Arielle is Three

Today my mermaid is three. My crazy little daughter. So in honor... let's learn some stuff about Arielle shall we?

-Her favorite food is "sopita china" or better known as Ramen noodles. She could literally eat two in one sitting. Other than that it's a battle to try and get her to eat things.

-She hates meats of any kind. She takes the turkey out of her sandwiches. She doesn't like ground beef so i have to make her food without it. She doesn't like tacos. She doesn't like chicken... we usually have it cubed up in our meals... she calls it rocks. She no like rocks. She won't eat hamburgers, hot dogs, or chicken nuggets. Well on occasion she'll eat chicken nuggets.

-Her favorite shows are Ni Hao Ki-Lan, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Dora.

-She loves little toys. Like if you buy her a cool fancy toy she won't ever use it. But buy her a little doll, little pet shop pets, my little ponies... and she loves them. And she carries them around EVERYWHERE! She has a ton of these little colorful puppies that she wins every time we go to Peter Piper and she carried them everywhere. If it fits in the palm of her hand it's gold.

-She travels with an entourage of dolls. Usually her mermaid Ariel and a Marie kitty cat at least. But most of the time it's 4-5 dolls at a time. And not only does she travel with them but she insists on taking them down everywhere too. To the stores, to peoples houses, to the park... it drives me crazy but it makes her so happy. She talks to them and babies them and buckles them in when we get in the car. It takes her so long to set them up that I am constantly yelling at her to just get into her carseat.

-She tells me I am her "best friend ever". I love that at this age I am totally her best friend!

-This girl LOVES pizza. But again... she won't eat the pepperonis.

-She is very silly. Like she says the funniest things. She is just wild, crazy, and all out silly all the time. It's hard to get her to be serious and settle down. She likes to be loud, and jump, and run.

- She talks with her hands and it's hilarious. She is pretty theatrical. Speaking of theatrics she is drama. When she cries it's a production, when she is hurt she won't speak to you, she puts on a good show.

-Deep deep deep down she is a sweet girl. But it takes a lot to pull that cuddly nice kid out of her. But it is there... even if it only lasts a few minutes.

-Her voice is so cute. She has this voice that I just can't get over. the way she talks, the way she sounds, the stuff she says. I just LOVE to hear her talk. It's kinda hard to explain haha.

Dear Arielle

I take back this letter I wrote to you before.

You are the greatest child.

Last week you woke up in the morning with a little pee in your pull up. And when I took it off to change you I was getting ready to put another one on.

You see after weeks of trying and taking you to the potty in regular intervals and cleaning up mess after mess after nasty mess... I was just tired. So I wanted an afternoon of stress free relaxation. And by relaxation I mean cleaning the house and having it stay clean for a few minutes or an hour before you came to poop and pee anywhere you dang well pleased. See re-cleaning something I just cleaned is not fun. When I clean I want it to stay that will until possibly the end of the day.

Anywho darling, on this particular day you said, "No Mommy. No pull up. Chonies!" (Chonies=Underwear in spanish) So even though I didn't want to I still put them on. What do the experts say? Consistency is key no? So well even though you wear the pull ups at night I decided to let you wear the underwear. Not even 45 minutes later you walked into the kitchen and said "Pee Pee Mommy" So I felt your dry butt and rushed you to the potty. And lo and behold the skies parted and said "I love you Michelle!" You sucessfully used the potty and told me when you had to go.

I was so proud of you. I am so proud of you. It was a long road with no end in sight but now I see that light was there.

The next day I got brave and decided to take you in underwear on all our errands. And errand days mean that we're out 4 hours or more before coming home. I made sure to take you to the potty every hour or so while we were in a store or at someone's house and you went every time! And towards the end of the day while in Walmart you said, "Bathroom Mommy" We took all the stuff to the car, unloaded, and went back into the store and you went to the potty! It was a great day!

