Azure is 3!

Time seems to be going by pretty fast these days. Azure is growing up to be such a bright, articulate, and demanding :) little woman.

She is learning how to read! She is doing such a fantastic job sounding words out. We're so proud of her. This site has helped her so much.

About 2 weeks ago she finally started showing more interest in wearing underwear to bed. During that time she has only had 2 accidents! She's gone from 95% to 99% potty trained.

Today I told her she needed to go get dressed. She replied with, "Hold on. I'm watching a movie right now."
"Okay, but we're leaving soon and you need to be dressed."
Hands go up in the air, eyebrows raise, head tilts.
"I'm watching a movie," she repeats. "When it's over I will get dressed. Okay mom?"
Let the 3 year old games begin :)

She really is a sweetie most of the time. She stills loves Vince and is very attentive to his cries or fussiness. Sometimes if he's fussing in the swing while I'm making dinner she will try to make him laugh so he'll stop. If that doesn't work, she runs into the kitchen and says, "Mommy, the boy's crying, will you please get him?"


She is usually very obedient (for a 3 yr old) and I've had other moms comment that they're impressed with her obedience.

She still hasn't shown much of an interest in Spanish. When we try to teach her words in Spanish she'll say things like "Beep Boop, Ga Ga" which is a little frustrating and hilarious at the same time. Charles has been very diligent and continues to pray with her in Spanish every night, though she is not very responsive. I frequently listen to Salsa and whenever it comes on she says, "Speakinspanish Mom!" and then of course starts dancing. Dora the Explorer has made her a little more interested lately but, still not much. Our tentative plan is to put her in a Spanish immersion school once she starts kindergarten but, of course that depends on where we move to.

She is an exceptional drawer. She loves to draw. Here's some of her masterpieces as of late:
She eats pretty much everything that we eat, even spinach and salad. It has to have dressing on it though. Of course, she has her moments when she is picky but, she usually eats a wide variety of foods.

2 of her best friends that recently moved away :(

Azure and her "children". If we refer to them as babies she is quick to correct us.

Nursing one of her "children"

Azure and her pediatrician had a wonderful time together on Tuesday at her 3 yr old well check. She had the Dr. laughing with her little personality as she quizzed Azure on colors and other developmental abilities. It was a fun exchange for me to watch and I really felt like Azure was growing up so much. The Dr. said that Azure's mental and social abilities are up to par with a 4.5 yr old. I'm not quite sure how she came up with that number but, Azure is very bright. I don't take too much credit, she came to us that way.

"I've got a crush on you sweetie pie...

...all the day and night-time hear me sigh. The world will pardon my mush, 'cause I got a crush, my baby on you!" (Name that tune :)

No surprise but, I've got a crush on this little sweetie who turned 4 months yesterday.

4 month facts

• Still sleeping about 11 hrs straight at night, haven't had to get up to pump for 4 wks now. (Though I still have random burning sensations under my left armpit. I think I have some permanent nerve damage there. Has this happened to anyone who's had mastitis?)

• He won't fall asleep for the night until about 10pm. 9pm is the earliest. His bedtime routine takes about 2 hrs. 30 mins of playing, 30 mins of bath and massage, and about an hr feeding; usually at least 2 times on each side.

• He's started reaching out to grab things more and more. Sometimes he gets it, sometimes he misses.

• Does this sound that sounds like he's gasping for air. Really can't describe it, but it's clearly his own. I haven't ever heard another baby do it. You can hear for yourself:

• Still squeaking in his sleep, though a little less than when he was a newborn. Today at his checkup the Dr. said that she thinks he has some excess tissues inside that cause the squeaks.
  
  
• Teething like crazy. When he's awake he has to have something in his mouth or his isn't too happy. He hasn't been drooling hardly at all though compared to Azure at this age.

• Looks like a sucker fish with his mouth open all day. I take advantage of the cute open mouth kisses as much as possible :)

• Watches me take a drink from a cup and squeals like he wants some.

