11 months old!

As of last week, Sienna is 11 months old, just under 3 weeks till the big ONE!! Is it possible to pause time for just a moment, let me catch my breath? I have been going through old pictures lately, and it really is something to see the changes month to month, remininsce and reflect... I am still in shock out how our family has developed, the beautiful baby we have and the incredible little girl she is becoming, the pure, endless love we feel. I never could possibly imagine how amazing motherhood could be, even with its challenges.

When I look at pictures of those first weeks, sometimes I hardly recognize her... Its just shows how much she has grown, and how she is visual evidence of just how fast time has flown. I just hope I can always remember those early days and the big events of her first year (our first meeting, the way she first looked into our eyes, her baby smell, her first smiles and laughs, etc. etc.) Thank goodness for our video camera! We have been watching a lot of our family videos, and Sienna loves watching them too!

Sienna is at such a fun age! I can't be too sad about her changing and growing when the new phases and milestones are so darn exciting (and frequent)! She is learning at such a quick pace, it really is incredible. She is SO curious, wants to touch/examine/figure everything out!

So what is she up to now?

*Moving everywhere! On Saturday she took her first STEPS! She took up to four tiny steps from Daddy to Mommy several times. I know she will be truly "walking" in no time, when she really decides to go for it. But at this point, she gets around SO well in other ways including crawling at alarming speeds and cruising anywhere she can, crawling over things, climbing on things, etc etc. We have to keep our eyes on her every second, and places we didn't think she could get to, she does! She is standing on her own, and loves pushing her walker toy, across the whole house. When it gets stuck, she yells and bashes it into the wall, doorframe, couch, etc. She definitely has quite the temper when something isn't working the way she wants it to!

*Eating! She still loves food, most everything! This month, she is really over purees, eating from a spoon by us, as she wants to feed herself. New foods she has tried and loved this last month include strawberries, freeze-dried mangoes, blueberry waffles, wheat bunny crackers, graham crackers, cottage cheese, black/pinto/kidney beans, and and cheerios. She mostly eats table food, whatever we are eating, which is so nice and convienent... Her fav of those meals we have made include minestrone soup, veggie pasta, spinach orzo salad, and whole wheat pizza crust.

*Growing! Most of her 12 month clothes are too small or getting close to the small side. So we are moving towards 18 month sizes... No official weight, but according to our scale she is about 22 pounds. I am sure with her increasing-every-day activity level, she isn't putting on as much weight as she has in previous months.

*Playing! Her favorite toys are her stacking cups (go dollar section at target!), her activity center barn (she knows where the eggs go, and "feeds" the cow), 2 push walkers (see above), ball popper, and books! She has always liked moving her books around, taking them off shelves, but now she actually treats them like books- opening them and looking through them all by herself! She also loves loves shoes (has been obsessed with them as long as I remember) so we might be in trouble in the years to come... but she is always carrying one around, or picking them up and going through her shoe pile. Other favorite things to do include emptying out her entire laundry hamper, pretending to feed mommy, dancing (full body and head bob), bathtime, playing with/patting/proding/poking Ozzy, and going for runs with Mommy and the pups (she watches them run next to her stroller and laughs hysterically)

*Talking! She is still very verbal and loves blabbering on and on. She mimics sounds very well. She now says "bub bub" for bottle, mumma, hi, dog "duh", and both dogs names (i am pretty sure) shasta is "asha" and she just said "ahh" for ozzy last night while patting his head! And she seems to say sh*t every other second! She also points ALL the time, and it does help show us what she wants! She blows kisses, leans in for kisses, and waves when asked. Just way too cute!

That about sums it up for now! I have so much fun with her, and love her personality more and more every day.

Our Snow Bunny

Last weekend was Sienna's first trip up to the snow. Russell's family has an annual trip to Yosemite for his Dad's Birthday, which is Valentine's Day- his dad is such a cupid ;) It also works out well to be over President's Day weekend. We haven't made it up there the last few years, in fact the last time we went was NINE years ago when we had been dating just 2 1/2 months, and it was the very first time I met Russell's family. I will have to dig up an old picture and tell the story of that trip! Stay tuned...

