Back to Work

Today is my last day with Savannah before I go back to work. Just thinking about it makes my heart ache. Since she was born I have spent almost every minute with her. I love being home with her sharing every moment. As she grows up so fast I don't want to miss anything. A couple days ago I had a full break down imagining the pain I will feel being away from her. It hurts more thinking how she will deal with the change. I love her more than I ever thought I would. Simply looking at her makes me happy.

I am going to try to work thins out to only have to go into the office 4 days a week. Brian is starting the Paid Family Leave act next Friday and he will bring Savannah to me everyday during lunch. After he goes back to work he will work early in the morning and I will go in the afternoon. I just couldn't stand the thought of a full-time babysitter. This is the best arrangement that we could do.

Time to get some tissue.

The Jumper

This jumper is for four months and up. Although Savannah is 2 weeks shy of four months her legs and neck are very strong. We wanted to test her in the jumper to see if this was a toy we could mix into her play time. Watch the video and tell us what you think.

Note: I apologize for the high pitch squeals of encouragement that I was making directly into the microphone on the camera.

5 Things about Savannah

1. When I am nursing her or giving her a bottle all I have to do is smile at her and she stops eating to give me a huge grin.

2. She is beginning to suck on everything, and it is so cute how she can somehow bunch her clothes in her mouth.

3. I love the little lines on her forehead when she looks up.

4. She can now mimic the sounds I make. Like boo, ba, ma, ga or ahhh. Even combinations of the sounds.

5. The shape of her lips when she tries to talk (see video).

Aloha Part 3

Today we drove all around Maui sight seeing.

Savannah had a really long day.

This is the view from our room.

After a long day Savannah barely made it home.

Aloha part 2

More from the island of Maui...

SO cute!

Sannah is getting used to laying out by the pool/beach! Her blanket was make by Aunt Kate. Kate- I love it and we take it everywhere.

Aloha!

On Monday Savannah and I flew to Maui to vacation with my parents. Savannah did so well on the flight. She did have a BLOW OUT diaper situation right before landing. When we flew to Seattle a couple weeks ago she did the SAME thing! She only slept for about 45 minutes of the entire 5 1/2 hour flight, but she did not cry.

We are staying the The Westin timeshare hotel and it is so beautiful. It was very sunny today so Savannah had her organic (non-wax) sunscreen plastered on every inch. It smells like strawberries and doesn't rub in very well. We were convinced to buy organic sunscreen because all the kids we saw around the pool had red blotchy rashes all over. The employees at the hotel explained that it is heat rashes mixed with Wax-based sunscreen. These kids looked miserable so we found a great sunscreen that wouldn't harm Savy.

My Mom rented the covered chairs so that Savannah would be out of the sun. We already took her swimming and let her just take her nap in the shade by the pool.

We went to a really amazing restaurant that had a perfect view of the sunset. Savannah sits so well in her Bumbo chair. She is so strong now- I just can't believe how much she is growing.

The restaurant was on a cliff next the the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. I took this picture to show how many couples get married around sunset on a random Wednesday at the same hotel beach in Maui.

How many newlyweds do you see?

(Hint: I circled them in red)

Professional Pictures

My cousin Lisa is a professional photographer and she took these AWESOME pictures! THANK YOU SO SO SO SO MUCH. The other baby in the picture is Lisa's baby BECKHAM. He was born just about two hours after Savannah.

12:30 AM call to the Kaiser Nurse Hotline

Of course on the night Savannah went to bed at 10:45 I couldn't sleep. I stayed up on the computer ordering fun stuff on Shutterfly.com until about 12:15. I laid down next to my sleeping husband STILL unable to sleep. I tossed and turned until I was able to finally drift off just a little until... ouch... there was a burning, tingling feeling on the inside part of my arm just a little below my armpit. Well, I tried to ignore it, but it was getting worse and worse. I shook Brian and told him that my arm was hurting and he flipped on the light and said it looked red. I got out of bed and looked at it in better light. The whole area was pink. It continued to burn badly. I went back over to show Brian a big white blister appearing when I saw a HUGE spider in my bed!!!! It was dead since I probably killed it in my tossing and turning, but it's obvious to say I still freaked out. Trying not to wake a sleeping baby I just did that girly-silly-scared-"I just saw a spider" type crying. Soon those silly tears turned into painful tears. The bump was getting to about the size of a dime, and the area around it looked like a rash. So, since I pay big bucks for insurance, I decided to call the nurse hot line. She told me to save the spider, take a antihistamine, and put baking soda water paste on it with a band aid.

So, naturally I have spent the last 20 minutes googling about spider bites while waiting for the drowsiness of my antihistamine to kick in... I will need it since I am a still nervous about getting back into bed.

DANG... my arm hurts!

Easter Weekend!

Last Wednesday Peter and Will flew into Palm Springs. Savannah and I have been out here hanging out. It is so sweet to see Savannah with Peter. It was obvious that Peter was very nervous about babies. After I showed him how to hold her it seemed like he never put her down. When he sings to her she makes so much noise... I secretly think she is thinking, "Thank goodness... someone with a good voice... you should hear how bad Mommy is!"

Savannah got her first Easter Basket. It had books, toys, and a pink hat for Hawaii.

Lily even got a basket too!