• Weighs 14 lbs 8 oz and is 25 inches long.

• Is too big for the bassinet as of a week and a half ago so, we converted it to the pack and play. I'd really like him to be in the crib but, there's no way he'd get any sleep if he shared a room with Azure.
  

Azure is still so good with him and makes him smile and laugh constantly. Seeing these two play together warms my heart!

Spit bubbles

Okay so funny story: Vince's eczema had flared up so bad that it was oozing and looked like an open wound. I called the on-call nurse to see if I could put hydrocortisone on it. Because it has steroids in it I'm always afraid of using it too much. She wanted to make sure he didn't have an infection so she told me to take his temperature rectally. Now, at this point in my career as a mother I have never yet taken a temperature rectally. I never did it on Azure b/c I thought it was too gross and I thought it would hurt her and/or make her very uncomfortable. I asked Charles to do it. He asked me to hold his legs. He inserts the thermometer, and Vince lets out some air. We look at each other and chuckle a little and then this happened:
Sorry if this is too graphic or crude for some. But, we thought it was hilarious! No fever here!

Laughing is good medicine

Here's the promised video of Vince laughing. You'll have to turn up the volume to hear his squeaks and squeals after his giggles. I just love this boy! I love being his mother.

3 months

Vince is already 3 months old!

• He still squeaks :)

• He has started nursing for about 1.5 hrs straight before he's ready to go to bed. The bath followed by 1 feeding is no longer good enough for him.

• I noticed him scooting himself today, doing a 180 on the floor.

• Still sleeping about 11 hrs straight at night (but, I'm still having to get up to pump).

• He has completely outgrown his size newborn clothes. They look like they are painted on.
  

• He's already started teething. (I remember Azure pre-teething at this age too). He likes when I massage his gums with my finger.

• Has said his first word: Goo!

• He is making many more sounds now- high pitched shrieks. He tries hard to match my intonation.

• He's begun to laugh! It's absolutely delightful. A video to come soon.
  

• I rarely call him Vince. His most popular nickname is boy; followed by: sweetie boy, chubalub, lil chub bear, Mr. Goo, sweetie bear cub.
  

• If he is awake, he's usually smiling. He is such a good, happy, baby!
  

This video was from March but, I couldn't figure out how to post it until now. (Thanks Vos!) There are other videos but, they will have to wait until tomorrow.

Articles of Faith and other happenings

We've been memorizing the articles of faith for Family Home Evening. Azure has done great! We used candy as a motivator and now she'll recite them and then say, "Can I have some candy?" with her head cocked to one side and a huge grin. This week we've been learning the 3rd one. Azure seriously is memorizing them better than I am!

Another funny quote this week: "Mommy, your baby is crying. Come feed him!"

Azure has been very cute with Vince. She huddles over him and says, "It's okay boy," when he cries. She loves to give him kisses and help me with his diaper changes. Sometimes though when he cries too loud she covers her ears, which is pretty funny!

When I nurse him during the day she brings all her dolls into my room and pretends to nurse them too. Or she'll just grab things off our dresser that she knows she's not supposed to. So, sometimes I look forward to middle-of-the-night feedings so I can just have Vince all to myself in peace and quiet. Though Azure loves him she is still acting out quite a bit due to the decrease in attention (mostly by destroying the house- breaking into the fridge and overdosing on probiotics and other vitamins, coloring on the couch, putting "stick lips" aka chapstick on all types of surfaces other than lips). I think she's giving me a preview of what her teenage years will be like :( Hopefully, I am much wiser and more patient by then!

Videos from the past month or so

I've been behind on blogging and I will give my reasons.

1) Charles has the computer most of the day at school. Though I have my own lap top, it's primary function is the internet. I can't upload any photos or videos from it. So, I haven't had much access to the "big" computer lately with all the tests Charles has had.

2) We updated our computer with Windows 7 and I absolutely HATE it. The program I've used for editing pictures is entirely gone. I've had to relearn how to do things and it's not as effective.

