You are so Beautiful

Raquel loves listening to music, and one of her favorites is "You are so Beautiful."  This is her rendition.

Ouchie

I had my first child/hospital ER experience this month.  It was an ordinary day - Luis was at work and Raquel and I were playing at home and skyping with Mom.  Without warning, Raquel lost her balance and smacked her face into the edge of our wooden bookcase.  Blood was all over and it took a minute to discover the source of her oozing.  Thankfully, Mom was right there (via computer) to keep me calm and help me know what to do, though I must say, my impulses seemed to be right in line with what Mom instructed, so I guess my "Mommy Instincts" are intact.

Once Raquel started to calm down and Mom and I were able to get a look at her cut lip, we decided she might need stitches.  I called Luis and told him to come home so we could have a car to take her to the Instacare.  Unfortunately, as I called around, I found that most Instacare locations wouldn't touch her cut lip because of scarring issues.  They told us to take her to the ER because they would be more skilled at stitching up facial wounds.  We arrived at San Antonio Hospital, checked in, and began our wait.  5 hours and 2 waiting rooms later, she was finally seen, stitched up, and dismissed.  Like has happened so many times in her life, Raquel AMAZED me!  Throughout our wait, she was fairly cheerful and patient, even walking around saying hi to fellow patients.  During the stitching process she did scream and squirm and they held her down, but I honestly expected it to be a lot worse.  Even I found myself calm and non-hysterical as I watched the procedure.  Afterwards, they handed her to me and she fell asleep in my arms within 5 minutes.

I'm still a little worried about her having a scar on her lip, but it seems to be fading a little more each day.

Picture Time!!!

Last week we scheduled Raquel's one year photo shoot.  It was a lot of work keeping that girl happy, but with the help of her monkey, Peanut, and a few balloons, we made it through the session.

First, she was feeling a bit shy, so we had to warm up.

After that she was pretty glamorous.

  

Do you see her holding up the column?

Time for an outfit change.  This is where the balloons came in to play because she was D.O.N.E!  Surprisingly, this is when she gave us her best smiles.

 

 

And this was Raquel 3 minutes into our car ride home.

I'm in love with them all!  

Thanks again, Jen!

A Day at the Pool, A Day of Green, and a Little Bit More

It got into the 90s here last week, which I do not think is appropriate for March.  We tried to make the best of it by having our first pool day of the season.  The water may have been slightly chilly and a bit "buggie," but we still had fun.

Not that I want you looking at my legs, but do you see how much darker Raquel looks than me?  I'm pretty much jealous.

Not that we celebrated much for St. Patrick's Day, but we did eat a rainbow of colors for breakfast the day before.  We were also invited by our friends, the Tappens, to try some corned beef and cabbage for dinner.  It was pretty delicious.  Raquel and Matthew kept sharing secret jokes throughout dinner.  They then helped their mommies work off some calories as we played run-around games.  Sadly, the video won't upload, so just use your imagination and try picture me running around with Raquel.

The little bit extra, is that I love doing my daughter's hair and I love watching her play.

El Mono & A Few Steps

The Morenos sent Raquel this monkey for Christmas.  She's looked it over once or twice, until yesterday.  Suddenly, she loves it and won't put it down, even when taking a few steps.

 

Speaking of taking a few steps, we caught this video the other night.  Sorry it's dark and sorry my baby is pantless.  It was right before bed.  The best part is at the very end!

 

My Baby is One!

I have been so excited for my baby to turn one!  What an accomplishment for her to now be a "year-er" instead of a "month-er."  (Though, I guess she is still a little bit of a "month-er" until she is outgrows 12 month, 18 month, and then 24 month clothes.)

A few days before her birthday, she received a package in the mail.  Almost nothing makes us more excited than packages in the mail!  I guess that's one perk of living far far away.  Inside the package we found a chunky puzzle and an outrageously cute petti-skirt.  Thanks Grandma & Grandpa!

Normally, we would have to wait to open birthday packages, but I had a feeling there would be some fun outfit inside that Raquelita would want to wear on her birthday.  (We did check with Daddy to make sure he didn't think the skirt was too wild for church, but luckily he gave his consent.)

Two days later, it was birthday time and Mommy & Daddy's turn to give gifts.  We have been hanging on to some of these toys since pre-birth, so I was super excited to get them out of our hiding spots (not like she's even mobile enough to go looking) and present them to our chulinda.

Not surprisingly, the wrapping paper was a pretty big hit.

Her birthday dinner request was homemade pizza, which she devoured.  Afterwards, cake time!  I put so much thought and effort into her cake last week, that I let Luis come up with her birthday cake this time.  He suggested a piggy face, to keep the farm theme going.  I unofficially put him in charge, which meant I was to bake the cake and he to create the masterpiece.  Unfortunately, life got busy and I ended up throwing it together last minute.  Thank goodness it was a simple idea!  I only wish I would've been smarter about the candle placement.  Tragically, Raquel's sweet and innocent piggy looks like he's smoking a joint.  I'm going to go ahead and blame that on Luis.

 After cake and ice cream, our little woman went off to bed.  I guess we should've let her stay up because Mother Nature suddenly decided to surprise us with one final present for Raquel...
California Snow!


Thanks for all the birthday wishes everyone!  Raquel had a super duper day!

Doce Meses!!!

When Raquel born, I thought about what the year would be like and how much fun all the holidays would be with a baby.  I even envisioned what she would be like when she turned one.  That day seemed so far away, but now that it has come and gone, it's surreal to see how much she's grown.

It's a good thing Daddy was around because he quickly turned the photo shoot from this...

...to this.  She adores Daddy.

Raquel at 12 months

• A whopping 16 1/2 lbs and 29 1/2 in.
• Her hair is 5 inches long.  Love love love.
• She has informed me that she will never crawl.  It's unrefined.  Instead, she cruises around on her feet, holding on to our hands.  She also scoots around a bit on her bum.
• She is eating all sorts of grown-up food now.
• She loves the book, Llama Llama Red Pajama.  It's the only long book she'll sit and listen to.
• Out of nowhere, she'll start laughing at her own private joke.
• She turned one and is suddenly, MAGICALLY, sleeping through the night!
• Her newest words are "duck" and "hi."
• She L.O.V.E.S. to stand on the bathroom counter (yes, we're holding her) and look at herself in the mirror.  She makes faces at herself, waves, and jabbers on and on.  It is probably my favorite moment of the day.

But seriously, wouldn't YOU stand and look at yourself in the mirror if you were this gorgeous?  I know I do.



Pre-Birthday Party

With SOMEONE's birthday just around the corner, the celebrations have officially begun!  Luis and I decided not to throw a big party for Raquel, but instead, chose to invite a few friends over for some cake and ice cream a week before her birthday.

 

Since Raquel will be getting several farm animal toys for her birthday (not planned), we decided to go with a farm theme.  It wasn't a PARTY, so we didn't go all out with decorations, but we did try to make it a little fun.

 

As you can see, Raquel was INCREDIBLY interested in her first cupcake.

 She thought the cupcake was mediocre, but what she really went for, was 

ICE CREAM!

It was so fun to have some of our friends over.  Even though bedtime was really late for some of us, the sugar rush set in and we all had a good time (though we did miss our McGarys and Ranes).

Raquel even scored some new duckies from the Mohlmans.

Happy almost birthday Raquel!