Carla turned 3!!!

Yup my big girl! It is funny that she turned 3 because if your ask her how old she is she will tell you that she is 6! Crazy girl! She really acts like she is going on 6 though. She is so smart, kind, goofy and lovable. All of the pictures that we take of her she is making some sort of funny face. I love it most of the time. ;) This was her first year having a friend party at the house. She LOVED it! The children came over. Of course, we served dinner, I wonder what it would be like to only do snacks at a party, I made turkey, rice and beans.

We love them rice and beans, maybe because we are hispanic! Ella, Eliza, Justine, Owen, Eli, Baylee, and Taylor all came to celebrate with her. We played pin the tail on the donkey,

broke the pinata,

and then she opened her presents with her friends.

All of the children were super excited and she loved everything that she got. Especially her fairy wings.

She still won't put on the skirt that goes with it (she does NOT like dress up) but I have coax her to take her wings off before bed or whenever we have to get in the car.

She is such a girly girl. I love it! Every morning she takes me to the bathroom and picks out her hair bow for the day. Then she goes and finds her little brush, and brings it to me so that I can do her hair. She loves makeup and jewelry. Both of which she will be getting for Christmas because she keeps loosing mine! But shhhh, don't tell her! She loves to read. It is punishment for her to only read 3 or 4 books before bed, we usually spend at LEAST a half hour or so reading before nap and bedtime, and still during the day we read. I am so glad that she loves to read so much. She is a really good big sister. If Poose is crying she finds her binky and puts it in her mouth so she'll stop crying, then she'll rub her back and say, "It's okay sweetheart, it's okay." Adorable!

She loves to say prayers! They are sweet, innocent, and short, and usually consist of things that she is grateful for. I need to take some lessons from her! She loves to read the Book of Mormon and her favorite story is about the "fruta" with in English means fruit, Lehi's dream of the tree of life. We have learned about thousands of different applications for the message in Lehi's Vision. She is very independent. She can get dressed all by herself, shoes, socks, everything! She turns the car on, the climbs in her seat and buckles herself in. She does not like any help! It amazes me all that she can do.

Her hero of course is me...NOT! She loves her daddy. He is the love of her life. She always wants him close to her. In the morning when she wakes up, if I get her out of her room she always has to snuggle with daddy. She goes to our bedroom door and says, "I need daddy to snuggle me." So sweet!

This is Carla waiting oh so patiently for daddy to come home. She sat there for almost a half hour until he finally came home. One time, he left to take the missionaries home. I was in the bathroom, when all of the sudden I heard screaming and the door open. I ran outside chasing after her, she was chasing the car down the street. Thankfully Zach saw her and stopped. She is a blessing in our life. I don't know what I would do without my big little lady. I love you Carla!!

Sincere Prayers...

So, lately Carla has started to say "real" prayers. She has been asking for what she really wants and needs, and being grateful for real things. She just makes my heart melt. Some the the things that she has included in her prayers are as follows:

Please mommy so Carla Winnie Pooh poop

Translation: Please let mommy let me watch Winnie the Pooh

Bless Daddy homework

Translation: Bless Daddy at school and at work whichever one he is at

Thank you toes

Translation: Thank you for my toes

Please Singa mimis, mommy mimis, daddy mimis, Carla mimis

Translation: Please bless each one of us that we can go to sleep (mimis)

Please Bita and Wito come here

Translation: Please let Grandma and Grandpa Barrientos come see me

These are some of her please and thank yous. Goodness she is smart! It also got me to thinking. She really prays for what she wants, even though she is so young, she understands that Heavenly Father is listening to her and cares about the simple things. Do I have that kind of faith? Do I pray for the small things that concern me, or just for those life altering decisions that need to be made? Carla tells Heavenly Father EVERYTHING she does during the day, that we went outside to play, that she had eggs for breakfast, that she played with her toys, why don't I? She has such a sweet, innocent, and sincere relationship with her Father in Heaven. I am grateful that I have the opportunity to see why the Lord said to become like a little child. Their relationship with Father is sincere and simple. Something I need to work on. Thank you for your wonderful example mi hija!

Carla is 2... yes the big T W O!!!!