3) This past week I put together our yearly Young Women in Excellence program. It was a lot of work. And though, I'm relieved that it's over (since my stress levels were running a little high) I enjoyed doing it. I put together a slide show (among other things) with pics from this past year of all the girls, including a recent photo shoot we had with each of them. They are all beautiful and I love those girls. The program turned out great.

Okay, now on to the videos...

Every night Azure sings her ducky happy birthday in the tub. The end of the video is pretty dang funny. She's gotten into the habit of telling me to go "bye,bye" or "go take a shower", or "go play on the computer" when I tell her something she doesn't want to hear. At this point, it's mostly funny.






Unfortunately this is the only good pic we got of Azure in her Halloween costume this year. She was not cooperating and neither was our camera. Can't wait to get a new SLR for Christmas this year :) Oh the joy!!!

Bubble beard

Helping Daddy wash the car

ABCs and Counting

This is just too adorable not to post.

Silly words and Bob's newest fan

Because it's been so hot this last week we've gone swimming a few times. I told Azure that we had to put on our bathing suits to go. She looked in her drawer for it and when she found it exclaimed, "Okay, baby soup!" I almost died laughing. She is so fun! After she was dressed, we applied her spray on sunscreen. She likes to pretend she's spraying it herself and then rubs it on, even on her bathing suit. Being a stay at home mom is truly the best career move I've ever made :)

Another cute word she says is caterpillar. She adds 2 or 3 extra syllables in there. I'll have to get her saying it on video. At the temple last week we saw a caterpillar on the grass. I put Azure's arm right in it's path so that it would crawl up her arm. She loved watching it crawl up and down and wiggled with delight since it tickled. Almost everyday since then she's been talking about her caterpillar friend, always followed by the word "arm" and then the sign for caterpillar.

Aside from the theme songs of Signing Time and Backyardigans, Get Up, Stand Up is now one of Azure's favorite songs!

Hair cut, animals, videos

Last week I cut my hair. I wanted to try it somewhat short to prepare for the hot, humid summer we have ahead.This is the shortest my hair has ever been. I'm starting to like it more and more. Mostly because it only takes 10 mins to style straight, and only 5 mins to style curly. Gotta love that! My natural curl even curls better, now that it's shorter. On Fridays Charles doesn't have class until 9am so Azure gets to see him before he leaves for school. She wanted to ride on his back, but was still a little sleepy.We bought a membership to the Wilderness Park here and usually go on Toddler Tuesdays. Azure likes the farm and the wolves the best. In the car on the way there she excitedly repeated, "Farm, cow, *moo*, sheep, *baa*, donkey, horse, *neigh*, pig, chicken, *ca-doodle-doo*." And of course, she can do all the signs too, thank you to Signing Time's Leah's Farm. One of our favorites! We check them all out from our library.

Preface to this video: I had Azure on my lap as I read her Hokey Pokey book, which is just the lyrics to the song. I grabbed her arm and shook it all about, and then her legs, and so on to help her learn the movements. Well, she copied me exactly!


Doesn't she just make you smile? Today after coming home from choir rehearsal, I was feeling pretty depressed. I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. As soon as I opened the door, Azure greeted me, "Hi mommy!" She came running and wrapped her arms around my legs. I bent down and she gave me a kiss. I could feel the love that the Lord had for me through that sweet, little girl. What a blessing children are!

"Oh no, wa wa"

This is in the cool/erie city of Celebration, FL (outside of Orlando) on our way back from the keys. Azure enjoyed playing in this water works, though she was a little frightened. "Oh no" and "wet" pretty much sums up this video.

Learning new stuff

Azure can now say "Cubby"! I love to hear her say it in her cute little voice. She is copying almost everything I say now. This morning as we were driving home from some shopping, a pedestrian crossed the street when they weren't supposed to, it was our green light. One of my pet peeves of all time is someone that does something to inconvenience someone else without apologizing or acting sorry for what they've done. Frustrated because this pedestrian was walking S L O W L Y across the street when they weren't supposed to even be crossing at all, I yelled out, "Hustle!" Azure repeated me with, "hustle". It just dawned on me that I need to be careful what I say around her. I need to be an example to her at all times.

