…has been testing my parenting skills lately. Roman is almost a year old now and is still having trouble through the night. He wakes up sporadically during the night and each instance is for a different length of time. He likes to sit up and scream facing the door. You know, just to be sure he is heard.  Oh, I hear him alright. It’s hard to let him cry it out when I know I can nurse him and he will be back to sleep in less than 5 minutes.

Now I am having trouble nursing him. Somehow he doesn’t cover those cute little two teeth when he nurses. The word “ouch!” doesn’t even begin to describe how it feels for momma. We have switched to whole milk since he is so close to being a year old.

We have tried various methods to help him sleep through the night. One method the pediatrician recommended was to nurse for a minute less each night. That sort of worked. The last two days we have been letting him cry it out and I have drastically reduced nursing him to once a day. He still wakes up, but I think  the duration of his crying is getting shorter. I am also hoping the whole milk will be a little more filling that boobie milk.

Then Sunday he woke up with hives on his chest and arms. Later that afternoon he had a fever. We think it is/was Roseola. He seems to be better today. He was just getting over pink eye and an ear infection that he had two weeks ago.

My poor baby boy. I just want him to be well, sleep, and be weaned from momma. I love him, I really do, but I am ready to wean him and for him to sleep through the night.

I took this photo this morning. He doesn’t look like he is having any problems here!

9lbs 1oz

Amanda went into labor this morning about 5:45 a.m. We got to the Birth Center at 12:45 and he was born about an hour and a half later. Amanda did an amazing job in having a great natural birth.

I had the amazing honor to catch Roman as he was being born. Catch in this setting meant actually pulling him out and then catching. I was the first one to know his gender (we didn’t find out before). Then Amanda got to find out.

It was such a joy-filled day. The midwife thought Amanda wasn’t in full labor at the time we arrived because we were joking and laughing. After she checked and saw that Amanda was 7-8 cm she knew it was go time.

The 20 min of pushing seemed to last 20 hours. But at the end of the pain, we had a perfect little boy.

We’re home now and glad to be sleeping in our bed.  Roman seems to approve of his bassinet.

Here are some pictures taken by the wonderful Kara:

This is Roman with his mommy about a minute after he was born.

My big boy tipping the scales.

We were glad to finally know who was making all that ruckus in Amanda’s belly.

Grandma Fefe holding her first grandson.

Aunt Denise enjoying some time with our little dude.

I stood in line for about two and half hours with Annabelle. Daniel came and joined us with about an hour left. Luckily, the two ladies behind me were amiable and we had a nice chat.

Annabelle did awesome! Of course, munching on a teething cookie from my “emergency stash” helps.

We were getting closer to the front of the line here! Daniel and I have decided that we are going to figure out how we can become trained volunteers to help in November. The sweet old people were nice, but excruciatingly slow. Seriously, I am willing to go through the red tape, get a sitter, and help. What better time than the Presidential election year?

We visited with our cousins Jason and Monica who were doing a good job campaigning for Hillary. I saw Jason standing next to the road and yelling. He was even stopping cars as they came in and giving them information. Good job, Jason!

Alas, Jason and Monica could not sway our vote. Yes, Huckabee may be out of the race this week. But I honestly feel good about the fact that I got to vote for the guy that I really wanted to be President. Right now Huckabee is at 32% in Texas. It is sending a message to McCain that conservative voters are still not impressed with him and he has some work to do to win us.

I think our hearts just melted.

And then yesterday I got to be the lucky recipient of the bug. It started yesterday afternoon. It felt like I was pregnant again. Which I am not! (So don’t even think that.) I am slowly getting better today. I think the toast and Propel are going to stay down. The bright side is that I think I have hit my goal weight! ha!

oh my goodness. Daniel is at his desk right now, sipping his coffee, listening to NPR, getting started on his day, and saying “This is wonderful!” He is such a dork, but I love him. Especially because he cleaned up two of the messes I made last night and helped with Annabelle.

He is trying to avoid the bug. He slept in the guest bed and washes his hands every two seconds.  Its nice that he can help and take care of himself. But he still needs my help with dinner. Last night he ate a pb&j, a side of do-si-dos, and some chocolate pop tarts for dessert.

Yesterday you turned nine months old. You are now 8 inches longer than the day you were born. I noticed your height the other day when your legs were hanging over my lap. I remembered how much smaller you used to fit into my arms. Even though you are 27 inches high you are only taller than 25% of babies your age. You weigh 16 pounds and 10 ounces. Your grandma, aunt, and great grandmother were all petite ladies and the rest of us ladies are all of average height. I am afraid you don’t have any chance at being tall. Its nice for me, because you still fit in some of your six month clothes right now.

