Team Espinoza

Annabelle turns 3 months old today!

In the past three months she has grown into a baby and is not a newborn anymore. About the time she turned two months she began smiling and moved into size 1 diapers. Now we get those toothless smiles everyday. Daniel and I both just about cried when she first smiled at us. That was amazing. And for the record, Daddy got the very first smile.

At the beginning of the month she started coo-ing and about two weeks later she said her first word – Hi! Seriously, it sounds like “Hi!” in a little baby voice.

We also stopped swaddling her before she went to sleep and she moved into footy pajamas. At the same time, she didn’t need us to hold her until she fell asleep anymore. I am excited that I can now just lay her down to sleep. However, I am also a little sad at the same time, because I really didn’t mind cuddling with my baby before I laid her down for the night.

Her neck is getting stronger. Her head is still gets a little wobbly sometimes, but she is doing great. Also, her eyes are getting stronger. It is so awesome to see when she recognizes who you are and just gives you the biggest grin you have ever seen.

This month Annabelle also started scooting on her back. We can’t just lay her down on a blanket and expect her to stay in that one spot. I have to angle her so that if she does go backwards, she doesn’t bump into anything.

Finally, my most favorite thing she is doing now. She sleeps 10 hours a night! Really, 10 hours! I still can’t believe it. Some nights are eight or nine hours and seven at the very least. This is amazing. Last week I just started moving up her bed time and she is doing great. Right now her bed time is 9 o’clock, but I am going to try to incrementally move her bed time up some more.

Annabelle is also being more consistent with naps. I am still learning her cues and learning the importance of sleep. I am not very far into the book, “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child” and already this book has helped me learn when Annabelle is getting overtired and the importance of getting her to sleep before she hits that overtired state.

Annabelle has been sleeping in our room this entire time, but she is about to outgrow her pack n’ play bed and her crib will give her more room to sleep. Two days ago I started laying her in her crib for naps. As soon as Dad paints her dresser and we clean up the room a bit, I think we will move her into her room. It’s a little sad for me, I really like having Annabelle four feet from me when we sleep, but I know she will be okay. Also, her room is right next to ours, so she is not going far.

That is the three month update on Annabelle. I am doing really well. Taking care of Annabelle is getting easier everyday. I absolutely love my new job!

I love the seasons in life where everything ‘clicks’. You catch that green light on your way to work, your order of spring rolls arrives on time, your projects finish before the deadline, your baby sleeps 10 hours straight (seriously!). It’s times like these where you seem to have a ‘head above the clouds’ perspective and everything comes into focus. From past experience these seasons don’t last very long: fresh perspective become stale, and the weeds of life catch up with your seedling vision. It’s up to you to refresh and renew that vision.

We don’t necessarily believe in fortune, but Amanda and I got cookies recently that resonate with our present season. We’re excited to see where we go from here.

Have you ever gotten a fortune cookie that spoke to you ?

What is the vision that is driving you?

…to comment on our blog?

I just realized that out of the last 20 comments on our blog, only one was from a guy. And there were none from a guy that wasn’t me. Sigh.

Continuing our transformation into parents, (complete with “World’s Greatest Dad” tie and mom jeans), we thought it only fitting that we start cooking at home more often so that Annabelle would not grow up thinking food always arrives in over sized portions in a take out container. Since Amanda has been been embracing her new job as a SAHM, she has taken over the food preparation with gusto. Meal selection used to be routine, but recently started to take on an adventurous feel.
Amanda: “What should I make on Tuesday?”

Daniel: “Um, I don’t know, how about tortilla soup.”

Amanda: “I’ve never made that.”

Daniel: “Give it a try. Google a recipe.”

Amanda: “Ok.”

Now given Amanda’s heritage as a Dupla (read: recipe’s are only a suggestion) I was taking a risk by inviting her to venture into culinary experimentation.

However, what I found out is the girl can cook. Let me say that I never thought of tortilla soup as a meal in itself, but Amanda’s version was totally filling and delicious. The next week came French Onion Soup and Croquet Monsieur sandwiches. “Oui Oui!”

Not to get stuck in a soup rut, this week Amanda tackled brisket. Not just any brisket, Anointed Brisket. Amanda’s former church’s pastor’s wife (follow that?) passed along a recipe, that she got from another pastor’s wife – hence, anointed. The brisket turned out wonderful – juicy and flavorful. It was so good as a matter of fact, that it didn’t last long enough to get it’s picture taken.