There are many new and exciting milestones that she has reached.
She can take her clothes on and off all by herself- mostly off though, she HATES wearing clothes.
She ABSOLUTELY loves being a big sister.
She is starting to learn to reason. "Carla you can have a popciccccle after you eat lunch." "Okay mommy." After lunch, "Please popciccccle mommy??" She is so smart.
She wakes up every morning and every nap-time naked, I mean butt naked!
She loves watching monsters, which is her special Saturday and Sunday treat with daddy.
She has learned her numbers in Spanish up to six, although she has a hard time remembering 4 sometimes.
She loves to read! Some of her favorite books are- Mom Mine, You Do, Mama do you love me, Zoom Zoom, This is the way we take a bath, The Book of Mormon Stories, The Friend, We're going on a bear hunt- especially the "tiptoe tiptoe tiptoe... WHAT'S THAT?!?" part.
She loves to color, and paint, not such a huge fan of finger painting though. She complains that her hands are yucky.
She loves eggs and yogurt!
She says "come in" when we knock on her door to get up from bedtime or after nap-time.
She loves playing with Bug, Taylor, Adam, Lacey, and Keith- our neighbors. She goes over to their house and knocks and knocks and yells "come in" until they let her come in.
She is daddy's buddy. She runs full speed to him when he comes home, and waves goodbye and blows him kisses until she can't see him when he leaves.
She went to her first movie- Despicable Me, and sat through most of it, except for when she went to the potty... all 5 times!
She is now, at 25 months potty trained, which she did all by herself!!
She loves taking bubble baths. She got two today... lucky baby.Best of all, when she goes to sleep she still waits for me to tell her...
"I'll like you forever, I'll love you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be."
So despite all of her growing up, she will always, ALWAYS be my baby.
You bring joy, laughter, and pride to my life, my sweet baby girl.

Hurricane Carla

My baby girl is walking everywhere! She just absolutely loves to walk. Zach and I call her Hurricane Carla. We can tell everywhere that she has been by the mess she has left behind. It makes me laugh, and at times frustrated because I feel like all I do ALL day is clean up after her. But hey, that is what having a mobile one year old is all about! She is such a blast! She is walking so well, and all in a matter of weeks. One day, it just clicked and instead of taking 3 to 7 steps, she just started walking EVERYWHERE! No assistance needed or wanted. Oh my little baby, she has become a toddler!

My Birthday Girl!!!

Carla turned 1 on Monday of last week. That means she is 1 year and 1 week old. I remember when she was only 1 week. Time sure does fly by. I love all of her new stages, but I also miss all of her old ones. I love how she says "mama," "dada" and, "aita" (Carlita). I little pumpkin head is getting all grown up. Zach and I learned what love really is, and how to truly love deeply with her. I didn't know that I could love so much and so deep. Carla means the world to me. Her smile brightens up even the darkest of rooms. Her eyes light up every time she sees her daddy. She loves her daddy so much. It is especially cute when he gets her out of her crib and she snuggles up right into him. She loves being with him. When I put her down for a nap and Daddy is home, she sobs until he goes and gets her. They play for a little while and then he will put her pack down and she goes right to sleep. Talk about daddy's girl!! And he enjoys every minute of it!I love watching them interact. It is absolutely adorable.

On her Birthday, we had a little family party. We celebrated my mom's birthday and Carla's birthday at the same time. We had a cake, chips and salsa, and opened presents. Her favorite toy is the Lion Walker that my parents bought her. She absolutely LOVES it! Her face beams as soon as she sees it. Every day she plays with it for hours. I love how it is helping her walk. She is even starting to make lion noises, thanks to her little cousins teaching her.

Weaning...

CARLA IS WEANED! She stopped nursing 3 weeks ago on Wednesday. I can't believe it! It was harder for me than it was for her. I was sad, but knew that it needed to be done. I don't want her to be 12 years old and me still nursing her... ewww! All and all, it wasn't too bad. The one really nice thing about it is that now she drinks out of her sippy and she can be watched at any time. I don't have to plan my day around her feedings...NICE! I was also able to put away all of my nursing stuff! Yay for old clothes!!! It is like I have a whole new wardrobe again. Woo hoo!

Walking!

So 2 weeks ago Carla took her first step! It was during Relief Society, she reached out to me, and took two whole steps before she got to me. Later, on Sunday, she took five steps! Now, every day she takes a few steps. I can't believe she is getting so big. Every night I don't want to lay her down, because I don't want her to wake up the next morning another day older.

9 MONTHS! and Carla Update...

Aug 14th- Carla's first word! It was morning and I could hear Carla talking and cooing in her room. Suddenly, I heard her scream, "MAMA!" I ran to her room, overjoyed, but curious if she knew what she was saying. When I went in she stretched her arms out to me and said, "mama, mamamamama." I was so happy! What a wonderful feeling it is to hear her say mama! She knows who I am!

Aug 16th- Carla turned 9 months! 9 MONTHS?? QUE EN EL MUNDO??? (what in the world)What happened to my baby!

Aug 17th- I took her to the doctor's for her 9 month appointment. He said that she was abnormally gaining weight. He won't put her on a diet because she is to young, but that I need to feed her lower calorie food, and to give her more table food and less baby food. I should only nurse her 3 times daily. So we will see how everything goes. Although I think that she is thinning out.

