Raya Recently

She's got a fake cry now, which is so cute and so funny. This is her pouty face. I'm trying to make her laugh here. Can you tell she's trying so hard to not laugh?

New Zebra Tutu! This is from my friend Krissi and her son Jordon. Jordon is 2 and we joke about them dating in the future. He's adorable and they'd make the cutest modeling couple. Raya's holding the picture of Jordon that Krissi sent with the Tutu and is about to put it in her trunk. I told Gentry I was going to frame it and put it in Raya's room. He was not impressed and didn't think it was funny at all. LOL! Like he got really mad at me for even thinking about it. Matter of fact he told me it was so inappropriate and he would absolutely not allow it and couldn't believe I wanted to do it. Oh gosh, I'm still dying over this conversation. This is why I wish our life was a reality show so that the camera man could have video taped this whole conversation and I could have it forever to watch over and over. Good times :)

We went to watch an MLS Soccer game this weekend. It was just us in the box. It was a nice little family outing. Raya really liked watching everything. And being in a box makes life so much easier! But why does my head look so ginormous in this picture?

HAHA! She is such a silly girl. I love her face here. It says it all.

Just a little Monday afternoon photo shoot. I love baby halter tops. I was taking these to send to Olivia and got some good ones of Raya. 

Pack, Pack, Pack it Up

Yep, we're moving! Next week at this time I'll be blogging from my new living room...or bedroom...or backyard...where ever Raya decides to set up shop ;) We're just moving down the street to Huntington...but to my Mom it might as well be another state. We tried to find a place in Long Beach but for a town that prides itself on being a dog loving city every place we found didn't allow them! C'mon Long Beach! You have a Halloween costume parade strictly for dogs. So Huntington it was. I'm sure its times like these my Mom wishes she drank so she could drink away her sorrows. As much as she's going to miss our dogs and Gentry and I, I know its her BFF Raya that she's truly going to miss. As cozy as its been living in one bedroom with 2 adults, 1 baby and 2 dogs, I'm very thankful that Raya could spend her first year with Nana right there. But I did mention that we're moving just to the next beach? Mapquest says 13.8 miles from her front door to ours. Nana and Raya, it'll be ok.


So many of my things have been in storage for over a year so I'm excited to go shopping in my storage unit. I forget what I have in there! It'll be like an early and Free Christmas (No Gentry, that doesn't mean you don't have to get me anything come December.) I think I'm most excited about setting up Raya's room. We moved a month after she was born so I never got to do any kind of decorating or "nesting." I can't wait to pick out a theme and decorations and furniture. Fun, Fun, Fun! I need a good theme for a boy and girl room since they'll be sharing a room. (And by sharing I mean the new baby will probably sleep in our room for the first few months and we'll keep his clothes and toys in there) Ps- Dad, that means I need you to get your creative juices following and make a trip down here asap.


Moving while pregnant is a bit of a bummer because I can't really lift anything (did I say bummer because I totally meant advantage ;) But I've tried to box and organize as much as I can and I'm sure I'll be doing plenty of unpacking. Moving with a man Gentry's size is always amazing. When he picks up the entire loveseat by himself and carries it to the moving truck I'm reminded of how lucky I am (and why I'm not a lesbian.)  I remember moving with a 5 week old was pretty intense. We'll see how moving with a 16 month old compares. Speaking of which, anyone in the So Cal area that wants to hang out with a super easy, super fun and super cute 16 month old let me know. I have the perfect one!

We had a family meeting at our favorite place - Acapulco- to figure out our plan of attack for moving  and Raya discovered Salsa. This kid loves her some salsa!

Here's to a Labor Day Weekend of Laboring!

20 weeks and 16 months!

This week is the half way point. I'm 20 weeks along...only 20 more to go! Being pregnant goes by so much faster when you already have one baby. Yikes! I still haven't decided if that's a good thing or not. Last night he definitely had his first party in my tummy. So fun to feel him move. Gentry could've felt him if he had been a little more patient. He's a strong little boy, that's for sure. And as I sit here and type now I can feel him rockin and rollin.

I follow a couple other blogs and one of them is by a girl, Kelly, who has an 18 month old. Here's her blog: Kelly's Korner. Every month she makes a little post about her little girl's size, weight and what shes up to. I loved it. Especially as something to look back on. So here goes Raya's first one!

Raya turned 16 months on the 22nd. It's amazing how she'll be the "same" for a few days and then one day she'll be so much smarter than the day before. She still only says about 8 or 10 words, but that seems to be about average for her age. She knows where her nose, ears, eyes, and hair is. I can give her all kinds of directions and she knows just what to do. She also seems to have grown in the last few weeks. She seems to be getting taller. She wears a size 5.5 shoes, but since there's very few places that make 1/2 sizes for toddler shoes I've pulled out all her size 6 shoes. She can still wear her 5s if its a sandal. I think she has big feet for her age group. She's currently in the 90% for height and 50% for weight. I'm guessing she's about 32 in. and at least 22lbs. She still fits into almost all of her 12month clothes. She can fit into her 18month dresses and leggings because she's long, but all the 18month shorts and skirts are still too big. I'm crossing my fingers that she'll be able to fit into a lot of the summer stuff I have for her this summer next summer. A couple of my girlfriends mentioned that they're 2yr olds can fit some of their 18month clothes, so if that's the case that will be perfect!

Her Dad is a huge Dallas Cowboys fan...so her Grandpas in Dallas picked this little cheer leading outfit up for her. Too cute! Perfect outfit for 16 months!

