Our New Park on The Beach!!

Liliana's pediatrician is located in the Capistrano Beach area of Dana Point. On our first visit to his office when Liliana was only a month old, I fell in love with the neighborhood. I was (accidentally) an hour early to her appointment and took her to the nearby Pines Park to nurse and get some fresh air while we waited. It was a beautiful day and I was so relaxed and happy looking at the ocean through the pine trees and holding my newborn baby girl. I called Adam to tell him (half-jokingly) that I wanted to move there. (The houses that were behind me were entirely out of our price range.)

Adam joined me for the next appointment and agreed that the neighborhood was amazing and we drove by the mansions along the cliff "choosing" which ones we would want to live in.

Well, almost a year later this dream has become a (semi) reality...

We didn't buy one of the mansions looking out over the ocean in front of Pines Park, but we did buy a fixer-upper within walking distance! It needed a TON of work and we gutted the inside and we are in the process of re-doing EVERYTHING! It will be a brand new house from the inside when we move in March, and we have plans to work on the outside (hopefully) this summer when we can save up a little more money. It is exciting to be able to choose every detail of our house. Adam and my Dad have been working their buns off to make Liliana's first home perfect. We couldn't be more excited.

I am not going to post pictures of the house until it is finished and then I will post before and after shots that will show you how hard Adam has been working in every moment of his spare time. I am so grateful for him and so proud of the work that he is doing. The house is starting to look really great!

We love to spend time playing and picnicking at the park at Moonlight Beach here in Encinitas. Here is our first picnic at our new Pines park:

Our first lunch at the Harbor the following weekend:

More pics of the Bday Princess

Aunty Go-Go (Margo) and Uncle Athon got this adorable outfit for Liliana for Christmas. It was the perfect 1st birthday outfit.

First Disney Trip!

To celebrate Liliana's 1st birthday we had lunch with family and friends at the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney and then headed to Disneyland with my parents, the Tollacks and the Walters. It was THE BEST!

Liliana seemed to know that it was her special day and enjoyed every minute of it. She liked her first taste of sweets (carrot cake with cream cheese frosting) but didn't dig into it as much as I thought she would. (However, she did enjoy it enough to get it all over her face and in her hair.) At Disneyland we went to all of my favorites...Peter Pan, Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Tiki Room. (Thanks to my Mom and Dad who watched 3 babies, we were also able to sneak off for over an hour to ride Space Mountain. I haven't been on a roller coaster in quite some time. It was even more fun than I thought it would be and was made even better by Peggy's non-stop laughter.) We also went on the carasoule, visited Toon Town, and walked around to see all of the lights. We were there from 2-8 p.m. (following a long and exciting lunch), but Liliana did not doze off in her stroller. Her big brown eyes were wide open and taking everything in. She didn't want to miss a thing and was in a great mood the entire time. I think that her favorite part was seeing Small World lit up at night. "ooh LA LA" and "WOW" was all she could say, over and over again.

When we were leaving the park she wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged me repeatedly, as if to thank me for a special first birthday.

We stayed at a nearby hotel with the Walters and my parents. My Mom stayed in the adjoining rooms with 2 sleeping babies so that we could head down to the lobby bar for a couple hours. It was the perfect ending to a perfect day.

To quote my Mom and Dad (who made the day amazing and relaxing with all of their help and love), it was "perfect and memorable" and "one of the best days of my life". I hope Liliana thought so too.

Rainforest Cafe:



Disneyland:

Our Sunshine

I wrote this letter to Liliana the eve of her 1st birthday. It was an emotional time for me to reflect on the past year with Liliana in our life.

Dear Liliana Rose,

Like the song that I sing to you every night (that Grandma sang to me when I was little):

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey. You'll never know dear how much I love you...

Happy 1st Birthday my sweet little angel. Daddy and I can't believe that it has been a year since the day that we went to meet Doula Dawn for breakfast at Pannikin and had you in our arms and lives just a few hours later. All I have ever wanted to be is a Mommy, and you have exceeded my wildest dreams. I never knew I could love as much as I love you. My heart grew the day you were born and continues to grow each morning when I see your smiling face waiting for me in your crib. Daddy and I often wonder what we ever did without you. The best part of our lives began a year ago on January 4, 2009. Every single day (at least once a day) we talk about how happy you make us. We are overwhelmed by the joy that having you in our lives brings us. You made us a family.

We are so proud of you. I remember how tiny you seemed to us when you were born and now you are so big and strong. I remember the first little squeaks you made, and now you are confidently bossing me around by pointing to things that you want and yelling, "DAT!" I remember how your little legs turned out to the side like a "rana" and then straightened out and grew the most delicious rolls I have ever seen. I remember the first time you smiled and the first time you laughed. Now, you are full of smiles and laughs, but I still live for them and get butterflies in my stomach each time you do as if it were the first time. I remember all of the little phases and changes that you have gone through over the past year. There have been so many that it is hard to believe it all happened in just one year, and yet, it has gone by in a flash.

Thank you for everything that you are and everything that you do. It is so special to be your Mom. Daddy and I are excited for all of the years and changes to come. We know that you will be amazing...you already are.