She can say temples and identify them in pictures. She also says the word prophet when she sees pictures of President Monson or Joseph Smith!

She now points to her lips when I ask her, "Donde estan tus labios?" When I ask her how old she is, she puts her little index finger up and says, "One". We're still working on this though, she doesn't get it every time.

I also taught her how to play Patty (Pat-a) Cake this week and she loves to clap my hands with hers. At the end of the Signing Time DVDs they say, "Come visit us at SigningTime.com". Azure chimes in and repeats, "Dot com." She's such a technical savvy toddler. That obviously wasn't a vocabulary word for any of us 80's kids!

And I thought this was pretty funny!

18 months

Our little Azure turned 18 months on Sunday. Here are some updates of what she can do now:

• She can say, "Stop!" and put up her hand like a traffic officer- wonder who she got that from :)
• Screams, "Mine!" while jerking an object under her side. Oh, the woes of nursery! :(
• Still sings, Badabadabada when she's happy (see 1st video)
• Can identify most of her body parts

• She's trilingual: English, Sign, and Spanish (favorite Spanish word is pies- feet). She knows about 30 signs.

• Shrieks in protest if you try to feed her. She must do it herself!

• Smiles sweetly and warms our hearts in an instant canceling out prior protests

Update: kissing, singing, acting

We are in need of a general update.

Charles and I were the main characters in a film done by one of our friends who we previously mentioned in the last post. He is getting his masters in film and needed actors. Of course I volunteered. I would never give up a chance for stardom :) We even had a kissing scene in the film! Once it's all done we'll put a few scenes here on the blog.

Charles has had tests this last week and is gearing up for even more after Thanksgiving. We are looking forward to spending time w/ Evelyn again and celebrating Thanksgiving w/ her family in North Carolina. Charles is currently employed at CVS as a Pharmacy Intern.

I have been listening to Christmas music and practicing for a duet performance of O Holy Night for our ward Christmas party. I am keeping busy with the Young Women in our ward and trying to stay sane w/ all that that entails :) Last Saturday marked my 10 year anniversary as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have made it a tradition to do baptisms for the dead every 15th of November. I was indeed grateful to do them this year in the Columbia South Carolina temple. The 2.5 hour drive there was so beautiful and peaceful as I saw colored leaves everywhere and listened to inspired counsel from our beloved prophet and apostles from General Conference.

Azure is a happy little girl. She learned the word, "Ut-oh" today. She is trying hard to say thank you, but signs it well. She also is a singer as evidenced by this video:

Everyone in our ward has heard Azure shout, "Baby" in the middle of sacrament meeting whenever she sees a child 3 or under, including herself in pictures or the mirror. I really appreciate her enthusiasm and passion for life when she says it:

When reading a book to Azure that had racoons in it, I kissed them and she copied me. Now she kisses all kinds of animals in her books and sometimes babies. I especially love it when she gives me kisses :)

We give thanks for such a wonderful life!

Videos

Azure's brain is continuing to expand. She can do about 20 signs and say about 20 words. We try to catch her cute little sayings and signs on video but, this is about all we can get.
This melts my heart especially when she says it to me in the morning with outstreched arms to get her out of her crib. Being a mommy is the greatest :)

Of course I like black beans, I'm 1/4 Cuban : )

The Proof

Hall of Fame

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Dada, Daddy

Videos

I am on a roll with posting everday but don't get too used to it, we'll stick to an average of 2x a week! Here are some videos I've been meaning to post... does anyone know how to put clips of multiple videos into one? That's what I've been trying to do. I'm sure it will be difficult to explain in a comment but maybe I'll understand :)
Oh and I've forgotten yet another 7 month milestone: self-feeding! She loves the little cereal puffs and little chunks of banannas and even bread!