Operation backyard lawn!

So since we bought our house, it has been in need of some serious landscaping in the backyard. Last weekend it was time to put in a lawn for Sienna!

Here are the before pictures, in July when the yard was at its worse. The sad part is the previous owner at some point had a nice lanscaped yard, it just died and weeds took over! (and she didn't have sprinklers back there)





On Saturday we had lots of help from Russell's parents,digging trenches and putting in the sprinkler lines. Sienna spent lots of time jumping away in her jumperoo on the patio. We had 1250 sq feet of sod delivered which we put down on Sunday with help from his parents and brothers! Thank goodness for hardworking, always-there-to-help family!!












We are so excited for Sienna to have a lawn to run around on (not in a rush for that part though). I can picture the easter egg hunts, birthday parties, bbq's and sprinkler playtime. Oh, and us sitting in the evening after work with a glass of wine, grilling up dinner with sienna chasing the dogs.

Next on the to-do list for the backyard includes paving the side yard (potential parking for the boat/rv we don't have, or space for sienna to ride her tricycle/rollerskate), building a retaining wall along side fence, cleaning out the fenceline and planting shrubs and plants of some kind, maybe some fruit trees, a play structure, a grapevine or two, herb and veggie garden... i could go on and on... and don't get me started with the wishlist of the inside of the house, if we only had MONEY and TIME!

Halloween was how long ago?

Well, better late than never! Sienna had such a fabulous first Halloween!! She dressed up as a monkey (so fitting) and we were zookeepers (Russell grew the hideous mustache for the costume). I love how the costumes came out. We had a small party at our house including Lolly, Pop and Uncle Joey along with some friends. We took Sienna out to a few houses, in the nice neighborhood the next street down, haha. She loved seeing the people at the door, and as always adored their reaction and attention! What a fun time! Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, and I hope it is for Sienna as well!!

Our "Sienna" Pumpkin carved by Russell with appropriate teeth.


And while I am catching up, at some point before Halloween, we picked pumpkins at Lolly's garden! Our little munchkin was the perfect model, and loved getting in the dirt and pumpkin vines! Lolly scarred three pumpkins with Sienna's name/initials so we got to find them and pick them! What a fun tradition!

Harvest is over!!

Yes it's been forever and a day since I have written a post. Something about not having a day off for 2 months and having a 7 month old limits your spare time. Well I am very happy to say today was my first day off! And it could not have come soon enough!! 30,000 tons of grapes later, harvest is finished, it was so hard having to leave my babe every morning for endless weeks, feeling like an absent mother, but it's part of the territory in the wine world. I do love what I do, and now will value weekends more than ever! Plus she is one lucky kiddo to have her daddy home with her, that makes it so much easier and I know they enjoy their time together!

Onto Sienna updates!

She is 7 1/2 months old! Wow does time fly! At her last doctor appointment 2 weeks ago, her stats were:

Height: 29 inches (95%- still Daddy's tall girl)
Weight: 18 pounds 10 ounces (88%)
Head: Can't remember but its >97%- off the charts! (mommy's smart girl)

Dr. Macias was very impressed with her growth and progress. He asked if either of us walked early saying he wouldn't be surprised if she does. He said she has great balance, muscle tone and strength. She is doing great in all areas. She had some shots, including the flu shot. They did not yet have the H1N1 shot, but may next month when she gets the flu booster. She handled the shots decently (of course was not happy) but did well afterwards.

What Sienna is up to these days:

*Her FOURTH tooth cut through yesterday. It is her top front right, next to her "fang" that came in a month ago. She also has her bottom 2 teeth that are fully in (and sharp!) Her first 3 teeth came in all within a month, then we had a month or so free of teeth, now with the 4th, the other 2 top teeth seem to be coming soon....

*Along with perfecting her army crawl (she is fast!) she has started getting up on her hands and knees, trying to lunge forward and rocking back and forth. She still likes to roll to get around, usually to try and attack a dog or get into something exciting (aka dangerous/off limits) such as the fireplace doors, air vents, etc. Operation baby proofing will soon be completed.

*She sits completely on her own and from laying on her back, can pull herself into the sitting position. She also tries to pull up and climb onto things, which I am sure she will be doing soon enough.

*She LOVES her jumperoo and squeals as she goes crazy jumping! If there was a way she could jump OUT of it, she would have done so by now...

*She LOVES Sesame Street and watches it every morning with her Daddy (with me this morning :) She especially loves Murray and his little lamb (must be a newer thing?) and of course elmo (she laughs at his picture on her books). She also is in love with her Baby Einstein Baby Mcdonald movie.

