I Never Want To Forget My 9 M/O

Do you know the feeling when you've had a rough day...and then that friend, parent, or special someone delivers flowers to you? You get a dozen of red roses? That's how I feel about my little Elena Rosalynn. She is my little rose. Some people might think we had our girls too close together or that we should've waited, but I think it's perfect because at Lydia's age, and her "terrible twos", holding Elena is exactly what I need after a rough day. She is my dozen red roses.

Here are some things I never want to forget about my 9 month old (a few days late, oops).

I never want to forget

How she scrunches up her nose when she smiles or laughs.

How she waves her arms when you say "hi".

When she does wave her hand, she cups her fingers together, but her pinky is raised up haha

How she bounces up and down and throws her arms in the air when she's really happy.

She also sleeps so well at night. Last night I put her down at 9 and she slept until 9 this morning. Love it.

I never want to forget

My little chunker is almost 20lbs. In December she was 18.5.. so I bet she is getting there pretty soon!

She eats everything, and I love it! So glad I don't have another picky eater.

She army crawls everywhere! I've had to barricade her in the living room a few times just to keep an eye on her.

Poor Elena, she puts up with so much of Lydia's crap, but she is still such a good sport about it (usually haha). One time Lydia pushed her finger on Elena's forehead and she'll fell straight backward. She screamed pretty hard about that. Sigh... one day! She'll fight back! Just you wait Lydia ;)

She did so well at the movies the other day. She actually enjoyed it and didn't cry once!

Still gets kind of nervous and cries when stranger-men try to hold her haha. She makes the best sad faces.

I never want to Forget 

sorry for the blur..dang camera phone

How she giggles when she gets her (8!) teeth brushed!

How her pink soft blankets are magic to her. If she's fussy and you get her blanket she instantly calms down and kind of melts into it and starts sucking on her thumb to self-soothe. It's my favorite. Sometimes in Church she'll see her blanket and fold over in half just to lay on it, while sitting in my lap. :)

She's just like her sister and likes to make a huge mess all over the floor while eating at the table.

Drinks almost 6oz of milk, usually. I've had to supplement with formula because I just don't make enough. So I nurse and then if she's still hungry a while later I make a bottle, or get her some adult food. I love my chubby baby!!

How I love that when she's laying on her back in my arms, her chubby legs will raise up and her feet will go together.

How she crosses her feet when she's sitting or relaxed in your arms.

And my favorite... I just love that she's a big cuddler!! Lydia rarely cuddled when she was little..always up and around moving. Elena loves to just relax and cuddle and stare into your eyes while you sing to her. Mmm it's just my favorite!

I love you, Elena!

December Shenanigans

I'm just going to go ahead and combine everything we did in December (besides our trip) into one post..so I can just get it done and over with and not get too behind! ...annnd it will mostly be pictures. Hope you're ready.

We put up our treeeee

The girls and I watched Elf. Lyd looks thrilled ;)

For an FHE night we had pizza for dinner, watched Jingle All the Way and made Christmas ornaments

Lydia met Santa......lol

Our ward Christmas party was catered by Texas Roadhouse ..mmm

For a family home evening activity we read The Three Trees and then decorated waffle cones on cupcakes

yeah...gross lol

Jonny's creations lol

I got a lot of holiday orders on my Etsy shop to keep me busy

We made yummy brown sugar cookies! And then decorated them and gave them to friends.

Made home made Christmas decor

Took some fun pictures of the girls!

Yep. Pretty basic holiday festivities to keep us busy!! Jonathan ended up working 40 hours during finals week and me and Elena got sick right before our trip! The fun just never ends! :)

Things I Know

Although I've been a terrible blogger the past 3-4 months, I still try to keep it up to date with the milestones or things going on in my little girls' lives. I need to write these things down before I forget how they are at this age. I've been trying to do a "Things I Know" post every so often about Lydia, ever since she was 8-10 months old so here are some things I know about my 2 1/2 year old!

I know

She is a good helper most of the time (when she wants to be haha). She loves throwing things away in the trash or opening the door to the room when Elena wakes up and keeping her company until I can come get her.

She loves LOVES jumping on the bed..and takes the time to throw all of our blankets/pillows off until it's all clear for her to jump.

Anything she's not supposed to play with...she does. Today she found my lavender essential oil..and now my room smells like lavender and I can't find the lid.

One of her favorite movies is.."dalmay-sans" ...she loves 101 dalmatians. :) Besides that and the normal princess movies she likes Super Why and still has a love for Pingu.