Kiwi and Kristy came up from San Diego pretty late Thursday night. I had to work Friday, got off a little early and we headed up to Oakhurst, it took about 3 1/2 hours... At the hotel we met up with Lolly, Pop, Joey, Travis, David, the Rabeners and the Pollingtons. We had 4 family suites right in a row. Sienna was really over the car, tired and hadn't eaten dinner when it was her normal bedtime, so we stayed back while everyone went out to dinner. Then we just hung out in the room with Kiwi and Kristy (and some drinks).

That night was AWFUL as far as Sienna sleeping. I know she was out of her normal routine and comfort zone but she has traveled before and done great, so we were not expecting her to wake up at 1:30 and be up until 4:00! She wasn't fussy, just AWAKE! And David was sleeping in the other bed in our room, so we couldn't just let her cry in her pack 'n play or turn on the lights or TV... (although we should have cause he obviously wasn't sleeping, poor guy). So we gave her a bottle (haven't given her a night bottle in months) and brought her into our bed where she blabbered on and poked our faces and snuggled and wiggled... It wasn't until partway into her second bottle 2 hours later that she finally fell asleep... and what seemed like 5 min later it was time to get ready to head up the mountain... I guess we are extremely lucky that its the first time she has done that at night, not even as a newborn, but she is such a solid sleeper these days, it was completely out of the norm. I figure she was just too excited to get up to the snow!

Badger Pass is about an hour from the hotel, and 40 min or so into Yosemite park. It was clear and sunny all weekend, roads were clear, but there was lots of snow up there, and it was such a pretty drive through the park (minus me feeling carsick). I really want to go back in the spring and check out more of Yosemite.

I was in no way going skiing or snowboarding (on the last trip, the only time I have tried and almost killed myself 12 times) but everyone else but Russell's parents did. We had a fantastic spot to hangout on the upper deck overlooking everything. Sienna was dressed in a full snow suit (could barely move, Christmas Story-style) and I got some pics of the first time she sat in the snow.

After that, it was too warm, no coats needed! She luckily took a decent nap in her stroller, and was in a great mood (if she was half as tired as me, she hid it well). My Aunt Mimi and cousins Kristina, Brittany, and Dani live close by so they came up to ski and see us, so that was fun! And Sienna had tons of fun playing with everyone.





Everyone got in lots of runs, and we called it a day in the late afternoon. After letting Sienna play in the snow, she crawled around- even after losing a boot, got partially buried by her Daddy, and tried to take off the mittens getting in her way...

That night, we all went out to pizza and hung out at the hotel pool and hot tub. Sienna did wake up a couple times that night, but went back to sleep easy and was way better than the previous night. But again, poor David. She was going off of way less night sleep and less naps and being out of her normal routine, but all in all she did well.

Sunday was Sienna's first Valentine's Day! I mean it was Mike Molina's Birthday. Russell and his brothers growing up always told their girlfriends, that it wasn't Valentine's Day, it was their Dad's birthday, lol. Russell and I have never gotten into V-day either, I just think its too commercialized, and not that big of a deal, you should feel love everyday. So a few years ago, I think when we were engaged and on a super budget, we started our tradition of spending $5-$10 on the cheesiest gifts we could find (and we all know there are plenty of those). And I win every year! So in the past its been chocolate fish saying "you're a keeper", stuffed monkeys, chocolate frogs, lip shaped chip clips, "I Love You" mugs, and golf balls with cheesy pick up lines... This year Russell made me a rose in welding class, not cheesy but really cute! And this year I was forced to shop at Von's the night before so I found a Frog Prince for Sienna, and for Russell there was NOTHING. So I got him a heart box filled with hershey kisses and hugs, and a box of Wheat Thins with Easy Cheese. Now that is CHEESY! (Wow, huh?) But it worked cause he loves that gross stuff and it was a nice snack in between snowboarding... And this year Valentine's Day did have more meaning, just because of Sienna and how much we love her, and how we want to make sure to keep our relationship full of love! It's easy to focus on the baby, and forget to tell each other the simple "I love yous" and make sure to have time for us...