There's no looking back now. I still put you in pull up at night and durning naptime but you wake up dry almost every time!

I am so glad we finally got to this point. It was a long time coming.

I've Had It Up To *HERE* With Pee!

Dear Arielle,

Sweet rotten precious child of mine. What did I deserve for you to make it so difficult for me to potty train you? I feed you, bathe you, take care of you, love you, play with you... and still you find some kind of twisted fun in making life difficult for me. Your brother and sister were so easy to train... but you... no you have to be the one to make me suffer.

You see... you get the concept really easily.

Mommy: Arielle do you have to go potty?

Arielle: No. (That's you knowing where I want to take you and deciding you're independent enough to make your own decisions. That's fine. I want to raise a child who knows what she wants and isn't afraid to say no. But NOT to your Mother!)

Mommy: Well Sweetheart let's go to the bathroom anyways so you can try okay?
(Well I have to disguise this for the blog world because it's usually more like
"Let's try to go anyway..."
"No!"
"Yes"
"No!"
"Say No to Mommy one more time and I will..."
"No Mommy!"
"Get your little stinky butt up and get in the bathroom before I kick your butt!"
Not as sweet right? Well let's pretend I do talk to you all sweetly like that and let's pretend you don't fight with Mommy. I am doing this for you sake here.)

So once I get your rotten precious self off of the couch, away from the toy you're playing with, or whatever else you're doing... you actually run to the bathroom.

You know the drill. Light. Stool. Seat adapter on toilet. Sit. Pee.
Oh wait... YOU NEVER REMEMBER THE PEE PART!
Hence why I am writing you this letter in the first place!

No instead you talk about pee. You talk about poop. You talk about Atalie. You beg to get off. You beg to watch Kai-Lan. You yell at Alayna to get out. You yell at Diego to stop peeking. You yell at mommy that you're done. Even though I tell you a million times you need to try.

But alas you win (after literally 10-12 minutes on the toilet) And then we proceed to finish the process anyways. Wipe the nothingness. Flush the non-existant pee. Put everything away. Wash the hands. Turn off the light. And then you proceed to pee somewhere else not even 1 minute later.

Seriously? What did I do to you that you find joy in this? You take 20 minutes of my life away and we do this once or twice an hour.

Well I can't complain too much... you have gotten to the point where for the most part you'll tell me when you have to go to the bathroom. But once of two things will happen. Either the lengthy process I just told you about... or you pee in the bathroom on the floor/rug. And lately when I see you disappear from my sight I know it's cuz you have to pee... and I'll find you in the bathroom peeing on the rug, floor, pile of clothes, or pile of toilet paper that you unroll yourself.

Well at least you're starting to get that the pee needs to be done in the bathroom.

I am considering just leaving newspaper on the ground in there. Would that make you more comfortable?

You tell me what I can do to help you out... cuz I've had it up to HERE with pee!

Love (yes I still love you),
Your Mom (Who is sick and tired of selling like pee and smelling pee everywhere I go.)

I will commend you on one thing though. You've gone to sleep and naps WITHOUT a cup for 3 weeks now! Yipee! And that means you wake up completely dry now!

Progress!

My Girls

Yesterday before I took Alayna to school I decided to take the girls outside the apartment to see if they would let me take some pictures. Man I haven't used my camera in a while... I feel so out of practice. Lots of blur, can't focus, just not happy at all. But the girls were so excited to take pictures and were posing themselves. So I went with it. I did get a few decent shots.





















And then last nigh they got to wear their new PJs that Tiffany bought them for Christmas. I LOVE them. And they decided to have a slumber party in Arielle's crib.








And for the first time ever while looking at the pajama pictures... I see myself in Alayna. I know I know... many people tell me she looks like me, but I ONLY see Jr in that girl. I swear they're twins. But looking at these I am comparing them too pictures my Dad has of me around the same age. It's weird. She does resemble me! Who knew?!

Arielle... Oh Arielle

My little baby has turned into a full blown toddler. She just turned 16 months! She had her check up a few days ago and they just couldn't keep up with her. She was everywhere... she was doing things she knew would make everyone laugh... and she threw the biggest tantrum when they tried to examine her. But for the most part she was very happy. Except of course when they tried to examine her,when they tried to settle her down, when they took away her stick, when they tried to give her a shot... Okay so maybe she wasn't as happy as I thought... and she definitely wasn't happy when her goldfish crackers spilled onto the floor and I had to throw them into the garbage. She yelled NO! for 3 minutes straight.

But all in all she's growing VERY well. She's in the 75 percentile for her height... yup tall girl. And she's in the 75 percentile for her weight... which she weighed in at 24lbs 15 oz. (Kinda funny... Diego and Alayna who also had their checkups, weighed 44 and 34 respectively.) But I think the weight is all in her thunder thighs. (And Diego and Layna are in the 45 percentile for both weight and height for their ages.) So when presented with this information I decided to ask the Dr... So what does that all really mean anyway? So she says, "If you put 100 kids their age in a line from the smallest to the biggest they'd be that number in line." So Arielle would be 75! I couldn't help but turn to Jr and laugh my butt off... then proceeded to sing "I like em BIG, I like em chunky..." (If you don't get it... you soooo have to watch Madagascar 2... Moto Moto!)

Anywho... This is an all Arie post... All Arie... All the time.

Boy is that girl getting herself into predicaments these days. She's a ball of laughter. Pure entertainment.

When her Nina was here visiting from California... she got to see a little of her playful and hilarious personality.

In this one she was in the car with us and it was a pretty nice night... so we had the windows rolled down and she was so amazed with all the wind on the freeway... it was a riot!

Here she climbed on the bed to grab a bottle of soda only to get stuck on her way back down... I found her clinging for dear life screaming her head off for help!


Just the other day after I mopped the kitchen floor she decided to play under the table since the chairs had all been pulled out.

Then this happened and she wasn't so happy...

And of course before I saved her life (again) I HAD to video it... and just to let you know... Alayna was in panic mode. LOL!

The same day she showed me her helpful side and assisted me with my laundry. She really does like to help a lot. And she follow direction VERY well. I am surprised.

Here she is scooting herself around the kitchen in a box she found. Who needs toys right?!


Now this is rare. Alayna loves Arielle to pieces and smothers her sometimes... but Arielle (since she was very little) has always hated having Alayna around. Alayna couldn't wait for Arie to get bigger so she could play with her and teach her stuff... but now that she's big enough she avoids her at all costs. So to see them playing together is fun!

And she talks A LOT! Half the time we can't understand her... but there's a lot of words she puts together. AND she LOVES having conversations with her Daddy. Silly kid!

Here she is in more compromising situations...
She was mad because she got her leg tangled in the cord and I wouldn't help her.

And then she was mad cuz after she threw her cup at the floor a few times... I took it away and she couldn't reach it.


And last but not least... here she is SINGING! One of her favorite things to do... but I think she gets this from Alayna who sings all day long even when in conversation.

And in case you don't know... she is singing the Alicia Keys song "No One" there's a lot of Uh Oh's in the song. If you youtube the song you can hear that she actually sings it correctly!

All in all this little Chunky Monkey mades me smile!

And without her our family wouldn't be as whole as we are... she adds a little something extra. She's tons of fun but she's also my most cuddliest baby. And I love her!

Sunday Funday

Today my sister in law invited us over to her and my brother's house for some BBQ and swimming. Of which I did neither. I helped clean her kitchen, I ate the delicious hamburgers and hot dogs my bro grilled up and the salad that my aunt made, I started cutting out the millions of pieces for the decorations for my nephew's birthday party in 2 weeks, and that was about it. Although... the kids DID swim! It was a great day, fun and relaxing. And I had great conversations!