Ruffled Butts

These diaper covers are the cutest thing ever! This little pink one is from 2 of my longest girlfriends. Adrienne and I met in 2nd grade and Jessica and I met in 5th grade. We've stayed friends and every time we get together to catch up its like we were never apart :) We met for lunch last summer and it was the first time for them to meet Raya. Raya was about 3 months old then. They gave her the Ruffled Butts and a little tie-die onesie that said "My Mom Rocks." Cutest little outfit. Raya wore her Ruffled Butt for her portrait session today. I had to have another mini-session when we were waiting for Gentry because I had to get a good one showing her little butt.

The shoes are pink sparkly converse. My mom got them for her when she was 1 week old :)

Portrait Session

First a little history: We have this dress from some friends of my Great-Grandmother. Its a sweet little white dress with pink flowers and pink detailing. It was a gift from Italy to my Great-Grandma for my Mom. We have a picture of my Mom in the dress when she was little and a picture of me in the dress around the same age. Today was the day I took Raya to get her picture in it. Just about all of my professional photos of Raya have been done by my friend/brother's girlfriend, Tara (Here's her website)- and I should've had her do this, but I figured it would be easier to take Raya to a studio because I needed the picture to match the ones of myself and my Mom that are clearly in a studio. I had some coupons for a Target portrait session, which has no sitting fee, so I figured I could take Raya there and get the smallest package because I just need that one picture.

This is my Mom in the dress- she's probably about 11 months old

This is me in the dress- I'm probably about 15 months old

Now to today's Events: So I book Raya's portrait session yesterday. The dress had been dry cleaned, I had perfect socks and I knew the shoes I needed were at Target so I'd just get those when we were there. Then this morning I think, oh, well since we're already going to be there I'll take 2 more outfits that are adorable and from her other Grandparents and see if she (Raya) will let us get a couple outfit changes in. When we get to Target I get her all dressed in her first outfit- and the only outfit that I really needed a picture in. It was ridiculously cute when she had it on. I was so excited. For this picture I needed her to sit at an angle and just smile. The simplest of all poses. Haha, yah right. Raya DID NOT want to sit. She didn't want to run away, she just didn't want to sit. We tried so many different things. Uh! I wasn't going to get her in the same position as my Mom and I were in our pictures. So, I gave up on that one because I still had 2 more outfits to get to :)

These are the only 3 cute ones I got in the dress. I don't think any of them look like what I need :( but they're still cute and I ordered a few.

Skip to the end: The session was a bit of a waste. She didn't want to do anything. For about the first 3 minutes she liked the girl taking the pictures and then for the next 25 she was freaked out by her. However, I still ended up with 5 or 6 pictures I just had to buy ;)

This is in the outfit from Gentry's Parents

This is my FAVORITE!

This is the outfit from my Dad and Alan

All ready for her interview ;)

So I guess we'll try again...Tara, if you're reading this I'm gonna need to make a date with you and your back drop :) So annoyed with myself that I still bought $60 worth of pictures, none of which are ones I actually really needed. But then again, how can you not buy pictures when they're so freakin cute?!

Raya Recently

So this last week seems like Raya's grown so much! She's all of a sudden a lot smarter than last week. It's like another little light in her brain went off :) She "talks" so much now- and by "talk" I mean she's still speaking her own language, but she points and says things and I'm suppose to know what she means. She still only has about 10 words, but I feel like any week now she's going to be spitting out all kinds of new words. I can talk to her and ask her to do things, or get something and she knows exactly what to do. These last few weeks have been so much fun! She's just showing more and more of her personality and never fails to brighten my day. I'm a lucky girl! She's also hilarious. I know in some of the pictures it comes through, but seriously, this kid is a riot. Pure entertainment.

She learned "Ready, Set, Go" This is her "Set." Just preparing her in case she wants to run track

Nice form! 

This little dress was a birthday present from my good friend Olivia. It has a wiener dog on the side. Its so cute!!! And I love the tie straps.

This tutu is also from Olivia. She made it! She's so crafty :)

Her Nike Ad ;)

Nothing sweeter than this face.

And clearly it was a week of pink. I promise I don't always dress her in pink. She's wearing green today! 

Book Worm

Raya LOVES books. One of the cutest things is when I come in the room and she's just sitting "reading" a book. She's so into it. She looks like a little student. Makes my day :)

19 Weeks

So I've entered my 19th week of pregnancy :) So far so good. I feel pretty great- just get tired faster, but I think half of that has do with the Energizer-Baby I have (aka Raya). I felt him kick about a week ago for the first time. I was busy taking care of the important things before he comes- You know, like trying to lay on my belly to get my back as tan as possible before he decides I'm smashing him and only lets me tan my front side. As I was reading People and staying up-to-date on what's going on in the world I felt the little guy movin' around! Then a few days ago I felt him moving and put my hand on my belly and he kicked my hand twice! That was the most exciting so far. I feel so much better now that I can feel him movin and shakin. Nothing about the first part of pregnancy makes you feel pregnant. I just felt fat. Lol. So now that I can feel him I'm like "Ooooo, there is a baby in there!" Now I can't wait to see him! Only 21 more weeks to go ;)

My mom babysat and Gentry and I got to go on a date. It was great! I forgot how amazing eating out is without a 15 month old :) Oh and at California Pizza Kitchen they have these new little electronic things at your table. You can order a select few appetizers, drinks, and desserts. AND you can pay when you're ready. Lucky for me and unlucky for our waitress they also let you rate your server. Since I was a server I'm, well, kinda picky? Or maybe its just I expect a certain level of service. Being a server isn't brain surgery so I get super annoyed when the service is poor. And even more annoyed when my appetizer comes before my drink does! Uh. Anyways, it was very rewarding to be able to give feedback. HAHA! Good times. My favorite part of the date was Gentry, my second favorite was rating our server ;)

This was before we were leaving...this is Raya's "get the camera outta my face, its blocking Elmo" face.