Growing Girl

Well, our little girl is growing quickly. In the last few weeks it seems like she's not our baby anymore. A few things that have happened...
* Carina finally hit 20 pounds and is now in a forward facing convertible car seat - she seems so big!
* Her hair is getting longer...and curlier! I've tried putting her hair in pig tails and barrettes. It is so cute. It looks pretty darn cute all curly too!
* She is trying to run! I guess when they say they learn to walk only long enough to learn to run they aren't kidding!
* She is a genius! Well, we're biased of course, but she is pretty smart! She can point out her head, hair, belly, feet, and tongue. She can say sounds for doggy, kitty, and cow. She constantly explores her surroundings to figure out how things work and she picks up on things quickly. This morning she amused me by picking up my Chapstick off the dresser, taking the cap off, and putting it to her lips! A girly girl already!!
* She is becoming quite a little helper. She can put her toys away at the end of the bath. Even more exciting - she can take her dirty diapers and put them in the diaper pail! She also loves to try and put her own clothes on (we're still working on getting that mastered).

Each day she surprises us. We leave you with a super cute video of just before bedtime tonight (notice the tail that Carina is chasing after - poor Frida)!

The Magic Kingdom

This past weekend we went to Disneyland...and left Carina with her grandparents! We dropped her off at my mom's house on Friday night and drove to Camarillo to stay with one of Dave's college friends. We woke up Saturday morning and headed to Disneyland. It was my first time leaving Carina overnight so I was feeling a lot like this poor guy we saw at Disneyland...

Luckily the spirit of the Happiest Place on Earth caught on quickly and we had a nice time. The best part was going back to the hotel both Saturday and Sunday for a nice long nap! We did call to check in with Carina a number of times. She did very well with my mom and step-dad and with Dave's parents who took over on Sunday afternoon.
On Monday we slept in (this may have been the best part of the whole weekend :-), and after we got up we started to head to Lompoc. We made a stop in Carpenteria to see one of Dave's friends from elementary school and then stopped in Santa Barbara to visit the Queen of the Missions (yes, I'm a nerdy fourth grade teacher :-)

When we were almost to Dave's parent's house I thought I was going to explode. I was so excited to see Carina. When we finally got there she was excited to see her mommy & daddy...and her new stuffed Piglet. We stayed the night in Lompoc and then headed back home Tuesday. Overall, it was a great time and Dave and I enjoyed the time together.

Other fun stuff...Carina rummaged through my closet at some point and pulled out my purses. She now loves to walk around with them. She puts stuff in them and then takes it right back out. Here she is in action (and as you can see her hair is not only getting long - but curly too)...

Bed Head

Carina's hair is starting to get long enough that she has started waking up with some pretty good bed head. The other night we went in to peek on her and we got a pretty good view of some pretty good bed head in the making.


Luckily taking that picture did not wake her up!

Carina has two new teeth (finally her top two teeth are in and it looks like a couple more are on the way after that), and she is walking really well (we like to call her Frankenbaby because she walks kind of funny with her hands out in front of her).

The last two Fridays my mom and step-dad came up to watch Carina because day care was closed. They had a lot of fun with her. Aunt Mollie came to visit one of those days also. This past weekend we drove to Santa Cruz to have lunch with Aunt Crystal, Uncle Sean, and cousin Liam - we even got to get ice cream afterwards. Yummy! Even though Carina has become Miss Picky with her food, she definitely didn't turn down the ice cream :-)