Happy October!

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I want to ride my bicycle!

Check out Elena riding in her new bike seat! Its the coolest way for a baby to get around Baltimore.

One Year Stats

Elena brought in 1 with a bang. Tuesday night she was crankier than we've ever seen her, and she woke up approximately 50 million times before the night was over. She ended up spending a good part of the night in bed with Mom and Dad.

Turns out she was coming down with Roseola! Wednesday (which was her birthday) she spiked a fever of 104.6 and dad rushed her to the Doctor. Our little Laneybug spent the next three days curled up with either mom or dad on the couch, cuddling with her bunny and watching Sesame street. Poor little Laney!

Friday was her "well check" for 12 months. They gave her a full work up, but no shots because she was too sick. We get to go back in two weeks for her shots.

Here are her stats:

Weight: 22.8 lbs (75th percentile)
Height: 30 and 3/4 inches (95th percentile)
Head: 46.5 centemeters (90th percentile)

Laneybug Turns 1!

Sunday, September 20 Elena celebrated her 1st birthday with about fifty of her closest family and friends. We had a great celebration at Riverside Park (right by her house). Nana and Pop-Pop, Ita and Ito and Babi and Dzia Dzi all were huge helps as we go everything together on Saturday and Sunday. Dzia Dzi, Pop-Pop, Dad and Aunt Becca even found some time to head to Camden Yards to see their beloved Red Sox.

Sunday Morning after church, Elena was allowed to open some of her presents. Her Uncle Dave sent her hands down the cutest outfit of all:
Aunt Becca gave her a Juniata hoodie so she is all ready for family weekend at the end of next month, and Mom and Dad gave her her first American Girl Doll, Bitty Baby.
Elena went down for a nap and everyone got to work getting the food together and getting Riverside pavilion ready for her birthday Fiesta.
When Elena woke up from her nap, Nana got her dressed in her special birthday outfit (a Nana Swaintek original) and she headed up to the park to get the party started.
Elena's guests spent some time decorating bug jars and then they went on a bug hunt (more pictures coming). Elena's next door neighbor Rachel won the hunt with a grand total of 26 bugs.

Everyone gathered around and we sang Happy Birthday to Laneybug....
...then Elena enjoyed her very first cupcake.
Thank you to everyone who spent this special day with us!

One Year Photo Shoot

Mom, the wannabe photographer, took Elena to Lock Ridge Park in Alburtis PA to do her one year photo session. Here are some of our best shots:

The Best Birthday Present Ever

Since mom's birthday falls on Wednesday this year, we decided to celebrate this weekend. Elena spent her first night with a sitter and Juan took me our for a nice dinner at one of our favorites, Ze Mean Bean Cafe in Fells Point for the restaurant week Polish Sampler.

On Sunday morning, Elena gave mom the best birthday present ever when she walked for the first time. She's been taking "steps" for a few weeks now, but this morning she walked with purpose and didn't fall over at the end of her trek. We are so proud of our little lady! Judging from her giggles she's pretty proud of herself too.

She Stands to Conquer!

9 Months Old!

The Stats: 20lbs. 14 oz.(90%), 27.5 inches (50%)
The Skills: Crawling, Pulling Up, Walking with help and babbling
The Sustenance: Anything she can get in her mouth.

My smart little girl is learning new things every day!

OBX '09

June 13th Elena packed all her things and headed to Nags Head, Outer Banks for a week of waves, sand and sun. She weathered the (too many) hours in the car well... Cheerios came to the rescue more than a few times.

She loved the sand and the beach and hated the ocean. Once, she was sitting on mom's lap as the waves came in and was crying when MOM got wet. On the flip side she LOVED the swimming pool. She was all giggles and smiles when she was in the pool.

We went on a few adventures- Roanoke, Wright Brothers Memorial, Jockeys Ridge National park. Elena jumped right into the Bjorn and hung with the best of them! Her favorite thing was flying the kite on the sand dunes but really she just loved spending 7 days in a row with Mom and Dad. We've uploaded a ton of pictures to the Picasa site.

Hanging with the Gang

Elena got to see her friends from New York this weekend who were in town for the Loyola College 5 year reunion. Although she wasn't allowed to come to the event with us, she did hang out with everyone while we barbecued at Druid Hill Park.

Congratulations Aunt Becca!

This weekend Elena got to go to Pennsylvania and spend some time with her Aunt Becca, Uncle Dave, Nana and Pop-Pop while we celebrated Becca's high school graduation. Elena showed off all her new tricks to her family and even had a sleep over in Aunt Becca's room. Becca really enjoyed it when she woke up at 3:00 am. She can't WAIT to do it again :)

We've Got Us a Crawler!

If you listen closely you can hear her saying Mom as well... one proud momma typing this!

Happy Mother's Day!

What a wonderful day today was! Elena and Dad let Mom sleep in until 8:00 am (and yes, Mom now considers 8 am "sleeping in"). They woke her up with breakfast in bed and some flowers and a card. We played all morning and went to the park where Dad took some great pictures of Elena and Mom. Mom was just complaining the other day that we have so few pictures with her in them because she's always the one behind the camera!

This afternoon, Dad treated us to brunch and Elena (as always) was the best behaved baby in the restaurant. We also learned that she loves lemon. Mangoes are too sour for her, but she loves lemon. Go figure!

To end the afternoon, we took a nice walk through the harbor and enjoyed the great weather. Thank you to my family for such a nice day- and a happy mother's day to all the other mommies out there!

Summer Summer Summertime

A little preview of summer hit Baltimore in the past few days. Temperatures peaked at 90 degrees so we headed out to get Elena her very first pool. Mom didn't think about the act of inflating the pool when she purchased it, so it was quite a site watching mom and dad blow it up like a balloon. Elena's reaction was worth it in the end. She had a great time splish splashing and chewing on her pool toys and she cried when it was time to get out!

Happy Easter!

Elena was so excited for the Easter Bunny that she couldn't sleep at all last night! (Ok, maybe that was the teething, but she was up all night.) We waited for dad to get up and then explored her Easter Basket... homemade teething biscuits, gerber banana puffs, some bunny books, and Elena's favorite...BUBBLES!

She donned her Easter Sunday ensemble and we headed to St. Thomas More for Easter Mass. Elena was a very good girl through a very long mass.

Although the weather looked fantastic, this shot is a little deceptive...It was actually quite chilly outside. In true "Top Model" fashion, we staged the shot and then brought out our model. With an outfit like that we had to get the perfect shot.

Here Comes Peter Cottontail

Elena's first visit with the Easter Bunny was a success! She set a great example for all the other kids in line by squealing and screaming with excitement. I have a feeling that in coming years we won't be so lucky...

6 Months Old!

The Skills:
Sitting, Squealing, Giggling, Gabbing and Grabbing
The Sustenance:
Rice Cereal, Sweet Potatoes and Bananas
The Stats:
17 lbs 6.5 oz - 75th Percentile
25.5 inches long - 50th Percentile
43 centimeter head - 50th Percentile

See the Picasa site for the rest of Elena's six month photo shoot.

Throwing Sheep

I've mentioned in previous posts that Elena is a fairly serious little girl. You've got to work really, really hard to get a solitary chuckle out of her. Well yesterday, Elena and I took a day trip to Babi and Pop-Pop's (mom's grandparents) in PA. Cousin Stan was home from Baghdad on his R&R and some family was getting together. We were all hanging out and playing with Elena's new, stuffed sheep from her Great Aunt Lori.

I tossed it towards Elena and she giggled. So I tossed it again, this time it bopped her face. She squealed. The more times I threw this sheep at her face, the more she giggled. This game went on for nearly 5 minutes of giggles. Dad wasn't with us so we shot this video on Aunt Becca's cell phone to send to him. Hope you enjoy!

Sweet Potato!

Ooh... growin’ up

Life at the Vargas household is very exciting these days. Little Laney is just about 6 months old, she has 2 teeth, she can sit, and she's just itching to start crawling. She keeps throwing herself forward when she is sitting to try to get from point a to point b. She's also mastered rolling from her back to her belly. She particularly likes to do this when she is sleeping. Then she wakes up, and cries because she struggles getting rolled back over to her back. We've been working on Belly to Back rolls and last night she mastered a few on her own. Fingers crossed this new trick sticks.

She's started doing some very adorable things recently, such as reaching out for mom and dad when she wants us to pick her up. I've also taught her "high five". She's been starting to have her rice cereal almost every night now... that's dad's job since she won't let mom come near her with a spoon. After her six month check up we'll start adding some veggies to the mix.

This past weekend her Pop-Pop and Nana came to visit and she showed off all her new tricks for them. Pop-Pop's scratchy beard even elicited some giggles out of her.

