Hippity Hoppity

It's a universal fact of life, holidays are unvelievably more cute and magical with kids...even miniature ones.

On Saturday, Raquel and I woke up early to surprise daddy with some Pinterest Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins.  Find the scrumptious recipe here: http://www.thibeaultstable.com/2010/05/glazed-lemon-poppy-seed-muffins.html

As always, Raquel was thrilled to help mommy.

 There was an egg run planned in our neighborhood, but since Raquel had such a HARD day on Friday, we decided she needed to stay home and rest.  So, we once again had our egg hunt inside.  First, I hid eggs for Luis and Raquel.  Then he hid eggs for Raquel and I.  Since Missy was sleeping, Luis and I started hunting first.

The BEST part of our hunt, was when we had both found 4/5 eggs.  Luis gave me clues and I finally found my last egg.

Then I gave Luis hints and he found his last egg IN THE SAME SPOT.  (I'm not sure how he didn't see his egg there when he put mine right in front of it, but it gave us some good laughs.)

 

 Finally Raquel woke up happy and anxious to start her hunt.

 She found all her eggs AND the special presents Grandma Ferguson sent down.

On Sunday, Raquel was happy to finally get to wear her Easter dress (a "happy birth" present from Grandma Ferguson that was perfect for Easter) and flower that Mommy made.  Have I said how much I L.O.V.E making flowers for her hair?

Church was fabulous, as I always love the messages shared on Easter Sunday.  I especially love being in Primary where I get to hear the beautiful stories of Christ and the simple testimonies of the kiddos.

After church, Raquel got to see her Easter loot.

She got some hand puppets, though I'm not sure what she thought about them.

 She got some clothes.  Baby rompers...CUTE!

AND she got Goodnight Moon (en espanol) and a Spanish Songs CD.

Aren't these so precious?  They melt my heart.

 For Sunday dinner we had the most YUMMY potatoes I have ever tasted.  And yes, we did have to stick forks in the potatoes.  And YES, I took them out before putting the papas in the oven.  (Side note:  did you know that the word "papa" in Spanish means potato, food, and the Pope?  Now you know.)

Happy Easter!

Sad:(

Being 2 months old means going to your 2 month appointment which means...

IMMUNIZATIONS.

Having a car means it can sometimes break down, and having a broken car means...

TAKING LUIS TO SCHOOL.

Taking Luis to and from school means getting in and out of the car, and getting in and out of the car means...

WAKING A SLEEPING BABY.

It was a hard, hard, hard day for my Raquel.

Mommy actually didn't cry at the doctor's office, but coming home and seeing her baby girl cry and cry and cry, was too much!  It was heartbreaking to see my happy girl so sad.  Thank goodness for daddies.  As soon as Lu picked her up, she calmed down.  Sometimes a girl just needs her dad's strong arms and reassuring words.

According to the doctor's checkup, Raquel is in the 65th (or 75th...I don't quite remember) percentile for weight and the 95th percentile for height.

She is 10 lbs. 10 oz (my cheap-o scale says otherwise) and 23 1/2 in. long.

Best of all, she's healthy!

Dos Meses

Here's our baby girl at 2 months old!

Raquel at 2 Months

• She smiles every day and has even laughed a few times.
• She is 11 1/2 lbs and 24 in. long.
• Her favorite food is milk.
• She likes the Primary Song, "Popcorn Popping."
• She loves shopping and is especially well behaved in Target when Mommy is in the baby section.
•  She has a strange facination with our ceiling fans, whether or not they are going.
•  She has a great right-leg kick.
• She must be having a growth spurt because she wakes up hungry every 1-2 hours.

Raquel's Baby Blessing

Luis and I never thought we'd have so many visitors able to come see us.  That was before we had Raquelita.  Babies certainly know how to draw a crowd.  We decided to give Raquel a name and blessing in church on March 25th, and so throughout the weekend we had visitors galore!

First up, we were expecting the arrival of abuelo y abuela Moreno y Tia Mague.  We found the perfect outfit to welcome them.

 Abuela Moreno

Abuelo Moreno

 Tia Mague

Next up, came Grandma and Grandpa Ferguson, Aunt Charisse, and Uncle Davey.