So after a lot more skiing/boarding for everyone and a lot more sun, we called it a day a bit earlier than everyone to get Sienna a good solid nap. I then took her to the playground at the hotel where she played with wood chips and leaves (and only tried to eat them twice), slid down and tried to climp up the slide.



That night the whole group of 16 went to a close-by BBQ restaurant (yum!) The next morning after breakfast, we stopped at my Aunt Mimi's house to visit, then made the trek home.

It was such a fun weekend, filled with fun people and some more firsts for Sienna. Her first time staying in a hotel which she had SO much fun exploring (but didn't sleep very well). Also her first time in the snow and her first Valentine's Day. Oh, did I mention it was her first time in a beer box? haha!


And we will definitely be doing this trip every year!! Next time maybe i will try snowboarding again, and you know Sienna will be riding down the slopes soon!

Welcome to the world, Makayla!

Last Monday, February 8, Sienna's newest cousin Makayla Grace was born! She is Russell's cousin Alisa and her husband Daniel second daughter and she is absolutely beautiful! Congratulations Martinez family!! Alisa had a planned c-section but decided to keep the date secret (as well as the name) so we were eagerly anticipating the news! Everything went well with delivery and baby and Mommy are very happy and healthy. And Samantha is a very proud big sister!! Makayla weighed in at 9 pounds, 9 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long.

Sienna and I went to visit on Thursday, their second day at home, and I fell in LOVE with this little girl! It felt incredible to hold a little baby, I almost couldn't remember how it felt. While I held Makayla, Sienna cruised around and played all on her own with "older" toys and it was amazing to me to think about how far we have come... Sami was a little bit older than Sienna is now when Sienna was born... All that can happen in just one year's time! (Yes, I just admitted Sienna is almost a year old! WOW!) I am so grateful to have the Martinez family so close to us, and am thrilled for Sienna to have cousins to grow up with! And even more exciting news, Alisa's brother Kyle and his wife Karri will soon be welcoming a baby girl as well (she is due on the 28th!)

I forgot my camera when we went to visit, so I stole a picture... Here is Makayla soon after birth, how precious is she?

Training has begun!

I have taken a huge step to better myself and help others!! I am now a very proud member of Team In Training for the Luekemia & Lymphoma Society. I am training to run in my first half marathon- in San Diego June 6th. I am so excited!! And its about time I do something active! I have a long way to go, but am looking forward to the challenge and know it will be so rewarding!

I will be running for my nephew Griffin, running for his friends also in Heaven, running for my mom, running for my family and every family that has been effected by cancer, running to keep Griffin's fight alive. I am so honored to be an aunt of such a remarkable person. Griffin never gave up in his fight against "the bad guys" (his cancer) and always kept a smile on his face! I have learned so much about life and myself through him, and I feel so lucky to be ABLE to face this challenge.

If you want to learn more about Team In Training, please visit my fundraising webpage. Please consider donating $13.10 (a dollar a mile) to help me reach my goal of $5,000! No amount is too small, and every dollar, every mile WILL help us reach a CURE!! Participants of Team In Training (normal people like you and me) have raised $1 BILLION! Money directly funding research, leading to groundbreaking advances, and improving patient care! Talk about an incredible organization to be a part of!

http://pages.teamintraining.org/los/rnr10/rmolina69g

I will also keep you posted on my progress. I am one week in (of 18 weeks). Thank goodness I have coaches, mentors and teammates to help me along (with a very detailed training plan). On Saturdays (long distance days) we meet and run as a team. During the week I am on my own (with help from a new treadmill!) So far, its been just 2 miles at a time. But the miles will add on fast! But so far I have made it, and know with Griffin behind me, I can face anything!!

Did I mention that I HATE running? I have always felt like every second is torture! Even many years ago in my atlethic basketball days, I could sprint back in forth, play for hours, but run any kind of long distance? Forget it! So overcoming this, and possibly enjoying running one day will be a huge achievement for me. I have always thought people that chose to run and actually liked it, were 100% insane, but maybe I can change my mind?

Flying Solo

Last week, I went to Sacramento for work... without my baby girl...from 6:30 am Tues unil 3:00 pm Thurs. That was a tough goodbye! I knew I would have to do this some time, and I knew she would be fine, but still.

I attended the Unified Wine and Grape Symposium, a huge convention/trade show for the industry. Huge as in 11,000 people were supposed to be there. It was definitely a neat experience, I learned a lot and had quite a bit of fun as well! There was several of us from our company there and it was fun to be away from work! And I would hope people working in an industry of booze, would enjoy themselves and know how to have a good time (we all did).

After the 4 or so hour drive in the rain with my two bosses, we settled in. I had to wait for a room because there were no king beds available yet, and you bet I wanted one! I stayed at the Hyatt which was incredible of course, and also where some events were held and across the street from the convention center where everything else was at. The Hyatt is also across from the state capital building, and where our governator lives... I think he was out of town. And the lobby bar was quite the happening place in the afternoons and evenings.

There were some talks and sessions that afternoon, then after some drinks, a few of us headed to a dinner for one of our chemical vendors. It was the best meal I have had in quite some time, at a really nice, well known Italian restaurant. It consisted of prosecco (I really don't ever want champagne again), amazing wines, rigatoni with lamb sausage, a ribeye steak, gelato, and grappa... and some more incredible wine... A couple drinks later, I called it a night. It was such a weird feeling to be away and alone. I am always there for Sienna's bedtime, and not being there for that really sunk in. But I did sleep pretty soundly once i got to sleep, and the bed was super comfy.

The next morning we went to a big talk about the state of the industry which was both interesting and depressing (an economy guy spoke first, and that was real gloomy) but the wine and grape guys seemed a little more promising. People are still drinking wine so that's good. After lunch, I walked around the tradeshow, which was really overwhelming. it was just huge! SO much stuff to look at and take in from every aspect of the wine biz. There was everything from enormous tractors, vineyard supplies, tanks, crushers, bottling lines, glass, cork, label vendors, analytical services, software, marketing, etc. etc. I stopped to chat with some of the vendors I know, drooled over some new fancy lab equip, but mostly just walked through and it still took me 2 1/2 hours!

Then since there was no afternoon talks that interested me, I wandered across to the state capital. I had never been to Sacramento, and figured I should check it out. The park was awesome, there is a tour of 50 state trees which was really pretty, and lots of walking paths. I roamed around the inside of the building and it it beautiful inside the dome! I also walked past Arnold's office, into the Senate Chambers, and historical areas. I don't follow or care about government stuff much, but it was still really neat to see...

That evening we went to a vendor sponsored happy hour event and then a big party thrown by one of our wine brokers. The theme was "Carnival de Rio" and there were Brazilian dancers, music, food, and lots of booze. The party was in this really old bank, such an amazing building with hand crafted ceilings and teller windows for the bar. It was lots of fun! Followed by more fun at the lobby bar! And yes, I still missed my baby (and hubby) and counted the hours until I returned. The next morning we drove back which seemed to take WAY too long.

I was so beyond happy to get home! Sienna was also so happy to see me! She kept giving me kisses and more kisses! So, mama's first trip away was hard but she had a great time! It helped knowing Sienna was with her Daddy, and grandparents. The next step is for both of us to leave, which will be VERY VERY hard, but we are looking to do it somewhat soon...

TEN MONTHS!

Sienna is now 10 months old, well actually 10 months and 10 days at this point! Just two months until her big birthday (how can this be) I might be in complete denial until the day comes!

She just had her 9 month doctor appointment that week, so her ten month stats are:

Height: 31 inches (>97% off the charts)
Weight: 21 pounds (75%)
Head: Can't remember but its 95%

So she is still super tall and growing like crazy! Dr. Macias was impressed with her growth, since at 9 months babies usually slow in growth with higher activity. And of course she is much more active, but eats about anything in sight. Dr. was also pleased with her development and all that good stuff. Of course we were thankful for our healthy girl! (and very social with her doctor, he really is so amazing with kids, just as any pediatrician should be!) Then it was time for three shots, not good! After the painful, wait-ten-seconds eruption, she calmed down when i picked her up, until she looked right at the nurse and literally yelled at her. She said "Oh, she is MAD at me!"