Aug 18th- Carla's second word! Lexie and Lydia were staying with us for a few days. They were playing with her in the same manner that Zach plays with her, when I hear, "Dada. Dadadadadadada." I walked into the room and she stopped saying dada and started saying mama. When Zach got home, I told him the exciting news, but he thought I was kidding, until he picked her up, she grabbed his face and said, "Dada." He was so excited and proud of his little girl!

Aug 21st- The little girls, Carla and I were playing in Carla's room, when suddenly she saw a book on the other side of the room and took 3 full crawls to get it! SHE CRAWLED!! Oh no, my baby is now officially MOBILE! I was so excited! Since then she has been crawling everywhere. I have to close the doors of the rooms that I don't want her getting into and re-baby proof the house. It has been a blast watching her crawl. She didn't do the army crawling, or much scooting, she went straight to 4 point crawling, which is also abnormal. I think that I need to be content being the mom of an abnormal baby. I LOVE IT!!

Aug 22nd- We were laying in bed, as a Saturday morning tradition, and Carla was with us. She crawled to the top of the bed, looked at the headboard, grabbed on and UP she went! She pulled herself up! She had never done that before! The next day, when I went in to get her up in the morning she was standing up on the side of the crib. I yelled for Zach, he came running, thinking something was wrong, but nope, I just wanted him to see her standing in her crib. It was oh so cute!

Aug 26th- I was deep cleaning the house, when I decided that Carla had a lot of clothes in her closet that she didn't fit into. So I decided it was time to clean out her closet. I put away all of her clothes that was under 12 months, and even some 12 month clothes that was to small. I was so depressing. She now has half the amount of clothes. My little baby is growing up so fast. It is so sad to see her getting so big and independent, but at the same time I love each new stage and milestone. I love being your mommy Carla!

8 months???

I am so sad today. My little baby is not so little anymore. She is 8 months old today. She is rolling everywhere, rocking on her hands and knees, eating EVERYTHING, talking (well, sort of), laughing, blowing raspberries, rolling over in her sleep (just like her mommy), recognizing people (Dr. Nuttal was the first person she reached out for, yeah we see him WAY too often), fits into 18 month clothes perfectly, and smiles all the time. I can't believe that she is so big. I look at her baby pictures and can't even believe that it is the same baby. I am excited for every new stage of development, but at the same time miss the stage that she is leaving behind. We had to baby proof our house and our living room is now full of her toys, instead of our beautiful glass items. Oh well! I would a hundred times over have baby stuff cluttering our house than our stuff! I can't wait until we are blessed with another baby so we can have double the fun!

November 16, 2008 Day of Birth!

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

Carla mi hijita, te amo con todo mi corazon. Significas todo para mi. Le doy gracias a mi Padre Celestial cada dia por darme el privilegio de ser tu madre, y por mandarme una hija tan hermosa y carinosa como vos. Te adoro!

This is the way we brush our teeth...

I usually brush Carla's teeth, but she always tries to grab the toothbrush, so Saturday was her lucky day. She got to brush her teeth! So stinking adorable!

Time to Rock and Roll

Carla is now rocking and rolling!
She started getting up on her hands and knees this week. It was so cute! I can't believe that my little baby is getting so stinking big! Before long she is going to be crawling, then walking! AHH!!! My little angel is growing up so fast. I hope that I can commit every moment into memory because these amazing moments are flying by. I love you my baby, I hope that you can feel this when you read this.

Almost Crawling and Sitting

This is Carla sitting by herself! She likes it, but gets too excited when she sees something that interests her and topples over. She is getting so much better at it though. One thing that makes me laugh that she does when she is sitting is she finds her feet, and I guess her toes look so yummy that she has to eat them. When she leans over to eat them she looses balance and topples over, but she won't stop trying to eat her toes! Oh so cute!











Another milestone that she is reaching is crawling. Recently she has been getting on her hands and toes and tries to scoot. We will put an otter pop in front of her and off she goes, but wait, she is further away than where she began. How can that be??? She scoots backwards!! Tee hee hee!! She gets so mad and frustrated because she tries so hard to reach the otter pop or toy and only gets further and further away from it. Poor thing! It is amazing to me have much more mobile she is now. It feels as if she is getting bigger and bigger and developing so fast that I just start enjoying one phase of her life when suddenly she enters a new one. Oh well, I guess that is what babies do. My mom was telling me how she was unhappy because all 5 of her babies decided to grow up and she wasn't ready for it. It is hard to imagine my little baby all grown up. I guess I need to spoil her while I can! I like you forever, I'll love you for always, as long as I'm living my baby you'll be, my dear, sweet, beautiful Carlita.

Sippy Cup Experience...