We are all just trying to love every minute of it because she changes so much every day. My little lady isn't so little anymore!

El fin de semana de la familia Vargas

On Thursday night, Elena met her Tia Elidani for the first time. Elidani was in town from Elche, Alicante, Spain to visit with the family and celebrate Ito's Birthday, Emma's Christening and Emma's 1st Birthday.

Saturday afternoon, Juan served as Godfather at cousin Emma's christening. On Sunday we headed back down to Montgomery County to celebrate Emma's first birthday. I can't believe how big Emma has gotten and how big Elena is getting. Elena had the opportunity to spend lots of time with her family, and meet a few second cousins and family members she hadn't met yet.

Lots of pictures have been posted to the Picasa Album

Oh, and if things weren't crazy enough she decided it was time to cut another tooth too... bringing her grand total to two.

Daddy Found Some Teeth!

Here's how it went down...

Juan (sitting on the couch with Elena)- I think Elena is a little warm.
Elena (grabbing Juan's hand and putting it in her mouth)- aagghhaa
Juan- I think she has a tooth!!!

Elena cut her first tooth with a 100.2 degree fever and never made a peep! Ok maybe that's a slight exaggeration. Today's event could explain mom's sleepless nights for the past week.

We'll try to get a picture but she's not a big fan of us poking around in her mouth to see her new tooth.

A Message from Elena

70 Degrees in February?

Must take advantage of weather like this when it comes! The happy family took a walk up to Riverside park and introduced Elena to the swings for the first time. She loved it until the wind started blowing!

Bindy also enjoyed the extra time out at the park. She hasn't seen walks like that since Mom was trying to walk to induce labor and we walked laps for two days straight.

Elena the Big Girl!

Saturday, February 7th was a very big day for little Elena Grace. She had her first taste of organic rice cereal mixed with breast milk. Ok so maybe it was more like breast milk mixed with a little organic rice cereal. It took her a few bites to decide if she liked this concept but we think she decided she did. In the end she ate about a half a tablespoon of cereal.

We think it made her very happy because our super serious baby treated us to quite the giggle fest as well. We had to work very hard for the giggles and I'm sure that if any one walked in they would have thought we were insane.

Finally, this whole "sitting" thing finally clicked with her. As of Friday, she couldn't balance herself to save her life. As of Saturday, she's sitting on her own for minutes at a time.

New York, New York!

Four months old and already a NYC Veteran! Friday night we drove into the city and stayed at Hotel Caroline (thanks to C for giving us a place to stay!). Although it was way past her bedtime Elena woke up to play with Caroline for a bit before going to bed.

It's a little frightening how dead NYC is at 7 am on a Saturday morning. We took the opportunity to take Juan to Times Square (he had never been), and Elena up to FAO Schwartz and were back on the Lower East side before noon.

In case you've never had the opportunity to see it... you should hit up FAO Schwartz as it opens. All of the employees line the entrance way and clap and cheer as you walk in. I have to say even as an adult it was pretty cool... I can only imagine what it would be like for a kid.

Juan hit up the Big piano and we checked out all the toys. Elena was enthralled by all the colors and shapes.

We are excited to go back to visit in the spring and try to find Suri in Central Park.

Four Months Old!

Elena had her four month check in with Doctor Fitch today. She got rave reviews from the doctor and was a brave little girl while she got her shots. Dr. Fitch was impressed with her strength and said it was due to all the good breast milk she gets. She reacted much better this time, she took a little nap and then was all smiles all night long. Mom and Dad even let her stay up past her bed time since she was in such a good mood...after all it was her birthday.

4 Month Stats:
15 pounds 3 ounces. 75th percentile.
25 1/4 inches. 75th percentile.
Head- 41.1 centimeters. 50th percentile.

Since Elena is growing so nicely and sleeping so well we are holding off on introducing solids until closer to 6 months. Although dad is bummed he still doesn't get to feed Elena, mom is secretly (ok so maybe not so secretly) happy that she gets to keep the job all to herself a little while longer.

GOBAMA!

What a historic day for everyone! For the record, Elena isn't one of those "jump on the Obama bandwagon" babies. Oh no, she has been campaigning for our man since she was only a few hours old.

When I was getting her ready for day care today she expressed anger at the fact that we couldn't stay home as a family to watch the big day. I told her maybe when she is four we can take a trip to DC for that inauguration.

Exersaucing!

Thank you cousin Emma!
I love my new toy.





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