The past three months you have grown exponentially in your motor skills. Three months ago I would sit you up and would stay there a little while before falling over. Now you sit up in 1.2 seconds while we are changing your diaper. At least you let us wipe you up before you do your trick. I really think that you would prefer to leave your diaper off sometimes. And sometimes I let you; even though Daddy is afraid you will pee all over our bed.

Within the last two weeks you have perfected crawling. The cats are your favorite targets. I keep trying to tell you that screaming at Samuel and Elizabeth while you move toward them won’t make them come any closer, but you don’t really listen to that advice. Hopefully, that is not the beginning of a bad habit of sticking your fingers in your ears and saying “Na-Na-Na-Na-I’m-Not-Listening.” You started off crawling with your back right leg sticking out. Or you would crawl two or three steps, stop, sit up, take a break and then keep going. Even though you can crawl you still prefer to stand. You have even started moving around the coffee table and the crib by placing one foot next to the other and then moving the other foot. You have even started standing unassisted for a few seconds. I know I need to enjoy you at every stage, but it is so exciting to watch you grow and develop.

Every time I feed you, you lick the bowl clean. Well, not literally, but you do cry if I don’t try to get every atom of food left in the bowl on to the spoon to put in your mouth. Your absolute favorite is banana. You could eat five bananas in one day if I let you. You weren’t really digging the asparagus I fed you. So I put in some mashed banana and now you can’t get enough. You are a carbo-holic. I know this, because last week at church you were trying to steal your neighbor’s animal crackers. You even got her to feed them straight into your mouth. Almost every time we are out you happily eat the tortillas and bread. Corn, flour, white, wheat, it doesn’t matter. You like them all. I have heard that this eating everything in sight and willingness to try anything is a phase. I hope it isn’t. We really have a desire to teach you to at least try something once and then make a decision on whether you like it or not. When you were in utero I actually made a point to eat lots of different kinds of food from many cultures so you would develop a taste for them all.

You already got to experience culture in other parts of the world when you were seven months old. Your passport shows two stamps – China (Hong Kong) and the Philippines. While traveling to Hong Kong we took a bus no a layover from the Los Angeles airport to the Santa Monica pier. You did not want to sleep or miss anything while flying to LA, the nine hours in LA, and half of the sixteen-hour flight. I don’t even want to think about the flights getting to Cebu City. Both your Daddy and I were in tears that we couldn’t comfort you. You did find comfort in Papas left shoulder. You slept so great on him. We will always be thankful for Papas’ Golden Shoulder. Once we arrived you were so thankful to be laid down in a pack-n-play.

You charmed everyone you met, although you did not like the heat and humidity very much. As soon as we walked into air conditioning your smile would return. You also got to ride in the van in my lap. You really enjoyed sitting in the front seat with Daddy with the a/c on your face and looking straight out the window. Luckily, you didn’t mind your car seat when we got on the plane and back to San Antonio.

I can’t count the number of arms that held you in the Philippines. They all loved you. They would come up and say “Hello! Ba-be!” We still say that to you now. You absolutely loved the hour and half boat ride to Cuaming Island. I bought you a cute little Filipino outfit and you smiled as the wind hit your face. The following Sunday Bishop Tagud told the congregation that he was surprised to see you on the boat and he said that you were the world’s youngest missionary and he affectionately called you ‘Baby Missionary’ every time he saw you. Everyone started calling you by your new nickname. I do pray that missionary seeds were planted in your heart during this trip. You brought so many smiles to faces while you were there. I could not have gone with out you. It wasn’t easy, but I am glad my little sidekick got to go to the ends of the earth with me.

I am looking forward to doing more traveling with you. Anything less than a sixteen-hour flight will be great. Other than that you are an easy-going baby. You go to bed around 6:30 p.m. every night and wake up some time between 6:30 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. the next morning. I don’t really have you on a schedule during the day. You take two naps when you feel like it. You eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You still nurse about 4 times a day. You have already started to drink a little water out of a sippy cup, but thinking about weaning you makes me a little sad. I do enjoy our time together. You are fast and proficient at nursing, but I can tell you take great comfort and have fun with me. I know I am planning on weaning you at a year, but we’ll see.

You learned to wave bye-bye all on your own. One day we were at FiFi’s house and your cousins were leaving and you waved at them good bye. It is sort of a full arm wave, but it is too darn cute. You are also very cute playing at your table and pushing your “Pickle.” We spend lots of time together on the floor in the living room. While in the living room you are learning the word “no” every time you touch the tivo. I think you are getting it, because after I said no once, you went back and touched it while you looked right at me.

