Day 112

We had ourselves a cozy day indoors because it rained (pretty hard) all day. :/ We were in our jammies until noon, and did lots of cuddling and watching Daniel Tiger (Penelope's favorite show that we watch over and over). Luciana is still napping lots throughout the day-- when she's awake she's usually in a good mood :). Tonight while I was making dinner, I snapped these pics. They melted my heart!!

I hope these two are best friends forever..... :')

Night!

Day 111

Today we had a visit from Mana-- she took Penelope to the park while Mama & Luciana went on a few errands. Little Lu slept almost the whole time!! Once we got back, after Mana left, after Penelope was taking her nap, Lu and Mama took a nap together! I rarely do that-- only because its rare when both girls are asleep at the same time & time permits me to really actually sleep. It was about half an hour, and it was heaven. Luciana had her little face snuggled into my neck, and her little body right next to mine... It's something I know we won't be able to do forever (she won't want to but I will!!), so I'm going to really enjoy those times that I can now. :) 

We had a good day, despite the rainy start... We're hoping for sunshine tomorrow so we can go to the park with some lunch and play! Love love love my babies, so thankful I get to stay with them all day, every day. ;)

Goodnight.

Day 110

Our sweet angel went to sleep with only a little fuss tonight. :) The nights are still rough now and then, but I also see good nights where Luciana will snuggle up between Mama & Daddy and fall asleep after staring at us for awhile. :) I guess she knows when to give us a little break!! 

Lu is almost 4 months old, I'm so happy we've all made it through this far in one piece! We are alone this week during the days because Papa will be at a training/class for the fire department, so we've been doing fun outdoor stuff every day, I've really enjoyed this week with the girls. Tomorrow we'll see Mana, we are hoping for NO RAIN! 

Not much else to report... Just that I love love love my little Luciana. To the moon and back! ;)

Day 109

Sigh... Long days when Daddy isn't here with us, but we are proud of how he takes care of us. :) That being said, woohoo! We had an awful night last night. Luciana was up crying (on and off) from 3:30 am until 5:30 am. Penelope woke up at 6:18. :/ Long days, sigh. 

Once we all had a morning nap (I snuck a few winks while P was watching Daniel Tiger & drinking her milk), we packed a lunch, blanket and drinks and went to the Creekside Park! A walk in the sun always makes us happy & somehow energizes us, too. 

Here's Lu along the way:

...and on our way home:

Papa came home around 6, we were happy to see him at all today. Since he'll be away at classss (for his FD job), we'll do more outings this week, maybe explore our new town a bit more! We love it here! :)

That's all I have today. Goodnight.

Day 108

Luciana is growing way too fast! Her chubby legs are even chubbier and those cheeks just don't stop!! :) She's as cute as a button, and she's also becoming more aware of things-- us, mostly. She loves her big sister. Every time Penelope comes near, she smiles really big and follows her with her eyes. If I'm busy with whatever and Lu is crying, I can ask Penelope to go talk to the baby, and she'll go over and cheer Luciana right up! So sweet. 

Here's a pic of our angels hugging:

(More like P squishing Lulu, but it's all love!!) ;)

We'll see Papa tomorrow, we can't wait. Night!

 

Day 107

Today was a fun day... Until evening, for our poor babies. :/ Luciana & I slept in and when we woke, we joined Papa & Penelope down by the harbor for breakfast at a place called The Brig. We haven't been out to a restaurant in ages, it was nice! Later, Mama & Papa went out for dinner for a friends birthday, but poor little Lu wasn't happy about it. At ALL. Mana, Holly & Lily watched the girls, and I'm afraid it wasn't so easy for them. We think it's still pretty early for our little one to be left... She may not be very good away from Mama for another month or two (or three?) In any case, coming home was sweet-- we cuddled our little Lu til she fell asleep for the night. One upside to all her crying: she slept a good 5 hours til she woke to nurse! 

That's all.... Night!

Day 106

Luciana came to help Mama & Daddy (who came home from camping early!) pick out tile for our new bathroom. Turns out helping meant she slept. :) We begin demo in about a week, and hope to be done in a month... After the rooms are all painted, hardwood floors and master bath are done, we'll be able to move into the bedrooms. It's going to be a long month (or so). Lulu doesn't even notice we're living in one room, pretty much! She's still sleeping in her Moses basket in the floor by Mama's bedside-- and seems content. :) 

Here's Lu at the tile place:

And here she is with her big sis watching Daniel Tiger (P's favorite):

And last, watching Mom make dinner (for Penelope):

Night!

Day 105

Today Daddy went to a coming trip for one of his close friends' bachelor party. Us girls stayed at home and since Penelope has been waking up at 5am, we all had a nice little rest around noon. Here's a pic I took-- Luciana & I are lying on the bed & Penelope is pacing the floor while she watches Daniel Tiger. :) We miss Papa! Goodnight.

Day 104

(Post for yesterday... Are we seeing a trend here, folks? I am so busy with these girls that I just collapse in bed at night, totally forgetting everything, including this blog. Sorry!!!)

Today Luciana and I dropped P off at Mana's and went to the Urban Kids Consignment sale in Huntington Beach. I participated in this sale, gathering all the clothes the girls never wore (and ones I knew I wouldn't put on Luciana) and went through the painstaking process of sorting, putting stuff on hangers, printing tags and attaching them just so. Thank goodness Mana, Holly & Lily helped me with that part, it was a process. :/ So, Lu & I went to the consigner's pre-sale-- it was awesome, we found lots of great stuff! It was a late night for us all, but a good one. :) 

Here's the pics I snapped at the sale.... Bye!

(The line to get into the sale & the lie to pay.... :/)

Day 103

Day 102

Luciana is sleeping better the last few days. She has gone down easily, early and stays asleep all night, save for a few middle of the night feedings. I can't complain about those, she just sorta cries out & I feed her and we both just go right back to sleep. I definitely sleep light, and in increments, but she is so worth it. I love my Lulu more each day, she is so sweet and my gosh she's cute!! She is way more responsive now with laughing, "talking", and smiling, especially at her big sis. :) They love each other, it's really cute to see Penelope kiss Luciana-- she has finally learned how to be truly gentle. :)

We are still super busy trying to unpack and get the house in shape... But we are very happy here. 

Night!

Day 101

Mama was super busy this morning with work related to a kids clothing consignment sale we're contributing to. Luciana tagged along with me this morning, and she was asleep most of the time, making it easy once we got there! Later we had other errands that needed doing, and she did real well on those too. :) Dare I mention that she napped great all day & went down super easy tonight??? She did! :) We are so tired, so it works out for us! We are slowly getting the mess at home sorted... Very slowly! 

Mama is exhausted... No pics lately, we've just been so busy!!! :/ 

Goodnight.

Day 100

(Post for yesterday)

Day 3 of moving-- we finally got everything out of Senate Street and moved it to San Juan Capistrano. We are exhausted, but no rest for the weary! We jumped into the van & set out to find a new dryer & dishwasher... Mission accomplished! After unpacking and dinner it's bedtime. Miss Luciana was easy going down, thankfully. :)

We love our new home.... Let the renovations begin!!

Day 99

Long day. Started early & these days seem never to really end when Luciana wakes up all night long.... :/ We moved almost everything else out of our old house and stuffed it into the bottom floor at the new. We'll be doing renovations upstairs beginning in 9 days, so we aren't moving into our rooms yet. It's going to be an interesting month and a half.

Luciana was a perfect angel all day, letting us all do our moving (and tame the wild Penelope!!) Still more to do tomorrow, so hopefully Lu sleeps okay tonight!

That's all... Must sleep.

Day 98

Moving day is here, folks. It was nuts. We woke early after a long wakeful night with Luciana.... She knows when we need a good night's sleep & then has a bad night herself! We know she is a baby and it'll get better soon, we love her still! 

We had lots of help from family & Daddy's friends, and worked hard to get a 26 foot long truck filled up and taken to the new house-- we were all too pooped to try to do another load, so we called it a day around 3pm. We worked on getting our beds set up and the kitchen in order, and just had time for a walk to the grocery store before bed. What a long day, but we LOVE our new house!! It needs lots of work, but it'll be even more beautiful by the time we're done with it!

Here are a few pics from today... 

We'll sleep in our new house tonight-- what a great Valentine's Day gift!!! :)

Day 97

(Post from 2 days ago!!)

Luciana is hanging in there pretty well while we are packing-- she sits in her bouncer and just watches. She only gets upset if she can't see one of us, as she doesn't like being all alone. We are packing up as much as we can, tomorrow is moving day! So, tonight's our last night in our home.... We'll miss it! I think Lu only really napped in her room a few times, so she won't really miss her room. :) 

Moving with a 15 month old & a 3 month old... Big sigh. :/

Bye Senate Street! We had great times here!!! 

Day 96

Luciana and Mama ran a few errands today whilePenelope & Mana went to the park. Lu is an awesome errand partner, she sleeps the whole time, making it super easy & fast (unless the name of the game is "lets walk these aisles until Mama finds some inner peace") :) We are in our house tonight & tomorrow night and then we'll be in our new house! We are all so very excited, but also sad to be leaving this house, and neighborhood, and the only family we have!! Good thing we'll only be 20 minutes away. 

Lu went down without a fight tonight... Praying she stays asleep & sleeps well! 

Night! 

Day 95

Today is Tuesday, that means Daddy teaches today-- he's on his second semester at OCC teaching Emergency Medical Responder. This means we get to have him home every Tuesday night. :) We've been packing and are almost ready for the move this weekend! Buuuuuut, that also means we're living in a very messy and out-of-order kind of place. :/ Luciana doesn't know the difference, she's just fine! Today I took the girls to walk around while I got some lunch and also got some fresh air. Lu slept! :) She's still really not sleeping well at night... It's 10:15 and she just woke up from a long sleep, I can't imagine she'll be ready for all night sleep anytime soon. Biiiiig sigh. I'll just wait. 

On a lighter note, Luciana is seeming like a bigger baby now, not so much a helpless newborn & is getting cuter every day!! Here's a couple pics we took today while P was napping... Night!

Day 94

Luciana is an angel, a super easy baby to handle during the day... But come 8pm, something happens. First she becomes very awake and happy, then she's just irritable (getting tired), then it's just impossible to get her to sleep! :/ We are going through a very tough night/bedtime phase with our sweet girl. :( She is still our angel at night, just an unhappy one, and we hope we can get some sleep training in very soon... Maybe a little "cry it out". In any case, with Papa home Luciana and I get to sleep in after our long nights, and for that I'm just so grateful. What a super Daddy my girls have, I hope they read these pages and know how much he loves them by all the time (real quality time) he spends with them. :) Last night was awful, Lu was up at least 10 times (not exaggerating) and I was just ragged when we heard Penelope cry at 7am. Daddy let us sleep until 9am, thank GOD, and did we need it! We are carrying on with packing up this house, and come Friday (it's Monday), we'll be sleeping in our new home on Paseo Blanco! It's a bigger house than we live in now, and we are so excited to make it our home. 

Now, before Luciana begins to cry again, Mama is going to sneak in a bit of sleep. Goodnight!

Day 93

Today Luciana attended her second birthday party-- the first she was at was her Daddy's, today was for Lily. She's 11! :) I can't believe how much she's grown in the few years I've known her-- she's already as tall as me! We went to Mana's for a Spaghetti Factory lunch, which was delish, and little Lulu sat as quiet as she could through the whole meal & cake! Well... She did do a little yelling while Granddaddy said grace, but maybe she just felt left out because nobody was holding her hand!! ;)

After yummy mint cake, we headed home for naps, it'd been a long day already. Luciana had a great time visiting family today, she got to give hugs to everyone, and she loves that. :)

Our girl is sleeping now... She sleeps a few hours then wakes to nurse and keeps that schedule until morning. By that time, she's really tired from waking all night and will usually sleep a good 4 or 5 come sunrise. 

Here's pics from today.... Night!!

Day 92

Another exhausting day behind us. We are in high gear now, and If we keep it up we can be ready come moving day, which is also Valentine's Day! :) 

Luciana's room is all packed up, I just left her clothes out. Tomorrow we say goodbye to our sweet chickens, as we're giving them to our friends, The Nevins family. They have two young children, and are sure to love them as much as we did. :)

All my family is asleep... I'd like to join them! Night. 

Day 91

(Post for yesterday)

Busy days, all of our time lately is spent packing or doing some other chore that has to be done in a timely way... Long days. We have a week left in our house, and since we missed two days of packing while we were sick, we are playing catch up now.

Luciana is a sweet angel through all the chaos-- she (usually) sits quietly in her bouncer or swing while we work. It helps a ton having such a good baby!

More packing tomorrow, and no stopping til we're in our new home.

Goodnight. Hope Lu lets us sleep....

Day 90

Is our baby really 3 months old now??? Well, it's gone by in a blink.... Sometimes. We have days when time crawls, like last night & today. It started out with Penelope throwing up a couple times in her crib-- both times at night. Took her to doctor & he said she was fine. That very night (last night) both Mama and Daddy get violently sick, and today felt like we were hit by a Mack truck! :/ Thank God Luciana hasn't gotten sick... Knock on wood (and plenty of hand washing & zero kisses). I'm nursing her like crazy, hoping she gets all the antibodies she'll need to be in this dangerous place. 

