Tifiny's Tabloid

Samuel Josiah!

2012-02-04T17:17:00.000-08:00

So, I am totally a planner. I love to know what my day, week and month look like. Something I am working on is "spur of the moment" things. Sometimes Este will say, "hey, lets do this" and it just throws me for a loop because I hadn't planned on it. Truly, an area I want to fix. So...when it came down to knowing our son's name...we didn't. and.it.was.tough. We had thrown around a couple of names but Esteban wasn't too sure about them. He decided that he would pray and hear from the Lord. He added something to his phone that every time he came into our neighborhood, his phone would chime and remind him to pray about the name.
It had been a couple of months and I would ask periodically, ok...every other day, if the Lord had spoken to him about a name. He'd say, "no, but don't worry." DON'T WORRY...did I mention I am a planner?
Esteban seemed so calm and sure. I honestly thought we would end up at the hospital and end up with a Jr. by default...so much faith, huh?
Well, one day (a few weeks before our baby was born) I got a text from Este saying he knows the name of our son. I automatically got butterflies in my tummy and he made me wait hours until he got home to tell me the story and say the name. I immediately began to pray that I would like it. I mean, can you really argue with a name the Lord has given...
He came home and begun to tell me about being out in the desert and listening to a teaching about Hannah. We all know the story about Samuel and how she dedicated him to the Lord. But then the pastor said the meaning of the name Samuel...God has heard. This is sooo meaningful to our family at this time because of the trial we have been in since Peppy was born. Almost a year ago, a friend of ours had spoke a verse to Esteban in a cool time of prayer about how God has heard our prayers. We are waiting for the outcomes but we have faith that He has heard our prayers.
As soon as I heard the meaning, I knew it had to be it. But I was won over with the name when Isabelle said it for the first time. ahhh, my heart melted. She still says it Sam E yool. Love.it.
For the middle name...we have had two people close to us in the last 6 months name their son Josiah. If they hadn't, it probably would have been his first name. So...we were kinda like, we can't use that name.
When Este told me about Samuel, I thought how well Josiah would go but thought we couldn't use it but needed a "J" name for the middle name. When I mentioned having a J middle name, Esteban said it should be Josiah. I thought the same thing but he had this look like that was going to be it.
I believe it was two nights before Samuel was born, I was having contractions and got up in the middle of the night to get some things ready. I decided to go look up the meaning of the name Josiah. I realized right then, the names of our son had been totally given by God. Josiah means God heals.
We chose Peppy's middle name, Faith, because of the trial that had just begun...and faith is something we have had to have for 3 years now....and with the birth of this son...having faith to believe the Lord has heard....and hopefully soon....the Lord will heal. Praise be to our Almighty Father!

Celebrating Jesus' birth and the anxiousness of meeting Samuel

2012-02-03T14:38:00.000-08:00

Christmas was approaching and my mom had still not purchased her tickets to come out for the baby. My due date was January 6th but we were gonna do everything in our power to have this child by the end of the year! My mom decided to come out for Christmas and my dad switched his tickets to join her. We had such an amazing time! Billy and the family came out two days before Christmas to celebrate together. It was such a good time!
Esteban cooked some amazing shrimp! and we had all kinds of hors d'oeuvres.

Stocking stuffers have been a huge deal to me since I was young...so it has been fun doing it with Isabelle. I loved to unwrap gifts so my mom wrapped our stocking stuffers too when I was young....I guess the tradition has carried.
*We were at walmart a week or 2 before christmas and I was picking up some stuffers for peppy. She was acting like she was scanning things so I would hand her something from the shelf and let her "scan" it and then put it back...so i thought. Well, we were basically done and heading to checkout when I realized I needed to get milk. I told este to go ahead and get in line and I'd be back. By time I had made it back, he was basically done so I just went ahead and went to an express line and paid. When we got home we had 4-5 things that I had NOT planned on getting her but she had thrown in the back after she had "scanned" them. Este had no clue what I wanted for her or not so they all made it back to our house. The name of her game- divide and conquer! It actually worked out quite nice b/c it filled her stocking!

A couple days after Christmas, we decided to go to Huntington Gardens. Heidi and Billy got us tickets to go in for free and I wanted to walk as much as possible to get this baby out! It was great! We then went to Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles afterwards. YUm!!!

Creeping with uncle Bill in the "tunnels"

the sprouse family and a winking olivia!

The girls love their uncles

Thanksgiving 2011

2012-02-01T14:52:00.000-08:00

My mom came out for thanksgiving this year and it was wonderful. Peppy, my mom and I got to go to Disneyland for the day. I can't believe I only took a few pictures but I did...they are cute though!

Refer back to last post about her and gloves!

On Thanksgiving, my brother and family came for brunch and then we hung out at the house. The kids (Billy and Esteban) made gingerbread houses and the girls danced some and then watched a movie.

GABE!

Olivia and Belle dancing

We then went to Franky and Judy's house to enjoy Thanksgiving! This was the picture that got most of the people in it...minus half of peppy, Steve and great grandpa!

lil of this...lil of that

2012-02-01T14:37:00.000-08:00

does this not have relaxation written all over it?

this girl Looooves to dance, wear gloves, and look at herself.
as soon as she gets gloves on, she becomes someone totally different!

THE RECORD

2012-02-01T14:29:00.000-08:00

I think this is a record for my break with blogging. It has not been intentional, just life that has happened...plus a little addition to the family :) Looking back at some pictures, I want to update a little on what has happened the last 3 months.

Harvest Party
I sooo wanted to make Peppy's costume again this year. I have fully realized that unless I go to the LA fabric district, making stuff is just more expensive than actually buying it...however, it's full of love when it's made by momma :)

Peppy was our little Indian Princess...and did she work that well!
This year she had so much more fun than last. She actually got to play the games and, for the most part, got what was going on. She was in a cake walk and won 2 or 3 cakes...i can't remember now. Pops was out visiting and kept trying to have her choose some chocolaty goodness kind of cake or cookies but she was having none of that :)

Because I was helping out at the Harvest Party, Este, my dad and peppy went to the house before I did. They were in her room to take her to bed and accidentally got locked in her room for some time. LOL. Later, I arrived home and they had just gotten out of the room.

our lil worshipper

2011-10-24T07:55:00.000-07:00

i have begun to nest. i honestly didn't think it was going to happen this time around but it has. and im loving it. so....as i was cleaning out peppy's closet, she got out "our daily bread" and started worshipping our Lord. this had gone on for a while before este came in and started recording. it's more like cheering towards the end :) love her.

i tried to upload the video here several times but it wont upload. so you can find it here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmiPH_55dPg

raise the banner high

2011-10-11T09:55:00.000-07:00

2 Chronicles 20:17 (the word from our Lord)
"You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the LORD, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the LORD is with you.”

This chapter has been the foundation of our hope in our mighty God since close to the beginning of our trial. While we had never heard it, or remembered the story, before our trial, it began to come up in our lives so often that there was no way it was mere coincidence. Our despair began to spread out into this new found hope that maybe the Lord was preparing this amazing battle victory and we just had to position ourselves in faith and watch His mighty hand do what our Mighty God had planned before the foundations of this world to do in this monumental mountain in our lives.

There have been so many times where I have pleaded with God to end this pain, whether by taking us out of this situation or taking our lives out of this earth. The pain has been extraordinary. Our God, His Word and His comfort...even more extraordinary. As children who play the game where they twist each other's arms until the other cries out "UNCLE!"...i feel as if i have screamed out to the Living God "UNCLE! UNCLE! MERCY! HAVE MERCY ON MY FAMILY!"

As the years passed, and our flesh longed to find hope in man's words, we have come to CLING to the powerful and true words of our God, our LIVING hope. While our emotions can take us through loops and turns like a roller coaster, God's word holds firm...never changing...never losing it's power or absolute truth and promise in our lives.

Today could be the day that the hand that is twisting our arm is let loose...where God at the end of our plea to have mercy says, "alright, my children, today is the day you receive that mercy."

We have positioned ourselves, lets see if today was meant to be our day of victory....as we sing "allelu"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhrhtkYq8pQ

San Fran

2011-09-28T13:50:00.001-07:00

Esteban's grandparents threw an anniversary/birthday party a few weekends ago close to san francisco. they were great and accomodated us for a long weekend. Esteban surprised me one of the days by going to the bridge and then to eat at a diner we saw the night before on diners, drive-ins and dives.

Steve's family is a dancing family! I love it...and so does our lil danceroo. She danced most the night...until bedtime.
oma and the pep

she loved one of her cousins, corey...but would call him quarry

dancing with the girls

new shoes....

dancing with grandpa

...

2011-09-28T13:46:00.001-07:00

a sight i will never get sick of seeing in the morning.

Flower Girl

2011-09-28T13:34:00.001-07:00

Peppy's favorite person at our church is one of the nursery coordinators (until she got married and moved away) whose name is Miranda. Peppy is always asking bout her and LOOOVESS her to pieces. She asked pep this summer to be her flower girl...and of course, isabelle accepted. Pep LOOOOVVVVEEEDD saying that she was Miranda's flower girl and would practice here at home. She did a great job! Here are a few pictures!
waiting for the ceremony to begin. it was extremely hot (reason for red cheeks) and she realized her hair pretty was soft and silky. what are we gonna do with this girl??

doin her thing. she seriously thought this day was hers.

the bride and her dad

chattin it up with the father of the bride

im a cutie and i know it!!!

Hiding

2011-09-28T13:15:00.001-07:00

It is CRAZY having a pregnant mind that forgets EVERYTHING and a toddler who likes to hide things.
When I can't find something that I need, my first guess is not what did peppy do with it. Honestly, it's either who stole it or what in the world did i do with it. hahaa. Anyways, this can tend to make me a bit crazy at times b/c i seriously feel as if i have lost my mind when i have searched every place that i know of for certain items.
Need examples? Here are a few.
* B/c this girl is such a weed at growing, she has one pair of sandals that still fit, actually in the last few weeks they are starting to get a little small but hoping they will last till the end of the heat, and don't go in between her toes. A few weeks ago, she had a blister around her big toe and so I needed her to wear these one sandals so they wouldn't hurt her. i could not find them ANYWHERE. i even asked grandma to see if they were at her house...but no luck. my next thought...who stole them. lol...this is kinda joking but kinda not. :) i can't remember (there goes my brain) if it was that day or a few days later but i lifed up her carrier that's on her bike and TA DAH! there they were, nice and tidy...right where she had left them.
* it seems as if her juicy cups are constantly disappearing. nothing i put much thought into but i get rather annoyed when i need one and can't find one. i was putting up laundry the other day and opened este's sock drawer...TA DAH...there was one, tucked right in. (she finds our drawers great "beds" for her babies and i guess she was pretending her milk was a baby one day????)
* So, several days last week i was looking for a little sweater i wear ALL.THE.TIME. since being preggo...my clothes choice here at home is to the minimum. i seriously put our bedroom/closet upside down looking for this thing on a few occassions. i thought i must have gone crazy. two days ago, i was putting some of the baby's clothes in one of our guest closets. TA DAH. i found a dress, shirt and that sweater in a pile. i then remember last week, while i was separating clothes into piles to wash, peppy decided to take some clothes and make her own pile...i just never saw where that pile went.

shall i now begin to list the things i'm still waiting to happen upon...
...and why is it that i have to smile when i find these things? it's because she has my heart...or as she would say, "you have my heart!"

Questions...

2011-09-28T12:59:00.000-07:00

we all have questions, a lot of us have deep spiritual questions we would like to seek out. this, i believe, is common...however, when it comes out of my 2 year old's mouth, it is quite shocking.
question #1. (from last week)
I jump on the couch and lay next to peppy.
Isabelle: i have a good question for you?
Mommy: okay...
Isabelle: what is eternity?
Mommy: stumbling around words thinking there is no way my child just asked me this so i repeated her.
Isabelle: shook her head yes and was waiting for an answer.
Mommy: let's go see daddy!
We went and got daddy and he began to explain to her. she got a blanket, laid down in her bed and listened to him (and repeated everything he was saying to me...who was next to her still quite shocked) when he was done explaining she asked him to tell her another story about Jesus.

question/statement #2. (today in the car going to story time at the library)
Isabelle: "Mommy, I'm not going to go to hell?."
Mommy: (not remembering a time i mentioned hell to her, thinkin she is quite young to grasp it) stumbling over my words, i repeated what she said to make sure that was it. sure enough, she repeated herself. so i got to explain to her about Jesus and if we accept Him we won't go to hell.
whewwww. i seriously am wondering if the Holy Spirit is stirring in her heart her need for the Lord. am i crazy???? maybe, but i hear these things comin outta her mouth and I'm wonderin what all the Lord has planned for my sweet Peppy. Jesus, keep working in her heart!!!!

New update

2011-09-27T12:16:00.000-07:00

Just found out that the thing tomorrow(Wednesday) has been delayed till later next week. To all of you who have been praying...thankyou. May the Lord bless you for your kindness!

UPDATE

2011-09-26T14:11:00.000-07:00

one of the insurance prayer requests is being delayed for 14 days...we can deal with this one.
the other one has been approved, praise the Lord!
thank you for praying. please keep it up :)

Week of Miracles

2011-09-24T21:47:00.000-07:00

We are praying for miracle after miracle in this coming week. I ask that you all join us in agreeing for these things in our lives.
While I can't go into detail about what's going on, for those of you who do not know, we have been in a trial in our lives for 2 1/2 years and this coming Wednesday could possibly be the end of it...if that's in God's plan. We have been told it's not likely but we know that our God is the God that works against the odds...the God of miracles and that's just what we are asking Him for.
Specific days for prayer.
Monday: There are 2 things involving insurance related things (2 totally different issues) but we need them both to be approved. Please pray for favor and approval.
Wednesday: A meeting that could result in the furtherance of our trial or the removal of it. We are pleading with the Lord that it's the removal of it. Will we stop having faith if it's not the end this week? nahh, but Lord have mercy on our family!!!
This past Wednesday, our pastor was talking about believing God's promises...and how the lack of this kept the Israelites from the promised land. May we not be found to be an unbelieving people, may we pray believing and clinging to the promises of our Jehovah-Jireh.
I will update later in the week. Thank you so much. May the Lord bless you as you stand in the gap for us.

terms of endearment

2011-09-09T06:57:00.000-07:00

at our house, we use all kinds of terms of endearment. baby, honey, dollface, lovey..etc etc. while in wv, my mom went shopping and brought back some surprises for peppy. she ran outside and said, "thankyou my wife." it took a few times of her saying this to understand what she was saying.
last night, at the dinner table, i gave her something and she said, "thankyou my wife." probably b/c of esteban saying something similar, she refers to "my wife" as a term of endearment. i love it....at some point we will have to correct her but until then, i'll be her wife :)

more fun

2011-09-01T19:51:00.000-07:00

4 wheeler rides

sunsets

visiting a semi-local wetland

lots of running

making homemade ice cream

time with extended family
(releasing pigeons)

hangin with cousins

sprinkler fun-aka watering the grass that needed watered ;)

finding things in the creek

my country man

oh mom, you know...

SWIMMING AND SMORES

2011-08-31T21:47:00.000-07:00

We went to the pool that I used to go to when I was a kid while in WV. It brought back lots of memories. Pep had a great time!

getting messy while eating smores round the campfire

Hotel Sprouse and Petting Zoo Lane

2011-08-31T07:10:00.000-07:00

Pops and Nana took about the first half of the year and completely gutted and remodeled their house. This was the first time for us to the see the completed project. It seriously felt like we were in a hotel...it was great! Peppy especially liked the jacuzzi bathtub

Soon after being in WV, we realized how much our lil woman seriously LOVES bugs and animals. And she really is not pleased unless she gets to hold them...looking at them just will not do. Every day, her and pops would go out butterfly catching and bug hunting. One of her favorites were horse flies. After dad would catch one, she would say, "it needs its diaper changed" and go carry it and do whatever was in her lil mind to do.

on the hunt

One day, pep was showing me her stash of bugs she had by a tree in the front yard. As we were walking back, she stopped and pointed and i realized i was about to step on a green snake!!! She was excited while mommy was freaking out yelling for help.

this is just to prove that this california boy got country-ized this visit. He was out catching butterflies more than isabelle and when he heard we had a snake he came runnin out and holding it. i love it!

My parents neighbors have chickens, dogs, goats, cats...hmmm...probably more. they have a lot of stuff. While there, peppy got to pet a one day old baby goat, 6 week old kittens and an 8 week old puppy.

granny got to hold the puppy and kitties too

i promise, the kitty was breathing :/

BACK EAST: EARTHQUAKES AND HURRICANES

2011-08-30T10:31:00.000-07:00

My parents flew us back to West Virginia for about a week 1/2. This was sooo exciting for Isabelle. She hadn't flown since February and this time she really realized what was going on. I told her 2 weeks in advance that we were going to fly on a plane and see nana and pops...every day she asked me how much longer. I was so excited just seeing her excited! I had to wake her up at 4:45am (usually when i wake her up, she is CUH-RANKY!) but particular morning she woke up giggling she was so excited.
Denver was our layover and we had to be there for 4 hours. She had done so wonderful. She had pooped in the potty 3 times and told me every time she had to go peepee. I was so proud of her. After 3 hours of being in Denver, she was getting restless. She was so tired b/c she had not napped yet and she had lacked sleep from waking up early. Once we got on the plane, we were delayed b/c of lightning. Then after the lightning was done, we were delayed for another reason...poor girl. There were only 2 seats on each side of the plane so este sat with her. Once we were in the air, we all napped for a while. so far so good. Este let her watch a movie and all was well....until we gave her puddy to play with. Este realized after a while that she was chewing on it and then she swallowed it once he saw her. Shall I say, after this, all hell broke loose? lol. She got mad, i mean MAD that este took the rest from her. In defiance, we believe, she peed in her seat. This was after she had spilled all kinds of gold fish in her seat. I was afraid Este was about to lose it and there was nothing i could do...we were descending and i couldn't get out of my seat. People were looking at them because of the scene they were making and i was trying to be invisible. All of a sudden, i saw Este flip something off of his hand onto the floor. Come to realize, peppy was sticking soggy (from the pee) goldfish on him. LOL. He seriously was ready to blow but i couldnt help but laugh. She saw a glimpse of me and started yelling, "i want mommy! i want mommy! mommy are you mad?" People then started looking at me...Este looked at her and said, "NO, MOMMY'S NOT MAD, I AM!" lol. I'm laughing now but i was so praying that we would never see these people again. Este swears that as soon as she peed all over, she was once again happy. She knew how to get back at daddy!
Once we landed, i took peppy to the restroom and gave her a bath with wipes and changed her clothes. she was as happy as could be. poor daddy. :) Now it was off to see nana and pops!
This was the beginning of our many adventures back east!

