9 Months ago...

Dear Carina-Bean,
We can't believe that it has been 9 months since you came into the world and changed our lives. You make us smile every day, and you never cease to amaze us with how much you grow and learn every minute. We are also growing and learning as Mommy and Daddy, and we hope you will be patient with us as your parents! The only thing I know for sure we are doing exactly right is loving you to pieces. Love is one thing you will always have plenty of!
I feel so lucky to be able to have the summer off to spend with you. You started crawling one week after school let out, which was thrilling to watch! We call you our little crab, crawling around with one foot flat and dragging your other leg tucked underneath you. It is a very unique style, and it definitely gets you to where you want to go! You also like to crawl while holding things in your hands: small stuffed animals, plastic rings, and the little hooks that were for hanging toys above you on your tummy time mat. I guess you always want to make sure you have something to play with!
You recently started to pull yourself up to stand. This is starting to make me nervous because I feel like at any moment you are going to let go and toddle around the house. Of course that would be exciting, but I'm not in a hurry for you to grow up so fast. Slow down baby...you're getting so big!
You love so many things because you're such a happy girl: Bailey, Gizmo, reading books, Joe's O's, bananas, bouncing, riding on Daddy's shoulders, dancing and singing with Mommy (you may be tone deaf!) going on walks, cruising around in the front pack, taking baths, and crawling around the house. I know I'm forgetting things, but you really seem to enjoy everything in your little world so far!
You don't like: Sleeping through the night...we are working on this though! You fight sleep like Muhammed Ali. Mommy and Daddy are very tired and we are trying to help you learn to sleep and soothe yourself. It has not been easy, and you break my heart when I see you peering through the bars of your crib with tears rolling down your cheeks. We comfort you and don't leave you alone, but you stay in your crib. We hope this gets easier for everyone.
Sometimes you don't like being in the car and you are quite vocal about it. Usually if you get fussy in the car I sing you a goofy song originally sung by Elmo and you will smile and clap. Whatever works, I always say!
Thank you for blessing our lives with such joy and laughter. We love watching you learn about the world around you, taking everything in with those beautiful brown eyes. You are our Carina Bean, Kiddo Kiddo, Peanut, Baby Boo, and Munchkin. Happy 9 month birthday-WE LOVE YOU!
Love,
Mommy & Daddy

Carina Michelle~9 months old today~June 29th, 2008

Bean Thief

I am a bad influence on my dear daughter already. I know better, but I did it anyway. Today at Safeway Carina was riding around in the shopping cart pointing at various different things. I was like her personal tour guide. "And on our left, we have the organic vegetables: broccoli, asparagus, and here are some green beans." Well, Carina loves green beans. We usually give her one to munch on while we get dinner ready. She was perfectly content to eat her Cheerios that I constantly have on hand now, but I thought that she would be more occupied if she had a green bean. So....I took one. Just one! I gave it to her and she happily chomped away on it like the organic teether that it is. I fully intended on telling the cashier as I was checking out that I needed to pay for one green bean, which I'm sure would end up costing a penny and a good eye roll from the checker. Yet by the time we were at the register I had forgotten about the stolen bean and didn't remember until we were home. So I explained to Carina that Mommy had made a mistake and that it isn't ok to take things without paying for them. She listened very intently as she banged on a bowl with measuring spoon. Sorry kiddo, your Mommy is a bean thief!

Never a dull moment

Today started out great...early, but great. Mike had to go to L.A. for a conference, so I had to take him to the Sonoma County airport this morning. (If you consider it morning when the sun is not even up yet!) We left the house at 4:45 A.M. to drop him off...but Carina went right back to sleep in the car and actually stayed asleep when we got home until...get this....8:30! I actually got 3 hours of extra sleep! Woo-hoo!
Now fast forward to this evening. Carina and I got home after having dinner at Mike's mom's house around 6:30. She was getting super tired so I was hurrying to get her to bed. While I'm reading her bedtime stories to her, Bailey starts barking his head off. Normally, she is not bothered by this since it is a regular occurrence in our home, but he would not shut up! Goodnight Moon was going something like this "Goodnight stars (Bailey be quiet!) goodnight air (Bailey HUSH!)" Finally I gave up and ignored him and put Carina in her crib for Day 3 of teaching her how to fall asleep on her own. The approach we are trying involves sitting in a chair next to her bed, not leaving the room until she is asleep. Well I could not take anymore of the pansy dog barking at the wind for all I knew so I ran downstairs to see what his issue was. I never did find out because as I entered the kitchen I saw a thick dark moving line on the counter top. ANTS. I HATE ANTS. They were everywhere, and their victim was a sliver of pineapple coconut loaf I had stupidly left in the pan on the stove. (Yes, I made it and it was good) So Bailey is barking, Carina is now crying louder, and I'm frantically trying to at least get the pan in the sink and drown some of the little bastards before I race back upstairs to calm my daughter so she can try and go to sleep! I know I could have left them for the moment, but all rational thought was on a temporary vacation.
The good news is that Carina laid down (she has learned to stand up in her crib) and fell asleep with only about 20 minutes of tears. I kept telling myself, "I am not making her cry, I am allowing her to cry so she will learn to fall asleep on her own and she will be a happy baby" After I was sure she was safely in dreamland, I went down to take great pleasure in exterminating the ants. I got out the vacuum and sucked up the little boogers as much as I could, then strategically placed more ant traps. Any survivors will hopefully tell their buddies that this house is not worth invading.
You know what makes this even more irritating? While I am battling ants, barking dogs, and a crying baby, my husband is enjoying an evening at Downtown Disney. He better bring me back a present. Or three.