*She is making all kinds of sounds, including "ma" which she says when she is upset or wants something. It sounds more like "muh muh" and is so darling (and sad when she is not feeling well)

*She is getting over her first cold, luckily no fever, just a really runny nose. That along with the teething faucet of drool, has been real annoying.... She of course freaks out when we try to wipe her nose or go anywhere near it... my poor munchkin. Now today she has a bit of a cough and seems congested, we will take her in tomorrow if it hasn't gotten better. Daddy also as been sick for 2 weeks now! (As I knock on wood and take more airborne, luckily I have missed out on this)

*She loves all kinds of food, hasn't really not liked anything. She now eats two good meals a day and sometimes a snack. Her favorites are still oatmeal, avocado, bananas, pears, green beans, carrots, peas, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, other fruits and her favorite snack Mum Mums! I have made most of the veggies, and now am due to make more and explore some new foods. We are also going to try yogurt and maybe tofu soon!

*She is 100% on formula now. After taking the antibiotics that forced me to quit breastfeeding, we nursed about twice a day. That was going ok, until she didn't seem to want to nurse as much and also bit me three times! That was the sign for me and she is doing really well with formula.

*She is wearing mostly size 12 months now and size 3 diapers. It seems I pack away small clothes every load of laundry (good thing she has such a huge wardrobe!)

*She goes to Lolly's house Tues and Thurs afternoons and they both have so much fun. She loves riding and trying to drive the golf carts and being out and about the ranch. She also thinks the cats are the funniest thing ever.

Well there is a bit of an update. I will post tons of pictures next and tell you all about our pumpkin's first halloween (it was such a blast).

Oh, my surgery last month went fine, the timing was awful and the recovery sucked... but the cyst is gone. oh I lied, I got the weekend off for that... Russell took good care of me and the baby as always.

I am just beyond thrilled to have weekends back with my girl, and to have more energy during the week as well. I am very excited for the holidays and to have some time off (but they can wait a bit to get here...)

Six Month Portraits

We took Sienna to have her six month portraits today at Sears. We are hoping to get some family ones taken around xmas or at least for her one year shots... Here are my favorites, and really how is it possible to pick only some to buy and not all of them?

I really like how they came out...

And apparantly, Sienna's explosive-poop-on-white-sheet-background incident (at her 6 week portraits) is well known at the Sears Portrait Studio... We brought it up and the photographer (a different one) was all "Oh, yes I remember hearing about that." Surprisingly, no other babies have made poopy messes during photo sessions... they just have a few peeing-their-pants toddler stories...

SIX months old!

Sienna is HALF a year old!!! I feel such a sense of pride in my little kiddo, how much she has grown and learned... and how our family has blossomed and become what it is today. And this leads to thinking of the future and how happy I am to be a mommy, how grateful I am for my healthy, beautiful, goofy girl and loving husband... I will try not to be too sentimental, but these first 6 months of motherhood have of course been so life changing and now I can't imagine it any other way. This is my life, our life...

According to our measurements, Sienna is 28 1/2 inches long and 17.9 pounds! She is now in size 3 diapers, and wears mostly 6-9 or 6-12 months clothes. She has perfected her army crawl, sits on her own for extended periods of time, and loves playing with her leap frog learning/music table. She loves her dogs more than ever, sometimes will just watch them and start laughing hysterically. And her laugh has got to be the cutest thing ever! She is still very social and loves to talk... She watches Sesame Street every morning with Daddy! She has her 2 bottom teeth and is eating more stuff... I have been making just about all of it... most recently butternut squash from Lolly's garden! Her hair is getting much thicker and is really lightening up.

She has her first runny/stuffy nose this week, but has no other symptoms and it's getting better...

She has been doing well with formula... today was my last day an antibiotics so I am going to try to nurse in the morning. I have to have surgery to remove the cyst, and will plan to have it in the next couple weeks... which will be interesting with it being harvest, but will force me to have a day or two off (somehow?)

Being a working mom still has its challenges, especially now working 7 days a week... but nothing compares to the look and smile on her face when I walk in the door. She usually will not let me out of her sight for the majority of the night... And I cherish each moment with her in our evenings together.

I love you Sienna!

Rodeo Time!

Last Saturday, we took our little cowgirl to her first rodeo! It was also my first time going to the Creston Rodeo. Besides being pretty darn hot, we had tons of fun. We watched some roping events, and saw lots of horses! Sienna also rode on a horse for the first time with Aunt Meagan and her horse River. She LOVED being up high, walking around, petting and pulling the horse's mane!