So now we need more challenges. If there is a recipe that you love, have tried in the past, or have thought of trying, pass it along and lets see if Amanda can continue her streak of hits…

When we travel to visit family in Houston the drive usually takes 4 hours: 3 hours of country Interstate to get us to Houston, and another hour to get us through the city and down I-45 to League City. I’ve known Amanda for five years now and have made this drive numerous times.

This past trip I got to thinking about the act of travel. The thought process was partially brought about by the 8 hours out of 26 I was spending in the Camry. Also by an email I received from a friend that is currently on a short term mission trip:

A few quick things you could ask for us…
ask for energy and health. we begin our 70 hour train ride this evening.

That’s right 70 hours! Almost three days in a train. Having experienced what they are going through (for a measly 24 hours), I can relate. Now, It would be easy when faced with a situation of being in a train for three days, a plane for 15 hours, or a car for hours to start questioning your journey and downplaying the experience. You go into survival mode and just try to make it through. “Wake me up when we get there.” “Are we there yet?” “Beam me up Scotty!”

I believe that getting there is vital to the journey. Just like life, if you are solely focused on your destination, you miss so much in the step-by-step process of arriving.

Here’s to all of us who are still “getting there.”

The past weekend was spent traveling to Houston to visit the Dupla’s in H-Town. We laughed, we cried, we saw lederhosen.
Annabelle got to experience the wonder that is Buc-ees. Look Annabelle – “It’s a Beaver!”
(Kelly – have you seen the sign that says “Your Throne Awaits”?)

Saturday night we had a great dinner at the Alpine Brau Haus off of Hwy #3. How can you go wrong with umpah music (with sing-a-long sheets!!!), German beer, and schnitzel? Actually, I’ll tell you where….the service! Let’s just say these Frau’s were the WURST waitresses in all of Bavaria. No spicy mustard (I had to grab it off of the table next to us), No accommodation for a baby&carrier (unless you count not spilling hot plates of saurkraut on them), getting our order wrong (George ordered “Jager” schnitzel, not just schnitzel), and more than one time just plain refusing to stop and attend to our overwhelmingly needy requests (like more water). Even those hossenpeppers couldn’t dampen our spirits while we belted out great songs like “Edelweiss”, “The Girl from Ipanema” and “Roll Out the Barrel”.

Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Renee enjoyed spending time with Annabelle.

On the drive back we had a chance to spend time with Amanda’s long time friends, Charllot and Danny. Charllot, along with holding the dubious honor of “The one that taught Amanda to eat while driving”, provided the subject for this post by telling us a story of how she got her daughter, Kelly, to stop using a pacifier: One day Charllot decided it was time for the binky to disappear, and when Kelly asked “Mommy, where is my binky?”, Charllot replied “Your binky went to be with Jesus.” Kelly immediately understanding the implications of this comment was forever relieved of her reliance on her pacifier. Now if only all challenges in parenthood were this easy to overcome.

Also, we dropped in on Tyler and Amy at their new house in Katy, TX. We had a great time crashing their pad and meeting Tater (dog) and Tot (kitty).

We now have a link in the sidebar of our website linking to Annabelle’s Photo Diary. This diary will be updated daily with a picture of Annabelle, what she did or whom she visited that day. I have been wanting to do this page for a while and I am incredibly excited that it is now here. Thank you, Daniel, for putting the page and the gallery together!

I am doing this diary as an archive for myself and Annabelle. My goal is that I will continue to update the photo diary everyday of her life until her 1 year birthday. Then, when Annabelle is grown she will be able to go back and see all these photos of how she grew the first year.

Also, I have been told by many of our blog readers that they mostly visit just to see Annabelle. So we now have a page just of her for our visitors to indulge in. We also have a gallery of photos. You can click on the link at the bottom of the diary page that says “previous days” to visit her photo gallery.

I hope you enjoy this new project!

I pledge alligance to the flag…

Thanks to Miss Lynette for the onesie and to Susan for the hat. And Pappas for the flag. 

Annabelle started smiling last week. I was able to catch a few smiles this morning.

Holy cow. What a great day. Amanda and Annabelle came downtown for lunch, and we headed up to the La Cantera Apple Store.

Annabelle dreaming of an iMac of her very own.

While there I got to buy a little something special:

That’s right JD: Pretty Picture Box!!!

Here’s the guy about to take my money on his way cool handheld wireless register. (and the printer was free with the purchase of the macbook).

Oh, and today is the release of a certain piece of awesome technology….the iPhone. Here’s the line at the La Cantera store, and the first guy in line.