August 2009

Dear girls,

So...we're starting this month off a little differently. You're going to have to get used to sharing things, anyway, so I figured I'd give you a bit of a head start.


Rachel, you turned three years and two months old last week, and we are still amazed by you every single day. You have become very independent, and while it's a relief that you are so able to go and do things on your own, it's a bit scary for us too.


While we were in Illinois last week, you went next door and played with the neighbor girls, Kimmie and Tricia, most of the day. All by yourself. Every hour or so, we'd peek across the fence to make sure you were still there, and then go back to whatever it was we were doing. You also had two successful trips to a public restroom all by yourself. Both happened while we were on the road, after I'd decided that the men's restroom was far too disgusting for you (your mother was feeding your sister both times). You went it, did your thing, washed your hands, and came back out all without any help from me.


That's really good because you're going to start pre-school next week. We went to meet your teacher on Friday and you took off, playing with other kids all by yourself for about 30 minutes. You've been looking forward to this day ever since we told you that you were going to school. When we had to come home, you were very sad. You were ready to stay all day.


You've been such a good big sister this past month, and we only had a small worry right after we brought Emily home. We were playing outside one day, and I had the baby monitor out there with me because Emily was sleeping. She made some little noise in her sleep and you asked what it was. I told you it was Emily, and you said, "I don't care. I don't care about Emily," and that was the last we heard of it. The rest of the time it's been "I love my baby sister," "I want to kiss her!" and "Can I hold her?" You give her kisses all the time, and I'm hoping that continues as the two of you get older.


Emily, your first month with us has been amazing. I never knew that my heart could open up and have any more love in it than I had for your sister, but it has. We were very excited to meet you, and we still can't believe that we're parents to two beautiful little girls.


I don't know how we've managed to juggle having two kids in the house, and just like your big sister got to experience all of our first child mistakes, you will get to experience all of our having-to-deal-with-two-kids mistakes.


We've had some adjusting to do with you...it turns out your tummy didn't agree with the formula we'd been giving you, and your first week or so, you'd squirm and kick and scream trying to get rid of the gas and the poop you had built up inside of you. We switched you to a different formula, and it seems to have made a world of difference.


You're to the point now where you're sleeping 5 hours (or close to it) every night. Of course, we'd like for you to be sleeping longer than that, but we'll take what we can get. Speaking of sleeping, girl, you sleep like an old man. You make so many noises when you sleep, it sounds like you're waking up all the time. When we went to Illinois, you were sleeping in a play pen in the same room as us, and after a couple of nights, we had to move you out to the dining room because you were keeping us up all night with all of your moaning and groaning.


When you wake up in the mornings, your eyes are almost always covered in goopy eye boogers. We don't know what's causing it, but if you're anything like me, you might be allergic to something in our house. I hope that we can figure it out and get you to stop waking up with crusty eyes.


One thing that has us a little worried is that you failed your hearing test in the hospital. Your right ear was just fine, but your left ear failed. We have a more extensive test scheduled for you later this month, so hopefully we'll know more about what's causing that after we get those test results.


We all went up to Illinois last week to visit with your grandparents. It was your first flight, in what will probably be a long string of air travel for you, Emily, and you handled it like a champ. Rachel, I think we figured out that this was your 5th time on an airplane in just three short years. Your frequent flier card is in the mail.


We are so happy and so fortunate to have the both of you in our lives. We love you both very much, and as always, we can't wait to watch you grow up.


Love always,
Daddy

Curly

We have given Emily a couple of baths since she's been home, and every time we do, her hair coils up like little springs, in these tight little curls. It will be interesting to see if it still curls like that once she loses her baby hair.

Sisters

Emily Marie

I am proud to introduce you to Emily Marie Martinez Laleman.


She came into the world at 2:37 PM, Thursday, July 16, 2009, at 7 pounds, 1 ounce, and 19.75 inches long.


Mother and baby are doing very well.


Thanks to everyone for all of the congratulations and well wishes. We've been burning up the lines on Facebook all day!

Ch-ch-ch-changes

I've had that damn David Bowie song running through my head all day....and now you will too.

