Monday, June 29, 2015

One Year Photos

Dress: Bonita Designs





Chris wanted to keep this one, as he says it's the perfect combination of the two of us.










All Photos Courtesy of BrynMaRae Photography

At the end of May Helena had her One Year photos taken!  The day her photos were shot was the day she started to get sick.  She looks so tired in her cake smash photos, but she still had a smile on her face, and Bryn still captured her happy baby nature! 
Thank you Bryn for shooting Helena's first year!!!  Can't wait to work with you in the future as our daughter grows!!!
Make sure to LIKE her Facebook page too!!!

Saturday, June 27, 2015

June Happenings

I'm super behind...again.
Here's what we've been up to.
Happy Summer!  It is finally feeling like summer here in Denver…hello 90 degree days!  I kinda love this type of heat.  Out of all the bad weather type of elements out here (extreme snow, wind, rain, cold) the heat for me is the one that is the easiest to deal with.  I’ve always favored summer when I was growing up…probably my love for swimming and always begging my mom to take me to the pool.  And I know how short our summers are so I soak them up, enjoy them, and try to get to the pool as many times as possible.  We’ve been a few times and once to an indoor pool.  Helena is getting better and better in the water.  I learned with our experience from Florida that she does much better when slowly being introduced to the water!  On Father's Day she even had her first ever splash pad experience.  It was a huge success and she had a great time.  I knew she was happy by how she was walking all over the place talking up a storm!  It was such a sight to see.  Speaking of walking…we have a full on walker on our hands!  Last week she was crawling less and less, especially once she got the strength to go from sitting to standing on her own.  I think it was last Tuesday when I last saw her crawl.  She’s still definitely in the “drunk” walking phase as she isn’t super sturdy and still falls on her little bum quite a bit, but she’s getting better and better, and it is just crazy!  And she’s wearing shoes!  I’m so thankful, last year my cousin Charlene sent us these adorable little sandals, and for the past week they’ve been the only thing she’s been wearing, especially since we’ve been going out a lot lately.
climbing up on the couch!

I feel like we’ve had a super busy month with a lot of firsts for Helena. 
So let’s go to the beginning. 
Helena is a climber.  She can climb up onto the couch.  As cute as this is, it is also terrifying.  She seems cautious when she is near the edge, but still terrifying. 
Helena is a kisser.  For me this was one of the milestones that took my breath away.  When you ask her for “kisses” she smooth her lips and make the “muah” sound while leaning toward your face.  It’s pretty much the cutest thing ever on the face of planet earth.

giving Kisses!

She had her first stay at a hotel.  The first weekend of the month we traveled to Scottsbluff, NE for a potential job for Chris.  We stayed two nights, and the first night was brutal.  She didn’t fall asleep until 11pm, and got up at 12:30pm.  I just cuddled her and had her sleep with Chris and I.  This was the first time Helena has ever slept with us.  Needless to say, I didn’t sleep.  I was so anxious about her being in bed with us.  My senses were heightened with every single move from either Chris or Helena.  It was horrible.  She thankfully slept great the second night.

Scottsbluff, Nebraska


An afternoon at the pool will do that to ya!
 Helena loves to dance.  The following weekend there was a free concert at a nearby library.  She loved it.
The attempt of a family photo!

YUMMY corn!
 She loves corn on the cob.  Feeding Helena is sometimes a challenge, you know she’s hungry, she’s whining because she is hungry, you offer her food, yet she will not eat.  It is beyond frustrating.  We’ll have a perfectly good dinner with food she can eat but she won’t take it, bring out a food pouch or pureed baby food?  And she’s all over it!  Why won’t she just eat her FOOD?!  Ugh!  I have found that I usually have to offer something at least 3 times, majority of the time she’ll take it on that third offer, if she doesn’t take it she is truly done, or I try something else.  Does she want to feed herself?  Do I need to entertain her with a napkin (this is a new win in the eating challenges) or with an extra spoon for her to play with?  It’s all a guessing game and we are just flying by the seat of our pants (or however that saying goes).  I digress, my point is she loves corn on the cob.  I think she loves how she has to bite it off. 
Too.Much.Spaghetti.

Playing at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science!

She has 8  teeth now (3 all came in at once while she was sick).  The teeth help with the corn, obviously.
She is exhausted.  There have been two instances where she is fallen asleep from such a fulfilled afternoon.  
We also traveled to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science for a morning with Andrea and Grayson.  They have an amazing kids “Discovery Zone” area.  Helena loved it.  We went when she became a true “walker” and loved walking all over the place.  She usually always has to have a toy (or two) in her hand.  It was so much fun seeing her explore and able to get into anything and everything she wanted.  Afterwards we went outside and had a lovely picnic lunch.  It is so cute because Grayson and Helena share everything. Helena had some of Grayson’s carrots and he had some of her blueberries.  They even partnered up when Helena was pushing her stroller all over the place and I put on the breaks so she could no longer push it.  Well Helena was trying to push it by herself, which she couldn't.  But with Grayson's help they pushed it all over the place...who needs breaks?, when you have a friend!!!
PUSH!
 We met up with Grayson again for a Rockies game!  I found out Helena's new favorite fruit: cherries!  After the game we went to dinner, and the kiddos had a great time walking around and making friends with everyone!
Rockies game!