When Carla turned six months, we decided to start introducing the all too famous sippy cup. She obviously isn't a fan. I decided that since she is so interested in drinking from a cup, that we could just do that. So when she eats lunch and dinner she drinks her juice from a regular cup. She is getting a lot better at it too! Who knows, maybe one day she'll decide that a sippy cup isn't really that bad.

TEETH THREE AND FOUR, FIVE AND SIX!!!

Tooth number three poped in three Saturdays ago! The funny thing is that it isn't either of her top middle teeth, but next to it, on her right side. It isn't a common normality, but it is a common abnormality. Today, tooth four poped out, on the left side, still no front teeth! My parents call her "draculita" which mean, little dracula. It is so funny especially because I used to also be a draculita. I had orthodontic procedures to lower my canines into place because they were to high. Too funny!

She looks so stinking cute, and funny with her little dracula teeth, but I don't think that they will last long. Her front gums are getting really soft and starting to turn white, the precursor to the teeth cutting through. I can't believe it, by the time she turns 7 months old, she'll have SIX teeth. My oh my does time go by so fast!

Solids...

Today was the day! We started Carla on rice cereal!! My big baby needs more than just milk. For about a week she has been getting up about 2 times a night just starving, and she is eating a lot more often during the day. I called the doctor and he said to give her a tablespoon of cereal or oatmeal 2 times a day, before I feed her, until her 6 month visit. Then we are going to start other foods. We decided to feed her before her afternoon 3 hour nap, and before bed. It was so exciting to sit her down in her bumbo and spoon feed her. She was so cute! It got all over her little mouth but she did such a good job eating. I got to feed her lunch and Zach fed her dinner. My plumpy babe is getting so beautiful. She weighs 17lbs 9oz and is 25 inches long, absolutely perfect for a 9 month old, even though she is really only 5 months old! Oh it is such a joy watching my little princess develop and grow!

5 Months Already!?!

Today our precious angel turned 5 months old. I can't believe how fast time has gone by. She has brought SO much joy, and happiness into our lives. I don't remember life before her, except that I was a lot less tired! This little babe has made our family complete. She is half of my heart, Zach is the other half. I have seen her develop so much. It made my day when she smiled for the first time at 2 1/2 weeks, she cooed at a month, rolled from her stomach to her back at 2 months, giggled at 3 months, two teeth at four months, grabbed her foot at 4 months, and sucked her thumb...TODAY! Being her mommy has been such a blessing. She is a beautiful, calm, loving baby. I love that she can gives kisses now! I thank Heavenly Father every day for giving me the blessing, opportunity, and responsibility of being a mom. It has taught me so much, mainly, motherhood is not for the selfish! But the truth of the matter is, it doesn't matter. I love being selfless if it makes her happy. How amazing is that! The cure for selfishness is to have babies! I love it! I am excited for the next weeks, months, and years of Carla's life.

Gummy Smiles are GONE!!!

MY BABY IS CUTTING HER FIRST TOOTH!!! She has been teething for about a month and a half. The nurse that comes to our house once a month told me that she was too young, and that she wouldn't start teething until about 6 to 8 months. Mommy knows best! We went to the doctor's last week and he said that she was swollen, but probably wouldn't cut teeth for at least another month. Once again, mommy knows best. This morning, I was trying to calm her down, she was hysterical. I was rubbing her gums, her favorite thing, when I felt a poky! I couldn't believe it! It was starting to cut through. About 4 hours later, I had her open her mouth and it was really cutting through! You could see the bud! I hope you can see it in the picture. I'm so proud of my baby. She is growing up so fast. I honestly can't believe how fast time is going. I'm afraid of not enjoying every moment, every laugh, every smile, every cry, every coo, every cutting tooth, every roll, everything, and then suddenly, they're gone. She's all grown up, and I won't get to see her cut teeth, or wake up to her smiling up at me from her crib, or cuddling with me in bed. There are so many precious moments every day that I wish that I could relive every day. My beautiful baby will soon be a beautiful toddler, then beautiful girl, then beautiful young woman....WAAA WAAA WAAA!!! So all I can say to myself is, enjoy every moment, treasure every second. I LOVE being Carla's mommy! Carla, someday when you read this journal, I hope that you will be able to feel and know how much I love you. You mean so much to me, even if I correct you, I promise you that I will always love you and care for you. You are my miracle baby. I love you, mommy.

Carla's Firsts in Hawaii

Early on Wednesday morning, Carla and I went on a walk to the beach to see the sunrise.

It was Carla's first time feeling sand between her little toes and she was loving life!

Then she got her feet wet in the ocean. Her first time touching the ocean, she wasn't sure what was going on, but she liked it.

On the walk back, by the side of the road there were some beautiful flower growing. I picked a flower and placed it behind her ear. She looked so stinking adorable!