Love Always and Forever,

Mommy

The Walters visit from Florida

We always have a blast with the Walters. Peggy and I have been best friends since college, David and Adam have become great friends over the years, and Paxton and Liliana are the same age. It's perfect.

The 3 Amigos:
Story time with David:
Tubby Time:

Mischief Makers:

New Years Weekend

Marcella, Peter, Colin, and Brittany were in town New Years weekend. We had so much fun together at the park, watching football at the house, and at D Street Bar and Grill. Lots of laughs. We really wished they lived closer so that we could do it more often.

Another gorgeous day in Encinitas:
Our park at Moonlight beach is just down the street:

At the park:


Hangin' with the Hammans:

Happy New Year!!

We rang in 2010 at a great party downtown. The celebration was for our friend Peggy's 30th birthday and the New Year. We had such a great time. The party was held at a loft that we rented and was complete with catered food, a bar tender and a DJ. We all danced the night away.

Liliana was at home with her Uncle Colin and Aunty Brittany who called us months ago to ask if they could come stay with us to watch her. It was so nice to not have to call around to figure out a babysitter and know that she was being spoiled by Colin and Brittany who are sweet enough to want to spend their NYE with Liliana. They also let us squeeze in a 3 hour nap to recover from the party. (Thanks guys!!)

We spent New Years day together with Cella and Peter and continued to party with cocktails and football at our house and D Street Bar and Grill. It was a great New Years weekend.

The hostesses:

Marcella and I:
Part of the loft:
Adam and I:
The girls:

We can't believe she is almost ONE!

Where has the year gone? Our baby girl will be a year old tomorrow. We are sad that it is going so fast, but SO proud of our Liliana Rose. She is such a special baby...happy, funny, loving, friendly, smart, and soo cute (we think so anyway). ;)

Here are some updates...

-She is starting to drop one of her naps and it is making her sleep better at night. We are just beginning the transition from one nap to two, so there are still days that she takes 2, but when she takes one she goes down so much easier and sleeps until 8ish the next morning. Aaaahhh...

-She is still a GREAT eater. She loves all food. I am still making her food and feeding her healthy foods to help her grow. I am also still breast feeding a few times a day, but she takes a formula bottle at night. I am planning on nursing her through the end of the cold and flu season. It makes me a little sad to think about stopping soon, but we are both pretty ready.

-She is such a love bug and so demonstrative with her love. She kisses and hugs and cuddles. It is so sweet to be playing with her and have her lean in for a hug and kiss all of a sudden.

-She LOVES her Daddy. From the moment she wakes up, she asks for him. When he calls on the phone during the day and I put him on speaker, she smiles and yells, "Da-Da" and kisses the phone. When he gets home at night she squeals his name and gets so excited. Sometimes in the evening if he is not home yet, she will stand at the door and bang on it yelling, "Da-Da" waiting for him to come home.

-She calls me "Mom." I always thought that the natural progression of names for moms was, "Ma-Ma", "Mommy", and then..."Mom", but she already calls me "Mom" like a big girl. I'm not quite sure how I feel about that one.

-She has a TEMPER! She hisses and pulls her hair and glares when she is mad. It is a little scary how quickly she can go from the sweetest little thing to a hissing crazy person. We're in some trouble there.

-She is talking SOOOO much. I would say that she has around 25-30 words. When she wakes up in the morning she yells, "Mom...all done...up." When I go to get her out of her crib she jumps up and down and says "hi." And, right after she nurses she points to her book shelf and says, "book...pees (please)." Her favorite books are ones with animals. She can make the sounds of a bird, lion, rabbit, monkey, elephant, and (sometimes) cow. It is so cute. The talking just continues throughout the day. Some other words she knows and uses frequently include banana, apple, down, up, Layla, Grandma, Grandpa, nums (food), that, dog, kitty, hot (she points to the oven and candles and says "hot"), baby, me, wa-wa (water), all done, eyes, no, Mom, Da-Da, please, lights, pretty, nigh-night, ba-ba (bottle), bite, ball...

-I tried to avoid having a child that was addicted to a pacifier or blanky, but Liliana is DEFINITELY addicted to her blanky bear. She stands by her crib and asks to go "nigh-night" so that she can be reunited with her little white blanky bear that is only allowed to be held in her crib or her rocking chair. She kisses it and squeezes it and sucks on its face and holds it out to Adam and I so that we can give it besos also. I have tried to find another one just like it on the internet but I had no luck, which is a bummer because the other ones that she has do not cut it. I don't know what we will do when she loses that thing.

-She is getting better at standing on her own and is practicing walking while holding onto our hands or furniture or toys with wheels, but it will still be a while before she walks on her own.

- She now has 8 big teeth.

-She LOVES music and dancing. If she hears music (even if it is a ring tone) she will bop her head from side to side. Her favorite music is The Wizard of Oz soundtrack. My mom got her the DVD and there is a feature where you can just play the songs in the movie and she goes crazy for it.

-She is very friendly and calls out a loud and confident, "hi" to people as we pass them in the street or at the store. She especially likes to talk to "babies" (kids). If the person she is talking to doesn't respond to her the first time she smiles and says hello, she will repeat it a few more times. But, if the person still doesn't respond she hisses at them.

The glare: