Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Sofie is ONE! (better late than never right?)

Sofie turned 1 on July 28th! We had just gotten home from Utah (yeah, I haven't blogged about that either but this is more important) so we ended up just going to IHOP for her actual birthday and giving her a mini cupcake we had bought her in Las Vegas that morning. 

Her actual birthday (post cupcake) (Oh and all these pictures are from my old camera..can't wait to share new ones!!)
The following Saturday she had her 1st Birthday Party, a pink lemonade party! It was just a small party but I had fun working on the decorations and all the details down to her pink fluffy dress :)


                            
                                     This  was her excitement for a Minnie Mouse talking card Grandma bought her!


3 Generations (and a rare picture of me)
Sofie LOVES books! It makes me so happy! At first she just liked to eat them but now she actually LOVES to look at them and read them (she is a cute little reader!). 


Before
After..hahaha


Her cupcakes I made (I was a little proud of them)

The first 12 months
Some of my home made decorations :)





My little girl is such a sweetie. Here are her 1 year stats: 
Weight: 19 pounds 0 oz
Height: 29 in
Favorite Food: Green beans, peas, and bananas
Favorite thing to do (as of her birthday...things are already different now): bounce and play patty cake.
Favorite things: her blankie, her thumb (they normally go together),balls, and shoes!
Some of my favorite things about her at one year old that I want to remember: 
Sofie sings when she eats especially when she likes something. It's AWESOME!
She is the best sleeper always sleeping 10 to 11 hours a night.
She is scared of everything...it's endearing to me because I am a chicken too! 
She already has 8 teeth!
She is already bilingual: She says ba ba (bottle) gracias (thank you), please, mama, dada, papa, and teta (bottle). I can't wait to see what she learns to say next!
She is super ticklish and loves to play with all her toys (and mom and dad too)


My Sofie truly is the greatest thing and such a blessing in our lives! She makes us smile and laugh every single day and we love her with all our hearts. I never knew life could be like this! 
It's kind of a miracle (minus the kind of)


Friday, July 5, 2013

My Imperfect Body

I have hated my body as long ago as I can remember. Thinking back to my early years, I remember being 11 and feeling embarrassed that my jean shorts were so tight on my belly that they left a mark. As I got older my hatred grew. As a teenager I was constantly dieting to the extent that at times I would not eat and even tried vomiting but never could quite handle that. I felt that if I were thinner then I would be more popular which would be the equivalent of being more happy. When I was 16, I had to have my jaw wired shut and I lost 30 pounds. The following year I had my first kiss, my first boyfriend, and finally attention from boys. OBVIOUSLY (in my mind) it was only because I was thinner. But I could not keep all the weight off and it slowly began to creep back on. Oh, if I could go back to my size 8 self and tell her a little bit of what I know now.
As a single adult my weight fluctuated. I tried every diet in the book, had some successes and some failures. But with each failure came more hatred and more disappointment
. I constantly compared myself to my two beautiful sisters and wondered why I was the one who could not be thin and pretty. As I looked for my future husband I constantly felt my body was repulsive, and society was always reaffirming what I already thought of myself. In my mid twenties I had a very close male friend who told me that if I were thinner he would totally date me. This crushed me and stayed with me for years...I will never forget the night he told me that and all the tears that followed. I had a lot of male friends, most of whom I had crushes on and dreamt that they would wake up one day and realize that they could love me in spite of my body. Don't get me wrong, I dated plenty, and had my share of boyfriends....but I never could quite love myself and always felt that if I were thinner then I would be prettier and they would love me more. Everyone always said, "You have to love yourself before anyone can love you". That statement left me hopeless if it were really true. Luckily, I don't believe it is.
 I met my husband when I was at my heaviest I've ever been and he loves me with all of his heart and was (and is) the greatest man I could have ever imagined. But even after marriage I hated my body. If I gained 5 pounds I was a failure, because everything throughout my life had taught me this. My mind was brainwashed to believe that beauty was only equivalent to thin. I could see the beauty in others, no matter the weight, but for me, each pound up or down on the scale directly impacted my beauty.
Now, two years into marriage I am working hard to change my view on my body. My body now is scarred with surgeries and tired from fighting cancer. It has stretch marks from having a baby and is still plenty chubby. But I am so exhausted of hating my body. I am tired of waiting to be thin to be happy with who I am. I want to be happy and accept who I am right at this minute. Do I want to be thinner? Sure. But I don't want to let everything that I eat, and every single pound on the scale define who I am and what I feel about myself. I want to be healthy for my daughter, beautiful for my husband, but I NEED to love myself, I MUST love myself to be happy. It is day to day process that I will probably always be working on but I am taking baby steps each day. I am grateful for a sweet husband who always makes me feel beautiful, and I honestly can say I am grateful for this body that God has given me. It has been through a lot already in my short life and I hope I can one day truly love it the way I know Heavenly Father would want me to.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Summertime Sofie

Sofie is getting so big!!! I haven't given anyone an update in a while and I can't help but share all the pics of my girlie. Here is a little of what this little 10 month sweetie has been up to.
This is her and her very first outfit she ever wore....wow...what a change!
Sofie FINALLY began crawling a little over 2 weeks ago! Now she is going everywhere, and now she is pulling herself up on tables and even walking around them. She is going to walking solo in no time! Sofie LOVES her toys and loves to play. Right now her favorite toys are her blocks and shapes!
This girlie also LOVES to be in the water! She took her first swim last week! We knew she would love...it was so fun to see her splash around! 


Lookin so cute in her new suit!

Babiators from ELLEN

Swimming!

She loved to splash...
And of course as she loves water she also LOVES bath time! She can be fussy and crying but as soon as you put her in the tub she is hap, hap, happy!



And lastly, our little one loves to eat! So far she has eaten anything we give her and never spits anything out...she even likes a lot of foods I don't. One of our exciting things in the past few weeks is that we discovered she can drink through a straw! Yippee! 
Now she has a sippee with a straw which will make getting rid of her bottles a snap.



We are so blessed to have this girl in our family. I am so blessed to have her as my daughter and to have her father as my husband. He really is the best dad and husband a girl could ask for. 
What a miracle it is to have a family.

Friday, April 26, 2013

A Working mom...a whiney post.

I am a working mom. I work 40, sometimes many more hours a week, take care of my baby, my husband, and my home...and I'm exhausted and a little overwhelmed.  I never wanted to be a working mom. I never pictured myself as a working mom...but I am because I need to be to help support my husband, baby, and other members of my family that need our help. I feel like I should be able to do it all and want to be able to do it all. My house is often a disaster and I don't cook near as many meals as I want to. I want to diet and get in shape, be a better church member, organize my home, do DIY projects, deep clean my home, do more fun things with my family, and countless other things...but I never have enough time or energy to do it all. I want to play more with my baby, get my emergency preparedness ready, coupon (I always wanted to be a mom who saved hundreds with coupons or got free stuff), have a meal calender, scrapbook, and garden...but it's so hard to find the time for it all. Can you tell I feel overwhelmed yet? I work so hard to stay positive, happy, to be a good mom and a good wife. I feel like a let down when my husband has to buy himself dinner because I get stuck at work. I love my job but it tires me out, and it's another place I try so hard to be perfect. I don't really have many girlfriends. I wish I had a best friend I could talk to a lot about girlie things that lived close by, or a group of girlfriends to go out with sometimes or have more girls night....

BUT....I love my family. My husband is amazing and he truly is my very best friend. I have the sweetest daughter in the world and I love her more than I ever knew possible. I'm grateful to be alive, grateful for my home, and all my blessings. I'm grateful for my job, for how lucky I am to have a job I love so much since I do have to work. I really have no reason to whine...but I'm human...and this is one of those days, one of those nights, one of those moments where I wish I weren't a working mom, wished I could stay home with my baby and do so many of those things I won't always have time to do.

I guess today my miracle is that I only feel like how I feel today every little once in a while.


Thursday, March 28, 2013

Evolution of Hair

A year ago today I realized my hair was falling out and leaving bald spots...and so began the hair evolution...














 And today....one year later.(sorry I'm in jammies)

Can't wait for the two year evolution! 

I remember a year ago thinking it was going to be the hardest part of the whole fight to shave my head and lose all my hair...thinking back to that night and all the emotions that I was filled with during that time makes me tear up a little even as I write this. But....it wasn't really that bad....honestly. I think Heavenly Father truly blessed me with happiness to get through this evolution.  And come on, how many women can say they got to shave their head and start all over from scratch? lol...
I CAN!


Thursday, March 7, 2013

A YEAR....and 7 months!

A year ago today I was diagnosed with cancer. Can you believe it's been a year?  Today all day I thought about what I was doing at certain times of the day exactly a year ago. Right now a year ago I was sitting in the ER waiting room...waiting for the scariest news I never expected.

BUT what an AMAZING year it has been. 

I fought cancer...and I beat it! 

I had a baby and she's the best thing I ever did!

I have an amazing job that I have worked so hard for and am excited to work even harder in.

Me and my hubby in love and So happy!