I just finished reading my posts from June 2006 when we were waiting for Rachel to arrive. Things were so different then. We didn't know what to expect, we were just flying by the seat of our pants and hoping for the best. I couldn't sleep the night before we went to the hospital because I was so excited to meet her.

I wouldn't say that I'm not excited to meet Emily, I just have a better idea of what's going to happen this time. I'm not as anxious about the little things. I have a better idea of what to expect over the next few days, and it's going to be so much different from when Rachel was born. We were in the hospital all day, waiting for her to come, before they took Monica in for a c-section. This time, we'll go in around 10:30 and by 1 we'll have a child.

We're seasoned parents now, but still apprehensive about how everything will go. We are hopeful that she will be healthy, and that she'll eat and sleep like she's supposed to. With Rachel, we worried about every little thing. Now, we worry about the big picture. How will it be handling two kids? How will Rachel take to her little sister? Will she be an easy baby like Rachel, or were we just suckered in?

I'm very much looking forward to meeting this new little one, and starting Chapter 3 of our lives.

Hopefully, I'll be able to post some pictures tomorrow, but if not, I'll get to it on Friday.

Three Years, One Month

Dear Rachel,

This past week, you turned 37 months old. We've had a lot of fun this month, and you've been spending a lot of time at home with Mommy. She's off for the summer, but I still have to go to work four days out of the week. It's been really nice to have long weekends with you and Mommy, though, so we can do more things together, like going to the beach.


Momma feels bad for you because you'll stop being our only child in less than a week, and she's worried about how you will handle it. She never had to go from being the center of attention to not being the center of attention, and I told her that you'd do just fine with it. And if you don't, I'll tell you to suck it up. It's part of life. We have been watching you when you're around other babies and you seem to do fine. We just don't know how you'll be when there's one around 24/7.


Since Emily is coming in less than a week, we decided that you would switch rooms, so that Emily would be closer to our room in case we neede to get up with her in the middle of the night. Listen to me, "in case." Like it might happen. Anyway, you were very excited about getting a new room, so last week, we moved all of your stuff, and sorted through your toys to decide which ones to keep, which ones to leave for Emily, and which ones to throw out. It made quite a difference in the amount of stuff you had, and the built in bookshelves in your new room gave us a great place to put a lot of your things that had previously been on the floor or in your closet. This weekend, we got new carpet in all of the bedrooms, and you got a new "big girl" bed. You're making out pretty well in this whole deal.


Your attitude seemed to change overnight this past month, too. About halfway through the month, I said to your mother, "Have you noticed that there haven't really been that many fits this month?" Then I immediately knocked on wood, threw salt over my shoulder and ran backward in a circle three times so as not to jinx it. You've gotten really good about taking "no" from us, and listening when we're trying to correct you. I don't know if the sudden change has to do with being home with Momma all the time, or turning three, or what. I guess we'll know for sure once school starts again.


Like last summer, we've been trying to stay cool by staying in the water as much as we can. We went to the beach a couple of weeks ago, and we've been hitting the pool pretty often too. You are a regular little fish, and love to be in the water. When we were in the ocean, you were riding the waves in your little blow-up ring, and you wanted me to let go of you. Every time a big wave would come, you'd laugh and laugh and say how much fun it was.


You've also been going to the library and the movies with Momma during the week while I'm at work. You've been to three movies now, and Momma says you're doing better sitting through the whole thing, but you do have to go potty during the movie a few times.


We're trying to get you to understand the concept of "borrowing" since the first time you brought home books from the library, you thought they were yours to keep. You've also gotten to borrow a little tiny laptop from my work, which you think is yours to keep also.


I know I always talk about your personality, but this month, you've started saying things that just make us roll with laughter. Not things that are inappropriate, but just things that are completely unexpected. We can really tell that you're starting to think on your own, and below I've listed just a few of the best Rachel-isms that we heard this month.