Other events of the weekend included me working both days and shopping lots on Sunday. Our old desktop computer totally died, so we bought a new laptop which is so nice! maybe i will keep up with this blog better! We also bought someone's Halloween costume which is very cute, and fitting for our munchkin! Stay tuned...

Catching up!

Just wanted to post some assorted pictures over the last few weeks...

Rough Times

I haven't written in awhile, been a bit out of commission... It's been a rough couple weeks! It started a couple weeks ago with me getting a nasty stomach flu, lots of throwing up and nausea, but since its harvest, I had to be at work! Luckily I left early a couple days, but the nausea continued for a few days... awful!

Then last week I started having intense pain in my tailbone region, I didn't do anything to injure it, but thought it could be from sitting a lot on wood stools over labor day weekend? It was strange but very intense pain! I couldn't sit down, lie down, everything hurt! The first trip to urgent care fri night, the dr just assumed it was a bruised tailbone, gave me vicodin and aleve, told me to ice it and try and rest... its a long healing process. The pain got worse and worse, even while taking a lot of vicodin... I went back to urgent care Sunday and then found out its a cyst. So its just about the worse place ever for something like this (and embarassing!) And I have been working through this all, yes being hopped up on prescription pain meds and sitting on my inflatable donut! No room for shame here! So the dr put me on strong antibiotics and darvocet (vicodin=nausea)... I am feeling much better today, didn't have to take any prescription pain meds. I have an appointment next week with a surgeon, I hope it doesn't require surgery but I also don't want it to keep coming back!

The worst part of all of this is I can't breastfeed while taking these antibiotics (10 days!). I wanted to cry hearing this! I honestly was going to try introducing formula this week, but just one bottle a day since its been hard to pump at work being so busy and tough to keep up the supply (and stressful!) I figured I could nurse in the mornings and nights, and pump once at work... But to have to quit cold turkey is so tough! I have a few servings of breastmilk frozen, but not much... Sienna has taken to formula very well which makes it a tiny bit easier. But its really really hard and emotional. Nursing was such a part of our daily routine together, something just us two could share in... the first thing we did in the morning, when I got home and before she went to bed. I looked forward to weekends (pre-harvest) when I could nurse her all day... I just wasn't ready to stop yet... I am grateful we did have 5 1/2 months of exclusive breastmilk, and that it was easy for us both... I am trying to keep up some pumping over these 10 days and we will see if we can get back to nursing then...

So trying times in the Molina household. Russell has been so great and helpful, considering I couldn't move for a few days and was also drugged out of my mind! Sienna had some fussy moments (teething) so he had 2 crying babies to deal with...

On a happier note, we had a fabulous Labor Day weekend! Aunt Sara and Uncle Mark came up, as well as Kiwi and Kristy. We borrowed Uncle Tommy's trailer and headed out to the Brown's ranch Sat afternoon. I worked Sat and Sun but just a few hours and was able to take Monday off! The weekend was lots of fun, the boys enjoyed the annual dove hunt... and we had fun visiting and just kicking back... Sienna had fun with her buddy/boyfriend Eric who is 4 months older...

Onto Sienna news... She is working on her 2nd tooth! It hasn't quite popped through her gums, but you can see it! And her first one is clearly visible now...

She now sits up unsupported for a good amount of time! She also does a full army crawl forward a couple feet or so, and Daddy has seen her get up on all fours and move backward! She usually scoots around by raising her butt high in the air (downward dog) then pushes forward off of her feet (but her head is still on the ground)... that or rolling over gets her where she wants to be...

She has been loving all kinds of foods... Oatmeal, green beans, sweet potatoes, avocado and most recently acorn squash from lolly's garden! She is also attempting to learn how to use a sippy cup, but she mostly chews on it or bangs it on her high chair.

She is SO interested in everything around her... reaches out to grab anything she can! Operation baby proof will soon be carried out. And she is just so fun to interact with, she loves talking, reading stories, singing, and is generally such a happy baby! We are so blessed!

Harvest is pretty much in full swing, but have a ways to go till the peak and quite a way till the end. Won't have a day off until November! And this is going to be a big year, much bigger than last year. Grapes, grapes, and more grapes!

Ok I haven't uploaded any pictures, or really taken many lately... I will quit the slacking and post some soon. She is getting just cuter by the day and growing so much!

A big week! 5 months old, TOOTH!

What a week!