Every once in a while when we're all laying together on the bed or the couch she'll cry out "FAMLY HUGS!" ..that's where we all simultaneously start hugging and kissing each other as fast as we can. It's my absolutely favorite! I hope that sweet little thing we do NEVER changes!

I know

She loves Elena so much..but she also likes torturing her..so much. More and more these days I find her riding her like a horse.. or pushing on her back while Elena's sitting so that she face plants into the carpet. She likes her.. a little too much.

She adores her cousin Anna. Not a big fan of Baby Sam, as we noticed while we were there (Poor Sam always got pushed down..or pushed off the slide). And of course, Lydia was SO bossy!! On a few occasions I saw Anna (who's 5) take orders from Lydia.

She loves fruit a ton, mac and cheese, pasta, and likes to chew and spit out veggies (she grabs more when she's done..only to chew it for a while and then spit it out again..maybe she likes the texture, just not the flavor).. and she still isn't a big fan of meat..unless I am forced to share my sandwich with her. We're still working on meat.

Tried potty training again.. but..nope. I wonder when it will happen. Maybe we can try again in April during the school's break. Multiple times today she kept telling me she was peeing in her diaper. I think she knows when it's happening.. so maybe the next time we try we'll be more successful.

She loves church a lot. But I think the different time schedule and new building got her all wacked. She loves going to church to see "tha kids!" but last Sunday they didn't have nursery and they put priesthood and relief society first, sunday school, and then Sacrament last.. so by the time sacrament came along she was all wired and was still wondering when she was going to see the kids, since that usually happens right after the first block in the morning.

I know

She is getting a bigger vocabulary. She copies a lot of shouted words..like "shoot", unfortunately..due to Jonny's love of sports..ahem..haha. She doesn't copy all the time..unless it's something you wouldn't want her saying lol..like the word "gosh"..We definitely gotta work on that.

She would rather sleep in her pack and play..than her toddler bed with a real mattress. Maybe that's why she's grumpy during the day..crappy sleep ;)

She really is a sweetheart, even if I feel like she's whiney most of the time. I will ask for hugs and she comes and jumps to my neck to hug me and we say we love each other and she smashes her lips into my face haha I love it when she's sweet. I just wonder if all the changes are getting to her... Elena moved in, we tried potty training, different set up at church and now school will be starting on Monday. Maybe she can sense all the changes and she's just getting used to it. OR maybe she is just behaving like all toddlers are at this age and it's just something I have to get through or perhaps I need to be better at schedules..since I heard kids love schedules. Oh well! Best stock up on that chocolate! ;)

She sure has a lot of spunk. She's sweet but she likes to do what she wants to do.

Here are things I know at 2.5 years of age about Lydia Danielle Hernandez. I'm looking forward to what the next 6 months has to offer us!

I never want to forget my 8 month old!

Things I never want to forget about my 8 month old! That is just so crazy saying that out loud. I have an 8 month old? In 4 short months she's going to be 1!!!! That is just cray-cray. The weird thing about it though, is that from month 7 to now I felt like it was a lot slower than all the other months, although I've been 10X as busy. Funny, huh? Oh well! Here we go! Some things I never want to forget about my darling little Elena Rosalynn. My little rose.

I never want to forget

She eats everything!! And she eats a lot. She's definitely not picky. People food, baby food, milk, cords, trash on the floor. You name it, she'll probably eat it. ;)

She is just so tickly. It's my fave.

She's sleeping through the night - woohoo! I attribute that to eating adult food and staying awake longer during the day. It's so nice :)

She loves LOVES to growl! She'll make high pitch little squeals and then it will turn into full on huge growls! I love it!

That being said, if you growl to her, she'll growl back.

She is just so happy all the time (besides when sick or teething or both combined - a nightmare). Sometimes in the middle of the night I'll find her laughing to herself in her crib. :D

I never want to forget

Today I tried on a 12 month old onesie and it totally fit her! See! She's a big baby, but I love it.

Her round little booty! Hahaha oh my gosh it makes me and Jonathan laugh so much, esepcially when she tries to roll over while I'm changing her. She has the most perfect round tush. She must've got it from me because Jonathan has no butt at all.

Her face when she looked up at Santa for the first time

She now has 7 teeth, and I didn't even know she got one more haha. Perhaps she'll have them all by the time she's 1 and we'll be all done with teething, woohoo! ;)

She crawls around sooo much, but she can still not really sit on her own without falling over at least once. And by falling over... I mean face planting into the carpet haha.

