10 Months Old

While we were in California, Annelise turned 10 months. She is willing to take more risks in her moving. She can stand by herself for a few seconds, but she hasn't taken any steps, yet. She can crawl up stairs, and has learned how to fall without hurting herself (most of the time). Annelise has three teeth, but the fourth will poke through any day. She waves, gives hi-fives, says mama and dada, claps, plays peek-a-boo, and I am convinced that last night she pointed for me to take her out of her bedroom (it was late... not so sure on that one!). Annelise loves to get in the middle of what Danny is doing. At her doctor's appointment she weighed 21 pounds, 8 ounces and was 30 inches long.

Today I had to wake her up from a nap to go to the doctor's, and I waited till the last possible minute. I tiptoed in the room and noticed that she was sitting up in the crib facing the door. I said, "Oh, you're awake!" and then looked, and realized that she wasn't! She was sleeping while sitting up! Of course when I talked to her she did wake up, so I didn't get any pictures.

Those are some pictures of Annelise taken in California. Randy loves the one mischievous face because he says it is the same face I make. It does look pretty sneaky!

Park Play in California

The second week in California, we took the kids to the park to play. We had a great time playing in the nice weather.

Hawaii Highlights

Some other highlights from the week:

*Warm weather

*Baths in the jacuzzi tub (we took a lot of baths in January!)

*Randy and I got a couples massage

*Hanging out with family

*Sugar Cane train

*Hula dancers/music at the evening program

*Exploring Lahaina

*Visiting family

*Hawaiian radio

*The view of the ocean from our room

Baby Parts in Hawaii

The first day we arrived in Hawaii I was in awe of my daughter's knees and elbows. These are parts that have been covered up since October! As I nursed her I just looked at those soft little folds around her knees. I would squeeze her little thighs. It was fun to see her chubby little baby parts that could make an appearance in the nice warm weather.

Hawaii Whales

Those that know me, know that I have a love for marine mammals, especially whales. The winter is mating and birthing season for Humpbacks on the coast of Maui. We had a great whale watching trip, where we stayed with one group of whales for the whole two hours. They were VERY close to our boat! It was actually a competition pod of about 5 whales (some of my dear friends might know what that means!). We saw blowing, tail slapping, diving with flukes up and one breach. Danny had fun and could understand what was going on (unlike last year), and Annelise enjoyed being held. If you are ever in Maui and want to contribute to a great organization check out the Pacific Whale Foundation. They do all kinds of tours of the area.


By the way, we didn't just see the whales on the boat. At the beach where we stayed, the whales would travel by. I could see whale spouts from our room, and one afternoon there was a mother and calf breaching right by the beach.

Hawaii in the Pool

I am dividing our Hawaii pictures by theme. The place we stayed has an amazing pool with a great water slide. Last year the slide was too scary for Danny, but this year he loved it (so did Randy and I... I couldn't ride it when I was 7 1/2 months pregnant!). We went to the pool almost every day and usually twice. Annelise enjoyed floating in her baby raft, while the rest of us swam around her!

California

We spent a full week with Randy’s family in the East Bay Area. We had a good amount of down time balanced with family time. The first night we arrived there was a get-together at Randy’s dad’s house for the family. It was fun to see the extended family and hang out. Little did we know, but it would also be our last visit with Randy’s grandpa. We are so glad we had that opportunity.

Some highlights of the week include…

*the obstacle course in the back yard (Randy’s dad’s construction project that became Danny's jungle gym)

*going out to lunch with Gramma and some friends at Tumble and Tea

*big screen HDTV

*buying a new digital camera

*watching both Uncle Steve and Gramma look for houses to buy

*baths in the jacuzzi tub

*just hanging out with family

Philadelphia Pictures

We had such a great time in Philadelphia (as I posted earlier). Randy was kept pretty busy, but we did get to go to the Reading Terminal Market, and we took a walk to the museum with those famous steps from the Rocky movies. I took the kids to the Please Touch Museum, a great children's museum. We did a lot of walking in the city!

Playing in the children's museum

Bundled on one of our walks

Pictures of downtown Philadelphia

Throwing-up, Fevers, Colds, Ear Infections and Roseola

Unfortunately this blog seems to be turning into an Ontiveros family health report. I had such good intentions of posting this last week, but other things (like our health and sanity) interfered.

Our last week in California was pretty difficult. In our minds, we were ready to be home, but our hearts knew it was important to be with Randy's family and participate in the service for his grandpa. Danny got sick (throwing-up) twice while we were there. Annelise, Randy and I all got the beginnings of a cold (which ended up taking all of our voices... you should hear Annelise's sad, sad, cry!).

The trip home on Saturday went as perfectly as it could have gone. No delays, the kids were great, I got an extra seat by me on both legs of the journey. Annelise slept the whole way from Dallas to Baltimore (looking back, I know that this was the beginning of her nasty illness). It was great to fly into Baltimore during the day, and a clear beautiful one, at that! I could see the Washington Monument and various other buildings downtown as we passed over DC. It was gorgeous! When we got to our house there was a patch of snow (more like ice) on our front porch to welcome us home.

That night Annelise developed a pretty high fever and threw up in the middle of the night. She was in pretty bad shape all night and through the next day. By Sunday evening she was eating solids again and her fever was down to 100. Monday she did OK, but the cough from her cold was causing her to gag and spit-up. Poor thing.

I had Annelise's well-baby check up today, and when I woke up and saw the poor girl, I was glad we were going into the doctor. She had big pink bags under her eyes and a rash that covered her whole body. The doctor says it is roseola. Fun! While checking her ears, he noticed she also has an ear infection. Fun! I am oh so thrilled about 10 days of antibiotics and the wonderful effect that has on babies (diarrhea!). This is her first round of antibiotics ever, so to put it in perspective, she is doing OK for a 10 month old.

I still have good pictures of our trips, and maybe later tonight I can get them up! Here's hoping that we will all get healthy soon!

The Long and Short of It

Well, I'll actually only give you the short version. We are still in California. We were supposed to arrive in Maryland tonight (Sunday), but Randy's Grandpa passed away this morning, and we will be staying in California for the week to be with family and attend the service later this week. Randy will miss his first two classes of the semester, but other than that the timing works for us all to be here together.

I have tons of great pictures from California (week 1) and Hawaii. Over the week I will blog and post some pictures, so the blog will be updated soon! It just so happens that by staying a little longer in CA, we are missing our first snow... kind of good I guess, considering our flight wouldn't have gotten in until 10pm tonight and travel could have been challenging.

Hopeful

Can you all read the following and understand that I am hopeful? I hope so, because I just have to tell you all how exhausted I am. Those of you who have or do regularly travel with your little kids (across time zones, or even to the next state) can probably relate to how I feel.

Yesterday was the longest day ever. I actually calculated that I have gotten between 6-7 hours of sleep in the last 48 hours (and here I am at 6am in California, typing as Annelise plays around my feet!). You know how it is the night before a big trip, right? You plan ahead, you spend days packing, you clear out your fridge, do laundry, pay all your bills... and still you end up staying up until 11:30 the night before, knowing that the shuttle will be at your door at 3:45 the next morning so that you can catch your 6:15 flight. (Your littlest child wakes up at 12:30 and requires a middle-of- the-night nursing, something she got used to on another recent trip!) I promise... I was prepared, but the night before it just seems like there is so much to do!

Then you spend the next 10 hours either on a plane or in an airport, trying to keep the kids occupied and happy. It involves food (lots of candy/gum works for Danny, while lots of breast-feeding or Cheerios for Miss A), new toys from the dollar store (for Danny), and lots of patience. I was so glad to be traveling with Randy (although last time I did it by myself).

Your baby only sleeps 2 1/2 hours during the 10 hour plane/airport experience, while your preschooler doesn't sleep at all. You are flying through time zones and actually arrive at your destination just before lunch (even after the last 11 hours). You arrive feeling like you have just had 3 days. No naps for the preschooler, but your baby chooses to sleep for 1 1/2 hours. Grandpa occupies the preschooler so that mom and dad can rest. And now it is family time... a party to visit with your local family. You stay up later than you should, and so do the kids, but they'll sleep in right? The preschooler is still sleeping (it is now 6:10am, yea!), but the baby knows no significance of light and dark, day and night, hungry or tired. She wakes up every couple of hours ALL night. And of course she is sleeping in your room, so you breast-feed her just to keep her quiet/happy.

I know some of you can relate, right?

I am hopeful. I am hopeful that Annelise will get adjusted to her sleep environment. I am hopeful that we will all adjust to Pacific Coast time (and in one week, island time). I am hopeful that no one will get sick. I am hopeful that we will be able to sneak in some naps, even if Danny doesn't. I am hopeful that our tiredness won't hinder our visit with family. I am hopeful that when we look back on these trips, we will remember the fun and not the lack of sleep or stress of traveling. (Although I hope we remember some of the stress, so that we are patient and kind to young parents as we get older. I always wonder about the older crowd who seems really impatient with fussy babies on the plane. Did you have kids? Did you ever take them anywhere? Don't you remember anything of how difficult it could be? But that is another story!)

There you go. The thoughts of a sleep-deprived mommy! (Looking at all this makes me glad that I wasn't traveling farther! Power to all of you international-traveling mommies! I'm not there, yet! Mexico is about it!)

Quick Catch Up

Ok... so much to say and not enough time to write.

Our trip to Philadelphia was amazing. I told Randy that it might be our new San Diego. We'll definitely go back this spring. Randy's conference was good, and best of all we got to catch up with some friends that we met while at UC Irvine.

We decided to stay in Philadelphia one extra night, so preparations for our trips have been a little bit rushed. Plus, Randy has had an additional 2 doctors appointments thrown into the schedule. He scratched his cornea while moving one of the ceiling tiles in our basement. Randy sure has had some tough times this fall and winter. We're hoping that all these events will change for 2007! He's doing much better, now. Randy and I were asleep a couple of minutes after the New Year arrived. We had a play date with some friends from Danny's school who live in DC. I've been packing and doing laundry. Last night we took down our Christmas tree and decorations. That's the short list!

I'll post pictures of Philly, California and Hawaii in a couple of weeks when we return! Happy New Year!

Christmas Video Clips

I have to include a couple of videos of the kids on Christmas. Annelise was really into this singing Lilly doll. Danny was showing off his Superman costume. (Don't forget that I use my digital camera for these clips, so they aren't the greatest!)

Christmas

We had a wonderful and relaxing Christmas. Randy and I were happy to stay home and take care of the kids. Here are a few pictures!

Saddest Sight

I was looking through our pictures of the last week, and I couldn't help but share this sad, sad one with you. There is nothing worse than seeing your kid sick and not being able to take it all away. Annelise was not doing well...