So more exciting than my year anniversary is Sofie turning 7 months old last week. She is getting SO big and SO FUN!




She is sitting like a champ, loves to eat all kinds of fun things, and really is the Sweetest! Right now my poor baby has croup. It's the first time she's been sick and it truly breaks my heart! I never knew I could love someone so much till she and my hubby came into my life. It's amazing that we are capable of so much love. What a miracle and a blessing that is. Life has changed so much in a year but honestly I wouldn't change a thing. I have learned so much about life, love, and about how Heavenly Father tries us, blesses us, and will always give us everyday miracles.

Saturday, February 9, 2013

6 MONTHS OLD

I can hardly believe it has already been 6 months since my sweet Sofie was born! Time really does fly! 
She is growing like crazy and it's hard to believe what a little nugget she was half a year ago! 
Now she is 14 pounds, 5 ounces and
26 inches long!
She is mainly wearing 3-6 month clothes, and size 2 diapers!

She loves to smile, and is the happiest baby I've ever met!

She is getting SO strong! She loves to stand and is doing a pretty good job rolling over and sitting with a little bit of help! She loves to eat all kinds of baby foods/cereal/ and even little puffs now!

And she has 2 teeth coming in!! But has been taking it like a champ! And most of the time is as 
happy as usual!

In her Christmas stocking Santa brought her binkies but a week before Christmas she decided to ditch the binkies and wants nothing but her thumb. I know it will be harder to break down the road but it sure does look sweet! It makes me want to eat her up!
She loves her toys and it's so fun to see her go after them and actually choose favorites! (as you can see above..she likes bling already!)

I always knew I wanted to be a mom but could never have imagined how Wonderful it is and what a sweetie I would be blessed with! I look forward to each and every day I get to spend with my Sofie girl to see what new thing she will do and to get all her sweet smiles! What a true miracle and blessing it is!


Thursday, January 17, 2013

Bed Head? Yes, please!

My hair is CRAZY...EVERY morning! It's out of control really ( and quite honestly it doesn't get too much better after I attempt to style it) 


BUT.....a few short months ago....

I had nothing. I am so grateful for every single crazy curl, and every single day 
of BED HEAD I am blessed to have.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

The Polka Dot Sweater (and some other fun things)

Time flies....I remember this time last year I was dreading turning 30 (because it's SOO old) but so excited to be pregnant! I had no idea where the year would lead and all that I would go through! A year later I have learned SO much and though most of the time these days my body feels like it's 60 (maybe 70), I am so grateful for this year and all the blessings it has brought into my life! 
So on that note, I would feel sad if I didn't at least share a little bit of the last month!
 In December we took our first trip with Sofie and went to San Francisco to see the 49ers play! 
San Fran has some good and some bad things.
The good: the Niners, Golden Gate Bridge, and it's beautiful!
The bad: The traffic and I'm pretty sure everywhere we went someone was smoking pot (really weird but true!)

This is at the airport waiting for our shuttle that never even came (but that's a story for another day).

Golden Gate Bridge

We drove down Lobard street! It was gorgeous!

In front of the Full House house! I was SO excited! 

The tiniest 49er Fan!

Ready to go to the game! Go Niners! 

Rafa was in Heaven!

Thanks to the headphones, this is how Sofie enjoyed the game!

After the game at Candlestick Park (btw Candlestick is SOOOO Ghetto) 

After the game waiting in traffic.
And then the week after we came back we had our final appearance on EVB Live on Channel 12. We LOVE Tram Mai and all the people there who have treated us so well and made this cute onesie for Sof. It was her first TV appearance :)


 Christmas Eve with our baby girl and family :)



One of my fav pics...our little doll baby with her great big beautiful eyes!

My Papa (and delicious food)

Christmas Day!

With Grandma


And finally New Years in Mexico! :) Oh and P.S.....Has anyone noticed yet that pretty much every picture I am wearing the exact same Polka Dot sweater?! Yeah, my body isn't quite how I'd like it to be so my ward robe is limited (new moms out there know how that goes) but I didn't realize until I got all these pics together that I have worn this sweater all the time! HOW EMBARRASSING. Needless to say for my pre birthday present I went out today and bought a NEW sweater :) 



Rafa eating a tamale (that I helped make!!!!) 

And how Sofie spent New Years Eve. She slept 12 hours! LOVE THIS  BABY!

So though this would have been more interesting in multiple posts, there is my last month in review, and I hope to post more blogs in the future so it's not just a review and I can maybe focus on the day to day blessings in my life, those Everyday miracles that I see so often but don't get to mention...but am VERY grateful for none the less :)