She grabs food with her finger and thumb and can put it in her mouth. :)

I knew she was sick when she wouldn't finish her whole bottle. It was weird. Usually she'll drink it all..and then some.

When I'm trying to change her diaper she'll roll over as if to escape. I grab her by her chunky thighs and roll her back over and she thinks it's the most hilarious game.

I never want to forget

How when she is laying on her stomach and hears a sound or your voice, or wants to look up at you, she turns, she puts one arm on her thigh to look up. It's the funniest pose.

She still loves to have only one foot in the air while swinging. Jonathan got like a 2 minute video of her doing that!

She loves cuddling when she's sick..and falling asleep in my arms.

We practice waving hi and bye and goodnight whenever I'm going to put her in her crib. So lately when she's really excited she waves her arms around in excitement.

She will not, I repeat, not, go to sleep even a tad hungry. She won't just drink milk anymore. If I put her down in her crib without giving her real food first, she'll look up at me and start screaming and that's how I know that she's not tired, but hungry..because it used to be that when she'd whine that's when I knew she wanted to go to sleep, but she refuses to now unless she's completely full. :)

And lastly, and perhaps my most favorite...watching her sleep in my arms while sucking on her thumb and holding her blanket. When I lay her down in her bed on her stomach she reaches one arm back to grab her blanket, pulls it up to her mouth and sucks on her thumb (sometimes the blanky too, but not always) and that's how she soothes herself to sleep. She does it every time. The other day when I gave her a bath I knew she was tired because as I was putting her diaper on she grabbed the towel behind her and started sucking on her thumb! Hahahha I love her little sleepy quirks.

Sometimes I just hold her and love her and wish that she won't grow up so fast. I love her little babyhood.

I love my little 'Lena

Homemade tostadas with sweet shredded pork

Mmmm home made sweet shredded pork on tostadas. This is seriously one of my most favorite dinner meals and I have no problem eating it multiple times a week. I look forward to leftovers here, people. I could seriously stuff myself silly (which I did, eventually). So I decided to share it with you! I haven't posted a recipe in foooooorever, and this is a special treat because I actually made this from scratch and was surprised it came out wonderfully! And I've made it multiple times and it never fails. Mmm mm mm..

First, you'll need:

A crock pot

1 boneless pork shoulder

fajita packet or your own fajita mix (usually I use the the taco bell fajita packet, but I didn't have one today so I did a tbsp of each: chili powder, paprika, oregano, and cumin.).  You just do equal parts of each; you could make more or less depending on what you're using it for. (I actually like using the packet better, but whatevs.)

1 individual cup of apple sauce (or apple juice works too), plus that empty apple sauce container full of water
a couple handfuls of brown sugar
drizzle of molasses

Package of tostadas (they're the flat taco looking things in a bag).

Toppings:
chopped lettuce, tomatoes, and avocado - I wish I had some tonight :( . Also, lime adds great flavor.

I place the boneless pork shoulder into the crock pot. Then, I pour all of the fajita mix over the meat. Next, I pour the apple sauce, sprinkle 2 handfuls or so of the brown sugar over it, then drizzle the molasses over the rest (not a lot). Finally, pour the little bit of water over it so it won't dry out while cooking. Put it on low for 6-8 hours or high for 5-6 if not frozen. In the past when I didn't have that much time I did it low for 3 hours, high for 3 hours. Works just the same and turned out great. After 6-8 hours take two forks and shred the meat (works best if not frozen, mine was frozen so I had to wait a little longer since I had it on low for 6 hours). Add salt to taste. It should taste flavorful and sweet. If it doesn't, add more salt and brown sugar, but I think 2 handfuls is enough.

Not sure why it rotated like that?

Add a lot more brown sugar than I did here. The meat needs to come out looking nice and dark and juicy sweet.

I actually had to add a lot more brown sugar than I originally put in, and sprinkled salt all over it too. You just kind of have to taste test it to see what you really like. Make sure that meat is emerged in the juices.

Grab your tostada, squeeze a lime over it, place a good amount of the shredded pork on top, add lettuce, tomato, and avocado. Eat. Make another. Repeat. X 2. Also tastes good with cilantro lime rice on the side, which I've made multiple times in the past.

The pork tastes like heaven exploded in your mouth. You can thank me later.

