One Month...

One Month old... it has gone by so fast, yet has felt like we have had you in our lives for much longer! The pics below were taken on your one month birthday... you have grown so so much and we just think you are the cutest baby- don't even get GrandE started...

The one below is what we call "angry elf" (from the movie Elf with Will Ferrell). It makes me so sad when you are sad and this was definitely the last picture of the bunch. I know pretty soon we are going to have to let you cry some to learn to go to sleep by yourself, but I am not ready quite yet.

Your head control is pretty strong thankfully since we have not done a lot of tummy time. You do sleep on your stomach (I know, I know...) so you get to practice your head control then as well. We got the Angelcare monitor which senses movement (good for tummy sleepers) and are hopefully going to get that all set up this weekend and start at least napping in your crib. The buggy is great, but you are getting pretty big in there and I think I will sleep much better when I can't hear all the noises so much... maybe...

We had some sadness at the beginning of the week. Your tiny big toenails were not growing in good and one had gotten a little infected. Your poor toe was bright red. So, we went to visit the doc on Monday and it turned out you had a slight fever and minor ear infection in your right ear- poor baby! So, we have been giving you antibiotics (Daddy is really good at it) and you seem to like it as much as I did when I was little- yummy ammoxicillian (sp?). The doctor said just to rub the toe nail out with a warm washrag which I did on Sunday when we noticed it and it was already looking better when the doctor saw it. It is not even really pink at all anymore. You also seem to be feeling better with the antibiotics (we had noticed that you were a bit fussy which was so abnormal for our sweet, happy baby).

This is a picture of some awake time on the baby einstein mat (Thanks Aunt Rachael). She does pretty good laying here looking at the whale. I know once she gets older it will be more and more fun for her!

Finally, our sweet sleeping baby, nothing cuter than a sleeping baby.

We will hopefully be posting some pictures soon from the photographer that came and took newborn pics (www.tinybirdphotography.com). They turned out really good and she was such a joy to work with. Sadness that she is moving to Houston, but hopefully she will still be up for CS shoots as our family grows.

Claribel, you have already brought immeasurable joy and love to our hearts and we can't imagine life without you sweet baby! We can't wait to see what the future holds for our now family of three (well, 4 with frandog) and know that the Lord has much in store!

We love you our little Bel-

August 7th...5 years!

Last Friday we celebrated our 5th anniversary! I can't believe that we have been married 5 years- the time really has flown by, yet I also feel like I have known Ray for SO LONG... much longer than 6 years. I am so thankful for the blessing that he is in my life and can't imagine life without him. It has been so fun to see him grow into a wonderful daddy as well. He loves Claribel so much and she has him wrapped around her little fingers.

Above is a picture from when we were first dating- We went to Daniel and Amy's wedding in Beaumont with Lori and this guy Vlad (remember that character Lori?).

and a few pictures from the wedding- definitely one of the happiest days of my life- the happiest until July 10, 2009 and that day ranks up there pretty high as well!

Here we are in Jamaica on our honeymoon- What a wonderful vacation- I really can't believe that it was five years ago!



And finally, we went to La Riviera for our anniversary dinner. Monie kept Claribel which was nice, since when she is with us we are a little distracted (not that I don't mind being distracted of course :) ) It was just nice to be able to focus on the two of us for the night.

It was a lovely dinner with my honey.

Happy 5th Ray- I look forward to MANY more years to come!

CG's Baby Shower...

I am a little late in posting this, but I had the pleasure to help hostess a baby shower a week ago Sunday for a friend from High School, Christina, with some other friends from High School that I have not seen in FOREVER! It was so nice to catch up with so many people that I have not seen in 10+ years... Laurel, Jessica L, Anne W, Whitney, Kendra, Dara... Of course it was all I could remember to make sure I had anything I might need for Claribel that I completely forgot my camera... Hopefully I can track down some pictures since Christina's sister Mary had her camera... I did take pictures of the diaper cake I made for a center piece. It was a fun project and looked really cute with the cake and flowers on the table. I have a feeling there might be more of these in my future :) I included a few other homemade items on the cake that I was planning on making for CG before we decided to do a diapercake: 4 burpcloths with fabric topstitched down the center, a little taggie blanket, and a flannel blanket with yellow on one side and a handsome navy stripe on the other. Most of the items on the cake were ones that CG registered for- the shoes, rubber duck that has a "hot" indicator on the bottom, the toys, pacifiers, and the baby soap and baby lotion that is at the center of the cake. Here are pictures going around the cake to the right...

outings...

We have enjoyed a few outings as a family of three including dinner at Jose's and sno-cones at JJ's, dinner at Jose's and shakes with d and Monie, a few Target runs, Cheddar's, and Sunday School and lunch this past Sunday. This is a picture of little bell after her bath and in her sleeper right before we went to Cheddar's last Saturday night. She just looked so cute all ready to go I had to get a picture. Her little cheeks are chubbing up quite nicely :)

This is a picture of some snuggle time during a movie last night. She was wearing a onesie from Ray's co-worker Shanthi that says "Who needs a superhero when I have my dad?" Indeed...

family...