It is really incredible how much she has grown and learned these last months. Here is what she is up to these days:

*She wears mostly size 12 month clothes, some 18 months (but still pretty big) and size 3 diapers. I am not clearing out clothes that are too small as often, since the sizes should fit longer, so I feel like we are finally getting more use out of her cute clothes!

*She is getting more and more mobile. She is pulling herself up everywhere! including but not limited to: the couch, coffee table, crib, door jams, walls and even ozzy (perfect height dog). She also cruises along the furniture, but really prefers crawling, which she has gotten FAST! She loves when we say "where are you going?" as she heads to the hall, she looks backs at us, laughs and moves full speed ahead. Us chasing her is pretty hilarious, I guess. She also is really quick at transistioning from crawling to sitting to crawling to pulling up to sitting to crawling... and should be really close to standing on her own! I have really started thinking about what the short future will bring as we enter the toddler years!

*FOOD. As I said she eats just about anything in sight. She is getting more table food and really does well feeding herself (until she is over it and drops food for the dogs who sit and wait under her chair). Her newer favorite foods are breads, wheat pancakes, chicken, rice, lentils, beans and broccoli. And the good ol' favorites include yogurt, oatmeal, bananas, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, peas, mum mums, puffs, and avocado. She also has recently learned to use a straw!

*She is our social butterfly! She loves talking, blabbering, laughing, etc. I am pretty sure she says certain words, just still not 100% if they are "real words" like dog ("duh"). But at this point I am saying that's her first word because she has said it a few times (and its different that her da-da-da sound) plus she says it looking at the dogs, so its gotta be intentional, right? But of course, its not on demand... (I will write about the other words when I am certain they are words!)

*She also "sings" and dances! She is working on getting both legs bending and bouncing, at first it was just her left leg in a sporadic jolt, pretty hilarious if you ask me. Also, and this is mama's favorite, she LOVES giving kisses. When we ask her for a kiss, or anytime she feels like it which I am glad is quite often, she leans in and moves her mouth towards yours (usually its wide open, sometimes with her tongue hanging out). When she wakes up, she is all about giving kisses, which completely melts me!! She also waves "hi" (but not bye) and blows kisses, again both on her terms!

*She loves playing with all her new toys! But her favorite new ones are snack containers I got from the dollar section of target or anything from our tupperware drawer. She loves putting things in things, taking them out, and stacking. She is more than content playing by herself in her corner of the living room, or in her pack-in-play (or as we call it her "cage" isn't that lovely?)

*She loves music! (goes back to the dancing part) Her favorite is the Laurie Berkner Band (from Nick Jr), as in cracks up hysterically, uncontrollably laughing! Russell made her a CD for the car. So now we are "those" parents with kid's music blaring in the car and everyone singing along. But I do have to say i LIKE the music (sure having lyrics like "there's a mouse in my toolbox" and "5,4,3,2,1 blastoff- another rocketship run" stuck in your head for five hours gets old) but its much better than Barney! She also loves "Jack's Big Music Show" for the music!

*Teething- on Saturday, out of nowhere I noticed 2 more teeth that had just barely cut through (bottom sides). No signs at all!! I guess she is a professional teether now, bringing her up to EIGHT teeth! That night she was a bit fussy and overtired, but I figured she was just milking the fact that we realized she was teething without symptoms!

*About 3 weeks ago, she decided to ditch her binky! She only needed it when she was going to sleep, but I wasn't expecting her to give it up yet on her own! One day for her nap, she kept spitting it out, the next day she wouldn't let it near her mouth! Guess I am glad we won't have to face breaking the habit of a toddler. She still has her blanky! The first couple days without the pacifier were a little tougher to get her to the sleep mode, but after that smooth sailing. She is now at the point that we can put her down completely awake and she puts herself to sleep (we used to rock her, pat her back and stay with her until she was drifting off). She sleeps from about 7:00-7:30 until 7:00 in the morning, and has 2 naps a day (usually about 1 1/2 each).

That sums up everything i can think of right now! I have a long mental list of blog topics, and hope to keep on top of it! I just adore my girl and am so proud to be her mama!!