"You don't really believe that story, do you? Look how innocent I am!"

BIG GIRL

2011-08-11T08:51:00.001-07:00

sooo....it's becoming more and more real that we have a big girl on our hands. in may, out of nowhere, one monday morning, isabelle decided she wanted to use the potty...this was in the midst of me being crazy sick with pregnancy and i was just not expecting to do it quite this soon. so....the journey began. i had not read one book on potty training and i felt quite inadequate at the job in helping peppy. so...it kinda was like she was potty trained at home but i would let her use diapers when we went out. we then were part of a month long course in church planting at the bible college so i kinda just threw potty training out the window b/c i didnt want to put that on the girl watching all the kids. well, this past week i decided i needed to start taking her out with panties b/c we are about to travel back east and i need to be confident in her "keeping her panties dry" skills. thus far, she has boosted my confidence. monday, we traveled a lot of the day in the car from morning till 8:00pm....not one accident. tuesday, we went to some friends house for dinner...not one accident. etc. etc. i think she is pretty much potty trained. i still put a diaper on her for nap and night night...just b/c i personally am not ready to figure out when to have her stop drinking. like i said, this whole thing is kinda new to me and we are just stumbling around. but i'm proud of her for taking the initiative....here's to my girl in big girl panties!!!
then....i believe it was on saturday...we woke up around 8:15am to peppy coming to our room telling us she slept good and she was being silly. i think i was thrilled i got to sleep in that i didnt care she climbed out of her crib and came to our room. the next morning...it was 6:00am. ohhhh no! for nap time, she would not stay in her crib. she seriously probably got out 10 times. we tried EVERYTHING to get her to stay in her crib. nothing was working...she was a determined lil girl. i was hoping this was just a "try out my boundaries" kinda day and i'd wake up the next day to my 7:00am normalcy. ooohhh no, once again, at 6:00am she comes in our room. she had also gone to bed that night past 9:00 so i knew she was starting a bad habit. i was mad. after a few times of trying to keep her in there, i had este get out of bed, change the locks on her door (to where we could lock it from the outside) and we converted her crib to a toddler bed with a rail. i was so mad i wasn't even sad at the changes coming.
so, im here to tell you, that she slept great for her nap yesterday...did not try to get out, and this morning i had to go in her room at 8:00am to make sure she was still alive. she was just laying in her bed as content as ever. ahhhh, can you hear my relief. she got up and gave me a big hug and said, "i slept goood!" i reckon...13 hours of sleep and anybody could say they slept good.
here's to my big girl, in a big girl bed, with big girl panties. muahhh!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2011-08-10T15:55:00.000-07:00

my "not so proud" moments as a momma

2011-08-02T12:56:00.000-07:00

you know, those moments where after you do them you think, "i feel so sorry for my child right now."
well there has been a few of these moments i have had since having my peppy girl 2 years ago.
one of the ones that stick out the most is one that happened probably a year ago. yeah, that's how deep it is scarred in my memory. anyways, i was cutting up something, i think chicken, on my plate to give to her. well, after i cut a piece off, i stabbed it with my steak knife and was offering it to her from the knife. how can i put this more clearly? the knife was about to go in her tiny little mouth when the light bulb clicked on and i looked up at este and he had HUGE eyes. lol. i felt like such an idiot!!!! i gracefully put the knife down and used a spoon...and prayed este was not regretting the choice he made in me :)
i'm sure several several more have happened but two happened yesterday.
esteban is juicing right now and peppy loves to help me juice veggies and fruits for him. she helps me wash them off and then takes bites out of them before she puts them in the juicer. usually when she is done washing, i tell her to hold onto the chair as i push her to the island to start juicing. this particular time i forgot to tell her to hold on and down she goes off the chair. she was shocked, i was shocked and the eyes that looked up at me like, "are you serious?" just broke my heart. do you know how tough it is to console a child for something you did to them. ahhhh.
as if that wasn't bad enough... later in the day, i thought we could play with water balloons. well, i didnt have water balloons so we made do with regular ones. we were so excited. we had finished filling them and put them in a bowl to take outside. well, im not sure why but a few of the balloons stuck together so when i tried to pick one up, a few burst into the bowl. still, everythings okay. well after we finished with the balloons, i saw that the bowl was filled with water. peppy was already naked by this time and the water was warm so i thought, "why not?" i said, "peppy, im going to get you." and i threw the bowl of water on her. usually she would enjoy such a thing HOWEVER i aimed too high and it was all over her eyes and up her nose. she couldnt breathe for like 5 seconds because of the shock. i felt HORRIBLE. i told her how sorry i was and then showed her how there was still water left in the bowl and she could get momma. she grabbed the bowl and said, "don't get me again." and gently poured the water onto the ground. i felt even worse because she wouldnt even get me back.
yeah, not so proud right now.

‎....He will come to us like the rain, Like the latter and former rain to the earth. Hosea 6:3

2011-07-31T09:01:00.000-07:00

Rain is exactly what we woke up to early this morning. Here in SoCal this is not typical at all in the summer. It was such a nice surprise for us...especially our lil woman. It's funny b/c yesterday when there was no rain in sight, she was wearing her rain boots and raincoat around the house...she was SOOOO EXCITED that she actually got to use them for what they were made for.

has it really been

2011-07-19T19:40:00.000-07:00

that long? i glanced at my blog the other day and could not believe it has been since peppy's party (3 months ago) that i last blogged. would it even come close to say life has been a bit busy?
i will post a few different posts over the next few days but this one i wanted to share a matter of the heart and, um, belly.
some of you might recall from 2 years + ago that i had blogged about a really hard trial that came into our lives. sadly enough, we are still in the midst of the trial...and i'm realizing i have such a thick head. the Lord needs to keep teaching me lessons because i'm just not getting them! ugh.
well, because everything happened five days before our lil woman was born, i wanted to wait until after the trial was over to get pregnant. i wanted everything about this next child to be joyful!
we found out April 29th that we are expecting. a moment that i had imagined would be a sad occasion b/c of wanting to wait, actually ended up being a joyous occasion. my parents were able to be here, again, when we found out and i was filled with peace and joy. soon after, i began to get extremely sick. there were seriously days where i thought, and voiced to este, that i didn't know how i was going to make it. being pregnant and sick with a toddler is a lot different than being a sick pregnant woman who can take naps all day long.
i had made my appointment for 7 1/2 weeks with my doctor and everything seemed quite normal for being pregnant. the week of my appointment, all of a sudden my symptoms began to decrease. i thought it might be because of the prayers of the few pple who knew that i was pregnant and sick. the night before my appointment, i spotted a little. immediately i thought something was wrong. adding everything up in my head, it just seemed like something was off. after some internet research, my husband eased my fears and i slept quite alright that night.
the next morning we were off with our toddler in hand to see the baby in my belly. once there, the doctor had trouble finding the baby. once he did, he said it was only measuring 5 1/2 weeks. i knew for certain how far along i should be and he ordered a blood test. i knew it. i knew i was going to lose the baby. that day, i didnt even feel nauseated once, i had spotted, and now the baby was measuring weeks smaller. i knew something was wrong and was waiting to lose the baby any moment. i was mad. i couldn't believe the Lord had given us such a gift in such a time that we were living in and then saw fit to take it away.
i began to mourn my child. 2 days later, i needed to go get my 2nd blood test to see if my hcg levels had increased...and i almost didn't even go because i thought, why do all this when i know im just going to lose the baby. my dad flew out that day and brought a lot of comfort and distraction which is what i needed...(we found swamp people and this was the greatest distraction ever!) i called the office the next day to hear that my hormone levels were so high that it looked as if i might have a tubular pregnancy. b/c it was going into a holiday weekend, they scheduled me to get an ultrasound at another place the following tuesday. i continued to grieve. i remember saying to so many people as they hoped for the best, that "i know somethings wrong." i had a wonderful friend that would check on me everyday and have so much hope for the child to still be alive but i was thinking, "i know im losing this baby."
tuesday came around and my father stayed home to watch the pep while este and i went to the ultrasound place. it couldn't have been any worse. i got there to realize they had none of my stuff, esteban couldn't come back with me, and they couldn't tell me anything...i would have to wait a few days for my doctor to call me. i couldn't believe it, i wanted to just get the head nod that this or that was happening and move past this teeter totter stage. i had mourned and needed to have some closure and yet this was all going to be soooo drawn out.
after sitting in the waiting room, of one of the most rudest office i have ever been in, i was called back. i was told to lay on the table and pull up my shirt. the girl looked at me and said in such an annoyed voice, "your bladder's not full. i cant see anything. you need a full bladder!" nobody had told me this and so she said i had to go drink 6 cups of water and wait an hour in the waiting room and then come back. i was livid. i was ready to be home, plus peppy hadn't pooped yet and my dad has one hand. what in the world was he going to do if she pooped. ahhh! i cooled down once i realized i was making este upset and he was about to go and have a talk with these nurses. i suddenly was ok :)
45 minutes later, a different woman came and got me and was sooo nice compared to anybody else in that building! after 15 minutes of doing an external and internal ultrasound, she said, "i'm about to print some pictures for you of the baby." i said, "what? you see the baby? is it in my tubes?" she said, "i can't tell you that but i can tell you you have nothing to worry about." i started crying and couldn't stop. she showed me the baby and its heart beating and i was in awe. i ran out to the waiting room bawling and instructed este to go outside (the waiting room was quite full) when we got out there he said, "what's wrong?" i just said, "im so happy!" and showed him my baby that was sooo totally alive. we hugged, cried, and praised our mighty God.
i began to remember all the times where i said, "i know this or i know that!" and yet how wrong i was. maybe the baby was alright the whole time. maybe the baby was not but the Lord did a miracle in my womb. i know that His ways are not my ways and whatever things look like, i have no clue what He has planned but i need to rely upon Him...and wait upon Him. oh the plans my Lord has for this bundle inside of me.
shall i say, i am now 16 weeks pregnant with a little boy and he is not measuring 2 weeks small but rather 2 weeks larger. is that not our God? the magnificent creator...the One who has bid both my kids' hearts to beat. Praise you, Jesus!