Here is Savannah's Easter dress, and of course she gives BIG smiles!

On Saturday before Easter the ENTIRE family was at my Aunt Caroline's house. We had an amazing Easter dinner and had an ADULT EASTER EGG HUNT. My Mom and Auntie hid over 150 eggs filled with Money, gift certificates, candy and other fun stuff. There were 11 of us running all around my Aunt's house. It was SO MUCH FUN!

Savannah's first time in a pool... well more like spa. The pool was too cold and the spa was still a little warm from the night before.

I can't BELIEVE it actually happened!

Last night it actually happened... Savannah went to bed at 12:00 and woke up at 8:35 am!

The best night sleep EVER!

A Sweet Moment

I wanted to blog about a very sweet moment I shared with Savannah the other night. I had a bunch of little things to do around the house and so I laid Savannah up in the Brian's arm while he tried to fall asleep. After about 20 minutes I walked into the bedroom and saw Brian asleep and Savannah was just drifting off to sleep. Her eyelids were slowly opening and closing. When I got closer to her face, with a very sleepy expression, she gave me a huge smile. It was obvious that she recognized me and that simply looking at me made her happy. She is a sweet baby and I love her so much.

5 Year Rainbow Reunion

The Legendary Llams of 2004

Growing up I was in a non-profit, service organization called The International Order of the Rainbow for Girls. I joined when I was 11 and was extremely involved until I was about 19. The organization helps young girls with etiquette, walking, speech writing, public speaking (memorized), being a leader, and fundraising for charities. I held many different offices, but the highest was as a Grand Officer for the state of California. Now, when you are appointed you have NO idea if you are getting an office or what office you are going to get. The new state officers are announced every year at Grand Assembly at the Fresno Convention Center. This is when all California Rainbow girls meet for about 4-5 days. Every year the new officers are appointed by the a new mascot is announced and then they become a 'grand family'. They travel all over California and other states and countries together. Out of maybe 1,100 girls there are only 40ish grand officers. In the Rainbow world it is a huge honor to be chosen.

I was chosen as the Grand Representative to Washington/Idaho/Australia and the Orient Pacific. Now, the funny part is that I had just started dating Brian who was living in Washington at the time. As the representative I had to travel a bunch of times to Washington which was very convenient. Maybe that helped Brian and my long distance relationship grow into a serious one. I was also able to go to Australia for a couple weeks to meet with the Rainbow girls there.

Well, Grand Assembly was this last weekend, and it was my 5 year Reunion. Our mascot was the Llamas and we were called The Legendary Llamas. It was so much fun seeing all my friends again. Especially Melissa (Grand Representative to Alaska/Hawaii)! We were attached by the hip the entire year. She came to Australia with me and I went to Hawaii with her. We traveled up and down California in my beetle and had the best time. At the reunion dinner it was just like old times. I NEVER stop laughing.

My Mom and Savannah went with me, and had an awesome time. We drove up and stayed over night in a hotel. We were only there for one session and the reunion dinner (about a 30 hour trip from beginning to end). Savannah was able to take a bath at in the sink at the hotel... she doesn't look too happy, but I know she liked it.

Here are some pictures, but a warning for those who do not know anything about Rainbow... you will think it looks really weird.

This is Alison, the girl who took my office the year after me. People who had the same Grand Office as you in a different year is called a 'Grandie'.

All of the blue dresses are from my year, and yes... we wear hoop dresses. As you walk it should look as if you are floating... if you do it right... it takes some training and practice. Each year the dresses are a different color and style. This is a way to recognize each year when they come back. My dress was WAY to big for me, so I just wore a plain white dress, but with our hoodies.

These are my 'Grandies'. We all had the same office, just different years. All the hoop dresses were their Grand Office Dresses.

5 things about Savannah

I have been noticing so many changes in her. I wanted to write them down so I remember them later. I am going to write down 5 of them every once in a while to remember these special things about Savannah.

1. She is now following me with her eyes and turning her head when I walk around the room.

2. She loves when I say "MaMaMa, BaBaBaBa, or GaGaGaGa". Brian told me that baby's first purposeful sounds are the bilabial sounds of 'Ma' and 'Ba'. I say 'Ga' to her just because she likes it. Brian said 'Ga' is one of the last sounds they develop.

3. She loves when I sing to her- even though it's not very good. Her favorite song is 'Twinkle, Twinkle'. She smiles every time we sing it.

4. She smiles every time I lightly wipe cloth over nose and lips.

5. A couple days ago she started using her legs to arch her back up high.

Seattle Trip

We flew to Seattle Last Friday and just got back. We had such a great time.

Savannah did SO well on the flight. We did have one episode of projectile vomit which went ALL OVER me.

Savannah had her baby blessing while we were there at his parents ward. Her cousin Jayce also had his baby blessing the same day.

This is a very cute picture of Jayce.

Jayce (7 months) is able to sit up now, so we propped Savannah up next to him for a picture. Savannah started leaning and pushing him over.

This is Rylie (18 months). They took a bath together with Mel taking pictures. Mel takes pictures professionally. It always seems like she gets the best poses and faces out of the kids.

Auntie Mel drying off Savy. Such a cute face.

All the cousins together... just missing Tony (19 years old).

This is Savannah with Grandma and Grandpa with Lexy (2 years old).