Arabella 7 months

I'm ashamed to admit that I've slacked with keeping up with Arabella's progress on my blog:( My excuse? Life! So here's an update on my Beautiful Bella.

She is sooooo very loved! She has the sweetest demeanor and is social and loving to everybody. That's one thing that I love about her. Anybody can hold her and she doesn't cry if she's not familiar with them.
This is Arabella with Aunt Yesenia. No, you still can't have her Sen ;)

Things she's doing:
*Rolling all over the place. Has been for the past couple months.
*Eating lots of yummy baby food. Her favorite is squash.
*She's a thumb sucker!
*Loves to play with toys.
*She loves her big brother & sister. She watches them play and smiles when they run by.
*Sleeping through the night since she was about 4 months old. Gosh I'm behind!
*She is just starting to scoot.

Arabella with her Aunt Rebecca

Medical Status:
She is doing AWESOME! We just had an appointment with the ENT where he looked at her vocal cords and great news...there is a slight flicker in her right vocal cord!! I was soooo excited! He prescribed a passy muir valve for her. This is a special valve that will go over her trach and allow her to make regular sounds. We are really looking forward to that in the next week or two.

Arabella with Aunt Beth

My baby girl is so smart. She has figured out how to make lots of noise despite the trach. Aidan was able to make a little bit of noise but never quite like Arabella. She tenses up her throat and squeeeeeeeek. Since discovering that she can make noise she has gotten a bit of an attitude. She's a little more demanding of my attention. I love this little girl so much. She is a gift that we don't take for granted, ever. We know how lucky we are to have her and treasure her every day.

Grandma Josie & baby Bella

Missouri visit- Lucero side

We are finally home sweet home! We had a great time in Missouri visiting our family. Here are some pictures to highlight our time with my side of the family.

After a few crazy, stressful days of keeping the kids in the house, my sister bought a $10 pool from Wal-Mart. Best $10 she ever spent! It gave us many days of sanity and lots of memories:)

Danny, my studly little man.

I just love him!

Josy was such a mommy the whole time. Always making sure all of the other kids did exactly what we asked.

My sweet sister...gotta love her. Always on her phone. Yet, whenever I call her she doesn't answer. I don't get it ;)

My good friend, Jeanne was brave enough to join the insanity a couple of times. Then she never came back:( Just kidding Jeanne. Sorry again for not calling!

Asher is so cute!! He was totally flirting with Arabella the whole time. Maybe they'll make a cute couple someday:)

How could you not just LOVE this sweet little face?

My sister and I developed a routine that worked great for us. She would watch the kids in the pool while I made lunch and then we would feed then outside! It was great!

We did this several times. The kids loved it!

They formed such a strong bond. Danny is 4 months older than Maya. Awww, so sweet!

Josy is 4 months older than Aidan.

Best friends FOREVER!
From left to right- Julian, Damian & Gabriel. My nephews. We had some good times with them too.

These pictures are just a bonus to brighten your day. I don't know why she chooses to do this but it drives me nuts. What can you do? She likes what she likes.

We had a fun time with my family in Missouri. After 28 years I finally learned how to make flour tortillas. Thanks mom! Mine is obviously the one on the left. My mom made the one on the right. I'm still practicing!!!

Thanks for everything, Mommy! Love you and we'll miss you!

Dear Daddy

Daddy, It's me, Arabella! I miss you so much! I can't wait to see you again in 2 weeks. We are having so much fun in Missouri but wish you were here. Aidan and Maya have been so busy here at Grandma Bakers house. Check out what they've been up to!

Aidan discovered that bugs aren't so bad.

Maya always wants to go outside to play in the water.

They have so much fun together playing with the hose.

They are so silly!

I can't wait until I can walk...

So that I can walk to the hole and throw rocks in it. It looks like so much fun!

They are always asking Grandma for cookies. They look yummy:)

We miss you and love you, Daddy! Come back soon!

Playing Catch-up

Why do I always let this happen? So many little and big things have happened and now I need to backtrack a couple of months to blog it all. This is the first of many "catch-up" blog posts that I will be making. Here we go!

Right now I am in Missouri. Having a good time but boy am I missing home...and Rich. He had to do a 6 week rotation this summer and so we decided that we would take this opportunity for me to come out to Missouri with the kids for 2 months so that they could spend time with grandparents and cousins. Yeah, I know it sounds like a great idea but realistically well, not so much. Don't get me wrong, I love our families and we are having fun but I am so homesick! I miss Rich, I miss my childproof home, I miss my routine. Wah, wah, wah! K, I'll stop whining but I did learn a very valuable lesson. I can't be apart from Rich for very long. We are gonna cut this visit a few weeks short:)

Like I said, we are having fun so check out the next couple of posts...

Aidan & Maya Photoshoot

My friend, Heidi, is an amazing photographer. A couple weeks ago she snapped some pictures of Aidan & Maya and did a great job. Here they are!

Rainy Day

"Well Maya, it doesn't look like we are going out to play today."

Two

Tonight I fed two little mouths. I changed two little diapers. I dressed two little girls in pj's. I snuggled two little sweethearts while reading two bedtime stories. Then, I kissed two little cheeks goodnight.
Tonight I'm missing my two boys but I have a feeling they are not missing me. Rich and Aidan are sitting outside somewhere eating s'mores and being boys. It's daddy/son canoe trip weekend!! Rich was so excited that Aidan is finally old enough to take camping. They left today at 5:30 and the second they were gone I MISSED THEM! I can't wait to hear all of their fun stories and see pictures of their little adventure. When did my baby boy get so big?