"I had so much fun here!" said coming out of HEB
"I miss Mommy," two seconds after she got out of the car
"These are too much kids," said after gathering all of your stuffed animals in your bed.
"It's de-yishis!" about a Jimmy John's sandwich
"That will probably be fun!"
"I need appetizer soap!" instead of hand sanitizer. When I told you slowly how to say it - hand san-i-tizer, you said, "hand san-appetizer soap."
"Mommy, George is ALL done, so that means I need to play on your computer."

As always, we're very excited for this coming month, and can't wait to see how you handle being a big sister. We love you very much, and you will always hold a very special place in our hearts as our first child.

Love
Daddy

Four years ago...

We were just getting the night started...now we're getting ready to go to bed.




Happy Anniversary, babe!

Coming soon...

We had the 3D ultrasound a week ago, but I thought I'd give Rachel's 3rd birthday the attention it deserved before we started making her share her space.




She is scheduled to arrive in a little less than a month.

Three years

Dear Rachel,

Last week, you turned three years old. It's summer now, and this summer will mark a lot of transitions for you.


We've been trying to spend a lot of time with you because we know that very soon, you'll stop being an only child. You are also done, for the most part, going to Miss Judy's. You'll go to see her a few times over the summer, but very soon, you're going to start going to preschool, at a "big girl" school.


The big thing that happened this month was your fall at Miss Judy's a few weeks ago. You are such a clumsy little girl. I always joke about how you have my coordination, which is to say that you have none, but this month, it really came back and bit you. You hit your head really hard on the floor when you fell, and the resulting bump looked like a silly putty egg coming out of your forehead. After the bump started to heal, the resulting bruise started draining into your eye sockets, and it looked like you had been in a prize fight. Everywhere we went, people stared at you, and it made your mother a little uneasy and a little defensive. I'm sure people thought the worst, but we know the truth. You're just a little klutz, and you've recovered just fine.


This probably doesn't mean anything to you, but you now have two highly educated parents. Mommy graduated with her Master's from A&M Kingsville earlier this month, and she is the first person in her family to earn an advanced degree. It's a pretty big accomplishment, and now both of your parents have Master's degrees, but we still can't decide what to have for dinner on any given night.


Momma also got a new truck this past month. We had to work quickly after the fire to find something that she liked and that she could afford. She decided on a Chevy Tahoe so that when Nana and Dodd come down again this winter, all of us can take a trip in one vehicle. You still ask about Mommy's Toyota, and tell us that it's in "Toyota heaven," but you've now memorized another car emblem. You know a bunch of them - Ford, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, and now Chevy.


We had your third birthday party last weekend, and we made it a small affair. We have had a lot going on and didn't want to have to plan a huge party for you. I'm sure that makes us bad parents, but you didn't seem to mind. You had your Curious George cake with blue frosting (your specific request) and you were happy.


You have gotten really good at riding your tricycle. You used to be satisfied just riding around in the driveway, but last month, we started letting you ride on the sidewalk in front of our house, and down a few houses. In the past couple of weeks, that ride has gotten longer and longer, until we finally went all the way down the block, across the street, around the next block and back up our street. It's a pretty long way for you to ride, but you handle it like a champ. The only part you have trouble with is coming back up our street, since it's uphill. We usually walk a little way with me carrying the trike, for the most part, you ride on your own. It's a great way to tire you out before your bath in the evening.


We're looking forward to spending the next 6 weeks or so with you, and I'm really looking forward to taking you to the pool a few times this summer to give Mommy a break. We love you very much, and we're very excited for all of the changes coming your way in the next couple of months.


Love,
Daddy

Happy Birthday, big girl!

It's been such a busy day, I am just now getting time to post this. Monthly newsletter coming soon!

I've got some great news...

...the bank (and insurance) finally came through...



...and I'm (Monica is) holding the keys to a brand new Chevrolet.



Apologies to Brad Paisley.

Happy Birthday, sister!

I know it's a little late, but just wanted to wish my little sister a happy birthday!



Hope you had a good one!

Congratulations!

Monica did the final step in completing her Master's degree this weekend. She walked the stage in Kingsville.

Congratulations, Monica! We're all very proud of you!

