Shake, Rattle, and Roll!!

Today Gabe and I took some pictures of Effie. She just turned 5 months old...can you believe it? Time flies! So we were taking her 5 month pictures and about 10 minutes after we finished, Gabe was in the room changing her and I was on the computer loading the pictures we had just taken when the house started rockin!! Yes...we had an earthquake...a 5.4-magnitude quake! It was crazy!! We're all ok so that is good!

Look how cute Effie is...

A New Toy...

Effie got a new toy...actually, my sister Shannon gave this to us and Gabe got it all fixed up for Effie. She loves it!

Fun With Cousins!!!

While in San Diego this past weekend, as you can see, Effie and her cousins had a ton of fun together!

Effie inside of Maxyne's backpack.

Effie, Jessica, Maxyne, and Grammy.

A Pretty Ballerina & A Scary Lion...

This past weekend Effie and I went to San Diego with my Mom to watch my niece, Maxyne in her ballet recital. Gabe wasn't able to come with us :-( he had to work...we missed him! Maxyne was in two dances...she did so well! We were all so proud of her. In one of her dances, she was a lion and it was so cute! The recital was 3 hours long...Effie was so good! For the first couple of hours, she just watched the dancers on stage. She loved the costumes and all of the movement. My nephew, Christopher helped me out with her so that I could focus on the recital...Effie was very well behaved!

JUST a load of laundry??

This is one cute load of laundry!! Chelsea was playing with Effie upstairs and when Chelsea came downstairs with her laundry hamper and no Effie, I told her she better get back upstairs and get Effie...I was wondering why Chelsea would leave Effie upstairs?!? Well...once I looked a little closer, Effie was IN the hamper! It was so funny!!! She looks so cute! Bed head and all!

WILD HOG!!!

Last Friday Gabe took the day off work (a well deserved day off) and rented a Harley Davidson motorcycle! He had a lot of fun. His brother Eddie just purchased a Harley a couple of weeks ago, so the two of them went riding on Friday. I have to admit, I was pretty nervous about Gabe being on a motorcycle after his motorcycle accident a couple of years ago...scary times! But Gabe is very safe so I had some relief. Now Gabe wants to buy one...go figure! We'll see...maybe later.

Why am I so happy!?!

I took this little video of Effie this morning. She was awake and waiting for me or Gabe to get her out of her crib. She is so precious!

Summer is fun!

Effie and I went and stayed in Covina with my Mom for a few days last week. My sister Shannon was also there and so we took the kids (her 2 kids, and Effie) to the Science Discovery Museum in Irvine. It was a lot of fun. Effie was looking around at everything...it was amazing to just watch her look at everything. My 3 year old nephew, R.J. had a blast! He was running all over the place, I don't know how my sister kept track of him! My 8 year old Niece, Maxyne had fun also. She loves spending time with Effie. She even got to feed Effie rice cereal!

Maxyne and Effie.

R.J. and Effie

R.J., Maxyne, and Effie. (R.J. was too busy to look at the camera)

Maxyne feeding Effie.

On Saturday, Gabe, Effie, and I went to my parents house in Covina. We had a blast in the pool. I was really worried about taking Effie into the pool because it is not heated, and I read that babies cannot control their body temperature so they often get too cold in pools. Well...not this girl! She had so much fun! She was happy as can be. We didn't have a floaty for her so we just held her the whole time, we all had so much fun. After we got out of the pool we went to Target and bought her something she can float around in. We're looking forward to using that pool on the hot days this summer!

Our family.

Little surfer girl.

Effie, Gabe, and my sister Chelsea

Oh...and last but not least, I cut another 10 inches off of my hair! It is SHORT!! It's a bob. I love it!

Happy 4th of July!!!

