ended up being tons of fun and we were done with the walk and raffle prizes and presentation of the check within 3 hours of it starting. Then Gabe came and picked me up and we went to the Farmer's Market. 

All in all it was a really busy weekend, but also a really good and productive one. This coming week is going to be busy also. Gabe has extra hours today at the nursing home, and Wednesday probably, we have the Missionaries over for dinner tomorrow, followed by Gabe going home teaching after dinner, and then I have a singing rehearsal after he gets home, a baby shower on Thursday I'm going to, and the Ward Trunk or Treat on Friday that we are bringing a crackers and cheese platter too and also working a shift at one of the booths at 6. Then Saturday Gabe might have more extra hours and of course we run our errands mostly Saturday mornings. Life just seems to keep getting more busy. Which is why I am glad that General Conference happens twice a year because those are the most chill weekends. I am singing with the ward choir also, which has its practices at 3:15 every Sunday. Our church is over at 1:20, so its right in the middle of where I can take a nap before starting dinner. I actually totally forgot about choir practice yesterday and slept right through it. But I'm not too sad about it. Although it probably would have been a better use of my time by just going to the practice... I woke up from the nap kind of cranky anyway. Its funny, because I was sitting there, knowing perfectly well that I was cranky but I couldn't get my head around it to stop being cranky. I wanted to not be cranky, I wanted to be happy, but I just couldn't! It was sooo weird. Stupid short nap. =P So anyway, Gabe turned on some soft music, sountrack stuff, while we cooked dinner and it calmed me down.

I will be 31 weeks along this Tuesday! Woohoo! Once I hit 37 or 38 weeks, I am soo going to do yard work. I have been wanting that backyard free of rocks ever since we moved in so we could plant some grass, so when its ok to have this baby safe and clear, then I am going to work and hopefully induce my labor that way. Also because I really want to have this baby before Christmas and I am crossing my fingers for the 17th or the 18th because that is when Gabe's Christmas break starts from school.

I also had an appointment last week with my OB, I'm now seeing her every two weeks, and she says that everything looks just fine! I am measuring big and so is Sophie. She was already at 3 1/2 pounds when I had the ultrasound, so I am guessing she is probably slightly over 4 lbs now. Another reason to have her a couple weeks early. I think a 7 1/2 lb baby is a perfect size and she will probably be well over 8 lbs if she goes all the way to 40 weeks.

Back to Work

Gabe has been working at Stonebrook, a skilled nursing facility right off of Denkinger these past couple weeks now. He is one of their per diem SLP's and is usually getting 6-7 hours a day when they only have him booked for 4. With all the paper work and waiting on patients to finish up other activities, he is getting good hours and I think enjoying what he is doing. He did skilled nursing and whatever else he does with older generation people during one of his internships so this is good review for him and is giving him the experience he needs to apply other places in the future.
We were in the car yesterday driving to Jamba Juice talking about how this summer really has worked out well for us. The school year ended and we were not sure about what we were going to be doing, or where we were going. We decided not to renew our lease on the apartment and move in with mom and dad for a couple weeks. Luckily we had saved enough for our basic needs for summer. Gabe's company said they were looking for work down south, but they only work with school districts and not really anything else. The summer programs here in California are being cut, except special ed programs. So at the most Gabe would have gotten 4 weeks of work out of the 3 months off. The only other SLP who is contracted in the district told Gabe about an opening position at a skilled nursing facility in Concord that she usually works at but she didn't want the full time position she had before. So Gabe applied. It looked like it was between him and this other guy and we found out that they had hired the other guy based on experience. I immediately thought it was pay related. The other guy was probably cheaper. And he was. He was right out of grad school and so I guess technically Gabe wasn't hired based on experience. He had more than the other guy.
But they still wanted him for per diem hours and so he took that. It was better than nothing. And no other place was going to hire for 2 months left in the summer. Yeah, it had already been a month since school had gotten out. But we counted our blessings and were happy for the hours of work, and for the time we had been able to spend together the past month.
So Gabe went in for orientation and they told him that he would most likely have hours every day, at least 4. We were quite surprised. I was expecting maybe 4 hours 2 days out of the week,... maybe. But that was another blessing. They didn't hired that other guy afterall. Instead they hired 3 per diem people, I'm guessing so they don't have to pay benefits, and Gabe gets as many hours as he likes. The great thing is now, that he is getting skilled nursing experience, school experience, and also Early Intervention hours, all of which look great on a resume and especially so close to finishing grad school which will open doors for us later, we hope. And he can continue the per diem hours as well as the EI hours while still working during the school year. If he wishes. I would like to have him home at nights. But luckily that is something we do not have to decide now.
And mom and dad have invited us to stay the summer with them. Which helps significantly. We pay them what we can in rent to help with staying here, so hopefully we don't cost them anything.