Grand-E and Popsi Uncle Tuck and Aunt Rebecca

Aunt Rachael
Auntie Allison

Poppop and Becky (Becky is also waiting to see what Claribel calls her)

2 weeks...

Claribel, I can't believe you are already 2 weeks old (and a few days...)! The time has flown by and we just can't imagine life without you in it. You are such a good baby and hardly ever cry unless you are hungry or need a new diaper. Of course, your daddy and I think you are just the cutest and sweetest little thing we have ever seen! I think you are quite spoiled as far as being held most of the time, awake or asleep. You have both of us wrapped around your tiny fingers and daddy really loves time with his "little bell" as he calls you.

Your daddy had two weeks off from work which was really nice, but he had to go back to work this week, which has been a transition not having his help all day long. It is nice that he is here for work so we get a nice lunch break together and there is no "commute" time home from work.

You have some crazy hair that just sticks up all over and we just love it!

It seems that you enjoy bathtime most of the time, just so long as we have the warm water running on you and you don't get too cold. We always wrap you up in the cozy hooded towel and take our time getting you lotioned and dressed in your gown. You look so cute in that hooded towel, all bright eyed.

You really like your Wubbanub pacifier that I got for you in Dallas. The lady at the shop was suprised that I wasn't buying one when I went to pay for the pages for your baby book. It is a pretty neat little thing and you can hold on to it pretty well to help it stay in your mouth... you are quite the sucker...

I really enjoy our special times together when I am feeding you, something only I do right now and I am not eager to give up that time. I am always so amazed at how perfect you are while we sit there in the rocker... your tiny little fingers, toes, and sweet little nose... I had to stop listening to the Lullaby CD that Monie gave us because every time your daddy walked in I was crying just thinking about the words to the songs "that you are only little for a little while" and how I was so happy to finally be "welcoming home my little traveler that I had waited for so long. I had to convince him over and over that it is not postpartum depression and that I was just happy and overwhelmed by the love I had for you right when you were born. I have to wait awhile until my hormones settle down a bit and then we can listen to that CD again... We have been enjoying Fernando Ortega though and other songs that your Daddy put on a playlist for us.

and Frannie... she likes you pretty well too. She doesn't like it too much when you are upset and makes sure that we are paying attention to you when you make those little squeaks. She was really excited when we brought you home and was pretty wound up- she has definitely settled into the new normal watching over "her baby", making sure you are safe and happy.

The first 48...

"Whatever you want!"

d said while holding Claribel

Uncle Andrew & Auntie Allison

When Andrew came and saw Claribel at the end of the day he asked Auntie Allison what she did all day and she said "this is it!"

Doing my job - getting Claribel ready for skin-to-skin time with Mama...

Claribel in her papoose - she has some pretty wild hair...may have inherited some calics from Daddy.

We need to get pictures from Auntie Allsion and Grandma's camera. And Claribel is looking forward to meeting Aunt Rebecca & Uncle Tuck and Aunt Rachael this coming weekend!

Claribel Elaine is here!

Claribel Elaine Thomas was born yesterday at 6:22 PM weighing 7 lbs 8 oz, 21 inches long. Both Melissa and Claribel are doing well and we expect to go home Monday morning.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

Independence Weekend...

We thought it was pretty funny that our last weekend of "independence" before our sweet baby arrives involved Independence Day. We enjoyed celebrating with friends (one of their daughter's birthdays) and then fireworks from the Reed Arena Parking Lot. I must say that it was refreshing once again to be in B-CS and not in DFW where everything is so over the top. We made it out to Addison's Kaboom Town twice while living up there and it was incredible, but pretty overwhelming the money spent on fireworks.

It cooled off with a nice breeze in time for fireworks (or waiting for fireworks) and I was happy that Ray was able to see his fireworks this year. He really loves the 4th of July and fireworks, really the month of July and I am so happy that Claribel will provide him another reason to love the month of July!

Ray took the above photo... i looked over right in time- seriously that is a big belly... and some really swollen feet. I never knew how bad my finger joints would hurt from all of the fluid retention as well (I don't think my fingers LOOK that swollen, but I sure feel it)

Hooded Towels

I was really disappointed when registering at how thin the hooded towels were. So, I went to Tuesday am and bought some towels and wash rags to make my own. This was a project I did awhile back, super easy with endless possibilities for embellishment. I just cut the towels in half and the wash rags along the diagonal, matched up the squared corners and added binding. The pink towels are kind of small, but the white ones with green rags were more of a bath sheet size and will be a good size for her when she is bigger as well.

It is always nice to use up scraps of fabric that I already have as well for a project :)

last nursery picture...

Here is the missing nursery picture from the last post. This is the wall opposite the changing table, to the left of the crib, to the right of the dresser. This piece was in Monie's parent's house, a lovely shade of green and Dad painted it- It is really neat how the color turned out so pearly (Monie was of course our color consult). Mom and dad took it home last week to finish scraping the glass from spraying it and mom found the cute pink knobs. I really love the size of it- perfect for baby! Above is her name in the unfinished letters I found online and painted. That was a fun little project :)