On a sidenote: Arielle has been really fond of Jr lately. Since she was born she's never really cared to have him around her. An occasional hug here and there if she was in the mood... but that's all. Lately though, she follows him all over the house. She looks for him when he's not here. And the funny thing is... she looks for him in "Jr" places! Like the bed, where he spends most of his time when he's home, the bathroom, and she stands by the back sliding glass door calling out "Dahd-eeee!"(He goes out there to smoke) I think it's cute. So these are the only pictures I took today as we were waiting for my brother and sis-in-law to get back from church and open up their house for us.

Arielle's 1yr Check-Up

Today was Arielle's 1 yr check-up. Good thing it landed on a Monday because Jr was off and that meant he could go with me. That makes me happy because I knew she was due for shots and I hate being the one to hold them when they get them. I feel bad. Plus I can't look at the needles.


She was so happy playing with Junior before her exam. The Dr. gave her a stick to chew on.


She weighed in at 21lbs 8oz. and was 30 1/2 inches long! She's at normal for age but the Dr said she's getting long. I think maybe she will be taller than me!


Then we had a great time spinning in the chair until the nurse came back to do her shots. I couldn't look as they poked her 4 times. Then the nurse messed the first one up and had to redo it which ended up making 5 pokes altogether. Junior was NOT very happy with that nurse for making his daughter cry extra. (She was new we found out later)


So Mommy had to console her for a while... my poor little girl!



But then they gave her a lollipop and she was fantastic!

Here's what Arielle is up to now:

~ She wears a size 12-18 months clothes, size 4 shoe (big feet!)

~ Still in size 3 diapers... but just about ready to move to a 4 even though the box says size 3 goes up to 28lbs.

~ She has 4 teeth (finally) and another on the way that I can see.

~ I tell her to open her mouth and say "Ahh" and she does it to show me her teeth!

~ Her favorite foods are noodles (she fits right in with us), cheerios, and crackers.

~ She looooves Milk.

~ She can say: Dada, Daddy, Dad, Thank You, Hi, and her newest... Cheese! (She MUST be my kid!)

~ When she eats she says "Umm" everytime you put a spoonful in her mouth.

~ She's learning to eat alone but won't use a fork or spoon.

~ She HATES sippy cups... and refuses to use them. But I took the bottle away yesterday and she successfully used her cup for the first time.

~ She blows kisses by saying "Muah"

~ She still won't walk without the help of a wall or couch... but at least now she lets herself go and stands up on her own. (Brat)

~ If she's not in bed by 8pm she gets so fussy! And as soon as her body touches her brib all is well and she's out.

~ She loves to be barefoot.

It amazes me how different she if from Diego and Alayna!

Arielle Crawling

So we have nothing but Hardwood floor throughout our house except the bedrooms. And since Arielle is learning how to crawl I put pants on her and let her go on the hardwood because the bedroom carpets are so dirty. (I have a thing with carpet...) So yesterday I vacuumed the whole house (my mom just bought this mini vac thing for floors... soooo much easier than sweeping) and I let Arielle have at it.

She would get up on all fours and try to crawl but as soon as she'd start to move, the floor proved to be too slippery and she would fall. Funny thing is she'd usually get frustrated and scream. But no... not this time. This time she coped. She invented her own method to keep up with Diego and Alayna who were building campgrounds all over the living room floor. She had me laughing my butt off at how determined she was to keep up with her brother and sister.

So later that night I had to show my parents Arielle's new trick. Needless to say we all laughed a good while... and I filmed her with all my cameras. LOL

Hey at least she's going forward now... instead of backwards... progress!

Arielle is 7 Months Now

Little Miss Arielle is just growing like a weed. She is 7 months old now. And this is what's she's been up to lately...