butterflies, flowers, and smiles

2011-04-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

we celebrated isabelle on saturday with family and peppy's friends. it was fun b/c, unlike last year, this year she had friends to invite. what fun!
i'm not going to write too much b/c i have so many pictures and peppy could wake up at any time right now.
judy, the queen of baking, researched the cake and cupcakes we did...and the "girls" came over the night before the party and made it happen.

my project: her dress. it stayed on for 1/2 hour. longer than i thought it would :)

she was caught red handed opening presents!

so a couple of her friends let her open their present (the next outfit she wore)

and she went back to opening presents in the corner

so far, i could not get her to stop until...judy comes in with a chocolate cake and isabelle stood up and followed judy to not return to the presents for a few hours. (background info: when we go to aunt judy's house, she always expects a cake or pie. we even were at the farmers market with auntie and uncle franky and she looks at judy and says "apple pie.") she's a girl after my own heart and she knows the best place to get it!
we would try and keep track of her but with 50+ pple there it was hard. but we always found her around friends and taken care of.

just taking a moment to soak in all the fun :)

angela, the one who can get isabelle to keep a clip in her hair

the goodies

uncle franky

we sang twice to her b/c she had two cakes. why not? it was her special celebration and this is one of her fav parts!

quite satisfied

this girl refuses to smile for most pictures.

playdough

beautiful women in my life

she was so worried the balloon would fly away

chillin

the hit of the day...this and the castle jumper

all the kids "helped" her open presents. this was a very chaotic moment at the party.

stealing some time with his girl

look how hard she tried to smile. so proud of her!

still trying!

her new apron from...guess who? aunt judy!

this thing was awesome

i find this pic so funny. she was soooo excited and could not stay still....at least the ladies got in the picture (even though my wrist looks broken! haha!)

her best bud, quinn

her protectors :)

celebrating the day of her birth

2011-04-12T21:44:00.000-07:00

even though we are going to celebrate on saturday, i'm all about birthdays and feeling special so i thought, why not celebrate a few times. i was so excited to go in her room and sing happy birthday to her when she woke up until...este and i opened her door and began singing and she immediately shook her head and said no. okay, so my little perfect birthday celebration bubble burst pretty early in the day. but it got much better. by the end of the day when we put a candle on a brownie she had "helped" me bake earlier, and we (este, quinn and myself) sang to her, she shined like she was a rock star....and we did that same thing at least four times until she had no more bits of brownie to stand the candle up with. i tried to take pictures throughout the day of our birthday adventures...here they be!
just woke up and running to her presents

she "helped" me fix pancakes for breakfast

played with her new kitchen a lot of the morning (i thought this would be great for her to play with while i get things done...but no, she insisted "mommy sit down!" i must admit though, i kinda got into it!)

she even got some reading in between all the activities!

we went to the park

made brownies

took a bath then got "pretty" in the mirror

saw grandpa and grandma for a little bit and ate pizza and brownie with her best bud, quinn. all in all, a fun day was had by all!

because of you...

2011-04-12T21:16:00.000-07:00

because of you, sweet isabelle faith...
*i now plan not to plan
*i clean to see it unclean within a minute (tell me the truth! do you have a stopwatch and are you trying to beat your quickest time?)
*i get dressed up to realize my lip gloss has been smeared by your wet kisses, there's a smudge on my shirt from your hands, and i have a sticker on the bottom of my shoe i've been walking around with since who knows when
*i open my chapstick at night to see chuncks taken out
*i now take "quick errands* that are NEVER quick
*i get help from you which pretty much is the opposite of help
*i discipline throughout the day to you who so now how to make me smile and laugh at the most *convenient* of times
*i play hide and seek throughout the day. i usually am seeking to find where you are hiding because you are doing something you know you shouldn't be (now refer back to the previous *)
*i take out warm clothes from the dryer and can't fold them because they MUST go straight on top of you.

i want you to know that you are the one that can cause all of the above and make me LOVE like i've never, make me smile like i've never, make me excited like i've never, make me proud like i've never, make me cry like i've never, make me cling to our Jesus like i've never, make me wanna be the best Spirit-filled woman ever...each and every day! you, my dear, can get away with all of these things and somehow, someway, they make me love you that much more.
i will never be able to get tight enough hugs from you, wet enough kisses from you, enough "i wuv you" from you, "hold you" from you, "one more song" from you, "mommy dance" from you....i will never be able to soak enough of you in to be satisfied. i love you and will love you forever. happy birthday, my adored two year old.

wordless wednesday with a few words

2011-04-06T07:13:00.000-07:00

i just have to share how faithful our God is. this morning i was praying about specific things and 10 minutes later i realized He has answered and provided. our Lord is forever faithful!

Favs and Photos

2011-04-04T19:56:00.000-07:00

A few favorites from the last few weeks:
*isabelle will jump out at us and say "TA DAH!"
*i went to two different ladies conferences the last few weeks. they were amazing. God was amazing. i am so blessed
*speaking of the Lord, I've really been enjoying His company these last few weeks. about a week 1/2 ago I got a one year bible. i feel as if my life has forever been changed. it has been so good for me. It has been challenging finding my own set time to be with the Lord since being a momma. i've tried different things but i think i've found the time and place i love. getting up before isabelle in the morning, going into our comfy guest room, in a comfy big chair, an ipod to begin worship, my prayer/note journal that Augusta gave me years ago, and my one year bible. (if you have a hard time being consistent...get one of these bibles, pick a place where it's your own personal place to be with God...one that is quiet and comfy. have your stuff already there. your bible, pens/pencils, journal, music, and maybe even a to do list cause things you have to do during the day will always come up in your time with God. when they do, write them down, and you wont have to think of them until you're done.)
whew, that was a long favorite
*i adore my husband. remember how i said i went to two conference in less than a month. thanks to his willingness (and cindy and steve's willingness) to take care of my pepita so i can go and get recharged. I've been so blessed.
*my in laws which i now want to call in loves. you know, my mother in love...etc. yeah, i heard that at one of the conferences. anyways, they are always more than willing to take our peppy so we can spend time together or get work done.
*getting ready for our organic garden. it will happen this year!

now for the pics
when peppy is a professional soccer player...this will make us millions ;)

daddy and daughter love

grandpa and the pepster

wordless wednesday

2011-03-23T22:30:00.000-07:00

wordless wednesday

2011-03-16T09:36:00.000-07:00

tackle it tuesday: FAITH

2011-03-15T14:30:00.001-07:00

No, there's not going to be a before/after picture of our messy bedroom, out of control drawers, or "need to be weeded" back yard. Today I wanted to discuss the thing that has been in the process of being tackled in our hearts...faith...or lack there of.
We have been in a grueling two year battle of FAITH. The Lord has given us promises to cling to, confirmations unheard of and yet unbelief seems to still take precidence sometimes. One of the toughest things to deal with is seeing where we believe the Lord has said we are headed, deliverance, and yet our physical circumstances tend to take us the opposite way. This is a tough time to put all our faith and trust in our Lord. Doubt always creeps up and thoughts of, "are you sure that's what the Lord gave you?" tend to rise.
Last Wednesday was a really tough day for me. I battled it out with the Lord in prayer and wondered why He hadn't struck me down for the anger I showed. Compassionate and merciful. That night at church, hysterically, the message was on faith and standing firm on the promises our God has given us. He can be trusted...in fact, HE wants us to trust Him. We left feeling like we (Este) needed to send out an email declining man's wisdom and tools and sharing the promises of the Lord and that we are waiting for Him to move in our behalf. This email was sent to, what we believe to be, unbelievers...but sent out with prayer that the Lord would display His power and might to change their status as believers.
We were anxious, scared and excited to see that email sent out on Sunday night. We believe we are going to see a miracle. I can't wait to share it with the world. Until then, this heart is being tackled and surrendered to a life of faith that we are called to.
Please pray for the Valenzuela family.
"Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord-that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful." James 5:11

friday's favorite four

2011-03-11T13:52:00.000-08:00

1. Pep now has an obsession with planes and helicopter. she can hear them way before we can see them. there has been some days this week we have had the back door open. close to ten times we run to each other, she jumps in my arms and we go on search for the noisy "copter" in the sky. the look on her face once we spot it is, yes, priceless.
2. Isabelle counting her foam letters in the tub. she counts up to thirteen now.
3. The Word of God. Seek and you shall find.
4. Redeeming Love. I read 1/4 of the book years ago and never finished it. picked it back up this week...can't put it down. i love having a book to go to in the evening.