You have your two bottom teeth and your top two teeth are about to break through any second. You are growing into such a beautiful girl. Your dad and I burst with our love for you. You are such a joy to be with. We just want to pick you up and squeeze you all the time. In fact, Daddy changed jobs last month to see you more often. So let all the squeezing commence!

Love,
Mama

She came with us to our last missions training and played the whole time. I came home and fed her again and laid her down for a nap. I heard her screaming and laughing in her room, so I decided to go get her out of her crib. She had a surprise for me when I walked in. She was standing up and pounding on the wall!

So we brought her downstairs and let her play. While she was playing she sat up all by herself from laying on her back! It was amazing.

Annabelle was already having a fantastic day, so we decided to see if she would do one more thing – crawl. Take a look at the video for the results!

It was a good thing I cleaned the house earlier this week, because we a had a missionary couple crash at our house last night. Dennis and Linda Collins are missionaries to Ireland. It was a pleasure getting to hear about their lives and their life in Ireland.

I started the day off with Mika’s “Love Today” song. Has anyone else listened to Mika? I think he’s British. It’s a fun cd.

Ace had her six month check up today. She is 15.4 pounds and 27 inches long. She doesn’t have an infection which is good! She just has a regular cold. She got a flu shot along with three other shots. She cried during the shots, but stopped once it was over. Daniel usually takes care of the shots, but I think I was brave and did okay.

We treated ourselves to some Pei Wei take out and to a very French movie. It was a sequel to another French movie we saw a few months ago. I would give you the name, but I don’t want to recommend the movie. It was great to see all the European cities and the couple does get together in the end, but those were the only good things about it.

So, there you go. All about my silly boring life today.

Today you turn six months old. You have a happy and laid back demeanor. I love that you smile every day now. You even smile at the cats.

You have come along way physically. I would see the picture of the baby in the “What to Expect The First Year Book” on its belly, pushing up on its hands, and holding its head up high. I was a little worried for a while that you weren’t meeting this milestone. Then one day I came in to get you from your nap and there you were, pushing yourself up on your hands and holding your head up high. I am wondering if this is how it’s going to be the rest of your life. Will I be worried about your development, and then one day with no warning you just do it?

Daddy was drilling you the other night about rolling over. You rolled over one way and then Daddy coached you to roll back the other way. Then he said, “Again!” and you happily did it. You were a good sport about it.

You had your first cold this past month. We ran out to get a humidifier for your room late one night. You were having trouble breathing and kept waking up. You really hate your nose being suctioned, but who wouldn’t? You recovered from your cold just in time for a cough. You still have the cough, but you don’t have a fever and you are still eating okay.

You are still being breastfed. Eating is not a problem for you and you have actually started playing while you eat. When you are done chugging you come off, give me a huge smile, and then attack my boob again. It’s so darn cute, but I have to stop you from stopping and starting again, so you will learn to eat. Lately, you have started teething and you like to teeth on my boob. Thanks.

You drool like its going out of style. You try to chew on everything. One of your favorite activities is grabbing stranger’s fingers and sticking them in your mouth. A few fingers even make it into your mouth. Your first tooth has yet to arrive.

Standing is joy for you. You prefer to stand than to lay on your belly. I have stood you up and leaned you against something and you stood for five seconds.

Rice cereal was introduced to you two weeks ago. You really like the stuff. Lately it has been hard for you to eat, because of your cough.

Your two fingers upside bring you comfort when you tired or hungry. I am not sure when you switched from your thumb, but it is quite funny.

You bring your dad and me such joy. We took you to feed the homeless last week. I carried you around in the Baby Bjorn and a lot of them came up to see you. They would try to get you to smile and you would smile right back at them. You would try and grab their hands. They would ask what your name was and I would tell them and ask them for their name. You open doors to the Gospel, which you don’t even know. You bring your little light and joy wherever you go. We pray that you will always shine your light of the Jesus inside of you.

Next month you will travel to the other side of the world with your parents to share Jesus. I know you are going to be more of a missionary on that trip than me or your dad will be. I am trusting the Lord for your health and safety. You will be my sidekick for ten days. It will be challenging, but it will be worth it. Your Daddy and I have always prayed at every significant occasion that we would be more for the Kingdom of God together than separate. You are now a part of that vision. You are a member of Team Espinoza.

We love you very much and can’t wait to see your personality grow and develop.

Happy Birthday, Annabelle!

Love,
Mommy