We all spent the day in our pj's, and all of us took two naps when P did... We are trying to get through this stomach bug as best we can, because my goodness, it was absolutely AWFUL. :(

No pics today-- not a fun, photo-taking kind of day. Hope tomorrow is better.

Night!

Day 89

Little Lu had an exciting day out with Mama & Daddy today-- social security administration office! :/ We waited for hours only to be sent away with instructions to gather more info and return... Papa was not enthused. Luciana, on the other hand, was a perfect angel in her stroller the whole time. :) Good thing P was with Mana, that experience could've been soooo much more difficult. 

Later we visited Dr. Lau for a little concern with Penelope (she's okay), and that was our day in a nutshell. Lu is asleep now, and (knock on wood) she is looking like she's down for the night. Looks like Mama & Daddy might get a good early nights sleep!

Here's Lu at bath time tonight. Goodnight.

Day 88

My poor baby girl... Sigh... She thinks nighttime is for doing the jitterbug. :/ We are so going to address that once she's settled in her new bedroom! I know I keep harping on this sleep thing, but it's all I can really think about right now. :/ 

On another, lighter note, we are less than two weeks away from being in our new home!! :) We have begun packing, but still have a way to go... I have moved before, but never had to pack for a family of four! It's been easier because Daddy is super good at packing and getting us motivated, so that helps! :) We are excited to get there so we can settle in. I'm excited to plan the girls' rooms again, get some girly stuff for Luciana's new room since her nursery now is very gender neutral. We put her into Penelope's old room, with all her gender neutral stuff, neutral since we didn't know P was going to be a girl. So, Mama is excited to get Lu some sweet girl stuff for her room! I'll have to make her a few pillows, just like Penelope has, and a banner with her name. Big plans for Paseo Blanco.... I know we are going to be very happy there. :)

Okay, here's Luciana and I tonight... Goodnight!

Day 87

Well, little Luciana won again. I thought I would outsmart her by putting her down early (making our late night fuss non-existant) but she woke up about 30 minutes later and is now wide awake. :/ It's 10:23 pm & I am beat... Lets hope she is alllllmost ready to sleep. I am glad that I lie down with her this afternoon (Penelope was napping too) and actually slept for about an hour. There really is nothing like an afternoon nap with your baby curled up next to you! :) (Except for when Papa is with us....then it's perfect.) We'll start figuring out a strategy for sleep training-- it's goin' down, and once we are all sleeping regular I just won't know what to do with myself!! ;) (I will, don't worry. I'll SLEEP.)

Luciana is growing so fast, and I know it's because she's nursing so well, and because I'm with her all day, I can nurse her on demand. It's really paying off, she must be 10-11 lbs. by now! :) We are almost at the 3 month mark for our sweet baby girl, and are so happy she's healthy and content. Penelope has even learned how to be gentle with her (most of the time) and gives her kisses. It really is too sweet to see. :')

No pic today, maybe tomorrow, I've promised the girls I'd take them to the park after P's morning nap, if weather permits. 

We can't wait to see Daddy tomorrow.....

Night!

Day 86

Luciana's sleep training is nearing. She is always super awake and fussy/figety/not happy at night. It's very difficult, as that is the very time when her primary caregiver (moi) is most tired. Agghhh!!!!! Deep breath upon deep breath. Crying it out isn't so bad, Penelope learned that way, and when Lu hits her 4 months, she will too!!! Daddy and I decided when we are in the new house, I figure by the time we're settled. Luciana, when you're reading this-- just know we're going to get you back!! You may be asleep in your bed, in a deep sleep, and Dad and I will sneak in your room (multiple times throughout the night) and cry loudly! :) Heehee, that cheered Mama up. I love ya, kiddo, your smiles and loud cooing makes up for the sleepless nights. Truly. :)

That being said, time to see if Her Highness is ready to be rocked to bed. ;)

Goodnight.

Day 85

Luciana had herself a whiny day! :/ I guess we all just had "one of those days". Lu and I have been enjoying having our mornings to sleep since Daddy had been home these last 4 days-- he would wake up with Penelope, feed her and then take her to the park or on a walk. So nice. I'll miss him tomorrow for sure!!!! (Sleeping in until 8am is a luxury I could totally get used to.)

After some packing, Luciana and Mama got out and did some grocery shopping, and a few other things-- it was nice Mommy-and-me time! :)

Now for an attempt at some sleep... Luciana has already woken up 3 times since I've put her down... It's going to be a long night (& early morning... Rats!!!)

Goodnight.