Thanks to everyone who joined us, and a big thanks to Ed, Mandi (big Darby), and Darby for suggesting the wonderful steak house that we dined at after graduation.

Two years, eleven months

Dear Rachel,

This past weekend, you turned 35 months old. You're almost three, and you're turning into quite the little girly girl. You are starting to show signs of maturity, and we're very excited about the next few months of your life. Some big changes are in store for you, little one.


I feel bad because since Nana and Dodd left two months ago, we haven't been doing a very good job of keeping up with teaching you new things, like your letters, or writing, or counting. It seems like we're so busy all the time, and while we do try to read with you, teaching you new things just hasn't been very high on the priority list, and I know it should be.


You're a very inquisitive little girl, though, so you do a lot of discovering on your own. The latest round of "a million questions" has involved songs you hear on the radio. The questions are always the same: "Daddy, what's the name of this song? Who sings (name of song we just told you)? Where is (name of singer or band)? What are they doing in (location we just made up)?" And your newest question added into this mix in the past week, "Is (name of band or singer) a him or a her?"


One of the things you came home doing this month was counting to 20. You still skip 16 and 17 most of the time, but with a little help, you can get to 20. You also recognize your numbers up to 12 because we've been trying to get you to tell time. Sort of. "When the big hand is on the 6, then it's time for us to go take a bath. When the big hand is on the 9, it's time for us to go see Miss Judy."


And speaking of Miss Judy, in a couple more weeks, you'll be done going to see her. We're going to let you go a few times over the summer, but starting in the fall, you're going to preschool! We're very excited to see how you do interacting with lots of kids your own age. For a long time, it's only been you and one other little boy at Judy's house, and he's a year younger than you. Now, you're going to start going to school like a big girl. We know you'll do well.


Something else new you started this month is delaying your crying fits when you get angry or upset. I got after you one day for doing something, and you turned on your heels, walked quickly to your room, sat down and started crying. I was shocked. We have been trying to get you to do that since you started your terrible twos, and you have always fought us on going to your room to cry. The fact that you just did it on your own makes me wonder what we did right. Of course, it doesn't happen that smoothly all the time, but at least you're starting to warm up to the idea of not throwing a kicking, screaming fit in the middle of the living room. I hope that going to your room to cry will be something you continue when the new baby comes along, because, I swear, if you wake that child up with one of your fits...


One of your favorite things to do this past month has been jumping. You jump everywhere - across cracks in the sidewalk, from the tile floor in the kitchen to the wood floor in the living room, up and down curbs, in and out of the garage, you name it. You love jumping. Sometimes you'll even jump instead of walking.


But, your absolute favorite thing this month has been to play on Mommy's computer. It started off with just wanted to watch videos of yourself, but now you've moved up to watching music videos on YouTube. Your favorites are Rhianna's "Umbrella," and Sarah Bareilles' "Love Song." You are starting to occupy Mommy's computer an awful lot, watching your videos and playing on the PBS Kids web site. You know how to fully navigate around the Curious George portion of the web site, and the other day, you somehow got yourself into the Sid the Science Kid part of the web site too. I guess it's a good thing Mommy is finished with grad school, so you can have her computer as much as you want now. Maybe you'll get your own little notebook soon. I said maybe...


Finally this month, we had a pretty big scare just in the past couple of days. Mommy's car caught on fire early Friday morning, and we had to wake you up and get you out of the house because we didn't know if our house was going to catch on fire. Luckily, someone was watching out for us, and the only damage was to the car and a few incidental things like bushes and flowers. Things that can easily be replaced. I don't remember ever having a visit from the fire department when I was a kid, and as an adult it was a pretty scary thing to have to deal with. You handled it like a champ, though. You didn't see any of the actual fire, since we took you out the back door and let you sit on the deck. Once the fire was out, I carried you up to the front of the house so you could see the fire truck and the firemen working on Mommy's car. After we got the "all clear," we put you back to bed, and you went right to sleep. I hope that we never have to deal with anything like that ever again in your lifetime.


As always, we love you very much, and we're looking forward to you turning three next month!

Love
Daddy