It started with us buying a car last Sunday! Yay!! We have been needing a bigger family car, one that the stroller won't quite fill the whole trunk, and where Sienna's infant seat isn't touching the front seat. The Corolla isn't ideal for road trips with the amount of stuff I pack (overly prepared- you never know you might need it, right?) For the first two roadtrips, with all the gear, we were squished in so tight, it was getting ridiculous, and Russell's 1968 Ranchero isn't exactly baby friendly. So as nice as it has been not having a car payment for the last few months, it was time to car shop!

And just as we do all of the big decisions in our life- we bought the first one we saw! This is at least after weeks of researching and overthinking details, so when we see the right one, we just know it. We are proud owners of a 2005 Chevy Equinox! It is spacious inside, but not a huge SUV... I can still manuever and park it just fine and the gas mileage is great! Its in such perfect condition, low miles, leather, all wheel drive, moonroof, heated seats, and everyone thinks its brand new! So we are so extremely pleased with our purchase!



The next big news of the week was Russell started school on Monday! Mon and Wed he has an English class from 7-8:50 (big bummer to him, and its taught like they are 5th graders...) So its a full Daddy and Sienna day, and full family afternoon and dinner... Tues and Thurs he has Engineering Drawing (CAD) from 2-4:50 then Welding 1 from 5:30-8:30. Sienna goes to Lolly's house for the afternoon until I get off work. I think the schedule will work out great! And Russell loves the welding class, will really learn a lot and looks forward to the class! The CAD class will be very valuable learning also!

Harvest has officially started! It's not too intense yet, but I really enjoyed this weekend because it may easily be my last one until November! We had our first grape trucks come through, a few maturity samples (from vineyards to see if its time to pick) and its getting busier! I have 2 seasonal employees starting tomorrow and 2 the following week, so busy times are ahead of me!! I have been dreading it a bit honestly, but have accepted it, its my job and I enjoy it, so Bring it On!! (I just really will miss my baby girl...)

On to Sienna news! She is 5 months old today!!! And she has her first tooth! Russell felt it barely poking through her bottom gums this afternoon. And she was quite a fussy little thing! I was so excited when I first saw it, was such a proud mommy! I just can't believe she is old enough for teeth! My goodness! She seems to be sleeping well now. The last few days she has been a bit fussier than normal, and is quite a chew monster, and she woke up last night screaming a couple times which is not like her at all... I hope she feels better tomorrow and it comes through easily...

She finally had her 4 month dr appointment on Friday. Dr Macias was impressed with her progress and demeanor. Everyone tells us she is so alert and love interacting with her. Her official weigh-in is 16 pounds, 6 ounces (80%) and 26.5 inches (90%). Our last measurements were higher, so we could be off but I also think her leg was bent when the lady marked it... Either way, she is a tall girl! I can't remember her head size but its 95%! Dr. Macias assured us its all her intelligence! She also had to get her next round of shots :( One oral vaccine, and 2 shots in each leg. She took the oral one MUCH better than last time when she turned purple and screamed and choked... She of course was not a happy camper with the pokes, but it wasn't too bad and she calmed down quickly after looking the nurse right in the eyes and yelling at her! She was sleepy most of the day but all in all was in a ok mood.

Now I am just thinking about my poor baby! Shots and cutting her first tooth in 3 days :( What a tough cookie she is! And tough moments to witness as a mommy!

Ooops.. i haven't uploaded any new pictures of my teething munchkin...

Ok next post... more pictures of our 5 month old and updates on what else she has been up to, and all about the big family reunion!!

Grandma's Kegger!

Yep, you read that right!

Last Saturday was the annual "Grandma's Kegger" for Russell's grandma's birthday.

Sienna wore a party dress:

This year Grandma turned the big 8-0! So it was even more of an extraordinary celebration of such a wonderful woman! There were 92 people there according to Lolly's count! Since this amazing lady (who you would think is 20 years younger by the way) has such an adventurous spirit, it was essential to surprise her with something grand- so what else but Harleys!! What a fabulous idea it was and it was orchestrated perfectly (thanks to Lolly!) She didn't see it coming! A procession of 12 Harleys (friends, coworkers, and friends of friends) cruised down the driveway and circled around. The look of pure surprise on Grandma'a face was priceless!

Russell's cousin Meagan and her husband Matt crafted up the perfect denim vest for her, complete with leather patches- a few were "Boss Lady", "Sanchez Cycles", "51712" (5 kids, 17 grandkids, 12 great grandkids)....

So then Grandma went for a ride! It was so much fun to see this all! No one could stop smiling, such a remarkable experience!

Happy 80th Grandma! We are all so lucky to have you in our lives!!

Sienna had a great time seeing everyone especially the older kids, and swam in the pool with Daddy. It was so nice to visit with lots of family and the BBQ was delicious as always!