The first time I made it Jonathan told me he didn't expect the meat to have a sweet flavor and that he had never tasted sweet meat before, and that it was really, really good. My brother-in-law told me it reminded him of Cafe Rio's sweet pulled pork. I've only had CR food once, so I'm not sure what exactly he's talking about, but I kind of take that as a compliment. ;) After searching a little bit online I found a recipe that was similar to the one I use, Cafe Rio Sweet Barbacoa Pork  by The Girl Who Ate Everything. I haven't tried that one yet, though.

Enjoy!

Let me know how it went if you decide to try it out!

I Never Want To Forget My 7 month old!

Woohoo! I've managed to keep Elena alive yet another month. 7 months down, forever to go!! I always said that with Lydia, she started becoming really fun at around 5-7 months, having such a fun personality. And it rings true with Elena.

Here are some things I never want to forget about my 7 month old!


She loves books! Eating and hitting them, and occasionally looking at the pictures, but she loves swatting them and gets excited when we give her one.

She loves Lydia so much and has a blast watching her do her little acrobatics around the house.

Tonight we found out she loves dogs, A LOT. She squealed with delight over and over and she hit and tried to pull out the poor dog's fur haha.

She is so calm lately..maybe it's because her teeth have finally popped through and it's not causing as much pain.

She is also sleeping a lot better through the night...AND DAY haha. Girl sleeps 5-7 hours during the day. I know, I know, I need to change that. It's a work in progress.

Makes the funniest facial expressions. I kind of just love her eyebrows haha.

She scoots around A LOT. She almost has the army crawl down. But she uses her feet instead of her arms to move around. This is also probably why she wakes up a lot at night. She scoots so far in the crib she runs her head into the bars haha. Tough life.

I never want to forget

How she loves watching herself on the phone camera. She also loves sucking on our phone.

As a matter of fact, she loves sucking on anything she can get her hands on and has a kung fu grip on any cord in sight.

She has mastered the fake cough. I can see her pretending to be sick in the future to stay home from school. ;)

Sometimes I catch her sucking on two fingers from each hand in her mouth. Kind of like how you use your fingers to make a funny face, that's what it looks like.

She is the kind of baby who loves to just be laid down for a nap so trying to force her to nap in my arms at Church is torture for the both of us.

How I love kissing her perfectly round forehead. And smelling her recently washed sweet head. It's my fave.

Sometimes she will just sit back in the swing or her car seat and just stare at her surroundings or us with a blank face. So we nick-named her the Boss and every once in a while Jonathan likes to turn on the Godfather song. It's perfect.

She's a rolly polly. She can roll over from stomach to back and back to stomach. I can't lay her on the couch anymore because she likes to roll over and I'm afraid she'll just roll right off the couch haha. That can't be good. She also likes to lean way too far over when she's sitting that sometimes her face touches her toes. Oh to have that kind of flexibility! Haha

I never want to forget

She loves other babies. She gets a happy face when she sees them and especially when she gets to play with them.

I let her play with all the toys Lydia won't let her play with, when Lyd's asleep. Mwahaha!

When she is either hungry or tired, if a stranger tries to hold her she gets an immediate frowny face and starts crying.

When Lydia sits watching her shows on the iphone (or used to be the ipad which we sold), Elena would sit right next to her and watch it with her. It is adorable.

She can almost sit by herself for long periods of time. I think the longest the other day was was 2 minutes. She's still a little wobbly and leans to the right or left, but she's doing pretty well!

That she now has all 4 top teeth that she got in over a 2 weekspan, along with her 2 bottom teeth. They're pretty sharp. But I'm glad that's over.

She is having more poopy diapers. Woohoo! :)

She weighs 16lbs 14oz.

Screams like crazy when she gets her shots. Poor thing. She's a champ though. :)

She really is such a sweet girl. I have a lot of people comment on how relaxed and chill she is just laying there in your arms.

Here's the vid of her fake-coughing. :)


https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202282406199425&l=790545477264616717

He Doesn't Know He's My Hero (Part 2)

So I've been thinking a lot about my Dad lately, and how much I miss my family in Alaska. I've actually been thinking about a paper I wrote about him for an English class a few years ago, which you can read here. But my dad is just so incredible that he took it upon himself to take my laptop and tried to have his work buddies fix it (it was pretty much dead), so instead they copied all of my files and put it on an external hard drive (everything which he paid for himself) and mailed it to me. 