It really has worked out better than I expected it would. I actually don't know what I was expecting, to be honest. It just all... worked.

So now we don't have to stress for the moment.

And I'm 17 weeks along today. 3 weeks until we find out the gender of this baby! I keep thinking its a boy. In my head its a boy. I don't know why. Gabe wonders how I will react if its a girl, and I really don't know. I think of Sydney having a little sister and them playing together and that makes me happy too.

9 Months Old Today!

I can't believe we have reached the 3/4 mark! 3 more months and she will be a 1 year old. Crazy!
My friend Mandy took some pictures for our friend Emily, who makes the cutest Tutu's, see her Etsy shop here- TutusForAll. So Sydney and I were in the photo shoot. Here is a sneek peek shot of Sydney taken yesterday.

I hope Mandy and Emily won't mind if I use it as her 9 Month shot, since I have been doing month to month pictures of her, and Mandy has a much better camera than I do. Oh the possibilities when you have a great camera and photoshop! But my little digital camera will have to do and iPhoto until the day I can purchase those wonderful tools!
Sydney has also been crawling like crazy and follows me around EVERYWHERE! I can't go take a shower without her trying to come into the bathroom, where a Jumparoo comes in handy, or do the dishes without her coming into the kitchen. Sorry I am a germ freak.
We played hide and seek and Sydney loved it! Crawling is a tough thing to do for long periods of time and I am glad that is not how we were intended to live our entire lives.
Sydney babbles constantly, she can alternate between two vowels with consonants in the same "word" that she speaks; such as M"o"mm"y". The "Mom" with the O sound and the "my" with the E sound. That usually starts around 10 months Gabe said. Of course she most likely doesn't realize that she is saying Mommy, but using the two vowels is great! Before it was one vowel like Ma-ma-ma or Da-da-da.
She can feed herself. This is great! I put her in her high chair and pour out some crackers or puffs and she eats very well, never stuffing everything in her mouth, but going slowly.
Gabe and I have been reading this book "Montessori From the Start: The Child at Home, from Birth to Age Three". Its a way to help your child develop certain fundamentals early on. The one that I like is this 18 month old putting on his own shoes, or this 9 month old drinking from a cup, not a sippy cup, an adult cup. Stuff like that.
Here's a video of Sydney at the table. 

 

And this is a tiny bit of venting here: 

We were at Costco this evening and we couldn't find a particular item. Soup to be exact. So we go up and down the aisles and come across the Ramen and other dehydrated soups but no canned soup. Where are they!? I was getting impatient. 

So I walk up to the Customer service desk in the front and wait for my turn, all the time people start coming from all angles asking questions not bothering to wait their turn. I wait patiently and after someone noticed I was there first they tell the others to wait one second and they come to help me. I ask them if they have the soup I was looking for and she looks in her computer and says, "Yes, we do. 388 cases of them". Where are they located in the store? I ask. "On the back wall." I point to the "back wall" and ask, "that wall?" She looks at me like I am stupid and says, "Yes, that is the back wall." I ask again, "that over there [pointing] is the back wall?" Yes is the reply I receive and Gabe and I walk over the back wall. Would you believe it that we found no soup on that back wall. I walk over to this other man who is restocking some, get this, soup, in a totally different part of the store from the Ramen and ask him, "when someone at the front desk tells me that the soup is located on the back wall, what back wall are they referring to?" He says that the wall that we had just checked was indeed the back wall, but the soup has never been stored there. It is in the middle of the store right next to the produce and clothing areas of the store. "Thank you," I tell him, all too nicely. I was trying to mask how frustrated I was with the women up front who treated me like I was an adult with poor comprehension and then gives me the wrong location. 

So the part that just gets to me is that I feel this need to correct this women who obviously needs me to tell her that she was wrong and that she should take a closer look at the computer next time she tells someone where something is located. 

I tried so hard to just let it go. I didn't need to tell this women anything. But I was still frustrated.

We made it out of the store and I instantly felt better that I hadn't said anything. phew!

Then I started to become upset at myself that I had even felt that way in the first place. Is life really that bad that I need to be upset over someone telling me the wrong place to find the soup in the store??