wordless wednesday

2011-03-09T12:09:00.000-08:00

tackle it tuesday

2011-03-08T13:40:00.000-08:00

our garage..ahem...it gets the brunt of all our messiness. the car needs cleaned out, the mess goes in the garage. we dont know where to store something, goes in the garage. i dont feel like taking this out to the trash...it goes in the garage. on and on. saturday morning, peppy and i watched a video and then decided to tackle the messiness. now, cleaning with an almost 2 year old is a bit crazy. i put something up, she takes something down. but it was actually pretty fun to do with her. she helped quite a bit.
here's the before.

and here's the after...

notice how everyone, including the cat, wanted to be in the garage AFTER it was clean. uhhuh!

friday's favorite four

2011-03-04T13:45:00.000-08:00

1. waking up at 2:30am to my husband sitting up saying, "i have to pray." felt so safe lying in bed.
2. new friends
3. text messages
4. having peppy crawl on my lap in the middle of the park and cuddle. what? i never get that! why can't moms freeze time?

wordless wednesday

2011-03-02T13:31:00.000-08:00

schedule, kinda

2011-02-27T20:45:00.000-08:00

read a chapter in a book about how children thrive on schedules/routines. i know i do but sometimes its hard when you stay at home. while i haven't set a strict schedule for the pep and i, i have decided on certain things i want to incorporate in our day. 1. independent play 2. reading time. both have worked out pretty well this past week. it's been interesting to see what peppy choses to do during independent play. usually i am cleaning upstairs and she has full reign of the play room, hall bathroom, guest bedroom and her room. one day, i passed by the play room and heard her singing and talking to her doll baby, on her lap on the bed. a while later she came out and said "potty" and put the baby on her lil froggy potty. then she said, "bath." i let her get in the tub and pretend she was washing baby. so much fun for me to watch!
reading time has worked best if i lay a blanket out with pillows, a snack and her baby and woobie.

she has now perfected the somersault

wordless wednesday's

2011-02-22T22:56:00.000-08:00

because i want to be more consistent with blogging, i've decided to try out what everyone in the blogging world chimes, "wordless wednesday." my next wednesday wont have any words :)

we'll see what other days i'll get into ;)

SURPRISE

2011-02-16T21:44:00.000-08:00

My lovely mother turned 60 on Feb. 7th, so peppy and i decided to pay her a surprise visit. our ticket cost a whoppin 10 dollars b/c of our frequent flyer miles. it worked out great.
my dad booked a room at the blennerhassett hotel (the hotel este and i stayed in on our wedding night 6 years and a day before) it was wonderful...candies, flowers, sparkling juice, dinner, etc.

happy birthday nana!

playing at the mall

snow time ! my dad had such a great time with her in the snow! hahaa.

and then the hot chocolate treat after being in the snow...she called it her coffee.

TO: MY VALENTINE

2011-02-14T12:55:00.000-08:00

Ever so loving
Sparkle in your eyes
Teachable heart
Enveloping hug
Beautiful
Always leading our family
Never swaying

Sustained
Amazing daddy
Best kisser
A servant
Zealous for our God

Victorious..oh yes, b/c of the Lord
Adorable laugh
Lovely
Easily makes me smile/laugh
Never lies
Zips your pants...
Um, never
Extremely handsome
Lives for Jesus
Always loving on our peppy

you are truly a dream come true. you are my valentine. i celebrate you and our love today.
From: Your Valentine

d to the land

2011-02-01T22:40:00.000-08:00

a few days ago, we decided around noon to go to disneyland. so glad we did. each month that peppy gets older, it gets more fun to go with her. no meltdowns this time...well, not with me. sorry daddy, i had to go to the restroom!

she actually loves wearing her sunglasses and will leave them on. i love that.

waiting in line for "its a small world." she was eating a frozen banana and waving at everyone in the boats going by. she would yell out, "hi!" funny enough, a lot of the pple in the boats would respond and she kinda acted like it was no big deal. of course they'd all pay attention to her!

dogs and dirt

2011-02-01T22:35:00.001-08:00

grandpa ray came to visit about a week ago and brought his dog, maxx. peppy loves maxx...and she loves being outside. it was a good afternoon.

oh child of mine

2011-02-01T22:31:00.000-08:00

in the past few weeks, she has taken to fixing us "soup" and 'cake" in her house outside. hmmm.. is this a tell tale (is that how you spell that?) of what we eat a lot of??? well, we don't usually allow cake in our house...cause that's just dangerous..however she has been to enough birthday parties that she knows once we sing the birthday song, there is cake nearby. we called a friend on the phone and sang him happy birthday. once we were done singing (we were in the car) she said, "cake!" hehee! anyways, i love seeing her use her imagination :)

changing everyday

2011-01-03T21:02:00.000-08:00

this girl just keeps changing everyday! here are some of her newer thangs!
* tunnels, tunnels and tunnels! she wants to be enclosed in any couch, with her baby and her milk.
* puzzles. she loves puzzles and i can't believe how good she is at them
* she has a bomb kitty meow. it sounds very real
* her please is still....pzzzzzzzz. it seems like everyday she is saying new words. it's crazy. she is even saying three words together. cuhrazy!
* she has started to say, "oh my dosh!"
* she has started to sing all the time. her ending note most of the time wll be pretty high. that's when we know she is done and we clap...and she starts again.
* she has begun to pray before we eat. we hold hands, bow our heads and she starts to pray. it's quite a prayer too...and then she says amen. talk about touching our hearts!
* she wants me to sing her a song everytime she goes night night.
* she is a love bug. she will hug most pple we ask her to hug when we are leaving some place...whether she knows them or not...and she kisses too :)
* she loves to dance.
*her belly laugh rocks!

* two days ago she pooped in her potty. hasn't happened since...although she has tried a lot.
*i sneezed today. she said, "bless you." i said, "what?" she said it again. didn't know she knew that one.
*she loves to be chased (especially if she has someone else around to run to for safety) i think i love it as much as she does.

christmas day

2011-01-03T20:57:00.000-08:00

skyping w/ uncle, auntie, and oley

always cuddling while pops takes his naps

she loves to color! coloring with her new stuff from nana and pops

christmas eve

2011-01-03T20:51:00.000-08:00

this may have just been my favorite day out of the whole trip. i am such a tradition girl. can't help it, i love it. my granny got to come over and spend some time with us and we had delicious crab legs and caviar..mmmm! we then exchanged gifts with granny and peppy was sooo patient and help give out the gifts. we then took granny home and went to look at christmas lights. she LOVES christmas lights. everytime we come home, she wakes up from a nap or from bedtime, we have to go and put on all the lights. when we were in wv and we were in the car, she would say, "lights, lights" we'd see some and she'd automatically say, 'more!" sooo...we knew she'd enjoy our annual christmas eve light looking. we went to a park and it was really cool. lights after lights. spectacular. we then made our way to a specific neighborhood with beautiful houses and lots of lights. we sang christmas carols the whole way. we'd finish one song and she'd say, 'a song." we didn't really mind, it was fun. it's crazy how much a child adds to the holidays.

as you can see, we didnt get many pics of this day

christmas vacay

2011-01-03T20:40:00.000-08:00

we went to west virginia for a few weeks for christmas and new years. we actually had a white christmas :) we had such a great time!
is my child really this big?

my granny has two lil kitties and we loved them. this is cricket

gingerbread house :)

sledding

eating an icicle

grandma's cooking...!
hibachi grill

christmas decorating

2011-01-03T20:33:00.000-08:00

the day my parents left from their thanksgiving visit, i knew we had to do something so i wouldn't be so sad. i decided it would be a great day to do our christmas decorating. this was such a special day for me. peppy had such a fun time helping us and listening/dancing to christmas music.
helping momma take the tree out of the box

the tree's out, time for the pep to get in...

so thankful she's mine

tuckered out

thanksgiving

2011-01-03T20:24:00.000-08:00

my parents came out for thanksgiving...yes, it's update time. they got our peppy girl a snowhite dress.

aunt judy's got the style we like. coat was a gift from auntie :)

this girl looo0oves to take her socks off and find fuzz in between her toes. hate to say it, but she got that from her momma (when i was a kid...not now!)

yup, i think she found something!

