Hello again everyone!!

I have really dropped the ball on this blog. Of course I'm putting off working right now so that I can blog. I will do better this year!!

Mia is doing really well. On Dec 18th I noticed her first tooth piercing her gums...she's well on her way to tooth #2. You can tell it's right there and her nonstop drool and fingers in her mouth tell me it could be any day now. She is smiling a whole lot lately and she is talking non stop. Her sleep has been a little disrupted, in that she is waking up around 3 to 4 in the morning. She eats and then she goes right back to sleep. I'm guessing the teeth are the cause. I don't mind since I'm hoping it won't last forever. She is such a good baby and I am happy I switched her to formula, I think it makes it a little easier for all of us and she is happier. My only complaint is the continued spit up. I read an article that stated the acid reflux is "over diagnosed" and that there are many children on acid reflux meds that really shouldn't be or don't need to be. I wonder if that is the case with Mia. The article stated that many baby's spit up and it's natural but as a parent we feel we have to do something to make it better and thus the acid reflux meds are supposed to help. Her appetite has increased a bit and she is even doing rice cereal. Most of the time it's in her bottle (to help reduce the spit up (yeah, right!)) but sometimes I give it to her with a spoon. Here is a picture of that:

Actually that's my mom feeding her and have I mentioned how much I love having my mom close by. She really is the BEST mom! Mia seemed a little unsure at first, but then she returned to smiling.

Mia has also started to scoot around. For example I lay her with her head on the left and then when I come back to the crib her head is on the right. She's really using her legs and arms to get her around. She's even rolled from her tummy to her back, but that doesn't happen as often.

Luisa has been doing really well. She is taking Singular and Claritan for the allergies and she has had a dry nose. Of course a dry nose doesn't mean a nose without those lovely little boogers. My dad often refers to picking your nose as being a pharmacist. As though you were making pills if you will. Fortunately, Luisa is no longer eating her pills. Although she does pick her nose she gets a tissue and wipes it on there. I haven't been able to get her to pick her nose with the tissue wrapped around her finger. Silly girl!! We'll get there eventually. Over the holidays she made a couple of memorable statements: "I'm not scared of Santa, I'm just afraid!" "Mom, we should say a prayer for Sara" (note Sara (my niece) lost her cell phone earlier in the day) and of course those random, "I love you, Mom!". I have to say going to church has really been a blessing for us. When Luisa made that statement about praying for Sara, my heart just melted. If she had asked for a pony right after that I would have gotten her 2 ponies!! She likes going to church because of the music I think. We attend the noon youth mass and I really like the priest. He makes a point during the homily and follows it up with "Amen?" and we should respond Amen! Luisa and I even keep up with the whole Amen thing later in the day, me: "We're going to have a great day, Amen?" Luisa: "Amen!" Luisa is all about spelling her name. We (Santa) got her a "computer" for Christmas and she loves spelling her name in the typing portion of the games. It's a Leap Frog Clickstart computer. Luisa has also been crazy about taking pictures of everything. She received a Fisher Price digital camera for Christmas from her Grandma Anna and she loves it. Here are a couple of pics from her camera ...a wee bit fuzzy, but with time she'll learn to stay still. She also received a few other prized gifts and she is enjoying them at her leisure. Luisa goes back to school on the 8th. Yeah!! :) We'll get back to crafting soon. And we need to send thank you notes.

As for me, there is A LOT of work to be done, soon enough it will get all done. I'm spending a couple of nights in Dallas and that should help out some. Jan 14th -15th...Jan 21st-22nd. Perhaps soon I'll send out pictures to everyone. My sister Rosie gave me a digital camera for Christmas.

My family has been great about helping me out as necessary. I've been fortunate to visit with a few girlfriends and life is good.

Have a great week!