I don't think so.

Veterans Day Weekend

Gabe had the last few days off so we tried to find a place to take family photos. It was a little frustrating. I think after driving an hour all three of us were ready to just take a shot and go home. We didn't get a family shot that turned out well, but I think we have found a good place and this is a test picture. Gabe graciously accepted being the test model for the spot. So just imagine Sydney and I in the picture with him because I think we have found our spot. 

On the way to the place, up near the Temple, we stopped for a minute and here is Sydney just laughing at her doll falling and crashing onto her lap. 

Then when we were done we went to Mom and Dad's for a little bit. Gabe and Sydney fell asleep on the couch. And she was a very happy girl afterward. She had only gotten two naps that day. 

 And I just love every detail of her face. Its soo beautiful.

Daddy's Girl

I have to say that I have been truly blessed with such a wonderful husband who gives of himself completely and expects nothing in return. A selfless and humble man who takes care of Sydney and I without complaint. And the blessing of such a beautiful, well tempered, happy little girl as well.

Half Moon Bay

Our day started at 6:00am. We woke up to "30 Seconds to Mars" on Gabe's phone (his alarm ringtone). My head didn't exactly pop right off my pillow. It was cold this morning and don't like being cold. Buuut I love dressing for cold weather. Its my favorite season. Sweaters, scarfs, no more flats, no more flip flops.

We went to Sydney's room at 6:45 and woke the little one up. She didn't like losing a full hour and half of her normal sleep and wouldn't open her eyes to look at us for a full three minutes, punishing us for the interruption.

We headed out at 7:10am and got to the beach at 8:15.

It was brisk and cool. We prepared by wearing warm clothing. I wanted to take a family picture while we were there but none turned out. But we got some other good photos and a video. Enjoy!

It was a very nice morning. Everyone we passed by said Good Morning to us.

After we walked around for a little over an hour, we jumped back in the car and Sydney immediately fell asleep and didn't wake up until we were half way done purchasing our weekly grocery list at the Farmer's Market. We fed her a bottle in the car on the way to Trader Joe's and she took one long nap when we got home; a little over 2 hours long. In that I time that she was napping, I went to the Temple while Gabe stayed at home with Sydney. (He managed about an hour and a half of a nap as well.)

When I got home, Gabe went to help the Missionaries with a family in the ward. Finally around 4:30pm, we were all home, we got dressed for our daily walk/jog/run at the park. It was a cool evening and I am glad I wore a long sleeved shirt. Sydney loves being outdoors and loves to see the other people walking, and the dogs chasing one another.

After the park, Sydney jumped in her jumper while we made a wonderful dinner of sautéed veggies, parmesan cheese, and fresh basil! Mmm it was soo good. Of course we had some Maté and warm scones later. When Sydney was finally down for the night, we moved the couch to the computer and cuddled up to watch an episode of "Wallander" a BBC show on PBS. It wasn't a bad show. We enjoyed it immensely.

I think we both slept pretty soundly last night after such a long day.

Surprises With Smiles

Wednesday, I was getting a little nervous because it was already past the time in which Gabe is usually home from work. Since sometimes I tend to over-react and get a little worried when something I expect to happen suddenly changes, I decided to try and not get worked up over him being only 20 minutes late. "He probably has to stay later and talk a child's parent or something. No biggy," I told myself. Finally with a sigh of relief, I hear the key turn in the door and Gabe walks in, with a smile, and a huge bouquet of specially arranged flowers just for me. So that was what he was up to!

Gabe put Sydney on his shoulders after we had returned from our jog that evening and she immediately lit up with smiles! She is such a wonderful part of our family and we couldn't be happier to be her parents.

Also we tried to get her to smile so I could get a picture of her little tooth coming in. Can you see it? It's there, I swear it!

Yesterday Gabe texted me to say he would be home soon from work and following that text he sent another message asking me, "If I gave you 3000 of something you like, would it make you smile?" I replied, "Yes." Thinking they were kisses or a candy. But it couldn't be candy because I don't eat it, and neither does Gabe, and no way would I be able to eat 3000 of something on my own. So after making a few other guessing and not getting it, I said I had no idea.

Gabe gets home a little while later and walks in with this:

I would have never guessed THAT! HAHA. I like drinking through a straw. I don't know why, I just do. Just a quirky thing about me. Anyway, we figured if I used 1 straw a day at least we would still be lugging that box around for another 7-8 years.