While looking through my files that I hadn't touched in about 2 years, I found a Word document that had my notes of the time I interviewed him about his homeland, about anything that he remembers, and his escape from Czechoslovakia, so that I could write that paper. As I read it I realized I didn't even include half the information I put in that paper. It is such a good insight. And very special to me, as my dad is like treasure chest with the key at a bottom of the ocean. He rarely likes to talk about his past. Maybe one day he will. 

{Note: these are very raw (as in unedited) and personal. Anything in quotations are things he actually said, whereas things after "D:" are things he said but that I summarized when I took notes}

A - Anna
D - Dad

A: Fun things you did as a child. 

D: The funnest thing was to ‘grab something to eat’. Berry picking, hiking in the mountains, mushroom picking. Not much fishing (can’t really fish there). Hiking with friends usually. Not a lot of friends. Went on a field trip with class once.

A: All your brother’s and sister’s names. 

D: Peter (4 yrs older), Agata (1 yr older), (Paul-aka dad), Adele (2 yrs younger), Jan (5 yr younger) .

A:Your favorite thing about the town you lived in. 

D: Church bells (every hour and 12 hr, 300 ft, hear for miles and miles) and Easter holiday.  Church is huge. Gothic cathedrals. Whole town is cathedrals. Spisska Nova Ves. Used to be an old fort. All the women’s last names are taken from their father’s name with an ‘ova’ added on to the end of it. Started the town in 1268 ad. Born in Levoca.

A: Most memorable tradition(s) 

D: Easter.

Easter holiday – The food prepared at your house, taken at 6am (father would be at church with the food) to the church to be blessed. Delicious ham (not factory made.) Boil in the pot for hours with spices. ‘Best thing in the world. Can’t buy it anywhere here’.  7am water chastening. Girls represented Jews and the boys would chase the girls and toss water on the girls or throw them in creeks. The boys would go around house to house to get coins and they’d put a perfume on the old women’s heads.  Dressed in nice white shirts and suits. Everyone dressed up nice. All the girls would prepare houses, paint the walls and wash the houses. Everything done by 9am. Always happened on Monday mornings.

Before: not much farming. Socialistic co-op farming.  A lot of different stores, meat etc. now they have a grocery store.

You couldn’t just say you were "communist". You had to swear your allegiance to the party.  Swear for life, forever. “I think my oldest brother joined up a long time ago. My father and mother didn’t and none of us kids did.” Father voiced his political opinion, sent off to jail for a period of time.  Mother was forced to go to work because we didn’t have enough money for food. [my] dad went to daycare a few times. Mother worked in a factory where they made furniture – assembly line. Grandpa worked for the railroad. Dad trained for the railroad.

A: How did you choose that? 

D: “ You don’t choose it. You go where the money is. You go where you can find work.” 

19 when enlisted in the army, faked an appendix attack, applied for a temp visa,
Dad and Miki (his friend) had a small suitcase. Miki made a million $ in Texas and then got leukemia cancer and died.

A: If you could go back what would you visit first?

D: “I would go see my mom” All the siblings live next to her.  Had a small airport where they had sporting hang gliders, 1 or 2 person thing. Big huge model airplane. 50 ft wide wingspan. They would tow, had a cable connected to the glider and would take it way into the sky, disconnect the cable and the guy would just glide all day long.

A: Favorite food?
D: any sea food “I could see” Perogi – little dumplings. Like spicey Hungarian food. Beef, chicken, and pork.

A: When you first left, did you ever think it was a mistake and that you wanted to go back?

D: “Yeah, I didn’t know if it was going to be good.”

A: Tell me your story of how you escaped: 

D: *Preparations* had a chance to go see a soccer game in Austria. And it just happened. I was able to go. Austria was a neutral country. After me and friend went to Austria, stayed at Refugee camp, worked seasonal jobs, waited for approval to US. Had a chance to go to Australia, Canada, or US. Chose America.

*While being searched* D: "kinda scary, but we made it through.” The Czech soldiers searched through the little suitcase and found many pictures and one pair of change of clothes.  Soldiers didn’t search everybody. They thought Miki and I looked suspicious and ‘we almost didn’t make it.’

Refugee camp: complex of buildings. Free to do what you wanted, free to work or not work. It was your choice. 

~ Click the link at the top to read the whole story ~

It's not much, but I'm so glad I have this tiny bit of information from my dad. I don't know what it is lately, but I have been interested in learning his language and wish from the bottom of my heart I knew more about his homeland. My dad is the hardest working man I know. I may not know him as well as other kids know their fathers, but I love him.