• She weighed 18lbs last time we weighed her but she's due for a Dr. appointment again soon so I am not sure what she's at now.
• She wears size 6-9 mos in most clothes. Pajamas she has to wear a 12 mos. And she's wearing almost a size 3 shoe. I think she'll have big feet. They are long and skinny.
• She wears size 3 diapers still.
• She's drinking 8oz of formula at one time.
• She eats Gerber 3 times a day. (We never did the rice cereal thing... my kids never liked it... Arielle was no exception.) Her favorite flavors of Gerber (actually Beech Nut) are: Breakfast - Peaches, Oatmeal, and Bananas... Lunch - Squash or Mac and Cheese... and for Dinner - Chicken Dinner or Turkey Dinner. She's eating stage 2 but is ready for stage 3 even though she has no teeth. She's an expert masher!
• She's not crawling yet... more like just dragging herself from place to place. Sometimes she gets on all fours as if she's going to crawl but gets overexcited and goes no where. She's hilarious!
• And now as of Saturday she no longer sleeps in our room with us. Jr moved her crib into Diego and Alayna's room and now she's rooming with them. She doesn't mind though! She loves it... and I've noticed she falls asleep faster. Hmm...

And her favorite snack ever are these little Gerber Graduates cheesy puffs things. They're made more for kids who have teeth and can chew... but she loves them! They first time I gave her one I watched her like hawk so she wouldn't choke on it. But she did fine. They melt in the baby's mouth anyway so she loves them. Here's a video of her eating them... She's a pro now... this wasn't her first time.

Arielle's Baptism

Little Miss Arielle got baptized on Saturday. (By the way... she's 6 months old now) The ceremony took place at St. Vincent de Paul Church. I also had Diego and Alayna baptized there. There wasn't as many kids being baptized as usual... usually the whole church is full. This time it was only about halfway.

So Jr and I asked my cousin Rebecca to be her Nina and his cousin Martin to be her Nino. We are really close to both of them and knew both would be perfect choices. Of course they said yes... and happily!

We're proud that we chose them! So thanks to both of you! And thanks for loving Arielle so much!

Rebecca dressing Arielle at the church

Martin putting on her accessories

Daddy had to step in and help... Martin hasn't had a baby in a while...

Arielle and her Nino! He loves her and hogs her any chance he gets.

The happy Godparents

Yay they did it!

She's now a Child of God!

My good friend Tiffany even made it to the baptism. It was speacial to have her there. She's never been to one and I was happy she made it out to show her support. She's the best!

Here's most of the gang... trying to pose for some pictures

Here we are at Denny's waiting to eat breakfast. After getting up sooooo early with no sleep the night before... we were all hungry!

And Arielle was treated like royalty the entire day.

Thanks for everyone who made it! Thanks Tiff for the awesome gifts you brought for Arielle and I. And especially thanks to my Tia Cecy, Rebecca, and Jessica for coming from California to be here! Everyone is just awesome!!!

Arielle Getting Her Ears Pierced

So here's a few pictures from my Camera phone since my camera was dead that day... and I wasn't prepared because we decided to do this on a whim...









Poor Baby! But she looks more beautiful now!

Arielle is now 4 1/2 months...

Time sure does fly... so Arielle hit her 4 month mark on August 4th... and now she's 4 1/2 months old.

Here are some highlights for the last two weeks:

4 Months:
- Weighs 15lbs
- Wears size 3-6 months
- Her hair started falling out... boo...
- Got her ears pierced
- She talks up a storm... okay babbles... but hey it's talking to me
- She's drooling like crazy leading me to believe a tooth maybe be somewhere in the near future
- She learned to roll from tummy to back
- And now knows how to turn from back to tummy but it still takes her a while
- She loves to laugh A LOT!
- She started eating Gerber... she likes Banana and Apple the best
- She loves sitting in her Bebe Pod
- She hates her Carseat with a passion
- Went to the Park for the first time

And here's an overload of Baby Arielle: I can't help it, she's just so adorable!


First time in a swing


My Little Sweet Pea!

She's so cute!


She's starting to hold her own bottle