July already? This year has really been going by fast! We had a great 4th of July. We went to a BBQ at a friends house; Gabe's brother Eddie and his wife, Alicia were also there with their baby, Iris. Iris is 4 months older than Effie. She is a doll! She does not stay still...she's a ball full of energy and she's a sweetie. We had a lot of fun. Effie slept through the fireworks...we couldn't believe it! She must have been so tired because it was really loud. I thought about my Dad a lot that day, wondering how he was spending his 4th of July way over there in Kuwait. I'm thankful for all of our soldiers that are serving our country! They give up so much to serve the way they do! I am proud of them all!!

Effie and Mommy...Happy 4th of July!

Effie and Daddy.

Gabe's brother Eddie, Iris, and Effie.

Eddie and Iris. Isn't she a doll!!!

My sister-in-law, Alicia with both girls.

Effie, sleeping through the fireworks!!

Effie, Effie, and more Effie!!

So yesterday, Effie and I went and had lunch in Covina with my Mom and my sister Kiki. Effie was so good...(meaning she slept through lunch). Normally, she has a sensor and knows when I am going to eat and she will fuss until I feed her which means that I don't get to eat my lunch...so her sleeping through lunch at a restaurant was a treat for me. :-)

After lunch, we went to my Mom's office and visited everyone there so they can tell me how cute Effie is...LOL. Everyone in her office knows Effie and they all get so excited to see her!! Even my Mom's boss!! He holds Effie every time we are in the office. My Mom did not hesitate to put Effie to work...I left for a minute to go to the restroom, and when I returned Effie was typing all of my Mom's reports!!! I couldn't believe it!! LOL.

After we went to lunch and stopped by my Mom's office, Effie and I went shopping at Target to get her a few new toys and some rice cereal!! Yes...you heard me right...rice cereal!! The doctor said to go ahead and start her on rice cereal. She was being so silly at Target. She was giggling and being so loud and happy; people were looking at her left and right. It was funny. I got this picture of her in her stroller at Target.

Tonight we started Effie on the rice cereal. I really didn't think she would like it the first time around, I figured it would take a few times for her to like it...but I was wrong!! She LOVED it!! She ate almost the whole serving and she didn't even make that big of a mess! It was so much fun feeding her with a spoon...what was even more fun was seeing Gabe feed her! That was great!! He doesn't get to ever participate in her feedings because she will not take a bottle, but now he will get to do his part every night. I'm really looking forward to that!

Bye Bye Grampy...back to Kuwait AND Effie is 4 months old!!

We had to say good bye to my Dad...again. It was so hard! We spent every possible moment we could with him! We stayed at my parents house the last 4 days he was home. We even did a family beach trip one day...that was a lot of fun...Gabe got to go! What a treat! My Mom put together a wonderful BBQ dinner at the beach. His last night home, he made homemade ice cream and homemade root beer (both are family traditions). It was so funny, because every time he holds Effie (which hasn't been much because he has been gone almost her whole life) he tells me that he thinks she wants to eat some ice cream. My Mom told me that he says that about all the babies in our family. In case you don't know, my Dad LOVES ice cream!! He even eats it on his pancakes!!! So this time I guest he thought she REALLY did want to eat some ice cream, so he fed her some. It was so funny...I think she really liked it. She kept waiting for more.

We will miss my Dad so much. We are so proud of him! We are proud of all the soldiers that are serving our country! I love the troops so much. What brave men and women they are! We can't wait until March, where we get to see Dad again! We love you Dad!!

Today was Effie's 4 month check up. She weighs 15 lbs!! The doctor said she is doing great! She had to get 3 shots; it was so sad! Gabe was not able to make it to her appointment, so I was there alone and it was so hard to be there without him while they gave her the shots. This time they let me hold her in my lap, which I was happy about because at her 2 month check up, they had me lay her on the exam table. It was sad because she screamed so hard and I couldn't even pick her up! At least this time while she screamed I could hug her and kiss her and let her know I am here for her. After her shots, she cried for about 25 minutes and I just kept holding her and singing to her and she finally fell asleep. Poor baby girl. She seems to be doing okay. I hope she doesn't get sick from the shots. So far, so good. =)