Splash pad!

Just walking around.
It's been such a fun month and great start to the summer!  Seeing Helena discover new things brings such light and appreciation into my eyes its as if I get to discover for the first time too!

Thursday, June 11, 2015

the storm

Remember back in March when I wrote about a change coming?  How I could sense something was going to happen?  Well like the anticipation of most storms, a change did come along with a huge unexpected turn of events. 
I don’t mean to be vague but in an effort to keep things professional I can’t go into all of the details publicly on the blog.  If you are curious about the details, please contact me privately.  But what I can say and am super proud of is as of the end of April I was officially promoted to a Marketing Analyst!  The raise wasn’t as much as I wanted (when is it ever?) but I am super excited about my new role.  What I am most thrilled about is that this title change takes away the “admin” stereotype I’ve been carrying with me for the past 5 years.  This will broaden any potential career movement in my future and will look good on my resume when/if I ever get to take a break from work to be a stay at home mom.  I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly it fell into place as I knew a change was in the works, but to have it actually happen so fast was a breath of fresh air, and one I’m so thankful for. 
Unfortunately the good news came with some bad news.  When I returned from Florida I got the news that Chris lost his job.  So he is currently looking for a new job.  In my perfect world he would find a job close to home and would pay enough for me to stay at home.  He recently had a great opportunity, but that would have taken us to Scottsbluff, Nebraska.  We actually traveled there over the weekend so he could have a face to face interview and for us to check out the town.  The trip was good but we faced a bunch of “what-if” type of conversations.  The job and move would have allowed me to stay at home with Helena, but we would have had to sell a house that I love and move to a super rural community.  The largest nearby town is Denver, which is 3 hours away.  A few days ago he found out the job was offered to someone else.  In my gut, I know that had he been offered the job he would have accepted and we would have moved.  And everything would have been ok.  But as I’ve prayed about Chris finding a job and this opportunity in particular I knew that if the job wasn’t offered, that was God’s way of saying it wasn’t meant to be.  So, it wasn’t meant to be.  So I will continue my prayers that he’ll find something close to home and could give me the opportunity to be a stay at home mom. 
I’m still working at my Younique business, and that money is covering some of our monthly expenses.  If you haven’t tried the 3D Fiber Lash mascara yet, let me know and I’ll hook you up (It's sorta life changing!)!
I think that life is one big storm.  Things are usually more stormy than calm, but that’s living life.  I do what I gotta do for me and my family.

Monday, June 8, 2015

look at her grow

 At Helena's birthday party I made a "look at her grow" sign, showcasing her past 12 months!  Here are the details for me to remember.
I'm super bummed that I forgot to take a picture with her bear for her one month, but hopefully you get the idea!

Birth 5/10/2014: 7 pounds 15 ounces, 20 inches
 Two weeks 5/27/2014: 8 pounds 9 ounces, 21.5 inches

One Month: 9 pounds 10 ounces, 22.5 inches

Two Months: 10 pounds, 7 ounces, 23.5 inches


Four Months: 11 pounds 12 ounces, 24 5/8 inches

 I think I see the biggest difference going from five to six months.  SoMuchPersonality!
Six Months: 14 pounds 10 ounces, 26 inches
Seven Months: 15 pounds 7 ounces


16 pounds 12 ounces, 27.5 inches

Eleven Months: 18 pounds 5 ounces

One Year: 18 pounds 14 ounces, 30 inches


Wednesday, June 3, 2015

in-laws visit

The in-laws were in town over Memorial Day weekend.  Here's a recap!
Still playing catch-up.
At the Butterfly Pavilion








Gardening with Grandma



Always laughs and smiles with Grandpa

My in-laws were in town for Memorial Day weekend.  I really enjoy when they visit because things are always super easy.  Mary brought a couple more super cute dresses she made for Helena!  Marty and Chris were suppose to go play golf, but Colorado weather has been unseasonably cold and rainy, especially for the end of May (thankfully this week we are in the 80’s!).  We took a trip down to Cherry Creek, had dinner at a hibachi restaurant, and went to The Butterfly Pavilion.  It was this weekend when Helena started getting sick with a bad cold, and we also had her 1 year photo’s taken.  Chris was up with her Friday and Saturday night, and I was up with her Sunday night.  You could tell she was exhausted, and she just wanted to be cuddled and get some good sleep.  Every time we would go into her room she was immediately fall asleep while rocking in her chair, but put her back down in her crib she would only sleep for about 30 – 40 minutes before she was crying again.  I think she just couldn't get comfy.  After going in and out of her room 3 times before 2am on Sunday I stayed with her from 2am – 4:30am on Sunday night (early Monday morning).  I think Helena wanted to remind us of her newborn days from a year ago!  Ha!  She is thankfully on the mend now and back to sleeping through the night (and eating more), I just feel so bad that’s she been so sick.  (A stomach bug in April, and this horrible cold in May into June.)