accidents

2010-11-18T20:43:00.000-08:00

or owies as they are stated in our house. yeah, they are no fun and thought i should document a few that have happened in the last month.
owie #1
about a month ago, i had este take peppy down the stairs in good ole piggy back fashion. at that time, we were giving her piggy back rides holding onto her wrists. well, when he put her down on the couch, she had such a confused look on her face and couldn't move her arm...kept it straight...didn't really move her fingers and was crying out "owie." yes, this was an instant cry for the parents. i rushed and called the doctor, while crying, and they said to bring her in. i questioned them and said, "you dont think i should take her to the er?"
the ride there was so sad...she couldn't suck her fingers cause she couldn't move her arm..so she couldnt comfort herself.
long story shorter
*her elbow was out of socket
*this happens quite frequently, i now know, to kids her age
*i could not be in the room, so a nurse was outside trying to comfort me
*i heard a scream like i've never heard followed by crying
*went back in the room to a girl with a lollipop
*lollipops are just the bomb
*2 minutes later, peppy running around the room..mommy and daddy still crying

yeah, not fun and it definitely shaved a few years off my life.

owie #2. i was shaving and cut myself around the ankle and put a band aid on it. peppy noticed and i told her, "owie." so...being the amazing first time mom that i am, i put a band aid on her ankle like mommy. not too long after, i put her down for a nap. not too long after that, i heard sobbing coming from her room...i went in there to see what in the world was going on and she looks up to me with her finger pointed at the band aid and she's crying, "owie." i mean, she was crying like she had a cut to the bone owie. i tried to take it off but it wouldn't come off and was actually making an owie. ha! yeah, her owie came off a few days later and i WILL NOT do that again.

owie #3.
two days ago, our family was in a house it was pretty cool. its layout seemed like the rooms never ended...there were just more and more every turn. downstairs, in one of the rooms, there used to be a pool table. evidence of this is the LOW light that hung from the ceiling saying, "pool." ahem. so, i was being my normal self running in front of peppy to hide in the next room. i hear her giggling chatter coming closer. she rounds the corner and i jump out. we are both laughing yet still moving at a jogging pace. as i turn from looking at her, still running forward, i run head in to the corner of that stupid light. i dropped to the floor immediately and wailed. este had not been downstairs yet and hears, from what he described, "a yell/cry like he's never heard me scream." he drops everything he has and runs downstairs having not a clue what he was going to see. isabelle points up to the light and says, "owie." a minute later, i was still on the floor crying but could actually converse and my dear peppy pie crawled into my lap, wrapped her arms around me and began to rock me back and forth. the pain was pretty bad, the rocking was extremely worth it.
the light

our working girl

i'm done with owies for a while.

disneyland

2010-11-15T19:16:00.000-08:00

este and i were discussing on saturday morning what we could do with the kids and i just saw that light in his eyes and knew what he was thinking. he worked so hard preparing all of our food and getting everything ready for us. we finally made it there about 1:30ish. ate our lunch in the car and headed to this place that the kids were clueless about. the first thing we did was watch the christmas parade. when we were waiting for the parade to start, olivia asked, "whats the first song we are gonna sing." its crazy to see kids experience things for the first time because they really are clueless about it. isabelle cried in the beginning and i couldnt figure out why but then i realized that she didnt want the people/things to pass...she wanted more...then i think she figured out more is coming!
they loved the rides! we rode its a small world, the tea cups, dumbo, and the carousel (2 times)
esteban got to meet jake harris from the deadliest catch and we also got to experience the magical "snow" at the end of the night. we had a great time. mega exhausting, but great! can't wait to go back.

waiting for the parade

my loves

our niece, oley

dumbo!

loving the carousel

besos

hats with their names on it

harvest costume

2010-11-11T21:18:00.000-08:00

so, here's the scoop on pep's costume this year. i'm the queen of last minute. i realized that we had a harvest party to go to a week-week 1/2 before halloween. so i started searching online for an outfit for my gal. it's crazy, but you know how you hear girls say about their wedding dress, "i just knew this was the one." well, it's sad to say, but i felt that way about this little lamb costume for isabelle. however...it was sold out for the season. i searched high and low for it on other sites... nothing. i then went and tried to find a costume in some stores around town...nothing compared. so i decided on a poodle costume online, but definitely felt like i was settling. I got an email back the next day saying it was sold out as well. i went on the adventure to make my own little lamb costume. it took me one whole day. it definitely was not perfect, seeing that i did not have a pattern and i am a beginner seamstress ( i did have sewer down but i dont think thats correct)...but i ended up being pleased. i wanted a little lamb, and a little lamb i did get! here's her debut.
wait, wait. i have to mention how awesome my hubby is. when i made her costume, she would not let me put her hood on. lol, she would rip it right off and throw it...so we never saw the finish product on. i was asked to help with the harvest party so i had to be there early. sooooo, my darling husband had to get our lil sugar ready for the party. lollipops are magical at getting little minds off of daddies putting hoods on them. thanks daddy, youre the best!
now, here's her debut...

my darling lil lamb

giving lovies

proud grandpa and grandma

julian

2010-11-11T21:07:00.000-08:00

we went on a day trip to julian with our church for a picnic. Grandpa Steve bought peppy a coon hat. love. it. pep loves being outside so she quite enjoyed herself! not to mention 2 of her besties were there, too!
gettin some firewood;)

oh, you know, just listenin to a friend play the harmonica

and here she is with her coon hat

as much as i hate this picture of me, i have to show it because it's pictures like these that make me realize my baby is not a baby anymore. look at those legs!!

a month's worth of photos coming right up

2010-11-11T20:59:00.000-08:00

we went to the wild animal park with kim and mady and had a great time. here are some pics!

why does it look like im the only one having fun on this thing?

cousins!

daddy is such a trooper!

we had to risk life and limb to see these elephants

2010-10-02T21:49:00.000-07:00

my 80s workout girl

2010-09-26T21:47:00.000-07:00

peppy loves going through her drawers and trying on stuff ... here's one of my favorite looks of hers ;)

gabe

2010-09-26T21:42:00.000-07:00

Heidi and the kiddos came for the day on thursday. i love them. here's my precious nephew and sister-in-law.

apple-E

2010-09-26T21:39:00.000-07:00

so our peppy girl loves APPLES....which she calls apple-E. she could say it right last week...this week it's different...heehe. anyways, she loves everything but the peel and she is very patient in biting and spitting out the peel to get to the juicy good stuff. here's a pic of the aftermath. this past week she probably ate one a day.

fun wv photos

2010-09-26T21:23:00.000-07:00

wedding

2010-09-26T21:12:00.000-07:00

while in west virginia, we got to see one of my college friends get married. at the wedding i got to see friends i had not seen for 9 years. it was so nice to see our kiddos play together.

peppy's friend and my mom being awesome

visiting with wv family

2010-09-26T21:08:00.000-07:00

wv mountain momma

2010-09-25T00:15:00.000-07:00

this girl has west virginia blood in her...yes, absolutely! she loved being outside, even in the rain ;) we had a wonderful time...dont think it could have gone better.

sweetie pie

2010-09-24T23:43:00.000-07:00

some fun photos taken before our trip to west virginia...

the adventures of a momma going to bed

2010-09-08T22:08:00.000-07:00

as i was getting myself ready for bed, i began clearing off my bed of a few stuffed animals, peppy's ducky bath towel, a few raisins, some of her clothes she wore today, and a few findings from my nightstand she had grabbed (including a shell...thank you dad)

i went to the closet to separate some clothes so i could put a load in tonight and found some more stuffed animals, some socks that were wet that she had thrown in the tub earlier and a onesie she had snuck in earlier in the day
i see her duck in the middle of our shower (this is not a rubber ducky..it's her stuffed duck.) when gaga got out of the shower, she decided to go in...and the water that was remaining was "ottt" when id ask her if it was hot she would say so flippantly, "no." alrighty then.
i go to my sock drawer and find it completely opened with about 5 socks on the floor

i walk through the living room and see the bouncy ball we got for 2 dollars today that she kept playing with in target. gaga was pulling the buggy (yes i said buggy) from the front, she was sitting in the buggy and i was walking behind throwing it back and forth to her. after a while it got a little boring to her, i suppose, and she realized it would be more fun to watch momma run in all directions trying to not let the ball hit someone or knock things off the counters. yes, she was throwing it in all sides THAT I WAS NOT ON...but i think we both found it quite funny.

as i reach the kitchen, i see her fingerprints and magnets all over the fridge.

everywhere i go in the house, there are traces that my darling peppy has been there sometime throughout the day. the house is quiet and i realize for the 1,000,000th time today, i am forever in love with this girl. the Lord has been so gracious to me and i am forever thankful.

fun day

2010-08-22T00:22:00.000-07:00

i have been having so much fun with isabelle. today was just one of those days that i cherished being a wife and momma. when it was time for bed, i brought pep upstairs to get "gaga" and he said, "man, i heard you laughing a lot down there." she's a blast and i find her pretty amazing.

oley!

2010-08-22T00:17:00.000-07:00

we had our oley come and stay with us for a little bit and peppy could not have been more happy!

livy wanted to play in the pack n play downstairs so i brought it down. peppy was happy cause she got to drink out of olivia's cup and olivia was happy cause she got her nuk

my nephew, Gabriel

2010-08-22T00:13:00.000-07:00

my nephew Gabriel "tiger" William Sprouse was born on August 10th. we were at the beach when he arrived so when we got back, i went to see him! he's amazing.

the beach

2010-08-21T23:59:00.000-07:00

we decided to go to the beach for a week with my parents after the wedding. it was not long enough! we had an amazing time!

mary's wedding

2010-08-21T23:46:00.000-07:00

my friend, mary, got married august 7th in north carolina. i had such an amazing time and the bride was beautiful!

to do list

2010-08-21T23:39:00.000-07:00

im the "to do list" queen, and i think my daughter is taking after me!

visit with the valenzuela grandparents and aunts :)

2010-08-21T23:29:00.000-07:00

our pepita...my, my

2010-07-25T21:12:00.000-07:00

this girl is something! she is changing like crazy. two weeks ago she began walking a lot of the time but this last week and 1/2 she is officially...dum dum dum...a walker. i love it, i love it, i love it. it is fun and hopefully i wont get as many bruises on my legs crawling on the floor playing with her. she loves to play "getcha" and thinks it's hilarious when we jump out and scare her. ( my kinda girl) she responds 'no' for everything that is asked her. we have to say, "say yes!" and half the time she will say it with a lil lisp. ha ha. when she drops something or she falls she says. 'uh oh.' she said "peppy's baby" yesterday while reaching for her baby doll. she loves elmo and calls him "melmo." she loves to sing. she definitely still sucks her fingers and is now beginning to stick one finger up her nose while sucking..momma does not like this new found finger freedom. please let this be a stage...and a quick one at that. also, she knows what buttons to push for me. i dont think this one is normal but she gags herself with her finger. she will stare me down in the car as she is back there gagging (and boy does she gag...tears running down her cheeks and all). at first i got mad cause, ewww. but then it gets funny and she just keeps doin it to get a reaction from me. este will watch her in the rear view mirror and he says she wont take her eyes off me. it starts to get hilarious and i definitely dont want her to see that so im hiding my face from her. finally she says, "MOMMA!" and i turn around and she stops. yes, this has happened more than once. she has 12 teeth and seems like she is starting to get some more. she had her 15 month appointment and she is one healthy kid. im so thankful. that is a recap on this ever changing lil momma that we soooo adore.
the other day, este walked in the door from work and she rounded the corner with a huge smile and said, "GAGA!" that made his year.
ill leave you with some pics of our precious.

kern river

2010-07-25T20:55:00.001-07:00

we went to kern river with este's family for 5 days. it was such a good trip, although i almost lost my life in the kern river. however, i am here and peppy still has a mommy...so all is well :) the fun thing about most trips are the stories we will be able to talk about for years to come. the Lord has blessed us!
with grandpa and uncle mig in the river

ima survivor! back with my baby!

GG being cute and river-like

in her life vest...yeah, it lasted 1 second.

reading veggie tales with hoss

my darling in piggys.

peppy and hunch

game time...oh yeah!
miguelito drawing with his eyes closed!

charades...the tornado

pancho was an amazing boost of confidence on our team. i love this fam!

momma cindy and her boys

pictures (back in may)

2010-07-11T23:45:00.000-07:00

alright, im gonna try to catch up on pics and stuff the next few days....
i wanted to make all the pics "purdy" but its gonna take too long so i thought id go ahead and post.
my dad came for a few weeks in may...yes, he taught pep how to work on the "car"

the farm book..excited much?

we went to the beach and she loved it!

i know, i know

2010-06-29T21:15:00.001-07:00

SLACKER. what can i say, we have been going nonstop for the last few months it seems. both of our cameras are dead...so i have no new pics to show b/c i'm too lazy to go and charge them and i havent really been taking many pics here lately. hopefully that will change! just wanted to update quickly on peppy's growth!
1. she says all kinds of stuff...momma, dadda (gagga), yellow, ball, night night, bye, no no no, down...etc.
2. she completely understands what we are saying most the time and will nod for a yes or tell us no.
3. she gives wonderful hugs with a "mmmmm"....i realize what all i do because she copies everything
4. she has been walking lots more...still chooses to crawl a lot though
5. she has 11 teeth and we are patiently waiting for her 4th molar which was already cutting 2 months ago to finally come in. her teeth take for.ev.er to come in...poor thing.
6. she loves her daddy, mucho!
7. she loves to talk on the phone...so much that she can pretend that anything is a phone.
8. she loves tags. if she is in the middle of something and she finds a tag, everything stops, she puts her fingers in her mouth and starts caressing the tag...adorable.
9. she loves bubbles
10. she will now eat baby food for me...which i love b/c it means less stinky poop! yay!

i'll get some pics up here soon. until then, go argentina!

#30!

2010-05-16T21:12:00.000-07:00

soooo, my darling groom turned 30 on the 14th. he had told me a year ago that he did not want a party for his 30th! well, about a month ago, he seemed to have a change in attitude. one thing i love about our relationship is that we can be with each other 90% of each day and still not have enough of one another....EXCEPT when i'm trying to plan a surprise party for him! heehee, he made it tough but with mucho help from his family, we pulled it off. our goal was to bless him and show him love, and loved and blessed he did feel. mission accomplished! our friend mason took some snaps at the party...so glad b/c i wouldn't have gotten any. here's a glimpse into our celebration of my hubby's life.

when the door was opened, he saw everyone and looked at me like, "youre, eh, sneaky sneaky!"

joy to see all his friends and family

i gave him 30 reasons why i love him and then the guests went around and shared why
they love him too. special, special moments!

true love given from the Lord

sharing

our God is an awesome God

some of the coolest kiddos

singing/playing the happy birthday song...beatles style

happy birthday, baby!

mother/son team/hobby/bonding :)

i love Este's family and they sure love him! they worked hard to get this party thrown and i'm so thankful for them and their love for my darling!

whew!

2010-05-16T20:47:00.000-07:00

i think i can finally take a breather and get back to blogging! may is always such a busy busy month...and this year has not proven otherwise. i was just looking back at the pictures that were in the camera and thought i would share some photo fun.

2010-05-01T14:24:00.001-07:00

one of many!

2010-05-01T13:49:00.001-07:00

my fav thing right now

2010-04-23T10:31:00.000-07:00

one of my favorite times each day (night) is the time este and i are going to bed. we always go in and check on our baby and it's like she enjoys knowing that we will come in at some point and check on her. 1/2 the time she stays asleep and the other half of the time she'll sit up or roll over, give a big smile and we'll hold her for a minute. we'll tuck her back into bed and off to sleep she goes again. it's the most precious thing to me at this point.
she's been walking with her walker, she colored (kinda) yesterday, and some of the time she will repeat animal sounds after me. never on cue though ;)

how does life get so busy????

2010-04-20T09:49:00.000-07:00

my oh my, we have been busy! but God has been so good!
quick updates:
isabelle tried eating yogurt with a spoon yesterday. partly successful (meaning, part of it went in her mouth, part...um, everywhere else!)

i pretty much had to let go and realize a bath would be waiting for her. overall, it was fun for us both!
yesterday, she also decided to start talking on a play phone. for the first time i saw her hold it up to her ear (kinda) and try to say hello. i coulda melted!
blurry, but you get the idea!

just had to throw this in, love her legs!

1 year checkup

2010-04-15T21:00:00.000-07:00

on wednesday, isabelle got her 1 year checkup.
21 1/2 lbs (65%)
31 in (95%)
and totally healthy!

standing up like a big girl!

milestones!

2010-04-15T20:51:00.001-07:00

on the 12th, peppy's bday, she rode in her new car seat facing forward...she was in such a daze b/c it was so new to her...heehee! it was great!

we went to ihop and they sang to her and gave her a sundae.

she also tried to use a spoon for the first time on her own initiative (which she tried again tonight at dinner and did so-so)
we also hit our goal...she was nursed for a year! yay! the morning before her birthday was the last time she nursed. if i stop and think about it, i get a bit sad...so i dont :)
she says momma like it's going out of business. :) i tease este that she calls him baba...which she also calls everything else that, too. but it truly sounds like she says all kinds of words....who knows. we'll leave it there :)
she is also standing up by herself w/out using anything. it's so cool to watch her grow!
overall, she's just a major 1 year old blessing!
gma introduced this riding form. does it look safe to you?

1...really?

2010-04-15T20:18:00.000-07:00

Monday, my peppy girl turned 1! what? yeah, so hard to believe! we threw a party for her on saturday and it was amazing for me, the mama. to see everyone there that loves her so much is so importantly sweet for a mother. it was cool to see with different people everytime i "found" her. she is so loved, and she loves so much, too! it seems like she has a way about her to make everyone feel special...and i love that.

ahem

oh my...

2010-04-06T01:17:00.000-07:00

first night lil pepita spent the night at grandpa and grandmas! it has been an amazing night. esteban and i went and hung out at franky and judy's, went in the jacuzzi, watched some tv and then went to the movies (first time i have been in like a year) before we started our date night, we got to take some shots of isabelle and i just got done havin some fun with the pictures. thought i should share!
here's to isabelle having a great night for the grandparents :)

tomorrow is easter...last easter...

2010-04-03T20:30:00.000-07:00

our baby came into our world. how is it possible to love so strong? for that love to grow and stretch so deep? ahhh, all i know is that i am in love with this lil woman and i look at her and STILL cant believe she's mine!

she loves books! gone are the days where i constantly had to tell her to take them out of her mouth. she could sit there and turn the pages in the same book for the longest time. it is quite precious and we swear that she has said bible several times...:)

our kitchen-aide :)

2010-04-03T20:19:00.000-07:00

our peppy is beginning to love being in the kitchen...for some reason, as messy as it can get, i love it too! she can spend forever in the pantry, the fridge and the cabinets.
helping uncle b and olivia with breakfast

fun play

2010-03-21T20:46:00.000-07:00

a few evenings ago, we were out with peppy in 'the house' and we had such an amazing family play time. pep was in the house pickin up pieces of grass and handing them to me. one time i caught her putting it in her mouth and i said, "isabelle, not in your mouth!" and she literally just spit it out. i found it hilarious but also was so proud! then she started pretending to give me the stuff but would fake me out. so i started teasing her that i was gonna just take it by force and she started laughing harder than i have ever heard her. well at least the hard laughs were longer than she has ever gone. i didnt think she would ever stop.
here are some pics (so wish we would have gotten it on video)

praise Jesus!

snaps

2010-03-21T20:13:00.000-07:00

este and i are really enjoying taking pictures. este has an "eye" for it. we are looking forward to getting more gear...but until then...here are some fun shots we have taken.

pops and grandma

2010-03-21T20:07:00.000-07:00

my dad and mom came for 9 days to visit and celebrate olivia's second birthday. as always, we had a blast! i cant believe how bad we were at taking pictures this time. we went to sacramento to look at different gardens (it was amazing) and our battery went dead before we could take hardly any. and we didnt get the pics from dad and mom before they left...so i cant share any...but it was really cool and we look forward to going back and getting some pics!
my mom also fell on wednesday night and got a concussion...we praise the Lord that He looked after her and she is doing much better! they took us out to lucille's bbq for a "last supper." it was scrumptious!
can i just spell out "attached" to you? and boy does she know who she can boss around!

a grammy's love

dedication 3/14/2010

2010-03-21T19:55:00.000-07:00

We never had isabelle dedicated b/c we had not really found a church home since we have had her. however, since the end of 2009, we totally have found our church home and we decided that we should have her dedicated. my parents were in town and esteban's family were able to come and be part of this special day. it was such a special occassion for us and we felt so blessed!

we didnt get any pics with our camera of the dedication (we had it videoed) but we need to snag the pictures from our families! she did amazing! Our pastor spoke about why we dedicate our children to the Lord and then prayed over all of us...she then proceeded to grab his mic) but all in all..it went wonderful. she looked like a precious doll. I then received an email from someone at our church saying how they love dedications and how it's a time for the church to agree to watch over and pray for our children and hopefully see them become children of God. it was so special.
then all the family came over for lunch afterwards. we felt extremely blessed!

and i just realized that i sucked at taking pictures on this day...i guess i had too much else on my mind. there were lots of pple around that loved our baby...and that's what counts.

mucho de everything

2010-03-21T19:33:00.000-07:00

someone got in momma's "jewelry" drawer

i think there has been a few things that have caused peppy to be scared of taking baths...so grandma thought she would comfort her and get in the tub ... with all her clothes on. what a sweetie!

we celebrated olivia's 2nd birthday

when we tell peppy to "praise Jesus," this is what happens...

she now knows how to work a snack trap

yay for birthday parties!

enjoying all of oley's presents....

getting her used to her bath again (it's totally working...last time...not even a tear)

full

2010-03-04T22:32:00.000-08:00

i feel like God has just made me so "full" today. I cant quite explain it, but i have felt so much satisfaction in His presence. Praise you, Jesus. We were just listening to a song where it talks about "He said He can move mountains, if He can move mountains, He can move my mountain, he can move your mountain, too!" woohoo! Jesus, we are anxiously waiting!
Yesterday Este and I had an amazing day of worshipping the Lord...with our peppy! We were standing and singing, with her in her daddy's arms and all three of us, at some point, had our arms raised. she is precious and i LOVE that we can teach her how to praise the HOLY ONE!
and...here she is:

"have you seen my ball?"

pepster webster

2010-02-26T23:49:00.000-08:00

our peppy pie is all over the place these days! the other day she went up all of our steps (with me behind her, of course!) one morning she was crying in her crib and i went in there to see what was up and she was standing up (not realizing how to get down) luckily, this (her crying while standing) has not happened again. but she stands all the time now and it's quite adorable!
she was going after the kitty's food the other day and we both said, "no!" well, she continued and este went and got her and was telling her...and then she kissed him...and again and again. lol, it shocked him and SHUT HIM UP! her point exactly. we're gonna have to watch this one! heehee.
today i had both girls outside playing in their house and on the grass. this was pep's first time really playing like that outside. at first she didnt want her feet or hands touching the grass, but in 5 mins. she came around and loved it! we also took her to the playground to play for the first time this week. she had so much fun. she loved the slide and then i got on the tire swing and put her on my lap and she giggled most the time while daddy pushed us! :)
olivia and belle went on their first bike ride with billy tonight. isabelle was leaning on olivia, with a smile on her face and the wind in her hair. olivia was singing to her. precious!
are you ready for pictures yet???
oh my! what a joy!

lovins with auntie

date night fun:) :) :)

what a big girl! olivia would pop through the window you see and belle would die of laughter!

"ewww! r u kiddin me?"

lovin it!

is this not the funniest/cutest thing ever???

potpourri (lil bit of everything)

2010-02-18T09:29:00.000-08:00

on vday, heidi and billy went out for the afternoon while we watched the kids and then when they came home, este and i went out for the evening. they decided to take the girls for a walk in the new double walker/bike thingy that they got. the girls loved it...until este and i came out to see and then pep kinda freaked out...and then olivia. after a minute, they were fine for the rest of the time...hahaha!
this picture makes me laugh!

pep needed some reassurance from her cousy

play date with the truman boys. this was like an hour past her naptime and she was in heaven!

bouncing! (ezra was amazing with her)

helping momma look for coupons!

olivia sees the mess and is like, "youve gotta be kidding me!"

worship this morning with daddy and mommy. she loved playing the djembe with daddy...and she really did play! we began to teach her "praise HIM" and raise her hands!

day 5

2010-02-08T22:03:00.000-08:00

we went home on this day! we had breakfast at the hotel and got our things packed and headed out! this day could not have gone any smoother. once again, we got the whole row to ourselves on the plane. isabelle slept on me for over an hour and i didnt have to pull out one toy the whole time (2 1/2 hour trip) it was just so relaxing! when we got home, we set her on the floor and she was sooooo happy! she was just laughing and yelling! she loved being with olivia again and when she saw theo, she just lost it. she couldnt get enough of him!
what a great trip! cant wait to return!

day 4 (i posted day 2, you can scroll down to find it!)

2010-02-08T21:45:00.001-08:00

this was one of my favs! the hotel had an awesome exercise room that i would get to go up to a few times while we were there. isabelle would go down for a nap...este would nap too, and i would get to burn some calories. it was wonderful! i think este got to nap with peppy everyday...and that right there is great!
on this day we took the metro to the space needle. the brunch was so amazing! i had such a wonderful time, i had tears in my eyes telling este how awesome it was!
the floor at the needle turned so we got to see every angle during our brunch!
hahahahaha! she actually did have a great time, too! youd never guess!

our God is majestic!

skyscrapers!

we took her to the pool. at first she was a bit cold. but daddy played around with her and she loved it!

eww! she really is putting her tongue in it!

just cant get enough of her!

need to teach isabelle how to take pics of mommy and daddy! (the tripod wouldnt fit in the luggage :) )

so we ended our last night with dindin at an irish pub...where este had an amazing "pasty" and i had the best salmon i have ever had! seriously! it was glorious! isabelle loved it all!

day 3

2010-02-08T21:34:00.001-08:00

this was our anniversary day and it was the down day of them all. we took an adventurous bus ride to another part of the city to this mall that looked really cool online. it ended up not being worth it...cause these buses were just dirty and peppy was not in a good mood and was wanting to put everything in her mouth. 7:00pm couldnt get here fast enough! (that's when we put her to bed:) este rigged this whole thing in our room to separate where she slept and our area. it worked out wonderfully!) anyways, we went to ruth's chris for our anniversary dinner and could hardly enjoy it cause peppy was a mess. they even sprinkled "happy anniversary" confetti on the table...and she tried to eat it! ahh! anyways, that was the day! still enjoyed being together as a family and being away!
on the bus...she has a spoon in her hand..which im sure she threw down 3 seconds after this was taken :) (and why am i smiling???)

oh yes, this was great! peppy had her first cupcake! she couldnt sign "more" fast enough! then there were lil birdies tryin to get the crumbs. she loved it!

do i need a napkin??

outside at the mall. okay, maybe it wasnt as bad as i remember in my head!

peppy was pointing the way to the hotel! i was gladly following :)