Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Enrique is ONE!!

 
My sweet, sweet boy is one.  I love having a "big" family but I have to admit that life is flying by too fast for me.  I want to slow it down. I blinked and he is go go go now.  He is so, so cuddly though. He loves laying his head on my chest and stays there for moments at a time.  His most favorite thing to do is play with his Thomas ride on train and butt heads (literally) with his Daddy, LOL!   He is into everything especially if it isn't a toy. Just tonight he almost pulled down the living room lamp by the cord. I swear I never had to consider putting a lamp away as part of child proofing.  It is so fun having a baby around the house and the girls are delighted with him. I truly have constant help from them and now I can't even imagine how hard it was when I didn't have helpers to get his clothes, a diaper, and distract him and play with him while I clean or shower!!! I am amazed at how parenting now is so different than when I had just one or two or three! In some ways it is hard but in some ways it is easier.  I love my big, little family and we love our sweet, lovey, Enrique. We are so grateful to have him in our lives. We love you to the moon and back baby boy!
 
 








Elena is TEN!

How can I have a ten year old?!!!  It's truly unfathomable but it has been a gift to raise this girl. She is spirited, brilliant, inspiring, inquisitive, energetic and empathetic. She was looking at her baby book on her birthday and found the letter I wrote to her on her first birthday. I don't ever want to forget her words that evening...she said, "mom this letter made me cry from happiness. I have never felt as loved as I did right now reading this letter."   I'm so GLAD I wrote that letter 9 years ago.  Here's my sweet love on the evening before going to watch a play downtown with two of her best friends for her birthday. It was truly magical being under the city lights on that crisp night watching her chatting away with her friends and just seeing her in a different light, older, more mature and delighted to be out in the town with friends. I just knew at that moment that is the beginning of a new phase for her. I don't know what awaits me with adolescence, but I am looking forward to this brand new phase in parenting.









 

 

Sunday, October 18, 2015

Friday, August 21, 2015

Enrique 8 mos




My sweet baby boy! How I wish I could slow time to cherish these fleeting moments with you.  Knowing you are my very last baby sure makes seeing you grow that much harder.

You are surely your mommy's boy...for now.  You seem to be coming in and out of illnesses which has made you extra needy.  This is when you want no one else but me.  Many times you are content without me around but the moment you see my face you start to whimper.  I have learned however that I can buy time through your sisters who ADORE you. They carry you, play with you, sooth you, coddle you, and help me more than any other help that I have had previously.  You will surely miss those girls when school begins. The biggest surprise of parenting an infant this time around is the incredible love your sisters show you every single day.  Nothing could have prepared me for seeing this immense love they have for you.  That is by far the biggest most greatest treasure that has come from having a "large" family.

Some milestones:  You are belly/army crawling! You have gained quite some speed doing so too. Your motivation is the potted plant in our living room. You like the soil and I even caught you chewing on the STEM today!!! Ahhh, the 4th child!!! where was your mama?  This particular plant has also gotten you to pull up on your knees.  You'll be standing before you know it.

You like to shriek just like Elena use to. If it is particularly loud at the dinner table you insist on being heard too!

Your sleep...hmm...still working on that.  You will sleep 5-6 hours through the night but the biggest and most intriguing thing about you is that you go to bed at 9pm. I have tried and tried to do 7pm or 8pm because I was so successful putting other babies to bed at this time but as they say, every one is truly different and baby number four apparently does not make me an expert on babies and sleep and parenting and everything right! I do know that you love the swing A LOT!! You also prefer to be rocked to sleep. It took me a while to figure this one out I think because we've been out an about all summer taking your sisters places. Thankfully, you have been quite adaptable in that you sleep on the go but by evening you want to be home.  Dinner outings are your least favorite and you express this without hesitation.

Food: You are so eager to eat but sometimes you can't decide whether you want to try what I am feeding you.  Lately, you don't want anything from the spoon. You want to hold it yourself and feed yourself but I am afraid you have a long way to go with that skill. ;-)  You're most favorite food is Mum Mum, a simple cracker I only now discovered. You also like carrots and sweet potatoes but you've tried so many new things like refried beans, blueberries, whole fruit, yogurt, rice and more. 

Baby boy you have made me slow down and really appreciate these fleeting moments, and I am so grateful for that.  I needed to see that the simplest things in life are what life is really about and what I will remember when you and your sisters are grown.  I won't remember why I rushed everywhere or every activity, event or trip we participated in. I WILL remember how simple it was to make you smile and to sing and rock you to sleep. I love you Enrique and I really hope this isn't the one and only update I will have of your babyhood, I really do!









Sunday, May 17, 2015

Enrique's Baptism



 
 

 







 
 



 
 

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

7 weeks old

 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Monday, January 5, 2015

Advent family projects

 


 


 
 

Yes, let me explain:  As part of RE the girls needed to attend the telling of the Christmas story. However, being that we had just had a newborn we were told we could act out the story at home instead. I thought it couldn't be more perfect actually.  With an actual baby and the girls thrilled to search for props and costumes, the "performance" was perfect.

 Main characters:  Marisa as Joseph, Karina as the Angel, Marisa as Mother Mary and Enrique as baby Jesus.  Animals in attendance: Rudolph, white horse and  a lamb

Friday, January 2, 2015