Grandma Ferguson

Grandpa Ferguson

 Aunt Charisse

Uncle Davey

The verdict is still out on Aunt Charisse and Unlce Davey.  As you can see, Aunt Charisse suffocates her in a burrito...

 ...and Uncle Davey, well, he's Uncle Davey.

 Although, Charisse did help mommy here put the buttonholes on Raquel's dress which I was too traumatized to attempt alone.  That helped redeem her from the burrito.

Oh yes, did I mention that I made Raquel's blessing dress?  Who knows what possessed me to try sewing such an important dress after my 10 year hiatus from sewing, but thanks to countless phone calls to Mom, Charisse, and Amber, Raquel's dress (and matching flower bow) turned out pretty well.

Raquel's next visitors were Uncle Dennis, Aunt Julie, and Cousin Afton.

Aunt Julie

Unle Dennis

Cousin Afton

Afton loved having her own personal baby doll and was determined to dress her up in all the different outfits she found in Raquel's dresser.  She especially loved a little yellow dress that was nearly identical to the green one Afton was wearing.

That was all the family we expected to see; however, a few minutes after Dennis, Julie, and Afton came in, there was a knock on the door.  It was a total shock to see Amber standing outside our door!  Unbeknownst to nearly everyone, she had hitched a ride with Den & Julie so she could surprise us all.



After church, it was a bit crowded with our family and friends at the luncheon, but at least everyone found a place to sit their seat.

Afton must have been having the best time out of everyone for she certainly found plenty to do.  She flirted with the boys.  "Hey boys..."

 She swept off my porch.

And she cuddled with Grandma after naps.

She even found more time to play with Raquel.

 

It was a noisy, chaotic, weekend, but we had so much fun with everyone.  Luis, Raquel, and I were sad to see everyone leave.  Raquel can't wait to meet the rest of her Ferguson and Moreno families!

St. Patty's Meets A Quiet Activity Day

This year Luis was supposed to be in charge of St. Patrick's Day, but I gave him a pass since finals directly followed the holiday.  Now he is in charge of Cinco de Mayo, which is a great leap of faith on my part, seeing as how I'm much more Mexican than he.  Due to the fact that finals week was so close, that meant my entire Saturday would be a "quiet activity" day.  But, thanks to St. Patty's, Raquel and I left Luis alone all day long.

To help me plan for St. Patrick's Day, I naturally went to Pinterest.  I found some fabulous ideas, but I wasn't about to spend all morning dying my pancake batter every color of the rainbow, so I came up with some ideas of my own...including rainbow waffles.

Yummy! 

Next year, we're adding some kiwi for green.

Raquel had her heart set on wearing her favorite green outfit - the one she wore home from the hospital.  Sadly, daddy made her change because her legs couldn't extend all the way anymore.  She wore this instead.

 For lunch, since I had time, I decided we needed a St. Patty lunch.  I thought, "Hey, I'll make us sandwiches, and then use a shamrock-shaped cookie cutter to turn our sandwiches into festive four-leaf-clovers."  However, there is not a single shamrock in my bucket full of cookie cutters.  Instead, I had the clever idea to cut our sandwiches into rainbows.  They turned out like this:

When I asked Luis what he thought they were, his response was, "Um....  ."  After I revealed their rainbow nature, I could tell he was really thrilled to be eating such a sandwich.  For some reason, I thought of my brothers and how much I would like to make them rainbow sandwiches.  I know they would be equally delighted.

After lunch, Luis & Raquel received a little gift from me...

 ...Raquel was speechless.

Later that day, a tricky little Leprachaun snuck in and left us some Leprechaun Dust.  Although we still haven't tried it, my guess is that by adding 2 1/2 cups of milk to each jar, we would get a scrumptious snack of Pistachio Pudding.  Just a guess.

For dinner, we had the following (and we will continue having the following for the next week since someone decided to cook the entire box of pasta - tricky pasta!).

I spent most of the day giggling with Raquel and it was a lot of fun.  It was the best "quiet activity" day I've had in a while!  However, I do think holidays will be much more exciting when Raquel and subsequent offspring are old enough to enjoy them.  To be honest, I don't think everyone was as tickled by my rainbow sandwiches as they should have been.  Luis.