She's thinking, "Bailey, please no barking!"

Always learning...

All parents make mistakes, right? There is no such thing as perfect, and just because we make mistakes does not make us bad parents. That is my current mantra, because although I feel Mike and I are a great parenting team the one thing we didn't do was teach Carina how to sleep from the beginning. I can't say that this was done out of ignorance-I read many times that you should lay your baby down when they are drowsy but not asleep so they learn how to fall asleep on their own. That seemed simple, but let me tell you when you are exhausted and sleep deprived, it is very tempting to do whatever it takes to have that baby fall asleep in your arms and then lay her down so you are guaranteed some sleep. So that is what we did...and to compound the problem we had her sleeping in bed with us. There are many opinions about this, but we were co-sleeping for the first few months because it worked for our whole family. Now, however, our almost 9 month old child coming in to our bed at 2 a.m. and thrashing around to get comfortable is not working for us anymore. If you were to have an aerial view of our bed, the three of us look like a capital "H". The little stinker sleeps sideways, inevitably kicking one of us in the face. Not exactly a nice wake up call! So I am determined to teach our little one to sleep in her own crib. Everyone will be happier if she does, and we all know that happy baby=happy parents and vice versa. We've been reading up on sleep training, and I think we have found a method that will work for us. I'll keep you posted-wish us luck ...and sweet dreams!!!

Mike's 1st Father's Day

After a fun filled day at the zoo, we were ready for a laid back Father's Day. I wanted Mike to have just as special a day as I did for Mother's Day, so I made him breakfast while he relaxed upstairs. Later, I asked him if he wouldn't mind taking Carina to the grocery store so I could get his presents ready. While they were gone I made peanut butter cookies (his favorite!) I frosted them and wrote "We "heart" Daddy" on them. No match for Martha Stewart I know but I like to be a little creative when I can! He was very surprised when he got home. Even more importantly he really enjoyed spending time with his daughter, just the two of them. It's so fun to watch the two of them interact-they have such a great bond already. After Mike opened his presents we went to his mom's house for swimming and a BBQ. It was a nice relaxing day, and Mike had a very special first Father's Day.

Our trip to the San Francisco Zoo

We decided to take Carina to the San Francisco Zoo for the first time on Saturday. We went with Mike's cousin and her family, and Dave and Gloria. What a fun time! Carina enjoys watching Bailey and Gizmo so much that we thought she would really get a kick out of seeing all of the animals at the zoo. She was in a great mood the entire time, watching everything. I think she likes people watching just as much! She really seemed to enjoy the monkeys, prairie dogs, and meerkats the most. It is so amazing to us how alert she is, taking everything in. It's so much fun watching her experience things for the first time, and even if she doesn't remember this first zoo trip, Mike and I will! The SF zoo is a great place for families so we will definitely go back soon.

Carina~8 months old
Look at those beautiful brown eyes!

Let's give this a try!

Hi there everyone! Mike and I tried to do a family webpage a while back to keep all of our friends and family near and far up to date on the happenings in our lives, but we didn't maintain it well. I'm going to give this a shot and see if I can keep it current. Since I'm off for the summer (pause for envious thoughts) I'll hopefully be able to add to this during naptimes...which is happening right now THANK GOODNESS! Carina is a much happier baby after having a good afternoon siesta. Aren't we all? I can't believe that our little girl is 8 and a half months old already...I know it's cliche but time is really flying by! She just stared crawling last Sunday and is picking up speed everyday! I'll try and post a video of it soon...her technique is really interesting but it works for her! Mike's next project is to do some major babyproofing...he loves playing with all of the gadgets that come along with babies so it will be perfect for him. More to come later...can't spend all of naptime blogging...laundry beckons!